See, I'm not dead (yet)! So serious stress and personal problems aside, I've been chipping at this bit by bit. First, some important questions that were asked and will be answered. Lucas & Co. are all 18 (at least now). Dawn is in a similar appearance to the one in the game and TV (aged a bit, obviously), but that is about all the similarities if I'm being honest. Yes, this fic takes place in the Sinnoh Region of the games, and time is set in modern times, call that what you will. I'll be using the lore of the games as well as the framework/mythologies built by the other authors in the shared universe (so stuff from BraviaryScout and Jmoul18).

Chapter 27: Freedom and Order

Lucas's hands nearly crushed Prometheus' Pokeball as he dashed further up the stairs and down the maze-like corridors into the center of the Galactic Building. He and the other three had already shredded through the few Galactic Grunts standing in their path, though none of them tried any suicidal moves like the scientist who stood guard at the stairwell. Lucas was ready if they did anyway. He was done dealing with them peacefully.

The otherwise neatly organized hallways were littered with the remnants of the heavy foot traffic left by grunts in the evacuation. Immaculate windows and cleanly swept floors were still littered with papers and Pokeballs all over the floor, a rushed escape but an effective one nonetheless. Finally, he burst into the room above the stairs, taking a moment to take in the beauty and a little bit of air.

Barry was already at his heels and Dawn only a few seconds after, all in the long corridor at the top of the stairway marveling at the design around them. "It'd be a shame to torch this place," Barry said, looking at the glittering fiberoptic-implant stars in the jet-black OLED canvas on the walls and ceiling. The room was entirely dark except for the galactic illuminations from the galaxies and stars created by the points of light coming from the fiberoptic cable and the beautiful nebulous designs from OLED panels that took bent in and out of the walls depending on the texture of the image. "But we can keep it intact if we deal with them peacefully, though."

Lucas gave him a flat, placid expression that said more than any countenance of disappointment could. "After what they did so far, no. Even something as beautiful as this will come crashing down," he chuckled, running his hand over the illuminated wall before walking forward, down into the corridor. It turned left just up ahead, and whatever was around that corner, he had enough fury to burn alive by looking at it.

"Commander, they're here," a grunt whispered to the pink-haired commander. Handing her a tablet with footage of the incoming intruders walking down the passage of lights. "You know," she began, looking down at the bloodied man on the floor, "Here's a good example of what I mean by 'emotion makes you weak'." She knelt next to him, showing the image on her screen. "You see, Mr. Shaw, they know you're here. They know what we can do to you. They remember what we've already done to them. But when they see the pretty lights in the corridor, they can't help but stop and appreciate the digital engineering. We create a little bit of sparkle, perhaps only ephemeral, but I can halt them in their tracks." She smiled smugly and stood back up, handing the tablet back to the grunt and whispering orders as the grunt quickly ran to another end of the floor, giving orders to others, whipping up a commotion again. "But we don't suffer from such… flaws. I'm sure even you can see the sense in that."

"Cherry Blossom and patchouli?" Mr. Shaw asked with a smile dripping with blood.

"What?"

"Your perfume, 'Jupiter'," he smiled again as he slumped his head to the floor, waiting for Jupiter to dig her toe into his side yet again.

The sound of fluttering, hot flames, could suddenly be heard as the steel gates blocking the section of the floor away from the rest suddenly began to glow red. "Commander!" one of the grunts called from the evacuation point, far in the other end of the room, "We've loaded everything for departure. We're ready when you are."

"Go without me," she sternly replied.

"What?"

"Go without me."

"But we can't—"

"Do I hear fear in your voice?" she scowled in his direction. "Do you think that I am not competent enough to hold this stand?"

"No ma'am," the Grunt replied, suddenly staid and emotionless as he closed the hatch behind himself and the other grunts carrying various pieces of technology and equipment. A high-pitched whirring sound could be heard over an automated voice yelling "Caution!" until it suddenly stopped. The sound of the flames on the gate stopped soon after before the thunderous, slamming noise of Hazel breaking the door down followed.

Lucas stepped into the building, followed closely behind by Barry, Alyssa, and Dawn. Each had their chosen Pokemon out in front of them and another waiting in reserve in a Pokeball they held in their hand. "Ah, fuck, another one of you?" Lucas angrily said, looking at the poised Galactic Commander.

"I beg your pardon?" she coldly asked. "You are speaking to your death itself. I'd watch your—"

Lucas didn't even pay attention to her as he kept ranting, working himself into more and more of rage as he spoke. "If what's causing all this trouble-all of this pain and suffering—is some pink-haired wannabe astronauts playing terrorists, I will gut you like a fish right now, no questions asked, and be done with this shit," he roared as Prometheus bared his teeth and claws next to him.

"Temper, temper, Lucas Drake," Jupiter coldly replied. "Someone's lost their breath in the journey up from the ground floor," she smirked. "Take a moment, catch it; I have something to tell you." Lucas didn't move a millimeter, his eyes fixed on the Pokeball in her hands.

"You better tell me the best story I'll ever hear in my life, or you'll be telling it to whatever's in the afterlife," he growled.
"Ooo, a feisty one," she mocked, "Is this who you're rallying behind? A man, no, a boy with no sense of control? A simpleton through and through, barring his occasional show of excellence in combat?" she asked, looking at the three behind him before she rolled her eyes. "Well, Lucas, you must notice that I'm the only one here, except for Mr. Shaw here, of course."

"Yeah, that's, uh, pretty obvious."

"Well, there's a reason I have this man. Well, two reasons. I need his knowledge on an otherwise useless Pokemon, a Clefairy."

"A fucking Clefairy?" Lucas asked in disbelief.

"Yes, "a fucking Clefairy"," Jupiter mocked. "Even a Clefairy has purpose, Lucas. It doesn't come from Earth; it comes from the stars, from meteorites. It has immense cosmic energy neatly wrapped up in its wiring somehow, or at least, it has some interesting mechanisms that we would like to take advantage of. After all, something that can survive the hostile vacuum of space must have some special gimmicks, yes?" she said, looking at Mr. Shaw.

"I'm genuinely curious as to what makes you think I'll talk," Mr. Shaw chuckled.

"We'll kill you," Jupiter said without stuttering.

"Listen, kid," he said, looking at Lucas, "they've made up their minds. I'm not gonna talk no matter what. I suggest you get out of here while there are no grunts here to block your escape."

"There's four of us," Lucas responded, though he looked straight into Jupiter's eyes, "and only one of her. I think we won't be going anywhere until we take this discount astronaut out."

"You keep saying that," Jupiter chuckled, "astronauts: we're not astronauts. Do you really think we'd do what we're doing if all we wanted to do was a bit of spacewalking? No, no, Lucas. We don't want to go to space, we want to advance humans into the future. It is time we break from the shackles of our weak construction and use the power of the Mythical Pokemon to repair the mistakes of our existence."

"That… made no fucking sense," Lucas said after taking a second to process her sentence. "You're insane."

"All visionaries are called insane," she smirked.

"All insane people tell themselves that," he coldly added, pulling a Pokeball from his pocket as Jupiter drew one of her own.

"If we're having a battle…" Jupiter trailed. She was perfectly still for a few moments. Lucas tensed, on the tip of his toes, incredibly alert, and playing single move she could make in his head, his eyes locked on her free hand.

It went straight to her hip, pulling a handgun from its holster and flicking the barrel toward Mr. Shaw, leaving Lucas without any reaction time. His eyes shot wide open as he followed the path of the barrel to Mr. Shaw, unfazed by the noise of the shot or the screams behind him until he suddenly covered his eyes from the bright flash and heat that followed. Hazel's mouth was smoking as a small puddle of molten metal that was left of the bullet lay smoking on the floor in front of Mr. Shaw, huffing angrily.

"Did you tell her to—" Lucas began, looking back at Dawn. Dawn shook her head, just as shocked as he was.

"Tch," Jupiter calmly scoffed, "It was worth a shot," she smiled as she holstered the gun again.

"You know what," Lucas said, his anger seeping further and further into his words, "1v1. You and me. I need to squeeze the smirk off of your face with my own hands."

"A lot of men said that to me. Those men can't speak anymore. Go, Zubat, use Bite!" The purple bat Pokemon had already materialized from its Pokeball, barreling toward Prometheus with blazing white fangs before Lucas could say anything to help his Charmeleon react.

Prometheus took the hit in stride, instantly fixating his gaze on the fluttering bat above him almost immediately. "Ember," Lucas ordered. Prometheus quickly responded by firing a small ball of fire that the Zubat evaded easily without a word from Jupiter's mouth. "Again." Prometheus fired another shot, another miss. "Again!" Lucas said, the frustration becoming more eminent in his voice as Prometheus breathed flames in between each attack, breathing heavily.

"We need to help him," Dawn said, about to step forward to Lucas' side before Barry stopped her with hands as fast as lightning. "Yeah, if any of us were in a position to help him, I'd have been there a long time ago. He needs to fight this out by himself. We need to get Shaw out of here."

"Are you stupid? She's not even trying, he can't land a hit on her, and you want to bail? What kind of friend are you?" Alyssa questioned.

"He wouldn't like us getting involved. His ego's hurt and he'll want to fix it himself. Besides, we came here to get Mr. Shaw out, and now's our best shot to do that."

"What if we just help Lucas out, and then we—"

"Bad idea, I'm telling you," Barry pleaded, "I know Lucas, he'll be just fine. When this is all over, you ask him what he would have wanted, and if I'm wrong, you have the right to think whatever you want to about me."

"I've always had that right," Alyssa said sternly, "What I haven't always had is my opinion of you at the moment, but I'm trusting you," she reluctantly agreed.

"Try as you might, you can't hit a moving target, it seems," Jupiter smirked.

"Dragon Breath," Lucas added, ignoring her, "Light the entire room ablaze if you have to just blast the damned thing!" Prometheus began unleashing a torrent of violent purple energy that fizzled with radiant flashes at its core, vectoring his head to follow the Zubat and using his the flaming Breath as a tracer until he was able to lead the zipping Pokemon perfectly to devastate it with his attack.

The bat Pokemon trailed into the wall, losing all control over its flight before it picked itself up off the floor, weakened but fearfully determined. "Hmph, it's so much better with stolen Pokemon," Jupiter laughed, "I don't have to feel anything when I lose them. Use Astonish!"

"Use Ember, finish him off!" Lucas countered. The golden Charmeleon dug its heels into the ground, rearing its head back for another attack before an earsplitting noise shattered the glass in the room, causing both Lucas and Prometheus to hit the deck covering their ears. The Zubat finished shrieking and saw the opportunity to land a devastating hit on the downed Prometheus. With whatever it had left, it flew from its corner to slam headfirst into its target before darting back again to Jupiter's side. "One hit," Lucas muttered.

"A hit you can't counter. Use Absorb!"

"Dragon Breath," Lucas calmly said. Prometheus was already back on his feet, leaned in and engaged full throttle to fire off yet another flaming purple exhaust into the little bat, downing it cold before it could even dodge or respond. "There is no point to this battle," Lucas sternly warned, withdrawing Prometheus.

"You want a deal?" Jupiter slyly smiled. "Now you're being practical."

"I'm not looking for a deal either." He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself, "I have 3 Pokemon. You have one," he plainly stated, pointing to the one Pokeball she had in her hands, "We all know how this is going to end."

"Keep talking," Jupiter said, coldly curious in his words.

"What are you playing at then?! You're not getting that Clefairy, Mr. Shaw is out of your reach. And at any moment, your playground will be filled with Interpol," he roared, losing more of his cool.

"Not every player plays to win," she smiled. Lucas crushed his fist, bringing out another Pokeball. Jupiter noticed his shortening fuse. "Does it make you mad, Lucas? Does it make you feel helpless? You have no idea where you are on the chessboard, do you? You don't know who I am. You don't know what we want. You don't know anything at all," she mocked.

"Not yet, but people like you tend to talk when their face is between my shoes and the floor," he spat as he threw Galahad out of its Pokeball. The Staravia assumed its normal position, circling above Lucas' head, its eyes on Jupiter Pokeball.

"Uh, uh, uh, you're getting carried away in your feelings," Jupiter taunted as she released a Skuntank.

"I've dismantled dozens of those downstairs; your unconscious grunts will tell you about that pretty soon."

"They won't tell me anything, at least not after we dispose of them. But I promise you, this one is different. I stole him from a retired gym leader, but he didn't give it quietly of course."

"Wing attack!"

"Poison Gas!"

The Skuntank laid a cover of noxious gas in front of itself, forcing the diving Galahad to burst through the purple cloud before meeting its target. Galahad's flowing white wings met the target squarely in the chest, slamming it into the wall with a satisfying thud. The little raptor made a Split-S, returning to Lucas but nearly crashed straight into the ground as it rolled to face him, coughing toxic fumes as it flapped furiously to recover flight.

"He's not going to make it to the end of this battle, you know," Jupiter smirked. "It's perfectly reasonable for you to give up."

"Do you think yours is? I have three more; how many do you have?"

"You're not very rational."

"3 is greater than 1, sounds pretty rational to me."

"Well, you won't realize it till it's too late," she smiled, "Use Venoshock!"

"Quick Attack, Galahad, don't let him get a shot in." Galahad threw himself at the Skuntank as fast as he could, knocking it off its feet, though the effects of the toxin quickly immobilized him only a few feet away from an impending Venoshock.

Neither Lucas nor Jupiter said a word as the tendrils of purple muck emerged from the Skuntank, lacerating their way across Galahad's body, working in tandem with the poison to take him out completely. "I still have two more," Lucas quickly shot back as he recalled the fainted Pokemon.

"Does it make you feel better to remind yourself of the odds?"

"Yeah, they're in my favor. Caesar, Bubblebeam!"

"Meet the attack, Skuntank!" Caesar's vitality and the Skuntank's fatigue were on full display for both trainers. The Skuntank could barely even move its forelegs from the oncoming attack, taking almost the entirety of the torrent of water coming at him before collapsing onto its side helplessly.

"It's over," Lucas plainly stated, "You're perfectly free to give in and tell me what the hell is up with this organization. I don't really have undue blood on my ledger, but I think today's a good a day as any to start."

"Of course," Jupiter coolly said as she recalled the fallen Skuntank, "But before I begin, how about you answer me a question. What do you call it when a plane's engine can't fight gravity in a climb anymore?"

"What? Are you mad? Jupiter, you have 10 seconds to give me a good fucking explanation or I'll have Caesar bore—"

"What do you call it Lucas?"

"Stall…" his eyes widened as the realization dawned on him, "Stalling."

"Took you long enough to realize that," she coldly stated before she fit one of her Pokeballs in a small socket in a machine next to her. "I'm sure we'll meet soon, you don't look smart enough to give up while you're still alive," she mocked before she crossed her arms over her chest, disappearing into a sudden opening in the floor beneath her before Lucas could even respond.

By the time Lucas even got a grip on what happened, the doors had already sealed shut, and he was standing over them, pounding his entire body weight into them to force them open. "Caesar, use Peck," he ordered. The Prinplup hesitated a bit, looking at the cold steel floor it was being commanded to attack, then back at Lucas, shaking its head. "I said…" Lucas began before he stopped himself. "You're right, it's no use," he sighed, recalling the little penguin Pokemon.

As he got up, he heard his Pokewatch buzzing furiously, alerting him to an incoming call. "Hello?" he answered as he made his way out of the massive building, Prometheus and Galahad sweeping the floors beneath him as he made his way down.

"Lucas, it's Barry."

"Did you make it out okay?"

"Yeah, we did. It sounds like you did, too?"

"I did…" Lucas paused as he cracked his knuckles under the force of his grip, "but the bitch got away. She literally disappeared into the floor like some kind of fucking Gengar."

"What? Like, magic?"

"No, like a trapdoor. She was just stalling me with a battle; she could have left any second. I got played."

"No, you didn't. At least Mr. Shaw says you didn't. He wants to talk to you. We're at his bicycle shop. He says it's urgent."

"What is it?"

"He won't really say. He only wants to talk to you, something about lineages and heirs. Just get over here as fast as you can."