Chapter Fifty-Three:

Don't Read the Diary!


Afternoon (3:59 P.M.), Doctor Sirius's Lab

Jackie blinked in stunned silence as he gazed around the building's interior.

The massive room was lined with machines of all kinds and sizes, the floor littered with a carpet of blueprints, the walls blackened by a covering of ink, showing literal thousands of calculations.

He gulped as scanned the room, "Wow, he's sure been busy in here," he grimaced. I'll never be able to search through this mess… at least, not by myself that is. Reaching into his blue hoodie's pockets, he pulled out four Poké Balls and tossed them out, "Go, go, everyone!"

The balls split open, releasing their occupants, who opened their mouths to say their respective intros, only to be silenced by Jackie, "Shh! We're on a stealth mission here, so we need to be silent! Whispering only!"

They blinked in surprise, then nodded.

Runt crossed his arms, "(So, what's our mission objective?)"

Jackie briefed them, "We're investigating a Team Universal base. Right now we're in their leader's base, and we need to find some information about them and what they're doing,"

"(I see!)" Mary nodded, "(You want us to help you find stuff!)"

Jackie smiled and nodded back, "Yep! Exactly!"

"Uhh…" Deceit fidgeted nervously, "One problem…"

Jackie blinked in surprise, "What?"

She gazed around at the multitude of calculations and blueprints, "(I can't read.)"

Runt's eyes went white in realization, "(I can't read either.)"

"(I can!)"

They turned to the speaker: Mary.

"You can read?!"

She nodded with a proud smile, "(Yep! I am, er, was, a prize-winning Mareep. I was trained to do all kinds of things!)"

Jackie sighed in relief, "Well, that's a plus for us." He turned to Sonja, "Hey, can you read too? Do you know the alphabet?"

The Noibat tilted her head in confusion, "(Alphabet? What's that taste like?)"

He sweatdropped. Should've known. He shook his head, "Whatever. I just need you to look around. Let me know if you find anything interesting, 'kay?"

They nodded, "(Right!)"

With that, they split up, searching their way to opposite corners of the room.

Mary studied the walls in her corner, "(Ooh! Chemical equations! My favorite!)" she frowned, "(This isn't right: hydrogen is a diatomic molecule, it should never be left as a single H!)"

Sonja's vision grew fuzzy as she gazed at the various blueprints in her corner, "(Too many letters…)"

Runt narrowed his eyes in frustration as he sorted through the various documents, "(Bunch of squiggles, bunch of squiggles, GAAH!)" his shoulders drooped as he let out a sigh. I don't understand any of this! He cast a glance at Mary. Maybe I can get her to teach me how to read, that would be nice. He sighed again, remembering the problem they still had. I really need to do something about that.

Deceit pretended to search through the papers, but she had other thoughts on her mind. What am I gonna do about Runt? No matter how much I try to seduce him, he keeps resisting. She glanced over at Mary. It doesn't help that Mary keeps getting in my way. I'm beginning to get tired of fighting over him. She and Mary were getting closer, becoming friends, but they still argued over Runt.

Hmm? She thought back to what Sonja had told them back on the S.S. Viajero. Share him, eh? Hmm? I don't know. Could we? I mean, it's not too uncommon. After all, Daddy wasn't exactly monogamous…

Jackie made his way to the far end of the room, where a single large white desk was set against the wall. On the desk were several blueprints, papers, journals, and photos.

He picked up a random journal and flipped through it, eventually coming to a journal entry that caught his eye.

It read:

Much advancement has been made in our work on the Enslavement Rings. Of course, none of this could have been done without my expertise.

The Grandmaster made a wise decision in recruiting me, although most of my knowledge on the subject came from my internship with Team Galactic. I had a lot of fun working under Commander Charon, fool that he was.

While experimenting on the Lake Trio to build the Red Chain, I came into contact with Azelf, the bringer of willpower. I was startled by their abilities to take away memories, emotion and willpower, but Azelf's ability was the one that intrigued me the most.

Mind-control is an ability most psychics crave the most, and in truth, even weaker psychics are actually capable of performing this technique. But in truth, the psychic half of mind-control is just getting into your target's head, the real challenge is in the second half: dominating your target's will. This is an extremely difficult task for even the most powerful of psychics, as even the slightest resistance could have catastrophic consequences.

But here's where Azelf's ability comes into play: if the target's willpower is taken away, they become nothing more than a soulless puppet, having all of the powers of their mind and body, but not the spirit to make a single movement. These soulless hosts can be controlled with ease and without worry of any resistance of any kind.

Enamored by this theory, I began my own separate research into this study at once as a side project to my internship with Team Galactic. Progress was slow, but I was making advancements in replicating Azelf's power. Unfortunately, before I was able to make any major headway in my research, Team Galactic had been disbanded. Cyrus, the damned traitor, had abandoned us, and while Charon tried to keep us together, it soon became clear that he was no leader. Dejected, I returned to my home town in Okam.

Not letting this get to me, I continued my research, but sadly, I was extremely low on funds. Near ready to give up, I was approached by Grandmaster Andromeda, who made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Not only would I be allowed to keep up my research, but I'd also get my greatest desire granted. However, I would have to pull a double shift, working on the Enslavement Rings as well as Cerebro, Team Universal's other project. Cerebro will increase its user's psychic abilities greatly, allowing them to do things they never could before as well as expanding the range of their powers.

It will be difficult, but I'll do it, to advance my research, as well as to obtain my greatest desire. Haha! Revenge will be mine!

The entry ended there.

Jackie frowned. Wow, that sounds serious. He turned on the handheld transceiver and held it to his ear, "Hero, come in. This is Jackie. How' it goin'? Over."

It took a moment, but the reply came in loud and clear, "JACKIE! I've been so worried! Are you okay?!"

Jackie grinned, "Yeah, I'm okay. So, how are you?"

Hero responded enthusiastically, "All good over here. We're on our way, with Kliff, Monster, and a whole group of other trainers in tow!"

His grin widened, "Really?! That's awesome! Hey, what about Virizion?"

"Yeah, about that… let's just say that she's still a little pissed over Team Universal, and she's on her way back with us right now, ready to kick some ass!"

"Wow! I can't wait to see you again! By the way, I've got something to-to…" he trailed off as something on the desk caught his eye.

"Something to what?" Hero asked in confusion.

Jackie lifted the picture frame and examined it, "No way! This picture… it's… it's… Professor Cherry!"

"What?!" Hero gasped, "What do you-"

"Huh?!" Jackie looked up in surprise.

The handheld transceiver was lifted into the air, surrounded by purple energy, "Hello?! HELLO!? JACKIE, WHAT'S GO-" Hero's voice was cut off as the energy field surrounding the HT compressed, crushing the device into dust.

A voice from behind them caused Jackie and his Pokémon to freeze in their tracks.

"My, my, I was looking for something to do, and look what I found here?"