Chapter 10: First glimpse

A serpentine creature writhed in a large pillar like cage. In the gloomy area, the ring like decorations on its body glowed yellow. It coiled on itself and flew up and down, sometimes crashing his against the cold glass. Several times it did this and growled, the sounds growing in intensity and urgency. It flew up, then down and after twisting a few times, it opened his jaw and fired at its encasement. A small crack appeared but nothing more. Agitated, it contorted again and began bashing his head.

Up above the world, where the atmosphere thins into space, two pairs of eyes stared down at the Poke-earth.

Mid-afternoon

Johto

Ecruteak City, Bell tower

"So is everyone clear of the plan?" White asked. The capture team consisting of her, Diamond and Sapphire were currently sitting in a grassy park close to their target building and laying out plans. More like the teenager was doing all the work. Saph merely looked bored and sat with her eyes trained to a couple of children who were having a mock pokemon battle and Diamond was as usual making rice-balls. He laid out a sheet of foil and was diligently compressing the sticky rice into neat little triangular shapes and seasoning them with a lime green powder. His munchlax was helping him by offering fillings of berries and whatnot.

"Senior, please listen to me..." the girl pleaded and got a scant more attention. "Bell tower is open to both people and wild pokemon; we will be encountering lots in our ascent so it is best to be prepared. I also did some research and found out that there are now monks inhabiting the pagoda and to pass to the next area you have to battle them"

"We know all of this already" the other two simultaneously spoke, "I got this information from Ruby when he was sent to scout the tower some time ago" the Hoenn trainer clarified.

"Oh...So I guess we can just go in and do our work?...I wish you'd tell all of this to me earlier, I stayed up nights drawing up these plans!" the dark brown haired trainer complained.

Diamond smiled in a lazy manner and started to wrap up the individual rice balls in waxed paper squares, he did this all alone and his team mate, used to these antics, let him be. She got up and tied her bandanna more securely on her head and strapped her gloves on tighter, then, on the dirt floor she began to do a few warm up exercises a moment later, White's Xtransciever rang, it was Black and she heard the boy relate their terrifying experience on capturing Lugia, walking behind, she looked into the screen to see the three trainers still in their diving suits. Gold's face was white and he was leaning against Crystal with a weak smile, nonetheless they trio managed to complete their task without any major injury and cited that they will be spending a few days touring the region. Saying this, Black ended the video call.

"Dia, are you done wrapping up your food?" After hearing how they captured Lugia before them, a competitive spark ignited in Sapphire and she began to feel impatient. For his part, the Sinnoh trainer packed the wrapped packages back in his bag and recalled munchlax. Fixing his peaked cap firmly over his black hair, The Ho-oh capturing trio set out to Bell tower, if anyone asked, they were a couple of tourists interested in finding about the legendary creature.

The three halted before the impressive pagoda. The ten story building cast a long shadow and they craned their necks to glimpse the additional golden spire jutting out of the topmost roof. The wooden tower was lacquered in red and the screened doors were artfully decorated with a picture of Ho-oh. Climbing up the worn stone steps, Sapphire, not really appreciating such beauty, slid the screen aside and strode in. White and Diamond followed much more slowly. They were surprised when the area inside the tower lacked tourist and instead, stern looking monks and trainers glared their way. One boy, who towered a good few heads over Sapphire approached and demanded their reasons for entering the tower.

"We want to learn about Ho-oh's myths" White spoke up before her senior could spout something crass.

"Only certified officials are supposed to enter this area, go back home, didn't you hear of the kidnapping taking place in Unova? Children should not come outdoors unless accompanied by an adult."

"Well it's your incompetence which made it possible for their kidnapping!" the Hoenn native shot back "we don't need idiots like you or the police to protect us! We can do it on our own so MOVE!" Taken back by her brash behavior, he meekly slid to the side and with a satisfied huff, the blue eyed girl moved forward. Dia stammered an apology and brought out a rice ball, with a forlorn look, he handed it over and the ace trainer muttered his thanks and promptly bit into it.

"Mmmm, tastes good, man I wish my mom could make such good stuff..." his mutterings faded as they ascended the stairs.

On the second floor they were halted by two monks who absolutely refused to let them through without a battle.

"You shall not pass! Not without proving yourselves worthy!" Commanding White to move to a safe place, the two trainers took on the monks and a battle initialized. The adults sent out a bellsprout and meditite respectively and the thieves posing as regular trainers, sent out lickitung and blaziken, it took a few fancy, flame cloaked moves to reduce the opposing pokemon to nothing. After the battle finished, Dia apologized profusely and handed over two packaged rice balls. In this fashion they continued to climb up the tower and at one point, the oldest Dex-holder, fed up with the string of sorry's tumbling out of Dia's mouth, demanded to know why he was giving out his precious food.

"I'm just making sure they don't remember us in a bad light" his face morphed into a sad expression "I mean, they think we are Pokemon trainers wanting to find out more about Ho-oh." Both females nodded at his foresight and in the next set of floors, the hermits were treated with more respect and care. In Saph's book it read as not making their partners bleed in battle. The wild creatures littering the floors were ignored or if they were lucky, a berry was tossed their way. In this fashion, the trio clambered all the way to the top and was now precariously balancing on the slick blue tiles as they tried to get a footing. In a surprising feat, it was Dia who reached the flat area of the roof first and later the two found out he was using a set of stairs to ascend.

A lazy smile did not calm Sapphire's fury.

"So now, I have to use the clear bell and rainbow wing to summon Ho-oh" the Unova native re-confirmed her facts, "...I feel very nervous. Please cover for me."

"Wait!" shrieked the older female as she realized something "won't summoning Ho-oh make a lot of commotion and noise? The monks and aces guarding the tower will definitely hear, I mean, Ho-oh's cry is loud, what if they alert the police and nearby gym leaders and they come in and create trouble, we won't be able to finish the mission and more importantly they might close this tower forever thus preventing further access!" she gritted her teeth in annoyance "Geez, now we have to go back and knock them out!"

"You don't have to do so" Diamond's torpid voice floated to them "My rice balls were seasoned with sleep powder and a memory altering chemical, when the mister's wake up, they won't remember ever seeing three children without adults accompanying them."

"You are devious" Saph flippantly commented.

"Right, let's get working" he replied.

From the pocket of her short shorts, White extracted a fine, multi colored feather and a string which was curiously producing a ringing sound.

"I don't see the clear bell"

"Its invisible senior Saph, you can hear the ringing sound can't you?"

"Oh...Yeah" the girl twirled her shoulder length hair in a sheepish manner "Let's summon Ho-oh."

And White held up the two objects to the sky.

At the same time

Kanto

Dex criminal's base, Team Constellate's room.

Two individuals sat on lush sofas before a wall sized screen. Their attention was fixated on the program playing on it. Bright colors exploded and Whi-2 cast a questioning look to her senior.

"Senior Silver, I don't really know what this animation is about..." she trailed off. There was a huge pause before the red head answered

"Proteam Omega is about a giant robot that defends the world when a crisis occurs. Their team commander is Venusaur and he amasses his team when Demon Brioche tries to rule the world with his tyranny. The team consists of Pikachu, a biplane, Poliwrath, a train, and several others which form a boat, fire-truck and hot air balloon. If you noticed, this team is based off Red's pokemon back when he was still Champion of Kanto...I'm really fond of this show." After his cumbersome explanation, he went back to watching the television and Whi-2 followed suit. She thought the show was rather okay, more for males than her, maybe Lack-2 would enjoy these types of things but right now, he was in Execution's room trying to get an upper hand on his team leader. Red and Ruby had finished their mission in a relatively short amount of time and had come back. Since then, his newest underling pursued him relentlessly for battles and tips on battling. His oshawott had leveled up and evolved into a well-disciplined dewott and yet, day in and out, the boy would tirelessly fight whilst his leader either slept, got told off by Green or joined them for games or watching movies. Like the Strategy commander had mentioned when they met, his partners could put down trained trainers all by themselves, however, he had neglected to tell them that the pokemon also possessed monstrous strength.

"BREAKING NEWS!" Silver blinked in confusion when instead of the Poke-Gundam smashing down on its enemy, a news reporter's dolled up face filled the screen. "Two alien Pokemon has been reported flying over the skies off Hoenn" the cut showed a clip of two tentacled pokemon sporting a beryl colored face and orange-red body zipping across and firing beams and projectiles which were capable of damaging an entire building, people and pokemon screamed and fled from the scene and the video went back to the news desk.

"Researchers at Mossdeep space center relate that these two Pokemon, code named Organism number one and Organism number two, had suddenly appeared from space and started creating havoc in Hoenn. Due to this sudden and unprecedented catastrophe, the international police have claimed responsibility of it. Evacuation of the cities struck down by this disaster is already taking place with efforts from the local police and gym leaders. These monsters have been classified as mythical pokemon and when encountered, trainers are advised to flee from it. Be warned, this is a dangerous unknown creature and capture of it without notifying the authorities is considered a cri-" the television abruptly shut down and the two occupants on the sofa twisted around to see Blue holding a remote in her hand, next to her was Ruby, freshly out of a shower, his hair still dripped water and he had a towel around his neck, he stared at the dead device with shock, his mouth open like a magikarp.

"We've got a possible target on our hands" Blue ran a hand through her hair and squeezed between Silver and Whi-2, Ruby, still petrified, haltingly followed and squatted down at the foot of the couch listening with his head held low. "We don't know anything about Organisms one and two so it is our department's mission to find out. Listen Whi-2, we, Constellate gather information, our card does not show a clump of stars, it shows a constellation, a gathering of stars that reveals a pattern. So it is our duty to do the most dangerous work. We are spies, thieves. We disguise and trick. So today, I want to send you on a first mission with Silver, he is the best in our group when it comes to mission's like these and he prefers to work alone but since you are new and I want you to learn how to act on the field, he will be your guide. Do you understand? If you don't want to go today, its fine, I'll send you off on another mission on another day."

The young girl gulped in apprehension. A project so quickly? Was there a possibility of escape? Her thoughts inadvertently turned to her mother and Hugh; it has been quite a few weeks already, how were they faring? Painfully her chest constricted and she felt a lump lodge in her throat. However, all thoughts of escape vanished when Blue gave her shoulder a comforting pat and in response, they sagged despondently.

"I'll go Ms. Blue. I won't...I won't try to escape so please have faith in me." She bowed in an effort to hide her bitter tears.

Whi-2 blushed when she saw her reflection in the mirror, Ruby was an excellent make-up artist and the older male cupped her face and surveyed his work with a satisfied smile. The door opened and in walked Silver his footsteps muffled by a thick red carpet, when she saw her normally pale faced senior, her cheeks tinted pink.

He looked gorgeous. And no doubt it was her team leader's work.

His flaming red hair, which reached down to his shoulders were now barely brushing his nape, a few bangs fell over his forehead and between the middle of his eyes. Silver tinted irises were accentuated by a pair of glasses which looked like it came straight out of Ruby's wardrobe. His complexion was rosy, skin colored powder covering up his gaunt appearance.

"Did you cut your hair?" Ruby quizzed aghast.

"No, I'm wearing a wig specially made to match the shade of my hair, Sis gave it to me." the red head's eyes drifted over to a gaping Whi-2 and she flushed and lowered her gaze, absently toying with the large braid Ruby styled her hair into, the Chinese buns were brought down and her voluminous mane was gathered together. The braid reached till her waist. Both personnel wore form fitting white laboratory coats and whilst her ruby eyed senior gave her last minute advice on disguising and keeping up appearances, the leader walked in with a sheaf of papers in her hand.

"Listen up" Blue commanded attention and they all faced her, "your mission this time is simple, infiltrate the space center and get classified information on those two alien pokemon. If possible, get a glimpse of it and since this is Whi-2's first mission, you are to abort the task immediately if you sense any danger, your priority is safety, understood?" They nodded in reply.

"Okay then! Off you go."

Evening

Hoenn

Mossdeep space center.

"Keep your chin up and look confident, even though you have no idea what you are doing or saying." Silver advised as they ascended the short flight of steps to the building. The laboratory was situated on a hilly, spacious area on the outskirts of town. Whi-2 saw a launching pad at the back of the structure and several satellite and radio dishes on the roof. There was even a large range telescope. Clutching a clipboard she followed behind her senior who, for his part totally looked like he belonged to the place. As they neared the doors, they hissed open automatically and she found herself in a busy lobby. Silver discretely took note of the cameras located in both obvious and not so obvious places and when the secretary finished talking with one of the scientists (judging from his garb) he stepped up and offered a fake card.

"My name's Silver, I've been called in on short notice to aid in the investigation of Organism number one and two. It is a classified request and I brought in an assistant, although she looks young, she is very capable. This is her first day on the field." He finished his introduction by pushing up his glasses in a scholarly manner.

"My apologies sir, I have not been notified about any requests for any scientists..."

"What part of classified do you not understand? I'm sure even the people I'm required to work with do not know I've been called, fair enough, if I'm not permitted entry I'll simply leave. If I come under fire, I'll mention you" he peered at the name tag "Ms. Stephanie. Thank you, I'll be leaving now." Whi-2 looked up in alarm as Silver turned his heel and began marching out with his head held high. Schooling her facial expression to mirror his, she too imitated him and started to exit.

"Sir...please wait, on second thought you...can go in. Please forgive my unprofessional conduct." The secretary bowed as Silver swept past her desk without sparing her a glance, his assistant followed him and briefly inclined her head as she passed. They entered a corridor with doors lining on either side. Unhesitatingly, the red head went up to each door, introduced himself using the fake identity and got names and the ranks of the different scientists working on different projects. Originally, Mossdeep space center was a place for launching rockets and there had been successful projects undertaken in space. They were the ones who theorized that clefairy came from the moon and brought shards of moonstone which are essential for their evolution. Meteor showers are one of the best ways to bring valuable space material and rocks to the surface of the Poke-verse. There is also a hypothesis stating that the energy given off during these meteor showers might one day enable a certain species of Pokemon to evolve. Before long, Whi-2 was frantically scribbling down any tidbit of information they came across and pretty soon Silver was being welcomed into the pride of the center, the rocket and space shuttle developing hangar.

The space was huge; it stretched as far as the eye could see. Whi-2 felt overwhelmed. Many researchers had beamed polite smiles when they heard she was a budding assistant and an eager researcher, they complimented her on her zeal and encouraged her to pursue a career in the field. Feeling more confident, she brought out a digital camera and started taking pictures of her surroundings. The roof of the area was criss-crossed with a bunch of steel girders and industrial lights, the floor was a white slab of stone and she saw heavy machinery working on a rocket on the far end. Leaving Silver to acquaint a female cosmologist, who appeared to be interested in him, she moved about in the area taking down notes and snapping photos. Some distance away, she saw a space shuttle being assembled, taking a little tour of the facility, she made her way back to find out the female individual, identified as Courtney, had fallen for Silver's robotic charms. She willingly divulged information about the two space pokemon and without further ado, she ushered them along a few carpeted corridors and into a conference and research room. A group of scientist looked up from their glass topped, data sheet covered table and smiled warmly.

"He's the new scientist sent in by our boss, apparently it was all hush hush" Courtney explained and Silver felt weak, what if his cover story was blown by the 'boss' who might be sitting in the very room. Adjusting his spectacles, he greeted them all in a stiff manner and cast a quick look around. One side of the room was digital and messy with computers, steel tables and cabinets; while the other side was decorated by fancy orange overhead lamps, brown leathered couches and sofas, futuristically designed coffee-tables and a long rectangular table where the scientists and other researchers could sit and work individually or in separate groups. It gave off the sensation of a comfortable working area. Right now, he and Whi-2 stood at the table and looked intelligent in order to keep up with what the cosmologists were saying. An elderly person hobbled forward and clasped his shoulders tightly.

"So Mr. Devon sent you, I understand all the secrecy given what those new-fangled criminals are doing. If Rayquayza was here, we'd been alerted to the presence of Deoxys a long time ago; he gets absolutely furious when aliens enter the Poke-earth."

"I see, unfortunately he is missing at the moment right?" Silver enquired.

"Not missing Silver, stolen! Those international police and gym leaders don't want to cause mass panic so they gave out altered information. Anyway it is nice meeting you today, we have been probing into their affairs for some time and we can certainly say Deoxys are looking for a new place to inhabit. You see, there is a whole colony of them out in space and for some reason; their original planet has been destroyed, so they are seeking for a new place to call home. My conjecture is that quite a good number of them paired off and were sent to look for planets with ideal living conditions. They probably did find our good Poke-earth suitable but the problem was it is already populated with us and other pokemon, so by partially destroying it, they are getting rid of the inhabitants so they could claim it as their own. There are more investigative questions and we'll tackle them all tomorrow right now" the elder glanced at the clock "we need to sleep. I'm exhausted." Muttering to himself, he slowly walked to the door with the others following him. Only Silver, Whi-2 and Courtney stayed behind, the mauve haired woman gestured them to leave.

"You should go back to the hotel for today, come in nice and early tomorrow."

"Thank you for showing me around to day" the male imparted a deadpan smile, "I'll come in tomorrow again, so please look after me and my assistant." The lights in the laboratory winked out one by one and Courtney helped them outside, chattering animatedly all the way. Spying a deserted corridor, Sliver grabbed Whi-2 and ducked into it, thereafter he summoned his kingdra and commanded it to use yawn, the female scientist staggered, yawned and promptly fell asleep on the floor, a minute later his weavile joined him and Silver began unbuttoning his coat, he withdrew his water pokemon and stowed the pokeball away on the belt hanging from his waist..

"Did you disable all the cameras?" Weavile growled in reply and pointed to one emitting sparks, thereafter it held out a keycard and his trainer mumbled a thanks. Turning to the awed Whi-2 he explained his actions.

"When I first walked in the lobby, I had already released my partner to start disabling all the cameras in the facility, this is one of the fundamental rules when you are working on a covert operation and alone, however, in heavily guarded research facilities, do not attempt this, your best bet would be to act inconspicuous. Next, Weavile used thief to steal the master keycard. Lastly, to ensure you leave no traces behind, you either have to wipe the camera records or show a false feed. I normally do the latter. Here we have nothing to worry about since I destroyed the cameras; the laboratory is devoid of people so now is the ideal time to carry out our mission. Let's start."

The older male set off purposefully and Whi-2's thoughts churned in her head, she was frightened beyond comprehension. It was dark, it was creepy and risky and yet, here her senior was, trespassing the building by aid of a small circle of light thrown from his tiny flashlight, weavile darted by his side in a faithful manner. Back tracking, they returned to the previous workroom and Silver began to leaf through the papers, gathering them all together. Whi-2 did the same and soon her senior left her to file the notes away in her bag while he tackled with computer passwords and encryption. Half an hour later he swore and cursed horribly under his breath and called Emerald. Ten minutes after that, he unplugged a pen drive from the tower port and stowed the drive away in his pocket.

"Let's sweep the center for any other secrets." The older trainer added and the junior nodded meekly. She lagged behind Silver as he inspected the facility dutifully, going into rooms, sifting through the drawers and scanning them, his work was meticulous. Not a thing was out of place once he finished going through a room. She noticed him wearing gloves and wondered if she should perhaps get a pair of her own. The vision of doing this kind of work alone in the near future almost induced a panic attack. Calming herself, she took a few steps to the side to make room for Silver and accidentally vanished.

She vanished.

Right before his eyes. Silver blinked and peered at the floor, a circular indention marked the tiles and he sighed.

"A warp panel huh?...I have to find her before it's too late."

Whi-2's first instinct was to scream for help at the top of her voice, but she realized her position and instead calmed down and slid to the floor helplessly.

And she cried.

Not willingly of course, after the feeling of loneliness set in, a few stray tears stubbornly slid down her cheeks and she let them.

This continued for a short amount of time, Whi-2 snuggled with her foongus and it used aromatherapy to calm her nerves.

Taking a deep breath, she got up on shaky legs and after retrieving her phone, she used the flash light to take stock of her environment. The surroundings looked like an information archive of some sort, walls were lined with clear cabinets and on the far corner she spied a wooden desk piled with a few thick books and papers. Cautiously, she made her way there with light foot falls and looked on the desk, what she was blew her out of her mind.

Cosmog, the nebula pokemon, the picture showed a mini creature with a gaseous, cloud-esque body sporting two wisp-like extensions serving as arms and an ellipse running down its body. It had a black face decorated by yellow eyes and blue cheeks. The article further explained: in behavior, Cosmog has an overly trusting nature and it immediately takes a liking to whoever shows it kindness, even when that person doesn't have the best intentions for it. This Ultra beast has the ability to open Ultra Wormholes, but only when under stress. This process is very dangerous for Cosmog, and the use of its powers can leave it immobile for extended periods of time.

She grabbed the file and decided to put it away in her bag. Then she paused for a moment, recalled Blue's words and solemnly put the documents back on the desk. It won't do to keep a trail behind. Stepping away from the desk she sifted through the files lining the cabinets and soon, she sat on the floor with a bunch of papers all around her. In the hazy light, she scrutinized each register and took down the ones she deemed important. In the snippets she read, she found about Rayquayza and its relation to Deoxys, apparently, the pokemon held mutual hate for each other.

On the other end, Silver's emotions were thrown into turmoil. He contacted Blue a while ago and told her of the predicament of losing Whi-2, as a reward, he got an earful from his leader and now his mission came to a crashing halt as he combed the area. The warp panel she stepped through sent him in a completely different place, weavile was by his side and sniffing the air for her scent, so far it has proven to be futile.

Her eyes were growing heavy and a choking feeling settled in her chest. Where was senior Silver anyway? The hours had slowly ticked by and she glanced at her phone for the umpteenth time. Tired, the novice thief merely flopped to the floor and prayed for a savior, suddenly she bolted up when she heard footsteps outside. They were loud, too loud to be Silver's. Gulping, she hastily gathered the papers littering the floor and haphazardly crammed them into a binder. Whoever was on the other side had started rattling the door and eventually banging on it. Whi-2's heart leapt up in her throat and she fought down the urge to scream.

The rattling turned into knocking.

Knocking into banging.

Hiding underneath the table and shaking like a leaf. Whi-2 clasped her hands over her mouth.

Suddenly, the door tore down and a person walked in and switched on the lights. All she could see was red boots and maroon tights. She almost fainted from fright. Whoever this was, it was not Silver.

"There...Is someone in this room." the individual's voice sounded like he was in his middle ages. Slowly, very slowly, the man bent down to see a shivering, white faced Whi-2 underneath the table. They stared at each other and then:

She SCREAMED.

A/N: Does anyone else like Devious Diamond? Given his personality, I can't picture him doing that. Anyway, here is another chapter, please read and leave a line of your thoughts. Much thanks to Jack54311, fluffandrows57and FluffyCanaries for reviewing (the last time). I was still feeling a bit cranky so I forgot to mention names. Eh, anyone want to guess the identity of the person breaking in the archives? Guess right and I'll give you a *drum roll* virtual cookie! YAYYY! (Please don't mind the author, stress is shutting down a few neurons)