Chapter 10

Shrike
"Master, why are you crying?"

"Because... I thought..." I wiped my eyes with the back of my arm, sitting slumped against the wall in the room Jehiel had been kept in. I held him tightly in my lap, as I had done with Zethro many times before, but never Jehiel. He's alive!

"Shrike, shouldn't we be going?" Zethro asked from where he sat next to me.

"You're alive..." I stroked Jehiel's warm fur. Zelos was never here! Jehiel never died!

"Why wouldn't I be, master?"

"Shrike, come on!"

"Yes... Let's go..." I wiped my eyes one final time before picking Zethro up. I held both of my Pokémon in my arms, not wanting to let either go. Knowing that they were both still with me more than compensated for their weight. Jehiel was still confused but remained silent.

Why would they leave only a Hypno in here? Why isn't there anyone else guarding Jehiel? I suddenly thought, but shrugged it away as I paused at the door again and Zethro started expelling a Smokescreen. I took a deep breath and rushed through the smoke, opening the door and running through it. Turn right. All the way at the end of the hall.

Outside the door and back in the hallway I quickly turned right and barreled down the hallway as fast as I could while remaining hidden in the smoke.

"There it is again!"

"Quick; it must be the boy trying to hide himself! Don't let him escape!"

Voices swirled around me, yet I paid no heed to it all. My destination was the holding room, and now that I had no ammo left I couldn't kill anyone who got in my way even if I wanted to. Not like I did.

"I think I see him! Stop him at all costs!" A voice shouted as the noise made by several booted feet alerted me to the fact I was now being chased.

A bullet flew next to me, just barely missing. Jehiel snapped his head back, trying to see where it had come from. "Master! We are being shot at! Let me go so I can strike down this enemy! I will rip his heart out and feast on it for dinner!"

"No. I order you to stay quiet for now; we can't draw anymore attention to ourselves. Right now they're just guessing where we're at, however if we make to much noise they'll know exactly where we are." I hissed. Now was not the time to deal with a murderous Zigzagoon.

Jehiel fell silent and I pressed on. More shots flew by, but suddenly they halted. "Fools! Don't blindly shoot! We don't want to hit it! If one of you buffoons were to kill it Lord Fira would be furious! Least I remind you of the last time someone screwed up?"

Lord Fira... Must be CORE's leader... I thought as I ran.

"But Iruel is currently disabled; he can't do much without that pet of his." Another, younger sounding soldier said casually. A loud smack followed.

"Do you seriously think Iruel is his only method of dealing with people like you who can't take their orders seriously! You may be green, but that's still no excuse for not even knowing what your own leader can do!"

Iruel! I almost stopped at the name. Angel of Terror! I looked down at Jehiel in my arms, also thinking about Matariel at the same time. It must just be a coincidence...

"Look, I'll be sure not to hit it, okay?" A bullet suddenly whizzed by my shoulder, almost grazing it and passing dangerously close to Zethro's head.

"IDIOT! CORE has no place for soldiers who so blatantly disregard their orders! As your squad leader I have been given the authority to deal with the likes of you as I wish, and this is how I do things around here!" Another shot rang through the air, but this time no bullet passed me. I had a feeling I knew what had happened, and the lack of the younger sounding soldier talking was more than enough confirmation. "The rest of you lot, don't let the boy escape!"

Almost there. Just up ahead! Zethro started coughing and the smoke began to thin; he was pressing himself far harder than he should. "Just hold on a little longer." I whispered to him. In response he whimpered back. The sound of boots thumping on the ground behind me was growing closer all the while.

Suddenly, a door appeared directly in front of me through the smoke. Unable to slow myself in time I ran straight into it, the Pokémon in my arms squealing as they were squeezed between me and the door, and slumped to the ground as it slid upwards; I apparently had run into the button that opened the door. Falling through the opening door I rolled into the new room, which I knew would be the holding room.

"Hurry! They've entered the holding room!" A voice called from behind me. Gritting my teeth I stood up and slammed my fist into the control panel that sat next to the door on the inside, sparks flying around my fist as I smashed it. With the power to the door cut off it dropped closed, cutting the rapidly advancing soldiers off from us.

"Please tell me that's the last we'll see of them..." I sighed as I turned around to face the room we had entered.

It looked just as we had seen on the displays back in the control center. I currently stood on a platform overlooking the huge cylindrical room, spiral stairs leading up and down with catwalks extending out along the perimeter of the room at regular intervals. I walked over to the edge of the platform and looked around the room; a large device with several cables and pipes running off of it hang from the middle of the ceiling. Those cables and pipes led to the curved walls on which they were attached to numerous pill-shaped pods between the catwalks; one cable, a thick pipe, and a thin rail connecting to each pod and forming a maze in the open air of the room. From what I could see at least a quarter of all the pods were occupied by various shapes, both human and Pokémon, but as I watched in awe yet more of the pods flashed with either red or green light; a Pokémon appearing in the pods that flashed red and a human in the ones that flashed green.

"How could... How could anyone ever think of anything like this!" I gasped. Hundreds of people, all here in captivity; it was almost surreal. "We've got to get them all out!"

"Zack said you'd have to get into the computer here; how do you think you're going to do that?" Zethro asked as I noticed the computer terminal sitting in the corner of the platform we were on.

I walked over to the computer and cautiously tapped a few buttons on it. The screen flickered to life and I examined it. "Hah!" I laughed, grinning. "They must never have expected anyone to ever try to do this and got lazy! This looks no harder than the school's network! I can crack it no sweat!"

"Crack it? But a machine does not have a skull; how are we supposed to crack its head open and spill its brains out if it does not have a skull in the first place?" Jehiel asked. I was starting to learn to ignore him.

"It's another way to say 'hack it.'" I said as I began to get to work on the computer.

"Ah, so you're going to take a big axe and chop the computer up into pieces? I suppose that makes sense and it sounds like it would work."

Grunting I focused entirely on the computer. I will free all these people! I will!

Zack
Shrike... Be safe... Be careful... You have no idea what you're up against now, and what you will be against in the future...

"Commander Reilyn! Is something concerning you?"

I looked up and found my Executive Officer standing in front of me. Shaking my head I lounged back in my throne-like chair, which had been retracted under the floor earlier. This chair is the only decent part of this job... Not like I ever wanted to have to do this. I had no choice once I found out what he plans to do. "I am fine. I was only concerned over the escape of our prisoners. I do not know how I didn't see their escape coming; the boy ordered his Cyndaquil to use Smokescreen, and in the confusion following they stole two guns and escaped."

"If you think you can not handle this, I will take over command of the base for now."

"No, no. I am fine. I am only wishing you would have informed me earlier that headquarters was doing this tonight." I pointed behind me at the AEWG's pit, currently vacant as the AEWG itself was lifted into its firing position.

"I apologize, sir. We only learned of it a few hours ago, right before we were sent out to capture the boy and girl. We didn't have time to tell you."

More like you were told not to by a spy who ranked higher than me... "Where are they now? Do you know?"

"The girl and her Absol appear to be holding off our advance at DSP room 4, at the entrance to one of the basement elevators. Oddly enough, one close by the AEWG's power core; if you ask me it appears she's planning to shut the AEWG down. The boy, his Cyndaquil, and the Zigzagoon he managed to retrieve is in the AEWG's holding room and has destroyed the door's control system, so we can't get it open for now."

I furrowed my brow in thought at what Shrike had done before retrieving Jehiel. Shrike... What were you doing back there... You unloaded your entire gun on empty air...

"WARNING! WARNING! HACKING ATTEMPT IN AEWG HOLDING ROOM! INTRUDER HAS BROKEN THROUGH FIVE OUT OF TWENTY DEFENSE LAYERS!"

I almost jumped at the voice as it blared through the control center. Technicians and computer operators scrambled at their stations, hurriedly trying to repel the attacks. Shrike... I hope you know what you're doing...

"Commander Reilyn! The boy is attempting to gain access to the holding pods' control system!"

"Defense layer six broken! No! He's passed seven already as well!"

"Change defense layer eight to a 512 byte style X circular cipher!"

"Too late! Layer eight broken through!"

"Commander, he is to fast! At this rate he'll be in within just two minutes!"

So, he was right about you after all... "We are unable to get our forces into that room, correct?" I asked.

"No, the door won't open. We're bringing equipment up now to break through it."

"Defense layers nine and ten passed! This is unreal!"

"Commander, what should we do!"

I remained silent.

"He's passed eleven!"

"Commander!"

You must succeed in this Shrike. This is only the first step, but now that I know what he intends...

"Twelve has been broken through!"

"Commander! If you don't say something I will be forced to take command from you!" My Executive Office yelled.

I looked up at him and smiled "What is there to say? I don't know how to keep him from getting into these computers. If you want to stop him so bad, get through that door."

Be swift, Shrike...

Rayne
Aim! Fire! Kill!

Another soldier toppled to the ground. I no longer cared about anything but getting to the power core alive. One shot left!

"Rayne! This is very bad! We can't hold them off much longer!" Matariel shouted, limping back to my side. Her left foreleg had been shot twice more, both times direct hits, and she was having trouble walking on it; but even as blood oozed from the bullet holes on her disabled leg she ignored them. I gritted my teeth and backed myself against the elevator door, slamming my fist into the call button. I heard the electrical rails inside the elevator shaft hum with electricity, however it suddenly stopped. Those bastards! They cut off power to the elevator! I'm going to have to... There's no other choice...

One of the soldiers noticed my look of consternation and laughed. "What? You think Commander Reilyn isn't trying to stop you from getting to the power core? I would tell you to give up now and we would let you live, but you and your Absol have killed far too many of us. Surrender is no longer an option for you."

"It's still an option to all of you, though. Well, except for you." Aim! Fire! Kill!

My final shot pierced squarely through the head of the soldier who had spoken to me. He dropped to the ground dead just like all the others as I let the now useless gun fall from my hands. "Matariel, I have no choice. Return." I pulled her Pokéball out of my pocket and expanded it, a beam of red light shooting from the tip and sucking my surprised looking Absol back in. She had told me never to do this.

But I must.

"I'll give you one last chance. Either escape now, or you will all die." I said as I spread my feet apart and braced myself. Following that I squeezed the index and middle fingers of my right hand together, my thumb held at a nearly right angle to them and my ring and pinkie flayed out to the side; giving my right hand a sort of gun like appearance. I held my right hand in front of my chest, my index and middle fingers pointing upwards at the ceiling. "Ten."

"Hmm? What do you think you're going to do? Poke us to death!" One of the soldiers laughed.

"Nine." I closed my eyes.

"Hey, let's see what she's going to do! Maybe it will give us a good laugh before we kill her!"

"Eight." I cupped my left hand over the upraised index and middle finger of my right. Empty your mind.

"Maybe she's praying to the Gods to forgive all the deaths she's caused! Not like it will do her much good!"

"Seven." Underneath my cupped hand a light began to glow. Focus all your energy to a single point.

"Ah, maybe this is some kind of magic trick!"

"Six." Picture the enemy in your head.

The soldiers voices lowered to murmurs as the light underneath my cupped hand grew brighter.

"Five." Aim at their essence.

"Four." Keep the flow of energy steady.

"Three." I opened my eyes back up again, glowering at the soldiers who now stood in curious silence because of the glow of light underneath my cupped hand.

"Two." Aim.

"One." I pulled my left hand away and held my gun like right hand pointed at the soldiers. Bright light emanated from the tips of my index and middle fingers; bright enough to momentarily blind you if you stared at it. Fire.

"And kill." I whispered.

A huge beam of energy, at least a meter in diameter, suddenly shot forward from my fingers, piercing through the middle of the room as the resulting shock and heat waves filled the rest. I winced and squinted, bending my knees to keep from being blow backwards by the force. Nothing could have withstood even a second of being in the path of that blast, anything it came in contact with being instantly incinerated; however I let it continue for at least five seconds as I knew that trying to cut it off immediately would harm me more than if I let it continue. Before long the yellowish beam, Shrike would have thought it looked not that different from a Hyper Beam attack, faded away and left behind nothing but melted computers and ashes where all the soldiers had once stood.

I collapsed to my knees and coughed, clutching my chest in pain. Not... Done... Yet...

Zack
"WARNING! IMMENSE ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED IN DSP ROOM 4! ALL CONNECTIONS LOST!"

Sirens blared and red error messages began to flash over screens all around the room as one whole wall of closed circuit camera displays went blank.

"What's going on!" I shouted. Rayne... Did she just...

"We don't know! Everything in that whole sector that was routed through DSP room 4 is going offline!"

"Get the sensors and cameras in that room back on NOW!" I shouted.

"We can't! They aren't there anymore! They've been destroyed!"

"If anyone cares, the boy has broken through defense layer nineteen in the holding room!"

"What! But how... All of this at once..." I growled, acting like I cared. Ahah! Even he doesn't know she can it to this degree!

"Wait! There's still one sensor working! Rerouting it for a direct feed to this room now!"

On a screen numbers began to flash before a line graph appeared on it, the line shooting vertically out the top of it. "This is the energy signature from whatever that was. It's off the chart!"

"I've never seen anything so powerful! We're not getting any life readings at all from the squads who were after her; they've all been wiped out!"

Thank you, Rayne... Now's my chance...

"That's it!" I yelled, standing up. "This has gotten far too risky and costly, the girl and that Absol of hers have killed more than twenty of us by themselves, and the boy will have all our prisoners free in mere seconds! As your Commanding Officer I order a complete evacuation of this base!"

"But, sir—" My Executive Officer pleaded.

"Now! Or I will have you executed for treason!" I threatened. Like I'm one to be tossing that word around...

"Yes sir... I will send out the order now..." My Executive Officer ran over to a computer and started punching access codes into it which only he and I knew.

"ATTENTION ALL CORE PERSONNEL! COMMANDER REILYN HAS ISSUED A FULL EVACUATION OF THIS BASE! I REPEAT; COMMANDER REILYN HAS ISSUED A FULL EVACUATION OF PETALBURG BASE!"

All of the CORE personnel in the control center rushed through the door and into the hallway, running towards the garage to escape. I stayed behind, even letting my Executive Officer leave without me.

"So; you can wield itthat well, eh Rayne? I'm sure the oh-so-great Lord Fira will love to know the extent to which your power reaches; but I think I'll conveniently forget about it. Don't want to upset him by telling him there may be someone better than he is... Hopefully no one else here will recognize what you just did..." I smirked to myself before walking out the doors, heading towards my private garage and transport.

Until we meet again... Until we meet again...

Shrike
"Got it!" I shouted as I jammed my index finger down on the enter key of the computer terminal. "I'm in! Haha! They tried to stop me, but I didn't let that get in my way!"

"What are you so excited about?" Zethro asked.

"I've gotten through to the holding pod control system! Now it's a simple matter of unlocking them all and disabling those stasis fields Zack mentioned!" And, one more thing...

Zethro tried to get onto the computer terminal to see what I was doing, however he was too small to jump all the way up to it. Jehiel stood next to me and watched the door, in case somehow the CORE soldiers got through.

"ATTENTION ALL CORE PERSONNEL! COMMANDER REILYN HAS ISSUED A FULL EVACUATION OF THIS BASE! I REPEAT; COMMANDER REILYN HAS ISSUED A FULL EVACUATION OF PETALBURG BASE!"

"Well, I guess Zack managed to evacuate after all. It looks like we're almost home free." I smiled as I entered two commands into the computer terminal.

All around the room clicks rang out from the holding pods as they were unlocked and the clear plastic doors on the front of them sagged down slightly, able to be pushed open from the inside whenever their occupants woke up now that the stasis field was also deactivated. People and Pokémon continued to appear in the pods; however they looked to be in a much less deep sleep than the others who were already captured.

"Can we leave now?" Zethro asked.

"Almost. We need to wait for Rayne to shut off the power core, and I have one final thing I need to do here..." I typed a couple more commands into the computer, examining the screen before typing one more in. Standing back I looked around the room as across from me and down a few levels one of the pods suddenly lurched forward, gliding along a thin rail up to the platform I was on; inside stood a girl with long, light blue hair.

"Wha—what happened..." Aira moaned as she began to wake up at the disturbance as I pulled the clear door open. "Shrike? Where am I?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you it all later. For now, we have to get out of here."

Rayne
Panting I pulled myself off the ground. There was a very good reason Matariel warned me never to do... Whatever it was I had just done. Much I don't know... About myself...

I could feel that I had very little energy left, most of what I had having been used during my attack. Nevertheless, I knew I had to press on. Still not out...

Holding my right arm to my chest I flexed my numb fingers for a moment before turning to the elevator door. Huffing I wedged my fingers into the crack between the doors and slowly pried them apart, which was fortunately much easier than I had been expecting. Nevertheless my arms burned with the strain, but determination towards my goal flared in my eyes. When the door had finally been opened just enough for me to slip through I looked through the gap and down the dark elevator shaft lined with grooved tracks. From what I could see the drop was far too long for me to fall down, however I noticed a maintenance ladder running down the wall below the door. Squeezing through the gap I dropped onto the ladder, breathing heavily as I began my descent into the darkness of the elevator shaft, an unintelligible sound blaring out from elsewhere in the base.

After what seemed like forever my feet finally touched something solid, the elevator itself. Letting go of the ladder I crouched on top of the elevator and fumbled about for the maintenance hatch until my hand finally found a shallow well and brushed a handle inside it. Grabbing the handle I twisted it, something clicking beneath me as the maintenance hatch swung downwards. Unfortunately, I was right on top of the hatch and abruptly fell through it with a yelp, crashing onto the floor of the elevator's inside.

Praying that the elevator was still at basement level I sat for a moment, regaining my breath. Standing up, swaying slightly, I pried open the elevator door as I had at the top of the shaft, releasing both a sigh of relief and a moan as I found a second door behind that one. Bending down and grabbing my bent legs for a moment I waited until I regained what had to be my fourth wind by now. The realization that as I rested countless people were still being abducted by CORE brought me back to awareness and I forced myself to pry open this last door, hoping that I would still have enough energy left to complete my mission and get out of here. I will have to do it again... To destroy this power core... But I must not let myself falter. No, I am stronger than that.

As the final door opened at my hands I winced at the harsh glare of light in the basement corridor. Stumbling out of the elevator I shielded my eyes from the light with my left hand, supporting myself against the right wall with my other. Weakly I stumbled down the corridor. Must not fail... I must not... If I do...

I passed multiple branches that led off into other parts of the basement, but I knew precisely where my destination was; the power core would be directly underneath the AEWG. Suddenly I came upon a large door and I knew I had made it, wheezing as I found the button to open the door and pressed it, there fortunately not being any kind of lock. Never expected anyone... To get this far...

Inside the power core's chamber I found myself staring at a large spherical apparatus covered in various lights, wires extending from its top and reaching towards the dark ceiling far above. Not much lined the walls of the room except a handful of computers, but I ignored them. Limping over to the power core I pressed my hands against its smooth surface. I could feel the tiny vibrations from inside it, and prayed that this would work.

Closing my eyes I strained every single part of me, pushing whatever leftover energy I had into my palms. Yellow sparks began to fly out from between my palms and the power core as I gritted my teeth. Almost... There...

Finally I gasped as my eyes snapped open, a scream escaping my mouth as huge sparks sprayed out from between my palms and the power core, arcing along its surface as sirens went off around the room and I slumped to the ground. Falling into a fit of coughs a smile managed to spread across my lips as all the lights across the surface of the power core turned dark, tiny explosions ringing out form inside it as the excessive amount of electricity I had generated overloaded it. I tried to move, but realized that I could hardly move even my hands. As my vision blurred and began to fade I slid my fingers into my pocket, sliding out a Pokéball. Stabbing the button on it the last thing I saw was a flash of red light turning into white fur that quickly ran out of my sight as the world turned black around me.

Shrike
Aira weakly collapsed to the ground, me bending down and helped her get back up to her feet, her right arm wrapped around my shoulders. Drowsily she looked around the room we were in, and at all the people and Pokémon held in the numerous pods. "What is this place..."

"Don't worry, they'll be waking up." I was about to turn to lead Aira out of the room when I realized that if I left now everyone who woke up after we left would have no idea what to do. Hesitantly I looked around, biting my lip. I didn't want to stay in that base any longer than I had to; but with several hundred people it may take a while for them all to wake up and for me to lead them out of the base. As Aira slumped on my shoulder, looking as if she could fall back asleep, my eyes were drawn to Zethro and Jehiel who lay curled up against the wall near the door to the room, looking as if they were also falling asleep. Tapping my chin I suddenly thought of something.

Unwrapping Aira's arm from my shoulders I propped her up against the wall next to my Pokémon. Her eyes tiredly followed my actions; however she made little movement of her own. Walking back over to the computer I looked it over some until I found what appeared to be a microphone. Testing out a few commands I nodded. I could do it. Positioning myself in front of the microphone I began to record my voice, speaking into it: "I am sure you all are wondering what is going on. I can not explain that, however I can help get you all out of here. Make your way to the platform halfway up the wall in this room; there you will find a door. Go through the door and proceed to follow the arrows on the walls until you reach the exit. From there you are free to do what you want; rather it be returning to Petalburg City or going elsewhere."

I stopped the voice recording and messed around with the file I had made some, messing up my voice so it no longer sounded like me. Finished with that I set the file to be automatically broadcasted throughout the holding room on an infinite loop in fifteen minutes; hopefully no one would wake up before then. Returning to Aira and my Pokémon I looked over the control panel I had smashed. Delicately I pulled away the broken front plate, noting the connections of the wires on the back of it. Pulling a few of the wires free of the panel I bit my tongue and silently prayed as I twisted a pair of the wires together.

The door smoothly slid upwards into its housing and I let out a breath, relieved that the control panel hadn't been wired oddly; in which case it very well might have exploded. With our way out opened again I gently broke a shard of the shattered control panel's face off of it. It was only plastic; however it seemed suitably hard and sharp enough. To test it out I walked out into the hallway and scratched a decent sized arrow pointing down the corridor on the metal wall. It will do.

Walking back into the holding room I suddenly realized that the large machine in the center of it all seemed to have stopped working and that no new people were appearing in the pods. Rayne must have shut it down by now... Smiling I turned to Aira and my two Pokémon, slumped against the wall and fast asleep. I sighed and gently shook Aira awake, whispering to her that it was time to be leaving. Nodding she managed to climb to her feet, surprisingly steadily.

"I feel like I should be weak and tired, but I'm quickly getting stronger again." Aira explained as I picked up Jehiel and handed him to her, then picking up Zethro and holding him myself.

Giving the computer one final check to make sure my automated message would play correctly Aira and I left the holding room for the final time. I led her down the halls I remembered seeing on the map Zack had shown us as being the quickest route to the exit, pausing to scratch an arrow in the wall every once in a while.

"You're quite resourceful, aren't you?" Aira observed as I explained what I was doing to her.

"Well, I can't wait around for every single one of those people to wake up, but then again I can't just leave them on their own either." I shrugged.

We were almost at the exit to the base when I suddenly heard a sound from behind us. Whirling around, the shard of plastic raised in my hand as if it were some kind of weapon, a puzzled look grew on my face as I saw that an Absol had caught up to us.

"Shrike; Rayne desperately needs assistance. She has blacked out from destroying the power core and is stuck in the basement. Unless you do something she may very well die down there." Matariel panted.

As Aira looked between Matariel and me, puzzled, I bit my tongue again. "Aira, take Zethro and Jehiel with you back to Petalburg. Rayne needs help, and I don't want to be burdened down."

Aira briefly frowned before shaking her head and placing a hand on my shoulder. "Considering all that's apparently been going on, now's not the time to doubt the existence of this translator, I suppose. However, I won't go back to Petalburg without you; I'll wait here until you return."

I nodded and handed Zethro to her. Tapping Jehiel a few times I managed to wake him up enough so that he could hear my command to stay with Aira and not harm her as she was an ally of ours. He mumbled an acknowledgement at this before falling back asleep. Turning back to Matariel I set off into a jog as I followed her back through the base. I noticed that she had a limp, but was surprisingly fast despite it.

"You may want to keep your eye focused straight ahead along here." Matariel said as we turned a corner I recognized as being the one right outside the control room. Walking a little farther down the hallway I gasped as I realized why.

Blood was smeared all over the walls and pooled on the ground around limp corpses that were strewn everywhere. Some of them had holes through their heads or chests, while others had broken necks and chests that had been completely ripped open, their guts and other innards exposed and scattered about them. Horrified I looked down at Matariel again, only now noticing the faint red smears around her claws and muzzle. "Did you two do all of this?"

"Yes. I do not have regrets, nor do I suspect Rayne does."

"But... Just how many people are here... How many people did you murder... People who may even have had families and lives not so different from our own..."

"They were the ones who kidnapped us. They were the ones who threatened to attack us when we escaped. They are our enemies. Human emotion is only a handicap in battle."

Silently I followed Matariel the rest of the way through that hallway of death, my eyes staring fixedly ahead. Yes, they are enemies, but to actually kill them? And without so much of a hint of remorse? Who exactly is Rayne? What happened to her in the past?

"Here is the elevator shaft. I jumped between the walls to get up it, but I do not know how you will carry Rayne up since you will be forced to take the ladder."

I blinked in surprise and found that Matariel had led me into what looked like some sort of ruined laboratory, literally melted computer equipment and peculiar ash strewn all over the place, and was standing next to a door at the far end of the room. Peering through a small gap between the doors I found myself staring down into the elevator shaft and grimaced. "I had thought that I'd just bring her up in the elevator itself." I said as I pushed the call button next to the door. Nothing happened.

"Then you will have to turn the power back on. CORE managed to cut it off from the elevator before they evacuated."

I sighed. More work to do; all because of CORE. What do they want with us; and why are they acting so much like a military now? We've done nothing to them, yet they still kidnapped us anyways. Then they go and try to both destroy and abduct everyone from Petalburg at the same time. Who is this "Lord Fira" that is now controlling them, and what does he want? They could tell us that, at least...

End of Chapter 10