Chapter Text
???
…
Open it…
Force it open…
It’s your only chance…
…
“Where’s Jack?”
“He’s not in his room?”
“Jack, where are you?”
…
“Jack?!”
…
“Jack!!!”
01/07/2007 – 08:10 AM
I woke up with a start. I was in one of the Pokémon Centre’s rooms. What… was that? Mum was calling me, I think. Have I had that dream before? Force it open… force what open? Yeah, I’m getting a strong case of deja vu.
“Deja vu,” I sang softly, “I’ve just been in this place before. Higher on the beat. And I know it’s my place to go.”
“Vm…” Elaine groaned.
“Oh, right, sorry. Good morning.”
“Vu.”
09:30 AM
“So you said Aipom’s going to convince Ash to compete in the contest?” Lucas asked as we watched his twin sister’s and the older boy’s training sessions.
“Yeah, I don’t know when it’ll happen though. So I don’t know how long we’ll have to wait.” The two of us were sitting on a bench situated on the sidelines of a Pokémon Battlefield. Elaine was asleep in my arms in what was becoming a common occurrence.
“Didn’t you say it might even happen tomorrow even?”
“Yeah, I did say that.”
“I’m pretty sure that the registration period ends this afternoon though, so if it doesn’t happen soon, he might be too late.”
“Oh, registration.” I failed at holding in a snigger.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Oh, you’ll see.”
“Why can’t you just tell me?”
“Spoilers.”
“Okay?… Hey, did you see Dawn’s new dress? Mom sent one to her, and it arrived this morning.”
“Well… What do you think?”
“What do you mean what do I… Oh. You’re saying you’ve seen it already while you were… back home.”
“Yep.”
“Should we tell the others about it?”
Suddenly, a new voice chimed in. “Tell the others about what?”
Lucas jumped, “Oh, geez. You scared me. Good morning Misty. Good Morning Azurill.”
Azurill, chirped in Misty’s arms.
“Morning,” I echoed.
“So, what were you guys talking about?” Misty asked.
“Uh…” Lucas stammered, “Um… We, uh…”
“We were talking about the laws of probability,” I interrupted, “and how it applies to the training regiment put in place by one Ash Ketchum.”
Misty stood there in silence. “What?”
“Exactly.”
Again, there was a beat of silence, until Misty sighed, “Nevermind, I’m never going to understand your weirdness.” Then she took a seat next to us, which practically ended the conversation between Lucas and myself.
10:00 AM
Dawn had asked Ash to have a practice battle. It was Piplup versus Pikachu and both of the trainer’s other Pokémon were on the side lines. Dawn had shown off a new technique that allowed Piplup to use the Peck move and lengthen his beak in the process. The battle was interrupted by Aipom when she suddenly overtook Pikachu’s Iron Tail and used Focus Punch on Piplup. She then proceeded to use Double Team, which created roughly ten duplicates of herself on the battlefield all standing in a circle. Her main form, which was a lot more solid, jumped into the air roughly ten metres, used a Swift attack to shoot yellow star-shaped bullets at all the other forms, causing them to dissipate before landing on the ground with just her tail, while the remnants of the swift attack somehow managed to create a singular large star beneath her.
“What was that all about?” Ash wondered.
Brock, who was of course refereeing, suggested that “Maybe Aipom wants to do the contest?”
Aipom turned to Brock and nodded with an “Ook-ook!”
“Oh! You and Aipom should compete in the contest!” Dawn exclaimed.
“Who, me?!” Ash asked almost indignantly.
Their loud conversation was then overshadowed by the trembling figure next to me. “Oh my god…” Lucas whispered, “You were right.”
“Is that enough proof for you?” I whispered back, as Misty was still in earshot.
“More than enough.”
“Cool, now watch this.” I took my hand and cupped it around my mouth. “Hey,” I yelled, “if you’re going to compete in the contest, don’t forget to register.”
“Register?” Dawn considered, “Oh, crap! I haven’t registered yet!”
“You two better hurry then,” I explained, “registration is about to close.”
And then the two of the most hyper members in our group ran in a hurry into the Pokémon Centre and then out the front door.
“You…” Lucas insinuated, “You knew she hadn’t registered, didn’t you.”
“Maybe.” I answered, radiating all of the smugness I had.
01:00 PM
After Ash and Dawn barely registered before the cut-off point, Misty, on the pretence of being bored, suggested the four of us that weren’t training go to a fishing spot she found at Route 218 and maybe catch some Water-Type Pokémon. Lucas said that he wanted to stay with her sister until Dawn convinced him to go with us and that there was “no need to worry” about her.
On our way, we were interrupted by a woman with blonde hair who was being followed by a collection of small furry Pokémon. After Brock’s routine advances, she said she wanted to thank us for what we did last night about Team Rocket, and that she couldn’t bear to be without her “little babies.” She gave us a small yellow claw attached to a necklace. She called it a “Quick Claw,” and that when a Pokémon held onto it, they would occasionally gain a boost of speed.
So held items are a thing then. Are they even allowed? Nothing of the sort is shown during battle in the anime, but it’s integral to the combat of the games. I’d have to look up the official ruleset to battling. If I sighed, no one commented on it.
Misty requested that a local fisherman give Lucas and I a couple of his old Fishing Rods, which it turns out she had arranged beforehand. Perks of being a Water-Type Gym Leader, I guess. Unfortunately, the rods were really shoddy, as in, they were literally just a wooden stick with string spun around it and a faded lure attached to the other end of the string.
“We should buy some better fishing rods when we get the chance,” Lucas suggested.
“Nah, we can get better ones for free later on,” I whispered so as to not alert the others.
“Is this one of those…?” he asked, not mentioning anything about my origin.
“Yeah, Route 209.”
“Oh, okay.”
Despite her having said that this was a fishing trip, Misty couldn’t help herself as she took off her clothes, revealing a modest sports bikini underneath, and dove into the water, likely scaring away any Pokémon beneath the water’s surface. She certainly lives up to her moniker. She then let out all of her Pokémon to swim with her, including the two-story-tall Gyarados.
Elaine, awake for once, hopped out of my arms to join in the fun by playing in the shallow waters. She was joined by Brock’s Croagunk who sat nearby to soak in the waves. Brock’s Bonsly, on the other hand, was as far away from the water as it could get. Lucas, prompted by the others, let out his Starly and Turtwig to join in.
Elaine seemed to get along well with Misty’s Azurill and Staryu, possibly due to the type similarities between them. When I looked, Staryu was carrying Elaine across the deeper areas of the water.
I took the opportunity to lie down on the grass and listen to the radio through my Pokégear. Frankie Valli’s “Grease” was playing. “This is the life of illusion. Wrapped up in trouble, laced with confusion. What are we doing here?”
I couldn’t help but reminisce. Mum loves that film. Moral of the story’s horrible though, give in to peer pressure, change yourself to fit your man, it’s saving grace is its music. Dad hates it despite never seeing it though he only does it to playfully spite Mum. My school did it for Senior Production once before I enrolled there, it was one of the things Mum and I went to watch together. The clouds in the afternoon sky floated northeast. I won’t get to do that, won’t I? Not for ten years… One of the clouds looked vaguely like the back of a car. Was coming here really a good idea? I looked up to see Elaine, upside down like the rest of the world, cheering on Staryu to go faster across the water. Heh, definitely.
01:30 PM
“Hey, Jack?” Lucas called.
I sat up with a start, “Hm?”
“Sorry, did I scare you?”
“Nah, it’s alright,” I explained as I took out my headphones.
“Can I talk to you a bit more about last night?”
“Yeah, that’s fine. What about?”
“I don’t know, just in general? It’s hard to wrap my head around it all.”
“Yeah… Yeah, that makes sense.” Coming to terms with the fact that your life is just a fictional story in a parallel universe would be difficult. I turned to see all the other Pokémon having fun by the water. Elaine was building what looked like a sandcastle with Turtwig and Bonsly. If a mound of pebbles and dirt can even be called a sandcastle. “Anything in particular that’s bothering you?”
“Nothing specific, just,” he threw his arms out, “the whole thing. That our lives are just a story in your world.”
Oh, great job Jack, you’ve gone and given the kid an existential crisis. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Even if it mattered, I mentioned last night that the line between fiction and reality doesn’t exist.”
“You did?” He tilted his head to the side. “I don’t think I remember that.”
“I’m pretty sure I said that I learned a long time ago that there is no line between fiction and reality. Everything can be part of reality.” Hang on… was that… “Actually, that’s exactly what I said, word for word,” I explained as I replayed the conversation in my head as if it was a perfect recording. “Huh, I guess that’s what Savant’s like,” I muttered.
“What do you mean by that?”
“The fiction part or the Savant part?”
“The uh… fiction part.”
“Okay, uh…” How to explain this… “Have you ever watched a movie that made you cry?”
“I… think I might have watched something when I was three that scared me to tears. I think it was a Disney movie?” He shook his head. “I don’t remember.”
“Hm, so nothing that made you cry because it made you sad?” Dammit, was banking on that…
“Not enough to make me cry, no.”
“Well, I guess you won’t know the feeling personally but…” Ah, to hell with it. “Long story short, I grieved more for the death of a fictional character than I did than I did my own grandfather.”
“Really? Who was the character?”
“Oh, the game that they’re from hasn’t been made yet, so I don’t want to give you spoilers.”
“Again with these spoilers?” He asked incredulously. “Can’t you just tell me?”
“And ruin the game for you? Hell, no!”
Lucas sighed. “Well, maybe it’s just because you weren’t that close to your grandfather? Not everyone has the best relationship with their family, right?”
“While that’s true, I… I didn’t not like Grandad, and with his condition, he wasn’t able to visit us at all so I can’t really blame him.” I shrugged. “Basically, what I’m saying is that stories are as real as you make them. And if you think about it really, the past is just a bunch of stories as well. The only difference between fiction and nonfiction is that real life is one massive series that interconnects with itself, whereas fiction can be self-contained.”
Lucas blinked. “Somehow that makes less sense than what you were talking about last night.”
“Uh… yeah, sorry.” I sighed. “I guess my nerdy philosophy is a bit much.”
“No, you don’t have to apologize. I think it’s cool that uh… you’ve thought so much about that sort of stuff.”
I gave Lucas a deadpan look. “You don’t have to censor yourself on my account, you can tell me how much of a nerd I am.”
“I mean… yeah, you’re a massive nerd. But you’re still really smart and stuff.”
“Well, thanks.” Okay… comfort via philosophy didn’t work, what else? “Anything else you want to talk about? Maybe a bit less existential?”
“Um… Oh wait, I just remembered, You told me to remind you about something about Platinum?
“Oh yeah, this is a bit of a funny coincidence, or maybe it was on purpose.” I shook my head. “Either way, the three games that I could play that took place in the Sinnoh region were Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.”
“Wait… Diamond’s our last name, Pearl’s mom’s last name, and Platinum’s Barry’s last name.”
“Yep, which is why I’d thought I’d mention it.”
“That’s… creepy.”
I groaned. This is getting nowhere. “Welcome to parallel universe theory. In one universe you’re a famous ballet dancer, another a genocidal maniac, and another the exact same person except one of your hair follicles is a nanometre to the left.”
“Like those ‘evil twins’ in cartoons?”
Pathway! “Exactly like that.”
Lucas giggled. “Don’t let Dawn hear you talking about them.”
That went in an unexpected direction. “How come?”
Lucas crossed his arms. “She says that it makes twins like us look like a joke.”
“Oh… Yeah, that makes sense.”
“And not all twins are identical,” he continued to rant. “What about all the fraternal twins?”
I could not help but smile. “Clearly, Dawn isn’t the only one enthusiastic about the topic.”
“Oh… uh…” He rubbed the back of his head, his face faintly pink. “Sorry, I got a bit carried away there.”
I let out a laugh. “You don’t have to be sorry. Get mad.”
“Uh… Okay.” He nodded purposefully before he tilted his head to the side. “What were we talking about before the twin thing?”
“Parallel universe theory.”
“Right. So, it’s basically that for every single possibility that exists, there’s a different universe where something else happened instead. Right?”
“Essentially, yeah. That’s where I’m from.”
“Which somehow knew the future of this world… Then which came first? This world or your world?”
“I wouldn’t know, and I think it doesn’t matter. Honestly, I think it would be best to just ignore it and take life as it is, and if I happen to know the future and we don’t like it, we can always change it.”
“Can you change the future?”
“We’ve already done it haven’t we?” I pointed to Misty and Brock in the middle of a conversation. Something about sand? “I know for a fact that you would have never met Ash and his friends. If I weren’t here, would Dawn have found Piplup when we did? That led to you going to Professor Rowan’s, getting your Pokédex, you and Dawn starting your journey, and finally running into Pikachu. None of that would have happened if I weren’t there. And now that I have no reason not to tell you about the future, well, aside from spoilers, you can decide what to change about it.”
Lucas went silent, his eyes locked onto a particular blade of grass. “Change the future…”
“Speaking of the future, Jessie’s going to be entered in the Jubilife Contest.”
“Wait, you mean that they aren’t going to try and ruin it?”
“If they did that, Jessie would have a fit.”
Lucas hummed. “I think I could see that happening. At least Team Rocket can be beaten easily with Ash and his friends around. Not like that Hunter J you were talking about…” Lucas’ face suddenly froze. “Wait… Jack?”
Ah… crap. “Yeah?”
“Is…” He gulped. “Is there a reason you were scared of Hunter J?”
I sighed. I have to tell him. I have to tell him don’t I? If he knows we can plan for it. We might even be able to take her down early. I hope. “Yeah… In the anime, we run into her. Four times, I think.”
“Does… it turn out bad?”
“It gets close. Really close sometimes, but she doesn’t steal anything successfully while we’re there.”
Lucas pursed his lips. “Do we stop them at all?”
“Not us… but she does-” die “-get stopped, for good. But…”
“But what?”
“Maybe… maybe we could set a trap? Tell Looker next time we see him to help us plan one, since I know one of J’s next targets.” This might actually work!
Lucas however did not seem excited. “Uh… Jack? How are you going to get him to believe you?”
I froze. Ah. Fuck.