This was harder and longer than I thought it would be. Well, I hope you enjoy the reference to another story of ours.

With help from Team Yell, they backed the employee into a corner. Apparently, the group liked Piers, but they actually did love Marnie enough to do as she said. While Hop and Gloria took a group of them to look through the uptown area, the rest were sent to search downtown and the town square. While the rest had no luck, Piers had his suspicions about the man that he and another grunt had literally backed into a corner. They may have had a bit of bad luck when they confused league staff for him before and gotten some complaints about them, but this was pretty conclusive. They just needed him to turn around to be sure.

"Hey!" the gym leader shouted. "We have a warrant for your arrest! Turn around with your hands up!"

"I can't go back to jail!" the guy shouted in alarm as he spun around, only to discover that he had been tricked. "Well played, but I haven't been bested yet." So he sent out his Meowth to fight for him. Piers retaliated with his Scrafty, and the cat was out with a Brick Break. The same thing happened with the guy's Durant.

Credit where it's due; this guy ran fast. Once it dawned on him that he wasn't likely to beat Piers, he ran like the wind. His first challengers couldn't catch up to him, but he did run right into Marnie. As the grunts near her came together to form a small barricade, he felt his only way out was a battle. He sent his Mawile, which she was just able to take down with her Morpeko, and his Excadrill fell to her own Scrafty.

He was barely able to escape again in the commotion, and he locked himself in the nearby phone booth. He tried to look inconspicuous, but he soon met the eyes of a Team Yell grunt through the glass. And another. And Marnie's. And Piers's. Then the phone rang, and upon picking it up, he heard a faintly electronic voice come through. "Buddy..." it said in a creepy, song-like tone. "Come out to play..." Then a knock on the door encouraged him to turn to meet Victor's face, a strange phone floating beside him.

The man came out for a final battle where he sent out his Ferroseed.

"Nice pet," Victor said with a smile. "Wanna meet mine?"

And with that, he freed his partner Cinderace from his confinement, both of them giving a slightly menacing grin.

The man, realizing that his only other Pokémon was a Steelix, did the math in his head and frowned. "This just isn't my day."

In their short time chasing him around town, Victor learned three things about this guy. First, he hated losing so much that his response was to run toward the monorail instead of giving them their prize. Second, he was fast and agile enough to do a running slide past two Team Yell grunts who ended up colliding with each other as a result and kept running as soon as he got up. Third, he was a jerk. That is why, when Hop and Gloria tried to corner him at his destination, he was standing next to three look-alikes.

"Why would he have this prepared?!" Gloria shouted in anger.

"I don't know," Hop said as he took out one of his Pokeballs. "But they aren't going anywhere."

And with that, he tossed the ball over to the stairs so that his Rillaboom blocked the way.

When the rest of the group arrived, the Macro Cosmos workers just smirked. Victor groaned in frustration, but Piers had a sinister smirk of his own. Piers took a microphone out from his jacket so that he could, to the confusion of even Team Yell and his sister, sing out a fist-pumping rock ballad. Once it was heard by the bystanders, they all started to gather towards the show, ecstatic that the gym leader was putting on a free show. Hop wasn't sure why, but he felt it would be best to return his Rillaboom. "Did you enjoy that?" the rocker asked when he was done, and he was immediately greeted by loud cheers.

One Cosmos employee leaned to the side to whisper to one of his companions. "What's he up to?" he whispered.

"I think he tried to cause a human stampede; it failed," the other guy replied with a smirk. "To these guys, we look like security. They wouldn't dare to touch us."

Piers gave his sister a wink, which made her even more suspicious. Then he turned to address the crowd once more. "Well, if you like what you heard, I'm going to give one of you the chance to attend my next concert for free!"

Ace was suddenly called out, and his trainer gave him the order to protect her from what was to come. Victor and Hop also hid behind the lizard, as if it would help.

"All you have to do is give a special key from the pocket of one of these guys!"

The employees simultaneously dropped their jaws in shock and fear as the entire crowd raced and fought for their prize, with the four of them at the center. People brought employee IDs, house keys, car keys, credit cards, and even articles of the men's clothing, but only one brought him the proper card key. And so, the blonde, rosy-cheeked little girl in the pink flower dress got to attend a rock concert in Spikemuth.

At the top of Rose Tower, Champion Leon, who was in no danger, happily sipped his tea in the cushioned seat. "Thanks, mate," he said once he parted the cup from his lips. "This was worth waiting for."

"Brits and tea. We're really living up to the stereotype now," Rose chuckled as he sipped his own cup. "I still don't know how you managed to get lost with an escort. Twice."

"Well, when he found me the second last time, he decided to lead me anywhere else, so now I'm here." Leon laughed before looking at the clock. "And very, very late for dinner."

"Don't worry, I'll set you up somewhere nice," Rose offered, and they both just took a moment to enjoy themselves. But that moment had to end eventually. "Lenny, with pleasure out of the way, we need to talk business."

Leon set his cup down, and his face took a stern expression. "Yes. I do think we need to discuss the Copperajah in the room. And by room, I mean sky. And by Copperajah, of course, I mean the red wave of doom."

"We quickly got everything under control. We may encounter a few bugs, but they only get us one step closer to solving the world's energy crisis."

"The problem won't present itself for a thousand years."

"But it's amazing that we're so close now."

"That thing's only getting angrier. You need to release it."

"I can't afford to!" Rose suddenly shouted, making the mighty Leon flinch in his seat. The chairman slumped, taking a breath to calm himself. The stress of his personal mission and its consequences were weighing heavily on him. "We found that thing on accident. Even with our scanners, it's only a slim chance that it will ever be found again. But the heavens themselves gave me this opportunity. It's my destiny to save the world with this power."

Leon, who had to calm himself as well after the outburst, tried to choose his next words carefully. "Rose, you're my friend and a good guy, but you are one seriously crazed-up fruit loop," he said slowly.

"I am no fruit loop," he responded with an uncharacteristic calm. "I am the modern Prometheus, bringing the new generation of fire to the world of man."

"About that guy," Leone piped in. "Do you know what became of him in that story?"

Rose sat back in his chair for a moment, regaining his regular composure, and thought on that. "He was chained to the side of a mountain and had big birds peck at his liver for eternity, but he never regretted his selfless act to help humanity thrive."

Leon rose to make a rebuttal but sat back down once he realized he didn't have one. "Actually, I can demonstrate a better argument if he suffered an ironic punishment like burning himself or humanity with the fire, but you can see it didn't end well for him, right? You're not dealing with a battery."

"Of course not," Rose said with slight laughter as his confidence slowly returned. "It's a Pokémon. And the last time I said that I realized that there was a simple solution to our problem. something that would calm it down and allow us to work with it willingly. That Pokémon needs a trainer."

For the sakes of Leon, the Championship Cup, fun, and their stomachs, the group of trainers marched off the monorail and barged into Rose Tower. Upon entering, they were immediately impressed with just how big the place was. It was the literal shining example of the future, with the whole room lined with chrome, apart from the beautiful rose-printed carpet that led to the elevator.

"I used to dream about living in a house as big as this room," Gloria said in awe.

"So have I," Victor admitted.

Piers was the first to break from the trance and took out a can of spray paint. "Ok, here's the plan," he stated to the group and brought them back to reality. "We go in, get Leon, leave a crude message on the wall, and get out. Are we clear?"

"Piers, no!" Marnie almost screamed in shock.

"Well, we have to let Oleana know we were here."

"No, I mean. we can't do it with her around," Marnie clarified as she pointed to a frightened woman at the desk. The woman then pushed a button under her desk, and an alarm sounded.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" it called out in order to fit the cliche. The elevator door opened, and an employee came out to get rid of the intruders with his Durant. Victor, Gloria, and Hop jumped into the elevator before it closed and dealt with the rest of the security.

Once they made the long, long trip up the elevator that was still bigger than any of their homes, they made their way to the door in front of Rose's office, but it was overridden by Oleana and taken to the roof where Oleana was waiting.

"Did you really think I would just let you in just like that?" she asked with an evil grin.

"Yeah," Gloria said. "Because that's what you said."

"I said that you can enter the building by winning the game, but you'll have to get through me to see the chairman."

As Oleana's bracelet shined in the moonlight through the glass dome overhead, Hop's eyes lit up in realization. "Guys, I just remembered why the building's so big. It's on a power spot! This room's designed for Dynamax battles!"

Victor responded to this by stepping forward, adjusting his hat, and taking out a Pokeball. "Looks like a job for the guy with the full team and a Dynamax band."

Oleana was showing signs of craziness, but her slowly unhinging attitude was her downfall. Her Froslass and Tsareena were taken out by Dash, Salazzle was brought down by Drednaw, and Fraxure was able to take out Milotic with a bit of effort. Finally, she was down to her Garbodor, so Victor sent out his Excadrill. Oleana snapped as she was being destroyed by the Champion wannabe and began to give out a wicked cackle. "I work hard to please the chairman, so I will not go down now!" she called before she Dynamaxed her partner.

Victor was able to do the same and called for a Max Quake, and immediately regretted it. Sure, it took out the opposing Pokémon, but shook up the tower from top to bottom and nearly caused everyone to lose their lunch.

"Victor," Gloria managed to squeak out once she got herself upright. "Never do that again."

Victor took a moment to get himself back up as well, and once he was up, Hop used his friend as an anchor to get himself up. "Don't blame me," the battling trainer said in defense. "Blame the madman who built this place!"

Oleana, who managed to keep her lunch down, stood up herself and put her Pokémon away. "We're at the top of a skyscraper, you maniac! You nearly brought the whole building down on us!" But she was able to take a deep breath, straightened her coat, and calmed down. "But I'll admit, you did beat my games, so you can go down to see the chairman. If the elevator still works, that is."

Since the elevator did still work, the kids were able to go down to Rose's office where they were able to catch the tail end of his conversation with Leon.

"You want me to catch this creature?" Leon asked.

Rose nodded. "You're the only man I can think of for the job. I'm counting on you."

"Which you can. After the Championship Cup."

"You can't be serious. It's your duty to Galar."

"My duty to Galar is to give the crowd their championship match. I help when I can because I can, but if I can't give the people their match, they'll investigate, and you'll be arrested for your reckless irresponsibility."

Rose scoffed. "Says the guy who mixed pop rocks and soda and got Flavor Pulse banned from the European Regions."

"I hated that sponsor," Leon huffed defensively. "But you have to contain it until tomorrow evening or let it go entirely."

Rose sat back in his chair in deep thought. "I know I'm going to regret this, but I will keep the match on schedule in order to make sure I don't go to jail until after I save the world."

"That's a relief," Victor said to announce their presence. "I didn't get so far just to miss out on my championship."

Leon laughed as he got up. "You've still got a long way to go. But tonight, we eat like kings on Rose's tab!"

Rose gulped. "I have a bad feeling in my wallet."

"Call it repayment for nearly crushing us with that weird earthquake," Leon called back to his friend as he made his way to the elevator with the kids.

"For the last time, that wasn't me!" Rose shouted, only to be ignored by the man who was convinced of his guilt and the kids who wanted the rich guy to treat them to a good meal. Rose sighed as he looked out the window, drinking in the sights as if it could be for the last time. Then another red wave washed over the sky.

"This is fine," Rose said in denial. Then a second wave followed the first, but the chairman's expression refused to change. "This is not fine."

Victor: Dash (Cinderace) Corviknight, Drednaw, Excadrill, Fraxure, Grapploct

Gloria: Ace (Inteleon) Dishwasher (Obstagoon) Rogue (Thievul) Hattie (Hatterene) Harry (Grimmsnarl) Stabitha (Pawniard)