Chapter 79: Jahzeel's Plan

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A grandfather clock ticked outside Team Plasma's security room. Caroline had never noticed it before. Now, all she heard was the ticking of the clock and her own shuffling as she tried and failed to make herself somewhat comfortable. A report arrived from Arlene. Pluto and Heather were at Circhester Stadium. They delivered hundreds more Wishing Stars to the lab in Wedgehurst.

No-one else, not even Chairman Rose with his state-of-the-art technology, was quite so successful. It was Pluto's ability to speak to Pokémon, to ask any Pokémon, anywhere, to dig, climb or crawl for him, that allowed them to find so many.

Jahzeel told Caroline what he wanted. He let Victor's killer continue to experiment on Eternatus to finally turn it into a Shadow Pokémon. When it was, it would cause the most catastrophic Darkest Day yet that wouldn't only smother Galar, but the entire world. It would be blamed on Cipher and Zalman in particular. The only people who could stop it would be Team Plasma. By then, Jahzeel was confident that he would have retrieved his king, so he could pretend Pluto simply spoke to the rampaging Pokémon to calm them down. He would be revered as the kindest, most godlike king to ever live. In fear of Pokémon and in gratitude to the king, who would make it clear that this happened because people and Pokémon did not belong together, everyone would release their Pokémon. They would be busy rebuilding, which would take forever without the help of Pokémon. That was when Team Plasma would take over the world. Jahzeel's new subjects would revere his king to the point that they didn't mind.

He hadn't quite decided what would happen to Pluto then. He was originally going to have Pluto die of a terrible illness or, to intensify the public's hatred of Pokémon, have Pluto killed by a Shadow Pokémon they 'forgot' to purify. Jahzeel was the true king, after all. Pluto was a mere tool. He didn't wait this long to hide behind a Harmonia boy.

Then again, Pluto was his creation. He was the product of many long years of manipulation and anxiety after Rigel turned out to be a worthless, stuttering and broken excuse for a king. There was hope when Jahzeel arranged a worthy marriage, but they produced a girl. Jahzeel didn't want a queen. He wanted a king. Then Rigel's useless wife miscarried. Finally, a year later, they produced Pluto.

Inspired by his grandfather Ghetsis, Jahzeel provided the most elite education for his king. He personally taught him to speak and write Galarian flawlessly. Gideon taught him art and mathematics. Through Caroline's mother and a favour involving a child, Jahzeel arranged virtual science lessons with a genius, Ein Gallego; though of course, Jahzeel never told Pluto that Ein was the creator of Shadow Pokémon. Volo served his initial purpose in teaching Pluto history, Kantonian, Pokémon battling, catching and resourcefulness. Pluto's own father and his Lost Kids – his wife, Clotilda, Garrett and two others, Badulf and Cynbel, all orphans that Jahzeel adopted – taught him stealth, survival and snagging. Tance taught both Pluto and Jahzeel to hack in exchange for offering him up to his perverted friends.

Pluto was subtly taught to despise the world, to believe that it was so cruel that Pokémon and children could never be happy in it, in many ways. The first was through his parents and their friends. They were broken souls because of Jahzeel. Galar's Trainers first began to question their relationships with Pokémon when Rigel and his Lost Kids snagged them, so stealthily in the night that it was assumed they left of their own accord. Pluto and his friends only picked up where they left off after Rigel was told he was always a prince, never to be a king, supposedly because Pluto was so special; but of course, it was actually because Jahzeel found him useless. Rigel's friends either became Grunts, servants or scientists. They couldn't pinpoint exactly why they felt so deflated and terrible about themselves, so as Jahzeel drilled them to, they blamed the world outside of Team Plasma for being so cruel. Jahzeel even had Cipher right there to point fingers at as part of the problem.

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