Kalos

The laboratory she had been given by the Psychic Rebellion was spacious and expansive...a playground for her innovation and creativity to mess around with. The design was surprisingly in-depth, the floors being made out of smooth stone rather than dirt. She had to bring her own tools and machines , of course, but the fact that there were even desks to draw out plans, tables designed to organize these tools...it was impressive. They had even given her the rights to their own Pokemon force, telling her they could call upon them for help whenever she needed it. The offer was kind, but she hadn't taken them up on it just yet. She mostly preferred to work alone.

Despite working solo in such a laboratory, Lucy Reginald's immense power allowed her the ability to perform the work of hundreds. Objects floated to and from different stations almost on their own accord, performing tasks of varying simplicity while the human woman with the half-shaved head was focused on tinkering with a particular device. To her right, untouched ever since she brought it here, was a large block of solid igneous rock. The casket she had stolen from the Reginald Catacombs.

The primary item of her focus was an unusual-looking machine. She appeared to be tinkering with the inner workings. All across a nearby desk were some half-filled bottles filled with varying berry juice mixtures. A lot of them didn't look quite right.

After a moment, one empty bottle hovered over, as well as a collection of berries from a nearby crate. Lucy Reginald had harvested them earlier that day, so they were perfectly fresh. After closing up the machine chassis, the floating bottle secured itself to a nozzle, and the berries entered some input funnel. With a motionless flick of the switch, the machine whirred to life, courtesy of a small generator of Lucy's own design. The generator did not appear to require fuel, implicating something... darker...

After a minute, the bottle began to fill with an appealing green fluid. Lucy smiled. She then brought some more bottles and berries over to make sure the first try was not just a fluke. Sure enough, the bottles filled with the same green liquid. After repeated tests and fills, Lucy slapped a label on the machine, which read "FULL RESTORE 2.0.0.0."

"You certainly made yourself at home," Sonya called to Lucy from the entrance, looking around at the number of machines she had brought. She was used to the Meowstic's snarky greetings and thought nothing of them anymore. But even with her usual stoic (or angry) expressions, there was a look of marvel in her eyes as she lay witness to her stockade of equipment. She was impressed.

The filled bottles of Full Restore hovered to another machine, where they clamped to a series of nozzles. The bottles slowly emptied within the machine, which was connected in many ways to the pair of gauntlets Lucy had worn at the Estate. Lucy looked to Sonya with a gentle smile. "I never had one, but I like to think the world is my home."

Sonya chuckled darkly, "Heh...you and Zane both." She had her toolbox with her and set it down in the corner of the room, gathering her supplies. They had only convened together on ideas a couple times since the initial offer, but already they were finding an intellectual groove to meld towards...a synergy with their work.

Her ears twitched, as if suddenly remembering something, "Oh hey, by the way, don't go outside for a little while."

"Hm?" Lucy didn't plan to for the next while, but the mention of it had to mean something was up. "Everything alright?"

"For us, yeah. For the rest of Ruula..." she took a newspaper from her toolbox, weathered and worn, and slid to towards the woman, "Not so much."

Without even moving a hand, the slip of newspaper zipped in front of her, where she began to read. As she did, many of the floating objects began to safely settle in various spots as her focus diverted entirely towards the information. A brow cocked upward as she examined the colour photo that accompanied the article.

"A Diancie," Lucy pursed her lips, "Would be useful to create lenses, but it cannot create the ultimate lens..." She sighed, "Such a blunder that I was excited; I should've realised what he was wearing... I mean..."

"He?" the Meowstic was puzzled.

"Oh, Radegast," Lucy replied nonchalantly, "He was wearing this glove- or gauntlet or whatever. It was black and glassy. He-" Something about the photo caught her eye. It wasn't the Diancie, but rather the rippling purple... something... that surrounded the Diancie. The manifestation that had enough of a presence for the camera to pick up. "Well well," Lucy smirked, then cleared her throat, "Sonya, do you know what this is?" She placed the cutout onto a clear spot on the table and lightly rapped a fingernail on the purple energies that surrounded the Diancie.

The Meowstic walked over to investigate, nodding her head, "Yeah. Shadow energy. We found some Pokemon corrupted by it before. Very dangerous stuff."

"Interesting how it's being used to assume a leadership role, despite how utterly useless it is," Lucy shook her head in disappointment.

"It's powerful, but it does too much to our bodies to even use it, much less control it," Sonya stared at the photo, "But this...Queen Melaine...I can't tell if it's the poison in her body talking or if she has successfully harnessed it. Usually Pokemon lose a grip on themselves and become warped in negativity, which makes them truly cold-blooded, but too drunk on power to actually use it effectively. But in her case..."

"Either way, it's no skin off my nose," Lucy flipped the paper half-heartedly to see if there was anything else to read. "A creature like that tends to attract heroic types to try to stop her. When they're focused on," She stifled a giggle, "the Queen," She couldn't really hold back her giggling, "How narrow-minded." Lucy then cleared her throat, "Uhm. Yes. So. No one's paying attention to us anymore with a threat on that level."

"Exactly," the Meowstic pointed out, "So this would be a good time to gather supplies, maybe find a Legendary or two to truly max out the Master Blaster's power. All the while, Crimson and company will deal with the Diancie. By then, they won't even see us coming."

Lucy sighed, "It's a shame Uncle bought time to escape. I'd have gotten that Palkia as well." Her uncovered eye began to twitch around as if in recollection, "And if they learned from Mother, they'd assume I had her old tracker... but I don't- that's been lost in the Shadow Dimension... So, in lieu of Little Raddy's glove, I do have a perfect candidate in mind. Oh, but where are they now?"

"I had the grunts coast the entire region," Sonya snarled in disgust, "We couldn't find 'em. He may have left after your little encounter in Shalour. But..." Sonya raised a brow towards the Reginald, "Who did you have in mind?"

"The one who gave the glove to him," Lucy replied, "I managed to glean some information from my cousin- his mental ward wasn't exactly... top-notch. An old client I hadn't seen in forever, calls himself The Marine. He's probably used the Master Ball I sold him in order to catch such a creature."

Lucy leaned back, akin to a ballet dancer's stretch. She sighed harshly, "The ocean's a big place..." She began stepping gingerly about the lab, deep in thought, as objects began to resume their seemingly automated duties once more. "This Diancie's so narrow-minded," her train of thought suddenly switched back, "Queen of Ruula? How weak. How pathetically small-scale. If I didn't have better things to do..." She looked to the stone casket. "Alright,"

Without looking, the two gauntlets attached to the machine unhooked themselves and zipped over to encase both hands. A series of whirrz emitted as parts of the gauntlets set themselves, and a series of thick coiling cable rolled along her arms and plugged into the cybernetic grafted spinal attachment. "Alright alright alright," With her hands thrust forward, the stone casket shuddered.

At-first, nothing seemed to have happened. However, with a raised palm, the stone casket lifted. Through the bottom, however, the stone seemed to melt around what appeared to be an old, well-preserved, yet horribly burnt corpse. While the corpse lay spotless on the table, Lucy moved the casket off to the side. As soon as she let go, however, the once-solid stone suddenly dumped into a pile of dust in a corner.

"Thank you Reggie," Lucy smiled gleefully, "This is a piece of history, that it is."

Sonya peeked over her shoulder, "Who is that?"

"Genis Reginald," Lucy could barely hide her own excitement in her voice as her hands gently caressed the charred face of a Gardevoir. The skin was blackened, but fit tightly against the shape of the skull. With no way to decompose, the level of preservation was astounding. It was perfect.

"The Vandal."

“No reconnaissance found. Proceed with landing protocols.”

“Captain, we have discovered a suitable location for our hideout. Our sensors have picked up a large cave system. Likely an abandoned mine shaft. There appears to be some strong fauna making their lairs in the place, but nothing our own forces can’t subjugate.”

“Acknowledged. Let’s take a closer look.”

The black vessel shifted its trajectory slightly, aiming for a peculiar-shaped continent on one part of the planet. It kept careful control of its velocity, ensuring its atmospheric entry would go unnoticed by any curious skygazers, while its stealth systems and sensors remained at full capacity.