Well, I guess there's not much more to say, besides that this chapter will be much shorter than the previous ones. Let the ride begin.

-:-

CHAPTER 9: Disconnection

-:-

Eight years ago, Olivia's world was a very different place. There were no expectations to live up to, no disappointments to face, and no villains of any kind to disrupt her peace.

What there was was the simple life of a child not yet tainted by the darker aspects of the outside world. There was her father, Rich, and her mother, Anabel – the two who made her existence everything a young girl could have wanted.

It was her father especially who spoiled her. He could almost never say no to her, often resulting in the more serious aspects of raising her getting left to Anabel. Material goods weren't the only thing Rich spoiled Olivia with, though; without fail, he always supported her and always did what he could to help her in anything she wanted to do.

Those idyllic days would not last.

~:~

Night brought the drawing-down of much of the activity in Violet City's Pokémon Center. Besides the nurse, who was working behind the front desk, the lobby was empty save for Matt, who was sitting at and staring into a table in miserable silence.

The air was deadly still, at least until Bunny emerged from the hallway to the lodging area and approached the table.

"Hey," she said, sitting down opposite him.

"How's she doing…?" Matt mumbled into the table, not even bothering to turn his eyes to Bunny.

In response, Bunny sighed and closed her eyes. "Nekou's in there talking to her, but the kinds of things she's saying… I don't think I want to repeat them."

"About me and how I let her down?"

"You, me, Nekou, Avril, Rich himself… I would never judge her capable of such anger just by looking at her."

"It's not just anger," Matt corrected her, still not moving his dispirited gaze from the table. "It's sadness, too. The kind of soul-crushing sadness that leads you to uncontrollable anger because you have nothing else left to resort to. I know it firsthand… I fear for what she's going to be like tomorrow once the initial shock wears off."

"I've never seen you get as angry as she is right now…"

"Before we ever met, when I was younger… the feeling of sheer hopelessness that drives you to carry your crippled, blinded sister into a blizzard, all but dooming you both to die in it, that's how it feels. And then when you get saved and you think you have a way out, a way to save her, only to find out that you're being used to carry out research into some really bad things… that's how it really feels. I know what's going on in that room because I've been there."

Bunny found herself at a loss for words, owing mainly to her exhausted state of mind. Between Olivia's breakdown and the inability to help on the parts of both herself and Matt, she couldn't deal with it.

Luckily for her, and perhaps for Matt as well, the situation was abruptly interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Well, well, you two… so our paths cross again this soon?"

Bunny turned, and Matt finally lifted his head in response to what he heard. Dante was there, having approached the table.

"Oh, Doctor Fan…"

Though his smile faded only slightly, Dante didn't wait for Bunny to finish before speaking himself. "Was just traveling through Violet on my way to my next destination and decided to stop in. Where are the other two who were with you?"

"In our room here," Matt replied, his voice still not reaching much further than a mumble. "Olivia's not doing so well."

"Is that so? She's sick?"

"Not in the sense you'd think. She lost her match with the Gym Leader, and then some girl who took a dislike to her accidentally revealed what really happened to her father. And as you can guess, she isn't taking it very well. Nekou's in there trying to calm her down, but…"

"Say no more." His lighthearted demeanor gone, Dante turned half away from Matt and Bunny and stared toward the windows with a bitter look in his eyes. "When Amina died, I felt the same way. It takes time for someone who's lost their only guiding star to find another one. I just hope for all of your sakes that it takes less time for her than it's taken me." Swiveling back to face Matt and Bunny again, he suddenly adopted an upbeat persona again. "Now about why I'm here. While I was staying at Mr. Pokémon's home, I read some magazines he had and I came across something rather curious. One scientific publication, while discussing the migration of Pokémon from Unova to this country, theorized that some Pokémon believed to be native to Unova might also have been here before. I'm on my way to the Ruins of Alph to investigate one of the theories, and since we're all here in one place, I would like to ask – Bunny, would you be interested in joining me on this research?"

It took a moment for what Dante had said to fully reach Bunny because of his rapid flow of thoughts, but when it did, she jumped slightly. "That's rather surprising. Why me and not Matt?"

"I think he has more urgent matters to attend to than helping an old man walk around some ruins, especially after what you just told me. And don't sell yourself short. I'd say you've got a great skill set. So what do you say?"

"I don't know. Aren't the Ruins of Alph closed because of that meteor strike?"

"Ah, but I've obtained special permission from the preservation bureau to go there. It's really only closed off to the tourists and everyday trainers. Right now the bureau just wants to keep track of who goes in and out. Matters of organization, really."

"Well, if you say so, it ought to be interesting. Matt, do you think Olivia would be okay with me going away for a while?"

"I hope so," he blandly answered. "To be brutally honest, after how you couldn't get through to her before, I doubt that's going to change overnight. If you ask me, there's nothing you could do to help her right now anyway."

"Do you really think so? I don't want her to feel like someone else is abandoning her."

"She needs help from a source that isn't me or someone she associates with me. That's what I think…"

-:-

The next morning, Matt, Olivia, Nekou, Bunny and Dante converged at Violet City's southwestern exit, a stone path flanked on both sides by boxed lanterns.

"Well, this is where we part," Dante announced as they arrived at the fork splitting the Ruins of Alph off from Route 32. "You keep up looking for Reshiram, Matt. I think it's very important you find what you're looking for."

"Thanks, I guess. Good to know I have some more support for this."

Leaning down onto his knee while still supporting himself on his cane, Dante moved to eye level with Olivia and smiled at the sullen, silent young woman. "And you. Don't let your loss break your spirit and stop you from moving forward. Fight back against that despair, Olivia. Don't get consumed by it."

Olivia's only response was to move her eyes away.

"I know we'll be working together again before either of us knows it," Bunny said while Dante stood back up, "but I can't help but feel like I should still wish you guys luck out there. A lot can happen in a short time."

Briefly glancing over to Olivia, Bunny pondered saying something to encourage her, but decided against it due to Olivia's reaction to Dante. Instead, she simply extended a hand to Matt, which he shook after only a short hesitation.

"Thanks, Bunny. You be careful in there."

"See you soon, everybody!"

Most of the enthusiasm as the two groups split off came from Bunny; she was the only one even bothering to wave goodbye. Matt and Olivia just turned away and walked off down Route 32, leaving Nekou to follow.

-:-

Jessie, James, Ariana and Dr. Zager all stared up at the screen in the scientist's lab, their mouths open in looks of varying degrees of surprise.

"You're serious about this, aren't you?"

Up on the monitor, Stacia looked back at them from Giovanni's darkened office. She nodded in response to Ariana's stunned inquiry, the glow from her own screen reflecting in her glasses.

"That is the plan Mr. Giovanni has selected, yes," the Team Rocket boss's secretary confirmed.

"Operation Atlas..." Zager repeated out loud. "…the mission to take on the weight of keeping this world the way it is… I must say, Stacia, even I never expected Giovanni to call for this."

"Hello, we're still in the dark here!" Jessie interjected.

"You can't just expect us to know what's going on," added James. "Bring us up to speed, why don't you?"

"Operation Atlas is a top-secret plan the higher-ups in Team Rocket began drawing up after what happened in Unova," Ariana explained. "This is pretty much the worst case scenario."

"We're on war footing now," Zager continued. "The purpose of this plan was to formulate a defense should Polaris appear in our homeland. Basically, exactly what is happening right now. Even if it's for the sake of Team Rocket, we must defend this world from what Polaris is planning to do."

"So what do we have to do, exactly?"

"Jessie, you and James will accompany Executive Ariana and return to Kanto," Stacia answered. "Here, you will pick up Mr. Giovanni and together, all of you will meet with Pierce outside of Goldenrod City. That is where Polaris is planning to make a major move."

"We can do tha…" Halfway through his sentence, James caught on to what Stacia had said, and his voice escalated wildly. "The boss is coming to the front lines himself?!"

"I told you, we're at war now. This isn't the first time Giovanni's come out to participate in a mission himself, if you remember."

"I wonder if we'd still be in this position now if we'd gotten that Meteonite back then…" mused Jessie. "Will we still be able to get Meowth back?"

"All equipment necessary for your mission will be supplied by Dr. Zager before you leave for Kanto, so that does not change." Behind the glow of her glasses, Stacia narrowed her eyes. "Mr. Giovanni expects you here as soon as possible. I would strongly advise that you do not disappoint him. Farewell."

Stacia left an atmosphere of tightened nerves in her wake once she disappeared from the screen. An uncomfortable silence hung over the lab for what all four assembled would agree was far too long before James finally broke it.

"I guess I'll be the one to ask, then. What about the International Police and their files on us? As soon as the boss breaks his house arrest, they'll crack down and take us all out."

"Don't you worry your little blue head about that," Ariana asserted. "When Operation Atlas was initially crafted, one thing we made sure to do was plan a provision for just a case like this. We've got someone in place to deal with that, and let me assure you, by the time we get to Viridian, there won't be any traces left to prove what happened. The ability to rewrite history is great, isn't it? Too bad we can only use it once, or it'll be figured out…"

"Are you finished?" Zager said with a sigh. "You three, start loading the equipment into the car. I'll go over the map system and make sure your charts of the underground tunnels are up to date."

-:-

After ending the video conference with Zager's lab, Stacia left Giovanni's office and slipped into the adjoining wardrobe room, where Giovanni was pulling on a black trench coat in front of a mirror.

"I've… given them the mission," she said to him, "just as you directed."

"Very good," Giovanni replied, though he did not turn to her. "It is of utmost importance that every one of them understands the stakes here."

"Mr. Giovanni, sir… please forgive my insubordination, but I must ask. Are these measures truly necessary? They're very dangerous… something could happen to you and then I…"

"It is what must be done." While adjusting his tie in the mirror, Giovanni continued on, explaining, "If we do not stand in Polaris's way, who will? Team Rocket may not be what it once was, but we still have more resources available than anyone still able to resist their influence. The International Police will not be an obstacle, that virus Rosalie headed the development of will see to that. It will be between us and Polaris, with no interference – and if we lose, the result will be the same as if we did nothing. There is nothing to be lost by trying."

"But without you, I'm… Team Rocket is helpless!"

"Team Rocket survived being led by that woman, so it can survive anything." Having finished dressing, Giovanni turned to Stacia and set one of his hands on her shoulder, making her jump. "Remember, there is nothing that is impossible for Team Rocket. Keep that in mind while you're in charge here."

With that, Giovanni stepped past Stacia and out of the small room. A small tear formed at the corner of her eye, but she quickly composed herself, pushed her glasses up on her face and followed him.

-:-

Sometime later that afternoon, the group had attracted the attention of a young girl dressed in a gray scout uniform. As a trainer herself, she had quickly challenged Olivia to a battle, which ended up seeing Olivia's Minccino fighting against her female Nidoran. With Matt staying inside the HR-E – which was acting as their mobile campsite for the trip down Route 32 – only Nekou was out watching the battle, dividing her attention between that and working on her laptop.

"Nidoran, Poison Sting!" the scout girl called to her Pokémon.

The Poison-type Pokémon launched a wave of glowing purple thorns from her small body, but despite the hazard they presented, Olivia barely reacted.

Simply staring straight ahead with a blank look in her eyes, she stiffly ordered, "Swift."

Nidoran's Poison Sting was no match for Minccino's counterattack; every needle was swatted away by one of Minccino's stars. With the match at a stalemate, the girl changed tactics.

"Double Kick!" she announced, switching to a direct attack.

"Tail Slap."

Compared to the older, well-cared-for and better trained Minccino, the Nidoran had little chance. Her movements were fairly inept, owing to the fact that she was a relatively new Pokémon for her trainer. She kicked with her hind legs but Minccino easily evaded the attack, then countered by lashing the Poison-type with her tail repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Nekou was busily typing on her laptop. Taking care to not make any mistakes in what she was doing, she said quietly to herself, "There we go. With HR-E boosting the signal, I can reach the satellite no problem, then work from there." She then looked up and took note of the battle, paying particular attention to Olivia's completely stoic expression, which dismayed her. "I wish I could do something…"

-:-

Deep in the Ruins of Alph, Mercury and Séduire pressed on, leading their team ever closer to the Meteonite. They'd subsisted on what supplies they had, but dividing basic hiking provisions of simple food and water between six humans and one Pokémon left all of them a little less than satisfied.

"What's the latest reading?" Mercury shouted to her aide with the scanning equipment.

"Continue following this path," he replied. "We are not far…"

Before long, the hallway opened into a cavernous corridor where the sound of running water could be heard. The path continued straight on, but pushed even further underground.

"We're almost there!" exclaimed the henchman with the scanner. "It's right ahead of us!"

Just as the team stepped into the expanse, however, an Unown in the shape of the letter 'Y' materialized, startling Séduire and two of Mercury's followers.

"What're you doing, jumping out at us like that?!" the girl yelled at the small, strange creature.

"Hold on a minute," Meowth drowned, before stopping to listen to the Unown's cries. "It's sayin' that there's someone upstairs that isn't supposed to be in here."

"What?" Though she had been uninterested in the Unown at first, this turn got Mercury's attention. "Meowth, tell it to get rid of them!"

-:-

Sunlight still shined through the doorway into the ruins' entry hall, casting a glow on Dante and Bunny while they surveyed the walls.

"Here, I've found something!" Bunny called out.

Dante crossed the chamber as quickly as he could, then asked, "What? What is it?"

"Have a look."

Using a small brush, Bunny carefully moved away the dust and dirt collected on the wall. A small part of an image was already visible, and as Bunny cleared away the years of grime obscuring it, an etching of an insect Pokémon with six wings came into view.

"Volcarona!" Dante gasped in excitement. "I knew it!"

"Volcarona?"

"Keep cleaning the wall and see if there's more."

Dante's encouragement proved to be useful, as within minutes Bunny had cleared enough of the etching to reveal more images – namely, those of an exploding mountain, several people and Pokémon, and the Ruins of Alph themselves. Bunny could only stare at the wall and try to understand what she was seeing.

"Volcarona… here?" she whispered.

"These etchings confirm what I discovered," Dante explained. "Volcarona is a rare Pokémon that was considered a sun deity by ancient people. It seems that a long time ago, a volcano erupted in Johto, and the ancient Tenganists fled to their temple – in other words, this place – for safety. Afterward, the sun didn't shine because of the ash in the atmosphere... so Volcarona replaced the sun's light with its own."

"But if Volcarona has been here all along, wouldn't that mean Pokémon native to Unova have been in this country even before the migration project?"

"That it would. I want to find Volcarona in these ruins to see if this theory is actually true."

While Dante and Bunny pondered their next move, the 'Y' Unown suddenly appeared, along with an 'X' Unown and a 'G' Unown. All three growled angrily at the pair they perceived as invaders.

"Oh, what a bother," Dante said with a sigh. "We're not interested in having a fight with you."

The Unown paid him no mind, and attacked by issuing forth a flurry of energy spheres, with each Unown's set taking on its own color. These three Hidden Powers fell short of their targets, striking the ground around Dante and Bunny's feet.

"They're not listening… Bunny, I'm afraid we're going to have to fight them."

Mirroring Dante's action, Bunny started to reach for one of her Poké Balls, though something she noticed in the eyes of the Unown unnerved her. "Is something wrong with them?" she questioned. "Their eyes are so empty…"

Dante could not even get a single syllable of a response out before roughly a dozen more Unown warped into the room. They immediately synchronized with the others, resulting in the whole horde's power increasing substantially. The chamber filled with the Hidden Power energy each Unown called forth and rained down on the pair of humans.

Thrown in opposite directions by the countless explosions, Dante and Bunny were forced onto and fell through individual trapdoors leading to two different places.

-:-

The next day brought events very similar to those of the previous one. Olivia had once again gotten into a battle with a young camper, and once again, Nekou was the only one watching the battle, even if she was still working on her computer.

This time, the battle was between Olivia's Lillipup and the boy's Seedot. Both were about equal in spirit, and traded blows in a spirited rally. The Seedot had one disadvantage, though – her tactics, which mainly comprised of Bullet Seed punctuated by the occasional Quick Attack, failed to present much physical threat to Lillipup. As a result, Olivia's Pokémon never became frightened, allowing him to wear out and ultimately defeat his opponent.

"Oh man, I can't believe I lost!" the boy shouted to the open sky after recalling his fainted Seedot. "I really thought I'd beat you!"

Olivia, meanwhile, recalled Lillipup and stiffly walked up to the boy, all while remaining silent. She stared at him with an icy look, then pushed her open hand toward him.

"Geez, you can't cut me some slack? The trainers out here are getting more and more selfish with money lately!"

The camper thrust a small handful of bills into Olivia's hand, then turned sharply and stormed off.

He didn't notice Olivia mouth "thank you" after him.

-:-

Meanwhile, quite a distance away on the craggy hills of Route 45, Renzo staggered out of the shadowy interior of Dark Cave.

"F-finally made it…" he said to himself. Being lost inside Dark Cave for several days had taken its toll on him, and the cold weather on Route 45 didn't help. Pulling up his scarf to cover even more of his face than usual, he looked around in all directions, seeking the path forward to Blackthorn City.

What he found crushed his confidence, however. The rugged landscape spread before his eyes offered no apparent way to advance north. Insurmountable cliffs, thick patches of tree cover and other obstacles created a treacherous, impossible-to-navigate route.

Shivering under his poncho, which afforded him surprisingly little protection from the cold, Renzo staggered over to a nearby rock and sat down against it. The great difficulty of going north as he'd desired took away all his energy.

"If this is where it ends," he uttered, looking out over the vast route, "I'll be along to give you your comeuppance sooner than I thought I'd be." Peering down into his poncho, he addressed the spheres containing his Drowzee, Gurdurr and Cottonee, saying, "Sorry I couldn't live up to what you three deserved… I did my best for all of you."

Feeling extremely weak, Renzo leaned back against the rock and shut his eyes; before long, he was out cold.

No more than a few minutes later, however, multiple sets of footsteps came down the trail near Dark Cave's entrance.

"Come on, it's just ahead," a man's voice shouted. "I swear I heard someone walking around."

The Tenganist prophet emerged from the corner near the cave, accompanied by two of her followers, one male and one female. They had three Pokémon with them; a pair of Donphan and a Stantler.

"There, I see him," announced the cloaked prophet. "Check and see if he's alive."

Heeding their leader's words, the man and woman ran to Renzo's side and attempted to help him up.

"Unresponsive," the woman called back to her leader, "but he's still breathing. He's alive."

Gesturing to the Pokémon to move forth, the prophet declared, "We will bring him back to the base and heal him."

"Are you sure, my lady?" the man questioned. "Would that not be a risk?"

"We cannot simply leave this young man here to die. If we did, we would be no better than Polaris… or that man Ghetsis… so, we must act. It is through acts of mercy to the innocent that we apologize for what we must do."

The prophet's explanation sufficiently convinced her followers of her decision's merits, so they lifted Renzo's unconscious body onto their shoulders and moved him onto the backs of their two Donphan.

-:-

A vast, orange sky barely fouled by clouds spread out over Route 32 the next evening. Olivia sat alone on one of the hills that dotted the landscape near the route's southern end, taking the sight in while locked in silent contemplation.

Her reverie was only broken when Nekou walked up and sat down alongside her.

"Hey, kid, how're you doing?" she asked, offering Olivia one of the chocolate sticks she was eating, which the girl accepted. "You know, Roselia was great today against that fisherman's Poliwag."

"Thanks…" Olivia mumbled, "…but I just… I just don't get it."

"Why don't you tell me what's bothering you?" Nekou was surprisingly sincere in her offer. "I'm a shoulder you can cry on."

"I just… don't know what to feel. I've been battling these last few days because I wanted to find a reason for it… but I can't… without my dad… I don't understand it at all."

"You know, I don't believe he's completely gone, you know? I believe there are places people go when they die. He may have made mistakes, but I'm sure he was a good man. He's probably watching you right now."

"Do… you really think so?" Olivia's breathing was labored under the stress of the emotions she was suppressing, so she spoke very slowly.

"Yeah, I do. If I might offer you some advice, though, you have to live for yourself. Find your own reasons for continuing on the path you've chosen. You want to keep being a trainer, right?"

"I guess…"

"Then find what makes you want to follow that path. You don't have to follow anyone's rules but your own, so live for your own reasons. That was something Maman taught me a long time ago, and my life has been so much better since then." Looking out over the landscape, Nekou continued, "There's only one way to get by in this world, and that's by not letting others shackle you."

"But I don't… my dad isn't coming back, so I can't fight to get him to come back…"

"Just find something else you really want to fight for while not forgetting him. We're all here to support you, so you're not alone."

"You mean you're here to support me…" This remark was tinged with bitterness, and Olivia turned her head away from Nekou.

"You know, Olivia… it might not always seem like it, but Matt does care about you. He really does try to take care of you."

"What makes you say that? He lied to me all this time about where my dad was and now he's been hiding instead of facing what he did!"

"And I'm sure he feels horrible about that. But there is no doubt in my mind that he only sheltered you as he did because he believed it to be right. He only hasn't been around the last couple of days because he doesn't want to harm you further by making mistakes right now."

"How can I trust him again, though?"

"You don't have to. Not until he earns that trust again. But for now, I'm here for you."

"…am I a bad person for all those things I said back in Violet City? I am, aren't I?"

"You made a mistake, it's not a big deal. I say, so what if you don't have a perfect image? Perfect people, the ones who make no mistakes, have no flaws and have the world cater to them, those people are shit. This is an ugly world, so it needs ugly people like you and me to protect it. Do you understand?"

"I… I think…" Suddenly, Olivia began tearing up. "Please don't leave me."

"Don't worry. I won't."

Olivia and Nekou moved closer together so Olivia could rest her head on Nekou's shoulder. Nekou then took out her music player, gave Olivia one of the headphones, and they started eating the chocolate sticks and listening to music together.

END of CHAPTER 9