Pokémon XD: Narrated Gale of Darkness

Chapter 24

Michael closed his eyes and took a few breaths to calm down completely.
When he opened them, he noticed something small and shiny laying in the ground about two meters away from him.
As he got closer, he could see the object was a small key.
'Could this be the Elevator Key, needed to set the prisoner citizens free?'

---

- Pre Gym -

Michael had been trying to open the elevator for a while now, but still hadn't succeeded in letting it respond to anything.
"How do I open this thing???"
A student in the study room had stood up. "Oh? Hey!"
"Huh?" Michael looked up to his left.
"Is that the Elevator Key you have there?"
Michael looked at the key in his hand. "Yeah, but I doesn't work."
The student laughed. "If you use that on the control desk over there," He pointed at were the Justy impersonator was sitting the first time they met. "The elevator should operate. But why would you have it?"
"Okay, thanks. And uh... I have my reasons." Michael walked over to the control desk.
"Where, oh, where..." Michael scanned the whole thing. "Ah! Perhaps there!"
Michael inserted the Elevator Key and gave it a twist.
There was a sound and soon after the elevator came up.
"Bingo."

He took the elevator down and found himself in a special kind of basement. The place was divided in four kinds of habitats. Then he noticed the many people watching him. He carefully walked down some steps.
A tall, slim man hesitantly walked up to him.
"I'm Phenac Mayor Trest. W-who are you? H-how did you get here?"
"My name is Michael. I came from the Pokémon HQ Lab. Nett from Pyrite sent me here to warn you. Alas, I came to late. Because of that it took longer than anticipated - since I had to beat the members of Cipher first."
"Oh, my! So, you, Michael, sent that scoundrel Snattle packing?"
"Yes, sir."
"That is quite amazing! Does that mean we can finally leave this miserable place?"
"Mhm. That's right, sir."
Mayor Trest straightened his back and turned around. "Everyone! I need your attention, please!" He paused until everyone faced him before he continued. "Let us all thank Michael heartily, then get out of here!"
Mayor Trest started it off by sincerely thanking him. The others followed his example. Everyone left in pairs of two until everyone had left the Pre Gym basement.

Trest, Justy and Michael stayed behind on the Pre Gym's battle floor. There, Michael explained what had happened in Phenac - and his experiences in the city - in detail.

"I see..." Trest started after a brief silence. "So we were close to having Cipher replace all our citizens with their members... Oh, what a heinous plot! But it was stopped and we owe it all to you, Michael. On behalf of the whole city, I sincerely thank you. In fact, I can't thank you enough right now. If you could, please visit me at my home later."
"It's okay, sir. No problem. I did what had to be done."
Mayor Trest nodded and walked through the Gym's doors. Michael and Justy watched him go. When Trest was gone, Justy took a few steps to stand in front of Michael.
"Michael, right?"
"Yeah."
"Your actions saved the city. We all owe you a big thanks!"
"As I already said, it had to be done."
Justy nodded. "I'd like to keep in touch with you. May I get your P⭐DA number? I'll give you a call if anything comes up."
"You ARE the real Justy, right?"
"Haha, yes, I am."
"Allright."
Michael gave Justy his number.
"Thank you. I'll be in touch. And I've been thinking."
"About what?"
"I think Phenac was targeted because Cipher wanted to squash rumors that were spreading in town."
"Rumours?" Michael asked curiously. "What rumours?"
"People in the city have seen shady characters coming and going in the desert. People were talking about it. According to what people say, there's something in the desert somewhere to the north of here. You should ask around for details from the people in the city."

At the edge of the battle floor, two people awaited him.
"Hello, I came from Agate to take my granddaughter home. But just as I got to Phenac, I was caught up in this whole affair!" The old lady complained. "Thank you so much. We can finally return to Agate."
"I was going to visit Agate with my grandma, but then those people came and locked us up." The granddaughter told him. "In going to run a Day Care just like my grandma when I grow up. Thank you, Michael! If you visit Agate, please come to this Day Care."
"No problem. And I will. Thank you."
After bowing, they left for Agate Village.

Michael then started asking around town about the rumours Justy spoke of.
An elderly woman was able to to tell him that she had been eavesdropping on their furtive little chats, discovering that Cipher attacked Phenac because they're doing a recovery operation in the northern desert. That's what they wanted to keep a secret from others.
Her granddaughter said she heard loud roaring from big trucks running back and forth, pulling big cargo with them. She also said those people looked really shady; thinking it was weird, she had to tell others about it.
Someone else said there were rumours that - despite nothing should be there - Pokémon being moved by people in the desert north from Phenac. Others even suspect that those are Shadow Pokémon.

A visit to the Mayor was the last thing on the to do list in Phenac.
"Hello, hello, Michael! So good of you to come!" Trest said enthusiastically. He thanked Michael once again. Afterwards, he gave him an Exp. Share as token of gratitude.
"I must say, you saved us in our darkest hour." Trest continued. "Justy couldn't do a thing knowing that we were being held hostage. Honestly, if you hadn't arrived, I shudder to think about what could have become of our city."
Michael politely thanked the Mayor. "It was a pleasure meeting you, sir."
"Likewise." Trest smiled and watched Michael as he left.