Epilogue - An Illusion of Normalcy
Khrista took in a breath of fresh air, smelling the flowers that decorated the neighborhood. It had been about three weeks since she and the others had come back from their adventure in the Pokemon World, and the teen was relieved to finally be allowed outside properly in weeks without any sort of human escort, and the teen was looking forward to actually being able to interact with people other than the owners of the Pokemon Company (who had come over the minute she had revealed on a local TV station where everyone had gone) and the multitudes of reporters who had tried to get an interview with her.
Luckily, the paparazzi that had come for some pictures of her in private had quickly left town as soon as they had discovered a new sort of bodyguard - Khrista's Pokemon.
However, despite the fact that everyone was back at home, there were a few things that still bothered Khrista - the strange girl in her head - Arsenal - hadn't disappeared at all, and she had even spoken up while Khrista was awake. It made for rather strange situations...
And then there was everyone else - most of the people ended up losing their abilities, but one or two still had some abilities or proof of what the could do. For instance, Grace usually dressed in a sky blue and had actual wings sprouting from her back that she could use to glide around, but not actually fly. Eliza had told Khrista that Grace was working on getting her wings stronger so that she actually could fly.
And, of course, the Carlsdales kept all their abilities and Joshua was acting strangely reclusive and constantly coming out with brand new gadgets that did who-knew-what.
As the teen was walking around, thinking of recent events, a voice suddenly called out, "Hey, you there!"
Khrista's head turned, the frown on her face becoming even deeper. "What do you want, Mandy?"
A teen wearing ripped jeans, designer shoes, and a shirt with a Pikachu that was two sizes too small approached Khrista, a slightly sinister grin on her face. "I'd heard that you've got some pretty strong Pokemon. I want to test them out." She threw back her mussy, dark red hair so that she could get a better look at Khrista.
Khrista had kind of been expecting this. Ever since she had managed to return, she had decided that she would take her DS Lite and PokeDex when she went anywhere, just in case anyone got the notion to challenge her, human or Pokemon escort or no.
"Well, I certainly don't see why not," Khrista remarked calmly. She removed her red portable gaming device from a jeans pocket. "Do you have a Gen 5 game?"
Mandy nodded, the smirk never leaving her face. "Black 2. You?"
"White 2." Huh. Looks like she had to take the one as black as her cheating reputation. "Do you want to do it right now or -"
"Why not?" Mandy motioned to a picnic table that had been sitting in a small park along the sidewalk. "So long as you don't cheat."
Khrista rolled her eyes as she moved over to the table. "Really, Mandy. Did you think that everyone who cheated was taken by Cyrus? Then you would've been among his top ten." She sat down and turned on her DS, appearing in a Pokemon Center as soon as she got the Unova game up and running. Then she removed her PokeDex from another pocket and turned that on, as well.
"What's that thing supposed to be?" Khrista's adversary asked as she sat down, her blue DSi XL already in hand.
"It's the PokeDex I got from Professor Birch," Khrista responded calmly. "What does it look like?"
"A 3DS."
Khrista smirked. "Right. Like I would want one of those things - there isn't a slot for a Gameboy, so I can't transfer with that." Her eyes went to the screen of her DS. "Single or Double?"
"Single," Mandy answered quickly. "And no restrictions."
Because that's the only way you can use your cheats, Khrista mentally muttered. "All right. I'm waiting for you to join up." She looked at her PokeDex, smiling to herself as the screen she liked the most popped up. "Okay, okay. I'll let you out." She pressed the confirm button on the device.
A bright flash came out of the PokeDex, taking the form of a small, electric rodent. When the light faded, it was revealed that a Pikachu was sitting on the picnic table.
Mandy's brown eyes widened. "No. Way. You can actually summon Pokemon?"
"Summon my Pokemon, you mean. Bolt, meet Mandy, my adversary for today. Mandy, this is Bolt, the son of my and Liz's Raichu, and a little flying rodent - one of the few who can actually learn the move."
Mandy's eyes widened. "A Pikachu that knows Fly? That has to be a cheat."
The Pikachu gave Mandy a curious look. "Cheat? What do you mean, cheat?"
"Some of the Trainers around here like to find ways around regular training or natural order," Khrista explained. "That creature called Mewthree? He's a cheat - or a glitch in the game, at least." Turning to look at Mandy, she added, "SoulSilver. There was an event for the PokeWalker concerning a place called 'Yellow Forest.' Bolt and his sister Volt lived there after evolving into Pikachu some time ago. Raichu went and brought them over to my team some time ago."
Bolt smirked. "Yellow Forest has a lot of hiding places."
Mandy gave him a curious look. "What did he just say?" [a/n: remember - only some people can actually understand PokeSpeak - Mandy just isn't one of them]
Khrista exchanged glances with Bolt, then said, "He was just commenting on how the Forest had a lot of places to hide from passing Trainers." She looked over at her PokeDex. "Are we going to fight or not?"
Mandy nodded vigorously. "We definitely are."
Bolt's eyes widened. "You mean I actually get to see how you guys run your avatars from here?"
Khrista nodded. "Although, I don't exactly have one like the others..." She motioned to the PokeDex's screen. "Remember?"
The Pikachu nodded. "It was nice of them to get you your own lookalike," he remarked.
He looked over at the DS' screen, watching as Khrista's form purposefully flickered her shirt through the whole Type spectrum, before settling on its original red shade with yellow MasterBall graphic. The girl with her hands on her hips, grinning at the prospect of a battle.
Mandy's eyes widened. "Where and how did you get that?" she demanded.
"A gift from the Pokemon Company," Khrsita responded carelessly. "They were so glad for a new spin on the Pokemon world that they made an avatar for me as thanks." She shrugged. "It's not really all that of a big deal."
"Not a big deal?" her adversary repeated. "You've got to be the only kid who's got one of those!"
"There's still your second-removed cousin, Joshua. He and my friends filled in what I left out." Khrista smirked, watching the avatars.
Mandy let out a growl. "Well, I've still got Pokemon that are stronger than yours."
"We'll see about that."
On the DS screen, Mandy's Black 2 female-Trainer figure faded out as a Cherish Ball popped open, revealing a black Rayquaza. Khrista's form then threw a Master Ball, letting loose her own Rayquaza.
Khrista's gaze went to her PokeDex's screen, where the same sort of thing was being shown, though on a more 3-D scale. "Picked up Oda Nobunaga's Rayquaza, huh?"
"Traded for it on GTS," Mandy replied, grinning.
"Sheesh, old man! You look like you've seen better days."
"Quiet, peasant. You do not have the right to speak to me in such a manner."
"Riiight," Khrista muttered into her PokeDex, ignoring the look Mandy was giving her. "Ray, knock him out, like we did to Corza last time."
The green Rayquaza on the screen nodded, then summoned a Draco Meteor.
"Where were those voices coming from?" Mandy asked.
"Those were the telepathic voices of your and my Rayquaza," Khrista explained calmly. "The PokeDex works kind of like a communicator." She smirked, watching as the Shiny Rayquaza's health bar dropped to zero and the giant Pokemon collapsed. "One down, five to go."
"He wasn't a challenge," Ray remarked. "Bring on the next one."
Mandy gritted her teeth with frustration. "Useless," she muttered. The black Rayquaza disappeared into its Cherish Ball, being replaced a moment later by the form of an Eeveelution - a Glaceon.
"Oh, boy," Ray remarked.
"Keep your head," Khrista muttered. "I've got this."
She turned her attention to her DS, where she switched out Ray, replacing him with another Pokemon. A Lucario soon took the stage in the Legendary's place, the name "Ryan" appearing above the health bar.
The Lucario on the PokeDex screen looked around, glanced back at the screen, then gave Khrista a thumbs-up. "Let's do this."
Khrista nodded in agreement. "Move fast and strike hard - Aura Sphere."
Ryan promptly moved quickly, getting into the trademark stance of the Pokemon's species as he charged up the attack. The Glaceon charged up, as well, only it seemed to be holding something uncomfortable in its mouth.
The two Pokemon quickly unleashed their attacks at once, and Khrista realized why the Glaceon had looked uncomfortable. The Ice-Type had just unleashed a Flamethrower, which had caught the Aura Sphere, causing an explosion on the battlefield.
Khrista's eyes narrowed, as did Mandy's, although the latter had a different reason.
"Missed?" she demanded. "How can that miss? You never miss!"
"Dragon Pulse," Khrista muttered. "Maybe we can fight fire with fire."
Ryan nodded without looking back this time, charged up, and fired off a beam of draconic energy, catching the Glaceon off guard and sending it flying out of battle. This caused Mandy to beat the table with frustration.
"That's two," Khrista noted. "Who's next?"
Mandy let out a low growl as she retrieved Glaceon, but that was soon replaced with a sinister grin. "You'll see."
Khrista frowned. Mandy had already used up two of her more "legal" Pokemon, and she most likely had a glitch of some sort on her team. If she was bringing out that glitch now, she probably thought she was going to win with that one Pokemon.
A PokeBall quickly appeared on the PokeDex's screen, popping open with a flash of light, revealing a large Pokemon's form. When the light faded, a Rhyperior was glaring at Ryan. A white Rhyperior.
Khrista's eyes narrowed as Mandy grinned triumphantly.
"I found this guy wandering around Stark Mountain!" she explained proudly. "It was only a Rhydon at the time, though. So I evolved it."
"Are you back to normal?" Khrista asked in a quiet voice. "Your Type isn't messed up anymore, is it?"
The Rhyperior snorted. "Palkia kept his promise and changed me back, but the coloring won't go away. That's why I went to him in the first place - I wanted to turn back to normal. No Pokemon wants to look like this."
"If you caught Pokerus and it changed your color, I don't really see it as a problem," Ryan responded. "It just shows your more powerful than other Rhyperior of your level." He grinned. "And I'm more than ready to test that out for you."
Khrista's eyes widened slightly, then grinned. "All right, then. Start with another Aura Sphere, Ryan."
Ryan nodded and threw the ball of blue energy at the Shiny Pokemon in front of him. In response, Rhyperior threw up a Protect, causing the move to bounce off and dissipate.
Khrista's eyes narrowed. "You've certainly taken every precaution with this one," she noted.
Mandy grinned. "And that's not all!"
"Close Combat," Khrista muttered under her breath. "Quickly."
Ryan dashed forward and was about to punch the Rhyperior when the ground began to shake. Ryan stumbled and was hit by a piece of what appeared to be a roof. The Lucario fell down and didn't get back up.
Khrista let out a growl of annoyance as Mandy grinned in triumph. Bolt noticed the anger sparking in his Trainer's eyes, and grabbed her shoulder. Khrista then forced herself to calm down and released her next Pokemon.
Vapor appeared out of his PokeBall and sat down calmly on the battlefield, giving the Shiny Rhyperior a curious look. "Who was taken out this time?"
"Ryan," Khrista replied. "It's used Earthquake and Protect so far."
"Uh-huh. I see what needs to be done. I've been working on this combo for a while." The Water-Type crouched, then fired off a beam of ice as large as a Hydro Pump. Rhyperior was instantly frozen in a block of ice.
"What was that?" Khrista asked, eyes wide. Mandy's eyes had widened to the point of bursting out of her head.
"That has to be a cheat!" Mandy exclaimed.
"Vapor calls it Icicle Blast," Bolt supplied. "It costs Power Points from Ice Beam, Aurora Beam, and Hydro Pump."
"That's right, I forgot he had Ice Beam..."
"And I need to recharge," Vapor added. He watched calmly as Rhyperior broke out of the ice block and caused another Earthquake. Vapor shook his head. "That didn't hurt much. Let's give this another shot."
"Muddy Water," Khrista suggested. She grinned at Mandy. "You can do another Icicle Blast again if Rhyperior refuses to faint."
Mandy folded her arms across her chest. "Cheater," she muttered.
"Riiiight," Khrista replied smoothly. "You do realize that each move that a Pokemon uses was made up through creativity and necessity? Icicle Blast is probably going to show up soon enough in future games." She looked down at the PokeDex screen, which showed that Rhyperior had long since fainted and Mandy was considering her next Pokemon. "Three down."
Mandy let out a growl. "You're not helping, you know that?" She pressed a few buttons on her DSi, and another Pokemon appeared on the screen - a Shiny Giratina. "See if you can beat that!"
Vapor looked back at his Trainer, a bored expression on his face. "Is she serious?"
"Yeah, she is," Khrista admitted. Her eyes went over to her DS screen, taking note that the Sinnoh Legendary was out up a Level 100. "Let's go with Ice Beam."
Vapor nodded, then turned to face the Giratina and fired off the attack. Khrista could see that the Legendary had started to become fuzzy around the edges, and wasn't sure if that meant it was a glitch or that it was about to use Shadow Force. Whatever the case, the Giratina didn't have a chance - it was fainted by Vapor's Ice Beam.
The Eeveelution let out a bored yawn. "How much longer to we have to go?"
"Not too long, I don't think," Khrista replied. "We've already taken down four of her Pokemon."
Mandy let it a growl in response, taking note of the look Bolt was giving her. "You ain't seen nothin' yet," she muttered, quoting one of the songs that was known to pop up on the radio from time to time. A moment later, a slightly familiar figure appeared in front of them.
Vapor bristled at the sight of the figure. "She's got one of Mewtwo's family!"
Khrista's eyes scanned the strange, yellow-and-green figure in front of them. "Either she found it in Cerulean Cave, or... Vapor, Icicle Blast!"
Before Vapor could even fire off the new-found "Ultimate Ice attack," the Mewtwo charged up an Electro Ball and threw it at Vapor. The Water-Type was down in an instant.
Khrista's eyes narrowed, and she went through her team in order to find a Pokemon that might be able to take out the Legendary without trouble. However, she was unsure as to what moves Mandy might have taught the Mewtwo to replace other water.
"All right," she muttered. "Let's go with her." She pressed the "A" button, and a flash appeared on the PokeDex screen.
"Whoo! Let's bring them down!"
Mandy gave Khrista a look of shock. "More cheats?"
"No," Khrista responded. "It's Mist, my very own Shiny Angeleon, thanks to efforts from my own Eeveelution team."
Mist, a golden Angeleon with silver wings, flapped her feathered appendages as she looked the Mewtwo over. "Oh, great. Another one."
Khrista gave her an odd look. "Another one?"
"A lot of Trainers we've come across ever since you left had all sorts of Shiny Legendaries. This guy won't be a problem."
Khrista smirked. "All right, then. Let's go with a Dark move."
Mist nodded. "Let's go. Dark Pulse!" Her fur darkened suddenly, and a dark shockwave went out from her, hitting Mewtwo. The Shiny Legendary dropped to one knee, looking a little more sickly than he already did.
Mandy's eyes widened in shock. "Wh-what-"
"Mist is one of those Pokemon that gains odd moves through unusual circumstances," Khrista explained calmly. "All right, Mist. Finish him off."
Mist's tail twitched, and she flew up into the air. "Let's go! Sky Slam!" She rammed into Mewtwo with everything she had, taking out the Shiny Legendary.
Mandy's eyes narrowed. "You cheat!"
"You're the one who wanted it 'no restrictions'," Khrista replied. "Besides, I'm only using my DS as a connector to your system, so that you can see what I'm doing on my PokeDex." She turned the red device so that Mandy could see the screen. "See? I can see what my team's doing without the DS, and I can keep track of yours if they're close enough." She turned the PokeDex back around before Mandy could do anything to it. "What's your last Pokemon?"
Mandy blinked, then grinned. "You won't expect this one."
On the screen, there was a flash...and the area instantly became black, with a strange creature in front of Mist. Sometimes, it looked like an identifiable Pokemon, and other times, it turned into a box of glitched data.
Bolt frowned. "What is that?"
"What did you do, Mandy?" Khrista asked.
"That is Missingno., the first Pokemon glitch," Mandy replied proudly. "And the only one to actually exist in the first games. It took me a lot of work to get it into my Black 2 game."
"You mean a lot of hacking," Khrista responded. "You're an idiot if you think that did nothing to the game. Mist, try another Dark Pulse."
Mandy laughed. "That won't do anything against this one. It's invincible!"
Mist snorted. "If it were that, then Arceus would make sure that it's dead!" She fired off a Dark Pulse, but that didn't seem to have an effect. "By Zapdos' ThunderBeak! Just die already!"
She reared back and fired a blue sphere of energy, causing the strange creature to suddenly shriek in pain, the strange creature flickering into a backwards-L shape for a moment.
Khrista blinked In surprise. "I recognize that shape from somewhere... Try another Aura Sphere!"
Mist nodded and fired off a second, only for it to bounce off a Protect.
"What is this thing?" Mist demanded.
"Mandy said it's a glitch," Khrista muttered. "If it doesn't like Fighting-Type moves, and it's got a Protect up... Try another Aura Sphere; it can't keep that energy shield up forever."
Mandy frowned. "Protect? I didn't order it to do that."
"The Pokemon was never meant to exist; in case you haven't noticed, the monster has already affected the battlefield." Khrista motioned for Mandy to come over, showing the teen what was going on. "You're an idiot, Mandy. Cheating is not the way to go, especially when this world is real."
"You shouldn't cheat, anyway!" Mist snapped. "Trainers have been disqualified from tournaments for trying to be people they're not." She fired another Aura Sphere, but the Missingno. refused to faint. "I'm going to need everyone's help out here!"
In response, Rayquaza, Swamp, and the real Mewtwo appeared in flashes of light.
Chaos took one look at the monster and growled in annoyance. "Great. The computer virus has found it's way into the real world. It's weakness is Fighting, but anything else can still do damage. Let's move." He charged up an Aura Sphere and fired it at Missingno, causing it to shriek in pain a second time.
Mandy swallowed nervously. "What did Mewtwo mean by that?"
Khrista frowned. "My guess is that Team Rocket originally intended for Missingno. to be a computer virus they could use to take out computer systems, but it became too powerful and the sealed it away."
"Correct." Chaos ducked a ricocheting Aura Sphere. "They planned on destroying every computer system in the police force, but Missingno. liked their systems more."
He fired off another Aura Sphere, adding, "They tore apart its programming to make sure it couldn't damage anything they had, and it seems your friend had the knowledge to put it back together." The Psychic Legendary quickly changed tactics, small bolts of Psychic energy appearing out of the air around him and striking the monster repeatedly. "We have to tear it apart before it does the same to this world."
All the Pokemon nodded and started to attack at once, each aiming for one spot on the monster. The Missingno. thrashed wildly, then tried to answer in kind, but Mewtwo stopped his attack to set up a Barrier to keep the monster's attacks back.
Slowly, the creature started to stop thrashing, only to suddenly come back with more power. As Khrista's Pokemon began to become exhausted rom the amount of power they were using, there was a sudden flash in the center of the black space, the light growing ever outward. When the light became blinding, the Pokemon stopped their attacks and looked away, as did Khrista, Mandy, and Bolt. When the light faded, everyone looked back, only to find that Arceus was standing in the center of the battlefield, and where the monster had stood, a rather disgruntled teal Ditto sat in its place.
"Mandy," Arceus stated, "you should know better than to mess with the forces of nature. Many people have paid the price for your releasing of this menace on our world." The Legendary's eyes flashed. "For this, your data has been removed from the computer systems. You may start new journeys in other regions, but only Black 2 will follow what has taken place. What you do in these places will be watched. If you so much as steal a Gym Badge, your data will be erased and you will be forced to start over." With that, Arceus vanished.
As Khrista was shutting down her connection to the Pokemon world, Mandy said nervously, "Sorry about that."
Khrista gave Mandy an odd look. "You wouldn't have known how much of an affect your cheating would have had on their world unless you were sucked there with us. Just make sure that you don't cheat again, all right?" She looked at Bolt. "You want to stay out here for a little while longer?"
Bolt nodded. "Volt's already had a look around; I want to see the world without Pokemon, too."
Khrista smirked. "All right, then." She motioned for the Pokemon to hop up on her shoulder as she put the electronic devices in her pocket. "You might want to get rid of your cheat codes, Mandy. You probably don't want to catch Arceus when he's in a bad mood, either."
Mandy's eyes moved to the sidewalk. "I'd kind of appreciate some help with that," she murmured.
Khrista exchanged a quick glance with Bolt, then smirked.
"I'll see what I can do," she stated. "Where's your game stash?"
Spacial Break
Maria watched from a distance as Mandy and Knrista walked off, Bolt sitting happily on his Trainer's shoulder. "Looks like they've made up."
A figure beside her nodded in agreement. "Do you believe that Mandy will keep her promise?"
"I don't know, Merlin, but I really hope that she does. It'll be one step closer to causing the cheats to stop. By tomorrow, everyone with a Missingno. will find themselves with a Shiny Ditto that won't have anything to do with their original forms." Maria grinned, delighted. "And then the rest will follow."
"Indeed." Merlin gave Maria a curious look. "Now, would you kindly tell me where you went while Cyrus tried to hunt you down?"
Maria's grin became a nervous smile. "Let's head back to my house; I can speak freely about that there." She absently reached for her chest, then stopped. "I still forget sometimes that it isn't there anymore." Seeing the confused frown on Merlin's face, Maria stated, "It's all a part of the story you wanted. Come on; I'll start it on the way..."
Aaaand that's a wrap! Everybody's back at home, and they're running around with the knowledge that there are other planets with humans out there. ;) I've got Khrista's next story ready to go, but I'm going to be starting college soon, so I probably won't be able to start posting that right away. Just keep your eyes open for it, kay?
See you guys later!