Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Shadows of the Federation

Chapter One: The Humans

The pale moon glowed faintly through the wispy clouds in the night sky. The stars twinkled peacefully, with large strips of the cosmos glistening, the sky untouched by the normal light pollution of the big cities. Below, the desert sands blew in the gentle breeze of the night. It was, for all intents, a rather unremarkable landscape. In the distance, a faint humming could be heard. Slowly, it grew louder, until the distinct rumbling of an automobile engine could be heard.

The cars drove quickly across the straight, seemingly endless, road. Three black SUVs appeared. All of which, to even the most casual of observer, would have seemed out of place in the untouched desert. They kept following the road for about another five miles, never even so much as swaying along the endless blacktop, the passengers inside obscured from outside view by its tinted windows. Suddenly, as if the lead driver had realized almost too late what it was doing, the SUV made a sharp turn, dust whipping up in its wake. The following SUVs turned in the same manner, not even breaking pace as if they expected such a turn were to take place.

The SUVs were now off-road, a plume of dust and sand billowing up from behind them. The rear cars broke off slightly to escape the blinding cloud the lead car created. They continued in such a fashion for two more miles, as if they were just going to continue going on and on until their vehicles would just give out beneath them. They off road trek brought them to a large clearing where the desert rocks and shrubs gave way to flat open sand about a football field in size. Immediately as they entered the clearing the ground ahead of them began to plume up in a cloud of dust.

A large, metallic structure had appeared in front of them. It was 25 feet high and fifty feet across. The SUVs, not so much as evening flinching by the appearance of such a monstrous structure, not only didn't try to move around it, but may have even seemed to speed up their approach. The structure shuddered, and its front created a loud popping noise as the metal sheet split in two, a large door opening up to reveal a dark tunnel going down into the earth. The SUVs continued their approach and drove headlong into the tunnel. As if on cue, as the last SUV entered the tunnel, the massive metal doors slid shut and the metal monster sunk back down into the earth, leaving only tired tracks in the sand and a cloud of dust as traces of what occurred there.

"I'm telling you sir, the device isn't stable," said a defensive voice. "These readings are showing that if we were to proceed the results could be catastrophic."

"Catastrophic you say? Catastrophic? Do you understand what would be catastrophic, Dr. Galkins? The end of all that we know would be catastrophic!" snapped a harsh, gravelly voice.

"We do have other windows of opportunity. Our astronomers have pointed out that we will have another opportunity to harvest the necessary Infinity Energy from the cosmic radiation storms that will be coming in the near future."

"Dammit doctor! I don't care about what can happen in the future. Our astronomers and physicists have also said that the longer we wait the closer it is before the damage is irreversible and we cannot save what we hold most dear. Not only that, the closer the event comes the more the damage accelerates, is that not what they said?"

The doctor looked down, his long unkept brown hair obscuring his unshaven face from view. "Yes, you are right General Catast," Dr. Galkins said with almost a grimace. "But if we fail here and now then our fate is secured. We won't have the ability to restart, it will all be over. Can we really take that risk? We have been told, and our data has been checked and rechecked, that we have at least one year before that threshold is crossed. Another cosmic radiation storm is coming in two months, and another a few weeks after. We can make the dimensional transfer device stable, and then we can ensure our succ—" the doctor was cut off by a loud pop of a door slamming against the wall and the frantic shouts of another scientist.

"General, Doctor," the scientist said, her voice ragged from the speed at which she ran to them. She too, had the same exhausted, unkept look of Doctor, her blonde hair a mess, her blue eyes heavy from the work being done. "Our data has changed drastically! The storm, the cosmic storm that we were going to harvest the Infinity Energy from has grown to proportions completely unexpected. We have seen nothing like this before."

"Calm down Doctor Reena, we can't understand you when you are in such a state!" snapped the General, his authoritative air seeming to spread out across the entire room. All eyes had turned to the three standing in the middle of the room.

"Please," spoke Doctor Galkins, gently placing a hand on Doctor Reena's shoulder, "what has gotten you so riled? What has become of our storm? We expected it to be large. In fact we hoped for it. That was the only way we could have harvested enough energy to activate the dimensional transfer device."

"Yes I know, but things have changed now!"

"Changed, changed how?" the General ordered, his brow furrowing even more than it already was.

"If you would let me finish," snapped Doctor Reena. She took a deep breath. "The cosmic radiation storm, as we all know, is caused by rifts in dimensions. This storm was the first large enough to gain a substantial amount of Infinity Energy. Which also means the rift that we have been watching has grown large enough the energy can pass through from one side to another."

"Yes," agreed the Doctor, slightly puzzled, "that is how the Infinite Energy is formed. From small rifts caused by dimensions rubbing up against one another causing small tears along the edges of the dimensions. These tears are where the energy that holds each individual dimension together leaks through."

"Yes, and in the past, as we all know, these rifts were benign. Infinity Energy leaked into our dimension for billions of years. But it was always in such small amounts in wasn't even noticeable. Our dimension would just absorb it and convert it into other forms of energy."

"Until this rift appeared," snapped the General, clearly irritated by the fact that this scientist was spouting out information that had been rehashed in briefings and meetings countless times before. "We have gone through this all before! We all know how this is happening. This rift that we are monitoring is different. It isn't just friction causing small tears that can glance off each other. This is as if the other dimension has stuck a blade into our dimension and is cutting into the very flesh of our existence."

"Exactly," continued Doctor Reena. "Originally the cut was slow. But as more Infinite Energy poured the cutting accelerated. Before now we thought we had at least a year before that threshold was crossed. But this storm has grown, it is dumping hundreds of times more Infinity Energy than we had calculated. Something on the other side has changed, and the ripping has accelerated. We don't have one year anymore to initiate the plan, we have one month."

The room went silent, the weight of the statement sinking in to everyone.

"But… but that means…" a scientist from the corner of the room stammered.

"It means we don't have another shot to collect the Infinity Energy or perfect the dimensional transfer device. We have tonight only," the General barked. "Doctor Galkins, this is no longer a request, this is an order, for the fate of not only this country, or world, but all of existence, is on the very line. We must act or accept that our future will vanish."

Doctor Galkins looked at the readings he had been holding and the readings Doctor Reena brought, a line of sweat forming along his brow, his glasses slightly fogged. He shook his head violently. "Everyone!" he called out to the scientists around the room. "We are initiating Operation Existence tonight! The brunt of the storm will be upon us in forty-five minutes. We need to be ready when it arrives! Get the transportees ready, aim the Infinity Gatherers, and prep the device. Tonight is the night we save of all of existence!"

Around a frenzy of activity ensued. Scientists and soldiers moved about, activating machines and computers, relaying messages, preparing everything that was needed for when the cosmic radiation storm arrived.

Doctor Galkins stood in the eye of the storm of the frenzy, his face dark. Doctor Reena approached him. "Doctor," she said below her breath so only he would hear.

"I know what you are going to say. You are going to tell me that the systems cannot handle that kind of energy load, especially with the device not being stable. That proceeding will result in a critical failure in the converters and collectors, and it will result in catastrophic failures of an unimaginable scale. I know this already. But we must act. We cannot tell the others for it may stifle their spirit. I will face judgment for this on the other side. But I am sacrificing the few of us here so that all that is can continue on."

Doctor Reena had a single tear falling from her eye. She nodded, and walked off to diligently to her work.

Doctor Galkins stood behind a large pane of glass, looking intently at the device behind the other. It was a large machine, filled with blinking lights and metallic fixtures. On its front six stasis pods where latched on, through which a single shaded figure could be made out through the tempered green glass. The transportees, he thought to himself, the best we could find, to be sent through the rift to halt what was happening on the other side.

"All systems ready," a scientist to his side spoke.

"Very well. What is the count on the storms advance?"

"One minute and thirty seconds."

"Begin activation at 20 seconds, that should be plenty of time to warm up the collectors without burning out their cells from empty gathering." Moments passed, the final checks were made, and all was ready. A whirring noise was heard… the collectors had been started. "Activate the convertors, and start the launch initiation!"

More buttons were pressed, and more noised of different pitch rang out through the compound.

"Storm approaching in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… collection initiated. Energy cells filling."

"Good, keep all systems stable, route the energy to the dimensional transfer drives and matter to life force convertors." On cue, the large machine began to light up, and the stasis pods began to glow in a magnificent hue that could only be likened to that of a rainbow exploding into pieces, and even that could not do it true justice.

"Sir!" the scientist monitoring the energy cells called through the din. "The cells are overloading! We are gaining too much power!"

"Continue on! We cannot stop now or the entire operation is scrapped! Including the people inside the stasis pods!" Now it starts... creator, forgive me…

The room was rocked by an explosion and sparks flew from the computer monitors. Alarms blared and the stench of burning wires filled the air. The stasis chambers glowed brighter and brighter as the carnage around them worsened. It was a sickening beauty in the midst of all the destruction. The pods glistened so bright that no longer could any look at them, even with their protective glasses. Another explosion ripped through the area and the glass separating the scientists from the machine shattered, refracting the rainbow light in a brilliant display. The scientists and soldiers were knocked to the ground as another explosion ripped the complex. A fire had erupted in the back corner and metal beams from the ceiling had fallen. Doctor Galkins, bleeding from his temple, stumbled to his feet and looked around him. Scientist laid still all around him, shocked or burned or crushed. Across the room Doctor Reena laid in a pool of blood and dust, a large girder fallen upon her, a ragged edge from where it ripped impaled into her side.

The glow of the machine consumed the entire room, and he had to shield his eyes and turn his back. Above the din of the room cries could be heard from throughout the compound… the destruction was consuming all in the building. Suddenly, massive blast ripped through the compound, as if a laser was fired off with unbelievable force. Doctor Galkins was consumed in a flash of rainbow, his final thoughts… for the future of all.

Outside, a magnificent rainbow beam erupted from the ground to be seen for miles around. It flew straight into the night sky, ripping a hole in the air around it. It lasted for a few seconds and then vanished. All that remained of it was some rainbow glitter, twinkling down like stardust.