Chapter Text
Years before the main story
"Mommy! I want a Pikachu!" A little girl begged her parents, it was her tenth birthday. The yellow mouse was one of her favorite pokemon growing up and her best friend at school had one too.
"Open the gift honey, your father said he brought back something special!" Her mother gave her daughter a tiny box, she excitedly tore open the package to find a single pokeball. Her excitement grew as both of her parents watched there elease the pokemon inside, her eyes lighting up. The white energy morphing into a familiar shape, one the girl always dreamed of embracing within her tiny arms.
"Pikachu! It's Pikachu!" She cheered, however her glee feeded as the creature formed, revealing a poorly made imitation.
"Mimikyu!"
"Hey! That's not a Pikachu! Daddy!" Spoiled, the birthday girl teared up, "It's just a weird plushy!" She had gotten everything she had wished up until now, so this came as a shock to her fragile heart.
"Dear, did you check with the seller when you were negotiating a price?" Her mother pulled her husband aside, his Team Rocket uniform showing under his jacket. He was a high ranking member and so was his wife, the couple living in an upscale mansion.
The man cursed under his breath, not loud enough for their child to hear, "Shit, I got scammed. Pikachu's are rare these days so fakes are floating all over the market, I'll get my guys to shut them down."
"That isn't the problem Richard, what are we going to tell our daughter? Her Rocket entrance exam is tomorrow and she wanted a Pikachu as her partner."
Richard sighed, knowing it was going to be a while before they could get their hands on supply again from the shortage. Grimacing, he regretted spoiling his child all these years, now that he had to tell her to accept the card she was dealt. He had come from a rough background himself, which is why he never wanted his daughter to experience the same hardships of poverty.
That night, two unnamed Rocket admins had faced the toughest challenge of their lives, one they could not overcome using their normal, criminal tactics. Perhaps this was their karma.
Years later, in a quiet corner of Lumiose, the girl released her faithful partner near the dumpster.
"Can you wait here, Mimikyu? Pikachu and I are going to do a few errands, ok?" She wore a similar coat to her father, hiding her Rocket uniform underneath. The ghost type nodded, dutifully following its human's orders. It had been with her for three years now and they had become a fine criminal pair. There were times where it assisted her with stealing from others, or performing will in battles against the police.
"Mimi!" Squeaked the pokemon, weaving her off. Little did it know, she would never come back for it.
In a quiet corner of Lumiose, where the lights never reached, was a lone pokemon. Tearing open trash bags for scraps, it rummaged through half eaten candy bars and pieces of what barely registered food. Wolfing down anything it could, it desperately filled its hungry belly whatever was available.
The cold night passed with the pokemon settling inside a pile of rotting blankets, shivering in the wet rain. Its rage building up from the unjust treatment, its soul corrupting at the caullouses the girl had shown it. Abandoned in a foreign region with no way home, this pokemon began to loathe humans. Some days it would go out and watch others pass by, and each time a burning jealousy would cause it to retreat from the world. It saw other humans, kind ones, cruel ones, and ones that reminded it of its old trainer. However, no matter how it waited for her to come back, she never did.
Days passed, then weeks, and finally months with no one to care for it, so it started to steal from the nearby shops. What it found from living on the streets was how human businesses had better food stuff than the dumpster it was left by, and so it would use its claws to steal away what it could and if it were caught? It'd just knock out whoever tried to stop it. This continued for another year, until the store owners had finally had enough, and the humans banded together to confront the tiny creature.
"So this is where it lives!" A store owner shouted, his Pikachu growled, cursing at the trouble maker for all the grievances it caused.
"Pika! Pika pi!" The mouse chided, its mere presence triggered an unspeakable rage to fill Mimikyu as it dashed towards the pokemon, clawing its side in a surprise attack.
"It's attacking too? How aggressive is this thing? Fletchinder, flamethrower!" Another human yelled, the bird beside him spewed a river of flames that ate the creature's coat, causing it to freakout at the fire eating it away.
"Mi! Mi! Mimikyuuuuu!" Even more angry, it retaliated by grabbing bags of trash, throwing them at its attackers, forcing them back, combined by a shadow ball that managed to knock all of them to the ground.
"Tch, this thing's strong. What type even is it?" The Pikachu owner cursed, barely supporting himself.
"We should get that pokemon professor to come check this out or Interpol. It's far too strong for us to handle!" The Fletchinder trainer got up, both of them retreating, leaving the seething Mimikyu in the alley.
Taking a deep breath, the pokemon deflated, panting in exhaustion at the fight. The truth being it had little energy from barely eating enough for days. Quietly, it thought of retreating back to its scraped together shelter when its ears perked at another voice in the area.
"Father, I'm interested in this one.." A vile energy, not too dissimilar to its own emerged from the otherside of the alleyway, a boy in a yellow scarf strolled into a view along with a tall, bespectacled man.
"I didn't take you seriously when you said you wanted one of these things, but you actually wanted one?" The man scoffed, but the boy only approached Mimikyu, reaching out his hand to the creature when it lashed out, slapping it away with its dark claw.
"Kiiiii!" Growling, being starved for god knows how long, it now resented the presence of humans, although it did feel a certain kinship to the boy. His eerie yellow eyes shone in the dark unlike anything it has ever encountered. There was a certain loathing in them that mirrored its own.
"Don't be afraid little one," He took out a sandwich from its bag, offering it to the ghost who swiped it with its claw, retreating back to its shelter. Since then, each day, this strange boy would come and offer it food and other goodies. Each time, Mimikyu would grab and hide. And each day, the pokemon would open up bit by bit to this human. No, the more time it spent with the boy, the more it started to feel he was more akin to a ghost than anything of this world. Regardless, Mimikyu began to welcome his company.
"Haha, the stars sure look better here than in the city." The human would say to it, leaning against the dumpster. Mimikyu listened to his soothing words, his voice like a hollow wind blowing across the planes. It held a certain emptiness to it like it was devoid of soul.
"Mimi…" It squeaked,
"Say, do you pokemon only speak your names? It's hard to know what you're saying." Said Pokemon completely understood what he was saying and nudged his arm to no reaction.
"Oh…it'll take a lot more to hurt me, little one." The boy raised a finger, forming a black orb in his finger, launching it at a few piles of trash. "See? I can do what you do too." He looked proud like it was a stupid contest and Mimikyu accepted the challenge, charging its own shadow ball, throwing it at a dumpster, completely smashing the contents, and distorting the metal.
The boy clapped, "Impressive, you're pretty capable you know? Want to come with me?"
"Ki ki!" It shook its head, retreating back to its den. Everytime the human offered, it would run away. From within its shelter, it could hear him call its name.
"Mimikyu, I know you must have been through something horrible to end up here. I'm not going to force come with me." He said, his voice brought comfort to the pokemon, then something was placed outside its shelter, "but I can offer an equivalent exchange of sorts. Take a look at the item I've left you and if you're interested, you can always find me at my hotel on south street."
Once the boy had left, the creature emerged from its hiding spot curious, spotting a broken old pokeball on the ground. The one that belonged to its original trainer. Mixed emotions swirled inside the ghost type, its desire for answers was matched only by its loathing for revenge on the human that abandoned it. Mauling over its decision, it drifted off to sleep only to wake up to a loud racket the next morning. More voices from before sounded with the same store owners from before, and with them was an Interpol officer.
"You said there was an out of control pokemon here?" The officer said, his Lucario on standby.
"A real scary one too, it keeps stealing from my bakery!" One of the owners said, his Pikachu agreed.
"Now where is it now? It should be between those two dumpsters." His friend searched the area with his Fletchinder. Mimikyu bursted out of its hiding spot, tackling the fire bird to the ground when it was hit by a glowing blue energy, throwing it against a wall.
"Mi-mimikyu!" It fought against the Lucario with all it had, dodging its next attack but was once again pushed against a wall when its trainer commanded his pokemon to switch tactics. Bruised and overwhelmed, Mimikyu panicked, slipping past Lucario as it was landing a punch and out of the alley.
"It's running away! You got any spare pokeballs?" The owner shouted, the officer grabbed several from his pocket, distributing them among the three.
"We just have to stop it before it hurts anyone, it's feral." The officer said, running after Mimikyu, seeing how aggressive it was from being disturbed and how much trouble it caused for the locals. He was called to capture the creature to see if it could be rehabilitated. Chasing the ghost type across several streets, it sprinted towards a hotel entrance, disappearing into the crowd.
"Where is it? Did you see it?" The officer showed his badge to the staff, granting him permission to search around at the request of capturing a feral pokemon.
At the same time, Mimikyu concentrated, avoiding the humans that came in and out of the many corridors. It focused its instincts on tracking down the same boy from before, his presence holding an otherworldly aura. Once it had landed at the door of a presidential suite, the pokemon banged on the door to be greeted by his saviour.
"Why hello there again, little one. You appear to be in a bind."
"Mi mimikyu mi."
Time passed, as the officer searched the hotel, knocking on each door to ask about the creature. By the time he had gotten to the presidential suite it was growing dark outside. That was when he landed at the last door, Ryoji greeted the man.
"Hello there, may I ask who you are?" Mimikyu watched from out of sight, hiding under a table in the blackness. Somehow the officer felt a shiver ran down his spine at this strange boy's presence but he shook it off.
"Pardon my intrusion, but I am officer Kevin of the International Police. I received notice of feral pokemon in this area and was wondering if you had any information on the matter." He relayed the description of the Mimikyu in question as professional as he could. While it was safe for wild pokemon to be around humans, the ones that actively disturbed communities or were particularly aggressive were usually removed for public safety.
"Hm? I don't believe I've seen a pokemon like this before, it's rather cute tho." Ryoji handed the picture back, feigning a voice of concern. The officer was about to thank him and depart when the boy let something else slip instead.
"But I do feel unsafe for another reason in this area, officier." This caught the man's attention.
"Unsafe? Has there been any suspicious activity?" Concern grew on the man's face at hearing the details.
"You see, yesterday I was by the department store when I spotted some people in dark clothing harassing a worker."
"I see, can you give me a more detailed description of these folks?" He brought his notepad, his attention completely shifted at the new information.
Ryoji placed a hand to his chest in a sigh of relief, "I'm currently on vacation with my family so we're not too familiar with the Kalos region, but have you heard of a group called Team Rocket? They've been in the news everywhere lately, and those people appeared to be from that group…" As he finished his last words, his eyes glowed a bright pink, "Wouldn't it be in Interpol's best interests to go after them?" His question came out as less of a suggestion and more of a command.
The hidden Team Rocket base in Kalos was their attempt at establishing in a new region and Interpol was currently trying to track them down.
"Yes…it would be."
Ryoji smiled, sending the man away with a list of locations, waving him away. He then turned back to Mimikyu, "There, now we've accomplished step one in your revenge little one. Once the police distract them, it'll be our turn."
Orange sparks shot up into the sky as one snap of the boy's finger ignited the entire underground complex, the fire burning away anyone inside. Cold rain poured from the heavens, washing away any evidence at the scene as the last reminisce of Team Rocket vanished from the face of Kalos. Nobody knew what really happened or what had caused those wild flames, but it would later be labeled as the 'Great Failure' by future Rocket admins.
"Mimikyu, mi mmi."
Shadow N listened to the pokemon's story, stunned. They were currently at Ryoji's house, helping his 'parents' clear up his belongings. Truthfully, there wasn't much to begin with but Rosa had insisted she come along.
"What did Mimikyu tell you, Lord N?" Rosa asked, curious as she picked up a box filled with extra Plasma uniforms. For a minute, the Shadow didn't know what to say, not wanting the girl to hear such a disturbing story, so he decided to omit parts of it.
"How he met Ryoji in a foreign land after it was abandoned by its previous trainer." He carefully picked his words, having a soft spot for Rosa.
"Really? Poor Mimikyu…" She apologized to the pokemon, "I'm sorry for what happened…" The ghost type nodded, silent.
"Mi…"
Opening the door to Ryoji's room, it was completely spotless. Barely touched, his bed was made in pristine order and there were little to no items decorating the room. Soft light streamed in from a side window, illuminating the area as if it were a location in a showroom or movie set, having no signs of being lived in at all.
"Figures…" N said, knowing his former boss was not the type to play human. Infact, the imposter preferred to spend more time in that other place than anywhere else.
"Is there anything else we need to gather?" Rosa asked, finished stacking the rest of the items.
"No, we're done. His parents already cleaned up the rest of his room." N lied.
"Oh…I hope they're doing better now…" Rosa's eyes dropped, slowly making her way down stairs with the Shadow King. The moving truck was already full, any confidential items would be shipped back to the Castle for disposal.
"Thank you for coming along, today Rosa. I'd much rather have his friends help than another generic crew." The Shadow said, playing the role of King.
"Snivy, sni."
"No..I should be thanking you Lord N. You went out of your way to help out your fellow Plasma members…" Rosa and Snivy sat outside on the front porch, waiting for their ride.
N pulled a pecha berry flavored bar from his bag, handing one to the girl, "Want some? It's been a long day." They arrived had early morning and worked throughout the afternoon with their pokemon.
The twin-tailed girl blushed, her King was being a lot more considerate than usual, before this he'd likely have offered food more quickly to Snivy than to any human. "Ummm…t-thanks Lord N! Snivy and I were getting hungry!"
"Don't worry, I've packed plenty." With a humorous reveal, his bag was full of pecha flavored snacks. Snivy munched on a set of candies, while Rosa picked up a cookie.
"Wow, have you always liked pecha flavored stuff, my Lord?" She ate away, her stomach growling as she didn't realize just how famished she was from all the physical activity.
"You both can just refer to me as N." He sighed, "I never liked the title anyways." His shoulders dropped, almost having an annoyed grimace in his eyes from being worshiped all day long. How did he tolerate this before? How did his other self tolerate it at all he wondered.
"H-huh?!" W-we can't do that my Lord! That's basically saying-!"
N shot her a lazy yet irate look, like he was pouting, "That'd we'd be equals? That's not too far from the truth." His words were somber, distant even. "Our goal is pokemon liberation, we dedicate our lives to pokemon, so I find it counterproductive to add all this extra human politics into the mix." The Shadow expressed his distaste for being placed on a pedestal, especially by Ghestsis.
Rosa blinked, surprised at the drastic change in N. "Then…then…I can just call you…"
"Yes."
"Lor- I mean…N?" She was unsure of herself, both her and Snivy were darting their eyes back and forth like they expected some sort of punishment, yet none came. Instead, the Shadow just smiled, patting them both on the head.
"Good job. From now on, when we're alone you both don't have to use honorifics."
Rosa's face lit up like a red tomate, "O-ok, N!" Her throat was burning up from just saying that one letter.
"And one more thing before I go, Rosa." The Shadow said, his face growing dark, "I know you'll be curious in future but don't try to question anyone from Interpol…"
"B-but Mimikyu and Ryoji-"
"They're dangerous, I can promise you our intelligence team will handle them." He pleaded with her not to be thrown into the mess that was about to come. The last thing he wanted was to involve her in any way. If anyone deserved to live, it would be her and Snivy. He couldn't bear to say goodbye to them again.
"Alright then…" Rosa couldn't shake her curiosity as Mimikyu peered from the doorway at their conversation.
Back in Black City, White stood before a lineup of pokemon provided by Interpol. Each creature greeting the humans in their own way, having been trained by the organization.
Blake pulled up a list, handing it to the brunette, "These pokemon were specially prepared for your mission, since you currently lack a full team of six we're helping you add more firepower." He put it bluntly as possible, this was how he was introduced to Dewott and how many officers received their first starter.
"Ya mask ya?" Claudia materialized beside White, offering words of support after she had spoken with her mother. The brunette was still recovering but chose to focus on the task at hand, masking her frustration. Turning her attention towards the lineup before her, there were powerful mons from all over the world.
"Machamp!" A muscular pokemon showed off its strength, next to a Dragonite who flapped its wings in anticipation. They were all excited to meet a new potential trainer, but none of them caught White's eye. While it was nice that the Police Chief offered her this chance, she wasn't looking for anything too overwhelming. That was until she stopped, spotting the same steel golem from before.
"UN UN UN!"
"Ekk! Is that?!" Registeel bore back at her, posing like it was about to explode. Thankfully it only proposed the idea, but never executed the move to her relief. White's eyes narrowed, "Is Registeel really up for grabs…?"
Blake shrugged, "Sure, but it's only talent is explosion. Are you interested in learning how to use it properly?"
"UN UN!" The pokemon acted all proud at its speciality, the memories of almost dying to the golem from the Black Tower swirled in White's mind. Yep, she would leave it alone for now. Just when she was about to move on, a small clinking sound radiated from behind it and caught her attention.
Tink!
Tink!
"What's that sound?" White's curiosity led her to circle around Registeel, finding a tiny pink pokemon slamming a hammer into the side of the legendary. It bashed it with all its might to no avail, catching its breath in the process.
"Awwww who's that pokemon, Blake?" She found it adorable, its attempts to fight the living timebomb touched her heart. The officer didn't need to answer when the pink creature hopped up and down shouting its name.
"Tinkatuff!" it pointed its hammer at White, as if challenging her.
"Does it want to battle?"
"Tinka tinka!"
"No, it wants you to offer it something metallic." Blake said, unamused. This little one was troubled with how greedy it acted. In the wild, Tinkatuff are known to attack a variety of steel types for scrap metal to craft their hammers, although this one was special. No amount of precious materials Interpol offered would satisfy its thirst to create the ultimate weapon.
"I guess I could spare a pokeball," White reached into her bag to give Tinkatuff a ball, but something else caught its eye as it quickly reached into her purse, swiping a pearl white sphere before taking off.
"Hey! Give that back! That's Reshiram!" Running after the tiny pokemon, White followed it down a hallway, disappearing behind a pair of double doors. She was about to follow through when she bumped into Minato who was conventionally coming from the opposite direction.
"Mina!" We have to stop that dragon thief!" White bounced up and down, not giving the veteran any time to process the information. She was gesturing wildly towards the double doors.
Minato blinked, "What? White, what happened?" He was just as shocked, Lizzy practically falling off from his shoulder at the impact.
"Ya mask ya." Claudia explained, but it only fueled the confusion.
"There's this pink pokemon that stole Reshiram." White repeated her panicked explanation, their entire plan hinged at her awakening the dragon of truth.
"That's not good." Minato calmly dusted off any dust from his pants, "Let's go look for it. Everything should be fine as long as Blake isn't aware of it." It was then White paled, as her superior had watched the Light be swiped from right under her nose.
"Oh…yea. That would be pretty bad huh…" The brunette swung open the double doors, rushing in to see a Safari zone like set up. Wild pokemon habitats consisting of plants, trees, and dunes as far as the eye could see. "Whoa…what is this place?" They both stepped into the indoor wild zone, plenty of pokemon scattered across the vast enclosure.
"From the brief we've received, this should be where Interpol keeps its unassigned pokemon." Minato explained, making White realize the lineup Blake had showed up must have come from inside here.
"This is crazy, I remember Black saying there was a school in Unova that had something similar." What was the academy's name again? Blueberry something? She was never good at remembering the names of important places anyways. "But how are we going to find that pokemon here? It's too big."
"Zor zoura." Lizzy sniffed the ground, gesturing to a pile of rocks obscuring a den. The ghost type tracked White's scent emitted from the stone to a mini cave where the sound of hammering could be heard inside.
"Let's sneak up on it first." Minato peered from behind a rock, "You can grab the stone with your teleport." He saw a pink pokemon working diligently, the Light stone now attached to its hammer as it used it to slam down on a pile of scraps.
"No way…is it using Reshiram as a hammer head…?" White's eye twitched, "I thought Blake said it only went after metallic things…"
"Maybe because it's by far the strongest material here." Minato guessed, some of the scraps laid on Tinkatuff's makeshift workshop were being smashed quite violently with the Light stone's help. Parts from engines, mystery metals, and stainless steel all crumbled into bits. By their knowledge, Reshiram is near indestructible in that form so anything that smashed against it would break on contact.
"You're kidding Mina…the dragon of truth being used as a…" White put a hand to her mouth, holding in a laugh. Claudia was giving her a disappointed sigh when Tinkatuff jumped at the two's presence.
"Tinktauff!" Raising its new weapon, it pointed at the intruders.
"Welp, we've been spotted." The bluenette walked out, raising his hands in the air. "Lizzy, can you tell our new friend that we mean no harm?"
"Zorua." Lizzy approached, but that only agitated Tinkatuff further.
"Tinka!" It shouted, rushing its hammer at Lizzy who quickly jumped at its little tantrum. The fox wasn't too impressed, conjuring up an illusion of Kali swinging her blade at the pokemon when Tinktuff's eyes lit up. It swung its hammer, aiming at one of the persona's many swords, only for it to pass through. Lizzy huffed, morphing into Cu Chulainn to once again intimidate but the same thing happened where Tinkatuff gasped in excitement at seeing his legendary spear.
Watching the fight, Minato called Lizzy back before having an idea. "White, I think I figured out a way we can get the Light stone back peacefully."
"How?" She saw him pull a random sword from his inventory and toss it to Tinkatuff, it practically pounced on the weapon.
"Tink, tinka, tuff?!" Inspecting every inch of the supernaturally infused steel, the blade before it radiated an otherworldly energy that drew the pokemon to its strange presence. However, before it could take it apart, White stepped in front of the weapon.
"See this? You can have it if you give back the white rock stuck to your hammer!" The two glared at each other, neither backing down. "That stone is not what you think it is."
Tinkatuff protested, stubborn but the girl was even more by blocking off its path. That was when White had another idea as she gathered electric energy in palms until it formed into a glowing katana. "See this? I don't even need metal to form a weapon."
"Tinka? Tinka!" Impressed, the pokemon's eyes glowed in curiosity. It reached out to feel the blade but recoiled at the light prick from the electric shock. "Tinka…"
Minato brought out another sword from his stash, "If you can give us back that rock, I have plenty of these for you." Another tempting offer was set on the table, Tinkatuff's mouth was watering from the sheer possibility of what else these two could offer.
"Tinka tink!" Finally, it reached a breaking point as it plucked the stone off its hammer, returning it.
White caught the rock, practically embracing in her arms as they had just saved Unova from a small pink disaster. "Yes! Mission successful!" Just as she was celebrating, Tinkatuff hogged the pile of weapons Minato had dropped when he quickly noticed the broken blade from before.
"Oppos, not that one. Sorry." Somehow Yu's broken kanata had been brought out again.
"Hey, I've been wanting to ask Mina," Once again, the persona inside White's soul reacted to the object. The same foreign wave of sadness rushed forth, making White question where it came from. "Can you tell me more about who this weapon belonged to?" Not only now was she wielding an electric version of the sword, but White also carried this user's Persona. She had inherited his Will and it was only right to know who he was.
The veteran thought for a moment, then asked Lizzy to transform. "Lizzy, do you know Yu's appearance?" The fox nodded, creating an illusion that surprised Minato. Before them stood a grown man with silver hair in a business suit. The veteran softened, noticing the even more drastic height difference between the two now that Yu was an adult.
"Huh…he's taller now." Words escaped his mouth, a certain pain digging into him like a dull knife at being unable to grow up alongside them.
"Was he shorter before?" White asked, blushing a little at Yu's appearance. He was attractive, she had to admit.
"We met when we were both still in high school. I've never seen him as an adult either…" Now Minato wondered if Lizzy had seen his other friends and knew what their adult selves were like, but for now he focused on Yu.
"White as I can't introduce you to the real owner of Izanagi, I can only tell you so much about him." The fake Yu smiled, mouthing a greeting but no voice came from his fabricated image. Echoes of what could have been stung at the veteran, the morbid realization of what could have forced him to transfer his Wild Card dug at Minato.
"His name is Yu Narukmai, he used to live in a small village called Inaba." Minato began, "The him you see is quite different from the one I knew, but he was a good friend. Like me, he was able to wield multiple persona."
Inwardly, White tried to switch Izanagi with another but found the process impossible. She had tried many times before, yet it was like a barrier had been put in place to prevent this exact action. "So if I inherited his powers Mina…how come I can't switch like you guys?"
"Remember how I said the humans in my world can develop a persona through Nyx? Normally, each person's soul can only hold one persona, but there are exceptions such as me and Yu. We are labeled as Wild Cards. I've been trying to work out a reason why you were having trouble White, and I can only say it was a miracle your soul was able to accept Izanagi at all."
"A miracle? Well…I guess the laws of our two universes are pretty different." When she was younger, the adults would pass around stories of where the dead would pass on and be laid to rest. Some say human souls would transform into pokemon, others said they would pass onto an afterlife. When her father died, she was sure he crossed over to an afterlife but from what Minato was telling her now, souls worked way differently in his reality.
"There's this place called the sea of souls or the collective unconscious where the dead go once we pass on. Because your soul works on a different wavelength than ours, there may still be parts that are incompatible for you to wield Yu's full arsenal. In fact, from what you've told me, it appears there's a limiter so you don't become consumed by his power."
Her body trembled at the overwhelming energy being locked safely behind a barrier. The more the girl tapped into it, the increase in her nausea. Perhaps at her current level she was still too frail to wield Yu's full power.
"Then will there come a time where I'll need to break that wall down?" White's face darkened, knowing what was to come will force her hand. The god that showed up the other day was no joke, his mere presence alone shook her to the core.
"Perhaps there will be. From now on I won't sugarcoat things. There's even a chance you could overexert yourself and end up with life changing consequences if you're not careful." Mintao said sternly, "Like us, Yu had to face his own battles back in Inaba. He started as a regular high schooler but he was dragged into a world of Shadows where he had to learn to survive."
"Sounds rough when you put it that way…" White's eyes softened, watching the illusion of Yu smile down. She didn't know his intentions, nor why he had passed on Izanagi to her, but she could tell he was a good person. Reaching out a hand, the girl introduced herself, "Hi, I'm White nice to meet you."
The fake silently accepted, greeting her back. The meeting was short, surreal even, but now White was finally able to understand a little about the man who had passed on his Wild Card.
Like a student meeting their mentor for the first time.
The next hour, White kept watch over Tinkatuff in the den as Minato found a spot in a nearby grove of trees, alone with Lizzy. Taking a seat on a log, he sat in somber silence. A certain curiosity brewing within his soul.
"Lizzy, can you show me how they are now…?" He wondered how his friends grew up, how they matured over the years after his passing. In his heart, he wished for their happiness as they ventured into the world. He knew this wasn't the best use of the fox's powers but it was his own self indulgence that nagged at him, of wanting to know he had succeeded in saving everyone, that his sacrifice led to a good ending. Thankfully, Elizabeth likely knew of this and taught the Zorua their appearances.
"Zorua!" First it transformed into Yukari, now a famous model.
"I see she still modals with a bow sometimes." The veteran chuckled. Next was Junpei with Chidori in casual outfits, both looking happy as could be.
"I'm relieved things worked out for you both…" Considering Chidori's…experience in the past, it was a miracle she was here at all. Akihiko was next and Minato was surprised at how muscular he had become, "Totally unlike his school days..haha Aki never knows when to stop does he?"
He said to himself, the silence being his only company.
"..." Just as with the illusion with Yu, they said nothing back. After this, Ken and Koromaru appeared. The elementary schooler was now his age, wearing the same school uniform. Meanwhile, Koromaru was looking worse for wear, having aged drastically in dog years.
"Get good grades Ken, take care of Koro in his last days…don't make Mitsuru angry."
Mitsuru's appearance almost made him choke, her catsuit stunned Minato as he held in a snicker. "Ok…I didn't expect that but I still respect her either way."
Fuuka appeared with a computer in one hand and a properly made bento box in another. "I want to try your cooking just one last time…"
Finally, Lizzy shifted into Aigis and Minato held in his tears, his face hot. The blonde robot bore at him, her red bow from school now replaced with an equally proper tie.
"Hi Aigis…thank you for helping me fall asleep."
He remembered lying on the school rooftop, she comforted him as he closed his eyes in exhaustion. His body breaking down, crashing down on him as he drew his last breaths on that day. The scent of cherry blossoms swayed in the wind as transient as his own existence when he was forced to leave the world.
His body was hot, his chest was burning and his mind was a scrambled mess. He had to accept that he may never see any of them again. What was worse was how close he thought Ryoji had traveled with him here but truth had left him broken and angry. Breaking down, he sat alone grimacing when he felt a gentle tug at his shirt.
"Who…?" Deino yanked at him, snapping him back to reality. The baby dragon called for its human as Minato embraced it into a deep hug. Lizzy popped Woobat out of its pokeball along with Honedge as the pokemon all shared a silent understanding with their trainer.
"Wooobat," the bat squeaked, nudging its fur against Minato's cheek. The creature he had saved from a life of misery gently comforted him that everything would be ok.
"Zor." Lizzy said, hopping onto the bluenette's shoulder.
"Thanks guys, I needed that." Returning to the present, even if he had lost his old friends, his pokemon reminded him of the new ones he's made around the way. He was sure since everyone in SEES looked well that they must have all moved from his death too.
"Deino de dee." His starter bit him like it always did, Minato was sure this was how it showed affection, as cheeky as Deino was. Ever since he caught it at those campgrounds, it's always been by his side.
"I really need to get a different haircut." He stroked Deino's dark fur, its emo cut bearing a striking resemblance to his own. It wasn't that Minato couldn't find a different style but more so he never bothered to change it. Just as he was about to make a story breaking decision to get rid of his iconic bangs, White saved the day by popping out one of the nearby bushes with a shiny new katana.
"Mina look! We fixed it!" Weaving it around, White emerged with the same pink pokemon before, albeit its form had changed.
"Is that…?" Minato inspected the weapon, surprised at the energy radiating from it. Not only was it reforged, but it appears to have taken on new properties. "How did you do this, White?" She shot him a mischievous grin.
"I had Tinkaton help out along with Emboar's fire and bam! New sword!" Gathering energy in her hand to form the electric version of the sword, "I just had to use this as reference, pretty neat huh?" Brimming with new life, Minato tested the blade with a smile.
"You all did a great job. Did you use the swords I traded?"
"Tinka tinka!" Tinkaton showed off its hammer, clashing it against Yu's katana as the veteran noticed they were made up of the same materials. Both weapons incorporated the fear factor associated with the Nikkari Aoe so now they were even more deadly.
"I don't mind Tinkaton using its hammer in battle but be careful who you hit with this katana White. The materials you used enchanted it with fear energy." Minato explained how it could do more damage than a regular weapon.
"Even the swords you have are magical? At this point I'm not surprised…but hey, this just means more easy wins for us in the future, right Tinkaton?" The girl high fived the pokemon where they both did a small jump in the grass.
"Tinkaton's coming with you?"
Looks like the Tinkatuff from before had evolved in the blade forging process.
"Yep! I'm gonna tell Blake it's gonna be my new partner. What about you, Mina? Did you pick any pokemon out?" White asked curiously when Minato nodded.
"It'll be ready once we prepare to leave. Looker is still getting our car."
"Sweet! Back to some form of normalcy at last…" At the thought of finally returning to her journey, White can only hope things won't get out of hand again. Yet there was always a lingering thought of the Pokemon League at the back of her mind as it nawed at her, that things will only speed up from here.
"Clay will be our next Gym leader, then I heard the rest said they won't go easy on us either." After witnessing the eldritch being from the sidelines and hearing about the deal, none of the leaders were willing to go easy on them now. White was railroaded into being a chosen hero and Minato was under just as much scrutiny to surpass them all. No doubt they would unleash hell on the two if only to assure the people of Unova that they were indeed qualified to battle against Team Plasma.
White reached into her purse, gripping the Light stone, "Let's hope we make it in time too…" Thinking back to that red eyed Reshiram, she couldn't help but get an ominous feeling as Black commanded it with ease. It was like the two were meant to be, as if he were a hero just as Looker had said.
Minato nodded, pushing down his anger to focus on the present at hand. "We should get going." As the two made their way out of the Safari room, the Messiah could only count his days before he could unleash his wrath upon that god. What he did to Black was abominable, and what he did to Ryoji's image was enough to make the veteran seeth. He was going to make sure he protected everything he had here, everything.
Baxcalibur twisted around, slicing down the last of Clay's pokemon. The sound of a referee announcing the match made the boy breath a sigh of relief as he took his left before brisky exiting the Gym. In the process he found the older man glaring at him, practically burning holes behind his back. He was sure Clay knew who he was by now as Blake must have briefed everyone on the details.
"Are you finished?" The boy was greeted by a man in a white lab coat fumbling with a controller. Colress sat waiting in an expensive sports car, barely paying attention to his surroundings as his tinkered away with the device in hand.
"I've caught up to N." Black said, getting into the car. "Can I try driving?" He really wanted to take this beast of a car for a spin.
Colress shrugged, "Be my guest but I'd try not to get caught. You don't have a license and I don't want Ghetsis breathing down my throat."
"I've driven my fair share of cars in my Interpol days." Black said a bit irate, his hands gripping firm on the wheel of the luxury car. Team Plasma sure has a way of moving around and he's starting to see where all that surplus budget went. They excited the parking lot onto a busy main road.
"Say, I was sure they'd throw you in a cell somewhere. I didn't imagine a former officer would willingly give himself to Team Plasma." Colress snarked, finally turning his attention to the road.
"I have my reasons." Black said dryly, pressing his foot on the gas to accelerate.
"Did they do anything to you? Your file wasn't particularly Plasma material." Once again the blonde scientist's curiosity was piqued by the boy's sudden change of heart but he received no reply. Instead, Black responded by aggressively cutting off two cars before swirling into the fast lane. His passenger was jolted from his seat as the scientist was forced to brace himself from the sudden shift in momentum.
"..." His eyes flashed bright yellow for a second, making Colress pale.
"Ok…ok I'll stop asking."
Sitting quietly in his seat, Colress was sure this was the real Black so why did he show signs of being a Shadow? Just what had Ghetsis done to the kid? After the arrival of this new god, even he was kept in the dark in certain matters which annoyed him.
Somewhere in another time, in another world.
Akira Kurusu sat at his desk, absorbed in a pop quiz his instructors had handed out for the day. Small tests like these were a piece of cake in his eyes as he gradually found his ability to study increased overtime. Pressing his pencil down to answer an essay passage, he breezed through the section with ease as he found the information bubble up from his mind. When he first arrived at Shujin, his grades were average, yet recently, he's skyrocketed to the top of his class in a matter of weeks. Unlike before, information flowed to him from deep within his consciousness, like a gentle stream coming from a deep, buried ocean within his soul. They spoke to him, guided him, and taught him more than his teachers ever could. It was like unlocking a treasure trove of knowledge he never knew he had.
When school finished, he would group up with his friends to train in the metaverse. Yu Narukami stood at the center of a barrage of incoming attacks, blocking a blazing fireball with Izanagi Okami before pushing Fox back with his own sword.
"You're doing better, just make sure to have better footing when attacking." The veteran would instruct, dodging another onslaught from Joker and Skull's wild combos while Morgana supported them with his winds.
"Man, another loss. How good are ya?" Skull scratched his head, contemplating just how many battles Yu had to go through to get this good. His movements were simple, yet refined to the put of absurdity, like a samurai transported straight from the movies.
"I was sure it was gonna hit." Panther gasped at her miss.
Yu smiled, enjoying their little sparring sessions, "training and practice can come a long way. Once you master the basics, we can move on to fine tuning all your personas." All this friendly banter reminded him of the days where he would do the same with his friends. The bygone days drafting further each minute, creating a bittersweet feeling.
"Your movements are extremely refined, I imagine you fought alongside others?" Yusuke caught on to the fact that Yu had several small openings in his attacks, but at their current levels, they were too slow to take full advantage of, let alone land a clean hit.
The veteran nodded, "Nice catch Fox, the friends I used to work with would do their best to cover me when this happens." He then raised his sword in the air, gently swinging dowards, "When I do something like this, my back is turned so any Shadow behind would have a chance to cut me down. However…" Yu made a finger gun with his hand, doing a playful air bullet, "I would have someone come in to be my second pair of eyes."
"Did this person specialize in firearms?" Morgana meowed, curious.
Yu grabbed his modal nambu model 60 from his pocket, "my wife taught me how to shoot this. She's a Persona user just like us." He didn't go into further detail about Naoto, playing off her firearm experience as being a part of metaverse like the others, than her real career as a detective. God forbid these kids find out he's connected to law enforcement in anyway right now.
"Awwww is that why you picked this one out at the modal shop? That's so sweet!" Panther said, "I'd love to meet her if she's free!"
"She's pretty busy these days, but I can ask. Not even Persona users can escape the work grind once you graduate." Yu joked, but it was true how the recent mental shutdowns have swamped Naoto with cases. From their recent conversations, she was just as concerned as Mitsuru, if not more. Their informant in the Tokyo police had been especially active in sniffing out a trail of rot. What was more, was how this affected his other friends too, as Rise had called in saying several celebrities in her social circle had also collapsed from the disease, or how Chie was constantly dealing with what appeared to be rumors of corruption in Tokyo's police force at her police academy.
"That's reassuring…I really don't wanna think about what I'll do next once I leave Shujin. All I've got right now is this Phantom Thief stuff." Skull sighed, there was no way his legs would allow him to try out for college sports, and his grades were far too low to get into any decent university.
"Come on, you all still have sometime before school is over. I'm sure you'll find a field you'd like to go into. As for this heart stealing business…" Yu hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to tell the kids, considering the continued pattern of disasters that happen when anything Shadow is involved…
"You're going to tell us to stop once we graduate, aren't you?" Joker finally spoke up, Yu nodded. The others around him opened their mouths to protest, but were cut off by their leader.
"Then can you show us how strong you really are?" The Trickster asked, challenging the Seeker of Truth. Joker's hand lit up in a swath of blue flames, forming into a dagger. His once sheepish demeanor of Akira Kurusu vanishing under his mask, giving way to an unwavering confidence.
"I can't say what will happen next with the metaverse but I do have a guess." From the godly presence of Izanami to the entity in that twisted labyrinth, when supernatural events occurred like this, there would always be a world destroying entity behind it, so Yu really didn't want to thrust burden to these kids as they were now. He raised his sword toward the Trickster, preparing for a fast strike that would end the fight in a flash, lightning sparkling around him.
"Never mind that, I just want to know how tough you are."
With a blinding flash, Yu was thrusting the dull side of his blade at Joker's shoulder when he was caught inside an exploding smoke bomb, shrouding him in a layer of smog. Pulling back, he retreated into a defensive position, summoning Izanagi no Okami to perform a wide range electric strike when the energy in the atmosphere started to shift. The hairs on the veteran's neck rose, goosebumps formed on his skin from an icy sensation he couldn't shake. He unleashed a storm of electricity into the fog, intending to catch his Joker when sparks flew from his sword, clashing a at the thin air as what appeared to a sentient blob of lightning shifted around, battling him from within the storm.
Joker shifted about in the cloud, infusing electricity into his dagger, hiding himself within Yu's lightning storm. His inner voice told him to switch to the same element and blend with his surrounding environment to confuse the veteran at the center. Performing several more strikes, it was like his body was moving on its own, becoming faster and more nimble at the experience. Yu was keeping up with his advances until the Fool lifted himself on the wings of Arsene, flying into air before descending down on the man from above, throwing a downwards kick to the man's shoulder, surprising him.
"How'd you like that old man?"
"Whoa…you would have gotten me if I hadn't guarded last second."
"Huh?" Joker squinted his eyes, the fog cleared with Yu catching him by the leg before yanking his body towards him, then throwing him down into a suplex, his head smashing into the ground. "Ack! That shit hurt!"
"You didn't say the fight was over now, did you?" The man looked happy, enjoying the move a little too much. Joker cringed at the pain to his head, making a note to never get near Yu when they were sparring. And that concluded their training session for the day, of which Akira thought would continue in his new mundane life as a Phantom thief, but fate would have other plans because in a few days he would be roped into another incident with Yu's absence.
Days later, Yu Narukami received a panicked call on his phone where he hurried to find the kids had gotten themselves into more hot water. Along with a new girl who stubbornly clung to their group, they were now on the line for hundreds of thousands of yen in doubt to a mafia boss.