From the endless expanse of the void between universes, the Taiiu Medallion grew irritated. No one was violating the laws of nature in their respective universes, which meant that the artifact was forced to put in effort. It picked a universe at random, ready to unleash chaos.

---------

"You ready, Saph?" Leaf called, grinning. 

"R- ready as I'll ever be," Sapphire responded, fiddling with her headband awkwardly. She found that, recently, she had a really hard time looking her old friend from Kanto in the face.

"Alright, let's go- come on out, Pinsir!" One Pokéball toss later, a huge brown bug dropped onto the grassy plain.

Sapphire was shocked. Last time she had seen Leaf, the girl had said she hated Bug-types, and now she had one? Well, at least she knew how to fight it . . . "G- go, Cradily!" The eerie, anemone-like fossil Pokémon twitched in the sunlight.

Leaf's grin grew wide, and slightly evil. "Pinsir, use Guillotine!"

Just as Sapphire went to ask what the hell Guillotine was, the bulky bug leapt forward, its huge head-pincers gripping Cradily, snapping shut with a crunch. Cradily fainted instantly.

"A- a- a one-hit KO?!" Sapphire asked, already ready to crumble before her more confident friend. "H- how can I fight something like that?"

"Whoa, Saph," Leaf put her hands up, walking forward to comfort her friend. "That Kyogre you caught had Sheer Cold, which does the exact same thing!" she said, again having to remind Sapphire of moves her own Pokémon had. "I just wanted an equal battle!"

Sapphire looked up, Leaf's face uncomfortably close. Sapphire might have been three years older than Leaf, but the younger girl was already taller than her. The Hoennite found herself blushing, simultaneously wanting to run away and lean closer to her friend's smiling face.

"I'm calling it off," Leaf sighed, recalling her Pinsir, and pulling Sapphire's arm to recall her Cradily. "You're burning up. Come on, Saph, you're 18 now, don't you think you should know to put on sunscreen on your own? Here, let me take you to the Center, get you and Cradily healed up."

Sapphire was a stammering mess, not really able to vocalize any of the thoughts running through her mind at a million miles an hour as Leaf pulled her hand and walked her along. Sapphire began to wonder why she was like this, why she was so nervous around her best friend of the past five years, why she was so entranced by Leaf's long brunette locks and teal eyes, why she was suddenly jealous of the hat that Leaf never seemed to be without, why her eyes were, even now, being drawn to the swirling red skirt Leaf wore, sweeping around the younger girl's rear as she walked, just as Flannery had talked about the last time the Lavaridge Gym Leader had spoken with her.

Wait. 

What was it the rumor said about Flannery? That she was interested in other women?

Suddenly, it all made sense. It was all so much simpler now. Sapphire felt a huge weight be lifted from her shoulders- only to crash down ten times as hard.

Sapphire realized with a depressed certainty that she was crushing- no, perving, as she was staring at the younger girl's butt- on the Champion of the Kanto Region, a girl who was absolutely gorgeous, a huge icon in the world, and probably already taken, most likely by that Red boy who took her title every so often. Sapphire had zero chance.

Just as her love epiphany and subsequent realization she had no chance began to really weigh on Sapphire's mind, she and Leaf arrived at the Pokémon Center. Leaf handed over the balls containing Pinsir and Cradily to the nurse, and began dragging Sapphire to the rooms in the back.

"W- wait," Sapphire said, unnerved by Leaf's incredibly purposeful stride. "Where are we going now?"

"Sapphire, we have to get you to lay down for a while," Leaf said quietly. "You've got a mean sunburn on your face, you've had this real vacant stare for the last twenty minutes, and you didn't answer when I was talking to you earlier."

The room provided by the Center was small, and only had one bed- it was only meant to be used by one trainer. Sapphire blushed harder as thoughts of sleeping next to Leaf crept into her head. Then, Leaf leaned her face way too close to Sapphire's own not to give Sapphire thoughts of a kiss.

"Saph," she asked, concerned, "what's wrong? Did you get sick? Please tell me you're okay . . ."

Sapphire sighed, trying to think of a way to tell her best friend what was going on. "Have- have you ever . . . of course you haven't. Erm . . . okay. I'm in love with someone who I don't have a chance with, and I'm really . . . distracted. My- my heart hurts." The blush deepened to the point where Sapphire's fingertips were red.

Leaf's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed. "Who is this jerk, Saph? I'll get 'em for you. I will travel as far as I have to, grab them by the ankle, and pull them all the way here, just for you."

Sapphire smiled. "Leaf, I don't think you'd be able to pull my crush by the ankle. You're . . ." Sapphire bit her lip, "an amazing friend. All- all I have to do is tell you my problems, and you- you want to fix them." Sapphire hated that she had to do this, but she knew that she didn't have a chance with Leaf, and didn't want to jeopardize her friendship by revealing her awkward crush.

"Yeah," Leaf chuckled hollowly, "that's me. Always looking out for my best friend." She helped Sapphire lie down. "Tell you what, Saph. I'm going to go get us both some lemonade, and I'll help you brainstorm a way to catch this guy's eye." With that, Leaf left the room.

Not four seconds after Leaf closed the door, a weird gold thing appeared in the room. It was round, about the size of a coaster, with the edge ridges you usually see on large coins. The design was one of an eyeball, surrounded by harsh, choppy lines.

The weirdest thing, though, was that it talked. ^^Touch me,^^ it said, in a voice that was honeyed and calm. ^^Just a touch, and you will find a new perspective on the world.^^

Sapphire decided to lean down and grab the . . . thing.

Everything went white, and pain rocked Sapphire's frame. Literally everything hurt, even her hair, somehow. Sapphire couldn't take it, and passed out. 

When she came to,  everything was dark, and slick, and . . . smelled like her shampoo? To make things worse, she found herself trapped under a huge, canvas-like cloth.

After a bit of struggling, Sapphire managed to get the huge cloth off of her- only to realize that it was her own handkerchief, which she wore over her head. Now, however, she had bigger problems- literally.

The "small" room was now larger even than the Battle Frontier, with the bed easily towering above her, the gold thing sitting on the surface of the bed, its ridged edge taunting her.

^^I told you you'd have a new perspective on the world. Did I lie?^^ Before Sapphire could answer, it shushed her. ^^You hear that? That other girl is coming back, so you might want to hide in case she steps on you.^^

Sapphire immediately scurried under the metal-legged frame, not willing to risk it. 

The door clicked open, and all Sapphire could see from her perspective was Leaf's legs and feet. "Saph? Sapphire, where'd you go?" The younger girl's voice immediately went panicky. "SAPPHIRE! This isn't funny! Please- please stop hiding, you got me!"

^^Hello, Leaf.^^ The gold thing's voice could be heard through the bed. ^^Touch me. Touch me, and I'll show you where she is.^^