Ethan sat at his workstation, surrounded by cluttered tables full of tools, circuit boards, and various sensors. His focus was intense as he meticulously worked on the NovaDex project. The room buzzed with the sound of the hum of electronics and the occasional whirr of the experimental devices. The NovaDex, now nearing completion, had started to take shape—an intricate, portable device designed to revolutionize Pokémon handling.
The prototype had multiple advanced sensors: multispectral cameras ranging from infrared to ultraviolet, night vision, thermal sensors, an olfactory sensor capable of detecting pheromones and specific smells, and acoustic microphones to capture audio signals. There was also a rudimentary energy sensor to measure the energy levels of Pokémon, though it was not as precise as the larger devices used in high-tech laboratories. It was good enough for the purpose of the NovaDex.
The steady hum of the Pokeforge lab was typically a comforting sound for Ethan, the quiet thrum of innovation in progress. But today, the hum was fractured by a series of sharp, jarring CRACKS and SPARKS, the kind that instantly put every researcher on edge. Ethan, hunched over his console, was meticulously calibrating the NovaDex's acoustic sensor, his concentration absolute, when a sudden, deafening POP ripped through the lab, followed by the unmistakable smell of ozone.
Dr. Vera, who had been painstakingly working on her terminal, recoiled as if struck, her usually composed features twisting into a mask of incandescent rage. "ROTOM!" she bellowed, her voice cracking with fury, the sound bouncing off the lab's metallic walls. "Get out of the power conduit now!"
The culprit was, of course, Rotom. The Plasma Pokémon was gleefully immersed in the lab's electrical wiring, spectral tendrils of energy flailing wildly as it cavorted through the conduits. Blue arcs of electricity erupted sporadically, causing lights to flicker violently, monitors to sputter and die, and the sensitive instruments around the lab to whine in protest.
"ROTOM!" Dr. Vera roared again, her voice escalating into a shriek. "Do you have any idea what you've are doing?!" Her hands clenched into fists, her knuckles white.
Ethan winced, bracing himself. Even though he knew the disruption was likely localized, Dr. Vera's meticulous nature made even minor setbacks feel catastrophic to her. He watched as she stormed towards Rotom, her face a thundercloud of fury.
"Rotom!" Ethan called out, voice echoing in the wide laboratory hall. "We've talked about this. Could you come here, please?" Ethan interjected calmly, turning from his work to address the agitated Pokémon. He kept his tone measured, trying to defuse the volatile situation. He knew that shouting would only escalate things with both Dr. Vera and the already overexcited Rotom.
For a moment, it appeared Rotom was considering his request. Its small, plasma-like form hovered in midair, flickering with electric sparks that danced in the air. The mischievous glint in its eyes suggested it was still deciding whether to comply, but it seemed to be weighing the situation carefully.
But the fragile peace was shattered by Dr. Vera's sharp voice. "Ethan, honestly! You're coddling it! It's a menace, disrupting the entire lab. Just let me--" She brandished a Poké Ball, her tone suggesting she was ready to end the Rotom's rampage then and there.
Seeing Dr. Vera approach, Poké Ball in hand, Rotom's tentative calm vanished. The sparks around its body intensified, its form pulsing with renewed energy. With a startled cry, it zipped away from the wiring conduit it had been harassing, darting across the lab at an incredible speed. It settled near another terminal, well out of Dr. Vera's immediate reach and, crucially, beyond the range of the Poké Ball's capture beam. The move was a clear act of defiance, a desperate attempt to avoid being confined once more.
Unfortunately, in its panicked excitement, Rotom seems to have fried the terminal it got into. The screen flickered violently, displaying a jumbled mess of data interspersed with static. The lights on the terminal blinked on and off erratically, casting a strobe-like effect across the lab.
Dr. Vera spun around; her eyes wide with rage. "Rotom!" she yelled, her face flushed with fury. Her hand gripped the Poké Ball tighter, ready to charge at the rogue Pokémon and recall it, but Ethan instinctively stepped in front of her.
"Ethan, now is not the time for your gentle pampering!" Dr. Vera snapped, her voice trembling not just with anger, but with real distress. "That… that electrical menace has just likely ruined hours, possibly days, of delicate calibration!" Her voice quivered with frustration as she took in the extent of the damage. Her focus was entirely on the terminal, her anger blinding her to the fact that Rotom hadn't meant to cause harm.
Ethan understood Dr. Vera's fury. He knew how meticulous and driven she was, how every moment spent on the NovaDex project was an intense commitment to perfection. A setback like this could feel like a devastating blow for her. But at the same time, Ethan knew Rotom wasn't being malicious—it was simply being Rotom: playful, energetic, and blissfully unaware of the delicate nature of the systems it was interacting with.
"Dr. Vera, I know you're upset, and you have every right to be," Ethan said slowly, stepping in front of her with deliberate calm. "But let me try to handle this. Yelling at Rotom right now will only make it worse."
Dr. Vera opened her mouth to retort but hesitated, her frustration visible on her face as she looked from Ethan to the terminal. Ethan could see the conflict in her eyes—the scientist in her wanting to fix the problem immediately, but the part of her that recognized the necessity of keeping Rotom calm before it made the situation worse.
Ethan's voice softened, yet remained firm. "Rotom's not trying to ruin anything. It's just… well, being itself. I'll take care of it."
For a moment, Dr. Vera stood there, seething, but something in Ethan's steady presence made her pause. She exhaled sharply, her shoulders slumping ever so slightly. She didn't like it, but she stepped back, giving Ethan room to handle the situation.
With the tension slightly easing, Ethan turned his attention to Rotom, who was now flitting around the malfunctioning terminal. Its playful beeps had turned to nervous chirps, and its form flickered uneasily. Ethan took a deep breath, focusing all his energy on restoring calm to the situation.
Then he crouched down slightly, reaching into a storage compartment beneath his workstation. With a quick flourish, he pulled out a device he had been crafting in his spare moments—a sleek, black handheld controller, its design vaguely reminiscent of a game console controller from his previous life. With a few deft presses, Ethan activated the controller, and from the same compartment, a small, flying ball-like device sprang to life. It whizzed upward, ascending gracefully into the air with a smooth, controlled motion.
"Rotom," Ethan began, his voice gentle and inviting. "I have something I've been working on… just for you." He held out the controller, the drone hovering nearby, its miniature lights flickering in a soft, inviting pattern. "I call it… the Rotom Sandbox."
Rotom's erratic chirps faltered, replaced by a sound closer to intrigued beeps. Its plasma form stilled, the frantic energy seeming to coalesce into focused curiosity. It drifted closer, its luminous eyes fixated on the controller and the tiny drone dancing nearby Ethan.
"With this," Ethan continued, "you don't have to be confined to just the lab anymore." He pressed a button on the controller, and the drone's lights pulsed with a vibrant RGB spectrum. A cheerful, retro-sounding tune unexpectedly burst from its miniature speaker, filling the lab momentarily before Ethan quickly lowered the volume. "See? It's got fancy lights, a speaker… and look!" He pointed to a minute lens on the drone. "A camera. Through this camera, you can explore places beyond the Pokeforge, all without leaving the lab, while keeping safety protocols in mind."
Ethan understood the necessity of Rotom's confinement. As a rare Pokémon with a vital role in their electronics research, its safety was paramount, which meant strict security protocols were a must. Ethan also recognized that Rotom's restlessness was born from these very restrictions—a desire for more freedom.
Rotom, mesmerized, floated closer. Its electric sparks seemed to soften into gentle pulses of excitement. It reached out a spectral tendril tentatively towards the controller, its curiosity overriding its previous agitation.
"But," Ethan added, his tone shifting slightly, "there's one condition, Rotom. If you want to use this – and it's a gift, just for you, if you do – you have to promise me something. You can only use the drone outside the lab. Never inside, okay? This is for exploring, for fun… not for… electrical adventures within the Pokeforge."
Rotom paused, seeming to consider the proposition. It flickered its lights thoughtfully, then turned its luminous gaze back to Ethan. After a moment, it gave a series of rapid, eager beeps and chirps, bobbing its plasma form up and down in what Ethan interpreted as enthusiastic agreement.
"You promise?" Ethan pressed gently. Rotom responded with an even more emphatic series of excited beeps, zipping closer to Ethan and nudging his hand with a jolt of harmless electricity, as if sealing a playful pact.
Satisfied, Ethan flashed a grin. "Alright then, it's all yours." He extended the controller toward Rotom, who immediately zipped forward, its form pulsing with vibrant energy. In a flash, Rotom dove into the device, merging seamlessly with the controller. Soon the tiny drone sprang to life, responding eagerly to Rotom's unseen commands. It hovered and dipped excitedly in the air, its movements fluid and precise, as if perfectly in tune with its mischievous controller.
With a nod to Dr. Vera, who was watching with a mixture of disbelief and dawning fascination, Ethan strode to the secure lab door. He swiped his access card, and the heavy door hissed open, revealing the corridor outside. The tiny drone, now under Rotom's full control, zipped through the open doorway and out into the Pokeforge corridors.
As the secured door slid shut, a sudden calm settled over the lab. The erratic flickering and buzzing had finally stopped. Dr. Vera slowly approached Ethan, her previous fury fading into an expression of intrigued bemusement. Her gaze followed the floating controller, now being inhibited by Rotom, whose energy seemed to pulse with satisfaction.
"Ethan," Dr. Vera said, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of her lips, "What was that? How did you manage to pull that off?"
Ethan chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I figured that keeping Rotom engaged while offloading its mischief elsewhere was the best approach. And it seems to have worked, right?"
"It… certainly seems to have worked," Dr. Vera admitted, her eyes still fixed on the little floating controller, now under Rotom's control.
Ethan nodded, explaining, "It's actually quite simple. Rotom's mischief comes from a lack of appropriate attention. When we give it tasks—calibration, energy analysis—it's focused, obedient, even helpful. But when it's idle or confined to its Poké Ball, it gets restless. It's like a very energetic child with too much pent-up energy. Mischief is just its way of seeking attention."
He continued, "The Rotom Sandbox is a way to channel that energy, to give it an outlet. It can still explore, 'bother' others, but in a controlled, safe way that doesn't disrupt our work. And the best part is, it still fits within the Oak Coral's security parameters."
Dr. Vera raised an eyebrow. "So, you're suggesting we… offload Rotom's disruptive tendencies onto other departments?" A slow smile spread across her face. "And where, exactly, did you envision this drone's 'explorations' leading?"
Ethan grinned mischievously. "Well, the Oak Coral is a large place. Rotom controlled drone can't easily access the other research labs due to strict security protocols, so I figured it will go bother less critical areas. The breeding facility, perhaps? Or the PokeRange?" He paused, his eyes gleaming with a playful spark. "Master Cedric's breeders are always complaining about a lack of entertainment. Let Rotom be their… entertainment for a while."
Dr. Vera's smile widened into a full, appreciative grin. "Ethan, you brilliant, devious mastermind," she muttered silently while shaking her head in mock disapproval, though her voice was filled with genuine amusement. "Perhaps a little… 'creative disruption' is just what Master Cedric needs to liven things up."
The tension in the lab had completely dissipated, replaced by a lighter, almost conspiratorial atmosphere. The other researchers, who had paused their work during the Rotom incident, began to cautiously return to their consoles, their focus slowly returning. The steady hum of the Pokeforge filled the air once again, uninterrupted and comforting. The NovaDex project was nearing completion, with its initial working prototype tantalizingly close to being ready for live testing.