Chapter 50: Looking after the homefront.

Time for things to pick up again as we take the story to Team Galactic home base of their HQ.

"Spoken text" = normal talking

'Speech' = thoughts

-Speech- = translated Pokemon text

(Speech) = Author's comment (on a part of the story that may be obvious or hard to understand)

*Words* = sound effect

Words = Formily Dream text, now Telepathy

Pokemon team levels and moves:-

Clarity/Clair (Gardevoir, level 42) Moves: Focus Blast, Psychic, Thunderbolt and Calm mind.

Sparky (Luxray, Level 42) Moves: Thunder Fang, Return, Iron Tail and Crunch (Roar is a battle cry)

James (Emploeon, level 41) Moves: Ice Beam, Iron Defense, Surf and Shadow Claw.

Angela (Absol, Level 42) Moves: Zen Headbutt, Slash, Swords Dance and X-Scissor.

Terry (Togekiss, Level 41) Moves; Fly, Drain Punch, Extrasensory and Metronome.

Crystal (Froslass, level 42) Moves: Shadow Ball, Ice Shard, Headbutt and Protect. (Just that everyone is roughly the same level now as we move on)

Disclaimer;- Pokémon belongs to Gamefreak and Nintendo, my OC (Jake) belongs to me. (its' me :)) And the Idea of Angela is from Baby Mama Valkyria, the written form of her is mine.

Landing in Veilstone again, Jake looked around and spotted a Galactic grunt stopping outside the large spiked building built on top of a hill in the northern part of town. "Yeah that'd fit being their HQ, don't know how I didn't piece that together before." Jake commented to Clair and Angela as he began walking in that general direction. -Well we were busy with the Gym, me becoming a Gardevoir and helping Dawn last time.- Clair replied, with Jake nodding. "Yeah, guess we were busy then." He finished before getting to the top of the, once again, conveniently craved stairs in the rocky hillside and shouting a simple "Oi" to the grunt in front of him, who had been staring at the two antenna outside the building, one on each side of the area.
"Ok who's the wis...?" The grunt started before a look of recognition locked onto his face when he spotted Jake and co. "...Not you again, you remember me don't you?" He said in an annoyed tone, continuing before Jake could even reply. "Doesn't matter if you do or not, I sure do remember you alright. They took my Clefairy away because of you..." He said in a tone Jake couldn't easily discern as the grunt continued his rant unopposed. "...And my partner decided to quit and head back to his home country." Now visibly worked up from the memories simply seeing Jake had reminded him off, the Grunt paused for all of a split second before starting to whine and almost throw a tantrum. "Waah! I know nothing! Nothing of Team Galatic's plan or any storage key!" He wailed before bolting down the steps without giving Jake a chance to properly react besides just staring at the grunt as he ran away. "...ok that was weird." Jake said before turning back to the building in front of him.
-Well that gives us a hint of how to get into the building at least.- Angela said as she sighed. Jake nodded simply before hearing a voice that he clearly recognized. "Ah-hah! It is my friend again, how have you been?" Came the voice of none other then Looker of all people as he strolled up the stairs and over to Jake quickly. "Looker?" Jake said plainly as the international policeman stopped infront of him. "None other then the man you named my young friend." He said in his usual tone, before he looked to the building behind the teen infront of him. "Ah yes, the HQ of the team Galactic, you wish to enter but lack the keys of the door?" He asked, with Jake nodding. "Yeah, we just ran into a grunt that mentioned a Storage key before he ran off." Jake explained before raising an eyebrow at the smug look on, well, Looker's face when the item was spoken of. "The unlocking of the HQ, you may leave to me! The Storage Key for entering the Team Galactic hideout that you speak of, I have right here." He said before fishing the item in question out of his pocket. It was a simple key shape with the Galactic logo, that of an orange G, on the back. "I found it on the floor of the Game corner. No doubt a grunt dropped it while he was, how you would say, partying too hard at the gambling." He explained before Jake asked how Looker found it. "A frontal assault, it is not possible right now. But we can enter their hideout via the warehouse where you got back the girl Dawn's, pokedex was it?." He asked, with Jake nodding to answer him. Looker continued a couple seconds later. "Well? Will you enter the hideout? You have your reasons for doing so, yes?" He said as his face took on a much more serious look, mirrored by Jake who nodded once. "Very well. Inside the Team Galactic warehouse we will go." He said before heading towards said building, with Jake and company following close behind him.

Team Galactic warehouse:-
Reentering the building as the pair had done once before after regaining Dawn's pokedex from team galactic, they looked around the room again only to see nothing had changed at all. Looker smiled upon noticing the keyhole on the side of the doorway, which at the moment was sealed shut. "Ok, now I will use this Storage Key I have obtained from the Team Galactic..." He said, as he did just that, slotting the item into the keyhole and turning it the right. This, unsurprisingly, prompted the doors to slide open revealing the way down into the storage area of the evil team's HQ."Ah ha Yes there we go my teenager of a trainer!" Looker said smugly. "It worked, now let us storm their base of operations!" He said before returning to his standard serious gaze, almost bordering on a glare though as he was in full police mode now. "I will go ahead, my friend. But please do not expose yourself to danger if you can avoid it!" He said, before turning back to the entrance and running in, showing Jake and co where the stairs were as a result.
Angela looked understandably ready to maim something now as she was about to get her full revenge against the group that had stolen her family. -Let's go, I have a lot of pent up anger against this team that needs venting.- She said, motherly side buried for the moment, to which Jake nodded. "As long as you don't attack the trainers as much as you'd want to." He said, giving the one condition for her leading the fighting. She nodded back, -That's a fair deal if you let me take my anger out on the pokemon instead.- She said, with Jake returning the nod once before following the path Looker took into the basement of the warehouse.
Once they reached the bottom of the staircase, they looked around again as best they could in the dimly lit hallway they were now in. The floor was laid with simple faded grey tile, and the walls were just more grey with the odd light placed in a random pattern across it, barely working as lighting anyway. A faint sound of water dripping echoed throughout as Jake and the pair of pokemon with him began to walk forward into the base only to be stopped by a pair of grunts who wanted to stop them. Though this proved to be a dumb idea as the combination of Angela and Clair royally kicked their asses, especially with Angela in full force aggressive now, to the point that it caught Jake and Clair off guard but not to a point of worry at least. Following the corridor further in led them to a split in the path, with a sealed door akin to the enterance in the warehouse, only with a keycard slot next to it, and another way that led to another staircase, this time going upwards into the main building. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, Jake and co found themselves in a different style of the building now, as if this place was built to better standards. The floor was now layed out with orange tile, there was a couple boxes placed about but the main thing about the room was that there was a set of CCTV style montors across the right wall from where they had come in, but there was no grunt watching them, and thankfully for Jake and team, they seemed to only be showing the front entrance. Ahead was another staircase leading upwards, this one leading to a simple room, again in the same style, but with an opening to the right from the top of the stairs that led to a path going backwards from where they were facing.
As Jake turned the corner, he was met with another Grunt, this time it was a female, who laughed in mild amusement that Jake and his group had just happened to "wander into the team's HQ" and she challenged them to a battle, only to lose to the combined might of Terry, Clair and of course, Angela, with all three pokemon leveling up in process.
Once she had lost, and had been scared back from just grabbing Jake by Angela, they continued down the corridor and found the main holding chamber for all of the pokemon, a large room with cages of the pokemon that the team apparently had no use for. There was a grunt guarding the room and he spotted Jake, only to suffer the same fate as the other grunts as he challenged the teen to a battle. After the battle, Angela pinned him down before he could run, and growled at him. "H-hey, why is your absol mad at me?" He asked, with Jake getting right to the point. "Well maybe because this is the holding room for all the pokemon the team you're part of kidnapped, and one of them was her son you imbecile." He explained, with the grunt choosing to ignore the jab at him, what with Angela holding him down. "Ok that explains it, well you're too late, that Absol, the one with a scar over it's right eye?" He paused to see Angela's reaction, and sure enough her look darkened at the mention of her son and how he looked. Jake nodded as the grunt continued explaining, moreso for his own safety then anything else, lest Angela lose her remaining patience and shut him up permanently. "He was taken from here a couple hours ago, now I can't tell you where, not because I'm an asshole, more so because I honestly don't know." He said, tone beginning to shake as he finished speaking. Angela stepped off of him as Jake motioned for her to do so with his head. "I don't think you'd have any reason to lie, so I'll let you go." Jake said before surprising both Clair and Angela by sucker punching the grunt in the face with an uppercut, knocking him out flat. "Just to make sure he doesn't try anything once we leave." He explained flatly before continuing through the rest of the large room before he found another staircase.
This one led up a small hallway with Looker at the end of it, before the passage turned to the right. There were a lot of hushed voices that carried back to Jake and the pair of pokemon behind him as he walked up to the international policeman, who turned to him and looked slightly surprised for a moment before he resumed his regular look and motioned for the trainer to join him. "Psst! Here. Over here." He said in a whisper as he did so, with the 3 joining him quietly as he peered around the corner. Jake, Angela and Clair mirrored his action rather comically as he spoke again in a hushed tone. "This gathering of the Team Galactic grunts... What is the meaning of it?" He asked before his question was quickly answered as the large assembly of grunts shut up and Cyrus appeared on a raised platform above the team he had command over. Walking over to a standalone mic, he spoke and addressed the group before him.
"Fellow members of Team Galactic! Hear me!" He began, all of the hall growing fully silent now as every grunt in the room, along with the 4 people and pokemon on the right of the large hall, listened to what Cyrus said in his speech. "My name, as I appear to you today, is Cyrus." He continued as he placed his hands behind him in his normal standing pose though he didn't stop speaking otherwise. "This world of ours is a crude one. In a word, it is incomplete. It has been, and always will be, a struggle to survive in this world. We humans and Pokémon are likewise incomplete. Because we are all so lacking, we fight, we maim... It is ugly. I hate the incompleteness. That we are all incomplete; I hate this very fractional and imperfect world with my whole body, my very being. This should not be so, this world deserves to be complete. It needs to be changed; Now you may ask, who will bring this change about? It will be I, Cyrus, along with all of you, Team Galactic." He said, first gesturing to himself, then to the large crowd below him before continuing to speak again. "Yes, all of you. Together we have pored over myths tirelessly and exposed their secrets. Together we have captured the 3 pokemon of the lakes and through them have finally obtained the energy and tools needed to change the world. The power of dreams lays before us and is within our grasp. Understand it my fellow team members, the world that we all longed and dreamed for is on the verge of becoming reality. All those headed to Mt. Coronet, and those who remain here... Though our missions may differ, our hearts beat as one. Let there be glory for Team Galactic!" He finished his grand speech, and though he did move to make the gestures, his face had remained deadpan the entire time.
The whole group of grunts then exited the large room, too busy somehow to even notice Looker, Jake and his two pokemon. Once they were gone, Looker sighed before turning to Jake and speaking normally now that the room was empty. "..Whew. So, that was Cyrus, the boss of the Team Galactic. Quite the performance, no? Mesmerizing for one of only 27 years old." He said, with Jake nodding. "Yeah, though his face remaining deadpan has to be for a reason." He said, glancing over to the platform Cyrus had been standing on before Looker spoke again. "Yes, that is a good observation my friend, but we have more pressing matters to attend to right now. To make a world for Team Galactic and none other? That is preposterous. So much so that it makes my head spin." He said before going into a muse, muttering "A new world? What is that? And what is this incomplete world?" to himself before remembering Jake was infront of him. "Ahem, very well. To investigate such matters is the job of the International Police. Of which I am a member in good stead. And it is my job, therefore." He affirmed before turning halfway away from Jake and nodding once "We shall part ways here once again. Take extra care, my friend!" He finished simply before waving once and then heading deeper into the Galactic HQ, checking the corners of the room ahead as he went. -Sometimes I swear he's in his own little world.- Clair said offhandedly, with Jake nodding. "You and me both. Come on, let's move." He said as he continued the same way Looker had just gone.

Team Galactic HQ (boss room):-
8 more grunts, 2 level ups for every member of the team and 3 staircases later, Jake and co found themselves on the fourth floor of the building, in a laboratory of sorts and a single desk, computer and chair in-front of them along with Cyrus, who was reviewing a file of some sort at that moment. "...So you've come." He said in his normal emotionless tone, placing the document down on the desk and turning his head to the side and looking directly at the 3 before him. "You heard my speech, I take it." He said as he began to turn now, sneering slightly as he spoke. " It was all a big lie, of course. While it is true that my intention is to create a new world, it is not a world for the likes of Team Galactic. I seek to create an entirely new world solely for myself." He said as he faced Jake and company fully now, face never changing, though his tone did begin to carry hints of disgust and antipathy. ""If not, it could never be the complete and perfect world I desire. Surely you've seen my minions of Team Galactic and how they act. You yourself must know that they are uniformly useless and incomplete and borderline idiotic in how their actions. I would attribute you beating them to this had you not repelled me in the ruins." He said as he shook his head at the memory before his self induced monologue continued. "I know why you're here. I can sense it in you." He said with a raise of his eyebrow "It's about the three pokemon of the lakes; Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, along with your Absol's son correct?" He asked, with Jake narrowing his eyes slightly in answer. "You want to save the lake pokemon? ...I no longer have any need for them. I am finished with them. If your heart aches to save them, go right ahead. I couldn't care less. It will save me the trouble of disposing them." He said, waving his hand dismissively partway through talking now. "However that is not the case for your Absol's son, I do know that he will be of use on Mount. coronet. Though which grunt or commander has him right now, I wouldn't know." He said before he narrowed his eyes at Jake before he spoke after a brief pause to glance at the dagger-filled glare Angela was giving him. "But, I must say..." He paused and placed a hand on his chin in thought. "You are a remarkable specimen. The Pokémon of the lakes have nothing to do with you, do they? But still you come to rescue them out of pity?" He stopped again and dropped his hand back to behind him as he shook his head once more and spoke again, this time with his tone clearly holding contempt and a small amount of hostility. "Such pitifully useless emotions... It's illogical and irrational." He said, clutching his fists at his sides, just like he had at the ruins in Celestic town. "Pity and compassion are products of the weak and faulty human heart. You were compelled to come here by such vacuous sentimentality!" His voice was raising in volume slightly now as he reached for a pokeball. "I will make you regret paying heed to your heart!" That was the final sentence he uttered before throwing said pokeball, planning to beat Jake in order to prove his point on emotions no doubt.

Battle time go:-
Cyrus first pokmeon appeared a couple seconds later, it was a Houndoom.(Level 46 with the moves:- Flamethrower, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball and Thunder Fang.) Jake went with James for this as he tossed said pokemon's small capsule towards the arena and he appeared on Jake's side of the field. He stared blankly at the Dark/Fire type across from him as he readied for Cyrus' first attack, which was Shadow Ball. The named mass of ghostly energy being hurled right at him a couple seconds later as James moved to deflect it, only for Houndoom to suddenly appear in his face as he point blanked him with Flamethrower. James reeled back in pain as the attack understandably strung, the steel in his body or more accurately his beak, reacting quite negatively to a spike in temperature. He shook his head to try and remove some of the pain before narrowly avoiding a shock from Houndomm with Thunder fang. Dodging another Shadow Ball as Cyrus was yet again not giving anything of a break for breathing room or the like, Jake called for an Ice Beam as Houndoom tried to get in close for another face to face Flamethrower. Cyrus smirked, thinking Jake was about to tell his pokemon to fire, when said trainer instead called for it to be aimed at the floor, freezing it over and causing Houndoom to go from running at his target to almost violently slipping and skating around the battlefield as he attempted to stay on his feet. James helped him by giving him a pat on the right side, or to be more explicit, an Iron Defense fueled punch to his right side that sent the dog from hell(at least in appearance) skidding across the frosted floor in a stupor on his stomach. The devil dog got up a moment later and, under Cyrus command, used Flamethrower to melt the ice covering the floor as James readied himself for the next strike. It came in the form of Dark Pulse, which James blocked easily, only for Houndoom to be once again in his floor using Thunder Fang. This time it was successful as Houndoom clamped his jaw down on James left wing, the static quickly sinking into the Water/Steel types body. The result was James managing to sideswipe Houndoom with a backhand to get some distance but at the price of having a numb left limb and feeling considerably pained from the strike as both his types don't like Electrical attacks(I know it doesn't in the actual games but Empoleon needs a weak-point in his Armour somewhere I think). He shook his left flipper as well as he could to try and return the feeling to it before narrowly avoiding an attempted Flamethrower by uppercutting Houndoom right in the chin with an Iron Defense powered "fist".(used loosely for the lack of a hand) This forced the mutt's mouth shut as he stumbled back, more dazed then anything else as he coughed up the fire that had been clogged in his throat by having his jaw pounded closed.
James took the time given by this to continue trying to reawaken his arm, though it did twitch, it remained still for the time being. Cyrus called for another Shadow Ball next, with James managing to block and deflect it using just his right flipper as a bat, knocking it back at sender. This forced his opponent to dodge while the large penguin began making an orb of water at the tip of his right wing, meaning to use projectile Surf. Houndoom stood his ground and inhaled deeply, countering the watery orb and turning it to steam after James threw it. Attempting to take advantage of the lost vision, Houndoom leapt through the pale screen of water created smoke and used Thunder Fang, only for James and Jake to have guessed he'd try that as he hadn't let up the whole time, so James dodged and used Iron Defense to steel his right limb before trying to slam it onto his opponent's back. It missed and James nearly impacted the floor, stopping in order to sidestep a Flamethrower and replying by pounding the evil dog square in the side of the head with the still enforced flipper. This stumbled the large dog, but James tried to follow up with another strike of the same sort in the form of an uppercut. It missed and James had to bare a Flamethrower that he couldn't get out of the way of in time, which seemed to hurt but he refused to stop as he backhanded Houndoom through the fire coming from the mutt's mouth. This caught Jake off-guard slightly as he hadn't expected him to actually tank through the attack just to hit back, and Cyrus was equally taken aback. James turned to Jake and nodded once, showing he was still good to go. Though his body displayed a different message as he looked about ready to collapse, but his pride as an Empoleon and the trust in his trainer drove him to be as stubborn as Sparky here. Houndoom groggily got to his feet and attempted to use Thunderfang again, intending to finish James off. That was his last mistake as James barely dodged the bite and then smashed his would-be attacker in the jaw with one last Iron Defense powered punch, causing the Dark/Fire type's head to almost violently turn to the side from the impact. Cyrus' pokemon simply stumbled back a couple steps before his body finally gave in to the pain and he just passed out and his beaten body fell sideways.
Cyrus placed a hand to the bridge of his nose in annoyance as he recalled his first pokemon and sent out his second.

It was the all too familiar Crobat (Level 46 with Cross Poison, Air Slash, Steel Wing and Return(max power because irony)). Jake recalled James and sent out Crystal for this, to which the boss of Team Galactic raised an eyebrow at before calling his first move of Steel Wing. Crystal went for Protect in retaliation, with the shield shattering upon Crobat's wing impacting it. She used the time given from this to back up out of close range and to begin charging up a Shadow Ball while Crobat flew back to his placement on Cyrus' side of the battle field and began flapping his wings slightly faster in order to use Air Slash. Both attacks went off at the same time, with a stray blade of air continuing through after the ghostly orb and the rest of the rended air clashed and exploded. Crystal quickly floated to the side, akin to a jump, to avoid it before Crobat used his speed to get in close for another attack. This time it was Cross Poison, hinted at when Crobat's upper wings began to glow a sickening purple. Crystal almost dove forward as she got out of the way as Crobat brought his wings down in an X motion for the attack. Jake called for a set of Ice Shards next as his frosty ghost picked herself back up into her version of a standing position, considering the lack of feet and actually standing on the floor, before she did as told and froze the air around her and threw the weaponized chunks of would-be hail at the Flying/Poison type. Said pokemon was, well, flying at Crystal right now as he aimed to use Air Slash again but this time at point blank range. The thrown pieces of frozen water forced Cyrus' pokemon to dive bomb under the barrage in order to avoid it, only for Jake to have a counter ready to go when the purple bat got in close. "Crystal, Headbutt." The teenage trainer shouted quickly and his pokemon responded by carrying the attack out right as Crobat was about to fly overhead via 'jumping'(because again, floating) and smashing her skull, or lack of one due to being a ghost, into his and knocking the four winged bat down to the ground with a dull thud.
Crystal winced at the impact when her head met his, and shook herself to clear the haze that began to fog her mind from said impact while Crobat pulled himself back up into the air in a semi-groggy manner. Cyrus looked almost surprised that a Froslass could deal that much damage with a physical attack, a look of bewilderment shooting across his face for a split second that was almost unnoticeable and had Jake not been looking in his direction; he wouldn't have seen it at all. His look went right back to deadpan right afterwards as he called for another Steel Wing, his pokemon flying at Crystal again with his right wing shining as he approached her. Jake couldn't call out a counter fast enough, though Crystal did manage to avoid being struck with the full force of the blow of the strike, the Ice/Ghost took the hit to her right shoulder. This made her reel back in pain as a small amount of blood floated out before seemingly fading away, with her clutching the new gash to stop it from bleeding anymore. Jake, Clair and Angela all winced slightly at the sight while she had moved to cover it. Crobat noted the cut as an almost evil smirk settled on his face for a moment afterwards before he narrowly dodged a Shadow Ball that Crystal had fired afterwards and his face sunk back to normal. Cyrus called for another use of Cross Poison, his pokemon's wings glowing the telltale signs of purple as he flew forward at Crystal as fast as he could. She jumped back, again as well as someone could with a lack of legs, and began focusing energy into another orb of Shadowy mass together. She then brings the ball of darkness up over her head, holding it above her(much like goku would in DBZ with a spirit ball, only with arms closer together as the energy for Shadow Ball is a lot smaller) and then proceeded to throw it at her attack as he had began flying towards her, aiming to use Steel Wing again, his left upper wing taking on the shine this time. He barrel rolled under this and continued onto his target, swinging his wing at her in a downward axe handle style. Crystal narrowly avoided this as well before she went to Headbutt her opponent again.
This resulted in a clash of Return(yes i know normal type moves can't normally hurt ghost types, but in this case, Froslass does have a physical body, at least as far i can tell, so they can be hit by normal attacks here.) fueled wing attack against her stomach area. Both pokemon thudded to the floor soon after, Froslass clutching her torso in the pained area as she tried to recover from being winded, and Crobat simply yet slowly picked himself up off the floor and shook his head to clear it as well as possible despite the pain he was in. Cyrus narrowed his eyes slightly as he felt a slight amount of anger begin to surface from his pokemon being matched by a pokemon that, in most situations, wouldn't be able to deal this much damage. He buried the emotion and called for his next attack, which was Air Slash again. Crobat complied and yet again began to flap his wings quickly in order to fire off a series of five airy projectiles at Crystal albeit with some effort now as he was quite a lot weaker from the battle thus far. Crystal, while still holding her stomach and on Jake's command, froze the same number of Ice Shards and fired them at Crobat. The two sets of would-be missiles/slices met and canceled each other out, leaving nothing else behind. Jake got her to begin focusing one last Shadow Ball while Cyrus had gone for a Cross Poison, with Crobat's wings again glowing the telltale sign of purple as a result. Getting an idea on how to finish her attacker off quick, Jake told Crystal to stay where she was until Crobat was just about to strike, and then unsurprisingly, he got her to shove the Shadow Ball right down the Poison/Flying type's non existent throat. This actually worked as due to the battle wounds that Crobat had already gained, and the lack of time to slow down since he'd gone full pelt for the attack, he couldn't stop and instead received an orb of ghostly energy to the face for his trouble. This did it's job and knocked Cyrus' second pokemon back to his side of the field, and out cold as well much to the chagrin of the bat's trainer. He sighed as he recalled his second pokemon while Jake did the same after using a couple super potions he had spare to heal her up a bit, and both trainer's sent out the third respective pokemon.

From Jake it was Clair, who nodded to Jake as she stepped forward, while the boss of Team Galactic went for Honchkrow(Wing Attack, Dark Pulse, Ominous Wind and Return(Again for irony and that Honchkrow has limited moves) for the moves at level 46). Cyrus let a smile cross his face very briefly as he knew that Gardevoir weren't too good at taking hits from direct non-special attacks normally, so it made sense that he thought this would be an easy one even if Jake's Froslass Crystal had proven to be tougher then normal. His first attack was Ominous Wind, with Clair bracing for the attack to go through with Calm Mind, hoping to buffer some of the damage down for the battle as a whole. She did feel the strong current of dark air blow past and through her, wincing upon contact, but didn't feel too much pain as Calm Mind did its job of boosting her mental power and resistance. She then began creating the energy for the attack Focus Blast, doing just as the name suggested as she concentrated. Hounchkrow meanwhile was flying at her with the intent of nailing her across the face with Wing attack, only for Jake to catch sight of this and call it out to her using their telepathic connection that Clair subconsciously created in more recent battles. She looked up for a second and reacted via teleportation to the side, energy in tow, with the bird's wing hitting thin air. Cyrus however did note no words being spoken and almost at once deduced what it was. "So you know how to use Telepathy with your Gardevoir? No matter, it will not help you for long." He said flatly, pointing out he'd already caught onto Jake and Clair's secret weapon, though they're seen it coming since Cyrus was a scientist before anything else. Honchkrow quickly scanned the battlefield to find Clair, spotting her just in time to avoid the attack that Clair had been charging up before and just after the teleport.
She followed up with a Thunderbolt, casting the move in 3 directions to try and catch the Dark/Flying type off guard, but Cyrus simply had his pokemon fly over the bolts to avoid them before dive bombing at Clair using Return. She ducked under the wing as it swiped over her and she then point blanked her opponent with a medium strength Thunderbolt which made Honchkrow reel back in pain but not before Clair took a Dark Pulse to the face as a counter. She stumbled back slightly before catching herself from falling over while Honchkrow pulled himself back into the air at the same time. Shaking off the pain of the attack as best she could, Clair began charging up another use of Focus Blast, and Cyrus had his Honchkrow begin using Ominous wind again, the eerie howling wind returned again as the hatted bird began flapping his wings at Clair, aiming the attack with the motion. Clair, again, winced as the wind swept over her but she nevertheless continued to charge her attack. Honchkrow did gain a small boost to both his offensive and defensive capabilities as a result of the attack and braced as Clair finished building up the energy for Focus Blast, at which point she vanished via teleportation again(akin to goku's instant transmission kamehameha, yeah just referencing a lot of DBZ attacks today.). She reappeared behind Honchkrow and threw the ball of mental focus(as its called ingame) at the "big boss" pokemon, who barely managed to dodge the attack in time before then replying using Return to try and do the wing version of clotheslineing someone, though Jake did manage to get Clair to react and duck under, but Cyrus changed attacks mid-swing and got his pokemon to use Dark Pulse instead. This caught both Jake and Clair off-guard, with the latter taking the shock wave of evil thoughts right to the face yet again. She shook off the after effects again and began charging up a Thunderbolt, but Cyrus wasn't done playing aggressive even if his facial expression remained deadpan. Honchkrow effectively punched Clair in the gut as he hit her with the Return he'd stopped after swinging over her head before.
She gasped and doubled over in pain, while Honchkrow pulled back to be able to avoid any attacks that she could throw. Jake, using their telepathic link again, called for her to use Focus Blast, and she did, charging up the ball of energy then throwing it at her opponent. Cyrus got his pokemon to dodge it, but Jake then called for Psychic. The move wasn't on Honchkrow however, it wouldn't have worked if that was the case, it was on Clair's own attack. She kept hold of her gut with her left hand, but along with the glow of her eyes that gave away that she was using what might as well be her coup de grace attack, she caught the orb of spirit(pretty much is what with mental focus) and via Psychic threw it back at Honchkrow. This knocked the large bird down to earth with a dull thud. Clair forced herself up back to standing, rubbing her affected area with her left hand still, while at the same time Honchkrow picked himself up and weakly began to take flight again as Cyrus then quickly worked out a plan to finish Clair off. He called for a use of Wing Attack, with his pokemon carrying out the attack as fast as he could, before again changing tatics and going for not Clair's head as he had been before, but instead her shoulder. This knocked her into a spin allowing him time to circle round and now clothsline Clair right across the face, her head nearly snapping back as she was knocked to the floor with a thud. Jake and Angela, who had been quietly watching the fights before, both nearly cringed at this before looking over to Clair with worried expressions. Cyrus on the other hand let a smirk cross his face for a moment, but it dropped a moment later as Clair actually began to force herself back up to a sitting pose albeit showing that it was taking her alot of effort to do as shown by her face displaying said effort. "That should not be possible." Cyrus said simply before he called for another use of Dark Pulse, this time hoping to finish off the wounded Psychic type. Jake however had other plans as he got Clair to teleport out of the way of the pulse-wave, this was done by teleporting into the ring as it past her before she then nailed Honchkrow with a rather nasty Thunderbolt. That was the final straw as the Dark/Flying type landed on the floor on his side, out cold. Clair teleported on last time back to Jake's side, which he almost instantly pulled her into a hug despite the situation, and healed her up somewhat using some super potions.

Cyrus still had one more pokemon left to play though, it was a Weavile(Level 47 with the moves:- Night Slash, Ice Punch, Brick Break and X-Scissor) with a nice set of three scratch scars over it's left eye. As soon as the Ice/Dark pokemon landed in front of his trainer and spotted both Jake and, more to his displeasure Angela, he glared right at them and was in a battle pose almost at once. Jake looked over to his resident dark type and nodded once. Angela nodded back before jumping forward and assuming her battle pose as well. Cyrus called his first move a couple seconds later, and of course to the surprise of no one, it was Ice Punch. Weavile's fist became shrouded in a frosty mist as he prepared to use the attack, because he dashed forward as fast as he could, no messing around this time. Angela braced for his swipe and then blocked using her paw as she guessed where he would swing, and sure enough her prediction of him trying for what would have been a mean right hook was right as she caught his arm mid swing. Before he could pull away, Angela clashed her head against his with a non Zen version of her Headbutt attack, his arm being released from her holding it back as she did so. Weavile got up looking understandably pissed off(for lack of a better phase) and went right for his opponent as Cyrus called for an X-Scissor. The downward slashes in a cross hit Angela in the side as she tried to get out of the way. Thankfully she managed to avoid having any blood drawn but she still felt alot of pain from that strike as her type was weak to bug, which is the type that X-Scissor was.
Weavile's face gained a malevolent grin as he rushed in for another attempt at Brick Break, only for Angela to dodge the attack and then counter using Bite as she sunk her teeth into his arm after it had gone past her. As she clamped down on his arm while fortunately somehow not drawing blow, Weavile's grin very quickly vanished as he was picked up and then promptly slammed into the floor as Angela took advantage of her new found leverage via gripping his limb in her fangs. The cunning dark type saw stars as his face had been the first thing to meet unyielding metal floor, and before he could get his bearings despite the obvious pain of being face-planted, Angela proceeded to spin around and the tossed him across the room where he hit the wall back first in a rather comical fashion. Cyrus clutched the bridge of his nose in exasperation as his pokemon was threw at the wall like a ragdoll. Weavile, again despite being in considerable agony due to being hammered into two hard surfaces one after another, had a look of rage coating his features as he picked himself up off the ground and forced his body back to in front of Cyrus, who called for a use of Ice Punch combined with Night Slash. Weavile began focusing the needed cold to his right set of claws while Jake told Angela to use a quick version of Swords Dance in order to effectively counter. As both pokemon finished their respective set up, Weavile dashed at Angela, who Jake got to try and use Quick Attack to block his incoming strike, but was a bit too slow to fully block the hit and she suffered a somewhat deep gash to her left side, same as his hit with X-Scissor and this time successfully drawing a small amount of blood as Angela had managed to block the attack before it could draw too much of her hemoglobin infused liquid. She pushed his claw back and swiped at him using a sideways X-Scissor which the Ice/Dark type narrowly avoided in time via ducking under the attack and then quickly jumping backwards.
Cyrus, who by this time was getting slightly frustrated though he never showed it at all, called for another use of Ice Punch which his pokemon gladly began to preform. Weavile's grin returned, just as malicious as before, as he ran right at Angela while his right hand/set of claws tightened into a fist and was coated in the familiar cold mist. Angela, using Quick Attack as always, swiftly sidestepped the attack as Weavile went for an uppercut before she Headbutted him without the Zen part again. He reeled back in pain as she did so before Angela continued her assault by using Bite in a similar way to last time, only with Weavile's right leg instead. The pokemon in question had his eyes go wide in the split second he had to realize Angela had her grip on him before she pulled his limb out from under his body, sending him unsurprisingly down to the ground before she then began spinning around. The wounded absol released her catch once up to a decent speed and Weavile was flung once more into a wall, impacting it in a comical fashion, this time face first. The second meeting of face to unmoving steel, though not the floor, caused Cyrus' pokemon to give up the fight against staying awake as he slid down the wall and slumped onto his back out cold.

The boss of Team Galactic sighed heavily in slight resentment as he recalled his final defeated pokemon and placed his pokeball away in his pocket before moving one arm behind his back and the other onto his chin, an analytical and thoughtful look on his face. "I see... You are indeed strong. And the basis of your power is your compassion towards Pokémon." He said before giving a simple shake of his head and dropping the hand from his chin, moving it behind him with the other. "...How wasteful..." He said after a short pause, opening his eyes and staring right at Jake, Clair and Angela, the third of which had been healed by Jake while Cyrus had began talking, as if gazing into their very being or souls. "Such emotions are but mere illusions." He continued with a dismissive wave of his hand as he spoke, eyes closed now, "And, like all illusions, they fade over time until death banishes them forever." He clutched his outstretched hand into a fist as he expressed his reasons to the rather confused trainer in front of him. "That is why I have abandoned all emotions as useless as sentimentality." He finished his mini speech before replacing the hand behind him and sighing again upon looking at Jake's bewildered expression. "Ok that does make sense but it does NOT give you the right to just up and erase everything." The adolescent countered as his face changed to a look of seriousness and mild anger.
"Oh no? Then why does my idea of erasing all things bother you? That is exactly why emotions are a sign of weakness, you let anger cloud your judgement, sadness can make you feel all alone. However, in the grand scheme of things that doesn't matter." Cyrus said in return before turning away from Jake as he spoke again "I doubt you will ever understand my position. Even with that being said, I recognize that you are strong and courageous to have come all this way alone and for that, you have my respect trainer to trainer, as little as that means to me." Cyrus concluded before he began walking towards an exit that Jake and friends had missed on their way in, having been focused on Cyrus at the time. "Hey, what about the lake pokemon?" Jake half shouted after the leaving man of logic. "If you wish to save the Pokémon from the lakes, take the lift ahead to the basement floor, it is there that the Lake pokemon are being held. But I warn you that the Commander guarding the cells that contain the pokemon will not be as inclined to let you passed as I am, being defeated or not." He said as he briefly stopped to answer Jake's question. "I am off to Mt. Coronet. I will ascend the mountain to its peak where destiny awaits me. I know you will no doubt chase after me, you have proven that much by coming here. I invite you to try, but make no mistake that if you do so, I will not hold back. Farewell for now." He said before he walked out of the room.

Angela stepped forward once before turning back to Jake, deciding not to chase the boss of the team she hated down. This simple act surprised both Jake and Clair. -There's no point chasing him down because he's right. We're going up Mt. Coronet aren't we?- She said turning around to look at her trainer and fellow teammate. "Fuck yes he is." Jake said bluntly, catching both his pokemon off guard with the sudden swearing, "No way are we letting him get away with trying to erase everything we hold dear. Let's go free the lake pokemon first, then storm up that mountain and show Cyrus the true power of the compassion that Pokemon and Humans share." He finished, with Clair hugging him for a couple seconds to show she was on board while Angela nodded, wearing a serious look that Clair mirrored a second later. The group of three entered the lift and went to the basement right after this to do what they had come to.

Ending note time:-
Bit of a crappy way to end this chapter but hey, big boss fight and the stage has been set for the final clash of Jake and team against Team Galatic, as well as exposing that Cyrus wants it all for himself. Next Chapter is going to be the climb up the mountain, that'll be a bit of a break in the action until the summit. Look forward to it.

Read and review guys, and stay cool ;)