Mirror Adventures: A Tragedy of False Smiles

by InfiniteBakuphoon

A boy, afraid of his own shadow, and of his own dreams of something greater: his name is Ash. A girl, afraid of nothing, settling for nothing less than to become the greatest trainer who ever lived: her name is Serena. Together, they'll seek to find their place in life while resisting the many dangers of their world, including the people who are closest to them. (XY037-based AU.)

3. Mirror Professor Oak Interlude

[Chapter 3]
The Oak Legacy! Professor Oak VS The Great Warrior of Light!
~Mirror Professor Oak Interlude~

"Gary, what do you suppose the game of life is?"

"The... game of life?"

"Yes," Professor Oak replied, turning his attention from the fishing rod in his hands to his grandson Gary Oak next to him. "As in the game that best represents what life is all about."

"Um... chess, maybe?" answered Gary, letting down the fishing rod of his own that he was holding as he stared off towards the vast and pristine lake in front of him. "I mean, you have to plan and strategize a lot, and only a few people are really good at it. And even if you are good, that doesn't always mean that you'll win... right?"

"I see. And what about you, Daisy?"

"Me?" Daisy Oak's voice called out from the other side of Professor Oak, a fishing rod in her hands as well. "Well, I'd say golf. Because it can be a lot harder than it looks, and it requires a lot of practice and patience, even if you're really good at it. And there's a whole bunch of things that can change the game at any time, like the rain and the wind and all that. You can't do anything about those, and even the best players can get tripped up by them, but there's always a chance to succeed with each new hole. It's tough, but also forgiving... and kind of hopeful, too."

"Hm. For my money, the game of life... is fishing."

"...Fishing!?"

"Yes," said Professor Oak, calmly responding to the shocked faces of his grandchildren. "You see, the thing about chess and golf is that those games require a great many things that not every person in this world possesses. Skill. Intelligence. Foresight. Imagination. These are exclusive things, and therefore chess and golf are exclusive games that only an exclusive set of people can be truly good at, let alone actually win. But fishing? Fishing doesn't require skill, intelligence, foresight, or imagination. It's a predictable game, you see, once you understand how it works. After all, no matter where you go, or what type of fish you aim to catch exactly, the rules are always the same. As is the goal: catch something."

Professor Oak's fishing rod then twitched a little in his hands, leading him to slowly start reeling the line in before he continued speaking.

"It doesn't matter how you do it, or how well you do it. It doesn't even matter what kind of fish you catch, so long as it's the one you want. A bigger fish is harder to catch, yes, but you don't have to catch one to win. All you need is enough for you to survive to the next day, and anyone can survive on little. But some people need that big fish, for reasons that have nothing to do with survival but rather about... something else. Something primal, deep inside; the kind of thing that only those who possess that feeling can truly understand."

The fishing rod suddenly jerked forward, prompting Professor Oak to steel himself before continuing to reel in the line, this time in a noticeably more aggressive manner.

"All that said, the point is this. The game of fishing — and thus, the game of life — is only as hard as you make it. And so if you possess that minimum amount of skill..."

The water suddenly exploded in front of Professor Oak, nearly soaking him and everyone else as his catch was revealed.

"...then you can live a perfectly fruitful and satisfactory life."

Daisy and Gary recognized their grandfather's catch instantly: it was a Magikarp, a hard-scaled orange fish Pokémon.

"Now, consider the Magikarp that I just caught here," Professor Oak continued as said Magikarp flopped around on the fishing line, struggling to break free. "It's the kind of Pokémon that most people would consider weak, pathetic, and useless, and indeed, it is very much all three of these things. It's a miserable choice for a pet, you see, and it's a very poor choice for food as well. But above all, it's absolutely terrible in battle, being only capable of splashing up and down on the ground, or in the nearest body of water if you're lucky. Even a drowning human could accomplish that."

"But for the rest of us? Well, you tell me, Daisy. What Pokémon does Magikarp ultimately evolve into?"

"G-Gyarados?"

"Indeed," replied Professor Oak. "And Gary, would you say that Gyarados is a weak, pathetic, or useless Pokémon?"

"N-No..."

The Professor smiled. "Hell no. You see, most people in this 'game of life' would throw a Magikarp right back into the sea when they catch one, dismissing it as weak, pathetic, and useless. Some might even take pleasure in doing so, practically making an art form out of how much they can abuse, belittle, and humiliate it before they move on to find something more 'worthwhile'."

Professor Oak then raised the fishing rod into an arc, seemingly preparing to do exactly what he just described before turning around at the last second, swinging the fishing rod down towards the ground behind him instead. The Magikarp landed hard on the rough-grained shore, startling Gary and Daisy with the sound it made before the Pokémon began flopping weakly and ineffectually, all in a desperate and utterly hopeless attempt to escape back into the lake.

"But then a thousand men's Magikarp is one man's Gyarados," said Professor Oak, ignoring his catch as he addressed his stunned-looking grandchildren again. "And what does it take to make a Gyarados out a Magikarp? Skill. Intelligence. Foresight. Imagination. Exclusive things that only an exclusive set of people in this world possesses, and yet aren't things that are necessary to 'win' the game of life. Why so, you might ask? Because the truth is that this so-called 'game of life' is nothing more than a bad joke. A game so pathetic that even mediocrity can be considering 'winning', so long as there are enough people playing who are capable of little more than that."

The Magikarp laid still on the ground now, its breathing slow and shallow. Daisy looked down rather nervously at the Pokémon behind her, then back towards her grandfather; his glare didn't break.

"Now, remember that feeling I mentioned earlier; that primal thing deep inside that only a few people who possess it can understand? That's the drive to be great; to rise above mediocrity and instead play the game of life on a completely different level: one where the rules are defined entirely by you. And so if you do possess the skill, intelligence, foresight, and imagination to not only make a Gyarados out of a Magikarp, but to bring one to a game of Goldeen and Poliwag and Squirtle..."

Professor Oak smiled again.

"...then you have truly, utterly won the game."

And with that, Professor Oak took a Poké Ball out from his pocket and tossed it at Magikarp, the ball hitting the Pokémon before it was sucked inside with a flash of red light.

---

"Well, that was definitely a fun fishing trip today, huh?" said Daisy, walking alongside her brother down the shore not far from Professor Oak a few feet in front of them.

"But I didn't catch anything," Gary replied, looking down at the ground in disappointment. "How am I supposed to win the 'game of life' that way?"

"Well, Gramps said that you have to catch something," Daisy answered, "but he never said that you've got to catch something every time! There's always going to be days where you don't catch anything, Gary!"

"And what happens when you don't catch anything, ever?"

"Oh, don't be silly, Gary!"

"Or if you do catch something, but it's not good enough?"

Daisy blinked. "Good enough for—"

"Gramps," Gary finished for her.

A bit of a pause crept in before Daisy answered:

"I'm sure that Gramps would be proud of anything that you do, Gary."

A light grunt was Gary's only reply to his older sister, who herself sighed in response, more at herself than anything else.

"Speaking of Gramps," Gary suddenly piped up again, "Don't you think that he was acting kinda... I don't know, weird today?"

"Well, you know how, um... theatrical he can be sometimes," said Daisy, almost laughing at her choice of words.

"Yeah, but even for him—" Gary began, right before the sudden sight of Professor Oak standing right in front of him stopped him in his tracks.

"I do hope you two learned some valuable life lessons today," said Professor Oak, a smile far more elusive than earlier in the day. "Now, Gary, it's time for you to head back to Pallet Town. Daisy and I have some business to attend to in the forest."

"Business?" replied Gary. "What kind of business, Gramps?"

"Adult business," Professor Oak replied simply.

"But Daisy's not even an adult!" Gary began to complain, before a sharp glare from Professor Oak silenced him instantly.

"She's sixteen, which is adult enough," the Professor replied sternly. "Now head back to Pallet Town, like I told you. We're going to be a while."

"You can take Lucky with you if you want," Daisy told her brother, withdrawing a Poké Ball from her pocket. "Just so you won't be afraid of getting attacked by a wild Rattata or something, you know?"

"Whatever, sis!" replied Gary, just as a giggling Daisy clicked the Poké Ball open and released its occupant next to Gary in a flash of red light. The light vanished to reveal a large, rotund pink Pokémon with an egg and pouch for half of its body: a member of a species called Chansey.

"Chansey!" the Pokémon chirped, giving Daisy a smile that was happily returned.

"Hey there, Lucky!" said Daisy. "Could you do me a favor and make sure that Gary gets back home safely, please?"

Her smile fading almost instantly, Lucky the Chansey turned around to see Gary next to her, the sight of whom prompted Lucky to cross her tiny arms and "huff!" in obvious disapproval.

"Oh, come on, it's my brother!" an exasperated Daisy replied. "You know Gary, right? He's a good kid; you don't have to worry about him."

Looking at Daisy, then at Gary again, and then back at Daisy, Lucky made a low groan of annoyance before she relented and inched over towards Gary.

"Alright!" Daisy happily replied as Lucky began leading Gary away.

"Wait a minute!" Professor Oak said suddenly, catching everyone's attention right before he tossed a Poké Ball towards Gary. Extending himself to catch it, Gary stared at the Poké Ball, and then back at his grandfather curiously before the latter said:

"That Magikarp I caught today... I have no use for it, so it's yours now. May you one day be able to make a Gyarados out of something as useless as that thing."

"T-Thank you, Gramps..." said Gary, looking almost like he was about to cry at the gift he just received. But as Daisy witnessed her brother's reaction and felt quite happy for the special moment he was experiencing — His first Pokémon! she remarked to herself — she also noticed Lucky staring rather intensely at Professor Oak with what almost looked like contempt in her eyes, all while muttering something barely audible under her breath. Professor Oak noticed Lucky's glare and returned a seemingly unaffected look before shifting his gaze back to Gary, nodding in recognition of his gratitude.

"Now I'll need you to be heading back," Professor Oak told him. "Time is of the essence for what Daisy and I are about to do."

"Yes, Gramps!" replied Gary, grinning from ear to ear as he turned towards the direction of Pallet Town, a still-frowning Lucky following close behind.

"See you later, guys!" Daisy shouted at the two once they made it some distance away. "And watch out for those wild Rattata, Gary!"

"Whatever!" Gary shouted back from the distance, his voice small and echoing as he and Lucky became increasingly obscured by the trees in the forest, before soon disappearing from view entirely.

A silence crept in for a little while after that, before Professor Oak broke it.

"I don't like that Chansey of yours," he told Daisy. "It acts like it's forgotten who its master is."

"I'm not her master," Daisy replied, shaking her head "no" at her grandfather's words. "I'm her friend. I don't make her do anything that she doesn't want to do."

"Perhaps that's part of the problem," said Professor Oak. "A Pokémon should never be given that kind of power. They need to understand their place in society... or rather, in the hierarchy."

"Gramps, you're not saying that Pokémon are... inferior to humans, are you?" asked Daisy, her eyes completely wide at what she just heard. "Or that humans are superior?"

"Absolutely not," replied Professor Oak. "You'll understand what I mean after today."

And with that, Professor Oak turned his attention to other things, leaving a rather uncomfortable-looking Daisy to contemplate what he just told her. He reached behind his back to retrieve the bag that he had been carrying throughout the day before heading towards the forest, going in a different direction from where Gary and Lucky went.

"So what kind of super-secret thing are we doing today, Gramps?" asked Daisy, following her grandfather as she shook off any feelings she had from their previous conversation. "Is it another one of those forest experiments we used to do, except with a really powerful Pokémon this time? Or maybe with something super-rare, like a Farfetch'd or something?"

"Nothing of the sort," replied Professor Oak, before zipping open his bag and retrieving something out of it: a rather strange-looking electronic device fitted with a pair of retractable antennas, along with an LED screen that lit up and displayed a series of complex, inscrutable-looking graphs once Professor Oak clicked it on with a nearby switch. Before Daisy could comment, she could hear Professor Oak zip his bag closed before he turned around and abruptly shoved it into her arms, causing Daisy to step back both in shock and at the surprising weight that remained in the bag.

"Take it," Professor Oak ordered to his very confused-looking granddaughter. "Don't open it until I tell you to."

As Daisy nodded in recognition and began working to move the bag into a more manageable position, Professor Oak began walking through the thick trees and other flora ahead of him: an entryway into a rather dark-looking part of the forest.

"Follow me," Professor Oak's voice called out from within. Daisy obliged, following her grandfather through the trees before soon disappearing into them herself.

---

A feeling of déjà vu crept over Daisy as she and Professor Oak continued their increasingly long trek through the forest, despite her never having gone this deep before. She could remember the closest she had gotten on a certain summer day two years ago, when she was making preparations for Professor Oak's summer camp. She, nor anyone else she knew besides her grandfather, never went any further than the edge of the forest, but because of the many failures she committed on that fateful day, there was one person who did.

Was this how Ash was feeling when he was out here? Daisy asked herself as she walked. Was he this scared?

But before Daisy could think any more about that, she suddenly felt a bright patch of sunlight hit her face as she realized that they had just exited the forest and were now in a new, yet very familiar place: one that was unmistakable for anyone who lived in Pallet Town.

"Gramps... is this Route 1?"

"Indeed," Professor Oak replied, continuing to walk along as Daisy observed her new surroundings. They were in the middle of a large open field, stretching in every direction in front of them for a least a mile or more; this was familiar from the few times that Daisy had traveled down Route 1 before. But unlike any of those times, there were no roads, rivers, or even any trees to speak of, nor any signs of life at all besides Daisy and her grandfather. Only an endless expanse of grassland — punctuated by the occasional patch of bushes nearby and the mountains of Mt. Moon in the far distance — distinguished the eerily quiet and lonely place.

Just as Daisy began wondering what they could possibly be doing in a place like this, however, she suddenly heard Professor Oak's device emit a high-pitched and increasingly repetitious noise, to which its owner responded by slowing down as he looked intently at his surroundings.

"Gramps, what's goi—"

"Shhh!" Professor Oak shushed, right before his device suddenly exploded with sound, its noises now so great in frequency that its repetitions became completely indistinct, blurring together into a single high-pitched whine.

"The time has come," Professor Oak said to no one in particular before clicking off his device, silencing it. He then turned around to Daisy, his face now as deadly serious as it had been the entire day.

"You can open the bag now," Professor Oak told her. "Take out the very first thing that you see, carefully."

Opening the front pocket of the bag, Daisy took a peek inside... and nearly did a double-take at what she saw.

"Yes, it's what you think it is," said Professor Oak. "Take it out now."

Extending her hand into the bag as if she was afraid that it would bite it off, she grabbed for the item and slowly took it out, revealing it in its full, terrifying glory.

A small black handgun, fitted with a suppressor, was now in Daisy's hands.

"This is a gun," Daisy said almost flatly, belying the increasingly nervous expression on her face as her eyes stayed glued to the deadly weapon now in her possession. "W-Why do we have a gun!?"

"We'll be needing it today," Professor Oak replied simply. "You see, I've been—don't point that thing at me!"

"I'm sorry!" said Daisy as she abruptly jerked the gun towards the ground, away from Professor Oak's face. "I-I wasn't paying attention—"

"No, you weren't!" Professor Oak yelled again, causing Daisy to shrink at his rage. "Rule number one of guns: never point at anything that you don't intend to destroy! Do you intend to destroy me today, Daisy?"

"N-No..."

"And rule number two of guns," he continued, staring angrily at the gun again, "Never put your finger on the trigger until you're ready to fire! Unless you'd like to let everyone know that we're here, which, given what we're about to do, would not be a very wise idea!"

"S-Sorry..." Daisy apologized again, carefully moving her index finger off the trigger and away from the gun entirely. "But, what are we about to do, Gramps? What's all of this about?"

"Today," Professor Oak replied, "we're going to catch a Pokémon."

Daisy felt the slightest bit of relief wash over her with that answer; she almost thought that they were about to commit a murder or something.

"But not just any Pokémon," the Professor continued. "This is one that I've been tracking for a very long time, and now it's finally within my grasp. It's a Pokémon so powerful that even humans have fashioned a name for it: the Great Warrior of Light. And it's named as such, it's said, because 'light' is practically the only thing anyone has ever seen of this Pokémon, and is likely the very last thing you'll ever see if you do. This Pokémon will kill us without hesitation if we're not prepared for it, which is why we have the gun, and why I brought you here, Daisy. Simply put, I cannot catch this Pokémon alone. I'll be relying on you today, which is why you must do absolutely everything that I say, when I say it, without hesitation or discussion."

"O-OK, but... a gun!?" replied Daisy. "That's pretty crazy, Gramps! I mean, I don't even know how to use this thing..."

"Oh, it's very straightforward," said Professor Oak. "Simply aim for the target and pull the trigger, or in other words: point and shoot. Anyone can do that. Which leads me to rule number three of guns: make sure that you actually hit whatever you aim at. You wouldn't want to hit something else instead, such as me, for instance. Or a tree that bounces the bullet back to me, or to you, for that matter. Nor would you want to miss whatever's trying to kill you, especially when that thing is nearly as fast as a bullet itself."

Staring incredulously at Professor Oak, then at the gun in her hand, and then at Professor Oak again, Daisy nearly looked like she was about to faint at everything she just heard, and at the implications of all of it.

"This is insane..." Daisy trailed off, before taking a deep breath and composing herself. "I mean, I'm sure this Pokémon is really powerful and all, but... we don't really need a gun for this, do we Gramps?"

"If only you knew," replied Professor Oak. "Now keep that gun and keep it close. Once we're finished today, you'll be glad you had it with you."

Daisy prepared to say something else in response, but she was stopped by a sudden loud rustling in the bushes a few feet in front of them, a rustling that could only come from one thing.

"In those bushes, quick!" Professor Oak suddenly ordered, pointing to another set of bushes to his right. Daisy, momentarily stunned by this turn of events, shook it off and obliged, charging into the bushes while ignoring the leaves that threatened to scratch and tear at her skin as she dug herself deep there. She would happily take that, she decided, over which she could only assume was the fearsome "Great Warrior of Light" that they were about to face. What kind of Pokémon is this? she wondered, her heart beating fast in anticipation.

She didn't have to wonder for long, however, as the rustling became louder and louder, the approach of the "Great Warrior of Light" imminent. With both Professor Oak and Daisy staring intently at the bushes in front of them, something suddenly burst out from there in a flash, and then...

"Pika!"

"A Pikachu!?" Daisy exclaimed under her breath, staring at the smiling mouse Pokémon in front of them with a mix of shock, wonder, and confusion. "That's the Great Warrior of Light!?"

A light, barely audible "shh!" came from Professor Oak, who apparently heard her. Staying quiet after that, Daisy's reactions continued in her thoughts as Pikachu titled its head sideways a bit, observing the human in front of it with a "Pi-ka?".

It's... actually kind of cute! Aww...

But then she quickly remembered the rather frightening things that her grandfather had said about this "Great Warrior of Light", and as she wondered how something so adorable could be so dangerous, Professor Oak proceeded to address the still-smiling Pikachu in front of him, his hands outstretched as if welcoming it.

"Pikachu, O Great Warrior of Light! Your reputation precedes you! I want you to show me your strength in a Pokémon battle! One-on-one, you versus my Dragonite, a mighty warrior worthy of someone like you. Do you accept my challenge?"

Almost instantly, Pikachu's smile turned into what Daisy could've sworn was almost a smirk — and an arrogant, rather creepy-looking smirk, at that — before it turned around and began charging back into the bushes.

"Um, did it accept the challenge?" asked Daisy.

"Oh, very much so," Professor Oak replied, turning to Daisy with a very satisfied look on his face right before his expression turned serious again.

"Now listen to me, and listen well," he told her. "We've just crossed the point of no return. There's no backing out of challenging a Pikachu, which means that life and death will be determined by what we do, and don't do, in these next few moments."

"With that said, you will stay in these bushes right here," he went on, pointing to where Pikachu had come out from earlier, "and not come out for any reason, no matter what, unless I tell you to. Pikachu can't know that you're here under any circumstances, unless you'd like to know what ten thousand volts feels like. Do you understand?"

Daisy nodded.

"Furthermore, once the battle begins, keep that gun locked on Pikachu at all times. Should things go to hell, you know what you have to do."

"Wait, you mean shoot it!?"

"Indeed."

"B-But, I can't kill a Pokémon!" Daisy began to protest. "How could I?"

"Either you kill Pikachu," the Professor coldly answered, "or Pikachu kills you. Or were you not paying attention to anything that I was saying before?"

"I-I—"

"Do you want to live or do you want to die, Daisy?"

Stunned into silence by that simple, morbid ultimatum, Daisy stared blankly at Professor Oak for a few tense, awkward moments before finally giving the only reasonable answer to such a question:

"L-Live..."

"Then do as I say," said Professor Oak, "and never question me again, do you understand?"

"Y-Yes, Gramps—"

"I'm afraid that 'Gramps' isn't going to cut it for this one," an increasingly agitated-looking Professor Oak replied. "I'll ask you one more time: do you understand me, and will you do what needs to be done?"

A long pause... and then finally, Daisy answered:

"Yes, Professor."

Professor Oak nodded, a faint trace of a smile appearing on his face. "Now that's more like it."

And with that, Professor Oak walked forward into the bushes towards Pikachu on the other side. Following her grandfather through there, Daisy carefully made her way to the edge of the bushes, where she could see Professor Oak at one end of the large makeshift battlefield that he and Pikachu had created, devoid of anything at all besides the two. Professor Oak then reached into his lab coat pocket, producing a Poké Ball.

"Dragonite, it's time!" said Professor Oak as he tossed the Poké Ball into the air, which soon popped open to release what was indeed Professor Oak's chosen Pokémon for the battle. Materializing on the battlefield, the dragon, upon seeing at its tiny mouse opponent on the other side, gave a mighty roar.

"Remember our training," Professor Oak hissed to Dragonite before turning his gaze towards Pikachu, the two's eyes now locked on each other.

"Who will make the first move?" Professor Oak shouted out to Pikachu, who responded with a "Pikaaaaaaa...!" as it began discharging electricity from its cheeks. Smiling, Professor Oak turned to his Pokémon and gave his first command:

"Dragonite, Sword A!"

And at that, Dragonite burst into the air with a single powerful thrust of its wings, just in time to dodge a bolt of electricity that blasted right through where Dragonite once stood, past Professor Oak's head, and then mere feet away from Daisy who nearly screamed at the sight before the bolt finally terminated a few feet behind her. Holding her gun tight, Daisy kept her eyes locked anxiously at Pikachu as it hopped a few feet forward and gave another "Pikaaaaaaa...!" as it prepared to launch another bolt of lightning — its Thunderbolt attack — at Dragonite.

"Stone Edge, now!" commanded Professor Oak.

"...chuuuuuuu!" screamed Pikachu as it fired its Thunderbolt, an attack dodged effortlessly by Dragonite with a light strafe in the air before an aura of bright white light began to surround it. The light then expanded out of Dragonite before soon morphing into the shape of multiple sharp, jagged stones, all aimed directly at Pikachu.

Pikachu, realizing what was about to happen, focused all of its energy into its legs and broke into a swift run, clearly preparing to dodge the impending attack. But Dragonite's aim was precise, and the stones quick and merciless as they all descended one by one straight towards Pikachu, with the first one soon finding itself just mere feet away from striking the mouse Pokémon with a direct, seemingly unavoidable hit.

"Whoa!" Daisy cried out as she watched the first stone land right at its target, an explosive cloud of dust and dirt marking the hit as it impaled the ground and everything else in its path. Everything except for Pikachu, Daisy soon realized, as it instead appeared several feet away from the landed stone, completely unharmed and still running as if nothing had even happened a second ago.

"W-What—!?" Daisy exclaimed as the second stone came crashing down, again with Pikachu right in its path. But with a brief, nearly imperceptible flash, Pikachu dodged this stone effortlessly, suddenly appearing on the other side of it completely unharmed, all before Daisy could even blink.

"Did it just... teleport!?" Daisy said incredulously at the seemingly impossible sight she just witnessed, to which Professor Oak turned around at her with a frown.

"It's Agility," he corrected her. "Didn't I say that Pikachu was fast?"

Turning back around to the battle, Professor Oak watched as Dragonite continue to fire stones at Pikachu, and Daisy continued to watch it all herself as Pikachu, against all logical expectation, proceeded to dodge each one again and again without fail, its Agility proving too much for even Dragonite's ferocious aim and speed to overcome.

Before long, Dragonite exhausted its stones and proceeded to observe the dust-covered battlefield below, searching for its opponent. With a strong flap of its wings, Dragonite sent the dust flying, revealing dozens of stones sticking out from the ground below. Pikachu suddenly hopped out from behind one, leaping on top of another one right in front of it as it stared down its opponent with fierce, determined eyes, not even looking tired from its multiple successive dodges earlier.

"Excellent," said Professor Oak, smiling with strange satisfaction at sight in front of him. Strange to Daisy, at least, who had no idea how he could be feeling that way right now. They didn't even hit anything! she thought to herself. But there were soon more important things to worry about as electricity began sparking from Pikachu's cheeks again, the mouse Pokémon clearly preparing another attack.

"Shield A, Dragonite!" Professor Oak commanded, his Pokémon swiftly obliging as it shifted its body into a defensive stance in the air, expanding its wings as far as they could go while shrinking the rest of itself inwards.

"Pikaaaaaaa...!" the mouse Pokémon cried out as it was about to fire its Thunderbolt at Dragonite, right before Professor Oak issued another command:

"Dragon Dance, now!"

"...chuuuuuuu!"

Another bolt of lightning burst out from Pikachu, which was again easily dodged with a strafe in the air by Dragonite right before an aura of orange light began to surround it this time. And then Dragonite, closing its eyes almost as if it were meditating, began to spin and glide in the air in a rather peculiar yet also graceful manner, indeed much like a dance.

Pikachu, meanwhile, gave an especially low growl of "Pika..." at the apparently displeasing sight above as it prepared another Thunderbolt, releasing it rather quickly this time with a forceful "chuuuuuuu!" as the attack reached for its target in a flash once again. But the attack didn't even come close to hitting Dragonite this time as it continued its Dragon Dance, circling over the battlefield in a series of effortless movements that seemed to become faster and faster by the second.

"chuuuuuuu!" Pikachu screamed as it fired yet another Thunderbolt at Dragonite, which again missed its target by a mile. And with another "chuuuuuuu!", Pikachu began a series of successive Thunderbolts aimed at Dragonite above, each one becoming faster and seemingly more desperate by the second, yet also seemingly more fruitless as every single one failed to hit Dragonite, who practically made a mockery of its opponent's efforts with its graceful Dragon Dance in the air.

"Wonderful," said Professor Oak at the proceedings before him, leading a still-confused Daisy to pipe up this time:

"Um, how is this wonderful? I mean, we haven't even hit Pikachu yet. It's too fast!"

"Pikachu might be fast," said Professor Oak, continuing to observe the battle, "but you see how there's a little pause before each of its attacks? It's only as fast as it can discharge. And when we're in our domain, the air, its Thunderbolt is the only way that it can hit us. And yet in the air, we can dodge all of them easily. We're untouchable!"

"But you still can't hit Pikachu either, right?" replied Daisy. "I mean, if you could, wouldn't you have already done so by now?"

"Weren't you supposed to be paying attention to Pikachu this whole time?" Professor Oak sneered, turning around to look at her this time. "Look closer!"

Focusing her eyes on Pikachu, Daisy could see that the mouse Pokémon's breathing was becoming heavier and more labored by the second, its attempts to hit Dragonite clearly taking its toll on it.

"It's tired," Daisy realized, to which Professor Oak nodded in confirmation.

"I know what Pikachu's domain is as well," he said, just before Pikachu stopped firing Thunderbolts at Dragonite all of a sudden. Panting in exhaustion at its wasted efforts, the mouse Pokémon shot a glare of frustration at Dragonite as it ended its Dragon Dance and stared down its opponent with barely any hint of tiredness at all.

"It's always frustrating when you can't even hit your opponent, isn't it?" Professor Oak laughed at Pikachu. "What are you going to do now, little mouse?"

He then turned back to Dragonite, a glint of excitement flashing in his eyes as he gave his next command.

"Now, Dragonite! Sword B! Exterminate that rat with your Outrage!"

Dragonite roared in affirmation, speeding like a bullet towards Pikachu with bloodlust in its eyes as a deep red aura began to surround it. Pikachu leapt from the stone it was standing on in an attempt to dodge the impending attack, but right as it did, Dragonite punched right through the mouse Pokémon's path like a meteor, with absolutely zero mercy given as a small crater was formed in the ground in its wake, with dust and dirt flying everywhere.

Professor Oak chuckled in satisfaction at the sight in front of him, but then his laughs abruptly subsided as nothing moved from inside the smoke, the opposite of what one would've expected from a Pokemon's Outrage. And then the dust cleared, revealing Pikachu right at the edge of the crater, appearing rather shaken as it managed to dodge Dragonite's attack by almost literally mere inches.

"Damn!" Professor Oak cursed as the red aura began to fade from Dragonite, signaling the premature end of its Outrage. His previous plans ruined, the Professor quickly issued a new command:

"Dragon Claw, and actually hit it this time!"

Dragonite, itself looking extremely irritated at its failure, responded with a ferocious, unexpectedly quick swipe at Pikachu, enough that it actually came within mere inches of hitting its target this time. Pikachu froze for a split second, having been startled by that unexpectedly close call, but a split second also happened to be how long it took for another Dragon Claw to arrive.

"Pikaaaaaaa!" Pikachu screamed as the Dragon Claw hit its target, sending it flying several feet towards one of the stones littering the battlefield, which it bounced off of with a dull, hard thud. Before Pikachu could even reach the ground, Dragonite was already closing in on it from above with an unusual swiftness, nearly matching that of Pikachu itself. Another Dragon Claw then descended on the downed Pikachu, who managed to dodge it this time with a well-timed Agility. But just as soon as it disappeared, it reappeared again mere feet away in front of another stone, which it had barely avoided crashing head-first into as it blocked its path.

"Where are you going to go now, Pikachu?" shouted Professor Oak as Dragonite zoomed over to Pikachu in a flash, gliding over the stones as it prepared yet another Dragon Claw. And it was then that Daisy realized her grandfather's strategy.

"You're cancelling out its speed!" said Daisy. "You tired out Pikachu earlier, used Dragon Dance to up Dragonite's speed, and now you're using those stones to keep Pikachu from using Agility!"

"Yes," confirmed Professor Oak. "Now we can hit it."

Pikachu managed to dodge Dragonite's Dragon Claw, but it was another close call as the mouse Pokémon was indeed unable to use Agility now. Forced to rely entirely on its natural speed, Pikachu ran as fast as it could towards another stone, hoping to take cover from the next Dragon Claw that Dragonite was now preparing. But the exhaustion from its earlier efforts wore hard on Pikachu, leaving it wide open for another successful strike from Dragonite that again sent it flying.

"Pikaaaaaaa!" Pikachu screamed again as it flew slightly above the stones this time, before gravity sent it back to earth near the other side of the battlefield, far away from everyone else. Dragonite didn't give its opponent a moment's rest as it sped once again towards Pikachu with yet another Dragon Claw at the ready. It took an additional second or two for Dragonite to fly from the middle of the battlefield, however, giving Pikachu a brief moment of respite as it got up from the ground, and then...

...it suddenly vanished with a flash, leaving nothing for Dragonite to hit as it descended on Pikachu's former location.

"Huh?" said Daisy, surprised to see Pikachu use Agility again as Professor Oak growled at what just happened, with Dragonite roaring angrily in turn. She soon realized that, having been knocked over to the edge of the battlefield, there were no longer any stones around to stop Pikachu from using it anymore; such was the cost of Dragonite attacking Pikachu with such abandon.

But then she soon realized something else: Pikachu hadn't shown up again yet.

"Did it run away?" Daisy asked Professor Oak; he shook his head.

"They're too proud for that," he replied. "It'll come back."

Professor Oak then turned his attention back to Dragonite above, who awaited its trainer's orders.

"Just stay in the air, Dragonite!" Professor Oak shouted out to it. "It can't hit you while you're in the— oh, damn it!"

Having finally reached the limits of how long it could fly, Dragonite's wings drooped low as it began falling back to earth. Landing on its feet with a thud, Dragonite panted hard in exhaustion as it took in every moment of relief that it could.

"We don't have time for this!" Professor Oak screamed at Dragonite. "You think that Pikachu's just going to wait for you!?"

It was then, however, that he came up with a new plan.

"Alright, then! Dragonite, Shield B! Safeguard and wind shield, quickly!"

"Wind shield?" Daisy repeated quizzically, having never heard of a move like that before. She didn't have to wonder about it for long, however, as Dragonite immediately began flapping its wings in a slow, repetitive motion at the same time that it started to glow a bright blue, facing straight in the direction where Pikachu disappeared to.

"You're going to have to go faster than that, Dragonite!" shouted Professor Oak. "Come on!"

A few seconds after that, Dragonite's relatively modest effort evolved into a fierce motion that belied what even a Pokémon like Dragonite — or any Pokémon at all — could seemingly handle, producing a fierce wind so strong that Daisy could actually see the air around Dragonite bending at its might.

"Come on, you little rat..." Professor Oak hissed as he stared anxiously into the distance, taking an occasional look at his Dragonite who dutifully continued producing its "wind shield", even as it looked increasingly tired from the effort. "Don't you be a cowa—"

"Pikaaaaaaachuuuuuuu!"

A streak of light suddenly flashed on the battlefield, faster than anyone could even process it as Pikachu crashed into Dragonite at unimaginable speeds. The attack connected with Dragonite for a split second before Pikachu rather violently bounced off of it, flying a few feet backwards before landing on all fours.

"Volt Tackle; impressive!" Professor Oak called out to Pikachu, seeming strangely unconcerned with what he just witnessed. "You truly are worthy of your title, O Great Warrior of Light!"

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed in triumph, only to jump at a massive roar from Dragonite in reply, as if nothing had even happened to it just a few seconds ago. Because indeed, nothing did. The Safeguard and "wind shield" had worked exactly as planned, leaving Dragonite completed unharmed.

"But we have power too," Professor Oak told Pikachu, who stared wide-eyed at both him and Dragonite with a mix of shock and frustration. "And now it's time to unleash it!"

He then turned to his Dragonite, just as a very irritated Pikachu began discharging electricity from its cheeks again.

"Sword A; no mercy! Dragon Pulse!"

A blue sphere of energy then formed inside Dragonite's mouth, the sphere being fired just as Pikachu fired its Thunderbolt. The two attacks collided with each other, creating a large explosion with an equally large plume of smoke to match, obscuring Dragonite's vision as Pikachu disappeared completely from view. Dragonite leapt backwards to dodge the smoke, soaring away from it with its wings but also clearly struggling to use them, only managing to reach slightly above the ground. And then Pikachu suddenly burst out from the smoke, electricity sparking from its cheeks yet again as it landed on the ground not far from Dragonite.

"This isn't going to work," said Professor Oak under his breath as he watched Dragonite start to fall towards the ground again, its wings drooping just like before. But as Pikachu itself panted hard in exhaustion, struggling to produce another Thunderbolt, Daisy could see another plan forming in Professor Oak's head.

"Dragonite, let's catch this little rat in a trap!" Professor Oak shouted as his Pokémon reached the ground. "Use Twister!"

At that command, Dragonite beckoned towards the heavens and gave a mighty roar as the clouds above it started to turn gray. Pikachu, startled by Dragonite's roar, looked to see what its opponent was up to, only to spot a massive vortex start to descend from the sky, a ferocious gale forming in its wake.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted in panic as it ran like hell away from the descending twister, but even the lightning fast mouse was no match for its might as the wind almost immediately tore it off the ground and launched it straight into Dragonite's Twister. Professor Oak laughed in satisfaction as he watched Pikachu be tossed all around the twister, its cries echoing throughout the battlefield as it was buffeted mercilessly by unimaginable winds.

"Ha! Speed isn't much use in a twister, is it, Pikachu?" said Professor Oak, before addressing his Dragonite again. "Now let's set this thing on fire and end this! Flamethrower!"

And at that, Dragonite, standing at the very heart of the twister that it summoned, raised its head towards the sky once more, taking in a deep breath as it prepared to set the vortex aflame with Pikachu inside. But just as it was about to do so, Dragonite noticed flashes of lightning bursting out of the clouds above, right before seeing Pikachu discharge electricity of its own from its body as the lightning bolts above drew closer and closer to Pikachu. Panicking, Dragonite unleashed its Flamethrower just as the lightning connected with Pikachu, surrounding it with an aura of white light. Dragonite's flames, meanwhile, circled around the vortex as they ascended towards the bright white light that was now Pikachu, which illuminated the darkened battlefield with an almost heavenly shine right before the fires closed in Pikachu, snuffing out the light and replacing it with a hellish red glow.

"And now it's over!" Professor Oak proclaimed, and as Daisy witnessed the sight in front of her with utter dread in her heart, she certainly hoped that it would be over soon. What kind of battle is this? she thought to herself.

But just as Professor Oak had declared the battle over, a familiar light began to shine again from the center of the fiery twister, revealing that the battle was far from over. The light then began to shine brighter than it ever had before, quickly overtaking the red glow of the twister before soon exploding in a dazzling display, taking the twister itself out with it.

And right there at the center, now visible from where the now-fading light once shone, was Pikachu, completely unharmed.

"What... the... hell!?" Professor Oak shouted, watching the scene dumbfounded as Pikachu descended from its position, electricity sparking from its cheeks as it prepared a Thunderbolt on its way down. Dragonite, without waiting for a command from its trainer, hastily launched another Flamethrower just as Pikachu unleashed its Thunderbolt, the two attacks meeting each other halfway. The two forces struggled for about a second before they combined and created a massive explosion in the sky, enough to send wind and particles flying as far as Professor Oak's position and beyond. As he and Daisy shielded themselves from the fallout, Dragonite steeled itself as the explosion nearly sent it flying. But Pikachu, not being able to do anything from its precarious position in the air, ended up getting caught in the blast, which sent it flying slightly upwards in an arc before it descended back to earth at a dangerously high speed.

"Pikachu..." Daisy uttered under her breath, her heart aching with worry for the Pokémon seemingly about to meet an unpleasant end or at least a very painful landing, despite it technically being their enemy. But just as it was about to hit the ground, Daisy could see Pikachu's tail suddenly glow white, and within the next second it landed tail-first, said tail taking the brunt of the fall as Pikachu slid across the ground from there, a long, deep line being dug there in its wake.

"Alright, enough of this!" Professor Oak growled, his eyes flaring at the weakened but not yet finished Pikachu before turning to his Pokémon once more.

"Now, Dragonite! Gamma Z! Rend the earth to shreds and finish the fight!"

At that command, Dragonite's eyes started to glow white just as it suddenly gave a single powerful flap of its wings, causing it to rise a few feet off the ground before falling back down again. And once it returned to earth, the ground beneath it utterly imploded in its wake with a bone-shaking BOOM!, the impact creating a series of massive, powerful shockwaves that tore apart everything in their path like tissue paper and warped the very earth itself to their destructive wills. Mountains were erected, valleys were formed, and fissures were cracked open as effortlessly as breathing. Such was the power of Dragonite's Earthquake, a super-effective move against the defenseless Pikachu who, in its current state, could never hope to run fast enough to escape the all-consuming waves of earth and elements that threatened to crash down on it, nor the barely stable ground that became increasingly less so by the second and would soon cease to become ground entirely.

But in the face of this imminent danger from which there was seemingly no escape, Pikachu didn't even flinch. Instead, with a deep breath, it planted itself deep on all fours and made a powerful wave of its tail as far into the air as it ever did before, the tail glowing an ever-familiar white. And with a leap and another ferocious swing of its tail towards the ground, Pikachu performed the Iron Tail of its life — perhaps literally — and shot itself into the air like a child on the most powerful trampoline ever invented, rising high above Dragonite just as the first wave of weaponized earth reached where Pikachu once stood not even a second earlier. As impressive as this was, however, it still wasn't enough for Pikachu to dodge the full force of Dragonite's Earthquake, and before long Pikachu found itself staring at another twisted, ruined mess of earth ready to come down on it and destroy it.

Pikachu, however, was ready, and with another deep breath and a swing of its tail, it unleashed yet another Iron Tail that it had been preparing while it was high in the air, aiming for the largest spike of earth that it could find. It was a risky move; just as easily as such a spike could've acted as a support for Pikachu to make another leap from, it could've just as easily broken under the sheer power required to make such a leap, which would doom Pikachu to be swallowed whole by Dragonite's Earthquake.

Its aim proving to be true, Pikachu was able to reach a spike with its Iron Tail, and the tail dug deep into there, threatening to break through it entirely. But with yet another powerful swing of its tail, Pikachu broke free, obliterating the spike as the mouse Pokémon was launched high upwards once again... but it couldn't do so quickly enough to avoid the mass of earth that ultimately crashed down on it. And as Pikachu disappeared underneath, it appeared that the battle was finally over...

...only for Pikachu to blast out from the earth just under a second later, having just completely escaped one of Dragonite's most powerful attacks effortlessly.

"What? Whaaaaaaat!?"

Barely having any time to even process what just happened let alone react to it, Dragonite could only stare dumbly at its now-airborne opponent as tell-tale sparks burst from Pikachu's cheeks once more, heralding the release of another Thunderbolt attack. And this time, there was nothing to stop it from reaching its target.

Professor Oak screamed in fury as he watched the Thunderbolt hit Dragonite, who roared in pain as it experienced the full power of what ten thousand volts could do. The attack consumed it and the entire battlefield with a blinding, radiant yellow: a spectacle truly worthy of the Great Warrior of Light.

A few seconds later, the light dissipated, signaling the end of the attack as Pikachu landed on all fours on Professor Oak's side of the battlefield, laughing in mad satisfaction at what it just achieved. Dragonite, a few feet in front of it, writhed in agony as it attempted to avenge itself with an attack, its eyes filled with bloodlust at the gloating Pikachu. But then Dragonite froze as sparks suddenly flashed around its body, right before it ultimately shrunk back down to the ground, unable to move.

"Goddammit, it's paralyzed!" Professor Oak furiously observed. "Our only advantage is gone! It's over."

The Professor then reached into one of his pockets, taking out a black and yellow colored Poké Ball.

"Time to expedite things," the Professor growled before silently tossing the Poké Ball with surprising strength into the air, straight towards Pikachu. Still facing Dragonite with its back turned, Pikachu seemed to be completely unaware of what Professor Oak just did, and as gravity sent the ball downwards towards Pikachu, it seemed prime to reach its target...

...right before Pikachu suddenly leapt into the air with its tail glowing white, striking the Poké Ball with an effortless swipe of its Iron Tail and shattering it into thousands of pieces. Landing on all fours, Pikachu then turned around to stare down the person who threw that doomed Poké Ball, first with confusion, and then with pure, unrestrained rage, accompanied by an especially low and vicious growl.

"Oh crap!" Daisy cried out.

"Indeed," hissed Professor Oak as Pikachu motioned towards them. "Daisy, shoot it. Do it now!"

Right after that, Pikachu burst into a run, shooting towards Professor Oak with murder in its eyes. Daisy, who had a clear shot from her position in the bushes, aimed her gun at Pikachu and laid her finger on the trigger, but just as she was about to fire...

"I can't..." Daisy uttered, tears forming in her eyes as the gun shook in her hands. "I can't!"

"Daisy, pull the damn trigger!" Professor Oak screamed at her as Pikachu got closer. "Do it!"

With all of the willpower she could summon, Daisy closed her eyes tight and squeezed the trigger, and she screamed as the bullet blasted out from the muzzle, its report piercing her eardrums and the whole airspace around her in the form of a dull yet potent crack. And as the gun nearly flew out of her hands in recoil, the bullet shot straight towards Pikachu...

...and then proceeded to completely miss its target, flying yonder with a whoosh! past Pikachu.

"Goddammit Daisy, shoot it!"

But Daisy froze as Pikachu turned its head towards the source of the gunshot, its eyes widening upon realizing that another human was there. Pikachu's eyes met Daisy's at that moment, leading the mouse Pokémon to suddenly stop in its tracks as it stared down the newest human with what appeared to be confusion, and then curiosity, in its eyes. Its head kept going up and down as it looked at Daisy, then at her gun, and then at Daisy again, as if trying to piece two and two together.

"Daisy..." Professor Oak growled from the distance, prompting Daisy to steady her shaking hands and squeeze the trigger again, but...

"N-No..." Daisy whimpered, her voice breaking as Pikachu kept staring her down. "No, I can't!"

"DO YOU WANT TO LIVE OR DO YOU WANT TO DIE, YOU FOOL!?"

Hearing Professor Oak's furious shouts, Pikachu swerved its head towards his direction with a "Pika!?" right before two gunshots suddenly rang out loud in the air. Daisy had fired twice more at Pikachu, again with her eyes closed tight. But the bullets missed again, not even coming close to hitting their target. Pikachu flinched at the gunshots, looking fearfully at Daisy for a split second before it dashed forwards towards Professor Oak and then suddenly disappeared with a flash.

"W-What!?"

Before anyone could even process what happened, Pikachu suddenly appeared mere feet away from Professor Oak, who jumped in shock with wide, unbelieving eyes as Pikachu leapt towards him.

"Pikaaaaaaa...!" screamed the Pokémon as electricity burst out of its cheeks once more, just as it was about to—

"Dragoniiiiiiite!"

And with that roar, Professor Oak's Dragonite flew in from out of nowhere towards the startled Pikachu, the latter barely having any time to react before being struck by a swift, powerful Dragon Claw. The attack launched Pikachu straight across from Professor Oak like a rocket, far away from him before gravity ultimately sent it down towards the ground where it slid painfully for several feet before stopping. Pikachu then laid motionless there, seemingly unconscious.

Dragonite gave another mighty roar at its successful attack, but not long after that it began writhing in pain again, crouching down to the ground as it struggled to move even a single muscle of its body. Professor Oak, regaining his breath after that near-brush with almost certain death, turned swiftly towards Daisy, who herself had been rendered nearly catatonic at the epic events unfolding before her eyes.

"Full Restore in the bag, quickly!" Professor Oak ordered, and Daisy, shaking off her fear, obliged as she began sliding Professor Oak's bag from her back, down her left arm, and towards her free hand, the other still clutching her gun. She was about to reach into the bag before a jolt of electricity suddenly struck her in a flash, causing her to yelp in pain as she froze on the spot. Swerving to her side, she saw Pikachu approach from where Dragonite had launched it earlier, limping somewhat as it slowly, weakly walked towards her direction. Her heart skipping a beat, Daisy raised her gun towards Pikachu and—

"No, Daisy!" Professor Oak screamed, his shout catching Pikachu's attention as it shifted its hateful glare towards him. Electricity sparking weakly yet no less dangerously from its cheeks, it began inching towards Professor Oak now, the Pokémon growling at him with an almost primal ferocity.

"Pikachu, O Great Warrior of Light!" Professor Oak shouted out to the mouse Pokémon, his hands outstretched again. "Please forgive me; I only wanted your strength! You're so strong, Pikachu; so strong! Let's not end it all like this; let's not fight! Come with me, Pikachu, and let me show you what you can really do!"

But Pikachu was having none of it, and in the next instant, its intentions were clear. Planting itself prone on all fours, Pikachu prepared to charge into Professor Oak again, and this time, there was nothing to stop it from obliterating its target as the still-paralyzed Dragonite could only watch the dire state of affairs helplessly. Professor Oak himself could only watch — a flash of fear visible in his eyes — as Pikachu gave its merciless, murderous cry:

"Pikaaaaaaa...!"

BANG!

Professor Oak turned around in shock towards the source of that ever-familiar crack in the air; the sound of a gun being fired. A gun fired by his granddaughter, whose eyes were already watering with tears as she watched Pikachu slump to its side upon being struck by her bullet, whimpering briefly in pain before falling still and silent.

"Oh my God..." Daisy uttered as Professor Oak, recovering after standing in shock for a while, rushed over to the fallen Pikachu. "What have I done!?"

"You've just saved all of our lives, is what you've done," said Professor Oak, still slightly breathless from what just happened as he observed Pikachu. "Didn't I say that it would be either you or Pikachu?"

"I-I just killed a Pokémon... I just killed a Pokémon!"

"Oh for God's sake, calm down..."

"How can I calm down!?" Daisy screamed. "I'm a murderer! That Pikachu's dead... because of me!"

Sighing, Professor Oak focused his attention towards Pikachu again, seemingly ignoring Daisy's increasing whimpers of guilt while running his fingers across Pikachu's body, as if searching for something.

"Look closer," said Professor Oak suddenly, and just as Daisy summoned enough courage to look down at Pikachu, she witnessed the Professor pluck something out of its fur, but whatever it was, it was so small that she couldn't see it, almost as if he was holding nothing at all. And then, to her shock and disbelief, she witnessed something else.

Pikachu was breathing. Slowly and weakly, but breathing.

"This is a tranquilizer dart," Professor Oak said, frowning as Daisy finally saw what looked like a thin, hypodermic needle between his fingers, a spot of blood visible at one end. "Did you really think that I would ever have you kill a Pokémon as valuable as this Pikachu?"

"Valuable!? B-But it's just a Pikachu!"

"Just a Pikachu!?" Professor Oak shouted, startling his granddaughter as he tossed the needle down on the ground in anger. "Daisy, did you even see anything that was happening out there? That Pikachu brought my Dragonite to its knees! A mouse defeating a dragon; think about that! This is no ordinary Pikachu!"

"But if there weren't real bullets in that gun," said Daisy, sniffling as she wiped tears from her eyes, "then why did you make it look like I was going to kill Pikachu?"

"Because I needed to know whether or not you could do what needed to be done," Professor Oak replied, "and whether or not you were mature enough to follow my orders without question. You hesitated when I first told you what to do, but that's to be expected. And when the time came for you to actually follow through with my commands, you passed with flying colors. Congratulations."

He didn't offer a smile or any other outward signs of affection towards Daisy, but even then she could tell that he was legitimately satisfied with what she did today. Daisy, however, couldn't share his satisfaction as she watched Pikachu struggle to stay awake against the force of whatever was in that tranquilizer dart. And as Daisy watched Professor Oak reach into his lab coat for something, Pikachu's eyes suddenly met hers, causing her to flinch. A feeling of guilt began to wash over her as Pikachu's glare suddenly switched to that of a sad, desperate pleading. Saying something weakly — "pika... pika, pika..." — under its breath, Daisy, even without knowing anything that it said, understood exactly what it was saying to her in its eyes:

"Please... help me, please..."

But Daisy didn't do anything, instead simply looking sadly at Pikachu with the words "I'm sorry..." at the tip of her tongue but never making their way out. Pikachu, in response, gave a low growl of "Pika..." at her, its eyes flaring in contempt before the tranquilizer finally finished its work. Pikachu's eyes fluttered for a while before they soon closed entirely, the mouse Pokémon's head tilting to its side as it went into a deep sleep.

"Finally," said Professor Oak, just as he retrieved what he was looking for in his lab coat pocket: a Poké Ball. Tapping the ball on Pikachu's body, the mouse Pokémon was soon sucked inside with a flash of red light, the ball then wiggling three times with a strange squeaking noise before a click! confirmed the capture.

"Now you're mine, little mouse," said Professor Oak, grinning in satisfaction at Pikachu's Poké Ball in his hand. "But don't worry; your strength won't be wasted with me."

And with that, Professor Oak stuck the Poké Ball into his pocket and got up from the ground with a grunt before walking over towards Daisy.

"The bag," he said to her simply, to which Daisy obliged by handing it over to him as he approached. Taking the bag, Professor Oak then made his way over to Dragonite, who gave a light growl as it still struggled to move with its paralysis. Sticking his hand into the bag, Professor Oak retrieved a small green spray bottle — the Full Restore — and sprayed a generous amount of the medicine on the battered and bruised Dragonite.

"Didn't I say that Pikachu would be tough?" said Professor Oak as he continued to apply the Full Restore. "I bet you believe me now. A worthy opponent indeed, just like the good old days..."

"Good old days..." Daisy repeated under her breath, reacting to her grandfather's words with incredulity as he suddenly turned back to Daisy, having heard her.

"Is there something wrong?" said Professor Oak flatly, his glare belying his words. And at that moment, a torrent of emotions suddenly exploded out of Daisy all at once:

"What the hell was all of that, Gramps?" she practically screamed at him. "I mean, that battle was crazy... just crazy! Earthquakes!? Fire tornadoes!? Guns!? Just how valuable is this Pikachu, really? Why are we doing all of this!?"

Professor Oak, in response, gave a light sigh with a strangely downcast look on his face — strange for Daisy, at least, who had rarely ever seen him look like that — before he turned back towards his Dragonite once more.

"Time for a rest," Professor Oak told the dragon, taking out its Poké Ball from his pocket. "You've certainly earned it."

Replying with a quiet roar, Dragonite allowed itself to be summoned back into its Poké Ball, disappearing in a flash of red light. Professor Oak then turned to address Daisy again, a serious look forming on his face.

"Follow me," he told her. "We're about to have a very important chat."

And with that, Professor Oak began walking over to a new part of the area, away from the ruined battlefield where unthinkable things had happened mere moments ago. Daisy followed close behind, the eerie silence after all of the chaos she witnessed giving rise to a strange feeling of foreboding in Daisy's heart as she walked. Before long, Professor Oak stopped next to a large, flat rock: a rock just large enough for two people to sit comfortably on.

"Here," said Professor Oak as he took a seat to the left, motioning a hand towards the remaining spot on the right. Daisy found her way there, taking a seat as she let go of the gun in her right hand and allowed it to fall into the grass next to her. Relieved to finally be free of that awful weapon, she put her hands together and took a light sigh of relative relief before she turned around to meet eyes with her grandfather. Professor Oak met eyes with her in kind, graveness informing every part of his expression as he began to speak.

"There comes a time in everyone's life," he said, "when it is time to let go of childish things and to learn how the world really works. Some people might argue that sixteen is too young for that. I, meanwhile, am not one of those people. And so today—"

"Gramps, before you say anything else," Daisy interrupted, making Professor Oak raise an eyebrow, "I'm sorry, but I've just got to know: why did we have to do all of this? Why did we have to capture that Pikachu? Why did we have to hurt it?"

At that, Professor Oak gave a light sigh at his granddaughter; one not necessarily of annoyance, Daisy realized.

"You're persistent, aren't you?" he replied. "Alright, then."

And then, after taking a deep breath as if preparing himself, Professor Oak said:

"Your name."

"W-What...?"

"Your name is not Daisy Oak," said Professor Oak. "It's Nanami. Ookido Nanami."

"Nanami...?" Daisy repeated. "That's my middle name."

"No. It is far more than that."

"I-I don't understand—"

"Samuel Oak. Gary Oak, Ash Ketchum, Delia Ketchum, Leaf Green, and so on. We all have our masks, one for every occasion. And they all come in many forms indeed."

Seemingly ignoring Daisy's utter confusion at his words, Professor Oak continued on.

"Names are our most basic mask in this life. Consider mine: Samuel Oak. Former Champion of Kanto, world-famous professor, the Pokémon Authority. That's who I am. But then, 'who I am' and 'what I am' are two very different things. A difference that the common man has had difficulty appreciating for a very long time, to my advantage."

"W-What...?" Daisy said, feeling very uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Gramps, you're scaring me... what on earth are you talking about?"

"Are you ready to know 'what I am' behind the mask of Samuel Oak?" Professor Oak asked Daisy, his face earnest. "Once I tell you, there will be no turning back. I'm giving you a choice."

Daisy couldn't help but feel skeptical at that possibility, even as it was also a weirdly tempting one. "Do I really have a choice?" she asked.

"Honestly... no," replied Professor Oak. "Not unless you consider time to be a choice, and innocence is always a fleeting thing. I'm giving you the chance to bury it on your own terms, to the extent that you're able to."

"Well, in that case..." said Daisy, trailing off before sighing in resignation, realizing that she indeed had no choice. Professor Oak, taking that as an affirmative, then cleared his throat as if preparing to tell a long, epic story as he had done many a night before when his grandchildren were much, much younger. Daisy had a feeling, however, that she was about to hear something very different from the stories of those innocent days as Professor Oak began to speak.

"Now, then; about my mask. Professor Samuel Oak. There are many things that you need to know about that, but let's begin with the easy part. To start: my name isn't really Samuel Oak... it's Yukinari. Ookido Yukinari, that is. Family name first, as, until quite recently, it has always been, but I digress."

That sounded simple enough, Daisy thought, if a bit weird. But it was clear that Professor Oak was far from done, and so she watched him with anxious anticipation as he continued on.

"Now for the not-so-easy part. My name isn't really Samuel Oak... and I'm not really a professor. Or a doctor. Or hakase, the proper term until also quite recently, but again, I digress. To put it simply, Daisy, there is absolutely nothing real about the mask that I wear. 'Professor Oak' is a sham, a hoax, a fraud, whatever you want to call it. I'm as much of a professor as that Magikarp I caught was Arceus himself. It's all one big lie."

"Y-You're... not a real professor!?" a completely wide-eyed Daisy exclaimed, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"No."

"B-But... what about everything that you did? All of that research, the lab, the Pokédex—"

"The Pokédex!?" Professor Oak practically shouted, and for the first time that she could remember, Daisy actually saw the Professor laugh out loud right then and there, enough that he nearly fell from where he was sitting in sheer mirth.

"Oh, of all the things you could've chosen, Daisy! The Pokédex! Oh God, ha ha ha! Allow me to recite a few excerpts, from memory, of what my, ahem, 'Pokédex' tells budding young trainers!"

And with a loud mock clearing of his throat, he began to do just that.

"Grimer, the Sludge Pokémon! Once mere city waste, it was brought to life after being exposed to X-rays from the moon!"

"Magcargo, the Lava Pokémon! It has an internal body temperature of 10,000 degrees Celsius, two times hotter than the surface of the sun!"

"Wailord, the Whale Pokémon! The largest mammal on earth, it floats on water and weighs... 400 kilograms, ooh ha ha ha ha ha!"

For a while after that, Professor Oak continued to laugh seemingly uncontrollably, before he suddenly stopped as his face flashed into a extraordinarily tense and furious expression, nearly the complete opposite of how he had been barely a second ago.

"Do you really think that anyone with any actual intelligence or insight would ever write complete crap like that?" Professor Oak burst out, his eyes livid with rage. "You'd think that a ten-year-old wrote those! But then, that's not really too far from the truth..."

"W-What!?"

"Indeed," confirmed Professor Oak, this time in a relatively more relaxed manner. "You see, every spring when I give young trainers their Pokémon and send them off on their way, I also give them a Pokédex. You already know that, of course. What you don't know is that for half of those trainers, I give them a blank Pokédex, and they, well, fill in the blanks for me. Which then go into the Pokédex that the other half gets next year, and so the cycle continues. They're so eager to do it for me, wanting to show how smart and knowledgeable they are, like all children do. What they write is about as absurd as what I've already told you, but absolutely no one gives a damn. In fact, everyone laps it up like candy, while I lap up the glory. Do you know why that's possible, Daisy?"

She shook her head, not knowing how she could even begin to respond to all of that.

"Then I suppose that you didn't learn any valuable life lessons from our fishing trip of ours today," Professor Oak sneered. "Let alone the important lesson of all: that this world is run by fools. Fickle, ignorant fools who don't care about things like facts, intelligence, or anything else of worth, but rather about one thing and one thing only: getting what they want. Even when they don't even know what they want, or when what they want changes like the wind. Feelings drive fools, Daisy, which means that if you understand feelings, then with some work and a little bit of luck, you can make fools do whatever you want. And whoever controls fools, controls the world, or at least your own world. For people like me, that is what it means to win the game of life."

"Y-You... don't really think that everyone's just a fool, do you?" asked Daisy, her voice breaking harder with every syllable.

"It's not about what I think, Daisy," replied Professor Oak. "It's about plain fact. If intelligent people ruled the world, then I wouldn't be able to be Professor Oak, and I wouldn't need to be. If intelligent people ruled the world, then I wouldn't even be here in this God-forsaken town! No, I'd be at the Indigo Plateau right now, sitting undefeated in the Hall of Fame."

"The Hall of Fame... as Champion?"

Professor Oak nodded.

"There is one thing that I neglected to tell you about the game of life," he said. "I said that you could bring a Gyarados to a game of weak, mediocre Pokémon and utterly win the game, and that's true. What I didn't say is that it's not enough to win just once. The game of life, you see, isn't something that you just win and then walk away from with riches and spoils in hand. No, in order to remain the winner, you have to catch another Gyarados. And then another, and another, again and again for as long as you live. And not only must you do that, you must do it better than you did the last time, also again and again."

A somewhat pensive look began to form on Professor Oak's face this time, Daisy noticed, before he continued on.

"This is a lesson that I learned the hard way, back when I was Champion. For ten years I sat at the top, crushing anyone who challenged me. No one even got close! And for a time, everyone loved for me it. But eventually, they hated me for it. They got bored, you see, watching me win over and over again. Or maybe they just wanted to watch me lose. But then no one was actually worthy of defeating me, and so again, no one did. My dominance was deserved, and in a world that values things of worth, that dominance would have been rewarded. But instead, people went out of their way to try and take me down, plotting against me over and over again. Yet still, I remained Champion, until one day when it all ended thanks to one shameful, pathetic trainer... but then I could spend all day talking about him."

A barely-concealed fury defined Professor Oak's face now, as if everything from his past had happened only yesterday. But it quickly subsided as Professor Oak composed himself, although Daisy could still see the slightest flash of fire in his eyes.

"Now, how is all of this relevant to you, you might ask?" said Professor Oak. "Well, the truth is that my life has always basically been about exchanges. I give people what they want, and in exchange, they give me what I want. Everyone has that one thing that they want, you see, above all else. Love, money, power, fame... what do you suppose it is for me, Daisy?"

"I-I—" Daisy couldn't get the words out. "I-I d-don't—"

Professor Oak raised a hand to silence her, right before giving his answer:

"A legacy, Daisy. What I want is a legacy. For the name 'Oak' to mean something."

"M-Mean something...!?"

"Indeed. And that's where you come in, Daisy. You see, the truth is that one day, and one day soon, I won't be doing any of this anymore. I've been at this for a very long time now and, honestly, I'm getting too damn old for it. But then the lab isn't just going to run itself, is it? Professor Oak, and all that name stands for, isn't just going to run itself. The things I've started, my dear, aren't the kinds of things that you can just simply stop. They're the Gyarados that must be caught again and again, and soon those Gyarados will be yours to catch, for the sake of the Oak family name."

"Y-You mean—"

"Yes. You will be the successor of my legacy."

...

...
"M-Me...?" Daisy finally said, having been previously stunned into a long, wide-eyed silence at Professor Oak's words. "Y-You've got to be kidding me... you don't think that I can live a lie like that, do you? That I can do... whatever you do?"

"Oh, I know you can, my dear," replied Professor Oak. "And of course I wouldn't leave you unprepared for it. You'll have my many associates at your beck and call, all of the vast resources of my lab, the money from my inheritance—"

"I-Inheritance!?"

"Oh, but have you forgotten? You're sixteen now, an age that grants you certain rights and privileges that mere children don't have, which is doubly true if you're a Pokémon trainer. And one of these rights, if you're a trainer, is the ability to receive an elder's inheritance. As in my inheritance, Daisy."

"But how's that even possible!?" Daisy exclaimed, barely believing what she was hearing. "I'm not even a Pokémon trainer!"

"You were given a trainer's license when you were ten," said Professor Oak. "That makes you a trainer."

"Even if I am," Daisy responded, "I don't want any of that dirty money! God only knows how you got it!"

"And God only cares," replied Professor Oak. "All money is dirty money, Daisy."

"Of course you'd say something like that!" Daisy spat back. "I mean, I can't even believe you right now, Gramps! Who are you, even? How could you possibly be the same person who raised us for all of these years? The same person who raised my dad!? When all of this time you've been a fake professor, doing God-knows-what, about to do God-knows-what to that poor Pikachu! And now you want me to continue your 'legacy'? Are you insane!? No way! I refuse! In fact, what's stopping me from going to a Jenny right now and telling them everything?"

"Oh, I don't know; why don't you ask Delia Ketchum?"

"A-Ash's mom?" Daisy stammered, caught completely off guard by the seemingly random mention. "What about her?"

At that, a light chuckle found its way out of Professor Oak, who seemed almost amused at Daisy's question before he proceeded to answer it.

"Delia and I have a very special relationship," said Professor Oak. "A symbiotic one, that is. I depend on her, and she depends on me. This relationship has granted me with many great rewards and opportunities: ones that I could have never attained on my own. And of course, the same holds true for her as well, even if the exchange of power is far from equal between us."

"Now, you and I also happen to have a symbiotic relationship, Daisy," Professor Oak continued, his face growing more serious this time. "I'm depending on you to continue my legacy while you depend on me for, well, everything. The clothes you wear, the bed you sleep in, and even your friend Chansey all exist because of me and what I've done. Things that I've been able to do because of my name, a name that you also share. Now, what do you suppose would happen to you if the Jennies knew what that name really meant? Or better yet, what would happen to Gary?"

"Gary..." Daisy repeated under her breath, her brother's name haunting her as a long, dark shadow suddenly made its way over everything.

"Do you really think that the Jennies would be so concerned for your welfare?" Professor Oak went on. "About the welfare of tainted children, raised by a criminal? No, the truth is that if I go down, you and Gary will go down right with me, if you're lucky. Or if you're unlucky, they'll throw you right out into the street to fend for yourselves, without any of the privileges that my name provides. Or in other words, my dear, you will know what it means to be an Ookido, and not an Oak. No money, no parents, no Pokémon; nothing to help you stay afloat in this cold, cruel world of ours. Now, perhaps you could survive a life like that. In fact, I know you would. But Gary? Mmm... you already know what'll happen to him, don't you?"

And at that, Daisy was struck utterly silent, turning away from Professor Oak as her brother's name again haunted her and any plans she might have had to defy her fate. Her silence was all the answer that Professor Oak needed.

"You're not a stupid girl, Daisy," said Professor Oak. "Naïve, perhaps, but not stupid. Far from it, in fact. You understand what's important, and you've got what it takes to protect that, as you proved so definitively today with Pikachu. Think about it, Daisy; why do you think I chose you over Gary? I could've waited until he turned sixteen, and told him everything that I'm telling you right now. I could've had him prove himself to me, but the truth is that there's no need. I already know what would've happened, and why it would've happened. I did have high hopes for that boy at one point, but the truth is that, deep down... I always knew that it would be you."

Daisy didn't respond, still staring deep into the distance ahead of her with a growing flare in her eyes. And so Professor Oak went on:

"You might not think it, Daisy, but you and I are quite alike. Even now I can see the fire in your eyes; that drive, that life in them. That willingness to do anything to protect what's important to you; to go where no ordinary person would go. What would crack a lesser soul would only make you stronger, and what would crush a lesser spirit would merely give you even greater resolve. Not a damn thing on this earth can stop people like you and I, Daisy. You're not just some innocent girl, or some weakling that can be made into a mere victim: a causality of this game of life to be used, thrown away, and forgotten. No. You, my dear, are a killer."

At that, Daisy could only shake her head, her eyes now flaring in open disgust at her grandfather's words.

"I'm nothing like you," she said, not even bothering to look back at him. Professor Oak, meanwhile, merely shrugged in response.

"I'm afraid you don't know me very well," he said. "Or yourself, for that matter. But believe me... you will."

With some courage, Daisy finally turned back around to her grandfather, with her nearly flinching at his glare — a deep, almost earnest, yet fearsome one — and everything that it now meant for her. But her own glare was unwavering as she faced down what she now knew would be her future.

"What would you have me do?" she asked him.

"Oh, nothing for now," replied Professor Oak. "There's still much for you to learn before you can become worthy of the name 'Professor Oak'. But the future draws near, my dear, and that future is not just in you, but in the Pikachu we caught today. It is the key to everything, more than you could possibly imagine."

Daisy's eyes narrowed at hearing Pikachu's name, disgust quickly returning to them. Professor Oak matched her with a particularly deep and piercing glare of his own, before proceeding to ask her one final question.

"When the time comes again," he said, "can I trust you, again, to do what needs to be done?"

She remembered that question from the previous time he asked it, with her having no idea then just what she would end up actually doing. And yet even with her knowledge of that frightening unknown now, she didn't hesitate this time as she gave her answer:

"Yes, Professor."

A sickening feeling came over Daisy upon uttering those words. Fate-sealing words, she knew.

"Can we... just go home now?" she quickly added, wanting nothing more than for everything to be over at this point.

"Certainly," said Professor Oak. "But, aren't you forgetting something?"

"Huh?"

"You still have my gun."

Her heart skipping a beat, Daisy turned to her side to find that Professor Oak's gun was indeed still in her possession, sitting idle in the grass. Staring at the gun for a second before slowly reaching for it, a dark thought came to her mind as she wrapped her fingers around the handle, with one finger inching towards the trigger.

With one well-timed pull of that trigger, Daisy knew, she could end all of this right now, and run away with Gary somewhere far away where Professor Oak couldn't reach them. They could clear Viridian Forest by nightfall, she thought, or maybe they could escape by sea if they went south, stowing themselves away on a boat until they reached another region entirely, possibly even somewhere really far away like Unova, Kalos, or Galar.

Looking down, Daisy could now see the gun in her hands right in front of her; it was now or never. Turning around to Professor Oak, Daisy moved the gun towards him, her finger squeezing the trigger more and more as she got closer and closer, and then...

...with a light sigh, she handed the gun over to him.

Taking the weapon away, Professor Oak rose from where he sat and gave one final look to his granddaughter, accompanied by the slightest signs of a smile.

"I knew I could count on you," he said, right before making his way back into the forest towards Pallet Town. Daisy, giving one last sigh to herself at everything that happened today, followed him close behind, a new and uncertain chapter in her life having just begun.

---

As two people left Route 1, two remained, watching from their vantage point behind a mass of bushes near the trees at the edge of the forest leading towards Pallet Town. The two had heard everything, from the explosion that sent one of them running in fear for their friend and the other in fear for their sister, to the very last syllable that Professor Oak spoke.

"Daisy..." Gary uttered under his breath, quiet enough for only Lucky the Chansey next to him to hear. That one word — and the hushed, breaking voice with which he said it — summarized everything that Gary felt at that moment, his world having been utterly shattered upon learning the devastating truth behind everything he held dear right along with his sister. He couldn't bear to say anything more, and he couldn't even bear to look at his grandfather as he and Daisy walked past several feet ahead, both of them oblivious to Gary and Lucky's presence in the bushes.

But Lucky, being a Chansey, didn't need words to know Gary's feelings and emotions at that moment. Nor did she need them to know those of her friend in the distance, or those of the man who was responsible for them and would surely be responsible for them again — and then some — in the very near future.

And so as Lucky, with one arm, led Gary away back towards Pallet Town before anyone could realize that they weren't there, she, with the other, reached for her egg close at hand, making a most violent vow for the sake of her friend before disappearing into the darkness.

---

A/N: To all of those who have left reviews, follows, and favorites for this story over the past 15+ months, thank you! Your support means more to me than you know.

Oh, and sorry about the wait as well; the past year or so has been quite chaotic for me and writing has been tough at times, even with so many ideas running through my mind. I can't make any promises about when the next chapter will arrive, but I'd imagine that it'll at least arrive sooner than this one did, haha! Again, thanks for reading!