Lucas's body jolted, straightening like a ruler at the sight of him. It was still so surreal, even though it was the second time meeting him in person.

But at this point, was it really?

You couldn't miss him.

A stern-looking man with a thick silver mustache that quietly shone with centuries of wisdom, and, of course, the big brown coat that set him apart from all his subordinates.

"Easy, Lucas, you're not fully..."

"Right..." Lucas sank back onto the sofa, heeding Dawn's advice. She was treating him with so much grace...and yet they weren't even friends like that.

The Professor looked down at the children with his piercing gaze that reminded them just how young they were—a gaze that spanned across centuries and timelines—

Decades. Sorry. He wasn't THAT old.

"What's the matter, Lucas? Your eyes, your face: it's as if you've seen...something. Something dark...something evil..."

Lucas's head slowly gravitated upwards at his accurate guess. Seriously, frickin' bullseye. Maybe old people really did know everything.

"Please tell us, Lucas—the Professor—he can help with anything; he probably knows exactly what's wrong and what to do..."

Lucas watched the concern twinkle in her eyes. She was so...kind...and beautiful. Every time she opened her soft pink lips, he wanted to—

"YEAH! Tell us EVERYTHING, Lucas—I'm sick of waiting; let's get to the bottom of whatever's making you say these weird things!"

All the white-coated lab guys flinched, a bit frightened by the sudden boom burst coming from the young boy with blonde hair, who for some reason had decided to remain standing while even the Professor had taken a seat among the children.

Did he have no respect?

"Weird things?" Professor Rowan turned to Barry, his ice-cold blue eyes quelling the boy's bright hot frustration.

"Yeah...we went to the lake, and Lucas was rambling about the last time we'd been there—when we'd never been there at all! And to top it all off, he mentioned a guy with blue hair being there on our last trip, RIGHT BEFORE THE BLUE-HAIRED GUY APPEARED!"

His electric voice crackled and rippled around the lab like he was speaking into a mic in an auditorium.

All the anxiety and...fear—not a lot of fear, though, just a bit—came spewing out of his mouth. But...when he looked into the Professor's eyes...

"I see. A blue-haired man."

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It was like he was...bored.

As if he'd already heard it all and seen it all before. Barry couldn't stand it. His cool-guy act.

Rowan turned to Lucas, who was seated on the two-seater in front of him next to Dawn.

"What happened to you, Lucas? I want to hear exactly what's going on..."

Lucas's heart jolted upright, stiffening like a ruler...he looked at Dawn, who was so close their knees were even touching.

She nodded.

"Tell us..."

Lucas sighed.

"Mesprit attacked me."

...

"WHAT??!!"

"Barry! Please, just let Lucas talk..."

Barry scoffed, crossing his arms with his sour face projecting the phrase "Who do you think you are?"

"But...it wasn't any regular attack. It just appeared. Right in front of me, and I could feel it invading my mind, like I was in a trance. Then I passed out."

Professor Rowan had a steely expression on his face, listening to every single syllable down to the last breath...to make sure.

"That's not really an attack, Lucas," Barry chimed in, shaking his head. "I thought you meant it blasted you with psychic energy or something. Passing out—"

"I'm not done," Lucas cut him off, his voice shaking as his hands curled into his pants. "When I woke up...I wasn't on Earth anymore. I was in a void. A massive void. There was no air, no gravity—nothing! Just an empty blue void with weird floating islands and an upside-down waterfall! And then..."

He gulped, every inch of his body rattling. He caught a glimpse of Professor Rowan—

"AGHH!"

Lucas held his head, which throbbed in skull-crushing pain as if someone was stepping on it! Everything around him flickered black and white in a matrix.

"LUCAS!" Dawn screamed, horrified by the sight of his eyes spazzing out, white and covered in pink veins.

Images poured into his head, flashing by in an epileptic collage. A smirking woman with dark scarlet hair. A grim-faced woman with magenta hair...stone pillars and two swirling white vortexes.

Cold wind swirled mightily, particles of snow and ice mixed into it.

Standing in between the twisting white galaxies...a man with pale blue hair. Like a crown of ice.

That's when he heard it. Again. That voice.

"I've waited for this for so long. Dialga and Palkia...shaping this world as a double spiral of space and time. Yes...the very powers you hold mastery over. You WILL do my bidding..."

His words became distorted and drowned. The echoes of phantoms whispering in his ears.

"Ugly...incomplete world...disappear...thank you...Mercury...Mercury...Lucas...Lucas..."

"LUCAS!"

Lucas jolted awake, his eyes rolling back into place. For some reason, he was on...the floor?

Barry was squeezing his shoulders, a mortified expression on his face.

"What the hell...? Why am I on the floor?"

"It's okay...you're okay," Dawn softly spoke in a trembling voice in between panicked panting.

Lucas looked around, confusion on his face. Why was everyone freaking out?

"Barry, HEY! Why are you freaking out? Seriously, why's everyone...?" Lucas looked at his friends, Dawn's eyes starting to drop tears of fright.

"Lucas."

Everyone's heads turned in the direction of an unshaken, calm voice.

"That's not all you saw, is it? Tell us more. More about your time in the world's shadow. The distortion world. " Professor Rowan said.