-24-
Using Cecil's directions, Simon had managed to find the hidden Cipher facility within a matter of hours. He could sense an evil presence from somewhere in the facility. He checked the satchel on his right shoulder, making certain that he had everything he needed as he lay on the ground, surveying the facility.
"Better stay away from that evil presence now matter what. It's immensely powerful," thought Simon as he stealthily approached the fence around a building as large as an airplane factory. He glanced about carefully, his keen eyes noticing a myriad of security cameras and laser trip wires. He scoffed at the security sensors and chuckled with glee.
"I might actually enjoy this," thought Simon with delight. The ancient Kabutops loved a challenge and in all his years, challenges were becoming more and more scarce. Simon started to move his claws back and forth rhythmically.
"Please…work…" thought Simon as he tried to use Metronome, hoping for the right move. Moments later, Simon vanished from sight, "Perfect: Acid Armor. They won't even see me coming." Simon jumped over the fence. He grinned as he blatantly stepped into a laser tripwire: the light bent around his body and continued on, not even triggering the alarm. He ran across the open yard for a nearby air vent, carefully removed the cover and slipped into the air duct, quickly putting the cover back in place. Simon then used a weak telekinetic grip to pull a small device out of his satchel and switch it on. The small object followed Simon, floating in the air as the Kabutops quietly climbed through the air ducts.
"I hope Mack doesn't mind that I borrowed one of his 3D Mappers. With this I should be able to map out this entire facility in a matter of hours," thought Simon as he continued to crawl through the ventilation system. The going was slow, but soon he had a decent floor plan for much of the building. He stopped at a nearby vent to peer through: he gasped as he saw a gargantuan machine in the middle of a huge room. Panels on the machine lit up with a pulsing, yellow light.
"That looks like it might be useful," said Simon to himself as he used his telekinetic powers to pull a small camera out of his satchel to take a picture, "Mack should probably take a look at this." Simon continued onward with camera and the mapper following close behind. An hour later, Simon was starting to get a cramp from crawling about in the dusty ventilation shafts. He carefully looked through another air vent, discovering what looked like an office of some sort. Simon focused his power, seeing if he could sense any people or guard Pokémon nearby: there was nothing.
"May as well take a break in here," thought Simon as he kicked the vent cover off and jumped out of the shaft to the floor. There wasn't much to this office: just a few bookshelves, a coffeemaker, a wooden desk, a large safe the size of a bookshelf, a computer and what seemed to be a very expensive office chair. Simon walked over to the terminal and used his telekinetics to move the black computer mouse across the desk.
"Please, don't be password protected," thought Simon as the screen turned on. He hoped he had learned enough from watching Mack and Aura as they used computers. Amongst the various files listed on the computer screen, a single object caught his attention.
"JournalEntry#234748kHz16-bit.wav?" thought Simon, "I wonder what this is?" he double-clicked the icon and before long, the digital audio file started to play. Simon instantly recognized Dr. Namwen's unsettling voice.
"Project Omega has proven successful. The alien's blood was indeed the missing link and the serums have proven completely successful. Nevertheless, I can't completely disregard my findings with Project Lambda. My first attempt to give humans the powers of Pokémon seemed promising. The serums I devised from this project could have been used to augment humans with various Pokémon powers and abilities with less detectable changes in physical appearance. Much to my disappointment, the very soldiers destined to receive and field test my discoveries managed to steal all five of the most potent serums about a month ago. They had not been perfected yet and I can only imagine the results. I almost wish I had been there, laughing at their pain and turmoil as they transformed into, theoretically, a hybrid Pokémon/Human life form: AKA: a Poke'morph. This group of five elite soldiers, calling themselves the Star Battalion, managed to escape with their Pokémon as well. No one was even able to get a glimpse of them. Anyway, the Star Battalion is long gone by now. The good news is that I finally have my brother in custody. I'll have him turned permanently into a Gardevoir as well as myself. I wonder why I made this decision so hastily, but most likely, it is because of the injuries I suffered earlier today outside the Gardevoir city. Now, I am blind and have to use my powers of telepathy constantly, having to use my Alakazams as extra sets of eyes. After my transformation, my physical ailments should vanish and I can take my plans to the next stage. It seems that the only way to convince my brother to join me in my eventual conquest is to repeat the same accident that greatly improved my own powers and removed various human frailties, such as morals and ethics. They only hinder progress. I know the Guardians will come for me soon, trying to shut down the rest of Cipher. I'm ready for them, though. In the safe, I've placed a custom rifle and the only two black darts I could make. With these, I shall turn the Guardians of Gardev into more XD series Pokémon. After that, I will infuse Eric with the dark power. After that is complete, I will use some of the last Project Lambda serums on us, further increasing our power. I must make certain that I don't load the wrong darts into the gun or else I may end up giving the Guardians even more power. Master Greevil was a fool to take on the people of the world with such a lack of personnel and equipment. Soon, my armies of Ralts, Kirlia and Gardevoirs will emerge and through them I shall bring the world to ruin and under my rule. Soon, Eric will be all too eager to help me in my plans of conquest. It will be just like old times: working hand in hand with my dear brother. Still, I don't know why I dislike him so. No matter. I have a job to do and very little time to get my plans set. I must be going now…" with that, the audio recording cut off. Simon glanced at the large safe.
"Time to make a withdrawal, then," thought Simon as he placed a claw on the safe and used his powers of telekinesis to carefully crack the safe. With his sharp senses, he could easily tell how far to turn the knob on the old, metal safe. Minutes later, there was a loud click as the lock disengaged. Simon opened the safe: on the shelves he saw the rifle and two darts that had a golden, glowing color to them. He picked up the rifle, opened the magazine and plucked out two darks. The two, 4-inch long darts seemed to be radiating darkness.
"I'll make sure these things never get used," thought Simon as he put the darts in his satchel and quickly loaded the glowing darts into the rifle. He closed the magazine and noticed a discolored area in the safe. He forced open the hidden panel and gasped at what he saw: Simon had discovered a tiara made out of platinum with diamonds on it that were even larger than the ones on Aura's tiara. Simon placed the tiara in his satchel, shut the safe door and then quickly jumped back into the air vent as he telekinetically lifted the cover back in place.
"If all goes well, they'll never notice the switch or the missing darts," thought Simon, "May as well use that madman's own research against him for once." Half an hour passed as he came upon another air vent. He peered in and saw a room full of computers and control consoles.
"Three to one, that's the master security control room," thought Simon as he once again had something float out of his satchel. He kicked out the vent cover and tossed a high explosive grenade into the room.
"5…4…3…2…1…" thought Simon, counting down as he scrambled to get away from the room. Moments later, a loud explosion shook the entire building as every alarm in the facility went off.
"Music to my ears!" thought Simon with delight, "I hope Mack won't miss that grenade. It should take days for those Cipher peons to get everything fixed up in there." Simon, no longer caring if he was noticed, went thundering through the ventilation system. He had the mapper float close to his face and he quickly surveyed the 3D readout.
"Looks like I have the entire floor plan mapped out," thought Simon as he noticed how the 3D map suddenly stopped at one point, "There must be much more to this place underground. I haven't even seen the power generators yet!" Simon continued to move as quickly as possible through the vents as he had his camera and mapper float back into the satchel. Before long, Simon had reached his point of entry. He was about to kick the vent cover off when he heard some familiar voices.
"56!" "67!" "78!" "89!" "101!" "131!" "242?"
"What's going on? There must be more of us than I thought!" said another voice.
"How come we can never figure our how many of us there are?" complained another voice. Simon cautiously glanced through the vent cover: he soon discovered six young men. Their uniforms each had a distinct, single color to them.
"Great…" muttered Simon, "The Power Rangers…"
"I say we try again!" said Blusix.
"And still come up with some stupid, whacky number? No way!" said Greesix.
"Hey! Did any of you hear those alarms?" asked Blusix.
"What alarms? Remember? We're taking an emergency role call!" said Redsix, "Now count off again!"
"We should have stayed in the Orre region," complained Greesix.
"What was that?!" demanded Redsix.
"Nothing!" said Greesix, "One!"
"Two!" said Blusix.
"Three!" said Redsix. Simon had had enough of this. He kicked the vent cover off and jumped out of the vent towards the Hexagon Brothers.
"Simon says: SHUT UP!!!" shouted Simon as loud as he could as his body started to glow with a bright yellow, orange and reddish light.
"What's that Kabutops doing?" asked Redsix.
"If I had to guess, I'd have to say," said Blusix as the light got brighter and brighter, "…Explosion…" Suddenly, a gigantic explosion lit up the area for miles as a giant fireball appeared about Simon, sending the Hexagon Brothers into the air. They landed hard on the ground, over fifty yards away.
"We should have stayed in the Orre region…" complained Greesix again.
"Yeah…" muttered Redsix, "You're right…" Meanwhile, Simon had managed to regain his composure and he started to run away from the giant building as fast as he could. He looked back as Cipher agents swarmed out of the building and onto the yard.
"Sayonara, storm troopers," laughed Simon to himself as he stopped running a few miles away from the facility. He glanced towards the mountains: the sun was beginning to rise.
"Time to get back," thought Simon as he teleported away.
-25-
Mack was standing in front of Central's main control console. The time was now 6:35 in the morning. Aura smiled as she brought Mack a cup of coffee. She held the skirt of her wedding dress with her other hand as she approached Mack.
"Thank you, my love," said Mack softly as he took the mug from Aura's hands.
"You're welcome, honey," said Aura with a smile as she wrapped an arm around Mack, holding him close. Andre stood nearby with a bandage, wrapped around his elbow.
"How can you stand to wear that dress?" asked a perplexed Andre, looking at Mack's shimmering wedding dress.
"Its Gardevoir tradition," replied Mack as he continued to happily sip his coffee, "It just took some getting used to."
"Besides, he looks so cute in white satin…" sighed Aura blissfully as she held Mack tightly.
"Analysis complete: Here is the chemical structure," said Central as a model of a bizarre molecule appeared on the screen, "According to my analysis, the Omegalings' DNA structure can be altered using this chemical. Even if the targeted soldier is a different species of Pokémon, this antidote will cause the DNA structure to revert to normal within roughly ten minutes. The first symptom will be a deep sleep as soon as the serum is injected into the blood stream."
"Excellent. We can turn them back into humans," said Mack.
"Could we use this to turn you back into a fox?" asked Aura, "And me into a vixen?"
"I'm afraid not," said Mack, "We are the way we are due to some very unique circumstances. Besides, I rather like the idea of spending a century in a mostly quiet town with you, Aura."
"I'll have my chemical synthesizer make several CCs of the antidote at once," said Central. Mewtwo walked out of a nearby room with two rifles, six magazines and a bag of over one hundred empty darts.
"I greatly enjoyed your library, Mack," said Mewtwo as he set the weapons and darts on a nearby table, "I was able to alter these rifles and ammo magazines to use these darts. After this is all over, you, Aura and I should team up together on some inventions."
"I know what you mean," said Mack as he set down his coffee mug and put an arm around Aura, "Rebuilding the S-100I is not going to be easy. Perhaps you can help me with that?"
"First, we all need to come back from our little invasion in one piece," said Mewtwo.
"Thanks for coming with us," said Mack.
"I owe you a great deal," replied Mewtwo with delight, "I learned much from you and your companions during our first encounter." At that moment, Simon suddenly teleported into the room with a bright flash of light.
"Good morning!" said Simon with a smile as he faced Mack and Aura, "I come bearing gifts for the lovers!" Simon handed Mack the 3D mapper and the pictures he took from inside the Cipher facility.
"Very good!" said Mack with delight, "Looks like you managed to map out almost all of the facility." Mack then quickly flipped through the photographs. His eyes opened wide with shock when his gaze fell on a particular picture.
"So that's how they did it…" growled Mack, "I know a Seismic Generator when I see one. Dr. Namwen must have had another one built. That's how Cipher brought the Gardevoir city crashing to the ground with an earthquake."
"They've also taken Eric prisoner. Dr. Namwen turned himself and Eric into Gardevoirs. Now, that madman intends to use a massive Gardevoir, Kirlia and Ralts army to take over the world," explained Simon, "I don't think we have much time to act. Dr. Namwen intends to infuse Eric with the dark power, making his brother as twisted as he is."
"We're pretty much all set to go," said Mack as he quickly filled and loaded the darts into the rifles and the ammo magazines. Just then, K-1 hastily ran into the room.
"Guys! I just cracked the encryption on those Cipher data tapes! I think you all should see this!" said K-1 as he inserted a disk into Central's control console.
"Please make a selection," said Central.
"Surveillance Data #4213," commanded K-1, "Play sections 67 through 89." Everyone watched as a movie started playing on Central's main view screen. They watched with shock as they saw Dr. Namwen on the screen in front of a large computer. Also in the room, was a familiar glass capsule with a metal ceiling and floor. Simon growled when he saw the Pokémon in the capsule: it was a very familiar Kabutops.
"That's me," said Simon gruffly, "I remember this day: Dr. Namwen was going to try the first shadow chamber on me." They watched as Dr. Namwen walked to the capsule with his six Alakazams close behind.
"Just relax," said Dr. Namwen kindly, "This won't take long and shouldn't hurt."
"You don't know what you're doing," pleaded Simon, "Let me out of here!"
"Dr. Namwen sure sounds different in this movie," remarked Aura as she watched the movie closely.
"This is back when Dr. Namwen went by the name of Dr. Alvin Newman," explained Simon, "I was not about to become the first shadow Pokémon, so I fought and managed to break free of Alvin's hideous machine." They watched as Simon drove his claws through the capsule walls. Simon yelled with fury as he shattered the glass walls. Simon went running out of the room as thick clouds of darkness engulfed Alvin and his Alakazams. The security video faded out as Alvin and his Alakazams passed out.
"So that's exactly what happened," said Mack, "Dr. Namwen was indeed exposed to the power of a shadow chamber."
"After that, Dr. Namwen continued to pursue me," explained Simon, "He seemed bent on revenge. That man changed completely over night from a kind, conscientious scientist to one of the foulest, most evil humans I have ever had the misfortune of getting to know well."
"We'll have to purify him if we can, Aura," said Mack, "That's the only way we're going to be able to save him." Aura nodded her head in agreement as she faced Mewtwo.
"Mewtwo," said Aura, "Would you please gather everyone at the town square?"
"It would my pleasure," said Mewtwo with a bow as he disappeared, teleporting back to Gardev.
"That reminds me," said Simon, "I have some unfinished business in Gardev. I'll be back shortly." Simon ran out of the room to the elevator. Mack faced Aura and embraced her.
"Are you ready to save our friends and our brother?" asked Mack gently as he stroked Aura's back.
"I'll go with you no matter what," said Aura sweetly, "Let's go get them!"
"I'll stay here with Central and try to decode more of those Cipher data tapes and disks," said K-1 as Mack and Aura ran out of the room.