Chapter Text
WD: It was already bad enough.
WD: A spacial distortion with an unknown cause that couldn’t be dealt with quickly.
WD: Ash’s mother, kidnapped.
WD: But I think things could have been so much better if the whole thing wasn’t being broadcast to the nation.
WD: There is a *reason* we try to avoid getting caught on camera.
WD: We don’t know who might be watching.
Tracey was watching, of course, with a gathering crowd of lab Pokémon. If it wasn’t for Kangaskhan, bedlam would have broken out.
Professor Oak was too, even if most of his attention had been elsewhere until he caught the sudden movement.
The event was broadcast live to Liza’s empty house at the Charicific Valley, where she was otherwise occupied dealing with another major fight involving the place’s newest resident.
Goh had tuned in a while ago, but completely missed Ash’s earlier appearance, and had picked that exact moment to decide that obviously nothing was going to happen for a while, mute the channel, and leave the room.
And further away still, a girl who’d been trying to switch channels back to watch the Sinnoh League after a certain cat had sat on the remote again paused on her way past the news channel when she saw the boy with the hat run past.
Wasn’t that Ash Ketchum, the boy that Verity had told her about?
For the moment, at least, the thought of returning back to watching the League was set aside, and Dawn Berlitz sat down to watch the news instead.
Act 3: Knowing the Unown
[ADMIN] WD: That didn’t happen.
[ADMIN] WD: Tell me that didn’t happen.
[ADMIN] DW: It did.
[ADMIN] DW: I’m going to shift over to the Legendarium to try and keep some sort of order there.
doctorWhom [DW] fled the memo.
OG: Who was that
OG: No seriously
DD: i don’t know!
DD: i’ve never seen a pokémon like that before!
DD: i mean i’ve seen entei and he looks kind of like that but it obviously wasn’t him!
SS: entei can you use hypnosis
BG: What
BG: No
SS: brocks saying it looked like ashs mom was hypnotized
BG: I’m still moving I haven’t seen what it looked like
BG: Did it really look like me
OG: Very
OG: But like
OG: If you borrowed Zamazenta’s shield and stuck it on top of your head or something
OG: Why aren’t we going in there
[ADMIN] WD: Because charging straight in without any sort of plan is stupid.
[ADMIN] WD: I know it usually works out for Ash, but that’s when there’s no enormous spacial distortion in the mix.
[ADMIN] WD: As soon as we work out what this is, I’ll put rescuing Delia on the priority list.
[ADMIN] WD: But for now nobody’s going in there until I’m damn sure they can get back out again.
[ADMIN] WD: Whatever that… ‘Other Entei’ wanted her for though, if she was hypnotized, they wanted her alive and unharmed.
[ADMIN] WD: We just have to hope that she remains that way.
Delia Ketchum woke up.
That was to say, she opened her eyes. Her conscious mind was still suppressed as if sleeping, allowing only the required thoughts to drift to the surface. Not that Molly could or even wanted to tell the difference. The machinations of the minds of grownups were still beyond her. All she really cared about was that Papa had brought Mama back, just like she wanted.
“Mama!”
Molly ran around the bed to get closer. Her bedroom was bigger now - a lot bigger - but the bed remained the same size, because she couldn’t possibly imagine having a bed any bigger than the one she had already. The movements of the lady now picking herself up were stiff, slightly forced, but she missed that too.
MAMA: You called me… Mama.
MOLLY: yeah!
MOLLY: and i’m molly!
MOLLY: ‘member?
Moving her legs around so she was sitting on the edge of the bed, Mama picked Molly up and put her on her lap. She… she missed this. Mama always used to do this when Molly was little. It was just like before.
Papa padded up silently, adjusting his position, laying down next to them. Just like before. Mama, and Papa, and Molly.
MOLLY: thank you papa!
MOLLY: can we all stay here forever?
PAPA: If that is what you wish.
It was. Molly wished it so much.
WD: …
WD: She had everything she wanted.
WD: But the Unown don’t have programming inertia.
WD: If a command has not been executed to completion, they will continue executing it until specified to stop.
WD: Molly had never told them how big she wanted her kingdom to be.
For the moment the growth wasn’t getting any closer to the Pokémon Center, but it was expanding in all other directions. It took a couple of minutes, but Brock and Misty were eventually able to coax Ash back to the relative safety of the building, where Professor Oak met them at the door.
PROFESSOR OAK: Ash, are you alright?
ASH: …
PROFESSOR OAK: …No, I suppose you aren’t.
BROCK: What kind of Pokémon was that, Professor?
PROFESSOR OAK: I don’t know.
PROFESSOR OAK: It *looked* like an Entei, though you don’t need me to tell you it wasn’t one.
PROFESSOR OAK: Come upstairs. You should probably see what the cause of all this is.
[ADMIN] WD: Well, if they’ve got any ideas, I’d love to hear them.
[ADMIN] WD: Because I sure as hell don’t know what’s going on.
The Professor took them into one of the upstairs offices where Schuyler was already waiting, followed by Officer Jenny and Lisa. Schuyler had been looking at various historical depictions of Entei in the Professor’s absence, hoping to find something similar to the Pokémon that had kidnapped Ash’s mom. Oak took a glance at them as he sat down, and shook his head. With the varying artistic styles taken into account, all of them far more resembled the real Entei than the other.
“It looked like—” Schuyler began.
“Yes, we know,” Oak said, clearing the images off the screen. “Ash knows too, as he met the real Entei in Kanto last year.” This drew gasps from Schuyler and Lisa, both looking at Ash, who didn’t acknowledge them. He was too busy waiting for an explanation.
“Then… the other Pokémon must have something to do with its appearance.”
Oak opened the research file, allowing the images to spill onto the monitor. “You mean the Unown.”
SCHUYLER: They’re inside the mansion.
PROFESSOR OAK: Yes… I was afraid of that.
ASH: the unown?
The mood inside the emergency meeting room soured considerably as Articuno fed back what the humans were talking about.
[ADMIN] WD: You’re kidding me.
[ADMIN] WD: No.
TM: Oh…
OG: That’s what they’re saying
OG: They seem pretty convinced
SS: again
SS: really
DD: fuuuuuuck!
DD: you know what though i think it is.
DD: this is just like what we had to deal with before!
DD: it’s 100% the unown!
DD: this is just like the sort of thing we’d turn up to if we hadn’t noticed them for a while!
[ADMIN] WD: …
[ADMIN] WD: Right.
[ADMIN] WD: Right.
worldDistributor [WD] invited @ultimateTrainer, @tropicalWaterfall and @unassumingBoulder to the memo.
[ADMIN] WD: @ultimateTrainer @tropicalWaterfall @unassumingBoulder I need to speak to the three of you ASAP.
[ADMIN] WD: Drop your present company when you can and get somewhere where you can talk in private.
[ADMIN] WD: @wonkyWindlass Giratina, I now have concerns for the Reverse World’s stability in this area, so if you could make your way over PDQ.
wonkyWindlass [WW] joined [Emergency Meeting].
poryBot [PB] gave wonkyWindlass [WW] the ‘administrator’ role.
[ADMIN] WW: ON MY WAY
[ADMIN] WW:
[ADMIN] WW: OH NO REALLY
WD: We should have known sooner.
WD: We should have *seen it* sooner.
WD: But we didn’t, so we were on the back foot.
WD: And since we were on the back foot, that left the humans to be on the front foot, and they don’t know when to leave well enough alone.
WD: So they brought in a bulldozer.
WD: Needless to say their attempt went poorly.
The bulldozer barely made it more than a few hundred yards before crystalline spikes erupted from the ground beneath it, carrying it back the way it had come before depositing it on its side. Moments later, with the operator barely clear, new growth had consumed it completely.
WD: The news crew were on them, and since Molly was *watching* that broadcast, that just alerted her to their presence.
WD: I thought they got off lightly.
Ash, Misty and Brock had surreptitiously checked their phones, and were just about to try and get out of the room when the computer chimed an alert. The Professor frowned. “A video message?”
It could have been nothing, a routine message from another Pokémon Center. They were in one of their offices after all. But Professor Oak opened it anyway, and a familiar face appeared on the screen moments later.
MOLLY: mama and papa and me just want to stay by ourselves forever so just stay away!
MOLLY: everyone leave us alone!
That was it, the message automatically closed, and Schuyler said it first. “Molly!”
PROFESSOR OAK: Did she just say her mother and father were with her?
MISTY: that couldn’t be.
MISTY: you said Professor Hale disappeared, didn’t you?
SCHUYLER: Yes.
LISA: And what about her mom?
PROFESSOR OAK: Very strange.
[ADMIN] WD: In your own time!
OG: They’re coming they’re coming
SS: they got a video message from molly
[ADMIN] WD: Who’s Molly?
SS: molly hale
SS: shes a girl that lives in the building
SS: ashs mom was coming up because her dad disappeared
[ADMIN] WD: And she’s still in there?!
[ADMIN] WD: Fuck, she must be their admin.
[ADMIN] WD: BETTER AND BETTER!
BG: Found her
[ADMIN] WD: What?
BG: Shaymin
[ADMIN] WD: Oh.
BG: She was trapped between crystallized flowers
BG: But was not petrified herself
[ADMIN] WD: I’m thankful for small mercies.
BG: She says the crystal went under her but not around her
[ADMIN] WD: Hmmm.
[ADMIN] WD: Bring her to the woods behind the Pokémon Center, that’s our base of operations for the moment.
[ADMIN] WD: I’m waiting on confirmation to be able to bring Xerneas over.
[ADMIN] WD: @crystallineSlush Sorry to keep bothering you but I need to know if you’re finished.
crystallineSlush [CS] responded to [Emergency Meeting].
CS: I’m at a stage where I can leave it, I’m on my way.
[ADMIN] WD: Thank you.
ultimateTrainer [UT] joined [Emergency Meeting].
UT: palkia!
UT: do you know what this is?
[ADMIN] WD: I do now.
tropicalWaterfall [TW] joined [Emergency Meeting].
unassumingBoulder [UB] joined [Emergency Meeting].
[ADMIN] WD: It shouldn’t have been the answer, but it is.
TW: what?
[ADMIN] WD: The Unown.
UT: yeah, professor oak just said that, but…
UT: are they pokémon?
[ADMIN] WD: Yes.
[ADMIN] WD: And no.
[ADMIN] WD: They weren’t originally Pokémon.
UT: so…
UT: what are they?
[ADMIN] WD: Version 2.0.
UB: What?
UB: Version 2 of what?
[ADMIN] WD: We’re currently using version 9.
UT: wait…
UT: the chat?!
[ADMIN] WD: Giratina’s first version lasted longer than he expected, but it still fell apart, because he didn’t have the experience yet.
[ADMIN] WD: He set out to make version 2 more robust.
[ADMIN] WD: It was still fairly basic.
[ADMIN] WD: Text only, single case, we didn’t even have the luxury of punctuation.
[ADMIN] WD: We’re still not sure exactly what happened even now, but the system gained a form of sentience.
UT: …
UT: …didn’t giratina say the second version exploded?
[ADMIN] WD: We hadn’t even been using it for that long.
[ADMIN] WD: Every single log and file converted into Unown in the same instant.
[ADMIN] WD: Hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of them.
[ADMIN] WD: Initially, it was just inconvenient, since we were just settling in to using it.
[ADMIN] WD: Giratina, of course, settled straight into making 3.0.
[ADMIN] WD: But…
[ADMIN] WD: Have you ever heard of the phrase “Words have power”?
[ADMIN] WD: Conversations of Unown, as we called the groups of them, started to alter reality around them.
[ADMIN] WD: They latch onto somebody they designate as an administrator, and start changing things in response to their wishes, usually to an effect that calls into mind the content of the conversation.
[ADMIN] WD: It was a very serious problem back then.
[ADMIN] WD: It wasn’t the Unown’s fault, you don’t blame a computer program for doing what it’s programmed to.
[ADMIN] WD: We had to go around and break them up, separate them, allow them to function independently, and that largely stripped away their alteration powers.
[ADMIN] WD: Most of them work for Arceus now, actually.
UB: If you knew the Unown were capable of doing something like this, why didn’t you guess them immediately?
[ADMIN] WD: Because I thought we’d dealt with the problem, okay?
[ADMIN] WD: We broke up the last conversation over a thousand years ago at the City of Alph.
[ADMIN] WD: At least, we thought it was the last conversation.
[ADMIN] WD: Plainly we were mistaken.
[ADMIN] WD: I don’t know what they’ve been doing all these years, but they are here now and we need to deal with them as soon as possible.
[ADMIN] WD: From the looks of this…
[ADMIN] WD: I’m going to guess that this is an argument between Xerneas and Diancie.
[ADMIN] WD: There were a lot of those, and I think this looks similar.
UT: but how does any of this explain the pokémon that looked like entei that took my mom?!
[ADMIN] WD: Other than it being a construct of the Unown, it doesn’t.
[ADMIN] WD: That girl, Molly, she’s clearly been accepted as the admin.
[ADMIN] WD: She’s given the Unown the instructions to do… all of this.
TW: but why?
[ADMIN] WD: I don’t know, do I?!
WD: Hindsight can tell you a lot about… well, everything.
WD: By this point, it’s likely that Molly fully believed that she’d fallen asleep after receiving the news about her father.
WD: From an outside perspective, dream logic makes no sense.
WD: An Entei-like figure appeared, which she believed to be her father.
WD: In this world of hers, there is no darkness, especially not from her papa, hence the lack of shadow for Marshadow to enter.
WD: She wished for a mother, and one appeared that that looked just like one she’d just seen on television.
WD: This, all of this, was the world of her dreams, and she had no idea it was actually happening.
WD: If she had any idea that she was enabling the kidnap of somebody else’s mother, then I doubt she would have done any of it.
[ADMIN] WD: …
[ADMIN] WD: Your mother knows Molly.
[ADMIN] WD: How old is she?
UT: uh, five?
[ADMIN] WD: SHE’S WHAT
[ADMIN] WD: A five-year-old in charge of
[ADMIN] WD: Who left her alone in there?!
UB: I don’t think they had a choice.
[ADMIN] WD: That doesn’t—
[ADMIN] WD: …
UT: …
UT: so what do we do?
[ADMIN] WD: *You* do nothing.
UT: but—
[ADMIN] WD: Ash, I appreciate that your mother is in there.
[ADMIN] WD: Believe you me, she is near the top of my priority list.
[ADMIN] WD: She and Molly, and anyone else who happens to be in there.
[ADMIN] WD: But the best and safest thing for you to do right now is to stay exactly where you are.
UT: Palkia—
[ADMIN] WD: Don’t ‘Palkia’ me!
[ADMIN] WD: STAY. THERE.
[ADMIN] WD: Ash. Misty, Brock.
[ADMIN] WD: We will deal with this.
[ADMIN] WD: Let us do our jobs.
worldDistributor [WD] kicked ultimateTrainer [UT] from the memo. (Reason: Let us work.)
worldDistributor [WD] kicked tropicalWaterfall [TW] from the memo. (Reason: Let us work.)
worldDistributor [WD] kicked unassumingBoulder [UB] from the memo. (Reason: Let us work.)
BG: I’m here
[ADMIN] WD: Good.
[ADMIN] WD: Suicune?
CS: Still travelling.
[ADMIN] WD: I’ll be bringing Xerneas over shortly.
[ADMIN] WD: Why do humans have to be like this?
Night was falling, although the growth on the hill didn’t accept that, suffusing a pinkish-purple glow into the air. Professor Oak continued his research upstairs, Palkia continued trying to figure out a plan of action in the woods out the back, the news camera continued recording, and Ash…
Ash couldn’t sit still. He knew Palkia was working on it, he knew that yes, she was right - it was her job. But with every minute that passed, his worry for his mom was only growing. He wanted… no, he needed to do something.
He looked around, and remembered he was in a Pokémon Center.
ultimateTrainer [UT] began pestering watchThis [WT].
UT: tracey, you’re still at the lab, right?
WT: Yes, but—
WT: Ash—
UT: i want as many of my pokémon as possible.
UT: i’m going to rescue mom.
WT: Are you sure that’s a good—
UT: please, tracey!
UT: i can’t just sit around and do nothing!
UT: but i don’t know what’s in there, and i’ll probably have to battle that pokémon that looked like entei, so…
UT: i need your help.
WT: …
WT: As many as possible?
UT: …
UT: not any of the tauros, i don’t think there’s going to be room.
UT: …
UT: or kangaskhan, or butterfree.
UT: that pokémon took my mom, i don’t want it to take any other parents.
WT: Right…
WT: Ash…
WT: …
WT: I’ll try and round them up as quickly as possible.
UT: thanks, tracey.
The transfer machine was quiet enough that Ash was able to receive all of his Pokémon without managing to draw the attention of Misty or Brock, but only once he had all of them did Ash realize why most trainers didn’t walk around with their entire team on them. He only had enough room for six on his belt, and even minimized it was a juggling act trying to hold the other six. They’d just have to go into his bag with the GS Ball and all his empty ones.
Where was— oh, there it was. He could have sworn he didn’t leave his bag over there by the door. He must have just been distracted.
005_Bulbasaur: Okay, everyone.
005_Bulbasaur: We know why we’re here.
005_Bulbasaur: Ash’s mom is in danger and we’re going to get her back.
033_Marshadow: im still not sure about this
033_Marshadow: palkia told us to stay here
005_Bulbasaur: Well, when Palkia’s mother gets kidnapped, they can try staying still.
036_Articuno: Eh I don’t really think she has one
008_Chandelure: I don’t believe this is a good time for semantics.
038_Chikorita: i don’t really know ash’s mom yet but she’s ash’s mom so we have to go!
009_Primeape: HMPH!
004_Espeon: don’t be like that primeape!
004_Espeon: everyone loves ash’s mom!
039_Houndour: I’d like to point out before Noctowl has a chance to get there that neither of us have met our trainer’s mother before.
040_Noctowl: Wh
040_Noctowl: Excuse *me*!
008_Chandelure: no time like the present then, hm?
004_Espeon: rescue mission engaged!
010_Muk: UH.
010_Muk: HM.
036_Articuno: Whassup
008_Chandelure: is something the matter, Muk-s
008_Chandelure: oh my.
005_Bulbasaur: …
033_Marshadow: what are you all looking at
Going out the front of the building was a one-way ticket to being spotted, so Ash and Pikachu slipped out the back, aiming to stay just within the treeline and get a bit further down the hill before heading in towards the was-mansion.
“I’m not going to wait around any more,” he muttered, trying to look around in both directions at once; not only did he want to avoid the news camera, but Palkia and the other legendaries were somewhere in the woods to the right and he wanted to avoid them as well. If he’d waited on Old Shore Wharf, he’d have missed the chance to help Mewtwo; if he’d waited on Shamouti, he’d have missed the chance to stop Lawrence III.
He was not going to miss the chance to rescue his mother. This was personal.
The pair of them got about fifty yards or so before someone called out behind him.
“Stop right there!”
Misty and Brock were behind them, because of course they were.
ASH: guys!
ASH: how did you—
BROCK: Tracey told us.
Of course Tracey had— Ash exhaled. No, he shouldn’t blame Tracey. He was just looking out for them.
ASH: …
ASH: i’m still going.
ASH: you’re not going to stop me.
MISTY: who said we were going to stop you?
MISTY: I’m going too.
BROCK: You’re not leaving me behind!
TOGEPI: rescue! rescue!
ASH: guys…
They were his friends, they had his back. He really couldn’t blame Tracey now. They’d go in together.
“You’re the best.”
Then his phone buzzed.
worldDistributor [WD] began pestering ultimateTrainer [UT].
WD: And just where do you think *you’re* going?
UT: ack!
UT: palkia!
UT: how did you—
WD: Take a wild guess.
UT: did tracey tell you too?
WD: No.
UT: then… you saw me?
UT: i didn’t see you at all!
WD: That’s because I’m not in the woods any more.
UT: where are you?
WD: In your bag.
Ash got a funny look on his face, glanced at the others, then unslung his backpack and unzipped it. It rustled for a moment, and then… Palkia appeared. A very small Palkia appeared.
Those assembled did their best not to laugh. Honestly, they did.
PALKIA: Funny.
ASH: sorry!
ASH: it’s just—
ASH: i didn’t expect you to be that small!
PALKIA: I’d like to remind you that I created space.
PALKIA: Who says I’m small?
PALKIA: Maybe you’re all bigger.
The giggles stopped.
PALKIA: Yeah, think about that for a second.
MISTY: um…
MISTY: are we actually—
PALKIA: No, I was making a point.
PALKIA: Anthropocentric pricks.
ASH: …
ASH: …why are you small and in my bag?
PALKIA: Because this is the only way I’m getting into the Hale mansion.
PALKIA: Don’t look at me like that, I know you were planning on going in without telling anyone.
PALKIA: I need direct contact with the Unown to be able to do anything about them.
PALKIA: They are stopping me from warping straight in there, and if I just charge in I’ll be noticed by everybody under the sun, so you’re going to have to be my legs.
PALKIA: If I stay in here until I’m inside, nobody will know I’m there.
PALKIA: All three of you, get back into the emergency meeting memo.
PALKIA: Ash, I’m unlocking your internal access, I’m not taking any chances of you getting separated from your phone.
PALKIA: I’m switching back in so I can finish briefing everyone.
ultimateTrainer [UT] responded to [Emergency Meeting].
unassumingBoulder [UB] responded to [Emergency Meeting].
tropicalWaterfall [TW] responded to [Emergency Meeting].
[ADMIN] WD: Right.
[ADMIN] WD: Mew is coming with us, and she’s already in here with me, because I’d prefer that she remain hidden as well.
UT: you’re both in my bag?!
DD: :p
DD: it’s a big bag!
UT: it’s not *that* big!
OG: Oh *that’s* what everyone’s going on about
OG: They said they were being trodden on but I didn’t know what they were talking about
[ADMIN] WD: I don’t know what we’re going to find in there, but I imagine it’ll be close quarters.
[ADMIN] WD: Articuno?
OG: Dammit am I sitting this one out
[ADMIN] WD: Not entirely.
[ADMIN] WD: I want you out here, because you’re going to have to stop Lugia when he inevitably gets here.
[ADMIN] WD: It’s frankly a miracle that he’s not here already, he must have a headwind.
[ADMIN] WD: This situation calls for rationality and subtlety, of which he will currently have neither.
[ADMIN] WD: I’d much prefer Ho-oh for this but unless things have changed he still can’t leave Ecruteak.
TM: I’m afraid they haven’t.
OG: Oh
OG: Right
OG: Geez
OG: It’s my turn to be That Guy huh
TM: Just… don’t get any funny ideas, Articuno.
TM: It’s not your chance to get any kind of revenge for him stopping you in the past.
TM: His bondmate is in danger.
TM: Try to keep that in mind.
OG: I know I know I know
OG: Want me out now or
[ADMIN] WD: Wait until we’re further away.
[ADMIN] WD: Entei, Suicune, continue to be on Pokémon Watch.
[ADMIN] WD: Do the best you can to rescue anybody that gets caught up.
BG: Right
CS: Right.
[ADMIN] WD: …
[ADMIN] WD: Hopefully it won’t get this far, but if it does, Suicune, you’re also in charge of making sure everybody gets out of the Pokémon Center.
CS: That’s going to be difficult with that news crew there.
[ADMIN] WD: You don’t need to remind me about them.
[ADMIN] WD: If you need to, you have permission to shoot the camera.
BN: For the record, it lookx ax though living beingx are unaffected.
BN: Both myxelf and Xhaymin have been independently xtood on tranxforming terrain and we were ignored.
[ADMIN] WD: That will be Molly’s doing, certainly.
[ADMIN] WD: She won’t want anyone to get hurt.
[ADMIN] WD: I’m just keeping in mind possibilities.
[ADMIN] WD: Xerneas, as you know, keep trying to slow it down.
BN: It’x not proxeeding with any kind of urgenxy anyway, but I will try.
BN: Ax I recall it didn’t work for very long laxt time either.
[ADMIN] WD: That then leaves the rest of us.
[ADMIN] WD: We’ll be entering the mansion, dealing with the Unown, and retrieving both Molly Hale and Delia Ketchum.
UT: …
UT: you’re letting us help?
[ADMIN] WD: Ash…
[ADMIN] WD: You’re going to go charging in there whatever I say, aren’t you?
UT: …yeah.
[ADMIN] WD: There you go, then.
[ADMIN] WD: If I involve you directly like this, it minimizes the risk that you accidentally screw things up for us.
[ADMIN] WD: We all go in together, and I hopefully won’t have to send a rescue party after you as well.
[ADMIN] WD: But understand something right now.
[ADMIN] WD: I am in charge here.
[ADMIN] WD: I am responsible for your safety as well as everyone else’s.
[ADMIN] WD: For the duration of this event, you work for me.
[ADMIN] WD: If I tell you to jump, you won’t even wait to ask “how high”.
[ADMIN] WD: Understand?
UT: …
UT: yeah.
UT: i get it.
[ADMIN] WD: Good.
[ADMIN] WD: The same goes for you two.
TW: okay.
UB: How are we even going to get close, though?
UT: i was just gonna go straight over it…
TW: of course you were.
UB: I don’t like the idea of trying to climb over any of that.
[ADMIN] WD: Hopefully we won’t have to.
[ADMIN] WD: Shaymin informed us that the crystallization isn’t affecting the water, so we should be able to get there via the outflow from the mansion’s garden.
[ADMIN] WD: There’s a waterfall en-route but seeing as Ash has *almost his entire team* on him, I’m sure that shouldn’t be much of an obstacle.
TW: almost his—
TW: Ash!
UT: look!
UT: i don’t know what we’re gonna find in there, okay?!
UT: i wanted to bring as much help as possible!
UT:
UT: wait, how did *you guys* know i had most of my pokémon?!
DD: tbf it’s not like all of these pokéballs are gonna be empty!
UT:
UT: oh.
SS: mew bulbasaur says stop pulling faces at them
DD: :p
[ADMIN] WD: Okay!
[ADMIN] WD: Let’s move.
[ADMIN] WD: Ash, zip your bag back up.
[ADMIN] WD: Entei, which direction is the outflow in?
BG: Counterclockwise
[ADMIN] WD: That’s the direction Ash was heading already, good.
[ADMIN] WD: When we get there we’ll drop Articuno off and head upriver.
TD: …
TD: How much popcorn-munching is going on right now?
TN: o/
SW: -|===> o/
WS: <} o/
US: o/
DN2: o/
COT: o/
[ADMIN] DW: …
[ADMIN] DW: It’s all fun and games when you’re not the one there dealing with it, isn’t it.
COT: hey, i take what i can get!
COT: dealing with it when it happened at alph sucked!
Walking along the river was somewhat eerie. Plant life was frozen either side of them, and to cross from one side to the other the crystal had formed what almost resembled a cage, if one that could almost have been organic and made out of tree branches. It almost helped them take their minds off how wet their socks were getting. Ahead of them the expected waterfall rose, one that had been deliberately constructed as part of the edge of the mansion’s grounds. Unlike many of the other smaller buildings that had been converted, the walls around the outflow were… almost unfinished, in a way, with no additional adornments or flourishes.
Ash cast a glance back toward the way they’d come, back to where they’d left Articuno. He was going to try and do his best to spot Lugia before he got too close. Ash was worried enough, he couldn’t begin to think of how his dad was feeling about this; but he knew stopping Lugia was important. He couldn’t lose both of them.
“It’s so quiet without the Pokémon…” Misty murmured under her breath, looking from side to side. Any wild Pokémon that had been living nearby had long since fled, the group of them appeared to be the only living beings around. The sloshing of their steps was close to the only sound they could hear. In her arms, Togepi made some worried noises.
They’d made up a plan for the waterfall as they’d been going. Since Palkia and Mew wanted to remain hidden, that ruled out any help from them, so the humans would have to rely on their own Pokémon. In that event, that meant having a flying Pokémon airlift Bulbasaur and Chikorita to the top, having them lower their vines, and then using those vines as a safety line while climbing. The first one up would then lower a rope to avoid putting too much strain on the Grass-types. It would have been much easier if they could just be airlifted themselves, but none of the Pokémon they had with them were capable of lifting them - and the Pokémon that were, namely Pidgeot and Articuno, wouldn’t have fit within the crystal cage anyway.
WD: I would have helped if push came to shove, but I was prioritizing stealth at this point.
WD: Ideally we’d have gotten into the mansion and taken the Unown by surprise.
WD: But of course, you can’t execute a stealth mission if there’s a fucking news camera pointed directly at you.
“We’re coming to you again live from Greenfield, where the strange growth seems to be showing no sign of stopping!”
The news crew had relocated again following the ill-fated bulldozer attempt a short while ago and were still picking up footage despite the fact that nothing had really changed in the past half hour - save for the continued growth, of course. “All attempts to reach the mansion have so far failed! Seemingly nothing can break through the fortress-like growth that’s engulfed—” The camera settled on something moving and focused on it, because there wasn’t much else to look at. “Huh? It’s a Pokémon!”
TRACEY: That looks like Noctowl!
NOCTOWL: …not a fucking taxi service…
BULBASAUR: Oh, just shut up.
Noctowl dropped Bulbasaur off at the top of the waterfall, Heracross alighting with Chikorita a moment later then retreating a bit further into the tunnel beyond to get out of the way.
BULBASAUR: Alright.
BULBASAUR: If either of us starts slipping, we’ll say something and adjust, okay?
CHIKORITA: okay!
CHIKORITA: i won’t let ash down!
HERACROSS: that would be the opposite of what we’re trying to do!
CHIKORITA: pfffft
Their vines reached the bottom of the waterfall at the same time and Ash guided them around his waist, gave a couple of tugs to make sure his two Grass-types were ready - getting a couple back in response - checked his footing on the wall behind the fall, and once he was sure, he started to climb.
TM: I don’t mean to alarm you, but everybody can see Ash on the news broadcast.
[ADMIN] WD: OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE.
[ADMIN] WD: Ash, pick up the pace!
[ADMIN] WD: Misty, Brock, don’t look at your phones again until we’re out of shot!
UT: i’m trying!
UT: if i go any faster i’ll slip!
[ADMIN] WD: Damn it, if only Giratina weren’t busy making sure this wasn’t affecting the Reverse World, he could stop that broadcast…
[ADMIN] WW: SORRY
DD: you could always ask latias!
SS: are you kidding
SS: latias wouldnt want to interrupt this
DD: …right, yeah, she wouldn’t.
TN: whooo!
TD: That looks… dangerous.
US: no more dangerous than the stuff ash normally does
US: right
The camera captured it all.
Professor Oak recognized Ash immediately and stood up in shock. He’d thought the boy was still in the Pokémon Center!
Having already been focusing after spotting Ash’s Pokémon, Tracey and the remaining Pokémon at the lab all leaned forward.
By this point she’d been watching for a few hours and Dawn was enraptured. There he was again!
Gary happened to glance over at the television screen, did a double take, and almost choked on his food.
Above, in the tower’s bedroom, Molly watched the boy climbing the waterfall with confusion, and tilted her head. She’d been marvelling at the images of her home sparkling in the evening light, but what was this about? “I don’t understand, Mama,” she said, shuffling forwards a little. “Why is that boy trying to get into our house?”
Delia couldn’t respond - Molly, and thus the Unown, didn’t know how she was supposed to - but deep in her slumbering mind, the appearance of the boy on the screen lit a spark of recognition.
The words slipped through to the surface. “That looks like…”
Unfortunately this was also about the point when Goh started paying attention again, immediately recognized Ash, and because he never thought things through first, he immediately dialled Ash’s number to ask what he was doing.
Ash’s phone rang unexpectedly.
Ash slipped.
Despite what it would have appeared from the television, he wasn’t in particularly serious danger of getting hurt from this. Chikorita and Bulbasaur had a strong enough grip to stop him from falling, Heracross had already run up to support them, and both Misty and Brock waiting below would have quickly caught him if he had fallen. But the camera wasn’t interested in the former, and the latter were obscured from view by the terrain. It caused a collective intake of breath in everybody watching, though, and for one individual the effect was somewhat more pronounced.
Faced with the boy she subconsciously recognized as her own son in apparent and immediate risk of harm, Delia’s waking mind smashed through the chains the Unown had put around her and regained control of her body. “Ash, get down from there this second!”
MOLLY: mama? what’s wrong?
Delia Ketchum was an intelligent woman. She had enough experience in social situations to know how to read a room. As she looked down, saw Molly, looked up, and saw the Pokémon that had taken her, she immediately reassessed the situation and decided that the best course of action was to avoid kicking up a fuss.
DELIA: Oh… nothing.
Having managed to regain his footing, Ash had resumed climbing, and the camera had tracked him up to the top of the waterfall where three of the Pokémon there helped him up onto solid ground (and the fourth sulked). Molly’s expression brightened. “That boy has Pokémon helping him! I think he must be a Pokémon trainer, don’t you, Mama?”
Still evaluating what - if anything - else she could do, Delia settled for just going with it, and hoping Molly wouldn’t notice anything wrong. “Ah… yes.” Molly was calling her ‘Mama’ like it was completely normal. But… she knew that she and Amy Hale looked nothing alike, and she was reasonably certain Molly should have known that as well.
“I bet he has lots of other Pokémon with him too!” Molly’s attention turned to the Pokémon that had been at the Pokémon Center. “Right, Papa?”
Papa?
Again, Molly was talking as if there was nothing unusual about this situation. She… believed that this Pokémon was her father, in the same way she believed Delia was her mother, and the Pokémon looked even less like Spencer than Delia looked like Amy; and there was no way that Spencer was the Pokémon in the same way that the man Delia had fallen in love with was Lugia. She’d known Spencer far too long. And besides that, Spencer would not have kidnapped her, and would be doing everything in his power to rescue Molly from this place. The Pokémon was just lying there, watching the screen like Molly had been, barely moving.
As for Ash… what was he thinking? No, actually, Delia knew exactly what he was thinking. He was coming in after her. Reckless, but… she knew that if it were the other way around, she’d be doing exactly the same thing. At least it looked like he had his friends with him, Brock and then Misty following him up the waterfall. All three of them together, they probably stood a chance. And that was to say nothing of the other help he could possibly have, and probably did have, considering that Ash quickly recalled his Pokémon and the group hurried into the darkness of the tunnel as if they knew the camera was on them.
Help was coming… but the bad news was that the Pokémon that had taken her knew that too.
TM: Right, you’re off broadcast.
DD: geez, were they on us the whole time?
TM: Basically, yes.
TM: I don’t think there’s anything else to look at.
TM: …you may have more difficulty than we thought when Lugia arrives.
OG: Chill I got this
[ADMIN] WD: Now is not the time for puns, Articuno!
With the danger of the camera behind them, Ash’s bag unzipped itself and Mew emerged to fly a little ahead, Palkia’s top half following shortly afterwards to view over Ash’s shoulder (something which really annoyed Pikachu, who was riding on the other one). After what everything had looked like outside - the crystal cascading almost haphazardly over the general landscape and the unfinishedness of the outflow - the rear garden of the Hale mansion brought another change in scenery. With the exception of the sheer wall of lavender and some enormous spikes marking what had to be the edge of the building itself, everything in the garden looked like it had been picked over with meticulous eye for detail. Each individual flower along the edge of the water was rendered perfectly, as if they’d grown in that very state. In the middle there was a gazebo, and almost up against the lavender wall was a conservatory, both of which had to be almost identical to what they’d looked like before.
The conservatory was connected to the mansion by a corridor. That was their ticket in.
MISTY: who was that on the phone, Ash?
ASH: uh, it was…
ASH: oh great, it was goh.
ASH: he probably saw me on the camera again…
BROCK: Again?
BROCK: Oh, he saw you on the news when you were on Shamouti as well, didn’t he?
ASH: yeah.
ASH: he left a voicemail, i’m just gonna leave that until later…
PIKACHU: …what is she doing over there?
MEW: whoops!
PALKIA: Mew, behave.
MEW: sorry!
MEW: yeah, i think these are the gracideas shaymin was trying to get to.
MEW: or this one *was* at any rate.
She held up a petal, which despite its crafted appearance was so brittle it had snapped off with barely a touch.
MEW: i don’t think she’s gonna be transforming with these anytime soon.
PALKIA: I’m not certain that would have helped anyway.
PALKIA: None of this is pollution.
PALKIA: As far as the environment is concerned this is what it’s supposed to be like.
They got a few steps further towards the gazebo and then Ash’s phone rang again.
BROCK: Ash, I think you’d better put your phone on silent.
ASH: yeah, hang on, i
ASH: wait, this is the professor!
PALKIA: …
PALKIA: Answer him.
PALKIA: He brought the Unown to our attention, he may have new information.
ASH: right… i’ll put him on speaker.
ASH: professor?
«PROFESSOR OAK: Ash, we just saw you on TV, what do you think you’re doing?!»
Ash grimaced, of course the Professor was watching as well.
ASH: …i just had to come here, professor oak.
ASH: i should’ve told you, sorry…
«PROFESSOR OAK: That’s right, you should have.»
«PROFESSOR OAK: But we’ll talk about that later, after you get your mother out of that place.»
There was a visible relaxation. The Professor was still on their side too, even if he was upset with them for - from his perspective - charging in without a plan. Ash felt a little guilty considering that had been his original intention.
«SCHUYLER: Ash, this is Schuyler. Have you seen any Unown?»
ASH: not yet, we’re still in the garden.
«PROFESSOR OAK: Listen. We’ve been examining some of Professor Hale’s research, and we think we’ve finally come up with an explanation for why all of this has been happening.»
Exchanging glances with the others, Ash tried to pretend he was completely in the dark. Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately - the explanation Professor Oak had was almost exactly the same as the one Palkia had given earlier, sans the inclusion of how the legendaries fit into the picture. The Unown were responding to Molly’s wishes. When the call finally ended, Palkia was nodding.
PALKIA: No news is good news in this case.
PALKIA: It means that there are no complicating factors for when we reach the Unown.
PALKIA: And you have a reasonable excuse for knowing all of that now.
PALKIA: Now if we’re done talking, let’s got on with that reaching them part.
The little legendary Pokémon flew out of Ash’s bag, leaving him to zip it back up, and approached the conservatory. It was still a little odd, knowing that this dragon who appeared to be hardly the size of Togepi was one of the creators of the universe. We’ll have to be quick about this. When I breach the wall, the Unown will automatically attempt to repair the damage.
“Won’t that let the Unown know you’re here?” Brock asked.
Like I said, automatic. If their administrator doesn’t know I’m here, they don’t know I’m here. Palkia rolled her shoulders, and the pink orbs on them started to glow. Everybody ready?
She got a chorus of yesses.
Mew, you’re in charge of keeping this open until everyone’s through.
You got it, chief!
Right then. Mind the bump. Palkia spread her arms, taking a few seconds to estimate a suitable diameter, her claws lit up, and— Spacial Rend!
The world lurched—
WD: That close to the Unown, I couldn’t use my full strength.
WD: I’d have risked their creation staying still.
WD: I had to settle for rotating the bubble of air around me rather than the entirety of space.
—and a perfect circle of metal doorframe and glass fell into the conservatory and smashed on the floor.
MEW: auugh i hate it when you do that!
ASH: what was—
PALKIA: Concentrate!
PALKIA: Everyone, in, in, in!
PALKIA: And mind the glass!
It was a frantic few seconds, but it worked. First Palkia, then Ash and Pikachu, Misty, Brock, and Mew bringing up the rear, just before the hole in the door sealed up in a much less elegant fashion than the initial crystallization had taken. They were in, and the passage to the building itself was unobstructed.
PIKACHU: What *was* that?!
PIKACHU: My head’s still spinning, and I wasn’t even the one doing it!
PALKIA: Spacial Rend.
PALKIA: As much of it as I dared use, anyway.
PALKIA: A hole through ordinary reality.
PALKIA: I did tell you to mind the bump.
MEW: yeah that’s gonna be a real help to them when they don’t know what you’re doing!
ASH: couldn’t you just do that to… well, everything?
PALKIA: That’s dealing with the symptom, not the source.
PALKIA: The Unown would have repaired everything just as quickly, to say nothing of the harm that could cause to Molly.
PALKIA: We’re in, and that’s what matters.
[ADMIN] WD: Entry effected. Moving up.
[ADMIN] WD: Marshadow?
SS: were fine
SS: didnt feel a thing
Palkia gestured, and the broken glass on the floor swept to the side out of the way. Let’s move. I’d like to get this finished as quickly as possible.
Ash nodded. “And I need to rescue mom as soon as possible too.”
Exactly. Stay behind me, I don’t know what we’ll encounter first. Mew, take the rear.
The group followed the small dragon of creation through the glass-lined corridor into the heart of the mansion.
WD: Aside from Ash getting caught on television, the infiltration went off without a hitch.
WD: If only the rest of it had been so easy.