Deep Space

Deep Space #01

By Yugoslavia

2: Mars

         ???

Wincing hard, Ghetsis realized he was napping on bathroom tile. His lips were caked with saliva, his mouth more dry than he could remember in recent memory. After a quick reassessment in the mirror, he exited, leaving his coat in a disposal bin.

The futuristic hallways had been replaced with more homely office decor; plain white walls and blue carpet. Offices, he guessed. Outside the glass on the steel door, there was no short supply of excited grunts, even with the moon barely becoming the only source of light for the entire region.

At the top of a short staircase the hall bent around, at the end featuring a snack machine. Upon closer inspection Ghetsis saw that the glass display on it had been smashed in. Most of the supplies had been taken, besides a few plastic wrapped tubes of trail mix that had been left in perfect array. With a few bills, Ghetsis bought out the machine, and took all three trail mix packages.

Where the second staircase began was a loose wrapper, and then another in the middle of the stairs. A gentle reflected ray of fluorescent office light indicated that there was something at the end of the hall. He hopped up the stairs quickly, and found himself clutching his stomach once more. The little handful of trail mix he had downed was stale, and stirred up his seasick stomach. Remembering earlier, he quickly pictured the nuclear weapons in the main hall, and began to get tipsy.

Blinking sweat away, he crinkled up the plastic container and set it in his pants pocket. He continued down the hall, until another plastic wrapper fluttered down ahead. Ghetsis approached and inspected the slowly unfolding wrapper; freshly folded up.

"Hyyahh!!"

Ghetsis was plowed into the floor by the force of a piledriver. A loose tube of trail mix sprayed out down the hall. Turning his head around, Ghetsis's nose bumped into a black latex knee, instantly recognizing the Team Galactic trademark.

"What is this? What’s going on? Ugh… What the heck…"

"That's very unprofessional," the mysterious attacker said, "especially when I asked you first."

"Hm?" Ghetsis grunted under her weight. "I don't believe so- AAGH!"

Another huge blow to Ghetsis's back. "I asked the question again, but did you listen?”

"My name is Ghetsis," he said. "I'm a visitor from Unova, and I've been asked by Commander Saturn to help take care of some special energy resources you have."

The stranger rolled off his back, grabbing a loose hand of his. He came face to face with a smiling redhead. "My name is Mars. I'm a Team Galactic Commander... Or, well, was..."

Ghetsis settled his stomach, adjusting the buttons on his shirt and assessing the status of his trail mix tubes. "I'm sorry for your loss. It's tough losing a coworker, much less a boss."

"I'm sorry for your loss of flavor," smirked Mars, picking up a popped trail mix wrapper. "Seriously, trail mix? Might as well eat the Eterna Forest. No point, a waste of chocolate."

"Not a fruits and vegetables kind of person?"

"No, that's been my favorite part of Team Galactic," she said, walking down the hall. "Though, you can get some pretty nice apples in Floaroma Town. They dip them in honey, so it's not like a lot of real work to enjoy them. But that aside, I hate small talk."

Ghetsis smiled. "Was that Jupiter’s idea?"

"Hah! Jupiter, she's not very interesting, which is odd for someone like her."

"What's that?"

She wrenched open an office door. "A Commander."

Ghetsis entered. "Saturn's fairly interesting. I enjoy his company, when he's not selling nuclear weapons."

"Yes, he's very interesting," she mused. At the far end of the office was a little desk light, and a beanbag coated in Twinkie wrappers. Mars walked gracefully through knocked over stacks of paper that littered the hall. Many of the calendars in there were all about a month behind, some even two. "Charon is pretty not interesting, but not as not interesting as Jupiter."

"Charon? I haven't seen much of him," Ghetsis said. Hovering at the edge of a window, he turned to Mars sinking into a red beanbag chair, diving into another Twinkie.

"He's pretty antisocial. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't see him for the whole visit. We don't have much to talk about anyway. Master Cyrus and him were good friends, so that's good enough for me," Mars said, spitting out chunks of Twinkie while lost in thought. "You can have the beanbag over there, I usually use it for leg support, so it shouldn't have much use."

Ghetsis slowly sank into it, visibly relaxing with all of his muscles. "Have you been living here?"

Mars nodded. "You have no idea how depressing it is out there. The grunt barracks aren't very fun at all, and I'm the only Commander in there. Jupiter's taken Cyrus's bedroom and Saturn doesn't sleep. "

"And Charon?"

"Who cares? He could have a wife and kids for all I know," she said. "All there is to do is sign some 'terms of surrender' crud that nobody really likes. I'm certainly in no position to go hangout in town, those International Police guys are good."

Sinking further into the beanbag, Ghetsis tore into another container of trail mix. "There's a lot of talk about the terms of surrender, what's that all about?"

"Well," Mars began. "I think the reason you're here is that so we can't prove we have nuclear weapons. Saturn mentioned that we need to figure out how to get rid of them so we can take a load off our charges. The terms of surrender are like saying we'll come quietly if we get less of a criminal record. Much of this is pinning it on Cyrus, who's like a scapegoat now that he's... well... lost."

Ghetsis took a minute to process all of that. "I don't understand," he said. "What's the problem? Jupiter doesn't like them, even if it's complete forgiveness."

Mars frowned. "Wiping our criminal record doesn't wipe everyone-who's-ever-watched-TV's memory. Jupiter's got this sneaking suspicion that it makes us even weaker. She wants to bargain."

"Business doesn't work like that. I understand she has a power complex, but that excludes cooperation."

"Hmmm, yeah," said Mars, licking her fingers. "So, then do you think I should?"

Ghetsis sat up in the chair, or at least tried to. He tossed the folded wrapper into a waste bin, and then a few of Mars' wrappers. "Absolutely. You sound like a bright young woman, the last thing I should do is condemn you to a dangerous future."

Something like a loud bellow combined with a nasty hissing noise came from the far side of the office. Ghetsis spilled more trail mix all over his lap, shaking the heavy thinking he was participating in. Mars rubbed her moonlit eyes. "What is it girl?" she asked sleepily.

A loud screeching of claws on glass erupted in the office. "PURUGLY!  Be careful with that, you know how Saturn is about stuff around here. What is it?"

Purugly bounded to Mars's voice and knocked a panel, sending loose paperwork in scattered drifting paths. When the mess cleared, Ghetsis turned to the sloppy licking Mars was receiving from the gigantic cat.

"Stahahp! Hey!" Mars' giggling turned to frustration. "What? Why can't it wait?"

As soon as Mars knocked her off, she scrambled out to down the hall. "What do you think that was?" Ghetsis murmured, shaking the tingling sensation of sleep from his limbs.

"Something important," Mars said. She hopped up and reattached her Pokeball belt to her hips. "Purugly's usually pretty laid-back, sorry about that."

"Not at all," Ghetsis laughed. "I'm just glad for a distraction from... Ooohh..." Ghetsis's stomach gurgled.

Mars rounded the corner of the cubicle. "Geez, what the heck? There's like a bonfire... And a ton of grunts! Purugly, this is is crazy!"

Purugly cried carnivorously, licking her paws and steeling her claws. "PRRAWWW..."

"Oh yes, the fight," said Ghetsis, coming up behind her and causing her to flinch in his stumbling.

Mars gasped, looking over to him. "The fight? There's a fight? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't Jupiter tell me?"

Rubbing his brow, Ghetsis stifled a yawn. "I would've thought it'd be over by now. Jupiter must have some real issues to work out. I wouldn't be surprised if..." he looked around for Mars. He looked in the direction of another loud shrieking noise and flash of red light.

"Hyyahh!!" she shrieked. Purugly barreled through the glass pane, followed by Mars riding a Golbat's back into the night air. Ghetsis had just enough reaction time to dive behind a cubicle divider.

Catching his breath, Ghetsis fumbled for his own Pokeball. The wind had flung the last of the glass shards to the far end of the office and cleared the path where Ghetsis apprehensively stepped out into. He scanned for another violent outburst from the Commander, and realized she truly had disappeared. Fighting sleep, he sprinted down the office's alleyway and returned to the stairs where his trail mix had sprayed out.

He returned to the door Saturn took him through and exited it. Cool blasts of night air made him clutch for his jacket and rustled his hair. The new material of the jacket felt odd between his fingers, as he continued to rub it and his face continued to pale. He fought the crowd of grunts that had formed around Mars' shouting match.

Wednesday, 11:15 PM

Ghetsis emerged beside Jupiter, who pulled away from Mars' challenge to smile at him. "Oh Mars you fool, look at the baby you roused from sleep. Do us all a favor and grab a bottle for him. Doesn't that sound nice?" she cooed, grabbing his chin and tugging.

"I haven't been sleeping well because of you," he said, patting his stomach.

"I don’t know anyone who sleeps well around Mars," said Jupiter. "You're distracting me, go distract someone else."

"Don't you dare talk to my friend like that!" Mars shouted, Purugly bristling alongside Mars's back as it stalked Jupiter with golden eyes. "You're wearing my patience Jupiter, and you know I've got business with you."

Jupiter smirked. "So the student thinks she is the master, hm? You should do comedy Mars, you have the hair for it."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you should never impress a lady with her own tricks."

"Alright swamp-for-brains, hope you enjoy some of this hot air," Mars said. She pointed a commanding finger. "PURUGLY! Show Miss Jupiter we're not playing games!"

Growling, Purugly tossed it's heavy frame to the side. Thick claw marks dug into the concrete as Purugly launched full speed into Jupiter. Seconds to spare, Jupiter launched a Pokeball of her own. For a brief second, Ghetsis could see pure rage in her eyes.

Bronzong's presence sent a loud metallic ringing into the air around them. Static glowing eyes stayed alert when it intercepted Purugly's trajectory and used a strong telekinetic force to keep itself aloft. It's arms swung in rotating strength, and Purugly sailed far from it and bounced off the stamped concrete.

The thick white chunks caught in her fur sprayed away as it hoisted itself to it's standing position. "C'MON PURUGLY! Eat FLAMETHROWER you brat!" Mars shouted.

"Namecalling won't save you! PSYWAVE Bronzong!"

A hot stream of flames sprayed out from Purugly's cavernous chest, shaking it's fur in ripples. Thick pink wavelengths enveloped Bronzong's body and swung out with electromagnetic intensity. At the center, a heavy wind malestrom whipped up and blinded many grunts with their own hair.

Lights in the compound flickered on and a siren wailed. Mars called off Purugly's attack, but Jupiter did not. The two were hit with the psychic blast and flew far from the ring of grunts that now dispersed in quick scattering. Rolling off the concrete, Mars looked up to Saturn, standing where she had landed. She hung her powdery head and sighed, slouching over and yawning.

"So this is when you choose to come out? To participate in Jupiter's midlife crisis?" Saturn sadly asked, shaking his head. "I can't blame this on your immaturity for long, and I know you don't like that."

Jupiter retrieved Bronzong with her Pokeball. "I will have a midlife crisis when I want, and I will have you know this is not it.”

Saturn brushed Mars’ dizzy head off his boots. “That’s the most human thing you’ve said all night. Seriously, what has gotten into you? I’ve been out all night cleaning up the mess you’ve made with our guest and you go out screwing around with the grunts past curfew!”

Scoffing, Jupiter attempted a playful punch to his shoulder, landing far harder than she intended. “I’ve made my opinions pretty clear on our guest,” she said, stifling a burp. “Would you like to hear them again?”

“What the–“ Saturn shook his head. “Jupiter, you don’t sound like yourself. Was that a contraction I heard?”

“No.”

“JUPITER,” said Mars, cross-eyed. She hoisted herself onto her hands, but failed to kick her knees beneath her, stumbling to the floor. “Eat some… PURUGLY! F’naa… And no more Psychic-type moves… I feel… Awful…”

“It wasn’t the Psywave was it Jupiter?” asked Saturn. “Ghetsis, what’s seven times nine equal?”

“Sixty-three,” said Ghetsis.

“Alright, so no radiation from than then…” Saturn trailed off.

Saturn wrapped his arms around Jupiter, reaching around through her Pokeball belt holsters, to the leg pouch that usually held her communicator. “What the heck? Saturn?” Jupiter choked out between struggling. The pocket popped off, and just as Saturn reached in, Jupiter head-butted him really hard.

“Aaugh–!” he said, falling back. Saturn still had a small silver hip flask clutched in his fingers. The pale expression he always wore faded away.

“Hey… How’d you get that…?” said Mars, wobbling on her legs.

“Yes, Jupiter, how did this little wonder get in there?” said Saturn. All the grunts collectively took a few steps back, unsure if even to speak. He uncapped and took a deep whiff. “Oh look! This isn’t Moo Moo Milk, is it?”

“Saturn… Screw off…” said Jupiter, stomping her foot.

“No, you’re the one screwing us. You’re screwing us ALL!” Saturn shouted.

Jupiter lurched forward, footsteps almost as unsure as her arms. "Look, Commander," she said, coughing heavily, "even if you hadn't figured it out, it wouldn't change the situation we're in. In fact, I'll even go tell a guard right now."

"Not in your condition," Saturn said, grabbing her by the arm. Jupiter turned to face him, blinking steadily at his grimacing face. "We have drug tests in the morning, and you will surely fail, just as you have failed to read your documentation."

"That garbage? Reading is for the weak."

"Reading is for the ones with careers," hissed Saturn. "Alcohol is a banned substance, everyone on the compound knows that. Where did you get it?"

Jupiter chuckled, resulting in a heavy jostling from Saturn. "Check the grocery list sometime, Commander."

"Grocery list? Rations aren't pickable."

Jupiter chuckled some more. "Oops, guess not everything is under your control, Commander."

"Stop calling me that," said Saturn. He let go of her arms, and Jupiter stumbled over her own weight.

Wiping the little cut she had earned on her cheek, she leaned up and smiled. "What, your name? Commander, Commander, that's all you ever ask for around here."

Saturn turned. "I know mocking when I hear it. If you wanted to give respect you would have given it to our guest," he said. “And I ask for a lot more than my name around here–“

"Ghetsis is a weakling, and he reads," Jupiter laughed. "You really screwed this one up. Let us all point fingers at Saturn, it will probably be the only time ever."

"And he's right here," said Saturn. "You have no respect at all!"

Jupiter leaned back and lay completely spread across the floor. "I was saving it for when he was here, thanks for that, Commander."

Sighing, Saturn walked away from her. Three grunts had lined up in military fashion, staring blankly into space while awaiting orders. "I want this handled. Go find where we're getting alcohol from. Now," he said. After a snapping salute, they sprinted off in three different directions.

Ghetsis popped open a container of pills and downed two. The wet squelching noise from him swallowing snapped Mars out of her train of thought, shaking loose concrete dust that had caked in her hair and sprinkling down the front of her uniform.

"Mmph…” she breathed, rolling onto her back and sitting up slowly. “What was that?”

"Ibuprofen," said Ghetsis. "My apologies, didn't mean to shake your train of thought."

"Ehhh," Mars sighed. "I’m pretty tired anyway, I should, well, go.”

Nodding, Ghetsis reached his hand down. Mars waved it away.

“I’m fine, really,” she said. Mars only stumbled forward a little bit, shaking the rest of the concrete out of her hair. As Ghetsis walked beside her, Mars waved him away. “Please, I’m totally fine. I look like I’m doing fine, right?”

“Yes, I suppose so,” Ghetsis sighed.

Mars smiled. “Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some sleeping to take care of,” she said. She stopped her steady walk. “Good night, Ghetsis. It’s been great to meet you.”

“As for you I feel the same,” he said, saluting her.

Purugly returned to her Pokeball, her exhausted form enveloping in laser and leaving a concrete cloud. Mars’s smile faded, as she stumbled off down the long stretch of pavement towards the door they started at. Ghetsis’s smile faded as well.

Saturn stepped up beside Ghetsis. “Mars is a nice lady once you get to know her,” he said. “She takes a lot of cues from Jupiter, which makes it weird when she disagrees with someone she likes.”

“That would be a major dissonance, wouldn’t it?”

Saturn laughed, nodding. “Yes, yes it would. I’m not so sure why Jupiter is taking this so hard, but I’m sorry you have to experience it.”

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Ghetsis sighed and looked at his shoes, rocking back and forth on them. “Has she signed the terms?”

“No.”