The Aether Foundation building sat at Lavender Town's eastern edge like an intrusion that didn't belong.
Modern architecture clashed with the town's traditional aesthetics. Clean white lines against weathered wood and stone. Corporate signage that promised "Ghost-Type Research Excellence" without specifying what that research involved.
"Recent construction," Kiyomi observed. "Built within the last year. Official permits claim academic partnership with regional universities."
"After what we saw in Saffron," Sasuke said, "official claims mean nothing."
The decision to investigate was unanimous.
The stakeout lasted two days.
During daylight hours, the facility appeared legitimate. Scientists arrived and departed on regular schedules. Delivery vehicles brought standard laboratory supplies. Nothing suggested the horrors they'd witnessed in Saffron.
But nighttime told different stories.
"Movement," Kasumi reported during their second midnight observation. "Vehicle approaching from the east. No headlights."
The truck backed into the facility's loading bay with practiced efficiency. Workers emerged to unload cargo that moved beneath concealing tarps.
"Cages," Miyuki said, her enhanced vision through binoculars confirming what they suspected. "Covered, but you can see shapes. Pokémon inside."
"Ghost-types, presumably." Sasuke's jaw tightened. "Being delivered in darkness. Hidden from public view."
"We need to report this."
"We need to try."
Officer Jenny received them with professional courtesy that failed to mask underlying resistance.
"Aether Foundation has proper permits," she explained. "Approved by regional authorities. I can't investigate without demonstrated cause."
"We observed suspicious nighttime deliveries..."
"Nighttime operations aren't illegal. Many research facilities conduct sensitive work during off-hours." Jenny's expression suggested discomfort with her own words. "I understand your concerns. Your actions in Saffron were commendable. But Lavender isn't Saffron. I don't have the same authority here."
"Who does?"
"Regional administration. The same officials who approved Aether's permits."
The same officials who had been compromised across the region. The same officials who had warned Aether leadership before the Saffron raid.
"Understood," Sasuke said, voice carefully neutral.
They left knowing that official channels offered no help.
They would handle this themselves.
The infiltration began at midnight.
"Latios, aerial reconnaissance." Sasuke released his Legendary Dragon above the building, its psychic abilities extending to scan the structure below.
Distress, Latios communicated. Multiple Pokémon. Basement level. Fear. Pain.
"How many?"
Dozens. Some fading.
"Fading?"
Their presence... diminishing. As though being... emptied.
Sasuke's expression hardened into something his companions rarely witnessed, cold fury that demanded action.
"Roof access. Latios carries us up, one at a time."
The silent landing brought them to a maintenance door that Victini's presence made inexplicably unlocked.
"Luck manipulation," Sasuke explained as the lock clicked open without forced entry. "Victini influences probability in subtle ways."
"That seems unfair."
"Against Aether? I'll take every advantage available."
They descended through service corridors, avoiding the security camera network through paths that seemed chosen by fortune rather than planning. Each corner they turned revealed empty hallways. Each door they needed was inexplicably ajar.
"This is... suspicious," Kasumi whispered.
"This is Victini," Sasuke replied. "Trust it."
The basement laboratory exceeded their worst expectations.
Cages lined the walls, dozens of them, each containing a Ghost-type Pokémon in obvious distress. Gastly, Haunter, Misdreavus, Duskull, species that should have been incorporeal and free now trapped by technology that seemed designed specifically to contain spectral forms.
But containment wasn't the horror.
Machines connected to each cage through cables that pulsed with energy transfer. The Pokémon inside were being drained, their Ghost-type essence extracted through processes that clearly caused agony.
"Spirit extraction," Miyuki breathed, her medical training immediately recognizing the damage. "They're harvesting the energy that makes Ghost-types what they are."
"That would kill them."
"Eventually. After prolonged suffering."
Some cages held Pokémon whose forms had already begun fading, spirits losing the coherence that allowed them to exist in the physical world. Others showed earlier stages, their pain still sharp rather than diminishing.
"Get them out," Sasuke commanded. "Now."
The rescue operation divided responsibilities.
Miyuki moved through the cages with medical precision, disconnecting extraction cables with care that minimized additional trauma. Her touch was gentle, her voice soothing, her presence somehow calming to beings who had every reason to fear humans.
"You're safe now," she murmured to each one. "It's over. You're safe."
Kasumi deployed her Pokémon upstairs, creating distraction that drew guards away from the basement level. Gardevoir's psychic presence suggested intruders in the facility's northern wing while Togekiss's aerial movements triggered security responses in entirely wrong directions.
Kiyomi documented everything. Equipment specifications, experimental logs, financial records that showed funding sources and material acquisitions. Every photograph added to a case that was becoming undeniable.
And Sasuke confronted the head researcher.
The scientist stood before his monitoring station, expression showing irritation rather than fear.
"Intruders," he said flatly. "You're disrupting critical research."
"I'm ending this pointless torture."
"Torture?" The scientist's laugh held no humor. "These Pokémon are energy sources. Their spiritual essence has applications that could revolutionize..."
"They're dying."
"A necessary cost. For the greater good. For Lord Danzo's vision of a world where Pokémon power serves humanity properly."
"Pokémon aren't tools." Sasuke's voice carried ice that seemed to drop the room's temperature. "They're our partners. Beings worthy of respect."
"Spare me the sentimental bullshit boy." The scientist reached for a Pokéball. "Muk, eliminate the intruder."
The Poison-type materialized with toxic presence, its form already launching toward Sasuke.
"Victini."
The small Victory Pokémon appeared between them, flames already building.
"Searing Shot."
The battle lasted seconds.
Victini's fire erupted with intensity that purified poison rather than simply damaging it. Muk's toxic essence couldn't withstand flames that seemed designed to cleanse corruption.
The Poison-type collapsed, unable to continue.
"Your research is finished," Sasuke said, stepping over the fallen Pokémon to approach the scientist. "Your facility is exposed. Your victims are being rescued."
"You don't understand what you're interfering with!"
"I understand perfectly." Sasuke's hand found the scientist's collar. "And I understand that people like you make organizations like Aether possible."
Sirens approached from outside. Someone, probably responding to the commotion Kasumi's distraction had created, had finally called authorities.
Officer Jenny arrived to find the situation undeniable.
The arrests proceeded with efficiency that previous encounters hadn't allowed.
Laboratory staff were detained. Evidence was secured. The Ghost-type Pokémon were transferred to facilities that Miyuki personally approved, legitimate care that offered actual treatment rather than additional harm.
But rescue wasn't salvation.
"Some of them won't survive," Miyuki reported, her voice cracking with exhaustion and grief. "The extraction process damaged their spiritual coherence. They're fading even with treatment."
"All of them?"
"Not all. Some will recover, the ones caught early, the ones whose essence wasn't completely drained." She wiped tears she couldn't suppress. "But others... I'm watching them disappear. Watching their spirits lose the ability to maintain form."
"You're doing everything you can."
"It's not enough."
The funeral at Pokémon Tower was communal grief made manifest.
Ghost-types who had died despite rescue efforts were laid to rest alongside generations of departed Pokémon. The town's residents, who had welcomed these spirits during the Night of Spirits, who had danced with Gengar and laughed with Haunter, gathered to mourn beings who had been murdered for energy extraction.
"Eleven confirmed deaths," the officiant announced. "Eleven spirits who deserved better than what they received."
Kasumi wept openly. Kiyomi's expression held fury beneath grief. Miyuki stood rigid, professional composure barely containing devastation.
Sasuke stood apart, watching the ceremonies with eyes that had grown colder than they'd been before.
Not theft, he thought. Not imprisonment. Murder. Systematic, deliberate murder of beings who trusted the world to protect them.
"This changes things," he said quietly, loud enough only for his companions to hear.
"How?" Kasumi asked.
"Before, we were gathering evidence. Building cases. Working within systems that might eventually deliver justice."
"And now?"
"Now I understand that systems have failed. Will continue to fail. That Danzo and Aether Foundation will keep killing until someone stops them directly."
"What are you saying?"
Sasuke didn't answer immediately. His gaze found the eleven fresh memorial plaques, each one representing a life that should have continued.
"I'm saying that when the moment comes, when we have the opportunity to end this... I won't hesitate."
His companions didn't argue.
After what they'd witnessed, none of them could.