Author's Notes: Thank you all for reviewing! This chapter is unusual, as it centers around my theory concerning how Pokeballs work. I tried to present it in a way that wouldn't be boring, as it is important to the rest of the story and I had to fit it in here somehow.
As for the theory itself, I've done my best to make it plausible and as scientifically sound as possible. That being said, the world of Pokemon is a rather magical place, so there naturally must be some elements chalked up to that.
Please let me know what you think of the theory and any major problems that you might see with it. I sort of need to know, as it will become rather important later in the fanfic.
Also, Ailrianor does a lot of talking in this chapter, including some paragraphs of text. I found it very time-consuming and a bit pointless to have an entire paragraph of him talking in his speech followed by Jeremy translated, so for long sections what he is saying is denoted by double colons like ::this::. Basically, that means "Ailrianor said something and this is what Jeremy translated it as." And if you think that Ailrianor is a bit smart for a Ninetales, it's because he is. He has his own story, but it's quite long and a bit irrelevant.
Chapter 16: The CaptureAilrianor and Lokynou led Jeremy and Katherine deep within the mountain, through winding passages and quiet corridors. They came finally to an empty room branching off of the main hallway. "Tales ninetales," Ailrianor said.
"This is our room," Jeremy translated. Katherine ducked in. She was disappointed to find that it was nearly as barren as the small room that the pair had been given while waiting for the council to decide if it was ready to see them. This one had a window, however, and a small pile of long dry grass in one corner which Katherine assumed passed for a bed.
"Niine. Tales tales," Lokynou added.
"They'll come to get us when it's time for dinner," Jeremy explained.
"Oh, thank you," Katherine replied. Lokynou nodded and she and her mate slipped away down the hall, leaving Katherine and Jeremy alone with the will-o'-the-wisps that danced near the ceiling.
"A little sparse, isn't it?" asked Katherine, looking around the room again with disappointment.
"What need does a Pokemon have for furniture?" Jeremy replied, darting forward to sit on the window sill. He seemed to have a tendency to do that, Katherine noted distractedly. "Why, this might even be one of their best rooms. It has a window, after all, and a bed."
Katherine sighed and flopped down on the pile of grass, the "bed," and stared up at the ceiling moodily. She couldn't help but think again of the strange vision she'd had while staring into the pool at the top of the mountain. The thought sent shivers down her spine.
She shifted uncomfortably on top of the grasses, which rustled and crunched beneath her weight. She worried at first about the insect life usually associated with such accommodations, but eventually dismissed the thought. The Ninetales' mountain, from what she had seen of it so far, was very clean and well-kept. This grass was probably fresh and didn't have any more of an ecosystem associated with it than that in a typical mattress.
Eventually she stood up and wandered over to the window. Peering out of it, she saw that the sun was setting, its fiery radiance dimming as it sank beneath the horizon. The mountains in the distance were painted a rosy hue, the ones nearer to her already clothed in darkness. She caught a glimpse of Blackthorn City between two of the mountains, its lights just beginning to go on. How small and insignificant it seemed, compared to the vastness of the wild and untamed Thorn range. Humans, she thought, were not really as big a deal as they made themselves out to be.
Some time later Jeremy and Katherine were summoned to dinner. Ailrianor and Lokynou escorted them into a long gallery near the heart of the mountain. Here the entire population had gathered, and Katherine marveled at its size. There must have been at least three hundred Vulpix and Ninetales milling about the large chamber. The Pokemon had no more need of tables or utensils than they did of fireplaces and lamps, and so each group simply selected a spot in which to sit or lie down and awaited their meal. Katherine and Jeremy found them seated between Ailrianor and Lokynou as the food began to be passed around.
Katherine felt rather squeamish when she discovered that the main course was Pidgey, which most of the Ninetales ate raw. While it was true that Pokemon were occasionally used by humans as food (hence the Tauros steak,) most dinner fare came from mundane, domesticated animals. Still, she didn't have anything else to eat and was loathe to seem impolite in front of the two ancient Ninetales. She merely accepted her bird, which Ailrianor had amiably roasted for her, and was thankful that Pidgeot was blissfully unaware in his Pokeball at her belt.
The Pidgeys were supplemented by berries, the quintessential staple of any Pokemon's diet. Few berry trees would grow in the harsh northern mountains, but there seemed to be plenty for all. Katherine eagerly ate these; they were really quite delicious and gave her an excuse to refuse Lokynou's offering of a second Pidgey.
Once it seemed that most of the serious eating had been accomplished and dinner had faded away to contented nibbling of berries, Ailrianor began to speak to Katherine, who tried valiantly to ignore the blood and occasional feather yet lingering on his muzzle. "Taaales. Tale nine talesninetales."
"I will now answer your question regarding the will-o'-the-wisps," Jeremy translated.
::They are truly a mystery. We have only this main theory, and it far from provides all of the answers. But I must begin at the beginning. Are you aware of how a Pokeball works?::
Katherine shook her head slowly. The amazing devices at her belt were really a mystery to her. All that she particularly cared to know about them was that they worked. She had an irritated impression that the elder Ninetales was evading her question by giving her a treatise on the function of a Pokeball.
::How odd humans are! Even I, a mere Pokemon, know of their function. It is knowledge that we Pokemon have a duty to learn, for it is, after all, one of our greatest adversaries. I have lived for many, many years, and to me, the Pokeball is a rather newfangled contraption. In the old days, Pokemon trainers carried large bells inscribed with magical symbols with which to capture their quarries. But I digress.::
::Humans say that we Pokemon are far less stable than other "mundane" creatures. Our very atoms are primed for radical changes, and such instability is largely the source of our elemental powers.::
::Not only that, but it is said that our souls are bound more loosely to our physical forms than that of other creatures. It is these two factors that allow a Pokemon to become captured in a Pokeball. No human could survive capture in such a device; their body would be destroyed by the process and they would perish.::
Pleasant thought, that, Katherine thought sarcastically. She had no idea where this conversation was going.
::When a Pokeball captures a Pokemon, it emits a ray of particles that disrupt the atoms in the target's body. This causes them to break down, converting a great deal of a Pokemon's mass into pure energy. This is what allows Pokemon to be stored in a Pokeball, which is much smaller than its body.::
::The energy produced in this way is drawn up into the Pokeball through the use of energy-absorbing metals in its interior. Additional products of this reaction, mainly stray particles, or radiation, are also collected and drawn into the ball's interior. This allows the conversion process of a fission reaction without all of the mess and inconvenience of a nuclear explosion. A containment field within the Pokeball is then activated, which prevents the escape of the particles and energy generated by the capture process.::
Probably a good thing, Katherine thought, or else we'd all end up with horrible diseases from being exposed to radiation from our Pokemon all of the time.
::At this point, the Pokemon struggles to break free of the Pokeball. You see, this is where the second important difference comes into play; Pokemon retain their conscious soul even when deprived of many of the things that constitute a physical "body." We are perhaps more closely linked to the energy that courses through us than to any physical vessel. We therefore are consciously able to fight the capture process. A Pokemon will struggle against the containment field within the Pokeball; if its constraints can be broken, then we have the power to return our atoms to their original state.::
"Wait, wait," Katherine interrupted skeptically. "You just go ahead and tell your atoms, "Okay, let's all get back together now" or something? That's impossible!"
::Not so. The Pokeball captures and contains all energy and by-products of the reaction, yes? The reaction produced the energy, and by expending it again, it is possible to force the atoms back together and re-form the Pokemon's physical body. If the containment field is breached, the Pokeball will automatically open to allow the Pokemon to escape rather than be crushed in the tiny space.::
"Okayy..." Katherine replied, unsure whether or not to buy it.
::The containment field cannot sustain itself, being powered by a battery implanted in the Pokeball upon its manufacture. It merely prevents the Pokemon from escaping while a second process takes place. A small amount of energy created during the reaction is siphoned off and stored in a special mechanism in the Pokeball's interior. With that energy goes a small piece of the Pokemon's soul. When this task is accomplished, the Pokemon has run out of time to escape. The Pokeball expels all air from its interior, creating a vacuum, and the containment field dissipates. This is the click or clunk that you hear when your Pokeball ceases to shake and the locks shut. Essentially, it has downloaded a small part of the Pokemon's being and stored it within its circuitry.:;
"So, the Pokeball steals some of a Pokemon's soul in order to gain control of it?" Katherine asked incredulously. "That's horrible!"
Ailrianor shrugged. ::It is not truly so terrible. All it does is ensure that the Pokemon can be recalled to the Pokeball. Otherwise, any time that you wished to recall a Pokemon you would have to essentially recapture it, and a Pokemon could run away at any time. A Pokemon cannot resist the call of its own soul, however, and therefore does not fight whenever it is returned to the Pokeball.::
"Wasn't this all supposed to be leading up to what the will-o'-wisps are?" Katherine asked, growing exasperated.
::Have patience. We are nearly there. The will-o'-wisps, then, we believe to be the wayward souls of Pokemon that have been separated from their physical form.::
"How could that happen?" Katherine asked with interest.
::I do not know. Somehow, it might be possible to manipulate a Pokeball so that it would expend its own supply of energy in order to recreate a Pokemon upon its release, rather than re-using the Pokemon's own energy. This would recreate the Pokemon's physical form, but it would essentially be a soulless creature, without thought or heart. The Pokeball would be ruined, no longer able to generate the disruption ray that allows Pokemon to be converted into energy and no longer able to hold the small sliver of the Pokemon's soul in its grasp. The remaining energy, the Pokemon's soul, would forcefully exit the device, probably destroying it in the process. It would be without form to govern it, and so be left to drift around the world without guide or purpose.::
"So you're saying that somehow all of these little will-o'-the-wisps are really the wayward souls of Pokemon that have somehow been separated from their bodies? It seems a bit far-fetched," Katherine said after a minute.
Ailrianor shrugged. ::As I said, it is only a speculation. We can never truly know what the will-o'-the-wisps are, or why they congregate here. But it is growing late. I am sure that you would like to retire, and my mate and I need to discuss how to handle your problem. I will contact you in the morning.::
Katherine nodded, and Ailrianor and Lykonou departed, their magnificent tails sweeping along behind them. Jeremy gazed after the departing pair uncertainly.
"You remember how to get back to our room?" Katherine asked him. She hadn't really been paying attention as the Ninetales ferried them to and from their temporary home.
"Yeah," Jeremy replied. "Follow me."
He dutifully led Katherine back to their quarters, but she could tell that the rodent had something on his mind. He wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing, allowing his four feet to guide him back to the room. When they reached it, he announced that he was feeling restless and that he would be taking a walk before retiring.
"I'll be back in a while. Don't worry about me," he reassured Katherine, who shrugged and entered the room. Another smaller pile of grass had been added for Jeremy. She sighed and sat down on hers, which scrunched beneath her weight. She sincerely doubted her ability to get to sleep on one of these, but figured that she might as well give it a try. Lying back down on the scratchy bed, she was at first annoyed by the numerous small bits that poked into her from every angle, but the subtle scent exuded by the dried grasses slowly soothed her. That, and the fact that the mysterious presence that had haunted her previous slumber seemed to have turned its attention elsewhere, contributed to the ease with which Katherine fell asleep.
----
Jeremy wandered the mountain's corridors aimlessly, thoughts of great magnitude churning in his small mind. He met few Pokemon in the halls, most of the mountain's inhabitants having retired to their rooms or reported outside for night watch. The Rattata would periodically gaze up at the mysterious lights circling overhead.
He continued in this fashion for some time until one time when he looked up to the ceiling he saw a will-o'-the-wisp that seemed to stand out from all of the others. It was no different in appearance or movement, but for some reason he felt strangely drawn to it. He followed it curiously as it swirled along in the river of ghostly lights. It skipped ahead of him, bobbing and weaving away.
Jeremy began to run awkwardly, his head craned upwards, following the odd will-o'-the-wisp. A merry chase ensued, the pursued always one step ahead of the pursuer, ducking and weaving in a purely haphazard pattern but always leading the Rattata onward. Jeremy was soon dashing after it, thinking of nothing else. "Wait! Come back!" he yelled at it, not entirely sure why.
The will-o'-the-wisp darted around a corner and into an empty room. Here it promptly vanished, snuffed out in an instant. Jeremy darted into the room and stared around wildly. He caught no sight of the strange ball of flame and let out an exasperated sigh. He began to think of how silly he had been, chasing after a little ball of flame. He was about to turn and exit the room when he noticed that the lights suddenly went out.
All throughout the mountain, the will-o'-the-wisps fled. Their pale glow left the rooms and corridors throughout the entire complex, leaving a suddenly unknown and terrible darkness in their place. The Vulpix and Ninetales still awake were shocked when night fell in an instant. Lokynou's head jerked up. "Taaaaales!" she yelped.
Jeremy was the first to feel the sinister presence that accompanied the darkness. He cowered against the wall of the chamber, whimpering softly. A great wave of terror swept up to engulf him. With it there came a deadly smile, its perfectly straight teeth glowing slightly in the absence of light. Following that came two luminous eyes that burned with inner fire. The darkness seemed to take form around them, a suggestion of a shadowy figure not distinguishable from the area around it by the physical eye but rather by the inner one.
"Hello, little Jeremy," came an eerie voice. It seemed to come from all directions at once, its hollow tone sending shivers down Jeremy's spine. His fur bristled and he snarled defiantly.
The indistinct figure laughed then, a horrible cackling that quivered throughout the room in waves of chilly mirth. "A feisty little fellow you are," it admitted. The hazy figure--Jeremy now recognized it to be a Gengar--moved nearer, extending its short arms towards him. He tried to dart around the corner and out into the hall, but he found himself frozen in place by sheer terror as the ghost moved ever nearer.
If Jeremy had been a real Ratatta, the ghostly Pokemon would have been unable to harm him. Normal-type Pokemon bear an innate resistance to the abilities of ghost-type Pokemon. Jeremy, however, was not a real Rattata. The Gengar reached through the aspect of a Rattata that had been cast over him and seized his soul within. He tugged on this, pulling it with him as he departed the mortal plane once more and dragging Jeremy's body along with it.
Jeremy had never before experienced such terror. He was immersed in the dead world, the region inhabited by ghosts and creatures of nightmare. It was cold, the sort of cold that pierces any attempt at lessening its chill, and there were no sounds at all, merely the paralyzing silence of vast empty spaces beyond comprehension. It was dark, but not the peaceful night that descended over the mortal world. The darkness here was alive, a tortured entity that constantly writhed across the entire plane. Jeremy opened his mouth to scream but found himself to be in an empty vacuum. Choking darkness filled his throat as he tried in vain to fill his lungs with air. There was none, and his head pounded. His vision must have dimmed as well, but he could not tell, for nothing flew before it that allowed him to compare it to what it was before. Soon, he sank down into the darkness within himself and knew no more.
----
Grottlis was extremely pleased with himself as he dragged the small, struggling soul across the void of eternity that was his own realm. The girl, this human's companion had inadvertently drawn him to her as she gazed into the pool in the Ninetale's mountain. For Grottlis had expected that she would be traveling there and was waiting on the other side for her to peer in and confirm his suspicions.
He had been right, and he had that very night set out to capture the wayward human that was the source of Sasoliar's troubles, or so she assumed. He had been briefly annoyed by the bright souls that constantly circled about the mountain, blocking his passage out of the dead plane, but he had overcome them and sent them fleeing to their own corner of the world.
Grottlis burst out once more into the mortal plane at his destination, the uncharted island of Sasoliar. He unceremoniously dropped the unconscious Rattata to the sand of the beach and glanced around to see if anyone else was there. Sasoliar had apparently been delayed for some reason, as she was not yet there. The Gengar, bored, spoke to the comatose Rattata as he awaited the Ninetales' appearance.
"You are far more of a hindrance than you know, Jeremy," he mused aloud. "Why, if you had been allowed to roam about free, who knows what might have happened? Someone might even have discovered the truth."
The Gengar chuckled uneasily to himself as he made the last statement, looking thoughtfully up to the sliver of moon above him. In its silver radiance he saw the silver fur of the elder Ninetales, and that gave even the fearless Gengar an uneasy feeling. The truth...