Chapter 3: Truth Untold

Author's Note: Tried to put more focus on the DC stuff. And hopefully the interaction between the PKMNTrainer and the DC characters was realistic enough.

I also made sure to make some mistakes. Like hell I'm making myself into a Mary Sue. Not again!

Jokes aside, I'm hoping you enjoy this chapter. It's more setup, but necessary though.

PYJ

The Martian Manhunter was standing in front of me, smiling calmly as his cape gently fluttered behind him.

Like, wow man. Wow. I don't mean to sound like a surfer, but wow. The Martian Manhunter. This man was one of the greatest heroes in the universe. Someone who, in the comics, had been a member of nearly every single Justice League team, going back decades. He had fought things and beings that see planets as snacks, and come out the other side with a victory and a smile.

Awesome.

I apparently didn't keep my inner fanboy under control, since Latias seemed to be giggling in my thoughts. As I looked around, Jirachi was looking at me with a wide grin, while Slowbro gave me a smirk. Looking back at J'onn, I saw him trying to hide a smile of his own. As in every being capable of reading my mind, who now knew what a nerd I was.

Damn, I hoped I didn't have the telepathic motormouth thing Edge from the fanfic 'A Subtle Knife' had.

"Uh, it's nice to meet you sir." I said, trying to calm down. "I'm a big fan, as you could tell."

"Thank you." He said graciously. "It does my heart well to know my efforts are appreciated."

Completely sincere, honestly just happy to protect people. What a badass.

Still…

"I have to be honest, I wasn't expecting you."

He quirked an eye in a manner that would make Teal'c proud. "Oh. So you were expecting someone? Was the storm cloud meant to be a message, a way of signaling someone to meet you?" He didn't seem to believe it as a theory, only exploring his options. Ever the detective.

"No. The storm-cloud was," I looked at Zapdos, who seemed a bit smug. "This guy introducing himself to me."

"Ah, I see." He gave Zapdos a look. The Legendary looked back at him warily. I was no longer connected to him, but I could see Zapdos prepared to attack if need be. "These creatures are interesting. What are they?"

"Well man." I couldn't help a laugh. "That's one loaded question." I tried to focus. "First, can I ask you something? Why isn't Superman here? Metropolis is his turf right? And you found me because of the bank thing, so why didn't he come? Not that I'm offended or anything."

He didn't seem to mind the question. To be honest, he was being a lot less suspicious than I would have expected.

"He was forced to deal with a threat in Fiji." J'onn let a hint of disapproval enter his voice. "Due to a recent revelation, he's chosen to spend much of his time taking on the tasks of other heroes. I assume he is trying to tire himself out."

Huh. We all have problems we want to run from I guess.

"Okay. So as for these." I waved to them. "They're my Pokemon. And they are as smart as you or me. Smarter, in some cases."

"My apologies then, for my use of the word creature." He said sincerely. "I know how it feels to be treated as less than others."

It's okay. Latias said. You seem nice.

From the mouths of innocents.

You as well. His thought-speak was a surprise. But he was careful to keep it contained, only his voice and none of the emotion to go with it. Man, that had to be the mark of experience with telepathy. So you are his allies then.

Yep, yep, yep! Jirachi suddenly flew towards him, getting in her face as she barked her voice over and over. I'm Jirachi! Why is your skin green? What's a Martian? What's Mars? You're from space!? Wow, Master went to space once, to fight Deoxys, and he rode on Rayquaza, and Rayquaza went Mega, and they-

"Jirachi, calm down." I said softly. She slowed down. I didn't want her telling anyone too much. I could still remember my life, and I knew the events of the game. How much my Pokemon knew was a mystery. Regardless, while I may trust the Martian Manhunter, I still had to keep my cards close to my chest.

… Or maybe I didn't?

Caution to the wind. I was in the DC Universe. If I wanted to survive, I needed trust. And, if I'm going to be honest, I was damn tired of living as a normal person. Fuck 9 to 5's and dumbass bosses. I want to be a superhero mom.

Then again, that was an irresponsible thought. My Pokemon are not toys. I can't just see them as my powers. Whatever they decided to do was up to them.

But what I could do, until that was all decided, was give Manhunter a reason to help me find a place here, and show him we meant no harm.

"Read my mind." I asked him, tapping my head. "Just focus on my actual history, please. Nothing about any reading, watching, or listening of fictional materials."

He was quiet for a moment. Then he shook his head. "No."

That surprised me. "W-Why not?"

He walked towards me. "You have been a surprise to me. Your appearance in Metropolis, and the saving of those in the bank, followed by the storm-cloud, had me curious. And your allies, these… Pokemon? They seem to trust you, and what feel in their minds marks them as honest beings. But I would be foolish to enter the mind of an unknown in the presence of three psychic beings, and four others of unknown ability and," He looked over at Chesnaught, whose enormous bulk was obvious. "Power would be a mistake."

He walked over to a boulder and sat down gracefully. "We will simply do things as humans do them. We will speak. Tell me of your story. I will listen. And from there, we decide what comes next."

I stared at him, thinking carefully. Well, I guess it couldn't be that easy.

So I sat. And I started talking. It took awhile. He asked questions when needed, for clarification on certain terms. And I often found myself backtracking.

I told him about Pokemon, the various ins and outs of the universe they inhabited. About Kanto, the beginning of the story, about evolution and the various typings, using my Pokemon as an example (He impressively kept from flinching when I mention the shy Pokemon behind me was a Fire/Steel, even petting her when she bumped her head against him experimentally). When we got to me, I made sure to mention things like my family, my schooling, as some of my favorite foods. But any other details were about the games, and things from the plot of Pokémon Y and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire was treated as my own life.

If I could keep my history secret, right from the start, I could start building a myth. No one would be impressed with my life as loser writer from San Jose. But the life I'd built on my little 3DS? That was something to see.

My story was further supported by my Pokémon. Chesnaught spoke first. Like Zapdos, his 'voice' was more in impressions and ideas. He gave feeling of agreement, or smugness when I mentioned tough battles in Kalos. I found that odd, since he was technically descended from my first Chesnaught, the product of breeding a Pokémon with the stats and abilities I wanted, like the others. But apparently, he had memories of things he'd never actually been there for. Including my family, who he should never had known of.

The others showed the same strange memory combo. An odd fusion of my real life, and my life in the games, with no memory of me breeding them to be as powerful as I could make them. It helped my story, but damn was that shit weird.

And terrifying. Whoever dropped me off here had gone all out. They gave me a team from an important period in my life, a bag full of useful items, and shoved a fake history they knew I'd use into my Pokémon's heads. Yeah, the instant I learn how to fight like a badass I'm beating up whoever did this.

Still, it went well. I told J'onn all I could, in the time I could. Until finally, he could finally say, without a doubt.

"You've been lying." I blinked at that. Well damn. My siblings always did say I was a bad liar.

Then again, I guess he was a detective. And psychic.

"Yeah. I have. But not as much as I could have."

"I know." He said calmly. "You are a bad liar." Told ya. "Which tells me you have never had to practice it in earnest. Your tale carries truth, much of which Jirachi, Latias, and Slowbro have backed with mental images and emotions. And even the bits that are lies have proved harmless."

He rose. "You say are not from this world. But you know of me? How?"

Honesty I guess. "I read. A lot. I know the secret identities and histories of nearly every superhero and villain in this universe."

I finally shook his calm. He stared at me. "Prove it."

"Bruce Wayne. Clark Kent. Oliver Queen. Hal Jordan. Barry Allen. Diana-"

"Stop." He had lost his good humor. When I was a possible threat to him, he'd been calm. Now that I might be a threat to his friends, he was on edge. "How do you know those names?"

"In my universe, this world is an open secret. We follow your stories, seeing them as inspirations. And we get the full story." I tried to hide my fear. Even with all these Pokemon, and all their powers, the Martian Manhunter could take me down with ease, especially with my lack of experience.

"You… are a complex problem." He finally said. "These Pokemon are loyal to you, and will follow your lead. But I have no way of knowing if I can trust you. If what you say is true, then you have the identities of much of the Justice League. Even without your allies, you could be a danger. With them, you could cause even more destruction than many villains."

"I don't want to hurt you guys." I said, sounding a bit pathetic even to myself. "I just want to… I don't know. I have my Pokemon now. And I think I can do a lot of good with them. We can help a lot of people." I blinked. "And I think I channeled a bit of a Big Hero 6 thing. But it's true. I just want to be better. More, I guess."

"Hm." He crossed his arms. "I should I find the fact I just so happened to encounter someone from another world, who simply wants to help, an odd 'coincidence'. Even if it had been Superman who had come, your story would resonate with both of us."

"Fudgenipples." I grumbled, an odd curse from my youth. "That's true."

"So, since I cannot trust you, I will simply have to keep you close." He smiled gently. "At least to prove otherwise."

And if I turned against them, the League could put me down, hard. I was okay with it though.

"I suggest you follow me to the Hall of Justice. We can meet with some of the others and discuss the situation." He lifted into the air. "I suggest you put your team away for the trip."

"Right." I turned to my Pokemon. "See you all soon okay? I'll have food waiting when you need it."

They let out variations on their names or roars of approval. Chansey waddled up to me, handing me my now neatly packed bag with a look of disapproval. I slung it over my shoulder, then put them back into their balls. All except Latias.

"Ready for another flight?" I asked her with a grin.

Always Master. She said with a backflip of joy.

"Damnit, stop calling me master." I said as I lifted myself onto her back. "My name is-"

I was cutoff by J'onn lifting upwards, and had Latias follow. Seconds later the burst of sound that marked her turning into her Mega form boomed, and we were off.

PYJ

Flying is pretty freaking awesome. Like I need to even mention that. Now that I was ready for it, bile didn't enter my mouth. I did feel a sense of vertigo when I looked at the ground as it rushed past at high speed. Latias was enjoying herself, cartwheeling and diving as we flew. While J'onn, true to his word, didn't directly enter my mind, he did seem to enjoy watching her play as I sat astride her.

After a moment of flying, I looked over and tapped my head, indicating I wanted to speak. He connected with me after a hesitant moment, surface thoughts only.

I should explain by the way. The whole telepathy thing. See, the way it works is, there are several different levels. Surface thoughts are things you directly project to a telepath, so you only say what you want to say, though it takes serious control. If you aren't careful you end up saying things that pop into your head, including emotions. From there, it gets deeper. My connection to my Pokemon adds in the emotions as a matter of course, allowing us to 'know' each other.

Past that, you end up in territory that means you either really like someone, or really damn hate them. I'd suggested that particular level of mind melding when I was trying to tell J'onn about myself.

For now J'onn linked up with me.

What is it? He said in my thoughts. Is something wrong?

I'm just curious. How fast are we flying? Latias is supposed to be capable of going Mach 4.

In that case, I suppose congratulations are in order. Despite the loud wind flying around us I thought I could hear him chuckle. She is currently going at Mach 5, roughly. You say she has never gone that fast?

Never! This time Latias answered, doing an enthusiastic barrel roll, uh, I mean aileron roll, that left me whooping in excitement. But I saw how you fly, and I copied it!

Well that was interesting.

What do you mean Latias? I asked her, scratching her neck gently.

I believe she mean my use of telekinesis. J'onn explained. I use it in several way to increase my flight speed. It is interesting she can sense it, as well as mimic it.

Huh. I wonder what else she can learn?

And my other Pokemon for that matter. If I had an Ice Pokemon watch an ice villain, would they be able to learn a new technique? Food for thought.

We flew a bit longer as I continued to think. I didn't know if Swamp Thing was around, but maybe he could teach Chesnaught some tricks? Wait, could Chesnaught connect to the Green, the metaphysical force all plant users in DC Comics could use.

My inner nerd was on full blast now. I kept thinking up the various ways my team could get advantages in this universe. No idea how the hell I would train Dark Pokemon though. Not without going to some dangerous places. Well, maybe if-

I was stopped when J'onn began to fly low, coming down towards a city. Latias twisted to follow, and I kept my knees tight to her as I followed.

The Hall of Justice is a beautiful building. One of those long water fountains in front that stretched for dozens of feet, a big white building with an arched front, and a weird statue that looked like a gold spiky thing. People were gathered to take photos and stare in awe at the home of the Justice League.

What a cool looking place man.

That's when I realized something. It was really public. And I was riding a purple dragon. With no mask or way to hide my identity.

Hold up. We stopped in the air. Thinking quickly, I reached into my bag and wrapped a random blue cloth I found inside around my mouth. I wrapped a red one around my hat and hair.

Good. I had been planning to hide your identity with my powers, but this works as well. J'onn moved forward once more, floating gently down. Latias went back into her normal form, following him. We immediately gained an audience, people staring in awe as we went down. Stay close. I don't want anyone trying to speak with you. Your appearance in Gotham was brief, but people noticed it. We should keep your appearances simply that. Appearances, rather than letting any villains obtain any information.

We landed in front of the doors and entered, ignoring those following our entrance. He walked with quick steps, forcing me with my shorter legs to run a bit faster, with Latias floating behind me as she looked around in curiosity.

We will take a Zeta Tube to a secret location, one we use when interrogating prisoners.

Should I be offended? I asked jokingly.

This time I did hear him chuckle. No. I'm simply being cautious. Come.

We stepped into a back room which looked like a library, which had windows allowing people to see inside. A library with the biggest freaking computer I'd ever seen.

Man, can you run games on that thing?

I assume so, though Batman never allows me to test it.

I managed to get the Martian Manhunter to quip. Heck yeah.

Come. We will be entering the Zeta Tube. Do you know what those are?

Uh, teleport things, right? Will I be allowed to go through them?

Yes. As I said, we often need to take prisoners to this location. He had the grace to grimace. As I said, while you have been very cooperative, I still need to be careful. Some recent revelations have made security a concern.

He walked up to the computer and tapped in a series of buttons. Then he stepped to the side and a small camera thing popped out of a ceiling and scanned him.

"Override, Martian Manhunter, 07." He said as the device scanned him.

A female synthesized voice answered. "Recognized, Access Granted."

Two doors slid open, revealing a light within, and he motioned towards me. Enter. Please.

Well, now I'm back to being scared. Uselessly probably. But he hadn't taken my Pokeballs at least, so I could fight back if this was a trap.

Unless I got dropped into the center of the Earth. Then the best I could hope would be for Heatran to be released, as she would be the only one capable of surviving such temperatures.

Nope. Not going to think. I dived in as the computer lady spoke.

"Recognized, Captive 01." It was that fast. One second I entered a bright light with some ominous blade things at the end, the next, a room.

Just a concrete room, big enough to hold the largest Meta humans. No windows or doors except the still open Zeta thingie behind. A chair, and a single collar on a stand nearby. Ominous. Two flashes were followed by J'onn and Latias. Latias looked around, then frowned.

Awww. This room isn't fun like the other one.

"It isn't meant to be." J'onn said in both his normal and mental voice, creating an odd double voice. "Here, we interrogate criminals, like the Team Aqua you both fought in your universe. Only in the most dire need however. When discretion is of the utmost need."

"Or when random dude fall from the sky with a team of adorable murderbeasts?" Uh, Roll Credits?

"Indeed." He gestured the chair, cape snapping as he moved. "Please, sit. Two of my associates will be here soon. They will help confirm your story."

"Uh, cool. And Latias?"

"She can stand beside me. Should you prove hostile, I will be forced to… you understand." He didn't sugarcoat it. I felt a brief anger, but squashed it as best as possible.

Master? She asked me, her eyes turning to look at me.

"It's cool… in a paranoia is a scary concept sort of way." I sighed and nodded. "Stand by Latias."

She didn't seem happy about it, but she moved towards him as I sat my butt down. "So. Who's coming?"

"Someone who we should feel lucky is free. You seem to be having a day of meeting leaguers."

He didn't say anything more. We all stayed still, waiting. Eventually, Latias was napping on air, a small amount of drool leaving her mouth as she slowly lifted and lowered with every slow breath. I was bored, and thinking of ways to either be a superhero or just plain survive in this world. And the Martian Manhunter looked like the coolest mo'fo in the world.

You've got to admire the man's patience.

About thirty minutes later, at a guess, the Zeta tube lit up once more. I sighed in relief, as my crazy, crazy mind had been in the midst of planning how to use Heatran to search for gold and other valuables in the earth.

"Thank god. I was- uhhhhhhhhhh."

She walked in. Tiara on her head. Armor in the shape of a bikini, because when you're invulnerable, you protect vital points. And the lasso. The golden, dangerous lasso.

"Oh my god." Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod.

Wonder Woman smiled, a gentle stretch of the lips. "Good afternoon. I'm-"

"Diana." I whisper, still staring at her.

I said it right? Wonder Woman, over any superhero in existence, is my favorite, and the one I respect over all of them. This is my opinion of course. But all of yours are wrong if you have a different hero at the top of that list.

Her personality, history, legacy. Everything about her makes her the hero I want to emulate in so many ways, if not in powers, than in deed.

Read JLA: A League of One when you get the chance. Do yourself a favor. It's Wonder Woman fighting a dragon, and if you know anything about comic books, you know what an understatement that is.

I was so awestruck I didn't notice her quirk an eye at my statement of her name. "So you do know our identities." She turned to J'onn. "You were right to call us."

"Yes." A man stepped forward.

From behind me.

I jumped, and let out a masculine roar as I prepared to fight my opponent.

It was not, in any way, a shrill screech of noise as I prepared to piss myself.

A dark cloak fluttered as he walked up to J'onn and Wonder Woman. He turned, blank white eyes staring at me, a square jaw set in a stern grimace. Pointy horns pointed upwards from his head. And a bat symbol was emblazoned on his chest, an obvious target.

Like I need to tell you who this guy is?

"You say you have the secret identities of the League. And have proven it. But Martian Manhunter says you have proven to be willing to talk. As well as a liar. He chose us, to talk to you and your… companions." He casts an eye at Latias.

I had a brief moment of mirth at the sight of Batman glaring at the slowly snoring Latias, almost asking the adorable dragon, with her innocence and peaceful snoring, to tell him her secrets. Not that's an image I would save on my phone if I could.

He saw me smiling, and turned to look at me. My stomach dropped.

Not to suggest another story for you guys to read, but there's a fanfic I read. One where a girl wakes up in the DC Universe with a Lantern Ring dependent on joy. The mental influence of the ring allows her to look at him without the usual fear. According to her, he looks ridiculous when you aren't terrified.

I did not have a Power Ring to keep Batman from being anything but scary as all get out. I was scared.

He knew it too, the badass jerk.

"So. Here is the question. If you've been so cooperative, what would you be lying about?"

He stepped aside. Wonder Woman stepped forward. And her hand went to the lasso on her hip.

"I would like your permission," She said softly. "To use the lasso on you, and prove your intentions."

The lasso. No. Screw Batman, screw Martian Manhunter digging into my mind with a psychic mallet. The lasso forces you to tell the truth. No half-truths, no white lies, no dodging. You say what is true, and you say it with every detail. More than that.

Wearing it shows your true self as well. The deep part of you, the one you hide from your friends, family, and yourself. No one wants to know themselves that deeply. No one should have to, not without immense enlightenment and meditation to make it a moot point.

I'd made a mistake. I should never have told them I knew their secret identities. And now I'd pay for it by seeing myself for what I really am.

Nothing scared me more than that.