Robyn's bike ride home was troubled, but in no way similar to what made her trip to the Pokémon lab troubled. Leaving home for surgery had been fraught with worry that she would take a wrong turn and end up at the wrong place. Coming back there was no such concern. She knew exactly where she was going, as well as a great many other things that had invaded her mind like a swarm of locusts. With her encyclopedic knowledge of all things Pokémon was the ability to grasp and contain concepts few humans could even hope of imagining.

Riding her bike down the road was like downloading pages and pages worth of info. Every turn or bend revealed things her previous mind power had been too dim to notice or focus on. Keeping her eyes on the road was proving difficult when there was an entire universe to study and explore. It was like wearing fog-tinted glasses over her eyes for her entire life, then suddenly having them lifted. It was almost too much to withstand.

She turned into her driveway and parked her bike in the backyard. She and her girlfriend, Koa, lived in a quaint one-story home. Surrounding it were lush vegetable gardens the two of them worked hard to maintain. Nailed to the trees were birdhouses. Feeders were hung by the window. A wood plank swing hung from an oak branch. Robyn felt like she was seeing these things for the first time. Each one had their own unique mechanisms. No matter how simple or complex, Robyn was able to deduce them. The birdhouses came apart in her mind, forming a three dimensional blueprint that she could twist and manipulate freely. She not only figured out how gravity helped the feeder work, but was coming up with solutions to make it more efficient. The swing, just a plank of wood hanging on two ropes from a branch, was quite suddenly a marvel of physics and motion. Every little decoration and detail the yard held was like a newly found secret, begging Robyn's inspection.

Robyn tried to ignore them. She fingered the bandage around her forehead. Is it always gonna be like this? So… noisy? There had to have been a better word for it, but “noisy" was the best word in her vocabulary for now.

Robyn stepped up the back porch and opened the door. It led into the kitchen where Koa was sitting at the table at her computer. She looked up and lit a smile. “Hey! You're back early. Did everything go OK?"

Robyn's own home was not a sanctuary from all the noise. With how small it was, there was a great deal of clutter and tightly packed furniture. Things Robyn took for granted were now screaming in her face or flashing lights in her eyes. She stood silent for a moment, a thousand yard stare on her face.

Koa's smile vanished. “Robyn?"

Robyn blinked. “Yes! The surgery was good, great. No problem."

“Good!" Koa got up from her computer. She was wearing a loose sweatshirt and sweatpants. Her long hair was tied up in a bun behind her head. It was her usual get up for whenever she worked from home, something she had been doing a lot lately. They hugged each other tightly. Koa looked at the bandage around her head. “How does that feel? Do you need to do anything to it or change it?"

Robyn looked up. “This? No, at least Osage didn't tell me to do anything."

“Are you sure?" Koa asked with a tilt of the head. “She might have said something and you forgot. Try and think."

Robyn frowned. She thinks I'm still stupid. The old Robyn probably would've forgotten something like that. New Robyn couldn't have forgotten if she wanted to. “No. She didn't say anything. I remember."

“OK. I'll call her and ask anyway." Koa pecked her on the lips. “I'm glad everything went OK. Do you know a lot about Pokémon now?"

More than you'll ever dream of knowing. “Yeah. I can name them all now. I know a heap of other things too." It felt pertinent to mention the rest of her intelligence too, but where was the fun in that? Koa loved surprises. Once Robyn had a way to properly demonstrate her genius, she would let her know. “About Pokémon, I mean."

“Great! Now we can learn about them together." Koa let go of Robyn and returned to her laptop. “Let me just get this work done, then we can talk more about it."

Robyn was crestfallen. She had hoped to spend time with Koa, but was once again held back by Koa's workload. “OK. I love you."

Koa flashed her a quick smile. “I love you too."

Robyn spent the rest of that day trying to settle her brain by reading. While Koa was doing work on her computer, Robyn was glued to the bookshelf in their bedroom, absorbing every bit of information it had to offer. They spent some time together going over what Robyn had learned. Koa would clap and congratulate her on everything she got right, which was everything. To avoid suspicion of her genius Robyn had to play stupid regarding everything that wasn't Pokémon. Koa was left unaware that her formerly dimwitted partner now sported an intellect greater than virtually any human in history.

Sleep came tenuously that night. Robyn couldn't stop dwelling on each individual datum she had acquired that day. Only when she was on the peak of mental exhaustion did she finally fall asleep. Waking up she found Koa had gone to work. It was almost noon. When she came into the kitchen she saw that Koa had made her breakfast and written a note.

Robyn smiled and sat down to enjoy her meal. While munching on some bacon she thought about what she could do with her intellect. Invent something? Read a big book? She had already consumed three yesterday in their entirety. Before she had to use her finger to track each word; now she blew through pages like they were pictures. Her hunger for knowledge remained just as strong, and she had expended everything the house had to offer.

Luckily for her, there was the internet. Almost any subject she could think of was at her fingertips. She still lacked a fitting vocabulary, but that and any other deficiency could be very quickly remedied if she could find a way to just download it all. But how? The chip in her brain was the best bet. Trapped in her skull as it was, there had to be a way to use it as a conduit for implanting information into her mind. She inhaled the rest of her breakfast and stood up from the table. It was time to get to work.

Robyn's laptop was a cheap gift Koa had gotten her a few years ago for her birthday. It would have to do for now. She grabbed it out of her room and hurried to the basement where she and Koa stored most of their stuff. If I can take apart a few things and use them properly, I bet I can connect to the chip. The basement's black confines came alight when she pulled the string dangling from the ceiling. Before her was a city of boxes and old, unused workout equipment. The laundry machine and dryer were on the far wall. Robyn's eyes darted in their sockets, drinking it all in. Perfect.

She sat the laptop on the floor in front of the laundry and turned it on. While it powered up she ran to the boxes and scoured through each one for what she thought she needed. There was a toaster oven, some old TV's, a blender, alarm clocks, lamps, etc. She grabbed a few seemingly random objects and carried them over to the laptop where she dropped them on the floor rather unceremoniously. She sat cross legged at her laptop and opened her browser. Some downloads gave her the manuals and blueprints for the objects she had bought over. With perfect knowledge of how they worked after just a few minutes of browsing, she started taking them apart.

Before long the floor of the basement had become a field of detritus and tech gore. Robyn was in the very center of it, putting it all back together to form something that vaguely resembled technology: a band of metal that would go around her head, replacing the bandage and connecting to the computer. She carefully unraveled the white gauze to reveal a thin, semi-healed scar that ran the circumference of her cranium. The band was lowered onto it, fitting to her head tightly like a rubber band. Dangling from it haphazardly were colorful wires that she had rigged into a USB cord. She plugged it into her computer, took a deep breath, and visited an online encyclopedia.

She had set the browser to flip through pages automatically. With each passing article there was a deluge of data filing into the USB port, up the wires, then into the band. The metal warmed against her skin. It triggered the plant inside of her to reach out and absorb every bit of input. Robyn felt the chip thrum to life in her skull, right on the summit of her cerebrum. Her eyes grew wide, reflecting the rapidly flashing laptop screen in front of her. It was like having an air hose jammed into her head, inflating her mind and expanding it to a bursting point. 

The encyclopedia reached the end and finally came to a stop. Robyn blinked and pulled the band off her head, pulling some of her hair with it. “Whoa…" she muttered. That hunger for information had been more than just satisfied. She had stuffed herself with a smorgasbord of data, fattening her intellect into something portly and burdensome. It flashed before her eyes all at once in a sort of collective chaos. She closed her eyes and focused. The current slowed down into something more manageable. No longer noisy, she could manipulate and call upon whatever she needed, and oh boy, was there a lot of it.

What could she do with it all? Better yet, what couldn't she do with it? A mind as powerful as hers could accomplish anything she wanted. There was an infinite plane of possibilities for her, now. She thought about the many great things humanity had accomplished, but also what it had yet to do. There were a great many wrongs and evils in the world, things that needed to be set right. With Koa living in it, Robyn knew that she had to use her cognitive might for good. 

But first, why not fool around with it?

Koa wasn't going to be back until later that day. That left Robyn plenty of time to have some fun and discover more of what she could and couldn't do. The basement alone was a treasure trove of possibilities. Why not find them all out? Looking out at the ring of parts and pieces she had created made her wonder what she could put together with them other than what they were intended for. She noticed a small lightbulb that had come out of a microwave. What could she do with that? Its mechanics and intricacies were recited in her head. She pictured it floating in front of her, spinning around and then falling apart into neat, well-structured pieces.

And then it did just that.

Robyn jerked back as the bulb rose from the floor like an insect taking flight. It floated in the air bulb-side up, perfectly motionless. Precisely as Robyn had imagined it, the glass bulb came off the metal coil, creating a sharp sucking sound as its vacuum seal was broken. The filament came off the prongs. Each part, from the bulb to the coil, hovered in a vertical line with each other like it would in a diagram. 

Robyn, for all of her wisdom and knowledge, could only stare at the hovering bulb. It went against all logic and experience. Am I doing that? She envisioned the bulb coming back together, then falling back to the floor. Sure enough, each segment fell back into place like a telescope. Once it was whole again, gravity took hold of it and sent it bouncing off the concrete floor. Robyn was in shock. How? She looked at some of the other objects scattered around her. Just by looking and thinking she could make them levitate or move. It reminded her of a magic trick Koa played on her once. Koa had two sound magnets that she put above and below a table. She pretended to move the top magnet with just her mind, not showing the second one. 

That was easily explainable. This wasn't. Had she become so smart that she could manipulate the world around her? It went even further. While testing what she could do with the objects around her, Robyn accidentally made an object teleport. A single lug nut disappeared behind a flash of light. Zzt! It startled her. She frantically looked around to see where it went, only to find it hovering in the air about a meter from where it had been. Her grasp of Pokémon helped her recognize it as the move teleport. What did Osage put in that chip?

She didn't have time to wonder before her attention came back to the many objects surrounding her. Once more she saw an infinite pool of technological potential. If she could dream it, she could make it. Oh, what amazing experiments she could perform.  She thought about Pokémon. Every one of them, big and small, brutish and adorable, were hers to play with and control. She would learn everything there was to know, going far beyond what the chip contained. Already she was thinking about all the cute Pokémon she would get to see. She would be in heaven! A maniacal grin spread across her face. Her fists clenched within her lap. It was time to have some real fun.

Using her powers to manipulate each item at her disposal, Robyn went to work creating a miniature laboratory inside of the basement. The boxes fell aside and poured out their contents for her to use. Each and every one of them, from holiday decorations to old books, went into constructing her equipment. They floated through the air like plankton in water, coming together to form towering pieces of machinery and hyper-efficient computers that would put most setups to shame. Robyn stood in the center of the basement, watching it all come together at her whim. She felt something she never had before. The old Robyn would not have been able to describe it. The new Robyn could. She felt powerful. Very, very powerful.

Her lab, when completed, looked crude and cheap, but she was not after aesthetics. What may have seemed bizarre to the laymen was in fact a very sophisticated set of computers and machinery capable of creating whatever Robyn needed. Her first creation was for Koa. Knowing how little sleep she was getting and how much she worked, Robyn put together a drug that would not only induce sleep, but would make the user feel like they had been down for 8 whole hours no matter how long they had actually slept. On average, the drug would make the user sleep for 25-30 minutes. Robyn held a single white pill in her hands after it had been dispensed by one of her machines. A smile fueled by pride lit her face. This was just the beginning.

Koa came home that evening to a mighty surprise. She stood in front of it, gawking. There was no way Robyn had made all of this. “Robyn…" she said slowly. “Did you… make this?"

Robyn's hands were clasped behind her. She nodded proudly. “I sure did."

“Robyn, this is…" She put her hand to her head, pulling the hair from her face. “This is incredible. Did anyone help you?"

“Nope. It was all me."

Koa simply didn't believe her. “There's no way. When did you learn to cook?"

Robyn played it off with a shrug. “Oh, I just looked up some recipes online and put something together with what we had. I hope it came out alright."

It certainly did. On the dining table in front of Koa was a three-course meal, still steaming from the oven. It included succulent meats and delicious desserts. That fact that Robyn was able to put it all together with things they had on them was perhaps the most mind-boggling. Was this even the same Robyn?

“Yeah, I think it did," Koa said.

“Glad to hear. Have a seat and tell me about your day."

“Um, OK." Koa sat down, somewhat intimidated by the mouth-watering array in front of her. Robyn went to the kitchen and poured some white wine for the both of them. She came back and set a glass in front of Koa. “Thanks. I didn't know you liked wine."

“I didn't. I tried some recently and found that I liked it," Robyn said before taking a sip and sitting across the table from Koa.

“Oh. That's nice." She's talking so fluently, like some sophisticated lady. She took a sip from the wine. It was pretty good. 

“So, how was your day?" While Koa told her, Robyn paid attention to her eyes. They looked haggard, beaten. Darkened bags hung at the bottom lids. Her hair was disheveled and her voice was withdrawn. She maintained an air of energy, but Robyn could tell it was forced. Koa was absolutely exhausted. That was OK, though. Koa didn't know it, but every sip from her wine was a step closer to getting the best sleep she'd ever had.

“That's interesting," Robyn said once Koa was finished. “I think now that I know more about Pokémon I can come help you at the lab."

“Well, I bet you can!" Koa chirped like she would at a child who showed her a drawing.

It didn't faze Robyn. “I'd love to see what you do all day. Maybe I can learn a thing or two."

Koa giggled at the idea. “Maybe you can."

The two of them finished their meal after having some idle chat. Koa finished her glass around the same time. Her tired expression was gaped by a giant yawn. “Huhhhhhhh… Oh my goodness. I'm beat. I think I need a nap."

“You go ahead," Robyn said, standing up. “I'll clean up here. You go lay down."

“Are you sure?"

“Mmhmm. I know how to wash dishes now."

Koa didn't argue. She felt herself slipping. She yawned again. “Oh, alright. Whew. I don't know why I'm so tired. Sorry."

“Don't be. Let's get you to bed." Robyn helped her out of the chair and helped her to their bedroom where their shared mattress was waiting for her. Koa was barely able to get out of her shoes before she slumped forward facefirst. She was out like a light within seconds, snoring softly.

Robyn gently yanked a blanket from beneath her and laid it over her. Koa snuggled herself into a ball. A cute little smile came across her face. Robyn stood back and admired her. Koa was her Queen, her knight in shining armor. What would she have been without her? Not as smart, that's for sure. Robyn never would've gone to Osage and gotten that surgery without Koa. Who knows where she even would've gone in life? Everything she had was thanks to Koa, the woman she loved. There had to be a way to pay her back.

Robyn got an idea how. 

She stomped out of the room, uncaring about how much noise she made given the strength of the drug she gave Koa. She had at least 25 minutes, enough time to put in motion her plan. Her legs thumped down the basement steps. She clicked the light and saw her laboratory. She went to work at once, figuring out what she needed and drawing everything from within the house to put it together. The drawers and cabinets in the kitchen upstairs opened. Their contents floated out like clothes on a pulley clothesline. Through the air they marched, leading into the basement door, down the stairs, and towards the lab equipment.

One by one they came apart, giving up their appropriate components so that it could become Robyn's latest invention. Jars would twist open and belch out their contents which would in turn separate itself into the necessary ingredient. They would fall into the machine and be mixed and mashed together, eventually becoming a bright green electrolytic fluid which was dispensed into a large glass jar. 

Once that was at the ready and bubbling, Robyn put together a device that would act as life support for Koa. When replacing a brain, it would keep the central nervous system running and the host alive. Once put together it resembled a brain in miniature, made mostly of rubber and powered by batteries. It was complete with an artificial stem, pons, midbrain, medulla, and cerebellum. It would run for at least an hour, plenty of time to keep Koa alive while the procedure was performed.  

Lastly was the key component for the experiment. More electronics were broken apart to create and program a computer chip similar to what had been implanted into Robyn. This chip, however, was not just going to teach her everything there was to know about Pokémon. This chip was going to teach her everything there was to know about everything. Robyn connected it to the internet which would allow Koa access to any information whenever she needed it. Furthermore, it would bless her with cognitive abilities on par with Robyn's. Together they would be the smartest couple on the planet. Two heads were better than one, after all.

The chip was put together, coming out to be something Robyn could fit in her palm. It was barely bigger than what Osage had put in her, but several magnitudes more powerful. She levitated it onto the table next to the jar. The jar lifted and followed her up the basement stairs. Robyn found Koa sound asleep in the same position she had left her. Her mouth was hung slack, drooling onto the sheets. The jar floated past Robyn and came to a stop on the nightstand right next to the bed. Floating just behind it was the life support device which Robyn dunked into the jar.

Now came the hard part: switching Koa's brain with the life support. Like any procedure involving the brain, it was extremely delicate. Any minor foul up and Robyn was a goner. This would require patience and tact. Robyn closed her eyes. The image of Koa's brain formed in her mind, covering every angle and facet without leaving anything out. Alongside it was the life support, something she knew intimately since she had made it. She focused on them both. Koa's brain, the life support. Koa's brain, the life support. Robyn took a deep breath.

Teleport!

From the jar flashed a great white light, illuminating the entire bedroom for a split second. Robyn saw it from behind her eyelids and opened them. The life support was no longer in the jar, but had been replaced by a fully sized, fully functional human brain, Koa's brain. Latched to it was a layer of air bubbles. They rolled up its spongy fissures and floated to the surface and popped. That part was a success, but what about Koa?

She was still motionless. Robyn came over and kneeled next to the bed to inspect her face. For one suspenseful second there was no noise. Just as Robyn's panic began to build, a snort rumbled through Koa's throat, followed by a soft exhale. Robyn sighed. She put a finger to Koa's neck and confirmed that everything was working properly. That's good, at least. Now to check on the brain.

Robyn came over to the jar and peered into the fluids. The surface wobbled and rippled with the many bubbles that rose and popped. The body might have been sleeping soundly, but they weren't in the clear. So long as Robyn had put the fluid together correctly, Koa should've been alive and well. Robyn closed her eyes. She reached into the jar mentally, attaching her psyche to Koa's and searching for any signs of life. It didn't take long to find some. Koa's neurons were firing away like nothing was wrong. She was in the middle of REM, dreaming away something nice and pleasant, blissfully unaware of the fact that her being had been severed and placed in a jar. Looking more closely at the dream revealed Koa exploring Robyn's feet sensuously. That caught Robyn off guard. Well, she never told me about that. Her and I will have to explore that later

Robyn opened her eyes and smiled. In the jar was not some organ or piece of Koa, but Koa in the absolute sense. Everything she ever dreamed and felt was in that fatty mass of neural putty, perfectly woven together to form the most complex machine known to man. There were many like it, but this one was Koa's. Everything about her that Robyn loved she had to thank because of it. It was what made Koa Koa.

Robyn couldn't resist the urge to hold it. She rolled up her sleeves and slowly slid her bare hands into the jar. She felt the bubbles tickle and fizz up her skin, clinging to the fine hairs that lined her arms. Her hands fell down the flanks of Koa's cerebrum. It was incredibly soft and slimy. She felt the tips of her fingers graze the wormy grooves, making gooseprickles pop up across her skin. With just the faintest amount of pressure she pulled Koa out of the jar and exposed her to the air. “Don't worry," Robyn said. “I got you."

A greenish tint had stained the brain. That was by design. It needed to absorb the fluid in order to protect itself from drying in the open air, as well as picking up any germs from Robyn's exposed hands. She hoisted it up to her face, looking into each serpentine crevice and the deep trench that separated the hemispheres. There was the noodly stem dangling below, in front of the wormy mass that was her cerebellum. Most notable was its size and weight. The sheer girth and density of it was kind of sexy to Robyn. Without any implants or supplements Koa was already cognitively accomplished. Robyn could've stood there admiring it all day if the fluid wouldn't have eventually dried. “Don't worry," Robyn said aloud. She planted a tiny smooch on the frontal lobe. “I'll put you back where you belong… eventually." 

Robyn placed the brain back into the jar and picked it up off the nightstand. She went back to the basement where she would carry out some tests and apply the chip. The chip was waiting for her on a table next to one of the machines. She put the jar down next to it and removed Koa's brain again. One of the machines she had created would detect the chemical components of any object put in front of it. It was a laser scanner that pointed down on a stainless steel tray where Robyn carefully put Koa's brain down. With a flip of a switch, the machine powered on. From the lens poured out a bright red light that formed a grid pattern. Sifting through the grid was a fan-shaped light that slid from one end of the brain to the other, then back again.

The results were in. While Robyn took Koa's brain and put it back in the jar, a slot in the machine printed a paper like a receipt. Robyn wiped her hands dry on her pants- that habit would die hard -and tore the paper out of the machine. The results were predictable. Koa's brain matter had been inundated with stress hormones. There were signs of sleep deprivation and acute exhaustion. A combination of both these factors had led to a noted deterioration in the structure of her brain.

Robyn frowned. “Oh, Koa…" She had expected as much, but it was still saddening to read how bad it was. She felt guilty. All of the hard work Koa put in was for Robyn. It made her feel like a burden. No matter how happy Robyn made her, her requiring special care was a severe drain on the quality of Koa's life. Robyn crumpled the paper in her fist with her mind. It's time I do something about that. 

She dropped the paper and came back to the jar. The brain levitated out of the fluid. Rising with it was the chip. It orbited into position over the top swell of Koa's cerebrum, aiming its prongs at the trench running down its meridian. This'll make her life easier, Robyn thought resolutely. She won't have to take care of me anymore, and any task she ever wants to do will become infinitely easier. We'll both be super geniuses, the perfect couple. She lowered the chip towards Koa's brain.

Then, a rogue thought blossomed in Robyn's mind, one without intention. It was but a flicker, a snap of an idea that, by some miracle, had grabbed her attention through the roiling firestorm that was her consciousness. It asked her, What's Koa dreaming right now? Robyn's immediate reaction was that it didn't matter. Once the chip was implanted and took effect, nothing Koa had thought or felt as a normal human would matter anymore. But the thought would not go away. It had lit a fire throughout her mind, bringing the descending chip to a stop. At least see what she's thinking before you take it away.

Robyn stood motionless for a few moments. The chip was but a few inches from Koa's mind matter, ready to latch on and burden her with the intellect of a god. Robyn sighed. She closed her eyes and reached out into Koa's psyche once more. Koa was still dreaming. It was something nice and warm, something that brightened Robyn just by feeling it. She delved deeper. A hazy vision of warped colors solidified into something concrete. There were two faces, odd and bizarre, not yet perfectly rendered. Robyn focused. The shapes grew sharper, the colors more crisp. A moving image appeared.

It was Koa and Robyn together on the day they had met. The dream moved on to their first date, then the first kiss. There was the day they moved in together, then when they made love. There was every time Koa taught her something and how proud she felt when Robyn got it right. So many nights spent together, arm-in-arm. So many happy memories just for Robyn being there. So many bad days made easier. Robyn was quantifiably the love of Koa's life, irreplaceable, needing absolutely no change.

And here Robyn was trying to take that away.

Robyn's lip quivered. Her eyes opened, letting a tear slip down the slope of her cheek. God… What am I doing? She moved the chip away from above Koa's brain. Once it was clear,  it dropped to the floor where it shattered into a million pieces. Robyn walked up to the brain and took it into her hands. She kissed it on the temporal lobe. “Sorry, Koa. I… I didn't know what I was thinking. I love you." Koa's brain did not respond, but through the link of their psyches Robyn could tell that the feeling was more than mutual.

Robyn cradled the brain to her breast. She smiled down at it, her eyes glistening. “Thank you so much… for everything. I promise I'll make all of it up for you, without doing anything you won't want. I'll make you the happiest woman in the world, I swear." She pictured herself marrying Koa and growing old with her. She would do everything in her power to make that happen.

Robyn carried the brain upstairs to the bedroom where Koa's body was still living and breathing. Robyn closed her eyes and performed another teleport, replacing the life support with Koa's brain. It went flawlessly, returning Koa to her natural form. She snored softly, none the wiser. Robyn tucked the life support into her pocket and stepped up to the bed. She leaned over and gave Koa a tight hug. It didn't wake her up. When she did, Robyn would have a surprise for her. She went downstairs and dispensed some more of the sleeping drug. She would reveal how it worked as well as the rest of her inventions.

Robyn thought Koa looked so peaceful as she sat next to her. She pulled some hair off of Koa's face, then reached out with her mind to watch her dream some more. Robyn was no longer in it. Instead it was something much more fantastic. In her dream Koa was a Raichu running through a field, playing with a herd of different Pokémon. Robyn cocked an eyebrow. Does she wish she was a Pokémon? Robyn smiled. Maybe now she can.

Robyn went downstairs to her lab. There she used the dispenser and some spare parts to craft some pokeballs. The chip in her brain contained data on where she could find some local Dittos and previous sightings. In a matter of seconds she had a bead on them. She took her crudely crafted pokeballs and stuffed them into her pocket, next to the life support. She charged up the basement stairs and out the front door. It was time to get her some Ditto DNA.