1. Ash's Story (Part 9: Alola)

Chapter 79: Rainbow Plaza

Rest should have felt simple after the final Grand Trial, but the manor had become a place where silence only lasted until the next crisis learned our address.

Lillie and I were in the sitting room with my parents when Sophocles burst through the door, panting so hard that Rotom nearly crashed into a lamp trying to follow him. His glasses sat crooked on his face, and his hands shook around his laptop.

"Sophocles, what's wrong?" I asked, standing immediately.

"Everything is wrong!" Sophocles cried. "I do not know what to do!"

Mom stepped closer with concern. "You must be the Electric-type Trial Captain, Sophocles, right?"

Sophocles jolted like someone had thrown a Poké Ball at him. "Eeek! S-S-S-Sorrocles! I mean I'm sophorry! I mean I'm sorry! No, I mean I'm Sophocles! I'm a very sorry Sophocles!"

Lillie guided him toward a chair. "Calm down. Take deep breaths first."

Sophocles tried. The first breath squeaked, the second sounded better, and the third finally let him speak in order.

"I came because I need your help," he said. "A bunch of strange guys appeared out of nowhere and took over Festival Plaza."

"Took over?" Dad asked, his expression sharpening.

Sophocles opened his laptop and projected the plaza interface across the room. The cheerful castle we remembered darkened before our eyes, turning black and steel-gray with rainbow streaks cutting across the walls. A giant letter R burned over the display like someone had stamped a threat directly onto his system.

The Plaza display responded to Sophocles's panic by showing us one bad detail after another. The normal welcome text had been replaced with a recruitment slogan, half the shops had been renamed after Rocket ranks, and the castle gate now showed a rotating warning that called every visitor an intruder. Even the cheerful plaza host had been replaced by a silhouette that waved like a villain in a cheap stage play.

Sophocles looked as if the replacement host hurt him personally. "They changed the greeting animation. Nobody changes the greeting animation without asking the administrator."

Dad leaned over the projection. "Can you tell whether they came through the public network?"

"No," Sophocles said. "That is the problem. It looks like the Plaza was pushed sideways, then overwritten from inside the twist."

My stomach twisted. "You have got to be kidding me. Team Rocket?"

Lillie stared at the symbol. "I thought our world's Team Rocket was finished."

Sophocles shook his head rapidly. "The space suddenly twisted, and then the programming of the Plaza was rewritten. That is why the castle looks so..."

"Interesting?" I offered, because if I did not joke, I was going to shout.

Sophocles froze. "You think? It looks menacing, like where a final boss would live. But also, maybe slightly cool."

"It was a joke," Lillie sighed.

Sophocles buried his face in both hands. "They broke through my impenetrable security system. They did use a space malfunction, but still. They have complete control of Festival Plaza."

Pikachu climbed onto my shoulder, cheeks sparking with irritation. His meaning came through the tense flick of his tail. "Bad R. Wrong place. We remove it."

"I agree," I said. "We help Sophocles take it back."

Mom looked toward Dad. "This is not ordinary hacking."