Bill watched Crystal go through the portal, now holding a piece of paper she had quickly written up and shoved into his hands before jumping dimensions. He called Kevin, and told him what had transpired.

     "Alright, I'll meet you on Mt. Coronet soon," Kevin said. "Charizard and I'll be there within the hour."

     An hour later, Kevin arrived. "This is it?" he asked, looking over the equipment. "There's not much here."

     "She sent herself through, so I didn't need much," Bill told him. "Now we have to create a type of portal frame that can absorb Giratina's residual essence when in use."

     Kevin thought a moment, looking off the mountain at the view. Last time he was here, he and Crystal were fighting Team Galactic and one of them got trapped in Giratina's dimension. So many years... "It will probably require large amounts of electricity." Kevin, turning away from the view and his thoughts, faced Bill. "It won't be cheap or easy."

     "What about Zapdos? He is powerful."

     "It might work," Kevin said. "But we might need Raiku and Thunderous, too," he added, doubtfully. "We're crossing dimensions here, Bill. No one has done that before. We'll need a big generator."

     Bill shrugged. "Transformation started as just a project I set myself to for fun, Kevin. Let's try. Crystal can always make her way back and she has the BraceTrak, so a link could be established."

     "Alright," Kevin sighed. "Let's get to it, shall we?"

     Two days later, Kevin just returned from Jubilife City with Charizard, carrying supplies. Charizard groaned as he set down, obviously happy to have the load lightened after such a long flight so high in the sky.

     "Alright, here's the framework." Kevin put the deceptively heavy bag down, and sitting down himself. "This better work. That was not a fun journey."

     "Only one way to find out," Bill said, taking the pieces out of the bag gingerly. Slowly, the duo started to assemble the frame.

The next day, Charizard suddenly leaped into the sky. When Kevin was still wondering what his Pokémon was trying to do, he noticed something in the sky. Pale brown with some tan and red in the mix. It was a Pokémon, bird probably, with a rider. Given the Pokémon wasn't any from Sinnoh, Kevin was even more lost.

Charizard let out a thundering roar to challenge the Pokémon and rider. "No, Charizard!" Kevin called. "Come back here and let them be!"

The Pokémon, a Pidgeot from the call, continued on. Charizard returned to the summit without hesitation, and the Pidgeot and rider followed. He saw a girl, not much older than Crystal, if at all. She had brown hair like his sister, but it was light, and her eyes were a bright blue. She wore a light brown jacket, jeans, and, of course, a PokéBag.

When the Pidgeot landed, she slid off at the exact moment of landing, showing Kevin the easy and well-known bond between trainer and Pokémon. However, she was new, and potentially a threat.

Kevin walked over. "Hello? Can I help you?"

The girl smiled. "I was wondering if I could help you, actually." She stuck out her hand to him. "Name's Amber Ruth."

"Kevin Fairway," Kevin replied, shaking her hand. "Over there's Bill. What exactly do you think you can help us with? You don't seem to have brought much, and if you knew what we were doing—" He stopped himself short. "Do you even know what we're doing?"

Amber nodded. The smile was gone, now a quiet, almost invisible one replaced it. "I do. You're trying to get into another dimension, right?" She pointed to the assembled portal frame. "Those are pretty new to the market, and I should know. But no one has even glanced at them for more than a second or two, other than to know what they actually are."

Kevin didn't like this. "In the name of Arceus who are you?"

The smile came back. "Amber. But that's not what you mean, is it? You're wondering how I know this. On the pieces, there, there's a small engraving. It says Team Sky—"

That caught Kevin's attention. It also caught Charizard's, and he let out a growl. "Team?" Kevin questioned. "Leave right now or else."

That didn't seem to catch Amber by surprise. "I was wondering if you were the Rocket double agent. That means you have a sister, right? Kris or something?"

"Not important. What is important is that you leave."

"Okay, okay. Let me explain something, will you?" When Kevin said nothing, she continued. "We aren't like the other Teams. The CEO wanted the name since it would get publicity. But we are just a group of people, a large one, who want to reach for the sky in the technology field. I'm the head of Team Sky's technological advancement, and of course I was waiting for someone to pick up a portal frame, whether for the use of setting up a portal system similar to Pokémon retrieval machines or for breaking through to a new dimension. I think I can help, and Team Sky would like to help, too. To share the credit, and all."

"And we're supposed to trust you why? Did you even see the new reports over the past two months about Rocket?"

"I'd prepared for this. We're stationed in Kanto, in Saffron City. I'll be going back now, to report that I've found you and given you the business prop. Would you like to come back with me, so I can prove we're sincere?"

Bill spoke up. "You might want to also hunt down Zapdos as well. Maybe Lidin, too. There's not much you can do here, and Giratina doesn't seem to be coming out of his dimension any time soon."

"Fine. Charizard, let's go home."

It was just over an hour's ride to get from Mount Coronet to Pallet Town, at which point Kevin found Lidin and tasked him with finding and riding Zapdos to Mt. Coronet.

Amber led the way to Saffron City, and Kevin marveled at how loud the city was. Of course it would be loud, it was a city after all. But from being in the quieter places with the whole transformation debacle as a spy, he was used to the open areas and quieter towns.

And the building she landed on was the Silph Co. Amber landed, immediately slipping off of Pidgeot's back. He let Charizard circle once more before he set down, just to make sure it was Silph Co. The top of the building had the circular glass skylight still, though the whole ceiling other than around a door was glass with reflective covering, leading down and in. Pidgeot was small enough to fit through the doorway, when Charizard, however, was not.

Kevin pulled out the Pokéball. "Sorry, Charizard," he said, returning the fire-type. Cautiously, he entered the building, looking back over his shoulder briefly wondering, Will I come back out of this? He shook his head to clear the thought. Catching sight of Pidgeot's tail feathers, he caught up.

"Get lost?" Amber joked, laughing at her joke. Kevin didn't respond. "Not a talker, huh?"

"Forgive me, but I don't particularly trust you, Amber," Kevin said.

"And that's why we're going to see the boss," Amber said, knocking on a door. There was an answer from the other side, and she opened the door. "You first, Mr. Fairway."

Kevin entered the room, which was very open to the rest of Saffron. Glass windows were everywhere, and the sunlight was bright. There was a dark desk in the corner of the room, with the CEO of Team Sky sitting behind it, file cabinets behind him. On the left side of the room there was a meeting table and a flat screen, with a tan leather couch off to the side.

"Hello, Mr. Fairway," said the man. He was in his late thirties, perhaps. He wore a business suit and had on a smile — whether it was real or just practiced, Kevin couldn't tell. He assumed the latter, since this was probably a set up anyway. "I heard that you are trying to break the dimension barrier, and with one of our new products, no less." The man stood from his desk and walked over to Kevin, offering his hand out.

Hesitantly, Kevin shook it. "You seem to know my name and purpose," he said, with a glare at the still-smiling Amber. "So your name and purpose would be nice." He let his hand drop, just about hovering over Charizard's Pokéball.

"I am the CEO of Team Sky — the name I chose for the theatrics that ultimately came with it — Jonathan Buhl. Team Sky is a company that reaches for the sky in technological advancement —"

"Yes, yes, I heard the sales pitch from your friend over there." Kevin interrupted, pointing his thumb at Amber. "I'm not looking for any business from you. I want to know why you care about our project. I have things to do and a project to complete before too long, so I'd like this to be quick."

"Of course, Mr. Fairway," Buhl said, being as polite as ever. "We are interested because this would be a real-world test of our product. We've only tried this between portals in this world, not between dimensions. We want to give you aide in this endeavor. I'm sure Amber would be very helpful to have around."

"She told me on Mt. Coronet that you wanted to help for the joint credit. Did you need an hour to figure out much nicer-sounding reasons?"

"Well," Buhl said, seeming irritated. It was gone in an instant. "We would want the joint credit. It is our first sale of the product, after all. But was also want to make sure it's safe. What attachments or modifications did you add to it?"

"Well, none, but —"

"So if anyone were to sue you, you could immediately pin the blame to us. Do you see our concern?" Buhl turned towards the window, looking out at the bustling streets of Saffron City.

"Yes, Mr. Buhl," Kevin said. "But we made the thing on the mountain in Sinnoh. Until we know what Crystal found on the other side —"

Buhl turned around, alarm on his face. "You sent someone through?" Glancing back at Amber, Kevin saw her alarm, too.

"We haven't used your portal to send her through. She got there by other means. So far, there has been no further contact."

Buhl turned back towards the city. "Very well. In a token of good will, I had some workers bring up a conductor of electricity that transfers it from a Pokémon to a machine." As if on cue, the door opened and Amber answered, carrying equipment. "Lightning rods are similar, but we've found that some electricity can leap to other metallic materials around it, mainly in soil or concrete. Plus, this way you can hook it up to the Pokémon to the machine easily without lugging around a metal rod. Amber will know how to connect it to Zapdos."

Kevin turned to her. "What, did you tell him everything we said?" he asked, angered.

The brunette shook her head. "Nope. I sent out the transmission before I landed, so it recorded everything you and Bill said to me, allowing Mr. Buhl to be ready to receive us."

A second knock came at the door. "I'm terribly sorry," Buhl said. "I have other matters to attend to. Amber, be helpful in their endeavors, please, and Kevin, good luck."

Amber led Pidgeot and Kevin out, as a different man in a business suit entered and began conversing with Buhl. The trio got back on the roof in silence, or at least Kevin did. He pulled out Charizard's Pokéball and let him out. Before long, the sounds of Saffron City were far behind him and Amber.