"Alright, let's get testing." Lucas said, pulling out a Pokèdex and cutting off my train of thought. "Pory, come on out."
As he unbuckled a Pokéball and released a beam of red light, I narrowed my eyes. The Pokémon was an odd duck, quite literally; sort of duck-shaped, though made entirely of round red and blue polygons, with dazed yellow eyes.
"How may I assist you, Master Lucas?" the creature cheerfully asked in human language, and I found myself growling in displeasure before turning to Calem in askance.
"Isn't "upgrading" a Porygon-2 with a Dubious Disc morally questionable at best?" I ask, remembering their Pokedex description.
The Absol's eyes scrunched up in confusion, but whatever he was going to say was cut off when the polygonal creature floated over in front of my face.
"That is only partially correct!" It replied cheerily. "While modifying the base Porygon program with 3rd party software is known to lead to moral and legal complications, the present unit was upgraded prior to being captured by Master Lucas. Once the corrupted files that made up this unit were discovered, Master Lucas provided assistance through his Rotom's technological capabilities in order to fix such issues." Porygon-Z dutifully informed.
I frowned, before shrugging. "You could be programmed to say that."
"Nooooooo!" Infernape cried out, slapping his hand against his face in a facepalm. "Not another Absol! We've already got one guy talking about boring human stuff." he dramatically collapsed to the ground, hand covering his face.
"True! And while I'm aware of the fact that some Riolu are capable of detecting lies, by that same logic I could not be aware of providing false information. I will cease my attempts at convincing you." it chirped, and I sighed as it flew back to Lucas. Well, it did not seem like it was behaving oddly in the way the Pokedex claimed it should.
Lucas was now staring at us oddly, only having gotten half of the conversation. "Is everything alright?" I rolled my paw at him in a "go on" gesture. "Very well." With that, he pointed his Pokédex at me, which began speaking.
"Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon. Its body is lithe yet powerful. It can crest three mountains and cross two canyons in one night. The aura that emanates from its body intensifies to alert others if it is afraid or sad." My eyes narrowed at that. I thought that only I could read other auras, but apparently it was a two way street. "This Riolu knows the following moves: Quick Attack, Endure, Baby-Doll Eyes, Feint, Metal Claw, Counter, Reversal, Force Palm, Work Up, Vacuum Wave, Unknown Move 1, Unknown Move 2."
I think all of us were left a bit puzzled by that. Admittedly, some of the maneuvers I pull off are harder to formally put than others, but I'd gotten a pretty good feel for the ones that I did have.
"Well, that is peculiar. Still, we can test them out, get a feel for everything. Pory, defense up!"
"Calculating appropriate defense." After a moment, Porygon-Z assumed a metallic sheen. "Ready."
First came Quick Attack. To be honest, it was a bit of a misnomer- no part of the move required you to, strictly speaking, attack your target. You just zoomed around.
You would think that as I charged forward to impact against such a small Pokémon, it'd be sent flying. Instead, as I flew towards it and slammed my foot against it, I felt my leg bend for a moment, before I sprung backwards. Hardy guy.
Endure and Feint weren't really testeable. Endure was just... me focusing on Not Going Down, whereas I felt myself heating up in anger as Infernape began laughing as I tried pulling off Feints against something that was literally not reacting to my attacks.
Metal Claws scraped down its now metallic body, doing nothing.
"Pause." Lucas ordered. "Pory, Conversion again, defense against Fighting type."
"Calculating defensive matrix for Fighting Type moves." It paused. Its metallic sheen vanished, substituted by a low humming. "Ready."
Force Palm collided with Porygon's body, exploding a moment after I laid my palm. Found next to no purchase.
Vacuum Wave exploded against it with no visible effect.
Reversal depended on my being injured to deal damage, which is why it made such a good combo with Endure. I wasn't exactly willing to do them now, though. Predictably, it did nothing.
This was getting really frustrating. I nearly killed someone yesterday while barely even trying, took down a fucking land shark twice my size, and this Bubsy 3D reject was my stopping point?
"I've generated a valid dataset. This Riolu has an offensive value of 25 out of 100, a speed value of 20 out of 100, with the rest of his stats being too low to calculate." Pory said.
Right as I felt a snarl pull on my lips at what felt like an insult, I heard Lucas whistle behind me. "Not bad at all, for an unevolved and relatively untrained Pokémon." I whirled around to face him, and he stared. "Man, I'm really not used to dealing with a Pokémon as intelligent as you-"
A chorus of 'hey!'s began from his own team.
"My own team aside, I guess I should explain- The theoretical maximums are based off of what we've been able to encounter at the very peak of the world- and even then, it's typically in the hands of very specialized Pokémon. Pory, for example, is the only Pokémon on my team to even reach the low 90s in terms of Offense, though Absol can momentarily triumph him by undergoing Mega Evolution. And not to toot my own horn as a trainer, but I did put the current Champion on the backfoot back in my day." He grinned, saying that as though he was an old man rather than looking not a day over thirty.
I looked at Calem in confirmation, and he nodded. I crossed my arms.
"As I've said, for someone of your..." he paused for a moment, before nodding. "Untapped potential, that is actually a really high score. You should be proud of that."
I stared at him, feeling out his aura for any signs of deception, but nothing. "Fine." I huffed between grit teeth, before receiving a hearty slap on the back.
"Little guy believed he could be champion material just because he slapped around a Gabite!" Infernape laughed. "Maybe put one more battle or fifty behind you and you'll get there!"
I don't know what it was about that mocking tone that set me off. Maybe it was the fact that despite trying to hold it together, I wasn't actually okay. Maybe it was the fact that I was tired and angry for a multitude of factors. Maybe it was the physical contact; throughout all of today, no one had actually touched me.
Maybe it was even the fact that this guy had a particularly slappable face.
I just know that as my anger heightened, I felt that same sensation of distance from my body I'd felt previously. Calem's head, previously relaxed, shot up to full alertness, staring at me. Infernape was leveling me an odd look.
Lucas was no longer smiling. "Porygon, Conversion Dragon!" he shouted right as I moved to crack my fist, shrouded in a red shade of anger, on the Infernape's face, the two of them suddenly trading places.
All of my attacks so far had done nothing to the damn thing. This one? The polygonal bastard was sent flying a good five or six meters, and damn if that did not feel good.
"Error; Supereffective attack suffered. Overall health lowered by 30%. Recalibrating Conversion." I stared at it, for a moment, but Lucas interrupted me. "Ok, that's quite enough, Riolu!" Lucas shouted.
My blood was boiling like I had a fever; out of everything that I'd done today, this was the only thing that had some satisfaction behind it. But right now, I was surrounded by champion-tier Pokémon, and one lucky shot was all I was likely to get. Porygon wasn't even my target- the Infernape had dodged my attack, and Porygon had flown straight into it.
I grabbed my tassels, closed my eyes, and focused on my breathing. Slowly, I felt my anger fade, replaced by numb nothingness.
"Are you alright?" Calem asked, and I nodded. I could feel the concern rolling off of him, but I really could not find it in myself to give a shit.
I was calm. I was back. I was in control.
And so, in full control of my actions, I spun my paws in a Vacuum Wave that slammed rather ineffectually into Infernape's staring face. "Don't test me, you bastard."
His face morphed through shock, confusion, contemplation, and then a grin split his face. "You've got moxie, kid!" He laughed, before cartwheeling away. I shook my head at the ridiculousness.
Lucas, meanwhile, was spraying the Porygon-Z with some type of medicine, while Calem hovered around me as I sat down, breathing in deeply both from the exertion and trying to calm my nerves. Eventually, he turned around.
"Well, that went about as well as we could've expected." He said awkwardly. "I still have no idea what those two moves were, but we were able to gather some data on them. The physical one, I believe to be some offshoot of Outrage, given the berserk state you flew into and the fact that you were able to critically damage Pory while in his Dragon state. As for the other, I have rightfully no idea. You just began exuding this aura of menace, and it seemed to empower your other move." he frowned, scratching his stubble. "I would not recommend using these moves outside of safe environments, to be honest. Beyond the obvious fact that these are unknown, powerful moves who might hurt someone, you've also suffered some damage yourself." He pointed at my right arm. I'd split my knuckles off with that one blow.
"Are we done?" I asked, before shaking my head. "Never mind, we are done. I'm not playing test subject anymore." With that, I focused on Quick Attack and swiftly made my way back to the point of the wall where I was about to leave.
To no surprise, when I skidded in the dirt to lose momentum, right alongside me was Calem, the Absol instead pulling a complete stop while he matched my speed without even needing the move.
"Where are you going?" he asked. I shrugged.
"Dunno. Don't care."
His eyes widened. "Riolu-"
"I have a name, you know. Had a name, before just being this. Not that you bothered to ask. Not like anyone has ever given a shit." I closed my eyes. "You want to play around with some larger than life destiny of saving the world? You're a big boy, now, you're strong enough to deal with it." I crossed my arms. "You go play with your champion trainer, I'll-
"Nasir." He cut me off, making my eyes shoot open again. The white furred canine was levelling me with those large red serious eyes. "That's your name. Nasir. It's actually one of the first things I've learned about you, thanks to Espeon's... ugh, espionage." he rolled his eyes at the unintended pun. "I just didn't know how to approach the topic without sounding weird because I knew it already."
"..well, do you want to know something else, then?" I growled. "I knew about you because you were a big enough deal to matter. You said it yourself; you were the closest runner up for Champion in all of Kalos. Your world vanished in a blaze of glory, fighting for what's right." I laughed bitterly, the sound horrible with my vocal cords. "None of that happened to me. I died like a dog, choking on my own blood because someone mugged me.
"I'm sure you've got something going on, you've even got the power to detect calamities. But me? I've been played like the world's marionette for a while now. And I'm tired of entertaining it."
The silence stretched on for a good minute or so, neither of us speaking. Briefly, I pondered if I should pay Mesprit's lake a visit. It wasn't far, if this was Sandgem like I believed. Then again, it would probably curse me with that whole mumbo jumbo touch. I don't remember what it did; stole memories, probably.
"Nasir." Calem began again, and I looked back up at him. "Since there is sadness, we can feel joy. When there is anger, compassion is born..." He paused for a moment, before continuing more resolute. "The kind of world I want to see is where everyone can share their joy and compassion. Where Pokémon and the people around them can be happy for each other. I want the world to become a place where everyone is smiling. The world could be so much better if we all tried to make it that way."
"...it feels like you're quoting someone to me." I muttered back, half listening. He nodded.
"I am. It's the very same person I'm asking you to follow. The one that inspired me to take on my own journey. And the person that made me realize that maybe me being placed here wasn't just a game of fate.
"'The world awaited your birth. Not only yours, either. The Pokémon around you, the people close to you. All the Pokémon and people were born because they have a part in the world.'." He closed his eyes. "I'm trying my best to do my part. I genuinely believe that helping Lucas in his researches, I can make this world a better place. That's why I'm imploring you to also do your part."
I just kind of slid against the wall, letting myself hit the ground. "'Everyone was born because they have a part in the world', huh... That's a nice thought. I don't know if I believe it." I rubbed my eyes. Could I do it? I had potential, here. I already knew I was good at fighting- though clearly, not as good as these guys. I just needed to let myself be carried around by someone... and frankly, I've already had three years of that. At least Cynthia should be a glow up.
"Fine." I huffed. "If only because it'll get you to stop quoting corny bullshit at me."
The relief in his voice was palpable. "Thank you. You've made the right choice, I'm sure of that.
"Yeah, yeah. Now shoo. I'm tired."
He looked at me, nodded, and began trotting off before pausing, and looking at me again. "Nasir..." he paused, before shaking his head. "Never mind. I'm sure you'll figure it out on your own. You are stronger than you think.
And with that cryptic message, he trotted off. I wonder if he's being affected by the Absol mentality. I know I've been dealing with things using my fists more than I ever did as a human.
...well, fuck. I guess I've agreed. Now I've gotta wait for the blonde brat to reach another trading station so I could be sent there.
Briefly, I pondered how much this world had changed. Obviously Lucas and Dawn had traded places with Rowan and Cynthia for some obscure reason, Team Flare wasn't a thing yet, and Team Galactic didn't seem to be a thing at all here.
I didn't want to think about that for long, lest I spiral into a rabbit hole. I closed my eyes, enjoying the shade after the brief but intense workout.
I could go for a nap.
"Mr. Akagi!" Lucas called. "Cyrus wishes to report on how to improve the Galactic Corp's infrastructure within Eterna!"
"I'm sorry, professor, I'm quite busy with Oak's demands concerning the Pokedex' efficiency at the moment. Tell him to record it for me and I will see it in my own time."
As the man spoke, Lucas could feel the smile on his face gradually slip. With a sigh, he turned back towards his PC, where Cyrus' face was being projected.
The boy's face was serious as always, though right now it seemed like he was purposely putting on a poker face. Lucas sighed. "I'm sorry, Cyrus, your father is something of a workaholic. If you want-" he began, but the blue haired boy just shook his head.
"It's alright, professor. I expected as much. I hear much more of him through his recordings than outside of them, nowadays." Lucas could not hide a wince at that, but quickly pulled himself together.
"How fares your own project, anyways?"
At that, Cyrus's expression seemed to settle- still neutral, but in a satisfied way, no longer forced. "I was able to defeat Charon's gym, and as you predicted, the knowledge he was able to offer was very useful, and the TM for Thunderbolt provides a satisfactory hammer to compensate my technical style."
Lucas made a pleased sound at that, but pressed on. "That's good, but you still haven't talked to me about the topic itself."
Cyrus shrugged. "Truthfully, there is not much to say. My Pokèmon perform their duties as requested, and I have defeated those that came our way with ease, but so have Palmer, Cynthia and Rowan; so long as the quality of your assistants vastly supersedes that of their opponents, my research will remain inconclusive. I show my Pokèmon the care they deserve while ensuring that they do not mistake it for kindness, and so far, they seem to be proving just as competent, if not moreso, than those of my competitors." Lucas hummed at that. "I must go now, Professor. Hopefully, working on Croagunk's Fighting type moves should provide the edge I need to beat Byron."
"On your way, then. Good luck!" Lucas wished, and the connection ended.
With that, he allowed himself to slump a little. All of his little assistants- plus the not so little James Rowan- were under some stress.
Palmer, straightforward and sunny, was currently stressing under the fact that he was the only one who failed to defeat Charon's gym, the gym leader's tricksy style and the type disadvantage his Pokémon held being what held him back. He'd still bounced back, obviously, and was able to beat him on the second try, but it was clear that the defeat smarted. What was worse was his open competition and disdain for Cyrus' style of training; whereas Cyrus wanted to only use his head, Palmer only wanted to use his heart.
On the topic of Cyrus, the boy was so starved for affection, and Lucas had no idea how to deal with it. His father, Mr. Akagi of Galactic Corp. was so clearly engrossed in his research, both in his wife's corporation and the work here at Lucas' lab that he had no time to offer his son. He'd offered several times for him to have paid leave so that he could see his family, only for him to scoff and say that "Progress isn't built on people getting paid to be lazy". Cyrus, then, was taking the lack of love he was shown and trying to apply it to his own Pokémon training; the parallels were there to see, and Lucas assumed that if Cyrus could prove to himself that a Pokémon's performance was not affected by the lacking bond with their trainer, then the same could be said of humans.
Lastly, there was James and Cynthia; James's own mother was his other assistant; it was still weird to be bossing around people that much older than himself, but Miss. Rowan had stated that he'd earned his place as the region's Pokémon Professor. He'd followed after her recommendation of Lucas himself, starting on his journey much older than most after having completed his studies at a Jubilife university, with Lucas providing for him his starter Pokémon in the form of a Turtwig, an easy companion who could adapt to Rowan's methodical training style.
Cynthia, instead, had showed up one day, carrying in her hands a Gible- those things were heavy for a 14 year old to carry at all, much less with the ease she displayed- and all but demanding that he sponsor her. He would've been more alarmed were it not for the fact that days prior he'd received a call from his colleague Professor Carolina stating that her "idiot granddaughter" had gotten it in her head to go after the gym circuit to defeat Dawn, and to ensure that she didn't get herself killed in the process.
That goal was one that the group of four junior assistants he'd gotten shared, actually. Lucas awkwardly scratched his beard at the thought. They definitely had potential, and himself and Dawn were not much older than the trio of Cynthia, Palmer and Cyrus when they took respectively first and second places as strongest trainers of the region; but they were also in need of a reality check. That sort of thing was often stressful, especially for the bonds between them. Right now, Cyrus and Palmer were engaged in an often unfriendly rivalry, while James and Cynthia's relationship had significantly soured in recent times.
"Man, I'm too young to suddenly have four adolescent children to deal with," He lamented, hearing his team laugh at his expense. "I can feel the youth slipping from my hands!" he bellowed dramatically.
"There, there. I'm sure one of these days you'll have the occasion to grab your pickaxe and go split open some rocks." Miss Rowan pat his shoulder. He sighed, before wawing her off, organizing the notes on his desk while he waited for the other calls that were soon to follow.
And the subject of the two's problems, the Riolu. That was another one of his problems.
The Pokèmon had been so obviously living amongst humans for the majority of its time, it wasn't even funny; it looked awkward whenever it attempted to interact with the wild Pokèmon of the area in a non-violent manner, or whenever it tried to do things you'd expect a Pokèmon to do to care for itself, such as foraging.
It was also deeply intelligent; despite lacking in emotional maturity, the few battles he saw it partake in over the course of the past few days marked it as a terrific strategist. More than that, however, it was knowledgeable in shocking ways, like the time it inquired about the ethics of Porygon-Z as an evolution of Porygon-2 of all things or the fact that the other day he found a messy note written on the table in Unown runes, detailing that it was going to see Lake Verity, with an inked paw print as a "signature".
When it was found, the best description that one could find for it was "practically rabid"; removing the majority of the drugs from its bloodstream helped, but the withdrawal it was going through was something that Lucas would not wish on his worst enemy. His patience was on a hair trigger, ready to fight over the most minor of grievances, and it was unwilling to make friends with any of the wild Pokémon around, despite their attempts; after enough of them that he'd beaten into submission, they stopped trying. Sandgem was not known for its cache of powerful wild Pokémon who could "put it in its place", aside from his own team, and he'd... personally had to coax the one Pokémon who could into not doing so. Having her newest catch murdered would not be good for Cynthia.
As for his own team, he seemed to hold open hostility with Espeon and Infernape due to their mischievous nature and only grudging respect for Lucas himself. Kabutops had elected to not interact with it at all, and Riolu seemed to be content keeping things that way despite being aware of its existence, and Rotom had stayed so far been virtually undetected and seemed to wish to do so.
It had once requested for Pory for training, kept it for about five hours, then returned it. The Porygon-Z had returned in his Ice Conversion, mostly drained of stamina, but undamaged. Riolu had returned completely covered in frost, shaking from head to toe, but seemingly satisfied with whatever it was that he did. It left Lucas shaking his head, knowing that Riolu even understood the potential for training that a digital Pokémon such as Porygon could offer.
Then there was Absol. For some reason, Riolu had immediately latched onto the Dark Type, something that struck him as odd; while Absol did tend to be more of a straight man type of character to his unlikely team of jokesters, it was also frightening enough that it should be regarded with the same wariness it treated Kabutops with; yet for some reason, the Riolu seemed at ease around him, and the two even seemed to banter, often enough.
Likewise, Absol seemed content to shadow Riolu when they weren't openly talking, ensuring that it did not cause trouble or get messed with by other Pokémon. To be fair, his team had a mischievous playfulness with one another, save for Kabutops, that the Dark Type didn't quite share, though he seemed content to entertain them most often. It made sense that he would make for a good protector.
His screen lit up again, humming a jaunty tune as it informed him that the same PC in the Floaroma center was calling him again. As he replied, he saw Cynthia's face appear.
"Cynthia! I see you've reached Floaroma, good. How did the Eterna forest treat you?"
The girl sighed gloomily. "Worse than I imagined. There's a lot of Grass and Poison types here, and while Gabite's Dragon type keeps their attacks from hitting her too hard, Budew hasn't been having a great time at actually getting attacks to be effective. At least Floaroma itself seems to be doing her some good. No captures, though Dr. Charon's house seems to attract ghost types, for some reason..." she trailed off, an edge of uncertainty entering her voice. "How is Riolu?"
"I've got him in his Pokéball here, freshly healed up and ready for transfer."
Unfortunately for the both of them, destiny seems to be drawing Cynthia and Riolu- Nasir, rather, together. Getting used to each other's presence will be a challenge.
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