A/N: First of all, thank you guys for your input. I got quite some suggestions regarding who to bring in, and in the end, I've decided on Misty, particularly because I quite literally know nothing of X,Y, & Z and the more I tried to look it up the more lost I felt and I can't divert time to try and watch the whole series... so yeah. As such, if you were hoping for Serena, you were probably hoping for a Serena that was canon, and I would do a terrible job with that.
Thanks DaniJIE, Great, and Julie Togepi for those reviews and also those who messaged me with inputs. As for what the common person's life is like in Galea, I have to admit that I do concentrate on Gym Leaders and the Elite Four a bit too much who are more like nobles and kings rather than the normal person, because in the end this is kind of a story about nobles and kings, but I'll look into getting some view into what the normal people of Galea feel like.
"I think we're almost done here Professor," Clemont said. "Just a few more days and maybe we can send something bigger, like a rock."
"Great job-" Professor Sycamore got out before he was interrupted by the gym's PA.
"Hey brother! There are people here to see you!" a voice chimed.
"Thanks, Bonnie, but if they're challengers tell them that the Gym's closed for now," Clemont said.
"No, they say they're here to meet you and Professor Sycamore," Bonnie replied. "I have their names, Brock and Misty."
"Oh, send them up then," Clemont said.
The elevator beeped as the door opened.
"Wow, this place is a mess," Misty said before realizing how that sounded and apologizing.
"Oh no, it's okay," Clemont said. "I've just gotten really into this whole project, y'know, so it's kind of hard to remember to clean up."
"So, you're Clemont, nice to meet you," Misty said. "And you too, Professor Sycamore."
"Ah yes, I've heard a bit about you," Professor Sycamore said. "You're Ash's friend who was a coordinator, no?"
"Uh, no, I'm a gym leader," Misty said. "Of the Cerulean City Gym." She sighed, for some reason when she told people that she had traveled with Ash, they all assumed that she was a coordinator.
"Nice to meet you Professor," Brock said and shook hands with Professor Sycamore, thereby making the whole situation a little less awkward. "We're here from Professor Oak. See, he wanted us to check up on you."
"Oh, no doubt that old chap is wondering just how far I've gotten," Professor Sycamore said.
"Not… exactly," Brock said. Truth be told, Professor Oak still didn't believe anything about Galea's existence and was still sure that Professor Sycamore's crackpot idea wasn't going to amount to anything. He had actually gotten worried that Professor Sycamore might have taken things to far and may have gotten himself injured or something, so he had sent the two of them.
"Well, he could've just called," Professor Sycamore said. "No need for the two of you to walk all the way over here, plus, I'm sure that being a gym leader, you must be pretty busy, no?"
"Uh, actually I'm on a break," Mist said. "I took it to help look for Ash."
When Misty had been told that Ash Ketchum had gone missing, her first reaction was to blow it off. Ash had gone missing quite a few many times, and she had problems of her own to handle, but as time went by without any further news, she had gotten worried and had decided to join the hunt as well.
"And we couldn't call," Brock said. "For some reason, all calls made to Lumiose City are getting dropped."
"Oh, I'm sorry, that's probably my fault," Clemont said. "I've had to make some changes to the gym's wirings in order to power this device. I was pretty lucky the whole gym acts as a transmission tower though."
"Ah, that explains it," Brock said, though in reality he didn't quite get anything of what Clemont had said.
"Well, then, anything I can get you to drink?" Clemont asked. "Tea? Coffee?"
"Uh, no thanks, but are you guys doing some sort of experiment?" Misty asked. "Why are you wearing those weird coats?"
Both Clemont and Professor Sycamore had coats that seemed to be made out of tin foil.
"Oh, this is just a safety precaution," Clemont said. "They're supposed to block A-waves or at least lessen their effects in the doses we use in the machine."
"What?" Brock asked.
"Oh, this is a whole long story," Professor Sycamore said. "Wait- 'whole long story' doesn't exactly sound right, but what does it matter? Anyway, you do know about Galea, right?"
"Uh, Professor Oak just kind of described it as 'Cuckooland' and left it at that," Brock said sheepishly.
"Well, I think that he isn't fully convinced then yet," Professor Sycamroe said. He gave them a brief but concise summary of all their activities regarding Galea up to the point, which lasted about twenty minutes.
"That's a whole lot to take in," Brock said, scratching his chin. "But knowing Ash, it seems like the sort of thing that he'd get himself into."
"Yeah," Misty said. "If there's anything in the world that's crazy or important or just downright weird, Ash probably has his nose in it." Professor Sycamore chuckled.
"So, Professor Sycamore, you haven't had much success, right, in these things? And there's nothing new that you've found?" Brock asked.
"Well, I did manage to find something else about Galea lately, so I suppose you could tell Professor Oak about that," Professor Scyamore said. "In trying to research about Galea, I went back into the very annals of Pokemon history, and managed to find this stone tablet near Mt. Coronet that dates back several thousand years. Now, it had some ruins on it that were part of a language so old that I couldn't even find a name for it."
Clemont pushed in some buttons to show a hologram of the tablet.
"But, as we all know, all languages are purportedly have said to have descended from one another," Professor Sycamore said. "And so, I made a database with every language currently present in history and then sent it to several of my archaeologist friends. Following that, we made a cross-reference using the oldest languages only and ended up with a dead end, so then we looked for some similarity with another language and we ended up getting nowhere too. After that, we just tried seeing if the computer could try matching the symbols randomly to words, but that ended up with a bunch of gibberish and no success as well so then once of my aides noticed that one of the symbols looked like a Pokemon- and she was right."
Professor Sycamore manipulated the hologram using his fingers and focused on a single rune. "This- what looks like a white horse seemed to actually be the Pokemon Arceus. Using that as our base, we tried matching the other symbols to plants and Pokemon as best as we could, and that was when I realized that these showed Kyogre and Groundon as well. From that, we managed to piece together the whole thing."
"Wow Professor, I mean, I didn't really get all that you did," Brock said. "But it does sound like you had to do a lot of work and put in a few hours to get it done. Why do all that if you weren't sure that it was related to Galea? I mean, you found it on Mt. Coronet, right?"
"Ah, thanks to A-waves and some other factors, but I'll get to that in a minute," Professor Sycamore said. "I think you should see the translation first."
The hologram changed to show a large wad of scrolling text that read:
THE LORD ARCEUS IN HIS WISDOM CREATED THE UNIVERSE WITH HIS THOUSAND ARMS. HE BORE TWO SONS, DIALGA AND PALKIA WHO WERE LEFT TO RULE THE UNIVERSE AS HE TURNED TO ANCIENT SLUMBER. HIS DAUGHTER, GIRATINA, FLED TO THE SHADOWS.
ONE DAY, AS THE EARTH CAME TO FRUITION THE LORD ARCEUS' GAZE AS HE WOKE CAME UPON A MASS OF LAND HOME TO A PRIMITIVE RACE OF HUMANS. THE LAND WAS DESOLATE AND INHOSPITABLE, AND THE PEOPLE THEREIN PITIFUL AND UNAWARE OF THE FINER ASPECTS OF CIVILIZATION.
ON THE FIRST DAY, THE LORD ARCEUS SLEPT AND REGAINED HIS ENERGY TO DO WHAT WAS TO BE DONE NEXT.
ON THE SECOND DAY, THE LORD ARCEUS TAUGHT THE PEOPLE, WHO HAD BECOME LIKE HIS CHILDREN, HOW TO MAKE ARMS TO HUNT AND PLOWS TO TILL THE EARTH, AS WELL AS HOW TO FASHION APRICORNS TO CONTAIN MYTHICAL CREATURES OF POWER.
ON THE THIRD DAY, THE LORD ARCEUS TAUGHT HIS CHILDREN HOW TO MINE THE EARTH FOR GEMS AND MINERALS, AND HOW TO GATHER PLANTS AND TO TEND TO HERDS SO THAT THEY MAY HAVE EVEN MORE TO EAT.
ON THE FOURTH DAY, THE LORD ARCEUS CAME UPON A PATCH OF EARTH THAT HAD BEEN SCORCHED DRY BY GROUNDON. ARCEUS THEN BEGAN TO SING, AND FROM THAT SONG THE EARTH RECOVERED AND GRASS AND FERTILE SOIL CAME ALONG WITH IT. AND SO HIS CHILDREN REJOICED, FOR THEY COULD NOW FARM.
ON THE FIFTH DAY, KYOGRE SENT A HUGE STORM THAT NEARLY FLOODED THE LAND. THE LORD ARCEUS HOWLED IN RAGE AND TAMED THE SEA SO THAT HIS CHILDREN COULD SAIL UPON IT WITH EASE.
ON THE SIXTY DAY, WEARY OF WORK, THE LORD ARCEUS INSTEAD TAUGHT HIS CHILDREN TO DANCE AND PLAY, AND MADE HUGE DISPLAYS OF HIS POWER THAT INSPIRED WONDER AND AWE IN EVERYONE.
ON THE SEVENTH DAY, THE UNGRATEFUL MEN AND WOMEN GREW ENVIOUS OF ARCEUS AND HIS POWER AND MAGNIFICENCE. FILLED WITH ENVY AND RESENTMENT, THEY ATTEMPTED TO STRIKE THE LORD ARCEUS. THE LORD ARCEUS PREFERRED TO FLEE RATHER THAN FIGHT HIS OWN CHILDREN.
ON THE EIGHT DAY, THE LORD ARCEUS REACHED AN ISLAND TO THE NORTH. THE PEOPLE CALMED DOWN AND WERE FILLED WITH SORROW FOR WHAT THEY HAD DONE, AND ON THE EIGHTH AND FINAL DAY, THE LORD ARCEUS GAVE THE PEOPLE A CHOICE.
HIS CHILDREN HAVING CHOSEN, THE LORD ARCEUS MOVED ACROSS THE SEA AND TOWARDS ANOTHER FARAWAY LAND. US, DEVOTED TO HIM, MOVED TO JOIN HIM AS THE OTHERS STAYED.
"Well, that was something," Brock said as the text ended. "Is there any more?"
"No," Professor Sycamore said. "And the thing is, of course, that I'm still kind of trying to piece together what it all means. But before that, I think I should explain what A-waves are, or rather, let Clemont explain, since he seems to be the expert on this thing."
"Well, 'expert' is kind of stretching it," Clemont said. "But anyway, you two do know about sound waves, right, and electromagnetic waves like light and radio waves, right? Well, it turns out that these things are just a tiny spectrum of the kinds of signals that the universe gives out to us. One of the peculiar ones that I just recently began to pick up are A-waves, a type of well, not exactly energy but sort of temporal-spatial-matter-energy if that makes sense somehow. I found it especially when Arceus had recently appeared, and I thought they were coming from him, so that's why I called them A-waves. So, naturally I tried building a device to measure them, and interestingly enough, there was a spike just around where Ash had disappeared off the coast of Kanto. There are also sustained large levels near Mt. Coronet, where he was apparently. And remember the pilot who disappeared for some time in a freak storm? Well, the military still had the plane preserved in a museum and I found a small increase in A-waves from there as well."
"So, what exactly are they?" Brock asked. He found it difficult to wrap his head around what was being said.
"A-waves are the song of the creator of the universe himself," Professor Sycamore said dramatically.
"Put it a bit quite simply, they're how Arceus manages to do things. Like, say, you want to light up a room, you can turn a light bulb on, but what's really illuminating the place isn't the light bulb itself, but rather the light waves, right? In the same way, I mean, it is said that Arceus made the universe using 'his thousand arms' and all, but I think it is more likely that he thought what he wanted to do and released A-waves. So where you find A-waves, that's where you find where Arceus was. And since he apparently spent a lot of time in Galea, I'm guessing that the tablet was from Galea too."
"And the stone tablet wasn't the only thing that I had found," Professor Sycamore said. "The tablet was buried in a room containing other things, including several tombs. Now, I think we should go back to the message on the tablet. I think one thing that really strikes out is that how Arceus' visit is told in eight days. The number eight seems to have a special significance for the people of Galea. Their territory is divided into eight sections, and from what I gather, these territories seem to be entirely different countries in an aspect, as they have different customs as well as ways of life to an extent, despite extensive intermingling. I think when the tale refers to eight days, it means that Arceus turned the place into eight regions as he visited each of them one at a time. Not to mention eight 'gems of power' are mentioned in places. But what it doesn't make clear is the 'choice' apparently offered to the people on the eighth day, or what they chose."
"We think that after all this happened," Clemont said, "Arceus went back to Mt. Coronet in Sinnoh from where he had woken up, and some of the people decided to follow him rather than stay. So, the tombs there are of people who decided to go back and wait for Arceus. The only way to tell for sure though is if we sequenced their DNA and we kind of don't wanna do that since, uh, well…"
"It would involve exhuming the bodies," Professor Sycamore said. "And we don't quite want to disturb the graves of anyone, plus, Sinnoh's laws are strictly against these kinds of things. It could be years before we're given permission."
"Oh," Misty said. "Well, then what're you trying to do next?"
"We're going to see if we can get a rock or something of that size into Galea," Professor Sycamore said. "For some reason though, we can't seem to be able to get stuff out of Galea. It's sort of like a one-way window for everything."
"But you've gotta say, it must have taken a lot of guts for those people to move from their homes to some land they'd never even heard of just to follow Arceus," Brock said.
"Ah yes, they seem to have been one of the few very religious people in our world," Professor Sycamore said. "I can't find a parallel in modern times, unless you count those people who worship the Helix Fossil."
Meanwhile, under the city, Team Rocket was rowing a small boat through the gutters. Needless to say, they were all wearing gas masks and biohazard suits.
"It still somehow stinks in here," Jessie said.
"Well then, what do you want me to do about it?" James asked.
"Maybe pick a better route next time!" Jessie said. "Right, Meowth?"
Meowth wasn't responding. His nose was far more sensitive than a human's, and the suit hadn't been built to his proportions exactly and let in some air. He had fainted from the smell.
After what felt like an eternity, they finally found themselves beneath the Lumiose City Gym.
"Just follow me," James motioned as Jessie carried Meowth up a flight of stairs that was illuminated by a flashlight that James had.
Simultaneously, Clemont had decided to check out if the circuitry in his machine was working. You know, he wasn't going to actually use it, but he did want to make sure there weren't any loose connections with what now amounted to miles of circuitry.
There weren't any, but unknown to him, James, while climbing a few steps towards the gym's basement, tripped and reached for something, anything, that would stop his fall. It was a natural reflex, really, and he caught a wire and broke it, with him holding one end.
Clemont would later on spend days trying to figure out what had happened. As it was, whatever did occur happened nearly instantaneously.
A huge wave of energy spread across the machine, and below, it enveloped Jessie, James, Meowth, and a lone Trubbish that had the misfortune of being too close to the wiring. In a few microseconds, the wave traveled upstairs and enveloped Brock and Misty, with only Sycamore and Clemont being spared kudos to their suits, before it traveled along an antenna and shot them towards the barrier than separated Galea from the world.
After that, the machine that Clemont had so painstakingly developed overheated and melted before sending a blast that shattered the windows and burned their present records as well as wiping off most of their data.
Not to mention the power went off in Lumiose City for twenty-five city blocks.
Wade watched the waves gently rock back and forth. It always had a calming effect on him, which he really needed right now.
He had tried calling Selena, but she wasn't responding to anything. So no help figuring out what the loophole was from her.
He knew that Ash had to be stopped, but the only thing was how? How could he possibly force Ash to attack him? He had nothing that Ash would want, and he couldn't exactly bribe him to stop, could he?
Wade felt helpless, a rare first in all of his years. How could he, a Gym Leader as powerful as a Gyarados be reduced to a state as helpless as that of a Magikarp?
What did he have? What could he do to get Ash to battle him?
Unknown to him, near the coast of Galea, several figures suddenly appeared in the ocean having been carried there from Kalos.
A/N: Thanks for reading! And do please review if you liked!
