Ch. 12: No Room For Failures

"Reports?" A cool voice rang out through the hollow room in. A man with spiky light blue hair faced a variety of computer screens, scanning each one with dull expressionless eyes. Arms behind his back with fingers intertwined. The screens were the only source of light in the room. In front of the room was a line of men, one with dark blue hair that ended in two points on both ends of his head. He looked calm as he stared straight ahead at the men. The other four men had colonel helmets, two on each end of the calm man. But these didn't quite have the same confidence, they were each trembling and staring at the two large cages with glowing red chains wrapped around them. From each cage, small red eyes glowered at each of them, though the head that belonged to them towered over all in the room. They couldn't see what the pokemon were that had to be contained in cages, but they knew well enough what the two pink orbs in one cage and the one bright blue orb in the other belonged to. At the request, the man with the pointed hair stepped forward.

"Commander Saturn reporting the break-in in the Veilstone base. The Copycat Bandit, I regret to say, has gotten away once again. But we did find an earpiece that we believe may have belonged to him. We now believe that he may be working with D.O.O.M. Our scientists think that if they adjust the piece's frequencies, we may be able to listen in on the organization's conversations."

The man in front of the screens nodded. "You have done well Saturn, I am pleased."

Saturn smirked and nodded. "Of course sir." He said as he took a couple of steps back from the line. Another man stepped up, shivering. "Colonel Io sir, I was the one leading the plans for operation O.G."

The spiky haired man turned around, his face still expressionless. "Ah, I've been waiting for this. I do hope, for your sake commander, that the plans were a success."

The man swallowed, took a deep breath and began, "W-well you s-see... That is to say,"

"Go on Colonel, I don't plan on standing here all day." He said with a bored

"W-well, we succeeded on completing the rift, but only for a little while." He said in a hurried voice. "The machines just simply do not have the power to break through to another dimension." He stopped and looked up, a cold sweat on his neck. After a few moments of silence the superior spoke up. "I see."

He turned to the other men and waved his hand dismissively. "Leave us. Saturn, you may stay."

The other three colonels almost stumbled over themselves rushing out of the room, the large mechanical doors closing with a loud clang. Saturn grinned and took his place behind his leader.

"Io, do you enjoy doing this to me?"

Io gulped and took a step back. "W-what do you mean sir?" He asked nervously.

"Your failures." He stated quite simply. "They have grown quite old. First, you lose to that little brat while trying to take a pathetic little Piplup all those years ago in Jubilife."

"W-Well, she did have hel-"

The man ignored him and cut him off in mid-protest. "Then you can't even guard one of our minor warehouses and let the same whelp that you lost to before break in and release the Chain Trio which, as I may remind you, set us back when they came back and broke the chain we had them create." Here, Saturn fidgeted a bit behind him.

"But sir!"

"But still, I overlooked all of these failures and was even generous enough to promote you to Colonel, hoping perhaps you had more of a potential to lead." He looked at the colonel with disgust. "And I can see I was wrong. Failures like this, cannot go unpunished Io. No one else has ever disappointed The Supreme Overlord Cyrus for this long." He said coldly as he stared straight into Io's eyes as if he was looking at his very soul. He casually walked over to the cage with the glowing pink orbs. Thinking it was the perfect opportunity, Io bolted towards the doors which opened as he ran towards the sensors over them.

"Saturn." Cyrus said and as if on cue, the doors slammed shut as Io reached them. He desperately banged on the doors with his fists. When he found this to be futile, he turned around and fell to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes.

"P-please sir, have mercy!" He cried out, his eyes widening with each step towards the cage, causing the tears to fall down the crevices in his face. Cyrus paused for a moment as if in thought.

"You know, perhaps I shall show mercy." He said, looking towards Io, who at the moment felt as though he'd cry with happiness.

"Thank you sir! Thank you! You will not regret this!" He shouted despite himself happily, standing up to exit out the doors, only to find they still would not open. "Uh, sir, the doors are still-"

"Oh, I know Io, but just because I said I'd show mercy, doesn't mean you are not to be punished. You see, a man like you doesn't deserve to leave this world before his time. You, such as many others, should die an old man, when his time is up." Io turned around to find Cyrus on the other end of the room, the cage door open and a red chain in his hand. A large four-legged pokemon walked out. With each step, the room shook and a large round footprint was left in the floor. Saturn sniggered, he loved when Cyrus did this.

The pokemon opened its mouth, a large blue spiral starting to form within it, shifting and turning as though it was alive. "You should consider yourself lucky," Cyrus started. "many people die before they're time, you at least get to die an old man." Io turned around once again attempting to bang on the doors and called out for help, hoping his comrades would come to help him. But of course, no one came, no one dared to defy The Supreme Overlord.

At that moment, something struck him in the back, but he felt no pain. He turned around in surprise, only to find Cyrus smiling. Cyrus never smiled, there was something wrong, but then he remembered what he had heard Commander Mars say before, "No one ever sees Cyrus smile and lives to tell about it." Saturn was so busy watching Io that he didn't even notice Cyrus. Io looked down at himself, what was so interesting about him? That was when he saw it, his body was aging at a rapid pace, a blue beam going through him as if it was a phantom. His hands gnarled and his skin and clothes were crumbling to dust. He let out a strangled cry before his vocal cords failed him. A helmet clattered to the floor and there was nothing left except a pile of fossilized bones.

"Saturn, get someone to clean up Io."