Finding Truth Amongst The Lies

Chapter 61: Multiple POV's

Ash's POV

Neptune led me down the now familiar hallways and I tried to puzzle through what exactly she might have meant by me becoming her 'perfect soldier'. But even those worries could hardly get past my panic at knowing that Neptune could spring her doomsday plan at any moment.

I need to get to my room and contact Director Falon ASAP, I growled inwardly even as I forced myself to follow behind Neptune. She led me past all of the experimentation rooms quickly and I was surprised when she took me back to the lab area where all of her superfoods and materials were developed. My eyes widened as I saw the flurry of activity and people were actually shouting at each other over their shoulders as they worked feverishly.

"Seems a bit chaotic in here," I mentioned hesitantly and Neptune chuckled lightly.

"Of course. Their hard work is finally going to be put to use. If they don't meet their production quotas they will be punished harshly."

Neptune's cruel tone made me flinch, and I was glad that she had not turned around to look at me as she spoke. She led me past the bustling machines and labs and I was surprised when she opened a door I had never noticed before. It opened onto a room the size of a football field covered completely in Neptune's crectin stuff that she was so proud of. I flinched when I saw the gigantic robotic arms hanging down from the ceiling on the left side of the room holding two pieces of what looked like a massive collar made out of huge red chain links. On the opposite side of the gigantic room were robotic arms holding a shimmering black chain. Then my eyes moved to the wall opposite me where three barred cages had apparently been built into the side of the wall. They were relatively small cages, but the room was much too big for me to make out what poor pokemon might be trapped in them.

"What... what is this place?" I asked as Pikachu gripped a tuft of my hair in his paw. It didn't hurt, but it showed me that I was not the only one that felt the eeriness that this empty room was giving off.

"This," Neptune said with a content sigh, "is where the birth of our new home will take place."

"Huh?" I was sure I sounded like a simpleton but my brain could barely process that simple yet incredibly dangerous sentence she had just uttered. "In the middle of Mount Coronet?"

"Precisely," Neptune said with a wide grin. "That idiot Cyrus wanted to wipe out the entire universe and start anew. I simply want the legendaries to do a rehaul of our planet using the template that I have painstakingly created for years, which means I will have to monitor the legendaries constantly throughout the process."

Neptune's eyes swept over the room with a hungry light in her pale eyes. I couldn't even fathom how she had the confidence to say something like this, but I nervously looked at the red chain suspended from the ceiling on one end and the black one on the other.

When I was younger, Dawn, Brock, the champion Cynthia, and I had all played a part in stopping Cyrus from using a red chain created from the meteorites in Sinnoh that had Arceus's power flowing through them to control Dialga, Palkia, and the three guardians of the lake. Seeing the red chains fashioned into a collar-like contraption I could deduce she had figured out how Cyrus and her grandpa had created the mind-controlling device, but I did not understand how she thought she would get any better results. Or what that black chain was for.

"You look confused, Satoshi," Neptune said dryly and when I looked over I nearly flinched when I saw the open amusement in her expression.

"I'm not a rocket scientist like you, Neptune. I don't really understand what you're trying to show me," I said after a healthy pause. Neptune chuckled, although she looked slightly pleased with my response.