Crisis
The six foot tall teenager strolled past the grandiose glamour of an archway, towards the booming behemoth of an edifice that had a hipped gold and bronze roof, four garnet towers encircling the glossy exterior wall of the Indigo Plateau. A daunt straight marble staircase climbed into the darkness of the interior, with two exquisite marble statues at the newel posts. The gold Pokemon League symbol gleamed at the top of the building, and was accompanied by bewitching carvings of the Kanto legendaries next to it.
Most visitors would be awestruck at the sight of the Pokemon League HQ of both the Johto and Kanto region, but not for the Gym Leader, since he was used to this place.
It took some time for him to reach inside, with him sweating and panting a little. The lobby was void of people, except for Nurse Joy at the Pokecenter and the store owners of the Pokemart that were situated on either side of the gigantic space. He then turned left, heading into a narrow corridor, where at the end stood a spiral staircase and a conspicuous guard standing near it.
The Gym Leader then nonchalantly took out a small tag out of his jeans' pocket, in which the guard acknowledged and permitted him access to the upper floors. Ascending the stairs, he checked the time on his Xtransceiver, his face turning up into a scowl, since he was way too early before the scheduled timing. Sighing, he shove the device into his pocket and resumed his climb.
He wended his way through the second level corridor, where plenty of breathtaking paintings lined the walls on both sides. Taking a turn, he was once again greeted by another guard wearing the same uniform as the first. The Gym Leader then followed the guard, and was led to large ebony double doors that looked simple and sturdy. The guard bowed and pushed down the door handle, revealing a classy and air-conditioned conference hall. The Gym Leader stepped inside, and after the doors were shut close, he scanned the huge space with a critical eye.
The prime hall was furnished with a long, opulent oval conference table that had a glossy night blue top, with twenty-one digital screens propped up along the middle, twenty armchairs along the edge and one lone seat at the head of the table. The walls were painted a silver grey, the bright maroon carpeted ground complementing the table's color. The ceiling was made of stained glass and had an intricate symmetrical design, while the source of lighting were spots of lights at the corners that scattered the brightness all around the hall, giving warmth and a sense of importance to this place.
He breathed in the faint lavender smell that lingered in the air, his chukkas scraping against the ground as he walked to his seat. This teenager wore a slate grey chore coat with a white collared shirt inside, a pair of khaki colored cargo pants and a thin leather belt. Around his neck hanged a small pendent that was obscured by the shirt and the last thing that made him looked special was his hairstyle, which was spiky and light brown in color. Green then sat down onto the unbearably comfortable seat, thinking that he could get a nap while he waited for everyone's arrival.
Until an eerie and gaseous hand tapped on his shoulder, causing him to shudder involuntarily.
"Boo." A familiar voice called out. Unable to contain his fear, Green screamed as he frantically pushed the blonde haired young man away. The Haunter that had frightened him chortled maniacally in a corner, the ghost type amused at his comedic reaction. Its trainer was also snickering as tears of laughter flooded his indigo eyes.
"Ahahahaha! You're still so scared of ghosts!" cried the young man, before he doubled over and continued his laughing fit. The Viridian City Gym Leader felt his face going red, both in anger and embarrassment, and finally he jumped out of his seat and glared daggers at the trainer and pokemon duo.
From what Green observed, the other male was slightly taller than him, and sported a cool black sweater that had thick purple hems, white baggy jeans and a pair of purple and black street sneakers at his feet. A purple scarf that was spiked and reddish at the ends was draped over his neck and held together by a small, shiny gold pin. His curly blonde hair was held up by a purple headband, his round and lighter toned face having a pair of indigo eyes, thin eyebrows, straight nose and lastly, a seemingly permanent grin on his lips.
"Matsuba... do you want me to pummel you?" Green muttered with a tone of annoyance.
"I would prefer that you call me by my name, not my surname, Oak-chan." The other Gym Leader purred.
"Morty...!" Green growled as he cracked his knuckles.
"Woah, I was just joking, don't glare at me like that!"
"Keh, I've enough of this, leave me alone."
"You're getting cranky, Oak-chan. Let's carry out this plan to pass our time."
"Don't wanna."
"Come on! You can't be serious about rotting here for one hour until the rest arrive?"
The skeptical Viridian City Gym Leader eyed Morty for a while, before he let out a sigh. Morty Matsuba grinned delightfully, before he whispered into Green's ear. The younger trainer's eyes widened after the little plan was made known to him, and it did not take long for the two Leaders to have a crafty little smirk on their faces.
The young lady said a quick thanks to the guard, before her legs swum into the conference hall. She knew that she was early, but not to the point where she would arrive first. Right now, the hall was empty, and all for herself until the other Leaders and Elites come in.
She wore a simple cardigan, a plain white shirt and ripped jeans which were perfectly agreeable with her. Her shoes were to be frowned upon for this occasion, since they were a pair of rubber flip-flops that squeaked with her every step. As long as the clothing was comfortable, she'll wear it. Meanwhile, her bright green eyes admired the bluish colors of the hall, for she loved the color blue and literally anything that was related to the sea.
Today felt good, perfect even; her hair was not curling up, her clothes did not itch, and more importantly, she had reached here without accident. Nothing could go wrong, and certainly no one could make it go wrong.
And how wrong she was.
An ominous cackle made her froze in her tracks, while two ghastly voices from both sides of her ears sung out noises that sent shivers up her spine. Another odd high-pitched laughter cried out above her, in which she looked up, and her breath got sucked away instantly as her eyes witnessed a smoky apparition hovering above her.
Misty shrieked and dashed to the door, her thighs numbed and wobbly, her vision wet from tears and whole body cold with fright. But instead of the exit that stood before her, it was a figure that blocked her escape. The terrified female yelped and after shutting her eyes, she picked out one of her pokeballs that was strapped against her hidden pokeball belt.
"S-Starmie! Psychic!" screamed the Cerulean City Gym Leader. Starmie blasted forward in a bright white light and obeyed her command, the two unaware of who they were attacking. The figure shouted, "Time out, time out! in alarm and suddenly another flash of white light shone within the room. A loud bang made Misty blinked open her eyes, allowing her to capture the scene before her.
Starmie's psychic move had definitely hit a target, but was not effective against the calm-looking Alakazam that stood its ground before Misty, and strangely, a frantic Gengar was hovering above the two. The short-haired female then spotted two familiar faces, and everything finally made sense to her.
"What. Were. You. Two. Doing?" she huffed, her green eyes having an furious glint in it.
"Ahahaha... I almost died... there." Green let out a dry and awkward laugh.
"We've picked the wrong target.." Morty whispered as sweat rolled down his cheeks, and then the two Gym Leaders gulped nervously, realizing that they had screwed up.
"Hey, what happened to you two kids?" Lt. Surge inquired as he removed his shades. "Y'all look pretty dead."
The ex-Commanding Officer always seemed to have his brows furrowed down, and even with his current amused expression, he still appeared intimidating. The muscular and buffed man wore his usual tight sleeveless shirt that flaunted his abs, along with army pants and boots. His electric blue eyes was still watching the two Gym Leaders, Green and Morty, their faces bashed up and in a sorry state. Meanwhile, Misty just snorted, the girl as sassy as ever.
"Ha! Hey, Surge, Misty, and... Waaah! What in blazes happened to the both of you!?" the zealous Blaine shouted. The fire type Gym Leader was donning a red long-sleeved shirt, a white vest and simple brown pants, while his dress boots, trilby hat and cool-looking cane provided him a more youthful look.
"Ignore them, Blaine, the younger generation have their own problems." Pyrce remarked as he hobbled past his shocked friend, the older man having a rather unenthusiastic expression. The balding and grumpy ice type Gym Leader was a lot dumpy than the rest, and he was garbed in a fading blue trench coat, a dull pair of pants and brown leather shoes.
"... Um... Hello everyone," greeted Jasmine shyly, "...Anyone wants tangerines..?" The gentle female, despite being in her twenties, looked younger than Misty, and was carrying a basketful of the sweet orange fruit. Her outfit consisted of a frilly and baby blue one piece dress that looked nice with her orange accessories and smooth brown hair.
"I'll take one, thanks." Sabrina swept past Jasmine as a tangerine floated into her hands, causing the steel type Gym Leader to gasp in wonder. The Saffron City Gym Leader was famous for having especially strong psychic powers for a human, and performing telekinesis was simple for her. The woman wore a maroon turtleneck, and low-waist shorts, while her mid-length hair curved outwards, and her hands had thick black wristbands that glowed green.
The next two who arrived were Bugsy and Falkner, the two looking unnaturally serious. Both Gym Leaders did not seemed to notice their beaten up friend, Morty, and were instead whispering to each other. And their conversation's main topic was none other than the challenger that had visited them not long ago.
Clair entered with her strange superhero costume, with the cape and flashy boots, and no one was surprised since the Blackthorn City Gym Leader had similar tastes to her cousin and former Champion, Lance.
The Elite that got here first was Koga, along with his daughter, Janine of Fuchsia City. The parent and child excelled in ninjutsu, so their prided ninja uniforms fitted them well. However, Janine looked nothing like her father with her big round eyes, small face while Koga had a longer face and stern, beady eyes.
Followed by Erika, the petite and beautiful lady wearing a silk kimono that showed off her figure. Falkner's attention was turned to the traditionally dressed woman, in which Bugsy started poking fun at his blushing face.
Then, Will, the psychic type Elite, strutted in cheerily, his peculiar appearance causing the people in the hall to turn their heads to look at him. With that mask and bartender-like outfit, he could be deemed to be a suspicious person.
"Green, Morty, you guys alright?" Brock asked with a concerned tone. The rock type Gym Leader of Pewter City donned a suave orange v-necked sweater and baggy work pants. His soft brown hair was spiky, his nose having a snub shape and his eyes remained as small as ever.
The next one who tumbled in was the Whitney, who was dressed in clothes that fitted her childish mental age. She then joined in the girl circle where all the female Gym Leaders were chatting with one another.
Karen arrived minutes later, the sexy woman possessing a model figure and pretty Carolina blue hair, and she was clothed in a simple yellow spaghetti strap top, white three quarter pants, and lastly, a pair of high heels.
The last Elite, Bruno, had burst through the doors with Chuck, the two fighting enthusiasts shouting "I arrived first!", but were disappointed to see that they were one of the last people to reach the Plateau.
Right now, all sixteen Gym Leaders and Elite Four were assembled, all of them sitting idly in their seats. There was just one empty seat left, and the latecomer was already five minutes behind the scheduled timing. Then ten minutes. Fifteen minutes.
"I'm sorry for being late!" Yelled Ethan, who dashed into the hall like a madman. His hair, along with the cap, was extremely messy, his casual attire soaked with sweat. Those pair of gold eyes had a certain charm to them, and the Champion was as usual, wild and reckless. After he caught his breath, the boy scampered off to his seat that stood at the head of the table. He squirmed uneasily in the armchair, feeling awkward that he was sitting at the most important seat. The Leaders and Elites greeted him a hello, before they went back to their respective conversations
"Ethan, you'd better treat me and Morty lunch for making us wait for one hour." Green called out with a weary voice, his head laying on the table lazily.
"Eh? Why?" Complained the Champion. The two started their bantering, and Morty joined in with a couple of ghost jokes.
The conference hall got increasingly noisy with all the chatter, and the moment the twenty-one digital screens flashed the Pokemon League symbol, everyone hushed and settled down. Finally, a sonorous voice from a hidden speaker spoke.
"Greetings, Gym Leaders, Elites and Champion, thank you for attending this League Conference in spite of your busy schedules."
Suddenly, the screens displayed the words "Johto-Kanto Pokemon League Conference".
"Now then, shall we start?"
Red's eyes snapped open, and the teenager hurriedly observed his surroundings. The place looked abstract, with numerous floating clocks and the background was a single white space. There was no ground for him to stand or sit on, nothing for him to touch, and his head felt dizzy just being here. Charizard and Pikachu had woken up as well, and were trying to adapt to this weird space.
He did not know where he was, and where did the two strange Pichu went. Red stood up, or was he standing, he wasn't sure. The confused trainer dug into his backpack and released Bayleef and Espeon, the two pokemon equally muddle-headed.
Where are we? Bayleef muttered blearily in his head.
Wait. How am I able to hear you in my head? I did not use telepathy at all. Espeon questioned in surprise.
And I can speak to you in my mind.. said Red.
How strange. Pikachu said to himself in skeptical wonder.
This level of telepathy is amazing! exclaimed Charizard.
Of course it's amazing. I'm the one who did it after all.
Red and his pokemon jumped, and all blinked in surprise when a green, fairy-like creature appeared above them. The queer living thing had strangely long hands that had three fingers each, tiny round feet that had no toes, and clear wings that fluttered slowly on its back. There were distinct black rings around its large baby blue eyes and a pair of long blue tipped antennae on its big round head.
You're Celebi... the voice that spoke to me before we ended up here... Where are the two Pichu? asked Red apprehensively.
Oh, the two Pichu act as the doorkeepers to my dimension, so no worries, they are safe.
Stop, you're Celebi? The Celebi? That can't be! Pikachu cried out in disbelief, while his teammates had a flabbergasted looks on their faces.
Yes I am, you impudent little one. Let me redo my introduction. I am the time travelling pokemon, Celebi. I am directly under the great god of time, Dialga, and part of the mythical pokemon that serve the almighty Creator. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Number Zero.
The all-green pokemon said as she did a deep bow. Meanwhile, Pikachu, Charizard, Bayleef and Espeon went stiff and kowtowed before the mythical pokemon. Red, on the other hand, was having difficulty trying to register what Celebi had said. Finally, he uttered with his mouth,
"... What is Number Zero...? Mew called me that...before."
Ahh, you meant that day. During that time, Arceus deemed you to be too young for the task. So now, I suppose I have to tell you the significance of the Number Zero.
"... What is it?" Red breathed, anticipation filling his chest. Back in New Bark, he did not take much notice of it. Now that his curiosity was burning again, he wanted to know more about it, and he will know about it.
You are the first card of the Major Arcana, and your title is: The Fool.
After that one announcement, the trainer was swept away by so much information that his mind could have been blown open.
Twenty-one digital screens switched to the display slide that presented an introduction. All the participants read the information, careful to not miss one single word. The whole hall was deathly silent, and there was not a single creaking of the chair, rubbing of the feet, or anything. It was just silence booming in this place.
On all the screens, such words were written:
The purpose of this League Conference is to announce a piece of news that would affect both regions, and the organisation will need all the manpower we have. Whatever is said within this hall is strictly to be kept confidential.
The screens then went blank with a snap, and then the same deep voice from before coughed, demanding everyone's attention.
"I shall take over from here, images will be shown to you on the screens, while I'll be the one doing the narrating."
As if reacting to the speaker's words, the monitors flicked on again, and this time, it unfolded the map of Kanto, Johto and the Sevii Islands. The large map displayed a spatial distribution, where most areas were colored yellow or blue, a few spots green.
"What everyone is seeing now, is the pokemon population around the two regions and the Sevii Islands. It is essential that we prevent an overpopulation of pokemon, and thus we have a team dedicated to maintain the delicate balance of the ecosystems. The data on the screen is from two months back. Now, please look at the changes from then to now."
A different distribution map was shown, one month after the previous one. A few wowing could be heard, while many others had looks of surprise on their faces. Right below Fortune Island of the Sevii Islands archipelago, a small triangular piece of land burned the color of danger.
"This is what we have exactly one month later, right at Birth Island, the pokemon population had drastically increased and we quickly sent a scout team to find out what had happened."
The speaker coughed twice, and then he continued,
"A certain mythical pokemon was discovered to have cloned itself repeatedly."
After a few shakes by Celebi, Red's gaping mouth finally went shut. He then glanced at the rest, the four pokemon having the same dumbfounded expression.
I suppose you have all your questions answered? Now, now, let's move on.
The audience could only nod their head dazedly. They'll slowly take their time to digest the information, after they get out of here.
This place is a time-travelling platform. This is my dimension, and time passes at a different pace than the real world. So by the time you all leave here, one full day would be over. And as- Hey, snap out of it and listen to me!
Celebi clapped its three-fingered hands before the five beings, who sat up straight and properly listened to it.
As you all know, I serve Arceus by being part of the mythical pokemon, where each of us are powerful and special. Most of us respect him. And most of us are loyal to him.
Most of us? All five of them inquired in unison. Celebi's bright blue eyes darkened and its expression went grim. It sighed deeply, before it answered.
One of us went rogue.
"We have quickly evacuated the citizens of Quest and Fortune Island, and there are plans to do the same for the remaining islands. We do not know what is the cause for this sudden occurrence, but we do know the consequences that will follow if no action is taken."
The screen flashed and switched to a video.
"What you will be watching is a footage of the pokemon clones on Birth Island."
The low quality video played, and the camera zoomed in onto the edge of a piece of land, supposedly Birth Island, and immediately all the Gym Leaders, Elites and Champion were thrown off-guard as they witnessed alien-like creatures crawling all over the island. A few of the viewers backed away in their armchairs as they gaped at the horrid scene. Suddenly, the video paused once more, in which the speaker spoke.
"All over Birth Island, there are over three thousand Deoxys. I repeat, three thousand, and the number is still growing. The team was unable to proceed further and had to escape from the island."
Deoxys should be unable to create perfect clones of itself. All its clones should be a lot weaker than the original. Yet now it created so many copies of itself, and each copy is as strong as the real one. None of the mythical pokemon really kept tags on one another, so no one knew what happened to it.
"... But you can't just decide that it became bad just by... cloning itself." protested Red. "Maybe-"
It sent a declaration to you humans a month ago, Zero. And all mythical pokemon are very, very sure that whatever it had said, is going to be very, very catastrophic.
"... What did Deoxys say?" asked Red as he felt a lump in his throat.
The video continued to run, as the twenty-one people stared at the screen intently, at the island that was practically infested with Deoxys. The over three thousand clones silthered over the entire surface, giving it an appearance of an orange and turquoise armoured monster. Gradually, a small heap of that pokemon formed in the middle, where a single Deoxys, clone or not, emerged out of the heap. Its creepy white irises in the black sockets seemed to gaze directly at the camera. As if taking notice of the humans that were filming it, the pokemon glared at them with hatred, and then the crystal sphere in its chest glowed. The next thing that came was totally unexpected, for a hollow and freakish voice echoed within the video, and it was apparent that the mythical pokemon had talked.
"...bzz... Destroy... all... humans and... bzz... poke-bzz-mon... Destroy... Kanto... Johto... Annihilate..."
By now, the people in the conference hall were simply wordless.
Brock was now frowning. Misty gasping in terror. Lt. Surge clenching his fists. Erika covering her mouth. Janine staring blankly. Sabrina's expression getting more and more serious by the second. Blaine biting his lower lip. Green's hazelnut brown eyes widening.
Falkner clasping his hands together. Bugsy's mouth hanging open. Whitney stoning in her seat. Morty drumming his fingers on the table. Chuck's meaty fists hitting each other. Jasmine shuddering. Pryce grapping onto his cane tightly. Clair's head being supported by both arms in shock.
Will's teeth chattered. Koga rubbing his palms together. Bruno with his eyes closed. Karen twirling her hair in nervousness.
Ethan was just glaring back at Deoxys.
The voice in the speaker went grave and dangerous as he confirmed everyone's thoughts, "Yes, everyone, Deoxys-"
You're kidding me! Three thousand of them? Three thousand and still growing? Pikachu cried out in alarm.
It might reach millions! shouted Bayleef.
And they're aiming for destruction! Charizard added urgently.
This is very, very bad. Espeon shook her head.
"..."
Celebi exhaled, and finally it enunciated,
Yes, Deoxys had declared war. On all pokemon and humans of the Kanto and Johto regions.
Cheerss!
onetimetrip