Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“We don’t have to worry about Cyrus anymore. He’s as good as dead,” Champion Cynthia assured the reporter. “Giratina had already distorted him beyond recognition by the time we got there.” Cynthia then gave a few words thanking the preteen trainer who had been invaluable in stopping him, and some more words spewing heroic gobbledegook.

Mars, sitting cross-legged on the bed in her quarters, rewound the tape and watched it again. She was furious, grasping the remote so hard she thought she might break it. What Cynthia was saying was a lie. She and the other commanders had watched the entire scene through the portal. Giratina hadn’t killed Cyrus- that bratty preteen had caught it, and then they’d abandoned Cyrus to the Distortion World. 

Cynthia had lied because it was convenient. Because if they jailed or killed Cyrus, he’d be a martyr to Team Galactic. And what was worse was that Saturn and Jupiter were going along with it. Because it was convenient for them, too.

Mars’ eyes filled with tears as she watched that awful clip on loop.

The door to Mars’ quarters slid open, and Saturn and Jupiter stepped in. They carried an air of concern about them, like they’d correctly guessed that she’d still be very delicate. They were delicate, too, of course- but they were holding together a lot better than she was.

“Are you ready to talk about our next move?” Saturn asked. “We saved the conversation until now so you could be a part of it.”

“Yeah,” Mars said, getting up and joining them around her table.

“So,” Saturn started, laying his hands, and a large envelope, on the table. “The law is going to be on us and on Galactic Corps like stink on a skuntank from now on. We really have no choice but to go straight, run Galactic Corps as an energy company, and try to make the best of things. We’ll try to keep as many people as possible employed and out of jail, and let the grunts live on the base for as long as they need to. We can’t save all of them, but this is our best shot.” Hearing him plan for the future without even thinking of Cyrus made Mars’ heart hurt.

“That’s not our only option,” Jupiter said, voice serious. “In fact, I don’t like it at all. What’s the chance that the law will look the other way on all we’ve done? We should do what Team Rocket did and go underground for a while, operating out of our secret bases. We could even move our operation to another region if we have to. Not everyone in Team Galactic knows how to work in an energy company, but we all know how to be criminals. This way we can protect our own and keep living the way we’ve been living.”

“...And then we’ll rescue Cyrus, right?” Mars asked. “It wouldn’t be that hard. That stupid kid has Giratina. We’d just have to beat him and-”

“-The same kid who’s kicked all of our faces in at least once?” Jupiter cut in. “The kid Cynthia is all but grooming to be the next champion, who we’ll definitely get put under the jail if we mess with again? The kid who’s now carrying around fucking Giratina? That kid? That's just not happening, Mars.” 

Mars tried to protest, but the words were stuck in her throat.

“I agree. That’s not realistic,” Saturn said before turning to Jupiter. “But your plan isn’t ethical. I don’t want to spend my life doing evil if there’s no point to it. My conscience hasn’t been clean in a long time. I’m not turning anyone in, but I don’t want to be a criminal anymore.”

Jupiter grit her teeth and leaned over the table. “Oh, don’t act like you’re any better than me. I’m sorry, but I’m not risking my freedom to play saint. Cyrus was right about one thing: this world is a rotten mess, and I’m taking what I can from it.”

Saturn’s eyes narrowed. “Well, before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s see if you have any choice in that.” He pulled a sheet of paper out of an envelope- Cyrus’ will. Saturn’s mouth fell open when he read it. “He… he has the two of us as his beneficiaries. We’re supposed to split everything evenly.”

There were a few quiet moments as the information sunk in. None of them would have predicted this. Leaving everything to Saturn would have been understandable- he was Cyrus’ right hand, after all. Splitting everything between the three of them, or four if Cyrus deigned to include Charon, would have been predictable, too. But this…

Finally, Jupiter broke the silence. “Well. I guess in that case, we both have the money to do what we want. We can go our separate ways,” she said. She didn’t sound angry about it. She sounded sad. “Well, Mars? Are you joining me?”

“Mars, you’re better than that,” Saturn insisted. “Come with me. I’ll make sure things are okay.”

Suddenly, all eyes were on Mars. She had been so caught up in their conversation that she hadn’t noticed how she had curled in on herself, hugging her knees. She let go of them and sat up properly, trying to maintain her dignity. “Please just… leave. L-let me think about it, okay?” Tears fell down her face.

“Sure. You let us know when you’ve made up your mind,” Saturn said gently. Despite the obvious tension between Saturn and Jupiter, they both gave Mars a hug before they left.

The first thing Mars did once the door shut behind the other two commanders was to look at the will Saturn had left behind, hoping that, as unlike him as it would have been, Saturn had lied about it. Unfortunately, he hadn’t. Cyrus hadn’t updated the document in five years, when Mars was fourteen and much too inexperienced to run an organization. He’d even made an informal request that Saturn and Jupiter take care of her until she turned eighteen. It was disappointing, but at least she understood it now.

That left Mars with the next thing: the awful, awful question of which of her friends to join, and which to say goodbye to forever. She decided to take a shower to try and get her thoughts going.  Once she was in the shower stall and the warm water was flowing over her, she allowed herself to take a look at her options.

Jupiter was out of the question. She didn’t want to spend her whole life doing evil for money. That’s what she joined Team Galactic to get away from.

She could go with Saturn. She could be a secretary or something at Galactic Corps, and let everything be fine. There’d be no more adventures, no more grand goals, and no more girls' nights with Jupiter, but if Saturn worked things out, things would be fine. But it also meant giving up on rescuing Cyrus. Mars saw herself in two months' time, watching a movie with Saturn as he tried to make small talk, tried to act like nothing had changed between them when they’d given up on Cyrus’ life, Jupiter’s friendship and their vision of a better world.

No. No, she couldn’t. She couldn’t pretend things were fine. The mere thought of that almost made her want to run to Jupiter, who would at least admit the world was on fire and act like it. Maybe she could convince Jupiter to find a way to defeat the child and rescue Cyrus. She could even potentially take over the team and order them to. It was possible. Remotely possible. But knowing how strong-willed and organized Jupiter was, and how well she knew her tricks, the chances of that seemed very, very small. And even if she managed it, Saturn would probably never join them again. It would never be the four of them again.

Unless…

Mars opened her eyes as she realized she did have another option- a way of gaining the power to do whatever she wanted, including rescuing Cyrus and bringing her friends back together. It involved returning to her past, but… she had to. She would. She had to return to Team Rocket, and to her father, Giovanni.

Mars got out of the shower and dried off, but left her uniform on the floor in favour of slipping on some civilian clothes- an unremarkable orange hoodie and black leggings. It wouldn’t do to be caught in uniform right now. Unfortunately, she didn’t have much more to pack when it came to civilian clothes, aside from a few impractical outfits she’d bought on a whim. What she did have, though, was money, Pokémon, and essentials. This wasn’t like the disastrous, indirect journey to Sinnoh that Mars had taken when she had run away from home. This time, she knew what she was doing. After she was certain she was finished packing, Mars stood up and looked at her old quarters- at the chrome and grey she’d become so used to seeing these past six years. Maybe she could pack something with the Team Galactic logo and colours, just for nostalgia’s sake.

Mars shook her head. Giving anyone a reason to affiliate her with Team Galactic was a bad idea. With a heavy heart, she turned to the door and left.

It was a short hike to Sunyshore- only an hour or so. Mars kept her hood up and her hair tucked in, and thankfully no one took notice of her. From there, it was trivial to buy a ticket to Kanto, and once the boat left the dock, Mars finally let herself breathe. The police in other regions couldn’t touch her, so she was pretty much home-free.

Nostalgia washed over Mars as the ship docked in Vermillion City. She remembered running off here with Silver on their days off school to run around in the woods and play at the docks. The path through the woods they’d used was still there, and, though not without some serious bushwhacking, it still led pretty much straight to Giovanni’s mansion- a beautiful villa midway between Vermilion and Viridian. At its gate were two large, intimidating men in suits, presumably Giovanni’s hired muscle. One was willing to escort her to the door once she gave the entry code, but not without looming behind her in case she tried anything funny.

Mars knocked on the door, and it was opened by a woman Mars recognized as Maria, their housecleaner of many years. Her hair, tied back in a bun, was greyer than Mars remembered, but otherwise she looked unchanged. “Hello,” The woman said flatly. “What can I do for you?”

“I want an audience with Giovanni,” Mars told the housecleaner. “The passcode is one-five-zero.”

The woman looked at Mars quizzically. She didn’t recognize Mars- that much was clear. It was a good thing that Giovanni hadn’t changed his passcode since she’d left. Giovanni was really proud of creating a whole new number in the pokédex, but he was also pragmatic enough that he would have changed it if it had been leaked.

“He didn’t say he was having a visitor today,” Maria finally said, “but that is his passcode. I’ll let you in. Let David hold onto your pokéballs and stay within his sight, alright? Giovanni will be home within an hour.”

Mars nodded. “Understood,” she said.

The next hour passed in awkward silence as Mars waited on one of the red leather couches in the sitting room. The lack of interest the bodyguard- David, apparently- had in conversation didn’t help. Finally, Mars heard the door open, and Maria explaining the situation to a man who sounded to be Giovanni.

“Hello. What can I do for you, Miss…”

Mars turned her head to face Giovanni. His mouth hung open as it dawned on him that he was looking at his daughter. “Copper…?”

Mars put on her best winning smile. “Dad!” she called out, tackling him with a hug. Giovanni was either too stunned to hug back or didn’t want to.

Once Mars let go and sat back down, Giovanni sat down heavily on the seat across from her, hands folded. He looked like he wasn’t sure whether to celebrate yet or not.

“Where’ve you been?” Giovanni asked calmly. His face was expressionless, his voice hard and flat.

Mars looked away in mock-shame. “I… I fell into some bad ideas, Dad. I joined Team Galactic.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. You were always tender-hearted, and that’s easy to take advantage of.”

Mars nodded. “I know. They did take advantage of me. I see now that you were right about everything. It’s a tough world, and we need to be strong to protect our own. I want to be your successor, just like you used to say I could be.”

Giovanni’s eyes narrowed. “You must understand how suspicious this is,” he mused. “If you’d come here while Team Galactic’s operations were in full swing, it would be one thing, but instead, you came the second they collapsed. It makes me wonder if you would still be with them if they hadn’t fallen apart.”

Mars shook her head. “I wouldn’t.”

“Hmm…” There was a long silence as Giovanni pondered the situation. “I’m going to do some research on Team Galactic. Give me a moment.” With that, Giovanni stood up and left the room.

Mars sat in silence, the only sound in the lavish room being the distant noise of the housekeeper vacuuming. This was… well, about as good as she could expect, she supposed. It made sense that Giovanni would be suspicious, but he hadn’t thrown her out yet, so there was still a chance.

As the minutes ticked on, Giovanni’s Persian entered the room and jumped up onto the couch, putting its fuzzy head in Mars’ lap and purring. At least someone’s happy to see me, she thought, petting the beast.

“Ahem,” came Giovanni’s voice, jolting Mars back to attention. “I’ve decided to give you a test to see where your loyalties lie,” Giovanni explained brusquely. “Come with me.”

Giovanni led Mars out to a nondescript truck with dark-tinted windows. They got in, and Giovanni started the engine and pulled out onto the street.

“One of our black market salespeople was caught dipping his hands in our cash registers,” Giovanni explained. “I have a few goons set up to shake him down, but now I’d like to see you do it. I’m sure you know how it works: either he coughs up what he owes us, or he leaves with a mild injury and two months to pay his debt before we make his life a living hell. He owes us a hundred grand. Understood?”

“Got it. Easy!” Mars replied. She’d done shakedowns like this a bunch of times for Team Galactic. If this was all she had to do to prove herself, she had it in the bag.

Before long, the truck pulled up to their location: the twelfth floor of an abandoned parking garage. Two Rocket grunts stood near a man who was tied to a chair, his hands bound behind his back and his head covered by a burlap sack.

Before Mars could get out, Giovanni grabbed her shoulder. “Here. He won’t have any Pokémon on him, so use this.” Mars turned to see that he was handing her a revolver. Shivers traveled up Mars’ spine. 

Mars had never liked guns, at least not since she was ten and had witnessed a Rocket grunt take out a girl her age, defenseless and without Pokémon. The mere sight of them had made her feel the way she felt then- shaken. In Team Galactic, she’d trained her Pokémon harder than anyone so that no one would question her choice to use them almost exclusively.

Mars took the gun, trying to keep her hands steady, and exited the vehicle.

“Took ya long enough,” the female grunt said as Mars made her way to her victim. “We were worried about him falling asleep.”

Mars ignored the grunt and removed the sack from the man’s face. His eyes were puffy, his lips and nose covered in sores, and his face skeletal. Mars circled the chair, noting the track marks on the man’s scrawny arms. No mystery here on what he’d spent the stolen money on.

“So, you thought you could rip off Team Rocket, did you?” Mars sneered. For a moment the only sound was the clack of her boots against the floor and the rapt breaths of the goons watching her.

“I… I was desperate. I’m sorry!” the man cried.

Mars took the man by the collar and pulled him towards her, leaving the chair balanced on two legs- a practiced, familiar motion. “Do we look like a charity to you? You’re going to cough up what you owe, or you’re going to regret it.”

“I told you guys, I don’t have it to give. Just… just give me time, okay?”

“We’ll give you time, alright. Two months to pay us back. We’ll even help you. Maybe your hands will be a little better at finding our cash if we make them a little worse at dipping into our registers and injecting needles.”

Mars dug in her pocket, but when she found her gun instead of a pokéball, her breath became heavy. She resisted the urge to fall into the place that guns took her back to, to run, to never want to do harm again. Quickly- quickly enough that she wouldn’t have time to think about it, she whipped out the weapon, put it against the back of the man’s hand, and fired. Recoil jolted through her arm, and the man wailed in pain. 

“We’ll take it from here,” the male grunt stated. The two grunts loaded the chair into a truck and drove off as Mars stood, motionless. She felt wet spots on her cheeks- tears, probably. Behind her, she heard a car door open and close, and Giovanni’s heavy footsteps closing in on her.

Mars’ heart thudded as Giovanni closed in. She dropped the gun and her hand fell to her belt. It was empty. The bodyguard still had her Pokémon. Had she passed? And if she didn’t, what did Giovanni intend to do to her?

Giovanni’s hand landed on her shoulder. He turned her to face him, smiling like a man who’d finally gotten his daughter back, and then wrapped her up in a tight, rough hug.

“Congratulations, Copper. You passed,” Giovanni said, still holding onto her.

“I…I did?”

“Yes. One of Team Galactic’s dogmas is that any harm they do is fine because the world will be reset. I know you have some weird issue with guns, so if you’d done that without a hint of trouble, I’d have known you still believed their nonsense. Don’t worry, though- I’m sure that Proton can help you toughen up enough to be my heir.”

Giovanni led Mars back to the truck. Suddenly, he was full of questions- about the parts of her life he’d missed out on, about her well-being, about the friends she’d made. After they got back, he had a pasta dinner prepared, and they ate it together. It was as though now that she’d passed the test, Giovanni was allowing himself to be her father again.

After dinner, Mars was led back to her room- still filled with all her stuffed animals, her vanity, and all sorts of other childish things that had spent years gathering dust. Whether Giovanni kept them out of nostalgia or just a lack of reason to clean out the room was anyone’s guess. As she settled into the obnoxiously pink bed, Giovanni’s words stuck with her- his words about how Team Galactic conditioned people to justify evil to themselves. But the truth was, she hadn’t been thinking about the new world or the lack of it at all. She wouldn’t have thought twice about threatening some black market lout with her Pokémon because that kind of thing was routine to her. Heck, she’d detonated bombs. How much evil was she now capable of doing on autopilot? And more importantly, how much was she willing to do to reunite Team Galactic?

On the other hand, she may not have a choice now. If she disappeared again, Giovanni might send people after her- after all, for all he would know in that situation, a rival team or an enemy had kidnapped his loyal heir- or she had been fooling him for nefarious purposes. It wasn’t lost on Mars that she might be dead by now if she’d gotten over her fear of guns over the years, simply because Giovanni wasn’t willing to risk letting in an infiltrator. If she went back to Team Galactic now- or whatever Saturn and Jupiter decided to call its offshoots- she might be leading destruction right to their door and to herself. It was quite possible that these morally murky waters would be very hard to escape from, if she dared to try.

For now, Mars would stick to her plan: get Cyrus back. Let him guide her way. Then, she would know the right thing to do, just as she had for years.

Chapter Text

Giovanni had ordered Mars to the dining room table at 6:30 the next morning, and she arrived already dressed in the Team Rocket uniform he, or more likely his staff, had left hanging on the outside door handle of her room.

“Heh, reporting for duty, are you? You didn’t have to come already dressed. It’s breakfast at your own house, after all,” Giovanni said as he sipped his coffee and she sat down at the table with him.

“Says the guy already in his suit,” Mars quipped.

“Ahem, yes. That’s why I called you here. Copper, I’m serious about training you up as my heir, but I have things to do and people to see. I have some business to look after in Alola, so the executives will be training you for now. Here, I made an itinerary.”

Mars looked down at the neatly-written and detailed list. As far as she was concerned, working with the executives was a mixed bag. She wasn’t looking forward to seeing her mom or the new executive that was supposed to help make her crueler, but seeing her honorary uncles again would be fun.

Giovanni checked his watch, gulped down another sip of coffee and stuffed a last bite of pancakes in his mouth, and then got up to leave. “Best of luck, Copper. Don’t disappoint me,” he said before disappearing through the door. 

The first location Mars was ordered to was a room in the Team Rocket base- no hints there about who she’d be meeting. Mars found the door through which she was meant to meet her first instructor and, nervously, opened it.

Mars’ heart sank. The man standing before her was nearly as young as she was, with sharp, teal hair- it was definitely the new one. It looked like her lessons on cruelty had already started. Then, her eyes darted around the room, and she saw… wigs. A vanity. Boxes of masks. Racks of clothes. Her eyes went back to the man, with his awful posture and goofy grin. How had she not seen it before?

“Uncle Petrel?” Mars laughed. “Looks like your acting skills still suck!”

“Darn it, you got me… But anyway…” Petrel threw off the disguise and gave Mars an enthusiastic hug. “Copper! Where’ve you been all these years?”

Mars chuckled, trying to keep the mood light. “Here, there, everywhere. A girl’s gotta sow her wild oats before she settles in one place.”

“Fair enough. And funny that you mention sewing, because I’m here to teach you the art of the disguise. Prepare yourself, 'cus what I taught you on hair, makeup and clothes when you were young was just the beginning.”

Mars nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ve been polishing those skills.”

Petrel started for the vanity and beckoned Mars to join him. “Remember when you were little and I would do your makeup to make you look like a princess or a macho action hero? Well, let’s start with that. By the time we’re done, you’ll be able to put on the face of any man, woman, or child without even looking in a mirror.”

It went on like that for a week. Petrel taught Mars to transform her face, maintain wigs, and transport disguises without damaging them. He taught her how to slip into the shadows, disguise herself quickly and silently, and slip back out as a whole new person. He taught her some other things, too- how to manage the Team Rocket security and communication systems, their emergency protocols, mild tricks like pickpocketing, and so on, but the disguises were clearly his passion. 

At the end of the week, it was time for a test. Petrel told her to pack a researcher’s disguise and then led her out of the main hideout and to a wooded area just barely in eyesight of a rundown-looking research facility.

“Alright, Copper. Here’s what you’re gonna do,” Petrel explained. “You’re going to slip into the Team Rocket research facility meeting as someone else, release the recording drones, and come back out without getting caught. Think you can do that?”

“You know I do,” Mars said.

“Good. The meeting you’re going to is in room 103. Don’t worry too much about getting caught. You have the security clearance to be there, so the worst you’ll get is some odd looks. And, you know, a failing grade from me. Keep your ID at the ready to prove your clearance, though.”

Mars nodded, and then she was off. She slid deeper into the bushes so not to be seen and did her disguise makeup, sharpening her face, thinning her lips, making herself look like a different woman. She put on the lab coat and the long purple wig and glasses, and then wandered into the research center, careful not to dirty the disguise even as she travelled through the bush- the researcher wouldn’t have been bushwhacking, after all. The guards said hello to her when she got to the entrance, and since her ID activated the automatic doors, that was all they said.

It was trivial to find the correct meeting room. What was less trivial was that the woman Mars was supposed to be impersonating was sitting in it. Mars backed away around the corner. There was a water fountain nearby, so she drank from it for a few seconds to think without looking suspicious. How to get the drones in place without arousing suspicion? All of her Pokémon were too big to deliver them without being noticed.

Mars stopped drinking and looked back down the decrepit hallway, noticing that the door across from it was open and the room it led to seemed empty. Quick as she could without looking suspicious, she disappeared into the room. The drones were small- a bit smaller than dimes- was that small enough to go unnoticed by the three or four people in the adjacent meeting room? She hoped so. She opened the cloth bag Petrel had given her and sent the drones scurrying to the next room.

Mars sighed in relief. Whether she passed or not, she’d done all she could. It was then that she noticed the image on the presenter’s screen. On it were the purple skies that Mars recognized all too well as the Distortion World. Her eyes went wide, and for a moment she forgot about everything else: she needed information on this. There was no way of knowing from one image what Team Rocket knew about the Distortion World, but it could end up being the key to rescuing Cyrus. Mars shook the cloth bag, and out tumbled two remaining drones. Mars hid them in the room before leaving.

That night, after Mars received a passing grade from Petrel and returned home to Giovanni’s mansion, she took out the device the drone recordings had been sent to. Petrel had told her to delete today's recordings for space, but there was no way she was doing that without listening to them first. Petrel had said that she had the security clearance to be at the meeting, so it didn't seem like something she'd have to be sneaky about. Still, she hid in her room for it, giving Giovanni's staff a wide berth. Sitting on her bed with a notepad to take notes, she started with the recordings from the Distortion World meeting.

So. It’s come to Team Rocket’s attention that Giratina is no longer reigning over the Distortion World. That's great news. As we all know, the Distortion World is an ideal place to store stolen Pokémon. They don’t need to be fed there because time doesn’t flow, our enemies can’t steal them, it doesn’t need to be guarded, and the storage space is unlimited. Giratina has destroyed all our previous attempts to reach it, but now that it’s distracted, we have a chance.

So Cyrus is fine, Mars thought as the presenter continued on about Team Rocket’s plans. Good. No matter what, her goal would have been to bring Saturn and Jupiter back together and give Cyrus’ rescue the best effort she could. Even if the chances were nil, it still would have felt like the right thing to do. But now, Mars knew that he would still be there to save.

But how do they even know about the Distortion World? Mars kept listening, but the presenter never mentioned it. It must be somewhere in the Team Rocket database.

Mars got up and went to Giovanni’s office. His computer was password-protected, but he was easy to predict. She typed in the name of his Persian- Viziati- and when that failed, Viziati150. It went through. Mars searched through informational files and found the one she was looking for- one labelled “Distortion World Research”- with relative ease. It asked for her Team Rocket ID before she could open it, but she had one of those. Once she’d typed in her number, however, a window featuring the words “error: insufficient clearance level,” popped up instead of the file.

Unfortunately, this didn’t surprise Mars. It had occurred to her that there was suspiciously little fanfare made about her return. She’d always figured that if she ever came back and swore loyalty to Team Rocket, everyone would know about it right away. Really, this just confirmed her suspicions that Giovanni didn’t trust her yet, not fully. That could cause her real problems once it was time to invade Sinnoh.

Mars took a deep breath, spun the chair away from the computer, and started up the second tape.

The subject of today’s meeting is to discuss the types of Pokémon tissue to use in the second mewtwo project. Giovanni will most likely be willing to put a lot of money into this. After all, it’ll be his second crack at taking over the world.

Mars listened further, trying to figure out a time frame. It was hard to tell, but it sounded like they were talking in terms of months, not years. The threat wasn’t immediate, but there wasn’t a lot of time to gather enough power to stop Giovanni. 

-

The black market beneath the Celadon Game Center was two stories underground, and for good reason: it was loud. Stolen Pokémon whined, squealed, and threw themselves against their cages as Ariana leaned against her desk, a phone to her ear.

“Sick? Ugh, it’s driving a truck, not running a marathon. Can’t you- Fine. Take the day off. But you’re not getting a promotion any time soon.”

Ariana slammed down the phone and turned her attention to Mars, who had been busy pouring kibble for the stolen creatures. “Looks like we’re doing the deliveries ourselves today, Copper. Finish up and let’s go.”

With that, Mars and Ariana, along with two unremarkable grunts, took to loading cages into a waiting truck outside. The first Pokémon Mars took, an eevee, was easy enough to carry up the stairs, but the next one, an aerodactyl, kept banging on the sides of its cage, trying to escape. Mars widened her stance to try to keep her balance while the cage jostled violently. She missed a step, fell backwards, and was caught by her mother’s arbok, who had been slithering beside her and carrying a small cage in her teeth.

Ariana clicked her tongue. “Vileplume, help her out,” she ordered. Ariana’s vileplume came to Mars’ aid, putting the feisty cargo to sleep with sleep powder so it would be safer to carry.

After a few trips up and down the stairs, the two women got into the front seats of the truck. Ariana stuck a USB into the truck’s center console, tapped in the password, and up came the digital map showing all the depots and other points of interest where Team Rocket delivered. Mars had to admit, they were impressive. Team Rocket shipped rare Pokémon, steroids, illegal goods and weaponry and more to over a dozen depots in Kanto, plus more in Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and even one large black market in Galar and a smaller one in Alola.

With the navigation system set to go, Ariana checked her appearance in the rearview mirror, grimacing at what the physical labour had done to it. She fixed her hair and set off on the road.

“Sorry to make you do something so… beneath you, Copper. Eugh. But I suppose it’s good for you to know about all the boots-on-the-ground work we do.”

Mars ignored the comment. It didn’t really bother her whether this work was “beneath her,” but it didn’t seem relevant to helping her with Team Galactic. Pokémon trafficking was almost two thirds of Team Rocket’s operations, but it was only a tiny part of Team Galactic’s. They sold off whatever Pokémon they stole or that the grunts surrendered upon joining, but they didn’t have a full network of facilities and outposts for it. They made most of their money as an energy company, sold illegal and experimental tech and stolen cargo, and offered illegal digital services like clearing criminal records. That gave them more than enough cash to fund Cyrus’ goals, and his goals were where they wanted most of their manpower anyhow. They were terrorists, not traffickers.

At least… that’s how it used to be. Mars wondered what Jupiter was up to. Depending on which of Cyrus’ assets she took, she might have had to dip her fingers into other kinds of crime. Or she might have chosen to because there were no grand goals to pursue anymore.

It did no good to think about that. Thankfully, though, Mars remembered something else that could distract her: the best way to get under Ariana’s skin.

“You know, Ariana, I wish Archer were a girl. Then I would have a mom.”

“You mean an honorary aunt?” Ariana replied, sounding vaguely annoyed.

“You really think Dad would have chosen you if Archer could give birth?”

Ariana grit her teeth, which really just meant she knew Mars had a point. “Copper,” she growled in her low, threatening mom-voice, “stop talking or I’ll boot you out of this moving truck and tell the boss that you ran off with some Galactic Grunts we met at a depot. You’re going to respect me today, and you’re going to call me ‘Mom,’ or I’m not responding. Understood?”

“You got it,” Mars chirped. She went back to studying the network map. As she looked, she realized that there was one useful thing she could look for: the locations that Team Galactic had delivered to or bought from but Team Rocket didn’t have their fingers in. Those were few and far between, so Mars also took note of the ones that were two or three layers of deliveries deep, their purchases harder for Team Rocket to track.

There was very little to interrupt Mars as she repeated the information in her head. The day consisted mostly of silently looking out the truck window and occasionally carrying crates and cages for Ariana as she made deliveries to various black market locations and wealthy customers. Then, as Mars was carrying a crate of cargo to the shelves of some seedy abandoned warehouse in Johto, she saw her: a tall, purple-haired woman ordering three workers in space-age uniforms to unload cargo of their own. Mars broke away slightly from the group to get a closer look, and there was no mistaking it: it was Jupiter.

Mars froze- not for long, but long enough for Jupiter to notice her.

“Mars?!” Jupiter shouted. She left the grunts to their work and stormed over.

“What are you doing working for them? ” she growled, pointing at the “R” on Mars’ shirt. “I thought you’d run off with Saturn, but this is even more pathetic. You’d really rather traffic Pokémon for your Daddy than stick with us?”

Mars trembled, still gripping the crate, but thankfully her voice came out sharp. “You got it all wrong. I’m trying to bring us all back together. That’s more than you’re doing.”

“Likely story. But it doesn’t matter. If Team Rocket finds out we’re selling on their turf, it’ll be big trouble, so I gotta pound you down regardless,” Jupiter replied. “Guys!” she yelled, and the three grunts came running. Jupiter took out her bronzong, and the grunts took out Pokémon of their own.

Mars pulled out her three Pokémon- purugly, golbat, and bronzor- but she was outnumbered. 

“Heavy slam!” Jupiter ordered, and the metal behemoth swung around, hitting her three much-lighter Pokémon for big damage. There was no way Mars could win this on her own.

“Mom!” Mars called out, fully aware of how pathetic she sounded.

Ariana came running and pulled out her vileplume, which put every opposing Pokémon and human to sleep with its spore.

“Let’s go, Copper. They won’t be out for long,” Ariana urged her. They hurried back to the truck and hit the highway.

“Who was that?” Ariana asked. “They don’t look like any evil team I’ve ever seen.”

They didn’t. Jupiter had changed their uniforms. They were sleeker now, blacker, and had some technological upgrades. Mars thought for a moment to pretend she didn’t know, either. But if she did that, and Jupiter hadn’t changed the team’s name, then she’d be found out quickly as being more loyal to her old team than this one.

“They’re Team Galactic,” Mars explained. “Or whatever they’re calling themselves now. I recognized some of the members.”

“I see,” Ariana said. “I’ll let Giovanni know about this. We’ll make sure they don’t set foot here again. As for you, he’ll want you brushing up on your battling once I tell him you needed saving from one bronzong and some grunt Pokémon. But, you did throw your old team under the bus for us. I’ll tell him that, too. He might have something for you in his labs to make sure you won’t lose again.”

That night, Mars wrote down the coordinates of the various black market areas in three separate notebooks, with a special focus on those serviced by Team Galactic but not Team Rocket. She hid the first within the cover of her mattress, taped the second to the bottom of her chair, and put the third behind her shelf. If Giovanni took a crack at taking over the world, or if he wanted to come with her for her pillage of Sinnoh, then she’d have to break away and arm herself in secret, and keep doing so if Giovanni declared her an enemy. At least now she knew how. And at least she’d never said Jupiter’s name today. Some grunts might get hurt once Team Rocket exacted vengeance, but Jupiter would be okay.

Before she went to bed, Mars returned to Giovanni’s computer in hopes that her selling out of Team Galactic had already reached Giovanni’s ears and earned her a higher clearance level. Bingo- this time, she was allowed to see the document on the Distortion World, and it yielded the answer she craved: the research they’d undertaken into the strange realm had been done using a beast called “Mew2.1.” Was that what Ariana had been talking about when she said that Giovanni would have something battle-related in the labs? The meeting Mars had heard recordings of made it seem like it was early in development, but apparently it was already being used for research. The files on its research were still above her clearance level, so there was no knowing for tonight. But since she’d received orders to train in battle tomorrow, she had hope that answers would come soon.

Soon... soon she would have access to a creature that could go to the Distortion World. Maybe her reunion with Cyrus would come sooner than she'd previously hoped. It was a thought that helped lull her to sleep that night.

Chapter Text

“Alright. I think I’ve got a good sense for your battling style,” Proton declared, his face set in a smug grin as Mars’ purugly had brought down yet another grunt’s raticate. It took everything Mars had not to go over and punch him. Proton had really been putting her through it, which would have been acceptable if he weren’t doing the same to her Pokémon. It could be worse, though. So far, he was only training her to battle better. The way Giovanni had talked about making her crueler, she’d worried that they’d be doing something far worse, like mutilating slowpokes for their tails.

“Heal your team up. Your next opponent is me, doubles, two-on-two.”

Mars gave a resolute nod, and Proton took out his golbat and weezing. Once it was healed, Mars’ purugly ambled back onto the court, and she threw out her bronzor to fight alongside it.

“Hm. Alright. Golbat, crunch. Weezing, sludge bomb!”

“Bronzor, light screen!” Mars countered. 

“Don’t be so kind,” Proton said mockingly as his golbat’s fangs tore into Mars’ purugly. It scratched and struggled but couldn’t break free. The sludge bomb had hit its back by the time Bronzor had put up the screen that might have reduced its power, and by then, Purugly had already taken a lot of damage.

“Bronzor, use reflect!” Mars commanded. “And Purugly, iron claw!”

Purugly finally managed to break free of the bat’s grip and tore back at it with savage claws, but once two more attacks landed on it, it was out. Four was a lot, even with the screens up. From there, it was a battle of attrition that Mars had no hope of winning. Her bronzor absorbed several blows thanks to the light screen and reflect, but it just didn’t have much offense to offer in return. It fainted before either of Proton’s Pokémon went down.

“What was that?” Proton asked as he crossed the arena, arms crossed. Mars had come to loathe Proton’s voice.

“I… I don’t know,” Mars admitted.

“That was fighting like a follower. That’s what that was- Fighting to slow someone down so the boss can get his thing done. If you want to be the boss, you need to fight like one. You need to show some aggression. You’ve already got one good Pokémon in your Purugly. Why haven’t you evolved your bronzor yet?”

Mars stayed silent. There was a reason for it, but not one Proton would be happy about- she and Jupiter had liked the aesthetic of wielding shields together, of keeping distractions at bay while Cyrus worked at his grand plans. In other words, Proton was exactly right. And Jupiter had evolved her bronzor. She’d moved on faster than her.

“Well, you’re evolving it now. I’ll help you put together a real team. We’ll battle them tomorrow, but first I’m training you in hand-to-hand combat. Maybe getting beat up a little will bring some fire out of you.”

The next few days passed in a blur of sore muscles and sweat. Mars had expected some training or at least testing in hand-to-hand combat- Team Galactic had also drilled into her the importance of never being helpless, even when disarmed- but once Proton was satisfied with her Pokémon team and her knowledge on the basic use and maintenance of weapons, it was almost all he focused on. When Mars asked him why, he answered with, “You’ll see why at the beginning of next week. Giovanni has a surprise for you.”

Just in case the surprise- hopefully the dimension-crossing Mew2.1 she'd read about in the files- would come in handy, Mars practised the art of manipulation over the dinner table, telling Giovanni how much she loved being back, showing enthusiasm for her training and his criminal exploits. Whether or not that helped her chances, she didn’t know, but that Monday, Mars was driven to one of Team Rocket’s labs, sharing the backseat with Giovanni himself.

“Well, Copper, I had my doubts,” Giovanni admitted as he leaned back in the leather seat, “but the executives have had nothing but good things to say about you. By the sounds of things, you’re fitting right in with the best of them.”

“Heh. Well, I wasn’t made a Commander for my good looks and style,” Mars replied, most of her attention on the winding gravel roads they were taking. She wanted to memorize every bit of this in case she wanted to go back on her own.

Giovanni took Mars’ chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. “Hey. Pay attention,” he said, just slightly stern. “I know the view’s nice, but I’ve been waiting for this. It’s time that I showed you a little project that I’m working on.”

The car pulled into what looked like an empty field, and the driver got out with the two and peeled up a turf square to reveal a metal door. Giovanni unlocked it, and the two made their way down the stairs and through a set of brightly lit halls. Their final destination was another heavy-looking steel door that Giovanni used two different keys to unlock.

The room was dark, and filled with steel cords and the small, blinking lights of machines that Mars couldn’t identify. At the center of it all was a containment tube, much like the ones Team Galactic had used for the Lake Guardians. And Giovanni was walking them straight towards it.

“Tell me, what do you see here?” Giovanni asked.

Mars squinted at the oversized beaker. The jelly-like liquid within it was fairly opaque, but even in the dim light, she could make something out. Floating in the fluid lay a creature, its eyes closed as though peacefully asleep and its arms, legs and head curled in, making it look like a fetus the size of a very large man. It looked identical to Mewtwo aside from being a foot or two taller and having what looked like a strange tank on its back, made of metal and black glass.

Mars resisted the urge to ask if the creature was in pain. The failures of the first Mewtwo project had been all over the news, and mistreating the second one sounded like a recipe for another living weapon-gone-rogue. “You remade Mewtwo?” she asked.

“Better,” Giovanni explained. “It’s still delicate since it’s not quite complete yet. But that creature- Mew2.1- has all of Mewtwo’s powers, but no consciousness. We won’t have to bother bending it to our will before using it- we’ll just upload our consciousness into it and go. It’s our perfect weapon with which to take over the world. You’ll use it. Maybe Archer, if you’re unavailable, and if neither of you is available, Ariana. But no one else.”

Mars stared into the tank, trying to figure out how she felt about all that. At least the creature wasn’t hurting, she supposed.

“Like Mewtwo, Mew2.1 has a variety of psychic powers. But those powers take time to learn.” Giovanni pressed a button on the containment tube, causing its fluids to drain out and its cords to come undone, leaving Mew2.1 lying on the ground in a heap. “It’s time to make you the second person to learn them.”

The glass tubing lifted, and Mars approached the creature. It felt odd to be so reverent of what looked like a fragile mass of wet flesh. She didn’t remember Mewtwo looking this fragile when she’d seen it on TV- now that the fluid and cords weren’t holding it upright, it looked halfway between Mewtwo and a ditto.

“Go on, open it up and get in,” Giovanni ordered. A wide smile spread across his face. “This is going to be fun.”

Mars touched the human-sized tube on Mew2.1’s back. “Open… this up?” she asked. Giovanni nodded in response.

Mars pried open the tank. Inside, there was a chair and many mechanical parts Mars couldn’t name. Nervously, she sat in the chair and closed the tube. As soon as the tube clanked shut and blocked out the light, Mars found herself seeing through new eyes- the eyes of the puddle of flesh on the floor. She stood on its fragile legs, now much taller than her father, who was looking up at her with glee.

“How’s it feel?” Giovanni asked. “Do you feel its power?”

No, Mars thought. She felt so weak it was a miracle she was standing. In fact, it would be easier to…

Mew2.1’s feet kicked off the ground. She was floating. Not vey high, but she was floating- and she’d done it with just a thought.

Can you hear me? Mars thought, trying to communicate psychically.

Giovanni groaned and clamped his hands to his ears. “Okay, we’re not doing that today,” he said, grimacing at whatever awful sound had forced itself on his eardrums. “We’ll work on the tougher powers another time. For now, let’s teach you the first ability I learned after floating.” Giovanni stepped forward and cupped Mew2.1’s hand in his own. “God. You’re two things I made. You know, I always thought that if one of you came back to me, it would be Silver. He had a killer instinct that you lost that day when you were ten. But you’re here now, and you’re ready. It would’ve been fun to make you into this, but I suppose I can’t complain that you came back to me. Almost like you came here pre-assembled by Team Galactic, free of charge.”

Mars opened her mouth and quickly realized it wasn’t the right shape for human speech. Good- she had no idea what to say to that.

Giovanni pressed another button, and the metal ceiling opened up above them. He positioned Mew2.1’s hands on his sides and nodded. 

Interpreting her father’s order, Mars tried to will herself through the open ceiling. She was shaky, and ended up going sideways instead of up, dragging Giovanni’s legs on the floor before she found her bearings and soared through the ceiling. Mew2.1’s loose, sensitive skin stung from Giovanni’s tight grip, and once she had landed them in the field above the lab, she tried to pull his hands off.

“Oh, you don’t like that? Fair enough.” Giovanni let go of her. “So. First thing we’re going to test is your ability to transfer your power to the rest of your team. We won’t go too hard tonight. It’s all about trying out what you can do. With that, Giovanni pulled out his persian and his nidoking.

Mars focused on the pokéballs at her human body’s belt and carefully willed them out through the marble-sized holes in the tank and pulled out the two new editions to her team: a lively luxray and a powerful magmortar. She’d wondered why Proton had kept her from choosing a sixth Pokémon, but now she understood: like so many martial artists and psychics in legends and absolutely nobody in any sanctioned tournament, she was going to be her own sixth slot.

“Alright,” Giovanni said as the four Pokémon began to tussle. Now, focus your powers on increasing their stats. One day, you’ll learn to do it while issuing commands.”

Mars did. And it worked, filling her Pokémon with an unnatural aura of strength. It was like using a set-up move, except that it didn't steal attacking time from them.

 At the end of a night full of experimentation with Mew2.1, Mars and Giovanni put Mew2.1 back into its containment and sat in the field under the stars, laughing over their cats’ antics as they waited for their driver to arrive.

“That was fun,” Giovanni said, looking satisfied with how the night had gone. “Maybe next time we can get your communication under control. Then our battles will be like my fights with that kid Red who doesn’t talk much but somehow still has his Pokémon act out humanlike strategies. You remember Red, right?” 

Mars giggled. “You’re still not over him, huh?”

Giovanni sighed wistfully. “Guilty. I wonder where that kid got off to. I’m glad he’s not in my way anymore, but he was a worthy opponent if I ever saw one. Anyhow. It’s too bad Mew2.1 isn’t battle-ready, but a few more weeks of nutrient bath should toughen it up. I didn’t have Proton teach you self-defense for you to never use it.”

“Yeah, can’t wait to wrestle with my team,” Mars said, and she said it earnestly. But there were other, more important things on her mind. “So… any new findings on Mew2.1’s powers?”

“Well, most recently I’ve found that it can travel to other realms just through sheer concentration. But you won’t be doing it for a while. It’s a very difficult skill, and you have enough to learn without worrying about something as trivial as a new way to store stolen goods.”

“You’ve been to other planes of existence? That’s so cool!” Mars gushed. Giovanni hadn’t mentioned the Distortion World, so it was safe to express interest. “Could I… you know, come with you? Learn what goes on in other realms?”

“I’ll let you know if it becomes relevant to you,” Giovanni replied calmly.

Mars nodded. For the rest of the car ride, she wracked her mind for a non-suspicious and non-Team Galactic-related reason to want to go, but unfortunately, she found none. But now she knew where Mew2.1 was stored and that it could indeed go to the Distortion World. She’d just have to take matters into her own hands.

The following night, Mars snuck back to the lab every night after her training. It wasn’t hard. She’d saved the lab’s location on her pokétch, her crobat was strong enough to carry her there, and her bronzong could pick locks with its psychic abilities. Every step of getting back into Mew2.1 went smoothly, but once she did, she wasn’t quite sure what to do next- how to approach the task of breaching the Distortion World.

Dad said he got in just by concentrating, right? Maybe if I just focus really hard…

Mars closed her eyes, tried to block out the glare of lights that permeated Mew2.1’s translucent eyelids and the sounds of buzzing machinery, and concentrated on an image of the Distortion World- its stormy purple skies, the rocky islands floating at odd angles. She imagined herself ascending there, focused so hard that she didn’t even notice the headache building until it reached a breaking point.Suddenly, she felt like she was mentally and almost physically breaking through a brick wall. 

Mars’ eyes snapped open. She was in a strange void, its air a creamy-coloured translucent. In front of her, dim and maybe half a kilometre away, was the oppressive purple of the Distortion World. Mars tried to look back, Mew2.1’s body turning slowly as though the void were filled with liquid honey, and she saw that behind her, through only a foot or so of mist, was the laboratory. She noticed some shattered test tubes on the floor.

I’ll have to clean that up before I go, Mars thought, and suddenly, without warning, she was pulled through that mental brick wall and was standing in the lab again.

From that night on, Mars came to the lab and practised with Mew2.1 every night she could confirm that it would be unoccupied. She practised floating with coordination, telekinesis, teleportation, and creating force fields, but those were mostly as a break. Most of the night was spent in a state that would, from the outside, resemble meditation until she managed to pull herself to the space between realms. Over time, it came quicker. Over time, she could travel faster and further through the thick barrier between realms, getting closer to the Distortion World as she focused her mind not on the strain of her body, but solely on getting across that field. The constant late nights didn’t affect her- not as it should have, anyway- it was as though her body slept while the body of Mew2.1 was awake. Constant awakeness in some form was mentally exhausting but sustainable. She hoped so at least.

Once or twice a week, Giovanni would take Mars to the lab in the evening to practice and experiment on Mew2.1. To not arouse suspicion, Mars would pretend to be less experienced with her powers than she was. Even still, Giovanni took notice of some discrepancies after only a few weeks.

“Hmm… strange,” Giovanni said, looking at the caliper that was squeezing the creature’s arm. “The nutrient bath should have toughened up its skin much more by now. And its muscles are growing faster than expected.”

“Huh. Why do you think that is?” Mars asked, trying to sound innocent.

“There’s no knowing yet. I’ll have the scientists adjust the nutrient bath, Giovanni answered. Nothing more was made of it aside from an order not to wrestle her luxray until she had his okay. Mars found his lack of suspicion very suspicious. But she’d already done all she could to be ready to make a run for it if necessary. There was nothing left to do but press on and hope it didn’t bite her later.

That night, Mars pushed herself to her limit. On her final attempt of the night, she made it as far as the final barrier before being unceremoniously bounced back to the lab, exhausted. She’d have to hope that she still had a little time before Giovanni took the discrepancies too seriously. She’d have to hope that he wouldn’t throw her out tomorrow, or at least up the security if he didn’t blame her. He didn’t. So she continued. Progress wasn’t linear, but there was progress. 

A week later, on a perfectly ordinary night, Mars reached her goal. Pulling herself through the void between worlds had felt like running through tar, but she could see her finish line: the place where the honey-like mist ended, and the oppressive dark was unfiltered. And this time, she had energy to spare- she wouldn’t be flung back this time. She could feel it. With one last push through the membrane between worlds, she made it through.

Mars fell down on the rough ground of the Distortion World, ripping open the skin on Mew2.1’s legs and hands. For a human, it would have been little worse than falling off a bike, but something told Mars that Mew2.1’s fragile skin wouldn’t take it well. As she floated back up again, she could see the blood streaking down her legs and hands, and the flaps of skin that had been torn loose. She wasn’t very good at self-healing yet, but she focused her mind on it as she floated through the realm. 

Focusing on three things at once- floating, healing, the pain- was difficult. Mars ended up nearly hitting the side of a floating island. After that, she decided to land. Hurting herself too much to get back would be suicide. At best, she’d just die out here, and at worst, Giovanni would realize exactly what she was doing and why. So she sat down on a barren island. She wanted to freak out. Wanted to wonder why she’d even come here when she didn’t know where in this massive space Cyrus was. But Mew2.1’s delicate body needed her. And so, she cleared her mind of thoughts, and meditated on self-healing.

After what felt like several minutes of attempting to self-heal and seeing only the slightest of results, Mars’ attention was broken by a soft, concerned purring. She opened her eyes to see a crobat, bigger than hers but with smaller, duller teeth. It looked just like Cyrus’, and it was hard to imagine why a crobat would be here if it wasn’t his. Mars stroked the creature, and it turned, offering itself to be ridden. There was something indescribable at its shoulder- a red and purple pixelated distortion that made it look like its flesh was unravelling from reality itself. At very least, it didn’t seem to cause pain. Mars grabbed onto the crobat’s good shoulder and between its wings on its other side, and the two took to the skies. 

Mars used her floating abilities to lighten the crobat’s load- she’d seen it take Cyrus short distances, but Mew2.1, including its tank and her entire human body within it, had to be much heavier. It was a longish trip, but just as Mars thought she’d need to either land and rest or force the loyal bat to take her full weight, the crobat screeched in excitement and picked up the pace. Mars, who had been resting her forehead on its good shoulder, looked up. There on the edge of a barren, mountainous island was Cyrus.

Most of him, at least.

Chapter Text

“Master Cyrus!” Mars cried out, all but tackling him with a hug. Cyrus grabbed onto her with his good arm while holding his bad one as far away from her as possible.

“Mars, my hand is… I don’t want you to become distorted as well.”

Mars put the pieces together quickly. His crobat’s shoulder would have been the one that Cyrus held onto with his bad hand while it carried him. He’d probably found out the hard way that whatever was happening to him was contagious.

“What happened to you?” Mars asked, her voice filled with concern.

“I don’t know,” Cyrus admitted. “Perhaps now that Giratina no longer concerns himself with this realm, things that are not from here are destined to distort over time.”

Mars’ mouth hung open as she tried to absorb that. “At least… at least it’s taking a while,” she offered.

Cyrus turned away, as he did when he wanted to hide strong emotion. “Your Pokémon is hurt. Let’s heal it,” he stated after a moment.

Mars didn’t argue. Together, they picked up the inert creature, and Cyrus led them around a cliff face until they arrived at the cave Cyrus had been staying in. Its walls were covered floor to ceiling in equations, diagrams and words that were hard to make out in the dim light. Inscriptions aside, there wasn’t much in the small space- dead grass Cyrus was probably using as bedding, sharpened sticks for the unlikely event of invaders, and small plants collected for a purpose Mars couldn’t guess. 

The two set down Mew2.1’s body, and Cyrus brought over some spongy moss and dried strips of bark. “The moss will stop the bleeding, and the bark will hold it in place,” he explained. “Tie the knots. It’s impossible with only one usable hand.”

Mars nodded and obeyed. Despite being in this strange realm patching up Giovanni’s bioweapon, this was the most normal she’d felt since Team Galactic had ended- Cyrus gave her orders, and she completed them. “Relief” was too weak a word for that.

“Your situation poses a lot of questions,” Cyrus stated as he pressed slabs of moss into the creature’s thigh. “What is this Pokémon?”

“It’s Mew2.1,” Mars explained, happy for a chance to talk honestly with someone. “Team Rocket made it. Don’t worry, I didn’t steal it. Not… exactly, anyway. I’m allowed to use it, but they’d have my head if they knew about this.”

“You returned to Team Rocket,” Cyrus deduced. “What led you to that?” He didn’t sound disappointed, just surprised and curious. There’d always been an understanding between them that no one wanted a new world more than Mars, and since she joined so young and so soon after running away, there was only one place that desperation could have come from.

“Well,” Mars answered, her hands falling away from her work and into her lap, “Saturn and Jupiter didn’t think we could save you. They split because Saturn wanted to go straight and Jupiter didn’t. But I wanted to save you. I thought Team Rocket would help me get strong enough to beat the new champion and make Giratina bring you back, but… it’s all getting so complicated and I’m really scared,” Mars admitted, gripping the spare fabric on her pants. She could feel her eyes prickle with tears. “I wish… I wish you were there. Then we could get Saturn and Jupiter, and we’d just destroy this thing so Dad couldn’t use it. He’s going to have me use it to invade cities in a matter of weeks, and if I run away, it’ll be his executives. Not him, though. Probably so he won’t be the one to die if this glass cannon shatters.”

"Mewtwo could teleport. I suppose it isn't an option to just teleport this one somewhere it won't be found?"

"I've thought of that, but if I did that, Giovanni would know I messed with it for sure. I don't think I can do that without going on the run from them afterwards. And besides, where could I put it that Team Rocket couldn't find it?"

"Hmm..." There was a long silence. Mars waited, hoping that Cyrus would offer the comfort of orders, order, solutions. “Do the other commanders still respect me?” He asked.

Mars nodded.

“Tell Saturn and Jupiter that you’ve found me,” Cyrus said, voice steady and eyes on hers. “Once they know they stand a chance of rescuing me, they’ll be more likely to help you. Perhaps they could help you to steal Mew2.1 before you’re forced to use it, and then hide you away.”

Mars smiled, feeling the most hope she had in a while. “That’s a good idea. That way me and this thing," she patted Mew2.1's thigh affectionately, "will be away from Giovanni, and soon it’ll be the four of us again, working towards the new world.”

Cyrus’ eyes fell abruptly to Mew2.1 at the mention of the new world. “Finish this,” Cyrus said, motioning at the part of Mars’ work she’d left undone in her moment of emotion. “Its leg is still bleeding.”

Mars tied the last knot but kept her eyes on Cyrus. “You’re hiding something from me,” she said. She’d let herself act vulnerable before, a cultist practically begging for orders, but now it was time to turn up the pressure.

“No,” he asserted, “I am not hiding anything.”

“Really?” Mars asked, reaching for his distorted hand.

Cyrus jerked away his hand and put on his best glass-shattering glare. “Stop this foolishness,” he ordered.

Mars slipped into Mew2.1. With telekinesis, she lifted Cyrus off the ground and his crobat from its upside-down perch on the cave’s ceiling. “Mars! What are you-”

Cyrus fought her every inch of the way, writhing and teeth grit as she forced his distorted hand up to pet his beloved bat right on its eye. Crobat was fighting, too, squirming and squeaking in fear.

“Stop. I’ll say it,” Cyrus conceded bitterly right before the two made contact.

Mars put the two down, got out of Mew2.1, and looked up at Cyrus expectantly.

"That was rather extreme," Cyrus stated as he picked himself up from the cave's floor.

"Well, you haven't always been the most honest. And I've been dealing with Team Rocket, so I'm tired of being lied to. So, tell me what you need to tell me."

Cyrus could barely meet her eyes. That wasn’t like him, and it was not a good sign.

“Mars… I’m sorry. There will be no new world. What I intended was never a good idea.”

Mars paused for a moment, wondering if she’d heard him correctly. “W-what? No, wait, okay, I see what’s going on.” Mars took his good hand quickly, desperately. She’d been going for “tenderly,” but judging by the surprise on Cyrus’ face, she’d missed that mark. “You’ve been here going through Arceus knows what, and for Arceus knows how long since time is weird here, so you’re not yourself right now. It’s okay- we’ll get you back to our world, doing real things, and you’ll be back to your old ways in no time.”

“No,” Cyrus growled, jerking his hand back and walking deeper into the mouth of the cave. “You’re wrong. I haven’t been tortured out of my senses. There is nothing here. There are no physical needs to deprive, and no other beings to torment me. I once thought I could thrive in a place like this. Instead… I’ve missed human company. That, and a sense of meaning. What I wanted to do- to make humans incapable of emotion- would have been to force every living being into this state forever, no matter what happened around them. I could create whatever wonders I wanted in the new world, and they may as well have been trapped here. Do you understand?”

Mars’ chest hurt. "But... you can still do everything else you planned, y'know? Come on, you've gotta be able to think up a world better than the one that made us wanna destroy it. Come on, you can-"

"Mars..." Cyrus seemed to try to consider his wording, but all that came out was a small, defeated, "No."

Mars couldn't take it anymore. On instinct, she ran back to Mew2.1 and got into it.

“Mars… Mars!” Cyrus called out, but Mars was already halfway into the space between realms.

Once Mars was spat back into the lab, she had immediate concerns to attend to. Mew2.1 was still hurt, and if Giovanni saw that, he’d know what she’d done. She sat on the floor and tried to meditate on self-healing, on her skin drawing back together and leaving no scars. But the events of the night tugged at her mind.

He promised that we’d make a new world. He promised that he’d make it so no one would suffer anymore, and that no one would hurt each other anymore. I did everything for him! He promised…!

Mars’ eyes snapped open as her mind stumbled over the image of herself admiring the mushroom cloud of the bomb she’d set. It had blown an entire lake sky-high. She’d laughed when she saw it. It was so big, and their plan was going so well. Their plan to undo all the harm in the world, including their own.

That plan was gone now thanks to Cyrus’ whims. And even when it wasn’t, apparently the world Cyrus had intended to make wouldn’t have been a good one. The harm she’d done was for nothing and would never go away. And here Mars was, in the body of a bioweapon in a Team Rocket lab, with no surefire path away from becoming an unwilling conqueror. As she sat there trying to concentrate, she learned that Mew2.1 could cry.

Mars’ eyes opened and landed on the lab’s digital clock. It read 3:27. Her cuts weren’t healed yet, but she had time. She closed her eyes again, concentration sharpened, and entertained the thought that she might get away with this.

Much meditation later, she opened her eyes again. The time on the clock read 4:51. She had to put Mew2.1 away and get home. Her cuts were fixed, and the moss and bark disintegrated using her powers, but the injuries had left ugly, unmissable scars. Mars concentrated on shrinking them for the next few minutes, and they did shrink, but not by much. Giovanni was set to check Mew2.1 today. Either she'd have to run away, or she’d have to face the music.

Chapter Text

In the end, Mars decided to go home. Giovanni wouldn't have found out about Mew2.1 yet, and going home allowed her to grab her map of outposts. Maybe sometime today she could sneak away to one of Team Galactic's depots. Hopefully Jupiter would help her. Hopefully Giovanni could still be stopped.

Mars was assigned to learn shell business management from Archer that day. Archer’s office was quiet and opulent, just as it had been when Mars was little and had spent countless afternoons here, playing with her brother on days when their nanny had time off and her parents had business elsewhere. He’d replaced the furniture since then- red leather now instead of black, but the minifridge was still stocked with the same array of drinks he’d begun to share with Mars the day he first came to him for feminine advice. Ariana might not have wanted to deal with the awkwardness of teaching her to manage a menstrual period or a crush, but Archer was determined and had had just enough female friends in his youth to fill the mom-shaped hole in her life. Or to try, anyway.

“And that’s how you manage the supply chains of a shell business,” Archer concluded, closing his laptop as they finished up for the day. “Any questions, Mars?” he asked, turning his attention to her. He’d been gentle with her today, like he could tell she was sad but was waiting for her to come to him instead of pushing.

“No, I think I’ve got it. And thanks for using my old name.”

“Of course. It’s okay to have trouble fully letting go, even of things that weren’t good for you. Just tell me when you're ready for me to stop.”

“You bet. Could I… ask you a question?”

“Of course. Go ahead.”

“What do you do when the person you’ve looked up to, the person you trusted would be everything you needed… turns out to not be all that?” Mars had planned this conversation in her head, thinking of the exact words she could use. It wasn’t hard- She was supposed to have lost faith in Team Galactic, after all, and now that she wasn't entirely pretending anymore, why pretend that it didn't hurt?

Archer’s brow furrowed with sympathy. “You’ve asked the right person,” he sighed. “I’m not going to pretend that it’s an easy thing to go through. While Giovanni was gone, I started to have doubts about whether he’d come back, and if he was ever what I thought he was. I told myself a lot of things to protect myself from the fact that he might be the type of leader who could just leave us like that. But the day that he came back, every bit of what I told myself crashed down in a second. I was just glad to have him.”

“What did you tell yourself?”

“That I had to be for myself what he’d always been to me, and all that I needed him to be. That even if he was never the person I thought he was, he taught me what to idolize, and that if he really was gone forever, I would just have to truly replace him.” Archer closed his eyes and smiled, like he was laughing at himself. “I even had thoughts that I could be better than he was. Silly thoughts, of course. I was never half the leader he was.”

“Okay,” Mars said, feeling like she’d learned more about Archer than how to handle her situation.

"That wasn't very helpful, was it?"

"Mmm, not really."

“Well, I tried. Want a nightcap before I send you off?”

“Sure. It’ll be our first legal one together.”

Archer chuckled. "Indeed it will.”

Mars did not return to Giovanni's mansion that night. As she ate pork chops and mashed potatoes and weighed her options for outposts at the diner she'd stopped at, she faced a choice: was she going to go back to Mew2.1 that night? Was she going to take that risk to see Cyrus one more time? And if so, for what?

It occurred to Mars that leaving prematurely last night had consequences. Cyrus had said that he didn’t want to make the new world anymore, but she hadn’t waited around to ask what he did intend to do if he got out. It seemed likely that he could still help her to unify Team Galactic and keep Team Rocket from taking over the world- he gave her advice on how to get Mew2.1 away from Giovanni, after all. And as much as she hated Cyrus right now, she still needed to find a way to stop Giovanni, and that would be a lot easier with an evil team leader on her side.

It was settled. Mars stood, shovelled the last of her dinner into her mouth, and took to the entrance. Her crobat was well-used to the routine by now, and took off into the night sky as soon as Mars had grabbed ahold of it. As the cool night air rushed past her in the darkness, Mars’ mind stumbled upon a very important question.

If I really am able to see him again, what am I going to say to him?

It could be their last chance to talk for a long while, and once again she was kicking herself for leaving so soon last night. It was hard to know what he’d react well to when she knew so little about his mental state. She wished she could trust him to have all the answers. Hopefully he still would, and his loss of faith in the new world was all that had changed, but…

Archer’s words came back to her. I had to be for myself all that he was to me, and all that I needed him to be.

It was beginning to drizzle, and Mars remembered the night she’d first joined Team Galactic. The rain had been coming down, and Mars should have been running to the nearest Pokémon Center. She knew from experience by then that her clothes didn’t dry easily, and sleeping while soaked was miserable even if she’d have a roof to do it under. But she had to find that street preacher she’d seen that day. Eventually, she did, and, too shy to say anything to him at first, she followed him home.

He gave me so much more than dry clothes and a place to stay. He gave me a mission, something to believe in and work for. He didn’t have all the answers. Mars had been his second recruit, and at only thirteen, she’d had a lot to teach him about managing an evil team. But she’d believed in him.

I guess now I have to be that for myself. But how? Without the new world, the rest just falls apart.

A thought occurred to Mars, sending a jolt through her body: there was no part of creating a new world that Cyrus could do and she couldn’t. She could still make everything okay. Heck, if she could convince him, it could still be the four of them again- just with her as the boss and Cyrus as one of her commanders.

If I can see him again, I’m going to make him feel the way I did that day.

Mars had half-expected that she'd come within a mile of the facility and have to turn tail and run away from armed guards. Instead, the trip to the Distortion World was suspiciously uneventful- no new locks on the doors, no grunts keeping watch, nothing. Maybe plans had changed and Giovanni hadn't checked Mew2.1 that day? It seemed unlikely. Still, Mars pressed on.

Once Mars had made it to the strange realm, she zeroed in on the mountainous floating island and found Cyrus writing on the wall of his cave.

Cyrus turned to Mars once he realized she was there. “You’re… here,” he said, stone-faced. He turned back to the wall. “Do what you will.”

Mars got out of Mew2.1. “Oh, come on. Just because you broke my heart doesn’t mean I’m gonna kill you.”

Cyrus turned back to her, apparently as surprised as she was to be getting this opportunity. “I’m sorry…” he began.

“Save it,” Mars cut in. “We don’t have much time, and the other commanders need to hear that, too. Look at me, Cyrus. You fucked up, big time. You lied to us about what the new world would be like, and now you want to just leave us with the aftermath. But you know what? You gave me something to hope for, and I’m getting it. I’m going to get the commanders back together, and we’re going to figure out how to make a better world, and we’re not going to lie to each other. Join us or don’t, but before I do any of that, I need your help getting Mew2.1 out of Giovanni’s hands, and you’re going to help me.”

Cyrus nodded. It was odd seeing him look almost submissive for once. “Where do we start?” he asked.

Mars took a recording device from her belt. “I need you to record a message. I’m going to go to one of the depots that Jupiter’s team goes to. You’re going to tell Jupiter that you’re alive and that you’re working with me to get back from the Distortion World. She thinks I’m a traitor, but she’ll recognize your voice and trust you. And then, I’ll tell her the location of Mew2.1 and exactly how she can steal it. Okay?”

Cyrus gave her a smile and an approving nod. It’s the kind of plan he would have come up with, and she knew it. The tape was recorded uneventfully, and when they played it back, it sounded right.

“Alright. Second order of business- getting you out of here.”

“As much as I would like to leave immediately…” Cyrus gestured to the distorted part of his face, “there’s no knowing what this might do if we try.”

“No way of knowing, but it’s easy enough to guess.” Mars’ guess was that the distorted parts of his body would fall apart into a bloody mess as soon as he was in the real world. It was hard to imagine him surviving it. “That’s okay. Before all of this Mew2.1 stuff happened, I was going to beat the new Sinnoh champion and make Giratina bring you back. I can still do that- in fact, Mew2.1 will make it easier. I know you don’t have much of a way to measure time, but how long do you think you have before you’re lost to the Distortion? In our world, it’s been four or five months since you got here.”

“Assuming it keeps spreading at its current pace? Weeks. Maybe a month.”

“That’s plenty of time. Third order of business. Cyrus. Look me in the eyes and tell me that once all this is over, you’ll help me make the new world. I’ll do it with or without you, but I wanna do it with you.”

Cyrus closed his eyes and thought on that. Mars grit her teeth, resisting the urge to either yell at him or keep trying to persuade him. What was going through his head? Was he weighing all the evil in the world against the chance that they’d just make something worse? Regretting the loss of his power? Judging her leadership abilities? She knew him better than anyone but Saturn, and still he could be so annoyingly hard to read.

“I’ll do it. Thank you, Mars- for not abandoning me. You've shown more leadership tonight than I would have expected.”

“Thank you,” Mars said. "It does feel good. Weird and new, but good." For that moment, she allowed herself to hope that, the new balance of power aside, things could go back to normal between them.

Cyrus’ face darkened and his Crobat flew to his side. “Mars, behind you. Get into Mew2.1, now!”

Before Mars could even look back, a dart shot into her neck. At the mouth of the cave were several Rocket grunts, all armed to the teeth. 

Chapter Text

Mars pulled out the dart and staggered to Mew2.1- whatever she’d been injected with was already taking effect. Off-balance, her hands clawed at the glass, and for a moment she thought she wouldn’t be able to open the chamber. By the time she was looking through Mew2.1’s eyes, Cyrus’ crobat had already headbutted one grunt to the ground and was smacking around the Weezing and Arbok sent out by others. A grunt took aim at it with a dart gun. Using her telekinesis, Mars bent back its barrel, rendering it useless. Black dots danced in her vision, and she could see more grunts pouring in. She might only have a few moments of consciousness left. With that last bit of power, she transmitted a simple psychic message.

Run. You can’t save me, and I don’t know what they’ll do to you.

Mars fell to her knees and then to her stomach, and she was out before she even heard Cyrus respond.

Mars woke up to bright sunlight slitting in from her obnoxiously pink blinds.

Ugh, I must’ve wasted almost half the day, and I’m still so tired. It is a day off, right? It must be, or why would I still be in bed?

Mars rolled over and jolted up when she saw Giovanni’s bodyguard inside her room, sitting in a wooden chair and watching her intently. “David?! What are you doing here? Did something happen?” Mars asked him.

David’s face was unreadable. “Don’t worry about that for now. Sleep. Giovanni wants you alert for later.”

Those weren’t comforting words. Giovanni wanted her sleeping all day? Why would…

Oh. That was right. She’d been caught. And with David sitting right there, there nothing to do about it.

Mars’ hand went to her waistband, praying, as unlikely as it was, to find pokéballs, but fell asleep again within seconds. When she came to again, it was to her father’s voice.

“The drugs should have worn off by now,” he said, sounding weary and defeated. “Let’s get this done.”

Before the two men even moved to wake her up, Mars sat up in bed and faced them. David looked almost pitying. Giovanni’s eyes glowed with cold anger. Without a word, they led her up the stairs. Mars thought about making a break for it, but as she was checking her belt to see if she still had her Pokémon, the door to Giovanni’s office closed behind her. Giovanni took his place behind his desk, leaving them face-to-face.

“Have a seat,” Giovanni said, as though he were speaking to an employee facing discipline. 

Mars obeyed, lowering her eyes from Giovanni’s. On his desk, she saw what must have been the items the grunts had taken off of her: her pokétch, the tape recorder containing her and Cyrus’ message, and five pokéballs, all laid out like contraband alongside some bobby pins and spare change she must have had on her.

“So. Mew2.1 was hurt, and the scientists reviewed the security tapes to find out how it happened. I’m not going to waste time asking you what you think they saw. We both know.”

Giovanni’s eyes bore into Mars almost as harshly as Cyrus’ once had. She’d talked Cyrus down from before. Maybe she could talk this into a more manageable situation. “I was just so excited about Mew2.1 and the idea of going to other dimensions that I just had t-”

Giovanni stood up from his desk. “Stop,” he growled. “You’re making a fool of yourself. I reviewed the history on my computer the day after you looked at our research on the Distortion World. I told you that Mew2.1 could visit other dimensions specifically to see what you would do. The only reason I didn’t stop you sooner is because…” Giovanni closed his eyes and sat back down. “I didn’t want to believe it. I hoped you’d give it up. But now my scientists know, and I’d look weak if I let it slide.”

There was a long silence between the two of them. “So… what happens now?” Mars asked.

“Well, for now you can forget about being the heir to Team Rocket. With enough years of service, maybe I’ll reconsider, but you’ve lost that privilege for a long, long time. I want to believe that you’re just conflicted because you were in Team Galactic for so long. I’ll give you one more chance to prove to me that this was a lapse in judgment and that you’re loyal to me. I’ve moved up the first Mew2.1 invasion to tomorrow. We’re going to put an isolated town in Johto under complete Team Rocket control and you’re going to pilot Mew2.1 to do it. Until then, and for a while after, you are going to be watched twenty-four seven- you know too many of our secrets for me to risk anything less. Do you understand? Prove to me that you will serve Team Rocket, or I will have no choice but to dispose of you. Frankly, I would have done so already if you were anyone else.”

“Y-yes, Dad,” Mars answered.

“Thank you. You can go. But David will be going with you.”

Mars got up to leave. It was painful to leave her important things behind, but fighting David and Giovanni without her Pokémon was a joke. Just as she was opening the door, she looked back at Giovanni. Now that the cat was out of the bag, she might as well ask.

“Dad… did you hurt Cyrus? Or his crobat?”

Giovanni’s lips curled up in disgust. “Well, since you must know, Cyrus is still rotting in the Distortion World. The grunts tranquilized him, but handling him caused them some strange injuries, so they decided to leave him there. As for the bat, the grunts managed to steal it. He’ll make a fine addition to Proton’s team once my scientists are done researching its odd condition… assuming he doesn’t lose his wing, at least.”

Mars’ eyes squeezed shut. “...And what about my Pokémon?”

“Unharmed. David will hand them to you as he sees fit.”

“Okay,” Mars said before leaving.

Mars wasn’t sure what to do with herself while David followed her around like a shadow. 

“Can you at least face the wall so I can change?” Mars asked as she shut the two of them into her room.

“I’m sorry, but Giovanni was clear- I’m not to take my eyes off you for an instant,” David replied with cold professionalism.

Mars groaned, and, seeing her makeup supplies in the corner, decided to work on her makeup artistry to pass the time. She washed her face, dusted off the vanity in her room, and began applying foundation. It was hard to focus on her own face when the mirror also showed an open window, and the stone-faced brick of a man who would keep her from leaving through it and was putting locking devices on her pokéballs. Mars went through with the contouring and was about to move onto the eyes when she saw through the window that Giovanni was getting into his car and pulling away from the driveway. That gave her an idea.

“Can we take a walk?” Mars said, playing up the innocence just enough to seem non-threatening without it seeming forced. “My Pokémon need the exercise. Let’s go to the forest and let them out.” 

“We’ll go to the edge of the property,” David replied as he locked the last ball. “Your Pokémon can come out one at a time, ten minutes each.”

“Okay,” Mars replied. “Once I’m done with my make-up, obviously,” she tacked on to seem less eager.

The two walked to the treeline at the edge of the well-kept property. Mars watched carefully as David detached three pokéballs from his belt. Surely he wouldn’t be that careless about her Pokémon, would he? As it turned out, he wouldn’t: he threw the balls, and his nidoking, arcanine, and walrein came out. He then unbuttoned his pants pocket, took a marble-sized ball out of it, and expanded it to full size, giving Mars a peek at the metal shackle locked around it. He unlocked it using a key from his other pocket, and Mars’ magmortor sprung out immediately.

“I do see how you’re watching me,” David deadpanned. “I will report it to Giovanni, just so you’re aware.”

“Okay,” Mars acquiesced, sitting down in the grass. Feeling his eyes on her, she picked a wild flower from the treeline and pretended to admire it. Her magmortor lumbered over, confused, but she told it to go play.

Okay. I need to figure out how to get my Pokémon and get out. I’ll have to incapacitate both him and his Pokémon. Is Magmortor the right choice for this? Or do I wait for a better one?

That really depended on whether David had more Pokémon. As-is, this was a terrible match-up. She’d have to hope that a better one was possible.

After ten minutes, David returned the magmortar, locked the ball, and sent out Mars’ bronzong. He also returned his walrein in favour of a gengar.

Okay. No better match-up. Y’know, Bronzong might just be the best choice for this.

Mars stood up, beckoned her bronzong over, and began whispering to it.

“Hey. You want to say something, say it so I can hear it,”  David ordered.

Mars began whispering faster. David started making his way over, his Pokémon following. As he closed in and reached for Mars, she swept his leg, sending him tumbling to the ground. Bronzong put up light screen and reflect, and lowered its metal body’s full weight on him. Attacks from David’s three Pokémon hit the two force fields, making it gleam like a golden cage that surrounded the two humans. Meanwhile, Mars unbuttoned David’s pocket and took out the five pokéballs as sparks of fire and dark energy burned her hands. David was yelling, but Mars was absorbing none of it over the sounds of the four Pokémon and the force of her own adrenaline. She quickly dug out the key and started unshackling the first ball, not even bothering to check which it was. A venusaur burst out from David's pocket, murder in its eyes and only a few feet from Mars. The shackle came undone, and Mars’ crobat burst out. It screeched in alarm, wrapped Mars in its smaller pair of wings, and pulled her into the sky, narrowly avoiding Venusaur’s vines.

“Thanks, buddy,” Mars breathed as she worked on the next ball. Below her, Bronzong was getting bullied as it diligently remained on top of David. It was four against one, and it looked like it could only take a couple more hits. As Mars freed her purugly to help, David’s walrein and fearow burst out. The Walrein stayed, but the fearow took off- presumably to inform Arceus-knew-who of the predicament and gather back-up.

"Go after the fearow. Don’t let it get away," Mars whispered to her luxray’s ball before releasing it into the field. Her magmortor joined the fray shortly after, just as her bronzong fainted. Mars returned her bronzong before it could be hurt any further, and David, finally freed from its weight, stood up, put a dozen or so feet of distance between him and the fight and took out a communication device, presumably to call for back-up.

“Purugly! Get the walkie-talkie!” Mars yelled. Purugly rushed to obey, pouncing from the back of David’s venusaur to pry it from his hands, but David turned at just the right moment and punched the cat in the face. That made Purugly mad enough to use take down on David’s legs, yowling as it went. The device went flying as David was knocked off his feet, and then Purugly caught the device in her tail and crushed it. There was probably no winning this fight, but between that and Mars’ luxray dragging back David's fainted fearow by the throat, they’d bought some time.

“Put me down, I’m gonna go to the house,” Mars whispered to her crobat. The bat obeyed. Mars sprinted across the lawn, hearing the cacophony behind her as her team kept David’s busy. Once she was in, she made for her room. She retrieved the depot map behind her shelf, knocking over the bookcase in her haste. Then, it was off to Giovanni’s office.

Thankfully, the communication device wasn’t particularly well-hidden. As soon as Mars pried the unlocked desk drawer open, there it was. She nabbed it and headed out the ceiling-height window, calling for her crobat from the roof. It returned to her and scooped her up, and she returned her other three Pokémon as they flew over the fray. The bang of a gun sounded, and Mars held on tight as Crobat dodged and weaved. Mars hazarded a look back, and saw genuine defeat in David's eyes and a smoking gun in his hands. No Pokémon following her. Not yet, anyway.

Once Mars was sure they weren’t being followed, she took out the makeshift map. Hopefully, she could get to the depot, and Team Galactic would find her before Team Rocket did. Mars’s crobat flew for over an hour before it began voicing complaints. Mars had it touch down next to a highway, returned it, and resigned herself to walking the rest of the way. There was no way of knowing how far she was from the depot, but at very least she wasn’t in the wilds- it was hard to imagine what she’d do if she had to defend herself from wild Pokémon with her worn-out team and no items to heal them with. Team Rocket would be even worse, especially if any admins got involved. Just as her feet were starting to blister, she saw it- Azalea Town. She pulled out her map to be sure, but it was- she was only seven miles from the depot, and barely two from the Azalea Town Pokémon Center. She could heal up her crobat along with the rest of her team and then ride it the rest of the way. She’d be there in less than two hours- before the sun went down and Team Rocket would be at its most active.

That was just what she did. Once she arrived to the Team Galactic depot, Mars found an empty crate with a crack in its side big enough to see out of. She moved it to the set of shelves nearest the door, climbed in, and, after testing that she could see the door without being seen herself, Mars finally allowed herself to relax for the first time since she’d woken up. She was as safe as she could be. If Team Rocket found her, that wouldn’t be very safe at all, but she at least had the hope that she’d lost them, and a team of Pokémon who were ready to fight. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too long before someone from Jupiter’s Team arrived and she would be on her way to some real protection and progress.

Chapter Text

Back when Mars had worked for Team Galactic, the depots of stolen and illegal goods were checked daily even if they didn’t have any other business in them that day. It was a menial task for the gruntiest of grunts. If Jupiter hadn’t changed the policy, it would be her ticket out. So, even as the sun went down and the warehouse went dark, Mars kept her hope that she’d be found soon. The Illumise and Volbeat were out that night, making their lullaby-like chirps, and her eyes were getting heavy, but she had to stay awake. She couldn’t lose her chance.

The door squeaked open, and in came some random, tired-looking bowlcut grunt. He turned on the lights and took a gulp of his murky drink as he looked around at the warehouse. He’d started checking things off his little checklist when Mars burst out in front of him.

The grunt yelped in surprise, dropping the list and his drink as he reached for the pokéballs on his belt.

“Hey, I’m not looking for a fight!” Mars explained. “I’m on your side. I have a very important message for Jupiter’s team.”

The grunt loosened the grip on his pokéball. “O-okay,” he said, clearly still tense. “Let’s hear it.”

Mars pressed the button on the recording device, and the tape played. Hello. This is Cyrus, messaging from the Distortion World. I am alive, and Commander Mars has found me and wishes to rescue me. In order to do so, she needs help from Team Galactic. She can access this realm with the use of a bioweapon called “Mew2.1” that is under Giovanni’s control. You must steal it. This is not only a matter of saving me. If Giovanni keeps ahold of Mew2.1 much longer, he will use it for conquest, including conquest of Sinnoh. You must steal it immediately. There is not much time left, either for me or for the safety of the world. Mars will now tell you its location and all other information you need. Do not disappoint me.

Mars clicked the button and stopped the tape before it went into the details of Mew2.1’s location. No need to overwhelm the poor slack-jawed grunt more than he already was.

“We need to get you to Jupiter,” he stated.

“Yeah. And another thing you should know is… Team Rocket might be after me.”

“Then we gotta double get you to Jupiter. Come on, let’s go.”

And so they did. The two piled into the nondescript white van and hit the road. The grunt peppered Mars in questions, most of which she had no way of answering. Before long, they were back in Sinnoh. They passed through Twinleaf Town, through Jubilife, and came within sight of Oreburgh. Before they reached the mining town, however, the grunt took a hard left onto a thin dirt road into the mountain.

“When you see the new base, you’re gonna flip, ” the grunt announced.

“I believe it!” Mars replied.

Then, the grunt took a hard right straight into the mountain’s cliff face. Mars screamed. But then, instead of the sound of her bones splintering against stone, she heard the sound of a mechanical door closing behind her. She opened her eyes to find herself in a huge, brightly lit garage, occupied by grunts working away at various vehicles.

“Wow,” Mars breathed, her heart rate still returning to normal as she realized she was not, in fact, a pancake on the side of Mount Coronet.

“Yeah, this is it. Welcome to the Neo Team Galactic base!” The grunt said, smiling widely and with excitement in his eyes. “I know the garage looks kind of empty right now, but Master Jupiter says there’ll be way more vehicles in here soon once we win them from Saturn in court, or, y’know, steal ‘em from him.”

Mars nodded, feigning excitement. “They got quite a rivalry, huh?”

“With those traitors? Of course we do! Do you know how many grunts went to prison because he wouldn’t join us? But hey, I guess it doesn’t matter if the new world’s still on the table, right?”

Another grunt, with oil stains on her clothes and a sour look on her face, opened the door and cleared her throat, looking pointedly at Mars’ companion. 

“God, maintenance people. So impatient. But anyhow, let’s leave this van to her and get you to Jupiter. She’s basically nocturnal, so she should still be up. Wait, you’d already know that. You two were-” 

The maintenance grunt pulled him out by his arm. 

During their short but chatty walk, Mars noticed some eyes on her- angry eyes and malicious smiles, like they saw her as someone getting exactly what they deserved. It wasn't exactly the welcome party she was expecting. Finally, they arrived at a large black door.

"Sorry, but... this is where I leave," the grunt said, shuffling his feet. "Jupiter has a tendency to shoot from the hip, and... well..."

"She hates me more than she hates Saturn."

The grunt nodded. For once, it seemed like he had nothing to say, so he turned away.

Mars stared up at the door, listening to the grunt's footsteps as he made what sounded like a hasty escape. This was it- either Jupiter would hear her out and everything could be fixed, or she wouldn’t and she’d die at the hands of one team or another. Mars took a deep breath and opened the door.

Jupiter’s quarters were dimly lit, made of dull black plastic and glowing purple accents, and she was clearly making the most of her wealth. Before she could find Jupiter, Mars’ eyes travelled to a minibar and what looked like a pool table with glowing balls. Then, she noticed a small group of people. There, at the end of the room, was Jupiter, lounging in a small hot tub with what were probably some favoured grunts, laughing and whispering to each other. To Mars’ horror, she realized that all their eyes were on her.

Jupiter lifted herself out, got to her feet, and sneered at Mars as the others watched with cruel eyes.

“Well, if it isn’t the little defector. I don’t know how you got this far, or what you expected to get out of this, but you’ve definitely come to the wrong place.”

Jupiter snapped her fingers, and one the male grunts got out and took to her side.

“I’m going to knock out her Pokémon, then you take her to a holding cell. And just for invading our off time? Make sure it’s the shittiest one we have.”

“I’m not a defector!” Mars snapped. “You need to hear this.” She didn’t wait. She took out the recorder and pressed play.

From the moment she heard Cyrus’ voice, the smugness dropped from Jupiter’s face. At the word “rescue,” she clasped her hands over her mouth. The grunts were looking at her, and no one was sneering anymore.

“We can actually bring him back,” Jupiter said once the tape ended, finally looking at Mars with gentleness.

“Yeah,” Mars replied. “We both want the same thing. So, are you with me?”

Jupiter nodded, regaining her composure. “You bet. Heh, pjs and a full face of makeup. You always were a trendsetter. Go get some sleep- one of the grunts will show you to a room. We’ll take it from here. First step, stealing Mew2.1.”

"I'm about as trendy as you are in your dripping-wet swimsuit. And yeah, sounds great."

Exhaustion hit Mars like a wave now that she could finally relax. There was a lot else to talk about- rescuing Cyrus' crobat, defeating the Sinnoh champion, rescuing Cyrus, reabsorbing Saturn, making the new world under her instead of Cyrus... but that would take time, and none of it could be done if they didn't steal Mew2.1, so Mars left Jupiter to it and took her up on the offer of a night's sleep.

Chapter Text

When Mars woke up in the unfamiliar room, cool and pitch-black except for a chink of light under the door, her first instinct was panic. Where had Team Rocket taken her now? Heart thumping, her hand darted to her wrist and her waistband. She found no pokéballs and no pokétch, and the feel of her clothes was unfamiliar, too. She scrambled for the door, fully expecting it to be locked but unwilling to leave it untried.

The door opened easily to a bright white corridor. A couple Galactic grunts were walking down it. The unfamiliar room and clothes were the ones that Jupiter had given her last night, and her watch and pokéballs were set out on her bedside table, right where she’d put them the night before.

Right… I’m safe now.

Still steadying herself, Mars checked her pokétch. There was one message from Jupiter, sent shortly after four in the morning- over seven hours ago.

I’m heading out. I’ll message you when we’re done. DON’T COME.

Mars nodded. It only made sense that as Giovanni’s target, she’d have to sit this one out. It also made sense that Jupiter had left now, as frustrating as it was that she hadn't told her everything last night. The less time they gave Giovanni to tighten security, the better.

Some time in the midst of sending an encrypted message to Jupiter to get her up to speed, restocking her supplies, getting her Pokémon fully restored, and lunch at the cafeteria, she realized what her next step would be: bringing the news of Cyrus’ survival to Saturn, and getting him back on board. 

—

In four kilometres, you have arrived, chimed the GPS system as Jupiter drove down the gravel road in an unmarked white truck. The view was farmland as far as the eye could see, but Jupiter and the three grunts riding along with her knew that if they could hide a base in a mountain, Team Rocket could hide a lab in a canola field. Behind them were two other trucks, each containing four grunts who were armed to the teeth with firearms and Pokémon. Jupiter had no illusions that this would be easy. Honestly, she wasn’t even sure she’d get there before Team Rocket moved Mew2.1 to a different facility. 

A zubat’ spin missile hit the windshield as Jupiter worked out her plan, followed by another, and then another three. Looking ahead, she saw dozens more- and the small cracks forming in the window as various zubat attacks rained down like hail.

Jupiter yanked the steering wheel left and put the vehicle in park at the side of the road. She took her skuntank and bronzong out and gave the grunts the “stay here” hand signal before opening the door. Bronzong’s protect enveloped her immediately, protecting her and her skuntank from the barrage. Skuntank filled the air with its flaming breath, and within a minute the zubats were down. It was a good thing, too- Bronzong’s protect had been on the brink of failure- she could see the poison barbs coming through.

With the bats out of the way, Jupiter could see the source of them. Two Rocket Grunts were stationed by, presumably, where the entrance to the lab would be. By the frightened looks on their faces and the handguns quickly leaving their belts, they were without Pokémon. Helpless. 

One of the grunts broke out a walkie-talkie, but no sooner did Jupiter bring out her golbat, and it was quickly joined by golbats from the Galactic grunts in the other two vehicles, which were pulling up around the duo. The bats quickly closed the distance and sucked the grunts dry of blood, leaving them pale, unconscious, and likely dead. Once Jupiter had strode over, she kicked the smaller grunt in the ribs. No reaction. Good. It’s no less than they’d have done to her, if they knew what she was after.

“Master Jupiter?” whispered a female Galactic grunt. She sounded worried. Jupiter hated it.

“What?” Jupiter growled.

“You were hit.” The grunt said, gently stroking Jupiter’s arm.

Jupiter drew her attention to her arm. The grunt wasn’t wrong. There were four purple spikes in her arm, and as soon as she saw them, the adrenaline in her system was replaced with shock, and she felt them.

“Ughh… well don’t just stand there! Get the first aid kit!” Jupiter barked.

The female grunt obeyed, patching up her superior while the others scouted ahead. As Jupiter did her best to ignore the sting of antiseptic, the grunts took out the metal detector to search for the lab’s entrance. Before too long, she was bandaged up, and the grunts had peeled back the turf that had covered up the port entrance. 

“Skuntank?” Jupiter growled. Her skuntank lifted its head in attention, focused ahead and awaiting orders. “Melt the door. We’ll be the last ones using it.”

Skuntank did, her fire leaving the door wide open… and lined with a molten metal ladder that would be profoundly unsafe to climb down. Thank Arceus one of the grunts had a tentacruel with water moves on him, or they’d have been sitting around for way too much precious time waiting for it to cool down. Once everyone had been lowered down, they split off in small groups to roam the halls and try to find signs of Mew2.1.

It wasn’t long before Jupiter saw it through an open door: a giant purple bat, unconscious and hung up by its- oh God, they didn’t- one of its top wings was missing. Jupiter’s hand went to her mouth

No!

Jupiter spotted the outline of the creature's missing wing in a biohazard disposal unit, already split in two through a joint and a membrane. Could it even fly anymore? Could a crobat that couldn’t fly have any kind of life?

“Okay. Detour time,” Jupiter grumbled as she led her trio into the lab.

The braces from which Crobat was held in place opened easily, but noisily. As Jupiter and the grunts worked, the bat watched them with half-lidded eyes, barely stirring. The scabbed-over nub where his wing should have been twitched, like it didn’t remember it couldn’t hug her with it anymore.

When the last hook was undone, crobat fell to the floor, barely conscious. Jupiter cursed and took out a pokéball. Almost all pokéballs had anti-theft measures these days, and it would be extra odd if a criminal mastermind wasn’t using them. Still, she tapped the ball against the creature’s side. If there was any chance of them not having to drag a bat the size of a large man up a half-melted ladder, she wanted to know about it. Unsurprisingly, it wouldn’t go in.

“Alright, follow me,” Jupiter ordered, hefting the creature over her shoulder.

From the hallway, the sounds of battle rang off the walls. Clearly, the other grunts had run into trouble. There were few things more frustrating than trying to hurry while carrying something relatively heavy. Jupiter nearly tripped over her own feet twice while trying to double-time it to the ladder and asking herself if she’d just let Giovanni win because she’d been rescuing a bat. 

After what couldn’t have been longer than two minutes but felt like eternity, the trio got to the ladder. Jupiter ordered the grunts to climb it, then passed the bat up, pushing while they pulled to get it out of the base.

As Jupiter gave the bat a final shove out, she heard the sound of a man clearing his throat. She turned and saw a man in a whiteRocket uniform, blue-haired and long-legged. And surrounding him were the other five Galactic grunts that had come along. By the shamed looks on their faces, they’d been defeated.

“Am I… interrupting something?” the man asked.

Jupiter jumped down from the ladder and flashed an intimidating smile.

“Not one bit. I was hoping I’d get to beat down a Rocket lapdog after what you did to Mars.”

Archer’s eyes narrowed. “What, you mean giving her a safe home and a future as the most powerful criminal in the world?” Archer stepped forward, his hands going to his own belt. “It’s a dog eat dog world, and all you did was bring her into a losing team. One the likes of that Team Rocket has toppled many times before. One that essentially toppled itself after only six years.”

“And yet she still ran from you fuckers before Team Galactic even existed.” Jupiter grabbed her own pokéball and put her hand on her hip, trying not to wince. She must’ve hurt her shoulder a little carrying Crobat.

“Touché. But enough posturing. We both want the same thing,” Archer said, simply. “Neither of us want it destroyed. So let’s do this here, outside Mew2.1’s chamber, shall we?”

With that, Archer tossed out his houndoom, and Jupiter responded in kind with her skuntank. As the two fought, fire-to-fire with the coaching of their trainers, something bothered Jupiter. Throwing the ball had stung. Not sore-muscles stung, but stung, stung. She glanced over to her shoulder, saw the bandages, and instantly remembered: the zubats’ poison. Those needles must’ve gotten in deeper than she realized. She doubted the poison could do much other than make her useless for a bit, but still, she had to make this quick.

The two trainers yelled orders, their Pokémon exchanging orderly moves like they were in a Pokémon league arena instead of a criminal enterprise. And yet, Houndoom’s poisoned flames kept coming a little too close to Jupiter’s injury, burning her. The pins-and-needles impossible-to-move sensation was spreading. Much longer and the ladder would be a serious challenge.

“I can see right through you, y’know,” Jupiter sneered. “Quit being a coward and face me as a trainer.”

“I am,” Archer said coolly. “I’m following the rule book exactly: no moves can come close enough to the trainer that a healthy and uninjured person would be hurt or harmed.”

That got Jupiter to act. She threw out her Bronzong. “Go and open the lab door!” She yelled.

Archer looked back and watched as the bell-like Pokémon used its psychic powers to lift the metal door inch by inch, eventually wedging itself under the door. A few Galactic grunts slid under it.

Jupiter could’ve ordered her Pokémon to harm him while he was distracted, but who knew what other Pokémon he had on him? She did not need to die to vengeful Pokémon today. She could distract him instead.

“Golbat, suck him dry!” Jupiter ordered, sending out her bat. Archer immediately turned, panic in his eyes, and sent out his own golbat. With their aces snarling and posturing on the ground and their bats blocking each others’ flight and protecting their masters, Jupiter had Archer multitasking and distracted as the grunts retrieved Mew2.1 and carried it past them. Jupiter gave them a minute to be clear of the ladder, then ran for it herself. Her left arm was dead weight. Heck, by now her left hip and right pec were starting to be uncooperative. But she managed up the ladder until a teammate pulled her up the rest of the way. As she was pulled, she looked back at Archer. He wasn’t doing anything, just keeping himself safe from her Pokémon’s attacks and smiling up at her.

Okay, he’s got something up his sleeve, Jupiter thought. Nonetheless, she returned her Pokémon and got into the passenger seat of one of the trucks. “Mew2.1 is loaded in the other truck?” Jupiter asked into her walkie-talkie.

“Affirmative. It’s in the back seat.”

“And samples of whatever it was floating in?”

“Uh… there’s a lot still clinging to its skin. We can get several vials of it.”

“Close enough. Let’s move,” she ordered. She turned off her walkie-talkie and put her attention on the grunts in her own vehicle. “And get me an antidote. This zubat poison is killing me.”

The truck’s engine roared to life, and as they took off down the dirt road, one of the grunts in the backseat handed Jupiter an antidote. Between the two was Crobat, being sprayed down with a potion by one grunt and fed an oran berry by the other. It pulled the grunt feeding it into a hug and purred.

God, if I’d risked a mission for anyone else’s Pokémon, he’d have my head, Jupiter thought as she sprayed herself with antidote and felt her arm coming back to life. Deep down, though, she knew that she’d have done this even if Cyrus were dead and gone. That dumb bat had endeared itself to a lot of staff, herself included, and she couldn’t have left it to get tortured and disposed of no matter who it belonged to. Same went for her Pokémon, and Mars’ purugly, and a lot of other Team Galactic Pokémon that were a step above the faceless cannon fodder passed between grunts like standard-issue weapons.

She supposed that what Cyrus thought didn’t matter anymore. Not just because Mars was in charge now. No, it didn’t matter because the world was at stake. And it was about time to start acting like it.

Why did Archer let me get away?

—

Mars stood outside of the Veilstone building, nervous. Through the glass window, she could see the chrome floors that were now covered in carpet and the chrome walls now painted white. The secretary behind the front desk was shooting her occasional looks, probably wondering whether Mars was going to come in, and how much reason was enough to call the police on her for loitering.

This had to work, right? It’s not like Jupiter had argued with her- she’d fallen right in line after she’d heard that Cyrus was coming back and the new world was back on the table. And Saturn loved Cyrus. He’d gotten kind of reluctant about the whole violence and destruction thing towards the end, but he’d stayed loyal right until Cyrus disappeared. He’d be loyal now. She knew it.

But she’d chosen to wear her street clothes to this, just in case.

Mars stepped in. She didn’t bother talking to the secretary. She knew where Cyrus’ old office was, and, well, this wasn’t exactly a meeting she’d want on the record books. It took some wrong turns- some of the teleportation ports had been switched around since she’d left- but she found her way.

-

A knock sounded on Saturn’s door. Saturn looked up from his paperwork in time to see the door creak open and reveal a face he never thought he’d see again. “Mars…?”

Mars smiled warmly. “Saturn.”

Saturn stood up from his desk, walked over, and wrapped his arms around her. “Where’ve you been? I thought you ran off and joined Jupiter.”

“It’s a long, long story,” Mars said, in a voice that made Saturn think it might be a painful one.

Saturn separated from her and smiled. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay, and that you’re here. What brings you here?” It took everything Saturn had not to jump the gun and ask if Mars needed anything- a place to stay, a job, something he could help with.

“I’m here because I want to tell you the good news! I found Cyrus in the Distortion World, and I can get him out. It’s gonna be the four of us again, making the new world and-“

Saturn sighed heavily. “Mars,” he said with such gravity that she stopped in her tracks. “While you were gone, I uncovered Cyrus’ plans for the new world. He fooled us. His plan-”

“No, that’s the best part! I already know what he had planned, and he doesn’t believe in it anymore. He says he’ll follow me now, and I say we’ll plan the new world together. No lies this time.”

Saturn squeezed his eyes shut. He did not want to hear that. Finding out Cyrus’ true plans had hurt. It felt like betrayal, because it was. But it had also made things really simple for him: he’d fallen for an evil man, and he would never, ever do anything like that again.

This complicated it. The idea that he could keep lashing out at the world in the name of good, and to keep doing so with Mars and Jupiter… that he could spend time with Cyrus as an equal again, that it might be how it was before Team Galactic…

Do I want that?

Mars was still waiting for his answer.

Some horrible part of him did want it, but…

No. He couldn’t. Not after seeing so many grunts fall into hopelessness after things had fallen apart. Not after having to fire too many of them due to drug habits they’d adopted to take the edge off, only to see them begging on the streets a month later because the acts of terrorism on their criminal records made them unemployable. They’d hurt enough people. He’d hurt enough people. And he wouldn’t give anyone the chance to bring him to that side again. Not Mars. Definitely not Cyrus, who was far more persuasive, still had a piece of his heart, and for all Saturn knew, could be lying to Mars about abandoning his old ideals.

“Mars… absolutely not.”

“But… but why?” Mars cried. 

Saturn looked down. He didn’t want to see her face. Those eyes that were probably filling up with tears.

“I don’t think I can answer that on the spot. But the answer’s no. You have a place with me if you ever want to leave this life behind. But I’m never going to be a criminal again, and I don’t want to talk to Cyrus again, ever. Not after last time.”

There was a long silence between them, and then Mars broke it. “So we meant nothing to you? All the time we spent together, all the work we put in, all the people we brought together, you’re just going to throw it all away?” she yelled.

She went on like that for a while. Saturn blocked most of it out, but the sound of Mars’ voice alone made him wince.

“You have no idea what I went through for it to be the four of us again,” Mars cried.

Saturn kept his head down, quiet until he was sure Mars was done talking. “I’m sorry,” he said.

Mars wiped her eyes and took a breath. “If there’s no changing your mind…” she said, more clearly now. “Then when we get Cyrus back, I’ll tell him to stay away from you. Okay?”

“Thanks. I’d like that,” Saturn said. “If you go now, I won’t call the officers. But if it comes to it down the line, I’ll have to stand against you. For the world’s sake.”

“Okay. Goodbye, Saturn.”

“Goodbye, Mars.”

Mars left through the door. She looked back as Saturn closed it. Locked it.

—

Now safely at the Rocket main base, Archer reported to Giovanni in his office. On Giovanni’s monitor was a security feed of the secret lab. Of Mew2.1’s shattered and empty containment tube.

“Well?” Giovanni said, hands steepled.

“It was a situation 2-A5. In other words, they made off with both Mew2.1 and the crobat, and Mars wasn’t there.”

Giovanni looked down, mildly disappointed. “But they’re unharmed. Both the crobat and Mew2.1 are unharmed.” 

“Yes, sir. I allowed the team evacuating Cyrus’ crobat to remove it from the area before we battled. There is no reason to believe they could have found or removed its internal tracking device, and they left all of the distortion world samples we extracted from its wing. As for Mew2.1, I think they’ll have it operational before long. They’re probably at their base now, celebrating their victory.”

Giovanni smiled and changed the screen to show a map of Sinnoh- one with a glowing red dot right in the side of Mount Coronet.

“Excellent. You know the protocol. We’ll strike when they least expect.”

Chapter Text

Crobat unloaded itself from the truck once they arrived at the Neo Team Galactic Base, looking a fair bit more alive now thanks to the first aid. It crawled after the group in the silly, awkward way crobats did in areas they couldn’t fly, smiling doggishly.

Thank God we don’t have to carry him, Jupiter thought. She then turned her attention to the other truck, from which the grunts were unloading Mew2.1. It seemed undamaged. Good. Mission accomplished. She could tend to her own Pokémon team now. As she walked to the medical bay, she contacted Charon on her pokétch.

“Charon? Yeah, mission accomplished. We got Mew2.1. And Cyrus’ crobat, to boot. It felt too easy. Get a team of scientists over to the garage to do a thorough medical screening on both of them and make sure Team Rocket isn’t doing anything funny. And Mew2.1 will need a containment tube with appropriate fluids once you’re done with it. You’re the scientist, it’s covered in the goo it was floating in, do your chemical analysis thingy and make sure that Mew2.1 doesn’t disintegrate after all we did to get it here, capiche?”

Once that was done, Jupiter could go back to her usual routine.

It wasn’t too much later- forty minutes at most, when Charon approached Jupiter as she buffed out the scratches her bronzong had received in the last mission.

“Ahem- Master Jupiter? We’ve found something odd in the ribcage of the crobat you brought in.”

Jupiter buffed harder. “Urgh, what is it? A bomb? I knew those Rocket freaks were up to something…”

“Well, actually,” Charon said in that condescending voice of his, “it’s a tracking device. We put Crobat under, removed it, and sent one of the grunts to take it to a second location to confuse Team Rocket. But I can’t guarantee that the time the tracking device spent here won’t lead them to us.”

Jupiter stood up, growling, and yelled as she threw the rag across the floor.

“Of course,” Jupiter spat. “Of fucking course they would. Alright. We’ll tighten security. Let Mars know about this. And where exactly are you putting it?”

“Iron Island- I figured it would be deep enough to keep them occupied a good while. What confuses me, though, is why they put it in an easily-replacable crobat and not in Mew2.1.”

Charon’s comment, while disgusting, was entirely correct. If they hadn’t been able to remove the tracking device, they could’ve released Crobat. Mew2.1 would’ve been a lot harder to justify getting rid of, or even risk cutting open. But if they had left it to rot, or broken it, well…

“I think they wanted Mew2.1 intact,” Jupiter said. “I don’t know why. But that’s what it seems like.”

-

Weeks passed. Team Galactic was on high alert for an attack, but none came. No suspicious figures explored Iron Island, either. It was as though the tracker didn’t exist, and that Team Rocket had no interest in Mew2.1. Mars cautioned Jupiter against letting their guard down. Team Rocket tended to strike right when you felt safe.

Mars… Well, Mars was training, in every sense. Pokémon battles. The administrivia and minutiae of leadership. Learning to know it all, do it all, and make it look easy. And, of course, she was training in Mew2.1, which was showing great promise. After Charon had done a full analysis of the creature, it was decided that they would keep it if at all possible, and destroy it before allowing it in Team Rocket’s hands. It had the potential to handle the red chain without harm… or to do far worse things.

Charon had formulated a chemical mixture for its containment tube that was rapidly toughening its skin. But for the four hours a day that it was allowed out, Mars was using it. She’d strengthened her telekinesis and speed, and had learned to affect her Pokémon using its powers, giving them strange markings and enhanced strength and powers much like the original Mewtwo did for his own companions. And, as was very important for a psychic being, she learned to concentrate.

That’s where she was now, meditating on a snowy ridge on Mount Coronet while practicing her telekinesis. The boulders spun above her as Mars tried to concentrate. But as per usual, a thought gripped her.

Saturn offered me a way to get away from all this…

If she’d just gone straight with him in the beginning… it all could’ve been so easy. Someone else could’ve stopped Team Rocket- someone always did. If she hadn’t been so sold on the new world, on Cyrus, on the four of them… none of this would be her problem. Even now, she could destroy Mew2.1 so that no one could use it. But she also knew that turning away now that she might’ve led Team Rocket to Jupiter’s doorstep was something she could never do. Team Neo Galactic was impressive for a recovering team, but Team Galactic wasn’t a third of Team Rocket’s size even when Cyrus was around. Team Rocket would crush them if they didn’t have Mew2.1. Saturn had offered a ship out of this, but it had sailed back before this whole mess had expanded from saving her master to saving her team and the world.

And if she stopped, there’d be no chance of making it all worth it.

I will do it. I’ll bring about the new world. I’ll make all of it worth it.

…I wonder if Cyrus ever thought things like that, she thought. But, the boulders stayed in the air. Good. She was due to take on the champion in a week, by which she was assured that Mew2.1 would have tough enough skin to properly keep her safe.

When Mars returned to the base and peeled out of Mew2.1, the first thing she did was to check her pokétch. On it was a message from Archer that made her heart sink.

We know the location of your secret base. It is on the west side of Mount Coronet. Return Mew2.1 or face an invasion by Team Rocket at dawn, read the message’s first, terse paragraph. The second elaborated. You have run out of our mercy, Mars. Team Rocket has given up on you and will treat you no different from the rest of your team. Have Mew2.1 delivered to us at black market outpost 23b, and no blood will be shed.

For a while, all Mars could do was sit there, feeling her heart gallop in her chest. Alright, Mars decided, turning to put Mew2.1 back on again. Today it is. It was time to bring back Cyrus… and since she already intended to bring Giratina to its knees, she’d get Neo Team Galactic some new defenses while she was at it.

-

The door to the Pokémon League flew open, and Mew2.1 floated in, drawing the eyes of every worker and aspiring champion in the room. The nurse made a panicked reach for the phone, but Mars grabbed it with her telekinesis and threw it across the room. The bouncer muttered something barely coherent about badges before Mars stepped right past him. At the top of the first elevator, she locked eyes with a stunned and terrified Elite Four member: Aaron. Mars threw out her five Pokémon.

“What?” Aaron exclaimed. “What are you doing? My battles are one-on-one.” Mars picked Aaron up telekinetically and pinned him against a wall. His Pokémon sprang out to defend him, and they held their own against Mars’. But once Mars lent power to her Pokémon, the tide of the battle turned, and Aaron’s Pokémon were defeated.

Mars emanated a psychic command, loud enough for the whole building to hear: Let me challenge the champion, and no one gets hurt.

The rest of the Elite Four soon came to Aaron’s rescue, but Bertha’s ground-types, Flint’s fire-types, and even Lucius’ types were brought down just as easily by Mars’ enhanced team.

Let me challenge the champion, and no one gets hurt, Mars repeated. Her Purugly, its hair standing up from the power and sheer adrenaline, hissed at the pinned-up elite four. Do I have to start hurting them? Bring me the champion!

“Stop right there,” came a voice. Mars looked over to its source: a pubescent boy, determination etched into his features as he stepped through the door: Champion Lucas, with Giratina at his left and his nervous torterra at his right. “Whoever you are, if you’ve come here for a battle, you’ve got one. You, me, tournament rules, on Champion’s Platform. And once I defeat you, you’ll go straight to jail for hurting people. You got it?”

Mars put down the Elite Four members. All were in hushed silence. Lucas had acted out of desperation to get Mars to quit holding people hostage, and everyone knew what he’d put at stake: his Champion title. Most likely, he didn’t think Mew2.1 could be stopped if it weren’t bound to tournament rules. As for Mars, she sure wouldn’t mind taking his title- and the regional power that came with it- as a neat little bonus. She smiled and gave a stiff nod.

Mars, the Champion and the Elite Four crowded into the glass elevator, hearts pounding as it went through the floor where Champion Cynthia had once terrorized her challengers. 

The Pokémon League had been rebuilt since Cynthia’s defeat, an arena built stories above the rest of the league on an elevated platform made of several feet of strong glass rimmed with black stone: an arena where Giratina didn’t have to hold back. As the others took shelter in the black stone viewing room, Mars floated over that field of glass, heavily cracked by many battles, and took her place. Her Pokémon gathered behind her- still relatively fresh, and still enhanced. There was no rule, to her knowledge, of keeping Pokémon out between battles, and their enhancements wouldn’t fade unless they were returned to their balls.

Ready? Mars asked, looking into Lucas’ eyes. His face read as suave, confident, unreadable- like he was styling himself after Cynthia and trying to convince everyone that he had things under control. But his fists were balled up and shaking at his sides.

“Ready,” Lucas breathed, throwing out a milotic with leftovers tied around its neck with a red ribbon.

Mars ordered her luxray forward.

“Toxic,” Lucas ordered, sounding the calmest he’d been since he’d shown up.

Milotic spat acid at Luxray, and it struck- not hard enough to knock her down, but hard enough to poison. Lucas’ play was obvious- make use of Milotic’s defensive prowess and play the long game. No doubt it had helped him defend his title countless times before, as it had Cynthia’s before him.

Mars issued the psychic order to use thunder. Sparks rippled across Luxray’s red-streaked mane, and it reared up and released a bolt thicker than a decades-old tree. Milotic fell like a fragile deck of cards, and Lucas’ face fell with it, leaving him looking like the terrified little boy who’d taken on Team Galactic no more than a year ago.

The battle drew on, quick, desperate and brutal. His torterra took out her luxray with a sinlge earthquake. Her crobat survived a stone edge and took it out with two hurricanes. His mammoswine took out her crobat. And on it went. New cracks split across the glass as the two battled over the fate of the region. Of Mars’ friend. Of the championship. Of Team Galactic’s chances of surviving a war with Team Rocket. Of, potentially, the world. And behind its trainer, Giratina loomed, watching with rapt, red eyes.

Finally, after Mars’ Purugly caught Mesprit in its claws and mauled it to its defeat, Giratina was the only Pokémon left in Lucas’ roster.

I know it’s you, Mars, Giratina’s voice boomed, reverberating in her mind. Your team… the man I imprisoned… you awoke me from my slumber and caused me such hate that I left my dimension to rot in order to protect yours at this boy’s side. I will NEVER allow you to endanger this living world! Not while I still stand!

Giratina surged forward and grabbed purugly in its shadowy wing, hurling it against the glass wall. Purugly sprang back with a shadow claw, purple claws raking grey neck skin. Giratina reared up, grabbed Purugly by the scruff, and shook her until she was out of commission.

Step forward! Giratina demanded, still reared up. It looked taller than a one-story house, and its voice was deep and distorted.

Mars looked down at the arena: at that white line that dictated where trainers stood safely and where Pokémon fought, and stepped over it, declaring herself free game.

With a flap of its mighty wings, Giratina threw itself at Mew2.1. Mars dodged it faster than seemed possible, leaving Giratina careening towards the glass barrier. It turned and pushed off towards her. Mars readied a beam of energy- ice beam, probably, by its blue colour. It hit. Giratina slowed, stopped, was pushed back. Mars intensified her effort, strengthening her stance. It was ice beam- she could tell that now that she had an instant to think instead of instinctualize. Feet planted firm, watching Giratina writhe, she wondered if she’d done it.

Then, she felt the ground open up beneath her. Suddenly, she was plunging into that white space between worlds, and Giratina was rushing right at her. It grabbed her with its golden claws, and suddenly she was being pulled between realms. Her skin felt like it was being pulled off from the pressure, like she was being pulled through walls.

This isn’t worth the rules! Giratina screamed in a voice half human, half animalistic and all distorted almost beyond comprehension. I’ll destroy you atom by atom! I’ll kill you, like you tried to kill everyone!

Mars sent a burst of psychic energy through Giratina’s chest, knocking it away from her. It tumbled through a milk-white sky of the in-between as Mars kept pelting bursts of energy at it. Then, it regained its bearings and shot a hyperbeam at her from its mouth. Mars shot out of the way, flying through the void at max thrust- that beam looked strong enough to kill her, and though moving in this realm was easier than it had ever been before, it still felt like moving through gelatin. Speed alone wouldn’t win this. She swooped underneath Giratina and then over it, forcing it to do backflips as it attempted to keep aiming at her. It roared in frustration before seeming to wise up. Black shadow emanated from its body, filling the space at an alarming rate. Not knowing what was happening, Mars oriented herself: she could see the place where the in-between gave way to the Distortion World, and she shot off for it.

Mars broke through that one last barrier to the Distortion World and landed on a floating island, taking the moment to catch her breath and do some quick healing. The dusky purple sky seemed to be growing darker, until in the blink of an eye, it brightened back to normal. If Mars had to guess, she’d say that Giratina had realized she wasn’t there, had stopped doing whatever it had been doing, and was coming for her. Sure enough, Giratina burst into the realm a few dozen feet in front of her, and the chase was on. Mars flew through the realm, dodging rocky islands and beams of energy that Giratina sent after her. She caught one of the floating islands in her telekinesis and shot it back at the beast. It took the blow and kept coming, stretching out its tentacles and seeming no slower than before. 

If it catches me, I’m dead. I need a finishing blow, and now! Mars thought as she fled. Then she remembered the giant island she’d first landed on, its bottom covered in crystal stalactites. She circled back to the rift that Giratina had opened, picked up the island, sent it flying, and prayed.

The floating island struck Giratina in the chest like a comet, sharp stalactites getting stuck in its ectoplasm. Giratina flew backward, tumbling into the between. Mars shot after it, shooting projectiles until the great beast hit the barrier that separated the in between from her world. She planted her hand on Giratina’s chest and sent a burst of energy through it, forcing him through the second barrier. Before Mars was even aware of it, she and Giratina were in the blue sky of her world- her levitating, and Giratina tumbling down to the field of green below. It hit the earth, kicking up dust like a downed oak. And it did not move.

I won, Mars thought. I won! It probably wouldn’t make her a champion since they’d both definitely left the arena, but everything else she’d set out to do? She’d done it. She pumped her fist and let herself flip backwards in the air before realizing that she still had to get down there and bargain with the dragon.

Mars started lowering herself downwards, taking in the environment. The only landmark in sight was Pokémon League, its spire poking up between the stony hills that surrounded the grassy area. It seemed like she’d have some privacy to settle things with Giratina. She landed before it. Its eyes were half-lidded, and its expression almost reminded Mars of a guilty growlithe. It stayed passive even as Mars put her hand against its forehead.

You will do as I command, Mars said to the beast, not unkindly. In exchange, I will spare your life.

What… do you command? came the echoey and defeated voice of Giratina.

Cyrus, she said simply. I want him here, alive, healthy, uninjured, and safe. And then I want you to escort us to the edge of Oreburgh City and leave.

Giratina planted its mighty feet and, with pain, rose to its full height. It opened a portal to the dusky realm. Tentacles of shadow emerged from its chest, and it reached into the Distortion World. Mars peered into the portal, and within a minute, the tentacles returned, one now wrapped around Cyrus’ limp and unconscious body and the other surrounded with what looked like a dust-filled wind. Most of his face had begun to distort by now, and his hand no longer resembled a hand but rather a red and skin-coloured pixelated mess, but the strange “dust” was finding its way onto him, rebuilding what was lost until he was freshly scarred where the distortion had been, but otherwise unharmed.

Giratina dragged him unceremoniously onto the grass and glared at Mars. It is done. He will awaken once you are transported to Oreburgh, no less intact than the day you lost,  Giratina explained.

Thank you, Mars said. One more thing. I want the ability to call on you.

Giratina snarled at the thought. You may have forced my hand, but you will not ever force me to serve you.

Not to hurt others, Mars explained. To protect Mew2.1 from falling into the wrong hands. Team Rocket is after it, and they want to use it to take over the world. I want a pact that I can call on you to keep it from them. Nothing else. Any other reason, you don’t have to come.

A low growl emanated from Giratina. Then, a flute of black glass appeared in Mew2.1’s hands. This flute can sense your intentions, Giratina stated. Any purpose but the one you stated, and it will break and embed every shard of itself through the caller’s skin and into their bones. Further, while I will help you to vanquish Team Rocket when needed, I will turn on you as soon as the deed is done. Do you understand?

Yes, Mars stated. Unfortunately, she’d bet on Team Galactic’s chances against Girtina before she trusted them to take on Team Rocket.

Very well. Giratina’s eyes bore down into Mars’, red and round and animalistic. You are a fool. You risked your life for this… broken, morally bankrupt wretch, and you seek to finish his work. I wish to believe that I have seen the last of you, Mars, but I doubt that I will be so lucky.

With that, Giratina stood, opened a portal to the outskirts of Oreburgh and another to the Pokémon League’s medical bay, and allowed itself to walk to its healers and flop down on its side.