Left at the Launch Pad

[Kalseng]

==================
Prologue - Experiments
==================



His eyes bolted open, without much say as to whether or not he actually wanted them to. His heart was pounding against his chest, running like a race horse. The blanketing fog in his eyes slowly faded with a few blinks, allowing him to see the intensely bright light in front of him. What he did see, he saw differently. It was like everything had gone... Flat.

He tried to move his arms, as if to roll over. The right arm shrugged a little, as if it were asleep. His left arm tried, barely moving at the shoulder joint. With a toss to the left, he rolled his head over to get a look at it. He threw his other arm over in a lurching motion, grasping at his grey sleeve. A muffled, scratchy noise reached his ears, covered by a fog that he couldn't describe, like someone had decided to lay a thick comforter over his head. His fingers slipped across the surface of what he thought was his sleeves, though as he grasped and groped, no fabric bunched up. He groped around, trying to get a feel of the cloth he knew was there. After his eyes had fully cleared, he realized he wasn't wearing a sleeve. The thing he was gripping at was his arm. The tempered titanium quietly shone in the bright light overhead. It seemed like a toy, like something fake as he felt it over. No solid nerves connected his brain to his arm, so he hardly felt it. He threw his body back over, and a small, white face came into view.

For a moment, he saw her blond hair falling around her shoulders, framing a pair of big blue eyes and soft red lips. That face vanished, a mere hallucination, to be replaced by the harsh and real face of another woman in blue scrubs with a face mask. A tress of dark red hair fell over her forehead as she looked closely into the man's eyes. She held up a tiny flashlight, and moved it in front of his eyes.

“Follow this,” He heard her say from ten miles away. His eyes swayed lazily, following the bright light. “Good. Can you make a right fist?” Her voice was closer. With a short delay, he made a tight fist. “Great. Move your right leg.” He complied. “Can you move your left arm?” He looked over at the metallic object, rolling his head sharply. He tried to tense it, and came up with a small hand raise. “It's heavier than you're used to. Try harder.” He gave it a hard and tense move, lifting the back arm a few inches upwards, the forearm reluctantly following suit. “Fantastic.” Her words were almost robotic, as if she'd done this a dozen times with him.

… Had she?

“Left leg,” She said, eying the limb cautiously. He forced his hip upwards, and he lurched another metallic limb to life. A pair of black boxers rolled up on his leg. “Better than last time. Can you sit up?” She looked down at a clipboard with a laugh, and he lifted up his right arm. He placed his elbow down on the hard metal bench, and pushed himself up. He found it hard to drag the left half of his body upwards, but it was workable. He braced himself with his right arm, shoving himself upwards painfully. His left arm limply screeched against the bed, and he tiredly looked at the woman. Her wide eyes said it all. She looked back down at her clipboard and scribbled something furiously.

“Doctor Strauson,” A busy-sounding man called. “The sedative is declining. Should we reset his memory now?” The lady looked furiously up to the sitting man's left. “No. This is progress. Give him the sedative and we can resume progress later, when he starts to wake up.” A man with black hair and thick-rimmed square glasses ran up to the half-man on the table. He handed a syringe to Doctor Strauson, and she eased the man back down to a laying position. “Good night, CR-416. Sleep well.”

---

CR-416 was overall a success, they said. They clinked champagne glasses around him, laughing jovially and talking about what this meant for the future of “the organization” they were all a part of. The higher-ups were apparently very impressed with his ability to walk across a room in a straight line and lift twenty pound weights with both arms. He was supposed to be the main event at the party, but it wasn't really true. It wasn't even a real party. It was CR-416 in the middle of a white room while scientists moved around him, moving his joints and asking him basic questions about his functions. They all wore the same white lab coats with a bright red R bordered in black on their backs. They all fondly regarded his creation, tapping on his titanium arm and leg. He turned to Doctor Strauson, who had her hair pulled up into a bun and was wearing narrow, square glasses. She smiled and shrugged, letting CR-416 know to just let it happen. They were in that same room that he'd been in, with the one metal bed and the tinted one-way mirror he'd become so accustomed to looking at to know who he was. Blond hair, hazel left eye, bionic right eye square face, robotic left arm and leg, as well as a fair portion of his chest, where his heart should be. He was told they'd done direct work in his brain, but placed stitches inside the hairline. They always dressed him in a sad black shirt and pants, with red trim. It was a happy, loud party for the scientists, but it was a quiet, lonely party for CR-416. Doctor Strauson raised her champagne glass and cleared her throat.

“Attention,” the doctor said, grabbing everyone's attention. CR-41G stopped mid-movement, holding his left arm up for a scientist to examine. “It's great to have you all here to witness the birth of our organization's revolution in strength, but I think it's time we all take a look at the real reason we need this guy right here. She reached beneath the flat metal table, retrieving a metal suitcase. She flipped it open, and showed the contents for all to see. “These are three pokéballs, each containing a different Pokémon.” She reached down, grabbing a grapefruit sized half-red, half-white ball. She walked over to CR-416, and pulled his hand upwards. She pressed a small red button on his wrist, and he felt a shift in his arm. Three small, ping-pong ball sized recesses indented along his metallic forearm, and a large, grapefruit sized recess appeared in the center of his palm. She placed the pokéball snugly in his hand, and clicked it into place. A sudden rush of information filled his brain, resulting in a subtle twitch of his right eye. “What Pokémon is it?” she asked softly. He sifted through all the information, and found the data.

“Ekans,” CR-416 answered plainly.

“Level?” Doctor Strauson asked over the murmurs of the crowd.

“Sixteen.”

“Type?”

“Poison,” The crowd murmured in response to this, and one man raised his hand.

“How do we even know he scanned that? Couldn't he have just as well memorized the data?”

“Give me one of your Pokémon,” Doctor Strauson offered. The man reached for a pokéball on his belt, and flung it at CR-416. The doctor caught it with her right hand, and removed the one in CR-416's hand. The data fled his brain, gone without a trace. She enlarged the other ball, and clicked it into place. More data.

“Name?” She asked.

“Arcanine,” CR-416 looked up at her, and she smiled warmly. Everyone turned to the loud scientist, who grumbled out a low confirmation. The night continued happily, until every last one of the 13 scientists left. CR-416 got bored, and counted them. Doctor Strausand reached for her syringe, and pointed at the table.

“They were annoying,” he said with a sigh as he hoisted himself back up onto his “bed.”

“They're engineers,” she responded. “They're going to be annoying unless you're an engineer yourself. Hold out your right arm.”

“I don't like this,” CR-416 answered, stretching out his bare arm.

“Me neither,” She said as she pressed down on the plunger. “Goodnight, CR-416.”

“Goodnight, Doctor Strauson,” He said as his eyelids became heavy. He could barely see her content smile as he slipped from consciousness. That smile was what kept his dreams happy, and what kept his heart beating amidst all the poking and prodding and unnecessary tests. For just a while, he was happy.

 

[Aura]

Ooh nteresting. Reminds me of Mewtwo. Now the only question is what cruel purpose Team Rocket have for CR-416...

Very intriging.

 

[Blazi]

Ooh! A new fic! I'll have to keep a close eye on this one. From his reaction at the start of the prologue I'm guessing he was originally a human. Good work, I shall follow this story and become and avid fan!

CR-416... Very interesting...

 

[Cody]

Kal. I like your fic : D

It's a really interesting concept. Keep more coming ^^

 

[AmethystDragon]

Ooh. Mysterious. I like it.

 

[Kalseng]

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Chapter 1 - The Graveyard Shift
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Being the last one on your floor was usually a sign that you were behind on your work, or didn’t have a life. That teetering balance of “working hard” and “working too much” was a fairly fine line of about twenty minutes. Stay about fifteen minutes after, and you’re working a little hard. Stay for half an hour, you’re an overachiever and you’re making everyone else look bad. That is, of course, unless you were in Vixx’s position.

The windows behind him shook with the violent winds, a problem he’d begged maintenance to fix repeatedly. Without the fix, they’d be moving him to a new office. He’d pulled the eggshell shades closed, trying to block out the excess lighting that caused awful glare on his new computer. The display was a healthy blue, mixed in with the occasional pink highlight. His monitor was a strange orange color, as well as his computer tower, with an orange base color and a black frame. He was the only one in Silph Co. with the set-up apparently, but that was because he was one of the only Pokémon trainers working in his deparment.

Vixx was head of Silph Co.’s software division, responsible for a lot of bare coding and Tech Support within the company. All of the other workers under his supervision had given up on their work or just clocked out, and most were sauntering home against the howling winds that tended to wind their way through Saffron’s busy streets. Vixx was a different breed of Silph Co. Worker, however. He had skyrocketed through school, coasting on his Math and Science grades and his ability to BS his way through the rest of them. His coding skills pulled him into a profitable business at fifteen, and at eighteen he was working for Silph Co. He worked in each position of coding they had for about a half year before they moved him up, until he got sick of climbing. After three years of climbing, Vixx jumped down a rung on the corporate ladder so that he could pursue coding more frequently. It had yielded brilliant results.

Silph Co. did experiments with Porygon all the time. They made sizable amounts of money selling the Porygon-2 Up-Grade. Vixx had secretly helped produce the Dubious Disc that made it possible for Porygon-2 to further evolve, but the person he had passed it to ignored Vixx’s explicit directions to not mess with the coding, and ended up with the corrupted Porygon-Z. They moved too fast, and Porygon-Z had become an official evolution. Porygon-S, the true version of Porygon-Z, was actually just a Porygon-2 with enhanced computer abilities. It looked no different and battled no different, it simply altered the operation system of the computer it inhabited. Vixx, of course, was running that operating system as opposed to the under-developed system Porygon-2 ran.

This, of course, assisted him greatly in the extra work he had recently taken on. The head of the Silph Co., the director himself, had secretly passed Vixx a manila envelope with a chip in it and a note reading:

“Please patch the coding. Run the code using the file on your computer labeled MBCode to check if it works. The information on the programming language is attached.”

Vixx had taken the project with no objections, but it had slightly worried him that this was all he had to work with. The code was coming along slowly, though the progress was great. The coding program he’d been given told him where syntax errors occurred and pointed him in the direction of what he needed. The entire thing was really helpful and surprisingly efficient, but there was a lot of code to sift through. It appeared the program was designed to overwrite something else and replace it with another code. The overwriting code was easy enough, but writing the proper code for the program to re-write was difficult to master, and even more difficult as it grew in size. It was a very difficult program to handle.

This night, however, was the night Vixx had cracked it. He punched in the last few lines of code and ran the finalized program. He brushed his neck-length black hair back with his left hand as the executor ran the code, and took a moment to finally register the entirety. The program closed, and a dialogue box popped up.

“Thank you, Vixx. As the director of Silph Co. himself, I’d like to thank you personally for all your years of help and service. Please turn this into me tomorrow. I’d greatly appreciate it.”

Vixx made a silent cheer to himself, and removed the chip from his reader that plugged into the orange base of his computer tower. He slipped the chip into the watch-pocket in his midnight blue jeans. The watch-pocket was the most unused part of any pair of jeans, so Vixx went out of his way to make sure that he had it in use. The tiny pocket above the bigger right pocket just felt really lonely to him. He had quirks like that.

“Computer, off,” Vixx commanded the computer, and it complied, suddenly shutting off. He had a Pokémon to thank for that. He grabbed his computer headset from the table, clamping the earpiece into place. It was a black plastic box that functioned much like a PDA, including a transparent green display that hung over his left eye. It looked like a retro Game & Watch display, but with a little help from his Pokémon, that was never an issue. He tapped on his tower, and pulled out his cellphone.

“Porygon, Rotom,” Vixx cooed. “Time to close-up shop.” The monitor sputtered for a brief moment, and a blue, curvacious bill slowly poked its way from the monitor’s surface, as if it were a 3-D display. The smooth, countoured edges of a Porygon-2 Appeared, and looked around for a moment before making a low, humming series of beeps. It flew up to Vixx’s headset, and placed its beak on the display. It was absorbed into the machine, which adopted a blue earpiece and a pink screen, with a much fancier, more state-of-the-art look to it. His computer tower suddenly shook, almost violently at first. It practically exploded, sending a bolt of blue lightning up towards the ceiling. It took a triangular shape, and a small orange ball formed in the middle. It grew two eyes and a huge, white smile from edge to edge. It let out a sharp, crackling noise followed by a happy cheer.

“Rotom tom,” it mindlessly repeated. It fired off like a crack of lightning, forcing itself into Vixx’s black phone. It zapped into an orange color, the signature of a Rotom-takeover. He pushed his blue office chair in, and grabbed his dark purple coat. He threw it over the midnight blue tee-shirt he happily wore to work every day. It was part of his contract; Every day was casual Friday. The black messenger bag found its way to his shoulder, and he walked out to the central office, full of white cubicles. He was lucky to get out of work at 2 AM that day. Usually he was much later. Tonight he might actually watch some TV for once. As he approached the elevator, his Porygon displayed a message in black letters.

“You work too much, Vixx,” It read to him in his ears.

“I know, I know,” He brushed the nagging Porygon off, and pressed the down button on the elevator. A fleet of footsteps broke out on his left, and he turned his head to see who it was. A man in a dark outfit was striding up to Vixx at a determined pace. Silph Co. may have had the bigger bosses of Team Rocket chased out, but they were still scurrying around as busily as ever, sticking their noses where they don’t belong. They were harmlessly funding research, particularly in Vixx’s department, but he didn’t like the smell of it. His job was a good job, though.

“Hey, can you wait up?” The man called, tipping up the rim of his hat to more easily see Vixx. “I need something.”

“Nasty Plot,” Vixx muttered under his breath. “Of course. What’s up?” Vixx called. Being agreeable was a staple of his life in the corporate world.

“I heard you’ve been doing extra work for the Director,” he called. He was about thirty feet from Cole, and closing. He knew where it was going.

“I might be. Why?” The elevator opened as Vixx answered. He instinctively inched his foot closer, praying this wasn’t trouble.

“I just want to see it,” The grunt was too close to have Porygon deal with him. The power behind any attack would kill him. As much as he hated Team Rocket, killing him was so far out of the question it was hardly even a laughable suggestion. Vixx reached his hand down towards his pocket, and remembered what else he was carrying.

“Oh, sure,” Vixx laughed and smiled. He reached in his pocket, pretending to fish around for something. He palmed his cell, and he held up the display for the Grunt to see. “Look right here.” The grunt finally reached Vixx, and grabbed his cell phone violently, as if trying to take it. “Discharge!” Vixx called. The grunt looked up at him like he was an idiot, but an electronic cackling startled him.

“The hell is-” He started. The phone seemed to explode into lightning, and the grunt dropped it to the ground, shocked by the energies. He reeled backwards, and Vixx bent over to grab his phone. The grunt tried to chase after him, but he slipped and fell flat on his face. Vixx ducked around the corner, into the elevator and slammed the one button repeatedly.

“Come on come on,” Vixx muttered under his breath, and the elevator doors started to close slowly. The grunt ran forward, and stuck his arm between the doors.

“Stop!” He hissed, rage surging through his eyes in addition to the few hundred extra volts still coursing through him.

“Rotom!” Vixx called. An orange streak of lightning fired between his phone and the control panel, and the elevator flashed to orange. It took on a malicious-looking blue aura, and it slammed its doors hard on the Grunt’s hand. The irritated henchman whipped his arm backwards, nursing the injury as the doors shut in front of him. “Oh Arceus, I love you today.” Vixx praised, trying to catch his breath. It was hard for him to run, with his lack of muscle. The elevator started to move downwards at a safe rate, but the voices of the grunt filtered down.

“Raticate,” Vixx heard faintly.

“Rotom, could you open up the top vent?” The sheet of metal flew open, alloting Vixx a view of an angry looking rat rearing back its claws. “Oh no, no no no,” Vixx muttered, grabbing the railing. “Rotom the brakes! Slam the brakes!” The cord above him snapped in half, sending a loud rippling through the shaft, and dropping the car Vixx was in. There was a brief moment of zero gravity, where Vixx involuntarily floated upwards, propelled by the magic of gravity. Then everything got really fast, and Vixx lost that feeling to the screeching of Rotom’s best efforts to stop the train car. Vixx braced himself and muttered a prayer beneath his breath. If any time, now was a great time to assume Arceus was all-forgiving. Vixx heard the bottom of the building approaching, and he leaped into the air. The bottom of the floor seemed to get no closer as he was in the air, until Rotom’s brakes finally began working. Vixx grabbed onto the handrail, and slammed into the bottom of the car. The object screeched to a stop as it pressed down on Vixx, and Rotom slid its elevator doors open.

Vixx could see a small rectangle of light reveal itself, about a foot and a half tall and as wide as the elevator entrance itself. He crawled towards it, dropping his shoulder bag. A small message popped up on his computer headset, accompanied by a low voice.

“My sensors say we’re below the first floor. Far below it.”

Vixx slid out of the elevator, crashing about five feet onto the floor. He pulled his messenger bag out by the strap, and slung it over his shoulder.

“Then where are we, Porygon?” He looked down the dank, stone halls, trying to identify the hall. He walked all of Silph Co. once, and hadn’t found this place. One corridor led to what sounded like human voices, and they were getting closer.

“According to Silph Co.’s building plans, this is a restricted access add-on. They used to use it for research. I think it’d be best that we didn’t be found out.”

“Pull up the floor plans, if you can. I’d really like to find the stairs.”

“What do you think it was?” A voice called distantly.

“Well, we’re not going that way,” Vixx muttered. He turned back to the orange elevator car. “Rotom, close the doors, permanently engage the brakes and come on!” Vixx angrily hissed. As the doors closed, he heard a few foosteps quicken their pace. Vixx’s Pokémon silently fired itself back at Vixx’s pocket, placing itself in his phone again. Vixx checked the elevator, and hurried quietly the opposite way of the voices. They turned the corner, and he found himself down a long corridor with identical metal doors on either side. Vixx hurried down the stone hall, trying to reach the door on the end. It looked promising to say the least. His footsteps quickly carried him down the hall, to the final door.

He reached for the knob, but it twisted by itself as it pushed inwards. A scientist looked upwards as her face went pale, with what appeared to be a half-conscious cyborg’s supported by her shoulders. Her name tag read Strausand, and she looked at him with sad eyes beneath her curly dark red hair. Her square glasses framed them perfectly, matching her white lab coat with a pair black pants and a similarly colored shirt.

“This looks bad, doesn’t it?” She said pathetically, straining under the weight of the man she was supporting. They looked really ragtag together, but just from the way she was carrying him and the way she was reacting, she appeared completely innocent, and more importantly, like she was doing the right thing. But doing the right thing rarely looked like you were.

“Don’t do it.” Porygon chimed. Vixx looked at the pair of them a moment, and looked down at Strausand’s right hand. She was holding a small container of pink something, labeled “DitZ” in big black letters. Vixx looked back up at her in the eyes, and bit his lower lip in indecision. He finally sighed and turned around so he faced the same direction she did, shrugging his shoulders as he reached for the cyborg’s other arm. He lifted up the android’s metallic left arm and hoisted it over his own shoulder.

“You know the way to the stairs?” She looked up at him, her eyes misting over. “You look like you need a hand.”

“You’re my lab assistant,” She said, readjusting the weight on her body.

“Vixx,” He introduced himself with a nod and a grunt of his name.

“Doctor Katrina Strausand,” She responded. “Pleasure doing kidnapping with you.”

“Likewise.”

 

[Cody]

Hrm. Interesting.

Can't say I understand the "kidnapping" part, but, it's got me thinkin'. Also there was a lot of programming-talk that I didn't understand. It didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story, though ^^

I'm really looking forward to seeing where this thing is going.

 

[Chadwyck]

Oh~ This looks very interesting, I shall be keeping an eye on this fic. I am particularly intrigued as to just what the heck happened to CR-416 and the interaction that will be going on when he awakens. Not to mention that Team Rocket will be pissed when they realize that he's gone, or at least I'd imagine that they will be. Just to say great job so far, I'll be following along~

 

[Kalseng]

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Chapter 2 - Sciency Science
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CR-416’s eyes were poorly adjusting to the lighting in the hallway, rapidly blinking and shifting to sort through the colors and light. His legs were dragging along on the ground, but he decided to fix that by at least trying to keep his legs up. Doctor Strauson was on his right, struggling under the massive weight of a man made out of metal. To his left, an average-height man with black hair was carrying him. His left eye made a strange noise, and a small green circle appeared over the man’s scouter-like object, reading off a small name.

“Porygon-2,” CR-416 muttered, blinking a few more times to get his vision straight. Vixx looked down at the cyborg, surprised, and then looked up at the doctor.

“It’s a long story,” She explained, huffing as she dragged along her creation. “Just go with it for now.” They turned around the corner, running into a pair of scientists in glasses leading a girl with curly blond hair and blue eyes down their hall. The two groups bumped into each other, and Doctor Strauson fell to the floor.

“Are you okay?” One of the scientists asked in a nasal voice. “What are you doing here?”

“Science,” Doctor Strauson answered, trying to bring herself to her feet.

“What kind of science, exactly?” The other asked, trying to drag out some information. They’d probably heard about the elevator collapse.

“Oh, just a field test with Doctor Strauson here,” The black-haired man added. CR-416 was set down by the same man, who walked over to help the doctor. The cyborg’s eyes settled on the girl, whose eyes similarly locked onto his. He remembered her eyes, her mouth, her face, everything about her. She was completely familiar in every way. He strained himself to stand, and looked her on at eye-level.

“Do I know you?” He asked, searching what little fragments of his memories were buried beneath the layers of programming and circuitry that had been inlaid by experiments.

“I think so,” The girl responded. Her hands were clutching the edges of her white night-dress, and she was inching away slowly from the scientists that had been walking along side her. She moved out a hand to touch CR-416, moving her hand slowly and cautiously. Suddenly,the scientist reached out to the girl, grabbing her wrist hard. She let out a yelp, and CR-416 felt his instinct kick in. He grabbed the man’s wrist with his left hand, forcing him to tear his hand from the girl’s wrist. She slipped backwards, nursing her arm.

“What’s this thing’s problem?” The scientist spat the word “Thing,” as if personally trying to irritate CR-416. His right arm tensed, and he punched the red-haired scientist as hard as he could in the mouth. That sent him reeling, and the other pulled back his fist to punch the cyborg. An added bonus to the bionic left leg was the reflexes that came with it. He delivered a sharp blow to the man’s stomach, sending him backwards. He landed on the ground, retching as he tried to bring air back into his lungs. CR-416 turned back to the girl, who was looking relieved.

“Thank you,” She said, smiling brightly.

“Bring her with us,” Doctor Strauson snapped, picking up the cylindrical container of pink fluid. She gestured farther down the hall, indicating a door on the far end. “We can go through the air maintenance tunnel over there. It heads straight to the surface.” The man nodded, and turn towards CR-416.

“Come on,” He added. The four of them ran down the hallway, a small echo of “Stops” and “Helps” chasing them down the corridor. They clattered to the door, and Doctor Strauson reached to her belt. She retrieved a small set of keys, and unlocked the door.

“You have keys to the air filtration system?” The girl in the back asked.

“A janitor used to have them,” the doctor muttered. “In here.”

They spilled out into a large corridor with a high ceiling, at least five stories high. A large fan spun at the top, surrounded by several dozens of smaller fans all leading down tubes to various parts of the underground lab. They looked to the left and right, and they identified a door on the right. They ran up to it, and Doctor Strauson began rapidly trying keys on the door. They heard the very faint echoes of footsteps and a distressed call down the hallway.

“Hurry,” The black-haired man anxiously whispered. The doctor finally reached the last key, and dropped it.

“I don’t have the key!” She said desperately. CR-416 held out his left arm, pushing the other two in front of him back. He approached the door, and raised his left leg. He landed a solid blow to the middle of the door, and it bent inwards, before completely folding in half. The lock was strong, the door was weak. The door opened to a small tunnel with a ladder, headed upwards. The faint footsteps got louder, and the other man pushed the small girl in the white nightdress in, hoisting her up onto the ladder. The next person in was CR-416, and the man tried to push Doctor Strauson in. She forced her container into the purple-coated man’s arms, and he knew what it meant. He turned to the ladder, and began rapidly climbing up, hanging onto the ladder with one arm and the fluid with the other. The three of them made their ways up the ladder slowly, trying to push each other along as they climbed.

“Who are you?” A gruff voice called out.

“Doctor Strauson of the bio-mechanical engineering department,” The doctor replied.

“Consider yourself Ex-Doctor Strauson,” The same voice answered. Another flurry of footsteps followed, and a rocket grunt pushed himself through to the same tunnel the rest of them were in.

“In here!” he called out. CR-416 cursed under his breath, and made a rapid attempt to crawl up the ladder at a faster pace. The girl was moving at an alarming rate, almost like she hardly had to touch the rungs of the ladder to push up. Another grunt filtered into the room, and the original one started to crawl up the ladder after the ragtag group. The new grunt spun out a pokéball, which exploded into a cascade of red light. It took the shape of a small, round ball covered in bumps, which formed into a purple, gas-leaking pokémon with a Jolly Roger on its face. It opened its mouth and started to pour out some sinister-looking fog. The cyborg reached back his left hand, slamming his backhand into it and crashing it into the wall with a loud thump. The grunt grabbed CR-416’s leg, and he pumped his left leg down to catch the Grunt in the face. He missed, clipping his shoulder. A sick-sounding crack filled the air, and the black-dressed man reeled back, falling onto the ground.

CR-416 finally scampered onto the ground outside, clutching fistfulls of grass and dirt as the black-haired man helped him up.

“The name is Vixx,” he said, holding out his free hand. CR-416 took it.

“CR-416,” he responded.

“Are you serious?” Vixx questioned.

“Yes,” CR-416 continued. “Why?”

“That’s ridiculous-” Vixx was cut off by a stream of thought. “Have you noticed what your name looks like?”

“What? No?”

“Your name looks like CRAIG with some numbers thrown in,” Vixx air-wrote the letters in front of him. The cyborg cocked his head to one side.

“Oh,” He stuttered. “It’s easier to say, I guess.” Craig turned to face echoing cries from behind him, and turned to look at the girl again. “We need to go.”

“Ha!” Vixx guffawed. “No joke! Come on, we can spend the night at my house. It’s this way.” He looked down the road, and turned sharp to the right. “Well, hurry up!”

“Lulu,” The girl uttered quietly.

“What?” Craig asked.

“My name,” She explained. “It’s Lulu.”

“Oh,” Craig said with a realization. “Well, uh, let’s get going, Lulu.” He reached for her hand, and then turned to follow Vixx down the road. They could hear the sounds of angered grunts scrambling upwards, and Vixx turned to look wildly around the area.

“Down here,” He said. They turned sharp left, filing down an alleyway. The group slid through a thin sliver of darkness, emerging on another street lined with similar houses. Vixx turned sharply to the right, and pointed out a house. “That one.” They bolted for it, Craig helping lead Lulu through the streets quietly. Vixx turned the knob and pushed in the door, ushering the other two in quickly.

“How long do we have?” Lulu quietly ventured.

“Not long,” Vixx answered, fumbling through the darkness. “If we don’t turn on any lights, we probably have about a half an hour before they come looking for us. Here.” He handed Craig the strange glass container, and the cyborg finally got a good look at it. A glass cylinder with two round, metal ends, one with a handle and a small series of buttons.

“I think it’s alive,” Lulu said quietly. “May I?” She placed her soft hands on Craig’s human arm, and he happily handed it over. He could hardly see her in the dim light. Sad that he couldn’t turn on a ligh-

“Huh,” Craig muttered. “I have night-vision in my left eye.” He blinked a couple of times, and he made out Lulu’s hands as she traced over the container.

“It’s definitely alive,” She confirmed, and tapped on the top of the container. “Can we open it?” She traced her fingers over a button, and pressed it in. The top let out a hissing noise, and the handle popped off. Lulu yelped, and dropped the container. Craig managed to grab the bottom of it, but the top flipped down, splattering the floor with a bright pink liquid.

“Out!” Vixx hissed, swatting at something in the dark. Craig looked up, and saw a scared-looking Rattata scuttle across the floor.

“No!” Craig whispered sharply as it placed a paw in the pile of goo. It leaped forward, both front legs extending, but the back leg stuck, sending it into a faceplant. The creature looked back, and let out a small squeal, as if in pain. The goo seemed to release it, and the Pokemon ran out the door Craig forgot to close. He quietly shut it after the pokémon, and Vixx filed down the steps. He froze on the last step, pointing at the goo.

“What is that?” He asked. The goo seemed to rise up, sucking in the goo around it. It began to expand, growing a violet color as it rose. It came up to Lulu’s height, about five foot six, and grew just a little more. Two long extensions came from its sid, splitting off. Its base parted in the middle, before it formed two long, thick supports. Its form drooped, and then it rose the top of its form.

“What is it doing?” Lulu asked in a panic. Its top suddenly took on a human shape, and it sprouted ears. Its sides turned into arms, sprouting digits and hands as it expanded. It eventually formed a scrawny-looking figure, and Vixx pointed a flashlight on it. It turned its head, which had fully become human, save for its ears. It had pointy-looking ears, though they were mostly rounded. Its hair was a bright purple, like a Rattata’s, and it looked to have a mousy figure.

“Where am I?” It asked in a plain, human voice.

“My house,” Vixx answered. “You were in Team Rocket’s lab, and we broke you out.”

“Do you,” he started, looking down at his bare body. “Do you have any clothes?”

“I don’t think you’re my size,” Vixx said with a laugh. The creature grew a few inches, and his shoulders widened a bit to match Vixx. Silence blanketed the room. “Never mind, I guess. Come on.” The creature easily walked through the living room, dodging the couch and table as if it were in normal light. Vixx lead it up a set of stairs, leaving behind Craig and Lulu.

“Here!” Vixx called from above, dropping two separate piles of clothes onto the couch. “The one on the left is a set of clothing for you, Craig. I used to have a bigger housemate before he left one day. The other pile is for the girl. What’s her name?”

“Lulu,” She responded in a hush.

“Lulu. They were my, uh, sister’s... before she left.” Craig walked over, and grabbed the two piles of clothes. He threw the girl’s to her, and grabbed his own. He removed the black, long-sleeve shirt Team Rocket had given him, and pointed back around a corner.

“You should change over there,” Craig suggested. “Oh. Right. Uh, to your right. No, farther, okay, now down that hallway. There you go.” He removed his pants, and tugged on the jeans Vixx had thrown him. He picked up the yellow button-down shirt and slid it on. He followed with the blue zip-up hoodie Vixx had tossed down, and tossed the hood over his head. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked. Lulu came out of the corner in black jeans and a light blue jacket over a low cut black shirt.

“Shoes?” Lulu called up to Vixx. After a moment of shuffling, Vixx chucked down a pair of sensible black shoes and a pair of yellow tennis shoes.

“I hope that leg is human-sized,” Vixx muttered. Craig tossed Lulu her shoes, and pulled his on quickly.

“How do I look?” She asked. Craig looked at her for a moment, and smiled. “You look great.”

“Thanks,” She said with a soft smile. “You too.” Vixx came down the stairs quietly, with a different bag over his shoulder and two more in his hands. The other person filed down behind him in a lavender jacket over a white shirt with purple jeans and white shoes.

“You happened to have purple jeans?” Craig asked.

“Hush. Here,” Vixx answered, throwing the two of them bags. Craig was carrying a tan messenger bag, the girl a blue backpack. “We’ll need these. They’ve got money and a little bit of food.” Vixx turned to the windows, and peeled back the blinds. “Shit,” He mutered. He ran to the back of the house, and looked out the windows there. “We can head south to Vermillion and take the ferry. That’s really our only choice at this point.” Vixx turned to the other three, and looked them over. “There are so many questions here and I’d really love to ask them all and I’m sure you guys are thinking similar things, but we have to go. We can shuffle off to Celadon if you really want to, but we’ve gotta decide now.”

“What about the Magnet Train?” The newest member asked.

“We can’t risk it. There will be too many waiting there.”

“South it is,” Lulu said with a forced smile.

---

The four of them stood around a corner, Vixx at the head of the line. He nodded back to Craig, and slipped a pokéball off of the clasps on his messenger bag. The south gate was being watched by just one Rocket Grunt, easily dealt with. They could handle him and move on, with no problem. He enlarged the pokéball to proper size, revealing its true colors. It was a Fast Ball, meant for speedy pokémon like the one inside. Its only difference was the yellow markings it bore on the red top of the ball, also a specialty ball Vixx had requested from one of the few remaining Ball-Makers in the world. After a few seconds of planning, Vixx chucked it as hard as he could against the ground, skipping it off towards the grunt.

“Squeak,” Vixx called. “Agility, then Slam!” Vixx pulled himself flat against the building, and then turned as he heard the ball split open. The red light formed the shape of a mouse, and took the solid form of a pikachu.

“Pi piii!” The pikachu called determinedly. It leaped into the air, its body glowing a soft white to show Agility taking its effect. It was hardly an after image as the Rocket reached for his pokéball. As soon as the Rocket Grunt pulled it out, Squeaks was up in the air above him. The Pikachu’s tail came down hard, knocking the pokéball from the grunt’s hand and coming around a second time to deck him squarely in the head. The pikachu turned back to face Vixx and his group, wagging its thunderbolt-shaped tail slightly as it smiled.

“Kaaaa?” It questioned. Vixx chuckled as he ran up, and patted its head.

“Good job,” He answered. He reached for the fast ball that had skittered out onto the pavement, and pointed it at the pikachu. “Return.” A beam of red light shot out and hit Squeak, reverting him to the same light and pulling it all back into the ball. Vixx minimized it and clasped it back onto the bag. They trotted up to the grunt, and Vixx placed two fingers down on his neck.

“Well?” Lulu said nervously, wringing her hands.

“He’s alive, just unconscious,” He answered. Craig and Lulu exchanged a small high-five, and the other man smiled. Vixx stood up and nodded. “Let’s go. Vermilion's not that far.” They began walking down the forest-lined path out of Saffron, quietly shuffling past Hoothoots and other nighttime pokémon. They knew what to think of Vixx, as a human.

The others, however, they had no idea how to react to. Some would follow, some would retreat. All were curious. Even those people themselves.

 

[Cody]

Kalseng!

I like this chapter. Very niiice. Is....is Dr. Strauson dead?

Anyway, yeah, I do like this. I'm very interested in seeing where this is going. And in what the...blob thing is. (Ditto?)

 

[Secad MS]

Hmm, our newly-named protagonist is on the move! I cannot believe I didn't see the 'craig' in his numerical name earlier. I would love to see this continue.

 

[Kalseng]

==================
Chapter 3 - Running and Hiding
==================

The guards passed in front of a wooden door, their heels scuffing the floor as they casually strolled along their patrol area. After they’d safely passed the door, it began to creak open. A woman’s head peered out down both ends of the hallway, and she pushed herself out into the opening. Doctor Strauson had been forced to remove her lab coat, leaving her with the black shirt and jeans they’d given her. She took wide-legged strides down the hall, trying to avoid making any noise from her pants. She turned a corner fast, and dived into the open doorway she saw. She closed the door quietly and locked it. With a small movement, she flicked on the lights and looked around. She spied the phone against the dirty walls of the unoccupied office, and picked up the phone. With hurried moves, she punched in the number. The phone rang and rang until her voice filtered in through the receiver.

“Hi, you’ve reached the Strauson’s. We’re not at home right now, so please leave a message after the beep.” The beep screeched out, and the doctor cleared her throat into the phone.

“Hi, honey,” she started. “How was school? Mommy’s sorry she couldn’t be there today. Um, there’s some food in the fridge for dinner if you need it. But, um, Mommy’s not going to be home for a while. She’s going away. Kind of like Daddy. You should go to Auntie Anne’s house across the street and stay with her, okay? Just tell her that I’m gone like Daddy, and she’ll take you in. Be good, okay?” Doctor Strauson’s voice quivered as she bit back sorrowful tears. “Mommy loves you, and she’s so proud of you. Love you lots. Bye.” Her fingers stroked the phone for just a few extra seconds, and she whispered a second goodbye as she put the phone back in its cradle. The doctor brought up her knees, and she hugged them tightly in the corner of the room.

“I found her,” A man said smoothly. His black bangs were combed over his left eye, and he wore his Team Rocket hat on the right side of his head. The rest of his hair fell around his shoulders, framing his pale and suave-looking face. A died strip of bright red hair dangled from under his hat, next to a similar white strip of hair.

“Hello, Admin Crowley,” Doctor Strauson muttered.

“Why don’t you come back to the lab?” Crowley asked, extending a gloved hand. “We need you, Doctor Strauson.” He gripped the front of her shirt with his hand viciously. “And we’re not letting you go.”

--------

Vixx tried to keep everyone in a tight group, though there was no way of making sure that they could see each other in the thickets they stumbled into. They’d parted from the dirt path leading to Vermilion, in favor of the thick forests bordering it. This reduced their chances of being seen, and it put plenty of obstacles between them and their pursuers. Late into the night, they finally broke out of the thickets, arriving behind a PokéMart. The four of them slunk around the corner, edging along the sides of buildings. Each had pulled up a hood, save for Lulu. They vanished inside a Hotel, pulling down their hoods and easing their defenses. They all looked at each other, sharing a smile and nod.

“May I help you?” A tired 40-something woman asked from behind her counter. Vixx approached the counter, and fished around in his pocket for his wallet. He retrieved the folded brown piece of leather, and slipped his credit card onto the table.

“Give us your room with the largest number of beds, please,” He asked with a smile. She ran his card through a scanner, Vixx signed, and she handed him a room card.

“Room 620. Elevators are to your right. Check out is at 12.” Vixx took the cards and stuffed his credit card back in his wallet. “Thanks.” He gestured towards the stairs, and placed a foot on them.

“We’re not taking the elevator?” Lulu asked, craning her head to see Vixx better.

“I fell down an elevator shaft about four hours ago,” Vixx explained. “I don’t quite trust them yet. You guys could take them if you want.” The three others looked at each other, and decided to follow Vixx in favor of potentially dying. They trudged up behind him on the stairs, climbing slowly, but steadily. Vixx’s legs ached from the walking, rejecting such heavy movements for that day. They eventually arrived at the room, and Vixx chucked his bag on the first bed he saw. As his eyes flicked around the room, he twinged at the money he’d probably spent. A mini-fridge, most likely stocked, a wide-screen HDTV, a balcony, three king-size beds, a couch, a comfy chair with desk, a phone, and what appeared to be a full bathroom. Vixx sighed and looked at the beds. He pulled off his bag, slipping it onto the couch.

“They look soft,” Craig muttered as he ran his human hand across the quilts. Lulu walked up to the farthest bed, running her fingertips gingerly across the sheets. Vixx retrieved his laptop, booting it up as he looked around the room.

“Story time,” Vixx declared, opening up a blank document. He placed his fingertips on the keys, and looked at the group. “I want to know your stories. They can’t be boring, if we’re being chased like this. The purple-haired teenager sat on the middle bed, throwing his head back on the pillow and kicking his knee up. Craig sat cross-legged on his bed, and Lulu dangled her dainty legs off of the last bed.

“I’ll go first,” The purple one said. His voice was a little smokey, though it was mostly a smooth and honey-like voice. “I remember most of what happened. I was kidnapped by Team Rocket from a hospital. They said my DNA wasn’t replicating properly, but it wasn’t any normal form of Cancer they’d seen. They took me into an operating room, stuffed me in a strange tube, and submerged me in this weird, green fluid. These clamps locked me down, and they stuck these huge needles into me to inject weird pink material.”

“Seems like Ditto,” Craig answered. All heads turned to him, Vixx’s fingers stopping mid-stroke. “You can transform, and it seems like a useful experiment. You could go anywhere and battle anything properly if you mastered it.”

“I’d figured that out,” the boy called with a laugh. “When they told me that I was project Dit-Z. I was a Ditto hybrid, and their last project before they scrapped the project. My real name...” He trailed off. “To be honest, I prefer Ditz.” He laughed. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t good enough for them. I couldn’t stabilize a form. So they stuffed me in that tiny tube, and locked me away. I’d been waiting for so long. Almost a week. And then she came for me.”

“She?” Vixx questioned.

“Doctor Strauson. The same one that rescued Craig and Lulu. That’s my story, I guess.” Ditz turned around, and laid down fresh on his side, supporting his head with his hand.

“I’ll go,” Craig raised his hand, and Vixx punched down to a new page.

“Go for it,” Vixx encouraged.

“It’s really kind of a short story. I don’t remember much, up until the day Doctor Strauson woke me up for some kind of mobility test I passed. They drugged me and stuck me in a dark room. I woke up later for some kind of showcasing of my abilities, and then they stuffed me away again. The next thing I know, you guys are dragging me down a hallway and we run into... Lulu.” Craig turned to face her, and she looked up to meet his gaze. “I remember her.”

“We remember each other,” she countered. “I remember his face, terrified. It was bathed in a blue glow, though.”

“I can only vaguely remember yours,” Craig answered sheepishly. “Maybe in pain? It’s a really fuzzy image. But that’s all, really.” Craig looked back at Vixx, who nodded and viciously struck the enter key until he found a new page.

“Your turn,” Vixx said to Lulu with a gentle smile. She nodded, and began to play with the bottom of her dress.

“I remember Craig’s face faintly,” She said with a cock of her head. “But then all I remember is going for walks. The first ones are short, maybe only a couple of minutes. I’d trip a lot, stumble and fall. It was normal. They’d carry me back and I’d pass out. The walks got longer, until they had me doing writing and things. I’d do exercises, eat food, do things like that. Simple things. After I’d finally got them all down, they took me out for my “last walk,” and they found you guys. And I’m here.”

“Foooooood,” Ditz moaned, rolling over onto his back.

“The fridge is stocked,” Vixx reminded him. Ditz jumped off of the bed, and opened the door of the fridge. He dug in a hand, and grabbed a fistful of candy bars. He slung one to every person in the room, followed by a carton of chocolate milk. He pulled out two sandwich containers, and divided them between the four of them. Each enjoyed their small dinner, and Vixx saved his document.

“It’s crazy,” Craig mumbled. “I have a memory that only spans about maybe eight hours total, and so much has happened.” Everyone nodded, and agreed vocally.

“I’m really tired,” Lulu said quietly.

“You’re not alone,” Ditz added, scarfing back the entirety of his sandwich. Vixx shut his laptop and slipped it in his bag as he finished off his candy bar.

“We should sleep,” Vixx lectured. He grabbed an extra blanket they’d set next to the beds, and threw it over himself as he drifted off into sleep.

---

Lulu turned over, her eyes slowly opening as she brought herself upright. It was two AM, according to the alarm clock. She rolled her head to look around the room, finding that Vixx had gotten up at some point, but Ditz and Craig were still soundly asleep. Lulu slipped her shirt on, and shuffled over to the bathroom. As she passed the sliding glass door, she heard Vixx’s desperate voice.

“Of course,” He admitted. “But I can’t leave them!” She turned to see Vixx in just his jeans arguing with his laptop, a Rotom, and talking at a Pikachu that was scampering along the railing and trying to touch a branch with its paws, but it was too tiny to do anything. Lulu opened the door, stepping out to greet Vixx.

“Can’t sleep?” She asked softly. Vixx turned to face her, and waved his hand. Rotom shot over to his pocket, and his laptop shut down. The Pikachu scampered over the rail, and leaped into a nearby tree.

“Yeah,” He modestly responded. He leaned onto the railing, hanging his head.

“What was that about?” She inquired further.

“My Porygon thought it was a bad idea to travel with you guys,” He said as he looked up at the moon. “You guys escaped from Silph Co. I reminded Porygon that they’re chasing me too, but the little jerk refuses to agree with me.” He looked over at the tree. “Squeaks just wanted to play, I guess.” Lulu followed his gaze, spying a glance of the mouse as it jumped around the tree.

“Why’d you do that?”

“Oh, he deserves a little play time.”

“No,” Lulu said with a small chuckle. “I meant name him Squeaks.”

“Oh,” Vixx said, turning around. He leaned back on the railing, looking up at the stars. “He was just so little when I found him. I was walking around with Lucy, my, uh, sister, and we found him lagging behind his family. He was the runt, and could hardly say his own name. The rest of his family kept going, leaving the little squeaking Pikachu behind them. Lucy and I took him home and raised him up. It took almost a year for us to distinguish between the different parts of his name, so we named him Squeaks for doing nothing but squeaking.” Lulu wandered over to Vixx, and leaned back on the railing next to him.

“Cute,” She replied. “Were you and your sister close?”

“Lucy?” Vixx repeated. He took a moment, blinking hard a few times. “Yeah. We were really close.” He looked back across at the tree, and Squeaks was hanging by his tail, swinging dangerously. Lulu stood up, and walked over to the edge, looking at it. It suddenly swung upwards, arms open. It landed on her head, sending Lulu back with surprise. Vixx scrambled over, reaching for it. It ran down Lulu’s side, and launched off to the ground. Vixx’s hand kept going, and gently caught Lulu in her lower back. A jolt ran up her spine, and she suddenly felt lightheaded. Her heart and brain seemed to sink down to her stomach, and then jerked back.

“Woah,” She muttered, stumbling back. Vixx removed his hand instantly, steadying her along the shoulders.

“You look tired,” Vixx explained. Lulu nodded in agreement, and they turned to the glass door. They opened it, and Vixx brought her back to her bed. As he laid her down, her eyes darted to the door.

“Do you hear that?” She asked, lifting her body up on her elbows.

“What?” Vixx asked.

“Shhhh,” She whispered. Vixx strained his ears, trying to pick out the sound. It grew louder, a repeated chopping noise, like wind. “What is that?”

“A helicopter,” Vixx answered. He ran out to the balcony, grabbing his laptop. Squeaks ran past Vixx and into the hotel, crying out in a high voice. Vixx slammed the door behind him, and turned to Ditz and Craig. “Get up!” He called. Lulu was already on her feet, pulling on her jacket and pants. Her feet were in her shoes by the time Vixx had his jacket on. The rest of them quickly dressed, and a rope ladder fell onto the balcony. A grunt scrambled down, fussing with the handle.

“This way!” Lulu rushed. She grabbed the handle of the door to the hallway, and creened her head around the corner. “No!” she hissed. She pulled the door shut, and turned to the rest of them. “Someone’s coming from there, too!” Vixx looked between them, and desperately put on his shoes.

“What do we do?” Craig asked.

“Stay and fight?” Ditz suggested.

“Running’s out of the question,” Lulu answered.

“So we stay,” Vixx announced. “We can take them.” The door to their hotel opened quickly, a man in the black outfit of a Team Rocket Admin waltzed in, straightening his beret to more appropriate cover his hair.

“I’d rather prefer this not become violent,” He said, smiling. “The name is Crowley. It’s a pleasure, really. Now if you don’t mind,” He took a harsh step forward. “You’ll be coming with me.” He turned to Lulu, and smiled. He tightened his right hand into a fist, and then relaxed it into a limp hand.

“I’m not going back!” Craig shouted. He charged at the man, swinging his robotic fist. Crowley grabbed his arm, pushing him back farther. Craig punched into the door, and the admin reached a hand down to the cyborg’s neck.

“You have a very convenient off swtich,” He remarked. He pressed a button on Craig’s neck, and the cyborg fell limp to the ground. Lulu ran to Vixx’s side, gripping his arm tight. Vixx reached for his belt, grabbing a pokeball.

“I’m not fighting you,” Vixx stated. “But I will battle you.”

“Very well,” Crowley answered, shrugging his shoulders. He whipped out a black and red pokeball from nowhere, which exploded into a vibrant red light. It spilled out onto the ground, taking the form of a bat-looking creature. It took flight, quickly flapping its purple and blue wings. “I choose Crobat.”

“I choose Squeaks,” Vixx replied. The Pikachu leaped from behind the TV, skidding to a stop between the battlers. The sound of shattering glass burst from behind them, and all eyes turned to face a grunt stepping in from the balcony. Ditz seemed to dart out from nowhere, slamming his elbow into the subordinate’s chest. He staggered back, and Ditz delivered a sharp kick to his jaw. The man stumbled farther backwards. He careened into the background as Ditz followed quickly, locking the door after him. He flashed Vixx a thumbs-up. The gesture was returned, and Vixx brought his eyes back up to meet Crowley’s. His lips were pulled down into a sharp frown, and he unclasped a pokeball from his waist. He chucked it out, releasing a dazzling flash of red light onto the ground. It took a long, twisting shape, before solidifying into the looming form of an enraged Arbok. The admin gestured openly towards the black-haired coder standing opposite him, and shrugged.

“You first,” He insisted. Vixx took a breath, and looked down at the anxious Squeaks. His pokemon nodded in approval, and the trainer. Something about a confident pokemon just eased Vixx’s nerves. He pointed at the Arbok, clearing his throat for the command.

“Agility, then Slam!” Vixx powerfully announced his attack, though his hand shook visibly as he pointed. His pikachu responded quickly, easing his muscles before rapidly disappearing. The pikachu seemed to vanish, though in reality it had launched itself towards the hotel room door. As it hit the solid wood, it propelled itself off again. Its tail moved backwards, sending the pokemon into a frontwards flip. It slammed its powerful tail downwards, aimed straight for the opponent’s head. All his opposing trainer did was snap his fingers, and a green barrier flashed itself in between the two pokemon. Squaks’s momentum was brought to a hault by the defenses, forcing out a small cry from the pikachu.

“Protect,” Crowley explained. “Poison Tail.” He commanded. The barrier vanished, and Arbok’s tail whipped backwards. As it travelled towards its opponent, the tail began to glow a dark purple. When it struck, Squeaks reeled backwards, though it managed to recover in time and hit the door on its feet.

“Charge!” Vixx nervously demanded. His pokemon dropped to the floor, and then began to furiously rub its cheeks with its forepaws. As it puled its paws away, an arc of lightning split between the two of them, before surging up and covering its body. Its lips pulled into a tight smile as the charge covered its fur, and its eyes shut in concentration. Once it was covered in a bright yellow glow, it opened its eyes and the field around him intensified. It let out a loud squeak, and moved down onto all fours. “Double Team!” Vixx barked. Squeaks split into four, one leaping far over the snake pokemon, and two jumping onto the two walls to the side of the snake. As the top one flew directly above the snake, Vixx shouted. “Shock Wave!” The aura around the Pikachu in front of the Arbok shot forward in a strong beam, as well as the two on the sides. But as they came closer, another command issued by Crowley.

“Defense!” The Arbok hunched down, and a tight ball of green energy encircled its body. The three illusionary streams of electricity vanished, and the Squeaks in back turned a bright white. At first, a ball of white-colored energy shot forward, leaving half of h aura still around the real Squeaks. The barrier shattered contact, and the Pikachu’s surrounding field turned pitch black. A second ball of energy fired forward, catching the pokemon and sending it reeling into a wall.

“Feint?” Vixx questioned. As Squeaks landed, its spine arched in anticipation.

“Gunk Shot!” Crowley replied, his brow pulling into a furious fold of skin. From a cloud of settling dust, a basketball-sized wad of poison fired out, catching Squeaks and sticking it to the ground. The mouse struggled against its hold, but made little progress against the entangling mess. It squealed in anger, trying to anxiously free himself the Arbok slithered up, hissing so close o the electric mouse that its spit splattered against the writhing back of its opponent.

“Volt Tackle!” Vixx cried desperately. His pokemon suddenly stopped moving, as lightning sputtered from its cheeks. It was an attack Vixx didn’t like Squeaks using, because of the repercussions. Squeaks was small and rather frail to begin with, and the large force that a Volt Tackle generated could seriously injure the young creature. Its fur seemed to sputter to life with electricity, incinerating the poisonous gunk surrounding it. As it burst into flames, it kicked off, a moving fireball of revenge. It slammed hard into the Arbok, flaming bits of sludge landing on the snake as it made contact. Squeaks yelped in pain, but the snake hissed and shouted overtop, masking the sounds of the hurt mouse.

“Don’t,” Crowley threatened, looking towards his pokemon. “Don’t lose to this rat!” the snake strained its body as it fell, visibly spasming in pain. It staggered back up, wincing. “Good. Now give it hell. Return all of that pain.” Crowley’s words struck fear into Vixx, clawing icily up his spine, threatening his resolve. “Toxic.” With a icy demand, the snake’s head shot forward, stretching its body completely. Its teeth sunk into Squeak’s unprepared back, but only an inch. Arbok hissed loudly, and Squeak tore itself away. A purple fluid oozed out of the Arbok’s fangs, small pools of it forming around Vixx’s pokemon’s two tooth wounds.

“Hold in there!” Vixx encouraged “You’re not just fighting for me, you’re fighting for us!” Vixx spoke confidence through a terrified mouth. Squeaks suddenly became rigid, as if he hadn’t been touched by pain since birth. If nothing else, that pokemon wouldn’t show weakness. “Now take him down. Shock Wave!” The pokemon’s body became covered in a neon yellow aura of electricity, and it launched a powerful wave of that aura towards the snake, which seemed terrified of the impending attack. A green barrier began to form, but its vague appearance served little defense against the onslaught of power. It passed through harmlessly, and struck the Arbok with a loud crack. It fell to the ground, out cold.

“He must have been tired,” Crowley grumbled, recalling his pokemon. Crowley gave the three standing people a glance over, and then gave Craig’s body a look. He lowered his hat, and placed his hands in his pockets. “I’ll let you go.” Vixx relaxed, and pointed his pokeball at Squeaks. “But before you do,” He interrupted as Squeaks was consumed by the light. Crowley moved at a breakneck pace. Vixx turned to stop him, Squeaks having just returned to its ball. The red light trailed behind him as he whipped around, but he still couldn’t turn in time. Crowley had assumed a low stance, slamming his palm into Lulu’s midsection.

“Lulu!” Vixx cried. The girl seemed to explode into a blue light, ribbons of her form vanishing. Where her middle would have been, was Crowley’s hand, clutching the head of a sleeping Riolu. He tossed her limp form towards Vixx. He stumbled backwards, awkwardly cradling the small body.

“You,” Crowley directd at Ditz from below the brim of his hat. “There’s an emergency shutoff on the back of CR-416’s neck. Turn him on.” Ditz numbly stumbed over to Craig’s unconscious form. “This is the only time I’m letting you escape, and only because I know there’s no way you can run from us. Have fun running for the next couple of days. Wherever you are, we’ll find you.” Crowley strode out, closing the door behind him calmly. His words were muffled by the walls, but he was clearly talking. Vixx looked down at the pokemon cradled in his arms, and then at Ditz, who was calmly rebooting Craig. The four of them fled into the wee hours of the morning, half of a meal in their stomachs and half a night of sleep in their bodies.





A tired, hungry Rocket Grunt would later be found by housekeeping in a locked bathroom on the sixth floor of a hotel in Vermillion City.

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've updated, but I almost had this chapter done when I left on vacation. Now that I've been on a computer, I had a chance to finish it up and post it. It's been a month and two days since my last chapter, but this one is pretty nice, and pretty lengthy. If thou asketh for an update, thou shalt receiveth an update.