Whatever Cole Fortin had been expecting when he woke up, it wasn't this.

His room, a cozy but cramped space, had been replaced with a room similar to what you would find in a hotel: Nice, but very impersonal. The bed he lay on was a simple one, with a couple of pillows and completely white sheets. The walls of the room were similar, albeit a bit darker. Looking at the blank wall to his right for a bit, Cole determined that they were probably beige. A TV stood on a plain dresser across from the bed, with a large window covered by curtains to his left. There was no door in sight.

Cole sat up, yawning. The room definitely wasn't where he had been when he had fallen asleep, but that mystery could wait. First, he had to wake up. He swung his feet lazily to the side, so that his legs dangled over the side of the bed. The color of the carpet was interesting, he noted; it was green, but a bizarre shade of green that seemed to be yellow when looked at from a certain angle. He gingerly placed one foot on the carpet; after realizing that nothing had cut off the limb, he placed the other one down as well. He stood up, glancing around the room; now that he was standing, he noticed some things he had missed during the first look. There was a mirror above the bed, and a notebook next to the TV.

First, though, he had to get dressed. Cole walked over to the dresser and opened the drawers, hoping there would be something wearable inside. The dresser did not disappoint; there were a vast assortment of garments inside the drawers. After some short deliberation, he picked out a plain red T-Shirt and a pair of normal jeans. Nothing fancy; he didn't know what was going to happen, after all, and he would hate to ruin some of the more vividly colored clothes in the drawer. Now, it was time to figure out where he was. Cole picked up the notebook and opened it. Inside, there was a single sentence:

Mirrors don't lie.

Cole stared at the sentence for a while, trying to decipher its meaning. After a while, he placed the book back on the dresser and walked over to the mirror. In the mirror, Cole saw his reflection: A teenager, 17 years old, with brown eyes and sandy blond hair. There was something else, however. On the opposite wall, he saw a red switch where none had been before. He turned around to press the button, only to stop short.

The button wasn't there.

He turned to the mirror again. Sure enough, the button was showing, clear as day. For some reason, though, it was only showing in the mirror; no matter how hard he stared at the spot on the wall, the switch never materialized. Finally, Cole decided to try something; after all, what's the worst that could happen? He slowly reached out towards the spot on the wall where the switch was; he pulled it back a little bit when it started to pass through the wall, but he quickly resumed. Finally, he felt the cool button press against his fingers. Steeling himself, he swallowed and pressed the button.

Suddenly, a section of the blank wall fell away, creating an opening. A black shape bolted out of the hole, bowling Cole over as it went. Cole let out a yelp as he fell; somehow, though, he didn't feel threatened. As he turned over to look at the figure, he realized why. Those bright feathers could only be one thing. "Plume! It's you!"

"Arch! Archen!" The Pokemon cried, obviously happy to see its Trainer. It flew over to greet Cole, who leapt up and hugged the small bird. "Let's not be separated again, okay?" Cole said.

"Well, that's probably not going to happen."

Cole whirled around to face the direction of the voice, leading him to stare back into the opening. A man was standing inside, staring at Cole with intense, bright yellow eyes. His features were pointed; so pointed, in fact, that Cole felt like he could cut himself by touching the man's face. The face was framed by teal hair which fell from his scalp to his waist; judging by how frazzled it was, Cole decided that the length wasn't a personal choice. The rest of his body was covered by a thick black coat and baggy black pants, which seemed to be a failed attempt to hide a lanky, unnaturally thin body. "Who are you?" Cole finally asked.

"Alaude," he responded curtly. "One of six."

"One of six?" Cole asked. "Where are the other five?"

"Somewhere." Alaude grabbed Cole's arm with a black-gloved hand; despite his thinness, his grip was unnaturally strong. "Come. You must meet Leader."

"Hey!" Cole tried to break free of Alaude's grip, but his hands were seemingly made of iron. Alaude took off through the opening, taking Cole with him; Plume followed behind, squawking loudly as his trainer was carried away. Outside the room, it was very dark; only a few scattered torches lit the halls, revealing that they were made of steel. Alaude's black boots echoed against the floor, while Cole's bare feet danced, trying to avoid staying on the cold steel for too long. They continued like this for a while before coming to a giant steel door. "Leader!" Alaude called. "I have brought him!"

The doors swung open, creaking loudly. Alaude pulled Cole harshly through the doors, Plume still squawking behind them. Cole, disoriented from everything that had happened, didn't react until he was dumped unceremoniously into the center of the room. Alaude quickly moved to the side as Cole stood up, bowing deeply. "I have brought him, Leader."

Looking up, Cole realized who he was talking about. An enormous man stood before them. He was at least 8 feet tall, most likely 9. Unlike Alaude, who was skeletal, the man was well built, with broad shoulders and muscled limbs. He wore a black shirt, with a bizarre cloak over it; it was white, with a yellow triangle down the middle and purple, teal, and yellow circles on the sides. He also wore green shoulder pads, with matching boots; to round out the ensemble, he wore yellow bracelets. He looked every bit as regal as the kings in the stories Cole had been told when he was young, and he carried himself in the same way. "You have done well, Alaude," the man said, his voice a booming bass. "You may rest for a while."

Alaude bowed deeply again. "Yes, Leader." He turned and walked away without a word to Cole.

Cole stared at the man intently, trying to discern his intent. "So, you're Leader?"

The man then did the last thing Cole expected: He laughed. His laughter boomed just as his voice had, bouncing off the walls of the spacious room they were in and echoing. "That's just what they call me, Cole. You can call me Regigigas, Regi for short."

Cole was about to ask how Regi knew his name, but his next words made him freeze. "Regigigas? As in, the Legendary Pokemon?"

Regi smiled again. "Yep. Not anymore, though. I'm still legendary, but I gave up my pokemonhood to avoid the Schism."

Cole couldn't help but be curious. "The Schism?" He asked.

"Yes, the Schism," Regi said, walking towards Cole. "A great event in the history of the Pokemon World, albeit not a good one. Let me tell you the tale.

"It all began with a flare. A solar flare, to be specific. It hit our planet a few months ago, shattering electronics and sending the world into a blackout for days. It didn't just affect you humans, though. It affected us Legendary Pokemon as well, and not in a good way. One by one, it began to drive us insane. Starting with Mewtwo, then Zekrom, then Zygarde, and continuing until Arceus himself fell prey to it. When Arceus fell, well, that was the end of it. For all but seven of us, that is.

"For once, being a construct and not a living being paid off. I wasn't directly connected to Arceus, so I managed to stay uncorrupted. My three servants, Regice, Registeel, and Regirock, managed to remain uncorrupted as well. The Lati twins, being able to change between Pokemon and human at will, also were untouched. The last one of us to avoid insanity was Mew: By using transform, it took the form of a human and went undercover.

"Now, despite us avoiding corruption, that didn't mean we were in the clear. We were being hunted by the other Legendary Pokemon, who wanted to destroy their opposition before destroying the world. They can track us when we're in our Pokemon forms; after all, it's pretty hard to miss a Legendary's energy signature. So, we made the ultimate sacrifice.

"Legendary Pokemon have a unique ability, shared by no normal Pokemon. When all is lost, we can give up our Pokemon forms forever and become humans, while still retaining our power. The problem is that, unless it's Arceus doing this, it requires a vessel. A living human, whose body we possess and force the being inside it to share. It's a terrible cost, and a constant energy drain. Some of us couldn't take it, and withdrew entirely into the deepest parts of the vessel. You know Alaude; he used to be Regice, before the strain grew to be too much and he broke. Now, aside from the power he bestowed upon Alaude, Regice might as well not exist."

"This is a good story," Cole said, impatiently, "but what do I have to do with it?"

"Pipe down, I'm getting there. Mew went missing a few days ago; either he broke, or was captured. Whichever one it was, it proved that we needed to move, and fast. But the now-six of us, despite having power, don't have enough to fix everything by ourselves. That's why I told my servants to gather humans for us. I've been working day and night, and I've finally created a way to fight back against the corrupted Legendaries."

Regi reached into the fold of his cloak and pulled out a bizarre black ring. Cole, staring at it, said, "That looks like the Mega Rings the people of my home region use."

"It was," Regi replied, "Before I made some modifications. This device, powered by the bond between Pokemon and Trainer, should allow for a new process I have deemed Hybridization: the complete fusion of Man and 'Mon."

"Fusion?" Cole asked. His stomach was churning with emotion; part excitement, part fear.

"Yes, fusion," Regi said, smiling. "With this, you should be able to completely merge with your Pokemon, becoming a human-Pokemon Hybrid in a process similar to how I became human. However, since it's based off of the Mega Evolution process, it should be temporary instead of permanent."

"It should be permanent?" Cole asked apprehensively.

"Yes, well, we haven't been able to run tests, since we had no humans to test it on. Now that you're here, though…"

"…You want to use me as a guinea pig," Cole finished. "Well, it doesn't seem like I have any other choice."

Regi smiled. "You're right, you don't. Want to try it out now?"

Cole shrugged. "Why not? I mean, we might as well get it over with now."

Regi, still smiling, held out the Hybrid Ring. "All right then, put it on and get this show on the road!"

Cole took the ring from Regi's hands and clipped it onto his wrist. "Here goes nothing," he said, as the ring began to glow…