The dark caves of Victory Road echoed with the sounds of battle as Tia and Aidan approached Moltres’ apparent nesting ground. They had battled several Trainers while navigating through the caves, and Tia was worried that their Pokemon would be stretched beyond their limits if they ended up battling Moltres.
It turned out that she had nothing to worry about.
As they arrived in a quiet, secluded chamber, away from the noises of humans and Pokemon, they saw what looked like the remnants of a massive nest. The shiny trinkets lining the nest were dusty with age, and the nest itself was cold to the touch, showing no trace of the warmth the firebird would have given off.
“Looks like a dead end,” Tia said, discouraged.
“Well, at least we know that Moltres was here at some point,” Aidan said encouragingly.
“But not anymore,” Tia said. “How long ago did your sources say Moltres was here?”
“About 3 or 4 years ago,” Aidan replied. “When I was a traveling Trainer, I’d heard stories from Cooltrainers at Victory Road that Moltres was there.” He was silent for a moment. “It was right before Cinnabar Volcano erupted.”
Tia took in a sharp breath. They didn’t often talk about Cinnabar Volcano’s eruption, or the near-fatal accident during the eruption that put Aidan in a coma before they had met. Aidan himself had already come to terms with it long ago, but Tia still couldn’t help but empathize with the pain he had experienced.
“Sorry,” Tia murmured, “Forget I said anything.”
Aidan shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”
They were interrupted by a loud beeping noise coming from Aidan’s pack. Tia looked at him with an eyebrow raised. Aidan, putting his pack down and opening it, pulled out the Itemfinder. It beeped repeatedly, indicating something valuable was buried nearby.
“I can’t believe you brought that with you,” Tia said, shaking her head.
Aidan gave her a lopsided smile. “For times like these!”
When they approached the old nest, the Itemfinder beeped wildly. They both reached out and dug through the abandoned debris in the nest, until they uncovered what looked like a Poke Ball, caked in dirt.
Tia lifted the Ball, wiping off the dirt, and held it close to the light. She frowned.
“What kind of Poke Ball is this?” she asked. “I’ve never seen it before!”
Aidan looked shocked. “Really? That’s a first!”
Tia nodded, examining the Poke Ball thoroughly. It had a clear, plastic shell with a smooth texture, almost like glass.
“Maybe it’s a prototype Poke Ball of some kind?” Aidan asked.
Tia shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m pretty much up to speed with all the Poke Ball projects Silph is working on right now, and this doesn’t look like one of them.”
“Maybe it’s something old.”
Tia glanced over at Aidan. “A discontinued project? Possibly.”
Aidan thought a moment. “Well, Team Rocket took over Silph over 10 years ago. Maybe it’s something secret that they started?”
“If that’s the case,” Tia said, “why would Moltres have it?”
“I wouldn’t put it past Team Rocket to try to use Moltres for their own ends,” Aidan said, “Armed with a prototype Poke Ball, and Silph’s entire research team at their fingertips? I’d be surprised if they didn’t try it.”
Tia shrugged. “It’s something to look into, at least.” She looked around at the desolate nesting ground. “Let’s get out of here,” she said, “There’s nothing left for us here.”
A few days later, after Tia had mailed the mysterious Poke Ball to her parents and asked for more information, they got a response regarding what kind of Poke Ball it was.
The unknown Ball was a prototype Mirror Ball – a Poke Ball with the ability to copy the traits of any Pokemon it captured. Paired with an illegal cloning machine – one of which was discovered stashed in a Team Rocket warehouse – it could make a clone of the Pokemon that was caught.
Tia was completely floored at the fact such a Poke Ball existed, and horrified at the implications of how it would have been used.
“Team Rocket could have had a copy of any Legendary Pokemon they wanted, and took over the world!” Tia mused.
“Good thing we found the Mirror Ball when we did,” Aidan said.
The Mirror Ball was now stored in Silph’s vault for safekeeping. A member of Silph’s top management had also requested that Tia and Aidan turn over any similar artifacts if they found them.
“All the more reason to keep the Itemfinder on during our excursions!” Aidan said cheerfully.
Tia stifled a laugh. “Sure.”