Don’t Interview with a Mind-Reader

Roz awoke the next morning from a buzz from her holotab. She tapped it to dismiss the alarm and literally rose from her cot. Terry was still asleep on the floor. Barring further emergencies, today was the day she was going to join the Rangers. She and Terry had talked about Archimedes the previous night. The Alakazam was an imposing figure, and the head of the entire Ranger Corps. He was said to be exceptionally knowledgeable about a broad range of subjects. 

Terry expressed hopes that he would be able to help with Roz’s amnesia, and while the Elgyem had insisted that he had more important matters to attend to, she was positive it would come up in their conversation that morning. Roz would need to plan her approach carefully. If she was too insistent on declining help in discovering her past, people would start asking questions. Perhaps the better option was to accept help. Nobody would ever find anything after all. It would raise questions, but there would be plenty of those anyway.

Terry woke up just as Roz finished her thought. The two ate a breakfast that was far less rushed than yesterday’s and left for Headquarters. Someone interrupted them as they arrived in the area east of the square.

“Hey.”

“Oh great,” Terry grumbled. Three Pokémon approached: A bored-looking Ekans, a Medicham who looked to only be there because the others were, and an obnoxiously smug-looking Gengar. As they drew nearer, Ekans coiled up on the ground, Medicham crossed her arms with a thoroughly disinterested expression, and Gengar reclined sideways in midair, resting his head on his hand as if laying on a sofa. If his levitation worked the same way Roz’s did, this position was nowhere near as comfortable as it looked because that supporting arm wasn’t actually resting on anything.  “What is it this time, Specter?”

“What, can’t a guy congratulate you on a job well done?” the Gengar, apparently named Specter, responded.

“Uh, thanks…I guess,” said Terry suspiciously.

“It did sound fairly impressive,” the Medicham added, still not looking at them. “Too bad you had to get outside help to do it.”

“Now now Stella, be nice,” Specter chastised. “Let’s not kill the kid’s delusions all at once.” The Gengar turned to Roz. His gaze settled on her arm and his smile dropped. The Elgyem surreptitiously covered her holotab projector with her other hand. Specter’s eerie grin returned. 

“In any case, Stella, Cody, I think we have places to be. Let’s leave boneless-head and his new friend to play hero.” 

Terry rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Whatever.” Specter and the Ekans, who Roz assumed was Cody, stared at her as they returned to the main square. The Medicham, Stella, did as well, but unlike the other two, tried to hide it.

“Who are they?” she asked Terry once the other three were gone.

“Specter, Stella, and Cody. For some reason they’re always picking on me. They keep telling me I’m a kid who’s in over his head.” He rolled his eyes again. “I really don’t see what they get out of it. Nobody likes them, but they do their job so well that we can’t afford to get rid of them. And they know it.

“But hey, we’re here to help you, not worry about my problems,” Terry continued with a small smile. “Let me deal with those three and don’t listen to anything they say.”

“Understood,” Roz answered with some uncertainty. It seemed peculiar that they would be allowed to remain a part of the Rangers given how they harassed Terry. Were they really that indispensable? Or did no one know about it? More worrying though was Specter’s reaction to her holotab projector. Had he recognized it somehow? That seemed impossible, but she’d need to be careful around him regardless.

Upon entering Headquarters, they confirmed their appointment with Dulce, who told them to proceed to the Alakazam’s office. Terry gave Roz a reassuring nod and smile, and led her in the same direction they’d gone the previous day to see Octavia, but took a different turn. They entered a suite with three rooms. Each door had a placard with a name on it: Flint on the left, Archimedes in the center, and Cliff on the right. Terry knocked on the middle door.

“Enter.” An Alakazam seated behind a desk looked up when Terry opened the door. He gestured to a pair of beanbags. “Have a seat, I’ll be with you in just a moment.” He took a few seconds to finish writing something, then set his pen down, pushed the paper aside, and moved a different paper to the middle of his desk. Roz recognized it as the report Terry filled out the previous day. 

The office as a whole was immaculate. There were books on Pokémon biology, history,  natural sciences, poetry, and literature. All of them were neatly sorted onto shelves by subject. A painting of a Kadabra, a Charmeleon, and a Pupitar hung from the wall, all of them posing in front of a Lucario, at least as much as a Pupitar could pose. There was also a framed certificate proclaiming Archimedes Alakazam as an official Ranger, with another certificate, accompanied by a gold ribbon. A window behind the Alakazam faced out to sea.

His desk, in contrast, was a disaster. There were no fewer than eight haphazard stacks of paper, some of which looked like they could topple over at any minute, not to mention a few on the floor, and several more stacks on nearby chairs behind the desk. Pens, paperweights, and books lay scattered about, on the desk, on the floor, on top of or underneath piles of paper. 

Archimedes leaned back in his chair and rested his arms on the desk. “This is quite a disturbing report. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of anything like this before,” he said. 

“Do you think it’s got anything to do with the other natural disasters?” Terry asked.

Archimedes paused to consider the question. “That possibility has occurred to me, yes. It’s hard to say since we know so little about them, but for the time being we should assume they’re all connected somehow. And yes, I expect this incident is related as well.”

“What do we know so far?” asked Roz.

“Ah, yes, Roz, I believe it was. Very little. Our priority so far has been damage control, which has left little time to gather information.” He sighed and stroked one of his long whiskers. “We’ve had to send most of our Rangers to other settlements across the continent. It’s left us understaffed for routine work. We just don’t have the resources to look into it right now.”

Terry crossed his arms and put a hand to his chin. “What about the gods? Could we ask Registeel about what’s happening on Mt. Steel?” he suggested.

The Alakazam slowly nodded as he continued stroking his whisker. “…We could try. Attempts to contact Kyogre and Groudon haven’t ended well though. They’ve become territorial…almost mindless. We’ve heard similar reports from other continents. To my knowledge, no one has successfully met with a god since this whole mess started.” Roz tried to conceal her shock. Archimedes had spoken of two powerful Legendary Pokémon as if encountering them was a regular occurrence, and implied that speaking with other such Pokémon was something done on a regular basis.

“Still no luck finding Zygarde?” Terry asked. The Alakazam shook his head. 

“Sir, there is something I should mention,” Roz said. “While we were in Thunderwave Cave yesterday I…sensed something.” Archimedes paused his stroking and looked at her expectantly. “I do not know what it was, but it was incredibly powerful; unlike anything I have ever experienced. Furthermore, there was something…not quite right about it. I cannot describe it any better than that. Do you know what it might have been?”

Archimedes wrapped his whisker around his finger and tapped on his desk for a few seconds. “Yes, your report mentioned as much. You’ve never been in the presence of a god before, have you?” Roz shook her head. “It’s quite the experience, especially for a psychic. I believe the entity you felt was Registeel, given your location at the time.” Roz had heard of Registeel, but knew little about it. It was supposedly an incredibly powerful Steel-type Pokémon. But to her knowledge, its existence had never been confirmed. “We’ll look into it.

“What I’m more interested in though is you, Roz. I’ve never heard of you before, yet here you are joining Rangers on the job without permission. Few Pokémon are familiar with signs of mineral depletion in both plants and Magnemite. So tell me: who exactly are you?”

“She doesn’t remember.” Terry answered before Roz even had a chance to think of a response.

“I wasn’t asking you,” Archimedes replied calmly.

“He is correct,” said Roz. “I do not remember who I am or where I’m from.”

“That’s unfortunate. Is there anything you do remember? Anything we might be able to work off of?”

Terry opened his mouth to respond, but Archimedes held up his hand to silence him before he could say anything, never taking his eyes off of Roz in the process. This hadn’t been the best cover story. Roz shook her head.

Archimedes continued toying with his whisker and tapping his finger for several seconds. Roz felt like he was staring into her soul, which likely wasn’t far from the truth. She tried to compartmentalize her thoughts to keep him away from sensitive topics. She wasn’t too sure about her chances of guarding her thoughts from an Alakazam though. 

Eventually, Archimedes stopped his tapping and rested his hands back on his desk. “Terry, I’d like to talk to Roz in private for a moment. Would you mind waiting outside?” The Cubone looked at Roz, who nodded. Terry left wordlessly.

“You can drop the act,” said Archimedes. 

That didn’t sound good. How much did he know? Roz considered playing ignorant, but doubted that would get her very far. She needed to know how much he knew. The best way to do that would be to let him keep talking.

“You’re good at hiding your thoughts. I’d expect as much from a Psychic-type. But you clearly don’t have amnesia. I’m going to let you tell me the truth yourself before I force it out of you. So I’ll ask you once again: who are you?”

What could she say? She didn’t know enough to come up with a convincing lie. With his abilities, Archimedes would learn the truth eventually. Roz’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “What I am about to tell you cannot leave this room.”

“I’ll be the one to decide that.”

“I mean it. I cannot predict what will happen if this knowledge gets out. I have kept it hidden for a reason.” 

The Alakazam wasn’t convinced. He clasped his hands and rested his chin on them. “The fact that you have something to hide isn’t helping your case, Elgyem.”

The two Psychic-types glared at each other. Finally, Roz gave a resigned sigh. “Fine. But I beg of you, please do not tell anyone of this. Especially not Terry.” Archimedes said nothing. “I am from somewhere far away. Very far away.” The Alakazam continued to stare at her. “I…I am from another planet entirely.” That got a reaction. Archimedes’ eyes went wide. Then his expression shifted and he cocked an eyebrow.

“When I encountered Terry, I could not think of any plausible explanation for my origins. I do not know this planet’s geography at all. I could not tell him where I might come from. The only thing I could think of was to claim complete memory loss.” Thinking about it, she realized how absurd this sounded.

“What are you doing here then?” 

“You…believe me?”

“Most people would think of a less outlandish lie. But, operating under the assumption that you are being truthful, why are you here, trying to remain unnoticed?”

Roz shuddered to think what would happen if anyone found out why she was here. If people knew she was an alien, they would inevitably ask the very question Archimedes had just posed to her. Thankfully, Roz had anticipated this. “I am an explorer. I am documenting this solar system and others nearby. My ship crashed on this planet, however.”

“Your…ship?”

“The vessel I used to arrive here. I have attempted to establish contact with it twice now.” Roz turned her arm to look at her holotab projector. “I have had no success. It is either out of range or no longer functional. Either way, I am stranded.”

“What do you intend to do then? Is there some other way for you to return home?”

Roz shook her head. “There is no other way. However, I am deeply disturbed by these “natural” disasters. I suspect they are anything but, and possibly related to me being stuck here.” Did she dare ask to join the Rangers? She didn’t like the idea of having to keep secrets from Archimedes, which she inevitably would as long as she was working under him. At the same time, this could be her biggest lead.

“Why is it so important that no one learns about your origins?” Archimedes leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his chest.

“I think you know the answer to that. Do your people not remember when my ancestors left this world?”

“…You mean to tell me you’re descended from the Pokémon who were abducted 300 years ago?” the Alakazam asked incredulously.

“I believe we are referring to the same event. They were not abducted, however.” The Elgyem floated out of her seat and continued with a distant expression. “Approximately 300 years ago, my ancestors left this world of their own volition and established their own civilization elsewhere,” Roz explained. 

“But it was not a peaceful affair. Other Pokémon thought we were betraying them by doing so, and became violent in the days leading up to our departure.” She looked directly into Archimedes’ eyes. “Clearly that history still exists on this world, at least in story. For centuries we have avoided this planet for fear of what would happen to us if we returned. I cannot allow my origin to be known until I know it will not put me in danger,” she pleaded.

The Alakazam regarded Roz for several long moments. “I understand. Despite the passage of time we still remember those events. There are undoubtedly some Pokémon who would suspect you had, shall we say, less than pure motives for being here if they knew of your origin. I will keep your secret safe.”

“Thank you.” Roz fought back the urge to sigh in relief. “But, about those disasters, surely someone is trying to figure out what their cause is?”

“Indeed, though not with much success. Ordinarily, we’d turn to the gods in a crisis like this, but, as I mentioned earlier, that hasn’t worked out so well thus far. We’re so preoccupied dealing with problems as they arise we haven’t had time for any real investigation.”

“There must be someone else who can help. Are there no scientists researching the problem?”

Archimedes scoffed. “There are a few naturalists attempting to investigate the problem, but they’ve had even less luck than us. More than that, rescuing them is taking up a lot of our monpower, so we discourage freelance research of that sort.”

“That sounds wise.” Roz had considered the possibility of collaborating with the Rangers without formally joining them, but doing so had the potential to put her in danger she’d be ill-prepared to get herself out of it. There was still one option left though.

“I find this situation deeply troubling. As an explorer, I am accustomed to gathering and analyzing data.” It was partially true at least. “Perhaps I can be of assistance in investigating these phenomena?” Roz suggested.

Archimedes went back to toying with his whisker. “You propose to join our organization.” It wasn’t a question. “You have your own problems to worry about. Particularly if you are, as you claim, stranded here. Why would you dedicate your efforts to dealing with our problems?”

“Two reasons.” Roz settled back into her chair. “One:” She held up one finger. “In hopes of learning exactly how I became stranded. Two:” She raised another “As long as I am confined to this planet, it is my planet as well, and therefore it is in my best interests to use my skills to protect it from further harm.”

There was a long pause as the Alazakam contemplated her response. Roz tried taking a page out of his book and looking into his thoughts, but she’d never been good at mind reading, and certainly not good enough to spy on an experienced psychic like Archimedes. So they sat looking at each other, Archimedes fiddling with his whisker and Roz sitting tense and motionless. Finally, he spoke.

“You are allegedly an explorer, yes? Then you must have experience working in the field.”

“Some,” the Elgyem replied cautiously. “I believe I handled myself well in Thunderwave Cave yesterday.”

“In other words, you explored from the safety of the ‘ship’ you mentioned earlier. In that case, I think it unwise to have you collect information from the field. These events have placed considerable strain on our finances, and I’m afraid I can’t afford to employ someone to sit around and ‘analyze data.’ I’m already doing that myself.”

Roz slouched in her chair. Did he not see the need for the type of help she was offering? It sounded like the Ranger’s current approach was to simply treat the symptoms rather than actually cure the disease.

“Though I will say, If you had some other skill that would help us it would be a different story. We could certainly use someone who could work on piecing this mystery together,” he added.

Roz thought about the things she was good at. She doubted most of them would interest Archimedes in the slightest. What did it matter that she was a world-class expert on psionics? That was precious little help in a situation like this. Wait a minute…psychic abilities. “There is one thing. I am quite good at teleportation.” 

Archimedes looked interested. “We could use more people to help with transportation. I assume you can cover long distances?”

“As long as I am familiar with my destination, yes.”

“Naturally.” Archimedes considered for a second or two. “Have you tried teleporting home?”

The thought had certainly occurred to Roz. There was too much she needed to do first though, and it was very unlikely she’d be able to come back. Besides, she was pretty sure teleporting to another arm of the galaxy was far beyond her abilities, no matter how familiar she was with the place. “It is much too far away. I have doubts even the most powerful of psychics could travel that distance.” Well, maybe there was one.

“I see. Yes, if you can get to the point where you can reliably teleport back here I’d accept your help.”

“Thank you,” said Roz. “May I continue working with Terry in the meantime?”

“Provided the two of you don’t do anything reckless. Come back and talk to me once you can consistently teleport here with other Pokémon.”

“Thank you sir,” Roz replied with a bow of her head. “Was there anything else you wished to discuss with myself or Terry?”

“No, there isn’t. You are dismissed.” Roz nodded and turned to leave. “And Roz,” said Archimedes. “Good luck.” 

She nodded again and exited the office to see Terry waiting outside. “What’d he want to talk to you about?” asked the Cubone. The pair began walking back to his desk.

“We discussed the possibility of my employment here. He agreed to hire me provided I can familiarize myself with this location enough to consistently teleport to it from a distance.”

“Ah, so he’ll take you as a teleporter. We could use some of those. If you’d been able to do that yesterday, that Pidgeot wouldn’t have had to wait for us outside of Thunderwave Cave, so he could’ve come straight back here and taken someone else where they needed to go,” Terry explained. “Of course, it’s even better if you have a teleporter that can take you straight to your destination as well. Saves a lot of time.”

Most of the other Rangers were currently dispatched to stations across the Air Continent, but the few still at Headquarters were on standby in case of an emergency, including, for the time being, Terry. As she had nothing else to do, Roz decided to spend the time familiarizing herself with Ranger Headquarters. Her first step was deciding where she wanted to teleport to. She’d need to pick a location she could return to with no advance notice, potentially with a wounded Pokémon in tow. Obviously Terry’s desk was out of the question. 

The lobby might be an option, but there was too much of a risk of teleporting into a crowd. Roz and her passengers would simply be pushed out of the way, but it was always better not to risk a situation like that. Somewhere outside the building would be perfect though. The Elgyem excused herself to go outside and choose a location. 

Ideally, Roz would want a location close to the building but out of the way of regular traffic. One of the walls on the building’s east side was perfect. Teleporting required a clear and distinct mental image of one’s destination. That made short-range teleports easy—you could see your destination as you teleported. In order to warp long distances though, she’d need something unique to the spot she wanted to appear at. Most of the building’s walls looked the same, but the east wall bore a distinct crack in the brickwork she could hold as a mental image to ensure she appeared at this specific spot. Failure to find something like that could have a number of unpredictable effects. She might appear at a random location near the building, in a totally different location that happened to look similar, or the teleport could fail altogether.

She got some odd looks and a few Pokémon asked her what she was doing, but were satisfied with her explanation about memorizing a Teleport location. When she was confident nobody was watching, she snapped a few photos with her holotab. 

Once that was done, the Elgyem floated a short distance away, turned around, closed her eyes, and focused. Roz pictured the wall in her mind. The idea was to envision what she wanted to see after the teleport completed. She pictured the layout of the bricks in the spot she’d designated, the way the shadows lay across them, the grass at the base of the building; the more detail she could provide, the easier it would be. When she was satisfied with her mental image, Roz channeled her psionic energy and vanished with a soft fsht sound. She opened her eyes to find herself exactly where she intended to be. It was a start, but she was far from having this mastered. She’d need to try this again from different locations and different times of day.

~~~

Roz and Terry were assigned to patrol the Tiny Woods for the next couple of days. Roz expected the job to be uneventful, but found herself quite mistaken, as they encountered several Pokémon making their way toward Crosswind Town.

“Where are you guys coming from?” Terry asked a Heliolisk among the travelers.

“Baram Town,” she answered.

“It’s been raining nonstop for the past week,” a Camerupt added. Both of them, and indeed, all of the travelers were heavily laden with supplies.

“Ooo,” Terry winced. “So you’re going to Crosswind Town to look for somewhere drier?”

“Or at least some sunlight,” the Heliolisk replied, fanning her frill out. The Camerupt huffed a bit of smoke.

“Oh, right, that would be a problem. Well, luckily, our weather’s been pretty normal so far,” said Terry. “Hopefully it stays that way,” he added nervously.

“How far away is Baram Town?” Roz asked once they had all passed.

“Not that far. It’s a port town just west of Crosswind. I haven’t paid much attention before, but I doubt that much rain is normal.”

“Will Crosswind Town be able to accommodate that many Pokémon?”

“I’m sure we’ll manage,” said Terry.

Roz wasn’t so sure. There would be Pokémon that would tolerate or even appreciate the rain, but most of the populace would likely want to leave. How big was Baram Town in comparison to Crosswind Town? And what if this weather pattern spread? From what she could tell, Crosswind Town had been mercifully spared so far. How long would that last?