A Maiden's Voyage
Chapter 4: The First Blooming Flower
The war in the Sinnoh Region started nineteen years ago, and two months before I was born. Everyone knew Team Galactic was on the rise after their defeat long ago. Their former leader Cyrus, a strange man who dyed his hair blue was banished to the Reverse World, the domain of the legendary Dragon pokemon, Giratina. Then sometime before I was born, the followers reestablished Team Galactic with qualified people occupying the commanding roles as Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These people, of course are nothing like the people who once filled these names years ago and were by far worse.
Saturn was the one who advised the new, mysterious leader of Team Galactic to declare war on the Pokemon Society, who were also building in ranks. The three commanders took the role of combat into their own hands, leaving their leader in the dark. Some people don't even believe that such a leader exists. Nonetheless, blood was shed one dark day when Team Galactic mobilized its forces in Snowpoint, Hearthome and Veilstone. Soon after, Pastoria fell to the Galactic Regime and after months of siege, Sunnyshore was conquered. Team Galactic also annexed the neutral city of Celestic Town and Solaceon Town soon after. The Pokemon League remained untouched by either side and has declared itself a "self-proclaimed association dedicated to peace for all humans and pokemon."
The Society was established soon after by Anti-Galactic separatists who sparked revolution in Canalave and Jubilife. Then the cities west of Mt. Coronet formed the Society Coalition. This included the smaller cities of Twinleaf and Sandgem. The Society also received the support from Oreburgh City, as well as the vast, complex cave systems underneath the city. Soon after, the Society was able to earn the favor of Eterna City as well as Floaroma Town, which included the surrounding territories that provided strategic military aid. The Fuego Ironworks and Valley Windworks were converted into fortified Society outposts.
The first interaction between the two sides took place after a whopping two years of military standoff. Commander Mars led a small battalion of Galactic grunts into the muddy territory halfway between Hearthome and Pastoria City. She laid waste to the Pokemon Mansion and Mr. Backlot VIII was murdered in his own home. This led to massive outrage from nearby Hearthome civilians who wanted justice for the murder. Things went horribly wrong went Mars blamed the secluded area of land of harboring Society spies. The truth behind it was that Mars wanted the wealth stored in the mansion and killed Mr. Backlot VIII for his money.
The Society was able to use the turmoil in Hearthome City to spark a counterrevolution, in hopes of ousting the Galactic occupation in the city. In response, Commander Jupiter threatened bombings of Jubilife City if any propaganda against Team Galactic was released. The unfortunate thing about the situation was that despite Jupiter's threat, Jubilife City released a campaign to install a revolution in Hearthome City. It was a disaster, people remained loyal to their Galactic Rulers while the commanders were furious.
Jupiter vowed vengeance for their insubordination and ordered their Honchcrow, Crobat, and hundreds other Flying pokemon to drop Galactic Bombs on Jubilife. After the first wave of bombs, half of the city was completely destroyed, but not a single person was killed. The Society was fast in mobilizing military personnel to evacuate the civilians.
It was actually one pokemon and one trainer who saved Jubilife City from total destruction. Lilian Peters, a young Society Lieutenant went into a hot zone with only her spirit and her Togekiss. Together they single-handedly took down all the Honchcrow, Crobat and Charizard who threatened Jubilife City. She was renowned in her skills in combat and her synchronization with her pokemon, Togekiss who helped her defeat waves of Galactic Grunts and flying pokemon. After she defeated them, she was declared a national hero and celebrated highly for her outstanding accomplishment. Nobody knows where Lilian went after her time in the war, but it was rumored that she found a home in Twinleaf Town and helped with the Twinleaf Festival each year. From the time Lilian Peters was a hero during the war, many other factors led to corruption and bloodshed in the war.
In later years, the hierarchy of Society leadership crumbled and fraudulent, oppressive dictators took the control of the war. The Galactic leadership hasn't changed much and have therefore remained the same in their regime. Several leaders of the Society have conducted secret paramilitary activities outside the eyes of several Society Sinnoh civilians and even the Society members themselves. An inner group of Society members were led by a vicious dictator who fought to destroy the fortress in Snowpoint City and to break the capital in Sunnyshore. He died of a heart attack, in which his side-kick General Ernest Barrington took over. This is about when I was 12. Ever since then, Barrington and the Galactic Commanders have unofficially signed and unofficial armistice until the two sides took a city from the opposing side. In the seven years that Barrington's regime loomed over Sinnoh, only the exchange of Eterna and Hearthome as well as some air raids from Team Galactic have ever been ordered. Every so often Team Galactic feels the need to remind the Society that they are still a force not to be trifled with.
Rotom and I were talking as we trekked through a small cave just before Oreburgh City, he was telling me not to be nervous as I talked strategy. The Oreburgh Gym Leader would definitely be a tough one to deal with since Rock-type pokemon generally have strong defenses. As we walked inside of a narrow cave I could faintly make out the shape of a nest of Zubat in one corner of the cave where the cavern walls met. A Meditite was also balancing on a stalagmite, attempting to meditate as well as concentrate on maintaining its composure.
"Do you know the leader?" Rotom asked me.
"No, but like I said we just have to keep calm and take down the pokemon one by one. Hopefully, the Leader doesn't have like twelve pokemon." I snorted. Rotom looked at me horrifyingly as if I were a ghost and he were human.
"Stop kidding around Aria it's just the two of us against legions of pokemon and trainers. We can't ridicule ourselves by joking around." Rotom said sternly. We got out of the cave into the cool summer air. I saw the rocky city of Oreburgh as it roamed with life. People were rummaging about, doing various jobs and I even saw a Machoke carrying several tool bags filled to the brim with useful tools as a man walking next to the pokemon held tool bags, too.
There was a building alongside the right of where we were walking and next to that was the Oreburgh Pokemon Market. The things you could buy at this market were insubstantial but as I entered the bazaar, quickly scanning the venders for Veronica's mom. I saw her as she sold a black flute to a customer and they handed over their money. She saw me and waited until the customer had left then she was ecstatic.
"Aria! Hi dear!" She beckoned to hug me. I saw the corners of her mouth rise as I greeted her back.
"How's Veronica?" I asked her solemnly. She told me that Veronica had thrown a tantrum in their house after she refused to let her go. She was grounded and that case was closed.
"I threatened to take away Donna and she stopped screaming." She told me. That made me angry. People shouldn't threaten to take away pokemon from anyone. That's something Team Galactic does.
"Gotta do what you gotta do," I said to her, denouncing the words in my head. Rotom was flying near me staring down at Ms. Hale as she eyed him dauntingly. After a moment of silence she reopened her mouth to spew her words again.
"So, Aria, why have you come to Oreburgh?" She looked for an excuse to start up the conversation again. I told her I was here to challenge the Gym and she told me about the rocky interior of the gym.
"That's really cool, Ms. Hale. I think I better see if I can register to battle." I said as I left and Rotom eyed me weirdly.
"She's really awkward." Rotom said flatly.
"I know. I can't believe she didn't let Veronica come with me. That really pissed me off and did you hear when she said she threatened to take Donna away from her? That infuriates me when people have their pokemon taken away from them." I said angrily.
"You won't have to worry about that. I'm going to be here right by your side forever." Rotom changed the mood. I smiled at him as we walked passed brown-roofed houses and a museum. We turned a corner and followed the sidewalk until it ended at a pokemon center and further down it looked like a mine. Rotom and I went to explore the site where we discovered an awful lot of Machop carrying around coal to be processed on a tall conveyor belt above the site. The conveyor belt swooped low enough for the Machop to place their processed coal onto it and it lurched forward after a moment. The conveyor belt also extended downward into the mine's deeper reaches. Rotom and I followed it down, avoiding the casual eyes of the trainers who didn't bat an eye.
In the mine we discovered the conveyor belt had gone deeper and ended at another door at the bottom of the mineshaft.
"How big is this cave?" Rotom asked looking around. This time there was no sign of Zubat flying around and instead we saw more Machop in the brightly lit cave. We walked a ways down until we hit a giant lump of coal. It was humongous and occupied well over half of the space in the chamber. We were in awe at the size of the relic as a man came up to us with his Machop.
"Why exactly did you come down here?" The man asked. His Machop looked at my Rotom who buzzed when Machop came too close. I told him that I was just exploring and I was looking for the Oreburgh City Gym.
"The Gym is in the center of town, but before you go there you'll wanna talk to the guy that's on the reverse side of the colossal coal." He said pointing to the coal in the dim light. Rotom and I creeped around the rock where only one small light lit up the other side of the rock. There was an old man there chipping away at the coal. Two Cranidos followed him with a basket collecting the coal. When the basket reached its limit, the Cranidos scampered off passing Rotom and I without ever noticing us.
"Excuse me?" I yelled to the man who stopped working to look up at me.
"Hello there, come closer I'm a little bit hard on hearing." The old man beckoned to me.
"Hi, I'm Aria and I was wondering if you could tell me where the Oreburgh Gym leader is?" His eyes smiled at you with an archaic resemblance of previous ancestors.
"He's the handsome devil working on splitting this huge hunk of rock into bits for the Cranidos." He flailed his arms enthusiastically. This old guy needed his meds right now. And I wasn't the person to deliver them no sir.
"So you?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Well I'm here because I wish to battle your pokemon in a Gym Battle." He looked marveled.
"Wow. That brings back memories." The old man's eyes wandered to the ceiling as he looked like he was about to recite an uninteresting anecdote. He almost fell asleep while standing there, talking to me.
"Sorry. It's just you're the first challenger since the new wave of challengers was released. I haven't fought a Gym Battle in about twenty years." As he finished that statement my mouth dropped. I wasn't even twenty yet and all this time I've been alive this guy hasn't had a Gym Battle yet. Did that mean that other Gym Leaders haven't had a gym battle either?
"There's more coming." I assured him.
"Wow!" The old Gym Leader's life returned to his eyes.
"Well I'm Wilbur Underwood and I'll be waiting in the pokemon gym! Gotta sweep up them 'ol cobwebs so ya don't choke on the spiders! Haha!" Wilbur ran off. Rotom and I were standing alone in the dim light and silence surrounded us until the sound of a Machop punching the walls was heard around the corner. Rotom looked at me blankly as if he had just witnessed something embarrassing happen to someone.
We walked out of the mine and my eyes were once again transfixed on the conveyor belt moving coal around. The pokemon center was lifeless as we passed by its rusty red walls and I saw the pokemon gym, also rusty, in the dead center of town. I wandered inside of the gym and saw a familiar body inside dusting the entirety of the gym.
"Oh, hello. I'll be ready in a gosh darn moment. Lemme get these cobwebs." Wilbur said dusting the walls of the desolate arena. He relinquished the broom on the floor after it looked satisfactory and walked, but it looked more like he limped, to me.
"I will have a battle with you and maybe-" He was cut off as his two Cranidos ran into the gym and snarled at me as they stood in front of Wilbur.
"Bess and Moe you will hush now." Wilbur said flailing again. The Cranidos stepped aside and watched us carefully. Wilbur laughed and chuckled, then proceeded to slap his right knee. I hadn't realized that I was only three cities over from my home town and people like this actually existed.
"This isn't nearly what I expected it to look like." I told him. He laughed even harder, slapping his knees every now and then. "Are you gonna fight or criticize the view, lady?" He was still laughing.
"C'mon let's do this already, Wilbur." I said nervously with a little angst in my voice.
"Um. Yes. Alright. Bess, hows about you go on into the ring and wrestle with that lady's pokemons?" Wilbur said calming down.
Wilbur and I stepped into the arena depicted by white lines on the floor of the gym. I stepped back so Rotom could stand before me and stare down at Bess the Cranidos. Bess was huffing and stomping her feet on the ground and managed to shake it briefly before Wilbur heehawed.
"Alrighty now, girl you ready?" He called out to me.
"Yeah." I yelled flatly.
"Oh! I almost forgot to say this!" Wilbur started again. I sighed. "I'll be using three pokemon here today, miss Aria. You can substitute for any pokemon you please while I gotta stick with what I've got. You can only use a total of three pokemon in this battle and once you've gone through them all, you're out!" Wilbur finished his little speech. It was customary for the Gym leaders to allow the challengers to start the battle but I guess Wilbur forgot about that and ordered Cranidos to use Take Down. I was confused why he ordered a Normal-type attack against a Ghost pokemon, when I quickly made a judgment to retaliate. I figured it was a trick and had Rotom use a Discharge attack. The blue thunder left Rotom's body and struck Cranidos. It was paralyzed from just that one attack.
"Bess? You good? What about a Rock Throw, eh?" Wilbur said. Bess picked up a giant rock with her stubby little arms and thrust it rapidly at Rotom. Rotom managed to dodge the ferocious rock as it smashed into the ground causing the ground beneath us to shake. Rotom held its ground from the spot where it was levitating and awaited my next command.
"What about an Ominous Wind?" I yelled to Rotom who emitted a huge wind-gust of ghostly energy that hit Bess before she could dodge it. The paralysis had caused her to slow down significantly and the Ominous Wind had also caused her to faint. Wilbur Underwood pulled out what looked like an ancient pokeball and returned Bess to it.
"Good job, partner. You done did good." He said kissing the sphere and putting it in his raggedy pocket. I noticed he was wearing very worn out clothes that I couldn't make out from before in the dark. Wilbur wore very worn out clothes and caused him to look as though he were a vagabond. He wasn't wearing any shoes and the grime between his toes glistened in the bright gym.
"Nice, Rotom." I rambled to the pokemon fluttering in the air.
"Well, missy I got me here another pokemon for ya." Wilbur said throwing another pokeball at us. Rotom and I watched as a Rhyhorn emerged from the ball and huffed at us upon its entrance.
"This is my partner, Jessie. He's hungry for some battlin' and I guess you're gonna be his meal." Wilbur cackled. "Jessie, use Rock Slide!" Then Wilbur's Rhyhorn stomped on the ground and a nearby pile of rocks began to tumble down around us. At first we backed away but I quickly realized Wilbur was just distracting us.
"Bite!" Jessie rammed into Rotom biting him. Rotom escaped after being bit by the pokemon's nasty attack.
"Are you okay?!" I called at my pokemon. He floated miserably in the air. Bite is a Dark-type attack that several pokemon can learn. Dark pokemon have the advantage over Rotom because Ghost pokemon are weak to Dark and Ghost attacks.
"I'm good." Rotom looked at me, weakly. The attack must've caused some serious injury and I thought about stopping the battle, but Rotom looked at me intently as though he expected a command from me.
"Um. I think Jessie is also a Ground-type so electric attacks won't work." I said and Rotom nodded at me.
"Are you gonna just stand there?" Wilbur yelled.
Ignoring him, I asked Rotom to create an Ominous Wind to thrash the Rhyhorn around a bit but Jessie just stood his ground and endured the worst of the attack. However, it wasn't enough to totally waste him. Wilbur slapped one knee and told Jessie to use another Rock Slide. This time it wasn't a distraction and a new pile of rocks struck down at us, some even hitting Rotom.
"Dodge them Rotom!" I yelled quickly, anticipating another attack. Jessie was now charging at Rotom, gearing up to Bite again and I made the decision to use another Ominous Wind. Jessie was thrashed back and forth as the wind struck him from all angles. The tormenting storm ended abruptly, and revealed that Jessie had fainted.
"No!" Wilbur stomped his foot as he retreated Jessie back into his ball. "Good job, partner."
"Well, Aria. You sure have bested me today. But before you get all mighty, I got one more pokemon for ya to face." Wilbur smiled cunningly and threw his last ball to the arena. The white light revealed a silhouette, then a nightmarish pokemon appeared before us. A looming pokemon stood in the ground of the arena.
"This tough gal over here is my best friend, Carmela." Wilbur said. I zoned him out as I stood there in awe as a terrifying Tyranitar stood face to face to Rotom.
"Wow. That's one hella scary monster." I said reclining into myself. I didn't even know what were going to do. I hadn't ever seen this pokemon before and it looked like the bane of all my nightmares. Carmela stood there eying Rotom darkly as she awaited her master's commands.
"Are we ready to go again?" Wilbur said. I was scared, and in awe as Carmela was able to command her colossal body to move. She walked a ways towards the center of the arena where Rotom was.
"Back away Rotom. She's extremely powerful." I said plotting our next move. I wasn't sure how we'd get out of this or even if we'd get out of it at all. Rotom had already fought Cranidos and Rhyhorn, which had both worn him down and now he was to fight against this monster.
"Sandstorm!" Wilbur called. The pokemon crouched a bit and emitted sand from holes in its body. A massive sandstorm occupied the Gym now and it was difficult to see with all of the sand flying into my face. I wiped some off my brow and saw Rotom looking frantically in all directions.
"Rotom!" I called to him. He saw me and hovered over. We couldn't see past the sandstorm and in turn couldn't see Wilbur and Carmela. I stood with my back in the direction of the sandstorm as I faced Rotom.
"What are we going to do?" He asked me. I wasn't exactly sure on this one either.
"We'll have to try everything we've got. How do you feel about the move Confuse Ray?" I asked. Confuse Ray was a move I tried teaching Rotom how to perform but he had a hard time trying to learn it. Discharge was by far tougher than that, but Confuse Ray was an important Ghost-type move I felt Rotom could learn.
"Besides what we've got done in training, I can manage that." Rotom said referring to the gassy ball of ooze that emanated pathetically towards Donna when we trained a long time ago. I remember Donna, Veronica and me laughing the first time Rotom used it because it was so pitiful. He was far from done from training to perfect the move, but it seemed no matter how hard he tried the ooze ball was the only thing he could make. I thought about the Ghost move Shadow Ball but from our experience with floating orbs I decided not to bother.
"Anything you can make, try it. I know this storm is unbearable but we don't have a lot of options. You know you can't take that many hits from that thing." I said referring to Carmela. I'm pretty sure if Rotom get's hit with even one big hit from her, he's gone.
"I'll make sure not to stifle in this storm."
"Behind you!" Rotom said hurriedly. I turned around, getting sand in my face as I could make out the silhouette of Carmela charging at us from inside of the storm.
"Rotom, she's coming at us. We need to stop her from increasing momentum and taking you down."
"Then what, a Discharge?" He suggested. I nodded quickly and Rotom released a dazzling blue burst of energy that hit its mark perfectly. Carmela seemed to slow down and huff but continued shortly thereafter. I could make out of her body features and saw terrifying claws and ragged edges on her body. She sliced at Rotom cutting him sharply. Rotom flinched and as she went in for another, Rotom moved away. Going deeper into the storm, away from us. Carmela didn't look at me and charged into the storm. The last thing I saw before she was cloaked in the sandy mess was her slashing at an object floating in the air.
"Rotom!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, which began filling up with sand causing me to cough. I coughed again and yelled after him.
"If you can hear my voice, use Confuse Ray! Then try Ominous Wind!" I yelled, unsure if Rotom had even heard my request in the midst of this awful storm. I couldn't see so I walked a little deeper into the storm, unsure whether I would run into Wilbur or not. The entire Gym around me was cloaked in this lung-filling sandstorm and I could hear the faint noises of grunting. It couldn't have been from Rotom and I could focus on a sandy silhouette still slashing at Rotom. When I got closer I realized Rotom wasn't there and Carmela was just slashing at the storm itself. Upon further realization I saw Wilbur trying to coax Carmela out of her confusion as she slashed uncontrollably through the sandy air.
Rotom buzzed overhead and descended to my shoulder level where he was exhaling hard.
"She got me pretty bad. I took two hits from claws before the confusion kicked in." Rotom said faintly. "But I must hurry, or the effects of the confusion will wear off."
"Did you try Ominous Wind?" I asked.
"That's not effective against Dark-types, Aria." Rotom retorted. And I had an idea that might make the storm regress a little.
"Please use Ominous Wind right here and blow this storm away." I said, hope brimming in my eyes and voice. Rotom emitted a large gust of dark wind that blew sand and dark energy around. The energy was just absorbed into the storm itself, but I noticed that the direction of the flying sand had shifted to the opposite direction, so now sand was flying from behind me.
"Carmela! Snap out of it! Use Crunch!" Wilbur ran around frantically, coughing from the sandstorm. Carmela stopped slashing the air and looked for Rotom who was preparing for another Discharge. She was already paralyzed from the first Discharge and still confused, but was able to sniff Rotom out as she pushed the electric attack away. It did, however cause her to lose footing on one enormous foot and she took a knee to the sandy ground.
"Discharge!" I yelled. Rotom pinpointed the blue pattern on the pokemon and used that as a guide for its next attack. Carmela had regained her footing and charged at Rotom with the intent that she would defeat him, here and now. Rotom floated rapidly at her in the storm as sand flew by him and smacked across Carmela's rocky body. The Discharge was expelled from Rotom's small body as it struck the blue scaly plate on Carmela's stomach. She couldn't keep her footing and was sent backwards by the force of the sandstorm in her direction onto her back, unable to stand.
"Carmela!" Wilbur said as the storm subsided and I could once again see the old, worn Gym Leader and his gym. He was hopping up and down as Carmela lie there limp and unable to fight. She was returned back into his pokeball and Rotom collapsed from exhaustion. I pulled out Rotom's pokeball, which I rarely use and returned him inside his foreign home.
"Wow girl you sure do have fight in you. I thought my trump was gonna send your Ghost flying out and back to Jubilife City but you were amazing!" Wilbur said, flailing arms and everything. He had a eureka moment and ran off the arena and in through a door. He reemerged with a sparkling object he identified to me as a badge.
"For your outstanding performance here." He said placing the Badge gently in my palm. I was breathless, speechless, too because of my achievement, but mostly breathless. And a little nauseous.
"With this Gym Badge, I'm counting on your face appearing on everyone's screens as you beat the rest of the Pokemon League!" Wilbur said smiling, some teeth missing. He shook my hand and I was still taking this glorious moment in.
"I don't even know how were able to beat Carmela." I blurted.
"Oh, don't you say anything! You and Rotom are a hardworking team. I might be an old bag of bones but even I could see that. You and Rotom showed excellence in your battlefield skills and my job is done." Wilbur said, ecstatically. He ran out of the Gym, leaving me there as if he had won instead and as I walked out I could catch a glimpse of him as he ran into the pokemon center.
Nurse Joy handed me my lone pokeball and I immediately released Rotom from the orb. He had his energy returned to him and he smiled at me. We walked out of the center and had a brief moment to cheer for our victory.
"I can't believe you took down that monster!" I said cheering.
"You helped, too." Rotom said, pausing the celebration. "You're expertise in Ghost pokemon is what allowed us to secure victory. I'm really proud of you, Aria." Rotom said. I blushed and smiled at him, sweetly. I looked at the badge still in my hand and Rotom floated closer to get a better look at it. It was a metallic coal badge and I placed it carefully into my badge case. According to the direction of the Nurse Joy back at center, our next destination was up through Floaroma Town and into Eterna City. She warned me not to cross into that area because it was infested with Team Galactic, but I told her I had papers granting me entrance into the city.
Rotom and I walked back through the cave from Oreburgh City talking about our next goal. The Eterna City Gym Leader was a Grass-type user and Rotom told me his Discharge would be less effective on Grass-pokemon.
"That means you and I need to train and become stronger as well as smarter." Rotom said to me. I nodded and we kept walking. I was starting to feel the effects of fatigue as we exited the small cave.
In an open field that contained park benches and a playground, I saw two children playing with a Delcatty as it ran around them. A woman who I identified to be their mother was watching the kids play and sitting next to her was a Houndoom that watched the kids protectively, snarling at us when we walked by. I told Rotom we might as well check by the stay-in home we'd encountered before, and Rotom couldn't complain as the sun was beginning to go down.
That night I had amazing dreams and thought about racing back to Twinleaf to show my Dad the badge. It felt like I could accomplish anything I ever imagined for and more. Rotom and I snoozed quickly and in a room, far away from Jubilife in a dark blue building a conversation was taking place. One that would change the track of my journey in times to come.
"Don't be daft, Arnold, you can't expect the Society to go quietly if we launch some bombs at them again." A staunch brown-haired woman spat at a Galactic Grunt who voiced his opinion on taking back Hearthome.
"Madame Mars, your excellency, you do realize that our spy is still living in that city." Spoke Hadron, the head scientist for the Galactic Regime. He wore light purple glasses covering his large nose and wore a white lab coat. His ancient eyes bore into the young commander as she turned her head to face the scientist, as though she had a ball on her nose that she was balancing.
"I'm already handling it. My intel reported that the Society is conducting a field test on Mt. Coronet in about a week. Then, I'm sending my very own Skarmory to deal with the spy issue. Don't worry your big nose in my business again, Hadron." She said coldly, walking out of the room in her black hunting shoes. She didn't bat an eye when two Grunts almost walked into her, and they stopped and saluted as she stormed out of the conference room.
After leaving the building with shreds of her temper she found a man standing in wait for her next to a black, expensive-looking car. There she got into a car that drove from the Veilstone Galactic headquarters to the Galactic Advanced War Studies Facility in Sunnyshore.
Aria snored as Commander Mars walked past the P.O.W cells in the Galactic Headquarters Capital. She passed by several starving Society inmates who she glided past and didn't utter a word, when a student who was imprisoned from Sunnyshore University was catcalling her. She grabbed the shirt of the guy and stared him cold in the eyes through the bars of his cell.
"I'll rip off your nails, Metis, one by one and stick them into your eyes if you ever talk to me like that again." She said pushing him to the ground as she kept walking. Her scene had caused silence to run through the rest of the cells as she crossed into a Galactic office room. All the grunts and scientists rose up when she walked in, saluting her, as she made her way through the maze of the work stations. Her long, braided brown hair was bouncing when she turned a sharp corner and faced a man whom knew her.
"Everyone else get back to work!" She ordered. All the grunts and scientists returned to their jobs while some continued looking at the Commander and the young man she knew.
"Glad of you to come, Mars." The man said walking as she walked beside him down the row of working grunts. Her companion opened a door at the head of the office and led them down a long hallway.
"Jupiter said what you found was game-changing Brigham, but she couldn't tell me what it was so I was sent here to see it." Mars said to the man.
"Well, we were exploring the ruins of Sendoff Springs when a Grunt stumbled on the relic." Brigham said as they turned a corner into a lab where a scientist was pouring acidic material on a Ratatta. She didn't look at him, when he looked at her and kept talking. Then, when he told her it belonged to a legendary pokemon it caught her attention and she looked intently at him.
"We've been coming up dead-ended on the Adamant and Lustrous orbs but wait till you see this." Brigham said coming up to a vault. He and another security guard walked up to two keypads on the walls of the safe and swiped their identification cards. Then, they both typed in two passwords needed to open the safe as the door opened. Mars and Brigham walked inside and Mars was in awe when she saw the artifact.
"What is this rock?" She said touching the marvel. Brigham watched her carefully as she inspected the gold colored stone.
"It is the sacred stone of the legendary pokemon, Giratina." Mars's interest diminished.
"What are we supposed to do with this rock?" She demanded. Brigham was stunned for a moment.
"Well, if we take it to the Turnback Cave we might be able to find some clues on how to summon it." Mars looked at him insultingly.
"You're gonna tell me that you can summon Giratina, the beast that roams the universe opposite in everything to our very own?" She asked him, intimidatingly.
Mars walked out of the laboratory holding a communicator to her ear. She walked out the front desk when Jupiter answered the call far away in Pastoria City. They exchanged information and exchanged some useful things. Mars was oblivious to the rain that started pouring when she departed from the research facility. She picked up her pace as she walked towards her black car. The chauffeur driving it was standing in the rain with an umbrella as she neared him. The call with Jupiter was over and she slipped it back into her pocket as she stepped and crushed a blooming daffodil screaming for water. It lay mangled in the rain as Mars drove off in her car and the door to a safe was closed shut somewhere.