When Turo walked into the TTDL the day after his latest report, well into the afternoon since his last jump had been late at night again, he initially didn't notice anything wrong in the couple of looks he got from people he crossed in the corridors. Then he walked into the sanity room to grab a coffee, and had to question what he was looking at.
He had no idea what the theme was supposed to be this day. It was usually either a generic ambience or some really specific, famous landmark, and this looked like neither. It mostly looked like a... Contemporary art museum? Each wall held a couple of little holographic frames, with lights pointing to it. Puzzled but without questioning it too much, he grabbed a cup of coffee. Maybe it was supposed to be some famous museum, he thought as he took the first sip. A reproduction of some art gallery from the past?
The first exhibition of some famous artist...?
He shot a distracted glance to the nearest frame as he took another sip, and raised one eyebrow.
The paintings were all of the same thing, each the same shitty-looking scribble with different colored filters applied to it. One was in color. That one was sepia. That other one had been converted in a three dimensional model, made to look like a marble statue.
He admittedly didn't really know much about art, except for the biggest and most recognisable of pieces, and this one definitely left him baffled. Maybe today the sanity room was actually showing something from the future? Wasn't it explicitly forbidden by Moreau?
There was even the sound of steps and some whispering in the background, to simulate a little crowd walking around: whoever had sent this up had been meticulous. Then he finally noticed the little text hovering next to each art piece.
"Ancient form of Cyclizar, top down view. Digital painting by Dr Romero Turo, circa 4685, TTDL, Earth"
... What.
Was this supposed to be a joke? He sighed in annoyance and stormed out of the room, knowing exactly who was responsible.
« Ortega-» he growled as he entered his office, only to, of course, find it empty.
He stopped on the doorstep, exasperated, looking around.
If he wasn't in his office or in the break room, then...
« Porygon. » he spoke to the empty air, knowing full well that the Pokémon was listening. A screen opened up to his right.
« How may I help, Dr Romero Turo? » it answered after a moment.
« Is Ortega currently on a jump?» he exited the office and made his way towards the time machine room.
« No. He is, however, getting ready to depart soon. I'm calculating his landing coordinates as we speak.»
« Well, stop him for a moment!»
Turo started running at a light jog. There was a moment's pause from the AI, an unusual amount of hesitation coming from the Pokémon considering the speed at which it usually thought and reacted.
« I am... Unable to do that. Doing anything that could impede the normal use of the time machine goes against my duty-»
Turo's eyes widened as he sped up, almost tripping in his haste to reach the room, now for a completely different reason.
« Wait, no... Metaphorically! I meant metaphorically! Just ask him whatever, not "stop him" physically»
AIs and their literal mindedness- Porygon 568 was usually so good at interacting with people, it was easy to forget that it wasn't, in the end, developed with the idea to actually act and think like one. Porygons had been developed as Pokémon first, and AIs only later, almost as an indirect result of making them more and more intelligent and able to deal with increasingly complex scenarios. There was another little pause at the other end of the line.
« ... Oh. That is more understandable.» and with that, it closed the call, leaving Turo flustered as he sprinted across the last section of the corridor. He was completely out of breath as he burst into the room, only to find a bewildered Ortega with his sleeve pulled up, the nurse (her name was Denise, or something?) about to inject him with the protection serum, and a very uncomfortable looking Porygon 568 that was trying and failing to make small talk.
« According to my calculations, the weather in Alfornada, 8th of August year 4378 should be lovely-»
« ... All right?»
All three turned around to look at him, and then stared again as he staggered inside.
And then stared some more as he had to bend in half to catch his breath.
« You okay there...?» Ortega asked after another couple of seconds of panting.
« Yes! I'm here because of you!» Turo finally managed to get out, getting back upright and glaring at his senior.
« What's with... That thing in the break room.»
The other man's eyes lit up, and with a smile, he turned his back to the time machine, leaving poor Denise -if that was her name - to sigh and follow him with the still ready to be used needle.
« Oooh, you've seen that? What do you think of your first art exhibition?»
Turo sighed, not in the mood for Ortega's jokes.
« "My" art exhibition? I draw much better than that... And you know that. You've read my reports, you've seen some of my sketches -»
The man's smile got only wider. Now he was pretty much beaming.
« Oh, this is even better than I thought... So you haven't checked your department mail this morning?»
Turo stared, now with a little, unexplainable feeling of sudden dread springing up from a little corner of his mind. The little corner of his mind that subconsciously knew, and kept silent. Like a coward.
« I... No? I was going to as soon as I got to my office... What is going on?»
He looked to Denise or whatever and Porygon 568. The Pokémon had his eyes closed, exaggeratedly muttering coordinates numbers to himself as it pretended to be busy recalculating something, and the nurse... Well even the nurse was trying to hide a smile now. W-what had he done last night? He remembered coming back home, and... Getting straight to sleep? That was it, right? Urged by Ortega's smile, he opened up a screen and logged into his mail. His blood immediately ran cold as he saw an unread email by Moreau, titled "Re: Report".
R-Report....? He had written nothing of the sort! He was going to start writing his latest one right now! Now sweating, he opened up the email and read with wide eyes, then looked at the attached file.
And went completely red in the face at the thought of all the people who must have read... that.
«I... I have no memory of this!» In his haste to reply, he activated the voice to text function and apologized profusely, promising to rewrite the report immediately. He... He had really sent that to the director? At least Moreau seemed to have taken it with a certain humour, or he would have destroyed his career in a single night.
He... He was never going to live this down.
« Yep, we figured. That must have been some strong stuff.» there was a pause as Ortega snickered.
« ... Well?» He asked, and now even Denise the nurse looked curious.
Turo looked from one to the other.
« Well what?»
« Was the booze at least good?»
« Yes- that's not the point!» he snapped, sighing with exasperation when Ortega exploded with laughter as he turned his back to him and pulled up his sleeve again to finally receive the injection.
« If I was you, I would consider starting a little mini-project. Me and Vega already have the paper title ready. "Taste-testing first traces of man-made alcoholic beverages in late Paleolithic era", by Doctor Romero Turo. We both offer ourselves up as co-authors and testers. » the dark haired man clicked his tongue as he pulled down his sleeve and stepped towards the time machine.
« ... Strictly for science, of course.»
Turo let out a sound that would have resembled the noise Miraidon did when he happened to slide on some gravel, except that it was currently being made by his teeth grinding together. Which probably wasn't exactly healthy.
« No-»
Ortega pouted exaggeratedly, then shrugged.
« Aw. You shouldn't take yourself so seriously. You're funnier when you're drunk!» he laughed again as he waved him off, before disappearing into the time machine as it spun to life.
In the silence that followed, Porygon 568 looked awkwardly between the two humans, before floating next to him with a flap of his short wings.
« I do not have the capacity to understand "drunkenness" as a human state. But if it helps, I have seen the drawing. Taking into account the state of decreased motor skills it was done in, I find the result quite well done. The lines are...» the Pokémon seemed to struggle for a moment.
«... surprisingly straight. » it muttered in the end. Turo couldn't help but let out a little laugh as he patted the Pokémon on the head.
Aw, bless his little, artificially coded heart.
---
That first trip they had taken in that cave had left him pretty shaken. He hadn't really expected to be brought in front of what in his time would become a priceless historical site. He knew those cave paintings, everyone did. They were studied in history books. People speculated about their meanings. To suddenly realize as Sada explained it that they were... Pretty much ancient family trees, their own way of keeping a record of their myths, their history and past before writing even officially existed had left him speechless. And the fact that she had wanted to draw him up there... he had gone back to his time, to his apartment, and looked up the cave painting online. Access to the cave was obviously restricted by now, but the pictures you found of it online were such high quality that they may as well be a perfect reproduction of the original. Haptic feedback even allowed you to somewhat touch them, simulating the feeling of the rock under his fingertips as close as possible... though it still didn't feel exactly the same as when he had actually touched it himself, in the past, to trace Sada's handprint. He enlarged the pictures as much as he could, covering almost the entire wall of his living room, and...stared. Miraidon got down from the couch and came near him to investigate, curious, letting out an inquisitive beeping chirp. He scratched the dragon under his chin as he looked at the picture, searching for a specific spot... There. Sada's handprint, in faded scarlet... And his own violet line all around, the brilliant color he had seen just not even a couple of hours ago similarly faded from the passage of time. But there it was. This picture was from years ago. It had always been there... He had just never paid attention to that small part of it, because he had no idea of what it meant... That he would be the one to leave it there.
With a deep breath, he sat down on the couch and pulled up a description of the painting, skimming it.
"Dated around the year 14'000 BCE and found at the end of a narrow cave system in modern Kalos, this stunning parietal art shows clear handprints belonging to homo sapiens that lived in the area... Numerous representation of Pokémon that must have inhabited the region at the time..."
His eyes finally narrowed on a paragraph in particular, and he tensed.
"... One handprint in particular has long puzzled paleontologists as it is the only one that shows a line traced all around it in a different colour. Since the scarlet handprint evidently belongs to a child, one hypothesis is that the violet line was done by an adult relative, probably one of the parents, to indicate something particular about the kid. One common theory is that it was done to commerate a child that died in their infancy, but that's unusual since considering the number of child sized handprints present on the cave wall, one would expect the number of similarly traced handprints to be higher..."
Turo let out a deep sigh of relief and dismissed the explanation. Well... He had left some paleontologists scratching their heads, but nothing too serious it seemed. He stared distractedly at the cave painting for a moment, feeling himself relax; this way... Sada still had a way to hold up her traditions without potentially revealing that he had been there...
Turo's eyes widened as he took in the painting as a whole and he jumped up from the couch, feeling himself tense up again.
There was... Something wrong with the painting... Or to put it in better terms... Now that he knew what it meant, something was missing...
« ... Why are there no other handprints...?» he whispered, and Miraidon purred at his side without understanding.
He looked back to Sada's handprint. There... There should be a line there. To connect her child handprint to her adult one, and that one to her children, and so on and so forth, for generations to come... But there was nothing. He stared, feeling a rising panic mount in his chest. Miraidon pushed his snout under his hand, sending the tiniest jolt of electricity through it.
... Did... Did something happen to her? Did she simply not have any children...?
"My father was from another tribe"
Maybe... Maybe she had simply married into another group. Found someone else... After he left. An entire new tribe, culture and traditions to discover. Knowledge to share.
That... Sounded like something she would do, he thought with a little smile, chest still aching painfully.
But then... He gave one last look at the painting before dismissing it with a wave.
Even if Sada in particular didn't continue the mural... There should still be generations and generations of other handprints present in this picture compared to what he had just seen. Instead... He couldn't be completely sure, because he had been focusing mostly on the part of the mural with Sada's handprint but there didn't seem to be many more.
Did something happen to the tribe as a whole...? Did they get wiped out...?
... Why was he even worrying about it so much?
It had already happened anyway. They were long gone.
---
As Turo got more and more familiar with life at her settlement, his visits to Sada's time had started to become almost strangely... routine. Every three or four days, he would appear in the usual spot they had designated. They would spend time at the village, or fly around. And they would talk, slowly growing more confident in their respective language skills. He tried not to think too much about the cave painting, and never brought it up, neither with Sada, nor with his colleagues. Ortega would just tell him that he was making things even more difficult for himself for when he had to inevitably leave for good.
"Don't get attached"
And Vega... He wasn't actually sure. She probably spent most of her time chasing legendaries in remote places, and she didn't actually interact with people that much.
He came back from his latest jump, and nodded towards Porygon's usual greeting as he dusted off his clothes.
As he walked through the corridor, he noticed more noise than usual coming from the sanity room. Curious, he stepped inside, and noticed that most of the department seemed to have gathered there. The room was styled after a forest this day, and the noticed that most people present seemed clustered around one table in particular. When he got near, he noticed Vega, a weary look of exhaustion on her face, staring at something projected on the wall.
« .... Hi.» she simply said, noticing his entrance.
« Hi...? What is going on?» he sat down by her side and threw one look to the wall, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
They just looked like a whole bunch of pictures of trees.
« I did it.» Vega sighed, entirely unhappy.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
« You... Wait. You did it?! You got pictures of the legendary beasts?» he gasped, looking back to the photographs.
« Congratulations!» why did she look so gloomy then? It was an amazing result, to get clear, high quality images of some of the most elusive Pokémons that ever existed...
Vega groaned.
« No... Not them. I gave up, it's impossible. So I went after Celebi because... I was already in Johto, the Ilex Forest was right there... And I'm pretty sure it could read the energy coming from my time-anchor or something because it started... Challenging me to chase it around various points in time. We pretty much played time travel tag.»
She sighed again.
« And then it finally allowed me to come near this little shrine they have in the forest and snap some pictures, and...» she wordlessly summoned one of the pictures and enlarged it, and Turo leaned forward to get a better look.
... Yeah that was Celebi all right. Or at least, it fit the various descriptions found in folklore and legends. Small and fairy like, with a couple of tiny wings, it was floating right in front of the little wooden shrine dedicated to it that used to be found in the forest ages ago.
« That... Is a perfect shot.» he still wasn't quite sure why she looked more irritated than overjoyed at her accomplishment.
Vega moved another picture in front of him, and now Turo had to arch one eyebrow. In the new picture, right behind the Celebi on the shrine and waving to the camera, was a second Celebi identical to the first.
« ... Two of them? Isn't he supposed to be unique?»
Legends and old stories were very contradictory about it. Some of them referred to certain legendaries as if there were more than one, others treated them as completely unique; some cases like Heatran or Phione seemed almost confirmed, or some lore about Entei mentioned that one existed for every volcano in the world, and then there was that old story about the "baby Lugia" that had pretty much become a legend on its own. So to see two Celebi in the same spot...
« It could simply be the same individual that came at the shrine from two different points in time. » Moreau commented, squinting his icy blue eyes at the picture, comparing the two Pokémon.
« That's what I also thought... He is the time travel Pokémon after all.» Vega lamented, before pulling up a third picture.
« But then... look at this.»
This one got more than one person to start muttering, and Turo's eyes widened when he saw what the redhead meant. Similar to the second picture, it showed two Celebi. Except that one of the two, this time busy winking to the camera, was red.
« .... A shiny...?» he gaped.
« I don't know!» Vega finally threw her hands in the air, causing all the pictures to accidentally spin in midair.
« What are we supposed to make of this? It has to be a separate individual, right? Why hasn't there been a single shred of reference, myth, painting or drunken report about this Celebi in all of recorded history? I didn't even know shiny legendaries could exist! How can they get the shiny mutation if they don't reproduce?! » and with that, she let out an exhausted sigh and put her head back down on the table.
« I don't know...»
« Sounds to me like you have your next research project already decided. Congratulations.» Moreau commented with a chuckle, clapping the woman on one shoulder before walking out.
People went back to their seats and conversation slowly resumed, except for Ortega, who had stood up from his chair and was busy studying the picture of the shiny Celebi -if that's what it was- with a serious expression, scratching his beard.
« What do you think about all this?» Turo asked after a moment. Even if legendary Pokémon weren't strictly his field of research, he was still one of the most distinguished time travelers in the department. Maybe he could give some insight about the situation.
Ortega's eyes moved to look at him, and he huffed.
« I think that shiny Pokémon were so much cooler looking back in the day! Why do ours all look like they missed a paint job?» he grumbled.
« No wonder shiny hunting stopped being a thing... What a shame.» and with that, he waltzed out of the room, whistling, leaving a half stunned, half resigned silence in his wake. Turo simply sighed.
« ... Yeah, that one's on me. Shouldn't have expected a serious answer from the man.»
---
That whole hunting trip had been both terrifying and eye opening. Documentaries about that era had given him a bit of a distorted view about how they would probably hunt Pokémon. "Oh yes, humans were endurance hunters, we just kept chasing something until it collapsed from exhaustion" didn't really take into account what happened when something actively fought back. Or worse, attacked first.
He had spent pretty much the entire fight against that prehistoric Dodrio either getting thrown aside by Sada or trying not to panic. And of course, being absolutely useless, if not for giving her the Master Ball. Watching them stab at the Pokemon directly really made it clear how careful they had to be... And how easy it would have been for either one of them to end up gravely injured, which was pretty much a death sentence in that time. The story of Sada's father... He must have died of a common infection. Something that was just absurd to think about in his time.
Yet they all treated it like it was normal... Because that was just how their life was. When he had come back, after spending a couple hours under the stars with Sada, it had been late evening.
He had delivered the Master Ball to the science department of the Academy, and had firmly refused when they had asked him if he couldn't get a couple more.
« Go get it yourselves if you want. I'm not risking anyone else's life.» he had growled, and ignored the weird stares he had gotten from everyone as he exited the room.
It was starting to become painfully clear that his time with Sada was running out. Moreau hadn't said anything yet... But the expectation to bring his first real project to conclusion was definitely building up. Turo could feel it. He found himself thinking more and more of... Excuses. Justifications he could use to extend his project just a little bit more. "I still need to learn about their vocabulary a bit better". "I could investigate this other part of their culture a bit more ". And sooner or later it just wouldn't be enough. Wouldn't be worth it. Each use of the time machine cost precious resources and money, and he would have to choose another project to get more valuable data... To make better use of his time. Her answer to his question still weighted on his mind. She was happy, even after the risk she had just taken just earlier that same day. But that was... A good sign. Sada was strong. She would be fine no matter what happened to her... Even after he would have to stop visiting her.
"I have no idea what to do"
He knew it would come to this from the very beginning. He had been agonizing about it since then. He had just... Pushed the problem further and further away. It was a problem for Future Him; he just wanted to enjoy the time he had with Sada to the fullest. Just one more day. One more visit ... Just one more...
Maybe he really should have listened to Ortega's advice, and cut all contacts before it got to this, he thought as he was tossing around in his bed that night.
He had finally managed to fall asleep, Miraidon curled all around him with his snout resting on his chest, when a sudden whooshing sound startled him awake.
He blinked still half asleep, to find that the dragon had gotten up with a burst of his jet engines and was pacing around the room, restless.
He sighed, raising one arm to prop himself up on the bed.
« Mirai... What is it?»
The dragon kept pacing up and down, and after a moment, he got up to caress it gently. The Pokémon nuzzled him rubbing his snout on his cheek, then turned towards the window.
« Gyaa?»
Turo sighed.
« Buddy... It's 3 AM. I need to sleep.»
The blue digital eyes blinked as the Pokémon nodded, excited.
He got up after a long moment.
« All right. Just a short walk.»
---
Mezagosa at night was beautiful. The historical part of the city, the only one which still had brick buildings, almost seemed to shine under the colored lights from the enormous skyscrapers all around. Just one side of the city was completely dark, the one built near the rock face of the Great Crater. Turo had been walking with Miraidon by his side for a while, looking at the thousands of people that walked around the street, the shops that were open at all hours. He didn't have many occasions to simply... Walk around, lately. He mostly went to the office through a teleporter, spent most of the day there either on a jump or busy with writing his paper or doing research, and went back home. He felt guilty looking at just how happy Miraidon looked, and realizing how much he had left him alone in his apartment, pretty much only coming back a couple of short hours every day to sleep. It had been a while since they had simply... Gone on a walk together.
Maybe... After his project was done he could take a little break before starting the next one. They could take a nice little vacation. Overseas, maybe.
The dragon stopped in front of a bakery, eyeing the pastries in the shop window.
« You already had dinner and a midnight snack, you are not getting anything else tonight.» he grumbled, before startling and stopping to look at the exposition of the shop right next to it. A jewellery.
He stared for a long moment at one of the objects inside, a pained look on his face, then took a deep breath and opened the door.
---
« Update destination coordinates?» Porygon 568 asked by now as a pure formality. Turo, as always, shook his head as Denise quickly injected him with the serum.
« The usual ones. Just add four days to the time coordinate.» he answered as he pulled down the sleeve of his clothes and stepped into the time machine. He closed his eyes, like always, and took a deep breath, opening them up again with a small smile, expecting to see Sada waiting for him by their usual meeting spot in the clearing by now. Maybe with a fire already set up, it had gotten a lot colder with the arrival of winter.
He frows when he finds himself completely alone; he moves a couple of steps around, perplexed -the place was definitely the right one-, as he pulls the hood of Sada's clothes up to cover his face from the snow that was still falling. It was... Snowing pretty hard, actually. Maybe she had decided to just wait for him somewhere warmer?
In that case, she would have left a message of some kind, to decide their new meeting spot. Turo started to look all around, searching maybe for a slip of paper pinned under a rock, or on a tree, but he couldn't find anything. Now he's perplexed; he ... Hadn't gotten the day wrong, had he? Had he ended up in another time completely? But no ... There were still signs from the last fire...
Worst case, he could wait for his time-anchor battery to recharge, jump back, and try again... And then he saw the claw marks. Deep, violent gouges had cracked some tree trunks. White and blue feathers were scattered everywhere, with clear signs of a struggle having taken place. His breath catches in his throat. Did Winged King fight something here? Did he get injured again?
If Sada had been with him-
His heart seems to start up again, beating faster, frantic. There's a set of footprints he recognizes as from the dragon, left deep in the snow and clear enough that even he is able to follow them. Snow hasn't hidden them again yet, so from what little he knew about tracking, it had to have happened... Recently. He hurried after the tracks, following them further deep into the trees, his heart hammering faster after catching sight of some tiny droplets of blood bright red on the snow. But that was... fine, if they were from Winged King, they had to be from the Pokémon, please be from the Pokémon, he thought-
She was laying just after the entrance of a little cave, Winged King curled up all around her, a mirror image of how his own Miraidon would lay protectively over him at night.
Turo stopped dead in his tracks, eyes wide, frozen on the spot. The cave mural flashed in his mind. The fact that there was nothing else on it-
Turo stumbled in his haste to get near her. Winged King raised his head from her side and whined, eyes downcast.
There... There was just so much blood all around-
No... Nonono, this couldn't be happening. He... Knew she was long gone in his time, that he had to let her go, but...
« No... No, please-» he whispered.
Not... Not right in front of his eyes, she couldn't-
He knelt near her, the dragon stepping back, and she moved. Sada's eyes fluttered open, tired, unfocused, and he felt horror grip him at how weak she looked, how frail.
« T-» her breathing is slow, laboured, but she still struggled to talk, recognizing him.
« Ssssh» he cupped her face with his hands.
« Don't talk ... It's fine... You will be fine-» his own voice sounded distant to him, like he was trying to convince himself first more than anyone else. He choked back a sob as he looked at her. The deep gash in her side. The hair matted with red. The way she trembled as she still tried to talk.
« Other... Winged King... Fought...» she weakly got out, lips trembling with the effort, her face deathly white.
Her eyes were what terrified him the most, terrified of seeing them lose that spark of life right in front of him, that brightness, that wonderful light full of curiosity and strength that he just loved so much.
« I... I can-» he tried to control his panicked thoughts. What? What could he do?
There is a sudden, bright flash of white light right by his side, and he pulled Sada close as he somehow tried to shield her, squeezing his eyes shut. When he opened them up again a moment later, blinking white spots out of his eyes, he looked to his left... And stood still, slack jawed, gaping in shock.
Because there, right by his side, is himself. Turo -the other Turo- looks down at him, and he feels a deep sense of wrongness at seeing his own face look into him. There is a quiet determination on his doppelganger's face as he kneels down, and Turo noticed the two objects he was holding in his hands.
He's got another time-anchor in his right hand... And a syringe full of protection-serum in his left. His eyes grew wide when he realized what the other him's -Future Him, he realized - intentions were.
What he wanted to do... What he will do ...
But that was... Crazy...
« Save these coordinates, and shift 0.05 to the left, and minus eight seconds. Now.»
If his face looking at him is strange, his own voice talking back to him makes him flinch.
« W-what...»
« MOVE!» future him had finished attaching the time-anchor to Sada's wrist and had forcibly pushed him away, and he stumbled as he almost fell backwards. He scrambled back up, breath heavy. He looked between Sada, and his future self. He clicked the device on his wrist to take note of his current coordinates.
He... He knew exactly what he had to do.
He turned around, and ran out of the cave, sprinting like he's never done before, tripping and stumbling multiple times, his legs screaming in pain at the effort of pushing through the snow. The instant his time-anchor's batteries are full again, he pressed the button, and found himself back in his time, almost falling forward as he's still mid running motion, completely out of breath.
« Welcome back, Dr Romero Turo. That was an extremely short trip-»
« Keep the time machine active. I need to go right back.» he interrupted the Pokémon, rushing through the door while panting heavily.
He needed to get two things.
Rationally, he knew that he had all the time in the world. He could literally go take a nap, go on with his life, and come back to that exact moment an hour, or a month, or years later, and literally not a second would have passed. But he wasn't thinking rationally. He could only think of-
"I have to hurry, I have to save her, I can do it-"
He ran through the corridor and towards the little room where they kept unused time-anchors and other equipment; in his haste, he didn't notice the figure that was just about to step into one of the elevators stop in his tracks to turn around and look at him.
Turo skidded to a stop in front of the door, waving it open with one hand. Nothing happened.
« The door is locked. Access to equipment is allowed only to personnel with the adequate level of permission.»
He gaped as the figure of the Artificial Pokemon materialized in front of him, floating at eye level. What?
Was it going to stop him?
« I have analyzed the landing point of your current coordinates. There is a biometric signature of a human native of that time period not far from there. Her signature matches that of the person that was in proximity of your landing points many times these past months. Your intentions are obvious.»
Turo stared at the little AI, shocked.
Had it been... Looking at where he landed through the coordinates saved in his time-anchor? Had it been aware of Sada all this time?
« Porygon... Move aside.»
The Pokémon simply looked at him.
He pulled up a command terminal, frustrated, trying to make his way through the door. He... He didn't have time for this!
« Bringing humans native to a time period different from their own to this one is forbidden, as per rule #3 of the correct use of the time machine. » Porygon continued, and Turo grit his teeth in frustration. There was no need to quote the entire damn manual at him, he knew that! He-
He stopped and looked at the AI, still floating in front of him. Still in his way.
He... He still had the administrator keys.
He could... Simply order Porygon to do what he wanted, shut him down completely, and there was nothing the little AI could have done to stop him-.
He took a deep breath.
« Porygon 568, execute ord-»
« However-»
He jerked in surprise, when this time it was the AI's turn to cut him off. When... Had he learned to do that...?
« My most important directive that takes precedence over any other rule is making sure that any human who makes use of the time machine does so safely. That is usually humans that step into the time machine...» there was a pause as the Pokémon tilted its head sideways, in what Turo could only see as its own personal version of a smirk.
« ... Or, I suppose, humans that happen, for whatever reason, to only step out of the time machine.»
Porygon 568 beat its wings, eyes flashing yellow, and the door flew open.
Turo just stared at the Pokémon for a long moment.
« ... That is abusing a loophole in your rules and you know it.» he half sighed, half grinned in relief, rushing inside.
The Pokémon beeped happily.
« I had a good teacher.»
---
He stepped back into the time machine after giving Porygon the coordinates he had just saved in the cave, appropriately corrected. The cryptic numbers spewed by... Well, himself, had been, he realized, the exact numbers he needed to appear right by his side, instead of where he had been. After all, appearing in a spot that was already occupied by... Himself would have been.... Bad...
He was holding one time-anchor that was currently unused into his right hand, and one syringe full of one dose of the serum in the left. He would need both to bring Sada safely back with him. He closed his eyes as he felt the machine power back up, replaying the scene in his mind. What he had seen his future self do... he now had to do himself. He had to get it exactly right.
Turo opened his eyes, and looked to his right, into his own eyes and at his past self's shocked and tears stricken face, Sada clutched against his chest. Had he been crying...? He hadn't noticed.
He knelt down, and grabbed Sada's wrist slipping the time-anchor around it, making sure it's safely secured.
« Save these coordinates, and shift 0.05 to the left, and minus eight seconds. Now.»
Past him is completely frozen in place, because of course he is, he's literally just lived this very scene-
«W-what...»
« MOVE!»
He pushed him away, and heard the sound of steps fading as he ran out of the cave.
That should do it... That should have closed the loop.
Now alone, he turned his attention back towards Sada. Her eyes are barely open, breath laboured, and as he pulls her closer he wondered for a moment if she was lucid enough to have followed the scene. She moved her head, barely, to look at him, as he pulled at her clothes to reveal one shoulder to do the injection. His left hand trembled a bit as he raised the syringe. He could do it. It was going to be okay. Her eyes seemed to widen a bit at the sharp point.
« ... What... Is-»
« It will be fine.» he reassured her, quickly slipping the needle inside.
He stuffed it back into his lab coat immediately after, grabbing her time anchor to start it up. He configured the little device, synchronizing it to his own.
Now... Now the hard part. His own battery was depleted since he had just arrived. Hers wasn't, since it hadn't technically brought anyone to the past.
He didn't want to risk leaving her here to wait while his own recharged, even by running, unless it was absolutely necessary. Every second she spent here, was a second more where she could...
She had to make the jump now, by herself... He would reach her immediately after.
He took her hand and put it on the time-anchor strapped to her wrist.
« You press this button when I say so, alright?» his heart was hammering in his chest, painfully aware that if his hands slipped right now, if he or her accidentally activated it while they were so close, with only one battery worth of power between them...
He had no idea what would happen.
Maybe he would end up somewhere, lost in time and space. Maybe only one part of his body would travel back, killing him instantly.
Turo stepped back, relief flooding him when nothing happened. Sada didn't move, and for a terrible moment, he thought that she hadn't heard him, or didn't have the strength to do it, and he would have to risk leaving her in this damp, dirty cave again... And then there is a flash of light, and for the second time he had to squeeze his eyes shut again, and she's gone. He's... Never actually found himself in the position of watching someone appear or disappear. When he did it, of course the light came from him-
Winged King roared at him, looking around. He caressed the injured dragon.
« I'll help her, I promise. We'll be back.» he said, and then ran out of the cave for the second time.
---
When Turo came back to his time, it's barely a second after Sada. She had collapsed and seemed completely unconscious, Porygon 568 having forgone his usual greeting to hover anxiously over her. She was still losing blood, which looked even more red on the pristine and immaculate pavement of the TTDL. There is a weird buzzing in his ears as he knelt down to gather her into his arms, managing to lift her with quite some effort. It was like he was watching everything happen from another point of view. It didn't feel real.
She was ... Here. In the present.
He could have an epic freak out about it later, now he needed to get her to-
« What in the name of Arceus are. You. Doing?»
Turo froze, turning towards the shadow of Ortega that was standing at the door, eyes wide and paler than he had ever seen him.
« I... She's been injured... I had to-»
« You had to do what?» the other time traveller stormed inside, and Turo realised that he was livid. He hadn't actually ever seen Ortega angry.
« I thought I had made myself clear. We just observe. We don't interfere. Don't get attached! Not bring some... Some primitive cave woman here!» the man hissed, and Turo felt anger flare up in his chest. He gritted his teeth, squaring up towards his colleague.
Sada... She was neither primitive nor simply a cave woman like some dumb stereotypical brute-
« Don't speak of her like that and step aside.» he muttered, voice low.
« NO!» Ortega shouted. « This is insane! You're insane! Turo...» he put both hands through his hair in furious exasperation.
« I don't know how to get you to understand, but... You have to let her GO. She's already dead-»
« DON'T SAY SHE'S DEAD!» Turo exploded, marching up until he towered over the man. Ortega flinched for a moment , caught by surprise.
« I... I know I have to... Leave her soon. But I couldn't just... She was bleeding out, Ortega. Right in front of me. That... That couldn't be how her life ends. I'll... bring her back there. I want her to at least have the best life she can hope for... Without me.» he whispered, voice cracking. Ortega said nothing as he looked away, face contorted in a mix of anguish and anger. Turo was sure he knew what the other was thinking about. His lover, left in the past. Years and years gone, an entire life he could never be a part of. But at least, lived to the fullest.
« Ortega, please...»
The man looked at Sada's unconscious face for a split second, closed his eyes, then let out a hiss of frustration and stepped aside.
« Damn you, Turo... If Moreau finds out, he will have both our heads!» he hissed. « ... I'll go call the elevator... And the hospital. Let's go.»
---
Turo sat in the corridor of Mezagosa's Mimosa Hospital.
Having an epic freak out.
He still could barely believe what he had done. He had broken.... Pretty much every rule of time travelling by now. His career would be finished if word of this got out. He would be lucky to be able to get some jobs setting up dumb websites for advertising little family shops up on Mars. That's the most he would be able to aspire to for the rest of his life, pretty much.
But Sada... Was here. Being treated this exact moment.
Nobody had batted an eye at seeing two people in ice age clothes rush in, one unconscious and covered in blood. They were used to treating injuries received by time travelers during one jump or the other, Ortega had reassured him.
How Ortega knew that ... Better not to know. Speaking from experience, for sure.
« I brought some old clothes of mine » Vega left a bag in the seat next to him, and offered him a drink. Turo took it, opening the can on autopilot.
« Coffee?» he asked, taking a sip.
« Nope. Gin and tonic, you look like you need it.» she answered, prompting him to almost spit the cocktail out.
« Don't get me drunk in a hospital-»
« It will be a while until they're done. Relax.» the redhead sat by his other side, and took the canned drink from him.
« ... Ortega told me everything. How is she?»
Turo took a deep breath.
« ... Should be fine. They've stabilized her. Cloned some of her blood and gave her a self-transfusion. » he looked at her colleague, conflicted.
« You... Didn't have to get involved, you know. Now it's also your head on the chopping block.» he felt guilty for having dragged both of them into... This.
« Don't worry, it was my choice. I made Ortega tell me everything. We'll come up with some excuse about your last jump together. »
Vega smiled a bit.
« Even from the vague mentions in your past reports... She sounds like an amazing girl.»
He smiled a tiny bit in return.
« ... She is.»
There was a brief silence between the two.
« I'm sorry, Turo. As soon as she wakes up...»
« ... I know.»
She offered him the drink again.
This time, after a moment, he took it.