Pokémon Mars

Chapter 46: Magnetism

Sonnet arrived in Ironville in the middle of the night. His rover was the only one in sight. The guard who checked his new ID, issued by the town hall, was half-asleep.

'Welcome back to Ironville...'

Rooms were reserved for the 'Martians' at the biggest hotel. It loomed over the Market Square. Reflected streetlight twinkled in the windows of the lower floors. The higher floors were in darkness. Tourists weren't allowed out between midnight and 6 AM, so they were all asleep. A snoring cleaner was woken by the doorbell. He glanced at Sonnet's ID, yawned and trudged over to the desk to prepare a key card.

'You people are very trusting.'

'Huh?'

The disgruntled man didn't care who he was. He wanted to go back to sleep. Once Sonnet shut his door, he contacted Wish, who snapped at him for waking him up 'for nothing.' He no longer needed Sonnet's report. Praise replied by then. Wish already knew there wasn't a strong reaction to the space-time rift.

'Where is Praise?'

'I wouldn't know.'

'And... what do you want me to do now?'

'Stay there for now, I suppose. We may need more people in Ironville yet. In fact... Sonnet. You are friends with Praise. Karot claims he saw him sharing a pizza with a purple-haired woman. She may be a member of the team that visited us. He either has not realised, or actually likes the woman and does not want to ruin his chances by spying for Team Genesis. Since he hasn't told me about her, I suspect it's the latter. If she is who Karot thinks she is, please encourage Praise to pursue her and report back. All we need now are regular updates on the terraforming process. Once it's in motion... hehehe! Hahahahahaha! Team Genesis will finally rule our new world! Yes, Sonnet, stay where you are. You are a competent Trainer. You will be needed to overthrow the Ironville authorities... and, potentially, to lure any inconvenient people to their doom.'

'Understood, Master Wish. Goodnight.'

Wish didn't bother bidding him goodnight. He ended their communication before Sonnet even finished speaking. Sonnet sighed. Spiritomb sulked. Pheromosa was busy spraying the already-shiny floors with an antibacterial solution, but it sighed along with its Trainer.

'I suppose Praise is somewhere in this hotel.'

Sonnet returned Spiritomb. He left Pheromosa cleaning and ran back down the stairs to the ground floor. The cleaner was still asleep. There was no receptionist in sight. His footsteps were silent. He tapped the keyboard to wake the sleeping Rotom in the front desk's computer. Rotom was as groggy as its human colleagues. It didn't recognise Sonnet as the man who just checked in. He found that Praise was only a few doors away in Room 414. He knocked on the door. Armaldo peered through the peephole and opened it. Praise was already awake, sitting on the bed in the blatant Team Genesis tunic he always slept in. Sonnet sat beside him.

'Sawasdee, friend.'

'Sawasdee, Sonnet. He mentioned that he sent you. I didn't know you were already here. You drive fast.'

'Yes. He sent me to report back on the reaction to the rift...'

'Sorry. It's my fault. I got distracted...'

Praise couldn't stop a smile of childlike glee lighting up his face.

'I joined the football team!'

'No need to apologise. Congratulations.'

Sonnet stood again to let Pheromosa in when it knocked. He released his other Pokémon. Praise noticed that he was one Nihilego short, but he didn't ask why.