Colress had barely stepped through the doors of the P2 Lab before Ghetsis was calling his Xtransceiver. For a man with only half a working face, he looked positively giddy on the small screen.
"We have Zekrom." he said, before Colress could even open his mouth.
"We do?" Colress asked with feigned surprise.
"Yes... Well, we will. The artifact that N took from the museum seems to contain the legendary beast. He can hear its voice from within it. All that's left is to free it from the stone."
"How wonderful." Colress replied flatly. He was relieved to be on a video call, the little screen would hide the worst of his disappointment. "And Viomare's heist?"
"Unnecessary. They stole a skull we didn't need and promptly lost it again, beaten by some trainer. I will be having words with Lord Gorm about his grunts ineptitude." Ghetsis sniped. "At least they managed to steal a strong Pokémon. I will have him deliver that to you."
'They didn't take my decoy...' Colress realised with a creeping humiliation. 'If I hadn't gone, they would never have found the stone.'
"Have it delivered to the observatory in Floccesy Town. I will be field testing the EM Wave Transmitter there."
"Very well. Keep me updated."
Colress hung up the Xtransceiver and looked up to see Dudley watching him.
"Since when are we going to Floccesy?" he asked with a pout, his hand rested longingly on Genesect's tank.
"The stakes have been raised, Dudley." Colress replied, swallowing his frustration and replacing it with a sagely smile. "We may soon have to test the EM Wave Transmitter on the ultimate subject... Zekrom. We must be ready."
The observatory was a poor excuse for a Team Plasma facility. It was little more than some desks and chairs in a derelict building in the countryside. Colress' equipment was powered by a portable generator that filled the dark, grimy rooms with a steady buzzing.
The air was heavy and stale, the only light coming from sporadic bursts of electricity crackling inside a large bell jar in the centre of the room. A Galvantula was trapped within, its bright, frantic sparks briefly illuminating the grimy metal surfaces and casting jagged shadows on the floor. Each flash made the room feel smaller, more suffocating. Colress stood at a control panel, a long antenna pointed at the glass.
"Oh, what a shame. You're frightened. You should have more confidence. You're my star test subject, after all. That makes you a splendid Pokémon, indeed." Colress smiled down at the bug, which recoiled at the sight of him.
He had been testing the Electromagnetic Wave Transmitter, or the EMWT, for a couple of days now and the effectiveness was steadily improving. Galvantula seemed to be strong and experienced with battling, making it one of the best test subjects he'd ever had access to.
A group of grunts sat lounging at the desks nearby, watching with mild interest as Colress simulated attacks on the Galvantula, causing it to shriek and hiss. The Plasma grunts with a sensitive disposition had been swiftly relocated, leaving only the most fanatic. Colress had barely slept in days, due to a combination of horribly uncomfortable beds and working non-stop to avoid having to listen to the grunts preaching to him about Pokémon liberation.
"I can't wait to see how much you amplify its electrical energy." said one of the grunts, Aldith. Allegedly they had attended Blueberry Academy together, but Colress wasn't sure he remembered her. She was an unpleasant woman who seemed particularly interested in seeing the Galvantula suffer.
Colress ignored her, activating the EMWT again. Galvantula's eyes glowed scarlet and it snarled, slamming into the glass ferociously.
"Once this system is complete, all of Unova will belong to Team Plasma. Don't you agree?" Aldith asked, her eyes gleaming in the electrical light.
"That's not really my concern." Colress said with a smirk, turning the dial on the amplifier. Galvantula hissed and bit at the glass. "I am interested in one thing only. And that is to discover a way to bring out the true power of Pokémon."
"Galvantula is getting really violent..." one of the grunts remarked.
"Right," Colress acknowledged him, taking the opportunity to show off. "And not only that, but it will also obey every command we give it."
Colress enjoyed the impressed murmurs as he continued to illicit crazed attacks from the bug. The EMWT appeared to be working exactly as intended.
"What's happening to it?" Aldith asked, approaching the glass and prodding it tauntingly. Galvantula tried to attack her, shocking itself in the process.
"I'm using an electromagnetic wave to overload its mind and bring out its aggressiveness, which will raise its attack power to the limit. My theory continues to be without flaws." Colress' chuckled as his fingers danced across the keyboard.
"Onto the next phase then? A stronger test subject?" asked Dudley, who sat slumped over a desk watching movies and only perked up when it looked like it might be time to leave.
"Now, now, Dudley. We must test this Galvantula in a real battle situation, it's no good having a powerful Pokémon in a bell jar." Colress chided. That was why they were in the abandoned observatory, the wild Pokémon in the fields and woods surrounding them would provide unlimited opponents. Dudley un-paused his movie and slouched back in his chair.
Colress hummed merrily as he continued to test Galvantula's limits. It was timid, but with great power that became more focused under the influence of the EMWT. To Colress' dismay, the data on his screen was suddenly replaced by Ghetsis' face looking back at him. Beside him, Aldith fell into a bow.
"Lord Ghetsis!" she squeaked.
'Ghetsis has these people in a chokehold.' Colress thought to himself. Obviously, he'd known that since Blueberry Academy, but it was still jarring to see people worshiping him in real life.
"How is everything going, Colress?" Ghetsis asked, before adding, "Excuse me, I should say Dr. Achroma."
Colress chuckled. Ghetsis had taken to using his 'Doctor' title in public in a bizarre attempt to make him more palatable to the rest of Team Plasma.
"It's all going according to plan. Our test subject is responding well."
"Now that we have the Dark Stone, Team Plasma will soon change the world." Ghetsis' fiery ruby eye was just as intense on a screen as it was in person.
"The Dark Stone?" asked Colress, "Is that the Zekrom artifact?"
"Yes, now that we found what we were looking for, we have been able to decipher more of the writings from Relic Castle. I will tell you more at the next King's Council. For now, remember that your work may be the key to creating the kind of world only Team Plasma could envision."
'The Dark Stone... Then I must have the Light Stone.'
"Slow down. This is only an experiment for now. It will still take time for us to fully implement the system." Colress spoke with a confident smile, but there was a bargaining tone to his voice. 'Do not rush this, Ghetsis...'
Suddenly a high-pitched beeping filled the dark room. For a second, Colress panicked, looking up at Galvantula. But the spider was fine, it had been curled up tiredly while Colress had been talking to Ghetsis.
"Unauthorized personnel approaching!" said one of the grunts, leant over a CCTV monitor. "Is that a Gym Leader?"
"Let me see." Aldith barged her way over. "It's the fools we stole Galvantula from! On a rescue mission, I assume. That meddling woman must have followed us!"
Ghetsis, still on Colress' screen, smiled his menacing, asymmetrical smile. "Let's have some fun with your test subject, Dr. Achroma. Let Galvantula loose on them."
"Now that's an excellent idea." Colress smirked back. Even Dudley had perked up again.
"I wish you good hunting." Ghetsis sneered before hanging up the call.
The dark, sleepy observatory flew into action. Grunts running this way and that, preparing for an all-out battle right there in the lab. Colress allowed Galvantula to continue resting as they prepared - he'd activate the EMWT at the very last minute.
"We're packing everything up," Dudley told him, unable to mask his excitement. "Just in case we have to make a speedy getaway. You're the only one here with any battle experience, so if you lose, well... Try not to lose."
Colress chuckled lightly. He hadn't battled in a long time, but he had plenty of tricks up his sleeve. He was excited to try some of them out against a worthy opponent. And if he lost... Well, it would still be valuable data.
The sound of a heavy door opening and footsteps in the entrance foyer quietened the room. The Gym Leader had just entered the observatory. The grunts exchanged hushed confirmations across the dark, windowless room. Colress simply watched with calm curiosity as two figures burst into the heart of the observatory.
"It's Team Plasma!" said the first one. A man. Colress could make out the shape of a long scarf and a mop of curly hair. Burgh, then. Colress had never met any of Unova's Gym Leaders in person, but they were well known figures, celebrities even, in their respective cities.
"Perceptive. We serve Lord Ghetsis, acting as his eyes and ears in all things." Aldith stepped forward.
"Ghetsis... The boss of Team Plasma." Burgh muttered in response, his hand hovering over his Poké Ball belt.
"And I assume you're Burgh of Castelia Gym?" Colress asked with a welcoming smile.
Burgh nodded, his expression indiscernible in the gloom. "Are you the person called Ghetsis?"
Colress burst out laughing, a disquieting cackle that echoed around the room.
"No, he's not." A voice cut loudly through his laughter, causing him to trail off mid-breath. The second intruder was a woman. He didn't recognise her silhouette as being a Gym Leader, but he did recognise something about her...
As she spoke, Galvantula sprang to life once more, summoning Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt inside of the bell jar. The bright electrical light finally illuminated the room and Colress got his first proper look at the woman.
Time seemed to stop as Colress and Annie's eyes met. In a lot of ways, she looked exactly the same, only older. Everything from her long auburn hair down to that threadbare green sweater he'd seen her in so many times. But her expression was one he'd never seen before. It was somewhere between anger and disgust. In those few seconds of eye contact, he saw that piece of paper he'd torn up eight years ago, fluttering like snowflakes around them. Her approval, her smile, that was something he'd sacrificed long ago.
In those few seconds, a void Colress had so carefully filled with research nearly tore itself wide open. It was with surprising effort that he composed his features into a cruel, patronising smile.
"That's right. My name is Colress. I am a scientist." Galvantula's light flickered around them as he talked. "How pleasant of you to drop by, Annie."
These days, Colress seemed to have a knack for saying the exact right words to plunge a situation into utter chaos. Apparently, this had done the trick. Annie charged forward, slamming her fists against Galvantula's containment chamber, bellowing, "What have you done to him?!"
Burgh followed close behind, trying to get her attention. "Annie, do you know this man?!"
Aldith was cackling loudly, Galvantula was wearing itself out with its escape attempts, the grunts were all looking around waiting for direction.
"Why don't I show you exactly what I've done? Thanks to my genius and this amazing technology, your Galvantula's attack power has grown by leaps and bounds." Colress professed over the chaos, his face lit by the blue light of the console's screen.
Annie turned, fixing her grey eyes on him, Galvantula's lightening flickering in the lenses of her glasses. Colress expected her to send out her Pokémon, signalling the start of their battle, but instead she crossed the room in just a few angry strides. Colress let out a surprised laugh as she caught him by the lapels of his lab coat and stood on her tiptoes in an attempt at intimidation.
"You're pathetic! All this time I thought you were out there following your dreams, and you're holed up in an abandoned observatory working for Team Plasma!" she spat venomously.
A few grunts ran to his aid, dithering behind him, but Colress waved them off. He looked down at Annie, his expression cold as he easily prised her hands off him and shrank away from her.
'Following my dreams... What a childish thing to say. I am pursuing knowledge and Team Plasma is a means to an end. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks. She could never understand the sacrifices that success takes. She never even made it as a Gym Leader.'
"Annie, come on!" Burgh's voice cut through the tension between Annie and Colress. Their hostile eye contact was broken as Burgh yanked Annie back to the bell jar where Galvantula was confined.
"We're going to get you out of there, Galvantula." Annie said, tapping her finger on the glass. It looked up at her wistfully. Colress rolled his eyes.
'She's still exactly the same. She thinks friendship is the truth behind Pokémon strength. Let's see if she still thinks that when she sees how much stronger Galvantula is now!'
Colress slunk back behind his control panel and activated the EMWT. Galvantula's eyes turned blank and red. Annie and Burgh looked horrified as its demeanour changed from a shaking, terrified bug to a vicious beast.
"Stop it!" Annie cried out. "Whatever you're doing, stop it and let Galvantula go!"
"I have no intention of withholding your Galvantula from you." Colress crooned. He entered some commands and the bell jar began to lift. "Please, get reacquainted. You may appreciate my improvements."
"Galvantula, it's me! Don't you recognise me?" Annie asked desperately, kneeling to talk to it as it shot out from under the rising jar. Galvantula lunged at her, not using any specific attack, just bared fangs. Colress' stomach dropped as she didn't even dodge, she trusted Galvantula not to hurt her. Thankfully, Burgh reacted fast and pushed her safely out of the way.
'Is she stupid?! She's going to get herself killed!'
"There's no point trying to talk to it, Galvantula can't hear you. It's automatically functioning in hyper-aggressive mode." Colress explained as Galvantula launched attacks indiscriminately at Annie and Burgh. Annie tried recalling it into its Friend Ball, but that only made it angrier. It batted the ball out of her hand before launching itself at her once more.
"We have to fight back." said Burgh, placing a hand on Annie's shoulder. She looked conflicted, but after nearly being mauled for a second time, she nodded gravely.
Burgh sent out a Leavanny and, as Colress suspected, Annie sent out Ariados. If the creature recognised him, it didn't show it. It hissed threateningly at him.
"Alright. Ariados, Cross Poison!" Annie commanded. Colress couldn't help but smile as he watched her engage in battle. It was almost nostalgic, the way she moved, her confident tone that she only used when calling out directions. She and Ariados seemed much stronger too.
Grunts began to send out their weak Woobats and Purrloins to keep Burgh and his Leavanny occupied while Annie fought Galvantula. Her discomfort was obvious, both her and Ariados seemed hesitant to attack Galvantula. In between attacks, Annie kept trying to reason with it, repeatedly putting herself in harm's way.
Colress didn't have time to waste worrying about her though. The data was stacking up line-by-line on his screen as Galvantula dealt and took damage.
"Truly excellent! The EMWT is working consistently, no dips in signal throughout a typical battle scenario." Colress said out loud, smiling as he recorded it. He looked up to see Annie looking right at him, staring daggers.
"It's all going according to plan, is it? Colress?" she asked icily, another attack narrowly grazing past her.
"Call me Dr. Achroma, I'm working." he retorted smugly.
Hurt flickered across her face briefly, before her lips thinned with anger. "Ariados," she turned sharply. "Cross Poison, aim for the machine!"
Colress had little time to react before two slicing waves of poison were sent hurtling in his direction. He dived out of the way as the attack collided with the EM Wave Transmitter, shattering the console into shards of aluminium and plastic. The acrid smell of an electrical fire filled the air as black smoke began to leak from the smouldering remains of the EMWT. Galvantula's eyes faded back to their original deep blue.
Colress sat on the floor, dumbstruck, as he saw Annie's smile again after all this time. She knelt down and embraced Galvantula, stroking her fingers through its fur. Around them, the grunts had taken the explosion as confirmation that their mission had failed. He could see Aldith shepherding Dudley out of the back door as Burgh continued dispatching Patrats.
Colress should have been furious that Annie had blown up his EMWT and ruined the experiment, but he couldn't summon the emotion. He heaved himself up off the dirty floor and reached into the flames, popping a memory card from the scolding hot console. He had the data he needed. He could rebuild the machine.
"Splendid. You are still quite the trainer." Colress smiled, approaching her. Ariados bristled and hissed.
"And you're a bastard." Annie looked up at him scornfully. "I will stop Team Plasma. I will stop you."
"Forgive me if I'm not threatened. It appears you aren't in the habit of achieving your goals." Colress replied silkily, his smile never leaving his lips.
He had struck a nerve, he could see it in her eyes. Her face fell. Her lips hung open, a retort dying on her tongue. For a brief moment she looked vulnerable, crouched over her tired Pokémon protectively. Black smoke was steadily filling the room. Colress could no longer see Burgh or the grunts buzzing around like flies. Just Annie and the flames licking up the edges of his ruined EMWT.
'It is necessary,' he thought to himself. 'Sentimentality is a weakness and she is blinded by it. No good can come of shielding her from cruelty.'
Aldith emerged from the smoke beside him. "We're ready to leave. Are you coming?"
"Yes." Colress nodded before turning back to Annie. "This was a most illuminating experience! Don't despair, this setback has merely fuelled my curiosity. I wish you the best of luck stopping Team Plasma!"
Colress took one last look at Annie's soot-covered face before turning on his heel and disappearing into the smoke.