Chapter 30: Interlude
Thank you so much!! I find the fact that we know so little about the actual professors incredibly fascinating, because literally everything we know about them is shown to us from someone else's eyes.
For Clavell, they were their brilliant students and close friend.
For Arven, an absent parent.
For Paldea and the world, brilliant researchers.
Then we have the AI and the Paradise Protection Protocol, each showing a completely different part of them. The AI, the most logical, which made it ironically the most human since they had all of their thoughts and memories, but not the emotion and blind obsession that came with it, and the Protection Protocol, symbolizing the worst part of them, their lowest point, the one that could think only of their dream and nothing else to the point it lead straight to their death.
I'm trying to incorporate all of these sides of them we only get glimpses of (including that little "bonus scene" in the dlc) and show how they manifest in different ways for both Sada and Turo here in this AU.
MAN, Gamefreak accidentally created some of the most fascinating characters in the whole franchise for me with these games, and we are never going to hear from them again lol
Chapter 30: Interlude
Paleolithic Era, in the area that will be known as KalosChalo was getting desperate; her search back during the cold season had held no trace of what could have happened to Sada. She had found signs of a fight that had broken out between two creatures, near the place where her broken spear had been found.
Deep claw marks gouged in the bark of trees, a crater where the ground had been split open by a great force, and a whole lot of feathers identical to Sada's dragon, the one she called Winged King.
So the creature and Sada must have fought something there, and then they had both disappeared without a trace.
Except she was still finding traces of the dragon all around: those feathers were unmistakable. That could mean only one thing: there was another Winged King around.
But what had happened to Sada?
She had to admit that she was starting to lose hope: if she had run off away with Turo (it wasn't even funny to say "Terg" anymore if he wasn't there to look all offended) back to his tribe, surely she would have come back even just to tell them that she was fine?
It had been various moons now: most of the tribe had silently decided that Sada had been caught in some unfortunate accident. No one dared say it out loud, however, especially not in front of Akari, who stubbornly held out hope and would glare at anyone who even implied otherwise.
« My daughter is alive somewhere, I can feel it.» she would say.
There was still something that gave them a little hope however: the cold season was gone, and while the snow melted the whole tribe had left their camp to head out to the great lake in the east where they would meet up with other tribes. Maybe there, someone would have seen or heard something about Sada.
This would be the first time the whole tribe as a group would move bringing the creatures they had tamed with them: Fluffyhead was leading the little herd of Spark Tail, while the youngest hunters were on the lookout for Bushy Pelts and other creatures that usually preyed on them.
Chalo hoped that people wouldn't be wary of them: they had a lot more materials to trade thanks to them now, after all, and maybe people from other tribes knew how to tame different creatures.
It made sense: they couldn't have been the only ones to figure that out, after all.
She could already see temporary tents built up by groups who had already arrived in the days before: some were made from Steady Glacier pelts similar to the ones they used, made by a tribe that lived even further north than they did. Further ahead, she spotted long boats carved from wood, tied to trees near the water to keep them from drifting away: those belonged to the tribe that lived in the far southwest, near a place they called the "ocean". It was supposedly a lake so great no one had ever managed to cross it and made from poisonous water that would kill you if you drank it, which honestly seemed like a massive waste to Chalo.
Why bother even living there, then?
They were, however, also the people Chalo counted on the most to get some information out of: they lived in the same general direction Turo had said he was from, and by following the river up and down during the seasons they travelled both very far and quite fast compared to going on foot.
Of course, they still weren't as fast as Sada managed to travel once she had tamed her dragon to let her fly on it.
Gah, and now she was gone! She couldn't even brag about it!
She called for Fluffyhead to follow her, and approached a lone man that was busy securing his boat. She recognized him, they had already met some seasons ago, and he had seemed quite interested in her, offering her to come to his tribe.
The interest had honestly been mutual: he was broad shouldered, with skin the color of tree bark, dark eyes, a crudely shaved head and well defined muscles just emphasized by the clothes he was wearing. They all wore thin, slick robes made from tiny overlapping scales gathered from various creatures that lived in the water, painstakingly linked together by boring hundreds of little holes in them and connecting them to one other with thin ropes. It looked like so much effort that Chalo had once asked why they simply didn't use pelts and furs like everyone else.
« Heavy furs drag you down in the water.» had been the answer.
« Rhuato » she called out to him, and he turned around. There were two little objects hanging from his earlobes: one was a tiny scale of a bright pink color, while the other looked like a sharp tooth.
She knew they were the mark of an important position in his tribe, but didn't really know what they represented.
« Chalo » he grinned, showing a pair of canines that were even pointer than usual. « Here to finally accept my offer and become my life-mate?» he added, before his eyes landed on Fluffyhead.
His eyes widened in alarm and he took a fighting stance, grabbing an oar out of his boat.
Chalo hurriedly moved to explain.
« No! Fluffyhead's with me! He won't attack: he listens to what I say. » she said, as the creature peered curiously at the man, before letting out a little bleat.
« You... tamed those things?» he repeated. Chalo nodded: luckily, he seemed to be taking it well.
« I'm looking for someone of my tribe that's disappeared: Sada, the daughter of Orden.»
Orden had come from Rhuato's tribe, and who knew, maybe Sada had decided to head in the general direction of where her father had once lived.
« She's been gone for... more than one season. I don't think she's dead. She was... travelling with a creature she had tamed. It would protect her, I'm sure of it.»
Chalo opened the satchel at her waist where she kept various supplies: mostly berries for Fluffyhead, dried roots and meat strips and the cotton tufts she tied to her arrows.
She took out some of the feathers from Winged King she had gathered, and offered them to Rhuato.
He took them, turning them around in his hands.
« ... so she tamed something that can fly? » he sounded vaguely impressed.
« Yes. It's got bright red and black scales, a big crest of feathers on its head, and a very long tail that it curls up. It's pretty big... you couldn't have missed them if they were flying around.»
He snorted dismissively at her words.
« Umf... "pretty big", you say... have you ever seen the creatures that come from the deepest part of the ocean? The Writhing Tendrils, or The Moving "Island"?»
« Um... no-» she didn't want to say that she had no idea what an island was.
« Then you have no idea what "big" means.» he laughed as he shook his head. Chalo didn't really know what to make of his words. Just what kind of creatures lived in this "ocean"?
« But now that I look at them... I have seen feathers like these, I think.» Rhuato was saying, and Chalo's eyes widened.
« Really?»
« Yes... Near here, in fact. At the very center of the lake.»
That... wasn't the answer she had been expecting. So... was there another Winged King here, or it was the same one that had fought against Sada's? Or... could it be Sada? Had she come to the lake way before everyone else?
She had to go see.
« Bring me there!» she pretty much ordered Rhuato, who blinked.
« What ... ? Why me? » he asked.
« Because I can't command that boat like you do. Please. As a favour. ... I'll dance with you at the great feast tonight.» she added, hoping that it would convince him.
That made him snort and smile after a moment.
« All right. » He turned back towards the boat, loosening the knot he had made to keep it tied to a great tree.
He turned back to eye Fluffyhead with a slight frown.
« Is that thing going to come with us?»
« Obviously.» Chalo straightened up, ready to fight him over it. She wouldn't leave him behind! Rhuato didn't look particularly enthusiastic at the idea.
« ... Just keep it away from the water. I'm not jumping in to save that thing.» he said.
He finished unraveling the knot and pushed the boat in the water, climbing inside and grasping the oars she had seen them use to move the boats.
Chalo cautiously climbed inside, then turned to call her partner to follow her.
Fluffyhead didn't seem to like the idea: he was sniffing at the boat on all four legs, instead of standing confidently upright like he usually would. It took a bit of coaxing by showing him his favourite toasted berries to get him on the boat. With two humans and the creature, it was pretty cramped. She pulled her knees close, hugging them to her chest.
Rhuato started to direct the boat towards the center of the lake. He was standing upright at the back of the boat, and controlled it with precise movements. She tried not to stare too hard at his muscular biceps as he worked.
« Where did you see those feathers?» she asked, more to distract herself, petting Fluffyhead with one hand to keep it calm.
« There's a small island at the very center of the lake. You really didn't know?» he cocked his head to the side, perplexed.
« ... We try to avoid the water near our village. It's full of dangerous creatures... Aren't you afraid of something attacking your boat from the water?» she asked.
« Aren't you afraid of something attacking you from the air? Or the tall grass?» he shot back, and she had to admit he had a point.
Creatures could be everywhere. She still didn't really like not being able to see if something was lurking underneath.
« Besides... we have our ways of not getting attacked. Like you do, I'm sure.» Rhuato added after a moment. He turned his head to stare at the water, peering at it, before whistling.
A moment later, Fluffyhead grew agitated, bleating as it tried to back away uselessly when bubbles started appearing on the surface. Chalo hugged the creature, trying to reassure it.
Rhuato knew what he was doing. They travelled back and forth through this lake and the rivers connected to it all the time.
She still held Sada's spear tight enough until it threatened to break again where they had fixed it up.
A moment later, something broke the surface of the water; something quite large, with a scaly blue hide with darker spots, two great flippers it slapped the water with, a long neck and a great horn on its forehead. On its back there was what looked like a grey shell: it had gentle looking eyes, and it lowered its head to push its snout into Rhuato's outstretched hand.
Chalo was left trying to calm down both herself and Fluffyhead, her breath short.
« What's that?!» she sputtered.
« We call them "Voice-of-the-ocean"» Rhuato answered, still slowly petting the creature. It let out a melodious warble, before slapping the water again with its two front flippers, making a loud splash.
« They are gentle creatures that have never attacked a human... before my tribe learned to make boats, we would travel across the water on their backs. They usually stay far away from not-ocean water, but some of the smallest ones will follow our boats when we come here. This one has been with me for a couple of seasons. She's called Seashell» he explained.
Chalo was still trying to make sense of it all. First of all-
« "The smallest ones"? You mean that thing is a baby?» she asked, bewildered. It was already bigger than the boat!
Rhuato simply nodded.
« And you mean there's multiple of those guys just lurking underwater when you come? Why have you never told anyone else?» she asked. She thought back to all the boats from his tribe she saw tied to trees, and the lake filled with these things while no one from other tribes had any idea... She held back a shiver.
Sure, Seashell looked cute, but so did Fluffyhead, and Fluffyhead could still easily hurt someone.
« Your reaction is exactly why we never said anything. They have never hurt a person. I've only seen them fight to protect their young and against predators. We were afraid you would chase them away, or hunt them... They can't even leave the water.» he threw another look towards Fluffyhead, which Seashell had slowly been sniffing.
« ... but I see you've also tamed creatures. You would understand what it means to want to protect them. » he said after a moment, and she realized he was right. She had worried about what other people would do seeing Fluffyhead and the other creatures they had tamed just earlier.
Rhuato went back to commanding the boat, while she kept observing the creature that was lazily swimming around them, obviously easily keeping pace with them. Sometimes it would playfully splash them, then let out another one of its melodious cries when Rhuato would splash it back.
Yeah, all right, it was really cute.
« Not as cute as you though. » she reassured Fluffyhead, who had been shrinking back every time the creature approached the boat.
The shore got farther and farther away: by now she could barely see it, and Chalo realized that she really didn't like being so out in the open. She desperately looked for something to make some idle conversation and pass the time.
« So... what are those earrings made of? I know they mean something special in your tribe.» she asked, turning slightly towards Rhuato.
He smiled a little bit.
« They're from a creature we call Deep Tooth. They live at the bottom of the ocean, and come up to the shore rarely... so if you can find some scales or teeth they drop, it means you can hold your breath long enough to dive to get them-»
« You go under the water?» she couldn't help but ask. The more she heard about it, the more his tribe's way of life sounded... terrifying but also exciting.
... Not that hers was really that much different.
« Yes. There's lots of useful things there. »
« Like those pearls you always trade with us, right?»
People loved them, and she could see why: they were incredibly pretty, and with how dangerous they probably were to get, now she understood why they always asked for so many other materials in return. She stared at him for a quiet moment, wondering how it was to swim underwater.
« Among other things »
They kept going for another little while, until Chalo could finally make out land again.
« Here it is. »
She had to admit she was more than happy to jump off the boat and get back on solid ground. She stretched, glad to be able to move her legs again. Ugh, if she thought about Sada sitting all cramped on Winged King's back when she went flying with Turo... How did she do it?
Her happiness was short-lived when she remembered that Rhuato also needed to bring her back, and that the little boat was the only way to do it.
Islands sounded like a miserable place to live right now.
Joining his tribe suddenly didn't sound that good. She waited until Rhuato had finished tying the boat, then walked away from the shore. Seashell called out behind them: when she turned around to give it a brief look, she saw the creature dunk its head underwater, probably looking for food.
« I saw the feathers... right around here. There is a little pond at the center of the island.» he said, walking ahead. She tried to picture it in her mind, and furrowed her eyebrows.
« So it's like a little lake in the middle of a bigger lake? »
« Yes! Isn't that strange? I call it the Eye of the Lake.»
She didn't know if she would have called it strange; there were definitely stranger things in the world than just a little pond in a funny spot.
The island, contrary to the lake it was in, wasn't that big: they quickly arrived at the pond the man had mentioned... And when she saw what it looked like, she had to admit that "Eye" was a good name for it.
It was perfectly round, and the water was crystal clear, much clearer than the lake that surrounded it. It didn't look that deep, but she knew that water could be deceiving. Cautiously peering at the bottom of it, she could see it glittering. It was almost like the entire pond was covered in great, shining crystals that made the water glow.
« I've never seen glowing rocks like these... did you?» she said, turning towards Rhuato, who looked pensive.
« I... I think I have, actually. Not as big as these, but there is an underwater cave, even more south than where we live, where I swear I've seen gems a lot similar to these ones. I tried to break some shards off them with my knife, but it didn't even scratch them, so I simply left.»
Uh. Interesting.
Well, it would be if it actually had anything to do with why they were here.
« So, the feathers... Where did you see them? Winged King -that creature- is too big to just make this tiny island its whole territory, but maybe it just likes to come sleep here.» she asked again.
After all, the only way you could reach this place was if you were a very good swimmer or able to fly. Nothing else seemed to live here.
« I just found them here, right near the water...» Rhuato said, and Chalo huffed, moving closer to the water. If it came here often there had to be footprints, or more feathers, and she really hoped to find some trace that would tell her that it was, in fact, Sada's dragon and not another one. Something like human footprints along with it. Or traces of someone having lit a fire... But no, they would have seen the smoke... Or...
There was something that floated on the pond. It was the same pale blue color of the glittering water, so it was difficult to see, and she only caught it because it moved suddenly. It shined bright, making it difficult to look at, and she had to cover her eyes.
But if she had to describe it, it looked like a brilliant disk, with multicoloured gems floating all around it, like a living jewel.
Fluffyhead let out a cry behind her, and Chalo moved to stand behind the creature. Was that creature attacking them? Were they in danger?
« Fluffyhead, stun it!» she cried, eyes still closed. If she couldn't even look at it to aim, they couldn't defend themselves-
Fluffyhead didn't answer. The light disappeared, and Chalo slowly opened her eyes again, her vision full of white spots that hurt. She heard Rhuato let out a cry behind her.
« Where are we?!»
"What do you mean, where are we?" she almost wanted to ask, but as soon as she was able to see again and turn around, she understood what he meant.
They were in a completely different place.
The pond had disappeared... There was a slightly bigger lake in its place, with the same clear water and giant crystals resting at the bottom.
But most importantly, there was no trace of the island they had just been on.
Chalo turned around, eyes wide as she gripped her weapons. They were on the top of what looked like a mountain; the air was hot and humid, and smelled of rotten eggs.
No sign of Fluffyhead. No sign of the lake.
Also no sign of Sada or Winged King, regrettably.
« That... that creature! The glowing disk! Did you see it? » she asked Rhuato, who nodded, eyes as wide as hers.
Did that creature bring them here? Where even was "here"?
« Are we... in another world?» he asked, voice uncertain, and Chalo could only shake her head.
« I... don't know. »
There was going to be no big feast tonight if they couldn't find a way back.
---
47th century, Time Travel Laboratory Departments, University of Mesagoza
It had been three months since Turo's funeral. After finally managing to knock Porygon 568 out of its "Protection Protocol" state, they had to call in another Artificial Pokémon Programmer to take a look at its code. Now, Vega had frankly no idea what computer programming was like, but wasn't it just writing stuff in a text editor and feeding that to a machine and then turning it off and on again, or whatever?
Apparently not, because the poor guy they had called had spent a couple of hours pouring over the code before announcing that, in its current state, Porygon's code, and the time machine he was indirectly tied to, were "a minefield of failsafes and security procedures".
When she had asked to explain that in more detail, he had simply fixed his glasses and sighed.
« It means that any attempts to even modify this code to remove the parts about this new Protection Protocol will actually trigger it again. Whoever wrote this made it so that literally no one else but them can modify this particular part of it... I suppose they did it thinking they would put a better, more complete version out soon, and this was a temporary fix... Even if I haven't the slightest idea of how or why they did it. Do they not work for you anymore?» he said, straightening up and closing the terminal they had been working on. Porygon 568 shifted as it floated back up from the floor to be eye level with the two humans.
« Doctor Romero Turo has been officially declared dead 3 months, two days and 11 hours ago. » it answered.
Vega felt her stomach drop looking at the Pokémon: it had said so so matter-of-factly in its usual tone, but the way its wings droopped as it said that betrayed a certain sadness. She quietly wondered if it had wanted to attend the funeral, or if similar ceremonies simply had no meaning for the Pokémon.
The technician's eyes widened, and he had hastily backed away towards the exit.
« ... Ah. In that case, um... I'm afraid you're better off trying not to repeat what triggered it last time. »
Vega had simply nodded at that, eyes low.
Easier said than done.
Work had taken a while to start up again after that, and they had cautiously -very cautiously - resumed doing time-jumps. Jumps as far away as Turo's had been cancelled until further notice, however.
She had never quite realized how used she had gotten to Turo's silent presence in the department until she happened to walk across what had been his office and found herself glancing inside out of habit, only to be suddenly reminded of what had happened.
The guy had never been the life of the party or talked much, but she still found herself missing seeing him in the sanity room, buried behind half a dozen screens as he read through some book or another about the Paleolithic era, or fixed up some of the notes or sketches he had taken there. She could always count on him to share a cup of coffee with her, or quietly ask her about her latest jump in Johto if she came back from her trip at some ungodly hour of the night.
In a couple of rare occasions, he had opened up a bit, usually by mentioning his Miraidon or Sada, the woman he was seeing in the Paleolithic... the smallest smile would show on his face just then, and his eyes would get this particular shine to them as he spoke about her with pride.
Sometimes, she couldn't help but think that if he had never met her, he would still be alive.
Sometimes... she wondered what had actually happened to him.
That morning, she walked past Turo's office and had to stop when she caught something unexpected standing inside it with the corner of her eyes. She threw the half opened door open, eyes wide, just to realize that the figure was none other than Porygon 568. It floated in front of the empty desk, staring at it forlornly.
« Um, Porygon... » she knew it could technically move as it pleased, but the times she had actually seen the Pokémon outside of the time machine room could be counted on one hand. It seemed to enjoy spending more time in cyberspace, usually.
« Is... is everything okay?» she asked, walking up to it. She didn't really know how to approach the AI, sometimes.
It was a Pokémon, so maybe it liked to get a nice head pat like her own did.
But it was also a stupidly smart artificial intelligence with the capabilities of a supercomputer connected to a time machine, and giving it head pats felt...kind of... patronizing? Awkward?
The Pokémon turned around and fluttered his wings.
« ... Doctor Melany Vega. Apologies. I am in perfect condition. All processes are running smoothly. » it answered. Vega sighed, smiling sadly.
« That's... not what I meant and you know it. »
The Pokémon turned around again and lowered its head, staring at the empty desk.
« ... I keep thinking about what I could have done differently. When I felt the jump go wrong, I executed the emergency assistance manoeuvres to try to get him back. I had never done it before.»
It turned its head away from her, and its whole form flickered, almost like it wanted to turn back to code and disappear inside a terminal.
« ... And I found him... I found his time-anchor's signature. » it said, and Vega felt her breath suddenly weigh heavily in her chest.
Porygon... he had...
« You... you were bringing him back-?»
« I lost him! I had him, and then I lost contact! It's my fault! » it suddenly cried out, flapping his wings in desperation.
Vega swallowed and acting on impulse, hugged Porygon to her chest. The little AI was feeling guilty...
« Porygon... It's not your fault. You did everything you could and even more. You kept trying and trying-» she said, stroking the spiky feathers on its head, thinking back to when she had found the little Pokémon still blaring errors and attempting to reconnect to Turo's time-anchor.
It must have kept trying for hours, growing more and more desperate, not wanting to stop and give up...
Right now , she didn't care that it was a super intelligent AI or whatever. It was a part of their team like anyone else that worked at the TTDL, and it was in obvious distress.
She swallowed a lump in her throat, feeling a weight on her chest. Why had no one even asked the AI how it was feeling?
« ... But I still failed my duty. My most important directive. I couldn't protect a human inside the time machine. I... I couldn't protect Dr. Romero Turo. He spent so much time helping me to make sure that system error couldn't occur again... and I failed him! I felt him get ripped away! » it cried out again.
She kept stroking the little Pokémon's head until it nuzzled against her, its cries getting lower and lower until they were barely more than little whimpers.
« It wasn't your fault...» she smiled sadly, and added.
« ... Turo would have been so proud of you. »
The Pokémon didn't answer for a while, and she looked down at it to see that it was staring at her with enormous eyes.
« ... Doctor Romero Turo would be... proud of me?»
« Yes, I'm sure. He loved AIs, you know that. I'm sure he would have loved seeing you show so much emotion and being so worried for him.» she said, and the Pokémon lowered its head again, mulling it over.
« I... Thank you, Doctor Melany Vega.» it shook itself out of her grasp, and fluttered around the empty room.
« I... I keep thinking... about the moment the mismatch happened. I could feel his time-anchor get ripped away and... disappear in the time stream. That is why I kept looking for him.» it said slowly, and Vega's eyes widened.
« You... You think he could still be alive somewhere?» she whispered.
They all knew perfectly well how infinitesimally low the chances were, so she didn't want to get its hopes up if that was even possible.
The little Pokémon nodded.
« ... I want to try looking for him. Away from my normal duties... in secret. Will you help me? »
She felt her heartbeat speed up at the thought. What if... what if he was actually still alive somewhere... they could get him back. They could actually save him.
She was Doctor Melany Vega, she was used to chasing vague rumours about legendaries across time for a living. Looking for a single person across all of human history, though...
« ... Let's go see Ortega. » she answered, eyes shining.
---
Ortega was, for once, actually in his office, which looked more like an old school clothing designer's studio. Rolls of cloth and fabric with the most different and colourful prints were neatly arranged along one wall, little tags with the time period they came from hanging off them, and a couple of mannequins with half finished garments from various time periods stood near the bright windows. One of them currently was wearing the cowboy attire Ortega had worn that one time for no reason, while another mannequin sported a two piece suit in a light pink color with a white shirt and golden sleeves and buttons.
With a twinge of pain in her chest, she saw what had been Turo's "authentic Ice Age clothes" carefully draped over another mannequin. He hadn't worn them during his last jump, so they had stayed here in the TTDL... and probably would stay here until someone else needed them, or they decided what to do with them.
The room was made even brighter by the ceiling that, as usual, reflected the weather outside, giving the room a very open, airy feeling.
Ortega himself was carefully examining what looked like ancient photographs, which, if Vega had to guess, he was using as reference to recreate clothing that matched those actually worn in whatever time period was needed as close as possible.
« I think this cloth shouldn't look too out of place in 3670... what do you think?» he was saying, turning towards a little Pokémon that was sitting on the desk.
Iron Cloak, an evolved form of the Pokémon Mimikyu, looked... pretty much like its ancient counterpart, just with a different disguise. Instead of looking like a Pikachu, it now used more modern materials to make itself what were pretty much little mechanized bodysuits it would then crawl inside.
Right now, it looked like one of the Steelccino that plagued the main entrance of the University.
In many ways, it was the perfect Pokémon for Ortega, simply changing clothes as much as its owner did to never look out of place. There were in fact a couple of doll-like disguises arranged on a couple of shelves, showing the classic Pikachu disguise, and a couple of other popular extinct Pokémon: Eevee, Sprigatito, Scorbunny, Charmander... and a couple others she didn't quite recognize.
The little Pokémon chittered, pointing to another picture with its brushy fake tail.
« ... That one...? I don't know... those pants with those shoes would attract some attention, we don't want that-»
« Do you have a moment?» Vega spoke out, Porygon 568 following her inside.
Ortega turned around, his eyes lighting up in seeing her.
« Vega! Are you finally here for my expertise? » he looked her up and down, tapping his fingers with one hand on his hip as he thought.
« If you dressed as one of the Kimono Girls, I'm sure you could sneak into the Tin Tower without getting thrown into jail this time...»
« I don't need your help in that, thank you.» she rolled her eyes, before throwing a glance at Porygon 568.
« We're here... to talk about Turo.»
Ortega's smile disappeared. He turned back to his pictures, suddenly gloomy.
« ... I already know what you are getting at, and the answer is "no". » he said, swiping through the pictures.
She sighed, walking up to him.
« But... what if he did survive -»
« He didn't. You know the odds. It's infinitely more probable that he ended up landing in the ocean than anywhere else. And even if he was so incredibly lucky as to find land, he would also need to be so lucky as to be in a place close to people and not, say, get devoured by wild Pokémon. »
« But if he did-» she insisted.
« Then what do you plan to do?!» he whirled around, throwing a furious glance at them both.
« Do you plan to go to random points in human history asking "Sorry, do you know a guy named Romero Turo?"?! He could be anywhere! Anywhere and anywhen! If we couldn't trace his time-anchor, it means it broke, and those things aren't exactly fragile. You know what that means.» he spat out.
« Just... let it go. It's better that way. » he added. Unexpectedly, Porygon 568 was the one to spoke up next.
« I will try searching for him. The internet-»
« The Internet has existed for a fraction of human history! What's your plan, google "Romero Turo" and then look through the entirety of the Internet for the hundreds of thousands of people that have had that name in all of recorded history-»
« Exactly.»
The AI's tone was so dry and matter-of-factly that Ortega stopped his tirade, stunned.
« As the one responsible for Doctor Romero Turo's wellbeing during his use of the time machine, I have access to all of his biometric data. I have pictures to cross reference and even his fingerprints, if he happened to change his name. »
Vega turned to look at the little Porygon.
« You... really thought about this a lot, didn't you?»
The AI nodded.
« I am bound to the time machine, so I can't travel to places I will pinpoint personally... for that, I need your help. » it said, turning back towards Ortega.
« What if he's in a time period before the internet? Which I will remind you, is still the majority of the past. Doesn't matter how powerful your computer brain is, you're looking for a needle in a haystack, without even knowing if you're looking in the right haystack!» Ortega protested.
The AI didn't waver.
« I will still try. »
There was a moment of silence, then Ortega's Iron Cloak chittered softly, a ghostly tendril emerging from the depths of his metallic suit to tug at his sleeve. The man looked towards his Pokémon. It was pointing at the mannequin with Turo's clothes.
He grit his teeth.
« ... Fine! This is going to be a complete waste of time, but fine, I'm going to help. Just... call me if you find anything that could be him. » he said in the end.
Vega smiled, feeling more confident by the minute. With Ortega's expertise in going unnoticed in any time period and Porygon 568's computational power, maybe they could really do it.