Pokémon Mars 2

Chapter 12: The Departure

For 105 years, Orre's Pokémon HQ Lab had been a symbol of hope and triumph. Jovi had picked up her late father's torch and carried it even higher, illuminating her homeland so brilliantly that its radiance made Cipher seem pathetic. She passed it on to Ross' father Lumir, then Perry.

Perry was rude and obnoxious when he arrived there as a young student. He proclaimed that he was the greatest and everyone would forget who Lumir, Jovi and her husband Hop were once he was promoted to lead Pokémon Professor. He didn't really admire anyone because he was so great, or so he said, but if he had to pick, his heroes were World Champions like his adoptive father Toru and grandfather Blue.

Now he was 48 and had been Orre's Pokémon Professor for nearly 13 years, he laughed at what an embarrassment that annoying boy would have been to the Pokémon HQ Lab's legacy. Yet Jovi, Lumir and even Hop had always believed in him. They had always seen through that boy's obnoxious bravado to the man he would become. He couldn't recall them ever snapping at him. They deserved credit for many of the things he had done right as a parent. Perry hoped he had inspired Jin and helped him with his studies, but he knew Jovi deserved at least half of the credit for that, too, because while Lumir took over her duties and Perry was busy preparing for his turn, Jovi devoted her time to teaching Jin and Callerya. She was the mother Perry had never quite had. Even Lumir was a father figure. Other than the photos of his kids, the most precious photo on Perry's wall was the one of smiling, 98 year-old Jovi and 75 year-old Lumir presenting him with the award that recognised him as Orre's fifth Pokémon Professor.

And now the Interplanetary Police had ordered them to vacate the lab.

For 105 years, they had risked their lives to protect that symbol of hope. Now they were to abandon it, to let Cipher finally, gleefully seize it.

Perry once wanted to go to Mars. He wouldn't ever have passed the assessments because he was bipolar. That upset him then, but not anymore. He had finally found the place where he belonged and it was there at the Pokémon HQ Lab.

What would Jovi say? Perry was the representative of her legacy now. Would he finally have seen disappointment in her eyes if she had been there, watching that representative – the one she coached so patiently – abandon all they had achieved?

Since he was 16, the only time he had ever cried in front of anyone but Tansy, his wife, was when Jin returned from Mars alive. Lumir knocked and walked in as he knelt on the floor of Jovi's precious Purify Chamber, silent sobs wracking his shoulders. He didn't tell Lumir to go away. He didn't even brush him off when he knelt and put an arm around his shoulder. He hesitated before turning to hug Lumir tightly, because other than Callerya, Jin and perhaps Jovi's kids, Perry and Lumir were the only ones who could truly comprehend how much they loved that lab; what it meant to the land, people and Pokémon they had devoted their lives to.

'...What would she say, Lumir? What would she say? What would she do?'

Lumir managed a shaky smile. 'Hadron would certainly have heard some expletives.'

'Maybe I should've given him some. We can't go. We can't...'

'We must, Perry. Especially you. Considering what they did to Nashira's Decidueye... there's no question that they will take all your precious Pokémon and... they will do the unthinkable. You will return. I may not, but you will.'

'Whaaat?! Don't you dare die on me! You're Ardos' kid! You're gonna live to some crazy age, like he did! We're going to come back. We have to.'

Perry couldn't return the smile as he turned back to the Purify Chamber. They had been ordered to either take it to Mars or destroy it to prevent Cipher getting their hands on technology they could reverse-engineer to produce even more powerful Shadow Pokémon.