Chapter 9

Pandemonium

Earth 63 2048, 5:57 PM

Layla's POV

I ran down the hall after Kyle. He wasn't listening to anyone or anything. He was talking to the director and that was final. He opened the door just as I caught up with him. As the door opened the director was hanging up the phone. The director began to open his mouth only for Kyle to speak first.

"When were you planning on telling us about those two?!" He demanded.

"Those two are agents, as with all agents they are not required to disclose personal information to their squad mates unless they choose to." Director Simmons reminded Kyle.

"THAT falls under personal information?!" Kyle yelled.

The director's face grew more agitated, he got up from his desk and picked up a tv remote. His leather chair hissing with steam as he stood up. Everyone knew that the director was a shifter with fire powers, but this was the first time I had seen it in person. He was so frustrated that his powers were raising his body temperature without him knowing.

"Secrets are IMPORTANT." he explained sternly, grinding his teeth together as he turned on the TV in his office.

The screen cracked to like, showing a news report about the incident in Castelia city. He then changed the channel. Another news station was covering the same thing. He changed the channel 10 times before turning it off. Every single one was covering the incident.

Kyle calmed down slightly, the director sat the remote down on his desk and returned to his chair. He rubbed his forehead, doing his best to remain calm. There was a short pause as no one in the room, me included knew what to say.

"We've been hiding the secret of legendary Pokémon's existence for over twenty years, all of that caution and effort gone in less than 20 seconds of video." Director Simmons confessed.

"I just wish you wouldn't have left us in the dark" I said as calmly as I could.

"I'm sorry for Cyrus getting away." Kyle apologized.

"Don't be sorry, I don't blame you, or Charlie and Kelly even. You were doing everything in your power to keep Cyrus in custody" The Director admitted.

I was about to speak up when the door opened behind me. In the doorway was a man who'd I'd never seen in person but always idolized. Professor Connor Malcom was the head of the 3 shifter academies and the founder of the Shifter Care Centers all over the world. He was taller than I imagined, his blond hair was well kept along with his shined black shoes. He was wearing a black suit with brown buttons, the fabric of the suit was flawless to the point that it looked brand new. In his hand was a silver cane that looked like it was forged from a single piece of metal. Atop the cane's handle was a bluish white gemstone. His eyes were calm and caring despite their blood red coloration.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something Jake" Connor said as he shut the door behind him.

"No Connor, you're not, how did your meeting with the Unovan president go?" The Director asked.

"Not very well, he said he'd give us 24 hours to make a statement, after that he'll make one" Connor explained in a sad voice.

"We'll come up with something, I've emailed everyone and we should be ready for our conference soon" Director Simmons assured him.

Director Simmons began to speak only for Connor to interrupt him. "I noticed you said you had a possible high value prisoner?"

"Yes, a Zoroark that came out of the portal, it reopened after Giovanni left and he came out" The Director said nonchalantly.

Connor's eyes went wide, he looked at Jake straight in the eyes and asked "did the Zoroark have white highlights In his mane rather than black" he sounded almost afraid to ask.

Jake nodded slowly, only for Connor to say "I need to see him" before running out of the room.

The director cocked his head, then sighed and began to type on his computer again

We turned to leave only for the director to stop us. "Specialist Layla, may I have your key card for a moment" he asked nicely.

I pulled out my badge and retrieved the laminated keycard in the back of the sleeve. I reluctantly handed it over, worried I was in for a demotion.

He plugged the badge into his computer's card reader and began to type on his computer, after a small beep he took it out of the card reader and handed it back to me.

"You've been upgraded to level 8 clearance, swipe it in the elevator and go to sub level six for a new assignment. Ivan will explain the rest" Director Simmons said before motioning us to leave.

I walked out, Kyle following behind me, I wondered what new assignment awaited me.

Earth 97 2048 7:30 PM

3rd person POV

The castle was massive, surrounded by an industrial complex that was the size of three large towns.

In the highest tower there was boardroom with 6 people around it. It was dead silent. There was nothing to discuss until Giovanni arrived.

On the far end of the table Maxie and Archie sat across from each other, both clearly trying to avoid looking at one another. Despite the fact that they each had their own regions to rule and had no reason for conflict it was abundantly clear that they couldn't stand being in the same room together.

Ghetsis was sat down the row from Maxie, he was sitting at his chair completely uninterested in what was happening around him. His only hand was tapping his fingers on the table as a show of impatience.

Across from Ghetsis, Lysandre was looking over his research on a tablet, wanting to be ready for his report when Giovanni arrived.

Finally Lusimine was sitting across from Cyrus, she was looking at herself In a mirror to assure she looked perfect. Cyrus on the other hand was scowling at the chair at the head of the table. Like everyone present he wasn't a fan of taking orders from someone else but Giovanni had left them to their own devices as long as they completed the projects he requested. They were free to do whatever else they wanted in their own bases.

Cyrus was about to groan when the massive double doors at the other end of the room opened. Giovanni entered the room with his four Gallades at his side. The Pokémon had been trained from birth to protect Giovanni and had received both physical enhancements along with shadow energy treatments to make them more powerful than any normal Pokémon.

Giovanni took a seat at the head of the table, his guards taking their place in the four corners of the room.

"Well done everyone, it seems that you are all on schedule, I'm pleased with all of your progress, even Cyrus has been improving despite his recent setbacks." Giovanni said to everyone.

"I have a question Giovanni" Cyrus said as formally as he could, he took Giovanni's last words quite personally but decided to ignore it.

"Yes?" Giovanni responded.

"Are you sure no one survived your attack on earth 62?" Cyrus asked

"What makes you think I missed anyone?" Giovanni said defensively.

Cyrus pulled out his tablet and pulled up a traffic camera recording from the parking lot Giovanni had retrieved him from.

Giovanni was about to rebuke Cyrus when the portal he had escaped in re-opened. A Zoroark with white highlights in his mane emerged from the portal and collapsed. The MRPA grabbed him and flew off in their jet just as the feed cut.

Giovanni scowled at the recording, everyone in the room tensed up, worried about what would happen next.

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention Cyrus, I will see to correcting that error soon enough, as for the rest of you, continue as planned," he said before giving out orders one at a time.

"Ghetsis, prepare your ground forces, I want you to invade Sinnoh as soon as possible" Giovanni explained. Ghetsis nodded but said nothing.

Giovanni then turned to Lusimine and said "I want you to keep me in the loop, if any progress is made in the control device tell me"

Lusimine chuckled and said "Gladly."

"Maxie, Arichie I want to see your prototype designs for the Doppler devices your working on" Giovanni requested. Both Maxie and archive nodded repeatedly, clearly wanting to get the meeting over with as fast as possible.

"Cyrus, you and Charon have enough DNA to begin the restorations?" Giovanni asked.

"No, the machine is ready but I need more DNA to start." Cyrus confessed.

"Then you will have it." Giovanni said before standing up and speaking to everyone at the table.

"Because of your efforts, our plans are coming to fruition, soon the entire multiverse will be ours" Giovanni proclaimed as the other Leaders opened portals via their remotes and returned to their own earths.

Everything was falling into place, and soon that meddling Zoroark would be dead…

Chapter Edited By FXCF