"Alright popping this off… and removing this… and put this here and put that…. Should do it!", Michael spoke to himself as he handled a series of different screwdrivers to put the shoulder plate of his Snag Machine back together.

He slid his left arm back through the Snag Machine's shoulder sleeve and his left hand into its connecting glove. He stood to bask in admiration of his father's work resurrected with his effort. The cable that connected the metal shoulder plate and the gloves' Snag Ball converter pulsated in its blue light. The light emitting off of his Snag Machine made him feel as cool as he did four years ago. A sense of power he had not felt in years imbued within his being as he made a fist with his Snag Machine covered hand, as if he were capable of putting a stop to entire legions of Cipher's forces bent on world domination again.

He turned to see his admiring the revived Snag Machine as she held on to the Poke Ball of her Litwick. Jovi smiled at her brother's accomplishment. It was then Michael couldn't help but imagine how the Snag Machine would look on his sister's left arm. She seemed to have grown about his height four years ago. Whether or not the machine actually fits her left arm is something he might just investigate right now.

"Wanna try it out sis?", he asked with a smile.

"Huh? What?", Jovi responded in her confusion.

"Do you want to try on the Snag Machine before we go set off again? I'm just curious if it would even fit you."

"Me? But why me if you know how to use it better than I do?"

"Oh… well if you don't want to…"

"I didn't say no! Yes please!", Jovi accepted her brother's offer with a smile of anticipation to try on the device that made her brother look impressive.

Michael unequipped his Snag Machine and slid his sister's stretched left arm through the small sleeve of the shoulder plate and into the glove of the Snag Ball converter. He stood back to see Jovi fitting her left hand into the glove and proving that she looked just as impressive with it as he did. She stood in her white dress and blue shorts with the machine mounted on her left arm pulsating with blue light. Michael was awestruck at how well it fit her.

"Wow….. it fits you better! I think…. Wait hold on…", Michael said when he realized he forgot something.

He took off the Aura Reader he had mounted over his left ear. The scanner to identify Shadow Pokémon Auras was then given to his blue haired sister. When she slipped it over her ear and activated the scanner to slide its visor over her left eye. Michael could only smile at how impressive his sister looked with his signature gear people used to recognize him by. His sister looked both cool and cute with the Snag Machine and Aura Reader under her possession.

"Want to wear it in for the rest of the day? I don't mind if you want to keep it on. It looks really good on you!", Michael offered again.

"I'd rather not big brother. If we really do find Shadow Pokémon in Cipher's labs or at any place today I want you to use this rather than me. I don't think I could ever wield it as well as you. But thanks for letting me try it on!", Jovi thanked him with her usual bright smile.

The siblings transferred the Shadow Pokémon liberating equipment back to its original wielder. With Michael ready to continue his quest, Jovi was eager to leave the underground wing to join her brother in his investigations. The red headed teen made sure to drop anything deemed unnecessary for their adventure today including the broken "haunted" radio invention of Dr. Kaminko. Jovi insisted however that she could bring it with her and place it as a decoration at their little club house at Acri's abandoned house in Gateon Port if they decide to travel to the port town today. Michael allowed his sister to take it with her as he knew they'll have to investigate the sailor's strange Slaking he had won from the suspicious Kanto born salesman.

The two siblings debated on which location they should travel to first to investigate. They had three options to choose from: Gateon Port, the Cipher Key Lab in the east past Eclo Canyon, or Cipher's abandoned laboratory in the middle of the desert. Michael wanted to investigate the sailor's Slaking in Gateon Port to see if he could Snag the first potential Shadow Pokémon he has seen in four years since his completed purification quest. But remembering how his sister was on the verge of potentially becoming a trainer like him, he left the decision to her just to give her the feeling of choosing her own paths on her adventure.

"Let's go to the desert laboratory first! I sorta know the layout since the day you rescued Krane from that place. I remember what he told me back then and I think I really want to see it for myself!", Jovi said to Michael with cheery excitement.

"Fine! Let's start there then. Be ready though as the drive there is far longer than going to Gateon Port or Kaminko's Manor…", Michael warned before he proceeded to follow his sister out the secret bunker and through the automatic sliding glass doors of the HQ Lab.

Following their usual routine of mounting their separate hover cycles, they proceeded to traverse across the silent forest and into Orre's vast desert. They drove near each other to keep the dust kicked up by their hover cycle's propulsion through the sand off of their faces. Jovi had to rely on her older brother to lead the way as she would be very easily lost in the unfamiliar desert of Orre. Passing by hoodoos and rocks scattered across the dry earth, Jovi tried not to gaze upon the natural features of the scenic empty desert as she focused on keeping up with Michael on her hover cycle.

She turned to see Michael waving his hand at her and pointing forwards in the direction they're heading. Over the horizon was the silhouettes of a flat, rusted, and abandoned facility surrounded by four laser fence posts that have been decomposing in the sand for the longest time. Jovi felt her heart race with excitement to explore the laboratory with her brother for the possible signs of Shadow Pokémon returning to Orre.

Now approaching the abandoned desert laboratory of the deceased syndicate, Michael lead the party of two to the southern side of the abandoned facility where the truck that Cipher used to kidnap Krane still remained apparently. Michael was amazed to see that the truck he thought was the same truck he saw in the desert yesterday remained at the laboratory's grounds as if it were untouched for four years.

When Michael parked his cycle by the vehicle he found that its condition was not at all like the condition of the truck he found yesterday in the desert on his way back from Pyrite Town. This familiar hover truck was rusted and weathered by its exposure to the elements over the years. He slipped off his desert goggles to examine the truck up close with his own eyes. The vehicle resembled the truck he had seen but it was not at all in the same condition for what he saw was a hover truck that seemed to be factory new without rust and dust.

"Wow Jovi! This was the truck I told you about last night. But it's… not?", Michael said to her as he peered through the window of the driver's seat to see the rotting torn seat cushions inside.

"Really? How strange!", Jovi exclaimed as she approached to park her hover cycle by her brother's.

Jovi immediately dismounted her cycle and joined Michael in examining the truck that was used by Cipher to kidnap Professor Krane four years ago. The siblings could see the obvious aged condition of the truck but they noticed its cargo hold was not smashed open by Michael's Hitmonchan as he described yesterday. Michael thought about what he had saw inside the cargo hold of the truck yesterday but he couldn't describe it with the brief vision he had of it before it knocked him out.

"I wonder if the same thing is in this truck…", Michael said to himself with curiosity.

"Huh? Oh you mean that thing you found yesterday in the back of a truck like this?", Jovi asked her brother upon approaching the rear of the immobile hover truck.

"It must be the same truck though…. I have never seen any other….. Well… l I guess there could be multiple. How did Cipher transfer all of those Pokémon from the S.S. Libra after all? I guess that could answer that question but that still leaves us with the question…. Who's responsible for the truck I found yesterday?", Michael said talking to himself again before realizing he had kept his sister waiting for him to help her lift open the rear cargo door of the vehicle.

With their combined strength without the assistance of a Pokémon, they both lifted the door open and beheld nothing but the space Professor Krane was once captive in. The stink of metallic rust assaulted both of their nostrils and made the two siblings cringe in disgust as they held their noses. They both escaped the fumes while holding their noses and trying not to gag from the apparent stench.

"Eaugh! Yuck! That's stinks!", Jovi exclaimed keeping her distance from the truck.

"No kidding! It's been left untouched for years but what could possibly have rotted in there so much that it stinks so bad?", asked the older brother before quickly peering into the back of the truck to see the source in the corner of the empty space.

Apparently it was a rotting unrecognizable berry covered with mold sitting in the corner. Who knows how long it's been sitting there and who left it. Michael theorized that it could have been something to feed Professor Krane when he was captive and waiting inside the truck for a period of time. He'd have to ask him later when they return to the HQ Lab. For now, he followed his anxious sister to the rusted front gate of the abandoned laboratory to begin their investigation.

"Big brother, do you think this thing is locked?", Jovi asked when she stood in front of the rusted metal automatic gate that was supposed to open upon sensing a person's presence.

"Let me see….", he replied before he stood beside her and waved his arms about in front of the door.

After the yellow vested teen's attempt to activate the automatic sensors proved to be futile, Michael realized that the door might be jammed from its lack of maintenance for the longest time. He tried to slide it open in the way he could remember. Much to his surprise, he was able to slide it open with his own bear hands with his sheer strength. Jovi watched her brother begin to slip himself between the edge of the opening metallic door and the metal threshold of entrance. Michael turned to his sister as he push the door open to let her through.

"Not bad ey? I'm stronger than I thought.", he gloated with a grin.

"Doesn't look like anybody's home...", Jovi observed from where she stood looking into the first dark room.

"All the better! Let's go in and see if we can prove your theory shall we?", replied the spiky red headed teen.

Jovi stepped through the open metal door and Michael followed his marine blue eyed sister into the facility before the door suddenly slammed shut behind them. The loud clang and echo throughout the darkness frightened them both with Jovi suddenly clinging on to her brother with her arms out of fear of the sudden loud noise.

"What was that?!", Jovi shouted.

"I-It just closed on itself? I guess?"

"Is this place haunted, Michael? You never told me this place is haunted!"

"Oh don't be ridiculous. You and I both know only Ghost Pokémon exist and not even half of them are as scary as they are just weird. And besides it's probably just the spring lock on the door or some functioning mechanism… even though everything seems unpowered and neglected in here…"

The first room they were in was pitch-black without power. The only thing providing light in the room was the blue light of Michael's Snag Machine. Jovi stood by her brother's illuminating light as she waited for her eyes to adjust within the cold dark room.

"It's so dark in here! Is there a light switch?", Jovi asked as she stayed by her brother's side.

" I don't know. I haven't been here in such a long time….", Michael stated as he stepped forward with the guidance of his Snag Machine's light.

"The power is probably out… but I bet there could be a backup generator sitting around somewhere. If I remember correctly there's a security office right here I think… we might find something there?"

The red headed teen felt his way around the metal wall of the first floor to find the automatic door for the security office that is also unpowered. Michael tried to direct the glow of his Snag Machine on to the foot of the door to see if he could possibly lift it even a little. Unfortunately it is not as well-worn as the other and was rendered immobile by the power outage.

"This door has no power. We can't get into the office or even into the actual laboratory underground through the elevator if there is no power."

"Couldn't we just break it down or something?", Jovi suggested as she gazed upon the metal door in the blue glowing light beside her brother.

"Oh? Uh yeah maybe we can…. maybe Hitmonchan can help me here again. You might want to stand back a little, Jovi.", Michael advised before pulling out Hitmonchan's Poke Ball to send out for its assistance.

Materializing from the light released from the Poke Ball, Hitmonchan stood with its fists ready and listened to his trainer's order. With a swing of his right fist, he used Brick Break to break through the metallic door. A loud crash of twisted and splintering shards of metal clanged and echoed within the instillation when the door was forcefully opened by the Fighting Type. Michael returned the Pokémon to its capsule and slipped it back into his black waist bag before proceeding forward into the security office with the guidance of his light.

Jovi followed her older brother through the smashed automatic door and beheld a variety of complex and confusing consoles that also seem unpowered. She couldn't tell what they were for but Michael knew very well what it was for. He explained to her that this is where the vision of the lab's security cameras would be displayed on monitors over the consoles to the guarding Cipher officer in charge of ensuring the security of the facility. However that is only speculation on his part as when he came to rescue Professor Krane nobody was in the room in the first place, thinking this laboratory probably was deserted to begin with.

"Who knows what this place was like nine years ago when those two…. Wes and Rui I think were their names? As far as I know from what Eagun told me… When they came and kicked Cipher out of their own facility. I wonder where those two are now…."

"Well, I wonder if there really is a power generator in here or something… Maybe this is it?", Jovi exclaimed before proceeding to press something in the shape of a button on the wall.

When Michael turned towards his sister to see her pressing a random obscure on the wall he had no time to react when the facility's power suddenly returned with the whirring of machines and sudden illumination of the darkness. Power has been restored to the top level of the facility with the security monitors displaying the video footage of the security cameras placed inside and outside the facility. The red headed teen was dumbfounded at how his sister just fixed their problem at the press of a random button.

"H-How'd you do that?!", asked the older brother with astonishment.

"I-I don't know! I just saw this button that read 'Emergency Back Up Power' and pressed it. Did I do good?", she responded as she was just as shocked to see the dramatic change in lighting within the room.

"Pffff Haha! Yeah you did good! Good job Jovi! Just give me a heads up before you do something like that. Or if you see anything interesting at all.", Michael advised again with a smile towards his sister.

Jovi giggled with a slight blush for her accomplishment. Michael continued to chuckle a little before he realized that the security cameras of the facility were putting their visuals on display on the monitors and holographic consoles. On the wall were four working monitors. One monitor showed the lot outside where the band of colorful peons called the "Hexagon Brothers" used to line up and idle four years ago during the last incident. The other monitors appeared to be displaying specific locations in the laboratory.

One seemed to display the hallway just beyond the first elevator down; empty and lit with the light of the repowered lights. Another showed a semi-lit laboratory with barely visible tanks that were used to manufacture the earliest smaller variants of Shadow Pokémon. The last one showed a pitch black room with very little visible detail besides what appears to be a small volume of light pouring from a dimly lit glass door.

"It says here Sector 2, 3, and 4 are without power. But the elevator down to the first basement floor is working now.", Michael stated as he examined the monitors on the consoles.

"Do you think it's safe to ride down?", asked Jovi with a little concern with the aged unused elevator.

"I'll ride it down first if you'd like. And you can come in after me if it comes back up to you.", Michael suggested as he proceeded to approach the broken automatic door.

As soon as he approached it however, the door tried to slide into the floor only to stop itself with the curved splinted metal interrupting its opening attempt. A sudden loud screeching metallic noise was heard coming from the door's mechanism that startled the siblings before it stopped with a loud bang. The mechanism seems to have broken itself in its attempt to open for the two. The two approached it and gazed at the motionless door that has appeared to have stopped its function.

"Looks like it gave up the ghost?", Michael observed.

"Aww…. Well hopefully we won't have to break more things in here.", Jovi said hoping for a less destructive course of action in the future.

After their very brief moment of silence for the door, they exited the security office and moved forward through the working automatic door to the elevator waiting room ahead that was the only way to the main laboratory halls below. Standing before the sliding glass door to the elevator tube, the siblings looked at each other to confirm how they'll go about proceeding through the possibly unreliable elevator.

"I'll go first. You'll know it's safe when I send it back up to you. Okay?", Michael said to his sister before proceeding into the cylindrical elevator through the sliding glass doors.

Jovi stood watching her brother enter the elevator and stand facing her with a small smirk and a wave as the glass started to close around him. She hesitantly looked at her surroundings and felt nervous about the idea of being left alone without her brother in the eerie abandoned facility. Even if it was just the first floor with the functional exit not too far from the elevator room, Jovi wouldn't want to be left behind without her brother to protect her against anything she couldn't handle alone.

The blue haired girl rushed into the elevator to accompany her brother just before the glass closed much to Michael's surprise. The glass closed around the two and the elevator slid downward into the earth towards the first basement level. They both watched the elevator leave the floor behind is it descended into the dark with the blue light of Michael's Snag Machine illuminating the confined space. In just a moment, the elevator arrived at the lit lobby of the first basement floor.

With Jovi walking out first, they both stepped out of the elevator and felt a sudden eerie chill from the abandoned metallic environment filled with machinery meant for a sinister purpose. Michael felt a wave of certain nostalgia upon entering the battlefield of where he first fought with Lovrina when he was just about to escape with Professor Krane. He noticed a small cracked hole on the metal wall to his right that was left as a memoire of the event when his Umbreon was knocked around by Shadow Delcatty's harsh attacks.

"Ah memories… hahah ah… heh….", Michael's chuckle quickly faded as it dawned on him how much he missed the good old days.

"Where do we start? Want to lead the way?", asked the blue haired sister to the red spiky haired brother.

Michael walked forward and observed the three optional paths ahead of them. To his left was the hall to the elevator leading to the archive room, but its dim flickering lights seem to suggest it's only partially powered. Finding the rest of the back-up power generators and turning them on in their unlit sectors might allow the use of the elevator later.

He looked through the glass door located opposite of where the elevator dropped them. The very next room ahead is dark, but he remembers what the purpose of this particular room is. It's the conference room with a hallway leading to an elevator down to the next floor into a different section of the laboratory along with a room for cooling tanks. Down the elevator they would enter a hallway to another elevator room and the processing room where Shadow Pokémon would have been developed in tanks. The path also leads to the room with one elevator that would take them to a hallway that would lead them to the machine room and another that leads to a safe room with a healing machine and DNA analyzing lab equipment.

The third option to his right was the path to the elevator down to the laboratory space where Lovrina presumably experimented in creating new Shadow Pokémon moves through meticulous and tedious amounts of time splicing Shadow Pokémon DNA. It seemed to be the best well-lit path in their list of options. Going through there might be the more optimal choice right now.

"How about we go this way?", Michael suggested to his sister.

"That way? Is that the way where you rescued Professor Krane?", Jovi asked in response with curiosity as she approached the lit hallway.

"As a matter of fact, yes! At the very last room you'll find where they kept Professor Krane hostage to get him to tell share his research on Purification. Thankfully they didn't hurt him by the time I arrived."

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go see if there's any mad scientist secrets ahead!", Jovi said marching forward with a smile into the well-lit hallway.

Michael followed closely behind his sister through the white metal hallway. The teen made sure to listen for anything out of the ordinary within the facility as he explored with his sister. Thinking back to what he had mentioned earlier, Michael often wondered where the first heroes of Orre disappeared to nine years ago. Wes and Rui are two mysterious characters he had only dreamed of meeting someday. He could imagine why they'd want to leave Orre though as Wild Pokémon still wouldn't populate the region. If they were a couple they would probably have wanted to go to more beautiful regions together anyway. In the nine years they've been gone however, they had never bothered to return to Orre as far as Michael knows.

"Hopefully they're having a better time than us…..", the red headed teen muttered to himself over his thoughts.

"What was that?", Jovi asked her brother as they approached another elevator room.

"What? Oh! Nothing! Just me contemplating…. Life…. As usual, you know.", he fibbed.

"Oh. Heh uh…. I guess we ride this down too?", Jovi asked as they approached another cylindrical glass elevator.

Its automatic doors opened as soon as Michael approached it. He stepped in first and insisted that it was probably safe enough to ride down with the power restored to this section of the facility. Trusting his word, the blue haired sister joined her red haired older brother in the elevator and waited for its function to proceed.

With another descent into the darkness, they came out of the elevator into a pitch black laboratory room. Only the light of Michael's Snag Machine provided vision to the two as they entered the metal room. Jovi made sure not to wander far from her brother's light as she explored the area with him.

"Can you see anything of interest?", questioned Michael as he tried to identify his surroundings.

"Some sciency machines and microscopes… No big red buttons yet.", Jovi responded as she returned to her brother's side to adjust her eyes to the minimal light in the room.

"I think this room is too big to explore with just my light…. I have an idea.", the red headed teen proclaimed before calling out his Umbreon out of its Poke Ball.

The Moonlight Pokémon materialized and stood looking up at his trainer with its big red eyes and glowing yellow rings on its dark body. The rings provided more illumination within the room and made it far easier to see in the dark. The siblings were delighted to see the Umbereon's assist in their vision.

"Good thinking! Maybe I can send out a Pokémon too… but which?", Jovi said reviewing her three options.

"How about the one that literally resembles a candle stick?", Michael suggested in a friendly sarcastic manner.

"Oh really? Don't you think Mimi or Pluplu could help us here? Hahah.", said Jovi with small sarcastic laugh before calling out her Litwick.

The Ghost and Fire type Pokémon plopped itself onto the metal floor and took a quick glance at its dark surroundings being illuminated by Michael's Snag Machine and Umbreon's glowing rings. The purple flame on its head grew bright and provided the party a clear view of the laboratory in a bright purple glow. The siblings were amazed to see how they much they could see clearly now that the darkness was severely reduced by the ghostly purple light.

"Wow! Now that's more like it!", Jovi exclaimed as she stepped around the room looking at things.

Michael examined the four tables in the room with his Umbreon patiently waiting beside his feet. He peered through the scope of one of the untouched microscopes. He couldn't see anything at first, but he pressed the "ON" button on its side and saw what appeared to be a sample of some sort under the new light. He could see what appeared to be a skin cell that might have belonged to a Pokémon at one time. It was red and purple shaded tissue pressed under the small glass pane.

"Wonder what Shadow Pokémon they made out of this…..", he asked himself before turning to face his sister who just found a set of stairs near the far side of the lab to the same room Professor Krane was kept hostage in.

"Hey big brother! I think the next generator might be up here?", she suggested with her Litwick sitting on top of her head with its light glowing bright.

"Oh! Yeah! Right behind ya!", Michael said joining her exploration of the small metal room ahead with his Umbreon following his trainer.

The darkness of the small room was no match for the bright light of the Litwick on Jovi's head. The siblings were able to clearly see everything in the room that included a table with a DNA scanner on it, a metallic box anchored to the white metal table with a red glowing button in its center, a dead plant in its pot beside the table, unlocked lockers in one corner of the room that seemed to have been left open for a long time, and an open Poke Ball patterned item chest in the corner opposite of where they had come in from through the stairs. Beside it however, was another Poke Ball patterned item chest but in a purple color instead of red, much like the one they found back in Gateon Port just as they were about to leave for home.

"Wow Michael. This was where the Professor was kept? It's so…. Small in here.", she said before approaching the purple item chest in the corner.

"Yep! And a…. wait…..", Michael urged his sister to remain quiet.

With her hand on the button to release the purple item chest's lock, she kept still and silent as they both listened to the unnatural ambiance coming from across the thin eastern of the room wall. Even Litwick and Umbreon were still as they heard the pitter-patter of what sounded like footsteps echoing through the iron floors of the hallway beside the room split by only a foot of thick iron plated wall. Jovi felt her heart race to think there was a ghost roaming the facility in its dark corridors. Michael was speechless with his own heart sinking to think there was something left roaming in the abandoned laboratory even after having been purged of Cipher so long ago. The footsteps suddenly stopped echoing.

"… M-Michael?", Jovi whispered her brother's name.

"Y-Yeah?", he responded.

"Are… we alone here?"

"…. It's probably just crackling noises of electricity. Since we're restoring power to this place after all and with such disrepair there's probably a few screws loose in the system…", he said to reassure his sister.

"Or a ghost in the system…", Jovi said in response.

"Cut that out. I assure you that if there's any ghost of Cipher's personnel here I'll just have to defeat it again! I ain't afraid of no ghost!", Michael exclaimed as he pointed to himself with his right thumb in his attempt to prove his point.

Jovi's worried frown turned into a little smirk at her brother's response. She always felt reassured to know her heroic brother would fend off any danger that would come their way. With his knowledge and experience with Pokémon battles, he could only let Cipher get so far before they fell to the young teenager who fought with belief in his cause to save the Pokémon and fight evil that nearly won without his presence.

"Well alright big bro. Let's keep going with our investigation as if there probably isn't a ghost next door."

"Right... Let's see about restoring the power to this sector now….. Ah this thing. I always wondered what it did when I first came here.", Michael said referring to the metal box with the red glowing button in its center.

He approached it and pressed it. As soon as he did, the sound of machines whirring and the sound of electrical crackling through the walls assaulted their ears. The lights in the ceiling flickered and were turned on to reveal the gray metal floor they stood on and the details of what's in the purple item chest Jovi just popped open.

Jovi had found three Super Potions. She placed them in her pocket that was quickly filling up with the Smoke Ball she had received from the other item chest in Gateon Port. Michael saw what she had found and was amazed to see it resembled the item chest they had seen yesterday.

"I don't remember seeing this when I opened that normal red chest there. Why does it look like the one we saw at Gateon Port's gate?", Michael asked himself.

"I don't know. Do you think someone is actually leaving these here for us?", Jovi suggested a theory.

"Or we just never saw these before until now… Like they were always there but they were overlooked. You know?", Michael offered his theory.

"You mean they were invisible to us until just now?"

"Well, maybe it's just a certain… perspective or something…. The right place in the wrong time?…..", said Michael now running out of words to say on the subject.

Jovi's Litwick hopped off of her head and sat silently on the white metal table as Michael's Umbreon accompanied it and waited patiently in silence as their trainers continued to debate the reasons for the two purple item chests they have seen so far in this little adventure of theirs. Their conversation spanned from the Puppeteer's String Theory where everything is planned by a mastermind to a Theory of Karma where what comes around goes around in one way or another. After their tiresome conversation however, they both decided to agree that it's weird, but convenient to find items to assist them in their mission.

"When I was going about looting item chests four years ago, I never questioned who left them here for me. I just assumed since they never had any warnings or any claim by anyone, what's left inside is always up for grabs by anyone willing to open it…. I'm not sure if that makes sense."

"At this point big bro, I guess I could agree with you that nobody would really care of we went about looting these chests then. Especially since there's very little people left who do care in Orre.", Jovi said agreeing with her brother.

"Exactly. Anyway, let's get a move on now shall we? We still got a lot more of the facility to explore. And the power won't restore itself.", the red headed teen suggested before motioning his Umbreon to come with him down the stairs into the now lit laboratory.

Jovi was about to attach her Litwick to her blue haired head again before her curiosity lead her to investigate the open lockers within the corner of the room. She slowly opened one of the locker doors to see a Cipher Peon uniform hanging inside with its armor still intact but dusty from its many years of being untouched. On the door was a small note stuck on to the metal that read, "It's not my fault they went missing. I swear it wasn't my fault". Above it was a fabricated official certificate claiming the property of this locker belongs to "Skrub" and is not to be handled by anyone else besides "Skrub".

"Huh…. I wonder what this could mean… this reminds me of that one episode of Pokémon Trozei with Lucy Fleetfoot where she discovered a message like this with a hidden meaning. It only took two episodes later to find out what it meant. But gee was that an episode. At least it wasn't so tragic in the Manga…", she spoke with herself as she tucked the curious note by Skrub in her own Key Item's pocket.

She investigated the other lockers, but none of them held anything as interesting as Skrub's note. The few Peon uniforms left in the lockers suddenly caught her attention as she could imagine what Michael would look like in a Peon's suit and armor. The thought was intriguing, but she didn't want to keep her brother waiting as she tried to imagine herself stealing a suit to take with her to Gateon Port for their new club house at Acri's abandoned abode.

On their way back to the center entryway from the first elevator up to the first floor, Jovi showed Michael what she had found in Skrub's locker. It intrigued Michael as he could not recall ever encountering a Peon named Skrub during his adventure. He deducted that it was probably a much older Peon from the first Shadow Pokémon incident nine years ago and that there was some inner conflict during the time. He theorized that "they" referred to a group of people or objects that apparently went missing at the time and Cipher apparently blamed Skrub for the disappearance.

"Do you think that's what happened?", Jovi asked while she returned her Litwick which was now making her neck ache with its weight on her head.

"Could be. I only theorize on the spot whenever I see those sorts of things. Like how I theorized there would be some sort of Global Link in the world today that we could tap into somehow. Which as you know, thanks to Ninjask-Bot we found that connection and allowed me to make the GTS Emulator to connect with your pen pal in Kalos…. Among other people….", Michael answered thinking back to his betrayal by his rival in Kalos.

"Right….. You know, she said he's sorry about it…", Jovi explained referring to what Bonnie said to her early this morning.

"Sorry doesn't cut it. But let's drop that subject. We're back here now.", Michael said as the party stopped at the lobby entrance with the three optional paths.

"It looks like the conference room ahead is now powered. The lights are on and we can go through the sliding glass doors to it now."

"Was that the way you originally went the first time?", Jovi questioned with curiosity.

"Actually no, I went that way because this glass door usually only opens from this side. But that path isn't powered with its elevator and this is the only other way around the entire facility. To get to that point.", said Michael pointing towards the unlit corridor to another cylindrical elevator that has been left unpowered.

"Oh… so how do we get through this glass door then?", questioned the blue haired sister.

"Well…. There are different ways to go about this…. Me being an engineer I can tell you that this door wasn't always locked from this side. It would be impractical for the employees to have to loop around the entire facility through that other path through the archive server room.", Michael explained.

"So obviously there must be some way to reverse this. This was probably some function of a security lockdown protocol, but I think this problem can be solved with a very simple solution that just needs a moment of time and for you to look away while I contemplate how to solve this problem. Understand?", he continued.

"What? Look away?", she asked with uncertainty for her brother's logic.

"Yep! It will be just a moment I swear. I'm going to 'reverse engineer' this…"

"I don't think that's the appropriate use of that phrase…. But alright.", Jovi said before turning her head.

She suddenly heard a loud shattering of glass bits dropping to the metal floor. The blue haired sister turned to see Michael shaking his right hand as if he had hit something very hard with it and it hurt. He turned to his sister and said with a smile.

"Fixed it! Now the lockdown has been disabled and we can proceed. Just step this way carefully now.", he said with a small forced smile.

"Doesn't that hurt?", Jovi asked.

"Doesn't what hurt? What are you talking about?", Michael asked back as he stopped shaking his hand to hide his small pain.

"But you could have just… well nevermind. Heh big brother. Sometimes I think you try too hard to make me laugh.", said the azure sister with little grin as she stepped over the broken glass into the conference room.

Michael laughed a little as he shook off the pain in his right hand before joining his sister in the conference room. Stepping over the broken glass, they advanced into the lit empty room that had a large table surrounded by chairs in the center of the room, a white board in the corner that appeared to have scribbles with black marker all over it, dead plants in their pots, a paper printer and a functional console beside the white board with a holographic screen. Just ahead was the path way into the inner sectors of the facility.

Before they would proceed, the siblings investigated what they could find within the conference room. Michael rediscovered another item chest he had opened four years ago during his adventure while Jovi examined the white board's scribbles. She called her brother over to help her see if they could make any sense of what was left on the board's surface.

"A bunch of numbers…. But this these numbers are circled around like it's important.", Michael observed.

The numbers were 0720. It appeared to be some sort of code or password.

"Maybe this thing has something that could help us?", Jovi said referring to the console beside it.

Michael examined the screen and hit the Enter button to enter its start menu. There were three options in the menu that included accessing the Camera Feed, Private Messaging Accounts, and Reversing the Lockdown Protocol with the glass door Michael just shattered. The red headed teen thought about how convenient it would have been if this were discovered before he had to break through with his bare right hand. He wouldn't want to punch with his left hand for fear of breaking the Snag Machine's integrity with its heavy impact.

"How about you try the Private Messaging accounts? Maybe there's something left behind by Cipher before they disbanded.", Jovi suggested.

Michael clicked on the option to access the Private Messaging Accounts of every Cipher member who worked in this facility. He was brought into a password terminal that requested a four digit password from him. He immediately assumed the obvious and input the four digit number circled on the white board. The system accepted it and granted access to Ein's account.

"Wow! Take a look! It worked! That password is to this person's account here. Someone named Ein who worked here apparently…"

Jovi observed the screen beside her brother as he selected the inbox full of mail dating back nine years ago during the first incident. The inbox had messages from various different people. Venus, Skrub, Nascour, and Miror B. were the first few names listed on the list of messages. Michael was intrigued to see Miror B.'s name in this list and decided to select his message first.

"I think I'm gonna call it quits if this plan fails. These elegant dance steps can't dance with a posse who won't dance with me!", read Miror B.'s message to Ein.

Michael selected Nascour's message and read it on the screen.

"Do not let Wes access the Shadow Pokémon data. Wipe out everything and evacuate if worse comes to worse."

Skrub's message was selected. For some reason, most of its text was scrambled with ineligibility with Ein's response written below.

"I told you Skrub. If you come to me claiming you see a ghost popping in and out of existence taking lab equipment one more time you will be punished with reduced rations and a cut of your pay. It's bad enough crucial devices are missing from their places. We don't need to hear such nonsense and you're already nearing expulsion with your repeated past failures."

"Interesting….", Michael said to himself.

"So… Skrub thinks there's ghosts stealing lab equipment?", the azure sister queried.

"Apparently?... Maybe this place really is haunted? ….. nah it's probably just a loose Pokémon or…. Some sort of espionage? But who would….. huh….", Michael reacted stumped by his questions to his own answers.

"Click on Venus' message!", she suggested to her brother as her curiosity intensified.

Michael did just that. He read aloud what has been sent to Ein before noticing the attached picture file. It seemed to be a rather urgent message.

"Ein. If you bothered to listen to your colleagues, you could have discovered something that would surely have won us over those two brats. It's too late now, but don't you dare forget this. It may still be useful to us in the future."

Michael opened the image and viewed picture of an old fashioned silver Cipher Peon with a blue scarf around his neck fighting something in the middle of the Orre desert at night. The Peon had his Golem facing the entity hidden within the dark. The image could only show what appeared to be the creature's red glowing eyes in a dark mist that kept it invisible. The light of the camera man who took this picture seemed to have created an accidental lens flare off of the Peon's visor screen on his helmet; accidentally creating flashing halos in the dark image.

"Oooohhh…. What is that?", Jovi asked a little fascinated and unsettled by the spooky picture.

Michael looked at the Peon's adversary. Its eyes could only remind him of his dream the magician in Gateon Port had accidentally given him yesterday with his hypnosis.

"It looks like it could be a Shadow Pokémon? That mist might be the move 'Shadow Mist' as the Shadow Pokémon I rescued knew…. But wait a minute. Lovrina made that move along with a bunch of other Shadow Moves besides the already existing 'Shadow Rush' in the most recent incident four years ago…. She couldn't have been with Cipher nine years ago could she? She was only seventeen years old four years ago…. I think…. Which means…. Seventeen minus five…. She could only have been twelve during the first Shadow Pokémon Crisis! Who's that Pokémon? If it even is a Pokémon?!", he exclaimed with the greatest curiosity he has never had since he had started his adventure.

"Do you think this leads to Neo Evolution?", the sister questioned.

"Maybe? I don't know. I suppose that could be a Neo Evolved Shadow Pokémon. I can't say for sure. The only Shadow Pokémon I knew that had such bright glowing red eyes was Shadow Lugia because his heart was virtually slammed shut with locks. He was spliced into being an incredibly destructive war machine meant to be immune to purification. His entire appearance changed because of the drastic process it underwent. Whether that is a Pokémon that went through the same process as Lugia I don't know, we'd have to look for more clues."

"Where do you think we could find clues in this place?", Jovi asked anticipating his response to further their investigation.

"The Archive Server room down the elevator back there. I'm willing to bet that if we can access the archives, we'll find out what this picture is about and see if it has anything to do with Neo Evolution or Shadow Pokémon. But first we'll either need to find the last two generators or loop around in on the floors below. We'll probably just loop around and enter it without the elevator because it wouldn't be too far from it when we get there. Understand?"

The younger sister nodded. The anticipation to delve further into the darkness to find the answers to their questions made her heart race as this was her first time truly on an adventure with her heroic brother. Although she is still rather afraid of the dark and its unknown dangers, she could always inspire herself with courage knowing her brother is beside her and her Pokémon are ready to protect her in battle. The Chobin Bot Battle she won earlier today would not have turned in her favor if she didn't have her brother to guide her.

"Let's roll.", Michael instructed before marching forward into the metal hallway past the conference room.

Jovi kept close as they arrived at another cylindrical elevator. They both took the elevator down to the next floor where the lights were irregularly turning on and off with the partial electricity restored to the sector. Every time the lights were turned off, Michael's Snag Machine light would briefly illuminate the darkness before the lights would return to lighting the entire sector again before going out again periodically. To their right upon exiting the elevator was a glass doorway into another laboratory built for obscure reasons. It was presumably made to scan which Pokémon DNA Cipher had planned to make Shadow Pokémon off of.

The sibling pair approached the glass automatic sliding door that suddenly stopped midway in opening as the power would repeatedly turn off and on. They immediately saw that when the power was off, the glass door would begin closing on itself slowly before the power would briefly return to slide the door open even further.

"We might have to rush through this as soon as it's wide enough before it turns itself off again. I'll go first.", Michael said before stepping through the doorway as the lights were turned on.

Jovi hesitated for a moment while the lights were flickering. The doors seemed still and wide enough for her to walk though. She rushed through the doors as fast as he could but she suddenly felt her right foot caught between the sliding doors.

"Ah! My foot!", Jovi shrieked as she hopped on her one free foot.

"Just wait a moment.", Michael suggested as he held his sister's hand to keep her from falling.

After a second, Jovi's foot was freed when the glass doors were repowered with the surge of power returning to the mechanism before flickering off again. She held her brother's hand as he lead her through the next automatic glass door into the laboratory just ahead.

Without the need of illumination with the inconsistent bursts of light in the room, the two scanned the area. As the red headed teen re-explored what he had already seen through the irregular lighting, he tripped over a jumbled pile of wires and protruding from the floor's tiles. When he sat up from where he fell on the floor he could see that it looked like a machine had been ripped off of the floor from where the wires protruded through the metal floor.

"Huh? It looks like something's missing here….", he observed as he picked himself up off the floor.

"What is?," his sister questioned in response as she joined her brother in investigating the missing appliances under the flickering lights.

"It looks like someone just came in here and removed some equipment attached to this room. Look, there are more holes loose wires on the floor over there! And here…", Michael answered with his new discoveries.

Jovi would go to examine the spaces where equipment seemed to have been torn from their places. The flickering lights and electricity crackling in the gap repelled her. She covered her eyes to keep them from being irritated by the irregular blinking lights.

"Agh this place. These lights aren't helping me see at all. It actually hurts a little…."

The sound of a rusted iron switch was suddenly heard. The lights suddenly remained on and the power was restored to this sector of the facility. Jovi opened her eyes in the clear light to see her brother had already found the button for the third backup generator on the wall. She snickered at how fast he was able to find the button.

"Wow you're quick big brother. Did you just slam your hand on the nearest wall hoping you'd hit the one spot on the wall out of every wall in here with the right button as soon as you heard me complain?", the azure sister asked with a chuckle.

"Ehhhhh... Nah. But anyway, take a look at all of this!", Michael said directing her attention to the spaces in the lab that appeared to have been ripped apart exposing wires underneath the metal floor.

"It looks like someone just came in here and lifted some machines off of the floor, taking some of the floor with him or her….. or it.", he observed walking beside the jumbled wires that occasionally crackled with loose electricity.

"How strange…. Why do you think that is big brother? Do you think someone is trying to revive Shadow Pokémon with these things they stole?", she asked suggesting a plausible theory as she gazed on the wreckage.

Michael was silent as he pondered who it could be that ripped the machines out of this laboratory and for what intent. With so little suspects in Orre to suspect, his only suspicions would rest on the suspicious salesman and Lovrina even if he hates to think Lovrina would return to doing such criminal acts as manufacturing more Shadow Pokémon. He knows it's unlikely, but anyone that was once important could be a suspect at this point. Why would Lovrina return with her brother anyway? And who were they waiting for at the Krabby Club in Gateon Port?

"I should have considered waiting to see who….", Michael thought to himself out loud.

"Beg pardon?", Jovi replied upon hearing his whisper.

"Just wondering, why would Lovrina be invited back here... in Orre….after so long of not having anything to do with this region. Why?", he asked himself as he walked towards the fully functional glass doorway to return to the main hallway again.

"Ah….. oh…. That is weird…. Who would?", Jovi added as she followed her brother through the sliding glass.

The siblings made their way down the hall past a left turn towards another set of glass doors with an elevator room just before it to their right. Michael led the party of two to a fork in their road. Just ahead was a darkened laboratory while to their right were two more cylindrical glass elevators leading to more parts of the laboratory. Michael knew the one nearest to them was the elevator to progress towards the Archive Server room.

"I'd say we're just about done restoring power to this lab. If we could find the last switch in this room ahead we'd have a straight well-lit shot to the archive room and we'll find out what we need to know from the archives. Maybe we'll finally see how Neo Evolution came to be or whatever that Pokémon in the image was.", he explained.

"Then what are we waiting for? Oh wait, is this door locked too? Don't punch the glass please…", Jovi requested after remembering how he handled locked impassable glass doors with his 'engineering tactics".

"What do you mean by that? I totally used my wits to bypass the security lockdown protocol on that door.", the older brother defended himself with a grin.

"Well… just don't hurt yourself okay?", she requested with the small sincere smile of a caring sister.

The red headed teen understood his sister's request for his well-being and accepted it. He promised he wouldn't do something blatantly stupid that would bring pain upon him even if it was only for a brief moment. He faced the glass door to the last unlit laboratory and approached it.

The glass doors opened to their surprise. Both of the siblings raised their eyebrows at the functional doors to an unpowered laboratory.

"Maybe the power of the last generator reaches this far?"

"Could be the case…", said Michael as he lead the party through the sliding automatic glass doors into the unlit metal room.

The darkness of the laboratory was illuminated by a row of blue glowing tanks presumably used to incubate Shadow Pokémon in progress of having their hearts closed back then. In the far corners of the room were machines and consoles blinking with their lights and emitting the sound of their inner mechanisms at work. The entire room seemed to have been powered, but the lights are off for some reason.

"Is this place actually powered?"

"Do you think there's a light switch then?", Jovi suggested as she started patting the metal walls for a switch of any kind.

Michael stepped forward with the guidance of the room's glowing colored lights in the darkness along with his own Snag Machine glow. He stepped around the unused tanks and over the cables attached to them before he suddenly heard a bang in the corner of the room he was approaching that made every red hair on his head stand on end. He jumped back and heard scuffling of a chair and discarded paper before Jovi found the light switch.

"WHAT was that?!", asked the little sister as she came to her brother's side.

The two gazed upon nothing. There was a chair lying on the floor and the cabinet beside it was opened with loose papers strewn and scattered about on the floor. Michael examined the filing cabinet, pulling out the loose paper drawers to see if it was some small Pokémon that had disappeared into hiding. The cabinet was entirely void of life.

"Uhhm uhh must be a blast of air from the ventilation system! Yeah that's it. Probably…. Since we do have this place up and running again after all.", Michael suggested easing his own nerves.

"Wind from vents can make sounds like that? Enough to tip a chair over?", asked the younger sister with great concern.

"Ah forget it Jovi. I promise you that if there's anything besides us in this facility, I won't let them hurt us or get away without interrogation. That is unless it's actually a wild Pokémon, then we'll just have to catch it won't we? Just don't be afraid. Okay? I'm here along with my superb Pokémon to help. Don't worry about it.", he said trying to comfort his worried sister.

Jovi felt conflicted, but she looked at her brother and breathed a sigh of relief knowing how much her brother didn't like seeing her scared or sad. Ever since the day he pranked her when she was very young, he'd never want to see her sad or scared again and often played along with her in her little girl games. Although he didn't favor it, little Michael would sit quietly with his sister at her little toy table enjoying her pretend tea parties just to amuse her as Mimi and Pluplu munched on their Pokémon food at the plastic table once upon a time long ago. He didn't mind drinking the fake tea that Jovi poured out of her toy teapot to his tiny toy cup.

The blue haired girl giggled over her memory of putting a tiny hat on a much younger and happier Michael long ago. The thought along with the immediate company of her older brother dispelled the fear and anxiety in her heart. She stood beside Michael as he investigated the papers left in the cabinet and scattered on the floor.

"Look at these Jovi. These look like papers detailing Shadow Pokémon that were made here…. By the look of these dates, these Shadow Pokémon were made nine years ago during the first incident.", Michael said as he held out a couple of sheets detailing data about certain listed Shadow Pokémon.

"Shadow Murkrow, Shadow Misdreavus, Shadow Ursuring, Shadow Piloswine…..", he read aloud shuffling the papers in his hand.

"Do you think Wes snagged these Pokémon and saved them nine years ago?", questioned Jovi as she took a few sheets to see more listed Shadow Pokemon.

"Probably….. What's this though? A Failed Shadow Scizor?", he said pulling out a sheet that had details of a Shadow Scizor that had been stamped red with the word "Failed".

"What do they mean by that?", queried the sister as she held down the paper in his hand to see.

"It says here this was a failed….. a failed Shadow Pokémon? After closed its heart…. it wouldn't wake up to fight as it should….. so it failed….", Michael skimmed down the description of its situation.

"That's…. that's horrible! Oh that poor Pokémon….. I guess it never got saved by Wes?", said Jovi with sympathy for the unfortunate Pokémon.

"I'm afraid not….. It seems to be the third and last Pokémon to have failed…. Unable to wake up after having their hearts artificially closed….. I'm glad Cipher is gone. I wouldn't want to see this laboratory used for ruining the lives of so many innocent Pokémon again… it's just sad to think people would even think of it…", Michael said placing the papers back in their cabinet.

The red headed teen silently walked back to the glass door after traversing around the glass tanks again. Jovi could feel how disturbed her brother was to be reminded of the terrible period of Orre's history. If it weren't for Michael to finally put an end to Cipher that day four years ago, who knows how many other Pokémon would have met with their lives cut short due to the faults of malignant human ingenuity. She followed her brother out of the laboratory so that they may finally reach the Archive Server Room below in the now fully powered Cipher facility.

Taking the cylindrical glass elevator down together, they arrived at another long metallic hallway. When Michael stepped forward, he recognized and realized something. He urged his sister to remain silent.

"Shhhh…. This is where we heard those footsteps from earlier; you remember the room where they kept Krane right? Well it's on this floor just across the wall ahead….", Michael whispered as he slowly stepped forward passing by a flashing panel on the metal wall that seemed to be a switch for a security alarm.

"Okay… I'll keep my eyes and ears peeled.", she whispered back as she followed closely behind her Snag Machine wielding older brother.

The two walked forward around a corner into another metal hallway to a space decorated with thin cooling tanks in front of an open gate to the transitioning space from the hallway to the stares down to the Archive Server room. Despite completely powered and functional, the ambiance of the laboratory was completely silent. Only the echoes of their own footsteps could be heard with a constant tap. Michael's shoes and Jovi's boots squeaked and brushed against the floor as they treaded the empty hallway.

"We're almost there….", he said as they began approaching the open black iron gate.

Jovi's heart raced as she felt they were about to encounter something important. Whether it was a ghost or a person or a Pokémon, her heart kept beating fast as she stayed at her brother's side. She kept her big blue eyes wide open in observing her environment. Their footsteps and heartbeat filled her ear drums as they finally arrived at the silent open gate that has been retracted into the walls.

"Nothing so far…. I never noticed how this panel seemed to show these Pokémon… it looks like it might have been used for a code once.", Michael observed as he examined the panel next to the gate as he stood near a thin bubbling cooling tank.

Jovi stood beside her brother to look into the panel of different Pokémon illustrations. Three of the Pokémon seemed to depict the legendary Entei, Suicune, and Raikou for some reason. It was intriguing to behold the three legendary Pokémon before stepping forward across the open gate to find the next room ahead with a set of stairs surrounded by four more miniature cooling tanks.

"BAM!", went the gate as it suddenly slammed itself shut dividing Michael and Jovi from each other.

The azure sister was startled and immediately rushed up to the gate calling out for her brother in a scared manner while Michael was still recovering from the sudden shock of the sudden loud noise of the slammed shut gate in his path that divided him from his little sister. He regained his senses and placed himself against the wall as he heard his sister pleading for his help.

"MICHAEL! I'M TRAPPED! MICHAEL!", she shouted in fear as she banged her fists on the metal door.

"Hold on Jovi! Ah?! Who could have activated these doors to shut them?! Hold on, I'm going to melt this door open. Stand back!", he said as he was about call forth one of his emergency Pokémon out of its Ultra Ball.

Jovi stood back and waited as she watched her surroundings grow dim. The light around her was starting to go out for some reason. She almost started to tear up before she threw out her Litwick to provide her light in the darkness and comforting company.

"MOLTRES! MELT THAT DOOR DOWN! FLAMETHROWER!", Michael shouted as the large legendary fire bird stood in front of the door ready to blast it with its fiery breath

The legendary flaming bird screeched before spewing a steady stream of flames from its beak. Every ember made contact with the door and the heat in the hallway was beginning to build up. Despite the immense temperature and fury of the Moltres, the door was unscathed by the attack.

"Gahh, Hitmonchan! Brick Break on that gate!", Michael commanded as he sent out his trusty Hitmonchan to get the job done.

Standing aside, the Moltres observed its savior command the Hitmonchan to attack the gate. As soon as Hitmonchan made contact with the gate with a forceful Brick Break attack, it could only withdraw and squeal in pain from how hot the metal had gotten with Moltres' attack. It barely made a dent on the super-heated iron door and Michael was short on his options for how to break through the impenetrable gate.

"Hang on Jovi! I'll go back up and around to take the elevator down to the Server room and meet you there! Or just stay there, better yet just stay there and I'll come get you! Okay? Don't worry I'll be right there hold on!", Michael shouted to his trapped sister before returning his Pokémon and sprinting down the metal hallway towards the cylindrical elevator.

"Okay…. Okay…..", Jovi said to herself as she held her Litwick in her arms.

She ventured to the staircase and debated whether or not she should go downstairs to the Server Room to meet with her brother or maybe even ride the elevator up to meet with her brother faster. If she could make it through this darkened section of the laboratory, she'll make it to the lit sector above on the main basement floor to meet with Michael. However, she also thought about the possibility of finding something in the Server room that might not want to encounter alone.

"I… let's go…. But don't make a sound…..", Jovi said to her Ghost and Fire type Pokémon sitting in her arms.

The Litwick nodded and lessened the intensity of its flame before she stepped carefully down the metal steps into the server room. She looked from where she could see on the highest step possible, two coffin-shaped machines with various blinking red lights with an ambiance of running fans inside the computers and consoles. She slowly stepped down the steps until she placed her right foot on the floor. As soon as she settle both of her feet on the floor she could feel a sense of dread coming over her, as if she was being watched by someone very close by.

"… don't… make a noise….. in fact turn off that light!", she requested of her Litwick.

The Ghost and Fire type complied as it nervously shivered in her arms. Using only the red lights of the servers to guide her, she was able to gain a few more steps forward before she was interrupted and startled by the sound of really close footsteps coming towards her from around the second server!

A tall silhouette of a man with red glowing eyes and ominous hair that blended with the shadows approached her and nearly made her scream with fear. She kept silent and held her Litwick tightly as she listened to it speak to her. She could see his eyes looking down on her.

"So… it seems we have ourselves a new recruit coming to join our cause? Or are you some looter wanting to scavenge what you will off of this ancient laboratory once meant to change the world? Do you know who I am? Who are you?!", the shadow demanded to know who was this .

"I…. J-Jovi? S-sir…", Jovi responded with her name.

"Jovi? What an odd name… not as odd as Skrub, but odd nonetheless. My name is Nascour. I used to lead Cipher for a time until our time was cut short by two troublesome teenagers. Have you heard of me?", the shadow asked her a question again.

The frightened blue haired girl thought for a moment before answering again.

"W-Well I uh…. I mean…", she tried to answer but she hesitated and was cut off by tall dark man.

"Of course you wouldn't. Nobody should remember. Not even in our own region. Our time is over… However, we 're here again and this time we'll redeem ourselves. Tell me Jovi, what do you think you see here? A ghost of one of Cipher's most powerful commanding officers in history or the beginning of something that will change the world as you know it for the better?"

Jovi remained speechless as she stared at the red eyes of the demented shadow. The shadow walked toward her and revealed itself to be a muscular man dressed in purple ominous clothing with contact lenses that shined red out of his eyes. His hair was a white sprawling nightmare that complemented his features. He spoke to her with an intimidating glare of his red glowing eyes.

"He said someone would come… I didn't expect it to be a little girl like you. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to come with me to the other side. I promise you'll like it there. It truly is a paradise for all of us. I'm sure you'd grow fond of. Come with me, and I will show you. ", he offered her the chance to go with him to the 'other side' as he offered his hand towards her.

Hearing this, Jovi was unsettled and nearly shrieked as she could only imagine what he meant. Assuming the shadow is Nacour's ghost, she panicked and shook her head while muttering "NO!" in response. She faced forward and looked at the shadowy man's response to her rejecting his offer to take her to the "other side".

"No? Well I can't have you know I was here, so I don't think you have a choice either way.", said Nascour with a monotone tone as he drew out two Poke Balls onto his right hand.

Jovi let out a shriek of fear as she realized she had just been challenged to a battle by the ghost of Cipher's Nascour. She stood back and watched what Nascour had sent out in front of her in between the Servers. The battle had begun.

"Mismagius! Gengar!", he called out of their capsules.

They materialized ready to battle. Jovi called out her Minun and placed her Litwick on the floor to battle with the enemy. Mimi and Litwick looked back at their trainer and awaited her order as they stood facing against the adversaries. Seeing their trainer panic dwindled their confidence, but they eagerly waited for her order before Nascour could issue his to his Pokémon.

"Okay! O-Okay okay keep calm, first thing's first, What is a Mismagius?, she asked herself as she pulled out the scanner Seth gave her in Gateon Port.

She unfolded the two screened device and activated it on the floating foreign Ghost Type Pokémon In the dark. In the lit screen with the pointed lens on the back of the device, she was able to identify Mismagius as the next evolution of Misdreavus.

"Oooh? I didn't know that Pokémon had another evolution… It's a Ghost Type with Levitate as its ability.", she observed before hearing Nascour snap at her.

"Where did you get that device?! Nothing made in Orre can properly identify a Pokémon like this! Mismagius! Perish Song! Gengar, Mean Look on the Litwick!"

In response, Jovi quickly thought back to what Michael had taught her and decided to go with the Paralyses inflicting tactic. If she could delay the battle long enough, Michael might arrive down the elevator and intervene to save her from her inevitable defeat from the powerful adversary.

"Mimi! Thunder Wave on Mismagius! Litwick, Hex on Mismagius!", she shouted as she kept herself from panicking anymore.

The Minun jumped and let loose an electric shock to paralyze Mismagius, but not before it had already sung its Perish Song for all the Pokémon to hear. Upon hearing the sad song, the four Pokémon were already on their wait to fainting after four more attacks. Gengar looked menacingly at the Litwick to keep itself from returning to its ball or escaping. Litwick blasted the Mismagius with a ghostly blast of energy that doubled with its status condition. Mismagius was inflicted with enough damage from that powerful combo attack to have fainted on the spot, forcing Nascour to return it to its ball.

"You have quite an unusual Pokémon there. I don't believe I've ever seen a foreign Pokémon like that in Orre. Makes me wonder how you caught it… Xatu!", he called out another Pokémon out of its ball.

Having seen the foe's Pokémon summoned out of its capsule, Jovi remained calm and shouted her next set of moves for her Pokémon to carry out. Jovi had her Minun paralyze Xatu as Litwick was told to use Confuse Ray on Gengar to possibly delay it from knocking out her Pokémon.

The Xatu used Psychic on Mimi before he could even inflict it with Thunder Wave. It fainted, and Jovi was forced to switch Mimi out with Pluplu her Plusle. The enemy's Gengar used Nightshade on Litwick, but the damage was not enough for Litwick to faint but it was left barely standing up right on its candle-like body.

Jovi's heart raced as she quickly thought about what to do from there. Her thoughts were interrupted by more of Nascour's speech.

"Your Pokémon cannot stand against mine. You will fail and be liberated once I've accepted your surrender. There is no shame in losing, but there is shame in forgetting why you've lost.", he said before issuing his next commands to his Pokémon.

Xatu raised its wings and used its Psychic power to distort the air around it as it readied a Future Sight attack. Jovi assessed the situation and was about to use one of her Super Potions she received from the item chest she found with Michael previously. Just as she applied the medicine, the Candle Pokémon fainted instantly despite its added health.

"What?!", she exclaimed in shock before she saw her foe's Gengar faint at the same time.

"Oh…. Perish Song.", she realized her mistake as she withdrew her fainted Pokémon.

"Always pay attention to everything! Acknowledge what has happened in the past or it may come back to haunt you with all of its consequences! ", Nascour scolded her before sending out his formidable Blaziken.

The Fire and Fighting type stood with Xatu against the lone Plusle. Pluplu looked back at its trainer with a worried look in its little black eyes. Jovi wished Michael would have arrived by now to save her from her first defeat. She assessed the situation and concluded she had no chance to win here.

"Pluplu return! ….. now's the time Michael please….", she pleaded to herself.

"The game is now over.", Nascour declared before walking in between his two Pokémon towards the azure girl.

As she remained frozen in fear watching the ghostly man approach her, she heard the sound of an elevator snapping on to a station and opening its glass doors somewhere within the room. Her heart was about to explode from the fear of where the man would take her if it weren't for him suddenly turning his attention to the rushing steps coming towards the small battlefield.

"JOVI!", Michael shouted for his sister as he immediately told his Umbreon to use Bite on Xatu and sent out his Hitmonchan before telling it to use Sky Uppercut on the Blaziken.

Nascour faced the red headed teen with his the light of his Snag Machine illuminating his side of battlefield. Xatu had fainted and has been returned to its ball while Blaziken stood injured but ready to fight as it stared down Michael's Hitmonchan. Michael took a moment to look at who he was fighting. He could almost compare Nascour's shadowy appearance to the creature in the picture but the red glowing eyes of his were too small to match whatever it could be.

"Who are you?! Where's my sister?!", he shouted angrily as he clutched his fists.

"I'm here Michael!", Jovi shouted before attempting to run to his side only to be deterred by Nascour when he stretched his hand to block her way.

"Michael? You're the….. I see... It's an honor to finally meet in you person. The child who finally brought down Cipher all by himself so long ago.", Nascour politely greeted him as he stood between him and Jovi.

"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!", Michael demanded answers as his Umbreon growled and Hitmonchan stood ready to fight the enemy Blaziken.

Before he could answer, Nascour observed and laughed when the Future Sight attack his Xatu created previously had struck Hitmonchan down with a super effective psychic attack. The Punching Pokémon fainted and was recalled back into its ball. Michael switched him out with the Walrein he had brought out of his PC.

"How unfortunate… This was all very amusing, but I'm afraid I cannot remain here any longer. There is no stopping what is set in motion. We have seen this play out in his dream. Soon everything will be changed for the better.", Nascour said to Michael before returning his Pokémon to their balls and proceeding to walk calmly past Jovi to the stairs she had came down from.

Jovi looked at Nascour disappear into the darkness protruding from the stairway for a moment before seeing her brother approach her with concern over her well-being.

"Jovi! Are you alright? Are you hurt?", he asked his sister before looking at the stairway around the corner of the server they stood by.

"I'm fine! That was Nascour! Hurry after him!", Jovi shouted with a cheer for her brother as he returned his slower moving Walrein and ran up the stairs after the mysterious ghostly villain with his Umbreon following behind him.

As soon as Michael had ran up the stairs into the room Jovi had been separated from him from the unexpected closure of the gate, the darkness of the room was lifted and the lights had returned. Nascour was not in the room and the gate has been closed. When he investigated the gate, its doors were still locked and impassible. The ghostly villain has just completely disappeared without a trace.

"He's…. gone?...", Michael observed as he inspected the door and the walls.

He could only find a small vent in the ceiling that is too small for a grown man to fit through. He checked every corner of every wall including the four small water cooling tanks that stood through the panels of the floor. Michael couldn't believe what just happened.

"…. Gone…."

"Gone? Nascour's gone?", Jovi asked as she rose up out of the stairway to reunite with her brother again.

"That gate is locked, and there's no way out of here besides the elevator I took down here. It's not possible but it seems…. Like he was never here? Maybe it was a hologram? Or something?", Michael said trying to come up with some logical explanation as he watched his Umbreon look around the room with its red eyes wide.

"Or….. a ghost?", the little sister suggested.

"Hold on a moment, Jovi what happened when I was running up there to the elevator? Were you battling with him?", he asked with a concerned tone towards his sister.

"I-I was… I had no choice h-he wanted to take me to the 'other side'. He said I'd like it there…", Jovi said with a stutter in trying to make sure she wasn't just imagining the words.

Hearing this gave the red headed teen a chill up his spine as he would imagine what the case would be if the shadowy man resembling Nascour really was a ghost all along. A ghost dragging his sister into the Spirit World is an unsettling thought. He looked over to his sister who was still shivering from her experience with the mysterious shadowy man who claimed himself to be Nascour of the old Cipher Syndicate nine years ago during the first Shadow Pokémon Crisis.

"Are you really alright?", Michael asked his quivering younger sister as he approached her.

"I…. I was so afraid…. That he was going to take me once I had lost the battle… I don't know what would have happened if you didn't come here in time…", the blue haired sister said as she held her chilled arms over her chest.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen… I didn't know that the gate would close on you. I was just looking at that code input panel beside it and…. Well…. You know."

"You didn't close it on me did you?", she asked facing him with her blue eyes wide and smile turned upside down.

"What?! No! No no no I didn't even touch it! I swear I didn't-"

"Heheh just kidding big brother. I know it wasn't your fault. But next time we split, can you come find me a little faster?", she requested of him with another sincere smile.

"Of course… little sister... but you seemed able to hold out a little while, what were you doing?"

"Well, I tried to keep his Pokémon from attacking. I was trying to stall for time until you'd come save me… but his Pokémon were just too powerful for Mimi, Pluplu, and Litwick… You know I kinda want to think of a nickname for Litwick now that I think about it…. Heheh.", said Jovi before pondering what nickname should be given to her Candlestick Pokémon.

"Wow. And you were able to stay in the battle long enough at least until the last minute? That's impressive! You held against a Cipher mastermind on your second trainer battle! Haha! Your adventure is starting to look a lot more exciting than mine!", the older brother congratulated his little sister as he returned his Umbreon patiently waiting beside his feet.

"Really? Haha thank you! Michael, what do you do if you lose to a bad guy like that? I lost, but you were there to save me so, what would you do?", Jovi asked with curiosity over what would she have to do if she lost to a bad guy.

Michael thought about it for a moment. As he thought about it, he suggested that they should return to the server room and investigate the console for any important information they could find. While they returned down the stairway, Michael could remember what he'd do if he ever lost a battle against a Cipher agent.

"If I lost, I'd return all my Pokémon and…. I think I would just make a beeline for the nearest Healing Machine or Pokémon center… at least I think I do…. I sorta white out whenever that happens though. I can't explain why I do, but thankfully that hasn't happened too often during my adventure. I can't remember how it feels like to lose like that…. Well besides that time yesterday with Seth. I didn't White Out there… I guess it's more like a situational thing for me. I don't know. Am I making any sense to you?", Michael said with a laugh as he scratched the back of his head.

"That is weird. I remember you telling me about Whiting Out whenever you lost…. Does it hurt when you White Out after a loss?", Jovi asked as she walked by her brother around the servers.

"Well…. It's not so much painful as it is mind numbing... it's almost like a sleep walking response you know? Which is odd because I can't remember ever being diagnosed with a disorder of any kind…? I remember sometimes I just find myself at the last healing station after a loss. And when I encounter who I lost to again they remember winning against me, but they're surprised to see that I come back stronger with my Pokémon every time…"

"Huh…. Well, forget that then. You know what I actually kinda wonder a little?", Jovi asked her brother again before he responded with a shrug as they arrived at the console in the Archive Server room.

"What would that be?", Michael questioned upon placing his hands on the keyboard of the console.

"If Nascour dragged me into the Ghost World…. Do you think I could have seen dad again? In the… 'other side'?"

Upon hearing her theory, Michael fell silent at the mention of the theoretical possibility of her sister seeing their father again in the afterlife if he hadn't intervened in time. His heart sank at the thought of seeing her go just as he saw his father go before his own eyes months before his journey.

"I'm sorry Michael! I was just curious! Don't think about it too much. I forgot how you felt about anyone mentioning dad like before."

"Oh forget that. I've been over it long ago the moment I purified my last Shadow Pokémon. As nice as it would be to see dad again, let's not see him anytime soon okay? I think he can wait for us. ", said Michael as he tried not to relive the last memory he had of his father in his mind.

He fell silent again as he focused his mind on accessing the database within the abandoned laboratory. He established a connection to the servers with Ein's pass code before tapping on the touch sensitive monitor to select one of the two servers. A majority of the files were erased, but they could be recovered with Michael's knowledge of Orre PC data mining he learned from Nett at ONBS in Pyrite Town. He drew out his P DA and slid it open to access his inbox to retrieve the documents he is about to recover by having Ein's account rip and distribute the recovered files through wireless communication.

"Sorry big bro…", Jovi expressed her regret as she faced the computer by her brother's side.

"Sorry for what?", the red headed teen replied to his sister as he viewed his plundered files filling is inbox on his P DA.

"Sorry for mentioning dad… making you worry and getting separated and…. Nascour and other stuff...", she said with a melancholy tone as she looked down at the metal floor.

Michael looked at his little sister and gave a little laugh at how cute she was when she tried to blame herself for things she couldn't older brother wrapped his Snag-Machine-mounted left arm around his sister's left shoulder and gave her a little reassuring hug. Jovi little frown turned into a smile as she looked at her brother before the azure sister looked to see the prize they came here for in Michael's P DA.

"Look at all of these documents! Though some of these look like they're dated just when the first crisis ended, I think we've got some pretty valuable information here. How about when we get home… Let's have some bowls of ice cream and read over these together at a table. How about that?", Michael suggested as he saw his little sister's bright grin return to her face.

"Awh I'd love that big brother! If we're done here, we can go back up without having anymore ghosts creeping up on us if you'd like. I'm ready when you are.", the younger blue haired sister answered as she eagerly awaited near the cylindrical glass elevator her brother descended from.

Michael took all the data he could out of the many files and memos Ein had made long ago and closed his Pokémon Digital Assistant. He slipped it back into his black waist bag and proceeded with his sister into the glass elevator up onto the main lobby of the first basement floor before proceeding to ride the very first elevator back up to the surface facility.

Before they left the facility, they both turned to notice the functional Healing Machine they had overlooked when they first came in, as well as another purple item chest hiding in the corner beside the useful machine. Michael pointed at the two and suggested that she should go inspect them. Jovi walked up to the Healing Machine and was asked by the machine itself in a text box on its monitor, "Would you like to heal your Pokémon?" with a Yes or No option on the touch screen.

"Yes please.", she said as she placed her finger on the option before inserter her three Poke Balls into three of the six Poke Ball sockets.

After the machine healed the three beaten Pokémon back to health as it chimed a little friendly familiar tune, Jovi placed her Poke Balls back in her pockets and examined the purple item chest in the corner. Michael accompanied her and observed as she unboxed and found a beaten broken handheld device of some sort.

"What is this Michael?", she asked as she held the mistreated broken machine.

"I don't know, I've never seen it before…. Maybe we should go to Pyrite Town sometime and ask Secc and the others at ONBS if they know? It's probably some device made by Cipher for some purpose…", the older brother responded when he looked at it in her hands.

Inspecting the device, it appeared to be a plastic PDA of some sort with ports on its top end while its face seemed to be a cracked screen with buttons and a pad on it. It seemed to have text slightly below the screen on its edge but it's faded and unreadable now.

"If I were you, I'd keep it in my Key Items Pocket just in case. A general rule of thumb when you're on an adventure: if you find something that seems useless at first glance; it's likely going to be useful or important at some point down the road. So keep it if you'd like! I don't know if I could fix that though. I've never seen anything like it…. Which makes me wonder who keeps leaving these purple chests? And why? They seemed to just appear out of nowhere now…"

"Maybe somebody is leaving these for us? …. Hey didn't we already talk about this earlier?"

"Did we? We might have… it's still very mysterious though…. Maybe we'll find out soon enough… Let's roll."