Under the Same Sky

by Zokolov

Kris, Iris, Lyra, Wes, Hilda and other young trainers seek the legendary Jirachi, which is said to grant them any wish they desire. They travel through less-explored regions like Fiore, Orre and the Sevii Islands and get to know the local cultures, while dealing with a Giratina-worshiping cult that is also after the Wish Pokémon.

10. Shadow Lugia

Chapter Ten: "Shadow Lugia"

5:52 AM

It was early morning at the Snagem Hideout. Lunick had just come back from his guard shift, having collapsed in his bed, getting maybe less than an hour of sleep before they'd have to get up and meet Gonzap. Wes was also fast asleep, his hair messed up and drool running down his chin.

But Kris was awake, talking softly into her satellite phone. Missile had supplied her with a paper map of the Orre region. Blaine was on the other end, going over their plan.

"I knew I could count on you," Kris said. "So everything is okay on your end?"

"Of course," Blaine grunted, not sounding tired at all despite staying up all night to work on the plan. "It's a good thing I came prepared. I couldn't trust EXO to get everything done on their own."

"So tell me again," Kris said and looked at the map, "the factory you mentioned was behind Mt. Battle?"

"Yes. Thanks to your info about the location we were able to do a full scan of the area. Surveillance images from one of EXO's Fearow cameras show people in white uniforms, matching the reports we have about Cipher's troops. They were forcing a civilian in a lab coat inside a truck twenty minutes ago."

"And the technicians say they've seen the same truck before," Kris muttered as she ran her finger across the map. "Coming from the north, making a pit-stop at the oasis in the west and then..."

"Disappearing without a trace. That's why we still don't know where Cipher's HQ is. That factory is far too small to be the real thing. A whole convoy of trucks was seen leaving the factory and we now have an ETA for the oasis: 11:26. Fortunately for you, they're taking the scenic route."

"If we leave at seven, we'll beat them by an almost an hour if we take this path," Kris calculated. "But we have to take into account that we're not going to the oasis. Of course, this all depends on Wes' info being right, and he is, well, Wes."

"Yeah, that boy being our only source on Orre sucks, but I don't see why you'd have any reason to suspect him."

"He keeps downplaying the stuff he did for Team Snagem," Kris said quietly, hearing Wes turn around in his sleep. "Says he didn't know about the shadow Pokémon or that he didn't steal much Pokémon for them… I call Tauros on that. But Cipher was trying to off him before."

"What about Gonzap and Team Snagem? Do you trust them?"

"About as far as I can throw, well, anything. Or run without horrible pain in my sides… but I can see Gonzap really doesn't like Cipher. And he's not too smart either. I can wrap him around my pinky if I promise him a mountain of dead Cipher goons. Not that it'll come to, that, of course. We're doing this thing without anyone getting hurt."

"Nice ideal, Kris. We'll see how it turns out. So, you ready to start?"

"Yes," Kris said and looked at the satellite phone. "Now, tell me how to get that thing out..."

Later, Wes, Lunick and anyone else in the base who happened to be sleeping was woken up by Gonzap roaming the halls and roaring at everyone to gather outside. Soon enough, Kris, Wes, Lunick and Jackal, who looked unimpressed with everything, were standing in a row with Missile and the other Team Snagem goons. Kris noted that they all wore the same red vest with black undershirt combo, and all but Missile were bald. Unlike with Team Rocket or Team Galactic, they were also all male.

Gonzap and his Pokémon, a Skarmory and a nasty-looking Shiftry were walking around, looking at the row of Team Snagem members. There were twenty-five in total, a few remaining behind in the base. Every one of them had been prepped to take the fight to Cipher, though morale among the ranks fluctuated a lot. Gonzap's second-in-command, Wakin, and a few of his underlings, were quite eager and stared at Gonzap in awe while Missile was gung-ho as usual, but a majority of the grunts were slouching, grumbling amongst themselves and looking weary.

"MEN!" Gonzap bellowed, and everyone, even Kris, Wes and Lunick, stood at attention. "Today is THE DAY! Cipher, the slimy Ekans slithering around Orre, covering this fine region in its toxic ooze, will be stopped today. You, my beloved members of Team Snagem, can feast on the snake's entrails and tail as much as you want, but I will be the one to CRUSH its head in my mighty fist."

"He's quite the poet," Wes mumbled in Kris' ear.

"Thanks to our three guests," Gonzap continued, "we have formulated a plan to STOP the Cipher infestation. Now, I know some of you still regard this traitorous worm WESLEY here as the spawn of the Devil himself and probably wanted to STRANGLE him as he slept – I sure did," Gonzap added and laughed, probably expecting others to do so too. No one did, while Wes shifted around nervously.

"ANYWAY," Gonzap continued, "here to tell you about the plan is… PUNY PIGTAILED GIRL!"

Kris sighed. "It's Kris," she said as she stepped forward. Looking at the Team Snagem members stare at her suspiciously, she realized how much harder this plan was to relay to a group of people than to go it over in her head. "Um, hi, it's good to be here, this region is, uh, very sunny-"

"GET TO THE POINT, WOMAN!" Gonzap yelled.

Kris flinched. "Yeah, ahem, right. Thanks to my sources, I know that some Cipher members are transporting a kidnapped scientist to what I assume is their current base. We came here to rescue that geek, and getting him back will probably deal a big blow to Cipher. Um, but, even better, we can follow those trucks to their lair and find a route through which all of you can infiltrate their lair and take them out in their own home."

"If you are referring to this elusive TRUCK CONVOY," Gonzap shouted, "it DISAPPEARS every time we try to track it down. That, and one of our members is usually killed or wounded, but most importantly, WE LOSE THE TRUCKS!"

"Yeah, but thanks to what I heard from Wes here," Kris said, "and his sources, there might be an entrance to the Under somewhere around the oasis. The desert ends around there, making it easy to hide among the trees. The trucks most likely use the Under to get to their destination."

"Isn't the Under just some mine under Pyrite Town?" asked another Snagem Grunt.

"I spent a lot of time exploring after I quit this merry band," Wes explained. "There are tunnels stretching far and wide that all lead to the Under. Cipher must be using those tunnels to transport their goods, but the tunnels don't go all the way to the mountains yet. Meaning they have to travel part of the way on the surface in regular-looking trucks."

"Gonzap, I'd like you to split your men into three teams!" Kris said. "The first one will create a distraction for the trucks. Stop them for even a minute. That'll give us enough time to hijack one of them. Since robberies are your, um, expertise, they'll probably assume you're just trying to score a profit and won't suspect too much. The second team will be taking the rear. They can hang back and follow the trucks as inconspicuously as possible. Finally, a third group will lie in wait in The Under. Wes' info says a group of Cipher Peons is often seen hanging around there. Members of the third team will take them out and disguise themselves as Cipher members, allowing them to stick around with the convoy and assist the second team with overrunning any Cipher resistance once we figure out where their HQ is. And um, yeah, that's about it."

Kris stopped, her mouth feeling dry. The Snagem Grunts all stared at her, much less suspiciously now. Even Gonzap wasn't shouting anymore.

"And what about you?" he asked.

"We will be team four, I guess," Kris explained. "We'll need one of your men to drive us to a point where we can ambush the convoy and get in while team one pulls off the distraction. We'll take over the truck and see if we can safeguard Cozmo."

Gonzap laughed obnoxiously loudly. "GOOD PLAN!" he yelled. "Many risks, many flaws and a great chance we'll all DIE, but that's the way I like it. Good chance of success despite the risk."

"No one here will die," Kris assured, "and you'll want to hold it off when it comes to Cipher as well. Otherwise all that propaganda the mayor has been spreading about you will have a point."

Gonzap just grumbled in agreement. "Biden shall lead the distraction team!" Gonzap announced. "Missile, you're team three, take out any Cipher in the Under and pave the way for MY group. Wakin, get these brave idiots safely to the trucks!"

Wes pressed some buttons on his PDA. "I sent all the team leaders the location of the trucks," he said. "I know you love showing off, boss man, but try not to let Cipher catch sight of you, or they'll start suspecting."

"We'll see!" Gonzap laughed. "After all, my AMAZING MUSCLES can be seen all the way from Alola! Team Snagem! ONWARDS, TO VICTORY!"

The Snagem Grunts divided into three teams. The distraction team were the first to head off, getting into their buggies and sandrails as they drove off and disappeared into the horizon. Gonzap was prepping his Skarmory for takeoff – figures that only a steel bird was strong enough to carry an enormous man like that.

"Kris, you spoke well back there," Lunick told Kris after he made sure enough Snagem Grunts were out of earshot. "And I trust you in almost all things."

"...but?"

"However, I do feel there are crucial details you didn't tell me and Wesley."

"Yeah, includin', once we get to the point where we hijack this truck, then what?" Wes asked. "How do we get Cozmo out of there without alerting Cipher?"

Kris sighed. "Yeah, sorry," she said. "I was supposed to tell you, but I wanted to wait a bit. Just remember that our key goal is getting Cozmo out. Team Snagem can do the heavy lifting and just follow the plan. Can you both just please trust me for the time being?"

Lunick nodded. "Of course," he said. "I'd just be more at peace if I knew exactly what to do."

"Kris!"

Missile had cut in on the conversation, having broken off from his group.

"Your plan is great, but I don't like being so far away from you!" he said. "I still owe my life to you, and until my debt is repaid, I cannot rest-"

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Kris said quickly. "If you really want to pay me back, just make sure Gonzap doesn't get anyone killed, okay?"

Missile saluted. "Your wish is my command! See you on the other side!"

With that, he finally left, leading his team of seven grunts towards Pyrite Town. After their cars and Pokémon were far enough away, Wakin led Kris, Wes, Lunick and Jackal to his jeep. In a matter of hours, they'd be at the Under, and that's when the plan would really kick into motion.

~o~O~o~

Location: Abandoned laboratory, Orre

9:56 AM

Hilda was walking amongst the ruins of the hastily evacuated laboratory. Surrounded by a broken electric fence, the seemingly modest facility was excavated by a platoon of EXO personnel and their mainly Fighting- and Ground-type Pokémon, revealing a much larger complex underground. Smack dab in the middle of the desert, the facility was revealed to be connected to a tunnel supposedly going all the way to Pyrite Town.

There were pieces of white armor everywhere, too, as if Cipher was in such a hurry to evacuate that they didn't have time to hide their presence. Of course, all machinery and research records had been destroyed, with smoking craters and large holes scattered all over the place. Whatever carnage had occurred there, it was recent.

"Hi!"

Even Hilda was startled by someone suddenly sneaking up behind her, though she quickly recovered and smiled when she saw who it was. A young man with pale skin scruffy brown hair and brown eyes, smiling gently.

"Hilbert!" Hilda sighed. "Don't tell me they sent you here, too. Don't they have any faith in me up there?"

"Sorry, but this is getting a little too big for any of us," Hilbert said, his smile and optimism gone. "Personally, I trust your skill and awesomeness any day of the week-"

"Yeah, yeah, get to the point, smartass."

"Basically, the order came from the top."

Hilda raised her eyebrows. "Dr. Kaminko ordered you here?"

Hilbert shook his head. "President Lusamine did," he said quietly.

Hilda took a look at the EXO personnel that she had with her. They all wore all-white, futuristic outfits, the troops and the equipment supplied by EXO's primary backer, the Aether Foundation from Alola. Even if Aether's president, Lusamine was effectively Hilda's superior, Hilda had never seen the woman in her life.

"All right," Hilda said, "what is the emergency they need us both f-"

But, as if on command, Hilda's question was answered by sudden screaming from the Aether Foundation employees, who began running around in panic and pointing at the sky. Hilda and Hilbert soon saw it, too: something massive was flying in their direction, way to large to be just a common bird Pokémon.

Hilda quickly put on her Aura Reader and began scanning it, trying to zoom in closer: the bird was dark purple in color with glowing red eyes. Resembling more like a dragon, the creature was, according to Hilda's scanners, about twenty feet in height and with a wingspan of maybe sixty feet, its wings looking more like massive hands. There were sharp, jagged spikes around its eyes, curving to the back of its head.

Unlike with normal Pokémon, the Aura Reader was unable to make any estimations of the Pokémon's type or other attributes, the readings only showing garbled, corrupted data. And the closer it got, the hotter the Aura Reader felt on Hilda's face.

"AHH!"

Hilda shrieked and had to pull the Aura Reader away and toss it to the bottom of her bag before it burned her face as the massive bird flew over them, looking more like a plane considering its size, leaving the abandoned lab in its shadow.

Hilda and Hilbert glanced at each other, then began running for the Aether Foundation trucks. Before that could happen, a jeep pulled over next to them, as if out of nowhere, driven by a tall woman dressed in black with long, blonde hair.

"Cynthia!" Hilda gasped.

"Hey, Hilda," Cynthia replied. "I haven't seen you since you came to Sinnoh, but I think this is a bad time to catch up."

"Yeah, kinda!" Hilda huffed. "Did you see that thing?!"

"Of course," Cynthia smiled. "That's my job here. You two wanna come on? I think I have one of the few cars here that can keep up with that thing?"

Hilda didn't even waste time replying but just jumped on the backseat, while Hilbert politely nodded and opened the door to sit next to Hilda. Before the Aether Foundation personnel could even get their things in order, Cynthia's jeep was already in hot pursuit of the creature.

~o~O~o~

Location: Cliffs near the Oasis Poké Spot, Orre

11:20 AM

While sightings of a huge, shadowy creature in the sky spread all over Orre that morning, the government maintained its silence and Kris, Wes and Lunick were none the wiser. Wakin had left them in their spot before leaving. Jackal was also with them, Kris having told it the plan and hoping it had understood. While the other three were hiding in the tall grass on the cliffs and observing what was happening below, Jackal was sitting against a tree, apparently taking a nap.

Wes was using his binoculars to see what was down while Kris used her Aura Reader's zoom function. Lunick just said he trusted the "bare eyes that Arceus had given him", but that proved to be tough in the bright sunshine of the Orre desert.

And yet, it was Lunick who first heard the approaching truck convoy, the rumbling soon catching Kris and Wes as well. They all soon saw the dust cloud and the approaching convoy of three trucks. There was nothing too suspicious about them, a logo of a generic transport company printed on them, with the only strange thing being the opaque windshields, with no way of seeing the faces of the drivers. Suddenly, Kris heard small beeping from her Aura Reader.

"Looks like there's some kind of weak distress signal coming from… the truck furthest at the back," she said.

"Kris, Lu, look!" Wes yelled, pointing in the opposite direction.

"Lu..." Lunick grumbled, but complied.

A bigger dust cloud was coming down the road, about to meet the trucks. As Kris zoomed in with her Aura Reader, she spotted a bunch of small cars and Pokémon about to meet the trucks.

"Team Snagem's distraction team is ready," Kris said with a smile. "Guys, our job is gonna be easy. In fact, I already asked Jackal here for some help. Isn't that right, girl?"

Jackal opened her other eye briefly to glare at Kris, then went back to meditating. Kris had to assume that was a yes.

"...right, anyway," Kris continued, "let's see how well they perform."

Indeed, soon enough, three cars and three Tauros were blocking the road entirely, with the cliffs and dunes making it impossible to go around with a heavy truck. There were seven Team Snagem members standing in a row, making rude hand gestures at the trucks and mocking them, with Biden stepping out of one of the cars to yell at the driver in the front.

"Listen up, fools!" he yelled so loud even Kris, Wes and Lunick could hear. "This is a raid! Step out of the trucks and walk away unless you want this to hurt a lot."

The trucks had stopped but no one inside stepped out or said anything for a while. Then, the back of the first truck opened and a swarm of shadow Pokémon came out. Kris watched as the Snagem Grunts sent out their own Pokémon to fight them, the ensuing Pokémon battle soon whipping up a cloud of dust and sand.

"All right, Jackal!" she told the Lucario, who opened its eyes again and slowly got up. "Show us what you've got!"

~o~O~o~

Inside the truck at the back was a nervous Cipher peon. Instead of the usual white armor, he was dressed normally to avoid suspicion. Should any cops or security guards ask any questions, he was just your average truck driver. Any other day, whether they were delivering shadow Pokémon or technology, the drive had went smoothly, with Team Snagem too scared to do anything. But now the ruffians had toughened up, attacked the trucks in force and just happened to do so on the day they were transporting highly important cargo?! Sitting alone in the hot car, the peon wiped sweat off his face.

However, as he glanced at his side mirror, the peon noticed something odd. Another, bigger dust cloud suddenly blew up in the back, a sudden sandstorm hiding everything else out of sight. Was Team Snagem attacking from the back as well?

But the peon soon got an answer to his question when a loud thud was heard on the roof of the truck's cab. His fear overtaking him, the peon tried to grab for his radio, but soon enough, the door was forced open, and the peon was face-to-face with a Lucario for a split second before the Pokémon's powerful hand grabbed him in a stranglehold.

With the truck out of sight, Kris, Wes and Lunick were able to enter as the peon watched on helplessly, unable to make a sound, too afraid to move less Jackal would crush his windpipe. Kris just smiled at the helpless peon and put a finger on her lip as she entered the truck. Fortunately, there was a door allowing access to the cargo area from the cab.

"Wes, you know how to drive this?" Kris asked.

"Of course!" Wes replied as he hopped on the driver's seat, putting his hands on the large steering wheel. "One of the things I had to learn during my years of adventuring around this reg-"

"Yeah, just a simple 'yeah' would have been fine," Kris sighed and entered the cargo area with Lunick.

Wes stayed in the cab, hearing crackles on the radio.

"This is car one, the Snagem filth has been driven out. The cargo has been collected. All is good."

"Car 2 reporting, everything a-OK."

"For your sake, I suggest telling them everything is okay," Wes threatened the peon.

Jackal released her grip on the peon long enough for him to quietly say the right words into the radio.

"Car 3 reporting, no problems," he said, his voice shaking a bit.

"Roger that. On me then, we'll need to catch up to make the rendezvous."

"All right, good night for now," Wes told the peon, and before he could do anything about it, Jackal knocked him out cold with a single punch. Jackal tossed the unconscious peon into the cargo area while Wes cranked the handbrake off and began to slowly drive after the other two trucks.

Meanwhile, Kris and Lunick tended to the captive man in the cargo area. His arms and legs bound and a gag on his mouth, propped up against a shipping crate, was Professor Cozmo, a skinny man nearing forty with spiky, brown hair and small, round glasses. Kris remembered meeting him in Hoenn, but had very little chance to exchange words with him. He looked a bit older than professor Elm, though, making Kris wonder how the two could have gone to school together.

But as soon as Kris took off the gag from Cozmo's mouth, she understood why Elm had warned her about him.

"About time!" Cozmo snapped at Kris the moment the gag came off. "I've spent the last two days in horrible consequences! I'll make sure to tell everyone back in Hoenn about the treatment I've gotten in Orre! I've been threatened, belittled, spit on, manhandled, womanhandled, neener-neenered and generally abused far too much for my liking!"

"Um… professor Cozmo?" Kris said weakly, finally seeing an opening in the midst of Cozmo's tirade. "You don't remember me? I'm Kris, I met you when I sav- when I helped you out when Team Magma captured you on Meteor Falls."

Cozmo finally fell silent and squinted at Kris. "That's not exactly public knowledge," he grumbled, "but anything from that time period is something I'd sorely want to forget, so you'll excuse me if I don't remember you, girl."

"...sure," Kris sighed. "Anyway, calm down, we're here to help."

"I didn't see you either of you at the Pokémon HQ Laboratory," Cozmo grumbled as he glared at Lunick who was untying the professor. "Why did it take you idiots so long to find me?"

Lunick didn't take the insult too well and untied Cozmo's ropes purposefully roughly, hurting him in the process.

"We're not really with them," Kris said awkwardly. "Um, but we know your old friend, professor Elm."

Cozmo's suspicious glaring turned to pure hatred. "Well," he hissed, "if he thinks he can score brownie points in the eyes of his peers by sending his lackeys out to help me, then I'd rather just stay here!"

"Good," Lunick muttered.

"No, no, no, he didn't send us," Kris said quickly. "Um, well, the mayor of Phenac City did, I guess."

This seemed to please Cozmo more. "Ah," he said approvingly and nodded. "Of course they couldn't risk the publicity disaster of something happening to an esteemed foreign scientist. Yes, that makes total sense."

Kris was beginning to share Lunick's frustration with the good professor.

"Lunick," she asked sweetly, "could you look after the professor for a moment. I need to check up on Wes."

Were it anyone else, Lunick would have refused, but now he just agreed to Kris' request with a resigned nod. Kris immediately stormed back into the cab, where Wes was sitting on the driver's seat, rigid and nervous like his spine was made of concrete. The truck was leaving the desert and heading towards a narrow road where there was more and more vegetation.

"Now would be a great time to tell me who your source on this was," Kris told Wes, who didn't take his eyes off the road for a second.

"Um, yeah," Wes replied nervously. "I've told you about the adventures I've had around Orre, ri-"

"Many times, yes!"

"Well, in the Under, there's an organization that supplied me information that time, about Cipher and Team Snagem's movements, hot tips about runaway Pokémon, information on shortcuts I can take and so on. I recently got in touch with them."

"Who are they?" Kris asked.

"They're called, the… the Kids Grid," Wes answered, keeping his eyes on the other trucks.

Kris stared at him. "The-"

"Kids Grid, meaning yes, they're a bunch of kids who hang in the Under," Wes said quickly. "Yea, I used kids to get information countless times, are you gonna lecture me?"

"No," Kris said and shrugged. "I don't really care about that, just wondering if this info is any good."

"We'll soon see," Wes pointed out.

The truck convoy was about to leave the desert, and trees began to pop up more and more. The glimmering water of the Oasis Poké Spot could be seen in the distance.

"Prepare to go down in three minutes," one of the drivers said over the radio.

"Go down," Kris muttered, seeing nothing but desert on one side and forests in the other. "Where?"

After a few minutes of quiet driving, Kris' question was answered. The truck convoy disappeared in the ever-growing thickets of trees and bushes, driving past the oasis and further into the wilderness. At first, the only thing in front of them was endless forest. But then, as the first truck of the convoy approached some odd-looking trees, the trees suddenly moved aside to reveal a tunnel heading underground.

The first truck dived fearlessly into the tunnel, and the second one soon after. Kris and Wes glanced at each other for a quick second before Wes put his foot on the gas pedal and drove into the tunnel.

The tunnel was made of concrete and felt quite new, no cracks, mold or anything on the walls or the ceiling. It was dark as well, with some dim lights scattered sparsely around the walls of the tunnel, meaning Wes had to follow the second truck's taillights to navigate. The tunnel was not a straight line, but the convoy took several turns: left, right, right, left again… it was impossible to keep track of where they were going, or to find a way back to the surface.

Finally, the tunnels stopped and the truck convoy emerged in the Under, a former mine restructured into an underground city. From the look of things, though, this particular city had been long since abandoned, with dilapidated buildings and darkened or boarded windows everywhere one looked.

Wes quickly handed Kris his PDA, as he couldn't really keep his eyes off the road. Kris turned it on and chose the map app, which took a long while to load, but eventually showed a fairly detailed map of the Under, albeit with several areas grayed out.

"Missile's group is about to attack a few hundred meters ahead," Kris said quietly.

"Look!" Wes yelled, pointing at something near the trucks in the front.

The truck convoy was going past a more lively part of the Under with people looking at the passing trucks from the windows. Some kids had gone out and were running around the slowly crawling trucks, asking the drivers incessant questions and begging for money or candy. The two drivers in the front mostly ignored them, so one of the kids started running alongside Kris and Wes' truck, prompting Wes to roll open his window.

"What are you doing?!" Kris hissed at him.

But Wes just winked at her and turned to the kid.

"Sorry, squirt, no candy for you!" he said. "Run along!"

Making an angry face, the kid took a bunched-up ball of paper from his pocket and threw it into the truck before running off laughing. Wes quickly closed the window and handed the ball of paper to Kris. Smiling at the surprisingly clever plan, Kris opened the paper, which only contained a hastily scribbled set of coordinates and a short sentence: "Cipher people meeting here". Kris entered the coordinates to her PDA.

"Uh oh," Wes said as Kris was busy waiting for the PDA to load the information. "Kris, trouble ahead."

Kris looked up and almost dropped the PDA in shock. People in white, futuristic-looking face-obscuring uniforms were surrounding the first truck, at least six of them. One was talking to the driver while the others were banging on the truck and making notes, scanning it with some kind of devices.

"Crap!" Kris spat. "What should we do?!"

"You got your Poké Balls ready?" Wes asked.

"Yeah..."

"Maybe we won't need them," Wes muttered, panic making his voice higher than usual. "The driver was wearing civilian clothes."

"But they'll still know we're not with them!" Kris snapped. "And they'll probably ask us something we cannot convincingly answer."

The Cipher members were already busy with the second truck.

"Just be cool, Kris," Wes said, though he was visibly sweating himself. "Cool as a Cubchoo, Kris!"

"I'm about to ram a Cubchoo up your-"

But Kris didn't finish her sentence as the Cipher peons soon approached their truck. She kept her hand on Croc's Poké Ball and stayed motionless as one of the Cipher members tapped on the truck window. Taking a deep breath, Wes rolled down the window with shaking hands.

The tall, helmet-wearing, grim-faced Cipher peon whose eyes were covered by a thick gray visor stared at Wes and Kris as he peeked inside the truck. To Kris' relief, he didn't seem to immediately think that anything was wrong, so the two just stared back.

"Greetings," the Cipher peon said in an oddly disarming voice. "Inspecting your truck, making sure everything is OK before you proceed. Also, just a routine test to make sure you're good to go. All you need to do is answer this question."

The peon cleared his throat while Kris' hands got so sweaty she almost dropped the Poké Ball.

"If train A leaves the station going 60 miles per hour," the peon said, "and train B leaves one hour later going 85 miles per hour, how long will it take train B to catch up with train A?"

Kris and Wes stared at the Cipher man, their mouths slightly open. Wes wiped some sweat off his forehead.

"Wha…?"

But the Cipher man laughed and lifted his visor, revealing the top half of his face: brown eyes, a thick mustache and a grinning, scarred face.

"We did our job," Missile said as he put the visor of his Cipher helmet back on. "And it looks like the rest of you did yours. It's a clear path from here, though we still don't know where their base is. This place is huge!"

"Good work, Missile," Kris praised. "Do you have the stuff with you?"

Missile nodded at two other disguised Snagem goons, who pushed three boxes into the truck through the window. Kris opened one box a bit, revealing a Cipher uniform inside.

"Nice," she said. "One more thing. We need to make a little detour that I hope the other trucks won't notice. Can you come up with something?"

Missile smiled and winked.

"See you on the other side, then," he said said and lowered his visor, before announcing in an unnecessarily loud voice: "There's a problem with this truck, boys! Need to keep it here for a while for some repairs."

"Negative!" said one of the drivers over the radio Missile was carrying. "That truck has the valuable cargo. Either fix it right now or move the cargo to the middle truck."

Missile looked at Kris and shrugged. Kris turned to Wes and smiled.

A few minutes later, Missile and some Snagem thugs disguised as Cipher members escorted a prisoner from the truck at the back to the middle one. He was bound with several binds, gagged and his face was covered by a bag with some small breathing holes in it.

As the Cipher thugs in the trucks acknowledged this and moved on, ignoring the frantic banging coming from the cargo hold, they were blissfully unaware that they were in fact transporting one of their own drivers, while professor Cozmo was safely in the back of the last truck with Lunick and Jackal.

Missile and the other Snagem members dispersed as Kris and Wes took their truck down a different route, to the supposed secret meeting place that the Kids Grid had mentioned. Approaching the location, they stopped the truck and Kris, Wes and Lunick changed into their Cipher gear. Though Wes and Lunick kept questioning the plan more and more, Kris was determined in not telling them any specifics, imploring them to trust her.

Finally, the truck arrived to the location: a large, tall chasm, the sun being visible and reaching far down into the Under. In the chasm, there was a spacious cavern crawling with Cipher men, all unpacking boxes and assembling some kind of electronic equipment.

But the most striking people were a trio of goons who didn't look like they belonged in Cipher. There was a brown-haired woman wearing mostly pink silk clothes, a very tall man wearing sunglasses with a Poké Ball -shaped afro and an even taller, gaunt man with long, wiry gray hair. The taller man was giving orders to the Cipher peons.

"Those freaks are who you told me about?" Kris asked quietly as they observed the group from a distance.

"Yeah," Wes sighed. "The woman is Venus, the one who tried to kill us before. The guys are Miror B and Nascour. I guess all three of them work for Cipher now. I have some… history with them."

"I don't care, but just try to keep your mouth shut so they don't recognize you," Kris said.

Lunick emerged from the cargo area, lifting the visor of his Cipher helmet.

"How do these people wear this battle attire in the desert?" he wondered. "It feels as if I'm floating in a pool of my own sweat!"

"Keep it cool, at least mentally," Kris smiled. "I want you two to escort Cozmo. I'll do the talking. Got it?"

"If you insist," Wes said. "Just be careful around those three."

"Jackal!" Kris told the Lucario sitting in the back of the truck, not caring about the conversation. "Stay back and come to our aid if we're attacked." Remembering she was not the Lucario's trainer, she added: "Um, please."

Jackal just looked at Kris briefly and closed its eyes again, so Kris assumed the Lucario was on the plan. With that, Kris, Wes, Lunick and professor Cozmo appeared from the truck, Wes and Lunick holding Cozmo from each arm. Cozmo was gagged to make sure he wouldn't say anything to ruin the plan… and just so that he couldn't say anything period.

Walking around the cavern, Kris tried to spot what Nascour was ordering the Cipher peons to do. They were assembling what appeared to be monitors in a circle, with Nascour himself having stepped in the middle of it. But as Kris kept her eyes on what was going on in a distance, a Cipher peon close by stopped them and ran to them.

"Hey!" the peon yelled. "What is this?!"

"The geek escaped!" Kris told the peon in the most stereotypical "bad guy henchman" voice she could come up with. "We found one of the trucks empty, no driver inside. So we brought him here, maybe… Nascour or the others wants to do something to him."

The peon stared at Cozmo, then turned to look at Kris. "Who are you with?" he asked rudely.

"The Under team, we were inspecting the trucks, the last truck had to stay behind because of some difficulties," Kris said quickly. "We were then ordered to patrol the perimeter and found him soon after. We called it in and were told that you were close."

It was hard to see the peon's expression through his helmet, but he nodded and seemed satisfied.

"All right, Nascour is busy but you can wait around until he's done," he said. "Don't touch anything and don't talk to them until you have our permission."

"Got it!" Kris said, and the peon left.

As soon as the peon was far enough, Kris motioned the others to follow him. Still dragging Cozmo with them, the group climbed on the rocks close by, sneaking around the working Cipher members. Nascour, Miror B and Venus were standing in a small canyon of sorts, surrounded by rocky hills. Whatever Nascour was doing with the monitors, it was very secretive.

Kris, Wes, Lunick and Cozmo climbed on top of one of the hills, laying flat on their bellies to stay hidden, Kris, Wes and Lunick taking off their Cipher helmets to see better. Nascour was maybe a hundred meters away, standing in the middle of a circle, the outlines of the circle made of ten monitors. The monitors were now on, and it seemed to be some kind of video conference, except there were no faces on monitors: just numbers in a big red font, from 02 to 11.

But it was impossible to get closer, with Miror B, Venus and Cipher peons patrolling the area, so it was impossible to hear what was being said. Wes pulled his binoculars from his pocket and handed them to Kris.

"Thanks," Kris said dryly, "but I missed the last class of Lip Reading 101."

Wes just winked and opened a small hatch in the binoculars, pulling out a microphone and an earpiece. Close to kissing Wes out of gratitude, Kris controlled herself and just patted him on the shoulder as she pointed the microphone towards Nascour and looked at him with the binoculars – the sound quality was surprisingly good, a few cracks in the signal notwithstanding, it was like Nascour was a few feet from her.

"…stages of the project," Nascour said, addressing the monitor with 02 written on it. "Doctors Ein and Lovrina have completed the test run, and project XD001 will be complete tonight."

"Good work, Nascour," 02 said – Kris noticed there was a small line beneath the number, vibrating as they spoke. Their voice was heavily distorted electronically, to the point where even the gender of the speaker was impossible to determine.

"Yes, but the cost of covering this up was astronomical," said another distorted voice from the monitor marked '05', Nascour turning politely to address them. "The creature sightings over Orre have persisted as a rumor among the desert dwellers."

Nascour laughed slightly. "I assure you that once the project is finished, everyone involved will be purged. Greevil and the mayor still believe Cipher is working in their interest. Fortunately our true leader has more sense than those old fools."

"The mayor needs to be dead by the time this ends," said 09. "For Greevil, it's enough that we shatter his plans"

"The mayor will pay a hefty price for betraying us," 02 said. "And so will Blake Hall. Have you confirmed his death yet?"

"A team of Cipher agents are scanning the area," Nascour said politely, facing the 02 monitor. "We will have confirmation soon. Whatever he told to those interlopers, it's not a concern."

"Madam Sird will be pleased," said 10. "Get back to Citadark Isle immediately."

"Yes, this meeting is dismissed," 02 said. "We expect communications from you again tomorrow."

All the monitors turned off, and Kris handed the binoculars back to Wes.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure what's that about," Kris mused quietly when Wes and Lunick looked at her expectantly, even Cozmo looking interested, "but apparently Nascour and the others don't necessarily answer to old baldy. The mayor is definitely involved, but he's not the one running the show. Something about a project and creature sightings… and they mentioned Sird from the Pokémon Association, too."

"How deep does this web of conspiracy reach?" Lunick said fancily.

"So if we defeat Cipher," Wes said, "we're one step closer to unraveling this whole thing."

"That's right, and our plan is going smoothly," Kris said. "Now let's get out of here, they're going to move to their base in a place called 'Citadark Isle'… know it, Wes?"

Wes shook his head. "Never heard, but if they want to be taken seriously, maybe change it to something less ominous. Maybe Free Candy island… wait."

"Well, if we tag along with them, we can find their base," Kris said. "Missile and Gonzap's teams are probably following the trucks, so they'll be there, too."

After putting their helmets back on, Kris, Wes, Lunick and Cozmo landed from the hill smoothly and were able to subtly join the other Cipher personnel, who were packing the monitors and other equipment into boxes and loading them into their cars and drones. However, Kris' heart nearly jumped into her throat when she heard a loud, female voice suddenly yelled at them:

"You three, hold still!"

The group turned to look and Kris raised her eyebrows at the young woman approaching them. She was a bit older than Kris, with orange, pigtailed hair and blue eyes, but her complexion, size and hair style were strikingly similar to Kris'. Kris could hear Wes gasp a bit next to her – she assumed it was his nerves.

"Nascour, Miror B, Venus, can you come here, please!" the young woman yelled as she approached Kris' group, smirking.

To Kris' surprise, they did. They, as well as the Cipher peons around them, seemed to take orders from this 5'2'' girl. Who was she?

"Yo, boss!" Miror B screeched flamboyantly as the three mercenaries arrived. "What's the haps with these crabs?"

"Why do you need us, miss?" Venus translated respectfully.

"I could recognize that aura from anywhere," the girl said as she pointed directly at Wes, even though he wore the same uniform as everyone else. "Nascour, I'd like you to remove his helmet, please."

Though frustrated with this menial task, Nascour obeyed respectfully, to Kris' horror. But neither she nor Lunick could do anything as two Cipher peons emerged and pointed two futuristic-looking weapons at Wes. Either he had nerves of steel or he was paralyzed from fear, but Wes stood perfectly still as Nascour pulled off his helmet, exposing his ruffled, dark blonde hair and tanned face. Miror B and Venus gasped dramatically while Nascour narrowed his eyes.

The girl smiled cruelly. "Welcome back to Orre, dear Wes."

"Hi again, Rui," Wes replied tensely.

Now it was Kris' turn to gasp. Rui?! Still, she tried to save the situation.

"Hey, it's that Wesley guy!" Kris said, in an attempt to be convincing. "He must have taken out one of our guys. We'll capture him, too!"

But Nascour yanked off Kris' helmet, too, while a nearby Cipher peon removed Lunick's. The trio was left helpless in the face of overwhelming odds, and though they had their Poké Balls, they could not reach them in this situation.

"Must really suck for you that I was here, Wes," Rui gloated, as she and Wes stared daggers at each other. "You got quite far – if you hadn't stuck your noses at our meeting, you could have pulled off whatever you had planned."

"Well, you're right that it does suck for me, and pretty much everyone around you," Wes shot back. "Don't tell me – you went to work for Cipher after you left me. And now you're running the show. Except you betrayed Mayor McEggman, just like you betrayed everyone you worked for."

"Through Cipher, I was offered a very lucrative work opportunity," Rui said. "If you'd done what I told you before, you'd be standing here beside me instead of sweating in that disguise, fearing for your life. I was able to climb up the ranks of Cipher and form a loyal group of followers, yes. And these three, the ones who initially hired me as just a helping hand, now work for me too," she added, gesturing at Nascour's trio.

"You really deserve each other," Wes grumbled.

Tired of their banter, Kris piped in: "Okay, enough of this! I thought you were dead or something!"

Rui laughed, while Wes looked uncomfortable. "Wes has never been honest in his life," she taunted. "He's not enough of a man to be straightforward. He probably just chose a story that would be easiest to tell and that would gain him enough sympathy."

"What are you doing here?" Nascour asked Kris and Lunick. "Where are you taking the professor? What did you hear?!"

"That's enough, Nascour," Rui interrupted. "I really don't care. We'll take them with us and they can tell us everything."

Wes shook his head. "Why, Rui?" he asked quietly. "Why didn't you just stay with me that time?"

"I told you already," Rui said. "You lack ambition. You don't have what it takes to get the job done."

"Miss Rui, we need to get moving," Nascour said impatiently. "Men, seize those four! Careful with the professor, we need him for a bit longer still!"

The two Cipher peons pointed their zapper guns at the group, but a blue blur appeared from behind. A few well-aimed punches later, Jackal had downed the two peons. Miror B was the first to react, sending out his two Ludicolo to fight the Lucario, but with his Bone Rush, Jackal was able to keep both Ludicolo at bay.

In the confusion, Rui and Nascour disappeared and Kris, Wes and Lunick both sent out a Pokémon: Feraligatr, Zebstrika and Sceptile, respectively. Screaming through his gag, Cozmo ran towards the nearest cover.

"Wigglytuff, go!" yelled Venus, who sent out the round, pink normal-type.

"I'll handle her!" Lunick said quickly. "Go after those two!"

"I don't think so, darlings!" Venus proclaimed. "Wigglytuff, use Rollout!"

"Sceptile, Leaf Blade!" Lunick ordered.

Though Wigglytuff curled into a ball and spun towards Kris and Wes at high speed, Lunick's Sceptile whacked the normal-type back to Venus with its tail, Venus shrieking and ducking as the pink ball flew back at her. Wigglytuff recovered quite fast, though, preparing to fight the Sceptile while Kris, Wes and their Pokémon ran after Nascour.

"Now what?!" Wes huffed as the two climbed back up the hill towards the canyon. "Any chance your plan covers-"

"Your psychotic exes?!" Kris yelled, running ahead of Wes. "No! Croc, come on!" she yelled at her Feraligatr, who was trying his best to keep up, while Wes's Zebstrika galloped at his side.

"So what do we do?!" Wes cried.

"Improvise! We can beat that Nascour guy into letting us go! Then we get a warning to Team Snagem and tell them to start without us!"

"Wait!" Wes suddenly yelled and stopped. "Everybody down!"

Kris didn't even know what to react to when Wes suddenly pulled her down. Croc and Zebstrika ducked too, as small meteors exploded in the air, raining hot rocks all around them. As Kris and Wes got up, more meteors were already on the way.

"Quickly!" Wes yelled and hopped on his Zebstrika, pulling Kris with him.

However, Croc refused to budge, instead growling at the oncoming meteors.

"Croc!" Kris yelled at the stubborn Feraligatr. "Run to cover!"

As the meteors exploded, raining sharp, hot rocks all over Croc, the water-type did no such thing. Growling, Croc instead used his tail to swipe the rocks away, roaring triumphantly as he did so. Croc then ran after Kris, Wes and Zebstrika, Wes nodding approvingly.

At the bottom of the pit was Nascour and a Metagross. Except this Metagross was not like usual: the color scheme was much darker, and its red eyes were empty, void of pupils. Kris didn't need an Aura Reader to tell it was a shadow Pokémon, probably at a much later phase.

"Metagross!" Nascour ordered. "Another Meteor Mash!"

"Zebstrika, Thunder Wave!" Wes yelled.

Acting much faster, Wes' Zebstrika paralyzed the Metagross in place by blasting it with a thin stream of electricity. With Metagross locked in place, Nascour sent out another Pokémon: a Dusclops, a gray, one-eyed ghost Pokémon. However, Nascour held out his hand to stop it from attacking.

"Wesley, if you and that girl beat me in a Pokémon battle, I'll tell you what I know," Nascour said. "Sound fair to you?"

"Fair enough," Wes grunted. "We're already at a huge advantage here."

"I don't like this, but that Metagross is dangerous," Kris said. "So what we should do-"

"Wait!" Wes said quietly. "I'm responsible for this, and I know how this guy fights. Let me deal with the tactics. I'll deal with the Metagross, you take the Dusclops."

Kris scoffed. "Leave the non-paralyzed one to me… fine, I'll take your word for it."

"I'm getting hot out here waiting for you!" Nascour complained. "Get a move on!"

"Zebstrika, Flame Charge!" Wes ordered.

Zebstrika stomped the ground with its hooves, causing a large cloud of dust and dirt to surround it. Its body became enveloped in flames as the Zebstrika charged at the shadow Metagross.

"Metagross, Hammer Arm!" Nascour yelled quickly. "Dusclops, circle around behind it and use Shadow Punch!"

Now it was Kris' turn to act. "Ice Punch!" she told Croc.

The Feraligatr kept the Dusclops off Zebstrika's back with a well-aimed Ice Punch that froze Dusclops in place. However, Croc's hand was trapped inside the ghost-type, confusing both Croc and his trainer.

"What the hell!" Kris screamed.

Meanwhile, the agile Zebstrika dodged Metagross' attack, managing to land its Flame Charge attack and pushing the paralyzed steel-type backwards.

Unfortunately for Kris, Nascour ordered Dusclops to use Curse, and the ghost-type started draining energy from Croc, who was unable to move and began to weaken.

"Wes!" Kris yelled.

Wes waved at Zebstrika to get distance from the slowed Metagross. Seemingly ignoring Kris, Wes ordered Zebstrika to jump up into the air while Nascour ordered a Psychic attack.

"Now, Thunder Wave Dusclops!"

While Dusclops was busy keeping Croc in check, it was unable to avoid being paralyzed by Zebstrika's attack. However, Metagross' attack hit as well, weakening Zebstrika and bringing it on the ground.

"Thank you!" Kris told Wes. "Croc, Hydro Pump!"

Already weakened by using Curse, Dusclops was instantly knocked out by the powerful blast of water. However, Metagross was left unchecked, and it pounded the ground as it used Earthquake, bringing both Zebstrika and Croc down. Miraculously, both were also still up, though Zebstrika's legs were shaking a lot.

"You choose your women poorly, Wesley!" Nascour taunted. "First Rui cost you your chance of becoming rich… and now teaming up with this chick cost you your life!"

"Zebstrika!" Wes yelled. "Thu-"

"Psychic!" Nascour yelled over Wes.

Metagross lifted Zebstrika in the air, the zebra Pokémon's legs kicking the air helplessly. Kris, however, decided to repay the favor.

"Croc, use Earthquake!" she ordered.

"Magnet Rise!" Nascour yelled.

Metagross began hovering in the air, making Croc's attack useless. Nascour then ordered another Psychic attack directly at Kris and Wes, who hid behind a rock. The rock took the impact instead, the psychic shock wave tearing off chunks of it.

After its attack, Metagross landed, the dark aura enveloping the Pokémon suddenly becoming even more visible, like the Metagross was engulfed in dark purple flames. Its eyes also began glowing completely bright red. It dropped Zebstrika, the electrictype Pokémon landing on its feet and running away.

"It's entering Hyper Mode," Wes observed.

"Don't suppose it just ate too much sugar and is now spamming a forum somewhere?" Kris asked.

"Listen to me!" Wes said seriously. "It's gonna use Shadow Rush, and no way is either of our Pokémon getting up from that. We only have one chance to take it out. And after that, we take him out, got it?"

"I trust you."

Kris meant it – she had no idea what Hyper Mode or Shadow Rush were, but soon found out when Metagross suddenly dashed towards Croc and Zebstrika, moving much faster than normal even when paralyzed.

"Zebstrika!" Wes yelled. "Take the hit!"

What?! Kris thought.

Hesitating for a split second, Zebstrika ran between Croc and the shadow Metagross, taking the full brunt of the attack and getting knocked out. However, this gave Croc the perfect opening, and after Kris' order, the Feraligatr blasted Metagross with a point-blank Hydro Pump attack. The force of the hit sent the Metagross flying across the canyon, hitting a rock before it was KO'd.

Seeing this, Wes rushed at Nascour, taking advantage of his momentary distraction to tackle the Cipher agent. Once they were both down, Kris ordered Croc to use Ice Fang directly on Nascour. As the Feraligatr chomped on Nascour's right leg, the limb was suddenly encased in thick ice all the way to the knee.

Zebstrika was badly injured and Wes quickly withdrew the loyal Pokémon. Kris didn't approve of the strategy, but secretly admired it: the results couldn't be denied.

Meanwhile, Lunick was still fighting Venus. Though Venus' Wigglytuff knew Flamethrower, which gave Lunick's Sceptile a bit of trouble, it was far too slow to hit the agile grass-type, who kept effortlessly bouncing around the round normal-type. Once Wigglytuff was out of breath, Lunick ordered a Leaf Blade attack, which knocked Wigglytuff out.

"Tuffy!" Venus cried as she withdrew her Pokémon. "You'll regret crossing the almighty goddess of love, Venus! Miss Ruiiii!"

"Right here, sister," said a voice behind Lunick.

Lunick turned around, but Rui was faster. As if she had anticipated Lunick's movements, Rui circled around him and pushed the button of a Poké Ball on his belt, withdrawing his Sceptile. Lunick turned to try and swing at Rui, but Rui reacted too quickly again, blocking the attack and grabbing Lunick in a stranglehold before putting a knife on the man's throat.

While that was happening, Kris and Wes were dragging Nascour with his frozen leg across the sand, interrogating the man. Kris had returned Croc to its Poké Ball, it being too exhausted by the fight and the heat of the desert.

"Talk already!" Wes yelled in Nascour's ear. "Who were you talking to?!"

"Choke on my Luvdisc, Wes," Nascour grumbled. "I'm not telling you anything. In case you haven't noticed, our troops still outnumber you ten to one."

"And by the time you finished that sentence, our Lucario probably kicked the crap out of all of them," Kris taunted. "Just tell us! We heard you mention Sird, we know you're gonna betray your supposed boss, we'll probably fill in the blanks ourselves, just save our time!"

Nascour just laughed. "Wesley, control your woman," he said, not even looking at Kris in the eye. "You don't know how much our leader's powers have grown. When we found her, she could tell shadow Pokémon from others and could find Pokémon even in the most remote deserts or forests. Now, four years later… she's practically untouchable."

"Thanks for the compliment, Nascour, I'll remember that when it's time to hand out bonuses!"

Kris, Wes and the imprisoned Nascour turned to look. Rui was standing on top of one of the rocky hills, Lunick in a stranglehold and a knife on his throat.

"Thank you for your attention!" Rui announced. "Peons!" she yelled at the Cipher peons scattered all over the place. "Collect all their Poké Balls. We can have some great shadow Pokémon once we're done. As for these three, I believe the, ahem… boss would like to see them."

Kris had no choice but to comply. She and Wes put their hands up as the Cipher peons confiscated their Poké Balls. Kris tried to make eye contact with Lunick, trying to message him to stay calm, but Lunick's face was flushed with shame and his eyes were closed as Rui held him still.

From the corner of her eye, Kris spotted Jackal sneaking up on Rui. But as if Rui had read Kris' thoughts or somehow detected the stealthy Lucario, Rui turned around and faced Jackal, who started running.

"Kill that Lucario!" Rui ordered the Cipher peons who chased after Jackal, disappearing from sight so Kris didn't know what was happening.

Meanwhile, a badly beaten Miror B. emerged from behind another hill, holding the bound and gagged Cozmo still.

"I got the prof, Miss R!" Miror B announced.

"Well done," Rui said and turned to look at Kris and Wes. "Now then, we wasted too much time here already. A helicopter will come pick us up. Take it away from here!"

Both Kris and Wes suddenly felt sharp stings in their necks as nearby Cipher peons injected something in them. Within seconds, everything started to go dark, and both trainers collapsed on the ground.

~o~O~o~

Location: Gateon Port, Orre

Cynthia's jeep pulled over by the docks of Gateon Port. A storm was brewing and most people, even nearby sailors, had rushed indoors to hide from the rain. Hilda, Hilbert an Cynthia jumped out of the jeep, Hilda looking at the sea through her Aura Reader. The trail of the massive shadowy bird disappeared to the sea, somewhere to the southwest.

"Hey!" Cynthia asked a sailor running by. "Is there anything over there? An island? An oil rig?"

"Only Citadark Isle, but no one goes there," the sailor said. "There's just a volcano, and some super strong currents that prevent anyone from approaching it. That and sonar and GPS malfunction there!"

As the sailor ran away, Hilda began searching for Citadark Isle from the maps.

"Random malfunctions?" she scoffed. "It's Cipher, no question about it. How stupid do they think we are?"

"Yes, that must be their base of operations," Cynthia deduced. "But what was that thing… the shape of it almost looked like a-"

"A Lugia?!"

An electronically amplified voice echoed all over the harbor as a large, Cipher drone big enough for two people suddenly hovered over Hilda, Hilbert and Cynthia. From a lamp-like device, the drone broadcast a holographic image of a fairly young woman, no older than 25, with long, bright pink hair and a ton of makeup.

"That is the most pristine creation of me, Dr. Lovrina of Cipher!" the woman announced proudly. "Shadow Lugia, the perfect shadow Pokémon! Impossible to purify by any means!"

"To be precise," echoed a calmer, male voice, "it is the product of both of our research-"

"Shut it, Ein!" Lovrina snapped. "Anyway, we heard your conversation, and it's time to drop this silly pretense! You can never stop project XD001, Miss Champion of Sinnoh, and even if you're keen on drowning while trying, I'll make sure your journey ends here. Ein!"

Whatever Ein did, it made swarms of shadow Pokémon emerge from the ocean: mindless-looking Seel, Dewgong, Krabby, Kingler, Corphish, Crawdaunt, Poliwhirl and other Pokémon were emerging from the waters, approaching Hilda and the others with a singular purpose: to fight until death.