TEEN: The Island of Dr. Fuji [Part 5 of 5]

[Gama]

After an absence from this forum that I suspect has been sufficiently long that no one remembers who I am any more, I present a brand new mini-series!

I will release a new Part every Thursday until the mini-series is concluded.

Enjoy!

Navigation​

Part 1 - Trouble in Cinnabar [This post]
Part 2 - Until Now
Part 3 - The Fossil Revival Lab
Part 4 - The Mega Evolution Chamber

Part 1​

The nearby people cowered in fear as the strange woman walked through the centre of Pallet Town. Those who lived near enough ran into their houses, those who didn’t hid behind whatever they could, all of them put as much distance between them and her as possible. She was about thirty, wore a black dress and witch’s hat and had long, purple hair. A few feet above her head, three Gengar circled. They knew who she was, and they had all heard the stories of these Gengar getting into people’s minds.

Agatha smirked. The reaction she invoked in small towns was so predictable. That was the one good thing about them. There was no way they reacted like this to Oak, so how could he stand it here? It didn’t matter. Having that argument yet again would just lead them to the same old place, and right now she needed him. Even after giving away his strongest Pokémon in infuriating flights of fancy, he was still one of the strongest trainers in Kanto, and the only strong trainer in Kanto she truly trusted.

Agatha knocked hard on the door of the Pokémon Lab when she arrived. Anger rose up inside her, like bile. Why had he chosen such a life when he had such strength? He could easily have become a Gym Leader like her, even an Elite Four. No doubt he could have become the first Indigo Champion if he had so chosen to. She swallowed and took a deep breath. Her anger returned deep into her stomach where it belonged. She needed Oak too much to let it ruin seeing him yet again.

A teenage boy in a lab coat answered the door.

‘Hello! I’m Professor Oak’s aide. How may I help you?’ the boy said.

‘Tell him it’s Agatha.’

The boy hesitated for a moment. Agatha scowled at him. He nodded, and disappeared into the lab. Agatha didn’t bother to wait for him to come back and invite her in. What an unnecessary waste of time that would have been. She marched through the lab, doing her best to keep her eyes directly forwards. An accidental glance at the endless books lining the walls was all it would take to send her into a fit of fury. Her three Gengar continued to circle above, now right up against the ceiling of the lab. At the back of the lab, her old friend sat at a large desk, making notes about some trivial matter or another.

‘Agatha!’

Oak looked up, startled. Agatha flinched. He had aged. He was still handsome and by no means old, but lines were starting to show on his face and large bursts of grey were present in his previously jet-black hair. Startling for a man of thirty-five. His white lab coat was where the blame lay. Academia had done this to him.

‘It’s wonderful to see you!’ he exclaimed, with a smile, ‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’

‘Cut the crap, Oak. I need your help. Something’s going down in Cinnabar.’

Oak chucked slowly. Agatha clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white.

‘I’m pleased to see you’ve not lost your directness. I suppose you’re not interested in discussing this issue over a cup of tea?’

‘There’s no time for tea!’ yelled Agatha.

Oak visibly flinched. Agatha cleared her throat, and tried again.

‘Sorry. This is an urgent situation. We need to leave right away.’

‘Very well. Then get me up to speed, and let’s get going.’

Agatha smiled for half a second before hiding it. She could always rely on him.

‘You know who Blaine is?’ she asked.

‘If I recall correctly, he’s the new Cinnabar Gym Leader. Haven’t met him yet though.’

‘He’s sent a message to all Gym Leaders saying that Cinnabar Island is off limits and we should let everyone in our cities know.’

Oak paused thoughtfully for a moment.

‘Hmm… well that certainly is concerning. Did he say why?’

‘Just that they were conducting an important project, and that it would be open to the public again shortly.’

Oak nodded slowly. Agatha scowled. It was obvious what he was thinking: impatient Agatha is overreacting again. She took a deep breath before continuing.

‘It’s not just that. All three of my Gengar have felt that something terrible is happening there, and something even worse will happen very soon.’

The three Gengar floated down and stood in a line in front of Agatha, facing Oak, nodding and grinning. The middle of the three was slightly larger and darker, almost black in colour. Oak well knew that this was the most powerful of the three, Spook. Agatha had spent a lot of time boasting that this was the most powerful Gengar ever to have lived, as if destructive power were something to be proud of.

‘And what exactly did they feel?’ asked Oak.

‘Just that,’ snapped Agatha, ‘Do they need to have felt anything more? Isn’t their track record enough to speak for itself?’

Oak nodded.

‘I suppose it is. Well, let’s go then.’

‘Good. Let’s fly. Surfing will take too long. That is, assuming you haven’t traded away all your Flying Pokémon for sparkly fur and infectious diseases.’

Oak paused before responding. Agatha winced. Surely even Oak could not have given away his Fearow. It was one of the strongest bird Pokémon ever to exist, and Oak commanded it beautifully in battle. If he had given Fearow away, she would simply have to kill him.

‘I still have Fearow, of course,’ said Oak eventually.

Agatha let out a sigh of relief. Oak continued.

‘I’d be quite happy to trade Fearow to someone with a passion for battle that could offer something rare and interesting, but it’d be quite inconvenient to be entirely without a Flying Pokémon so that limits my options somewhat.’

Agatha clenched her fists and gritted her teeth before taking a few deep breaths. She needed him. She must not let old tensions rise. She must not push him away again.

‘Good,’ she said, ‘Let’s go.’

Once Oak had given his young aide instructions for looking after the lab in his absence and even what to do should he fail to return, the two of them stepped outside. Agatha sent out her Golbat, and clambered on its back. Oak did the same with his Fearow.

They flew at high speed, the three Gengar following just behind. The sound of the wind made it impossible to talk, but they stayed close to each other. Once they were in the air, it was like old times again. They flew loops around each other, skimmed the surface of the water, even intermittently raced. They couldn’t hear each other laugh, but they could see it. It was as though they’d both entirely forgotten the urgent task ahead of them.

Suddenly, all three Gengar shuddered horribly and let out ghoulish screams. Agatha and Oak immediately stopped laughing, and looked ahead. Cinnabar was now within sight. As soon as they looked, they felt what the three Gengar felt. A pressure in the air. Something terrible. As they grew nearer to the island, the air became hot and thick with smoke. The two trainers exchanged a look, brows furrowed. They did not need to speak to know they were thinking the same thing: was the Cinnabar volcano erupting?

As if in answer to their question, an enormous explosion of fire erupted in front of them. The sound, light, and heat overwhelmed their senses to such a degree that for a moment they thought the answer was yes. In reality, the fiery explosion had come from just a few feet in front of them. It took a few seconds for the two trainers to appreciate what had just happened. Both could feel burn marks on their arms and faces. The flying Pokémon had been hit, but not badly. The three Gengar were not in sight. Directly in front of them, where previously there had been nothing, a man rode a Charizard.

Agatha recognised the man. This was Blaine, the new Cinnabar Gym Leader. He had strong cheek bones and long black hair that flowed on to his shoulders. He wore large dark glasses that covered most of his face but wore nothing over his muscular chest. His torso and arms were almost entirely covered with gruesome burns, much of his skin peeling off. Horrifying as it was, his appearance was nothing compared to that of the Pokémon he was riding. It was like no Charizard either Agatha or Oak had seen before. It was about one and a half times the size of a normal Charizard. Steam rose from every spot on its body. It had three horns on its head rather than the usual two, and all of them were much longer than usual, even in relative to its large size. Its flapping wings too were enormous, stretching out to four or five times its already large width, and smaller wings protruded from its forearms. Blaine stared at the two trainers with a manic grin.

‘I told you this island was off limits. Now I get to have some fun with you.’

All at once, Blaine was laughing, and a huge fireball was heading towards them. Fortunately, both trainers managed to direct their Pokémon towards the island, narrowly avoiding the fireball.

‘Oak,’ hissed Agatha, ‘If we’re going to defeat that thing we need to take it down to the ground where we can use our other Pokémon.’

Oak nodded. The two trainers and five Pokémon immediately launched into a nosedive towards Cinnabar.

‘You think you can get rid of me that easy?’ yelled Blaine.

They did not need to turn to see what followed this. All five of them turned out of their nosedive just in time to avoid a second fireball. They were now close enough to the island to see it explode against Cinnabar’s rocky shores. Usually locals and tourists alike were spread across those shores, but today there was no one.

They landed. Seconds later, Blaine and his Charizard landed opposite them. Agatha pulled another Poké Ball from her belt, and threw it in front of her, revealing her Arbok.

‘Oak, send out your other Pokémon.’

Oak looked at her sheepishly.

‘Don’t tell me Fearow is the only Pokémon you brought,’ she said, fury growing in her.

Oak said nothing. Agatha screamed in frustration.

‘All of you! Start by pummelling it with Shadow Balls and Sludge Bombs!’

‘Fearow! Giga Impact!’ shouted Oak.

The five Pokémon under Oak and Agatha’s command flew towards the large Charizard, readying their various attacks. Blaine and his Charizard simply stood, cocky grins on both their faces. A flame flickered at the side of Charizard’s mouth. A moment later, Oak and Agatha’s six Pokémon were totally enveloped in an enormous fireball. Once it subsided, the Pokémon were all lying on the ground, unconscious and terribly burned. Blaine let out a long, full laugh.

‘Ha! You better have Burn Heal!’

Oak and Agatha simply stood there, saying nothing. Blaine’s continued laughter was the only noise as their failure truly sunk in. How were they defeated so easily? What was that beast Blaine was commanding and how was it so powerful? Neither Oak nor Agatha could have said how long had passed when another voice came from behind them, one they recognised.

‘Blaine! What have you done? These are my esteemed guests.’

Blaine’s laughter immediately stopped, and looks of panic were painted across his and Charizard’s faces.

‘What!? I’m sorry, sir!’

Oak and Agatha turned to face this new person.

‘Agatha, Oak, I’ve been expecting you. I’m glad you were able to make it. Let’s get your Pokémon healed up and head inside,’ said Dr. Fuji with a smile.

 

[AceTrainer14]

After so many years, your back and with an intriguing new story to boot. The miniseries angle to it has me intrigued, and I am interested to see exactly what is going to happen in the next five parts.

Given the context of the characters age and appearance, I am guessing this is some sort of prequel to the Mewtwo saga. An interesting idea, something that isn't often explored on this site, so I am interested to see your take on it. So far, your interpretations of Agatha and Oak and their backstory are interesting; while not original in idea, your execution is intriguing and I like the nature of their relationship and how you've set it up. Both have firm characters and even though the chapter is relatively brief, you pack enough in there to paint a vivid picture of both.

One thing I would have liked to have seen is perhaps a slower pace between scenes. We are introduced to Agatha right off the bat and are told how she is intimidating, complete with a witches hat and everything, but it might be better to build up the suspense of the scene before giving us her POV in the second paragraph. Similarly, I was a bit bothered by how it jumped straight from being in the lab and agreeing to work together and then flying off and having a jolly good time together in the sky. Some sort of break or beat would have made that flow feel more natural, whereas right now it just feels a little rushed.

The battle at the end was a nice touch, particularly the twist at the end. The idea of some manic, shirtless, long-haired Blaine was definitely a surprise and I am excited to see more of him. Similar to my concerns above, the battle felt a little rushed. Perhaps there could be some gradual downtime between the end of the flying about to them scouting out the island so that it doesn't leap into the battle, which then happens very fast. I also got distracted by the use of "fireball" and "shores" quite closely together; you have a good grasp on language when inside the characters heads, and some more variety in language during the fight could make it feel more vivid and alive.

The ending twist was not entirely unexpected given the title, but I am interested in this Moreau-ian take on Dr Fuji and seeing where that goes next. Again, the suspense here could have been built up; Fuji emerging slowly from the shadows, playing up Blaine's fear at upsetting him and Oak and Agatha's surprise to see him. However, I anticipate something dark and unsettling in the coming chapters and am sure he will be expanded upon. I certainly can't deny the call of a cliffhanger.

A solid introduction with a good, if brief, set up of the situation and the pasts of the characters. The image of three huge Gengar flying above Agatha is certainly one of the most colourful I have seen for some time and was a wonderfully dark way to kick off what I can only guess will be a wonderfully dark story. A bit more detail between those campy delights and this will be a real hit!

 

[Silktree]

Your take on young Blaine is very unlike my own, but I like the approach. I'm intrigued as to where you're going with Dr. Fuji's backstory and motivations, assuming that you're interpreting the game lore.

This is a minor complaint, but I find the double spacing between paragraphs rather distracting.

Even after giving away his strongest Pokémon in infuriating flights of fancy

Gave them away to whom? Why? I am not sure this line adds much without clarification.

 

[Flaze]

Well, I couldn't believe it when I saw it but lo and behold we got a new Gama fic, and one that came really out of the blue at that. You're still hitting it in your park since your fic is another expansion one, though the fact that you're focusing a bit more on stuff from Oak's past and expanding on Cinnabar is an interesting one, it kind of reminded me of when you tried that with Silph Co. a few years back.

But anyways, I think the thing that stands out most about the chapter is the way in which you show the character's personalities quickly and with little effort, it's pretty easy to tell who is speaking and while the characters are younger and thus don't act quite the way we know them as in the game, it still makes sense in context. That being said though, the dynamic itself isn't exactly new, especially the one with Oak and Agatha. You do a good job of showing that they don't legit hate each other (yet) and are willing to still work with one another, but so far there's still little here that helps expand on what we've seen in other forms of Pokemon media (Anime notwithstanding).

Plotwise, there's not much to say yet but I am intrigued. The whole issue with things happening around Cinnabar is one that doesn't get explored much, especially if this is the leadup to Mewtwo's bird. Fuji's involvement in it is also an aspect that hasn't been explored much aside from the anime (and one that other sources, such as the manga, completely get rid of) so I'm interested in seeing how he comes out here. Unfortunately, I can't remember much of how he was in Rival's Story but I'm curious of how he'll come here. Blaine seems to be his subordinate (which is pretty eerie as it is) and everything going on already makes him come off in a pretty unsettling light.

Pacing-wise the chapter moves pretty well, with the banter between Oak and Agatha helping moves things along, though it kind of feels a little fast at times with how quickly we go from place to place, with little focus placed on scenery. What little description you do have is done sufficiently well though.

Anyways, before I close off the review I'll throw in these few comments.

He had strong cheek bones and long black hair that flowed on to his shoulders

I refuse to believe this Blaine.

but wore nothing over his muscular chest

You sure it's not just Bruno?

 

[Beth Pavell]

The good side - competent prose, could do with tidying away the extra spaces the forum keeps on generating

The other side - I realised as I was organising this that my objections boil down a matter of style. This story wouldn't look out of place in the Adventures manga. It's very shonen, with all the attendant clichés that brings with it. For me, that makes it tiresome to read, but it only really functions as a useful criticism if you weren't going for that

 

[Gama]

Thanks all for reading and replying. Thanks also to any silent readers for taking the time to read.

@AceTrainer14 A mini-series is something I've done before. I wrote a story called 'Are We Heroes?' seven (!) years ago. You can find it here if you're interested. I like that form of writing because it allows more depth than a one-shot, but is more self-contained than a long serial fic. That said, perhaps the desire to contain this story led to some of your concerns about pacing! Thank you for that comment. I will keep it in mind for future chapters.

@Unown Seer The double spacing is a formatting error. I'll fix that here and for future chapters. As for given away to whom... my intention is that Oak's traded away strong Pokemon for rare Pokemon and things of that manner. I suppose it would make some sense if he had some rare Pokemon kicking around that he'd received in exchange for strong ones. Thanks for raising! Additionally, I'd be interested in reading your young Blaine if you could point me to it?

@Flaze Glad you liked it! Yes, Blaine is a bit of a jump from the one we know in RBY, but it is several decades before - how people change! (Also go and look at his Bulbapedia pic, and see his strong cheekbones!)

@Beth Pavell I'm afraid I'm not terribly familiar with shonen in general, though I did read (and very much enjoy!) the Adventures manga a long time ago. That said, I don't think stories having a particular style or genre should make them inherently cliched or tiresome, even if readers don't hugely like that genre, so if you were able to point out areas you found cliched or tiresome I'd much appreciate it.

Thanks again all and I shall publish Part II on Thursday as promised

 

[Silktree]

My young Blaine is just in my head for now. Put simply, he is actually more grounded than Fuji and they eventually part ways due to their differences.

 

[Gama]

Part 2 - Until Now​

Agatha and Oak sat in the ornate room, sipping herbal tea with Dr. Fuji and Blaine. Everything in the room looked pricelessly expensive and was styled after a different Pokémon, the coasters were Voltorb, the chairs looked like Snorlax. Paintings of clashes between mythical Pokémon hung around the room, many of them Agatha and Oak had not even heard of. Even the large bay windows had a ceramic Golbat’s jaws around their edges.

The Poké Balls on Agatha’s belt rocked restlessly. Her Gengar were not used to being constrained in that way, but at least they were healthy now. She had drunk far too much tea already, but the silent butlers and maids refilled her cup faster than she could turn them away. Oak finished another cup with a smile, his infatuation with Dr. Fuji a secret to no one. Agatha clenched her fist around her own cup as it was unwillingly refilled again.

Dr. Fuji himself was an impressive man of around fifty, sitting strong in his armchair. Next to him Blaine looked like nothing. Dr. Fuji wore a black suit, matching his black combed hair, and enormous black eyebrows. He had been an idol of Oak’s for some time. The younger scientist had often cited the amazing Dr. Fuji as the reason he had chosen to go into Pokémon research. Naturally, Agatha hated Dr. Fuji for this. At least Oak had managed to contain himself in this man’s presence so far. Hopefully his restraint would last through their time at Cinnabar.

‘I must apologise once more for how Blaine treated you on your arrival. It’s my fault really, I suppose. I told him to shut off the island from interference, but forgot to give him the necessary exceptions. Foolish, I suppose! I had thought it’d be obvious that the Fuchsia City Gym Leader and the Pokémon Professor himself were exceptions! Just shows that you can take nothing for obvious when you are working with the young.’

Blaine lowered his head in shame. Oak beamed.

‘What was that thing anyway?’ snapped Agatha.

‘That will be revealed with time,’ answered Dr. Fuji, ‘But for now let’s just enjoy our tea.’

Agatha frowned and took a disdainful sip from her cup.

‘Why did you shut off the island? What are you doing here?’ asked Oak.

‘Ah, a more suitable question for a social reunion of friends over tea, and one I can answer to at least some degree while we sit here.’

Oak turned to Agatha with a grin. Agatha scowled. Dr. Fuji continued.

‘It was necessary to shut off the island because we are working on something exceedingly important here. The work we are doing here will change the ways in which trainers engage with their Pokémon forever. History will look back at the work being done in this lab, and see it as some of the most important work ever achieved in the field of Pokémon research. Naturally, it is not easy for work of this magnitude to be conducted with curious members of the public poking around. Blaine’s time is also much in need as chief tester of our results, so he can hardly be expected to perform the duties of a Gym Leader that visitors to the island would ordinarily expect of him. Of course, exceptions can be made for important people such as yourselves who are capable of understanding the enormity of this work and the due reverence with which it must therefore be treated.’

Oak’s eyes were wide with wonder and his jaw practically on the floor.

‘So what exactly is this work that is so significant?’ snapped Agatha.

Dr. Fuji chuckled slowly.

‘Agatha, I’m not drawing out my answers merely for the purposes of suspense. There are some things that can only be appreciated when shown and not told, and very rarely is a tea room the place to show people those things. There is, though, perhaps one thing that I can show you here.’

With this, Dr. Fuji leant over to Blaine, and whispered something in his ear. Blaine nodded, and left the room.

‘Blaine will be back shortly with a small sample of what we are working on here. After that, I think it will be time to begin our tour. While we wait, perhaps we can spend a few moments catching up. I have, of course, followed both of your recent exploits, but I’ve seen neither of you in a number of years. Indeed, I feared I would never see you together again. When I saw you at the Viridian conference to set up the Pokémon League I thought you were inseparable, but it seems now you’ve gone your separate ways.’

‘Chalk it up to artistic differences,’ retorted Agatha.

No one spoke for a few moments after this comment. She looked to Oak to check that she had not gone too far. He was squinting and looking upwards aimlessly. Concentrating, not hurt. That was good. She never wanted to hurt him.

‘When Agatha and I were travelling together we were discovering the Pokémon of Kanto and building our strength,’ said Oak, ‘With time it became apparent that each of us were interested in a different aspect of that journey, and that difference pulled us in different directions.’

Agatha smiled at Oak. His dedication to research had not changed who he was. Dr. Fuji furrowed his brow for a moment before opening his mouth to speak.

‘Strength and scientific innovation both have roles to play. Each supports the other. That is why you two make such a formidable team, and I’m pleased to see you working together once again. If, as some are predicting, our country ends up at war, I truly believe that you will both be invaluable assets and all the more so if you are fighting side by side. We’re trying to create a similar synergy of strength and scientific innovation here today, and I hope we will be able to make a similar contribution to you two.’

Agatha was about to speak, but at that moment the door to the room opened once again, and Blaine entered holding a Poké Ball, grinning. He looked to Dr. Fuji, who nodded. Blaine threw the Poké Ball on to the ground, and a Pokémon like nothing either Oak or Agatha had seen before emerged. It was something like a Scyther, but brown. The lower half of its body had the legs and abdomen of a brown Scyther, certainly. Its upper body, however, was notably different. Its chest was white and flat with an almost human breastbone, nothing like the normal bug-like upper body of a Scyther. Its scythes were longer and protruded further from its arms. The most notable difference, however, was its head. Unlike the usual small head of a Scyther, its head was large and flat. What was it? A grin slowly grew across Dr. Fuji’s face.

‘So,’ he said, ‘Any guesses?’

Agatha remained perplexed, but Oak’s eyes widened and mouth opened as realisation hit him.

‘Could it be…’ he started, but trailed off.

‘Go on,’ said Dr. Fuji, grinning more than ever.

‘Well, it appears to be, but no, that’s impossible.’

‘Science is about making the impossible possible, Professor Oak. This is what we do.’

‘Is it… is it the ancient Pokémon Kabutops?’

Dr. Fuji slowly nodded. Agatha had no idea what they were talking about. She had never heard of a Pokémon called ‘Kabutops’.

‘But that can’t be,’ said Oak, ‘Kabutops went extinct thousands of years ago. I’ve seen illustrations of what they are thought to have looked like and I’ve even first-hand seen a skeleton, but no one has seen one alive in millennia!’

Dr. Fuji smiled again.

‘Until now.’

‘But how!?’ asked Oak.

‘That is another question that is best saved for when we have finished our tea, but once again, I assure you that all shall be revealed. Agatha, I realise long extinct Pokémon are probably not of much interest to you, but I suspect that Blaine’s Mega Charizard you battled earlier most likely is.’

Agatha’s eyes lit up. Dr. Fuji let out a slow chuckle.

‘I’ll take that as a yes. We have discovered that certain Pokémon have latent DNA of an even more powerful form of what we previously would have considered their final evolution. A form that Blaine and I have coined their “mega evolved” form. A mega evolved Pokémon is immensely powerful, and any Pokémon that is not mega evolved would struggle to defeat one, but it is not a form that can be reached in the same way as normal evolution. We are still experimenting with ways to bring on this hidden evolution, but as you can see we’ve made great progress. Not all Pokémon appear to be capable of mega evolution, but we believe that a great many, perhaps even the majority, are.’

‘Can I use a mega evolved Pokémon?’

Dr. Fuji chuckled again.

‘You certainly can. In fact, if you’re both finished your tea, shall we head to the real show now? Agatha, Blaine will take you to the mega evolution chamber while I take Professor Oak to the fossil revival lab.’

 

[Silktree]

Two things stand out in this chapter:

1. The war prediction, which Agatha doesn't get to comment on. Is this something that could actually happen, or is Fuji a little paranoid?

2. Mega Evolution, which seems to have been discovered by Fuji?

Both aspects make sense. The former would explain why Fuji went as far as he did in creating Mewtwo ("horrific gene splicing" and failing to endow it with compassion), while the latter may have given him the idea of DNA tinkering to begin with. But right now I don't get the sense of an imminent war, and well, I don't like the Mega Evolution concept which the games linked to the vague "life energy" term. I can tell that you're doing something different, but if Mega Mewtwo is involved...

Above all, I don't think that five chapters cut it for a character like Fuji who underwent a significant change after Mewtwo escaped. I hope to be positively surprised.

I had thought it’d be obvious that the Fuchsia City Gym Leader and the Pokémon Professor himself were exceptions!

I think that "the Kanto Pokemon Professor" would make more sense.

a more suitable question for a social reunion of friends over tea

Have they met before? The description of Oak having to contain his excitement suggests otherwise.

 

[Gama]

@Unown Seer
Thanks for the comments. I'm hoping the upcoming parts will answer most of your questions, but useful to have them stated so I can be sure. Good point about the Kanto Pokémon Professor though - I'll keep in mind.

On the note of future parts, I won't be able to publish today as I won't have access to my laptop but should be able to first thing tomorrow - apologies for delay!

 

[Gama]

Part 3​

Oak made no effort to hide his amazement as he was led through the fossil revival lab. He gasped and exclaimed at every huge machine, Pokémon filled water tank, and advanced computer he was shown. He had never seen anything like this before. He made a mental note of as much of it as possible. Perhaps he would be able to replicate some of it for his own lab. Dr. Fuji grinned.

‘I’m glad you’re impressed, but these are all early versions of this process. The real show is through here,’ he said.

Dr. Fuji then led Oak to an innocuous door in the corner of the enormous lab. He punched a code into the number pad next to the door, and it opened up. The two of them entered the small room. Inside, two men in white lab coats whispered and made notes on clipboards while looking at a huge tank of water, stretching from floor to ceiling, that took up the vast majority of the room. A Tentacruel floated inside the tank, barely moving save for its eyes sluggishly following the humans around the room. Wires travelled from its tentacles and head to the top and bottom of the tank. Small devices resembling satellite dishes were dotted around the edges of the tank, pointing at the Tentacruel. A small computer was set up on the far side of the tank. The men in white lab coats occasionally tapped at its keypad. As Dr. Fuji and Oak entered, the men in white lab coats slightly bowed their heads, but otherwise continued their hushed discussion.

‘What is this?’ asked Oak.

Dr. Fuji smiled again. Without answering, he walked over to the small computer. Oak followed. The two men in lab coats jumped out of their way. Dr. Fuji gestured towards the screen. There was a picture of a blue, tentacled Pokémon shaped like a star in a spiral shell covered with spikes.

‘Do you know what this Pokémon is?’ asked Dr. Fuji.

‘That’s the ancient Pokémon, Omastar,’ answered Oak.

‘Correct. Have you ever seen one in the flesh before?’

‘No one has. They went extinct thousands of years ago.’

Dr. Fuji laughed. Oak had known his answer would provoke this reaction before he’d even said it, but that didn’t stop it being embarrassing. He said nothing as Dr. Fuji continued to laugh.

‘I’m sorry, you’re quite right that they’ve been extinct for thousands of years and that no one has seen one in the flesh since then. How would you like to be among the first four people to see a real life Omastar in over five thousand years?’

Oak’s eyes widened. Words could not express how he felt. Fortunately, they didn’t need to. The expression on his face was enough for Dr. Fuji to understand. The older man smiled, and began typing things into the computer. There was a sharp intake of breath across the room as the water tank began whirring. Bubbles started to form. At first just one or two, but more and more until there were so many bubbles that the Tentacruel could not be seen. The satellite dishes began firing what looked like red laser beams where the Pokémon had been at an accelerating speed. At this point, the Pokémon started crying out, screaming with pain. Its cries became more and more anguished. Oak looked to each of the other three people in the room. Surely something was going wrong here. Shouldn’t they be activating some sort of emergency procedure? The others seemed unfazed by the Pokémon’s pain. In fact, Dr. Fuji was grinning with delight.

‘What’s happening?’ asked Oak.

‘Progress! Progress is happening, Professor Oak,’ answered Dr. Fuji, clenching his fists, ‘Some of the greatest scientific progress you or I will ever see!’

The machine had become incredibly loud, but could still not drown out the screaming pain of the Tentacruel. It was like nothing Oak had ever heard before. Even the most vicious and bloody Pokémon battles did not make Pokémon scream like that.

‘Stop this!’ demanded Oak, ‘It’s in pain!’

‘Pain is the price of greatness. Wait until you see the fantastic beast it will become!’

This went on for some time before the bubbles and lasers started to subside. The screaming too, quietened. The Pokémon in the tank started to become visible once more, but it was no longer the Tentacruel that had been there before. It was a blue, star-shaped creature in a spiral shell, almost exactly like the picture that Dr. Fuji had shown Oak. Almost. Its tentacles were black like those of a Tentacruel rather than the usual blue Omastar tentacles and rather than the small beige beak of an Omastar it bore the large blue pincers of a Tentacruel on its face. There was no denying, however, that they were looking at an Omastar.

‘Drain the tank,’ ordered Dr. Fuji, ‘Let Professor Oak here see it standing before him.’

The two men in lab coats walked over to the computer and pressed a few buttons. Slowly, the water level in the tank began to fall. Through it all the newly created Omastar could be heard whimpering and crying. Its pain had not ended. In spite of having known this transformation would occur, Oak could not believe what was in front of him. He was seeing something that humans had not seen for thousands of years. This was, without a doubt, one of the greatest feats of scientific progress, just as Dr. Fuji had claimed. Oak tried to summon his previous outrage, but it would not come. He was too impressed. How could he object to something so brilliant? Dr. Fuji seemed to understand his thoughts.

‘I’m glad you’re seeing things rationally now, Professor Oak,’ said Dr. Fuji, ‘You truly are a scientist at heart.’

Oak said nothing.

‘The fossil revival process being as complete as it is I’d like to make you an offer. While my aides healed your Pokémon they noted that you possessed one of the strongest Fearow they had ever seen. It would be a perfect candidate for becoming an Aerodactyl.’

Oak saw himself soaring through the skies of Kanto astride the first Aerodactyl to exist for thousands of years. People would look up at them in wonder. People would tell tales of the amazing Professor Oak. Even Gym Leaders and the Elite Four would envy him, truly respect his greatness, truly understand the power of science over strength. To his great shame it was not until Omastar’s growing whimpering that he even considered the pain he would have to put his Fearow through to achieve that. Fearow had served him loyally and stood by him for years. How could he put it through that? Trading it away was one thing. If he could find a suitably competitive trainer, that would be giving Fearow a new lease of life: Fearow was a battling Pokémon, and Oak was no longer a battler. This was different. This would be torture. No, he couldn’t do that to Fearow. The answer was clear. He would not do it.

‘Well, Professor Oak? I’m waiting for your answer.’

As Oak opened his mouth to give his answer, he was struck by the thought of the Kabutops he had seen earlier. It gave no indication whatsoever of being in pain. Perhaps a short period of pain would be worth the new lease of life that becoming such a rare Pokémon would give Fearow?

‘How long will it hurt for?’

Dr. Fuji let out a slow, satisfied chuckle.

‘It will never stop hurting. Not truly. The pain of having your very physiology, all of your skeleton, organs, and muscles forcibly twisted into different shapes by an outside force… It would be unbelievable. The residual pain would never stop. The trauma certainly wouldn’t. It took intense electroshock therapy to prevent Kabutops from whimpering and shuddering long enough to be useful in a battle, but if you saw its majesty in battle now you would see that it is worth it.’

Oak took sharp, short breaths. What was happening? He couldn’t speak. He doubled over with his hands on his knees. He would soon collapse. Patches of light blocked his vision. It seemed to go on forever until he felt a strong hand grip his shoulder, and the world came back to him.

‘Professor Oak?’ asked Dr. Fuji, now standing behind him.

Oak took a few deep breaths. His face burned red. How humiliating to suffer a panic attack in front of his idol. It had been years since his last one. He had thought they were gone for good. He turned to face Dr. Fuji, who was still grinning.

‘I’m waiting for your answer, Professor Oak.’

‘No. I won’t put Fearow through that and I won’t allow you to put another Pokémon through that either. This is appalling.’

‘Strong moral character, eh? That’s admirable, but consider the trade-off and what we’re achieving here. We’ve eliminated extinction. Never again will we have to worry about humanity’s activities pushing another Pokémon species out of existence. We can bring them back. It might cause a little pain, but isn’t that worth it? It won’t be for long either, I bet. This is just a proof of concept. Someone will find a way to achieve these ends without the blunt tools I’ve had to use. Perhaps it will even be you. I might be derided and hated in the future, I might have the title of ‘Doctor’ stripped from me, but one thing I am sure of is that the people who call me a monster most viciously will lean upon what I’ve achieved here most heavily. What we do here may be cruel, but that’s the price of progress. Don’t you want to be part of that?’

‘No,’ said Oak, ‘Torturing Pokémon is never okay, and it is certainly never progress. It doesn’t matter what you achieve by doing it.’

Dr. Fuji frowned, but then something at his waist beeped. He picked up the small device and looked at its screen. He let out a deep chuckle, a smile emerging across his face once more.

‘What?’ asked Oak.

‘It seems your friend is not as morally scrupulous as you. Let’s go to the mega evolution chamber. You’re about to witness something marvellous…’

 

[Gama]

Part 4​

The failed experiments, early prototypes, and various pained Pokémon stuck halfway through the ‘mega evolution’ process trapped in small cages across the dark, metal walled room had disappeared from Agatha’s mind completely. Even the mysterious, pink, feline Pokémon that Blaine had refused to discuss had been forgotten. Now nothing existed but her large black Gengar, Spook, the strongest of the three. He floated in the large glass tube in front of them, with metallic chains around his wrists and ankles attaching to the top and bottom of the tube. It was difficult to build chains that held Ghost Pokémon, apparently. Difficult but not impossible. Even this fact, interesting at first, had been forgotten. It didn’t matter. All that mattered now was that she would be in command of one of the strongest Pokémon in the world in just a few minutes. Spook looked afraid. She nodded at him slowly in return. This would certainly be painful for him, but it had to be done. He would understand this once he came out the other side of this a Mega Pokémon, capable of brushing foes aside with ease, just as Blaine’s Mega Charizard had done to him.

Blaine grinned excitedly, his hand on the large lever next to the glass tube. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Both Blaine and Agatha looked shocked. Blaine rushed to the door, and opened it. On the other side stood Dr. Fuji and Oak. Dr. Fuji was grinning, but Oak was pained.

‘You can’t do this!’ shouted Oak, ‘You can’t torture Spook just to get stronger!’

Dr. Fuji let out a deep chuckle. He began to say something, but Agatha interrupted.

‘I can do what I please!’ she shouted, ‘Do you know why?’

There was silence for a moment.

‘Why?’ asked Oak.

‘Because I have bothered to become strong! I can stop things that I believe are wrong, I can protect the people I love, and mega evolving Spook will allow me to do that even more! Maybe he will be the difference between us being destroyed in war and us living to tell the tale! What can you do? Nothing! Because you’ve traded away all your strong Pokémon for trinkets and novelties!’

Tears formed in Oak’s eyes.

‘Please Agatha, this isn’t right, and I think you know that.’

‘I’ll tell you what Oak, if you can beat me in a battle I’ll take Spook out of the machine, but if I win, you go back to Pallet Town like the coward you are.’

‘Don’t do this, Agatha. If you go through with this, it’ll be you that’s the coward.’

Agatha’s eyes grew even more furious. Oak had seen this expression before. There was no chance whatsoever that he would get through to her now. She had made up her mind. He let out a sigh.

‘Battle me or leave,’ she snapped.

‘If that’s the only choice I have, I’ll battle you.’

Dr. Fuji let out a deep chuckle.

‘Now this I like the sound of! Blaine, hold off on the mega evolution!’

Blaine removed his hand from the lever. Spook let out a shudder of relief. Agatha grabbed all four remaining Poké Balls from her belt, and threw them forward, releasing her two other Gengar, Golbat, and Arbok.

‘Hey, that’s not fair!’ protested Oak.

‘Of course it’s fair,’ snapped Agatha, ‘We’re not in the Pokémon League Challenge now. You can send out as many Pokémon as you want too! Oh wait, you gave them all away!’

Oak sighed, and threw his Poké Ball forward. Fearow burst out.

‘Fearow! Fly to the top of the room!’

‘Golbat, Spectre, Grim: follow it up! Arbok: don’t let it back down!’

Fearow immediately sprung up to the ceiling, flying a figure eight around it. Agatha’s three flying Pokémon quickly met it up there. Arbok slithered around the floor, waiting for its chance to strike.

‘Top speed, Fearow!’

‘Golbat, Grim: pincer it! Spectre: hit it with a Thunder!’

Fearow sped up its figure eights, flying much faster than the other three Pokémon could possibly keep up with. Golbat and Grim flew around it in a fashion that seemed almost perfectly random, never getting anywhere near it. Meanwhile, Spectre charged its Thunder, and released the enormous bolt directly into Fearow’s flight path. A flash of electricity and the smell of smoke filled the room. Laughter and gasps could be heard from the trainers down below. A thud was heard as an unconscious Pokémon hit the floor, but it was Golbat not Fearow that fell.

‘Keep it up, Fearow!’ yelled Oak.

‘Let’s stop this stupid timewasting! Both of you – fire Toxics at it until you hit it! I don’t care how many it takes!’

Oak smirked. Although this manoeuvre ruined his current strategy, he couldn’t help but admire the elegance of it. Still, there was no need to change course before he was forced to. Both Gengar stayed rooted to a single spot, and fired large blobs of purple poison at Fearow’s figure eight. The humans on the ground took a few steps back to avoid the large splashes of poison hitting the floor. It was some time before Fearow was finally hit by a Toxic, and it let out a crow of pain.

‘Fearow!’ shouted Oak, ‘Fury Chase!’

Fearow flew backwards away from both Gengar, and opened its wings, which began to light up. Agatha looked up in fear. She had not seen Oak’s ‘Fury Chase’ command before. What was about to happen?

‘Out of the way!’ she shouted.

At that moment, a series of spiked feathers burst forth from Fearow’s wings, and the two Gengar leapt out of the way in opposite directions. It was a Fury Attack, but that was a Normal type attack. Oak knew full well Normal type attacks didn’t affect Ghost types like Grim and Spectre, so what was his game? All became clear as Fearow was replaced with a dark shadow that rocketed towards Spectre at a frightening speed, knocking out the Gengar on contact. The Fury Attack was a dummy all along. Its only function had been to enable Fearow’s super effective ‘Pursuit’ to hit a fleeing foe, which was exactly what the move was designed to do. Agatha growled in frustration as she withdrew Spectre to its Poké Ball. She should have known better than to fall for that.

‘Grim! Fly to the other side of the room! Draw that poison out!’

‘Follow and hit it with another Pursuit!’

‘Take it back to the floor!’

Grim shot back towards the ground as instructed, but could not outspeed Fearow, and was hit by a terminal Pursuit. No sooner did this happen than an explosion of purple poison surrounded Fearow, instantly knocking it out. Oak cursed. He had been so focused on the sky battle that he had entirely forgotten about Arbok. It had hit Fearow with a Venoshock, a move that increased in power due to Fearow already being poisoned. Oak withdrew Fearow to its Poké Ball. Agatha grinned.

‘Agatha, please don’t do this.’

‘You lost. Get out of here.’

‘I won’t let you do this.’

‘How exactly are you going to stop me? Arbok, get rid of Oak please. The usual way.’

Oak stood his ground as Arbok slowly slithered towards him. The enormous snake Pokémon reached raised its head so it towered above him. He curled his hands into fists. He must not allow anyone to see how much he was shaking. Dr. Fuji and Blaine simply watched. Were they really not going to intervene?

‘Agatha, you must stop. You cannot do this to your Pokémon.’

Agatha said nothing as Arbok slithered closer still to Oak. As it reached him, it opened its large jaws, and presented its fangs. Oak stood his ground. Slowly, Arbok placed its fangs around Oak’s neck. The sharp ends almost pierced his skin. There was nothing he could do to stop his shaking and he could feel tears swelling in his eyes. Was he about to have another panic attack?

‘I will have Arbok lift you out of here if I have to, Oak. If it does that you will almost certainly be poisoned, and you may die.’

‘I will not walk away, and allow you to torture an innocent Pokémon that has been loyal to you for years. You will have to go through me first if you want to do that.’

Suddenly, Oak felt himself yanked from behind. It was Dr. Fuji’s strong hand pulling him by his shoulder backwards, out of Arbok’s jaws. The older scientist threw him out threw the door they’d come in from.

‘You’re good to no one dead. Just get out of here.’

With that, Dr. Fuji whacked his palm against a button near the door, causing it to slam shut.

‘Blaine,’ said Dr. Fuji, ‘Proceed with the mega evolution.’

 

[diamondpearl876]

Hey, there! Welcome back to the Writers Workshop! I don't think I was ever really an active member during your tenure here, so this is my first real exposure to your writing. ^^; Here we go, then!

Agatha smirked. The reaction she invoked in small towns was so predictable. That was the one good thing about them. There was no way they reacted like this to Oak, so how could he stand it here? It didn’t matter. Having that argument yet again would just lead them to the same old place, and right now she needed him. Even after giving away his strongest Pokémon in infuriating flights of fancy, he was still one of the strongest trainers in Kanto, and the only strong trainer in Kanto she truly trusted.

I think the physical description of Agatha's surroundings in Pallet Town are lacking in the opening here, but you balance that out rather nicely with Agatha's monologue about why she's there and how she feels about Professor Oak.

It's interesting Professor Oak's the "only strong trainer in Kanto she truly [trusts]." What about the Elite Four or the gym leaders? It doesn't seem too good if she can't trust them, but now, having caught up on the fic so far and seeing some of the experiments being done in the name of progress, her not trusting them doesn't seem surprising. At any rate, Professor Oak being portrayed as a strong trainer here is interesting - I know it's canon and I don't really read a lot of canon fics, but with the way you portray it, it does add a unique layer of depth to their relationship dynamic here.

An accidental glance at the endless books lining the walls was all it would take to send her into a fit of fury.

This says a lot on its own. I can really see the depth of her disdain for how Professor Oak chose academia over his trainer career.

Agatha had spent a lot of time boasting that this was the most powerful Gengar ever to have lived, as if destructive power were something to be proud of.

And we get a glimpse here that Oak's not happy with Agatha's achievements, either. Hmm...

If he had given Fearow away, she would simply have to kill him.

I understand Agatha's disdain runs pretty deep, though this part still feels a tad melodramatic to me.

Usually locals and tourists alike were spread across those shores, but today there was no one.

That's probably for the best, if Blaine's shooting fireballs everywhere. XD

‘Ha! You better have Burn Heal!’

Lol, this homage to the games makes a lot more sense and is more badass with your characterization of Blaine.

I had thought it’d be obvious that the Fuchsia City Gym Leader and the Pokémon Professor himself were exceptions! Just shows that you can take nothing for obvious when you are working with the young.’

So Agatha actually isn't an Elite Four member in this and is the Fuchsia City gym leader instead? I don't remember that being canon - not that it matters all that much in the context of this in fanfic, really, but I wasn't expecting it.

‘Agatha, I’m not drawing out my answers merely for the purposes of suspense. There are some things that can only be appreciated when shown and not told, and very rarely is a tea room the place to show people those things. There is, though, perhaps one thing that I can show you here.’

I like this dialogue. It's stern and there's a lot of truth in it. In short, this seems like the kind of person I think your version of Agatha would listen to.

Oak tried to summon his previous outrage, but it would not come. He was too impressed.

And in this part we get more Oak as a character on his own! You do a good job going in-depth with his character I think. He's clearly conflicted with his feelings on Dr. Fuji's work, despite how much pain he saw during the omastar resurrection. Morals seem to win out in the end, but there's a lot of waving back and forth given the weight of Dr. Fuji's discoveries and their implications for the future. I'll be interested to see Agatha's role in all this. Knowing what I know so far, there'll be lots of tension between the two.

As Oak opened his mouth to give his answer, he was struck by the thought of the Kabutops he had seen earlier. It gave no indication whatsoever of being in pain. Perhaps a short period of pain would be worth the new lease of life that becoming such a rare Pokémon would give Fearow?

How important Fearow is to both Agatha and Oak is established pretty well, and Oak even entertaining the idea for the sake of progress is... Well, it's an interesting part of his character, that's for sure.

Oak took a few deep breaths. His face burned red. How humiliating to suffer a panic attack in front of his idol. It had been years since his last one. He had thought they were gone for good. He turned to face Dr. Fuji, who was still grinning.

I'm not sure if Dr. Fuji is worthy of being called Oak's "idol" after all of this...

We can bring them back. It might cause a little pain, but isn’t that worth it? It won’t be for long either, I bet.

This dialogue contradicts what Dr. Fuji said beforehand, where he says the pain was enormous and is potentially lifelong. Not sure if this was intentional on your part to have Dr. Fuji downplay the pain the omastar felt so Oak would agree to the plan?

Slowly, Arbok placed its fangs around Oak’s neck. The sharp ends almost pierced his skin. There was nothing he could do to stop his shaking and he could feel tears swelling in his eyes. Was he about to have another panic attack?

‘I will have Arbok lift you out of here if I have to, Oak. If it does that you will almost certainly be poisoned, and you may die.’

After this part, I'm struggling to figure out how these two managed to stay friends for this long. But it's not entirely unrealistic for people toxic for each other to maintain contact, so that's not really a complaint. I just feel for Oak in particular here. XD

Looking forward to the next part(s). ^^

 

[Silktree]

I have to say that I don't like how soulless everyone but Oak seems to be. I'm hoping that the last chapter reveals something that humanizes these characters.

 

[Gama]

@diamondpearl876 Thanks for the review Your comments are very helpful and I'll keep them in mind as I continue writing this and other stuff.

Agatha being Fuchsia Gym Leader is not canon, but since other characters have made their way to the Elite Four via being a Gym Leader I didn't think it'd be much of a jump for her to have been a Gym Leader in the ~30 years between this story and RBY. Somewhat similar for Agatha's mistrust for other Gym Leaders and Elite Four. The League is still supposed to be *relatively* new at this point, so it doesn't necessarily enjoy the same status as in RBY and beyond, and certainly she's not as close to any of them as Oak.

The contradiction is what Fuji says I wasn't 100% conscious of, as such, but yes, as you say, the idea behind the way he presents it in the "little bit of pain" quote is that he's trying to downplay how bad it is to try and woo Oak to what he wants to do.

@UnownSeer I am sorry that you feel that way! That's useful for me to know though so thank you! I will post the final instalment tomorrow so you can judge for yourself whether the characters are humanised sufficiently

 

[Silktree]

Your Fuji is very different than mine, so it's difficult to accept the way he comes across right now. But at least he saved Oak.

Why Agatha almost killed Oak baffles me. I suspect that it all boils down to the war, but I feel that it should have been fleshed out by now.

 

[Gama]

Part 5​

Blaine grinned and let out a laugh, his badly burned chest bouncing up and down as he did. He grabbed the lever, and yanked it down. Whirring noises started up from the mega evolution machine in which Spook, Agatha’s Gengar, was chained. They were quiet at first, but they grew louder and louder.

While the noises were still quiet enough for him to be heard, Dr. Fuji took a few steps towards Agatha, and placed his hand on her shoulder to whisper in her ear.

‘Are you ready to witness history in the making?’

Agatha nodded, but felt herself shake. She took deep breaths as the battle adrenaline left her. What if Oak was right? It was an uncomfortably plausible possibility. Well, it was too late now anyway. The lever had been pulled. She would simply have to make the most of this situation. What good would it do to say anything now? Even if it could be stopped, it was for the best. The ways in which she would be able to change the world for the better with a Mega Gengar would be worth all of this.

The whirring from inside the mega evolution tank became deafening. Bolts of electricity began passing through the tank, occasionally hitting Spook. Each time Spook was hit, he let out a shriek of pain and struggled against his chains. Each shriek struck Agatha’s heart. How could she have done this to her own Pokémon? She steeled herself against these feelings. Spook himself would see this pain was worth it when he emerged as a Mega Gengar.

As the electric bolts hit Spook with an increasing frequency, a small gold ring began to appear on his forehead, and the tips of his hands and feet starting to become much lighter than the rest of his body, almost pink. His screams became louder too. Soon, they were so loud that they even began to drown out the sound of the machine itself. Agatha could see both Dr. Fuji and Blaine laughing and shouting, though she could not hear what either of them were saying.

Suddenly, Spook let out a scream so loud and continuous that the three trainers thought their eardrums might burst. As he did, smaller versions of himself burst out of his chest, and flew across the room. Agatha turned to Blaine and Dr. Fuji. Perhaps this was normal? One look at their faces confirmed that it was not. Both looked panicked, once again shouting indiscernible things. One of the many mini-Gengar flying around the room swooped down, and flew directly into Blaine’s face. The mini-Gengar disappeared, and Blaine collapsed. Dr. Fuji began running towards his assistant, but took only two steps before suffering the same fate himself.

Agatha looked up. The ceiling was entirely covered by mini-Gengar, flying across each other. None came for her… yet. Perhaps they knew that she was their trainer? Perhaps they knew she was different to Blaine and Dr. Fuji? She looked over at Spook. He was screaming and writhing more than ever. Still more mini-Gengar burst out of his body. She tried to call out to him to apologise, but over the noise of the machinery and his screaming nothing could be heard. There was only one thing for it. She would have to shut off that machine. She should never have turned it on.

She took a step towards the machine, but was stopped in her tracks as she came face-to-face with a mini-Gengar. Where had it even come from? Its face was Spook. There was no doubt about that, but its eyes had a pain and anger she had never before seen in her Pokémon. Even Spook’s permanent grin had been replaced with a furious grimace. She wanted to explain herself, but that face wasn’t interested in explanation.

Agatha ran across the vast, unending purple horizon. There were no landmarks, just unending purple in every direction. She couldn’t recall how or why she was there, but she knew one thing: she had to escape whatever it was that was chasing her. She reached to the Poké Balls at her belt: her Pokémon would be able to help her escape whatever it was that was pursuing her. She started by grabbing the Poké Ball of Spook, her strongest and most reliable Pokémon. She threw the Poké Ball out behind her, but was dismayed to find that it was empty. As she picked up and threw the Poké Balls of her other two Gengar, her Golbat, and her Arbok the same thing happened. Where were her Pokémon? What had happened? It didn’t matter, all that mattered was that she had to escape whatever it was that was pursuing her.

Suddenly, Agatha tripped. Both her knees hit the floor, causing her great pain. That was it. It was all over. Whatever the horrible beast chasing her was, it had her now. She tried to stand, but could not. Her arms and legs were too badly hurt. Instead, she rolled over on to her back, so she could at least see whatever it was that was chasing her before she was doomed. To her surprise, rather than the horrible beast she had been sure she was running from, she saw Oak. He was twenty-five years old, had jet black hair, and a handsome smile. Hadn’t he changed since then? Hadn’t he been older, different, distant? It didn’t matter. This was the Oak she wanted, the Oak she loved. He put his hand out to help her up, and she took it. He pulled her up, and put her good arm around him, resting all her weight across his strong shoulders. It was like being home again, safe after many, many years in the wilderness. She had missed this.

Together, Agatha and Oak walked on through the vast unending purple. He led her along, confidently striding, as if he had no doubt whatsoever as to the correct path. She almost asked where they were going, but she didn’t need to. She trusted him. That was all that mattered. They walked for longer than she could keep track of. The destination didn’t matter anymore. As long as she was with Oak, everything was perfect. In fact, it was better if there wasn’t a destination. That way, nothing could ever change. In the back of her mind, the image of a different Oak hovered. What was it? She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She recalled going to Pallet Town to visit him in his lab. But he didn’t have a lab and he didn’t live in Pallet Town. He lived in Saffron City with her. He would never move to somewhere like Pallet Town. But he did. And he was older, much older than he ever should have been. She took a quick look to the Oak walking next to her, supporting her. He was still the twenty-five year old, jet black haired man that she had fallen in love with.

At that moment, Oak stopped walking, and so did Agatha. She looked up at him to enquire why, but he did not look back. Instead, he shoved her forward. She fell back to the floor. She tried to cry out, but no noise came from her mouth. She felt a strong grip around her wrists and ankles, followed by her weight leaving the ground. Suddenly, she was chained up in a glass tube, looking out into a small laboratory. This was the mega evolution chamber on Cinnabar Island. She had been here just a few moments ago. What had happened? Why wasn’t she there now? She should be, that she was sure of. Outside her tube, Oak looked in. He was still the twenty-five year old man who had brought her year, although she knew full well he should be ten years older than that. He did not look at her. Instead, he had a quiet conversation with the badly burned bare chested man next to him, who Agatha knew to be the new Cinnabar Gym Leader, Blaine. Agatha tried to cry out to Oak, but he appeared unable to hear her.

A third man walked over to the three of them. Agatha recognised him as Dr. Fuji. He was the reason they had come to this island in the first place. They were supposed to be stopping his cruel experiments, but what were the experiments? How had it come to be that Agatha was the subject of one of these experiments? Why had Oak helped these cruel men capture her for it? She screamed, trying to make these questions and more be heard, but still no one responded. After a further nod from Oak, Blaine grabbed the large lever in front of him, and the tank she floated in was filled with a deafening noise. This was familiar. She had seen this before, but couldn’t quite put her finger on when or why. The only thing she was sure of was that it was not good. She screamed and cried louder than ever to catch the attention of the three men, but none of them responded. She struggled against her chains, but nothing could be done. She looked to Oak, but he did not care about her plight. Why didn’t he care?

Bolts of electricity started passing around her. Her heart raced. A jolt of pain on her elbow. Not much, but enough to terrify her even more. More jolts, all around her body. They became stronger and stronger, faster and faster. Each one hurt more than the last. She cried out again. Oak looked her directly in the eye, and nodded slowly. Why was he allowing this to happen to her? At this point, the pain became unbearable. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. Surely her body would give, and she would die at any moment, but no, she continued, the unbearable pain only growing. Through it all, Oak maintained eye contact with her, uncaring. The pain grew so much that she could see, hear, and feel nothing but the pain and Oak’s uncaring eyes.

Suddenly, her surroundings changed again. She was lying on the floor of the mega evolution chamber, still looking into Oak’s eyes, but he was older again, thirty-five. He had streaks of grey in his hair and wore his white lab coat. He had one hand on her shoulder and the other on her face. Most importantly, he cared. She could see it in his eyes.

‘Are you alright, Agatha?’ he asked.

Her body was still in too much pain for her to speak, but she nodded. It was over, and Oak was there for her, so she was alright.

‘Good,’ he said, ‘I’m glad I came back. Who knows what would have happened otherwise. I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if you’d died here. The three of you were convulsing on the floor. All it took was me shutting off the machine to make it all stop.’

Agatha understood what had happened. She had seen her Gengar possess people many times, but had never experienced it herself. Spook had forced her, Dr. Fuji, and Blaine to experience what had happened to him. She didn’t feel the pain through her body anymore, but she did feel it in her heart.

‘Spook?’ she managed.

‘He’s gone,’ answered Oak, ‘When I shut off the machine he escaped from it, and flew away.’

Agatha nodded. Of course he had. She didn’t deserve him anymore. Oak helped Agatha on to her feet. It didn’t feel like it had in the dream world. She didn’t love him anymore, but she had, and he would always be a dear friend.

Back in the team room, a stifling silence held for an extended period. Agatha, Dr. Fuji, and Blaine all sat in their armchairs breathlessly. No maids or butlers were with them in the ornate room this time. Agatha struggled to stay in the room. Without a continued, concerted effort her mind flew back to the horrific torture she had faced, the torture Oak had allowed her to face. It was hard to remember that in reality he had saved her from it rather than subjecting her to it. In the moments she was able to concentrate for long enough, she looked at the three men in the room with her. Dr. Fuji and Blaine stared into the distance, no doubt travelling back to their own personal tortures, experiencing them all over again. Oak sat quietly, slowly glancing between the three of them. Who knows how long had passed by the time Agatha found the strength to ask the one thing on her mind.

‘Where’s Spook?’

All three men look to her, their faces showing shock at the unexpected noise.

‘Gone,’ said Oak, ‘When I turned off the machine he flew away.’

‘Yes,’ said Agatha, ‘Of course.’

If only she could do the same. Suddenly, noise.

‘You were… right, Professor.’

This time Dr. Fuji broke the silence through laboured breaths.

‘I have seen… what we put… those poor creatures through. I just wanted… to make the world… a better place… prepare Kanto… for the wars… that might come… but I see now… nothing is worth… what those Pokémon faced… because of us.’

‘I’m glad you can see that, Doctor Fuji,’ said Oak.

‘I’m no… doctor… Doctors heal.’

Tears trickled down the sides of Mr. Fuji’s face.

‘You’ll shut this place down?’ asked Oak.

‘Yes… I’ll never… allow a Pokémon… to face suffering like that again.’

‘Good,’ said Oak.

Silence fell again. Soon, Oak stood, walked over to Agatha’s armchair, and put his hand over hers. She looked up at him.

‘We did what we came here to do. Let’s go.’

In that moment, the world was full of hope. There was nothing that couldn’t be fixed. The awful experiments would end. The Pokémon that had already been hurt would be healed and looked after. She would find Spook, and make amends. She would fight through the anger and bitterness that had been slowly taking over her. She and Oak would finally work through their differences and be together again. They would grow old together. They would be happy. It didn’t matter whether all that actually happened or not. In that moment, it already had.

 

[Silktree]

It's a tightly written finale with a nice twist, but my issues with the characters and their motives remain in tact.

1. Agatha feels sorry for what she did to Spook, but what about nearly killing Oak?
2. What is this war business? It's the root of the characters' craziness, but I don't have enough information to relate to them.
3. Is Fuji lying to Oak at the end? Mewtwo hasn't been created yet.

 

[Gama]

@Unown Seer

1. Fair enough. My intention was that it's implicit she regrets that. To answer your previous question of why she did it in the first place I did not intend for that to be the war as such. With hindsight I should have made it clearer in this chapter when she reflected on the battle but the intention was simply that once she perceived him as an enemy she became enraged beyond proportionality and reason. Oak and Agatha's relationship is intended as an explosive and toxic one where they consistently set each other off and fall into unreasonable conflict while also having tender moments of closeness.

2. I didn't intend for the war to be as relevant an issue to this story as it may have become. It's intended to provide a general unease but not be the main focus. I suppose a bit more context would have been useful though. Intention is that the backdrop of possible war amplifies the pursuit of progress but isn't what created it.

3. Intention is that Mewtwo has already been created at this point which is what the reference to the pink creature at the beginning of Part 4 is supposed to subtly imply.

Thanks for raising these issues. I'm now considering writing a follow up that may plug some of these gaps.

 

[Silktree]

1. I suppose that I just find it hard to understand Agatha, which may have been your intention? All Oak did was choose a different path for himself.

2. I agree that it shouldn't have been the main focus, but without context it almost seems like an excuse.

3. Any reason why you chose not to reference Mewtwo? Isn't the pink creature Mew?