NSO: Chapter 41

7 days remaining

I don't own Pokemon.

Zenith wondered how he had even missed the door. Without Arceus's guidance, Zenith found himself second-guessing which doors in the Armory led out to the Halls or to the Lab. Heck, the two pairs of double doors were even placed on opposite walls, facing each other. It was like their placement was to intentionally cause confusion if it weren't for the small green signs hanging above each doorway. Examining the tiny print closely, the Umbreon stopped in front of a thick steel-plated entrance he had chosen. The two sets of automatic doors opened systematically in an air-lock-like fashion, finally revealing their interior to him.

The Lab seemed even more impressive on his second time here, and now that he had ample time to explore, Zenith wholeheartedly agreed with that statement. The usual white walls, light and floor were all irrelevant to him by now. He was more interested in what the huge room contained. His love for inventing required a passion in science, and the Lab seemed to have plenty of that to offer. Machines of all shapes and sizes lined the walls and shelves above, so many wooden racks laden with appliances that there was a ceiling ladder that connected the ledges together. His paws itched to climb the rungs, explore what each and every 'level' contained.

Slow down there, Zenith. Start from the ground up.

Even on the base floor, there was still a wide array of machines for him to check out. He could easily identify all of them with his recently gained knowledge, along with how to work the apparatus, but theory just wasn't as exciting as a practical session.

Then there were the doors, the white automated sliding kind that was used throughout the Halls. Three large ones filled up the last unshelved wall, each of them having a thin gold plate bolted to their surfaces, minuscule letters engraved into the lustrous metal. Warning logos accompanied the labels, the black pictures on yellow backgrounds plastered all over the doors. He recognised most of them from lab safety classes in school, but there was one that seemed… different. The black silhouette of a reptilian skull, intricate details outlined in yellow lines. Enclosed in a yellow triangle with a black border, the 'sign' was only found on the door furthest to the right. He wondered what it meant, but if the numeric keypad next to the doors were any indication, he should probably leave the doors alone— for now. With a name as vague as 'The Lab', those rooms most likely had a reason to be hidden from him. Who knew what new horrors or wonders lay hidden behind them.

Zenith's curiosity was still piqued, and it was now directed to the only sound in this otherwise silent room. The sound of solution splashing against the sides of its container, a stirrer at the bottom spinning rapidly. Two things were attached to the top of the container's lid. A burette was adding a reagent dropwise into the swirling solution, and a pH meter dipped into the pale pink liquid, wires extending from both to connect to a small base. An automatic titrator. He should not be as fascinated by this as he was right now. The contraption was placed in the middle of the room, removed from its original spot to plug into one of the many long lab tables. He felt himself walk over, inexplicably drawn to the aliquot. There was something about that solution that smelled faintly familiar. He couldn't put his paw on it, but the fur on his back was starting to rise, a hostile reaction that the Umbreon still could not yet understand why. Was the smell getting stronger?

It was, and it seemed to be primarily coming from behind him.

A flash of pink in the corner of his eye, and everything clicked together instantly. That face. Those tendrils. The muzzle. She had reeked of that smell, and somehow, she was now sneaking up behind him. He would not let her catch him off guard again.

"Hey Zeni— whoa!" Clara leapt back in surprise as she came face to face with a snarling Zenith, belly pressed to the ground in an attacking posture. His fangs were bared and hackles raised, a deep growl rumbling in his throat. "Woah. Chill out, dude. Are you feeling alright?"

"S-sor-sorry!" Zenith hastily stammered out an apology, his anger quickly dissolving into panic and fluster at his mistake. He hurriedly stood back up from his crouched position, smoothing down spiked fur while averting eye contact with the Salazzle before him. His face was burning, and he tried to shield it from Clara's increasingly widening grin.

"I- I just thought you were someone else."

"It's fine. On the bright side, you did seem a bit intimidating when you were… fur-ious." Zenith couldn't help but chuckle at that line. She really knew how to lighten the mood.

"Uh, thanks? So what brings you here?"

"That." She pointed past his shoulder at the automatic titrator, which seemed to have deactivated itself. "It's reached its endpoint. Now if you'd excuse me…" Zenith stepped to one side as Clara reached out, extracting the container of now-colourless solution from the machine. Unscrewing the lid, she took a few sniffs, wafting the air towards her face.

"Odourless. Good. Completely neutralised."

"But I can still smell… it." The scent was still wafting around the room, and Zenith wrinkled up his nose with each breath of air he took.

"Oh, that's just me. Don't worry, I'll stop right after I do this." Taking a few more glass containers from a drawer under the lab table, Clara raised her hand above their uncapped openings. Slowly, a bright pink liquid started to drip from the claw tips, flowing like running water until half of the flask was filled. Examining its contents slowly, she screwed their lids on, and into the paused titrator they went before Clara turned her attention back to Zenith.

"So. Introductions. Hey, I'm Clara. I guess you could call me a chemist, instead of 'potion maker', 'poison maker', or 'almost-everything-in-between maker'. Air quotes followed those words, dripping heavily with sarcasm. "That's what the others here call me, and I hate to admit that they're technically correct. Just no perfumes unless absolutely necessary. I'm not one of those Salazzles, and I wouldn't want to accidentally trigger you again. So, what brings you to The Lab, of all places?"

"Just looking around. Trying to kill some time until… wait. You know what happened to me?"

"Sure. Everyone here knew, or should know by now. Arceus' orders, after all. Speaking of which...:" Clara rummaged around in a small leather bag slung over her shoulder, eventually producing a black square from one of its many interior pockets.

"Ta-da. My Past-Life."

"Oh. Gigi gave me hers too." Zenith removed the small green case he had tucked under his ear, comparing it with the one Clara held. They both seemed to be similar in shape and size, equally small enough to fit neatly into both of their palms. "But I don't know what it does, or even how to use it."

"Wow. Just count yourself lucky Shaymin let me go early today. Firstly, this," Clara held out her hand in Zenith's direction, square clasped firmly between two fingers. "Contains a Past-Life. As its name suggests, a Past-Life contains a Pokemon's entire previous life before entering the Hall of Legends. To access it, just open this." Sharp claws pried the case open easily with a 'click', revealing a black disc the size of a large coin. "And disc-" The Salazzle pointed at said object, a shit-eating grin on her face at Zenith's groan. "-is the Past Life. That simple. Now to play it, you of all Pokemon should have the easiest time doing so. After all, you have the perfect tool for this right… here." Clara tapped a confused Zenith's forehead ring a few times with the tiny disc before finally failing to restrain her giggles, breaking into a fit of laughter while the Umbreon watched, unamused.

"Okay, okay. I'm going to be serious now." Clara clutched her stomach as she struggled to compose herself, slowly getting up from the floor she had been rolling on seconds ago. "I… I just didn't think you'd actually allow me to do that. No one else has ever tolerated my jokes before. Now, the disc is meant to be inserted into your telecommunicator to watch or project its contents. To prevent the viewing time from being a few decades, the Past-Life is more of a highlight reel, shortened into playbacks of significant events and moments throughout the Pokemon's life. It's only a few hours long, which is better than it sounds. When you're done, just eat the disc to get rid of it, or leave it alone for 3 days so it can destroy itself." The Salazzle raised her hands defensively in response to Zenith's skeptical stare. "I'm not joking."

"I don't think Dialga's given me a telecommunicator yet."

"Well, Arceus did ask us to help if you ever needed it, so…"

But he didn't say that. The memories of conversations in the Meeting room were still fresh from yesterday. You did.

"You really don't have to do this…" Zenith's words were waved away dismissively by Clara, who pulled what seemed to be a smartwatch out of her bag. It resembled a fitness tracker, with the watch straps continuous with the widths of a metallic case that housed the technology. The glass touchscreen gleamed under the light as Clara rotated it so the dial was facing upwards. He could see a long thin slit running down the length of one side, and a digital crown on the other in the form of a button.

"It's no trouble. Here, you can use mine." Inserting the tiny disc into the slit, she placed the telecommunicator on the edge of a lab table, leaving Zenith to watch in awe as a large video was projected from the small, sleek device onto the wall. As an old-timey 5-second sequence started to count down, Clara dimmed the glowing lights of the Lab, pulling up two chairs and gesturing for the Umbreon to sit.

"Are you sure?"

"Eh. I'm done for the day, and there's no more requests for any new batches of chemicals yet, so…"

"What about those—" Zenith tried to point back at the still-titrating machine, but a pair of claws directed his head back towards the wall.

"Just shut up and… watch."

…

Events and scenarios blended together seamlessly, flashing from one point in history to another before his eyes. He sat in silence with Clara for hours, although the entire experience only seemed to be a few minutes long. Sounds boomed from an unseen speaker in the telecommunicator, reverberating around the enclosed space to add to the immersion. He saw everything, even the Salazzle stiffening during certain points of her past-life, claws digging into the underside of the lab chair. Looking at these moments along with her, he would say that her reactions were absolutely justified.

Childhood. Potions. An expected, and unwanted reveal. Bargaining, and reassurance. Isolation. Learning. Fire. Betrayal. Fire. Fire. Fire. An outstretched claw, struggling to drag its body weight forward, to reach out to something off-camera. It dropped lifelessly to the wooden floor, sending ripples across a pool of crimson. A shower of embers flooded the screen, obscuring the blurry scene until everything finally faded to black.

The telecommunicator fell silent, and the lights of the Lab were gently increased back to their normal brightness.

Zenith rubbed his throbbing ears, which were still ringing from the loud roars. He could feel Clara's gaze burning into the back of his forehead, awaiting any form of response to what the both of them had just seen. However, he was speechless, mind unsure about what to say next. He had seen so much, too much even.

His expression must have given it away.

"Zenith, my life ended decades ago. I'm okay with talking about it... Uh, you okay there?

The Umbreon was clutching his temple, his head starting to buzz at constant intervals. It didn't hurt at all, but it definitely felt weird.

Your product has been completed! Your product has been completed!

"I… I think my eye's been built."

"Well, don't let me keep you waiting."

Zenith gently pulled the small orb from the gravity field it had been floating around it, inspecting it closely. A work of intricate craftsmanship, pieced together perfectly to form a near-close replica of the original organ. Now all he had to do was to put it in and see if it worked.

"Wow." Clara's voice made him jump in surprise, clenching the eye tightly in fear of dropping and damaging it.

"You know, I'm kinda jealous. I've shared these Halls with Gigi for so long, but she's never shown me this place before. But sure, show it to the new guy on his first day."

"I didn't mean to-"

"Relax. I'm joking. Just followed you to say that it's okay."

"Okay about… what?"

"It's okay to have those kinds of feelings, especially after watching a Past-Life for the first time. To feel a little discomfort at the thought of knowing so much about a Pokemon's supposedly private life. Or to feel awkward at what you just saw, and uncomfortable around the Pokemon who went through those things. It's completely normal. I've experienced it before, and so have all of the others. Everything just… takes a bit getting used to."

"I'm afraid I don't know how." Zenith rotated the orb in his paw, trying to figure out the correct angle for insertion.

"Well, that's why we're here. To help in our own ways. So don't be too scared to ask." Picking the eyeball out of Zenith's paw with her thin, pointed claws, she cupped the underside of the Umbreon's snout, letting his head rest in her pink palm.

"Plus, there are no mirrors around here. You'll probably hurt yourself getting that jawbreaker into your face. Now, just hold still." Prying a closed eyelid open, Clara swiftly plugged the eyeball into the empty socket, sending a furiously blinking Zenith reeling backwards.

Zenith shook his head a few times, tapping his temple in an effort to reposition his invention into a more comfortable spot. He opened his eyes again, and a small gasp escaped Clara's lips. The once dull orb started to shine with an azure glow. A black iris appeared on the surface of curved polycarbonate, moving around in circles before finally locking in place. Sentences ran down Zenith's peripheral vision, checking off various startup processes until one small line of turquoise words was left.

Double eye synchronisation [100%]

Locating and gaining access to brain and memories [100%]

Pupil camera gyroscopic stabilisation [100%]

[Calibration complete. Repl-eye-ment ver 1.0 fully operational.]

Wow. Your new eye really accentuates your rings."

"My… rings?" The Umbreon's eyes lingered on his light blue bands for a second before realisation set in. Clara was gripping her stomach from laughter, watching Zenith's old habits start to kick in as he frantically tried to cover himself, only to stop mid-action.

"What… you don't care that—"

"That you're a 'Shiny'? Please. We're in the Hall of Legends. Your little colour change here is nothing more than… ordinary. Also, it was hilarious to watch you paint yourself yellow every day."

"That was a significant event in my life?"

A beep sounded from the top of the lab table. It was Clara's telecommunicator, the watch face lighting up as a notification appeared on the lock screen. Glancing over briefly, the Salazzle scooped up the small device, turning it off as she shoved it back into her satchel.

"Well, it looks like I have to go now. See you around?" Clara extended an outstretched hand towards Zenith, a toothy grin on her face.

…

The green ring in Zenith's room shimmered, thin white circles continuously expanding from the centre to the edge of its red border. A pillar of light shot out from its base, and the Umbreon fully materialised on the teleporter. Dialga still hadn't shown up. Grumbling, he made his way over to his bed.

His pacing stopped as he stepped on a crumpled ball, crushing it to the white ground. Picking it up, he winced as his paw was still tingly, stinging as he smoothed out the piece of paper. He couldn't believe he had fallen for an electric buzzer in the palm, the prank courtesy of the Champion he was meeting tomorrow. Reina. With Clara's rough relationship with her mom, she had stated that she was glad that no one else remembered her anymore. But the Alolan Raichu, on the other paw, may be able to help him with the erasure.

A Champion's entire existence… Those words peeked out from the numerous creases and infoldings that streaked across the paper. Closing his eyes, Zenith took a deep breath and looked at the brochure again. He was a Champion now. This was going to happen, no matter what.

They said time would heal all wounds. Now as an immortal being, he certainly hoped that quote was true.

A glint of light caught his eye as he turned towards his bed. It was a black telecommunicator, weighing down a dark blue note underneath it.

To Zenith:

Here's your telecommunicator.

Sorry I couldn't do anything today. Had serious things to attend to.

Glad to see your new eye.

It's best to get some sleep first. I know it isn't exactly essential in the Halls, but trust me, you'll want tomorrow to come sooner.

I see huge potential in you, Zenith. With training, you will be a great Champion.

One capable of changing the world.

-Dialga

He picked the device up by its strap, admiring the single light-blue ring on the back of its case. Speaking of cases…

Zenith popped open the green one that Gigi had given him, cautiously extracting the grey disc from within. If sleep truly didn't matter here, he was pretty sure he could spare a few more hours.

Facing the projector lens towards the ceiling, Zenith inserted the disc into the slit, laying back on his bed to get comfy.