[CONFIDENTIAL] From the files of Dr. Kaminko.
Item No. 123: The Navel Rock incident
Publicly Released Information:
The Navel Rock facility was a medical research facility and a factory producing Pokémon medicine located on the island of Navel Rock in the Sevii Archipelago. It was destroyed in a fire caused by a chemical explosion.
Confidential Information:
Navel Rock was home to illicit experiments conducted by the Pokémon Association, including a contact experiment with the Griseous Orb and a teleporter that opened a portal to the Distortion World. This led to the facility being overrun by hostile creatures while Team Rocket also conducted an invasion to obtain the Griseous Orb. To safeguard the facility's secrets and prevent the spread of these monsters, the facility was bombed and later expunged while a radiation surge destroyed the lower structures.
Kaminko's Notes:
I, Dr. Kaminko, served as the facility's administrator and was evacuated by members of the E4 Strike Force and a freelancer by the name of Wesley "Wes" Marston. Most of the members lost their lives, as did the vast majority of the facility's staff.
[END OF FILE]
Chapter Five: Clash of Two Worlds
Location: EXO HQ, outskirts of Unova
Charles the Heartbreaker guided his squad through a dark hallway, all of them with their energy rifles at the ready. Four soldiers followed Charles, all Roughnecks like him. Charles was followed by his Krookodile, while the other Roughnecks used a Garbordor, a Mightyena, a Scrafty and a Crawdaunt, respectively.
Two Holon Security personnel assigned to guard that particular corridor fell quickly and easily, stunned by the Roughnecks' weapons. As they tied their enemies up and withdrew their Pokémon, Charles turned to look at his unit, beaming with pride. Not too long ago, all of them were just skirting through life, middle aged men with nothing but a large criminal record to show for it. Only thing they were good at was Pokémon battles - even crime had not been very profitable for them.
But Alder had seen their potential and seen the care they had put into their Pokémon, how well they've trained them and how much they cared for their Pokémon and each other. So, when Alder was reforming his task force, Charles and his friends were one of the first recruits and given their own unit.
"All right, boys!" Charles boasted to his men. "Old man Alder's counting on us! We will not let him down! You're the toughest, meanest, nastiest, cruelest, vilest, stupidest and most effective squad in this outfit! I hate you, you hate me even more, and we all hate the Driftveil City police!"
"Screw officer Kowalski!" shouted one of the Roughnecks, the others making grunts in agreement.
"But we're here to do a job, and that means liberating this base from these freaks with the fancy gear!" Charles declared. "Let's break some hearts and bash some heads!"
The troops cheered - and that's when the corridor, recently lit by some torches set up by Charles' squad, suddenly went all dark again. The only light came from the adjacent corridor, where a figure in a futuristic, almost full-black suit with an opaque, golden visor stood, arm extended in the squad's direction.
"Who dares stand up against the Heartbreaker!" Charles bellowed, putting his hand on Krookodile's shoulder. "Oi, give us an Earthquake and get rid of that Daft Punk wannabe, will ya?!"
But the figure in the black suit suddenly disappeared, zooming towards Charles at a tremendous speed. Despite being nearly a foot shorter, the suited figure was easily able to grab Charles and hurl him against a wall with powerful force, before grabbing his Krookodile and wrestling it to the ground. Charles' men could only shout in horror as the figure turned its obscured face to them.
~o~O~o~
Making their way through the hallways of EXO's HQ, Alder, four of his chosen troops, Kris, Iris, Wes, Yellow and Blaine breezed their way through the empty laboratories. Blaine had taken the lead, knowing his way through the facility, brandishing his shotgun-containing cane that he could easily wield with his one arm, his Arcanine running beside him. Suddenly, Alder heard muffled screams through his radio.
"Charles, come in!" Alder spoke, holding up his hand to stop Blaine. "Charles, what's wrong?!"
But there were nothing but faint screams on the radio, followed by silence. Blaine shook his head.
"We gotta press on, they'll be swarming us at any minute!" he yelled. "Let's hope your other squads fare better. Let's go!"
Clearly not happy with Blaine's attitude, Alder nonetheless followed alongside the rest. As they passed the sick bay, Blaine guided the group to a shortcut - an emergency corridor lit by numerous red lights. At the end of the corridor, there was another heavy door, though this one could be easily opened.
On the other side, however, a nastier surprise awaited them. Two Magneton hovered above, sparks crackling in the air, while four Holon Security soldiers stood in wait, along with Lt. Surge.
"That's as far as you'll go!" Surge shouted, raising his hand.
"I don't think so," Alder said, snapping his fingers.
Alder's own soldiers poured out of the corridor, weapons aimed at Surge's men, who did the same. Meanwhile, Blaine grabbed his familiar, question mark -shaped cane.
"This is not part of the plan," Kris muttered at Alder. "We need to find Lyra."
"You're not going anywhere!" Surge snapped, surprising Kris with how good his hearing was. "Fact is, you've already lost. In about an hour or so, Dr. Kaminko's plan will come to fruition, and you'll be sorry you ever tried to stop us."
"What's gonna happen in an hour, Surge?" Alder asked the massive, blonde-haired man.
But Surge didn't reply, his face dead serious as he grabbed a Poké Ball from his bandolier, sending out his Electivire. Alder's men all aimed their weapons at it, but Alder signaled them to hold still.
"I'm willing to let this go!" Surge said firmly. "Go back and leave this place. In an hour, none of this won't matter anyway!"
"Kris," Yellow said quietly, nudging Kris with their elbow. "I feel a strong energy presence… just a few floors beneath us, I think."
"Then that's where we'll go," Kris said firmly.
"The two of you can go," Iris said. "We got this. There's just five of them."
"I dunno, that guy is like two or three dudes combined," Wes said, nodding in Surge's direction, prompting a giggle from Iris.
"Thanks, guys," Kris whispered.
Kris and Yellow slipped past the soldiers, prompting Surge to glare at them.
"Electivire!" he ordered. "Thunderp-"
But Alder was roaring and charging at the Electivire, with Kris noticing he was wearing thick rubber gloves under the gloves of his uniform. The large man wrestled the Electivire to the ground before it could attack Kris and Yellow, who, silently thanking Alder in their minds, rushed out of the area. Red flashes popped up everywhere as the combatants prepared for a Pokémon battle, Iris' Haxorus already attacking one of the HSF Magneton.
Kris and Yellow ran towards the nearest elevator, the sounds of the battle becoming more and more distant. As Kris punched the elevator button, however, another HSF soldier armed with an energy weapon zipped from around the corner, shouting something through his gas mask.
While Kris was petrified, Yellow reacted quickly, thrusting their hand forward and using their powers to trip the soldier, sending him tumbling to the ground. Kris smiled at Yellow as the elevator opened. Kris and Yellow stormed in and Kris pressed the button to take the elevator two floors down.
~o~O~o~
Back in the command center, Marshal was sweating even more than before, buckling under the reports from the technicians, wondering what exactly he was expected to do.
"Another squad has broken through security to the second floor!"
"The enemies on the yard are pushing through our defenses! Several wounded on the HSF side!"
"The Operative has taken care of the squad in the basement," Celio told Marshal. "But I can't get a hold of her. It looks like Faba has taken control."
"They're gonna be here any minute!" another technician panicked down below. "What should we do?!"
"Evacuate," Marshal said firmly.
There was a silence in the room as everyone turned to look at the commander.
"Say again?" Celio asked with a mix of fear and hopefulness.
"Sir," another, calmer technician said, "we have to defend-"
"Defend what?!" Marshal snapped. "Kaminko hired those HSF thugs to replace our security, and will not even be here with us to tell us what we're fighting for. I'm going to do my job and defend the civilians here!"
Marshal turned to look at Celio.
"Take care of the people here, get them to the safe room!" he spoke quickly. "I'm going to make sure the scientists and the rest of the staff are safe. I don't want anyone getting into the crossfire!"
"You worried that Alder and his men are going to go so far?" Celio asked him.
"I'm more worried about the ones on our side," Marshal grumbled.
~o~O~o~
Kaminko was pacing around his office, glancing at the clock on his wall on occasion. He was unprepared for sudden rustling coming from the ventilation shaft. While he managed to barely make it behind his desk on time, he had to stop as a tall, brown-haired girl brandishing a crossbow appeared from his ceiling, all covered in dust from crawling in the ventilation ducts.
"Doctor," Hilda greeted Kaminko. "It's time you and I had a chat."
Kaminko glanced at his desk drawers, then looked at Hilda again, assuming what he intended to be a disappointed, fatherly look as he shook his head.
"Oh, Hilda," he said disapprovingly. "What happened? You were always the most loyal one. Didn't we do everything we agreed to do for you?"
"I did it for Hilbert," Hilda spat. "To undo the damage that you caused in the first place. And if I had known how he would end up being…"
"He was alive, wasn't he?" Kaminko asked.
"And barely human anymore!" Hilda snapped. "Just a puppet for you to do your bidding with. I never signed up for that. And now I'm going to ask you… where is he? Someone I trust told me he was here!"
Kaminko raised his eyebrows, leaning against his desk casually.
"I wouldn't know," he said. "He disappeared during the Lavender Town incident. The odds of him surviving Kyurem's transformation process are-"
"He would have survived, he survived Navel Rock and that was before you guys 'upgraded' him," Hilda said angrily, aiming her crossbow directly at Kaminko's face. "But I went to look for him and found nothing. Either you guys or somebody else working for the Pokémon Association grabbed him and now he's another Patrat on the dissection table!"
"He is not here," Kaminko said simply. "But perhaps I can help you out."
Hilda lowered her crossbow, clutching her left side with her free hand.
"He…" she said, eyes darting away. "He didn't deserve what happened."
"No," Kaminko said. "I only wanted to help bring him back, I swear. Whatever else was done to him, you can blame Lusamine and the Aether Foundation for. But I - we don't work for them anymore. I have made EXO independent. We don't answer to the Pokémon Association. We can help."
"You can help me find out the truth," Hilda said, letting the crossbow drop a bit. "None of us were even supposed to survive Navel Rock, were we? We were sent to get you and the Griseous Orb out, and it would be more convenient if we were wiped out afterwards. That's why our unit was posted there in the first place, a bunch of rookies were easy to control and easy to dispose of!"
Kaminko sighed, frowning at Hilda.
"Hilda," he said, trying his best to sound calm, "you of all people should understand, there are certain things the general population must not not ever become aware of. Without that secrecy, who knows how many innocent people could have been-"
"Oh, I know," Hilda interrupted. "Somebody higher up contacted me during the whole thing. Tried to make me think I was getting a promotion or something if I let the civilians there die."
"Did you?" Kaminko asked bluntly.
Hilda didn't answer, raising her crossbow again, her hands shaking slightly.
"But you knew!" she snapped. "You knew most of us were never supposed to survive that place! You knew the consequences of experimenting with the Griseous Orb, with the Distortion World - with Giratina! You messed with powers you never should have and paid the price!"
"Don't be an idiot!" Kaminko hissed suddenly, slamming his hands on his desk. "I know you're smarter than this! You understand why we did it. We - and the Pokémon Association - needed that power! With people like that stupid ex-Champion Red running around, trying to undermine the fabric of society, we needed a trump card to keep the people in line! The power of the Griseous Orb would have been perfect for that! So yes, the lives of a few Pokémon trainers were insignificant compared to that. And I'd do it again!"
Hilda stared at Kaminko for a bit, then, to Kaminko's surprise, smiled and lowered her crossbow.
"Nah, fortunately you won't," she said. "Not from a jail cell."
Kaminko scoffed. "Convicted of what? Nobody knows what happened there that day," he ranted. "And I have the perfect fall guy for the uprising at EXO as well. Dr. Faba is the only one the Committee will blame for this."
Hilda shook her head. "You can really talk, can't you, doc?"
The smile was wiped off Kaminko's face as Hilda reached out for her vest pocket, pulling out her PokéGear, which had been recording audio the whole time. Hilda could hear the sound of Kaminko furiously exhaling through his nose.
"Hilda," he said, clearly trying to think of a way out, "let's think about this. If you don't upload that, I can-"
"Oh, I will," Hilda proclaimed. "As soon as we are out of this base, out of the range of your firewalls, this baby will be uploaded everywhere. I'm not trying to get anything from you. Keep your money, keep whatever position you're trying to offer me… and get ready to spend the rest of your miserable life in prison. C'mon."
Hilda lowered the crossbow even more as she turned to the door, which Kaminko had locked. But as soon as Hilda's attention was away, Kaminko reached for his desk drawer again, pulling it open and grabbing a revolver.
Before Kaminko could even aim, however, Hilda had turned around, crossbow aimed directly at Kaminko's neck as she fired.
~o~O~o~
Kris and Yellow wandered in the basement floor, in the laboratories, where most of the lights had been turned off and the desks were empty, no one around. There were barely any sounds, though muffled shouting and sounds of battle could be heard from somewhere far away. Alder's men had infiltrated the entire compound by this point, after all.
Kris was mainly following Yellow, who was slowly walking around, looking slightly up, like a Pokémon trying to catch the scent of food. It didn't seem like Yellow knew where to go, based on how slow they were walking, but more like they had a general idea where to go.
"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Kris asked Yellow.
"I don't know yet," Yellow said thoughtfully.
Kris rolled her eyes. She knew following Yellow's instincts would most likely be the right choice, but the vagueness of these statements was becoming irritating.
"Is it somehow related to finding Lyra?" she asked.
No answer from Yellow, though it had been a redundant question to begin with. However, after several minutes of silent searching, Yellow suddenly stopped in front of a locked door. The door led to a laboratory of some sort, but the windows were opaque from that side, so there was no way to see what was inside. Furthermore, there was an electronic lock with a keypad by the door.
"Whatever it is, it's coming from there," Yellow said, pointing at the door. "But I don't have the ability to open it."
Kris just smiled and opened the marked Poké Ball she had been keeping ready. Croc emerged instantly, roaring to go and taking a few swipes at the air with its claws.
"Croc," Kris instructed, pointing at the keypad. "We need your master key."
Croc grunted in affirmation and punched the keypad with all its might, leading it to cracking open and dropping on the floor. Next, Croc planted its claws in the doorframe and forcibly pulled the sliding door completely open.
"You're the best, Croc," Kris smiled at the Feraligatr, who grunted and stayed by the door, guarding it as Kris and Yellow entered the room.
It was a small laboratory, the windows on the inside being translucent as Kris suspected. There didn't seem to be anything else in the room except for dozens of post-its and documents pinned on the board on the wall - and a glowing, light blue object that seemed to be suspended by a magnetic field of some sort, hovering above a pedestal. As Kris made eyes with the object, chills ran down her entire body and she shuddered a bit.
"What is that?" she whispered, staring at the object in awe.
"I think you know," Yellow said.
Kris knew. She had an inkling, and she knew it didn't make sense - but in her heart, she knew. It was a light blue, face-covering mask with white markings with holes where the eye and mouth would be. As the mask hovered in air on its own, it felt eerie enough - but what was even scarier was that Kris had seen that very same mask - once worn by the psychotic gym leader Pryce - shattered during her encounter with him on Mt. Silver.
"What I don't know is how they achieved this," Yellow said, sounding slightly curious.
"I… I think I know," Kris said and swallowed, her heart racing. "When Croc destroyed the mask, it shattered into small pieces. The Pokémon League later appeared on the mountain, they must have gathered them up. And I know some pieces were embedded in Pryce's face… and EXO were the ones who had his body."
"Well, either way," Yellow said, looking at Kris. "This mask gives its wearer supernatural powers. Just the kind of weapon we need against them."
"We?" Kris asked, turning to look at Yellow. "Wait, you mean 'me'? No, no, no way! I've seen what that thing does to people, how Pryce used it. I know people who are dead because of what he did. Way too many people!"
"And you don't think you can wield its power without it taking you over?" Yellow asked, not sounding hostile, merely inquisitive.
"No, I… No," Kris said quietly. "I don't think I can."
"You got that right!"
Kris and Yellow turned around. Dr. Faba had entered the hallway, hands on his hips, smiling smugly at the two. He didn't have weapons or Pokémon with him, so Kris had to hold out her hand to stop Croc from attacking and mauling him.
"You…" Kris said.
"Me," Dr. Faba said and nodded.
"...are a complete stranger to me," Kris finished.
Faba rolled his eyes. "Faba!" he snapped. "Lusamine's right-hand man! Well, former, anyway. You've seen me!"
"Right, right, cool," Kris said, acting like she didn't care. "You've joined up with Kaminko in his little sojourn. That's reason enough for me to have you removed. Croc!"
"Ah ah ah!" Faba exclaimed and held up a small remote, pressing a button on it. "I personally don't mind throwing down, but why do things the hard way?"
Kris looked as someone suddenly emerged from the darkness, moving so fast Kris' eyes struggled to keep up - a person in a futuristic, space suit -looking outfit with an opaque visor covering their face.
"Croc!" Kris shouted.
Croc stepped in front of Kris and Yellow and managed to grab the mysterious person by their leg, lifting them and slamming them on the floor with enough strength to leave a massive crack on the floor's stone surface.
But the mysterious person bounced right back up, not even a scratch in their outfit, and assumed a fighting pose, supposedly expecting Faba's command.
"The Expansion Suit," Faba proclaimed, putting his hand on the person's shoulder. "My most ingenious invention. It greatly amplifies the speed, strength and endurance of the subject - and their Pokémon as well. Show them!"
Faba pressed another button on the remote and the mysterious person leapt into the air way faster than an ordinary human could, suddenly appearing behind Croc. Before the Feraligatr could do anything about it, the mystery person fired some kind of blast of compressed air from their glove, sending Croc flying.
Croc was soon back on its feet, but the mystery person made a Poké Ball materialize seemingly out of thin air into their hand, and soon enough, it was open. And to her dismay, Kris instantly recognized the Pokémon that appeared: a Typhlosion, young for its species with a prominent scar over its face, its fires burning hotter than ever before. The Typhlosion's eyes were glowing bright red, making it look like some sort of crazed robot.
"No," Kris whispered. "This is where she went…"
"What's the matter?!" Faba taunted Kris, holding the remote like it was a king's scepter. "Afraid to fight? Unable to resist when faced with your best friend? You're just-"
"Hydro Pump!" Kris yelled, pointing at the mysterious individual.
Croc blasted a powerful stream of water towards the person, but Scorch the Typhlosion quickly got in the middle, using an unusually powerful Flamethrower attack that evaporated the water on impact, leaving only a thick cloud of steam, though this too evaporated quickly.
"Lyra!" Kris yelled at the mystery individual. "Take off that suit and help me apprehend this guy! You look ridiculous!"
Faba just cackled as if he was auditioning for the part of a cartoon supervillain.
"She cannot hear you!" he laughed. "As soon as she put on that suit, the one you call Lyra was no more! She is now an instrument of our will!"
"I was worried sick about her," Kris snarled at Faba, "and all the while, you guys were treating her like a Remoraid being dissected by a high schooler. How did you capture her in the first place?"
"You misunderstand," Faba said with a grin, "she came to us. She was looking for power to fight with, and she's got it."
Kris shook her head. "You know nothing about her, or about me," she muttered. "Yellow, shield! Croc, Surf!"
"What are you doing, you fool?!" Faba exclaimed.
But the room they were in was soon covered with water, a giant wave of it appearing out of nowhere, washing Faba, Scorch and the costumed Lyra out of the room with it. Lyra, however, was quickly back on her feet.
Kris and Yellow, on the other hand, were safe, with the two of them hiding behind the energy shield Yellow had materialized. With the water gone, Yellow dropped the shield and paused to catch their breath.
"As you can see," grumbled Faba as he got back on his feet, now less gloating and more angry after getting completely soaked, "the Expansion Suit not only enhances the wearer's power immensely, but allows near-instantaneous synchronization with one's Pokémon."
"Why'd you call it that?" Kris wondered, then shook her head. "You know what, I don't care about your weirdo interests. But what's with the remote?"
"Well, while she is more than capable of acting independently, my brilliant guidance will make her all the more effective!" Faba proclaimed.
"And yet she and her Pokémon are doing nothing and letting me attack," Kris said and quickly opened another Poké Ball. "Froslass, go!"
Kris sent out her second-most powerful Pokémon, the icy ghost-type, Froslass. With a quick command, Kris sent Croc after Scorch and made Froslass deal with Lyra herself, forcing Lyra to dodge its Ice Beams. Faba was soon too busy with his remote to care about Kris.
"Kris," Yellow said, leaning against the pedestal that had the undamaged Mask of Ice floating on it, "I don't know if I'm able to fight. You know there's only one thing you can do."
"I just can't!" Kris snapped, glaring at the Mask as if it had insulted her. "I've seen what people like Pryce have done with that!"
"You have a right to be cautious," Yellow commented. "The Masks use a fraction of Giratina's power. They were originally pieces of energy drawn from it developed by the same monks who once tried to fight against it. But then the Mask of Ice was stolen by Giratina itself and given to its various servants throughout the years."
"Not really convincing me!" Kris grunted. "Croc, Slash!" she ordered as Croc dodged a Thunderpunch from Scorch.
"But that shouldn't matter," argued Yellow. "Regardless of what Giratina or its servants have done, its power, and thus the Masks, are just a part of the world. Whether the artifact itself is good or evil is just a quality assigned to it by us humans. And if it can be used to fight against evil, how can it be an evil thing?"
"Well…" Kris said, unable to really argue against the point. "I just…"
"I understand your hesitation," Yellow said calmly, glancing as Froslass was on the defensive when Lyra, aided by the Expansion Suit's power, had launched a flurry of punches against it. "I really do. But our enemies are too powerful to defeat without it. You cannot even defeat Lyra with her new power - what hope do we have against the Ultra Beasts? Or Kyurem? Or whoever comes next?"
Kris groaned. "Fine, fine, I got it," she said, the sight of the Mask physically hurting her. "Can you distract him for me?" she gestured at Faba.
"I will do my best," Yellow said and nodded.
Yellow then left the room, using the last bits of their remaining power to psychically cause Faba to trip. Meanwhile, Kris was staring at the Mask of Ice, her usable hand slowly reaching for it. This artifact was used by Pryce long ago when she killed many people Kris cared about. When Pryce had stabbed a close friend of Kris' in the chest. When he had attacked innocents at the Silver Conference. And all those times he had tried to kill Kris herself.
But then, Kris thought, with that kind of power… something like what happened with N many days ago would never happen again. And with the Mask of Ice, Kris reasoned, she would truly become the Transcendent One. Lyra would not even stand a chance.
Taking a deep breath, Kris reached out for the Mask and grabbed it. It stopped rotating and floating above the pedestal, but felt completely innocuous and harmless in Kris' hand. It was smaller than Kris expected, feeling like it was made of something between ceramic and plastic. Taking an even deeper, shuddering breath, Kris slowly lifted the mask to her face - and then it happened.
The mask suddenly clung to Kris' face and started acting on its own accord. As Kris dropped on her knees, her back arching and her face turning towards the ceiling, she couldn't even hear Faba's raging cries or the sounds of the battle around her. The warmth seemed to leave her body as a black cloak materialized out of nowhere around her. Instead of long, white hair like Pryce, Kris' hair turned icy blue and glowing, her pigtails opening and letting the hair flow freely in the suddenly appearing icy wind. She even seemed to have two functional arms again.
And the feeling was indescribable. It was hard to put into words, but all the fears and uncertainties she had about the Mask were gone. In fact, most of the fear and uncertainty she had ever felt was gone, replaced with the feeling of absolute confidence, as if she could jump into the air and fly if she wanted to, or destroy a building with her fingertip. Whether or not she actually could was irrelevant - the feeling gave a sort of high that couldn't be matched by anything else.
Seeing what Kris had transformed into, Faba quickly grabbed his PokéGear, ready to send a voice message to someone.
"We have a situation!" Faba screamed. "The Mask of Ice has been-"
Kris pointed at the floor beneath Faba's feet, and within a couple of seconds, it had frozen solid, causing Faba to trip and drop his PokéGear, which broke as it hit the hard ice. Next, a simple gesture was enough to create shackles out of ice that bound Faba to the floor.
It was amazing as Kris realized that she only had to concentrate on what she wanted and vaguely gesture in the general direction, and things just happened. Meanwhile, Lyra had directed Scorch against Froslass, and while the Pokémon was fast, Scorch's rapidly shooting fireballs eventually took it out. An Aqua Tail from Croc finished Scorch, who was finally knocked out, but Lyra was able to do the same to Croc with a powerful punch and then a thrust, another blast of compressed air hurtling Croc back into the Mask room with enough force to get the large Pokémon stuck in the wall, too weak to move.
"Lyra!" Kris shouted, surprised how loud and echo-y her voice suddenly was. "Stop this!"
"Faba commands," came the garbled reply, the machine voice unrecognizable - could it really be Lyra? "Eliminate the intruder."
Kris tried to fire a wave of icy energy at Lyra, but either Lyra was too fast in the Expansion Suit - or Kris wasn't trying hard enough. Either way, Lyra dodged and was suddenly on top of Kris, knocking her on her back on the floor.
"Eliminate the intruder," Lyra repeated and punched Kris in the face.
Normally, the Mask should have blocked and absorbed the attack, but the Expansion Suit gave Lyra's punch strong enough vibrations to press Kris against the floor harder, Kris feeling like a wave of pressure had smacked her across the face, causing blood to spurt out from her nose.
"Lyra!" Kris pleaded. "It's me!"
"I have… been commanded!" said Lyra, though the deep, garbled voice sounded shakier and less certain now as she punched Kris' face again, this time hitting her cheek and dislodging a tooth - without the mask, Kris figured she wouldn't have any teeth left on one side of her face.
"Lyra, ENOUGH!" Kris yelled. "I know now. I know why you came. And I don't blame you for it."
"I… I have to protect," Lyra said, holding her fists in the air as if ready to strike. "Innocents are in danger."
"Lillie, I know!" Kris said. "You wanted to protect her. You don't want to see anyone suffer. You're a good person, Lyra! This is not you!"
Lyra held her two hands clenched together like a hammer, as if ready to strike down. For a while, Kris just looked at the impenetrable visor of Lyra's helmet, trying to guess what was going on behind it.
Then, Lyra let out a scream, which sounded like the metallic groaning of a rusty machine in an old factory due to the suit, holding her head with both hands.
That's when Kris saw her opportunity. She placed both her palms on the floor, and out of the floor extended two clumps of sharp icicles. One group struck Lyra in the Expansion Suit's shoulder, causing her to be unable to move her arm. The second group of icicles extended even further as they shattered the Expansion Suit's helmet, most of them hitting through the visor and breaking it while others tore off pieces of the surrounding material, the icicles stopping just in time before they hit Lyra's face.
When Kris saw Lyra's brown eyes peeking from behind the broken visor, open wide and tears streaming down her face, she relaxed, and as soon as she did so, without intending it, the mask slipped off her face and fell on the floor. Kris instantly reverted back to her old self in her pigtailed black hair and scruffy clothes. Lyra was still on top of her, however, looking completely horrified.
"I…" Lyra exclaimed. "I don't… Did I…?"
"Hey, hey," Kris said awkwardly, not having had a plan of what to do when Lyra returned to normal. "It's ok, take it easy. Let's get you out of that suit-"
"I… You don't…" Lyra closed her eyes, letting her head drop. "I've done something bad, Kris. Real bad. I remember everything that happened."
"Oh, yeah," Kris said, wiping her nose on the back of her hand - the bleeding had already stopped. "Don't worry about it. You gave me and Croc a good beating but that's nothing. Uh, Yellow! Help me out! I can't lift her myself"
Having been busy healing Croc and Froslass, Yellow, looking a bit pale and walking slowly as if they had just taken a beating as well, came over to Kris. Without saying a word, Yellow reached out to Lyra and gave her a hug. Kris was reminded that the two had never even met before this, but it seemed to work, as Lyra reached out to hold Yellow's hand, as if she didn't care who was comforting her. Kris crawled out from under Lyra, and together with Yellow, helped Lyra stand up. Kris also glanced at Faba, who was pitifully struggling against the icy restraints. From her experience, Kris knew those would melt soon.
"See, look," Kris said comfortingly, as if talking to a child, turning Lyra's head towards Faba. "We got the bad guy who did this to you. Sure, it was a tough one but nobody died."
"No…" Lyra groaned, looking away from Kris in shame. "I… I think I… I think somebody has died, Kris… I think I killed them."
~o~O~o~
Back upstairs, the battle had spread all over the hallways of EXO, but was now dying down. Iris, Wes and the rest of Alder's troops had defeated the HSF soldiers, who had been unmasked, disarmed and tied up all over the place, Alder's forces keeping them secured. Alder had been injured in wrestling the Electivire personally, a medic in his squad looking after him.
Only Blaine and Surge were still locked in battle, with Surge's Electivire having taken out Blaine's Arcanine. Now, both Blaine's Magmortar and Surge's Electivire slowing down in their movements, panting as they exchanged blows. Finally, Blaine seemed to have come up with a strategy. Hoisting his shotgun-cane up, Blaine stepped out from behind his Pokémon and aimed it at the Electivire.
"Thunderpunch him!" Surge ordered, pointing at Blaine.
Electivire did as ordered, but Blaine didn't even try to fire, but instead dropped the weapon and dodged behind a corner.
"Magmortar, Flamethrower, aim up 23 degrees!" Blaine yelled.
Magmortar did as ordered, the intense flames mostly sailing over Electivire's head, though they singed its antennae, causing Electivire to grimace and turn its attention to Magmortar.
"It's weak!" Surge shouted. "Finish it with a Thunderbolt!"
But something happened as Electivire's damaged antennae sparked and attempted to blast Magmortar with electricity - instead, they malfunctioned somehow, blowing up in Electivire's face. When the smoke cloud left, Electivire was on the ground while Blaine had picked up his shotgun, which was now pointed at Surge. While the electric-type user was shocked, he quickly surrendered, getting on his knees and putting his hands behind his head, resigned to his fate.
"Excellent work!" praised Alder, who had managed to get back on his feet. "One of you stays with the prisoners!" he shouted at his troops. "The rest of you, spread out, make contact with our guys. What's the situation out there?"
"Nishino Squad has the upper floors under lockdown, sir, everyone has surrendered, no casualties!" informed one of Alder's troops. "They have also evacuated Charles Squad - they took some pretty bad hits. Not sure about their condition."
"Benga and Clyde squads are in, all HSF personnel outside have been captured!" another told Alder. "Benga's team has the lower floor on lock, only one locked room remaining, we need special equipment to get through the door. Apparently there's a bunch of people holed up in there though. Clyde Squad are on their way to the basement, apparently to make contact with Kris. No resistance found there."
Alder nodded. "Iris, Wes, Blaine, come with me to meet up with Benga. You, you and you," he told three of his subordinates not busy guarding the prisoners. "Go help out Nishino. Take good care of anyone who surrenders. Anyone who doesn't - you make them. Move!"
Alder laid eyes on Surge before leaving, saving his last words for him.
"I would hate to be in your shoes," he told the surrendered soldier, "when Lusamine finds out you betrayed her."
~o~O~o~
Soon Iris, Wes, Blaine and Alder had reached a laboratory door that some of Alder's troops had finished cutting open. Alder's grandson Benga saluted Alder with a little bit too much enthusiasm when he saw them approaching.
"Gramps!" he blurted out. "Uh, I mean, sir! We just finished cutting through the locks. Will open it from your authorization."
"Do it," Alder said simply.
Benga gestured at two of his soldiers, and at his command, they busted open the doors. Soon, a squad of four stormed in, guns trained. Iris, Wes, Blaine and Alder followed, surprised at what they saw.
A group of scientists, among them Professor Juniper and Dr. Fennel, along with other members of EXO's civilian staff, including even the cafeteria workers, were huddled in a corner. Standing in front of them was the massive Marshal, spreading out his arms to protect the civilians.
"STOP!" he bellowed in a voice so loud that Iris had to cover her ears. "Do not hurt these people! They had nothing to do with any of this! If you wanna arrest someone, I'm your man! In Kaminko and Faba's absence, I'm the ranking one here!"
"Marshal," Alder said firmly, master and student locking eyes, both having known they would have to confront each other eventually. "Our problem is not with you, it's with Kaminko and only him. Just tell us where he is!"
"Yeah, and according to Surge, something's gonna go down in…" Blaine stopped to check his watch. "...18 minutes! What's gonna happen?!"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Celio said casually, stepping from behind the much larger Marshal. "Before I left the Operations Room, I broke into Kaminko's private server. Dude's password was so easy to guess, that old bastard. I shut down the countdown for his little doomsday device."
"Kaminko," Marshal sighed, "according to what Celio found anyway, had taken the Heat Razor weapon extracted from the Heatran we captured, and installed it on board a satellite. In less than twenty minute, it would have been ready to fire at a city block in Castelia City where the Pokémon Association most likely has their meetings - and probably killing thousands in the process."
Iris and Wes glanced at each other. Both of them knew Kaminko was not to be trusted, but they hardly expected him to act like a supervillain in a C-tier action movie.
"Sir"!"
One of Alder's forces had rushed to the door, panting and holding his sides.
"Sorry," the soldier panted, "I figured this was too hot to say on an unsecured line… it's Nishino, sir! He found Kaminko!"
"Bring him in," Alder said immediately. "I want to see him answer for all this."
"Can't do sir," the soldier said, shaking his head. "He's dead. Crossbow bolt in the neck."
"Yeah!" Celio exclaimed, raising his fist in the air, but no one else joined him in his celebration. "What?" he said indignantly, looking at his coworkers. "Guy was a jerk."
"They're checking his office, but most of it has been ransacked by whoever did him in," the soldier continued. "The old man's phone and some of his private documents are gone. I heard from Clyde as well. They captured the other one, Dr. Faba."
Marshal finally lowered his arms, realizing there was no EXO left to defend anymore. However, he still wouldn't move from where he stood.
"We need to do something about all these people, however," Alder said, looking at Iris, Wes and Blaine for advice. "I don't exactly just want to arrest everyone, but something needs to be done to determine their part in all this-"
"That won't be necessary!"
Everyone turned to look - Leaf had arrived, no longer in her EXO-assigned lab coat but wearing her casual, civilian clothes. Not far behind her were Clyde Squad of Alder's unit, escorting Kris and Yellow who were helping a wounded and completely defeated-looking Lyra to walk. Lyra had cuts and bruises all over her face while Kris also had a prominent bruise in her left cheek and some bloody tissue paper in her nostrils. Following closely behind them were two of Alder's troops escorting a bound and gagged Dr. Faba.
Iris, Wes and Blaine rushed to help Kris and Yellow to get Lyra to safety, all voicing their concern for her. Lyra kept brushing them off without making eye contact, however, insisting that she was fine. Leaf glanced at her before turning her attention to Alder, but before she could say anything, professor Juniper stepped out from the crowd to voice her opinion:
"If you want someone to take responsibility, take it with her!" Juniper proclaimed, pointing at Leaf. "She's been conspiring with Kaminko for months!"
"It's true," Leaf said calmly. "With Kaminko dead and Faba incapacitated, I'm the ranking officer at EXO, as decreed by Kaminko himself. In fact, weeks ago, Kaminko put his trust in me and automatically passed all of EXO's internal systems and data in my control in the event something should happen to me. Which means…"
Confident that the others were able to take care of Lyra, Kris slowly approached Leaf, taking in what she was saying. Leaf had joined EXO at the same time as Kris and the rest, but long after the others had left due to the corruption and cruelty in the organization, Leaf had stayed behind, with seemingly no concern for all her friends.
"Just out of curiosity, Mr. Alder, how did you learn about EXO's location?" Leaf asked the Unova Champion.
"An anonymous email just signed 'Nameless'," Alder commented, and the pieces began coming together in Kris' mind. "Signed off with the image of a-"
"Of a black domino mask," Leaf interrupted, pulling said exact item from her pocket. She then turned to look at Yellow, who was following behind Kris curiously. "Hey, Yellow, nice to see you again," she said calmly. "I'm sure you're also wondering who sent you those messages asking you to come here, telling you that Lyra was held here."
"Well, I figured you were the only one remaining who knew about our secret messaging channel," Yellow said serenely. "I wouldn't have trusted the information otherwise, but it's nice to get confirmation nonetheless. Happy to see you too, Leaf. It's been a long time."
"You…" Kris said, trying not to sound too aggressive. "When you stayed behind here, was this the plan the entire time? To take down Kaminko? How long have you been preparing for this?"
"I realized the importance of the DNA Splicers project, and I didn't trust Kaminko with it at all," Leaf said firmly. "They're still not complete, but I can finish the rest of the work without the use of EXO's laboratories. It wasn't really until Team Plasma's resurrection of Kyurem, and then its absorption of the Dark Stone, did I realize just how urgently it needed to be finished. And I had to do and say a lot of things I regret to earn Kaminko's trust. For that, I hope you can forgive me."
Kris was too flabbergasted to know which way she was feeling right now, so she had nothing to say, while Leaf turned to address Alder again.
"Mr. Alder, these people are innocent of any wrongdoing," she said. "They were merely trying to do their job to the best of their abilities, protect each other from harm and later try to survive under the oppressive rule of a madman who is no longer a threat. Kaminko was initially following the orders of Lusamine, and by extension, the higher-ups of the Pokémon Association, but later, most of the horrible things that happened were because of him. The horrible things they did to Hilbert in the name of Project Z, capturing Heatran to extract its core and turn it into a weapon - even sending thugs after Kris to capture her from Saffron General. While I believe Kaminko wanted her alive, the info got to Domino, who obviously had different plans."
Wes, who hadn't been listening much, also walked to Kris and Yellow, glancing at Kris.
"Uh, are you all right?" he asked her cautiously.
"Don't worry about me," Kris said. "Besides, without your help, they could have succeeded in that hit."
Wes nodded, though he still looked bothered by something. Alder, however, had apparently come to a decision.
"Right, here's what we'll do," he said. "Marshal! I will need your full help and cooperation. We need to get the staff here to safety. There are people still working for the Unova League whom I trust, we need to get in touch with them. In fact, there's a project they're working on that could use their help."
Even though they had been on the opposite sides just minutes before, Marshal nodded and gave Alder a salute. Alder responded to it before turning to his troops.
"We will need to evacuate whatever we can from here - research materials, data from the computers, everything that can help us!" he said. "Troops from the Pokémon Association will soon come to take over!"
"Leaf," Yellow said quietly after Alder and his troops started to hurry to begin their tasks, while Marshal began organizing for the EXO staff to leave. "In your message, you mentioned Lyra was possibly kept here. But you mentioned someone else as well. Did you-"
"Right, yes, I was just about to get to that," Leaf said quickly, her voice less confident and more shaky than before. "We need to get to the Operations Room first, though."
~o~O~o~
Location: Aspertia City Gym, Unova
Meanwhile, far away from the action at EXO, Cheren was pacing around his office at the Aspertia City Gym. It was late now and the place was closed, only him at attendance. He hadn't taught a class or fought a battle in ages, relegating most of the work to his staff, as his plans with Kaminko had consumed his full attention. The black-haired young man with glasses was wearing his usual white dress shirt, immaculate blue pants and red double tie, ready to celebrate their victory.
But he was getting increasingly anxious - and sweaty from all the pacing - as he did not hear anything from Kaminko. Finally, just as he was about to defy Kaminko's orders and make a phone call, he got a call from the man himself. He picked it up without hesitation.
"Yo," he said, trying to hide his annoyance. "Are we ready for the fireworks or not?"
But Cheren couldn't hear anything from the other end besides quiet, tense breathing - and not Kaminko's raspy old man breathing either.
"Hey!" Cheren snapped. "I asked you a question, doc! What's the situation over-"
Cheren quickly interrupted himself, turned off his phone and removed its battery, chiding himself over his stupidity. Whoever was on the other end was not Kaminko, and even if he hadn't said his name in this particular conversation, his name was most likely saved on Kaminko's phone - and anyone who knew him would recognize the voice.
To make things worse, Cheren suddenly heard a lot of racket outside, at least two cars stopping by the gym. At this late, no one should be coming there. Cheren flattened himself against the wall by the window and took a peek. Outside, he saw the telltale armored cars belonging to Holon Security Force personnel, with two Electabuzz and two Manectric outside alongside several soldiers in full armor wearing gas masks, hoisting energy weapons.
"Cheren Black!" came the shout from one of them downstairs who had tried to open the locked front door. "We know you're in there. Come out peacefully and we won't hurt you! We need to ask you a few questions!"
Cursing wildly to himself, Cheren loosened and removed his uncomfortable neckties, grabbed the only Poké Ball he had ready from the table and quickly made his way to the stairs, knowing there was only way to get out - a door leading to the basement, and from there, a tunnel out of the city - something he had been anticipating for years.
~o~O~o~
Back at EXO, Kris, Iris, Lyra, Wes and Yellow followed Leaf to the operations room, once the heart at EXO. Now, the only sound came from the mild hum of dozens of computers, a few at the level they were on and many, many more from the levels below. All the technicians had left their posts in a hurry, the lower levels scattered with papers, broken coffee cups and office supplies scattered all over the floor. Even the large screen at the upper level was still on, showing surveillance camera footage from all over EXO's HQ, now overrun with Alder's forces. Blaine was working together with Alder in evacuating as much important material as possible. Hilda was nowhere to be seen.
Leaf confidently strode to the main terminal, scanned her ID tag with the device attached to it and began typing.
"Faba was never put into the system when he began working with Kaminko," Leaf said, "probably as Kaminko thought he had been too close with Lusamine before. He didn't really trust Marshal too much either, maybe thinking he was too… moral for the stuff he wanted doing. Which means now that Kaminko is dead, I have access to everything here."
"The guy was grooming you to take over for him one day," Iris observed.
"Something like that, I suppose," Leaf muttered. "But now that I have access and all the security personnel have either been arrested or are helping Alder, I can authorize a full release of the prisoners here."
"Leaf," Yellow said, now sounding tense and very much unlike their usual self, "is it really true? Does he have Red?"
"I never saw it with my own eyes, but he certainly boasted as much to Faba," Leaf said while still typing. "Of course he knows my history with him, so he would never admit it to me outright, but I've had his office bugged for weeks. Here we go…" she mumbled as she came across the information she needed. "If my hunch is right, he's held in the third sub-level, and the doors should now be wide open. We need to take the elevator and-"
But something happened on the large screen that caused Leaf to flinch, clearly not initiated by her. The various footage of EXO's surveillance cameras changed to a giant image of a woman with long, shiny and immaculate blonde hair sitting in a luxurious and futuristic white, egg-shaped chair, smiling at the camera.
"Lusamine!" Lyra growled.
"I have much to thank you for, my young friends!" Lusamine proclaimed. "I have to admit, it was a stressful few hours when Kaminko's thugs practically kept me locked in a safe house for a bit, but I'm now back in Aether Paradise and those two are in Pokémon Association custody. I was getting ready to send a team to do a sweep at the base and have Kaminko's little satellite shut down… but now I no longer have need for such an expensive exercise."
"Enough of your crap!" Kris shouted at the screen. "We've taken out one of your biggest assets, and you're next!"
"I would recommend you not to focus your energies on such fruitless endeavors," Lusamine said smoothly. "You are still so young and with much to see and do. I'd warn against doing anything foolish. But for helping me, I am willing to make a peace offering. Seeing as Mr. Alder has already influenced the Pokémon Association to make this decision, I also gave my support for lifting your fugitive status. So you no longer have to be on the run."
Kris frowned, wondering the reason for this decision. Not that it would influence her opinion on Lusamine or the rest of the Pokémon Association, but wouldn't it be more convenient to get rid of them if they were still fugitives in the eyes of the general public? Was it a trick, or did she really mean it? And if she did, to what end?
"What about Lillie, then?!" Lyra snapped. "Where is she?"
"That is a family matter and none of your concern," Lusamine said casually. "She is in a safe place and that's all that matters. I would recommend you leave within the next, hmm, hour or two. That's when additional troops will arrive to make better use of this facility than Kaminko ever could. I once again thank you for helping me get rid of that loose cannon, and I hope you will stay safe and healthy."
Ending with an obnoxiously cheerful wave, Lusamine's transmission cut off. Staring at the screen for a bit, Leaf shook her head and went back to typing something. A few seconds later, she had finally finished.
"There!" she said excitedly when she pressed the Enter key one last time. "We have a clear path. Let's go say hello to Red."
