Test Subject D.L.C #0 heard a strange sound come from outside of the cage. He had lived inside the cage for all of his brief life. Sometimes tall people would come in and do things to him, then stand back and watch. There was one time a rodent had been put in the cage and he responded by spewing poison at it, that seemed to draw the tall people's attention. Not that it changed anything. Unlike the presence of this new big person he hadn't seen before. #0 was disappointed that he had yet to see anything he felt a connection to. He was certain that if he saw someone else like him, he would finally know what exactly he was.
The visitor was a man with black hair and a blue coat that had gold trims. He had an eagle shaped breastplate, and a pair of gold colored boats also adorned with the symbol an eagle at the top. A cloth that was red, white, and blue was pinned to his coat with a gear. His pants were white with a single red line going down each leg. "Hello there little fella. I can't stay here for too long, but it looks like you need some help. Name's Abraham Lincoln, but please just call me Abe," the visitor said.
#0 slowly walked over to the door of the cage. He had never been outside of it. Lincoln broke the lock of the cage with a punch and threw open the door. "I hereby proclaim you emancipated. Now I have to get going before some real ugly fellas catch onto me, and I suggest you do the same." Abe said. A glowing portal appeared, hovering in the air behind Abe. A thick fog obscured the sight of whatever was on the other side. Abe walked through the portal and it closed.
After coming to the conclusion that it couldn't replicate what Abe had done, #0 opted for running to the door. He grabbed the doorknob with his mouth and turned it, opening the door. #0 pushed ahead into a place he had never seen before.
The hallway was made out of featureless metal, looking exactly the same in either direction. #0 knew somewhere within itself that it was the antithesis of the kind of place it was supposed to be in. He wanted a place like his cage with dirt and plants, but bigger and with others like him. And without the part where it was cage obviously. As #0 began walking to the right a kremling walked down the hall in his direction. The alarm was set off.
Not understanding why there was now an irritating sound, #0 charged forward at the kremling. The kremling tried to grab him and got a face full of poison in return. #0 didn't look back as the kremling fell to the ground. Then someone broke through a door and slammed #0 into the wall. "Those imbeciles couldn't even keep a plant from breaking out. Let's see if the reports of you being fireproof are right," Ridley said. #0 tried to break free as Ridley pressed him against the wall. Ridley tightened his grip and swung #0 overhead and into the ground. There was no movement from #0.
Ridley cackled as he prepared a fireball. #0 found the strength to fire a much smaller fireball of his own at Ridley. Ridley's fireball plowed through it and struck #0, sending him sliding across the floor. Despite how much it hurt to move #0 knew he had to seize the chance. He coiled himself up, then quickly stretched out until his mouth hit the grate of an air vent. #0 grabbed on with his mouth and pulled himself up into the air vent before Ridley could grab him. He rushed through the air vent, Ridley's claws destroying where he was moments before.
The air vent went up. #0 spun his leaves rapidly and ascended, breaking through the grate at the top. For the first time, #0 saw the sun and a clear blue sky. Something about the sight felt calming. Like he had already seen it a thousand times before. Instead of walls there were railings at the edge of the deck, and water all around it. #0 leapt into the air as Ridley cut through the ground it was just standing. Ridley flew up through the newly made hole and grabbed #0, throwing him down to the cold hard metal.
"Hey, can you do me a favor and continue not breaking? I really need a good punching bag. All the others keep dying just when I've got a good rhythm going. You make a lousy fighter anyway. Target practice suits you better" Ridley said. He spat out a fireball that made impact with #0. The flames did nothing, but the impact alone made #0 whimper in pain. Ridley flew down and began slashing #0 with his claws. Through all the pain #0 could still feel the sunlight. Even with the claws digging into him #0 could feel something slowly building up, hurried along by the power of the sun.
#0 opened his mouth and fired a beam of solar energy. Ridley dodged it just in time. However, the recoil sent #0 flying backwards, away from Ridley and right through the railing of the ship's deck. He knew he had to keep the momentum and spun his leaves to keep himself in the air over the water. Unfortunately, the many wounds from Ridley made that possible for only a few moments. As #0 fell into the ocean he could see flying ships descending towards the ship #0 just escaped from, and Ridley flying up towards them.
#0 regained consciousness in a warm place. He was in a large building that had clear windows to let the sunlight in. There was a woman standing in front of #0. She didn't look like a threat, which reminded #0 of Abe. "Hey there, Piranha Plant, right? My name is Professor Burnet. Nice to meet you." Burnet held out her hand. #0 rubbed his head along it. The door opened.
"Oh good, he's finally awake," Leaf said as she walked through the door.
"Did any of the other Smashers have some good information?" Burnet asked.
"Bowser had a lot to say when I told him about your findings. That Piranha Plant was an experiment made by the Space Pirates, using research provided by Viridi. When Bowser heard about what they were doing he broke off his deal with the Space Pirates and attacked, but the little guy broke out on his own." Leaf walked over to #0 and patted it on the head. #0 purred in approval.
"So will Bowser be coming by to pick him up?"
"We have his permission to keep Piranha Plant. Bowser said he's going to send over stuff to help with your research, he has no clue what was actually done to Piranha Plant. To be specific he said I could treat Piranha Plant like one of my Pokemon, is it okay if I give him a nickname?" Leaf asked.
"That's fine by me, but you should see what Piranha Plant thinks." Burnet said. #0 nodded in approval. He was well aware that he had no way of communicating what he had been called before. And he hadn't been attached to that number either. "So what are you thinking of calling him?"
"Well Bowser said the experiments were trying to create the ultimate Piranha Plant, so I was thinking of calling him Ulti."
"That's a cute name," Burnet said. Leaf held out her hand, Ulti placed one of his leaves in it. "He probably hasn't had a chance to get out much, why don't you try taking him for a stroll around Wuhu? There are some great jogging routes. I can't wait to show them to Kukui when he finally gets here."
"Okay, let's get going Ulti." Leaf took off towards the door, Ulti followed as quickly as he could. Which wasn't that fast. Leaf held the door open for him. A warm wind greeted Ulti when he stepped outside the building. The feeling of grass under his feet felt good on an instinctual level for Ulti. There were only a few clouds up above, not enough to block out the sunlight. The lab was by a lighthouse that overlooked a cliff. Ulti didn't like the fact that he could see the ocean. Thankfully Leaf led him away from the ocean and down the hill towards a paved road. After looking both ways Leaf held Ulti and they crossed the road together. The two of them were clearly different, but Ulti decided having a friend was close enough to having others of his kind.
When they got to the other side Ulti heard a whistle. He took off in a run towards the source of the sound. Pikmin were gathered in a group in front of a man wearing a spacesuit, Ulti joined them. "A piranha plant? Leaf is that yours?" Olimar asked as Leaf came running up to him.
"Yeah, this is Ulti. He heard your whistle and just took off running," Leaf said.
"Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever tried whistling near other plant animal things. I just assumed it only worked on Pikmin. We were about to get work building a house, Ulti can help out if he wants to. And then I can ask Bowser if I can borrow Petey Piranha next time I go to PNF 404, those Bulborbs won't know what hit them. Oh, it'll be payback time for all those times they ate Pikmin," Olimar said.
"Olimar you're getting into your ambitious sadist mode again."
"Right sorry, sometimes the power goes right to my head. Well while I'm in the mood, may as well go all in on things I've wanted to say for a while. March my minions! Go forth and assemble that house!" Leaf did her best to hold back a chuckle as the Pikmin and Ulti picked up pieces of wood and carried them to a marked spot. Ulti did his best to match the Pikmin's movements. He felt some form of kinship with them. But he was disappointed by the many differences between himself and the Pikmin. They were clearly different kinds of creatures.
Leaf pulled out a pokeball and sent out Fushi, her Ivysaur. Fushi used his vines to help out with the construction. Ulti couldn't climb the way the Pikmin did, so he spun his leaves and flew up with the flying Pikmin. The frame of the house quickly rose up thanks to the diligent work of the Pikmin. Olimar whistled and called for a break. When Ulti got down to the ground Leaf held out a few red Pokeblocks. Ulti ate all of them at once.
"Wow, guess you were hungry. But some of those were for Fushi, try to be a bit less eager in the future," Leaf said. She pulled out a few more Pokeblocks and gave them to Fushi. Ulti looked down at himself and then at Fushi. There were more differences between them then there were with the Pikmin. And since he had stolen Fushi's food that probably meant they weren't going to be friends. Ulti decided to be more careful in the future.
"So how exactly did you end up with a piranha plant anyway?" Olimar asked.
"I found Ulti on the beach one day and took him to Professor Burnet. She did some tests and discovered a lot of strange things about him, he has a lot of traits most piranha plants don't. Burnet even says he's practically a Pokemon, she thinks he might even be able to use moves like Solar Beam. But anyway, I talked to Bowser and he says that Ulti was a lab experiment made by the Space Pirates, so that's why he's so special," Leaf said.
"Hopefully those Space Pirates don't come here. But if they do we'll need a plan, they probably want their experiment back," Olimar said.
"Bowser said he'll help us if that happens, and Samus will be more than happy to have an excuse to beat up Space Pirates," Leaf said. While they talked Ulti walked over to a certain spot of the ground. He could sense that there was something under it. A few white Pikmin seemed to have noticed as well. They got to work digging whatever it was up. Ulti liked the sense of unity that came with working together with the Pikmin. He would have to make sure not to unknowingly steal their food.
"Yeah, but they have to get here to help out. If we still had the mansion it would be different, but everybody's scattered now. Bowser and Samus are in Smashopolis whenever they're not in their own world, to fend off the Space Pirates they'd have to get here first. Smashopolis is neutral territory so we should take him there," Olimar said.
"But if we do that won't it be easy for them to track Ulti? They probably have no clue where he is right now."
"Good point. We need to find some way to get him protected status, the kind where Ridley can't just stalk him until he leaves Smashopolis for whatever reason. At least not without bringing in more trouble than he could handle," Olimar said. Leaf put her hand on her chin as she tried to think of a solution, Olimar twiddled his thumbs. Meanwhile the top of a treasure chest emerged from the ground as the other colors of Pikmin moved to help with the excavation.
"What if we asked Master Hand to make Ulti a Smasher? Then it'd be a huge risk for anyone to try and kidnap Ulti, and everybody would know about it right away if somebody tried to anyway," Leaf suggested.
"That might work. I heard Master Hand is looking for new recruits. We should call him, after we see what's in that treasure chest," Olimar said. The excavation of the treasure chest finished right as Olimar stopped talking. Ulti waited by it. Olimar opened the treasure chest and pulled out a book titled 'The King in Yellow,' he put it in his pocket. There was nothing else in the chest. Leaf's phone began to ring.
"Hey Professor Burnet, what's up? No, I haven't seen any Ultra Wormholes. I'll get-wait what?! I'm on it," Leaf said into her phone. She hung up with a panicked look on her face. "Professor Burnet says an Ultra Beast just appeared. Stay back, Fushi and I will go handle it."
"Ultra Beast?" Olimar asked.
"Pokemon from other dimensions that got sent through things called Ultra Wormholes. Ultra Wormholes give off a ton of energy so anything that goes through one comes out super strong. Actually, you need to take Ulti with you to somewhere safe. The Ultra Beasts are drawn to anyone with Ultra Wormhole energy on them, and Burnet said that Ulti had a bit of Ultra Wormhole energy on him. She thinks it was just second-hand exposure, but that might be enough to make him a UB magnet," Leaf hastily explained. A humanoid figure appeared in the distance, Fushi took a defensive stance in front of Leaf.
"I'm not leaving you to fight this alone," Olimar said. He whistled and the Pikmin formed up behind him. Ulti got into position next to Fushi and prepared to spew out poison. As the figure got closed it changed from humanoid to clearly some kind of human. Then Ulti realized exactly who it was.
"Well my friend, it appears we meet again," Abe said. He continued walking towards the group.
"You know Ulti?" Leaf asked.
"I helped the little fella break out, I'm glad to see he made it to a safe place. See I have a bit of a condition. Portals appear around me, and if I don't go through them bad things begin to happen. The most I could do was break his cage and hope he could handle the rest," Abe said. He patted Ulti on the head when he got close enough. "Name's Abraham Lincoln, but you can just call me Abe. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." He extended his hand, Leaf and then Olimar shook it.
"It was a just false alarm with the Ultra Beast, that's a relief," Olimar said. Leaf's eyes widened.
"Burnet's scanners know the difference between a human and an Ultra Beast. Mr. Lincoln, did anything strange come with you through the portal?" Leaf asked. The ground shook with the stomp of something large approaching. A strange creature that resembled a piece of architecture more than anything living came into view. "Never mind, we found it. That's UB Assembly AKA Stakataka."
"Do we have a plan more sophisticated than 'hit it really hard?'" Olimar asked.
"Hit it really hard and then catch it with a Pokeball." Olimar sighed. Stakataka began firing rocks. The group immediately scattered to avoid them. Jagged rocks burst out of the ground, forming a large but difficult to escape circle.
"That bizarre piece of architecture is alive? I'm afraid I won't be of much use here," Abe said. He had the misfortune of ending up the closest to Stakataka, who instantly charged at him. Abe jumped out of the way. Fushi ran up to Stakataka and used Bullet Seed. Instead of retaliating Stakataka fired more rocks at Abe. Leaf tossed a Quick Ball at the Ultra Beast. Stakataka was drawn into the Pokeball, then promptly broke out of it.
"Well it was worth a shot." Stakataka picked up a rock and prepared to throw it. Olimar had managed to get close and threw Pikmin at Stakataka. The purple Pikmin seemed to get a slight reaction, but the rest were completely ignored. Meanwhile yet another projectile was lobbed at Abe. "UBs tend to focus people with Ultra Wormhole energy. Can you keep drawing its attention Abe?"
"Just tell me where to go young lady," Abe shouted. He ducked as a sharp rock went soaring over his head.
"Not near us," Leaf said. Eight of Stakataka's eyes shifted their focus to Olimar. One of its legs knocked Olimar off his feet and a good distance away from itself. The King in Yellow slid out of Olimar's pocket.
"Whatever you do, do not let that book be opened," Abe shouted when he saw the book. Stakataka looked at the book and started walking towards it. Ulti tried to stop it by spitting out seeds at him, the exact way Fushi had earlier. Fushi grabbed one of the legs with his vines, and then released right as the leg began to shake. Leaf threw a Beast Ball at Stakataka. It shook twice, then Stakataka broke out.
"We need to keep weakening it," Leaf said. Olimar grabbed The King in Yellow and tossed it towards Abe, who snatched it out of the air. Stakataka adjusted its focus in response and charged at Abe. Olimar flung a purple Pikmin at it. One of its legs wobbled, but ultimately the charge continued unimpeded. Abe was just barely able to get out of the way in time. "I wonder, with a bit more force… Hey Ulti, you used Bullet Seed earlier. Can you use Solar Beam too?" Ulti nodded. "Everyone, I have a plan."
Fushi and Ulti stood at Leaf's side and began charging solar energy. Olimar stayed close to Stakataka, but not close enough to be attacked. Abe continued dodging projectiles, gradually slowing down and getting pelted by debris. Ulti and Fushi struggled to contain their built up solar energy. Finally, Stakataka began to rush at Abe. Olimar charged forward and threw as many purple Pikmin as he could at it. Then Fushi and Ulti unleashed their Solar Beams at the same time, the two beams merged together and threw Stakataka off balance. Leaf ran forward and tossed another Beast Ball. It hit and absorbed Stakataka, then landed on the ground. It shook once, it shook a second time, it shook for a third time and made a 'click' sound. The circle of jagged rocks sunk back into the ground. Leaf let out a sigh of relief.
"Glad to have that over with," Abe said. Leaf picked up the Beast Ball. Ulti reached out to The King in Yellow, Abe lifted it away from Ulti. A sad growl came from Ulti. For some reason the book felt comforting to Ulti, like it was an old friend. Ulti felt even more of a kinship with it than he had with the Pikmin.
"Not having any treasure to haul back with me after a fight like this feels weird," Olimar said. Some of the Pikmin began lifting up the treasure chest, which had gotten through the battle unscathed. "Well, it's better than nothing. So, about that book."
"This is a very cursed play. I was the leader of an organization that dealt with plenty of forbidden knowledge, and even we considered it too dangerous to keep. The moment you open the cover your fate is sealed. One researcher was certain he could study it without even laying a finger on the book, but the potential for danger was simply too great when we already had other books of forbidden knowledge to study," Abe explained. He fiddled with the gear on his coat.
"It's a play? Does anybody know what it's about?" Leaf asked.
"I've heard about parts of the plot, but nobody who reads the whole thing survives long enough to write a full synopsis. The important thing is that this book is filled to the brim with a mysterious kind of energy. Carter, the researcher I mentioned earlier, theorized that it may be something close to a living being. Or rather, a detached part of one."
"What? That sounds gross. And kind of like a UB." Leaf pulled out another Beast Ball and tapped the book with it. There was no effect. A mist filled portal cut through the air behind Lincoln.
"It appears I have to leave now. Thank you very much for your assistance. I'll take the book off your hands, so you won't need to worry about it," Abe said.
"Wait. You said one of your researchers could study the play without opening it, right? I'm sure Professor Burnet could figure out what's going on with this book." Abe looked between Leaf and Olimar, then at Ulti. He handed the King in Yellow to Leaf.
"Tell this professor Burnet to get in contact with an organization called S.T.E.A.M, if they exist in this world. Let them know that I approved of this and I'm sure they'll be willing to help."
"Thank you," Leaf said.
"Huh, I think Lucina said something about helping out some group like that."
"Ah you know Lucina, that's good. Send her my regards, and the knowledge that I'm alive and well. I would do so myself, but these portals never put me anywhere near my old friends," Abe said. Leaf picked up the Beast Ball that Stakataka had been caught in and handed it to Abe, alongside a few other empty Beast Balls.
"It sounds like you need this guy's help more than we do. And the other ones will help you make some new friends," Leaf said. Abe accepted the gifts and put them in his pocket.
"This is a strange gift, but I won't refuse it. Hopefully these portals let us meet again someday." With that Abe walked through the portal. Once he vanished from sight the portal closed.
"That sounds bizarre, but you all handled it like champs," Professor Burnet said. The group had quickly gone to her lab after the portal closed. A glass container sealed off The King in Yellow from any curious hands. Ulti and Fushi played together while Leaf and Olimar listened to Burnet. "I'm already getting interesting readings from this book. Abe was right, it's covered with an energy similar to Ultra Wormhole energy. I've already had a breakthrough thanks to it."
"How did it do that already?" Olimar asked.
"I specialize in studying things most people write off as an unexplainable, before the Ultra Wormholes I studied dreams at a lab in Unova. My biggest challenge jumping into the Ultra Wormhole research was the lack of evidence, they're so rare that assuming things is difficult with such a small sample size. That means I have to be conservative with my conclusions, a seemingly unique Ultra Wormhole may actually just be what all of them are like in a certain area. And that makes each piece of data all the more valuable," Burnet explained.
"That's why Pokemon Professors and Trainers have such a good relationship. We go out and collect all sorts of data," Leaf added.
"You gathered some vital data this time. There are a lot of hypotheticals I want to explore, but for today let's just talk about what we actually learned. Most importantly, I was wrong about Ulti. The Ultra Wormhole like energy on him is similar to the one from the portals Abe went through, which may or may not be an Ultra Wormhole. Abe said he was the one to break Ulti out, so that energy must have come from that encounter." Ulti perked up at the mention of Abe. Fushi had gone from playing to resting and had taken the spot that got the most sun. After the incident with the food Ulti didn't want to push things. He was just glad it seemed to have been forgotten. "But there's even more we know now." Burnet turned her monitor so Olimar and Leaf could see it.
"Sorry, I don't understand what we're looking at. If I understood science better I wouldn't be working at Hocotate Freight. I've always wanted to be a biologist, but I don't have the talent for it," Olimar said. There were three graphs, labeled 'Ulti,' 'Stakataka,' and 'The King in Yellow.' All of them had a yellow line and a blue line, except for Ulti's, which only had a blue line.
"I could use a new lab assistant if you're interested. Anyway, all you need to notice is how these graphs look compared to each other. I was able to fine tune my sensors to pick up on a new kind of energy thanks to that cursed book. It seems to have some form of direct relationship with the Ultra Wormhole energy, I can't even guess at what that relationship is yet. Ulti, could you come here for a second so I can get up to date data." Burnet held a Poke Bean in her hand and lowered it. Ulti came running over and chomped on the treat. Burnet's scanners whirred to life and the graph for Ulti's readings was updated with a yellow line.
"Ulti's data looks kind of similar to the book's data now. And Stakataka's yellow line is sitting at a solid zero," Leaf said.
"Right, those are the readings for the newly detected kind of energy. And Ulti here has a lot of it. I'm not sure what exactly this means, but it could mean something big. I need more data to say anything meaningful, this kind of energy looks like it will need its own units of measurement for precision. Kukui should be finishing up his research in Smashopolis soon, he was going to come here afterwards anyway. I'll ask him to bring Samson too, together the three of us might be able to crack the case."
"I'll get in contact with S.T.E.A.M. They should be able to help out, and it sounds like they don't know Abe is doing okay. And I might take you up on that lab assistant offer," Olimar said.
"And I'll go talk to Master Hand about making Ulti a Smasher. Ulti should stay here so you can keep doing your research," Leaf said. Fushi got up and extended a vine towards Ulti, they did their own version of a handshake. Then Fushi was recalled into his Pokeball. Olimar and Leaf said goodbye and left the lab.
Soon the only sounds in the lab came from Burnet typing on her keyboard. Ulti focused his gaze on The King in Yellow. There were a thousand secrets hidden behind the cover. And Ulti just knew that they had to do something with him. Ulti fell asleep after concluding all he could do for now was wait. In his dreams he saw a great number of sights he didn't understand, like an ancient city known as Carcosa. But he was sure that he would understand all of it one day, and in turn understand what he was. With the help of the Smashers it was only a matter of time.
A/N: And with this the Fighter Pass 1 arc is off to a Lovecraftian start. Piranha Plant is easily my least favorite newcomer in Ultimate thus far due to being a generic enemy, so I made a point of making him anything but generic. The Carter mentioned by Abe is none other than Randolph Carter, a character from several Lovecraft stories who also appears in Code Name S.T.E.A.M (for those of you who haven't played it). Kukui and Samson were originally going to appear in person, but that was too many characters for a role that in this chapter could be filled by just Burnet. Joker is up next.
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