Chapter 3: In the world of Technology

Laleh was asleep, passed out on the floor of the submarine. As she slept her mind raced through dozens of visions and thoughts, keeping her in a fog of confusion. Her visions had always been right, hadn't they? So why instead of the triumphant march of the three Regis as they smashed the drilling rigs to pieces had there been a slaughter of the Defenders? Why had her father deserted her? It was just so insane.

In her dreams a man appeared. This was a man with a very long beard and shriveled old features. "Laleh, I have to tell you something."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Please address me with respect. I am Franciscus, and I helped create the Regis."

"You mean you built them? You can't just BUILD a Pokemon."

Franciscus smiled. "In my time we could. You see, we had achieved a level of intelligence and cooperation so great that it made us powerful beyond belief."

"You see, Laleh, our people found ways to become immortal, colonize the stars, and even create new Pokemon. The Regis were the feather in our cap."

"The feather in the what?" Laleh had spent all her life living in a low-tech cavern and didn't know what a cap was.

"Cap. It's a type of cloth that you put on your head. My point was that the Regis were our greatest achievement. With them, we were able to achieve the impossible: To make nonliving material alive! The ice, rock and steel that the trio is made out of is LIVING ice, rock, and steel. If it is hurt, it can heal wounds rapidly. It can adjust its body temperature to better accumulate itself to climates. The material is amazing."

"The Regis were intended to be merely the first step in our continued advance. Within years we would have created all life out of metal and not flesh. But then we realized that we had become gods. We were too powerful to stay on this world, so we shed our bodies and all became spirits."

"Nice."

"Anyway, my point is that the Regis have the capacity to cause the calamities you saw in your vision. So you must take a stand against them and stop what you unwillingly started!"

"But the world of Technology is leading our planet down the path of ruin. Only through NATURE can we ensure its survival. And the Regis will help destroy Technology. That's what my father said."

"Your father abandoned you because you for once had an inaccurate vision. He kills people in cold blood and doesn't feel bad about it. When you killed that man in the cave, did you feel bad about it?"

Laleh cried softly. "Yes, I did. I felt very bad."

"Good. You have feelings. Remember: Technology is not always bad."

Then Franciscus disappeared and Laleh woke up. She suddenly heard a loud clanging noise. It was that her submarine had washed up on a beach somewhere.

"Mr. Kuststad, the damage from the Defender attack has been almost totally repaired. Your rigs are running at full capacity and we've placed drillships to fill in for the destroyed ones until we can tow some more out."

"Thank you, Foreman Smith. Now for your report, Commander Berkley."

The mercenary commander saluted and said "Mr. Kuststad, I lost twenty men in the attack. You will have to give me a small compensation charge."

"How small?"

"Let's see, twenty men and three Wailords, so at $10,000 a man and $500 a Wailord, you owe me $201,500."

"A trivial sum. We make so much money off this field it isn't even funny."

The oil baron stood up and motioned to Commander Berkley. "Commander, be sure to find the base of the Defenders. When you do, kill them all."

The commander saluted and left.

Laleh crawled out of her submarine and collapsed on the beach. It was a small island with a few trees and a cave entrance. She carefully moved down the shore and entered the cave, expecting to find a nice cool place to curl up and rest while she thought out the mess she was in.

Instead she found a well-furnished room inside the cave, with a table, two hard metal chairs, a TV set, several rugs, posters on the wall, and an eighteen year old teenager leaning on a cushion while watching TV. He had white hair and a headband. (NOTE: This is the male hero of the game).

He saw her enter hesitantly. "Hello there" he said nonchalantly. "What might your name be? Mine is Ivan Silker. My father is the Petalburg Gym Leader."

"I'm Laleh, and I don't know what you're talking about by a Gym Leader. Is this something in the world of Technology?"

"What are you, a hippy? C'mon, I'll take you back to Lilycove." Ivan opened a Poke Ball and out popped a Swampert. He jumped on its back and motioned for her to do the same. She reluctantly climbed on. "OK, SURF!"

One very long ride later, Laleh was sitting on the steps of a hotel rented for the night in Lilycove. It was so absurd, the fact that she was now in the feared world of Technology. And yet, it wasn't the place that her father had told her about. There were no human sacrifices to "The Great Machine", no masses of people blowing things up just because they could, and most importantly, no people so lobotomized by Technology that they became literally robots. She began to dislike her father more and more.

That night, she was sleeping in a bed for the first time instead of a blanket on a cave floor. It was so comfortable, she didn't see how Gregers had not even made an allowance for those. Franciscus was right, she thought. Technology isn't so bad after all…

Farther away, back in the seafloor cave, Gregers was meeting up with the remnants of the Defenders. "We have achieved one step in our plan, but now we must take it to the next level. Now we must find the Regis and direct their power!"