Chapter 29: World News


The News

"Good evening to our lovely watchers! I'm Rose and this is KanTV Channel, the number 1 channel to learn everything regarding the world news! But first, let's start with our native ones!"

"After the successful raid of the International Police outside of Celadon City a few days ago, both Kanto and Johto regions are under tighten security. The International Police's Inspector Looker outright stated that some of the Police's targets who were involved in this incident are still around so it's better for the region to stay vigilant. He avoided any further details regarding this incident."

"Now, Johto's regional Professor Elm has an important announcement. It's about a project he worked on for a decade. It is named the GS Ball. He received it from Professor Oak during that time with the help of some unnamed children whose names were never revealed. The presentation will take place in Goldenrod City and it will also be broadcasted by the Golderod Radio Station as well! So far he gave no further information about that but he gave only one clue. 'A rare green flying creature'. This is what he said."

"Let's skip Hoenn for now since this will take a while and let's head to Sinnoh. News reveal that the construction of the new Sinnoh metro station is now in the works. The Sinnoh citizens we asked have already expressed their happiness for that since public transformation receives a significant uprgrade.

"In Unova and Kalos there are witnesses who claim that they had noticed suspicious activity coming from a certain amount of people. No one gave a full description about them yet other than that they were some special suits though. Also, it has not been confirmed that these activities in these two regions are somehow connected yet. The testimonies are way too divided so with our current knowledge we can only speculate what is truly going on. Is the International Police hiding things from us? Maybe the recent Kanto incident has some connection with it?"

"Now let's get to the hot topic that took place in Hoenn yesterday. We are going to contact with Gabby who is currently there. Gabby can you hear us?"


Hoenn: Petalburg Woods

"Loud and clear, Rose! We are currently on the Petalburg Woods or more like the place that was used to be called like that. As you can see there is nothing more than just a destroyed forest. There were many dead people and Pokemon species but they have been removed from the area and are currently being examined by coroners. It would also be very disturbing to show this sight on air especially when little kids might watch as well. Right now, we have the Devon Corporation's President Mr. Stone here as well! We are glad that you are devoting your time to answer some questions here." The female reporter started with her report.

"I wish we had an interview under different circumstances." The elegant old man said concerned.

"Wait! Before you start with the questions we will come into contact with both Lumiose City of Kalos and Aether Foundation in Alola. In Lumiose City we have the scientists Dr. Clemont and Dr. Sophocles who will participate in this discussion along with Mr. Gladion who is currently the Vice-President of the Aether Foundation as well. Guys, thank you for devoting your time here as well!"

"No problem, Rose! We have a lot to explain here regarding the incident! Me and Sophocles will be glad to participate in this!" Clemont said once the TV camera started recording their laboratory along with Sophocles who was standing on the background.

"I wish I could say the same but things seem to be more serious than it looks like." Gladion who was standing in front of Aether Foundation's entrance wearing a black costume with a red tie stated with a moody look.

"Ok, since everyone is here let's start about the incident. Gabby you can proceed with the questions!"

"Yes! So Mr. Stone, the Devon Corporation's HQ is in Rustboro City which is very close to here. Am I correct?"

"This is true the Devon Corporation's HQ never stationed elsewere before."

"So what do you know about this incident?"

"Well, I knew nothing about it till my son informed me. The International Police also appeared here before this became known from the public as well. Steven seemed to be aware of this for some reason but I have not figured out how yet."

"Do you think that your son has any connections with the International Police?"

"I do not know since my son is pretty busy by being the regional Champion and his hobby of looking for rare stones and fossils as well. I prefer to not know about his doings and also think that this is irrelevant with our current problem. Next question, please!" The old man gave his answer expressing his annoyance regarding the question.

"Oook… A few hours ago, you stated that you are going to fund the ecological restoration of the Petalburg Woods? Is this true? If yes, how much do you expect it will cost both in time and money?"

"Yeah, everything is true. The Devon Corporation will help this forest to become like it used to be. We intend to bring the same Pokemon species that used to live here and also plant new trees as well. So, expect this to take quite a long time, like 10 or 12 years minimum for the forest to reach its previous state. The cost is also relatively high to buy all the necessary stuff we need to accomplish this goal. I cannot estimate the exact budget yet."

"Do you have though how many of your employers are going to work on this project?"

"This is not specified either. For now I guess we have 15 volunteers who want to help but as the time passes more people are going to be hired just for this job."

"I see. I have no more questions for now. Rose, back to you!"

"Ok, we will back later with Mr. Stone's interview and now we will talk with Vice President Gladion who claims that he knows what has happened in the Petalburg Woods. Mr. Gladion you can proceed with your explanation."

"Sure, but before I start I would advise all the parents that are currently watching to keep their children away because they might end up getting scarred with all the details I'm going to reveal."

"I-I see. As you heard it is better to keep your kids away from the TV for the rest of this program. Now Mr. Gladion, you can start."

"Thank you. Now regarding the incident, it is known for a long time that the Aether Foundation was and is still researching about some dangerous creatures which are named Ultra Beasts. They are like the Pokemon we know but they have a more aggressive behavior. Once, they reach our own world they are mindlessly attacking on every different living being it notices and kills it."

"So are you implying that behind this were these Ultra Beasts you are talking about?"

"Precisely. They are capable of destroying entire ecosystems during their berserk states. Also, we have recognized which specific one is behind this tragedy. I will not go full detail on it but I will say that it resembles an origami and is flying around chopping whatever sees on its path. Which explains that all the dead Pokemon and people which were there were shred to pieces."

"That's…quite disturbing."

"This is why I warned the parents beforehand."

"What else do you know about them?"

"They can somehow open rifts between our different worlds something that we cannot explain yet. They also possess an ability like regular Pokemon but they share a common one. We named it Beast Boost. We have noticed that every opponent these creatures defeat they enhance their best attribute which means that if an Ultra Beast's best attribute is its speed then it will be increased once it defeats an opponent. Last information is that the Ultra Beasts cannot be caught with regular Pokeballs easily. Actually, it's almost impossible. You need some special balls like this blue one which I'm holding right now. It's named Beast Ball and they are exactly the opposite from the regular Pokeballs. Also, Master Balls work for some weird reason but these are quite rare anyway. This is what I can say for now."

"I see. Albeit kinda brief it was a nice interview."

"What do you mean by brief? HUH? I'm here against my will already!" Gladion complained as he made a strange pose.

"P-Please, you misunderstood what I meant, hehe~"

"The edgelord is back as always." Sophocles said while laughing.

"Shh! Do not say that loud, Sophocles."

"Well, let's talk with Dr. Clemont and Dr. Sophocles who are currently at the Lumiose Tower in the Kalos Region. Sirs, can you show us what you have there?"

"Yes, Rose! According to Mr. Gladion's reports about the Ultra Beasts invading on our own world, the Ultra Wormholes are actually created by some sort of crystals which exist in the Ultra Space. They have multiple colors and they seem to react at Pokemon moves. Then the crystals release a beam creating the Ultra Wormholes where some of the Ultra Beast unknowingly are getting sucked and end up in different dimensions which one of them is ours."

"That's very interesting but how did you know about the crystals and how they work?"

"I will answer that. Some crystals had fallen on our own dimension years ago. Me and Clemont didn't reveal anything about their existence till today. We made several experiments to see how they worked and reached at these conclusions. We even invented a machine named 'Rift Generator' and works as a portal to travel to different dimensions. We will show you how it works."

"Ok, look these two crystals I am holding. The machine over there has two slots where I am going to place this crystals as a power source. Now I open the machine. Sophocles, you do the rest."

"Ok. Togedemaru use Discharge on the crystals!"

"Makiu!"

Togedemaru with its attack made the crystals react and with their beams they created a portal identical to an Ultra Wormhole.

"Wow, that's amazing! Do you know where this portal leads?"

"No, but it could lead anywhere. This probably explains why we don't have encountered many Ultra Beasts already. Just thing the possibilities and how many dimensions exist. We just cannot give an honest answer about that."

"Now, as you see the portal will stay open for like a minute."

"That was an amazing presentation. Science is really progressing over the years. Do you have anything else to add before we move on?"

"We have another project ongoing regarding the Ultra Beasts but it's on very early stage. We reveal more once we will have something ready to show."

"Ok, thank you both! Now back to the Petalburg Woods! Gabby!"

"We hear you, Rose! Mr. Stone, do you want to ask something after hearing all this?"

"All this look incredible and all. Truly! But I have only one question that it's bothering me since I heard how the crystals coming from the Ultra Space work. So I would like Dr. Clemont and Dr. Sophocles to give me their opinions regarding this."

"Yeah, we hope we can solve all of your queries. So please proceed." Clemont said as he smirked while he was fixing his glasses.

"Well, you stated that the crystals create the portal once they receive an attack from a Pokemon or an Ultra Beast. The creature or even the creatures that caused this and came through the portal how did they return back at their own dimension?"

"Ah, this is because… hmm… eh…" Clemont was trying to find an answer as he was scratching his head embarrassed.

"Please, don't tell me that-"

"It's possible… that the Ultra Beast might not get back to the portal and might be anywhere in Hoenn right now." Clemont said looking scared at the thought.

"But I think we would have already learned about a new incident like this." Sophocles stated trying to think positively.

"Not necessarily." Gladion suddenly interfered in the conversation.

"What do you mean by that, Gladion?" Sophocles asked worried.

"The Ultra Beasts just like everyone get exhausted after a while so their bloodlust is toned down as well. Which means that if the Ultra Beast that caused all this didn't return back to the wormhole it came from then it has hidden somewhere and is resting. Once it gets its strength back it will cause another problem similar to these. So I suggest to take measures like recruiting Pokemon Rangers around the region. Their own ways of interacting with Pokemon might come in handy."

"I-I see. This is troublesome." The old man said fearing for another incident.

"I think we are done here. Mr. Stone, thank you once again for being here."

"The pleasure was mine."

"Rose, back to you!"

"Thank you, Gabby. I also want to thank our other Dr. Clemont, Dr. Sophocles and Mr. Gladion for participating as well."

"The pleasure was all ours!" x2

"No need for thanks, I am taking my leave."

"So for all of our viewers have a nice day!"


International Police HQ

In the meeting hall, all the higher-ups where eagerly watching the new till the end. Then they started discussing about this.

"How do you see the whole situation?" The general asked the rest who were lost in thought.

"I'm glad they didn't reveal our own involvement in this and secret cooperation with Aether Foundation." Looker said as he sighed in relief.

"I bet it isn't very convenient to reveal that the Aether Foundation is secretly funded by us to keep going on their research. The expenses of all these experiments are too high and cannot say more than that otherwise they will raise suspicions that the International Police forces them to hide things from the public and would lose their credibility at the end." Brandon mentioned as well.

"Regarding this, I and Agent Black had a meeting with President Lusamine regarding our cooperation 6 months ago and she mentioned that we should keep covering each other's backs since the organization since Lusamine's absence to recover 10 years ago from her mental illness had big financial issues." The general stated with crossed arms.

"I'm kinda surprised that her son didn't reveal anything regarding the Fallers though. He kept more secrets from the journalists than I expected." Black wondered as he held his chin.

"And what did you want him to say? That we have a woman with us who ended up being there and gained her psychic abilities or that in an investigation that took place 15 years ago a female Faller died in an International Police Operation? I won't even mention the former villain who also became a victim as well." Looker said to him as he stared at Anabel and Guzma who were speechless the whole time for a while.

"I guess you are right." Black responded as he sighed.

"The surprising thing though in this were the crystals. We didn't see that coming at all." The general once again expressed his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm also frustrated with this. How did these two find them? I'm afraid there was another Faller involved there who had the crystals along with him but he discarded when he came back. But that theory doesn't really make sense." Black said puzzled.

"Agreed, I can only think that he tried to come back but he carried them along because he showed his interest in them and when he tried to return he threw them outside before he could enter but then the Ultra Wormhole suddenly closed leaving him trapped." Brandon revealed his theory.

"This could be the case." Looker seemed to agree with him.

"Now we have something to do about that roaming Kartana." Anabel finally snapped revealing her own concerns.

"You also believe that it didn't return back." Black who was sitting beside her said to her.

"I just don't believe that it managed to create all this havoc in time and then entered in the wormhole. I want to go incognito in there and look for it myself."

"Wait! You are going too far now! You aren't thinking straight!" Black tried to calm her down.

"You have my permission if you want to go. I don't think the Pokemon Rangers will be able to deal with it." The general approved.

"Thank you, I'm leaving right now." Anabel said as she exited the room.

"Wait, you… What am I going to do with you and your rushed decisions?" Black whispered as he sighed being unable to stop her.


Arceus Cult's Main Base of Operations

"So the Ultra Beasts were behind this." The master of the cult who was also watching the news from a big TV said but his tone didn't indicate any surprise.

"So what do we do now?" Asked the guy who was standing behind him anxiously and was wearing a red hood

"Kenji, relax we will do nothing."

"Are you sure about this? If we raided Aether Foundation and stole some Beast Balls we could-"

"I said that we will do nothing. If we attack the Aether Foundation we will have even more problems. And even if we steal some Beast Balls who can guarantee that these creatures will be tamable? It's a high risk that it's not worth to take."

"Then what should we do?"

"You heard them. Before the beginning of the Ultra Beast incident they talked about the GS Ball. They said 'A rare green flying creature'. If my Pokemon knowledge doesn't deceive me this creature must be Celebi."

"The Pokemon that can coexist in every timeline?"

"Exactly. If we take it and use its power correctly we can go back in time 10 years ago in the Orre Region and we prepare our defences for the unsuspected International Police's raid that happened back then. We defeat them and the Unown we had, never escaped to their own dimension. That way the floating timeline will still remain and Ash Ketchum stays as the mentally broken 10 year old who we can easily manipulate to help us find the Azure Flute."

"That sounds as an excellent plan, master!"

"It's pretty early to look excited. We have tons of work to do till Prof. Elm's presentation. Let's proceed with the preparations."

"Yes, master!"


Hoenn: Grand Festival

"And after the end of the appeal rounds the Top 32 who proceed into the next round are these!" Vivian revealed the electronic board showing all the Coordinators that managed to be in the last round.

All the favorites were there including May and Dawn. Now let's see the matchups for the next battles. May and Dawn ended up being with opponents that posed no fear for their own experience.

"I really feel 10 years younger now!" Ash said happily as he was watching all this time along with Brock and Pikachu the festival.

"Agreed, May's Blaziken and Beautifly Fire Spin+Silver Wind combination and Dawn's Ice Chandelier. All these really brings me back!" Brock said as he shared a tear.

"Why don't we go in the backstage to surprise them already, Brock?" Ash said as he left his seat and ran towards the backstage.

"Wait, Ash! Don't go on your own!" Brock tried to call him back but he was left behind along with Pikachu which couldn't keep up with Ash and lost him in the crowd.

As Ash was running in the crowd towards the backstages suddenly bump heads with someone. He heard a feminine voice screaming "OUCH" that moment. While he was rubbing his forehead to get rid of the pain with closed eyes he tried to apologize. When he opened them he noticed a beautiful young girl on the floor who was also rubbing her head without having visual contact as she also had her eyes closed. But as he was staring at her he felt that she had met that girl before. When she opened her own beautiful green eyes he stared at Ash. He was also staring at her for a few seconds. Then Ash suddenly started realizing who the girl was and started blushing. The girl blushed as well. Then they pointed at each other.

"Lillie?!"

"Ash?!"


TO BE CONTINUED