Desert Resort
Six in the morning and the sun was already high, beating down on us sorry fools who lined the desert floor. Everyone was here, dressed in our best Team Rocket attire and awaiting his arrival. I had to feel sorry for the lower ranking agents all sweltering in black. At least my uniform wasn't as dark.
Soon enough, the first signs of a giant, military carrier plane appeared on the horizon. I squinted, watching as it came closer until even the red R on its nose was visible. The loud roar of its engines sounded across this desert landscape and as it descended and the engines turned downward to assist in landing, it sent up dust and sand across our haggard bodies. Each of us squinted at the sandblasting we received until the plane finally touched down and the deafening roar died.
A ramp came down and Giovanni's landing party disembarked, paving the way for his first step onto Unova soil. And as the dust finally settled, he emerged from the plane, his dignified stride careful and screaming of power. His dark, military style outfit made him look like a war general and his expression was straight; as though his face had been carved out of stone.
Everyone in the line up straightened; shoulders high and gazes focused to the front. Without so much as a glance in my direction, my own father passed me by and headed straight for the operation's head; Pierce.
Pierce saluted.
"Are the preparations complete?" was Giovanni's first question.
"Yes sir," Pierce and his favourite agents; Jessie, James and Meowth all responded quickly.
"This is it," I noticed the slightest smirk tug at the corner of his mouth. "It begins now."
The helicopter was cramped at best. The heads of operations gathered and sat on stools around the main workbench, watching intently a 3D map that our scans had pieced together. From what we could tell, not only was this famed meteonite fragment located beneath our feet, it appeared to be contained within a huge structure of sorts.
"Who builds a giant structure in the middle of a crater?" Ariana speculated, rubbing her chin. "It looks to be hundreds of years old."
"And why leave it here, buried in the desert?" Archer piped.
"Our findings indicate that the Desert Resort wasn't always here. It was once a thriving rainforest. Possibly with a highly advanced civilisation living here on this very spot," mentioned Zager as-a-matter-of-factly.
"I don't care how it got there, I want to know how to get it out," Giovanni growled, stopping the conversation from veering off track. "We've got a lot of ground to dig up in a short space of time. Any suggestions?"
"I have an idea," all eyes fell on the recently promoted Comet, who had joined us as a spectator to this meeting. "It's all sand that's been blown in to fill-in the valley right? Most of the Rockets have captured Pokémon native to the desert. So why don't we get our Pokémon to move it?"
His suggestion was obvious and yet efficient and cost effective. The young Rocket would make it far in this organisation, just as his father before him.
"Good thinking, Comet," nodded Giovanni, then to the rest of us, "Prepare the men. Excavation begins right away." He dismissed the board.
One by one Giovanni's head staff left the chopper until eventually only he and I remained behind. I hadn't been given orders, I hadn't even been acknowledged the entire time he was here. It didn't take an idiot to realise that something was up.
I stood in silence, watching him as he finished up reading over several files on his e-pad before he set it aside on the table and reached a hand down to pat the head of his loyal Persian.
"Delia is missing," I blurted before I even gave myself the time to think.
"What do you mean she is missing?" his growl was not amused.
I swallowed, quickly averting my gaze to the floor before his glare could slice me to pieces. "She contacted me a day ago, worried that someone was following her."
I told him the story of this so-called Shadow Triad as well as the identity of this unknown organisation; Team Plasma. It left an uneasy silence in the lab as he contemplated. A fist that leaned neatly on the bench clenched and knuckles went white, but apart from this he chose to remain poised.
"I expect I'll be receiving a demand shortly then," he said slowly, his voice so serene that it made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. "If Team Plasma thinks they can play me, then they will have another thought coming."
He stood to leave but I stopped him short of the sliding door.
"What are my orders, father?" I asked, desperate to get something out of him other than this silent treatment.
He didn't even bother turning to face me, "You're on stand-by. In the meantime, follow me."
The agents had already been organised by the time we reached their location. Ground, Flying and Psychic type Pokémon were released from their balls and waited patiently beside their Rocket trainers.
Like Giovanni's obedient Persian, I followed him pass the line-up to where his head of staff waited for him. They saluted officially and allowed him to view the sandy wasteland that lay before us. Somewhere under there was the very reason for our presence here in Unova.
"Agent Comet," he summoned his newest favourite.
The young agent was quick to break formation and I stepped aside to allow his approach.
"Since this was your idea, would you care to lead operations?"
It was probably one of the greatest responsibilities a field agent could ever be given, and he visibly didn't expect it. "It would be… my honour," Comet stammered. Then clearing his voice, he let out a bellow across the line-up. "Ready!"
Pokémon stood at attention.
"Fire!"
All at once, the scene exploded into simultaneous attacks. Sandstorms, gusts, telekinesis; everything was aimed at the spot of desert in front of us. They converged, forming into one, giant tornado that lifted the sand and shook the very ground beneath our feet. The Psychic attacks kept the storm contained as it continued to vacuum the desert floor.
Then WOOOSH! The tornado exploded, sending a humongous pillar of sand and dust hurtling into the atmosphere. Gust attacks formed it into one giant sand storm that drove it away only to dump down on the desert horizon miles away from where we stood.
Moments passed and what dust remained settled to reveal the giant crater imbedded in the ground. And inside that crater, a castle-like structure that hadn't been seen by human eyes for hundreds of years.
The structure was bigger than anything I'd seen before. Our first thoughts was that it was a temple of sorts, but once measures were taken to ensure it was structurally sound, and we started to explore, the more we came to realise that it was more than just a temple/castle. It was an entire city.
Fully furnished homes and ancient businesses were left in tact. Even jars and plates were left on tables that once held food and drink. The only thing missing was the city's inhabitants.
The only sounds to be heard were that of a howling wind billowing through the streets, and the crumble of decaying buildings now exposed to the elements.
"What happened here?" Pixel broke an eerie silence that had fallen on us. "How could have an entire civilisation simply vanish like this?"
"I don't know. It's strange," I shivered though it wasn't cold. I felt something; like an energy that tweaked at the back of my psy-senses.
We'd since been split up into teams of three to explore the site. I tagged along with Comet and Pixel, somewhat relieved to get out from under the silent gaze of my father.
"Look at these," Comet aimed his flashlight at a wall displaying a mural of the town's inhabitants paying homage to what looked to be a glowing rock. "I'm no archaeologist but I'd say that was our meteonite."
A closer examination showed great rays of light that seemed to emanate onto the people. It also showed them holding small beads that appeared to glow in the same fashion. These they placed into strange, robotic devices and, much to our amazement, flying machines.
"Wow," exclaimed Pixel, pointing. "They were an advanced civilisation not unlike Unova today."
"You think that meteonite powered these machines?" I questioned.
"I don't doubt it. It made them into gods."
"Then where is the stone?"
"Here," Comet filled, signalling us to a huge, dome roofed structure in the heart of town. "In a temple. Where else would an ancient source of divinity lie?"
We made tracks for the temple which we soon found to be locked up tight. Comet jimmied with the lock but the doors were made of hard metal and would prove to be impossible to break down. He quickly made a circle of the old stone structure to locate another point of entry but came up empty handed.
"Let me give it a go," I handed him my torch before focusing my mind on the lock. I pinged it with my telekinesis, urging for the locking apparatus to come undone and allow us entry. What I wasn't expecting was for the door to reply with a special ping of its own. The metal lit up, immediately sending a pulse in my direction to which I barely evaded. The pulse ricocheted across walls and buildings before it struck a small, toy robot that activated and began to walk freely.
"It appears," I heaved, "That the door is made from the same meteonite metal."
Comet nodded, kicking the toy down the street only to hear it clink and crash against the wall of a house. "I'll call in re-enforcements."
Re-enforcements came in the form of Jessie and James, and our team leaders; Pierce and Zager. They were carrying with them a strange sort of laser weapon with our little meteonite fragment strapped in the back. This they used to power up the weapon, and within a single, focused blast of meteonite energy, the temple door was obliterated.
Zager took a moment to inspect the entry before he concluded it was safe to proceed, and we followed him into the ancient temple chamber.
Much to our disappointment, it was nothing more than a large dome shaped room. The stone walls were decorated in what looked to be ancient script and pointed us to a small, circular platform overlooking a spiral pattern in the stone floor.
"Yes," Zager gave a hiss, quickly typing away at his portable e-pad. "The sensors are off the chart. This is it. This is the place. The stone is in here… somewhere."
"I'll inform Giovanni of our discovery," Pierce reached for his cell. "Everyone else, spread out and search the temple for a way to reach the stone."
I felt a dull pain in my temples. A pounding that brought with it the beginnings of a headache. It was a sensation I hadn't felt since the first time my ability started to manifest. The atmosphere here felt to be charged with electricity, making my hair stand on end.
"Kair?" I spotted James's bewildered stare. "Are you alright?"
That was when I noticed the fact that I was glowing. "Oh geeze!" I let out a loud yelp. "What the hell?"
My hands, my face… I was glowing gold. And not only this but the force of my own headache was getting stronger. Thoughts... I could hear them talking in my mind like voices, though they weren't my own.
"Is she alright?"
"Oh man."
"What now?"
"It's her ability!" Comet's shout almost caused me to stagger backwards. "It's being affected. She used it just before and… I think the stone may be triggering it."
Random items were beginning to lift off the ground on their own accord. Then people.
"Woah! Kair stop it!" Pierce bellowed at me, but I... just... couldn't.
What was this stupid temple doing to me?!
"I can't control it!" I yelled, my head pulsating. "I'm stuck!"
I heard a loud snap and a whistle before two electrically charged pins impaled me in the chest and I hit the ground convulsing. Everyone and everything that was in the air landed with a thud and by the time they managed to pull themselves back to their feet, I'd stopped twitching.
I just lay there on the cold stone floor, staring up at the ceiling, feeling every single muscle in my body burn. Listening to the startle of my team mates as they each stole glances with one another before Pixel yelled accusingly at her boyfriend. "You just tasered the Boss's daughter!"
Comet put the taser away and helped me to my feet, steading me as I fought to regain my balance. I could only count myself lucky that he hadn't used it on full charge.
"Thanks," I said slowly, "I think."
Comet merely grinned, "Anytime."
By the time Giovanni reached us, all was forgotten and he was none the wiser.
"What have you found for me?" my father cut right to the chase.
"It appears the platform holds some sort of mechanism that activates… something," Pixel, who had moved to a control panel of sorts, stated a little vaguely.
"Would you care to elaborate?" Giovanni didn't do vague very well.
She was silent for a moment, continuing to toy with large dials and buttons that had not been touched in many years. "A power supply would be handy."
Giovanni's eyebrow rose in Jessie's direction and she grinned evilly, holding up her lazer cannon. Then shoving the hacker out of the way she clambered onto the platform.
"Lazer canon, activate!"
The cannon hummed with her order and she aimed it at the mechanism. Not even thinking twice on the consequences, she fired. The mechanism activated instantly, whirring to life and sending a chain reaction throughout the entire chamber. Sparks of electricity snapped across the domed ceiling above our heads, and fed into an ancient system, before a mighty shockwave blasted through the chamber. Ancient lighting blinked on and dimmed into a blue hue, and every piece of script written on the walls started to glow neon.
The chamber was instantly cold. A low hum now sounded amongst the occasional snap of electricity crisscrossing the dome above us.
"Well I now know what that dome is for," Comet threw an uneasy gaze, instinctively ducking as another snap of electricity crackled just above his head.
On the platform, the panel that was once imbedded in the floor now rose on a column, its ancient mechanism reawakening. Pixel was immediately on it, her equipment scanning the panel surface, trying to figure out a way to decode it.
We all stood in silence while Pixel's long nails tapped incessantly at her keyboard before she pulled back with a grin. "I'm in. This entire structure is… well a computer. A dinosaur but still it's a functioning computer," she sounded amazed. "Technology far beyond what was around even a hundred years ago."
She stepped aside to allow the head scientist a glimpse over her work. Everything had been done for him, all he had to do was activate it.
A wide smile spread across his face combining with the blue glow of the display that reflected off his glasses and made him look like a mad scientist. "The ancient age lives on!"
He activated the panel.
The blue glow on the walls now started to form in the spiral on the floor, where there each spiral proceeded to twist and turn along to a loud pulsing that caused the ground beneath our feet to quake.
We each stepped back in unison as these spirals then began to rise, higher and higher up toward the domed ceiling.
"It's forming into a staircase!" exclaimed Meowth.
All eyes followed the formation right to the tip where there, a chamber opened and released a small, metal stand holding the very rock we'd spent these countless hours searching for.
Now free from its dark prison, the meteonite shone so bright it caused everyone in the chamber to squint. We couldn't look directly at it and yet we couldn't look away either. The raw power that emanated from the object was… indescribable.
"It's like the sun!" James sounded breathless.
And my father could only nod, his hungry grin wide upon his face. "Yes, what we have here is the power of the sun. Power beyond our wildest dreams!"
"This is it, this is the source of the energy surge," Juniper's frown was blatant upon her brow.
"What's going on? Who are those people?" her flying companion Officer Jenny of Castelia City copied the scientist's expression.
The figures in question were dressed in black and stood out as a stark contrast against the desert, working tirelessly against the afternoon sun. The ground opened up into a massive, crater-like valley that made the helicopter's inhabitants gasp. There was a structure down there!
"Team Rocket," they barely heard Ash's low toned growl. He'd only recently joined the investigation after taking part in rounding up a fleeing stampede of Venipede in Castelia City. A stampede that had originated from this very spot in the desert.
"What do they want?" Juniper immediately questioned the boy.
Ash slumped back in his seat. So this was his father's invested interest? An ancient temple? "Whatever it is, it can't be good."
All eyes fell on Jenny who soon found herself at a standstill. She couldn't order an investigation or an arrest because she was aware of the digging permits that had already been granted this so-called 'legitimate organisation'. A substantial donation had been made to the Mayor's office. To investigate she would have to obtain a warrant, and that could take days.
"Professor, we're almost out of fuel," the pilot interrupted Jenny's train of thought.
"Alright, we should head back," Juniper sounded astounded and defeated. What where they going to do? Her glance fell on Ash whose gaze was focused back on the desert floor. Why did she get the feeling that he knew so much more than he let on?
The helicopter turned and headed in the opposite direction, passing over a lonely, cloaked traveller making his way across the wilderness. From a casual glance, he looked like nothing more than a trainer crossing the desert.
He felt the quake beneath his feet, and small puffs of sand blew up through newly formed cracks in the ground. Before long he came across the great crater, his eyes taking in every detail of an ancient walled city and its temple glowing brighter than the sun that beat down on the back of his neck.
Yes, this was it.
He flicked his cape, for a moment exposing the grey uniform underneath and the P upon its shield. No he would not let anyone take what should rightfully belong to Unova's hero.