Chapter 1: Controversy

"Would you stop being so nervous?!" Suma exclaimed, a grin on her face.

Ryuji shifted uncomfortably as he buckled himself into the passenger's seat of her car. He wasn't nervous, though he didn't really expect her to know that at this point. They hadn't seen much of each other over the past year and he was really beginning to struggle with it… He did appreciate how honest she was, and really there was nothing he could pick out that she was actually doing wrong. She told him well in advance every time she had needed to make a trip out of the country for work. She always called, always tried to let him know what was going on. And when she decided she was going to quit her job— despite the protests of the rest of her family and friends— he supported her. Granted, he wasn't quite sure about her reasons for quitting; she never showed an interest in Pokemon training before. But this was Maki Suma, after all. A woman driven by passion, and whatever it was she found out there in Kanto certainly lit quite the fire in her.

He was also thankful that she was up front about her mentor, Mr. Yamamoto. She gave him as much detail as she could about what they did when she would go out to visit with Yamamoto. Called almost every day she was out there— and considering that she spent almost two weeks out of every month there for the past 8 months, and that she had to cover the long distance charges for the call, she really demonstrated a lot of determination in keeping him up to date and being considerate of his feelings. His friends had started to give him weird looks after the first few months, but he didn't really start to feel… the way he did, until the past couple months. Honestly he didn't have a name for it until this moment, until she had playfully urged him to "stop being so nervous". Oh Suma, always dancing over egg shells.

"I'm not nervous," he said, trying to sound cool and collected. "I just… I have no idea where we're going." He said the last with a laugh, trying to lighten himself up a little. You don't get much time with her, you moron, he thought. Just… just try to enjoy it. Boy, she looks pretty today… He suddenly realized she was staring back at him. She must have said something. Whoops. "Uh… what did you say?" he asked.

She smiled that smile, the one she smiled every time he did this. And he did it often enough that she had a special smile just for the occasion. Cue the heat to the face. "I said, I'm taking you back to my place."

Ryuji scratched his head, "Uh, wait, what? I thought we were going out for dinner."

Suma pulled out from the driveway of his flat and sped off down the road. She nodded, "Yeah, we are. Out to my place!" She held up a finger without looking at him as she continued to drive, "And!, some people will be there waiting for us!"

Ok, now he was getting frustrated. "Suma, I thought it was just going to be you and I tonight…"

Suma shot him a nervous glance. Whoops, that might have sounded a little sharper than he meant it to. "Yeah, sorry about that babe," she said. "I was hoping this little get together would be a little later this week, but one thing led to another, and… well, you know how these things work." She said the last with a chuckle and a shrug.

"Well, actually no, I don't know how these things work," Ryuji said, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice and probably failing, "because I don't have any idea what this is all about."

She made a face. "What are you taaalkin' about?" she said, "It's just a bunch of people gettin' together!"

He couldn't help but smile a little. She knew he was frustrated and she was being silly to try and cheer him up and it was working but gosh dangit he had a bone to pick with her. "Come on, Suma," he said, slathering on the sarcasm, "after a year and a half I know you well enough to know when you're hiding something from me. First it's 'I'm picking you up and we're going out for dinner'. Then it's 'dinner at my place'. Then it's 'dinner at my place with a bunch of people you don't know'. By definition I'm already here under false pretenses!" She laughed at that last bit. "Now, tell-me-what-we're-doin'-or-else!" The whole thing ran together like a slur and she laughed really loudly.

"Alright, alright," she said, laughing. "We're meeting with my mentor tonight, and some of his associates."

Ok, now he was intrigued. "Ah, so I finally get to meet the mysterious Yamamoto, eh? But what does this have to do with me?"

She gave him a coy look, "You're a Pokemon trainer, aren't you?"

He nodded dryly, "Yeah, and so's about half of the rest of the world's population."

She groaned and threw her head back a little, "Ugh, you're such a butt-hooollle."

He grinned and nodded, "The biggest."

She sighed and gave him a smile, then returned her attention to the road. They were about to get on the high-way. "Look, will you just… trust me? I can't really explain it all right now. But, when you get there, not only will I explain this, but I'll explain why I became a Pokemon trainer."

And that shut him up, because she struck the nerve again. He was really going to have to figure out just what it was he was feeling. But something in him really didn't want to deal with it right now. So he just sat back for the ride as they made their way to Goldenrod, where her apartment was.

Ryuji stared wide eyed at the group that sat casually in Suma's living room. He stood warily at the threshold of the kitchen, where Suma was preparing a few snacks for the group of five people while the others chatted amongst themselves. There were a couple faces he recognized, but not all of them had names in his mind. One of them he assumed to be Yamamoto. He wasn't the oldest in the group, but he was pretty close if Ryuji had it figured right. He stood over Suma's television which sat across from the couch and chairs in which everyone was seated. He looked pretty frustrated too, and Ryuji didn't realize until a couple minutes into watching him that it was probably because the man hadn't owned a television in the past ten years.

The man looked over his shoulder at the group seated behind him, and said, "Dawn, can you give me a hand with this?"

She grinned at him. "And why did you pick me, Mr. Ketchum?"

He groaned. "Because you're the youngest and most likely to know how to work this blasted thing."

Dawn laughed, and so did the woman seated next to her, who said, "Not anymore, if we hear right!"

Dawn winked and said, "That's right. Our old teacher's got a new protege."

The man gave the second woman a playfully mean look, "May, unless you want to be on tech duty, I suggest you save the sass for later."

May raised her hands in a gesture of mock surrender, "Of course, Sifu."

The man groaned, looking back to Dawn. "Dawn, please help me out."

She stood, laughing, "Yeah, yeah." She crossed the room and he began explaining to her just what it was he wanted her to do— and his directions started with turning it on.

But Ryuji had no time to be amused. He rushed into the kitchen and tugged on Suma's sleeve as he continued to peer as much as he could around the wall through to the living room. "Suma, Suma."

She chuckled, probably knowing what had him so worked up. "Yes, dear?"

"Um, did you realize that you have two League Champions and two Gym Leaders sitting in your living room?" Ryuji asked her sardonically.

Suma nodded as she began pouring water from a pitcher into glasses on a tray. "I sure did, sweetie."

He turned back to face her and whispered, exasperated. "Why didn't you tell me? I'd have worn something nicer!"

She pouted at him, playful. "You wouldn't dress nicely for your girlfriend?" He gave her the biggest, most unamused face he could muster and she laughed at him. He shook his head. She smiled, "Just go on out there and sit. I've got the food in the oven, it will be ready in an hour or so. Besides, we'll be getting started soon."

With what?, he questioned. But he knew better than to ask at this point. So, he just turned about and went back towards the living room, steeling himself as he crossed the threshold. And yes, now he was nervous. He did his best to get past it as he moved past the couch towards the last available arm chair, the one closest to the door. Dawn was still helping who Ryuji assumed was Yamamoto while May and the other two continued to chat from where they sat. May and another woman were listening to something a man seated opposite Ryuji was saying, both of them seeming quite surprised to hear it.

"And… she said yes," the man spiky-haired man finished.

The orange haired woman sat back, "Well, I never imagined the day would actually come."

May laughed, "Yeah, you'd think the Joys would have all warned their daughters about you by now."

The orange haired woman did her best to stifle a laugh herself, and the spiky-haired man frowned. She gave him an amused look, "Oh, come on, Brock. We all found your 15-year old crush on every Nurse Joy to be an endearing thing, but you have to admit they seemed to feel kinda creeped out every once in a while."

May held up a finger, "Especially because they were all mostly ten or fifteen years older than you!"

The man smiled and laughed nervously, "Well, yeah I guess that's all true. But hey, I found my Joy in the end! Even if it was one of their daughters." Ryuji frowned at that, because it did sound creepy.

The orange haired woman said, "How old did you say she was?"

The man called Brock hunched a little and answered in a somewhat small voice. "She's… twenty-five?" he said, as if it were a question.

Both women groaned disgustedly, but insincerely. "Aw, what's the matter with you?" the Orange haired woman said, throwing a pillow at him.

"Cradle-robber!" May added sarcastically.

Brock blushed, "Come on, Misty! When you're in love, you're in love!" Both women continued to groan and poke fun at him, and Brock crossed his arms and looked away, as if he were done with the conversation. Ryuji found himself wondering what could bring such an eclectic group together. He didn't know their names right off the bat, but he recognized both Misty and Brock as Kanto Region Gym Leaders— he especially recognized Brock, who was also a successful Pokemon Breeder. Brock looked the part of a Kanto-bred man, tall and dark and formidable in stature. And while he could see the Kantonese in Misty— she was tall and her skin rich in color— he also wondered if she had roots in another country, perhaps Sinnoh or Hoenn.

And the other two needed no introduction for Ryuji, for he knew them well (or at least, knew well of them). Dawn Bellamy, the Sinnoh Region League Champion five years running now. She was short and a little fuller in form than the other two women (characteristic of a Sinnoan woman). She was certainly very pretty, and Ryuji imagined the sheen of her dark, almost blue hair would have turned a few heads as she walked around Goldenrod. And the other woman, May Maple, was the Hoenn Region League Champion… probably something like seven or eight years running now. She was quite thin with brown hair and blue eyes, and full of spunk— almost a perfect match for the first result in a google search for your stereotypical Hoennite woman.

Ryuji's thoughts were interrupted as the man at the television turned around. "Alright, well it looks like this is every one we can expect," he said, seeming somewhat disappointed. The group before him was quiet, and they also seemed to share in his disappointment. He went on, "Some of you know why you are here, and others," he glanced at Ryuji, "are probably wondering what this is all about. I've called this little meeting because you are among the people I respect most," the man said, pausing. Ryuji swallowed a frog to hear himself counted among such an esteemed company. "There have been some developments over the past few years in our society, and as you know, it's caused some division amongst the trainers and enthusiasts of the world."

Suma moved quietly into the room with a tray bearing glasses of water and a few snacks, crackers and cheeses. She passed the glasses around and set the tray on the table sitting in front of the couch. She offered a glass to "Mr. Yamamoto", but he declined and Suma sat on the couch next to May as the man continued speaking. "I learned a week ago that the program we're about to watch was going to air, and when I did I suggested this meeting to Ms. Maki here, whom you all just met. I thought it might be helpful bringing you up to speed with… where all of this is going." And with that, the man turned and fidgeted a bit with the remote before moving to stand near where Brock sat.

Ryuji was familiar with the program, it ran on the channel run by Suma's old employer. It was something of a talk show, with a special interest in innovations in Pokemon related technology and other developments. They were just about finished with a demonstration of some new kind of Pokeball. The hostess of the show smiled cheekily as she thanked the developer and dismissed him to the sound of canned applause. She crossed the set to where a couple arm chairs were placed, presumably her home-base throughout the show. "Our next guest," she said to the camera, "is the CEO and Lead Developer for a young and controversial corporation. Over the past year or so since they were founded, they've taken the market by storm with their impressive and revolutionary technologies. Today, he's here to tell us about their latest product— the namesake for their company and the device that just might change Pokemon Training forever. Please, welcome Neji Noboru!"

The canned applause was turned extra high as a stocky man in a fine black suit with a pencil-thin mustache came from somewhere in the back, making his way for where the hostess sat waiting. She stood as he reached her, and they both greeted each other with a courteous bow before taking their seats.
The man grinned toothily as the applause died down, "Thank you for having me, Ms. Ara."

The hostess smiled back, "It's an honor, Mr. Neji!"

He raised both of his hands in a pleading gesture, "Please, call me Noboru."

The woman nodded with another smile. "So, we've all heard about it, and the market certainly exploded when it was released to the public! And as— I'm sure— you're aware by now, your new product is the talk of the town: some good, some bad! What can you tell us that we don't already know?"

The man nodded and sat forward, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. "Well, we at Alpha Corp. believe in providing each and every trainer with the tools they need to become their very best— it's a motivation that, in part, inspired our name. The Alpha Machine is the centerpiece around which we have built our company. It was the original idea, the whole reason we even decided to set up shop. The Pokemon Training Formulas and the new Pokeballs were all just stepping stones to providing the resources we needed in order to get this product up and running."

The woman interjected, "And it's been up and running for, what, almost six months now?"

The man smiled, "It sure has! And while we hoped it would do well, we never expected it to take off the way it has."

The woman sat back, "Well, good for you. It's always nice to see someone's dream take off like that."

The man laughed, "Hey, I definitely feel like I'm living a dream." Several seated in the living room at Suma's scoffed at that. Ryuji definitely found something offsetting about the guy, but didn't think it was that big of a deal…

"Well," the woman continued, "what can you tell us about how the machine works?"

As the man spoke, a picture in picture frame appeared in the lower left of the screen, showing the device with what looked like sound waves coming out of it. "The Alpha Device uses super and subsonic sound waves to interact with the mind of a Pokemon. Ordinarily, a trainer has to give commands to their Pokemon during battle, and while that only takes a few seconds for your Pokemon to process, those few precious seconds could be the difference between victory and defeat. Whats more, they have to spend hours upon hours working through their techniques outside of battle, and while that's all well and good we wondered if there was a better way."

"And is the Alpha Machine the better way?" the woman asked.

The man nodded with a smug look in his eye. "We at Alpha Corp. think so. And the market would seem to agree," he said the last with a shrug.

"Well, there's no question that your technology is a game changer," the woman commented, "but some wonder if that change is for the better."

The man nodded, feigning a sad look. "Change can be difficult to accept, Ms. Ara. We weren't surprised to see some people receive our product poorly."

The woman gave him an almost incredulous look, "You might say that's almost an understatement, Mr. Neji. Upon it's release, thousands lined up in protest at every major retailer across the globe. They think your machine takes things too far, claiming even that it's mind control."

The man sat forward again, visibly perturbed. "I can understand why they might feel that way— never before have we been able to interact with Pokemon the way this machine can allow us to. But let me assure you Ms. Ara, and our viewers at home, that we have thoroughly tested this device and can confidently inform you that there are no negative consequences for using this device, and that it will not harm your Pokemon. As I said before," he said, leaning back again, "this device allows the trainer a new channel for interacting with their Pokemon. It's certainly not mind control— that's pure science fiction, and those who entertain such ideas are merely superstitious and insecure."

The woman raised her eyebrows, "Those are some strong words, Mr. Neji."

The man shrugged, "Well, can you blame me? Those weren't just protests, Ms. Ara. People rioted, destroying establishments of business and even injuring those who worked there— as well as other customers. Tell me, do those seem like the actions of a rational people?"

The woman shook her head, smiling. "No, I suppose not."

Neji nodded, satisfied. "And that's fine— what we're doing is unlike what any other corporation can say for themselves right now. We're going to make the Alpha Machine more and more available to trainers across the globe, and it's not only going to revolutionize the way we do Pokemon battles. It will change countless other industries as well: construction, exploration, fire and rescue, and who knows what else. There are no limits to the possibilities when one explores the vastness of the potential of human and Pokemon partnership. And really, thats what the Alpha Machine is all about: taking the possibilities to their maximum potential."

"From alpha to omega, you might say," the woman added with a chuckle.

Neji laughed, "Now you've got it, Ms. Ara."

She leaned forward, "Well, I hear you've prepared a demonstration for us?"

The man nodded and stood, "Yes, we've—

And suddenly the television turned off. All eyes turned to Mr. Yamamoto, who held the remote in his hand. He stood silently for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry. But I couldn't possibly take watching him use that thing on another poor and innocent creature." He turned and crossed the room, standing before the group. Looking from face to face, he said, "So? What do you think?"

Brock cleared his throat, staring into the floor, "Well, I think it's going to give trainers everywhere who use it a false sense of confidence. They'll begin to expect Pokemon to be submissive to them from the get go, and before you know it the relationships between Pokemon and humans will be so superficial that we'll entirely alienate them."

Yamamoto nodded, "Yeah, that's probably true." He looked around, "Anyone else?"

May made a disgusted face, "I mean all you have to do is look at the guy, you can tell he's not being honest about his machine. He says it doesn't harm the Pokemon, but I don't buy it: a harmless machine doesn't provoke violent protests like the one's we've seen on the news. I heard that during their beta testing thousands of Pokemon were killed in failed operations."

Dawn nodded, concern in her features, "I think everyone is right, but I don't think that's why we're here."

Yamamoto's eyebrows leapt. "Oh, is that so?"

She gave him an unamused look. "We all know you too well, Ash. There's more to this than just a few negative consequences— albeit, pretty negative consequences. You went missing for almost ten years, and suddenly you call a meeting together half-way across the globe… something happened, and if it involves this device or whatever, that's fine. But just tell us what this is about already."

Misty smiled and shrugged, "You know she's right, Ash. It's time you started being honest with us. All of us. I might know more than they do, but even I don't really know what it is you want from us right now."

Yamamoto… Ash?, nodded with a sigh. He sat upon the floor, and everyone rose to join him. Suma nodded at the circle that was forming on the floor, and Ryuji moved nervously to join them. He began his tale, "A little less than a year ago, my wife was murdered right before my eyes." That had everyone's attention. "And while he didn't mean to do it, she was killed by my very own friend, my Charizard. He was under the control of one of those devices," he said that pointing to the television behind him. "But my newest pupil," he said, gesturing to where Suma sat in the circle, "intervened, sending her newly captured Abra into battle. Abra was able to evade Charizard's attacks and disarm the man, but not before he killed two more of Suma's friends and Charizard's fire burned down my home."

Several in the group glanced at Suma, who was staring into the floor. Ryuji couldn't believe what he was hearing. The man continued, "Even more disturbing, once he was disarmed he fought to free himself Charizard's grasp and threw himself into the flames that engulfed the cottage... there was nothing we could do to stop him. Now, before he died he told me that he had come not for my Pokemon, but for me. He told me that he and the people who made that device intended to use it on the world's legendary Pokemon, that their real goal was to usurp control of the forces of this world and to gain control of it. I left Hermit's Hill because of this, because our world is facing a great threat from people with no regard for the lives of humans or Pokemon. I called you here because someone needs to stop them."

Suma slowed as she approached Ryuji's flat and pulled into the driveway. Apart from their conversation in the kitchen earlier that evening, Ryuji had said very little to Suma throughout the night. He knew it was making her nervous, because that tended to happen when he was feeling upset. He wanted to try and ease her mind a little, but there was the whole mess of his feelings about things in general right now and then this night on top of all of it… he wouldn't have known what to say even if he tried. And fortunately, he didn't have to, because Suma decided to break the ice. "So," she said somewhat cautiously, "sorry to kind of spring all of that on you."

He gave her an incredulous look. "'Sorry to kind of spring that on you'? Suma, your mentor sounds like he wants to start some kind of social uprising or something!"

She looked at him, sincerity in her eyes, "Can you blame him? Everything he's lost, and what those men want to do…"

He shook his head, "How can you even be sure that's what they really want? The guy in the interview doesn't seem that terrible."

That comment rubbed her wrong, and he knew it the moment he said it. "Ryuji, don't sit there and pretend it's not a big deal. I watched your face throughout the whole interview, and you looked shocked. You're just as concerned as the others are, and you knew even less than they did about all this. Don't…" she paused, her emotions starting to run, "don't shrug this off because I ruined your plans for the night and you got nervous."

And that was it. "For Arceus' sake, Suma, I'm not nervous, ok?" he shouted, his own emotions well past running now. "I'm angry, Suma! Angry!" She was definitely caught off guard by his sudden outburst, but he was too upset now to really restrain himself. She just sat there speechless, looking very uncomfortable, as all of his thoughts and feelings from the past eight months poured out. "Do you realize that there were a couple times where I didn't see you for almost two months straight? And when I did see you, I had to steal the time from other things and probably saw you for a handful of hours before you disappeared for another several weeks. My friends and family started urging me to break up with you months ago, because they thought that no one who took a relationship seriously would do all of that. But I stuck with it, not only because I loved you but because I wanted to be supportive of you."

Suma wasn't even looking at him anymore, and tears had started to collect in the corners of her eyes. But it was all coming out of him now and he wasn't very good at stopping… "I didn't know you were in danger, Suma. I didn't know you witnessed three murders, that you had gotten caught up in some kind of… some kind of crazy take-over-the-world plot. First I was just mad, but now I'm scared for you, Suma! Am I going to be up at night, wondering if I'm going to see you again?!"

Suma sniffled a little. "I-I don't have to do it… if you feel that strongly about it…"

Ryuji sighed and and gestured with his hands. "Yes, you do. I know you, Suma— once you've gotten something into your heart there's no satisfying you unless you follow it. And I wouldn't want you to not do it, anyway, I see how its changed you, how you've become a fuller person because of it. That's not even why I'm mad."

She gave him a confused look at that. "Th-then why are you…?"

And now he knew why, but he really didn't want to say. "Nevermind," he said, crossing his arms and looking out the window. And then she made a face and smacked him. "Ow! What was that for?!" he cried, turning back to her.

"You just spent the past couple minutes yelling at me, you jerk!" she retorted. "Now at least tell me why!"

"Fine!" he shouted back. "I missed you, ok?!"

"What?!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, I missed you!" he repeated. She was dumbfounded, and he just spilled his guts. "My job has started taking off and you're never here for me to share the excitement with you and you're off out there trying to change the world and I don't get to be a part of it and I hate that because I love you and want us to be a part of what's important to each other!" And suddenly she started laughing at him and shoving him and that made him even madder because she was gonna take him seriously! This woman! "Stop laughing at me, Suma!"

"Awwww," she exclaimed with laughter, taking his left arm and cuddling up close to him, "I missed you too." He was trying really hard not to laugh and let her disarm his anger but she was really good at it and ugh. She looked up at him, smiling but a little remorseful. "I'm sorry honey, I didn't mean to make you feel shut out…"

He nodded, resting his head on top of hers. "I know you didn't… I just… I just want to be a part of your world, Suma. And I want you to be a part of mine."

She giggled. "It's like you're the girl in the relationship. So emotional!"

"Hey, I'm a man!" he retorted, trying to shove her off his arm and failing miserably as she laughed hysterically. "I do manly things, like pee standing up!"

She nodded sardonically with the sweetest smile she could probably conjure, "Mhm, you're a real toughie."

He groaned, "I hate you."

"You love me," she said with a grin.

"This sucks!" he exclaimed.

"You love it!" she replied. He sighed and she giggled again, "You can have feelings, Ryuji. Actually, I've never dated a man who could be open the way you just were. I think that's very manly."

His eyebrows jumped and he grunted a little like a bear, "Oh, yeah?"

She nodded, kissing his cheek. "Mhm!"

""At's right, it's manly!" he exclaimed. "And don't you forget it!" And she laughed at him again.