Chapter Twenty-Five

Shiloh was the last through the portal. After everything she'd just gone through, she was not about to lose her best friend again. One way or another, Briar would be traveling with her, at least until she knew that he was safe.

There was some chance—a significant one, probably—that he would not be critically necessary to whatever plan Lane had for Orre. If that was the case, at least she could go to help the world knowing that none of her friends had been sold off to some trainer to be their Pokémon.

She felt the change the instant she crossed the threshold. The gravity she was fighting to stay in the air just wasn't anymore. Shiloh drifted violently forward, at least until she realized and could stop herself.

She looked around, taking in her new location in a few seconds. Every surface looked technological in nature, from the thick windows to the whirring machines up against the ceiling.

A single window ran along the right side of the room. Through it, Shiloh found something both familiar and shocking. It was the planet, a vast green and blue shape that seemed to glow against the dark.

Briar swore under his breath, legs working underneath him without making forward progress. "I hate this. Put me down, Shiloh! Once was enough!"

"It's not me!" she protested, just as loudly. She did turn him, so he was facing her instead of off into the room at random. "Look at the window! We're in orbit. Somehow. This isn't where we were before, Mewtwo."

His feline outline remained a shadow in the corridor ahead of them, much larger than Briar or Shiloh, but still smaller than Mirage. Strange that something so much smaller than a human being could be so powerful.

But mew were even tinier, and at least one of them was almost as tough.

"That is correct. Lane's first priority was to find a safe hiding-place for her young. We have turned to more urgent matters, and relocated where resources could be found."

A metal door hissed open just behind him, casting a brilliant beam of light down the corridor. A human figure floated there, with bright pink hair and a gray uniform.

Shiloh had never seen that exact body before, but she recognized Lane anyway. No one else could look that exact flavor of judgmental mixed with angry. She gestured with one hand, and Shiloh was suddenly in front of her, inches away. "Where is Aspen?"

Before she could answer, Mewtwo turned away. "I go to prepare for the drop. Do not waste too much strength on this, Lane. I sense no loss here. Your offspring is safe."

He vanished.

Almost the instant he did, another several figures appeared in the space beyond Lane—more humans, in gray uniforms. "These Pokémon are my guests, take them to the habitat," Lane said, gesturing behind her at Briar and Mirage. "This victini and I have a lot to talk about.

Shiloh told her everything. There was no point trying to keep secrets, no matter what she thought Lane would do with the information. If she didn't answer the Mew's questions, she would probably just extract the information from her mind anyway.

Lane led her away from her friends, then out to a wide viewing window overlooking the planet below. The space behind was filled with growing things, rows and rows of hydroponic plants in thin, damp trays. The air was hot and humid, almost exactly like the nursery jungle.

"I didn't want her to stay," she finally finished. "But Aspen made up her mind. I couldn't force her, not without… an actual fight, maybe. Risking her safety, and mine, and the kid's."

Lane kept her hands clasped behind her back, listening. While everyone who moved past in the corridor behind them had to use metal handholds to drag themselves through the air, Lane stood firmly on the ground, as though experiencing normal gravity.

Even her hair fell past her shoulders correctly. She turned, running one hand through it, eyes distant. "Aspen has… always been this way. With the kittens, with you, and now a human child. She's too kind, too compassionate. She never thinks through the consequences."

Lane stared down through the viewing window, as though searching for the mansion from above. Her Pokémon senses weren't that good, were they? She looked like she would go on like that for minutes, maybe hours, if someone didn't interrupt her.

"Since when do you have a space station?"

Lane turned, gesturing vaguely. "Not mine, technically. Welcome to the headquarters of Team Infinity. This station was built by our generous sponsor, and my first… convert, I suppose. CEO of Silph Co., Marcus Takeshi."

Shiloh gaped. "You convinced the CEO of the world's most powerful megacorporation of… what, exactly?"

Lane waved one hand through the air, annoyed. "That I have valuable ancient technology for him to reverse-engineer. That humanity wasn't the end of evolution, we're a detour." She removed the little metal badge from her uniform, a stylized 8 turned into a pink mobius strip. "Welcome to Team Infinity’s headquarters, research station, and observation post."

There was more to learn here—about why a powerful legendary would care enough to form a team, with an ominous-sounding name not much different from the ones that threatened regions across the world. Only hers was above them all, out of reach, and working with some of the richest men on the planet.

"What are you trying to do?"

She giggled, catching Shiloh out of the air in both hands. "You've been part of it already. You've seen one of my nurseries. I'm trying to uplift the planet, Shiloh. It's gonna take time, much longer than my lifetime. And you should know what that means, because we live a long time…"

Shiloh squirmed, but getting away from her was a doomed effort. Lane set a brisk pace down the corridor, through a maze of doors and tunnels. None of the junctions between rooms were on the ground for her to walk through, so she had to jump up and glide like everyone else.

At least Shiloh's Pokémon senses were still working. She felt a smaller place than the Vainglory, perhaps a hundred minds. Of those about half were human, located in a ring. The remainder were concentrated somewhere she couldn't see, in what must be an enormous room.

"There are ways to change everyone at once," she went on. "But that would be a death-sentence to civilization, worse than Plasma's mind virus. Imagine all that power, in the paws of terrified, confused kittens with no idea how to use it?" She shook her head vigorously. "So we have to do it culturally, expanding our numbers in the meantime. It's a process."

"You're just telling me all that," Shiloh said. "Don't you care about keeping secrets?"

Lane stopped, her hand on the controls of a large, metal door. "I think by the time you have the means to tell anyone, you'll agree with me. Or at least you'll trust the Pokémon out there trying to save everyone has their best interests at heart."

For the first time since her transformation, Shiloh felt like she actually understood one of these old legendaries' inscrutable goals. Kinda. Lane hadn't said exactly what she wanted to uplift humanity into, though her use of the word “kittens” gave Shiloh some idea.

"Did you solve everything while I was gone?" she asked instead. "I only saw bits and pieces of the news, but it looked like most of the world was still terrified."

"Still a mess. But we have a solution. It's just—a bit of a nightmare to carry out."

She fingered the controls, and the door slid open.

The space beyond was a multi-level control room, centered on a gigantic, holographic map of the planet far below. Workstations covered the walls, ceiling, and floor without any rhyme or reason, stuck in wherever there was space.

Most of them had someone working them, a human in a gray uniform. Granted, some of the “human” operators had tails and strange ears, along with special uniforms showing a higher rank. Lane had said something about efforts with hybridization…

"This is the victini you made?" thought a voice. She shared more in common with Mewtwo than Lane—her words were so intense they demanded focus, while simultaneously plodding and confident. This was an ancient creature, one who had long since given up ever changing her way of doing things.

She floated over—a mew, bigger than any she'd ever seen. Her tail stretched behind her as long as Lane was tall. "Sweetie, I have to tell you this—I think you overcooked her."

"I know." Lane let go, finally releasing Shiloh to float on her own.

That was no relief, since suddenly there was a pair of huge blue eyes circling her. The mew's power was overwhelming, moving her through the air with no regard for her own desires.

"I've never been able to change a legendary after I made one. You can try to fix her colors now if you want."

"No!" Shiloh said, fighting through with enough will to float backward from the cat. "I mean—please? I don't want to be fixed. Being shiny is fine. I always knew I was one in a million, at least now I know I'm one in eight-thousand."

The huge cat pawed at her head, giggling. "I like her. You were right, Mewtwo. There's so much… competition in there. So aggressive. She's exactly what we need."

"This is my mother, Korina," Lane said, nodding to her. "Mom, this is Shiloh, undefeated Pokémon Champion of… something or other."

"And you already know my daughter, who likes to pretend she's a fleshy pink primate for some reason," Korina said. "I don't think her underlings respect her for it, but she just keeps going."

Shiloh sagged in the air. She didn't actually drop, not when there was no gravity to pull her down. Her tail splayed to either side, and stopped flapping to hold her up. Her curiosity was strong, but her tiredness was stronger.

Had she got her last good night sleep in a waterfall cave? She couldn't even remember anymore. "Can you tell me when I wake up?" she asked, yawning wide.

But if Lane could spend most of her time here looking human, was it so wrong for Shiloh to use some illusion too? She would have to ask the Pokémon when they next spoke.

"Soon," Lane promised. "Everyone's here, I want you to know the part of the plan we have for you."

There was a little flash of light, and Mewtwo was suddenly standing beside her. He was slightly shorter than Lane, yet the difference in power between them was overwhelming. Compared to these ancient gods, the mew Shiloh had targeted was barely even a child.

If I tried to catch a Pokémon like this, they probably would've just killed me.

She was too tired to think straight, but there was no way to go. At least she didn't need to fly to keep herself in the air. "Is Celebi coming too?"

"You wish," Lane said, annoyed. "Focus, Victini. You just need the highlights. It won't take long, and you can get your sleep."

Mewtwo waved its paws, and the room darkened. Sun-shades came down over the windows, and even the terminals dulled to red. All but the single map display in the center of the room.

"Lane has perfected the means to reverse the 'Shadow' effect on a single subject," he said. "I expanded her design until it was transmissible, and enduring. We will spread the treatment exactly as the illness, directly from mind to mind.

"To do this, we require another section of the destroyed Starfall. I am aware of only one of sufficient size. It is held here, the most secure human facility ever constructed."

The map flashed, then became a castle fortress, cut directly into black rock. "Here is the headquarters of Team Plasma, the Castle of the Seven Sages."