Giovanni panted, his normally pristine suit torn and dirty, blood dripping from open wounds. He dropped his gun and straightened slowly, making a mental note to invest in a firearm with more stopping power. His pokemon were lying around him, most unconscious, all terribly wounded. His enemy stood across from him, cradling the limp form of his Pikachu and standing protectively in front of a downed Charizard, right wing and arm broken. The rest of his pokemon had Giovanni surrounded; a Blastoise on all fours, twitching from repeated electrocutions, but steady enough that the cannons on its back didn't waver as they pointed straight at him. A bullet riddled Venusaur, charging a solarbeam from sunlight pouring in from a massive hole blasted in the ceiling. A truly massive Snorlax, its droopy eyes at odds with the hyper beam crackling between its paws. A delicate Espeon, eyes blazing with psychic power. Giovanni smirked, though not at his enemy. It is ironic, he thought to himself. I have apparently forgotten my own rule. I've gotten weak. Beaten by a kid.
"I must thank you," Giovanni said, bowing slightly, "I am actually rather glad that I was reminded of this lesson by you, rather than by someone who is significantly more likely to kill me."
The boy didn't say anything, merely watched, the same focused expression on his face. The two had fought three times now, and Giovanni had never heard him speak or seen his expression change. The boy was unshakeable.
"I have failed," he said, "Failed at the only thing I ever tried to do."
He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out an Earth Badge.
"You deserve this more than I do. Go show them all what real power is," he said, tossing the emblem to the boy. As he did so, a Xatu teleported beside him and just as quickly teleported away, taking his pokemon and broken dreams with him.
Red caught the badge.
It was dark in the cave, but all its denizens were more than used to that. Strangely enough though, even the intruder didn't seem perturbed. He walked easily, almost casually, making his way through the maze. Nothing tried to stop him, they knew where he was going.
Why are you here?
"I am here to wake you up," the man said with a slight smile. His eyes flashed in the darkness as the psychic glow around Mewtwo flared into being.
Morty sat in the darkness, leaning against the charred wall of an ancient burned tower. His eyes were open despite the darkness, flitting from unseen thing to unseen thing. Ghosts swarmed around him, thickening the air to the point of unbreatheability, a murmured susurrus of more than slightly insane laughter. But they dared not touch him. Suddenly, as one, they all stopped. They turned in a direction not normally associated with the four dimensions we know, and looked.
This time, even the ghost master joined in the laughter.
Suicune stands unmoving on the water, its surface perfectly still, staring at the window looking into a certain boy's room.
"Are you sure? Because I am still rather dubious about this," He asked, sensing his creator.
"His heart sings," The massive golden bird replied, alighting on a nearby tree, causing it to creak and sway ominously.
"All songs sound the same ere the first note is struck. This can just as easily turn to war as peace. If you'll recall, I'm not terribly fond of war."
"There will be war regardless. The question is whether that war will be followed by peace, or by more war," Ho-oh said, head swiveling to look at the beast of rain. "You will not be the only player. But you will likely be the most important. When we're done with this, the future will once again be the past. And we will all be free."
"There's no such thing," Suicune replied, and with that, he ran, even the wind unable to catch up with him.
"Yet," Ho-oh replied to the wind.
Per usual, Kris was nowhere to be found.
"Where could she be? Dr. Elm specifically asked for you two!" Ethans mom yelled, peering out the doorway.
"That's probably due to the fact that we're like the only two in town between the ages 'too young' and 'too old'," Ethan said with a laugh, coming down the stairs with his Cyndaquil just behind him.
"Hey now," his mother glared at him. He kissed her on the cheek as he passed her out the door, the Cyndaquil nuzzling her ankle before following.
It was just a short walk to the lab, the only building of note in the entire town, though admittedly that wasn't particularly saying a whole lot. Ethan walked the familiar corridor to the main lab, where the doctor (and Ethan) spent much of his time absorbed in his research. The doctor was staring intently at a large screen displaying two DNA strands side by side.
"What's that?" Ethan asked, startling the professor.
"Ah! Oh! Ummm…. Yes. This here on the left is DNA from a Pichu, and this here on the right is from a Raichu. The same Raichu."
Ethan looked at the image for a moment, face becoming increasingly puzzled.
"They're not the same."
"Indeed. Which poses an interesting point of thought. If my assumption that the genetic change was caused by evolution, which seems reasonable, why then are children born as the pre-evolved species of the mother? Why are there no such things as a cross-breed pokemon for that matter? It just doesn't make sense! Inheritance doesn't work like that!" Elm exclaimed. Ethan nodded.
"You're right. I can't wait until you figure it out!" he exclaimed brightly. Elm gave him a dour look.
"So anyway, what is it you wanted?" Ethan asked.
"Oh right. Is Kris coming?"
"Couldn't find her."
"Of course not. Oh well, not a big deal. Just thought it'd make your mother worry less. I have an… acquaintance who lives off the beaten path, somewhere north of Cherrygrove. He sent me a message saying that he had something that he wanted to give me, but I can't go get it myself at the moment. My wife and all…" Cyndaquil made a squeak that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, and Elm looked around uncomfortably, clearing his throat. "So yeah, could you go check it out for me?"
"How off the beaten path are we talking here…?" Ethan asked slowly.
"I believe on a scale of 1 to 10 he's in hiding from the League," Elm said with a straight face. Ethan took a bit to take this in.
"Why…? How…? What?" was all he managed.
"Several years ago now, a team of some of the greatest minds in the field of pokemon research were brought together for a project. I was the specialist on genetics. At the time, most of us did not know the intent or the identity of the organization behind this. However after a while the nature of the… project… clued us in, and many of us left. My acquaintance was not one of those, morality and ethics were never his strong suit. When the project blew up, the League found out and prosecuted anyone who survived. He however managed to evade them, and has stayed in hiding ever since. He now goes by the moniker of 'Mr. Pokemon' I believe," Elm said, once again ruining a perfectly serious story.
"You mean it literally blew up?"
"Well, I suppose technically it blew everything else up, I'm pretty certain that it actually survived."
"I see… and I suppose that this is about the clearest explanation that I'm going to get?"
"Unfortunately yes. I would not really like my involvement exposed, and while I don't think you'd intentionally say anything, it's not a chance I really desire to take."
"Of course. Well, how am I even supposed to find this 'Mr. Pokemon' anyway?" Ethan sighed resignedly.
"He'll know once you enter his territory, someone will be along to guide you. Just go get lost in the forest northeast of Cherrygrove."
"My job is to get lost in the middle of nowhere so a convict on the run can give me… something? Is this for real?" Ethan asked, incredulous.
"I don't suggest phrasing it to your mother quite that way, but yes. It'll be fine, Kris has already visited him several times, he's quite friendly."
"Kris is also insane and she regularly lives out in the wild for days at a time, I don't think I have those exact qualifications."
"Oh don't be a baby, most kids your age have already left home to start training with the gyms. It's about time you got out of the lab and did something."
"I see no point in leaving the comfort of my home to learn something that I can just as easily learn by studying here, where I have things like free room and board. And showers."
"And if that were in any way true, it would be an excellent point. Cyndaquil wants to go, so it's two against one, you have no choice. Shoo shoo!"
Ethan glared at the flaming pokemon. It headbutted his ankle.
"I'm going to regret this," he sighed.
His mother had been surprisingly enthusiastic about the idea, going into a frenzy of packing and off the wall advice as soon as he mentioned the trip. Ethan had been somewhat overwhelmed. Surprisingly though, most of the advice had been more directed towards Cyndaquil.
"Now make sure he eats breakfast, otherwise he'll be grumpy all day, he's just like his grandfather," she said, packing granola bars and vitamin pills into his backpack. "And make sure he stays warm and dry, the rainy season is coming up and I don't want him being sick out on the road."
Cyndaquil squeaked an affirmative after every order, puffed up and taking himself very seriously.
"I can take care of myself you know, I'm not totally ignorant," he said.
"Nonsense dear, you've only left town twice ever, and you spend most of your time reading."
"So has he!"
"He can breathe fire. Can you breathe fire? No, I didn't think so."
"What does that even…? " Ethan began, but then gave in to the inevitable.
And so they were off.