Pokémon: The Rule of Six

The Man in the Mask

"The professor will figure out a way to help," she insisted. "You'll see."

Chimchar looked at her with scepticism before leaping up onto the sofa. It too had a go at removing the mask to no avail. A few seconds later, the professor returned, an old tome in his hands. He held open the page to Mariah who studied it carefully. The page depicted a swirling mass of darkness with a splodge of crimson surrounding a mask that looked identical to the one before them.

"Yamask possession," the professor concluded, closing the book. "A tricky business to be sure. We have no way of knowing how long the poor fellow's been like this nor if he'll even survive once that thing's off his face. There have been reports of people being kept alive for centuries by Yamask only for their bodies to turn to dust the moment they are separated. Maybe you'd better tell me more about the circumstances in which you found our hapless friend here."

Sitting next to the unconscious form of the masked man, Mariah recounted the story of how she had come across him. It had been while conducted research on the instructions of the professor. He had been concerned that the local lake was becoming overrun by Pokémon that were not native to the area and that their presence could destabilise the ecosystem. Mariah and Chimchar had been documenting any and all Pokémon they had seen there. At least, that what was she told the professor. In reality, the two had spent a lazy day relaxing by the lake, watching the world go by. It was the cacophony of distressed Wooper that had attracted Mariah's attention to the lake. During their games, young Wooper had managed to dislodge something from the bottom of the lake. When the man's body broke the surface of the water, the Pokémon were, understandably alarmed. Mariah had dragged the body from the lake herself. The steady rise and fall of the man's chest had caught her completely by surprise. How someone could have survived being underwater for so long had seemed like such a mystery to her that she could think of nothing to do save bring the man to the professor.

Professor Spigot listened to how the man had been found in the water while stroking his chin. He nodded knowingly upon the conclusion of Mariah's tale.

"Ancient people believed that Yamask were the secret to immortality. They learned very quickly that ensconcing oneself within a Cofagrigus yielded terrible results but they persisted with the notion that a Yamask could, if trained properly, preserve a person indefinitely and permit them to be awoken at the appropriate time. Many corpses in many ruins have been discovered with Yamask around them. I have never heard of the technique working before."

The professor leaned closer once more. He felt the edge of the mask with his fingers and shook his head.

"I don't suppose Chimchar is any closer to mastering its ember attack?" the professor asked.

Chimchar perked up as it heard itself being mentioned in conversation. Upon hearing the word 'attack', the little chimp folded its arms, and looked down at the floor.

"Chimchar's still not really into battling," Mariah shrugged. "I think it can scratch and I've definitely seen it leering at some Skorupi, but I don't think it can do much more than that."

"A shame," the professor sighed. "A scratch is not going to touch this. There's only one thing for it."

Wheeling himself back to his desk, the professor began to type something on one of the five keyboards that littered his workspace. Mariah came over to observe what was happening. She saw the unconscious Magnemite but thought better of asking as to what purpose it was serving. As though he sensed the unasked question, the professor began to talk.

"I've long had a theory that the Union have been using Magnemite to keep track on people by creating an artificial hivemind for them all. This allows them to record and store information on anyone and anything a Magnemite on their network sees."

With a flourish, the professor finished typing. He began to pull the cables from the Magnemite as he glanced at the clock on the wall.

"I have spent the last four hours trying to access the base code of the network to see what can be done about it. If my calculations are correct, I should have given myself rudimentary control over this Magnemite. If I'm wrong, a horde of peacekeepers will be beating down our door before we even know what's happening."

His wizened hand hovered over the final cable. He looked at Mariah, a reckless grin spread across his aged face.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

"You've never given me a reason not to."

"Good enough," he replied, pulling out the final cable.

The lights in the room flickered and dimmed. The white circle on the centre of the Magnemite flashed red and blue for a few seconds before a single black dot appeared in the centre. The dot flicked into a line on occasion in the fashion of something blinking. Slowly, the Magnemite rose into the air and surveyed the room. It tilted its magnets slightly as it observed the professor. It let out a metallic chirp before drifting off as though carried by some unfelt breeze. It surveyed the electrical equipment in the room, chirping softly to itself as it went.

"If you can hear me, Magnemite, do as I command," the professor called. "Deliver an electric shock to the mask on that man."

Magnemite hung there, unmoving for a few seconds. Then it floated over to the man and examined him closely. As the electricity began to crackle over its body, Professor Spigot started rummaging through his draw. He found within a tiny orb, half red and half white with a small button in the middle. He pressed the button and the ball grew larger. He handed it to Mariah.

"Our only hope may be to capture that thing so that we can command it to let the man go in peace," the professor instructed.

Mariah looked at the floating Magnemite and the unconscious man and realised the professor was asking her to catch the Yamask. She went over to the sofa just as the Magnemite delivered its electric shock. Chimchar held tightly to Mariah's ankle, peering around her leg to see what was happening.

When the electricity touched the mask, the man's body jerked. Her began to thrash around, and, instinctively, Mariah moved closer to help him. The professor called for the Magnemite to shock the man again. This caused him to thrash even harder. He leapt up from the sofa, the mask obscuring any expression. He looked around the room as another jolt of lightning hit his body. He swatted at the Magnemite, his movement wild and uncoordinated. When his hand missed, he received another jolt of electricity. A strange sound came from the man. In the centre of his hand, a mass of shadows began to form. The shadows condensed into a ball. The man threw the orb at the Magnemite. It exploded on contact, shards of darkness flying in every direction. The Magnemite was driven back. Another ball slammed into it followed by another and the Magnemite dropped out of the air.

Mariah leapt forward, Poké ball in hand. The man grabbed her wrist and squeezed hard. Mariah's hand opened involuntarily and the ball dropped from her grasp. The man caught it and, to Mariah's surprise, slammed it into the mask. The ball opened as it made contact with the mask before dropping to the floor. The mask transformed into a brilliant light that was sucked into the ball. The man's face was still obscured however, by the surge of light that was pouring from his mouth. The Poké ball closed at the same time as the man's mouth. He collapsed to the floor as the ball began to shake. It shook three times before emitting a soft click and falling still.

In the tranquillity after the chaos, the professor wheeled himself closer to Mariah. She was massaging her wrist, certain that it would bruise. The two looked at the unconscious man. He was still breathing.

"How long do you reckon he was like that?" Mariah wondered, looking at the man's face for the first time.

The man did not seem particularly old. He was around Mariah's age, early twenties, with soft brown hair and a stubbled face. To Mariah, the man was a complete stranger, but she saw the look of recognition that was etched into the face of the professor.

"I know him," he whispered, the colour steadily draining from his flesh. "He can't be here. We shouldn't have freed him."

Mariah look nervously at the man and the Poké ball that sat near his head.

"Who is he?" she asked.

"Forty years ago, when I was your age, this man was the Champion of this region," the professor explained, his voice thick with fear. "He is the one who caused the Calamity. This is the man who ended the world."