The sun rose from behind the mountains once again, illuminating the towns and cities of one side of the world. Some Pokémon were out and about, starting their daily tasks while other Pokémon kept sleeping in their nice comfortable beds.
A Shaymin groggily woke up by the sunlight that was raining down upon her face, opening her eyes slowly as she uncurled her body slightly from her bed. She looked around for a moment as awareness returned to her body, blinking the sleepiness away.
Her room was the same as usual. A combination of pink and orange colored walls and ceiling, a wooden floor, a small wooden holder for her uniform next to the door, and a light-green desk that was tall enough for someone of her size was beside her desk. Overall, a simple room, the way she liked it.
Amy yawned before getting up on her feet, the mattress beneath her not sinking a lot because of her small size. She stretched her body before jumping out of bed. The grass hedgehog then started doing the usual things in the morning: putting on her uniform, putting the necessary objects in her bag, and watering her favorite flowers next to her bed; all with the help of telekinesis.
Ah yes, her out-of-place telekinesis. She knows that her species normally don’t learn Psychic naturally without a TM. However, she was able to learn because of her father, who taught her the move once she was moving to the adolescent part of her life. She was really grateful to him because using paws for almost everything sucked, especially for a Pokémon with small legs like her.
The Shaymin left her bedroom, closing the door behind her with her paws before walking to the kitchen where her mother was waiting at the table as she read a newspaper on the table while sitting on a stool. It was a Leavanny named Mika, with leafy bug-like wings on her back that were inherited from her father, who was a Scizor. She was an old but still beautiful Pokémon as well.
Mika turned to Amy and smiled. “Good morning, dearie. Slept well?” She asked in a silky and soft voice.
Amy smiled back before jumping on another stool beside the Leavanny. “Yeah, I did.” She glanced at the contents of the table. There was the usual breakfast food on it, the bread, the berry juice, and a few edible leaves for her grass-typing diet. She looked back at her adoptive mother. “Thanks for the food!”
“You’re welcome, dearie.” Mika said, smiling before looking back at the newspaper. Her antennas twitched, making her look in a certain direction to the Pokémon entering the room. Amy looked to the Pokémon too, seeing her adoptive father, an old-looking Xatu with a purple scarf, enter the kitchen with something behind his white wing. The Leavanny put down her newspaper as her wings buzzed a little. “Ah, if it isn’t mister “I’m never late”. Actually living up to your name and not waking up after 8 in the morning?”
“Heh, in all my years, I don’t remember seeing a timeline where I did actually wake up on time. Just goes to show that my foresight powers are weaker than others if this timeline actually happened.” The Xatu, called Yanthus, chuckled as he walked over to the table. He then looked at Amy as he sat down beside Mika. “Good morning my baby girl, I take it you slept well from the look on your face.”
“Yes, I slept well.” How did she sleep well even with the most stressful events happening around her and slowly getting worse as days progressed? She didn’t know, but she was impressed that she doesn’t panic as much anymore when major events like these happen. Like, she even battled a banished Pokémon without being frozen in fear. Yes, she may not have done much in the battles, but she was there as support and that’s what mattered.
Mika tilted her head while looking at the Shaymin, putting a leafy limb on her chin. “Is something wrong dearie?”
Amy was snapped from her thoughts, only just realizing that she was looking silently at her food with a thoughtful look. She looked at her parents with a sheepish smile. “Ah, it’s nothing. I’m just thinking about some stuff happening in my life, that’s all.” Her parents had adopted her at such an early age so they knew if anything what was up with her with just facial expression and slight body signs. “It’s nothing major or something like that, it’s just that a lot happened in less than a week and I’m just… trying to process it all.” She told a half-truth.
“I see.” Yanthus said before pecking some of the bread with his beak. After gulping a piece of it, he turned to the Shaymin again. “So um… baby girl?” The Shaymin was about to eat before looking at her father while tilting her head. “I know that I said uh… that I don’t trust my foresight powers that much but… when I looked at the sun a few days ago I saw something rather… concerning.”
“What was it? The end of the world?” Amy asked with a small joke, trying to mask her concern about something like that actually happening.
The totem-looking avian shook his head. “Nah, far from it. It’s about… you actually.” That made Amy subtly flinch while Mika visibly did so, her expression turning into a grimace.
“What about it…? What did you see…?” The Leavanny asked concernedly, putting her leafy limbs on the table.
The Xatu closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. “On a certain day that’s fast approaching, you don’t return home for an undetermined amount of time. I tried looking at the sun from a different angle, to see if that doesn’t happen in other timelines… it does.”
Mika gasped while Amy’s eyes widened. Oh great, another thing to add to her stress. Wonderful, just what she needed. “Am… am I gonna go missing…?”
“That I don’t know. But what I do know is that, even with this concerning news… I’m not actually worried about you.” Yanthus turned to Amy, his face shifting to a soft face. “You’ve grown a lot from when we first took you into our family. I remember some years ago, almost every little misfortune event that happened, you used to overthink it and go into a panic attack. Now look at you, after receiving news of such caliber like these, you didn’t even start hyperventilating. Just goes to show how far you’ve grown.”
Amy looked down in thought. Yeah, she did grow up and matured a lot over the past few years. She endured bullying because she didn’t do some Pokémon’s favor since she was revered as a deity that would do anything for them, mastered telekinesis, and fought against hard foes who could easily defeat her… she wouldn’t even recognize herself some years ago after doing all those things.
Although, there she was, going to another world and also helping a human take down a potentially evil organization that brought more technologies to this world.
“Yeah… I guess I did.” The Shaymin let out a weak smile.
Mika looked at the Xatu with a confused look. “Why are you even bringing this up…? Do you trust her enough to know that she will be safe?”
Yanthus managed to smile through his beak. “Yes, I do. But if you are still worried a lot about her safety, which I know you are, I found this before my retirement as a rescuer.” From under his wing, he pulled out a certain object and put it on the table, an object that Amy knew too well.
The grass hedgehog gasped slowly as she took in the item in front of her. “Is that a…” The item in question was a flower with reddish-pink petals and yellow pollen in the middle. It almost resembled the flowers on Amy’s side.
“Yep, it’s indeed a Gracidea Flower. Not a copy but a real one.” The Xatu said a bit proudly.
The Leavanny analyzed the flower closely before looking at her husband. “Where did you get that…?”
Yanthus looked at Mika and explained while motioning with his wings. “Remember the last mission before my retirement in the Grass Continent? So… since we had just adopted our baby girl, I just thought it was fitting to get a small gift for her once she had grown up enough. So… I went to the infamous Shaymin Village as a small detour to get a little souvenir.” He then looked at the flower that Amy grabbed with her paws and looked at it. “The reason that flower hasn’t wilted until now is because gratitude keeps this flower alive.” He motioned a wing to the grass hedgehog. “And you, my baby girl, kept the flower alive throughout all this time.”
The Shaymin looked at her parents, her eyes starting to water a little. “Mom… dad…” She smiled a little bit. “Thank you, thank you for everything that you’ve done for me. I love you guys.” She said as a tear of happiness streamed down her face, the tear falling on the flower as it glowed a little bit.
Yanthus and Mika smiled back as their daughter, the Leavanny said. “We love you too dearie, we just hope you’re gonna be safe.”
The totem-looking bird asked while tilting his head. “You know what these flowers do to you, right?” Amy nodded. “Alright, although, don’t use it now. There will be a time when you’ll be forced to make a choice, in that time, follow your heart to make the best choice possible, understood?”
“Alright, I will.” Amy said before using her telekinesis to put the flower in her bag. She looked back at her parents while smiling again. “Thank you, once again.”
Yanthus nodded his head. “No problem, baby girl.” He then looked at his food. “Now, let’s eat our meals. After all, you don’t wanna be late for school, do you?”
Amy’s eyes widened in realization. “Ah yes, sorry!” She said before beginning to eat her food. She wanted to tell her parents so bad what she has been dealing with recently, however, she knew she couldn’t, or else they’d worry about her even more than they’re worrying about now. And about that foresight that her father had about her not going home... It worried her, however, she knew that with that gift and her friends, she would be okay. ‘Mom, dad, whenever that day comes… I promise that I will come back home to you guys, safe and sound.’
----------------------------------------
The talk he had with Harry on Thursday was insightful. His Pokémon knowledge was coming in clutch.
Since Elsa, thankfully, wasn’t busy being a Twitch thot during the entire day, John and Claire took the opportunity to speak with Harry once again through video call since it had been whopping three days since the two had spoken with the human directly.
John wanted to catch him up to speed about everything that had happened in the last two days since a lot had happened. However, it was when preparing for the call that the Joltik realized something. His stupidity got the better of him once again since he realized that he didn’t need to go to the human world to gather information, Harry was there for that exact reason. John wanted to slap himself so much for that stupid decision that put his Pokémon partners in danger, but then he remembered that talk he had with Claire the day prior and just chalked it up with a sigh.
When both entered the call with the human, John told him everything that had just happened.
----------------------------------------
Harry had a hand covering his mouth from the sheer absurdity of everything that was told to him. The Joltik had a deadpan look on his bug face, already expecting a reaction like that from his friend. Like, who just tells something as surreal as that in such a casual tone while expecting the other person to believe them?
Well, John does that now.
After taking a while to recompose himself, Harry took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. “So um… let me get this straight.” He then started typing something on his keyboard, John noticing he was a bit nervous and probably anxious from how he typed. “After our messages on Monday, at night, you get kidnapped and brought into a place called the Distortion World by THIS Giratina?” He asked while posting an image of the antimatter dragon in their serpent and dragon-like forms.
John nodded. “Yep, the same one.”
The human rubbed his temples. “Okay… then they said that that world had expanded and it connected to OUR world?”
Claire nodded for John as she looked aside her ears dropping a little. “Can confirm that one…”
“Alright then…” Harry said tiredly before trying to remember the next thing that the Joltik had said. “So… on Tuesday, you go with Claire and some other Pokémon to the Distortion World again with the help of Giratina’s followers being a Tandemaus or whatever that is?” Both Pokémon nodded. “Fine… and in there, you guys enter a Mystery Dungeon filled with Glitch Pokémon? Like… like actually glitchy Pokémon and shit?”
“Yes, it’s just as you imagine, like creepypastas and all that stuff with static textures and shit.” John explained while motioning a nub. “Apparently, it’s a type of energy of the universe or something like that.”
Harry groaned slightly, trying to process what just had been said and not having an existential crisis. After some more seconds, he typed something on his computer again while taking a deep breath. “So… next up, you find the creator of the Glitch Pokémon that was apparently stuck in that dungeon because of its instability, the guy in question being THIS MissingNo.?” The human posted in the chat an image of a blocky and static creature that looked like an unfinished sprite.
“Well um…” John hesitated before saying. “It didn’t exactly look like that… it looked more like a floating head with disembodied floating claws floating around it. That’s uh… the basic description of it.”
“Yeah, it looked more terrifying in person.” Claire added, shivering a little.
The young man rubbed his temples and muttered. “So that’s different…” He then looked back at the screen. “And… you let it use you as a vessel for some days so it could… stabilize itself so it could live in the real world?”
“Yeah… that’s the basic gist of it…” John looked aside a bit ashamed.
“I’m not even… gonna ask, for the sake of my remaining sanity…” The human said with a sigh.
Claire rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish smile. “Yeah, it’s understandable.”
Harry adjusted himself on the chair. “I don’t think there’s a need to go through the remaining stuff because I got the memo…” He sighed again and looked at John. “Bro, John, I’m gonna be straight with you, from the last three days, you definitely gonna end up in some world-ending situation soon if my memory from the PMD games serves me right.”
John frowned and desperately shook his head. “Nuh-uh! I know that I straight up met with two honest-to-god deities in less than a week, but hell nah, I’m not gonna be saving the world anytime soon. It was just a series of unfortunate events that led to one another and I used one of those events to my advantage. I swear, the reason I went back to our world was because of a selfish reason and that was it.”
The brown-haired human then looked at the screen with an unamused face. “And what was that about trying to gather info about Pokémon appearances on the internet?”
The Joltik shot back. “J-just a small reason that I used as an excuse to go there!” He then looked away as a bit of guilt started to crawl into the back of his mind. “I was so selfish that I put everyone in danger…”
The Vulpix then hit John softly with her paw. “Don’t.” She said in a concerned tone, a frown appearing on her face.
“Sorry…” The greenish spider apologized with a sigh before looking back at the screen. “So yeah… um, that’s everything for now. Sorry for my silence in these past few days…”
Harry sighed. “It’s fine dude… I know you have your… adventures and stuff now, so you’re bound to be busier than before.” The human then remembered something. “Hey uh… so… about Asuri taking over Twitter… do you really believe that they have the means necessary to come to our world?”
“Yep… if Elon gave them ownership of Twitter that easily, then yeah, no shit they can go to our world. Besides, how they could mimic everything perfectly, let alone actually just connect their internet to our world with their own servers?”
Harry made a thinking face, biting a nail from nervousness before muttering. “Fuck, you’re right.”
“Also, I need your Pokémon knowledge on something here.” John said, making the human look at the screen again. “Is there like… a Pokémon that literally cross worlds naturally that isn’t, like…” The Joltik motioned a nub, pointing upwards. “Up there? Because I doubt that gods would be working with Asuri willingly.”
Harry ran a hand through his head again as he spoke. “Well… aside from Arceus, Palkia, and now Giratina, I guess, we have some potential candidates.” The human started typing on his keyboard. “Since Necrozma is also out of the picture… it leaves us with…” He put a picture of two strange Pokémon on the chat. One was a white lion with a head that looked like space compressed on a helmet, and the other was a bat with cosmic wings with a face similar to the lion. “Solgaleo and Lunala. They are the sun and moon legends and they both can travel to different worlds.”
Claire perked up when she saw the pictures. “Oh, I read legends about those two! It’s said that they both live in another dimension. The sun one, Solgaleo, brings the light, while the moon one, Lunala, buries the light by devouring it.” John stared at the Vulpix with his head tilted. She smiled sheepishly. “Just legends though, not much is known about them because they’re rarely seen.”
The Joltik nodded. “Alright then…” He then looked back at Harry. “Are there any more candidates?”
“Yeah, one more if I remember.” The human said before posting one last image. This time, it was an image of a legless genie-like creature with horns and disembodied hands, one of the said hands was holding a yellow ring. “This guy is named Hoopa. I know they look like genies that make wishes and shit, but like, this guy can make portals easily to locations and worlds.”
“So like… don’t tell me that the portal it makes is from the rings it has, like the Sonic movie.” John said with a grimace on his face.
“Well… the reference was on point because it’s legit what they do.” Harry explained before crossing his arms. “Claire, I gotta question.” The Vulpix tilted her head silently. “Are there multiple Hoopas in there?”
Claire shook her head. “Not that I remember… although, I think they have more chances of working with Asuri because, if I remember correctly from what I learned in a class, they are kinda mischievous…”
John thought of the possibility of that Hoopa guy working with that company. It could be possible they are helping them with their plans since it’d make a lot of sense how Asuri could travel to another world entirely. The greenish spider sighed. “Well, whatever the case, I hope we can take them down without a fight because I don’t wanna test out the abilities of an actual portal maker.”
Harry tilted his head while leaning back on his chair, looking calmer than before. “You seriously planning on taking them down John? Sure, they are doing shady things and potentially threatening the unstable balance of our world by making Pokémon interact with humans, but like… are you sure they’re evil?”
John looked away. “I… I dunno, it’s just a gut feeling they’re up to something bad. The effort they’re putting into all of this seems so out of place…” He looked back at the camera. “That’s why me, Claire and others are gonna go to their museum next week to meet face-to-face with the CEO.”
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Claire raised her forepaw a little. “On a school trip, we didn’t arrange a meeting.”
Harry sighed. “I hope you know what you’re doing John. Your sense of justice got you killed once, what if it happens again and you get killed twice?”
The greenish spider sighed and smiled reassuringly behind his fuzz. “Don’t worry dude, unlike last time, I won’t be killed that easily. And no, it’s not because I’m a Pokémon now, it’s because I actually improved and won’t just recklessly charge into danger, alright?”
The human stared at the camera again, groaning. “Fine… but please be safe.”
John nodded. “I’ll try my best.” He waved a nub. “See ya.”
“Goodbye!” Claire said with enthusiasm while the human just waved back at the camera with a weak smile.
John used the touchpad of the laptop and clicked the red button on the screen to end the call. The Joltik sighed before looking at Claire. “So… since I’m prolly gonna speak with Mark tomorrow during the break, should we call everyone after class?”
Claire thought about it for a moment before she realized something. She shook her head. “No, mom comes home earlier on Fridays, so she would get suspicious if we didn’t come home on the bus.” The Vulpix’s face suddenly lit up. “Ooh, I have an idea! How about on Saturday after my battle class? We should ask the others if they’re down to that idea.”
“Hm… I guess that could work.” John said after a bit of thought. “Although, could you take me with you? Ya know, just in case another Corrupted Pokémon appears by surprise.”
The fire fox chuckled. “Are you really that worried about me? Don’t worry, it was just bad timing. It’s not like it’s guaranteed that every Saturday a Pokémon like that appears.” She then smiled softly while tilting her head. “But if you wanna come, then sure. I don’t think Master Kofu will mind a spectator.”
“Alright then. Thanks.” Both Pokémon smiled at each other.
----------------------------------------
All they had to do was find this genie-like Pokémon and convince them that they were contributing to something bad, consequentially ruining Asuri’s plans and exposing them to their crimes. Boom! Simple enough! … Who was he kidding?
John sighed as he thought about a summarized version of his plan while answering the classroom with Claire. It sounded so much like an easy plan but in reality, it was much more complex than it is on the surface. Firstly, where do they find Hoopa? Secondly, how do you convince a mischievous little genie who probably has no morals because of their higher tier? And thirdly, what if Asuri has them trapped in a building and using them as a slave?
So many outcomes and setbacks that make such a simple plan into a well-thought-out plan.
The Joltik jumped off of Claire’s head and sat on his table while Claire walked towards hers. He was overthinking stuff again, so he decided to think of something else at the moment before his brain burst from such complex thoughts unfit for a spiderling’s body like his. He then remembered something, Friday was the day of Mr. Xeno’s class, the ladybug teacher that prodded his memories.
The greenish spider was a bit uncomfortable knowing that someone not that close to him looked into his memories. Sure, he had let the teacher do it, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling he saw something else rather than the scene of his death. Although, he was probably overthinking again and the ladybug was actually respectful when looking at his memories.
John muttered to himself as he put a forelimb on his head. “Ugh… please just stop thinking for a moment, focus on something else…”
He scanned the class again, finding nothing unusual with the classmates except for one, Amy. She was looking a lot more thoughtful and pensive than her usual self, which was quite odd. She always struck John as the quiet kid in class that wasn’t really open about much and would stick with her friends while being as kind and loving as possible. If he remembered correctly, she looked fine, even throughout the bullshit that happened in the past few days. So why was she acting like that?
Perhaps he should check on her on the way back.
The door to the classroom opened, and from it, Mr. Xeno entered the room, floating with its levitation rather than buzzing his wings. The alien-looking ladybug put his tablet on the teacher’s desk before turning to the students. “Good morning students.” As the students replied with a “Good Morning, Mr. Xeno!”, the teacher took a small glance at John before smiling a little. He then cleared his throat and spoke. “If you guys remember, last class I showed you a video of an invitation made by the CEO of Asuri to visit one of their museums in Xander Cage City.”
John rolled his four eyes before thinking. ‘How could I forget…’
“However, I failed to inform you that we will be taking a train to get there.” Mr. Xeno crossed his arms. “For those who are new to Burgroth…” He took another small glance at John and a glance at Cerbera. “There’s a train station northeast of the city, we’ll be taking the earliest one that departs at eight in the morning. Don’t be late or it’ll leave without you, understood?” The students nodded. “Good. Anyways, let’s go to the computer lab, normal class for today.”
The students nodded and started leaving their seats, leaving the classroom one after another. As Claire was about to walk off the door, she looked back to see John doing big hops as he got closer to the door, not even jumping on her head like he usually does. She tilted her head with a confused smile. “You’re not gonna be on my head?”
The greenish Joltik stopped hopping and looked back at Claire. “Ah… I just thought that I would, like… “walk” a little since I don’t wanna get sedentary.”
“Oh, I see. Would you be okay doing that for a long time?”
John mentally shrugged. “Eh… if it’s the only way, I’ll get used to it. Besides, it ain’t that tiring.”
The Vulpix smirked. “If you say so…”
John and Claire started walking along with the other students, John doing hops instead since his legs weren’t that big. Meanwhile, Xeno got closer to the two of them, and, for some reason, a voice similar to his echoed inside their heads. ‘So, I take it you chose to be a student?’
The Joltik stopped hopping and flinched along with the Vulpix, the two Pokémon starting to look at the ladybug in shock while John thought. ‘The fuck!?’
‘Don’t be alarmed, this is just telepathy. I’m not prying into your heads or something like that.’ Xeno spoke with his mind. ‘Keep moving, or the others will get suspicious.’
The two students nodded as they kept moving forward, the teacher trailing beside them. John was starting to shiver a little. Communicating directly with thoughts felt weird, it was like speaking but without opening his mouth. Not only he could feel the ladybug’s presence, but he could feel Claire right inside his mind, making it feel like it was some kind of mental group chat. ‘So uh… not only you can see people’s memory but you can also use telepathy…?’
‘Yes, among many other things.’
‘That’s the psychic type for you, John.’ Claire thought, her voice has a more ethereal tone. ‘Psychic type Pokémon can do a lot of things, from basic mind reading to more complex stuff like psychokinesis and more psychic related.’
The Orbeetle nodded with his claws folded behind him. ‘It was one of the main reasons why I advised you to be a student, so it’d help you blend in even more since you surely would get found out by a psychic type.’
John tilted his head. “Like-” He interrupted himself before others could hear. ‘Like… you?’
The ladybug smirked a little. ‘Yes, like me.’ He then gave John a side-eye. ‘So, John, are you enjoying the life of a student here?’
John looked to the ground as he hopped and remembered all the way back on his first day, which was Monday of the same week, seeing how absolutely chaotic everything had been. From meeting the mice twins and having that dodgeball match to meeting another human in the same situation as him, and that’s not even counting the major events that happened in between.
He looked back at Mr. Xeno. ‘It’s going pretty alright, I suppose, although… much more lively than human schools, that’s for sure.’ He lied until a realization dawned on him. What if he could detect that he lied?
The ladybug teacher looked forward before saying with his mouth. “Interesting. Glad you are at least enjoying here.”
Seemed like the telepathic convo stopped out of nowhere, making a feeling of emptiness appear in the students’ heads. They shook it off and realized that they got to the computer lab, the other students already inside. “Wow, we got here faster than expected…” Claire commented.
“It is like that once you’re in a telepathic conversation.” The Orbeetle said before turning to John. “Now John, I don’t know if you had classes similar to these before, but here are the rules. Firstly, no accessing the internet. Secondly, only enter the software that I tell you to enter, understood?”
John looked aside in disappointment. “Yes, I understand.” He wanted to ask the teacher if he could make an exception for him since he was human and all, but he knew that was a bad decision since the teacher didn’t know about the investigation he was doing with the others. It would also come off as suspicious to other students who weren’t part of Team Net. So he would just accept it for now, after all, it wouldn’t make much of a difference whether he checked the internet or not.
----------------------------------------
The computer class went as John expected. Utterly useless.
Since this was high school and not a course specialized in computers, he was stuck with learning the basics of a computer. After all, since this was basically technology in the world, it was bound to be like that for inexperienced teenagers who just know how to browse the internet to look at social media posts.
The class was about the Asuri Word software, which was just a blatant copy of Microsoft Word if it wasn’t that obvious for humans. The teacher just taught how to use the software if the students ever decided to write something on a computer rather than on paper.
John had to hold back a massive groan from enduring that class. Clearly, he knew that Google Docs was a better software to write documents in.
That was behind him, however. Break came in and the students were free from the classes for a short period.
The Joltik sat on a bench bigger than him, alone and away from most Pokémon. Claire had gone to talk with the others about the meeting that Team Net would have on Saturday, probably to discuss their available times. Meanwhile, John stayed alone on a bench because earlier in the morning, he agreed to meet with Mark during the break period so they could talk about… well, human stuff.
He never would’ve thought that he would be speaking with a human in the same situation as him, stuck in a world full of talking magical animals and sometimes inanimate objects with no way of getting their old life back. Sure, he could travel back to the human world and probably try to continue where he left off before his death, but it just wouldn’t be the same, especially with Asuri trying to connect both worlds through the internet.
“Hey.”
John looked at the source of the voice and saw the Pikachu teacher, smiling as he waved at him. John returned the wave. “Yo, how are you doing?”
Mark walked to the bench and sat down next to the greenish spider, a grin forming on his face. “I’m doing well. Just finished teaching a younger class of Pokémon and uh…” He looked aside with a sheepish smile. “Pokémon kids are a bit more chaotic than human ones…”
The Joltik looked away. “Yeah, could probably guess.” Both human-turned-Pokémon stared at the school courtyard, seeing a lot of Pokémon students doing their own things. A Jigglypuff playing with a ball along with a blue and black feline Pokémon with a star-shaped tail, a Squirtle playfighting with a blue and four-legged amphibian-like Pokémon, and a black and red-furred vulpine Pokémon talking with a… floating, pink teacup. Some Pokémon he recognized while some others he didn’t. “Man… I forgot that this world can be… kinda beautiful… in a weird way.”
“You’re right.” Mark agreed, leaning back on the bench and watching the scenery. “Even in stressful times like these, there are still nice moments in this world.”
John looked at the electric rodent again. “I have a question.”
“Hm?” Mark looked back at the spider. “What is it?”
“How long have you been in this world?”
The Pikachu’s smile dropped a little as he thought for a moment, looking up at the blue skies. “Well… I’d say probably ten cycles now… actually, I should probably say ten years.”
John’s eyes widened a little as he asked a bit in disbelief. “T-ten years…?! That’s… that’s a lot…”
Mark tilted his ears. “Eh, could be more, could be less, I dunno, I haven’t been keeping track of time, honestly.” He looked back at the Joltik with a smirk. “In this world, they don’t celebrate the planet’s complete lap around the sun, so I’m kinda lost on what year is it. I only remember the dates of my birthdays.”
“Jesus…” John said while looking away. He felt a little bit of pity for Mark, being stuck in another world completely for around ten years sounded like it would drive someone to madness. But he had to remember that this world was one where you could also live a normal life, have friends, and perhaps… a family as well. “So… like… have you ever had homesickness…?” The Joltik asked while looking at Mark.
The Pikachu rubbed the back of his head. “Well… not gonna lie, I kinda did.” He looked back up. “When I fully recovered my memories, I remembered everything about my world, my old job, hell, what a gun was.” He chuckled a little. “But most importantly, I remember someone who was everything to me… my brother.” He sighed, melancholy entering his words a little. “I… wanted to go back to tell him that I’m okay, that I’m alive and well. Since I used to be a Pokémon fan on Earth, I knew that there were Pokémon that could travel through dimensions and universes. But… that idea was so wild to me that I didn’t even bother attempting it because I thought that I would never be able to accomplish it. So, I just simply decided to just continue living the rest of my life here.”
John looked aside before sighing and looking back at Mark. “Ya know… I… kinda found a way to go into my world that doesn’t um… require any of the usual dimension traveling Pokémon that you’re used to…”
Mark perked up at that and tilted his head, stuttering a little. “Y-you did…? Like, no joke?”
The greenish spider shook his head. “No joke. You know, after all of this Corrupted Pokémon business is over, I can take you back there to visit your brother.”
The human-turned-Pikachu’s mouth dropped a little, his cheek letting out small sparks. “I… you…” He then grabbed the Joltik with his two paws and put him close to his face, tears forming in his black and white eyes. For a second, John almost thought that he would eat him. “If you’re fucking with my feelings, please stop…! This is serious dude!”
“Dude, for fuck’s sake! If I didn’t have something planned, I wouldn’t even offer it!” John argued back as he flailed around a little.
Mark’s face softened, the sparks on his cheek dissipating. “I…” Suddenly, he started nuzzling the Joltik on his cheek, sparks running through the spiderling’s body. “Thank you so much, man. You don’t know how much this means to me…!”
John felt a tinge of embarrassment running through his body as he realized that he was being nuzzled by another man that’s an adult. Although, he didn’t voice it since he didn’t want to ruin his emotional moment. It was probably the Pokémon version of hugging shorter or bigger Pokémon, after all, Claire did that to him multiple times. “Y-yeah, it’s… it’s a promise. No doubt about it.” He then looked to the side and saw some students staring at the scene, most of them being kids. The Joltik froze for a moment before trying to call Mark’s attention. “Y-yo, M- Ark…”
The Pikachu stopped nuzzling the spider. “What…?” He then looked to the side to see some of the Pokémon students staring at them. “Oh…” He slowly put John down and nervously rubbed the back of his head while waving the kids off. He then looked back at John with a sheepish smile. “I uh… sorry for losing control of my emotions like that. Cops aren’t supposed to do that, especially in undercover missions.”
“Nah, it’s… completely understandable.” John then looked aside. “Although the nuzzling felt a little gay, not gonna lie.”
The Pikachu giggled. “It’s a Pokémon thing, you’ll get used to doing it once you’re in a body of one long enough. After all, I’m sure you’ve already experienced some of your Pokémon instincts already, right?”
John looked away and thought back on all of the instinctual pulls and subconscious actions he had done. “Yeah, uh… there was a lot.” He then had a realization of something terrible. “Wait, is there a chance we lose ourselves to instincts? Like… I dunno, we become wild or something, losing all of our thoughts?”
“Don’t worry, that won’t happen. Our cores prevent that from happening. They are the boost to everything in our bodies but also the catalyst.” Mark winked with his only visible eye. “So don’t worry about going feral anytime soon. You might get certain urges here and there like a normal spider in our world would, but that doesn’t mean you’re gonna go full wild.”
“I see… thanks for the reassurance.” John said with a slight smile.
“No problem. Also, don’t forget to hold on to that promise, alright?” Mark asked with a tilt of the head.
“I will, don’t worry.” John said with a determined look in his eyes.
The bell rang once again and the two humans waved each other goodbye before going on their separate ways for the day.
----------------------------------------
Zetamon was excited, although, a little nervous as well.
He was sitting on a chair in the lobby of Asuri HQ, in Flame City. Today, he was about to get his new update that he was promised would get rid of all of the glitches and inconsistencies with his system. On one side, he was happy that his glitch fest would end and he would stop looking like a clown whenever he spoke. On the other side though…
What if the update makes him more broken than he already is?
No, he shouldn’t let thoughts like that get through his head. This was an opportunity beyond anything else, he couldn’t just back down now when he came this far. What would his students think of him if he did something like that? No no no no no, he was better than that. Whatever this new update was, he would take it no matter what.
Although, he was surprised by one thing, however. The lack of others of his species in the place was kinda concerning. He thought that he wouldn’t be the only one receiving the update since that E-mail he had received was written like he wouldn’t be the only one to receive it. Maybe it was because he was the last one to receive the update? If that was the case, then he supposed that it would make sense.
“Mr. Zetamon?”
A voice suddenly pulled the Porygon-Z out of his thoughts. His head straightened itself on his body before looking at the source of the voice. It was a Serperior who was the secretary of the building. Zetamon floated to the center desk as the grass serpent looked at him. “Please direct yourself to the elevator and press the button to the third bottom floor, then direct yourself to the last door of the floor.” He said in a professional tone.
Zetamon nodded, not even speaking in case a glitch makes him look like a clown again. He then floated to the corridor beside the desk and started to head toward the elevator. While in the corridor, he couldn’t help but look at the architecture of the inside of the building. It had the vibe of a technological place that came somewhere from the future because it looked so out of place, it was like a Pokémon didn’t even make it due to how alien it looked. The chilly atmosphere, the pristine and clean green and white walls, floor, and ceiling, and the screens display the various achievements and pieces of technology that Asuri has made. It felt like when he first entered the internet physically once. ‘Well… they did create the internet, after all.’ The AI duck thought.
Zetamon got to the elevator and pressed the button with one of his nubs. He waited for a little bit before the door slid open and he floated inside, pressing the button to the third floor before the elevator door closed.
He stopped floating and sat on the ground so he wouldn’t hit his head on the ceiling before the elevator started going down. Zetamon started looking around, seeing the insides of the elevator before it started playing a catchy tune, which, for some reason, he felt like he had heard somewhere.
It didn’t take that long before the elevator stopped and opened the door. The Porygon Z started floating again, leaving the elevator. After looking around the corridor, he noticed something, it was darker than the rest of the building that he had seen. Lights were flickering, the air felt stale, and there was no one in sight. “Wh-... what happened [in this horror movie lookin’ ass place!?]”
He shook his head, shaking the static out of his eyes before taking another look around. He then started floating slowly forward, being careful as he proceeded. There was something really strange about the place, everything looked so… abandoned and out of place with the whole building. In some instances, he could see claw and burn marks along the walls as he strode forward. Just what had happened in this place?
After some silent and eerie seconds, he finally reached the last door of the hallway. He scanned around the room one more time before opening the door with his telekinesis. With a creak, the door opened fully, revealing a rather dark room with some computers lying around the place, some covered with dust and others with a broken screen. In the middle of the room, there was a bigger computer with a big screen.
On the screen, Alice, the CEO of Asuri, could be seen. It was then that she spoke. “Hello there, Mr. Zetamon.”
The Porygon-Z tilted his head. “Alice… Mishima…?”
“That is correct. Now, I know you may find it weird for me to greet you for an update.” She said while smirking. “But, this isn’t some ordinary update, no! It’s actually a test update, and you got randomly selected to test it!” She then clasped her paws close to her face. “Isn’t this such an exciting surprise?”
Zetamon looked aside. “Yeah… uh… [it’s a deal that you cannot afford to miss!]” He then looked at the screen again after shaking off the glitch. “Sorry about that! It’s something I can’t control!”
The Meowscarada chuckled before waving a paw. “Don’t worry about it. After all, you’re here to get rid of those glitches, aren’t you? It’s written all over your face.”
Zetamon looked away in embarrassment before he remembered something. “Hey uh… do you mind telling me what happened here? This [looks to be like an experiment gone wrong! The world is being taken over by anime! AAAAAHH-]” Zetamon punched himself with his nub before looking back at the camera while clearing his throat. “As I was trying to say… this place looks abandoned…”
“Oh, that?” She shrugged before explaining. “Simply put, this place was a lab.” Zetamon raised an invisible eyebrow. “This is where we ran “experiments” when trying to create the internet. Also, here’s a small fun fact for you. Before we began our experiments, this was the place where they brought some of the few Porygon around the world to reproduce and get their population increased to the way it is right now.”
The Porygon-Z flinched a little as he heard that, tilting his head as he asked a bit in shock. “W-what…?”
Alice continued with a smug smile on her face. “As you know from history class, the Porygon line was considered one of the rarest species of Pokémon…” She trailed off looking away before looking back at the camera. “Until a fateful evening fifty cycles ago.” Zetamon was in disbelief hearing all of this. “This is your place of origin. Porygons don’t remember anything about this place because your egg was in the digital realm, materialized into the real world, and sent to various places around the world to hide the truth of how their population grew!” She lifted a finger. “You see… many Pokémon think we have built computers to bring the internet to this world, but those Pokémon are wrong. We have only made the Internet, but there was someone else who built the computers…”
Zetamon was completely petrified of everything that was said to him. He couldn’t think straight anymore, he tried to formulate thoughts, but his processing system was starting to malfunction. However, he managed to voice one thing with a glitchy voice. “W-who… w-was i-i-i-it?”
Alice grinned. “A human by the name of Akira Makoto. He was a tech expert that made a lot of advancements to Pokémon kind. He didn’t make his invention of computers known to the public until we bought the invention along with his entire lab and made it part of our headquarters. By the way, here’s another fun fact!” Her voice turned into a more menacing tone as she whispered. “He’s right behind you~!”
Zetamon’s eyes widened once he heard snorting coming from behind him. Once he turned around, he saw a figure larger than him obscured by the shadows, a yellow eye could be seen glowing in the darkness. The Porygon-Z couldn’t even lift a nub in defense before he was grabbed by the Pokémon’s claw and thrown toward a wall, smashing through a lot of computers on the way.
He slumped to the ground with a grunt as his vision was starting to display static, some parts of his system starting to malfunction. All he could see was the shadowy beast with long flowy hair slowly approaching him while phasing through the tables and the debris. “Don’t worry, Mr. Zetamon.” He could hear Alice in the background. “We just want a piece of your data and a bit of your assistance to ensure that Project Wonderland goes smoothly. You’ll understand once you’re done with your mission.”
That was the last thing he heard before he entered sleep mode to repair certain damages in his internal systems.