Ash's Story (Part 6: Unova)

Chapter 77: Machine Answer

The warp panel carried us out of Kyurem's prison room and into colder light.

For a breath, I thought the machine had thrown us into another part of the same nightmare. The walls were metal, the floor hummed under my boots, and the air tasted like electricity pressed through frost. Then I saw Dr. Colress standing before a large machine and a monitor filled with shifting data.

He turned as if he had been expecting us.

"Dr. Colress?" I gasped. "But..."

Colress smiled with the same calm curiosity that had made him dangerous from the beginning. "Welcome! I was asked by an acquaintance to help with his research. What I desire is to bring out the entirety of Pokémon's potential. If I can accomplish that, I do not care what it takes."

Golly stepped forward, Chandelure floating beside her while Haunter drifted near her other shoulder. "But joining Team Plasma? You know that is not right."

Colress adjusted his glasses. "If it means the strength must be brought out by the interactions between Pokémon and Trainers, then so be it. If it means we must use a merciless approach like Team Plasma's and force out all of a Pokémon's power, then so be it."

The monitor flashed behind him, showing lines of energy pulsing through diagrams that looked too much like bodies reduced into numbers.

Colress's smile did not change. "And yes, if the entire world is destroyed as a result, then so be it."

Cilan's voice lost its theatrical warmth. "I knew he was not a good guy, but perhaps we should have dealt with him in the first place."

Reisa looked from Colress to the machine, face pale with disgust. "But it cannot be. Do you think it is the Dark Phase?"

I shook my head slowly. "No. This feels worse in another way. He is choosing this with open eyes."

Colress's gaze sharpened with interest. "That aside, the reason I have been traveling all over Unova and battling many Pokémon Trainers is because I was testing the viability of this approach to bringing out the full strength of Pokémon."

He looked across us, noticing the shape of our group. "In that respect, you have done an amazing job. Though there seems to be one person missing here."

Pikachu's body tensed on my shoulder. Ash was still not with us. He was still somewhere searching for Reshiram, and Colress noticed the absence like data missing from a table.

Colress lifted one hand toward the battlefield space before the machine. "Well now! Tell me if you have the answer I desire or not. If you are ready, come at me."

I stepped forward before fear could tell me Ash should be here. "If you want an answer, then we will give you one."

Pikachu jumped down in front of me, cheeks sparking. His meaning came firm and bright. "Bond is not a machine button."

Colress's eyes gleamed. "It looks like you are ready, then. OK. Let us begin."

The machine behind him did not simply watch the battle. It listened.

Every time a Pokémon moved, the monitor drew lines of light around its body, measuring speed, force, reaction, and emotional spikes as if friendship could be reduced to a graph. I saw one line jump when Pikachu glanced back at me, and another when Houndoom stepped closer to Eve without being ordered.

That made my stomach twist.

Colress did not look cruel in the same way Ghetsis did. He did not sneer at suffering or laugh at someone's pain. That almost made him worse, because he could stand in front of pain, name it useful, and feel no need to laugh.