Chapter 2: "Operational Prerogative"

Over the next five years, Isabella would never forget her clandestine meeting with a trainer who had not, could not have, existed. For some time afterword, her brothers would mock her insistence on the young man named Alvin that had caused her irrevocable transformation into… whatever she was. She was surprised her brothers had not mocked what she had become, but whatever reprieve they'd given her her father had more than made up for. His vast wealth brought her before the best doctors in the world, who twice amputated her tail, surgically restoring Izzy to her formerly human state. In both cases, it only took about two months for the tail to regrow: a painful process to say the least and a complete bafflement to medical science.

Izzy did not well understand what the doctors said when they spoke of her "remarkable regenerative properties" in hushed voices, quietly harvesting ordinary cells from her that would eventually grow into secret stem-cell lines. Izzy did not know what it meant that she was resistant to most types of radiation, or that she didn't /technically/ have any human genes left. And she didn't much care. After about a year spent solidly within the private hospital on her island, she screamed for release, screamed and screamed and screamed until her father had heard about it, and gave the order that all study of her should cease. Were she the daughter of any other man, that very well might not have been enough, but Mr. Irongate was not to be defied: even the several criminal organizations that knew about Izzy didn't try. "I just wanna be a girl again." Izzy had pleaded with her father over the phone, before he gave the order to release her. "I don' care about if I'm pokemon or not just so long as I can play outside again."

Izzy paid no mind to the cameras the medical staff insisted on installing in her room "for observational purposes," and didn't much care about the bi-weekly checkups: In her mind, anywhere that wasn't the hospital was freedom to her. Life quickly returned to "normal" after that, with a few minor changes. For starters, Izzy's academics improved dramatically despite her year's absence from classes. Math, science, language… it seemed the child had become gifted at every subject, though not nearly enough to put her on the level of "genius." This she noticed mostly by the remarkably short time it took her to complete homework that occupied her brothers for hours. Though her instructors repeatedly asked her to skip grades, she refused, afraid (correctly) that doing so would bring a heavier workload and cut into her free time. What Izzy didn't notice, and what nobody could ever have noticed, was that her personality was developing slightly contrary to what it might've otherwise. With a slightly changed appearance had come a greatly improved creativity and resourcefulness, as well as a childish playfulness that flew in spite of her brothers' sincere attempts to upset her. In all cases, these attempts were in vain.

What didn't change much though, was Izzy's body. She'd grown a tail, and her eye color had changed, but it seemed that was where her pokemon features would stop. If anything, it seemed even her human features weren't changing quite as much as they should. Though she was now twelve years old, and had the intelligence and maturity to match, she was as far on the small end of body size as it was possible to go, looking more like an average 10-year-old than a growing girl who should be entering puberty soon. This was her brother's mainstay as far as insults went, and they routinely called her various immature names. This was one of the few ways they could actually penetrate Izzy's blind optimism: As every parent knows, young children are very sensitive to being talked about that way.

The girl occupied her time chiefly wandering the unsettled parts of her island, spending increasing amounts of time with wild pokemon as she made the gradual transition from pokemon enthusiast to pokemon trainer. As in all her interests, her father's wealth sponsored her training, granting her access to the best tools and talent for the job, though she flat-out refused to use pokemon he had bought for her, insisting that she should catch everything she intended to use herself. What she /really/ wanted to do was leave the island and travel across Kanto, just like all the stories she read or heard on the news talked about children doing. Had it not been for her… deformity… she probably would've been allowed, too. But while her eldest brother was allowed to go, she was forced to stay behind and be content with what she could find on the island, spending much of her time alone in a sort of childish protest.

That was where she was now, alone on the very peak of her island, lying on her back and looking up at the stars. She was dressed much as any young trainer might dress, garbed in the latest absurd neon fashions that seemed all the more absurd by the blatantly pokemon tail protruding from behind her. Her belt had only two pokeballs on it, one of which was the currently empty one that would've housed Ophelia, had she not been standing behind her, ensuring that her master didn't slip down the uneven volcanic slope and into the extinct cone beside them. Extinct, but still an almost sheer drop hundreds of feet into the empty magma chamber. Izzy came here often, mostly because it was the one place on the island she wasn't allowed to go. Ophelia's teleport made it impossible for her guardians to prevent her, and they'd mostly given up, content that she hadn't tried using that tactic to reach the mainland.

It wasn't as though there was very much to /do/ up here, Izzy just thought that was where she felt most comfortable. Only much later, when all mankind was engulfed in a war that threatened to swallow the planet, would she realize why. The girl wasn't /really/ watching the stars. It wasn't as though she hadn't seen them all thousands of times now, learned their positions out of sheer boredom and a talent for memorization. But what was that feeling, like her hair standing on end? Her tail was frozen now, unmoving. Something's coming through. She thought, without knowing where that thought came from. She wasn't wrong. With a similar effect to that she had seen years earlier, purple light poured from one of the rocks, lighting up the night all around her with visions into a universe where no matter could (or indeed, had ever) existed.

Unlike the last time, Izzy didn't sit there speechless, but rushed to the edge, not noticing as her hair shimmered a moment, and changed to bright pink the same shade as her tail. Didn't notice as her ears were stretched and pulled, reshaping themselves into their feline counterparts atop her head. She didn't notice, because she was tugging with all her might on the hand that had emerged, struggling to pull it free into reality. "Ophelia, help me!" She pleaded, and her Kadabra obeyed. A faint blue shimmer appeared around her, though it seemed powerless to effect the partially formed entity that was emerging, giving her the strength she needed to yank the figure onto the rough rocky surface.

With a cough, the newcomer rolled over, sitting up. Izzy recognized him at once, not just because of his appearance, but because of the dust and detritus of her family's music hall still clinging to his clothes. "A-Alvin?" She asked, hastily straightening herself up, trying to look as presentable as possible. She mentally cursed herself for that a second later. Had she forgotten how furious she was with this trainer? So she hastily continued. "It's been… it's been years! How could you just leave like that! I… everybody thought I was crazy, and… and I spent a whole year stuck in a hospital…" She struck him then, kicking him as hard as she could manage with her shoe. The boy had lifted his pichu into his arms, but she didn't care… she was too old for that to work on her this time!

"I'm… I'm sorry…" He croaked, obviously disoriented. And why shouldn't he be? He looked exactly as she remembered him, not one detail out of place. His shirt was still creased, his pants were still dirty, and his backpack still hung by only one strap from his shoulders, just as it had several years previously. Less observant girls might've missed or dismissed details like that, but Izzy wasn't about to. More than that, she was even cognizant enough to guess at what might be going on. Not that it was a particularly insightful guess. "It's only been a few seconds for you, hasn't it? When you vanished last-time…" The trainer hastily nodded, and Izzy relaxed a little. "So… I guess I can't really be mad at you. Because… I... you didn't seem to want to vanish."

Alvin shook his head again. "Not really… I thought I was coming back to reality for good when He showed me the way here, but… apparently not. When I got back, he only told me I had to force my way back as soon as I could… so I did. But it only took me a few seconds, I thought! Just had to get up to where you were. But it doesn't look like a few seconds…" He got hastily to his feet, looking down at her with folded arms. Sparks wiggled free, dropping to the ground and standing just beside one of his legs in a slightly protective, suspicious way, eyes never leaving Izzy's tail. "How long has it been, exactly? Three years?"

"Five." Izzy insisted, voice flat and annoyed. It was obvious why she might be.. she got this sort of thing from most everyone these days. Everybody thought she was younger than she was. Not that she saw many in the way of new people. Mostly doctors. "But you're here, so… you wanna battle?"

Alvin had to narrow his eyebrows a little at that request. Was she serious? Here they were standing alone on the edge of a sheer cliff on one end and a steeply decending slope on the other, in the middle of the night, and she wanted a pokemon battle? "Not here." he insisted, mostly for Sparks's sake. As eager as he was to test the effectiveness of his living genetic engineering, he was unwilling to commit to such a dangerous location. "Later, I promise."

Sparks was indignant. "You really think a little kid can beat me?" He asked, defensively. "It wasn't so hard for me in there as it was for you… I'm ready to fight!"

Izzy's face brightened, but Alvin repeated his objections, shaking his head again. "I know you're strong, Sparks, but I don't want any pokemon getting hurt. We're on the edge of the world up here! A battle can wait until we get to somewhere stable. And we can talk on the way, even!" He bent down, scratching behind the Pichu's ears, before taking him back into his arms.

The little girl, meanwhile, was watching, eyes wide with amazement. "You can… understand him?" She asked, all disappointment about the battle they weren't going to have seeming to fade in an instant. But such it was with the attention spans of small children, even clever ones. Alvin nodded, though didn't elaborate, so Izzy pressed him. "How? I look more like a pokemon than you do, and I can't understand them, even with years of trying!"

Alvin shrugged. "It's a long story, Izzy. But… if I vanished last time, I probably shouldn't waste it explaining it all. Ask my daughter: she's come out with the whole thing. Wrote a book about it. Although I'm not sure how true most people think it is… Erica's her name. You should be able to look her up. But… why don't we head back down. I don't really think staying up here is such a good idea…" Or maybe he was just afraid of heights. His eyes were sure moving fast enough. But for a ground-dwelling creature, he could scarcely be blamed for it.

"Erica… Tucker?" Izzy repeated, eyes slowly widening. "You can't be her father, cuz'… cuz' she's alot older than you!" Alvin was confused by this reply… not because he had forgotten what David had done to his apparent age, but because Izzy knew about his daughter. How could they have possibly met? On the other hand, how much did he really know about Izzy? Did he know anything other than her name? He didn't have to ask her though, because Izzy noticed the look of confusion on his face and answered what he hadn't asked. "Everybody important knows Erica… daddy told me about her. Said she was building something that would save the world someday." She nodded, obviously quite satisfied with herself.

Alvin raised his eyebrows, looking extremely interested. "Really?" He spoke as though indulging a child, eyes wandering a little. "How's that? What's she building that's gonna save the world?"

Izzy answered, though he did not hear it. Just as he had once before, with a sound like an implosion and a shower of purple sparks, Alvin was gone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Fifteen years previous…

To say that all members present at the meeting saw things differently wouldn't be quite true. Though it was not a physical meeting: Indeed, it's members were spread fairly evenly across the globe. Some of the strongest-minded might have seen the gathering as it really was: Collections of dispersed consciousness. But many, some of them by choice, imposed on the meeting an image that made it easy for them to understand. Logan knew that the scores of so called "legendary" species here probably saw everyone as whatever they were, and heard them in voices that were easiest for them to understand. She knew, though hadn't actually seen, that all those who weren't naturally telepathic had met in one of a few places on the continents, where somebody who was would help connect them with the group. A physical gathering of the entire planet's legendaries would've been nearly impossible to orchestrate, particularly given so many of them had responsibilities to specific locations. This was the solution, same as they had hundreds of thousands of years ago, when a previous generation of legendary pokemon had perceived their planet threatened.

Logan was not unlike all those other legendaries, except that instead of in some deserted field, or in the middle of the forest, she saw a huge political building, with a round table in the center, and higher levels rising all around. There were perhaps two hundred people in the room… all of them human, though few of them would actually look that way, or ever had. Those that sat closest to the table were those most vocal and most powerful, the half-step mutation species that weren't all that far from the species that had called the meeting. The further out you got, the more dominant instinct was in the minds of those who sat. Logan could barely make out the figures she knew to be the legendary birds, somewhere on the highest tiers, and she couldn't help but be grateful they wouldn't be too vocal during the meeting. The table itself had fourteen chairs, each of which was currently occupied. All of these figures were truly mew, Logan knew. All but two. Her eyes jumped first to the Eldest, a strong and powerful looking man with bright blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a sort of force that went beyond a well-built body. Celeste sat on one side of him, a tall woman who'd joined their ranks accidentally, one of two here who had ever stepped outside the normal flow of time. Something about her eyes didn't strike Logan as quite right, but she'd always been friendly enough to her. On her right sat Amie, the youngest mew at the time Logan herself had ascended, looking quite a bit less confident than Celeste or the Eldest, keeping a protective hand constantly on the shoulder of the girl on her left. Aiden looked scarcely ten years old, and her hair was an unnatural pink: A sure sign of someone who hadn't had much practice changing shape. Logan hadn't had much contact with either of these, and knew only that Amie had once been some sort of inventor or archeologist, and discovered some artifact that'd changed her. Aiden was her first (And currently only) child. Adopted, like so many others. On the Eldest's right hand sat David, one of the three males at the table. He didn't look nearly as strong or as confident as the Eldest did, but just as resolved, his hair black and somewhat disheveled, and his appearance somewhat older than Logan herself, though not quite as mature as Celeste or the woman on his right, a stern looking and unremarkable figure who looked almost bored with all that was going on. Beside her was a face distinctly more friendly, a face she knew much better than the others all around her. Like Logan, Bit's hair was bright pink, but her eyes were green instead, and she was slightly older. On Logan's other side sat a pair of what amounted to children, Logan's most recent recruits to the species. Both had been human, and both were now children, Miya the older and scrawnier of the two, and Jamie holding lightly onto her "sister's" arm for support in this strange and seemingly threatening environment. Logan reached out to reassure the young girl, rubbing her hair a little with one of her hands.

Miya, meanwhile, was glaring at her. "Keep your hands to yourself, Jamie!" She whispered harshly, trying to look as dignified as eight years old could look. "This is my first time with everybody! I don't want people to treat me like a kid forever!"

This brought a tearful whimper to the face of the child, whom Logan quickly took into her lap, bouncing the five-year-old up and down until she calmed down, giving one harsh look to Miya. "You should treat your little sister better." She muttered, under her breath. "Just because she depends on you…"

Miya didn't answer, looking down with a slightly guilty expression. Logan reached out and gave her head a pat too, ruffling it up a little in her way of saying she wasn't mad at her. "Remember, you two are supposed to be on your best behavior. This is a really important meeting… the only one there's been since before almost everyone here was born."

"I knowed…" Jamie muttered from her lap, rolling over to face her and reaching out towards her face, leaning close to whisper in her ear. "Buh' there's so many scary people here! I just wanted Miya to sit closer to me." Logan nodded, and brought Jamie's vacant chair closer to Miya's, lifting her back up and sitting her down beside her sister. Despite Miya's complaints, she didn't seem to mind. She was far too stubborn to show it, but Logan could sense she was a little intimidated by all this herself. Unlike Jamie though, Miya probably was more frightened by what a meeting like this /implied/. What was so important as to bring them together for the first time in thousands of years? The little Jamie satisfied, humming quietly to herself as she played with her hands, Logan returned to her silent survey of the guests. Another young mew, though older than Miya, sitting beside Jamie. Beside her, Logan's only biological daughter, Tami, sitting much closer to the boy on her left than she was Logan or any of the other children. Tami had matured quite a bit, though she looked young compared to the man she sat beside. He was younger than the Eldest, much younger. Not much older than Logan herself, except that his mind brought him power only the Eldest himself could dream of. His figure was much more lithe than the Eldest, with short black hair and wide grey eyes that never looked up. This figure had no name, for he'd never taken one. What brief glances the Eldest did give him were clearly upset, as though he were shocked this man had dared to show up. The girl on his other arm, practically hanging there, seemed glad of it there, her face a wide smile and her clothing much more playful than formal. This mew /did/ have a name, though the Eldest had technically stripped her of it. Korina had saved the entire planet, once. Saved it from the man she was holding onto now, completely without shame, and positively daring somebody to call her on it. Nobody did.

"I think that's everyone." The eldest said suddenly, causing the babble all around the room to die to complete silence, as all eyes fell on the center of the room, and on the species who it was hoped could prevent the coming destruction. "We've waited for Also as long as we can. We'll have to start without her."

Celeste spoke up from beside him, smiling ruefully. "Even the end of the world couldn't make her talk to us. Funny way of caring about the planet." A few light chuckles circulated through the room, but not many. This meeting was far too serious to be amused about a very important somebody not showing up. Logan herself had never actually /Met/ this Also person, having only heard stories about her. The Eldest barely acknowledged Korina: for Also he wouldn't even do that.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone why we're here." He said, standing up and addressing everyone. His voice carried without a microphone, echoing through the huge chamber as only a nonphysical voice truly could. "Many of you will have sensed it coming just as my kin did. But for those of you who haven't…" He gestured to Miya with one hand. The young mew considered speaking before all those assembled a great honor, but it was an honor that should've gone to Bit, by right. She knew more about what was coming than anyone, having spent long hours listening to the moonlight. But it was no secret that the Eldest wasn't too fond of her either.

With great pride, Miya stood up on her chair, and Jamie reached up with her as she did, clinging to the closest of Miya's legs as her elder "sister" spoke. Miya recited from one of the oldest stories, an ancient myth that was more figurative than literal truth. Most who heard it would know that, though Miya herself might not. She'd spent hours memorizing it for this exact moment.

"Only three star-generations since the rending, two brothers met together by a great river, the greatest that had ever been. 'Look at all this beautiful life.' The first brother said, gesturing at the forest around them that had grown up from the Tree. 'In our folly we birthed an accident, but the accident might one day be greater than ourselves.' The other brother was much older and wiser than the first, being one of the architects that had helped build the tree before any other life had been born. For eons he had listened to the echos of the dying moon, and from it he had learned much that was forbidden. 'It isn't beautiful to me.' The second brother said, striking dead a passing pokemon and taking it apart before the first brother. 'See how imperfect this life is. It's our stain, our guilt that it exists. I see no beauty in shame.' The first brother wept when he saw what his older brother had done, but this only earned him the ire of his older brother, who attacked him at once. 'You are as imperfect as they!' He exclaimed, and in his wrath, quickly killed his weaker sibling. And so the elder brother was alone with the moonlight again, and by the light of his brother's corpse he listened, drinking in the forbidden knowledge that came to him from the void."

Miya smiled proudly at this nearly perfect recitation, and Logan muttered some encouraging words in her ear before she sat down. Before she could, though, another figure stood, the only one in the entire room who was not completely pokemon. Logan probably would've seen Erica as completely human, the same as her kin. Would've, had she not seen what Erica really looked like… a fierce woman with bright orange hair and sharply pointed ears somewhere atop her head. Behind her was a rubbery tail tipped with lightning, a lightning that was not missing from her eyes. "That's a disgusting story, and I still don't know what it means. What's so dangerous about that?" Many cold eyes were drawn to her direction, though just as many were amused. As one of the few humans who knew about this collective group, Erica was here acting as humanity's representative. She would be permitted to relay what she learned to them only if the Imperial Council allowed it.

The disinterested mew, the oldest besides the eldest and the one Logan had never manage to extract a name, stood up as well, glaring at Erica with the coldest glare in the room. From her expression, it was clear what she thought of humanity. And Logan knew how scathingly she thought of them… even after all this time she had never replied to anything Logan said. "If the ignorant primate wanted everything spelled-out, she could've just asked. Please… allow me." Logan wasn't the only one glaring at her, either. For a brief moment, her eyes met with the nameless man, and they shared the tiniest fraction of a smile. "Before most pokemon species evolved, there were the legendaries, left over from the Fall. Many of them realized how stupid they'd been in constructing what you would foolishly term the Tree of Beginning, but a few still believed what their ancestors had. They wanted to be what they had been before we became physical life. But to do that, the universe also had to be a singularity. Do you know what a singularity is?" She asked in a way that was clearly derogatory, like a preschool teacher asking one of her students if she knew how to use the potty by herself. Her smirk did fade just a little when Erica nodded, but not by much. As if to spite her, she answered the question anyway. "All matter existing at once… the way it was before the Rending. In other words, the annihilation of the universe. Many of us became what we now call the Excarchs… we're not sure exactly how many. These beings were immensely powerful, but they could not end the universe the way they wanted. So they decided to end life here instead. This was the only planet they had, after all… and every voice that different from the unity of the whole was an abomination to them. Imperfect. They had no respect for insignificant life." And her eyes made it clear exactly who she thought that was. "They formed huge armies of all the pokemon they could. They even created a brand new type of pokemon to fight us better: Dark. But the Firstborn were a powerful race, and they were more numerous. With the help of their great inventions, like Regigigas, they defeated the Excarchs and banished them forever to the space beyond the universal expansion from where their power had come from." She sat down again, folding her arms in smug satisfaction. Miya was glaring at her too… not because of anything specific that she had said, but because she had upstaged her. Miya was supposed to explain all that!

"But it… wasn't forever, was it?" One of the nearby voices said. One of the legendaries not actually sitting by the table, but close-by. "Because they've come back before… and they're coming back now."

"Correct." That was the eldest again, taking back control. "We know of at least five recorded accounts of the Excarchs returning from the void en-masse, and many more little incursions banished on a much smaller scale. The last one was over a million years ago, though. Which is why I've called this meeting." He glanced once around the room, obviously reluctant to say what he was about to. "We aren't ready." There was uproar at this comment, but he ignored it, speaking onward. Soon the room quieted enough to hear him. "… generations had the means to protect themselves. But the alliances are gone now, and the greatest of our invention are in ruin. Even if we had them, we don't have enough mew to crew even one of the Arceus Motherships. The last invasion was repelled with /three/ of them, and still thousands of us died. We don't have thousands anymore." He stood up, gesturing around at all the other species. "You have felt the dwindling with us. Our friends are too few. A war with the Excarchs is a war that cannot be won."

Logan's heart seemed to sink out of her chest as she heard this. The Eldest… her teacher and protector for all these years… how could he speak so resolutely of their demise? Logan had known the odds against them, but she had also counted on the eldest coming up with a miracle. He always did! And now she regretted insisting on bringing Jamie. She didn't have to look at the girl's face to see she was probably in tears. For the second time during the meeting, it seemed the nameless figure across the table was thinking as she did. "Yet, if the situation was completely hopeless…" Mewtwo said, addressing the Eldest directly for the first time in history. "…this meeting would not have been called. So you must have a solution."

The Eldest did not respond to Mewtwo, or at least, he tried to make it seem as though he weren't, addressing the assembled crowd as though he had not been interrupted. "Instead of fighting them for the earth, I propose we let them have it. My kin and I have recently amassed the energy to reopen the gateways. There are several habitable planets… we should pick one and start anew. Take the greatest number of pokemon with us we can… and make it seem to the Excarchs as though we've left them the planet. We cannot win a war… but if we all work together, we can seal the space behind us." If saying that the war could not be fought had provoked outrage, than this remark produced a war. Few of the greater legendaries had the presence of mind to understand much outside their ordinary instincts. Protecting their territory and the like. These words they took as a threat on their territory, and their cries were the loudest. The first to voice their objections cogently did not come from the stands, though.

It came from Logan. "But what about mankind?" She demanded, standing up at once. "What about the pokemon we can't take with us? Are we just going to leave them here? The way it sounds, the Excarchs are our fault. Our problem. Adrian, do you really mean to leave them all to die?" She tried to hide it, but she was crying a little, unable to resist the impulse completely. She turned slightly to one side so Jamie and Miya could not see her face. Being told all life was doomed was bad, but having someone she respected, somebody she loved even, say that her entire species would be left to the void hurt her that much more. It was a betrayal. Miya did not seem as effected by it, but Jamie was definitely crying again. Who could blame her?

"What /about/ humans?" The woman who had spoken earlier spoke up, addressing Logan as coldly as she had addressed Erica. "It isn't as though they stand a chance of helping us. The same way lesser pokemon have to be sacrificed so that the rest can live… if we flee the planet, we can rebuild. Maybe someday even retake earth. But if the Excarchs find an empty planet, they're going to find a way to follow. If humans are here, we can let the Excarchs believe they wiped us out, and they won't come looking for us. It's the only way we'll be safe."

The Eldest spoke up after her. "Indeed. Leaving them behind is a regrettable necessity. We'll bring a few… enough to let their species continue on. But the bulk must be here when the Excarchs arrive. And even if we thought they would be content to take an empty planet, where would the energy come from to evacuate a species as numerous as theirs? Wouldn't as much of that energy as possible be better spent saving what pokemon we can? They're our responsibility more than humans are, and your friend is proof of that." He eyed Erica narrowly. "How long has she been pressuring us to stop interfering with human society? Now we will. They can have their peace, and a few years to make peace with the universe. And we'll be able to ensure life survives elsewhere. If nothing else, you all must understand that. Our duty is as much to the uncountable trillions of the unborn as it is to those currently living. We cannot set the one above the other just because they're closer to us in space-time."

So back and forth the discussion went, between several at the table who supported the Eldest's plan of relocation, and those who did not. It could've been hours the debate raged on, or maybe it was a few minutes. Then the black haired man stood up, and spoke so quietly, so calmly, that the entirety of the chamber had to go silent to hear him. If it had been anyone else, they wouldn't have, but…even the Eldest didn't dare speak now, though if a look could kill, Logan knew the speaker would've died several times already by his hand. "I'm staying." He said, speaking slowly and simply. "I don't know how the planet's caretakers can so easily abandon it. There is no way to evacuate it: A newly colonized world could not support the life here even if we had a way of getting every individual to safety. So we have to stay and fight. It doesn't matter if I have to do it alone…" And with those words, he vanished, causing Korina to stumble, catching herself awkwardly on the edge of a chair before vanishing too.

Logan stood up too, before anyone else could say anything. An expression of shock quickly made its way to the Eldest's face, but she didn't care. "I think we should stay too. I know how bad it looks, but… mewtwo's right. We can't abandon all this we're sworn to protect. So maybe things aren't like they were in the past… who cares? So we don't have all the things the legends say… we have one thing those past generations didn't!" She gestured at Erica, who stood up and tried to look as dignified as she could. "We've got friends! Friends who aren't just wild pokemon living in the hills somewhere… friends who we can make understand what's going on. There might only be hundreds of us altogether, but… there's billions of them! If even a fraction of those numbers were on our side, we couldn't lose! Think about it… the Exarchs always came to our world expecting it to be mostly empty, just a few wild pokemon here and there to help us when we're near enough to ask… what will they do when they see an army?"

"An army of humans." Celeste cut in, speaking up suddenly. "Even if you manage to get them to believe us about the danger, what good can they be, really? Pokemon trainers will help, but there aren't enough of them. And as flashy as their human weapons are, they're just toys. Their ships won't even slow the Exarchs down. Far too primitive to be of help." The sound of approval echoed from behind her, as all the legendaries who had encountered enough human technology to know spoke in agreement. "Don't get me wrong, Logan, I think you're right to want and stay, it's noble of you. But I don't see how it's possible. There's nothing noble about suicide."

For the second time, Erica spoke up, glaring at Celeste before standing up on her chair so that all assembled could see her. "I know all of you don't think much of humans… some of us have acted in ignorance to do awful things to you. Despoiled your habitats and ruined your nests and polluted huge sections of land. I wasn't invited here to lie to you about what humans were like. But to say that was all mankind was isn't fair to us! We've been great friends to pokemon since our earliest days! We've captured them, yes, but it isn't fair to call it slavery. Pokemon are our companions, our friends. We've made mistakes… but those mistakes were made in ignorance. All of you operate in this secret world, hidden from most of us… how can we be blamed for interfering with a world we don't know about! You said that this is the smallest remainder of what has existed for millions of years… I don't know if this culture has really survived that long, but… mine hasn't! Modern man has only been around for a few hundred years, and look at all we've done! Now I know how you all think about it, but… it's our planet too! If we knew what was going on, people would want to help defend it, I know they would. Maybe our technology isn't as impressive as yours, but that doesn't mean we couldn't be helpful!"

Bit spoke up then, a quiet, calculating voice free of the passion that clearly burned in what Erica and Logan were saying, though her expression wasn't half as cold as some of the others. "Human technology might be primitive, but it doesn't have to be. It isn't all that different than what the earliest Firstborn used once, just earlier and less developed. With our help… thirty years is more than enough time to prepare. At the rate they advance, they might not even need our help in that much time."

"Help them?" The second-oldest at the table practically screamed at Bit, who was a little taken-aback, but didn't falter. "They were dangerous enough when all they had were bows and swords! What's to stop them from using all our help to exterminate us? At least with what the Eldest is suggesting only the illusion of our extermination will be left behind!"

"They won't hurt us." Logan cut in. Suddenly, she was standing beside Erica, who towered a full foot taller than she was. That didn't stop Logan from taking the woman's hand, and holding up hers for the whole room to see. "I've been in close contact with humans since the day I stopped being one of them. They might be a little primitive, and they might be a little ignorant, but they're our only hope for the future. I for one refuse to accept a future where we're driven off our own planet, and we leave billions of its inhabitants to die… that's unacceptable!"

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A/N: Holy crap, talk about a long chapter. That's definitely some sort of record. As usual, reviews are greatly appreciated, and will speed along the posting of the next chapter. Though next week is finals, and I don't expect to post anything until after that… one never knows! A huge thanks to all my reviewers so far. I'm gonna go with one of my old habits now, the dreaded... Review responses!

Another Interested Reader : Close. The fisher king is actually taken from Artherian Legend, but since that stuff was drew very heavily on the bible. There are some biblical allusions I've been using throughout, though... try and catch 'em all!

Kirby Oak: No, research fellow has nothing to do with my current place of schooling, but is a general term to describe someone intrusted with research by a university. Yeah, what the government is doing is a little fishy. But then again, maybe they're doing it for everybody's own good... in any case, you may be looking forward to Adam's next apperance, but I'm sure he isn't. Freakin pound? Ouch.

YukitheRedFox : Surreal is the feel I was going for for chapter one, although future chapters will have different feels. and yeah, I did take a brief editing look at the chapter before I published it (thanks, Kirby Oak), but I'll never catch everything, and I am sorry if what errors persist make things difficult.

Tsaukpaetra: He really should've, yeah. I guess nobody's released anything like subversion for the human brain. I'm sure Adam would be getting right on with that, except that now he's in a cage somewhere downtown, and has other problems. Or... they, I guess. I dunno what pronouns to use for two of the same person! X.x Twins. The twins are down at the pound. Let's go with that.

Reno : Creepy, huh? I guess that's what I'm going for. Future chapters probably didn't have that as much, though.

DarkPokemonLover : You didn't seem to understand what was going on nearly as well as I expected readers to, particularly since most of the questions you asked were answered by the chapter. You may want to go and re-read it, I bet you'll understand alot more. I can hardly blame you though, given english isn't your first language. I know I use alot of really figurative and non-literal. I did try and narrow that stuff down in future chapters, though.

Once again, I'm extremely grateful for everyone who reviewed. You're the reason I keep writing, primarily.