Hey, guys! This is the story that I sort of alluded to in my A/N from Midsummer Nightmare's latest chapter. I've had this story (plus a couple others) stuck in my head, so I just wanted to get it out there and see the general reaction to it. I sincerely do want you guys to review more/longer so I can guage what kind of things you guys like.

Speaking of which, I know I haven't left the latest chapter of Midsummer Nightmare up for long, but could you guys give me more or your opinions?

To the anonymous user, Spacebar, I just wanted to thank you in this for always reviewing my stories/chapters. They seriously do make my day, and I only wish you had an account so I could PM you or something. It sounds like we have a lot in common.

Okay, now that I'm done being a creeper, I'm going to talk a teensy bit more about this new story before letting you read it for yourself. It's a fantasy genre, and it's strictly AU (Alternate Universe, folks). There will be some reference to a more "realistic" Pokemon world, but not really. And, of course, the main pairing is ORS. (or whatever you guys want to call it. I just ship it). There are other characters and pairings (so much that my head's kinda spinning just thinking about all of them ). I'm trying out a different writing style from MN that is more like Virtually Perfect's writing style. I hope you guys like it!

Stuck in a Fantasy

She wakes up in place completely unfamiliar to her. When she first opens her eyes, she is staring up at an elaborately gilded ceiling that she knows is not her own. Last she checked, her bedroom ceiling did not have a golden gilded ceiling with a painting of the starry night sky. Rather than immediately panic, Leaf forces herself to close her hazel eyes again and take deep breaths.

Maybe if she just shut her eyes for a moment and then reopened them, things will be different.

Blinking rapidly, Leaf exposes herself to her surroundings once more. No luck. If anything, she can now even see a white, fancy-looking vanity out of her peripheral vision.

Giving up, Leaf sits up in the queen-sized bed. There are four posts on her bed, though there is no canopy over her head. Instead, there is a see-through green curtain that drapes itself around the four posts, forming a rectangle.

Leaf's eyes scan the room, both curious and apprehensive, and soaking in the sight before her. It would not be a stretch to say that her room was expensively decorated. There was the white vanity, several fine tapestries, a rather large looking bookshelf that dominated the majority of the room, an old-fashioned writing desk, stained-glass double-doors and windows, and a matching white armoire that was slightly ajar.

Carefully getting out of the bed, Leaf tiptoes across the room to inspect the armoire. Did she somehow sleepwalk into Narnia or something? Maybe the armoire is the way back home to Pallet Town?

The back of the armoire is solid oak. Leaf even double-checks this fact by tapping a fist against it lightly, checking for the non-existent hollow sound. Leaf then pinches herself to make sure she's not dreaming. Nope. It hurt a little.

As Leaf pulls her head out from in the armoire, she spots the yellow sundress draped over what looks to be a changing screen.

She looks down at her clothes. She's wearing a white nightgown. Funny, because Leaf doesn't own any nightgowns…

Racking her brain for her memory of last night, Leaf finds that she cannot remember anything along the lines of falling asleep in such a fancy looking bedroom. Actually, she can't remember much of anything from yesterday either.

Deciding that putting on the yellow dress wouldn't hurt her, Leaf trots over to behind the changing screen and pulls off the white nightgown. Once she's done sliding the soft fabric of the sundress over her head, Leaf smooths it out over her knee and steps out from behind the changing screen.

Grabbing a white ribbon and tying her chestnut locks into a low ponytail out of her face, Leaf takes one more look around the room and decides that wherever she is, she can't be in danger. If she is, wouldn't she be in some dungeon or something?

Her bangs are still irritatingly in her face, though. She could never manage to tie it back due to its short length. Leaf really misses her white fedora.

….wait…what happened to her pokémon?!

Frantically, Leaf searches the room again for the red and white pokéballs. She doesn't find her usual yellow messenger bag either.

Perhaps she should've been freaking out earlier, but Leaf had been trying to be calm and rational. So much for that.

She hears a light knock on her door, causing her to freeze immediately in place. The person probably isn't going to hurt her, considering the fact that he or she knocked, but still…

After grabbing small obelisk statuette that had been decorating one of the book shelves and silently sliding to the door, Leaf cautiously says, "Come in."

The right side of the dark oak double doors begins to open, revealing …Eevee.

Leaf's jaw almost drops in shock. Her own eevee was standing before her, except much more humanized looking. Eevee doesn't look completely like her pokémon form, but not quite human either. She is the size of child, but still had those cute little ears sticking out of her brunette hair. Basically, she looks like a pokémon fanatic cosplaying as Eevee or something. Except the fur and ears seem very real. Not to mention, there is a bushy tail peeking out from behind Eevee, swishing back and forth in the air.

'What in the name of Arceus is going on?!' Leaf wonders.

"Geez, Leaf," Eevee says, eyeing the raised statuette, "I knew you weren't much of a morning person….but don't you think attempting to attack me is going too far?"

"You-" Leaf's mouth opens and closes several times in disbelief, "you can talk!"

Eevee pushes the door a little forward and then back in an exaggerated motion, "Yes, and this door opens and closes. Are we done now?"

"Sass," Leaf mutters, trying to recall if her Eevee ever gave her any of this sass. It never had seemed like it, though her Eevee couldn't talk either.

Wait…maybe this is some sort of prank? She could be on some television set, having this pokémon fanatic cosplay rather realistically as a pokémon and then see how much she wigs out.

Well, in that case, Leaf will not give them what they want and will act composed. Despite logic protesting this, Leaf clings onto this theory like a life-line, not willing to accept any other answers for this mystery.

"Breakfast is ready," Eevee gestures towards the hallway. Her ears twitch a little, "I think Master's preparing for the usual morning routine."

Master? Who is the 'Master'?

"Ash?" Leaf says confusedly out loud.

Did her childhood friend somehow achieve his dream title overnight?

"Who?" Eevee asks, with just as much confusion written on her face. "No matter. Just be careful not to say another man's name in front of the Master. That'll be a real slap to the face."

So the 'Master' is a man. Leaf has a sinking feeling that the term 'master' is not referring to the trainer title…

Eevee then leads her downstairs to the dining hall, passing through numerous hallways that Leaf tries in vain to remember. There is no way that Leaf is going to remember how to get back to her designated room.

But the most disturbing thing is how authentic everything seems. All the tapestries and paintings seem to be genuinely ancient and all…old-fashioned. Leaf almost feels like a princess gliding through the halls with an escort. Except for the fact that she's not a princess, isn't wearing a fancy ball gown, and that her escort is a pokémon, for crying out loud.

At last, they finally arrive in the humongous dining room. It can probably hold all of Pallet Town comfortably with its size.

Sunlight streams in through the numerous windows in the room, all of which were the height of the whole wall. They all had dark blue curtains, which were pulled back to allow the maximum amount of sunlight to trickle into the large room. Leaf figures that it is to make her feel the most comfortable or something.

Once Leaf gracefully slides into her seat at the head of a long table, Eevee begins to turn around and walk out the door.

"Wait," Leaf says frantically, not wanting her to leave her alone yet. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"Oh," Eevee pauses right by the entrance they had come through, "right."

Leaf smiles warmly at the pokémon, expecting her to go get a chair to pull up the long dining table in the center of the room.

Eevee beams brightly, "Azu made poffins and pokéblocks this morning!"

With that, she darts quickly away, leaving Leaf all to herself in the vast and empty dining hall.

Leaf casts a curious glance to the bountiful amount of food spread before her. It seems such a waste for just her and the 'Master' to eat.

"I wonder what he's like?" Leaf muses to herself out loud before deciding to get up and walk around the dining hall to wait for him.

Perhaps dining hall isn't the proper term for the room. There is even a grand staircase on the other side of the room that Leaf had entered from. There is a whole other floor of the dining hall, making Leaf wonder why the place is so huge if there is so little people- er people pokémon?- eating in here.

There's actually a silky red rope stretching across the grand staircase's banister, as if to say 'Do not cross', but Leaf disregards it anyway. She doesn't recall Eevee telling her not to go anywhere. Besides, she'd still be able to see the 'Master' when he comes in, right?

Leaf cautiously climbs the steps, just in case it had been roped off due to instability. At the top of the stairs, Leaf is faced with a life-size portrait of a woman. She is undoubtedly beautiful, but there is a kind look in her eyes that makes Leaf almost immediately admire her. She actually kinda reminds Leaf of Daisy, Gary's older sister, but not quite. The woman looks much too old to be her.

Turning to the smaller portrait on the right, Leaf curiously inspects the painting. There are two subjects of the painting: one is a young brunette girl who calmly sits with a teacup in hand, while the other is a younger brunet boy standing beside her, a smirk on his face.

Leaf reels back from the painting, blinking rapidly in shock.

"Miss Leaf," a familiar voice says from behind her. "Is there a reason that you decided to not eat breakfast?"

Nearly jumping out of her skin from the shock, Leaf quickly whirls around to face the voice. The source comes from slightly below her, as the owner is at the middle landing of the grand staircase while she is at the very top.

"Gary?!"

The creature-beast-pokémon- thingy in front of her frowns slightly. Or at least, Leaf thinks so. She can't really discern his facial expressions when she's having a hard time getting past his physical appearance.

Gary must be in on the prank too. He certainly looks nothing like his normal egotistical self. The air around him is quiet and gentle, humble even. Whenever Gary was too nice to her as a child, Leaf knew something was up.

Besides, Gary would never cosplay- for no good reason- as a pokémon, let alone what looks to be a Frankenstein version of Arcanine, Electivire, Scizor, Houndoom, and….Fearow. One arm is that of Scizor, the other, the arm of Electivire, with the wires sticking from his back as well. Houndoom is the majority of his body, while Arcanine's fur is around his neck like a mink scarf and around his mouth. There are huge wings folded at his side. The only thing recognizable about Gary is his viridian eyes.

Oh, and his unbelievably spiky hair. It seems Gary's ego still remained in the form of him keeping his styled hair. Though even that seems slightly disheveled this morning…

"You need to brush your hair, Gary," Leaf tells him, feeling the urge to go over there herself and fix it. She begins to descend towards him, putting together that he is the 'Master'.

So Gary is the mastermind behind this ridiculous prank, eh? Whatever, Leaf will find a way to turn this around on him…right after she milks it out for all its worth.

Gary seems surprised at her statement, "How did you-?"Then he returns to frowning, "Why is it that you call me that, Miss Leaf?"

"Because," Leaf rolls her eyes, finally reaching him. She's slightly apprehensive of his bird wings but goes near as she can bear without flinching. "that's your name, Gary."

"What if I said my name is…" Gary fumbles for another name, "Tracy Sketchit?"

"Tracy?" Leaf snorts in disbelief, "You expect me to believe that your name is Tracy?"

"Maybe," Gary says defensively. Then his look of surprise returns to his face. "Wait a minute, Miss Leaf….why are you so close to me?"

"Stop calling me that," Leaf steps closer to him, defiantly deciding to see how he would react, "you're making me feel like I'm being creeped on by some butler or something."

"I apologize," a look akin to embarrassment and shame crosses Gary's face as he backs away. "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

Okay, wait. Gary hardly ever apologizes. Especially for making her uncomfortable. He practically lives to violate her personal space. Something's not right.

"I'm just a little hesitant to be near you when you're," Leaf, at a slight loss for words, merely gestures wildly to the huge wings by his side. "you know."

"I'm afraid I don't," Gary shakes his head, but he begins to turn around and begin walking down the steps. "Miss Leaf, while you are a guest here, you need to respect the rules I've set up for you."

"What rules?" Leaf follows him, but stops upon hearing his words.

"You are allowed anywhere you wish, but not into the West Wing," he doesn't look back at her.

This is beginning to sound awfully familiar. Finally deciding to test her old theory, Leaf tugs on the pointy Houndoom tail.

Gary whips it out from her so fast that Leaf could've sworn she never held the tail at all. Leaf blinks several times before she processes the fact that her attempt to see if the tail is real or not has failed.

"My tail's rather sensitive, Miss Leaf," Gary murmurs, "so I'd appreciate it if you didn't tug on it so."

"Okay," Leaf bursts, "I've had enough of this."

"I'm sorry," Gary's mouth twists into remorseful line, "but we've already gone over this. You are a guest here-"

The way he kept emphasizing 'guest' in order to comfort her should've been a tip off. Gary would never need to make her feel comfortable around him. His goal is to make her feel uncomfortable. Of course, Leaf, does not pay heed to the warning bells in her mind.

"No," Leaf shakes her head emphatically, "I'm sick of this prank. Just take off the freaking costume already!"

"Costume?" Gary blinks rapidly. Then his viridian eyes darken, "Do you think that I'm in a costume for my own amusement?!"

"You're…not?" Leaf asks, shrinking back from him in surprise and tiny bit of fear.

"Of course not," Gary says, though his tone is slightly cold. "If only, Miss Leaf."

The brief two minute walk back to the center of the dining hall is tense and awkward to Leaf, who couldn't help but wonder what happened to Gary.

He's a perfect gentleman and pulls her chair out for her. He then crosses to the other side of the long table, way out of her reach.

Leaf, hungry by now, begins reaching for food, thinking that Gary is too. She stops short as she's spreading butter on a warm roll of bread.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Leaf inquires, raising an eyebrow. "It's kinda unsettling for me to be eating all by myself and have you just…stare at me the whole time."

"…eat?" Gary says slowly, confusion in his tone.

Leaf gestures to the feast laid out before her, "This is enough to feed all of Pallet Town for a week."

"…" Gary merely looks down at the table silently.

"Please," Leaf pleads. Seriously, do you know how uncomfortable it is to be eating and having someone blatantly stare at you while you do so? "Please eat."

At her request, Gary begins to reluctantly eat. He finishes his plate far before Leaf does and patiently waits for her to finish. He, of course, goes back to watching her eat.

When she's done, he immediately asks, "Miss Leaf, will you marry me?"

Leaf, drinking fresh orange juice at the time, does a spit take, "Wait, wha-?"

She looks straight at him to see if he's joking, but he only looks back at her, a deadly serious expression on his face.

"No," Leaf answers after a short pause. She feels flattered, she really does. But she's too young for marriage, and it feels wrong to agree to something she's not 100% for. "I'm sorry, but I don't love you, Gary."

She doesn't love Gary that way. At least, not now.

Gary groans loudly, putting his claw and paw onto his head, clear agony on his face.

He gets up to abruptly leave, and that's when Leaf knows.

She knows this isn't some joke. Gary would never be that good of an actor.

"Wait," Leaf calls out to him, bustling out of her seat to run after him, "where are you going?"

He stops, looking back at her in surprise. He says rather pathetically, "To go where I usually go, Miss Leaf. It's routine now."

"Are you saying you propose to me every day?" Leaf says in disbelief.

Oh no….

"Twice a day," Gary corrects before casting her a worried look. "Did you hit your head somewhere?"

Before Leaf can bother shaking her head, Gary quickly puts his paw up. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Leaf gives him an odd look, "….You don't have any fingers."

Gary nods to himself, seeming satisfied, "I see your infamous sass is still in working condition."

He turns back around, heading off to wherever he usually goes to sulk over his rejection.

"Surely your ego's stronger than that," Leaf calls out to his retreating back, "You still talk to me later, so why not stay?"

Gary stops and turns to look at her, the deadly serious expression back on his face, "Because, Miss Leaf-"

"Just 'Leaf'," she cuts in, feeling rather annoyed with the 'Miss Leaf' business.

With a sad smile, the brunet corrects himself, "…Leaf, a beautiful girl such as you…can never love a beast like me."

That line just clinches it for Leaf. The deep suspicion she already has manages to wrestle its way out from inside her and fight its way to the surface. Somehow, someway, she's stuck in a fairy tale... Beauty and the Beast.

I just want to say right away that, "No, this is not Disney's Beauty and the Beast. This is a spin from the classic."

I KNOW Gary seems majorly OOC, but this is an AU, and he will not always be like this. In the classic, the Beast is actually very meek and gentle towards Beauty- or, in this case, Leaf. He'll still have a bit of his signature arrogance, but it's downplayed A LOT.

YES, I mentioned cosplaying. Google Eevee cosplay and you'll get the general gist of what I was talking about for Eevee. Sort of. Execpt it's...you know, real. (Ignore any rambling. It's late...and I just realized I have the tendency to update when it's late and my brain's not working).

My writing style is now third person and SUPER descriptive. What I wanna know is your opinion on this. Do you like it? Do you think I should describe things more or less?

Please give me your comments, opinions, and suggestions!