Chapter 22: The Battle for Saturn

Lucas paused for a small sigh of relief. He had barely escaped the two guards that had come to throw him out of the Galactic Power building. It was only in the last second that his Rotom Sparky had used its powers to override the electronic lock that had sealed the door the Trainer was now leaning on. The Pokemon phased out of the wall and Lucas praised it heavily as he started moving forward. He knew he was still on the right track. The door lead to a marble staircase with a dark red carpet lined with palm trees every fifth step. Lucas ran up these steps now, thrilled to find that the second mahogany door at the top was unlocked. He swung the door open and ran inside.

He was certain now he was in the right place. The floor was one giant office with one large desk at the back. The huge glass windows flooded the area with sunlight and there were more palm trees and bookcases along the walls. Several fancy stone sculptures shaped like amorphous blobs were scattered around the vast space like a gallery. It was a stereotypical executive office in every way, shape and form. The only thing that rose doubts was the person behind the desk. The young man had dark blue hair parted down the center and spiked up like a cat's ears. He looked roughly Lucas' age, and it was possible he might have even been younger with his round, boyish face, "You're Saturn?"

The teen looked up at the intruder with the lazy despondent curiosity of a cat. He gazed Lucas up and down before settling his eyes on Gizmo's Pokeball on the teen's neck, "It's very impressive that you broke in here just for a Pokemon battle. I'll fight you, but afterward I'll have to ask you to leave,"

Lucas shook his head as he approached the desk, "I'm not here for a Pokemon battle,"

Saturn's difficult to read face showed a slight sign of concern as he reached under his desk, presumably to call for security.

"No, wait! I really need to talk to you, it's urgent," Lucas pleaded.

The boy behind the desk brought his hand back up and wove his fingers together, resting his chin on top of his folded hands, "You managed to get all the way up here, so it must be important. I'll listen. For now."

"My name is Lucas, and I came to tell you about something. There is this group called Team Cosmic. Their goal is to get rid of weakness in the world. And they mean weak people and weak Pokemon," Lucas began. Saturn's eyes narrowed skeptically and unfolded his hands again. Lucas slammed his hands on the desk, "Please don't join them."

Lucas's request seemed to catch the power company's CEO off-guard, hand paused again beneath some unseen button, "You don't want me to join them?"

The teen shook his head furiously, "They're horrible. When they say they want to get rid of weak people and Pokemon, they mean it literally. They want to completely eliminate them. I know that they would offer you a position of power, and probably a lot of money. But please, please don't ally yourself with them. Please, it's not worth anything they promise you,"

The Galactic CEO smiled but before he could say anything the two guards Lucas had alluded had come rushing into the office. Behind them were several dozen several reinforcements and the whiny woman who knew the office's security code, "Mr. CEO! Are you alright? We tried to stop him-"

Suddenly, one of the extra security guards slammed the two leaders with a billy club, sending both men to the ground unconscious. The woman screamed but was grabbed and gagged by one of the extra guards. Saturn stood up suddenly, preparing to react to the mysterious ambush. The man who attacked the other guards stepped forward and flashed an unsettling, familiar, snake-like smile. He pulled off his hat and revealed his true identity, "Good afternoon, CEO Saturn. I am Major Mathias of Team Cosmic, and I have come to make you an offer,"

"You!" Lucas snarled, "How did you get in here!"

"I have to say it's all thanks to you, my little friend," Mathias sneered.

Saturn looked to Mathias and then to Lucas, "Lucas, what's going on? You said you're against them, why did you help them get in here?"

"Oh, he didn't do it intentionally, bless his dumb heart. But when he got into your office and was noticed by security they immediately called for back up. We were able to infiltrate your security forces. Basically, you invited us in. I had a different plan to get in here, but when I ran into Lucas I figured he'd do the hard work for us by trying to sound the alarm," Mathias walked up to Lucas, his snake-smile widening unpleasantly. He was only a few feet away, and shorter than Lucas' brother John, but it still felt like the man towered and overwhelmed the teen.

"You used me," Lucas hissed. He was furious at the Major as well as himself for falling for the trap.

"Yes I did. But if you served me you would have gotten rewarded for your work. There are many rewards for working for Team Cosmic," He leaned in close to Lucas' face before immediately turning to Saturn, "And that is what I have come to talk to you about today, Mr. Saturn. Team Cosmic is all about strength, and you were one of the strongest Trainers in Sinnoh. You were in a position of great power, second-in-command of Team Galactic and we can give you that kind of power again,"

"Those days are behind me. I have no interest in any silly schemes for world domination or whatever asinine plans your group has," Saturn waved off the Major and sat back behind his desk to resume his work.

For the first time Lucas saw Mathias start to look angry, a flash of rage behind his otherwise perfectly kept charming demeanor, "Cyrus was a brilliant man who was brought down because he had a weak organization around him. We are different. We are all about strength. We will rid the world of the weakness in it-"

"And no doubt bring about an age of glory and wonder, I presume," Saturn said wryly, not looking up from his work, "Cyrus was not brilliant. He was insane. A charismatic lunatic who thought he could change the world for the better by eliminating emotions, something he viewed as weakness. Emotion is necessary in the world and more than likely so is what you perceive as weakness. Cyrus failed and so will you. And I want no part in it. I may be much younger than you, Major, but I have learned a lot in a very short time. I was blinded by false idealism but I am not easily deluded anymore. I'm sorry Lucas has wasted his time, I would have turned you down even if I hadn't talked to him first. Now if you don't mind, I have a legitimate company to run,"

The Major's temper finally cracked, "Unlike my favorite toy here, I'm afraid you don't have a choice. You will become a part of Team Cosmic whether you come willingly or not. Go! Arbok!"

The massive snake-like Pokemon came writhing out of its Pokeball and charged Saturn with a decisive slither. Lucas' heart rose in his throat. The Arbok's level was in its mid-fifties, had Mathias attacked him in Mt. Coronet, the Trainer's team would have been wiped out. Saturn reacted on reflex and jumped out from behind the desk, "Go! Bronzong!"

Bronzong was the evolved form of Bronzor, a Pokemon Lucas caught in Mt. Coronet. It was a psychic/steel-type and of an equal level to Mathias' Arbok. Saturn's Pokemon more than had the advantage. The Team Cosmic commander seemed unperturbed, "Arbok, Glare,"

"Bronzong! Psychic!" Saturn's demeanor seemed just as steely and calm as Mathias'. The snake Pokemon's attack failed and the wave of psychic energy collided into him. The Arbok sank limply to the floor.

The Major recalled his downed Pokemon and summoned another, "Go! Seviper!"

It feels strangely appropriate for the Old Creeper to use snake Pokemon, Lucas thought. He marveled at the battle, grateful with each passing second to not be a part of it, as the two powerful contenders clashed.

"Use Psychic, again, Bronzong," Saturn commanded.

"Fire Fang!" Though the psychic/steel-type may have had the advantage in type and move pool, Mathias' distinct advantage was speed. The Seviper whipped across the floor even faster than the Arbok and slammed into its opponent with burning teeth. The Bronzong slammed across the office, crashing into several sculptures that exploded into destroyed chunks of granite and marble, sending Mathias' own men scrambling for cover.

Saturn summoned back his fallen Pokemon, insulted rage cracking his otherwise deadpan face. He pulled out a second Pokeball, and kept glancing back to the elevator doors, "Go Crobat! Confuse Ray!"

The four-winged final form of Zubat glided into the sky before letting out an ear-piercing noise. Everyone in the room clamped their hands over their ears, allowing the female hostage a chance to escape and run behind her boss's desk for safety. The Seviper twitched strangely and thrashed its head about, clearly now so confused it was unsure which way was up. Even with its senses scrambled the loyal Pokemon still reacted to his master's voice, "Seviper, Night Slash!"

The Pokemon thrashed out towards its opponent, releasing a stream of black energy from its tail. The Crobat narrowly avoided the powerful attack and responded a Wing Attack. The two powerful creatures continued to exchange harrowing blows, devastating the carefully chosen decorations of the office and sending members of Team Cosmic diving for safety as they attempted to avoid the combatants. Neither Trainer backed down, Mathias proving what he said about Saturn was true, and in turn showing just how dangerous the Major genuinely was. Though the Galactic CEO was focused on the battle, a small piece of his attention kept flicking back to the elevator doors, as though he kept expecting something to happen.

Suddenly Saturn's expectations were fulfilled as the elevator doors beeped open and a flood of Veilstone City officers flooded the office, their weapons drawn. They turned their guns to the invading forces of Team Cosmic, "Everybody! On your knees with your hands up,"

Mathias seemed genuinely stunned, another new facet of the enemy Lucas had never seen before, "Where did they come from? No one knew we were here and you never touched your phone!"

The young man with the cat-like demeanor beamed with a satisfied smirk, "Most executives have a button which summons security. I happen to have two. The other being an emergency signal directly sent to the police department. I pressed it as you were giving your sales pitch,"

The Major responded with an amused smile, "I'm impressed with your quick thinking. Our Leader was quite correct in believing you would be a valuable asset to us. Between your powerful Pokemon and powerful mind you would have been very useful. It is a genuine shame that we were unable to recruit you, if not only a personal failure of mine,"

"Shut up and hands above your head!" one of the officers barked at the Team Cosmic commander.

Leisurely the man turned his attention to Lucas, ignoring the officer's order, "I'm afraid I must say farewell to you, my friend, but I promise you this won't be the last time we meet. We'll come to see eye to eye one of these days. I have failed in my objective today but it is far to early for me to quit the game. Seviper! Smokescreen!"

The poison-type opened its mouth and belched out a plume of black, foul-smelling smoke that filled the room and obscured all vision. The people in the room's eyes watered and they coughed and wheezed until Saturn's Crobat blew away the noxious gas with his wings. When the room was finally clear again, Mathias and Team Cosmic were gone, leaving a confused police force and a completely destroyed office. The officers attended to the real guards, still knocked out from the Major's attack, the distraught woman who hid behind the desk and the Galactic CEO. One officer gave a suspicious glance to Lucas, "We're glad to see you're alright, Mr. Saturn. But what should we do with this kid, is he part of Team Cosmic?"

"Not at all," Saturn shook his head smiled towards the other boy, "He was actually the one who tried to warn me about their attack. Unfortunately we were both caught by them. I'm very grateful he came," the richer teen approached the Trainer and addressed him directly, "I'm very happy to have met you today, Lucas. I know nothing about you, but you remind me very much of a young lady I met a few years ago. Just like you she tried to plead to me to quit Team Galactic and to treat my Pokemon with love and compassion, to reject to doctrine Cyrus was trying to push. While at first I ignored her and rejected her, I eventually realized she was right. That girl is now the Champion of Sinnoh. You have a good heart Lucas, and if what you did today proves you are like that girl, I believe you will be Champion, too," He turned back to the police and said, "Thank you for all your help today, but we do have a company to run, and I really must get back to work,"

Stepping over the rubble of his office, Saturn sat back behind his desk.