~Stuck in a Loop~

While the twins were headed to Lia's place to get the yummy berry shacks that she promised them. Hoopa suddenly appeared from his rings followed by Meloetta, the melody Pokémon.

This one was supposed to be like any other visit. That is until Hoopa's rings were hit with an unknown wave of energy, causing it to frits out, and become similar to a warp hole. It sucked up the twins and the two mythical Pokémon. When they finally came to, they found themselves in Twisted Wonderland.

"I think we ended up in the basement of this place." Matt guessed as he ended their story.

To say Lia was shocked and confused was an understatement. "Did you two try to go back with Hoopa's rings?"

"We did, and we went right back to the cottage. But when we went through the house to see if you were still out in the front yard, we ended up back in the room." Maddie told her.

"Then we tried to go back and leave through the gates of the property, but it had the same result." Matt finished.

Lia took a moment to think. "Hmmm, whatever magic the mirror used to send us here must have been what caused Hoopa's ring to act up like that. It released that wave of magic energy and clashed with the energy that powers Hoopa's rings-"

"Thus, resulting in becoming a warp hole and bringing the children here," Crowley finished Lia's sentence.

"Alright, we figured that out. But how do you explain the fact that they just come back here after returning to the cottage back in our world?" Persian questioned.

"The ghosts could not have taken part in this. Although they enjoyed playing tricks on others, they could not tamper with the magic beyond their abilities."

Lia thought about it. She theorized, "It might be possible that Hoopa's ring wasn't the only thing affected. Remember the security barrier that surrounds the entire property?"

Persian's eyes filled with dread, "Oh sweet Arceus, don't tell me..."

"Yep, the whole space dimension travel caused a dimension loop at the cottage. Pretty much trapping us and those back at the cottage in it."

"A-At least we can still go back to the cottage, right?" Maddie fidgeted.

"Yes, but the fact that you can't leave the cottage without coming back here is a huge problem. What if Sonia comes over and sees this? Not to mention how your parents are going to react."

Crowley took the opportunity to make a suggestion. "Would it be possible for us to travel through the little genie's ring?"

"Why/Pika?"

"I would like to see something if you don't mind."

Lia looked at her two Pokémon, who both shrugged at her. There was only one way to find out. "Alright, Hoopa, take us to the cottage please."

"Leave it to Hoopa! Ali Hoopa Ring!"

The 'Mischief Pokémon tossed one of his rings into the air and it suddenly became bigger, allowing everyone to walk in. The moment they were all on the other side, Mr. Crowley and Madame Eva were amazed that they were now not only in a different place but a different world. When they saw more of the Pokémon, some looked similar to regular animals they've seen, some looked like something out of stories, and others looked like inanimate objects.

As they looked around in the peaceful and homey-looking living room, Eva noticed a photograph portrait hanging above the fireplace. Her eyes widened at what she saw, in the portrait was a woman sitting in a chair with a small child in her lap. She of course assumed the child was Lia and the woman with the soft pink hair and kind blue eyes was obviously her mother. But what surprised her was the man who stood next to them.

The man had long silky white hair that was tied into a low ponytail, His eyes were like a violet-indigo, more violet though. Had a jeweled monocle on the right side of his face and wore a fancy suit with a gray dress coat. But what caught Eva's attention was the brooch on his coat. She recognized that family crest anywhere, looking back at Lia who was testing out the front door to her husband. Madame Eva couldn't help but feel more concerned for the young girl even more.

'Brandel, just what are you planning for your daughter?'

Suddenly, she noticed something else, taking a closer look at the mother, the realization hit her like a gust of wind. 'That's, that's Kaitlynn Cosmo! The renowned singer of Twisted Wonderland!'

Eva didn't know Kaitlynn personally, but her reputation in the magical world preceded her greatly. She was known throughout every corner of the world for her angel-like voice and motherly kindness. Not only did she perform magnificent concerts, but she also taught children music whenever she visited schools, she even performed in places that no other performer would have done. Such as performing at the anniversary ball in the Valley of Thorns or doing a live concert at the bottom of the Coral Sea!

One day, in the prime of her career, she suddenly disappeared. Everyone assumed that she 'out of nowhere retired and gone back to her homeland. But some assumed that she got scared and quit after a freak accident that had happened. This, however, confirmed the first assumption.

'Wait, if she's been here this whole time, where is she now?'

Eva snapped out of her trance when she heard her husband's voice say. "Well, it seems your theory was correct Miss Lia."

She turned to see everyone gathered at the front door before joining them; she took one last look at her portrait before joining the others, "So, what did I miss?"

While Eva was ruminating through her memories, the rest of the group tested out Lia's theory. The first thing Crowley had the children do was walk out the front door, and they disappeared. When they returned through Hoopa's ring, they said they had ended up at their dorm. They repeated the procedure on one of the property's gates and received the same results. However, when Crowley tried it, he ended up walking right out the door.

"So then, other than ourselves, Lia and the kids are trapped within the confines of the house and the property around it." Madame Eva rephrased.

"Precisely."

Lia started to frantically pace back and forth, "Ugh, what am I supposed to do? I can't deal with this, what if someone comes over to invite me to something and I can't go? Not to mention when Sonia comes over to pick up the kids, just how am I supposed to explain that they are now dragged into this and are also trapped with me in my own home!? And Leon, hooooo, he's going to have a fit when he hears about this!"

"Pikachu," (Getting dizzy,)

Madame Eva stopped her. "Lia, Lia sweetie, listen. We'll figure it out, however, you get worked up like this isn't going to solve anything."

Crowley nodded, "Indeed, for now, let us return to the dorm and get some rest. It has been a rather long and eventful day for the lot of us."

"Yeah, your right." Lia reluctantly agreed. But still had a frown on her face as she was very confused and dejected over all this.

As soon as they returned, the couple gave Lia some last-minute details for tomorrow, then waved the group goodnight and left. Lia and the kids, along with Persian, Pikachu, and Grim all gathered in the main bedroom.

Thanks to Hoopa, he brought over some sleeping bags and futon mattresses for the kids, and little futons for himself and the other Pokémon. Grim insisted on sleeping on the bed with Lia and Pikachu. The said mouse Pokémon was skeptical at first but could see that the cat creature was loosening up, so complied.

As Lia was getting ready to go to sleep, Matt caught her attention, "Lia,"

"What's wrong Matt?"

"I have something to tell you," He pulled out her Shiny Togepi egg.

"Before Hoopa's ring went off, I was able to save your Shiny Togepi egg and my Noibat egg. But when we were sucked into the ring," Matt started to cry, "But as we got sucked in, the incubator for my Noibat egg slipped out and now it's gone."

Lia was shocked, the egg this boy worked so hard to take care of was now possibly somewhere in this Twisted Wonderland world. And no one had any idea if it was 'okay or not. Shacking out the negative thoughts, Lia went over and hugged the young boy.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's going to be alright. I'll look for your Noibat egg while Grim, the others, and I start cleaning the school in the morning. I promise you; we'll find it."

"Really?"

Lia assured him with a smile. "Have I ever broken a promise to you before?"

Matt whipped the tears from his eyes and shook his head.

"Lia," Maddie called out. "Can you sing us one of your songs please?"

Lia smiled at her, "Yeah," as she went back to her bed, she had Rotom come out and play the melody.

________________________________________________________________________________

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay ~

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay ~

Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby,

Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay~

And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow,

Bless you with love for the road that you go~

May you sail far to the far fields of fortune,

With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet~

And may you need never to banish misfortune,

May you find kindness in all that you meet~

May there always be angels to watch over you,

To guide you each step of the way~

To guard you and keep you safe from all harm,

Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay~

May you bring love and may you bring happiness,

Be loved in return to the end of your days~

Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you,

I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay~

May there always be angels to watch over you,

To guide you each step of the way~

To guard you and keep you safe from all harm,

Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay~

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay~

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay~

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay~

Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay~

Loo-li, lai-lay~

________________________________________________________________________________

When Lia was done, she found everyone asleep. Smiling at the resting faces, she tucked the kids in and went to bed herself, before she closed her eyes, she looked out the window, into the small patch of clear sky and whispered; "Goodnight Mom, please watch over me, and wish me 'best of luck tomorrow. I'm going to need it." and with that, all was still, but the rain pour outside.

________________________________________________________________________________

Lia finds herself in a large room similar to her dad's study,

only it was filled with more rarities and strange devices that looked like it wasn't from her time. There were also strange tapestries and suits of armor that would belong to a castle. There was also a very large portrait that hung over a massive fireplace. It was of an elder man that wore blue robes and had a thick gray beard. The most noticeable part of the elder was the pointy blue hat with silver stars and moons on it. It looked like it was glowing as the elder was positioned as if he was conjuring a spell.

Then, she started to hear voices screaming at each other in a distance, out of her curiosity, she followed the voices.

"Magnimar! This is your last warning!" Yelled out one's voice,

"Ha! Warning?! My good man, B-----. Be serious, are you not curious about the possibilities we can unlock if our two worlds joined forces?! We could be the most powerful beings in the whole universe with those monstrosities under our control!" The other, Magnimar, ranted.

"That kind of thinking will destroy our worlds and all of us in the process! I only wanted for us to share each other's knowledge of our worlds and become allies with one another. But you, you decided to make it about power and dominance! You decided to just care about your own well-being!"

The voices got louder as Lia got closer to them. They seemed to be in another room next to the one she was in. Only, this one seemed to probably have a bunch of equipment in there because it was brightly lit.

"And if anyone is a monster, it's you. Because I know you have no intention of sharing this so-called grand power, you only want to use it to destroy your enemies!"

"Can you blame me!? I'm nothing but a laughingstock in my family bloodline, and no one in all of Twisted Wonderland takes me seriously! With that power over those beasts, no one will ever cross me again!"

"It will never happen, Magnimar. You don't even know if your outrageous plan will possibly work! You of all mages should know that two different powers are fatal!"

"You never know unless you try.~ And what's stopping me? You? You can barely stand on your own feet my dear B------."

"I may not be able to stop you myself in a sense; not with this curse you place but I can stop you, with this!"

The sound of gears clanging, and electricity sparking filled the area. The voices cried out in fear and the lights from the room filled up Lia's vision. Then, everything was white.

Lia shot up from her bed. Her head was dripping with cold sweat and her breath heaved. She looked around and sighed in relief as she was still in the bedroom of the Ramshackle dorm.

'A Dream, it was just a dream. . . . . . Something tells me living in this world is not going to be simple. Then again, when is anything in my life simple at all?' she plopped back down on her after that. However, little did Lia realize, she was not far off from that theory.