Chapter Seven:
Grandmaster Andromeda
Morning (7:23 A.M.), Professor Cherry's Lab
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw~!" Professor Cherry awoke with a yawn as he got out of bed.
Well, yesterday sure was interesting. He reflected as he went to the bathroom mirror and began combing his luxurious, pink hair. It was fun having Jackie for the night.
"PROFESSOR!"
"Huh?" he walked out of the bathroom to be greeted by his aide, Catherine, "What is it?"
"It's all over the news!" Catherine told him frantically, "Our police station was assaulted last night! All the police were found passed out on the ground!"
"What?!" Cherry shrieked as he dropped his comb, "Did the prisoner do it or did someone break him out?"
The aide shook her head, "No, that's just the thing! Virgo was still there in his cell, but he kept saying his name was Nigel, not Virgo, and that he had no idea what we were talking about when asked about Team Universal!"
"WHAT?!" the professor yelled as he turned around and placed a hand on his forehead. I don't believe it! Every time, it always happens! We're no closer now than we were when the investigation first started! Every time we capture someone from Team Universal, they either break out or wind up with no memory relating to Team Universal. Dammit! I'll have to report this to Kite…
He turned back to his aide, "Catherine… does Jackie know about this?"
"Uhh… about that, Professor," she swallowed nervously, "He left forty minutes ago,"
Cherry froze.
"Uhh… Professor Cherry?" the aide asked nervously.
"Arceus dammit!"
Morning (7: 42 A.M.), Route 8
Route 8 was a calm, serene forest close to the Agua River. Several times Jackie had actually seen the mighty river in areas where the trees thinned.
He had left Rosa City almost half an hour ago, and had made good progress since.
Before he had left, he made sure to buy five Poké Balls from the mall, bringing his funds down to 2500 pokédollars.
He had run into several wild Pokémon along the way, but they were quickly defeated by Sonja or Runt, whose moveset consisted of Tackle, Leer, Smokescreen, and Ember.
He didn't catch any of the Pokémon he ran into, because he planned on saving his Poké Balls for something he really wanted to catch and knew that he was going to use.
After all, who would be cruel enough to steal a pokémon from its home, and never even use it afterward?
The main problem he had been dealing with so far was Runt.
The small Cyndaquil was starved for battle and at times proved to be very uncooperative and stubborn. He had already gotten hurt in a battle with a wild Surskit and Jackie had to use a potion to heal him up.
Jackie sighed, "I hope I can fix those issues he has,"
"(I hope so too.)" Sonja, who was perched on his head, agreed.
He continued on along the route, and, within an hour, he was out of the woods.
"Aah!" he exclaimed in excitement, "Finally! We're here!" he ran forward, racing into the town of Cape Blanco.
"Gym Leader, here I come!"
Morning (7:45 A.M.), Unknown
She sighed in relief as she rested at the pond's edge.
She had eluded her captors, for the time being, anyways.
She got up and stretched her legs; they seemed to be working fine, even after all those hours of running.
With a sigh, she walked over to the pond and drank from its waters.
She would have to run again soon, since it was no doubt that they were still pursuing her through this strange land.
Morning (7:50 A.M.), Team Universal Base
"Greetings," Galaxy Lord Circinus bowed as he entered the room, "Hmm?" he gazed around, only one other person was in the room with him.
"Greetings," his fellow Galaxy Lord bowed back.
He scowled, "Where is the Grandmaster?"
"Probably on another excursion to the stars," the other Galaxy Lord answered with a shrug, "I hear you were successful in taking care of the failure,"
"Yes, it was almost too easy," he stared down at her, "And where is Cigar?"
She blinked in surprise, "You didn't know? He was sent off to Amarillo City on a mission, didn't the Grandmaster tell you?"
His eyes narrowed in annoyance, "No, I guess not. Oh well. What about you?"
The female Galaxy Lord inspected her nails, "Oh, nothing much, although I hear the Grandmaster will have a new assignment for me shortly,"
Circinus gritted his teeth in barely controlled rage, "I see,"
How come everyone else got the important missions, while all I got was a simple memory erasing job?
"So," he glared at her, "How goes the whole 'retrieval' operation?"
She looked up and frowned, "Not too well, if it keeps going on like this, one of us will have to step up,"
He sighed, "That would be most unfortunate,"
Greetings.
Both Galaxy Lords looked up as the voice entered their heads.
A being wearing a long, flowing, pitch-black robe levitated in above them.
The pitch-black robe somewhat resembled theirs, with the large spiral galaxy-shaped marking, inside of which a golden 'U' with a purple eye inside was emblazoned, on the chest, but what differed was that this spiral galaxy was moving, rotating around the golden 'U'.
Aside from the spiral galaxy on the robe's chest region, various other galaxies, stars, and constellations decorated the robe, all in motion.
The robe's sleeves were long and trailing, similar to a grim reaper's.
On the robe's hood, instead of two golden eyes like most of the members of their ranks, were two unmoving objects: a sun and a moon, each with a purple eye inside. Above those was a third eye, larger than first two, and glowing in a golden light.
"Welcome, Grandmaster Andromeda," the two Galaxy Lords bowed before their leader.
Thank you, my Galaxy Lords. The Grandmaster lifted the robe's hood, revealing a strange illusion of a mask.
Right where the left eye would be was a black hole, which was surrounded by various astronomical objects such as nebulae, star systems, and interstellar clouds…