Tap, tap, tap... Dian walked through the "Caterpie–Rayquaza Laboratory" and headed deep underground.
Gradually, everything around him fell silent. Only the eerie blue light on the golden walls continued to flicker.
When the Main Island Research Institute was built, its most important and confidential laboratories had been placed underground.
For one thing, this offered protection against emergencies and allowed for a swift evacuation through various Psychic-type means.
For another, it had to do with Leyline Energy and Jirachi.
Thus, the lower a laboratory lay, the closer it was to the source of the leyline and to Jirachi.
The surrounding metal walls also kept certain Pokémon from burrowing in.
Ground-type Pokémon such as Sandshrew, Diglett, and Excadrill loved digging underground. To them, it was one way of staking a claim to territory.
Generally, most Pokémon would sensibly go around an underground structure or metal barrier when they encountered one.
But there were always a few hotheaded youngsters. Tell them they couldn't dig through, and they would only dig harder than ever.
As for those young burrowers with energy to burn, Dian was happy to give them a lesson on their parents' behalf and put them to work for free while he was at it.
Having built everything from scratch, Dian loved words like "free" and "discount."
He was equally happy for them to call their parents. Getting two, three, or even four workers for the price of one? What could be better?
At last, Dian reached a metal door covered in blue patterns. "Authenticate."
He spoke calmly. A faint light flashed across the door, and a line of text appeared—
"Who is your favorite person?"
Are you trying to get me killed?!
Only a grade-schooler would try to answer that!
Dian frowned and pulled out a pitch-black Poké Ball. Wisps of