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Kairos planted his feet. Waited for the spinning to stop.
The vertigo from crossing over (never pleasant, that) faded quicker than usual.
He ran through his mental checklist: system interface, functional. Backpack inventory, accounted for. Chandelure's Poké Ball, snug against his hip where it belonged.
Okay, good.
"Right then," he mumbled to nobody in particular, "let's figure out what fresh hell this is."
The street stretched ahead, weirdly hushed. And the buildings? Honestly, they threw him. Enormous glass facades everywhere, this bizarre mashup of retro-futurism that shouldn't work but somehow did.
The air hit his nostrils with something sharp, ozone mixed with machine oil maybe, and he wrinkled his nose.
But the people. The Pokémon. That's what made him stop mid-stride.
Some kid in clothes so tight they looked spray-painted walked past with a Metang hovering alongside.
Except this Metang was... different. Sleeker. Its steel shell caught the light like polished chrome, blue energy threading through its joints in pulsing patterns.
A Voltorb rolled by a woman's ankles. Its surface wasn't painted; it glowed, LED-style, colors shifting and swirling as it moved.
"Holy..." Kairos breathed.
This tech aesthetic? Absolutely wild.
He couldn't shake the feeling he'd stumbled into a Pokémon world from decades ahead.
Or maybe (and this seemed equally plausible) some alternate timeline where someone had taken the technology tree and just... bent it sideways?
Details kept jumping out at him. Forretress units rumbling down the sidewalk like miniature tanks, vacuuming debris with mechanical precision.
Streetlamps with Tadbulb living inside the glass housings, their natural bioluminescence doing the work of electricity.
Were ALL the Pokémon here like this? Integrated with tech somehow?
He spotted what looked like a public info terminal, transparent screen, minimalist design, and touched it. The display blazed to life immediately: [City Map], [Real-time News], [Public Services], and front-and-center, a stylized Poké Ball icon labeled "Pokémon League Public Network."
He tapped [Real-time News]. Headlines cascaded down:
[Kanto Region's Vermilion City Port Completes Full Automation Upgrade, Sea-god Class Cargo Fleet Officially Operational]
[Hoenn League Announces Deepening Cooperation with Devon Corporation, Joint Research on New Pokéblock Types]
[Sinnoh Region's Mt. Coronet Signal Station Disrupted by Unknown Signals, League Officials Still Investigating]
[Unova's Castelia City Tech Expo Starts Next Week, Be Alert for Remnant Team Plasma Criminal Activities]
Wait.
"Team Plasma remnants?"
His finger hovered over that last one. So they existed here too, just apparently got stomped once already, with stragglers still causing headaches.
He pulled up the League network. Identity verification required, naturally.
Worth a shot: "System? Any chance you can fake me an ID?"
[Ding! Host request received. Using the "Dimensional Communicator's" advanced privileges to simulate a low-level anonymous visitor identity generated. Host can now browse basic public information on this network.]
Fast work. The screen shifted, dumping him into a public access zone: Gym listings, tournament schedules, Pokémon encyclopedia entries. Standard stuff.
He was skimming through, trying to build a mental picture of this place, when a holographic ad flickered to life on an adjacent screen.
A Trainer wearing some kind of wristband. A Porygon2 getting scanned. Data streaming across the display. And then, boom, the Porygon2 fires off Dazzling Gleam. A move it definitely shouldn't know.
The tagline practically screamed at him: "Devon Corporation's Latest Black Tech: 'Skill Sync Device' Trial Version! Break through the wall of learning moves, experience the thrill of instant power! Limited trial, first come first served!"
Kairos blinked.
Isn't that just... a TM? But technological? They'd cracked that?
Small print at the bottom: "The core principle of this technology is thanks to utilizing a side effect of the 'Genesis Engine' project. 'Genesis Engine' Phase 2 public testing, stay tuned!"
Genesis Engine.
Something twisted in his gut.
The word "genesis" carried weight. In his experience, anything associated with that term meant Arceus-level business. Creation. Origins. Dialga, Palkia, the fundamental forces of reality.
Whatever bore that name wasn't going to be some minor gadget.
He punched the term into the search bar. Results: sparse. Carefully worded official statements, the kind bureaucrats write when they're hiding something.
The gist? A massive environmental regulation initiative. League-sponsored, backed by major tech corporations. Goal: manage extreme weather, improve living conditions for humans and Pokémon alike.
And today's public demonstration? Right here. Central municipal park. Place called Eternity Park.
Regulate environment. Change weather. Reshape terrain.
That sounded suspiciously like legendary Pokémon territory.
Curiosity won. It always did.
---
The crowds thickened as he approached the park. Citizens, Trainers, everyone moving with that particular energy people get when they're about to witness something unprecedented. Faces bright with anticipation.
In the atmosphere itself, something hummed. An energy signature, faint but present. Most people probably couldn't feel it.
Kairos could. (Spending quality time with a Elite-four-tier Chandelure will do that to your senses.)
The park's central lawn had been cordoned off. Temporary barriers, official-looking personnel, the whole production.
Dead center: a raised platform bristling with instruments and dominated by a cylindrical device. A massive blue crystal sat embedded in its heart.
The Genesis Engine. Had to be.
Hundreds of spectators. Media crews with cameras. Chaos of voices and movement.
Kairos wedged himself into the outer ring, found a decent sightline. On the platform, researchers in lab coats scrambled between consoles.
A brown-haired woman with glasses, composed, clearly in charge, held a microphone.
"Dear citizens, thank you all for coming to watch the 'Genesis Engine' Phase 2 test."
Her voice carried cleanly through the speakers. "This project aims to use controllable energy fields to fine-tune the environment of a small area, finding solutions to the increasingly troublesome global climate problems..."
Kairos listened. But his eyes stayed locked on that crystal.
Light moved inside it. Slowly. Deliberately. And it radiated something that felt... familiar? Unsettling?
Like standing too close to a legendary Pokémon in those game cutscenes, that pressure, that awareness of power, except muted. Diluted.
"Now, we will conduct the first small-scale environmental simulation test: 'Rain Dance.'"
Technicians worked the controls. The crystal flared. A low hum filled the air, building.
Invisible energy rippled outward, blanketing an area roughly soccer-field-sized above the platform.
And then, magic.
Sunlight softened over that precise area. Moisture condensed from nothing.
Within heartbeats, a gentle rain fell only within the field's boundaries. Outside? Clear skies. Bright sunshine.
The crowd erupted.
"No way..."
"It's actually raining! Without Pokémon!"
"We did it!" Researchers on the platform exchanged grins.
Kairos didn't share their enthusiasm.
Why build this? If you wanted localized weather changes, Pokémon could handle that. What was the point of this machine?
And more pressingly, that crystal. The energy inside it was destabilizing. He could feel it. The hum was shifting, growing harsher.
The lead researcher noticed anomalous readings but waved them off.
"Currently there are some energy fluctuations, which fall within normal adjustments. Next we'll test the 'Abundance' mode, simulating an environment that helps plants grow better..."
She never finished.
Alarms shrieked across the platform. The crystal detonated with blinding white light.
The gentle drizzle became fist-sized hail. Instantaneously. Chunks of ice hammered down with thunderous force.
Lightning crackled inside the field, bolts materializing from nowhere, slamming into the platform's shields, sending ripples of energy cascading outward.
The explosion of panic was immediate.
"What's happening?!"
"RUN!"
Screaming. Shoving. The crowd dissolved into chaos.
On the platform, researchers scrambled desperately at unresponsive controls.
The device had gone haywire. The energy kept bleeding outward, the field expanding, the hail and lightning spreading...
Kairos felt alarm spike through him.
The controlled energy had gone berserk. Full of destruction. Hungry for it.
And these researchers, not one of them had called out a Pokémon to counter it. Even though this power wasn't overwhelming. Elite Four level at most, probably less.
If this continued, the platform would be destroyed. The expanding field would swallow the crowd.
Including him.
A lightning bolt arced toward his position.
"Chandelure, I'm counting on you!"
The Poké Ball left his hand.
Ghostly crimson light flared, and his partner materialized.
The flames inside Chandelure's lampshade immediately surged wild, reacting to the chaotic energy saturating the air.
The incoming lightning bolt? Incinerated mid-flight by a burst of spectral fire. Thunder cracked across the sky.
"Will-O-Wisp, interfere with that energy field! Avoid the lightning!"
He kept his voice steady. The Genesis Core felt wrong on a level he couldn't articulate.
Better not to destroy it if possible. Suppression, not annihilation.
Chandelure rose into the air. Its lamp-body began generating a gravitational pull, drawing the rampaging ice and electrical energy toward itself.
The purple flames coating its form flickered and danced.
Then, ghostly fire erupted outward. Cold flames, alive with purpose, drifting toward the berserk field. Interfering. Canceling. Disrupting.
It worked.
The field's expansion slowed. Hail fell less frantically. Lightning strikes dropped off sharply.
Not a permanent solution. But breathing room. Time for people to flee, for technicians to attempt repairs.
"Wait... that's, what kind of Pokémon?"
Through the pandemonium, the lead researcher had spotted them. Her expression shifted: surprise, fascination, something like hunger for answers.
She never stopped working, directing assistants toward emergency shutdowns, but her eyes kept returning to Kairos and his Chandelure.
Finally, finally, the staff managed to cut main power. The crystal's glow dimmed. The berserk field collapsed.
Leaving behind wreckage. Scorched equipment. A lawn cratered by hail impacts.
Crisis averted. Barely.
Dr. Lila (that was her name, apparently) descended from the platform flanked by two assistants, making a beeline for Kairos.
"You there, young man!" She extended her hand, slightly breathless.
"Thank you. Genuinely. I'm one of the leads on the Genesis Engine project. Call me Dr. Lila.
If you and your Pokémon hadn't intervened..." She shook her head. "I don't want to imagine."
A pause. Her gaze shifted to Chandelure.
"May I ask, and forgive me if this sounds strange, is this a Pokémon?"
Another pause, longer.
"Or is it something like... a spirit entity?"
Kairos stared at her.
Spirit entity?
What?
۞۞۞۞
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