This makes absolutely no sense! Gabe thought as he and Tropius hovered above the Great Marsh at the source of the explosion.

Magikarp were flopping all over the place, and several swamp-dwelling Pokémon were looking dumbfounded at the crater that was punched into the middle of the Marsh itself. Several trees were toppled from the blast, resulting in the destruction of Starly nests and Yanma dwellings. Everything was in chaos.

As he surveyed the damage, he could see the competitors arriving on the scene with Wake leading the way. While he observed the gathering, a pained cry soon caught his attention. Tropius, upon hearing the sound, immediately recognized it. Gabe snapped his attention toward the sound and was alarmed by what he saw. Just below, the female Tropius he'd met upon his arrival, was struggling to pull her leg out from beneath a fallen tree.

Tropius instantly bolted from the sky toward her, Gabe clinging tightly as they descended. Tropius groaned as she tried to push herself up from her sideways position. The tree was far too heavy for her to lift and she had used up most of her energy trying to do so. At least the Pokémon she'd rescued from the tree was safe. A roar from above her caught her attention, prompting her to look up and see the familiar face of her mate. Tropius landed and Gabe hopped off his back, reaching for the two Pokémon on his belt he knew would be able to move that tree.

"Lairon, Hakamo-o, let's move that tree quick!"

Hakamo-o and Lairon positioned themselves on either side of the tree. Gabe and Tropius joined them and with a command from Gabe, they began lifting with all their might. With a mighty heave, the tree was forced off the female Tropius, allowing her the chance to move again. When she didn't get up right away, Gabe instinctively looked down at her leg. It was damaged pretty badly, meaning she would need immediate medical attention.

"Dammit..." Gabe muttered, scrunching his brow in annoyance as he mulled the situation over. "I can't just leave her here like this..."

And I can't risk letting Shaymin out either... so how do I—?

That's when he looked up to see that strange Kirlia from before, staring at him from an upside down position. Seeing her startled him, causing him to fall backwards and land on his rear. Giggling, Kirlia turned herself upright and floated over to him and then pointed over to the downed Tropius.

"What's that? You wanna help her?" he asked, getting an affirmative nod from the mischievous prankster who hovered over to the Tropius and held out her hands.

A pink, healing aura, pulsed from her hands into the body of the female Tropius. Soon, the wound began to fade and whatever was broken or damaged, was soon mended and able to be used again. Rising slowly, the female Tropius stood up and looked down at Kirlia who smiled happily up at the sauropod. The female Tropius lowered her neck and gently nuzzled Kirlia and then moved over to Gabe, nudging her head into his hand as a sign of thanks.

"Glad to see you're feeling better. You should probably get on out of here though. Whoever caused this is probably still around here somewhere," Gabe cautioned her.

Seeming to understand what he'd said, she gave her mate one last look before soaring off into the sky. Kirlia floated up beside Gabe and watched as Tropius flew off.

"Hey... thanks for helping back there. You're really amazing you know that?" Gabe told her, causing Kirlia's face to flush as she pretended to kick the air with her feet while hiding her hands behind her back.

Gabe chuckled. She was adorable to say the least and from what he could tell, very powerful as well. Her Heal Pulse fixed up Tropius within moments of her using it. A Pokémon like her on his team would be a valuable asset. He'd think more on that later as he had bigger issues to look into. The damage that was done to the marsh wasn't caused by any natural means. Several trees were splintered and the surroundings were almost completely annihilated by the blast, leading him to believe that this was caused by only one thing.

This was a Galactic Bomb... there's no other explanation for it.

Hiding within the walls of the temple was a young man with teal hair, wearing a Galactic uniform. He was looking down at some sort of data screen with a smile on his face. A long whistle left his lips as he analyzed the data being sent to his device.

"That was a doozy of a blast. I knew that it would have power, but this was far beyond my expectations. It nearly blew apart the entire marsh! Charon will be most pleased by these results. To think that this was just the prototype. Imagine—"

"What the real thing could do? Yes... that would be something to see wouldn't it?"

The youth's eyes widened, chills running down his spine as a honey sweet, yet cold as ice voice reached his ears. Turning slowly, his eyes met with a set of piercing violet globes. While he had very few encounters with the higher-ups themselves, he'd heard rumors of how each one conducted themselves. Mars was rather brash and violent while Saturn was more calm and collected. Then there was Jupiter, who was by far the most dangerous of the three being as cold and calculative as she was.

What alarmed him wasn't simply the fact that she was there, but that she was smiling. And this wasn't a casual smile as he'd seen whenever she made sport of Mars. This smile was a warning, to let him know that he'd royaly messed up. He could tell that's what it was by the way she was advancing toward him in a slow and deliberate manner, her stare stripping him of any willpower he had to move.

"Agents of Team Galactic are supposed to show more discretion than this. Did you learn nothing from our briefings?" Jupiter scolded as she reached out and grabbed the agent by his collar and hoisted him off the ground.

"I-I'm sorry Commander Jupiter! I was just following the orders of Commander Charon," he explained while panic set in.

Jupiter narrowed her eyes and then threw him to the ground and palmed her face with an exasperated sigh.

"That chubby-faced, fatass son of a—never mind," she grunted, shaking her head as she turned her head back to the agent. "I suppose I can't be too upset if you were following orders. However, as a senior commander, you really should have asked me first before detonating the bomb. Charon may be your superior but if there's a senior commander present, you answer to them, got it?" Jupiter said sharply.

"Yes, Commander!" The agent exclaimed with a salute.

"Good...now, scram. And next time, if you see either myself, Mars or Saturn, you report to them before doing something this stupid," Jupiter said flatly.

The agent gave her a nervous nod and then proceeded to exit the marsh. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to the front of the temple and looked out at the mess that had been created. She didn't really care that the bomb went off in the Great Marsh as it was approved to be a testing site for the prototype. She couldn't care less about the Pokémon inhabiting it either as none of them were hers nor did they serve any purpose in the grand design that Team Galactic had. The only thing that had any sort of sentimental value to her was the temple itself. Toxicroak and her shared a special memory that involved the temple and she'd be damned if anything happened to it.

The day was coming to a close and soon, everyone who had gone out to assist any Pokémon that were in trouble, came pouring back into the temple. Looking up, she saw Gabe along with his friend Lucas and that curious-looking Kirlia from before. A smile curved onto her lips as she set her sights on the blond. She recalled him taking off on that monstrous Tropius of his in order to overlook the situation. The fact that he showed no hesitation in rushing straight into the danger zone was as reckless and stupid in her eyes, and yet she couldn't help but find it attractive at the same time. Snickering to herself, she strode toward them in a casual manner.

"This is quite the mess isn't it?" Jupiter said, her eyes feigning concern as she looked out at the damage that was done. "I hope everyone's alright..."

"You can say that again. I'm just glad that explosion didn't reach over here or we would have been in big trouble," Lucas replied, relief evident in his voice.

"I suppose that is the silver lining here. I'm assuming there were a lot of Pokémon that weren't so lucky though. Judging by what I'm seeing, it's going to take a while to repair all of this," Jupiter said with a frown.

"Ain't that the truth," Lucas sighed, looking over at Gabe who was also looking out at the reckage. "You okay over there?"

"Huh? Oh... yeah. Sorry, I spaced out for a sec didn't I?" Gabe said with a nervous laugh, his eyes giving Jupiter a brief and knowing look.

"Alright everyone! I really hate to do this but because of what just happened, we are going to have to close down the temple and the marsh until further notice!" Wake shouted above the chattering that filled the temple just moments before he returned.

"I know you all were looking forward to the conclusion of this year's festival, but I'm afraid we will have to postpone this final battle until the damage has been assessed and repaired. We're very sorry to have to do this but until we know exactly what happened, we can't afford to put you all in danger," Wake added. "To those of you who came to Pastoria to challenge me, I will be accepting challenges until nine o'clock this evening so please, do come by!"

The crowd of trainers soon filed out of the temple, some disappointed, others fearful due to how close the explosion was to them. Many were debating about what caused it as they left. Gabe, who had seen the aftermath of the blast already knew what had happened. He knew that, even while she may not have been directly responsible for the explosion, Jupiter definitely had something to do with it. Part of him wanted to call her out on it, while part of him didn't and he knew exactly the reason why.

"Awwww, I didn't get to finish that battle!" exclaimed Mira, crossing her arms in a pouting fashion. She sighed, her usual cheery mood deflating.

"Well... he didn't say the festival wouldn't have a conclusion. Think of it this way, you'll be able to work with Croagunk more and prepare," Gabe pointed out.

"Oh yeah, you're right! Come on Croagunk, let's head out of here and go get something to eat! You must be really hungry after all of that," Mira said, her cheerful demeanor returning.

Turning to Gabe, she waved before heading out of the temple toward Pastoria City.

"She's a strange young lady isn't she?" Jupiter said, giggling into her hand as she watched Mira meander off while humming to herself. Turning to Gabe, she said, "I suppose we should be heading out of here ourselves huh? I take it you two be heading off to the gym am I right?" Jupiter asked curiously.

Gabe and Lucas both nodded.

"You got that right! Wake is already on his way there now and I can't wait to battle him!" Lucas declared, pumping his fist into the air out of excitement. "How 'bout you, Barry? You ready to take him on?"

"You betcha!" Gabe said with a grin.

"Sounds like the two of you are fired up then. I'd love to watch, but I'm afraid I have a few matters of my own to attend to. You'll let me know how the battle went, won't you Barry?" Jupiter asked the blond with a smile.

"Y-Yeah...sure! I'll message you about how it went."

"Excellent. I look forward to hearing from you. Until then, keep in touch and don't," she paused, stepping closer to lean in and whisper, "don't forget about our little playdate tomorrow night?" she purred into his ear before stepping away and releasing Mandibuzz.

Hopping onto the sky predator's back, she gave Gabe and Lucas a wave before taking off into the sky. Heat rose to Gabe's cheeks as he could still feel the heat of her breath on her ear as she whispered huskily into it. He shivered and shook his head vigorously, snapping himself out of his stupor. He'd been watching her until she was completely out of sight. As he came to his senses, he was suddenly turned upside down by Kirlia who had once again followed him.

"Hey! Put me down will ya?" Gabe exclaimed, his arms flailing a little before he was dropped.

Kirlia giggled overhead as Gabe shot her a glare. Lowering herself down, she reached out and patted his head with her hand as he rose to a stand. Rolling his eyes, he turned to look at the sneaky little dancer and sighed.

"You seem to enjoy causing me trouble, don't you?" Gabe asked, getting a nod from Kirlia as she floated up to him.

Her eyes looked down at the small spheres on Gabe's belt and then back at Gabe. With a smile, she levitated one of the spheres off his belt and held it in front of him. Gabe took the ball and blinked, looking from it to her before making the connection.

"You... wanna come with me?"

Kirlia giggled and nodded excitedly, hovering around him before tapping the mechanism on the ball to enlargen it. Gabe looked at Kirlia and smiled, and without having to think about it, threw the ball right at her. She gladly let the ball bounce off her head and absorb her inside in a flash of crimson light. The ball hit the ground and began to shake.

One... two... three... click! The ball went still and the light dimmed. Gabe grinned and picked up the ball, shouting, "Kirlia, come on out!"

In a bright flash of light, Kirlia exploded from the ball and flew toward Gabe, her arms wrapping around his neck in a tight hug. She then hovered back from him, her gaze fixed on his as he observed her. As he looked at her again, there was no doubt in his mind that she reminded him of Jupiter. The resemblance was uncanny. He'd thought of nicknaming her after the woman, but something told him that wasn't such a good idea. That's when a thought occurred to him.

Maybe I still can... I'll just have to change it up a bit...

"Hey Kirlia, what would you say to a nickname, would you be okay with that?" Gabe asked her.

Upon hearing this, the floating dancer gave an excited chirp and spun in the air to show her approval.

"Alright then," Gabe began, taking a deep breath as he thought about a name for her.

After several moments, a name finally came to him. Smiling, he turned to Kirlia and said, "How about... Mokusei?"