Pokémon Mars

Chapter 56: The Heroes

The staff at Delta Lab 1 heard Megara screaming before Sonnet knocked. He tried to swipe the key card he stole from Rudolph, but the doors of the Delta Labs were doors that even those cards couldn't open. Firmino let him in. Before anyone else could react, Joshua's Zoroark snatched Megara from Sonnet's arms.

'Daddy... I want Daddy...'

Zoroark hugged her tight. It reluctantly told her that it could never bring Joshua back, but it would never let her out of its sight again.

'B-Bulbasaur... Mommy took Bulbasaur...'

The eyes on Sonnet weren't as trusting as they were two days ago. Nyx's hand was on her knife. For once, however, Sonnet wasn't smirking. He looked troubled.

'Listen. I must go back to the Town Hall as soon as possible.'

'The Town Hall?'

Jin rolled his eyes. 'Fuck's sake. So they really are in there, eh?'

'Yes. But this is worse than I imagined. Team Genesis has produced some Shadow Pokémon thanks to Hera, but I never thought Wish would use them himself, since he can see their auras and they drive him mad. But he is using Shadow Pokémon. I'm fairly sure of his goal now. He wants everyone whose ideals do not align with his to leave Mars. There is a conscience in there somewhere. He ordered me to bring Megara back to her father's friends. He does love Praise and Kyra, the daughter he left behind on Earth. He still loves his husband. He was occasionally kind to me when I was a child... but that's all beside the point. He has a conscience, which is why he says he'll allow everyone to leave Mars freely. Despite that, I've always been afraid of him because even without Shadow Pokémon, he is capable of acting cruelly, violently and impatiently, as he did to the hero who thwarted his plans in Seri. He wouldn't be here if he was patient. Since he's now using Shadow Pokémon, I think it's guaranteed that he will act violently and impatiently again. And everyone will be subjected to his plan for annihilating those who refuse to leave Mars – by erasing them as if they never existed at all.'

Sonnet briefly paused to take a breath, but he cut Jin off to continue.

'And then there's Hera and... the man I thought was my father. I doubt I need to tell you that they have no interest in serving Wish whatsoever. They aim to conquer Arceus to create a new world, like Volo once did.'

Nyx's eyes narrowed. 'You know Volo?'

'That's beside the point for now. I've told you that last time Hera tried to oust Wish, she failed miserably. He destroyed her in battle. She couldn't even graze him. He broke her wrist. However, he was 47 then. He is 63 now and despite his best efforts to stay in shape, he has suffered long periods of depression, during which we hardly saw him. I doubt he's as fit as he was then. Then there are the Shadow Pokémon. Hera cannot see their auras. Wish can. Long story short, I doubt Wish will win this time. And Hera does not have a conscience. She cares for no-one. She will erase everyone and everything without even blinking.'

'But how–?'

'And then there is Cipher. Luke will be watched at all times by a Team Genesis guard. Rudolph and Nessie are at a police station. But Wish skimmed through Rudolph's and Luke's diaries and found that there is at least one other Admin – probably the most important one – on Mars, although it appears the "Grand Master," as you call him, is on Earth. And when I stole Luke's wallet, I found a Team Rocket membership card.'

Sonnet swiftly took the card from the stolen wallet. It was an old and faded card, from before Team Rocket apparently merged with Cipher, but it confirmed that Luke was a Rocket Executive – the equivalent of an Admin – until then.