Party Level Equalization
“I wonder what sent all those Pokémon crazy!” Goh said, frowning, then glanced at Ash and Dawn. “And I’m amazed at how calm you two were! You didn’t even need to hear what the problem was – you just went ahead and solved it!”
“Well, yeah,” Dawn shrugged. “If you know, you just do what solves it, right? You know.”
“Yeah!” Ash agreed. “And when Pokémon are fighting like that, that’s usually because they’re angry, and so getting wet can snap them out of it! Plus, Piplup does it with a lot of skill, so a Pokémon that might still fight anyway knows that Piplup is much more of a challenge than they might expect.”
“Lup piplup PIP!” Piplup said, proudly.
“Chuu, Pika kachuu,” Pikachu advised him.
“But still!” Goh said. “Being able to work that out, that quickly, is… it’s really impressive!”
Dawn looked at him, curiously.
“So how long have you been travelling with Ash, anyway?” she asked.
“Goh isn’t really a Pokémon trainer most of the time,” Ash said, waving his hand. “So for him, he’s always looking in from the inside, right?”
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” Dawn realized. “Yeah, I guess it would be a big deal, then.”
A moment later, a glowing light surrounded them, and Goh, Ash, Dawn and their respective Pokémon found themselves in a kind of mystical realm with glowing blue energy surrounding them.
Three odd shapes appeared, and Goh held up his phone. “What Pokémon are those?”
“Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf!” Ash said, waving. “Hi, guys! Are you actually here or are you just a vision? And if you’re a vision, is it an interactive one or not?”
Azelf flew down to hover in front of Ash.
Okay, so the answer’s a bit complicated, the spirit of willpower said. Long story short, yeah, it’s a vision, but it’s kind of an interactive one.
Problem is, we’re not allowed to give some of the details, Mesprit went on, addressing Dawn. It’s okay, the boss will be along in a minute.
Uxie floated down in front of Goh, and looked contemplative, which was impressive given that their eyes were closed.
...yeah, you’ll do, they declared. Though, personal advice from me? Seek out more knowledge, and maybe learn to cook. It seems to help.
Their tails flicked. Anyway, you’re going to be going through a mind expanding experience, so keep it in mind.
“...uh,” Goh said, not at all sure how to cope with that.
I said mind expanding, Uxie chided. Don’t just lock up and refuse to think about it!
Then the world around them changed, the dominant colour going from the cool blue of a deep lake to the hot red and orange of the sun’s light, and Arceus appeared above them in this strange, liminal space.
“Oh, hi!” Ash called, waving.
“Pika kachuu!” Pikachu agreed.
“It’s been a while!” Dawn said.
Goh’s Grookey scratched his head, tilting it. “Key? Groo-key?”
“Pika pipi chuu!” Pikachu replied.
“Yeah, we’ve met,” Ash told Grookey, just to confirm. “Hey, Arceus, what is it this time? Do we help you get to your senses again, or is something up with your kids?”
“And what’s up?” Dawn added. “The Lake Guardians made it sound serious, but I wouldn’t mind if you showed up now and then for a social visit!”
Arceus stepped closer, then shook His head.
“Oh, there’s no point trying to be numinous with you two, is there?” He asked. “It’s been a while, Dawn. Ash, I think we last saw one another in Dahara?”
“Yeah!” Ash agreed. “With Hoopa – did you help out, there, actually? I know that the siblings there had amulets shaped like your ring, is that relevant?”
“I did help, yes,” Arceus confirmed. “But it’s one of those things where I prefer for things to be sorted out without getting involved personally, because I can help out in a lot of places at once but only be personally involved in one. And what makes it worse is that I’m still a Pokémon and so it can actually hurt a lot if I’m hit with an attack.”
“You two know… Arceus?” Goh asked. “Isn’t that the Creator of the universe?”
“I though that was Mew,” Dawn said, frowning.
“Chuu, Pipipi, pika kachu!” Pikachu said.
“Lup-pip!” Piplup countered.
“Chuu,” Pikachu giggled.
“Yeah, I wondered about that but I asked Brock once,” Ash replied. “We don’t know how it happened, but the infinite void of nothingness had an egg.”
“That’s about right, actually,” Arceus conceded, scratching one of His forelegs against the back of the other. “Mew was involved but I don’t know all of the details… anyway, yes, I’m afraid it isn’t a social visit. Team Galactic either did something involving time and space and reality or are about to do something involving time and space and reality, I don’t know which. Because of the… time, involved.”
“Can we stop them?” Ash asked. “Or is this one of those things where we have to fix it, or make it so that it never happened in the first place?”
“Honestly I do not know which,” Arceus said. “But I trust you, Ash, Dawn. And Goh is your friend so he can hopefully keep up.”
“Uh,” Goh began. “I’m… not actually a battler? Or a Coordinator? I just… catch Pokémon. A lot. And I like Mew?”
Arceus looked at Goh, then at Uxie.
Look, Mesprit and Azelf had already bagsied one of the other two and Cynthia wasn’t close enough to be caught in the vision space, the Being of Knowledge said. Otherwise, yeah, I’d have picked her.
“So be it, then,” Arceus said. “We do not have time to quibble.”
He exerted a fraction of His enormous power, and Goh glowed briefly.
“Congratulations, you are now a Mew,” Arceus said. “It’s still going to leave you working hard to catch up with the Apex of Willpower and the Apex of Emotion, but knowledge is a quest that is always incomplete anyway so it’s not a problem for the resonance. Just pick it up as you go along.”
A moment later, they were back where they’d started.
“I’ll let Cynthia know what happened,” Dawn decided.
“Yeah, I wonder if we’ve got time for me to pick up Dragonite?” Ash said.
“What did he mean, I’m now a Mew?” Goh demanded, then turned into a small pink floating Pokémon.
“Chu!” Pikachu said, helpfully.
Yeah, I get that now, Goh replied, slowly rotating. Uh. Anyone know how to float upright?