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Prologue: How it Began
(Setting Up the Crossover)
Note: Welcome to my plot bunny! This story diverges from the XY anime at the beginning of the "clone Clembot caper" episode. Ages are also assumed to be 15/16ish and 9ish, since this occurs during Ash's 6th region of travel since his tenth birthday. As fits the tone of XY, there will be one-sided Amourshipping hints and Oblivious!Ash (mostly because I have *no* idea how to write "proper" romance), though this may change as I continue writing.
"Our heroes are back in Lumiose City, site of Ash's fifth Gym Battle in the Kalos league. Sliggoo's recent evolution into Goodra has left Ash extremely psyched for his battle against Clemont, and Bonnie is excited to reunite with her brother…"
"Are we there yet?" Bonnie groaned, staring out the window of the city bus. "This is so boring – why didn't we walk?"
"Don't you remember what Officer Jenny told us?" Serena reminded her. "There's a robber running around the city, so they want to keep foot traffic to a minimum to make it easier to catch him." This did nothing to lift the young girl's spirits, though, and she crossed her arms with a pout as Serena checked her guide for further information.
"Aw, come on, we could totally beat him! We beat those meanie Malamar, didn't we?" She looked at Ash pleadingly. "You agree with me, don't you?"
Ash started, zoning back in from his strategy planning. "Huh? Agree with you about what?" he asked, simultaneously trying to recover the idea that had almost formed. All that he could remember is that it was centered around -
"Serena doesn't think we can handle ourselves if we run into the robber that Officer Jenny told us about!" Bonnie complained. "Besides, this way we have to take the long way around!"
He grinned, reaching around Serena to ruffle Bonnie's hair in the same way his mom used to back when he got bored on bus rides. "Did she really say that? I bet she could actually handle him herself – but it's nice to take a break and let the police handle that kind of thing sometimes. Besides, with my talent for running into delays, walking would probably take longer than this bus ride, and you would have to wait longer to see Clemont again."
"He has a point, you know." Serena commented, sitting back up again. "Sometimes, you just need to trust that the grownups know what they're… What? What are you looking at?" she questioned, seeing the younger girl staring at her with an odd glint in her eye. Or, more specifically, just behind her. Soon enough, Bonnie couldn't hold it in anymore.
"SO CUTE!" she squealed, startling Serena slightly. Before the honey-blonde could puzzle out Bonnie's meaning, though, the driver announced their arrival at Prism Tower – and she abruptly realized the meaning when Ash shot up out of his seat to dash off the bus. Fighting to keep the heat from rising in her cheeks, she quickly grabbed her bag and followed him, trying not to look at the smirking Bonnie behind her.
After greetings were exchanged and siblings reunited (made somewhat awkward by the two siblings' *ahem* emotionally expressive father showing up and nonchalantly pushing the corner of a cape back inside his overalls), Serena released her Braixen to re-introduce her to Clemont.
The inventor was duly impressed, and said as much. Not one to be left out, Ash chimed in. "And she's not the only one whose Pokémon evolved! Check this out!"
"Now hold on a moment." Meyer interrupted as he drew his arm back to release Goodra. "You're here for your Gym Battle, right?" At Ash's nod, he continued, "Well, why not surprise him with it during the battle itself? I'm sure he has plenty of surprises for you."
"I concur." Clembot stated from the back of Meyer's motorcycle. "And speaking of surprises, this seat is surprisingly hard to dismount. Would you mind assisting me off?"
"Oh, sorry Clembot." Clemont apologized, hurrying over to help dislodge him. Seeing his three friends gazing quizzically, he explained what was going on. "You know that robber Officer Jenny was warning people about? Well, it turns out he was using a duplicate of Clembot as his assistant, and so Clembot had to go to the police station for questioning. Dad was on his way back from picking him up when you guys got here."
"So does that mean they caught the robber?" Serena asked. "My Nav was having some trouble connecting to the news server, so I didn't hear about that."
"The man in the Blaziken mask apprehended him." Clembot informed helpfully.
"So that makes, what, three times he's helped us out? Or was it more? Man, I wish I could meet this guy and tell him thanks for all the hard work he does." Serena and the siblings nodded in agreement, completely missing Meyer's uncharacteristic sudden nervousness. He relaxed somewhat when he heard Clembot's next comment.
"As much as I would like to assist you, I agreed to keep his identity secret as thanks for clearing my name. After all, the media attention would make it harder for him to do his job."
This only excited Bonnie more, though. "Wait, you've met him? SO COOL! I wish I could figure out his secret identity – that would be super epic!"
"Epic would not be the word I would use to describe the meeting…"
"You know, your cape is still showing." Clembot pointed out as he and Meyer drove along the Lumiose streets towards the gym. "If you're trying to keep your identity a secret, you need to be a little more careful."
"Thanks for the tiiiiiiiiiiiwaitWHAT? You're not going to tell anyone, are you?"
"Negatory. During my downtime, I have been frequenting some AI forums, and have been in contact with one (rather very intelligent, if I do say so myself) whose creator has gone public with his hero identity. The consequences are not ones that I would care to submit you to. I will not even inform your children without your express permission." Seeing manly tears of gratitude welling up in Meyer's eyes, he quickly advised the electrician to focus on driving and save the emotional outbursts for his kids. "Oh, and you still need to tuck in your cape."
"Disable flashback mode!" Clemont announced. "I told you, I'm still working out the bug that keeps you stuck inside your memories – so try to avoid using it."
"My apologies, sir. Would you like to show Ash, Serena, and Bonnie your latest project? It might allow him to get some last-minute training in while still heeding your father's advice."
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt…" the Gym Leader mused. "After all, it'll give us each a chance to give our teams one last pep talk before the battle. All right, everyone – follow me!"
"Of course it wouldn't." Clembot snarked as they walked inside the Gym. "After all, it's not like there's supposed to be a filler episode at this point in time."
"And here we are," Clemont said, opening the door to his workshop and pointing at what looked like a couple of motorcycle helmets. "It's right over there on that table."
"It just looks like helmets." Serena stated disappointedly. "What's so special about them?"
Clemont chuckled and pushed his glasses up his nose, the light reflecting off them and blanking out the lenses. "The future is now, thanks to science! Those are my new, patent-pending virtual reality helmets – I got the idea when helping Nurse Joy repair the Pokéball Transporter System. After all, if Pokémon can be transmitted as data inside computers, why not send the trainer in and let them train together inside that virtual space? That way, you can customize the training environment and AI opponents to fit your goals at the moment and streamline your progress."
"Man, that sounds cool! Science is so amazing!" Ash exclaimed fanboy-ishly. "What do you call them?"
"I call it the Nature-Emulating Rig for Virtually and Easily Gaining Enhancements in Abilities Rapidly." Clemont announced proudly. Bonnie, however, was not impressed.
"Why can't you come up with better names, like Super Training or something?" she complained. "You make it sound impressive with your science words, but then the name makes it sound all lame."
Her brother sighed. "Korrina mentioned that too during the video chat we had a few days ago. Maybe it would work better as an acronym like she suggested…"
"You listen to her when she says that and not to me? I would be super mad if she wasn't right about NERVEGEAR sounding way cooler than whatever it was you said earlier!"
"Congratulations on giving away a plot detail." Clembot muttered at his lowest audible volume. At a questioning look from Clemont, he quickly rephrased his sentence. "You forgot to mention an important detail. Multiple helmets means that this isn't just a one-person machine. Using the Pokémon Center network, two users can choose to enter a joint session either for cooperative training or for long-distance battles. Or, if two trainers wish to have a battle but are in cramped surroundings such as a basement, they can use the short-range wireless connections to create a simple virtual battlefield."
"I was getting to that part." Clemont cut in. "After the initial setup, even if you're not in range of the PC network, you can still use a simplified form of training that involves attacking balloon Pokémon with less versatility. I included some heavy-duty batteries to keep them from running out of charge in the field, and an Electric-type should be able to recharge them no problem."
"But what about training for Showcases, when you have to move with your Pokémon? Wouldn't that limit the effectiveness?" Serena asked.
"I already thought of that. These helmets do more than just create an augmented reality around you, they basically transport your mind inside the computer so that the virtual environment feels real and your physical body won't wander around running into things and hurting itself. I've tested it, and the single-person version works perfectly – unfortunately, I had no way to test out the multi-user mode and find the bugs caused by the helmets' interaction with each other."
"Don't worry, I'll help you out with that. If it wasn't for the others wanting to watch, maybe we could have even used our Gym battle to test it!"
"That statement is incorrect on both counts. Clemont created a visual monitoring screen for beta-testing observations, and he also needs to remain here in order to watch for hiccups in the software. That means that one of your female companions will have to accompany you."
"I guess that works." Ash conceded. "You up for it, Serena?"
"I don't know… don't your inventions normally blow up?" she asked Clemont nervously.
"Don't worry," the inventor reassured her. "For this run we'll just be testing the immersion and ability to release Pokémon properly – it won't be trying to generate anything more than a grassy meadow. And Bonnie will be watching everything from the screen while I monitor the software." Serena sighed in relief, until she saw that Bonnie had the Look in her eye again and was tugging at her sleeve to get her attention.
"C'mon, I know you'll like it…" the little girl pleaded, before pulling Serena down to whisper in her ear. "After all, it'll just be the two of you out on a walk together, surrounded by nature…" She smirked as Serena flushed and tried to stammer out a comeback. "I'm not hearing a no…"
"F-fine, if it'll get you to stop teasing me!"
"Wait, teasing you about what?" Ash asked, effectively killing the mood and causing Bonnie to facefault.
"You're so dense…" she muttered from the floor. Just then, Clembot re-entered the room pushing a couple of cots.
"Please return any Pokémon you wish to take with you, and then scan their Pokéballs with the reader attached to the helmet you will be using. Then lay down on the cots and wait for Clemont's signal."
"Hold on a moment. Pikachu, I know you don't like going into your Pokéball – do you want to stay out here and watch with Bonnie, or do you want to come in with us?" Pikachu pondered this for a few seconds. After all, the last time his trainer had entered the digital world, he nearly had a seizure – but on the other hand, that was sort of his fault. Was going inside his Pokéball worth accompanying his trainer inside? It was, he decided, and nodded his assent.
"Okay then," Clemont announced from the computer once they had set everything up. Once I turn on the power, you activate the Gear by saying 'Link start,' got that? Alright, power on!"
"Link, start!" they announced as the clock chimed 1:00.
The first thing Ash noticed was a series of five rotating blue circles. As soon as he saw them, the one labeled "Sight" turned green and minimized in the corner of his vision. The others (Hearing, Smell, Taste, and Touch) soon followed, and were replaced by an account-creation window. After he filled it in, a confirmation dialog appeared.
|Is this information correct?|
| [Name: Ash Ketchum] |
| [Nickname: "Satoshi"] |
| [Password: *******] |
| [Yes]_[No] |
Selecting "Yes", he felt the phantom keyboard melt away from beneath his invisible fingertips, and a status bar labeled "Generating Avatar" filled his vision. As the bar filled and his virtual body assembled beneath him, he was impressed how seamlessly the polygons merged to form an exact copy of his real self. Experimentally, he took a few steps back and forth, then went through his pre-battle stretch routine (which Brock had advised would prevent sprains from overenthusiastic gestures) to ensure that he could move properly.
"All right, it looks like the calibration worked fine for both of you." Clemont's voice announced. "Whenever you're ready to start, open your menu by pinching and dragging down with your right hand and select 'Full Dive'."
"Okay, thanks!" Ash responded, following his instructions.
[Initial Installation and Loading: 0% Complete.]
[Loading Pokémon Typing Data]
[Data Loaded: Fire]
[Data Loaded: Water]
[Data Loaded: Grass]
…
"So far, so good." Clemont observed, leaning forward in his chair. "Nothing seems to be out of order…"
"How can you tell? Nothing's showing up on the viewing screen!" Bonnie complained, trying to shoulder her way in and look at Clemont's monitor. "And I only see a bunch of squiggly lines over here…"
"Well, these lines here show that their physical bodies are still in 'sleep mode,' these over here show the sensory input they're receiving, which is well within the appropriate limits, and these log the power consumption. All in all, everything seems to be working just –"
The lights dimmed for a few seconds, then flickered back to full power.
"What was that?" Bonnie asked, and Meyer poked his head through the door.
"Sorry about that – Magnemite and I both got hungry at the same time, and running the toaster while he was plugged in kind of tripped the circuit breaker in the kitchen. Is everything still working fine up here?"
"It should be. The helmets are running off their internal batteries, so I don't think the surge affected them."
[Da%a L#aded: Fairy]
[D t* LoX4d): F6*ht6n2]
[0a7 L1md3d: x&ych1c]
"Um, Clemont? What's going on?" Serena asked, brain buzzing with apprehension. "Is this supposed to happen?" As the seconds crawled past with no response, her pulse pounded in her ears and she almost felt nauseous, wishing that Ash was there to reassure her.
[Error Detected: Data Transfer Incomplete. Engaging Correction Protocol.]
The sight of the dialog box felt like it took a load off her mind, though it didn't completely erase her doubt. "I guess that means he has it under control…"
[Reloading Data to Helmet One: Fighting]
[Reloading Data to Helmet Two: Psychic]
[Loading Data: Steel]
[Type Information Complete. Connecting to Virtual World.]
[Connection established. Please close your eyes to streamline transition.]
Serena closed her eyes as instructed, and when she opened them again, her surroundings had changed drastically. Instead of a black void, she was standing in the middle of a grassy field, the sun high in the sky, with a gentle breeze blowing at her hair. "It feels so real…" she breathed out in awe.
Ash, of course, had to ruin the moment. "Yeah, science is so amazing!" he exclaimed, drawing her out of her reverie with an embarrassed flush. But before she had the chance to reprimand him, he was distracted by a motion out in the meadow.
"Wow, what's that Pokémon?" he wondered aloud, pointing at a blue Tepig-like creature rooting amongst the grass. "I've never seen it before!" He went to pull out his Pokédex, only to realize that he didn't have it with him. "Oh yeah, the hint window on the loading screen said that focusing on the cursor above it will activate the auto-Dex feature."
[Identified: Level 1 Frenzy Boar. No further information available at this time.]
"Aren't most Pokémon species names one word?" Serena pointed out. "Plus, it was supposed to just be an empty meadow. I think this is what Clemont was talking about when he said there might be bugs – I don't think that thing belongs here."
The boar seemed to take offense to that. Stamping its feet, it charged at her in, well, a frenzy – revealing that this was not a normal Pokémon.
Omake: Everything Works As Planned
Note: This is the first of several non-canon/semi-canon scenes that will appear at the end of each chapter. They were not originally planned, but I decided to go ahead and add them in after writing Chapter 3 (you'll see why when you read that chapter). Any that would seriously de-rail the plot will be non-canon; any that do not directly contradict will be semi-canon.
[Type Information Complete. Connecting to Virtual World.]
[Connection established. Please close your eyes to streamline transition.]
Serena closed her eyes as instructed, and when she opened them again, her surroundings had changed drastically. Instead of a black void, she was standing in the middle of a grassy field, the sun high in the sky, with a gentle breeze blowing at her hair. "It feels so real…" she breathed out in awe.
Ash, of course, had to ruin the moment. "Yeah, science is so amazing!" he exclaimed, drawing her out of her reverie with an embarrassed flush. "Everybody, I choose you!"
His team formed around him, and Clemont's voice began to speak. "It looks like everything's working out no problem. You can log out whenever you're ready."
After giving a pep talk to his team, Ash returned all of them and the two Trainers logged out. He pulled off his helmet to see Clembot lecturing Magnemite about almost causing random fractures in the multiverse. "What's up with Clembot?" he asked.
"I have no idea…" Clemont admitted mareepishly, scratching his head in confusion.