I had never felt so much pure and unfiltered relief than the moment that Looker, my senior partner (and unofficial adopted father) blinked open his eyes. He didn't make a sound even as his eyes blinked blurrily, but with Bree and I pestering him with pats and shakes, his head slowly lolled to the side until he focused his half-lidded gaze on us.

"Aryan?" Looker asked in a voice husky with obvious confusion.

I tried to smile at him but even lifting the muscles of my cheeks sent stabs of pain through my face and down into my chest. Neptune wasn't kidding when she said that the aftermath of the poison I was injected with would be excruciating.

"Aryan and you were both being held in tubes in Team Galactic's research facility," Bree explained when I couldn't gather the strength to explain. "Satoshi and my friend Serena went to try and stop Neptune and the police are on their way here now."

Looker blinked up at Bree with obvious surprise in his expression. Soon his gaze turned to me and his face, which was normally always turned up in a sunny smile, looked unusually pale and stern as his lips pulled down into a frown.

"Are you hurt, son?" he asked me haltingly, sounding as if he'd swallowed a bag of nails that scratched his throat repeatedly on their way down.

"Got darted with some garvantula poison," I explained tersely, trying to ignore the sparks of pain going through me. "I'll be fine. What about you? What has Neptune done to you?"

Looker's eyes shone with sadness and he let out a long sigh, but I was surprised that he made no attempt to move other than to shake his head.

"That young woman has allowed her anger and pain to warp her mind. She wanted me to suffer as much as she believed that I made her suffer by arresting her grandpa. But that doesn't matter. Has Neptune begun to summon the legendaries yet?" Looker asked with a glint in his eyes that he always got when we were hot on the heels of a villain.

"Summon the what now?" Bree asked in obvious shock, glancing between Looker and me with obvious confusion. I had no idea what Looker was talking about either though and it was the female scientist who was still caught in Pikachu's Electroweb that responded.

"There is nothing you can do to stop Neptune's plan," she stated haughtily, even though she looked ridiculous with her singed lab coat and puffball of hair ringing her face. "This world with all its narrow-minded people will cease to exist very soon."

Looker didn't acknowledge the woman. I couldn't help but frown, regardless of the pain, when he continued to lie motionless on the ground and only turned his head slightly to look me in the eyes. I could see how serious he was and I felt myself leaning forward and slightly away from Bree's supportive shoulder.

"Listen to me," he ordered firmly through his scratchy throat. "Neptune has been planning for this moment for years and she seemed to enjoy seeing my reaction as she told me every step of her plan. The only way you can stop this is if you free the Lake Guardians from their cells."

"Lake Guardians?" I repeated. "You mean the legendary trio of Sinnoh? Neptune has them?"

"Yes," Looker responded with a slight cough. "She cloned them. She plans to get rid of the true Lake Guardians and all of Sinnoh's legendaries by forcing Giratina to trap them in the distortion world. She has red chains for Dialga and Palkia and a black chain she created for Giratina to control them. With the help of her cloned Lake Guardians she'll have no trouble bending them to her will and killing everyone who is not on or in Mount Coronet."

Bree sucked in a long breath, her green eyes widening in horror as she listened to Looker. I suddenly felt queasy and could hardly believe that Neptune was capable of condemning the entire population of the earth to death.

"Where are they?" I asked, stuttering only slightly at the pain going through me. "How do we set them free?"

"You'll need someone high up to get past the security points," Looker explained. I frowned again when he used his chin to point at the door of the lab that Bree's Garchomp ripped to shreds earlier.

"Looker... can't you move?" I asked, not able to keep the fear from my voice. Looker's eyes flicked over to mine and he gave me a wan smile.

"Neptune's goons shot me up with something to keep me immobile before they knocked me out. I don't know how long it will last," he explained briefly. I flinched from a shock of pain when Bree turned and bumped my shoulder as she looked past my head which was still leaning against her neck.

"Do we need the whole person or should we just take their hand?" she asked with an icy fury in her voice. I glanced over to see a brief flash of terror go across the female researcher's face before she got a hold of herself and tried to twist her expression into the haughty one from earlier.

"The security system is top-notch," Looker responded with what looked like hesitance in his expression as he eyed Bree. "It may not work if the person isn't alive and well."

"Pity," Bree responded breezily and the researcher whimpered slightly. I had not known that Bree could be so cold, and honestly, I would have been a little scared of her if she wasn't holding me so tenderly in her arms.

What a hero I turned out to be, needing to be rescued by a civilian, I thought to myself with chagrin.

"If we put her to sleep and have your Whimsicott use Psychic on her then we can use her handprint without her trying to escape," I suggested through gritted teeth as the electric zaps raced through my muscles when I attempted to shift my weight and move my body experimentally. Bree's arms wrapped around me more firmly and I felt jolts of pain where her fingers pressed into my clammy skin, but I bit back a groan and did my best to push through it.

"Where can we find the Lake Guardians?" I asked Looker as I slowly opened and closed my fingers. 

The pain was still there, but the more I moved the less intense it seemed to be so I started to wiggle my toes and gingerly bent my elbows, making sure that I didn't accidentally hit Bree's side. I felt the electric shocks racing up and down my body, losing strength with every passing second.

"They were being kept near my cell," Looker answered with a small frown. "They're kept in a paralytic state with some form of an electric collar. She didn't give me many details about how it worked though, but if there is any chance of you stopping Neptune you'll need the Lake Guardians' help to break the red chains."

"We can't just leave you here though," I pointed out with a harsh grunt as a particularly nasty jolt of pain went through me when I bent my knee up. Bree gently rubbed my slick back and I forced a tight smile for her, wishing she wasn't seeing me in this pathetic state.

"Even if I could move, I'd only slow you down, son," Looker pointed out with a gentle smile. "I wish I didn't have to ask this of you, but there's no one I trust more than you to stop this madness."

I blinked down at Looker and even though I knew he was saying this to make me leave him behind, I couldn't help but feel a flash of pride at his words. Bree gently moved away from me and I was grateful when I didn't flop onto my back but was able to keep upright without her support. Stabs of pain went through my abdomen as I held up my own weight, but I watched her from the corner of my eye as she opened the drawer that Ash pointed out before. I was relieved when she not only removed my pokeballs but also my shirt. I was confident in my body, but it felt weird to be shirtless in this tense situation.

"Do you have any idea how to get where you were kept?" Bree asked as she handed me my shirt.

To my embarrassment, I winced loudly as I lifted my arms to pull it on. Bree ended up helping me pull it over my clammy skin from the residue of the green liquid in the tank and the sweat that my body was still expelling (probably a side effect from the poison still in my system).

It took a few tries for me to get on my feet and Bree pulled my arm around her shoulders confidently. I hated feeling so weak, and I wished that I could berate Bree for following after me when things were so dangerous. Yet her confidence was almost palpable, and I honestly was glad to have her powerful pokemon team along for the ride we were about to go on.

Looker described the path down to where he had been kept for the last few months as best as he could recall. I tried to suggest that we at least put him on the examination table instead of leaving him on the floor, but he insisted that it was a waste of time. Knowing that my guilt would be unbearable if I let anything happen to him, I selected a pokeball and released Pyroar. To my relief he let out a low growl when he appeared and immediately moved towards me, licking the back of my hand and letting out a strange mewling sound as he sniffed me as if to make sure I was alright.

"I'm fine, buddy," I said with a forced cheerfulness in my voice. "I need to go now. Will you stay and protect Looker? They paralyzed him somehow and he's defenseless."

Pyroar let out a rumble and immediately took a defensive position next to Looker's inert body.

"Be careful, you two," Looker cautioned softly from his spot on the floor.

"We will," Bree answered for the both of us.

She had already returned her Garchomp and Empoleon and her Whimsicot floated over to us with the now sleeping scientist. After a quick discussion, we had Whimsicott break the Electroweb around her so that it wouldn't look quite as suspicious and then Bree led me through the hallways.

I'd been wondering why no other researchers had come in after the commotion Bree caused trying to rescue me, but as we stepped through the doorway I blinked in shock to see the floor littered with people in lab coats who all were either knocked out or wrapped up in Electrowebs. I glanced around and reminded myself to challenge Ash to a proper battle after all this was over. He and his pokemon were obviously strong opponents.

"I've never met a legendary pokemon before," Bree whispered as we stepped carefully over the many unconscious scientists. "Have you?"

"Nope. Can't say that I have," I responded, trying to keep my tone light and conversational to ease the pressure that I could feel threatening to bury both of us.

"Maybe the Lake Guardians will agree to take a picture with us after we save the world," Bree suggested as she paused in front of a familiar door that would lead out to the mountain tunnels and away from the headquarters that was covered in white stone. Whimsicott brought the sleeping scientist around to the scanner and I watched with relief as the scanner turned green and the door began to open as slowly as ever.

"Wouldn't hurt to ask," I responded with a tight laugh, wincing slightly when I felt a zap going through my ribs at the motion. Bree glanced up at me with obvious worry on her face but then it slowly melted into a determined mask.

"I will," she announced resolutely. "We'll find the Lake Guardians, release them, and stop Neptune from destroying the world."

"'Course we will," I replied with what I hoped seemed like an equally confident tone.

Bree gave me a slightly shaky smile and gripped my wrist, making sure she had a firm hold on me as if she thought I might fall at any second. Which I honestly couldn't say with certainty that I wouldn't.

"Let's go," she said, and we stepped into the tunnel.

It didn't take long for us to find the stairs that Looker described to us. With Bree's help and a few well-timed Psychic lifts from her Whimsicott, we made our way down the stairs that seemed to have been carved directly into the mountain. Just as Looker said after we went down a few flights we didn't run into any more researchers or grunts so our progress was much quicker. To my relief, the toxins in my body seemed to be wearing off for the most part because every step no longer sent a jolt of pain up to my spine, but as my unnatural sweating finally stopped my entire body began to shiver.

"Aryan, take this."

I blinked mutely at the water bottle that appeared in front of my face. Glancing down at Bree I could see the concern in her green eyes but her face was set in a determined mask of stubbornness as she continued to hold the bottle out to me. It was difficult to even whisper my thanks to her because my throat felt so constricted, but I managed to get the water bottle open and proceeded to guzzle half of its contents. I felt almost instant relief as the cool water washed down my throat and I managed a genuine smile when I handed it back to her.

With only the artificial lights strewn along the stairs, there was no way of telling how much time had passed. We finally got to a floor that had two tunnels branching off of it on either side of the staircase that continued to go down to who knew how deep down into the earth's crust. Luckily though, Looker had described this landing well and we followed his direction and took the left-hand tunnel. It ended at a fortified steel door with a sensor pad like the ones I'd seen up in the upper levels. Whimsicott positioned the sleeping researcher so that her hand pressed against the sensor. I held my breath, hoping that this lady would have high enough clearance to let us in, and it came out in a sigh of relief when the sensor turned green and the door cracked open.

Whimsicott unceremoniously shoved the sleeping researcher towards the clearing and let go of his psychic hold on her, dropping her in a heap on the ground. I didn't have a moment to spare on her though as I eagerly followed Bree into the room. It looked eerily similar to the room I had just left with an examination table in the middle and three tubes lined up against the far wall, although luckily those tubes were empty. Instead, my attention was focused on the three cages built into the wall on my left where three small bodies were lying motionless.

Bree's Garchomp made quick work of the metal bars and Bree and I took out the three Lake Guardians and laid them gingerly on the examination table. Just as Looker described, faintly glowing collars were strapped around each of their necks and all three were as still as death.

"Looker said these were electrical collars, right?" Bree asked as she gingerly poked at one of the collars. It didn't seem like the most intelligent thing to do, but she didn't get shocked so I didn't bother to scold her for it.

"I think so. Do you think your Ampharos could jam the signal?" I suggested as I looked at the three unassuming pokemon who were known to be some of the strongest pokemon in all of Sinnoh.

"Great idea!" Bree agreed with a grin before releasing her Ampharos.

Ampharos seemed confused at first when we explained what we wanted him to do, but after a few experimental zaps of electricity at the collars he seemed to understand. It took less than a minute for him to get all three collars to release. Bree and I quickly removed them from Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie's necks. Several tense seconds went by and I nearly jumped when Bree gently gripped my wrist.

"What do we do if they don't wake up?" Bree asked as her fingers twitched against my wrist, showing just how much emotion she was trying to hide behind her usual cocky facade.

"Uooiu..." I almost cried at the soft mewling sound coming from one of the limp pokemon in front of us. Soon all three of the Lake Guardians were groaning and moving around as if they were waking up from a very long and very bad nightmare.

"Hello," Bree greeted them awkwardly as she stepped forward and crouched down so that her face was more on the same level as the groggy pokemon. "I'm sure you've been through an awful lot, but there is a crazy lady who is trying to destroy the world and we really really need your help to stop her!"

I nearly laughed at how absurd this whole situation was that I found myself in. Before any of us could make a sound though, a sudden echoing roar rang out. It sounded as if Mount Coronet itself was screaming in rage and the room we were in shuddered. I looked up in shock as dust particles fell from the rocky ceiling and my entire body tensed, ready to grab Bree and flee in case the room collapsed. However, the quaking subsided and the roar came to a stop as well.

Bree and I exchanged charged glances before looking over at the three Lake Guardians. The roar seemed to have woken them up and I could see anxiety in their little faces as they glanced up as if they could see straight through the mountain to the source of the roar.

"Please," I said in a voice that to my consternation was trembling a bit. "Please help us stop them."

Mesprit was the first to lift itself off the examination table and with some gentle prodding Azelf and Uxie followed it. They joined hands and, to my surprise, Azelf and Uxie held out their open hands to Bree and me. Not sure what was going on exactly, but knowing that I wasn't about to turn down a mythical pokemon's help, I took Azelf's little paw/hand into mine and Bree's into the other. Once our circle was complete, purple energy began to ripple all around us and suddenly I felt myself being pulled away from the dark and dusty room and into a blindingly bright tunnel.

No matter what happens, I told myself as I screwed my eyes shut and clamped my hands even more firmly around Azelf and Bree, I will not let Neptune have her way without a fight.