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    As we ate our pancakes, taking sips from our cups of cocoa, there was still a tense aura in the air. Miley would side-eye Shinji as she ate, hesitating on finishing her meal while Jake laid his head low and paid no attention to our new companion. Sam on the other hand, simply smiled as he ate, with Noctowl still being by his side at all times, refusing to join the other Pokémon and left his pokéfood untouched.

    It was an unusually quiet supper that morning, and Shinji was just sitting there beside me, hands clasped and looking like a nervous wreck. "Ash," Sam asked. "Is anything the matter? Your food's going to get cold if you don't eat something…"

    "Oh, yeah! That's right, I almost forgot to eat!" I answered. Jacob sighed as I said that, leaving his utensils at the plate, crossing his arms.

    He groaned. "Y'know, I'm not that hungry either. Shinji, you wanted to tell us something earlier, ey?"

    "Oh, of course, of course, ammani! I just…wasn't expecting a situation, like this one…" He tried laughing it off. "Usually, it's just two people playing this game–I haven't met a group as big as this one in over a century. ‘Guess I got a little caught off the pokéball, ey?"

    "Hm…the legendary beast, Toshinmac, is actually pretty shy! That's a new one." Jake went back to eating his flapjacks.

    "Shy? No, no, more like, um…" He nudged my shoulder. "Hey, kid, how do I go about this?"

    "And how should I know? Man, I barely know anything about you or who this Arhemigku guy even is to begin with…Shinji, speak up already! Get on with the program." I ordered.

    "Pffh, fine…" He rolled his eyes at me. "I know that none of you trust me at the moment, but believe me, the fate of the world is at stake here if you don't hear what I have to say…" He pulled out the star card again. "I'm assuming that you all still believe in him, the Dragon, ey?"

    "Believe? As in, he's real too?" Jacob demanded, bewildered.

    "Yes, the one and only, Arhemigku. Pregihaz and Gratifuwa are all real too, and so are their dangerous plans to corrupt the world."

    They all still looked at him with rising suspicion, and I was the only one who didn't get the full memo. "Um, guys, just one question…Who's Arhemigku?" And wasn't pregihaz the Blawsthian way of saying pretty cool? Was being pretty cool even a believable thing anymore?

    Sam looked at me, ready to explain, "They say Arhemigku was a dragon with feathers so valuable that they would make a poor village into a wealthy city. Personally, I'll agree with Jake. I find it hard to believe all of this."

"They said Toshinmac was hiding under the spade card for a good reason!" Jacob elaborated. "Gratifuwa brought knowledge; Pregihaz, true beauty, and Arhemigku, wealth. Toshinmac, on the other hand…" he said sternly as he looked at Shinji with disapproval, "...Is said to have locked them all up before they could truly make this world into the utopia it was meant to be."

    "Yeah, now all thanks to him, we gotta keep building from the ground up!" Miley whined.

    "Well, you're not lying. All you said was the complete and utter truth." Shinji admitted under his scarf.

    "Alright, cool. Why'd you do that though?" she continued.

    "They did try their best to fulfill the world as much as possible, but in doing so, they shunned the most important thing…" Shinji looked through the window. "Things must end. Without me by their side, they lost what was most valuable and started arguing, causing havoc for the sake of man and Pokémon alike."

    "So, was the massive battle between them also true?" Sam asked.

    "Unfortunately, yes. There was only one way of ending their endless bickering in this world and…it was a massive sacrifice, but they are not evil. None of us are. Like I said, they only wanted what was best…" He got off his seat. "So I had to step up and take the Bullet Seed. A young man and his Lucario from overseas came to me, and the few who weren't willing to take a side in the battle, claiming that he knew of a Pokémon, much more powerful than the rest of us would be able to fix things properly…"

    "What was the catch?"

    "..." Shinji covered his mouth with his scarf. "I had to be the one to lock everyone inside. A world full of silence. That Pokémon, I saw one glimpse of it, and it told us that in order to get out, we had to stop fighting at once. They didn't listen and insisted that their methods were better, and I had to protect the ones who didn't want to fight elsewhere for years to come…" he said so solemnly.

    "They refuse to cooperate, no matter what." he continued. "They fight on and on, with no signs of peace coming, anytime soon. And their power, it's grown so much. So, please, trust me on this one…" Shinji turned to me. "Ash, I beg of you, please help me stop Arhemigku, this time around."

    I gulped, then said, like before, "Of course. I'll make sure he doesn't win!'

    "That's the spirit!"

    "So, with that being said…Dengwash, why are you a human being?" Miley said as she was already done with her meal.

    "That's irrelevant." Shinji tried smiling it off as he looked out at the window at the opposite corner and spotted a Collerah that had already snuck back into the dining cart again. "Ew! Collerah!" It refused to crawl away. "Alright, that's it…"

    And just like that, his real form appeared after being coated in ink, pulling the large blade from his back and charged outwards to get the other pests gone! "Shinji, hold on!" I shouted as I ran for him.

    He carved a large curved line down onto the ground as a bunch of collerah ran off into the woods. They left berries behind as he changed back, looking at the trees. "Your food's safe now." he said, pulling down his scarf.

    All the other bug, and some flying pokémon, flew in for a bite! "Ah, they were hoarding! There must be a nest somewhere then…" Sam deduced.

    "Ah-ha, they usually do that. But you know how they are when it comes to other pokémon food…" Shinji looked back at us. "Anyways, what's up on the schedule?"

    "Mahtverin." Sam answered. "Have you visited the Institute, Shinji?"

    "Oh, once. I met a good friend over there, I'd like to know his fate very soon." The other pokémon finished their meal as Pikachu joined against his shoulder. "Better finish up now!" In a blotch of ink, he zipped beside me. "Because those pancakes aren't going to be tasting so sweet soon…"

    "Huh?" I asked. "Uh, okay!" Geez, he showed up out of nowhere! He placed Pikachu on top of my head where, ironically, I felt a bit light-headed.

    The sun shone over the clouds as we climbed down the mountain cliffs, and Shinji already made friends with a Ponyta. I didn't know where he got that one from, it just kinda…showed up out of nowhere. The Pokémon from the train offered some berries back to us as a thanks for saving their food from the Collerah, so I guessed we might have accidently lured it with them.

    "Can we keep it, please?" Shinji begged as he brushed its fur. I still couldn't tell what I was looking at. Was it really an almighty, powerful Pokémon as everyone claimed or just some guy who acted like a five year old, whining at the boardwalk until you win him a plush Pokémon.

    "Hey, Ash, if you're not taking it, then maybe I should," Jacob suggested, pulling out a free pokéball. He seemed to have taken a liking to Ponyta as well, feeding it some berries whenever he got the chance to.

    "Sure, go right ahead!" I cheered on.

    "Alright, time for my first catch!" He gently bopped the button against its nose, and let it out for Shinji.

    "Ah, gratihaz!" Shinji thanked him. All right, that kept him quiet for the moment. Don't get me wrong, having some freaky six-foot Pokémon with a scythe that drips black goo wherever he went, while having speed that could rival Pikachu's was fantastic, I just wondered why I had to be his trainer?

    I knew that I thought of myself as unlucky, but I just wondered exactly what I did to obtain that card? He still seemed so unfitting–what if I didn't train him right? Would he drag me down then? I had a clock ticking in the back of my mind, ticking by, by, bye. I shouldn't think too hard on it, he didn't seem all that horrible. In fact, the pokémon seemed to really enjoy his company; Pikachu enjoyed playing along with him the most in particular! Every time we took a rest, they'd start chasing each other like they were kids or something, and even I joined in on the fun once!

    "Ash, get up! We have to pick up the pace again!" Jacob said, lifting me up from the field. I was so exhausted and grinning like a maniac alongside the pokémon. It took me back, back to when I had nobody but Pokémon to play with after school, so curious about everything, no matter how dangerous!

    Heh, I guess I was still like that, huh? They were there for my best of times and my worst, but now, I felt so uncertain about it all. Like the balancing scale would crumble at any moment, and I was out on the field, playing with Toshinmac, the Father of All Absol, the Twisted Jester, and most importantly, the Killer of All Smiles. I just couldn't let my guard down–the others still kept glancing at me like I was a lunatic, and you know you're really messed up when you start believing that you are one too. This guy could kill me if I got onto his bad side. I still couldn't face myself to fully believe it though, this guy?

    It seemed that he didn't get the memo that playtime was over. "Hey, Shinji, we got to pack up soon!" I enlightened him.

    He got up and moved his overgrown hair out of his eyes, and with that stare, I felt the Reaper watching me, waiting for an opportunity to strike. "Pff, alright, fine! Let's get going, guys!" Hm, I guess he wouldn't kill me, yet. He was just slightly bothered, that was all…

    Mahtverin wasn't all that far and we got near the gates by the start of noon. As we grew nearer towards the entrance, I heard the loud sounds of heavy drumming work off in the distance, then some guitar notes! I picked up the pace the moment I heard some singing too! Singing the words of the language I could recognize. There were some fences boarded up and I accidently knocked a few, whoops!

    In between maroon buildings were wide black streets running along the road, and off the distance of stairways, I spotted a massive concert hall below! Folks sang against the railing as the band played.

    "Ash, wait up!" Jacob tried keeping up with me, alongside the others.

    Each bandmate dawned a striped black fedora and business suit, with separate tie colors. Mournfully, the frontman sang,

Libs, aran, kroi

You've filled my life with so much joy!

Libs, aran, kroi

And the Solrock rain in June!

I thought I was a small goner

A little speck of a Venonat

Didn't expect to see that fly by

Bye, bye Butterfree, hello Beautifly

And then I've met you

And then I've only craved you!

You!

Libs, aran, kroi!

You've filled my life with so much joy!

Libs, aran, kroi

And the Solrock rain in June!

I look forward to seeing you soon!

    I started clapping and so did Pikachu. Everyone else soon joined along. "Thank you everyone! That was 'Your Joy, Mi Kroi', by The Neurotic Savantics! A classic, we always enjoy playing this one. Anyways, one final request…"

    As people went up front to choose the last song, Jacob was staring into space. I shook his shoulder a little. "Hey, Jake, that was good, huh?"

    "Oh?" He looked down at me. "Um, yeah."

    "Um, yeah? Oh, come on, your dad wrote that one!" Miley punched his back as she gave the band a whistle.

    "Your dad?" I asked him.

    He was already facing the ground, crossing his arms. "Eh, yeah. My dad. He wrote that one."

    "Wow. Jake, your dad's awesome!" Now I wished my dad was a musician instead of that good-for-nothing loser who left home and never came back! Jake had to be pretty lucky if those were his dad's tunes…

    "I knew I recognized that guitar work from somewhere! Oh, wow–Francis made it!" Shinji recollected. "I hope they play another one!"

    Sam stood behind us. "You know, let's listen to this last song, then we'll get to the school, ey, Ash?"

    "Huh? Oh, yeah…I forgot about that." Crap, and I already felt like I was getting interrogated. The next song could only distract me from how sweaty my palms were getting. Before I knew it, the song was already over and I could barely keep up with anything other than the drumming.

    "Alright, time to get going!" Jacob said as the cheering continued.

    "Yeah, let's do this thing!" I tried finding any reason to stall ourselves from reaching the Institute, such as random questions, mostly ones I was genuinely curious about. "Hey, how come you guys don't speak that much Blawsthian? Come to think of it, those guys in the back didn't say that much in it either, what's up with that?"

    "Oh, believe me, we still use it when we have to. It'll never leave us." Sam answered as we walked along. "We're not in Whabick, if that's what you meant, oh no. We're in Mahtverin, home of the Beedrill's buzz! Commercialization does that to a city–can't you believe that the Gym Leader here left his place unattended again?"

    "Um, maybe?"

"Guess what he's doing? Buying stocks over in Unova, but whatever keeps the money flowing I guess."

    "Yeah!" Whatever that meant… "But why do you not use Blawsthian when talking to each other?"

    "Ash, do you know how much fun it is when you speak in a secret code language that nobody other than your friends can get? That's pretty cool, ey?" Jacob added.

    "Hm, yeah, that is pretty cool!"

    "Y'know, it wasn't all like this back then. Me and my old trainer would talk in code because we needed to, not just for her sake but for privacy's sake too." Shinji also mentioned as he had his arms wrapped behind his neck.

    "I'm surprised that you're not rusty at it!" Jacob asked, astounded.

    "Heh, me too. Took me a while to get the hang of it, but if that's the main thing you had to speak for the next year of your life, you get used to it pretty quickly! About time the rest of the region caught up with the memo." He whistled.

    I noticed the path we were walking on, they were being blocked off with fences. "Hey, what are those for?"

    "I just remembered, they're holding another parade tonight." Sam answered. "You should stick by, Ash. A festival night in Mahtverin is worth watching!"

    "Oh, that's sweet! Man, it must get pretty noisy around here, huh?"

    "Well, it's not much. It's only the holiday nights you got to worry about though. Otherwise, it fits well within everyone's business hours, and they got some nice dancers…" He walked up to Jake. "Hey, you may even find one this–"

    "Yeah, not interested."

    "But they're from the Institute's performance department, you gotta find someone that at least tickles your fancy this time."

    "Don't you have a girl you're trying to catch yourself?"

    There was a slight silence. "Yeah, but I'm more concerned about your quest…"

    Ugh…Girl talk. I hoped they didn't start dragging me into it. Drifloon had the same idea as me as he drifted towards Shinji and whispered into his ear. "Oh, really? But aren't you even remotely interested in helping your trainer's quest for finding young love?" he answered back. The balloon shook his head. "Well, have it your way, Looneytic. Hey, Ash, look over there!" he said as he grabbed my shoulders and shifted me towards my left.

    I realized that there were various vendors we skipped by, but my eyes quickly came fixated on the sign with a massive sundae poster by it. I couldn't understand a single word but this was the perfect excuse and I was hungry. "Hey, guys, is this the parlor you were talking about last night?"

    Miley's face lit up as she caught up to me. "Oh, yeah! Ice cream, what a great idea, Ash! Come on, let's go! I'll pay up too!" She was already running without us.

    Sam and Jacob turned around. "Ice cream?"

    "You guys said we'd get some today..." I answered, bashfully.

    Jacob looked back at Sam. "Ice cream. Come on, man!" He and Looney went after Miley as Sam held onto his cap, and the rest of us quickly caught up!

    Everyone else got a cone while me and Pikachu got a sundae of our own, but that wasn't enough of a distraction as before I knew it, I took the last spoonful of ice cream and we already arrived in front of the stairs of the Institute. Students walked from top to bottom with their pokémon, either being neat with everything in a bag, or disorderly, struggling to keep their pens in between books and paperwork. I was so glad that I didn't go to school anymore! I gulped as I tossed the plastic tray perfectly into the black bin.

    "Ah, home." Sam said with his palms in his coat. Everyone was already walking in without me. "Come on, let's go." he invited. Inside the tall hallways, with floating Pokémon transporting packages and work above us, and professors sorting books out with the librarians on the side. I gotta say, I never saw so many books around me before. It felt like a scene from a fantasy movie. So, there should be a dragon Pokémon protecting those books somewhere…

    "Yo!" we heard from above. A Dragonite flew down with a girl on it. She had short brown hair and a green bomber jacket over her white lace dress. "Sammy, I was wonderin' when you'd come back!" She hopped off as Dragonite landed. Her accent wasn't Blawsth but more southern?

    "Oh, Tati! I was actually wondering when you'd be back–"

    "Not soon enough." She was carrying a parcel and small red box with her. "See this? I gotta go to Whabick soon. Nice seein' ya', though!" She held her thumb up.

    "Yeah, you too, but we just got back from Whabick! You seriously don't have time to chat?"

"Well, I guess a slight delay won't be so bad…But this is pretty important, so I'll stick ‘round for a few more minutes." Her eyes glanced at me, then Shinji, then Pikachu–she approached my shoulder to pet him. "Aw, a Pikachu! Sam, did ya' get that on yer Dex yet? Wait, I shouldn't ask, 'course ya' did…" She then turned to me. "Can I pet ‘em?"

    "Sure!"

    "Aw, thank ya', uh…"

    "Ash!"

    "Yeah, Ashy! Yer not from around here, huh? Ya' know, I heard a rumor ‘round West Wing that a Kanto trainer would be here, but I thought that they cut the deal off."

    "Well, the deal's back on!" I said with a hand on my hip. I could hear Jacob sigh slightly as he crossed his arms again.

    "Wow. I'm so glad that y'all are helpin' him with the language stuff, even I get tired of it at some point," she shrugged, then looked up at Jacob. "Ya' know, I thought that you'd turn down trainin' too. Glad ya' gave it a shot though!"

    "Um, yeah…" He scratched his head.

    "Looney, make yer trainer proud!" she saluted as she got on Dragonite. "Anyways, I should probably quit stallin' y'all, I got duties to carry out myself…" No, come back!

    "Take care Tati!" Sam shouted as Dragonite's wings flapped.

    "You too!" Her Dragonite flew through the circular stained glass opening.

    Sam stood there. "Darn it. I had a chance…"

    Miley patted his back. "Well, cheer up. I don't have the best of luck myself, yet, speaking of…" She turned to me. "You ready to see a skeleton, Ash?"

    "Hold on, Miley, I gotta ask Ashy here something…" Sam said with a slightly shaky voice before Miley took lead. Oh man…  "You know, now that Tati mentioned it, I do remember there being a big buzz of some Kanto trainer coming here, but I never paid much attention to it…Ash, how come you never told us this?"

    "Um, it's a top secret mission. Professor Oak told me to not drag others along, it could be dangerous, and…" I tried wrapping my arm over Shinji's shoulder, causing him to drop down to my level before he could nab a book off a shelf. "Look what happened! I found exactly what I was searching for!"

    "Huh? Really?" Toshinmac lifted a brow, and now I was slowly turning into the most suspicious person of the group. "Because all I heard back in my own little realm of darkness was that you were feeling a little lost–"

    "Which is natural when you just get off an airplane with no sense of direction! We were planning on canceling the mission anyways because we swore that we'd never find you, but now, here you are! The one and only, the great Black Jester Pokémon himself, Toshinmac, A.K.A. Shinji!"

    "Oh, so now I get it; I'm just a lab rat to you now–no offense, Pikachu."

    "Ka-pi…" he muttered back.

    Their faces were so glum, I should have specified it a little more. "Well, we weren't looking for you exactly, anything from that game would have counted, right, buddy?" I asked Pikachu, who had no other choice but to nod with me. "Mm-hmm! Even Arhemigku would have counted!"

    Shinji face-palmed so hard that I could hear it smacking his skull. Just how much did he know? "You're lucky that you got me, kid, because that other guy is a load of trubbish when given the chance to speak."

    "Anywho, if all of this is true…" Sam replied back, "Does this mean we have a chance at meeting Professor Oak?" His face gleamed in front of me.

    "Um…Sure." They were going to find out about the whole thing eventually…

    "Alright, West Wing should be…that way!" He pointed in between shelves to his right, shuddering a little as he realized where we were headed. "Come along now, I can get you linked to the communication room above. I am Ms. Winchester's top student anyways, so I don't think we'll run into any trouble."

    Passing inside, walking through circular stairs, we made it to the third floor where the communication room should be. Sam greeted people who passed by, some teasing him about the skeleton more than others, and that's when we saw Him. Enclosed in a glass case with a sign in small Blawsthian text in front, hung the skeleton. Sam kept his distance from Him, having his hands in his coat's pocket as we all observed what was inside.

    "Hm, must be lonely in there…" I commented.

    "You know, Sam, I think you're freaking out too much." Jacob leaned his arm against the case. "I mean, it's just some guy–"

    "Some guy!" a balding man with rectangular frames and white coat shouted with a key in his hand. "Didn't you read the sign? It says no touching! Tojinklah! " he said sternly.

    "Well, tigrash mi…" Jacob said, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall instead.

    "I've never seen these students around here before, except the girl one–I've seen her plenty of times…" he said with one cold stare. Miley gulped as she put her arms around her back.

    "Sorry, Mr. Colt, but we got some important business to attend to!" Sam announced firmly.

    "Oh yeah? And what would Winchester's Starmi want anyways?"

    "It's not for me," He pointed his finger down towards me. "It's for him!"

    Colt scrunched his face. "And who may you be?"

    "Um, Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town! Oak sent me!"

    "Oh really?" His face, ugh…And I thought Shinji's filled me with more dread… "This is the runt Oak was going to send?" He groaned.

    "I got some news, major news!" I shoved Shinji in front of him. "I found the Pokémon!" I could feel my bandage starting to unwrap slightly…

    Colt quickly glanced at the visible ink and grabbed my arm, ripping the bandage off instantly. He started reading it. "November…are you part of some sort of gang!" he scolded.

    "No!" Sam answered. "It's part of the Pokémon! Please, sir, let us talk to Oak!" Sam quickly grabbed Pikachu. "You see this? This is more than enough proof that he's the trainer Oak was going to send. Now, come on! We got data."

    "Hmph, fine! I guess we were expecting you anyways, Ketchum…" Colt opened the door for us. "Marcy, attend them!"

    "Yes, sir!" A girl with long green hair and orange glasses sat us by. "Tigrash mi, sorry for the inconvenience. Colt is seriously not in the mood for chattin'."

    "He never is…" Sam answered back.

    Marcy giggled a little. "We'll try setting up the screen for you…Just wait here!" She whispered by a student who was on the computer desk down the room to come by the massive screen above our table. Other students, and two professors, sat across from us. I could feel my heart ready to escape my chest at any minute, this was a really stupid idea…

    The screen flashed on, with an hourglass icon spinning by over a blue background; it seemed that the other line was still busy. I started tapping my fingers alongside Jacob, though a lot less rhythmically and more frantic. Jeez, wasn't I an idiot? The hourglass finally stopped spinning as it faded and we could see the other end. I saw his face and couldn't believe who it was…

    "Ash!" Gary…I haven't heard his voice in ages…

    My fists clenched. I never thought about what everyone back home could have thought of me going missing. He definitely wouldn't let me have the last word on it–I was so cooked… "Hi, Gary…" I said in the most pathetic tone possible.

    "I–uh…Look, we'll talk about personal business later. Right now, the Professor is away at an appointment, so for the time being, I, his grandson and fellow research assistant, Gary Oak, will be in charge of whatever information you may have. So, with that being said…mind providing me some to look into?" Professor Oak had so many other assistants to choose from, why couldn't it have been Tracey?

    "Sure, plenty," Sam talked for me. "Marcy, would you please give me the link cable?"

    "Of course!" She ran through the cabinets below the bookshelf and quickly gave it to him, "Here you go."

"Mi grati…" He opened the hatch of the Pokédex and connected it to a white adapter box underneath the table. "With this, you should be able to see the entry Ash has captured for us. Not only that, but I'd like to let you all know that the Pokémon is in the room with us." The researchers started whispering, with both delight and scoffing. "Shinji, will you please transform?"

    The other researchers connected their Dexes while Shinji stood up. "Don't scream." As he enveloped himself in black ink, they all looked up and of course, one of them screamed.

    Gary, who wasn't even in the room with us, had his eyes widened. He almost fell out of his chair. " T–Toshinmac! " he screamed through the screen as the mic peaked!

    His Umbreon came running in as it took a better look at the screen and snarled…What got into it? What got into them? Gary tried calming down, taking a deep breath as the Pokémon took a step back and hopped off the counter.

    "Hey, Umbreon, there's nothing there, don't worry about it. Hey, I know, how about you play with the rest of the pokémon outside…" He walked off the screen as the researchers started chattering in Blawsthian, and Shinji quickly transformed back to a human and took a seat again. Gary soon walked back on screen to demand their attention. "Alright, sorry about that…You said that was Toshinmac himself?" he tried asking as calmly as possible.

    "Yes, the Father of All Absol himself. Supposedly." Sam answered. "Gary, I take it, are you familiar with the Blawsthian fortune game, Uruk Babble ?"

    "The Spade Game? Somewhat, why?"

    "Well, supposedly under the right conditions, we summoned Toshinmac. He is currently tied to one trainer in this room, that being him." He pointed at me. "Ash, show them your arm."

    I lifted it up, shamefully as everyone gasped. "It says that I have only eight months left." I held it down.

    "There are others like Toshinmac–they all have varying power levels, but one that could really rival his power is no other than Arhemigku. You're familiar with the legendary Blawsthian Quartet, right?"

    "Of course, I've read through thousands of documents before dropping the case," Gary gulped. "Where is he?"

    Shinji decided to answer and stood out of his chair again. "He has yet to be awakened. If your friend here can't train me to proper shape in time, you can say goodbye to any good deeds in the world. Poverty will rule if I don't win." He sat back down.

    "So…" Gary grabbed the pencil in the back of his ear and pulled out a small notepad. "Do every one of you have a human disguise?"

    "Some."

    "Why?"

    "I don't know." Shinji leaned his palm against his face.

    "And what made you want to come here?"

    "I wanted to help people, simple as that. Your friend here was feeling lost, so naturally, the bigger the will and desire, the more likely I am to come after someone like him."

    Gary kept jotting as he spoke. "Alright, what conditions do you need exactly in order to enter our world?"

    "I'm not telling you. In fact, I think it's best that you humans stay out of it."

    "Is that so?" asked a student with curly lilac hair and freckles. "Or is that where you're hiding your personal army?"

    Shinji had those cold eyes again that instantly made the room feel like it dropped the temperature by thirty. The student's supervisor spoke up. "No daring questions, shinevok. Do the card symbols at least have any relevance to your powers?"

    "Yes. Naturally, since I fall under the spade, I'll usually have a chance to be quicker in battle. There are others who come from different cards and their specialties will all be different."

    "Interesting…"

    "Any other questions?" Shinji lifted a brow, irritated.

    "Define eight months." Gary demanded.

    "Each of us Pokémon hiding under the card game can only come here safely by sharing the life energy of the host, or trainer in question. We have to stay there and try helping the host as much as possible. Eventually, the body will reject us if we stick around long enough, so a date will always appear somewhere on the host's body to warn us when the Deadline is. We have to head back immediately, otherwise, we'll have unintended consequences in this realm, with the most powerful pokémon being the worst offenders…"

    "Exactly what are these consequences?"

    "Well, Gary…Do you want to know what happens when you leave a really good cake in the oven for too long?"

    "Heh, no, why?" Such an odd question, but even I could feel the Pokémon researcher's uncertainty when Shinji asked.

    "Do you want to know what happens when a really good world has been under a card's influence for too long? It goes downhill fast." There was a lingering silence in the room. "I won't lie, there are pokémon who have already overstayed their welcome, had eggs and expanded their population all over Blawsth, but that was ages ago, and besides, their power is so miniscule that it wouldn't hurt a single Venonat. There's also a balanced amount of pokémon under their suits–some have even lost their influence entirely! We still have that rule, to come back as safely as possible, but I'm afraid that over the years, many Pokémon are slowly disappearing from our realm and entering this one."

    Gary stayed silent as another researcher in our room asked a question. "Why were you in that world in the first place, and why does the game exist at all to begin with?"

    "The game exists to help someone choose a Pokémon best suited for their needs. We used to be the region's best adversaries after all, until we were locked away."

    "And why were you locked away?"

    "Because you all kept demanding more and more, just like these questions…" He looked back at Gary. "I'd like for our interrogation to be over, Oak. I think you've heard just about enough."

    "Of course. We've definitely made some progress!" Gary cracked his knuckles. "You can dismiss yourselves. I'd like to have a word with Mr. Ketchum," He frowned back at me as all the researchers stood up and left the room with their gossip. Marcy stood by the door. "That goes for you too."

    "Ah, man…" she complained as she exited, closing the door and leaving the room all to ourselves.

    "Ah, what a relief!" Miley said, cracking her own knuckles. "Thought it'd never end." She leaned against her chair as she put her legs on the table. Some people sure had it easy…

    "Hold on, I'll like you guys to stay." Gary commanded as Jacob was already getting out of his chair, having a pair of platinum-ball shaped headphones around his neck. "Somebody clearly never told the whole story, right, Ashy-boy?" Jacob side-eyed me as he sat down again, and chuckled slightly as he heard that dreaded name.

    "They actually call you Ashy?" Miley whispered.

    "No! Well, only he does!" I pointed out.

    "Ash," Gary began. "Where the heck were you! Your mom's been worried sick and Mimey can only calm her down for so long! You should be glad that there was a massive sign pointing to Blawsth when we found out about it. Look, Shinji, was it?" His eyes skimmed over to his direction. "I know that you have issues with leaving, but please, I beg you, leave Ash alone!"

    "Yeah, no can do. I thought that I made it clear: once I'm tied, I can never untie it. That is, unless I drag him down with me…" He looked at me, slightly annoyed and probably contemplating actually doing it. He turned back at Oak. "Anyways, even if I did that, there would be another three decades and I'm afraid there will be nobody within that time who can put Arhemigku back into his place. But I mean, if you really want to see the fate of the world turn into a tragedy quickly, by all means, I don't mind leaving…" he taunted.

    Gary face-palmed, and I could tell that even this situation stumped him. Never had I wanted more to get out of my chair and start running again… "How do I explain Delia this…" the researcher muttered.

    "How about you explain the situation a little?" Sam asked politely. "Was he really supposed to come here or not?"

    "Well…kinda. Y'see, I was the one who suggested he'd handle this case. I was working with these people while doing other stuff across your side of the Pokésphere and we did some digging. I guess we poked our noses where we shouldn't because I really did not want to go any further with it, so hey, I thought this guy would be perfect for it, considering his track record of finding rare Pokémon in a snitch." he explained, referring to me.

    "So you purposely sent Ash into danger?" He did what? "Ooh, spicy!" Miley commented.

    "I did not! Let me clarify…"

    "He wimped out." Gary cringed as I answered. "Hey, it's gotta be the only reason why anybody else here wanted to work on this lousy case." I shrugged.

    "You're right, you're right…I got a little paranoid when I started linking the clues to Toshinmac, but the myths are so hard to follow! One story he's just the jester, in the next story, he was the one who caused the Blawsth Pokémon Plague, and in the other one, he's responsible for creating Darkrai out of thin air. Some of these stories end with one thing, and it's that he got locked away by the other Three so the world could prosper or whatever, or he locked them himself and got cooked up in his own trouble, and whenever he did show up, it was just through the figment of one's imagination, but I guess that's a load of crap…You weren't supposed to be real…" he said painfully as he looked at Shinji, who simply lifted a brow to all these claims.

    "Oh, so you just flew about like a baby Torchic then–" Miley continued.

    "Yes, yes!" Gary answered desperately. "I'm a wimp, but that's not the important thing here."

    "What's important is that you were right!" Sam brought up.

    "Correcto-mundo." Gary nodded as he took a sip out of his usual tea. "Actually, that story about Toshinmac creating Darkrai probably wasn't all that far off, ‘cause I couldn't get any sleep after learning so much about him. He is truly that evil…"

    "Not true…" Shinji said in an aggressively flat tone, gritting his teeth.

    "Oh, no, no–Not you! I meant, the other you…from the crappy stories! We can all agree those stories suck the life out of you, right?" And it looked like he just made another unintentionally insensitive comment. Way to go, Gary…

    "Hey, you two!" Sam stood up as Shinji was about to shout something, probably to my defense with that last comment. "Look, Gary, I know you know Ash well, so," He turned to me. "We both know that he has a knack for getting himself into trouble. He's also, in general, a good trainer, I've seen that much, so I believe that he was the perfect choice for this task–trust me on this one. Let's make a deal…As Ash stays with Shinji, I can transfer the data back to you, including anything related to the card games, just as long as it's not for nefarious purposes."

    "Nefarious?" he asked, bewildered. "Sammy, we're just here to learn about Pokémon, that's all."

    "Yes, of course, but somebody has had a massive misunderstanding on what we researchers do! Shinji, did you get everything now?"

    "Still a lab rat, got it. But, hey, if you're not planning on hurting the Pokémon and just want to learn more about them, then by all means, I guess it doesn't bother me much." He held a hand up. "I'd shake your hand, but I guess I'll just give you a virtual wave, Mr. Oak!"

    "Ah, you too…" He shook back, so I guess a compromise of some sort was made.

    "Now, with that being said…Are you really Professor Oak's grandson? I've heard so much about your grandad, when will he be back?" Sam asked enthusiastically, failing to readjust his glasses.

    "Not in a bit…He's on a trip to some islands east from here and won't be back in a good while. But I'll leave Gramps a note that you wanted to talk to him!"

    "Super!"

    "Well, I guess that settles it–" I sighed.

    Before I could say bye, Gary stopped me on my tracks. "You're not off the hook yet, buddy! You still haven't told them about how you managed to steal Gramp's plane tickets, or your broken leg…"

    Jake sat up again. "Don't mind me, he already told me that story last night. I was just waiting for the moment the rest of you would tune in. I'll be at the Art's Center if anyone needs me, adios!" Looney was already at the door and opened the handle for him as left the room, pulling out his Dex and turning the volume at the highest with his headphones on full blast.

    Sam leaned against his chair. "Ash, just how much did you lie about?"

    "Lie? Um…" Damn it…

    "I just learned that this boy barely got his cast off about two weeks ago, so his mom told him very specifically to not travel for another two months–one due to doc's orders, and the other for his own good." Gary continued. "I thought he would be fully healed by the time I dropped the case, but I must have miscalculated it…" He sipped his tea again. "You know, Ash, you're not that sneaky. Your mom told me that Gramps called her the other day about the tickets since he was planning on giving them to some other researcher at his lab instead, but he couldn't find them, so after backtracking, he thought that he might have left them back at your place. And your mom…she said that she hasn't come across anything and if he did leave them behind, maybe you would have pointed it out, because the idea of you stealing them never came across their minds.

    Thankfully, the airport gave him a spare, free of charge. Somebody was going to go here later this week, but they had to cancel plans because somebody else went missing." He looked back sternly at me–I'd never seen him so angry at me before… "I still can't believe it, you, of all people…"

    "Hey, I was doing your Gramps a favor! Because to me, he seemed really enthusiastic about sending me to Blawsth!"

    "Yeah, and all that quickly died off when your mom said 'Nope'. You can't hide behind the excuse of research, Ash, anyone can smell it from a mile away that it's all a load of Tauros! But I get it, must have been pretty lonely out there, huh? You just couldn't miss the next league season…" He sipped his tea, and he was right…

    "Dang! Ash, you're a master criminal?" Miley asked with excitement.

    "What?" I shouted.

    "Not at all." Gary answered back. "Because if he was one, he wouldn't be in this building and would have gone elsewhere. And he wouldn't leave that note on his table." The note…

    "Gary, shut up," I said as I buried my head into my arms against the table.

    "Pika-pi…" Pikachu nudged my arm and tried lifting my head up.

    "Pikachu…" I muttered, slightly annoyed.

    "Oh…Ash…I'm sorry…" Gary attempted to apologize. The room fell silent. "Well…I guess it's about time I should get going, I think I told you guys enough. I'll talk to you some other time, Ash–" He was about to press the button…

    "Hey, Gary?" I finally spoke up. "Can you tell Mom that I'm sorry. Really sorry? Tell her that I'll be alright." I asked while I tapped my index fingers. "Please don't tell her about the arm…"

    He sighed. "Alright–"

    "I'm also sorry for anybody I might have worried. Tell them that I'll also be alright."

    "Ash…can you promise me one thing?"

    "What?"

    "Take care of yourself. And call your mom soon. Catch ya' later–"

    "Wait, hold on, just one more thing!" He rolled his eyes and was just about as annoyed as everyone else in the room. "You still owe me twenty bucks!" I shouted through the microphone.

    "Well, I guess I'll try remembering to bring it back once I visit again. Smell ya' later, Ashy!" The call ended.

    "Ash?" Miley started to ask innocently. "What was on that note?"

    I looked back at her, still a bit irritated by the whole thing. "None of your business." I muttered sternly. I laid my head low again.

    Everyone, unsure as to what to ask (or even if they should), remained silent until the door opened again. "Well, did a funeral happen here or what?" Jacob asked. He was back, with his headphones down to his neck.

    I lifted my head up, "Huh, Jake, what are you doing back here?" I asked.

    "It got pretty lonely in that room–I need a band to function well enough. That reminds me, I'd love to get some fresh clothes, we can't travel in these for long…Care to join me at the mall?"

    "The mall?"

    "Yes, Mahtverin's top-of-the-notch shopping center," Miley explained with glee! "It's just on the other side of town, but it's so worth it! They got everything Ash–new plugins for your Dex, CDs and TMs, and Dusknoir's Grimore!"

    "Duskmore's Grimoire? What's that?" I raised a brow.

    "Oh, that's right! They don't have any stores over at Kanto, now I remember." She jumped up and headed towards the door. "Basically, it's the coolest store this side of the world has to offer! C'mon, I know that there's a bus that's gonna pass through soon anyways, so we can get there at least fifteen minutes early! Flosev mi!" she commanded as Pikachu jumped on her shoulder and called me. Now I felt like I was suddenly added to a bootcamp regimade, a good one at that!

    "Pika-pi!" Pikachu called out.

    I was going to get up, but then I realized the sounds of the end of my shoestrings hitting the floor. "Just hang on, my shoelaces are coming undone, whoops!"

    "Oh, wow, we're going clothes shopping? I dig it." Shinji remarked as he passed by while I tried retying my shoes again. "You're taking way too long, kid–come along now!" he said as he took me out of my seat and carried me over his head!

    "Woah!"

▶TO BE CONTINUED

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