Chapter 5: Missions
"Popcorn and a movie," Chris called it.
Certainly the popcorn was delicious, almost to the point where he just wanted to stick his large blue head in the big bowl and munch huge mouthfuls. He was sure Blaze (and probably Chris) would have frowned on that, though.
Watching moving images on the large screen with it's accompanying sound wasn't bad either, though he didn't understand a lot of it. Chris had to explain it was an old, classic movie about humans and their Pokémon partners chasing large whirlwinds called tornadoes in someplace named Oklahoma. It had it's share of excitement, along with whole host of words he'd never heard before…or at least, couldn't remember hearing before. When he asked what they meant, Chris only said not to use them in public; something about it ruining the image of Pokémon. He swore Blaze was grinning in the dark glow of the screen afterward.
"What a staraptor wouldn't give to do a wind attack like an F5 tornado," commenting after they walked out onto the patio and glad to finally be alone with Blaze after Chris retired.
But Blaze was staring at the lit landscape around them that was the city at night and didn't respond for a few heartbeats. "Leo, do you think we'll find your human self soon? I don't know how much time we have, but I assume we don't have forever."
Leo rubbed one of his gills, now wondering the same thing. Dialga hadn't known how much time they had either, but his urgency couldn't be missed. "I'm sure we'll find him," fairly confident in that at least. Just how long it would take was entirely another matter. Whether it would be "in time" to stop whatever it was they were supposed to stop, he had no clue. "When we do find him, we still have to find out what it is we're supposed to prevent."
"Guess I thought it was going to be too easy," Blaze replied, scratching behind his red ear. "You had another memory return today?"
He looked back through the patio door to the empty bag of chocolate candies he had eaten during the movie; they tasted even better than they smelled. "In the shop, it felt like I'd had them before, that they were a favorite of mine. Think I remembered a bowl too, but that's all."
Jerking his tail around him, "Ah, so your human self likes those chocolate candies," Blaze replied rather flatly. "Another clue, then."
"I wonder if that's common among humans, though," Leo mused. When Blaze hadn't moved his gaze from the scene below them, he knew something else was bothering his friend besides just finding the human Leo. "What's wrong?"
His partner visibly tightened his grip on the black railing. "In our world we are really strong. We worked hard to become that way, we fully evolved, and hardly anyone can beat us. Here in this human world…when I was fighting that machoke, I felt like a chimchar again. It's…bothering me. More than I would have thought."
Staring back, Leo felt a little surprised at how his partner's sentiments mirrored his own. "At least you only had problems with a machoke; I was nearly knocked out by an aipom!"
Blaze faced him, letting out a quiet and short lived "Ha ha!" chuckle. "So you are feeling the same way. I wasn't sure."
"Yes, it's been bothering me too," Leo admitted. If he had lost, that would have counted among the more embarrassing moments of his life, without doubt.
With an annoyed sigh, "What is it here? It seems the Pokémon are tougher than the Pokémon on our world. Is it because they have humans with them?"
Which again, was a thought that had crossed his mind earlier. And then something started to make sense. "The humans are called trainers…"
"Huh. I only thought it was a name given in passing," Blaze replied in a more thoughtful tone. "Maybe the humans do make a difference and don't just give orders and watch for fun."
"The human who was controlling that aipom was telling him to make the best possible attacks against me today, and he executed them very well. That human was even calling out the next attack almost before the last one was over. I nearly couldn't decide what to do fast enough." Leo found himself still respecting not just the aipom, but the human as well.
"What's that old Poké saying…two heads are better than one? Maybe…working with Chris won't just be good for finding your human self, but in helping us get stronger too. I mean, if we're going to get pushed around by machokes and aipoms here, we have some work to do!"
Leo couldn't have agreed more. "Chris said we'll get plenty of chances for matches on the way to the other city tomorrow. I think we better take advantage of them."
Blaze nodded right before jumping back from him, his mouth agape in surprise.
"Huh?" Following his partner's gaze, he swung around.
"Hello, Blaze, Leo!" a high-pitched voice said quietly.
Grin spreading across his face, "Celebi!"
"I finally found you two! Palkia sensed you were around here somewhere, but of course I had to actually do the pinpointing." Then in a serious tone with hands on her hips: "Living with humans already, I see," though her smile evaporated any semblance of seriousness.
"Chris is helping us find my other self," Leo replied.
"In exchange for battling for him," Blaze quickly added.
"Oh? Battling?" Celebi lowered herself down a little, putting herself more between the two of them as the wind from her wings slightly ruffled Blaze's mane. "Sounds like a few things have happened since you arrived here."
Leo launched into telling the events since they arrived, with much commentary from Blaze.
"You really are going to battle for this human then?" she asked. "Just don't forget why you're here while you're having fun," winking one of her large blue eyes.
Exchanging a knowing glance with Blaze, "Not sure how 'fun' it's going to be; the Pokémon here are tougher then what we're used to."
"But…it is good that you're going to that Pinnacle Valley town."
Blaze furrowed his forehead. "Why's that?"
"Since Dialga and Palkia arrived in this world, they've been working together to locate your human self by trying to detect the distortion around him, the same one you have, Leo. But this distortion is unlike the first distortion that's around the two of you," Celebi said, pointing to Leo and Blaze. "This second distortion is harder to track. The first one makes tracking you two relatively easy, and it still took me all day to actually find you as this town is large. But your human form only has the second distortion, and it took both Dialga and Palkia more time to "feel" his location. The best they could do was to locate him somewhere around the Pinnacle Valley town, which isn't all that far. Looks like Palkia did an excellent job selecting the location for the two of you to enter this world."
"In Pinnacle Valley?" Blaze said, excitement suddenly beaming from his face as he did a small jump.
"Is it possible to find out his last name?" Leo asked, hoping she or the two dragons might have discovered more than just his human self's general location.
Celebi went from looking quizzical to confused. "Last name?"
"Humans have two names: a first and last," quickly explaining. "I've only remembered my first up to now. I don't know what my last name was."
"Oh! Well, I don't know."
"Or how about what the human Leo looks like?" Blaze asked.
The small light green Pokémon shook her head gently. "Sorry, I don't know that either. Palkia mentioned he would like nothing better than to actually observe your human self, but he's rather frustrated that he can't even pinpoint his location. In fact…and don't tell either of them that I told you this," she said with a mischievous smile, "he and Dialga had a bit of an argument. Palkia said none of this would be happening if he hadn't brought Leo back from non existence."
Leo felt a sharp pang in his chest at that comment. Palkia never struck him as being quite as happy around him as Dialga was. Perhaps now he knew why.
"Of course, Dialga pointed out to him it was the two of you that later saved his tail, so to speak, as well as the world for the second time." Celebi laughed, "I'd never seen Palkia go speechless like that before!"
At least Dialga was indeed solidly on his side. "I just wonder if I'm going to recognize my human self when I see him."
"I have faith you will, Leo," Blaze said, watching Celebi move over them.
Leo felt her slight weight settle on his back and head, right between his head fins. "Huh? What are you doing?"
"I've been flying all afternoon and evening. I'm tired. And you look strong and comfortable…and cute, so I thought I would just settle in here…"
Blaze appeared to be suddenly struggling in maintaining composure. "I wish I had a mirror to show you Leo, with her head right above yours. You do look…cute," as a massive grin finally started showing on his face.
He tried in vain to see in moving his eyes up, but it was no use. Two points like elbows pressed slightly into his head, and when Blaze mimicked resting his head propped up by his two arms, he felt considerably less than dignified.
"Yes, much better," Celebi announced. "Now then, you're worried about recognizing your original human incarnation? But you do know he has a Grovyle with him, the same one that you said helped you save the worlds the first time."
"I would like to see him again very much too," Blaze commented with a slight puff of his mane.
"Just remember Blaze: like me, Grovyle will have no knowledge of either of you. Like me, the version of him that knew the two of you no longer exists. You could say this is his pre-Time Paralysis version, the way he ended up without the time-freeze disaster ever happening."
"That part I understand."
"Good. And you, Leo, have you thought of what you're going to say to yourself when you do meet him?"
Leo resisted the urge to scratch the itch he was getting from some of Celebi's fine hairs. "I…" It was a good question, making him realize he hadn't put much thought at all into it, being more worried about finding him first. "…guess I would just tell him what's going on."
"Hm," before she fell silent for a moment. "When you were turned into a Pokémon, do you remember how you felt when you first realized that?"
There was a feeling he would never forget! "Lost. All I could remember was my name and I was once human. I didn't even know where I was."
"Ah. So, now imagine your human self, and this talking Pokémon walks up to him and says, "Hia there, Leo! Guess what? I'm you, but been turned into a Pokémon in a future that no longer exists.'"
And before he could get a word in about proving it: "And since you remember nothing of when you were human, how are you going to prove it? It's not like you'll be able to say something only you would know, like: 'Hey Leo, remember that time when…," he felt her shrugging, "…you were walking along that path and a apple fell on your head four years ago?'"
He grimaced, watching Blaze do the same as he stared above him at Celebi.
"Ah…we never thought that far," the infernape admitted. "Any suggestions?"
"Nope. None. But…I'm sure the two of you will figure out something. After all Leo, maybe what Uxie did might help stir up some memories yet," tapping her finger on the side of his head several times.
He almost jumped. "What? You know about that?"
"How?" Blaze echoed, his mane puffing again.
"Because I visited her the day after you did. I went to ask if she could in any way restore even part of his human memory. I was quite surprised to hear that you had already been there about the very same thing. The two of you are actually quite smart."
And as if to emphasize it, she patted his head a few more times.
"I'll further that by guessing your human self is the same way. Anyone who crosses from one world to another to investigate problems with time, has to be smart. Very smart."
Jumping slightly, "Ha ha! Then that's one more thing we know about your human self, Leo," Blaze pointed out.
Celebi went on: "Of course, I could be completely wrong; every human could be really smart, which then wouldn't make you stand out so much. But…I don't think so, and in any case, I think you're pretty smart regardless," finishing with a giggle.
"Um…thanks." Remembering her other self from the Future That No Longer Exists, he already knew she could be a flirt. That thought was only reinforced when he started feeling… "Hey, quit tickling!"
She giggled. "Ooooh, are you ticklish there?"
"Yep, he's ticklish around those fins!" Blaze confirmed, obviously getting another bout where he could barely contain himself.
Putting a hand up by his fin only moved the maddening sensation over to the other fin. "Hey…!" Which then necessitated both hands, where he quickly discovered he couldn't protect very much of his fins at all!
All the while, Blaze was dying.
"OK, OK!" Celebi squeaked in a high-pitched mock surrender when he finally managed to reach over his head and grab her between his two large hands. After letting her go: "I only did it because you're my favorite human-turned-Pokémon."
"I'm the only human-turned Pokémon!" Leo pointed out.
"Currently, which makes you my favorite, silly!"
"Currently?"
"So, can I spend the night here to rest?" quickly changing subjects. "I'm too tired to fly back to Dialga and Palkia yet to tell them I found you."
Which seemed to sober up Blaze in a hurry, "Ah…" jabbing a thumb toward the patio doors.
Leo felt no less than disappointment himself. "There's a human living here! If he sees you, I don't know how to explain you." Which was, more or less, the truth. "We haven't really told him anything yet."
"Oh…I see. Yes, I guess you're right then, if you haven't told him why you're here…yet. There are any number of beings who would really like to capture me, humans probably among them. Being able to travel through time is a rare gift….and a curse. I'll just sleep in that tree down there," pointing with a sigh to the nearest large tree that towered even over their third-story level. "Yes, from that tree I can still watch you two, and make sure you don't get into any trouble!"
"Everyone's always worried about me getting into trouble," Blaze mumbled…but with a smile.
The map crinkled as Grovyle studied it carefully in the seat next to him, moving a two-fingered hand over some of the road lines. It wasn't that Leo Hanson minded driving, he just minded driving around the crazy streets in the center of cities. Especially during the later part of the morning rush hour. Too many other crazy drivers, too many bicycles, and too many…
He slammed on the brakes as the kid shot out from between two parked cars, stopping just in time.
…pedestrians. He was quite thankful for his trusted Grovyle being with him, at least. He knew his green partner could read some human language, but he was surprisingly good at reading maps, which he guessed was due to their pictorial nature.
"Grovyle!"
Turning the direction his partner indicated at the next intersection, he felt relieved there was a park on one side of the street to provide a good line-of-sight against any more suicidal kids running around. Fortunately their destination was only a few blocks further, in the form of a multi-story apartment tower that Grovyle pointed out from the picture provided by on-line mapping software. And with further relief, parking wasn't much of a problem with ample spaces around and underneath the building.
"OK Grovyle," Leo said before opening his door, "remember, Professor Werner for some reason said to be careful of this person I think, although his profile suggests he's just an ordinary trainer. But just the same, let's be on guard a little."
"Grovyle!"
"Alright then, let's meet this trainer and his new supposed anomalous swampert."
The building, being unsecured, allowed unrestricted access, though they saw each individual unit had it's own lock system once they arrived on the third floor. "Number three-oh-seven, three-oh-seven…" mumbling mostly to himself, but partly for Grovyle's benefit as they passed the door numbers in succession. He knew he was at least a little nervous. After all, just how was he going to explain dimensional variations to the guy? "Uh, sir, I have reason to suspect your swampert here has a slight dimensional distortion around it that our sensors picked up a few nights ago. We'd like you and your swampert to come to the lab with us so we can examine it and run some tests…"
Yeah, right. Way too police sounding. "All right, one thing at a time," still mumbling as they arrived at the door. "Let's just introduce ourselves first and ask to come in. One step at a time."
"Gro…"
He waited while Grovyle reached up to smooth some of his hair.
"Thanks buddy."
The green Pokémon nodded.
Wondering what he would do without his friend of many, many years, he hit the button and waited.
And waited….
…and waited some more.
"Hm." Hitting the button again, he listened carefully for any sound of the bell. Yep, it did ring, and several heartbeats later it was becoming obvious the trainer wasn't at home, to which he wasn't completely disappointed in. But, he had a job to do in finding him.
He hit the button one last time and after a half-minute, decided the trainer definitely wasn't at home. "Well Grovyle, we must have missed him." A glance at his watch told it was only mid-morning, and proved that he hadn't really dawdled on the twenty-some mile drive. "Maybe gone to whatever job he has."
Sounds of a different door unlocking got his attention and an elderly woman emerged from the next door over. She noticed him immediately, but locked the door behind her first before speaking. "Are you looking for Chris?"
"Uh yes, I am. Do you know where I can find him?"
"And who are you?"
"Oh, sorry." Quickly pulling out a card, "He doesn't know me, but it's important I talk to him."
The woman put on the pair of reading glasses that were hanging around her neck before holding the card up in front of her. "Leo Hanson. Associate Senior Researcher, Department of Advanced Physics, University of Pinnacle Valley." Her eyebrows raised.
"If you could give him my card and ask him to call me on my cell as soon as he can, I'd really appreciate it."
"I'll do that, young man," the woman replied, making him smile at the word "young." At thirty-three years, being the second oldest in the lab almost made him feel like everyone's father! He couldn't imagine what Professor Werner felt like. Probably like everyone's grandfather. But then, he really was a grandfather.
"Well, I dunno whether to hang around and wait for him to come home or not." The woman said as they were parting that Chris had left early that morning and that he was also on a summer vacation, so he wasn't working for a few weeks. Other then that, she claimed not to know anything. "If he doesn't have a job, he could come home at any time."
"Grooovyle."
He waited for his partner to gingerly climb in and shut the door, carefully parting his two tail leaves in sitting. Human car seats didn't always fit Pokémon very well, depending on their exact anatomy. Fortunately, Grovyle fit better in cars than a lot of others.
His cell chimed just as he was about to start the engine. "Leo."
"Hey there, it's Sally."
Not that he didn't recognize her voice immediately. Really, other than Naomi, there were no other females in his life in anything approaching regularity. "What's up?"
"I'll assume you didn't find Chris at his home."
Her statement made him pause for just a second. "How'd you know that?"
"Because the distortion signature is moving."
"Moving? Where?" If the distance it traveled was great enough that the DV detector was detecting it…
"Well, you know the resolution can't pin anything down more than within a few miles, but it's showing a definite movement…towards us. As best as I can tell, he's moved a several miles this morning and is probably outside Jade River already."
Leo glanced at his Pokémon friend next to him. Sarcastically: "Great. Looks like our search has just become harder."
Chris called it a subway train, though Leo thought it a weird name. Whatever it was, it was large, moved fast underground, and had lots of humans crammed on board, many of whom didn't appreciate the fact there were two medium-size Pokémon crammed in with them. Fortunately the ride didn't last long before they were in another, much less crowded train. This second one apparently took them the furthest any of them went, nearly outside the city. Then with the sun halfway up it's morning arc, it was onto the walking path that went between Jade River City and Pinnacle Valley.
It wasn't unpleasant, with the smells and sounds of the surrounding forest and occasional grassy areas not dissimilar to what he and Blaze were used to on their own world. Still: "Why don't we use one of those boxes with wheels that carry humans around?" he asked, after Chris said they'd be walking for a couple days. It wasn't that he wasn't used to such long journeys – he and Blaze often had walks like that for many of their explorations – but if a faster way presented itself, why not use it?
"You mean a car?" Chris asked. "We wouldn't get to battle along the way for one, and I really can't afford a car anyway; my job doesn't pay that much. So, we have to walk."
"What is his job?" Blaze asked.
Leo translated.
"I'm a delivery driver. You know, packages and such."
"He's like some of the pelippers then," Blaze furthered.
"So, what is all that stuff in those bags you got?" Chris asked after a little while. "You never did tell me what country those coins are from, either. Very odd the coins don't say that. All money at least says the country."
"Country?" Leo pondered. Chris had mentioned countries a few times, but he didn't understand what it meant.
"Don't tell me you don't know about all the countries either?" After the expected sigh, he explained about the different areas of the world split up between different human governments. "So then, where is that money from? I'm kinda interested. Or are you sure they aren't just tokens?"
At this point, Leo wasn't sure what he should admit to. If he insisted it was money, that'd only invite the next question of "where from". He knew what a token was, but then it'd be the obvious question of "what for". He looked to Blaze for help.
"Tell him it's money."
"And what do I tell him about where it's from?" Leo returned.
Shrugging, "Just don't say anything."
He grimaced. Right. "It is money, where we're from."
The human stared back as he walked abreast of them. "OK, then…where are you from?"
"Someplace you haven't been." Leo knew that'd invite another question, and the human didn't disappoint.
"There's lots of places I haven't been. Care to be more specific?"
"No."
Blaze started snickering.
"Uh, OK," Chris replied with expressed puzzlement. "Guess we all have our secrets."
They fell silent as a boy approached and passed them, looking in a bit of a hurry.
"Notice the Pokéballs on that kid's belt?" Chris asked. Not waiting for an answer: "Bet he's heading for the Jade River Gym. Anyone with that determined a face I peg as a challenger."
"Did you have a match there?" Leo asked.
"Yep, took me two tries before I beat the Leader. Electabuzz was able to come through for me in the end. But the Leader in Pinnacle Valley…" He shook his head slowly. "That guy has several ground and grass types. Most of my team, as you've found out, are electric. That's why I really need the two of you to help round out my team."
"Yes, I noticed what types attacked me," Leo replied with still slightly festering bitterness. The jolt he got that evening from the combined power of no less than three electric type Pokémon wasn't one he was likely to forget. He didn't even regain consciousness until the next day! And that was after being treated in one of those 'Poké centers'. "That hurt, you know."
"Sorry," Chris replied. "But battling isn't painless…is it?"
"Depends," Blazed replied.
"Depends," Leo echoed. He or Blaze, or sometimes both of them, had gotten hurt in battle plenty of times. But healing usually didn't involve much more than rest or eating a berry or two. There were, of course, the more serious type of injuries, including those one passed out from. That was where one or more good friends come in real handy to get one's self out of those places. Fortunately, he and Blaze had managed to avoid those type of injuries in nearly all situations where it could have happened.
Another small human approached and this time, didn't pass quietly. Instead, he stopped several paces from them, whipping something out of his pocket.
Chris likewise stopped. "I think we might have our first challenger of the day."
"How do you know?" Leo asked.
"He's scanning you."
"Scanning?"
"With a Pokédex. He doesn't know what one or both of you are, so he's scanning you to find out. He's sizing you up for a challenge, most likely."
Blaze shrugged again, "What's a Pokédex?"
Sure enough, the kid was soon walking up to them, "A swampert and a infernape? Mister, care to battle?"
Leo saw the smile creeping across Chris's face. "Sure!"
The kid ran back, whipped a Pokéball out of his pocket, and at the end of a red beam the Pokémon was soon standing.
"Another electric type?" Leo exclaimed. And a luxray, no less! He sure hoped Chris wasn't planning on… At once he realized he had spoken out loud in human speak and the kid was staring wide-eyed at him.
"That…that Pokémon…swampert…talked!"
Sighing, Chris gave him a pained look. "Leo…"
"Wow! I can't believe it! I mean, it actually talked! Oh, mister, let me battle that one!" the kid visibly overflowing with excitement.
Well, since the kid already knew… "I'm not battling an electric type," he shouted back, mostly to ensure Chris would forget any notion he had about putting him out there.
Chris groaned. "Leo, would you please not…"
"What's the matter, you afraid of me, blue skin?" the luxray returned in an unmistakable mocking tone. "And why are you talking in human speech? Can't you speak Poké? Are you stupid?"
He and Blaze had encountered their share of cocky Pokémon before. He already was starting to count this one as among that number. "If you were a magmortor, you wouldn't be talking like that!"
"Let me at him!" Blaze shouted, pointing to himself and leaping. "I'll teach him a few manners!"
Which would be a good idea, considering Blaze would have decent effect against a luxray without a water type's weakness.
"Well, come on then, little ape! Let's go! Or you, swampert! Or are you really a big chicken?" The sharp teeth in it's unfriendly grin looked suddenly menacing as it widened it's legs, making itself look even stronger.
"What's it saying?" Chris asked, rapidly looking back and forth between everyone, hands out in a gesture of confusion.
"He's taunting us," Leo answered, his voice lower than usual.
"And your trainer doesn't even know a bulbasaur from the backside of a totodile!"
He decided to translate that directly for Chris's "benefit", finding him quickly clenching his jaw.
"Luxray!" the Pokémon's trainer screamed. "No insulting other trainers! Bad manners!"
"And I'll bet the two of you only evolved by accident!" the luxray went right on, barely missing a beat.
That was it! He'd heard taunts before, but this luxray was practiced by the sound of it. Well practiced.
"He's going down," Blaze snarled just before leaping in the space between them.
Leo quickly followed, as there was no way he was going to let an insult like that go unpunished! For over a year they were held back from evolving, and had to work damned hard, working their tail and fins off to finally do it, waiting well past when any other chimchar and mudkip would of had to!
"Leo!" Chris yelled. "This is a one-on-one match! Come back! Blaze will battle him!"
He fought his anger in deciding whether to do as Chris was asking, or to just pummel the blue-haired Pokémon with Blaze.
Turning slightly, "Don't worry Leo, I'll beat him enough for both of us!" Blaze reassured with his own teeth bared, an angry fire practically burning in his eyes.
Nodding, he reluctantly backed up to stand beside Chris.
"Blaze, flamethrower now!" Chris yelled.
Blaze didn't need to be asked twice as intense flames hotter than a cook fire shot out from the fire glands in his mouth and directly toward the luxray. The cat-like Pokémon leapt out of the way, but Blaze had evidently anticipated that, quickly turning to follow the large Pokémon around the field. If the flames could have kept up with his head movements, the luxray would have been quite well-done. As it was, after the flames subsided it's tail was smoking.
The other trainer wasted no time in counterattacking: "Luxray! Tackle and crunch!"
The luxray leapt into action…straight toward Blaze and nearly connecting in one leapt if the infernape hadn't made a leapt of his own! A low growl erupted from the cat-like Pokémon, it's eyes becoming a brilliant yellow.
"Rage," Chris mumbled. Then: "Blaze…"
Before he could get a command off, the luxray leapt again without warning, forcing Blaze to leapt straight up. Snapping it's head around, the blue-haired Pokémon nearly bit Blaze's leg but for a counter fist to the head. The luxray fell with Blaze, the former's back claws still getting part of the infernape's leg on the way down.
Leo grimaced.
"Good punch!" Chris encouraged. "Now, another flamethrower!"
His partner did his best, but the luxray was proving very quick on the ground and Blaze's second flamethrower in such quick succession was weaker. And when it went out…the luxray charged! Blaze went flying backward, landing almost on top of Chris.
To his credit, Chris tried to get a hand on him, but Leo rushed to help break his fall more. The first thing he noticed was his partner was already sweating pretty good.
"He's good," Blaze mumbled. "But I'm far from done!"
"Luxray, no! Not at the trainer!"
Whipping his head around, Leo saw the mane of the Luxray literally crackling with it's buildup of electrical charge and thought for sure the Pokémon was about to let lose. Instead, he aborted his attack and returned to his side of the walking path next to his own trainer.
Blaze growled, stepping back in front.
"OK, Blaze," Chris nearly whispered. "Let him attack first and wait for my instruction."
The infernape gave no sign of acknowledgement except for a hard, angry whip of his tail.
Leo knew how hard this was for him. He desperately wanted to go charging in and feint something, then when the opponent charged, clobber him with a combination flamethrower and punch – his best attack that usually knocked out weaker opponents. Too bad it hadn't worked in battling the machoke the other day.
"Thunderbolt!" the kid shouted.
"Dodge it!" Chris countered.
Blaze left the ground immediately as the thunderbolt the luxray had been holding flashed blindingly from his static-charged mane. Directed by his ears, it crossed the distance in an instant to strike the ground right below where Blaze had been a fraction of a second before. The strike was close enough that Leo felt the charge through the ground, producing a prickling sensation.
And before anyone could catch their breath, the luxray came with a roar, not waiting for his trainer's next command, running toward where Blaze landed before leaping himself, teeth and claws bared and mane still crackling with charge.
"Blaze, get on his back!"
Leo wasn't sure if his partner had already been thinking the same thing or not so quickly he leapt up. Catching the blue beast in mid-air, Blaze wrapped his arm around it's neck and with him on top, the luxray hit the ground hard. Leo tensed his hands into fists, almost feeling the weight on his partner as the luxray nearly rolled onto him, causing the release of the remaining charge from his mane. Blaze hung on despite the electrocution of both of them, giving one hard punch after another into the luxray's side.
"Luxray! Shake it off!"
Blaze appeared to maintain a death-grip around the other Pokémon's neck and being the heavier of the two, couldn't be shaken off easily. The fight was soon over as the luxray finally collapsed under Blaze's weight and from the constant pounding.
"Don't ever insult our evolution!" Blaze screamed at the fallen Pokémon laying at his feet before limping back.
"Luxray, you fought bravely," the Pokémon's trainer said before pointing the Pokéball and absorbing him into it with the red beam. "We'll be stronger next time." But instead of going away, the boy came over…right to Leo. "Mister, good battle! And how can your Pokémon talk?"
"Why can you talk?" Leo countered, ready to fight if the kid released another Pokémon.
"Because he can," Chris answered the boy.
Leo didn't feel done with the child, though. "By the way, your Luxray is pretty good in taunting, but tell him insulting another Pokémon's evolution is going too far…especially ours!" finishing by pointing to himself and Blaze.
"You tell him!" Blaze said, still breathing hard and nearly dripping with sweat as he almost collapsed to the ground between him and Chris.
Leo offered a hand, but his partner refused it, instead settling to the ground.
The boy started going a little red in the face. "Uh…if that's what he did, then I'm sorry for that. I'll talk to him. But you are so cool! The only Pokémon I've heard of who can communicate in human speech do so by telepathy. But you actually speak it! I've never heard of that before!"
"Yeah, he's rather…unique," Chris replied. Then: "Well, we have to get going. Thanks for the battle; good luck."
"Uh, OK. Hey, if you ever want to trade this swampert, I'll be glad to take him! Talking is…"
Leo felt his eyes narrow. "Hey, I make the decision on where I go! I'm not a piece of property, and neither is my friend!"
The kid nearly tripped in jumping back. "Sorry!"
And then he got a truly wicked thought: "Maybe, I should take you with us. It would be nice to have someone carry my stuff for me, and maybe even battle for me. Yes, you just might be useful to me. Who can I talk to about trading something for this human?" directing the question to Chris as the kid's face grew a horrified look.
"His parents, I think," Chris replied with a slight grin, but otherwise keeping a straight face. "What's your name, kid?" as he played along quite well.
Yes, it was nasty. But the idea that he was something that was "owned" and could be traded around like any other possession really irked him! And it worked as the kid went running off with a scream.
Blaze waited until he was out of sight before laughing. "That was good! Ha ha he!"
Chris was snickering too. "Leo, not only can you talk, but you can be nasty funny about it."
"If he wants to treat me as a possession, then I can do the same." Although he meant it in all seriousness, he couldn't keep himself from laughing either - the look on the kid's face was great… And he ran pretty good too.
After they had their laugh, he plucked a berry out of his sack, which Blaze took and starting eating without question.
"What's that?" Chris asked in kneeling beside Blaze.
"Oran berry," Leo answered. "They help restore strength. Also taste good in pies."
"Huh."
"They are found…here, aren't they?" He almost asked on this world…
"Um…I guess so. I've heard of them, but never seen any. But then I never went looking, either." Holding out his hands near Blaze's leg, "Let's see it."
Blaze let him take a close look where the luxray had got his claws into him. There were deep scratches, deep enough to make the red hair on his upper leg matted with a fair amount like-colored blood. Chris quickly unstrapped the pack from his back and started rummaging in it.
"How does it feel?" Leo asked.
"Hurts," his friend replied, fatigue now heavy in his voice. "But we've both had far worse." He grinned.
He was reaching for another Oran berry when Chris appeared to find what he was looking for in pulling out a small tube of something, before setting it down to wet a cloth with some of his canteen water.
"First I'll clean the blood off, then I'll put some of this on it," the blonde-haired human explained, pointing to the tube. "It'll help your wound heal faster."
Leo looked on suspiciously as first Chris gently cleaned the area around Blaze's wound, then uncapped the tube to squeeze out some tan-colored gooey-looking paste onto his fingertips, before very carefully spreading it across the claw-made gouges.
"Ah! That feels cold!" Blaze commented, only just keeping his hand away from his leg.
Chris seemed to look up for a translation.
"He says it's cold."
Nodding, "Then it's working," Chris replied. "You'll be good as new soon, at the rate you guys heal."
"He's not a bad human."
"Nope," Leo replied in Poke speech to his partner.
"Sure you don't want to go into a Pokéball?" Chris asked for what seemed like the tenth time, though it was probably only the third. "You'll be more rested for the next battle and your leg will probably heal faster too."
Blaze replied and Leo translated, though it was the same answer as before, "He says if we're walking, he's walking. We're used to walking wherever we have to go."
The human sighed. "Well…OK. And you know, I'd make the same offer to you Leo, but I still don't know why Pokéball's don't work on you. I suppose I could try a third one on you…"
"No," he replied flatly. He just couldn't see being stuck in such a small thing. How that was possible he still didn't know, though Blaze's theory about having something to do with dimensions seemed better than anything else he could think of. Which, perhaps, also explained why he couldn't be put in one, given the second distortion Dialga said he had around him. After another while, he noticed Chris glancing upward and shielding his eyes from the noon-time sun.
"Let's stop here; looks to be about noon and I don't know about you two, but I'm starving."
Leo knew he was, and after exchanging a knowing glace with Blaze, "So are we." So much so, he had been having thoughts of rummaging through his satchel for some of the berries and apples it held.
Chris choose a place off the path that was under a tree, semi-isolated from others in the middle of a grassy field. It was a nice spot, with a gentle breeze keeping things cool in the shade. Taking the Pokéballs off his belt one after the other, the human released all the other Pokémon: Wartortle, Pikachu, Elekid, and Electabuzz. Most of them he and Blaze hadn't seen since that evening a couple nights ago when they all attacked.
After quickly apologizing about not letting them out earlier, Chris soon had bowls of Pokéfood for everyone.
Leo sniffed at his.
"It smells like it did yesterday," Blaze commented, settling down beside him in the shade of the tree and just on the other side of Electabuzz.
Waiting until after his partner tried a bite before starting his own consumption, "Not bad, but I liked the hot dogs better." The small, semi-moist brown pieces really were a weird mixture of flavors, being somewhat reminiscent of the hotdogs, but spicier with a surprising amount of sweetness. He was certain the combination wasn't natural.
"It's good for you," Electabuzz said, before really digging into his portion.
Since the yellow and black Pokémon seemed in a talkative mood: "What was that code you mentioned to us a couple days ago?" At once, he wished he would have given more of a greeting as Electabuzz only stared back with a scowl, still chomping away. "You said when a Pokémon is captured, he has a duty to help that human then."
"It's an unspoken code among us," he replied after swallowing. "Humans that are trainers and Pokémon share the same goal: to better themselves and become stronger. It's mutually beneficial. If a human and his team is strong enough to capture you, that is a sign of a team you want to be part of, since they have the ability to make you stronger."
It a way it made sense, he supposed.
"So why can't you go in a Pokéball?" Electabuzz went on to ask before stuffing another mouthful, the question getting the attention of all the other Pokémon. With a full mouth: "And why won't you tell Chris where you're from?"
"How do you know that?" Blaze nearly coughed out. "You've been inside that thing till now!"
"You can still hear sometimes from inside one. You must've been sleeping in yours, otherwise you'd know that."
"Guess I was," Blaze admitted, then folding his arms: "Something about being slammed against a tree, soaked and then electrocuted can tend to make one tired."
"Your friend has a good water pulse attack too," Electabuzz returned. "Left a bruise. But he hasn't answered my question." Facing Leo again: "Why can't you go inside a Pokéball? They always work, unless one is strong enough to escape, but that only happens after you're already inside of it."
"Yeah, why can't you?" Wartortle echoed.
All eyes were on him, Leo realized. Grimacing, "It's…complicated, and I'm not entirely sure anyway. But it's best if it remains unexplained for now."
Electabuzz huffed before another mouthful.
"Best how?" Elekid asked, pausing in his own eating.
He felt of two minds: if these other Pokémon could be trusted, they might be able to help. On the other hand, he hadn't even told Chris yet the reason they were here out of the same issue of trust. But he was seeing less and less reason for not trusting him. Or was the real reason…he was afraid he wouldn't be believed?
"It's something we can't talk about for now," Blaze answered for him after another moment.
"Huh, a secret," Electabuzz said with an air of uncertainty. "Well, it's your secret then…so long as it doesn't hurt the rest of us." The yellow and black electric Pokémon finished with a tone like 'it had better not.'
"Awww…" the other Pokémon expressed more or less together.
Leo Hanson rested his elbow on the table and took a sip of tea from the white china cup, savoring the flavor. He didn't often frequent cafes, but with the need to kill time and fill his stomach, it was a convenient option. Grovyle didn't seem to mind either, judging how he was downing the croissants off the plate positioned between them. Leo grabbed the last one just to make sure he got one before ordering a bowl of noodles for each of them.
"Well, lunch time," he said in a low voice so that others around in the increasingly busy place wouldn't hear. "If they're still moving at all, we should know soon I would think."
"Groovyle."
Just from having Grovyle as his partner for so long, he knew the high inflection in the middle meant agreement. "Of course, we're assuming this Pokémon is what we're tracking, but I guess it really doesn't matter, since we can track whoever it is. But I need to recognize him when I see him. Heck, we don't even know if that swampert is still with this trainer or not."
Grovyle stared back with his large green eyes, though cocked his head in clear interest.
"Just hope all this running around is going to be worth it. If we can get a clue to what this dimensional anomaly I have is all about, then it will be."
The bowls of noodles arrived and as they were in the middle of slurping them down, the cell trilled as if on cue.
"He's definitely still moving towards us here and slowly," Sally's voice said. "Must be walking. If he is coming here, he won't be arriving till sometime around tomorrow afternoon or evening, if I had to guess. But there are a couple other paths he could take to other cities, too."
"Alright. We'll come back to the lab then as soon as we finish lunch here."
"Don't you want to try and find them on the trail?"
He had already planned how he would handle this situation, having had much of the morning to think about it. "I'm not prepared for hiking and I can't leave the car on the side of the road, either. If he's coming to Pinnacle Valley, I'll just camp out at that end of the hiking trail starting tomorrow afternoon and catch him when he arrives."
"Hm, right. If he does go to one of the other towns, the DV detector will let us know. Although…Professor Werner reiterated this morning he's very anxious to meet this Pokémon as soon as possible." In the tone of someone doing him a favor, "But…don't worry, I'll just tell him it's not possible before tomorrow evening."
"Thanks, Sally. I'll see you guys later then."
He still didn't understand what the hurry was. Granted, he wanted to meet this Pokémon as soon as possible too, but it just didn't strike him as being anything that urgent. Once again, he had the feeling the Professor wasn't telling him everything, and as he was driving back he started to wonder: did the Professor maybe suspect having two of these distortions around at the same time was dangerous? Perhaps the chances of something "bad" happening were increasing the longer the two distortions existed.
If that was true…
He told his partner about his theory, finishing with "Maybe that's why he told me to be careful, but yet didn't want to alarm me." Though as soon as he said it, he saw the fallacy in his reasoning. "No, if he thought there was that kind of danger, he surely would warn me about it. Unless…there was nothing I could do about it. But then why even tell me to be careful?"
"Grovyle?"
"Yeah, my logic isn't too good on that," though he really didn't know if Grovyle followed him or not. Sometimes what he wouldn't give to actually understand him, though it still helped just to talk to someone.
Grovyle followed him into the research building, passing the Professor's door on the way. He decided not to disturb him, partly out of fear that the Professor would tell him just what he had been thinking.
The rest of the team was in the large lab, though only Sally was on the control balcony, with George, Ticonamo and Naomi in the ring room working on construction. "I see everyone's busy today," he noted in walking by her on the way to his own desk, mostly since she hardly gave him a glance up from her console and her typing.
"Oh, hi you two. Sorry, the Professor wanted us to make a big push to get ready for testing by Friday."
The revelation hit him as he was sitting down, Grovyle grabbing his own seat to watch. "Friday? I thought we weren't going to start until middle of next week at the very earliest." Tapping a few keys, he logged himself in to get his programming environment going.
"He's moved it up, just this morning. In fact, since you're here, if you could start looking at the 'C' module of the waveform generator subroutine, the complier is still throwing off some errors."
"Ah…sure, but I'm still working on the one for…"
"The Professor finished that for you, he said. It should be good to go."
At the moment she said that, the code for the module he had been working on for the last couple weeks came up, and sure enough, it was different. In fact… "Hey, this isn't even my code! What the…"
Sally finally faced him: "I think he simply rewrote the entire thing and replaced yours. It does appear to work. I guess he can still write better code than you." With a wink, she went back to what she was doing.
Leo only stared at the screen for a couple moments. Sure, programming wasn't his real area of expertise, but…
"Grovyle."
He couldn't agree with his friend more. "Well…this bites." It wasn't just the fact it meant two wasted weeks, but that the Professor did it without even asking. Irked, he quickly scanned the code to see just how it solved the problem that had been causing him grief, and one thing soon became apparent. "This module doesn't really do anything. It only does some error checking before passing values to a subroutine called 'Modulus 93'. What the heck is that? I thought I knew all the parts to this program."
"Um…must be something the Professor put in," Sally answered, distracted. "That 'C' module could really use your attention."
"Yeah, just hold on." Curious, he searched for the mystery subroutine and found it. It was definitely sizable, very sizable…and inaccessible. "No permission? Sally, what is this?" As one of the programmers, he was supposed to have access to everything!
"What?"
Having finally seemed to get her attention, the pointed end of his green friend's snout appeared by his side to stare at the screen for apparently his own look. "That Modulus 93 subroutine, I don't seem to have permission to open it."
Furrowing her brow, the red head quickly tapped on her keyboard, the screen showing a search for the code. After a moment: "Neither can I. That's…odd. Did the Professor write that? Maybe he forgot to add permissions."
Dialing his phone, he intended to ask the Professor right then and there, but there was no answer. "I thought he was in."
After glancing at her watch, "Oh, that's right. He mentioned something about a meeting this afternoon. He'll be out for the rest of the day. And…that reminds me, we're going to have a visit tomorrow morning by representatives from Derganio."
Leo could only shake his head in disbelief. "Tomorrow, just as he wants us to hurry up and finish everything ahead of schedule?"
Shrugging, "Don't yell at me; I'm just the messenger."
"Sorry."
A loud bang came from the ring room below to reverberate off the walls, followed by a nice string of swearing.
He closed his eyes for a moment in a futile attempt to get some sanity back before facing Grovyle: "Welcome to the nuthouse, buddy."
Grovyle shook his head, sighing.
"Water pulse!"
Nearly exhausted from the long nearly-even match, Leo wasn't so sure of Chris's command. A water attack against another water type like the prinplup he was facing wasn't going to do a whole lot. In fact, he wasn't too sure of this entire match, the light already fading when it started late in the evening. Even Chris didn't sound sure in accepting the challenge from the younger human female, but eventually agreed and wanted him to fight it.
Well, considering the trouble he had yesterday, maybe getting as much practice in this world as possible even at night wasn't a bad idea. With only the slightest hesitation, he decided to follow through and hit the prinplup with as hard a water pulse as he could still muster.
The prinplup tried dodging, but the speed at which he shot out the thin wall of water clearly surprised it, and the penguin-like Pokémon quickly ended up on it's back. "Leo, jump on top and attack!"
Chris's strategy immediately become clear as he now wasted no time in executing. After a short run and leap, he was on top of the prinplup and giving it his best punches. With her appearing as exhausted as he was from the long battle, her trainer quickly surrendered under the barrage.
For that, he was thankful! He struggled in climbing off his opponent, nearly falling with about the only thing he was hearing was his own heart pounding from all the exertion. It was still hard to believe how much tougher opponents were in this human world. If they were in the Poke world, he would have been able to dispatch any prinplup with little difficulty! But like the aipom from yesterday, the human commanding her knew what to do, and the prinplup performed superbly.
"Great job, Leo!" Chris congratulated as he slowly dragged himself to their side of the field before simply collapsing on his stomach once he got there, doing everything he could to get enough air. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so wiped out from a battle without actually losing!
The woman thanked them for the match before leaving in a hurry to get to a place where she could set up her own camp further down the road. Despite Chris's offer, she wasn't interesting in spending the night with them. He seemed slightly disappointed.
Taking Blaze's offered hand, he forced himself back up and together they moved the extra distance to the campfire Chris had going. Not that he needed the heat, but the grass was matted around it and that's where their beds were.
"Not too bad," Electabuzz commented after Leo collapsed for the second time, this time on his bed. The other Pokémon mirrored the comment. "Took a while, though," the large electric-type Pokémon continued. "If that was a gym battle, you'd now be too wiped out for the second match and Chris wouldn't be able to use you. Almost as bad as losing."
"Stuff it!" Blaze shouted back, pulling out a oran berry from his pack and practically forcing it into his hand along with a bottle of water in the other.
Leo started nibbling at the berry and within seconds, was feeling the effect of the mild energy it supplied.
"Just pointing out what would happen," Electabuzz replied without emotion as he laid down and rolled over on his own bed.
"He's right," he quietly admitted to Blaze between breaths, urging him to sit down also instead of staring at Electabuzz. "Battles here are tougher than we're used to." Cracking the cap on the large water bottle, he starting guzzling it; using water attacks always left him so thirsty.
His friend gave a resigned sigh before settling down himself. "We'll get tougher. We did it before."
"We will," Leo echoed, feeling confident in at least that. Despite the oran berry, he still felt nearly drained and as soon as his breathing, heart rate and thirst were under control, fell asleep. Though he wasn't sure for how long before being woken, or rather shaken, awake. "Huh? What?" He peered into the darkness of the night, barely making out his partner's infernape face beside him.
"We have company," Blaze whispered back.
"Electabuzz, shock 'em!"
"What's going…" Before he could finish, Electabuzz carried out Chris's command by sending out a blinding bolt of electricity nearby to some point also not far away, with the thunderbolt's crackling report immediate. Someone screamed…and the rustling of tall grass told of that someone running off into the night. Actually, two someone's by all the noise they made.
He finally rose up, not able to make anything out after the thunderbolt's flash left his night-vision temporarily blinded. "What happened?"
"Good work, Electabuzz," Chris said. Then with a little anger: "They better not come around again."
"Two strange looking humans were in camp," Blaze answered excitedly.
"They were snooping around here," Wartortle said from right behind.
"Two humans?" Leo asked. "What did they want?"
"Don't know," Blaze replied as he seemed to start pacing.
"One was holding something that looked kinda like a Pokédex," Wartortle went on, "but it was different. Bigger. They were also wearing goggles."
When Leo heard Chris get close enough: "Chris, what did they want?"
"Don't know, but I think they were wearing night-vision goggles and doing something that looked like scanning. Well, if they were trying to steal something, they sure didn't get anything but a few knocks and some electrocution. Good job everyone in being alert. But let's continue to stay vigilant for the rest of the night, just in case."
"Unlike someone," Electabuzz commented.
Although he couldn't quite see yet, Leo was sure it was directed at him.
"Hey, why don't you try staying awake at night just after you've had a long battle!" Blaze defended.
Electabuzz hissed and settled down somewhere.
"Never mind him," Wartortle said. "He just takes a while to get to know. Especially since he evolved."
"He's really a good Pokémon when you get to know him," Pikachu seconded from somewhere on the other side of him. "You're still tired. You should go back to sleep. You too, Blaze; you have that injured leg."
"Nice to hear we're among some friends," Leo commented before collapsing for the third time that night, although his elevated heart rate from the excitement prevented immediate sleep. Doing something that looked like scanning…? Didn't sound like something mere thieves would be doing, if all they were after were a few items. But then what did he know about the ways of human thieves?
At first he thought his night vision was suddenly getting a lot better, but realized it was Chris relighting the fire. As he calmed and slowly fell back into weary slumber, he watched the human sitting up, with an occasional considering stare toward him…
Leo Hanson scrambled to get to the lab on time. It had been a late night finishing the code, and he barely had enough sleep before having to get up again. In fact, he would've slept through the alarm if it hadn't been for Grovyle coming in and rustling him up. His green friend even had the foresight to have a quick bowl of cereal ready for them. For once, he was glad he didn't put him in his Pokéball for the night, but it really was out of fatigue that he had forgot to do so.
Likewise, he decided to bring him on the subway as is, which meant finding enough room so that the razor leaves on the back of his wrists didn't accidently poke anyone. Fortunately, people were understanding, with most people having been around Pokémon all their lives. It also helped that Grovyle wasn't all that large, being only about the size of a young teen.
Despite his earlier-than-usual start, he found himself the last one into the lab. George, Ticonamo and Naomi were still working in the ring room installing and checking out modules, with Sally "up top".
"Here early, I see," the red head greeted as he got up to the control balcony.
"Figured I should be here for the 'festivities'," as he decided to refer to the upcoming visit. Although no one had explicitly stated as such, he knew enough that any visit from Derganio was important in one respect or another. It was just a matter of what they were looking for. "Got to leave by noon to start staking the out path, though. Is our friend still on his way?"
"Yep," Sally replied. "Looks like they'll be arriving afternoon or evening still."
"Good." At least something was still going according to plan. Grabbing a handful of chocolate candies for some quick energy and urge satisfaction, he offered some to Grovyle who took a couple, before getting right to work on debugging the next program module and losing track of time until Sally got his attention.
"They're here!"
Together, he and Sally went down to the main floor to gather with the rest of the team, Grovyle staying on the balcony. They only had to wait a few seconds before Professor Werner came through the double doors, leading two suits.
"Just like the last time," Leo thought as the Professor went down the line, introducing each team member to "Robert Connley and Terrace Forley" in turn. Last in line, Leo finished by shaking each of their hands, noting what looked like old scars on Terrace's.
The Professor didn't miss a beat, quickly continuing after the introductions: "As I think I said to all of you before, Derganio is very interested in this project, and as part of that, Robert and Terrace were asked to…"
Leo shook his head…blinking rapidly as his vision started blurring. Something wasn't right; he was getting faint, and fast. Oh, not again…