Shawn slowly came to, lying on his back on a grassy surface. He sat up, blinking into the surrounding darkness, trying to get a feel for where he was. "Ugh, dimension hopping is always a pain, and these spin off dimensions are the worst, but this jump gave me a splitting headache." He thought, massaging his throbbing temples. Suddenly, a wave of nausea and pain overtook him, and he fell forward onto his hands and knees, retching. As the heaving started to subside, he noticed the bracelet on his wrist seeming to vibrate. Just as he moved to remove it however, the world swayed in front of him, and he collapsed again, trying to empty a stomach with nothing in it. "Damn thing is still active!" He thought. "They must've forgotten to put a time trigger in it." His vision faded as he frantically scrabbled through the haze of pain and nausea to get the defective piece of equipment off. Just as it slipped over his fingers, the world faded to black once more.

Sometime later, Shawn once again regained consciousness. He slowly picked himself up, noticing with relief that the pain was gone. "That thing was trying to slice my power again, and combined with the dimensional adjustment, just overloaded my system." He thought. "Right, so where and when are we?" He said aloud to the darkness. Rummaging inside the bag, he starting laying his equipment out on the ground. There was just enough moonlight now for him to see what he was doing, as it had risen above the surrounding trees. "This must be a pokédex. And here's a wallet filled with local currency. Ah a watch! This must be the right time, 10:32. Camping gear. Here's a data disk, that must be my video dossier. Food supplies. Change of clothes. And here's some trainer gear, pokéballs, food and all the other essentials."

He stood up and stretched, looking approvingly at the neat pile of gear in front of him. "Seems like I have everything I need. Now to check the other things…" Closing his eyes, Shawn let his mind drift, withdrawing inside himself. His awareness of the outside world faded as he reached inside to the place where his power was stored, like a wellspring of light, somewhere behind his heart. The amount he had left was distressingly small, but enough for what he intended to try.

Focussing his energy into his hand, he reached out into the place where his magical "storage space" normally lay. He groped around in the air feeling for the little "catch" that opened into the dimensional dead space between dimensions. "Nothing," he thought. "Seems like I really am on my own here" Unable to reach into these empty dimensional pockets, he would not be able to send messages to the DMW headquarters. Next, he reached across his body to his left hip, feeling for the familiar shape by his side. "Yes! At least I can still use this!" he thought, drawing a shining blade out from it's cloak of invisibility.

He gave it a few experimental cuts through the air, reaching through it to its comforting stores of his unique elemental energy. Electricity crackled up and down the blade as he swung it in a complexly weaving arc over his head, then sheathing it once more at his side. "As long as I have this, there is virtually nothing here that is a threat to me." He thought.

Now that that was taken care of, he sat down again to review his mission. Unfolding the pokédex, he slipped the disk into it and booted it up, watching as it opened onto a DVD style menu. He clicked the video file titled, "Mission and objectives." The video opened with the chief sitting behind his desk.

"As you already know, spin-off dimensions are created when an imagined universe gains so much power and form through focussed psychic energy that it physically manifests itself. This is no exception. Where it differs though, is that most spin-offs resolve their initially imagined conflicts, then continue to exist normally as the built up psychic energy drains away."

"This one particular dimension has been continually maintained and modified by a constant flow of psychic energy over the last decade. Rather than continuing on its way, the evolving "storyline" that has been created in our universe has been playing itself out. That has now come to a crux. The story has reached a point where there is a threat to the very fabric of the dimension. If we do not take action, that threat has a very real possibility of being realized. The results of this' to say they would be catastrophic would be an understatement. Not only would this dimension be destroyed along with all inside it, but it could start a chain reaction that would destroy all known dimensions. You must prevent this at all costs! Fortunately, we have some time. I will now switch to the video segment I received from my superiors on the council, detailing this threat."

The scene went dark, switching to a view of another man Shawn recognized as the current arbiter of the high wizard council. "Greetings Shawn Matthews. You have been selected for a critical mission, one that your unique skill set gives us high hopes of success. Your main objective is to find and eliminate the threat posed by a man named Cyrus. He is, or will be, the leader of a group calling itself Team Galactic. His plan is to harness the power of two legendary pokémon and use it to destabilize time and space itself."

"His motivations for doing so are somewhat unclear, but the fact remains that those are his intentions. Unfortunately, matters are a bit complicated," the man paused, taking a sip from a glass of water. "One, we do not know where he currently is," he resumed. "The storyline composed in our universe gives us the insight into what he plans, but in the manifest spin off dimension, it has yet to truly begin. Second, once you locate him, you MUST not simply kill him. Not only because this would this go against our creed, but because it would destroy the balance of the dimension. The only way we can safely stop him is to allow his plan to reach the tipping point. This is the one way we can insure the dimensional balance will not be skewed by altering its fabric too drastically. Even the act of sending you in is a risk, but a risk we must take."

"Fortunately, we have some time. As near as we can tell, he has not yet started to put his plan in motion. You have several months, possibly a year at the very least. You will know the time is getting close when Team Galactic builds their headquarters in Veilstone city. This time is necessary for the final reason. You must assume the role of a pokémon trainer, in order to protect your identity as a wizard. We don't know how the local authorities would react, so we can't risk you becoming a fugitive." Shawn nodded at this. Having to keep his identity a secret was nothing new to him, or any other wizard from Earth. Fortunately, centuries of living in hiding had made them quite good at it, as well as developing many useful tricks for doing so.

The video continued, "Also, if you were to take down Cyrus by yourself, he could use that against you, accusing you of being a rogue vigilante. Assuming the role of a trainer will protect you from this, as local law enforcement supports using battles to settle disputes of any kind. You would be able to arrest Cyrus and take him to the proper authorities. Use your powers sparingly, and don't trust any humans with knowledge of your abilities,"

He paused again, allowing what he had said to sink in. "So, your objectives are as follows. Use the time you have to gather and train a team of pokémon to stop Cyrus. Keep an eye on the actions of Team Galactic, and as Cyrus' plan accelerates, be prepared to step in. The best way to guarantee dimensional stability will be to stop him at Spear Pillar. Any earlier than this may be more change than the dimensional fabric can handle. Finally, upon completion of your main mission, you will be charged with staying in this dimension and working against the designs of the forces of dark there. Dimensional stability must be maintained, as this dimension has grown too big to right itself without help. When it has become completely stable again, we will use the auger you were given to withdraw you. However, this could take some time, as the ripple effects of this event will take a long time to settle. We appreciate the sacrifice you are making by leaving your home for an indefinite period of time. Please know that if there were any other way, we would have taken it. Unfortunately, this is it. Good luck, and be careful."

The screen went dark again, and then returned to the main menu. Shawn sat back, chewing on all the information he had just been given. Despite the gravity of the threat, a grin slowly crept onto his face. "I can't believe I'm really here! Of all the places to be sent, this is a place I've always wished were real. They call it a sacrifice to be stuck here, but for me it's practically a dream come true! With a bit of universe saving thrown in of course, but there's no way I'll lose!" Even though he was 24 years old, Shawn was an eternal optimist when it came to things that excited him. Normally quite mature, right now he felt like a kid in a candy store. Even the threat of having EVERYTHING be destroyed couldn't dampen his mood.

Getting back to business, Shawn scrolled down the DVD menu, seeing that the rest of the files were information on places and people. "No real need to look at that now." He thought, popping out the disk. He accessed the town map function on the pokédex. "Hmm, so I'm somewhere on route 212, between Pastoria and Hearthome cities. There must be a roadway around here somewhere." He gathered his gear together and started walking through the moonlit forest in the direction indicated by the map. "Even though it's late here, I've only been up for a few hours." He thought, not the least bit sleepy anymore. It would take him a few days to get used to the massive time shift. As he walked, he noticed that the trees seemed odd. "I'm not quite sure what it is, but…" he thought. Then it hit him, "These trees are too ordered. They haven't grown naturally, they've been planted. Am I in someone's orchard or something?" He pushed his way through a stand of bushes, and suddenly a voice cried out, "Hey! Intruder! STOP!