Chapter Text
The train finally hissed to a stop, and for a long moment, Professor Sycamore found himself unable to get up from his seat. Five years had past since he'd last set foot in Lumiose City...five years since he ran away from the wreckage of his own grief under the guise of pursuing research in another region. Now, as the train doors slid open, the pokèmon professor felt an immense sense of loss, but this time, it wasn't his alone.
Sycamore let out a deep sigh as all the other passengers eagerly stepped off of the train; most of them happy to be able to sight-see in the famous Lumiose City. The pokèmon professor huffed in irritation as he pushed through all of the happy tourists to exit the train. These passengers clearly believed the stereotype of the city...that they will be treated to high fashion, fine-dining, and romance as they drink wine under a full moon. Sycamore shook his head...he was almost jealous of the ignorance to not know what truly lay behind the seemingly flawless landscape of Lumiose City.
Now, here he was, standing on the platform, suitcase in hand. He had sworn that he would never come back, but when news of the catastrophe reached him, that promise unraveled in an instant. Sycamore readjusted his posture and took a deep breath before leaving the train station; assuring himself that it was going to be okay. He had spent the last few years studying the Alola region's use of Mega Evolution. Along with his assistants, Trevor, Dexio, and Sina, the pokèmon professor made a good career for himself in the tropical region and was almost able to push his tumultuous past to the back of his mind completely...that was, until last week.
"Professor Sycamore, look! It's Lumiose City on the news!" It was Trevor pointing up at the TV in their Alolan lab; the young man staring at the screen with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
Sycamore raised an eyebrow and looked up from his work to see what all the fuss was about. Sure enough, when he looked at the TV, he was met with an image that was almost too unbelievable to comprehend. It was Prism Tower...alive, and attacking the city. The pokèmon professor let out a gasp of surprise at the scene, blinking a few times to assure himself that what he was seeing was really real. The TV then showed Prism Tower being defeated...the headline reading 'Lumiose City saved by legendary pokèmon Zygarde and young trainer.'
"Zygarde...can Mega Evolve?" Sycamore muttered quietly to himself in disbelief, holding onto a nearby counter for support...admittedly, the pokèmon professor had gone a little pale at the news.
"Umm, Professor?" Started Trevor in a concerned tone. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Y-Yeah, i'm fine...I just..." The professor cleared his throat and popped the collar of his lab coat. "...Need to make a few phone calls..." Needless to say, he booked a plane ticket right away...and now here he was, walking the streets of the city he once called home like he had never left.
Sycamore walked down the streets of Lumiose as slow as he could, eyeing his surroundings with caution, his hand now starting to sweat from how tightly he was holding onto his suitcase.It's not like he was afraid or anything...it's just, all the people and seemingly friendly faces around him unnerved him...what if someone recognized him? What if they called him out for being the coward who ran away once things got bad. Sycamore sighed and rubbed the back of his neck wearily...no one would ever understand why he had to leave. How almost every damn corner of this city is affiliated with tainted memories...memories that used to soothe his soul, but are now only filled with grief, heartache, and anger.
Along with his memories, the city itself had changed. The most obvious being Prism Tower...now just a skeleton of its former-self after the catastrophe. Sycamore couldn't help but shiver slightly as he squinted to look up at the tall tower in the sun, to think that there was a deadly weapon inside of the city's gym this entire time. The next obvious change was that of the wild zones for pokèmon,the holo barriers causing Sycamore to detour from some of his usual routes. It pained the professor a bit to see so many pokèmon confined to such small places, he understood why it needed to be done...but it still felt out of place. He wasn't sure how to feel about this whole urban redevelopment plan...the wild zones, along with hostile benches, made the city seem a bit colder and a lot less welcoming than what it once was.
"Home sweet home..." Sycamore whispered to himself with a tired sigh as he stood in front of the Pokèmon Research Lab. It was finally time to find out what he had missed in the past five years.
"P-Professor Sycamore, is that really you?" The young secretary at the front desk gasped when she saw him walk through the front door of the main lobby.
"Bonjour, yes...it's me" The professor smiled kindly in reply as he approached the front desk. "Did Mable not tell you I was coming?" He smirked in amusement and absent-mindedly started tapping his fingers on the desk.
"Why...no sir, she didn't inform anyone." The young woman said with a coy smile.
"...Of course she didn't." Sycamore rolled his eyes with an amused huff. "I suppose you don't mind me heading up to the office then?"
"Oh no, go right on ahead, Professor Sycamore."
"Oh, and please...just call me Augustine." He chuckled with a wink as he walked towards the elevator. "After all, I don't work here anymore."
"All right...Augustine." The young woman blushed and giggled shyly as the professor entered the elevator.
The man let out an exasperated sigh as the elevator doors finally closed. He found it difficult to be his usual charming self that his old co-workers know and love. Admittedly, he hadn't been that person since before the events of five years ago. The elevator dinged as it reached the third floor...he didn't have time to ponder the past right now...now he wanted to find out all that he could about the catastrophe with Prism Tower...with Zygarde.
"WHO DOES THAT MAYOR THINK HE IS?!?"
Sycamore couldn't help but smirk to himself as he got off the elevator and was met with a loud, booming voice.
"Mable?" The professor spoke with a raised eyebrow as he put his suitcase down and turned the corner to face the woman's desk.
"LIKE, DOES HE REALLY THINK THAT I CAN DO ALL THIS RESEARCH BY MYSELF!?!" Mable huffed in frustration, still fully engrossed in her work.
Sycamore cleared his throat to make his presence known.
"LIKE, THIS DAMN MAYOR NEEDS TO GET THE STICK OUT OF HIS-"
"Mable!!!" Sycamore shouted while leaning forward to place both of his hands on the desk.
"S-Shit...Professor Sycamore..." Mable jumped slightly and squirmed in her seat uncomfortably. "I...ugh...I didn't hear you come in."
"I phoned you about an hour ago to let you know that I was on my way..." Sycamore rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Yes...but that still doesn't tell me the exact moment of your arrival." Mable chuckled nervously in reply.
Sycamore smiled softly in amusement. Five years ago when shit hit the fan, he decided to allow Mable to take over as lead director at the research lab in Lumiose while he was in Alola. This deal pretty much saved the young woman from a prison sentence, though Sycamore was avoidant with anything or anyone having to do with Team F-L-A-R-E, he decided to give Mable a chance...after all, she did know her stuff. Or...perhaps keeping her close is the only real connection he can have to the man he once held so dear.
"Hello...earth to Sycamore!" Mable was snapping in his face.
"Huh?" The pokèmon professor flinched slightly and shook his head.
"I said...how was your trip here?" The woman continued with an annoyed sigh.
"Oh...umm, it was alright." Sycamore shrugged. "Nothing special, really."
"Look..." Mable said as she sat back in her chair. "I can see that you're antsy to know just what in Arceus's name went on here last week...so, ask away, and i'll do my best to answer."
Sycamore took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair...he didn't even know where to start.
"So umm..." Sycamore started reluctantly. "The Rogue Mega Evolution in the city? What happened with all of that?"
"Oh yeah..." Mable replied in a nonchalant tone. "So apparently the pokèmon went rogue and mega evolved in reaction to that secret weapon that was in Prism Tower." The woman then waved her hand dismissively. "But no need to worry about all of that now, the kid helping me with my research took care of it."
"Hmm...how fascinating that-" The pokèmon professor interupted himself. "Wait, what do you mean you have a kid doing research for you?"
"Oh come on, not just any kid off the street!" Pleaded Mable with a huff. "It's the kid who saved the damn city, I pick my assistants well!"
"Is that so?" Sycamore raised his eyebrow with an amused smirk.
"Look, you have what...three child assistants, so you have no room to talk!" Mable chuckled as she pointed an accusatory finger towards the man. "So this information most definitely does not go anywhere near my probation officer!"
"All right, all right, it stays between us." Sycamore rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Now about the tower...what do you know about it?"
"Probably the same as you do, honestly." Mable said with a shrug, swirling in her office chair absent-mindedly. "That old guy...AZ...he built it thousands of years ago...to end more lives...or to give more lives...maybe something to do with that Floette...who knows really, I didn't know the guy personally."
Sycamore visibly tensed up at the mention of AZ...things were now getting a bit too close to the events of five years ago for his liking. The Ultimate Weapon...the betrayal he felt when the man he loved...when he tried to...and then he...
"He died by the way..."
"W-What!?" Sycamore's head shot up as he was startled from his thoughts.
"The old man...AZ." Mable continued with a sigh. "He died shortly after everything went down...so I guess that means he took all of his secrets to the grave with him."
"O-Oh...well...isn't that a shame."
"Eh..." Mable scoffed in amusement. "Three-thousand years old only to end it all with your deadly weapon trying to destroy the city."
"Hey..." Sycamore furrowed his brows and huffed. "He may have had his fair share of sins, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a good man."
"Are we just forgetting that he murdered people and pokèmon!" Mable replied in protest.
"Yes, but...he...he was trying to stop a war...he only wanted a better world to live in!" Sycamore spoke defensively.
"By killing living beings!?!?"
"Okay...so what he did was awful...but-" The pokèmon professor sighed tiredly and rubbed his forehead. "But he spent the rest of his life trying to make up for it...so...so he's still a good man...right?"
Mable watched in silence as Sycamore paced the office; the man stopping in front of the old portraits of himself, gazing at them in yearning as if he wanted to be transported back to the time that they were taken.
"But I guess...none of it really matters now." Sycamore chuckled dryly, turning away from the photos with a scoff. "None of it matters now...because he's dead...he's dead and he's never coming back." The professor spoke sadly and closed his eyes to prevent tears from falling.
"Something tells me..." Mable sighed and stood up from her desk. "That it's not AZ we're talking about here."
Sycamore shook his head and placed both hands on his hips. "Am I really that obvious?" He couldn't help but smirk in amusement at the situation despite himself.
"Well...after all, you were just as affiliated with Team Flare as I was." Mable replied with a smirk.
"I...I was not affiliated with Team Flare." Sycamore replied with a dry huff.
"...You were sleeping with our boss." Mable crossed her arms and chuckled. "If anything, that makes you more affiliated than me!"
"Gahhh, Mable!!!" Sycamore spoke in a flustered tone as his face turned pink. "It...it was a lot more than that and you know it!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah...you two were in love and stuff." Mable rolled her eyes. "It was disgustingly obvious...boss would never shutup about you."
Sycamore let out a deep sigh and ran a tired hand over his face.
"You're the only one who knows about me and...and Lysandre...I hope it stays that way." It almost took his breath away to say the man's name out loud again for the first time in five years.
"Worried about being involved with Team Flare ruining your reputation?" Mable huffed in amusement. "Well, join the club."
"No..." Sycamore shakes his head and glances out the window. "My reputation in Lumiose was tarnished the second I decided to leave."
Mable raised her eyebrow, not understanding exactly what the professor meant.
"You see, the people here still think of me as the charming Professor Sycamore of Lumiose City...the Mega Evolution expert...the dashing ladies man." The professor chuckled dryly and shook his head as he continued. "But...i've never been that person...it's all just a facade really. In reality, Professor Sycamore is nothing more than a coward who ran away from his city in need, because he was an idiot who fell stupidly in love with a brilliant, maniac of a man...and...and I didn't do anything to stop him...or save him...and now it's too late."
Sycamore sighed deeply and zoned out as he gazed upon the busy streets of Lumiose City.
"I think deep down you knew though...that Lysandre was one of us." Mable smirked slightly. "I mean...he didn't exactly not look like one of us..."
"You're right..." Sycamore chuckled dryly and turned from the window to face the blue-haired woman. "Yeah...maybe I did know the whole time...maybe I was just blinded by love to admit it...even so, that just gives me all the more reason to regret not being able to save him."
"Well..." Mable took a deep breath and placed a hand on the professor's shoulder. "Maybe you don't have to, because-"
"Ah, sorry to interrupt!" Sycamore gasped and quickly perked his head up. "But I do have one more important question...what of Zygarde...how did it get here in its complete form...how did it mega evolve...where is it now?"
"Look..." Mable huffed tiredly. "Zygarde's with the kid now...I don't know much about how it mega evolved...I wasn't there at the tower the night everything went down."
Sycamore's shoulders fell in disappointment at not having a solid answer to all of his questions.
"Y'know what, if it'll make you happy...I can arrange a meeting with the kid if you want, and i'm sure they'll be able to answer all your burning questions about Zygarde." Mable said with a soft sigh.
"I...yes....maybe...I don't know." The professor replied as he paced the office again and ran a hand through his hair. "Being back in this city is so hard...it's like I have to rewire my brain to function properly again."
"Why don't you take a break...go for a walk and settle yourself." Mable replied with a smile. "When you're ready, then we can talk about what to do."
"Yeah...that's a good idea." Sycamore nodded and took a deep breath. "It's just...the past is haunting me, and this time I can't run away from it. I would do anything to just be able to erase all these memories and find peace at last."
Mable bit her fingernails nervously as she watched the pokèmon professor head back towards the elevator to leave.
"Hey umm...Professor?" Mable spoke up nervously. "One more thing..."
"Yeah?" Sycamore turned his head back as the elevator doors opened.
"Ummm...ummm." Mable shook her head with a huff. "While you're out there, you should try Nouveau Cafè...they make a mean flamethrower brew."
"Oh, thanks for the recommendation." Sycamore waved with a smile as he got into the elevator. "I'll be sure to try it!"
And with that, the elevator doors closed and Sycamore was off. Mable let out a deep sigh and frowned...maybe she should have told the professor the truth after all. Then again, keeping this one piece of information from him is better for his mental health right now. She could only hope that Sycamore wouldn't be bumping into the man who calls himself 'L' anytime soon.