Collections of Elegant Formulas: Chapter 2
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The black box Cynthia had given Amanita had no obvious way to open or close; she couldn’t even find a seam in the rubber casing. A small length of Ethernet cable protruded from each side, protected by a bulge of the black rubber. Amanita had tried plugging it into a variety of computers, but it never sent anything and data transferred in one side didn’t come out the other. Some investigation had revealed that there was metal plating under the rubber, thick enough to prevent easy investigation. After one last try plugging it into a powered switch and passing data through it, she turned to her laptop and started typing.
pslightlypsychoactive: cynthia are you sure this isn't just a lump of metal with network cables glued on that got dipped in liquid latex pslightlypsychoactive: because that is what it looks like! sinnohliepard: Funny, it didn't taste like liquid latex. juniperusunoviana: Cynthia. :/ oneiricspice: So can we take it apart yet? pslightlypsychoactive: ugh fine pslightlypsychoactive: if i die from this you have to pay off my student loans though oneiricspice: Wait wait let me come upstairs!
Fennel had been arguing for cutting the thing open from the very beginning. Cynthia was worried that there might be a self-destruct module in place in case of tampering, which Fennel dismissed as “some secret agent shit,” but that concern was enough that they’d decided not to open it at first. After a couple of days of having the box on her workbench, Amanita was a little afraid of it; granted, it was a bit of a ridiculous idea, but what if there was something dangerous in there: a packet of venom, maybe, or even worse acid that would destroy the information contained within if the box was opened improperly. Amanita put on her safety goggles over her glasses, and plugged in her drill.
“I asked you to wait!”
Amanita didn’t turn around. “I waited. Grab a chair.”
Fennel grabbed a rolling chair from her desk and rolled it over, turning it backwards toward the workbench and kneeling on it, leaning over Amanita’s shoulder. She rolled up the sleeves of her lab coat. “This is going to be good.”
“It’s probably going to be boring.” Amanita grabbed a second set of safety goggles off of the wall and pushed them up at Fennel, who fastened them over her glasses and then started trying to fix her hair. Amanita reached for her multitool and started to cut into the rubber. She spent a moment peeling rubber away from the metal; it had been glued on but could be scraped off with a knife easily enough.
Fennel scooted her chair over to Amanita’s laptop.
pslightlypsychoactive: This is Fennel! pslightlypsychoactive: So far nobody's dead, and peeling rubber off of metal is really boring. pslightlypsychoactive: Further updates as events warrant. -
Cynthia and Looker sat in the back of one of Skyla’s cargo planes. Cynthia had taken off her jacket, wearing just a white tank top and a pair of loose black slacks; Looker had stripped down to an undershirt, suspenders, and rolled-up slacks, and was still sweating. They were sitting on some of the crates of Rocket supplies that Iris had intercepted, most of them still unopened. Cynthia held her Xtransceiver in one hand, watching words scroll by. The inside of the plane was quiet except for the hum of the ventilation system, which Skyla had left on for them before heading to Unova.
Looker yawned. “Any news?”
She tapped at the screen a bit. “It looks like they’re going to open up the cloning box. Amanita knows to be careful, but I’m a bit worried all the same.”
“They?”
“Amanita and Fennel. They’re sisters. You know Fennel, Aurea’s friend? The cute one?”
“More your type than mine.”
“But who isn’t?” Cynthia smiled placidly at Looker, who shook his head. “Anyway, they’re talking through it right now, and Aurea and I are watching. Apparently they’ve all been chatting together like this since college.”
Looker laughed. “And they let you in on the basis of your wonderful personality?” Cynthia glared at him, and he returned her earlier smile.
pslightlypsychoactive: She's got all the rubber off and apparently there's enough room between the network cables and the metal bits to squeeze in one of those flexy looking things. pslightlypsychoactive: So I'm waiting. Again. juniperusunoviana: You mean a bore scope? pslightlypsychoactive: Amanita says yes. sinnohliepard: And you said there wouldn't be any secret agent shit. pslightlypsychoactive: I guess this is a little cool.
“Huh,” said Cynthia, reading. “It’s apparently just a tiny computer inside, with a bunch of batteries, and some kind of antenna.”
“So the trap is a tracer and not a bomb.” Looker tapped his fingers against his forehead, and then stood up suddenly. “Fuck.” He ran to a crate near the front of the cargo area, and pulled out twelve of the black boxes. “Are they active when they’re not plugged in?”
Cynthia immediately released Spiritomb. “I don’t know.” Spiritomb slid over to one edge of the plane, and part of its body passed through the wall. “I’m more worried about the girls and their house. They have what, a Musharna? Amanita might have a Foongus or something. Maybe an Eevee.”
Looker smiled briefly. “It’s like you to think of them first. We could be about to get torched and you’re worried about two girls in an apartment.”
“They won’t torch us.” Cynthia waved her arm. “They can’t afford to torch all of the stuff. They can afford to torch one cloning box they already wrote off as lost.” She watched as Spiritomb came back from the wall and slid across the plane to peek out the opposite wall, and then slid back in front of her. “Also, if they were going to torch us, they would have done so already. They’re trying to figure out which plane we’re in.”
Looker reached behind him and pulled his pistol out of its holster. “Shall we inform them?” He pushed down a lever, and pulled back the slide on the top of the gun, the click echoing in the cargo hold. “I’d hate for them to waste their time.”
Cynthia shook her head. “You’re almost eager to shoot first.”
Looker walked over to his discarded jacket and pulled two spare clips out of its pockets. “Not all of us are bound by the traditions of the League. I should have killed more of these scum when I had the chance. This is what we get for letting twelve-year-olds with electric rodents stand as our first line against terrorists.” He arranged the two clips behind a crate and kneeled behind it, aiming at the entrance to the plane, and then adjusted to a different angle.
“Forgive me for not wanting to kill people. And give me two minutes.”
juniperusunoviana: So the Pokemon are stored on a chip? And that chip is removable? pslightlypsychoactive: no it's a card, like the memory card in your xtrans pslightlypsychoactive: at least i think that's how it works pslightlypsychoactive: i need to spend some more time with it sinnohliepard: You need to get out of there right now. sinnohliepard: Leave the box. It's got a tracer. pslightlypsychoactive: no shit it's got a tracer pslightlypsychoactive: i already ripped it out sinnohliepard: I'm not joking. pslightlypsychoactive: this is why i did not want to do this pslightlypsychoactive: i don't even think it had power sinnohliepard: Aurea, make them leave. I have a situation. juniperusunoviana: Um. sinnohliepard: I'll owe you one. <3
“Okay.” Cynthia shut off her Xtransceiver and turned her head toward Looker. “Forgive me my attachments.” He nodded. “Lucario, Garchomp, go!” She called out the two Pokémon, who jumped to either side of Spiritomb, forming a wall in front of Cynthia and leaving the left side of the plane to Looker.
“Three Pokémon?”
Cynthia pulled the clips out of her hair and let it hang loose. “Triple battles are legal in Unova. It’s in the guidebook. Lucario, Aura Sphere!” Lucario blasted the door open, and Cynthia cracked her wrists. “That should get their attention.”
-
Black, Julie, and Silver entered the library at the back of the Nacrene Museum. Dusk entered through the windows, giving them just enough light to see. Black walked immediately toward the back of the library, the floor creaking each time he picked a foot back up, and Julie followed him, slightly taller than the shelves, a patch of green bobbing up and down between them. Silver called out Crobat and let it sit on his shoulder as he picked up a book with a worn cover that had been left on a table by the door. It was a young adult novel, a fantasy about a child going through a Pokémon journey in a world where all of the Pokémon could speak. It looked dreadful.
Crobat flew up into the rafters of the library, perching on a wooden beam. Silver put down the novel and walked further into the library. Black flipped agitatedly through an unlabeled book.
“What are you looking for?”
Black looked up. “Oh, right, you’re not from here. There’s a puzzle. When the library’s open, there are people who help you. Somewhere there’s a book that opens up a secret passage into the gym proper.” He put that book back on the shelf and grabbed another, leafing through it. “But I have no idea where it is. I haven’t been to this gym in years.”
“Will the gym leader even be here?”
“If she’s not, her badges should be. And that’s what we need. Well, what you need.”
Silver tensed up, and touched one of the Pokeballs at his side. “We’d just take them?”
Black shoved his book back on the shelf and turned to look directly at Silver. “You’ve battled the Elite Four of how many regions and you’re seriously concerned about earning the Basic Badge?”
“A little bit,” said Silver, “yes. And doesn’t Julie need one?”
Black shook his head and grabbed another book. “No. She has all of the badges already. Got most of them before I did. Had to beat me up Victory Road, I guess.”
Silver grabbed a book from the same section and flipped through, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Just words and words and words. “The two of you were rivals, then?”
Black shrugged. “I thought Cheren was my rival. He made it all the way to Victory Road too, close behind me. N - Julie - was just a mysterious figure who kept popping up when I had better things to do.”
Silver laughed, relaxing slightly. “I’m told that’s what having a rival is like. I guess I was like Julie, for Kotone.” He looked up. “What am I even looking for in this book?”
“I think the clues are in red. It’s been forever.” Black tried another book, and shook this one upside down. A library slip fell out; he picked it up. The book had not been checked out in at least four years. “Kotone... the woman in the coma in Johto, right?”
“Giovanni put a bullet in her head, yes.” They were both silent for a moment, scanning through books and re-shelving them, listening to the rhythm of ruffling pages and the grains of hardcovers sliding against each other. “Did you and Julie get together right after you became the Champion, or did you wait a long time?”
Black shrugged. “I waited a few months. The whole Team Plasma thing made it awkward.” He shook his head. “Maybe it’s not this shelf, dammit. Stupid puzzle gyms.” He walked over to another shelf and started flipping through books again.
Silver followed him, but didn’t touch any books. “I can see how that would have made it hard.” Crobat flew down from the rafters and landed on his shoulder, resting a wing across his chest.
“What about you? Did you jump on her the instant she took the crown, or what?”
Silver laughed, the sound bouncing around the room. He leaned against a shelf and shook his head, staring at Black with surprise. “It took us seven years.” He shook his head again. “Seven years.”
“I will never understand straight people.”
“I’m not-” Silver cut himself off. “Whatever. We should get to the damn gym.”
Julie poked her head around the corner. “Um, it’s right here?”
Black raised his hand ands looked down his nose at her. “So why aren’t we going down there?”
“Well, you seemed absorbed in your conversation, and-”
Black walked past her, turning side to side. “Where is it?”
Julie straightened her back and pointed. “One block of shelves closer to the door than you were looking. I thought you knew where it was, and when you didn’t go there I got nervous and thought maybe I remembered wrong.” Eevee nuzzled at her leg. “But nope, it was where I thought it was.”
Silver stared at her. “You remembered which book in a library you had to move to open a secret door? After what, five years? Seven?”
“Oh no, that would be very hard! I just went to the block of shelves that hadn’t changed, since all of the other books had been resorted as new things were added, and that one hadn’t been since the books are all fake.”
“That,” said Silver, “is not really any less impressive.” Julie shrugged, and followed Black toward the passageway; Silver shelved the book still in his hand and joined her.
The three of them walked down the stairs, Black leading the way and Julie following, carrying Eevee and leaning slightly to either side with every step. Silver walked behind them, feeling the grain of the wooden banister, trying to make out anything in the darkness below. Crobat chittered in his ear, and he stopped, letting the others take a few more steps.
When Black reached the bottom of the staircase, harsh lights turned on him, blinding Black and Julie for a moment. A woman in a white lab coat and sunglasses at the bottom of the staircase held an electric lantern in one hand and a Pokeball in the other.
“Halt, evildoers!”
From behind her, a quieter voice. “Sis, that’s Black.”
Fennel pouted. “But I’ve always wanted to say that!” She turned down the lamp and took off the sunglasses. “Oh well. Hi Black! You must be the escort Lenora sent us! But who are the ladies you’ve brought with you?”
Silver blinked. No one had made that mistake in a while.
-
The black box Cynthia had given Amanita had no obvious way to open or close; she couldn’t even find a seam in the rubber casing. A small length of Ethernet cable protruded from each side, protected by a bulge of the black rubber. Amanita had tried plugging it into a variety of computers, but it never sent anything and data transferred in one side didn’t come out the other. Some investigation had revealed that there was metal plating under the rubber, thick enough to prevent easy investigation. After one last try plugging it into a powered switch and passing data through it, she turned to her laptop and started typing.
pslightlypsychoactive: cynthia are you sure this isn't just a lump of metal with network cables glued on that got dipped in liquid latex pslightlypsychoactive: because that is what it looks like! sinnohliepard: Funny, it didn't taste like liquid latex. juniperusunoviana: Cynthia. :/ oneiricspice: So can we take it apart yet? pslightlypsychoactive: ugh fine pslightlypsychoactive: if i die from this you have to pay off my student loans though oneiricspice: Wait wait let me come upstairs!
Fennel had been arguing for cutting the thing open from the very beginning. Cynthia was worried that there might be a self-destruct module in place in case of tampering, which Fennel dismissed as “some secret agent shit,” but that concern was enough that they’d decided not to open it at first. After a couple of days of having the box on her workbench, Amanita was a little afraid of it; granted, it was a bit of a ridiculous idea, but what if there was something dangerous in there: a packet of venom, maybe, or even worse acid that would destroy the information contained within if the box was opened improperly. Amanita put on her safety goggles over her glasses, and plugged in her drill.
“I asked you to wait!”
Amanita didn’t turn around. “I waited. Grab a chair.”
Fennel grabbed a rolling chair from her desk and rolled it over, turning it backwards toward the workbench and kneeling on it, leaning over Amanita’s shoulder. She rolled up the sleeves of her lab coat. “This is going to be good.”
“It’s probably going to be boring.” Amanita grabbed a second set of safety goggles off of the wall and pushed them up at Fennel, who fastened them over her glasses and then started trying to fix her hair. Amanita reached for her multitool and started to cut into the rubber. She spent a moment peeling rubber away from the metal; it had been glued on but could be scraped off with a knife easily enough.
Fennel scooted her chair over to Amanita’s laptop.
pslightlypsychoactive: This is Fennel! pslightlypsychoactive: So far nobody's dead, and peeling rubber off of metal is really boring. pslightlypsychoactive: Further updates as events warrant. -
Cynthia and Looker sat in the back of one of Skyla’s cargo planes. Cynthia had taken off her jacket, wearing just a white tank top and a pair of loose black slacks; Looker had stripped down to an undershirt, suspenders, and rolled-up slacks, and was still sweating. They were sitting on some of the crates of Rocket supplies that Iris had intercepted, most of them still unopened. Cynthia held her Xtransceiver in one hand, watching words scroll by. The inside of the plane was quiet except for the hum of the ventilation system, which Skyla had left on for them before heading to Unova.
Looker yawned. “Any news?”
She tapped at the screen a bit. “It looks like they’re going to open up the cloning box. Amanita knows to be careful, but I’m a bit worried all the same.”
“They?”
“Amanita and Fennel. They’re sisters. You know Fennel, Aurea’s friend? The cute one?”
“More your type than mine.”
“But who isn’t?” Cynthia smiled placidly at Looker, who shook his head. “Anyway, they’re talking through it right now, and Aurea and I are watching. Apparently they’ve all been chatting together like this since college.”
Looker laughed. “And they let you in on the basis of your wonderful personality?” Cynthia glared at him, and he returned her earlier smile.
pslightlypsychoactive: She's got all the rubber off and apparently there's enough room between the network cables and the metal bits to squeeze in one of those flexy looking things. pslightlypsychoactive: So I'm waiting. Again. juniperusunoviana: You mean a bore scope? pslightlypsychoactive: Amanita says yes. sinnohliepard: And you said there wouldn't be any secret agent shit. pslightlypsychoactive: I guess this is a little cool.
“Huh,” said Cynthia, reading. “It’s apparently just a tiny computer inside, with a bunch of batteries, and some kind of antenna.”
“So the trap is a tracer and not a bomb.” Looker tapped his fingers against his forehead, and then stood up suddenly. “Fuck.” He ran to a crate near the front of the cargo area, and pulled out twelve of the black boxes. “Are they active when they’re not plugged in?”
Cynthia immediately released Spiritomb. “I don’t know.” Spiritomb slid over to one edge of the plane, and part of its body passed through the wall. “I’m more worried about the girls and their house. They have what, a Musharna? Amanita might have a Foongus or something. Maybe an Eevee.”
Looker smiled briefly. “It’s like you to think of them first. We could be about to get torched and you’re worried about two girls in an apartment.”
“They won’t torch us.” Cynthia waved her arm. “They can’t afford to torch all of the stuff. They can afford to torch one cloning box they already wrote off as lost.” She watched as Spiritomb came back from the wall and slid across the plane to peek out the opposite wall, and then slid back in front of her. “Also, if they were going to torch us, they would have done so already. They’re trying to figure out which plane we’re in.”
Looker reached behind him and pulled his pistol out of its holster. “Shall we inform them?” He pushed down a lever, and pulled back the slide on the top of the gun, the click echoing in the cargo hold. “I’d hate for them to waste their time.”
Cynthia shook her head. “You’re almost eager to shoot first.”
Looker walked over to his discarded jacket and pulled two spare clips out of its pockets. “Not all of us are bound by the traditions of the League. I should have killed more of these scum when I had the chance. This is what we get for letting twelve-year-olds with electric rodents stand as our first line against terrorists.” He arranged the two clips behind a crate and kneeled behind it, aiming at the entrance to the plane, and then adjusted to a different angle.
“Forgive me for not wanting to kill people. And give me two minutes.”
juniperusunoviana: So the Pokemon are stored on a chip? And that chip is removable? pslightlypsychoactive: no it's a card, like the memory card in your xtrans pslightlypsychoactive: at least i think that's how it works pslightlypsychoactive: i need to spend some more time with it sinnohliepard: You need to get out of there right now. sinnohliepard: Leave the box. It's got a tracer. pslightlypsychoactive: no shit it's got a tracer pslightlypsychoactive: i already ripped it out sinnohliepard: I'm not joking. pslightlypsychoactive: this is why i did not want to do this pslightlypsychoactive: i don't even think it had power sinnohliepard: Aurea, make them leave. I have a situation. juniperusunoviana: Um. sinnohliepard: I'll owe you one. <3
“Okay.” Cynthia shut off her Xtransceiver and turned her head toward Looker. “Forgive me my attachments.” He nodded. “Lucario, Garchomp, go!” She called out the two Pokémon, who jumped to either side of Spiritomb, forming a wall in front of Cynthia and leaving the left side of the plane to Looker.
“Three Pokémon?”
Cynthia pulled the clips out of her hair and let it hang loose. “Triple battles are legal in Unova. It’s in the guidebook. Lucario, Aura Sphere!” Lucario blasted the door open, and Cynthia cracked her wrists. “That should get their attention.”
-
Black, Julie, and Silver entered the library at the back of the Nacrene Museum. Dusk entered through the windows, giving them just enough light to see. Black walked immediately toward the back of the library, the floor creaking each time he picked a foot back up, and Julie followed him, slightly taller than the shelves, a patch of green bobbing up and down between them. Silver called out Crobat and let it sit on his shoulder as he picked up a book with a worn cover that had been left on a table by the door. It was a young adult novel, a fantasy about a child going through a Pokémon journey in a world where all of the Pokémon could speak. It looked dreadful.
Crobat flew up into the rafters of the library, perching on a wooden beam. Silver put down the novel and walked further into the library. Black flipped agitatedly through an unlabeled book.
“What are you looking for?”
Black looked up. “Oh, right, you’re not from here. There’s a puzzle. When the library’s open, there are people who help you. Somewhere there’s a book that opens up a secret passage into the gym proper.” He put that book back on the shelf and grabbed another, leafing through it. “But I have no idea where it is. I haven’t been to this gym in years.”
“Will the gym leader even be here?”
“If she’s not, her badges should be. And that’s what we need. Well, what you need.”
Silver tensed up, and touched one of the Pokeballs at his side. “We’d just take them?”
Black shoved his book back on the shelf and turned to look directly at Silver. “You’ve battled the Elite Four of how many regions and you’re seriously concerned about earning the Basic Badge?”
“A little bit,” said Silver, “yes. And doesn’t Julie need one?”
Black shook his head and grabbed another book. “No. She has all of the badges already. Got most of them before I did. Had to beat me up Victory Road, I guess.”
Silver grabbed a book from the same section and flipped through, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Just words and words and words. “The two of you were rivals, then?”
Black shrugged. “I thought Cheren was my rival. He made it all the way to Victory Road too, close behind me. N - Julie - was just a mysterious figure who kept popping up when I had better things to do.”
Silver laughed, relaxing slightly. “I’m told that’s what having a rival is like. I guess I was like Julie, for Kotone.” He looked up. “What am I even looking for in this book?”
“I think the clues are in red. It’s been forever.” Black tried another book, and shook this one upside down. A library slip fell out; he picked it up. The book had not been checked out in at least four years. “Kotone... the woman in the coma in Johto, right?”
“Giovanni put a bullet in her head, yes.” They were both silent for a moment, scanning through books and re-shelving them, listening to the rhythm of ruffling pages and the grains of hardcovers sliding against each other. “Did you and Julie get together right after you became the Champion, or did you wait a long time?”
Black shrugged. “I waited a few months. The whole Team Plasma thing made it awkward.” He shook his head. “Maybe it’s not this shelf, dammit. Stupid puzzle gyms.” He walked over to another shelf and started flipping through books again.
Silver followed him, but didn’t touch any books. “I can see how that would have made it hard.” Crobat flew down from the rafters and landed on his shoulder, resting a wing across his chest.
“What about you? Did you jump on her the instant she took the crown, or what?”
Silver laughed, the sound bouncing around the room. He leaned against a shelf and shook his head, staring at Black with surprise. “It took us seven years.” He shook his head again. “Seven years.”
“I will never understand straight people.”
“I’m not-” Silver cut himself off. “Whatever. We should get to the damn gym.”
Julie poked her head around the corner. “Um, it’s right here?”
Black raised his hand ands looked down his nose at her. “So why aren’t we going down there?”
“Well, you seemed absorbed in your conversation, and-”
Black walked past her, turning side to side. “Where is it?”
Julie straightened her back and pointed. “One block of shelves closer to the door than you were looking. I thought you knew where it was, and when you didn’t go there I got nervous and thought maybe I remembered wrong.” Eevee nuzzled at her leg. “But nope, it was where I thought it was.”
Silver stared at her. “You remembered which book in a library you had to move to open a secret door? After what, five years? Seven?”
“Oh no, that would be very hard! I just went to the block of shelves that hadn’t changed, since all of the other books had been resorted as new things were added, and that one hadn’t been since the books are all fake.”
“That,” said Silver, “is not really any less impressive.” Julie shrugged, and followed Black toward the passageway; Silver shelved the book still in his hand and joined her.
The three of them walked down the stairs, Black leading the way and Julie following, carrying Eevee and leaning slightly to either side with every step. Silver walked behind them, feeling the grain of the wooden banister, trying to make out anything in the darkness below. Crobat chittered in his ear, and he stopped, letting the others take a few more steps.
When Black reached the bottom of the staircase, harsh lights turned on him, blinding Black and Julie for a moment. A woman in a white lab coat and sunglasses at the bottom of the staircase held an electric lantern in one hand and a Pokeball in the other.
“Halt, evildoers!”
From behind her, a quieter voice. “Sis, that’s Black.”
Fennel pouted. “But I’ve always wanted to say that!” She turned down the lamp and took off the sunglasses. “Oh well. Hi Black! You must be the escort Lenora sent us! But who are the ladies you’ve brought with you?”
Silver blinked. No one had made that mistake in a while.
-