Riley took on an offensive stance, clenching his fists and lowering his body, spreading his knees a bit to stabilize himself. His oral expression became a sneer. Team Delta Leader turned off the computer through which he was communicating with Azura. "Hello there, Riley. Pleasure to see you here.
"Gotten any stronger since last?" he asked. In response, Riley nodded. Maybe, but unlikely, he could could intimidate Team Delta's Leader with his strength, saving himself a fight.
"Bark-sky!" Barksky called out as it was sent out from its PokeBall. When it saw Team Delta's Leader, it growled.
"Hello, as well to you, Barksky. You ready for a battle, then?"
"Rrrrr..." Barksky growled, lowering his torso to the ground when he heard Team Delta's Leader's question.
"I feel sick having to do this... Pokemon should obey humans out of trust, not be forced to obey them with the use of force. That's why I hate shock collars and frequency-emitting training devices...
"But here I am, using one myself... All of the Pokemon under this spell; none of them deserve it." Team Delta's Leader sighed. "But we've managed to use their power to open a path to the Divine Wolf's Shrine. I will set them free now."
With a sigh of relief as the tenseness in his shoulders faded, the Leader of Team Delta inputted a code into the holographic-screened computer he was working at, and the ring of fire around the city immediately changed, even though Riley couldn't see it himself. And the Pokemon were all released from their hypnotic spell.
"What a relief... I will never be able to forgive myself for that. But it was necessary to achieve a goal that will, in the long-term, benefit Pokemon irreplaceably." With that, he left. No combat, no conflict. He just left. He seemed a lot happier when he was finally able to turn off the frequency-emitting machine, though.
"Are you the one who returned the projector back to normal?" asked a smart-looking scientist who entered the Mirage Station. Riley explained what happened. The scientist, rubbing his chin as his platinum-blonde hair rustled in the high-powered air condition, replied, "So that cruel man shut off the hypnotic frequency without even needing provocation? What is his deal?
"I'm Avery, the Manager and Inventor of the Mirage Station. I created the Illusory Dome to conceal Malasarri City from dangers such as Legendary Pokemon. Why don't you go out and see Malasarri City how it's meant to be seen?"
The city was still broken, but that didn't surprise Riley. It, after all, had been ravaged by hypnotized Pokemon of all strengths and sizes. What was surprisingly- intensely so- was that it looked like the city was just floating in space! The holographic projections on the city's walls and ethereal ceiling-dome made it look like it was casually cruising through outer space. Star clusters and rock belts were visible in a fake distance. Occasionally, even a three-dimensional comet rode by through the sky, barely missing the tops of the skyscrapers.
Riley was awed. "This lifestyle is all possible because of the Mirage Station's technology. Malasarri City has become a wonder of the world for it holographic advancements, which, I say humbly, were kickstarted by me. Come back inside, I have a gift for you."
So Riley followed Avery back inside. Avery was now standing in front of the computer that Team Delta's Leader had been using. "This," he said, holding up a thumb drive that had an unmistakable eye logo on it, "is an Illusion Drive. These are what hold the data to create the different holographic projections within Malasarri City.
"There's currently three to choose from, but there are others that have been created by companies outside of Malasarri City. There's a total of seven Illusion Drives in Chinocko. My technology suggests an eight, but it cannot confirm that it is in the region. In fact, it can't confirm that it's in this dimension.
"But anyway, come on. As thanks for saving the entire city, I'll let you choose the holograph you want projected on the city whenever you like." Avery used the computer and brought it to a screen that had a list of icons. There were seven slots, but only three of them were filled in with sea-green-coloured tabs. One tab said "Space," which was the holographic projection that was currently on the city's humanly-unreachable walls. A box beside the list of tabs and empty slots showed a preview of the city which looked to be accurate to a live feed.
The second available tab said "Virtual Reality," and had a preview of a world of code and 1s and 0s and portals. The third said "Underground." Its preview showed the city in a cave that vertically was never-ending. Ironically, the entrance and exit of the city were in the direction of the endless and ever-darkening hollow paths and not the walls of the cave which seemed much closer to the city. This technology was fascinating!
Ultimately, though, Riley kept the Space option. "Alright, good choice!" Avery complimented Riley. "Hey, you have a PokeVice, I see." With a smile on his face, the clever scientist asked, "May I register your contact?" Riley nodded, confirming that he was happy to have Avery's contact on his PokeVice. They traded their Pokemon Device contact information and Riley was off. His next Gym Battle would be in Malasarri City, actually!
Malasarri City was well-known for having an illusionist as its Gym Leader. Many Trainers failed to receive his badge because they couldn't focus on their target. But Riley would not fall prey to those tricks!
He ran up to the Gym, which was a more traditional building; or at least not a skyscraper like many of Malasarri's buildings were. It was cube shaped, but it had chunks missing out of it. Incidentally, the chunks were all made of cubes, and many of the missing cubes could be seen floating in the air around the Gym, just casually defying gravity. Notably, though, was that there was a black top hat on the roof that had a leather belt around its rim where most top hats would have a ribbon. That was the Gym Leader's key fashion article, many said. Or, in this case, the one on the roof was a replica of it.
Riley walked up to the doors, which is when he noticed something that couldn't be right. The Team Delta symbol was being projected by lights on the walls onto the glass doors, and they were locked! What had Team Delta done with Gym Leader Maika!?
Fine then, he would just have to move forward. He headed over to the other entrance into the city and walked through the huge glass doors. Riley wasn't familiar with Malasarri Tunnel, and wasn't at all expecting what he saw.
The cave had, apparently, once been a basin in which water collected. That much was evident because coral reefs and undersea plant life were still living on the stone and sand of the ground. Riley felt a drop of water on his shoulder, so he looked up. What he found shocked him!
There was a lake's worth of water just sitting in the air above him! Well, that wasn't the entire truth. There was a layer of clear glass in between the water and the ground. The glass even split into diamond-shaped crystals in some places, and a few places were dripping because the water was slowly soaking through the filter of the crystal substance.
A very, very prestigious aquifer, this one was. Riley remembered, Team Delta was supposedly in this tunnel. The tunnel had a fairly straight path, but so many different halls were carved into the cave that it would be impossible to tell which one Team Delta was in.
"Gelon!" a Pokemon's voice cried in desperation!
That was the same voice as the Pokemon that had spoke to him in the beginning of his adventure and given him the Wolf Medallion Shard! He had to find it and help it! He could follow its voice through the halls of the cave to find it! If only it didn't echo so much.
Aha! He could tell he was getting closer to the source of the cry! Another thing that gave it away was the white tiles that were placed in seemingly random spots on the cave's floor. The ceiling-lake was absent in the smaller halls, making them dark and intimidating, but the sea fauna and the oceanic rock aesthetic still remained strong.
The white tiles were getting more clustered now. In fact, Riley could see that not far down this hall was a wall made of the same white tiles, the tiled floor before the door showing no sign of the ground beneath it. Riley stood in front of the door and it slid open.
Inside was one of the people he was expecting to see. The other of the two people in this dug-out cave room was a complete surprise to him. It was Gym Leader Maika! The Gym Leader was even in a Team Delta uniform! Riley gasped to see it!
The room was exactly the same as the other two Medallion Shrines he'd been to, but this one had a giant statue of a wolf-like Pokemon that had a huge, majestic mane that ran down its chest and back and had minerals in it that reflected all colours of the rainbow. This was the worshiped Legendary Pokemon: Crowlican'l. Its eyes were majestic and sapphires were used to make the pupils of its statue.
"You again!?" Azura practically screamed, stomping her foot hard on the ground of the dais in front of the statue. "Well your late, Team Delta's Leader already retrieved the Wolf Medallion Shard from me." She moved her long, straight dark-blue hair out of her eye. "In the meantime, we're taking advantage of Angellion, this pesky Legendary Pokemon brat here."
She moved her hand to gesture for Riley to look at said Pokemon. It was the same Pokemon on the totem at the Medallion Shrine back between Route 1 and 2! Riley tried to run forward to help it, but he was stopped by Maika, who was hovering over the ground, one leg straight and the other bent just slightly as his red and black cape fluttered gently in the air, the force he was using to hover making his cape move.
"I can't let you do that, you little runt!" Maika said, deadpan at first before he began shouting. "Team Delta needs that Angellion's power to create a world that will benefit all, and I'm not letting a naïve kid get in the way! My dearest Azura, I will protect you and our operation!"