Chapter Thirty: Battlefield: Part II – vs. Saturn

Team Galactic Administrator Saturn took a moment to breathe slowly in and out through his nostrils. In the one hand, Saturn held a briefcase that held the digital equivalent of the most ancient text of the known world as well as Charon's hard copy translations of them. In the other hand, Saturn also held a briefcase which contained two pieces of the total artifact from which the text is derived—two curiously plain stone tablets, promised to be more than plain stone, with the third still kept in the Celestic Historical Research Center's most secure room.

For all of his memorable life, Saturn craved power. Some people understand power to be an ability of force, or the ability to change, or an ability to connect with others. Saturn came to a different understanding. He craved power not to transform things. He craved power to transcend them.

He came to see the world he was born into as damaged, weak, and forgettable. There was nothing truly remarkable about this world or the people and living beings it contained. After all, he'd been lied to, cheated, cursed, and tossed aside—even by people he trusted. His Pokémon fought, bled, and struggled to survive both in the wild and under his care.

From these experiences and seemingly mounting evidence, he concluded that what he wanted from the world was not to improve an existence of horror. He instead craved to transcend into a new and more perfect realm.

It was ironic, Saturn thought then, to be brought back to this place, to dig through the ruins of Celestic Town to find something that was insurmountably valuable to bring down the foundation that allowed it to remain preserved in the first place. Usually artifacts of the past retained their relevance and context in the past. This one, not so much.

[08:33 A.M.] Celestic Town (Historical Research Center | North Research Wing, Sensitive Storage Room, 1F), Sinnoh Region

With these thoughts in mind, Administrator Saturn stood in front of the Sensitive Storage Room in the North Research Wing on the first floor—the same room which once held the Lustrous Orb they'd retrieved months ago. Charon had since repurposed it to hold the third piece of the ancient text so that it couldn't be stolen from within Team Galactic if a traitor or two got any funny ideas.

*BOOM*

At that instant, Saturn felt the rumble coming from the rooftop three floors above. Having known that the institute would be assailed and attacked, he'd mentally prepared for battle. Now that the first thrust of the opponent's metaphoric sword had made contact with Team Galactic's shield, he felt his heart begin to race and the thrill of battle washed over him.

"Computer!" Saturn announced, speaking clearly for a hidden microphone which replaced the previous fingerprint scanner.

Suddenly a female voice spoke from the door, issuing a sign for Saturn to counter as a security precaution.

"Earth is a jewel," the voice spoke, the sentence seemingly veiled as a statement.

"Raw and impure," Saturn replied, delivering the appropriate countersign.

"Access granted," the voice spoke again.

With the door fully opened, Saturn trained his eyes upon the middle of the room. There on the pedestal a single piece of stone resided where the Lustrous Orb was once contained. Saturn turned to his right and noticed all manner of files, cabinets, artifacts, and tables having been shoved in there to make room for their equipment during the original invasion weeks ago. Briefly scanning for anything noteworthy, he dismissed the bulk of it as worthless given the time he had to evacuate.

Saturn strode towards the nearest table, setting down the two briefcases one at a time. Upon resting the second briefcase, Saturn clicked open the lid and carefully lifted it as if any sudden movements would cause the precious stones inside to crack. Indeed, the two that Charon originally placed there were still there, one being Cyrus' personal affect, and the second being one recovered by Charon individually from an undisclosed location.

"And now the third…" Saturn mused to himself as he reached out to the pedestal with his bare hand. Clutching the stone between his thumb and index finger, Saturn couldn't help but be in awe that there was information to be had there. Were he decades younger, he probably would've tossed the stone into a river—its flat surface perfect for skipping it across stilled water.

Finally feeling the need to get back to business, Saturn brought the tiny artifact down into the briefcase's third slot, completing the trio and completing the ancient text Charon said was the blueprint for transcendence. He closed the lid and made way to clasp it again.

*BOOM*

Suddenly another explosion, much closer than the one before, rang through his eardrums, clearly coming from somewhere nearby. Saturn turned around to see black smoke billowing through the end of the hallway, followed by several of his underlings running away from its source.

"Help! We need back up immediately in the north wing, first floor! We're not going to last long out—!"

The grunt currently bellowing into his radio came to a stop as did the other grunts in the vicinity. Looking down the end of the hallway, they saw the veiled anger of the most prestigious syndicate administrator staring them down, his hands busied with the briefcases.

"Administrator Saturn, sir!" the same grunt called out to him. "We're being pursued by someone very strong! Please help us!"

Sighing to himself and turning his attention to finally locking the second briefcase, he waved his underlings over who dashed to his side within the secure room.

"I suppose that old man's saying is true," Saturn mused. "If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself."

"S-sir?"

The Team Galactic commander took the briefcase that held the artifacts personally and ordered the grunt's attention to the second with the point of his finger.

"See to it that this gets delivered to headquarters," Saturn instructed. "Follow me, all of you through to the exit."

"Prepare for battle."

[08:39 A.M.] Celestic Town (Historical Research Center | North Research Wing, 1F Attic), Sinnoh Region

"I. Can't. Believe! That brat and his posy actually crawled through this horrible place!" the female face of Team Rocket muttered to herself as she stepped from pylon to pylon, swatting away fiberglass and the different miles of wiring around her.

"Good thing that hole was there," James agreed, letting a shiver wash over his body. "We would've been frozen alive if we stayed there for a minute longer."

"The next place we rob better have a shower!" Jessie spat, running her right hand through the many threads of her purple hair. "I need a thorough conditioning…"

"You said it, Jess," the Scratch Cat agreed as he lightly tread across the metal slightly adjacent to the humans. "My coin is already filthy and—"

*BOOM*

"Did…?"

"You…?"

"Feel that…?"

All three members of the Team Rocket squad braced themselves against the nearest support and let the dust settle before turning to each other.

"Sounds like da Fourth ah' July out dere'…" Meowth murmured as he gazed in the general direction of the explosion.

"What's so special about the Fourth of July?" James wondered.

"Well…?" Meowth reacted, racking his brain to actually come up with an answer. "You, know! It's just a figure of—"

"—quiet!" Jessie interrupted with a sharp whisper. She cupped her right ear and kneeled toward the sheetrock tiles. "I hear something! Listen!"

Both Meowth and James did the same and trained their ears close to the ceiling barrier for anything. Sure enough, the hurried voice of an inexperienced Team Galactic soldier filtered through.

"…her, boss! That's the woman who was attacking us!" the grunt elicited.

"Hey, isn't that the Champion?" another neighboring grunt asked her colleagues.

"Oh man, we are so royally screwed," a third complained a little too loudly.

"Quiet yourselves. I shall handle her," a more mature and commanding voice ordered.

Upon hearing that voice, all three ears perked up especially quickly. Communicating almost telepathically, the three looked into each other's eyes and created a plan of action. All three moved to the edge of the attic walls and Meowth positioned himself over a single tile.

With a nod of all heads in sync, Jessie bent down as close to the tile as he could, Meowth lifted the corners without making any noise, and James held the tile in place, just as they had done with the motion detectors on their previous raid. Looking down, Jessie saw something that made her seethe with revenge.

"It's fashion freak number one!" Jessie whispered. Noting the shocked expressions of her compatriots, she took another look and found another sight that made her seethe with opportunity.

"And the Champion is here!"

[08:41 A.M.] Celestic Town (Historical Research Center | North Research Wing, 1F), Sinnoh Region

"Cynthia Apologue."

"Team Galactic Administrator, Saturn."

The two parties stood silently for quite some time. Even though Cynthia had her Garchomp snarling next to her while Saturn only had the grunts and briefcases backing him up, the atmosphere in the hallway seemed to indicate that it was an even match—all of her, versus all of them.

"I should've known you'd meddle with our operations once again," the Team Galactic admin mused, mostly to himself. Narrowing his eyes directly at Cynthia, he continued. "I'd hate to admit it, but I naively hoped you'd comprehend our might and relent."

Cynthia narrowed her eyes as well, knowing full well that Saturn wasn't done.

"In fact, I'd hoped you'd retreat—permanently."

"It seems that you were horribly mistaken," Cynthia replied, stating the obvious. She refused to even blink, showing her intent and power. Garchomp snarled viciously to back it up.

"Perhaps," Saturn agreed, showing no sign of weakness on his part. "It's a fool's gambit to remain so optimistic after being proved incorrect once already, but allow me to indulge in foolish optimism one last time."

Cynthia blinked once.

"What are you suggesting?"

"On my person is something I'm sure you would be very interested in," Saturn cooed as alluringly as possible. "An artifact if you will, but I prefer to call it a book."

"What…?"

"Inside this protective shell is an object which contains many secrets," Saturn began, kneeling to the floor to lay the briefcase down before him.

Cynthia couldn't maintain her poise. Her scientific curiosity got the best of her as she fixated on the briefcase, hoping Saturn would actually open it.

In fact, Saturn did. He set the case on the floor and deliberately took his time to unclasp the locks before finally lifting the briefcase open.

"We believe this is a collection of manuscript whose secrets were not meant for men to know," Saturn continued, reveals all three stone tablets united in the foam casing. "I've even been assured that this information is five millennia old. Rumor has it, that is as old as the Sinnoh region's creation."

She was in shock. She had been tailing that rumor for the last few years—scraping any information about the events that formed her home region no matter how small. So far, she hadn't encountered any leads that led to more leads. The trail went cold years ago, and anything that she found that were written records were from Kalos three thousand years ago—the birthplace of writing anyway.

Cynthia couldn't let this opportunity pass, which meant Saturn suddenly had the upper hand.

"Now wouldn't it be a shame if this reservoir of knowledge and wisdom were to, ah…" Saturn taunted as he stared Cynthia down with malice. "Spring a leak?"

Cynthia breathed sharply, tensing all of her muscles.

"You wouldn't dare…"

"Would I?" Saturn belched out in defiance, locking the briefcase again and picking it up in his hands. "That depends if we are going to have a problem. What say you, Champion of the Sinnoh region?"

A thousand thoughts ran through Cynthia's head. As a kid, all she knew was how to defy and challenge. When someone told her something was impossible, she made it a point to make it so, and make it known that she was the one to do it. Her first instinct was to defy the man before her, to rebel against his upper hand.

But then she considered the possibility that Saturn was bluffing—that this was some cute ploy out of Team Galactic's most venerable administrator to bargain his way to an evacuation. But if this were no bluff, the consequences of damaging the first lead to solving the Time-Space legend were too high. She quickly calculated the odds of her success with a plan, and decided the odds were favorable enough to act.

"Well, Champion?" Saturn taunted again, this time dangling the briefcase at arm's length away from him. "Are we going to have a problem?"

"No…" Cynthia sighed mechanically, letting her arms fall to her sides. "We're not gonna have a problem."

"Excellent," Saturn grinned mischievously, as if he'd won a huge prize. "I'm glad we've reached common ground. Without further ado, I shall take my leave and—"

"I should have been more clear," Cynthia stated plainly and gave the subtlest of nods.

A massive rush of Dragon-powered energy whipped up in an instant at the behest of Garchomp's attack, Dragon Rage. Caught completely off guard, every single member of Team Galactic was blown off their feet, including Saturn and the secondary chauffer, causing both briefcases to fly out of their hands. By the time all the dust had cleared, both Cynthia and Saturn saw everything they came for lying directly in between the two of them.

"We're not gonna have a problem," Cynthia growled, done with playing mind games. She grabbed a monster ball from her waist and threw it out to her side. "Just you!"

Saturn made his rise off the floor deliberate and dramatic, pulling two of his own Pokémon monster balls from his belt as he watched Cynthia's Gastrodon emerge into the fray. Wiping the sore feeling in his cheekbone from the fall, the Galactic Administrator made sure to create eye contact the entire time. For Saturn, the theatrics were necessary.

Cynthia was required to eat it up for his ploy to work. There was a reason why he showed her that briefcase.

"You'll pay dearly for your decision," Saturn growled in return, continuing the show, then throwing his Pokémon into the fray. "Toxicroak, use Dark Pulse! Bronzor, use Shadow Ball!"

Two Pokémon emerged, attacks at the ready. Toxicroak with its enormous floatation sacs centered its two claws and allowed Dark type energy to flow in the space between them. Bronzong, the unevolved form of Lucian's partner, rose centimeters below the ground and allowed some Ghost energy amass in front of him.

"Garchomp, use Giga Impact!" Cynthia ordered with a wave of her hand. "Gastrodon, use Stone Edge!"

"Soldiers, release your attacks now!" Saturn ordered as Garchomp's savage attack came barreling into their midst.

As quickly as they could, the grunts at Saturn's command released their own Pokémon and ordered all manner of attacks like Shadow Ball, Poison Sting, Gust, and a bevy of others. Garchomp took it upon itself to charge into the onslaught of the lesser Pokémon's attacks and upon impact, struggled to overcome the sheer force of the opposition's combined strength.

On Gastrodon's side, it loosed a stream of synthetic rock cliffs in the direction of Saturn's Pokémon, who released their respective attacks to defend against them. By the time Gastrodon's attack closed the distance halfway, Toxicroak's Dark Pulse and Bronzor's Shadow Ball met the Rock attack and destroyed any progress.

"You're not leaving with those artifacts," Cynthia threatened as the force and debris of the colliding attacks settled.

Saturn contemplated the possibility of Cynthia's statement for the sake of humoring his opponent. Instead of truly considering it though, Saturn simply bundled his hands into fists and prepared to order the next attack.

His plan was working.

"Yes. Yes, we are."

[08:41 A.M.] Celestic Town (Historical Research Center | South Research Laboratory, 1F), Sinnoh Region

It had been several unspoken, silent minutes since May last heard Charon's definitive damnation of May's life story. It had of course been silent, save the odd muffled sound of an explosion or the rumblings of their aftereffects.

Charon currently busied himself moving whatever other instruments or papers that suited his needs into the travel case. Without ever turning to face his prisoner, he would keep surveillance over her with his peripheral vision and hearing. Every time she sighed, made a whimper, or sound of any kind, it brought a grin to his face. No doubt, Charon thought, his prisoner was currently reeling from the implications of his recent deductions about her.

And reeling she was. May couldn't wrap her head around not only on the situation itself, being abducted by strange men and separated from her best friends, but the possibility that she had feelings for one of those friends, and that her captor correctly guessed that she was not yet over her previous foray into relationships.

She knew there wasn't much she could do to confirm nor deny anything in this situation. Given the administrator's violent tendencies, she believed it was best to make no sudden movements, stall for time, and hope to the gods that someone on her side would find her. In the best case scenario, she could even luck out, stall, and acquire information out of this man.

But right now, the most pressing issue on her mind was how her captor even deduced what information he did out of her without even so much as a mention of who she even was.

"Drew…"

Charon stopped cold with a bundle of handwritten notes in his arms.

"What did you say now, girl?" the administrator paused, checking over his shoulder to eye the prisoner.

"His name was Drew," May murmured, keeping her eyes fixated on the floor tiles.

"Hmph," Charon scoffed. "How fascinating."

"How did you know about him?" May asked, her eyes darting around and her brain still processing everything. "I barely said anything at all…"

"I've lived a long, bothersome, and eventful life," Charon replied, turning his attention back to his notes and categorizing them. "I've seen plenty a maiden in my day, and you're no different. The signs are written all over your pretty face."

May shivered. Being called pretty usually wouldn't make her spine tingle and her stomach urge to reject its contents. Hearing it from this creep was anything but pleasant.

"Tell me…" Charon beckoned, splitting the notes into several categories.

May couldn't help but look up and observe her captor.

"You chased after him," Charon asked, sliding his right hand over a particularly indecipherable section of his own handwriting. "Did you not?"

"Well, he was my rival… but—!"

"And you admired him beyond his faults," Charon licked his lips to wet the end of his pen. "Did you not?"

"I tried to see past them… but—!"

"And you wanted to be with him no matter where he went," Charon continued, scribbling some edits on the manuscript. "Did you not?

"We could've been, yes, but—!"

"It's obvious then. You love him, even now," Charon stated, clicking the pen back and shoving it in his coat pocket. "Do you not?"

No answer this time. Charon turned to face his captive this time and walked over to her imprisoned form.

"Well?"

"I…" May shuddered, having finally met Charon's eyes for the first time proper. "I…"

"Well?" Charon growled, now his features turning into a snarl of impatience as he kneeled in to stare into May's eyes even more closely.

"L-love him?!" May asked in terror, her eyes refusing to turn away for fear of her safety. "I… I—!"

"Spit it out!"

"YES! I do!" May bellowed directly at Charon, feeling the urge to add a little spittle into her shout.

For several seconds, Charon kept kneeling in front of May the same as he had before, and May took the time to breath heavily, her features twisted in rage. Charon, on the other hand, didn't change his expression whatsoever, prompting May to lash out.

She thrashed at her restraints and breathed even more heavily, causing the table to shake and vibrate. She struggled against the numbing feeling in her hands and the inability to move even more—the feeling of physical and emotional helplessness jumbling in her brain in an endless cocktail of frustration.

"ARGH!" May yelled out at her captor, feeling the uselessness of her struggle. She stopped her movements and breathed deeply to try to contain herself.

"It would seem you do know what love is, after all," Charon muttered to his prisoner, satisfied at how her show of force and struggling all amounted to a zero sum.

May, on the other hand, couldn't fathom why it was so important for this, something so personal and irrelevant, to be out in the open.

"So what? It's over!" May protested, still somewhat struggling against the restraints that held her hands behind the table leg. "There's nothing I can do, he's never coming back, and he left me for someone else!"

"Here I am, trying to move on, and all you're doing is reminding me of how much it hurts!" May huffed, loathing the sight of Charon's aged face even more with each passing word.

Charon contemplated going back to finish his remaining work, but the opportunity to break a prisoner was too great for him to pass up. Yes, it was selfish of him to impart a bit of his pain on someone so innocent and young, but then again he just didn't care anymore.

"Hurting, huh?" Charon mused to himself.

"What?" May paused, suddenly feeling the tide of the conversation flood back into Charon's possession.

"You wondered why I could tell you'd been in love before?" Charon queried, narrowing his eyes menacingly.

"Y-yeah…?" May gingerly replied, hoping the answer wouldn't come in the form of physical harm. Instead of something physical, Charon's answer was far more cutting.

"Love causes pain. And I see great pain in you."

*BOOM*

Yet another explosion rocked the building, this one much closer to their location, coming from somewhere outside of their door on the same floor. For the second time this entire encounter, May's thoughts went cold and silent. All that remained was the phrase the man just uttered repeating itself over and over again in her own voice.

The shock slowly registered on May's face and Charon relished every delicate change in her expression. The change of defiance and self-righteousness evenly decayed into doubt, fear, and despair after Charon delivered his sentence for the crimes of the heart. Knowing that he had the girl's begrudging curiosity, he continued his onslaught.

"Child, you honestly think I'm the only one who is going to remind you how much love hurts?" Charon growled, constricting his eyes and frowning even further. "Mark my words. This cycle will repeat itself over, and over, and over again."

With those words, Charon pulled himself out of his kneeling position and returned his attention to his desk and the note he'd edited. He knew that his captive was likely trying to reject the possibility that he was somehow lying or conjuring up a fallacy to confuse her, but coming up short by supplying his own axiom with previous experiences of her own. Charon knew that his captive was digging a mental grave on its own.

"And adding insult to the injuries, love is tenacious," Charon muttered aloud, intending for May to hear and hold onto his every word. "They say there's a new love born for each one that has died—out of the ashes another will rise."

"What… what are you talking about?" May questioned, feeling her voice quiver.

"Ash, was it?" Charon mused, holding up a syringe to the light. "What do you think is going to happen with him?"

"But he—!" May paused, wracking her brain to try to find the right words to describe him, at least to take her mind off of the previous bombshell. "Right now we…"

Charon turned to gaze upon May once more, syringe still in hand. May, on the other hand, continued to struggle with describing the one person she really hoped would come find her in this mess. In the end, she could only mumble in duress, admitting that the words didn't sound right leaving her lips.

"We're just friends."

No. Even to her that didn't sound right for some reason.

"Hmph," Charon scoffed to himself as he threw the instrument into the travel case with the rest. "I wonder about that."

May shot her eyes back down to the ground, completely at a loss for what to do, what to think, or even what to feel. She couldn't deny that she still had feelings for Drew. That's why she left Johto in the first place to find Ash.

And Ash… he was May's best friend. That was for sure. May was confident in that, at least.

Yet something in the back of her mind suddenly started making connections where before they didn't seem to have any reason to be.

Like why did she come to Sinnoh when she could've just gone home to Hoenn? Why did she feel disappointed that she couldn't speak to him personally before coming? Why did she allow herself to succumb to tears when she confessed the real reason she left Johto? Why did she even tell him at all in the first place?

And why did she whisper back, 'I missed you too… I've missed you so much,' on the pier?

Before she let herself jump to too many conclusions and let too many things connect in her brain without her conscious doing, she let her strong will and defiance break through the headspace she entered and exited, needing to lash out once more. This conversation had been all in her captor's hands and May wouldn't let that continue further if she had anything to say about it.

"Shut up! Shut up!" May spoke in defiance, choosing to look at Charon's form with as much hatred and ill will as she could muster. "What do you know? You're just a crazy old scientist who joined Team Galactic to hurt people!"

"Hmm… he-he… ha! Ha-ha… ha-ha-ha-HAH!" Charon chuckled mechanically without even bothering to look at his captive. It seemed the fun hadn't yet concluded. "You're not wrong! Hyech-hyech-hyech-hyech!"

Though May knew the next few moments could be dangerous for her own safety, she remembered that she was still a part of Alpha team. If she couldn't take down Team Galactic from the outside, then she would do her best to take them down from the inside, starting right here, right now. As such, though her survival instincts told her to back down, her newfound resolve kept her gaze steadfast and on the attack.

"Why are you doing this?" May asked with an even tone, making sure that Charon knew she was done playing his game. "Why keep me here? Why are you with Team Galactic?"

"Ho-ho-ho…" Charon chuckled to himself, glad that his prisoner was starting to show resistance yet again. He'd been meaning to cut loose.

[08:38 A.M.] Celestic Town (Historical Research Center | South Research Wing, 1F), Sinnoh Region

He kept running, for all he knew was to run—run like the wind to save his friend.

Ash Ketchum took Cynthia's direction down the staircase, and without even wishing her luck as she headed down the opposite direction, he ran to the South Research Wing and greeted with a long hallway peppered with different rooms all throughout its length.

He didn't have a plan. Hell, he didn't even know if May was even down this route. For all he knew, they were keeping her in some hidden basement that was only accessible by removing a secret plank and shouting 'open sesame'. Worse, they could've already moved her to some location off-site, making a rescue nearly impossible within the next few days let alone minutes.

Instead, Ash Ketchum did the next best thing he could think of. He located the first door he could find on his left and tried to tear it open with his bare hands. When the locked doorknob wouldn't budge, Ash backed up several meters and nodded to Pikachu to bash it open together.

"May!" Ash bellowed into the room, pouring over its contents. "May, are you in here?"

Instead, all that he could find in the barely lit room was bookshelves, microscopes, desks, and artifacts of varying size and composition. Nothing.

His friend wasn't here.

Ash exhaled sharply like a Tauros, exchanged a glance with Pikachu and looked out the open door frame to locate the next room on the other side of the hall. As Ash dashed to the door, he wondered if this one would be locked too. Indeed, it was.

"Pikachu, can you help me out again?" Ash asked his partner.

"Pika-chu!"

"Okay, here goes…"

Once again, the two backed up a meter or two, and charged at it with all of their might. This door rattled against the force of two powerful battering rams but didn't cave in.

"Again!"

Raring for another go, the pair of Pokémon and trainer backed up into the hallway and charged at the door frame once again. This time the wooden plank broke apart at the handle and swung open, sending the two of them careening into the floor from the force.

Looking through the room, it was the same scene, just rearranged. All the books and instruments and artifacts were there, but no May.

Pikachu, having done this sort of maneuver thousands of times over the course of his journey with Ash, got back on his feet instantly. He expected his trainer and friend to get up with him, but instead of doing all that, he heard Ash's voice break.

"It's all my fault, Pikachu…" Ash shouted into the floor on the verge of tears. "Who knows what's happening to her, and it's all my fault!"

"I should've been more careful!" Ash continued, his face still buried into the tiled flooring. "I should've been faster and I could've saved her before all this happened!"

"I told her I want her to be safe… and I couldn't even do that!"

Pikachu didn't know what to say at this moment in time. If he told his Ash that May would be fine, he would've denied it and come up with some reason why she wouldn't be. If he'd told his friend that maybe she was behind the next door, then Ash could just point out the dozens of doors in the building they'd have to go through one by one, and by then the damage would've been done to her.

So instead of thinking any more about what to say, he just said they still had a job to do, and that their friend was counting on them.

"Pikapi, pikachu—pika, pika!"

Ash suddenly stopped his shivering, placed his hands flat on the floor and pushed himself up into a kneeling position. He looked down at his partner and starter, letting him continue.

"Pi-ka-chu! Pi-pi chu, pika!"

Ash wiped his cheek clear of debris from the floor, gathered his mental energy once again, and shook his head clear of excess thinking.

"You're right, Pikachu," Ash agreed, resolving himself for the sprint going forward. "That doesn't matter anymore. I said we'll save her, and that's what we're going to do."

Pikachu nodded.

"Let's go find the next room."

With that out of the way, Ash rose to his feet, and exited the room, leaving the door ajar to mark which ones he'd checked already. So far, there were two down, leaving fifteen left in the wing to check by a quick count.

Jogging over to the next door across the hall on the northern side, Ash steeled his face and determined his mind to bust down every last door if it was the last thing he did to find May.

"Alright, you door," Ash muttered, speaking at the presumably locked plank before him. "You're mine! ARGHH!"

With a mighty charge of both Pikachu and Ash simultaneously, the two charged into the next room with gusto. Unfortunately for them, they should've checked to see if it was slightly open at least. In this case, the door was ajar just a smidge, which meant all of their added force in the tackle translated into them crashing into the room at full speed.

Ash ran directly through the door and slid over a table, practically breaking his neck while Pikachu took the surprise in stride and managed to dodge over the table and land on it neatly. Noticing his trainer take the fall considerably harder, he ran over to Ash's side and asked if he was okay.

"Pikapi! Pika-chu?"

"I'm… oof, I'm okay!" Ash muttered, mentally smacking himself for not checking. "Next time we'll be more careful and—"

"—SHOOT, did you hear that?" a voice yelled from somewhere outside the room. "That sounded like another explosion!"

"Jeez, this whole place is coming down and we're here smuggling artifacts?" another voice yelled back in exasperation.

"It's still important to pack up as many of the Administrator's things while he deals with that girl!" the previous grunt retaliated stating what he thought was obvious. "Who cares what else is— intruder!"

Standing just ten meters from the grunt's midst, Ash stood with Pikachu flanking his right hand side. Barely wanting to move another step, the two grunts held onto the articles in their hands as if they were somehow invisibility cloaks. Ash's temper flared as he stared the two Team Galactic soldiers down.

"You mentioned a girl…" Ash growled, lowering his frame into a fighting stance. "What girl?"

"None of your business kid!" the second grunt shot back, gripping the vase he held and holding it even further away from Ash. "We'll kidnap whoever we want!"

"You idiot!" the first grunt smacked his partner's shoulder. "He's probably looking for her!"

That was all he needed. Ash had no reason any longer to bash doors down. All he had to do was get to the other side of these soldiers.

"You bet I am," Ash snarled, pulling two Poke Balls from his belt—one per palm.

"Hah!" the second grunt laughed loudly as he pulled out a Poke Ball of his own and started juggling it up and down. "This kid thinks he can beat two of us!"

"We're Team Galactic!" the first grunt agreed, resolving to just holding his ball in his hand. "Nobody can put us down! You're never getting past us!"

With a swing of Ash's arms, he released the two monster balls to reveal his two newly evolved additions to the roster, Infernape and Torterra. Both the Flame and Continent Pokémon emerged with a battle cry and a roar respectively, simultaneously igniting the fire on its back and stomping its front two legs.

"Want a bet?"

[08:45 A.M.] Celestic Town (Historical Research Center | North Research Wing, 1F), Sinnoh Region

"Garchomp, Brick Break!" Cynthia commanded with a wave of her hand.

"You too, Toxicroak!" Saturn returned in kind.

The two Pokémon met right above the briefcases acting as the demarcation line, attempting to take the other down in the middle of the air. As they fell down, the two trainers hoped to make a steal for the two prizes in the middle.

"Now's your chance, Garchomp!" Cynthia yelled with force, practically feeling the heft of the briefcase in her hands already. "Swat them away and bring that back!"

"No, you don't!" Saturn rebutted, hoping that his Pokémon stood a chance against Cynthia's. "Do not let it grab them!"

Seeing his Pokémon gradually but steadily crack under Garchomp's superior attack, Saturn realized that he would lose the one chance of getting the real prize back to headquarters if he made this battle a matter of personal pride.

After all, the briefcase with the original artifacts was just a diversion. The real prize was in the other briefcase. The question now was how to retrieve it without revealing its value to the Champion.

"Arghhhhahh! You two, aim Shadow Ball at Garchomp!" Saturn ordered the two nearest soldiers into the fray. "Toxicroack, pull back!"

"Golbat, you heard him!"

"You too, Mightyena!"

"You can do this, Garchomp!" Cynthia decided against retreat, hoping her Pokémon's superior reflexes allow her to clutch the win.

Toxicroak, glad to hear the command to rescind, put his last bit of positive energy into his swipe. With a small burst of force, Toxicroack managed to deflect-parry the Dragon type's onslaught, causing Garchomp to become angled towards his side.

"Do it, now!" Saturn screeched, using this moment as his chance to escape and attack simultaneously.

Right as the order had been given, Toxicroak let himself jump backwards as quickly as he could away from the incoming attacks. As its head rose higher and higher, Toxicroak let its legs swing upward, causing his body to rotate around its upper body as the fulcrum. Just as the two Shadow Ball attacks came billowing from behind, they flew right under Toxicroak's head, passing harmlessly, then detonating right on Garchomp's torso, causing it to fly backwards from the force.

That same force caused the second briefcase off to the side to unbuckle one of its clasping hinges.

"No, Garchomp!" Cynthia yelled in concern as she approached her Dragon's form.

"Cryahhhh!" Garchomp yelled in battle lust as he watched his main opponent tactfully land on its two feet, relatively unharmed on the opposition's side.

"Are you okay?" Cynthia asked her Pokémon. After receiving a cursory nod in affirmation, Cynthia heaved a sigh of relief and then redirected her attention at her numerous foe. "That was a dirty trick!"

"You are the Champion," Saturn admitted, with only a dash of smugness peppering his voice. "We made the mistake of underestimating you the last time. That won't happen again."

Meanwhile, yet undiscovered by the likes of Cynthia or Team Galactic, the trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth remained hidden behind the most robust and impenetrable material known to man—industrial sheetrock.

"Things are getting tense!" Jessie whispered, whiffing the scent of opportunity in the musty air. "Let's nab those briefcases and give them both to the boss as a present!"

"Jessie, how are we supposed to do that if it's located in between Fashion-Freak-Number-One and Champion-of-Practically-the-Whole -World?" James protested in a hush, practically feeling the ceiling tiles blow upward from the force of the last collision

"Jess… I don't tink' we can get dis' one done," Meowth murmured with sincere worry on his face. "Da boss won't be happy, but at least we got some good info'mation on dem."

"Just hold on!" Jessie shot back, not willing to let this moment slip through her gloved fingertips. "I'll think of something!"

Back down below, it was clear that the breaking point was approaching. If Saturn didn't make a move quickly, Cynthia would eventually outlast his forces. In the best case, she'd focus on the first briefcase and completely disregard the second, and in the worst case, she'd realize that in order to win, she'd have to take both of them.

On the other hand, questions of how to end this game were plaguing the Champion. If Cynthia made way to level the Team Galactic's defenses immediately, then it was certain to result in either the loss of the artifacts in the best case scenario, or the entire Research Center North Wing in the worst.

"Toxicroak, back up. Soldiers advance," Saturn murmured as quietly as possible to his employees, letting mostly Golbat form an offensive battery line. "On my signal…"

"Gastrodon," Cynthia whispered with ice in her eyes as she glanced to her partner. "Remember the first attack you used against me when we met?"

Realizing that both parties were queuing an attack to end the confrontation right here and right now, the defending party of Saturn and the Team Galactic grunts steeled their resolve and the attacking party of Cynthia solo screwed up her courage.

"Gastrodon! Aim that attack behind—!"

"NOW!"

Immediately Cynthia clamped both hands to her ears as hard as she could, merely split seconds after being bombarded by a ridiculously powerful cacophony of sounds. The noise pierced her sense of hearing so sharply she even felt her vision fade to white.

"Argh what is that noise?!" Cynthia cried as loudly as she could and strained to keep the high pitched oscillating wail from splitting her brain in two. She even shut both eyes in an attempt to deprive her senses wholesale.

"Cryargh-yargh!" Garchomp roared hunched over in distress, completely unable to protect his ears with its stubby claws and massive wings. "Gyoah-cryagh!"

"Strooooooooooo!" the Sea Slug Gastrodon wailed, thrashing its neck back and forth in an attempt to distract its ears with anything but the combined sounds. "Dooooooooooon!"

Saturn allowed himself this moment of pause, getting used to the duller but still uncomfortable reverberations bouncing back from the end of the hallway. For the first time in all of their previous engagements, Saturn saw that he outplayed his opponent. Brute force the first time during the original campaign crumbled almost immediately. Sending every spare Pokémon in the Team Galactic army in a wide open space in her direction was met with disaster.

This time. This time was different. Instead of being on the receiving end of brutally powerful attacks and the sturdy stare of Sinnoh's female Champion, this time Saturn realized he could stare down at her instead.

And so, amid the painful screech of the high pitched noises, Cynthia struggled to open at least one eye to gain some awareness of the opposition's movement. And in doing so, she saw Saturn wave the small armada of Golbat using Screech and Supersonic to move up with him as he slowly approached the briefcases.

She had to act fast. In a normal battle, even if her opponent used unorthodox moves that weren't options at this stage in the game, she could re-calculate and form a counterstrategy—but nothing could come to mind. The broken waves of noise and cacophony were physically crippling and robbing her of any ability to think clearly.

Cynthia Apologue was losing.

Originally, Saturn intended to use the original artifacts to bait his way through to escape unharmed, since the full digital record of the artifacts was secured in the second briefcase. He chose this strategy as it seemed to be the most realistic way to achieve success. He never intended to be able to leave with both briefcases once he knew he was pursued by her. But now, he could get away with it.

As Saturn finally reached the midway point where the secondary briefcase still rested, he made sure to make eye contact with the now crumpled form of the Sinnoh Champion. In doing so, he saw the frustration, the panic, and most importantly, the lack of a strategy from the look in her eyes.

Bending down to grab the second briefcase by the hand, Saturn couldn't help himself and allowed him to let the right corner of his mouth creep up into the smuggest smirk he'd ever managed in his life.

And then it happened.

For the third time the whole morning, time slowed to a crawl for Cynthia. After letting the frustration cloud her mind in addition to the sensory overload, she'd thought she had run out of all options—that this was a loss that she'd have to endure.

In the instant Saturn showed him that stupid face, she snapped.

As Saturn reached the position of the primary briefcase, the one he'd been intending to bait her with, Cynthia's heartrate exploded and she surged with all her might to close the gap between her and her opponent as quickly as possible. As Saturn clasped his hands around the handle of the first briefcase, he suddenly felt the impression of Cynthia rushing towards him and lifted his eyes to meet Cynthia's staring at him just inches away.

"HYAGH!"

Almost blacking out from the crushing smash of Cynthia's right hand across his cheekbone, Saturn lurched to his right in a swift jerking motion, releasing his hold on the briefcase handle in his right hand and completely losing control of the second. As he fell to his right from the weight of Cynthia's slugging fist, he accidentally let the second briefcase go from his right hand and it swung straight upward.

Jessie, James, and Meowth were no strangers to the idea of Lady Luck. The three of them had crossed paths with her many times and on many occasions, usually coming away from the rendezvous with broken bones, shocked muscles, and giant headaches. This time, their brush with her ended up with a confidential Team Galactic briefcase literally shooting through the ceiling.

"Holy—!"

"Mother—!"

"Of—!"

As the ceiling tile right in front of them exploded upwards, carrying the briefcase with it, the final clasp of the briefcase came undone, releasing several of the loose leaf sheets of paper and a single disc free into the air. Jessie, James, and Meowth's eyes lit up as they witness the items literally present themselves to them completely by accident, and each made a quick grab to secure as many of the items as they could.

James quickly swiped through the air to grab several loose sheets of paper and squeezing them tight to his chest, Jessie did the same for a small notepad that flung about, and Meowth managed to stick as single paw nail through the center hole of the disc that fell out. And just as quickly as the items flew open from the briefcase, its hinge closed itself miraculously and the claspers fell into place just before finally falling through the hole in the ceiling back down to the ground.

Before the second briefcase even hit the floor, Cynthia swiped the first briefcase which had also fallen from Saturn's grasp and swung on her heels to dash back to her Pokémon. As she dashed away with those quick movements, practically all of the Team Galactic soldiers gaped in horror watching their boss fall from grace after being knocked to the floor by a girl.

"Cover me!" Cynthia hurriedly cried as she continued her sprint back to her Pokémon.

When the second briefcase finally hit the ground, the grunt originally in charge of holding onto that briefcase made a mad dash to secure it. As he gripped the handle and motioned another grunt to help him revive Saturn from the beating, all of Team Galactic in the North Research Wing lay witness to both Garchomp and Gastrodon raise their heads.

"Quick, we've got to get at least one briefcase!" Jessie shouted as she saw the prize below get touched by the soldier.

"Belay dat order, Jess!" Meowth scream-whispered at his partner.

"Yeah! Look what we've got!" James backed him up, pointing to the items in their possession. "We can deliver these to the boss!"

"But—!"

"Hyper Beam and Sand Tomb!" Cynthia shouted at the top of her lungs still running. "Bring the roof down and block them out!"

"Oh no…" Jessie muttered to herself as she could practically feel the pain before the train came.

In a brilliantly quick second, all three of Team Rocket stared down through the ceiling and saw the flash of Gastrodon's lethal Hyper Beam attack aimed to sweep through the ceiling. All three of them made an attempt to turn back and run right back where they came, but Gastrodon's beam of sparks and energy ripped through the industrial grout too quickly, caught them in the blast, and ejected them diagonally through the second floor's floor straight into the air.

"Nooooo! We're blasting off again!" Jessie wailed as she felt the breeze fly past her and the skybox get closer. "And we were so close this time!"

"Just don't lose track of dat ting' you're holding, Jess!" Meowth cried as he cupped his body around his claw to protect the precious cargo at the apex of falling.

"At least we're flying towards where we parked?" James lamented as he saw the clouds get further away from him.

And without another second to catch air time, the trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth found themselves crashing through leaves and twigs before dangling from a single branch right next to their balloon, still untouched from how they left it earlier their morning.

"Stro-dooooooooon!"

"Gragh, chaw-chaw, chaawwww!"

Back in the hallway, Gastrodon continued to lay waste to the ceiling right on top of Saturn and the rest of Team Galactic, causing debris of all sorts to rain down from above. Garchomp made sure to add extra mass into the mix with its conjured sand, bombarding the crevices of debris with impassible dust particles.

"Sir!" one of the Team Galactic grunts cried out to his superior as he pulled him from the falling ceiling as quickly as he could. "Sir!"

"We have to move, now!" the grunt who just picked up the briefcase yelled out to his right, narrowly dodging a falling beam of aluminum. "Saturn, sir, wake up!"

After several more meters of distance from debris, Saturn finally opened his eyes and then began pulling himself quickly to his feet and regaining his awareness.

"What happened?!" Saturn yelled, wiping the rising fluid from his lips and looking all around him at the devastation. "Do we have the briefcases?"

"N-no, sir. The champion stole the other one and collapsed the ceiling on top of you after she punched you…" the grunt holding the briefcase lamented. "But I managed to keep this one."

"Open it," Saturn demanded in angst, fearing that his ploy did not go as he expected.

"Sir, you were nearly crushed from the debris," the grunt closest to Saturn explained. "I nearly didn't make it in—!"

"I said to open it, soldier," Saturn demanded yet again, feeling his patience run thin.

"S-sir!" the grunt with the briefcase saluted, unbuckling the security claspers to reveal its contents.

A wave of relief washed over the Team Galactic administrator, followed quickly by panic. He observed the stack of paper had diminished considerably, and there were only two remaining discs, albeit the middle and rightmost ones.

"Sir?"

"This is not as I packaged," Saturn growled, narrowing his eyes and ripping the briefcase from the soldiers hands. "What happened to the contents?"

"S-sir… when the Champion tackled you to the ground, the briefcase it…" the grunt who previously guarded the briefcase explained nervously. "It looked like it opened when you threw it up as you fell down."

"What?!"

"I… I suppose whatever is missing must've fallen out then, and now it's buried in this debris here, s-sir…"

Several pregnant seconds passed by. Saturn calculated that at the very least, he retained the digital copy of all three artifacts, with the first and second doubly copied, with a high probability that any of Charon's lost translations and copy of only the first artifact would've been incinerated by Cynthia in her haste to make off with the first briefcase.

Saturn decided that he liked the outcome after all.

"No matter," Saturn spoke, this time allowing his features to crease upward in a smirk. This encouraged everyone on the team to perk up and suddenly listen even more intently to his orders. "We have the briefcase with the data—time to do what we should've done yesterday!"

All of his soldiers nodded in understanding.

"Right there," Saturn demanded, pointing his right hand at the wall to his left. "Everyone attack and cut through the wall! We're leaving!"

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

Cynthia finally took a moment to breathe as she collapsed on one knee right beside Garchomp who finished expelling all of the sand he could muster to block any attempts on Team Galactic's part to retrieve what was in his trainer's hands.

After hearing the multitude of muffled concussive sounds coming through the barrier that Cynthia's Pokémon deployed, Cynthia allowed herself to accept the fact that her enemy was getting away. She turned her head away from the supposed direction of her foe and back to the briefcase still in her hand.

In a selfish move to reassure herself that she wasn't making a fatal mistake, she unclasped the two locks on the briefcase and caught a brief glimpse of the contents.

"Argh!" Cynthia shouted whilst smashing her fist into the ground, causing both Garchomp and Gastrodon to turn around with worried looks.

With a frustrated swipe of her hand across the briefcase, she closed it again and brought the same hand to her earpiece. Heaving a frustrated huff, Cynthia grabbed the briefcase in her right hand once more and stalked off towards the entrance to find a door that would lead to the courtyard outside.

She wasn't sure that she won the game with Saturn after all.

"Everyone, this is Cynthia. Saturn escaped and is preparing to leave through the courtyard. Seniors push onward as quickly as possible and find me outside. Juniors, break off as soon as possible and find May. Over, and out."

Had she waited a second later and had the briefcase open, the Champion of the Sinnoh region would have noticed an odd distortion over the stone faces, only to vanish just as quickly as they came.

Dear Readers,

Sincere apologies for the delay! I was dragged along with my dad to fix up one of his houses out of state. Did you know that you can reuse the same ceramic frame of a toilet and stuff it with more modern plumbing bits? Even if they're from the 80's? That's right. Dear, old, TestSubject stuck his hands in shit, caressing the bowels and curves of a lovely John made on May 18th, 1980.

Too bad I didn't time things right with the 4th of July. That joke would've landed so well! Anyways, here you go. Part II of IV!

:P

-TestSubject069

Story Notes:

Sensitive Storage Room – does not have a name, but it's the same room that appears in Season 11, Episode 44, "Losing its Lustrous" or "The Charge of Team Galactic! Part 1"

"It's like the 4th of July out there!" – American idiom referring to the displays of fireworks that occur to celebrate the United States day of Independence.

Sources:

Pocket Monsters the Anime – S11E44, #564, "The Charge of Team Galactic! (Part One)"

Author's Notes:

RE: uploaded, 07/10/16

RE: draft 3. 07/04/16

| changed briefcase scene | removed one section entirely | final edits |

RE: draft 2. 07/03/16

| midway | changed the flow of battle |

RE: draft 1. 06/29/16

| finishing the skeleton |

RE: skeleton. ~13

| text/text/text |