Fabric stitches were torn apart, stuffing flew everywhere, and fabric markers borrowed from Nurse Joy were utilized with care. N wasn’t entirely sure why they had such a thing in a Pokemon Center, but she happily offered it up when asked and it saved him from having to hunt down a specialty shop, so he wasn’t going to look a gift Zebstrika in the mouth.

  “I still don’t get why you tore off the cheek pouches if you were just going to draw new ones on…” Marowak pushed for clarification for what must be the fifth time since Mimikyu’s project started.

  “Cuz it doesn’ look righ’ if it ain’ scribbled on like this. It’s uncanny.” Mimikyu muttered as he used the sewing needle to fix a hole from where he’d been a little overzealous in tearing off the right cheek pouch, covering up the stitch with orange marker.

  N sighed. “If I’d known you were going to go about it like this, we could have just gotten some yellow fabric rather than special order a Pikachu doll.”

  “What?” Mimikyu paused his work, giving N his best attempt at a flabbergasted expression, Mime Jr. head flopping to the side. “No way, I barely ‘ave the dexterity ta sew like this, ain’ no way I was gonna be able ta get the proportions right when formin’ the ears ‘n’ head ‘n’ whatnot.”

  “Can I draw on one of the eyes?!” Mawile excitedly asked, holding up the black marker.

  “No.” Mimikyu snatched it out of her hand with a shadowy claw, using far more care than N would have guessed to apply a black scribble that any small child could recreate.

  “Rotom is confused. A scribble is a scribble, isn’t it? Why are you trying to recreate the original in such detail?”

  Mimikyu scoffed as he held up the old, dirty and ruined one that they’d dug out of N’s bag to compare the two Pikachu disguises. “Rotom, if you were given the option of fifty diff’ren’ washin’ machines ta choose from, would ya jus’ hop in the first one ya see and accept it? Or would ya make sure that you were choosin’ the best fit for ya?”

  “The one with the highest quality motor.” Rotom replied instantly.

  “That’s… well, close ‘nough I guess. That’s what I’m doin’. This is the outfit I’m gonna be wearin’ all day ev’ry day, I wanna ensure that it’s exactly the way I want it. Mimikyus use old Pikachu dolls, so that’s what I got. Mimikyus alter those dolls like this, so that’s what I’m doin’. If it was close but off jus’ sightly, I’d notice it every time I looked in a reflective surface ‘n’ it would drive me crazy.”

  Seemingly satisfied with his work, Mimikyu picked up his new disguise and made his way to the bathroom, closing the door with a humorously stretched arm.

  The rest of them shared a look, but could only shrug. It didn’t make sense to them, but if that’s what Mimikyu wanted…

  N just wished it hadn’t taken so much time. Sure, it kept him from worrying about Galactic being in Pastoria or Mimikyu’s false human memories, but he really needed to worry about those things at least a little bit!

  A door opened and N turned to look at Mimikyu…. Only to find that it was actually the door to the hallway that had opened, and Lucas was slipping in, an odd expression on his face.

  N facepalmed. “What did you do this time?”

  Lucas frowned at him and held up his Pokedex warily.

  “No signal from home unit available. Local use only. Voice of member 435 recognized. Please state your password to continue.”

  Voice recognized? Did that mean Lucas had spoken? N felt the urge to ask many questions, but before he could get a word out Rotom was rushing towards Lucas.

  “You brought that thing here?! Are you an idiot?!” Lucas frowned, but Rotom quickly moved on, “Actually, nevermind, Rotom already knows the answer to that. More importantly, where is the person it belongs to? How long has it been in there? How mad will Professor Rowan be if Rotom just destroys the whole thing?”

  Lucas paled, hiding the Pokedex behind his back and quickly holding up a Pokeball from his belt.

  N blinked, trying to understand exactly what was happening here. “Uh… Rotom…?”

  “Not now!” Rotom let out a static hiss.

  The bathroom door opened, and a freshly Pikachu-ified Mimikyu looked up at the brewing conflict in front of him. “Uh…..”

  “Why are you holding up a Pokeball?!” Rotom demanded. “That does not tell Rotom anything! Rotom needs you to use your words for once, Rotom knows you are capable!”

  Lucas frowned, glaring at the little flip-phone, but before it could spark into anything more, a shadowy hand slithered out from beneath Mimikyu’s disguise, inserting itself between the two of them. “Alright, time out, someone wanna explain what’s goin’ on ‘ere?”

  “Rotom is being bossy!” Mawile informed him.

  Rotom spun around and let loose a small spark that initially went towards Mawile but redirected itself towards Marowak. “Quiet, child! You don’t know what this idiot has brought here!”

  Marowak looked down at his hands with a quiet “Woah…” but N didn’t have time to think about that when everyone started yelling.

  “Hey! You jerk! Who do you think you are?!”

  “Rotom is the one who will fix this idiot’s mistake!”

  “What mistake?! Dammit Rotom, explain! I try ‘n’ get some privacy for two seconds ‘n’ yer suddenly at each other’s throats!”

  “QUIET!” N barked out.

  The shouting stopped.

  “If there is something wrong,” N slowly and clearly laid out, “then we will fix it. But we can’t do that if the problem is not explained properly. So, using your words, please inform us of what has you so concerned, Rotom.”

  Rotom let out an odd growl of electricity before turning on Lucas accusingly. “It is clear to Rotom that the boy has brought one of Team Galactic’s Porygons to this location.”

  Lucas grimaced, but wasn’t the one to counter that.

  “If it’s Team Galactic’s, then why is Lucas holdin’ up Porygon’s Pokeball?” Mimikyu asked.

  “How could you possibly come to the conclusion that the Pokeball is the Porygon’s?” Rotom shot back.

  “Because we’re friends and he doesn’t want to fight?” Marowak hesitantly chimed in.

  N sighed. “Lucas, is the supposed Porygon yours?”

  “No signal from home unit available. Local use only. Voice of member 435 recognized. Please state your password to continue.” The Pokedex repeated, causing Lucas to wince before nodding in agreement.

  Rotom visibly shook, but N couldn’t tell if it was from rage or frustration or something else. “You- Rotom does not understand this. Rotom is certain that you are not a member of Team Galactic, and yet you have one of their Porygon?”

  Lucas waved his hand in a so-so gesture, as if he wasn’t sure of the answer himself.

  Rotom started to pace back and forth through the air, seemingly talking the problem out but not directed towards any of them. “The Porygon has somehow transferred ownership, and yet retains Galactic code. Voice recognition… the idiot got too close to that grunt outside the observatory, didn’t he? That would explain…” Rotom paused, turning towards Lucas again. “How long has this Porygon inhabited your Pokedex?”

  Lucas’ eyes dropped to the floor.

  That probably wasn’t a good sign.

  “Well,” Mimikyu began, “if ya didn’t know about it then it was sometime after Hearthome. Porygon ain’ a Pokemon ya jus’ run into in the wild, so probably safe ta assume he picked it up in a city. That leaves Solaceon, Veilstone, or Canalave.”

  N repeated the options for Lucas, and he nodded when Veilstone was listed.

  “It must have come from Galactic HQ… That long…? It would have recorded….” Rotom muttered.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “What exactly is this Galactic thing?” Mawile asked. “You said something about them when we got to this city, but you didn’t explain.”

  N blinked. Now that he thought about it, Mawile hadn’t been involved in any conversations about the group before today, had she?

  Rotom wasn’t listening to her, though. “Rotom has decided. The Porygon must be deleted.”

  That was… concerning? But N didn’t understand. “How do you delete a Pokemon? Are you saying…”

  “That sounds like ya wanna kill it.” Mimikyu finished the thought where N hesitated.

  Marowak gasped and inched back while Mawile stepped forward with a frown.

  “You cannot kill something that was never alive in the first place. Porygon are artificial Pokemon. They’re just code. You don’t kill a calculator if you destroy it, and Porygon are no different.”

  Lucas stepped back, hiding his Pokedex behind him protectively, giving Rotom a wary eye.

  “Porygon can’t jus’ be code,” Mimikyu countered, “they ‘ave a physical form. They take damage when attacked.”

  An angry buzz and crackle hissed out of Rotom’s speaker. “Rotom does not have time to give you an entire course on the intricacies of Porygon and why they are not alive. This malware has been with the group since Veilstone! It has likely recorded all of our conversations! It has seen the King! It currently cannot connect to the home unit, but how long has that been the case?! Did it send data to Galactic’s Porygon 2 units when in Canalave?! Rotom does not know if they have expanded operations there! It could very well be too late, but on the chance that it isn’t, Porygon must be destroyed. If the Galactic Commanders find out….” The static in Rotom’s voice increased with every sentence, barely understandable until a pause made it die down. “This data cannot make its way back to the home unit. Deleting Porygon ensures that.”

  N didn’t know much about Porygon. He knew even less about code. That didn’t stop the uneasy feeling in his stomach as he listened to Rotom’s rant. “We’re not harming a Pokemon, Rotom. I don’t care what your reasoning is.”

  Suddenly, his possessed phone was in his face. “You do not understand what you are up against. If Galactic has their way, all Pokemon will be harmed. They’ve got it in their mind that they should destroy this universe and create a new one. What do you think happens if they succeed, N?! Do you want to be the one to help them in their stupid plan?!”

  Destroy the universe? What in the world was Rotom talking about? Was that… really something that would be possible? Surely even with the power of Legends, that was a ridiculous prospect…

  Taking his stunned silence for acceptance, Rotom turned back to Lucas. “Hand it over, boy.”

  Lucas backed against the door, looking to the rest of them for answers, his hand quickly moving to swap Porygon’s pokeball for one of a team member that could fight back.

  His salvation came in the form of a giant maw clamping shut around Rotom, aglow with the Dark energy of a Bite.

  “You’re just a big bully!” Mawile exclaimed.

  She cried out as her body was filled with electricity. “Rotom knew you were just waiting to eat Rotom! Maybe Rotom should delete you as well!”

  Mawile held strong, despite the pained expression on her face and the smell of the inside of her mouth being cooked.

  “H-hey, wait, stop fighting!” Marowak called out, stepping forward but not knowing what to do with Rotom being inside Mawile’s mouth.

  N didn’t know what to do. He’d dealt with angry friends before, but they seemed like they were out for blood! He’d once seen a trainer take care of a rampaging Emboar by returning it to its pokeball, but… Rotom and Mawile weren’t his property, he couldn’t just….

  Mawile thrashed her maw around angrily. “You can’t delete me if I eat you first!”

  N dropped to his knees in an instant, trying to pry Mawile’s mouth open. “No, no, no, we do not eat each other!”

  Rotom let loose another Electric type move, and N was forced to back off.

  “Open up, Mawile.” Mimikyu said from off to the side, and to N’s surprise, she did.

  The inside of her maw was a mess of electrical burns and Rotom was a battered, busted mess. Rotom wasn’t deterred by the broken casing, however, rushing out of her mouth–

  And straight into the Shadow Claw of Mimikyu.

  The group watched as N’s phone fell to pieces on the floor, connected by Rotom’s blue glow and sparks of electricity. Rotom didn’t get back up.

  N took a deep breath as the adrenaline coursed through him.

  “Fuck.”

  So.

  That had gone….

  Lucas wasn’t sure of how to continue that.

  On the one hand, N didn’t seem to be pissed at him. That was a positive.

  On the other hand, Rotom had flipped out and was now being treated by Nurse Joy. Mawile had protected him and was now being treated by Nurse Joy. N’s phone was broken beyond repair.

  “No signal from home unit available. Local use only. Voice of member 435 recognized. Please state your password to continue.”

  And that was still a thing.

  Lucas sat in the corner of the waiting room, feet up on the chair and his face buried in his arms which rested on his knees.

  Was this all his fault…?

  A fresh surge of guilt flowed through him.

  He could feel the Pokeballs on his belt shaking occasionally, his team asking to be let out, but he didn’t comply. He was alone right now, and that might be for the best.

  The Shadows had returned at some point, N was back in their room talking to them with the Pokemon….

  He didn’t know what to do.

  It hadn’t really been his fault. He knew that. He hadn’t known the Porygon would do this. He hadn’t known Rotom would flip out. That was on them, not him.

  But knowing that didn’t make the feeling that it was go away.

  He wasn’t sure how long he sat there alone.

  Eventually, though, Mimikyu showed up. The tiny, freshly disguised Pokemon making his way over to him with notebook and pen in hand- er, claws? Whatever.

  Mimikyu paused when he was right in front of Lucas, studying him for a moment. Lucas didn’t know what he was looking for in that moment, but eventually he held up his notebook for Lucas to read.

  “単語が分かりません。でも…「リフォーマット」それとも「リセット」を知っていますか？”

  Lucas frowned. If Mimikyu didn’t know the words, how did he expect Lucas to know what he was talking about? The first one wasn’t familiar at all, but… “reset”? Like when he had to reset his Wii or something?

  He nodded, but hesitantly.

  ”アップグレードがありますか？”

  An upgrade? Upgrade for what?

  Not satisfied with Lucas’ confused look, Mimikyu reached out and tugged on his backpack, prompting Lucas to take it off.

  Mimikyu unzipped the top, digging through various TMs, reading what was written on a few of the covers before zipping it back on and moving onto the next pouch. A few potions were dropped to the floor and Mimikyu unzipped another pouch. Lucas narrowed his eyes as the little Ghost stole a Cheri berry, pulling it under his disguise before moving onto the next pouch.

  That seemed to be the one he was looking for if the way he started pulling things out left and right was any indication. Escape rope was haphazardly tossed aside, jars of honey were pulled out with a bit more care if only so a mess wasn’t made, One of those plate things with the inscriptions was pulled out, the dark blue one, and that made Mimikyu pause, but he ultimately put it to the side before letting out a little “Kyu!” and grabbing a little box with a disc in it.

  Lucas wasn’t entirely sure of what it even was. He’d seen it laying around in the Team Galactic building in Eterna City, once Jupiter had run off. He figured he’d find a use for it eventually, even if he didn’t know what it was. It clearly wasn’t a TM, even if it was a disc, so he’d put it in with his miscellaneous items pouch.

  Mimikyu inspected it for a moment, turning it over and checking every angle before giving Lucas some sort of shrug, or what he assumed to be one, and handing it to him, gesturing at his Pokedex as well.

  “アップグレードを使えばポリゴンをリフォーマットできると思います. ギンガ団データを...殺する?”

  Lucas frowned. He looked at the disc thing Mimikyu had given him in one hand, and the Pokedex in the other.

  He didn’t understand.

  What was he supposed to do with this? How was the disc meant to “kill” the Galactic data, whatever that even meant? Lucas wasn’t some sort of computer nerd, none of what Mimikyu was telling him made any sense.

  Mimikyu sagged. Reaching out with his shadowy tendrils, he pushed the disc thing and the Pokedex together until they touched.

  Nothing happened.

  Mimikyu sagged further.

  “A Silph Co. feature update is ready to install - with new features, this update could take a while. Would you like to update now, or get a reminder in three days?”

  The two of them both jumped as the Pokedex spoke, the delayed reaction not having been expected. For some reason, Lucas got the impression that Mimikyu was angry to hear those words, which didn’t make much sense since he’d been the one to make it happen, but after a moment the false Pikachu head shook back and forth as Mimikyu steadied himself.

  “Mi-kyu.”

  “Confirmed. Working on updates. Zero percent complete. Don’t turn off your device.”

  There was a flash of blinding light, Lucas could no longer feel the disc thing in his hand, and when his vision cleared up Mimikyu had tilted the Pokedex’s screen towards him, letting out a happy “Kyu!”

  Lucas still didn’t know what was going on. He snatched the Pokedex away from Mimikyu, taking a look at the screen himself.

  It had gone black except for a bit of white text. Pressing buttons didn’t do anything, and he didn’t dare turn off the power lest he break the device even further.

  The text read “ポリゴン２に進化”

  Lucas blinked.

  It was… evolving?

  He looked down at Mimikyu for answers, but the little fae was already gone.

  Translations:

  “単語が分かりません。でも…「リフォーマット」それとも「リセット」を知っていますか？” = I do not know the word. But… do you know “reformat” or “reset”? What Mimikyu is trying to get at here is reformatting a drive, but given that his Sinnohian is merely passable, he doesn’t know technical words like this, even if he can guess that it would be a loanword. As far as I can tell what he’s looking for is 再フォーマット, which is close to his first guess, but for some reason beyond me the japanese use format as a loanword but the kanji that’s something like “again” or “repeated” instead of just リ(ri)

  ”アップグレードがありますか？” = Do you have an upgrade? Simple enough. Appuguredo is just upgrade with Japanese phonetics.

  “アップグレードを使えばポリゴンをリフォーマットできると思います. ギンガ団データを...殺する?” = I think you can reformat Porygon if you use the Upgrade. Kill… the Team Galactic data? The first sentence is mostly correct, ignoring the reformatting error mentioned above, but in the second line Mimikyu doesn’t know the word for “delete” so he instead phrases it as if the data is being killed.

  “ポリゴン２に進化” = Evolving into Porygon 2

  As always, feedback is appreciated. (If you’re actually looking for a response, discord is the place to be)