Jokes aside, Luce and Barry meet up in the staircase in the centre of the building, just briefly out of sight of the nearest patrol at the bottom of the stairs.

They've dealt with the chum on the upper floors, but unless there was a way to deal with the guards outside and downstairs, there was no way to really escape.

For now, they should work on securing as many guests as they could to prevent them being used as hostages when the police arrived. Oh, the captured Pokemon too.

"It's a big hall, so we can't sneak down without being discovered," Barry says, a little miffed.

"Then don't?" Luce suggests, and Monferno beams.

Barry stares, incredulous. "I really need to let you see those adults ASAP," he grumbles. "You're insane."

"That's not a no," Luce cheerfully informs Monferno, who enthusiastically celebrates.

He reaches for his Poke Balls, retrieving Munchlax, letting out Prinplup and Ponyta. Luce retrieves Buneary, setting her on his shoulder, and lets Psyduck out.

"Water on that side?" Luce suggests, pointing in the direction he's sure leads to Mister Backlot's office, since there were more people there.

"Fire on the other," Barry sighs.

Luce dishes a hand out, and Barry raises his hand. At an internal count to three, they leased out their moves for a round of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Barry wins.

"I'm taking the waters to the important-looking room."

Luce pouts. He wanted to see the Manaphy egg.

Luce doesn't get to protest, so they immediately leap down, sliding partially down the railing with their Pokemon at their sides. Barry's lands strategically, his foot coming down on the unprepared watch grunt, knocking him to the ground and out.

...oh, so that's where Spitfire learned it.

Immediately, the two of them part ways, assigned Pokemon dashing ahead. Monferno's already taking a running kickstart at the nearest person that reacts. Ponyta isn't falling behind either, those notoriously diamond-hard hooves promising fractured bones and concussions at every turn.

Luce opens the room doors, finding more guests. He sighs in relief, though they're alarmed by his presence. He's not wearing the grunt uniform, but they're still wary.

So he takes out his Pokedex, and suddenly, they seem to understand.

The other doors were locked from outside with what looked like bug-type string. A little fire was enough to take care of it, though, and he hurries to unlock the other doors, surprised when a Happiny jumps out of one room.

"What– Happi!" the owner yelps, surprised.

Luce nods toward Buneary, who heads to the next door with Monferno while Luce turns toward the Happiny, giving chase.

They'd knocked out the guard stationed at the closed door toward the garden. Whoever's on the other end probably won't react in a while.

Happiny runs to the end of the Eastern Corridor, where Luce is fairly sure someone said it was the scullery. There's a few guards stationed there as well.

Ah, I see. That's probably where they kept the captured space-related Pokemon.

Luce whistles for Ponyta's attention, and signs forward. "Charge!"

Ponyta took to that order like the overjoyed equestrian it was, flames engulfing it as it barged right through the Stunky that comes to stop it, and, head braced toward, charged right through the grunt, smashing the door with the man's body, sending him flying right into the room he was guarding.

...Luce stares, baffled. I'm sorry, he vainly says, we haven't taught this one the meaning of restraint yet. Will Luce be charged for manslaughter or will he be pardoned for being a minor?

Whatever. The Happiny cheers, jumping toward a Clefairy, and the other Clefairy cheer at the aspect of being freed. They were eager to get back to their owners, so Luce signs 'tell them not to go outside' toward Monferno, who relays the message.

Quietly, they scattered out, heading up to the rooms to reunite with their partners. The guests also systematically hurried up the stairs, gathering in a limited number of rooms so they could all be out of the way.

Now, even if Saturn appeared, the damage to guests was minimal.

Luce sighs as Buneary jumps back onto his shoulder, Monferno taking his hand to lead him out while Ponyta does the same.

Now to go find Barry.

"You've sure made a mess of things."

Luce freezes.

Saturn was standing at the entrance to the East Wing, frowning. A Toxicroak stood beside him, glaring forward, sealing off his routes of escape.

"I came in to look at what was going on, and lo and behold," Saturn sighs, cracking his shoulders. He glares, face scrunching up in displeasure. "All these garbage soldiers, and they're pacified by a child playing hero? Are you fucking kidding me."

He doesn't need a command. He simply points forward, and his Toxicroak moves, a poisonous nail spurring forward.

Luce can't take that. Something to defend— that's right, his bag—

—no, the Togepi Egg is inside.

That moment of hesitation leads Monferno to lunge in with a fist of his own. He misses, Toxicroak swerving aside easily, only to rebalance, and Sucker Punch back, knocking Monferno to the ceiling and down.

Ponyta hesitates, but he, too, surges forward flame-covered, and Toxicroak deals with it swiftly, a Low Kick to the wall.

Luce holds Buneary back before it goes, Buneary doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell— not with a Fighting type. Psyduck! He needs Psyduck— but she's with Barry. The Pokedex wasn't giving him any ideas, either.

"Out of plans?" Saturn asks, irritated. "Good. I'll have you know, Pokedex brat, I'm not as nice as Mars, nor am I as restrained as Jupiter," he warns. "If you're going to keep coming at us like this, I'm very happy to teach you a real lesson on why you should know when your luck runs out."

Luce clutches his bag tightly, glaring firmly forward.

"Oh? You don't look like you regret your actions," Saturn says. "Is that a challenge?"

When the slash comes, Luce can do nothing but turn his back to it, clutching the bag with the incubator to his chest protectively, squeezing his eyes shut.

-

Barry hurries on the other end. Both Pokemon look at him at the same time he turns to them, and he signs their next move. Water Pulse engulfs the entire corridor, but every door is shut tight, so only the carpets were damaged.

It helps that they were dealing with robotic grunts. They don't scream or yell in alarm.

"Experiencing unexpected interference. Initiating Battle Formation Two. Releasing Pokemon—"

They're dealing with humans, not Pokemon, so the tactic to use here was...

"Plan B," he signs to the Pokemon who immediately move. Psyduck traps them in with Confusion, and Prinplups builds an ice wall, barricading them against the end of the corridor. There was a door on the other end, but it looked like they couldn't access it.

They didn't manage to release their Pokemon before Prinplup sealed the wall up to the ceiling, so there was little they could do with just stage one Pokemon on their end.

Battle Formation Two, huh... in a way, the way they designated fixed attacking patterns was just like how Luce and Barry did it.

He takes just a breath before violently throwing open the door to the office. The grunt inside spins around, alarmed. A Bronzor snags him with Confusion, and Barry curses.

They captured his head, though, to prevent him from speaking.

He hurriedly signs an A, and Prinplup, who had been busy outside the room, barely notices it in the corner of his eye. Prinplup snarls, charging in to swipe at the Bronzor with a gleaming Metal Claw.

Psyduck follows, glaring pointedly at the Bronzor, then toward the grunt. When Psyduck launches her attack, it's a Fury Swipe straight toward the trainer instead.

This causes the Bronzor to, in a flustered mess, let go of Barry, hurrying back to its trainer's side. Prinplup chases, and Barry barely has time to catch himself before yelling, "wait—" switch tactics. It'd be faster to shout, but the sign for this was— wait, they're not looking! "S-A!" he shouts it instead.

Immediately, Psyduck leaps back, before taking a breath to jet out a churn of Water Pulse. Prinplup follows immediately with his own best water attack.

"A child?"

Barry turns to see a maid. Servant of the castle, along with an older butler. Despite all other workers being held outside the building, these two were here? They were huddled by the desk, an incubator in their hands.

Oh. That's the egg Luce's been looking for.

Well, if they're alright, then, "Doozy, Admiral! Rock Smash!" he commands.

The two Pokemon's eyes lit up with murderous intent, and Barry averted his eyes to the mildly flabbergasted squeak the grunt lets out as he's thrown against the wall with his Pokemon.

The room goes silent.

Barry sighs in relief, dropping to his knees. "When the adrenaline comes down, I'm going to regret everything," he mutters guiltily.

"Uhm..." it's the butler, "are you alright, young man?"

"Thanks for helping us," the maid says. "They were guarding this room for this mysterious egg, you see. He didn't try to force it out of our hands, but we couldn't run away, either."

Barry nods, waving them off as an indicator of there being no problem at all.

If Luce's managed to do his job well, then they'll be fine. The problem comes if the people outside the mansion notice the commotion inside. If Saturn attacks Barry and Luce before the Hearthome backup comes, it's pretty much over...

"Ah, don't worry. He makes that face when he's overthinking things," Dawn says. "He'll be back with us soon. Anyways, Miss Maid and Mister Butler, you two are unharmed?"

"Ah, yes. But could you help me get up, please?"

Barry groans. Here comes the annoying one...

...wait, what?

He spins his head over to the source of the sound, to find Psyduck and Prinplup were already there, happily going to greet the currently crutch-bound Pokedex Holder.

The trophy cupboard had been mechanically moved aside, revealing a secret passageway that led further underground. There was a display room in here, filled to the brim with carefully-encased stones, fossils, and rare museum-worthy objects.

The maid and butler hurry to their feet, scrambling into the enclosed area.

Dawn was a little dusty, her hair lightly smucked with dirt, as if she'd been crawling in a cave. She'd pulled her hair back in a ponytail, smiling cheekily when her eyes met Barry's.

"What are you doing here?!" he shrieks. "When did you get here, anyways?!"

"Just now!"

"Why are you showing up now— and how?! I thought you were in Eterna!"

"Surprise!" she holds out a V. "Remember the letter Mister Roark gave us last time? Don't freak out, but there's this guy called the Underground Man..."

"No no, we don't have time for this," Barry yelps, interrupting her. "Can't you see the mansion's gettin' raided? Take as many guests as you can and run for it!"

"It's getting what?!" Roark scrambles up from the other end.

Barry lights up, "thank goodness, Mister R–"

Barry stops when Dawn's face morphs into fear, and she immediately lunges at him, just in time to avoid a silver-churning orb that is flung at them. They topple clumsily onto the ground, Barry flat on his back and Dawn atop of him.

The Gyro Ball explodes upon the wall, leaving a huge char upon the doubly-reinforced dungeon walls.

Behind them, there's a Bronzong, charging up a second, much stronger shot of Gyro Ball. The first one had just been a rushed warning shot.

When did they take out Psyduck and Prinplup? Both were knocked out, asleep. Hypnosis, without any of them ever noticing.

This was bad. At this range, there was no way either of them would survive a point-blank shot of that—

"Get down!" Roark shouts, and Barry and Dawn duck down, holding on tightly to each other as Roark steps over them with a Rhyperior, shielding them bodily. His back to his Pokemon, leaning back as extra support— he grunts, bracing himself to tank the entire attack with just one Pokemon critically weak to Steel.

The explosion engulfs the room in a bright, death-inducing light.

And then, Roark commands, "Counter!"

-

In hindsight, they were incredibly lucky to have gotten off unscathed from that.

Barry knew, from a glance, that no matter how hard he fought or what strategies he came up with, he stood no chance against that Bronzong.

There was just too big a gap between their levels.

Roark breathes out in relief, returning his Rhyperior to his Poke Ball before ascertaining the Bronzong was knocked out. Then he turns back to the two kids, who were still huddled together, Barry's arms around Dawn's head and Dawn's around his shoulders, not too willing to let go yet.

"That was dangerous," Roark says.

"Y- Yeah," Barry says. "Thanks, Dawn."

"No... I just panicked," she says, pushing herself up with shaky arms. "That really surprised me. That was nothing compared to the grunts you fought."

Roark helps them up, inspecting the room quickly, looking outside to find an empty hallway. Dawn releases Abra, who moves Psyduck into the passageway with Teleport while Barry returns Prinplup to his Poke Ball.

Barry dusts himself off, still reeling from his brush with death— when his stomach sinks in dread. "Wait... if we got attacked, then..."

Seemingly realizing what he'd meant, Dawn whirls around. "Wait. Where's Luce?"

-

Luce narrowly dodges a claw, crashing roughly against the wall— but he grasps himself immediately to reach out, clutching the bag by the edge of the strap and dragging it back to his chest, wrapping his aching arms against it tightly, desperately.

His shoulders ached. Toxicroak was going easy on him, definitely. It probably didn't actually want to kill him, just scare him.

And boy, that was definitely working. Every time Luce thought it was out of range, a poisonous claw plunged into the wall by his head, leaving corrosive craters.

"You're not surrendering yet?" Saturn says. "I really hate that look in your eyes, brat."

Luce glares up at him.

"So, what's in the bag, anyways?" Saturn mutters approaching, reaching down, but Luce hisses at him, shrinking back, kicking out at his shin when he comes too close, though he misses. "What are you, a feral Houndour? Vulgar."

Monferno and Ponyta were knocked out. Buneary had been swatted aside long ago, and it was probably knocked out as well, though Luce couldn't see it around.

"Why aren't you speaking?" Saturn asks, impatient, a foot planted beside Luce's face, the grinding of the crack in the wall a noisy threat of what could have been his face instead. "You're looking pretty upstart for a brat that's only alive by my mercy."

Luce was scared.

Mars toyed with him for sick amusement. Jupiter was systematic, only fighting for what was necessary. But Saturn was different. Saturn disciplined, like someone with authority that didn't belong to him, and he disliked things that weren't his way.

Saturn was the kind that would kill his prey if it angered him enough, and Luce realized he'd never known real fear until now.

Saturn didn't go easy on his opponents. He was fighting a stumbling Purugly and a handicapped Kadabra back in his previous encounters, but not now. Now, he was truly fighting against a fully-trained, end-game levelled Toxicroak, and there was nothing he could do but be at its mercy.

Maybe this was how the Pokemon world was truly like.

Pokemon were creatures that were to be feared. When did humans ever get the idea to tame them and treat them like animals? Were they stupid?

...Luce was scared, wasn't he? Cece's never been in such danger before, since they only saw Pokemon as cute fighting mechanics. Lucas knows how dangerous Pokemon can be, it's a fear only he can know, because he was born in this world.

(He can't let this fear take him.)

(He needs to be braver, or he'll never make it as the protagonist of this world destined for disaster.)

Oh really. Luce smirks. He mouths the words, "then do it, you coward."

The way Saturn's eyes light up in fury meant he got the message.

"I see," Saturn says, his voice cold. "You want to die. I understand very well now." He turns toward his Toxicroak, stepping back briefly.

A poisonous claw juts out– and Luce ducks, but he doesn't get far. Toxicroak snags the edge of his scarf, and Luce hurries to pull it away from him, never getting far enough before a foot blocks out his exit.

This was bad. This was very bad. Luce couldn't move, he was surrounded. Why did he taunt him again— ah, right, he's not thinking straight.

Well, it'll be his just desserts. But at least, if he could protect the egg...

Luce's eyes widen when the bag in his arms begins to warm. Distracted, he reaches for the zipper, pulling the bag open right as a loud, cracking noise becomes apparent, along with the bright, evolutionary light of birth.

With a fervent shatter, a Togepi launches out, spiky head forward as it shoots right up into Saturn's jaw, knocking him back. The man, taken by surprise, lets out a strangled yelp, thrown back and falling on his bottom. He's been socked in the jaw, so he definitely isn't getting up for a while.

Luce's jaw drops.

Immediately, Togepi whirls toward Toxicroak, eyes narrowed in sleep-deprived anger. Toxicroak actually flinches in surprise when Togepi runs at it, jumping up, and— to even Luce's bafflement, delicately lands a chaste kiss on Toxicroak's head.

Toxicroak jerks back, flustered and confused and— and oh it was actually genuinely confused, eyes spinning, legs weakening, and it staggers, stumbling over its own feet.

...Sweet Kiss?

It retrieves its claw, still stuck on Luce's scarf, and in a hurry, Luce pulls it away, letting Toxicroak take it.

Togepi lands back on the ground, looking around, ascertaining the situation, before running to Luce and grabbing the edge of his shirt, tugging for attention.

Luce jerks to attention, rolling to his feet.

He picks up his bag, his Poke Balls, calling Buneary and Monferno back— and finding Ponyta, who staggers awake just enough. Luce gives it a Potion, and they were good enough to hurry away together. Togepi leads the way out.

Run.

The message was easy to tell, even without any words or signs. Also, his bag is covered in glass shards from the incubator. How did Togepi break that?

He couldn't help but laugh soundlessly, overcome with joy. He's not out of the woods yet, and Saturn could recompose himself at any moment now. And yet, Luce was smiling. He didn't get any serious injuries for once, and only his scarf was lost.

And most of all, Togepi just headbutted Saturn in the chin!

Ah, Blair's going to be so mad.

-

Luce finds the front window before he finds Barry, and he sees Staravia outside, circling the building. Something purple comes into view— a Drifblim, carrying a certain someone.

Backup's here!

Luce catches sight of Barry in the distance.

"Luce! Are you alright?!" Barry hollers, and Luce stands baffled for a moment, when he sees Dawn and Roark behind him.

His Pokedex beeps. Barry and Dawn take it out at the same time as he, and Luce briefly wonders when the notorious resonance function was added to the device.

"Testing your fucking luck!" Saturn screeches, much too close behind him for comfort. Luce jumps, and lunges down, grabbing Togepi as it reaches for the front doors, seemingly wanting to head outside.

But outside, there are even more grunts. They can't fight them.

Saturn was right behind him, Toxicroak even closer. Luce hears Roark release a Poke Ball, but he knows he won't make it in time.

So Luce does the only thing he can think of, and reaches for the doorknob, throwing the front doors right open, charging out into a roll, narrowly avoiding Toxicroak's slash.

He lifts his head to a squad of Galactic grunts, and horrified guests.

Okay now what—

Togepi, who's comfortably protected by Luce's arms, has found the whistle hung around Luce's neck. There's a deep breath, and Luce has barely a second to brace himself for the ear-piercing FWEEEET! that alerts everyone in the entire damn vicinity of his existence.

Toxicroak whirls around, stunned, but before he could do more, a Rampardos charges right into it with a Head Smash, sending it flying right back an entire hallway's distance.

"Are you okay, Luce?!" Roark calls out, Barry and Dawn rushing out to his side, Barry stopping briefly to inspect his Ponyta and returning him to a Poke Ball first.

Right on cue, a fluttering purple figure descends upon them, landing squarely before Luce, her Drifblim wrapping up the other end as she faces the crowd, an uncharacteristically furious scowl on her face.

"What a coincidence, young Roark," Fantina greets. "Now, who are the despicable vandals intruding upon this humble manor today?"

Roark sighs at the sight of her. "Team Galactic."

"Ah, of course."

Luce raises a shaky thumbs up as Barry and Dawn pick him up to his feet. The Togepi in his hands looks at both of them, glaring in confusion.

"What the— is that the egg?" Barry asks, careful not to touch Luce because the Togepi looked hostile. Now that they stood between two Gym Leaders, they would be safe.

"Where's your scarf?" Dawn asks, taking off her own to pull around Luce, reminding the boy of the scar he was trying to hide. He takes it gratefully.

Behind them, the grunts are reaching for their Poke Balls in alarm, ready for the command from Saturn any moment now. Saturn clicks his tongue at the sight, Whispering something hastily into the communication device at his wrist.

"What an annoyance," Saturn grumbles. "I'm retreating. Our job's done anyways."

So now...

"You asshats!" Saturn orders the grunts. "Keep these bozos busy!"

-

From there, it was simple. Fantina and Roark clean up the grunts, and Saturn runs, tail between his legs. Or so that was what it seemed like, but if his motive here had already been accomplished, then the grunts were a little more than expendable to him.

He didn't care for the grunts. That's why he escaped, alone.

"There's a limit to how reckless you two can be!"

And then, after the rest of the police came and they began cleaning up, Roark made the three Pokedex Holders kneel and listen to a lecture.

"I didn't even do anything! I just got here!" Dawn protests.

"I disagreed to this!" Barry aruges.

"[I decided to raid a mansion full of Team Galactic grunts]," Luce sits quietly with a Togepi in his lap and a sign of shame around his neck. He wasn't allowed to defend himself, and he didn't really want to expend the effort either.

"Why are you two even here, anyways?" Barry questions, looking toward Dawn and Roark.

"I'm cleared for light activity, so I took a little sightseeing trip down the Grand Underground with the Underground Man," Dawn says, a little sheepish. "Then we found Roark, and he brought me here when I said I had business here. We were gonna surprise you."

"Mister Backlot's one of our benefactors, you see. So he's got an entrance to the Grand Underground in his mansion," Roark explains. Then, back to business, "all three of you are unbelievable! Do you have any idea how many times you nearly died this month?"

Luce starts counting. Barry stops him.

Dawn cheerfully asks, "do you want the numbers all together or individually?"

Roark momentarily resists the urge to repeatedly bash his head against the wall. He settles with slumping weakly against it, contemplating his life decisions.

-

"So these are our little heroes, huh?" Mister Backlot smiles at the sight of them. "I must express my utmost gratitude. We'll hold a banquet tonight. Please, attend as the stars of today. It will be our thanks to you."

The guests were in the main hall now, running up to Luce and Barry to genuinely express their gratitude as well. Though, half of them had half-lectures on their lips.

The Manaphy Egg was also safe and sound, to all their delight. The Clefairy were celebrating happily, dancing about the huge hall. Apparently, they had been hosting a Clefairy-fanatic tea party today, which explained why there were so many in this mansion. Luce is not going to judge.

At least Saturn didn't get any of them, but he did get a big blank cheque.

"They're never doing this again," Roark says.

"Now, now, all's well it ended well!" Fantina beams. "I have a feeling it's only going to get worse from here, might as well let it go."

"Please don't encourage them."

Luce watches as Dawn heals up Monferno and Buneary with Full Restores. Togepi was resting obediently in his arms. As for Barry's side, Staravia was on his shoulder. Ponyta and Prinplup were healed, but sleeping across from each other.

Well, this has sure been one hell of a busy day.

Luce wraps Dawn's red scarf around his neck a little better. He'll have to wear it for now, since his own was ruined by Toxicroak's poison.

"Where's Doozy?" Luce asks.

"Ah, crap. I left her with Major in the underground passageway," Barry says. He'd forgotten about the knocked-out Pokemon. "I didn't have her Poke Ball, so it was the safest place I could think of."

They made their way over in a hurry, but Psyduck wasn't there.

And she wasn't anywhere else in the mansion, either.