This is the second of four chapters today.
"This seems cooler than the last one," Latias said, raising a hand and waving it through the air.
Ash translated for Tory, who smiled – shyly, but genuine enough.
"It's climate controlled," he said. "All the domes are a different biome – this one is temperate forest."
Latias spoke again, and Ash nodded.
"Back where Latias lives, there's a garden," he explained. "It's hidden away from the world, because it's where she and her brother live. But it's really nice – lots of tall trees, and pools of water."
"Sounds nice," Tory said. "Here it's kind of like that, but other people can come in too. They usually don't, though – you have to walk to get here."
He reached down and rubbed the leaves of a fern. "But I kind of like it like that. It's quiet."
Latias smiled. "I like quiet, sometimes – but you can have too much of it."
Tory glanced at Ash. "What did she say?"
"She said sometimes you can have too much quiet," Ash summarized. "I know when I met her she really wanted to leave the city – to go out into the world and really enjoy it."
"She did?" Tory asked, interested.
"Yeah!" Latias confirmed. She crouched down and lifted the tube of a pink flower which dripped alongside dozens of others from the plant's main stalk. "What's this?"
"That's a foxglove," Tory told her, proud to show off his botanical knowledge. "They're used to treat heart problems."
"Cool!"
They were near one of the doors now, and Tory glanced up to double-check which one it was. "This is the door to the tropical dome," he explained. "It's a bit hotter in there – and a lot more humid."
"It's pretty hot and humid already," Pikachu muttered from inside Ash's bag.
"Oh, right," Ash winced. "Hey, Tory?"
"Yeah?" the boy said, looking over.
"Is it okay if I let Pikachu out of my bag again? He'll behave, I promise – and so does he."
Tory looked apprehensive, then swallowed and gave a nod.
There was a gentle zrrp sound as the zip was pulled aside, and Pikachu gasped in some air before clambering out and onto Ash's shoulder.
He gave Tory a little wave, then turned to look at the plants as well.
"I'm not seeing it," he said.
"Tory likes them, and that's what matters at the moment," Ash replied.
"Pikachu are… Electric type, right?" Tory asked.
"Yeah," Ash confirmed. "Pikachu's pretty strong, and he's a great friend too."
"I guess it'd be nice to have another friend," the boy admitted.
"Another?" Latias asked.
"Another?" Ash repeated.
"Don't you know-"
"I was translating," Ash explained in an aside to Pikachu.
"Yeah – I met him a while ago. I'll introduce you!" Tory decided. "He's through here!"
"You seem to know your way around pretty well," Ash said, as they walked up a staircase.
"Yeah, I come here a lot," Tory said. "My Dad's great, but he has long hours, so sometimes I go here to wait for him to finish."
"I guess there are worse places to wait," Ash agreed. "How come there's no Pokémon in here, though?"
"I think it's some kind of experiment?" Tory frowned, unsure. "It might be… I read about it once, but it was a long time ago."
He looked back to make sure the others had arrived, and blinked as he saw Latias float up beside the stairs. "What… how did she do that?"
"Oh, right," Ash chuckled. "That's an illusion – she doesn't really look like that."
Tory nodded jerkily, began to say something, then shook his head. "I..."
He took a deep breath.
"What does she really look like?" he asked, quickly.
"Kind of cool!" Ash replied. "She's a Psychic-type and a Dragon-type, so she floats around – she's got these really soft feathers, too, so small you can hardly see them."
"I could show him, if that's okay," Latias suggested.
"How about it, Tory?" Ash asked. "Do you want to see what Latias really looks like?"
Tory looked uncertain – then nodded. "Sure..."
There was a blue shimmer as Latias dispelled her illusion.
"Wow..." Tory breathed, staring. "I… guess that is pretty cool."
Latias waved.
Tory twitched forward for a moment, then he shook his head and looked away. "I'll show you my other friend!" he said, firmly. "This way."
"How are you telling where he is?" Drew asked, glancing over at Max and the disc of static in his hand.
"Oh, this is a Mega Stone detector," Max replied – pointing out the bright spots of the Manectite and Steelixite right near the centre. He tilted it a bit, and the image cleared slightly. "And that is Ash – see, there's that one he's carrying."
"Just one?" Brock asked.
"I'm not sure how many he's got," Max admitted – looking at the brightness of the dot. "But I know he's got that one we found back before Fortree."
Drew nodded in understanding. "I get it – that's really useful, actually. Where'd you get it?"
"It's from Stone industries," Brock told him. "Problem is, it's so intensive only a Porygon can run it."
"Really?" Rebecca asked. "Huh… could be-"
"Looks like he's pretty close," Max reported. "About… what is it, Kris?"
Fifteen metres.
"That's in the next dome over," Drew told them. "The door's just over here."
He presented his card in a well-practiced motion, and the door hissed open.
"Hey, Ash!" May called, waving.
"May? Guys?" Ash waved back. "Oh – any of you have any Pokémon out?"
May looked at Swablu on her shoulder. "Uh… I do?"
"Me too," Max said, glancing down at Arc.
"Can you return them for a bit?" Ash asked. "My new friend Tory is kind of… Poké-phobic… and I don't want to startle him until he's used to them."
"Oh – sure," Max agreed. "Sorry, Arc."
"It's okay," Arc replied, letting himself be returned.
"See you later!" Swablu waved, as he vanished in a similar pulse of red light.
"Thanks, Ash," they heard Tory say. "I didn't know these people were looking for you."
"Yeah, I guess I kind of just skipped out of the Battle Tower..." Ash said. "It's fine, though, this kind of thing is more important."
In the underbrush, a Plusle turned to a Minun.
"Did you hear that?" she said. "That kid we met has problems with Pokémon!"
"I guess that explains why he didn't want to touch us," Minun agreed. "But you know what this means?"
"What does it mean?" Plusle asked, tilting her head.
"It means we need to help him!"
"You said something about a friend?" Ash asked, after everyone had been introduced to Tory – and, in the case of Rebecca, to him and Latias.
"Oh – yeah, that's right!" Tory agreed. "Hold on a moment."
He moved to the side of a pool, and took a deep breath.
"It's okay – you can come on out," he said. "They're friends – come and meet them!"
There was a flicker of green light, and a shimmering diamond of green-blue light floated out from underneath the fronds of a big tropical plant.
"That's… kind of weird," Drew said, blinking. "What is it? Is it a Pokémon?"
"I don't know," Tory admitted. "But he's a great friend – I talk to him all the time!"
Rebecca opened her laptop as the diamond swooped closer, and pointed the camera at it. "This seems to be… some kind of projection of high energy particles?"
"What?" May said, leaning over her shoulder. "How can you tell that with a webcam? Ethan's scanner takes longer than that..."
"Who's Ethan?" Rebecca asked.
As May tried to explain, Tory pointed to Ash. "This is Ash Ketchum – he's a Pokémon trainer – and next to him is Latias, who's actually a Pokémon!"
The shimmering diamond pulsed, and Tory laughed.
"Can you understand it?" Ash asked.
"A little," Tory shrugged. "I kind of get a vague sense of what he means."
Ash looked thoughtful. "Hey, can I check something?"
He took his hat off. "Can you try this on?"
Tory reached up and took it, examining it a bit dubiously. "Why?"
"I've got an idea," Ash said.
"Isn't that the special hat?" Latias asked.
Tory lowered it onto his head, and the diamond pulsed once before expanding and rotating faster.
Ash pulled it back off. "It's okay, it's just the hat!"
Mollified, the projection shrank back down to normal and moved a little closer to Tory – as if to reassure itself that he was really there.
"Ash?" Tory asked, looking scared. "What was that?"
"The hat's kind of… it gives me a Dark type," Ash summarized. "It's kind of bizarre."
"I tried it on once," Latias said, giggling. "I fell on the floor."
"So I guess that means that there's Psychic energy involved," Brock said, catching on to where Ash was going. "Does that mean it is a Pokémon?"
"I guess it must," Tory said, looking lost. "I thought-"
He shook his head. "It doesn't matter – I don't not like Pokémon, and I guess if my friend is to do with a Pokémon then that's fine!"
The diamond pulsed happily, and this time everyone felt the faint push of emotion that came with it.
"That's the right attitude!" Ash said, then his hand went to his belt. "Uh… Tory? Is it okay if I send out another Pokémon? I think that Entei might know what this is."
"I've heard of Entei," Tory said, blinking. "You've got one of those too?"
"You're about the only person in this city who doesn't know that," Max said with a sigh.
"I don't really follow Pokémon battles," Tory admitted. "I guess it should be okay… just, I guess, make sure he doesn't get too close."
Ash nodded his assent and sent the Fire-type out.
"Good afternoon," Entei said evenly, with a regal nod.
"He can talk?" Tory asked, eyes wide.
"So can Lucario and Suicune," Ash told him. "I think Raikou's learning."
Entei turned to examine the floating diamond. "Well, I'm not sure…" he said, with a frown. "I suppose it could be an illusion created by a Zoroark…"
He took a deep sniff, then shook his head. "No, not a Zoroark. And you said it was psychic anyway, so… hm."
Glancing at Tory, the Beast then tried something new. "Are you willing to let us know what you are?"
There was a faint sense of agreement.
"Right, that makes things slightly simpler… are you a Psychic-type Pokémon?"
Agreement again.
"A Mew?"
"What's a Mew?" Tory asked.
A Mew is a Psychic-type capable of shapeshifting, Dexter explained, making Tory jump.
"What was that?" he asked, looking around.
"That's just my Pokédex, Dexter," Ash supplied, taking the chassis out of his pocket. "Actually, Dexter, do you have any-"
Deoxys, Dexter interrupted, and the diamond of light flashed in agreement. The patterns are similar to aurorae.
"That's what it was!" Rebecca said, snapping her fingers. Then she frowned. "Wait. How come your Pokédex can – is it a Porygon?"
Affirmative, Dexter agreed. How did you know?
"I've got one too," Rebecca explained, tapping her laptop. "He lives in here… he's not nearly that curious, though."
Pokédex based personality matrices are superior, Dexter stated.
Actually, since we are all based off your matrix… you're pretty much just being a proud father, Kris said – in tones of astonished realization.
"Wait, you've got kids?" Ash asked, doing a double take.
It… is a surprise to me as well, his Pokédex admitted.
"What's a Deoxys like?" Tory asked, drawing their attention away from the digital discussion.
Deoxys is a Pokémon found mainly in outer space, Dexter supplied, thankful for the distraction. His projector flashed, and he produced images of the various Deoxys forms – taking care to not use any images from LaRousse itself.
"Oh, one of those?" Tory blinked. "I'm pretty sure my Dad knows something, because one of them was in the trip we did to the North Pole ages ago. I'll have to ask him when he finishes work."
"When's that?" Max asked. "I mean… I'm interested, but I'm also kind of hungry."
There were general nods of agreement.
"Tory?" Ash asked. "Do you know somewhere we could all have lunch? Somewhere big, so if we let our Pokémon out you can stay safely away from them."
"Uh…." Tory had to think. "There's a picnic area about ten minutes' walk away – I'll show you."
"Great!" Drew said. "I think I know the one – in front of the wind turbines, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," Tory agreed.
He turned back to Deoxys' psychic projection. "Actually – can you come with us?"
The diamond shivered, patterns swirling.
Rebecca narrowed her eyes, and began typing. "I think there's some language in there… I'll get Porygon to work on decompiling it."
"That'd be useful," Ash said. "I'm kind of used to understanding Pokémon by now, so..."
"I think he means yes," Tory said slowly. "But that it's hard."
"I'll help," Ash decided. He reached out a hand, and sent a pulse of strengthening Aura into the projection.
It firmed up a little, becoming more solid and less fuzzy, and Tory stared.
"How did you do that?"
"Aura," May said, without looking. "It's always Aura."
"Thanks," Tory told him, sniffing a bit. "I… you're being so nice!"
"I like to help people," Ash smiled.
"I'd say too much, but I agree with him every time," Pikachu said softly.
"Let's go get some lunch," Brock reminded people. "And you can show your friend more of your home city, too."
"I'd like that," Tory agreed.
"These aren't really built for parties," Drew explained, holding his card over the sensor. "So you kind of have to just wait a bit."
Enjoy your: Hot Dog!
The machine dispensed a wrapped hot dog, then paused.
Scanning card… card accepted. Enjoy your: Hot Dog!
"It'll take a while if I'm the only one doing this," the Coordinator added, holding his card there as the dispenser released a third one. "So, uh… can you find some others and start using them too?"
"Oh, right," Max said. "Got it!"
May reached for a Pokéball. "Can you look, Beautifly?"
A flash, and the Bug-type emerged. She did a spiral, gaining height, then dove with a shimmer of sparkles behind her.
Two quick horizontal loops in a figure-of-eight, sparkles trailing behind her for small fractions of the motion, and there was a bright pink arrow pointing across the park.
"Nice work!" May called up.
She headed over to that dispenser, and Beautifly dipped her wings before looking again and drawing another arrow in the sky.
"That's pretty cool," Tory said, looking up. "I didn't know Pokémon could do things like that."
"There's not a lot Pokémon can't do," Ash agreed. "And I like to think that my Pokémon are some of the best!"
Pikachu waved his tail, agreeing whole-heartedly.
"So..." Tory glanced down at the shimmering projection of his friend, then up at Ash. "What other Pokémon do you have with you?"
Ash reached for his belt. "Well, there's Lucario – he's taught me a lot about Aura."
Lucario emerged in a flash, and bowed. "Greetings, Tory. I am glad to meet you."
He reached out one hand. "Chocolate?"
Tory blinked at the bar. "...how did he do that?"
Lucario chuckled, and Ash smiled. "He likes being really mysterious and doing silly things. I don't know when he got the bar, but it's one of the ones I had in my bag..."
Tory took it, smiling – though his expression went a little fixed when he was so close to Lucario's paw. "I guess… I should remember that Pokémon are all different."
"Well, a lot of them are," Ash agreed. "And this is Charizard."
"Aren't Charizard kind of… big?" Tory blinked.
"They're not that bad," Ash replied, sending Charizard out – a long way from Tory, to make sure that it wasn't too scary.
Charizard stood on his hind legs, stretched his neck, flapped his wings, inhaled to roar – and sneezed, violently enough to land sprawled on the grass.
Tory snorted laughter, then looked mortified. "Uh – sorry!"
"Nice work," Pikachu said, nodding to Charizard – who gave a conspiratorial wink.
As the Fire-type got back to his feet, brushing grass off his neck, Ash took the next Pokéball. "This is Houndoom – he's a bit enthusiastic sometimes, so just tell him to stop if he's getting affectionate."
Absorbing the warning, Tory watched as Houndoom materialized – and then Heracross, as Ash sent out the last of his on-hand Pokémon.
"You seem to have a lot of Fire-types," he said.
"I've got… quite a lot of Pokémon generally," Ash replied with a shrug. "But yeah, I've got more Fire-types than usual today. Charizard's actually usually somewhere else."
"And it's great being called back for a picnic!" Charizard rumbled.
"Okay, we have food!" Brock called. "If this isn't enough I'll cook some more!"
"Quickly, Charizard, eat everything!" Ash ordered. "That way we get more of Brock's cooking!"
"Don't you dare," Drew said, sitting down with a sigh. "It took several minutes to get these, if you just eat them in one gulp I might cry..."
"Gotcha!" Arc barked, pouncing out of a bush at Houndoom.
The Houndoom he landed on burst, and Arc was left looking faintly confused in a cloud of smoke.
"Gotcha!" Houndoom riposted, pouncing on Arc's back in turn. The two wrestled back and forth for a moment, and then a great furry paw landed on both of them.
"I win," Entei informed them blandly. "New game?"
"Sure," Arc panted. "And this time we get Ninetales in too."
Tory laughed as the three canines shook themselves out and trotted off to resume. "They're really having a lot of fun, aren't they?"
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Pokémon training is partly about making the learning and battling into being fun – so that way it's much easier to do it for a while without getting bored."
"Battling, for those who like battling, is very exciting," Lucario said, eating the bun from a hot dog. "And for those who don't, just being around their friends can be enough."
"I guess that's why almost everyone has a Pokémon, huh," Tory said – smiling as the turquoise diamond of his Deoxys friend flashed. "I never really thought about what kind of Pokémon I'd like to have..."
There was a rustling in the bushes, and two yellow shapes burst out.
Tory flinched, and Ash and Lucario each picked one out of the air before they landed on him.
"Us!" the Plusle and Minun chorused, then looked confused.
"Wait, how come we're not..." the Plusle asked, glancing at her twin.
"Don't ask me," Minun replied, shrugging her shoulders.
They looked up.
"Hey, let us off!" Plusle said, cheeks pulsing faintly.
"That was really rude!" Ash told them. "Tory's still not good with-"
There was a loud BZZZRT as the Plusle and Minun shocked Ash.
"-Pokémon," Ash finished, and shook his head. "And that was even worse!"
"Well, you're not letting us down," Minun pointed out, and then promptly got dropped by Lucario.
"...ow," she said.
"Wait, are you the ones I helped get out of that garbage can?" Tory asked. "How come you're here?"
"I think they like you," Ash said, putting Plusle down and rubbing his tingling hand. "But they're not great at personal space..."
"Ash has all these really cool looking Pokémon, and he never does any contests," Drew sighed. "I'd love to see some of these on the stage."
Charizard went low over their heads, wings pumping, and rolled once before pulling up and letting out a spiralling tongue of flame.
"Yeah, I get what you mean," May agreed. "Charizard's one of Ash's powerhouses, but past a certain point you more or less have to get elegant just to avoid wasting energy."
She rubbed Glaceon's ears, smiling at the little yips of pleasure. "And it kind of works the other way, too. After a certain point you need the power to provide depth to your routine."
"I can get behind that," Drew agreed. "It's why Roserade decided to evolve, at least partly – she wanted the oomph, and when I told her about what happened to LaRousse..."
He trailed off.
"Do you think we'll be able to stop it?"
"It's hard to say," May said, sighing. "I've spoken to Brock about this before. He said that generally things seem to get worse when there's these really big crises… but that we tend to step up anyway. I hope the same happens here – it's not like the Forina thing where there was just a lot of rock around – this place is expensive to fix, and it has a lot of people in it."
Venusaur's vines tightened around Ash's Heracross, and she said something in stern tones.
May laughed.
"What was that?" Drew asked.
"Oh, right – sorry, it just seems so natural to understand what my Pokémon say… right." May waved. "Heracross is kind of a fiend for sap, and he's after what Venusaur has."
"He is?" Drew smiled, and reached into his bag. "I think I know how she could distract him..."
Retrieving a bottle of golden liquid, he passed it to her. "Here. It's the city speciality."
May opened it and took a sniff. "Maple syrup?"
Drew shrugged. "Hey, don't ask me to explain it… but I grew up with the stuff, I got about six bottles now that I'm in town."
"Thanks," she said, touched. "Hey, Heracross!"
The Bug-type looked up, and Venusaur dropped him.
Shaking it off, he tilted his head. "Cross Hera?"
"It's maple syrup," May explained. "If you promise not to bug Venusaur then you get some."
Heracross nodded, scuttling over.
"Bug? Really?" Drew asked.
May did a little start. "...I actually said that, didn't I?"
Drew nodded.
"Oh, no..."
"Okay, Cinder, ready?" Max asked.
Cinder nodded, a smirk on her face. "Serves them right for forgetting about me..."
Max chuckled. "Yep, pretty much. So, remember, when they're just about to declare the winner, and they're way too used to doing it when there's two of them beaten… in you go!"
"I like it," Cinder said, and slipped into the shadows – ready to stalk her fellow canines.
"Don't forget to stay downwind," Max added.
He looked up, and saw Delta coming in for a landing.
"Hey, Delta," he said, opening his arms, and catching the Water/Flying type with an oof. "How's things?"
"I think I'd like a quick rest, please," Delta requested. "It's quite tiring trying to keep up with Charizard."
"Sure thing," Max said, taking his Pokéball and hitting the button.
Nothing whatsoever happened.
"What's-" he asked, blinking, and then a purple display of light blossomed in the air.
"What's that?" Ash asked, looking up.
"It's the same kind of energy as Deoxys," Rebecca reported, her laptop already analyzing it. "I'm not able to translate anything – I need more of a language sample."
"Does that mean there's another Deoxys?" Tory said – then looked at his friend. "Wait – the thing that happened at the North Pole! This must be what that other Deoxys wanted! It's looking for you!"
The projection flickered, sending a pulse of agreement, then focused and began to produce an answering aurora.
It got to about six feet wide, then hashed into random noise and collapsed back to a diamond.
"Are you okay?" Tory asked, worried. "What happened?"
He frowned, concentrating, then looked up. "He says that… the other Deoxys will think something's wrong if he can't reply in person. And..."
"You can understand him?" Rebecca blinked.
"Kind of," Tory admitted. "Feelings and pictures. And… he says that Dad's been trying to revive him at the lab. So we should get there!"
"Which way's the lab?" Ash asked.
Tory pointed, but before they could get very far there was a change in the lights overhead.
"Those are more Deoxys!" Rebecca said, her laptop's camera magnifying the image. "What are they?"
"Substitute," Lucario declared flatly. "We may be about to be attacked."
"Tyranitar, go!" Rebecca ordered. "Help Metagross!"
Her Pokéball clicked, and produced nothing.
"Guys!" Max called, Delta in his arms and Guy pacing alongside. "The Pokéballs don't work!"
"We'd better get to the lab before Deoxys does anything else," Ash decided. "Charizard, try and slow them down!"
Charizard roared, letting out a blast of smoke and flame, and turned to fly up towards the gathering swarm.
AN:
Of course things get complicated.
Unfortunately, Deoxys moved a bit early this time, so they're not quite ready. Actually, he moved a day early, so… you know.
And yeah, Dexter's position is somewhere between "father" and "clone template".
