=Chapter 37, Segan's Return=
(?'s PoV)
"I know, you regret your actions, but that was almost a year ago. What happened, happened, and I completely forgive you."
(Yet why do you wish me not by your side? After all of that effort, you wish me not by your side when the time comes and I accept you as my master?)
"It's not about wanting you by your side, but I just want to win the league with my own power, not yours!"
(But my power is yours, your power is greater because of it, your determination and strength of will is greater than mine, with them combined you would be unstoppable… why do you wish to weaken yourself?)
"You wouldn't understand it, if I took on the league with you I would win simply because I had 'you' on my team. My team is strong, but if you remember… it took all they had just to hold on against you. It's just how I am, I never beat the eight Gym Leaders so I have to start again from scratch. When the time comes I'll challenge the league and prove I'm the greatest."
(I see… very well then… I will let you be. What will happen to me then if I am not to be by your side? Will you simply keep me in that small device until you require my assistance?)
"I'll take your ball with me and leave it in standby mode, this way you won't be forced to stay with me all the time. I want you to be free to soar the skies just as you did before I challenged you."
(Very well… what will you do then in my absence?)
"I'll go to Mt. Pyre to train, there are some powerful ghost Pokemon there that I've wanted to challenge."
(As you wish… Master.)
(Jacob's PoV)
(Master… Master… MASTER JACOB!)
"Huh?" Jacob whispered, blinking back the dream he had been having and returning to reality.
(You were falling asleep again Jacob.) Sara said from his lap as he sat in Professor Electra's lab, or more specifically her rock carving workshop.
"Oh, sorry, I was having another weird dream." Jacob said, yawning as he scratched his eyes to wake himself up faster.
(Do you have these dreams often?) Latias asked him, sitting down next to him and looking at him with a concerned look on her face.
Latias was currently disguised as a human teenager with a white t-shirt and red pants, as well as matching shoes. She also had red and white hair with the white part resembling her ears in normal form, with the rest of it flowing to below her shoulders and ending in red. Despite looking and acting as close to human as she could, she still had to send Jacob messages via Telepathy, and unless some deliberately tried to trip her 'legs', she looked and even felt like the real thing. She told Jacob that she borrowed her disguise from some humans that she managed to observe before entering Mauville City.
"No Latias, I don't have these dreams often. Though it does feel like one dream I used to have a while back." He said, remembering the previous dream he spoke to Arky about and wondering if he should tell him about this one. "Though it doesn't help that sitting here in the dark makes me sleepy."
(I see…) She said.
It was two days after Latias, Latios, and Elder Latios dropped off Jacob and his friends in Mauville City, some distance away so that passersby and travelers wouldn't notice the three Eon Pokemon and get curious. After that, he gave his two children a teary goodbye, and wished us the best of travels, before leaving and returning to Southern Island.
Jessy said that she and Latios would go on ahead to try and find out more information with her team. They gave the Eon Duo a chance to wish each other luck with their respective Trainers, before Jessy and Latios left Mauvile City, heading for Route 119 and the next town.
As for him, Sara, Karen and Lance, they headed to Electra and her shop, and after talking to her, showing her the data disk and the Snag Ball, she began to work, closing the Gym so she could concentrate on taking apart the Snag Ball and understanding its mechanics piece by piece. This had been going ever since, and wanting to hear what she has to say about the Ball, they waited in Mauville for the two days since they arrived.
However during that time, Latias had to use her ability to bend light around her, making her look like a very attractive teenaged girl of around Karen's age if ever she was out of her ball and wanting to travel with Jacob and the rest of his team. This meant that she looked like any person in the city, but this was a problem for her as she kept drawing attention from a few guys, causing her to pull Jacob somewhere private so that she could return to her ball without being spotted. Quite often guys would try to hit on her, which resulted in them getting away as fast as possible.
Sara also got upset whenever Latias decided to pull Jacob around, asking him to show her around the city and begging him to explain every tiny detail he could about Trainer life and what humans did in general. Though Jacob could not understand what it was about Latias' curiosity that upset the little Kirlia. Sara got unhappy, but not to the point where she was angry, but Jacob could tell that she didn't like how clingy or insistent Latias was in getting Jacob to show her what everything was.
Though he could see her point, as he remembered one time when she tried to figure out what Humans go to the bathroom for and tried to follow him in while in her human guise.
Needless to say, he quickly had to do some explaining before she caused a scene.
(So how much longer do we have to stay here Jacob, this place is rather boring… no offense.) Latias said, looking around at all of the rocks on the shelves, having lost interest when she realized there was nothing else in the shop.
"Whenever Electra tells us she's done." Jacob said, looking at Electra and Volt as she used his mane to power her laptop and other various devices on the table, overlooked by Karen.
Karen and Lance were watching as Electra typed in commands, read things on one computer, tapped the Snag Ball with various wires and sipped coffee, all in the time span of minutes by the hour. Both she and Jacob were amazed as Electra hammered away at her computer with the Snag Ball, trying to understand how it worked as quickly as she could. She had been at this for two whole days they'd been there, and she had been doing this most of those days, taking only short breaks to eat small meals and of course make more coffee.
They both figured Volt would be annoyed at having to sit there doing nothing but continue to power all of her equipment, yet he was resolute and unconcerned. He knew how important this task was to Electra, and he had the easy job of simply powering her equipment. She however was the one drinking enough caffeine to float an aircraft carrier and typing so fast they all feared her computer's keyboard would break.
So for the next hour they simply sat and listened to the constant clicking and clattering of her keyboard. Jacob wanted to do something besides sit there, but he and Karen insisted to each other that they wait it out. They wanted to know everything as soon as she was finished, and no amount of boredom or inactivity was going to change their opinions or decisions.
After another hour of sitting, or in Karen's case standing, Jacob began to nod off in tiredness and boredom. Soon after he started to nod off Karen joined him and sat down on the floor with Lance, and she too started falling asleep.
The inactivity and forcing themselves to wait affected them greatly, this was unlike anything they were used to.
Then, after they began to doze off, Sara was also sleepy as well Latias and Lance, it was then Jacob noticed something different.
It was absolutely quiet, not even Electra's typing could be heard.
"Electra?" Jacob said, causing everyone to snap out of their half focused sleeps.
Electra had her arms hanging from her chair and was taking slow and deliberate breaths. Then she rubbed her eyes and forehead before snapping the Snag Ball shut and thanking Volt for his help. "I've cracked this little bugger." She said with a huge grin. "Whoever programmed it, is going to hate me when they discovered I've figured out what makes this thing tick." After that declaration she turned on the lights, moved all of her electrical equipment, and put the Snag Ball on display for them all to see. "It's basically a Pokeball with special programming properties and electrical circuits to allow it to bypass the Pokeball Barrier System."
"Uh… can you explain in Lameman's terms?" Karen asked.
(Or at least Poketalk?) Sara asked Jacob.
Electra sighed and shook her head in frustration. "Basically what this Snag Ball is, is a variation of the regular Pokeball that Trainers purchase from stores." She said. "In other words, someone took the standard Pokeball model, added some new features and programming, and refitted it so that it could capture previously caught Pokemon. It runs on the principle of 'is it caught, then catch it, is it not caught, then catch it as well', understand now?"
"Yea." Jacob and Karen said.
"Okay now that you understand that basic concept, on to the more fun technical stuff." Electra said. "Now this thing is a piece of work, I'll tell you. I've been studying it for nearly twenty hours straight, and how it goes about capturing Pokemon already previously caught is astonishing, if somewhat scary. It actually uses the Pokeball Barrier System's own energy to break through it, as soon as the anti-capture barrier goes up, it absorbs that energy, converts it into a power source to override the barrier system, and breaks through it. Essentially rendering the Pokeball Barrier completely useless."
"How it identifies and breaks the Pokeball Barrier system though is the real clever part." She continued, eyeing the ball with a grin. "You see each Pokeball is given a special numerical code, that only the Pokeball Factory's Central Database holds, this code allows a Pokemon to be transferred safely into a new Pokeball. If you tried to transfer them to another ball without destroying the previous ball, the barrier would activate, thus resulting in the Pokemon being protected from this 'foreign' Pokeball. In order to keep all Pokemon safe from being re-captured, this code remains stored in ONLY the Pokeball Factory's Central Computer, and only the Chairman has access to it."
"But this Snag Ball is different, it's equipped with a hacking tool that searches the Protection Barrier, once it's activated, and locates the numerical code via that barrier's energy signature. Each code has a distinct signature, and to the naked eye all the barriers look the same, but to this Snag Ball, each one is as different as two Pokemon from different regions."
"So how do we counter it?" Jacob asked. "Harold was almost captured by one of those things, how do we keep it from happening again?"
At this Electra rubbed her eyes again, a sign of exhaustion as she sighed. "That Jacob, is the real problem." She said. "It's almost impossible to counter these things, it would be possible to counter their programming but it's just so complicated that it would take me months just to find a counter measure. Of course that also doesn't count the fact that I would have to apply it to every single Pokeball ever purchased, in the history of ever."
"So there's nothing you can do for our teams?" Karen asked.
"Yea, I was hoping you could do something to help Harold, ever since he was nearly snagged he's been feeling terrified of being snagged again." Jacob said, to which Sara nodded in agreement.
"I'm afraid there's nothing I can REALLY do, nothing permanent anyway." She said, taking out her pen and putting a Pokeblock on it to chew on. "However there is one thing I could do that will at least help your Harold out as well as your teams as a whole. Here, release them one by one and then hand me their balls."
Jacob did as she asked and released Harold, but only Harold because it was becoming quite cramped in the small shop with so many Pokemon and Trainers present. After he was out he handed the ball to Electra and she hooked it up alongside the Snag Ball to her computer, as well as Volt's mane to power it again. Minutes later and much clicking and clattering of her keyboard, she handed the ball back to Jacob.
"There, I've managed to program a secondary layer of defense for Harold's Pokeball Barrier System." She said, scratching her eyes. "If he should come under attack by another Snag Ball, the Barrier System will temporarily repel it, giving him time to avoid the ball. But it's not foolproof, and it only applies for a few seconds, maybe even less. Still considering the shortness of time, it's better than leaving it as is."
"Thank you very much Electra." Jacob said, taking the ball and showing it to Harold, who looked quite relieved that he now had a better defense against the Snag Balls. "Will you do it for all of our Pokemon?"
Electra sighed and said she would do it for free. "But next time you come to me and have me run this marathon, I am charging you by the hour for my services!" She warned them as he recalled Harold and released his next Pokemon in line. "Seriously, I've been running on two hours of sleep and thirty plus of caffeine."
So half an hour later all of their Pokemon had a better defense against the Snag Ball thanks to Electra. After that was done she once again looked thoroughly exhausted. "Well, now that we're done, are there any other questions you have for me?"
"Yea, we were wondering if you had a chance to go over that Data Disk we gave you." Karen asked.
"Ya I looked at it." Electra said, pulling out the Data Disk and showing it to them. "Unfortunately when I tried to access it, all of the data instantly was erased. Everything was wiped clean from it."
"No way, we checked it on Southern Island, there was tons of data on it!" Karen said in amazement. "I read it with my own eyes, we all did."
"There was apparently a program that activated the second I tried to access the data. It allowed your PokeTech to access it, but upon being accessed a second time, it wiped all of the data. I would guess it was implanted in one of the files and was put there to keep others from accessing it. Either that or it was only meant to be viewed one time and then the data destroyed after that. Whatever the case, this thing is just paper weight now."
"Bummer…" Jacob said. "Well in any case Electra, thank you very much for helping us, we owe you big time!"
(Yes, thank you for helping us!) Sara said with a polite bow and curtsy.
"We owe you big time." Karen said with a thumbs up.
"Just make sure you flip the sign on the door before you leave." Electra said, taking out a pillow from under her desk and a large blanket and laying both on the floor. "Volt and I are crashing here, night!"
"Manec…" Volt said as he curled up and lay down with Electra as Jacob and Karen and their teams left the shop, turning the sign so it said 'Closed Until : Whenever', before they closed the door.
"She really knows how to tire herself and Volt out." Jacob said to Sara and Latias as they left. "I feel sorry for bringing the Snag Ball to her if that's how she was going to be about it."
(Don't be, I was feeling her emotions the entire time. That is one happy lady we just left behind Jacob.) Sara said with a smile.
"She's a glutton for punishment?" Jacob asked her as she rode on his shoulder as always.
(You bet, the moment we showed her that Snag Ball, she was happier than a Skitty chasing its own tail!) She giggled to him.
(Hey Master Jacob, can we go check out the food court today?) Latias said, running in front of Jacob and giving him a happy smile. (Please, you promised you'd treat us to the food court today!)
"Alright let's go, but please stop calling me 'master', just Jacob is good enough I told you before." Jacob said with a sigh.
(Yay!) Latias said, jumping enthusiastically before grabbing Jacob and starting to drag him in the food court's direction. (I'm also sorry about the 'master' part, I'm still getting used to having a Trainer. I always thought Pokemon referred to their Trainers as Master.)
At this Jacob felt a jealous feeling through his psychic connection with Sara the moment Latias grabbed his arm. Why she was getting jealous of Latias every time she grabbed his arm he didn't know, but once she felt Jacob's query, she instantly became embarrassed. (Sorry Jacob, it's just I'm not used to a Legendary being with us… and she's constantly clinging to you and holding your hand every few seconds.)
*She's just curious and wants to see everything.* Jacob replied as Latias let him go at seeing the Mauville Food Court. *She's not used to humans, she's been on Southern Island her entire life. Seeing anything human related to her is exciting and a whole new adventure, so try to indulge in her enthusiasm for now okay? What's the harm in just letting her be excited about being somewhere besides home.*
Sara sighed in acceptance and nodded. (Alright Jacob, I'll try to be a little less jealous of her.)
With that they entered the Mauville Food Court and ordered a few subs for them all. As they sat waiting for their meal, a few people challenged them to battles, but after earning their fifth badge and having fought each other so often, both Jacob's and Karen's teams were quite powerful and skilled. Needless to save, after the fifth challenger failed to budge them from their spots, it was clear to other people to avoid fighting with them.
"Finally our food is here!" Karen said after two waiters walked over to their tables and handed them their food. Seven Village Sub Combos, hot and ready to be devoured.
Devoured they were.
"Ah… now that was a good meal." Karen said, patting her belly as she ate her sub after dividing one combo for her team while Lance had one to himself. "Nothing like kicking some Trainer Butt before a meal and then enjoying the fruits of all that hard work."
"You make it sound like you did all the hard work." Jacob said, though he was proud at how well his team had done. The only one absent from his group was Kora, whom he had sent back to Professor Nomel so he could continue researching her various spores.
The rest of his team were still eating their pieces of one of the sub combos, since his team was larger they divided two of the combos up for them all, while he and Sara shared one. Latias had one to herself and was busy cleaning her fingers for the taste of what remained of her combo. (Wow you humans sure know how to eat big!) She said with her mind. (Back home I would have begged mother to let me have some fruit to go with my Remoraid meal.)
(Just wait until we're back on the road, this is a treat.) Sara said through a mouthful of food. (Speaking of which Jacob, when are we going to compete for money again, we're out of money thanks to this.)
"Yea, I just realized it." Jacob said quietly. "We don't have any money at all Karen, and we need to buy more supplies!"
Unfortunately Jacob chose to tell Karen that when she was taking a drink of soda. "Pffftt, WHAT?" Karen yelled, spraying Jacob and Sara with what soda she did not swallow. "We have no money, what were you thinking buying seven sub combos?"
"I only wanted to buy two, but you're the one who insisted that we treat our teams for all their hard work." Jacob responded, followed by nods from Sara, Latias, and even Lance.
"Ugh, I hate psychic types." Karen said with a sigh. "So now what do we do, live off the land? Berries only help so much, and I know you're a decent cook Jacob, but there is no way I'm going to live off of berries and Magikarp meat for the next few weeks. It's at least a month and a half before we reach Fortree City."
*Well maybe if one of us didn't spend all of our money on soda and treats.* Sara and Jacob thought together.
"Oh my, having financial problems are we Jacob?" A voice called out.
Jacob turned around to see a familiar face, as well as a very familiar dirty jacket and hat made of patches. "Segan." Jacob said as the salon owner sauntered over to their table to shake his hand. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh I'm just fine and dandy Jacob buddy, just peachy after our little escapade in Rusturf Tunnel." He said, sitting down opposite Jacob and next to Karen. "So how have you been since last we saw each other, still have Sara and now you have some friends I guess?"
"You bet, so how's Glace doing?" Karen asked.
"Ask her yourself, come on out Glace!" Segan replied, taking out Glace's Pokeball and releasing her from inside of it.
In a flash, Glace the Froslass appeared, levitating before them and smiling as she recognized them all. "Froslass…" She said to them, bowing politely to them all. (Greetings.)
"Hey there Glace, you're looking way better than the last time we found you." Karen said, giving her a thumbs up.
Glace nodded and told them all that she was indeed much better off than the time Snagem captured her. "After that incident Glace and I have been a bit more hesitant to go out and about away from Rustboro. But when we heard news about trouble going on around Hoenn, Glace and I just had to do something about it."
"You and Glace, uh pardon the bluntness of my fifteen year old brain, but you and Glace are Salon peeps, not Trainers." Karen said skeptically. "How are you supposed to help out what's going on?"
"Glace and I travel quite a bit, and we've made quite a few contacts over the years." Segan said with a grin that was matched by Glace as well. "While we aren't fighters, and banish the thought should I ever even think of forcing Glace to fight, we can contact those who do know how to fight should the time arise. Believe me you kids we have our use when it comes to finding things out."
"What about the salon, isn't your sister going to be mad that you just up and left it?" Jacob asked.
At this Glace and Segan started laughing and giggling. "Oh you can be sure that when she discovers I'm gone, she'll flip a lid." He said, though still laughing. "Don't worry about the salon though, she can handle it all by herself. She's the real business owner, I'm just the one who signs the checks and handles all of the clients that are too important to let others work with."
"Uh… doesn't she also have a Gyarados?" Karen asked nervously.
"Oh Sugar, yes she does have Sugar, but don't worry about him." Segan said, still laughing at the thought of Fera flipping out. "She and I get on each other's nerves so much that this is the norm for us. I go out on my own and leave her to deal with the Salon so frequently that she isn't as phased by it as you think. Though she will give me an earful when we go back." As Segan and Glace finally calmed down he glanced over at Latias and eyed her with a curious look. "So are you going to introduce me to your friends or am I going to have to ask myself?" He asked with a smile.
"This is Lance, my Riolu." Karen said instantly, giving Lance a scratch on his ears.
Glace looked over at Latias and looked confused while Karen introduced Lance to Segan. Latias, noticing Glace's suspicious looks tried to hide behind a nervous smile. Glace than smiled and turned to talk to Segan psychically, making Segan smile all the wider. "Oh I see, so you've got a Latias with you." Segan said with a smile.
"How do you…" Jacob started saying before he remembered that Glace was part ghost as well as ice. "Of course, Ghost type Pokemon aren't fooled by psychic type illusions as well as others."
"Wait how do you know about Latias?" Karen asked.
"One of our hobbies when we're alone at night is watching old Pokemon Battles." Segan said as Glace floated next to him and leaned her head against his shoulder. "We have lots of old battles recorded, including a few that featured Latios and Latias Trainers. Though I have to say we've never met one in person before, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Latias nodded but didn't say anything to Segan. "Now then, introductions aside, you were saying something about having no more money?" Segan asked in a more serious tone.
(Yes, we spent the last of our savings just now Mr. Segan.) Sara said. (Mauville has no tournaments that we could enter for money, so we won't be able to buy anything until that happens.)
"We could make it to Fortree City eating off of berries and maybe the occasional Magikarp meal, but Karen doesn't want to do that for the next three or four weeks." Jacob said.
Karen nodded in agreement. "Got that right, I don't mind living off the land, but spending all of that time scavenging for food is a waste of time." She said.
"I see, well in that case how about a deal?" Segan said enthusiastically. "Since Glace and I are running around, and aren't tough fighters, how about we stick with you two. In exchange for your protection and letting us join you on your adventures, I will pay for anything we need while we're together. How does that sound?"
Both Karen and Jacob were open mouthed at Segan's generosity, and before Jacob had a chance to reply, Karen yelled, "Problem solved, welcome to the group Segan!"
"Hooray!" Segan chuckled. "So, now that that's settled, how about we start buying supplies."
With that declaration made they returned their plates so they could be taken by the food court, and made their way to the shops to purchase supplies. They were quite quick to purchase supplies for their group, and Segan, true to his word, purchased all of it with his own money. He even gave Karen some money to purchase a few of her favorite soft drinks and snacks while they purchased the more important supplies. As they made their way to a medicinal shop to refill their depleted stocks, Jacob once again became caught up in Latias' unfortunate choice for a disguise.
"Hey there girl, what's your name?" A young man of about eighteen asked Latias as they watched Segan pick out special herbs and berries for them.
Jacob and Sara turned to see Latias uncomfortably tried to avoid the gaze of yet another guy trying to ask her out. She would have responded verbally, but because her image as a human was merely a disguise, so she couldn't talk like a human. So all she could do was smile awkwardly and edge closer to Jacob. (Uh, Jacob, a little help please master?)
"Uh, sir, you're kind of making my sister uncomfortable." Jacob said, trying to come up with an excuse to get the guy away from her.
"Your sister huh, you sure about that?" The guy said, looking between him and Latias who was slowly backing behind Jacob. "She sure doesn't look like your sister."
"Well you see she's…" He tried to say, but Glace intervened by floating in front of them with a glare.
"Uh, can I help you?" The man asked the Froslass.
In response she took a deep breath, and blew extremely cold air at the man, causing him to back away due to how cold it was. "Froslass…" She said, before turning to Jacob and ushering him, Sara and Latias out of sight while the man was busy trying to get warm.
"She says get a move on Jacob." Segan yelled as he busily browsed through the herbs, ignoring the scene behind him. "Just let her deal with the idiot."
"Idiot, I'm not an idiot!" The guy shouted.
"You are when you try to hit on girls that are way out of your league boy." Segan yelled while Jacob and Latias ran out of sight so that she could return to her normal form to be returned into her ball.
(Why do you human males find my disguise so attractive?) Latias asked as she resumed her normal look and waited for Jacob to find her ball.
"I'm not sure if I'm the right guy to ask that." Jacob said with a sigh, pulling out her Premier Ball.
(I can think of a few reasons…) Sara said with a nervous chuckle.
=Meanwhile, in another facility far away from any of Hoenn's cities and towns=
(Viridian's PoV)
[Another failure Viridian, yet again you failed to capture a legendary.] Viridian's boss said over the multi communicator. [Not only did you fail to secure this legendary, you also allowed them to gain access to one of our facilities. Care to explain these failures Viridian?]
Viridian remained as cool and calm as he could while he stared at the faded image in front of him. "Once again I can only blame my failure on a lack of information and surprise." He said, pushing up his glasses out of habit. "I was not aware that they even had access to the facility, in the first place. I personally believe that they gained access to it because we might have a mole in our organization, attempting to sabotage our operations from the inside."
[In other words you're going to once again blame someone else for your failure Viridian.] Masquerade said with glee behind that mask of his. [How come whenever I succeed or am about to succeed in an operation you somehow manage to fumble it at the end? The first time you had me purchasing stupid Great Balls for our boys in Petalburg Woods when you knew I should have been working on obtaining the Suicune. Then when I track down the Articuno and told you to hurry up capturing it, you end up letting it get away thanks to a certain kid and his friend. Now after I painstakingly capture a legendary for us to use, what happens, you end up letting it slip through your greedy little fingers. As for your claim to a 'mole' in our organization, how come all of these failures happen on 'your' watch?]
"Are you implying that I am secretly working against our own organization?" Viridian snarled through his teeth.
[Well if the Pokeball fits the belt Viridian.] He replied. [Perhaps you should be reassigned and let me handle the location, and capture of the necessary legendary class Pokemon we are searching for. Then again we could always just use him instead.]
[Well why don't you go back and capture that legendary again?] Their boss demanded.
"Unfortunately we no longer have the coordinates, all information was wiped after the lockdown, and the jet we took to the island suffered damage to its navigation's system. We were forced to replace the system and that erased the coordinates and flight plan."
[Furthermore boss, when I tried to access your database for the coordinates to the island, the information was erased.] Masquerade said. [There is no record of what you sent us, and since you neglected to keep a written record, we cannot go back to the island without the coordinates. In other words Southern Island is now off limits. Perhaps Viridian's claim about a mole is true, but at this point I can't pinpoint who it could be.]
There was silence as their boss silently fumed. Before a third screen resumed the conversation. [According to your reports, a young boy was involved in all three incidents Viridian and Masquerade.] A female voice declared, though her screen was on audio only.
"Affirmative, a young man who apparently healed the Suicune in Petalburg Woods tried to stop me on Mt. Chimney. He then attempted to stop me in the base, but both times he was spared by a legendary intervening."
[I see, in that case may I perhaps be given special dispensation to seek out and study this particular human, so that we may ascertain his threat to our organization?]
[Why should you be given this dispensation, you are the lead scientist to Project Dark Aura?] Their boss demanded. [Your efforts should be spent on continuing to advance our project, not studying some boy and his pets.]
There was silence as the third screen remained audio only, before she spoke yet again. [If this young man and his colleagues have gained information about us, we need to determine how much he knows and if he presents a threat to us. In previous generations, previous organizations made the mistake of not taking the threat of a 'minor nuisance' seriously, and thus cost them their plans. The Trainer Red took on Team Rocket, Trainer's Ruby and Saphire with Magma and Aqua, Trainer's Diamond and Pearl with Team Galactic, Trainer's Black and White with Team Plasma, and finally Trainer's X and Y with Team Flare.]
[All of these Alias Trainers were underestimated by these organizations, and each led to said organization's downfall. If we do not study this boy and the possible threat he may be to us, we too may suffer such a downfall. Treat him as an annoyance if you wish, but I believe a few weeks or even months of observing this boy from me, will not harm our efforts in the long run, instead they will enable us to end a threat before it begins. But the decision is yours boss.]
Once more silence as their boss thought about her argument. [Very well, you may go. Viridian you are to provide her with the information necessary to find him.] He said. [This will also be a good opportunity to test our Shadow Pokemon outside of the laboratories and other facilities. You are to take a selection of personal and Shadow Pokemon, and test them on Trainers and wild Pokemon near Fortree City and Route 119. Dismissed.]
With that declaration made, he switched off his monitor and left Masquerade, Viridian and the third member of the conversation alone. "So, Anita Rig, why the sudden interest in this boy?" He asked coldly.
[The same as yours Viridian, but unlike you I am more curious about him.] She said in her same bored tone. [I want to see what makes this boy special, what drives him, and above all, his Pokemon.]
[Well I can see you two have business to attend to, so I too will leave.] Masquerade cut in with a chuckle. [I've got to deal with these Snagem idiots in Lilycove, you know, keep them in line and make sure they are on schedule. I'll let you handle the rest here, but rest assured, I'll begin looking for yet ANOTHER legendary for our purposes. Of course though, Viridian will somehow find a way to mess things up.]
Masquerade's screen went blank as he ended his transmission, leaving a seething Viridian and a bored Anita. "The boy has a Grovyle, and a Kirlia at his side." Viridian sneered, deciding to just give her what she needed.
[Anything special about him that I should be aware of?]
"Yes, he cares deeply for his Pokemon, he cares for all Pokemon." Viridian said.
[I see… one of those types.] She responded. [This will indeed be a perfect chance to test the Shadow Pokemon at our disposal. I want to find out which is stronger, the Shadow Pokemon and their 'simulated bond', or the naturally trained and 'natural bond' that comes with experience and affection of a Pokemon towards its trainer?"
"I don't care which, as long as we can produce the most powerful Pokemon ever." Viridian said before he shut off his view screen and left the room.