For a moment, D and Yanase both just stood there looking at each other. Professor Yanase Berlitz slowly blinked while still holding the beaker in her hands, and D stared back silently.
Then Yanase's eyes narrowed, "…Who are you?" she asked cautiously.
D didn't answer immediately.
Behind him, the massive monitor continued flashing lines of data as Porygon-Z rapidly dug through the Association's systems, and the information was getting copied.
Yanase noticed it immediately, and that only made her more tense. Her grip tightened slightly around the beaker.
D noticed, "…Don't," he warned calmly.
Yanase's eyes flicked toward the emergency alarm button near the side of the room.
D noticed that too, "I wouldn't press that either," he said flatly.
Yanase didn't listen as she quickly hurled the beaker directly at D and ran to the button, but D caught the beaker.
And as she got close to the button, Muk burst from D's sleeve and grabbed her wrist before she could push it, quickly pulling it behind her back. When she tried her other hand, another tendril grabbed it and held it up, making her dangle since Muk was now lifting her off the ground.
She flailed her feet and tried to shake out, but it was no use. She thought maybe she could kick the button, but her legs didn't go that high. She wasn't that flexible.
"LET GO OF ME—!"
"I said don't," D said as he got Muk to bring her closer to him, "I did try to warn you."
Yanase glared up at him furiously while she was still being dangled, only now she was directly in front of D, "…You're one of Jaern's people?" she hissed.
D took a moment, looked at her, and then spoke, "Who?" he gently asked, because remember, neither D nor Ash had heard the name Jaern since they got to Hoenn. This was the first time. They didn't know he was the Association president; they thought it was the Chairman.
Yanase blinked, "…Ehh?"
D tilted his head slightly, "I've never heard that name before."
Yanase stared at him suspiciously, clearly trying to decide if he was lying.
"You're inside the Association's highest-security lab stealing classified data," she said slowly, "And you expect me to believe you don't know who Jaern is?"
D shrugged, "I don't need you to believe me," he said while looking back at the screen to see how far the process had gotten.
He wasn't going to hurt her, since he knew she was Dawn's aunt, and even if she didn't know who he was, when he goes to Sinnoh Dawn might get depressed if she heard something bad happened to her aunt.
I mean, when she and Ash were kids with everyone, she shared a picture of her aunt, who is Yanase, and talked about how much she buys her anything she asks for. But she really didn't want the gifts; she just asked for things so Yanase would come and visit more often so they could play.
It was sweet, but D wasn't going to reveal this. Maybe if it comes up later, Ash might use it for trolling, but anyway, that isn't important right now. At best, what he might do is tie Yanase up, then maybe come by later as Ash to untie her.
But as he was thinking, Yanase kicked her feet and managed to kick off one of her heels at D's head, but Muk's tendril caught it and dropped it, making D look at her.
"Why do you keep trying that?"
"Maybe because I don't know who you are!" Yanase snapped back, "You break into the Association during a regional disaster wearing a mask while hacking into classified systems! What exactly am I supposed to think?!"
"Fair," D admitted.
Yanase blinked slightly, clearly not expecting that answer.
But then her eyes shifted again toward the giant monitor behind D. I mean, since she was stuck here getting dangled, she might as well look at what he was actually stealing to see if he was lying. She still thought he might be one of Jaern's men who was here to delete all the evidence of things he did.
But now that she got a good look, she saw all sorts of files not getting deleted. They were actually getting copied and saved onto a drive, not just information on Jaern, but all the illegal things the Pokémon Association shareholders and bureaucrats had been doing, and even deleting any blackmail on the system.
"You're...stealing evidence…" she muttered quietly.
D stayed silent for a second before answering, "Yeah."
Yanase looked back up at him carefully now, "…Why?" she asked, still suspicious, but less so.
"Are you really asking that?" D asked.
Yanase had to admit, it was kind of obvious, especially since he was specifically targeting the corrupt individuals in the Association. There was a reason why the Hoenn Association had more authority than the Hoenn League.
"And then what?" Yanase stared at him.
"Well, it would be a shame if all of this got leaked. I wonder what would happen," D said ominously.
But Yanase's face darkened slightly, not because of what he said, more because she was finally thinking that this could be a way for Jaern to lose his so-called invincibility, "I see."
D noticed the shift in her expression, "You know something," he said.
Yanase immediately looked back at him, "And why would I tell you anything?"
D shrugged, "You shouldn't really. I'm still breaking into a government building and stealing things." At least he was honest about that.
Still, if what he was saying was true, then maybe...just maybe…
"If you really are trying to expose Jaern and the shareholders…" she muttered quietly. She paused before finally looking back at him, "…Then maybe we can work together."
D looked at her for a long moment. Yanase still didn't look relaxed at all. Even dangling in Muk's grip, she looked ready to throw her other heel at him the second she got the chance.
Finally, D sighed, "Muk, let her down."
Even Yanase blinked in surprise.
Muk loosened its tendrils and gently lowered her back onto the floor. The moment her feet touched the ground, another tendril reached down, picked up her fallen heel, and handed it back to her.
For a second, Yanase just stared at the shoe being offered to her by a giant sludge monster, "…Thank you?" she said cautiously while taking it back.
"Muk," Muk grunted proudly.
"You better not try to hit that alarm," D crossed his arms, "If I wanted to hurt you, you couldn't stop me, so let's just make that clear."
Yanase slowly slipped the heel back on while keeping her eyes locked on him, "That doesn't mean I trust you."
"That makes two of us," D replied immediately.
Yanase narrowed her eyes slightly at that, then she looked at the computer again, "You really aren't one of Jaern's people."
"Nope."
There was another moment of silence before Yanase finally exhaled through her nose, "I still don't trust you," she admitted.
"But…" she glanced toward the data on the screen again, "…I trust Jaern even less."
Yanase suddenly turned and started walking deeper into the lab, "Come with me."
D didn't follow immediately, but when he saw her open the back door into the lab, he finally followed to keep an eye on her.
Eventually they reached a reinforced chamber in the very back of the lab. Thick metal walls surrounded it, and several emergency cooling pipes ran along the sides.
Yanase stopped at the control panel beside it, "Stand back," she warned.
D grabbed her wrist before she could press something and quickly checked the control panel and under it for a secret alarm. When he saw none, he finally let her wrist go, "Just have to make sure."
Honestly, Yanase couldn't blame him. She pressed some commands on the panel, then opened a nearby locker and pulled out a pair of thick insulated gloves. Then after a second of hesitation, she muttered quietly to herself, "…I should've brought goggles too."
"What is this?" D asked.
Yanase didn't answer immediately. Instead, she stepped into the chamber carefully and approached a strange machine sitting at the center. It looked almost like a refining device mixed with a cauldron.
Then she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the green shard. It was the shard of the Green Orb, and now it was time to use it. She held it over the chamber and dropped it inside.
Once it got inside, it immediately started emitting bright green light all through the lab, and it hit Yanase first, making her close her eyes and really wish she brought goggles.
Even D had to shield his eyes behind his arm as green light flooded the entire laboratory.
But anyway, once the light died down she grabbed a clamp and reached it in, grabbing something. She pulled it out, and in the clamp D saw an orb, but this one was different.
It looked like it was made of pure jade, and it had the Delta symbol on it. Yanase nodded to herself as she grabbed it and looked at it, "It worked."
Then she turned back and walked to D, making sure he was wearing gloves, which he was. Then she held it out to him, "Here."
"What's this for?" D asked carefully as he took it.
"The thing Jaern wants," she revealed, "But I gave him the incomplete version. How much do you know about the Rayquaza capture project?"
D narrowed his eyes slightly, "Enough. Why?"
She nodded, "What you might not know is that Jaern was the one behind it, and back then he only had a Green Orb. I don't know how, but I just know he has something to do with everything happening in Hoenn right now, all for him to try again."
"He made me make him another Green Orb, so I made it exactly what he asked for: the same incomplete Green Orb."
She pointed at the jade orb in D's hand, "That one is the completed one. It should allow someone to control Rayquaza, but even still, at most by my estimate, it might work for an hour before it breaks. After that, what Rayquaza does depends on what the user did."
Yeah, even with this so-called complete version of the orb, it could not permanently control Rayquaza. Not for lack of trying, but remember, she was the last researcher from the original project. Everyone else was dead. But even one hour was enough.
But of course, while D wouldn't use it for evil, she didn't know that, and D knew that too, so he asked, "And why are you giving me this? We already established we don't trust each other. It seems kind of dumb for you to give me something to control Rayquaza, even for one hour. Aren't you scared I'll destroy Hoenn?"
Again, D wouldn't do that, but Yanase had no reason to believe that, at least from what D knew.
Yanase nodded at what D said, "You're right. I shouldn't trust you, and this must seem stupid, but you don't know what Jaern is trying to do," she said with a click of her tongue.
"If he gets what he wants, he'll take over Hoenn and destroy everything and everyone that opposes him." But then her voice lowered, "But most of all, he threatened my niece, holding her safety over my head to force me to do his stupid plans." She grit her teeth and clenched her fist in hatred.
And thankfully D's face was covered with a mask and he had an eyepatch, because once she said that, his pupil dilated and his face changed, but he pretended not to care.
"Hm, so you hate Jaern more than you hate me, is that really it? I have to say, it is still a stupid reason, but I guess I can't fault you for that," D said as he turned, "Not like I care what happens to you or some dumb niece of yours. Do what you want. I'll put this to good use."
But as he was going to leave, Yanase stopped him.
"Before you go, you need to know this," she said, "Jaern has a Green Orb. With it he can summon Rayquaza. While it can't make Rayquaza completely obey him, he may have control for maybe one minute at most, and if you use the Jade Orb while he still has the Green Orb, then he'll gain control of Rayquaza for that hour," she revealed.
"So, he is on his way to the Sky Pillar ruins. If he gets there before you, make sure of one thing," she said seriously, making D look at her, "Destroy the Green Orb."
D looked at her, then closed his eyes, "Whatever," he said, walking past her without saying anything, but he made a mental note of that, leaving Yanase in the lab.
Once the lab door closed behind him, he walked to the computer where Porygon was finishing the download, and he was curious since he didn't remember Jaern off the top of his head, so he quickly looked it up.
At first, looking at official stuff, nothing. But then he remembered something and looked up Jaern Insurgence, and there he found it. 'That' Jaern.
He immediately understood and cursed under his breath hard.
Of course he's the one in power. Why wouldn't he be? Life seemed to kick him in the balls like that. But at least with Yanase's help, he had a win condition. All he needed to do was take control of Rayquaza, and if he did that he could also use Rayquaza's power to destroy Grand Meteor Delta.
Now obviously D himself wouldn't be doing this, but Ash would. D had to deal with all this information and spread it, so D had his part to play.
Now as for Ash, other than him being underwater, the only reason why he hadn't teleported to go to the Sky Pillar was because Norman filled him in on Rayquaza's trial. If he flew up there, Rayquaza wouldn't appear, so he might as well leave Norman and Wally to do the trial, then he could teleport to them.
Could Ash get up there faster? Yes, but it would still take a lot of time, and that wasn't the only thing he needed to do. He still needed to deal with Archie and Maxie so they didn't destroy Hoenn. He really didn't want Hoenn to be a crater in the middle of the ocean, so yeah, Ash really couldn't afford to do the trial.
But anyway, we'll get there when we get there.
At this moment, Porygon-Z finished downloading everything and deleting the blackmail. He also took the liberty of robbing Jaern's personal account and investments and left that in an offshore account for later.
With one last look at the door where he saw Yanase watching him, he walked out, and Yanase pretended not to see him while putting makeup on her cheek to at least make a fake bruise so no one would ask questions and she could say she was attacked. Pretty smart, not gonna lie.
As he walked out, he saw pretty much everyone waiting outside the door he left them by, since they all wanted to stay put to protect him.
The only ones who really left were Annie and Oakley, who found more rooms and went in to find something interesting, but again, they really didn't find anything, so they walked back around the same time D did too.
Jay immediately looked up, "Yo, finally. We were starting to think you got kidnapped by evil scientists."
"That would imply anyone here could overpower me," D replied dryly.
"Fair point."
Helena quietly looked him over, "…You okay?"
"I'm fine," D nodded.
Domino tilted her head, "Did you get the stuff?"
D held up the USB stick, "Everything is here. We can get out of here now."
"Finally," Jay groaned dramatically while stretching his arms behind his back, "This place gives me creepy final boss vibes."
"That's because this IS the final boss tower," Enid declared confidently while pointing upward, "We're literally storming the evil organization headquarters during the apocalypse."
"When did her fantasy stuff start sounding cool?" Helena muttered.
"Hey, I can admit when I had a problem. At least I worked on it," Enid said confidently, expecting praise. She may be better, but she still thinks she is the main character.
No one gave her that praise, as everyone began walking away, making her deflate, but Orm patted her on the back a bit before they ran up to catch up.
"Well at least the security here sucked," Domino hummed while twirling her staff over her shoulder.
"That was because D beat up most of the guards already," Helena pointed out quietly.
"I thought we did our part too. I mean, Orm here got like five of them down by himself before using his Pokémon," Jay said as he put an arm around Orm's shoulder, "Come on, tell him buddy!"
Orm just nodded and gave a thumbs up, "I'm happy to help."
"And that's why you're the best, Orm." Jay gave another thumbs up back, making Orm smile.
Meanwhile Annie casually slid over next to Oakley with the biggest grin imaginable.
"So," Annie began.
"No."
"You don't even know what I was gonna say."
"Yes I do."
"You and mysterious hacker boy would look REALLY good standing dramatically in the rain together."
Oakley almost tripped while walking, "WHY WOULD YOU EVEN SAY THAT?!"
"I'm just saying," Annie continued proudly, "you two already have the whole mysterious tension thing going on."
"You watch too many TV dramas," Jay said, "You might be worse than Enid."
"Hey, at least I got better a bit," Enid huffed, crossing her arms, "Don't compare me to a drama."
"I mean, if the shoe fits," Domino shrugged with a smirk, making Enid huff and look away.
D decided to pretend that he didn't hear the banter going on. After all, he had to make a plan, and if he didn't do things in the correct way, then everyone in Hoenn loses. But a plan was already forming in his head.
He already put the Jade Orb in his inventory to pass it over to Ash, so the rest would be up to him. But just because D's main job was going to be exposing the Pokémon Association does not mean that's the only thing he's going to do.
—
{Meanwhile in the Submarine}
Tabitha and Amber completely forgot all about their different teams and the fact that they should hate each other and were now desperately trying to make sure they didn't die in this submarine.
And it wasn't going well since the submarine was starting to get crushed, and there was now a hole shooting water inside.
Tabitha and Amber ripped out the seats and were using the cushions to try and stop the water from getting in.
Tabitha struggled as he yelled at Torkoal, "Torkoal, keep making more helium!"
Torkoal nodded and shot out more helium gas from its body to try and make the submarine go up faster.
Then Tabitha looked at Amber, "Come on, push harder! I don't want to die!"
"I am, I am!" Amber said as he kept pushing.
But just as they finally saw the light of the surface, the submarine gave out, and it imploded, getting ripped apart.
Amber was unlucky. The second before it happened, he breathed out, so his lungs were empty as he was blasted into the water.
Amber was shot into the cold water, and he tried swimming up but he had no oxygen in his lungs. With one final flail, his arms lost all their strength and they started going limp.
But at that moment, Tabitha, who did have his lungs full of air, first returned Torkoal to its Poké Ball with one hand, and with the other he managed to catch Amber's wrist, and he frantically started trying to swim up.
Thankfully because he was so 'big' he was more buoyant. He managed to just barely get to the surface, pulling himself and the unconscious Amber onto a floating piece of the submarine.
Truthfully, Tabitha didn't know why he did it. Based on how they were fighting, he should have left Amber there to drown. But his body moved on its own, and as he did, the image of a magenta-haired girl and what she would have done crossed his mind.
As he lay on the piece of the submarine feeling his eyes get heavy and looked at the sky, he thought about the situation that got him here.
Tabitha used to be a former researcher for the Devon Corporation, same with that Shelly girl. He was just a normal scientist, but then both he and Shelly found something. They found out about the incident that Mr. Stone was a part of.
Neither of them could accept what happened, so they left Devon Corporation. After that they originally wanted to do some independent research together, but they drifted apart and just wanted different things. They tried to stay close, but soon that ended too. He didn't know when or why she joined Team Aqua after that.
As for him, he went off wanting to learn more about what happened in the incident, but soon after he was approached by a girl with red eyes. She told him if he wanted to learn more, then he needed to go to the Magma Association.
So he listened to her and found the Magma Association. He joined as a researcher originally, but after that Maxie started explaining that he wanted to make the world a better place, that if there was more land then more Pokémon could live.
And in that new land they could even start planting more food to grow, end world hunger, and gather resources to advance society. Originally his plan was only to benefit Hoenn. At this point he didn't know if Team Aqua, or as they were known by this point, the Aqua Association, also started out wanting to help the world. At this point the two sides hadn't started fighting.
Back then things were simple, and Maxie even brought in two more people: Blaise and Courtney. Blaise usually kept to himself, but he did show that he cared about him and Courtney.
When Courtney came, at first Tabitha thought she was pretty and thought he could make a move on her, but he quickly realized that she had a mental disability and a speech impediment, and he immediately threw that idea out the window.
Maxie explained sadly that he found Courtney alone in Hoenn for some reason. When he asked her, she told him that she forgot where she lived and where she came from, and when he asked if there was anyone he could call, she told him that she was an orphan.
That made Maxie, Blaise, and Tabitha feel bad for her, since despite being in an grown up body her mind was stuck like a child's, and Maxie announced that she would join their squad and that he also adopted her.
Yeah, Courtney was Maxie's adopted daughter, and with her they now had a trio. They worked together to do research into ways they could improve the world, and Courtney, despite having the mind of a child, proved that she was incredibly smart.
Together they grew the Magma Association's plan to help the world. Blaise and Tabitha also took a big-brother role for Courtney, protecting her from anyone who would try to take advantage of her childlike mind.
But then things changed. Suddenly Maxie brought someone else in who wanted to join the Magma Association: Zenith.
Once he joined, things started changing. At the very beginning Blaise didn't trust this guy, and Courtney felt uncomfortable whenever he was around her. That left Tabitha.
He tried to act nice and welcome him, but Zenith never paid him any mind, and yet he always stuck close to Maxie, whispering things and telling him plans that could help him.
Soon after this was when Maxie's drinking problem started. He started drinking himself drunk every night, making new plans, and every time the trio found him, Zenith was there too.
Then what started as something that was supposed to help people became what it is now. Maxie became the person he is now. He even forgot to treat Courtney like a real daughter.
Tabitha wanted to tell him that things had gone too far, that they needed to stop and go back to how they used to be, because he remembered Maxie and Archie used to be friends. He didn't know what changed.
But when he questioned Maxie, his temper would boil over and he would attack them in his drunk state. Then he would give them orders again, and if they disobeyed then it would happen again.
The only reason Tabitha and Blaise stayed was for Courtney's sake, because since she still had the mind of a child she didn't want to abandon the only father she knew, even if he stopped acting like one a long time ago.
Originally, all those times he attacked or did things in the name of the new Team Magma, it was all an act to help protect Courtney, but somewhere in that act he felt like he forgot himself and why he did everything he did. He never wanted to hurt anyone.
And as for why he saved Amber, when he thought about it, in all the times Courtney was forced to do missions, she never truly did anything to hurt people. She's never hurt a single person, and even if she acts like she's going to, her Pokémon also know that she doesn't want to either, and they control there own strength to make sure people don't get hurt
And Tabitha found himself thinking, while they were there, should he really have risked his life for Amber, someone who every time they met he fought with? But when he considered leaving him, Tabitha thought about what Courtney would have done, and the answer was save as many people as she could.
As he was thinking, Blaise finally found them. He used the tracking device in Tabitha's suit when he sent out an SOS and flew in on his Swellow, landing on the metal and kneeling near the two.
"Hm, what a surprise. I came to find an SOS, and I found you here," he muttered. Then he looked over at Amber, "And with one of Team Aqua's admins?"
He reached up and grabbed one of the horns off his hood and lit it, putting it close to Tabitha's head. With his power he could do a lot of things with fire, but one of them was seeing into memories.
As he read Tabitha's memories he understood everything, "I see...so Team Aqua has the Blue Orb…"
Then he looked down at Amber's unconscious body. He was still breathing, and Blaise sighed, "And this guy got betrayed by his boss. I feel bad for him…"
But then he pulled out a Poké Ball and threw it out, letting Armaldo get out and wait for his orders. Meanwhile, Blaise decided to do him a favor and quickly help Amber get the water out of his lungs just so he didn't drown on land.
Once he did, he literally kicked Tabitha off the piece of metal and onto Armaldo's back, "Wake up, Tabitha. We need to go."
He got on his bird and began flying while Armaldo and Tabitha followed. Eventually Tabitha coughed and looked up, seeing Blaise.
"Heh, sorry Blaise…" he coughed.
"Don't be sorry," Blaise said, "It wasn't your fault."
Now that he was awake he looked around and saw the situation. The towns were being flooded, and the sun was shining down on them so harshly that it hurt.
"So..." he muttered sarcastically, "now that we 'completed our goal'...how's paradise looking?" he asked while sitting up.
Blaise didn't answer immediately. That alone made Tabitha's stomach sink.
Eventually Blaise exhaled through his nose, "It's worse than we thought."
Blaise kept speaking while staring forward, "Floods across western Hoenn. Droughts spreading inland. Entire routes destroyed and towns evacuated," he explained.
Tabitha looked away quietly.
Blaise tightened his grip slightly on Swellow's feathers, "This isn't what Maxie promised us."
Tabitha looked down at his uniform as his hand clenched the M symbol, "Maxie stopped being the Maxie we knew a long time ago…" he said, "I should have done something to stop him before he changed."
Tabitha slowly closed his eyes, "…I kept telling myself it would stop eventually," he admitted quietly, "That once we awakened Groudon, Maxie would calm down and things would go back to normal somehow."
Blaise gave a small bitter laugh, "You actually still believed that? You said it yourself. The Maxie we knew is gone."
Tabitha didn't say anything for a moment, but then he realized something. If all this was going on then, "Where's Courtney?"
Blaise's expression darkened instantly, and he looked away.
That alone terrified Tabitha more than anything else so far, "Blaise."
Blaise stayed silent for another few seconds before finally speaking, "We're going to her now."
Tabitha felt his chest tighten, "What happened?"
"Maxie stationed her near the area where Groudon awakened," Blaise answered coldly, "Said he needed someone there to monitor Groudon's movements."
Tabitha immediately sat upright despite the pain, "WHAT?!" he barked, "That area's a death zone!"
"I know."
"She could get killed!"
"I KNOW!" Blaise's voice snapped hard enough to make even Armaldo glance up.
He clenched his fists tightly before continuing more quietly, "I argued with him," Blaise admitted, "I told him sending Courtney there alone was insane."
"But Maxie wouldn't listen anymore," Blaise muttered bitterly, "Not to me, not to you, not to anyone. The Maxie we knew is gone, and he's not coming back."
Tabitha looked down and clenched his hands, "It's all his fault," he said, thinking about Zenith's smug face. He shook with anger, "If I see his face again, I'll rip his throat out!"
"We can do that after we get Courtney," Blaise said, looking back at him, "I've had enough of this. I say we take Courtney and leave Hoenn."
Tabitha looked down and thought about it, but he closed his eyes, "That's not what Courtney would want." That alone made Blaise look down.
Tabitha looked up at him, "Let's put an end to this, once and for all."
Together they began moving fast, as fast as they could, for a race against time.