Pokémon Mars

Chapter 65: Premonition

'Master Wish!'

A breathless Grunt at a gate frantically contacted Wish. Usually, one of his Admins would have taken the call, but he was the only senior member of Team Genesis left in Ironville. He had no idea where Murad and Samina went.

'Yes?'

'H-H-Hera! She just – she just left Ironville with some blue-haired man with a, um, a – a cowboy accent... she couldn't give us a valid reason...'

'...And you failed to stop her?'

'It was Hera...'

'It really is true – if you want something done well, or even done at all, you must do it yourself! You pathetic, worthless specimen!'

'I'm sorry, Master Wish...'

Wish was so livid that his pale cheeks turned pink. His fists clenched until they hurt. Everyone around him was useless and disloyal, but more importantly, he couldn't keep his own emotions in check. The last time he lost control was when that 15 year-old hero stopped him in Seri. That boy was once the person he hated most, but he no longer even remembered what he looked like. He didn't remember his sister or adoptive parents. Even his beloved husband's face was fading. In fact, though he still desperately hoped to somehow find Cyrus when he took off from Earth, he forgot he cared. That was the influence of the Shadow Pokémon.

He did remember why he took Karot in. If he hadn't been Cynthia's great-grandson, he and his friends would have gone straight to the prison. Wish didn't care for his mother's ancestors, but Volo looked just like her. He wasn't always locked up. He kept trying to escape. Then he tried to destroy the oxygen pumps. There was no choice but to imprison him for everyone's safety. Zebulun, Mable and the Admin laid to rest in the garbage pit encouraged Wish to just kill Volo, since he was no more than a drain on their resources, but he couldn't bring himself to.

At that moment, he wished he had. He wished he had killed Karot and everyone he arrived with, or at least turned them away to fend for themselves.

He stowed Luke's master key in one of his spacesuit's pockets. The Grunts outside trembled as soon as the office door flew open. When they saw him stalking off with the coldest look they had ever seen in his eyes, they cowered. Even the cleaner he passed, a loyal Cipher Peon, was so frightened by Wish's long, purposeful strides that he dropped his mop and ran, instead of reporting back to Roland as he imagined when he first heard the angry footsteps. No-one in the Town Hall other than Wish could see Shadow Pokémon auras, but they all felt the chill of the hatred emanating from the trembling Poké Balls in his backpack.

The key started Luke's own Mauve Mars rover. Wish drove to the North Gate. The Ares guard there was so scared of him that he just stood aside, but the Team Genesis Grunt hesitated.

'I... I'm afraid... I must see proof that you are Master Wish, not Volo...'

'Of course it is I, Wish!'

'But... but Master Wish... you told us that Volo means "I wish" in some other language... you told us to challenge anyone saying "it is I, Wish," because they're saying "it is Volo..."'

'Out of my way!'

He got past the Grunt into the airlock, but she refused to depressurise it to let him out until he proved he was Wish. Whether he was Wish or Volo, he scared her, but the thought of Wish's wrath if she let Volo out was more terrifying. He reluctantly ripped his helmet off to provide a hair for a DNA test. The Grunt hoped he would forget that he even employed her, let alone that she made him angry, by the time she saw him again.

'Why not join Cipher?'

The Ares guard sounded surprisingly casual and amiable for someone who was just terrified by Wish.