Whatever happened to Porygon?
"Wow, Mauville City sure looks different than it used to!" Ash and Pikachu stared in amazement at the restructured city, it was basically just one massive building now and Ash picked up on quite a few themes in the design that appeared to be based off of Lumiose City. "I wonder if Wattson is still the Gym Leader here." They were on their way to a local airport to catch a plane back to the Galar region, Mauville City just happened to be close enough to the path that Ash had decided to make a quick stop so they could resupply and also heal up their Pokemon as he'd gotten into a few World Championship matches with random trainers, Gardevoir already proving herself to be a powerful and reliant Pokemon!
"Well it says here that Wattson himself designed and paid for the city's recent redevelopment all by himself!" Chloe stated while looking at a guide app on her phone. "I'd assume that he's still here."
"Only one way to find out, let's go!" Ash shouted out shortly before he and Pikachu made a rush for the entrance to the city, upon entering he saw that the entrance resembled a shopping mall as various stores and restaurants had their own place dedicated to it. Further along he could see the same thing applied to the Pokemon Center only it's area was far larger to accommodate room for the sick Pokemon and rooms for trainers passing through.
"Mega Stones, get your Mega Stones here!"
The words got Zach's attention as soon as they were spoken, him and Lucario made a mad dash for the store only to quickly hang their heads upon seeing the price tag on the stones. "A million Pokedollars a piece?! What a rip..."
"Car..." Lucario muttered.
The pair walked out of the store and paused as their eyes caught something moving on the nearby electronic advertisement screen. It appeared to be a creature of some kind only it's appearance resembled that of an old 3D videogame's graphics.
"I-Is that a Pokemon? I've never seen anything like it before." Zach pulled out his Rotom Phone to scan the screen as he was interested in learning about this strange looking Pokemon.
"Error, corrupted data."
"What the heck?" Zach looked around before spotting a nearby poster with a Pikachu on it, pressing the scan button once more as it showed him Pikachu's data entry. "Hm, that's odd."
"Here let me try," Chloe pulled out her own Rotom Phone as she wondered if perhaps Zach's was just on the fritz due to him being burnt by Moltres, nearly drowning and falling into a heavy snow bank recently. It was a miracle it was even working at all! Chloe's was still in near perfect condition as she took great care of it.
"Error, corrupted data."
"What?!"
Ash and Pikachu had returned from the food court, both stuffing their faces with some fries when they noticed the two of them looking at an advertisement screen, their eyes lit up upon spotting the Pokemon. They'd met one a long time ago but had never saw the creature since, Ash almost thought it had just been a dream as he'd seen nearly every other Pokemon including legendary ones multiple times but never this one.
"Porygon!" Ash exclaimed.
"Who?" His companions all looked confused as none of them had seen or heard of the Pokemon until that day. The Pokemon appeared to acknowledge it's name as it turned towards Ash and let out a happy cry and flew in circles with what appeared to be a delighted expression.
"Porygon, it's a man made Pokemon. I met one years ago back when I was adventuring through Kanto for the first time, I wonder what one's doing here though."
"That is what I intend on finding out!" An older man with a skin tone of a similar shade to Ash stood behind them, he was bald and was currently dressed up in a lab coat, adjusting his glasses as his pale blue eyes looked them the group over. "Dr. Ridley. I'm the creator of Porygon and have been investigating it's disappearance. There have been no trace of the creature anywhere and no reports, any recordings including data and pictures have been completely wiped away including my own personal files! I had no leads as to what occurred but seeing how my old intern has disappeared completely off the face of the earth as well I have reason to suspect that she captured them all and is hiding in cyberspace with them! I intend on getting my creation back no matter the cost!"
"Which is why he hired me to make some suits capable of transporting one's consciousness into the cyber world." Wattson spoke up as he appeared before giving Ash a light wave and a cheerful smile. "Dr. Ridley's an old chum of mine and I intend on helping him and restoring Porygon to the real world. This little guy right here's been trying to escape for awhile, it's actually how we came across one another after years. I saw the Pokemon he informed me of creating years back... or rather brag actually, and thought it best to ask how to deal with it being in my machine."
"A suit that can enter cyberspace? So one could technically play a videogame in virtual reality? That's awesome!" Zach got rather excited at the idea. "Imagine running as fast as Speedy the Togedemaru, fighting Bowsernaught in Super Pokemon Bros, or jumping barrels to fight Slaking Kong!"
"Nerd." Marnie coughed.
"Well maybe not anytime soon, they're more working prototypes. Really all you're doing is entering the internet via virtual constructs of yourself." Ridley explained. "The suits should be ready soon actually, I'm eager to get my creation back from her. Arceus knows what kind of torture the Pokemon are going through."
"Suits, as in suits plural?" Zach's eyes lit up. "Can I try it?!"
"Me too, whenever there's a Pokemon in need I want to help out!" Ash chimed in while pumping his fists.
"They are valuable experimental suits, I'm not about to let some children toy with them!"
"Now now Ridley, these aren't just some kids. Ash here saved the world several times and is currently a champion, I think he's more capable of assisting you than I would be."
"You can't be serious..." Ridley held the top of his forehead as he let out an annoyed sigh. "Alright fine but if they screw this up, I won't let you here the end of this!"
After attending to some final tune ups Wattson revealed three suits that looked rather Tron inspired. One suit was black with blue outlines across the body along with a blue colored faceplate on the mask while a black/red suit and a black/purple one stood next to it.
"Voila! Now I don't think I have to warn you that cyberspace is a potentially dangerous place, make sure to remain on a surface at all times as if you fall off you could potentially vaporize or have your consciousness lost somewhere out there!" Wattson instructed as Ash and Dr. Ridley put on the suits, Ash taking the blue one while Ridley took the purple one. "You'll also feel a brief sense of dizziness as your mind is transferred to cyberspace." Wattson walked over to the computer and typed in some commands as the suits began to glow and the two disappeared in a white flash, Pikachu vanishing with his trainer.
"Aw man, I wished I got to go." Zach spoke with a disappointed tone.
"You still can, there's the third suit!" Wattson waved his hand invitingly.
"Didn't Ridley say he didn't want Zach along?" Marnie asked only for Wattson to laugh it off.
"Please, it's my toy so who am I to turn him down?" Wattson laughed while watching Zach race to put on the suit.
"Ugh, where am I?" Zach held onto his head for a moment before looking around, wondering if he ended up where Ash and Ridley had gone but didn't see them anywhere. All he could see was seemingly endless black tetris-looking cubes stretching out everywhere while a bunch of random codes and numbers flew through the dark sky above. Near the edge he could see a bright light along with a very strong wind, Wattson wasn't wrong as it did look like it could potentially kill somebody that fell down there.
"Halt vile villain!" A female voice spoke out with a robotic tone, Zach turned to look at the source and saw a suit that looked more advanced than the one that he and the others were wearing. Looking to have a lot more parts and mechanics to it along with it's primarily color being pink while the secondary was black. Her mask was a large black circular dome with glowing pink computer genetrated eyes and mouth on the front of it, appearing to be emulating the expression of the person beneath as they were making an angry looking expression. "You dare show yourself here? I told you that I'd destroy you if you ever tried taking Porygon from me!"
"Whoa, I don't even know who you are! I just came here looking for my friend Ash, he's here with a guy named Ridley and-Oh." Zach paused before backing up. "You're the bad guy, aren't you?"
"Somebody's not very bright." The woman's hands began glowing bright pink as green computer code surrounded her body before she started growing taller and looking more Pokemon-like as her body morphed into that of a giant Slaking! She then menacingly pounded her chest while glaring down at Zach, expecting him to be terrified but instead he let out an excited shout of glee.
"Slaking Kong! That was always my second favorite monster film as a kid!"
"Really? I wouldn't expect somebody working with Ridley to like that, you don't sound old and boring like him." She smirked lightly before her hands sparked pink once more. "So what's your favorite monster film?"
"Tyranizilla!" She waved her hand as the same green code surrounded Zach, transforming him into a giant Tyranitar! He looked down at his hands in amazement. "Wow, this is just awesome! I wonder if..." He turned his head and fired off a Hyper Beam from his mouth, blasting a picture of a blue Pidgey as an entire website winded up getting wiped from cyberspace!
"Y-You just wiped out Chirper!"
"Oh? Well no harm done, that's actually benefiting society."
"Oh I agree, just a pool of toxic assholes... you aren't a bad guy, are you?" She spoke, tilting her head as her hands glowed pink before turning them back to normal. "I gave you equal footing and you chose to have fun rather than attack me."
"Huh? Oh yeah, Ridley said you stole his invention. Would you mind letting the Porygon go free? No Pokemon deserves to live a life of imprisonment."
"They-They aren't imprisoned! I brought them here to protect them. They're my invention, I created them but Ridley stole credit for it! Claiming them as his own and me being a lowly intern made it impossible to prove otherwise, especially as he burned all evidence of my work!" She spoke up with an angry tone, punching at the air. "Ridley then planned on selling them all to Team Rocket and Arceus knows what they'd do with an army of Porygon, cyberspace would be completely at their mercy! So yeah I did commit a bit of light theft stealing Porygon from other trainers but I left them all the money I had and hid every single Porygon here so that he couldn't copy them and make more! I also destroyed any source of my identity and now go by Cypher! I knew it was a matter of time before he showed his slimy face, I've seen his texts. You showing up in black and red, the colors of a villain sure didn't help much!"
"It wasn't my choice, it was the only sui-wait... Ash!" Zach's eyes widened as he realized Ash was with Ridley. If Cypher could manipulate cyberspace he dreaded what Ridley could do since the man likely knew how things worked here too. Ridley was a true villain so he wouldn't go easy on Ash. "Cypher, my friend... can you take us to him? He'll have a Pikachu so he won't be hard to miss."
"No need, they're probably at the Porygon's home. Let's go, I'll lead the way."
"Pory Porygon!" The Porygon flew around in a rather large enclosure, looking quite happy though there were a few that gazed offwards with a longing expression.
"Wow, look at all these Porygon! I've never seen so many!" Ash gazed around at the Porygon before glancing around for a way to free the Porygon. "So how do we free them?"
"Pory..." The Porygon turned towards Ash and excitedly cried out as they flew towards him with a cheerful expression which soon turned to fear as they spotted Ridley, his hands glowing bright red as he summoned up a computerized looking ball.
"Oh, you aren't leaving kid. I've heard all about you and how you've been giving my Boss a hard time. Out there I know I wouldn't stand a chance against you but here and at the mercy of my Glitchmon? You don't stand a chance!" Ridley had a sadistic grin as a large red R formed across the front of his suit. Ash jumped back before putting on a confident and brave expression as Pikachu's cheeks sparked threatingly.
"You're with Team Rocket? So you lied about this whole thing! The Porygon were likely kidnapped to save them from you!" Ash quickly deducted while letting off an angry growl. "How could you do that to your own creation? Treating them like common tools, you're a pitiful excuse of a father!"
"They're not mine, lied about that too. Giovanni will pay me handsomely once I wipe you out from existence, the money from selling the Porygon will just be a bonus!" Ridley tossed the ball forward as a Raichu burst out. It's cheeks sparked menacingly as it's body experienced glitches and blinked in and out of existence, the Pokemon though artificial definitely seemed to be very much real in this world and radiated off a powerful energy!
"Volt Tackle, now!" Ash ordered out. Pikachu raced forward as electricity flowed through his body while he charged at the glitched Raichu, slamming into him though despite how powerful Pikachu was it didn't even put a dent in Raichu! "Must be fun... cheating!" Ash clenched his fists while glaring at the evil scientist. He refused to admit defeat or back down, if Pikachu and him were to go down then they'd do it fighting!
"All I care about is Giovanni's respect. I'm pretty sure he'd do the same if he were in my shoes right now! Raichu use Flamethrower!" Raichu opened his mouth and blasted Pikachu with a powerful stream of fire with the electric type falling to his knees as a result as Ridley laughed and began walking over to Ash before grabbing onto him and holding him in a dead lock, Ash struggled to break free but the man had seemingly augmented his own body while he was here as he didn't even budge! "Now, let's throw you off the edge. If it helps then know that your friends will be spared, none of them stand a chance against what we have planned." Ridley spoke as he and Raichu dragged Ash and Pikachu towards the edge.
"Y-You won't win... Cynthia and Lance are too powerful." Ash coughed.
"We have plans for them too, believe me." Ridley had a sadistic grin as he now held Ash over the endless void. "Say your prayers, Ketchum! Goodbye!" He and Raichu dropped them only for a green streak to go flying by and catch them!
"What?!"
"Ray!" A glitched Rayquaza flew onto land and dropped Ash and Pikachu safely upon the ground shortly before turning back into code. Raichu soon turned back into code as well as Cypher appeared with a furious expression on her face.
"You!" She rushed tackled Ridley and pinned him against the ground. "Bad enough that you stole my idea, you tried to enslave them and also murder an innocent trainer?!"
"Not so innocent, that kid's been causing trouble for my organization for years! It's about time somebody puts him out to pasture. Besides don't act so innocent you were once a member yourself!"
"That was dark times in my life... I view things differently now. But even so you're still a cruel human being and I'm not going to let you hurt my children!" Cypher shouted as she rolled over and gave Ridley a kick, knocking the scientist over the edge but the man grabbed a hold of her arm and started dragging her with him!
"Cypher!" Zach dived forward and tried to catch her, grabbing onto her boot and began pulling her up. "T-This would be so much easier if Lucario was here..." Zach closed his eyes as he summoned all his strength and felt as if she were getting lighter. He opened an eye before gasping in terror as he stared wide eyed at the empty boot, looking down and hoping that she'd survived somehow but there was no trace of her anywhere! Ash placed a hand on Zach's shoulder and gave him a sympathetic expression. The two remaining silent as they paid their respect to the fallen hero.
"We should set the Porygon free..." Ash said after awhile, walking on over to the pen and finding a hatch. The gate opened up, freezing the Porygon from the enclosure as the walls were brought down.
"Pory pory pory!" The Porygon began flying off in random directions as a new Porygon showed itself from amongst the crowd, the creature looking sleeker, rounder and having a cleaner model than it's counterpart. The new Porygon flew right up to Zach and nudged him as it showed a note taped to it's back.
"Zach, before I met you I never really had a friend that I didn't create. You reminded me a lot of myself when I was your age. Hanging out with you was a lot of fun and had we gotten to hang out for awhile we probably would have been something even greater than friends, that is a mystery I want to remain unsolved. I'm starting over and beginning a fresh start to help humanity with my great knowledge instead of making creatures that do the opposite. Now that Ridley is gone I don't have to worry about him tracking down and using the rest of my Porygon for evil purposes which also brings me to the final part of the letter, I've been working on a new version of Porygon or rather an evolution. Porygon 2, he's the only one of it's kind at the moment but I could think of no better person to watch over him than you! Starting over means leaving everything behind and in the past. Take care of each other and stay away from Team Rocket in the future, not all of them are like me!"
"Cypher lived?" Zach smiled as he felt a huge lift being taken off his shoulders, he felt relieved as he thought he'd accidentally let her fall to her doom but she must have had a last minute means of escape!
"Looks that way? How do we get out?" Ash asked with a confused expression. Zach turned to look at him, tilting his head before shrugging in confusion. Both started sweating nervously as they realized that the one of the people that did know escaped while the other perished! Luckily for them Porygon 2 seemed to understand what they wanted as he pushed them against each other before crying out, opening up a portal and sending the four of them flying into it!
"So Ridley was actually evil this whole time?" Wattson looked ashamed upon hearing this, regretting sending Zach and Ash in there with him.
"Seeing how he threw Ash off a cliff yeah, he's totally evil!"
"What?!" Marnie gasped loudly upon hearing the news, her heart raced quickly as Ash rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well Cypher did save me," Ash laughed nervously while Marnie narrowed her eyes and planned to not let Ash out of her sight from now on.
"And there's a new member of the group, a completely new Pokemon!" Chloe excitedly exclaimed as her eyes were locked on Porygon 2, the Pokemon letting out a happy sounding cry.
"Not to mention that the Porygon of the world have returned to their trainers and others are free to roam once more!" Wattson laughed as the Porygon who'd gotten into the city's systems was now free and excitedly flying around the Gym Leader. "I think I'll keep this little guy!"
"Which reminds me, if you're gonna be a member of my team then you'll need to get in the Pokeball." Zach held up an empty Pokeball for Porygon 2, the Pokemon gazed down at it and let out a delighted cry before touching it with his snout as his body began disappearing in a bright red beam of light. The Pokeball shook within Zach's grasp and soon chimed to announce the capture before fading away in a bright light as it was teleported to Sonia's lab! Zach's Rotom Phone then lit up and showed Porygon 2's data as owned right next to Regice's. It appeared that Cypher also fixed the technical issues she had caused too as Porygon's data was now in the 'seen' category.
Wattson let out a light chuckle. "Ash, whenever you find yourself in Hoenn again we must battle! I've been itching for a rematch and it would be exciting to show off my new gym layout to you!"
Ash smirked and pumped his fists with an excited expression. "You're on, battling you again will be exciting!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
The following day the group left Mauville and boarded a plane to the Galar region, full of excitement for the upcoming battles ahead and the new Pokemon and friends they were sure to meet along the way!
Yeah this chapter was a bit weird but I wanted to make an explanation as to why Porygon never appeared again, somebody literally did up and steal them all but now they're free and Porygon are available to roam the earth and be captured again. While Porygon 2 also makes his debut!
Not utilizing Porygon's home just felt a bit wrong so I thought to make it a bit fun and escape from battles and serious moments for awhile and just have a fun time! Cypher actually can't do that stuff in real life, they were in the cyberspace and she manipulated the code in her favor as did Ridley. Glitched Pokemon won't appear again nor will Ridley, he's actually gone.
