Hiya, hope everyone is having a great start to the new year!
Q&A
Guest: Good story like how may cheer up ash and hope you will add some romantic scenes
There will be!
Fav: Happy new year dear author. It's good to see you back in the world of fanfiction again. I loved the story so far but can add some romantic scenes between the couples
There will be cute, little moments but I will reserve romantic and emotional scenes for significant moments as they will drive a big chunk of the plot. I also don't want to overuse them so they remain impactful when they do occur.
Farla, thanks for the feedback!
Flame: So like man in mirror story had 2 ending for each love interests, so can we expect here epilogue respectively?
Answering this would mean providing spoilers. All I can say is that there is a payoff for certain characters.
Not much else to say on my end. Let's get on with it!
Chapter 4: Wanderer in the Storm
"You had me worried for a moment back there." Lucario addressed his trainer.
"You were worried I'd kill the Malamar," Red led the path.
Lucario sighed. "We've saved good people and lost good people."
Red looked at him. "In the end, it feels like we've only given the deck a shuffle. In the face of so much struggle, it's hard to determine how much of a difference we've made."
"The splinter cells aren't what they used to be. They're a dying movement, clinging to the ideologies of a madman who has been dead for years. People are living again," Lucario argued.
"It feels more like surviving than living," Red crossed his arms.
Lucario lowered his head. "Our world will rebuild, but surrendering to our worst impulses won't hasten progress." Red said nothing. "I understand your anger. All these years, all the suffering, the fighting never quite ends. It takes its toll. Yet— the Aura Pokémon was interrupted.
Red stopped. "It's not who we are. I know."
"We save lives. YOU save lives," Lucario frowned.
"Not all of them," Red stared at the Terracotta Ribbon he pulled out. The halves glued together. "When we traveled to the past, we met some great people, and they taught me the value of life."
Lucario placed his paw on Red's back. "Then you know what it means to take a life."
Red gave him a nod. "Let's keep moving."
When they made it to the end of the hallway, they discovered a room filled with lab equipment, machinery, and research papers. "They were busy," Lucario observed.
"Very busy," Red saw the stacks of notes. "I'll take what I can. We might learn something about their activities."
Lucario halted at the center of the room, where he noticed a platform with a cracked dome. Loose cables hung from the top as if they were meant to attach to something. The Aura Pokémon found it odd. "Baltoy technology?" Lucario noticed the familiar markings on the floor of the platform.
Red spotted a violet book and a scarlet book at the edge of the table. "What's this?" he reached for the works. He noticed the scarlet book had a label saying it belonged to a Professor Sada, and the violet book had a label saying it belonged to a Professor Turo. "It can't be," Red muttered.
"What?" Lucario walked over.
Suddenly, the screen behind them turned on. Malamar's face covered the monitor. The Pokémon spoke in its tongue, but there were subtitles that translated for them. "This is a prerecorded message. If you're watching it, it means our secret lab has been breached, and our work has been compromised. Nevertheless, I'm pleased to say that we successfully developed the first artificial intelligence in our timeline. They are carrying out the work as we speak. Every piece of intel gathered from the past has proved useful to the advancement of our mission. It is only a matter of time before reality is remade. That concludes our message. The countdown will begin, and the annihilation of our base will ensure that our work continues uninhibited."Malamar's image was replaced by a timer.
"One minute," Lucario gasped.
"Run," Red took the books with him. "So much for the rest," the frustrated trainer lamented.
"We got what we could, now hurry!" Lucario took the lead. They dashed as fast as they could until they reached the elevator.
Red rapidly pressed the elevator button. "The power is dead."
"Since when do we take the elevator?" Lucario smirked.
"You're right," Red chuckled. The pair used aura to blast through. They looked up the elevator shaft. Red cracked his knuckles. "30 seconds."
Lucario leaped from wall to wall. "We've been in tighter situations."
Red followed him, jumping from one end to the other. "No argument there." Halfway up the shaft, they ran up the wall. "Ready, Lucario?" Red saw the top of the shaft. Lucario growled when it fired Aura Sphere through it. The top burst off, and the duo jumped out. They heard a chopper in the air.
A relieved brunette stood on the edge of the helicopter. "Hey!" She waved.
"Rosa can't stay away, can she?" Red sighed.
"You should know that by now," Lucario hurried to the chopper.
Red waved his arms. "Don't land. The place is about to blow!"
Rosa tossed a ladder. "In that case, grab on!" The helicopter cautiously hovered over the Malamar's base.
Lucario pounced on the ladder, and Red followed soon after. "1!" Lucario shouted.
"Get us out of here!" Red climbed up the ladder. He heard a rumbling as the helicopter motioned away as fast as it could. The base exploded in spectacular fashion, its flames lighting up the night sky. The helicopter wobbled as the gust from the blast tried to knock it from the air.
"Nate, get it together, will ya!" Rosa barked at her brother.
Nate snapped back. "Tell that to Hugh!"
"Don't call me that!" His co-pilot tried to get the helicopter back under control.
"Damn it," Red held onto the rope ladder as tightly as he could as they flailed in the air.
Nate and Hugh sweated as they maneuvered the aircraft. "Steady now," Nate gulped.
"Flying is for Pokémon," Hugh groaned.
As the helicopter hovered further away, it regained its steadiness. "There you go, girl," Nate exhaled.
Hugh raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, you gave it a gender?"
"What? It's a common thing, ya know," Nate argued. Hugh rolled his eyes at him.
Rosa helped Lucario up when he reached the top of the ladder. "Easy does it," the brunette pulled him up. She bent over to get Red inside. "Good work, soldier."
Red panted from the adrenaline. "Thanks, Rosa."
"Next time you attack a Splinter Cell base on your own, give someone a heads up!" Rosa punched his arm.
"Right," Red winced and rubbed his arm.
An amused Lucario chuckled until Rosa shifted her eyes to him. The Aura Pokémon's smile faded when she looked at him. "And you should know better. Aren't you supposed to be the smarter half?" Rosa scolded him.
"Sorry," Lucario hunched in disgrace.
Rosa held her head in annoyance. "What am I going to do with all of you?" Lucario and Red sheepishly smiled at each other. "Was it at least worth it?" Rosa asked.
"More than I'd like to admit," Red revealed two books in his satchel. Fortunately, they hadn't fallen out when they tried to board the chopper. They would examine them when they returned to HQ, but Red took another look back at the destroyed lab. Its flames died out, but his visit raised more questions about the Malamar's objective and their activities.
Once Mesagoza came into view, they knew they'd gotten home. Unlike the rescue operation, Nate and Hugh stuck the landing without a hitch. When they boarded off, Red turned to Hugh. "Thanks for the lift," the trainer smiled at him.
Hugh side-eyed him. "Right." His blue-haired friend walked away without looking back.
"Be safe, Red," Nate pitied the trainer and ran to catch up with Hugh.
Red pulled down the brim of his hat. "Things will never be the same, won't they?"
"I can't change how they feel, but they did care enough to help rescue you," Rosa tried to comfort him.
"I guess," Red stared at the floor.
Lucario grabbed his shoulder. "Don't dwell on it. Eventually, they will forgive you."
Red gave his friend a soft smile. "Thanks, Lucario." He reached for his Pokéball. "You did well. Get some rest." His best friend nodded and returned to its ball.
Rosa leaned forward. "So, let's get to reading?"
Her friend was surprised. "You want to read?"
"Hey, you're not the only one who wants to know what's going on around here. Remember what we learned as Rising Volt Tacklers?" the girl winked.
"Be kind. Be brave," Red recited.
Rosa lifted her finger. "Be curious."
"The Professor sure loved to beat that into our heads," Red rolled his eyes.
Rosa giggled. "Yep, so c'mon."
"Right," Red agreed. They hurried inside, greeting their comrades as they ran through the enormous halls. "To think an academy would become a base for soldiers," Red never grew tired of the former school's vastness.
Rosa dashed to the left. "Let's head to the library. It'll be quiet enough to focus there." Red followed her and saw Rosa claim a table once they were there.
Red laid out the books on the table. "We might be here for a while," he warned, but Rosa shrugged.
The woman picked up the violet book. "Was it written by Professor Turo?"
"No, same goes for Professor Sada's book," Red pointed at the scarlet book's cover. He rubbed the faded book's cover, "Look closely, you'll notice that it says it's written by the historian named Heath."
"So these are THEE Violet Book and Scarlet Book. They're supposed to be hundreds of years old, yet ended up in the possession of Professors who have been dead since before we were born. Weird," Rosa eyed them. She noted the design of a Legendary Pokémon on the cover of each. "Miraidon and Koraidon."
Red sat down to read one of the books, "I've heard of the Scarlet Book and Violet Book from archives, but they were reported destroyed by Omega when he first attacked the academy. When I saw them I couldn't believe it until a prerecorded video played right before the base decided to blow itself to hell."
"What happened in there?" Rosa grabbed a chair.
She listened to her friend recount their infiltration. They failed to learn much until they encountered the trio of Malamar. Red explained they were the ones who orchestrated the attack on the academy and led the splinter cell. Rosa was shocked to learn of Pokémon willing to commit such destruction, although Red argued they were altered through experimentation. Nonetheless, he detailed the contents of the message before the detonation. "They said they gathered intel from the past, and Lucario saw designs that mirrored the ancient time machine discovered in the Hoenn Region."
"Yeah, but that doesn't explain how they could've powered it. No one has access to the technology for time travel except for us, and no one's used it in six years," Rosa noted.
"You're right, but we're talking about a splinter cell. They might've figured it out on their own," Red countered.
Rosa picked up the Violet Book, "Do you think they got these books from the past?"
"It's what I'm leaning toward," Red rubbed his chin.
"Have you ruled out the possibility of a faller involved?" Rosa inquired.
"You think a version of Professor Turo and Professor Sada from a different reality made their way into ours through an Ultra Wormhole?" Red hadn't thought of that.
Rosa shrugged her shoulders, "Or maybe Heath? Omega was a faller. And ever since the battle in Unova, we've learned more about how Ultra Space works thanks to our Professor Burnet."
The notion unsettled Red, "Thanks to Professor Burnet, we've been able to monitor Ultra Aura readings across the world, whether from a wormhole or a faller. We haven't detected any concentrations of ultra aura from a person in years. And as of today, we only know of three fallers."
"The only one with us is Anabel," Rosa recalled.
"Right," Red nodded.
Rosa sighed, "Guess it rules out that theory."
Red focused, "If they did use a time machine, the power source would've been from an energy we can't read. Otherwise, it would've shown up in the sensors."
"Baltoy technology is old, but we would've picked up on it if it relied on the same energy source as the time machine in the Hoenn region," Rosa leaned back on her chair. The more she thought about the mystery, the more she felt stumped. "What did Professor Sada and Professor Turo research anyway?" the girl yawned.
Red crossed his arms, "Tera Energy, which we know terribly little about thanks to Omega's campaign against Pokémon Research before we could get our hands on it.
"We've only scratched the surface. We won't learn more until we read these, but I'm certain they're not from our timeline," Rosa opened the scarlet book.
"I can agree on that," Red grabbed the violet book to flip it open.
They skimmed through the pages, noting research on Tera Energy. "It looks like the Professor added their own notes to the book," Rosa skimmed sections on technology the Professors Sada developed. There were concepts related to a Pokéball made from Tera Energy and the origin of Tera Energy. "Whoa, check this out," Rosa's eyes grew. "According to Professor Sada, Heath theorized that the Tera Energy originated from Arceus's Plates."
"Professor Turo suspected the same thing, but Heath seemed to believe there was more to it," Red read research on a turtle-shaped Pokémon. He nodded sideways, "That doesn't help." However, he would later revisit the connection between Tera Energy and the plates out of curiosity.
"Sada was invested in Pokémon from the past," Rosa determined.
"Turo was invested in Pokémon from the future," Red added.
They wondered if it meant anything. Red flipped through several chapters until he stopped when he saw sketches of the human anatomy. What's this? He thought. "Rosa, what information do you have on page 522 of the Scarlet Book?"
Rosa flipped to the page he was on, "A bunch of scribbles and a drawing of the human body. That's random."
Red had already turned to the next page, "Professor Turo and Professor Sada did research on more than just Pokémon."
"What did you find?" the brunette asked.
"They studied on how to live forever," Red raised his head.
Rosa shook her head, "Wait, what?"
Red grabbed the Scarlet Book and placed it beside the Violet Book. They worked on the same projects toward the same scientific goals. Among them was a way to live beyond their natural lives through artificial intelligence. "They created androids of themselves powered by artificial intelligence," Red turned to the next page, revealing illustrations of Sada and Turo.
"What do you make of it?" Rosa raised her eyebrow.
"In the Malamar's message, they said they developed the first artificial intelligence in our world. They needed an artificial intelligence to carry out their plans. It makes sense why they used the abandoned lab outside Ryme City as their base of operations," Red tried to connect the dots.
Rosa nodded, "That lab housed a Mewtwo decades ago. The place may have been abandoned, but the equipment there was more than enough to create an android. The question is why?"
"They're a splinter cell," Red murmured.
Rosa froze, "You don't think they could recreate him, could they?"
"I don't know, but I'm not about to sit around to find out," Red stood up.
"What are you going to do?" Rosa also got up.
Red tugged on his gloves, "I'm returning to Ryme City. I need to see if I can learn anything else among that rubble." He put the Violet Book and Scarlet Book in his satchel, and I think these might come in handy.
"What?!" Rosa shouted, disturbing the silence in the library.
The librarian scowled at the pair. She placed her finger on her lip, "Shush."
"Sorry," a bashful Rosa whispered. The trainer hid her embarrassment beneath her hat.
Red stepped out as Rosa followed her. When they were outside, the girl held her hips. "You're out of your mind. We barely got your neck out of there, and now you want to go back?! What if those Malamar survived and are still there?!"
"I know we're not in the library, but you could tone it down," Red noticed people staring at them.
"You're always acting so rash, why don't you tone it down for once?" Rosa poked his chest.
Red moved her hand away. "I can't help that it's in my blood." Rosa sighed in defeat. "Besides, it's not like you can join me. You're the leader, so you're needed here."
A disappointed Rosa mumbled, "I can get Hugh and Nate to go with you."
Her friend disagreed. "Things haven't been the same since the three of you learned the truth. I doubt I can get Hugh's cooperation."
Rosa clenched her fists. "Why did you have to do it, Red? Why bother even telling us?"
His sapphire eyes lacked their shine. "Because I couldn't control myself. Because I felt like I was lying to you. It didn't feel right to lead this team knowing what I did to Phantom."
"You didn't seem to mind hiding it back then," Rosa retorted.
"When I was in the past, Ash and May helped me. I realized what I did was wrong, and I've been trying to do things better ever since. Sometimes, it's hard, but I'm trying. Until then, Rosa, you're more fit to lead those bozos than I am," Rosa looked into his sparkling gaze when Red placed his hand on her shoulder. However, behind that sparkle, she saw pain. "I don't blame Nate and Hugh for choosing to distance themselves from me. I betrayed their trust and went against everything we believe in. I don't think even my family would be proud of what I did."
Rosa whispered, "Red."
The man backed away. "That's why I have to go alone. I will get to the bottom of this, and I will come back." He gave the girl a rare hug as he readied to leave. "Keep everyone safe while I'm away." A stunned Rosa blushed when she felt his warm body, but before she could hug him back, Red let go of her.
"Wait!" she stopped him before he could walk off.
"Yeah?" the puzzled trainer looked back.
Rosa clenched her fist. "Promise you won't make the same mistake again."
Red smiled at her. The trainer looked just like his father with his mother's eyes. He tipped his hat, "I promise." He called out Charizard and flew off on his trusty Fire-type. They waved at each other until he vanished among the orange sky and its clouds.
"There he goes," Nate appeared beside her. He'd been watching them from afar. The younger sibling had concern in his stare.
"Like always," Rosa sighed.
Nate rubbed the back of his head, "I hope he comes back safe."
His sister placed her fist over her heart. She could feel it race as if it wished to burst out and fly after Red and his Charizard. Rosa mustered a gentle grin, "Me too."