Chapter 2 – Reform

Among all the tricks in a psychic pokemon's arsenal, teleportation was probably that which humans understood the best. In fact, all it had taken to unravel the mysteries regarding the mechanics of teleportation had been some knowledge of physics and several cooperative psychics. Granted, the actual physics involved was definitely beyond the comprehension of the average high school student, but in the grand scheme of things, it really could be considered as being rather basic.

Simply put, teleportation involved a psychic pokemon using its powers to travel in a straight line. This was possible because well, the universe was curved. The three elementary dimensions of length, breadth, and depth formed matter. Matter, consisting of mass, generated gravity that pulled space-time into a curved shape. Numerous high school teachers had attempted to explain this four-way interaction using the analogy of a ball that had been frozen into a gelatine cube. The gelatine was moulded around the three-dimensional form of the ball, and any movements of the ball would in turn set off a ripple effect within the gelatine.

Length, breadth, depth, and time – four dimensions that made it possible for a psychic pokemon to vanish from one place and reappear almost instantly in another.

Since space-time was curved, a teleporting psychic actually moved in a straight line through time from its present location to its desired destination. Those familiar with analytical geometry would have seen this as being analogous to a chord interacting with a parabolic curve, but those who were more averse to mathematics usually imagined it as the world being folded onto itself.

In short, an alakazam at Point A who needed to get to Point B merely opened a passage into time, and materialized at its destination, split-seconds after disappearing from the former location. It was almost as if the pokemon had folded a portion of space, and hopped over onto the surface which had been brought closer to it.

Despite all the theories that surrounded it, teleportation remained the most commonly-used and well known of the psychic arts. Most people couldn't be bothered in understanding just how it worked – knowing that it did work was enough for them.

But of course, some parties were more interested in the mechanics of being able to literally leap across space and time in a single movement. Shortly after the highly-secretive conversation between the servers of Earth and Data, numerous massive, rippling distortions started to form in the sky above several choice locations on Earth.

Mount Moon. Mount Silver. Mount Pyre. Mount Coronet. Twist Mountain.

Curious onlookers gathered by the hundreds to watch as the sky above the five continents' largest mountains lit up with crackling electricity and swirling dust clouds. Occasionally, the spiralling dust clouds would emit deep, rumbling sounds not unlike those of a muffled thunderclap. Then, the clouds would begin rotating more rapidly, and flash with a brilliant luminescence that was not of any color within the rainbow's spectrum. Very obviously, the Elites of all five pokemon leagues were consulted with regards to the strange phenomenon.

The Elites' collective silence on the matter was just as strange as the freakish thunderstorms that began lashing at the mountain-tops within days of the distortions' first appearance.

xxx

In a darkened room packed with computer consoles, countless four-legged creatures were scuttling about on every available surface. Their eyes glowed with scrolling lines of computer code, which curiously enough, corresponded to that which was flashing almost constantly on the screens mounted on the walls. The only unique being in the room was a strange one clad in blue-armor that stood close to a hologram projector, which was already projecting the likeness of an equally enigmatic being.

"When will the portals stabilize?" rasped the waist-high projection of a skeletal figure with a torn cloak draped over its shoulders. "Precious time is a-wasting here!"

"Two hours, Your Highness," hissed the armoured creature with stringy yellow hair and wide, swivelling eyes, as it paced before the hologram. "The infermon are working as fast as they can, and the humans' psychics are opening up the gateways over on Earth."

"I was also told that they shall open over mountainous regions."

"Indeed they shall," nodded the spider-like being, as it tapped several keys on a computer console with its large, scarlet claws, "and those locations were for the best, really."

"Elaborate."

"Simply put, those five locations have the highest concentrations of psychic energy on Earth. Any portals established to those destinations will be considerably stable."

"Very well, then. See to it that we can mobilize as soon as possible."

With that, the hologram faded into nothingness.

xxx

"How much longer will it take?"

"Metagross and gothitelle estimate it to be fifteen minutes," replied Lucian and Caitlin in unison from where they lay slumped in their seats. Their bodies had sagged into the sofa sets as though they had been de-boned, and their eyes were little more than white orbs – within minutes of the portals being connected, the two Elites' eyes had rolled back in their sockets, and they had collapsed like puppets whose strings had been cut. They weren't even present in the same location; Lucian was in Sinnoh while Caitlin was in Unova, and all communications were being carried out by means of a video conference.

"The hailstorm above Mount Silver is growing more intense," noted Koga, from his post in Johto. "Even the sneasel are beginning to flee from the mountain's peak, it seems."

"Likewise over here," affirmed Drake, as he adjusted his sailor's cap. "The weather atop Mount Pyre is getting so treacherous that people are wondering if Groudon and Kyogre are awakening again."

"Good," nodded Lance, as he glanced out of the large window that overlooked the road from Victory Road to Indigo Plateau. Already those vultures who called themselves journalists were gathering at the league's doorstep, and he wasn't looking forward to answering their questions.

Of course, he could always let the results speak for themselves.

"It is done," announced the two psychic Elites as one, even as the lights flickered and went out, leaving half of the league representatives in darkness.

xxx

Those who had congregated at the five mountains were scattered when the swirling dust clouds exploded with dazzling flashes of blinding white light. Some found themselves trying in vain to rid their vision of the explosions' burning afterimages, while some others cried out in alarm as columns of pulsing light lanced onto the mountain peaks from the storm centres.

Then, almost as abruptly as they had begun, the distortions vanished. The once-dark skies were rendered cloudless and blue once again, and several witnesses would later wonder if they had been hallucinating. However, a lingering scent, not unlike that of sulphur, provided them with ample conviction as to the reality of the strange incidents.

It was an ominous sign of things to come.

xxx

"- reports on the strange weather phenomena!" growled a heavyset man in a general's uniform as he slammed a meaty fist onto his desk. "God damn it, I want explanations, not speculation!"

"Sir," said a thin man in a trench coat, "speculation is the best we can do, since our psychics are reporting heavy shielding on the affected areas. It's almost as though other psychics were putting up mental barriers over the mountains, they say."

"What do Lucian and Caitlin have to say about this?"

"They haven't said anything at all, sir. They could not be reached."

"Impossible!" spat the general.

"It's true, sir. The Elites seemed to have severed all communications with the world outside of their respective league headquarters."

"Hmph! What about the mice?"

"All jammed. We suspect that Cynthia is using her porygons to shield their internal communications from external probing."

For a few moments, General Meiji merely glared at his subordinate, while his fingers toyed with a stress ball that lay on his desk. The military ranked higher than the pokemon leagues in the governmental hierarchies, which made the sudden communications blackout all the more puzzling. What really irked him, though, was the fact that the Elites seemed be aware of the bugs which had been planted in their headquarters, and that they were actually blocking their presumably clandestine activities from the armed forces' rather sharp eyes.

"We'll have to go in ourselves, then."

"Sir?" the trench-coated intelligence agent seemed somewhat alarmed by his commanding officer's decision.

"You heard me – we're going to get ourselves into the leagues' headquarters and finding out just what the hell is going on here."

"A mobilization, then?"

"Naturally. Get-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the door to his office was slammed open. Meiji whirled about to glare at the intruder, his face turning bright red.

"WHAT-"

"Sir, it's urgent!" gasped the junior communications officer who had barged into his office. "Multiple contacts!"

"With what, pray tell?"

"Unknown hostiles, sir!"

"Get out of my way!" The general swore as he made his way to the huge battle map that was just five feet outside of his office. His eyes widened as he saw the diodes on the transparent plastic screen lighting up; there were so many of them that the map resembled a Christmas tree. Blue represented military units, whereas red represented hostiles.

The map was practically rendered opaque by flashing diodes.

"Who authorized the mobilization?"

"No one, sir!" panted the communications officer. "The pokemon units all went berserk!"

"Call a red alert, now!"

xxx

All over the five continents, things were definitely worse than they had appeared to be on General Meiji's battle map.

Within twenty minutes of the strange occurrences atop the five peaks, every television set on Earth had switched itself off. However, they had started up again before their bewildered owners could even rise from their seats. When they had come back to life, the screens had been divided into six – they displayed the images of the five league champions and a blank box.

"Attention, people of Earth!" boomed Alder's voice from a thousand television sets. "We are the pokemon league champions, and we bring you news of great significance!"

"You'd best listen closely," Steven Stone murmured, his eyes dark, "especially since your lives might be at stake here."

"For too long, we have stood by and watched humans use and abuse pokemon for their own selfish reasons," said Lance coldly, "so now, things shall be changing around these parts."

"As we speak, you shall see that things outside your homes are stirring up somewhat," Cynthia daintily declared. "As such, our advice is that you all stay indoors, or GET indoors as soon as you can."

"A curfew has been declared!" snapped Kanto's champion, Blue. "You have five minutes to get your selves off the streets... or things might get unpleasant."

Just then, the sixth box on the television screens flickered and flashed, finally displaying the image of a robotic being with a partially-transparent head. Various mechanical devices and electrical circuits were visibly operating within its cylindrical skull, even as it smiled for the camera.

"I must say, you humans know how to get a public service announcement out."

xxx

"- get those lunatics off the air!"

"- trace on those signals!"

"- what the fuck is going on here?"

"- heavy scrambling!"

"I can't!"

General Meiji watched as his troops mobilized all over Kanto, and listened to the confused cries that were filling the airwaves. No one seemed to have any idea what was going on, and things were not looking good. As it was, he was receiving news of chaos on the streets of Kanto, and the Elites' five-minute countdown was already halfway through.

Of course, it didn't help that a significant number of the armed forces had been killed by their own pokemon.

"Get those tanks-" he began, only to be cut-off as the room's lights flickered and died. "Now what?"

"It is time for you to take your leave of us, my dear general," came a chillingly familiar voice from somewhere in the darkness. "Your services are no longer required."

"Agatha? What is the meaning of this?"

"Merely that the times, they are a changing," she cackled, as a sickening crunch was heard. Within seconds, agonized screams and shouts filled the darkened room, only to be replaced by an ominous silence almost as soon as they had started.

By the time the lights had come back on, Agatha was no longer in the room – all that remained was a pile of dead bodies. Most had died with their necks snapped, but for some, their bodies had been quite literally ripped apart.

xxx

All over Earth, clocks counted down to the moment when the Elites had threatened to enforce a curfew. Just how they planned to do so, no one knew, but most who questioned it agreed that their potential methods were presumably unpleasant. And of course, only a handful of people were actually thinking straight enough to arrive at such a conclusion.

When the clocks completed the countdown, every street on Earth was illuminated by brilliant flashes of light. The flashes soon faded to reveal numerous pokemon standing in orderly rows, their expressions curiously blank. Within seconds, several more flashes burst forth, this time revealing an approximately equal number of strange creatures that no one had seen before.

"A curfew is in effect!" thundered a powerful telepathic voice. "Return to your homes immediately! All who resist shall not be spared!"

With that, the assembled pokemon – and their apparent allies – began marching down the streets. Pedestrians, human and pokemon alike, began fleeing in all directions as the massive group of creatures advanced towards them. People began running into random buildings out of desperation, and soon enough, doors were being slammed shut in people's faces.

"A curfew is in effect! A curfew is in effect! All who disobey shall not be spared!"

An old man, wheezing and gasping for air, tripped up on one of Jubilife's badly-chipped sidewalks as he struggled to make it to his home. He fell to the ground in a graceless heap, feeling a burning pain flare up in his hip as he collapsed. Before he could even try to recover from the jolting impact, he saw that a houndoom had caught up with him. The wolf-like pokemon seemed to be dazed, but he saw murder in its yellow eyes.

"No..." he wheezed, while he feebly attempted to crawl away from it. "Please-"

His pleading turned into agonized screams as the dark canine tore into him without a second thought. Blood splattered all over the ground, even as the other pokemon made their way past the grisly scene. Within seconds, nothing was left of the man except for a bloody pile of meat and shredded clothes.

Soon enough, the night was filled with the nightmarish screams of those unfortunate souls who never did make it home on time. No one who was on the streets was spared – the groups of alien creatures and pokemon saw to that. Several trainers tried to battle their way out of being caught, but all that happened in the end was the slaughtering of several more pokemon and humans.

The curfew was in effect.

xxx

Within an hour of the curfew being enforced, the Elites had already begun another round of video conferencing. The difference from their previous conferences was the participation of several other beings in the proceedings – creatures that had made their way to Earth via the five mountain-top portals.

"Operation Lockdown has been executed with satisfactory results," reported Lorelei, as she gestured towards eight humans that had been frozen into large blocks of ice. "The military has been dealt with."

"Likewise for Johto."

"And Hoenn."

"Same here at Unova."

"Sinnoh is clear."

"Shall we begin the negotiations?" said a slender woman in a red outfit. It was only due to the fact that she had compound eyes that a person could not have been forgiven if they mistook her for a human being. "All possible threats to our plans have been secured, so I think the time has come for us to parley."

"Indeed," nodded Lance. "By all means, let us hear your proposed terms."

The red-clad creature snapped her fingers, and her escort hurried over with a portable hologram generator. He was decked out in a navy blue trench coat and a face mask that concealed his entire body save for a single yellow eye, and when he spoke, his voice sounded like wood being filed down.

"It is ready, sir."

It only took two seconds for the generator to come to life, and when it did, the same creature whose visage had been broadcast on the television was represented as a hologram.

"Greetings."

"And to you too, Datamon."

"Grand Admiral Datamon!" snapped the towering creature that had set the generator up.

"At ease, Mummymon. Now, humans, let's not beat around the bush any longer – we're here to discuss slaves and minerals, so shall we commence?"

Cynthia picked up a remote and activated a projector of her own, "The items listed there are what we have to offer... for starters."

Datamon's hologram observed the figures being projected onto the wall without saying anything. For a while, there was silence among all members of the assembly. When the cyborg digimon smiled, it was clear that a deal was on the cards.

"I do believe we can come to an agreement on those terms."