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Michael stared at the scene before them, watching them debrief the details of the engagement.
The teen stayed silent during the debriefing. Looker had shown up, having returned from his meetings with the higher ups of the International Police. His expression was unreadable, but something about his tone and voice indicated some good news.
At least one of them was having success.
He couldn't help but hear every word. About how the vehicles used to transport Greevil and his forces were blown up, leaving them no real way to track them further. About how until they decided to show themselves, Cipher was effectively off the radar.
In other words, Greevil had managed to escape.
Again.
Michael couldn't help but grimace. If he had known that Greevil would be coming, he would've brought the legendary birds. That would've evened the odds a little. If he had only though-
He felt a small paw creep up on his lap. Looking down, he saw Espeon looking up at him. The boy weakly smiled as he stroked his partner's neck.
Although even that couldn't fully settle the empty feeling in his heart.
Lugia had been silent ever since they got back. Normally, Michael could tell when the Shadow Pokemon was exerting his psychic power, mentally reaching out with his mind to take in the surroundings and fully realize what was going on.
Now...nothing. The shadows had withdrawn back within the Master Ball, swirling and turning within. He made a mental note to check in on the legendary once they got out of this meeting.
"Give it to me straight Kaminko. How much time do we have before Greevil manages to create his own army of mecha legendaries?" Looker asked as a sigh left his lips.
"I wouldn't be too worried about that, my good man!," Kaminko exclaimed. "While they may have been able to extract the data, I've made sure they aren't able to actually access the files themselves. It'll take them a while to crack and properly sift through all that data."
"I'd be more confident if I didn't know that Greevil's got his hands on some pretty talented coders," Eldes said flatly, gazing across the faces of the group. "They were the ones to lock up that data disk to begin with. I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to crack it in less time than most."
"But it'll take them even longer to actually create anything practical to the field," the mad doctor countered. "It took me years to perfect Robo Groudon. Even with the best technicians in the world, it's gonna take them some time to properly utilize my creations."
"But it is possible they will be able to create something?" Krane pointedly asked.
For once, the inventor's shoulders sagged as his face turned dark. "...yes. I'm not sure what tech they have on hand, but if any of those prototypes are on site...they will be able to manufacture a mecha. Maybe even one powerful enough to rival a legendary."
Looker closed his eyes as the room turned to him. After a moment or two, he nodded before opening his gaze to everyone.
"Then we've got no time to waste. I'll dig up whatever I can on what projects the various military installations were working on. Maybe find a particular model that can possibly do what Kaminko just said.
"I've also asked for additional agents to hit the field and reinforce the various settlements throughout the Orre region, but we're still gonna be stretched thin."
"I'll call around the settlements and see if I can't let any of the locals know about what's going on," Krane spoke up. "Cipher has very little friends amongst the populace and I'm sure that I can convince Duking and Justy to begin training some of them to be able to defend themselves. It won't be much but at the very least they should be able to hold out long enough for reinforcements in the case of an attack.
"I'll also see if I can get into contact with Team Snagem. We haven't heard from them in a while but I'm certain they can give us some intel on Cipher's movements."
"Sounds good," Looker commented with his hands on his hips. "You think this Gonzap of yours will be willing to cooperate? They did work with Cipher in the past."
"If they did, they burned their bridges a long time ago."
"I'm also willing to lend my assistance in anyway I can," Sabrina said, drawing everyone's attention. "I've worked it out and I'm gonna be extending my stay here until this crisis is resolved. If Greevil is able to succeed in what he's planning, it won't just be the Orre region that falls under his control.
"Besides," she continued rather flippantly, "there's no real reason to try and remain under the radar after the raid on the laboratory."
"Don't you have duties you need to attend to as Gym Leader?" Lily questioned.
"Yes, but I've already assigned one of my brightest and most experienced psychics to the position. They'll take care of things while I'm gone."
Michael heard all of this, but didn't say anything. How could he? Everything had been happening so fast. Even if he did want to speak, what could he possibly say? His mind was racing to keep up with everything that had transpired.
He groaned as he placed his forehead in his hands. This was starting to make his head hurt.
"There's also one other thing I would like to discuss. It involves Michael."
Michael's head popped up. He had a bad feeling. Right before the meeting they had printed out the readings the snag machine had taken during his episode at the laboratory. They were waiting for Looker to arrive so Sabrina did have some time to look at the print outs.
This would be the first time they were hearing about it.
"I've been looking over Michael's readings from this previous incident and the other recordings of his psychic activity. And what I found is rather concerning," Sabrina said. All eyes were directed to her with everyone holding their breath.
"Simply put, I believe that Michael's bond with Lugia is awakening his psychic potential."
"WHAT?!" Lily and Krane cried. Michael's eyes widened as he stood up. He turned towards Espeon who had a similar look plastered on his face.
"But how's that even possible? Didn't you say that Michael wasn't psychic?" Lily pointed out.
"I did say that. But you have to understand that all humans do have psychic potential. Only a few of them are able to wield it. The potential lies dormant in most individuals, but it's there. When Lugia made their link with Michael, it must have awakened it as a result."
"How can you be so sure?" Michael asked.
"Do you remember when we first met?" Sabrina asked, turning towards him. "How you were able to hear my voice in your head?"
"...yeah?" Michael said cautiously.
"Most people aren't able to hear them. Only I can hear their thoughts. You being able to hear my voice is a common thing with psychics. And given how you've been able to speak to Lugia through your link and see the same visions they have been seeing…"
"And I guess my...incident was another extension of that?" Michael queried.
"Sort of. That was I believe was a combination of your bond and your awakened psychic potential. You felt what Lugia was feeling, and were able to exert a portion of their power," Sabrina calmly explained. "I can't imagine you'll be able to do much more than that though. The psychic potential of each human varies from person to person. That you've only been able to exhibit these abilities now is impressive enough."
Michael slumped back in his seat. His mind was reeling. He was a psychic now?! That would explain those rituals and various practices Sabrina was having him do. But even still it was a lot to digest.
It…it really was too much.
He could feel his mother gently embrace him in a hug. But he was still stuck in his stupor.
It really felt like only yesterday he just wanted to see more of the world.
Now it was all…this.
"I'm… sorry to lay this onto you all of a sudden, but I wanted to make sure everybody was on the same page. Before things got more…severe."
Michael nodded dumbly, his head still spinning from everything. Shadow Lugia, Cipher, and now this. Seemed like every day was bringing some new development that changed his world again and again.
Looker clasped his hands as he took center stage. "Moving along, I managed to convince the higher ups to authorize your field trip to Shamouti Island."
Now it was both mother and son whose heads both shot up. This was the news they've been waiting for.
"The only condition is that you board an aircraft that has been dispatched by the International Police. It's mainly to keep the heads happy in case things go south. We should be ready to leave by tomorrow morning."
"We can agree to those terms," Lily said excitedly. "I'll make sure to let Jovi know and begin to pack our things." It didn't take too much thought to realize those last words were also directed at Michael. He'd need to start packing things too if they wanted to be ready to leave. Quite frankly he needed some good news after today.
"Then I'll get into contact with Duking and Justy, see what I can do about getting the locals ready for the worst," Krane concluded. Everyone nodded as they broke the group and began to go about doing their things.
Michael slipped out of the room to head outside. There was someone he had to talk to before packing…
"Hey Lugia. You doing okay?"
Shadow Lugia shook his head as he heard the question. How could he be doing okay? It was because of it that Michael was going through these things. It all ultimately boiled down to that link that the Shadow Pokemon latched on to. If XD-001 could've just controlled itself-
"Relax, I'm not blaming you," his partner said reassuringly. He felt his hands pet one of his great wings, causing his nerves to relax a bit. "It could've happened to anyone and it just happened to be me," he stated. "Besides...you weren't the only one who was feeling mad at themselves."
The boy proceeded to lean against the great beast's back as he sighed in exhaustion. Espeon and Gardevoir walked down from the entrance to the lab and took their own seats alongside him. Fearow had already taken her usual spot on top of one of Lugia's dorsal fins and was pruning herself. The Diving Pokemon could sense that Houndoom and Dragonite were content to sit within their pokeballs a little while longer, probably wanting to get some rest before tomorrow.
It was a long day for all of them, and a good break was well appreciated.
"I was the one who screwed up," Michael continued. "I had no idea he would've been using one of those Pokeball jammers. I did read about them but I never thought I'd go up against one. If anybody's to blame, it's me."
Lugia proceeded to let out a low warble in disagreement. That logic didn't make sense. There really wasn't any way of Michael knowing that Greevil had one of those infernal devices. If anything, Michael did rather admirably for holding out as long as he did without needing the legendary Pokemon's help.
The teen weakly grinned almost as he could hear Shadow Lugia's thoughts. "Yeah, I did." The smile soon faded however. "But Greevil's still out there. He's probably planning something awful right this minute. I just…"
His gaze fell as his mood further darkened.
"I really thought Citadark Isle would've been the end of it."
Blinking, Shadow Lugia proceeded to nuzzle Michael in comfort. The human proceeded to giggle as he gently pushed Lugia's snout away.
"Thanks buddy. I needed that," he said, his warm smile reappearing as he rubbed Lugia's neck down in response. "I just...I couldn't have imagined that things would get this far."
Shadow Lugia nodded in reply. Quite frankly there were a lot of things he never believed were possible about a month ago.
"Maybe...maybe that's another reason we need to head to the Shamouti Islands."
Lugia cocked his head.
"With everything that's going on, I think we both could use some time to clear our heads and figure out what we're gonna do next," Michael said next with finality. "Besides, isn't having a clear head one of the key components on keeping your psychic powers in check?"
At first, Lugia was convinced the question had been directed at him. But to his surprise, Gardevoir was the one to nod, meaning it had been directed at her.
"At the end of the day though, finding answers about how to purify you is our biggest concern," Michael firmly stated. "If there's any answers to be found, they're there."
Shadow Lugia craned his neck as he tried to remember the Shamouti Islands. He did remember that was where he brought the legendary bird trio into the fold at Greevil's command. But aside from that...not much else. There were vague recollections of a great battle being waged there before and him being at the center of it all. Of how the world teetered on the brink of a cataclysm that threatened all life on earth.
Of the bond and destiny he shared with another…
But the memory was fleeting. To his frustration he couldn't pin it down. Everything before his capture by Cipher was a blur.
Yet somehow he knew that if there were any answers to be found, they were there.
"Well, I should be getting ready to pack soon. Everybody back into their balls."
Gardevoir and Fearow duly returned to their Pokeballs. Lugia returned to his Master Ball, his very presence retreating to the comforting embrace of the capsule.
For he needed more time to remember anything about Shamouti. About why that name and those islands seemed so important…
She heard somebody on her door knocking. Closing her briefcase, Lily called out, "Come in."
The door slid open as Krane cautiously made his way in. "Lily...is everything okay?" he asked.
Lily sighed. "We're currently at war with a terrorist organization, my son just had a mental breakdown, and I just learned he might be psychic. I'm doing just fine, thank you."
Mentally, she cursed herself as the words left her lips. "...sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"No, it's okay," Krane said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "It's been a rough month for all of us. And it's probably been tougher on him. I just wanted to make sure you were hanging in there."
"Barely…" Lily clarified. She lifted her briefcase and put it by the door. "I'm just on edge after everything that's happened. I'm...I'm just-"
"Worried for Michael?"
"For both of them," the mother corrected as she turned back towards Krane. "I've been talking with Jovi whenever I get the chance. She's...she's hurting too. We all are. I don't think we ever got past-"
"No one ever does dear," the professor said as he came closer with a forlorn look in his eyes. "He was a good man. And he was taken too early."
"I know," Lily responded. She looked away from Krane as the memories came back.
"That's why we need this. I need to get Michael and Jovi away from all of this. At least let them act like the kids they're supposed to be for a little while."
Krane nodded in understanding. "I think you all need some time to yourself. If what Kaminko and Eldes said is true it'll take a while for Cipher to duplicate whatever the doctor had on those plans. I'll take care of things while you're gone."
"Thanks Prof. Krane," Lily said as she slumped down in one of her chairs. "It's been a long month for everybody. It probably would be best to get them away from all this for a bit."
"Well if I recall correctly, you should be arriving in time for the annual Legend Festival they have down there," Krane commented as he sat himself down. "Maybe that will help jog Lugia's memory of who he used to be."
Lily blinked as she realized something. "Krane...what's going to happen when the villagers see Shadow Lugia? Do you...do you think they'll see him as a monster?"
"That I can't be sure of," the professor admitted. "Although from what I heard they are quite hospitable people. And given that report from a year ago I do suspect they knew something was going wrong with the titans."
She nodded in understanding. There was a report that Krane dug up concerning an incident at the Shamouti Islands about a year ago. Something concerning the legendary birds and some unseen attacker. Following the event, the birds hadn't been seen since.
It didn't take too much thought to speculate who the mystery attacker was.
"I just hope we can get some answers there," Krane commented.
"Indeed. If anything that Celebi was true, that's our best bet," Lily said as she leaned back. She was positively exhausted after all the excitement of today. A vacation, even a short one would probably do everyone good. She made a mental note to call a holiday once this whole deal with Cipher was done with.
That is assuming things turn out smoothly, which in her experience, they never do.
It was cool and dark down in the depths. One could barely see a thing through the churning tempest of the great ocean current.
The only illumination offered was the ghostly blue glow from his eyeshine.
His great wings beat along the raging current. Down here, he could almost exert his full power without hurting anyone. It was a lonely existence to be sure in the deep sea. But it was for the best.
It was for the best of everyone that he remain in isolation.
Tonight though, the currents were beginning to act...strangely. The usual eb and flow of the water was beginning to surge and spiral out of control. The Water's Guardian did what he could to contain it. Things like this happen from time to time.
But not at the rate things were going right now.
He had been at this for some time when he felt explosions from far above, right beneath the surface of the sea. His eyes widened as the implications were clear.
The time for hiding was over.
Beating his wings, the shadow rose and began to churn the waters around him into a Whirlpool. The funnel would take him straight to the surface and the chaos raging above.
He needed to get to the surface right away. The fate of the world depended on it…
Michael woke up groggily from his sleep. The night hadn't been too bad all things considered, but he kept having those strange dreams again. Yet this time they were...different.
He felt like he was thousands of miles away from Orre. And there was no walls, no shining lights, no hints of Cipher.
Just a deep, black abyss and glowing eyes.
The teen rubbed his eyes. He was too tired to put the pieces together right this minute, and that wasn't even their biggest concern at the moment.
Pulling on his clothes, he began to feel Espeon and Houndoom also rising from their slumber. Both Pokemon stretching and shaking themselves awake.
Walking over to his drawer, he picked up the Master Ball and put it on his belt, the dark presence within also beginning to stir.
Michael then held his breath as he reached over to the other three Pokeballs on his drawer. Rather than any dark presence however, he could feel the very power of a primal element in each ball. Fire, ice, and lightning to be precise.
Looker had been a bit reluctant to bring the titans along. Shadow Lugia was one thing, the three legendary birds was another. Granted they have calmed considerably since Michael first snagged them and brought them to the compound, but that still didn't change the fact they were still Shadow Pokemon through and through. But the Shamouti Islands were their home as well. If anybody deserved to be on this trip, it would be them.
That last thought made Michael pause. How close were they to being purified? He had been spending as much time with them as he could, putting the simulator through the wringer, getting to know them better. If they weren't close to being purified by the time they came back, it wouldn't be much longer…
The only downside was that Michael couldn't bring along his usual party aside from Espeon. Dragonite was put back in the Purifying Chamber to finish up his purification while the others would hang around base while he was gone. Salamence had fully recovered from Gateon Port so he should be ready for trouble if Cipher decided to come knocking while he was gone.
Something about that phrase worried Michael. While it was true that Cipher probably wasn't stupid enough to launch another attack so soon after the last raid, you never really knew with terrorists. Their behavior was as predictable as wild Pokemon. You had no real idea of what they were going to do.
He sighed as he took his suitcase with him as he stepped out of the room with Espeon and Houndoom in tow. There really wasn't much he could do about that right now. If Cipher did come back, O.R.F. and their allies would be as ready as they could. He would just need to have faith in them to hold their ground.
Michael was just hoping this trip would be worth it.
The teen eyed the jet as it touched down on the tarmac, the huge plane a stark contrast to the rundown airfield just outside of Gateon Port.
It looked a lot like what you would expect from a passenger plane, but Looker already informed him that it was jam packed with sensors and reinforced with military grade steel. The agent referred to it as a C-40 Latios, and indeed some of the coloration of the Eon Pokemon did streak alongside the aircraft.
Just another reminder of the cargo they were carrying.
The door to the aircraft opened as the stairs began to descend. Crewmembers were already scrambling to get their luggage on board so they can depart at a moment's notice.
Michael, Lily, and Jovi proceeded to turn back towards the ones who would be seeing them off. Krane, Looker, and Sabrina stood side by side.
Lily had already said her goodbyes along with Jovi. Now it was Michael's turn.
He stepped forward, first to Sabrina. "Hey. I just wanted to say...thanks for all your help. We're not sure what we could've done without you."
The psychic gave one of her rare smiles. "It was a pleasure. Just make sure to practice those rituals like I taught you and you should be fine. And don't worry, we'll see each other again."
Michael nodded as he moved on to Looker. "Thanks for your help as well, Looker. We couldn't have gotten this far without your help."
"No problem. You made it this far, I'm more than certain you'll be able to see through to the end," Looker commented. "Just don't get into anymore unnecessary trouble while you're on Shamouti, okay?"
"No promises," the teen snarked, eliciting a chuckle from the agent. Then Michael walked over to Krane.
"Krane...thanks for everything. I don't know what we would've done without your help."
"Don't mention it," Krane said cheerfully as he ruffled Michael's hair. "But to be fair, we wouldn't have gotten this far without you. You're the one who reached out to Shadow Lugia in the first place.
"If anybody's going to help Lugia open his heart once more...it's going to be you."
Michael smiled. He heard his mom call as she began to climb the stairs to the airplane. The boy said his goodbyes before he and Espeon climbed up the stairs after Lily and Jovi.
He took a moment to look back.
This would be the first time he had ever left his region.
His Master Ball shook, and Michael's resolve hardened.
There was no turning back.
"How long do you believe it will take us to crack open Kaminko's files?"
"We're having our tech boys looking into it right now, Grandmaster," Exol explained to Greevil. "Although they're having some issues with trying to analyze the entire data set. Apparently there's a lot of redundancies and false files within the set."
"Couldn't you just develop some kind of program to wipe out the clutter then and reduce the file?" Ardos suggested over the meeting table. The other squad leaders nodded their heads in agreement to the seemingly simple solution.
Exol simply put his hands on his hips and sighed. "We thought about that, but apparently Kaminko wrote in some algorithm that unleashes a worm to wipe out the data should any of the clutter was deleted in any capacity. Unless we've got the doctor in personally to give us a backdoor, we're gonna have to do this the hard way."
"And after our raid it's unlikely Kaminko's gonna remain out in the open," Kleef added. "They're gonna be ready for us this time I can tell you that."
"It doesn't matter anyways. We still have the element of surprise for now," Greevil reassured his newly promoted squad leader. "It'll take them a long while to discover our hideout. There's so many military installations to sift through after all. That'll give us enough time to crack the code.
"My biggest concern right now is if Kaminko's research can be duplicated." His eyes turned to Torkin.
"It'll take some time to fully outfit the mecha, but it should be doable if that old man was able to do it. Probably will take us less time with our resources and engineers."
"And we've got all the time in the world," Greevil said as he leaned back with a smile on his lips.
"Operation: SHADOWFALL is proceeding swimmingly. Soon, XD-001 will be within our grasp."
Somewhere in the Johto Region
The bartender was wiping down his table when he heard the news come on. From what he could hear, it was a breaking news segment that was talking about something going on in the Orre region.
His head shot up as he watched the screen. The reporter was saying how Cipher, a terrorist group that many were convinced was at death's door, managed to launch a successful raid on some poor sap's laboratory, making away with a set of valuable data.
As the report ended, he sighed as he got back to work.
"Don't those guys know that stuff like that is only going to increase their numbers?" a patron said, sounding like a young man.
The bartender didn't look up. His patron's business wasn't any of his so he chose not to comment.
"People do need to know somehow. If Cipher's still active, people need to know," another voice said quietly, a girl from the sound of it.
"That's the point. They want people to know," the other voice said in a hush. "They launch a raid and actually make off with something, then they go back underground with nobody knowing where they went. Trust me, there's a lot of people that are gonna get some ideas. It'll be like with Team Rocket all over again."
"But how can you be so sure?"
"Trust me. When you've worked with guys like those, you know what to expect. And Arceus knows what's gonna happen if they get their hands on that Shadow Lugia again."
The bartender let out another sigh. Figures. If Cipher was clever and dangerous enough to survive the first time around, they would be smart enough to get away with something like that. And the thought of them gaining control of Shadow Lugia...that was too scary to think about.
…
Wait a minute, he thought.
Did he just say "when you've worked with guys like those?"
He looked up to see the seats where he heard the voices from.
There was no one there.
He heard some hurried footsteps and the slam of a door, indicating the patrons had left the bar.
Grunting, the bartender got back to cleaning his table.
Nothing good can come from dealing with those kinds of people.
A/N: And there we have it. Another chapter done and finished. This will act as sort of an intro to the arc on the Shamouti Islands so it's a bit on the short side.
We also figure out what's been going on with Michael. Turns out having a bond with a ridiculous powerful Psychic Shadow Pokemon there usually happens to be some...side-effects as it were. Trust me though, he's not gonna get any more powerful. Michael will just be able to channel some of Shadow Lugia's energy. I promise we will not go into that route.
As for the incident mentioned, I did write a starter fic some months ago that details the exact happenings of that little event. I mentioned it before but I'd figure I'd mentioned it again. It's called Clash of the Titans: A Prelude to Darkness if you're interested. It's not required so feel free to read it if you want to.
We also get the return of the dream sequences. This time harkening back to the events of Pokemon 2000. If you haven't watched it we'll go over some of the events in the fic so you won't be missing anything.
Cipher's also going to get busy with cracking their code so they're gonna have their hands full for a while. That being said their successful raid is going to have some implications for Orre at large so they're certainly not standing idle.
As for our two strangers...let's just say that's some foreshadowing till a later date.
Either way, thank you for reading and make sure to follow if you enjoyed and make sure to leave those reviews. They really do help out a lot. I'd also recommend taking a break right around here if you're binge reading this fic.
As always, take care and have a good day.