After a good night's sleep, the trio returned to Veilstone. At Team Galactic HQ a grunt was admiring the two gigantic antennae/satellite dishes.
"They're so sleek, so shiny! But my admiration is masked by my anger! Grrr! Because of Manny and his cohorts, the higher-ups took my Clefairy away, and my partner moved to another country! I'm… I'm so lonely!"
Manny tapped the sobbing grunt on his shoulder.
"WAH! It's you! I know nothing about a Storage Key!"
He ran off. Before they turned around halfway, who should show up but Looker?
"Ah-hah! You leave this to me! The Storage Key for entering the Team Galactic hideout, I have right here. A frontal assault, it is not possible. But we can enter their hideout. Well? Will you enter the hideout? You have your reasons, yes?"
"GET ON WITH IT!" Hanny shouted.
"Very well. Inside the Team Galactic warehouse. We will meet there. Prepare the best you can. I shall join you shortly."
"Who is this 'we' you speak of?" Manny demanded.
"Me, myself and I! Now hurry!"
His eyebrows wagging dangerously, Looker sped westward into the city. The trio followed him.
Once everyone arrived at the warehouse, he spouted in his weird accent, "Ah, hello! I have kept you waiting. I will use this Storage Key I have obtained from the Team Galactic…"
Ker-chunk!
"Yes! It is opened! I will go on ahead, my friends. Do not expose yourselves to danger!"
Looker walked warily inside the open room before running down the stairwell.
The Trainers split up inside the warehouse, climbing up and down stairs, and teleporting all over the place.
After having a thought, Mint phoned Hanny. "Hanny, why doesn't Team Galactic patent their teleportation pads and sell them for countless trillions of dollars, rendering all personal transportation defunct?"
"Mint, these were stolen from Team Rocket. Giovanni sold the patents years ago and lives like a king."
"Why aren't they available to the public?"
"The world economy would collapse. The land, sea and air transport companies are sitting on the patents until oil and gas run out."
"Oh."
Hanny located a Dubious Disc that she gave to Glitch, Mint found the Galactic Key, but Manny just wandered around lost for fifteen minutes. Mint phoned the other two and they joined him outside, where they headed for the HQ.
"Manny, trade me your Alakazam."
"NO! You will NEVER take him from me, ever again!"
Hannah then proceeded to subject the boy to a headlock, wrenching the Pokéball from his belt amid impotent squeals of protest. She stuffed Glitch's Pokéball into his mouth to shut him up. Glitch's ball shone with diamond light, whereupon Hannah plucked it from his jaws to replace it with Alakazam's.
"I have a Porygon-Z!"
She summoned the digital creature. Glitch was now darker red and blue in colour, and his head was somehow detached from his body, floating upside down. He was much smoother and rounded, with ovals where his wings and tail had been.
"PROUD STATEMENT: I… AM… GLITCH!" he declared, twitchier and more spastic than ever. His voice held a darker and smoother tone, like oil flowing over ice. Hanny squee'd. He flinched at the high-pitched noise, then said, "OBSEQUIOUS STATEMENT: GLITCH IS READY TO SERVE… MASTER."
She hugged him, which further confused the discombobulated Pokémon. He emitted a series of burbles and chirps, which delighted Hanny all the more.
"I love you so much!"
"QUERY: MASTER, WHAT IS 'LOVE'?"
With that question in mind, she returned him to his Pokéball, pushing open Galactic's HQ door and venturing inside. After several stairwells and battles with testy grunts who all spouted the rhetoric of Cyrus, they turned a corner to find Looker secretly observing a huge gathering of Galactic grunts, lined up neatly and facing a stage.
"Psst! Here. Over here. This gathering of the Team Galactic… What is the meaning of it?"
Manny and company huddled beside Looker. The entire room went dark. A hush fell over the area. A gigantic LCD screen lit up with the spiky golden 'G' against a starfield. Cyrus walked onto Centre stage as the entire crowd of grunts cheered.
"Fellow members of Team Galactic! Hear me! My name, as I appear to you today, is Cyrus. This world of ours is a crude one. In a word, it is incomplete. It has been, and always will be, a struggle to survive in this world. We humans and Pokémon are likewise incomplete. Because we are all so lacking, we fight, we maim… It is ugly. I hate the incompleteness. That we are all incomplete, I hate it with my entire body and being. The world should be complete. The world must change."
The crowd of grunts cheered again.
"Then, who will change it? Me, Cyrus. And Team Galactic. Yes, all of you. Together we pored over myths and exposed their secrets. Together we captured legendary Pokémon. And now, Team Galactic has obtained the energy to change the world! The power of dreams is within our grasp!"
He paused for that to sink in.
"Understand it, fellow members! My long-held dreamworld is on the verge of becoming reality. All those headed to Mount Coronet, and those who remain here… Though our missions may differ, our hearts beat as one. Let there be glory for Team Galactic!"
"WROOOAR!" went the grunts.
"Master Cyrus is the greatest!" one shouted.
Cyrus left, the place darkened, all the grunts filed out.
"Whew. So, that was Cyrus, the boss of the Team Galactic. Quite the performance, no? Mesmerising for one only 27 years old… But to make the world for Team Galactic and none other? It is preposterous. So much so that it makes my head spin. A new world? What is that? And what is this incomplete world? Very well. To investigate such matters is the job of the International Police. Of which I am a member in good stead. And it is my job, therefore. We shall part ways here. Take extra care, my friends!"
He looked around, making sure the coast was clear before running to the western end of the meeting hall. The kids followed him into a teleporter. On the other side there were convenient beds, inviting their Pokémon to recover. There was a sign near the beds that read, "Please make sure the bed is unoccupied before getting into it."
Manny announced, "I'm going to have a nap while Cyrus carries out his dastardly plans."
"Make sure the bed is empty," Mint warned.
"Don't be silly, Mint. All the goons are scurrying about doing their leader's bidding."
Manny kicked off his shoes and socks, then got into a bed.
"EEEEEEK!"
Manny flew out of the bed. A female Galactic grunt poked her head out of the covers. Her eyes were as wide as a Hoothoot's.
"Who sleeps with the covers over their head?!" Manny shouted at her.
A male Galactic grunt came running onto the scene, shouting at barefoot Manny, "YOU HAVE SCANDALISED MY WIFE, YOU DIRTY PHILANDERER!"
"But, but, but..."
"YOU LECHEROUS ANIMAL!" the woman shrieked, smacking Manny with a pillow. "TO THINK THEY ARE TRAINING CHILDREN TO ENGAGE IN THE ART OF DEBAUCHERY!"
Mint and Hanny didn't know what to say, so the man bodily picked up his wife from the bed of sin and continued shouting: "COME, WOMAN, LET US LEAVE THIS FILTHY DEN OF HEDONISM!"
The woman began crying as she hung her arms about his neck, "TAKE ME SOMEWHERE CLEAN!"
The man stormed off with his wife carried in his arms. Manny was so stunned by the tirade that his friends had to drag him away, shoes and socks and all. They then headed upstairs to battle some more grunts while Manny clothed himself.
"We have special orders to take down the ten-year-old Trainers! We'll be promoted if we do!"
"So, Cyrus expects us," Hannah said with a wry smile, summoning Glitch to the field for a very short-lived combat.
At the end of the corridor they took another warp pad to a stairway leading upward. At the top was a door they opened with the Galactic Key. Within, Cyrus was facing a bank of monitors.
He turned to greet them. "So, you've come. You heard my speech, I take it." He snickered. "A big lie, of course. It's true insofar as my intention is to create a new world. But that world isn't for the likes of Team Galactic. I seek an entirely new world solely for myself. If not, it could never be the complete and perfect world. You've seen my minions of Team Galactic. You yourself must know that they are uniformly useless and incomplete."
He took a step towards them. They stepped backward. His voice was like acidic smoke, curling around them and threatening to dissolve all of their hopes and dreams.
"I know why you're here. I can sense it in you. It's about Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, correct? You want to save them… I no longer have any need for them. I am finished with them. If your hearts ache to save them, go right ahead. I couldn't care less. It will save me the trouble of disposing of them. But, I must say… you are remarkable specimens. Those Pokémon have nothing to do with you, do they? But still you came to rescue them out of pity? Such pitifully useless emotions… it's illogical and irrational. Pity and compassion are products of the weak and faulty human heart. You were compelled to come here by such vacuous sentimentality! I will make you regret paying heed to your heart!"
He called Sneasel to the field. Mint stepped forward, but Manny raised his hand, checking Mint's zeal.
"I will be your opponent."
He brought Keira, his Staraptor to the battle. Cyrus smirked.
"Sneasel is far more powerful."
"This battle was never about strength; it is about belief. Close Combat, now!"
"Ice Punch!"
The ice comet collided with the bullet, but only one shattered. Sneasel fell, laid low in one blow. Cyrus recalled him.
"Crobat, Bite!"
"Keira, use Return!"
Again, the swifter Pokémon belonged to Cyrus, so Keira, already severely weakened from the Ice Punch, collapsed in Crobat's cruel jaws.
"Return. You did exceptionally well, Keira!"
"Pokémon deserve no praise."
"Humans and Pokémon alike thrive on words of encouragement!"
"It is that spirit I will destroy!"
"Now, Luxray, go! Use Spark!"
"Crobat, another Bite!"
With its preternatural speed, Crobat outmanoeuvred Luxray to score a vicious bite on the Pokémon's back, but Luxray turned the Spark into a Discharge attack, knocking Crobat out cold.
"Well done! You thought on your paws, and won!"
"All I see is a disobedient Pokémon, without discipline!" Cyrus sneered, recalling the unconscious Crobat.
"Do you really believe that mindlessly following orders will get you anywhere? You yourself insulted your Mareep-like followers!"
"Silence! Honchkrow, attack with Night Slash!"
"You're faster than this one, Luxray! Try Spark again!"
Indeed, he was the swifter, and slammed into Honchkrow, but the stout bird Pokémon withstood the worst, and cracked Luxray on the noggin with his most powerful attack. Luxray splayed all fours on the ground.
"Return for a good rest. You will only get stronger, Luxray!"
"What other sacrifices do you have for me?"
"There will be no more. I summon Vaporeon in attack mode!"
"Night Slash!"
"ICE BEAM!"
The ranged assault finished charging before the mêlée move connected, and Honchkrow took the frigid blast of winter fury full in his beak.
"Interesting. And quite curious," Cyrus acknowledged when Honchkrow was safe in his ball. "I see. You are indeed strong. And the basis of your power is your compassion toward Pokémon. How wasteful… Such emotions are but mere illusions. And, like all illusions, they fade over time until death banishes them forever. That is why I have abandoned all emotions as useless sentimentality. But that doesn't matter. I doubt you will ever understand my position."
"No kidding."
"That said, I recognise you are strong and courageous to fight me alone. This is your reward."
He walked over to proffer a deep purple Pokéball. The boy offered a blank stare in return, but took the ball.
"The Master Ball is the ultimate Pokéball. It will unfailingly catch any Pokémon in the wild. But it is not anything that I require. Unlike you Trainers, I do not make Pokémon my friends or partners. Unlike other Team Galactic members, I don't use Pokémon as tools. Instead, I make the power of Pokémon my own."
He walked to the eastern exit of the room then turned around.
"If you wish to save the Pokémon from the lakes, take the warp panel ahead. I am off to Mount Coronet. I will ascend the mountain to its peak where destiny awaits me. It is there that I will create my new world…"
He exited east, taking the southern, green warp panel. Fat steel pillars rose to ensure his escape from the pursuing Trainers, who were left with no choice but to take the northern warp panel.
888
They entered a dark room with green tubes lining the corridors. In each tube, something resembling an egg was floating.
"What is this place?" Mint yelled at the nearest scientist he could find. The lady looked upon their young, zealous faces. She shrank away from the righteous indignation shining there. At that moment she gained the bitter knowledge of how awful Goodness is. For the first time in her life, she examined herself, and did not like what she found.
"I denounce my work here!" the woman blurted, shaking her head. "I am sickened by it!"
Further down the corridor, another scientist turned away from one of the green tubes, his face contorted with disgust. He told the children, "I have doubts about what Master Cyrus has planned with the thing we made." He turned with outstretched hand to his colleague. "Come, Karen, let us leave this place and never speak of it again."
"May these gods forgive us for what we have done to them!" Karen cried, and ran away with her partner in crime.
At the end of the corridor was a door leading north. Inside were the three Pokémon of the lakes, who were trapped inside hi-tech holding devices. They appeared to be in great pain: Mesprit's tail twitched, Uxie's eyes were screwed shut, and Azelf was shuddering. Hannah screwed up her face, reaching for a Pokéball to somehow free the captives, but Manny belayed her, raising one finger to his lips for silence.
At the head of the room, Charon and Saturn were facing what appeared to be a supercomputer. The Trainers snuck in, overhearing their conversation.
"Fuhyahya! Those Pokémon of the lakes, where do you suppose they would go?"
Saturn turned to him with a suspicious look on his face. "What are you trying to say?"
"Nothing. Pay it no heed. A new world isn't overly interesting. What of it? If Cyrus is right, then Team Galactic will rule that new world. That's when it will be interesting. A chance to enjoy its sweets. I surely hope that our visionary Cyrus realises his dream. I look forward to whatever our beloved leader has planned atop Mount Coronet."
Saturn looked askance at the older man before returning his attention to the supercomputer. "Gramps. Our boss can do without your kind of moral support."
The Trainers chose this moment to confront Saturn. He growled at them. "You… you came all the way here just to save some Pokémon? Though it's nothing new, I can't say I understand our boss… Why would he let kids like you come and go freely…? We, Team Galactic, take all that we need, and eliminate what we do not. But anyway. You've taken the trouble to come. Let me welcome you! Consider it payback for your insulting me at the lake."
"Glitch… Glitch will destroy you for what you have done to them," Hannah promised. When her servant appeared, he was, if possible, more agitated.
"EAGER QUERY: IS THERE SOMEONE YOU WISH ME TO KILL, MASTER?"
"Cute. Golbat, go! Use Bite!"
"Glitch, Tri-Attack!"
So mighty had Glitch become that Golbat was nailed to the wall with but one attack.
Saturn began to worry. He plucked another Pokéball from his belt. "Bronzor, you can withstand his attacks! Use Confuse Ray!"
Hannah laughed. "Oh, that's rich. Confuse Ray on a Porygon-Z."
The ray was no match for Glitch's already erratic behaviour.
"Use Discharge!"
The Bronzor wavered, electricity arcing from its metallic body to the floor, but it did not fall.
"Use Gyro Ball!"
"Another Discharge!"
This time the lightning strike worked, and Bronzor thudded inert on the ground. Saturn shouted, balling his fists.
"WHY CAN'T I GET IN ONE HIT?!"
"Your Pokémon are so slow, they're going backwards."
"This one isn't! Toxicroak, to battle! Use Brick Break!"
"Tri-Attack!"
That hurt Glitch, who flew across the room and bounced off a wall. Meanwhile, Toxicroak was nailed to the same place on the wall Golbat had been. Their speed was about evenly matched, but the difference was that Glitch was still conscious after the exchange of blows.
Saturn growled low in his throat. "You're tough, kid! But, I still pity the likes of you." He returned his Pokémon. Looking at the ball, and his defeat, he bared his teeth at Hannah. "Gah! What makes you so tough? Fine… do whatever you want with those three Pokémon. Press the button on that machine to set them free."
Hanny did so, releasing the containment fields. The three Lake Pokémon vanished, having teleported out of the building.
"Our boss crafted a Red Chain from crystals he took from the three Pokémon. That Red Chain is what he needed to shackle something on Mount Coronet. It's also apparently needed for creating something. But that's all I know. Who knows what he's planning to do up there?"
"It can wait. Glitch, make sure he suffers."
"GLEEFUL STATEMENT: WITH PLEASURE, MASTER."
A small brown sphere dropped from Saturn's hand, producing a thick white cloud of smoke. Glitch tried a Shadow Ball, but when the smoke disappeared, so had Saturn.
"Don't worry, Glitch. We'll get him next time."
Curiously, the old man Charon remained behind. He looked at the three wrathful children, but just shrugged.
"Team Galactic's state of affairs is worrying if mere children can defeat not only our Commanders, but leader as well. I don't even know whether Cyrus's plan will work. I believe another option should be considered… one befitting of the genius of Charon!"
The man started an evil cackle. After a few moments, it was clear the man would not stop laughing, so the Trainers left him to his own devices, his evil mirth following them up the corridor.
They returned to the room that would teleport them outside the building, noting along the way that the scientists had disappeared. Before they left the otherwise abandoned building, Manny stopped to read the Team Galactic report in Cyrus's room. Skimming through the notes, he learned that Cyrus planned to shackle the mythical Pokémon that created Sinnoh, because capturing it in a Pokéball would prevent it from using its full power.
"That is madness. How on Earth did Cyrus come up with this information? The mythical Pokémon that created Sinnoh could not have been captured before… right?"
Mint and Hanny just gave him a blank look. They had, after all, just released three legendary Pokémon from captivity.
The southern green warp panel was now available; the steel pillars blocking it had receded into the floor. They were teleported to the entrance of Team Galactic HQ.
888
Leaving that desecrated building, the Trainers recuperated at the Centre before purchasing supplies at the Veilstone Pokémon MegaMart. While Hanny perused the plethora of Pokémon paraphernalia, Manny and Mint rode the elevator to the fifth floor: the rooftop plaza. There, they planted themselves before one vending machine each and bought one hundred Fresh Waters and one hundred Lemonades each. They ignored the overpriced Soda Pop.
"Mint, how is it possible that a single vending machine has over two hundred cans in it?"
"Manny, those two hundred cans are now inside of your backpack, which has neither increased in weight nor size. I suggest you stop asking questions."
"A wise course of action. We must not question our magical bags of holding."
"Hey guys," Hanny said, stepping out the elevator. "Why aren't there any stairs leading to the rooftop? If there was an electrical blackout here, everyone in this building would be trapped like Rattata."
"Hannah, if the proprietors of this MegaMart want people to jump to their deaths during a disaster, then that is their business. Did you find anything interesting?"
"I bought one hundred Lava Cookies in the basement because they cost two hundred Pokédollars each, and do the exact same thing as Full Heals, which cost six hundred apiece."
The boys ran for the elevator (hopefully Hannah had not bought out the entire stock) but Manny was yanked short by the girl.
"I am not spending half an hour waiting for Lemonade cans to drop one by one."
She flung the boy on the ground, rolled him over with the heel of her shoe and stole all of his Lemonade.
"Those are mine! Lemme go!"
"I just saved you forty thousand Pokédollars and this is how you thank me?"
"But Mint is going to buy the rest of the cookies!"
"Poor baby. Guess you'll have to waste money on Full Heals."
After escaping and ensuring she had not taken any Fresh Waters, Manny cursed at the elevator for taking so long to arrive and descend. He finally burst out of the verbally abused lifting machine: Mint was about to debit twenty thousand Pokédollars from his credit card!
"NOOOOOO!"
He body-checked his opponent. Mint's credit card and scarf went flying.
"My dear lady," Manny said to the clerk while keeping one foot on Mint's chest, "I will pay you thirty thousand Pokédollars for all hundred cookies!"
"Hey, MANNY used SUBMISSION!" Mint said after regaining the wind knocked out of him. The clerk blinked.
"Um… thank you, but we have several thousand cookies in stock. Nobody buys them."
Manny allowed Mint to stand. The boy dusted Manny's footprint off his shirt.
"Why?" Manny asked the clerk, eyebrow arched.
"We don't advertise."
"If you put a single advertisement on the radio or television, you would put the entire Full Heal industry out of business."
"The boss back in Lavaridge Town is a cheapskate. I only get paid two hundred Pokédollars a week!"
Manny and Mint winced.
"Wow, um, that's sad. We'll take a hundred cookies each, please," Manny requested, holding out his credit card.
The clerk brightened up. "Thank you for your patronage! Hey, three hundred cookies sold in a day. I might get a raise!"
"Seriously, hand out flyers outside the MegaMart, or something. You'd get rid of every last cookie within minutes," Mint advised, retrieving his fallen scarf.
"You know what? I will! I'm gonna design them myself, and get them photocopied at the Boss's expense! She'll have to recognise me, then!"
"Or you'll get fired and she'll hire a temp worker at an even lower salary," Manny shrugged, shouldering his miraculously unstuffed backpack as he headed for the elevator. Mint lingered with the clerk.
"Don't listen to him. Make flyers AND posters! Go to Jubilife TV station with free samples! The whole of Sinnoh will go mad!"
The clerk's eyes sparkled. "You're so right! If things aren't selling, I should be advertising! Why, it's common sense! Thank you, strange blonde boy!"
Mint stood up a little taller. "Just doin' my job, ma'am. You have a great day."