It had been three weeks since Shinji's harrowing battle with Regigigas, and he would have liked to have some time to enjoy himself. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, he had nothing of the sort. Instead, he was to be going to school, along with the other children of Pallet Town 3. This, of course, was something he was unfamiliar with, having been accustomed to the tradition of becoming a Pokémon trainer at the age of 10.
He had been living in Misato's apartment during this time, and while he had gotten used to it, there were still aspects he felt that others would find bizarre. Like today's conversation at breakfast, for example.
"Oh yeah! My morning BEGINS with this!" Misato shouted, slamming down a can of something on the table. As Shinji sat down to eat his own breakfast, he made the unfortunate mistake of asking Misato what it was. She was only too happy to answer. "Shuckle juice," she explained. "Powerful stuff! I get it right from the source, you know. Do you want some?"
Shinji looked disgusted. "That's . . .OK." he said. "I'd rather not drink something that came out of a Pokémon's—"
"As you wish," said Misato. "By the way, how's school been treating you?"
"Terrible. You wouldn't believe the riffraff. There's this one guy—his name's Kensuke—who does nothing but spy on people with his Magnemite. He's creepy. The class rep is nice enough, but I don't think she's gotten to know me. And Rei is, well . . .Rei."
"Well," said Misato, "I hope today goes better."
Shinji didn't answer. He and Cubone were had already walked out the door.
It was technically autumn, but ever since Second Impact the world's weather had stagnated in a summer-like state. The Pidgey singing and the Butterfree flitting about overhead certainly added to that impression.
It had been Gendo's decision that Shinji start attending school now. Since he had to be constantly close to NERV headquarters in case of another attack, he could no longer be a traveling Pokémon trainer and needed something else with which to fill his spare time.
Unfortunately, seemingly the only subjects they taught in Shinji's school involved Second Impact and matters relating to it. The story was the same as he had heard from Misato: 14 years ago, a giant meteorite had crashed into the South Pole, killing half of the people in the world, to say nothing of the Pokémon casualties. The original Pallet Town, the traditional starting point for Kanto Pokémon trainers, had been destroyed in the blast. The sudden appearance of Regigigas in Pallet Town 3 was, they assured him, coincidental. Shinji had never really questioned these explanations, mainly because he felt that if the people at NERV were hiding something from the general public, they would have told him already.
As Shinji and Cubone walked up to the gate to the school grounds, Shinji became aware of someone standing behind him. He turned around. It was a boy his own age, riding a Dodrio. Shinji recognized the boy; it was Toji Suzuhara, one of his classmates. Shinji hadn't spoken to Toji much, but knew he was on the track team.
"Umm, hi?" said Shinji, rather uncertainly.
"Bone? (Hello?)" squeaked Cubone.
"Fancy seeing you here, Shinji. Still trying to train that Cubone, I see. Take it from me—it's a lost cause. A real Pokémon trainer would find something stronger already, and not spent so much effort on such a waste of space."
Cubone stared up at Shinji (as much as it could be said to stare, since its skull helmet blocked its eyes) and uttered a sad "Cu. . .cubone? Cubone? (You don't think I'm a waste of space, do you?)"
Toji dismounted from Dodrio's back, hitching the three-headed bird Pokémon to a fence post. "So," he said, "why weren't you in the bunkers when Regigigas was trashing Pallet Town 3? You could have been killed!"
Shinji answered as honestly as thought he could. "I. . .I was trying to protect you from it, OK?"
Toji's jaw dropped. "Wait. YOU were the trainer of that big purple watchamacallit that battled Regigigas? But that means. . ."
"It's name is Genesect," corrected Shinji, "but do go on."
"THAT MEANS YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR MY SISTER GETTING CRIPPLED, DAMN YOU!" Toji suddenly erupted in a fury the likes of which Shinji had never seen from him before. It caused him to stagger back a few steps until Toji had calmed down.
"It wasn't my fault! At least. . .at least I didn't meant to do it." stammered Shinji. "So, how is she now?"
"She's in the hospital. The doctor says she'll recover. But as for you, I'm not going to feel better until we've settled this the old-fashioned way!" Toji reached down to his belt and unclipped a Pokéball. "Go, Hitmonlee!" he shouted, pressing the button.
The Fighting-type Pokémon stood next to Toji, and kicked at the ground anxiously, awaiting an order to attack.
"All right, Hitmonlee! You know the drill; Hi Jump Kick!"
Shinji snapped back to his senses at the last moment, realizing he had not yet picked out a Pokémon of his own. Toji had already ordered Hitmonlee to attack; sending out one of his Pokémon that he had in Pokéballs would take too long. He had only one option. "Go, Cubone! But get out of its way!"
Cubone leaped aside as Hitmonlee crashed into the spot where it had been standing, seemingly knocking itself out. Shinji was about to congratulate Cubone, when he realized Hitmonlee had already pushed itself to its feet and was preparing another attack. This time, Shinji was ready.
"Quick, Cubone! Dig!" Cubone tunneled its way under the ground, leaving Hitmonlee momentarily confused. As Hitmonlee looked around to get its bearing back, Cubone burst out of the ground, striking Hitmonlee between the legs with its bone club. Hitmonlee stumbled backwards, but then righted itself, as Cubone retreated back to the opposite site of the parking lot.
"Cu-Bone! (Wow, I'm actually doing this!)" Cubone squealed with satisfaction at what it had done. Toji and Hitmonlee, though, had different ideas.
"Mega Kick!" ordered Toji.
"Bone Rush!" shouted Shinji.
The two Pokémon rushed headlong at one another. As Hitmonlee sprinted toward its opponent, its telescoping legs enabling it to take enormous strides, Cubone brandished its bone like a mace, ready to attack when the opportunity arose. Unfortunately, it never did. One of Hitmonlee's feet, propelled by its coiled, spring-like legs, slammed into Cubone, sending it flying across the school parking lot and knocking it out instantly.
"Smell ya later!" taunted Toji, recalling Hitmonlee walking into the building.
Shinji rushed to Cubone's side. It looked as if Hitmonlee's attack had done some major damage. Scooping up the unconscious Pokémon in his arms, he headed to class, sincerely hoping that he would not be in trouble for this.
His hope, unfortunately, was short-lived. When he sat down at his desk, he was swiftly reprimanded by Hikari Horaki, the class representative. Next to her stood her Ninetales, a fox-like Fire Pokémon that helped her keep order around the school.
"Haven't you read the rules? " she asked "No Pokémon outside of Pokéballs in the classroom."
Shinji wasn't exactly sure how to reply. Did he want to tell her that technically, Cubone didn't have a Pokéball, and he was tired of leaving it back at NERV? What he finally did say, he soon wished he had not.
"Well . . . then how come you're allowed to have Ninetales out? How is that any different?"
"Shinji," said Hikari, "as a class representative I have certain privileges that I can use to keep school protocol functioning. Don't worry, you'll see Cubone again after class."
Dejectedly, Shinji sat back down at his desk as class began. The day's lesson was much like any other—the history of the world after Second Impact, the war between Johto and Unova that had followed, and the strange ways Pokémon had been behaving in the past fourteen years.
Shinji diligently scribbled down what the teacher was saying, desperately fighting the desire to cave in and fall asleep on his desk. His teacher's voice, he imagined, must have the same effects as the song of a Jigglypuff; there was no other way it could be so boring.
He was jolted out of his torpor by a vibrating sensation in his pocket—his PokeGear. Pulling it out, he was startled to see Dr. Akagi's face filling the screen, and she looked quite anxious.
"Shinji, there has been another incursion. If you are in school now, you must leave. We need you and Genesect again. Do you copy?"
"Yes, I do. I'll be there as . . . fast as I can, " he answered. "I just have to get Cubone back."
"Cubone is not important to this. We need you here. NOW."
Shinji looked around. He expected Hikari to scold him for having an electronic device out in class. At the very least, he expected Rei to have received the same call from NERV as he did. Yet none of the other people in the classroom were even paying attention to him. They were too busy staring up at the colossal, clawed monstrosity that towered above the city.
The creature stood as tall as Regigigas, but looked very different. It actually resembled Genesect somewhat, at least in the sense that it looked like an enormous, humanoid arthropod. Shinji forced himself to think of what Pokémon it reminded him of.
It looks like a Kabutops, he thought as he ran out the door and back to NERV headquarters. But that's impossible. There's no way one could get that big, and they're supposed to be extinct anyway. Hoping it would clear up the subject to some extent, he pointed his Pokédex at the creature, only to receive a discouraging reply.
"No information on this Pokémon available." The more Shinji looked at the creature, though, the less it looked like his Pokédex's picture of a Kabutops. Besides being far bigger, it reminded him in many ways of a corpse; its eyes were pupil-less and yellow, and its shell was perforated by holes through which oozing black liquid dripped.
That's no Kabutops, at least not anymore, Shinji said to himself. For all I know it was one, once. Shoving his Pokédex back in his pocket, Shinji skidded to a stop when he realized he had forgotten Cubone. Dashing back to the school, he threw open the door, only to be stopped by Hikari and Ninetales once again.
"You again? You're not allowed in here—the school's been evacuated. "
"No!" Shinji shouted. "You've got to let me in. Cubone's in there, and I need to get him before I go back home!"
"Fine," said Hikari. "But make it fast."
Unfortunately there was no time even for that. The giant Kabutops—if that was even what it was—took a series of slow, lumbering steps toward the school building, each one crashing down with a massive CRUNCHing noise that caused the walls to tremble.
"Cubone!" Shinji screamed, running down the hallway and into the staff offices. He wasn't sure where Cubone was being kept, but he kenw that whenever a student got something confiscated from them—which was quite frequently—it ended up there. "Cubone!"
"Bone! (I'm over here!)" Cubone cried from behind a stack of cardboard boxes in the corner of the main office. How it had gotten there, whether Hikari had put it there or whether it had wandered off and become trapped, Shinji decided not to dwell on. He tossed the boxes aside, grabbed Cubone, and ran out the door.
As Shinji hurried back to NERV headquarters, he looked back over his shoulder. The giant Kabutops seemed to be heading in the same direction. His mind immediately flashed back to Regigigas, which had also seemed to be traveling deliberately toward the Geofront. That's just a coincidence . . .right? he thought to himself. What is there in NERV that the Legendary Pokémon would be so obsessed over, anyway?
Just as they had done with Regigigas, the Kanto Strategic Self Defense Force were making their own feeble attempts at attacking the huge Pokémon. It was even less effective than before—the rockets, gunfire, and even the attacks of the KSSDF's own Pokémon simply bounced off the giant Pokémon's armored body.
After arriving at NERV headquarters and riding the elevator down to where Genesect was kept, Shinji found himself greeted once again by his father. He did not look pleased.
"You broke the rules at school today," he said firmly "You got in trouble. Under any normal circumstance, I would have to ban you from your job for this, but unfortunately I cannot. "
"H-how did you know all that?" asked Shinji.
" I may not be able to observe you constantly, but Alakazam is." Gendo gestured to the Psychic Pokémon levitating next to him. "Now, get inside Genesect's Entry Plug."
Inside the entry plug, Shinji felt the familiar sensation of the orange liquid—which he now knew was called LCL, though he hadn't the foggiest what that stood for—surrounding him. The smell, however, was just as bad as it had always been, and Shinji found himself sincerely wishing he could have a word with whoever designed the entry plug about installing an air-freshener.
During the time it took Shinji to process this simple thought, Genesect—with him inside it—had been shot up a long tunnel that opened up onto the streets of Pallet Town 3.
Genesect raised itself to an upright position, and focused its cannon on the giant Kabutops. All right, thought Shinji, you can do this. Hyper Beam!
A blinding blast of white light shot out of Genesect's turret. Kabutops stood riveted to the spot, not moving an inch, even as the blazing beam surged towards it. The Hyper Beam reached its target, detonating in an explosion that generated a considerable amount of smoke.
Well, that was short, thought Shinji. I wonder if I'm going to get some sort of reward for this.
Shinji began to have second thoughts when he noticed a dark shape moving toward him out of the smoke. Shinji geared up Genesect for another Hyper Beam, but before he could, the giant Kabutops burst into full view. His first attack had done no damage to it at all.
Now Shinji could finally tell that this was not an ordinary Kabutops. Its eyes were blank and pale yellow, and its shell was cracked in several places. Strange orange liquid—which looked like LCL—oozed out of these wounds like blood. Most peculiarly, its chest was occupied by a red, crystal-like object, which appeared to be wedged painfully into the creature's shell.
Just like the one Regigigas had. . .
Kabutops lashed out with its scythe-like arms, demolishing one of the buildings that had been rebuilt from Regigigas's attack. Genesect leaped out of its way.
Peering around anxiously, Shinji noticed that most of Pallet Town 3 had been evacuated—except for two people on a hillside on the far side of town. Scanning closer with Genesect's magnifying vision, Shinji recognized them—Toji and Kensuke. Kensuke had out his video camera, and seemed to be filming the entire event. Next to him stood a small yellow Pokémon, which Shinji recognized as an Elekid. Toji was accompanied by a large, orange doglike Pokémon-an Arcanine.
Shinji's mind shifted to his two classmates, then back to Kabutops again. He had been given a very clear task—defeat Kabutops and prevent it from reaching NERV headquarters. His father had not specified whether he cared about collateral damage or not, but given how much of Pallet town 3 had been trashed during the battle with Regigigas that seemed quite unlikely. Did Shinji really want to abort his mission to rescue two people?
Of course I ****ing am, he thought. Though, then again, I'm probably going to get into a lot of trouble for this. But then again AGAIN, what was that I always said—"I mustn't run away?"
Before Shinji could redirect Genesect in the direction of his classmates, the giant Kabutops struck back. Lashing out again with its bladelike arms, it knocked Genesect off of its feet and shattered the power mechanism attached to its abdomen.
Inside the entry plug, alarms sounded and brightly colored lights flashed on and off. Shinji panicked, and in doing so, lost his concentration on controlling Genesect. The gigantic Pokémon flailed about, causing nearly as much damage to Pallet Town 3 as Kabutops was, before stumbling toward a hillside on the outskirts of town. The very same hillside, in fact, where Toji, Kensuke, and their Pokémon were watching the battle.
Meanwhile, in NERV headquarters, Gendo, Misato, and Dr. Akagi were watching with apprehension.
"Well, what should we do? asked Misato, "Let them fight until they kill each other, or just plant an N2 bomb on top of them and call it a day?"
"I think," said Gendo, " that we ought to discuss what to do with Genesect once its power supply runs out in five minutes. When that happens, it will be utterly helpless against its opponent and Shinji will be unable to escape."
"And since when do you care about Shinji?" replied Misato.
"I say this," said Gendo, "only because I know what will happen if even one Legendary Pokémon breaches the Geofront."
Genesect collapsed onto all fours, anchoring itself into the hillside with its metallic claws. Kensuke, Toji, Elekid, and Arcanine jumped back as it came crashing down next to them, then crept closer to investigate.
"How. . .how do I let other people into the entry plug?" Shinji asked into the radio.
"See the hatch over you head? The one you crawled in though?" Misato's voice crackled back through the speaker. "There's a button you can push to make it open, and then let them climb inside. I can't talk for much longer—"
"Wark!"
Before Shinji could ask why Misato had brought her Empoleon to NERV headquarters, she hung up, and he set about trying to force the entry plug open. As he did, he kept a close eye on his watch.
Only four and a half minutes left. I hope I can pull this off . . .
Shinji shoved the entry plug hatch open, gasping for breath, and waved his arms to get the attention of his two classmates. Seeing him, they called both of their Pokémon back into their Pokéballs, and rushed toward Genesect. Shinji moved out of the way as they squeezed inside. He was only just getting used to the idea of controlling Genesect, and the idea of carrying passengers inside it was one that had never crossed his mind.
Only three minutes left. Face it, Shinji. If you want something more in life than this, you've got to stop letting people walk all over you . . .which might not be the best choice of words given your current circumstances.
Shinji reached for the button that would close the entry plug, motioning for Kensuke and Toji to move over. The entry plug had previously been barely large enough for Shinji himself to fit inside, so the idea that it now had room for three people puzzled him. He decided to let it go, though; it was best not to think about that sort of thing when you were inside a colossal armored cyborg about to fight an equally gigantic undead prehistoric arthropod in the middle of a city.
As Genesect got back up to its feet (Only two minutes left. . .) Misato's voice crackled out of the intercom again. "Shinji, congratulations on saving those two classmates of yours, but time is short. You are going to have to retreat now."
Shinji''s jaw dropped. He could not believe what he had just heard Misato say. Kensuke, meanwhile, remained as intrigued as ever, and Toji remained as stoic as ever. Neither one of them waited to see what Shinji's reaction would be, and Shinji, for his part, was already ignoring them.
He knew that moving Genesect in any direction would just use up what little energy it had faster, so he focused on engaging Kabutops from a distance. He would only have one shot, one attack. As if it was reading his mind (and, if what his father had told him was true, it was reading his mind) the entry plug produced the holographic display of attacks to select. Shinji chose the strongest one—Techno Blast.
(Only one minute left)
The moment Shinji thought the words, Genesect lowered its head, exposing the turret attached to its neck. The turret began to glow (Only thirty seconds), a brilliant beam of white light shot through the air toward Kabutops (Only five seconds), exploding in a flash easily as spectacular as the N2 bomb that had been used against Regigigas.
When the light and smoke faded, Kabutops still stood for a short time (four), the dropped to one knee (three), then both (two) and finally collapsed, in a heap of crumpled armor, on the ground.
(Only one second left)
The moment after it did, Genesect likewise stopped moving. It stood, still as a statue, in the middle of Pallet Town 3, with Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke inside. When the three of them finally got out of the entry plug, and Genesect was returned to NERV, all of them looked very relieved indeed.
Who's that Pokemon?
Last question: It's Genesect!
This Pokemon's arms and legs are coiled like springs, so it can kick from almost any position!