Chapter 1 Ripped Inside
Austin woke up from his nightmare the same way as always, shivering, crying, and afraid. In a way, he never really did wake up from a nightmare. When others awaken from nightmares in which their best friend dies, they sigh a relief, but Austin could only tremble. Two months after she died, she still haunted his dreams. His mind played her death over and over, looking for ways he could have acted differently.

The sheets were tangled around his legs again. His cold sweet froze him now that the blanket that once covered him was on the floor, his outside as dreadful as the in. Austin quivered. He couldn't find solitude from his worries in his dreams like everyone else.

"Why can't she stop haunting me?" Austin whispered to himself. "It wasn't my fault." That's what he said, but he didn't believe it. 'I should've stopped her.' he thought to himself over and over.

They had done a lot of stupid things together. They poked bee nests with sticks, receiving numerous bee stings, they paint balled cars, getting grounded for weeks, and even ran across roof tops, but Austin never would have guessed she'd die because a stupid piece of paper would blow out of her hand and into the street.

His mother had forced him into getting professional help, but there was nothing they could do. They could only recommend things to take his mind off her. The only time he didn't think of her was when he read books, played video games, and watched TV. At school everyone avoided him, not trying to cheer him up anymore. His grades plummeted, his esteem went with it, and his life was following closely.

He punched his pillow. She meant everything to him, and he failed to have the sense to stop her from going after a piece of notebook paper. When he found that the paper was just her late homework, he cried until he fell asleep. Now, he couldn't even see her face anywhere but in his dreams. Every picture that had her in it in the house was destroyed, except for the few pictures he had managed to hide. He reached under his pillow, feeling the thick edge of the picture of her. It didn't change that she was dead, but it did feel better knowing that he could still see the state her body was in the second before the collision.

Sometimes when he was awake, he thought he'd hear her voice, or her laugh, or even her crying. He'd think for a fleeting moment that his life for two months was just a nightmare and that she round the corner and come into the living room with a glass of water.

He moved his hand away from the photo under his pillow and draped his hand over the side of the bed. He couldn't bare thinking about her anymore. He could only search for his DS. When he found it, he swung it up and opened it, turning it on. The bright white flash hurt his eyes even though it was on the darkest brightness. He looked at the game in the slot: Pokémon diamond. He tapped it, wishing that he could escape to that world. As the screen went black to start the game, it went darker than normal. He looked to the previously green light to see it wasn't on. He was about to restart his game when the screen flashed white. When it faded there was writing on the screen. Before reading it, he checked the power to see it was still off.

"What's going on here?" Austin asked himself, for once not thinking of his dead friend. He read the message. 'Do you really miss me this much?' it read.

"What the..." Austin said. "What does that mean?" the writing disappeared after he read it. More text appeared soon.

'I just asked you if you missed me. Why don't you turn up the volume, Austin?'

Austin gawked. Whatever was going on, it wasn't normal. After debating whether or not he was crazy he turned up the volume.

"There, that's better." A female voice said from the DS. The words no longer appeared.

Austin knew that voice too well. He knew he had to be crazy because there was no way any of his dreams would change. "Kitty?" He whispered. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me, and I told you never to call me 'Kitty.' You know my name is Katie."

"It is you!" Austin exclaimed. "How are you talking to me?"

"How about you join me so I can tell you in person?"

"What do you mean?" He was anxious to see his best friend again but was unsure on how he was going to see her.

"I mean how about you get your wish and I get to see you again."

"I still don't understand."

"Just say yes."

"Okay, yes."

"See you soon!" her voice stopped. Austin waited for a moment, unsure if anything was going to happen. Suddenly, a white dot appeared on the screen. It grew. As it got bigger, it appeared like it was spinning. It seemed so real that Austin thought he saw it start to become a 3D tornado. It became bigger and bigger until it became apparent that it was more than a three dimensional white tornado, it was real!!

He dropped the DS and the tornado followed it as if it were attached to it. It continued growing until it was touching the ceiling. Austin was rooted in place, not knowing what to do. It suddenly bent over, the vortex pointing straight at him. It drew him in as if he were a feather. Austin flailed around, trying to get out of the white tornado. His flailing did nothing as he was drawn deeper down until he was suddenly dropped onto a flat patch of dirt.

"Owwe," a female voice groaned, "that didn't feel good." Austin looked to see who it was and his heart skipped a beat. Standing in front of him holding her stomach was Katie. She was completely as he remembered her. She still had her long red hair, her dark green eyes, her skinny body, and her thin face. The only thing new was her outfit. She was wearing a blue tank top and a pair of blue geans. Her shoes looked as new as her outfit. Around her right wrist was a watch and on her back was a backpack.

"Kitty!" He exclaimed, jumping up to give her a hug.

"Yeah it's nice to see you, too." She said with pain in her voice. She pushed him away abruptly just in time. She doubled over and emptied the contents of her stomach on the ground. "Now I just feel worse." She groaned.

"You don't know how happy I am to see you!" Austin exclaimed. She straightened herself out a bit, cringing still and holding her stomach. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better." She groaned.

"What happened to me? How are you alive?" Austin asked. He noticed that he was wearing different clothes as well. He was wearing new shoes, blue jeans, and a black t-shirt. Around his wrist was a watch and on his back was a pack that was similar to Katie's. He knew that his skin was pale, his brown hair was unkempt, and that his blue eyes had purple rings around them, but he didn't care.

"I'll explain..." she paused, looking like she was trying to keep her stomach down. When she was well enough to say it she said, "I'll explain later, right now, I'm... gonna be sick."

She doubled over again and vomited out whatever was left. "Uhg, I hate being sick."

"Maybe you should lie down." Austin suggested. She nodded, lying down on a patch of grass after taking her pack off. He knelt beside her, worried for her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing you can cure." She groaned.

"Just tell me."

"I said that it isn't something you or anyone can cure."

"Okay, then can you tell me how you're alive?"

"I am alive, and yet I'm not alive." She groaned in pain. "I didn't think it would hurt this much."

"Didn't think what would hurt this much?"

"Taking you here." she replied. "I brought you into your game."

"How?"

"I'm still a ghost, Austin, but here, I can be half alive. I still have the power of a ghost, but I'm pretty useless right now... I brought you here by using a large amount of power that I got from all your emotion, but I still- OW! - came a little short."

"So you're still dead?"

"Not here. This is the Pokémon universe, where neither of us have died."

"This is confusing."

"This is confusing?" she asked rhetorically. "Try getting hit by a car and appearing exactly where you were before, not realizing you're now dead."

"So what did you do?"

"I tried grabbing my homework, but my hands went right through it. I think I'm getting better." She tried standing up. "I feel a lot better!"

"You look a lot better, too." Austin complimented.

"Thanks." She twirled around gracefully. "But right now there's something I need to tell you. Before I took you here, I wanted to get us some Pokémon. It's so fun catching Pokémon. It's a little weird at first seeing Pokémon, but you'll get used to it." She reached into her bag and took out two pokéballs. She handed one to him. "This one's yours. I know you'll like her.Chapter End Notes:I've been working at an idea like this for awhile now. I finally got around to producing it, and I think I've done a pretty good job. hope you enjoyed it. review if you think I've missed something important or if you just plain want to tell me I rock