{In the Lental region}

[A day earlier]

Professor Mirror was scrolling through photos gathered by his assistants, but they weren't just of Lental, they came from all over the world.

His main goal was to learn about the Illumina phenomenon in Lental, his current hypothesis was that it was caused by the Tellur Meteorite, but without any actual evidence, he couldn't validate it. But if the need arises, he worked on other things like helping Oak research Pokemon with Pictures.

Although he didn't have much to work with there was one thing that kept him going, the diary of the Legendary Captain Vince, the first recorded person to have encountered Illumina Pokemon at an estimated 100 years ago.

The work seemed to be slow, but then again he also worked to develop technology so in the end he always had his hands full.

Suddenly while he was scrolling through the photos a purple-haired girl peaked her head into the room, "Hey Professor!"

Professor Mirror turned to see Rita by the door, "Oh hello Rita what can I do for you?"

Rita was the child of a friend, she was staying here as his research assistant during her break. Rita's hair shape and eye color resemble a Goodra as she wore a purple outfit with leggings.

Professor Mirror meanwhile was a young adult, he always wore his lab coat but he also had a sweater tied around his waist while his goggles rested on his neck.

"Well you see you're receiving a call from Professor Oak," Rita responded enthusiastically.

Professor Mirror looked surprised, "Oh what a surprise, well then send the call to my tablet then."

The Laboratory of Ecology and Natural Sciences or L.E.N.S. despite being in the middle of uninhabited woods, it was actually very technologically advanced, so doing these things is simple.

It only took a moment then Oaks' face appeared on Professor Mirror's tablet, "Mirror, I finally got in contact with you!"

"Hello Professor sorry to hear about the trouble, but to what do I owe the honor?"

"Well, I have a, well I guess you could call him my student, and he wants to meet with you, for something…actually, I don't really know what he wants to offer you." Oak hummed

"Well if you taught him personally then sure why not, do you want him to do this online or do you need me to help you bring him here."

Oak slowly looked to his side, "Errrr, I'll ask him and tell you later."

Professor Mirror smiled and nodded, "Alright I'll wait to meet him, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued." Then the call ended.

Rita, who was in the room the entire time, looked at the professor, "Huh, I wonder who the Professor was talking about, and what he wants."

"Well I guess we'll see," Mirror then turned over to Rita, "By the way if you here then what is Phil-"

Suddenly the sound of crashing was heard in the next room over, and then the voice of a kid rang out, "Professor I think Rita broke something!"

A vein appeared on Rita's head, "I'm going to tie him to the roof."

Mirror didn't say anything, but he did try to calm Rita down, he knew that probably nothing major would happen, but he would rather not find out how much mental trauma Phil can take.

–

{Present}

Ash appeared in what appeared to be woods with Pikachu on his shoulder and holding onto Oak's Alakazam, on the other hand, he held his Pokedex with Oak's face looking around.

Oak looked relieved, "Oh good that worked, I didn't know it Alakazam could teleport that far."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Ash didn't bother responding to that but he did ask, "Alright soooo, where exactly am I? It just looks like I'm in the middle of the woods, shouldn't Alakazam have brought me straight there?"

Oak looked down to his side, "Well to be fair when Alakazam and I visited, the base wasn't even built yet so I guess they moved it further in,"

Ash scratched the back of his head, "What a drag, alright where do I need to go then?"

"As long as you go North you should find it, if not Alakazam can bring you out."

"Alright, by the way, remember what I said," Ash told the professor.

Oak's face didn't change, "Yes, I'll meet you there," Oak said as he hung up.

Ash only smiled as he looked at Alakazam, "What about you, you coming with?"

Alakazam only responds by finding a tree and meditating next to it, leaving Ash to shrug and start walking, meanwhile a certain gremlin teleported out of her sleeping spot.

It took like 20 minutes of walking but eventually, he saw a Lab in the middle of the woods with nothing but a big Stoutland lying on the ground resting.

As Ash approached the Stoutland noticed him and walked up to smell him, as soon as the big dog was close Ash Crouched down and held his hand out, which Stoutland smelled and then licked.

Ash gave a smile as he moved his arm and reached for Stoutland's chin to give it some light scratches which it happily accepted.

As Ash was scratching Stoutland he heard footsteps coming from the front porch, and when he turned to see he saw 2 people walking out of the lab.

"Greetings." Professor Mirror said, getting Ash's attention, "I see you've already gotten acquainted with Stoutland, that's good to see."

Ash got up and brushed himself off, "Hello Professor, I'm Ash and this is Pikachu, Professor Oak has said good things about you so it's nice to meet you."

"Pika! (•̀ω•́)"

"Well that's good to hear, as you know my name is Mirror, and this here is Rita, you could say she is my assistant."

"Hey Professor, you're making it sound like I'm just here to goof off, I am your research assistant," Rita said looking

Mirror scratched the back of his head, "Ah right. And I do appreciate the help."

As they were talking a light flash and the sound of a click was heard from the nearby bush, when everyone looked over they saw a green-haired boy come out from the bushes holding a camera.

"Hey Professor, I got a great looking Photo!" the boy said as he ran over.

"Oh hello Phil, I'm sure you did but I don't know if you should take pictures of someone without their permission."

Phil didn't seem to realize what he did wrong, "But Professor isn't that what we do all the time, besides My mentor says that Pokemon Photos shouldn't look staged or posed!"

"It's fine," Ash said, "As long as Pikachu is fine with it I don't mind."

"Well that is relieving to hear," Mirror said, "But I suppose we should get to business, the professor said you had business with me?"

As soon as he said that Ash smiled, "Yes I do have something that I think will interest you,"

"Alright let's head inside, but would it be alright if Rita or Phil join us inside?"

Ash shrugged, "If they want they can come I don't mind either way."

"Sorry but I have to keep up my training," Phil said as he ran off before anyone said anything.

Rita sighed, "Sorry about him he is….weird, but it's nice to meet you both."

"Don't worry about it, but it's good to meet you too," Ash said as they all walked into the building.

When they entered the room Ash saw it was very modern-looking looking with computers all across the wall.

As soon as they got in, Mirror turned to them, "I'll call the Professor, I'd say this won't take long but I'd be lying."

As Mirror went to a nearby room Ash and Rita made some small talk, which was mostly Rita asking Ash about him being a Pokemon Trainer and petting Pikachu.

After a few moments, Oak's face appeared on the biggest computer with Mirror walking back in, "Alright now we are ready, I must say with all this build up I'm expecting something great."

"Yeah, sorry about all this I would have just called but I did want to meet you specifically, even if the professor would have shared this with you," Ash said waving his hand and pulling out his Pokedex

"Mind if I use one of these?" Ash said as he referred to one of the computers receiving a nod from Mirror.

He quickly sat down and connected his Pokedex to it to upload what he wanted, "So I guess you can say what I want to show you, is a few pictures per say."

That completely made everyone in the room confused, sure Mirror and Oak both study Pokemon using pictures but to do all of this for just some pictures, but they don't say anything.

"I hope you enjoy!" Ash said with a smile, and on the screen was the picture of Entei lying with all the Pokemon.

"...." the room was silent then Mirror took off his glasses and started wiping them as Oak started putting eyedrops in his eyes.

"Gosh old age must be catching up with me," Oak mumbled

"Yeah, I might have the wrong glasses." Mirror mused.

When both of the Professors looked back up Entei was still there, making both Oak and Mirror scream in surprise, "Ehhhhh!"

"My Boy, how did you find this!" Oak yelled from the other side of the computer.

"Well one day I went for a walk and found a cave with a cool rock and they were sleeping there," Ash said smiling the whole time.

Mirror sat down and crossed his hands and started mumbling, "So simple, yet why, but how, but when…"

Rita was confused, she didn't know that much about the legendaries so looking at the two grown men reacting she was confused, "Wait what's the problem, Professor?"

Ash chuckled and put his hand on her head, "Don't worry your purple little head about it."

After more time than it reasonably should have Oak and Mirror got up and composed themselves, "Well, I can certainly say that you didn't disappoint, just seeing one of the legends is a miracle but to take a photo of one is even greater."

"Who said I only had one." Ash smiled as he brought up Raikou on the mountain and Suicune on the lake, but kept the one of Ho-Oh secret for now.

Oak and Mirror both fell over and Ash could almost swear he could see foam coming out of their mouths, getting a worried Rita to check on them.

"Are they OK? This isn't good"

"I know I didn't even get to show them the fossil Pokemon." Ash shook his head.

When they managed to get back up Ash was already looking at them, "So, how about we discuss the rest, I'm sure we can come up with a deal."

—

{Unknown Location}

The once pristine base was nearly destroyed, and the ceiling was on the verge of collapsing as well as a result of the battle.

Currently, it was Zapdos vs Articuno and Moltres, thankfully they are at least somewhat tired from before and they couldn't get any reliable damage to Zapdos, although as the battle raged on the more of a threat they became.

"Articuno [Ice Shard]!" Cliff said

"Zapdos [Magnetic Flux]," Spark commanded

Zapdos's body got covered in a layer of electricity acting as armor that managed to deflect the shards of ice.

"Moltres [Fire Blast]" A rlo commended as Moltres's head ignited and launched a barrel of flames.

"No you don't, [Supercell Slam]" Spark yelled as he was helping Blanche up with Candela getting to her feet.

Zapdos dashed forward and broke through the [Fire Blast] and crashed into Moltres, then with the same motion it turned back to electricity and dashed towards Articuno to hit it as well.

Although it seemed like Zapdos was winning the battle, if they stayed then Zapdos would lose the war since it is getting more and more tired.

As the two other birds were recovering Zapdos heard Spark, "Zapdos let's get out of here we have them!"

Zapdos nodded as it extended its wings and like a lightning bolt turned into a flash and picked up the trio on the way and got back into the sky.

A rlo looked up and asked Sierra, "Should we follow they are probably leading to a trap."

Sierra chuckled and walked to some nearby debris where there was a hint of Yellow, "There's no need, after all this is more than enough," Sierra said as she held up a yellow and pointy feather that was sparking with electricity.