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Some people have told me that they cannot grasp the magnitude of my evil. I say this is proof that they lack imagination.
-Emrett Dialogues, compiled works
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Soon after the earthquake, rescue forces and Association operatives stormed the disaster area. Commandos strongarmed their way into the lower levels, neutralizing the malfunctioning security systems with brute force. Macro Cosmos employees were led out by HuMed workers and noted that the Commandos seemed to be taking small bits of paper from files and slipping them into their pockets. When pressed on the issue, the soldiers simply claimed plausible deniability under the Great Convention.
Chairman Tercano ordered an immediate search and scouring of the Energy Plant, and in the end, it was determined that not a single fatality had occurred. Repair drones went sent to lower levels to clear away the debris and broken equipment, while Chairman Rose gave his address on live television.
"This incident was regrettable, but I assure you that full compensation will be given to the injured and their families wherever necessary. Macro Cosmos Energy Plant is now fully operational and the cause of the breach of the Galar Particles has been found and repaired with several other countermeasures in place, but citizens are advised to reduce their usage of electricity for the time being until total safety is ascertained. More information will come in the following days. Thank you."
Bronze gave his own message, still in the executive box of Ballonlea Stadium. "Macro Cosmos continues to prove itself as an unstable giant with this new disaster, endangering the people of Galar and the larger world with the careless policy of stimulus-response. I announce that a formal audit of Macro Cosmos's funds and a full investigation of its activities will be held under the authority of the Rorian Convention and League policy to ensure that Macro Cosmos has not acted in an irresponsible manner..."
Unfortunately, Bronze's troubles did not stop. Reports came flooding in of a wild Dracovish suddenly Dynamaxing in the Route 9 tunnel rampaging out of control, repelling even law enforcement. "Establish a cordon around that tunnel and get some specialists in there! This shouldn't be possible, but it's the card we have been dealt! Woodhall, get the Commissioner over here, now!"
...
Henry watched the footage of the rampaging Dracovish on a plasma screen in the Stadium lobby, seeing it crush a car and drive people out in terror. "Professor Magnolia, that thing Dynamaxed outside of a power spot or a Dynamax Band! How is this possible?"
"It shouldn't be!" Magnolia cried. "In the old days, thousands of years ago, perhaps. But not now! That would demand an enormously high concentration of naturally occurring Galar Tachyons! I have never observed anything like this. We will need more information once that fish has been contained...but getting professional capture specialists to the tunnel with all that is going on will take a long while. Association forces are likely establishing a perimeter right now."
"It sounds as if you need to get somewhere without the Association noticing. We could help you with that."
Henry saw Marnie flanked by two Team Yell grunts, watching Casey begin to fight Opal on another screen. "Marnie!" Marvin yelled. "Where have you been?"
"Mostly dealing with issues as Stow-on-Side," Marnie said. "Allister was gone, so I had to battle Bea. That was the hardest match of my life, and not just because I didn't have any Pokemon that were strong against Fighting-types. You were lucky that you never faced her, Henry. I only won because she seemed to be less driven than usual, her Pokemon weren't fighting as hard as they should have been. Very out of character for her, don't you think?"
"Bea understood that Marnie is the greatest Gym Challenger in the history of the League, and lost on purpose," a Yell grunt said. "We will not delude ourselves into thinking that Marnie could beat every foe she encounters, but her superiority is second to none! Henry Sword, we still have not forgotten what you did to our fellows in the Wild Area!"
"I understand," Henry said. "But what about your offer of allowing us to investigate the Route 9 tunnel without the permission of the authorities?"
"Team Yell has many ways of entering places that they are not supposed to when it becomes necessary," Marnie said. "We would be willing to help out a follow Gym Challenger in circumnavigating the Association. Friends may be assisted, but we will not ally with either the bloated Macro Cosmos or Bronze Tercano's Rorian fanatics. Have you ever been to Anthein City recently? It's a madhouse!"
Magnolia remembered her last visit to Anthien for an interregional dinner with several other prominent professors from other regions. The streets of the flying city had been full of hooded worshippers, smoking incense, and supplicants knelt in prayer over miniature figures of Chairman Bronze and Arceus, chanting a verse that would rise out of the cacophony of sounds, "Grand Ba-a-a-shar! Grand Ba-a-a-shar! Greet my soul's entreaty! You, who are Arceus's anointed, welcome my prayer! Grand Ba-a-a-shar!"
She had then understood what Rose meant when he said that Tercano's power came from religious fanaticism. Through no seeming will of Bronze himself, a massive cult of personality had been formed around him like no other figure in history. He was only a man, not even one playing to be a god, but still the adherents of this new religion formed in droves. Magnolia would never understand why the Rorian people would glorify one man over a Pokemon. Messiahs! The Rorians are wont to them.
"I take your offer in gratitude," Magnolia said. "But let us finish watching Casey's match, and then go see what we can do at the Route 9 tunnel."
...
Opal had Gigantimaxed her Alcremie, and Casey was down to Tera as her final Pokemon in the fight. The Pokedex Holder Gigantimaxed her Pokemon, morphing Tera into a new form. "Well, you can Gigantamax! Alrighty, G-Max Stun Shock!"
A curved blade of electrical energy whipped from Tera's hands and into Alcremie's porous body. Alcremie began to turn a dark violet, paranatural toxins running through its veins.
"Alcremie is poisoned!" an announcer said. "Folks, was it from the Stun Shock, or the million liters of poison in Toxtricity's internal stores? Either way, the disadvantaged Fairy-type Alcremie has taken a major blow!"
"G-Max Finale!" Opal yelled. Casey stood, not even trying to defend herself. "Try me! Not even that barrage will damage Tera enough to turn the tide!"
...
In the executive box, Tess stood up with a start, fumbling with a bottle of narcotics that she had been using to speed up her mental abilities. "No! Casey Shield, do not get overconfident! Your chance of success has dropped by an entire order of magnitude! Resist the blow!"
...
But Casey could not hear Tess's impassioned cries from the upper stands. Dozens of cream missiles rammed into Tera, affecting it little. Only slight damage was done, and the challenger's side seemed to be in the advantage, but Opal knew what was coming.
"Casey Shield, the outcome of battles is not always decided by type advantages or compatibility. No, the most recurring and constant variables in the universe are chaos and disorder. Look at your Pokemon, young one."
Swiveling, Casey saw Tera ramming itself into the ray shields that protected the grandstands. Blue and red flickers rose from the shield's edges where it could not absorb all of Toxtricity's wild charges. Casey ordered Tear to stop, but it could not hear her in its confusion. It was the barrage that made it go mad!
The ray shields started to hum and then disgorged a massive blast of protective energy. Tera stayed conscious, but then Alcremie attacked again. Cream splattered over the plazcrete. Tess moaned and slumped in her chair.
"And it's down! Challenger Casey Shield has been eliminated from the Galarian Gym Challenge!"
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Sometimes I used to wonder why Rose formed such a vendetta against me, but now I know the answer. We hate each other solely because we are different and seek to destroy the other. I have a radical base of power in my homeland that I did not wish for but seems to have formed out of the strength of my leadership, blatantly nonsecular. He has a mind of technology, cogs, durasteel, and things that do not live. What happened between us, many ask? Nothing, just the slow, gradual assimilation into the false precepts of hated of different kindred into our minds.
-Chairman Bronze Tercano, private journals
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"This is unfortunate, but expected," Bronze said. "It was likely that at least one of them would be eliminated before the Championship round. But we have trapped Rose in a corner, Woodhall. His wealth is ours for the taking. He cannot resist our military might. This fight is over, at long last! All these years of scheming and building our power have come to fruition!"
"Your chances of successfully neutralizing Macro Cosmos Conglomerate in this current environment is ninety-nine percent," Tess replied. "I think you ought to attend to your other operations until the time comes for our main outward thrust. What about the Aether Foundation? They have been put under added scrutiny recently for not paying their full share of tribute to the Rorian League. I suspect Lusamine's* hatred of your followers has made her arrogance grow."
Bronze grinned, exiting the executive box. "Then we must deal with them appropriately. Prepare my shuttle, I must have a three-hour long round trip! And how is the blockade on the Route 9 tunnel? Is the Commissioner en route to contain the Dracovish?"
"Yes, she sent a capture team. Also, it seems that she is with them."
...
*Lusamine is currently over one hundred and mentally unstable. She is also floating in a giant tank of preserving fluid. Hey, I love PokeSpe characters, but this is supposed to be a dark story, after all. I need to deconstruct them and their accomplishments!
...
Route 9 Tunnel...
The Magnolia RV parked just outside of the blockade, and Casey set up a fan-like probe to test for traces of Dynamax energy. "Okay, four guards on this side of the tunnel, we better watch out...and I have detected a case of genuine wild Dynamaxing. This place isn't a Power Spot, so it must have temporality increased its levels of Galar Particles drastically!"
"This might have something to do with the accident at the Energy Plant," Magnolia said, remembering the urgent news bulletin at Balleonlea Stadium. "Henry, Marvin, could you go and signal to our little friends to distract the guards so you can get in a bit closer?"
"Henry," Casey said. "Since I'm out of the Challenge, could you continue to plead to Chairman Tercano about finding my missing Pokemon? He seems like the kind of man who wouldn't abandon something he started just because it no longer directly benefits him."
"Of course, Casey. Why would you need to ask something like that?"
...
Hidden Team Yell grunts, sent to the tunnel at Marnie's command, suddenly charged at the guards. Once the operatives sent out their Pokemon, they turned back and ran as if they had no idea what they were doing. While the guards were chasing the lunatics, Henry and Marvin slipped into the abandoned tunnel.
"Do you think that it would still be here?" Marvin asked. "I don't hear much coming from the tunnel up ahead, except that clattering sound."
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Henry said. "Stay close."
Ruined cars were strewn about, and the lighting systems for the long tunnel failed, leaving him in absolute darkness except for the faint glimmering of a vehicle on fire. Henry powered on the drone's floodlights and saw something he would never forget.
A Steelix had wrapped its long tail around a battered Dracovish, chased by Macro Cosmos mercenaries. Dracovish bit Steelix's tail, the powerful jaws making dents in the metal. The creature bellowed, falling over in steel knots as it released its quarry.
These aren't Association operatives! Marvin thought. But why would Rose send Macro Cosmos soldiers after one Pokemon? Does he not want Chairman Bronze to get the Dracovish for himself?
"If we can't catch it," a mercenary yelled. "We will have to dispose of it! This creature remains a risk to the people and Pokemon of Galar and has forfeited its right to live! Attack formation eight!"
"Dispose of it?" Marvin yelled, his head popping up from behind a ruined car. "Never! Sniffler, go! Tearful Look!"
Sniffler came out of its Poke Ball and wet its eyes. Dribbling tears in its palms, Sniffler threw the alkali mixture into the air, where it separated it into many thin, very heavy globules of salty water. The soldier's protective eye guards did not prevent the liquid from seeping into their eyes, causing them to scream and flee. The Steelix roared in pain, running away with its trainer into the vale off the road.
Marvin threw a Poke Ball, capturing the weakened Dracovish. "Alright!" he said, picking the Ball up. "Now, we can bring this back to Magnolia to study!"
"I don't think that you will be studying that creature anytime soon."
...
Henry spun, thinking that the guards had stopped chasing the Yell grunts and had returned to their posts. His worst fears were confirmed, with the four Association operatives having hogtied the Yell grunts with shigawire cuffs. Another ten dark-suited men and a red-haired woman of about eighty had arrived out of a dark van, bearing the insignia of the Pokemon Association on their lapels. A Sawk and Throh accompanied them, battle ready with a trainer of about seventy and wearing a suit of body armor to command them.
"Well, well, well," the woman said, clapping her hands together. "And here I thought I was going to have to spend time looking for that Dracovish, and you go ahead, do the job for us, and walk into our patrol! That is something, I'll tell you."
The woman looked familiar to Henry...perhaps he had seen her somewhere before? "You're working for the Association, aren't you? You can have the Dracovish if you want it. Marvin, give them the Pokemon."
Marvin hesitated, putting his hands behind his back before rolling the Poke Ball to the operatives. The Sawk picked the Ball up, depositing it in a secure plastiglass canister. A few operatives detached
The woman laughed, a warm, wholesome laugh. "What manners, young master! But pardon the fact that I haven't introduced myself yet. My code name is unimportant-just call me Green,* International Police Commissioner extraordinaire! You have some guts, young masters. I don't know what is in the water where you come from, but it's pretty strong stuff! Tired of repairing weapons in your own hometown, you decided to go to the big leagues and have a crack at the Tournament."
She continued. "But while you might be content beating Gym Leaders and the like, I have work to do ensuring the peace and safety of the Galarian people under the wise leadership of Chairman Bronze, no, the Grand Bashar! Love the good Chairman, the Rorians say. Well, our International Police Force doesn't run itself, especially if there is no one telling it to! That's where I come in. After feisty Bronze and his band of warriors from another dimension blasted the old Commissioner to dust fifty-four years back, there was a bit of talk about who the next one would be. And look where I am today!"
Green commanded the others to leave, with the exception of the operative in the body armor. "Back to the van, all of you. Agent Blake, remain here. I have always wanted to have a chat with a new Pokedex Holder!" She sighed. "Such a shame that Tercano restricted the title of Pokedex Holder to two per region, or any preexisting holder. It seems that all of us have held on to life. New blood is fascinating to see in these times."
Henry decided to cut to the heart of the matter. "Miss Green, what do you think of Chairman Bronze? What was he like when he was younger? And do you feel replaced in any way? I mean, Tercano doesn't need the International Police anymore. He has his Commandos and local law enforcement."
Green scowled, walking back toward the Magnolia RV with Blake. "Tercano! He was just a boy when I first got a gander at him. Now he shuffles me around like the old relic that I am. He has been gracious enough with those pills he gave me...and that Bronze was almost as he was now back in the day. Except, of course, for the mobs of fanatics in Roria that would kill themselves if he said so. He wouldn't, but I don't even think that he could diffuse the situation if he tried.
"And never suggest that the International Police are unnecessary! Those Rorian Commandos...muscle-minded tank brains, all of them! No Bibliographers, the Chairman's elite fighting force! Sometimes precision jobs are needed. With Anabel gone running wild into the big Library in the sky a few years back, I am the highest-ranking member of the International Police. Once I die, either by some misfired plasma howitzer or the flu or whatever, the position of Commissioner will go to Agent Blake! Isn't that right, Black-Two?"
Blake nodded. "Yes."
Green laughed again. "A man of few words! But enough about our hamstrung organization. That Dracovish will be in our good graces, trust me. A Pokemon suddenly Dynamaxing? Odd stuff. Also, we saw those mercenaries going over the valley bottom. They won't return while we're here. Now, Pokedex Holder, I hope you do well in the League. Leon is unbeatable, but perhaps you will look him in the eye before you are eliminated. Agent Blake, come with me."
The stoic man followed Green back to the armored van, which pulled out down the road. In the distance, Marvin and Henry heard the sirens of HuMed vehicles coming to take away the ruined cars. "Marvin, we better get going. Casey and Magnolia will be wondering where we were."
"Of course," Marvin said with a smirk, holding up the Poke Ball of the Dracovish. "I wonder how long it will be until they realize that this is missing!"
...
"That was mighty foolish of you!" Magnolia yelled back inside the RV. "They can track us! What were you thinking in bringing that Dracovish here?"
"I don't trust the Association," Marvin said, clutching the Poke Ball. "This Dracovish could be tortured in a laboratory somewhere! We'll let it go into the wild, and once they come knocking, no evidence will be found."
"That's impossible!" Casey yelled. "Dracovish are reanimated from cells with primordial energy! They don't even live in the wild, and will quickly die in a natural environment of competition with other Pokemon! You can't release it or give it away!"
Marvin flushed red, then hurriedly came up with an excuse. "Then we'll keep it! We'll hide it somewhere safe once the Association comes, and-"
"They will find it, they always do!" Magnolia protested. "Now we look as if we have something to hide. I'll try to clear things up with Tercano. You can keep the Dracovish on your team for the time being...for the time being!"
"Fine," Marvin said, holding up the Poke Ball. "In that case, I dub thee Uonon, after the Hisuian warrior of legend!"
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*Green is FEMALE in the Legends Canon!
Aether Paradise
The enemy of my enemy can still betray me. The enemy of my enemy can still kill me.
-Bronze Tercano, private diaries
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The shuttle landed on the sleek landing pad by the shining white towers of Aether Paradise. Bronze Tercano soon disembarked and marched to the President's mansion with a garrison of one hundred Rorian Commandos and his usual entourage. I am a spider. Lusamine is the fly.
Aether Foundation employees and guards gawked at the sight, but some Rorians on tour yelled their praises and flocked to the Chairman as he stood before the manor's doors. "The Grand Bashar! The Grand Bashar has come to Aether Paradise!
They opened via a remote signal, and Bronze entered with his troops to greet a terrified head researcher in an anteroom "I am sorry, Mr. Tercano, but Aether President Lillie is currently unavailable at this time. Would you like to leave a message for her?"
"I have not come to see Lillie, fool," Bronze snapped at the effeminate man. "I must see Lusamine! She is the woman behind this faux President, despite what Gladion wished...oh, I have waited to see this hypochondriac again for a long while. Woodhall, what door will we turn into?"
"The left one," Tess calculated. "And then there should be a switch under the President's desk to enter the deeper levels of this very large floating structure."
Pushing past any opposition, the Association forces barged into Lillie's unlocked study. The woman looked up, terrified to see him. Although she had become far more assertive in her later life, Bronze Tercano still terrified her. "W-what are you doing here? Get out, before I call security!"
"And we will defeat every last bit of your security," Bronze said, hands clasped behind his back. "Do not attempt to resist. Now, Lillie, I need to see your mother."
Lillie quickly opened the hidden passage, a white plaz wall sliding away with a hiss as she activated the hidden lever. "Carry on, sir. But don't harm her or agitate her, she is very sensitive right now!"
"I will be the judge of what is necessary!" Bronze gestured to two of his Commandos. "Edric, Roon. Stay here with Miss Lillie, and see to it that she doesn't attempt to alert anyone of our presence here that doesn't need to know." He turned away from the Aether President and walked down the glowglobe-illuminated flight of stairs into the netherworld of Aether Paradise.
...
Bronze guided a suspension lift to the far right and into a large, bowl-shaped chamber with hundreds of plaz tanks. He and Tess walked among the thick-walled chambers full of concentrated Nihilego toxins. Through the murky windowports and swirling fumes inside, Bronze could see mutated Pokemon undergoing constant mental convulsions to expand their minds.
Bronze marveled at these freakish but oddly impressive specimens. Lusamine had taken her older specimens out of cryofreeze into a new kind of preserved state. He could swear that every blob inside was staring back at him. Do you see us, Bronze Tercano? Don't you know that we are inside everyone? That we are the reason why things just don't work?
He and Tess paused before a large central tank on a marble platform, like a shrine. Bronze grimaced as he saw the form of Lusamine present in the chamber, surrounded by her own personal toxin-dreams and the infinite possibilities that stretched far into the universe. More than three decades ago, Lusamine, never wholly recovered from her exposure to Nihilego toxins fifty-five years ago, had willingly become this thing that now stared back at him through the tank.
Her body likely no longer looked human, but Bronze could see two glowing orange eyes in the mist, with a dark, vestigial mass below them. "Well, Lusamine? Why has the Rorian Convention not been paid their full share that is due from the Aether Foundation? Or perhaps I should think in grander terms, as you do?"
Lusamine spoke in a warbling voice from the tank's speakerpatch. "Tercano! Have you seen the machines we build? Better than those in Kalos. Or Unova. My operations-for my children to get the gas-I need money to do so. Forgive me. I did not pay you fully. Why do you ask me and not my...daughter?"
Bronze could see that Lusamine's mind was in the universe, wrapped in the fabric of space. When necessary, she could tighten her thoughts, focus and simplify concepts to communicate with mere humans such as him. But these mutated Pokemon were her children, her companions...a new enhanced species. They were the only ones who could truly understand and share with her. Paying her dues to the Rorians had to take a backseat to that.
"I will pay you," Lusamine murmured, floating away before replying again. "I will pay you as much as you need. I am sorry. This was a misunderstanding. Perhaps you would like to become one of us? The process is so rewarding once you do it. I have been trying to make my daughter do it for years. I do not understand why she has not."
Bronze was so disgusted that he seriously considered ordering his Commandoes to break the plaz walls and kill the thing inside, but he maintained his composure. "All is well, then. I await your sum of three hundred million units shortly. And despite all your immense knowledge, you seem to be lacking in emotional intelligence."
The Chairman left for the upper levels, leaving something for Lusamine to think about for a very long while.