{Present day, evening}

"Ug! I hate this disguise!" I stood in the middle of the hallway of the storage facility near the Great Marsh. I tugged on the shirt of the Galactic uniform with one hand, while I adjusted my blue wig with the other. "I should have looked in a mirror properly before sneaking in like this. Then again, I really can't stand to look at myself in this. What in Distortion possessed Cyrus to have his grunts dress like this? I swear, this uniform is a crime in and of itself!"

After calming down over my Galactic grunt uniform, I slipped back on a pair of special shades I hid in my pocket. Then I continued down the hallway. Soon, I came across the other workers bustling about. I saw half of them in Team Galactic uniforms. "So one of my informants were right. After the fall of Team Galactic, some of the former grunts were hired by Team Celeste to join in some of their affairs. A pity these guys didn't turn to reform."

I assumed some of the other half of the workers are Team Celeste grunts, as this was their operation. So I tried to blend in with the crowds of Team Galactic grunts who scattered throughout. From what I could hear from small-talk, most of the Galactic grunts would be sent to the Great Marsh, while a few stayed at the storage facility. Under an hour, the Dark Balls would be used to capture the nature preserve Pokémon and be sent to a Celeste Admin at another location. With just those facts to go on, I made it away from the others and walked alone through other hallways.

I looked through storage room after storage room for about ten minutes straight, but I couldn't find any containers or shelves of Dark Balls. "I don't have a lot of time. Maybe I should have…no. My partners are busy hitting other Team Celeste locations. I can do this."

Then I came across a locked room. I could hear voices from the other side of the door. "Hm, seems like super important stuff is being discussed in there."I leaned against the door, but try as I might, I couldn't coherently tell what they were saying. "Maybe I can…no. Am I ready yet?" I shake my head and close my eyes. "Well, if I can telepathically communicate with my close partners comfortably, maybe the trauma has passed?"

I focused on the voices in the room. One of them in particular seemed to be dominating the conversations. I felt a light 'ping' in my brain, indicating I'd identified the individual. "Easy part's done. Now I've..."Suddenly a piercing scream seared my mind. I gritted my teeth hard to avoid yelling in pain out loud. "Bad idea, bad idea!" I nearly keeled over and started gasping between breaths. "I'm never going to telepathically communicate with people."

"Hey!" said a woman's voice. I looked up to see a female worker in a Galactic grunt uniform looking at me with a cross look on her face. "What are you doing here? We're supposed to get the Dark Balls ready."

I tried to regain some of my composure. "Okay, change of pace. I can work with this."I kept leaning against the door as I got up to meet her at eye level. "Sorry, I got lost. Been a while since I was last 'in the game'."

She threw her arms up. "Okay, whatever man. But we still got a job to do." She glared at me skeptically as she moved closer. "And why the hell are you wearing dark glasses…indoors…at night?"

"Oh, right, well…" I took my glasses off slowly. She squinted for a second, then gasped. I had placed contacts on my eyes just before sneaking into the storage facility. They gave off a glossy coloration, similar to the look of a sight-impaired person. "I'm partially blind, and these shades have special lenses that help me see well."

After staring for a second, she put a hand on my shoulder. "Oh, sorry! I didn't know."

I put my shades back on as I stood straight. "It's alright. Still won't stop me from completing the objective. Speaking of which, would you happen to know where the Dark Balls are? I was told to get all of them ready for tonight."

"Yes. Actually, I was about to check in with the manager in that room." She pointed to the door I was leaning on. "We're supposed to get the Dark Balls about now, and I want to double check the plans."

"Wait!" I stepped in her way. "I need to think of something convincing. Something 'persuasive'." I forced a smile as she stood there slightly confused. "I mean, why ask permission when you can do it right away? You said so yourself it's about time that we get the Dark Balls ready for the Great Marsh. If we can stay on schedule, or even a little ahead, I bet that would please the manager. You are the most competent of us Galactic grunts, right?"

The woman blushed a bit, then put a hand on her cheek. "Aw, really? I mean, of course! The manager did put me in charge for a reason."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get those Dark Balls right now!"

"Right!" She headed off down the hall, and I followed right behind her.

I put my glasses back on and stayed quiet. "Okay, my persuasion power worked well. I hope I don't have to use it on too many more."

After a couple minutes of walking, the woman led me to a large door. Two male Galactic grunts guarded the door, one on each side. The female Galactic grunts approached them with extra confidence. "Alright, you two! It's time."

"Finally!" said the grunt on the right. "I can't wait until we catch some rare, powerful Pokemon!"

"I doubt we'll get to keep as much as we'd like," grumbled the grunt on the left. "Anyway, what's the manager say now?"

"We're just getting the Dark Balls ready to go," said the female grunt. "That way we can stay on schedule. Maybe even get a bonus from the manager!"

"Alright then…" The left male grunt looked to me, puzzled. "Hey, who's this guy?"

I waved back as innocently as I can. "Eh, I'm pretty new. Don't mind me. Let's just get all these Dark Balls ready."

The three Galactic grunts were in a daze for a second, then the female grunt perked up. "Alright, enough dilly-dallying. Let's get these balls rolling out!"

Without another word, the four of us walked through the large door. The room we walked into was about the average size of a garage, with boxes and shelves stacked floor to ceiling across the walls. But around the center of the room was a large cart filled with the Dark Balls. The three grunts surrounded it while I hung back a bit.

"Hey," said the female grunt, "I thought there were more Dark Balls than this. Where are the other three carts full of them?"

"They've been sent to other areas of the facility," replied one of the male grunts. "Just ordered by the manager".

I grumbled to myself. "So now there are four rooms of these Dark Balls?"

"Why did he make such a sudden call?" asked the female grunt.

"Beats me," said the male grunt. "Maybe it's paranoia? Others who work here originally say he's been acting…off in some way".

I flinched a bit. "Crap! I bet this means one of these Celeste grunts have him under his, or her, persuasion! I gotta act fast…now!"

I cleared my throat to get the grunts' attention. "Well, if the manager is 'out of sorts', then let's get these Dark Balls gathered together. We're going to go to the Great Marshes any minute now, so why not?"

The three looked at me dazed for a second. Then one of the male grunts replied, "Of course. We better hurry then."

"I'll stay here then," said the other male grunt. "You three go get the rest and meet me here."

"Alright," nodded the female grunt. She and the male grunt ran out of the room first.

I followed close behind, but caught the remaining male grunt giving me an uneasy look out of the corner of my eye. "I hope my 'persuasion' got to him…"

A couple of corridors down, the three of us reached another door. The male grunt opened it, showing us the cart of Dark Balls inside.

"I'll stay with these," said the female grunt. "I certainly don't know where the others are. Pick me up when you're all set".

The grunt and I nodded and moved on. Another set of corridors down and we stopped at another room.

The grunt gripped my arm hard and led me into the room. "Okay, the Dark Balls are right here". He led me right to it and forced my hand onto the rim of the cart. He also spoke to me slowly, and louder than necessary. "Stay here and wait for me. I'll knock on the door to let you know when I'm back."

I smirked, "Sure, pal. Thanks for the assist". "And I'm supposed to be blind, not deaf, you idiot!"

The grunt ran off, closing the door behind him. After a few seconds, I whipped out my Unbound Rings I kept in my pocket. I slipped them on my right middle finger, then thought of Mt. Chimney. In a flash, a portal developed in front of me. Then I kicked the cart hard into it before closing the portal. "Good, that's done. Now the other three."I walked over to the hinge side of the door and wait.

A minute after that, silence. Panic started to creep in. "I hope that guy in the first room didn't figure me out. I need to conserve my strength and not waste my 'persuasion power' so much." I pressed my hand against my forehead. "Man, what's taking him so long? I'm on a time table!" I took a few deep breaths. "Okay, Will. Calm down. Stay focused. Stay positive." I put my hand back down and smiled. "I'll treat myself to a Lumiose Galette if I succeed. I'll even pay for it this time."

I nearly jumped when a few loud bangs came from the door. "Okay, I'm ready," the male grunt shouted through the door.

I readied my stance. "Okay, let's do this."

He pounded on the door a few more times. "Come on, get your Dark Balls ready."

"Oh? You mind lending me a hand?" I said.

"Alright, alright," he whined loudly. The door handle creaked as the door began to open. "I hope I don't have to do everything…" But just as he stepped half way through the door, I slammed my body back at the door. The door swung wildly against the grunts head and he fell back into the hallway. He bent over as he held his right hand on his head and his left hand around his right arm. "Augh! The fuck…?!" I ran out and threw a punch at his head before he could look up. With that, he lay flat on the floor.

"That's for thinking I was hard of hearing," I grunted at him. I turned to see the cart of Dark Balls the grunt brought with him. I pushed it through another portal, then dragged the unconscious grunt into the room I was in. "Just two left, now." I lugged the grunt into an empty cart, left the room closed, and came back the way I was led.

I passed by a few workers and grunts without being stopped. Then I reached the room with the female grunt. I knocked three times before saying, "You still in there?"

"Yeah," she replied. Her voice sounded like she's right next to the door. "You two ready?"

"Yep,"

"Hold on…" She began to push the door handle.

At that moment, I, too, gripped the door handle and whipped the door open. It swung into the room, whacking the female grunt in the face. She flew back, hitting her head against the rim of the cart full of Dark Balls before laying knocked out on the floor. As I walked in, I saw a bunch of Dark Balls rolling all over the floor. "Great," I sighed. "Might have to forfeit the Lumiose Galette I guess."

I tried to pick up as many Dark Balls as I could see off the floor and back in the cart. "Hope that's all of them." Then I pushed the cart through a portal and hid the female grunt in the corner of the room. "One more to go."

I headed back to the first room without even passing anyone. But just as I approached the door, I heard a voice…voices coming from the room. I tiptoed up to the door, which was left a crack open.

"But…I don't know…" said the voice of the male grunt who stayed behind.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Shouted a different, angry voice. "I want to know who gave you the orders!"

The grunt stammered in a nervous breakdown. "I…don't know? But there were three other Galactic grunts. They'll be back any second now…"

I almost gasped out loud as I processed all of this. "That other guy…his voice…it sounds like mine when I use my 'persuasion power'. If he's like me…then he must be a Celeste grunt at least! Shit! I need to end this fast." Under my shirts, latched to my back like a suction cup, was a disk-like object slightly larger than a dinner plate. With a thought, the disk turned on. No sound was emitted, but I could feel the slight tingling. With that, I opened the door and walked a few feet into the room.

I stopped to eye what I was up against. The male grunt left behind still stood by the cart of Dark Balls. But between me and him stood two more Galactic grunts, a male and a female. There was also another guy not in uniform standing between the two grunts facing the befuddled Galactic grunt. "A Celeste grunt!"

The four turned toward me. They shuffled to make a clear view between me and the Celeste grunt. The latter scowled at me. "What are you doing here? Nobody told you to come. Get…"

What happened next happened in almost an instant. I first triggered the disk on my back. A faint glow emanated around me from the disk. Then with a thought, I propelled forward at extreme speed. I barely touched the ground, but I propelled like an ice skater attached to rockets. Before any of the grunts could properly react, I had the Celeste grunt grasped by his shoulders in under a second. We flew straight across the room. The Celeste grunt was too shocked to wiggle free.

"What? How? Who? Wait, you're…!" He sputtered. But before he could put it all together, I slammed him into the far wall. He then slumped like a ragdoll, unconscious.

I stood over him, starting to pant and sweat. "Good. He's out."

"Hey, what in Arceus are you doing?" shouted one of the male Galactic grunts.

I didn't turn around yet, waiting to see if they'd make a move. "Do you know why we even bothered helping these guys? Why the Dark Balls?"

"C'mon, man!" said the other male grunt. "We went in this gig to get our own new Pokémon out of the stake. How else can we take over the region without Pokémon?"

I smiled. "Which is precisely all I needed to here."

"Who are you?" said the female grunt.

Now I turned to face them. I took off my shades. My grin got bigger. "Guess the ruse is over. I'm not from Team Galactic. I'm actually…" I spun around. In almost one motion, I changed out of my ugly Galactic grunt outfit and wig. Now I wore dark jeans, sneakers, my brown hooded cloak, and a beige shirt. With the wig gone, my hair fell to my shoulder-length. The shirt bore a custom 'null' symbol printed on its front. "…a member of the Society that Must Eliminate All wRong-doings. Team Smear is here!"

The three Galactic grunts stood back in shock. "Who?! What?!"

I pulled my hood up so it shadows over my eyes. "Getting better at the disguise changes. Almost as good as Petrel."Then I continued to speak. "I have no personal beef with Team Galactic. But if you wish to not be caught, I suggest you run away…now! Or else…" I motioned to the unconscious Celeste grunt behind me.

The Galactic grunts whimpered as they scrambled out of the room. One of them tried to reach for a Dark Ball, but he dropped it back when I waved my finger at him.

I chuckled to myself. "Smart move." "Lucky me they didn't have any Pokémon on them."I found a folding chair in the room and used it to jam the door shut. Then I opened a portal to push the last cart of Dark Balls to Mt. Chimney. With that, I took a deep breath, took my hood off, and wiped beads of sweat from my forehead. "Finally!" When I heard people running outside the room, I took no hesitation in making one more portal to get away.

I ended up in a densely forested area. I grinned and fist-pumped as the portal closed behind me. "Woo! Plan worked! Now that I'm back home at Hideaway Island, I'll…ugh…" A wave of exhaustion rushed over me as my adrenaline receded. My vision started to get blurry. I struggled to even stand up. "Definitely skipping the Lumiose Galette…guess I'm…take…nap…" I fell onto the soft grass. And I blacked out.

{Approx. 12 years ago}

The past few months in Hoenn had kept me on my toes. The scientists at AGB Labs had shown me the inner workings of their various machines and gadgets. Through them, I learned some basic science lessons and how they prepared for the future of human and Pokémon kind. I had asked if there were any Pokémon anywhere in the building, but they had insisted they left all wild Pokémon in their natural habitat. If they ever did want to observe Pokémon, they simply went out into the forest nearby.

That didn't stop me from poking my head around the building to look for Pokémon. I may never had found any, but I did find a small library of books on their research. But I also didn't sneak around the building just for me. My dad asked me to memorize the layout of the labs much like how I memorized the layout of the Alchimian Airship. At the end of each day, I would return to the airship. Then at some point, my dad would ask me what I learned for myself, what things I'd seen the scientists doing, and what parts of the building he didn't know about.

While in the airship, my mom taught me basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. And how to be dressed-conscious, because otherwise my mom and dad would be on my case. When my dad sometimes had free time, he would teach me about the structure of the Alchimian Society. From what I knew so far, our group had remained hidden from the public for hundreds of years. We were scattered throughout many regions, and didn't even have any logo, badge, or uniform to show our membership. But we remained secretly in contact with one another. My dad was the latest boss of the society. He was in charge of directing where the future of the Alchimian Society took us, and keeping tabs on each division. There was a business division, which made deals with various individuals to trade knowledge and tech that would eventually lead up to us. The science division, which my mom came from, took that knowledge and tech to turn it into tools of tomorrow. And the defense division watched our backs to make sure no evil-doers stole from us, or worse…uncovered us.

All in all, it was almost everything I could want. If only Hoth could stay out of my face. Almost every day, he would sneak up on me when I least expected it. He kept pestering me with questions on stuff about me, wanting to know anything and everything. Even when I thought I found a hiding spot in the building, Hoth would poke me from out of nowhere. His smug grin was also very punch-able, though I resisted the urge.

However, it all came to a head one day. I sat on the floor in the library, brushing up my new reading skills to find out new facts on Pokémon. A particular notebook I was reading had a good mix of words and pictures, so I tried to digest everything. Just as I got to a cool part, Hoth stuck his nose over the top of the page.

"Miss me?" He said cheekily.

I dropped the book and leaped back. I yelped as my face grew red. "Argh! Again?!"

"Watcha reading?" He picked up the notebook and turned over to read the cover. "Facts on Pokémon?" He flipped it back to the page I was on. "Hey, this is my dad's handwriting." He turned to me and continued enthusiastically, "You know, if you like Pokémon so much, my parents would be happy to show you…"

"My dad says no…" I interrupted quickly, growing mad. I stood back on my feet.

Hoth also stood and handed me the notebook. "Okay, sheesh. All business and no fun. Come on, why not live a little? I'd be happy to…"

But I slapped the book away, letting it fall to the floor. "Why don't you just leave me alone?!" I shouted. My face got red, and I clenched my fists.

For the first time, Hoth stood a step back. A look of shock and sadness was etched on his face. "But…"

"That's it! I'm telling dad!" I stormed out of the library in a huff.

"Wait…" Hoth choked up, raising a hand out to me. But he remained standing alone in the library.

I first ran up to the lab room I usually saw my dad in. But he wasn't there. So the next logical place I looked was back on the airship. As I stomped back, my thoughts swirled with rage. "Stupid Hoth! How does he even find me? I can give the slip to all the Alchimian members, and my dad, but not this kid. So not fair!"

In the airship, I walked up to his office. "Daaaad! Hoth is…" I began to shout. But as I approached the door, I heard my dad's voice, yelling. I closed my mouth shut and pressed my ear against the door. I knew my dad took lots of calls to other members of the Alchimian Society from his office. However, I'd never heard him outright yell at anyone before. Someone must not be doing their job.

"…you're top priority is to catch Subject Zero before anyone else does," Raiden said to the person on the other line. "…Ditch the scientists if they're in your way! They may not be trusted…"

"Wait, isn't my dad working with the AGB scientists to catch a Pokémon? Does he mean them, or ours, or someone else?"

"…and keep a low profile! Last thing I need is more public meetings to 'persuade' them away…"

"He'll do what?! What is he up to?"

"…fine. Get on it, Temple, or you'll get worse than being kicked back out of the society!" I heard Raiden slam his phone on the dock.

I let a few seconds pass before I dared to open the door. I saw my father stand hunched over his desk, shaking his head. I figured he knew I was in the room, but for some reason I felt hesitant to speak.

This time, he turned around first. He smiled, although I could tell his mind was still somewhat on his work. "Hello, Will. How's everything going?"

I walked slowly into the room. I usually kept my focus on him, but my uneasiness made my eyes wander. They quickly focused on his desk; the phone in particular. It wasn't like the desk phones I'd seen at AGB Labs. This one was smaller and cordless. Not even an antennae stuck out of it. "How does he talk to people outside the ship?"

Raiden noticed where I was staring at. He chuckled a bit as he put his fingers to his forehead. "Ah, sorry about that. New coworker of mine. Needs to learn how tight a ship I run. But he does provide…new avenues for our work." He put his hand down and straightened his suit. "Is something else bothering you, Will?"

"Uh, yeah…" I paused. "Why am I hesitating? My dad can keep Hoth away from me. But…what would he do to him?" "…I…don't know…what Pokémon you're working on…"

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why the sudden interest? It is for a top secret project after all…"

"But I've seen just about everything else at the labs, like you told me to. I just…thought I could help…"

Raiden put a hand on my head. "That's very thoughtful of you. Maybe one day you could even take my place as head of the Alchimian Society. But until that day, I'd prefer you to grow and educate yourself. You mustn't rush into things you don't know about."

I sighed. "Yes, dad."

"Anything else?"

I paused again. "No, dad."

He smiled. "Then run along. I need to make a few more phone calls."

Over the next few days, everything continued like normal. Except for Hoth. For some reason, I never saw him. And he never popped out of nowhere like he usually did. For such a long absence, I suspected that he was preparing a huge surprise later.

It wasn't until at least a week when I saw him. I felt particularly bored that day and just sat in a hallway, waiting for another scientist to come by with something new. I grew so bored I rested my head in my arms, hugging my legs close to me.

"Hey…" I heard Hoth's voice, but in a more calm demeanor.

Regardless, my head bolted up. But instead of being mere inches from my face, Hoth was standing several feet away. He half-smiled to me, but there was some sadness in his eyes. Nothing was said between us for a couple of seconds. Then I put my head back down.

"Look," Hoth continued, "I know that I can be a bit…in your face. But…I just want to come and apologize. I never meant to hurt your feelings, if that's what I did. I just…don't have anyone else anywhere close to my age around here, and my parents are too busy to take me out on trips."

I slowly perked my head back up.

"I want to show you something. But if you still want to be left alone, that's cool I guess…" His eyes sunk to the floor.

I thought it over for a few seconds. "I guess I might see something with him. He's just as lonely as me…" Then I stood up and nodded to Hoth.

His usually perky smile spread across his face. "Awesome. You will not be disappointed!"

I followed Hoth through several staircases and hallways. I had seen pretty much all of the building, so I could tell Hoth was kind of meandering. Like he was avoiding being caught. Suddenly, we stopped by a door we passed by at least once. This time, no other scientists were around us.

I had never been through this door. Most places in the building were kept unlocked, but some doors I'd seen required card keys to open. In that case, I could 'borrow' one when nobody was looking and took a peek inside. But this door had a strange screen next to it. Hoth took out his right hand and pressed it against the screen. A line of light moved up and down the screen. Then I heard a click sound come from the door.

Hoth smiled to me as he reached for the handle. "My parents keep a few things locked away for safe keeping. Not without them can other coworkers pull out this stuff. But since I turned seven recently, and my parents trust me, they gave me clearance as well. And since I trust you…" He pulled the handle down and opens the door.

My jaw dropped to the floor. "No way!" The room was large, with cabinets lining the walls. But the first thing I noticed toward the center of the room were fossils. "Pokémonfossils!"

After several seconds of just staring, Hoth gave me a gentle push as we entered the room. He closed the door behind us as I continued forward. On display I spotted whole skeletons of Kabutops, Ramparados, Bastiodon, Tyrunt, and Amaura. I reached out, but immediately reeled back, hesitant to touch. Not just because I could damage them, but because I couldn't even believe they were even in front of me.

"I heard you liked Pokémon, but never saw any before". Hoth said.

I turned to him. "He…did this all for me?"

"I know your parents don't allow you to leave this building. Which is a shame. But I thought I could show you the next best thing." He scooted over to a cabinet and pointed through the glass.

Now I noticed even more fossils. Old Amber, Dome Fossils, Helix Fossils, Root Fossils, Claw Fossils, Cover Fossils, and Plume Fossils. Even of some fossils I never heard of before.

"Well, what do you think?" Hoth smirked.

I turned to him again. I felt so many emotions at once. I even felt tears coming on. But to prevent my embarrassment, I just let a big smile stretch across my face. "Thanks! It's cool…"

Hoth elbowed me. "I knew you'd like it! I thought you'd see things like this all the time when you get to travel the world."

"Nah. I actually have never been outside the airship until this year."

"Yeesh! And I thought my life was confined!"

We both laughed. "And I thought I saw everything in this building."

"So I noticed," he winked. "But you still have a lot to learn about sneaking around."

"No way. I've practically spent my life sneaking around. I got it to an art form."

"Really? This I got to see."

"Okay then…" I started to head out the door.

Hoth shifted his arm over my shoulder. "You know…I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"

I smiled and put my arm over him too. "Me, too!"