BadAssGardevoir said:
Interesting chapter, although I can't help but think that the way you ended the attack was a bit... How can I put this... Mary Sue-ish?
I think you mean deus ex machina, which I guess it sort of is. I realise now that I was being too lazy with the way I finished the battle. Anyway, if a deus ex machina wasn't what you meant, then please do explain how you mean it was Mary Sue-ish.
Also, I hope this dosen't mean you'll have the story focusing on the capital insted of the... Adventureness
Don't worry, we're not staying in the capital. Well, we are for chapter 8, but the adventure will continue soon.
P.S. Could you please notify me whenever a new chapter comes out?
@BadAssGardevoir Like this?
Chapter Eight: Discussions and Psychics
“Brigadier,” Boreas interrupted the Bisharp's long speech. “This is all extremely interesting,” he managed to suppress a chuckle as Aqua yawned next to him. “But are you going to tell us anything you've discovered, or just continue spouting this nonsense at us?”
The brigadier took a deep breath and frowned. “If you want to help us with our investigation, I have to brief you on your duties and rights as a volunteer member of the constabulary.”
Boreas smiled smugly. “See, that's where you've got the wrong idea. I don't want to help you with your investigation; I want you to help me with my investigation.”
“Our investigation,” Aqua said sharply. “But anyway, Boreas is right, brigadier. We just want to know if you found out anything about the Shadow, and then we'll be on our way.”
The brigadier rolled his eyes. “I'm not giving sensitive information about a dangerous criminal to two civilians, strangers, no less, so they can go play vigilante. If you want to know more, you'll have to become a voluntary constable.”
Boreas made a face. “Well, if that's the only way, I don't think we'll bother. I doubt you've found out much anyway.”
The Bisharp frowned. “If that's your decision, you're free to leave any time you wish; I'm doing this as a favour to you.”
“Some favour.”
“However, I must ask you to remain in the capital until tomorrow at least. I imagine the minister for order will want to talk to you himself when he returns from his vacation.”
“Minister for order? Sound terribly exciting. I think I'll pass on that too.”
“I would advice strongly against it. The minister is responsible for stopping the Shadow and will need your help.”
“Let me explain something to you. I'm not going to waste any words talking to someone with as soul-crushingly bureaucratic and dreary a title as 'minister for order'. In fact, I'm not even going to waste a second of thought on him.”
“For Rayquaza's sake, man!” the brigadier snapped. “Are you really going to obstruct justice because of a childishly petty dislike of authority?”
Boreas nodded. “Yeah, that's pretty much the idea. Bye, brigadier; you probably won't see me again, but don't forget to be grateful when the Shadow stops bothering you.”
“Don't let the door hit you on the way out!” He turned fiercely to Aqua, seeing her remain as Boreas walked out of the office. “And what about you? Any wiser than your idiot husband?”
Aqua grimaced. “No, not really. But if your minister wants to talk to someone, why not Larissa?”
“The little girl?”
“Hardly a little girl. She did a lot of work to get the refugees all here in one piece, and she can tell him at least as much as I could. Anyway, got to run, bye.”
Boreas waited for her outside the office, as did a Marshtomp who was to escort them outside. But Boreas spotted some papers that seemed interesting lying on a desk out of the corner of his eye. “Distract our friend,” he whispered.
Aqua glowered. “I see it too, and it's your turn to be the distraction; I did the distracting when we were sneaking into the mad pokémon collector's lair.”
“But you're much better at it, love. I mean, pokémon's heads turn in your direction fairly naturally.”
Aqua rolled her eyes. “Flattery will get you nowhere; it's not my turn and I'm not going to be the distraction.”
“Fine.” Boreas whipped up a mild gust as he passed the desk, blowing the papers onto the ground. “Whoa, that was quite a draft! Here, let me pick these up.”
“Sir, let me; those are confidential. Please don't look at them.” As Boreas quickly skimmed the papers while gathering them, the Marshtomp got on all fours and gathered pages too.
“But I'm not, I'm just helping you clear this mess up. Certainly not reading them.”
The other hastily pulled the papers out of his paws, but he had seen all he needed to see already.
Boreas and Aqua were led outside, and, once they were left alone, Boreas smirked. “Got it. They barely know anything about the Shadow. But Diamarina isn't the first town that disappeared off the map lately.”
“Really?”
“Really. There's been no word from a few towns for a while. But they're not sure that's because they fell victim to the Shadow; most of them are tiny and isolated. One of them isn't, though: it's called Egodia, and they actually had someone check it. It was deserted. Didn't have time to read more, but they clearly connect it with the Shadow. We should find out where it is, and then do some investigating ourselves.”
“I think there's more we could find out right here, though,” Aqua said. “It'd be silly to rush off to Ego-whatever right away.”
“I was just about to say that myself,” Boreas said sharply. “We need to know more about Fournaria, and we can probably find out more about the Shadow himself. He's got to have left some traces. And someone has to know something about Mewtwo.”
He became aware that Aqua was giving him quite a filthy look and hesitated. “Er, sorry I was a little curt. But hey, are we agreed we'll stay here a while and then go to Egodia if we find no better leads?”
“Sure.”
“Wonderful to be doing something useful again, isn't it?” Boreas beamed. “We wasted so much time escorting those dreary refugees; now we can finally get to the exciting business of tracking down the Shadow and defeating him.”
Aqua stared at him icily.
“What's wrong now? Still upset about-”
“Tell me,” she said. “When did helping people become less important to you than playing the hero and having everyone worship you for saving them?”
“What?” Boreas was astonished to hear his wife say things like that. “That's not why I'm glad we're done escorting them at all. I'm just looking at the big picture: saving a few dozen refugees is fine and all, but this Shadow could threaten all Fournaria, and I'd rather save a few million.”
“That's not what it's about though, is it? You're not in this because you empathise with them, or because you worry about the innocents the Shadow is killing; and certainly not because you want to see the world and hate to see it messed up by scum. You're in this to show off, to earn the admiration of a whole continent, to be their hero; because it's far more glamorous than escorting those refugees.”
“Nonsense! You know me better than that, Aqua.”
“Yes, yes I do. I've known you for seven years, and you know what? I used to like you much better.”
Boreas' reply got stuck in his throat.
“Remember who you were when we left Unova to see the world?”
“I-I was exactly the same! Only weaker, less experienced, less smart, and... Well, less fantastic, really.”
Aqua laughed a cold laugh. “No, you were a much better person back then. When we left, all you wanted was to see the world, to get closer to the horizon. And if we happened across something nasty, you were happy to help, of course.”
“That's still what I want!”
Aqua shook her head. “Remember the first place we stumbled on after leaving Unova?”
“Sure, but I don't see what the Tropius incident has to do with it.”
“Let me refresh your memory, then: after we stopped those banana harvesters, I suggested we went back to the forest and let the Tropiuses know the danger had passed. And you suggested we go back to the boat instead and let them find out by themselves, because you didn't want to waste our time on unnecessary praise and have everyone flock about us. I don't think I've ever loved you more. To this day, the Tropiuses probably don't know who stopped those banana harvesters.”
“Yeah, well-”
“But now, you've got some kind of hero complex! You're not travelling to see the world, you're actively seeking out trouble, jumping in, and solving it to earn the praise of those you helped!”
“Even if I am,” Boreas snapped, “what does it matter? I hardly think the pokémon I save mind!”
“Maybe that's because they're not married to you! Your arrogance is incredibly annoying and it will get you killed some day!”
“It's only arrogance if it's misplaced. This is something different, and it's called self-awareness.”
“Don't kid yourself, your ego has gone to your head. Mind you, it always was rather large, but once upon a time it was still grounded in reality. But now your ego is completely misplaced. And you love playing the hero in the most glamorous ways possible. That's why you were so rude to the brigadier: you wanted him to know you were going to solve his problem your way, and to be able to do that stupid little smug grin of yours at him when we beat the Shadow.”
“I don't recall you disagreeing with me.”
Boreas was pleased to see Aqua momentarily flustered. “Y-yeah, well, maybe I didn't, but that's not the point. The point is you didn't want to work with the authorities because it would mean sharing the glory.”
“What do my reasons matter? You agreed with me!”
“No, you assumed I agreed with you. You didn't even ask! And that's another thing, you always assume you speak for me, you- you treat me like a piece of property!”
“What are you talking about? I don't-”
“Yes, you do! And I don't even think you realise you do it! You make decisions for me, often talk to others as if I'm not even there, you take credit for things I do – How often have you said you defeated Lubyanka in Diamarina lately? And you don't let me get a word in edgewise, and the worst part of it is that I've gotten so used to it I automatically go along with it! When we're talking to other people, you're always the one doing the talking and I just automatically keep quiet.”
“Well, then, maybe you should speak up once in a while!”
But Aqua didn't shout back. “You know what, I've said all I wanted to say. I'll see you tomorrow, or maybe some other day if you're more reasonable by then.”
“Well, good riddance!” Boreas spat as they walked off in opposite directions.
–
As Sofia washed and changed, Larissa was left alone with her grandfather in a large, stately room full of books. There were complex designs and odd schematics around. As the old Weavile sat reading a book in a big, comfy chair, Larissa felt awkwardly out of place. “Um,” she said. “Nice house.”
“Hmm.”
Larissa started reading the titles of the various books. Most of them seemed pretty boring to her. She really hoped Sofia would be back soon. Perhaps that would be a good subject. “Um, sir- I mean, doctor – Sofia was very generous with her help to us. Um. She did very well and I also think she's very smart,” she said flatly.
The grey Weavile looked up, and Larissa noticed he had the same colour of dark green eyes as his granddaughter. “Hmm, yes, quite. She's a good girl.”
He continued to read. Larissa coughed. She shifted a bit, but found the proper cast on her leg, which had replaced the improvised one, bulky and obstructive. “Um,” she said. “Doctor, do you think this cast is really necessary? My leg was actually starting to heal pretty well without it.”
“Hmm? If the doctor put it on, I'm sure it is.”
“But don't you-”
“I'm sorry, my dear, but I am no medical doctor; I couldn't tell you what would be best for your leg.”
“Oh,” Larissa said. “I see. What kind of doctor are you then?”
He actually looked up from his book now and smiled slightly. “I study psychic powers. The neurological origins of telepathy, telekinesis, and other psychic phenomena. What makes a pokémon a psychic type and why their power varies between individuals.”
“You mean like why Sofia is such a weak psychic?”
He nodded. “She told you about that, then. Yes, my research into the parts of the brain that produce psychic powers do involve curiously weak psychics like her as well as stronger ones. I have made much leeway in understanding how these powers work, although as with all neurological sciences, the fact that we can't properly observe the brain while it is in use is a great barrier to further understanding of its workings. Yet I have discovered many things; even how to manipulate these powers, if only theoretically.”
“What kind of manipulation?”
“All kinds of it,” the old man explained. “Temporarily dampening or empowering someone's psychic powers, even transferring those powers to another psychic.”
“That's possible?” Larissa asked, suddenly very worried the Shadow had captured Mewtwo. “So someone could steal a powerful psychic's powers and take them for himself?”
The old man chuckled. “Nothing quite so sensational. The donor could only be a psychic themselves, as other species miss the psychic lobe that allows psychic powers in the first place. And even then it would be temporary. But that is all theoretical: one would need a large amount of sofylase and invasive surgery to accomplish such matters.”
Larissa raised an eyebrow. “Sofylase?”
He smiled. “An enzyme critical to the workings of the psychic lobe which I discovered myself and named after my newborn great-granddaughter.”
“That's very sweet of you.”
“Since the only source of sofylase is the psychic gland of psychic types and large amounts would be needed to do these manipulations, it's an entirely theoretical matter. So, you see, you don't need to worry about evil pokémon stealing someone else's psychic powers. Dear me, dear me, you have quite the imagination.”
Larissa was put at ease by that, or at least the idea that even if the Shadow managed to steal Mewtwo's psychic powers, it would only be temporary. The old Weavile continued to read his book.
“Tadaa!” Sofia strutted into the room wearing a short white dress. It clung to her skinny form a lot more than the jumpsuit and showed her thin, green legs. “How do I look?”
Larissa looked back up. “Lovely.”
“Thanks!” she blushed and twirled around. “It's quite nice and comfy too, really.”
“Why didn't you wear it before, then?”
Sofia chuckled. “It's not exactly a handy outfit for a long trip through the mountains. Plus, it doesn't have pockets. I like pockets, pockets are good for keeping things in.”
Sofia's grandfather scraped his throat. “Child, why don't you go show our guest where she'll sleep?”
Sofia clapped her hands enthusiastically. “Great idea, great idea, grandfather! Come on, Larissa, this way!”
They left the old Weavile to read in silence, going into the corridor past a kitchen. Like most homes in Praeclara, this one had only a single floor. “By the way,” Larissa asked curiously, “why do you wear clothes in the first place? Do you need them to keep warm?”
“No, not really,” Sofia said. “The jumpsuit does help, but this thing isn't really any warmer.”
“Why then?” Larissa asked.
Sofia chuckled. “Probably because I'd be pretty ashamed to wear nothing around other pokémon.”
Larissa raised an eyebrow. “But why? Most pokémon don't wear anything, but a few species do. Why is that?”
Sofia led her into a large room with big windows looking out over the garden. The room was messy and full of interesting things. There was the soft noise of several things ticking at once. Highly colourful drawings that didn't seem to depict anything in particular hung on the walls. There was a shelf with a bunch of colourful rocks below a high bed with a ladder. On the roof hung what looked like a model of the Solar System, with eight metal arms going out from a ticking yellow Sun in the centre and supporting the planets, several of which repeated the image with smaller arms leading to moons.
“To be honest,” Sofia said, “I don't really know. It's not any kind of necessity, it's just a cultural thing, probably. I'd guess some Kirlia a long time ago made some clothes and put them on, it caught on, and now we all wear them and it would feel extremely embarrassing not to.”
“That's so odd,” Larissa said. “But I suppose it's just a matter of what you're used to...” Yet she couldn't help but be curious what Sofia looked like without her dress now. She didn't want to continue talking about the subject if it was that embarrassing to her, though.
She didn't get the chance to, anyway, as Sofia started talking again. “Oh, I should show you around the room! Up there, that's a model of the Solar System I made when I was still a Ralts! It includes all planets and the most major moons, and clockwork inside the Sun keeps them all in their actual position right now. For example, you can see the Earth almost in b-between Jupiter and the Sun right now, just like we saw it was when we were fleeing from Capinha! Neptune, on the other hand, is on the opposite side of the Sun, so you couldn't see it even with a telescope – Oh, speaking of which, this here is my telescope!” She skipped over to a thick, elaborate tube on a tripod. “The night sky looks incredibly fantastic through it, I'll show you when it gets dark – actually, never mind, it's cloudy, so that won't work, b-but when there's a clear night I'll show you! It's easy enough to see the moons of Jupiter, andandandandand dozens of stars in the Pleiades, and the Orion Nebula, and-”
Larissa, chuckling at her friend's enthusiasm, interrupted gently. “Sofe, take a breath, you're going to pass out soon.”
Sofia stopped and took a few breaths. “Good idea, I was getting a little light headed. Anyway, where was I? I could show you the rings and moons of Saturn too, and...” She suddenly stopped, blushed a bit, and looked rather downhearted. “I mean, if you want, of course. I know I get far too enthusiastic about this stuff and it's boring and annoying and-”
“Not at all,” Larissa said. “I'd love to look at the stars with a telescope.”
Sofia was positively on cloud nine. “B-brilliant! It'll be great, we can also see-”
“But first, maybe you should tell me where I'm going to sleep?”
“In my bed, of course!”
“In... Your bed?”
“And I'm going to put a mattress on the ground and sleep there myself,” Sofia continued obliviously. “You're the guest, after all, and I'm used to sleeping on the ground after vacation anyway, so you can have my bed.”
“Actually, I'd rather sleep on the ground. I've never climbed a ladder in my life, and I don't think it'd go very well. They're not really designed for quadrupeds.”
Sofia looked thoughtful. “Good point... So I guess I'll put two mattresses on the ground, one for each of us. I wonder if we have enough...”
“Yyyyyes... Or you could sleep in your own bed?”
“Brilliant! I'll do that!”
–
The next day, Boreas asked around at the university for an expert on psychic powers to answer his questions about Mewtwo. When he entered the lab of said expert, he found, to his surprise, the same old Weavile who had interrupted his conversation with the Arcanine yesterday, noting down numbers on a dial linked up to metal hats that several Hypnos were wearing. “Are you doctor William?”
“Yes, what is it, what do you want?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the dial.
“I wanted to talk to you about-”
“No time, no time, I'm quite busy,” he waved a hand behind his back dismissively.
“But it's important, it's-”
“Come back some other time, young man, I'm busy!”
“Alright, when will you have time?”
“Hmm? Oh, some time next week should do, now stop dilly-dallying around my laboratory and kindly leave.”
“A week?! But it's important! The lives of everyone could be at stake, and you're too busy? I'm fighting the Shadow here and-”
“I know you are; you are that scruffy, arrogant firebrand who exposed my granddaughter to danger.”
“Scruffy? Anyway, it-”
“Please, come back another time!”
–
Larissa was led through the stately corridors of the ministry of order, feeling tiny, out of place, and silly. The Prinplup leading her knocked on her door, and a throaty voice told her to enter.
Larissa stepped into the office, trembling a little. “Um. Hello. I'm Larissa.”
The Sceptile behind the desk smiled and gestured for her to come in. “Welcome, Larissa, take a seat. I am minister Tacito.”
Larissa sat down stiffly on the pillow on the ground. “I know you are, sir.”
The Sceptile leaned towards her. “First of all, I want to apologise for what you've been through. As minister for order, it is my duty to keep the order and prevent things like this from happening.”
“Um. Apology accepted.”
“I also want to ask you to tell me exactly what happened to you the day Diamarina was destroyed.”
“...I'd really rather not, sir.”
“I understand,” the minister said empathically, “and I'm sorry, but I really have to know. Start from the beginning. What was the first warning you got?”
Larissa took a deep breath and told Tacito in the most clinical possible terms, treating it like something from a boring history book in an effort not to feel anything. She knew not to suppress her grief, but this was different. She could hardly break down crying in front of the minister.
She told him how they had heard shouts and screams and other noises one morning, how her parents had left to defend the town, and how her father had returned alone and wounded. And then... It was incredibly hard to keep talking without breaking down; Larissa talked in a monotonous robot voice as she forced herself to continue and tell the minister her father had been crushed when part of the roof collapsed. How she and her brothers had fled the house, only to be cornered. How Boreas had saved them, and how they had been recaptured. How Boreas had saved them again, and finally how the town had been flooded.
“Thank you,” said the minister. “I have a few questions, if you don't mind.”
“Ask away, sir,” said Larissa, convinced it couldn't be harder than talking of her parents' deaths was.
“These Eevees who intervened in the attack and rescued you. You said they were from outside Fournaria?”
Larissa nodded. “I think they said they were from a place called Unover. It sounded like a weird place; they keep talking about some kind of apes too.”
“Hmm,” said the minister. “And what do you think of these two strangers? Are they trustworthy?”
“I'm, um, not sure... I mean, they're both brave and good pokémon, and they do want to find the Shadow. But... I get the impression it's more for fun than because they want to protect anyone, at least in Boreas' case, and they don't have much respect for authority or law.”
The Sceptile nodded. “I got that impression. I take it they're going to go off somewhere after the Shadow?”
“I don't know for certain, but I expect so.”
“And you plan to go with them?”
Larissa nodded.
“Then I want to ask you to keep me up to date on their doing whenever you can. I will gladly accept their help, but they do represent a potential threat to Fournaria.”
Larissa frowned. “Don't you think that's a little extreme, sir?”
“Perhaps it is. But those who make up their own laws are a danger to all those who love peace and order. I want to keep an eye on these two, just in case. Can you help me with that?”
Larissa nodded. “I will keep you informed, but that's all.”
“Thank you. That's all I ask.”
–
Boreas spent the next days following up different leads, but found out little. The Shadow was very good at covering his tracks, and even of Lubyanka he could find no record. The implications of that puzzled and worried him. He tried to find out more about the attacked towns, to find a common thread between them, a reason why those towns might have been chosen; some connection to Mewtwo perhaps. But he knew he would have to visit their remnants to find out any more.
Every day he tried to talk to doctor William about Mewtwo, and every day he found him busy. So after a few days, Boreas decided to visit him at home in the evening. The address was easy enough to find, as Larissa was staying there and therefore the refugees, now sharing a few empty homes in the west of the city, knew it as she'd visited them every day.
Yet he did not expect to run into Larissa and Sofia when he neared the address. The two girls were chatting amiably, but were clearly as surprised to see Boreas as he was to see them. “Boreas!” Larissa said. “Great, I have to talk to you.”
Boreas smiled and nodded and pretended to be interested. “I'm all ears, but would you mind if we find somewhere shaded to sit down? It's getting rather late and all this sunlight is rather too hot for me. Ice type, you know.”
“We can go to my grandfather's house!” Sofia chirped. “It's close by! In fact, why don't you come have dinner with us?”
Boreas smiled. “Sure.”
They led him to a house that looked a lot more like a human house than most others in Praeclara. However, it had only a single floor and was built at a smaller scale than a human house, as the inhabitants were little over half the size of humans. Larissa and Boreas sat down in a wide parlour with both fluffy chairs for bipeds and comfy cushions on the ground for quadrupeds, while Sofia made dinner.
“So,” Boreas said, “how have you been doing?”
“Pretty well,” Larissa said. “Sofia was showing me around the city today. How about you? Where's Aqua?”
Boreas managed to suppress the storm of anger and regret that raged inside him from showing. “Just following some leads.”
“Well, I've been following some leads myself, and learnt some interesting things...” She told him of what she had learnt about Sofia's grandfather's research, and her suspicion the Shadow might have targeted Mewtwo to steal its psychic power.
“That is quite interesting,” Boreas admitted. “We should keep an eye open, even if he doesn't think it's practically possible.”
Larissa nodded. “Anyway, where are we going next? Back to Capinha? Though on the other hand, I hear Egodia has disappeared; it seems like a good place to find out more.”
“We?” Boreas asked, barely surprised. “I'm sorry, but there is no 'we'. But Aqua and I are going to Egodia, yes.”
“And I'm coming with you,” said Larissa, in a tone that made it clear she wasn't going to take no for an answer.
Boreas smiled his friendliest smile. “That's not needed. Your town is safe now. You've done well. You can stay here now.”
“Safe? With the Shadow still on the loose? Even if they are, what about the rest of Fournaria? The Shadow is responsible for at least seven thousand deaths already; who knows how many more will follow?”
“None; we'll stop him before you know it.”
“Yes, we will.”
Boreas sighed. “An adventure is no place for children, and that's that.”
“Then it's a good thing I'm not a child.”
“You're barely an adult either.”
“So? Barely an adult is still an adult, and you're not my father, so it's really none of your business.”
“That doesn't matter; you're still too young.”
Larissa's steely eyes stared at him with an uncomfortably piercing look. “Tell me, how old were you when you were on what you call an adventure for the first time?”
Boreas shifted. “That's- that's irrelevant!”
Larissa's fierce eyes didn't shift. “How old?”
“Two months.”
“Two months?!” Larissa finally blinking in surprise was quite a relief to Boreas, who had grown very uncomfortable under her stare.
“W-well, it was under very different circ*mstances! My parents had died and my saviours were on this quest, you see- No, I'm explaining it wrong. It was a fairly harmless and safe adventure, at least at first, before we ran afoul of the Seven Sages and the war started-”
“It's a bit hypocritical for you to tell me I can't go, isn't it?”
“Look, this adventure is-”
“And another thing: you keep calling it an adventure. For you it may just be an adventure, but I lost my parents. Fournaria is my home, and it's under threat from this Shadow. So I'm glad you're having fun, but you need someone who actually takes this seriously. Someone who is reliable.”
Boreas' eyebrows shot up. “Reliable? Implying I'm not?”
“So sorry, but no, you're not. You're impulsive, rash, and far too arrogant. And before you start, Aqua is unreliable too because she does whatever she wants, going off on errands she thought up herself without consulting anyone else. Isn't that what she's doing right now?”
“Something of the sort. Anyway, I guess you're not wrong, but I still don't want to take you along.”
“I'm coming along, you might as well make some use of me. You're being quite unreasonable.”
“I agree with Larissa,” said a soft voice. Sofia had re-entered the room. “She's not just old enough to decide for herself, but moreover she's brave, reliable, and really quite a lovely person. I think we'd be mad not to let us come with us.”
Boreas was stunned, while Larissa smiled. “Thanks, Sofe. Wait, we?”
“What?” Boreas said. “What? Are you pulling my leg?”
“Oh no, not at all,” Sofia said, a serious look on her face. “If you had seen her in Capinha or when Lubyanka was being nasty to me, you wouldn't doubt her for a second. Oh, one moment, I need to cut something.”
As she rushed out of the parlour, Boreas and Larissa looked at each other in silence, and then both laughed. “What does she think this is?” Boreas chortled. “A camping trip?”
Larissa chuckled. “Just don't say that to her when she gets back, okay?”
Boreas shrugged. “Well, I'll have to say something to let her know she's not coming with us.”
“Um. Well, why not?”
Boreas rolled his eyes. “Come on. Taking you is one thing, taking princess Whackaloon is quite another.”
Larissa's face hardened into a fierce scowl. Her piercing eyes made Boreas slightly uncomfortable once again, and he began to pity her future children and grandchildren who'd have to endure that glare. “Don't call her that, she's just a bit eccentric.”
“Sorry,” Boreas said. “Anyway, she can't even defend herself if we get in trouble.”
“She may not be able to fight, but she can build some dangerous stuff. Besides, there might not even be any fighting, and she would be a great asset. She's very smart and much more insightful than you might think.”
“Good for her,” Boreas said, with annoyance, “but we've got enough smart people. I'm quite brilliant myself, and Aqua is smart too. No smart people needed.”
“You co*cky piece of-” Larissa took a deep breath, but her fierce, steel-grey eyes continued to scowl at Boreas. “Well, maybe you are pretty smart, but you've got to admit, you're mainly streetwise. Meanwhile, Sofia is well educated and a scientist-”
Boreas snorted derisively. “That was just bragging, remember? She's just a student.”
“Doesn't matter; it's still a different type of smarts that could come in very useful. And I bet she knows the lay of the land very well. You know nothing of Fournaria, and I don't know that much of these parts of it either. And anyway, who are you to refuse her? It's her choice, she knows what she's doing and she's willing-”
Boreas chuckled. “Not sure if she knows what's she's doing.”
Larissa's scowl deepened, and Boreas felt almost as if he was the younger of the two. “She's not mad, not even slightly so. I can assure you, Sofia is very insightful and quite wise.” A strange look entered her fierce eyes for a moment.
“Even if I said she could come with us, I hardly think her granddad is going to allow it.”
Larissa smirked. “That's her problem, not yours, is it? So what you're saying is, she can come if she can convince her grandfather?”
“That's not-”
Sofia came back from the kitchen at a brisk pace, took a jump, and landed in the chair between Larissa and Boreas. “Dinner is almost ready, I do hope grandfather will be back soon. Anyway, what about Larissa? Can she come with us?”
Boreas chuckled, figuring he wasn't going to win the debate anyway. “Sure, why not.”
Sofia threw her arms around Boreas' shoulders and hugged him. “Wonderful! You're coming with us, 'Rissa!”
“Please don't do that,” Boreas wiggled his shoulders to loosen Sofia's grip. “Anyway, you'll have to ask your grandfather for permission yourself.”
“Of course I'll- Oh, here he is! Hello, grandfather! I invited Boreas for dinner!”
“Hmm? Who is-” The old Weavile entered and looked at Boreas disapprovingly. “Ah, it's you. I take it you ran out of patience and came here to talk to me?”
“Yes,” Boreas admitted.
“Hmm. By all rights I should throw you out. But if you will promise to stop bothering me, I will answer your questions.”
“That's all I want. What can you tell me about Mewtwo?”
The old Weavile turned to Sofia. “Why don't you and Larissa start dinner, child? I will join you in a few minutes.”
The two girls left, and the doctor sat down in a chair. “I'm afraid I can only tell you what Larissa told me. I had never heard of such a pokémon before. I must say it's quite a fascinating idea, and I do hope you'll tell me more about it if you find out any more.”
“Alright, let me ask something else, then: imagine if someone very evil got their hands on the most powerful psychic in the world, except still a dozen times stronger. What kind of dangers would that pose? What kind of things could that psychic do to others?”
“Hmm,” the doctor said. “Well, if Mewtwo's psychic powers were really that formidable... A 25 on the Vaida scale perhaps, well, it would certainly be a very dangerous pokémon.”
“Yes, I got that far on my own, but what could it actually do? Could it mind-control whole cities?”
The doctor chuckled. “That's quite preposterous. Mind controlling even a single pokémon is very difficult and requires constant focus. Even with supreme psychic power, one's focus is limiting. Maybe this Mewtwo could control three or four pokémon at once, but certainly no more than that.”
“I see. What about combat? How many pokémon could Mewtwo defeat at once? Could it handle a whole army?”
“Again, you are overestimating psychic power quite a lot. A psychic attack involves overloading the victim's nervous system with psychic energy.”
“I know, I've been on the receiving end of one a few times.”
“But what you might not have realised is it costs a fair bit of energy to do so, hmm? Even this Mewtwo couldn't fight an army on its own. It could certainly defeat multiple opponents at once, but there is, once again, a limit.”
“I see...” Boreas said. “I suppose that should be a relief. Is there any other way Mewtwo could threaten all of Fournaria?”
“No more than a single, extremely powerful ice-type could plunge the world into an ice age.”
But despite these reassurances, Boreas couldn't help think he was missing something crucial that made the Shadow controlling Mewtwo far more dangerous.
