Chapter 14: Deceptions
Leo grabbed the wooden crate in front of him as the well-worn box truck hit yet another hard bump and started swaying, jarring every bone in his body. In the dim light of the overhead bulb, he saw Blaze and Grovyle make equal use of some straps attached to the sides. Of course, bumps weren't problem for Celebi with her ability to hover, nor was it probably as much a problem for either his human self or Chris, both riding in the front with Sally driving, and all sitting on padded seats.
Sally… Just the thought of her gave him pause; she was no longer looking like herself! When she came out of the bathroom only a couple hours before, he swore she was a different human, though her scent was the same. Straw-blonde hair, a cap and glasses almost completely changed her appearance. And then there were the really short blue cut-offs barely covering her rounded hips that had been a new pair of jeans earlier that day, she said. Not to mention the rolled-up light yellow shirt that only just covered the middle of her chest.
The effect on his human self and Chris had been immediate. Having once been human, he found himself staring as well; she was…quite attractive in the way only a female could be. Even Blaze and Grovyle made a couple comments, leaving him wondering.
After some distance, all the harder to gauge without any windows, the truck finally stopped.
"This must be the first spot," Blaze commented.
Leo felt nervousness setting in as he watched the back of the truck open on a mostly dark outside, his human self motioning Grovyle out.
"Guess this is it," he said after the Pokémon jumped out.
"Alright, I'll let you know as soon as the alarm and rear locks are disabled," the now blonde-haired Sally reminded, pointing to a small radio she was holding in her hand.
Nodding, his human self shoved a matching radio into a pocket before closing the door again, Chris jumping up and in to take Grovyle's place just before.
According to the plan, the truck would stay where it was a couple blocks from the lab building for fifteen minutes, giving his human self and Grovyle time to make their way into position around the back of the building. There they would hide in the deep woods that mostly surrounded the research center, waiting for the alarm and locks to be disabled. Once that happened, they would make their way through the back of the building, Grovyle distracting/fighting any guards present.
In short, they would be "breaking" into the building from two different directions; if one group failed, the other might still get into the lab.
But until then, he had fifteen minutes to work himself up some more. "Hopefully Sally will be able to distract the guards," speaking idly in Poké speech to Blaze and Celebi.
Flexing one of his purple hands into a fist, "If she can't, then we'll just have to use force," his partner replied, the whites of his teeth showing.
Celebi floated in front of the red and white haired infernape, "Aren't you still healing? Aren't you both still healing?"
"I'm healthy enough to take on any human," Blaze replied, his haired mane puffing slightly in the dim light. "Wonder if we'll run into those charizards and blastoise, though. Those humans could be part of this Derganio, maybe?"
"If run into them, I'll take care of the blastoise if you handle the charizards," Leo replied.
Grinning, "Deal."
Of course he was half joking. Really, between the two of them his water pulse attack would be the best option against the charizards, but if Blaze tried to take on the blastoise again, he could imagine the massive Pokémon not going as easy on him this time around.
"And who's going to get both of you out of trouble?" Celebi asked, hands on her tiny hips and setting herself down on one of the tall wooden boxes to stand.
"That's why Chris is here," Leo answered in human speech.
"Huh? What?" the trainer asked.
"To get us out of trouble. I'm sure Electabuzz won't mind helping either." In fact, he would have to. With Blaze and himself still healing, the other Pokémon were going to be needed if they ran into either the blastoise or even one of the two charizards.
Pointing to one of the Pokéballs on his belt, "He probably heard that."
"And I'm sure he's smiling at the prospect," Blaze added.
"I still want to go with them," Leo admitted after a moment, more seriously. "I should be with him at least."
"We need to help Sally," Chris said. "Without disabling the locks, the other Leo can't get in through the back."
"Didn't he say his access didn't include the rear dock doors?" Celebi asked.
"Besides," Blaze added, "Grovyle should be able to handle any humans back there. He certainly beat us pretty good in the other future."
"We were a chimchar and a mudkip back then," Leo felt compelled to point out. Obviously, that made at least a little difference, though he still wouldn't want to take Grovyle on in a rematch!
"The most important job is here," Chris continued. "We need to lure any guards around into the back of this truck. Speaking of which…" Unclipping one of the Pokéballs from his belt, he released Pikachu.
"Hi," Leo greeted along with Blaze.
Pikachu returned the greeting. "We're already there?"
"Not quite," Blaze answered. "Grovyle and the other Leo just left. We'll be doing our part soon."
"Remember Pikachu, only a low power thunderbolt," Chris reminded.
The yellow mouse-like Pokémon nodded his understanding before puffing his red-spotted checks in a mischievous smile.
Leo Hanson had a hard time shaking his sense of foreboding after stumbling alongside Grovyle in near blackness. Just outside the edge of the city, street lights were few and far between, especially with the University's research building being located practically in the middle of a forested preserve. From the point they left the truck, there were two ways to get to the building: by the road and it's sidewalk, and cross-country. Obviously the road could be watched, so he and Grovyle found themselves in forest as soon as they left the road. Only then did he realize the moon wasn't shining, making for one dark walk amid all the undergrowth and tree branches.
It wasn't so bad where the trees were thin and some of Pinnacle Valley's city glow could at least illuminate a small fraction of their way, but in the heavier cover they might as well of been in a sealed light-tight room. And to make matters worse there was a steep slope, the small forest being on the side of a hill.
"Grovyle?"
Leo hesitantly pulled the tiny flashlight out of his pocket, using it briefly to just see the way ahead for a few yards. He was fearful of keeping it on, for if any of the light made it through the tress to the building…
Feeling Grovyle's smooth two-fingered hand take his, he allowed his partner to lead him through the portion of forest the light had just illuminated. Grovyle had slightly better night vision than humans, but with so little light available, he wasn't sure if he could see any better or not.
The answer came quickly. Hearing Grovyle trip, the jerk on his hand came next, pulling him down in turn; he felt the wind knocked out of him in landing on top of his friend, just before they started rolling downhill, Grovyle going up and over him and vice versa before his back hit solidly against some tree.
"Ow, damn!", brushing off something sticky from his face and head. Reaching for the flashlight again…he found his pocket empty! "I lost the flashlight!"
His heart pounded as he joined Grovyle in feeling around for it, the whole idea of sneaking into the place through the woods looking less and less smart by the moment. He just didn't think hiking two blocks through the woods he passed everyday for years was going to be a problem!
And now that he was on his hands and knees… "What the heck…?" From Grovyle's sudden lack of motion, he knew he felt the slight pulsing in the ground too.
One of the theories around dimensional portals was if things weren't aligned just perfectly, spatial vibrations could result. Indeed, it was something he remembered from the one visions. Only now, he was feeling them for real!
"Forget the light, we got to go!" Getting back up in the near total blackness, he felt for his partner's hand and with him made as good of time as they could, the pulsing in the ground getting much stronger before it finally stopped after a good half-minute. He felt at least a little relief, but what kind of damage might they have done in creating a seriously out-of-alignment portal? Could they already be too late?
In addition to the feeling of running out of time, he at once got a sudden, powerful wave of Déjà vu. Which was of course, nuts; when the heck had he ever went blindly stumbling around in a forest at night before? Yet, he couldn't shake there something was familiar about all of this…
After several more near-stumbles, they broke out into a thinner area, providing slightly more light from the city's glow then the deep cover, at least enough to see silhouettes. A bit of wind rustled the tops of the trees around them, giving just the barest hints of a breeze near the ground, and…
Grovyle stopped, yanking on his hand and forcing him to do the same. "Grovyle, what…"
His friend gave a sharp shake through his arm, indicating to be silent. Standing completely still, there was only the usual night noises of crickets, the rustling leaves in the light wind… No, there was more rustling then the wind could account for. And…it…no, they were getting close, fast!
Almost as soon as he realized that, the corner of his eye caught a shadow of movement behind them… A hard thud and moan, and Leo felt his friend fall, almost dragging him down with his tightened grip.
He tried reacting in the darkness, to turn around and face whoever or whatever it was, but sooner than he could think it, a sharp pain ripped through the back of his skull. From the ground, he stared up at the dark star-filled sky with unfocused vision, feeling his consciousness slipping. The shadow of a head appeared over him and after appearing to remove something, it brought up a dim light that illuminated it's face.
The man smiled down at him, not kindly…
Recognition hit him just as his vision grew black.
Leo felt his heart pound after the truck stopped for the second time, or rather jerked several times before coming to a rather noisy and grinding stop, bumping all of them in back along with it.
"Ow," Chris hissed out in a whisper after whacking his side into one of the wooden crates.
"Quiet!" Leo reminded him in a quieter whisper.
Chris waved at him before reaching for the light to extinguish it, plunging the inside into complete darkness.
If they didn't make any more noise, no one on the outside would know they were there. At least until they opened the rear door, at which point it'd then be too late…in theory.
The sound of the driver's door opening, Sally climbing out and slamming it shut was clear. Less clear were the voices that followed, though they were still mostly understandable.
"Lady…uh, miss. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, maybe one of…handsome, strong…can help me!"
It struck him immediately that Sally's voice was a little different too, now.
"I thought I was on the road into the city, but I started down this road, and my truck here is really acting up, like it just broke down! Can you help me? Please?"
"Well…"
"Uh…" a second man's voice stammered.
"Oh, please?" Sally begged. "It's been a really long drive from Cape Kippel, and I'm all tired and…"
"Well, come on Roberts, we can…lady some assistance."
With a lower voice: "I'd really appreciate that," Sally replied.
"Um…" A long pause, then a low whistle followed by some chuckling. "Uh…sure, no problem, I guess. We have certainly have all night."
Leo knew he was grinning. Although he wished he could see what was going on out there, he had a decent idea. Remembering one fragment of memory, Sally was with him in some park and she was…what was the word…flirting?
Something popped, then the sound of another door being opened, though different.
"They popped the hood," Chris whispered so quietly, Leo wasn't sure he heard him right.
"Hey, this thing looks…"
"Oh, this…loose."
"…feels hot."
"I think there's some tools in the back," Sally's voice said. "Could you help me get them? There are some really large, heavy boxes in the way, though. But two strong men could probably move them out of the way."
"Get ready," Chris again barely whispered.
Footsteps on the hard asphalt made their way around the truck to the back before the latch was undone and the doors swung open, allowing dim light from outside to flood in.
Looking to the others, Leo made sure they were all crouching (or floating) behind the boxes.
"The light is right up there," Sally said. "And the tool box is behind those large crates back there."
"Whew," one of the men exclaimed. "Lady, you weren't kidding when you said they were big!"
"Yeah," confirmed the other. "Which one are the tools behind?"
"The one on the left," Sally shouted back.
The truck rocked slightly with the sound of two people climbing up and in. The illumination about doubled as the dim interior light was switched on, then the footsteps on the wood truck floor came toward the back.
Chris was holding his hand on Pikachu's back, seemingly ready.
Leo held his breath as grunts came from the two unseen men, the box in front of him quickly lurched forward.
"Hey lady, this ain't that heavy," one of the men remarked. In a few more seconds, the empty wooden box was slid completely out and to the side, revealing…
The men stood, staring back at him in apparent shock.
"Hello," Leo said in human speech, adding a wave.
The two men in dark blue uniforms, sporting some kind of emblems that said "Derganio", swung around. "Hey! Lady! What the…!"
Pikachu didn't wait for any command, already having been told what to do. Jumping into the opening, the yellow mouse-like Pokémon let loose with a bright white, blinding flash as electricity instantly jumped from him to the two men. The bolt itself lasted a mere fraction of a second; the men collapsed a few fractions after that.
"Let's go!" Sally said waving everyone out.
"Hey, this one's still awake," Blaze said, being the last to step over the two humans. As if to emphasize the point, the one let out a soft moan.
Pikachu raced back, letting loose with a much smaller spark. The human ceased moaning.
"Come on, come on, come on," Sally urged, waving them out.
After giving a wistful look back at the two human, Celebi flew out as Chris and Sally closed and locked the rear doors.
Sally paused a few seconds, shaking slightly as she let out a sigh. "Well, that should hold them for a while even after they wake up."
"Yeah, good work everyone," Chris said. "I almost feel sorry for them."
She nodded before quickly leading them to the front doors…
Huh? Touching his chest, Leo felt the twinge subside after the weird feeling.
"What is it?" Blaze asked, grabbing his shoulder as Sally touched something that had buttons in the wall near the front door to the massive sand-stoned building.
Looking down at himself, he couldn't see anything wrong, but… "I don't know. Something's wrong."
Blaze's red infernape face showing sudden worry, "But you look fine…"
He shook his head, trying to explain the feeling to his friend that he couldn't even explain to himself. "It feels like something…happened?"
After some audible clicks, Sally pushed the door open and started ushering them in. Whipping out the small radio, "This is team one. Cuckoo's nest is open for business."
Leo felt growing foreboding growing with each passing heartbeat without a response.
"This is team one. Cuckoo's nest is open for business."
Still just inside the front doors in the front of the lobby, everyone else's looks grew more worried as more seconds passed.
"A feeling?" Chris asked, facing him.
Leo then thought he knew, if not necessarily why. "He's in trouble."
On the balcony overlooking the gate, he glanced over to the displays, reading the information from the last activation, frowning slightly. Maybe it was too much to hope for…
One of the multitude of white-robed scientists with him sighed after changing one of the displays to a more graphic rendering. "Sir, if you ask me, this gate just isn't ready for full-scale use yet. We did skip most of the testing the original team had scheduled and there are still plenty of bugs to shake out."
He nodded a response, running a hand back through his long, near-white hair, almost combing it. "That's alright," he replied smoothly and gently. "It doesn't have to be fully working for our purposes."
A different scientist turned around. "Huh?"
"We only need to generate dimensional portals for a short time. It doesn't even have to be stable."
"But instability is what just about destroyed it a few minutes ago!"
That he knew and was about to say so, but a vibration from his pocket demanded his attention. Whipping out the small cell, "Yes?"
"It's Darryl," the non-descript voice on the other end replied. "Seems prudence paid off. I caught Leo Hanson and his Grovyle in the woods outside the building." In the background, a soft growl from a charizard was just audible. "What do you want me to do with them?"
The decision was easy: "Keep them; they'll just get in the way. Incidentally, there's a truck parked outside at the front doors that shouldn't be there. And…the guards seemed to have disappeared. Please check it out." As he spoke, he glanced again at the small monitor showing the view at the front of the building, still showing no one there, although the woman driver he saw just a couple minutes before…she almost looked familiar.
"Yes sir," the voice replied before terminating the call.
"Anything important, Kol?"
Kol turned about to face his 'friend', unable to not glance at the burn scars on his hands for the thousandth time. After all these years, he couldn't help but smile inwardly at what it symbolically meant. "We should increase security at the front. I think we have others trying to get in besides Mr. Hanson. Please see to it, Terrace. And take Gerald with you; his blastoise I think is bored."
Terrace returned an expectant grin before moving for the stairs and down to the lab floor; Kol noticed several of the scientists around him staring.
"What's going on?" one of them asked hesitantly.
Kol narrowed his eyes, concentrating. "I think you should focus on getting this gate working…" It took nearly a minute, but eventually the scientists nodded in agreement. "We need to prepare for another attempt in five minutes."
"Five minutes? But…we haven't even finished analyzing the data from the last attempt!"
"Don't worry. We'll shut it down before anything bad happens." At least from the gate.
With some alarm, he noticed his hands shaking slightly and thrust them into his pockets to hide it. Damn, he was getting nervous. But after four attempts over two days, they still hadn't been successful and he was getting impatient. Just how many more portal openings was it going to take; they had to sense it! And surely, the message of what they were doing had reached them by now.
"What trouble?"
"I don't know; I just…felt something. I think he needs help." Leo wished he could offer some proof, but it was like as some Pokémon referred to as a "sixth sense". Well, there was the fact his human self wasn't answering the radio…
A subtle but sharp click reverberated from the corridor on the other side of the lobby, getting everyone's attention. Sharp footfalls on the hard floor from at least two people approaching soon followed.
"Company's coming," Chris whispered anxiously.
Leo noticed Celebi floating around and behind his head before feeling her grip on his head fins with her tiny hands. "Are we going to fight?" she asked in a higher than usual pitch.
His heart really began to pound, hoping Chris's other Pokémon could handle them. If only his arm was fully healed already! At least he could still fire off a water pulse… "Maybe."
"Has to be Derganio, they'd be the only ones working around the clock here." Swinging around, Sally faced them with her own nervous expression: "Listen, if something happened to Leo, then we got to get in there and disable that gate by ourselves!"
"What about Leo…"
For an instant, Sally looked indecisive, frightened. Then reaching into her pocket, she fished out a small flashlight. "I know, but if they've already discovered him, we can't waste any time."
Chris nodded, but didn't sound very confident, "But if we meet those charizards or the blastoise…"
"I'll do my best for you!" Pikachu said, putting on a brave face as he tugged on Chris's pants.
"We'll try too," Leo added.
Focused more on him and Blaze, the red head shook her head: "No, you two need to find Leo. You too, Celebi. Go find him and help him." Blaze caught the tossed flashlight. "You might need that. Now hurry and go!"
The footsteps were nearly there as he followed Blaze in rushing back out the doors, Celebi floating closely behind. He didn't need much urging to go to the aid of his human self. There was a certain natural obligation to do so, despite Chris and Sally perhaps needing all the help they could get. But no sooner in leaving the front steps did they spot the human at the side of the driveway, barely lit in the dim light from a solitary light attached to the front of the building.
"You two!" he shouted, pointing a finger at them.
"The human with the charizards!" Blaze yelped in surprise, his red and yellow mane puffing greatly as he clenched his fists.
"What are you doing here?" Leo shouted back, debating whether to run back into the building.
"Ah, so it does talk, like everyone claims!" the dark brown-haired man returned. "But you're asking my question. Actually, how about that battle you wanted so badly before, swampert, or should I say Leo the human turned Pokémon? Confronting me the other day cost me some stature! This time, you won't be walking away!" Narrowing his eyes menacingly, he started reaching to his belt.
"Blaze, NOW!" Coming to an instant decision, he jumped into a full run straight at the man without hesitation. If he released his charizards…
The human jerked with a screech. In a blur, he whipped out the Pokéball, but it was too late…the charizard appeared at the end of the beam too far behind...
With a yell, Leo crashed his right side into the human with all his momentum, knocking him over and leaving them both on the ground. Blaze, only a hair behind, clamped on to the struggling man's arm with his teeth, forcing an even louder scream out of him before he released the Pokéball from his pained hand.
"GET OFF HIM!" a voice roared almost on top of them.
Leo glanced up in time to see the charizard raising one of his mighty clawed hands in preparation to strike…then a pair of tiny light green hands appear from behind his head to cover his eyes.
"You need to mellow big boy!" Celebi said in her high-pitched voice that seemed even higher than normal.
"Leo, get the ball!" Blaze shouted through clenched teeth, almost drowned out by the charizard's roars behind them and just before the man hit him hard in the ribs, forcing him to release his arm.
Thrusting his legs, he dived for the barely visible red and white ball as it started rolling off the road and down the dark slope beyond, no sooner securing it in his hand before hearing Blaze scream. Looking behind with a start, he leapt just in time to dodge the fire attack from the charizard even as its tail whipped around to knock Blaze off the human, along with a head shake that completely dislodged Celebi!
Even before landing, Leo had the Pokéball held in front of him, one of his large three fingers on the small button and pointing toward the charizard.
Surprise at once replaced the furious expression on the dragon's face. "Hey, don't you..."
He pressed the button. Splitting open, the red beam shot out from the ball, enveloping the large Pokémon and quickly absorbing him into it's confines before sealing itself again within only a few seconds. For a moment, it was hard to believe what he just did. Was it really that easy to defeat the such a powerful of Pokémon with one of these balls?
Picking himself up off the hard pavement with a moan and a hand to his ribs, Blaze was still quick in sending a flame out of his mouth to strike the ground in front of the human, forcing him to halt his advance while brightly illuminating his face.
That face…illuminated like it was… That was it; it was in a dream! Except it must of really been the Dimensional Scream…
"Leo, the other ball!" Blaze shouted after expanding the last of his fiery breath.
It took him a second to regain his awareness before charging toward the human as he started running away, quickly catching up as Blaze cut him off. With a swipe from his right arm, he tripped their quarry and landed land on top, grabbing the other Pokéball off his belt.
"Thieves! Pokémon thieves!" the human cried.
"Self preservation!" Leo returned. Then in as angry a tone as he could muster while hovering his face just in front of the man's: "Where's Leo Hanson?" The human grimaced as he put more weight on his stomach.
"He's…that…way!" the man answered with difficulty, pointing off into the woods. "Get…off!"
"Without those charizards, he should be harmless, right?" Blaze asked, pointing to the two Pokéballs.
As far as he knew.
Celebi appeared before them, holding one of her arms. It was scratched. "Are humans harmless without Pokémon to do their fighting?"
"I don't know, but we have to go," Leo answered and climbed off the human, who immediately took off running….with a limp and a groan.
Leading the three of them into the woods beyond the road, he noted the human did at least point in the direction he appeared to be coming from when they first spotted him. "Celebi, thanks for your help. We could've been hurt pretty bad if you hadn't distracted that charizard."
"You're welcome…cuties! Glad I could be useful! Just hope Grovyle is alright…and your other self of course, Leo!"
It was far too dark to see anyone blushing, not that Blaze would've have been considering the circumstances they were in. His partner held up the flashlight in one of his purple hands, and after taking a moment to figure out how to turn it on, a bright pale-blue shaft of light soon was beaming from it and revealing a lot of undergrowth growth in front of them.
Following him through it, Leo could see his partner struggling, even still holding his side with one hand. "Blaze, are you alright? You took some hits."
"I'll heal," he replied shortly, casting the light around them to illuminate the area.
Speaking of injuries, he looked back to Celebi.
"I'll be fine too," she replied, not releasing the grip on her rather frail-looking arm.
At least she was flying just fine, but he instantly felt bad being the only one who didn't get hurt in the "fight".
A large rustling and some snapping twigs nearby got their attention; Blaze led them toward the sound. Soon after, the beam of the flashlight caught movement behind the trees, and getting closer, they broke out into a partial clearing in which…
Jumping back at the sight of the red-scaled charizard, Blaze still nearly backed into him.
Glancing at the second ball in his hand, it was now obvious it was empty!
"I've seen you two," the charizard greeted in it's deep raspy voice, fully facing them while pointing a claw in their direction. "You were with these other two." With his other hand, he indicated the two dark forms on the ground as he partly spread his wings. "I think I'm not going to run from you weaklings this time!"
"Hurry, get him in the ball!" Blaze hissed.
He didn't need to be told twice! Holding up the second Pokéball, he hoped he guessed right as to which one was still empty!
The charizard's eyes grew wide in the beam of the flashlight. "You…put that down! You're not a human!" Rearing his head back, the glow of a flame started lighting the inside of his mouth…
Hitting the button on the ball, the second charizard was fully absorbed in the span of a few hurried breaths, and he was down by his human self's side.
"They're unconscious," Blaze quickly determined, holding his free hand first over one nose, than the other.
"Can we wake them up?" Celebi asked, worry evident in her voice while she hovered close overhead.
Leo tried shaking his human self, getting nothing. Blaze got a better response from Grovyle, who opened his eyes.
"Blaaaze?" Grovyle asked with slurred speech. "What…hap…what happened?"
"I think that human with the charizards ambushed you. We just fought him off and captured the them."
"Captured?"
Holding up the two Pokéballs, one in each hand, Leo flashed a grin but quickly faced his human self with worry. "He may be hurt."
Grovyle fought to get himself up on an elbow, Blaze helping him, to put a hand on the human and shake him himself. His effort brought the same non-response. "He's out cold."
"Is he hurt?" Leo asked insistently. Without knowing or remembering much about human physiology, he just couldn't tell!
"Don't know," Grovyle replied. "Probably not too…bad." With that, the green Pokémon let himself back to the ground, holding his own head. "But he's going to have a headache for sure. Feels like a charizard hit me pretty good!"
"That's because that charizard probably did hit you pretty good!" Blaze replied. Then: "Huh?"
Leo suddenly felt it too. Like a mild pulsing through the ground, the vibration didn't feel like any earthquake he'd ever experienced… "What is that?"
Sitting up with a look of alarm, "The gate is being activated again," Grovyle answered.
"Again?' Celebi exclaimed.
"They did this right after we left the truck," Grovyle continued. "Didn't you feel it?"
"We didn't feel anything before!" Leo said, surprised at all this. If that was already twice in the span of only a few minutes, the disaster could come at any moment!
"Truck must have isolated you then…"
Celebi began floating in quick, nervous-looking movements around them. "We have to stop them! They could be causing the disaster…or…" She stopped dead in the air, eyes very wide.
"What?" Blaze asked.
Visibly swallowing hard, "Dialga and Palkia…they're coming. They said they wouldn't wait long to destroy the gate if they sensed it working. Dialga was going to create a slight time distortion to left me know when they did… I sense that now. I have to be..." With a last high-pitched unintelligible squeal, she rose up into the air and shot out of sight over the trees, straight toward the building.
"Leo, if they're coming, we need to be there too!" Blaze said excitedly, glancing several times between him and where Celebi went.
Looking down at his human self, he couldn't disagree but he couldn't leave his other self either!
"Leo, Blaze, help me carry him," Grovyle said, rising to a crouch on shaky legs while placing his arms under the human's shoulders.
"I'm stronger," Leo said, stopping Blaze from crouching and instead handing him the Pokéballs. Putting his good arm under his human self's feet, he picked up him up with Grovyle and together, they started going as fast as the two of them could back through the woods, Blaze lighting the way.
"Power output at eighty percent."
"Hold it steady there," Kol told the scientist, determined to not repeat the mistake they made last time that nearly destroyed the gate. Down below, the light grey outline of a barely formed dimensional portal refracted gently and serenely in the middle of the ring, creating it's own unique smell that wasn't too dissimilar to ozone. But it was unstable, and it was likely that instability that was creating the hard pulsing through the floor and presumably for some distance around outside. Still, if they didn't push any more power through the system, the portal could probably survive for at least a few minutes without causing any damage or more serious consequences.
And that was all they needed in theory; the portal only needed to exist…to be sensed.
Of sensing, he was doing his own, straining with all his ability and hoping for that tell-tail sign of a spatial shift arriving… His eyes shot open as his heart beat faster. Yes, that was what he expected. In fact, there was a slight time-distortion as well…
With a hand on the closest scientist's back, he spoke hurriedly: "Jiri, you and everyone else need to evacuate now. Go to our primary location and continue work there. Leave these systems running." Not so much that he particularly cared for their well-being, but they were needed elsewhere and things in the lab were about to get dangerous…exceeding so.
"What?" The man exclaimed, swinging around in obvious surprise. "We just can't leave and…"
The spatial shift and time distortion were rapidly growing stronger… "DO IT!" Kol nearly roared, more than loud enough for everyone to hear with his anger flaring at being questioned. "Everyone, get off this site NOW!" Striking his hand hard against the railing, the boom echoed through the lab, even over all the vibrations.
The scientists on the balcony suddenly wasted no time in obeying and rushing for the exit. Kol followed them down to the main floor, but after making sure the last man ran out through the doors, he moved toward the still powered-on gate instead.
No sooner had he made it to the wide opening in the glass wall separating the gate from the rest of the lab, there was a blinding flash and he nearly didn't get his sensitive eyes closed in time to avoid injury. After the light faded, he knew what he would find, sensing them as much as he saw them after turning around and opening his eyes. The two great legendary dragon Pokémon stood before him, one blue and sliver, the other white. "Dialga and Palkia," he greeted calmly, though his heart was pounding and his hands shook worse than ever. If he didn't do what he had to do here and now, there would be no point in continuing the plan, for the two powerful Pokémon would surely stop him just as he foresaw. But he was letting his emotions get out of hand; he had the advantage after all!
"Who are you?" Dialga roared in a somewhat curious tone after slamming a clawed foot onto the concrete floor, adding to the vibrations from the gate.
"This dangerous playing with dimensional portals cannot continue!" Palkia said in his equally powerful voice.
"Who's playing?" Kol returned, smiling from the fact the two Pokémon seemed surprised he could understand them.
Turning his large head in looking around the deserted lab, "Where is the human Leo Hanson?" Dialga asked. "Or the swampert Leo and infernape Blaze?"
"They're all…unavailable," he replied, taking his hands out of his pockets in preparing himself, finding them now steady. "Of course, the two Leo's are the one and the same, aren't they? Very nice, sending one here to join the other and playing around with timelines and all."
Whipping his head back forward. "WHO ARE YOU?" the blue and silver dragon of time boomed, red eyes flaring in a now angry glare.
Such power…and supreme confidence, Kol sensed in him. It almost seemed a shame to do what he had to do to the two life-givers, but the others were depending on him and he certainly couldn't jeopardize what was coming. "Oh, what's that old saying…that's for me to know and you to find out? If you can."
"Little human, either terminate that portal or get out of our way!" Palkia demanded, already taking a step toward the gate.
"No." Raising his hands, he willed the nearly invisible field into existence. The trap was finally sprung…
Leo didn't realize his human self was as heavy as he was. Grovyle had it worse judging by how he was struggling, but never asked to slow down. They were far behind Celebi and they needed to get back as fast as they could. After crashing through the woods, they were fortunately soon back at the building right as some humans in white coats came running out!
"What's going on?" Blaze shouted at one of the passing humans even though none of them could understand him. None of them stopped, instead going right for the parking lot.
On Grovyle's urging, Leo set his human self down against the building before rushing into the building behind him and Blaze.
Near one of the stone walls in the lobby, Sally and Chris were staring down two other humans who looked just bewildered at the last of the racing white-coated humans rushing by between them. A blastoise, the same one who had nearly killed Blaze, was lying in the middle of the floor with Pikachu, Elekid and Electabuzz all standing over him.
"Ha ha!" Blaze shouted over at the unconscious blastoise. "How's that feel?"
Of the two other humans, one of them Leo never saw before, but the other was the trainer of the blastoise; his hard, chiseled face he'd never forget!
"Leo, Blaze," Sally shouted, pointing down the one corridor. "Celebi went flying down toward the lab a few seconds ago! Where's the other Leo?"
"Outside," answering as he started running through the lobby toward the corridor. If Dialga and Palkia were in the lab…
"No you don't!" the human next to the blastoise trainer shouted, holding out a Pokéball and releasing a breloom right in front of him! "Uppercut!"
Leo tried sidestepping the breloom's swinging fist, but still caught part of the blow and the next thing he knew was the extreme close-up view of the lobby's stone wall in front of him. His impact didn't cause the sudden shaking, though. Several large tremors shook everyone and rattled everything in the room as a muffled crash and explosion erupted from down the corridor. Two distinct roars permeated the walls…
"What the…?" As the breloom trainer lost his concentration, Leo watched from the floor as Pikachu, Elekid and Electabuzz all unleashed potent electric bolts into the breloom, causing her to go to her knees. By the time it's trainer refocused and attempted to shout a command, Blaze was already in front of her and releasing a scorching flamethrower attack. She went down.
More rumbling and another tremor traveled through the building, making it harder for him to get up as he rejoined the others. "Dialga and Palkia are in there," for the benefit of the others, including Sally and Chris.
The other two humans absorbed their Pokémon into Pokéballs, but stood shoulder-to-shoulder in blocking the way to the corridor.
"Get out of our way!" Sally yelled.
"You are not going down there!" the blastoise trainer yelled back.
"Move!" Leo shouted, joining Grovyle in standing side-to-side with Blaze. Then losing all patience, he leapt forward and charged! With a yelp, the black-haired blastoise trainer quickly stepped aside, but the other became wild-eyed and charged back with his own yell!
He expected them to yield. Instead, he was colliding head-on with the one human! His breath left him in an instant as he was stopped dead, the human instantly bouncing backward. Blaze and Grovyle were quickly on the human, slamming him against the corridor's wall hard as all the other Pokémon raced past.
"Are you OK?" Sally asked, stopping before him with worry in her face. Bringing a hand across his forehead, it came away wet and red…
Nodding, he really wasn't feeling too much except for some slight stinging and a pat on his back. Was he stunned? The collision felt a bit weird…
"Come on!" Chris shouted, urging them in the direction of the lab.
Several more rumbles and tremors rocked the building as they all ran down the corridor, leaving the one human slumped against the wall and the other running outside. But as they rounded the final corner, it became eerily quiet. Only seconds later they burst into the project area, then finally into lab room itself…
Sally gasped.
"My God," Chris exclaimed.
The lab was…rearranged from the last time he was there. Smoky haze hung in the air, some still being released by obviously wrecked equipment strewn about. Electrical sparks jumped here and there from various cables while a faint hissing emanated from a ruptured hose over head, a white smoke shooting out. The gate…a large, black scorch-mark ringed where a huge hole had been blasted out of the structure.
And Dialga and Palkia…of them there was no sign. But there was movement. For just an instant, Leo caught sight of a tall, thin, white-haired man just exiting a side door.
Hurrying, he wasn't quick enough as the door had already long since closed in front of him…and it was locked. Pounding only proved it was metal and very solid!
"Was that him, the human you saw in that vision?" Blaze asked, already beside and testing the door himself.
"Blaze! Leo!"
Looking up, Leo spotted Celebi floating above them. She was crying…
"That human was fighting both Dialga and Palkia! He made them…disappear!"
He didn't have time to ask how before a third human came stumbling into the lab, letting out yet another gasp, along with a moan.
"Leo!" Sally cried, quickly getting her arms around the human as he looked to fall over.
The sight of the lab alone was almost enough to make Leo Hanson pass out, his pounding head not helping matters. From there, things moved in a blur from where he was eased down against the wall. Sally, Chris, his Pokémon counterpart, and the other Pokémon were all moving about, but he did focus and listen.
"Reebee bee bee rayinee…"
His counterpart started translating what the floating light green Pokémon was saying: "That white-haired human made Palkia and Dialga disappear! He also told them that this was the beginning of a new world, and that he wasn't going to let them get in his way!"
"Just the beginning?" Sally asked the petite Pokémon, turning away from him. "Of what? What'd he mean by that? Why did he destroy the lab? Doesn't this prevent the disaster?"
Celebi continued in a long string of humanly undecipherable syllables, the swampert translating only after a long moment: "Dialga said, just before he disappeared, that the disaster is yet to come! It…"
"But…the gate is destroyed!" Sally nearly screeched, pointing to the large ring where it sat behind it's partially shattered thick glass wall. "It has a large chuck missing out of it, damn it!"
Celebi retreated from her to float near Grovyle.
"It…"
"How can there be any kind of disaster?" Sally continued, cutting off the swampert. With a kick, the red-head removed a small box from the immediate area.
"Everything we've done, and we still haven't stopped it?" Chris asked.
Leo Hanson couldn't focus clearly on anyone's face for more than a couple seconds, but it was enough to tell they were all shocked. He was too unsteady to feel much of anything.
"Dialga also said the disaster won't happen here, but somewhere else!" the swampert said. After some momentary silence, "Celebi, where did Dialga and Palkia go?" he asked, eliciting a head shake from her. "How can a mere human make both Dialga and Palkia disappear?"
Leo watched Chris and his counterpart continue to talk about the human they saw as he slumped closer to the floor, the threat of unconsciousness still hanging over him. Grovyle's face was quickly in front of his, along with the feel of the points of his fingers gently on his eyelids in taking a long look in his eyes.
"I'll be fine," he told his partner, even though he was sweating and felt like hell. Despite that, he still was able to think, at least a little. If the looming disaster wasn't to be caused by the dimensional gate and was going to happen elsewhere, yet Dialga had before said he and his counterpart were somehow tied to it… How?
As only a stray thought, he found it surprisingly helpful: what they needed was another vision of the future. But he needed to touch something connected with it…connected with the particular future they needed to see. That white-haired human the others saw just before he got into the lab, the same one he saw in the last vision, he must have something to do with all this! But that human was gone and untouchable at the moment. Although…
"Leo…" getting his counterpart's attention.
Leo listened to his human self with some doubt. Then, the Dimensional Scream did have the knack of working just when he needed it. It also had the knack of not working just when he needed it. If he had to judge the ratio, he'd call it less than fifty-fifty - not in it's favor.
Also, he'd already touched that human when they collided head-on, and he'd gotten nothing…
…except that weird feeling, like he briefly wasn't there…
Maybe it wasn't just an effect of the physical collision?
With Blaze and Chris, he left the shattered and smoky lab to run back down the corridor. The human who had so bravely (and foolishly) took him on literally head-to-head was still where they had left him, though he was beginning to stir. That surprised him considering how hard Blaze and Grovyle had slammed him into the wall. He had actually been a little scared they might had killed him.
Crouching down beside him, he noticed his scarred hands. They looked like serious burns and he shuddered to think how he got them. It was only worth a moment's pause though, and placing his blue three-fingered hand on the human's head, he waited. If there was ever a time for his ability to work, it would be now with possibly the world's fate depending on it.
In only a few seconds, he actually felt relied as the somewhat familiar feeling of faintness came over him…
Two white doors were before him, dimly lit from behind him. But they quickly parted and the tall, pale human with nearly white long hair came walking in, flanked by the man with the scarred hands and the charizard trainer. They were talking, but he couldn't hear them. Instead, his view pivoted around to follow them, revealing the room to be large as well as what it contained. If he had eyes there, they widened…
"Leo?" Blaze's voice asked.
Shaking his head, he picked himself off the floor with help from both Blaze and Chris, noticing the flashing lights through the windows of the front lobby doors accompanied by the sound of sirens. Chris urged them back into the lab to rejoin Sally and his human self, who looked slightly more alert than when he left him.
"It worked," Leo announced before anyone could ask. "I saw that white-haired human as well as the man in the corridor and one of the other trainers with him." Putting himself directly in front of his human counterpart to make sure he would hear him clearly as the sound of people coming down the corridor echoed, "I also saw…another gate."
Leo Hanson hated hospitals; ambulances slightly less so. He wearily stared out the back of the one while the two EMS people worked around him, monitoring either the displays or detaching various sensors. He wished Sally was there, or even his Pokémon counterpart or Chris, but the Police were busy with them, as they would be with him as soon as the EMS people let him go.
At least his story would be fairly easy. He had been knocked out for much of what happened, but the others…he sure hoped the story they came up with before hand would be enough. He really wasn't looking forward to jail time.
Although, if the coming disaster resulted in the destruction of the planet, then it really wouldn't matter. A second gate, just like theirs? Would he dare to guess that Derganio Corp was behind the first one he saw in one of the visions, the one that was apparently destroyed, and that they never gave up and built a second? And just how did the University's gate project fit into all of it? Why would they bother to take it over if they had their own all along?
The one EMS technician was suddenly before him: "You have a mild concussion. I really don't think you need to go to the hospital, but make sure you take it easy for the next couple of days. Have someone else drive you home and just take something for the pain if needed. You should be perfectly fine in a couple days. If not, go to the ER."
Leo thanked them as they helped him out the back and down to the ground…and right to the waiting officers.
Unfortunately the night wasn't over yet.
Leo watched Sally literally fall onto the sofa. "God, it's three a.m.! I think I'm going to sleep right here."
"Feel free," his human self answered as he appeared to drag himself upstairs.
Leo followed with Blaze, Chris, Grovyle and Celebi all right behind. He felt sorry for the three humans as they were 'grilled', as Chris later put it, by the police for a couple hours. Fortunately, the two Derganio security men in the back of the truck had somehow left by the time the police arrived in response to the alarm in one of the other project labs. Sally assumed the evacuating Derganio people had found their coworkers and got them out of there. However they left, the fact that there were no Derganio people left made things a lot easier for all of them.
Well, except for the one human with the scarred hands, although from what he had overheard, he refused to talk much. Being from Derganio, which was part owner of the building, he was going to be released soon anyway, according to one of the officers.
Scratching the itch on his nose, he remembered too late the bandage put there by the ambulance people and cringed slightly at the brief pain from the minor injury.
Of course, none of them had said anything about what really happened in the lab, and certainly nothing about Dialga and Palkia or the looming disaster. For himself, being a Pokémon allowed him to play dumb; if one wasn't expected to be able to speak, the expectation of answers is greatly diminished!
The end result of it all was the Police letting them go home…eventually.
Once in the guest bedroom, Chris appeared to be asleep as soon as he hit the bed, but Leo found his mind working a little too much for that just yet. It was disturbing him greatly after all he and Blaze had gone through from coming to the human world, to finding his human self, believing the gate project was the cause of the disaster and convincing everyone to halt it, and finally confronting the Derganio people at the lab, that they had accomplished…nothing. The disaster was still coming! And it wasn't this dimensional gate that was the cause, but likely a different gate somewhere else none of them even knew had existed!
There was a nudge into his side.
"Leo, you awake?" Blaze asked in a weary-sounding whisper.
"Yes," replying softly, hoping he didn't wake Celebi who was nestled softly on his back and neck with her head between his two head fins.
"We're going to have to find that other ring, aren't we? And soon."
"Yes." If they were still going to prevent whatever terrible thing was going to happen. "Maybe we'll find Dialga and Palkia there, too."
After a quiet sigh: "What do you think happened to them?"
"I don't know." Really, how did they disappear, by what method?
"I can help thinking…if we had gotten there earlier, maybe…" Blaze's voice cracked a little. "…they wouldn't have disappeared. We should have been there to help."
He really hoped the two legendary Pokémon disappearance's wasn't the same as when he had disappeared after stopping Temporal Tower's collapse; namely, being erased from existence. And yes, he too was feeling some guilt for not being there, but… "If that human was strong enough to do that to Dialga and Palkia together, what chance would we have had?" Not that it made him feel any better, but the fact was true nonetheless.
"I… They trusted us to help them, and we failed them. Now they're gone!"
It stung. They did fail. "We don't know what happened to them. They could have just went somewhere else, Blaze."
"That's not what Celebi said. She said the human made them disappear. How can a human have that much power, anyway?"
"I don't know, but they still could be somewhere else. And we haven't failed yet; there's still time. Starting tomorrow, we need to concentrate on finding that second gate. And to do that, we need to get some sleep." He hoped about the first thing he said with all his will, but he was certain about the others.
After letting out a deep sigh, "Thanks, Leo…for keeping hope alive."
He felt his partner adjust himself on the cramped floor, the long, thick hair of his mane ending up against his good arm. Closing his eyes, he was glad Blaze was now trying to sleep. Slowly, and not without false starts, his own consciousness eventually faded into sleep.