Following a separate path from the one Dylan and Corey had gone down, Tommy and Amber continue through the hallways of the ArcTV Studios in the hopes of finding whatever it was that Amber had mentioned they were looking for: a tall ventilation shaft that would theoretically allow the two to make it to the lower levels of the studios and hopefully towards where the Syndicate's Compound was.
Amber led the way, doing her best to keep her and her charge hidden from the watchful eyes of the few who remained at the ArcTV Studios after dark. Though she had been initially opposed to them breaking into the Compound itself, she realized that Dylan had been planning this for a while and used Tommy as the perfect ploy to help him get dirt on their extremely powerful and influential rival. She wasn't as keen on following through with her friend's unhealthy obsessions with bringing down Walter O'Hara, but having earned the support of Ryan Kingston and his friends, she felt obligated to help them in any ways she could.
Tommy tagged along after Amber, his determination to save his sister and Ryan only growing by the minute. He had learned to love and idolize them all in his own special and unique ways, but now all three were at the mercy of the enemy. While he may not be the strongest, bravest or smartest person out there, he was determined to save the three he knew who were. His viewed Holly as the strongest person he knew, being able to take a rejection of feelings from Ryan so well yet still staying with him as friends, while simultaneously always looking out for himself in the process. Ryan was the bravest person he knew, willing to go into the bowels of the darkness to save a friend or fight an enemy, whether this was smart or wise to do not mattering to him. Addison's mind was the one Ryan leaned on to tell him if something was smart or not. She was like an encyclopedia of facts and he was determined to rescue her so that she could grow out her mind even further than she already has.
After several minutes of finding nothing for themselves, the two decided to wait a moment before continuing. Amber looked at the lights above them as they flickered. "Dylan and Corey are close, but we haven't even found the dumb ventilation shaft were were supposed to find!"
"Will they wait for us?" Tommy asked.
"Sure" she answered, "but they won't be able to forever. And neither will Ryan or your sister."
"Then I have an idea" Tommy said, calling out his Helioptile. "Hey, Heely. We need you to sniff out a ventilation shaft for us. The biggest one you can find." The small Electric Pokémon began to sniff around and began to trot away. Tommy began his chase, with Amber hurrying along behind him. The two came to a stop after making a swift left and right, where Heely had found the large vent that Amber had recalled seeing.
"You're the best, Heely!" Tommy proclaimed. His Pokémon leaped into his arms and licked him happily, until a sudden burst of cold from the vent caused him to leap off his trainer.
"This vent was made large enough so that anyone who works on it can go right inside to fix any problems" Amber explained.
"But how do we get in?" he asked.
Amber winked. "I've got this." She pushed through the vent and it slid open. "Easy access. The Janitorial Squad has been getting lazy." Tommy ran inside the vents in front of her, followed closely by Heely. Amber followed in last and gently let the vent door close behind them, so as not to attract any attention.
Tommy recalled Heely and sent out his Charmander to light the way. The small Fire Pokémon happily led the way, gesturing for Tommy and Amber to follow him into the dark chambers of the Ventilation System. He looked to Amber. "And this will lead us to Ryan and Holly?"
"One can only hope" Amber said, taking the boy's hand in hers. "Come on. Let's see where this leads." The two continued following the Charmander as he wandered through the long and dark tunnel in search of some kind of way to reach the lower levels of the complex. The Charmander paused at the end of a tunnel and barked towards the two. Tommy and Amber made their way over to him and saw that there was an entire room below them.
"This must be the-"
"Ventilation Control Room" Amber answered quickly. "This will heat or cool the temperature of the entire complex with the push of a button." She and Tommy leaped down to the ground level and looked around for which vent would lead to the lower levels. A sudden shriek of pain coming from one of the vents all but confirmed that there was something evil going down in there.
"That must be it" Tommy said, kneeling down towards his Charmander. "Charmander. Lead us down the way."
The Fire Lizard Pokémon shivered in the cold, but jumped for joy at the idea of being able to escape the cold. He hopped into the vent and continued to lead the way. Tommy tugged Amber into the vent after him.
"Come on, Amber."
Amber nodded. "Right behind you."
{Meanwhile}
Cassius removed the one heated Crimson Stone from the slot of his branding device and turned towards his latest Branded Soldier, a girl no older than 12 or 13. She was one of the loudest screaming subjects he had branded yet. But now, she was deathly quiet, almost as if in a hypnotic trance. While her skin still burned with the mark of the Crimson Brand he had put onto her arm, her eyes now shined a pale pink, showing signs that she was already becoming mentally enslaved to the Crimson Stone and the will of The Grand Master.
"I do so love my job" Cassius declared. He whistled for some of his guards by the door to enter. As they did, he pointed towards the girl and handed them her bag, which contained her Pokémon in it. "Put her in the transport bound for Mt. Heatmor. She was a feisty one, heh heh." The guards nod and wheel the girl on her medical bed out of the door. While Cassius attempted to heat the machine for his next Brand, he looked at his schedule. "Who do we have next? Oh! This is just too perfect. Ryan Kingston."
The doors burst open and Ryan is wheeled into Cassius's lab, strapped to the medical bed he was in. He tried desperately to fight off his captors, but he was no match for the two hulking guards, not without his Pokémon at least.
"The guest of honor has arrived" Cassius grinned.
Ryan bucked and weaved on the bed, doing his best to try and undo the straps that pinned him to the bed, but he was unable to wriggle free of their grip on him. He glared up at the scientist. "You're really doing this to children?"
"My science does not discriminate against age, gender or race" he explained eloquently. "It only does so with those who do treat Pokémon well and those who do not. And thanks to your upbringing and the tutelage you received from your cousin, you have some of the strongest bonds between a human trainer and their Pokémon that I have personally ever seen, Ryan. Well done."
"Unlike your boss" Ryan hissed, "I know how to treat all living things."
"This isn't done with malice, my boy" Cassius explained. "I have no ill will towards you. In fact, the only person I have any bitterness towards was your cousin, but since he's departed from this world, I feel like jumping for joy. No, Ryan, this is done with only the most innocent and science based intentions in mind."
Ryan shook his head as he tried once more to free his strapped arms from the bed. "You really have a bad way of communicating the word 'innocent'."
"You are another rambunctious little trainer, aren't you?" he noticed. "In fact, I haven't had such a defiant and stubborn young trainer like you since-now what was her name? She had a pair of violet eyes and chestnut-colored hair. Was it, Adrian? No. Adeline? No."
Ryan glared bitterly at the scientist. "Addison!"
"Ah, yes" Cassius sneered. "That's the one. Addison Tenton. She thought she was going to make it out of here as well, Ryan. I'm sure your brother has since told you she didn't quite get that far."
"You're going to pay for that!" Ryan growled, his hands turning into fists.
Cassius flipped on all of the switches on his machine to heat up the next Crimson Stone and looked back towards Ryan with an evil smirk. "Oh yes. Save that angry look, Ryan. I'm sure that's going to be the one you use when we send you in to battle your own loved ones in pitched combat." As his subject continued to try to free himself, Cassius called out his Slaking. "Keep him in place." The huge Normal Pokémon grabbed Ryan's bed and held firmly.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Ryan cried out.
Cassius shook his head. "Screaming will do you no good, Ryan. No one's here to hear it."
{Meanwhile}
While their trek through the vents of the ArcTV Studios continued, Tommy and Amber stopped when they heard a distinct scream.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
"That's Ryan" Tommy gasped, as he tried to rush forward, but Amber held him back.
"Shhh. Wait a minute. You have to be quiet. Or else we'll get caught."
Tommy nodded and the two quietly made their way for the exit of the vents. It led straight into Cassius's Lab. They saw Ryan strapped to the hospital bed and Cassius with his back to him, holding a glowing object that looked like a cattle prod. When Tommy saw the Crimson Stone set on top, he gasped. He tried to burst in, but Amber held him back with all her strength.
"If we barge in there now" Amber told him, "we'll only get ourselves captured."
"But-"
Amber put her finger to the boy's mouth, quieting him. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out her Pokémon Gear to message Corey.
{Meanwhile}
Corey kept a watchful eye on the Janitors to make sure they were still asleep and would not hinder their plans any further. He looked behind him and frowned. Where the heck are you, Dylan? Since leaving for the Dressing Rooms of ArcTV's most popular celebrities, Dylan had yet to come back or even send him a courtesy message. This wasn't some cut and dry situation. This was a real and serious situation. People's lives were at stake.
He reached into his pocket to pull out his Poké Gear to message him, but quickly found one had come from Amber:
[Cut the Power]
He sighed and responded back to her. "I can't. Dylan ran off." He sent the text. Within seconds, she responded:
[This isn't a game, Corey! CUT THE POWER]
He shook his head and responded. "Not until Dylan comes back." And he then put his Poké Gear back into his pocket. Dylan! You'd better get here soon!
{Meanwhile}
Dylan wandered around the Dressing Rooms of all of ArcTV's most famous celebrities and personalities. He had found cooking segment hosts, Pokémon League experts and Contest Experts, even some of the lesser known anchors they used for the news when the big wigs weren't present. But he had yet to find the dressing room of ArcResistances greatest foe, Walter O'Hara. He decided that if it was not on the next floor, he would give up and go back to Corey. He climbed up one flight of stairs and then came to a halt. One of the doors was open and the sounds he was hearing was not one that he would have immediately expected to hear at an ArcTV Studios setting.
"Repeat after me" a woman's voice instructs. "I live to serve Walter."
"I live to serve Walter" a group of voices said, as if almost in a hypnotic trance.
This I have got to see. Dylan crept up the remaining steps and peered inside. Walter O'Hara sat in his chair, as jowly as ever, smoking a cigar and watching as a woman was telling a group of women how to act. He activated the small camera he had on his arm and began to film whatever he could. He watched from a screen that appeared on his Pokémon Gear. He watched as many girls, each with eyes that were lifelessly pink colored, all walking their way over to Walter and curtsying for him.
"Now you shall say, I live and serve The Syndicate" the woman insisted.
THE SYNDICATE?
"I live and serve for the Syndicate" one girl replied, once more as if she were in a trance.
"None of these girls are going to do" Walter growled. "They have no grace or charm. Have them do it again!"
"This is messed up" Dylan remarked, hoping his camera would catch all of this. He watched on the view from his Poké Gear and watched as more and more girls made their way in front of Walter and curtsied before him. When the last in the procession bowed and turned, Dylan got a good glimpse of her face and nearly dropped his jaw.
"Holly?" he gaped. Holly's eyes were as lifeless as all the other girls had been. She had a heavily bandaged left upper arm and walked awkwardly, almost as if she were fighting internally over actually doing this. Yet despite her body's clear rejection of what she was doing, her mind seemed dulled to the point where she could not possibly resist the commands, even if she wanted to.
"They must have gotten to her" Dylan said, lowering his head. He ended the recording and frowned angrily. Let no one else suffer from these afflictions ever again! He decided to message Corey before he made what might be the most recklessly stupid and brave move of his young life. "Cut the power, Corey. NOW!" He then took a deep breath. Give me the strength to actually do this.
{Meanwhile}
While Tommy wriggled and writhed in her grip, Amber was angrily messaging Corey. The Kingston boy was trying with all his might to break free from her grasp to rush out and try to save Ryan, but she was able to hold firm with a grip on the boy's hand that closed like a vice.
"Corey" she said, seething with rage, "if you do not cut the power right now, I will literally beat you within an inch of your life." As she put her Poké Gear back in her pocket, she grabbed Tommy and pulled him away with both of her hands. "Tommy, I know how much you want to. But we can't. Not until the power is cut at least."
The two could only watch as Cassius approached Ryan with a syringe of some kind and inject the boy with it. The scientist then quickly cleaned up the boy's wound and bandaged it. He looked down at his prisoner and grinned. "We're just about ready, Ryan. I hope you've enjoyed these last few moments."
"LET ME GO YOU FREAK!" Ryan snarled.
Cassius picked up the Branding tool, with the Crimson Brand heated all the way to it's most dangerously red. He then made his way for Ryan's side. "My only regret is that Michael isn't here to witness this crowning achievement of my Branding Technique. Farewell Ryan! Hello Soldier #913!" He then thrust the brand into Ryan's arm.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Ryan screamed in agony.
Amber lost grip of Tommy as he was about to rush into the room, but suddenly. the room went completely black. Cassius's machine broke down and the Crimson Stone fell from the branding tool. Ryan's screams began to subside to general grunts of pain.
"What is it now?" Cassius growled. He reached for his Poké Gear to make a call. "We lost power down here!"
Tommy looked up towards Amber. "Now?"
"Wait for just the right moment" she said soothingly. "Trust me, Tommy. That moment is coming."
"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT THIS?" Cassius screamed at whoever he was calling. "WE HAVE HUNDREDS OF MORE TRAINERS TO BRAND!"
Amber looked at her Poké Gear and saw she got a message from Corey:
[I didn't do that. There's someone flying above the ArcTV Studios right now and their Pokémon just blasted one of the main generators to bits. Half of Titanio City has no power right now!]
Amber was stunned. "If it wasn't Corey, then who was it?"
Tommy gasped. "Jocelyn! She's here!"
{Meanwhile}
Renee was surprised by the sudden power outage in Piper's Penthouse Suite. She reached for her Poké Gear to relay the message onto the KERN System as she sat in the bowels of the darkness.
"We just lost power here in Titanio!" Renee relayed on the Radio.
"It looks like ArcTV is out, too!" Jon revealed.
"This is unreal" Billy added. "It's like ArcTV is completely off the grid. There isn't even a warning or anything."
"All the other channels seem to be working" Greg contributed.
Renee was almost in tears of joy. Those guys from ArcResistance really did it!
"Until we know what it is" Piper insisted, "we can't be sure if we should celebrate or not."
"Copy that, Piper" a voice chimed in.
"Repeat?" Piper called.
"This is Jocelyn and I'm on the offensive at the Syndicate Compound" Jocelyn's voice echoed across the radio. "Backup not necessary, but welcomed."
"Copy that, Jocelyn" Billy insisted. "I'm heading for Titanio right now!"
"I'm outbound to Titanio as we speak" Tori proclaimed. "Be there in approximately 30 minutes."
"Thanks for finally answering, Jocelyn" Piper snapped.
"Bad reception in the Seaside Caverns" Jocelyn said plainly.
"That would explain why Tori's Dad hasn't answered" Greg chimed in.
"But that doesn't count for Matthew" Jenna said, taking over for her brother.
"He-in-cav-fo-" the garbled radio communication came in.
"Repeat?" Byron asked.
"Please repeat" Renee asked.
"Here-cav-Ma-Ity!" the voice repeated, with even more not coming in.
"Is that Uncle Mike?" Madeline asked.
"Dad?" Tori cried out. "Dad, repeat!"
"On-ove-anio-our-amp-all" the voice called out.
"I can't understand a word they're saying" Piper said.
"Me neither" Jeice commented. "How much more can the power be increased?"
"Not much" Piper said worriedly. "We're just going to hope that they can hear us and we can hear them."
Renee sat back on the couch and took a deep breath. Finally, something was happening, but she knew that until her cousin and his friends were out of there, they were all still in mortal danger.
{Meanwhile}
Dylan kicked the door in on the Walter's creepy little training school and pointed towards the old talk show host himself. "GOT YOU, WALTER! All of your moments are now documented by the ArcResistance Team!"
Walter gasped. "You! That little brat that's been calling me a liar!" He turned towards the girls. "Seize him!"
All of the six girls Walter was overseeing turned towards Dylan and came at him like a slow moving horde of zombies. Dylan saw Holly as the lead brainwashed servant of Walter and realized his chance to take Holly with him was now or never. He called out his other Pokémon. "Go! Meowth! Use Flash!" The Meowth's gold coin atop it's head shined so brightly, it blinded everyone in the room and momentarily stunned the mental slaves of Walter. Dylan grabbed a hand that he could see and pulled a girl out of there.
He nervously looked at her and heaved a sigh of relief when it was Holly. "Come on, Holly! Let's get you out of here!"
"I live to serve Walter O'Hara" she said, still mentally warped by the Branding done to her arm.
Dylan took the girl's hand and raced down the steps with her, knowing their cover had just been blown.
{Meanwhile}
Ryan let out a cry of relief when he realized the loss of power wasn't just a temporary thing. He tried to look at where Cassius had begun to brand him and saw that while it had left a burn, only a small portion of the Crimson Stone had been impacted onto his arm. He wasn't a slave to the will of the Crimson Stone just yet. But all of his relief began to fade away when Cassius called out an Electivire.
"Don't you worry, Ryan" Cassius sneered. "I came prepared."
"Aren't I just lucky" Ryan grumbled.
The scientist's Electivire shot a volt of electricity into Cassius's branding machines and they soon began to reboot. As the whirring machines turned back on, the Crimson Stone soon began to glow again.
"And in a moment" Cassius cackled, "you will be my minion once more!"
"No he won't!" a voice called from seemingly nowhere.
"What?" Cassius asked.
Ryan looked around for the source of the voice. He honestly never thought he would hear that voice ever again. "Tommy? It can't be."
The vent in the corner burst open and sure enough, Tommy ran into the room, with the girl from the ArcResistance Team right behind her. Before Cassius could even react, the two were on the move. Tommy's Mudkip and Phanpy were out immediately, with the Mudkip spitting Mud into the Electivire's face and the Phanpy used Rollout to smack into the head of the Slaking, who fell over and let go of Ryan's hospital bed. Amber tackled Cassius into one of his machines. The scientist's skull slammed with brutal force into it and he was instantly knocked out.
Ryan watched as Tommy's Charmander leaped onto his stomach and used the embers on his tail to burn the straps that trapped him to the bed. Ryan ripped the remaining straps off and leaped off his bed. He found Tommy and took the boy into his arms and hugged him more than he had ever hugged anything before.
"You can let go, now!" Tommy cried.
Ryan put the boy down, his tough exterior melting away. "I'm sorry. I just-I never thought I'd see you guys again!"
"You're my friend, Ryan" Tommy insisted. "Of course I would come to help."
Ryan hurried over to Amber. "I don't know what to say."
"Don't say anything" she said. "We should just-"
As if by just a sudden rush of joy he grabbed the girl and kissed her. "Thank you, so much!"
Amber's face grew as red as he Crimson Stone had been. "No problem?" She reverted back to normal when she saw Cassius's Electivire recovering from the blow the Mudkip had given him. "We've got trouble!" Tommy ran behind Amber at the sight of the angry Electric Pokémon.
Ryan stepped in front of both of them. "Leave it to me!" Ryan reached for the Poké Ball of one of his closest Pokémon and called them out. "Go! Terra!" The Sandslash emerged and growled fiercely at the Electivire. "Terra! Use Earthquake!"
Terra caused a massive tremor in the ground, which rocked both the Slaking and the Electivire, even flinging around the unconscious body of Cassius and forcing Tommy to cling to all of his Pokémon for dear life. Both of Cassius's Pokémon were taken out in one shot, but the whole building soon began to shake violently.
Amber climbed back into the vents. "Come on! We have to get out of here before the building collapses!"
Tommy recalled all of his Pokémon, as did Ryan and the two boys followed Amber up the ventilation system and hopefully towards an exit.
{Meanwhile}
Elezar and Matthew, who were both in the Syndicate Leader's office, were the first to feel the wrath of the battle that took place only a floor below them in Cassius's Lab. Even though the room was still immersed in darkness from the blackout, they could tell that something even greater had just unfolded. The elder of the two took a moment to collect himself before even acknowledging that something had happened. "What was that?"
Matthew clenched his fist. "I have a hunch."
The two looked around as the lights quickly flickered back on. As they did, so too did the Elezar's computer. He quickly booted it up and looked through his security camera footage of what was going on in his Compound. He could see Walter O'Hara flailing about like a frightened school girl in his dressing room, but this did not concern him in the slightest. What did concern him was the absolute carnage that had unfolded in Cassius's lab. His longtime partner and ally was sprawled out on the ground, likely unconscious, as too were his Pokémon. But the most disturbing sign of this was that Cassius's latest patient for a branding, Ryan Kingston, was not there.
"Your brother is quite resourceful" Elezar said dryly.
"I'll bet this was Tommy Queensbury, somehow" Matthew grunted.
Elezar thumbed through the cameras and noticed Ryan, Tommy and Amber running through the vents and towards the Ventilation Repair Room. "It appears he had help from some of Titanio City's most undesirable pests!"
"I'll go and get him right now" Matthew said coldly, heading for the door.
"You'll do no such thing" Elezar declared. "You're going to find out how they got in and make sure they can't get out the same way!" Before he could add any further orders, the building was rocked by another quake of some kind. He looked through the cameras one last time and saw something fly right past the camera and attack the Pokémon of his peons he had stationed in the lot.
"Was that a Dragapult?" Matthew asked.
Elezar cursed underneath his breath. "On second thought, perhaps you should go and find your brother before he and his little friends can escape!"
Matthew looked to Elezar. "What about this Dragapult?"
Elezar looked back at him with a dark look on his face. "Take this lesson to heart, my boy. When you want to kill a flower, make sure you rip out it's roots! Go find your brother, Matthew. I have some unfinished family business to attend to!" With that, Elezar went out the door to confront his daughter once and for all.
{Meanwhile}
While he walked through the Seaside Caverns, Big Mike noticed that the heat signature he had found was becoming more profound. He at first thought it was his Charmeleon that was leading the way, but there was something else to it. The signature his Charmeleon was giving off was different than the one he and Jocelyn were looking at. It wasn't as profound, but it was more collective. It seemed to be drawing in more heat from its surroundings. There had to be something alive in the bowls of this cave. And it wasn't just a mere Pokémon. This was something different.
The cave shook violently and prompted Mike to grab a hold of the cavern walls. His Charmeleon ran towards him when several boulders appeared to be falling down towards them. Big Mike looked up towards the cavern. "What the heck is going on in Titanio City? Is Jocelyn really capable of such destructive power?"
His Charmeleon tugged at his pant leg. He looked down at his Pokémon, who was pointing towards the wall they had encountered. The massive seismic shake above ground had blasted a hole through the wall. As he peaked his head through the hole in the rocky wall, the device in his hands was buzzing like crazy. He looked at it. The device had reverted towards it's original settings. And it showed that the signature Jocelyn had noticed wasn't just one. There were more of them. He needed to see what this was all leading towards. He stepped through the hole and found himself in another cavern, but this one was shining with the crystals that hung from it's ceiling. This place is incredible, but I doubt that these heat signatures came from this place alone. There has to be something else here.
He continued to follow the machine until it buzzed wildly once more with a new update. Mike looked down at the screen. There were multiple heat signatures coming from this very chamber. And they were all directly below him. He looked down the cliff he was standing on and gasped.
It...It's...It cannot be...