Chapter 603: Lights, Camera… Action!
~Third POV~
[Unova Region, Meanwhile, Route 1]
The Unova region on a crisp morning smelled of damp earth, sweet Apricorns, and the sharp, metallic tang of coastal breeze rolling off the strip of tarmac known as Route 1. The asphalt ribbon stretched downward from Nuvema Town toward the sparkling expanse of the White Forest and the ocean beyond, lined with ancient, rustling oaks whose leaves had begun to turn the color of dried embers.
*Clack-whirrrr*
"And... cut!"
Director Yancy lowered his bulky digital camera with a groan, rubbing his temples as if trying to massage away a burgeoning migraine. Around him, the commercial shoot for the latest Devon Corp/Silph Co. collaboration—an Xtransceiver featuring a sleek, four-way communication interface—was currently devolving into a minor disaster.
On the improvised grassy stage, a trio of trained Patrat scuttled dutifully across a fallen log, dutifully sniffing out a prop device before sitting up on their hind legs and letting out synchronized chirps.
Yancy snapped, gesturing wildly at the lead actress, "Action was fine, but the emotion is completely dead, Sandra! I said heh, like you're genuinely delighted to receive a call from your boyfriend across the region! Not like you're trying to suppress a nervous tick!"
Sandra offered a strained, high-pitched giggle that made the director wince visibly. Yancy muttered, "See? Terrible."
He turned to a young woman standing near a stack of equipment boxes, her brown hair tied up in a neat ponytail, wearing a sharp, professional vest emblazoned with the initials BW. Yancy yelled, "White! Your Patrat are pros. Absolute naturals. But your human talent needs some serious coaching."
White beamed, her entrepreneurial spirit entirely unbothered by the chaos. She adjusted her clipboard with a practiced snap. She replied, "Our agency guarantees one hundred percent customer satisfaction, Mr. Director! If Sandra isn't conveying the sheer joy of Unovan connectivity, we can adjust her contract. Remember, the BW Agency is always available—call us anytime for your dramatic needs!"
The corporate representative from the manufacturing firm chuckled, patting White on the shoulder, replying, "Kid, you've got a bright future. The way you managed to source these live-action Pokémon on such short notice is impressive."
White said, her smile radiant, "Just doing our job, sir."
*SCREEECH—BOOM*
A concussive shockwave ripped across the clearing. The heavy boom knocked three lighting technicians off their folding stools, sending soft-boxes and reflectors clattering into the underbrush in a flurry of sparks and canvas. White shrieked, dropping her clipboard as a wall of sound hit them like a physical blow.
Standing atop a jagged rock outcropping at the edge of the cliff overlooking the route was a boy of about fifteen, his hair windswept, wearing a short-sleeved vest and a look of absolute, unadulterated fervor. He was screaming—not in fear, but in sheer, operatic dedication.
"I CAN FEEL IT! NINE YEARS! NINE LONG YEARS OF TRAINING, READING, STUDYING, AND PREPARING FOR THIS VERY MOMENT! THE UNTOLD GLORY OF THE POKÉMON LEAGUE AWAITS AT THE END OF CHAMPION ROAD! NOTHING CAN STOP THE BURNING FLAME OF MY DESTINY—!"
The assistant director waved his arms frantically, dodging a rolling cable. He yelled, "Hey! You up there! Shut your trap! We're filming a commercial here!"
Black blinked, his eyes snapping back to reality as the mental exhaustion of his non-stop dreaming momentarily caught up with him. He swayed slightly on his heels before catching his balance as he said sheepishly, "Oh! Ah. Sorry! I was just... you know, verbalizing my internal ambitions to maintain peak mental synchronization!"
The director shouted, his face turning the color of an overripe Oran Berry, "You're a maniac! The warm weather really does bring out every wandering weirdo in the region! White, did you bring the Tepig for tomorrow's scene?"
White crouch-walked toward her supply crates, muttering to herself as she unlatched the heavy transport case, "Yes, of course! Let's see... female Tepig, check, we have Gigi right here—wait."
She froze, her hands hovering over a second, slightly smaller Poké Ball nestled in the foam. Her eyes widened to the size of Master Balls. She began to hyperventilate, thinking to herself in a panic, 'Wait. The client requested one female and male Tepig. But through the chain of relay calls...! Oh no! The scheduler said—the assistant said—my entire organizational system is collapsing!'
The director barked, "White! We don't have time to repeat this setup!"
Before White could plunge into a full-scale existential crisis, the assistant director came barreling back from the cliffside, dodging a second wave of sound as Black resumed his monologue about type advantages.
"Director! That kid—he won't stop following me! He's reciting the entire history of the Unova Gym leaders!"
"Get security!"
"I tried, but he has a Munna and a Braviary, and he looks really intense!"
Off to the side, leaning against a mossy oak tree with a bag of roasted Pecha nuts, Azure watched the unfolding circus with an amused twitch of his lips. He wore his usual traveler's gear.
Azure murmured, tossing a nut up into the air and catching it in his mouth, "Well. Standard Tuesday in Unova, I'd say."
Over his right shoulder, a yellow electric mouse chirped agreement, "Pichu-pi!"
Atop his head, an Eevee twitched its cream-colored ruff, yawning lazily. From inside the deep pocket of Azure's jacket, a faint, translucent pink glow emanated as the Mew disguised as a Pichu wiggled its tail against his ribs.
A raspy, electronic voice echoed directly into Azure's mind, 'This girl is going to have a stroke.'
It wasn't human speech, but rather the digitized chatter of a Rotom possessing the local Arc Phone in his holster continued, 'Shall I zap the loud boy? That usually stops the monologue subroutine.'
Azure chuckled softly, leaning down to where a small, dark shadow near his boot detached itself, revealing Gengar, "Nah, let him cook, Rotom."
Gengar rasped in a wet, theatrical whisper, "Keke... the boy's head is louder than an Exploud concert… I could go inside his dream and rearrange his thoughts about bug-catching."
Azure replied, scratching behind the ghost Pokémon's ears, "Leave the kid's brain alone, Gengar. We're here to watch the local ecosystem function… Besides, look. The fire pig is escaping."
Indeed, down in the clearing, Black's starter—a round, energetic male Tepig named Tep—had rolled out of his unlatched ball with a squeal of curiosity. He bounced across the grass on his stubby legs, his curly tail wagging like a metronome until he collided snout-first with White's female Tepig, Gigi, who had just popped out of her own container.
The two little fire-types bumped snouts, instantly starting a game of tag around the stunned director's ankles, "Oink-oink!"
White shrieked, lunging forward, "Gigi! Stop that! Come back here!"
She grabbed Black by the sleeve of his vest just as he strolled up, entirely oblivious to the fact that he was crashing a professional set. Black said brightly, offering White a wide, teeth-flashing grin, "Oh, hey! Nice Tepig. I'm Black. I'm going to be the Champion. You're... uh, wearing a very nice vest."
She didn't let go of his arm; instead, she began dragging him bodily toward the wreckage of the production equipment answering, "I'm White Hilda! President of the BW Agency! Listen to me, Black-who-is-going-to-be-Champion—are you free at two o'clock tomorrow?"
Black exclaimed in surprise as he replied, "What? Why would I be free? I have gym training to—"
They arrived at the central production hub just as a heavy silence fell over the crew. Five grips and lighting technicians were sprawled out across the grass, completely unconscious, their limbs scattered at odd angles.
White gasped, dropping her clipboard for the second time that morning, "What happened here?!"
The producer immediately pointed an accusing finger straight at Black's chest and exclaimed, "It was him! He's not part of the crew! He came in here shouting about stadiums and leagues, and now half my staff is down for the count!"
The assistant director screeched, "Call the police! He's a saboteur!"
Azure's voice cut through the rising panic like a cold blade. He stepped out from the shade of the oak, hands buried casually in his pockets, Pikachu shifting to his other shoulder with a sharp look in its dark eyes, "Whoa, hold your rapidash! There's no proof he did anything. Unless your crew members were knocked out by sheer volume, which—admittedly—is a possibility given his lung capacity."
White blinked, staring at Azure. Her brain, already fried from the dual Tepig crisis, tried to process the teenager's face. She couldn't help but think, 'Wait. Where have I seen him? That hair... those eyes... wasn't he on the front page of the Sinnoh Times holding some medal shaped like a—'
Black barked suddenly, his face flushing red as he puffed out his chest, "I DON'T NEED YOU TO DEFEND ME!"
He shoved past White with the blunt force of a Tauros. He declared, "I can prove my own innocence! True observation requires absolute mental clarity!"
He reached up, gently lifting a round, pink, floating creature with leaf-like ears from his shoulder. He said, "Musha. Time to work."
White cried, backing away. "Black, what are you doing with that Munna?!"
Black hissed, pressing a finger to his lips, explaining, "Shh! Musha is eating my dream about the third Gym leader's signature Pokémon. Once my mind goes blank, I can process the crime scene data like a supercomputer!"
Azure watched with a grin, whispering to the Eevee on his head, "Watch this. Classic deduction time."
Black stood statue-still for five seconds. His eyes rolled slightly backward as Munna's psychic tendrils filtered through his skull. Then, his eyes snapped open with a terrifying clarity.
Black proclaimed, holding up three fingers, "Three clues! First: every single unconscious person was holding a metal object—tripods, reflectors, or booms. Second: there is a distinct, lingering scent of scorched insulation and ozone in the air, distinct from standard electrical fires. Third: they are positioned in a concentric circle centered around that patch of scorched clover!"
Azure called out, playing along, leaning against a tree trunk, "Okay, Detective Dreamer. And the culprit?"
Black commanded, ignoring Azure's teasing tone, "Put on your electric-resistant gloves, Tep!"
He slid a pair of thick rubber work-gloves over his hands and dropped to his knees. He pulled a small, glowing red ember from Tep's snout and swept it close to the damp earth. Tepig followed as commanded.
*Frit-chzzt*
A hair-thin, shimmering thread of monofilament silk erupted from the grass, glowing a dull blue under the heat. Black warned White, who had tried to step forward, "Careful! That's an electrically charged tripwire! If you touch it, you'll join the crew in dreamland!"
With a flick of his wrist, Black recalled his Munna and tossed a heavy Poké Ball upward. He declared, "Brav! Field position!"
*POP*
A magnificent, large-taloned Braviary burst into the air with a razor-sharp cry, its wings beating a gale-force wind that cleared the smoke from the clearing. At Black's direction, the flying-type used its powerful talons to hook beneath the buried monofilament line, yanking it upward like a fisherman hauling a massive net from the deep sea.
*CRACK-ZAP*
With a furious screech that sounded like grinding metal, an enormous, eight-legged arachnid burst from a burrow beneath the roots of the oak tree. Its body was a vibrant pattern of yellow and black, its mandibles dripping with crackling static electricity. White gasped, stumbling backward until she hit Azure's shoulder. "A Galvantula!"
She didn't even register that the older boy was steadying her with a solid hand. She exclaimed in shock, seeing the Galvantula, "Route 1 is supposed to be safe! Why is an Electric-Bug type here?!"
Black said, his voice dropping into a low, intense hum of absolute determination, "It's not just here—it made this clearing its hunting ground."
He didn't look afraid; if anything, his eyes were practically sparkling, continuing, "This is it! My first real Unova battle in the wild! If I run away from a single spider, how can I ever face the elite trainers at the Pokémon League?"
White groaned, clutching her head, "He's going to get himself flattened."
Azure said smoothly, using the title she had accidentally implied earlier, "Relax. Let the kid fight. His partner looks ready."
Down in the dirt, the Galvantula reared back, its compound eyes flashing as it spat a thick, electrified web directly at Tep's face.
Black yelled, "Tep! Dodge and weave!"
The little fire pig moved with astonishing, rubber-ball agility, sliding under the sticky projectile just as it sizzled into the grass. The crew members who were still conscious covered their ears as Black's voice reached a new crescendo, "Now! Use Ember on your own thread trail!"
White shouted, "Wait, what?! Is your Pokémon trying to commit arson?!"
Tep didn't hesitate. He spun around and spat a small, concentrated ball of fire straight into the web-line Braviary had pulled taut. Because the silk was coated in conductive oils and specialized spider-venom, the flame didn't just burn—it traveled along the entire invisible perimeter at supersonic speed, doubling back like a whip made of pure plasma.
*BOOOM*
The feedback loop struck the Galvantula dead-center. A wall of white-hot smoke and ash erupted across the clearing, sending leaves swirling into the autumn air. When the dust finally settled, the giant spider wobbled on its remaining legs for three seconds before its eyes rolled back into its head with a soft thud.
Before the smoke had even cleared, Black whipped a standard Poké Ball from his belt. Then hurled it at Galvantula.
*Whoosh-click*
The red light engulfed the arachnid, pulled it inside, and rocked back and forth once... twice...
*BON*
Black cheered, pumping his fist into the air so hard his shoulder popped, "Got 'em! That's capture number one! The journey to the championship has officially commenced!"
The director, having finally picked himself up from behind a camera case, looked around at the scorched earth, the fried lighting rigs, and the unconscious grips. His eye twitched, exclaiming, "My... my equipment... the grass... the insurance is going to murder me. Kid! How are you going to pay for all of this?!"
Black froze, his triumphant grin slowly sliding off his face as he looked down at the blackened turf nervously replying, "Uh. Well. You see... my budget consists mostly of three hundred yen and a half-eaten Oran Berry."
Before the director could explode into another tirade, White stepped forward. With a dramatic flourish of her clipboard, she placed herself directly between the furious film director and the bewildered teenager.
White said, her voice dripping with the honeyed confidence of a seasoned corporate shark, "Mr. Director! The BW Agency takes full responsibility."
Black blinked, asking confused, "We do?"
White said through a rigid, unblinking smile, pinching Black's arm hard enough to make him yelp, "Yes. Because Mr. Black here is our newest, most elite field operative! The damages will simply be deducted from his future commission—which, starting today, is negative five thousand percent."
Azure burst out laughing, leaning against the oak tree as Pikachu patted his knee in sympathy, "Pika-pi!"
Gengar's voice bubbled up from Azure's shadow, a small, spectral claw emerging to wipe a tear of mirth from its eye, "The chick is vicious. I like her. She'd make a fine addition to the Gengar Sect payroll."
Black protested, trying to pull his arm away, "Wait, I'm an employee now?! I didn't sign any contracts! I need to get—!"
White hissed through her teeth, her eye twitching in rhythm with the director's interrupting Black's words, "Shut up and carry the equipment, employee."
She turned back to the production team with a radiant, professional bow, saying, "Thank you for choosing the BW Agency! We look forward to fulfilling all your dramatic needs tomorrow morning at two o'clock sharp!"
As White began her brisk, authoritative march down the trail toward Accumula Town—effectively dragging a loudly complaining Black by his collar while the two Tepigs bounced happily behind them—Azure pushed off the tree, his traveling pack slung over one shoulder.
Azure muttered, adjusting his Arc Phone as it hummed to life, "Come on. Let's see what the town has to offer. Unova is shaping up to be loud."
High above the tree line, half-hidden in the golden canopy of Route 1's autumn leaves, N in a patched green cloak lowered his pair of binoculars. His face was twisted in a mask of bitter, burning resentment as he watched the humans marshal their Pokémon like actors on a stage.
N whispered, his knuckles whitening around the strap of his bag, "More of them... Using them for commercials... for battles... for entertainment. When will they ever realize that Pokémon aren't tools?"
He turned silently, disappearing into the dense brush toward Accumula Town, leaving behind only the rustle of leaves and the distant, echoing shout of Black still talking about the Pokémon League.
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A/N: Hope you like the chapter!