Warning: I don’t own any pokémon characters (apart from those introduced in this story) - as if that isn’t already PAINFULLY obvious.

Note: In this story, all events described that have not yet occurred are so described in the present tense; however, events in our own era are described in the past tense.

Chapter I

“In The End-Beginning”

Our story “begins” (at least in this narration) in the year 2036. It is 18:32 hours local time on March 17th, and our location is Viridian City, GMT +9.

The Commander of Freedom is giving a speech to his recruits. “The Rebellion is ready for its first major breakout against the Imperial State. Our historical records have enabled us to isolate how everything went wrong, and now that under the supervision of our founder we have successfully constructed a working time machine, it is possible for us to alter history. As we have already seen with our previous attempts, the Government is too strong to overthrow. The attempted assassination of the Emperor was fatal for almost all of us. Our numbers have shrunk from 10, 000 to ten hundred - one thousand that is. We do not have the force to achieve a victory: our only hope is to turn the whole of history around. We have backtracked the complicated sequence of events that led to the fall of Nations and the rise of the Evil Imperial Throne. We will have to bring in the two people whose actions failed to save us from this awful fate. They must learn what is required of them to save the world.”

He turns to face the founder, who is standing by a large ringed gate. The founder says something to him.

“We now move on to a very risky procedure. In order to activate the machine, we need the largest electrical source in the world. Normally I would use my own powers to activate the machine, but in doing so I would place us in grave danger., Our base could be located. Then we would all die and any hopes of freeing the human race would die with us. Therefore we must use normal electricity. Henceforth, I need a group of volunteers to plant this device” - at this point he holds it up for all to see - “on the main Power Transmitter, so that we can use it to radio back the initial spark to open the wormhole. Do I make myself clear?”

He does. Innumerable hands shoot up, offering their services. But only sixty are needed. That large a group should be able to scout their way.

“Good. You realise of course that the founder and I would but for our need to remain secret. Now the process of selection takes place.” The selection DOES take place. “Then let’s go.”

The location and date are the same, but the local time is now 18:47 hours. The guards are out in force. The Emperor hired them to guard this - but why? What does he need this power base for? How can we ever have a chance of knowing? … Suddenly, there are voices - cries for help.

“Help! Teat man has stolen my handbag!” Typical old lady getting mugged. Happens all the time. The state approves of it. One of the guards happens to hope that she won’t cause trouble for the robber. There are laws against that. She needs sorting out! One of them goes to look in on it. He runs to find the voice - but there is no sign on the horizon of anyone. By the time he turns to go back, he has already left his partner alone.

And now they’ve both been jumped on.

One of the guards - the one who stayed - almost calls for backup, after he throws off the first seventeen attackers with his charges. Unfortunately for him, his last shot misses - worse still, there are LOTS more attackers yet to come. But actually in truth it is all-good. After all, the guards are the EVIL ones. They are both crushed under the wait of twenty people each. That leaves a triad to deal with planting the device. Having succeeded with the help of two others in achieving this task, John Redfield gives the signal for a gradual retreat. They have to hold off the guards until the electricity can be absorbed by the distant machine. They need a two-minute connection.

Redfield radios a message. “We’ve done it, are you picking up?” Apparently they are.

It is now 18:53 hours. The Commander sends through the battalion. They have gotten through the gate - and they ARRIVED in the past (I now have to switch tenses!)

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

It was July 17th, 2003. It was 11: 17 am in Viridian City. The hustle and bustle was astounding. At 11: 17: 09, something very unusual happened. But no one there knew about it. And that was because they were all unconscious as it happened.

TIME STOPPED.

And it started again. It was still the same place (Viridian City), and the same time - 11: 17: 09 local time. But now there was something different.

THERE WAS A GROUP OF THREE ADULTS WHO HAD NOT EVEN BEEN BORN YET.

They had not been there at 11:17:08, and they both were and were not there at 11:17:09, and they were DEFINITELY there at 11:17:10. These people will not, however, be born until the 2010s. They were time travellers. They had arrived from 2036. The time corridor had worked!

“Look!” yelled Andreas, pointing to the hustle and bustle that was amazing him. “They’re driving cars WITH WHEELS!”

“Ssh!” hushed Dominica. “You’ll give away the fact that we are from the future,” she whispered.

“Oh, give him a break,” Graham pleaded. “I have no idea how it has come to work, but it has: the time corridor has taken us back to days before we were born. There isn’t a flying vehicle insight.” At that moment, a plane zoomed loudly overhead. “I stand corrected.” The town clock was a glorious sight, and it was Andreas who first noticed it. “See that? That’s the old tower clock. It was knocked down in 2007.”

“WILL BE KNOCKED DOWN IN 2007, you mean?” said Graham.

“Your pedantic nature is not called for,” bellowed Dominica. “However, I do agree with you on that front - none of what we call Imperial History has happened yet. That is why we are here: to avert that path of time. But we must be careful not to alter any other important details. We must only interfere in the way that we are meant to. That way is to do precisely what is written in this envelope and nothing else. We must make sure not to do anything that would have serious ramifications.”

With that, Dominica opened the envelope. She read out carefully the instructions on the yellow sheet contained within:

“The History books reveal that the son of the Emperor and the love of his life were kidnapped on 17/06/2003 at 18:15 hours. This was some time before his father ever took the steps towards his Imperial position that we know so well and must reverse. There is no clear indication as to who performed this kidnapping, or why, but we must prevent this from occurring. The three people sent to the past must avert the kidnapping and guarantee that at midnight the son, his love and the triad are ready to go back down the corridor. They must also prevent any corridor trespassing. NO ONE can be allowed to follow you back to our future, bar for the two aforementioned people that you need to bring to us.”

“And where the hell are these two?” Andreas asked.

“Apparently, on this day they stayed at a hotel near Blackthorn City.” Andreas was startled to hear this. An angry look came across his face. He started shouting profanities.

“That’s in Johto, and we’re in the heart of the Kanto plain. They’re HUNDREDS OF MILES away! And we don’t have any vehicle. How are we supposed to get there by this evening?”

Graham was the expert on the past. “I suspect via the old Shinkansen. They had much better public transport before the days of the Emperor. It was his idea to cut everything off. The magnet train I have heard of can whip us between Saffron and Goldenrod in seconds. I’m sure that there is some way that we can get there by the designated time. This will be easy - just do make sure you don’t affect the past.”

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

At 11:43 am, the trio arrived at a Shinkansen train station. It was then that it dawned on them: they had no money. For the Japanese yen did not exist in their own era. It was apparent that they would have to ride without a ticket.

“No chance,” explained Graham. “EVERY Shinkansen train has a conductor. It is an absolute GUARANTEE that you will get caught. We could hide in the toilets, but they’d probably find us when someone needed to go. I know, we’ll ride on the outside of the train.” He was greeted by two very hard, long stares. Now which of Graham’s organs was it that he wanted to be like those stares?

“Are you NUTS? I thought these thinks travelled at something like 280 km/h. We’d be torn to shreds.”

“So, um … would you rather get arrested by the police because you can neither present a ticket nor pay a fine?”

Guess what they ended up doing …

“Those meals they’re having in the train look REALLY nice!” said Dominica.

“Yes,” replied Graham, “meals were nice in those days when people could eat what they liked rather than receiving painfully small portions of gruel. It was a time when eating was actually a PLEASURE. As a matter of fact, every citizen in the United States of America enjoyed it so much they ate their way in to an early grave.”

What followed was a rather interesting story on the history of one of the old nations that had ceased to exist a few years before any of them were born. They had apparently never heard of the notorious USA.

It was nevertheless an AWFUL journey.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Next we leave these individuals and look at some others.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

On 17/07/2003 at 14: 16 hours on the outskirts of Blackthorn City, a trio of pokémon trainers by the names of Ash, Misty and Brock arrived at the Dratini to Dragonite Hotel. They had been staying there for several days. They had just come back to pick up a few things before they headed out to have another walk around the town. Misty, who was several times the largest member of the group, felt in the mood to visit a restaurant whilst they were out. The only problem was one of finance. They were running low on money, and there was not a single place in the entire city where they could afford for Misty to eat any amount that her stomach would consider more than negligible; for she was one of those people who just never seems to be happy with their fullness. No one is beyond satiety, but she came PRETTY close.

She had already been banned from every “All You Can Eat” restaurant for taking the sign literally. The only sources of food that remained - given that they could not eat from their hotel, as they could only afford a bed and breakfast, and the serving hours were long since over - were the sort that had decided given who was in the neighbourhood to step up production, but had done so in vain, because Ash could not afford for them to eat anywhere special. It was a simple matter of a few small low-budget sandwiches with no butter or any sort of spread and virtually no filling, combined with nothing to drink other than drinking water collected from sources where money was unnecessary to obtain a drink - that was all that they could manage. They certainly could not live to eat; they could do nothing more than eating to live.

The circumstances were extremely irritating to someone like Misty. Because of her gigantic size, even the small amount of movement that she still underwent daily (despite her efforts to conserve them in light of the situation) required more energy than she could afford to intake out side of breakfast; she would have been losing weight were it not for how much she could pack away in this short period. It was a good thing that she was able to avoid such occurrences, because she was proud of her corpulence.

“If only we knew where there was an eating contest that I could enter …”

“Forget it Misty! It ain’t happening!” was the down-to-earth response from Brock. But Misty was not interested in that sort of talk - al that interested her was the fact that she was always very, very hungry indeed.

“If you hadn’t introduced me to larger meals and increased my appetite, I wouldn’t be in this much pain right now!” she said, yelling at Ash. “Yes, Ash, I CAN read your thoughts - and NO, this is not PMS! Gosh Ash, you have put me in to a state of perpetual suffering; maybe you should get me pregnant, then I’d have a bit of a painkiller for a few hours in nine months!”

Misty went on and on and on, all the way out of the hotel, even in the lifts with other people. Although Brock had done what was his version of chatting up a girl, Misty was still the most embarrassing member of the trio; Ash felt like for once he was doing what was right. Mind you, if he was right about that she wouldn’t be moaning at him right now! But the fact that this still went on in the open was the most crucial; the trio from the future overheard her, and recognising the photographs they had been given forged a plan …

Unfortunately there was one major problem with setting up an eating contest: they had no food and no money to buy food with! However, with (later) twenty-first century technology, there was a way around this. They could actually create the illusion that people were eating food. This was an illusion affecting all of the senses; the sights, sounds, tastes, smells and textures of food all had to be tricks. It was pretty advanced technology! However, virtual food does not saturate the digestive system; it would have to be down to a time limit, otherwise all contestants would eat for ever (well, until they died of hunger or thirst, or just plain got bored).

The announcement of an eating contest set off much excitement for Misty. “This is great!” Her heart sank when she found out that it was only ten minutes’ long; a speeding contest. That limited how much she could pack away; this was no all-you-can-eat à la carte. Oh dear … (Of course, she did not realise that this was virtual food, which would not fill her at all.)

Misty was one of six contestants. A Sumo wrestler was there, as well as a very unusual character who kept a cape worn over his head … Misty also saw three old acquaintances of theirs: Snap, Sakora, and Whitney. Sakora was looking forward to it, but Whitney wore an annoyed expression on her face.

“After you defeated me at Christmas, I’m determined to do better than you. Fortunately I have had a lot of practice since last time! Furthermore since this contest is of a different nature and one which is easier for me I eJabedin to have a good chance over you.”

“What about over me?” Misty asked. She received no reply. Snap was quite surprised to discover that this was the same Misty he had once known. He remembered her for her photography-friendly body; but now he felt that this new form was perhaps even better n this ways (and more) than others. Then he kicked himself (though I have no idea how) for diverting from the traditional philosophy of photographic art.

The contest was underway, but it wasn’t going particularly well. Although Misty had under any circumstances the fastest hand-to-mouth relay imaginable, as well as the fastest chompers in the West (but only because she was away from her home in the East), that unusual character underneath the cape was moving his arms even faster than her. Ash, watching from the crowd, was deeply concerned about this; but the triad from the future had even more cause for alarm.

“That has just ­got to be a Porygon3 agent. The funny thing is, the Empire doesn’t create the first prototypes until the late 2010s - this guy is at least fifteen years too early. Don’t ask me how, but he must have come back through time. If he did so through our corridor, the plan has already failed - and even if that is not the case, it’s still bad, because now they can interfere with our plans. The first thing to do is to identify it - a trilithium signature should check out.” With that rather awful assessment, Graham performed a scan. “It’s positive.” The news was shocking. “Unfortunately, none of the deterrents we can use against them - neither a sound blaster nor just plain killing - is legal in this time zone - or our own for that matter, since it’s a Porygon3 agent of the Empire - and for that reason we’re rather short on our options. With this many police personnel around, given that their jobs must have been very boring when there were virtually no crimes in Japan, we wouldn’t stand a chance. What are we going to do?” That was a question that really put them all at unrest. Fortunately they would not have to provide an answer - someone else did that for them.

BOOM!

There was gunfire. That Porygon3 agent was dead, and as the cape fell off the corpse - which was now transforming in to its true self - the horrible thing was visible. Police were rushing to the scene. “This contest has to be called off - the area needs to be cleared. For official police duty, we will need to investigate this murder scene. It has to be evacuated!” Officer Jenny was conveniently adamant on this. No one is sure the exact order of the winners as it would have been, but since it was a contest of arm speed rather than one of eating speed, that hardly matters. Dominica was more concerned with who killed that Porygon3 and why - and how it came to be here in the first place and why - and what was going on?

The triad showed up at Misty’s hotel room at 18:12. Only a minute later did they start seeing movement in the trees during a completely calm night, with no wind anywhere. After a further minute passed, they finally saw their nemesis: another agent, but a human one this time. This was getting weirder and weirder … They had to make sure that this new-to-the-scene character did not perform any kidnapping. This was going to be difficult.

They started to here something from inside the room. It was Misty’s voice. “Ash and I are just going out for a breath of fresh air, Brock - we’ll be back in ten! It’s a shame you don’t want to come with us, but I know you’re tired. Never mind …” The door was coming open. This was most definitely a time to panic. That character that they had seen had obviously not seen them. He was walking towards the door at a speed that showed he would get there just after they were out of the door.

“We’ve got to jump him!” said Graham - so they did. Ash and Misty had the shock of their lives, and she was about to scream. Dominica put her hand over her mouth. “Keep quiet, we need to get you out of here, at least here us out - we have information that you both NEED to here. Graham, make sure that guy doesn’t come after us and joint us when you can - we’ll need to move out soon.” They quickly guided their accomplices off. They reached the “safe haven” at 18:21 pm. Dominica explained to them that someone was trying to kidnap (possibly kill) them, and that they had to stick together for their safety. At 18:32, Graham appeared making a run up to them.

“I knocked that guy out and sent him thirty flights down in a lift. By the time he comes around and tries to pursue us, we’ll already have got on the train - at least I hope so. Oh by the way, that reminds me, do you have any money? We were rather hoping NOT to be hanging on to the outside for the return journey to Viridian …” Misty cut him off in mid-sentence.

“What’s going on? Where are you taking us?”

Andreas stepped in at this point. He met he eyes. “You and Ash are both familiar with the name of the one who sent us: Mewtwo.” That they were. “In more than thirty years’ time, a time machine will be built using Celebi’s power, by which we have come to be in this time zone. None of us have even been born yet. You need to come with us to the future. The fate of the world depends upon this.”

Our friends needed no more explanation. They were told that to avoid interfering with history and to prevent a paradox that could endanger the existence of the Universe, Brock could not come with them. Having agreed to these terms, they paid for the train tickets. They arrived in Viridian City at 20:07. At 23:59, they were ready to go to the future … and they did.

TO BE CONTINUED

Chapter II

“Back to the Future … from the present … and for some from the future – oh never mind!”

It is March 18th 2036, 7:35 am. The time corridor is just about to be activated. The Commander of Freedom steps forward towards the device that controls the time corridor. He is preparing to activate the device – but not by pressing any button. …

(From this point on, I will use the past tense – I think it’s just plain simpler!)

“The machine will need to be activated in 41 seconds, Commander of freedom,” said the President – but not in any human language; he continued, “I trust that you are prepared to use your own powers to activate that machine - ”

At that moment, there was a loud noise. The alarm had just been activated. “Commander, make sure that you open the portal at exactly the right moment. Any time too early or too late and it will cause serious trouble.”

“Very well, Mr. President!” came the response from the Commander of Freedom, as he continued in his duty – the president had to do something of his own. He swept through the room at high speed.

“What’s the cause of alarm?” he asked.

“We have detected Porygon3 troops within a five-kilometre radius,” said the Lapras working at the desk, communicating telepathically, “but fortunately they appear to be walking away from us. They will be out of detectable range in a few moments. I see no threat, but then again we can never be too careful with the representatives of the Imperial Force.”

“How true,” came the reply.

“Five, four, three, two …” The counter was alerting the Commander that he had to provide the ignition for the device, and – he did so at just the right moment. The time was finally 7:36 am, and the time corridor had been opened. Five people materialised: the three agents were there, but with two companions – their accomplices were the ones that they had been looking for. The Commander of Freedom and the President approached them, although the President had a greater distance to traverse; in any case he moved more quickly than the promenading Commander.

“Welcome, Ash and Misty to the Future!” said the Commander of Freedom. He donned a dominating cloak that hid the whole of his body from view – he was as anonymous as any Darth Sidious. He certainly meant business! Whether or not he could be trusted was, as Ash thought, something that required for certainty further investigation.

“Where are we?”

“You are still in the same place in Tokyo!” replied the Commander; “you just aren’t in the same time. It is the eighteenth of March 2036 – and it is about twenty-five to eight in the morning. For the exact time, you can look at that clock up there,” he finished, pointing upwards to a huge digital horologe, as it changed from showing 07:36:11 to 07:36:12. There was to the side of it a digital calendar. Yes, the date checked out as well. Time travel was something that went beyond Ash’s scientific knowledge, but he had had experience with it before when he had met Celebi. At that moment, the President suddenly came in to view – he had been lurking in the shadows and letting his Commander do the talking.

“Celebi!” gasped Ash. He could not believe his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“That is a very long story, Ash!” said the Commander. “I do not know if you had noticed, but all these words that I have said to you I have communicated via telepathy. We have met before, and I am glad to see you again.” He removed his cloak.

“Mewtwo!” gasped Misty.

This would take a lot of explaining. …

Meanwhile, the Emperor sat in his chamber approximately seven miles away in the centre of Tokyo. At the heart of the world’s government resided the cruellest and bitterest of all potentates, not to mention the most powerful – the worst villain in the world. He was dressed in a viridian blazer, describable as such both in terms of its hue and its place of manufacture; this was a man with astounding wealth, and yet wearing the equivalent of clothes bought in Marks & Spencers – mind you, they are so expensive that that would actually make sense, wouldn’t it? Anyway! … He had a flat cut of cropped black hair as black as a Dusclops, and he had eyes as russet as the hide of a Sandslash; and his sinister grin revealed teeth white as a healthy Togetic; furthermore, I’ve run out of similes!

“Call in the Porygon3 agents, I need to consult them about the operation.”

“Yes, your Imperial One!” came the response, as the guard ushered them in.

“Fear not, Emperor Giovanni – everything has gone according to plan. Our Porygon3 agent in the past reported a safe arrival and found the individ-” at that moment, a strange device on his person started beeping. He pulled it out, and started talking – this was of course not an ordinary telephone, but a Time Phone. He listened, and a horrible look came across his face. “I am afraid,” he began, “that it seems we failed to obtain the two individuals that you requested.”

“Track them down – leave no stone unturned in either time zone! This mission is of first class importance!”

“Yes sir!” came the reply. This is getting worse and worse, he thought – but it was too late. Giovanni could read his thoughts, and … He was not alive any more. The Emperor was most inconvenienced: he had to get someone else in on the job now!

“Ash,” began Mewtwo, “what I am about to tell you is to us the past, but to you the future. It all started on the day that you met these three individuals that brought you in. They have successfully foiled an attempt to have you kidnapped. That to the best of our knowledge brought about all of this – except of course that we have affected events. Now the Emperor will be looking for the two of you.“It all began with you being kidnapped. Shortly after, your father Giovanni gained at last after all of his years of work great power. He used the most advanced technology to detect Celebi and duplicate the Fundamental interactions Celebi uses for his power. With this Giovanni gained the power of Time Travel, and used this to track down other legendaries and duplicate them.

“Celebi appeared to me just before Giovanni was going to find me, and warned me that I had to get out of here and now. I went to the future with Celebi – but unfortunately even then my powers radiated in a way that allowed Giovanni to discover and duplicate them. After that he ran amok; for more than thirty years, because I had travelled in time I was nowhere to stiop Giovani. He used his power to overthrow all law and order and take control of the world. To help Team Rocket, he made their way legal and everything contrary to Team Rocket principles illegal. The history of his rise to and use of political power is told in historical records that I have been looking over since I arrived.

“When I finally rematerialised, Giovanni once again detected me. Of course on both of these occasions he was not aware of my existence – but he was aware of a power that he detected. I could simply destroy him, but he is your father, so we need you here – and besides, prevention is better than cure, and with your help and Misty’s we might be able to change history. Celebi and I have been working on a project by which people can do this – it is too dangerous to the project to behave otherwise. That is how all of this has come to be. I will tell you more in good time. However, for now you just have to rest.

“We will be bringing you some refreshments soon - ”

Guess what happened next! …

Is it:

A: Misty was given the chance to eat all she liked/could, and amazed those from the future in how seriously she took
this, or

B: Misty was dissatisfied with limited supplies?

If you answered A, you really aren’t very good at predicting the future!

“I am afraid that we have virtually nothing to spare. The rations that the Empire supplies are highly inadequate. All that I can offer each of you is a rather small bite to eat – compared to the meal standards of your own time, these are nothing. Unfortunately the Empire has been rather stingy with feeding the populations. You see, after the Empire gained Supreme Legislation, it seized control of all the rights in agriculture. It is now illegal to sell or grow food – no one can get anything unless the Empire supplies it – and they only give the peoples of the world enough to keep them alive so that they can continue to slave for them.”

“Who’s this Emperor?” asked an infuriated and starving Misty.

“That is the biggest tragedy of all. A few days after your meeting our agents, when you would have otherwise been kidnapped, you managed to get back to your friend Brock – in the form of history that records mention, you had escaped a kidnapping. But shortly after, you were caught again – Misty wasn’t, but you were, Ash – and you were killed. Misty pined away over the next few months.

“Shortly after her death, the Emperor revealed his amazing powers that not even the US Army could topple. Every nation on Earth was forced to submit to his power – every single politician renounced their position to him for fear of death. In a position where he was unquestionable, the Emperor formed a single government and dissolved all previously existing ones – and became the single dictator of the entire planet Earth.

“Using genetic engineering techniques, he produced human beings possessing the powers of Porygon and Porygon2. He produced the Porygon3 agents – not pokémon, but soldiers of evil.”

“Yes, but who is he?”

“Ash, your father is responsible for all this – head of Team Rocket, Giovanni. …”

Coming up in Part 3: as Mewtwo and his co-workers struggle to continue their work without being caught out by those who represent the Empire and could discover them very easily, Ash and Misty must be briefed on their place in averting future disaster – but the problems that face them are far bigger than they at first realise. As the clock ticks away towards 8am, it looks as if something awful is just around the corner.

Chapter III

“Finally something pertaining to weight”

Warning: the chapter below contains some serious discussion of the sources of threats to civilisations: be prepared to have some personal (mis)conceptions challenged. (The “mis” in parentheses is tenable.)

7:49 am (future time zone) – a furtive set of motions from the President arouses the suspicions of the Commander of Freedom; a quizzing confrontation ensues.

“Where are you going, President?”

“I have some unfinished business to take care of – in another time, that is.” The Commander of Freedom is concerned that this is related to the mission; if so, he needs more information. The President persuades him otherwise.

“On the contrary, I have to deal with an intergalactic peace treaty conference in the forty-first century. Last time I checked history involved it going successfully; but, if certain rumours I have heard about Porygon3 agents using their time travel technology can be at all trusted as veridical, Giovanni plans to experiment by sabotaging the distant future. You must excuse me – I have to find out whether these accusations carry any weight: that discovery will be of prime consideration to our plans.”

Satisfied, the Commander of Freedom returns to his guests to explain the next stage of events, as the President vanishes in to thin air, promising as he goes to return within a minute.

“We have a Ditto who has volunteered a Kamikaze mission to take Ash’s place in the past: unless Ash or a being resembling him is murdered in the first decade of the twenty-first century, Giovanni will continue to hunt you both. Our plan is to reverse the current trend of history: if Ash remains here, he will serve our purposes better – while Misty, knowing him to be alive, can continue her life safely in the past time zone.” However, Misty remains less convinced of the validity of this plan.

“It is only with Ash that I can continue my consumptions,” she admits. “I need financial aid, of a kind only his gym badges can provide.”

“On the contrary,” replies the Commander of Freedom, mimicking the President. “The President has already arranged a bank account in Tokyo, which has accumulating interest since shortly after the fall of American domination of the nation. It is based on certain funds that occasionally can be updated. Ever heard of the yellowcake – ” he begins, only to be interrupted.

“Only Battenburg – oh, I love that! I ate twelve plates once!”

“Let me finish: yellowcake is uranium. A few decades ago tonnes of it vanished on a ship: it was stolen and sold by the President to terrorists, then dematerialised away from them, preventing their plans, and dumped in a lunar crater in the eighteenth century BC. That fund was added to the account. You should be able to live off it permanently.” Eventually Misty concedes, provided that Ash return after a short while to her time zone. Ash, too, agrees to stay in the future, as he is sure his purposes in Mewtwo’s hands can only be admirable.

In another time zone, ancient Rome, Misty confronts Emperor Maximus, the President using telepathy learnt from the Commander of Freedom to translate between them (as the Romans spoke Latin). An agreement is settled for a challenge. …

2030’s time zone (as before) returned to below

7:51 – the President re-materialises. He has an offer for Misty. “Before returning you to your own time, I could always take you to the Roman Empire to meet its largest Emperor, Maximus. I know you are familiar already with his legendary eating fame.” An excited Misty almost jumps, limited by her own size. The President warns, however, that he would need three hours to store enough energy to transport her; so, in the mean time, she must wait in the food-barren future, or else the President can temporarily join her in her own time zone. For safety the latter is chosen: the Commander of Freedom must prepare the Time Corridor.

7:53 – the Emperor receives a visit from a member of his forces.

“The blockade of the forty-first century time vortex should diverge Celebi to the holding bay in the twenty-eighth century. We would have made a full diversion to the present day, but the technology is not up to it. Once diverted, Celebi will be powerless to escape, as If in a dark ball of the iron-masked marauder: only no number of memories will save Celebi from the imprisonment. If you are ready, sir, I will transfer you to the twenty-eighth century to coincide with the diversion. The cage itself can then be transported back with us to the twenty-first. Alternatively, you could stay here, waiting for the cage to be delivered: but, if I were you, I would prefer the option in which your own inspection confirms success in the distant future.” The Emperor concedes this point.

7:56 am – an unbelievably full Misty, not having taken in to account the salad (or, for that matter, the wine) also consumed by Maximus, returns to the distant future having two thousand years earlier agreed to a draw. It is not known how their weights compare. She is in no condition to be requesting brunch any time soon. The Commander of Freedom is about to begin the de-briefing of Ash on his rôle in bringing down Giovanni; once this is done, the corridor will once again be used, but with a Ditto impersonating Ash going down it.

7:57 am – the Emperor returns, dissatisfied by the failure of the equipment (which, form the narrative above, the reader already anticipated). “Have the Porygon3 agents found the Rebellion’s stronghold?” he asks of one slave. Apparently, not yet, but they will any time soon …

7:58 am – the President senses a disturbance, warranting a rapid shot-down of operations. “Everything has been explained to Ash, while the Ditto is prepared. Once it has accompanied Misty down the time Corridor, we will be interrupted almost immediately by Porygon3 troopers: they must not capture any of us.”

The Commander of Freedom has his concerns. “There are too many beings here for you to transport, President. You needed time with Misty; you will need even longer for the whole colony. I must transfer spatially, but not temporally, all those members of the colony whose stay in this time zone can be afforded. That’s everyone but Ash. You will have to take him elsewhere.”

“Fine,” replies the President. “I know this nice little hide-away on the seventh moon of the planet Trigano. The atmosphere is essentially like Earth, but we need not go to the future, where Giovanni’s descendants might control it. I will transfer us to that planet at a time before the evolution of the dinosaurs: on Trigano, the life forms are considerably more advanced. Feel up to it, Ash? It’s either that or the backward past of this planet.” Ash thinks about the idea; he sees that it is good.

8.00 am – the Porygon3 soldiers find nothing – not even those individuals still operating the Time Corridor.

The following events take place in another time zone on the planet Trigano. Due to relativistic effects the President’s description of its temporal location is actually a simplification.

Ash discovers a colony of “people” (for want of a better word) not unlike our own time’s Coast Salish, who believe in the need for every adult to possess at least one “power”: one of which is easting ability, although this is never tested with more than one consumer at a time (so there are not so much contests as challenges for the power eaters). There are a few other powers, but Ash is most interested in the aforementioned, since he has not revelled in his skills in this area since Misty developed a fetish for eating. However, he soon discovers that any eating ability that can be pushed to its limits does not qualify as a power; in general powers are defined quite rigorously. Ash does not seem to qualify for any of them.

He goes on to learn more about another culture, where individuals train to make moral judgements with their heads and rationality, not with their heats and prejudices (religious or otherwise): for one of their forefathers foresaw that it is emotions that make us vulnerable to the simplicity an authority can bring, before it gains domination of our beliefs, and hence of our actions and morals. Were Ash more of an intellectual, he would appreciate this more. Celebi explains.

“I have seen in my eighty-million years of life many things on many planets: many societies I have seen even on one, such as Earth, alone crumble under the inevitable demise brought by the inability of rationality to tame fear. I have seen whole nations, usually democratic, crumble in to anarchy, or a totalitarianism even worse than anarchy; I have seen authorities spreading snake-oil, usually religious authorities, slay millions in the name of their power – but always cleverly safeguarding the secret of their clandestine, true intentions. I have read the works of the occasional wise man recognise the worst aspects of humanity; I have known some to see that great men, as well as great authorities, make great mistakes. I have seen things that compare even to the things Giovanni does in the first half of the twenty-first century to your planet’s people. Ash, my boy, every race contains within it the ingredients to its own slavery: be warned that religious fundamentalism is not so much a protection against it as a source of one of these ingredients – fear – as well as fuel for another, greed.”

“Oh,” says a student rivalling Mr Hoggett for asymptotic approximation to silence relative to his conversational background. (For this reference, see The Sheep-Pig by Dick King-Smith; for thoughts on Celebi’s musings, see works such as The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, or – if you wish to pursue some non-fiction – Why I Am Not A Christian by Bertrand Russell.)

The following events take place in the early twenty-first century time zone where the most recent reference to Brock was made.

Brock is shocked to see his friends return, having recently reported their disappearance to police. He is unaware that the being he takes for Ash Ketchum is really a Ditto. They head off for their usual day’s events, which involves Misty’s gluttony reaching shocking but typical levels. A local belly-bursting (r optional) chocolate challenge, never previously met (once two-thirds completed by Sakora as she passed through – the previous record being a fifth in twice the time Sakora took to fail), is defeated in a pre-brunch snack, although Misty admits she felt her speed had been lowered by the preceding defeat of a similar event involving ice cream. (The time she had used was negligibly under the time before which Sakora had conceded.) When Misty had discovered the existence of this ice-cream challenge it had already been completed by her rival Sakora, whose achievement involved consuming more than twice as much as any before; further, Sakora moved quickly and without deceleration, even at the end having broken no sweat. Misty wanted to beat her time, however, so postponed the chocolate challenge, even though she had seen it advertised first. She comments that the effort appeared to be in vain, as not only was the observational description of her appearance and speed throughout identical with Sakora’s, but so were the two times, right down to the second. She adds that this is not over yet. …

2036 time zone – the Emperor, at 9:52, decides to dispatch some Porygon3 warriors to follow the co-ordinates of the time corridor.

“I am convinced of the existence of some sort of rebellion, a rebellion unlike the ones I crushed before my destructive psychic powers were appreciated. They have some kind of weaponry or power that can represent a threat even to me – it is the only reason they would even attempt to resist me after all these years of no one doing so. That technology proves their existence. Technicians, once you have computed the co-ordinates of the corridor’s endpoint, you know what to do. If you discover it logging any other co-ordinates from previous usages, inform me of the figures before we do anything – we could interfere with causality in a way upsetting our own intentions if we are not careful.”

11: 14 am – the co-ordinates having been traced, the warriors leave at 11: 23. In fact there has been a slight error in the computation of its location, which may buy their potential victims some time – but how much?

Back on Trigano …

“Ash, my boy,” begins the President, “I want to check you understand the details of this plan. Tell me what you understood by the instructions of the Commander of Freedom.”

“You mean Mewtwo?”

“Keep to code names my dear boy! It is vital to the survival of the rebellion.”

“Why? None of Giovanni’s spies are here – ”

“You don’t know that! With the secret of time travel in Giovanni’s hands incalculable damage to the time line has been done: areas of space-time I previously knew from personal experience to be free of trouble could be swarming with anything by now. Some parts of the timeline I have seen altered several times in my journeys through the continuum. I still cannot say whether or nor your race survives the supernova that destroys its home planet: sometimes history says you do, others do not. Now, boy, what did the Commander of Freedom” (he emphasised this last term) “say you must do?”

“Use a DNA sample of my self to hack in to Giovanni’s files, find out when he is willing to receive business deals, then go to him, claiming to be willing to hand him Mewtwo. Then we trick him in to your transporting him elsewhere in space-time.”

“I see the Commander of Freedom was quite skimpy on the details as to that location. Nevertheless, you will be familiar with the being we are bringing in to this. Before we leave this planet, I want you to receive training in some things from the locals. You must be ready to face everything the 2030’s has to throw at you before we go there.”

“Fine. When I’m trained, do we go straight to the 2030’s?”

“No. We must go first to the eighteenth century. A Lugia I left waiting there, who I have known for several thousand years, needs to come with us.”

“Why?”

“Don’t be impudent, boy!” (He had to explain what that meant.) “All will become clear once we go there.”

Coming up in Part 4: Ash takes his training on the planet Trigano. A Porygon3 group dispatched to the early twenty-first century discover the Ditto, but will they find out that it is such? If so, what effect will this have on the rebellion? Wait also for the appearance of Lugia, who will announce the true reasons for the President’s keeping quiet the details of his intentions. (By the way: this should be fairly long in comparison to the previous parts. Apologies also for the delay of this: if I told you the actual reason for the delay you would not believe me.)