The Void She Filled

Chapter 7: A Terrifying Revelation

It took me a minute before the weight of his words truly sank in. My heart stopped for a couple of beats.

"You sacrificed one of your own men to take your place?" I sounded as horrified as I felt. Truly, beyond shock, there was only one emotion to describe his reveal: disgust.

"A necessary precaution that worked well in my favor." His grin is nothing short of sickening. "But enough about that. Let's get down to business, shall we?"

I cracked my hands nervously. "Yeah, I guess that's why I'm here."

"Good. Now, I know who you are— and you must surely know who I am— so we can cut the pleasantries short. I've had grunts whining about your meddling ways for quite a while now, and I've kept my eye on you ever since. You've stirred up far too much trouble for my own liking, and I knew you'd arrive here sooner or later. That's why I ordered the attack on you."

Wait, that ambush wasn't random bad luck? I must have a terrible poker face because my horror appears to fuel his amusement.

"Oh? Are you really that surprised that I was behind that? It's certainly a shame they were as incompetent as always. The grunts that ambushed you told me they had taken care of you. But they screwed up somewhere, obviously... because you're here right now."

All of my previous questions became vaporized by that stunning realization. Instead, my thoughts were dominated by one line alone.

"I didn't realize how much of a threat I was to your system," I muttered, oddly humbled.

Ghetsis snorts pitifully. "Hardly. You and your friend were simply a disruptive nuisance that had to be squashed, and nothing more. Don't get the wrong idea. Anyways, what was I going on about? Ah, yes... Colress. That fool is far too committed to pure science. This is how he repays me for making him the boss of Team Plasma? How dare he put his personal, intellectual curiosity before our— no, my ultimate mission of conquering Unova!"

I frowned in confusion. Colress outright told me he wasn't the boss. Nor did he want to strictly dominate Unova, or at least as far as I could tell. Sure, he'd be fine with blowing the world to hell for his precious science, but he certainly didn't seem to want to rule over anyone. No, Ghetsis was obviously the dictator here.

He took a step to the right, standing parallel with his desk. There was this sick kind of glee that shaped his features, and it morphed my terror into disgust and hatred.

"How fortunate for you, though! Few get to be the sole audience member for one of my speeches."

Oh, really? What an honor. Someone go grab me some popcorn, already.

"Team Plasma will use its knowledge and technology to take Kyurem's true power to its absolute limit and freeze the Unova region solid. The terrified people and Pokémon will bow at Team Plasma's... no... at my feet!" He took a step forward, slamming his cane down so hard that the sound painfully reverberated throughout the floor.

"Kyurem is an empty being. The remnants of a certain Pokémon when it split into Reshiram and Zekrom..." Another step forward, another cane slam. His gradual advancements were clearly meant to be intimidating. Almost as if he were daring me to back down. It was a dare I refused to ignore. I locked my feet in place, strongly fighting the urge to back away from him in tandem. Instead, I forced (with considerable effort) my glare onto his crazed eyes. I could feel the crescent marks being left behind where my nails pierced the skin of my palms.

"I will use it to obtain my desire, which is the absolute rule of Unova!" A malicious aura flared within his red eyes as he boldly accepted my response to his challenge. "That's right! Kyurem will be the vessel into which my desires will be poured!"