Morgan's new Serperior was certainly an interesting Pokemon, if a finicky one, based on the impression she'd gotten so far. A very contrary personality, one might say. Still, she supposed he'd do in a battle against Aqua, assuming they weren't able to summon their… kraken or leviathan or whatever Kyogre was supposed to be.

Of course, it would help if they had any idea where they'd gone. Stern had assured her that-... well, there was always the slim hope that Kyogre wasn't even real. Just because many legends were didn't mean all were... right? Morgan supposed so, but didn't want to bet on that.

If it was real, however, then all evidence suggested it would be slumbering somewhere deep underground- somewhere the sub they'd stolen shouldn't reasonably be able to reach. At least… not on its own. They couldn't prove Aqua didn't have other equipment already on site waiting, nor could they guess the likelihood of them knowing already where to dig. But hopefully… Hopefully they had time… If they could just figure out-

Suddenly, Morgan saw another flash of gold, and suddenly she found herself looking at a very different stretch of ocean. Her feet felt the same, and she looked down sooner this time, if only by a moment. A little better glimpse of her mysterious portal: dark, as she'd seen, but glittering bright like space itself. She blinked, and it was gone again. It didn't take her long to realize she wasn't in Slateport anymore, though she had to consult her Nav to learn she was apparently in Lilycove.

... Weird.

Welp. A large cavern nearby seemed to beckon her toward it, and Morgan shrugged. Fuck it, why not?


Sera made it to Mt. Chimney at last, Sapphron blocking her Nav as she lit up Tabitha's phone over and over. She'd done this already, and she didn't know how she was supposed to get inside this time when she hadn't before, but she swore if she had to start digging until she hit something and just pray it would be Magma before magma, she-

"Sera…?" Breath left her as Tabitha's voice finally came over the phone.

"Thank the gods you're ali-"

"You need to leave."

"What!?" Wasn't he the one who begged her to finish the job if he failed!? "I can't j-"

"They've already noticed you on the security cameras. You need to get out of here befo-" He was cut off by the loud shifting of rock and metal, and moments later a massive entrance had opened in the side of the mountain. Without hesitation, she gravitated toward the new opening.

"Sera!" Tabitha snapped. The force was momentarily jarring, stopping her in her tracks, if only for that brief moment. Come to think, he hadn't really raised his voice toward her for… a while, anyway. But even as he went on, "You are not to enter this base! Do you hear me! I will never… never forgive you if-" she and Sapphron just headed right in. How odd… Normally, men yelling at her made her crumble, but right now, she just seemed to be… tuning it out… What was he even saying, again?

She supposed she'd have to ask him when she saw him, but that would be soon enough. So she hung up the phone, and dismounted the Latios. Out of curiosity, she had him release his field around her Nav, but was not surprised when it didn't activate. She supposed she could step back outside to send a quick SOS to the League…

If she trusted anyone there to handle this properly, anyway. And she didn't, so… In deeper she went.

Wow, these banners and decor in the entry hall were really gorgeous, though.


Morgan sat… waiting… and waiting… It had taken them long enough to tear down the door inside the cave, but between all her psychic Pokemon, they'd managed.

She'd accumulated a lot, hadn't she? Mithril, who had been such a pillar through her journey. Kitsun, who had become something of a mentor to her, especially when she helped him spend some time as a Mega Alakazam, and all his physical abilities were traded for pure mental power. Andraste, who was becoming more and more trusting of whatever plans the others hatched and ever more willing to play her part. And Bloke, the Gardevoir she'd obtained through inter-Guild trading for a Golbat she'd caught after ditching Devon's stupid Game.

She supposed for what very little it was worth, the whole limited catching and trading concept had grown on her a bit over the months she'd spent in Hoenn. Not that she'd strictly stick to it anymore if something caught her eye hard enough, but… until then, perhaps out of habit, perhaps as a mockery of the system, maintaining some of its basic structure had proven mildly amusing.

Ah, but she was on a tangent again. They'd managed to tear down the base door, but found that once again, they'd actually beaten Archie to his destination. Mowing through a few scared Grunts didn't really seem like a productive use of her time, either, though they'd been useful in letting slip that he was planning to head back here, at least. So she sat on Mithril, who sat on the cliffs above the base, while Andraste patrolled and scanned the waters, seeking any sign of his arrival.

Morgan got the feeling it was gonna be a while… Sighing, she began levitating a few nearby rocks in a pattern. She may as well get in some practice...


Sera wasn't sure exactly what to expect inside the Magma base. An onslaught of armed grunts, an elaborate trap, or maybe even a "welcome to hell" speech, perhaps.

But she certainly didn't expect the general consensus to be "Hey Sera" with friendly waves, or people just outright ignoring her as they went about their business.

"I… What's going on?"

"Wha'd'you mean?" one grunt asked.

"I mean what am I doing here?"

The girl raised a brow. "What, you can't remember why you came? You hit your head or something?"

Sera grimaced. "No, I mean… Why was I just allowed to waltz right in? And why is no one attacking?"

"You want someone to?" Sera pursed her lips in annoyance. "Just askin', man. Anyway, Leader Maxie was expecting you. He assured us you wouldn't be a problem, so…" The grunt shrugged.

"Can you tell me where he is then?"

"Ah, nah. Probably downstairs somewhere, but you'd have to find, like, an Ace Grunt or something to know that exactly." Sera sighed, and the grunt went about her business.

As she explored the base on her own, she found it almost a labyrinth, the teleporting panels providing a surprising level of defense and making it difficult to track exactly where she was in relation to where she'd been. What exactly constituted "downstairs" here?

She took to giving herself a sort of tour, both to help establish a mental map and to make her aimless wandering feel more justified. "Excuse me," she'd ask the closest grunt. "What's this room~?" If they were feeling friendly, they'd answer.

If not, then a few times, she encountered some grunts who didn't seem to agree with Maxie's assessment that she wasn't trouble, or hadn't gotten the memo, or just had a score to settle over past defeats. All her battles were quick, however, and one helped her new Meditite friend evolve into a Medicham, so she supposed she couldn't complain, really.

"This is the dining hall." "This is one of our meeting rooms." Some were more obvious than others. "This is where we gather to watch Leader Maxie's speech every morning," one Grunt groaned. As Sera started to thank him, he emphasized, "Every morning. Every… morning…"

She did her best to stifle her laughter. Sounded like someone wasn't a morning person… Though… heh, she supposed if she was here too long, maybe… she'd have to come back to watch tomorrow morning's speech, eh..? … That thought was less humorous than she'd intended it to be…

Coming across the dormitories and catching herself considering just stealing a bed until then didn't help either… The militant bunking didn't even look particularly inviting; it just reminded her how tired she was, and how late it must be getting. Shaking off the thought, she pushed further onward.

In time, she came across what looked to be a more private bedroom. It was very bare, but Sera supposed Magma did seem the sort to value minimalism and tidiness, so that didn't mean it was unimportant. And… who knew? Maybe that computer would have some useful information. If it had internet access, as well, maybe she could even forward some files to the League, or to Morgan, or… something.

She didn't know what she expected to find, but several thousand photos of Maxie definitely was not it. This… this was almost creepy. Probably even creepier than the fact that she was going through them without the owner's permission, even… But even stranger than their existence was the way they were categorized not by location or year, but by expressions. A whole folder of "Maxie Happy", another of "Maxie Angry", and so-forth.

This was surreal. A few photos looked like they'd been taken in recent months, while many others ranged years, probably even decades back. The existence of some photos of Maxie and Archie together didn't surprise her after Mt. Pyre, but that someone in Magma would keep them did. Just how gentle, how… happy they looked in some… that did.

There were a lot of sides to Maxie Sera would have had trouble imagining before now, it seemed. Ones from an embarrassing birthday party where he looked to be reluctantly having fun. Ones from what had to be Sea Mauville, with Maxie in uniform among other workers. Here were some with Courtney looking even more blank than usual. In some, Maxie was distinctly more feminine, most especially in the oldest photos, though Sera started noticing more variance in more recent photos as well now that she'd seen it. OHH gosh, this little kid with a younger Maxie had to be a teenage Tabitha and Sera wasn't sure she could handle this right now. ...When did she start enjoying these photos? Wasn't she supposed to be doing something?

"He's fascinating… isn't he? " Sera jumped out of the chair so hard she hit the wall as Courtney's voice hit her ears.

"I-! I wasn't…" Courtney… didn't seem angry, though. Sera supposed she'd never struck her as a very easy person to read, but… Well… Sera would prefer not to get knocked out again, but so long as Courtney wasn't attacking right now, maybe… this was okay? "I'm… sorry for… going through your things? … Are these yours?"

Courtney stared at her for a few moments, but finally nodded. "Yes…"

Sera wanted to avoid coming off as nosy, but unfortunately, she wanted to satisfy her curiosity more. "So do you uh… have A Thing for Maxie, or…?"

Another long pause. "I am afraid I don't understand the question. … To what sort of … 'Thing' … do you refer…?"

Sera couldn't tell if that meant no or if she legitimately just got caught on the wording. "I mean um… like, romantic feelings… I guess."

Courtney turned to look at the screen, seeming to ponder the question. "I'm uncertain whether I am... capable of... feeling such an emotion," she admitted.

"Oh!" Sera perked attentively, hoping she hadn't offended the girl by asking. "Oh, no, that's fine too. I mean uh… I'm pretty sure Morgan's the same way, sorta?" She maybe shouldn't have said that without Morgan's permission, she guessed, but ah… Courtney was tilting her head curiously now, and Sera tried to bring the focus back to herself. "Or I guess also, I'm… not really sure if I can always tell the difference between romance and friendship, so I definitely didn't-"

"That…" Courtney cut her off. "Isn't what I meant…"

It was Sera's turn to tilt her head quizzically now. "Ah… Sorry for assuming, then, but…" If she wasn't trying to say she was aromantic, then, "What did you mean?"

"I have … no reason to believe that … the capacity for romance is part of my … internal programming…"

"Hooow is that different?" Sera was more than a little confused. On top of that, she supposed she didn't have too much room to talk, but those long pauses could still make conversation drag a bit, couldn't they?

Courtney blinked slowly, but as she opened her mouth to speak again, a voice came over the base's loudspeaker. "Courtney. Please report to the drill room to aid in final preparations."

That got a bright smile, if only for a moment. Picking up her Nav, she answered, just a bit more emotion to her voice than usual, "At once, Leader Maxie. "

Sera really wanted to know how she made that little chime noise, but unfortunately she had far more pressing questions. "Hey hold up! Where's the drill room? What final preparations? Is that where Maxie is?"

Courtney had started to leave, but spun back around with a suddenly terrifying smile, not 'forced' but not quite natural, either. "You will see Leader Maxie … when he is ready to see you… and not before. " Sera started to open her mouth, but Courtney reached out and touched a finger to her lips. "Now get. out. of. my. room~ "

Sera was ushered out before Courtney locked the door behind them, then walked off, bobbing her head to the sound of a cheerful tune. For just a moment, Sera tried to tail behind her, but one sharp glance over Courtney's shoulder stopped her in her tracks. Forget having knocked Sera out; she could apparently beat up Matt. That did not sound like ire Sera wanted to earn…

And anyway… it sounded like Maxie did plan to see her at… some point? If she could find him on her own before then without following Courtney, all the better but… hopefully… hopefully she'd still get a chance either way… For the moment, she'd have to see if she could find anything else of use in this base…


I sense him! Andraste announced. It's faint, deep underwater. Ah- it feels like they're using an underwater entrance. I… might be able to dive after them, but it might disrupt my other-...

Morgan shook her head as she jumped to her feet. "No need. We knew he might not use the front door. But now we can raid this base properly," she said, almost smirking. Of course they could've waited inside, but this way they knew exactly when he arrived.

Upon getting inside the base again, Morgan found considerably more opposition waiting for her than before, the Grunts having had time to prepare to battle her.

Perfect…

It didn't add much time to her raid, to be honest… but the strength her Pokemon derived from each victory only prepared them all the more to face Archie and whatever he could throw at her.

If she could find him… In retrospect, mapping out the base might have been a better use of her time after all. She was tempted to start having Mithril just ram the walls down, but as long as they had a firm lock on Archie's presence in the base, she supposed they could conserve their strength. One of these teleporters was bound to lead to him eventually.

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to anything in this base, and the dormitories and social areas both reminded Morgan more of a college campus than a professional organization. Complete with the frat dorm, apparently, as she wound up in what was clearly labeled on the door as "Matt's Room", but literally didn't even have a bed that she could see? It was just workout equipment and- oh Lord… Since no one was here she didn't dally, but caught a glimpse of a bunch of cassette tapes (really?) labeled "Bro Special", Volumes something through whatever. She didn't want to know what kind of music was on them or how many there were, she just wanted to get out of here and find the right teleporter already.

Finding what appeared to be Archie's room helped explain why there was no bed in Matt's, given the massive bed very clearly set up to accommodate three people (if the size and three rows of pillows were any indication) in Archie's room. Morgan could have done without that knowledge, but supposed she wasn't surprised. Moving on…

"Fire the laser beams delicately."

"Fire the laser beams a little bit more."

"Fire the laser beams fairly judiciously."

"Fire the laser beams like whoa."

The labels in this place might be the death of her… In another case, a restricted area had a sign reading: "Danger! Please don't play inside." Taped to that was a piece of notebook paper reading: "Caution! It's super dangerous! Really! I mean it!" And on that, a sticky note: "If something happens because you didn't believe me, don't blame me!" … Just how many- never mind, she didn't want to know.

A particularly amusing battle involved quintuplets trying to face her all at once. A single Dazzling Gleam from Morgan's Gardevoir put an end to that. Thanks for the power boost, kids~

At long last, the submarine came into view- modified to… Morgan covered her face with a hand as she groaned. How was the dumbass who thought turning a sub into a giant Sharpedo was a viable use of time the same madman putting the world in so much danger…

Well! Idiot design or not, at least now she could-

"Not so fast." She was cut off by Matt, and then from behind by Shelly.

"A double battle against both Aqua Admins?" Morgan considered just psychically tossing both into the water, but had admittedly worn herself a little thin making it this far, and decided she'd wait in case she needed that trick against Archie. Besides, how long could a battle really take anymore? "Bring it."


A library? Well, this would either prove a huge way to kill time or incredibly useful, and Sera wasn't even sure which she'd prefer at this point. But this day had been so long, and she was exhausted, and an excuse to sit down was more than welcome…

Some shelves were clearly filled with more entertainment-based books, but one in particular looked to hold more documents and scientific journals. Sera scanned that, and one binder in particular caught her eye. In strange letters she could barely read, like stylized versions of regular text with eyes peering out from each one, it read: AZOTH.

She'd seen letters like that before, but… in story books, she was almost certain. Their usage on a Magma document piqued her interest too much to pass up, so she grabbed the binder and sat at one of the tables to begin going through the documents inside.

One discussed many of the known and speculated details of Primal Reversion, though she found it to be mostly rehashing what she'd already learned in far more words. So Maxie had to have known at least to some degree... She attempted to skim it in case anything new stood out, but didn't want to waste time if not, and ultimately decided to come back to it to read more carefully if she had time.

But the next document…

"We intend to analyze the power of the ultimate weapon used in Kalos 3,000 years ago and work on the development of a drill weapon utilizing the same technology." … WHAT? Her eyes poured over it desperately. "According to the report from the Petalburg recon team, Devon Corporation holds the secret of the technology of the ultimate weapon. We will dedicate all our resources to obtaining this technology."

As she continued onward, she couldn't believe what she was reading. The words "Infinity Energy" came up so often. Devon used those words all the time in their advertising; among more tech-savvy folks, they were a household phrase. Everything… every major technological advancement in Hoenn for the past decade had come about thanks to Infinity Energy. Everyone Sera knew, herself included, had always thought of it as some miracle renewable energy, a product of science fiction made real. But this suggested… it was directly related to the Kalos War, to an event that had wiped out nearly a full continent's population in- well, a long time ago, but still within recorded history?

"Hey!" Sera was pulled from her trance by the voice of a scientist who had entered the library. "There are confidential documents in here! No outsiders allowed!"

Sera scrambled to her feet, ready to battle if need be, but first attempted to flash the man a smile. "What outsider?" she feigned. "See the red cloak?"

The man was not amused, leering, at least until something behind her caught his eye. Sera started to turn as well, but her attention was drawn back as he barked, "Do I look like I was born yesterday? That's clearly nowhere near a Magma uniform!"

As Sera opened her mouth, hand reaching for her PokeBalls, her world suddenly went dark as something was dropped over her head. Not something heavy, but just… cloth? "What about now?" asked a familiar voice.

Sera pushed the fabric up as she turned. "TABI," she exclaimed, immediately tackling him with a fierce hug. She supposed she shouldn't have been as surprised or as hurt as she was when he pushed her back, or when he refused to look directly at her, but all of that was still outweighed by her happy tears as she whimpered, "The way you sounded before, I was afraid something happened…"

... "I told you not to come," he muttered.

Right... That. She should... see what that was about, probably... Belatedly, though, she thought to look at just what he'd dropped on her before, pulling it off her head to reveal a Magma cloak. Though her face lit up for a moment, it soon dimmed again as she looked back to him. There was a lot they needed to talk about, but… In a weak attempt to lighten the mood, Sera forced a smile as she teased, "Thanks for the threads, but the gold horns are even cuter, you know…"

The breath Tabitha huffed could almost have been a laugh… "Afraid you'd have to work your way up to Admin for those," he told her dryly.

Sera felt herself relax ever so slightly, despite the gravity of everything. "Does this mean I'm officially Magma now, then?" She glanced back toward the scientist who'd berated her before, and to her mild amusement found him seemingly sulking as he organized the shelf before him.

"That's up to you, I guess..." Tabitha answered. "But I said I'd see what I could do about getting you the horns, so…"

Up to her… Right. Unfortunately, Sera couldn't give an answer without addressing the topic she really didn't want to. "Tabitha…" she started, reluctant but determined. "What's going on." When he just turned away again, her words became more forceful. "Tell me. Did you get through to Maxie? Did he- Is he planning to use the Red Orb for something other than Primal Reverting Groudon?" She could pray-

But only for a moment. "No."

An urgency- an uncharacteristic tinge of rage- came over her. "What do you mean NO?! What are you doing here if-"

"Sera. Shut up." She involuntarily did so, though she managed to suppress her urge to answer 'yes sir'. "I told you to stay out for a reason. Now please. If you know what's good for you, take the cloak as a parting gift, get on that Latios, and get as far from Hoenn as you can."

What… was she hearing? "What about you? What about-"

He huffed. "I don't know, okay? I don't- I don't know. Maybe I was wrong. I tried talking to Maxie, but he- I mean, what do I know? Wha'd'you know? I'm-" He grit his teeth, flinching as he spoke. "I'm a stupid kid next to him, and you're even more a kid than me. What business to we have questioni-"

"Will you listen to yourself!?" Sera's posture had become rigid with tension as she stared at him, somewhere between anger and disbelief. "Where's the egotistic prick I fell for!?" That certainly got a reaction, but she didn't have time to dwell on that. "You're a fucking Devon scientist! You- You've made Devon look like a joke! Where the hell is this doubt coming from!?"

He further withdrew. "… What if I'm wrong, though?"

"And what if you're not!?"

"...I owe Maxie my life," he mumbled. "If… I die following his lead, then…"

Sera refused to listen to this any longer. "And it's fine to sacrifice everyone else in the process?" She huffed. "You can keep cowering; I'm gonna go find him."

"Sera… please." He grabbed her wrist to stop her." You can still run. Warn the League if you have to, have them waiting to combat Primal Groudon if it gets out of hand. I can call you to let you know it's safe it if works, I-"

She tore out of his grip and glared at him. "Tabitha? Shut up." And Sera teleported out of the library.