Chapter 70 (Patreon)

“We’ve got a guest! A wonderful guest! The very best guest, in fact! Come on everyone, he's waiting for us downstairs!"

Sycamore shouted as loud as possible, and I groggily opened my eyes, having been rudely awoken from my sleep. I pushed up and out of my bed, Ponyta jumping down from where he was sleeping next to me, and Ninetales brought her head up from where she had been asleep at my feet.

Florges, Azumarill, and Altaria were already awake, but Whimsicott was still sleeping in Altaria's fluff, and Mawile crawled out from under the bed and stretched.

I threw on some fresh clothes, awkwardly holding up a blanket to protect my modesty from my team, and quickly fixed my hair before I left the room to meet with everyone else in the hallway.

I found I was the last one to join the group, with Hope already up and the two trainers who had arrived last night chatting idly with Sycamore. They had arrived the day after Hope showed up, and with their presence, every trainer who said they would show up in March had.

Seeing that I had finally arrived, Sycamore cleared his throat to gather everyone's attention. Like usual, he had dark bags under his eyes, but was speaking rather energetically. Based on how he was acting, it was obvious he had stayed up all night again, and had probably drank an extra large cup of coffee this morning.

“Sorry for the short notice, everyone. Our guest is usually busy and doesn’t have much free time, so I was as surprised as you are right now when he showed up at the front door. I want to make a good impression, since he's a close friend and important to my research, so I felt it would be nice for you all to meet him.

"...And I realize now it was rude of me to wake you all up like this. Well, to make it up to you, I do have another piece of good news as well: I’ve finally received the delivery I’ve been waiting for! You all will finally get more of the benefits for helping out, immediately after our impending meeting.”

At his words, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, perking up.

Are we finally going to receive our Pokédexes?

Sycamore didn’t say anything else and strode out of the hallway, and the rest of us hurried to follow. I was the most tired of the group, so I was in the back, and Hope purposely slowed down to move next to me.

“So who do you think it is?” she asked with curiosity in her voice. “It can’t be Ramos, since he would have told me ahead of time.”

I hummed.

“Well, it’s probably a guy since he said ‘he,’ but I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head. Well, Sycamore said they’re busy, maybe a member of the Elite Four like, uh, the Water or Steel one?”

Hope shot me a look and raised her eyebrow as we walked down the staircase of the main entrance hall.

“You mean Siebold and Wikstrom?" she said. "You don’t know their names?”

“Uh... no? Sorry, I’m still pretty unfamiliar with Kalos. I haven't been here for too long, and my Pokémon keep choosing to train instead of exploring the city. I've visited a local bakery at least, but I haven't actually learned much about the region yet."

She shrugged.

“That makes sense, I guess. Lines up with how you didn’t know who Ramos was, too.”

I shrugged as well as we approached a side door that led to an old dining room repurposed as a meeting room, and went over who else I knew in my head.

It can’t be the Champion, Diantha, since Sycamore specified it was a guy. It’s probably not a distant Gym Leader either, since I doubt they’d leave their Gym in the middle of the season. There’s a chance that it’s Clemont, the local Gym Leader, but he's young and kind of an introvert, so the only other important person in Kalos is-

I froze in place as the rest of the group continued walking, and desperately glanced around to memorize escape routes. My hands moved to hover over the Pokéballs at my waist, and the sinking realization of who was on the other side of the door began to truly set in.

I cursed myself for forgetting, but I had been so caught up with training my Pokémon, helping Lacey, and trying to Mega Evolve Altaria that I hadn’t even considered he might still be around.

Sycamore placed his hand on the handle of the door, and I gulped and braced for the reveal.

“Be on your best behavior, he's a no nonsense kind of person. Also, he's the main backer of my research and one of my closest friends, so no stress. Anyway, I would like you all to meet Lysandre, the owner of Lysandre Labs!"

He swung the door open dramatically, and I forced myself to not sway on my feet. Lysandre, the leader of the villainous organization, "Team Flare," stood with his hands behind his back as he observed a monitor displaying miscellaneous data set up on the wall. He was dressed in a prim black suit with a Team Flare red trim, and his hair was pushed back, but was nowhere near as large and spikey as it was in the games.

When he saw us, he smiled softly and bowed his head in greeting.

“Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you all,” he said.

Sycamore smiled brilliantly, then strode into the room and patted Lysandre on the back. The secret villain forced a smile at the physical greeting, and turned his head to eye us over.

My heart almost stopped when his gaze lingered on me for a moment longer than the others.

I thought revealing the ultimate weapon to Steven would lead any investigation towards his goal to wipe out all life. Why is he still around?

Thankfully, my fear meant I was in the back of the group and standing stock still, so my terror could hardly be noticed by anyone around me.

“Lysander is a genius, and his company is responsible for the creation of the Holo Caster. Speaking of, it's because of his generous donations that I was able to expand my research, sponsor most of you, and provide you all one. His research into infinity energy is one of the reasons we’re able to duplicate Mega Stones, and even more, he’s currently developing a way to use infinity energy to fuel our cities! In fact, most of the data we’ve been collecting is being sent straight to him, so each time you Mega Evolve your Pokémon for me, Lysandre is getting the data, too!”

Fuck.

My stomach turned over itself as the reality of the situation came to light. Because I hadn't told Steven enough, Lysandre was further in his goals than he ever was in the games, and he likely had an understanding of the energy involved with Mega Evolution that far surpassed anything he had in the past.

I unconsciously took a step back, and Hope glanced my way worriedly. Everyone ended up turning to face me, and I kept my face as neutral as possible to not betray my nerves.

Speaking in a calm voice, I spoke up to give the first excuse to leave that entered my head.

“I, uh, nice to meet you, I need to use the bathroom, excuse me.”

I turned around and left the room as fast as possible before anyone could respond, and I heard Sycamore laughing about some comment someone made behind me. Instead of going to the bathroom, I instead returned to the guest room I was staying in, and pulled out my Pokégear to make a call.

Before I dialed any number, I released my team to give them the rundown of what was going on.

“We're facing an extreme danger right now. Ponyta, I know we haven’t practiced this as much, but please try your best. I can’t have anything I’m saying or speaking be revealed.”

Ponyta’s eyes widened slightly, but then he forced them closed and focused as an extremely faint blue shimmer appeared around the walls of the room. Almost as soon as it appeared, it broke and faded away, and Ponyta collapsed on the ground and shook his head. My stress increased tenfold.

“I’m sorry, that was a big ask," I said. "I shouldn’t have forced you to strain yourself like that. Just... protect my mind. Please.”

Ponyta nodded as Mawile comforted him by patting him on his back, and the rest of my team looked at me with either worry in their eyes, or serious determination as a result of the situation. Whimsicott even stayed on the floor, unmoving, and stared at me while frowning.

“Right now, downstairs, there’s a leader of an organization as dangerous as, if not more dangerous than, Team Magma. In... where I’m from, that leader, Lysandre, was known to have plans to use the ultimate weapon to wipe out all life due to some misguided sense of preserving beauty. I don’t know what he plans to do here, but he’s a major threat we need to be aware of. We have to treat this situation as carefully as possible.”

In response, most of my team nodded or made noises of support, and Ninetales even took a step forward and barked once to show her determination. Even more, Altaria acted unusually animated and flapped his wings and squawked in response.

I smiled and felt myself relax since I had my team behind me.

“This might be difficult, but I want you all to pay extra attention to what’s going on outside your Pokéballs. I can’t play my hand too early, or just attack him straight out since I know everyone in the room would rather side with him than some random unknown like me. Just in case, I’m going to make a phone call to Steven and-”

I paused and my eyes widened. I glanced down to the Pokégear in my hands, and my thoughts spiraled out of control.

“...Can I make a call to Steven?” I whispered to myself. “Isn’t Lysandre spying on everyone, or something similar to that? He made the Holo Caster, right? Would Team Flare overhear the call?”

I froze.

"...And even if I got the local Pokémon League involved, isn't a member of the Elite Four part of Team Flare? Can they even be trusted?"

My team looked at me worriedly as I stared at the Pokégear in my hand. It would be a risk to call, but it was also more of a risk to not. I was unsure of what to do, but considering failure meant that Lysandre's warped plans would succeed, I decided on an alternative method to get the message to Steven after the meeting.

I would need to get through a conversation with Lysandre, and, while doing that, I would need to not draw attention to myself.

Plus, I could use this opportunity to confirm Lysandre is actually evil. There are differences in this reality, and, while I haven't encountered anything completely unexpected just yet, it wouldn't hurt to check.

Nodding to myself and deciding this would be a decent start, I returned my team after telling them to keep an ear out once more, then returned downstairs.

When Professor Sycamore saw me entering the room, he visibly perked up.

“Alex, glad you’ve returned! Lysandre was just about to explain his mission goal to us!”

I blinked in surprise.

Huh. That’s convenient.

I smiled and sat in a free chair at the long dining table in this room, and Lysandre continued to stand in front of the large monitor on the wall behind the seat at the head. The glow of the screen illuminated his figure, and while most people would find that dramatic, I just found it added to his intimidation.

Lysandre cleared his throat before he began.

“I want to thank you all for the work that you’ve put into furthering Augustine's research. His experiments and analysis has helped reveal previously unknown truths of this world, and has furthered the energy, environmental, and Pokémon sectors of society. The data you provide is extremely valuable, and as long as we work together, humanity as a whole can reach new heights.”

Professor Sycamore softly clapped at the speech and everyone else continued to pay rapt attention.

“This world of ours is dangerous. Any one of our towns and cities could be wiped off the map in the blink of an eye if a single powerful Pokémon decided to attack. Even more, a simple flex of its will could let a Legendary Pokémon purge a region, so we must stay on our toes. Mega Evolution is a process that ensures we have a better chance at survival, but we must never forget the risks.

“Despite that danger, however, this society of ours has managed to be molded into something truly beautiful. Humans have created wonders that far surpass what the average mind would have failed to comprehend even a single generation ago, and even now, I know there's a bright future ahead of us. I, alongside Lysandre Labs, and Professor Sycamore, of course, am working to make sure our world stays beautiful, and continues to become even more so. Every little development, every tiny contribution, adds to our world, and that is what I strive for.

"A world that is more beautiful, a world that is more developed, and a world that only contains the best of what humanity has to offer."

That seemed to conclude his impromptu speech, and the other trainers clapped as I lightly mimicked their action. It had seemed... alright, up until the end, and the way Lysandre kept glancing my way during it didn't fill me with much confidence.

Sycamore started to stand up, seemingly about to thank Lysandre before he left, but I hadn't confirmed if Lysandre truly was as misguided as he was in the games, and decided to risk it here to find out for sure.

Interrupting Professor Sycamore before he even began, I raised my hand and spoke up to ask Lysandre a question.

“If you had to choose between letting the world become ugly, or ending the world as it is now, what would you choose?” I asked.

Hope turned to face me, a little shocked I would ask such a dark question, and the other two trainers simply looked confused. Professor Sycamore, on the other hand, looked amused, and Lysandre shot me the most genuine expression on his face I had seen so far: a smile.

“Why, I would destroy it, of course,” he said.

I forced myself not to grimace, and nodded my head. The question I had asked was not an original one, but a question Lysandre himself posed in the games during a conversation with Diantha. As suspicious of a question it seemed to be, I felt that the question was safe to ask since it was one that aligned with his philosophy so well.

And it seemed I was right.

“Humans stand at the brink of something great," Lysandre began, explaining himself. "There is a choice we must make in the near future: do we strive to greater heights, or be satisfied where we are now? I, and Professor Sycamore, believe with all our hearts that to be human is to strive, and we must use the knowledge we obtain to constantly push and better ourselves.

"On the other hand, if humans as a whole chose to stagnate and be satisfied with our current position, I can't say I would be dissatisfied, either. Like I said earlier, our society is beautiful, and I would hate to see it destroyed. Immortal stagnation is a preferable state to becoming worse off, and I have a feeling most people would agree.

“However,” he said, his voice dropping, “if the world ever starts to become uglier, if humans began to revert to their baser natures and used the knowledge we so graciously provided to them and destroyed what we have built, I would sooner see it all end than have a mockery of life itself be allowed to exist in the world. Greed, selfishness, and violence are not fit to exist in our society, and if those were to overcome us, I would personally make sure that fate did not last."

Lysandre's face contorted as he gave off that hypothetical. His brows furrowed and lips twisted into a snarl, and his eyes stared off into the distance as if lost in thought. It didn't last long, however, and he soon returned to his genial demeanor, but it was too late. I had seen it.

Breaking the serious mood, Sycamore laughed and shook his head, and Lysandre looked over to him and raised an eyebrow. Sycamore glanced between the evil villain and I a few more times, then chuckled one more and began to speak.

“It’s funny you ask that question, Alex,” Professor Sycamore said. “That specific topic is a question that comes up in our debates with Diantha. It gets heated sometimes, so I have to apologize on behalf of Lysandre if the mood becomes a little serious there. I can't say I agree, but we're all entitled to our opinions, as long as we don't act on anything extreme."

Lysandre chuckled.

"Of course."

There was an awkward pause, although no one seemed to pick up on it but me. Sycamore glanced between Lysandre and I again, then put a finger to his lips in thought.

"Hm. You know, I haven't really heard a question like that outside our discussions. Perhaps you two are more similar than I thought?"

The faintest of smiles appeared on Lysandre’s face and he rubbed his chin.

“Yes, perhaps we are.”

I purposely ignored the stare he was giving me, and rubbed the back of my head and forced myself to smile. I was feigning a positive attitude in response to the comment, but inside, being compared to a genocidal maniac was the worst insult he could have accidentally given.

“Maybe?" I said. "It was just a passing thought I had when I heard Lysandre giving his speech. Some of his earlier topics were interesting, and I agree that it’s best for us to work together for the betterment of all life in general.”

Lysandre nodded.

“Of course, for the betterment of humanity,” he said.

The boss of Team Flare glanced over to his wrist, and his eyes widened ever so slightly. He glanced around the room once more, and I held back vomit as he stared at me for a few seconds longer than everyone else. Thankfully, he soon looked back to Sycamore, and spoke the kindest words I had heard from him all morning.

“I must be going. This was a pleasant conversation, but I have to return to my work. Good luck to you all, and I wish you the best in your continued work with Mega Evolution.”

Lysandre shook Professor Sycamore’s hand, and the other trainers stood up to shake his as well. As we grouped around him, I stayed in the back, half hoping I wouldn’t have to touch him, half trying to not be noticable, but Lysandre purposely stepped forward to approach me.

“Alex, was it? That was an interesting question you posed. I wouldn’t mind having the chance to pick your mind in the future.”

I forced back a grimace at his choice of words, and closed my eyes and smiled.

“Maybe. It was interesting to meet you, Lysandre.”

“Likewise.”

He left the room immediately after that, and Hope turned my way as if to ask me a question. She was interrupted by Professor Sycamore, however, who walked over to the corner and lifted up a stack of two boxes and placed them on the table.

“Like I said earlier, the Pokédexes finally came in! And Lysandre brought everyone’s Holo Casters with him, too. Come on, come on! Let’s get you all sorted.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I left as soon as I received the Pokédex and Holo Caster, not even bothering to stick around to listen to the instructions. Sycamore seemed distraught that I would be missing the juicy details, but I assured him we could talk later, and promised to work with him with Mega Evolution tonight.

My destination wasn’t Lacey’s, since I didn’t want to drag her into this, nor was it the ranch, since it would be obvious if I made a call there. Instead, I headed to a local Pokémon Center and rushed to one of their public phones, intent on making a call in hopefully the least suspicious way possible.

I dialed the number and only had to wait a few moments for the person to pick up on the other side. He wasn’t in a Pokémon Center, answering with his Pokénav instead, so the video feed was low quality and bumpy, but I could see him just fine.

Thomas smiled when he saw it was me, and nodded to the camera.

“Alex. I didn’t expect you to call. How are you doing?” he asked, clearly in a good mood.

I shrugged, trying my best to hide how tense I was.

“Not much, just wanted to check in on a friend. How is it going for you?”

Thomas cocked his head, confused at my jumbled words, but seemed to brush it off.

“I was assigned to Fortree, like I expected, and I'm helping the local Rangers manage the resident Absol population. Everything is still settling down here in Hoenn, but our Psychic Types are actually predicting a rather uneventful year, so that’s nice,” he said.

I nodded, half taking in his words, half trying to consider what next to say.

“So, I have a question,” I said slowly.

“Let’s hear it."

I licked my lips nervously, and glanced around to make sure no one would be listening in.

Seeing how hesitant to speak I was, the bouncing of the screen slowed as Thomas stopped walking and paid closer attention.

“I wanted to get your advice," I said. "If I wanted to subtly tell someone something without making a big hassle about it, how would you recommend I go about it? Especially if who I want to pass the message to isn’t usually available to talk.”

Thomas paused in thought, and responded very slowly.

“I would say you should tell someone close to them instead.”

If he wasn’t wearing dark glasses, I imagined I would see his eyes narrowing right now.

“That sucks," I replied. "I needed to pass a message to a certain newly jobless someone that he needs to visit. Immediately. I’d go into further details, but I’d rather not let anyone overhear. I’m in a public place right now, and would imagine there might be someone listening in.”

Thomas froze, and glanced around him like I had done earlier. He then resumed walking, and a smile appeared on his face.

I knew him well enough to know he was faking the expression, though.

“If I could help, I would," he said while nodding his head yes. "Shame I can’t do much to assist, but I'm sure your information will be told to them soon! In the meantime, I should continue my patrol. Good luck, friend.”

I forced a smile.

“Thank you. Congrats on your promotion, again, by the way. I'm sure the connections it brings will be useful."

Thomas hung up the call, and I breathed out a sigh of relief. To try to continue to hide what I just did, I proceeded to call Marty, Wally, and Laura just to catch up, although Marty was in the middle of a shift and unable to talk.

When all of the discussions were over, I left the Pokémon Center in a better mood than I was in before. It was kind of selfish of me to call them simply to hide my intentions, but talking to friends cheered me up regardless of my situation, and I appreciated being able to have support to fall back on.

While I was too paranoid to call Steven directly, I knew Thomas got my message, and with his close connection to Hoenn Elite Four Sidney, I knew one way or another the ex-Champion would find out.

I only hoped the urgency of my request would be understood.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

(P.O.V. Change)

In a lab on the north-eastern coast of Kalos, a number of finely dressed individuals sat in a room filled with a number of high-tech machines and monitors. A constant beeping sound echoed throughout the room, and the faint sounds of a number of conversations whispered throughout. Each person sitting on a chair had a pair of headphones, and they silently listened to every conversation that passed in and out of Kalos.

This spy base monitored an unbelievable amount of data. Unlike the machines in Professor Sycamore’s lab, these were solely used for their illegal listening operation, but with a member of the Elite Four on their side, they had little chance of being caught.

Since there were a limited number of people in this room, and the amount of calls that went in and out of the region far surpassed what could be reasonably listened to, their system highlighted calls that contained specific keywords, or involved a person on a list of individuals to monitor. Professor Sycamore was one such monitored individual, as almost every conversation he had revealed a piece of information that could be used to further their goals.

At this point, only a few dozen minutes after Lysandre left Professor Sycamore’s lab, a single monitor flashed with a red flame logo and one of the workers hit a button to listen in. It began to be recorded, and they stayed quiet as words were exchanged between Kalos and Hoenn.

“...how are you doing...”

“...assigned to Fortree..”

“... get your advice...”

The person listened more intently when the advice was requested, but could not see the reactions of either trainer’s faces on the video phone. They did not see the recipient stiffen, nor did they see how nervous the caller was. While some of the words felt suspicious, it was mostly par for the course of an inexperienced trainer asking a more experienced trainer for advice they wished to keep secret. Trainers tended to not want to share hidden strategies, after all.

When the conversation ended, the person who had listened in was left with a choice: do they report this to their superiors, or do they file it away and forget about it until another day? They weighed the pros and cons, and considered how their superiors might react if it was an important conversation, or if it ended up being nothing.

If it was important, the person might receive a commendation, but there would be little action they could take in response. If it was unimportant, their superiors might get upset to be interrupted for a meaningless conversation, and punish the person.

Deciding the risk wasn’t worth it, the Team Flare grunt simply made a note in the system, and the dialogue was recorded, filed away, and forgotten about, as Alex’s vague and unusual conversation with Thomas just barely slipped by relatively unnoticed.

====================================================
Author Note:

Would you believe me that this still counts as taking it slow?

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Absol

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