[CONFIDENTIAL] From the files of Dr. Kaminko.
Item No. 399: Altru Incorporated
Publicly Released Information:
Altru is an Almia-based corporation set up to research alternative energy sources and green energy, as well as researching and developing technological innovations to advance human and Pokémon welfare.
Confidential Information:
On top of its intended purpose, Altru was also a massive data storage repository for housing data illegally obtained by the Pokémon Association and conduct large-scale AI-assisted data analysis as well as encrypt the Pokémon Association's secrets. An executive within the Pokémon Association that didn't quite rank to the Inner Committee, Blake Hall, was appointed CEO of Altru.
Kaminko's Notes:
A technician and Ranger School graduate student Isaac was responsible for stealing parts of the data, along with insiders in Altru. The confidential data's whereabouts are unknown, but once revealed to the public, could lead to the arrests of key figures within the government.
[END OF FILE]
Chapter Six: Amarillo
Location: Viridian Forest, Kanto
Four years ago…
14-year old Yellow made their way through the thickets of trees, ready to meet some newfound friends of theirs. Local kids from the suburbs of Viridian City, inching their way closer to the forest, which had recently been partially cut down by construction companies. Still, Yellow wasn't angry about this and didn't direct their anger at these people. Their mother, a lifelong dweller within Viridian Forest and one of the last people who still lived there, had always been wary of humans, having warned Yellow not to associate too much with people outside the forest - meaning practically everyone at this point.
But Yellow was different. Full of curiosity, always open to new experiences. As they made their way across a river, Yellow noticed a Goldeen surfacing from the river to look at them. The large fish Pokémon's prominent horn and angry-looking eyes could have scared a city dweller, but Yellow had grown up in these woods, and possessed a gift few others did - they could understand the Pokémon.
"Good morning to you too, ma'am!" Yellow greeted the Goldeen, lifting their straw hat up. "I'm looking for some friends of mine. Have you seen a group of human children around here?"
And while the Goldeen just splashed around and made whatever noises a fish Pokémon could, Yellow nodded in understanding, as if they were speaking the same Kanto dialect everyone else spoke.
"Thank you very much!" Yellow told the Goldeen. "Have a nice day!"
The Goldeen submerged again and Yellow continued on their way. Indeed, thanks to the Pokémon's instructions, Yellow soon found their friends, and like always, they played the whole day, Yellow showing them all the cool and exciting spots around the forest, like a tree blown up by lightning that was now a nest for a Nidoran family, and the part of the woods filled with Kakuna hanging from trees, ready to hatch into Beedrill any day now.
But before Yellow's friends left for the day, something happened that had never happened before. As Yellow was showing their friends a nest of recently hatched baby Pidgey, a Fearow suddenly flew in and knocked Yellow out of the tree. Before they hit the ground, Yellow managed to use their powers to slow the descent, allowing Yellow to gracefully and safely land. But the Fearow was still flying around like crazy, attacking random tree-dwelling Pokémon, ripping out branches with its beak and screeching insanely. Its eyes were milky white, with no pupils to be seen.
"Calm down, everyone!" Yellow told their friends. "I'll try to talk to it! Fearow! Listen to me!"
But for the first time, this Pokémon completely ignored Yellow's presence. Instead, it went after the nest of baby Pidgey. Their mother, a Pidgeotto, tried valiantly to defend the nest but could not last long against the much larger and stronger bird Pokémon. In fact, Yellow noted the Fearow was much larger than others of its kind.
Yellow couldn't comprehend this. They couldn't get a read on the Pokémon at all, but Yellow could sense that the Fearow wasn't hungry, nor was it running from something or defending itself. It was almost as if the Fearow was just exhibiting random cruelty, something Yellow could link to only one species they knew - and it sure wasn't Pokémon.
"Um… everyone, get out of here!" Yellow told their friends. "This one is going to be harder to try and calm down! Go!"
Yellow's friends obeyed, not one of them asking if the forest-dwelling child needed help, all of them running away to their homes, crying out for their parents. Yellow, however, had no idea what to do and was completely helpless as they witnessed the Fearow now attacking the Pidgeotto, cruelly using its beak to jab the Pidgeotto everywhere. There was no sense to this violence, the Fearow could end the battle if it wanted to, but it seemed to be prolonging it to extend the Pidgeotto's suffering.
What can I do? Yellow wondered.
There was a rock on the ground, but Yellow refused to entertain the idea. While Yellow was small for their age and physically rather frail, they could use their powers to launch the rock in the air and attack. But Yellow had never harmed a Pokémon before. Yellow knew the Fearow was a victim as well, but if they didn't act soon, it would be too late to do anything for the Pidgeotto… and its children would be next.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
That's when Yellow saw the person that would change their life. From a nearby cliff, a Pikachu jumped into the air, hitting the Fearow with precision in the beak, clearly using less energy to avoid hurting the Fearow, just enough to get it to back off. The Pidgeotto, now free from the Fearow's grasp, flew back to its nest to shield its children. But the Fearow's focus was on the Pikachu, who had leapt on a nearby tree branch, the electricity around its cheeks sparkling as a threat.
Yellow looked as the Pikachu's trainer also stepped forward. A young, black-haired boy, only about a year or so older than Yellow, easily identifiable by his red jacket and cap. Yellow had heard stories of this person's recent exploits, but never gave it much thought - he was a Pokémon trainer after all, a competitive one no less, and Yellow never cared much for them.
But from the way he battled, Yellow could sense that he was different. The boy ordered his Pikachu to dodge the Fearow's attacks and climb to another tree, clearly intending to tire the Fearow out. Next, the boy ordered a Double Team, which allowed Pikachu to create multiple copies of itself. As the Fearow went after the illusory copies one by one, it was getting visibly tired and slower.
"Now, let's finish this!" the boy yelled, which initially startled Yellow. "Thunder Wave!"
Instead of a powerful shock, Pikachu instead created a low-voltage stream of electricity that wrapped around the Fearow, rendering it unable to move its wings. As the Fearow came crashing down, unable to fly or attack, the boy slided down the cliff and close to the Fearow. Wanting to see what would happen next, Yellow made their way closer, but hid behind some bushes.
"Don't worry, don't worry," the boy told the Fearow reassuringly as he slowly approached the downed bird Pokémon. "My party is full, but professor Oak can find out what's ailing you. Here."
And with one smooth movement, the trainer tapped the Fearow with a Poké Ball and the flying-type was sucked in. The Poké Ball dropped on the ground and twitched a few times before turning red and vanishing, presumably transported to Professor Oak's laboratory, a place Yellow had heard about before.
"It's okay now!" the boy said loudly, looking directly at the bushes Yellow was hiding behind, Yellow realizing he had seen them the entire time. "The danger is over!"
Taking a deep breath and trying to hide the fact that they were blushing, Yellow appeared from behind the bushes and slowly approached the trainer. However, they were even more interested in the Pikachu, who quickly climbed down the tree and ran to its trainer, jumping on the boy's shoulders. Laughing, the boy petted the Pikachu and gave it a treat, thanking it for the battle.
"That was…" Yellow said shyly, staring at the ground instead of the boy. "I mean… thank you. Not just for helping the Pidgeotto's family, but… thank you for how you handled the Fearow."
"Well, heh, it was not my first battle," the boy said, sounding almost nervous as he scratched his Pikachu's head. "It was my first time seeing a Fearow act like that, though. I heard rumors about some experiments being done on Pokémon to make them like this, but I never expected to see it all the way out here."
"Um… yes," Yellow said, still too shy to look at the boy, which confused Yellow, not sure why they were feeling this way. "I just meant… thank you for not hurting it."
The boy just smiled wider. "Hey, no need to thank me," he said. "I just did what every trainer should. I mean, if I had seen that happen the first time I came to this forest, I would have run away for sure. A few months and eight badges makes a big difference, huh?"
Yellow nodded. It really was the one Yellow had heard the kids nearby talk about.
"My name's Red," the boy said, waving at Yellow. "What's yours?"
"Amarillo del Bosque Verde," Yellow said quickly before shaking their head. "Uh, I mean, that's just my mom's stupid… uh, it means Yellow of the Viridian Forest. Um, call me Yellow."
"Nice to meet you, Yellow," Red said, though he also seemed to run out of things to say, scratching his neck awkwardly. He wasn't nearly as impressive outside of battle, Yellow noticed. "Um… say hi to Yellow, Pikachu!"
Relieved to have a chance to talk to a Pokémon instead of a human who made them feel strange new emotions, Yellow stepped forward to offer their hand for the Pikachu to sniff. After sniffing it, the Pikachu rubbed its cheek on it.
"He likes you," Red said, pointing out what had been obvious to Yellow.
"Yeah," Yellow just said. "Um, he likes you too. It's not like the first time you two left professor Oak's lab in Pallet Town, when it didn't respect you at all. But your experiences together have made you closer together than even this Pikachu thought possible."
Red's eyes widened. "..." he said. "Um, how did you…?"
"That's not all," Yellow continued, unable to stop reading the Pikachu. "Before Professor Oak captured it, the Pikachu had been an orphan. He was actually born in this forest originally, but after losing his parents, he wandered close to Pallet Town and was surviving off trash from the people living there. He's… grateful that he has you now."
Red picked up his Pikachu and looked at it as if it was looking at something unfamiliar, while the Pikachu just smiled happily at its trainer.
"Wow…" Red just said. "Pikachu, I didn't know your life was so… well, I'm happy that you're with me now."
As Red lowered Pikachu to let it roam around a bit in search of berries, he looked at Yellow with a completely new, extremely intrigued way.
"Can you somehow… read their minds?" Red wondered.
"Sort of," Yellow said. "Well, it's only a little bit of that but more like being able to understand their language. Pikachu only vocalize to humans and other Pokémon. Amongst each other, they use facial expressions, their tail shapes, electromagnetic waves, scents, things like that… um, the place I live in has a lot of them."
"That's incredible!" Red said. "You live in the forest, you speak to Pokémon. It's like you're some kind of goddess of the woods!"
This pushed Yellow to be even more embarrassed, causing them to pull their straw hat over their eyes.
"I just meant," Red said quickly, "you're really cool. Um, I was gonna head to the Pokémon League, but I wanted to come here for a trip down memory lane, maybe to observe some Pokémon I haven't seen yet. I need all the information I can get if I'm going to catch up to Blue. Uh, he's a friend - or something like that - of mine."
Yellow just nodded. "Well, there's some rare Pokémon east of here, by the outskirts of the forest, near Diglett's Cave, actually," they said. "I heard the local Rattata say they saw a Mr. Mime there."
"Wow, I battled one at Sabrina's Gym but I've never seen one in the wild before!" Red exclaimed, excited like a little kid. "Lead the way!"
~o~O~o~
Present day
"Yellow?!"
Yellow was snapped out of their thoughts as they made their way through EXO's long, mostly darkened hallways with Kris, Lyra and Leaf leading the way. Yellow looked at Kris, who had a concerned look on her face.
"Are you okay?" she asked Yellow. "I asked if you can sense anything?"
Yellow held their hand against their head. "I… it's hard to tell yet," Yellow said. "Something is interfering with my abilities. Apologies, but the earlier battle left me a bit weak…"
"Hey, don't sweat it!" Kris said quickly. "We'll get to the bottom of this, psychic powers or not!"
Leaf looked over her shoulder, looking at Lyra, who was walking slower than the others and halfway leaning on Kris, looking like she was going to lose her lunch over something.
"What about you, Lyra?" Leaf asked gently. "Are you sure you don't need anything?"
When Lyra didn't respond, Kris took over for her. "She's just torn up because she thinks she may have… uh, went a bit lethal on someone earlier," she said. "I told her, first of all, Faba would be the one to blame for that legally speaking, if that were true. But second of all, I know her, and I know she would never do something like that."
"Oh, you're referring to the beating one of Alder's squads took upstairs?" Leaf asked. "That roughneck Charles, was it? Yeah, they won't be fighting for a while, and one of them may need to use crutches for a few weeks, but they're all alive, no worries there. I saw them being carried out to the rooftop to be airlifted to the nearest hospital in Opelucid City."
This information seemed to finally break Lyra out of her funk, as she quickly dried her tears to be able to look at Leaf.
"Really?!" she sighed in relief. "You mean… I didn't kill…"
"Well, nobody we know of," Kris said sarcastically. "You could have broken my nose, though, that was a close brush with death."
When Lyra grimaced hearing that, Kris had to convince her that she was just joking to prevent a new breakdown. Meanwhile, Leaf guided the group down the hallway and into a larger facility where the door was labeled 'Special Projects Division'. Even after the months she spent at EXO, Kris had never entered this room. Leaf had to use her ID card and do a retinal scan before she was allowed in.
The room itself was a large laboratory, not too different from many of the others, full of desks, workstations and scientific equipment. However, all around the rooms were more sealed doors leading to chambers that contained EXO's deepest secrets.
"This small team was under Kaminko's personal supervision," Leaf said as the group walked past the empty workstations. "Aside from them, only me and Faba were given access."
"They took me here for the Expansion Suit tests," Lyra said quietly. "They probably built it here…"
"Faba got the designs from this scientist in Kalos, but he probably built the remote control system here, yes," Leaf said calmly. "Yellow, I hope you can wait a little bit longer, because there's something else I want to show to all of you."
Leaf went to one of the doors and began typing in the keycode combination. Kris wondered if she had the codes to all the dozens of the doors memorized somehow.
"As I'm sure you noticed, Kris," Leaf said as she typed the code and then held her ID card over another scanner, "EXO has been studying the Masks of Divinity."
Kris frowned. "Wait, what do you mean?" she asked.
"You used the Mask of Ice to subdue Lyra and Faba," Leaf said as the door made a satisfying clunking sound before opening slightly. "I was watching through the surveillance monitors, that was nicely done. Because of what Pryce did to me and Silver, I couldn't exactly wear it in good conscience, but I'm glad you were able to let go of your preconceptions and use it for the greater good."
"You said… Masks?" Lyra said, sounding scared of what she heard. "Plural?"
"Yes," Leaf said simply as she opened the door.
The group stepped into a room, very much like the small laboratory Kris had found the Mask of Ice from. This one also had a pedestal in the middle, and a glowing object floating and rotating, suspended by magnetic fields, above the pedestal. This was a full-face mask, just like the Mask of Ice, only with different symbols carved on it and bright orange instead of light blue.
"There is a reason Kaminko wanted to capture you alive, Kris," Leaf said seriously as everyone stopped to look at the object. "And a reason why he sent me to convince you to join, Lyra. He still wanted his private army, but his team made a discovery recently that could have made it a reality. You are aware of the Sinjoh Prophecy, yes?"
"Been over this a thousand times," Kris sighed. "Some idiots who are long dead now wrote some fairy tale about somebody standing up and saving the world from evil, blah blah."
"Well, apart from that being a gross simplification, you're trying a bit too hard there, Kris," Leaf said astutely. "Whether it's true or not, there are people out there who believe the one talked about in that prophecy would be born in the 'Year of Suicune', which was 18 years ago according to their old calendar. And the location mentioned roughly corresponds to a little town in southeast Johto."
Kris and Lyra glanced at each other, but didn't say anything. While neither of them had time to think about this much, this so-called prophecy had been furthering the rift between them since they found out about it. After all, only one person could fill this mythical role.
"And just like they predicted, you two have gotten into a lot of world-shattering events this past year," Leaf continued. "I like to think that I'm a rational-minded scientist, so I don't put much weight in these things, but Kaminko and others certainly did. And they interpreted that this hero, this Transcendent One, would be able to wield these masks without losing their sanity like Pryce did. That's why they went through all the trouble to rebuild the Mask of Ice after it was broken on that day on Mt. Silver."
Kris remembered all too well. After Croc had destroyed the Mask of Ice, pieces of it fell in the snow, and Kris didn't think much of it. And shortly after Pryce was sucked into the Distortion World as punishment for defying Giratina, Pokémon Association helicopters arrived. At the time, Kris believed that was just them normally investigating this incident. But were they really after the pieces of the mask?
Kris also remembered how Pryce, upon returning from the Distortion World, mentioned that pieces of the mask had been embedded into his skin after Croc destroyed it. That meant…
"I mean, I figured," Kris whispered as she shook her head. "After Pryce died, EXO took his body for testing. They…"
Leaf nodded. "The Special Projects team spent months getting the pieces out and combining them with the ones collected from Mt. Silver to put them together," she said. "Furthermore, another research team run by the Pokémon Association found this one from a dormant volcano, somewhere north of Orre. They sent it here as we have some of the world's best equipment, and Kaminko had saved it to be used by Lyra. He could have two heroes of the prophecy under his thumb, ready to do Arceus knows what with these powers."
After finishing her tale, Leaf turned to look at Lyra expectantly. Lyra took a few dramatic steps backwards, trying to get a word out as she frantically looked at Kris, Leaf and the orange mask.
"What are you saying?!" she shouted. "Did you see me out there with the Expansion Suit on? I was barely human at that point! I don't want anything else controlling me ever again!"
"Kris was able to wield the Mask of Ice," Leaf said, "and EXO has studied you more than any doctor or scientist has ever done in your life. They know you can do the same with the Mask of Fire."
"Are there more of these?" Yellow asked in awe as they approached the mask carefully, looking at it from different angles. "I can't believe I have never heard of this before…"
"The local wild Pokémon wouldn't know about it," Leaf said with a smile. "Only a small group of humans passed this knowledge from generation to generation before the Pokémon Association learned about it a few decades ago. Since then, they've been conducting studies all over the world. According to pieces of ancient texts they discovered, there's at least six of them. Ice, Fire, Lightning, Power, Energy and Darkness."
"What are you saying?" Kris wondered. "We have to find these and wear them like we're a color-coordinated team from Proteam Omega?"
"One day you'll stop referencing that show," Lyra grumbled.
Kris laughed a bit. "That's what I get for those childhood years in front of the TV…"
"That's exactly what I'm saying, actually," Leaf said seriously. "We're dealing with an enemy far beyond just the Pokémon Association and their stooges. They have Kyurem and the Ultra Beasts, and they alone could wipe us out. I'd say we need to use Giratina's own power to fight back. That's the only way we can even hope to have a chance."
"Just take it," Kris told Lyra, "you don't have to wear it right now. But don't you think it's better to have it and not need it than the other way around?"
Lyra looked at Yellow, who also nodded encouragingly, and finally took a few timid steps towards the mask. Everyone watched in silence - which certainly didn't help Lyra's nerves - as she reached out and grabbed the blazing orange mask, looking at it a bit and then putting it in her overalls pocket.
Kris didn't blame Lyra for her hesitation, but at the same time, she already missed the feeling of having the mask on. She wondered if she could run away to the bathroom to try it on privately, but decided that she wanted a bit more information about it first.
"Good," Leaf said. "Kaminko's private files are mostly gone with whoever stole his phone, but we can take what we can get from the servers. Probably the locations of the remaining masks can be found as well. Now, let's go and find Red."
The group of four left the room containing the mask and walked across the large laboratory to another sealed door which Leaf opened with her card. Then it was followed by a long tunnel. Then another set of doors requiring a retinal scan, followed by yet another long hallway until finally they reached a reinforced steel door that needed a keycode combination.
Just as Kris was about to complain how ridiculous the extensive security was, the final door opened and the group saw what they had expected. A room full of medical monitoring equipment, and in the middle of it all, a tube filled with thick, green liquid. Suspended in the cloudy liquid was a human - a boy of maybe 19, whose black hair had grown long. His eyes were closed, with some kind of oxygen hose connecting to his mouth and nose. Leaf couldn't help but to shudder a bit while Yellow gasped for air and covered their mouth.
"It's really him," Yellow whispered.
~o~O~o~
Location: Pokémon Center, Viridian City, Kanto
Four years ago…
Two days after Yellow had met the Pokémon Trainer Red, they were now spending time in the Viridian City Pokémon Center. Doing nothing in particular, just hanging out with Cal, a local teenaged boy, an orphan and a couple of years older than Yellow. While Yellow still had little interest in Pokémon training, they liked observing the people coming and going, wondering what stories they had to tell, and especially what their Pokémon had seen and experienced. From what Yellow could gather, most of the Pokémon seemed quite happy and content with their trainers - quite unlike what Yellow's mother had been saying for years.
"Hey!" Cal said suddenly, interrupting Yellow's seemingly one-sided discussion with a Bellsprout. "Are you watching this?"
Yellow walked over to Cal to watch the TV in the waiting room. An unusually large crowd of people had gathered to watch what appeared to be a high-stakes Pokémon battle.
"Remember Oak's grandson, Blue or something?" Cal said as he pointed at the TV. "Dude just beat the Elite Four and was Champion for like fifteen minutes, then he already got challenged. Seems to be an even match."
Yellow watched, and to their surprise, they recognized the feisty-looking Pikachu, currently locked in a match with an Umbreon that seemingly took very little damage from Pikachu's Thunderbolts.
"-Umbreon still stands firm!" Yellow heard the announcer on the TV say. "Challenger Red had Champion Blue Oak on the ropes, but his last Pokémon, the Umbreon, is proving a sizable challenge! Both contestants are down to one Pokémon, and the tensions are high as-"
"That's him!" Yellow said loudly, prompting some stares from the other customers. "Cal, I told you about him. That's the-"
"Yeah, you told me ten times already," Cal said and crossed his arms, clearly unimpressed. "I mean, he's pretty good, but still, competitive battlers are such glory-hogs. My mom worked for those Pokémon League bastards, but they wouldn't cover for her medical bills, so…"
Yellow just nodded without listening much, having also heard and sympathized with Cal's story multiple times. Instead, their attention was on Red, watching as he guided his Pikachu effortlessly. After Thunderbolts didn't work, Red had Pikachu outmaneuver Umbreon with its speed. Eventually, just trying to keep up, Umbreon was too dazed to see where Pikachu was and couldn't anticipate Pikachu jumping atop its head and whacking it with an Iron Tail.
As Umbreon slowly fell, the match's referee declared Pikachu the winner and the announcer went wild. The crowd in the Pokémon Center also cheered loudly.
"Unbelievable!" he shouted, Yellow managing to barely hear . "Red from Pallet Town is now the Pokémon League Champion! And, in fact, he now holds the record for the youngest Pokémon League Champion in the history of the League! Just 15 years old! Let's hear it for our new Champion! And good showing from Blue Oak as well, a graceful loss!"
The camera briefly showed Blue cursing and kicking the air before cutting away. When the camera panned to Red, the trainer didn't look at all like he had won. He seemed to be mildly confused, petting his Pikachu when it ran right back to his lap. A bit after that, Lance, head of the Elite Four, came into the room along with a Pokémon League official and Professor Oak himself, all shaking hands with Red, who just looked a bit awkward as always, nervously rubbing the back of his head. When Blue stomped away from the room, Red tried to say something to him, but was ignored. Yellow couldn't hear what they were talking about as the feed was video only, the audio being covered by the announcer's rambling.
But what Yellow hoped more than anything was to meet this boy again.
~o~O~o~
Present day
"Red!" Yellow cried when he saw the state of the young man floating in the container. "Red! Help me get him out of there!"
"I… yeah, yeah," Leaf said with tears in the corners of her eyes. "Uh, let me see…"
Kris and Lyra glanced at each other awkwardly, feeling like they were trespassing on an intimate moment. After all, despite being big fans of the trainer, having been among the many, many kids cheering at home, watching the match on TV, they didn't know him very well. Kris had met him once on Mt. Coronet while Lyra hadn't met him at all.
And now, the once great trainer who had quit the decadence of Pokémon Championship and formed a group of plucky underdogs to resist its corruption was a broken shell of himself, helplessly suspended in a tube, not unlike what EXO had done to Hilbert. Kris wondered what EXO had wanted with him. They had gone through the trouble of tracking him down, capturing him and doing some kind of experiments on him… for what?
Leaf and Yellow were unconcerned with those details, however, as they scrambled to get Red out of his predicament. Leaf finally found the right terminal to work on while Yellow placed their hands against the glass of the container, trying to get a sense of the human inside.
"Leaf," Yellow said seriously after a few seconds. "You better hurry."
In less than a minute, Leaf had finished inputting the correct sequence and the strange green liquid was drained out. A bit later, a hatch near the bottom of the container opened as the young man, wearing only swimming trunks, slided out of the container. Leaf and Yellow then worked together to remove the tubes from his throat and nose, Kris wincing when she saw how far into his body the tubes went. They must have also nourished him throughout the time Red had been held captive.
"How long has he been here?!" Kris wondered.
"Two weeks, maybe more," Leaf muttered angrily as she listened to Red's breathing. "I only found out the truth recently and realized that I needed to act. Red!" she shouted suddenly. "Can you hear me?"
Yellow placed their palms above Red's chest and both the hands and the chest suddenly began to glow. A few seconds later, Red jerked to life, gasping for air and eyes opening wide. Kris and Lyra also stormed towards him, though neither knew exactly what they could to help.
"You're alive!" Leaf exclaimed while Yellow stopped healing Red to catch their breath. "Red, say something! Are you in pain?!"
"..." Red could only say.
"Should I get someone?" Lyra asked in a panic. "I could run upstairs and-"
"No," Red said hoarsely as he blinked rapidly, slowly gaining his composure. "No, they're… they're gonna lock me up again…"
"We're not gonna let them!" Yellow said firmly. "Red, we're here to rescue you. Your days of running are over!"
"That's…" Red stopped to cough. "That's one way of putting it. I… I cannot feel it anymore… My body…"
"What's happening to him?!" Kris wondered.
"I…" Leaf sounded like she was beginning to lose her composure. Kris hadn't seen her like this since she confronted Suicune, whom she believed at the time had been responsible for killing three of her friends. "I don't… something must have happened during the evacuation…"
"...the team working on me…" Red wheezed, his breathing getting more and more labored. "...shut off the life support as they evacuated…"
"What?!" Leaf exclaimed. "Those bastards are trying to cover up what happened here. When I get my hands on-"
"...it doesn't matter," Red said, coughing up more of the green liquid, which nauseated Kris. "It was… good to see you again… Leaf…"
"Don't talk like that!" Leaf shouted, tears running down her cheeks now. "You're going to live!"
But Red just turned weakly to look at Yellow now. Yellow's face was blank, their unblinking eyes staring at Red. It was like Yellow couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"...and you too…" Red said quietly. "Yellow, they… they didn't find it…"
And with careful movements, looking like the very action was causing him pain, Red lifted his arm and reached for something inside his mouth. He screamed out as he appeared to start pulling his own tooth out, to the others' concern. But soon, Red had finished what he intended to do, holding an extremely small USB drive, covered in blood, saliva and the green ooze he had been suspended in. As Red dropped the drive in Yellow's hands, his arm went limp.
"...finish it," Red said, looking at Yellow with pleading eyes. "Gather the last ones and… finish it…"
Yellow nodded. "I will, Red."
Red gave Yellow one weak smile before his eyes shifted to stare into the distance, his whole body going limp. Leaf held Red tight, her head falling on the boy's chest as she began to quietly sob. Yellow didn't have any tears to shed however. Their eyes were still locked with Red's, as if what just happened was impossible to process.
The biggest hope that Yellow had. The youngest Pokémon Champion, the hero who defeated Team Rocket and stood up to the Pokémon League's corruption was now gone.
~o~O~o~
Location: Resort Gorgeous, Five Island, Sevii Islands
Three years ago
Sitting in the comfy chairs of Agatha's living room, Red, Yellow and Agatha, the elderly ex-member of the Elite Four, recently replaced by former Gym Leader Koga, were listening to the story of Isaac, a short-statured young adult with his hair cut in a ridiculous blonde bowl cut. Red hadn't thought much of this young computer scientist from the Ranger Union at first, but what Isaac was now telling him had confirmed everything he had suspected.
"If I wasn't such a good hacker, this would have never come to light," Isaac said proudly as he finished his tale.
"How did you find out about this?" Yellow asked Red, who had gathered the meeting in the first place.
"Remember when we first met?" Red asked. "That feral Fearow?"
Yellow smiled. "It's a day I will never forget."
"Same here," Red said, slightly smiling back. "I sent it to professor Oak for study. A few months later, he said he had analyzed the chemicals found in the Fearow's body and said they're definitely of human origin. A human experiment made it like that. A few weeks ago, despite what Oak and Leaf tried to do for it, the Fearow died."
"Pokémon die in the wild all the time, kid," Agatha said suspiciously. "It's the circle of life, et cetera, as the song goes."
"What song?" Red wondered before shaking his head. "I mean, no, this is different. It was needless. Leaf - uh, she's a friend of mine who works for Oak - tried to send an inquiry to the Pokémon League to study who could have caused this, but professor Oak stopped her. Well, the way he said it made it seem like he had been asked to stop. So I tried to take this with the Pokémon Association before Lance came to tell me I should stop."
Agatha laughed darkly. "Just like when they 'retired' me," she scoffed. "I figured you were busy championing, Red, so I asked Lance to talk to the Pokémon Association about some weird financial transactions I noticed. A few days later and I'm asked to 'give my spot to someone younger' and that 'my best days were behind me'. Even that old fool Oak is on their side…"
"And what I saw in Altru's servers confirmed it," Isaac said while nodding. "There's a facility somewhere here at the Sevii Islands where they do unspeakably cruel experiments on Pokémon. Every once in a while, some of them escape, but the ones in charge just decide to forget about it and let nature handle things. Who knows if they've covered up someone getting killed because of those experimental beasts."
Red shook his head. "So unbelievable," he muttered.
"Is it, though?" Yellow asked flatly, not particularly directing their words at anyone. "My mom always says the human heart is fundamentally flawed. The things we do to our fellow humans is bad enough, just think about how we treat the Pokémon living alongside us."
"I refuse to believe that this is something fundamental!" Red said, and for Yellow, who had known this slightly awkward boy for over a year now, this was the first they had heard him this firm and sure of himself. "I know there are people out there who want to get the truth out, we just have to find them. I'll ask my friends, Leaf and Blue, I'm sure they'll help us out! And as for me… well, if the Pokémon League isn't going to do anything about it then I don't want to be their Champion anymore!"
"You're going to quit?" Yellow asked, proud of Red but surprised at the same time. "After all the effort you went through…"
"That doesn't mean anything!" Red ranted and stood up from his chair. "I already got everything I need! My Pokémon, the experiences I have with them, that's something no one can take away from me. And I have irreplaceable friends like you to show for it, too!"
Yellow couldn't help but to blush at that last comment, focusing instead on their glass of water. Something lit up in Agatha's eyes as well as the old woman slowly stood up to look at Red eye to eye.
"I like your attitude, kid," she said. "It's a shame we're losing one of the best Champions we've ever had, but also screw them! We'll need some powerful allies from there, though. We can rule out that stooge Lance, that musclehead Bruno will probably follow with whatever he says and I'm sure Koga is also in his pocket… but I bet Lorelei will help us. It might cost her the job as well, but I'll get in touch with her. She lives on the islands too."
"Thanks!" Red told Agatha before turning to Yellow. "Can you get in touch with Cal, and anyone else you know who might help us?"
"Of course," Yellow said happily. "Cal has a reason to hate the Pokémon League, and I'm sure there are others out there with similar ideas."
"I'll also round up everyone I think are trustworthy," Red said, then turned to look at Isaac. "Um, are you going to quit Altru then?"
"Uh, heck no!" Isaac snorted. "They have the highest salaries of any place in the Ranger Union. And I think I can do you guys more good from the inside. Actually, here…"
Isaac gave Red and Yellow each a very small USB drive.
"My boss Blake Hall works for the Association, and he has developed a very powerful encryption system," Isaac said. "All the data they want to hide the most is kept on four separate memory sticks. The thing is, all four also contain a program that keeps the data unreadable and virtually impossible to crack. The only way to decrypt the data is to gather all four drives. The decryption also opens a tunnel to Altru's servers and gives you access to everything else as well. The Pokémon Association has been using our company's servers as a place to dump their sensitive data for years."
"Where are the other two?" Yellow asked.
Isaac opened his lab coat a bit and pulled out a Poké Ball -shaped necklace. "One is here, I always keep it on my person, insurance, you know," he said proudly. "I know the fourth one is in Saffron City, though it's under heavy guard. It's the only one I couldn't steal, so Hall had it moved. So far he doesn't suspect me."
"And you're okay with working under someone as corrupt and evil as that?" Yellow said, not trying to sound judging, more like making a general statement.
"Look, I've got a pretty good life set for me," Isaac protested. "I'm about to graduate from the Ranger School soon, and I'm not gonna spend my career scraping my knees or getting mud in my socks in some woods looking after injured Pokémon or something. I took the Technician line because I've always been good with computers and gadgets. But, uh… something about my personality has made it apparently hard for companies to recruit me. Altru may be part of an evil conspiracy but they guaranteed me a job for life with good dental care. I just thought I'd get some karma points by pointing out the shadier stuff they did."
"You did a good thing, Isaac," Red said kindly. "I hope you will continue to help us in the future."
Yellow looked up at the taller Red. This was what drew Yellow towards Red the most. Not because he was a great battler, not because of his prior achievements - but because he proved every awful thing Yellow's mother had said about humanity wrong. He was the kindest person Yellow had ever known.
~o~O~o~
Present day
Kris and Lyra had joined Iris, Wes and Blaine upstairs and had told them what they had seen and what had happened with Red, much to everyone's shock, especially Blaine's. Leaf and Yellow had gone with Alder and some of his troops as they were moving Red's body elsewhere.
"What a damn world!" Blaine grumbled and kicked a nearby wall. "That bastard Faba will probably get off scot-free because of his connections while the only person who ever deserved the title of Champion is dead. He was still just a kid! It ain't right…"
"Um, 'bout that team who worked on him," Wes said carefully. "I ain't sayin' we should do anything hasty, but for their crimes, they don't deserve the same protection they're givin' Juniper, Fennel and the rest…"
"We already told Alder," Lyra said, Kris finding it too hard to say anything. "He managed to pick out three scientists who worked directly under Kaminko and Faba. They'll get punished, though they'll probably say Kaminko ordered them."
"He probably did," Iris said thoughtfully. "I can't believe there's a person like that in the world."
"Was," Wes pointed out.
Iris shook her head. "That doesn't make me feel better about it," she sighed.
"We can't let anything like this happen again," Kris said quietly, also wrapped up in her thoughts, staring at the floor as she spoke. "EXO is dealt with but Sird, Lusamine and everyone else involved in this are still running free. And they're planning something with Ultra Beasts and Kyurem." Kris turned to look at Lyra. "Yellow was right, you know. We have the power to do something now. We gotta try."
"Of course," Lyra said, clearly feeling a lot better now that she knew she wasn't guilty of manslaughter. Even seeing what happened to Red didn't seem to have shaken her all that much. "What do you have in mind?"
"Kyurem killed the Swords of Justice and they took Victini away," Kris said slowly. "But Suicune got away. If we could actually get help from some legendary Pokémon and work together with them, we could really accomplish something."
"I've been thinking about that, too!" Iris said excitedly. "The only problem is, how can we get in touch with them?"
"There are some people who know," Kris reminded her. "The Legendary Pokémon Society. A group of powerful trainers who study them, protect them from humanity and vice versa. We worked with them before, and with what happened to some of the other Champions, I bet they would want to get in on this!"
"No one has heard from either Lance or Cynthia in a while," Blaine grunted. "Typical high and mighty behavior… when the going gets tough, the rich and powerful go underground and let the little people-"
"Yeah, whatever," Kris interrupted, not in the mood for paranoid ramblings. "But you can get in touch with them, right? You have Gym Leader connections! Try to get a hold of Lance, or better yet, Morty back in Ecruteak City! He's running their main base of operations, and that's where Suicune, Entei and Raikou live as well. Or did at one point, anyway."
Blaine sighed, scratching his unshaven face in annoyance. "Yeah, I'll give it a shot…" he said. "But I won't like it."
"Fair enough," Kris said and turned to Lyra again. "It's been a while since we've been home, right?" she said. "We need to make sure your parents are still okay."
"And your mom!" Lyra reminded.
Kris rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we'll put that on the bottom of the list…" she groaned. "Oh, yeah, and Professor Elm is there right now! I bet he will want an update."
"Yeah, since we came here it's been hard to get in touch with anyone in the outside world," Blaine said. "If you really are going there, tell him to come back to Kanto. Meanwhile, I think I should get back in touch with Gladion, Agatha and everyone else back in Kanto still willing to help us. We can try to make some kind of plan, maybe look into these Masks of Divinity Leaf mentioned and go over all the data we got from here."
"We'll come with you!" Iris said and grabbed Wes' hand, which caused him to become flustered.
"You're just volunteerin' me like that?" Wes asked Iris, raising his eyebrows at her.
"Well, are you gonna say no?"
"No…" Wes admitted. "Just, y'know, it's nice to ask first. What if I felt like a nice beach vacation in Alola?"
Iris just laughed. "Hey, where's Hilda?" she suddenly asked. "Anyone seen her?"
Blaine shook her head. "Maybe she got a lead about Hilbert," he muttered. "But I hope she will be okay. Anyway, I told her where to find me. We're gonna set up shop in Saffron City, Agatha gave me a tip about a place right before we stormed this place."
"Hey, Kris!" Wes said suddenly and tapped Kris on the shoulder. "Look who's there!"
Kris turned to look. Alder was approaching with some of his troops, along with Leaf and Yellow. Kris was happy to see both of them seemed to have somewhat regained their composure. But one of Alder's men was escorting a thin, tall man with long, dark hair and a thick, shaggy beard. Kris almost didn't recognize him if it weren't for his dark sunglasses.
"Whoa," she said quietly. "Blake Hall."
As Alder brought Hall to the group, Kris stepped forward to get a better look. Hall had been in EXO's captivity the whole time, apparently, but Kris had no idea he was literally held in the base, not far beneath her feet, despite the many months she spent in that base.
"You look awful," Kris told Hall.
"Trust me, I'll be leaving a one star review about the accommodations here," Hall said dryly. "But at least every day, on the clock, they lowered a little bit of food into my cell. I got water from a tap that had really started to smell weird by the end of it. And my only company was a guard who occasionally came to yell at me to 'tell the truth' without specifying what he wanted to hear. All things considered, I'm fine."
Kris tried not to smile too much. "You were right about everything," she told him. "And I'd say you've done your time for what you did. You know, leading Team Dim Sun and trying to take over Almia."
"That would not have been too bad for the people," Hall said snootily, still keeping the tone of a rich businessman after his months of captivity. "I see life here in the 'free' world isn't exactly much better. The Pokémon Association really manipulated you guys good, huh."
"Well, there is little need to keep you locked up anymore, Mr. Hall, especially after the info you shared to us," Alder said jovially. "What do you plan to do?"
"Not smelling like Tauros dung would be nice," Hall said with a nod. "After that, I suppose I will want to continue gathering as much data as I can. The Pokémon Association betrayed me too, and people will go down for that. I suppose that will help you guys as well."
"It will," Kris said sincerely. "Get him out safely," she asked Alder.
Alder had a soldier under his command take Hall away.
"Thanks for all your help," Kris told the Unova Champion. "Not just today, but before as well. I don't know how to repay you."
"You've done more than enough of that!" Alder said boisterously, slapping Kris on the back with much stronger force than he intended, causing Kris to wince. "Oh, sorry. I'm just happy that we've taken down one nest of evil."
"More will fall," Kris assured him. "I have another favor to ask. Me and Lyra will need to get to Johto, as close to New Bark Town as possible. We need to get some allies. But even though Lusamine said we're no longer at the top of the hit list, I'm not really trusting airports right now."
"It can be arranged, I will call upon a friend I'm sure you remember!" Alder said with a wink. "I'm also heading to the Unova League to get some allies of my own. I'll assemble Grimsley, Shauntal and Caitlin, then the Unova Gym Leaders. We're going to find out who in the Unova Pokémon Association has been working with these people. We'll do something about the Ultra Beast situation as well."
"I also have to ask something," Leaf said as she stepped forward. Her eyes were dry and there was a sense of fierce determination in them. She was also carrying a large and heavy-looking sports bag with her. "I will continue my work on the DNA Splicers as soon as possible. Our enemies have Kyurem, and even though it hasn't done much yet, anything I can do to weaken it will be a win. But I'd like to go somewhere before that."
"Do you need to visit your folks as well?" Wes asked her thoughtlessly.
But Leaf smiled politely at him. "I have not heard anything from them in years," she said, not sounding sad or angry, though Wes immediately looked down in shame. "No, I have to go visit Red's mother. She has been worried sick for a long time. She deserves to know the truth."
"If that's the case, then me, Iris and Wes will take you there!" Blaine told Leaf. "No backtalk, young lady!" he grunted when Leaf was about to open her mouth. "Especially considering how much money they put into those DNA Splicers, I'm sure the Pokémon Association doesn't want you running around with them. I feel like they're bound to send someone after us."
Leaf thought about it for a bit before nodding and smiling gratefully. Kris knew that Blaine was friends with Red as well, and while he didn't show it anymore, he had to be greatly affected by what happened.
"Are you going to join as well?" Lyra asked Yellow.
Yellow looked contemplative, wagering their options. "To be honest, there is nothing for me to say," Yellow said quietly. "I never met Red's mother, though based on what Red told me, she is a wonderful woman. It's not my place to say anything. In fact, I drove Red to all this. If it weren't for me, he wouldn't be-"
"Don't say that!" Leaf snapped. "You know him, better than any of us here! You know he would have quit the League and went out to seek the truth, with or without you. And Kaminko wanted data on one of the world's best trainers, and he wasn't going to let anything stop him from capturing him."
Yellow just nodded. Kris tried to observe Yellow's face, but it was impossible to read.
"I wouldn't blame you if you want a break," Wes told Yellow kindly. "You spent so much time looking for Red and then… well, you've done more than enough."
"No," Yellow said. "Things are just about to begin for me. What kind of person would I be if I didn't continue the mission that he started. I think… Kris, Lyra, if you don't mind, I would like to join you. I haven't been to Johto much yet."
"Hey, the more the merrier!" Lyra proclaimed. "Kris can get so moody sometimes, it'll be good to have someone else with us!"
"Excuse me?!" Kris snapped. "I'm only moody when you annoy me!"
"That's not true, you're being moody now."
"Yeah, because you're being annoying!"
Halfheartedly smiling at Kris and Lyra's bickering and bracing to hear much more of it in the coming days, Yellow remembered a promise they had made a long time ago.
~o~O~o~
Location: Resort Gorgeous, Five Island, Sevii Islands
Roughly two years ago
Yellow sat meditating in the basement of the resort which had become a base of operations of sorts for the group Red had assembled. People all over Kanto whose lives Red had touched had joined. The secretary of the Silph Co president had provided a lot of valuable information, confirming their involvement with the Pokémon Association's schemes. A mimic from Saffron City called Copycat who had befriended Red had made some phone calls, flawlessly mimicking voices of government officials to get good info. And Dr. Blaine had used his contacts in the Pokémon League to also get info while Lorelei and Agatha traveled all over, investigating an ancient prophecy that the Pokémon Association had been very interested in.
For now, Yellow was alone in absolute silence. And as much as they enjoyed getting to know new people throughout these last two years, this was the best time Yellow had. Meditation helped Yellow get deeper into their thoughts and feelings, to get closer and closer to a Zen-like state of being. There had been a lot of turmoil in Yellow since Red went missing a while back. Since then, many people in the group stopped helping, mostly only being involved because of Red. Leaf and Blue in particular hadn't been anywhere to be seen for a while. But every second of meditation helped Yellow to deal with this.
Yellow missed Red, that was for sure. The longing physically hurt Yellow at times, but despite this, the mission was paramount. Before disappearing, Red had asked Yellow and the group to keep digging into something happening at Navel Rock. The crazed Fearow had come from there, and a far more sinister secret was slowly unraveling.
Yellow's thoughts were interrupted when Cal entered the basement, cheerfully waving a piece of paper about. Cal had also joined the group, but because of Yellow, not because of Red. He was now the closest friend Yellow had in the group.
"I got us in!" Cal announced. "We are going to join the task force the Unova League has assembled. If we play our cards right, they'll assign us to Navel Rock. Since nobody knows me, I'm using my real name. I signed you up as 'Amarillo', hope you don't mind. If anyone asks, I'm a demolition expert and you're a medic."
"There are several Pokémon with healing abilities who I can find and ask help from, it's not a problem," Yellow informed Cal without opening their eyes. "But I hope you are ready for this."
"How could I not be?!" Cal said excitedly. "Once we're in there, we're gonna gather evidence of the freaky stuff they're doing and bring it to the authorities. Those corrupt bastards are going down!"
"But what if the authorities are the same 'corrupt bastards', Cal?" Yellow asked quietly. "What if there's a limit to how high up we can go? What if we disappear like Red did? Are you willing to take that chance?"
"Yellow…" Cal said, frowning. "What are you-"
"I have taken a vow, you see," Yellow told Cal, finally opening their eyes and standing up. "It doesn't matter if Agatha, Lorelei, Blaine or anyone else helps me or not. In fact, for their own safety, it would be better if they didn't. I am going to get to the bottom of the truth behind all this. Even if it kills me, or does something even worse, I am going to finish the mission Red has given us. And I will try my very best to find him before that happens so I can look him in the eyes and tell him it's safe to come home again!"
When Cal wasn't sure what to respond, Yellow sat down again and took a deep breath.
"For all the Pokémon and people alike," Yellow said, more to themselves than Cal, "this has to be done. Even if I have to fight the whole world!"
