Last chapter of the week, also been experimenting with different publishing times, I think my old schedule was better.
| Rio POV |
I've been many things in my brief but chaotic second life: menace, martial artist, magnet for trouble, and one-time destroyer of a PokéCenter bathroom. But today? Today I'm officially a test subject. Fancy badge and everything. It even says "DO NOT FEED" in small print on the back.
We're inside the Mesagoza Convention Hall — currently transformed into a fortress of whiteboards, folding chairs, and nervous scientists with caffeine addictions. The joint research conference has officially begun, and all the smartest people in the region are here.
Naturally, that means we are too.
"Please don't touch anything," May mutters as she pulls me away from a suspiciously glowing coffee machine.
"It made a sound," I whisper back. "A forbidden sound."
Kirlia zaps my tail before I can re-enact any forbidden sounds of my own.
Fair.
At the front of the room, the air crackles. A sleek-looking woman with wild hair and tech that screams out of time steps onto the stage.
Professor Sada.
The real deal.
Talk about making a badass entrance... I need to learn how to shatter space too... maybe if I punch hard enough while using Boogie Woogie?
ZAAAP!
"WHAT WAS THAT ONE FOR?!"
"You were planning something dangerous..." Star, I love you dearly, but let boys be boys... Let me punch holes in the universe.
Zap.
"OKAY! I won't do anything dangerous...." For now.
I sigh and look up, noticing the various scientists that shot a curious glance at us before loosing interest, seeming to be just two bickering shinnies, we didn't draw that much attention from the unexperienced — Except Sada is looking at me as if she's about to strap me to a table...
Oh no.
"You," she says, striding forward with the confidence of a woman who once stared down prehistoric monsters and said 'nah, I can fix him.' "The Lucario. Your energy signature... it's anomalous."
"Thanks," I say. "I work out."
May facepalms in the background. "We're gonna get kicked out in ten minutes…"
Sada ignores me. Of course she does. She's a researcher. They're allergic to jokes unless they're in Latin.
"His readings are remarkably similar to Paradox Pokémon," she tells the room. "Especially those registered in the Area Zero incident logs. The temporal variance in his aura... it's nearly identical."
"You think I'm a Paradox Pokémon?" I blink. "Do I look like a prehistoric Iron Hands with abandonment issues?"
Sada stares at me silently for a couple seconds. "How do you know about paradox Pokémon?"
"Uh, we... have an omniscient Rotom?"
"I doubt that's all there is to it..."
This woman is scary.
Oak clears his throat. "Professor Sada, with all due respect, while Lucario's nature is… difficult to classify, we believe his power comes from a separate external energy source."
Sada's brow furrows. "Separate from time-space variance?"
"More like adjacent," Birch offers. "He appears to utilize a form of metaphysical energy we've been calling 'Cursed Energy.' It doesn't behave like Psychic or Ghost-type signatures, but mimics traits from both."
Sada frowns. "I'd like to run some scans."
"You'll need a clicker and ten berries," May says flatly. "He doesn't sit still otherwise."
I give her the finger.
Kirlia zaps me.
Again.
The conference shifts gears after that — reluctantly — into the more official presentations. Sada sits down but keeps glancing at me like I'm a particularly glitchy Rotom.
Rowan clicks his remote, and a screen behind him flickers on.
First slide: ULTRA GATE INCIDENTS – GLOBAL RISE
"Ultra Gates have been appearing at an increasing rate across the globe," he begins. "While once limited to isolated regions like Alola and Galar, we've recently confirmed gate breaches in Sinnoh, Kalos, and even Orre."
The next slide shows a map. Red pins dot it like chickenpox.
"These gates are believed to be tears in the dimensional membrane," Rowan continues. "Most concerningly, many of them are exhibiting elevated X-energy emissions."
Now that gets the room whispering.
Birch takes over. "X-energy, once thought to be confined to Xenoverse-origin Pokémon, is now manifesting in our world — in environments, wild Pokémon, and even objects."
He clicks again.
A slide shows a field of withered grass, blackened and pulsing.
"It corrupts," Birch says grimly. "Rapidly. Pokémon not adapted to it either mutate or die. Some enter irreversible berserk states."
I glance at Trishout.
Still napping in May's lap, bless her fireproof little heart.
Rowan continues. "However — and this is key — we've found one consistent variable. A single case where the energy does not corrupt, but instead is repelled."
He gestures at me.
Me.
"Of course," I say dryly. "It's always me."
Oak smiles. "His Cursed Energy, despite defying every known law of typing, seems to neutralize or overwrite the effects of X-energy entirely. Rio may be our only viable countermeasure."
"Awesome," I grumble. "So I'm not a Pokémon. I'm a walking air purifier."
Kirlia pats my head.
I let her.
It's a hard day.
Sada's quiet for a moment. Then she speaks.
"If that's true… then the next time an Ultra Gate opens, we're sending you through it."
Silence.
May chokes on her juice pouch.
Kirlia freezes mid-hover.
I blink.
"…Can I bring snacks?"
Sada nods.
"Then I'm in."
I glance sideways at May. She's trying very hard not to shrink into her hoodie like a scared Jigglypuff. Kirlia just sighs, floats up beside me, and puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder. Then zaps me again, just for good measure.
Fair.
Sada's still staring. I swear her eyes are scanning my soul. "Your biology doesn't match the standard Lucario evolutionary tree," she continues. "In fact, based on your aura signature and residual Z-energy traces, I'd wager your origin lies in an unstable convergence event. Possibly even an Ultra Gate."
"Wow," I say flatly. "You're really good at guessing people's tragic backstories."
A few nervous chuckles ripple across the hall. Not from the scientists. Just from the janitor in the back who saw me eat an entire vending machine's ontents on the way here
Sada frowns. "Do not take this lightly. If X-energy and temporal anomalies are converging, you may be a vector."
"Is that a compliment or a warning?"
"Yes."
May groans again. "Can we just talk about the Ultra Gates now before he sets the place on fire?"
"Fine," Sada says, stepping back and calling up a holo-map behind her. "As of the last 48 hours, global readings show a sharp increase in Ultra Gate activity, mostly in isolated or high-X-energy regions. This is... not natural. Someone—or something—is forcing the dimensional barriers to weaken."
"And let me guess," I mutter. "It's somehow my problem."
It might actually be, is it because of the system?
"You're involved," she says, looking at me like she's trying to see through dimensions. "Either as the catalyst… or the key."
I nod slowly. "So… I'm either the chosen one, or a walking cosmic misfire."
Kirlia raises her hand.
"Yes?" I ask.
She zaps me again.
"…Right, I'll take 'misfire.'"
"Neither," Sada says calmly, folding her arms. "You are the common factor that could let us understand why this is happening. Do keep in mind, these are merely speculations that only I can currently make—due to the somewhat similar field of my own research."
Right. So I'm not special, just suspicious. Cool cool cool.
I nod slowly, like I'm absorbing the weight of her words, but really I'm wondering if she'd be willing to part with a Tera Orb or two if I compliment her hair or pretend to care deeply about quantum tunnel stabilizers.
"You know," I say slowly, "for science… we'd be happy to test any strange, experimental, glowy combat-related equipment you might have lying around. Hypothetically."
May elbows me in the ribs.
Kirlia clears her throat and clicks the clicker threateningly.
"I meant under adult supervision," I clarify.
Sada raises an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced, but not entirely opposed. Progress?
"I'll consider it," she says, turning back to the map. "But only if you can refrain from causing another interdimensional incident during the conference."
"That's oddly specific."
"Because I read your file."
I glance over at May.
She's smiling, but it's that I'm smiling because if I open my mouth I will scream kind of smile.
It wasn't even my fault that time... Well, it was because of the rock I was holding, but Its still not my fault!
Word Count: 1389
Would a terra orb work with your Sukuna powers?
MC: If I use a ghost shard, maybe? also, domain expansion when?
When the power wheel decides that you're worthy.