SPARK'S VIDEO
Chapter 10: The Aftermath
by WindRyder1
1am...
Professor Willow slumped in the chair behind his messy office desk with a weary sigh that left him like a deflated balloon. The chair's joint creaked from his weight. He almost chuckled at that. Here he had a brand new shiny facility, new furniture in his room, squeaky clean lab equipment and medical unit, and here his chair already threatened to give in from the pressures of his job.
His office was spacious, sleek and warm in both color selection and atmosphere. It boasted a couple of round chairs set for guests, a large bin off to the side filled with empty pokeballs, a bookshelf harboring various books and files, a music player, and a few of his personal items from when he transferred all of his work from home to this facility. It had that new-car smell. After a month of settling in, he almost had all of his boxes unpacked. Almost. A few of them still served as impromptu side stands. Still, it finally looked more like an office than a storage room.
His desk even had a toy Electrode he could shake to reveal answers to his questions etched into a triangle floating within a bubble of water.
Professor Mark Maple, one of his closest colleagues, had given it to him a year ago during the annual Pokemon Researcher Conference on Shamouti Island.
He picked up the toy Electrode ball and shook it. "Will I get to sleep tonight?" The triangle bobbed to the surface with the answer: 'Ask Again Later.'
"Great. 'Lotta help you are." In toy terms, that was a quantifying 'no.'
He set it down and reached for a caramel flavored chewy candy in a Magikarp-shaped glass dish next to his computer. He crumpled up the cellophane wrapper into a green and gold wad and tossed it into the circular trash can at his left. Two points. He popped the candy into his mouth and let its sweet sugary flavor melt away the threat of yawning.
Himself, the few resident professors, and the team leaders stayed up to get Harmony Center back under control after Team Rocket hauled their shame back to their trucks and left. This meant cleaning up, helping Nurse Joy care for the wounded Pokemon and Trainers, and-on his end-preparing a Notice of Attack for Officer Jenny. Ah, paperwork; the glorious pit of despair that sucked up the weary into documentation demanding to be filed in triplicate.
Seeing as this was Harmony Center's first full scale attack for a complete submission of the facility to an outside force, -same with any gym- there was a form to fill out, a detailed summary letter to provide, and signatures from the gym leaders agreeing with the contents of the letter. He'll have to get those tomorrow. Blanche had gone monk-silent buried in research, Candela was busy coordinating the trainers that volunteered to clean up the gym, and Spark was assisting Nurse Joy and Professor Tachikawa in the Pokemon and Human medical centers.
All the basic, bland bureaucracy necessary for running a research center and gym lay waiting, bestowed solely upon him. In retrospect, this was peanuts compared to the loops he had to jump through to obtain funding, permits, and clearance to get Harmony Center off the ground. After that, the rest was simply maintenance. Even with its size and fantastic amenities, Harmony Center was still young, hardly popular, and off of most everyone's radar... Except Team Rocket's. The moderately-sized town it lived on the outskirts of welcomed it, offered its help, brought a plate of warm cookies, and went about life as usual with their new neighbor.
In a way, he thanked Arceus for that blessing. Since hardly anyone knew about Harmony Center, it meant that Team Rocket's actions here would not become the main topic of region-wide media gossip. They would make it to the News of Record at best. The last thing he wanted so early in Harmony Center's life was to have it gain a reputation as as Kanto's epicenter for double trouble. They could return to normal activities within days and stay small—for now.
Convincing everyone that Team Rocket was still welcome here would be the hard part. As long as they played nice, they'd be allowed to use the gym. Harmony Center left its doors open to all teams, and they weren't about to make exclusions now.
Many of the Trainers didn't want to leave. They stayed with their healing Pokemon. Those who did not subsist on coffee like himself, crashed out on the couches in the expansive main common room. Some who wanted more privacy made their beds for the night in the trainer waiting room by the gym, and some were allowed to couch surf in the rooms normally reserved for special guests and long-term residents. The professors who were awake forfeit their warm beds to tired trainers and their Pokemon.
The morning would most certainly find the cafeteria full of zombies crowded around the breakfast bar for waffles, coffee, and bacon and eggs.
He worried his 5-o'clock stubble with both hands, and was pretty sure the skin under his eyes carried a fair amount of luggage. It wasn't so much the hours that got to him as it was the events of the day-he'd pulled more all-nighters in his life than the number of empty pokeballs in the bin for transferred Pidgeys, after all.
He got up, stretched, and moved to one of the boxes left in the corner labeled 'Personal' in black marker. He rummaged through the protective bubble-wrap filler until he dug out a 5"x7" photograph. Its polished, red, wood-stained frame safely enclosed a precious moment in time.
He stared at it as he walked back to his desk and sat down. The three faces smiling back at him were a bitter sweet reminder of why he'd hidden this photo away in the first place. After today, the visages of this younger time might as well belong to different people. And yet, perhaps after today, it was time to bring this out into the light again. It was time to leave those mountains of regret behind and heal.
He set it down next to the toy Electrode and moved to lean in the open doorway separating his office from his main lab. His eyes stayed on the hunched, slim form of the only other person in the room, who looked as tired as his chair sounded.
Blanche poured her focus over a computer. Her Vaporeon curled up in a ball on the table next to her, wrapped in a blanket. She'd wanted her companion with her, and once Nurse Joy approved Vaporeon's release, Blanche had brought her here. Though it still needed to heal, the Vaporeon felt happy to be near her trainer and friend.
Since she wanted to help him research, staking out a swivel stool in his lab made sense. Though neither voiced it, they both wanted to be near someone familiar.
Professor Willow delegated studying Spark's test results to her so he could get the paperwork done. She had said she'd needed a distraction, and analyzing the energy readouts from someone who achieved Soul's Protect while connected to a Legendary Pokemon was the perfect green light.
She'd also scanned herself since Candela wouldn't have anything to do with a test until later. 'I'll be your lab rat after we get this place back to normal. You went through a lot. Pick this up tomorrow, ok, Blanche?' she'd said. Blanche appreciated the concern, but her way of dealing was to load up on work. She had to suffice with asking questions while her friend directed her team members and others in the clean up.
All three had felt that warm energy pulse from their hearts during the fight, and she wanted to know how and why -as she did with everything.
Professor Willow completely understood the need to occupy her mind until she was ready to face what happened. Blanche insisted that she was fine, that she was strong, but he had known her long enough to see she was hiding in her mind and in her work. Her silence and body language betrayed everything. He picked up another candy from the disk and walked into the main lab.
The soft instrumentals and slow back beat of an emotional song sang softly from her computer. "That music probably isn't helping your mood."
"I want it on."
He held up a hand in forfeit to that battle. "Fair enough. I'm going to need your signature on this paperwork to Officer Jenny when you get a chance."
"Sure, ok." Her answer breathed more like an absent after thought.
"How's it coming along?"
"It's interesting." She pulled up an animated chart of a yellow Human silhouette and a bird two times its size on the computer screen. A thick blue wave rippled around them like water. "This represents a flow of energy from Zapdos to Spark. We know the average level of this wave between a Trainer and their Pokemon is very, very low. Trainers don't even feel it. For myself, Candela, and Spark, it's more complicated, but still on a low, even spectrum. Hardly noticeable at all. Here, it spiked. Compared to our normal readings taken after we obtained them, this is five times as intense." Her finger touched the screen. "If we take this spectrum away to where we only see Spark's and not Zapdos', we get this." She clicked a button, and the blue wave collapsed to a low frequency, thin white thread pulsing through the center of the chart. "The level drops dramatically, indicating a state of great injury or unconsciousness."
Professor Willow's eyebrows migrated to his hairline. "He was unknowingly pulling aid from Zapdos?" This was truly fascinating.
"Or, Zapdos gave it willingly. Soul's Protect allowed him to take a portion of the Hyper Beam damage and deflect the rest. The whole blast would have likely taken out the platform we were standing on. Professor Tachikawa was right to ask you to stop Spark from recalling Zapdos so soon. She must have sensed that it was the only thing keeping him conscious until his own recovered."
"Amazing."
"Considering it doesn't like to listen to Spark, yes. Agreed. It looks like your theory regarding our eye color shift bears merit, too. There's an increased flow to this...open channel whenever they leave their pokeballs. This definitely bears further study. I'd like to get Candela's information in here, but we'd need to strap her to a bed first."
"I'll see what I can do," he chuckled, silently hoping she was joking. They all knew how the brunette felt about scans and needles. Dealing with a raging Dragonite was easier. "And I think I know a colleague to call in for some help with this, but that will have to wait." Professor Willow pulled up a chair to be on even level with his research assistant, and leaned forward with his hand clasped between his knees. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine, Professor."
She answered like an automaton, and he noticed. "You had to fight your sister. We both thought she was lost forever." He made sure to send his next question through with as gentle a tone as he could. "I'm not asking as the head Professor of Harmony Center. I'm asking you one-on-one, no titles involved. How are you doing, Blanche?"
She exhaled, like his words lifted the weight stressing her bowed shoulders and back. The release dipped her forward to rest her head in her palms. "I can't think straight," her voice quivered. "I hurt. I'm happy, sad, elated, scared... I want to destroy something and cry at the same time." She turned her head enough let him into her vision, and for the first time since the incident at Fire Island, she let a tear slide down her pale cheek. "She's ok," Blanche whispered. A tiny whimper escaped in her pained smile. "She hates me, but...she's ok."
His right hand moved to wipe away the tear, but he stopped himself. This just wasn't their way, but like he'd thought with the photograph, maybe it should be. Instead, he listened wholeheartedly.
Blanche leaned up and wiped at her face. "She's not the sister I knew, I know this. If I had just tried harder to find her, maybe-"
"Stop it," Professor Willow cut off the line to her self deprecation. "You went back for her. You came back to Shamouti island covered in soot, dirt, and blood from your hands where the pumice stone of the volcano shredded your skin. You tried to use Articuno to help you, but it was too soon after its capture. It still harbored primal loathing for the other two, and the need to claim Moltres' territory as its own. It had not been with you long enough to pay any regard to anything it felt from your heart. Only later did it understand your pain and fully accept you." He gave in to the need to comfort her and wiped away another stray tear. "You did everything in your power."
She didn't move, turn away, or argue. She let herself be vulnerable to the only Human left in this world who truly knew her.
"Blanche. Aurora's loss is not your fault. Ok?"
She nodded. She wiped at her eyes. This time, she put her strength back on through a deep breath. "I wanted her to know she's not alone."
"That's why you brought up Shiro, isn't it."
"That was a mistake. I thought I could get through to her, but I honestly don't know what I was thinking."
"She never bought into that idea of him, did she."
Blanche pushed her hair back. "No, even though we have medical evidence to prove he existed. It's in our blood. She could never accept that we were the survivors. She was always the stronger one. Including her stubborn streak."
Professor Willow didn't have anything to add. This was an old conversation from years past, and it was rarely mentioned. There just wasn't a need. All knew there was a third male twin—a vanished twin. But Aurora denied it, and that was the end of it.
Blanche steeled her resolve to regain her composure from the rare breakdown. "I won't give up hope that my sister is still in there somewhere."
"I know you won't. Just be prepared to accept an outcome where she might not want to come home."
Blanche nodded again.
"You know, I'm proud of the way you handled the situation," Professor Willow lightened his voice a little to salvage the heavy topic and handed her the candy. "You saved Spark's and Zipper's lives. You're a hero."
She snerked. "I wouldn't say that. I simply...reacted to the elements of the situation." She set the candy down to save for later.
"You simply reacted." He leaned back in the chair. "It looks like those two are starting to rub off on you after all."
Her fingers clicked against the keyboard in soft irritation as she closed the program. "Psychologically speaking, it is normal for a person to pick up minute personality attributes from others that constantly surround them. I keep hoping he'll adapt even a simple logical thought process from me."
"Give it time." He reached out to gently pet the sleeping Vaporeon. It made a soft purring-like sound in contentment. "Spark just has difficulty letting himself connect with people."
She arched an eyebrow. "How is that possible? He acts like everyone's best friend. He's goofy, makes knee-jerk decisions, has an endless array of bad jokes, laughs at the most inappropriate times... like Candela does...and thinks riding his wheeled sneakers along the rooftop observation ring is a good idea."
"Or in my lobby," Professor Willow grumbled.
Blanche continued. "A year ago, he turned around to smile at me and dab-salute before he fell backwards out of the plane to Lightning Island. At least I chose to let the plane land first. He and Candela jumped. Spark is impulsive, reckless, and -"
"Alone."
"..." Blanche's train of thought jumped the track, spilled over, and dumped her perfectly organized list into a mud puddle. "I'm sorry?"
The professor leaned forward again. If Spark didn't tell her, then it wasn't his place to say anything. "He has a reason for loving Pokemon as much as he does, and why he cherishes the people he lets into his life. It's also likely why he feels a connection with you." He stood, stretched, and headed for the door to the rest of the Center. He had to leave her with that, or fatigue may make him betray confidentiality with his other research assistant. "I'm going to check on Candela's progress in the gym. Gotta make sure she's not driving yours and Spark's team members into the ground." He pushed the door open. To save space, all of the laboratory doors on this floor slid on tracks.
"I'll give Spark the results of the test." It also bothered her that he didn't remember Aurora.
"Get some sleep, Blanche. You could use the rest."
"You, too." She swept her white ponytail back across her shoulder and sent her farewell with gratitude. "Thanks."
The faces on the recovered photograph lingered in his mind; his younger self smiling proudly with his hands resting on the small shoulders of two ten-year-old, winter-haired girls—both grinning broadly and holding their precious new Eevees in their arms.
He accepted her warm egress with a return of solidarity, and left his daughter to finish her work.
A subtle warm pulse flowed from his heart as he walked down the halls. He smiled at it softly.
Professor Willow took his phone from his pocket, dialed a number so ingrained in his mind it was akin to knowing his birthday, and waited for the recipient to answer. Five rings later, he got his wish in a groggy, mumbled, highly irritated yawn.
"It's 1am. Whoever you are, you'd better be offering me food, money, or se—"
"It's me, Maple Sorry to wake you up." Professor Willow interrupted.
"..." There was a pause, then a quick cover up, "Ignore that last part. What's got you brewing the midnight oil, Will?"
"Are you busy for the next few days?"
"Depends on what it is." Professor Maple yawned. "I just got to sleep 2 hours ago, so this is the Mark Maple you get –all five-ten grouchy of me."
He couldn't blame his friend. After all, if someone had awakened him from a good dream, he'd want to sic his Bulbasaur on them with vine whip until they curled up in a fetal position on the floor and begged for forgiveness. "Do you remember that vacation we took to Shamouti Island?" He could almost hear the other professor trying to wipe away the sleep from his eyes.
Maple got up, scratched the mop of dark hair piled haphazardly on his head, and poured himself a cup of cold, leftover coffee abandoned for the night with his in-progress research. It was a warm night, so he'd crashed into bed in just his orange, pineapple-covered boxers. "They hold the conference there every year, Derpy McNumbnuts. Our specialty doesn't get much screen time. I go for the beaches and the bespectacled beauties. Nothing says 'hello, nurse' like a PHD in a bikini." He leaned against the kitchen counter, keeping the phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear, and sipped from the mug. "Which one are you askin' about?'
"The one that changed everything."
"Oh." he sobered up slightly. "That one. Yeah, I remember most of it. Why?"
Professor Willow hung back to let a pair of Valor trainers pass by in the hall. "It's about what happened on the boat; about Lugia's warning."
The other professor fell silent, as did his jokes. His Raichu stretched out on the worn-out green couch facing away from the kitchen. It flopped its paws over the back to stare bleary-eyed at its Trainer. "Chu?"
He set the coffee down before he could drop the cup. "Are you sure?"
"Team Rocket attacked Harmony Center today. My assistants used their Legendaries to stop them and won."
"That's good. That's the first time they've fought along side them, right?"
"Mmhmm. Blanche is analyzing the data from the battle, but she's pretty shaken up. Mark," he paused, saying the next words punched it home that his daughter was found. "Aurora's back. And she was leading Team Rocket."
"Aurora...?" He picked up the coffee and moved to sit next to his Raichu. "Sassy Cheeks, scootch'em." The Raichu moved, then flopped over his lap to fall back asleep. Maple turned his attention to the worried man on the other end of the phone. "Will, are you ok?"
"I will be, but Lugia is restless. I surmise that incident it warned us about may be drawing closer."
Maple sighed, resting his head back against the cushion. "Just beautiful. We started the Harmony project and the GO program to avoid that."
"No, we started it because of that."
"Right. That was a weird day, even by my standards. That was a long time ago, Will."
"I'll give you a few seconds to remember."
Maple worried the bridge of his nose as he forced his tired brain to sift through the memories.
They'd been out in the middle of the ocean searching for any trace of the underwater river that disrupted the weather patterns—thinking they could get some quick readings in before the next round of conference panels began, and then party the night away with the other scientists.
They didn't find anything, but something found Willow during his dive. Willow's tank had run out of air due to a mysterious leak. Lugia had saved him and brought him to the surface. He remembered hearing a powerful voice in his head after he pulled his old friend back on board.
Lugia had used Telepathy.
Both had experienced it before, but it was still amazing to have somethings thoughts sent directly to his brain. Lugia had chosen them to warn of a light falling into darkness, and the chaos that would ensue. If the three birds of Legend could not gain empathy for Humanity before this time, their carelessness and violent primal rage would threaten the world once more. It told them that Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno only saw chances to defeat one another and claim territory. They didn't care about the world or the people and Pokemon in it that suffered from their wrath. In order to keep it from happening, Lugia said they needed to understand the world and those in it—and to do that, they would need to be involved in it; to connect to the hearts of Humanity.
Maple had been stunned, filled with questions, but Willow was the first to speak. 'I will find them,' he'd stood bravely on the deck. 'I will do whatever I can to make sure that doesn't happen.'
'Yeah,' Maple had agreed, filled with trepidation of what they were getting themselves into, and what he was promising a mythical Pokemon of legend. 'I'm in, too.'
Lugia had flown into the air, sending down a rain of sea water onto the small research boat. 'Then I will put my trust in you. I will lend you my aid and my strength.'
He saw his friend stand there for a moment in silence, and then nod. Willow had then held out his hand and told Maple to get an empty ultra ball. Maple frantically dug through their small kit in the cabin, brought one out, and handed it to his friend. He'd watched in awe as Willow launched the ball into the air and captured the willing beast of Legend. As soon as the ball returned to his hand, he'd collapsed to his knees, clutching his heart. Maple had feared his long-time colleague had suffered a heart-attack, but Willow regained his balance and breathing. He said he was fine, and that Lugia would help him find the intended three Humans, and afterward, help keep the Legendaries in check. Lugia had sensed Willow's love for Pokemon, and chose him. It connected to his heart.
Maple had no idea what to do from that point, so they'd returned to the island and continued with the conference without telling a soul. No one would believe them if they said anything. Heck, he wouldn't believe him, and he was there. His best friend had captured and been bound to the Legendary Guardian.
Professor Maple drew himself out of the memory that lasted mere seconds in his mind. "Balls, I thought we'd have more time. It's only been a year."
"That's why I need your help. Think you can get here by tomorrow morning?"
"You mean later this morning," he grumped. "It's a four hour trip, Will."
"Traffic shouldn't be a problem."
He groaned. "Fine. Yes. Just have a bed, your biggest pot of coffee, and your hottest researcher on hand when I get there."
"No promises on the researcher." Professor Willow smirked. It was easy to see where Spark picked up a lot of his mannerisms and habits just by talking to the eclectic professor.
"How's the kid, anyway?"
"He's testing every single patience button I have."
Maple laughed. "Good." He picked up the Raichu, set it down on the couch, and moved back to his room to get packed. "Don't tell him. I want to surprise him. See you in a few." He hung up and stretched. "Come on, Sassy Cheeks. Road trip."
"Raaaaaaiiiiicchhhhuuuuuuu." It flopped lazily over onto the floor face down with a muted 'foomp.'
Better protesting the disapproval of leaving before sunrise didn't exist. "Tell me about it." He went into Spark's old room just to see if the kid might want anything he'd left behind. After that, he grabbed his music player along with everything he'd need. This trip demanded some serious car-karaoke.
Blanche checked Medical first. Nurse Joy's Chansey handed her a Butterfree with a bandage around it in a 'hold this, please' manner. Surprised to be put on random watch duty, Blanche waited for the Chansey to return, give the Butterfree a little of the egg it is pouch, then took it back. Apparently, it needed the bed the Butterfree had occupied, and Blanche was the perfect temporary set of arms to hold it until the Chansey returned. It then gave the little Pokemon back to Sam, the young Instinct Trainer.
She caught Professor Tachikawa as the tired researcher walked by with a muffin tray of pokeballs. "Professor. I'm looking for Spark. Have you seen him?"
"Oh, hello, Blanche. He's in room 4."
"I'll show you. Come on," Sam volunteered. The ten-year-old walked down the hall with pride that he knew the way, and could lead the Mystic leader.
She followed, aware of Sam's confidence. She knew this area inside and out, but he didn't need to know that.
The two walked through the maze of injured, sleeping, and resting Pokemon and Humans. Two Team Rocket members kept to themselves away from judgmental eyes. Their Pokemon were still too injured to leave. While here, Nurse Joy had made it clear that there were no rivals in her medical center; only patients.
Sam lead her to the back of Medical, and into room 4. Sure enough, she found her roommate and his Pikachu patching up Ai and her Oddish –the same one Spark had saved in the forest. It chose to stay with the little girl.
"Hello, nurse. Come to give me a hand, or stand there looking beautiful?"
Yup, he was back to normal. She folded her arms. "It's a good thing you're already in Medical."
Ai chuckled.
Blanche stepped up next to Ai's bed and handed him the datapad. "Here. I thought you'd might like the know the results of the tests."
"To see how truly screwed up I am? Cool." He accepted it and put it in his jacket pocket. He was about to launch into a joke about complicated words this late at night, but her expression told him that wouldn't be a bright decision. In fact, he knew why she gave him the 'scowl of death.' "You're smad at me, aren't you, huh," he said with the shame of a child confessing a crime to their parents.
"Huh?" She arched an eyebrow.
"Mad and Sad. You're Smad at me."
"That's not a word, Spark."
"It was as of last week."
"That was a word search, not an actual thing."
"But I'm right, right?"
"No, you're...I'm," she paused, looking to the two kids, and smiled a little. "Smupset."
This time it was hit turn to be confused, then he laughed. "Well, I'll give you credit for trying."
She saw him hold out his hand to his Pikachu, who slapped his palm in showmanship. "Low Five, Zipper. I told you I'd get her to agree."
"Pika!"
The two childrens' giggles melted away a little of her annoyance.
Spark ruffled the leaves on the Oddish' head, then did the same to Ai's hair. "Get some rest, ok you guys? You did a good job today."
"Ok," Ai nodded, kicking her feet. "G'night, Leader. You were amazing."
Sam pushed her shoulder. "Hero worship," he wheedled.
She him him back. "Shut up, Sam!"
He and Blanche left the the two kids and their Pokemon to recover, and wandered out of Medical.
"I've been wondering something," Blanche began. She hesitated, thinking back to her conversation earlier with Professor Willow and his slip-up about Spark. It kick-started her curiosity about her friend's history. Once that switch flipped on in her mind, it would stay on until she was sated. She wanted to know what he was hiding, but she had to get there in a stealthy manner—and that meant utilizing minute bits of information to piece it together. "Why do you give your Pokemon odd names?"
"You're asking me this after we just started the 'name approval' system? Really? Have you seen the paperwork? Some of those names are gold. 'Donglord' is the best one so far."
She worried her temples. "Please don't remind me. I just want to know from you."
She'd never bothered to show an interest in anything about him, so this was unexpected. Still, he thought she might be trying to open up. "Well, I usually just pick whatever comes to mind and feels right for that. I caught Ai as an Eevee in an Indigo dye house a few years ago, so her name is Ai. Velcro wouldn't leave me and Zipper alone at a power plant. Yoyo... Come on, look at it. That Electrode can explode anytime it wants, and it just looks like a Yoyo. Eddie wasn't named by me. My uncle got to that Electabuzz first. He said the V marking on its head reminded him of an old friend with eyebrows like that."
"What about Zipper? What's his story?"
"You're pretty curious. Any reason? Maybe you actually like me?"
"You're my roommate. Call it natural interest. I'm making an effort."
Spark let the little Pikachu up onto his shoulder. His own efforts to become her friend might be paying off. "I was a little over ten. I was outside in the hills behind my house when I heard fighting, so I ran to see what it was and saw a Pichu and a Bulbasaur attacking each other. Actually, it was more a one-sided fight with the Pichu on the losing end. I wanted to stop the fight, so I kept throwing sticks at the Bulbasaur to get it to go away. I didn't want to hurt it, just scare it off, ya know?"
"Not a very bright move."
His eyes narrowed. "I was ten, Blanche. Ten."
She shrugged in acceptance. She'd done her fair share of juvenile, thoughtless antics. "Go on."
"The Bulbasaur got mad, and hit me with vine whip. The Pichu got in the way of its attacks and got hit instead of me the next few times. The Bulbasaur left once it won the fight. I was bleeding, but I was more worried about the Pichu that myself. It was badly injured, and wasn't moving. I didn't have any pokeballs to catch it with, but I couldn't leave it out there alone and hurt. I'd thought about getting Uncle Maple to help, but thought something might happen to it during the time I was gone, so I took it home. I knew a wounded Pichu could still shock me without warning, but I had to take the risk."
Blanche listened. That sounded like something Spark would do.
"I zipped it up in my hoodie to carry it back. On the way, I started hearing the scratching sound of the hoodie's zipper against the teeth. When I looked down, the Pichu was playing with the metal tab. I realized that it was keeping its mind off of its injuries, and keeping it calm, which it needed. It was pretty fast on its feet, and it liked zippers, so, 'Zipper' seemed like a perfect name for him. I listened to that sound all the way home. It turned out to be true. Every zipper he came across after that, he had to play with. It's like his version of that little rubber thing that stops doors from hitting the wall and goes 'tttthhhwwwuuunngg!' when you flick it."
"...A door stopper?"
"Yeah, that thing." Spark chuckled, aware that his mind was suffering from fatigue and ordinary things were becoming funny. "We became friends after that day. Been inseparable ever since."
"So, Zipper is your first Pokemon?"
Spark nodded, as did the Pikachu, trying to say this was his first Human.
Blanche stopped and let her imagination play that story. "That's actually very touching."
What he kept to himself, for now, was that finding Zipper had started his vocal recovery. When Professor Maple had said they should take the Pichu to the the nearest Pokemon Center to get it healed up and then let it go, Spark opened his mouth, wanting badly to protest, and honestly... tried. Instead of the usual squeaks and breaths, came actual words. It was the first time he'd heard his own voice in a year. 'Its name is Zipper. Can I keep it?'
Professor Maple had been struck with shock so potent, that he could only stare at the small boy and the Pichu for a good minute before answering. Spark had lived with him for eleven months. Before then, he'd lived with Lieutenant Surge for one month. All that time, the boy remained silent. He'd hugged Spark and the Pichu tightly and said, 'Absolutely.' Then instantly regretted his decision when the Pichu got scared and zapped them both with Nuzzle.
"Yeah, he's family." Spark rubbed the Pikachu's head between his ears. He split off down another hall toward the labs. "Lates. Thanks for the loan, Blanche. I owe you one." he waved, and pushed open the door to her lab—the one she'd given him permission to use.
Family.. Professor Willow had said he treasured everyone he let into his life. Perhaps his secret had to do with family. It seemed to be a theme today.
She yawned. The night finally caught up to her. Maybe a few hours of sleep would do her some good. She went back to the Professor's lab to retrieve her still slumbering Vaporeon, and went upstairs to bed.
The next morning, at 8am, Blanche left her normal outfit in the laundry since it was blood-splotched and filthy, and instead went for a relaxed oversized gray floppy sweater over a pair of lazy shorts and flip flops. She'd coiled her long hair up in a loose bun. This morning, she didn't really care about appearances...for now. Candela was snoring in her room. She didn't know what time her roommate finally came home, so she made sure not to make a lot of noise when she left the 3rd floor living quarters. Spark hadn't come back to the apartment, so logic dictated he would be in the lab working on his project.
She took a plate of waffles and a cup of coffee to her lab. She knew the following conversation would take place as soon as all three were conscious together again:
'I'm going to create a tougher battle training regimen,' Candela would proclaim to everyone in the cafeteria.
'I'll make sure the Trainers have a way to call us for help through the GO application on their pokedex.' She, herself, would say. She already had plans for that building in her mind. And Spark...
'I'll...! ... Do something... ...amazeballs!'
The door scratched softly along its tracks as she slid it open. Her jaw slacked at what greeted her. Horror. Pure, absolute, horror.
PokeTarts, torn silver cellophane wrappers, Cheeze-Bitz, and a Styrofoam cup of water littered her desk. Her once clean, pristine, highly organized workstation now resembled the home of a pack-Ratatta. Crumbs were strewn everywhere.
Spark himself was asleep with his head resting on his right arm. Zipper made himself a curled up yellow and black fuzzball in Spark's jacket on the desk.
A muscle in her cheek twitched. She'd lent him her personal space out of good will, and he'd turned it into his personal trash can. She bit her lip, clenching her fingers against the plate and coffee cup in her hands. She marched up to her desk, roughly set the food down, and reached out to shake him awake, but stopped. The content on the computer screen snared her interest.
This was his video. He'd been working on it all night, and must have passed out from exhaustion when the events of yesterday finally caught up to him. He might even sleep for the whole day if left undisturbed.
She watched him breathing softly, eyes closed, and completely at peace. He looked harmless and not annoying while he slept. She'd forgotten about that. One of the first thoughts to cross her mind the first time she'd found him crashed out on the common room couch of their apartment was to protect him, though she didn't know why. He wasn't helpless. He was strong, caring, intuitive, and had proven that he could take care of himself and others. His intuition was so spot on sometimes, she wondered if he might be slightly psychic. Yet even with these attributes, she still felt like she needed to protect him.
She turned her attention back to the screen. Intrigued by what he'd decided on, she smoothly moved the cursor over to the volume option to turn it down, then clicked the 'play' button on the video editing software. Spark's visage and voice played quietly through the small window next to the edit options.
"Hey, I'm Spark, the leader of Team Instinct. Congrats on reaching level five! You are about to join an epic adventure of rivalry, friendships, and battles! We are limitless, made of amazeballs, and boundryless like sky commas. This," he picked up an green-spotted white egg the size of his abdomen, "is where it all begins. I mean, well, yeah, of course, but not just literally with eggs—but that is a thing, and we do work a lot with eggs, so be ready for that—but more like a metaphor for everything. You have to start somewhere; Mystic, Valor... everybody has a beginning, including Pokemon."
The video switched to clips of trainers from his cell phone footage (which he managed to recover), scenes taken from the Center's security cameras of the gym battle, and trainers of all teams working together to defeat Team Rocket. It showed Trainers helping each other and their Pokemon.
"My mentor told me once that the way you carry the stuff that happens to you makes up a new 'you.' And that is what you leave behind in the people you meet. You can still be brave like Valor, and calm like Mystic and still be on my team. The key to success is following your instincts, and believing in yourself and your Pokemon. Work hard, and trust that things will work out ok."
The last clip showed a valiant, brilliant display of Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos using their abilities in the final rush of battle—the one that she and Spark missed because they were under water at the time in the middle that clusterbomb. Her jaw slacked. It really did look spectacular.
The scene switched back to the Incubation room. This time, he held a pokeball instead of an egg. "Pokemon are creatures with excellent intuition." Zipper bounced up onto his shoulders. "I bet the secret to their intuition is related to how they're hatched. Come and join my team. You never lose when you trust your instinct!" He closed his introduction video the best and only way a Master of Instinct should; with a epic dab-salute.
His face filled the frame when he moved in close to turn off the camera. "Is this recording? Where's the... oh! Haha. Heh. I got it." He grinned, and the video cut. A green cube appeared in the center of the screen in wait for a replay or for its creator to add other edits.
Blanche clicked 'save' just in case the 'creator' had forgotten to do so when he fell asleep.
At the end, she smiled. She pulled a neatly folded blue blanket from a bottom drawer, draped it over his shoulders, ruffled his hair softly, and whispered, "It's perfect."
THE END.
((Thank you everyone for sticking with me and this story. It's been fun. I've greatly enjoyed the journey of creating a home and a voice for the characters of Pokemon GO. Being able to give life to something with a sugar-cookie existence was...amazing. We barely had anything from Niantic when I started this at the first of August (posted on the 11th after writing the first couple chapters.). We had caricatures and brief paragraph of what the teams are about. That's it. Everything else was left up to the fans to give these sugar-cookie characters a holiday with icing and meaning. i know I keep saying it's amazing, but it's... amazing. :)
I really feel like these characters are close to me, now. Any writer will tell you that in order to truly bring something to life, you have to get into the heads of your characters, to think as they would, react as they would, and thus be able to correctly convey that character's personality to the readers. Pokemon GO is now my favorite, because I feel so invested in these characters. I know everything in here in fan created, but the feeling is still real. Again, as any writer of fan fiction or fiction. I feel the same way about the characters in my own original novels.
Again, my most humble thanks to the readers. It's because of you that I was able to find the power the continue this. There may or may not be an epilogue to come. We'll see if the stars line up for that to happen.
Please ask me any questions in the comments. I welcome them. :) ))
*TEAM INSTINCT DAB!*