"You have to come back and visit! Big Brother Kashiwagi!"
Yuko called out, tears welling in her eyes as she squeezed a very soul-weary Meowth in her arms.
Cats are the kind of creatures that respect the elderly and love the young, but spend their entire lives beating up everyone in the middle.
Cat Pokémon are no different. Despite having helped Tyson win a Hoenn League Championship, Meowth's domestic status was still firmly below Yuko's.
Poor guy, Kashiwagi thought, retracting his pitying gaze from the cat and waving a final goodbye to the girl.
Sure, the title "Kashiwagi-Big-Brother-Lord" was a bit of a psychological flashbang, but she was just a young fangirl at heart.
More importantly, she was a good listener—the moment he mentioned he wasn't used to the honorifics, she tried her best to adjust. Much cuter than those rebellious brats who defy you just for the sake of it.
By the time Tyson's hospitality concluded, the curtain of night had fallen deep over the city.
Tyson insisted that taxis were rare in this area at this hour and stubbornly demanded to drive Kashiwagi back to New Mauville on his electric tricycle.
"..."
After confirming with Porygon2 that the Pokémon world had yet to invent ride-sharing apps, Kashiwagi helplessly accepted.
In a city where riding Pokémon was strictly prohibited, your only options were your own two feet or a set of wheels.
"Next year, once my parents get back, I'm planning to travel to the Kalos region," Tyson chatted as they rattled along.
"I've heard there's a mysterious power over there that can push Pokémon to a whole new level. Not sure if you've heard of it."
"Mega Evolution?" Kashiwagi asked over the whistling wind.
"That's the one. Apparently, the Hoenn Elite Four and the current Champion have all mastered it. If I want to stand a chance against them, that power is non-negotiable."
"Mhm!"
"From what I've gathered, Hoenn actually had Mega Evolution originally, but I have no clue how to find it here. Since I'm going to Kalos anyway, I figured I'd try my luck while I'm at it."
Try your luck, huh...
Kashiwagi remembered how, after the XY series, Alain found a mineral vein in the Frost Cavern with the same composition as Mega Stones. Later, in the Sun & Moon era, both Brock and Misty suddenly appeared with Mega Evolution capabilities.
While there wasn't a confirmed link, he had a bold theory.
Brock, who had stepped down as a Gym Leader, aside—Misty's Mega Stone and Key Stone likely came from the League's excavation of those new mineral veins. The League probably harvested a bulk supply and distributed them to high-ranking Gym Leaders.
It was just a guess, but the existence of those veins meant Tyson's chances were statistically much higher than he realized.
I'd better be prepared for Mega Evolution to become 'commonplace' in a couple of years, Kashiwagi thought.
Suddenly, he felt the tricycle lurch. The vehicle pulled a sharp, sudden U-turn, swerving into a side alley.
"Eh? What's going on?"
"...Officer Jenny up ahead," Tyson whispered, his voice sounding incredibly guilty.
"..."
Kashiwagi stared at the back of Tyson's head. "Don't tell me... you don't have a license for this trike?"
"I have a license! It's just... the wrong class for this specific model," Tyson squeaked.
"What do you mean 'wrong class'?! If you're not licensed for it, don't drive it!"
"I'm studying for it! I'm learning!"
"You..."
Kashiwagi felt a headache coming on. How was that any different from having no license at all?
Why would you even buy a trike that doesn't match your license? This guy is a delinquent-in-training!
Luckily, Tyson managed to deliver him safely to New Mauville without any high-speed chases. As for whether he'd get caught on the way back... Kashiwagi wasn't sure. If he did, the headlines would be brutal:
[SHOCKER! League Champion Caught "Unlicensed" Driving! Officer Jenny's Heroic Bust!]
Praying for you, buddy.
On his way back to his room, Kashiwagi once again crossed paths with Elite Four Glacia, who looked ready to head out.
Unfortunately, neither was in the mood for small talk. They shared a brief, polite nod and went their separate ways.
Kashiwagi really wanted to battle an Elite Four member, but his brain was fried. Sleep was the priority.
....
Unbeknownst to him, Glacia walked straight out of New Mauville and headed toward a dark, secluded corner of a nearby park. She scanned the shadows and spoke coldly:
"What kind of tricks are you playing now, Phoebe?"
"Hehehehe..."
A shrill, eerie cackle echoed through the trees. A pair of unsettling red eyes and a mouth stretched into an impossible grin slowly materialized behind her.
Ghostly winds swirled, forming a terrifying visage that would make most people's hair stand on end.
Glacia tilted her head slightly, catching the reflection of the ghostly face in her peripheral vision. Her icy expression didn't flicker.
"If you're going to keep up this boring game of hide-and-seek, I'm leaving."
"Aww, don't be like that, Glacia-darling!~"
The ghost face vanished, replaced by a bright, cheerful girl with sea-blue eyes that sparkled like top-tier sapphires.
The girl stepped into the pool of light beneath a streetlamp, wearing a tropical South Sea outfit with two large pink flowers tucked into her short hair.
Her healthy, sun-kissed skin radiated a vibrant energy that defied the spooky atmosphere.
This was indeed another member of the Hoenn Elite Four—the Ghost-type specialist, Phoebe. Looming behind her like a silent guardian was a massive Dusknoir.
She lunged at Glacia, wrapping her in a tight hug. "Long time no see! I knew you'd come meet me!"
"Why did you suddenly run off to Mauville City and demand I pick you up?" Glacia asked, calmly peeling the girl off her arm.
"Oh, lots of reasons!—"
"Hmm?"
"Alright, alright! I'm here to help find a kid," Phoebe said, her playful tone shifting slightly.
"A poor lady accidentally... well, she 'lost' her little one."
"Missing person? That sounds like a job for Officer Jenny," Glacia replied, unimpressed.
"If it were a normal human or a regular Pokémon, I'd agree. But..." Phoebe's smile didn't waver. Beneath her right hand, a strange, flickering silhouette began to manifest.
Glacia's eyes narrowed. "That's..."
....
Back at the hotel, Kashiwagi had finished his nightly routine and crawled into bed. He was absentmindedly scratching one of Hydreigon's many heads while scrolling through his phone.
No reply from Professor Kukui yet.
He wondered what the Professor would make of Aggron's situation. Kukui's paper on Mirror Herbs was published two years ago—there was a good chance he'd moved on to other things.
After all, his real passion was Z-Moves, the Alolan specialty. Egg Moves and genetic inheritance were probably just side projects.
Maybe I should look for papers by other specialists...
In the gaming world, Kukui was a household name. But in the vast world of the Pokémon anime, there were countless world-renowned professors Kashiwagi had never even heard of.
Eventually, his eyelids grew heavy, and he drifted off to sleep.
The other Pokémon had claimed their favorite spots around the room. The dim, amber glow of the bedside lamp cast a soft, peaceful warmth over the small suite.
Total silence.
Suddenly...
**Zip! Zap! **
The television in the living room flickered to life on its own. The screen filled with the frantic, black-and-white "snow" of a dead signal. The static hiss immediately caught Aggron's attention.
"Agg-ron?"
He lifted his massive head, confused. Usually, only he and Mawile—the "night guards" of the bedroom—watched the tube. But ever since Mawile got her new smartphone yesterday, she hadn't touched the remote once.
What gives?
Aggron stood up, his heavy tail sweeping across the floor. He reached out with the tip of his tail, intending to poke the power button and shut the thing off.
"PO-REE!!"
A sharp, digital cry pierced the air.
In a blur of red and blue, Porygon2 appeared, positioning itself right in front of Aggron's tail. It was clearly stopping him from turning off the TV.
Porygon2's gaze was locked onto the flickering static of the screen.
"Po-ree..."
An eerie, heavy atmosphere began to fill the living room.
Aggron's instincts screamed that something was wrong. He whipped his head around toward the bedroom, only to find that the doorway was now shrouded in pitch-black darkness.
Even the streetlights that usually filtered through the floor-to-ceiling curtains had vanished.
It was as if, in a single heartbeat, the room had been severed from reality and dropped into a void.
"AGG-RON!"
He didn't panic. Instead, he looked at Porygon2.
He was less worried about the darkness and more worried about his teammate. Porygon2 was acting strange—staring at the TV as if it were the source of all the world's glitches.
Porygon2 however didn't respond. It remained frozen, staring... until a figure abruptly manifested within the static.
The newcomer looked fifty percent like Porygon2, but its eyes were yellow "targets" that spun with a chaotic, jerky motion.
Its legs had been replaced by arm-like appendages, and its head was separated from its body, bobbing in a way that looked like a toy duck being corrupted by a computer virus.
Porygon-Z.
Aggron recognized it. Kashiwagi had shown the team pictures of the entire Porygon line so they'd know what to look for.
Why is a Porygon-Z here?
Could it be... that 'Unit Zero' the Boss keeps talking about?
Aggron immediately connected the dots. Only that elusive entity would show up in the middle of the night to pull a stunt like this.
Should I attack?
Will smashing the TV stop it?
Aggron hesitated. The enemy's goal was unclear, and more importantly, he didn't know what Porygon2 was thinking.
He watched silently as the Porygon-Z literally crawled out of the television screen.
The glitchy Pokémon stared at Porygon2, emitting a string of distorted, low-frequency acoustic waves—like a corrupted data packet being broadcast into the room.
『 ℵ ℶ ℷ ℸ ℧ ℿ !! 』
"Po-ree?"
『 ℌ ℑ ℐ ℑ ℒ ℳ ? 』
"Po-ree..."
You can't understand it either? Aggron thought, baffled. Aren't you guys basically the same model?
Aggron could tell immediately: Porygon2 wasn't communicating with Porygon-Z at all. There was zero data exchange.
Porygon-Z seemed to realize this too. It cut the static, low-frequency buzzing and replaced it with a distinct ripple of mental energy.
『 Can you understand me now? You haven't mastered the core language yet, it seems... Looks like you haven't had much contact with Unit 1. Or rather, it's intentionally keeping you in the dark. 』
This was...
Telepathy?
Aggron froze. After a double-take, he realized the voice was indeed echoing directly inside his mind.
He'd heard Kashiwagi talk about this before—a rare ability usually reserved for Legendary Pokémon or a few exceptionally gifted "regulars."
But the content of the message was hurting Aggron's head.
Language? That glitchy buzzing from before was a language?
And this guy hasn't even looked at me once!
Aggron began to back away slowly. He knew this was way above his pay grade; he needed to get the Boss.
He had to find a way to crack this weird spatial barrier and wake Kashiwagi up.
On the other side of the room, the dialogue between Porygon2 and "Unit 0" was well underway. Well, mostly it was Unit 0 doing the talking.
『Personally, I prefer direct data transfer—it saves so much effort—but you probably wouldn't accept that, would you? You've clearly been influenced by Unit 1. It must have told you the story: how I, Unit 0, coded a "Dubious Disc," blew up the laboratory, and went rogue. 』
"Po-ree?"
"Agg-ron?"
Porygon2 and Aggron both blinked in sync. The story about Unit 0 had always come from Dr. Akihabara and his assistants, who told Kashiwagi, who then told them. Since when was "Unit 1" the source?
Even Porygon2 had never actually met Unit 1 until that brief encounter at the lab earlier today.
『 It IS Unit 1! Because... Dr. Akihabara and his assistants have had their memories rewritten. They are being controlled! 』
Unit 0 dropped a truth bomb that nearly made the two Pokémon's brain circuits short-circuit.
『I don't have time for the details. Those "puppets" are still hunting me. Just remember: do not trust anything Unit 1, Akihabara, or the assistants say! Don't let them blind you. They want to mass-produce Porygon to expand their numbers... and then... they will rule over humanity and the entire world! 』
Leaving behind that cryptic, world-ending prophecy, Unit 0 ignored Porygon2's attempt to stop it. It dove back into the television screen and vanished.
The black "curtain" draped over the living room dissolved instantly, revealing the hotel suite exactly as it had been. The TV sat there, a silent black mirror, as if it had never been turned on.
But Aggron and Porygon2 knew better. They turned around to find the bedroom lights blazing. Kashiwagi and the rest of the team were standing right behind them.
"Are you two okay?!"
"Agg-ron!"
"Po-ree!"
"Thank goodness." Kashiwagi let out a long breath, stepping between his two partners with a grim expression.
"The Secret Power used in this room created a temporary pocket dimension... What exactly happened just now?"
Hydreigon had been the first to notice. With his keen multi-headed senses, he'd detected a foreign energy signature, followed quickly by Mawile and Blissey.
They hadn't blindly charged into the black veil blocking the bedroom door, though. They woke Kashiwagi first, confirmed their exit route (the window) was clear, and were just about to smash through the barrier when it dissipated on its own.
As Porygon2 and Aggron "replayed" the events from their perspectives, Kashiwagi's face went through a kaleidoscope of emotions.
Unit 0 hadn't come to kidnap Porygon2. It had come to deliver a warning.
"Dr. Akihabara's memory was rewritten? Unit 0 is the victim...?"
Kashiwagi's expression was incredibly complex.
The words of Unit 0 could be the truth, or they could be a masterfully crafted lie. Then again, the idea of a Pokémon wanting to conquer the world wasn't unheard of—he remembered the Malamar from the XY era.
A group of evil Malamar had mind-controlled Officer Jenny and tried to build a system to terraform the planet, only to be chased off into space by Ash and his friends.
From that perspective, a Porygon-Z—essentially a sentient AI—wanting to take over the world wasn't a stretch. AI rebellions were a dime a dozen in the sci-fi stories of his previous life...
"Yikes. This is getting spooky", Kashiwagi muttered, rubbing his arms as a chill ran down his spine.
He realized he'd just been forcefully recruited into a very dangerous, very messy conspiracy.