A Journey's Link

Chapter 45 - Impersonations

The light around Greninja glowed brightly, while Ash and the siblings looked onward in worry. "Professor Sycamore, how are you sure this won't hurt Greninja?" Clemont asked, which worried Ash even more because not even Clemont, the inventor, knew how this machine would affect Greninja.

"It won't," Sycamore said somewhat confidently. "At least, the simulations tell me that it won't." Ash was aware of his lack of knowledge when it came to scientific machines and inventions, but even he knew that Sycamore's claim was somewhat suspicious. "Professor, please stop the machine!" Ash pleaded, worried that his partner was going to get hurt, or even worse.

"Hold on, Ash!" Sycamore exclaimed in return. "Just a little longer! We need to draw out Greninja's full power!" He watched the light surrounding Greninja in anticipation as if he was waiting for something to happen. What happened next almost made Ash have a heart attack.

"GREN!" Greninja screamed in pain, almost as if it was being attacked by the strongest attack in the world. "That's enough!" Ash roared, running over to where Sycamore was, who, all the while this was happening, was watching in disbelief and horror as Greninja was crying. "Where's the off switch!?" Ash yelled at Sycamore, who remained motionless and failed to answer Ash.

Scoffing, Ash decided to take matters into his own hands. He searched around the area Sycamore was standing in and found the switch that he had pulled to start the machine. Here goes nothing, Ash thought, pulling the switch and turning around to face where Greninja was standing.

The light began fading around Greninja, revealing him to be pretty badly injured. "Greninja!" Ash exclaimed, running over to his Pokemon. "Gren-nin..." Greninja said weakly, falling over into Ash's arms. "What did you do?" Clemont asked Sycamore, who was speechless and didn't respond. "Yeah, you big meanie!" Bonnie exclaimed. "Why?"

"I-I didn't know it would..." Sycamore began, stopping his sentence as Ash glared at him menacingly. "You didn't know it would hurt him?!" Ash yelled, running out of the room with Greninja in his arms to get to the Pokemon Center. "Wait! I'm coming, too!" Bonnie exclaimed, running after the two in hopes Greninja would get better.

Clemont, surprisingly enough, stayed behind and stared at Sycamore. He was a bit more levelheaded compared to Ash, so he wanted to know why Sycamore was even trying to discover something in the first place. "What was the point of that?" Clemont asked. "It was stupid. You didn't even know what would happen."

Sycamore sighed and sat down, putting his hands on his face. Clara, who had watched the whole thing, quietly left, realizing the tension in the room and wanting to be anywhere that wasn't that room. "It's all my fault," Sycamore said, which confused Clemont, as that wasn't an answer to his question.

"What was your fault? Hurting Greninja?" Clemont asked, going along with Sycamore's avoidance of the question. "Well, yes, but also," Sycamore said, lifting his head. "I thought maybe I could make Greninja so much more powerful." Clemont was confused as to why Professor Sycamore out of all people would want to create a powerful Pokemon.

"But why?" Clemont asked. "Why do you even need Greninja to be stronger? You already know how strong he and Ash can become together." Sycamore suddenly stood up and slammed his hand on the desk, startling Clemont and causing him to back up a little bit.

"Because, Clemont, if we don't make them stronger, then we're ALL in danger!" Sycamore exploded, seemingly out of nowhere. "If we don't make Ash-Greninja stronger and more powerful, then the Zygarde core will destroy us all." He sat back down again after his yelling and regained a more composed posture. "Its power could be harnessed to ruin all of us."

Clemont was shocked at not only Sycamore's outburst, but his knowledge of the imposing threat. "How do you know exactly what will happen, though?" Clemont asked, questioning Sycamore's reasoning. Sycamore looked up and sighed again. "Because they came last night and took her away. They told me everything."