Episode 6: Changes in Galar
The case thickens once more for our three detectives. After paying a visit to the married couple of Alex and Ibuki of Street Fighter fame, many new pieces of information were spilled all into their notepads. Of course, they've had those previous clues, but in addition to them, they had finally gotten the identity of his soulmate that he's had to hurry back to: 20-year-old brunette college student named Stephanie Veronica Fredrickson.
Of course, they're still so far away from actually getting Gon and Stephanie's location, but in the meantime, they headed for the new Galar region of Pokémon to see if they can either get the carnosaur's location at last or dig deeper by getting to another destination. Either way, Jin, Nina, and Detective Pikachu were getting more and more anxious by the day. By the time they did make to Galar, they first landed in Wedgehurst, which is usually the first town you get to at the very beginning of your journey. Pikachu was, of course, very familiar with the place as he didn't waste any time nor say a single word to his two fellow Tekken warrior detectives as he led them to the Pokémon Research Lab first. He pushed through the entrance with ease and they were immediately greeted by a brand new electric-type corgi-like pokémon with a smile that was full of joy.
"Hey, Yamper." Pikachu greeted with a serious tone, making the usually happy-go-lucky electric dog slightly frown. "Jin, Nina, and I are here in search of a dinosaur named Gon. We've just gotten crucial information about his reason for leaving the third Tekken tournament so quickly: it's got something to do with his mate, Stephanie Veronica Fredrickson. Did he tell you or Sonia about it?"
"Plenty, even though he was in a state of panic the whole time." Yamper replied in a voice of a 7-year-old boy. "He actually talked it over with both of us. I couldn't really make heads or tails of it, though. Sonia can probably explain it to ya better. C'mon! I'll lead ya to her." The three detectives did so as they approached the young professor, who was in the middle of some research on her computer. As soon as she saw them, she paused it immediately and gave them their utmost attention, even while Pikachu made a graceful leap onto the desk.
"Hey, Pikachu." She greeted sweetly as she placed down her glasses. "Long time no see. How have you been?"
"Pretty good, but now's not the time for a reunion." Pikachu replied. "We've got a mystery on our hands. This is Jin Kazama and Nina Williams right behind me. They're a pair of Tekken warriors looking for an old frenemy-"
"Gon. Yeah, I figured. Believe it or not, he was here about two hours ago. You just missed him."
"WHAT?!" All three of them asked with shock. Sonia frowned with admittance as she nodded.
"Yeah, I'm sorry to say. And when I say he was here, I mean at this building. Gon is still here in Galar somewhere. He just came here to ask me where he could find Leon and I told him that he's at the Battle Tower in Wyndon. I asked him why, but he wouldn't explain the full details. All he said that he needed to 'change himself', so he could show his girlfriend, Stephanie, that his love for her is still stronger than when they first met. That's… all that he gave me and that's all I can give you. I'm sorry."
"Oh, no…" Nina whispered as she wrote all of this down with Jin. "…the whole situation's gotten serious now. Gon's desperation is an understandable excuse at this rate."
"I couldn't have said it better myself, Nina." Jin agreed. "This mystery has taken a darker turn. So, I guess that Battle Tower is where we head to next. Right, Pikachu?"
"Yep! That's about the size of it." The electric mouse detective replied. "We'll have to take a Flying Taxi to get there, though."
"There's one right before the edge of Wedgehurst's city limits." Sonia reassured. "Before you go, though, Pikachu… there is actually one more piece of info from Gon that I thought would be a useful clue: He said that he's also trying to 'keep her from emotional scars'. I have no idea what he means by that, but that should help you out in the long run… hopefully."
"Excellent clue, Sonia. Thanks! C'mon, guys. Let's finally catch up to that dinosaur and get the real answers."
Meanwhile, at the very top of the Battle Tower…
"…I see." Leon replied with authority in his young male voice as he and Oleana was standing before the outstanding view of all of Galar. Gon was nowhere to be seen for now. "And you said he sounded desperate when he explained the whole situation with you?"
"Yes, sir." The former assistant to Chairman Rose replied in a sultry female British accent. "For a creature that's lived beyond the extinction of the dinosaurs, he sure does have a heart that's as solid as your typical steel-type pokémon. That's why he's begging for this operation to be done immediately while it's not too late. I've already gotten everything ready. We're just waiting for your permission."
"Do you have the pokémon DNA samples as well?"
"Of Obstagoon and the Amped form of Toxtricity? Yes."
"Excellent." Before Leon could further the command, he spotted Detective Pikachu, Jin, and Nina hastily making their way towards the Battle Tower entrance from the Flying Taxi that just arrived. He smiled with expectancy and joy all at once. Same could be said for Oleana. The two of them never said a word, however. Leon just snapped his finger and his new assistant didn't waste any time heading towards a pair of sliding glass doors at the other end of the room, which took about 70 walking steps.
Five minutes later…
"Leon, Detective Pikachu and two guests are here to see you." Called out a receptionist from another pair of glass double doors. The former champion looked over in that direction through a sideglance for a moment and nodded once to allow them inside and they didn't waste any time afterwards, having the electric mouse approach him first.
"Leon! Is Gon here?" He asked at the very moment he stopped just three feet away from the purple haired trainer, who finally turned away from the massive window with a handsome smile that would've made Nina swoon, but it didn't as they all remained focused. "He is, isn't he?!"
"You sound just as desperate as he did when he got here." Leon replied calmly, making the three of them physically calm down themselves, although they were mentally relieved that they finally caught up with the small carnosaur. "But, you can at ease for now. You've finally found him, but he's 'under the knife' at the moment, if you catch my drift."
"Huh?"
"You mean, Gon's really 'changing himself' as in a full transformation of his body?" Jin asked in wonder. Leon nodded twice. "My God… what the hell is the situation with Stephanie that requires him to change so dramatically?"
"Where was he before all of this happened? He never gave me that information." Leon confessed.
"He participated in the third tournament called Tekken 21 years ago. He made it through and won the entire thing, but he left in such a hurry with no explanation. It was until now that we found the reason for his sudden disappearance, but he left us with more questions than answers. Now that we've finally found him, we can get to the very bottom of all this."
"I see. And I'm guessing that Tekken is a fighting tournament and you two are some of the participants."
"Yes." Nina replied. "I'm Nina Williams and this is my partner, Jin Kazama."
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Now, as far as Gon is concerned, he's fine. He did explain his entire reason for this transformation that he's undergoing right now, but hearing it from me wouldn't be right. You came here to find Gon and you'll soon see him and get all the answers you need. I should warn you, though: The short yellow dinosaur you remember… that won't be him when he comes out of those glass doors behind you."
"Damn." Both warriors muttered with slight discomfort.
"I've got a bad feeling about the whole thing." Pikachu admitted with just as much fear. "And the crazy thing about it is that he's been all over the place before coming here."
"Perfectly understandable." Leon agreed. "He had to make sure he knew what he was getting himself into with Stephanie before he came here. She sounds like a nice woman, but I guess once Gon comes out here, it'll all finally make much more sense, although it'll be gloomy to hear. Did he receive substantial relationship advice along the way?"
"Yep! And of course, he returned the favor, too."
"Ah! As expected. His hundreds of thousands of millions of years on this Earth have finally paid off."
"Master Leon!" Oleana called out from the fateful sliding glass doors, making it echo all over the nearly empty room. "The operation is complete and Gon is already up and ready to go."
"Excellent. As you can see, Jin Kazama and Nina Williams are here to finally see him after over 21 years. They demand an explanation from him now."
"Yes, sir. I'll get him." She went back in for approximately 45 seconds before she came back out and kept the foggy doors open for a purple and yellow extremely muscular male creature standing at an exact height of 6 feet and 4 inches walking out. He had the combined appearance of two different pokémon plus a pair of dragon wings upon his back. His overall appearance was as follows:
On the head: He had the curved neck and head of an obstagoon, minus the small ears, but still had the diamond shaped markings on the sides of the neck. Instead, they were like gills and he had dragon horns on the very top of his head between them. His eyes were still that of a lizard's, but sclera were colored purple with yellow pupils and black irises. He also had a silky smooth golden yellow mane starting at between the horns and down his neck until they stopped at his wings.
His body: That had a combination of both obstagoon and the amped up form of toxtricity. His torso was that of the punk rock pokémon with the guitar-like feelers on his pectorals and all, but his diesel arms were of obstagoon, down to the furry "wristbands" and the five fingers in the style of toxtricity instead of the dark/normal pokémon's claws. He also had his long dragon tail that was at a length of four feet long.
Finally, the legs from his waist down were obstagoon's, but that stopped at the feet, which were toxtricity's, but with five toes instead of three on each foot.
All in all, even dressed in a pair of baggy black cargo pants, Gon was indeed not the same small dinosaur Jin and Nina remembered anymore. Those two warriors were speechless and flabbergasted all at once as they just stared at him to take it all in while Oleana continued:
"As you can see, Gon's drastic transformation did a lot more than just turn him into a anthropomorphic dragon. By combining some DNA samples from obstagoon and toxtricity, we were able to make him into someone much more suitable to his mate, if not to society just yet. What do you think of him?"
"…" Jin and Nina were still speechless. Pikachu decided to speak up on their behalf for now.
"Well, first of all, let me just say that, to me, he looks totally badass!" He started with excitement as he allowed Leon to pick him up and hold him within his arms while he approached the new and improved Gon for a closer look. "Secondly, I'm sure Jin and Nina are feeling the same way, but… wow. Gon, is that really you?"
"The one and only." Gon replied in a normal young male voice that said he was in his low to mid-20s. The growling in the voice was completely gone. "I hated leaving the third Tekken tournament so quickly, but I had to do what I had to do."
"Apparently." Jin finally spoke after a three minute stare. "Have you dated Stephanie during the tournament or something?"
"No, not at that time. She was just a friend at first when I met her. She was a 4-year-old at the time and I was the only one who accepted her for who she was: a shy girl with a love for all things nerdy. She really didn't have any human friends and her parents refused to get her a pet. I was like a secret friend that could only see her at school. 14 years later, she gets into college with highest honors and became the genius that every boy in her graduating class wanted. I had to make sure that she didn't get taken advantage of. That's why I rushed out of the third Tekken tournament so quickly."
"Huh!" Jin said with Nina by accident as she finally snapped out of it as well before the son of Kazuya continued alone. "You were worried about her after all. That's what that 'extremely personal' reason was."
"Ah, you read the letter, eh? I knew at some point somebody would find it within Dr. B's lab. Did you two find it?"
"Well, it was actually Raven and Master Raven to found it during their usual bi-weekly check of any threats to the lab. Those are two new warriors you've never heard of."
"Obviously. Are they related or something?"
"Not exactly." Nina replied. "Raven is a ninja spy for a secret organization and Master Raven is well… his boss per say."
"Ah, I see. Anyway, the truth about all this is that Steph's in danger right now. She's even scared to step out of her dorm room. Various men have been verbally hinting at wanting to rape her, but she never really got further in order to protect herself for the time being until I get there. I fear that it might get worse and I promised her I'd make it back in time for her to finally get prepared for her graduation. That way… I can be with her forever. All she has to do is submit her final grades to the dean at her college and all she has to do for the next week is just relax."
"Wow! That's incredible!" Leon exclaimed. "What did she major in?"
"Veterinary Technology. She's keeping her love for animals alive and her expertise in machines and technology intact at the same time. I love her for that and so much more. Once she sees me in this new body, she'll never want me to leave."
"Awwww!" Nina, Jin, and Leon all sighed with utmost respect for the newly transformed Gon, who blushed with embarrassment. Oleana remained silent with a honorable smile as she walked around Gon and faced him along with the other humans before him and had this to say afterwards:
"I guess those rumors about you having a golden heart isn't just an exaggeration after all."
"Of course not." Gon agreed. "Ever since I survived the extinction of the dinosaurs, I've been keeping my love for mother Earth alive as well as myself. Seeing my first set of humans in the late 1880s made me even more of a loving creature ever since. Now, I've gotta head back to Stephanie. She's waiting for me in her hometown of Norfolk, Virginia. Jin and Nina, you're welcome to come along with you want, now that you finally found me."
"What about me?" Detective Pikachu asked in wonder. He was still in Leon's arms and he looked down at him with an appreciative smile.
"You're staying here, Pikachu." The former champion replied. "You've been an excellent detective, but now that Gon's been found by two of his old friends, the mystery's been solved and there's no more for you to do. Besides, you've got the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra to visit later on with my little brother, Hop. Remember? You promised."
"Oh, yeah. Glad we had to come here in order to find ya, huh?"
"Heh, yep." Gon agreed with humor.
"Are you sure you want us to come along?" Nina asked in wonder. "We don't want to get in the way."
"Sure, I want you guys to come. You worked your asses off trying to find me. Besides, you'll need to meet Stephanie and see why I love her so much. I'm sure she'll be totally psyched to see ya. She is a huge Tekken fan."
"…really?!" Both warriors asked with total surprise while Gon approached them while chuckling at their flummoxed faces before he commanded the teleportation watches to send them to Norfolk State University to meet up with the seemingly helpless brunette. When the three old Tekken friends vanished, Pikachu had this to say to the now vacant spot:
"Good luck, you guys."
To be continued…
