Headline Today: Biannual Cloud Nine docking this week overshadowed by Paradise Expansion Project

Even the majestic Cloud Nine needs rest breaks. Twice a year, the government airship docks at Pokemon Paradise for rest, renovation, and repair. However, this winter, something more has been thrown into the mix. HAPPI Director Sylveon Sparkleglimmer commented to the press: "HAPPI has been co-ordinating with the Bureau of Pokemon Paradise to provide a solution to the underhousing problem . . . production on new housing is expected to begin this coming spring."

~ Paradise Today

~\({O})/~

42.

Special Episode III

From Summer To Winter

~\({O})/~

Port Archaios ~ Sand Continent

Then

~Espeon~

The summer breeze on the Sand Continent was refreshing, mildly cool, and of the sea. It was nothing compared to the harsh sun that shone down over the land at midday. In the summer, the days were long and blistering, and even some of the grass-type 'mon who photosynthesized were wilting under the heat. The Fire-Types, capable of withstanding the sweltering temperatures, were some of the only 'mon who could walk around comfortably on such a hot and harsh day.

Espeon, a psychic-type, was another who could brave the heat without suffering a stroke. Her evolution was suited for the intense warmth, her large ears easily ventilating the rest of her body. Growing up on the Sand Continent as an eevee meant choosing a form that was suited for the environment; scarcely any leafeon, vaporeon, or glaceon were seen around here. The other evolution most suited to the heat was flareon, but Espeon knew she wouldn't fancy that.

With her teeth she tightened the straps of the bag attached to her midsection, made sure all the flaps were sealed, and that everything she'd need was packed. The last thing she did was put on a brilliant, sky-blue scarf, and levitate on an archeologist's hat the color of her dust brown bags that kept the sun from getting in her eyes. Now she was ready.

They were moving the barriers today. Or, rather, they'd been slowly moving them back for years. You couldn't live in Port Archaios and not see the massive, half constructed pillars of stone that separated the coastal city from the desert beyond. The wall spanned the continent, all the newspapers had buzzed about when it was first announced, and it would take years to build properly. But until then, temporary wooden barriers marked the picket line for what portions of the sands were safe… and what portions were the distortion of powerful mystery dungeons.

Today, those barriers moved several yards closer to the coast.

Espeon was one of the pokemon who'd be moving the barriers back, one in a large team. She travelled with at least a dozen other pokemon wearing similar bags, hats, and scarves, ready to make the day-long journey from the coast to the danger zone.

In the middle of the journey, when the sun was at its highest point in the sky and even Espeon was beginning to feel the heat, the group took a break to rest themselves and rehydrate.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again," said a slightly hoarse voice from behind Espeon. "This trip's easier at night. There's not a single good reason to do this during the day."

Espeon looked back to see an umbreon in similar gear approaching her. Unlike Espeon, Umbreon was heavily panting and looked a lot worse for the wear. Black fur and the long, tube-like ears his species had were better suited for the colder weather of winter, rather than the intense summer heat of Sand. Espeon, for one, was thankful that she'd brought the hat. The heat was really beginning to get to her

"I can think of one," she said. "We're the only pokemon on this mission without an affinity for heat."

It was true. One of their crewmates was a delphox, who looked right at home in the heat and was magicking sand in the air to amuse a margmortar and quilava. An arcanine looked happy to be free of the supply cart for a brief moment, and a salazzle was greedily drinking from a water canteen. The crowd director was an infernape. Umbreon and to an extent Espeon were the only pokemon suffering from the heat.

"Fair point," Umbreon grumbled. "It does pay well, at least."

"And we get to see what's beyond those gates?" Espeon prompted.

"That too."

The barriers existed for a reason. The dungeon that lay beyond was rumored to be volatile and highly dangerous. It had already consumed several towns and cities that lay further in on the continent and had since been evacuated, and it would slowly creep up towards the coast. All access was restricted, which meant there were pokemon out there who would pay highly for even a look at the inside.

And one of those pokemon had. Espeon and Umbreon didn't know the name or face of their contractor, only that he managed 'Boltund Industries', a shady company that didn't extend past Sand but seemed to dabble in several different things. Both Espeon and Umbreon were sure it was a shell company, built to conceal something much more illegal. After all, what legitimate company would pay pokemon under the table to illegally infiltrate a restricted area for them?

However, being pokemon of science, neither Espeon nor Umbreon were going to just turn down a chance to see into a place nearly no pokemon before had.

"You packed the frisms?" Espeon said in a hush. Umbreon nudged his own bag with his leg; they both heard the crystal-like jingles inside.

"You packed the pen and paper?"

"In my bag," said Espeon.

"Alright!" yelled infernape, clapping her hands. "Breaktime's over, let's roll out!"

"Split," said Umbreon. "It's easier if they don't know we're together."

"Right." Espeon took a hard turn for the other side of the assembling group, as they began marching once more.

A couple more hours, until the sun began to set and the sky turned a peachberry orange. Espeon found her spirits in a strange flux of rising now that the heat had died down, and slowly lowering now that the sun was going down in the sky. But slowly and surely, the barriers they were here to move were coming ever closer into view. Soon they loomed above the group, large, steady wooden walls, and Espeon could see clearly why they needed so many pokemon to do the job.

"Let's form up," Infernape yelled out. Four of you on one side, the other three with me. We're going to grab these ropes—" she gestured to large ropes on either side of the structure "—and pull the border back!"

Espeon and Umbreon made very sure that they were together, and they were in the group that wasn't where the organizer infernape was.

"What's our next move?" she whispered to Umbreon as they made the gap with Quilava and Magmortar.

"We wait until the job is done, then split from the group before they can seal the gate back up," said Umbreon. "If we're quick we'll catch up before we're gone too long."

"And our excuse?" Espeon asked.

"Our employer has an agent in this crowd that'll cover for us," said Umbreon.

"Who?" Espeon surveyed the crowd. She hadn't been told about that…

"It was last minute," said Umbreon. "They didn't say."

Just one piece of the barrier was 30 feet high, and nearly twice as long. It was a good thing it wasn't made of solid metal, or solid stone, because otherwise it would have taken more than eight pokemon to pull it back properly. Espeon pulled with her psychic grip; Umbreon attached himself to the rope with a harness and pulled back with all his might. After only minutes of straining, a piece of the large structure had been pulled back across the sand a factor of several yards. Espeon ignored the dull ache that was beginning to form within her head, a sign of exertion on her psychic abilities. There were still two more of these to go.

The headache had grown after five minutes of moving the second, and was troublesome after the third had been moved. But Umbreon was already slinking away from the group, so Espeon focused through the pain and followed him before their window of opportunity closed. They silently slunk through the openings between the gate and the walls, making sure not to make a sound. Once they were clear of the walls, an alien landscape met them. It was dotted with purple rocks and sand, and the shimmering horizon had several unnatural spires colored black by the moon and night sky. They wasted no time dashing towards the midair shimmers and ripples, before they could be discovered. It was cleaner if no-mon saw.

Espeon knew what entering a dungeon was like on paper, but reading about it couldn't prepare her for doing it for the first time. The atmosphere seemed to change in an instant, all natural wind and smells vanishing. Even though they were outside, it was windless, scentless, like being in a house that hadn't seen use for ages but had recently been cleaned. The only adjective Espeon had for it was "dead".

Umbreon, who had landed beside her, was in a similar state of bewilderment. He got over it quickly, rising up out of his crouching position and undoing the flap of his sidebag with his teeth.

"Alright, you hold the frism, I'll do the narration," he said.

"While drawing?" Espeon said.

"I've seen you draw and hold more than one thing before," Umbreon replied.

The frism, a round, translucent, crystalline object, rose up out of Umbreon's satchel and up into the air. It held its position steadily, but walked with him as the group travelled further into the dungeon. Espeon pulled a notepad and an inkless pencil out of her own bag, using it to sketch the maze around them as they walked further into it.

"We are right now standing inside the infamous dungeon that lies at the center of the Sand Continent, rumored to have formed around one of the last remaining Human ruins in the world. Which, if I'm seeing that horizon right—Espeon, make sure you're getting all that—is more than just a rumor. We've just entered into the main labyrinth at night…"

The maze wasn't large, but it didn't change either. There were no floors like other dungeons had, no ferals inside this dungeon that attacked the pair. Espeon sketched hurriedly, capturing the walls of the maze, marking down a layout as they traversed more and more of it, sketching the horizon that stayed ever constant no matter how they walked.

"As I'm telling you this," Umbreon narrated as they walked. "We're following what looks like a big beam of light in the sky. Whatever it is, it's coming from the center of the maze."

Umbreon seemed to be enamoured with the place. He jabbered on and on excitedly, cataloguing every little thing that caught his attention. Espeon wasn't as in love with the halls that were eerily pristine and silent, or the sky that was more like a blurry painting of the night than the actual sky. Every foot print they made stayed there, as if they were the first pokemon to ever walk upon these sands and were leaving marks that would last for eons. It was all dead, so lifeless, and Espeon couldn't be comfortable until the walls let up.

It wasn't long before the walls did let up, and they entered a huge landscape of dunes and ruined structures that littered the sand. In the near distance, so close they could see it clearly now, was a cave emitting enough light they could see it beaming upwards into the painting that was the sky.

Umbreon narrated eagerly as they walked; Espeon just tried to sketch and ignore how jittery the place made her feel. The closer they got to that structure of light, the colder everything seemed to feel. It was like it was sapping the energy, the very happiness out of her, leaving her desolate, miserable, terrified. It must have been painted on her face, because Umbreon shut off the frism and nudged her with his tail.

"Hey," he said. "You feeling okay?"

"It's c-cold…" was all she could stammer out. Her breath came out in front of her as puffs of air.

"It's just a little further," Umbreon said. "If you want, I can go on my own."

"No," Espeon said, forcing herself to keep going past all the shivering. "We came all this way. I'm going to finish."

She trudged forward through the sand determinedly, carrying the sketchpad and the frism with her. She heard Umbreon's pawsteps in the sand behind her, slowly following until he caught up. The cave towered over them now, a strange light coming from its entrance. Espeon blew out another puff of frosty breath, and then they both continued into the stone mouth of the cavern.

Whatever was in here, it was a change of pace from the outside. Espeon couldn't see the walls clearly; beyond the large stalactites that spiraled up towards the cavern, there seemed to be no walls. Instead, there was just blackness. Where that darkness led, Espeon didn't want to take her chances finding out.

The light, intense light, was coming from a pillar in the middle of the room. It shone brightly, and the closer Espeon and Umbreon moved towards it, the more of a sudden heat they could feel rippling around the pillar through their fur. The frism glowed, but Espeon tuned out her partner's talking. She went to take a breather near the end of the cavern, where there was a solid boulder rather than the blackness of every other wall and the sandy expanse outside that seemed to chill through her bones. She needed a minute.

As she walked away and sat down, she noticed something near the boulder; a small, jagged pile of rocks that looked like they had been shattered apart. Overcome by curiosity, Espeon lowered her head and took a closer look. Most of the shards were larger; some of them were small enough to be grains of sand. All of them were a deep, grey-blue rock, much unlike the other formations they had seen. And in the middle of the pile of shattered stone sat a pair of golden, card-like objects. They glimmered as they reflected the light of the frism, and when Espeon moved them with nose she felt they were quite weighty. Maybe those were worth something…

"Umbreon," she said, cutting Umbreon off. "Come look at this."

The frism's recording was ended, and both Umbreon and Espeon took a look at what Espeon had found.

"It looks like it's made of gold," said Espeon. "Some kind of currency?"

"I don't think so…" Umbreon muttered, deep in thought. He lowered his head down to it, moving one of the pieces with his own nose. It moved much like a piece of solid stone itself. "It's too bulky for that."

He rose back up to his feet, sighing.

"Somemon could have left it in here, but I don't see anything else lying around."

"And it doesn't look like something you'd just drop and forget about," Espeon added.

And now that it was out there, it didn't look like something you would bring into the dungeon, either.

"We should take it with us," Umbreon decided. "If it's something from within the dungeon, this could be a huge discovery."

"The kind our clients might want?" Espeon asked.

"The kind our clients can't have," Umbreon replied. "That organization's dubious at best. They paid us for a description of the dungeon's interior, so that's what we give them. But if we give this away… we're giving away the next piece in history. And who knows what they'll do with it."

And so the shards of stone and the strange, card-like objects went in Umbreon's bag, and the two set back for the entrance of the dungeon not long after.

~\({O})/~

Port Archaios ~ Nighttime

"These are our complete sketches of the inside," said Espeon, sliding her sketchbook forward.

"And here are the frisms with narration encoded," Umbreon finished, setting his own bag on the table with his teeth. They were inside a narrow shack in the shabbier part of town, where there was only a small orb of luminous moss to light the building's singular room. The walls were bare and battered, and only a few crates were the only furniture within the place aside from the table itself.

The skarmory in front of them nodded. He lifted a talon, flipping through Espeon's sketches. The frisms, when tapped, would play Umbreon's narration as many times as required. He had managed to fill three altogether.

"This seems in order," said Skarmory. Another talon snaked forward, and everything on the table was suddenly snatched into into a duffel bag. Umbreon's knapsack, full of fragile frisms, wasn't returned.

"And our payment?" Umbreon asked once the items had disappeared.

"Our agent outside has the payment ready," Skarmory said. "Talk to him, and you should receive your compensation."

"How do we reach you after this?" asked Espeon.

"You don't." The skarmory snatched up the duffel bag in its talons, then flew out the window with movement so sudden neither Espeon nor Umbreon could clearly see it. In the skarmory's wake, they both shared a befuddled look.

Exiting the small, abandoned house in a shady nook of Port Archaios, Espeon and Umbreon walked outside to see Quilava from the desert expedition leaning against the side of the house.

"You're the agent?" Umbreon asked with surprise.

"Wouldn't be a good one if you could tell," said Quilava. He held out a thick, heavy purse with his paw. "Here's your payment."

Umbreon took the bag in his teeth, dropping it in the left bag of Espeon's satchel. The other bag was weighted, carrying something neither of them trusted off their person at any time.

"Alright, now we all walk away from each other slowly, and forget this ever happened," said quilava. "The boss likes us to keep a low profile."

And with that, he casually slunk away into the alley. Not wanting to be caught unawares in what was clearly a bad part of town, Espeon and Umbreon made haste to leave soon after.

A few days later, news would break that a tabloid sponsored by Boltund Industries would be releasing an exclusive report on the inside of the borders behind the Sand Continent's walls. Restrictions beyond the walls of Port Archaios tightened massively, but Espeon and Umbreon had already left the continent on a ferry. Their destination was the wintery Mist Continent; they needed a place to study in peace.

~\({O})/~

Now

Cloud Nine ~ Residential Rooms

The TV was staticky. It was supposed to be broadcasting some kind of show neither Espeon or Umbreon were paying attention to, but when they were floating over misty mountains the signal didn't quite work right. After half an hour of mind-numbing fuzz, the static from the television was finally getting to Umbreon. He eagerly pulled himself away from the letter he was putting off penning to switch it off.

Near him, Espeon was looking over a few other letters, both of which were much further along than his.

"Finished," she said, setting a couple aside.

"Who are those for?" asked Umbreon. He was writing a letter to Whimsicott of Grass, asking for an appointment.

"Alexis and Elliot," said Espeon. "We'll be stopping in Paradise in a couple of days, so I made sure it was mentioned in the letter. If they're nice, they'll see us."

"And if they aren't nice?" Umbreon asked. "They made it clear the last time we talked that we weren't on speaking terms. What makes you think they'll see us now?"

"This isn't right and they know it," Espeon muttered. "The least they could do is play ball with us. We just need to convince them it's the right thing to do."

"As far as I'm concerned, they made their decisions when they sat out the trial last week," Umbreon replied. "At most you get Elliot. Alexis? Well, he won't listen."

"Well then, we mail Elliot," said Espeon. "Anything it takes. What about your letters, how are they going?"

"Could be going better," Umbreon admitted. "You were always better at wording things."

"Then I will be happy to give it a proofread," Espeon said. "But finish the first drafts at least."

"Later," Umbreon sighed. He rose from where he was sitting, stretching. "I think I need to take a walk. I'll finish these when I get back."

~\({O})/~

Hedge Gardens

Cloud Nine wasn't as large as a city when one got down to it, but it did have a lot of space for walking around on. The front deck of the massive ship, shaped like a large, flat trapezoid, had an elaborate yet easy to navigate hedge garden that was perfect for taking lazy strolls through. Around sunset, when the sun was a large, shimmering ball of fire, the gardens would grow crowded with pokemon who came to watch the sun go down. In the late afternoon, when the sun was descending but not low enough to look pretty, there were few if any 'mon around.

The quietness was perfect for clearing one's head. Umbreon needed that. After a while of claw-marking words on paper in vain, he was happy to be out of the room and given some time to stretch. He let his head go empty, and strolled through the hedges for a time.

His mind wandered, as it tended to do when he wasn't focused. He let himself focus on how the high-altitude wind blew through his ears, and how the sky right above him was beginning to darken from blue to the beginnings of night, with the moon visible above. It must have been five minutes before he noticed it.

It wasn't the sort of thing the average pokemon would notice. And if they did, they wouldn't think much of it. But for Umbreon, it was both the first thing he noticed, and the thing he zeroed in on: hanging on the neck of a manetric in the crowd was a white sash, marked with the snazzy grey logo of a running dog pokemon. A boltund. Which could only mean…

On reflex, Umbreon slid behind the corner of the hedge he was rounding. He nearly bumped into a quiladin carrying a stack of delicate-looking pottery, who cleared her throat at him annoyedly. After silently reassuring the quiladin that it was an accident, Umbreon peeked back around the leaves. The sash-wearing manetric hadn't noticed him, still chatting openly with another 'mon in front of him. That was good.

Umbreon thought to slip away, go back to his room. Espeon needed to know; if somemon from Boltund Industries was on this ship, it couldn't mean anything good. But it wasn't like he was going back with nothing. He was going to eavesdrop a bit. See what they were talking about.

The pokemons' conversation wasn't anything interesting; it was small talk about what they were having for dinner, how the weather was, and all the other pleasantries. Umbreon only caught one thing of interest: a scant, offhand mention of "getting back to the project". He must have been loitering around in the background, pretending to mind his own business for at least ten minutes. They didn't recognize him, and why would they? If you weren't following the trial news, he was just some random umbreon in the crowd.

Eventually, they left, and he followed. It was just in time, as other 'mon were beginning to crowd onto the deck to see the sun go down. Getting lost in the crowd was easier this way.

They split off near the elevator section, and started walking for a side door with a sign marked "STAFF ONLY". Umbreon's eyes narrowed. Using the staff elevators… something was definitely up. He quickly broke from the crowd to follow them, and made sure he got in with them before the doors could close.

Once inside, he sat down and looked between the two pokemon in the elevator with him. One was the manetric. The other was an oricorio. Both wore the white scarves.

"Good day," he said, making sure to break the silence quickly. "This elevator's in a weird place. But if it avoids the crowds…"

Silence. Neither of them looked pleased to see him.

"That's because this is the staff elevator," the oricorio said. There was a thin veil of politeness over her voice, masking annoyance.

"Oh, is it?" Umbreon asked, pretending to be oblivious. "Well, my mistake."

The manetric cancelled the elevator destination, and toggled it for another. Umbreon made sure he caught the name of the button before it was canceled.

"Where're we headed now?" he asked.

"Dropping you off at the food court," the manetric said.

A moment later, the redirected elevator docked at the food court floor. Umbreon walked through the cramped storage room, filled with crates and stacks of tightly packed food products, and then out into the crowded cafetorium. He quickly made sure he got lost in the crowd, so that if the manetric and oricorio had flanked him, they wouldn't be able to keep up. A glance back at the entrance to the storage space told him what he needed to know: that the pokemon had already disappeared back into the elevator.

He took a moment to memorize the floor button he had just seen, before it had been toggled away. BF3…

Umbreon stood where he was for a few more seconds, thinking, looking around aimlessly as pokemon walked around him. The smells of the food court began to invade his nose, jogging him back to reality. Those two were up to something shady. And if there was anything he knew, it was that he intended to find those grimers out.

~\({O})/~

"Boltund Industries?" Espeon exclaimed. "Here?"

"The sashes were unmistakable," said Umbreon. The letters had since been abandoned, tucked off the table and into envelopes they'd have to send at some point. Umbreon still hadn't finished his.

"But what are they doing here?" asked Espeon. "That company has no business off Sand—there's no reason for them to be on Cloud Nine. Not as employees, anyway."

"My thinking exactly," said Umbreon. "And if them using the staff elevator is anything to go by, I think they might have some business on this ship they aren't making public."

There was a moment of silence between the two, as they both drew their own conclusions of what that meant. To Umbreon, it was clear: Their project on the bottom floor could only be one thing.

"I know what you're thinking," said Espeon, noticing the furrowed grimace that was plastered on Umbreon's face. "We should stay out of it."

"I disagree," Umbreon replied. "On the contrary, we need to do some poking around. Their 'project' on the bottom floor has something to do with us. I just have a feeling."

"Feelings can be wrong," Espeon pointed out. "We'd be getting in over our heads and you know it."

"We're already in over our heads," said Umbreon. "We've been in over our heads for a long time. But if Boltund Industries, an organization that has expressed vested interest in Magnagate Technology and little else, is constructing a secret project on Cloud Nine…"

"You're going to risk everything we still have over a hunch?" Espeon asked.

"It's a small risk," Umbreon said. "With a big payout. If we get proof that entercards are being developed on this ship, we stand a chance in court. No more beating around the bush, no more arguing legislation. Just a big scandal."

~\({O})/~

"I can't believe I let you drag me into this," Espeon muttered. The two of them were walking towards the elevator through the hedge gardens. It was sunset, just an hour after Umbreon had returned. The crowd of pokemon that had entered on the deck offered them proper cover to slink through unnoticed by others. Or anymon who might be watching.

"Remember, it's just a look around," Umbreon said. He kept his voice down; despite all the chaos every inch of the gardens had surveillance. They needed to be careful with what they said in public. "You have the camera in your bag?"

"It's there," Espeon replied. "We're set as we'll ever be."

The elevators weren't far away now. The area around it was mostly empty, and the two of them attracted no attention heading towards the dingy service one that existed away from the rest.

Once they were behind the elevator's mesh grate, Umbreon took a look at the buttons. Which one had those two pressed… he'd been repeating it in his head like a mantra ever since he'd seen. Immediately, he jammed his paw down on the one marked "BF3". With a clack, the elevator shook, and began to carry the two of them downwards.

Espeon let out a deep breath from where she sat next to Umbreon. She was looking at the roof—for security cameras, he realized. He looked up at the roof too, and was relieved not to see any.

"What was that about low risk again?" she asked him.

"Let's just get this over with," Umbreon said, shifting in place like he was readying himself for sudden action.

The elevator dinged and opened to floors that were grates and walls made of dirty, scuffed metal. The ship's engines whirred loudly in the background, scraping, grinding, and churning of emera dust that echoed against the metal of the narrow hallway loudly. Umbreon exited the elevator first, followed by Espeon, who undid the latch on her bag and pulled out a camera lens and a connection orb. As the camera blinked to life, the two of them looked around.

"The engines must be close," Espeon said, her ears pinned back from all the sound. "This looks like a maintenance aisle. Are you sure you saw them go down this way?"

Umbreon lowered his nose to the ground, and sniffed. The smell of acrid metal and a hint of metallic-smelling emera dust invaded his nose, but sure enough he could pick up the faint scent of the two employees from earlier. Their scents were of static current and flowers.

"No, they're definitely here," he said with certainty. "I have their scent."

He intently sniffed out a path as they went down the hallway, then took a turn, then another. The whirring and grinding of the engines grew softer quickly; wherever they were going, they were moving away. Umbreon was so intent in his sniffing that he seemed to lose sense of his surroundings. At one point, Espeon sharply bit down on Umbreon's tail and pulled him backwards. His eyes went wide and he let out a whimper of pain—in an instant Espeon was against him with a paw against his muzzle. She looked spooked. He realized that just around the turn, they had managed to catch the attention of a pair of workers. A plusle and minun, wearing those same white sashes, were looking around intently for what had made noise. And they were coming this way.

"Slowly. Move. Backward," Espeon whispered. She took a silent step back, and so did he. The two moved in tandem, picking up speed until they'd gone the whole hallway back and around a corner. The two workers peeked around the bend, but all they saw was an empty hallway.

The plusle looked at the minun. Both shrugged, and then turned around and went back to their work.

"What were you doing?" she scolded him once the plusle and minun were out of range. "Pay more attention."

"We have to follow them," said Umbreon.

"At a distance," Espeon insisted. Umbreon wanted to get closer, but he couldn't debate that.

Slinking silently around the corner again, the two started after the plusle and minun as they wheeled equipment down the hall. They were both careful to stay a hallway behind at all times, and Umbreon followed their scent to make sure they didn't lose track. He was careful to focus on more than just his nose this time.

Soon, the wagon suddenly disappeared. The trail ended halfway through the hallway, and even when the two of them ran up ahead, they saw nothing. Umbreon slowly returned to the same place he had lost the trail, as did Espeon.

"Where could they have gone?" he asked. "They were here seconds ago."

Espeon walked forward, inspecting the wall.

"Look," she said, squinting at the metal plates. "There are grooves here."

Umbreon leaned in to look at what Espeon was seeing. Sure enough, there were clear grooves in the wall ahead, ones that seemed unbroken. And they formed…

"A door," he finished his thought out loud. Espeon nodded.

"Whatever they were taking in there, it was probably headed to storage," Umbreon continued. "They wouldn't wheel it in anywhere highly populated or sensitive."

"But how would we open i—" Espeon began, but she was quickly cut off. They could hear the pitter-patter of two sets of light, quick footsteps approaching the door.

Seconds later, the door slid open, admitting Plusle and Minun out through it. Espeon and Umbreon watched from the corner of the hallway as one of them operated a handle that slid out of a patch on the wall, then shut the door with it. The two of them trotted off, and then were gone. In their wake, Umbreon and Espeon snuck back towards it.

Umbreon didn't waste time. He quickly pushed the handle flap open with his paw, and bit down. The door slowly opened with a clang, leading into a room that was dark and looked very wide. Just like he'd thought: a storage space.

"Come on," he said, gesturing Espeon in after him with his tail once he'd seen inside the place. "It's empty."

Umbreon crept in first. Espeon followed behind him, looking around a bit more cautiously than he was. Though it didn't matter, he thought, since the place was completely deserted. It wasn't a large room, the size of two to three bedrooms combined. What made it seem even smaller was all the cargo that was in here. Wooden boxes lay everywhere, lined up nearly to the ceiling in height. Some things were covered with tarps; others just lay out in the open on wooden platforms, with only ropes to keep them secured.

As they went, they inspected the materials out in the open for them to see. Espeon was looking at what looked like sheets of silver metal under one of the tarps, and the one next to it had slabs of bluish grey stone. Every piece of cargo in the room had one thing in common: the packaging was stamped with the three-ringed seal of HAPPI.

Umbreon was inspecting some of the sealed crates, which were stamped for travel with that same seal. They looked like they carried finished products… and whatever was inside them seemed small and plentiful. If the crates weren't sealed shut with nails, Umbreon would have opened it to look. As it was, he could only look in the cracks between the wood. He peered closer…

"Look at these," Espeon said, catching Umbreon's attention. She was looking at the slabs of blue stone that lay on a crate, under a tarp. "Who would they be transporting all this to?"

"This isn't a transport bay," Umbreon replied. "It's too far away from the rest of the docks. And look." He pointed over to the many trolleys and saddles that were sitting further down the room. "Whatever's here, it's not here for storage. It's being brought here."

"For…" Espeon trailed off.

"To build something," Umbreon said. He gestured back towards the stacks of crates he'd found with his ears and tail. "And I think the finished products are in these."

The door that they had closed behind them suddenly began to open. Without another second's thought, the two of them quickly made themselves scarce behind a wall of the larger crates, easily large enough to conceal them both.

Peeking through the cracks in the crates, Umbreon saw the plusle and minun from earlier walking in through the door. They brought another full trolley with them, filled with the same slabs of rock Espeon had been staring at.

"How many more of these?" the minun asked, letting out an exhausted breath and leaning back against one of the already existing crates. "I'm pooped…"

"Three more," the plusle answered through a similarly exhausted gasp. "But look on the bright side. Once we finish this, we're off for the rest of the day. "You can nap to your hearts' content."

"Yeah…" the minun sighed, pulling themselves back to their feet. "Let's just get this over with."

A whooshing sound suddenly came from Umbreon's right. He looked over to the other side of the room, where there had formerly been nothing but darkness. Now there was light.

"Ah, you two."

The plusle and minun were looking in the same direction as Umbreon, where the voice had come from.

"Just the pokemon I was looking for," came the voice again, and in walked the very last pokemon in the world Umbreon would have wanted to see in a situation like this.

~\({O})/~

Then

Pokemon Paradise ~ Uptown Stage

"Hey," Umbreon said to Espeon's terrified face. "Calm down, okay?"

"I can't go up there!" Espeon cried.

"You were okay just a second ago," Umbreon said. "What happened?"

"There's just too many pokemon," Espeon said, breathing heavily. "I thought I was okay and then I saw the stage and I just, I can't—"

"Listen," said Umbreon. "You're going to be fine. If you want, I can do the talking and you hang back, okay?"

Espeon took a long shaky breath to collect herself. "No, I'm—I'm fine. We'll both do it. Thank you."

Umbreon nodded, standing off. He looked at the clock that was ticking down, down to their appearance within less than a minute. "We're due out there any second. Ready?"

"I think I am," said Espeon. "You have your lines?"

"Only my parts," said Umbreon.

"Well, how were you going to do all the talking then?"

"I'm good with memorizing things!"

Sudden celebratory music blasted their ears from the outside, signaling a grand entrance.

"That's our cue," Umbreon said.

The two of them quickly hopped out of the well-furnished backstage area, then walked up a slightly steep ramp that led through royal blue curtains and out onto a large stage that was surrounded by a large crowd. This was the fifteenth annual Inventors and Dungeoneering convention in Pokemon Paradise, and the two of them had scheduled to show off a groundbreaking new advancement in technology there. Now was their grand debut.

Umbreon walked to the front of the stage and sat down, and Espeon sat next to him, slightly behind. The lights and music dimmed as they were supposed to, and Umbreon took that as a cue to begin. Only a spotlight was left behind, shining on him.

"Mystery dungeons," he said. His voice was amplified for him, ringing out amongst bated silence. "They're the fascination of a century, and the fixation of many for eons before. At conventions like these, we see the most fascinating elements of them, and are surrounded by the best of the best technology and equipment for dungeoneering."

He paused for dramatic effect, making sure the cameras caught him hanging his head low.

"But there is a darker side to mystery dungeons as we know them," Espeon continued in his wake, reciting the first of her own lines. Umbreon heard her voice waver a little, but she managed to keep her composure the whole time. "When one forms out on the ocean, trade routes must adjust, so ships carrying important supplies between continents don't get sucked in. When dungeons turn powerful and deadly, they become liabilities for pokemon who might stumble inside and need rescuing. When they creep towards towns, those towns must confront the fact that one day, those dungeons might just envelop their cities and homes. For as fascinating as mystery dungeons are, we must not forget they are dangerous things."

Now she bowed her head, and the spotlight returned to Umbreon. He raised his own head high, posing dramatically on his haunches for the crowd.

"But that's where we come in," he said loudly. "Espeon and I have, for decades, studied the workings of mystery dungeons. Based on rare artifacts found within the dungeon's depths, we've developed a device that can create dungeons out of thin air, and take existing ones away."

A large screen above the stage lit up, showing the images of a pair of card-like tablets. They were bright gold, and the circular, intertwining engravings on them stood out as clear as day.

"What you see above on the screen are our prototype models of the device," Espeon announced. Seconds later, the image on the screen changed to a moving slideshow, depicting several blueprint papers. "Along with several theoretical models that would enhance these prototypes' performance."

"With magnagate technology," Umbreon began, starting the final segment of the speech, "A whole new world of possibilities open up to us. Dungeons can be used as a way to shorten travel. Merchant ships could arrive at their destination entire days earlier than planned, and risky routes like the northern and southern capes of Air could be avoided."

"Magnagates can also render ineffective the massive, powerful dungeons that creep up on towns like Port Archaios and our very own Pokemon Paradise," Espeon continued. "With the ability to prune dungeons and stop them in their tracks, we can stop these dungeons from expanding further than they should, or even make them grow smaller in size."

"And that's not to mention the effects magnagates could have on our energy situation," Umbreon said. "The emeras everything in our society runs on come from inside dungeons, but they get harder and harder to find the more that we harvest. Magnagates could give us the ability to artificially farm our own emeras within dungeons created specifically for the purpose of emera farming. No more dangerous dungeon ventures for inexperienced pokemon…"

"…No more perilous shipping routes and treacherous mountain paths…" Espeon continued.

"…And no more danger from dungeons encroaching on civilization," finished Umbreon.

"This is Magnagate Technology," the both of them finished at once.

All the lights in the stadium lit up at once, and fireworks that had been rigged specifically for the display shot up into the sky. A round of hearty applause came from the crowd present, and Espeon and Umbreon both took bows.

"Any questions?" he asked to the crowd.

"I've got one," a treecko somewhere on the right side of the crowd raised their limb.

"Me too!"

"And me!"

"One at a time," said Umbreon, addressing the growing amount of voices. "You first. What was your question?"

The questions were numerous, and everything the two of them said was recorded at least once by the news crews in the crowd. It took a half hour to answer everything. And at the end of the day, Umbreon was feeling pretty good about it all. They'd made a splash with the crowd, and gotten stunning reception. Recordings of their presentation would be on the news the very next day, judging from the amount of news crews that had shown up.

The true goal of the presentation, of course, was to find a proper investor. With the reception they'd gotten, neither Espeon nor Umbreon were expecting it to take long before calls began rolling in. And sure enough, only half an hour after the presentation had wrapped, they found themselves approached.

"Well, hello there."

Umbreon jumped up off the pillow he was laying on in the fancy backstage quarters. Espeon, relaxing near him, jumped up as well. From the shadows of the door where the two of them couldn't see, a boltund emerged. He had a slightly goofy look on his face as he padded towards them, but when he spoke, it was with a deep voice that didn't seem befitting of him at all. For some reason, it sent chills down Umbreon's spine.

"Who are you, and what are you doing backstage?" he asked. Whatever this was, it couldn't be good news.

"Right, this must be a quite unwelcome surprise," the boltund said. He bowed his head in greeting. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am known as Boltund, head of Boltund Industries. The two of you did that Dungeoneering assignment through the Sands of Time all those years ago for me."

Umbreon squinted at the boltund as he tried to remember. Sands of Time, Sands of Time… oh. That Sands of Time.

"I think I remember that," Espeon said, getting up to join Umbreon. "It's been a while. Sorry, we didn't recognize you."

"Oh, there's no need to be sorry, the boltund said with a grin. "You didn't interact with me that time, only a subordinate. Anyway!"

With that last cheerful word, he moseyed on a bit closer. Umbreon didn't like it, but he'd wait to see if it was just a gut feeling before he did anything else.

"I happened to be at the convention when I saw your terrific presentation—and it was quite terrific, let me tell you…"

"Thanks," Espeon said.

"And well," the boltund broke off for a moment. "I thought I'd get ahead of the chase here. I'm sure you'll have investors clawing at your paws in a matter of hours, so let's get down to business. I will pay you, very handsomely, for the prototype models of your magnagate technology."

"Prototype… models?" Espeon asked in confusion.

Umbreon said nothing, but his eyes narrowed a little. Everything that came out of this pokemon's mouth was giving him less and less reason to like the guy.

"Well I'm sorry, but that's not what we're offering," he said.

"Nonsense," said the boltund firmly. "I'll pay whatever you want, name the price and I'll foot the bill."

"We're not offering the prototypes alone," said Espeon. "We're offering the rights to produce and use the finished models of our technology, not the technology itself."

"And any independently developed newer models would still be yours regardless of arrangement," said Boltund. "All I ask for is the original model. The resulting payout would be more than enough to establish your own company, independent of an investor. Like I said… name your price."

Both Espeon and Umbreon were silent. Umbreon could have sworn he saw the corners of Boltund's smile twitch down a bit.

"Well," he said cheerily. "If you won't name a price, I'll name one for you. 57…"

Umbreon opened his mouth to say they weren't interested, especially for something as cheap as 57, but what Boltund said next stopped him in his tracks.

"… billion."

Once again, the both of them were left stunned. That was a massive amount of money, more than they could ever have dreamed of having in their life.

"Just one billion is enough to get a company off the ground and healthy," said Boltund. "Imagine what you could do with 57."

"We'll… take a moment to think it over," said Umbreon, as he and Espeon shared a look.

"As long as you need," said Boltund. He stood back a little. "I'll be here when you're ready."

Espeon and Umbreon quickly huddled away where he couldn't hear.

"I don't like him," said Umbreon.

"That feeling's mutual," said Espeon. "But 57 billion! We'd never have to worry about travel expenses or being able to afford our research again!"

"We can't sell them," Umbreon said. "Not to him."

"Why not?" Espeon asked. "He just wants the prototypes. We have the blueprints for a newer model already. And with that much money, it won't take long to build them."

"He's not buying our prototypes," Umbreon explained. "He's buying the business opportunity. Look—any company that's willing to throw around billions of poke like it's a drop in the bucket has more resources than we ever will. If we sell the cards to him, that's it. He'll own the technology, and we'll never catch up."

He spared a look back at Boltund, who just grinned wider.

"We didn't spend all these years working to get rich. We spent them working to advance science. And if we give that science to him, then it's out of our paws. Who knows what he'll do with it."

Espeon sighed.

"Good point," she said.

"And have you two decided?" Boltund asked with a smile, as they turned back to him. "I can have contract papers ready by the morning, along with suitable payment."

"We decided we're going to wait and see our other options before we make a decision," said Umbreon.

And then and there, for the first time, Umbreon saw Boltund frown.

"Well I'm afraid that's not an option," he said. "This offer is on the table for tonight and tonight only. I promise you no investor will pay as much poke as I will."

"We just don't think it's prudent to sign papers without considering all our options first," said Espeon. "If you would consider keeping that offer open a few days longer—"

"What is it you need?" Boltund interrupted. "More poke? I can add more zeroes on there. Other goodies? Name it. I'll have it flown in on our most extravagant fliers. Time? The papers can be drafted by our best lawyers in an hour. You just need to name your price."

"We're not naming a price," said Umbreon. "We don't want the deal. That's the end of it."

Boltund's now nervous smile couldn't stay a smile much longer. The corners of his mouth turned down, towards the bottom of his jaw until his smile had become an annoyed grimace. He took a deep breath to compose himself.

"You're sure?" he asked. His voice no longer had the cheeriness, replaced by a flat displeasure.

Umbreon and Espeon looked between each other. Both of them felt slightly unsettled by this pokemon now.

"We're sure," said Espeon. "We're sorry."

Another deep breath from the boltund. His grimace became a full-on scowl.

"Well," he said. "I was only asking as a courtesy."

That was the point where it all clicked for Umbreon. That unsettling feeling he'd been getting, those chills… he looked down at his shadow—

"Gengar," the boltund said. "Get him."

Before Umbreon could react, a large hulking mass of purple erupted out of his shadow. It pummeled into him, sending him flying back against some of the furniture in the quarters. Spooked, Espeon lunged for the gengar with a gleaming gem and paws, but the Gengar produced a shadowy purple blast from its mouth that sent Espeon flying to the opposite end of the room.

"Now grab the cards!" Boltund said, as he sunk back into the shadows of the entrance. Gengar snatched the cards, in a brown sack near the end of the room, and began to soar through the air after Boltund.

Espeon raised herself from the ground with a cough, growling as the two of them ran off.

"We have to go after them," she said as Umbreon pulled himself up as well.

"I told you he was trouble," he said. Then the two of them bolted through the entrance and after the howling gengar.

Walking down the hallway, Espeon and Umbreon quickly saw how the boltund had gotten in here unaccosted: all the guards across the hallway leading from here to the outside had been knocked out. They ran through a corridor dotted with unconscious and sleeping bodies—at least two or three per hall, following the laughs that echoed throughout the hall as they ran. It wasn't long before they caught up.

The Boltund ran out of the building and towards an alakazam that waited for him in the building's back courtyard. Seconds later, Espeon and Umbreon arrived on the scene as the gengar sped out of the building above their heads, twirled in the air, and shot down for where the boltund was—

Immediately Umbreon realized what was going to happen. They were about to teleport out of there! And he wasn't quick enough to do anything.

But Espeon was. She sprinted forward, heading straight for the boltund, and cleared the distance in under a second. Just as the gengar made contact with the alakazam, and the alakazam began to light up, she snatched the bag with her teeth, and separated just in time.

There was a flash of light that blinded Umbreon's eyes. When it faded and he could see properly again, he saw that Gengar, Boltund, and Alakazam had disappeared. Teleports took a good amount of time to gather energy for, so the three of them wouldn't be coming back anytime soon. And in their place, lying on the ground, was Espeon. Umbreon quickly sprinted over to her, crouching down as she pulled herself up with a cough.

"Are you okay?" he asked her frenetically.

"Yeah," she coughed out. "It's just a little rough up." She stood, but her leg seemed hurt a little. "Are the entercards okay?"-

They quickly opened up the bag and looked into it to make sure what was inside was fine. Sure enough, the four entercard prototypes were sitting in the sack, relatively undamaged. The both of them sighed in relief.

A search and investigation of the place was done only a few hours after the incident had occurred. The gengar was tracked down and caught within the city only a few days afterwards. He swore all the way to his jailing that he had been set up. Espeon and Umbreon weren't harassed by Boltund anymore, but they'd made a habit of watching their backs ever since that night.

Their next investor called only a night later, after news of their presentation had made the radiowaves. It was HAPPI, the largest current exploration company known to 'mon, with a building in-city and more than enough resources to carry Espeon and Umbreon through their research.

This offer, they accepted.

~\({O})/~

Now

Underneath Cloud Nine

~Espeon~

The two of them remained behind the wall of boxes, paralyzed, barely daring to breathe. They watched as the Boltund stepped a bit further into view. They hadn't seen that pokemon in years, but here he was. Ordering some underling around, carrying something in through some door, that didn't matter, what mattered was that he was here himself. Coming here had been a huge mistake.

A nudge in her side.

"Shh," said Umbreon from beside her. He didn't say anything else, but she got the message. She knew too: They couldn't be found out here.

"Could you two perchance help me wheel in one of those stone shipments before you go back for the rest?" asked Boltund. "Looks like we're slightly ahead of schedule, yes."

"Yeah," said the minun, not looking like they wanted to cart more around than they had to. "Which one?"

"The one you're wheeling in will do," said Boltund. "Now come. Let's get a move on so you both can get back to your jobs."

The plusle and minun hopped back to their positions pushing the cart, and followed Boltund as he walked back towards that door. It sealed up behind him, locking light out of the storage room with a click. And only then could Espeon bring herself to make a sound.

Her joints unlocked. She stopped being stiff and crouched back, her hackles raising.

"I don't want to do this anymore," was all she could force out. She turned to Umbreon, speaking with more force than she'd expected to: "We need to go back. This is way out of our depth."

"We need proof," Umbreon said. "I need to see what they're working on in that lab."

"Don't we have enough proof here?" Espeon asked. "Going into that door is asking to be caught. There's no good way in."

"Yes there is," Umbreon replied. "We'll jump those plusle and minun when they come out, then take their scarves. Once we're wearing scarves, they should let us in and out without problems."

"Do you hear yourself right now?" Stressed Espeon with wide eyes. "You're getting too reckless. We could face consequences for this, and they'd know somemon was here. We need to grab what we can from this storage room, and head back. What's in these crates?"

They focused their energy on prying one of the crates open. It was a slow and deliberate process; every nail had to be unfastened and quietly torn away so that the box could be opened. Eventually, however, one of the planks on the side had been loosened enough that the two could tear it off.

What lay inside was tightly stacked; flat, disk-like boards made of stone and that silvery metal. The two of them quickly assisted each other into taking one of the discs out of the box, which was hard to do through an opening narrower than the disc itself. But with enough maneuvering, they managed to extract one of the discs from the box and onto the floor.

It was covered in silvery metal on one side, and the other was lined with stone. Golden rivuts of metal snaked through the blueish-grey rock, twisting and turning in circular patterns that, when turned around, could be seen in grooves on the metal front of the device. It was obvious to both Espeon and Umbreon what it was: The cap of an Entercard.

And above the circular engravings, at the very top, the seal of HAPPI was stamped into the metal.

"It's right there," Espeon said, staring down at the card. "That's it. That's all the proof we need."

"How many can we take?" Umbreon said hastily. "Open your bag."

He put his mouth around the still intact boards. Canine incisors dug into the woods, and he managed to snap a piece off with a noise that made Espeon cringe. But it left them a hole large enough to take the disks out easily. Espeon's bag had room for seven altogether.

It hadn't been too long, but soon the doors slid open again, causing Espeon and Umbreon to pause. That Plusle and Minun pair were walking out the door again, pushing along an empty trolley. The two of them watched the pokemon go, pulling the door open and shutting it behind them. Once they were gone, Espeon and Umbreon let out twin puffs of relief.

"Alright," Umbreon said. "Let's go while we still can."

~\({O})/~

Espeon and Umbreon's Quarters

"We can't stay on Cloud Nine," Espeon said, pacing throughout their quarters again. "We weren't good at covering our tracks. They'll know we took something."

"If HAPPI's involved in this, then they probably suspect us already," Umbreon said, humming in agreement. "We should mail these off first," he said, tapping the table with a paw.

The seven parts they'd managed to steal were spread out on it, all identical. All marked with that three-ringed seal. The plan was to message incriminating photos and physical evidence of the entercards to news studios all over the Mist Continent, in hopes of raising enough of a stir to cause a scandal they could take advantage of. They'd keep a few to turn in as legal evidence themselves.

"But that still leaves the question…" Espeon said. "Why are they making these?"

They'd thought long and hard on it, and neither of them could come up with an answer. If HAPPI wanted the entercards, why go to the song and dance of cutting them out of the picture? What could this team from Sand accomplish that Espeon and Umbreon themselves couldn't? The design even seemed to mirror their newer model blueprints in a way, sleeker and built to be more powerful than the prototypes were.

"I don't want to have to ask to find out," Umbreon said. "We can coax that information out of them once we take it public.

"As for transportation…" he sat down, letting his tail slowly thump up and down against the floor. Thump. Thump. The flygon that took us here makes regular trips to and from the dock. If I schedule now, he can take us off tomorrow night."

"And I can mail these parts out to the news outlet," Espeon added.

And so the plans were made, and the arranging began.

~\({O})/~

Then

Magnagate Company

A contract with HAPPI had been signed and inked, and about a month ago, Espeon and Umbreon's research company had finally opened its doors properly. They had a staff ready and waiting to help them bring their machines to reality, and financial security like they'd never seen before. And though it had taken them until autumn to properly set everything up, it seemed like things were only going to go uphill from here.

Except that today, when Espeon and Umbreon walked in through the building's doors, they saw several pokemon with bright violet scarves walking around, packing everything up. Everything—the furniture, the equipment, the decorations—was being moved into boxes that were then being wheeled out of the building on large trolleys.

Exchanging looks of confusion, Espeon and Umbreon approached the toxtricity who seemed to be managing the entire thing.

"Excuse me," said Umbreon loudly. "What's the meaning of this?"

"We're packing up," the toxtricity said.

"I can see that. Why?"

"Your contract's been terminated," the pokemon said as he flipped a page on his clipboard. "HAPPI's decided not to fund this project beyond the agreed-upon trial period."

"I'm sorry—what?" Espeon cut in. "How come we didn't hear about this?"

"Look, if you've got complaints, take it up with upper management," the tired voice of the toxtricity sighed. "I'm not the one who makes the rules, I just carry out the orders."

He lowered his clipboard after checking off just one last thing, then yelled loudly to the rest of the moving crew: "Alright, that's everything! Let's move it out!"

Left in a state of shock, Espeon and Umbreon could only watch as all of their possessions, equipment, and half-developed devices were rolled out of the building and onto tauros-pulled carts. Never to be seen again.

~\({O})/~

Now

Cloud Nine

Espeon and Umbreon were sure they were being tracked somehow. There were a pair of manetric that had been tailing them around the place, and though they'd been discreet about tracking their trackers, they were able to confirm that they did indeed have trackers. The decision was made to split up at a later point in the next day, to give the trackers a harder time of following them.

Umbreon would do something immediately shady to draw the manetrics' attention, while Espeon would take an unassuming trip to the food court downstairs and discreetly lose the one following her in the crowd. After placing an order for food as cover, she then doubled back and took a crowded elevator to the mail department, where the letters in her bag were promptly sent by corvisquire flight to various journalists in Paradise.

The remaining two entercard pieces were kept in a bag under their bed. In the rare event that one of them was grabbed and searched, the incriminating evidence wouldn't be on them.

Espeon and Umbreon discreetly met in the food court later, at sunset. After eating the meal Espeon had ordered, the two of them came back to their room for a final gathering of their things before the flygon flight Umbreon had chartered would leave.

They found, to their utter shock, that the place had been ransacked. The furniture was flipped apart, belongings they'd carefully packed were strewn about, and things like cushions and curtains had been slashed apart. Whoever had done it had evidently found the entercards, right where they'd placed it under the bed.

"Head to the docks," Umbreon said. "Now."

After that, it wasn't even a question of if they were being followed or not. The pair of manetric were walking out in the open now. They first made themselves present in the hallways, walking ever-closer and at a faster pace than Espeon and Umbreon were. The two of them adjusted accordingly, but didn't break out into a run yet.

"Don't look at them," Espeon hissed under her breath as she saw Umbreon briefly twitch his head back to get an idea of how close they were. "We can get to the docks if we just act causal. How long until our flight leaves?"

"If we continue at the pace we're going, we'll get there just in time," Umbreon said.

The slow pursuit continued, until they walked up a flight of stairs and out into the hedge gardens. The sun had just dipped over the horizon, and there were still tons of pokemon above-deck. Once Espeon and Umbreon were surrounded by pokemon, they began to move faster. The cover that the crowd provided let them slink through between the individual pokemon with little more than a disturbance or annoyed passerby here and there. They made it into the elevators, at which point they broke out in a sprint for the nearest one.

Not a moment too soon—looking back, Umbreon saw that the two manetric had somehow tailed them through the crowd, and were exiting from the same spot they had now. He watched one of their noses rise up and sniff the air. Even through this large messy crowd, they'd been tracking the two of them down with scents.

Well, that wouldn't fly much longer. Espeon skidded to a stop within an open elevator first, followed by Umbreon a few seconds later. Immediately, Umbreon jammed his paw down on the 'door close' button, watching as it closed and blocked out the faces of two steadily-approaching manetric. Then he hit the button for B1, which led into the flight docks.

The elevator opened on a massive chamber, currently empty. The docks were closed for the night, allowing Umbreon and Espeon to slip by without much commotion.

A buzzing could be heard, picked up by their sensitive ears. It grew louder and louder, until it was the thunderous sound of wings beating hundreds of times a second. The massive form of a flygon touched down on the dock ahead, looking around.

"Over here!" Espeon called out, running forward.

Near behind them, the ding of an elevator, Umbreon took a quick look back, seeing one of the elevators to the side open. If the docks were closed, there was only one pokemon it could be—without thinking, he broke out into a run, trailing after Espeon within seconds. The flygon wasn't too far ahead now—

But when the manetric started running, neither of them had any hope of escape.

One second, Umbreon was sprinting towards the flygon. The next, something sent him tumbling to the ground. He found himself pinned to the ground, half his cheek smushed into the cold, hard floor of the docks.

Atop him stood a manetric, larger and far more powerful than he was. Its paws had him pinned down to the deck firmly, and he could barely move anything under the weight. Still, he tried to.

He could see out of the corner of his eye that Espeon was pinned to the ground, similar to him. She was struggling against her own manetric, trying to use her psychic pull to thrust the pokemon off her. But it wasn't enough. The manetric was resisting, and winning.

The thunderous buzzing of wings captured his attention for a minute—the flygon, spooked, had already spun around and taken off.

"You're coming with us," the manetric standing over Umbreon leaned down and growled in his ear. "Behave the rest of the way there if you know what's good for you."

~\({O})/~

Sparkleglimmer's Office

Sparkleglimmer's office was deceptively cute and cozy. The walls were a shade of soft, purplish pink decorated with wavy magenta lines, and pictures of various flora and fauna lined the walls. A dark, mahogany desk sat on an oval rug the color of the walls, and a single emera-light from the ceiling lit the whole room with a magnificent glow.

Espeon and Umbreon were escorted in by the two mooks, and made to sit down in front of the desk.

"I thought you should know," said Sparkleglimmer, who sat behind the desk. In her ear ribbons, she held the letters Espeon and Umbreon had been drafting up. Dainty, round reading spectacles sat on her muzzle—she'd been reading them. "I personally asked dear Alexis and Elliot to step away from the trial last Saturday."

"You… what?" asked Espeon.

"They had no business sitting on a jury when their judgement might be affected by their previous relation to you," Sparkleglimmer continued, still studying the letter. "Something you evidently both knew and were willing to take advantage of. Rest assured they will stepping away from any future trials."

She pointed down to the space in front of her desk with a lower ribbon. "Sit."

Unsure of what else to do, Espeon and Umbreon sat.

"These letters are cute. I must say I admire your resolve; anymon else would have settled after the court case."

Two ear ribbons meticulously folded the papers up and stuffed them back into their envelopes. She then stuck them safely into a drawer on her side of the desk.

"But as admirable as that resolve is, it stops here," she said. "I know you two broke into the entercard lab on the bottom deck yesterday."

Silence again. Neither Espeon nor Umbreon were happy to play along with her, but denying it outright was dangerous. Their silence became an untold confession.

"Before you try to deny it, we found the parts you stole in your duffel bag," Sparkleglimmer continued. "It'll be going back to the lab now, where it belongs. Do the two of you have anything to say for yourselves?"

"We don't care if you confiscate the parts," Espeon said, no longer able to contain herself. "We have proof on its way to Pokemon Paradise right now. You can't stop it. And when the Paradise Times gets our proof—"

"What exactly do you two intend to prove?"

The voice was sweet as sugar plums and smoothly severed the rest of Espeon's sentence.

"That your disingenuous conduct is fraud," Espeon bit back.

"Is it?"

"Yes!"

"But is it?"

"What are you getting at?" Umbreon asked curtly, raising his voice.

"The two of you are terribly misguided," Sparkleglimmer said matter-of-factly. "You seem to possess a fundamental misunderstanding of how this system works that drives you to such… irrational extremes."

"Then enlighten us," Umbreon said through gritted teeth.

"Nothing HAPPI has done is illegal," Sparkleglimmer enunciated smoothly. "In a couple of days we will reveal "new research", done by our friends at Boltund Industries, that nullifies our public concerns about Magnagate technology. A partnership will be announced with Boltund Industries to fund a controlled, HAPPI-mandated production. The Times are writing up articles as we speak, you may as well have sent your "proof" to the garbage can."

"But the other newspapers will notice," Espeon hissed. "We sent it to more than just one."

"The other newspapers will report on your little controversy for a week and then move on," Sparkleglimmer replied. "I'm not at all worried about the mumblings of tabloids. However, you two…"

A grin that revealed gleaming fangs.

"You two are at risk of facing criminal charges for breaking and entering on Cloud Nine."

She let that hang in the air for a minute. Cold dread slowly seeped into both Espeon and Umbreon at the prospect.

"Of course!" Sparkleglimmer exclaimed, stunning them out of their shock. "None of that needs to come to light. Because I am willing to make the generous offer that my lawyer made to you last week, and give you one final chance to settle with me."

"Why would we ever settle with you?" Espeon snarled, but Umbreon stopped her.

"Because if you don't, I will press charges," Sparkleglimmer answered sternly. "And I will win."

That shut Espeon up. And it kept them both silent, because they both knew: she was right.

"The papers are drafted up from last week," Sparkleglimmer said. "I am willing to settle for a sum of five-hundred million poke. More than I should allow, given the circumstances, but I am willing to be generous just this once.

"I don't care what the laws say," Espeon muttered. "You didn't have anymon else's best interest in mind when you shut us down, you just took it. This is fraud and you know it."

"Don't care."

The manetric set two papers on the desk. One already had Sparkleglimmer's pawprint signature on the line below. The other was left blank.

"Now sign."

When it was put that way, they didn't really have a choice in the matter to begin with. As much as she didn't want to, Espeon's paw hovered over the inkblot on the desk. It stayed there a minute longer, she couldn't find the strength to press her paw down and finish the job.

Umbreon did it for her. He pressed his own paw into the ink, sliding it under hers, and then marked his print on the bottom of the page.

"Your turn," he said, and the tone he took made it clear it wasn't up for debate.

With a forlorn look on her face, Espeon pressed her paw down, first on the inkblot, then on the paper.

"Splendid," said Sparkleglimmer cordially. Her stern face read anything but. "Transfer me your bank details and we can get this transaction over with."

~\({O})/~

Cloud Nine Hedge Gardens ~ A Few Days Later

If nothing else, Sparkleglimmer was true to her word. The decided-upon amount of money had appeared in Espeon and Umbreon's funds mere hours after the transaction had completed. Neither of them were willing to touch it.

A couple days later, the two of them had decided to take a morning walk out in the hedge gardens. They'd crossed hemispheres long ago, and left behind the suns of summer. Now the chilly winter wind nipped at their fur. They walked along a wide, long walkway across the very edges of the ship, with only sturdy guard rails between them and the clouds beyond that were slowly beginning to reflect the rays of a rising sun. They tinted the sky red.

"Well," Espeon said, staring down at the clouds below as the sky slowly turned from night to day. "We got rich. And our discovery's finally about to come to life."

There was something very glum about that discovery coming to life without them.

"I mean, what was she thinking?" Espeon suddenly screamed. Her voice echoed through rows of empty hedges. "Why would she just do that? Why take all our work and then just cut us out? Why? Why? Why?"

The screaming continued for a bit, until Espeon had huffed and puffed herself all out. Once she was done, she just fell back to her haunches in the middle of the walkway, shutting her eyes and letting out a defeated sigh in exhaustion. She didn't have any fight left.

All the screaming had drawn a small, spread-out audience from the few pokemon that were in the gardens from this time of day. Umbreon politely waved them off, trying to get them to focus their attention on what they were doing again instead of himself and Espeon.

"I've been thinking about it," he began when Espeon had calmed down. While he didn't explode like her, he looked just as beaten down. "I've been doing a lot of thinking. About why she cut us out."

"And?" Espeon asked him dejectedly.

"She wanted the technology for herself," Umbreon said. "We were just a means of getting to it. My guess?"

The wind blew his fur. He looked out to the sea of clouds that lay beyond them, beginning to grow vibrant with the pink rays of dawn.

"Whatever HAPPI wants to do with those entercards, we wouldn't approve."

"We only wouldn't approve if it's not right," Espeon muttered.

"Exactly." Umbreon's eyes dully surveyed the pink-orange clouds ahead. "We're not morally flexible enough. So we had to go. That's the missing piece."

A few seconds of silence hung in the air,

"So now what do we do?" Espeon asked, finally raising herself to her feet. She joined Umbreon up near the railing, where they could both watch the brilliant display of clouds before them.

"Now?" Umbreon asked. It was rhetorical. What could they do?

He looked down to the brown satchel he wore. It was light, filled only with the things he'd never bothered to unpack. But maybe, what it had briefly carried…

"It's a longshot, but how many of the parcels we sent arrived where they were supposed to? Even if we don't own the rights, we could still get back our evidence." He looked at Espeon. "Maybe figure out what they tampered with to improve our design."

Espeon looked back. "Do you really think it's going to be as easy as walking in there and taking back a package?"

"I think it's worth a try," Umbreon shrugged. "We don't have anything to lose."

The sound of a large horn rang out from behind them. The noise turned their heads back towards the domed central building in the distance, where a voice over loudspeakers echoed throughout the ship.

"Attention all passengers," the amplified voice rang out, echoing over the gardens. What few pokemon were around immediately looked up towards the voice, giving it their full attention. "Cloud Nine will now begin the final descent towards our destination, Pokemon Paradise. Docking will commence in five minutes."

A rumbling began to course through the decks below them, and both Espeon and Umbreon felt a 'pop' in their ears. The shaking of the deck continued, then suddenly jolted, and as the clouds around them started to rise, they knew: they had started to fall.

Soon, they had descended through the clouds completely. As Espeon and Umbreon peered over the side rails of the walkway, they could see the fields of dull green grass thousands of meters below, and beyond that, the many violet roofs of Paradise.

The landing had begun.

~\({O})/~

Music of the Week:

The King's Man – Matthew Margeson

Yennefer of Vengerberg – Sonya Belousova, Giona Ostinelli