Chapter 5: Lost and Found
Chapter 5 is ready, finally.
Chapter 5: Lost and Found
Milo was rounding the corner on the way to his individual room. He stopped abruptly as he noticed a purple feline Pokémon sitting directly in the middle of the corridor. It was staring at him, the ruby on its forehead twinkling from the light above. Behind it stood a raptor-like Pokémon decorated with teal coloured leaves. Behind
that was a strange teenage girl, dressed completely in green with a long, messy ponytail and an alert but worried expression. She towered over Milo, but was herself dwarfed by the large figure which stood beside her. He gaped as he took in the ruffled brown hair, the solid features, the practical clothing.
“Theo?”
“Milo!” Theo let out a large breath. “You had us scared there. We thought you were a guard…”
“So this is the famous Milo?” the girl asked, peering down at his tiny figure, unimpressed.
Milo stared at her for a moment, before deciding to ignore the comment. “Why are you here?” he asked his friend. “It sounds as if you’ve broken in or something!”
“We have,” said the stranger bluntly.
“Look, we need to get somewhere safe before a guard really does come walking round the corner,” Theo told him worriedly. “Can you take us to your room?”
“Sure, I was heading that way anyway. Once we’re in there you can tell me what on earth this is all about. But we’d better go quickly – you do realise we’re being caught on camera?”
* * *
Oh, sh*t. Ivyx didn’t disable the camera.
The thoughts running through Carrie’s mind as the group was led through the corridor by the diminutive scientist were not positive. There was no point in her Grovyle breaking the camera now – she’d already been caught on tape which would be viewed in the evening, and after that, MemorCorp would not be happy. Still, there was no point being annoyed at herself now. She was inside, safe for the moment, and about to find out what she wanted to know.
Milo reached a door bearing the name “M. WALSH” and opened it, gesturing for everyone to enter. As Carrie wandered in, she was struck by how unoriginal MemorCorp’s rooms were. White. All of them a plain, artificial white. Did they have no imagination here?
She and Theo sat themselves on a low bench running across one wall, the only seating the room had to offer. Ivyx came to stand on it next to her; Empathy settled himself reassuringly by Carrie’s feet. She took a moment to survey the place where Milo worked. It was a decent size, most of it taken up by a large work table, predictably white. On it lay a plethora of equipment, none of which Carrie understood the purpose of, and a flat, brown rock.
On seeing it, Theo leapt up from beside her to take a closer look. His eyes widened in astonishment as he picked it up, his face becoming more animated than Carrie had ever seen it before. “This is… a Scythe Fossil! But they’re so rare…” Theo held up the rock, and Carrie could just make out a faint outline vaguely resembling a crescent.
Milo nodded, exasperated. “Yes, that’s the fossilised remains of a Kabutops – our boss prefers us to use fossils of evolved Pokémon whenever we can,” he explained. “But surely you shouldn’t be so amazed, being the discoverer of the only Leaf Fossil ever found? And weren’t you going to tell me why you’re here?”
Theo replaced the rock and sat down, looking sheepish at his sudden burst of emotion. “Yes, of course. This is Carrie –”
“Hi.” Carrie waved vaguely at the miniature scientist. Even sitting down, she was only just below his eye line.
“And these are her Pokémon –”
“– Obviously,” she finished. Empathy and Ivyx nodded and muttered greetings, the Psychic type rather more enthusiastically.
“Right. Er, nice to meet you, I think.” Milo turned to Theo once more. “Now, what are you doing here? I hope this has nothing to do with my… phone calls. I think this place would do more than just sack me if they found out.” For the first time, a note of panic could be heard in his voice.
“No, it isn’t,” Theo said reassuringly. “At least, not directly. To cut a long story short, we want to know more about Archopy. Well, Carrie does anyway.”
“Yes,” she cut in eagerly as Ivyx started paying attention. “I really want to know – why is Archopy extinct? Why does Grovyle evolve into… into something else?”
The scientist paused for a moment. “Well, I do know that, but I‘m not sure why I should be telling a stranger who apparently broke in.”
“Oh, come on,” Carrie chided. “Isn’t the whole point of being a whistleblower to give out information?”
“But…” Milo frowned. “It’s complicated.”
“I don’t care. Tell me.”
“Okay.” He gave in. “Let me start with the basics: all living creatures, whether human, Pokémon, plant, or other, are made up of DNA, short for deoxyribonucleic acid. You probably already know this, but bear with me.
“This DNA holds every bit of information about the living organism: what it looks like; what it’s capable of; how it grows. For Pokémon and only Pokémon, it also contains information on how and why they evolve.
“Now, being in the Genetics department, and seeing that Theo gave the Leaf Fossil – Archopy’s fossil – to me, I was the lucky one who got to examine its DNA. The coding appears to say that after enough experience, and with conscious consent, the Pokémon’s Grovyle form will evolve into an Archopy. This is the same natural kind of evolution experienced by most Pokémon, and is indeed the same kind shown by modern Grovyle.”
At the last few words, Carrie’s stomach tied itself into an angry knot. She glanced to the side, but if Ivyx had any hostile feelings at the casual mention of modern Grovyle evolution, she was hiding them well. Carrie ignored her automatic emotions and turned back to Milo, who was continuing.
“The intriguing part is that nowhere in the DNA does it say anything about Sceptile. Not even as an alternate evolution with a different method, as I thought might be the case. Nothing.”
“So why did Ar –”
“I’m getting to it. After examining Archopy’s DNA, I was given the DNA from a modern day Treecko to compare it with. I did so, and found that the coding for the first two evolution stages was exactly the same – bar individual traits that differ between each Pokémon. So were the instructions on conditions for evolution. In fact, it’s practically the same as Archopy’s DNA except for the coding of the final evolution stage, which is, of course, Sceptile. And nowhere on it could I find any trace of Archopy.”
These facts floated vaguely through Carrie’s head, some of them actually registering. Ancient and modern Treecko and Grovyle were exactly the same, bar their evolution. And modern day Grovyle – and this fact was like a pin to the bubble of hope she had been keeping within her since seeing the ancient Pokémon – they would never be able to evolve into Archopy. It simply wasn’t in their genes. She sighed and continued listening; there was still a lot she wanted to know.
“The thing is, though Archopy and Sceptile are very different in looks, their DNA is fairly similar. You’d be surprised how much of DNA coding remains the same for all Pokémon – it’s only a small amount that determines the species, even less if the species are relatively similar. Take Butterfree and Beautifly for example. Both the same type, both have large eyes, antennae and pretty wings. I’d say that about ninety per cent of their DNA is exactly the same. Perhaps more.
“What I’m trying to say here is that it can take only a small genetic mutation to drastically change a Pokémon. It’s these mutations that make Pokémon adapt to their environment – it’s what made the Treecko line fast, capable of climbing trees, etcetera. My theory is that once, a long time ago, all Grovyle would evolve into Archopy. Then, completely by chance, one or two newborn Treecko had slightly mutated genes. But instead of making them faster runners or better tree climbers, these mutations changed what the Grovyle form would evolve into. They made it so that these Pokémon would become Sceptile – it only takes a small mutation, as I said.
“To put it in simple terms, the Treecko line evolved. Not in the sudden sense that happens to nearly every Pokémon, but in the more general sense, like how Mawile used to have steel horns rather than a fully working metal jaw coming off its head.”
The irony. The Grovyle line had “evolved”, and with that, an entire evolution stage had been lost. Sitting beside her trainer, Ivyx stared vacantly ahead, deep in thought.
An idea struck Carrie. “But why isn’t the world populated with both S… those things, and Archopy? Two mutations isn’t enough to make a whole species die out.”
“It can be. The DNA for Archopy happens to be what’s called recessive, while the DNA for a Sceptile is dominant. This means that if those two different kinds of DNA were to combine and make an offspring, the dominant gene would always overwrite the recessive one. Basically, if an Archopy were to breed with a Sceptile –“ Milo paused, seeing the look of disgust on Carrie’s face, “– which could and did happen, given how similar they are genetically – then the Treecko offspring would evolve into Sceptile, and only Sceptile.”
“So only two Archopy breeding would get you another Archopy, nothing else?” This was Theo, pretending he’d been listening the whole time. Not that Carrie blamed him if he hadn’t – Milo rambled a lot, and Theo wasn’t particularly interested in what the scientist had to say.
“Yes. Of course, other factors would probably have had a hand in Archopy dying out, such as a climate change which suited the Sceptile more than them, but ultimately, it was their recessive genes which did for them in the end.”
So that was it. A small detail with a big name, and whoops, no more Archopy. Carrie could picture in her mind’s eye the population of the flying Pokémon decreasing as the numbers of their rivals – they probably lived in perfect harmony, but Carrie still thought of them like that – increased. She wondered vaguely whether the Archopy who had been fossilised was one of the last to die, or whether it had known nothing of its species’ impending doom.
Lost in thought, she barely heard Theo’s voice as he was saying something to Milo. She tuned in as he finished with, “…about these tests you carry out?”
The tests. Of course. That was something else she was interested in knowing, despite that it would probably not improve her mood.
“Yes. Well,” Milo began hesitatingly. “The thing is, the only tests we – that is, the Genetics department – do on the resurrected Pokémon is take a sample of their living DNA and compare it with the fossilised DNA. Everything else is done by the other side.”
“The other side?” Carrie asked, listening properly once more. Ivyx, too, was no longer staring into space; Empathy had, on the contrary, been paying attention the whole time.
“Yes. The Memory department, or as we geneticists nickname it, the other side.” Milo gestured in the vague direction of the corridor Carrie had charged rashly down. “I don’t know exactly how it works – only that it involves a lot of Psychic Pokémon – but somehow, they take the memories of the Pokémon which lived millions of years ago and place them in the mind of a growing foetus, the ancient Pokémon’s clone.”
Milo paused for dramatic effect.
“Whoa,” Theo exclaimed, awestruck. “To take memories from so long ago – that’s incredible!” He narrowed his eyes cynically. “You’re not just having us on, are you?”
“No, I’m not,” said Milo dully. “There’s a reason this place is called MemorCorp.”
“And the tests?” asked Carrie, more interested in Archopy’s treatment than groundbreaking science.
“I don’t know everything about them – the other side think they’re better than us and like to keep to themselves. But from what I can gather, they attach electrodes to the Pokémon’s head which allow them to see the memories on a screen. Then they sit around all day, watching them like they’re in some cinema. Research on ancient times, apparently.” He muttered the last few sentences with disdain.
“But…” Theo was practically jumping off the bench. “But that would be amazing! To witness life as it was for ancient Pokémon…” He trailed off, staring into space.
Carrie didn’t share his enthusiasm. To be locked in a room and forced to relive memories that weren’t even yours… It didn’t seem amazing from the Pokémon’s point of view. She found herself wondering just how bad it would have been for a Pokémon in MemorCorp. For Archopy.
“Milo,” she said, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could really consider how logical they were. “I don’t suppose we could go and see one of these Pokémon?” As soon as she had suggested it, it seemed stupid. Ridiculous. MemorCorp had to have security on the small prisons, didn’t they?
“Most of them have security on their doors,” Milo told her, voicing her thoughts. “Geneticists aren’t allowed in without permission. But there is one that the other side don’t care about. I could show you that one.” He glanced briefly at Ivyx, then suddenly looked Carrie in the eye. She got the impression that he knew something he wasn’t letting on. “Are you sure you want to see it?”
Carrie decided to take the question seriously. Did she, really? She wasn’t honestly all that bothered about the treatments of a few fossil Pokémon – it was Archopy she cared about. But she wanted more than anything right now to truly understand the creature she had glimpsed, whatever it took. And besides, how bad could seeing this Pokémon be?
Theo was now standing up; it was clear what he wanted. Carrie glanced down at Empathy. He looked up at her with an expression that understood her intentions and urged her to go for it. Her eyes flicked towards Ivyx, who shrugged.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
Milo nodded and led the group in a silent procession out of his room. They headed towards an unfamiliar door bearing no name. A corridor greeted them beyond it: long, plain and utterly devoid of doors except at the very end.
“The other side don’t like us going through their section,” Milo explained as they walked, the bitter edge to his voice back again. “This corridor is our route past them to the holding section, though we rarely use it.”
Eventually they passed through the exit on the opposite side and found themselves in a smaller corridor, nameless doors cluttering the plain white walls. This was the holding area; Carrie recognised it as the place she and Theo had first entered into.
Milo stopped in front of one of the doors, identical to the rest. “It’s not quite the same as the other Pokémon,” he admitted. “Hence the lack of security.” He unlocked the door with a key from his pocket, tugged down on the handle and slowly eased it open. “This is where we kept the Treecko we took comparison DNA from.”
The words hit Carrie like a bombshell. Ivyx froze.
No. No, no… Implications whirled through Carrie’s head, all of them feeling like a stab in the brain. This could not be good. Not in her view. Half of her wanted desperately to screw up her eyes and run, to get out of there before she saw the true disgrace of MemorCorp, but some morbid curiosity kept her feet fixed in place, her eyelids firmly back as the door opened.
Behind it, slumped miserably against the opposite wall, drip in its arm but with a noticeable lack of electrodes fixed to its head, was the melancholy figure of a Grovyle.
The Treecko had evolved only once.
Carrie breathed an immense sigh of relief. Seconds later she wondered just why she had done so; what could possibly be relieving about an innocent Grovyle trapped in a glorified box with who-knows-what being pumped into its arm?
Trancelike, she stepped forward into the cell. Only then did she remember that other people were there with her as Milo and Theo moved out of the way to allow her through. Softly approaching the unfortunate raptor, she observed how its leaves were drooping dully; how its half-closed eyes registered nothing. And then her eyes fell upon the intravenous drip with its tube leading back into the wall.
Carrie turned her head sharply back towards the two men, faltering for a moment on seeing Ivyx’s pitiful expression. Then her gaze fixed itself on Milo. “What does this do?” she asked, pointing fiercely at the drip.
“Er,” said Milo, alarmed at the display of emotions. “It’s a cocktail of chemicals. Some of them are sedatives to keep the Pokémon docile and make sure they don’t break out. And the others…” he paused for a moment, looking half afraid, half apologetic, “they accelerate evolution. They force it without needing the Pokémon’s consent. The other side can only get the memories the ancient Pokémon had when it was in the current evolution stage, so they have to evolve to remember everythi…” He trailed off as he realised Carrie was not listening.
Ivyx was now staring at the dejected Grovyle like it was a bomb about to go off. Carrie was frozen for a moment, then came to her senses. If the Pokémon was a bomb, she had to defuse it before it exploded on her conscience. She crouched, reached towards the prone Grovyle and plucked the IV tube from its arm. A drop of fluid slid out of the exposed tip. Simple.
Or not.
Carrie watched in alarm as the Grovyle began to shiver uncontrollably. Its eyes jerked open, yellow irises filled with pain. She glanced rapidly at Ivyx, who now looked as though the bomb had begun the final countdown, at Empathy, who for once didn’t seem to know what was happening, and at Theo, standing confused like a spare part. Finally, her frantic gaze found Milo, her expression desperate for an explanation.
“You really shouldn’t have done that,” he told her with a hint of regret. “Withdrawal symptoms; its hormones are going into overdrive. And now, I’m afraid it’s going to evolve.”
“No!” Carrie stood up awkwardly and stumbled backwards from the Grovyle, whose form was beginning to glow with a blistering white light. She and Ivyx watched in horror as the Pokémon stretched, swelled, its belly doubling in width. The crest leaf shrank into its skull, being replaced by ridge-like protuberances. A long spike pushed its way out from where the tail leaves were, sprouting pointed branches. The small, satirical part of Carrie’s mind which was not in shock idly wondered if the spikes would grow Christmas baubles, but the round shapes formed higher up, bulging from its back. No more were the leaves like feathers; instead two deformed knives protruded from its wrists.
Having served its purpose, the blinding glow dissipated. The bright green beast now inside the room stared around dully with heavy, bloodshot eyes. Part of Carrie’s numb mind wanted to curl up in shame and die. A Grovyle had evolved, and it was her fault.
She felt a strong hand on her shoulder and mutely submitted to its guidance, steering her out of the small room. A second later she registered that the hand was Theo’s, and that Milo was locking the door, trapping the Pokémon inside. Carrie shook her head vigorously in an attempt to return to reality; they were still trespassing in a laboratory, and chances were that the… event in the cell had alerted someone to their presence.
“We’d better leave,” Theo announced quietly.
Carrie swallowed and nodded with more strength than she felt she had. Before she had taken a step, she felt a light tug on her trouser leg. Ivyx’s sorrowful eyes met her as she looked down.
“
Recall me. Please,” she murmured softly, suddenly seeming incredibly vulnerable. Carrie obliged, crouching to the Pokémon’s level and touching her gently with her red and white sphere. If this place could force evolution, it was not a place for one of her Grovyle. Ivyx’s form wavered and disappeared in a flush of red light; she was safe for now.
Turning for a moment to her other Pokémon, Carrie ran her hand through Empathy’s smooth fur. A comforting wave of warmth spread through her mind; the Psychic type was doing his best to soothe his trainer’s painful emotions. Her face flickered with a hint of contentment, and the two of them followed Theo down the corridor.
* * *
The woman gazed apathetically at the flashing message on the screen. Intruders in the holding area, it told her. Had apparently disturbed a specimen – the least important one at that. It didn’t bother her at all; people were insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Easily sorted, or even just ignored.
She sat back in her office chair, her sharp blue eyes surveying the multitude of monitors. None of them held the news she wanted: recapture of the escaped specimen. It had been an unlucky occurrence – anything else escaping would not be worrying, but this one was unique. The representation of an entire species, and it had been lost.
Her tight, dull blonde bun of hair waved from side to side as she shook her head in exasperation. What was taking them? How hard was it to recapture one Pokémon? Not that it mattered for now, she reassured herself. There was still plenty of time until she needed it again.
The first screen was flashing once more. Intruders may have acquired classified information, it warned. The woman ignored it. She was not bothered about secrets leaking out from her scientists. None of them knew the true scale of their work yet; only she as the Director had any inkling of how groundbreaking this laboratory’s research would be.
She, Grace White, was going to change the world.
~~~
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A/N: Apologies if anyone found the cliffhanger resolution rather anticlimatic - I hadn't originally planned for it to be a cliffhanger. And I'm afraid the guard thing didn't get resolved this chapter either; it just sort of didn't fit.