Oscar's journey began with a nightmare. He was surrounded by darkness, a familiar sound occupying his thoughts with its persistent drone. It took him a moment, but he eventually realized that this unnerving tone was in-fact screaming. As the minutes dragged on, he began to recognize the voice as his own. At that moment, something began to crawl out of the darkness.

Before he could get a good look though, the scientist would jolt awake. His head felt heavy, and his vision could barely comprehend the twisted landscape above him. He felt--oppressed. As if something was trying to smother him from every angle. It was a strong enough sensation to induce panic within his aching form.

A welcome voice cut through his discomfort, and Oscar would turn his head to find howard slayte. Oscar smiled wearily, happy to see a familiar face amongst the distorted gloom. Yet his joy was short-lived, as Oscar needed to face the full truth of what was happening to him. He slowly sat up at Howard's behest, pinching the bridge of his nose as his senses screeched their way into normalcy--or something resembling normalcy anyway.

Oscar took his first clear glance at his surroundings, becoming more confused as his brain failed to grasp where he was. It was all so--familiar. His mind went back to his encounters with Katherine Fairburne, but surely he was not--it was not possible.

Yet with every passing moment he became more sure, and his confusion would quickly turn into excitement as Oscar leapt to his feet. "Howard we--" Oscar swung his head in every direction, taking in every inch of this horrific realm with the same fervor of a child finding their presents on Christmas morning.

"This can't be real right? Are we--actually here?"

"We are."

Oscar looked ecstatic to be dragged into hell. Academics were strange, curious creatures. They would throw themselves into the incinerator if it meant that they could understand this world just an iota more. If Oscar came out this with an understanding of how physics failed to function, he would laugh at the sky and cheer.

To have such gusto for a world that denied human life made the archaeologist scratch his head. Despite that, Howard couldn't blame him too much. How much had the admin given to understand yesterday in anticipation for tomorrow.

"We have something to do. I need you to focus, Oscar. I don't know how the hell we're supposed to get back home. Even worse, I've been hoodwinked."

Artificial arms crossed. The admin's shadow was not his own, but belonged to his original body.

"Before all this happened, Regirock disappeared from Petalburg while demolishing a building." Howard's brow furrowed as he thought about this revelation. "Yet before I fell in here..."

"...I heard that it had vanished. It's here, somewhere. I can tell."

---

oscar clayton

Oscar was able to 'read the room', so to speak, and dial down his excitement. He had dreamed of being able to explore the Distortion World, and now happenstance would finally provide him with the opportunity to do so. Yet there was much to be done and many questions to answer. What brought them here, and for what purpose? Howard said his Regirock had been pulled back into this distorted prison, why? There was just so much to consider that it made Oscar's head spin.

Oscar's struggle to land on a singular subject was fairly obvious, his face twisting into a multitude of expressions as he curated every mystery that ran through his mind. Eventually he would put out his hands, as if commanding his mind to cease its chatter. Oscar took a deep breath, "Let's take this one step at a time."

Oscar pressed one of his thumbs into his chin and began thinking out loud. "There's no way to know what brought us here and why, at least not yet. We should locate Regirock, perhaps whatever its doing here will provide us with a clue on what's going on." Oscar peered over at the lounging admin, "I can't help but wonder though, why am I here? You make sense, you're Regirock's master. Where do I come in?"

Oscar felt a shiver down his spine, as well as the abstract feeling of being watched. Yet as he slowly turned to examine their surroundings, he would find nothing but distorted landscapes hanging in the void. "What a peculiar place."

howard slayte

He let the man organize his thoughts. High above in the paradox spiral, a silouette flew by. It was so swift and sudden that the admin wrote it off as a trick of the light, even if he knew in his soul that it was something far worse. Rather than let Oscar notice his distress and thus imply that the shadow had existed, he stood.

"Does it matter?" He let the question hang in the air. Howard's hand rested on his hip. "If you trip on a stone, does the placement of the stone have a reason? Is it meaningful? Maybe, but it's ultimately you who ran into it and stumbled."

He turned to a path that cut through antimatter like a hot knife through butter. In the distance was a vaguely shaped mountain.

"All you can do is pick yourself up and keep marching forward." That vague chunk of earth was familiar to the admin, though he didn't know why. He felt a need to meander towards it, though. "So let's pick ourselves up and find my golem."

'Peculiar'. It almost made Howard chuckle. What an understatement.

"If you need a reason, then maybe climbing on Regirock during the battle caused the world to make a mistake." Howard gestured towards the path. "Lead the way."

---

oscar clayton

Oscar was unsatisfied with Howard's answer to his inquiry. Of course it mattered to him, Oscar had been trying to get into the Distortion World for years. Why now? What did he do to finally break through? His memory was too fuzzy, the last thing he remembered was going home--so no experiment could have taken place. His curiosity threatened to smother him, but he decided to keep his thoughts to himself. Oscar would surely forget the circumstances of his arrival once their expedition began in earnest.

As Howard offered Oscar the lead, the pale gallivanter chuckled. "My mind tells me you just need a body shield for any distortion shenanigans, but my heart sees this as a show of affection and it thanks you." Oscar gladly took point, forging their path forward with the zeal of a true explorer. Oscar struggled to keep himself from stopping every few feet, finding a constant stream of new details to gush over but forcing himself onward for the sake of time. After all, this was not like Ultra Space. Life was not meant to exist here, so who knows how long they had before the realm would begin consuming their vitality.

Oscar hopped across a small gap to a new platform, heedless of the endless abyss that sat far below them. This boasted a waterfall, which Oscar could not help but approach. He removed one of his gloves, and eagerly ran his pale hand through the rushing water. It felt--wrong--or more accurately, incorrect. As if the source of this cascade had never felt water before. Oscar cackled with sincere delight as he pulled out his hand, watching the droplets left upon his flesh as they erratically fell down his wrist.

"This place is amazing! It isn't like Ultra Space, it tries to replicate the logic of our world without understanding how it works. Absolutely astounding!"

A shadow passed overhead, or more so Oscar could have sworn one did. Yet as he looked up he only saw the same shades of purple that melted from the heavens: a farce of their sky. Oscar shrugged and equipped his glove once more. "We should keep moving. Which direction feels 'right' to you?"

howard slayte

The admin rolled an eye, huffing as he did so.

"You're so excited that I can't help but let you lead the way. Take it as a sign of respect. Besides, I'm missing Regirock. I'd rather not lead the charge. You're stronger, so light the way forward. That's our purpose, right? To light the way?"

Whether Team Rocket consisted of academics, engineers, soldiers, or murderers, there were enough enlightened individuals to light a path through this distorted reality. They would understand this world. That was Oscar's purpose. That was Howard's purpose. Death was worth it if they could find the truth.

Yet they would not die.

"I remember during the first expedition into Area Zero, when Regirock was first sighted, the Distortion World's portals were detected. I never could figure out why, but now, I think I can." Howard looked up at the mass of stone and omnidirectional water, his hat fluttering as he did so. "I think it was building a replica of Area Zero."

He pointed at their destination.

"And I think that's it."

---

oscar clayton

As Howard pointed upward, Oscar's giddy smile enlarged into a grin. "I was hoping you would say that." Oscar reached for his belt, and was delighted to find that the pokeballs he had equipped that morning were still there. He pulled one off and pointed it toward the waterfall. "Cross your fingers."

The ball opened, and a beam of red would release Oscar's Kingdra. The dragon would form within the waterfall, facing upward as if untethered by gravity. Oscar did a small jig as his theory proved successful, in large contrast to his Kingdra's confused panic as it tried to figure out what was happening. Before it could get a full grasp on its current predicament, Oscar would begin clumsily climbing onto its back. He chuckled the entire time, unbothered by how wet he got as he mounted his steed. The water felt blissfully refreshing, just so very wrong in every way. It made his skin crawl with ecstasy.

As Oscar fully set himself upon the Kingdra, the dragon would gradually start rolling with whatever was happening. Oscar looked back at Howard, who now appeared as if he were standing sideways along a wall. He shot the admin a cheeky grin. "If you don't mind being a little snug, you can ride along. Otherwise you'll have to make your own way up."

Oscar waited for Howard to make his choice before pointing upward. "Ascend!" Kingdra began fighting against the current, carefully climbing the strange waterfall. As they proceeded, Oscar would peer in every direction he could to take everything in. The floating platforms that hung in the air, the endless void that sat beyond them, the small details of familiar places that were just off enough to seem alien--it filled Oscar with bliss. He felt uncharacteristically calm, perhaps even comfortable. The pain that sat within his chest, caused by the slumbering remnants of a failed clone of Arceus, felt somehow lighter. Could it be that the docile parasite that still clung to his bones influencing his perception of this place?

Oscar did not care either way; he took in a deep breathe and to his thrilled surprise he would smell nothing at all. Everything was blank, senseless, void of familiarity or reason--and he felt right at home.

Oscar smiled as he ran his damp fingers through his hair, "I've never been anywhere that has welcomed be as warmly as this place. This is paradise incarnate."

howard slayte