Realist, cleaning up the final mess, Part Seven

Back in the forest outside Sapphire City, Realist, Blake, Haru, and Riolu made it safely out and safely close enough to the city for a rest. Oddly, Haru was carrying a large sack with something moving around inside.

“You can let him breath now,” Realist said, sitting down.

Haru nodded and opened the bag. The head of a young boy came out, but Haru tightened the mouth bag around his neck, keeping him trapped.

“What’s going on? Why did you kidnap me?” The boy began asking questions, understandably scared.

Haru decided to sum it up as best he could. “It’s a long story, but here are the basics: We’re from the year 2014, where your dad has killed you and become a serial killer and arsonist for the sake of making other people unhappy. We’re here to stop that from ever happening.”

The boy gulped. Such a story was out of whack... but believable enough, considering the existence of Pokemon like Celebi and Dialga, who could alter the time stream. “...if that’s so... will I be allowed to live?”

“Of course.” Haru smiled.

“In fact, we plan on bringing you to our time, since, technically, you never existed past today.” Realist said. “That part’s a little complicated.”

“Wow... so... Can you let me go then?” Mike asked, struggling a little in the sack. Haru opened the sack all the way and dumped Mike out unceremoniously. “Ow...”

“Sorry ‘bout that.” Blake said, helping Mike a little.

“Do you want to get back at your father for betraying you?” Realist asked.

Mike shook his head. “But I do wanna make sure he never hurts anyone ever again.”

“Leave it to us,” Blake said. “If you can watch over some of our smaller Pokemon, we can go in, eliminate those bozos, and be done in a jiffy.”  

“Got it,” Mike agreed.

Blake brought out Riolu, Pikachu, Minun, and Plusle. “You guys stay with Mike.”

<“Okay!”>

<“Got it.”>

<“Yes, sir!”>

<“Sure thing.”>

Mike smiled and picked them all up. “I’ll take good care of them!”

“Good. Okay, boys, time for Operation Venom’s Cure.”

Haru and Blake looked at Realist as he strode off, back to Team Venom’s hideout.

~~~

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, MIKE’S NOWHERE IN THE BASE?!” The leader of Team Venom shouted angrily.

His most trusted subordinate mumbled and twiddled his fingers. “W-we’ve looked everywhere and he’s…”

“Out of your reach forever!” a voice announced.

Venom’s leader looked around. “Where are you!? Show yourself!” he demanded.

“Tauros! Glaceon! Double Ice Beam!” the voice echoed.

Immediately, dual beams of energy shot out of nowhere, ricocheting all over the place as Venom’s leader and his flunky desperately dodged them. However, one of the beams hit the henchman’s belt, freezing his partner Pokemon solid.

“My Poke-ball’s frozen!” the flunky said in horror.

“We’ll take all those innocent Pokemon off your hands and belts! Lucario, Extremespeed!” another voice echoed.

ZOOM!

All of the Poke Balls in the room vanished as a blue and black blur shot past the two Venom members, knocking them to the ground.

“Haru, shoot the targets like we discussed.”

“Got it.” The sound of a gun being cocked was heard, before… BANG! BANG! BANG! Several bullets were shot into the room, none of them hitting the leader or his subordinate. However, this seemed to satisfy the people who had come in. “We have 30 seconds!” one shouted, and the sound of people rushing up the stairs was heard.

“...what did they shoot?” The leader looked around rather curiously. What exactly had they shot, to be so satisfied? There was a wire hanging with exposed circuits, slipping, and some expensive material- high-density sulfur. EXTREMELY flammable stuff.

“...oh no...” was the man’s last words.

~~~

Haru, Realist, and Blake hurried out of the area as Team Venom’s hideout exploded into flames, turning the waterfall it was behind to steam, temporarily of course. When they were safely out of the blast range, Haru turned to Realist.

“That was… anticlimactic,” he said.

“The budget was wasted on the Glaceon torture.”

“What the *bleep* did Haru shoot in there?” Blake asked. Realist looked at him.

“Do I need to wash your mouth out with the soap again?” the man asked.

Blake realized that he’d sworn. “Uh… sorry.”

“Haru?”

“Yes?”

Realist handed him a backpack, “Add them to your charges. St. Toby’s going to be a bit short on orphans from now on. You can take care of any Pokemon I rescue instead.”

“...but what about the Piper? You still haven’t fixed him up.”

“...right… damn it all. I’m going to find him and pound him like-”

Tauros popped out of his Poke-ball. <“Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Don’t say it! DON’T SAY IT!”>

Realist blinked. “How did you get out of your Poke-ball?”

<“I forced my way out…. and If you say like a YOU KNOW WHAT, I’ll go on a rampage!”> Tauros yelled.

Blake sighed. “This is why I don’t eat meat anymore, Dad.”

“Speaking of meat, I’m hungry,” Haru mentioned. “Anyone up for a T-bone-”

<“NEXT SCENE!”>

~~~

“I hate the fourth wall,” Haru complained as the group sat down at a table in a cafe in Old Valor Town.

“You’re lucky Tauros DID call a scene transition before you said what you were gonna say,” Blake muttered.

“I don’t eat Pokemon, that’s nasty and insane.” Haru shuddered. “How anyone CAN is beyond me.”

“May I take your order?” a young voice asked. Haru looked up and saw the waiter, a clipboard in his hand and a pencil behind his ear, ready to take orders.

“Oh. Thanks. Uh…” Haru consulted the menu. “I’d like a chocolate cake and some milk, please.”

“Pikachu Cookies for me.”

“As for m-” Realist’s eyes widened when he saw the face of the waiter. “Um, are you new here?”

“Yes,” the young man said. “I’m Edrick Piper. I’m taking this job to get money for my class field trip to the Terminus Cave in the Kalos region. I hear there’s a special treasure hidden there.”

Realist froze. “...oh dear,” he muttered to himself, lacing his fingers together. “That’s… not good.”

“Why not? We don’t have a better location in Kalos to go visit…” Edrick fiddled with his clipboard. “And we want to find the treasure…”

Realist sighed. “Do you know what the treasure actually is?” he asked. At Edrick’s shake of the head, he sighed again. “The treasure is a magic flute that has the power to transform humans into Pokemon. I know it sounds strange, but there you are. At any rate, even though it sounds interesting, it’s cursed. It’s said to drive the player insane with power and cause them to make unwise decisions.”

Needless to say, Edrick’s reaction was reasonable.

“WHAT?!” the lad asked, unable to believe his ears.

“Believe me, it’s true. You do NOT want to play around with that stuff. But, if you want to go to Kalos so badly, I can recommend Anistar City.”

“Anistar?”

Realist nodded. “It’s a wonderful place. The Gym Leader, Olympia, is a fortune-teller, so that’d be fun for your class to see, not to mention the city’s famous sundial.”

“Sundial?” Edrick asked.

“Haru, you’re the expert at landmarks.”

Haru cleared his throat. “The Anistar Sundial is a large, red crystal object that resides in Anistar City, where it’s said to have fallen from outer space.”

“In the evenings, it catches the sunset light for an amazing scene,” Blake added.

“Wow! It sounds amazing! Um… Your order, sir?”

“One Berry salad, hold the Nanab Berry.”

“Okay.” Edrick wrote down everyone’s orders, and stepped away. “Guys! I know a better location for the field trip!”

“OH! you guys go get Mike and the little ones, I’ll... um.... be right back.”

“I got this, Blake, you hold our table.”

ZOOM! ZOOM!

Realist and Haru were gone. Oddly, they let Lucario stay with Blake. The Pokemon and the purple-haired boy stared at one another for a moment.

<”So… how ‘bout them Lakers?”> Lucario asked.

~~~

Mike was by the River, letting the Pokemon take a drink. “Everyone feeling better?”

“Rio!”

“Minun!”

“Plusle!”

“Chu!”

Mike smiled and patted Plusle’s head. “Good little Pokes.”

“You kids doing okay?” Haru asked, walking up.

Mike nodded. “They’re good, and I’m good.” He smiled.

Haru smiled back. “You all hungry?”

“Rio! Rio!” Riolu clung to Haru’s leg. <”I want food!”> he demanded.

“Okay, then let’s all go get some food. We took care of your dad, Mike.”

“Okay! Let’s go guys!” Mike gestured for Minun, Plusle, and Pikachu to follow him.

“Pika!”

“Plusle!”

“Min!”

The group went with Haru back to the cafe in Old Valor Town, to get some food in their bellies.

~~~

When Haru and co. arrived back in Old Valor, Blake was still waiting.

“How’s Mike?” Blake asked.

“Hi, Blake.” Mike said, walking up to him. “Where’s your dad?”

“In Terminus Cave.”

~~~

Speaking of which, in Terminus Cave….

“C’mon, gotta find it, gotta find it, gotta find it, gotta…” Realist huffed, looking this way and that for the cursed flute that had caused reality to lose its grip on the world.

But then, he noticed a cave he hadn’t explored yet. “Oh? ...is it here, maybe?”

He looked inside, and inside was a rather clean and new-looking shrine, made of solid gold. It was a complete anachronism in the dark, dusty, creepy cave, and resting on a platform in the middle of the shrine was the Piper’s silver flute, shining with a luminescence all its own. It was a breathtaking sight.

“...Boom time!” Realist cackled psychotically to himself and began setting up explosives.

Moments later...

BOOM!

Realist walked out of Terminus Cave with a sick smirk on his face, the shrine completely and totally destroyed. Nobody would ever use the magic flute’s power ever again. or rather... no one will ever have.

~~~

Back at the cafe, Mike and the Pokemon were chowing down on food.

“Hungry, eh?” Blake chuckled. He patted Mike’s head. “You’re happy, aren’tcha?”

“My father was a terrible cook.” Mike stuffed more meat into his mouth. “Oh, Arceus, this is GOOD…”

“I’m BACK!” Realist said proudly, popping in out of nowhere.

Mike jumped, upsetting his plate and making it fall to the floor with a loud clatter. “W-what the-”

“Whoops! Sorry.” Realist chuckled nervously and cast a spell to repair Mike’s meal.

“Thank you.” Mike began eating again.

“After lunch, we’re going home,” proclaimed Realist. “And I have a special gift for Mike to enjoy. Mike, have you ever wondered what it would be like… to be a Pokemon?”

“Yeah, all the time.”

“...would you like to be one, just for a day?”

“If possible.”

Realist nodded. “What species?”

“Um... Rattata?”

“Coming up… as soon as we get home.” Realist ruffled Mike’s hair.

~~~~

After a good meal, then getting distracted with a hot bath, the motley crew FINALLY got home. Realist sighed as he sat down on the old, comfortable couch in his living room.

“At long last,” he said to himself.

“this is a great house.” Mike said, amazed and impressed.

“It’s nothing special.”

“So... Do I really get to be a Ratatta?”

“Yes.”  Realist waved a hand lazily.

Mike smlied, “thank you. I’m ready.”

“Got it. And a one, and a two, and a one, two three, four!”

POOF!

In an instant, Mike was gone, replaced by a small Rattata.

<“Whoa! I’m.. a pokemon!”> The Rattata looked at his body eagerly. <“I’m a Pokemon! Oh boy!”>

<“Mike? is that you?”> Pikachu asked, amazed.

Mike nodded. <”Yeah! I get to be a Rattata for a day!”>

<“That means we get to play! YAY!”>

that instant, Mike began playing with Pikachu and the other Pokemon. Haru, Blake, and REalist watched as they played... until HAru’s phone rang like crazy!

Haru winced as his phone went off. “What the- Hello? Shaymin? How’d you lea- A whole line of adopters?! I’ll be right there!”

He turned to Realist. “Get me to St. Toby’s, ASAP!”

~~~

At St. Toby, there were tons of adopters in the building.

Haru’s eye twitched. “What the… Sweet holy Sister Mary Francis!”

“Haru.” Realist puts a basket filled with Poke-balls in haru’s hands “as promised.”

Haru blinked. “..promised… the rescued Pokemon, you mean?”

Realist nodded. “Exactly.”

“Thanks.”

Haru brought out the Pokemon, and adoptions began like CRAZY. When it was over, there were only 7 Pokemon, and 5 kids needing adoption.

Haru whistled. “Wow. That was… unusually fast.”

“Um... Haru? look!” Blake looked at the news report on TV.

“We’re here live at St. Tobias Orphanage, the refuge for many children who have been orphaned due to the machinations of a crazed serial killer attacking their families,” the news reporter said.

Haru’s eye twitched. He took a look out the window, and saw the channel 5 news crew filming just outside the orphanage. “What the-”

“Venom’s been replaced by a crazed serial killer?” Blake asked.

“‘pparently,” Haru muttered, watching the news crew filming through the window. “The time stream is really weird, neh?”

“...Where is this guy... I’ll smash him!”

“The serial killer, who only went by “Venom”, committed suicide by flinging himself off the edge of the Crystal Plateau after his grisly work was done.”

“Ouch...” Blake winced. “There goes that plan down the drain.”

But then one of the boys, named Jason, came over. “Haru? Is Eddie still coming today?”

“Eddie?” Haru asked, taking his eyes away from the window.

“You know? The traveling flute player that me and other kids love to listen to. You went through so much trouble to get him to come entertain us this afternoon!”

“Traveling flute player? You like listening to him? Eddie?” Haru was still confused…

...that is, until it hit him like a two-ton semi truck filled to the brim with bags of cement mix.

Haru twitched.

~~~

A couple hours later, the doorbell rang. Haru, finishing a cup of cheap ramen, answered it. “Hello?”

It was an adult, a man in casual clothes, with a backpack. He was looking at Haru with a look of surprise.

“...you... it can’t be... I saw you sixteen years ago... what’s going on?”

“...the Piper…” Haru whispered. “...trust me, you’re much better off not knowing. I believe you wanted to see my charges?” He ushered Eddie in.

“Hold on, I need an explanation!”

“One word: Dialga. Come in, have some tea and cookies or something before you play for the kids.”

“Whoa... cool.” Then, Eddie remembered what he was there for. “OH, right! Can’t let those 300 bucks you paid me be for nothing.”

Haru boggled. “Three hundred-!?”

“Yeah, your kids really wanted to see me, and you said you had money left over from Realist’s donation this month. so you contacted me, and paid me to come today.”

“...Oh. Um.. Alright.”

speaking of Realist, he was nearby, listening... When his phone rang, his business phone, which was for his company, Reality Inc. He pulled the phone out and opened it up. “Hello?”

“Realist, where have you been, we’ve been calling you for hours!” a female voice replied. “its almost time for the anniversary party! We need you!”

“Anniversary party-?”

“Yes the Anniversary for the ten years of your success running Reality Inc. and your career as a Pokemon Rescuer and the five year Anniversary of the day you saved the company mascot, Raikou.”

“...I did what now?” Realist muttered to himself, before coughing. “Ahem. Ah, yes, well… I’ll be there momentarily. I’m at St. Tobias right now with Blake.”

“But what about your friend Haru? You said you were going to invite him personally.”

“Him? It turns out that he’s sort of busy with the newsies right now…”

“Very well. We’ll be waiting.”

Realist shut the phone off and sighed. It had been a long two days. Punishing the Piper, negating the Reality-overriding changes, and ridding the world of Team Venom. But, it was worth it, because he soon learned that transformations in the Hikario Region had decreased to the point of about 6-7 a WHOLE year. His job of reversing transformations was mostly forgotten, so he just focused on his company and Pokemon rescuing, as this world shifted into a time of stable reality.

And for once, all was right in the world.