Chapter 17: The Fault of Joshua
Location: Longan Laboratories, 27th Basement Floor, 1st Cafeteria
Time: 17:25…
Jason looked around the cafeteria in search of his rival along with Gengar. Expectantly, he was nowhere to be seen. Even Gengar shrugged and then got an idea. Gengar sank to the bottom of the ground and went to the next floor. Jason got the message and went to the edge of the floor, where he saw the large abyss leading to the one hundredth basement floor. Jason smirked and activated his Omega Power. Purple, ghost-like Tribal patterns snaked across his body, up his arms and down his legs. Afterwards, he jumped off the ledge and started floating downwards towards the next cafeteria floor. From where he was levitating, he could see where everyone was. Now if only he could find who he was looking for.
When he couldn't find him anywhere, he checked the next floor. Then the next one. Eventually, he called back his Gengar and decided to go find his dad. He had to deactivate his Omega Power as well, and he immediately felt drained. So he took a seat in an empty chair and decided to rest. Finding his dad could wait. Perhaps if he eavesdropped a bit, he might learn something about Hiro's whereabouts. He heard some people alright, but it wasn't what he was wanting to hear – from two ladies behind him.
"I'm not kidding you, Kara. My Pokémon were gone the next time I entered my room. I looked everywhere for them."
"You don't suppose it was that syndicate that's been surfacing, do you, Cindy?"
"Team Rocket? No way. Professor Joshua would have their heads if they tried anything. Security's pretty tight around here."
"You never know. There's been a lot of thefts lately."
"I'd feel much better if I knew where they were taken, at least."
"You know what I heard? That a cult dedicated to Halzief has been forming in a few of the bunkers. Some people and even Pokémon have disappeared no thanks to them."
"You don't suppose my Pokémon were taken by that cult, do you?"
"You better hope they weren't. If they were, you'd never see them again."
That's when he stopped listening. If there was any time that Jason would be worried, now would be the time. Not just for himself and his Pokémon, but for those close to him as well. He had to warn the others as fast as possible. As soon as he was able, he got up out of his seat and made his way to the nearest elevator. Before he reached it, however, he swore he heard the sounds of footsteps in heavy boots approaching from an unseen hallway. Remembering what he had just heard in the cafeteria, he slowed to a crawl and began scanning the hallway for an open door. He found one and slipped inside mere seconds before two people rounded the corner. Jason remained motionless as the pair of dark-dressed figures walked by slowly, doing his best to remain out of sight. Once the footsteps had receded out of earshot, he stuck his head out the door frame. He looked in the direction he had been heading. The yawning expanse of the empty hallway greeted him. As he turned his head the other direction, he was greeted with the same empty space, which comforted him and allowed him a moment to relax. He sighed quietly, turning back towards the empty hall ahead of him, and began to walk back to the elevator. Once he was there, he made his way to the fiftieth basement floor.
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Location: Longan Laboratories, 40th Basement Floor, 1st Pokémon Center
Time: 17:30…
Once Giovanni reached the fortieth floor, he ran to where his destination was: The Pokémon Center. He reached the front desk where Nurse Joy was sitting and cleared his throat to get her attention. "Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center," she cheerily began, then opened her eyes to look in front of her, "Oh, hey. You're one of Hiro's friends, aren't you? Do you need your Pokémon treated?" "No, thanks," Giovanni said, "That's not why I'm here. I'm wondering if Hiro's here. He had a conversation with Xavier Adonijah, and we haven't seen or heard from him since."
"I'm sorry, Giovanni," Nurse Joy said, "I haven't seen Hiro all day today. He was supposed to show up after training, but I haven't seen him at all." "Is there a chance the other Nurse Joys have seen him?" Giovanni asked. "I honestly doubt it," Nurse Joy answered, "I can call them and ask. In the meantime, you can also head to the other clinics and see if he went there. Maybe he went to another person he knows."
Giovanni thought about it for a moment. The only other person that Hiro could possibly go to would be Loretta. She was the one who tried getting his results to Hiro after he was told that he was adopted at birth. "Yeah," Giovanni said, "go ahead and call them. Maybe Loretta will know something." Nurse Joy nodded and started calling the others. Giovanni left in the meantime and went to the thirty-fifth basement floor.
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Location: Longan Laboratories, 25th Basement Floor, Library
Time: 17:35…
Delia silently looked everywhere in the Library for her friend. Like the last time he was in a funk from Loretta's information, she had thought that she would find him here. The last time she found him, he was shoulder-deep in books. So when she couldn't find him this time, not in all of the library, she got even more worried. She walked over to the front desk where the librarian was.
"Excuse me," Delia said to the librarian, "but have you seen a boy with black messy, spiky hair? He's about a foot taller than me, has green eyes, and wears a red overshirt with white sleeves." "I'm sorry," the librarian said, "I haven't seen anyone like that today. Perhaps you can check the other libraries on the other floors and see if he's there. There are other libraries on the fourteenth and nineteenth floors." Delia nodded and waved goodbye to the librarian.
Before she left the library, she noticed the security cameras hanging on the ceiling. That's when she got an idea. If Hiro were in any of the libraries, then the cameras would pick him up. There was also one place in the whole facility that the cameras were connected to, which was the Control Room in the fiftieth basement floor. She also knew that Jason would go down there if he had no luck on his end. With that thought in mind, she rushed towards the nearest elevator, wishing to begin her descent to the fiftieth basement floor. But before she could reach the exit, a voice stopped her. "Excuse me, miss. Where are you heading in such a hurry?"
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Location: Longan Laboratories, 35th Basement Floor, Medical Wing
Time: 17:40…
As soon as he walked into the wing, Giovanni walked past nurses, doctors, Pokémon, and even patients. He finally reached the door bearing Loretta Delphox's name. After knocking on the door and waiting for five seconds, a couple of guards stepped up to him. One of them asked Giovanni in a monotonous tone, "Staying out of trouble?" "Yeah," he said, "Mostly." "What are you doing out here?" the guard asked again. "I'm here to see Lady Loretta," Giovanni answered, "What are you doing?" "We're patrolling the halls from here to the fiftieth basement floor," the guard replied. Giovanni didn't like this encounter one bit because a few things were off. Both of them had glazed looks in their eyes, the other guard didn't talk much, and to top it all off, the one that didn't talk seemed to be restless – like he was feverish. "There have been reports of people and Pokémon missing. If you see suspicious activity, report it to us at once. Be careful, young man. Stay safe, and don't run in the halls." After that, they walked past him, albeit nudging him out of the way.
Finally, the door opened to reveal Christian instead of Loretta. "Christian?" Giovanni asked, "What are you doing here? How come you didn't open the door earlier?" "I didn't want to talk to the guards," Christian said. "... Why?" Giovanni asked with a raised eyebrow. "Not important right now," Christian said, "What did you need Mother for?" "I'm looking for Hiro, actually," Giovanni said, "Is he here, or did he come by at all?" "No," Christian shook his head, "The last time I saw Hiro was during class. Unlike you, however, I know what's troubling him." "You do?" the red-wearing teen asked. The five-year-old nodded with a frown. "We believe that Xavier was mean to Hiro when they were speaking privately," Giovanni said, "What do you know?"
"You're right about one thing," Christian told him, "Xavier wasn't nice to Hiro. He was discouraging to him." "Discouraging?" Giovanni asked, "How?" "Xavier told him that people and Pokémon need a Parlonian to lead them through Halzief's chaos, not an outsider. He told him that he'll never be ready to face Halzief because he can't have the surgery. He told him he was Kalosian, and he should give up and stop being a burden to us." Giovanni got a bigger idea thanks to the little boy now. It was apparent to everyone that Hiro had little confidence in himself already, as was told by Professor Joshua. However, if he didn't know any better, he'd say this was sabotage to Professor Joshua's progress to fulfilling the prophecy. But what if it wasn't? Giovanni needed to know the whole truth before going any further. "Christian," Giovanni said to the young Delphox, "How did your mother find Hiro's results? Can you find them on the computer's adoption archives?" "That's exactly what we did," Christian said, "I've been trying to tell my family about what Xavier did, but they won't listen, let alone do anything about it." "That blows," Giovanni said, "Can you look for them yourself?" "I'm not a doctor or a nurse," Christian said, "Looking them up myself without permission is against the rules." "And you always do what you're told?" the teen guessed. Christian nodded.
Giovanni sighed and took a seat. "Okay," he said, "then I'm going to just stay here until your mother comes back." "Why?" Christian asked, "Do you want to be believed?" Giovanni asked the boy. "Yes, I do," Christian said, "I'm getting sick of being waved off, especially by my own parents." "Then let me wait for her," Giovanni said, crossing his arms and legs, "I'll tell her everything. You know, I'm not the only one that believes you, Christian. Hiro's Pikachu does, too, and he's the one who was with Hiro when Xavier said all that to him." "I know," Christian said.
Fifteen minutes go by, and the door opens, revealing the Tribal Lady that was Loretta. "Oh!" she said, "Hello. You're one of Hiro's friends. What are you doing here?" "Ma'am," Giovanni said, "I need you to look up Hiro's adoption results. I think Xavier is trying to sabotage Hiro's training." "Xavier was supposed to give those to Hiro this afternoon," Loretta said, "Perhaps Hiro read them wrong?" "If you call being called Kalosian and a burden to the team 'reading it wrong,' then maybe he did," Giovanni said. Loretta frowned at this information before looking at Christian, then back at Giovanni. "Did Christian put you up to this?" she asked. "No," Giovanni said, "Hiro's Pikachu told Delia, and she told us. Christian only filled in some informational gaps. Please, Ms. Delphox, he's probably being lied to." Loretta sighed before a knock on the door was heard. "Excuse me, Nurse Delphox," a nurse said at the doorway, "but one of your patients is needing another round of aspirin." "Tell him I'll be right there," Loretta said to the nurse, who nodded and walked off.
Loretta walked to her desk, took out a piece of paper, and wrote something on it. After two minutes of writing, she got up from her desk, and said to Giovanni and Christian, "You've got five minutes. Find what you're looking for and run." Then she left the office. When Giovanni looked at the paper, he saw that they were instructions on navigating the archives. He sat down in the seat and had Christian stand next to him. From there, he typed in the password to the computer itself, unlocking it. "Let me on, Giovanni," Christian said, "I know how to access those files faster." Giovanni let Christian onto the computer and let him access the adoption archive files. It took him a good three minutes before they started looking for Hiro's file. "What family name adopted him again?" he asked. "I think it was Ige," Giovanni said. As soon as he typed the name in, the results narrowed down to two adoption forms. One of them was of an unnamed male child, but it was the mother's name that made Christian's eyes grow wide.
"We need to print this off now!" Christian exclaimed as he selected the document and pressed the Print option. Immediately, the printer behind them printed off two copies of the document. Afterward, the teen and five-year-old took one copy each and signed out of the computer before they exited the office. But before they could leave, guards showed up and started patrolling the medical wing. "This way," Christian directed them. Giovanni followed the kid to an air vent. Before they were spotted, they both crawled inside and crawled their way through the metal tunnels.
"Why are we crawling through these vents exactly?" Giovanni asked after two minutes. "Because three weeks ago, those soldiers were working for Professor Joshua," Christian answered, "Today, they're working for Xavier." "I don't see what the big deal is," Giovanni said as they kept crawling, "They're just soldiers." "I need to level with you, Gio."
"Please don't shorten my name."
"I saw some of them raid some peoples' dorms. One complained that his Pokémon were missing. This leaves me with two guesses as to where their loyalties lie."
"'Loyalties?' You mean they're not loyal to Professor Joshua?"
"Nope. They're either part of a crime group, or they're part of the Cult of Halzief."
"'The Cult of Halzief?'"
"You've never heard of it?? It's a group ruled by chaos, filled with the worst kinds of folk imaginable! Psychos, killers, kidnappers, thieves… Insane people that serve Halzief! There are people that kidnap both humans and Pokémon to either brainwash to serve Halzief, or kill them."
"That's awful! Why would there be people that serve the same kind of dragon that wants to kill us?!"
"Heck if I know. They're raging, mad lunatics. But, they sadly exist. Mom told me to stay close to my family for that particular reason. If the guards are raiding peoples' Pokémon, then there's no telling what else they're gonna do."
"And this is your best way to keep us from getting caught in the wrong hands?"
"Yeah. It's how I've done some of my spying. I haven't been caught yet."
"I see," Giovanni said, understanding, "So where are we going from here?" "Our best bet is to go to the Control Room on the fiftieth floor," Christian explained to him, "That's where we can find Hiro faster. And before you ask, it's because of the cameras strewn around everywhere on the ceilings. We look through them, and you can find your friend faster." "That makes sense," Giovanni said as they continued on in the air vents.
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Location: Longan Laboratories, 50th Basement Floor, Hallway
Time: 17:45…
As soon as Delia exited the elevator, she quickly made a dash for where the Control Room would be. She passed by other scientists and Pokémon staff as she made her way to her current destination. Not long after, she ran into Jason, standing near the Control Room entrance. "Did you find Hiro?" he asked as she approached. "No," Delia answered before asking, "Are you headed to the Control Room?" "Not yet," Jason shook his head, "The scientists are in a meeting right now. I'm planning on entering when everyone leaves. Hopefully, Dad'll be there. Maybe we can find Hiro on the surveillance footage." "I had the same idea," Delia nodded as they waited at the door.
"How long is this going to take?" Delia asked. "Hopefully, not too much longer," Jason told her, "We need to warn my Dad and Hiro about what's going on." "What do you mean?" Delia asked. "Before I got here, I was nearly spotted by some people in dark clothing," Jason explained, "They didn't seem like the nice kind of folk. I also overheard some people saying that their Pokémon were taken without their knowing. Something about a group named Team Rocket, and a cult that's going around kidnapping people and Pokémon." "Oh, my gosh," Delia gasped with her hands over her mouth, "You don't think they're gonna go after Hiro, do you?" "I don't know," Jason said, "but it's all the more reason that we see my dad. We need to warn Hiro about what's going on."
After five more minutes of waiting, scientists started pouring out of the room. When they found their opportunity to enter, they saw a few other scientists and Samuel Oak at the controls. "Hey, Dad," Jason said, getting his attention. "Jason and Delia?" Samuel said with wide eyes, "What are you doing here? Where's Hiro and Giovanni?" "Hiro's self-esteem was shot down earlier," Jason told him, "And no, I had nothing to do with it this time." "Pikachu said that Xavier was mean to Hiro," Delia explained, "He just dropped his Pokémon off and left his dorm without saying a word. We split up to look for him. I think Giovanni's still up there looking." "Yeah, and we need to find him fast, too," Jason added, "Hiro could be in danger. There were some suspicious-looking guys in dark clothes walking in the halls. I'm not sure if they were from that Halzief cult or the group called Team Rocket." That made Samuel widen his eyes. "I see," Samuel said, placing his fingers to his chin, "I can't say I doubt you, children. Xavier has been insufferable these last few weeks, especially with Professor Joshua out of commission. We need to find Hiro right away!"
Professor Oak then walked to the supercomputer and brought up surveillance footage from all over the bunker. "We should be able to find him with this," he said, "Now, let's see…" Samuel brought up a camera feed from the twenty-seventh basement floor. Sadly, Hiro was nowhere to be seen. So Samuel tried again, this time with the twenty-eighth. Again, nothing. The twenty-ninth to the thirty-second: No. The thirty-third to the thirty-seventh: No. The thirty-eighth to the forty-second: No. The forty-third to the forty-ninth: No. The fiftieth to the fifty-fourth: No.
The fifty-fifth: A spot of messy black hair was seen flashing on the screen, going down a hallway. "There he is!" Jason pointed, "Where is that?" "It looks like he's headed down the hall towards the Restoration Chamber," Samuel said, "But why? Professor Joshua's still in self-surgery. It's not like he can go in and talk to him." "Well, he might," Delia said, "When I was littler and living with him, Grandpa always made exceptions for me. He made sure I could always come to him if I had a problem. Hiro's the Chosen Hero, right? What's to say Grandpa won't do the same for him?" "Either way, I suggest we go there and get to Hiro," Jason said. Delia and Samuel nodded and made their way to the elevator, where they would go to the fifty-fifth floor to find Hiro.
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Location: Longan Laboratories, 55th Basement Floor, Restoration Chamber
Time: 18:00…
Hiro walked up to the heavily fortified door leading to the Restoration Chamber. He was feeling a mix of negative emotions, but the biggest emotion he was feeling at the moment was sadness. It was a few weeks since Professor Joshua had told him that he was the Chosen Hero of the prophecy. He was overwhelmed by the facts that lay before him, yes, but in a way, he was also happy. He was happy that he was going to fulfill his dream of being a great Pokémon Trainer, and he had the greatest teacher in the world helping him. So imagine how he felt now after being told that his efforts wouldn't be enough to save a terrorized world. All he wanted to do was ball up and cry, but he needed to confront the Professor first.
Lifting his arm, he knocked three times, making sure the knocking could be heard. Immediately, a camera located above the door pivoted downwards and zoomed in on Hiro. On the other side, Professor Joshua saw Hiro through the camera while he was working on his body. He wondered why he would be coming to him at this time, but the look on Hiro's face told him that it couldn't be good news. In the end, he decided to hear him out. The three mechanical doors opened for Hiro and he stepped inside. "Close your eyes," Hiro heard his voice say. Hiro closed his eyes, and the UV lights wired into the walls shone to disinfect him. After that, the door leading into the chamber hissed open. Inside, he saw the mechanical arms operating on the body.Hiro walked in at a slow pace and stopped ten feet away from the arms. Professor Joshua's face appeared on the supercomputer screen.
"Welcome, Hiro," Professor Joshua said through the screen while the arms continued their work, "I'd say this was a pleasant surprise, but judging by the look on your face, it's not very pleasant. You've caught me at a decently good moment in time, however. I'm in the middle of cell-seaming the rest of my body together. Granted, it will be a week before I can redirect my consciousness back to my body. But the good news is it's almost done." Joshua waited for a response from Hiro, but all he got was an unchanged frown and silence. It took twenty seconds before he decided to break it. "We've only known each other for more than a month," he said, "and I can tell something's wrong. Your body movements are slacked, you've got the same expression you had when I pulled you and Jason from that one project, and you don't even have Pikachu with you. You're never without your Pokémon, Hiro. Or your friends. What happened?"
"I… I can't be your Chosen Hero, Professor."
That made the arms stop dead in their tracks, and Joshua widened his eyes on the screen. The arms backed away, and a hyperbolic shield covered the body to keep it from getting infected. "What?" Joshua asked, "Would you care to explain why?" Hiro pulled out his papers and showed them to the Professor. "Xavier gave me my adoption forms," Hiro started, "I'm not Parlonian. I'm Kalosian. I can't get the operation the others got. It wouldn't work. I'd only hold the others back. He told me that I could train all I want, but in the end, I'd only get myself killed. He said that it wouldn't be fair of me to burden them like this. Everyone apparently thinks that about me, and Halzief will only tear me apart. I don't know why you chose me to be the hero, but I'm only ten. I can't fight Halzief at the end of the day. All I can do now is just wait out the crisis until Halzief gets killed by someone more qualified…"
Hiro turned around after that. "I'm sorry, Professor," Hiro apologized, "but I can't be the Chosen Hero." With that, Hiro started walking away. Before he could walk out the door, though, he heard Professor Joshua say, "Computer, play restricted Holographic Journal Entry. April 24th, 2293." Hiro stopped in his tracks as the room dimmed down, and the recording started playing. It started out with a man dressed in sackcloth with outgrown brown hair and beard in a dimly-lit cave; Hiro assumed this was Professor Joshua.
"Date: April 24th, 2293 at 2:02 post meridian. I am aware that I already made a journal for the day, but there are some things that I feel should be said on a personal level. I've tried my hardest to calculate a way to take back what was ours, but it has not been easy. No… It's impossible. Every attempt I try, I reach a point where it could go drastically wrong, and the complaints thrown at me from the people and Magical Creatures I neighbor don't help my confidence one bit. I have slaved head and foot to try and make amends for my actions to the people, but… I can't take it anymore.
"I am at my wits' end. Our food in the caves are stretched too thinly, for both herbivores and carnivores, both human and Magical Creatures. We have very little metal to use. Our ammunition from our soldiers is less than ideal – about forty thousand rounds all together with different weapons combined. Even if we were to somehow stage an assault on Hazief's forces, we're drastically outnumbered a thousand to one. Perhaps more. Our numbers are doing nothing but dwindling, and we're severely malnourished. Not just from the lack of sufficient food intake, but the lack of sunlight. We are weaker against his forces than we were when they attacked us. Staging a coup would be suicide. I can't risk any more lives. I don't want to risk any more lives. I've risked too many already, even the lives I held dear…"
Hiro looked at Past Joshua as he looked down to the ground after that. Then he saw him start trembling. Wait. Was he… crying? Hiro walked closer to the hologram and wondered what was going through Past Joshua's head. However, the next words that came out of his mouth made Hiro shocked and appalled. "It's my fault. It's my fault! It's all my fault! I should NEVER have taken up a job in that laboratory! I should never have run those experiments with Satoshi! I should never have altered our very ecosystem! I made a terrible mistake! It's ALL MY FAULT, tinkering with God's creations as if they were toys that could be taken apart and reinvented!! All it took was one person to screw things up! All it took was one new animal to permanently transform a majority of the ecosystem! All it took was one wannabe-god dragon to put everyone's lives at risk!! Humanity may as well have put a bullet through their heads that day!! IT'S ALL MY FAULT!!"
Hiro never would've thought that he'd ever hear such words come from the Professor, even if it was in the past. It was an image that seemed unfitting for someone so wise and so professional. It seemed so unnaturally surreal. He actually felt bad for him. Then he saw Joshua's eyes, and recognized the look right away. It was identical to his own: The look of someone who had given up. "Why am I even recording myself at a time like this? There's no point anymore. Maybe this is it, and I should entitle this entry as Humanity's End. It's not like anyone is ever going to see this. No animal or human is ever going to see this for historical or scholarly purposes. All because a couple of scientists lead the entire planet and its inhabitants towards a doomed future. If there's any lesson to be learned from this – any moral to this story – it would be not to mess with nature, no matter what your intentions may be. Be they benign, or otherwise. This is Joshua Methuselah Longan, former scientist, and doomed refugee of Earth, signing off…" Then the hologram paused.
"Why did you show me that?" Hiro asked him. "Because I understand the tormenting emotion of overwhelming self-doubt," Joshua said, "The only difference is that everyone today was prepared for this disaster. When Halzief first struck with his unholy alliance, we weren't. There were 9.3 billion people living on Earth when Halzief struck. Sixty-five years before we resurfaced to fight, 9.1 billion of us were dead." That made Hiro's eyes widen in shock. 9.1 billion dead? All by one dragon?! Hiro couldn't even begin to comprehend such a heavy loss. Compared to Joshua, his situation was heavily mild.
"In case you're wondering," Joshua continued, bringing a wave of relief to Hiro, "the transmission doesn't end there. After I had a falling out with Mew, he came back when I needed a friend the most. He was all I had left, and I ended up studying, restudying and training for the next forty years. Twenty-five years after that, the rest of us trained with Pokémon and each other." "Good for you guys," Hiro said with a small smile before turning back into a frown, "Hey, Professor?"
"Yes?"
"Why did you choose me to be the Chosen Hero?"
"There are two reasons, I suppose. The first was because of your gentle nature, towards people and Pokémon. The second was because… well…"
"Because what?"
Joshua nodded to himself before sighing. Then he said, "Six thousand one hundred ninety-two years ago, I met a small boy that looked almost exactly like you. He went on to lead a fifth of my resistance alongside three others. He was part of the first Elite Four. I suppose that's why…" Hiro widened his eyes after that and thought to himself, "I remind him of one of the first Elite Four?"
"Hiro," Joshua said, snapping Hiro out of his thoughts, "Please, don't give up. If I had back then, Halzief would've eventually found what remained of the human species and won by default. The same could happen if you don't give it your all. And don't think I haven't been paying attention to your progress." After saying that, Professor held up his virtual hand and showed a recording of Hiro's fight simulation when he fought with Pikachu, Grotle and Cyndaquil, three weeks ago. Hiro slowly smiled and asked, "Were you watching us the whole time?" "Not when I was working," Joshua replied, "but when I needed a breather, I looked at the recorded footage. I got a little worried when you got pinned down, but other than that, you proved yourself quite admirably." Hiro grinned as he rubbed the back of his head. After that, he looked at Professor Joshua and said, "Thank you. I miss having you at the lessons. I hope you'll be back on your feet soon." "I will be," Joshua told him, "Like I said, I'll be back up in a week." Hiro nodded and headed for the door.
"One more thing, Hiro," Joshua said before he exited. Hiro looked back at his teacher. "If I were you, I'd hurry back to your Pokémon. It's not a wise choice to leave them alone, regardless of your feelings. You need them, and they need you." "I understand, Professor," Hiro said before leaving the room. As soon as he left, Joshua's face went back to neutral before sporting a more serious face. Before he disengaged the hyperbolic shield over his body and resumed his work, he shot a quick email to two of his scientists. Things were about to be either back to normal, or more stressful than things needed to be. Despite this, he cracked a smirk and fast forwarded the message, and with his voice overlapping the message, he and his past self said, "Human and Magical Creature-kind aren't doomed yet!"
As Hiro exited the room, he spotted three people waiting for him. "Jason? Delia? Professor Oak?" Hiro asked, "How long have you been here?" "Long enough," Samuel said, "Your friends have been worried about you since you disappeared without saying anything." "We had to find you quickly," Delia said, "There's a chance you and your Pokémon could be in danger."
"Danger?"
"There are people going around stealing Pokémon," Jason told him, "and a cult dedicated to Halzief could be in this bunker wanting to kidnap people and Pokémon." That got Hiro's attention quickly and looked to Delia, "Are my Pokémon safe?" "They're in my dorm where you left them," Delia told him, "I told Pikachu to hide himself if anyone tried to break in." "That's good," Hiro nodded.
"Hiro?" Delia asked for his attention. "Yeah, Delia," Hiro said, "What is it?" "What did Xavier say to you that made you lose your confidence?" she asked. "Xavier said that I wasn't Parlonian," Hiro answered, "so the surgery wouldn't work on me. He further told me that I'd only be a burden to you guys." "That's not true, Hiro!" Delia exclaimed with a furrowed brow as she looked Hiro dead in the eyes, "You'll never be a burden to us! You're the Chosen Hero for a reason, Hiro. Whatever reason that may be, our job's going to be to help you reach and defeat Halzief. Whatever Xavier said to you, don't listen to him, okay? We're all here for you." "I can't call myself your friend yet, Hiro," Jason told him, "but I remember that you want to get stronger like me. Don't let Xavier's words deter you, okay? The universe knows I wouldn't let it push me around." "We're here to help you succeed, Hiro," Samuel said with a reassuring smile, "Just like Professor Joshua wants you to succeed." Hiro smiled before shedding a tear, which he promptly wiped away. "Yeah," he said, "I get that now." Before Hiro could say or do anything more, Delia went over and hugged him. Hiro blushed, but returned the hug without hesitation this time. "Come on," Hiro said as he broke away after a minute, "I want my Pokémon back." Everyone else nodded and walked to the nearest elevator. As soon as they stepped in, Jason decided to break the silence by saying "You two need to get a room."
"JASON!!" Hiro, Delia and Samuel exclaimed in unison.
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Location: Last Stand Valley, Parlona
Time: 18:30…
Halzief had just got done devouring the souls of the victims of Knuckdown Town from Reil-Roh. Capítulos City was a partial bust after the barrier broke, and they had no choice but to retreat when they drove his monster away, along with losing a large chunk of the Soul Harvesters and Brute Chargers. However, the production of Titan Reapers made up for it, and when the Minotauros' raided the facility, it made harvesting them a bit easier. Halzief also noticed a difference on his bonafide body as well. Where there were bones, tendons and ligaments started to form on his joints. He also was able to reconstruct his lungs and heart behind his ribs. Unfortunately, his Soul Sac was still punctured, and without that, he wouldn't be able to regenerate naturally. He needed more souls, and he needed them now.
At the moment, he was looking at a map of Parlona given to him by one of the Soul Harvesters – an item among many that were brought to Halzief to teach him about the current times. So far, Knuckdown Town was gone, and so was a majority of Capitulos City. He looked to his next target, however, which was by the Southern coast. He supposed that now was the best time for a fresh start, if one knew what he meant. And everyone knew exactly what he meant by that. "REIL-ROH!!" he roared, "Go to Freshstart Town! It's the southernmost settlement, by the coast. Tear down their shield, and bring me their souls!" Riel-Roh roared and burrowed his way underground to the next ordered destination. With any luck, Halzief would finally have his revenge on the ever-elusive Joshua Longan.