The Ranger led them back to the E-Anon Building. She and her Duosion took them down the hall where all the inmates were kept. The Ranger walked slowly, letting Giovanni and Cyrus watch each identical door pass by. It's like the rungs of a ladder I'm being forced to climb, thought Giovanni, a ladder that leads to Hell.

Finally, they came to the reinforced metal door that Giovanni had seen before. He still heard the low buzz emanating from it. Despite being held tightly in place by Duosion's psychic power, Giovanni's muscles seized up. What horrible thing is waiting for me in there? A rack? Are they going to have a Panpour drip water on me until I go insane?! Giovanni turned pale. But wait... it's the Viewing Room. Are they going to force my eyes open like in a Clockwork Oran Berry?! He tried to shout or call for help, but the psychic power surrounding him made it impossible to open his mouth.

The Ranger pressed her hand to the wall on one side of the door, and a hidden panel slid out. She took a keycard out of her Rangers' belt and swiped it. The door ground open, making the noise of a dying Klinklang. Giovanni's heart beat faster as the Ranger led him and Cyrus into the dimly-lit room. Inside was a table with two restraint chairs behind it. On the table lay a projector.

"Duosion, have our guests sit down!"

The Duosion sent one more burst of energy and lowered Giovanni and Cyrus into the chairs. Duosion used his telekinesis to strap them in.

"Now, just wait for a second, you two. I know how excited you must be." The pokémon Ranger fiddled with a few setting on the projector. She walked to the other side of the room and pulled down a string that was hanging from the ceiling. A white projector slid open. The Ranger walked back and hit one more button on the projector. "Have fun watching these... let's call them home movies! Oh, and after this, you'll get your cute little pokémon back." She dropped two pokéballs on the table. One, Cyrus's pokéball, slowly rolled toward him. The Ranger cocked her head and smiled. She left. The door ground closed, making the same horrible noise.

At least I won't be flogged. But will whatever I have to watch be so horrifying that I go mad? Will the volume be so loud that my eardrums pop? Probably the latter, since my eyes aren't being held open. Giovanni watched the projector screen expectantly. I'll just shut my eyes when it gets bad. I'll survive this, I'll survive this, I'll survive this...

An image appeared. Giovanni winced prematurely. The footage played. The video showed Giovanni talking to the pokémon Ranger.

I... did this earlier, didn't I? Giovanni's memory was somewhat hazy. He suddenly had an image flash through his mind like lightning—an image of himself being cheerful. Wait. No. This can't be! He struggled desperately against his bonds, like a beached Magikarp flailing. Nothing disturbing was happening onscreen, but he knew what was to come.

Cyrus turned his head to look at him. "You should conserve your will. Fear can be overcome with sufficient willpower," he said in monotone.

"I never asked for your opinion, sociopath! I'm just checking to see if these will snap!" But Giovanni bonds didn't loosen at all.

The video played, showing Giovanni smiling and trying to comfort Cyrus by patting and reassuring him. Giovanni shut his eyes tight, but even though he couldn't see the video, he could hear everything—everything he had said when he was drugged. He felt the urge to retch. The video hadn't even shown him dancing to the Hoke Poke song, but he could already feel the veins in his forehead threatening to burst. Giovanni, you lived through this once. You can survive hearing it again, he repeated to himself. You'll just escape from this place, kill everyone here, and then nobody will ever know this happened. He still felt enraged. Why can't humans learn Amnesia?! It's not fair!

The video continued. Giovanni heard Cyrus beginning the song.

You hold your Red Card up,

you hold your Red Card out.

You hold your Red Card up,

and you flip it all about—

Giovanni's face went bright red. He clenched his fists so hard they started shaking. "Cyrus!" he shouted. "What gender is Luvdisc?! Does it know Attract?!"

"I do not know," said Cyrus. His facial muscles were twitching slightly, but he seemed otherwise normal. "To even release Luvdisc from its pokéball, I would have to somehow press the button with my face."

"Do it!" Giovanni snapped. The Hoke Poke song felt like it was burning through his brain.

Cyrus did not argue or ask why. He leaned his neck down toward the pokéball. He reached within about an inch away from it, but he couldn't touch it. He couldn't lean any further. With no other options, he stuck his tongue out and rolled the pokéball closer. He pressed the button.

The light flashed and Luvdisc formed on the table. It was wide-eyed.

"Luvdisc, use Attract on Giovanni and me," commanded Cyrus.

Luvdisc bounced a little. It pursed its lips and two glowing, hot pink hearts appeared in front of it. It blew one heart to Cyrus and one to Giovanni. The hearts burst, releasing pulses of infatuation.

Oh, Luvdisc is so cute. I love Luvdisc! Giovanni thought suddenly. I love Luvdisc, I love Luvdisc, I love Luvdisc... was all he could think. He was vaguely aware of the footage continuing on the projector screen, finishing, and repeating again, but none of it remotely affected him. He had no idea how many times the same video of him smiling, dancing, and crying repeated on screen. It was like waking up from a complicated dream and barely remembering it—it could have been five repetitions, or five hundred. Giovanni couldn't tell.

The video screen went blank. The door ground open again. Acting on some sort of instinct, Luvdisc hid by Cyrus's feet and lay down flat on its side.

Giovanni could hear the sound of footsteps in the room.

"See, Inari? They're totally calm now." It was the Ranger's voice.

"Hm. I see. Completely blank. Now, what was this disturbance you mentioned?" asked Inari.

"Um... Lass Mia's Pichu escaped. I think it's in the vents."

"Again?" Inari's tone was harsh. "I told you not to give her her pokémon back early. I don't care how cute it looks! It could disrupt our electricity! Go find it, now!"

"What about these two?"

"I'll tell them about the program later. Just leave them here for now. They can't do anything in this state."
Inari and the Ranger left the room. The door shut.

Luvdisc... Luvdisc... wait. What just happened was important, wasn't it? Giovanni shook his head as hard as he could, his infatuation fading. "Dear Luvdisc, wherever you are, could you spray me with some water?"

Luvdisc hopped out from underneath the table. It tilted its body up but did nothing but stare at Giovanni.

"It will help your owner as well."

Luvdisc blasted water at Giovanni. His face was drenched. He shook his head again, feeling his usual state of annoyance return. "Luvdisc, roll my pokéball into my lap!"

Luvdisc rolled the ball off the table and Giovanni was able to just barely reach it with his hands. He pressed the button, and his Clefable appeared behind him. "Release us, Clefable," Giovanni said quietly.

"Pipipi!" Clefable used its little claws to rip Giovanni's and Cyrus's bonds. Giovanni immediately rubbed the place on his arms where he had been restrained. Cyrus, on the other hand, seemed totally empty inside. He was staring at nothing, and his eyes looked dead. He started to fall forward, and Giovanni caught him a split second before his face slammed into the table.

Giovanni slapped Cyrus hard. "Wake up! I don't have time for this. Do you want to be stuck here forever?"

Cyrus blinked a few times. "...I am fine. I'm not used to the feeling of emotions for another." He carefully stood up.

"I don't care whether you're fine or not!" Giovanni snapped. "Besides, you're lying. After all, you own a Crobat, don't you? You're just a hypocrite!"

"...I don't feel anything for my Crobat. It evolved from a Golbat regardless."

Giovanni crossed his arms. "Really, now? Do you expect me to believe that a pokémon can't sense what a human feels after all I was put through?" he asked. "You're not even an effective sociopath. Pathetic."

"We have little time, as you just said. We need to find a way out of here, now."

"Fine. The door is metal, so I'm going through the wall instead." He looked at Clefable. "Use Moonblast on the far wall."

Clefable held its arms above its head, forming a swirling ball of pink moonlight that grew until it was too large to support. Clefable flung it at the wall and it exploded in a shower of blinding pink sparkles. When they cleared, the wall had a gaping hole in it.

Even if these guards are dumb as fat Slowpoke, they'll come to investigate a noise that loud, thought Giovanni. He and Cyrus immediately returned their pokémon to their pokéballs, and left through the hole in the wall.

On the other side was an area that looked like a warehouse—it had a metal floor with small reinforced walls arranged like a labyrinth. There were strangely bright-colored tiles scattered throughout the floor, set in the metal.

Giovanni and Cyrus walked a few steps out onto the metal floor. Cyrus looked down at one of the tiles. On it was a black arrow pointing left.

"What is this?" asked Cyrus.

Giovanni raised an eyebrow. "You don't know? Those are spinner tiles. They send you spinning off in a direction until you reach a very rough surface." Giovanni looked to the left, but just saw another metal wall. "I don't understand why this tile was placed here, though. I used to have them set up as traps in my gym—and then there was the time my Rocket grunts decided to install a them in my hideout without telling me." His eyes narrowed. "I often wonder why I ever bothered trying to work with people."

"Ignorant people are easily controlled," said Cyrus. He avoided the tile and walked into the maze-like area of the room. He carefully checked behind the first wall he came across. "No one is in this hallway," he said very quietly.

Giovanni followed him. Indeed, nobody seemed to be around. Cyrus and Giovanni neither saw nor heard anyone. You'd think an area like this would be guarded, thought Giovanni. Unless this maze is supposed to be a kind of trap.

Cyrus turned another corner. Something on the floor made a beeping sound, and suddenly Cyrus spun rapidly forward. He had tripped a tile. Giovanni ran right over the same tile and chased after Cyrus. The hall ended abruptly in another metal wall. Cyrus, unable to stop, slammed into it face-first. He stumbled backward, but Giovanni caught him before he could fall and shoved him back to a standing position.

Cyrus shot Giovanni a strange look.

"I didn't want you falling on my foot, you idiot." Giovanni glared at him.

"That tile was unavoidable. Why did you not activate it?"

Giovanni sighed. "My shoes are custom-made to not trip these kinds of traps. Otherwise it would be hell every time I'd have to walk through my gym."

"I see. Then you should walk in front of me."

Giovanni agreed, and they continued.

Every time they went through another break in a wall, the hall would just end in another wall. Each hallwy looked pretty much the same, even down to where the spinner tiles were placed. It was as if the whole room was just a giant fractal, and nothing led anywhere. After only ten minutes of walking, Giovanni felt frustrated enough to try having Clefable punch through the walls, although he knew that would be self-defeating.

I need to occupy myself somehow so I don't go insane from the repetition. "Cyrus," said Giovanni, "I figure that you don't want to have to dwell on... I think yesterday's... activities any more than I do, but do you actually ever doubt your insane philosophy, or was that just the drugs talking?"

Cyrus did not answer right away. "...I would not have come to Unova unless I had recognized the possibility of my being wrong. When my plan in Sinnoh was ruined, I was at first certain that it was due to a lack of information, which was unfortunately something I could not have rectified no matter what I had planned for.

"However, after reflecting on my life in the Distortion World, I realized how I am a product of my upbringing. I was defeated by children who believed that life has worth. Had I lived differently, I might have ended up sharing their beliefs with the same intensity with which I believe my philosophy now... This is all theoretical, of course.

"I came to Unova to see if I could harness the power of a pokémon that contains an infinite amount of energy within its body. But were I to succeed in creating a world without spirit with that power... I could find out that I've been wrong all along... and find that out far too late to fix anything." Cyrus slowed his pace slightly.

"Do have to blather on like that every time you open your mouth?!" Giovanni scowled. "Oh, so you're too scared to go through with it?" He walked more quickly and stopped in front of Cyrus. "You're even more pathetic than I thought! You hypocrite. You can't do anything!"

"Don't yell." Cyrus's blank stare did not falter. "...It's true... I admit to being hypocritical. Similar... in a way, to how you despise yourself but are too afraid to die."

Giovanni opened his mouth, but no words came out. His mind had become a blank slate.

"Oh, you two are so late!" a feminine voice rang out.

Giovanni and Cyrus quickly turned toward the voice. Standing to their right, behind another break in the walls, was the Aroma Lady and her Kadabra. Behind her were four pokémon Breeders, who all looked eerily alike. They were standing in front of glowing teleporters.

"You two really kept us waiting! We had to be so very quiet." said the Aroma Lady. "I've been waiting to participate in a horde battle for so long. This will be fun, Kadabra!"

"A five-on-two battle?!" Giovanni took a step back. "How is that legal?!"

"Oh, I'm sure it's legal, Mr. Giovanni." She smiled. "But since when have you cared about legality?" She pointed to him theatrically. "Battle start!" she called.