The new CEO of Galactic energy knocked on the previous one's door, somewhat nervously. It had only been a week since his appointment, and things were already going haywire.
"Enter."
Cyrus was looking out the window, but his father turned his inscrutable gaze onto him as Silas came into the room. He held up a paper and waved it furiously.
"Are you aware of what's going on with our finances? Someone's been siphoning money away for years!" Silas cleared his throat and began to read off the list. "All of these are going to something called the New World Project, which no one I've talked to has actually heard of, mind you. This month already, a hundred thousand. Last month, a hundred and fifty thousand. The one before that, four hundred thousand!"
Silas passed the paper over, which Cyrus took wordlessly and began to scan the report he had printed out. "I've only printed out the data for two years, but this could be going on for longer than that. We should investigate the board because only someone extremely high up could have-"
He cut off and gawked as his father crumpled the paper up and carelessly tossed it towards the bin. It missed, bouncing off the lip and landing onto the floor between them. "There is no cause for concern. I am the perpetrator of all of these," Cyrus intoned drolly, as if discussing the weather.
"Are you mad?" Silas asked incredulously. "Do you know what would have happened if the media, or our business partners found out that the CEO was misappropriating funds?! Our stock prices would fall by half! We'd have to layoff people by the hundreds!"
Cyrus turned around to look out the window, so Silas shut the door behind him. "I'm not leaving here without an answer," he insisted. "Why did you do this?"
"I intend to give you one," Cyrus immediately replied. "But first, what do you remember about your mother?"
The abrupt change in subject ended the tirade Silas was about to go on before it could begin. "You told me that she was a fine woman who unfortunately died in childbirth," Silas said carefully. That was all the information he had been given, throughout his childhood, after all, from his father, and all his caretakers.
"An excellent lie indeed, for you to have believed it all these years."
The statement hit Silas like a brick wall. "My mother's alive?" Silas asked, voice trembling.
His father's knack for being cruel unintentionally knew no bounds, though, as his fragile hopes were thrown out the window. "No. You never had a mother. I created you in a laboratory, with some random woman's egg, and my sperm. I wanted to step down from my position as CEO earlier, but it was insisted that a succession plan be in place." For the first time in the conversation, distaste bled into Cyrus's monotone. "Unfortunately, I still need the finances and power that this company affords me to make my dream come true. Which is where you came in."
Silas moved to pick up the crumpled ball of paper from the floor and smoothed it out against his chest carefully. "The dream being this new world, I assume." He impressed himself with how calm he was being, after being told the previous revelation.
It did explain quite a lot, though. Cyrus had not been much of a parental figure in his life, to put it mildly, but one thing he had constantly been threatened with was being replaced had he not been good enough. "What is this new world?"
"Exactly what it sounds like." Silas had to take two steps back as his father turned around, the gleam of something insane and delusional in his eyes. "I intend to create a new world, a utopia, free from all the weaknesses of this one. A world without emotions will be a world without pain, or suffering."
He found himself speechless as Cyrus all but pinned him to the wall with his gaze. "Let me make this incredibly clear. I will do whatever it takes to achieve my goal. And once it is realized, I will have no need for anything in this world. Not money, not this company, and most certainly, I will have no need for you."
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That had been years ago, but Silas still remembered it like it was yesterday. Back then, his biggest issue was trying to prove to the board that, despite his young age and inexperience, he was fully capable of running a massive entity and brand such as Galactic Energy. He thought time would ease that problem, and things would be smooth by now.
How wrong he had been. Now, not only did he have to run a company whose profit margin was steadily shrinking due to his father's ambitions, but he also had to masquerade as Commander Saturn of Team Galactic.
Cyrus intended to drive the company off a cliff, so to speak, in pursuit of his ultimate goal. There was nothing he could say or do to prevent the crash landing, because his father was completely committed.
Thus, he had joined up for the ride, crafting this cockamamie scheme of Team Galactic, a "separate" organization, that would hopefully serve as either a parachute or a landing pad, by lessening the brunt of the fall. So far, it had been working. The general public was still under the impression that they were two different entities.
Today was a Commander Saturn day. An important one, too, considering all four Galactic Commanders were actually in attendance, in person. Four individuals, who, for their own reasons, had joined up in this mad crusade.
"Where's Leader Cyrus, Saturn?" His gaze slid over to his left, where Commander Mars was casually tossing a Pokéball into the air and snatching it, even as she was leaning back in her chair, feet on the desk. A habit he had seen many cocky trainers do, while they were looking for someone to challenge them.
Of the four of them, Mars was by far the youngest, and the least connected to Galactic Energy. She was a battle tested trainer, an extremely good one at that. Years of coming up short in the Pokémon League, though, had only served to increase the frustration of the temperamental and angry woman, and it was a bit too easy to convince her to lend her their services as a mercenary of sorts.
He had no illusions that she'd depart as soon as her contract was finished. For now, though, she was mostly content with beating battle strategy into the skulls of their poor employees with a sledgehammer. The rest of her time was spent preparing her actual team, using her extremely high salary to buy the best of vitamins, supplements, technical machines, and training items, so Marianne could finally claim the title of strongest trainer in Sinnoh.
Her lack of ties meant she was also the most likely to leave, but Silas wasn't really worried. He could always dangle more money in front of her face. Plus, there were a couple of things he was holding in reserve that he knew Mars could not leave here without getting her hands on, considering they were exclusive items that could give her a massive edge.
"Patience, Mars," Charon cackled from his right. Silas and Jupiter shared a commiserating look, because they knew what was going to happen. "The world doesn't run on your time. Of the four of us, you're the most expendable."
It was far too easy to rile Mars up. Which is why Charon always did it. The redheaded commander pulled her feet off the table and slammed her open palm on it, while standing up, making it vibrate. "What did you say?!"
"Honestly. Head of our combat division? How many times are you going to be defeated by children, anyways?" Charon jeered.
"Why don't you and I have a battle, if you think you're so good?" Mars challenged Charon. "Just for you, I'll even untie my hands from my back and bring my real team, not the ones from the Team Galactic pool. Samurott won't even break a sweat against anything you have, including that stupid fish you showed us with the upside down head."
Silas shuddered at the memory. Arctovish was the result of another one of Charon's experiments, some horrible fusion of two ancient Pokémon. The fact that it could swim at all was a miracle.
He massaged his temples. "Mars, sit down. You're not a child, so quit acting like one. Charon…" The other commander smiled at him, knowing Silas had no authority over him. The scientist was one of his father's creatures, through and through. He didn't even know if Charon was his real name, unlike Mars and Jupiter, which were both codenames that he had insisted on after bringing them onboard.
That wasn't to say he wasn't brilliant, because Charon was. Most of what his father wanted to accomplish wouldn't be possible without him. But madness and genius were often two sides of the same coin, and much of Charon's findings came as a result of the man having zero morals or ethical code when conducting his experiments.
Team Galactic was the perfect place for him, in a sense. He had all the resources to do anything he wanted, Cyrus would continually issue him projects that challenged his extreme intellect, and the scientific community was none the wiser to what he was doing.
Mars did sit down, with an angry pout. "Jupiter lost harder than I did in the meteorite mission."
Jupiter chose not to reply to that, instead taking a long sip from her coffee mug. "Speaking of that mission, you'll be interested to know that a trainer has found and captured the prototype Porygon you were working on. The one that was supposed to become Porygon4?" Jupiter grimaced. "It was just as annoying as I remembered."
"You know, I programmed that Porygon with Adaptability. I wanted to see if I could use Conversion in conjunction with it, so every attack would be boosted up if the type matched." Charon shrugged. "Instead, it went haywire. I'd try again, but I can live with Adaptability Tri Attack and Hyper Beam for now, because there are more important things to focus on."
"Yes. There are." Cyrus came striding in to take his seat at the head of the table. Even Mars straightened her posture as he entered. Cyrus cut an intimidating figure. His voice never gave anything away, so you never knew what he was thinking. Even Silas struggled to glean his fathers intentions, and he had grown up with the man.
"Congratulations are in order," Cyrus began, in a not very congratulatory tone. "The Adamant Orb is in our possession. We have managed to unlock its power. We have what we need to flush out the lake trio. And, most importantly for one of you, the charade of Team Galactic continues."
Four pairs of eyes slid towards Silas, who remained nonchalant, though he was proud on the inside. How could he not be? Team Galactic was his baby, metaphorically speaking.
Not that he needed any practice. If he were to have a real baby, it couldn't be too hard. All he had to do was the opposite of his own father.
Case in point, he hadn't even brought celebratory donuts! Instead, Cyrus was ready to begin what he had been calling Phase Two.
"First, I want a status report on the Galactic Bomb."
Charon, head of that project, was quick to reply. "The Galactic Bomb is operational, Leader Cyrus. It is strong enough to decimate any particular area, and I have no doubt that the aftershocks will be felt throughout the Sinnoh region. In addition, we were able to gather so much electricity from the Valley Windworks, that I was able to create a much smaller version that could perhaps be used in a localized area for a distraction."
"I have a different idea for that one," Cyrus told them. "Involving the hunters has shown Cynthia's hand. She is not willing to make full use of all of her powers as Champion. There has been no declaration of emergency, or rerouting of all decisions made by local authorities through her. She has not reinstated Sinnoh's military by calling for a draft, either."
"Clearly, the Champion wants to maintain a state of calm. No doubt she'll send more of her specialized taskforce, as soon as the bomb is used, to confront us. Use the smaller one to find out how long it takes them to activate, deploy, and respond."
If any of them had any reservations of bombing a location, they hid it well. Mars and him had sold their souls, so to speak. Jupiter though…
Silas would deal with that after the meeting. "We only have one actual Galactic Bomb, yes? Which lake will we be hitting?"
"Lake Valor," Cyrus said definitively. "That is the closest to here, and it will take the least amount of time to transport the Lake Guardian once it's been captured back to our headquarters. We will explode the decoy around there as well, to test the response. With all the events coming up in Pastoria, it should be noticed."
Jupiter was the next to speak up. "Do we have the capabilities of capturing and transporting legendary Pokémon? Especially if we make it furious after bombing its home? What about housing it? We can't very well keep it here, can we?"
"One of our scientists is formerly of Team Rocket, and worked on the Mewtwo project. I have consulted with him on the design used to contain that Pokémon. Cyrus picked up the remote and turned onto the television, showing them the blueprints. "Essentially, it is a safe, made of the highest quality steel creatable, several feet thick on all sides. I've allocated space for it underground already. Only Steel and Dark-type Pokémon will enter it until the Lake Guardians are sufficiently weakened. Then, Charon will work to extract their essence to form the Red Chain."
His father turned his gaze on the youngest of them. "Mars, your mission will be to go to the Fuego Ironworks. You will financially incentivize, coerce, or force the steel mills there to make us their only client for the foreseeable future."
"That's fine, but speeding up the production doesn't mean jack if they don't have extra material to work with," Mars replied, spinning a pen between her fingers casually.
"Correct. Charon, is the radio wave device you designed still operational?"
Charon nodded. "Yes, Leader Cyrus." Silas remembered that device, as another ill-fated attempt to actually create energy, rather than sucking it out of electric Pokémon. It worked, though it generated less power, was more expensive, and had the unfortunate side effect of driving Steel-types mad.
"Jupiter, take it to Iron Island. The waves emitted by the device will send every Steel-type on the island into a frenzy. Capture and strip the metal armor of every Pokémon that has some, and send it to Mars. We will have our Lake Guardian cage completed in short order."
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"As for the manpower, we will have assistance with that." Cyrus picked up the remote and pressed a few buttons, revealing the smug expression of someone Silas was quite familiar with.
"Ugh. Do we really have to involve her?" Mars muttered under her breath, as the visage of Hunter J appeared on the screen.
Whether his father heard her or not, Cyrus's opinion wouldn't change in the slightest. Silas knew that one from experience. "Based on the feedback you've been giving us, Mars, the Galactic Grunts we currently employ wouldn't be capable of such a mission."
The youngest of them looked away from Cyrus's piercing gaze. "Well, they wouldn't. You either have battle talent or you don't, and these people you saddle me with can't think on their feet well enough. As soon as the first option I teach them fails, they crumble like a house of cards. Most of the Pokémon around here are nothing to write home about, either."
Cyrus's expression gave nothing away, though he appeared appeased by the explanation. "Hunter J has expressed to me that she and her men are more than capable of capturing Azelf once the bomb has flushed it out, without harming it, and delivering it to us in a timely manner."
"Indeed," Hunter J said breathlessly. Her voice was dripping with something Saturn couldn't place, as if the prospect of hunting for legendary Pokémon had her in a frenzy. "As Commander Saturn knows, I don't make guarantees lightly. I told him I would be the last one standing to undertake this mission of all the poachers he invited to Sinnoh, and here I am."
"I suppose I did say something to that effect," Silas begrudgingly admitted. "Hunter J is extremely good at what she does. Her poachers will be working with us on all three captures, I assume?"
"Yes," Cyrus confirmed for them. "You will be working directly with her, Saturn, on the Lake Valor mission."
A pity, Silas thought, that Hunter J didn't go through the portal and get stuck in the past permanently like some of her men recently had. Now, not only did he have to create and stay in ground zero, he'd also have to watch his back so a poacher wouldn't stick a knife in it when he wasn't looking.
"Mars, after you are done with the Ironworks, you will go to Lake Verity and await the aftershocks from the bomb being dropped. That will be your signal to move in to capture Mesprit. The myths and legends I have been researching indicate that while Azelf's first instinct is to fight, Mesprit's first instinct is to flee. As soon as it feels Azelf is under attack, it will try to run. That will be its undoing."
"That leaves Lake Acuity and Uxie. Should I take a boat there when I'm done at Iron Island?" Jupiter asked idly.
"You may if you wish, but you will not be acting immediately. Uxie's first instinct is to protect itself. No doubt it will create barriers and force fields that we must break through. In addition, with its isolated nature, and the fact that we are striking the other two lakes first, no doubt our opposition will array all their forces to protect Uxie, in an effort to prevent us from capturing all three. We will have to come up with another plan for it."
"Cyrus has been generous enough to contract me all the way through the capture of the three Lake Guardians. After that, I assume we will part ways, though we may remain business partners. I have a business venture for you now, actually. It may solve the problem you have with the power of your Pokémon, at least."
Normally, Hunter J made her money selling rare and exclusive Pokémon, as opposed to powerful ones. Silas glanced at Mars. Most powerful trainers would not stoop to buy a powerful one from a poacher unless they were truly desperate. What was she selling?
"Go on," his father told the most infamous woman in Sinnoh.
Hunter J's smile was rather terrifying. "I've found a method to turn Pokémon into the ultimate fighting machines. They have no fear. They feel no pain. And they will never shy away from combat, because they have zero emotional weakness. All for a little risk, that you might not ever see them again."
It seemed Hunter J had tailored her pitch specifically to appeal to his father, because it was exactly what Cyrus wanted. Tools that were not held back by emotion. As for the risk, Cyrus had no emotional attachment to any of his Pokémon, so there was none, in his father's eyes.
Silas wasn't surprised that Cyrus immediately chose to send some of his own personal Pokémon over. As for himself… he needed a second opinion. "What do you think, Mars? I hired you as the head of our combat division."
"I'm not making any decisions until I see these Pokémon in action, and battle with one myself," Mars replied, still spinning her pen. It was a surprisingly wise take from the mercurial and often immature commander.
"Very well. We'll purchase a few of these from you, Hunter J, for testing purposes," Saturn told the poacher, wincing internally. There were no profits to be made on Team Galactic. Only losses. But, as he had to constantly remind himself, these smaller losses were much more preferable to throwing away everything, which his father would have inevitably done had he not stepped in.
'Done." Hunter J agreed to the deal before he could take it back. "I look forward to the call when the time comes." With that, she signed off, and the rest of the commanders were dismissed. Mars and Charon left immediately, but Jupiter stayed, as did he, and Cyrus.
"Another tactic to get stronger Pokémon? Didn't we already try this with Mega Evolution?" Silas questioned his father. "What makes you think what Hunter J is offering us is superior to that?"
In their eternal quest to gain the power needed to defeat Cynthia, the Elite Four, and all others that would inevitably oppose them, they had come across Mega Evolution, a secret guarded by a select few powerful and skilled trainers across the world.
Money always did loosen tongues, and they were able to acquire quite the number of assorted Mega Stones and trinkets along with the knowledge of how to use them, but to mixed success.
"Mega Evolution is a useless gimmick," his father dismissed, as Silas knew he would. "Hunter J showed me videos of her Pokémon beforehand. They don't suffer from sentimental, weak notions such as pity and compassion. They have closed off their hearts and have ascended beyond what they could normally. That is the power I wish to take for myself."
Perhaps that is the case in your experience, Silas thought to himself. His own personal research on Mega Evolution indicated that it needed more than a ring and a stone to make it successful. It required a bond, something Cyrus could never make, between human and Pokémon, where two became one and the combination of their united spirits brought about something truly new and spectacular.
Even though Cyrus had Pokémon that were compatible, his father would never achieve it. Silas looked down at his hand, where he was wearing a ring embedded with a white, pink and green stone. He had a feeling Mega Evolution would serve him well, though.
"Is that all the questions you have?" Cyrus asked him, apparently in an answering mood. No doubt as soon as he was done his father would go back to his office and ponder the futile existence of this world, and how best to correct it in his new one.
"Not quite," Silas said. "I'm to be on the team that captures Azelf, but that's a ways away. Am I just to continue my normal duties in the meantime? You've assigned everyone else missions."
"Ah. Thank you for reminding me." Cyrus, in his quest to create a new world without emotions, had actually somehow erased all of his own. That did not mean his father couldn't find humor or irony in certain things. Most of which were never good for him.
Cyrus pulled a newspaper from his pocket, unfolded it, and passed it across the table. "Lustrous Orb exhibit opening at Celestic Town Museum still planned, in defiance of Team Galactic threat," Silas read one of the titles.
"We still require the Lustrous Orb to bring forth Palkia," Cyrus stated. "I have received an invitation to the opening of the exhibit, considering Galactic Energy has been so generous with the donations to the museum, and so active in crafting defenses against thieves."
Silas mostly tuned him out, reading the article. He looked up when he was done. "Tell me you did not accept the invitation. The Champion is going to be in attendance!"
"Is this not the whole point of this Team Galactic scheme you have concocted?" Cyrus asked him rhetorically. "We have these double identities so we are still able to move around freely. You and I are going to the opening of the exhibit. And we are leaving with the Lustrous Orb. I would start planning, if I were you."
"Please reconsider," Silas kept his voice from descending to a begging tone with all of his will power. "You want me to come up with a way to steal the Lustrous Orb from under Cynthia's nose, at the museum her grandmother built and is the director of?!"
His father stood up, indicating that the conversation was over. "You've always told me you are an intelligent man. Put that intelligence to use."
The Galactic Commander groaned, putting his head on the table as Cyrus left, leaving him with only one human companion. He lifted his head when he realized Jupiter was doing a very poor job of hiding that she was laughing at him.
"I suppose this is funny, when you're not on the receiving end of it. I do technically out rank you. I could have our positions switched!"
His threats were waved off easily. "You and I know that won't be allowed," Jupiter said, hiding her smile behind her coffee mug. "I just find it amazing. All these years, and he's still testing you every opportunity he gets. I'm not sure if having my deadbeat, good-for-nothing, no child support paying father was worse than having Cyrus."
Commiserating over terrible fathers was one of his favorite things to do, growing up with his oldest friend. "You didn't agree to become a Galactic Commander only to poke fun at me the whole time, did you, Julia? Today should have made it crystal clear where this is headed. Very soon there will be no way to back out."
"I'm in it for the long haul, " Julia replied, a prospect that did not exactly assure Silas. "I owe you that much."
Silas frowned at his old friend. "I've told you, you don't owe me anything-"
"Let's see," Julia began, setting down her mug and starting to tick off the points she made with her fingers. "When I was always going hungry in school, who used to always buy me lunch?"
"It's ridiculous that anyone would have to buy lunch while attending school-"
"And when it came time to graduate, and I didn't have enough money to attend college, who paid for that?"
"You applied for so many scholarships, you deserved to get at least one. Besides, you finished early, so it wasn't even that much-"
"Finally, when all I could get were crappy jobs, who hired me, even though I didn't have nearly enough experience to be heading my own division-"
"Enough." Silas put his hand up. "Enough. I owe you just as much, Julia. It was you who took a boy that had too much money but not nearly enough common sense, social skills, or emotional intelligence, under her wing and taught him how to live. I don't know that I would be a normal, functioning human if it weren't for you. We're more than even. You don't have to do this out of a misguided obligation to me."
Julia finished the last of her drink. "I know you too well, Silas. You're more conflicted about yourself. Of what you've done, and will do, in pursuit of this."
He didn't know how to respond. She had hit the nail on the head.
"Cyrus is going to ride this train to the end of the line. If you want to secure your future, your legacy, and your place in the world, you're going to have to ride it with him, and jump off right before it crashes." She got up to leave. "I'll see you around."
Silas sighed. "What am I doing?" he asked aloud. "Involving my oldest friend and potentially bringing her down with me? Stealing historical artifacts? Consorting with poachers? Bombing a lake that people use for drinking water? Not to mention ending the lives of all the Pokémon that live there."
He felt a nudge in his mind, and let down the barrier that separated it from that of his Pokémon, that had been in the room, undetected, the whole time.
"She's right, you know."
"You can come out," Silas answered mentally, letting a little of his irritation from how the meeting ended bleed over. "There are no cameras in this room."
"The television has one."
When he went to check it, the TV did have a webcam. Silas disconnected it somewhat aggressively, and sat back down. Almost immediately, a Pokémon that could be mistaken at a distance as a slender woman with green hair and a white dress, materialized next to him.
"She's right," Gardevoir repeated. "Your father threatened to take away everything you've worked for, and leave you with nothing but a ruined legacy. It's only natural that you would act in desperation."
"But how many people are going to be dragged down with me?" Silas asked, grabbing a notepad and pen and jotting down his initial thoughts on the Lustrous Orb heist. Gardevoir would be essential in two ways. One, to teleport them out. Two, to hit Garchomp. A Pixilate-boosted Hyper Beam might be strong enough to put the Champion's incredibly powerful Pokémon down long enough for their mission to succeed. "Not just the innocent, but all the people and Pokémon close to me, journeying with me on this wicked road."
Gardevoir took her time answering. "Your vice isn't wickedness, Silas. You're fighting for what's important to you. That's simply selfishness. My kind is selfish as well. We will put our lives on the line, because we could not bear to lose those who we are close to. That doesn't make us sinners."
Selfishness… Silas chuckled at the notion.
He could feel Gardevoir's confusion in his mind. "What's so amusing?" she asked him.
He shook his head. "No, you're correct. I'm willing to tear the world asunder because of my own selfish ambitions. It's very ironic, that's all."
All his life, he had felt that he had nothing in common with his father. Where his father had no interest in the day-to-day operations of Galactic Energy, he threw himself in headfirst. His father refused to make even the slightest of emotional connections with anyone, yet he had a Pokémon that was bonded to him at the hip.
Other than their looks, Silas didn't know what of himself came from his father. But it seems he had inherited something more, after all.
His selfishness.