Chapter One- What on Earth?! Or Rather, What NOT On Earth?!

A cry rang out through the woods, then a thud as someone fell to the ground, beaten and nearly lifeless. He twitched slightly, barely sensing the presence of the one standing over him. That one wasn't gloating, wasn't sneering at him, but merely seemed thoughtful and faintly satisfied. That scared him more than gloating would have. At least then he would have known what this being, this creature, was thinking as she defeated him and watched him in his pain.

She remained silent and thoughtful for a while as he struggled to remain conscious. Then she knelt and gently touched his head. He whimpered. "You'll be perfect," she said in a quiet tone that sent him into shivers that were unstoppable. He'd heard trainers before they caught their quarry. They never sounded this... frightening. She sounded like a scientist that just found a specimen to inspect, to take apart and see what happens inside it.

Then, something smacked him on the back. He barely had time to register that fact before he fell into darkness.

The figure remained kneeling, holding the peculiar black and silver ball in her hand, then slipped it into a pocket and stood to walk away. "Yes, he'll be perfect," she murmured.

~*~

"I am so BORED!"

Anya was stretched out on her bed, glaring up at the ceiling as she tossed a ball up into the air and catching it with the same hand. She had been doing that for at least a quarter of an hour. And it was driving her insane.

"But what else can I do?" she muttered. "Nothing but reruns on TV, and all shows I hate. No new movies at the theatre OR the store. Bored to death with my games. No new books. NO HOMEWORK. What ever happened to something FUN happening on summer vacation?!"

She didn't catch the ball this time- instead, it hit her square on the head.

"OW!" She sat up and picked it up, rubbing her head. "OK, so I'm whining. That still doesn't give a stress ball the right to hit me!"

The ball ignored her. She threw it up into the air one more time before dropping it onto the ground beside the bed. Then she stared hopelessly out the window.

"And what ever happened to a sunny summer vacation?" she muttered. "It's been raining for the past two days. So much for seeing friends... Huuuuh." She stretched and lay back, staring again at the ceiling. "Maybe I can draw something.. nah, my drawing sucks. Maybe... no. Um- no. No. Definitely not. What about- nah, never mind. Nope. Boring. AGH! I'm going- wait." She sat up and snapped her fingers. "I'll check my email! Maybe someone will have sent me something. Even five minutes of not being bored would be great!"

With that thought in mind she jumped off the bed and trotted out into the living room, whistling a little at the thought of something to do. She turned on the computer and sat on the chair near it, fidgeting a little as she waited for it to boot up.

Finally, it was finished and she clicked on the internet icon. The home screen popped up, and she signed into her email.

"HA! I knew someone would email me something! I got three emails, YES!" She punched the air enthusiastically. "Now let's see... hmm."

The first was a joke email from her grandmother. Yet another list of 'dumb blonde' jokes. She sighed at them. "I would love to see a 'dumb redhead' or 'dumb brunette' sometime," she muttered. "It would be a nice change."

Not that she was blonde- she had slightly curled, dark brown hair that reached her shoulders. It was just enough to tie into a semi-decent ponytail. For now it was loose, and strands of it were continuously making their way across her eyes or itching her nose to death. She brushed one such strand away from her face and read the joke email anyway. A couple were actually pretty good.

The next was an email from a friend across the country. Anya smiled. "I've been wondering when you'd email me," she told the computer. It didn't reply. Anya went on to read the email itself. The friend complained also about being bored, wished fervently a new book or other would come out already, and mentioned that she DID manage to get a new DVD.

Anya smiled. "This is so cool. I'm finally getting something to do- huh?" she paused in confusion. "Who's this?"

The next email didn't have a name or address anywhere on it. That was sort of unnerving. Was it a virus email? She scrolled down to look at the content somewhat cautiously.

"Hmm? Just a site address... Well, why not? Got nothing else to do." She hit the link to it.

Again, she blinked. "Whoa, what the heck is this? A Pokémon site? And how on earth did they get my email?"

There was a huge picture of a black and silver ball that looked suspiciously like a Poke-ball from named show at the top, and the word "Bishonen!" below it. Below that was a picture of an anime character, and a definition.

"Bishonen... the definition has expanded due to fangirls worldwide," she read. "It generally means any anime guy that's cute and somewhat feminine, but masculine characters can and are included in this group of anime. Examples, Goku from DBZ and Quatre from Gundam Wing... Oh! Cool!"

She looked below that and there was a graphic of a girl about her age winking and holding the same ball that was shown above. Then below that was another bit of writing. Interested, she read it.

"Here is where you can combine Pokémon and Bishonen you love. You can capture them with Bish-Balls (shown here) and take care of them as you wish. Like Pokémon, you may train them to battle, to protect you or just to have around when you want company. Oh, if only," Anya sighed. "I would love it if that was real. I don't know if the Bishonen in question would, though..."

Anya couldn't really understand why she kept reading. It might have just been because it was a site she hadn't seen before, but she'd read her share of Mary Sues online! This really couldn't be that different from one...

"Join our group of trainers and enjoy your own Bishonen! Fight in gyms, train in classrooms, or just wander the world of Bishonen!"

Anya considered that. "Must mean a virtual world sorta thing," she mused. "Well, why not? Got nothing else to do, that's for sure!"

She looked a little below that. "Ah..."

There was a link that said, "Make Me a Trainer!"

Anya grinned. "Well, this should be interesting, whatever it is," she said, and clicked on it. There was an odd buzzing sound. "Eh?" She blinked as the screen faded out slowly, as though the computer was dying. "What's... is something wrong with the computer?"

She made a move to take a look and realized she was unable to move much. In fact, she couldn't take her eyes off the screen. She couldn't even blink now. Not even twitch a bit. Her nose was itching... The screen was swirling into colors of greens and blues, reds and yellows and oranges, and purples and pinks... white and black... and gray...

~*~

"Hey, hey, are you OK?!"

"Wha... what?" Anya struggled to open her eyes. They felt very sandy with sleep.

"Come on, get up! What happened?"

Finally she got them opened and focused on a female figure standing over her, looking very concerned. The girl was maybe a year or two older than her, with short, dark red hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was wearing a white jacket over a green tank top and jean shorts, and some odd boots that looked like they came from the Army or something. She also wore an odd belt with balls on it...

"Eh?" Anya managed.

"Are you alright? I found you lying there..."

"I'm fine..." She glanced around, then gasped. "Where AM I?!"

The computer, the chair, the room itself was gone. She was lying on some grass among some huge trees, and NOTHING looked familiar.

"Oh, you're new," the girl said with some obvious relief. "I was wondering why you didn't have anything with you. Sometimes you're robbed, but..." she shrugged. "You didn't look like you were robbed."

"New? Where am I? Who are you?" Anya demanded, finding her voice again.

"Yes, new. I'm Kara. You're in the Bishonen world." Kara grinned at the disbelief on Anya's face. "Ah, you thought it was only a virtual thing? Nope, it's all real, and it's all good. Here." She held out a hand, and Anya took it. Kara pulled her to her feet with surprising strength. "There ya go."

"Bishonen world?" Anya repeated dumbly.

"Yup. In other words, an otaku's heaven!" Kara rolled her eyes in exaggerated happiness. "Well, come on. I better get you to town for orientation."

"For what? What's going on?"

Kara stopped and gave her a look of sympathy. "I'd forgotten what it was like to show up for the first time," she murmured. She put a hand on Anya's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. Everything will be explained. Just come with me, OK? I can take you to someone who can explain all the stuff you'll need."

Well, there didn't seem to be anything else to do. Anya nodded, still feeling dazed. How could this be possible? Was this a joke? If it was, it was a really, really, good one!

"Come on." Kara turned and started walking.

Anya stood there for a moment, staring blankly up at the huge trees, then followed after her acquaintance. Then Kara paused and looked at her quizzically. "Oh yeah, what's your name?"

"Anya," the teen replied.

"Right. Nice to meet you. Now let's go." Kara continued walking. Anya couldn't do anything but follow.

~*~

They walked for about a half hour before ending up on a paved road that went into what seemed to be a village. Anya frowned slightly at the sign at the entrance. "Epoh city?" she questioned.

"Yep. C'mon. The orientation room's right over here. Don't worry, there should be at least one other girl or guy in there with you, so you won't be alone. I myself was with about five other people when I got here. And the instructor here's real nice. He's a little iffy, but that's to be expected."

Anya continued to follow her new acquaintance through the entrance into the village, where again she stopped. And stared. And stared some more.

"Kara," she whispered. "Is it me, or is that- is that-"

Kara blinked at her, then looked at where she was looking. "Yeah, that's Yusuke," she said with a shrug. "He's a Bishonen. I think he's Tammy's."

Anya blinked at the sight before her. There was the anime character Yusuke, looking faintly bored and yawning a little. He seemed to be waiting for something. And there was no mistaking who he was- he was every inch the character she thought he was.

"Come ON, or we'll never get you to orientation, and you'll still be confused." Kara started walking past the Bishonen in question. "Hey, Yusuke."

He snorted. "Nice outfit."

"Careful, bud. You know how Tam hates it when you attempt to flirt."

"Who's flirting?" He then glanced at Anya. "Who's your friend?"

"Newbie."

"Hm. Lucky day, eh?"

"Shut up and get back to your trainer."

"Don't you mean shut up and WAIT for your trainer? I've been standing on my damn feet for twenty minutes and she hasn't come out yet. What the HELL is she doing in there?" he jerked a thumb behind him.

"She's probably talking to someone."

"I didn't know using the bathroom was a social occasion."

"Well it is. So sit if you're tired. C'mon, Anya."

Anya obediently followed Kara as Yusuke snorted at them again, then he actually slid down into a sitting position muttering.

"Well, that's Yusuke," Kara said with a grin. "What do you think? Every inch of himself, wouldn't you say?"

"Uh... yeah," Anya said.

"Now me, I like Hiei," Kara continued. "The whole short and hot demon thing gets to me more than anything else. Maybe Kurama's a demon and SURE he's cute but he's taller than me!"

Anya blinked a little. "They're... real."

"Yep. And you'll get to deal with them soon enough, I think."

They continued walking, Kara cheerfully humming, and Anya in a daze. Bishonen were REAL. You could talk and they'd talk BACK. Wow.

She was brought out of her daze when she saw another shock. There was another familiar Bishonen, but he was dressed... drastically different than usual. In fact, he was dressed like a hippie. And he was following a girl that also looked like a hippie.

Well... no. It wasn't a girl, it was a woman. She seemed to be in her early thirties, or maybe late twenties.

Kara snorted. "That's one of the older trainers. Katy's a hippie, been one forever, so she's gotten her Bishies into it too."

Anya blinked. "But... Duo as a hippie?"

"I know, you should see her Heero. That's just SCARY."

Anya felt torn between shock, and wanting to laugh hysterically. Heero as a hippie? That WAS scary to think about.

They passed said hippies and the two waved at them enthusiastically. "Hey Kara, newbie?" the woman- Katy- said with a smile.

"Yeah. Taking her to orientation."

"Ah. Welcome, young one. Hope you enjoy it here." She continued by. Then Duo paused to wink and give a peace sign.

"Shinigami the peaceful, man!" he said with an exaggerated drawling tone. Then he grinned. "C'ya later, ladies!" he said in a more normal voice. Then he scampered after his trainer.

Anya blinked. "I think I'm scarred for life."

"Bishonen tend after their trainers after a while. Duo was Katy's first Bishonen, so they've been together a while."

Finally, they reached a building with 'Orientation' on the front of it. Kara stopped in front of it and gestured at the building.

"Here, you'll get your explanations, your options, and your gear. Just go on in, they know how to take care of new ones. I'll be around, OK? Later."

Before Anya could say anything, the redhead was nowhere to be seen. "Uh, hey!" she called helplessly. Then she sighed, and turned to stare up at the building. "This is what I get for being bored," she muttered. "Oh well, might as well look..." She reached out to open the door.