Interlude - Live from Jubilife

Interlude

Live From Jubilife

Gray Linden had survived collapsing ruins, territorial Rampardos, one extremely angry Tyrantrum, several bad caves, at least three academic conferences, a Silver Conference run that had ended with Karen dismantling half his strategy in public, and repeated proximity to a Legendary Pokémon capable of turning stone liquid.

None of those experiences had prepared him for foundation.

He sat beneath a ring of white dressing-room lights in Jubilife Television's main studio while a woman named Mara pressed a small sponge against the side of his face.

Gray endured this with the posture of a prisoner attempting to preserve dignity during processing.

Across the room, Cynthia laughed.

Not subtly.

She had been laughing for almost four minutes.

Gray looked toward her through the mirror.

“You said you came for support.”

“I did.”

“This is not supportive.”

Cynthia sat on one end of a low couch with one leg crossed over the other, wearing ordinary clothes rather than anything Champion-official. She had declined every suggestion that she appear on the program. Apparently Gray alone was sufficient entertainment.

“I haven't left,” she said.

“You're laughing.”

“I can do both.”

Beside her, Lyra did not laugh.

That would have been preferable.

Instead, she stood near a folding table with Gray's interview brief open on her tablet and watched the stylists work with the expression of someone who had successfully maneuvered an uncooperative research subject into captivity.

Gray trusted her less than Cynthia at the moment.

A second stylist combed his hair.

Gray disliked that too.

“I already brushed it.”

The stylist, a man named Ren, continued adjusting the front.

“You did.”

“That sounded insulting.”

“It wasn't.”

Gray looked at Lyra.

“She made a face.”

Lyra glanced up. “Ren is doing his job.”

“My hair was functional.”

“Your hair is always functional.”

“That sounds worse.”

Cynthia laughed again.

Mara leaned closer and examined Gray's forehead.

“Try not to move.”

“I have been sitting still.”

“You keep turning to argue with people.”

“I’m being provoked.”

Mara smiled professionally and applied something beneath his eyes.

Gray recoiled slightly.

“What is that?”

“Concealer.”

“Why?”

“To reduce the shadows.”

Gray stared at himself in the mirror.

“I have shadows?”

Lyra said, “You sleep six hours and call it healthy.”

“I slept seven last night.”

Cynthia immediately looked over.

“Did Blissey enforce that?”

Gray said nothing.

Cynthia's smile widened.

Traitorous silence.

The dressing room itself was offensively comfortable. Soft lighting, mirrors bordered in bulbs, clothing racks, several chairs, and a counter full of products Gray could not identify. Someone had brought bottled water, fruit, small sandwiches, and coffee.

Gray had eaten two sandwiches.

Lyra noticed.

She had said nothing.

That concerned him.

There were twenty-seven minutes until the live segment.

Gray hated every one of them.

“You know,” Cynthia said, “you could have avoided all of this by saying yes six weeks ago.”

Gray looked at her through the mirror. “I said no six weeks ago because this is terrible.”

“You said no to every interview.”

“Yes.”

“You said no to SSM's video follow-up.”

“Yes.”

“You said no to Canalave Public Science.”

“Yes.”

“You said no to the documentary crew from Hoenn.”

“Yes.”

“You told one producer, and I quote, ‘the paper has words in it for a reason.’”

Gray paused.

“That was fair.”

Lyra finally looked up from the tablet.

“The problem is that you found something millions of people care about.”

“We found it.”

“And you are the lead author and regional Professor.”

“Administrative tragedy.”

“That title comes with public communication.”

Gray frowned.

“I communicate constantly.”

“To researchers.”

“They are public.”

“They are a subset.”

Gray considered arguing the definition.

Then saw Lyra's expression.

Not worth it.

She continued. “This interview is one controlled segment. One host. Ten minutes. The questions were pre-screened. We have hard boundaries on the location, protected access, unpublished genetic work, and anything related to Heatran.”

Gray's eyes moved immediately toward her.

“Especially Heatran?”

“Especially Heatran.”

Good.

The public still did not know Heatran occupied one of the deeper habitats.

The fossil paper had made enough noise.

The world did not need to know Sinnoh's hidden underground system also contained a Legendary volcanic Pokémon.

Not yet.

Maybe not for a long time.

Cynthia's laughter faded at that.

She understood the distinction better than most people.

Mara stepped back.

“Almost done.”

Gray looked at himself.

He looked like Gray.

Slightly less tired Gray.

That was unsettling.

“What did you do?”

Mara blinked.

“Makeup.”

“I look rested.”

“That was the intention.”

“This is dishonest.”

Cynthia made a choking sound.

Lyra actually smiled.

Ren finished his hair.

“There.”

Gray stared at himself.

His hair looked neat.

Too neat.

He reached up.

Ren caught his wrist before he touched it.

“No.”

Gray looked at his hand.

Then at Ren.

“You stopped me.”

“Yes.”

“Bold.”

“I've worked with Gym Leaders.”

Fair.

Cynthia stood and walked closer to the chair.

She looked at Gray through the mirror.

He waited for criticism.

Instead she nodded solemnly.

“You look very professional.”

Gray narrowed his eyes.

Then Cynthia broke.

She laughed so hard she had to put one hand on the counter.

Gray closed his eyes.

“Support.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You are not.”

“No.”

Lyra checked the time.

“Twenty minutes.”

Gray looked toward the door.

“Can I leave?”

“No.”

“I know where the exits are.”

“I told studio security you're an escape risk.”

Gray turned slowly.

“You what?”

Lyra's expression remained completely neutral.

Cynthia laughed harder.

Gray stared.

Lyra waited.

Then smiled.

“I'm kidding.”

Gray considered.

“That wasn't funny.”

“It was a little funny.”

The stylists agreed.

Gray hated television.

The host's name was Adrian Vale.

Gray knew this because Lyra had made him read the interview brief twice.

Adrian hosted Sinnoh Tonight, a popular evening current-affairs program that mixed regional news, celebrity interviews, League coverage, human-interest pieces, and enough science to convince intelligent viewers they had not wasted an hour.

Gray had seen three clips.

He disliked all of them.

Adrian was good at his job.

That might have been the problem.

He had the polished warmth of someone capable of asking an invasive question while making it sound like a favor. His dark suit fit perfectly. His smile had probably been focus-tested.

Gray distrusted him immediately.

They met backstage nine minutes before the segment.

Adrian extended a hand.

“Professor Linden. Really glad you finally agreed to come on.”

Gray shook it.

“Lyra made me.”

Adrian laughed.

Gray did not.

Then Adrian realized Gray had been serious.

Good.

“I've heard your assistant is formidable.”

“She is.”

Lyra stood four feet away.

“I'm right here.”

Adrian smiled.

“Even better.”

Gray looked toward Cynthia.

She stood near the back wall, safely outside the camera area.

Her expression said she was enjoying this far too much.

Adrian noticed her.

“Champion Cynthia. Sure I can't convince you to join us?”

“No.”

Immediate.

Adrian laughed again.

Cynthia smiled pleasantly.

“I’m only here to watch Gray suffer.”

Adrian looked delighted.

Gray looked at her.

“Support.”

She nodded.

“Exactly.”

A producer approached.

“Two minutes.”

Gray's stomach tightened.

Interesting.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

He had fought in stadiums larger than the studio.

He had given academic lectures.

He had testified before League panels.

This was worse.

Cynthia saw his posture change.

She stepped closer while the staff adjusted microphones.

“You're fine.”

Gray looked at her.

“That sounds suspiciously supportive.”

“I can stop.”

“No.”

She smiled faintly.

“Just answer what they ask. If he tries to drag you somewhere stupid, say so.”

“I was planning to.”

“I know.”

Lyra approached from the other side.

“No swearing.”

Gray looked at her.

“That seems unnecessary.”

“It is live.”

“I know how television works.”

“No swearing.”

“Fine.”

“No calling the host an idiot.”

“That depends.”

“Gray.”

“Fine.”

“No telling people who want the location to go fuck themselves.”

Gray frowned.

“That one feels restrictive.”

Cynthia looked away because she was laughing again.

The producer held up one finger.

“Places.”

Gray walked onto the set.

The studio audience applauded.

Gray immediately disliked them.

Not personally.

He simply had no idea what he was supposed to do while people applauded his existence.

Adrian sat behind a curved desk beneath a large screen displaying the now-famous Bastiodon photograph. Gray's chair had been positioned beside the desk at an angle designed for television rather than human comfort.

He sat.

The applause faded.

Cameras moved.

A red light came on.

Adrian looked directly into one of them.

“Welcome back. If you've opened a newspaper, visited BattleNet, walked through a museum, or spoken to anyone with even a passing interest in Pokémon history during the last few weeks, you've probably seen this image.”

The Bastiodon photograph expanded behind them.

Gray looked at it.

He still liked that photograph more than he liked seeing himself on a studio monitor.

Adrian continued.

“An adult Bastiodon, surrounded by Shieldon, photographed inside an undisclosed protected ecosystem here in Sinnoh. The research team behind that discovery has documented multiple populations of fossil-associated Pokémon previously known to modern science through fossils, restoration programs, and human care.”

Gray noticed previously known rather than thought extinct.

Good.

Someone had read the paper.

“Joining me tonight is the lead author of that study, Sinnoh's regional Pokémon Professor, Gray Linden. Professor, thanks for finally coming.”

Gray looked at him.

“Lyra made me.”

There was a fraction of silence.

Then the audience laughed.

Gray heard Cynthia somewhere offstage.

Of course.

Adrian smiled.

“Well, please thank Lyra for us.”

“I won't.”

More laughter.

Gray frowned slightly.

He had not intended a joke.

This was already going poorly.

Adrian leaned back.

“Let's start with the obvious question. When you first saw that Bastiodon, did you understand immediately what you were looking at?”

That was better.

Gray relaxed slightly.

“Yes.”

“What went through your mind?”

Gray considered.

“I recognized Bastiodon first. Then Shieldon. The number of Shieldon mattered more than the adult did.”

“Why?”

“One individual can create a lot of possibilities. Five Shieldon around an adult immediately makes population structure relevant. Then you start looking for age differences, repeated behaviors, other adults, evidence of breeding, feeding routes, long-term occupation.”

Adrian nodded.

“So you didn't have the movie moment where you thought, ‘My God, we've found a lost world’?”

“No.”

“Nothing like that?”

“I think I said ‘holy shit’ later.”

There was absolute silence.

Gray froze.

Offstage, someone made a strangled sound.

Lyra.

The audience erupted.

Adrian put one hand over his mouth.

Gray looked toward the nearest camera.

“Oh.”

The laughter became worse.

Gray sighed.

“Apparently that rule lasted four minutes.”

Adrian was laughing openly now.

“We're live, Professor.”

“I was informed repeatedly.”

Somewhere beyond the lights, Cynthia had completely lost composure.

Gray could hear her.

Traitor.

Adrian recovered.

“Well, in fairness, I think most of Sinnoh had roughly the same reaction when the paper came out.”

“That doesn't make it broadcast appropriate.”

“You're doing great.”

“That sounds threatening.”

More audience laughter.

Gray decided to stop talking unless directly asked a scientific question.

Adrian seemed to realize this might be useful.

“Let's talk about the science, because one thing your paper is very careful about is what the discovery does not prove.”

Good.

Gray sat slightly straighter.

“Correct.”

“People online have said these Pokémon survived unchanged for millions of years.”

“No evidence for that.”

“None?”

“Not from what we've published. We have populations. We have juveniles. We have established habitat use. We have evidence that at least some species have occupied the system for a meaningful amount of time. That is not the same as demonstrating uninterrupted population continuity across geological timescales.”

Adrian nodded.

“So the headline ‘dinosaurs survive underground for millions of years’—”

“Bad headline.”

“It was on three sites today.”

“They should stop.”

The audience laughed again.

Gray ignored it.

Adrian continued. “Could the populations have come from restored Pokémon at some point in the past?”

“It's a hypothesis that needs to be tested, but current evidence makes recent introduction unlikely. Genetic work will help. Sediment work will help. Archaeology may help too.”

“Archaeology?”

Gray caught himself.

Careful.

“Yes. Human history and Pokémon history overlap. If older populations were known to past communities, archaeological evidence could provide additional context.”

Adrian leaned in.

“Have you found that?”

Gray looked at him.

The question was still within approved territory, technically.

“Some potentially relevant historical material is being evaluated.”

Adrian smiled.

Gray recognized the expression.

There.

Annoying host.

“Potentially relevant how?”

“Potentially relevant enough that I just said it's being evaluated.”

The audience made a small noise.

Adrian laughed.

“Fair.”

Good.

He moved on.

“What has surprised you most about watching these Pokémon?”

Gray thought about the question.

Not the discovery.

Watching them.

That changed the answer.

“How normal they are.”

Adrian seemed genuinely interested.

“Normal?”

“They eat. They sleep. Shieldon get stuck on things. Cranidos investigate stuff they probably shouldn't. Rampardos overreact to threats. Bastiodon keep smaller Pokémon close. Anorith climb over each other. The important scientific part is that we're seeing behavior in a habitat we didn't know existed. But emotionally, I think people expect something ancient to behave ancient.”

Gray glanced toward the photograph behind them.

“It doesn't. It's just alive.”

The studio became quieter.

Adrian let that sit.

Good instinct.

Then he said, “You own a Bastiodon.”

Gray looked back.

“Yes.”

“Your first Pokémon?”

“Yes.”

“From a fossil your father found.”

Gray's body tightened slightly.

The question had been approved.

He knew that.

Still.

“Yes.”

Adrian's tone softened.

“What was it like, then, seeing these Pokémon living together?”

Gray looked toward the photograph again.

The smallest Shieldon stood beneath the adult.

He had answered versions of this before.

Not on television.

“It was strange.”

He paused.

“I know Bastiodon as a species through research, but I also know one Bastiodon extremely well because I've had him since I was ten. Seeing behavior I recognized from him in that habitat made the whole thing feel less abstract.”

Adrian waited.

Gray continued.

“My father would have liked the photographs.”

That was enough.

Adrian did not push.

Gray appreciated him slightly more.

Only slightly.

The host changed direction.

“Your team has been extremely secretive about the location.”

“Correct.”

“Some people think too secretive.”

“They're wrong.”

Adrian smiled.

“You're very direct.”

“It's a protected habitat.”

“People argue that public scientific discoveries should be publicly accessible.”

“The research is public. The coordinates are not.”

“What do you say to trainers who want to see these Pokémon themselves?”

“No.”

Audience laughter.

Gray ignored it.

Adrian tried again.

“What if they promise not to catch anything?”

“No.”

“What if they're experienced?”

“No.”

“What if they only want photographs?”

“No.”

Adrian leaned back.

“So that's fairly firm.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Gray looked at him.

“Because curiosity doesn't create entitlement. There are breeding populations there. Young Pokémon. territorial Pokémon. habitats we barely understand. Hundreds or thousands of people showing up because they want pictures would alter behavior, damage vegetation, create waste, introduce pathogens, disturb nesting areas, and eventually somebody would try to catch something.”

Adrian nodded.

“Even with League enforcement?”

“Especially once people know where to go. You can't protect a habitat by pretending everyone will behave.”

That received less laughter.

Good.

That mattered.

Adrian glanced toward his notes.

“You've also received criticism over the decision not to bring any of the newly documented Pokémon to the surface for study.”

Gray's expression changed.

“Study them there.”

“Wouldn't a controlled laboratory environment make some questions easier?”

“Yes.”

“So why rule it out?”

“We haven't ruled out every possible temporary intervention forever. We have ruled out taking Pokémon because researchers want convenient access.”

Gray leaned forward slightly.

“They already have an environment. The burden is on us to justify interfering with it, not on them to justify staying where they live.”

Adrian's expression shifted.

Gray could not tell whether he liked the answer or merely recognized good television.

Probably both.

“What about samples?”

“Same principle. Collect what can be collected without unnecessary disturbance. Shed material. water. soil. plants where appropriate. Genetic sampling becomes more complicated and goes through conservation review.”

“So no one is walking in with Poké Balls.”

“Correct.”

Adrian smiled.

“There's been a lot of speculation online about whether this changes what it means to own a restored fossil Pokémon.”

Gray sighed.

“People need to stop calling restored Pokémon fake.”

“I didn't.”

“I know. Other people did.”

“So you’ve seen the discussion.”

“Unfortunately.”

The audience laughed.

Gray continued.

“Restored Pokémon are Pokémon. The existence of populations living in this ecosystem doesn't diminish anybody's partner. What it gives us is another source of information. Behavior. Genetics. ecological relationships. Potentially better husbandry standards.”

Adrian nodded.

“Better husbandry?”

“Yes. If we learn that certain species naturally spend more time in groups, prefer particular substrates, interact with environments in ways we didn't know, that can improve care.”

“Have you already seen anything that might change how you care for your own Bastiodon?”

Gray thought.

“Possibly enrichment and social behavior. Too early to say.”

“Does he know?”

Gray stared.

“Know what?”

“That you've found others.”

Gray looked toward Adrian.

Then toward the audience.

Then back.

“He smelled my clothes for five minutes after the first expedition.”

The audience laughed.

Adrian grinned.

“So yes?”

“I showed him pictures.”

“And?”

“He ate grass.”

That laughter lasted longer.

Gray waited patiently.

Television was strange.

The interview became worse again near the end.

Adrian had been good for nearly six minutes.

Gray should have expected a relapse.

“One thing viewers are curious about,” Adrian said, “is whether this discovery means there could be other supposedly extinct Pokémon living elsewhere in Sinnoh.”

“Yes.”

Adrian's eyebrows rose.

Gray realized how that sounded.

“Possible. Not confirmed.”

“So you think there are?”

“I think the world is large and we've demonstrated that at least one major subterranean ecosystem escaped modern documentation.”

“Could there be Aerodactyl colonies?”

“Maybe.”

“Lileep?”

“Maybe.”

“More Tyrantrum?”

“Maybe.”

Gray stopped.

He heard himself.

Cynthia was going to mock him for that.

He corrected course.

“The point is that the discovery expands the range of plausible questions. It doesn't answer all of them.”

“Any species you're personally hoping to find?”

Gray considered.

“More Magikarp.”

Adrian stared.

The audience laughed.

Gray remained serious.

“You already have Magikarp.”

“Yes.”

“Thirty-one, according to the profile.”

Gray's eyes narrowed.

“Twenty-nine originally.”

“So the rumors about unexplained additions are true.”

“No.”

“You have thirty-one.”

“Yes.”

“And started with twenty-nine.”

“Yes.”

“Where did the other two come from?”

Gray looked directly into the camera.

“I reject the premise.”

The audience lost it.

Offstage, Cynthia made a sound that might have been a cough if coughing involved helpless laughter.

Adrian leaned back in his chair.

“I think we may have found the next investigation.”

“No.”

“We'll send a team.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Protected habitat?”

“My pond.”

That somehow made it worse.

Gray looked toward Lyra beyond the lights.

She had both hands over her face.

Excellent.

At least somebody else was suffering.

Adrian finally regained control.

“One last question, Professor. Serious one.”

Gray became suspicious.

“Okay.”

“You've spent most of your career studying Pokémon history. Fossils, ancient settlements, mythology. How has this discovery changed the way you look at the past?”

That was actually good.

Gray looked down for a moment.

Then toward the Bastiodon photograph behind them.

“I think people like clean boundaries.”

Adrian waited.

Gray continued.

“Past and present. extinct and living. myth and history. We build categories because they're useful. They help us study things.”

He rubbed one thumb against the side of his chair.

“But categories can become assumptions if you forget they're tools.”

The studio was quiet again.

Gray looked back at Adrian.

“We thought some of these Pokémon only existed in fossils and restoration programs. We were wrong. That's good.”

“You're happy to be wrong?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because now we know more.”

Adrian smiled.

Not the television smile this time.

A smaller one.

“That seems like a good place to leave it.”

Gray agreed.

“Very.”

The red camera light remained on.

Adrian turned toward it.

“Professor Gray Linden, Sinnoh's regional Pokémon Professor and lead researcher on the fossil ecosystem study. Thank you for joining us.”

Gray nodded.

“Thanks.”

The audience applauded.

Gray remembered not to stand until the producer signaled.

Progress.

Then the light turned off.

Cynthia immediately walked onto the set.

She was still laughing.

Gray looked at her.

“You are a terrible friend.”

Cynthia stopped.

The laughter faded just enough.

“Friend?”

Gray stared.

He had not thought about the word before saying it.

Cynthia's expression softened.

Only slightly.

Gray frowned.

“Don't make it weird.”

That restarted the laughter.

Lyra reached them moments later.

She looked exhausted.

“You swore.”

“Once.”

“Live.”

“I noticed.”

“You argued about the Magikarp.”

“He attacked my credibility.”

Adrian, still at the desk, said, “I asked where two fish came from.”

Gray looked at him.

“Exactly.”

Cynthia sat down in the empty guest chair because she was laughing too hard to remain standing.

Lyra sighed.

Then, despite herself, smiled.

“You did fine.”

Gray looked suspicious.

“Actually?”

“Yes.”

“Define fine.”

“You explained the science clearly, didn't reveal anything protected, defended the conservation policy, didn't insult the public, and only swore once.”

Gray nodded.

“That sounds excellent.”

“It does not.”

“Better than expected.”

“That I’ll give you.”

Gray stood.

Mara appeared from backstage.

“Makeup removal.”

Gray stopped.

“No.”

Mara smiled.

“Yes.”

Cynthia laughed again.

Gray briefly considered Heatran preferable.

The first clip reached BattleNet eleven minutes after the segment ended.

Not the science.

Of course not.

The title was:

PROFESSOR LINDEN SAYS “HOLY SHIT” LIVE ON SINNOH TONIGHT

The clip began with Adrian asking whether Gray had experienced a dramatic lost-world moment.

Gray watched himself answer.

I think I said holy shit later.

Then came his face when he realized what he had done.

The clip ended there.

By the time Gray reached the dressing room again, it had been reposted thousands of times.

Lyra did not tell him.

Cynthia did.

She held out her phone.

Gray looked.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“It has captions already.”

“Why?”

“Accessibility.”

“That is not what I meant.”

Cynthia scrolled.

The top comment read:

he looked like his soul left his body the second he remembered he was on tv

Gray sighed.

Another:

this man won a silver conference and apparently live television is what finally defeated him

Another:

LYRA IF YOU'RE READING THIS I'M SORRY HE BROKE CONTAINMENT

Gray looked toward Lyra.

She was speaking with the producer across the room.

“Do not show her that.”

“I think she'd like it.”

“Absolutely not.”

Cynthia kept scrolling.

BattleNet's main thread went up twenty-three minutes later.

[LIVE THREAD / POST-SHOW] Professor Linden on Sinnoh Tonight — Fossil Population Interview

The moderator pinned a note immediately.

MOD NOTE: Same rules as the fossil megathread. Do not post location speculation. Do not ask for leaked coordinates. Do not use interview background details to geolocate the site. Immediate bans remain in effect.

The first page barely discussed science.

Geodude420:

HE SWORE IN FOUR MINUTES

route216throwaway:

lyra somewhere backstage loading a gun

PewterMuseumVolunteer:

Can we talk about the actual interview please

Geodude420:

no

KarenDidNothingWrong:

his face after saying it was the funniest thing i've seen all week

SinnohDad84:

my daughter yelled “HE SAID A BAD WORD” like she has not heard worse from me when i step on a toy

MOD_Croagunk:

Keep it vaguely on topic.

Geodude420:

the topic is science professor says fuck-adjacent word

MOD_Croagunk:

I hate this website

The science arrived on page three.

paleo_grad_student:

Actual useful thing from the interview:

He again explicitly rejected the “unchanged for millions of years” framing.

Please stop posting that claim.

The paper does not establish continuous survival over that timescale and Linden literally just said so on television.

OriginalSpeciesOnly:

He's being overly cautious because scientists never want to say the obvious.

paleo_grad_student:

That's how science works.

You don't get bonus points for saying the coolest conclusion first.

FossilTechM:

Also his comments on husbandry are probably the biggest practical thing here long-term.

If we get reliable wild behavioral baselines for these species, restoration centers are going to have to revisit a lot of assumptions.

ShieldonMom:

my shieldon already has a behavioral baseline: crime

FossilTechM:

Valid dataset.

SinnohDad84:

same

Page five found the Magikarp segment.

Everything deteriorated.

Route1Fisher:

HOLD ON

STARTED WITH 29HAS 31REFUSES TO EXPLAIN

WHAT IS PROFESSOR LINDEN HIDING

Geodude420:

THE REAL PROTECTED POPULATION

KarenDidNothingWrong:

release the magikarp coordinates

MOD_Croagunk:

Do not make me add the professor's pond to the geolocation rule.

Route1Fisher:

coward

KarpTruth:

those two fish are unregistered government experiments

PewterMuseumVolunteer:

This account was created six minutes ago.

KarpTruth:

because truth cannot wait

MOD_Croagunk:

user banned

Someone clipped Gray talking about restored Pokémon.

That discussion became more serious.

OldAmberStan:

“Restored Pokemon are Pokemon.”

Good.

Needed to be said publicly.

OriginalSpeciesOnly:

Nobody serious is saying they're not Pokemon.

ShieldonMom:

people literally called mine artificial in the last megathread

FossilTechM:

I've worked in restoration for 11 years and the amount of weird purity language since the paper dropped has been gross.

Wild populations are scientifically incredible.

They do not make restored partners lesser.

paleo_grad_student:

This is also why the genetics will be fascinating without becoming some “real vs fake” thing.

Different populations can tell us about bottlenecks, restoration processes, lineage variation, all kinds of stuff.

Geodude420:

science translation: everyone's dinosaur is valid

paleo_grad_student:

close enough

Then came the conservation argument.

That thread split off almost immediately.

FreeRouteExplorer:

sorry but I disagree with him on keeping the location secret forever

nature belongs to everyone

ConservationRanger:

Habitats do not belong to you because you want a photo.

FreeRouteExplorer:

That's not what I said.

ConservationRanger:

It is basically what you said.

OreburghLocal:

If there's public land involved people have rights.

ConservationRanger:

Protected ecological sites restrict access all the time.

FreeRouteExplorer:

So only professors and elites get to see it?

paleo_grad_student:

Researchers with permits, yes.

That's how protected research sites work.

I am also not allowed into most active digs just because I'm curious.

Geodude420:

I personally think everyone should be allowed in until the first guy pets a tyrunt

definitely_not_a_gymleader:

unfair example

The thread paused.

Then:

route216throwaway:

OH MY GOD

cranidosfan77:

HE'S HERE

Geodude420:

ROARK LOG OFF

definitely_not_a_gymleader:

no idea what you're talking about

MOD_Croagunk:

I am begging all of you to act like adults.

Gray discovered that part later.

He was back on the road toward Sandgem when Cynthia showed him.

They sat in the rear of a League car because the studio had insisted on arranging transportation.

Gray read Roark's post.

Then Cynthia's face.

Then the post again.

“He's terrible at this.”

“Yes.”

“Worse than me.”

“At anonymous internet posting?”

“Yes.”

“That is an extraordinarily specific victory.”

Gray accepted it.

Cynthia scrolled to another section.

This one had fewer jokes.

A user had transcribed the final answer from the interview.

HistoryNerdSinnoh:

This part was actually really good:

“Past and present. extinct and living. myth and history. We build categories because they're useful. They help us study things. But categories can become assumptions if you forget they're tools.”

Honestly explains why this whole discovery is messing with people so much.

CelesticArchivist:

As someone who works with historical texts, yes.

A lot of things classified as metaphor or myth get classified that way because the literal reading doesn't fit what we think we know.

That does NOT mean myths are secretly literal.

It means new evidence can change which interpretations deserve another look.

HistoryNerdSinnoh:

Exactly.

route216throwaway:

professor linden accidentally made historians excited, worst possible outcome

CelesticArchivist:

we've always been excited

Geodude420:

that's what worries us

Gray reread the archivist's comment.

That one mattered.

Especially now.

Heatran.

The vanished town.

The protector tradition.

The nightmare creature.

He handed the phone back.

Cynthia watched him.

“You're thinking about the excavation.”

“Yes.”

“I figured.”

Gray looked out the window.

Jubilife's buildings passed in long rows beneath evening lights.

The public knew about fossil Pokémon.

That alone had already caused people to reopen old assumptions.

They did not know what else was sitting beneath Sinnoh.

Gray found himself increasingly aware that every discovery changed the meaning of older stories.

Not proved them.

Changed the questions.

He smiled faintly.

Cynthia noticed.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“That was definitely something.”

Gray looked toward her.

“The interview wasn't completely terrible.”

Cynthia smiled.

“No.”

“I’m not doing another one soon.”

“Of course not.”

“Months.”

“Sure.”

“Maybe years.”

“Absolutely.”

Gray narrowed his eyes.

“You don't believe me.”

“I watched Lyra schedule three follow-ups while you were in makeup.”

Gray stared.

Cynthia broke into laughter again.

The car continued south.

Gray considered opening the door.

Not seriously.

Mostly.