Pokémon Mars

Chapter 60: Time Running Out

Abram was already at Team Magma's test area at Cloud City Interplanetary Spaceport on Venus. The Robo Rayquaza entered orbit. As it descended, its passengers saw Cloud City as a cluster of gargantuan silver balloons perched atop faintly orange clouds. Blimps milled around them. Drifloon and Drifblim carried scientific instruments. From there, the sky was surprisingly blue.

It wasn't the first time Triton or Hadron landed in the clouds of Venus. Cipher were up there too. The landing was startlingly bumpy compared to the one on the Moon. Aranchi and Kaikoa were terrified. One wrong move could send the craft plummeting to the hostile surface of Venus, where it would be crushed in minutes. Triton looked bored, but even Hadron's knuckles were white under his gloves. He landed safely regardless.

They had at least an hour to spend in Cloud City while Abram and Triton checked the Robo Rayquaza over and made a few repairs. Hadron did any necessary briefing before landing so they could relax. As shaken as she was, Aranchi was glad to step out not only to stretch her stiff legs, but to set foot on another planet for the first time. They avoided the crowds by passing through the Team Magma offices. The Venusian leader of Team Magma, Dr. Dremonte Miller, was glad to help anyone who stood up to Cipher. Leucosia killed his father a month before he was born.

'Y'all are gonna come back and deal with the Cipher people here, right?'

'Yes,' Hadron promised, 'As soon as we deal with Cipher on Mars, I'll come back with a full team of investigators.'

The gravity there was almost as strong as Earth's. The arrivals couldn't relax completely. They felt heavy and dizzy as they boarded a blimp and then a train to the city centre. They were much cleaner than the trains on the Moon, but more colourful than those on Mars, since there was no risk of humans treading toxic dust around. Kaikoa said he couldn't possibly eat. As an escalator carried them to the station's grand and futuristic lobby, they saw a malasada shop through its long windows. Kaikoa changed his mind.

'Woohooooo! I've got a hot date with a malasada shop! Smell ya later!'

Saxon shook his head. 'No way can I eat right now...'

'I almost can't...'

Aranchi sniffed the air. 'But do I detect the scent of... pizza?'

'You want some pizza?'

She must have calmed down, because she felt her cheeks burning when Hadron smiled at her.

'Well, it's in my genes to point you to the best place in town.'

'H-hey!'

Saxon stumbled after them. 'I don't want to eat, but don't go without me!'

A No. 1 Pharmacy's neon sign said it was 40 ºC, or 104 ºF. They were already sweaty. Aranchi was stunned by the size of the colourful buildings that combined the styles of Kalosian and Galarian architecture with the height of Unova's skyscrapers. There were buses, taxis and a few cars on the streets. Horns honked at crossroads. Bird Pokémon flew overhead. Grass-type Pokémon sunbathed in plant pots and parks. The wild Cherrim were in their Sunshine Form. The balloon seemed clear from inside. It was just like looking up at the Earth's sky on a sunny day.

The pizza restaurant that Hadron liked was down a Grimer-scented alleyway. Its red lighting and decor might have been seedy without the leafy plants hanging from the ceiling. The checkered floor reminded Aranchi and Saxon of diners on Earth. They could almost believe the spaceflight was a dream and they were indeed in Orre or Unova. Their Pokémon were relieved to stretch and run around in the play area for children and Pokémon.

'Order whatever,' Hadron said, 'I'll pay with the company card.'

Saxon shook his head again.

'I'll just order for my Pokémon... thanks...'

'Come on. Eat some proper food. "Astronaut food" leaves a lot to be desired.'

'I just can't believe this,' Aranchi said, 'We just walked into a balloon in the clouds of Venus and now we're ordering pizza! I'll get all the toppings, please.'

The waiter blinked. 'All of them...?'

'Yes, please.'

Aranchi suggested a selfie to commemorate the experience. Only Rotom would have dared when they took off, but she found that Hadron wasn't as scary as he seemed when he was stiffly professional. He even followed her on Rotogram. Once they returned to the Robo Rayquaza, Aranchi sent all of her photos to Castra, from the approach to Venus to the selfie. Hadron was busy talking to Triton. Aranchi covered Castra's reply as if he would see it anyway.

Yeeeeeeessssssssssss! Get IN there!

Dremonte waved from the terminal as the engines started up.

'All clear to launch. Give 'em hell! 10! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Liftoff!'

Cloud City shrank rapidly below them. Abram was a gentler pilot than Hadron or Triton, who treated all vehicles like Firmino did. Even so, leaving Venus was as explosive as leaving Earth. As the ship rattled violently along with the passengers in their seats, it seemed like the earthly city was the dream and the spaceflight was endless.

The launch was once again recorded as a test flight. If they had more time, Hadron would have showed his colleagues the Edge Park, which ran all the way around the main balloon. It was where residents went to remind themselves that they were on Venus, or simply to admire the clouds of sulfuric acid that sometimes turned fiery red as the high winds whipped the balloons around the planet faster than it rotated, which was painfully slow; completing a full turn on its axis every 243 Earth days. Occasionally, observers caught a glimpse of the hellish land below. Most of the people watching the spaceport traffic were innocent space or aviation enthusiasts, but one was a Cipher Peon. He noticed the Robo Rayquaza. He didn't report it. It was only a test flight, or so he thought.

With a gravity assist from Earth, the Robo Rayquaza was on track to reach Mars in three days and 16 hours. Team Genesis, Cipher and even Team Plasma expected it to take much longer. In the office he broke into in New Mauville, Primo openly admitted to his underlings that Team Plasma was the weakest of the villainous teams on Mars. It didn't matter. They were also the only team that didn't care for the future of humans there, or at least that was what Primo thought. He only cared for the future of Pokémon. He envisioned a world populated only by free and content Pokémon and, if absolutely necessary, a few carefully selected people to watch over them.

He believed that world could bloom because he believed he was the leader of Team Plasma. The man who raised him to believe so, now listening to his updates in a castle dungeon in Galar, didn't actually care about Pokémon at all. Once Primo and his blindly loyal Grunts forced everyone out to make room for Pokémon, the old man pulling his strings could move in and rule the world from the start.

The Robo Rayquaza was early. It entered Martian orbit eight hours and 27 minutes before it was anticipated. Team Magma were still prepared for landing. The fan was switched on. Aranchi and Kaikoa hoped Abram would land, but it was Triton. He looked as bored as he did on the approach to Venus as they hurtled towards the surface of Mars. The Robo Rayquaza was unlike other spacecraft. Instead of gently bumping onto the ground, it was roughly turned to circle the spaceport and land like a plane. At least Firmino treated planes like planes in the air. Triton didn't. The entire landing was like a racing car skidding and spinning to an emergency stop. Aranchi was surprised they survived, but Kazuki complimented the 'safe landing,' so it seemed that was standard.

The Duraludon that was often seen at the spaceport directed the Robo Rayquaza to a hangar. Once the hangar was pressurised, Kazuki entered. Duraludon opened the Robo Rayquaza's doors and helped the officers down the steps that Kazuki's Camerupt wheeled over.

'Y'all can definitely afford to rest now.'

'We must rest. We don't have any choice...'

Hadron looked nervously out of the window, at the distant bubble, as Kazuki led them to the dormitory prepared for them.

'But I'm worried that time is running out, even now...'