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What is Macro Cosmos? It is much more than Dynamax Bands, much more than Galar itself, more than Rorian religious rites or Poke Balls. It is Potions, fur, Wishing Stars, Logarian artifacts and entertainers, trade in people or Pokemon, the League Challenge, those products which come to the borderline of legality in Galar; it is addictive drugs and medical techniques; it is the transportation and all the complex of a world order which encompasses multiple continents and is soon to reach out into the fringes of space or other universes. When you speak of Macro Cosmos, speak of a massive conglomerate in which Galar is ensnared.
-Tessa Woodhall's comments on Macro Cosmos
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The tremor changed from a shuffling groan to a full-on earthquake. Hammerlocke City suddenly was shrouded in a strange darkness. The power went off. Only battery-operated glowglobes shined, and the sunlight flooded through windows and streets. Sonia, still by the Power Plant, heard some people scream. "What is going on?"
Then a burst of dark particles emitted from the tip of the Energy Plant tower, and the day went dark as if a switch had been flicked off. The sun had been snuffed out, and the day went to night in an instant. Now even full-grown men moaned in terror. Sonia ran across a crowded street away from the Power Plant, expecting worse as the sky took on a dark red hue.
Sonia saw more rumbling and a pillar of solid red light coming from a road near the Energy Plant. Galar Particles, Sonia thought. Leaking from the Power Plant underground!
The ground around the newly-formed chasm split and broke up. A huge section of road pushed up more than ten feet and then toppled on the street. Swirling masses of mud and plazcrete swallowed up parked cars. The shining was like a ball of gasoline on fire, the hole gobbling everything around it. Horror was not a good enough word for it. Sonia could not bring herself to run away further or even shout.
And suddenly the earthquake stopped. The sun reappeared. It was a bright day in Hammerlocke. The hole sealed itself just as quickly as it had appeared, swallowing an aircar with it as it vanished. The red light vanished; all the chaos stopped except for a final boom from under the Energy Plant, and a faint howl that lingered on the wind.
...
Bede had run out of the Stadium as soon as the earthquake began. Once the tumult had calmed down, he joined a crowd of gawkers, staring at the seemingly unharmed Energy Plant. Sonia saw him, remembering that he was a Gym Challenger along with Henry Sword! "Bede, over here!"
The boy turned, scowling. "You? You're that woman who was following Henry Sword around. Well, why don't you tell me what is going on?"
...
Leon had been in a custom aircar, fresh from a training session when the earthquake began. People around him had stopped their cars and left to see what had been going on, and Leon did so as well when he saw the crevasse by the Power Plant. He had sent out Charizard from the window to fly over the burning hole, until he saw a small drone get caught in a stream of red light and burst into flames. "Wait, turn back! That thing is active!"
He took over from the autonav and wrenched the wheel away from the red chasm. It was at least twenty feet wide, and far deeper. Leon had to tell himself to slow down, but a tremor made the car leap almost straight up. The car bounced and twisted, spinning in circles. When it came to a stop, Leon left the aircar and snagged onto Charizard's claw, hovering over the rumbling streets.
And then the earthquake ceased, and he heard the explosion from beneath the Energy Plant. There! That is where I must go next!
...
Sonia saw Leon land and stride up to a gated entrance to the Energy Plant, just right from the main gates along the great bastion that housed both the Stadium and Macro Cosmo's most productive power facility. A small entourage followed him to meet the Macro Cosmos mercenaries that guarded the doors, shaken, but still resolute in their duty.
A commander stepped forward to confront Leon. "You and your other followers, leave! Even if you are the Champion, we cannot let you pass! Chairman Rose himself ordered us to allow no visitors into the plant when he entered it only an hour ago! Regardless of the tremor, no alarms have been sounded inside the facility and the Chairman has not sent any alert about an emergency. Everything is operational; look, the power is back on!"
They don't want the Association to get involved! "You can't say that for certain!" Leon protested. "And what if the reason that Rose hasn't sent out a call for an emergency is that he isn't able to? People could be injured down there!"
"In that case," the mercenary captain said. "We haven't been instructed on what to do in that situation except keep unruly mobs from disrupting rescue efforts! Cease and desist!"
Chairman Rose in the Energy Plant! Bede thought. Is he injured? Worse?
Bede sent out Hatenna and blasted the mercenaries away with a burst of telekinesis. He made a run for the locking mechanism amid the fallen bodies, but Leon held him back. "What are you doing? There are more guards around, and they have pellet stunners!"
"Release me!" Bede shouted. "If anything happens to the Chairman-"
Raihan had joined the small group, fleeing the Stadium. "Quiet! Don't go around biting off more than you can chew. If you keep turning up like this and assaulting whosoever you will, the Chairman's opinion of you will be somewhat low, won't it?"
Bede paused.
"There is something I need to talk to you about, Bede," Sonia said, trying to avoid eye contact with Leon. "I have heard that the Chairman wanted you to gather Wishing Stars along with his other agents. Did he ever tell you what he was trying to do with such a large stockpile?"
Clenching his teeth, Bede gave a measured response. "I do not know. He said that he wanted to protect Galar, that's all. And what if he did not say of his purpose for them? It must be a beneficial use!"
"Why don't you come down to the plant with me?" Raihan said. "I have executive access, being a Gym Leader and all. It won't matter much to the Chairman if you do. You don't seem cut out to evacuate people...and the Challenge Cup isn't the only place where trainers can shine! Don't be so stubborn-"
"Shut up!"
Bede ran away into the city. Far away, Sonia could see little convoys of Association operatives driving into Hammerlocke, along with law enforcement and emergency services. Bet they at least have a few Rorian Commandos with them. I've always wanted to see one!
Raihan opened the gates with a palm code, ordering his Sandaconda to carry away the injured mercenaries. "Leon, you are the Champion! Keep people in order and prevent them from going too close to that rift; it could become active again. I'll be okay, there is no entrance here that I haven't been in!"
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After passing through the gates and sneaking through an undamaged maintenance port atop a spire, riding on the back of his Flygon down through the industrial tunnel. He reached the bottom, stumbled through a low gate, and then found himself in the company mess hall.
No alarms rang in the laboratory domes, but tables and equipment were scattered over the floor. The tremors must have been far worse underground. Not a single security Pokemon or guard had been summoned to the room. Raihan stopped over an unresponsive female scientist, lying by a displaced vending machine. "Hello? Are you alright?"
The woman moaned and tried to sit up. "Not at all...Raihan? Did you see what that tremor was from outside this place? We heard screaming, from underground, mind you, and then the power went out. The emergency lights didn't even function...I heard that our neurotoxin containment procedures failed on the lower floors! People are trapped down there!"
"Calm down," Raihan said. "More help is coming soon; they are likely breaching the gates right now." He looked around, a saw something behind the toppled vending machine that he had not noticed before: a durasteel, with a small palm scanner to open it.
Raihan's curiosity was piqued, and after making a compress for the bleeding scientist with his sweater, he tried the palm lock. No luck. Seeing no other way to enter the door, he had his Goodra burn through the door. Property damage and trespassing, but Chairman Bronze will plead my case if it goes to court.
Through the broken door was a ladder that led downward into a tunnel illuminated by red glowglobes on emergency power. Flygon scouted the passage, finding another door that led to an elevator and a ventilation grille down the hall. A small probe was by the door, with a blue ocular receptor and a small speakerpatch on its body.
"Identification not detected," the probe said. "Please submit name and clearance."
"Raihan, Gym Leader of Hammerlocke City. Executive access to all Macro Cosmos property per order of Chairman Rose."
"Searching system for biometric traces..."
The small probe hummed, and then its receptor flashed crimson. "No such biometric traces detected. Please wait for security personnel to assist you."
A stunner pellet shot out of a port on the machine, aimed at Raihan, but Flygon intercepted the dart with its wing. The Pokemon lost its balance and smashed through the loosened ventilation shaft, tumbling with Raihan down into the chamber below. The two passed through several layers of security lasers, but no alarms went off as they continued to fall.
...
When Raihan looked up from the plazcrete floor, he saw that he had landed in a narrow durasteel-plated hallway, with a console near a blast door to the entrance of it. A complicated network of catchrings and suspensors led into a plastiglass tube that opened above a white plaz bowl that hummed with the electrical bonnet field surrounding it. A drone of ventilation systems and cooling fans seemed to be the only sound.
Past the bowl was a sheer wall of crystal, beyond which Raihan could see nothing but mist and shifting darkness. The moving shapes within it caught his attention, so much that he did not notice Chairman Rose and Oleana by the bowl.
"Hello, Raihan," Rose said, calm as ever. "I am surprised and delighted to see you here. I see you have never visited this part of my facility before. Now, I will tell you that this little room is where I was conducting some experiments involving Wishing Stars; specifically, how to generate electricity with them."
Rose gestured to the bowl, and Raihan saw six Wishing Stars englobed within it: six orbed spheres of living light. "Very interesting, Rose," Raihan said. "What's with all the secrecy? I bet that Tercano would be willing to pay a pretty penny for information regarding this place. Did you cause that tremor and strange rift?"
"Oh, an experiment went a little wrong," Rose said. "The Wishing Stars did not respond well to a certain kind of stimuli relating to the psychic brainwaves of an Alakazam. There was disastrous energy feedback through the containment device, and I assume that a reactor somewhere blew, spewing Galar Particles to the surface. The electricity is back on, Raihan. There is nothing to worry about."
"Don't play that game with me," Raihan snapped, peering into the screen. "What is that? Why would you be doing these tests?"
Rose gestured to the void. "Oh, that? It's just a holoscreen to cover up and muffle the noise of the containment system for the Wishing Stars. It adds a strange ambiance to this place, don't you think? And I assure you, such scientific quests into the realm of alternative energy with the Wishing Stars should be encouraged!"
"Any reason in particular?"
"The Galar Particles are limited, Raihan. We would be in deep trouble if we ran out of them...it would be lovely if there was only a blackout like you experienced on the ground level, but there is a possibility that Galarian civilization would collapse, along with Macro Cosmos. Think, Raihan! We would be heading for a disaster of ancient proportions! Forty years of darkness from wild Galar Particles launching into the atmosphere! Fire and brimstone coming out of the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Earthquakes and volcanoes, the dead rising from their graves, human sacrifice, Purugly and Yamper living together, mass hysteria!"
Raihan was deeply troubled. "When? When would this happen?"
"About a thousand years from now."
"..."
"Rose, in a thousand years, the world will have already ended or we will have discovered antimatter power. It's out of your hands, and all of our lifetimes! Don't scare me like that...aren't you thinking a little too hard about this? I mean, we will be out of new Mega Evolution stones in less than that time."
"Yes, I understand the prospect of future technological advances," Rose said. "But the aforementioned disasters would still happen, and people would no longer be able to Dynamax! And think of the Pokemon! When Jirachi awoke at the Hoenn Battle Frontier over sixty years ago, it went back to sleep after seven days. In another thousand years, what will the world of the living look like? I won't just stand around while danger approaches the future!"
"Well, good luck," Raihan sighed. "Looks like you haven't had much luck with this new test."
"Of course, such setbacks are to be expected," Rose said, clasping his hands. "Now, I will put some more shock adaptors in the coolant mainframe to prevent this from happening again. Could you please not tell Tercano about this? His lawyers and fanatics would shut down what I have going here. You also understand why this must be hidden from the public eye, right?"
"Because you don't want to cause any unnecessary worry?" Raihan said. "I would understand if the possible crisis were, say, Grand Meteor Delta fifty-six years ago about to crash down in ten days, but this would be a thousand years from now! I think that perhaps if you revealed this troubling information, much like the old Chairman of the Pokemon Association did after the Battle of the Forest of Elmoth with the knowledge of anomalous creatures, people would trust you more and Tercano wouldn't breathe down your back so much. You might even get more people working on alternative power sources as a bonus."
"Thank you, Raihan," Rose said. "I trust you, understand that. But I assure you that I have already poured over each and every possible outcome, and this quiet development of my device is the most beneficial and safe path for the Galarian people. We must make more repairs and announce that this incident was nothing to worry about. Oleana, prepare my speech and adjust my schedule!"
"Right away, sir."
Raihan stepped into the elevator, smirking as the doors opened. "I will be going up to the surface to help with any other relief efforts I can. I hope that nothing like this will happen again, Chairman, Oleana. Good day!"
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"Down with the Enemy" will always be simpler than saying, "Raise the greatest army of the ages from all the Free Peoples and Pokemon, cross an abysmal hellscape, battle an opposing very, very large army of demonic monsters, and then try to figure out a way to defeat the Dark Lord!" And it's significantly easier to chant, as well.
-private journals of Emrett, unpublished
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Rose waited until the elevator had closed and reached the surface before turning back to the luminous veil. "He doesn't believe us, does he, Oleana?"
"Not in the slightest. Tercano will find out about this sooner or later."
"That is of no concern," Rose stated. "We will obfuscate and waylay him as long as we can. He will thoroughly search this facility in time, but the Plan is nearly complete! We will succeed," He now turned to the veil and talked to it in a loud voice. "Unless we have any more accidents."
"I understand, master," a booming voice rumbled. "My impatience has seemed to have gotten the best of my control. But it is wonderful to feel strong again."
A demonic visage appeared on the cloudy wall. It had a crown of four curved horns, with a pair of three-lobed burning white eyes. No jaw was visible neath the slope of its curved head, but even behind the shield, it radiated an aura of evil. It was a thing of an older world, something that modern science and Rose's efforts were not equipped to deal with outside of complete containment.
"That rift on the surface was your doing?" Rose asked, remembering the watcheye footage. "Do you wish to be discovered? You understand that your enemies are many. Only in my care would you not be destroyed."
"Ah-h-h, Rose, power you claim to have, a power that should make me afraid! You insinuate that I acted on impulse as one acts on a trifle. I am growing impatient, but I will grow to full strength once more, soon. Soon, Rose, soon! Then you will have your reward of the Galar Particles!"
"You will fulfill your purpose, and then depart. That is our agreement." What a fool. It does not suspect that I have a plan that is sure to destroy it after it has given me what I wish, a plan that will succeed despite any power that this demon has not yet revealed. Monsters and magic, Rose! Be careful when dealing with such things!
"Of course. I have only a desire to depart from the outer regions from whence I came." What a fool. I see his plan. He would destroy me once I have served him well! But there are only two that may defeat me, and he knows of them not. I am ahead of him, Master! I will surely not fail."
Satisfied, Rose turned away from Eternatus. "After the crisis is averted, I hope that one day Chairman Bronze Tercano and his warrior-madmen will be defeated. Perhaps you could aid with that? Macro Cosmos must lead the New World Order, for the continued peace and prosperity of mankind."
As if I give one damn about the peace and prosperity of his people! "Ignore your common folk! They are rabble, bands of weak creatures to be ruled. It's the populous towns, cities, and villages that ought to concern you. My Master taught me that rule is domination and a merciless fist. You must show no mercy here. Think of these clods for what they are-slaves envious of their coming master and waiting only for an opportunity to rebel. Not the slightest vestige of pity or mercy can be shown."
It truly is a wicked beast. "That seems counterproductive to my desires. Are you suggesting that you wish to be my instrument for the extermination of troublesome factions, such as the Association?"
"Exterminate?" Eterantus said, a slight shifting in its head betraying its surprise. "Who said anything about extermination? Don't waste the population, drive them into utter submission. You must be the carnivore. A carnivore never stops. Show no mercy. Never stop. Mercy is a lie of the False One Arceus. It can be defeated by the eyes lusting, or the mouth crying out in thirst. You must always be lustful and thirsty." The demon moved in the white void. "Like me."
"I see."
Eternatus continued. "My Master, the Downfallen Evil Djinn, desired for this world to be utterly destroyed and a new creation to take its place. Such a thing failed utterly-and look at the price that was paid! But although I am of lesser natural stature than my Master, I will succeed where he did not. I will not foolishly spend my power and disperse it through the Earth in an attempt to taint it, thus weakening myself. No, that power will be used. I do not desire destruction. I desire lordship. I desire to rule. I desire dominion."
"You won't be able to destroy or rule if your actions reveal where we found your weakened shell," Oleana said. "Look at you! When you were discovered, you were a parasite! Now we have fed you and made you strong. Do not betray those who did so much good for you."
She thinks that I feel in their debt.
"For the present. I await the day when I become strong enough to have dominion. Guard this place, my Rose."
Eterantus's eyes flashed, and then the demon moved back into the swirling miasma. Rose looked at the bowl and saw that the creature had taken the Wishing Stars without the use of an appendage to absorb them. He shuddered.
It is getting stronger!