Chapter 181: The Organization Is So Lucky to Have You!
Miori stood before the main entrance of Dragonspiral Tower, with the dozen or so members of the First Operations Team arranged neatly into two rows.
The bald member saluted.
"Deputy Captain, every member of the First Operations Team is present and accounted for! Awaiting your orders!"
"Mm. That can wait."
Miori adjusted her sunglasses.
"I only just returned to the team. First, report the current situation inside the tower."
"Deputy Captain, the organization has deployed approximately two hundred and thirty members. The outer perimeter is guarded by lower-ranking members, while the tower’s core defensive zone is protected by the captains."
The bespectacled member opened a folder and continued his report.
"There is only one path to the top floor—the spiral staircase at the center of the tower. The Leader has ordered that no one except himself may enter."
Miori rapidly processed the information.
Team Plasma’s deployment inside the tower was even tighter than she had expected.
As deputy captain, she certainly outranked the ordinary members. However, her position was still nowhere near high enough to pass directly through the core zone guarded by the other captains.
How could she reach the top floor without exposing her identity?
Miori’s eyes shifted slightly.
An idea quickly came to her.
"Where is Captain K? I have important intelligence that I need to report to him personally."
The bald member immediately answered:
"Captain K is on the tower’s third floor, coordinating the inner defenses!"
"Good."
Miori nodded.
"I’ll enter alone and speak with Captain K. All of you remain here and await further orders. Make sure no one enters."
After issuing her instructions, Miori walked into Dragonspiral Tower.
With the deputy captain’s insignia displayed on her chest, every patrol member she encountered immediately stopped, stood at attention, and saluted.
Her journey through the tower was completely unobstructed.
On the third floor, Captain K stood beside a hastily erected folding table.
When he saw Miori, his expression first became shocked before relaxing with obvious relief.
"Shiny Shinyko, you’re alive?! After you disappeared that day, I couldn’t find any trace of you!"
"Captain K, I’m far too hard to kill to die that easily."
Miori shrugged.
"My communicator was damaged, and I suffered a few injuries, so I had no choice but to find somewhere to hide and recuperate for several days."
"What matters is that you’ve returned."
Captain K patted her shoulder.
"We’re desperately short on personnel inside the tower. Your timing couldn’t have been better."
"Captain K, I have a situation to report."
Miori abruptly changed the subject.
"On my way here, I saw numerous League vehicles heading in this direction. If the League launches an attack while we’re unprepared, I doubt the outer defensive line will hold for long."
Captain K paused before nodding.
"You have a point. I’ll coordinate with the other captains and strengthen our defenses."
"For the time being, I’ll leave the patrols within the core defensive zone under your command."
"Leave them to me."
Miori straightened and gave Captain K a textbook Team Plasma salute.
"Rest assured, Captain. As long as I’m here, nothing will go wrong within the core defensive zone."
"The organization is fortunate to have a member like you."
Captain K patted Miori’s shoulder.
"I wouldn’t dare take the credit. The organization made me what I am."
Miori answered without the slightest change in expression.
The moment Captain K hurriedly left the third floor, Miori turned toward the two members guarding the staircase.
"Go defend the second floor. Without my direct order, no one is permitted to come upstairs."
The two members saluted without hesitation and departed.
Miori watched them disappear around the bend in the staircase before lifting Emolga down from atop her head.
"Done."
She lowered her voice, her expression immediately relaxing.
"At least half the personnel in the core defensive zone will be diverted elsewhere. We’ll use that opening to head straight for the top floor."
Emolga gave her a thumbs-up.
Electricity flashed once across its cheek pouches, indicating that it awarded her plan full marks.
[VIP Chat Group]
[Gary]: Miori thinks unbelievably quickly. With only a few sentences, she managed to send most of the tower’s personnel elsewhere. Even I’m impressed by her ability to execute a plan.
[Skyla]: Captain K was still standing there feeling moved—"The organization is fortunate to have a member like you." Hahaha! It really is fortunate. So fortunate that she’s about to bring the entire organization down at once.
[Lance]: Only the final few steps remain between her and the top floor. The confrontation between ideals and truth is finally about to begin.
The video continued playing.
As Miori continued climbing the spiral staircase, she suddenly felt the Dark Stone inside her backpack beginning to heat up.
When she took it out, the dark-purple patterns across its surface were glowing, while its temperature continued to rise.
Zekrom was calling to her.
Miori took a deep breath and quickened her pace.
A stone door stood at the end of the spiral staircase. A circular indentation had been carved into its center.
"One of these mechanisms again."
Miori pressed the Dark Stone into the indentation.
The door released an exceptionally deep rumble before its two halves slid apart.
Beyond it lay an enormous circular hall.
The domed ceiling rose so high that its top couldn’t be seen.
Two gigantic stone statues stood within the chamber.
Zekrom and Reshiram.
The two statues faced one another, as though they had remained locked in confrontation since the very beginning of creation.
N stood directly beneath Reshiram’s statue.
His side was turned toward Miori as he stared up at Reshiram’s face.
"You came."
N didn’t turn around, as though he had expected her arrival all along.
Miori removed her sunglasses.
"It looks like I won’t need these anymore. It would be better for us to speak honestly, wouldn’t it?"
N turned around.
His face appeared more exhausted than it had during their previous meeting.
"The former Leader of Nimbasa Gym. The daughter of Asher and Elesa. The hero chosen by Zekrom."
"You possess many identities, Miss Shiny Shinyko."
"You can just call me Miori."
Miori met his gaze openly.
"And what should I call you? The current leader of Team Plasma? The hero chosen by the Dragon of Truth? Or Ghetsis’s adopted son?"
"I was too young to remember anything when Ghetsis adopted me."
N raised his head.
"He showed me countless examples of Pokémon being harmed by humans and told me that Team Plasma’s mission was to grant those Pokémon true freedom."
"I believed him, because that was the world I personally saw at the time. If every Pokémon were liberated and returned to the wild, then all that suffering would disappear."
"But later, Ghetsis’s true nature was exposed."
"All he wanted was to use the power of the two dragons to rule the world. Everything I had firmly believed throughout my entire life was nothing more than a deception."
N turned toward Miori.
"The truth itself did not break me. What I truly could not accept was that although Ghetsis was a liar, the cases he showed me were real."
"That is why Team Plasma cannot disband. It must instead follow a new path."
N raised both hands.
"I will make humans directly experience the pain suffered by Pokémon. Only then will they acknowledge their mistakes."
"And only then can a truly equal relationship between humanity and Pokémon be established."