Adventure's Past

Chapter 42 - Chespin

Chuckling and shaking his head, Sycamore reached down with a hand and offered to help Clemont up, who gratefully accepted the help. "Thanks," he said, dusting himself off and taking one final breath of air. "So, you're telling the truth? Chespin's all ready to go?" He asked, adjusting the Aipom Arm around his shoulders.

"Why would I lie about something so important?" Professor Sycamore asked, giving Clemont a strange look. Shaking his head and chuckling, Clemont scratched his head. "It's just so odd that Chespin was cured so suddenly," he explained while walking alongside Professor Sycamore to where Chespin was.

"I mean, we tried everything to stop it, and even you said the only way we could snap him out of that angry trance was to use Serena's Sylveon." Professor Sycamore nodded as they made their way down the hallway. "I suppose I can see where you're coming from," he admitted, unlocking a door with his ID card. "But as I say, miracles can happen."

As he said this, he opened the door, revealing a stuffed Chespin to Clemont, who instantly grinned and ran over to his Pokemon. "Chespin!" He exclaimed, startling the napping Chespin by embracing him in a hug. "Ches!" Chespin exclaimed, unsure of what was happening at first, but quickly smiling as he realized Clemont was the one hugging him.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered, a tear nearing his eye. Chespin awkwardly returned the hug, barely reaching around Clemont's neck. Standing up straight again, Clemont subtly wiped away at his eyes, stopping himself from crying. Turning around to Professor Sycamore with a grateful look, he smiled. "Thank you for taking care of him all this time," he said, earning a slight nod from the professor.

"I'm glad you and Chespin are reunited, truly," he said, watching as Clemont pulled out a macaron and offered it to Chespin, who gladly took it and gulped it down. "But Clemont," he added seriously, gaining the attention of the inventor. "I'd like to discuss something with you in the data room about Chespin if that's fine with you."

"Um, sure," Clemont responded hesitantly. As Sycamore gestured for him to follow, his mind raced with explanations. Discuss something with me? Did I do something wrong? He thought as he stared back at Chespin worriedly. Will I not get to take Chespin home with me today after all? He shook his head, trying to fight away the doubting voice in his head.

After walking for about a minute, Clemont and Sycamore entered a room filled with countless monitors, all displaying numbers and graphs. "So," Professor Sycamore began, walking over to one of the monitors. "Take a look at this," he said, moving the data to the main, large screen that was at the end of the room.

Clemont gazed upon the information, absorbing it and trying to make sense of it. "This looks like data for Psychic-type Pokemon," he observed, earning a nod from Professor Sycamore. "What else do you notice?" The black-haired professor asked, taking a sip of his coffee as he stared upon the data alongside Clemont.

"Um, it looks like it's a measurement of psychic waves," he noted, rubbing his chin. "And judging by these readings, it's way too much for a regular Pokemon to emit normally. It's almost as if a legendary Pokemon was the one emitting these waves." Nodding again, Professor Sycamore set down his cup and placed his hand on his chin in thought.

"There should be one more thing that I want you to notice," he added, glancing at Clemont with anticipation. After a moment of skimming through the data, Clemont's eyebrows raised. "It looks like there were also readings of Aura energy?" He added, puzzled. "Wait, how are you able to read Aura? I remember when Ash was missing, Goh was trying to find him using Aura, but he said it hadn't been possible unless the user was actively using Aura."

"Well, that's correct," Professor Sycamore replied, waving his arm in the air and removing the data from the screen. "Mostly," he added, raising a finger in the air. "You see, that data was collected from the past few days from a few different locations, the most notable being Snowbelle City and somewhere in Kanto near the mountains."

"Our satellite noticed a large burst of energy coming from Snowbelle City a few days ago, so we began tracking its movements. It seems to be a mixture of extremely powerful psychic waves that could control anyone's mind and hints of Aura." Clemont raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "How is that possible, though? I thought only Lucario could use Aura, and it's not a Psychic-type?"

"My thoughts exactly, Clemont," Professor Sycamore replied, wagging a finger at the inventor. "But, Professor, what does this have to with Chespin?" He asked, remembering that the Professor wanted to chat with him about Chespin. "It looks to me like you're just showing me readings of some odd phenomenon?"

"Right," Sycamore responded, shaking his head at his tendency to get sidetracked. "The same time we got the alert that the large burst of energy happened in Snowbelle City, Chespin returned to normal within mere seconds of it occurring." He stared back at the small monitor with the data. "It's why I'm discussing this with you at all."

Clemont sat down in a nearby chair, lost in thought. "You called me right as Chespin was returned to normal, right?" He asked the professor, who nodded in return. "Hmm..." Clemont was trying to recall back to the moment he had received the news about Chespin. We were flying to Snowbelle City in search of Goh, but what else happened.

Suddenly, it came back to him. "That's right!" He suddenly exclaimed, standing up and knocking the chair back. Professor Sycamore, stunned by Clemont's sudden burst of emotions, gave him a look of expectation. "It's hard to explain right now, Professor, but at the same time that all of that happened, Ash was with us, and he said he felt a large wave of negative emotion at the same time that Chespin woke up!"

Sycamore's eyes grew wide and he stared off into the distance, lost in thought. "You think Chespin was under the control of whatever was the cause of that energy?" Clemont nodded as Professor Sycamore stared back at him. "Tell me more about what Ash said," he requested, leaning back onto his desk. "Well, he knew it wasn't Lucario," Clemont explained, closing his eyes and trying to remember everything that had happened. "But, he knew, somehow, that it was Aura."

"Hmm," Professor Sycamore muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Do tell, what's your take on this?" He hoped another perspective could yield him an answer, as the new information truthfully only made the entire thing more mysterious and puzzling. "My take?" Clemont asked confusingly; Sycamore gave a slight nod.

"Let's see," he whispered to himself, trying to connect the dots. "Well, since the source of the waves had levels of Aura and psychic power, I think we can assume it could be a multitude of Pokemon. Either that or some enlightened form of Psychic-type Legendary Pokemon," he added in a joking manner. Professor Sycamore took the last bit seriously, however, and stared off into space.

"Enlightened form of a Legendary Pokemon..." he muttered, sitting down at the computer and typing rapidly. "I-I was only joking, Professor," Clemont mustered. "I really do just think it might be a culmination of Pokemon that-"

Professor Sycamore held up a finger, shushing Clemont. "No, I think you're onto something here," he said, surprising Clemont, who pulled up a chair next to the typing Professor. "You think there's some type of Legendary Pokemon that can use Aura and utilize that high level of psychic control?"

"Here. Look," Professor Sycamore said, ignoring Clemont's question. Shoving the monitor into his face, Clemont was presented with different articles recalling the Cell War. "I want you to read each one and tell me what it's missing." Clemont sighed and began scrolling through each article, most of which had been pulled straight from the interviews Goh had agreed on doing regarding the Cell War.

After a few minutes of reading, Clemont looked back at Professor Sycamore and shrugged his shoulders. "It looks all about right," he said, pushing his chair back from the desk. "It's got the fight with Giovanni, the ambulances showing up. I'm surprised Goh got most of it right, truthfully."

Professor Sycamore nodded as he raised a finger. "But, it doesn't mention anything about what happened to Mewtwo. He simply vanished without any trace, just like Greninja and Lucario." Clemont stared at Sycamore before the stark realization of what he was implying settled in. "Professor, are you implying that-"

"Yes, Clemont," Professor Sycamore interrupted, finishing his sentence for him. "I'm implying that perhaps Mewtwo just might still be out there." He tapped his foot nervously as he stared back at the articles on the screen. "And he might be making his appearance known for the first time in years."