DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon. All characters herein belong to Nintendo. I'm just a fan having a bit of non-profit fun and exercising my lazy imagination...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is a little longer, because I didn't want to break things up. I hope it's not too long!

SEVEN

"What do we do now?" Lucas asked as soon as they were out of the echo-inducing auditorium. He was chilled by what he had just heard, even though he didn't fully understand it. How did Cyrus intend to 'change the world'? Somehow, Lucas suspected that it wouldn't be a change for the better.

"That was their leader," Looker replied thoughtfully. "So, now I know the truth. And I must...yes, I must follow him. He mentioned the Coronet mountain." He set off walking purposefully down the corridor.

"But we can't go to Mount Coronet!" Barry protested, glancing at Lucas to make sure that he wasn't about to follow the detective.

"No, it will be too dangerous," Looker agreed. "I go alone." He beckoned with his arm. "Come, I will lead you out of this base and then – "

"We're not leaving until we've rescued the lake spirits," Lucas said, his voice leaving no room for argument. "Don't worry about us, Mr. Looker. We've got our own Pokémon to protect us and we're not afraid to use them."

"I see. You are very brave. In that case, I bid you farewell – and good luck."

"Good luck to you, too," Barry murmured. He watched the tail end of Looker's brown leather coat disappearing around the corner. Then, turning to Lucas, he added, "He's gonna need it if he's going to Mount Coronet."

"Yeah, but what about us?" Lucas replied nervously. "How are we supposed to find three Pokémon in a place like this?"

"We start walking, we stick together and we hope we strike lucky." Barry grabbed one of the six Pokéballs from his belt and brandished it like a weapon. "And if anyone challenges us, we flatten them."

It didn't sound like much of a plan to Lucas, but they were in it together now. Trying his best to look brave and ready for anything, he nodded. This is for Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf, he reminded himself. We can't let Team Galactic use them for evil. We failed to protect them at the lakes, but we can't fail now.

"Lead the way, then," Lucas muttered. Barry didn't need to be told; he was already off.

*****

"So..."

For a moment, Jupiter was trying to remember Dawn's name. She didn't think the girl had ever introduced herself properly, even though they had met at least once before Lake Acuity. Then a thought crossed her mind and she almost laughed. Why am I trying to recall her name when she doesn't even know it herself? Besides, she won't be needing a name anymore. The commander quickly put on a straight face to recover from her hesitation.

"What did you think of Master Cyrus?" she asked.

There were lots of small pleasures in life. Seeing this little brat, who had once been a thorn in Team Galactic's side, with such a look of awe and wonder on her face at the mere mention of Cyrus's name, was one of them. She's ours now, Jupiter thought smugly. There's no doubt about that. And the boss would be pleased. Oh, he wouldn't show it – of course not – but he had mentioned meeting this girl before, in Celestic Town. He'd barely described her, but Jupiter just knew that it had to be this one. He would be happy enough that they had managed to neutralise a threat, but Jupiter had something else up her sleeve. Something even better.

"It was a brilliant speech," Dawn said at last.

"Would you like to meet him?"

"Who, m-me?" Dawn's jaw practically dropped to the floor and her eyes were huge with shock. "Meet Master Cyrus? B-but...!"

By now, they had reached the card-controlled gate that separated Cyrus's quarters from the rest of the building. Although Jupiter had been sure of what she was doing, she began to wonder whether it would be such a good idea. She bit her lip as she glanced towards the gate. Maybe I'd better discuss it with him first. The commander held up a hand to silence Dawn's ongoing protests.

"Wait here." She opened the gate and pointed a warning finger at the girl. "I mean it. Don't you dare move."

Dawn nodded again and folded her arms, making herself look as stiff as a statue. Jupiter still didn't trust her, but she gave her the benefit of the doubt and left her in the corridor while she continued alone to her boss's office. Everything was different beyond those stairs. Cyrus's quarters were luxurious and roomy, the dark blue walls and dimmed lighting making a welcome change from the endless white that covered the rest of the base. Jupiter found Cyrus in his office. He was gazing out of the window, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Master Cyrus..." Although her leader's back was turned, Jupiter still bowed as she entered the room. "If I could have just a quick word..."

"Yes," Cyrus replied at once, without turning around. "I wanted to congratulate you on your success at Lake Acuity."

"Actually, Sir, while we were there, something happened which I think you might find..." A tiny smile crinkled the edges of Jupiter's mouth. "...interesting."

"Continue."

"That girl chose to interfere again. The one who..." Jupiter was about to mention her own defeat at Eterna City, but decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to remind her boss of her past failings at a time like this.

"A heroic effort..." Cyrus began absent-mindedly, "...which you swiftly crushed, I hope." He glanced over his shoulder with the second half of his sentence.

"I did, Sir. Once and for all." Jupiter waited, knowing that her boss would ask. She was right.

"How did you do it?"

"I decided to see whether the legends about Uxie were true," the commander replied, her smile growing. "Seen as it was already under our control, I ordered it to attack. It would seem that, when it opened its eyes, it erased our would-be heroine's memory."

"What makes you so sure?"

"There was someone else there, a boy who claimed to be her friend. She didn't seem to remember him at all – "

"Could have been a fluke."

"...then she lashed out at her own Pokémon, discarded them in a state of confusion and fled into the woods."

"Then perhaps she was affected in some way," Cyrus said with an air of finality and a slight shrug. "But memory loss is difficult to measure." He fell silent for a moment, mentally playing out the story that Jupiter had just told him. "She ran off into the woods, did she?" Another brief silence, during which Jupiter was sure she heard a quiet laugh. "The weather there can be very harsh."

"She's still alive, Sir. In fact, she's here. But don't worry, your speech was enough to win her over."

Cyrus scowled. He'd had enough of pretending to be interested in what Jupiter was saying. He had only listened this far in order to keep up an appearance of having at least a sliver of concern about humanity. Really, it didn't matter anymore. Even if the legend about Uxie was true, it didn't matter. Why should he care about what the spirit Pokémon could do, or how they could affect the human race? He didn't intend to keep either around when his plan was complete. Just a little longer.

"I see," he muttered.

Jupiter wasn't concerned at Cyrus's lack of enthusiasm. Since when was he enthusiastic about anything except for his ultimate goal? He was focused and single-minded, but this was an opportunity that he wouldn't want to miss.

"I was thinking that we should keep her around," Jupiter said. "She could be valuable. If we can prove that Uxie really does have the power to destroy a person's memory, we – forgive me, you could perhaps use it as a weapon. Against anyone who might foolishly oppose you in the future. And since we also have the other two spirit Pokémon, maybe we could see whether the legends about them are true in the same way."

Cyrus almost laughed. Poor Jupiter. She thought that she was being so incredibly helpful, but he was several steps ahead of her. He'd already considered using the lake guardians, forcing them to revoke the 'gifts' that they had given to humanity. It would have been a quick way to abolish all of the things that were wrong with the world. He could have erased all knowledge, emotion and willpower in an instant.

But then, he had spent so long wondering why he should bother to salvage the rest of the human race at all. With their emotions and desires, they were detestable. Without them, they were useless, nothing but empty shells. As soon as Cyrus controlled time and space, what could he possibly want or need from other people? The logical answer was to get rid of them altogether. That way, there would be no chance of opposition. But, of course, he wasn't about to unravel everything at such a crucial moment. He needed the commanders for the final stage of his plan.

"What you're saying is that we should keep her as a test subject," Cyrus said, just to make sure that he was theoretically on the same page as Jupiter.

"Precisely."

"I'll entrust that piece of research to you, then. Do what you want with the girl, as long as it keeps her out of our way."

*****

It was another long corridor, but there was something different about this one. It was lined with thick, transparent tubes in which something noxious and green was bubbling. The atmosphere, too, was different. It was much more sinister. Barry and Lucas walked down the corridor in silence, almost wishing that they would run into a member of Team Galactic: a battle might have made the place seem less creepy. Out of sheer curiosity, Barry took a closer look at one of the tubes. There was something floating in the green liquid. He realised that he wasn't so keen to find out what it was.

"I think we're getting close," he muttered. It was just a feeling that he had – not a very nice feeling, but a strong one.

At the end of the corridor lay a set of double doors, and beside them, one single door that was almost invisible: unlike all the others, it was white like the walls around it. The panel beside the double doors clearly read Main Laboratory. It was hardly a surprise. Lucas pulled a face. He hoped that the three lake Pokémon weren't anywhere nearby. If they were, he wasn't eager to find out why they had been brought to a laboratory. Funny, he thought. I spend most of my time in a research lab and I've never felt as sick as I do now.

The two boys weren't about to go through those doors. They could hear people moving and talking on the other side. They had already battled a few Grunts along the way – or half-battled, rather, seen as the Grunts had all run away once they'd realised they couldn't win – and they were trying to conserve their Pokemon's energy in case there were some bigger Magikarp to fry. Barry was itching to meet Commander Jupiter again for the sake of revenge, but when he heard footsteps approaching on the other side of the double doors, he changed his mind.

"In here!" Lucas had already ducked through the white door nearby and Barry scurried after him.

They closed the door behind them just as a pair of scientists walked into the corridor – and stood right outside the room where the two intruders were hiding. Lucas looked around. They had ended up in some kind of apparatus closet, filled with spare lab coats and other things. He watched the pair of scientists through the keyhole, hoping that they weren't on their way to pick something up. But it didn't look as though they were doing anything except holding a conversation. The walls must have been very thin; Lucas could hear every word of what they were saying. They didn't sound very happy.

"I'll have to say something. I can't take this anymore."

"Well, it should be over now. They've got the red chains."

"But what are they going to do with them? That's what bothers me! If they use them for something dreadful, won't you feel bad?"

"I know what you're saying, but it shouldn't be our concern. It's in Cyrus's hands now."

"...and that definitely bothers me. There's something scary about him. I mean it."

The two scientists broke off their conversation as they became aware of a shadow that had fallen upon them. They followed it with their eyes and found themselves gazing at Commander Jupiter. They hadn't heard her approaching, but they could safely bet that she'd heard at least some of their conversation. One of them muttered her name in acknowledgement, but she replied only with a look of disdain. "Get inside," she ordered, glancing at the laboratory doors. "I need to speak to you. All of you, together. Is Commander Charon there?"

"Yes, ma'am."

The pair of scientists gravely returned to the laboratory with Jupiter close behind them. The atmosphere beyond those doors was sombre, unlike anything she had ever experienced before. For a moment, she was sure that something had gone tragically wrong and she hastily searched for the worst possible scenario, a bubble of fear expanding in her throat.

"What's happened?" she asked, her voice sounding higher-pitched than usual. "Where are the chains? Did you fail, after all this?"

Still hiding in the apparatus closet, Lucas had noticed another door, hidden behind a rack of aprons and coats. It must have led into the main laboratory. He tugged Barry's sleeve and pointed it out, and they both hid themselves behind the rack. Not only did it serve as a good hiding place, but it also allowed them to listen in on what was taking place in the lab. They could even watch through the keyhole if they wanted. They figured that nobody ever used this door, otherwise it wouldn't have been blocked. They were safe, for now.

"Everything went according to plan," a flat voice replied from the other end of the large laboratory. "Master Cyrus is already in possession of the two red chains."

Jupiter couldn't see the speaker; he was obscured by one of the three large machines that held the captured lake Pokémon. But she could recognise Charon's voice by now, even though he was the newest addition to the organisation's hierarchy. She let out her breath in relief, then clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"So, why the melancholy?" she snapped, gazing around the room at the grim-looking scientists, some of whom had already removed their white coats. "Or is it just tiredness?"

"Commander." One of the scientists stepped forward. He was a reasonably young man, maybe not much more than thirty. He didn't look particularly brave; he was almost wringing his hands. "I'm sorry, but some of us really feel that – "

"Stop right there," Jupiter interrupted, holding her hand up and rolling her eyes at him. "I don't care what you're feeling."

"See what I've been putting up with all night?" Charon complained with a dramatic wave of his hands. "They think too much, all of them!"

"We think too much?" Another scientist, this one a middle-aged woman, took off the protective eye-wear that was hanging around her neck and threw it to the floor. "We thought we were being employed to research alternative forms of energy! Not this!"

"You're getting paid, aren't you?" Jupiter asked. "I don't see the problem."

"Cyrus's money is covered in innocent blood!" There was a loud crash as someone knocked a rack of glass tubes from a nearby desk. "We don't want it!"

Within the cupboard, Barry and Lucas looked at each other in alarm. They could only imagine what might have been happening to those poor Pokémon if even the scientists were making statements like that.

"Did you ever consider taking up drama instead of science?" Commander Jupiter asked with a sarcastic laugh. "I think you'd do much better."

"This isn't science, Commander. It's torture. Just look at the Pokémon!"

As much as she tried to remain calm and collected, Jupiter had a hair-trigger temper. She regarded it as her biggest weakness, but it was often the only thing that kept the Grunts in line if they continued to push her buttons. She wasn't even in control of it; she would simply lose it, without warning. She had just passed that point.

"Enough!" she yelled.

"I agree," said one of the scientists, too sickened and tired to be intimidated by her sudden rage. "I've had enough. I'm quitting."

"No, you're not!" Jupiter turned around and slammed the double doors behind her with so much force that the metal cabinets on the wall shook violently. Barry had his ear pressed to the closet door and winced as he felt the vibration. "Nobody is leaving this room! Our work here isn't done yet!"

"But, Commander, we extracted the crystals! What else do you – "

"I must agree with my colleague," Charon said, shuffling forward in order to speak to Jupiter properly, face-to-face. He looked at her in concern. "We have been working all night. What more does Master Cyrus want?"

"Forget the Pokémon," Jupiter replied. "We're finished with them. I've been put in charge of a different experiment." There was an uncomfortable silence. Jupiter was enjoying it, but she continued. "There was an incident at Lake Acuity in which a young girl made eye contact with Uxie. I'm sure you've heard the old legend about what that means, but we want scientific proof. We also want to know what the other two lake guardians can do. We need you to study her – "

"Uxie?" Charon turned around to glance at the machine which held the Pokémon in question. "But we already – "

"No! The girl!"

"Who is this girl? How old is she?"

"She's...it doesn't matter!" Annoyed at the lack of response from everyone else in the room, Jupiter put on her most patronising voice and spoke with exaggerated clarity, as if addressing a group of children. "She's not one of us. She's against us. She's an enemy. A nobody. Is that enough information for you?"

"But..." Charon began hesitantly.

Jupiter's shoulders suddenly dropped and her face became deadly calm. In her tempestuous rage, this was the eye of the storm, a brief respite before the final surge. "What?" she asked quietly. "What were you about to say?"

"Commander, with all due respect, she may be an enemy, but she's still a human being."

"Are you arguing with me, Commander Charon?" Jupiter gritted her teeth at the old man's silence. She repeated her question, much more slowly this time. "Are you arguing...with me?"

"Pokémon are one thing, Commander Jupiter, but I do draw the line at experimenting on living people. We can't – "

"You'll do whatever is necessary!"

Despite the rising hurricane of a woman standing in front of him, Charon was determined to finish his sentence. "We can't do anything without her consent."

"Consent!?" Jupiter half-screamed, as if she had never heard the word before in her life. "If she doesn't consent, you knock her out! Sedate her! I don't know, you're supposed to be scientists! Find a way!"

"Commander, please! What you're asking us to do is so horribly unethical – "

"Our Master is on the verge of creating a new world for all of us! We eliminate what we don't need, and we certainly don't need..." Jupiter seized the nearest thing, which just so happened to be a clipboard on the table next to her. She flung it at one of the scientists. "...pathetic cowards like yourselves! If you don't want to be eliminated in the very near future, I suggest that you pull yourselves together and start doing your jobs without complaining!"

She stepped back, breathless in the aftermath of her outburst, almost hating herself for allowing it to happen but certainly hating the people in that room for witnessing it – and causing it. Behind her, the door opened and a female Grunt put her head into the laboratory, very cautiously. She had probably heard Jupiter's shrieking from the other end of the building.

"Commander Jupiter," she said in a small voice, "Master Cyrus is waiting for you. He says that he wants to leave at once."

Jupiter didn't turn around. She waved a hand, silently telling the messenger to leave. A half-hearted flicker of anger flashed in her eyes, but she didn't have the energy to express it properly. "I'd hoped that you would make a start on this immediately," she said. "Thanks to your stupid arguments, it will have to wait until we return from Mount Coronet." Despite what had just taken place, she gave her fellow commander a nod of acknowledgement before she left, but as she closed the doors behind her, she broke into a laugh and added, "If Master Cyrus chooses to keep any of you alive."

The stunned scientists in the laboratory didn't hear her closing comment; they were all too busy contemplating what she had said before that. At last, one of them asked, "Do you think she was being serious?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," Charon replied with a shake of his head. "But let us forget about it for now. She's gone to Mount Coronet with the others, so we can rest awhile."

The commander ushered his team towards the door with a sweep of both hands. Muttering their agreements, the scientists filed out of the laboratory like a funeral procession. As soon as their footsteps had died away down the corridor, Barry and Lucas pulled the rack of lab coats away from the door and burst into the empty laboratory.

"Did you hear that?" Barry asked, his shoulders heaving as if he was about to be sick. "They've got Dawn! And they're going to...!"

"Not if we find her first."