Chapter Eleven: Darkness and Light, part two

Stepping back down into Fantina's dungeon still gave her the chills, but this time she felt prepared. She needed to learn the truth and for that to happen she needed to obtain her third badge to explore the region further. There were so many questions regarding Cyrus racing through her mind. Why Galactic? Why had he run away? What was his end goal?

She glanced down at the dusk stone in her left hand, debating with herself whether to use it to evolve her Murkrow or not. An evolved Murkrow would easily destroy Fantina's ghost-type Pokemon, but was it worth it? Cynthia had said love was the powerful weapon a trainer could use. She put the Dusk Stone back into her bag. "Not yet."

"Are you ready for the rematch?" Fantina said.

Dawn nodded. "I am."

"Then let us waste no more time. Let the battle begin!"

Dawn knew Fantina was going to rely on using her Pokemon's natural abilities to hide within the walls and appear at random moments. Her Pokemon, or at least based on what she had seen, had a predictable moveset. Wait for opponent to attack, retreat into a solid then counter with a status-inflicting move and wait until the opponent fainted. To win this battle she had to be unpredictable.

She summoned Murkrow to take the first battle. Fantina just smirked. "Murkrow again?"

"I know I won't lose this battle."

Fantina lifted her eyebrows. "Interesting."

Murkrow flew in circles, never straying too far from Dawn. She glanced up at Murkrow and nodded. This battle was theirs to be won. "Murkrow, use Peck on the lights!" Murkrow crowed and flew towards one of the ceiling lights and attacked it, causing it to drop onto the floor. The lights were actually candles in little orbs and not actually fuelled by electricity like she had originally assumed. Before the candle hit the floor, Murkrow swooped down and grabbed it with one of his talons. "Spirits don't like light, do they?"

"Smart thinking, but it won't save you. Duskull, use Will-O-Wisp!"

A ball of fire exited from the walls and floated towards her Murkrow. Last time, the attack had taken her by surprise, but this time, she knew it could be easily avoided. "Murkrow, do a loop!" She had never tested this evasive move before, but she had to have the faith. Instead of trying to out-speed the ball, her Murkrow did a loop in the air taking Fantina by surprise. The ball of purple flame could lock onto a Pokemon, but could not change directions fast enough. Duskull's Will-O-Wisp attack hit the ceiling wall and died.

"Your Murkrow has been practicing for the aerial gymnastics show?"

"Your Pokemon isn't the only one who can do tricks." Not that hiding in a wall was a trick for a Ghost-type Pokemon. "Now Murkrow, use Pursuit!" Murkrow flew towards the Duskull, raising his talons in preparation to strike. Blinded by the light, the Duskull was temporarily frozen in place, allowing Murkrow to land an attack.

Duskull howled and swayed from side to side then fell to the ground. It retreated to the place where Fantina's pokeball were hiding. "You are full of surprises, Dawn. Your next battle won't be so easy. Haunter!"

Haunter was a Pokemon she had a fair bit of experience in fighting against, but Fantina's one was going to be tougher. It was still a Ghost-type thought which meant it would most likely rely on hiding in walls and ambushing as its main strategy. That wasn't going to work on her, not anymore. Dawn called her Murkrow back and brought out her Deino to take the second battle. Fantina knew her Murkrow well enough now to counter-attack, but she knew nothing about Deino.

"Haunter, use Confuse Ray!"

Haunter floated forward and lifted a hand, emitting a beam of purple. The beam struck Deino in the face, but Deino's composure was not rattled. Instead, he turned around to face Dawn and growled. Dawn planted her feet in the ground. "Deino, I know you can hear my voice. I am not your enemy." Deino took a step towards her, his growls becoming louder in volume with each step. Confused Pokemon were known to attack themselves but she had never heard of one turning on their trainer before. Deinos had sharp teeth. Getting bit by one wasn't going to be pleasant. She lowered to her knees. All she could do was hope Deino could fight off the invisible force controlling his mind. "We've been through a fair bit together already, Deino."

Her Deino continued to advance towards her. Other trainers would probably run but running now would mean giving up the battle. The forces that had gained control of Deino's mind were strong – much stronger than she assumed. Now she could understand why a large number of trainers enjoyed confusing their opponents. It seemed like a cheap strategy to her though. She rose to her feet. Deino lunged, knocking her off her feet.

"Dawn!"

Deino roared, gnashing his powerful jaws at Dawn's face. She struggled to fight him off. Although it was a baby still, it was incredibly strong. Fantina rushed over and tried to help lift Deino off, but the baby dragon would not budge. He turned around and bit Fantina who jerked a hand back, a hiss of pain leaving her throat. "Deino…" Dawn murmured, trying to push the heavy dragon off, but he still refused to budge.

He opened his jaws again. Dawn protected her face with an arm. Sharp teeth pierced the flesh causing her to cry out immediately. At that moment, Deino climbed off her, seeming confused by what had just happened. She sat up, clutching her bleeding arm to her chest, wincing as pain travelled up her arm.

"Dawn!" Fantina called out, dropping down besides her. Dawn noticed the woman's hand was bleeding, but not nearly as badly as her own wound. The bleeding she could handle – she had experienced far worse stenches, but this pain was something else. It was like being stabbed by a knife, only it was much worse because there multiple knives. "You're bleeding badly. I need to get you to the Pokemon Centre."

"But the battle…"

Fantina shook her head. "The battle is over. You can't fight in this condition. Can you stand?" She nodded weakly and rose to her feet, supported by Fantina. Fantina wrapped an arm around Dawn's waist and walked her slowly to one of the walls. She touched it and opened revealing a secret back door staircase that led to the surface. "Stay with me, Dawn. We'll be there soon."

.

The return trip to the headquarters in Veilstone City had been a quiet one. Cyrus had refused to speak, and even if he had chosen to, Jupiter would not respond. She still harboured ill feelings towards him and she felt justified in her rage. Charon was right – Cyrus didn't trust his original trio. They were simply doing the dirty work for him while he claimed the benefits whatever they were.

She sat in the commanders' quarters on the couch, peering down at the documents on the table. There was a badly drawn image of what she expected was supposed to be her face and besides it, a line reading, 'most disliked'. Jupiter picked it up, scrunched it into a ball, and hurled it across the room, watching it bounce off the far wall.

Mars. It couldn't be anyone else – Saturn was stationed at one of three lakes and Charon wouldn't stoop that low. The grunts couldn't enter the room without a code so it left Mars. For some reason, the girl didn't seem to like Jupiter much. She claimed Jupiter was bossy and boring while Jupiter thought Mars was an immature foolish girl. Why on earth had Cyrus hired her?

The door opened. "I saw the boss earlier – he didn't look too pleased. You failed, right?"

Jupiter glanced over the shoulder and spotted Mars. The younger girl helped herself to the fridge and grabbed a chocolate bar then sat down on the leather couch opposite to Jupiter. She crossed her legs and flattened her skirt, brushing a stray piece of red hair behind an ear then took a bite of her chocolate.

"I didn't lose my battle against the little witch. The local gym leader and her minions were coming to investigate. I had no choice but to leave. If the battle had been allowed to continue, I would've crushed her… something you failed to achieve."

Mars snorted. "Charon stopped me from beating that brat."

"She's not just some ordinary child."

Mars raised an eyebrow. "And what is that supposed to mean? Are you implying she has special powers?" She chuckled. Her smirk faded moments after. "I know I'll have another chance to prove myself worthy of being a Galactic commander. This time, Charon won't be there to stop me from introducing the girl to a new world of pain. The boss is going to reward me."

There once was a time Jupiter would have laughed at that comment – Mars was so devoted to the boss, Jupiter was certain she was in love with him. The girl tried her hardest to get the boss's attention that she once dyed her hair orange. Cyrus didn't even notice. Mars was heartbroken for a week, but she recovered and returned her hair to its natural shade of red. Nowadays, she tried to win the boss's affections by carrying out his wishes to the best of her abilities. What a try hard.

Saturn was no better – he was a suck-up. He always sided with the boss and pretended to understand what was going on even if it was obvious he had no idea what he was agreeing to. He did not speak ill of the boss and he always praised him, going on about how Cyrus was the greatest person he had ever met before in his life. Jupiter, on the other hand, wasn't so blindly devoted to him.

"You think he's going to reward you for defeating a child?" Jupiter taunted. Now was her chance to crush the girl's spirit. Maybe then she'd open her eyes and realize the boss didn't care about any of them at all. "And what exactly would he reward you with? Somehow, I can't imagine him throwing you a party." The boss didn't believe in celebrating birthdays and other related events. He claimed it was pointless and a waste of energy, but he didn't stop the others from celebrating, as long as they kept it quiet.

"That girl has been messing with our plans. She has to be stopped. We made an oath to carry out the boss' wishes and that includes ending those who threaten his plans," she replied, placing her half-eaten chocolate bar on the table. "You can stand down if you wish – it would be better if you did actually. We all know that you are the weakest link of the team. The less involved you are the better for us all."

Jupiter suppressed a growl. The arrogance she was displaying was astounding. Mars seemed to think she was the best of the team even though she was recruited a few months after Jupiter and Saturn. "You lay one finger on that brat and you'll be worse off than you are now. The girl is off-limits."

Mars rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You're just trying to play mind games with me. It's not going to work." She uncrossed her legs then stood up, flattening down her skirt again and threw Jupiter a hateful glare. "You're just jealous of me. You want the glory for yourself."

"I discovered something interesting about our boss's history," Jupiter started, knowing any mention of the boss would hold Mars' attention. As she had expected, Mars froze in place and spun around, looking at Jupiter with suspicion. "I didn't mean to, but he let it slip. I figured out why that girl is so important to him."

Mars returned to the couch and sat down. "You're lying. The boss never loses control."

"That's where you're wrong. I guess you don't know him as well as you think."

"What do you know?"

Jupiter shrugged. "I don't know if I should tell you."

All traces of Mars' amusement had long since disappeared. She studied Jupiter like a Braviary. "Tell me."

She considered letting the younger commander suffer for a few moments longer, but decided it was better to get it over and done with. Mars would probably find out eventually. Jupiter wanted to be the one to break the bad news before someone else did. "That girl you wish to defeat? She's more important to him than you or me."

Mars eyes widened, and her lips parted slightly, as Jupiter's words began to sink in. "Are you implying that…" Her face paled.

"We don't know much about the boss's history at all, if anything. But thanks to a slip-up he made, I figured out that the blue-haired girl is his daughter." Jupiter studied Mars's face. The girl looked like she had a ghost float through her. She felt little sympathy for the girl – she knew from first-hand experience what it was like to feel rejected by someone you grew to love.

"No… it can't be true…" Mars murmured. "He wouldn't… he said he was above all that…"

"He lied to you, Mars. He lied to me." She grabbed Mars's shoulders and looked at her in the eyes. "He took advantage of our weaknesses and convinced us working for him would solve everything, but what has changed? We may have a roof over our heads and food on our plates, but we are just pawns in a game." Jupiter released Mars' shoulders.

Tears started to trail down Mars' cheeks. "I… why would he…"

Jupiter didn't have an answer to that question. She didn't know why Cyrus had chosen them, but she did know one thing. Whatever his end game was, she knew it didn't involve them. "I don't know," she said softly.

Mars was trembling now, unable to stop the tears from flowing. Her devotion to Cyrus was a lot deeper than Jupiter had originally thought. The girl had allowed herself to fall in love with a seemingly perfect man who would never return her affections. In her case, it was even worse because the man she loved had a daughter with another unknown woman, something she could never give. Cyrus had a policy that love-making was not allowed to take place because it led to unnecessary complications like children. "I thought he… could be trusted…"

"I thought the same."

At that moment, Mars broke down. Jupiter wrapped her arms around the younger girl and did her best to comfort her, as if she was tending to a young child. For once in her life, Jupiter didn't hate the girl. Mars continued to cry into her shoulder then pulled herself away, wiping the tears away. "Charon warned me… I should've listened… he told me that Cyrus would never appreciate me… I didn't want to believe…"

"There's not much we can do. We both swore an oath to serve him and we can't break that now." The oath would only break should Cyrus free them or something unfortunate happened to him. Mars sniffed again, reaching for the chocolate bar on the table. "I'll talk to Charon. He seems to know more about Cyrus than what he's letting on. Stay here, Mars. We'll sort something out later, all right?"

Mars didn't reply. Jupiter had a feeling the girl was thinking of doing reckless, like chasing after that trainer and beating her to a pulp to get back at the boss. Such an action would do more harm than good and make their entire situation so much worse. "I'm going to talk to him." She stood up abruptly, biting down on her lower lip to stop a new flood of tears.

"Mars… whatever you are thinking of doing, don't bring it up with the boss." Mars was still young and often let her emotions rule her rational mind. This was one of those moments. Jupiter tried to plead with her again. "Let me talk to Charon first and then we can worry about Cyrus later." Mars seemed to relax and Jupiter thought she had convinced the younger commander to not cause more trouble, but then Mars sprinted towards the door before Jupiter could even stop her. "Mars!" Jupiter called out. But it was too late. Mars was gone.

.

Cyrus searched through a box of old books, looking for stuff to throw out. It had been quite some time since he had last cleaned up his office and now seemed like a good time. Besides, it kept his mind distracted from thoughts of his commanders. He sat down on the ground and opened the dusty cardboard box.

Half of the books in the box were so old the pages themselves were turning a dark shade of yellow. The books probably weren't relevant anymore, but he wanted to go through them anyway, just in case he had missed something important. One by one, he searched through them all, not a single book catching his eye. He had almost given up hope when he came across one that had Charon's name on the front.

Unlike the other books, this one had a spiral spine. He picked it up, stood up from the ground and sat down at his desk. The title of the book read, 'Sinnoh's Legendary Pokemon.' He opened the first page and read the first few lines which were handwritten.

Legendary Pokemon exist in many different regions, taking forms of different types of creatures. But what do we know about these mythical beasts? Not much research has been undertaken in relation to the beasts since the legendaries are elusive and often shy away from humans, unless they see something special in a trainer.

But I believe I can offer insight into the creatures of Sinnoh. Scientists have often looked into the existence of the Creation Duo, Dialga and Palkia, the creators of time and space, but there is a third creator scientists have overlooked. Ghost-type masters that choose to traverse the Spirit World will often claim there is a powerful presence – they will refer to him as the Shadow Beast, but I have come up with a better name, Giratina.

Giratina represents anti-matter, and he has the power to create a new universe from nothing. He cannot be seen under normal circumstances since Giratina dwells in the realm. Giratina betrayed his creator, Arceus. As a result, he was banished to live in what we commonly refer to as the Spirit World. The Spirit World allows a ghost-type trainer to see things many cannot.

I personally prefer to call the Spirit World the Distortion World. The world can change depending on how you'd like it to be and actions that happen in that realm have consequences on the real world. Giratina is stuck in a cage and desperate to be freed to slay his creator. I believe I know of a way to open the gate to the main area where Giratina's chains are. Opening the rift to allow a non-walker to enter requires an item called the Red Chain.

The Red Chain contains the gems held by the Lake Guardians, the beings of knowledge, emotion and willpower. When the three creatures come together as one, their gems can be extracted and turned into a powerful tool to summon Dialga and Palkia to unlock the gate to Giratina's home realm. From then on, Giratina can be captured and his power can be used to create an entirely new universe. But of course-"

The notes ended there. He knew there was some importance behind the Lake Guardians, but didn't realize they were that important. At first, he was only hunting them down because he had heard they could remove spirit with a single touch, and figured using their power would help him achieve that goal. All he had to do now was find a way to force the Lake Guardians to rise to the surface. If he could drain the lakes of water somehow…

"You!"

He was startled out of his thoughts by the presence of Mars who burst through the doors. Her cheeks were swollen, and her eyes were red. Evidence she had been crying recently. Cyrus glanced up from Charon's notebook and eyed Mars. "What is the problem, commander?"

She marched up towards his table, clenched fists swinging at her sides. She stopped at the front, grabbed the book and yanked it away from him before he could stop her. "You made me believe that I could be a better person but that was just another lie, wasn't it?!" she accused, her eyes burning like black fire.

"Give me back the book."

She shook her head. "I trusted you!" she shrieked. "I swore an oath to serve you!"

"I do not understand the reason behind your anger." First he had to deal with Jupiter and now Mars? Charon was right. His commanders were beginning to lose faith in him. How long did he have until his grunts lost the faith as well?

"Everything you've said… every word has been a lie." She took in a deep shuddering breath then continued. "You don't care about any of us, do you?" She paused.

He sighed. "That is not true."

She threw her head back, forcing a sardonic laugh to leave her throat. "We've been loyal to you, sacrificing everything just to keep you satisfied, but you tell us nothing in return! You come up with all these laws that we have to follow, but you're allowed to break them as you please! You've been the one person who I thought believed in me…"

Obviously, Mars had learnt a few things from Jupiter which was surprising since he assumed they did not like each much at all. "And I do believe in you, Mars. You passed the tests, proving yourself worthy of being a commander."

"Then explain Dawn!" she blurted. "Is it true? Is she your daughter?"

Somehow, he had a feeling Dawn was going to be brought up in this conversation. "Why does it matter?" He didn't see how having a daughter made anything any different. "Nothing has changed."

Mars shook her head, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You didn't answer the question."

"Instead of wasting time asking me questions about things that are none of your concern, you could be proving your loyalty to me." He stood up from behind his desk and walked over to stand next to her then reached a hand out to cup her chin, tilting it upwards. She did not move, but the anger in her eyes seemed to dim. "Or did I make mistake in placing my trust in you?"

She finally pulled away. "I… What would you have me do?"

He lowered his hand. "We're going to capture the Lake Guardians. You will find Mesprit. Saturn and Jupiter will retrieve the others."

"Capture the Lake Guardians? How are we going to do that?"

Good question. The Lake Guardians weren't just going to come to the surface for the sake of it. They were legendaries and they could sense trouble. He was going to have to resort to drastic measures to force them out to capture them. "We're going to use a bomb on each of the lakes. It is unfortunate, but there aren't any other options available. Charon and I… developed an injection that puts a Pokemon to sleep. We will use that." It worked on common Pokemon, but he wasn't sure if it worked on something as powerful as a legendary. Only time would tell. "I would like the book back, Mars."

She glanced down. "Oh sure," she said, and handed the book back to him.

"I will inform you when you are to leave."

She nodded again then turned around and left, without uttering another word. Cyrus sat back down at his desk and sighed. That had gone a lot smoother than he thought, but did he still have her full loyalty? There was nothing to stop her from challenging Dawn to a battle, but that was inevitable anyway. Dawn was most likely going to do her best to save the Lake Guardians. He sat back in his chair. Would she prove him wrong?

.

"Where is she? Let me see her now!"

"We can't let you in, madam. She's resting right now and she needs to recover from the wound."

"She's my daughter! Let me in!"

Dawn's eyes fluttered open. She didn't know where she was other than she was lying down on a hard bed in a white room. There was so much white. Didn't these people have a taste in colour? And what was up with the sweat? She wasn't hot nor cold, but she was sweating so much she felt like had taken a shower.

She tried to sit up, but she couldn't move. There were many pieces of equipment sticking into various limbs and she didn't know what any of them were. Not that it really mattered though because all she could think about was how weak and disgusting she felt. How had she gotten here? She heard footsteps and voices. A man and a woman.

"Deino bites are nasty. This one bit down on her pretty hard. She's lost a lot of blood," said the male.

"Do you think she'll need a blood transfusion?"

There was a pause. "Yes, but it's going to be hard finding the type. I checked her medical details. She's a B negative."

"And the mother?"

"O positive."

"What about her father?"

Another pause. "No records."

"We need to find him."

The man exited the room leaving Dawn only with the female. The woman pulled over a chair and sat down, gently pushing aside the bangs attached to her face. Another lady burst into the room. Johanna. She rushed over to Dawn's side and started crying. "My poor baby girl… it's all my fault! I should have never have let you go on your journey…"

Dawn tried to respond, but felt far too weak to say anything. Opening her mouth was a task and even mustering up a weak grin was far too much effort. "Madam! You can't be in here!" The male said, rushing back into the room, to take her mother away. She fought back, freeing herself from his grasp and batted his arms away.

"She's my daughter! I'm not going anywhere!"

The female nurse just shrugged. "She is the mother, Kurt."

He sighed, pressing his lips into a thin line. "We need to consider getting security…" He turned to face Johanna. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your daughter needs a blood transfusion. She's lost a severe amount of blood to the Deino bite. If she doesn't have a transfusion soon, she will die."

"Take my blood, then!" Johanna said, holding her arm out.

"Your blood is incompatible. You are O positive. She's a B negative. She can only accept blood from B negatives and O negatives."

"Well find someone then!"

The doctor shook his head. "It's not so easy, madam. B negatives and O negatives are rare, especially here in Sinnoh." The female doctor tried to comfort Johanna as her sobs became less controlled. The man cleared his throat and spoke again. "We were hoping you could contact her father – there's a chance he's a B negative as well. This might be our only hope, madam."

Dawn rolled her head to the right, looking at her mother. She looked horrified. Johanna leaned over the bed, gazing down at her daughter, tears streaming down her face, each drop falling on her face. She wiped the tears away with her hand, turned around and nodded. "I'll give him a call." She gave Dawn one last fleeting glance and followed the male doctor outside of the room. Dawn squeezed her eyes shut, wishing the pain would go away as her strength continued to fade.

.

Our encounter was a sudden one. It was when I found my toy robot, one that I had earlier misplaced. At that instant, a Pokémon startlingly emerged from the lawn mower's motor! Clutching my robot, I stared, transfixed by the peculiar Pokémon. The Pokémon hovered in the air, held aloft by a power unseen. As if curious and unafraid of my presence, it floated toward me. Crackling sounds accompanied it, as if from static electricity in the air. Remarkably, it seemed the Pokémon was the source of this power! In alarm, I flinched, certain that my face would be subjected to a shock. Much to my surprise, the Pokémon seemed to favour me with a smile.

Finally, I came to realize that the Pokémon only wished to be friends. I have decided to name this most wondrous Pokémon 'Rotom.' Simple though it may be, Rotom emerged to me from the motor of a lawn mower. Motor and Rotom... Surely the link is obvious?

Rotom is a Pokémon that is simply sensational. The fact that it can turn invisible is simply the beginning. What makes Rotom unique is its ability to enter and operate machinery!Rotom and I became fast friends. We were perpetual companions. The electricity from its body forbade contact, however. We could not touch, let alone hug or hold hands, but we cared not. For we were bonded on a much deeper, incorporeal level.

A feeling of mischief got the better of me one day. Seeing Rotom hovering, I decided to startle it-normally I would not. Perhaps frightened, Rotom discharged power beyond its usual range. I fell, stunned, into the arms of unconsciousness...

When I came to, to my horror I realized that Rotom had disappeared. I searched high and low for my friend in dismay and desperation. 'Don't chastise yourself. The fault is mine. No harm done. Let us play as we always have.' Though my words poured out, my friend could not be found to hear them...

My search for Rotom carried me far from home. It was in the town's rubbish heap that I again found my old toy robot. Curiously, our eyes met, then the robot waved a hand as if in greeting. I knew then that I had found my lost friend. I ran to it and hugged Rotom tight, talking on and on.

The robot's eyes lit up happily as I held it. I'm certain that, within it, Rotom was emitting lots of electricity. Somehow, I felt I could understand Rotom's thoughts better than before. Also, I realized that we would remain friends throughout our lives...

"My poor Rotom…" Charon murmured, pulling his eyes away from the handwritten text of his first journal. When he was a teenager, he had kept a journal detailing his adventures with Rotom. Rotom helped him gain entrance into the Spirit World where he had come face-to-face with Giratina.

He remembered it clearly – he had been a curious teenager at the time and he and Rotom had been studying the environment when Giratina arrived, bursting through the bushes, jaws gnashing. It had only taken one swing of his tail to fatally wound his beloved companion. Charon had escaped, and had been forced to put his Rotom down, sparing him from a painful death. It was a merciful killing, and one he still felt saddened by, even after all these long years. He had buried the remains of his friend in a grave near an abandoned woodcutter's hut somewhere deep in Eterna Forest where no one could stumble across his grave, preserving his memory.

The death of his Rotom had motivated him to learn all he could about Giratina. There wasn't much to go by with because there was a severe lack of information in this area, but by studying the other legendary creatures of Sinnoh, he had come up with a few theories. Opening the gate to Giratina's realm could be accessed by using the powers of Dialga and Palkia. Using ghost-type blood wasn't a requirement.

The hard part of course was enslaving Dialga and Palkia. It required harvesting the gems the Lake Guardians had in their bodies and turning those gems into the Red Chain, a powerful tool that could enslave any legendary Pokemon for a period of time. His research into Pokemon enslavement led to him getting fired from Silph Co, but it didn't stop him from researching the matter further. He crossed paths with a young man called Nathan who Charon soon discovered was the man responsible for the windmills.

He was interested in searching for other possible sources of power and came up with a plan to use the power of the super volcano, Stark Mountain, to generate electricity. There was a problem with that idea though – Stark Mountain's power came from the legendary Pokemon, Heatran that lived inside. To generate power from the volcano, the Heatran had to be captured or controlled. It was an idea that could make someone so powerful Charon was keen to see if his ideas could be turned into a reality. He'd never have to a work a day in his life again. Not only that, but he'd have the power of a super volcano at his fingertips and he could use that power to destroy anything… such as Giratina.

Charon stole his blueprints, redid them in his own notes then destroyed the original copy. It wasn't long until Nathan figured out his blueprints were stolen and came searching for Charon. Charon simply told the man his blueprints were all wrong and that he could do better, but promised he would give him more than a fair share of his profits should the idea become a success. Nathan agreed, drawn to the idea of making even more money. Charon never saw him again – he eventually discovered Nathan had met an untimely end at the hands of his wife who poisoned them both.

Not that Charon cared; it made things so much easier for him. He didn't have to worry about sharing his profits with anyone else now should he turn his goal into a reality. Joining Team Galactic gave him the chance – it gave him access to advanced technology he hadn't seen anywhere else. Here it was possible to develop the Magma Stone to control Heatran. It had taken him a few months, but he had successfully managed to create one. Unfortunately, Cyrus had found it, and had it locked up in a safe only he could open, claiming it was a distraction to their ultimate plan. Charon wasn't too concerned – he knew there'd be a time he'd reclaim what was his, and that time was fast approaching. After finding out Cyrus was Nathan's heir, he had put a plan into motion, to ensure his plans would not fail.

Cyrus would have his role to play: open the rift to Distortion World to free Giratina. When Giratina was released, and Cyrus was slain, Charon could use the power of Heatran to slay the legendary, and avenge his fallen friend. All he had to do was nudge Cyrus in the right direction which was almost an effortless task. The stupid young fool had a mind that was easy to manipulate. He wanted to erase spirit and Charon convinced him he could if he followed his ideas. With a mind scarred by his upbringing, Cyrus fully believed in Charon's visions, believing it would fix everything.

Of course, creating a new universe was impossible – Giratina would never allow it for starters. But it would be fun watching him try only to fail in the end. Giratina could kill the fool, and then with the powers of Heatran and the Magma Stone, Charon would slay the great beast. There was one problem that posed a threat to his plans. He hadn't expected Cyrus would find a woman to bring his child into the world. She, Dawn, was a problem. If names meant anything at all then Dawn, whose name was often associated with light and birth, could ruin everything he had worked hard to create if she continued to meddle in their affairs. Even if she were just a child, she was a danger and had to be put down.

It was time to try and convince Mars to work for him again.