Chapter Forty-Four: A Type of History
The lab was brightly lit. Pokémon drifted in clear tubes filled with bubbling liquid, while monitors showed all kinds of readings that went mostly unnoticed, as there were only two people in the cavernous room.
One, of course, was Giovanni, who strode through the rows of tubes and machines towards the center of the room, which looked like some kind of command area. There were four desks, with multiple monitors and a keyboard on each one.
Doctor Lucius, the only other person in the lab, was intently focused on one of his monitors, to such an extent that he didn't even notice Giovanni's approach.
"Doctor," Giovanni said by way of greeting.
Doctor Lucius looked up from his monitor and quickly stood up.
"Giovanni, sir," he said respectfully with a small bow.
"Where are your assistants?" Giovanni asked.
"With our guest in the back room," Lucius said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "There are many tests to run, after all. It wouldn't do to needlessly waste valuable resources."
"Indeed," Giovanni said with a cold smile. "And the rest of the research?"
Lucius's eyes lit up. "That is going extremely well!" he said. "Your generosity has enabled me and my team to make massive strides. Our knowledge of the nature of Pokémon and their types has increased manyfold and as we continue to analyze the wealth of data we have obtained that knowledge will grow ever further. It–"
"Fascinating as your superlatives may be, Doctor, you will understand that I would like to hear how your newfound knowledge will benefit me," Giovanni interrupted. He knew that if he left Lucius unchecked, the Doctor would happily rattle on for hours without ever saying anything useful. Lucius nodded apologetically.
"Of course, sir, of course," he said.
Despite his humble words, Giovanni could see the man's displeasure at having been interrupted, but Lucius knew better than to talk back to the one person willing to fund his unethical experiments.
"I believe that during our last meeting, I told you about our interest in discovering common ancestry between humans and Pokémon?" Lucius asked.
Giovanni nodded once.
"Well, our contacts at the lab on Cinnabar have come through for us in that regard after we sent them our compiled data. They have found that humans as we know them are actually a hybrid species."
Giovanni could clearly hear the excitement in Lucius's voice at that revelation, but the reason for that excitement eluded him.
"Elaborate," he said.
"Ah, yes, I sometimes forget that not everyone has the same scientific background I do–"
"You would do well not to insult me, Doctor."
"No! No, I meant no disrespect! I merely meant to say–"
"Resume your explanation, Doctor, and kindly take into account my lack of a scientific background."
"Right. Yes," Lucius said, clearly flustered by the exchange.
Giovanni's expression remained cold. In truth, he wasn't particularly insulted by Lucius's careless remark, but the display of displeasure would hopefully remind him to stay on-topic.
Lucius took a deep breath to steady himself and then resumed his explanation. "We've long wondered why it is that all Pokémon have one or two Types, while humans seem to lack them altogether. The hypothesis has long been that humanity's branch on the tree of life split off from the branch of Pokémon early in the planet's history, but the truth is actually far more exciting than that. Humanity's difference from Pokémon is not due to an early split, but rather due to a late merge. There are two trees of life, and they have mixed several times over the course of history."
Lucius stopped talking for a moment and called up a diagram on one of his monitors, which was entirely incomprehensible to Giovanni.
"Pokémon are not indigenous to this planet. We of course know several species to have an extraterrestrial origin, like Clefairy and Deoxys, among others, but it appears that all Pokémon have come to this planet through panspermia. This may have happened various times throughout history, but interestingly, all Pokémon do seem to share a common origin.
"Their genetic makeup uses the same base pairs as ours, but for an as yet unknown reason, they seem to be heavily influenced by the effects of a very particular and fundamental quantum-mechanical field, which we call the Type field. The configurations of that field give rise to the Types we know today, and Pokémon sensitivity to it makes them extremely adaptable to almost any environment. So adaptable, in fact, that they have out-competed every non-Pokémon animal species that was native to this planet.
"Many Pokémon that live today bear some resemblance to the extinct species they have supplanted, as their volatile DNA took on traits of those species even as they competed, and it is likely that cross-breeding between the species did take place over the course of history. Ultimately, however, Pokémon DNA proved more adaptable, and gradually, more and more species lost their 'native' DNA.
"And humans are not immune to this. In fact, current humans are already hybrids. We carry within us some Pokémon DNA. Whether this is due to crossbreeding between modern humans and Pokémon, or an ancestor doing this, isn't currently known, but the implications are staggering."
Lucius had gotten his excited look back and looked at Giovanni with glittering eyes. "We are susceptible to the Type field. All humans are susceptible to the Type field."
When Giovanni did not respond at all, Lucius again pulled up a series of unfathomable diagrams on his monitor.
"We believed that only a select few people, such as Saffron City's Gym Leader Sabrina, had some sensitivity to this field, enabling them to make use of a Type. This new discovery, however, makes it clear that all humans could potentially gain access to the Type field, if we could stimulate the right genes. And with your funding, we might actually discover how to achieve this in the very near future."
Now, finally, Giovanni smirked. "Very good," he said. "And how near would this future be?"
"It is hard to pinpoint exactly, but the simulations for our guest are hopeful. There are still issues, and his unwillingness to cooperate makes it hard to gain good readings, as we cannot at this stage enforce his compliance through Pokémon or mechanical intervention, but me and my team are confident we will able to crack this case," Lucius said.
He gleefully rubbed his hands. "And who knows what other breakthroughs we might reach in the process! Will Pokémon DNA eventually cause humanity to evolve as Pokémon do, and make us more like them? Will plants eventually be supplanted as well? Will the configurations of the Type field change as Pokémon themselves continue to change, as the data suggests has happened in the past? What is the nature of the field itself? Why–"
"Yes, Doctor, I can see the scientific value in these inquiries," Giovanni interrupted once more. "However, for the time being I must ask you to remain focused your current work, as that work will generate influence and money for me…and if it generates enough of both, you will never lack funding ever again."
"Of course, sir, of course," Lucius said quickly, again clearly put out at having been interrupted. "I must inform you that, for your personal project, it is likely that only defensive typing will become available in the short term. To create the offensive possibilities, we will first need to complete our research with our guest and analyze the data thoroughly. It would be too dangerous to proceed otherwise."
Giovanni was fairly certain that Lucius would only care about something unforeseen happening to him because it would mean the end of his funding, but that was fine. The man was willing to entirely forgo any and all ethics in pursuit of his goal, and that, at least, was something Giovanni could respect. He would be obedient as long as his twisted experiments could continue.
"That is fine, Doctor. I trust you will be able to reach your goals in due time. You may proceed with your work. Notify me if you require additional resources and I will make them available at the earliest opportunity."
Giovanni gave Lucius a curt nod and walked away, smiling coldly as he did so. The Doctor might be an infuriating man, but he was certainly useful. Hopefully, he had not exaggerated his prognosis in his optimism…
Walking hand-in-hand, Serena and Ash reached the entrance to the Cycling Road, which they'd follow south to Route 18 and Fuchsia City beyond. It was two days since their first kiss, and Serena couldn't be happier. Ash, too, seemed livelier than ever before. Their happiness was so infectious that even Meganium had grudgingly admitted that Serena and Ash were cute together. It almost felt like a waste that they wouldn't be able to hold hands during the bike ride, but there would plenty of moments for that to come. After all the stress in Saffron City and Celadon City, it finally felt like things were truly going well again. Serena couldn't help but smile as she thought about the rest of her adventure. Everything was going to be great from now on.
This is probably the shortest chapter currently in the fic, but it's a very important one all the same, and very different to every other one. Obviously, the science in this fic is on the soft end of the scale, given how strange the Pokémon world is to begin with, but I still like giving some kind of insight into how a world might work, and given that it's relevant to the fic, I finally had an excuse to put it in.
Anyway, with that out of the way, the next chapter should be up in a few days. It should be on Monday, but it might very well end up being Tuesday. I'm not entirely sure how much time I'll have. In any case, see you then!