Chapter 1
Prelude
3rd person POV
"More champagne, please." The guest called out as he emptied his glass. A butler walked up with two new glasses, only for the drunkard to spill a glass on him as he took the other one. The butler shook his head and walked away to change his suit.
It was just after dusk, and Dana Lance was holding a party to celebrate the end of her fifth year as headmistress of Kalos' University For Gifted Students. She was still the majority owner of Silph Co. even though she wasn't CEO. This allowed her to run the school and still maintain influence of her parents company. Her parents were still in jail after being convicted of multiple charges of corruption and fraud. Dana had committed the last 20 years to rebuilding Silph Co's legacy and influence. This hard earned public trust was built on honesty and philanthropy rather than greed and bribery.
This gala was also a fundraiser to help the school expand its campus. Something Dana desperately needed. Her school wasn't big enough to accommodate the new influx in shifters.
Shifter, a foreign word to most of modern society, though not unheard of. While originally thought to be a simple one in thousand genetic trail, recent studies had shown that almost 80 percent of the world's population possessed the gene, but only around 10 percent possessed an active gene that could be passed on.
Dana was part of that 10 percent. She was able to shift her body into that of a medicham. However this was a well kept secret, the hot pink highlights in her hair were carefully dyed to match the blond hair that was visible.
She was wearing a red, high cut dress with sleeves. She had specifically picked this outfit to be conservative but practical, aside from the high heels. Dana was definitely still in good physical shape, she exercised every weekend. Unfortunately her shifter heritage made it difficult to be taken seriously at events. Despite her age of 35, she looked barley into her twenties. Shifters always tended to age slower.
As Dana went to the banquet table she smiled. The table was nearly ready and the auction items were standing on pedestals. Hopefully these trinkets and prizes were enough to raise the money needed. However as she turned to leave the room she noticed that a particular glass case was empty. She waved a staff member over.
"Jackson, where is the Coronet artifact?" Dana asked in a whisper.
"It's in the basement being cleaned. I thought you weren't selling it?" He asked.
"Not in the auction, but with all the donors here someone may have shown interest." She explained.
"Forgive me my lady, I'll go see if it's ready." Jackson assured.
"Thank you." Dana replied before walking back towards the ballroom.
Jackson began down the stairs towards the basement where the staff rooms and cleaning supplies were. His bones ached slightly as he carefully stepped down the third flight. Jackson had just recently celebrated his 64th birthday, 38 of those years had been spent serving the Lances. Dana has offered for him to retire with full benefits, but Jackson insisted on at least one more year.
Dana's father had been quite a collector before he was arrested. His love of history had drawn him to purchasing a great deal of ancient treasures and trinkets from all over the world. Dana had sold most of them for fundraising. His most prized trophy was the next in line to be liquidated. Now Jackson just needed to find where the cleaner had put it.
Dana was about to ring the bell when she noticed something odd. 4 guest all looked at her and quickly looked away, they were wearing identical clothes and hats.
"Come to the bar, I'll explain." An all too familiar voice said via telepathy.
Dana almost jumped, it had been a long time since another psychic had talked with her.
Dana went to the drink bar and saw the man who sent the message. He was wearing a black tuxedo, with a red broach on his lapel. Dana was unsure as to who he was before he took his hat off revealing smoky white hair.
Dana went tense as she sat down. She opened her mouth to speak but he shoved a glass of champagne into her hand.
"Let's keep this telepathic, silence beats talk when it comes to safety." Jake requested.
"Jake, what is going on, why do you have a squad of agents here!" Dana demanded.
"Someone is here to steal something, and then disrupt this event." He explained.
"This hardly seems worth a full squad of agent and you being here, I have security staff for this very reason." Dana reminded him.
"Dana, the people behind this are tier 2 threats." Jake reaffirmed.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.
"We only learned two days ago that this was their target." Jake admitted.
"What are they after?" Dana asked, slightly more calm.
"An artifact from Sinnoh, do you know where it is?" Jake asked.
Dana went wide eyed and spoke in a hurried whisper, "Basement, go now!"
Jake nodded, stood up and ran through the crowd. His agents joining him as he ran.
Dana tapped a fork on her glass, "Everyone, dinner time, let's go eat!" She announced.
"Let's just hope Jake doesn't cause a mess..." She thought as the crowd of guests followed her to another room.
The four agents ran down the hall, they entered the basement only to find an elderly gentleman propped up against the wall with his eyes glazed over. Someone had snapped his neck.
They saw a door slightly cracked open. The four agents drew their pistols and opened the door to the maintenance room, only to find a man holding the Coronet artifacts in his hand, along with a small necklace that looked oddly similar to the artifact.
"Stop, hands on your head, you're under arrest!" They ordered. The man raised his hands and showed he was holding no weapon. The agents relaxed and one stepped forward to handcuff him. In the blink of an eye the man placed the necklace in a slot atop the artifact. There was a massive flash of light. Then the artifact exploded, releasing a plume of purple smoke. The smoke spread across the room. All five agents coughed, falling to the ground as the smoke entered their lungs.
"What... is this stuff?!" An agent wheezed.
The man smiled and said "The future"
Then the gas spread out, flowing into the ventilation shafts of the maintenance room. The entire mansion would soon be contaminated.
The shards of the artifact began to hover, soon they reformed into metal stand with a disk covered in strange symbols. A massive black gem reappeared in the center with a ring of pearl shaped gems around it. Half were pink while the other half were blue. Finally, small statues of Dialga and Palkia appeared at the top of the artifact, the object had exploded then reformed itself in seconds. The necklace hovered back into the man's hand. He reached out to grab the artifact only to stopped by a loud bang, and suddenly feeling a searing pain in his side. He looked at the area from which the pain originated, only to see a red stain forming on his jacket.
He fell on his face as Jake came up behind him. Jake flipped him over and held a gun to his face. "What did you do, who do you work for!?" Jake demanded.
The man coughed up blood but managed to say "You are... already too late, you cannot stop what is to come," Before closing his eyes.
Jake heard screaming from upstairs, he grabbed the artifact and put the man's necklace in his pocket. He saw that his agents were still wheezing.
"Are you guys alright?" Jake asked, the agents coughed but nodded.
Just then Jake heard screaming upstairs, he quickly ran out of the room.
His agents began to follow but they clutched their stomachs in pain. They all fell over and began spasming in pain.
Jake flung open the basement door and ran into the dining hall. He kicked down the door as the screams got louder.
Nothing could prepare him for what he saw next...
Author's Note- Welcome to the sequel to Shadows Rising. I've had this chapter ready for a while but needed to finish the first story properly. Also a big thanks to my new beta reader FXCF
Edited and proofreaded by FXCF
sorry about a clifhanger this early:)
