Chapter 11: Preventive Measures
Leaping up, Grovyle collided with the swellow before grabbing it on the way down and pinning it's wings against the ground. The flying Pokémon flailed it's bird legs for a few moments in trying to escape, but he held it down securely, putting all his weight on it's wings. The woman trainer had no choice but to give up; Grovyle let out a cry of victory.
Leo knew Chris wanted to do the match with Elekid, but bringing him out of his hidden Pokéball wouldn't have been a good idea. Having already used Wartortle in the second match with the older human woman, that left his human self and Grovyle to take on the women's third Pokémon. Not that Grovyle showed any disappointment in fighting his second match in as many days.
His human self looked to enjoy it as well. After thanking their opponent for the matches and returning to their side of the field, "Till yesterday, we hadn't fought a match in seventeen years, would you believe?"
"Guess there are some things you don't forget," Chris said to not just to Leo Hanson, but Grovyle as well. "You looked really good out there. Sure you don't want to join my team?"
"Grovyle." If his tone didn't make it clear to the blonde-haired human, his head shake did.
"Pity." But he said it with a smile.
"I'd almost forgotten how good we were," Grovyle commented, briefly surveying the numerous scratches and bruises he'd received in two days of battling, nothing looking close to serious.
His human self smiled after Leo translated it, but it quickly faded. "Well, I guess it's time to put our plan into action," he said quietly. "We all clear on what we do?"
Nods all around.
As they had talked about over breakfast, his human self and Grovyle pretended to part company with him, Blaze and Chris, Chris absorbing Wartortle back into his Pokéball for the time being. Then as two separate groups, they went in opposite directions toward the ends of the park. The first thing they wanted find out was who this person was more interested in.
Of course, if the man didn't follow either of them, then that was good too; it only meant that maybe they were all getting a little paranoid.
Leading him and Blaze in a roundabout way through the park, Chris occasionally paused them here and there to feign interest in something, basically ensuring anyone following would be pretty clear in doing so.
After many minutes of this, they finally came to one of the white wooden concession stands that had been their destination all along. "Three large bread pretzels," Chris said, placing the order and giving them a good excuse to stop and survey the area.
Leo gave a brief thought to what pretzels were before turning around with Blaze to give the area a look-over.
"He's…there," Blaze said in a hushed, excited tone, right before Leo saw him.
Dark brown hair, dark sunglasses, same height, build and semi-dark complexion…that certainly looked like the person from yesterday. But he looked to be watching another match going on in the distance, though he wasn't far away, having obviously followed them through most of the park. Finally though, he gave the sign they were looking for: he glanced in their direction for several seconds.
"We see him," Leo told Chris quietly. "I think he is following us."
Chris sighed unsteadily. "OK, we'll have to spring the trap then." After quickly taking the pretzels from the cashier, he lead them straight back the other way. "I sure hope Mr. Hanson and Grovyle are indeed behind him somewhere like they said they would be if this guy followed us and not them."
Leo was fairly certain if his human self said he would do something, he would. After all, he would. Which didn't mean he wasn't nervous. As they approached, his found his heart pounding and hoped he wasn't visibly shaking. They knew nothing about this human, what he wanted, what power he had or what he represented. There were so many unknowns, but perhaps they were on the cusp of finding out some real answers.
Dare he hope it might have anything to do with Dialga's disaster prediction?
The human didn't move at first, but seemed to make a quick decision to walk past them as they almost reached them. Only Chris didn't let him, blocking his path.
"Alright, why are you following us?" asking abruptly.
The human, who up-close looked slightly younger than his human self, gave no hint of emotion while staring directly into Chris's face. "What makes you think I'm following you?" His not-so-deep voice was steady, carrying a hint of threat.
"Because you followed us yesterday from here to the Pokécenter, and nearly all the way to my friend's house. And this morning, here you are again, watching everything we're doing before following us through the park."
Not moving for a moment, "You must have me confused with someone else," the human eventually answered.
Leo shook his head when Chris seemed to look to him for a confirmation.
"No, you're the one."
The two humans stared at each other for several heartbeats. "Get out of my way," the dark brown-haired man finally said in a lower voice, his tone speaking unmistakable threat.
"I think you're going to answer my question," Chris returned in an equally low voice. "Why are you following us?"
The man didn't reply for a few moments, instead flexing both his moderately-sized hands into fists and back. "Again, I think you are mistaken. But just some advise: you don't want to mess with me."
Blaze growled from the other side of Chris and Leo decided to do the same from his side. If this human was entertaining any violent thoughts, it was best to remind him Chris wasn't alone here!
Moving his head to fully face down at him with his sunglasses, "Don't see many of your kind around this region, swampert. And you already have one broken arm."
Leo noticed his partner nearly lurch at him even as he let out a long, low growl. He wanted to ask this human what exactly he meant by that, but thought it best not to demonstrate he could speak to this particular human. Even so, a reasonable implication could be drawn.
"Look mister," Chris said with clear agitation, "either you tell us what's going on, or we haul you into the police and let them have a go at you. I'm sure they'd be quite interested in a stalker."
"The police…" The man paused, giving a hint of a smile. "…have better things to do."
Leo wondered if they really could take this human down and drag him to the police, wherever that was. It was with some relief he spotted his human self and Grovyle running down the path toward them.
"Well, shall we find out then?" Chris asked, suddenly sounding emboldened and folding his arms across his chest.
The man turned in time to see Leo Hanson and Grovyle close the circle around him.
"He's not talking," Chris told them. "I think we might have to bring him in if he doesn't start giving us some good answers."
Cursing, in a lightening move the man whipped out a Pokéball in each hand from some hidden pocket, quickly releasing two charizards! Before anyone could move, each charizard started stomping around outside their circle, raising their heads up high and letting out two deafening roars, vibrating even the ground.
Along with Blaze, Grovyle and the three humans, Leo tried covering his ears, though the cast on his left arm made it difficult on that side, leaving his left ear drum slightly ringing as a result.
"Maybe you want to reconsider?" the man asked with a taut grin after the roars died down, with one of the charizards letting a little flame out of it's mouth instead.
The complete change in the balance of power was bewildering! He, Blaze and Grovyle stood no chance against them! With his water pulse attack, he was the only one who would have good effect, but he was hardly in fighting form with his broken arm!
"Arg!" Backing up several steps, Chris whipped out his own hidden Pokéballs, releasing Pikachu, Elekid, Wartortle and Electabuzz around the two charizards. "Or do you?" he returned.
As confident as Chris sounded, Leo noted the other Pokémon were suddenly looking very nervous in the face of the two charizards, excepting Electabuzz. Of course nothing rattled him, he was sure.
"Easy, Chris," his human self cautioned, holding up a hand. "Alright mister, it's more than obvious you've been following us, so why don't you just tell us why? What's the big secret?"
"Maybe I just like watching Pokémon," he replied coolly.
"And following their trainers?"
Deciding to back up a little to stay alongside Chris, Leo motioned Blaze to do the same. His partner did so, but the angry look on his face only intensified as he glanced between the two charizards. "Fight fire with fire," mumbling to himself.
"Part of the game," the man answered before snapping his fingers. One of the charizards came forth to lay down, forcing everyone to make even more way. With the circle around him broken, the man climbed the Pokémon's back.
"Hey, give us some answers, damn it!" Chris shouted.
"I've none to give."
Both Blaze and Grovyle growled as the charizard got back up.
"No one follows others without a damn good reason," Leo Hanson half-shouted.
To which the man only smiled. "I came here to watch, not to fight. But maybe we'll see each other again sometime." Removing his sunglasses, he gave Leo a moment's stare before putting them away in a pocket. "Let's go Charizard!" Together, the two reddish dragon-type Pokémon spread their wings wide, and in a great gust of wind, lifted off, the man riding the one as they disappeared low into the sky.
Leo watched till they disappeared, finding himself thinking about the man's face.
"Damn," Chris muttered.
"Well that went well, didn't it?" his human self commented. "Did he say anything useful at all?"
Shaking his head, "Not a damned thing. Except, he threatened Leo."
"You mean…"
Jabbing a thumb to Leo, "Yeah, your Pokémon counterpart."
Leo looked at his cast. "If he tried, I would've given him a water pulse in the face." He was fairly certain of that. But those two charizards certainly could have done him (and everyone else!) a good deal of injury…or worse. For once, he was glad for not having to fight.
"If he would've done anything to threaten him, I would have burned him alive!" Blaze screamed in obvious rage, his read and yellow mane puffing greatly.
After discussing the event a little more, they left for home, Leo still trying to place the man's face, having finally seen it without the disguising sunglasses. He couldn't be certain, but he thought he might had seen it before. Not only that, it almost felt like it was when he was a Pokémon, and not a buried human memory. But where? Since coming to the human world, he'd seen hundreds if not thousands of human faces, in places from subway stations to stores to just passing on sidewalks, most for only a fraction of a second. How could he hope to figure out where he'd seen it?
"Hey, you alright?" Blaze asked after a while. "You look deep in thought."
Leo realized they were already most the way to his human self's home and he hadn't said anything the whole time. "Oh, just thinking about that human. It feels like I've seen his face somewhere before, but I can't remember."
"A memory from when you were human?"
Shaking his head hesitantly, "Not sure, but I think more recently. Just can't place it."
"Maybe you saw him a few days ago, when we didn't know he was following us yet?"
Blaze's explanation seemed to make good sense. "You're probably right." Which seemed to satisfy Blaze, but not himself. Where he saw it…no, it wasn't that. It was under a different circumstance, it felt. But what?
The question was still haunting his mind sometime later as he stared into the guest bathroom from the doorway, trying to figure out a way he could fit into the shower. Having been three days since his last bath, he was feeling (and smelling) the need to wash but the stall looked a little small for him. Blaze had no problem using it earlier, and he wouldn't have any problem either if it wasn't for his back fin that nearly doubled his width. Maybe if he tried fitting diagonally… Turning on the light, he went in and tried fitting into the stall that way, but it was no good. His fin was going to have to bend sharply to one side or the other; painfully so. Or else the door would have to stay open. He doubted his human self was going to appreciate a large amount of water on the floor, though.
"Oh, hey," his human self said, suddenly appearing in the doorway. "Trying to take a shower?"
Leo nodded. "I can't fit in here."
"You should use the one in the master bath. It's larger."
Following his other self down the short hall, they went through the second floor 'master' bedroom and to the bathroom off the side. The stall there was indeed larger, just enough for him to fit in, close the frosted glass door, and not have his back fin bent or pinched…so long as he didn't move too much.
His human self started laying out some towels on counter next to the sink. "Feel free to come up here and use it whenever you need to." Then after a sigh: "This feels weird; I guess this is your house too, isn't it?"
He wasn't quite sure how to answer that. "I guess, maybe it is." In one sense. "But I have a home on my world too."
"I suppose you do. But if you end up staying here, then…well, you have as much right to stay here as I do. In fact more, if anything; I haven't done the heroic deeds you and your friend have." With a not quite concealed smile: "Though you'll still have to take over your share of the mortgage payment then. Which means getting a job."
"A job?" He already had one…back on his world, though the number of those needing rescue was dwindling. "What jobs do Pokémon do here?"
"And get paid for?" His human self was chuckling by this point. "Well…you know, I'm sure translating between humans and Pokémon would pay…probably quite a bit."
Leo sensed he was only letting the scenario play out for amusement and wasn't all that serious about it. "Too bad Poké money isn't any good here. Blaze and I already have a lot of money on our world."
"Hm. Well then, if I ever find myself on that Poké world of yours, I'll know who to hit up for a loan. Nothing like borrowing from one's self." Smirking, he left him to his shower, though he heard him continue from the bedroom in a more contemplative tone: "Bet no one thought that concept could be done literally."
Grabbing one of the washcloths between two of his large fingers, Leo closed the shower door before activating the water spray. For the first few moments, he just let the fine spray drench him, simply enjoying the pure pleasure of the moisture, not even caring if any got inside his cast. His bath in the hotel room proved the cast was waterproof; which was good, since avoiding getting it wet in the shower's spray would have been impossible anyway.
Raising his face, he moved it directly into the spray, making sure every spot of his sensitive head fins got well soaked. It felt really…exquisite. This human invention of an artificial rain was on the top of his list of greatest inventions ever.
He also predicted it was going to be a long shower…
Another in the long series of new (or rather, forgotten) concepts he'd discovered (rediscovered) since coming to the human world was that of "soap". Truly, a weird invention if there ever was one. Yet it seemed to leave him feeling cleaner then he'd ever felt, so long as he could hold the super-slippery bar long enough in his thick three-fingered hands to get some of it rubbed off on a washcloth.
Blaze mentioned how good shampoo was too, something Chris suggested he use. "Good for hair," he told him. Which was certainly good for his partner since he was covered with it. For himself, he didn't have even one hair. Hence the soap was far more useful. Humans seemed to need both, with exposed skin and a mane on their heads. At times it was hard to imagine being one, despite the memories he was finally beginning to recover, and wished he could remember more…much more. Particularly about Sally.
Ever since recalling the few memories about her, he thought about her off and on. He was a Pokémon now, but his human feelings…they kept welling up. What did they mean, exactly? He wasn't sure if there was any love there, but he certainly felt something for her. Remembered feelings, or real feelings? She was pretty…for a human, he supposed.
It was much the same question about the human they confronted that morning. Did he see his face when he was human, or later when he returned to this human world?
Raising a leg in the cramped quarters of the stall, he washed around the green padded area of his lower leg, discovering an almost completely healed scratch he hadn't noticed there before. Something else he must have gotten in the fight with the graveler that saw his arm broke.
Hm. Funny thing about memories; larger events could make you forget about smaller ones. How many smaller events turn out to actually be more important then the larger ones? How many smaller details were still locked up in his mind that could potentially make a huge difference in averting the disaster?
He hoped Celebi showed up that evening.
Leo Hanson handed Chris one of the large platters of potatoes, gravy, carrots, rice and fried chicken to take up to the roof patio. Nothing like eating under the evening sky in the middle of the city, though the trees he put up there last year added a nice country touch that he liked, as well as providing a smidgen of privacy.
The food was a hit, with all the Pokémon having their choice of what he fixed and their Poké food. It bolstered his pride some to see the Poké food go virtually untouched.
"This is really good," Chris commented after his first few bites.
"The other Leo gets to fix the next meal," he teased, getting his counterpart's attention and that of his friend's.
"I don't remember how," the swampert replied flatly. Blaze said something to him, making his eyes go wide.
"What did he say?"
"He's threatening to tell everyone at the Guild what a great cook I am." Then with a sinister look: "I think one really bad meal will take care of that rumor, though."
Chris nearly choked on his next bite.
Another humorous thing was watching the infernape apparently use silverware for the first time; the mashed potatoes and gravy just couldn't be eaten any other way, at least not without making a huge mess. His swampert counterpart seemed to have an easier time of it, despite having only three large fingers.
"Well, I should point out that Grovyle helped," Leo finally confessed under Grovyle's stare. "He made the chicken in fact."
Reaching between the two of them, Wartortle grabbed another of the said chicken legs, saying something in Poke speech right before ripping off a large chuck of the leg into his mouth.
"He wants to know if we can have food like this all time," his counterpart translated, directing to it Chris.
"I'd go broke!" the trainer exclaimed. "Really, I've had to cook on my own for several years now, but it's usually a cup of noodles or something out of a can. Can never compare to the real home-cooked thing. Did your mother teach you?"
Leo nodded. "One of the things she made sure I could do." He noticed his Pokémon counterpart staring at him intently.
"Our…mother? Where is she?"
Oh…if he didn't remember! "She's dead. She died seventeen years ago. It's when I decided to give up being a trainer. With both mom and dad gone, I decided I needed to concentrate on school and get a job." Looking to Grovyle, he got a nod of understanding. His friend for life had understood his reason and refused to leave him.
Looking down at his plate, his Pokémon self started giving himself a rub along one of his pointed gills. "I think I do remember a little, now that you told me. She…got sick…"
"Yeah." That one week so long ago he really didn't want to think about. Not now. "Alright, well, there's some dessert after this, so don't stuff yourselves too much. Oh, and Leo…" He grimaced; it just sounded so weird to use his own name for someone else…someone else who was, essentially, him. "…it has lots of chocolate." Which seemed to perk the swampert up.
Before he could get up to get it though, there was a slight commotion from the other side of the patio where the other Pokémon were gathered. With a quick move, a small, light-green colored Pokémon floated over some of the trees with her small, fast-beating wings, waving to the Pokémon below before arriving at the table. "Celebi!" he greeted, still feeling awed by her presence.
Chris took in a sharp breath, staring.
Pointing to the table, she said something to which his counterpart replied: "Help yourself."
The delicate looking Pokémon did just that, picking up some of the carrots and rice off the platter with both hands.
"Uh…wow! It's really a celebi!" Chris mumbled. "Can you really travel through time?"
The floating Pokémon spun around while stuffing rice into her small mouth, then floated to right in front of his face to stare into his eyes. "Reeof beeo, ocebi, reeeeebiof?"
"Uh…"
"Yes, that's the Chris we told you about," the swampert answered to her.
Raising a (now empty) tiny hand, she touched the end of his nose before flying over to the swampert, where she promptly laid down on his head between his two fins. "Reebee ree bee bee beeree bree." His Pokémon self formed an unreadable expression, but answered her in Poké speech, which started some lengthy dialog between her, him, Blaze and Grovyle.
Leo only shrugged when Chris asked with a hand gesture what was going on. Seems the humans present had no choice but to wait patiently for them to finish and tell them what the heck was being discussed as the other Pokémon gathered and listened. Whatever it was, he couldn't help but feel it was important.
"It all smells good!" Celebi said in her high-pitched voice after settling in on his head. "Did you make it?"
"My other self and Grovyle did."
"Oh," crunching on the carrot. "Well then, maybe Grovyle dear could make a meal for me sometime," her high-pitched tone being that of a strong hint.
Grovyle's green eyes went wide.
"You know Celebi, you sort of expressed that same desire in the Future That No Longer Exists," Blaze pointed out. "Grovyle did make a good improvised apple-berry roast when we were on the run."
"That's one part of that timeline I wish I hadn't missed out on then," replying after another few crunches.
Although he couldn't see her face, Leo got the impression she was staring at Grovyle enough to make him turn away from her. In the Future That No Longer Exists, she hinted she really liked Grovyle, but really wouldn't admit it. She seemed a little freer in this timeline, or at least under these different circumstances.
She finished crunching on the carrot, the mild vibrations of which Leo felt through his skull along with the itch from her fine hair, before continuing. "Well, Dialga and Palkia were happy to hear you found your human self of course. But they became disturbed over the news of the dimensional portal the humans are building and the visions you've had. He believes they're extremely important clues and you should act on them as best you can."
"They were actually his visions," Leo said, gesturing to his human self. "We're linked somehow, and I experienced them at the same time."
"Interesting…but then you are the same person, um…mostly. There is a little more news. Dialga and Palkia wished they had more to tell, but Dialga's been having a hard time peering into the future, and Palkia's having equal difficulty sensing space. They say it's almost like there's someone or something masking their senses, but otherwise they can't explain it. However, they've have sensed enough to believe the coming disaster may cause considerable destruction, and to narrow down when this disaster will happen."
Blaze, Grovyle and the other Pokémon gathered around looked to her expectantly, Leo only able to roll his eyes up. "When?" asking with the others in unison.
"They sense it's close, perhaps two weeks or less."
Blaze nearly jumped as some of the other Pokémon gasped and started mumbling among themselves.
Leo felt a sudden pang of urgency. Time was far shorter then he hoped!
"Then, that vision you had yesterday, will happen soon?" Blaze asked.
"You had another vision?" Celebi asked, grabbing his fins and sliding her finely haired self forward on his head, enough that her face and large blue eyes appeared upside-down in front of him.
Leo told her about the brief scene he saw between Dialga, Palkia and a human, and she grew very still. "If both Dialga and Palkia were attacking that human, what could be the reason? Could he have anything to do with the disaster; is that why they'll attack him?"
Celebi still didn't stir for a long moment, but finally pulled herself back up on top of his head. "If I wasn't so tired, I'll be flying directly back to them tonight with that news. The event you saw sounds…strange, as well as important."
"His human self is going to try and convince the rest of his team to stop their project tomorrow, though." Blaze pointed out. "If what they're doing is the cause of the disaster, that should put a stop to it, he thinks. But he isn't sure he'll be able to convince them without greater proof. That's why he wants either Dialga or Palkia to appear at their meeting tomorrow."
Celebi jerked as Leo again felt a tiny hand on each of his head fins. "What?"
"Or you, if neither of them are willing," Leo added.
After staying silent for many moments: "I…can ask, but I doubt they will do that. And it won't be tomorrow. In fact, I really am tired. I can't move my wings another beat! Ever since I got here, it's been back and forth, back and forth. I need a good day's rest before I can return to them. Maybe, if I stay here for the night, I can go myself as he wants. So long as no one tries to capture me; time travel is a dangerous ability to obtain."
Leo felt a pat on his back. "Don't we know! Ha ha!" Blaze exclaimed.
"If my human self trusts his partners, I trust them," Leo replied.
"So do I," Blaze seconded.
"And I will protect you myself if needed," Grovyle added.
"Well then, Grovyle dear, if you'll be there to protect me, then I'll be nothing but fine!" her voice carrying no hint of sarcasm; in fact, just the opposite.
Grovyle hastily looked away while Blaze was just noticeably smirking.
A "Hey!" across the table quickly got all their attentions. "Is this a private conversation, or can us poor humans take part?" his human self asked pointedly.
"Within two weeks?" The immediacy surprised Leo Hanson. Maybe more from wishful thinking than anything, he had been thinking whatever disaster was coming was a ways off yet.
"Well, if it's the ring that causes it, you'll be shutting down the project tomorrow, right?" Chris asked while still staring at Celebi, clearly not too concerned in tone.
"It's not my decision!" The Professor was the one they ultimately had to convince, though having the other team members supporting him was nearly as crucial. "But Celebi's presence I think is going to help, certainly."
"In one of our visions, you said we saw something go wrong in what you called 'Phase Two'", his Pokémon counterpart said, being noticeably careful in not moving his head too much with the delicate-looking Celebi resting on his head. "How soon before you reach that if the project isn't stopped?"
"It depends. If everything goes exactly right in Phase One, where we do complete systems tests, it could only be a week. If we have a lot of problems, it could be months…or even years before we reach that stage."
Chris finally took his eyes off Celebi long enough to glance at him. "What's exactly this Phase Two thing?"
"In Phase One, we only go partway toward making a dimensional portal, since we're checking things out to see if all the systems are working together and…well, that some of our theories are correct. In Phase Two, we go all the way and make a full dimensional portal for the first time."
His counterpart grimacing, "So, it is possible that if the project isn't stopped, that what we saw in the vision will happen within two weeks."
Giving a nod, "But again, I don't know who all those strange people were that I…we saw."
Celebi said something, with Blaze chiming in. The swampert nodded slightly in apparent agreement. "Then, we have to make sure the project is stopped."
"I think that's become obvious," Leo replied. "What would happen though, if we only delayed the project by, say, a month or so? Would that change the future?" He directed the question more to Celebi and many eyes went to her.
Replying in Poke speech, his counterpart translated for her: "'Within two weeks' was only a best guess by Dialga. But since we had no sense of timing in any of our visions, it could really happen at any point in the future."
It wasn't what he wanted to hear, but it was as he guessed. "So, basically, we can't continue the project at all.
"It sounds that way," the swampert answered.
"Great." Sighing, he leaned back into his metal-framed chair, moving his hands behind his head. It was not going to be an easy sell, despite whatever proof he could bring to bear. Not even to himself! "You know, we've only spent the last six years of our lives developing the theories and building that gate. There's a lot of dreams invested in it; that's a lot to just throw away!"
Silence.
A lot to throw away based on some visions…that seemed to have the knack of coming true with unwavering accuracy……? Suddenly leaning forward again: "Hold on. If what we saw in our visions was the future, then how can we change it? I mean, if we saw the future, then those events will happen no matter what we do, won't they?"
"Yeep yeep?" The infernape appeared to express surprise in expression as well in whatever he said, Grovyle also looking all-of-the-sudden uneasy.
Celebi and his Pokémon counterpart chatted back and forth for a moment, before his counterpart replied: "The timeline can branch and change, although the events we saw will happen in one of them. But she says you may still be right and that we may not be able to prevent what is going to happen. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, though. I guess she's saying she doesn't know what will happen."
"Ree-ree," Celebi replied, sounding something like agreement.
Feeling their odds slipping, Leo just had to shake his head a little. "So…we're going to try and convince everyone else tomorrow that we need to completely stop our project, since it appears to be the cause of, or at the very least, involved with whatever disaster is probably going to happen within two weeks, but there is a good chance that doing so won't have any effect anyway." He looked around the table, gauging everyone's replies whether verbal or not. "And we still don't know what this disaster is, other than it's supposed to be bad. Right?"
Chris only moved his hands to indicate he had no idea. Most of the Pokémon looked confused; Grovyle cocked his head and Blaze simply raised his red brow line in furrowing his forehead. His Pokémon counterpart was the only one who spoke: "I trust Dialga. The entire reason he came and brought us, was to help everyone by trying to prevent what will happen. If he thinks it can be stopped, then so do I."
Well, if what he'd heard about the mythical Pokémon was true, then he could hardly argue against the logic of that. After all, who better to know if the timeline could be altered then a Pokémon that controls time itself?
"And do you remember the vision about what you think was an earlier gate project," his counterpart continued. "Remember the feeling we got, that there was something terrible there?"
"How can I forget that fear," Leo confirmed. And now that he was reminded of it, he remembered more than he wanted to. "Maybe they opened a portal somewhere they shouldn't have, let someone through who caused the disaster...or else someone was trying to destroy the gate to shut it down… Those are just guesses; I really don't know what happened."
"Well, maybe that's the kind of disaster we're supposed to prevent."
On the surface, there appeared to be little in common between the two visions. The first was of something going wrong during Phase Two of the University's project, the second of something already going seriously wrong in some other project that may have been a dimensional gate project. But what if what was going wrong in Phase Two was just the beginning stages of what would end up being like in the other vision? And again, who were all those strange people in the gate room, seemingly running it? That, more than anything, was now what scared him.
"Alright, we'll try and convince the team tomorrow as planned," he said at last.
Getting himself ready for bed, he was still trying to come to grips with everything though. He had in his house at that moment: himself and Grovyle, another trainer, and a swampert who was actually himself but transformed into a Pokémon from a timeline that didn't exist anymore after it was changed, and so had a virtually identical dimensional distortion around him. With him was his infernape partner, both of whom traveled from a world inhabited only by Pokémon, transported by the legendary Palkia who had previously been believed to only be a myth. Further, Dialga, another legendary Pokémon believed to only by a myth, also came from that world. To top it all off, from the same world, a celebi, although not quite a myth but rarely sighted, was currently spending the night with the other Pokémon (and Chris) in the guest bedroom.
Tomorrow, he was going to try and convince the other members of the project team to abandon what they've all worked on for six years, based on what his Pokémon counterpart said Dialga told him and on some shared visions he and his counterpart had. Oh, and not to forget the person who had been following them and the encounter Chris had on the way to Pinnacle Valley with some people who were using, perhaps, a DV detector.
Yep, all that was going to sound pretty good tomorrow. Granted, Sally took it all in and seemed to believe him (for the moment), but now there was even more to the story.
"Tomorrow is going to be fun," telling Grovyle sarcastically just before turning out the light next to his bed.
"Grooovyle."
Now that there was a shower readily available, which was easier to use then a bathtub, Leo decided to make full use of it. Without doubt, he could get used to a shower every morning and evening. His skin certainly loved it, with it's blue color taking on a richness he'd rarely seen. Yet he knew it had to be a short one, his human self having told him they needed to get going this morning so to make it in to the lab on time. Apparently Sally had already… (What was the word…emailed?) …him that she set up a meeting for ten o'clock.
Grudgingly shutting off the water, he stepped out and dried himself slightly before leaving the master bathroom and making his way to the stairs. He could hear the commotion from below before he even got there and hurried down and into the kitchen.
"Come on, Blaze! You have to get in there!" his human self was saying in a frustrated voice.
"No!" Blaze replied sharply.
Chris's calmer voice spoke: "Blaze, please. He's right, there won't be room during rush hour! Grovyle went into his ball…"
"I'm not getting…"
As Leo made it into the kitchen, everyone turned to him all shouting at once, hurting his ears…
"Quiet!" his human self quickly yelled over Chris and Blaze. "Leo, look, please tell Blaze he has to get inside this Pokéball for the subway ride. It's Monday morning, it's going to be crowded, and people aren't going to take kindly to Pokémon being transported outside their Pokéball. You already can't go inside one, so having two of you in the subcar…"
Blaze huffed, shaking his head as his mane puffed. "Leo, I'm not going inside one of those again! I don't like being carried like that!"
"Leo is right, er, Leo," Chris added. "It's going to be wall-to-wall people inside those cars. Weekends and weekdays outside rush hour are fine, since there aren't as many people on them then, but a Monday morning is going to be crammed full! Blaze will end up squished against the wall! So will you, but that can't be helped."
His human self and Chris had a valid sounding reason, but he also had to respect his closest friend's wishes, too.
"Look, we'll let you back out just as soon as we're off the subway," his human self continued, "and you don't even have go inside until we get inside the station. The ride will only be about forty minutes. And we'll even come back during a time that you won't have to be in it on the way back."
With near pleading eyes: "Leo, it's…humiliating to be put inside something like that and carried around like someone's property!"
"I don't understand why you won't do it, Blaze!" Chris said, throwing his hands up in a gesture of frustration.
Leo relayed the reason to the humans, leaving the sandy-haired trainer a little open-mouthed; his human self slightly less so.
Chris recovered quickly enough: "Blaze, look, it's just for transportation, and it keeps you safe. And this is one instance where there just isn't a choice in the matter. I'm sorry, but it's either go in the ball or stay behind."
"I'm not staying behind!" Blaze nearly shouted, his tone speaking agitation.
"I doubt the attendants will even let us on board with you both not in Pokéballs," his human self added. "I transport Grovyle everyday to and from the lab inside his Pokéball during rush hours."
Leo tried thinking of a way around this with three pairs of eyes on him, his partner's being the most insistent. After a half moment, he leaned closer to Blaze's ear and in almost a whisper, "Unfortunately they have a good reason, Blaze. But what if I hold your Pokéball during the ride? And I'll make sure you aren't in there any longer then you have to be." After moving back, the pupils in his partner's eyes got just slightly larger, his mane puffing even more…but quickly died down.
"I think…you're the only one I'll allow to do that."
Reaching to his friend's head, he quickly messed with part of his mane, causing the infernape to squirm out of his reach with an infernape-like giggle. "You're brave. If it wasn't for this distortion around me, I'm sure I'll have to go inside one too, and I'd probably be putting up a bigger fuss then you."
Blaze grinned. "I think I'm ready for breakfast now," he announced, almost perfectly in time with a growl from his stomach. "How about you?"
"More than ready," feeling hunger beginning to rumble through his own stomach.
Both his human self and Chris warned it would be crowded in the station. Apparently they hadn't been kidding.
"I've never seen so many humans crowded together," Blaze remarked, twisting his head at the sea of humans around them.
"Until we came to this world a week ago, we hadn't seen any humans," Leo reminded his infernape partner, just before Chris handed him a red and white ball. "Are you ready?"
Blaze nodded. "Won't be for long, right?"
"You have my word," Leo replied. Then on Chris's instructions, he pressed the small button, opening the ball and causing a red beam to shoot out for his friend. In only a couple seconds, the infernape was gone and the ball closed on it's own, leaving him with a feeling of sudden panic.
"Don't worry, he's safe," his human self comforted with a pat on his shoulder. "Just keep hold of his ball and don't lose him. In fact…" With one motion, his human self looped a belt around him, buckling it around his stomach to rest just above his rear fin on his back. "There, now you have an official Pokémon trainer's belt." Pointing to some clips on the side, "Put his ball in the slot there, and it'll be securely held."
Leo carefully gauged the clip, wondering if he could trust it.
"Those clips are pretty strong," Chris commented. "I've never known one to let go even when falling on it. Your friend will be safer in the clip than in your hand. If someone bumps you, you might let go; the clip won't."
Still, he was feeling reluctant to let go of the small object, even if just onto his new belt, but decided he owed his friend every safeguard. The ball fit exactly into place, the clip responding with a reassuring snap as it "captured" the ball. "Don't worry, you're safe, Blaze," he said to the inert ball. Then on a thought: "Can he hear me in there?"
"Maybe," Chris replied, staring off ahead of them as his human self moved forward. Grasping his shoulder, "That's our train. We have to hurry."
After some moments of jostling around humans and other humans bumping and jostling around them in mad controlled panic, they finally made it through the door into the car and forced their way to a place near one of the walls. On all previous trips on the subways, it was never completely filled with people like it was that morning, and he was beginning to feel claustrophobic with not just Chris and his human self, but a couple other humans nearly pressed against him. At least Chris was keeping a space between him and the wall clear so his rear fin wouldn't get bent around.
One man next to Chris faced him as the doors closed and the car started moving, "Hey, put that Pokémon in a ball, will ya?"
"Sorry, his arm is broken. The doctor said he needed to stay out of it while it's healing." Chris pointed down to his cast.
"Oh! Sorry!" the man replied. "How'd that happen? I'd never heard of a Pokémon getting an arm broke before."
Chris told him the story of his battle with the graveler, with a minor detail or two missing.
"Hey, that Pokémon is wearing a trainer's belt…" a woman said nearby, now that they were getting people's attention.
"And he has a Pokéball, too!" another man pointed out.
"Is that Pokémon...acting as a trainer, too? I never heard of such a thing!"
"No way…"
It was an interesting trip for Chris past the next few stations and Leo was really glad none of those humans knew he could talk. Certainly that would've only added to the attention and questions for both of them.
With great relief, he got off the train at the end of the line with Chris and his human self, with even greater apparent relief for Blaze after he let him out of the Pokéball. He noted though his human self started acting a little nervous, hardly saying anything on the way on the couple mile or so walk to the project building and keeping his lips taut.
He seemed to forget whatever it was momentarily though, when as planned Celebi came out of the trees around the building to greet them. Having left early in the morning's darkness before even twilight to get to the building, she avoided any need to be 'transported' in a Pokéball in order to not be seen. No doubt, his presence on the subway would have paled next to hers had she come on the train. "Mass riot," his human self had put it.
The researcher from one of the other projects in the building stopped dead in his tracks, mouth open, turning his head in following Celebi as she floated passed him on their way down the common hall.
"You didn't see her," Leo Hanson told him in passing with as level a voice as he could muster. "It all a dream. Go back to work."
Celebi giggled.
The guy was still staring as they turned the corner.
He had the urge to ask her if she got that a lot whenever humans spotted her. Of course, he probably had the same reaction when he saw her for the first time a few nights ago.
After letting everyone through the section doors to the DG project area, he ushered them into the larger meeting room meant more for public meetings rather than normal project ones. The windows along the one wall would be a serious security breach if they ever wrote anything on the whiteboards. For this meeting though, they were going to need the extra room and the shades could be pulled if needed, though all the trees surrounding the building on three sides generally provided all the privacy they needed, save for days the grounds keepers were doing their jobs. This wasn't one of those days…
"Reebee!" Celebi said, going straight for the windows to look out as a small bird took off from the ground.
…fortunately.
"Well, stay here," telling everyone after letting Grovyle out of his Pokéball. "I'll go gather the team; I'm sure they're all out in the lab. There's bottles of water in the small fridge there if you're thirsty." After Blaze, Chris, Grovyle and his swampert counterpart nodded their understanding, he left. Celebi…well, the others would make sure she didn't leave.
"Leo!" Ticonamo, being closest to the door, greeted with a grin. "We've been waiting for you. We're getting ready to start the first Phase One tests, and you're needed to…"
"I'd wait on that a bit," he replied, looking around for everyone else.
Pushing his glasses further up the bridge up his nose, "Does this have anything to do with that meeting Sally setup for this morning?"
"Oh, definitely. And we're going to be in there a while."
"Eh…this doesn't sound good."
Just wait, Leo thought. Getting the attention of George and Naomi, he waved them down off the balcony, Professor Werner and Sally soon popping up from behind the main console as well.
"So what's this about?"
Turning back for the door, he found Ticonamo frowning. "Well, get ready for one hell of a surprise. Actually, several of them." As soon as everyone was gathered by the doors, he jumped into a quick forewarning of who was waiting for them in the conference room, hoping to take at least a little edge off the coming shock while carefully not explaining who the swampert was…yet. Telling them there was a celebi as well as a Pokémon who could talk already was generating more than enough questions.
Leo listened as carefully as everyone else, jumping in only to correct or add a few clarifications as his human self told a greatly abbreviated version of his and Blaze's story on the Poke world, deftly pushing off all questions till later. Yet it wasn't until he revealed they were, in fact, the same person until only three years ago with the creation of a new timeline, that the room really erupted. And that was still before he got to the mission Dialga and Palkia sent them on.
Chris took over with his end of the story, telling of his first meeting with the two of them and continuing through their encounter with the two "visitors" to their camp and the grey-suited man at the Pokécenter.
His human self wrapped it up with their confrontation in the park with one of the men who had been following them. "Now, are there any questions?" he finally asked after visibly bracing himself as Celebi floated near him, apparently distracting most of the humans.
After a moment of everyone glancing at everyone else, "Well, geeses, where do we start?" one of the men asked. George, Leo remembered from the introductions. Gesturing with several waves of his hand, "Pokémon from another world, a swampert who can talk and who's really you but from a now erased timeline, Pokémon only found in legend, a looming disaster…Celebi, and these visions from the future you've been having…along with him," pointing to Leo. Shaking his head, "When you said you had a few surprises for us, you really weren't kidding, were you? I mean, come on, Holy…"
"Leo told me all this on Saturday," Sally interrupted, speaking up for the first time. "So I had a heads-up about it. But Leo, you didn't tell me about the people following you guys."
"It wasn't until we were at the park later on Saturday we started thinking it could be serious," his human self replied.
Holding up a hand, the almost shaggy blonde-haired George leaned forward. "Wait a sec, Sally…you think all this is…true, then? No offense, Leo."
Leo didn't take any, though knowing it was meant for his human self.
She opened her mouth, staring at both him and his human self before actually speaking, "I think so. All the evidence seems to support it, and I have no better explanation for those two identical distortions around them. Not only that, we've all worked on this project long enough to know there's all kinds of theoretical possibilities, including time travel. Celebi's presence here I think is also proof of that."
"How's that?" the long black-haired human female, Naomi, asked.
"You don't know about her?" the man with the thick clear glasses, Ticonamo, responded. "She has the ability to time travel, if the stories about her are true."
"Time travel?"
Celebi floated her light green self in front of Naomi. "Of course I can! But I don't use it much because time travel is dangerous."
"Huh?"
Leo quickly translated.
Sally continued: "The theories and equations we developed hint at the possibility, but of course we're after space travel, not time travel. Since time travel is I think, possible, then changing the past also probably is. Further, if at this point we're about to begin Phase One, then if in another timeline there was some planet-threatening disaster in which our very survival depended on finishing the gate, getting it working, and using it to send one of us to another planet, don't you think we all could of pulled together to finish sooner than we are now?"
George sighed, shaking his head. "Well, probably, I guess. I mean, if we worked twenty-four hours a day, I'm sure we could of finished a few months ago. I don't know about the rest of you though, but I'd be dead at the end."
"So the gate does, or did, work though," Ticonamo said. "I guess that's something. Actually, that's a lot, just knowing that."
The oldest man, obvious by his grey hair and wrinkles, and according to his human self the one who really controlled the project, cleared his throat. "So, the bottom line is this project may be at the root of this coming disaster? Can't this…Dialga, be more specific though?" directing the question to Leo instead of his human self. "Like what is it, exactly?"
The question seemed surprisingly to the point; the older human had also appeared the least surprised by his ability to speak. Bracing himself on the wooden table and leaning over it toward the Professor: "Dialga says he doesn't have clear vision of the future, but he says whatever it is will likely happen within two weeks, and will cause considerable destruction. It made him worried enough that he risked sending me, Blaze, Celebi as well as himself and Palkia to this world to try and prevent it."
"I…see. So an effort to change the past again, so to speak?"
"Except none of us are from the future this time around," Leo replied.
"But you have knowledge of the future nonetheless. Therefore it will happen, no matter what we do."
The Professor was sharp, no doubt about that! "Hopefully we can use that knowledge to create another, better future for us. One that doesn't have a disaster. We done it before."
"Question is, can that be done before we actually experience this disaster?"
It was a question better suited for Dialga. Looking to Celebi for help, she floated over to the Professor, making him smile at least a little. "We won't know until we try, senior human," she said with a smile.
From across the table with his arms folded, Grovyle appeared to stifle a laugh.
Leo translated what she said, save for the last two words.
"But wouldn't this same disaster we're facing now have happened in the other time line too?" Ticonamo asked. "Maybe that could give us a clue as to what is supposed to happen."
"Different circumstances, I think," his human self answered. "We did something different or we got lucky, and there was already was something else happening on this planet, supposedly some effect from that Temporal Tower's collapse on the Poke planet that drove me and Grovyle to go there. You still don't remember what that disaster was yet, do you?"
'Disaster' was the word Sally used, not him. Other then some vague feeling from his memory of Sally and from what Dialga had said, he didn't know what the effect was to the human world. Certainly, it had to be as his human self put it: bad enough to force him and Grovyle to leave for the Poké world.
About to shake his head in answer, he realized almost with a start that he did recall… something… "We were…under a lot of pressure to…complete it in time," he started slowly, the memories in fragments, disjointed. "We…detected…dimensional distortions emanating from a nearby solar system. Almost as soon as we completed the DV detector." Was he really starting to remember this? It wasn't a torrent and nothing too specific, but bit by disjointed bit, enough was coming back to for him to string the basic story back together. Maybe being in the building and in presence of everyone, all his old teammates…
Closing his eyes to help him concentrate: "The distortions…they were…growing, gaining intensity. They, at first…they did little harm; later…they grew into shocks, caused earthquakes…ozone breaks in the air, other…disasters, each worse than before. We…we worked...a lot…day and night…" He opened his eyes, glancing at Sally. She was prominent… "…racing to get the gate completed, before our world was destroyed. Grovyle and I traveled to the source planet to find the source of the distortions and stop them."
After, it was silent for several moments until George uttered a "My God." Then: "What that Darkrai did on that planet doomed all of us here then too? One tower supposedly did all that? Dialga better be keeping that thing guarded, I hope!"
"It's hidden in it's own space outside time, from what Blaze and I have been told," his human self answered.
Closest to Leo, Naomi swiveled her chair around and leaning forward, stared directly into his eyes. "That's really you in there, Leo?"
He saw a brief flash of her, doing something similar to him but in a different setting. Like many of the other things he almost recalled, he couldn't hang onto the memory. "It's me. But I still don't have most my memories. I do remember it was the ring that got me and Grovyle to the Poké world. That much I am certain of now." Also amid the jumble of memories welling up he realized a few he wasn't about to share with the group. Daring another glance at Sally, he noticed all eyes on him for the next moment, including Blaze's.
"You remember that much now?" Blaze asked, cocking his head with widened eyes in his red face.
"Just some more fragments, but enough to know what I just said. That last year was a dark time here. This world was falling apart around us."
"Sounds like we didn't have a very fun time in that other timeline," Naomi said, leaning back and brushing her long black and shiny hair back behind her. "I'm glad you were able to change it, even though…uh…you ended up like you are."
But not everything in the other timeline was unpleasant! Again, not that he was going tell them about that. Instead: "I have no regrets being what I am now. Besides, I wouldn't had gained the best friend ever," glancing to Blaze.
"I feel the same about you, Leo," Blaze returned.
Actually, the part about no regrets wasn't entirely true anymore. He did have to leave something very precious behind…
"You're a braver…person than I am," Ticonamo commented, apparently not knowing which of him to look at in glancing back and forth. "I don't know if I could have gone on what was essentially a suicide mission."
"I've gone on no such mission," Leo Hanson returned, pointing from himself to Leo. "He did."
"But you did, in that timeline, if all this is true," Naomi pointed out.
From Blaze's reaction, Leo knew they were treading into sensitive territory. Anything to do with his 'death' was touchy. "I'm not sure how much bravery had to do with it. What kind of life would we have had if Grovyle and I hadn't sacrificed ourselves by changing the past and erasing ourselves from existence? The Earth would have been destroyed and the Poké world frozen in a unending, unchanging wasteland forever. We might as well have been dead with that kind of future." That was putting it rather bluntly and he checked Blaze to make sure he was alright. Indeed, he seemed fine and was even nodding.
"Good way to put it," his red and white haired friend said, though Grovyle's expression became sad.
"Sorry Grovyle, didn't mean to speak for you," Leo told him, though that was how the Grovyle he knew felt about it.
"So," the Professor started, waiting for everyone's attention, "the decision we have now is what do we do based on what, well, the two Leo's have told us. Boy, that feels and sounds weird. Anyway, Leo…er, both of you, I suspect I already know what you're going to suggest."
His human self took the initiative in answering: "I was thinking we should stop the project, for now at least, and review all our theories and everything else, double check for errors and maybe think of ways anything could go wrong. If this gate causes the disaster, then there must be an error somewhere or something we've overlooked."
"Alright, just hold it now," George said, quickly standing. "Granted, all this sounds…logical, I guess if you assume a number of things, and I'm not opposed to double-checking our work, but we've already done that, several times over! And do we have any proof that any of this is true? I don't mean to insult anyone here, I've known all of you for several years now, including my lab buddy Grovyle…"
Grovyle reached up to give a pat to the blonde-haired project member.
"…but all we really have is this…er, talking swampert's word for everything. Granted, Celebi is here, but even it is only rumored to have a time travel ability…"
"You want proof?"
Leo backed up from the table, though Celebi's tone sounded far worse than the simple question she asked.
Everyone in the room froze when she shot over to hover just in front of George's face. With a most peculiar smile, she gently touched her light green hand to his face, earning a surprised expression from George as he didn't move. In fact, he smiled just a little as her smile broadened. Then, starting out almost unnoticeably, she started glowing with a gentle white light, spreading quickly to surround George and rapidly gaining intensity. Within seconds, the light became bright enough to hide both of them before fading almost instantly…
"What the…!" Ticonamo exclaimed, rising out of his chair along with everyone else. Grovyle jumped way back from the space, almost hitting the wall behind him.
"They're gone!" Naomi nearly shouted.
Sally hesitantly stepped over before quickly waving her hand through the space George had been occupying, finding nothing but air and gaining a stunned expression.
"That's…incredible…" Chris said quietly.
Looking and sounding just as unsettled, "That's…well, what just happened?" the Professor asked.
Leo noted his human self staring at him with a slightly angry look about him. Although he hadn't seen Celebi actually use her ability before, he could make a good guess what she was doing. "He needed proof," he answered simply, Blaze adding a good chuckle in response.
"Alright, when did they go?" his human self returned.
Blaze shrugged, readjusting himself in his chair to lay his tail under the arm rest and adopting a more relaxed posture. He was still slightly grinning as he started playing with the chair's swiveling feature.
"Don't know," Leo replied. "I'm sure she'll bring him back soon." At least, he hoped she did!
"Well…uh, we need him back!" Sally half shouted, apparently getting over her initial shock.
Leo at once wished he could accommodate the red-head, but Celebi didn't say when she… He nearly missed the initial soft glow appearing next to Sally, but it grew within seconds to something near blinding. Sally almost didn't back up in time before the light started fading again, revealing both George and Celebi, in exactly the same positions as when they disappeared.
It was George's turn to appear shocked as he looked around to everyone. "How…did you all move so quickly?"
Celebi started giggling.
Clearing his throat, "George…you've been gone for about one minute," the Professor informed, clearly in awe himself.
"Is that proof enough?" Leo asked while everyone else remained silent. Celebi floated over to him and Blaze, the unmistakable look of satisfaction on her small face. Words weren't necessary.
"I…well…" the shaggy blonde-haired human stammered. "…ah…wow. OK, Celebi can time-travel…I guess."
It took a few minutes for everyone to settle back down, Grovyle walking around behind him and Blaze in the meantime. "Do you do that often?" asking Celebi.
"Only when I have to," answering sweetly.
"Alright, so I think we should postpone the project for while," Leo Hanson said, continuing with what he thought they should do about the upcoming disaster, though there were still many glances toward Celebi.
"I agree," Sally said with nod. "And truthfully, I think we've been rushing the competition a little this last week. We very well could have made an error somewhere."
"But that is what Phase One is supposed to help ferret out," Ticonamo pointed out.
"What about something that only Phase Two would uncover? That is when something is supposed to go wrong, right?"
Leo nodded with his human self, though no one was looking at him. The words he saw on the screen in the one vision were unmistakable.
"We know Phase One isn't going to test everything," Sally continued, brushing some of her long red hair back in place, still getting herself back together after Celebi's 'proof' apparently. "New theories come into play in Phase Two, and if one of our equations is wrong, like with the interaction between EMF energies and the dimensional fabric, or with the calculated angle of interference, we could let loose an awful amount of energy. Or even something we can't foresee or predict."
"What does all that mean?" Blaze asked in leaning over.
Leo shrugged. That knowledge he hadn't yet recovered.
Sally went on: "I'm thinking there's perhaps a few dozen areas we ought to revisit instead of rushing headlong into this."
Shaking his head, "We hadn't exactly rushed headlong into this," George countered, having finally regained his own composure. "We developed our equations over years, and tested them thoroughly before we even started construction. That process wasn't rushed…"
"No, we tested to the extent we knew," Ticonamo interrupted. "There could be more parts to those equations and theories we know nothing about. What if a stray cosmic particle streams in from space to impact the portal for instance?" Throwing up his hands, "I have no idea what would happen. I think we should take some more time and…"
"There goes half our funding," Naomi interjected. "That isn't going to sit well with Derganio, but that doesn't mean stopping for a while isn't the right thing to do, but for how long?"
"Then we take more time in Phase One and…"
Leo retreated a little from the table to stand next to Blaze as the arguments continued, sometimes to the point of questioning his story yet again. After a little while, he found himself shaking his head, not just at the technical complexity of the project itself, but over what seemed like the clear thing to do.
Laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder, Blaze started whispering: "This reminds me of when we tried convincing the Guild to believe us when we told them the truth about Dusknoir after we returned from the future. They eventually came around and did the right thing. These humans seem like good humans. And your human self obviously believes in them."
"It just doesn't look like he should at the moment," Leo replied as a near shouting match erupted between George, Ticonamo and Naomi.
"Hey, enough!" the Professor yelled after attempts by Sally and his human self failed. After everyone had a moment and sat back into their chairs, "Alright, we have some differences of opinion here, that's obvious. But maybe that just shows that we should pause the project for a while and think things through."
His human self nodded, "I know what I told you all is a lot, and I can see where it could be hard to believe, Celebi's little demonstration notwithstanding. To tell you the truth, I'm still coming to grips with some it myself. But maybe taking a break is a good idea and will give us time to sort it all out."
"It's not a bad idea," Sally added.
A slight look of relief spread across the Professor's face, smoothing out a few wrinkles. "Well, unless all of you strongly object, I'm going send everyone home for the week."
"What?" George exclaimed before the Professor motioned him back down.
"I know Derganio is going to ask a lot of questions, but I think I can make them understand we feel we need to double check some things as the consequences of something going wrong could be catastrophic. So after we leave here, I want everyone to bring home all the documentation we have so far and just go over things at home. I encourage you to meet with each other and look at our theories and equations in a new light. Maybe we'll discover something. Hopefully when we're all back next week, we'll have rested minds and fresh insights, because I admit I've been driving you pretty hard the last few weeks. We can decide how to proceed at that time. Everyone agreeable?"
There were a number of sighs around the table, but also unanimous nods.
"Then it's settled. Make sure your laptops have full security enabled and have a good week, everyone."
"See?" Blaze beamed with a smile, his teeth showing.
Leo reached over to ruffle up his mane, happy his friend had faith in them even if he didn't so much. "Yes, you were right."
"Of course they would do the right thing," Grovyle said, as if the outcome was never in doubt.
"So, they did listen to you and the other Leo," Celebi added, still floating around them.
"Well, a whole week off," Ticonamo said in getting up. "Maybe we should all meet somewhere on Wednesday to touch base."
"Not a bad idea," Naomi seconded, getting up but quickly facing Leo. "It's just so…unbelievable…becoming a Pokémon. How did it happen, exactly?"
"Only Darkrai knows, and he no longer has his own memories," Leo answered.
She raised her relatively delicate hand to touch him on the forehead. "What's it like…being a Pokémon? What's the Poké world like?"
His human self came to stand behind her. "Maybe we can all talk later this week."
"Huh? Oh right. You have that beautiful patio on your roof, don't you? Maybe we can meet for a day at your house?"
Sally was soon behind him too. "Ooo, now that sounds like a good idea," sounding fairly excited by the prospect.
Sighing, "I think I'm being cornered into this."
Leo had to admit it sure sounded that way, but he certainly wouldn't mind seeing Sally again.
On the Professor's urging, everyone else left (not without several wistful looks at Celebi), leaving just Leo, his human self, Chris, Blaze, Grovyle, Celebi and the Professor in the room.
"Professor, thanks."
"Yes, I hope this will prevent the disaster," Leo added to what his human self said.
"Well, I hope we find what the flaw is so we can fix it," the older man replied. "It'd be a shame to waste six years of effort. But your story…" and he looked between all of them, "it's going to take some time to digest. I think I'm envious, too. What an adventure!"
"It's been that," Blaze quipped. "But I've made some great friends along the way."
Leo smiled, touching the gills on one side of his face before translating.
"What I wouldn't give to meet that Dialga and Palkia," the Professor went on. "The knowledge they must have…"
"Which they probably wouldn't tell us, if I had to guess," his human self said.
Sighing, "Well, that would probably be for the best. Anyway, I should get my stuff together too. It's going to seem strange not being here for a week, although in dealing with Derganio, I'll probably have to pop in a few times. Get some rest Leo…uh, both of you. You've earned it by the sound of it." With a curious smile, the older human left the room.
His human self collapsed into the nearest chair, letting out a massive sigh in reaching for his bottle of water. "I gotta admit, I really wasn't expecting to have been able to convince any of them."
"You underestimate yourself," Leo replied.
"And you should know, huh?"
Chris, who had been quite most the entire time, finally got up. "Can't say I understood a lot of that when you were talking about the details, though Celebi's time travel demonstration was great, by the way…"
"Thank you," Celebi responded.
"…but what could happen if 'something bad' happened?"
His human self took a drink from the bottle, swallowing slowly. "Depends. And we really don't know the full extent of all the possibilities. I suppose it could range from sending someone to the wrong destination, like the heart of a sun, to exploding, to maybe even dragging in parts of whatever location it erroneously connects with." Throwing up a hand, "Too many remote possibilities, and I'm too drained to think of them all. How about I get my stuff together and we go somewhere for lunch?"
Along with himself, that got Blaze and Grovyle up in a hurry.
Terminating the secure connection, the form sitting in front of the phone terminal was already pondering the unexpected news.
So, the project was suspended? The logic behind it was certainly sound enough and although he thought something like this might happen, the manner and timing of it surprised him. Leo Hanson and his swampert counterpart were moving quickly. Too quickly. But they couldn't suspect the project's real purpose, at least not yet…could they?
Still, the suspension could perhaps be turned to an unexpected advantage; moving sooner was certainly better now given recent events. At first hesitating with his finger in front of the screen, he finally touched the few buttons, making another secure connection.
"Yes?" the man, dressed in his usual dark grey suit, answered in a gruff voice just after appearing on the screen.
"We're going to set the bait. Begin your end of it."
Removing his sunglasses, the man revealed hazel-blue eyes and more of his older, chiseled face. "Already?"
"Yes. Due to unexpected events, we need to move forward quickly now. This is what I want you to tell them..." In a few sentences, he told his agent exactly he wanted him to divulge. "And don't be sloppy about it; they already know they'd been under surveillance."
The man returned a pained grimace. "Understood."
Sighing, he terminated the connection. Although not exactly as he predicted, everything was still falling into place with a few adjustments. Yet all of this was just prep work; the biggest risk was coming up and he had to be ready. Dialga and Palkia would surely sense the subterfuge eventually, it was merely a matter of time…and space.
Standing, he slowly stretched his tall, thin frame, reaching his arms above his head for a good few moments before moving to the window and pulling the blinds. The late afternoon sun streamed in, slightly hurting his eyes. But he forced himself to endure it and focus; sharpening his mind was crucial, for the time of conflict was fast approaching. He could sense it.