No plan survives enemy contact.

I was aware of that saying but actually never believed in it. It was proven wrong countless times throughout human history. There was an essence of truth to the saying of course, but just like Murphy's law it doesn't always apply.

However this time Fate played her move first which at this point doesn't really surprise me anymore. I mean if Arceus him/herself showed up and just blew shit up I would be like meh, that's weird.

An explosion rocked the building and everything in my vision began shaking.

A loud zooming noise followed as I lost my grip on what was up and down. As if an earthquake had struck, I lost my balance.

I wasn't the only one, Chelsea let out a surprised cry and fell over but managed to catch her herself.

Barry grabbed Staravia in a desperate attempt to find grip but the avian herself provided no grip at all and both fell down to the floor.

Luna grabbed my leg and hugged it tightly, slightly panicked and red.

Has someone set off an explosion? Was it an actual earthquake or some kind of meteor?

I had never experienced an earthquake before so I had no frame of reference, thinking straight was also becoming harder as the violent shaking continued.

But there was something wrong.

A soft blue glow surrounded everything like a ghostly mist, the floor and the walls included. I had no idea where it came from, it was as if it just emerged from every surface.

Everything was drained with the blue stuff that lingered like smoke. The blue glow hung in the air and slowly drifted around me towards the wall like a cloud.

I waved my hand in front of my eye and an afterimage appeared, gleaming faintly in the light.

The objects in the room were not vibrating, the paintings remained unmoving and all the trash that lingered on the floor stayed still as well. Yet the shaking continued.

I dropped my knife and watched it clatter to the floor.

It scared the shit out of Luna but once she realized that I was the one who dropped it she looked up at me and smiled. Not too bothered by the earthquake.

The knife hit the floor and fell flat on its side, as I expected it did not clatter or slide at all after it hit the floor.

It confirmed one thing; this strange earthquake phenomenon only affected things that were alive.

Not that it gave me any more useful information, like was it all in our head or was this some kind of nausea inducing attack?

As swiftly as the weird tremors came they disappeared, the blue glow merged with reality once again before fading from view.

Chelsea dropped to her knees and puked.

I awkwardly watched her empty her stomach. She finally managed to get a hold on her stomach and she got up. She waved her long purple hair out her face and she was not looking very happy.

Not at all.

"What the fuck?!" Chelsea spat, her throat dry and raw.

"Earthquake?" Barry weakly offered. "Maybe someone activated the explosives in the stairwells?"

I raised my eyebrow, "There was a blue glow, remember, it wasn't a regular earthquake."

"What blue glow?" Chelsea rubbed her eyes tiredly. When I didn't reply and she noticed I was serious she shot me a concerned look. "You're doing fine?"

Something began vibrating suddenly and I dug my hand into my pocket.

My hands gripped around the small object and I pulled out a shrunken Pokéball. It enlarged itself and without me doing anything it opened on its own.

A beam shot out the Pokéball and flashed towards the floor and began to reshape itself into the shape of a small Riolu.

"STAR!?" Staravia cried out, startled.

Fay blinked and her tiny head moved from left to right, her expression was one of utter confusion and disorientation and ready to fight at a moment's notice.

Her eyes finally turned to me and Luna. With a cold, almost accusingly voice she said, "What's going on?"

"Oooh, she recovered," Chelsea knelt down next to Fay, "A fast healer, eh?"

I doubted it was Fay's healing power at work but Chelsea was right about Fay's state. She was looking fine, no physical signs of battle and there was no tiredness in her eyes. If I didn’t know better I’d say she just got back from the Pokémon Center.

"Explain," Fay said with an icy glare, as if I was the reason she was here. I was the reason but the glare was really unnecessary.

"Ralts," Luna explained and it was amazing to see how condescending she could sound while only saying her own name.

Fay's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"What she said," I nodded, "so now it's your time to explain what's going on. How did you wake up and heal?"

She shrugged and dropped her guard a little. "I felt a weird sensation wash over me and I absorbed energy. I think that healed me."

The blue Aura bender didn't seem to find that odd. She appeared to be rather unconcerned with it all. "I woke up and wanted to know what was going on."

She finished, “"And I can't say I'm disappointed."

"What is that even supposed to mean?" I frowned. "Not that it matters of course. Fay, could you please use your Aura sight?"

"Aura sight?" Fay questioned before realizing what I meant. Her eyes shut for a second and then opened again, this time the red irises had turned blue.

"Wow, I thought I was sensing something wrong but this?!"

"This what?" I asked, tapping my feet against the ground to give her a sense of urgency. We weren't taking a stroll in the park after all and this hallway was way too exposed for my liking.

"There's so much of it." Fay continued to speak in riddles.

"Of what?"

"Uh," Barry pointed at Fay. "What is she talking about?"

"Aura." Fay clarified, "It's everywhere in this building."

Her eyes snapped to the wall, "It's all drifting that way. Like a whirlpool, or a storm."

That was all the information I needed.

I turned to face Chelsea and Barry who were eagerly waiting for answers. "The quake wasn't a natural one, it was caused by something in the panic room. I guess it's Aura related."

"Ugh, what in the world are they doing there?" Chelsea cursed.

"I don't know," I admitted, "But I have the feeling we need to act fast or we might be too late, whatever the hell that might be."

The aura explosion came from inside the panic room, that much was clear and I feared whatever caused the quake might be worse than just some dizziness.

There were no apparent signs of danger right now but that doesn't mean a lot, what if it was creating tumors in my body? I wouldn't even notice it before it was too late.

Better not to think of such morbid possibilities.

I heroically exclaimed, "Both Luna and Fay pointed out something was going on inside the panic room, we cannot let Galactic get away."

Chelsea gave me a grim nod, she looked a bit tired and that Aura quake took a lot out of her, or maybe it just made her realize how late it was.

"Okay, but how?" Barry asked.

I grinned evilly. "Well, Luna only needs to see the room once to teleport in and Haunter can phase through walls."

"Unless they're reinforced," Chelsea idly mentioned. "You know with anti ghost stuff, or whatever they call it."

I blinked, "say what?"

"You know reinforced with that metal," Chelsea rubbed her head, "The stuff they have to prevent ghost Pokémon from phasing through walls."

"That exists?!"

"Duh."

I had never heard of such a thing. Though I had heard about the anti-Teleport technology so it wouldn't be too much of a stress to extend that field into the business of fending off ghost Pokémon.

"Can you have Haunter check it?" Chelsea gestured towards Haunter to follow my order.

"Oh and see if you can see something to open the door, a button or a lever." I added quickly.

Haunter dove head first into the wall, leaving me unsure whether he had heard me or not.

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"I've never heard of ghost proof metal!" Barry finally said.

"It does exist," Chelsea confidently smiled.

"Anyway…we should start to plan ahead."

"You already have a plan." Chelsea deadpanned.

"Fine, let me share my amazing and brilliant plan," I shot her an annoyed look, "I think it's rather simple."

"I doubt it," Barry interjected.

I ignored him too.

"Scenario one, if Haunter can phase through the room and open the door we'll have him open it for a split second. Long enough for Luna to see the room."

Luna grinned and cradled one of the gas grenades in her hand like it was a precious belonging of hers.

"And then you send in Luna with the gas grenade," Barry finished my train of thought, "After that we can enter without anyone stopping us."

Luna’s teleport was such a cheat.

Haunter popped out of the wall and said with a smug smile, "Haunter!"

"And?" I asked Chelsea, seeing how she was the best at interpreting the ghost's expressions.

"I think he can enter freely."

"Cool and you found a way to open the door?"

Haunter nodded and I felt a knot in my stomach disappear, at least that was one thing I no longer had to worry about.

"It's coming again!" Fay suddenly yelled, she knelt down and put her hands in front of her, taking a defensive stand.

The message didn't reach my 2 friends, not that it would have mattered.

A second quake followed and once again a second layer of reality slipped into existence. The blue haze surrounded everything, glowing fiercer than before, this time almost closer to white than to blue.

As I lost my balance, I tried to lean against the wall so I wouldn't accidentally fall on my knife and stab myself.

Chelsea somehow managed to find grip on her floating Haunter and used Haunter to remain balanced.

My Pokémon were doing fine during the quake, Luna held onto my leg while Fay managed to remain standing like it wasn't affecting her as much.

As my entire vision became a blur, I could vaguely see all the blue haze slowly drifting away from me and into the wall.

Like the last time, it only lasted for a few seconds before disappearing.

I heaved a sigh of relief, the feeling of your entire world being put in a blender wasn't one I recommended.

"Let's start the plan now," Barry was looking pale, "Before it happens again."

A silent agreement followed and we moved as one group towards our goal, 4 Pokémon and 3 humans all determined to put an end to the weird.

As we got closer the signs of battle increased; big cracks going on for meters, walls torn apart and at one point there were metal spikes protruding from the walls like a lame death trap.

Finally we reached a long hallway that was looking a lot like all the others we had seen, still this was the one we were looking for.

A door. Once again it looked like every other door, except there was no way to open it since the door handle was missing.

I was getting more and more excited for some reason, like this door led to the final level of a game I had been playing for days.

With my gun and knife in my hands I could almost feel a smile creeping up on my face, those feelings did disturb me but right now there were bigger issues than my mental state.

A third, stronger quake could strike at every second. If we didn't advance our own plans Team Galactic was allowed to keep going.

Luna stopped in front of the closed door and just like we had agreed, we waited a little bit further away, ready to pick off anyone who tried to make a sudden escape.

I sighed for a final time and then whispered. "Go."

Haunter jumped through the wall.

Not even a full second later the door opened. It slid to the right, revealing it wasn't a regular door like I suspected but a sliding door with metal plating and tech underneath the wooden surface.

A small gap was created and as it was opened Luna peered through it like a demon looking through rifts between dimensions to seek new victims. Her eyes flared red and a grin was on her face.

The door closed not a second after the small gap was created, only long enough to let a shriek slip through.

The item in Luna's hand disappeared.

And just like that we had attacked.

Contrary to what I had imagined there were no horrified screams or gagging sounds, no shouting cries or suffocating people, only a dead silence.

"Okay, turns out the room is soundproof," I tried to bring some levity.

"You wouldn't say," Chelsea shut down my attempt at humor.

A minute passed and there was no indication that anything had happened. We waited an additional 30 seconds just to be safe.

"I think we should go inside now," I said, feeling a bit anxious.

"Y-eah, let's do it." Barry swallowed.

"Let's teleport," I stopped the boy from walking into the room, "In case someone is looking at the door."

It was a small distance for Luna to cross so it should be very light on her energy reserves.

She nodded and again the world disappeared around me.

When the world returned I immediately raised my gun in front of me.

The clicking sound of a pistol's safety switch being flipped followed, however it wasn't mine.

A rifle was aimed at my head.

It was a big room with white tiles spanning from one end of the room to the other end, serving as a ceiling and as a light source.

I saw metal walls with cables running over them like the roots of a tree. A second glance taught me that those cables were not only just running over the wall but also on the floor. Thick black cables and metallic pipes, all in various sizes clustered together, all leading towards the center of the room where two machines stood proudly as a centerpiece.

For the amount of cables leading towards it, the machines were quite underwhelming.

It was a mere metal cubicle device with a glass box on top of it, attached to the main box with various cables protruding from the glass box.

Smaller devices supported the cables, things that I assumed to be extenders and circuit boards.

"Don't fucking move," a voice called out, though it was more of a shriek than a demand.

With his back to the door stood a lean guy wearing a vest with a blue G on it, he had short shaved green hair and wore a gas mask that was half strapped to his face.

I noticed one of the cabinets that was attached to the walls had been smashed in, it was an emergency kit and the sticker next to it suggested it was there for the emergency of a fire.

Grenades and ammunition clips were strapped to his vest, making him the first person with an actual firearm in this building.

The guy held a black rifle in his shaking hands and it was aimed at us.

It was wrong of me to smile but honestly this guy was a pushover and terrified of us, that much was clear. In fact he was not even properly aiming at us. The weird machines stood between him and us which didn't even give him a proper view of us. The floor was littered with all kinds of devices, laptops and other high tech shiz I didn't recognize.

Friendly fire was also a problem for him considering he wasn't the only one in this room, his previous team mates lied unconscious on the floor, I counted at least 4 people who were sleeping, 2 of them wore lab coats as well but they were armed with what seemed to be grenades and stun guns.

Two people who wore actual protective armor lay next to the door, one of them frozen in a desperate attempt to reach the blue button next to the door.

Talking about his rifle, it disappeared in a white flash and landed next to Luna, followed by a second terrified shriek.

No way in hell I let that guy go to monologue.

There was this idea that all humans are able to shut down their empathy and at this moment I felt that it must be true, right now I felt no mercy for this dude.

Before he could pull more shit I threw my knife at him with one big toss. I wasn't really aiming but it alerted Chelsea and Barry that they could actually do something useful.

The knife did hit him in the knee but with the handle, making him buckle over in pain.

A white streak followed and Staravia was in his face, her wings slammed down on him and he was pushed against the door.

He fell over and dropped to his knees.

Staravia retreated but gave the guy a careful eye before it became overly clear he was unconscious.

The guy dropped to the wall, his eyes rolled back and blood dripped out of his mouth; he was probably missing a tooth as well.

And just like that victory was ours.

We hadn't just beaten Team Galactic, we had taken them down completely.

Their command post was compromised and now ours. The three of us had taken hold of the iron fort that no one could enter from the outside. We could detect anyone who tried to approach the room, effectively turning the tables. The people outside that were still looking for us had no way of reaching us now.

It wasn't just a victory, it was a crushing defeat for Galactic.

Before I could pat myself on the back some more Fay gasped. "It's increasing again!"

The two machines began shining brightly. Engines whirred to life and began to buzz. The air hummed with power and the light soon became too intense to look at. If I had to say anything, it looked like two mini-suns had formed inside the room.

A quake followed and this time I didn't even have the chance to steady myself. I fell to the floor but unlike before it was not because I lost my balance.

It felt like the air was trying to squash me and push me down to the floor. And it wasn't just my imagination.

Even the floating Haunter was pressed against the floor, a loud screeching sound filled the room and the two machines began vibrating harder, bouncing in place as they struggled to contain their own power.

The blue glow made itself visible once again.

As I tried to gasp for air I could see the glowing clouds swirl around the two machines like a vortex. The light was consumed by the two mini-suns contained in the glass containers.

My confused mind made the connection between being squashed by gravity and those two machines.

With great effort I tried to lift my gun above my head, fighting the additional force of gravity.

A shouting cry escaped my lungs and I managed to align my gun and shot through the glass at the nearest machine.

It shattered with a loud explosion and for a brief second I could see what was inside the glass container.

It wasn't a miniature sun like I had thought.

As the light increased a second later I could no longer make out the shape or color but that didn't matter. I had seen what was inside one of the two cases.

An egg.

The light shone ten times brighter and a scream could be heard over the sound of total chaos.

"Raaaallltts!"

And the light disappeared.

I breathed in the cold night air and my eyes shot open. Rain fell down on my face and this time it was really comforting.

I was still lying on the ground, I felt wet grass tickle underneath me and above me was a dark starless sky.

Something wrapped around my arm. I glanced around and saw Luna standing next to me, holding my arm and giving me a concerned look.

"Good Teleport." I gave her a weak smile.

I slowly got to my feet while I was still trying to get used to the darkness of the night. I blinked as I realized where I was.

We had found ourselves in a small park in the middle of Jubilife City where a statue of Dialga and Palkia stood not far away from us.

"Ugh," Barry puked and almost fell face first into his own vomit.

My heart made a small skip when I saw that everyone was here, alive and only a bit disoriented.

"Where are we?" Chelsea muttered while leaning on Haunter who helped her get to her feet.

"You don't recognize this?" I raised an eyebrow. Probably wasn't the best time to say it but meh.

"Oh," Chelsea said a second later as she too recognized this as the spot the three of us held our battle.

"It's still going," A voice behind me whispered in shock.

We all turned around.

Despite Barry and Chelsea's lack of Pokéspeak they understood what she meant.

A building not too far in the distance shone like a star was inside it, light slipped through the windows, making it look like a giant lighthouse.

I saw a blue haze linger around the building, forming a large whirlpool that went through anything, yet the 24th floor was clearly the eye of the storm.

Nothing could prepare me for what came next.

An explosion of light followed and I had to shield my eyes so as not to get blinded.

When I looked again the Devon Corporation building was gone.

A spire of white-ghostly flames had taken its place, forming a large beam that stretched out to the heavens with smaller wisps of light flickering around it.

Different shades of light weaved into and out of the pillar that had appeared in the middle of the city.

The beam of light reached the clouds and even went through them.

It was surreal in every way, like something from a movie or a game.

But it was real.

And the entire city could see it.