"Ditto, transform into Colress. We're going to charge through this 'Longmen Array' trap."
Feng Che's eyes were resolute. Ditto crawled onto his body, its pink mass undulating until it perfectly replicated Colress's appearance, right down to the lab coat and sharp gaze.
"Colress? Why are you down here suddenly?"
Yamamoto, who was busy coordinating the hunt for Caitlin, looked up with a frown.
"I'm here to check on Zeraora," Feng Che said, his voice a perfect imitation of the scientist's toneless rasp. "I just finished the incubation process for the eggs, and my current blood samples are running low. I need to draw more from the source immediately."
Feng Che moved toward the heavy doors, but Yamamoto's voice rang out behind him.
"Wait, Colress."
Feng Che's heart hammered against his ribs. His hand, hidden deep in his lab coat pocket, gripped a Poké Ball. If the ruse failed, he was prepared to strike first and ask questions later.
"For security's sake, please perform a palm-print verification," Yamamoto said, following protocol.
Feng Che exhaled slowly, loosening his grip on the Poké Ball. "Of course. It's good to see you're staying vigilant, Yamamoto. I was just about to complain that the guards were getting lax, letting me through without a check."
He placed his palm on the LCD tablet Yamamoto held out. During his weeks in the lab, Feng Che had already used Ditto to lift and replicate Colress's prints. The scanner chirped.
"Palm-print confirmed. Welcome, Dr. Colress."
Just as the verification cleared, a shout erupted from further down the hall. "Commander Yamamoto! Come quickly! We've cornered the infiltrator!"
Yamamoto didn't waste another second, leading his squad toward the commotion at a dead run.
Elsewhere on the ship, Caitlin was in a dire state. "Dammit! If the Swoobat hadn't shattered my Poké Ball release mechanism, I wouldn't be in this mess!"
She was backed into a corner, her only defense being her Solosis, which was visibly exhausted from continuous Teleports.
"Solosis, one more time! Teleport!"
Her form flickered and vanished just as the Plasma grunts closed in.
"Curse it! This League Elite is playing hide-and-seek with us!" Yamamoto growled. "Keep searching! Don't let her reach the deck!"
Feng Che bypassed the final security layer and entered Zeraora's chamber. To his surprise, he found the hip-hop girl—the infiltrator—collapsed on the floor. Her Solosis lay beside her, completely spent from over-exertion.
She Teleported into this room? Bold move, Feng Che thought. Wait... they said she's a League Elite. A Solosis user... this must be Caitlin, Tianshen's younger sister.
He could see through her disguise with his psychic sight; she was unconscious from severe mental backlash.
I'll take her with me. For Tianshen's sake, I can't leave her here to be experimented on.
Feng Che immediately activated a signal jammer. He replaced the live surveillance feed with a pre-recorded loop of the real Colress drawing samples from a few days ago. To the monitors, everything looked like business as usual.
At that exact moment, the real Colress returned to his laboratory to find it empty. He shouted "Kiyoma's" name, but only silence answered. He looked at the incubators—one of the Zeraora eggs was missing. Panic flared in his chest as he tore open his safe.
"Gone... everything is gone!"
Colress slammed the emergency alarm. Sirens wailed throughout the vessel.
"What now?!" Yamamoto screamed, frustrated.
"Report! Dr. Colress triggered the alarm! His lab was robbed of all rare resources! He suspects 'Kiyoma' is the thief and demands his immediate capture!"
Yamamoto's face went pale. "Wait... Colress just triggered the alarm from his lab? Then who did I just let into Zeraora's chamber?"
"CRAP! They're going to release the subject!" Yamamoto sprinted toward the lower decks.
Inside the chamber, Feng Che smirked. "You won't get in here so easily. I've already uploaded a virus into the turret control system."
As Yamamoto approached the corridor, the heavy rocket turrets suddenly pivoted and opened fire on the Plasma guards. Massive explosions rocked the ship.
"What's happening?!" Yamamoto shouted, bracing himself against the vibrating walls.
"The turrets! They've gone rogue! They're targeting anyone who gets close, and the emergency override is dead! Even cutting the main power hasn't stopped them!"
"They have an independent power supply for emergencies," Yamamoto spat, gritting his teeth. "I know where the backup generator is. Once I cut that, that thief is a dead man!"
Feng Che looked at the Shiny Zeraora. In just a month, she had become even more emaciated.
"Go, Ivysaur! Use Razor Leaf to breach the container!"
The crescent blades shattered the super-alloy glass. Zeraora stumbled out, her legs trembling.
[Zeraora: Humans... all... monsters...]
Exhausted from being drained by the Thunder Pearl and malnourished from pregnancy, she could barely stand. Before she could lash out, Ivysaur's vines snared her, and a cloud of Sleep Powder sent her into a deep slumber.
"Go, Poké Ball!"
The capture was instantaneous; she was too weak to resist.
"She's too frail and hates humans with a passion. Winning her trust is going to be a nightmare," Feng Che muttered. "Go, Torracat! Use Flamethrower on the floor!"
Torracat unleashed a searing blast of fire. The thick steel floor began to glow cherry-red, eventually melting into white-hot slag that dripped into the ocean below.
Feng Che deployed his small submarine through the hole. He had Ivysaur carefully place the unconscious Caitlin into a passenger seat.
Just as the submarine settled into the water, Yamamoto and Colress finally breached the room, having cut the backup power. But they were greeted only by a gaping, molten hole in the floor and an empty containment tank.