"Alright, Luce, here's the deal," Barry signs, very sternly, "we are helping them, but together with all the older people. We are not doing anything alone. Got it?"

He's quite persistent on the 'no heroing' rule he's set up for himself, and Luce honestly finds it amusing.

Well, for one, Barry ain't gonna be no hero saving the world like that strange lady Cynthia said. He just wants to be a strong trainer, maybe win the League once or twice, then go right on and do what his dad's doing.

(Well, E for Effort, at least.)

"I'll try," Luce tells him.

"You're supposed to say yes, Luce!" he snaps out loud, exasperated.

A few people turn toward them in surprise at the sudden yell, so Barry zips himself from there. They weren't going to let the adults hear their dumb conversation.

"Unfortunately, we cannot allow you to pass," the Team Galactic Grunt at the front door says. It's much more polite (and thus much more human sounding) than anything they've said before, which is quite surprising to Luce and Barry. "Please extend a call to the respective departments for any inquiry regarding our appointment policy."

But then again, perhaps they were programmed to say things in those polite sentences altogether, for posterity's sake. They were, after all, the front door.

"In that case, I would like to speak to your manager," Gardenia demands with a straight face, and Luce tries his best not to laugh.

"Luce?" Barry asks.

"Nothing nothing nothing," he insists.

"I said, I would like to speak to your head of staff personally because you obviously don't know what you are doing! Where is the manager?!"

Luce has to excuse himself. He can't take this.

-

Outside, Chimchar is seeing how many times he can poke Starly before the bird Pokemon loses his temper. Starly has pecked him twice, but Chimchar only whines loudly about the new injury for a moment before he tries again.

Luce liberates him from that duty before Starly could try a more lethal Wing Attack.

"Was it really that hilarious, Luce?" Barry asks, coming out of the building after him in exasperation.

Well, if they can't get in either way, there's not much of a point in staying with the adults.

The Team Galactic Grunt seems to be politely refusing everything, so he probably won't accept or initiate a Pokemon battle. And if they attack first, he won't defend himself, and due to that, any injuries would be legally classified as an assault or siege.

Well, it's not like what the game character did (cut down trees, walk in, defeat everyone, get out) was particularly legal or anything.

"Maybe we should get a battering ram..." he signs to himself.

"Absolutely not!" Barry snaps, not having missed that action at all. "Geez, all due respect to Mama Johanna, which Mankey's tree did you fall out of when you were younger?"

Luce gives Chimchar a look.

"Not what I meant!" Barry apparently can read minds, so Luce shrinks a little in surprise. "Hear another reckless and dumb idea out of you and I'm fining you ten million dollars!"

Luce raises his hand.

"No, signing them is not any different."

Luce puts his hand down.

Gardenia is still kicking up a fuss (she's really good at that, but it doesn't really work when you're talking to a literal robot) at the main entrance. It's always nice to have someone that knows no shame to make enough noise and get the manager down.

(Not very nice if you're innocent and on the other end, but hey, it all depends on the perspective and your priorities.)

"This isn't really working, though," Luce tells him. If they really want to save the Bike Shop owner, they need to get directly to Jupiter, after all. And she definitely isn't going to come down until her deed is done.

(Now, if only there was a gap through the fences or something...)

Luce freezes in his spot.

Come to think of it, in his tour of the city when he got here, Barry did mention...

"A gap in the fences?" Luce asks, and Barry immediately balks.

"You mean the one I showed you?" he asks, incredulous. "No. What did I say about crazy ideas?"

"It's not an idea, it's a tactical course of action."

"Explaining it does not make it something else!" Barry yells, but Luce is already on his way over to the back of the building, where they found the little hole in the fence. There was even a convenient open window just abovehead of it.

Just then, Roy, the teenager that told Barry about the statue inscriptions, spotted them. "You two, don't wander off now."

"Oh!" Barry swirls around quickly, "no, nothing's wrong. We'll go back imm--"

Roy looks up to follow Luce's finger as the boy points toward the open window, then at the hole in the fence. He then points at himself, indicating very well what his plan was.

Roy beams immediately, "that's a great idea!"

Barry despairs, "don't enable him!" Needless to say, he was never telling Luce about these things ever again.

"That's a pretty small window, but you two should be able to fit into it," Roy says, giving his permission, "I'll tell Gardenia, so you two do your best in there."

Luce nods.

Barry whines, "don't encourage him! You're supposed to tell us this is reckless and leave it to the more experienced trainers!"

(But logic never worked on anyone.)

Roy simply grins assuringly, "I saw your gym battles, so I know you two are strong. It's okay to be confident."

"That definitely isn't the problem-- oh no, Roy, are you a reckless idiot that doesn't think before moving, too? Is it infectious?" Barry mutters weakly. He turns back around just to bark, "and Luce! Stop that, you're going to hurt yourself!"

Beside him, Luce is picking at the hole in the metal fence, tearing it apart by the loose bits to make a bigger opening. At the sudden shout, he squeaks soundlessly. Chimchar puffs out a breath of Ember on them, making them more malleable.

Barry groans one last time. "At least use some gloves!"

Luce gets a pair of gloves thrown in his face.

"Alright then, we'll go in ahead of the rest of you and try to find the Bike Shop owner," Barry says, "we'll give you a holler from one of the windows if we find him."

"Now that's the spirit!" Roy says with a smile. Barry crumbles further in annoyance. "I'll keep an eye out, then. You two be careful now. Here..."

He hands them a small yellow pouch each.

"It's Heal Powder," he explains. "In case you need it, cause it can cure status effects."

"So we're already assuming we're going into battle, huh," Barry mutters, tucking it into his bag. "Thanks," he says, and Luce bows his head in appreciation.

Behind them, Gardenia's voice was getting louder. There's no better distraction than that (not that the guards would be affected much), but if they want to sneak in, they really should do it now.

"Guess there's no helping it, let's go, Luce," Barry says, wrapping his scarf around his neck in a loose bow. "Should've seen this coming, seriously."

Seeing his example, Luce imitates his scarf fashion with a cheeky smile. Barry scowls heatlessly at that, but they head through the fence one after another.

And just like that, their raid on the Galactic Eterna Building began.

-

Chimchar heads in first, before signing an 'all ok' out to show that there wasn't anyone around. Starly went back into his Poke Ball, about as interested in this sneaking business as his owner is.

Meaning, not at all.

Luce carefully sets himself on the ground before looking around. They're in a storeroom, it appears, where boxes towered to the ceilings, each marked vaguely with awful but legible handwriting. There were Poke Balls, brooms, and other cleaning supplies. The door was sandwiched between some of the things, but it wasn't hard to spot.

Behind him, Barry scowls, "oh, a storage room, how convenient," he seethes, "what next, are there spare Galaguy uniforms we can take?"

Luce opens a box to find stacks of folded, unused Team Galactic Grunt uniforms.

Barry muffles a frustrated screech behind him, but Luce pretends not to hear it. He takes out a set of the uniform, sending Barry a nervous smile.

"Absolutely not," Barry hisses.

Luce puts it back.

"For now, we find out where the Bike Shop owner could be," Barry whispers, "if we get found, we'll probably have to fight. Don't do anything alone, got it?"

(What a nag...)

"You just thought I was being a total nag, didn't you?"

Barry is a mind reader and Luce is about eighty percent sure of that.

Luce signs back in a sarcastically compliant note, and Chimchar, ever the little bundle of joy to the world, decides to imitate him.

If looks could kill, Barry's glare would have murdered them right there.

-

Much like at Valley Windworks, the Pokemon barely paid them any mind unless they were commanded.

However, unlike Valley Windworks, there were many more grunts stationed around the building, patrolling its perimeters. And they were all vigilant. There was no way they were giving any leeway for two children to sneak around.

"Two guys, one way," Luce signs.

"Dead end?" Barry asks. Luce nods. "Back, then."

Sign language is useful when trying to sneak around in silence, they learn. And with all their experience with pranking Barry's dad when he's asleep (details redacted,) they coordinate well.

"Top floor," Luce suggests, once they duck into the emergency exit.

"Unorganized floor plan," Barry returns.

They'd seen the map on their way in-- this building was built like a TV station, with too many stairs that weren't linear. It was for fire and crash safety, as evacuation measures, that kinda thing. Elevators were mostly normal, though.

To go up to the top floor, one would have to go up one, walk to the other end, and climb another flight of stairs there. Same thing for the next floor, and there were about a dozen men on patrol.

The emergency exits only led up from the second to the penultimate floor, and here they were trying to figure out where the last bit was.

(It was an honest annoyance, but it made more sense than the multiple fake staircases that only led to dead ends in the games.)

"You two--!!"

Their conversation is interrupted by a whisper-shouted call. 

They don't manage to fully turn to the source of the voice before a rough arm abruptly grabs them and pulls them aside. Chimchar is then picked up and tossed in after them.

Barry yelps, but it's muffled quickly as they're shoved inside a room, and the door is hurriedly closed.

"What's the meaning of--" Barry's words stop short.

The man that pulled them in was dressed in a Team Galactic Uniform-- but it only took a slightly closer look to realize what's wrong.

(First of all, is that a wig?)

"What are the chances of you two actually being acquainted," the secret agent of the International Police mutters, readjusting his sloppy wig and raising an arm to defend himself from Chimchar's angry scratch of how-dare-you-manhandle-me.

Luce holds Chimchar back in his arms, though the chimp is still reaching out furiously.

"M- Mister Looker!" Barry exclaims, though immediately he's hushed by everyone around them. "What are you doing here?!"

Honestly, Luce has no idea either.

"What am I doing here?" Looker asks back, incredulous, "what on earth are you two doing here is my question, young man!"

(Ah, isn't that the question everyone wants the answers to.)

"Rescue mission," Luce signs.

"Ah, I apologize, young man. I'm not very well-versed," Looker nods at him, "but I think I can gather-- have you two come with the group making a scene downstairs?"

"What, you know him, Luce?" Barry asks, and Luce nods.

In a momentary distraction, Luce doesn't stop Chimchar before he leaps out of his hands, right onto Looker's shoulders. The inspector doesn't so much as flinch, and when the chimp clambers over his head to inspect the lame wig with a cheeky giggle, he only seems mildly annoyed.

If this leaves him unfazed, Luce fears to imagine the bullshit Looker has to deal with on a daily basis.

"This place is far too dangerous for children like you," Looker frowns, because he's apparently the only adult with sense around here. "If you must infiltrate, I suggest you put on some disguises."

A pointed look from Barry is enough to communicate how utterly repulsed they are by the idea. Maybe Chimchar currently bunching up the corners of Lookers' wig to look like bunny ears is further proving their point.

So Looker simply sighs.

"I am here to investigate their activity," he clears his throat. Chimchar takes interest in the action, and puffs up his chest, making an imitation of the noise, but only sounding like two nudging hums instead. "I overheard something about a civilian's whereabouts?"

"Yeah... apparently the Bike Shop owner, Mr Rickshaw, got held up in this building," Barry explains. He tries to ignore Chimchar like Looker does, but he's evidently not as composed a man. "We got told, you know, to uh, look for him."

Looker seems to ponder on that.

"Ah, the Cleffa that escaped," he seems to know something about it, so when Barry and Luce evidently come to full attention, he nods, "I noticed it trying to get out through the window in the chaos, so I offered my aid."

That explained things-- like how a tiny, injured Cleffa could make it far enough to be found by the Youngster that picked it up.

Which meant the Cleffa really was Mr Rickshaw's desperate call for help. Guess that justified their infiltration now, to some degree.

"I have an idea of where the owner is being kept," Looker says, because he is obviously the plot convenience, "I'd show you the way to go up without triggering any traps, but I have to rendezvous with my partner in approximately hundred-twenty seconds. So you'll have to compromise."

He retrieves a pocket-sized notebook, flips through pages upon pages of notes so passionate they bled through the other side on indents alone.

He then tears out a page, and hands it to Barry.

Barry squints at it for a long moment. "Wow, this is worse than my dad's handwriting," he mutters, but he runs his eyes through it anyways. Looker makes an unimpressed face at the offense, but Barry nods. "I think I get it."

"We're going to get lost, aren't we?" Luce knows a cliche when he sees one.

"Have some damn faith in me!" Barry snaps, "and you're the one with lousy directions, Luce. Spitfire, you know that too, don't ya?" he turns to the chimp, who pointedly nods, giving Luce a judgemental side glance.

Luce's face heats up at that. "I am not!"

Barry stares dubiously at the response, and ends with a sigh. "Anyways, we'll go on then, Mister Looker. See ya," he waves. "If we cause trouble, bail us out, ye?"

"I will hold onto hopes that bail won't be necessary," Looker's brows are furrowed, and his hands are set firmly on his hips. "If anything goes wrong, bide your own safety first, understood?"

"Yeah, yeah," Barry mimes an OK at the same time Luce mimes a "we'll be fine".

"Remember, escaping with Mister Rickshaw should be your first priority," Looker adds, "retrace your steps down, or scale the wall if you must. Get down to the lobby and meet up with the crowd downstairs, by all means do not engage them alone--"

"We get it already!" Barry yells to the sky, snatching Chimchar from Looker's shoulders so they can run off as soon as they can, "thank you for your help! Your partner is waiting, aren't they? Go on now, don't let us hold you up!"

And Barry shoves Chimchar into Luce's hands, hooking an arm around the boy's to immediately turn around.

Luce manages to sign a slightly apologetic "thank you" behind him.

Looker watches them as they carefully leave the storeroom, looking around the hallway before running off in one direction.

He's tempted to follow them, but priorities. His mission comes first, after all.

(...he's going to run after them immediately after he finds his Croagunk, though.)

-

"If you think about it realistically, there's no way trainers at the start of their pilgrimage, like us, can ever hope to beat an adult."

"It's not impossible."

Barry frowns. "Obviously it is," he emphasizes, "even civilian adults have a fully grown Pokemon. Trained adults? Three at least. We're suicidal."

Luce scowls at Barry when Chimchar imitates the word 'suicidal' out of curiosity. It was the most expressive sign in the equation, after all. Chimchar was obnoxious.

(With a sigh and some convincing, Chimchar returns to its Poke Ball with a pout.)

They paused behind a stack of crates as a line of Galactic Grunts exit the elevator.

They cross paths, but Barry and Luce soon realize that if you lay low enough and didn't move, you could be right beside them and they wouldn't notice. It was startling how they only looked forward-- they didn't even look down to their feet just to make sure positions were right-- they had probably memorized each turn of the building, too.

Freaky. Luce wanted nothing to do with them, but he knows that's impossible.

"The commanders are dangerous, but the grunts should be fine," Luce insists. He'll admit neither of them are strong enough if the Commanders' Pokemon aren't scaled to level like the games. "Let's avoid them."

"And you know so much about it because you're a reckless buffoon," Barry hisses. "Is a commander anyone without the assigned hair and uniform?"

Luce nods, surprised. "How'd you know--"

He's interrupted by Barry pulling him flat against the wall, crouching down with a sharp hiss. They peek over the edge of the crates lined up against the wall.

At the end of the hallway, at a T junction-- was a slightly-less organized crowd with one woman at the head.

Ah, that's how Barry knows. They've found her.

Unlike the other women in the crew, Jupiter's hair was up in a stylized bun, and her suit went down like a jumpsuit. It's Jupiter-- they had found the Commander-in-charge.

"Her hair's a little off colour?" Barry asks.

"It's purple," Luce answers. "Bordering magenta? Nah, purple."

There's a pause before Barry asks, "what is it usually?"

"The others are teal," Luce keeps a wary eye on the lady in the distance. "It's a kind of blue and green mix."

"There's a colour between blue and green?"

"Yes, and purple is between blue and red."

"What's the point of all these colours?"

"There isn't one, can we focus?!"

To begin with, what did they capture Rad Rickshaw for?

(Because they were interested in the 'stars' motif of the Clefairy line? Sure they are fairly rare Pokemon, and Mr Rickshaw had a whopping two, but they could very easily hunt for Clefairy on their own.)

The Galactic Grunts marched forward, bypassing the two completely in their little corner.

It would only take a single impulsive glance to the side for them to be noticed-- and yet-- the robotic soldiers simply walked on forward, undaunted.

Jupiter seemed to be speaking important orders before the unmarked door behind her, directing the grunts to various new guarding points, employing them to new stations.

(It didn't take much to know that this woman was dangerous.)

(From the confident, authoritative way she handled herself, to the fierce glare in her eyes, a pointed look in-- their direction? No, no, she didn't notice. That was just barely... right?)

Just as he tried to look over again, a sharp, crushing pain assaulted his head. He shot back with a soundless wince-- hand shooting up to his head in vain.

Prying an eye open, he realizes Barry was in a similar predicament.

A psychic attack? He knows this-- Psyduck's Confusion was like this, too. So was someone attacking them?

Has Jupiter found them? No-- if it was an attack, it would hurt more. And Luce wouldn't be able to move his fingers.

(Luce's heart rate sped up. He wanted to run away, so, so badly.)

(Mars was terrifying enough, and she was the most easygoing of the bunch. And here was the most terrifying one, the arguable strongest link-- and they were going to face her, horrendously unprepared.)

(Are they stupid? This isn't a game-- she might seriously kill us.)

Barry grips Luce's hand tightly, looking nervously to the side. His breaths are shallow as well. The pain was easing-- or maybe they were just getting used to it, actually able to breathe through the pain.

After delegating the grunts, Jupiter began to walk forward.

Forward, right in their direction.

"They're coming his way," Barry whispers suddenly. "Crap. If Mister Looker's info is right, then Mister Rickshaw's right behind that door. We're so close!"

(Crap, crap, crap. Run back toward the emergency exit? No, once they leave the shadow of the crates, they'll be spotted. Then they'll be chased down and emergency exits won't be safe anymore-- Mister Looker might even get in trouble.)

"Same as the other Commander I fought-- danger," Luce warns, scrambling for his Pokedex. He knows what this headache is-- it's not an attack-- he knows this, he knows he... "Abra."

"What," Barry asks.

Instead of an answer, Luce shoves Kadabra's dex entry in his face. Luce had never met a Kadabra before-- yet there it was, registered.

[It emits special alpha waves from its body that induce headaches just by being close by.]

Luce had read this bit before in the game-- he remembered it intrigued Cece a little. He did not remember Jupiter using a Kadabra either, but she must have one, if the Pokedex had picked it up with just these alpha waves alone.

(Further reading explained that it usually messed with machine precision, but this edition of the Pokedex remained unaffected by the magic of technology.)

It wasn't a great sign. None of their Pokemon did well against Psychic types. And with the headache, it was hard to do anything.

(But they have the element of surprise.)

"It's do or die," Luce challenges, closing the Pokedex and tucking it in his back pocket.

Luce draws his Poke Balls. Barry's mouth falls open, ready to protest-- but there was honestly little he could say against this.

(Five steps until Jupiter sees them.)

"Every time I'm stuck with you, we end up doing the most reckless things," Barry grumbles to himself.

If you hated it, you would be actually trying to avoid it.

Luce didn't have to sign out that remark, however. His exasperation was fully on his face, even without any gestures. "You actually love the idea of being heroes, don't you?"

Barry doesn't respond to that, so Luce thinks it's a bingo.

(Three steps until Jupiter sees them.)

(Two steps.)