Emerging from the bushes, I find the other exit to the Veilstone City park that I've been using to try and get ahold of Mars.
Every time I visited, the secretary would say, 'I'm sorry, sir. But Mars is currently on a mission and not available to receive any guests.'
Thus, the stairway up the hill pisses me off. Sixty-seven steps. I've counted.
Today, Lucario follows me up instead of Lopunny. Her eyes are suspiciously closed - I just hope most don't know what that means.
~"Mars is on the upper level of the building."
"Thanks, Lucario."
Sadly, I knew that already. My Aura might be much worse than hers, but I could tell Mars didn't move from her room a single time since we arrived at this city.
"By the way, stand behind me when there are people. Act shy, so they won't try to look into your eyes." Safety first. I've been telling far too many people about Aura already - someone we meet might know about Lucario's abilities too.
There is a pair of statues at the top of the stairs. Cyrus' pokemon: Honchkrow on the left and Crobat on the right - symbolizing the wealth and benevolence of Team Galactic. After all, one can only evolve Murkrow with an expensive Dusk Stone, while Golbat only evolves when they love their trainers a lot.
Yet here I am. Once again breaking into their building without even planning it out. Like a bad villain.
The glass front doors slide open, and the first obstacle greets me with a strained smile on her face. A blue-haired woman in a black business suit gives a short wave - the hair is a wig. Sometimes, blonde strands peek out. "Good evening, Swole. I'm afraid Commander Mars is still on her mission."
"Hi, Veneer. That's actually not why I'm here today."
She cranes her neck, trying to take a look at Lucario, who grabs the back of my shirt and pulls herself closer to me. Veneer settles back into her chair before addressing me with a frown. "We don't allow any visitors today." A breath escapes her. "I wish I could give you a proper explanation, but all I know is that something top-secret is going on."
She braces her arms on the front desk as I rack my brain for excuses. Her exposed cleavage makes thinking of something difficult. Did she always have a mole on her right breast?
She smirks. "Aren't you supposed to be at the tournament today? Don't tell me you lost already after all your boasting."
I check the clock. The tournament is still supposed to be scheduled for an hour at least. Why did I leave? "I forfeited. It's an emergency." What is?!
"What emergency?"
"I don't know. Buuut my dad called me and wanted me to meet up with him up there." I point to the upper floors. "And I quote, 'Not just as soon as possible; NOW!' - He said it like that."
Veneer reaches for a phone on her desk, the curly cable running into a hole in the desk, and she taps away on her touch-screen desktop monitor. "Sounds like trouble." She pauses tipping. "Let me just verify this - it's protocol. Sorry."
"No problem." Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
The bright blue-haired secretary taps a final button; moments later the phone begins beeping in a slow and steady rhythm. Then, "Hello?" My dad's muted voice comes from the phone.
"Good evening, Mercury. Apologies for the disturbance, but your son is in the lobby at your request. Can you--"
"Yes, yes. Send him up - I'm taking responsibility for this protocol breach."
Protocol breach?
"Alright. I'll send him up, sir. Good--" The call ends prematurely. Veneer breathes a slow sigh of relief as she puts the phone back. "Well, you heard him. You can go upstairs. Do you know his room number?"
"501. Thank you, Veneer. See you later."
"Bye."
Turning around and walking to the central elevator, I calm my pace as best as I can. My heart beats harder - I can't believe that worked. The old man really came through for me!
I press the button to call down the lift while suppressing the urge to turn around. Does Veneer suspect anything? What is this about a protocol breach? Why aren't visitors allowed?
Lucario tugs harder on my shirt. I clench my teeth and force my thoughts to a standstill. I can panic in the elevator.
I breathe deep breaths through my nose. I look left and right through the corners of my eyes, searching for anything out of place.
The lobby is completely silent. There's only me, Veneer somewhere behind me, and a painting of Victor Manchenel to the right of the elevator. His condescending eyes stare down at me, judging me, telling me, 'look at me. In the end, I always win.'
The artist didn't get the color of his eyes right. The plaque underneath explains it was painted just 200 years ago to... honor the long-dead scientist for his contributions to humanity.
At least they got his nose right. It's crooked. One of the few things known about the man is his broken nose that never healed right. He used a prototype potion on it but didn't know he would have to realign the bone before applying it. Idiot.
But it makes me wonder, did I really break his nose, or did I just live through an illusion that just put me in place of someone else? Did I really influence history over a thousand years ago? Nothing makes sense anymore.
Ding
Well, the elevator still arrives like it's supposed to as soon as the number on the display above it says 1. The doors still open on their own.
I leave the disgusting visage of Victor behind and step inside the elevator, with Lucario right after me. Inside is a panel with buttons. Five upper floors, with the lights of the first floor's button lit up, and four basement levels.
Banette said Mary is deep underground, but I can't just go down. Veneer can see the elevator from her desk... She's staring at me right now... She returns the wave when I send her one.
I press the button for floor five. Moments later, the doors close, and relaxing elevator music begins to play.
The floor is red felt carpet with golden trims - the company logo is embroidered in the center. The walls are mirrors lined with wooden decor. The ceiling features four troffer lights - LED panels in a simple grid.
There's a slit inside the elevator control panel. Like a card reader.
Banette pokes her head out of my shadow, startling me when she speaks up. "Bane?"
"Sorry. I know we need to go below ground, but we can't be too obvious about it. We're sneaking inside."
~"We are not being very sneaky." Lucario snarks. ~"Why did we walk through the front door, ... Daddy?"
"We're doing it like this because actually breaking into Team Galactic's buildings is impossible. They have security systems and countless pokemon protecting them."
Banette nods along.
"We'd get caught immediately."
"Ba. Banette, Banette."
~"You got trapped in the basement for days?"
"Baaa... Banette."
~"You had been surrounded by psychic pokemon and couldn't move, or they would have spotted you? That sounds scary."
"Ba." Banette sounds a little like a goat. She spots my smirk. "Ba! Banette!"
"Sorry, sorry. It's not funny. You're right."
She blushes before dipping back below ground and merging with my shadow.
~"That was not very considerate, Daddy." Lucario smirks a mischievous smile. If her eyes weren't closed, I imagine she'd send me a wink.
She's been going back and forth between saying 'daddy' and 'master' lately, but it feels different now. It never felt like she saw me as her actual father. It was always mixed with the friendship we had.
Now, it's mixed with something else yet again. She knows that the word makes me uncomfortable. But she's not even hesitating to say it.
I shoot her a Glare. But it fails. She grins.
Ding
The doors slide open, revealing the executive's suits of the Team Galactic Headquarters. It's somehow even more luxurious than the one in Eterna City.
Bronze decor lines the trims of the ceiling and walls; a cordon of red rope with real gold threads woven within it serves as handrails. They run along the walls, and I can't imagine anyone even needing them since this is just a curved, looping hallway with no obstacles in the way or stairs to climb. Who would ever need handrails here?
The ceiling is lined with small chandeliers, but every third chandelier is actually a Lampent - the lamp pokemon. I suspect in addition to providing light, they also attack intruders.
Their spooky eyes follow me as I exit the elevator and look at the nearest door. "502 - Venus. But her name was crossed out."
503 is a meeting room. It's on the inside of the looping hallway, so I guess it's got to be enormous on the inside.
501, Mercury's room, must be over there... Dad's not inside. I believe he's within the meeting room with another person.
... 504. Maris is definitely inside. Alone. I glance up at the Lampent watching me with their creepy little eyes, wondering how much they know about my visit. Do they know Veneer called my dad and expects me to go to his room? Will they attack when I go somewhere else?
As I approach Mars' door, they don't attack. Their eyes simply keep tracking me. I push a button underneath Mars' name tag, and the doorbell rings.
I wait a few seconds while Mars refuses to budge.
~"She's lying on a bench in the middle room."
A bench? "You mean a sofa." I push her doorbell again.
It's a simple, short noise, not too jarring on the ears but loud enough for her to hear.
Mars doesn't start moving until I press the button 10 times without breaks in between. When she reaches the door, a little speaker I didn't see before underneath the doorbell turns on.
"You stupid piece of shit!" Mars screams through the intercom. "I'm on VA-CA-TION! Piss off!"
She leaves the door again, returns to her sofa, and lies down, prompting me to spam the doorbell again.
Every buzz rings through the door until a scream of agony drowns out the weak buzzer. Feet stomp against the floor, a lock rattles, a bolt slides out of the way, and the door is ripped wide open.
"I swear to Arceus! I'll get you sent straight into the acid mines, you piss-poor excuse of a grunt!-- Oh." Mars stands in the doorway, a greasy, stained tank top shirt covering just her breasts and parts of her stomach. A rancid, formerly white pair of underwear hugs her waist - a few messy pubes stick out at angles.
Her hair is actually filthy. Pressed down in some spots, wild and unkempt in others, and a strange yellowish stain covers her cheek.
Mars reeks worse than Lopunny after wrestling with a Skuntank.
In one word: disgusting.
"I don't want to see you. Goodbye." Slam! She says before slamming the door shut.
... Sweet Mew, what the fuck happened to her?
I look to Lucario for answers, but she just pinches her nose. The smell must be too much.
I look to Banette for answers, but she's just a shadow. I'm not even sure if she knows I'm looking at her.
I look to the nearest Lampent for answers, but he just shrugs his candle holder limbs.
... I try to use Aura... But it doesn't work well enough. I can tell her apartment is a sloppy mess, and I can tell where Mars paces around, occasionally kicking some garbage from one side of the room to the other.
I spam her doorbell again.
She stops her pacing. She talks to the pokemon in her room, her voice leaking through the door. It replies with something, causing Mars to scream again.
She leaves the central room and heads somewhere else to lie down over there instead.
The doorbell keeps ringing loudly, impossible to ignore.
... Until I stop ringing.
I take out my phone and call her. Expectedly, she declines the call, so I write to her instead.
Swole: "Hey, I'll break down your door if you don't open it. I need your help."
My finger hovers over the send button. I glance at Lampent... "Hey, this is personal; do you mind if I break her door open?"
He nods... Does that mean, 'Okay, I don't mind, go ahead' - or does it mean, 'I do mind. No break-ins under my watch'?
I can't tell, but I can't wait for Mars to open her door either. I hit send.
Lucario might have to take out the Lampents on her own while I break down the door. Or I get Lopunny to help me and Salazzle to help Lucario... But--
Suddenly, the handle twists, the door clicks, and it swings open. Mars is not to be seen on the other side.
The first suspect is Lucario. "Did you open it?"
~"It was Bronzong." She says, pointing through the open doorway into the clutter of pizza cardboard, empty ice cream tubs, spilled food, and some mold growing in places. At the far end, almost camouflaged among the litter, Bronzong hovers with an unbothered look on its face.
"Thanks for letting us in, Bronzong." I say it loud enough for Lampent to hear me. Inside, insects crawl from hiding places within the garbage as I step over them to head deeper into this temple of filth. "Mars! I let myself in!"
"You actually broke down the door?!" Her muffled scream comes from the room to the left. She's lying on her bed pressing her face against a pillow. "I mean, go away!"
"Mars..." This... is embarrassing. "Aren't you a little too old to be doing this?" She takes the pillow and tosses it at me. "What in Mew's name are you even doing?"
It looks like she's pretending to be a teen romance movie character right after a breakup. An empty ice cream tub crunches underfoot as I navigate through the trash into her room.
"Why is everything so filthy here?"
"Because I'm a filthy monster!"
"You're--"
"And that's why you want nothing to do with me!"
"Huh?"
"And that's why I break up with you first!"
"Mars, are you retarded?"
She doesn't reply. But a look into her living room says more than enough. At least her bedroom is decently clean. "You're pushing 30, Mars. Why are you acting like an actual child?"
She mumbles. "I'm still young."
"Suuure, you are. Can you sit up? As much as I like staring at your ass, the mustard stain on your panties is too distracting." I really hope that's mustard.
"That's not mustard." Please don't tell me it's-- "I haven't changed my underwear since..." Please don't say it! "Since we arrived in Veilstone City by train."
"Mars, that is abhorrent. You need to get dressed in clean clothes... Wait. Did you take a shower?"
"..." I don't need to know.
"For fuck's sake. Take a shower and put on some new underwear. You are filthy and abhorrent... Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take care of something in the basement, so I'll be back later. I expect my girlfriend to be clean by the time I return, alright?"
She doesn't make a sound. Her back rises with her breaths; her shirt is already hiked up to expose almost all of her back and some of her breasts spilling at her sides. Her ass is tight, plump, and smackable... If she wasn't so unbelievably filthy, she'd be an ultimate seductress.
The empty ice cream tub crunches again on the way out. Maybe I should tell Bronzong to send Mars into her shower?
"Hold on." The soft-spoken words come from Mars' room. I almost didn't recognize her voice just now. So vulnerable. She waits until I turn to her.
She sits on the bed, holding the blanket up to her chest. "Will you really..."
"Really what?"
"... I mean, what are you going to do in the basement? And which basement floor?" Her voice returns to normal. "Basement floors three and four cannot be entered by unauthorized parties without an appropriate keycard."
"I don't know which floor. I'm looking for someone. Banette found her in the Team Galactic basement being tortured and experimented on." But earlier, what did she really want to ask before that? Will I really... come back? "And I promise I'll come back for you right after I find her."
Mars leans over to her bedside table, pressing her thumb on a fingerprint reader to unlock a little drawer. She pulls an ID card from it and holds it out to me. "It sounds like she's on the lowest level, basement floor four. You need my keycard for the elevator to bring you down."
She pulls it back when I reach for it. "Promise me... you'll be with me no matter how much of a monster I turn out to be."
"I promise." The words spill faster than reasonable. "Mars, you've captivated me. Even if a part of me knows I shouldn't, I do love you, and that won't change."
I get on my knee before her. A waft of pungent smell hits me in the face, but I persevere. Pulling free a little black box from my backpack, I take out one of the many rings inside. "I promise, I'll always be your little shota boytoy, as long as you promise to be mine."
She gasps. Her face flushes. Her breathing quickens. Arousal mixes in with the rest of the stale smell in the room. She nods. "I promise."
She extends an arm, offering the keycard. Taking it and her hand in the same motion, I pry at her stiff, crusty ring finger and slide the golden ring onto it. "There. I've caught you."
She giggles and offers no protest when I pull her close to my lips and give her fingers a kiss...
Yuck. Tastes like Cheetos.
Mars hasn't missed my expression. Her voice sounds weak and vulnerable again; some words are too quiet to understand. "I'll take a shower. You can go ahead and save Azelf."
"Alright, I'll go, but I'll come back." I get up and brush her cheek with my hand. She leans into the touch, and I find myself wanting to kiss her lips deeply... I doubt she has brushed her teeth either. "See you later, Feraligatr."
"In a while, Totodile."
Trash crinkles on the way out. The front door pushes some garbage along as I pull it open. The last I hear of Mars is her calling the room service.
An empty, open hallway greets me as the real part of my stealth mission begins.
---
The elevator is still on the fifth level. Its doors slide open the moment I press the button. The nearest Lampent waves goodbye as I step inside. I wave back, and the doors slide closed.
Sliding the keycard from my pocket through the card reader, little red lights next to B4 and B3 flash on.
Mars said Mary will be on the basement floor B4, so I press it.
Slowly, the elevator moves down. The same incessant music plays again. Relaxing... More like repetitive and boring!
Stories four and three quickly pass by. The little gap between the elevator doors shines with light whenever we pass one. On level two, it slows to a halt.
The gap widens, and a grunt walks inside. "Hi." He greets me and pushes the ground floor button before standing beside me.
"Hello." I return the greeting but don't dare start a conversation. Last time I spoke with a grunt in an elevator, he turned out to be some... kind of... freak--
HOLD ON! I REMEMBER HIM NOW!
Jimbob Bob Dylan! That was the elevator guy in Eterna City! He wanted to have Mars' number, but I wouldn't give it to him!
The doors open again on level 1 - the ground floor - and the grunt leaves. A scientist wearing a lab coat enters instead. An Abra floats next to him, his eyes fixed on a clipboard in one hand while the other jots down notes.
Holy Arcanine shit. I can't believe Jimbob followed me here with some kind of vendetta because I refused to give him a poketch number. Is he autistic or something? Just crazy?
Eh. Either way, I doubt he'll ever become a problem again.
Narrator:Wink.
He can go and rot on the very bottom of my shit list. Fuck him.
The elevator dings, opens its door, and the scientist leaves.
The display on the control panel says we're on B2. Nobody else enters before the doors shut again.
Slowly, the descent continues. Until the elevator comes to a sudden stop. The lights flicker, and worry claws at my mind. Is something wrong? What's going on?
Again, the doors slide open. On the other side is a wall of steel.
Steam hisses from vents, metal groans as it slides past each other, and the wall parts in the middle like another sliding door.
I step out, entering a small, dark chamber with another elevator on the far side of the room. Two grunts stand before it, letting me know they saw me with a little nod in greeting and by tipping the fronts of their hats in perfect synchronization.
Mightyena sits on his haunches to the left of the guards, while a huge Swalot stands to their right. It's not until Lucario pulls at my shirt and points up that I notice another pokemon right above me: a Bronzor is embedded into the ceiling - it's yellow eyes and dark metallic surface barely standing out among the open wiring and metal along the ceiling.
Looking around myself, I find nothing else in this dark hall besides some more hallways leading deeper into this floor.
"Hi there, is this basement floor four?" I ask, sounding like a lost little child.
The left guard looks to the other. They share some hushed words.
Righty speaks up. "You're on basement floor three. If you want to floor four, you'll need to get past me."
I look around, wondering if there's another way. "Like, by fighting you?" The guards scrunch up their eyebrows, looking at me as if I'm the stupid one. "What? Did you hear what you said? It sounded like beating you was the only way to pass."
A random sound. "Psst."
The guards look at each other again. Lefty complains about something, and Righty then says too loud, "Then you say it, Lefty."
Lefty rolls his eyes. "Alright, Righty." He turns to me. "To pass the ancient guardians of the legendary basement floor four--"
Righty hisses something into Lefty's ear.
"I mean, to pass the mythical guardians of the legendary basement floor four, one must approach us with honest intent in their heart of hearts."
Another random noise. "Hey. Psst!"
"For to reach the lowest level of Team Galactic Headquarters, one must present to us: an ID. And answer riddles three."
"What?"
He repeats. "Please provide an ID to identify yourself and state your reason for traveling to the lowest level. We also require your date of birth, your birthplace, and your nationality. We are currently on lockdown and only allow people with express permissions from the bosses down below. And be warned, there is great danger lurking in the depths of these grand halls. The greatest dangers. Many have perished trying to force their way past the ancient-- I mean mythical guardians of the lowest basement level."
Lucario pulls on my shirt again, this time pointing down at Banette who catches my attention.
"Psst. Hey, Swole!" A headache builds itself the moment Banette connects with my brain. "She is down there."
"I know, Banette, I just need to figure out how to get past--" Wait... Why is Banette not pointing at the elevator or down at the ground?
My eyes, barely adjusted to the darker light of the mythical chamber, just barely make out the hallway she means, which leads away from the elevator.
Ohhh, 'down there' - got it.
"What's that way?" I ask Lefty.
He shrugs. "That's the rest of basement floor three. If you took the elevator down here - which I clearly saw you did - that means you're eligible to explore that way. Because clearly you are allowed to be on basement floor three. Just don't bother the night shift. Those people are weeeeird!"
"Why did you say it like that?" Righty complains. "You're such a dweeb, you know that, right, Lefty?"
"Fuck off, Righty. Suck my cock, you retarded Mankey."
Are all Team Galactic members freaks? "I'll go that way then. Bye."
They're too engrossed in their petty argument to hear me. I turn away from them, fleeing down the dark hallway with only my poketch to light the way.
Oh. However, the moment I enter the hallway, the lamps turn on one after another, illuminating the long corridor, then an intersection, another stretch of the dimly lit hallway, and another intersection... and then yet another intersection... This... is a fucking maze, isn't it?
I already hate this place.
---
I really, really, REALLY hate this fucking place.
Who designs an industrial plant like this?! There are endless corridors and countless rooms with strange machines inside them building even stranger machines!
"Are we getting closer?" I ask for the fifth time as we walk down yet another empty, identical hallway with conveyor belts running on each side of the hallway. The one on the right transports teeny tiny screws; the one on the left brings vials of glowing liquid every once in a while.
Banette keeps looking around, glimpsing at every detail and trying to spot something familiar. "Closer. I think it was down that tunnel."
She repeats for the fifth time.
The one she points out has a few pipes leading into it and a single conveyor belt running out. A red and white pokeball travels along it, disappearing into a hole in the ground.
Grunting and hollering sounds from the hole. Orders of someone telling someone else to get moving with the next shipment. The crack of a whip followed by a male moan...
... I guess this is how pokeballs are made.
I hate this fucking place.
My footsteps echo up and down the hallway as I walk along it until I suddenly stop. "This is it, isn't it?"
Banette doesn't say a word, but I know it.
Cold wind blows down my neck from the vents above, rattling with constant noise. Pipes and wires criss-cross across the ceiling and walls; some disappear underground.
It's dark, and the air is stale but buzzing with the sounds of heavy machinery. Fast-paced rhythmic pumping from the generator room I found earlier, hissing of steam vents, and a rusty, rattling conveyor belt - it takes a while, but another pokeball travels along the belt.
The source is up ahead. It's the same hallway Banette showed me earlier. My feet move on their own, hitting the ground with soft footfalls.
Every once in a while, one of the rusty metal grates making up the floor groans under my weight, threatening to break, but eventually, I reach the chamber.
They've left it entirely unguarded.
A massive cage of steel and glass looms in front of me, surrounded by countless control panels with dials, levers, switches, lights, displays, keyboards, measuring instruments, and pokeball schematics, all doing who-knows-what.
One piece of paper is blue with white lines - a classical blueprint. Engraved into the ink is a pokeball with a big... W printed on it-- It's upside down. An M is printed on the ball, with censored labels describing some parts. The only eligible text is the heading 'Master Ball' at the top.
I try to move closer when suddenly bright lamps flood the chamber with light, spilling through the glass cage to reveal...
A pokemon. Bound in chains thicker than my arms, she hangs without a sign of life in her metallic body. Cables and tubes dig into her synthetic flesh, pumping blue, glowing liquid into her body.
She's shaped somewhat similar to a rusty pokeball, but she also looks like a woman wearing a metallic gown. Her head is framed with a crown made of the teeth of a cog, and her chest is a weakly glowing sphere. Arms connected to shoulders, humanoid hands with fingers, and legs with feet and toes poking out from underneath her... dress. I think the garment is a part of her body, similar to Gardevoir.
Is this... "Miss Maid?" I mutter. "Mary?"
No, this is a pokemon. Clearly.
I pull out my pokedex - rarely used, so I check the wrong pocket first. It snaps open and scans...
"Magearna." The machine speaks with its usual, dry tone.
The rest of her pokedex entry slowly fills itself with content - the signs of a first discovery.
"The artificial pokemon."
She's a fairy and steel type.
"This artificial pokemon, constructed more than 1000 years ago, can understand human speech. By extracting and anchoring a human soul inside a mechanical pokeball, a Soul-Heart is made - a mechanized body grows around it, forming the vessel for this pokemon. Trapped and harvested for its produce, this pokemon yearns to live like a human again."
That really is her... "M-Mary?"
Her limbs twitch. Her body contorts in pain as control lights flash and barometers fill up. Then, a red and white pokeball grows from the core of her body.
The hollow shell - red on top, white on the bottom - falls into a funnel, down a chute, and then rolls onto the conveyor belt. It travels through the tiny hole in her cage and out of the chamber.
Lights flash all around, the control panels doing who knows what as machines start pumping glowing liquid through pipes into her body, beginning the next production cycle.
I need to get her out of there.
But how? A psychic barrier encases the whole thing - I can't even reach any of the levers. A blast door is the only entrance if I don't want to break through half a meter of glass. It looks easy enough to open. Just turn a wheel like on a vault door, if I can just reach it - no visible keyholes.
The barrier should be easy enough. "Banette, do you know any dark-type moves?"
"Yes, Dark Pulse."
It should be able to break through, but I'll need to hide from the area of attack.
"Alright. Stand over there and wait for my signal, then use Dark Pulse."
Her attack will hit as little of the equipment as possible, and I can take cover in the hallway we came from to avoid the attack.
"This might trigger an alarm, so we'll need to be quick afterwards."
Dark Pulse, then turning the wheel-- "Lopunny, come out." We can turn it faster together. It looks massive. "Salazzle, you too."
One after another, their pokeballs pop open, and they appear on the ground, heads swiveling and eyes darting around to understand where we are.
"Salazzle, go down that hallway until the way splits. Make sure nobody gets to us. Lucario, do you remember the way we came from?"
Lucario nods while Salazzle throws a lazy salute with a claw to her eyebrow. She dashes across the ground before scaling up the walls and disappearing within the mess of pipes and air ducts.
That's most things taken care of. I look into the cage to see what's left.
One of the pipes merges into Magearna's body and leads directly into her core. It looks like the parts were fused or welded together. The other pipes and cables seem to be attached superficially and sealed with some type of silicone.
We have to tear those pipes and wires off and out of her.
"Lopunny, get ready to turn that big wheel with me counterclockwise-- that direction." I point it out for her. "If you hear me shout 'wrong way' or something similar, we turn it the other way. Then, once we get inside, use Jump Kick on that valve over there."
~"Over where?"
"There." I point it out again. "It looks like a weak point for the pipe that goes into her core. Break that, and all that's left are the chains."
Fuck. I nearly forgot about the chains.
They're bolted into the floor, ceiling, and a few of the steel beams that make up the edges of Magearna's prison.
We can't break those chains. Impossible. Those connections look far too tough too. They're locked to her ankles and wrists, giving just enough slack for her to hang limply within them.
Her real body is just the Soul-Heart, right? So... no. No way. I'm not going to hack her apart. I just don't have it in me.
I could-- Right! Why didn't I think of it first? I can just try to capture her in a pokeball! That will free her from the chains, the wires, and most - if not all - of the pipes!
I check my pocket, finding the emergency pokeball.
I check with Banette - she's ready.
Lopunny? She's by the door, waiting for the barrier to disappear.
"Lopunny, Lucario, with me."
They nod and hide with me in the hallway. "Banette..." I take a deep breath. "Now! Use Dark Pulse!"
All of a sudden, darkness washes over the cage, shattering the barrier in an instant. The lights are drowned out as an alarm begins to blare. The typical light show of purple-black flame-like attack undulates and billows like waves, seeking to fill every crevice. We step back just enough to avoid being struck by an extending tendril.
Then, it fades.
Burnt-out light bulbs, dented control panels, and singed wires are all that remain. Some of them must have been for the lights inside the cage - they flicker, struggling to stay alight.
Using my phone's light, I rush inside. Lopunny is faster, already pulling on the wheel with all her might - "That's the wrong way, Lopunny!"
She pulls to the other direction when I join her. It's stuck for a moment - with a sudden lurch, the mechanism groans and turns. I push with all my might; rods of steel or tungsten or maybe even stranger metal rub on the inside of the door as they're pulled inwards.
It gets easier. The wheel turns faster and faster until the door pushes outwards. A massive spring inside makes it easier to pull the door open the rest of the way.
"That's it! Now, Jump Kick!" The alarm drowns out my voice, but Lopunny still understands her task.
The pokeball is ready in my hands, waiting for Lopunny. She jumps foot first, and she strikes through the pipe - the shock travels through, straight into Magearna's Soul-Heart.
Her red eyes tear open in shock, but she closes them just as quickly as pain sets in. Magearna cries out - a gut-wrenching whimper sounding just like a human's.
As soon as it started, she lost consciousness again. Her limbs lose tension, slacking, chains rattling; a tortured being.
My vision swims as the implications become clear. Mary has been through this torture for centuries.
The pokeball lies heavy in my hands - a product of her suffering. I approach, gently touching the ball to her chest.
It pops open, a red beam emerges, encasing Magearna whole before-- the beam cuts off. The pokeball stays open in my hand, broken.
It fractures. A rift grows along the hinge and seams, tearing it apart. Then, it shatters into a thousand pieces flying everywhere, falling to the ground like shrapnel.
She has been captured before, so the ball doesn't work!
Dread grows a heavy pit in my stomach. My eyes widen. My heart beats out of my chest. My breath quickens.
"L-Lopunny?" My voice chokes. I clench my teeth and close my eyes while tears grow. I concentrate. ~"Use Fake Out."
~"Against-- Oh, I get it."
Then, silence. My body refuses to breathe while Lopunny walks in front of my flashlight.
~"Want me to break those chains?" She asks, pointing a finger at one.
That's still impossible. It's far too thick. I need to think of something else. ~"Look around for me. Search for anything."
She does. Images of objects flash through my mind. It's all dials, levers, switches, and cryptic runes. She can't read, so I don't get their meanings either.
I was hoping for a pokeball, but nothing of that sort is around. ~"Run and get Salazzle. We need everyone here."
She acknowledges it, sprinting down the hallway behind me, silently, without even stirring the dust around her.
Then, the noise resumes as Fake Out ends. ~"Salazzle, can you hear me?" - Nothing.
~"Lucario, flip every switch and lever you can see."
Salazzle's clawed feet tap against metal as she scampers along the dark hallway - Lopunny just behind her. ~"Yesss! I can hear you!"
~"Use Fake Out!"
Again, time crawls to a stop. Lopunny stays behind. Lucario's hand is held out before her, and her eyes glimmer while a bunch of levers and switches are stuck halfway between on and off.
~"Salazzle, use Toxic, Poison Fang, and Venoshock on that chain link." Her ability is Corrosion. It might work.
However, there are four chains we need to break to free Magearna. Even if Salazzle succeeds, we need to break the others as fast as we can.
The moment Salazzle charges up Toxic, time resumes to normal.
A staccato of clicks and flicks joins the blaring alarm. ~"Lucario--"
She's already reading my mind, turning her attention to the bolt that manacles Magearna's wrist before striking it with her most potent Psychic.
~"Lopunny, use High Jump Kick against that part."
She listens, charges her power, jumps, and strikes the metal with her knee... Nothing happens. The metal absorbs the shock as if nothing even happened.
Hold on... Is this the alloy Victor invented? The one he used to keep Maushold. What were its properties again? Highly stress resistant against impacts, right? ~"Try Play Rough. Tear that chain link apart."
Salazzle is already showing success. The first half of the chain link near Magearna's left arm melts away. Poison Fang seems ineffective, but Venoshock increased the rate at which the corrosive toxins eat away at the metal.
Pling-- A bolt tears off. The first of two holding the manacle around Magearna's wrist tight. A messy hole remains where the threads of the bolt failed first under Lucario's pressure.
Loud noise like tearing and groaning metal pulls my attention. Play Rough breaks the thick metal apart with Lopunny pulling from both sides using her hands and ears to grab it with as much grip as possible.
Banette floats up to me. A rusty key held in her grasp. My eyes bulge. I snatch it and notice the label 'left foot', rushing to work on the last chain. "Where did you find it?! Are there more?" I shout over the noise, and Banette returns to the shadows, flitting across the ground to search for more keys.
The key turns. The first of four limbs is free.
Acid melts through the chain link. Magearna's left arm is free.
Lopunny screams as her beaten muscles tear apart the chain holding Magearna's right leg in place.
Finally, with another sharp pling, the final limb breaks free when Lucario's Psychic rips the manacle asunder.
Magearna collapses on top of me, but I brace her in time, catching her before we could fall to the ground.
The chains that held her arms crash to the ground and scrape along until coming to a stop near the walls.
Then, silence - the alarm forgotten.
Soundlessly. A puppet with her strings cut. A cold, dead corpse. She weighs heavy on my soul, is light as a feather in my arms, and a tear escapes my eyes.
"I found you, Mary."
The smile on my lips feels so wrong. How can I be happy? I shouldn't be. I should be ashamed. I should have found her sooner. I should have put in a little more effort...
"I'm so sorry, Mary."
All I did was wait until Banette found her.
I'm too weak. Too useless. Banette did it all.
The little ghost returned; another key held in her hands clatters to the ground when she hugs Magearna's leg with all her might. Blood-red tears stream from her crimson eyes.
"Banette... Thank you so much."
She hiccups. Her teary face turns up to stare at me with utmost gratitude. ~"Swole..." She whispers. ~"Thank you so, so very much."
Her tears come faster. The light in her eyes fades as the zipper on her mouth slowly turns into wisps of green light. Still, she speaks. ~"I owe you so much for this."
Banette's tears dry out, joining the wisps. Her eyes fade to black, her body slowly dissolves - all turning into green wisps that gather in the air.
~"Please forgive me." Her voice sounds clearer than ever before. ~"I won't be able to repay you."
Between the wisps sits a little Buneary doll. Her ears are droopy, her eyes are dull, lifeless black glass, and there's some stuffing spilling from a tiny hole, but there is a smile on her lips.
"Banette?" Those wisps... When Lucario died, those were the same green motes of light. Banette is dying! "Banette! I forgive you! I want you to know, I'm glad we found Mary together! You don't owe me anything! And don't worry about Mary! I'll take care of her!"
Her distant voice is near silent, yet the blaring siren fails to drown her out. ~"I'm glad you found me, Swole Solo. Goodbye, traveling trainer."
Her light fades. Wisps turn into tiny pearls of life, then nothing at all. The few glimmers that cling to the world linger behind before one darts for my chest, merging with my heart - a soft feeling like one last hug; a tiny part of her will live on with me.
The rest shoots for Magearna's Soul-Heart. Her eyes snap open in a moment of clarity. Her arms tremble in my hold as her hand finds its way to my cheek.
Her mouth falls open. The sound of static noise briefly rings from her throat before switching to a monotonous robotic voice. "Good evening, sir. Did Lord or Lady Evershade invite you today?"
It truly is her. They sound exactly alike. Even the words she spoke are the same as when I stumbled into the old chateau.
But her head tilts at a steady, mechanical tempo. "I am Magearna. The maid of this estate. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."
The pale pink irises of her eyes shrink; not a hint of a frown is on her motionless lips or confusion in her voice as she speaks without emotions. "Have we met before? You seem familiar."
I meet her cheek with my hand. Her eyes widen and dart towards the fingers without ever twitching a single muscle of her artificial body. Then they switch to the one she placed against my cheek.
She pulls it back with a start. "Apologies. I do not understand what came over me when I touched you. Could you remove your hand as well?"
I shake my head, and she tilts her head the other way.
"Why not? Who are you?" She asks. "Who am I?" The sirens keep blaring. "Where am I?"
"You're over a thousand years in the future."
"... When am I?" She blinks. Exactly once, keeping her eyes closed for a whole second, for the first time since she opened her eyes. "I do not seem to recall. But I know you. You are Swole Solo. A traveling pokemon trainer from Twinleaf Town."
"I am--"
~"Master." Lucario tugs at my shirt. "People are coming closer."
"I am. But we need to talk later. Come with me! We need to escape!"
She blinks again - again for exactly one second, but her body doesn't resist when I pull her along by her arm. Magearna keeps up with the pace I'm setting through the hallway - the conveyor broke and stopped working.
Her eyes are still fixed on me. "Why am I a pokemon?"
"You don't remember?" I ask with a hushed voice.
I spot Salazzle crawling along the ceiling, Lopunny beside me, and Lucario pressing ahead as Magearna and I make up the back.
"I remember everything. But nothing seems to make sense. I have been Magearna for 8 million 771 thousand 202 point 91 hours. But before that, I seem to have been someone else. Clarification: now I seem to have been someone else. I do not recall knowing about my previous life until 362 seconds ago."
Lucario suddenly stops and pulls us into a storage room filled with crates and assorted metal parts. A furry finger is placed on my lips.
I nod. "Magearna, you need to be still for a moment."
She doesn't acknowledge. Her whole body simply freezes, eyes locked into mine.
Trying to move her further away from the door doesn't work. She keeps still, not moving an inch no matter how strong I pull.
I look around for anything-- a tarp!
Lopunny and Lucario hide in the corners, out of view of the hallway. I sling the tarp over Magearna and myself, hoping nobody would look into a storage room... while the alarm is going off.
Is this the most obvious place to check first?
Why didn't I use the tarp in my backpack? I should have thought of that. What if there hadn't been one in the room? Are her ankles showing--
She hooks an arm around my waist.
Her pink eyes glow just bright enough to make out the total lack of emotions on her face. She blinks. Her voice becomes quieter as she speaks, like turning down the volume control after the first word. "Am I yours?"
"You're mine." The words leave my mouth without thinking. I don't know how close the enemy is! I shouldn't be speaking! "Shhh."
I wrap an arm around her waist. The metallic clothes on her body prevent me from touching her hips, so my hand keeps sliding up her clothes until my thumb brushes against her Soul-Heart.
Her eyes dart down, then up again in an instant, careful to keep me in her gaze. She watches me. Her irises shrink again as she zooms into one of my eyes before inspecting the other.
"That makes sense." It does? "I followed your commands. You seem to know who I am, even though you refuse to tell me." I'm not refusing! It's just not the right time! "I know who you are. And--"
As if tearing the audio jack from its port, her robotic voice just cuts off.
Heavy steps thud on metal as a small platoon's worth of people run past the storage room. Using Aura, I'm counting four grunts and eight pokemon.
None check this room.
I wait for a little while before looking into Magearna's eyes. "And?"
She resumes speaking without even missing a beat. "-- the previous me seems to want to be yours." Her other arm reaches up to my face again. "It is quite the strange sensation. Do you know what is going on? Why does my hand not want to follow my commands?"
In a way, I got what I wanted. Yet again with a cruel twist of fate. "I have a theory. But we have to escape first."
She nods, slowly, but with an impossibly precise steadiness. "I agree. The people who ran past us were looking for me; am I correct?"
"I believe so. I doubt they'll want to let you go."
"And I do not want to remain. This is a dreadful place."
I brush her cheek. "I won't let them have you."
"Thank you."
"Lucario? Can we continue?"
~"Not quite. They left a guard up ahead at the next intersection. I hoped he might move away. However, he paces from place to place; I believe to set something up."
Shit. Are they making new checkpoints? I get out of the tarp. "Salazzle, scout ahead, try to get into a good position, but wait for my signal before attacking. Lopunny, with me. Lucario, stay in the back." I look to my belt.
Banette's ball is now empty. Swadloon won't be of help in this fight, so she can stay in her ball.
"We'll be trying diplomacy first. Magearna, keep wearing the tarp. Pretend that you're a Banette--"
"But I cannot see with the tarp on." Magearna's right.
I dig through my pockets-- I'm wearing the wrong pants! Looking through the backpack, I reach for the survival gear and pull a knife.
With it, cutting two holes into the tarp for Magearna to see is easy. The pink glow of her eyes helps with the disguise. All that's missing is a zipper for her mouth... aha! There is one in the clutter. Wow, what a coincidence.
Two needles keep it in place as her mouth.
"Perfect."
"Hello, I am Banette."
... Awful. "Just don't say a word. Maybe the low light will trick the guards." No shot. "Alright, everyone ready?"
~"Yes, master."
~"Yes, Daddy."
Salazzle already left.
"0v0." Magearna took the order literally and made an indecipherable robotic noise instead of using a word.
"Good. Then let's go."
---
Calmly - outwardly calmly - I stroll down the hallway, approaching the intersection where the guard is stationed.
The sparsely placed lights along the ceiling allow me to walk in the dark until I get to see the guard before he spots me.
Stationed with him, as he fiddles with something, is an attentive, sluggish Swalot. But his attention is preoccupied with the plastic wrappers of some equipment. Acid-like saliva drips from his enormous, wide-open mouth.
"Hey, Lefty, how's it going?" He startles in the middle of his work, lining cables for a floodlight. "There's something weird going on over there, in that direction. Did that cause the alarm?"
He spots me as I enter the light of the next ceiling lamp. His eyes tighten in a suspicious glare. "Lefty?" He asks. "I'm Righty. Isn't that obvious?"
THEY'RE IDENTICAL! "Yeah. Sorry about that. I blame the low light - you obviously sound like Righty." Please let our disguise blow. I want to beat him up for this!
"Hmmm..." He hums while continuing his work. Plugging in one final electrical cord, the light turns on, flooding all four directions of the intersection brightly. "What exactly are you doing down here anyway?"
"Oh... I'm on a secret mission. Mars sent me here."
He hides behind the floodlights, his face shrouded in shadows. "Are you responsible for the alarm? And don't lie to me - I can smell liars."
"Me? No, I didn't cause anything."
"I get the feeling you're lying."
Shit. ~"Lucario, if he reaches for something, attack with Confusion. Salazzle, ready?"
He continues. "And Commander Mars has been out of commission for nearly 3 weeks with explicit orders not to be bothered. It seems highly unlikely that she would send you on a mission."
"Well, I don't know what else I can say. I know Mars personally; she asked me to retrieve a top secret item for her, and now I'm running late. I should really get back to her."
"Likely story." Righty snarks, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Salazzle is ready to strike right above Swalot. "Care to prove it?"
"Easily. I've got her keycard." I pull it out - the shiny plastic glints under the floodlights' glare. "You wouldn't dare claim that I defeated Commander Mars to steal the card, right, Righty?"
"Right. That would be preposterous." He pauses for a few moments, mulling the situation over in his mind. "Alright. You may pass."
"Great." I hurry up. "I'll let Mars know you've helped me get her emergency delivery sorted out faster. Bye."
"Goodbye-- Hold on! Holy Mew, how is your Shuppet so massive! And something reeks-- ah. Right. You mentioned you were in Commander Mars' room. That's why you stink." That's Lopunny.
Shuppet? Ah... I see. Yes, with the tarp following the contours of her head, torso, and dress, Magearna does resemble Shuppet more closely than Banette.
"Banette." She fakes a pokemon sound... Of the wrong pokemon.
"Did your Shuppet just say Banette?"
"No, no, no. You misheard. Shuppet just caught a cold, and her throat hurts. Isn't that right, Shuppet?"
"Ba-- I mean, Shuppet."
"Oh? Did she catch the Pokerus?"
"Yes. Exactly."
"Alright. That makes sense then. Goodbye."
"Bye." I get moving again. Salazzle keeps up, her shadow barely visible among the mess on the ceiling.
There's an awkward stretch of time when we're still lit up by his checkpoint, Righty's eyes are on us, but we can't let him know that we know.
With extra calm steps, we head to the next corner and disappear behind it. I recognize this hallway! It's the final stretch before emerging into the elevator room.
It's empty. Lefty must've been in the group of grunts that rushed past us.
I nearly miss a step and stumble, hurrying to the elevator with my heart beating out of my chest. We're almost done.
After waiting for Salazzle-- Massive Mightyena manure! I forgot about the Bronzel in the ceiling! "Oh. Hi, Bronzel. Don't mind us; we're just heading back up to find Mars."
"Bronzel." It says. I hope that means okay.
With Salazzle, a battered, beaten, and stinky Lopunny, Lucario, and the worst Shuppet imitation the world has ever seen all beside me, I press the elevator button.
The doors open immediately, and a pair of hands reaches out to snatch me by the shirt collar.