“I’m honestly surprised you would invite me along with you,” mused Nicholas.
“It would be awkward if I went by myself. I had a spare ticket you were around so why not?” answered Lucas.
“I thought you had given all this kind of stuff up? I remember you used to break your neck trying to get me to take you to the old live shows,” Nicholas said, tugging his beard as he reminisced.
Sinking down in the car seat, the heat in his cheeks made Lucas’s stomach flip.
“That was a long time ago,” Lucas muttered.
“Coming from the one wearing that old hoodie,” Nicholas shot back.
While Lucas saw that coming he couldn’t help growling. It was a low blow. the hoodie sported a lustrous design of the main hero from Wave Rider posing with a somewhat oceanic theme, the background shaped like a wave. It is a very popular show among kids and well, Lucas enjoyed it in his youth too. A T-shirt and shorts underneath helping complete the look and provide an easy way to hide his “exuberance” if it turned out to be out of place.
“I just didn’t want to look like I didn’t belong there. Get off my back about it already,” groaned Lucas.
Smiling, Nicholas started talking again “Sorry if I seem to be busting your balls about it. Just rare to see you looking forward to something for once,”
Remaining silent Lucas thought someone could look at it like that. While he did fancy himself to have moved past the childish productions that he used to watch as a kid, he couldn’t deny the giddiness that didn’t seem to want to leave him be.
“So, what do you think of that Joshua kid?” asked Nicholas as he pulled into a garage parking lot.
“Seems pretty plain, like he doesn’t stand out unless you already know him,” answered Lucas.
“Huh so not much of a presence? You wouldn’t think that of someone who was on the news as often as he was,”
“Don’t think he really cares, when I talked to him about it he seemed annoyed with all the attention he was getting. He strikes me as a really practical kind of guy that wants to focus on his work rather than being followed by the media,” reported Lucas.
“What makes you say that?” Nicholas said.
“Call it an educated guess,” replied Lucas.
Velocity Tower like most of the Upper Quarter of Indigo City is a combination of the old stone and steel, though it didn’t carry the same wear and tear as many of the other buildings that matched its age. It was originally a law firm that a past CEO of the company had bought and converted it into a media studio. Roughly every ten floors held a different set for many of the shows they produced which allowed them to do multiple shows at once which. Towards the bottom the stone is a rosy-purple color with the glass tinted different colors all the way up to the top. Every weekend digital designs of their current season of shows or upcoming movies would be displayed on the windows of the tower. A cool effect is that the closer they came to premiering they would work their way down to the entrance with a live showing of the T.V. shows occurring on the ground floor.
Events held by Velocity Heights were usually popular with the people of Indigo City. With the anniversary event the streets were so congested it required police officers to direct traffic by hand. Parking a few blocks away Nicholas and Lucas made the short trip to the tower. While not the largest building in Indigo, Velocity Tower is likely the most iconic. Even now the normal ads that displayed on the windows were constantly cycling through shows that Lucas remembered and those that were done long before he was born. Balloons hooked to the top of the spire were of a few small children shows the boy knew nothing about. Around the entrance there were already long lines of visitors , most of them parents bringing their children. Lucas did spot a few people he knew from school or around the Quarter, however, he kept to himself. It wasn’t that he wasn’t friends with them, just he didn’t want to be pulled into a long conversation about catching up.
“Say didn’t that one girl you used to hang out with used to be into this?” Nicholas asked looking toward Lucas. “Whatever happened to her?”
“She moved away not long after graduation. We fell out of contact after that,” said Lucas.
It wasn’t exactly intentional on Lucas half either. They had chatted online practically everyday after she had moved, speaking long hours into the night about various subjects. One day Lucas had missed their usual meeting time as he had been tied up with helping with the clinic longer than he thought he would have. After that his friend had started becoming busier with her own schedule as well which resulted in them chatting less and less each time they did manage to catch each other. After three months of this chat tag Lucas had sent a message, but she never responded back. Perhaps it is for the best, not like it was going to go anywhere at all.
“That’s a shame I was starting to like her too,” said Nicholas.
They walked together with the ambient noise of bumper to bumper traffic to keep them company. Once they reached the block that the tower is on the sight is soul crushing. There were several signs showing where the line is.
“I guess everybody had the same idea to show up early,” Nicholas groaned.
“May as well get in line at this rate we’ll be inside by nightfall,” said Lucas.
“This is going to kill my back,” said Nicholas.
“Your fault for not doing your stretches like the doctor said,” reminded Lucas.
Nicholas face twisted into one of part annoyance, part amusement. “How long were you waiting to get me with that?”
“Long enough,”
The wait is long, dreary, and sweaty. Lucas had some measure of relief as all he had to do is take off his hoodie. Nicholas, who had dressed in his Sunday best is now constantly mopping his brow with a cotton kerchief that has become too saturated by sweat to do its job properly.
“According to my watch we’ve been in this line for far too long. Is there any chance to tell how long we’ve been stuck here?” growled the overheated man.
Looking around, Lucas found something relevant to the conversation and pointed towards it. As Nicholas turned to look his face fell seeing that it is another hour to the entrance.
“Oh bloody ‘ell,”
At that moment a woman carrying a tray full of ice and drinks wearing a uniform with the Velocity Heights logo came walking down the road. While she carried a smile, the expression she carried said she is anything but happy. “Seems like you are not alone in your suffering,” said Lucas.
After giving Lucas a quick glare, Nicholas flagged the woman down.
“How much?” Nicholas asked, pulling out his wallet from his breast pocket.
“No charge for ticket-holders,” came the practiced reply “I will need to punch your tickets to verify them,”
“Seems that this place knows how to treat their guests,” said Nicholas.
Both men pulled out their tickets, which the attendant takes to punch. Before she clips them, the woman pauses staring at the tickets for a long moment.
“Excuse me, there seems to be an issue with these tickets,”
“As I said before, bloody ‘ell,”
For a moment angry bile raised in Lucas throat. So he had been suckered after all. Maybe that guy wasn’t even the real thing, just a really good look-alike. Thankfully Lucas’s senses came to his rescue; reminding him that Joshua had not charged him, nor tried to entice him for any favors. What would be the point of scamming him other than a prank? While Lucas is lost in his thoughts the attendant continued.
“No, I mean this is the standard ticket line, what you have here are the V.I.P. tickets. Were you not able to meet with the guide to take you to the tower?”
“Traffic was terrible, by the time we got in sight of the tower it was too late to make the appointment,” said Nicholas quickly.
“I understand and sorry about the inconvenience, traffic does often get bad during our events though it’s the first time I’ve seen it to this level. Many of our guests are running late because of this. It’s so bad I heard that many of them are still trapped at the airport,” announced the attendant, sounding a bit practiced.
“That bites, like who was going to be coming?” asked Lucas.
“Some of the surviving cast from the Ogre Warrior series from what I understand and rumor has it some personal friends of the acting CEO,”
“So where should we go to find the V.I.P area?” asked Nicholas.
“Just follow me please,”
With a little pep in her step the attendant unhooked the rope to lead them to their destination. Ignoring the glares on his back, Lucas followed the woman to a door that marked as the employee entrance. Walking inside, Lucas quietly contained his childhood as a swarm of posters showing after school weekdays and Saturday mornings lined the walls.
“Just take the elevator to floor five, the VP room will be on your left behind the double doors,” said the attendant.
“Planning on taking advantage of the air conditioning for a bit?” suggested Lucas.
“Long as I can get away with it,” now that her face matched her smile, the woman gives a small wave to them both before heading deeper into the tower.
“Maybe you should find her after her shift, she has a nice smile,” said Nicholas.
“You’re repeated attempts to try to get me to date will end only in failure old man,” commented Lucas.
“My attempts are made from my love for you and to get you into trouble for once. You’re nineteen I would have expected you to at least attempt to sneak a girl into your room at least once,” complained Nicholas.
Calling the elevator for them Lucas hide a smile from Nick, as the statement amuses him. In fact he had snuck a girl into his room a few times, which had only been for late night co-op gaming. The elevator dinged right as Lucas remembered those old memories.
“Wonder how Connie is doing?” he thought to himself “She would probably murder me if she found out I’m here,”
Shaking off the thoughts Lucas concluded it didn’t matter, she likely didn’t care about this kind of stuff anymore. At the very least he hoped she is happy wherever she is.
%%%
After a small bit of confusion with the security officers patrolling the floor they finally arrive in the VIP room. Lucas could feel his often-neutral expression cracking when they walked in. While there is a mix of media that Velocity Heights produced in its long history, it is often known for its children’s programming. The teenager’s eyes are drawn to all sorts of memorabilia presented on tables, on the walls and even on the guests backs in the form of t-shirts, jackets, and hoodies like Lucas’s.
“You know you’re allowed to be excited occasionally,”
Nicholas joked when he noticed Lucas attention was darting all over the room. After Nicholas called him out Lucas wiped the growing giddy expression from his face. Growling to himself he muttered quick thanks before separating himself from his party. The less ammo Nick had to tease him with the better. Even so it is difficult to remain surly in the face of nostalgic childhood. It is a little difficult to get around, as the crowd of people is denser than Lucas expected to be. After all it’s a VIP room, he wasn’t expecting such a crowd. While glancing at one wall Lucas’s attention is grabbed by a movie poster. It depicts a man with his back turned toward the viewer, a mural across their back; a tattoo of a Gyarados.
“I’m such a liar, I told Joshua that it gets easier to deal with missing someone, yet I can’t even bring myself to even rent the damn movie,” said Lucas. “Besides no way that the movie could have held up after all this time,”
“Probably shouldn’t say that too loud, lots of people here still see it as the company’s best work,”
Resisting the urge to jump out of his skin, Lucas turned to where the voice came from. Standing next to him, gazing at the poster himself is a young man that didn’t appear to be much older than himself, Sporting a clean white short-sleeve button up, slacks and glasses sitting on his nose. The button up itself is open showing a t-shirt with one of the past Wave Rider designs, of the hero holding a musket flanked by the other main heroes. He chose to have his black colored hair grown long, tied into a pony tail though the unkempt appearance reminded Lucas of a Mightyena for some reason.
“That so? I didn’t know it was all that good,” said Lucas turning his eyes back to the poster.
“If you’re going to be staying we’re having a lock in where we’re going to show all the of the Wave Rider Ambition movie series. While Reign still seems to get high ratings whenever it gets played in syndication it’s no Born to be Wild,” mused the boy.
Upon hearing those words something snapped in Lucas, he whirled on the boy getting right into his face.
“Born to Be Wild?! Are you kidding me?! There was no need to make another movie after Reign! They replaced Nobunaga with that whiny dipshit Ranmaru, then they destroyed Tadakasu’s personality to the point he is barely recognizable and to top it all off they killed off Ieyasu in the first act! That is not even going into the shoddy camera work, the editing and action scenes the entire movie is a mess!”
It felt like the entire room stopped to turn towards Lucas direction, when he realized what he had just done the burning in his cheeks probably could have set a forest on fire.
“Uh I mean that’s what I heard it was like, I haven’t seen it myself,” Lucas muttered while trying to find somewhere to hide.
“Now hold on, you can’t fake passion like that with second hand knowledge of the movie,” the boy pointed out, dragging Lucas from his lexiconal hiding place. “You’re a fan of the Wave Rider series, look around you there are quite a few of us here,”
“I’ve watched it a few times like just stuff that is heavily advertised,” Lucas muttered.
“Mmhmm, and that’s a limited-edition Wave Rider Aegis hoodie you got on right now,”
“Uh my mom bought it, it was too big back then so I just hung on to it,” Lucas countered deftly.
“That promotion was last year, if you want to keep playing I can do this all day bro,”
“I well…” Lucas looked toward the floor trying to find inspiration down there. Realizing there was no good way out of the situation he gives up “It’s just a little bit embarrassing,” he finally admitted.
“What? That you like an old kid’s movie? I don’t remember there being a rule about having to stop liking something when you get older, especially if it's high quality,” the boy pointed over his shoulder at the crowd. “Would you believe that some people here are fans of My Tiny Ponyta?”
“That cream puff show with direct to video movies every other month? Seriously?” asked Lucas, finding that knowledge hard to swallow.
“I’ll be specific they are fans of the original incarnation of the show. I can’t blame anyone not caring for the second or third. Fourth generation sounds promising if what I’ve seen from the writing department is to be believed,”
The boy offered his hand in greeting “Marcus Hughes, acting CEO of Velocity Heights. You must be Lucas, pleasant to meet you,”
“How do you know my name?” asked Lucas, while reluctantly shaking Marcus’s hand.
“Joshua finally decided to pick up his phone. Told me he had given away his tickets to someone he had met at a free medical clinic in the Quarter. Long hair over one eye, kind of sour expression…”
“Oh wow hilarious,” grumbled Lucas.
“Easy there that was the really abridged way how he described you. I don’t know what happened between you two, but he seems to like you,” said Marcus.
“Excuse me if that doesn’t make me feel better. Actually, how do you two even know each other in the first place?”
“We were pen pals for a school assignment when we were still kids. Even after it was over we just kept writing to each other. I tried to invite him to a few screenings of movies, but he never really believed me. After all what are the odds on exchanging mail with the son of a media mogul? Eventually he decided to humor me. Flew him and his family first class, set him up in a five-star hotel and even rented out Velocity Park so it was just him and me all day,”
“Wow you really wanted to rub it in that you weren’t lying, did you?” Lucas said.
“I suppose after so many times of being accused I was joking around I just really wanted to prove a point. Vindictive? Probably, but we had a good time because of it. We’ve been best friends since though we haven’t had much time to hang out as he started college to be a doctor and I had to start learning how to cope running the business,” Marcus frowns “It’s a shame it took that mess in Sango to get us in the same room again,”
“What even happened down in Sango to begin with? I mean there was that media blitz two years ago, but it just said Team Natural had started terror attacks and some creep named Magnolia was responsible,” asked Lucas.
“I can’t say much, I was only involved in the aftermath of that situation. All I know is that Natural was after some Pichu girl Joshua was taking care of. If you want the details you would probably have to ask him about it,”
“Huh I see, well it’s not like I’m going to see him again after this,” said Lucas.
“He may not look it, but Joshua doesn’t throw his trust out easily. I don’t know what he saw or what you did at that clinic, but he trusted you enough to give you that ticket. If he trusts you then that is good enough for me,” responded Marcus.
“If that’s how you see it, I don’t have a problem with it,”
“Anyway, if you want we are going to have a demonstration for the special effects of the new season of Wave Rider in about an hour. If you do end up coming to see it I think you’ll be impressed,” said Marcus.
“I’ll think about it,” replied Lucas.
Nodding his acknowledgment, Marcus waved before returning to the crowd. Lucas mulled over the idea of skipping out instead, but what would the point be in that? It couldn’t hurt to have a behind the scenes look. Besides he was here for free, he may as well milk this for all it was worth in the meantime.
The party wasn’t as stuffy as the media had led Lucas to believe. Many of the people in attendance were charming, many fans of the shows that Velocity produced. There were even a great deal of people from the Quarter that Lucas knew. When trying to dodge their attention became fruitless, Lucas felt he, honestly, was starting to enjoy himself speaking with them. At the back of his mind, Lucas found his cynical side trying its best to keep him from doing that. It reminded him he isn’t here for fun, rather, to take a second shot at trying to convince Nathan. The problem with that is how would he even mount an argument against his reasoning? The verbal beatdown he took earlier only made Lucas realize how little he knew about his friend. He had always been so worried that Nathan would drop him when it became convenient for him, however, how good of a friend was Lucas himself?
“Attention guests, the effects demonstration will begin in ten minutes, all that are interested in attending the show please gather in front of the elevator outside in the hall please!”
A Breloom attendant called from the entrance, several members of the party already started moving to leave the room. As Lucas started to as well he spotted Nicholas chatting with a group of women both human and Pokemon.
“Are you coming?” Lucas asked, bumping into his foster parent on his way to leave.
“Nah, you go have your fun these ladies have need for a new place for their book club and I have the perfect spot for them. Go on to your show I’m talking business here,” Nicholas playfully scolded making the shoo-shoo motion with both of his hands.
Rolling his eyes, Lucas took his leave to follow the rest of the patrons to their new destination.
%%%
“First and foremost I must extend my thanks to all of you who decided to attend this demonstration,” began Marcus, standing on a rather large stage, a slide presentation of past Wave Rider shows running behind him.
A few minutes later Lucas has taken his seat in the second row of the crowd, turning the folding chair around so he could sit down with his arms folded on the back rest. An older woman sniffed her nose, giving him a disapproving look before sitting down a full two chairs down with her kids. They had gone a few levels down into what Lucas guessed is one of the basement levels of the building into a spacious theater sized room. Granted with the thirty or so people that had shown up it is still pretty roomy.
“Now as we will be starting the new season of one of our more iconic series soon, we felt that we should do something to push ourselves for the seventy fifth anniversary as well as the 1000th episode of the Wave Rider series as a whole,”
An attendant rolled out a cart that had several iconic items from the show and it’s long history. Each a notable design of the Bandolier Drivers that the heroes and villains of the series had used through the years.
“As many of you already know we use a mixture of human and Pokemon actors for the various roles though many have said that the more Pokemon centered episodes are flashier because the Pokemon can use their movies in place of a lot of special effects. I will say that this is true to an extent and as Pokemon can put on the special effects themselves when needed, the Pokemon Rider series tend to be a little cheaper and we can direct money to more elaborate set pieces for those series,” Marcus pats a few of the Bandoliers on the cart.
Lucas nods his head slightly in agreement, the Pokemon Rider heroes tended to be more of a treat to watch since the action could go non-stop episode to episode. While the human centric riders were nothing to scoff at either, the battles tended to use cheaper effects. On top of that human riders tended to have two part episodes earlier in their seasons as the effects budget often couldn’t keep up. Bigger set pieces usually occurred towards the end of the series or big battles between Riders.
“Now as many of you super fans know the new Wave Rider is going to have a human protagonist with a Pokemon female lead. I am proud to say that the female lead will be a good friend of mine Jynx from the Sango region. A picture of an Eevee girl popped up on the display behind Marcus, showing that she wore a hat the reminded Lucas of a show that blew up a few years ago. While he was glad the long running comic series had finally gotten a show, the memes were starting to get out of control. Thinking about that Lucas couldn’t help but feel his lips curl into a smile knowing that Connie would probably have found a way to make him laugh about it anyway. Marcus went on about the plot of the new series and what was going to be happening. While interested Lucas found himself tuning out a little bit for the dryer bits. After all he was here for the demonstration not a sales pitch.
“Now I bet you are all thinking, what does this have to do with my earlier point about the Pokemon Riders being more flashy? What if I told you we have fixed that problem?”
There is a few murmurs at that bold claim, Lucas leaning forward in his chair now the topic he was here for had finally been pulled up.
“First, let me introduce our head visual effects director as well as lead engineer Aska White,”
Marcus stepped to the side of the projection on the wall as it changed from the pictures of the cast to a live feed. People in the Velocity uniform running around what looked like a server room, at least that was best guess what Lucas had for what was on screen. What dominates the room, however, is a large machine; turbines constantly whirling, lights and more, yet it didn’t seem to make a sound. A large metal spire; glass surrounding it, extended all the way to the ceiling and beyond, with an odd green and blue light constantly swirling around the spire. At the foot of it is a Grumpig, wearing a white lab coat which is a bit of a contrast compared to the duller colors of the other aides.
“I’m reading you Marcus, let’s get the demonstration started I don’t have all day,” she replied seeming agitated that her work is being interrupted.
A few in the crowd chuckle at her answer, Marcus pinching the bridge of his nose a little. Seems like he is unfortunately used to this attitude from the engineer.
“May you please explain to the good people who came to see the effects demonstration?” Marcus asked “It is related to that pay raise you’re getting,”
“It would be faster to show them, the Eidolon Engine has been putting out a little more power than normal, I need to make sure that nothing goes wron—”
At that moment a phone rings, a few of the people in the room look around to see who the offending party is, but Marcus speaks up.
“Sorry that one is mine, I swear I had this thing turned off,”
Marcus seems to make an elaborate show of checking his phone before there is a loud beep and a Porygon 2 shows up in a shower of sparks and color like fireworks.
“I live mortals! I am Sinistar! Run Fools I hunger!” the digital construct screamed in a rather childish voice.
“Oh dear I was wondering where he had gotten to,” Aska said
Now it was coming together that all of this had just been part of the show. The Porygon buzzed around the room, showering the crowd with displays of fireworks and sparks before returning to Marcus side.
“This here is a good friend of mine, this is 001-Boxer he is going to help me display how our effects work! Now how many hear are familiar with the Pokemon move Conversion?
When nobody raised their hands, Marcus continued.
“Conversion allows a Porygon to change their typing on the fly when it needs to. We’ve actually been using Porygons to help with the special effects for many of our live-action series in the past. Now working closely with Ms. White we have discovered a way to extend that effect to physical objects as well as humans themselves.”
This caused a chatter of activity through the crowd as they talked among themselves, what this could mean? A part of Lucas is excited to see what Marcus meant, but the skeptic kept him from joining the active conversation. When it all died down Marcus continued.
“Now then does anybody have a Finisher they want to see? We have fifteen bandoliers from the most recent series of Rider so go ahead and pick one,” A bunch of the kids with their parents arms shot up, trying to stand their seats to appear as tall as possible. Eventually Marcus pointed at a Pansage not far from where Lucas is sitting.
“Do Wave Rider Hyper!” he shouted much louder than he needed to.
“Good choice, that was a Pokemon centric one too.” Marcus walks over to the Bandoliers and picks up one that is a bright crimson color.. A Machoke pushed out a giant slab of steel on rollers, leaving it next to Marcus.
“Show time!” Boxer folded himself down and flew into the Bandolier which lit up with the lights and display that people who watched the show would be very familiar with.
“Systems are green and ready to go, let’s wow the crowd boss,” came Boxer’s voice.
“Alright now this is real steel here, it isn’t play or in anyway shape or form tampered with for this.”
Marcus turned to face the slab, he pressed three buttons on the Bandolier which lit up his right leg started to glow a bright white color and then he kicked the slab right dead center. The slab is knocked right over looking like it had crumpled like a tin can.
“This too is the judgement of heaven,” Marcus quipped. This sent a few in the crowd in ecstatic cheers from the iconic quote of Hyper’s main character.
“Oops I think I over did the power output a bit boss,” Boxer chirped who didn’t seem to be the least bit sorry.
“As you can see there are still a few kinks to work out, it’s too strong at the moment. However the initial hurdle of getting it to work is over and Ms. White has said she is going to have it ready by the time of the premiere, ”
“I already do have it ready, 001 just doesn’t seem to recognize the necessity of the term ‘restraint’,” quipped the Grumpig. The look of agitation looked too real to be part of the show. Lucas guessed that Boxer probably had put out more power than he should have.
At that moment Lucas noticed a Dewott pass behind Ms. White. What makes it stand out is that it isn’t wearing the uniform of the other aids. It is barely wearing anything at all to begin with. Weirder still No one takes notice of this at all, the otter meanders through the lab with not one person even turning in her direction. Pausing in front of the machine, it cranes its neck to study it. Lucas eyes briefly shifted to something happening on stage before turning his attention back to the projection only to see that the Dewott isn’t there anymore, in fact she is on the stage with Marcus sitting on the cart watching with a bored impassive look.
“The hell…?”
As the show continued a proper attendant rushed the stage, the Carnivine looking to be in a panic. The surprised look on Marcus face suggested this isn’t part of the show. They exchange hushed whispers before the flytrap quickly floats off.
“Ladies and Gentlemen I’ve been told that there are several domestic disputes going on around the outside of the Tower. The police are involved, however, it is being handled. In the meantime I’m going to ask everybody to head to upstairs—”
“Uh hey is that machine supposed to be lighting up like that?”
Somebody in the crowd stood up to point at what is going on in the lab. Many of the aides in equal confusion are stopping what they are doing to look at the engine themselves. Ms. White turns to look herself, processing what she sees than dashes to the council right next to it.
“What, the power output is rising? Everybody shut it down!”
Now the crowd is starting to panic as the pillar extending up the tower is glowing brighter the mixture of blue, green, yellow and even a sickening bright pink before it returns to the original swirling of blue and green.
“It’s not responding to any of the inputs! It's like I’m locked out of the system!” someone shouted.
“It’s going to overload! Everybody brace yourselves!”
The pillar shattered, a wave of light smashing into everything. For the few seconds that Lucas had before all he could see is eye burning white he caught the gaze of the Dewott who continued to look unconcerned by what is going on. After that moment a wave of force knocked Lucas off his feet and onto his back. Thankfully the only damage he felt was having the wind knocked out of him for a moment. Trying to put his arm down to steady himself Lucas found it was in something much softer than carpet.
“Sand?”
At the same time, he started to feel his vision clear, revealing he is far from the Eidolon Engine, from that room with everyone. Standing up quickly Lucas found he is somewhere far too familiar to him. It is exactly as he remembered it, completely pristine beach on his right side with a smooth as glass ocean on the left. Picking up his hand, the soft sand crumbled in his fingertips. He could feel it, the salty air carried by the breeze. The fact of the matter that he could feel everything sent a chill down his back. It felt real to him, yet he had to be dreaming, out cold from what happened. There is no one on the beach, completely empty, no footprints in the sand, no small dunes, barely any wind, the calm ocean making no sounds. It’s impossible.
"Does that truly matter?" a voice says, it was not dry or warm sounding, it sounded mostly just there. Nothing to it. Nothing for it to be. A monotone of pure thought put to words by someone who was also there. Speaking of, there was someone there. She was not there before. Or at least it seemed to be a she, the voice was hard to decipher, the body was decidedly not. "A shame to see you again, in a sense."
The Dewott he had seen from before is standing there. A very tall one, now that Lucas could study its features. They did not look toward Lucas at all as they spoke only staring out at the large mirror before it that crashed gently against the sand.
"See me again?" Lucas for a moment puzzled over it, standing to his feet. He paused looking down at himself, in his dream about this place he could never move no matter how much he struggled. Not only had movement been granted to him, he now is dreaming about some random Pokemon that is claiming that it had seen him before? Cautiously walking over to the otter, he stopped next to it. As he started to speak it turns his head toward him, studying him.
"Hmm. I see. I'm mistaken, you’re someone else. Technically.” it says before returning its gaze to the sea. Not sure how to respond to being mistaken for someone else Lucas asked the obvious question.
“Someone else? Never mind who are you?” he asked looking to the still ocean, then up at the sky which is completely blank. No stars or even clouds hang in the heavens which just add to the serene if unsettling serenity to the area.
It is when he says that last line she turns to look at him. She's... not special in any way honestly. There are scars here and there, a slight jade color to her eyes, and of course her height, but she's just a Dewott like any other kind.
"I can get you out of here easily," she says.
Lucas could only tell the Dewott is a woman by the slight feminine tone, however, it’s so flat Lucas isn’t entirely sure. She had turned to stare right into his eyes with a blank expression on her features. There is something about her stare that is unnerving, as if he had earned the ire of someone far more important than himself. While the urge to find the nearest hole, and stay there is overwhelming finally Lucas memory unclogged as he remembered what happened that got him here.
“Thank you, though I’m really not sure how someone in a dream can get me out of one,” says Lucas.
"It would be answer a question, but I already know your answer. If given the choice between going back out there and saving the rest of them and dying here to save yourself. Which would you choose. For you its a non-choice." she looks back out at the water "Its such a shame."
The entire answer seems to be out of left field leaving Lucas wondering what she is talking about?
“The answer is obvious, isn't it? I wouldn't be asking to leave if I was thinking of saving my own skin. That is just being selfish,” Lucas responded.
“And if I told you saving your own skin was the better option?”
While he is still somewhat sure he is dreaming, Lucas felt irritation building up with whoever this was. An explosion had happened, he wasn’t even sure if he was injured or not in the waking world. Wasting time basically arguing with himself is not what Lucas wanted to do.
"Do you know a way out or not?!" demanded Lucas, letting his frustration leak out. “There could be people hurt out there that need help! I can’t be wasting time arguing with a random figment of my imagination,”
"I do. Like I said, you already answered the question, no need to repeat yourself, but if you want my advice” she turned to look at him “It would have been a whole lot easier and less painful to die" she says grabbing his arm.
Lucas eyes widen in shock, she had a grip like iron that would not surrender his arm as he tried to yank it back.
"Believe me. I would know."
She didn't break tone even for a second, though the glare. What came next was a shock, between blinks there was a sword, in another he was stabbed, but where was hard to tell in the heat of the moment. It felt like a lance going through his chest, probably there, certainly struck through a lung... At least he hoped it was the lung. Soon enough she was gone, the beach was gone, it was all gone and he was back on the carpet, the sandy, in need of a vacuuming carpet. %%%
It is difficult to tell if his senses returned slowly or if he had jerked awake. There is no grogginess, he even felt much lighter than normal. Starting to pull himself to his paws, the priority is to figure out where he is. Brushing crumbs off his whiskers Lucas looked to the left and right, nose twitching as he tried to take stock of what is going on. There is the sharp tang of old popcorn, sodas, and assorted foods from somewhere, though Lucas couldn't be sure if that wasn't from his extended time on the floor.
"How did I..wait!"
Lifting his hoodie to check his chest he found it wasn't marred at all, touching over the spot, the white fur of his underbelly doesn't even look touched. It still happened, Lucas could still feel the sensation of being stabbed. Pushing his paws in his face Lucas tried to work through what had happened in his mind. He was in that space from the dreams he had been having, there was the Dewott, now he had woken up…
“Sir, hey Marcus he’s awake!”
Now that his awareness is starting to come back online, Lucas finally realized he seemed to be on a cot. The room is surprisingly intact, even the Eidolon Engine didn’t appear worse for wear other than the light shows spiraling in the glass tube had been reduced to a few random sparks. A moment later Marcus walks up, his own arm in a sling with another bandage wrapped around his neck.
“Thank Arcues we have a good bit of news,” said Marcus.
“What happened with the engine? Is everybody okay?” asked Lucas, ears swiveling around to pick up any kind of noise that would suggest that the building is about to collapse on his head.
“No, aside from me nobody really took any serious injuries, just shaken up for the most part,” Marcus said slowly.
“That's good, so what about the people in the VIP room? The guy that I live with is up there and you know with a big machine like that blowing up and all,”
“The engine thankfully didn’t explode it just overloaded, the power is out and the emergency lock down is in effect. Aska and the others are working on getting the engine back online again,”
“What do you mean it didn’t explode? That thing lit up like a Mews Day tree and knocked me on my ass. My teeth are still rattling from how hard I was hit,” said Lucas.
Marcus looks at Lucas with a guilty expression, he sits in a swivel chair close by heavily.
“When the engine overloaded you passed out at the same time, then…” Marcus pauses as if trying to find the right words. “Something changed about you, something that should be impossible,”
“What did my head fur finally decided to be under control for once?” asked Lucas using a paw to try to brush the hair that constantly fell over his right eye. “Trust me I’ve tried,”
“You’ve been turned into a Rattata Lucas,” said Marcus in a flat manner.
“Yeah I kind of noticed, I have ears, paws and wait…” Lucas looks down at himself with the most neutral expression possible, seeing two mouse like paws in front of him. Reaching up he touches at the large round ears that are now sitting on top of his head. Reaching behind him, Lucas pulls out his tail which is curled at the tip and moves at his direction. Looking under the blanket he is under, he finds something especially unusual.
“Why are my shorts still on me? In fact this is my hoodie and the shirt I walked in with too. Did they actually shrink with me?!”
“That’s all you have to say? You’ve just…well…it is rather strange what happened to you,” said Marcus with a rather stunned look on is face.
“I know it's weird, I probably should be anything but okay with this,” said Lucas while casually studying his transformed body “A Rattata wouldn’t be at the top of my list, yet probably could be a lot worse. I know I’ve changed, I should be concerned about what happened, but I’m not,” which in itself should have been concerning. At least on an existential level. “Yet the only thing I’m worried about is that my clothes still fit,”
A silence falls between them for a moment before Marcus speaks up.
“I’m going to grab Aska, she wanted me to tell her the moment you woke up. While she is our engineer she also is the part time on-site doctor,” said Marcus as he stands up.
“Thanks, so what she wants to study the fact that my clothes changed to match my body or something?”
The comment seems to lift the mood, allowing Marcus to smile “I’m sure that it will be the discovery of the year, we probably could make a bit of scratch with that kind of idea,”
Leaving the newly christened Pokemon alone, Lucas flops on his back. As bizarre as his sense of calm about his body is, there is something nagging him about what that strange Dewott had said, that and whatever he had dreamed had happened. Touching the spot, he had been stabbed there is still the subtle sensation of having been penetrated.
“Did she do that to me? How did this even happen to begin with?” Lucas is more concerned about the circumstances about what brought about his situation rather than the result. One thing he knew for sure is it likely couldn’t be anything good.
Feeling that he wouldn't be wasting his time, Lucas decides to use the opportunity that Joshua gave him to attend the Velocity Heights events, yet at the same time Indigo's final day is drawing to a close...
Big thanks to
for not only his help with editing and story flow, but the shiny new icon for the story. If peeps have not done so I suggest checking him out.
Um is this still Canon to Garden of Eden? I mean it's a nice Slice of Life story but in chapter 7 and 8 of pocket Monsters garden of Eden, bluebean pretty much shows us that a shock wave was the cause of the corruption and the reason humans were turning into Pokemon was Pokemon having sex with humans? Kind of like your first chapters with Lucas and Froslass, I don't mind a new story or an alternate world but I would like to know if this is Cannon with each other.
Um is this still Canon to Garden of Eden? I mean it's a nice Slice of Life story but in chapter 7 an
I talked to a friend about your comment and I think see how you can be confused. This story is indeed canon to the comic of GoE. The engine overloading is not related to the start of the corruption, but it did occur at roughly the same time. Only Lucas was affected by what happened with the engine.
Don't worry stuff that GoE is known for is going to be hapening when the next part comes out.
I talked to a friend about your comment and I think see how you can be confused. This story is indee
Okay thank you for replying to that, I appreciate it and now very curious how a machine could overload and change a human into a Pokemon? Or whatever happened, let's see if him being turned into a Pokemon this way was better than the other because I might volunteer for that way instead of getting raped, and I agree getting turned into a Pokemon no big deal, my clothes changing size with me that's a big deal, but I still like how he found clothes in the other one better, fYI that outfit was still cruel.
Okay thank you for replying to that, I appreciate it and now very curious how a machine could overlo
