{Many Years in the Future}
Ordinarily, complete silence would have been a welcome surprise to Cole as he tried to enjoy a brief moment of rest. Given all the loud, territorial noises the Pokémon of Area Zero tended to make every hour of every day while battling over territory, food or pretty much anything that could be excused to violence. It was a kind of white noise he would use whenever he was able to close his eyes and drift off into slumber, even for a brief moment before receiving a message from the group that now resided in the dangerous and restricted Great Crater of Paldea. But the deafening silence could only mean something was wrong and he knew that his chance to sleep had again passed him. He was going to have to give his superiors a progress report and he certainly couldn't do it while napping on the job.
One of these days I have to convince Professor Sada to let me move closer to the others, he lamented to himself before pushing himself up and off of his half a century old mattress, his bare feet touching the ice-cold floor. Or to at least have some company here. He could not recall the last time he had any sort of company from those on the lower levels. Even his best friend Paige's visits were becoming less frequent, the more that their bosses' experimentations became involved. She would message him every day giving him updates and the sweet and loving expressions she always did, but it didn't help Cole feel any less lonesome.
Cole was an average heighted and decidedly thin fourteen-year-old boy with spiky brown hair, peach-colored skin and a pair of blue eyes that Paige said reminded her of the Paldean Seas. He had been nursing a painful scar on his left cheek, given to him by the last encounter with those dangerous Pokémon Sada and Turo's experiments had wrought upon them. His clothing was dirty and ragged, just like the rest of his body. Having been an orphan for so long, ever since he could remember, he knew little of the likes of comfort and luxury. He and Paige had been joined at the hip since they were very young and any memories of a past where he had parents or a family was linked only to her. The only family he knew now were his bosses, the famous Professor Turo and his wife Professor Sada, his three Pokémon companions and of course Paige. He loved them all and would truly be lost if even this abysmal situation was changed and they were scattered to the wind.
Cole and Paige were assistants to Sada and Turo for as long as they wanted to remember. It beat begging for scraps and getting involved in heated Pokémon Battles with the criminal gangs that were running amok above them in the much brighter parts of Paldea. It was gruesome work, but they were getting the hang of it. The tasks were becoming harder and harder, with the Pokémon in Area Zero becoming more and more powerful as time progressed. His small team was not enough to combat the perils of the Great Crater alone, but with Paige being a far better trainer than him, Turo had recommended he train on the higher levels before returning below. His Pokémon were exhausted, with the few medical supplies he had on hand not being nearly enough to accommodate them all.
On hand, Cole had three Pokémon. The first was his Pawmot named Jory, the only fully evolved Pokémon on his team. Pawmot was a Pokémon exclusive to Paldea, a small bipedal rodent like Pokémon with thick orange fur that often held onto dangerous amounts of electrical discharge. Despite being powered by its own discharges, Jory could also pack a punch as it was also a part Fighting Type. The rest of his team was a Fletchling named Ares and a Petilil whom did not have a nickname, though he was referring to as Paige the longer the two were apart. It was a paltry number for someone who was supposed to be a glorified sentry, but he did not have the capacity to capture more, as his satchel was torn apart in the last battle he'd taken part in.
While he booted up the age-old computer to make contact with the levels below, Cole also took out the last of his food supplies to eat for breakfast. Some pieces of bacon, lettuce and tomato to make a sandwich on some crusty, stale bread. Despite it being rough to eat, he knew he had to either endure it or starve. He swallowed the small sandwich in a few bites as the computer finally began its customary beeping and booping. He whistled over to Ares, who was perched on the door looking out the window of the lab. His Fletchling flew like a rocket over to him, chirping happily.
"We'll be heading down to see Professor Sada soon" he assured his Pokémon, stroking the top of its head with his index finger. "Go out and see what the Pokémon are up to outside." Without another word, his Fletchling took off and vanished.
Cole clicked on the Video Chat receiver to make the call out to Paige. Though he knew he should contact either Sada or Professor Turo first, he needed to hear Paige's voice and see her. He missed her deeply.
She answered rather quickly and wore the same bright and cheery smile she always had. Paige was the same age as Cole and both were still quite thin, but the similarities in appearance ended there. Instead of his blue eyes, Cole saw an emerald pasture inside of hers, a green unrivalled by any other he'd ever seen. Instead of this spiky and tangled mess of brown hair, she had long and straight hair the color of fire. And while she was often too busy to field calls, it made Cole feel truly special to see his old friend willing to give him some of her time.
"Cole!" she exclaimed. "No one's heard from you in days. You were scaring me."
"No, I'm fine" he assured her. "Running low on supplies, so I think I'm going to come down to your levels soon. How are things down there?" To his surprise, Paige seemed to be crying on the other side of the video call. "Paige? Is something wrong?"
She shook her head, trying to force the tears off of her face. "I was really worried. It's just-it's good to know you're okay."
The boy blushed at this. "It's good to know you're still looking out for me after all this time."
"Have your Pokémon gotten any stronger?"
Cole sighed. "After that last battle, I've been a bit nervous to go out there with the others. Jory is the only one who can take out the Pokémon up here."
"The Pokémon are getting tougher here too" she warned. "We may need to come and get you after this. Me and Harley, I mean." Harley, Paige's Cyclizar, was a Dragon Pokémon that not only served as a potent fighter, but as a ride that moved at lightning speeds and could easily take the two of them to and from the lower levels of Area Zero. The rest of Paige's team was her Floragato, a bipedal feline Pokémon with fur that matched her trainer's eyes, a female Pyroar named Nala and her trusted Kilowattrel, a lightning-fast Electric/Flying Type Pokémon that served to scope out trouble coming her way.
"I think we can handle things to make it to Professor Sada at least" Cole assured her.
"It's not that simple" she warned. "Professor Sada and Professor Turo are working on the Time Machine in the hopes of making it back to their own time. But something's going on down there. More of those monsters are coming out of it."
Cole was confused. "I thought Professor Sada told him to shut it down."
Paige's face went dark. "I think Professor Turo is relying too much on that Natalya woman."
"Not her again."
"Why wouldn't it be her? She and that Professor Sexton guy helped them make the machine years ago. Sexton was even the one who proved that people could time travel."
Cole shook his head. Though Professor Sexton had proven to be faithful and trustworthy, the other woman that came with him was less so. She was eager to see more from these Pokémon that kept coming out of the machine. The futuristic ones that Turo had accidentally summoned as well as those prehistoric ones that Sada had been unable to stop from coming. Natalya had a kind of twisted look in her eyes whenever something was going on with that machine. "If Natalya convinces the Professor to operate the machine again, the entire Crater can end up being overrun by those freaks."
Paige frowned. "We may have to consider leaving for the surface."
Cole again remained defiant. "Where else can we go, Paige?"
"To warn the people of Paldea of what's going on" she argued.
"And have them throw us in jail for trespassing?"
"It would beat us getting mauled by those-" Paige stopped herself when the two both felt a rumble underneath their feet. The picture became static as the computers shook and whirred violently. She looked worriedly at Cole. "I'm coming for you" she told him. "Make sure you have all that you need. I'll be there as soon as I can." She then ended the call.
Cole glanced back towards the window at Ares, who had quickly flapped his way back inside and chirped worriedly at his trainer. The trainer could only nod sadly. "They're coming, then?" His frightened Pokémon only fluttered behind him to hide from the impending danger. Cole took a long and deep breath before deciding it was time to go. He recalled the Fletchling before sending out his beloved Jory the Pawmot. The Pokémon, despite being a cute little guy reminiscent of a Pikachu or Dedenne, was eager to unleash its fighting prowess on anything that might have come their way. "We need to go, Jory. Lead the way."
His Pokémon nodded proudly before making it towards the door. With his safety now in question, Cole took Paige's advice and began to collect his few possessions. Once his Poke Balls were secured to his belt, he put on the pair of boots he now wore that his feet were noticeably beginning to outgrow. He would need a new pair soon, lest he walk barefoot. Perhaps he could ask Professor Sexton to find him another pair when he made one of his dangerous trips back to the surface. He then flung on a jacket that had long since outgrown him: a white and green bright sweatshirt which often made him think he was one of those dangerous monsters in Area Zero, the one Turo told him was called "Iron Valiant". One of the many monsters that haunted his dreams. The one that, had it not been for Paige, might have done gotten him and Jory killed.
Cole took a quick look around his quarters, wondering if he would ever see inside these walls again. He had known so few comforts in life, but even this hard and difficult building had been one of the few homes he had ever known. Nevertheless, he knew the longer he lingered, the more perilous their situation could become. He pressed the unlock button on his door and walked out into the darkness of Area Zero.
It was the middle of the night, unless the smog-like clouds overhead were capable of blocking out even the brightest rays of light from making it down there. Normally, surrounding his base, there would be hundreds upon hundreds of Pokémon battling and fighting over anything they got their hands on. Those "tera" crystals they'd been mining for hundreds of years earlier, berries that grew in the lone patches of sunlight or even simple trinkets that other adventuring trainers had lost over the years. But none of them seemed to be here. No Venomoths, no Volcaronas, no Raichus, not even Corviknights. Something was definitely wrong. Very, very wrong.
It didn't take long for Cole to figure out what it was. He heard some kind of humming noise coming from just above where his lab was situated. He glanced up the hill and shuddered. A strange figure was there. It didn't look very human at all. But it was no Pokémon he had ever seen before, either. It was cloaked in shadows, with only two piercing red eyes glaring at his direction. The monster crouched down, Cole expecting it to begin to pursue him by pouncing. But it's back then began to glow. Cole grabbed his Pawmot and leaped out of the way. A laser blast ripped through his former domain, causing it to explode into a column of fire and debris. Both Cole and his Pokémon were petrified of the power of this newest Pokémon. He scrambled to his feet and made to run for it.
The Pokémon pursuing them made yet another loud hum before beginning its pursuit. Whether it was Cole's exhaustion or his fears, it seemed to him that this Pokémon was capable of flight, hovering in the air a few yards behind his prey, peppering the ground behind them with laser blasts, both Fire and Electric in nature. Jory shot a small jolt of electricity at his trainer to prompt him to drop the Pokémon back to the ground. Jory then unleashed a full powered Thunderbolt on the opponent, managing to fend it off for a moment.
The Pokémon recovered quickly and fired a blast their way. Cole again leaped with his Pokémon out of the way, only to find the ground just beside them was now covered in ice. Ice, Electricity. Fire? What is this thing?! Cole knew he was outmatched, but he wasn't sure at this point if even Paige could handle herself. This thing seemed to dwarf even the most powerful Pokémon to ever come out of the machine Turo and Sada had worked on. Their only recourse was to run. Cole looked to Jory, who did little to argue their present predicament and the duo sprinted for their lives deeper into Area Zero. Several volleys of cannon fire and laser beams shot down after them, but none were accurate enough to pose a danger to them immediately.
Cole would have been content with this, had he not taken a bad step and started to slide down a steep slope that would lead to the bottom of the crater, and ultimately his demise. He desperately tried to grab at something, only managing to grab ahold of a thick weed that had sprouted from the ground nearby. His Pawmot was barking down at him, while doing his best to fend off their attacker, who was catching up to them quickly. Cole tried in earnest to pull himself over the edge, but his grip was slipping. He dug his foot into the side of the cliff to push himself up, but the rock gave way. The Pokémon was now only ten yards away, charging up another beam of energy that would finish him and Jory off.
He closed his eyes and braced himself for what was to come. He failed to hear a loud snarl coming from nearby, but he did manage to catch the sounds of flames scorching something in their general direction. He made one last desperate reach to pull himself back onto the ledge, only for his hand to be grabbed and pulled back over onto the ledge. He was amazed to find how quickly Paige and her Cyclizar had made it to their side. While Jory and Nala fought off the attacking monstrosity, Paige helped Cole back up onto the side of the rock.
"Paige" he remarked in relief.
"Don't thank me just yet" she warned. "We've got to get away from this thing first!" She whistled to her Cyclizar, who pedaled his way over to them with impressive speeds. Nala unleashed one final torrent of Flamethrowers and Jory a Thunderbolt before the group was all finally reunited. Paige and Cole recalled their Pokémon before she climbed aboard her Cyclizar, gesturing for Cole to follow in suit. "Unless you've got the best running shoes in the world, I'd hurry up!" He rushed towards her and again took her hand as she put him behind her. "Hold on tight!" Cole did as he was instructed, wrapping his arms around her waist as she revved her Cyclizar forward. The Dragon let out a snarl and took off like a comet deeper into the cavernous Area Zero.
"What is that thing?!" Cole cried out as they whirred past frightened and panicking local Pokémon, hoping against hope the pursuing monstrosity wasn't on their tail.
"My guess is another creature from the future!" she answered. Her Pokémon spun about wildly as they dodged frantic Sawsbucks and Gogoats and descended deeper into the Crater. "I guess Natalya got her wish after all. The machine is running out of control below."
"What are we gonna do?"
"We have to get to Professor Turo."
"What about Sada?"
Paige bit her lip. "I-I think it's too late for her."
"What do you mean?"
She took a hand off of her Cyclizar and patted Cole's own hand around her waist. "Don't worry about it. I'll take care of things, Cole."
Her words were usually enough to reassure him, but Cole was beginning to fear the worst. That the two of them would again be flung into mortal danger and be left to fend for themselves. Or worse...
A stray laser blast from their pursuer only told them they had to pick up speed. Paige revved her Pokémon up again and they took off at even faster speeds, finally making it into the deepest crystalized caverns where Turo and his Time Machine were located. Paige stopped and turned the Cyclizar around and sent out her Pyroar again. "Nala! Hyper Voice!" The leonine Pokémon let out a thunderous roar that caused a cave in, trapping them within the cave but also preventing that monstrosity from keeping up the hunt. Paige recalled her exhausted Cyclizar and her Pyroar. "We need to keep going on foot from here."
Cole nodded in agreement and the duo sprinted down the winding pathways to where Turo's prized Time Machine was located. Though Paige was a much faster runner than he was, he did his best to keep pace with her. She would slide down hills and take dangerous leaps across chasms while he would take the lengthier routes around. Paige never went too far ahead, knowing her friend wasn't as brave or as sturdy as she was. It had always been that way. He tried to always be strong for her when she was weak, but she rarely showed her weak sides to anyone but him. Once she had made it across a specifically wide chasm, Cole took his time tightrope walking around a ledge that could only hold his heels on them at a time.
Paige was at the end in an instant, her face full of worry. "Cole, be careful!'
"That's why I don't take those leaps you do" he replied jokingly as he was about to reach her side. He did not hesitate to take her hand when she reached out for him and pulled him over to her side. She tugged him to follow her and both were on the move again. The cavern shook violently, prompting both to realize that their pursuer was keen to either crush them or continue the hunt inside. Their running came to a stop when they reached the ledge just above Turo's massive Time Machine. Both stared in awe as they saw it had not only been activated, but it was going haywire. Jolts of lightning shot all over in all directions. When one went towards them, Cole grabbed Paige and threw her to the ground. The bolt missed them by a few feet and exploded near the cavern roof, causing several stalactites to crash around them.
Paige giggled. "Thanks, Cole. I owe you."
Cole shook his head. "You don't owe me anything. Just your friendship."
"And you'll always have it" she reminded him. "We're in this together until the very end." Both pushed themselves to their feet and raced down the pathway towards the machine.
It did not take them long to see what was going on. Professor Turo stood blocking the walkway into the Time Machine itself, his arms held out as if he were being a roadblock. Turo was a middle-aged man with a patch of rough, brown hair atop his head, and equally colored pair of eyes and a brightly colored lab coat that made Cole think he had been to the far-off future. Knowing what Turo and Sada were up to before they met, it wouldn't shock him what they did. Finishing off his looks was an almost perpetual five o'clock shadow where a beard would normally be on someone. Cole could never tell if Sada always made sure her husband shaved or if he did so constantly, but it looked the same whenever he visited them.
His wife, Professor Sada, was seemingly in a great deal of pain, clutching at a wound on her side, no doubt from the Tera Crystal their alleged "ally" Natalya had in her hands. Sada was, in both the eyes of their pupils, unnaturally beautiful, almost as if she had not aged since her teenaged years. She had long, light brown colored hair, a pair of bright blue eyes and a lab coat the exact opposite of her husband's, suggesting to Cole she might have been to a far off past when they both had experimented with the Time Machine in their younger days. Paige claimed the two had "lost a lifetime" since they had started, but Cole was skeptical. After all, how could they have lost "a lifetime" when both looked as good as they did, apart from Sada's current injury.
Professor Sexton was a burly, thick-bearded man who wore a pair of sunglasses over his eyes all the time, even in a dark and dreary place like Area Zero. Cole was always somewhat intimidated by him, but he seemed to be a pleasant man who was focused on nothing but his research. He would, on occasion, make trips up to the surface to collect supplies and things Turo and Sada asked for, even giving Cole a few things in the process. Cole had once asked to go with him on one of these excursions, but Sexton advised him against it, claiming that the world was not at all safe even beyond the Zero Gate. Sexton would disappear for lengthy periods but would always return to ensure that the machine was not activated. His last trip had ended in failure, though, as somehow, Natalya had activated it and seemed fit to cause chaos and depravity. Sexton now seemed distraught as he tried desperately to nurse Sada's wounds while his angsty pupil confronted Turo.
For all the talk of her being an "assistant" to Professor Sexton, Natalya looked as if she were in her mid-thirties. She had pale blonde hair, a hooked nose and wore half-moon glasses. Cole had always thought something was wrong with this woman when she and Professor Sexton had first come this way. She was quite dismissive of anything in Area Zero, except for the monstrous Pokémon that came from the machine, the ones Turo and Sada had coined as "Paradox Pokémon", as they were not supposed to exist in this time and thus caused a paradox of time and space that Cole was certain would break several laws of nature. Natalya had, on occasion, attempted to persuade Turo or Sada to turn on the machine to study things more closely, but was turned down. She had once even attempted to pry Paige and Cole from their side, only for Cole to back off and Paige to deny her proudly. But now, the clearly maddened "assistant" had done the unthinkable and unleashed a nightmare upon the entire Great Crater.
Natalya stared down Turo, brandishing a brightly glowing Tera Crystal at him. 'Stand aside, Turo! You can't stop this!"
"Have you gone mad, Natalya?!" he barked back. "This is suicide! You're going to cause the entire crater to collapse on us!"
"Is it madness to want to see things explained for once?" Natalya spat out. "To see sights and worlds we've never experienced?!"
Professor Sexton lowered the injured Sada onto a nearby crystal and tried to speak sense into his pupil. "Natalya" Sexton exclaimed. "We need to stop this! This has gone far enough. Professor Sada needs medical attention! Those Paradox Pokémon you've conjured-"
"This is our chance, Professor!" Natalya countered. "To see what kind of Pokémon existed in multiple planes across time and space. Hisuian Pokémon, prehistoric Pokémon, we can see them all. Capture them all! Create the world that we were destined to helm! Sada and Turo only see this creation for what danger it poses to people now. But in the past, or the future, who cares about the present! What has the present done for any of us?!"
"Stand down, Natalya!" Turo demanded.
Natalya scoffed at Turo's orders, casually tossing the crystal in her hand despite the destructive power it could show. "You'd actually put your own life at risk, Turo? What about that son of yours? Your wife? You'd actually see your whole family destroyed just to prevent me from sating my scientific lust?!" She glanced back at Cole and Paige as they scrambled up towards her, but she paid them little attention after the fact. "Or do their lives and those of your little pupils mean nothing to you?!"
Turo grunted in frustration, his eyes darting from his assailant to his injured wife, who was doing her best to stand on her own. "Going through that portal caused my wife and I great pain and that was only coming this far! Going into the past can destroy the very fabric of nature itself! I will not allow it to come to pass! Not while I live!"
"Ah, but you're wrong, Turo. The Laws of Nature have been defied multiple times over. Even the laws of traveling through time were proven wrong by you yourself!"
"This machine will not give you what you seek, and you know it!"
Natalya laughed. "Maybe if you weren't so focused on your experimenting, you might have seen things that took place outside of this hell hole!" She looked up to the ceiling as the cavern again shook wildly. "There is a maiden who once traversed time. Reset the clock and went into the past to correct mistakes she once made. She saved the world from a monster bent on destroying it. I mean to go back as far as this machine will allow me. To learn how she did it! To unravel the mysteries of the world! To reclaim something lost to me! And to enact revenge on the people who ruined my life!" She looked over to Sexton. "Surely you'd agree that we both lost a great deal we'd like to see back!"
Sexton lowered his head. "Natalya..."
This drew Natalya's attention back to her mentor. "Think of all you've lost! Your family, your friends, the life you could have lived. Think of the chance you might have to bring it all back! This could be our only opportunity, Professor!"
"This isn't a game" Paige argued. "Altering the past can have cataclysmic consequences for the future!"
"You two most of all should be helping me with this! Think of the opportunity to see your parents again! To know what it feels like to have love and affection instead of the streets Turo and Sada plucked you off of."
Paige shook her head. "I do know love and affection. Professor Turo and his wife showed it to us." Cole came over to her side and without much prompting, the two took each other's hand. "And I have Cole. You can find what you want too, Natalya. But you have to stop looking at the past for answers. The future is the only way you can go."
Natalya scoffed at this. "Children's fantasies. The future will be just as bleak and miserable as the present! Or did you two forget what lies in store for you should this lab fall apart? I thought that little friend of mine I sent out to deal with you would have sufficed as a cruel reminder, but-"
"That was you?!" Cole gasped. "I was almost slaughtered by that thing!"
"That thing has a name, Cole! Genesect. A Pokémon that represents what lies in store for this world. Oblivion."
"Genesect?!" Sada grunted, clutching at her wounds. "But that Pokémon-"
"I have been patiently waiting for this day" the assistant smirked. "The day when I could finally achieve my dreams! And Genesect being here proves that my dreams worked. My allies did what they had to! And I will get my heart's desires!" Her attention returned directly to Turo in her way. "And I will not let anyone get in the way of that!" She aimed the crystal in her hands, with it glowing with the same force as the Time Machine. "The Tera Crystals have shown me the only correct path forward. And it is back to the past! To reclaim what was mine and to forever quash those who have ruined my life!" She made one final look to Professor Sexton. "Join me! We can do this, Professor!"
Sada looked almost beggingly at Sexton. "You can't! Please! She has no-"
"It's alright, Sada" Sexton assured her. "Please, do not aggravate your wounds on my account." He then raised his head back towards his pupil. "No, Natalya. We've tried this before and it has failed. Only spawned more of those monsters. I ask you, not order or demand, but ask you. Please, step down. We need to find a way to shut this machine down before the entire world becomes plagued by these uncontrollable Pokémon."
Natalya looked to those present with disgust. "Fine! I'll do things myself!" She then pointed her Tera Crystal at Turo. A bolt of energy shot from the crystal and knocked the Professor aside. Before anyone could react, Natalya leaped past Turo's crumbling body and stood in front of the gaping energy appearing from the Time Machine. "BRING ME TO MY DESTINY!"
"NO!" Sexton cried. He rushed up the stairs and tried to grab at Natalya, but both were absorbed by the energy, which shot out like a cannon and engulfed most of the chamber. Cole and Paige tried in vain to avoid the energy, which began to drag them along into its maw alongside Sexton and Natalya.
"Whoa! WHOOOOOOOOA!" Paige cried out. Cole tried desperately to anchor her to the floor, but both found themselves unable to avoid the absorption force of the energy beam! "PROFESSOR! SHUT THIS THING DOWN!"
Sada leaned over her husband and sighed. "I don't think we can!" Turo was knocked out cleanly and Sada was in no condition to operate the machine on her own. She shook her head in shame and eyed the two children with a similar look. "I'm so sorry we dragged you two into this." She tried to rise to her feet, staggering greatly as she did. "But we have...ugh...we have no other choice." She glanced at Paige. "We trained for this, Paige. We know what we have to do." Sada looked deeply ashamed. "I am so sorry, Paige. But I need your help to stop this."
"PAIGE!" Cole cried, doing his best to find some way to anchor himself down as he desperately held her torso. Their grips around each other began to wane, but Cole refused to let go. "What does she mean?!"
Paige looked desperately for a way to avoid the inevitable but took a deep breath. "Cole! You need to listen to me!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out an odd-looking pendant with two crystals on each side. To his shock, Paige unscrewed the pendant and handed one half to her best friend, clutching the other in her hand. "Cole! I don't think we're making it out of this one. Not together, I mean."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!"
She looked at him desperately as they continued to be pulled into the same abyss Sexton and Natalya had disappeared into. "Cole! Professor Sada was worried about Natalya. She knew she was going to be too dangerous to control! We're-ugh-we're going to have to stop them on our own! Don't lose that! It's the only way we might be able to stop them! Those crystals are-"
Cole looked from the object in his hand and back towards Paige. "What are you talking about?!"
"Cole!" Sada called to him, before falling onto her knees. "Trust your friend. She will-" Without warning, Sada collapsed next to her husband.
"Professor!" Cole cried but kept his grasp on his best friend.
"Natalya is going to cause the apocalypse that ends the world!" Paige warned. "Ugh-and we-ugh-we need to stop her!" She revealed a Poke Ball of unknown origin in her pocket. "These pendants and this Pokémon will be the way we find each other! I need you to find Arven! Promise me you'll find him!"
"Arven?!"
"Their son!" she sputtered out. "Turo and Sada's! He won't listen to you unless you show him that crystal! He'll know what-ugh-to do with it. Promise me!"
Cole nodded, his view strained as he did his best to keep him and his best friend from flying into the machine. "But what about you?!"
Paige sighed. "I need to find someone else."
Realizing she meant for them to go their separate ways, he desperately clung to her. "PAIGE!" Cole cried. "I'm not losing you! PLEASE!"
"That maiden Natalya spoke about" Paige insisted. "The one who went through time! The White Mage? She's real! We can find her! She can save us, Cole!" She eyed him with more care than he had ever been given from her. "We need her, Cole! But we need Arven too! You have to find him and I'll find her. Once we find them, we can worry about each other."
"But that story is just a-"
Paige pulled herself forward with all of her strength and hugged Cole tightly. "Cole, I love you. More than words may ever be able to express. I don't know when we may see each other again. But we will! I promise." She gave him a kiss on the cheek before letting go of him, intent on allowing the energy to carry her away. Cole lunged up and grabbed her hand, refusing to let her go.
"PAIGE! NO!"
She looked down at him and gave him a tearful look. "Don't forget about me, Cole! And don't forget to keep your promise!" Cole lost his grip of her hand and Paige flew right into the gaping energy field, disappearing from his sight.
"PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIGE!" he screamed, his heart shattering at the loss of his best friend. As Cole shed tears over Paige's fate and desperately tried to dodge being sucked in as well, he looked over towards the fallen forms of Turo and Sada. Both had taken them in when they didn't have to. Both had entrusted them with their secrets. And both had fallen right before his eyes. As his heart felt broken inside of him, Cole held Paige's pendant in his hand tightly before shoving it into his pocket with newfound determination.
Paige...I am going to find you. I'm going to rescue you and I'm going to make sure you're okay! Realizing he could no longer let fear get the better of him, he clung onto his feeling for Paige, the promise he made to her and the hope that they would be together again. He let go of his hiding space and let the energy take him in as well. Without so much as another thought, he vanished into the portal, as electrical energy caused the rest of the cave to begin to collapse in on itself.
{The Present Day}
"Are you alright?" a voice called out to Cole.
Cole stirred, having been rudely spat out of Area Zero and landing hard on his face. He glanced up at the person who stood over him. She was a woman with long black hair and wearing a black dress suit. She looked on him with soft eyes, curiously looking the boy over as if he had been harmed in any way.
"I-uh-I think so" he responded, before trying to push himself up. A pain in his sides forced him to fall down. "Okay. Maybe not."
The woman who had found him giggled. "You are lucky, young man. Few people who go down into the Great Crater often make it out to tell the tale. Hence, why we've forbidden anyone from entering." She leaned down and looked him over. Taking out her Poke Gear as if to give him an X-Ray, Cole could only eye the woman in confusion. "You have a few cracked ribs from your fall. No worries. A few weeks in the medical ward and you'll be up and running about in no time. Just in time for your lessons to begin."
"Lessons?"
She nodded. "No ditching school for you, young man. La Primera will never allow it."
"Pri-Primera?"
Her eyes glistened at the remark, even if it was one of sheer confusion. "That would be myself. Geeta. Please, let me help you. I'll bring you to the Medical Wing of Uva Academy. We'll look after you there until the school year officially begins." She took the boy's hand and slowly helped him to his feet. "I have a Corviknight Cab outside waiting for us. I will take care of you, and we can forget you trespassed where you shouldn't have."
"I can't, I have a-"
She shushed him. "No arguing. I can't have you going off on adventures when you can hardly walk."
Cole, too weak to argue with her, simply held one hand to his sides to try to keep his ribs from falling apart while Geeta held the other, leading him towards the Corviknight Cab. Though Cole was ashamed he'd have to wait until helping Paige, he knew Paige would prefer him to be in one piece than in shambles. They had lived and struggled together. If one of them was broken while the other wasn't, things may not end well for either of them. They needed each other. He felt the pendant touch his thigh in his pocket, allowing him a bit of relief. He hadn't failed her yet.
When Cole was not moving fast enough, Geeta stopped to look him over again. "What is your name, young man?"
"Cole" he replied.
"Last name?"
Cole shook his head. "Don't think I ever had one."
She eyed him curiously. "You don't have a family?"
"None that I know of."
She thought for a moment before smiling chirpily once more. "Well, it's a good thing that Uva Academy has a special program for students who are underprivileged. We will take care of your tuition, so long as you promise me not to set foot inside of this dangerous place again." Cole could only nod as his pain was starting to overwhelm him. She affirmed his loyalty with a gently squeeze of his hand. "We will take care of you at the Academy. Come along." She led him along down the pathway. Cole made one last look towards the entrance to Area Zero, hoping against hope that would be where Paige returned in triumph. But when she never came, he let Geeta lead him away.
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When Paige awoke after vanishing into the Time Machine, she found herself immediately surrounded by men and women in thuggish uniforms. She realized she was still in Area Zero but had no idea if she had simply been flung outside to await the Paldean Police Force arresting them for trespassing, or if she had indeed been sent back in time only to be rooted out by some enemy forces. Knowing that she was no match for the twenty thugs, she surrendered immediately. Her bag and Pokémon were taken from her immediately. No one had checked her pockets for the pendant or the Poke Ball, which she gently tucked deeper inside of her pants to hope no one would continue to notice.
Once they had confiscated her Pokémon and bag from her, Paige was quickly handcuffed with her hands behind her back and forced forwards. She did not resist, not wanting to cause any more trouble than she'd already. She glanced up towards where she was being taken and eyed it in confusion. Isn't that Professor Sada's lab?
She was prodded inside by one of her captors and Paige did as she was told. She stepped into the dimly lit laboratory and gasped. "Natalya?!" But it wasn't her. Not exactly. The being moved with her mannerisms, but it seemed as if it weren't anything more than AI or a cybernetic being with her features. The figure rose, cackling as Natalya was known to do when she got her way.
"You didn't actually think your little plan would work, did you Paige?" she smirked.
"Plan?"
"You thought you could pull a fast one on me and stop me before I got what I wanted?! Well too bad for you. I knew from the word go Professor Sada was going to use you to stop me. And knowing that you would follow me into the portal as you did, I simply laid out my trap for you. And like a good little girl, you walked right into it." She glanced over to her minions. "Did you find anything on her?"
"Just some Pokémon and a few supplies" the guard who had cuffed her replied.
"Natalya!" Paige snapped. "How did you know I would get here?"
"Simple" she replied. "Sada trained you and your little boyfriend Cole to do what they would do. She and Turo would have been a serious issue for me to overcome if they had followed me here. But sending you two in her place was perfect." She looked around in confusion. "Wait. Where's the boy?"
"Only she arrived" the guard answered again.
"Where is the boy?!" she repeated.
Paige thought for a moment. Had Cole lingered behind? Was he too afraid to continue? Or did something happen to him? As her heart panicked at the idea of her best friend being in mortal danger, she realized something that Natalya had gotten right and she and Cole hadn't thought of. "The Tera Crystals! A full crystal can-"
"Can serve as a gateway to the time and destination of your choice" Natalya smirked. "You must not have had a full crystal upon getting here." She looked over to her guards. "Evidently, you didn't search her thoroughly. Do it again!'
The guards began to frisk her, Paige uncomfortable at how the hands went all around her. Her heart dropped like a stone when her pockets were picked and the Poke Ball and her half of the pendant were taken from her. They handed the contraband over to the cybernetic form of Natalya. "This is all she has left."
Natalya scowled. "Half of the pendant?! That means the other brat has it himself!"
"What if he didn't travel with her?!"
"The only reason she made it here at all is because that was where the other half is! GO OUT AND FIND THAT BRAT BEFORE ANYONE ELSE DOES!" As several of her guards scrambled around her, Natalya's attention turned fully towards Paige. "You won't outfox me, princess. I will find where your little friend ran off to and I will capture him."
Paige grinned, as she knew all too well that her best friend in the world had not let her down. "If you were so sure, you wouldn't be so angry, would you?"
Natalya's robotic form growled. "You're lucky I'm otherwise occupied. My Tera Crystal took me somewhere else. Somewhere I can help ensure I get the revenge I crave. If I was there, Paige, I'd knock that smug look right off your face. But as it happens, you're in for a bit of a reprieve. I will return to Paldea soon. And when I do, I will get those Crystal Pieces and that Pokémon from you and your little boyfriend. And then the real fun will begin." She thought for a moment. "I would normally kill you, but on the off chance that Cole eludes my men and figures out you're still alive, I think I ought to keep you down here as my personal guest. Lock her in one of the abandoned lab buildings."
As the remaining guards prepared to drag her off, Paige defiantly yelled at Natalya. "You won't find him! Not in a million years!"
"As I said, Paige. I don't need to. He'll want to find you. And that's all I need." She gave her a pitying wave as a sack was placed over Paige's head, robbing her of her eyesight.
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The sound of an explosion was what woke Simon Seissuon that night. He found himself covered in sand and seawater, having washed on shore sometime in the night. A far from dignified position to be in for someone who was once one of Arcana's up and coming future leaders. He scrambled to his feet and looked out in horror. The ship he and his family had been exiled on was sinking into the murky depths of the ocean. He made several frantic glances in each direction but found no trace of his mother or his father. Betsy Seissuon, the former lawyer and faithful ally of Claude Jacques and his mother, was nowhere to be seen. Nor was his father, Leonard Skye. Another lawyer who had once toadied to the Kingstons, Leonard had thrown his loyalties in with the true heroes of Arcana, only to be repaid with treachery by his own blood. Neither was with their son on shore and Simon had to come to a startling conclusion on his own.
He was alone.
As another part of the ship's engine exploded and turned the nighttime skies into the color of blood, Simon wandered along the shoreline in a daze. He had lost everything. His wealth, his prestige, his popularity, his position, his home, everything he held dear. Taken from him by a tyrant his mother and father were right to fear. And for good measure, they too were devoured in the flames of a King's wrath.
He hated Michael Kingston. His so-called "Uncle" who had turned his back on family and cast him out of his own home region like vermin. He loathed how easily manipulated Michael was by the other Kingstons and especially his street trash wife, Queen Julia. He especially detested how an entire region had thrown his family to the rabid animals of the outside world because of expressing themselves in a faith beyond that of Arceus the Creator. Mewtwo was a clear and present god-like being. They had to worship him. How were they supposed to know Mewtwo would go down in flames as Claude and the other Syndicate members had?
But above all, Simon hated the one person who had stood in his way. The one who had humiliated him in Titanio Park. Who had interfered in their plans in Charizark Town. The boy who had stolen Jasmine Augustine from him and even aided in the destruction of Mewtwo. Matthew Kingston. The former reject who had betrayed everyone in his life and yet somehow still found a way to claw his way back into the good graces of the Kingston family. Treacherous trash does stick together from time to time. Now, while Matthew got to lay about in the lap of luxury, Simon was reduced to being little more than a castaway. Lost, alone and left with nothing but his rage.
Damn those Kingstons! Damn the King! Damn the White Mage! Damn them all to the darkest depths of hell! AND ESPECIALLY DAMN MATTHEW!
Simon's head rose in open defiance. "MARK MY WORDS! WHOEVER IS OUT THERE! MARK THEM WELL! I WILL NOT REST UNTIL I HAVE GOTTEN MY REVENGE ON MATTHEW KINGSTON! ONCE AND FOR ALL! DO YOU HEAR ME?! MATTHEW! YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!" He angrily pounded on the sand as his anguish became all too real for him. He would have resumed shouting, had a shadow not fallen upon him. Simon spun around and glared at the person who now had joined him. "What do you want?!"
"I'd like you to think of me as your salvation, Mr. Seissuon" a woman's voice snickered.
"And who do you think you are?!"
She cackled. "Oh Simon. Think of me as...an old friend."