After feeding Haunter, Growlithe, and the others in the room, Shiro finally saw Unown A, which had been floating restlessly in the air, drop down and settle on his shoulder.
It stood there anxiously and shouted, 'Quick! Shiro, get outside. I need to sense that psychic power underground again! It feels way too familiar... I definitely know it…'
"Alright..."
Shiro didn't mind. He was already planning to go to the training room to feed Corviknight and Rhyperior anyway, so he had to head out.
Urged on repeatedly by Unown A, he slung on his bag, walked through the corridor, and went straight for the elevator.
As the elevator began to gradually descend, Unown A's body started to glow with a soft pink aura.
Ding!
Just when the elevator doors opened on the ninth floor, Unown A suddenly screamed in Shiro's mind, 'I know who it is! It's Mesprit! It has to be... only Mesprit has this kind of psychic power, the kind that can manipulate the emotions and actions of Pokémon and humans on a large scale…'
"Huh?"
Shiro froze for a moment, then walked out of the elevator and swiped his card to enter a training room.
Mesprit was one of the Lake Guardians. These Pokémon of legend originated from Sinnoh and ruled over the region's three great lakes.
The Lake Guardians governed matters of the mind: Uxie represented knowledge, Mesprit represented emotion, and Azelf represented willpower.
But...
"A, are you saying Mesprit is imprisoned down below? And it's using its power to manipulate those Psychic Pokémon, who then control their former trainers?" Shiro asked.
Unown A's tone grew more urgent as it explained, 'Yes! All of them. Those Pokémon, including Mesprit, are trapped at the very bottom of this building. You humans are the ones who locked them up!'
Shiro came to a sudden realization and replied, "Don't drag me into this. I have nothing to do with it."
So that's how Rose built up such a powerful team of black market merchants. He used a legendary Pokémon to manipulate other Pokémon, and then used those creatures to control people.
In the event that someone with bad intentions attacked—say, the Dragon Tamer family from Hammerlocke—they would only find a half-dead human shell. They wouldn't even discover any of the goods from the Macro Cosmos.
All of this done through psychic power... how convenient.
Rose really was a genius.
Shiro just didn't know how the man had managed to capture Mesprit. Sure, Mesprit wasn't particularly aggressive or powerful in battle, but its whereabouts were extremely well-hidden.
'You're actually praising that devil!' Unown A bounced up and down in anger, poking Shiro's shoulder with its slanted little legs.
But he ignored its flailing and released Rhyperior and Corviknight, then placed some Pokéblocks in front of them.
Even if Rose had captured Arceus, it still had nothing to do with him.
Unown A yelled in frustration, 'You're the Sword and Shield Hero chosen by Zacian and Zamazenta! You have to save Mesprit!'
"Huh..." Shiro was baffled. "The whole Sword and Shield Hero thing was just me giving those two dogs a hand when Eternatus was revived. What's that got to do with Mesprit from Sinnoh? No matter how you look at it, that's way outside my job description."
Besides, who was he now?
A corporate lackey. One of Rose's underlings.
How could he bite the hand that fed him and turn around to blow up their kitchen?
If he really blew this thing wide open, could he even survive in the Pokémon world anymore? Even if he escaped Galar, Rose would definitely send people to hunt him down.
'You!' Unown A writhed in pain, its two slanted legs twitching like noodles. It cried out in sorrow, 'To imprison and forcibly control a living being, how evil is that? And yet you ignore the justice that's right in front of your eyes?'
"Justice... doesn't put food on the table, you know." Shiro sighed.
He gently stroked Corviknight, who was pecking away at the Pokéblocks, and added, "Let's be real. What kind of power do we have? And what kind of power does Macro Cosmos have? A, if you could spin in a circle like Hoopa and summon six Legendary Pokémon to be our bodyguards, I'd follow you without question."
'Hoopa…' Unown A went silent. Its entire black body seemed to lose its energy and it lay quietly on Shiro's shoulder.
It was just a single Unown. Only by gathering more of its kind could it access more powers. If it wanted to summon and control Legendary Pokémon... it would need at least twenty companions.
With just it and Unown G... at most, they could boost psychic power a bit, maybe teleport Shiro to a ship out on the ocean.
If they were trying to escape Galar, fine. But to dive deep underground, sabotage a containment device, and then escape again...
"If someone could capture Mesprit, their methods are beyond anything we can imagine," Shiro said calmly. "The moment we sneak down there, they'll probably detect us and catch us for interrogation. Weren't you two following me in the first place just to avoid being locked up and studied? And now you want to walk right into that fate?"
Hearing this, Unown A looked utterly defeated, lying limp and lifeless. Then, slowly, it used its psychic power to vanish from sight.
Shiro glanced at it, knowing it had finally bowed to reality. He then recalled the now-fed Rhyperior and Corviknight back into their Poké Balls.
He stepped out of the training room and took the elevator back to his room.
It was almost 6 p.m. now. Shiro grabbed a quick bite to eat, then sat on the sofa and opened his laptop.
He'd promised Professor Rowan previously that if he had time around six, he'd try to get in touch.
Shiro skillfully opened the Oak Lab's website, and a bright red dot appeared in the upper right corner. It was a message notification.
Looking closely, he realized they were private messages from various researchers and professors. Because there was a message limit, most people only sent two or three lines, but the total number of senders was huge.
Almost all of the messages started with flattery, followed by questions about the so-called "Pokémon Academic Summit." Some were practically begging, crying out for him to take them there for a visit.
"Pokémon Academic Summit? What the heck is that?"
Shiro was completely lost.
He'd been using this site for a while and had gained a bit of a name in the research community, but he really didn't know anything about conferences or summits.
Could it be that meeting Rowan mentioned last time, the one Professor Oak was hosting?
Puzzled, Shiro scrolled through his inbox and found several familiar names.
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