"Hey Aaron, over here!"
A familiar voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up, seeing Dawn, Elaine and Red all stood to the side of the city's department store.
Two days had passed since we were all together and I spent most of that time by Arcanine's side. On both days, the fire type would try to convince me that he was healthy but I wouldn't leave the pokemon center until Nurse Joy cleared him.
When we had last spoken, Red told me all about Veilstone City, warning that it would be safer for me to lay low for a while, especially after the Mount Stark incident. The silent trainer had taken the initiative, searching the city, high and low, far and wide for any signs of Team Galactic.
The moment he got into contact with me, I knew that he had found something. We agreed to meet the girls outside the department store, the three trainers waiting for me.
"..."
Red took the lead, walking off in the direction of a large building stood atop a hill near the city's coast. Dawn quickly recognised what the building was, joining Red as the two trainers walked ahead.
I was walking beside Elaine behind the two trainers ahead of us. Since arriving in Sinnoh, we didn't have any opportunities to spend time with each other, alone. On top of that, Elaine and I had been on opposite sides of the region up until not too long ago. So, this brief moment we shared together highlighted how special she was to me and how much I needed to protect her.
But, Elaine wasn't the same trainer as the girl who arrived in this region a month ago. Maybe it was the time we spent apart but I couldn't help but notice how much she had changed. She was a much more capable trainer and I had a feeling that the time she spent alone with her pokemon had something to do with that.
Soon enough, the four of us were posted up around the building's perimeter. As part of the plan, Elaine and Red took the left, Dawn and I took the right.
From what the blunette had told me about this building, it was originally a front for the Team Galactic HQ. But thanks to a certain young trainer, they were chased out of their base of operations. Since then, the building had been repurposed into a research lab.
Apparently, an unnamed organisation had bought the building out a few years ago. From the outside, I could see all sorts of complex machinery inside the building. Numerous scientists were attending to all sorts of machines, writing down whatever they were seeing on the screens.
"What's so special about this place? It's just a big science lab."
Dawn shook her head, disagreeing. "Wait until we get inside, then you'll see what this building really is."
I followed the blunette's lead as she entered through a back door. We entered into an empty hallway that stretched onward leading to a storage room. Dawn pushed on, moving stealthily across the hallway. I decided against calling out any pokemon as per the blunette's advice.
Not long after we entered the building, we had already moved onto the next floor. As I looked around the second floor, it became more apparent what was going on inside the building. I recognised the Team Galactic uniforms that the grunts were wearing. Dawn pushed forward, not getting distracted by the trainers and scientists.
Before we moved onto the next floor, Dawn took a detour, making her way toward one of the storage rooms. She carefully leaned against the metal door and after a moment, she pulled out a key card. She scanned the card over the scanner but to no avail.
"Where did you even get that from?"
Dawn looked over to me, realising she had a Team Galactic key card in her hand. "Oh, this? I picked it up last time I was here." She turned to the door, a half frown creeping onto her face.
"They've changed the locks. This card won't work anymore."
The two of use were talking in hushed tones, careful not to alert any of the grunts surveying the floor. After thinking for a moment, Dawn continued forward, moving through the building.
We were stood on either side of a doorway, keeping our guard up. The sound of footsteps from behind caught my ear and as I turned on my heels, my eyes meeting Elaine's. Red followed just behind her, watching their backs.
"The card doesn't work Red, we can't get into the back room."
The silent trainer thought for a second and I could see the gears in his brain turning. He looked up from his thoughts, gesturing to the stairs that lead to the next floor up. Red pushed forward, leading us up the winding staircase.
Not long later, we were on the building's third floor. The number of Team Galactic grunts had increased, making it more difficult to navigate the unfamiliar floor.
We each took separate paths toward the next set of stairs, careful not to travel in a large group. As I moved across the winding hallways, I overheard some of the conversations between the grunts and the scientists.
From what I was able to hear, it became increasingly clear that neither the grunts or scientists were particularly fond of each other. Each of the scientists spoke with a snotty tone of authority whenever addressing the grunts who didn't really care for what the scientists were talking to them about.
Whenever I was in the clear, I used the time to try and learn more about Team Galactic's goals. It didn't make sense that they would return to their old base of operations, especially after Dawn already chased them out years ago. There had to be a missing piece to the puzzle.
Somehow, I had arrived at the building's cafeteria area which surprisingly, was empty. On one of the tables, there was a notebook titled, 'The Original Pokemon'.
Naturally, I was intrigued and as I flicked through the pages of the book, I learned much more about Team Galactic's goals. They were partnered with the company who had bought out this building years ago. The notebook documented various experiments on legendary pokemon of all kinds, even the pokemon who weren't native to the Sinnoh region.
The earlier tests each resulted in inconclusive evidence, whatever that meant. But as I read through the rest of the experiments, I could see that they were making rapid progress. Everything pointed toward one unifying, unknown pokemon. Each of the legendary pokemon were connected to one another through another, superior pokemon but there was no more information on this mysterious pokemon.
I noticed that the writing in the book seemed dated, some of the ink already running off the pages. These experiments must have taken place years ago meaning that Team Galactic would only be closer to their goal now. Once I was satisfied that I learned all I could, I returned to the mission, making my way toward the next set of stairs.
"There's Aaron." Dawn's voice caught my ear as I turned the corner, seeing the three trainers waiting beside the ascending stairs. "Follow my lead."
The blunette lead the way, making her way up the stairs. Elaine followed, Red just behind as I covered our backs. We were fortunate enough to not have any trouble with the patrolling grunts but an unsettling feeling rose from the pit of my stomach.
Now that we were on the building's top floor, I could faintly detect a powerful source of energy. As I focused my eyes in that direction, I recognised that the mysterious energy belonged to a pokemon, an incredibly strong one at that.
Dawn pushed on, moving past the mysterious energy source, making her way toward a large, open room. Numerous grunts were gathered in the space, all of them looking up at something. As I followed their gazes, my eyes fell onto a tall man wearing a long, sleek white lab coat. His short blonde hair was accented by a deep blue and he was wearing typical scientist glasses.
From what we could see, it looked like he was talking to the grunts, more specifically, he was giving a speech to them. Red seemed to recognise him, poised for battle if needed. Elaine was carefully watching the scene unfold whereas Dawn didn't look too happy reliving her experiences from a few years ago.
"Fear not grunts, with my superior mind and technological understanding, the boss will succeed in his goal this time!"
His short speech seemed to fire up the crowd of people gathered beneath him. Once the scientist seemed satisfied with what he saw, he turned on his heels, facing away from the balcony.
"And one more thing. Those kids are here, so you should deal with them before the boss gets back."
As the mysterious scientist disappeared out of sight, the grunts were clearly surprised to hear that we had already infiltrated their building. The crowd of people began to disperse, filling the room as they searched for the four of us. There was no safe escape meaning the only way out was through all of these grunts.
The four of us exchanged knowing looks, understanding the best course of action. Dawn, Elaine and Red called out their pokemon to back me up as I made my move.
I had to make my move quickly, before those grunts found us, knowing that I needed to get my hands on this scientist. He must have been the man Saturn was talking about to Charon back at Mount Stark. Without wasting another second, I released Dragonite from her pokeball. I quickly climbed onto her back, the winged dragon taking flight in the lofty room.
Dragonite and I had already arrived at the balcony before the grunts could react in time. Once they saw that we had already broke through them, they called out their pokemon.
But it was already too late for them. Dawn, Elaine and Red were running crowd control as Dragonite and I pushed on.