The Professor's Secret

32. The Pokéball Factory

"This was the last of them!" Shauna kicked an unconscious grunt that had been caught in their Pokémon's way "Bunch of troublemakers!!! Suits them right!!" She looked around the sea of defeated foes we stood in. Meanwhile, we all watched in awe as Shauna showed her fierce claws after being driven to almost despair and losing it against Team Flare. We were too busy to notice, but later on, some could swear they had seen Shauna going fist-first into battle with her Pokémon.

"Huh?! What is it?!" She worried upon perceiving our stare, now fully back to the frail, cute Shauna we knew her for. We enjoyed a good laugh, but then the air got thick with grimness again... I tensed my eyebrows, trying to figure out the situation:

"Masters of the new world... What the hell were those fruitcakes talking about?!"

Calem tucked his hands inside his coat's pockets and leaned back, falling against a machine and sighing with exhaustion:

"Lysandre went nuts, and that's what's going on!"

"What do you mean?!" I walked up to him, feeling the gravity of the situation.

"He means this!" Trevor intervened, opening up his Holo-Caster and flashing a dreary hologram of Lysandre. His expression was as hard as usual while he introduced himself as Lysandre Labs' president and the developer of the Holo-Caster... But without a change in his stance, he turned into a much heavier subject. It all looked like the most elaborate prank: He went on about how he commanded Team Flare, and how they were about to use a weapon to wipe the world clean, using words such as destruction and death as lightly as he would have done in a scientific report about the ancient past.

"What the hell..." it was all I could mutter below my astonished breath.

"He broadcasted this to every trainer in Kalos. Everyone is terrified..." Trevor explained as neutrally as he could.

"People have locked themselves inside their houses. Some tried to evacuate the region..." Calem sighed, picking up the explanation "But Lysandre is no fool: Team Flare was in position long before the announcement was made: Citizens, police, the military... everyone was halted by them!"

"We should be doing the same..." Tierno interrupted "We should try to build a bunker or..." his words trailed off, he himself not believing it possible.

"Lysandre didn't issue a warning..." Calem followed, his eyes lost ahead reminiscing over the broadcast "He didn't give us a heads up so we could survive, nor did he invite anyone to join Team Flare and be spared. It was merely... a farewell!"

"Are you saying there is no hope then?!!" Tierno gravely inquired.

"He means there's no place to hide" Trevor translated "If we stay still..." he looked around, marking each one of our faces "Everyone will die by Lysandre's weapon."

We took a silent moment to think as everyone faced their own mortality inside the empty, dark, echo-filled factory. The feeling that we were the only people left out there became exponentially bigger...

"And what are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"The president messaged me. Team Flare admins have taken him hostage. We have to set him free." Calem explained.

"It might have something to do with their plan..." I mused.

"I never thought of that: I just owed the guy a favor. But you're right..." He held his chin and walked past me "What if they need him for something?!"

"Then we find him and rescue him!" I rushed.

"Right! There shouldn't be any more grunts running lose around this place. I say we split up!" Calem's leading spirit shone through: it dispersed the shades of preoccupation weighing down his face, and that reflected on the rest of the team "Each one searches a corner of the factory. If you find anything, scream for the rest and wait for us before going into battle. Got it?" He sought everyone's faces, collecting their consents.