New Scene(Previously_On_Trigamon) { … }
New Scene()
Ash and company (+Vito) are walking through a soot-covered meadow on the way to Fallarbor Town. As they walk, they grass is slowly getting shorter.
Ash: Benjy, I know we’ve asked you before, but are you really going to keep Celebi?
Benjy shrugs, and Ash looks at him curiously.
Benjy: I intend to, but Celebi might have other plans.
Ash: Like how so?
Benjy: Celebi can timetravel, right? If it wanted to, it could travel to some other time period and there wouldn’t be any way for us to retrieve it.
Ash: Yeah, I guess… That never occurred to me. And since it’s not with you right now, does that mean…?
Benjy: Who knows.
Benjy sighs.
May: Maybe Celebi is hungry so it went straight to dinner time.
Max: Then why would it have missed breakfast?
May: Good point…
May seems disappointed.
Coal: Maybe it’s only used to eating once a day.
Max: I think you’re splitting hairs.
Coal: You never know.
The Millennium Gameboy Advance pulses on.
Yami Benjy: Coal, there’s something we’ve been meaning to ask you.
Coal: Something about Ogel?
Yami Benjy: M-hm. You see…
QST.camera zooms out to where the entire group can be seen walking through the fields. Coal and Yami Benjy can be seen talking, but their voices cannot be heard. The wind now blows through route 113, blowing some of the soot off of the plants. After about five seconds (real time), QST.camera zooms in on the group.
Coal: I don’t know of any Team Alpha…
Yami Benjy: In the comic, they were known as Alpha Team, not–
Coal: Still, this is the first I’ve ever heard that phrase. But I know Ogel got his start as a member of Team Rocket.
Ash: He did?!
Coal: It really shouldn’t surprise you. Just about all of the criminals you’ll find around here got their starts in Team Rocket. It’s like a breeding ground.
Max: Do you know why he left?
Coal: Not really. But he’s more after power than money. He didn’t follow me like Team Rocket follows you, our paths just kept crossing.
The meadow now ends, and Ash and company find them selves walking on a dirt road, with Fallarbor Town in the distance.
New Scene(@Temporal=Late_Morning)
Ash and company (+Vito) arrive at the edge of Fallarbor Town, looking down at it from atop a hill.
Ash: Do you really think Celebi’s coming back?
Benjy shrugs.
Max: Sure doesn’t look like it
Benjy sighs.
Benjy: Just… Let it go. Guys…
Benjy scans Fallarbor Town from the hill, finally pointing something out.
Benjy: That looks like the contest hall. But where’s Professor Cosmo supposed to be?
Vito: You’re looking for Professor Cosmo?
Benjy nods.
Vito: I can show you where his house is
Brock: You seeing Cosmo too?
Vito: Umm… no.
May: Come on, you can tell us!
Vito: Uhh… No, no I can’t.
May and Max stare at Vito with curiosity in their eyes, and begin staring so intently that Vito starts backing up.
Coal: Oh, please. You’re more mature than that… aren’t you?
Coal’s comment elicits no change in May or Max’s behavior, and Benjy asks Vito to show him where Professor Cosmo is. Vito agrees, but before they set off May makes Benjy promise that he won’t go home without telling them first. Vito and Benjy now start heading down into Fallarbor. Ash, Max, Brock, and Coal also start heading down a adjacent trail. May stares and watches Benjy and Vito go.
Ash: Hey May, are you feeling alright?
May turns bright red, then darts after the four boys.
New Scene()
Benjy and Vito are waiting at the corner of a street in Fallarbor for the light to turn. The walk signal comes on and Benjy starts to cross the street.
Vito: Benjy, this way.
Benjy quickly jumps back to the sidewalk as the signal switches from a green man to an orange flashing hand, and then an orange hand. Vito points to the street running perpendicular to the one that Benjy was about to cross, and as soon as the light changes, both start to cross.
Vito: I bet you’re wondering too, aren’t you.
Benjy: Well, you did make everyone curious. You’re not entering the contest, are you?
Vito: No, but maybe I should for the next one. Cosmo’s on the way to where I need to go, just promise you won’t follow me, okay?
Benjy: Sure, but if I get lost…
Vito sighs.
Vito: Cosmo’s just up this block.
Vito and Benjy now cross another street.
Vito: His house looks like all the others, except for the all the things coming out of his roof. It’s hard to miss.
Benjy: Wait, will he be expecting me?!
Yami Benjy: Even after what happened yesterday, I can still talk to him if I need to.
As Benjy starts walking down the street, Vito turns the corner.
Vito: You got it? Take care!
Benjy: Think so. You too!
With this, Vito walks around the corner and out of sight as Benjy waves to him. Benjy then starts walking along the sidewalk.
Yami Benjy: Are you sure you don’t want to spend more time here? In this world?
Benjy: That’s irrelevant; it’s not where I belong.
QST.camera shifts around Benjy, synchronizing with Benjy’s sight as he looks for Professor Cosmo’s house, then de-synchronizing with Benjy’s sight when he fails to spot it.
Benjy: I seriously doubt that Cosmo will send me home just by snapping his fingers. It’s not like there are any ruby slippers that–
Yami Benjy: We don’t still have them, do we?
Benjy: They’re back in Mountain View. I think everyone else has forgotten about them.
Yami Benjy: But Benjy…
Benjy: I want to be able to sleep in my own bed again.
Yami Benjy: Benjy, I see it!
Benjy: You see it?
Yami Benjy: Right up ahead! Look!
QST.camera shifts from Benjy to Professor Cosmo’s house in the distance with several telescopes protruding from the roof. The trees in the yard behind the house seem to be clipped in such a way that the telescopes all have a clear view of the sky. The Millennium Gameboy Advance pulses with light as Benjy approaches Cosmo’s door.
New Scene()
A woman is working on a laptop at a desk in Professor Cosmo’s house when a knock comes on the door. (The room the woman is working in is right off the hallway with the door, on the right side for someone leaving the house). This woman suddenly looks up. About one second later (real time) the knock comes again gently.
Woman: Now whom could that be?
Revert Scene()
Yami Benjy knocks on the door again, and the door opens, with the woman on the inside.
Woman: Hello? Are you lost?
Yami Benjy: I don’t think so. I’m looking for Professor Cosmo.
Woman: I’m sorry, the professor does not have office hours at–
Yami Benjy: Excuse me?
Woman: I take it you’re one of his students at the community college, are you not?
Yami Benjy shakes his head.
Yami Benjy: I was told that Professor Cosmo would be able to help me get home.
The woman eyes Yami Benjy confusedly.
Woman: Where do you live?
Yami Benjy: A place called "Earth." Lily, a librarian in Mauville told me–
Woman: So that’s what that was.
The woman lets out a long sigh.
Woman: Sheesh.
Yami Benjy: She told me that Professor Cosmo would be able to help me locate a lost logia called the "Flames of Lorin."
Woman: That woman…
Yami Benjy: Something the matter?
Woman: The last thing Cosmo needs is another project. Umm, lets see… He’s not home right now, I’m afraid…
Yami Benjy starts to thank the woman.
Man’s Voice: It’s okay, Emily. I’m here.
Woman → Emily: Professor! What are you doing home?!
A short gray-haired man appears in the doorway.
Man → Cosmo: I have to retune the telescope. The Millennium Comet will be visible in just a few days.
Professor Cosmo doesn’t seem in the least bit ruffled by Emily’s frantic tone.
Emily: Professor! What about your class?!
Cosmo: Didn’t I tell you? I cancelled the classes for the next week and a half.
Emily: You what?!
Cosmo: We have much better telescopes than we had last time it was in the sky. We can’t let this opportunity go to waste!
Emily: Cosmo! You have a job!
Cosmo: If I don’t do research, I’ll have nothing to teach them. Emily, please let the technician in, if we don’t get it calibrated.
Emily: Professor, this isn’t the technician you called for…
Professor Cosmo looks to Yami Benjy.
Cosmo: You sure?
Emily: This is the person Lily told you about. The technician couldn’t make it.
Cosmo: You cancelled him, didn’t you?
Emily: YOU have a JOB!
Cosmo: Relax, I gave them an assignment over the next two weeks. Any observations of the Millennium Comet earn them extra credit.
Cosmo now addresses Yami Benjy.
Cosmo: Come on in!
Emily: Cosmo?!
Cosmo: Emily, that was technically illegal. Now we have to get the telescope retrained.
Yami Benjy walks past Emily who fumes.
Yami Benjy: Um…
Cosmo: I’m going to need your help.
Yami Benjy: I’m here about the Flames of Lorin though…
Cosmo: Yes, yes. I can get to that as soon as the telescope is sufficiently functional. For the love of crying out loud, Emily…
Emily is no longer visible on QST.camera, but her fuming can be heard coming from behind Yami Benjy. Professor Cosmo turns to Yami Benjy as they walk.
Cosmo: You know about telescopes, right?
Yami Benjy: Um…
Yami Benjy: Benjy?
Benjy: Just a little…
Yami Benjy: Only a little.
Cosmo: Then how do you expect to find the Flames?
Yami Benjy: Lily suggested I search for it in a spaceship.
Cosmo: Do you know how to fly a spaceship?
Yami Benjy: Uh…
Cosmo: Thought so. Scanning with a telescope is going to be a lot quicker than visiting every comet and asteroid in the galaxy.
Yami Benjy: What?!
Professor Cosmo smiles at Yami Benjy, then shows him up a flight of stairs into an upstairs room.
New Scene()
In a room set up like an observatory, Benjy unscrews a broken something from the center of the floor, while Professor Cosmo looks for pieces for the telescope. Benjy’s Pixielite buzzes nearby Cosmo, ready to assist if needed.
Benjy: So do we have a new base?
Cosmo: I’ll have to borrow one from the observatory at the college. Those things aren’t supposed to break…
Benjy now pulls a screw out of the piece of metal that attaches the base to the floor.
Benjy: I think that this is what caused it to break.
Professor Cosmo comes over to see what Benjy is pointing to, but can’t see it, even after putting his glasses on.
Cosmo: Excuse me, you’ll have to help me.
Benjy shivers slightly, then allows Cosmo to put a hand on his back to help steady himself. Bending over the floor-plate, Cosmo stares nervously, saying that he still doesn't see what the issue it.
Benjy: There’s a crack right along here…
Benjy traces the outline of the crack with his finger, and Professor Cosmo puts away his current glasses and takes out another pair, through which he stares at the floor-plate.
Benjy: Um…
Cosmo: I see it now. That Emily, she’s gone too far this time!
Benjy: But it looks like the kind of thing that would be caused by the heating and cooling of the metal.
Cosmo: Maybe I jumped the gun… We do have another one of those, however.
As Cosmo finishes talking, Pixielite brings in another floor plate from the closet.
Cosmo: Thank you. And now the rest will be trivial. That explains why the measurements were never the same twice.
Benjy nods expectantly.
Cosmo: The more I think about it, Lily probably sent you to me so I could use the telescope to search. But why are you so interested in the Flames?
Benjy: That’s a long story.
Refresh Scene(@Temporal = Afternoon)
@META { At the start of this scene, the intercom in the pokémon center is on continual repeat, constantly saying, "Nurse Joy, please call the office." When no one is talking, it can be heard in the background. When a character starts talking (or having audible thoughts), the intercom’s output volume on QST.camera is toned down to allow that those words or thoughts to be audible to the audience. }
Ash, May, Max, Coal, and Brock are standing in line to register for the Fallarbor Contest. The registration area attached to the pokémon center is full of bright colors and packed with people.
May: So if Cosmo really can send Benjy home…
Max: He promised you he’d say goodbye before he left, didn’t he?
May: Yes, but…
May hesitates for a couple seconds, allowing the intercom to be heard.
May: What if he can’t?
Ash: What do you mean?
May: I don’t know? What happens if he has to leave right then in order to go home, or else he’ll miss his chance.
Brock: I’ve got a feeling Benjy isn’t going anywhere.
Max: You don’t think Cosmo will be able to–
Coal: Yeah, the only question is if he’ll be coming back very disappointed or extremely disappointed. So don’t start to cry, sheesh.
The line starts to move forwards, and the intercom can be heard again. Meanwhile QST.camera shifts to a girl meditating with a Medicham at her side, whom Coal catches a glimpse of out of the corner of his eye, but thinks nothing of, as he turns back to May, eyeing her nervously.
Coal: You’re such a moe. Now that I think about it, maybe back in Slateport Benjy won more than he bargained for.
The line moves forwards again allowing Ash and company to get to the sign up counter. Ash, Max, Coal, and Brock all wait for May to sign up herself and beautifly (QST.camera shows May’s writing on the sign-in sheet, which is about average for a 10-year-old). Ash, Max, Coal, and Brock then move out of the line with her, and QST.camera shifts to a pair of girls watching them, whispering and pointing.
QST:Whisper {
Girl1: Wow, how come she looks like a total newbie but she already has a fan club?
Girl2: She’s probably one of those prodigies that they’re always talking about. Don’t worry though, you and that Sunflora of yours will kick her (bleep).
Girl1: Do you think that man is her manager?
The first girl gestures to Coal.
Girl2: One of them.
The second girl gestures back and forth at Coal and Brock. Coal sees this, although he pretends that he doesn't
Girl2: Well, probably. I was watching her in line. She’s so moe that there’s no way she’d enter a contest on her own accord. Careful that when you go up against her, you don’t say anything that might make her break down in tears, or else you have all the media on your tail. You’re not listening, are you?
}
The second girl turns to glance at the first, and then follows the first girl’s line of sight to where she is watching Ash/May/Brock/Coal hand their pokémon to Nurse Joy to heal. After a few seconds she turns back to her friend.
Girl2: Well, you’re pretty moe yourself so you won’t have to worry.
QST.camera zooms out slowly to show Drew walk by right in front of QST.camera.
Drew: All sounds awfully fishy to me…
Suddenly, both Drew and the two girls start floating, Drew gasps and the two girls scream and grab their skirts. Max turns as everyone in the pokémon center is lifted into the air with some green glowing energy.
Ash: What’s going on?!
Coal: If I had to guess, it would be that one right there.
Coal points, and Ash takes out his pokédex, pointing it at the girl and Medicham from earlier.
Ash’s Pokédex: Humans are a kind of primate and the most common species on Fenyra.
Ash: I meant the pokémon!
Ash’s Pokédex: Medicham, the Meditate Pokémon. Through the power of meditation, Medicham developed its sixth sense and the ability to use psychokinetic powers. This Pokémon is known to meditate for a whole month without eating.
Ash: A whole month, huh…
Ash and company pause for a moment just long enough for the intercom to say a single line.
Max: I don’t care how often it eats! Make it stop!
Ash stares at Medicham curiously.
Brock: Hmm, I wonder if…
Brock reaches into his backpack and pulls out a small bag of pokémon food. Emptying some pellets into his hand, Brock tries to throw the pellets at Medicham, but the pellets of food just hang in the air along with everything else. Suddenly the pokémon center door opens and everyone falls to the ground, as if Medicham’s psychic has suddenly disappeared.
May: Ow!
Drew: Oof!
Benjy enters the pokémon center, eyes glowing slightly.
Ash: Hey Benjy!
Benjy looks over to Ash, and starts to make his way around the people who’ve fallen.
Benjy: What happened?
Max: That Medicham happened!
Benjy turns in the direction that Max is pointing.
Brock: Did you find Professor Cosmo?
Benjy: Yes, and he now thinks that his daughter is actively sabotaging his research.
Brock: What?!
May: You don’t mean…
Benjy: It looks like there’s going to be a lot of drama around that place, so I came here.
A woman approaches Benjy.
Woman: Excuse me, how did you stop that Medicham from…
Benjy: I… I didn’t.
Woman: But right when you walked in.
Coal: Correlation does not imply causation.
Woman: Well, it’s doing it again, and just in that part of the pokémon center…
QST.camera shifts to where Medicham is levitating people and objects telekinetically again, but the objects quickly fall as soon as Benjy turns around.
Benjy: I don’t…
Coal: Benjy, please turn around again.
Benjy looks at Coal curiously.
Benjy: What do you mean?
Brock scratches his chin.
Brock: It seems to be unable to manifest it’s psychic power when Benjy’s looking at it.
Benjy turns to face Brock, and the telekinetic effects start up again.
Coal: Now look…
Benjy turns abruptly, just in time to see the levitated objects fall.
Fallen Person: Would you cut it out?!
Benjy: S-sorry.
At this point, a loud squeaking noise comes out of the speakers and the intercom ceases to function.
May: Benjy, turn around again.
The Millennium Gameboy Advance pulses with light as if in response to May’s comment.
Yami Benjy: I think it’s time we wake up sleepyhead over there. Pixielite!
Pixielite emerges from it’s capsule.
Yami Benjy: Gently.
Pixielite flies across the room in the blink of an eye and gently taps both Medicham and it’s trainer with it’s wing until they both wake up. Pixielite then flies away, leaving the Medicham and it’s trainer staring down a horde of angry coordinators.
Medicham’s_Trainer: Can we help you?
QST.camera zooms out to where Ash and company are, as Pixielite lands on Yami Benjy’s shoulder.
Brock: So would you mind explaining what the deal is with Cosmo?
Before Benjy can answer, the Medicham’s trainer bursts out in a fit of giggles. QST.camera zooms in on this trainer:
Medicham’s_Trainer: That’s so funny!
One of the nearby trainers seems to get really angry at this, and throws a punch at the Medicham’s trainer, who catches the blow much to his surprise, despite her sitting position, giggling as she does. QST.camera now shifts back to Ash and company.
Benjy: She’s going to be tough to beat.
Brock: I agree with that.
Ash: How do you know?
Brock: Just looking at her, right Benjy?
Benjy: The eccentric types are never pushovers.
Benjy glances down at his wrist nervously, even though he isn’t wearing a watch.
Brock: Something the matter?
Benjy: Thinking if I should go back to Professor Cosmo. I don’t know what to do at this point.
Ash: You said it was a conflict with his daughter about research, right?
Benjy: He cancelled a couple of classes so he could research this Millennium Comet thing, but his daughter thinks he should be teaching.
Brock: You know, that’s something I think I can fix.
As Brock says this, he starts walking towards the door of the pokémon center, unbeknownst to Benjy.
Benjy: Thanks Brock.
Benjy lets out a sigh.
Coal: You realize that you just let a bull loose in a china shop, right?
Benjy: I fail to understand how.
Ash: Brock is some opportunist.
Benjy: I still don’t… Hold on…
For five seconds (real time), ticking sounds can be heard as Benjy thinks. A thought bubble appears over Benjy’s head, and at first shows Brock moderating the debate, then suddenly talking on Emily’s behalf. Then a heart appears between Brock and Emily.
Benjy: What have I done?!
Benjy suddenly bolts for the door of the pokémon center, and Coal sends Max after Benjy to help him; Max then follows this instruction.
Ash: Wait, May, you’re all registered right?
May: I think so…
Ash: Then what are we waiting here for?!
Coal: Actually, they still need to verify…
Contest Administrator: Now verifying number 48!
Coal: That’s us!
Ash: It is?
Coal shows Ash a slip of paper with the number 48 on it, and directs him and May to the counter where the contest administrator is sitting.
New Scene()
Benjy and Max hurry along a sidewalk in Fallarbor.
Max: So his house is this way?
Benjy: Yup.
Max: Wait, how is Brock supposed to know where Cosmo’s house is?
Benjy stops walking as quickly.
Benjy: Good point. I just don’t have it together today…
Revert Scene()
At the counter in the pokémon center, the contest administrator looks at May’s contest pass extremely closely, making Ash, May, and Coal slightly nervous.
Coal: Is something the…
Coal stops talking as the administrator takes out a magnifying glass and scans May’s pass. QST.camera now turns back to Ash, May, and Coal.
Ash: Um…
QST.camera shifts back to the contest administrator, who is now examining the contest pass with a microscope. QST.camera zooms out a couple feet as May begins to shiver nervously. The contest administrator now starts sniffing the contest pass, which visibly weirds out Ash, May, and Coal, and even Pikachu a little bit. After a few seconds of sniffing, she licks her lips and prepares to lick the contest pass. Before she can, Coal swipes the contest pass from her hands.
Contest Administrator: Excuse me?
Coal: That’s disgusting.
Contest Administrator: Fine, you’re verified. Whichever of you is May, I need your thumbprint right here.
The contest administrator points a small device out to the group, and May places her thumbprint on the device which the contest administrator has set up.
Contest Administrator: Okay, now verifying number 49!
Ash, May, and Coal turn to go, as someone else walks up to the counter.
Ash: How come they have to do that here? There wasn’t anything like that in Slateport…
Coal: That’s because in Slateport, we registered the day of the contest.
Ash, May, and Coal now reach the door of the pokémon center, and exit the building.
May: Now that I think about it, how is Brock supposed to find Professor Cosmo’s house anyway?
Coal: Don’t underestimate that man’s sense of… Um…
Coal scratches his chin thoughtfully.
Coal: Come on, we’ve got to make sure Benjy and Max are doing okay.
New Scene(@Temporal = Early_Afternoon)
Benjy and Max arrive at Professor Cosmo’s house, and Benjy goes and knocks on the door, but no one replies.
Max: Guess he’s not home…
Professor Cosmo’s voice: Guess again!
Benjy and Max turn to see Professor Cosmo walking up the garden path carrying a large object wrapped in packaging.
Benjy: Professor…
Max: What’s that?
Professor Cosmo: It’s a spare telescope shaft that I had left in my office at the community college. You kids are right on time.
Professor Cosmo gently places the telescope shaft (in the box) on the ground, then unlocks the door inviting Benjy and Max inside. Professor Cosmo now asks Benjy to help him with the telescope shaft, and Benjy picks it up, carrying it upstairs after the professor, to the room where the telescope is being repaired. Once here, Benjy puts the shaft (in its box) on the ground and lets Cosmo open it.
Professor Cosmo: Now where did that daughter of mine run off too?
Cosmo turns to Max.
Professor Cosmo: She usually leaves a note–can you look for it?
Max nods, and hurries downstairs, leaving Benjy and Cosmo to set up the telescope. Professor Cosmo pulls out a box cutters and starts cutting the tape off of the box.
New Scene()
Team Rocket is in a dark alley huddled together plotting their next scheme. As they curse their rotten luck, Meowth knocks over a crate of rotten pokéblock, this gives Team Rocket the idea to make money by selling pokéblock.
Meowth: We could even paint it gold!
Jessie: Sorry to interrupt, but your breath smells like rotten fish.
Meowth: That’s not my breath.
James: Then whose is it?
Team Rocket peers behind them and suddenly jumps up. A large Soul Tiger behind them stares at them.
James: Uh, hello there?
Narrator: A Soul Tiger is a kind of duel spirit, one who’s flavor text specifically states that it’s not one you want to encounter in a dark alley.
Jessie: Whatever it is I don’t like the looks of it, Meowth, what is that thing?
Meowth: I think it’s called a Soul Tiger…
The soul tiger instantly vanishes.
Jessie: Maybe it got scared?
The Soul Tiger then uses shadow force, and the impact sends Team Rocket hurdling into the evening.
Revert Scene()
In Professor Cosmo’s kitchen Benjy, Max, and Professor Cosmo all stare at a pink sticky note with the word "Date" on it, and then a heart-shape drawn underneath.
Benjy: Looks like Brock got here first…
Max: But how did he know?
Professor Cosmo: This is… interesting…
Benjy: How so?
Professor Cosmo: Guys know when a girl is desperate. It turns them off, but you may be too young to understand.
Max: Not if they’re even more desperate themselves.
Professor Cosmo: I don’t know this Brock you speak of, but this sounds…
Max: Desperate?
Professor Cosmo: Outside the scope of my research. And speaking of scope…
New Scene()
In the attic room, Max watches in amazement as Professor Cosmo tests the controls of the telescope. Yami Benjy, with the MGBA glowing, places the telescope parts together to re-construct the telescope in the middle of the room. Yami Benjy jumps back as Cosmo presses buttons to make the partially configured telescope turn left and right. Yami Benjy examines a lens cap.
Yami Benjy: This one’s bad.
Professor Cosmo: ?
Yami Benjy: Do we have another lens?
Pixielite lands on Max’s shoulder.
Max: I wonder what’s taking them so long?
Pixielite flaps it’s wings, bonking Max on the head gently. Professor Cosmo suddenly looks up.
Professor Cosmo: We’ll deal with the lens cap after we deal with the heavy-duty stuff.
Max: Um…
Professor Cosmo walks over to his closet, and presses a button on the wall, opening a sliding door, revealing a large array of telescope parts. This includes a stabilizer that’s about four feet long and three feet wide and deep.
Professor Cosmo: Can you please attach this? Only my daughter can lift it.
Yami Benjy comes over and tries to lift the stabilizer, but finds himself unable to, even when joined by Max and Pixielite.
Max: Why aren’t you helping?
Professor Cosmo: I can’t lift heavy things. I hurt my back a while…
Max: But you were carrying that big box back–
Professor Cosmo chuckles.
Professor Cosmo: That’s not nearly as heavy as it looks. But as it stands, we’ll have to wait for my daughter to get back.
About five seconds (real time) after Professor Cosmo makes this comment, the doorbell rings.
Professor Cosmo: Well, speak of the (bleep).
New Scene()
Professor Cosmo hurries downstairs with Benjy and Max behind him. Cosmo opens the door, and is surprised to see Ash, May, and Coal.
Revert Scene()
Coal and Yami Benjy carefully place the stabilizer onto the base, while Cosmo thanks them for their help.
Professor Cosmo: You kids are a huge help. Thanks to you, I’ll be able to extend the period of which I can view the comet by a hundred and eighty percent.
Ash: And what will that do?
Professor Cosmo: Watching it for a longer period may give us the ability to make new discoveries about it.
(As Professor Cosmo says the word "may" in the above line, May suddenly looks up)
Professor Cosmo: Specifically, everyone seems to think it came from Freneskae, but I think I can disprove that with a longer observation time to collect more light for the spectrometer.
Coal: In English please?
Professor Cosmo: ?
The Millennium Gameboy Advance glows faintly.
Benjy: Okay. A spectrometer is something that can help determine what something is made of by looking at the light that it reflects.
Professor Cosmo seems slightly impressed by Benjy’s explanation.
Ash: I’m still confused though…
Coal: I think he’s going to compare it to what materials are known to exist of Freneskae?
Professor Cosmo: Exactly.
Max: And how will that help get Benjy home?
Professor Cosmo: Um… It won’t, at least not directly. But the chances of spotting the Flames of Lorin are far better with a working telescope than with the naked eye.
New Scene(@Temporal = Mid_Evening)
Ash and company watch as Professor Cosmo sits at the newly set up telescope, looking up at the night sky. The telescope is connected to another lens on the roof.
Professor Cosmo: Hmm…
Ash: How is it?
Max: Can I see?
Professor Cosmo: The adaptable optics aren’t configured yet, so it’s going to be a bit fuzzy. I’m going to configure it tonight. But sure, you can take a look. Just be careful.
Max sits down at the telescope and gazes into it.
Max: I’m not seeing anything.
Ash: Did you forget to…
Max: Aack!
Max abruptly falls out of the chair, looking up in horror, while everyone else in the room stares at him in confusion.
Max: I saw an eye!
May: An eye?
Ash: Is this really a good idea…
Coal: Don’t panic.
Everyone in the room turns to Coal.
Coal: Someone is probably playing a practical joke.
With this, Coal starts to exit the room.
Ash: Where are you going?
Coal: To check the roof.
New Scene()
Ash, May, Max, Benjy, and Professor Cosmo are sitting in the living room. Bayleef is stretched out at the foot of the sofa, and May’s Torchic and Benjy’s Shroomish are sharing a bowl of what look like "Ramen" noodles. QST.camera moves around the room, showing that these noodles are pretty much the only thing there is in the house to eat. May’s Skitty and Benjy are not eating, with the prior curled into a little ball on the sofa next to Professor Cosmo.
Professor Cosmo: So as I was saying, Freneskae doesn’t reflect much light into space, which is not the case of this specific asteroid, which means they are almost certainly made of different material.
Ash: Wait, is this an asteroid or a comet?
Professor Cosmo: Actually, it’s a more of a cross between the two. What we think is frozen water-ice around a rock core, which–
At this point, the doorbell suddenly rings, then Coal opens the door.
Ash: Coal, what was it?
Coal closes the door behind him.
Coal: Celebi.
QST.camera split-screens for about two seconds (real time) showing Ash, May, Max, and Benjy before Coal walks in to the room, carrying Celebi in his arms.
Coal: As bizarre as it sounds, I think Celebi was under the impression we eat only one meal a day.
Refresh Scene()
Coal is now sitting down, and Celebi is sharing a bowl of noodles with Pikachu. As Celebi slurps it’s noodles, a soft "thhp" sound ireverberates. Max fans the air in response to this.
Coal: So about the Flames of Lorin…
Professor Cosmo: It’s one heckuva Lost Logia. My theory is that it’s on some asteroid or comet somewhere.
May: But what is it?
Professor Cosmo: It’s a physical gateway between this universe and the one that Benjy comes from. And it’s also mobile, or so I believe, although the legend is that it can’t be taken out of the galaxy.
May: But what does it look like?
Professor Cosmo: I don’t know. You’re after a triple-S class Lost Logia that no one has seen in half a million years.
Max: Do you even know if it still exists?
Professor Cosmo: Probably. While we don’t know what it looks like, we do know what kinds of radiation it should be giving off. The question is, what happens after we find it? You don’t look like you have an anti-relativistic spaceship ready.
Coal: I think the fame we’d obtain from finding it would make obtaining one trivial.
Professor Cosmo: Hah!
Professor Cosmo finds this hilarious, and proceeds to break up laughing.
Professor Cosmo: Even with my research, I still have a tough time getting funding. But you may be right, with a triple-S class Lost Logia… Hahaha…
Ash: Why is it called a Lost Logia?
Professor Cosmo: The Lost Logia are a general term used for ancient and powerful objects that are scattered around the galaxy. A long time ago, they were all lost. But then we started finding them.
Max: I see.
Professor Cosmo: But if you’re intent on finding the Flames of Lorin, my telescope probably isn’t going to be much help. You’re going to need to use the one at the community college.
Ash: Then why did you have us…?
Professor Cosmo: Because I need to observe this comet-asteroid hybrid. It’s called the Millennium Comet, and it only comes once every six hundred and twenty-eight years.
May: The Millennium Comet?
Coal: This suddenly makes a bit more sense.
Coal: So it’s due?
Max turns to Coal.
Max: You know about it?
Coal sighs.
Coal: More than I should. It would explain a couple things that have been bothersome.
Ash: Like what?
Coal: Hansen and Ogel.
May: Bit it’s just a big rock in the sky, isn’t it?
Professor Cosmo: Well, we don’t really know. That’s why I’m putting in so much preparation for–
Coal: It is just a rock.
Coal stands up, letting his Pichu slide out of the back of his shirt.
Coal: But it’s a rock that a quarter of the population has superstitions about. And while we’re at it, it’s no coincidence that most of the people whom have superstitions about it happen to have a few screws loose. Or in many cases, several. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to use the restroom. Those noodles went right through me.
Coal leaves the room to head to the restroom.
New Scene()
Ash, May, Max, and Benjy are sitting at a table in the Fallarbor pokémon center. Benjy and Max are playing duel monsters, while both swing their feet.
Ash: Are you going to stay here in Fallarbor to search for the Flames?
Benjy: Haven’t decided yet.
Noticing that Max has ended his turn, Benjy draws a card.
May: Cosmo said we can use the telescope at the community college, are you planning to…
Benjy: I need to do a bit of research first, but I plan to. But searching for it non-stop might just be throwing good time after bad.
Max: Benjy–
Benjy: Oh, right. Flip Magician of Faith–
Benjy flips "Magician of Faith" into face-up attack position.
Max: Activate Light-Imprisoning Mirror.
Max activates the trap card and Benjy lets out a sigh.
Benjy: There are probably over a quadrillion asteroids in this galaxy. Searching them all one by one would require millennia.
Max: You done?
Benjy: Hold on. Spore in the graveyard, remove Fairy King to summon at level 7.
Benjy looks through his graveyard and pulls out "Spore" and "Fairy King Truesdale", special summoning the prior and removing the latter from play, putting it next to the Graveyard.
Benjy: Spore tunes Faith for Light End Dragon.
Benjy puts "Magician of Faith" and "Spore" in the Graveyard, and begins to look through his Extra Deck for "Light End Dragon".
Benjy: But just to do a back-of-the-envelope calculation. Lets assume it takes me one second to check an asteroid. That’s 3,600 asteroids an hour, or twenty-four times thirty-six is 216 times four is 864.
Benjy now pulls Light End Dragon out of his extra deck and places it on the field.
Benjy: Eighty-six thousand asteroids a day. Response?
Benjy looks to Max, who shrugs.
Benjy: Multiply that by 365 and…
Benjy reaches down into his backpack (which Bayleef is sifting through), and pushes Bayleef’s head aside so he can access the contents. Benjy pulls out a calculator and types in the numbers.
Benjy: Light End attacks Arma Mystallien.
Max: Are you using it’s effect.
Benjy shakes his head.
Benjy: 30 million asteroids per year. At that rate I could check about three billion asteroids in my lifetime, which means I have less than a 1% chance of finding it.
As Benjy finishes this sentence Max scribbles the change in his life points down on a notepad.
Max: Damage gate. Special Summon Dragunity Tribus. Effect. Dump Dragunity Alkys.
Benjy nods as Max performs this sequence of events.
Ash: How come you’re using Gielinorian years?
Benjy: ?
Benjy looks up curiously at Ash, sitting next to Max.
Ash: When you were doing your calculations, you used a twenty-four hour day and a 365-day year.
Benjy: Wait, what’s a year here?
May: Twenty-two hours in the day, 420 days in the year.
Benjy: Hmm…
Benjy punches some numbers in his calculator.
Benjy: It’s still within an order of magnitude. I used the day and year of my homeworld.
May: But I thought you said that you didn’t live on Gielinor.
Benjy: I didn’t. It’s just weird that the rotation and revolution periods are the same. But the point is, I can’t search them one at a time and hope to get home.
Max taps on the table nervously.
Benjy: Set one, end phase, go.
Benjy places the card he drew on the table and gestures to Max. QST.camera now starts to zoom out of the pokémon center into the night, as kissing sounds come from a nearby bush.
New Scene(@Temporal = Morning)
Ash, May, Max, and Benjy stand outside the door of the community college, waiting for it to open. Max yawns, exhausted.
Max: This is tiring…
Woman’s Voice: Oh, this is interesting. You kids are awfully young to be in college already.
QST.camera swivels upwards to show an elderly woman with a cane approaching the four of them.
Ash: Actually we’re just here to use the telescope.
May: Can you let us in?
The woman shakes her head.
Elderly Woman: Sorry, they don’t give keys to the assistant professors. I’m in the same boat as you. I didn’t realize that the telescope was open to the public.
Benjy holds out a memo for the woman to read, she takes it from him and looks at it carefully.
Elderly Woman: I see, I see. You kids have permission.
The elderly woman hands the memo back to Benjy.
May: What do you teach?
Elderly Woman: I’m an elderly white woman. What do you think I teach?
The elderly woman smiles at Ash, May, Max, and Benjy, silently inviting them to guess.
Ash: English?
Max: History?
The woman shakes her head. Benjy scratches his chin.
Benjy: Something to do with stereotypes. Sociology?
Elderly Woman: Close. Social psychology. But what’s interesting about your first two guesses is that they corresponded perfectly with the common perceptions of the demographics to which I belong. White women are associated with English teachers. Elderly people are associated with history.
Ash, May, Max, and Benjy stare at the woman, trying to figure out what she’s up to
Max: Hey, Benjy, do you have any idea of what she just said.
Benjy: Let me think…
The elderly lady grins at the four of them expectantly.
Drew: That’s her way of telling you off for being chauvinist pigs.
Elderly Woman: Excuse me?
All five turn towards Drew whom is walking down the sidewalk, looking fairly upset.
Ash: What does that–
Drew cuts Ash off by flicking his hand.
Drew: That’s not why I came here.
May: Then why did you come here?! (upset)
Drew: To tell you to drop out.
Ash, May, and Max stare at Drew dumbstruck, while Benjy watches him curiously.
May: What?! (upset).
Drew: You have no idea of what you’re getting into! (upset)
Drew turns to Benjy.
Drew: And that goes for you, too! (upset)
Ash: Hold on, Benjy didn’t register!
Drew dismisses Ash with a wave of his hand staring intently at Benjy.
Drew: Pokémon are not tools of war! (upset)
Benjy looks at Drew confused.
Benjy: I’m confused.
Drew: What’s confusing about it?!
Benjy: Why do you think I…
Elderly Woman: Now don’t go spreading rumors–
Drew: You’re not in this conversation.
Drew turns back to Benjy.
Drew: How you battle– It’s an abomination!
Drew takes a step towards Benjy, and Benjy starts to take a step back on reflex, but then stops himself. The Millennium Gameboy Advance suddenly begins shining with light.
QST.camera dims the background to focus on Benjy as the Millennium Gameboy Advance glows, causing the Eye of Anubis symbol to appear on Benjy’s forehead. At the same time mysterious characters circle around Benjy. Then Benjy and Yami Benjy switch, and QST.camera goes back to normal. Yami Benjy scans Drew with such intensity that it makes the latter shiver slightly.
Yami Benjy: I don’t know how you came to that conclusion, but it’s not correct. However, if you are challenging me to a rematch with the Slateport Ribbon on the line, I accept.
QST.camera split-screens on Ash, May, and Max, before switching to Drew, who is also surprised. However Drew swallows and takes Roselia’s poké ball from his belt.
Drew: Alright Roselia. The time has come to redeem ourselves.
QST.camera slowly zooms out on the group.
…///To Be Continued///…
©August 17, 2009 by Benjamin Strauss