Thank you, Dusk Mind, for taking the time to read this story!
Yeah, it's going to be a real struggle writing this in the future. I likely might even get lost within my own story!
Chapter ten
Mars woke up uncomfortably, her head hurting. She turned her head to Wes, who was looking down in fretfulness.
"Wes…" Mars began.
Wes turned his head away from her. "Don't. Just don't."
She ignored him. "Don't you think that it's a little too much for you to keep watching her getting attacked by Cipher? Or is it that you always wanted to get back at Cipher?"
"This is none of your business," Wes shook his head and pulled the needle out of his wrist. "I… you won't understand."
"I get it very well, thank you," Mars made a face. "You were talking to Rui for the sake of remembering your home. Don't you know that your memories can influence our mission? Cipher can just wreck our way through… and incapacitate everything. Especially when your memories won't stop at nothing until you're down."
"Don't tell anyone what you just saw," Wes demanded. "This is personal."
"You'll have to let me come with you then," Mars requested. "Because you need someone who understands what you're going through. Your memories might destroy us all. If it's not me, you have to tell Kellyn and Lunick what I just saw."
Mars smiled grimly. "On the other hand, I know that Rui is someone who really can be trusted. But I don't want this to interfere with the mission."
A there was a knock on the door. Without bothering to wait, the door opened and Kellyn's Kirlia twirled in. "Kirlia! Kirlia!"
Mars looked at Kirlia in confusion. Then Kirlia impatiently pulled on her arm.
"It's time to go," Cyrus walked in.
"What's going on?" asked Wes. "Is it…?"
"Yep, we just heard on the news," Kellyn said. "The Plasma Company has announced the placing of the contract for turning over HSBC. Lucian is preparing to head off to Lilycove. We have to get there to catch the ship on time."
"When's the contract going to be signed?" Wes questioned.
"The day after tomorrow, in the Sinnoh Pokémon League," replied Cyrus.
"Have you packed your bags?" Wes looked for his Poké Balls.
"Everything's in progress. Except I haven't packed my own… I better go," Kellyn headed out with Grotle, Kirlia, and Pachirisu outside.
Mars tapped Wes' shoulder. "Are you going to show this to the Rangers? Are you going to take me with you? Or else I'm going to tell them myself."
Wes sighed and looked at Cyrus. "Tell Steven to get us another seat on the ship."
Cyrus took out his phone and dialed a few numbers and spoke briefly. He turned it off and nodded to Wes. "Our ride's in an hour. Better be there before Lucian does."
They left the room quickly. Mars went to pack her own bags. She actually thought of it as a way to get back home to Floaroma Town early and packed everything with her in a suitcase. She also remembered to take her Kangaskan too.
Wes went back to the Pokémon Centre for his own belongings. There wasn't too much he needed though. He had his Snag Machine, his Espeon and Umbreon, a few items in his bag, his PDA…
He flipped it open. Of course, there weren't any expected messages to receive. But Wes still chose to send a message to Rui.
I'm coming back home tonight, Rui. Hold still for just another day.
Wes
After sending it, Wes closed his PDA. But what was really incredible was that the reply to him came almost immediately. Wes blinked and opened his PDA again.
Hooray! I thought that you would come home at last! Why didn't you say so in the first place? I had to live life all alone without my dear prince…
Rui
Wes could not help but chuckle.
The only thing left… was his GridBook. Wes checked to make sure it was with him. If Steven was right; communication would be perfect while they were in the dream.
When everyone was accounted for, they spent the remainder of time storing their Poke Balls in their bags. That is, except for the Rangers of course.
"Minun! Let's go!" called out Lunick. "You know we're going to miss the ship if you're taking this long! Besides, there'll be plenty of food there too!"
Lunick's Minun shook his head and jumped on his shoulder, gulping down the rest of the snack he was eating. Lunick clipped his Styler to his belt.
Kellyn had his bags packed up. He didn't forget to bring his Vatonage Styler too, not to mention his three Pokémon. Grotle helped Kellyn move his bags. Pachirisu rode on Kellyn's shoulder and Kirlia went to help out Roark with his supplies.
Steven and Cynthia brought only their bags of supplies. They were the first of the group to complete packing. Only Barry was the last to finish packing.
Within twenty minutes, everyone was packed up and ready to go to Lilycove.
Cyrus had a Galactic shuttle stationed outside the Slateport Maritime Museum. He waited patiently inside the shuttle for Wes' team.
"Let's see… the ship will leave in less than fifty minutes," Cyrus looked at his pocket watch. I wonder if they've forgotten…
Wes and Roark popped inside the shuttle. "Right on time!" Roark cheered.
It took a precious minute before Mars came aboard. "We have a hold up right in front of the shuttle," she said with a smile.
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Wes raised an eyebrow.
"Uh… it's personal? Possibly?" Mars took her seat, though she failed to hide her smile.
They waited silently for whoever was going to walk in. There were voices coming outside and Wes wasn't surprised whose voices they belonged to.
"No, no… I insist. You go first!" said Cynthia.
"I'm a gentleman. So ladies first!" said Steven. "After all, we're of equal ability!"
"But you have a better reputation!" she argued.
"Ms. Cynthia; we can do this the easy way, or the hard way," Steven warned.
"HARD!" Cynthia yelled.
There was a sudden movement, and Cynthia shouted. "Hey! No, no, no! You have to go in first! Come on! Oh, Steven…"
Mars looked up and saw Steven and Cynthia come inside the shuttle together. Steven apparently carried Cynthia on his back into the shuttle with force. Cynthia was silenced by Steven's 'gallant' act.
"You took your time," Wes muttered. "You've cut off two minutes off our time. We might not even catch the ship."
"The Rangers aren't even here yet, what's the difference if we –" Cynthia started.
"WRONG! We've been waiting for you to go in the entire time!" Lunick disagreed loudly.
The rest of them, Lunick, Kellyn, Kellyn's Pokémon, and Barry were tapping their feet. They appeared very annoyed with the hold up when they got into the shuttle.
"Seriously, all this fuss over gallantry… we should've got here before they did…" Kellyn muttered. "Oh, well. How much time do we have left?"
"Forty minutes. Lucian will have yet to arrive in the Lilycove terminal," Cyrus checked his watch. "But still, earlier is better."
The shuttle lifted up and took to the skies.
"Review time!" Barry took out his touchpad.
"We want to express to Lucian the concepts of this idea. We send basic stuff in the first level and we make complex and cover-ups in the final levels," Barry read out.
Mars and Roark took out their notes. "Ranger depots will contain cabinets filled with the appropriate weapons. I've even thrown in a couple of Master Balls in there. The Rangers' Stylers will be found in there too."
After that, the rest of the time was spent explaining possible combat strategies if the projections attacked. Kellyn and Lunick assured the team that they would do their job well. Steven and Cynthia, holding one time roles, offered to help out combat if they needed to.
After a twenty minute flight, the high-rises of Lilycove, including the Department Store, were in Wes' sight. The shuttle touched down at the southern ground, on dry grass. Wes and his team unloaded their belongings quickly and headed directly for the Lily cove terminal to catch their ship. But they still had twenty minutes to spare.
"I'm checking in for the trip to Sunyshore City," Wes presented his ticket.
The receptionist looked at it and said. "Any personal baggage you have with you?"
"I only have my bag. That's all," Wes said. "Oh, and I'm travelling with Steven Stone. Just to let you know, I'm his companion."
"Oh! Then why didn't you say so? Where is he?" the receptionist asked in shock.
Steven appeared behind Wes. "I've got eight others coming with me and their tickets are all right here. Their baggage is also being loaded as we speak."
"I see," the receptionist nodded. "Any personal baggage?"
"A few more bags, that's about it," Steven motioned to Mars, Barry and Roark.
"Very well," the receptionist took the tickets and scanned them. "You're clear for entry, proceed to Entry 28, the ship will depart in fifteen minutes."
The S.S Revenue was being fuelled for its journey to Sunyshore City. Cyrus was looking at the ship in approval. Wes finished up with loading his bag and walked to Cyrus to look at the Revenue also.
"If I manage to do this and you don't honor our arrangement, then when I get to Gateon Port I'm pretty much doomed," Wes stated.
"Finish the job en route the journey. I will make a call on the ship, and you will pass Gateon Port into the Orre Region unharmed and unnoticed by the Orre authorities there. Furthermore, I will make a second call. Cipher will bother you no longer," Cyrus said.
"Entry 28 to Sunyshore City is ready for boarding. Please all passengers proceed in; First class passengers please board first," the intercom said.
Wes turned to pick up his bag. His team was already boarding the ship and handing their boarding tickets to the receptionist starting with Barry, then Mars, then Lunick, then Kellyn, and the rest of the team.
Wes was actually the last of the team to enter the ship. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the familiar face of Elite Four Lucian, who was surrounded by security guards pushing away nosy reporters. To Wes' relief, the guards didn't accompany Lucian into the ship, nor did they need to. Wes got his ticket back and rushed into the entry gate.
In the Revenue's first class cabin, Wes and his team stored all their bags in the personal compartments and waited for departure. Kellyn's Pokémon had seats in the cabin too seeing that they didn't use Poké Balls. Only Pachirisu and Minun got to sit on the Rangers' shoulders.
"It will not be long before the ship departs," Steven told his companions. "I want all your GridBooks to be functional once we're down there and some of us HAVE to meet at the Ranger depot as a temporary rendezvous point."
"Yep, and that's where I will give the idea to Lucian when we're down there," Barry said. "This should be short and simple. Wes, is Lucian coming?"
"I saw him check in after I did, it won't be long now," Wes said.
A minute later after they had sat down, Lucian walked into the cabin and stored his bag in his compartment. Then he closed it and took his seat.
Wes gave Lucian a friendly wave. "Hey. You wouldn't happen to be HSBC's president and CEO, aren't you?"
"You could say that," Lucian shrugged. "I don't know for how much longer after this trip. Still, the one I'm handing it over to will have a much better control over it."
The ship's horn blew, and the ship slowly left Lilycove for its journey to Sunyshore City. Of course, for the team, there wasn't much time. After Lucian had a meal and started to read a few pages of his book, Wes nodded to the ship attendant who silently sent out a Slakoth.
"Slakoth! Use your Yawn attack!" she whispered.
The sloth Pokémon let out a whiff of air towards Lucian. After a minute, Lucian blinked and yawned. He put his book aside and went to sleep.
That was the call for action. Wes and the Trainers took out their bags and looked for their Poké Balls. The attendant opened a concealed cupboard to take out the metallic briefcase containing the sedative and passed it to Lunick, who laid it in the middle of the cabin and opened it.
Kellyn helped him take out and give the needles to each of the team. "Now after you guys have put the needles in your wrists, give me your Poke Balls and I'll connect them with each corresponding needle. My Pokémon will be last, of course."
Wes gave him the Poké Balls holding Espeon and Umbreon. Kellyn looked for Wes' connection and, after connecting Wes' sedative with them, placed the Poke Balls inside the sedative case. The same went for Barry's, Roark's, Mars', Cynthia's, Steven's, and Cyrus' Pokémon.
The only exceptions were the Rangers' Pokémon. Kellyn took a connected needle from Lunick's sedation and gently inserted the needle into Minun's wrist. Minun shivered a little. Then Kellyn finally took out four needles for him and his Pokémon. First, he had to put the needle in him to ensure that the sedative was connected. Second, he used the other three needles, separately attached with Kellyn's sedation, to Grotle, Kirlia, and Pachirisu.
Finally, Kellyn connected the last needle with Lucian's wrist and took his seat.
"Everyone connected?" Kellyn finalised. "Organised? Perhaps hungry?"
"I don't know about you, Kellyn, but Minun sure is…" Lunick was quietly watching his Partner Pokémon happily munching away on a pile of peanuts.
"MINUN!" Wes shook Minun's hand. "You have one minute to finish eating. We are on a very tight schedule, you know."
Minun looked up at Wes. "Me…?" Minun then swallowed the peanuts in three big bites. Minun burped a bit and nodded to Wes.
Mars looked at the metallic briefcase. The first class attendant had kneeled in front of the case and had her finger placed on the button.
"Ready?" Wes asked the team. "Then let's do this."
The flight attendant pressed down on the button quickly. Wes and his team went to sleep followed by Kellyn's and Lunick's Pokémon and though not visible the Trainer's Pokémon joined them after.
Finally, Mars felt the heavy feeling of the sedative going into her head. It was a head aching feeling that made her mind shut down and forced her to sleep…
And now... the mission begins.