The angry bull was still angry when Rae ran past him, but he was confused too. The woman was safe so why get back into the fray. For a few seconds he couldn't do anything but stare dumbfounded at her pulling Jim to his feet. Jim, wasn't confused though. Well, he was, but that was his usually state so he reacted quicker to the change in events and got to his feet. "Stay!" He said to the tauros in what he hoped sounded like a commanding voice. It did its trick and the bull's eyes almost went crossed.

Jim took Rae's hand, while the other held tightly to mareep. "Let's go!" He dragged her along as he hurried over to the fence which couldn't be climbed with both hands full. "Okay Rae, you first." He let go over her hand and then put the mareep on the other side. Once he was certain Rae would make it over before him he started climbing.

It was at this point that the bull pokemon realized what was going on, and his anger increased turned and charged right at the Jim's behind. Jim got over in time, but it didn't do any good. The tauros didn't stop at the gate. He went through it. The wood splattered into a storm of splinters as he raced past Jim and the others. He started to turn for another go at them, but didn't get the chance.

"That's enough out of you!" An angry old man's voice called. There was a flash of light and the bull disappeared. "Now then." The old man said, lowering his pokeball. "YOu kids mind telling me what's going on and why your on my property?"

Rae scurried over the fence at Jim's prompting, and then shrieked and tried to jump out of the way as the Tauros destroyed the fence. Breathing hard, Rae looked up from her place on the ground as the approaching man began to speak. The Tauros was gone and Rae was very glad for that. She slowly stood up, dusting off the back of her jeans. She looked to Jim, completely unsure of what to say. Her mouth was mimicking a fish as it opened and closed as she racked her brain for an excuse to tell the man. She didn't think Sorry sir, we fell through a hole in the sky to try and stop an army of scary creatures from destroying our world, and ended up in your grass was a good excuse to tell the man. He might call the authorities.

"Um....we....didn't know it was anyone's property..." Rae decided to go with saying. She hope Jim might be better at coming up with an excuse than she was if the man wanted more explanation. "We are very sorry for the intrusion."

"Not anyone's property!" The old man said, his faded blue eyes darted from one of the trespassers to another. "Young lady there are fences and signs everywhere. How could it be anything but someone else's property?" He put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "Well whatever the reason you two are here, we'll get to later. Are either of you hurt? That's what needs to be focused on."

"I'm okay." JIm said getting to his feet, Mareep snuggling at his leg. "This little lady looks good to know." Jim turned to Rae. "How about you Rae? Everything alright? You still got the same amount of holes that you came into the world with?"

Rae looked apologetically at the man. When she was asked about any wounds, Rae looked at her arms and legs but only saw the one she had received when they fell through the rift. "No, just a scrape on my knee and some ripped pants. Oh, and a little scrape on my hand. Nothing to worry about!" Rae replied cheerfully. She couldn't help it just then and reached out to pat the pink Pokémon on it's head. "Looks like you gained a new friend, Jim."

"Yeah, I guess." Jim looked down at the mareep. It was pressing hard enough against his leg to nearly knock him over, purring. "But its a bit creepy being the center of so much attention. Do you think its going to bite me?" Gingerly he touched the pokemon to see if it was still real. It was. When Rae touched the mareep it gave her a look but smiled as her hand touched it soft head.

The man nodded. "Well, its a good thing neither of you are hurt. It's always annoying to find some people trespassing but I wouldn't like any of them harmed because of it." He motioned towards. He pointed at a small cabin a few yards away. "Why don't you two come on in so we can talk. Looks like there's a storm coming."

Rae was a bit shocked at the man. He found two trespassing young adults and decides to invite them into his house? Then she remembers everyone's trusting personality in the Pokémon franchise and follows the man to his cabin. "Thank you very much, we would not want to be caught in a storm." Rae told the man kindly.

As they were walking towards his home, Rae thought she saw movement in the corner of her eye. She turned quickly, afraid it was a creature from the rift. But she didn't see anything in the grass. The man was correct about a storm, as the wind began to pick up. Rae was slightly spooked and hurried along beside Jim as the sky began darkening with clouds. She still couldn't hake the feeling something was watching her.

"You, you don't young lady." The man said, doing his best to sound cheerful despite something apparently being on his mind. "These summer storms can get bad and if my aching knee is any judge, and its always been the best around these parts, this storm here is going to be a doozy." They reached the cabin the stranger opened the door. Inside was small but cozy. There was a strong fire going in a fire place at the north end of the room. "Take a seat. I'll get you two some tea."

"Thank you sir." Jim said, choosing the second nearest love seat to the door. He sank down into it and the little mareep quickly bounced on his lap and curled up.

Rae looked at the nice home, and felt the warmth from the fire in the air. She made her way over and sat in the seat near the fire, letting it warm up the chill that had taken her over when she was outside. She could see through a near window and peeked out. The storm was rolling in fast, but what caught Rae's eye was a streak of black. When it stopped moving, Rae saw a small black creature in the man's yard outside the window. It had a yellow circle on it's forehead, and deep red eyes. "UMBREON!" Rae jumped from her seat and opened the window. Wind gusted into the room, but the small dark type pokemon rushed and leaped right into Rae's arms. It chirped at Rae and nuzzled under her chin. Smiling, Rae quickly closed the window and took her seat again, petting the soft creature on the head. "Is this your Umbreon, mister?" Rae asked the man.

The man blinked down at the new arrival to the cabin. "Oh! No, he's not mine. I've seen him wondering around the place a couple times here and there, but he usually stays to himself. Which is a bit odd, if you ask me. Umbreaons only evolve with friendship so why something like him would keep to himself is beyond me." There was a flash of light outside. Several seconds later thunder so loud it shook the house.

"Wow, I guess you were right about that storm." Jim said, petting the mareep and looking out the window. There were a few drops already stuck to the glass.

Rae frowned down at the Unbreon, who just stared back at her in silence. "What happened to your original owner, bud?" Rae asked the Pokémon. Umbreon just stared back. "Well, guess it doesn't matter. If you want to stay with me you can."

The thunder shocked Rae and she yelped, scaring the Umbreon into climbing up her face to get to a higher and seemingly safer space. "GAH!" Rae flailed about as the creature climbed and then made his place on the top of Rae's head.

"I really do not like storms." Rae told the room, while she wiped at the small cut one of the Umbreon's claws had accidently made in her cheek.

"Me neither." The man said putting his hands on his hips and going to look out the window. "They keep me inside, make a mess, and I can't do anything but wait." He sighed and put a saucer with a cup of tea before each of his guest. "Thunderstorms always feel like such a waste of time to me." He shook his head and frowned. "Oh! Where are my manors." The man laughed. "The name's Chester, but you can call me Chester."

"It's nice to meet you, Chester." Jim said, taking the man's hand and shaking it. "I'm Jim and I've never minded storms. I love the smell of rain and used to walk my dogs when there was lightning. I don't know, but I've always felt so free. I always imagined nothing bad could happen while there was a storm because one divine source was fighting another so they were too busy to notice anybody down here."

There was another flash of lightning. This time the thunder took half the time and shook the house harder.

"THUDERUS AND TORNADUS!" Rae suddenly exclaimed, then blushed at her outburst. "I mean...in Pokémon. Those two cause storms. But I mean, where I'm from storms are scary and random forces of nature that bend for no man." Rae looked out the window while sipping her tea, staring at the sky wondering if there were really Pokémon out there. This entire situation was surreal. "Oh, and um I'm Rae. Thank you again for opening your home to us and giving us tea, Chester." The Umbreon climbed down to Rae's lap and sniffed her tea curiously.

Chester gave Rae a strange look. His eyes narrowed. "In pokemon? What do you mean in Pokemon?" He leaned back and counted to ten. "It's no problem Rae." The man nodded and took a seat opposite the two. "Really. It's been awhile since I've had company after my sons left to become trainers." He sipped his own tea and gave them a look. "But niceties aside, I wold appreciate you two telling me exactly what you were doing in my field and its not just because I like my privacy. With Tauros outside either you kids could've been seriously injured or killed. "

"Uh. Jim said, stroking mareep." He looked at Rae and then back out at the thunderstorm. "WE just kind of got lost and fell through."

Chester arched an eyebrow. "Fell through?"

Rae nodded and smiled, face perfectly normal with no hint of lie. She was apparently very good at coming up with excuses. "We fell down the hill near your property, and right through the fence gaps, if you'd believe it," Rae chuckled, as if remembering and finding it hilarious how it had happened. "That's actually why my jeans got ripped. But we really did not mean to trespass. It was a complete accident." She looked at Chester sincerely, then sipped her tea again, patting the Umbreon's head as it tried to steal her tea.

"Hmmm?" Chester arched his left eye brow. He put down his cup and folded his arms across his chest. "Now, young lady there's something funny about that." He cocked his head in the direction he found them. "Thing is, what hill did you come down? There's not really any around these parts. I mean, there are a couple here and there, but none of them are on, or close enough to my property to make your story possible."

The farmer turned his attention back to Jim. "WAnna give it another shot, or are you going to stick to your friend's story?"

Jim's face paled. Mareep must've sensed something too because she stood up on his lap and sparks of electricity danced around her curls. "It's okay." JIm said, patting her on the head. "No need to start a fight here." The young man turned his attention up to their host. "I'm not sure exactly what's going on. I'd like to tell you, but I don't know if you'd believe it. There's also the chance it could be dangerous for you to know." As if on que there was a violent flicker of several streams of lightning followed quickly by aloud growling thunder.

"Hmmm. Try me."

Rae looked down, embarrassed she had been caught in a lie. Umbreon looked up at her and rubbed his nuzzle under her chin. She jumped at the sound of the thunder and flashes of lightning. Looking to Jim, she bit her bottom lip and then turned to Chester. "I guess with a world like this, with these strange wondrous creatures in it, you are more likely to believe our real story." She sighed, and set her empty tea cup down. "We fell through a hole in the sky." She deadpanned, waiting for Chester's disbelief.

"Fell through?" Chester's head tilted to the side, unsure. "You mean you two are a couple of aliens?"

"Not exactly." Jim said, finishing his tea. "You ever hear the story of that dragon-ghost pokemon? The one that lives in a world right next to this one?" The man nodded. "Well, its something sort of like that. We're in a world next to this one. We fell through because things were attacking our world and we thought going through the portal would help."

Chester's face went white. "Things were killing people?" His eyes shifted around nervously and he leaned close to Jim, closer than what Jim felt comfortable with. "What kind of things? What did they look like?" Jim moved back nervously. He turned his gaze to Rae. "Well what did they look like? Tell me please"

Rae swallowed and nervously glanced around, trying to avoid eye contact. "Like....like weird deformed humans, without hair or clothing, I don't know! Terrifying aliens?!" At Rae's distressed tone, the Umbreon leaped down to face chester, hair along his back rising. The creature growled it's name and glared hard at the man. "Why? Why do you want to know so bad?"

"Weird deformed humans?" Chester's salt and pepper beard trembled at something behind his eyes. "Do-do you think those things naturally looked like humans, or were they taking the shape of human beings like how shadows take the shape of whatever that's between them and the light?"

Jim tilted his head in confusion. That was a strangely poetic description. "uh maybe. That could be it. We saw some shadow tanks when we were just leaving so I think the shadow analogy works better. Why?" Jim's own eyes narrowed.

Chester looked around. He took a deep breath and swiveled around on the balls of his feet. He pulled the blinds down in a desperate yank and then turned back to his guest. "I've been seeing things lurking around from time to time. At first I figured they were just dark type pokemon Inobody saw before, but there was something about them. I can't explain it. They would appear every once in a while, nothing too weird and then a few days ago I've been starting to hear screams." He swallowed hard. "These weren't the startled kind of screams you get sometimes, or even the back off kind of warning screams, but the last breath you get to exhale before something awful kind of screams."