Let's push on.......
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CHAPTER THREE: The Great Snattle Chase
ONBS's skyscraper--one of Orre's most spectacular buildings, topped only by the grand Realgam Tower. Nestled perfectly in a serene corner of the Northwest Orre region on the border of the Orre Desert, the building stood as a grand symbol of freedom and truth.
Rich and Anabel pulled up and onto the tiled front area of the skyscraper, then got off their scooter and went inside. A young girl, wearing a beautiful blue dress to complement her purple hair sat at a desk right inside. A large sign with the ONBS logo was behind her, and next to her stood a Breloom.
"Welcome to the ONBS Skyscraper!" she greeted cheerfully. "How may I help you today?"
Rich opened his mouth to speak, but before any words came out.......
"Breloom! Breloom LOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!"
Breloom suddenly jumped over the desk and onto Anabel--knocking her down-- then began cheerfully crying out its name while it danced on her. She tried to roll over and get up, but Breloom landed on her back and kept dancing----then it accidentally loosed a Stun Spore attack. The receptionist and Rich both jumped up in horror.
"Breloom, no!"
"ANABEL!!!"
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Some time later, in another room on the first floor, Anabel finally woke up. She was in a cot set up in a research room, and surrounding the bed were Rich, the receptionist girl, and her Breloom. The girl had a rather large medical kit filled with all kinds of medicines opened on a nearby table.
"What......what happened?"
"I'm so glad you're alright! This miserable Breloom attacked you with Stun Spore while it was dancing on your back. Knocked you clean out."
"Please....." the receptionist begged, "please forgive my Breloom. Ever since it evolved from a Shroomish a year ago, it's been getting overly eager with guests all the time."
Rich looked at Anabel, who sat up and nodded.
"It's okay. You Stun Spored me but I forgive you, Breloom."
"Breee......Brelooom....."
The door of the room slid open, and a young man in a white and yellow shirt who was wearing goggles on his head walked in.
"Megg, is she alright now?"
"Yes, Secc, she just woke up. Seems like everything's resolved now."
"Good. Please, Megg, take Breloom and allow us a moment."
"Of course. Breloom, let's go."
"Breloom bre breeeeeee!!!"
Megg left the room, Breloom bounding after her. Secc took a seat as Rich sat down on the cot next to Anabel.
"Rich and Anabel, Michael told me you'd be heading over here from Pyrite. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Secc, the leader of ONBS."
"Pleased to meet you."
"You should do a report on how bad Pyrite bean burritos are. I ate one and haven't felt right ever since."
"Hahah! You'd be surprised how many times I've heard that, actually. Let's get down to business. Reports have been swamping us about Shadow Pokémon attacks on people from all parts of Orre. Not only that, we've recently come into the possession of information that says Enigma Shadow is preparing a new 'ultimate Shadow Pokémon,' one said to have more fearsome powers than XD001 Shadow Lugia or XD-02 Shadow Mewtwo did. XD003."
"XD003?!!" both Rich and Anabel screamed at once.
"It seems to be so. We don't know exactly who it is, but we have recieved a letter from someone claiming to be the leader of Enigma Shadow. Here....." Secc took a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. ".....I'll read it to you.
Dear ONBS,
I am honored to inform you that Enigma Shadow has returned and is in your precious Orre Region right now. We are developing two things that will help our plan---together they will be able to turn any Pokémon into a Shadow Pokémon! You can't seriously think you'll be able to stop us. My mentor Dr. Yung would be proud of me for the work I've done based on his original Mirage System. The day when all Orre and all the world bows to me and XD003 will soon be at hand!
~The Mastermind of Shadow Pokémon.
.......Dr. Mitchell Yung. Do you know the story behind him?"
Rich and Anabel shook their heads 'no.'
"I see. Mitchell Yung was a promising young Pokémon researcher at the Pokémon Institute. He studied alongside Professor Samuel Oak of Kanto and Professor Krane---many of the most prominent scientists in Pokémon research studied with him. He was expelled from the institute, however, because his experiments into what he called 'Mirage Pokémon' were cruel to the poor creatures."
"Cruel?"
"What did he do?"
"He was convinced he could find the data for rare Pokémon by draining the memories of other Pokémon---a very dangerous, unsafe, and abusive process. He eventually did succeed in creating a system that could generate Mirage Pokémon on his orders, but some brave heroes defeated him and his ultimate Mirage Pokémon with the help of a Mew that was produced from a malfunction in the Mirage System. Defeated and in shambles, Yung went into his burning lab and committed suicide by jumping into the flames. But I'm getting way ahead of myself. I invited you two here for a television interview. I think that if we show we're not afraid of Enigma Shadow and their crimes, it'll be a huge plus to the effort to topple them. What do you say?"
"What do you think, Anabel? You decide."
"Sure, let's do it."
"Very good. Come with me to the makeup room so we can get you prepped and set to go on right away."
All of them stood up, and Secc led Rich and Anabel out of the room and onto an elevator. They went up one floor, got off, and walked down the hall to another door. Secc opened it, and they went in.
"I have a question, Secc."
"Yes, Rich?"
"What are all the other floors of the skyscraper for if the main studio, makeup and R&D are all on the first two floors?"
"More R&D, and a few other studios. On the top floor my co-chair Nett and his partner Bitt work on the tech side of our operations. Please wait here, and I'll have attendants to you shortly."
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A short while later, after Rich and Anabel had been powdered and had their hair fixed, Secc returned.
"Ready to go?"
Rich and Anabel jumped out of the chairs.
"Of course!"
"We're more than ready!"
"Great to see! Come, the studio's down this way."
Secc led Rich and Anabel further down the hall, stopping at a large metal door. "ONBS MAIN STUDIO FLOOR" was painted on it, and above it was a sign---currently turned off---that said "ON THE AIR." Secc took them in, where two men stood at large TV cameras and spotlights shone on the desk where the purple-haired, red-dressed newscaster sat. Secc sat Rich and Anabel to her right and stepped back behind the cameras.
"Hello, there!" the newscaster greeted. "I'm Ancha, pleased to meet you."
"The pleasure's ours."
"Nice to meet you, Ms. Ancha."
"Okay, guys!" Secc called out. "We're gonna go live in three....two......go!"
The ONBS music played as Ancha turned to one of the cameras.
"This is ONBS News, and today we bring you a special report. They've been chasing Enigma Shadow through Orre after trouncing them one year ago, and today we have them live in the studio. Welcome Rich and Anabel Mistbloom! Welcome to ONBS News, we're honored to have you."
"We're honored to be here, Ancha."
"Rich. What got you involved in the fight against Enigma Shadow?"
"Well, five years ago I was the champion of the Battle Tower in Larousse City. During a battle the Wishmaker Tower bombing occured, and my parents and fiancee perished in the tragedy."
"Wow! But I understand there's more to that than meets the eye?"
"Yes, there is. My parents sadly were killed, but Maria's death was a fake. She returned and revealed herself as the leader of Enigma Shadow, and to stop their mad plan, I had to defeat her and her Shadow Mewtwo."
"Whoa! What a twist that must have been. Anabel, let's have your take on this whole thing. How'd you meet Rich? When did you know you wanted to spend your life with him? And your take on the battle against Enigma Shadow?"
"I'm the owner of the Larousse Battle Tower, Ancha. That's how I met Rich---he made a comeback one year ago and we met then. How I knew I wanted to spend my life with him? I guess......he really watched out for me and took care of me during our adventures to stop Enigma Shadow. At one point I realized he'd give his life for me, and that's when I knew I was madly in love with him. Fighting Enigma Shadow's been crazy---the battle promoter who worked for me was actually a Shadow Admin, as were many people I thought were once my friends."
"Can you name names?"
"Yes, they were many people I knew from the old Battle Frontier. Dome Ace Tucker---the promoter---was one. Then there was Pyramid King Brandon, Pike Queen Lucy, Factory Head Noland, and Palace Maven Spenser. All of them except my closest friend, Arena Captain Greta, who was captured by Enigma Shadow. They had planned to use us as birthing machines to produce a new race of humans that would only obey Queen Shadow's orders."
"What a tale! And to think it's still playing out, now in our very own Orre Region. Rich, Anabel, thank you for your time. This concludes our ONBS News Special Report."
The ONBS music played again as the lights came back up.
"Cut!" Secc called out. "That was excellent work! Good job, Ancha, sharp as always. Rich, you and Anabel did a fine-----"
Suddenly, Secc's P*DA began to ring.
"Excuse me."
Secc took out his P*DA, flipped it open, and read the new e-mail. The look on his face slowly became one of shock, which Rich and Anabel picked up on.
"Something the matter?" Rich asked as Secc put the P*DA away.
"There's trouble out at the Outskirt Stand cantina. An old friend of ours named Hordel says there's some Enigma Shadow thugs out there trying to pull off a heist. I hate to be imposing, but do you think you could go check this out for us? The Outskirt Stand is far out to the southeast. It's shaped like an old locomotive, so you can't miss it."
"I'm sure we can handle whatever they throw at us. Rich, let's go."
"Right. Secc, try and gather information on their movements and let me know what you discover. Here's my P*DA number."
Rich gave Secc the P*DA number, then he and Anabel rushed out.
As Rich and Anabel set out for the Outskirt Stand, we now know that Enigma Shadow has recovered enough to start preparations on XD003, a new ultimate Shadow Pokémon. But what species is it, and how does it relate to Dr. Yung and his Mirage Pokémon system? Stay tuned!
