Deep Space

Thursday, 4 AM. Team Galactic Barracks.

There's nothing but rolling hills thick with trees. Ghetsis's breathing is heavy, his face is red. The last few clouds in the sky roll away and clear the blue expanse, and the sun bears down on Ghetsis's searching face. Just as he sits down, a twig snaps behind him.

"Come on Ghetsis, just another mile. What kind of kid did I raise?" the man laughs, smiling and reaching his hand down to Ghetsis.

Ghetsis grabs it. The man pulls him to his feet and Ghetsis immediately stumbles into a barkdust drift. Sap coated hands claw through the dirt and pull onto his hands and knees. "Father...?"

A shrill roar is ringing upwind of Ghetsis. He turns around, just as a massive Usaring is running full speed at him. Grabbing for a supportive root, his hand lands squarely in the center of a Twinkie package, sending a shot of cream filling out the side with a loud crinkling noise. The Usaring's nose wrinkles, and it goes into a full sprint.

From the far left, there's a huge surge of light as Darumaka crashes down in front of the Usaring. It's long trunk-like arms shoot up in resistance and flip the Usaring into a shrub. Ghetsis takes this opportunity to get up and run behind Darumaka. Even though he's running as fast as he can, his legs feel like they're underwater.

"NO, Ghetsis! Not behind Darumaka!"

Ghetsis turns to see the source of this voice, but only sees a furry wall of red flying full speed into him. Darumaka's limp body rolls helplessly down the hill and drags Ghetsis with him.

Ghetsis's body shudders violently. He fights for air, until the convulsion ends.

Usaring is atop Darumaka, and beneath both is Ghetsis. Twigs and bark are rammed into every square inch of skin, besides the heavy hairy beast atop him, screaming in his ear for the Usaring's mercy. Fighting back tears, Ghetsis cries for help.

"GET OFF MY SON!" the man shouts. Darumaka bounces into Ghetsis as the Usaring pushes off. His arms are still trapped, though he can look up into the blank eyes of fainted Darumaka.

Ghetsis is fighting as hard as he can to clear the body. "No," he pleads. "Not this part."

"Get off me, you beast! AAAAAAUGGHH!!"

There's a loud thud. Shrill shrieks of the man are incessant, as he begs for his life.

"Nnghhhuu..." sighs Ghetsis. He rolls over and plows his head into the floor. Weakly clawing at the floor, he rolls over and closes his eyes tighter.

"URUUUUUUOOOGGHHHHHH!!!"

Ghetsis is crying, blinking away tears and the thick globs of bear mucus flying from the Usaring's snapping maw, not a foot away. Each time he pushes, he rams his head into the rock that blocks the back of his head. Darumaka's blood has formed a tiny pool on his cheek, where Usaring's snapping teeth have made their marks.

"Father... Please help!"

It's been silent in the direction of where the man was last heard. Even when the Usaring's growls die down and he wanders off, it's completely silent. The only sound is the gnashing of teeth and tearing of plastic wrappers. Then, there's a low cry.

"Ghetsis... Ghetsis, my boy... Are you still there?"

Spitting up the dried blood and saliva from his face, Ghetsis screams as loud as he can. It's unintelligible, but loud.

"Please... Ghetsis... Make a sound for me... I need to hear you one last time..."

Ghetsis is screaming at the top of his lungs. His throat burns, and the thrashing he does only serves to bash his head against the boulder. He can barely hear the slow shuffling that the man struggles to make over the shrieks.

Coughing heavy and wet, the man's sound is much closer. "Darumaka... Are you okay? I need," he erupts into a coughing fit. "I need you to help me find Ghetsis... Please... It's my last revive..." A quiet hypodermic sound is close, and so are the man’s heavy breaths.

Darumaka struggles atop Ghetsis. It's heaving chest shoves Ghetsis further into the twigs and bark, and his yelps of pain are drowned out by Darumaka's groaning.

"Darumaka, is your leg stuck?"

The leg shielding Ghetsis's shoulder tugs hard where the fist is lodged with a boulder. Looking up, a bloody hand is reaching to clear the boulder. Ghetsis tries to scream again, but he's cut short by a sharp intake of breath.

"UUUUGRRRROOOAAAAARRRRR!!!"

A claw sweeps the source of the bloody hand, and the heavy sound of taking a blow is drowned out by the Usaring's battle cry. It's swift speed is aided by pulling over Darumaka's exhausted head. Out from the forest there's a crashing sound. Ghetsis struggles to get out once more.

Letting out a yelp for joy, Ghetsis finds his left leg is free. Heavy vibrations of heavy footfalls are felt over there. Ghetsis stops wiggling his foot.

"No... No no no..."

Ghetsis screams until his voice falls out. A rush of thick red fur later, he's on the other side of Darumaka, flipping through mud and dirt. The foot inside Usaring's mouth tears away from the teeth and stops Ghetsis's roll down the steep ravine. His voice returns to air his pain, as he pulls it away to check the connection to his ankle; still attached.

Usaring pounces again. The loose dirt sends Ghetsis further down the ravine, just giving him a narrow glimpse of the slowly rising blood soaked chest that belonged to the man before it disappeared. His utility belt had torn from the buckle with out it's Pokeballs still attached.

He had moments to scan the scene, as Usaring reared onto his legs and bellowed out his yellow-stained jaw. A Pokeball was trapped in a bush's roots, bearing a green sticker and a '4' in marker atop the sticker. "Flaafy," he breathed.

Looking up, Usaring was tipping onto his front paws, prepared to strike. It's first sweep sank into the tree where Ghetsis ducked in time to release his grip. He tumbled down until his head caught on the bush. Flaafy's Pokeball rolled down out of the roots, and right into Ghetsis's quick grip.

"GO! FLAAFY!!" Ghetsis shouted. "THUNDER FANG!"

The red burst of light erupted into bright yellow, as Flaffy hurtled into the beige 'O' on Usaring's chest. Usaring wailed in a much higher pitch than it had for the entire attack. Doubling over, it rolled down into the ravine at hurtling speed.

Flaafy dodged the oncoming Usaring by kicking off it's chest and sliding to the side. The build up of mud beneath it's stubby hooves brought her to a full stop.

"FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

A thunderbolt flies to Usaring's resting place, where the grunts that echo up are silenced by the crack of lightning. Ghetsis shields his eyes from the pure light.

Ghetsis pulls his hand away from his eyes. Back atop the ridge, Flaafy nudges the man's inanimate body. It's not until Flaafy is nudging Ghetsis's leg that he breaks his train of thought and looks down. Thick wet strands of hair hang down over his eyes, and when he brushes them out of his forehead he receives a fresh blast of rain on his face.

"It... It's raining... How long has it been raining for, Flaafy?"

"Your entire life," said a familiar voice behind Ghetsis. He turns around and comes face to face with Mars.

Ghetsis frowns. "You're not supposed to be here," he said, voice wavering. "This isn't how it happened."

Stepping around him, Mars continues to stare. "This is weird enough Ghetsis, I don't understand."

"I don't understand."

"I don't understand."

"STOP," Ghetsis says, shaking his head violently.

"Stop what? You're a grown man Ghetsis," she smirks. "Why do you have shame when we don't?"

"Shame is a weakness Ghetsis, a weakness you have..."

Wednesday, 12:45 AM. Team Galactic Offices.

"They still haven't signed the terms?" Ghetsis asked, grunting and walking stiffly, holding Mars's hands as Saturn carried her feet towards the secondary offices.

Saturn set her legs on the floor and slid open the door console. "No, unfortunately," he said. With one hand he punched in the passcode and hit 'accept'. The door chimed, slowly sliding open with pneumatic precision as the lights flickered on in the halls. "Sorry for forgetting the lights in here earlier."

Both of them wiped their brow and hoisted Mars back up again. "No problem at all. I probably would have hurt worse with the lights on," Ghetsis laughed. Just as he finished speaking, the lights flickered out. "I suppose it wasn't your fault after all. You would think Mars would have mentioned it your way. Odd, actually. This way," he said, pointing to the light down the hall.

"What is that?" Saturn asked, heading back first down the narrow hall. A shard of glass cracked beneath his boot.

"Snack machine. I assume Mars smashed it in."

Saturn stopped. "What?"

"There's a snack machine in this hall, didn't you know?" asked Ghetsis. "That seems to be under your jurisdiction here," he grunted as Mars's legs dropped out from Saturn's grip, her full weight resting on his arms.

"Of course I knew there was a snack machine, that's ridiculous," Saturn said, stepping over broken glass shards easily highlighted by the blue fluroscent light of the machine. "Aagh!" he shouted, banging his fist on the dial panel. "I aught to punish all the grunts, this is getting out of hand."

"Hold on now, this isn't the grunts's doing. Theres a little cut visible on Mars's knuckle," Ghetsis said, holding her limp hand up. "And what do you mean 'out of hand'?"

Kneeling down, Saturn checked the deposit slot. "You saw Jupiter's stunt back there. If she has alcohol then you can't rule out that others are involved. Breaking into the snack machine isn't an isolated incident either. I had a deposit on this machine, let's not forget."

Thursday, ???

The wall opposite Ghetsis came swirling into view. By the light in the room, he could tell it was still early, until the warm light of the hall came through the crack in the open door.

"Grrhhuuu... Who is it...?" Ghetsis groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"A Commander with a friggin' big headache," said Mars. Ghetsis turned to look, seeing her dark outline in the doorway. He sat up while rubbing his eyes, inviting her in. She had already walked around to the side of the bed. "Who took me home last night? Was it you?"

"Saturn did it...Shhhshshhh," said Ghetsis, waving her off. Through squinted eyes he put a finger to his lips. "What time is it even?"

Mars frowned. "Saturn? Saturn doesn't have any body mass to him, that's impossible."

"Mm, well, I suppose I had a hand in it too. That's irrelevant though. What time?"

"Were you the one who banged my head up?" Mars asked, straightening her lopsided upjet of hair.

Ghetsis groaned. He leaned over his lap and popped his back loudly. "No, that was Saturn. Seriously, what time is it in here?" His eyes sleepily searched the room. "Odd... They forgot to put a clock in here."

         "Why did Saturn get mad?"

Blinking, Ghetsis finished rubbing one eye and looked up at Mars, who had leaned over on the bed to inspect Ghetsis. "Mad? What makes you think he's mad? Saturn's the most rational person here, he probably has a fantastic temper."

Mars scratched her head in confusion. "Saturn? Saturn's the most trigger happy person I know. Charon gave him a very long talk about manners before you or any other of his guests arrived. I bet that's why he's so mad."

"Other guests? That would explain Jupiter's anger too, I suppose. That's a tough road to walk."

"I bet," Mars nodded. "Jupiter hasn't been helping either."

"Oh of course not, she was the catalyst for last night."

It was Mars's turn to rub her temples. "I was about to ask about that. Last night... I remember you, Jupiter, and Saturn, and something Saturn was really pissed about? Oh! Wait... There was... A metal bottle? Jupiter's hip flask!"

         Ghetsis nodded. "The hip flask, right. It was filled with alcohol, and Saturn took it from her."

Mars gasped. "What? She's had that thing on every mission! And she every time I asked, she ignored me," she said, crossing her arms and rolling onto her back, resting on the side of the bed.

         "Mm, I wouldn't mention that in your reports."

"Wait a minute, something's not right here," said Mars. She paused, tossing her Pokeball up and down in thought, slowly chewing her lip. Her head slowly turned up to Ghetsis. "Why then? She would've smacked Saturn if he took it."

         "She was quite intoxicated by the time we got there. You were in battle, remember? Right before the Psywave?" Ghetsis asked.

Mars had turned her gaze to the wall. "And Jupiter knows where because she's getting it directly... Y'know, Saturn's been on my case all morning about getting you up, even though he's been having me do all sorts of things... It's not like Jupiter goes anywhere unusual here..." she picked at a cut on her chin, looking up at the ceiling and pushing her head into the side of the mattress.

Ghetsis had rolled out of bed, sliding his arms through a shirt sleeve and buttoning it up. "What time did you say it was?"

Train of thought broken, Mars pulled out a Pokegear phone, flipping up the screen. "A little after noon," she said. "Oh look! A message!"

Mars hopped up on the bed and sank into the spot where Ghetsis's body had impressed upon the foam. She patted around the much larger outline, until Ghetsis got up and looked over.

"It says?" he asked. He leaned over, smoothing the long sickly blonde hair out of his eyes, and read:

         Meet at Charon's room in 15 min, bring Purugly.

--Saturn, 12:33 PM

"Hmph," Mars said. "I wonder what that's all about. I should probably go then. You're good to go then? I think you'll probably be needed at some point..." she looked up at him. "Ghetsis?"

         Ghetsis was staring at the wall with a concerned look on his face.

"I'd offer you my medication, but it's a little too strong I'm afraid," said Charon. His sleepy eyes flicked to the cabinet below the console lip, sealed with a lock.

         "Charon..."

"Yeah? That's where I'm going, if you'd like to come," said Mars. "Are you okay? You don't look so good. Are you going to be sick again? Come on, get it together!"

Ghetsis turned to Mars. "Does Jupiter ever visit Charon's office?"

Frowning, Mars got up, going to the door. "Like daily, why? Is something wrong?"

Mars was about to exit, when Ghetsis grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her to her.

"Charon has the alcohol, it's a part of his medication."

         "Wait what? What does that mean?"

"Charon is about to get arrested for a crime he doesn't know he's committing. We need to stop Saturn before he gets there," Ghetsis said, wide awake now.

         Mars flipped the screen on her Pokegear again. "Ghetsis, this message was sent at 12:33 PM; it's 12:49 PM now, we'll never make it."

The door swung wide open, rattling from Ghetsis's blunt shoulder. Mars stumbled out with his hand still on her shoulder. Ghetsis looked down the long hall, where various grunts sat on the floor bored. "Not if we run," he said. As he finished speaking, his stomach gurgled. Mars looked over at his stomach.

"I think I'll do the running. You get yourself a trash can, meet me at Charon's office."

Ghetsis smiled, nodding. Mars sprinted off before she could see him.

Mars rounded the last corner in the hall, running into Jupiter and falling over onto her rear.

“HEY! Watch it!” Jupiter shouted.

With her sleeve, Mars wiped a bit of saliva that had been knocked from her mouth. “Sorry! Sheesh,” she groaned, getting up. “I was just looking for Charon. Have you seen him? It’s an emergency.”

A thin smile appeared on Jupiter’s face. “Charon, hm? There’s not much trouble around here these days, must be related?” she said, pointing to Saturn grilling a grunt outside the window.

“Yeah,” said Mars, getting to her feet. “That was pretty good. Did you know already?”

“Of course I knew already, who do you take me for?” asked Jupiter, punching Mars on the shoulder. “I was looking to save him from this too. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Fun? We’re helping cover his rear, that just seems more right than fun.”

Jupiter chuckled, gripping Mars by the shoulders and backpedaling with her. She pointed to the gated perimeter, where the rounded hull of the Galactic Shuttle sat. “Oh no, this won’t be so simple. A violation of the terms of surrender here will be almost certain death for Charon, so we need to give him a great send off.”

Mars gave her a confused look. “Send off?”

Sighing, Jupiter punched in the exit code on a console. “It’s not worth explaining. In fact, this conversation never happened. I don’t need another accessory here, you wouldn’t understand.”

“What? What do you mean I wouldn’t understand? What’s there to understand?” asked Mars, lighting up.

“Mars, you were a fantastic Commander, but don’t you need to go live a life? Team Galactic’s done. Why else is Saturn selling us all?”

Just as Jupiter was stepping through the doorway, Mars stopped her. “Wait! So, there’s no Team Galactic to go back to? It’s just, whatever I had before, right?”

Jupiter nodded. “That’s it. It’s the way it’s supposed to be. Please Mars, be normal, be the better of all of us.”

“I see,” said Mars, letting her go. “I suppose that’s it then?”