Chapter 10: Welcome To Tomorrow

The reclusive Galactic boss sat in his office, surrounded by several machines. Several feet in front of his desk were the main office doors. Behind him was another door, where he housed the lengendary Pokémon needed for his part of the plan to begin.

His time had come at last. He still marveled at the fact Archie and Maxie were working together on this issue. Over the course of the past week, their men had brought Mespirit, Azelf, and Uxie. By utilizing the jewels from each of these creatures, his men were able to forge a red chain. The purpose of this chain was to enslave the mighty Dialga and the fierce Palkia. With these two in his possession, he'd rally together all other legendary Pokémon and wield the power necessary to forge an entirely new world.

He wasn't that far yet, though. Just yesterday he'd sent out his men with the red chain to find Dialga and Palkia, and they'd likely be gone for a few days at the least. He hoped they succeeded. Failure was not an option – especially not at this juncture in time. The die was cast, and there'd be no going back now.

The main office doors swung open, and Giovanni entered, making his way towards they desk. He gave a quick bow.

"Congratulations on getting this far. I'm personally hoping your men can get the job done soon."

"They will. Team Galactic is a vast force, and we take our line of work seriously. We will have all the legends in our grasp in a few day's time."

"Glad to hear it."

Cyrus decided then to change the subject. "It seems young master Harley has taken to his duties well."

"Yes, I've never seen such vigor in a man of his stature. I have him watching over the prisoners right now, just to ensure they don't try anything funny."

"So I take it the young boy still hasn't consented to your generous offer?"

Giovanni winced. "Unfortunately, no, so I sent him back to the dungeons again and left him in Harley's care. I'm hoping his fellow inmates are more sympathetic towards us."

"Indeed. To stand against our might now would be folly. They'll see the light before the end."

"I hope so," Giovanni said as he prepared to take his leave.

Cyrus almost felt relieved when Giovanni left. He preferred the company of machines over other life forms. Though he still needed to get information somehow.

Before he opened his eyes, Ash could feel the cold, hard cement of the floor beneath his body. As his vision cleared, he sat up. He felt a slight tingling sensation in his thigh, where the dart had hit him. He saw that he was in some kind of cell with the floor, ceiling, and three walls made of concrete. The last "wall" was the classic iron bars of a prison. Ash supposed he was in a prison, though not one he'd recognize.

There was one sight that caught him off guard. It was Dawn, who was still asleep, but probably not for long. Brock was nowhere to be seen, and as Ash looked beyond the bars, all he could see was a brick-lined corridor with several lamps serving as the only lights in this dark place. There were no other cells in sight.

Ash wondered who put them here. He hadn't done anything illegal, so that ruled out Officer Jenny. Besides, Jenny always confronted her criminals face-to-face, so she wouldn't be using tranquilizer darts, either. Ash could only guess who took them hostage.

Suddenly, voices and footsteps came down the corridor. As they rounded the dark corner, Ash could see clearly who it was.

Harley was escorting a handcuffed Max through the hallway to an unseen cell elsewhere in this dungeon. From the sounds of it, they were arguing. Ash wanted to call out to Max, happy to see a familiar face, particularly one he hadn't seen in a long time. However, he was still too drugged to form words. He could only watch Max's futile efforts to liberate himself from Harley.

"Let me go! My sis'll find out I'm gone sooner or later, and she'll be coming for me when she does!" Max said, trying to pull away from Harley. This didn't work – one hand was in a cuff, whose twin cuff was closed around Harley's own wrist. Harley, of course, had the key, but he had no intention of letting the child go free and wreck havoc.

"Sure, she will." Harley said in a sarcastic voice. "And when she does get here – IF she does get here – I'll make her pay for all the trouble she's caused me."

Unknown to Max or Ash, Harley was just playing – he was aware that May was one of his seven captives.

After they passed out of sight, Ash grabbed the metal bars and pulled himself onto his feet. He knew they weren't alone anymore in this prison compound. Ash had a notion to get out of this cell and look around. He knew how, too. He'd get Chimchar to heat the bars, then he'd borrow Dawn's Piplup to rapidly cool them, then break through with Turtwig's razor leaf.

This hope was cut short when Ash touched his belt and discovered that all of his pokéballs were missing. Now that he looked around the cell, Pikachu was nowhere to be seen.

"Where…are we?" Dawn asked. Ash turned around and saw that Dawn was awake and on her feet.

"In some kinda prison, I guess. I saw Harley and Max come through here a minute ago."

"What're they doing here?" Dawn remembered Ash telling her about his adventures in the Hoenn region, but was under the impression that Harley was in Johto and Max was back in Petalburg City.

Ash shrugged. He wasn't sure of that, either. Something strange was at work here.

Giovanni felt the time was right to have another captive brought to his office. And he knew just who to question this time. For he had in his possession the very Pikachu that Jessie, James, and Meowth had failed to capture on so many occasions. He knew that when the electrical gauge on the small glass sphere showed unusually high readings – far too high for a normal Pikachu.

He entered a number on his phone pad to the pager of the guard outside the door.

"You need somethin', boss?" the grunt asked.

"Go to the basement and tell Harley to bring me the captive named Ash Ketchum."

"Yes, sir." With a bow, the grunt headed off.

Giovanni was pleased with how things were turning out. Soon, the world would be under their control. However, he now had something to tell five particular individuals he had sent to the Sinnoh region.