CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
On Cloude Nine and a Half
"So you two are headed for White Tower, hunh?" A large bus driver said in a nasal, bored-sounding voice. Her jaws methodically worked an hour-old wad of gum as she looked over the two preteens that had flagged down her bus about three hour distance's drive away from Corei's national university.
"That's right," Haley Kent affirmed, her goose grey eyes sparkling at the very thought as she jabbered away. "We're just visiting, although I did graduate with a three-point-eight-seven GPA at Olville Academy."
"That's nice, dearie," the woman said drily. "And what about you, Chinooka tanuka?" The large bus driver said, barely hiding a snigger behind the last three syllables as she looked over the young Water type trainer's companion appraisingly.
Raising his head to look the surly woman in her piggy little eyes, Sapphire Manson said with a confused yet pained voice, "Wha- look, lady. I'm just passing through." Jerking his head at Haley, who was bouncing on the balls of her feet eagerly as though she were a Spoink on high, he added, "She's the one all eager to go, I'm just along for the ride."
The woman gave him what Sapph thought was a sly look before stating in a knowing voice, "Ah, keepin' yer lady happy, now are we? Well, get on 'en," she said, oblivious to Sapph's stammers, "You're letting the cold air in."
"Yay!" Haley squealed, dashing in like a little girl. Sapph slapped his face with his palm and climbed in much more slowly, shaking his head.
Sapph and Haley's travels away from the devastated Olde Teake City had taken them far north to the glacial belt of Corei and the next stop on their tour of the continent, White Tower University. Haley hadn't been able to keep jabbering excitedly about the place and her dreams to attend once she turned eighteen and major in marine Pokémon ecology. Sapph was grateful at least for the fact that Haley wasn't picking the usual fight with him, for once.
It left him free to think.
Sapph had been unusually thoughtful ever since they'd fled the scene of Frau Hiyori's murder. As much as he disliked the woman for unloading the information she had on himself and Nora, he felt a twinge of shame for his inability to do anything, at his cowardice. Oblivious to the other passengers' stares at his cloak, which had begun to drip on the floor of the bus, Sapph made his way to the window seat besides Haley and flopped down in exhaustion. It had been snowing heavily outside and coupled with his worries about Team Shadow, the Light and Nora leaving with Reg (whose story he couldn't bring himself to accept), he was grateful for the warm interior of the bus.
"C'mon, Sapph! Lighten up!" Haley had a hard time controlling herself, Sapph reflected dully, sparing his friend a sideways glance as she continued to bounce ecstatically in her seat. "We're going to White Tower!"
"Oh, joy!" Sapph said with fake enthusiasm, his face alight with a perky yet totally sarcastic look of pure delight.
"That's the White Tower spirit!" Haley whooped energetically. "Go, Polaroos!"
Sapph groaned and stared pointedly out of the window and the fluttering snow whooshed past the window as they drove onwards.
"Oh, wow, Sapph! That the famous White Tower Clock!" Haley beamed, staring up at the forty story alabaster clock tower which was shaped like an obelisk and for which the university was named.
"That's cool," Sapph said, the wintry wind ruffling his thick dark brown hair as he looked up at the black hands and numerals that were arranged in the form of a clock face near the apex, his long tan and green cloak drawn tightly around himself as he shuddered slightly in the cold. "Shall we go get a pizza or something?"
"Aww, c'mon, Sapph! Don't tell me you're not excited to be here!" Haley said, smiling what could possibly be the brightest smile he'd ever seen her procure.
Sapph gave it his hardest and actually managed to smile a small yet true smile in return. "Great, that sounds great. OK, then, look... I'll go get the pizza then and you can stay here and turn into a popsicle, OK? I get to eat, and you can know exactly what time you die of overexposure."
"Oh, all right," Haley said in a slightly disgruntled voice, trudging up the narrow campus streets after the boy trainer.
Smiling slightly, he thought, So you can reason with Haley... who'd have thunk it?
Brightening up, she added in an animated voice "And then we go and see the science faculty!"
Sapph groaned and slapped his face again.
After navigating the modern student residence facilities for twenty minutes, they made it to the White Tower Mall, a large, open air shopping strip which was filled with undergraduate students shopping, meeting appointments and deadlines (in the case of the older students) and generally hanging out. Sapph and Haley had found a nice pizza corner which was bustling with activity as students inside joked, laughed and enjoyed delicious pizza.
Sapph and Haley picked a table near the window and as Haley gushed over the official students who walked by and what a charge she was going to get from attending classes there Sapph engaged a teenage boy who seemed to be the sole waiter on duty.
"So what will it be, my man?" the boy said with what seemed to be a South Sea accent. His skin was dark and his dark green eyes sparkled beneath his curly, bobbed hair. He stood a lot taller than Sapph thought as he looked up into his friendly face, which he was glad looked friendly although a little tired, as the youth was very tall and lean with a generous amount of muscle.
"Uhh, can we have the Salami Slammer, please? Uh... and three fizzy Pecha drinks," Sapph said cheerfully.
"Thank heavens you wanted the salami," the boy said relieved. "We ran outta Flaming Torchic Special, and me poor ol' Combusken was gettin' edgy. The boss was givin' 'im some scary looks. 'Ang on, a'ight?" The young man said, walking back into the kitchen to get their order.
Haley turned to Sapph and said in a bubbly voice, positively writhing with excitement, "Do you know we're sitting in the very pizzeria where they conceived the Students' Representative Council exactly two hundred and thirty nine ago, on this very day?"
"Y'know what, Haley? I did not know that!" Sapph said in a sarcastic voice. "Oh, here's the pizza!" Sapph said as the black boy returned with a large platter measuring twenty inches across with three chilled bottles of fizzy Pecha.
"'Ere ya go! Enjoy!" the boy said, setting the pizza down between them. Hesitating just before doing the same with the drinks, he asked, "So, who's the third bottle for?"
"You," Sapph said, cheerfully, shifting slightly on the seat to make room. "Care to join us for a slice?"
"Gee, thanks, mate!" the boy said cheerfully, sitting down and helping himself.
"So, erm... you're a trainer?" Sapph asked, giving the boy a quizzical look that seemed to be inquiring a name.
"Oh, me name? It's T.J.," the boy said brightly, looking happy. "Y'know you're the first customer to ask me me name since I started work here? Right nice of ya."
"Really? How long has that been?" Sapph said as Haley continued to stare at the students outside the window with what seemed like an aching passion to wear one of their university jackets.
"'bout a week," T.J. said airily, scooping as much cheese as he could onto his slice. "Where you two from? You look kinda young to be faculty."
"Well, I'm from Cherrygrove Town, Johto and she's from Olville Town," Sapph said, creasing his slice down the middle to make room for it in his mouth. "You?"
"Pacifidlog Town, Hoenn. I'm a Fighting type enthusiast," T.J. Said cordially, taking a swig of juice. "Swam from home to Slateport and hoofed it ta Littleroot to pick my starter six years back. I've been all over the world... Hoenn, Sinnoh, Kanto... Johto's next on my list... Cherrygrove has some gnarly beaches. Great for training."
"You've been to Hoenn?" Sapph said excitedly. "How long ago?"
"Ah... four and a half years ago, I reckon," T.J. said thoughtfully. "Yeah, I was thirteen and a half back then..."
"So you're eighteen?!" Sapph said, stunned.
"Yeah, well, not until the twenty-ninth of the month," T.J. said cheerfully. "I've been ta all the fighting type gyms in the world, learning from true Fighting type masters... I mean, Master Brawly was really demanding. Master Maylene was downright impossible. Word of advice... don't ever compliment her looks. Gets her upset for some reason. Talk about a chick that's seriously lacking self-esteem."
"Such a thing exists?" Sapph said incredulously, throwing a sideways glance at Haley, who had thoroughly ignored the pizza and the boys' discussion.
T.J. laughed and said, "Ah, don't worry. I'm sure Red over there likes you... somewhere deep down..."
Sapph choked and spluttered, "Wha- y-y-you mean Haley?! No. No, no. No, no, no, no. No, I'm not seeing Haley, we were just roped together to journey together by our moms. There's so nothing there."
"So, there's something somewhere with someone, is there?" T.J. said with a sly laugh, causing Sapph to go Spelon-red.
"Uhm... uh..." Sapph said in a faint mumble before a loud voice blared over the jukebox. "Oi, T.J.! Do I pay you for eating with the customers, or to serve them? Get back here!"
Sapph looked up startled to see a man with a well-defined belly and a greasy air to him. What was left of his slicked back hair was ted back in a little ponytail and the man's whole countenance, from his grimy white T-shirt down to his dirty sneakers, smelled of wood smoke. He wore a clean apron which had the words 'Giorgio's Pizzeria – The Finest in White Tower' printed on it in red and green letters and a name tag that told Sapph that he was looking at the owner of the establishment.
"My slave driver," T.J. explained apologetically, as he rose to go. "Take my advice: get your money ready. Ol' Giorgio got me here working off a week load of pizza debt."
"Thanks, T.J.," Sapph said appreciatively, reaching into his backpack for his wallet. Groping around for a few minutes, his relaxed look was suddenly overtaken by a molten rush of blind panic. "Haley, my wallet's gone!" He gasped, as T.J. did a fearful double-take at the mention of the words 'wallet' and 'gone'.
"Oh, right. I forgot to tell you I took it for safe keeping," Haley said nonchalantly, reaching into her satchel. "Judging by your lucky streak, I felt it was safe to- to... ohh, no. No. No, nononono... NO! It is gone! So's my purse!"
Sapph and T.J. stared at Haley in indignation and horror respectively as Haley riffled through her belongings frantically. Staring at each other, T.J. mouthed the word, "Run!"
Two men in pure white robes lurked in a shadowy warehouse near the Theology Department of the campus. Their robes which had hoods pulled up were long and trailed on the floor as they stood stock still, almost as though expecting some one important.
The large door to the store house opened and two more people walked in, their robed heads bowed down against the vicious wind. The first pair went respectfully on one knee in unison as a large brown envelope was dropped at their feet.
"You have your orders," One of the shadows said enigmatically.
"May the Light prevail over the shadows," the second said in a misty female voice as they made their exit.
The two men bowed their heads slightly and murmured, "Light shall prevail over the shadows," as the doors slid shut with a bang, enveloping them in silence once more.
Rising to their feet, one of them with raven dark hair scooped up the envelope and slit it open.
"So," his companion said with a hint of pleasure not unlike a child about to open a Christmas gift he'd been dying to have all year. "Who are we to ice?"
"Very funny," the other man said in a snide, exasperated voice. "Let's see... Professor Robert Neuwmann Cumulos, head of the Pokémon Meteorolgy Department. What a sad fool..."
"Well, let's go get him," the second man said with a grunt as he opened the heavy doors and allowed a brisk icy draft to enter the secluded store.
"Wait. Did you pack the silencer?" The first man asked sharply.
"Uh... yeah, of course I did!" the man's companion said back heartily with only an edge of uneasiness in his voice.
"Good," the first man said calmly, walking pas this partner and out into the street towards their destination. "I would be extremely vexed if you didn't. And I tend to kill those who vex me... on the spot."
The second man gulped and slid the door shut behind them as they walked up the street and vanished into the swirling snow.
"So! Thought you'd skip out of paying me, did you?" Giorgio sneered as he hung up Sapph and Haley's Pokéballs on his kitchen wall next to four Sapph could only assume belonged to T.J. Turning to face his newest 'employees', his stubby face split with an evil leer. "So, Boy! You're in charge of deliveries! You're gonna haul butt like there's no tomorrow to get those deliveries done on time."
Sapph closed his eyes to avoid the flecks of spit flying all over the place doing damage to his sapphire blue irises. He wore a grubby old jacket with the words 'Giorgio's Pizzeria' on the back.
"And the little lady here will be waitin' on the tables!" Giorgio informed Haley, a smirk on his face as Haley tugged at her dirty waitress's apron in distaste.
"You ate one pizza and drank one fizzy each," Giorgio said importantly. "That should be a day's work from the two of you. T.J., for the fizzy you drank, you stay on an additional three hours."
"B-but..." Haley spluttered, appalled. "I didn't eat..."
"QUIET!" Giorgio roared. "Now we have new, hungry customers out there. So go wait on them! And no tips!" He added as he thrust Haley into the front of the restaurant.
"Hey, T.J.! Come on, back to the oven!" Giorgio snapped. T.J. winked at Sapph and with a slight smile returned to work.
Just then the old phone that hung on the wall near the service hatch rang. Giorgio leaned over heavily and picked up the receiver, leaving Sapph to fume at the predicament Haley had stuck them in.
"Hey, shoreh! Got a delivery order! Two Salami Slammers to Whisker Hall, four-oh-nine! Go, go, go!" Giorgio snapped, thrusting two wide, flat boxes into Sapph's arms and pushing him out the back door and into the biting cold. "An' no..."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it!" Sapph snapped irritated, sprinting off to find Whisker Hall as quickly as possible, fishing his roller blades out of his bag as he ran. "No tips!"
"And this is how the barometric differences affect the rainfall distribution of central Hoenn. Are there any questions?" A thin, redheaded man in a white lab coat addressed his class, who sat on twenty stools behind lab work benches, taking notes.
Letting loose a variety of dissent noises, the class began to pack away their books and shoulder their bags, the lesson having reached its end.
"And don't forget," the professor raised his voice to be heard over the babble of cheerful young adult voices. "I'd like your essays on the behaviour patterns of Castform found along isotherm regions by next Monday!"
Exhaling softly, the professor gathered his books and walked into the laboratory prep room through a door on which a small nameplate read 'Professor Cumulos, Pokémon Meteorology', where a large cage stood against the wall just below the ventilation shaft. Several piping voices sang out shrilly upon his entry into the room. The lecturer smiled as his laid his books on his desk and proceeded to fill their owners' feeding trough with organic Pokémon food. The flock of grey weather-influenced Normal types congregated on the food and began eating with gusto, save for one. This Castform, other than being smaller than the others, had an extra 'bang' emerging from in between his beady black eyes and a growth of what looked like a premature goatee under his mouth.
"Come on, buddy! Go get some food," Professor Cumulos egged the Pokémon on, attempting to coax the Castform with a morsel.
The Castform opened one eye disinterestedly and said in a mellow voice, No thanks, man. I'm cool.
"Aww, c'mon, Castform! It's yummy!" The professor cooed in a voice only a newborn baby wouldn't consider annoying.
Yummy, yummy, yummy! The other Castform echoed happily.
The Castform rolled his eyes and went back to his nap, muttering darkly about the falsehood under which the commercial society packaged its factory-manufactured lies.
Scratching the back of his head in exasperation, Prof. Cumulos sighed and said, "So... pizza?"
The wiry man moved towards a videophone on the wall near his desk and began to dial the pizzeria all his students made a huge fuss over. A man who seemed to be in a harried mood answered on the second ring.
"Giorgio's Pizzeria," the man said in a businesslike voice fraught with exhaustion. "What'll it be, sir?"
"Erm, yes," Prof. Cumulos said in an uncertain voice. The man was clearly new at ordering food on the phone especially since his wife would clobber him if he dared do it at home. "One small vegetarian pizza and one medium salami, please."
"OK, so where are these to be delivered t- hey, girl! Just whaddya think yer doin'?!"
"Erm," Prof. Cumulos said in a quavering voice, cowed by the man on the other end's temper. "White Tower Meteorology Department, Prof. Cumulos' Office."
"Now clean it up and get them another pizza! An' step on it!" Giorgio's voice yelled over the speakers. "What a... oh, right. Sorry about than, man. It should be there in about twenty minutes!"
"Th-thank you," the professor quavered as he hung up the phone.
"Hey, kid!" Giorgio called to Sapph who was chatting with T.J. in the kitchen as the older youth, added more kindling to the kiln. "Got a delivery order for you!"
Sapph hopped down of the counter and walked up to the man. Sure, he was a little gruff on the outside, Sapph thought as he reflected on how his day had gone so far, that after ten successful deliveries, Giorgio had refrained from calling him shoreh. But at least he appreciates good, hard effort.
"Got one Salami Slammer and One Veggie Venus to go. Meteorology Department, Prof. Cumulos's office," Giorgio grunted, handing over two flat boxes smaller than most of the ones he'd been delivering throughout the day.
"OK, I'm on it!" Sapph said, stretching a little and taking the boxes from his boss for the day.
As he trotted out of the back door, Giorgio thought, Now, there's a good, hardworking kid. Hard to find such a mould in the present generation...
A loud crashing noise and an outbreak of angry yelling from the front of the restaurant caused Giorgio to grimace.
"Hey, girl! Don'tcha know how to serve anybody?"
"Shut it, you! Do you know who I am?" Haley roared back.
"Hey, are we meant to care? Just get us another pizza!"
"You wanna pizza? Take this!"
Professor Cumulos leaned back in his office chair and laid a thermos mug full of hot cocoa on the desk as he mulled over his lecture notes. The Castform were merrily dancing around in their cages, making their piping native cries as they played a game that vaguely resembled tag but had all the players chasing each other randomly.
The smallest Castform however had slipped through the bars of the cage and had sneaked over to the bookshelf near the door so that the man hadn't noticed and was engrossed in a dusty copy of 'The Were-Mightyena of the Olvilles', a thrilling mystery novel.
Looking up from his notes as his stomach gave off a large rumble, he rubbed his stomach and declared, "Oh, dear. I do hope those pizzas get here soon."
A knock sounded on the door at that moment and the professor looked up eagerly; the Castform with a lot less zip.
"Ah, finally! Do come in!" The professor called cheerfully.
The door creaked open and two men dressed in white robes stood framed in the doorway. Both were ominously tall and had identical pudding bowl cuts. The two men stared at Prof. Cumulos with passionless eyes which were obscured by their dark Ray-bans. The looked a little like monks from the future as they stepped into the room in unison; their mouths set in identically curled lines of displeasure.
Whoa, like, totally high negative aura energies in the vicinity, the tiny Casform muttered as he peered from behind the door at the two hulking figures. Even the Castform in the cage, who were usually cheerful all the time, became quiet and apprehensive.
"Professor Robert ?" The skinnier one of the men inquired in a flat voice, his midnight black hair unruffled as he stared at the man without a flicker of emotion on his face.
"Y-yes?" The lecturer said warily, wondering which student in his class was responsible for the bizarre visitors he was entertaining. "May I help you?"
"For your sacrilegious propoundment that abominations such as these little demons," the man jerked his head over at the cluster of Castform which had shrunken slightly under his awful glare. "Cause fluctuations, and even create a gift of nature such as the weather to men and women of the next generation that have taken to scholastic endeavours, your sentence is..."
Prof. Cumulos's eyes widened in horror as he saw the beefier man draw a Glock pistol from under his robe and point it directly at his heart, said with a simple voice, "death."
The Castform's eyes widened as a loud gunshot rang out and a mixture of window pane and blood splattered the floor of the office. The professor crumpled against the wall of the office under the window, through which an arctic chill blew, clutching his left shoulder as blood seeped through his fingers, staining his stark white lab coat.
"I told you to use the silencer!" the first man snapped at the second as the concealed Castform decided that this was not going to end well if he didn't get help. Hovering silently behind the two men, whose attention was fixed on each other and the professor too intently to notice, the Normal type Pokémon slipped out of the open door and made to fly off for help as quick as he could, colliding and bowling over a young boy in a red jacket noisily.
"What was that?" the gunman said in shock as the wind blew his straw blond hair about. The other man said nothing but strode over to the door to see a mess of lab stools, pizza and human appendages on the floor about three feet away from the door.
Grabbing Sapph Manson by the scruff of his anorak, the Light operative shoved Sapph into the office and closed the door behind them. Thrusting Sapph into Professor Cumulos, the two of them, with the little Castform, fell tangled up at their feet.
Pulling out an automatic pistol of his own, the first man said, "We are the Light. We come to purify the world of the abominations called Pokémon which have caused so much suffering to befall the world man was created to rule. You may be an innocent bystander, we have orders to maintain our actions' secrecy until the time is right to reveal the light to the world."
Sapph, although ready to piss his pants in sheer fright, gathered up his courage and declared, "What the hell are you people? Who are you to call Pokémon abominations? Don't you see how many people are made happier by Pokémon daily? How can you be so blind to the truth? This is a world where Pokémon and people grow and support each other! They're our friends!"
The man looked somewhat surprised at Sapph's outburst and sighed slightly. "I had hoped we'd be spilling untainted blood today, but unfortunately I was wrong. Your misguided thoughts are dangerous to the new world order... the true world order we intend to create. You are a threat to that world's peace. You, too, must be disposed off."
Real smart, Sapph Manson, Sapph thought as the men cocked their weapons and took aim at the helpless duo before them. Real smart... you are so dead...
The two men squeezed the triggers of their firearms in unison and the next few microseconds seemed to pass in slow motion for Sapph... as the bullets left the smoking barrels of their guns and began the tortuously slow march of death towards their prey, a cold wind whipped up around them suddenly, creating a foot thick wall of something translucent that stopped the bullets dead cold.
Sapph stared up ad noticed the wall of air that had stopped the harbingers of death's path was rather a wall of ice, as a small, oddly-shaped apparition hovered before them, it's purplish circular head encased in a smooth, curved floating stalactite of frozen vapour.
"What the?" Sapph gasped as the Castform stared the dumbfounded assailants down coldly before muttering, Man, I sense like so much evil aura around you guys. Stop the hate. Chill out.
And with that, the Castform released a barrage of icy sleet that bombarded the two goons relentlessly, encasing them in ice from the tip of their guns down to the soles of their feet.
"Whoa, talk about power," Sapph said in an awed voice.
The Castform turned around and grinned back. Speaking in a slow, deliberate yet piping voice he said, Thanks for sticking up for Pokémon there, man. Your natural aura is like so totally overwhelming. I'd love to tag along with a trainer who defends nature like himself, man.
"First things first, though," Sapph said, catching up to the present with a moan of pain from Prof. Cumulos. "We need to get him to a doctor and get security up here to take care of these two clowns."
About fifteen minutes later, Sapph, with the Castform back to normal and perched on his shoulder, sat on the chair next to professor Cumulos' bedside, the occupant having the left side of his upper torso bound in bandages by the resident Nurse Joy.
"You're very lucky," the matron told the professor. "The bullet only just grazed your collar bone. About six inches lower and you'd have had a punctured lung... at least."
"Thank you, Nurse Joy," the scientist said weakly. "Turning to Sapph and the Castform, he added, "and thank you two, too. I reckon you make a pretty solid team with that Castform."
"Uhh, thanks, sir," Sapph said modestly. "But this little guy here did all the work."
D'aww, you shouldn't have, man, the Castform said slowly, blushing faintly.
"I know it's a little unorthodox, but this Castform has never seemed at home with the rest of his kind here in the lab. Would you like to take care of him for me...uhh," the man faltered, bringing Sapph's awareness to the fact that he had as of yet not introduced himself.
"Sapphire Manson," he said, offering his right hand in a friendly handshake. "And if there's no objection from the little guy, I guess I'd be honoured to."
You mean it, dude? The Castform said in a stunned yet somewhat controlled voice. "You're mellow with that?
"Yeah, Cloude," Sapph laughed as he addressed his latest 'capture' by his new nickname. "I'm... 'mellow' with that."
"So, Sapph," Prof. Yew's voice crackled as though through a storm of static that clouded the screen. "Been keeping busy, have we?"
"I suppose you could say that," Sapph replied drily from the White Tower University Meteorology Lab's videophone from which Sapph had sent Cloude to the Yew Observatory to join Silver. "How's Silver?"
"Ah, about Silver," Prof. Yew said in a tired voice. "There's a problem with him I'd like your help on..."
"What's wrong?" Sapph said at once, perching himself on the edge of his seat.
Prof. Yew sighed once and said tiredly, "Nothing's really wrong, Sapph. I'm just a little... anyway, watch this."
Sapph watched the screen bemusedly as the professor panned out the videophone's camera to display a large number of Magnemite all clustered together in a corner and communicating in their native high pitched pings. Professor Yew rubbed his eyes vigorously and called out, "Silver!"
Sapph sweat dropped as all fifty or so of them replied, Voice prompt frequency identified as Professor Theodore Yew. Acknowledged. Now will proceed to answering prompt sequence.
"I... erm... see your, problem," Sapph said fighting the urge to laugh.
"So, I've been waiting for the trainers who send these Magnemite in to call so that I can ask them to think up new nicknames for their Magnet Pokémon. But no one really does want to help even when they do call and that's totally understandable," Prof. Yew explained worriedly.
"I see," Sapph said slowly. "So you'd like me to rename Silver?"
Prof. Yew's eyes were brimming with happy tears as he exclaimed, "Oh, YES, please!"
Sapph sweat dropped again and said, "N-no problem, professor...hmm, let's think... Steel? Nah, that's too action-y. Magnet? Bleh, no way. Mite? Nah, he's not a... wait a minute," Sapph said with gleaming eyes as his usually dormant muse awoke and belted him with a baseball bat called inspiration. "Might... Mighty! How's Mighty?"
"Mighty the Magnemite," Prof. Yew said thoughtfully, nodding happily. "It certainly has a ring to it!"
"Then it's settled," Sapph said triumphantly. "Silver's new nickname is Mighty!"
"It would suit him to a T now he's not exactly what you'd call silvery anymore..." Prof. Yew said in an undertone which Sapph caught.
"Say what?" Sapph gasped, staring holes into the videophone screen. "What's wrong with Mighty?"
"Nothing critical," the professor reassured the young trainer. "I believe you've heard of the pokérus?"
"Can't say that I have, professor."
"Pokérus, or Pokémon virus, is a life form that grows on a Pokémon. It's rather infectious, but beneficial at the same time. Are you with me so far?"
"Yeeeeeaaaa...no," Sapph said slowly. "How is a Pokémon virus beneficial to the Pokémon?"
Prof. Yew sighed and began to explain. "Pokérus usually enhances the stat gain of Pokémon that were formerly infected with pokérus. Prof. Elm of New Bark once hypothesized that shiny Pokémon usually gain higher stats than their regularly coloured counterparts. This, however, was a rumour quashed by Professor Birch of Littleroot Town."
"I don't get it," Sapph said slowly. "What's being a shiny got to do with pokérus?"
"I'm getting there, Sapph. It would seem that Mighty has contracted a unique strain of the pokérus that is converting his colouration to that of a shiny. It's nothing major, I assure you. He will just look a little rusty when you next see him but he'll be the same."
Sapph flopped back in the chair and stared blankly at the screen. Despite the fact that he had just acquired a hippie Castform...he'd worked as a pizza delivery boy... Mighty was turning into a shiny Pokémon and he wasn't there to see it... not to mention riled the Light, the last group of Anti-Pokémon extremists he'd want to cross...all in one stupid day.
...it looked like his bad luck was back.