Cracking the Code

"Fennekin…I'm worried about you."

"Ah, stop trying to put out my fire Froakie."

"Now I'm even more worried – you've started using puns."

In the old days, Froakie's comment might have got a chuckle out of the fire pokémon. In the old days, they'd have been behaving as pokémon should have rather than hanging around in a library. But these were new days. Days where the water pokémon was becoming increasingly worried about his friend as she poured over book after book and searched the Internet. All looking for info on the most recent legendaries to be introduced to the world.

"Ah, come on!"

Days where Chespin was playing on a 3DS every waking

"I mean, seriously!" the grass pokémon exclaimed. "Hyper beam! Why is that every damn normal pokémon in this damn tower has hyper beam?!"

"A challenge I guess," Fennekin murmured, not taking her eyes off the book.

"But they're normal! They're supposed to be…normal!"

"Well, just go back to your last save then."

"Bah!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Froakie saw Chespin do just that. His eyes went back to Fennekin though. Chespin was a lost cause until he got all his badges and beat the battle tower he was on. Fennekin still had hope though.

"So…" Froakie ventured. "How's it going?"

"Oh, great," the fire pokémon said, still not taking her eyes off the book. "I think I've disproven Dr. Kotaku's theory on Xerneas and Yveltal."

"That's…nice."

"Oh, it is!" she exclaimed, closing the book and hopping up to the computer. "I'll be sending in my findings within the week."

Was it ethical for pokémon to study pokémon, Froakie wondered? Granted, humans studied themselves, and he'd never had a problem with humans studying pokémon before (except for anal probing…only aliens did that, as proven back in-)

"And to top it off, I've got my own theory!"

Nevermind. Aliens were far closer to home than Froakie had realized.

"Xerneas and Yveltal," Fennekin whispered, still facing the screen. Froakie didn't know if he was even being talked to at this point. "The two legendaries."

"Yeah…like, legendaries increase in number with every generation," the frog pokémon murmured. "Doesn't that make them a bit less…legendary?"

"Not if my level ninety Ho-Oh has anything to say about it," Chespin called out. A pleasant jingle emanated from the 3DS. "Hah! Take that, sucker!"

Froakie tried to drown out Chespin's exclamations, but still got the gist that his Ho-Oh had reached level ninety-one. He turned his attention back to the fire pokémon before him, who'd at least had the courtesy to turn to face him.

"These legendaries," Fennekin began. "By looking at them, we can see a pattern."

"Can we?"

"Well of course!" the fire pokémon exclaimed. "Xerneas looks like an X. Yveltal looks like a Y."

"Actually, they look more like a stag and flying…thing…to me."

"X and Y!" Fennekin declared, ignoring her friend. "The chromosomal code!"

"The what?!"

"X and Y! Chromosomes! Reproduction! We could be looking at the origins of all pokémon!"

"I thought Mew was the origin of all pokémon!"

"Bah!" Fennekin declared, turning back to the computer. "No-one cares about Mew! Why should I?!"

"Ah, you should," Chespin called out. "If you get Mew, it shows that you're a true fan. Downloaded it, Nintendo loves you…now if they'd only give me a Victini. Bastards."

Froakie sighed, bubbles coming out of his mouth. "Fennekin…this theory of yours, it's great…really great…"

"Isn't it?"

"Yeah…but there's a flaw."

Fennekin spun round to face him. Her eyes narrowed. Her tail twitched. From the 3DS was the sound of an infernape casting a fire attack.

"Flaw?" the fire pokémon asked.

"Um…yeah," Froakie said, hoping at this point that he'd evolve before Fennekin, his elemental advantage feeling rather moot right now. "X and Y. That's a male chromosomal combination."

"So?"

"So…if these guys are the originators of all pokémon…doesn't there need to be a double-x combination?"

Fennekin opened her mouth, and at first, Froakie was afraid that there'd be a fireball coming his way. But it didn't happen. Because the mouth closed and the fire pokémon's eyes, once burning, had now become embers.

"You're right…" she murmured. "My theory is false."

"Yeah!"

Four eyes turned to Chespin.

"Elite Four, here I come!"

The eyes turned away. And one pair turned back to the computer.

"This needs work," Fennekin murmured.

"Well, leave it to the professors," Froakie said. "It's a big world out there and-"

"I've got it!"

Fennekin spun round again, the fire in her eyes back.

"Xerneas is X. Yveltal is Y. So obviously there's a third legendary. A Z legendary."

"That's…great," Frokie sighed. "Really…great."

There was no saving her. She'd keep at it until some trainer with way too much time on their hands found out the truth themselves. Until then, he'd have to deal with the Tandy Computer Whizz-Kids.

"Ah, come on!"

Frokie glanced back at Chespin. "Another hyper beam?"

"The battery!" the grass pokémon exclaimed. "The battery ran out!"

Yep, Froakie realized. He'd be here a long time.

A/N

The idea for this came from a Kotaku article that did a pseudo-serious example of the Pokémon X/Y legendaries. It didn't seem right to simply transpose the theory to narrative form, but it did spark my own over-analysis here. Over-analysis that, having since gone back to the article, I see that other people have beaten me to already. Still, hopefully this is entertaining just the same.