Chapter Two- Welcome to Orientation! Come And Get Your Explanations!

~*~

Anya entered the building feeling incredibly nervous. If what the girl Kara had said was true, then she was in an entirely different world, and she wouldn't know anyone here. Well, she'd know the Bishonen by sight, but they didn't know her and probably couldn't care less about her. So no help there. She was on her own.

She walked into the lobby, which looked like any lobby in a business office. There were plenty of cushioned chairs and couches. There were a couple other girls and one guy there. The guy was off by himself watching, and the girls were paired in twos, talking quietly.

Anya looked around for anyone behind a desk, and approached a woman that fit that thought. "Excuse me," she began.

"Another new one? Please sit down, dear. The instructor's finishing up his last shift. You'll be going in soon, just a few moments."

"Uh, thanks." Anya turned and noticed the other girls and the guy were all watching her curiously. She walked over and sat somewhere between the guy and the girls.

"Hey, so you're new too?" one of the girls asked quietly. She too had brown hair, though it was lighter, and much, much longer. Anya wondered how the girl could stand that length of hair, and having it loose too! She wore some glasses, and wore a nice blue blouse and some khakis.

Anya nodded a little. The girl sighed in relief.

"What is going ON? This guy shows up out of nowhere and wakes me up, and leads me here and dumps me off without a word!"

"Mine was a girl," Anya said. "She told me we're in the Bishonen world."

"No way. That website?"

"So you clicked on it too?" asked a blonde sitting nearby. She wore a miniskirt and a T-shirt with "She-devil" on it. She was seated quite properly on the edge of her seat.

"Yeah," Anya said.

"This is too weird. I knew I saw a Duo out there!"

"The hippie?" Anya asked.

"Yeah. Isn't that scary? I thought he was just a guy who looked like Duo, but if we're really in another world, you never know..."

"I think we are in another world," the brown-haired girl said. "If we aren't, this is the best prank I've ever seen."

"Yeah, a worldwide prank," the blonde agreed.

They all fell silent as a door opened and three guys and one girl walked out from it, clutching the odd balls Anya had seen on Kara's belt. Now that she thought about it, she saw them on that website, too...

After them came a man who seemed to be in his forties or fifties. His hair was streaked with silver, and he wore a white lab coat and some comfortable looking not-quite-blue-jeans and a T-shirt underneath it. He shifted his glasses on his nose and looked at them. "Come along, then. We mustn't waste time!" he said in a surprisingly high voice.

It wasn't high enough to be annoying, but it was high enough to shock Anya yet again. She'd expected a deep voice from such a dignified looking man. Then again, things weren't what they seemed in other worlds...

They obediently got up and walked into the room with the man. It was set up like a classroom, but a very small one. It was meant to hold about fifteen kids and a teacher, maybe.

"Take a seat at the front, please. There are very few of you," the man said. Obediently, they all did. "Now, I am Professor Dion. I'm here to explain what's happened to you."

Anya found herself leaning forward on her desk, and noticed out of the corner of her eyes that the others were doing the same, including the guy.

"You all were emailed a new site on the internet, a Bishonen- or Bishoujo- site" he nodded at the guy, who nodded back. "And you clicked on 'make me a trainer'. The next thing you knew, you were here, and you had guides showing you here. Am I right?"

Anya nodded slowly.

"This all happened without any explanations, I take it? Well. You are here to become actual trainers of actual Bishonen and Bishoujo. I hope you all read the definitions. Bishonen count as male characters from anime, video games, or books. We used to have Bishonen running around that resembled those from the Old World, Lance Bass for a mild example. But they are all extinct. Perhaps they died out because he's not quite as popular anymore..." The Professor shrugged.

Anya blinked.

"So. Bishoujo are the same thing, except they are obviously female. They exist in this world like you and me. They have their own hidden cities. They used to be open to everyone, but that was before humans showed up. They are hidden so we don't tear the world apart and make them ALL extinct. Anyhow, they have their cities and we have ours. The world for the most part is split up fairly equally. We made a pact with the Bishies of the world decades ago that we would never drive them into primitive and/or inhumane conditions."

That made sense. It would be VERY bad to have a powerful Bishonen come after you for breaking a pact like that. Anya nodded with the others.

"However, we have created technology to capture these Bishonen and Bishoujo for battling, protection, or just for their company. The Bishonen and Bishoujo don't really mind. As long as the trainer is open minded and bright, they are content. Of course, an attractive one would be nice too. Trainers have been known to, ah, stay with their Bishonen or Bishoujo."

"You mean we're COMPATIBLE with them?" the blonde blurted out.

The man gave her an amused look. "Yes. There are a couple half-Bishies out in the world. They're easily confused as full-Bishies. Anyway..."

Anya shot the blonde a somewhat sour look. /So that's where the dumb blonde jokes show up,/ she thought. /Why didn't, say, I ask that, or the guy?/

"I want to go over a couple rules with you, but first. Who wants to stay a trainer? You may go home right now if you want... You can go home at any time... No one wants to go? Good." The Professor nodded in approval. "First rule- do NOT go in search of the Bishonen's cities. They are private. Do NOT ask your Bishonen about them either, they will not answer even under torture. As an add on to that, NEVER capture a Chibi."

Anya blinked. "Sir, what do you mean by that?" she asked politely.

"There are a couple stages the Bishonen and Bishoujo go through. Instead of us, they... evolve, you could say. They go from 'Chibi' to 'San' to 'Sama' stage. You may capture Sans or Samas, but NO Chibis unless you are given consent by their parents. Capturing Chibis is like kidnapping a kid."

Everyone nodded fervently.

"Second rule. To capture Bishonen or Bishoujo, you use these Bish-Balls." Dion held up one of the silver and black balls. "Basically it's like Pokémon, if any of you have seen that show. You throw it and catch them. If you want to release them, simply let them out of it, open the ball manually, and snap it in half. The bond between you and your Bishie will disappear, and he or she will be free to go. But do NOT release ALL of your Bishies unless you want to go home that moment."

The group of teens nodded again together.

"Rule three. Never leave your Bishonen more than three miles away from you. If you must, only do so in emergencies and for VERY short periods of time. As you will see shortly, you are bonded to your Bishonen by your blood. If they cannot reach you and you cannot reach them, they will go mad, possibly die after forty-eight hours. Is that CLEAR? Forty-eight hours, three miles."

Anya felt herself nodding so hard that her head was about to fall off of her head.

Again, Dion nodded in approval. "Good. Those are the most important of all the rules. Now, fourth thing. This is a Dex." He held up what looked like a cell-phone. "It's a phone and an encyclopedia in one. It tells you general information about any Bishonen or Bishoujo THAT IS KNOWN, and you can contact other trainers on these. Understand?"

The nodding was much calmer this time.

"Wonderful! We're moving right along! Now, you may capture, and trade all the Bishies you want. We'll give you your first twenty Bish-Balls, but after that you'll have to go to a shop to make more. The belts you'll get will adjust to hold about sixty balls at once. You'll have to either get another belt to store more or find another way to do it. I think that's all the basics. The rest is feed them regularly- or have them feed themselves- and wash, and drink water, that sort of thing. Oh, and if they are injured, take them to a Hospital Center! You can't miss them, they've always got ads for healing Bishies in the windows for everyone to see!"

The Professor walked over to a cabinet and pulled out four belts, one by one, empty without any balls yet. Then he pulled out more Dex, and what looked to be four needles.

"Now, here are your belts and Dexes. I'll need to take blood samples of you all."

"How come?" the guy spoke for the first time.

"Because we use your blood in making the Bish-Balls. That way you'll just KNOW it's yours if it gets lost. And it links you much more closely to your Bishies. Now, let's line up."

The group warily stood up, shuffling their feet and moving very slowly. Which left Anya as the first in line. She shot an annoyed look at the others, who only watched innocently as the Professor indicated she hold out an arm.

She obeyed, and glanced away as the needle came close. She felt a sharp pinch, then a little sting, then nothing. She glanced back curiously to see the Professor walk over to the cabinet again and pull out an odd looking machine. He beckoned to her, and put the belt in it. Then he put the needle in another part, and turned it on.

There were some odd whirring noises as he closed it up. They waited for about a minute, then the whirring stopped, and he pulled the belt out again. However, this time it had Bish-Balls on it.

Anya sucked in a breath in surprise as she took the belt from him and looked at it wonderingly. It felt RIGHT holding it. It probably would be more right if she put it on... She did so, and felt immensely better. "Ah."

The Professor nodded in approval, handed her a Dex, and beckoned to the next girl.

When they all had their belts of Bish-Balls and their Dexes, he said, "Well, that's that. You're on your own. Remember, if you want to go home at any time, just release all your Bishonen. Any questions?"

"I have one," Anya said.

"Yes?"

"How do we let our parents know we're fine?"

"They don't know you exist right now," he said.

Everyone blinked. "Huh?"

"Well, it's sort of complicated. See, to be able to let you go home, but not worry anyone back home, you are going through life normally there, but you're not there. You can't exist in two planes. You never were here before until you got here. Now you won't have ever existed back home until you go back."

"You mean if we went back no one would know us anymore?!" the blonde demanded.

/Ah, a good question,/ Anya thought.

"No. You will age naturally here, so when you go back, enough time will have passed so that you will be exactly the same age back home as you are here. So right now, yes, your parents and friends don't know you exist. When you get back there, however, you'll still be there like you never left." He shrugged.

Anya still felt confused, but she didn't really feel like questioning the man further. After all, professors tended to get very confusing if you asked them too much. "OK," she said simply.

"Are we all set, then? Good. You have two weeks to capture your first Bishonen or Bishoujo, or you'll go home automatically. Got it all?"

Anya nodded with the others.

"Then go out! Your journey awaits! Oh, and just tell people here you're a newbie and you'll get all your traveling supplies you need. Bye!" He opened the door and proceeded to shoo them all out of the room. When they all were outside, he closed the door.

The group blinked, then looked at each other, confused. "Well..." the blonde said slowly. "I'm Ashley."

"Anya."

"Jenna."

"Jake."

The group nodded politely at each other, then Jenna (the brown haired one) said, "Why don't we all trade numbers? I mean, we're all in the same, ah, beginning group. That way we'll have at least three other people to talk to on our phone-things. They're human, I mean."

"Yeah." Anya nodded slowly. "I like that idea a lot. Human contact sounds good."

"And Bishonen don't?" Jenna teased slightly.

"You know what I mean. It's comforting knowing you're not the only new one out there," Anya protested.

The others nodded. "Let's exchange numbers, then," Ashley said cheerfully. "Let's look at our Dexes!"

They did that, and asked the desk lady for some paper and pen. She gave them amused looks. "You don't need that! Just speak into your Dex the number you want saved, and for who, and it'll record it for you! Try it!"

Ashley said, "How do you turn it on?"

"Just open it."

The four did that at once and their screens on it turned a light blue.

"Property of-?" Anya's asked politely.

"Uh," was her reply.

"Property of Uh," the Dex said.

"No, no no!" she said quickly. "Property of Anya!"

"Anya?"

"Yes!" she told it.

"Property of Uh, Anya?"

"NO! Property of ANYA!"

"Property of Anya?"

"YES!"

"Property of Anya, age-"

"Fifteen!"

"Property of Anya, age fifteen. Novice trainer. Status, no Bishonen. Two weeks to capture one. Correct?"

"Yes," she told it, faintly annoyed. "I want to save some numbers."

"Address? Phone? Dex?"

"Dex numbers," she told it.

"Which numbers?"

She sighed in relief and the group exchanged Dex numbers. After arguing with the Dexes- "No, I said ANYA is this number!" "It's not UM, 1532, it's just 1532!"- they got the numbers saved.

"Should we test them?" Ashley asked.

"Good idea," Jenna agreed. She walked over to the other side of the room and turned hers on, and whispered something to it.

Jake's Dex said, "Call from Jenna, age fourteen, Novice trainer. Status, no Bishonen-"

"Yes, yes, thank you, I'll take it," Jake said, sounding annoyed at it as well. "Hello?" he whispered into it.

"It works!" Jenna called to the group. "Now we know it works!"

They all paused and looked at each other. "Well," Anya said. "I don't really know you all, but... good luck. Let's keep in touch, say once a week?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Jenna agreed, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

The others agreed.

"Well, let's go get supplies and things," Ashley said reluctantly. "Bye."

She walked out.

"Bye," Jake said, and he too walked out.

"Later," Jenna said to Anya, and followed Jake.

Anya glanced around at the odd room, smiled faintly, and followed in their footsteps towards the door. /Well, now I'm a trainer. Go figure. Let's see what it takes to be one,/ she thought.