Reformation

[Chadwyck]

OoC: I realize it's probably a bad idea for me to start a new project before finishing my other story, but I've been bored and I wanted to start this because it's been bugging me for far too long. I

 

[Tatile]

Having read Crystal Passage, I must say I'm surprised by this new project of yours. Not for the content and context, but rather what seems to be a rather dramatic shift in your style of writing. I realise this is more of an introductory chapter, but the action seems to be happening far too quickly toward the end, in comparison to the somewhat leisurely beginning. It strikes me a tad odd that a Gym Leader in a major city would have the time to be randomly walking about watching essential nobodies battle, but then I suppose that the Pokemon world is in itself odd like that.

Aside from the plot devices, I think that your character description at the beginning, though good, is a tad bit excessive in its manner of wording (the first paragraph of the Father taking his leave could have possibly been a strung-on sentance rather than a few short ones) but that's more a matter of personal taste than anything.

This does look to be an interesting fic. I imagine that the ignorance concerning their parents job and the fact that they are forbidden to become trainers is linked?

 

[Chadwyck]

OoC: Erika wasn't exactly out looking for battles to watch, but in HG/SS she will be available for rematches standing outside by a fountain or some such place. I sort of took that to mean that she would enjoy taking walks around the city, I know I'd hate to just stand in a gym all hours of the day. Not to mention she is a grass type trainer, so one would suspect she'd enjoy the outdoors.

And the chapter was really more of a way to show the connection that Rein has with his sister, Alice, and the connection that she feels with him. Other than that it was just introductory and from here on I intend to beef up the chapters as much as I possibly can.

Chapter 2:

It had been nearly four days since Alice's run-in with Erika, but she couldn't keep the gym leader's words from creeping back into her mind from time to time. By sheer chance she had gotten praise on her trainer ability, from a League employed gym leader no less. Her mood became noticeably more bubbly as the days progressed, as emphasized by her dancing about in the kitchen as she flipped pancakes. Rein finally decided to bring it up. "Alice, you've been in a really good mood, lately. How come?" Rein asked with a smirk.

"What? I'm not allowed to be happy, little brother?" She laughed as she prodded at him with the spatula in her hand, "I guess I'm just excited, it's not everyday that a gym leader compliments me on my battling." She sighed.

"That's because you never battle," Rein teased. Alice responded by sticking her tongue out at him, "What do you think mom and dad would say if you told them?"

Immediately Alice's smile faded away, "They'd probably lock me in my room for a few days," She said bluntly, with almost no emotion, "Not to mention take Hitmonlee away and leave us with absolutely no protection when they go on their ‘business trips.'" She flipped another pancake onto a plate.

"Why don't mom and dad want us to have Pokemon of our own?" Rein asked as Julia set a plate of fresh pancakes on the table for him. She signaled for him to come sit down and eat before she responded.

"You know, I couldn't tell you." She brushed the question off, it was yet another question that she asked herself quite frequently, "Maybe they don't want us running off to become trainers and leaving them all alone." She said sarcastically. There was a brief pause before both of them erupted into laughter. Rein may not have been old enough to understand that parents weren't supposed to act the way his did, but he was old enough to know that his parents could care less about them. Laughing about it simply lessened the pain. It was his and Alice's defense mechanism to resort to jokes. Nothing stung more than the rejection of their parents, they convinced themselves that they were all right so long as they had each other. How fragile their happiness truly was.

"I'm sure that's it, Alee. Who else could stay home and ‘not burn down the house?'" Rein mimicked their father's voice, resulting in another chuckle. Alice sat down at the table with him and they began to eat.

"Well, they'll have to figure it out soon. We're out of here once you turn ten." Rein grinned at the idea, "What kind of Pokemon do you think you'll use, squirt?" Alice asked, she and Rein had never talked about this before, simply out of fear that it would never come true. Now there was no fear. Now they knew that they were going to be free of this place, and it was only a few weeks away from being a reality.

Rein took another bite of his now syrup coated pancakes before he set down his fork and thought it through. "I would want," He closed his eyes and thought about it deeply, "An Umbreon." He said at last with a grin.

"An Umbreon?" Alice mirrored before adding, "You'd have to work hard for one of those, it takes a lot of training." Then with a smile, "Though, I'm sure that you'd have no trouble with that, Reiny."

Rein nodded, "What about you, Alee? What Pokemon do you want?" He asked before he downed the rest of his pancakes, then he moved on and began chugging his milk.

"Well, if you're going to have an Umbreon," She began absentmindedly, as if lost inside her mind, "I guess I'll have to get an Espeon." She smiled looking at her younger brother, "That way we'd be an awesome double battle team. What would you name your Pokemon?"

"Umm…" He was caught off guard by the question, he had never given it much thought. "I don't know, what would you name an Umbreon?" Rein countered.

"Well, since it's connected to the night, I'd name it something like Lunara." She sighed, "Assuming it's a girl, of course, then I'd have to get a boy Espeon and name it Solaris." Rein looked at her with a confused expression, "Then they could be brother and sister just like you and me." She smiled. Then she stood up and took his plate and her plate, and walked over to the sink. "All right, now you go get dressed while I do dishes. I have a surprise for you."

That did it, his interest was piqued. "A surprise? What is it? What is it?!" He was utterly excited.

"We're going to go into town, and we're going to do some shopping." She stopped, Rein rolled his eyes, and sighed. "We'll be shopping for trainer supplies." She added in a sing-song voice and Rein's face lit up, he bolted upstairs to get dressed, leaving Alice chuckling as she finished scrubbing the dishes.

Rein practically glided into his room, he was running so fast, he tripped over a pair of black pants that he had left laying on his floor. Without missing a beat, he turned the tumble into a roll and ended up back on his feet; a slight rug burn lightly stung his forearm. He had just finished putting on an electric blue tee shirt with a black swirl that formed a Pokeball across the front, when he heard the front door open. He grabbed his fedora and rushed down stairs, calling down to his sister. "Alee, don't leave without me!" He bounded down the final three steps and ran head first into the frame of his mother.

"Oh! Watch where you're going." She roughly shoved him aside, and stormed off upstairs, her husband was close behind her carrying a rather large box. As he struggled with the box, he bumped into the wall and a plain white Pokeball with a black center tumbled out onto the floor. Rein was about to bend over to pick it up when his father shouted.

"Don't touch it!" He scolded, causing Rein to jump, Alice had entered the room seconds earlier when she had heard their mother's scoff.

"He was just trying to help, it's not like he was going to steal it." Alice defended when she saw the fear on Rein's face. She stepped between Rein and her father.

"I'm sure," He said sarcastically as he balanced the box awkwardly and bent over to pick up the Pokeball, Alice eyed it questioningly, "Children are known thieves, I'm surprised you're still here every time we come back from business. I half expect you to steal our belongings and leave." He said coldly, his argument didn't even make sense, but he was the type of man who always had to be right.

"Frankly, I'm surprised we haven't left too. Not that you‘d even notice or care." Alice replied darkly, staring her ‘father' in the eyes. Her pale green eyes matched his cold glare unwaveringly.

"What did you just say, you ungrateful child?" The mother scoffed as she returned from the lab, not a moment too soon in her opinion, "After we provide for you, feed you, let you live in our house?!" She acted like she was being personally attacked, and maybe she was.

"Your house?" Alice laughed, "Rein and I are here more often than you are. We clean the house, cook our own food, we take care of ourselves. Who needs you?" She turned and took Rein by the hand and started leading him toward the front door, "You're more like the children who need us to take care of them."

Their mother wasn't going to stand for it, she grabbed Alice by her hair as she attempted to leave. "Where do you think you're going?" Alice winced in pain as he mother pulled her roughly up the stairs and shoved her into her room, locking the door from the outside. "Maybe a few days alone in there will make you appreciate us a little bit more." She turned and followed her grinning husband into their lab, the door slammed behind them.

Rein stood alone in the hall, tears filled his pale green eyes. "I'm sorry, Rein," He heard Alice whisper on the other side of the door, "It looks like we won't be shopping today." On the other side of the door, though she'd deny it to the end, Rein heard his sister's quiet sobs.

~~~~~

The next few days passed quietly, Alice was locked in her room, Rein only saw her when their mother or father opened her door and ordered him to take in some food. After all, they couldn't let his sister die. At least, that's what Rein thought. In actuality, they were giving her food so that she would come to rely on them, hoping to weed out the rebelliousness. A simple family that liked their privacy was a good cover, and they didn‘t need her ruining that.

Rein spent the days alone, with his sister imprisoned and his parents spending all hours of the day in their lab, he resorted to imagining all of his future endeavors as a trainer. He decided that he would travel the world, collecting gym badges from every leader from every region. He imagined the warmth of the flashbulbs as he entered the arena for the League battles, and he smiled as he imagined himself standing on the winner's podium. All the time he spent imagining made him all the more eager to go register for the League; all the more eager to begin training. Maybe that was his first mistake.

~~~~~~~~

It was Alice's last day of grounding, at some point of the day their parents would let her out providing that she "learned her lesson," and of course she'd tell them she had. Rein wanted to surprise his sister, but he was unsure of how he should. Then he got an idea: he'd go and buy her a pack that she could use once they began training together. The only thing he'd need is money, but he already had an idea for that, in his mind's eye he saw clearly the day Alice had won the battle with the boy in town. When she beat him, the boy handed her money, if Rein could win a battle, he could get money for Alice's gift. He already knew what Pokemon he would use. Alice had helped him practice some commands with the Hitmonlee, and though he had never actually battled before, he was sure that it wouldn't be any trouble.

Rein smiled as he pulled out the Hitmonlee's Pokeball and put it in his pocket conspiratorially, with his parents locked away in their lab, they'd never notice that it was ever missing. He quickly buckled up his boots and quietly slipped out the front door, as soon as he was down the path a ways he began to run. The air was still crisp with morning air, and the smell of damp earth drifted into Rein's nostrils as he sprinted toward Celadon. He was excited to have his first battle, and the fire was fueled by his desire to make his sister happy.

The streets of Celadon were packed with people, it was just before midday and it was an ever changing sea of bodies as Rein forced his way to the center of town. There he would find a small park with an white marble fountain in the center, trainers liked to frequent this area, and a few corners of the park had even been made into small battle fields like one would see at a tournament. Rein had butterflies in his stomach as he sat down on the edge of the fountain, clutching Hitmonlee's Pokeball tightly in his hands. He took a deep breath, suddenly the excitement was wearing off and he felt incredibly nervous.

It wasn't long before a boy approached him, it was the same boy that Alice had faced the other day. His arms were crossed and he had a very irritated look on his face. "Hey, kid," He began rather arrogantly, Rein hated being called kid, especially by someone who wasn't much old than himself, "You were with that girl the other day, right?" He asked, looking around to see if Alice was somewhere in the area.

"That's right, that was my sister." He said meekly, after seeing how well this boy had done against Alice, Rein was feeling very unsure of himself. Then the boy spotted the Pokeball in Rein's hands.

"Well, I don't see her around, so do you want to battle?" He asked with a smug expression on his face.

"I, uh, I'm not…" Rein sighed and thought of his sister's bravery, and the look on her face when he surprised her with a gift, "I accept." He suddenly exclaimed, just as the boy was about to egg him on.

"Oh, you do?" The boy smiled and pointed to a nearby field that had recently opened up, "Just one-on-one, kid?" He asked taking his side of the field.

"Yes," Rein said just loud enough for the boy to hear. His hands were shaking as he tossed out his Pokeball. Once again the glow from the sphere took the shape of his family's Hitmonlee, the boy couldn't contain his laughter.

"You've got to be kidding. Is that the same Pokemon your sister used?" Rein nodded in response, the boy just shook his head, "All right, it's your funeral. I'm not going to be caught off guard by it again." He pulled a Pokeball of his own off of his belt and tossed it high into the air. The glow from within took the form of a Pidgeotto already in flight. "Let's go, Pidgeotto, this fights in the bag." He called up to his Pokemon which cooed in compliance.

"You can do it, Hitmonlee." Rein said as he patted the Pokemon on the back, the Pokemon looked at him for a moment as if judging his ability, then he simply nodded and took his place on the field. The boy laughed again, it annoyed Rein that this boy was mocking him, but it made him unsure of himself even more. Maybe he made a mistake thinking he could win a battle on his own, can I win without Alice to help me? He questioned himself. He had to shake it off when he heard the boy call over to him.

"Hey, earth to kid!" Rein started from his thoughts and looked over to the boy, "You can take the first move." He mock bowed to Rein, who looked up at the flying type and struggled to remember commands that his sister had taught him.

~~~~

The door to Alice's room creaked open and her father stood in the doorway, "Have we learned our lesson, little girl?" He asked, she hated how her parent's never used their names. Then again, she questioned whether or not they even remembered them.

"Yes." She said simply, no anger or frustration evident in her voice. Years of practice had enabled her to hide those feelings quite easily, her father smiled as he stepped aside from the door to let her out.

"Watch your brother, we're going out for the rest of the day." He said as he walked away, "And you may want to think about showering, you look awful." He chuckled as he took his wife's arm and led her out the door.

As soon as they left Alice screamed at the top of her lungs, she began punching the walls and throwing random objects around the room. Tears of frustration that had been built up during her captivity began to flow down her face. "Bastards…" She whispered as she began to compose herself. She decided that she did need a shower, though it was her parents fault in the first place since they had kept her trapped in her bedroom for nearly five days. At least they had the decency to feed her, though she would have managed without it. She didn't need anything from those people.

After her shower she felt quite refreshed, the smell of lavender surrounded her. It was her favorite fragrance. She dried herself off and put on some comfortable clothes, she decided she'd go for a run along route sixteen outside of Celadon after being immobile for so long, but she also needed to just cool her head. She peeked into Rein's room to see if he wanted to join, but saw what she believed to be him bundled under his blankets. Sleep tight, Reiny. We'll spend some time together later. She smiled as she quietly shut the door and slipped down the stairs.

~~~~~~

"High Jump Kick." Rein commanded, just loud enough to be audible to the Hitmonlee, who leapt into the air at the flying type.

"Knock it off course with a Gust!" The boy called to his bird Pokemon. Pidgeotto began flapping its wings faster and faster, creating a burst of air that immediately began to affect Hitmonlee's speed, the High Jump Kick stopped short and Hitmonlee was pushed back toward the ground.

Rein hesitated for a second, and then remembered something Alice had told him. "Bounce!" He called, the fighting type twisted expertly in the air and landed on his feet, immediately jumping right back into the air higher than he had before. "Now use a double kick." Rein used the same combination of commands he had practiced with Alice, he clenched his fists while he watched to see if it would connect.

Hitmonlee's immediate counter caught the Pidgeotto off guard, and the fighting type was at the same level in the air as the bird. Hitmonlee was on eye level with the flying type, and as the momentum of the bounce began to wear off, there was a moment of weightlessness that Hitmonlee used to launch a quick, powerful kick with it's left leg. Pidgeotto barely managed to avoid the kick, but Hitmonlee continued spinning from the first kick and turned the spin into a roundhouse kick with its right leg. Pidgeotto didn't have time to move and the kick connected, though because they were in the air the impact was lessened, the flying time was sent lower to the ground and Hitmonlee landed on the ground with perfect balance, ready to resume the fight.

"Tch… You managed to catch me off guard with that Bounce attack." The boy said with a grunt, "It won't happen again." He cracked his fingers and stared at Rein's Pokemon, "All right, let's quit playing around. Pidgeotto, use Twister!" The Pidgeotto cooed in response. It began to fly in a circle around the fighting type, faster and faster until the wind began to follow its path. The wind began to tear up pieces of earth around it and a small cyclone of air encased Rein's Pokemon.

Hitmonlee was lifted from the ground as the dragon type move tore about him, grunts of pain could be heard from within the twister as the fighting type was tossed up into the air. "Now follow up and hit it with a Wing Attack!" Hitmonlee was tumbling toward the ground, and Pidgeotto flew by and slammed into the fighting type, speeding up its descent and it hit the ground with a sickening thud.

Pidgeotto came in for a landing on the opposite side of the field as Hitmonlee. A few moments of silence, the boy's face glowed with confidence, Rein hung his head. Suddenly, the fighting type stood up slowly and shook itself out, grunts of pain escaped as it pushed itself up into a standing position.

A cautious smile appeared on Rein's face, but it immediately vanished with the boy's next words. "Seriously? Finish it off, Pidgeotto, I've had enough of this battle." The boy said bluntly, evidently irritated by the fact that Rein was actually putting up a fight. The Pidgeotto complied and began slowly flapping it's wings at first, but then it picked up. Cuts were beginning to appear on the ground along the air current's path, the attack resembled Gust, but Rein could tell that it was something different. Something worse.

"Get out of the way, Hitmonlee!" It wasn't a command, so much as it was a plea. Rein didn't know what to do, he was slightly overwhelmed, he had overestimated his abilities in the way that only a child could. Hitmonlee tried to move, but it was sluggish from the blows that had already been landed against it. It avoided taking the full force of the Air Cutter, but the razor like currents still made contact and blood seeped from wounds appearing various places on Hitmonlee's body. Rein knew that the battle couldn't continue like this, he needed to do something. "Hitmonlee," He hesitated, scanning through his brain for any move he could use, any command he could issue, "Use… Stone Edge!" He called out. Hitmonlee winced from its wounds before it complied.

The fighting type jumped a little ways up into the air and slammed down with a hard kick, causing the ground beneath it, which was already loose from its impact moments earlier, to crack apart. Then using its powerful legs, Hitmonlee kicked a decently sized rock into the air and dropkicked it with all of its might. The stone flew through the air, rapidly closing the gap between the fighting type and the flying type. Pidgeotto began to fly, attempting to get out of the way, but the rock managed to clip it with a decent hit, effectively grounding the bird, before it continued and crashed to the ground several meters past their opponent.

"Now get in there with Close Combat!" The sudden momentum that Rein had gained gave him more confidence, maybe he could still pull off a win. Rein's Hitmonlee rushed in without hesitation, closing the distance between it and the grounded Pidgeotto, focusing merely on attacking. The boy chuckled as he formed a plan.

"The problem with that move," He began confidently, "Is that it leaves your Pokemon open for a counter attack." He watched as the Hitmonlee ran up to Pidgeotto, wildly throwing kicks at the grounded flying type before it had even reached its target. "Feather Dance." He called to his Pokemon. Once again, Pidgeotto began flapping its wings, loosing some of its feathers into the air. When a fair amount of them had begun to flutter in the breeze, it sent a gust with a flap of its wings and the feathers created a smoke screen of down that Hitmonlee rushed straight into. It couldn't see where it was going and continued rushing forward, off balance because of its new handicap. Pidgeotto easily sidestepped the incoming attack.

"Hitmonlee, stop!" Rein called to his Pokemon, but it didn't hear him and continued throwing kicks in vain, still rushing at an unseen foe.

The boy was getting a kick out of this, "Use Whirlwind to knock it off balance." He said in-between laughs. Dust was thrown into the air as the bird type took to creating a swirl of air that glided along the ground. The force of the move could be seen by the various rocks and dirt that were flying through the air, aimed directly at the Hitmonlee's back. When the wind caught up to it and pushed it forward, it lost its footing and fell to the ground being pushed along by the wind at its back before finally making contact with a tree with a forceful thud. "This is pathetic, just call it quits now." The boy mocked.

Rein wasn't about to give up, he could tell that he was more than the boy had expected, he was giving him a fight to the end. "No." He said quietly, but still forcefully, "I'm not giving up! Hitmonlee, you can do it, hit it with a Rolling Kick!" Hitmonlee stood and looked rather dizzy for a moment, before finally centering itself. It leapt forward at the bird, spinning rapidly through the air as if it were a top, holding out one of its legs as it did so and delivering a strong kick to the side of Pidgeotto's head, or at least it would have if Pidgeotto hadn't taken to the air and avoided the attack. Hitmonlee was fighting for breath, it couldn't go on fighting much longer.

"Too bad your Hitmonlee is stuck on the ground, that attack might've worked if Pidgeotto couldn't fly out of the way." The boy said lazily. "Finish it with an Air Slash, I‘ve had enough with this waste of space." Pidgeotto flew in a quick circle, a crescent shaped disruption in the air sliced its way straight for Hitmonlee. Rein froze, he was out of ideas, all he could do was watch as Hitmonlee was hit by the attack.

Rein hung his head in frustration and shame when he saw that his Pokemon couldn't continue the fight, tears of disappointment filled his eyes as he recalled Hitmonlee. The boy walked over to him with his head held high, "Looks like battling doesn‘t run in the family," He said cruelly as he held out his hand. Rein realized that he was waiting for money, "Come on, I don't have all day." He said impatiently.

"I-I don't h-have any m-m-money." Rein said through his tears.

"You idiot!" He yelled frustrated, "What a complete waste of time, I didn't even get a good battle out of it." He shoved Rein back, causing him to fall on the ground. He kicked Rein hard in the side with unnecessary force and prepared to do it again when he heard Rein's sobs, "You're not worth the trouble." The boy said as he walked away.

Rein hated himself for failing, a sharp pain that felt as if he were being stabbed in the side assaulted him whenever he inhaled, only fueling his tears even more.

~~~~~~~

Alice returned from her run about an hour later, she was dripping sweat from how hard she had pushed herself, "Great, now I need another shower." She hummed as she stepped through the door. Their parents still weren't home, a fact she knew by the fact that their black sedan was missing from the driveway, but oddly enough Rein still wasn't awake. He wasn't the type to take naps during the day, and even when he did, he didn't sleep this long. She decided to go wake him.

Alice glided happily and quietly into Rein's room, she snuck up to his bed and pounced. "Time to get up, sleepy head!" She called out cheerfully as she landed on his bed and began tickling what she believed to be her little brother. The blankets came off and she saw that it was a bunch of pillows. "Rein?" She asked, not yet worried. She believed it to be a joke. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." She sang and opened up his closet. Nothing. She checked under the bed, and in her room. She even went into her parents bedroom. She couldn't find him anywhere. "Rein. Come on, this isn't funny!" She called as she began to feel a little frantic. She ran downstairs and began to tear apart the house. She opened cupboards and dressers, she checked every closet, she checked the garage and the attic, still no sign of him. She began to panic, "He wouldn't have run away, he just wouldn't have. Where is he?" She asked to no one in particular. She continued to search every corner of the house until there was only one place she hadn't checked. Her parents' lab.

"He couldn't be in there," She whispered, "It's always locked." She turned the handle on the heavy iron door, and it actually swung open with a resounding creak. "What? They actually forgot to lock the stupid door?" She scoffed at her parents, and stepped into the pitch black room, it smelled like something had died in the room. She began feeling around for a light switch. "Rein," She whispered, "You know you're not supposed to be in here…"

She found the light switch on the wall and flipped it to the ‘on' position. She gasped at what she saw when the lights came on, feeling nauseous and fighting back vomit. Tears rolled down her face as she heard whimpering from all around her.

(EDIT: OoC: Any comments/constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Please and thank you ^^)

 

[Rex]

very interesting, so this is the background fic for Rein? Can't wait for the next part!

 

[Sem]

Yaaaaay backstory. Looks good so far, and little Rein is cute ^_^ Let's see exactly what screws him up~

 

[Chadwyck]

Chapter 3:

Alice stood gasping for air, it felt to her as if her lungs had been crushed, leaving the air she was inhaling with no where to go. Along the walls of the laboratory, which had been painted an ominous black that seemed to absorb all light in the room, stood dozens of cages. Each cage held various Pokemon, and each Pokemon had the same expression: hopelessness. It was written on each face peering through metal bars, the creatures' eyes glazed over, appearing dull and cloudy.

Alice hardly noticed the cages, however, as her gaze was locked on a large metal table that had been placed in the center of the lab; all manner of medical instruments and tools, from syringes to bone saws and everything in between, were scattered across the table, and each was stained red with blood. Alice saw the worst of it laying on the table, it was a small brown creature that loosely resembled a fox. It had a ring of beige-white fur around its neck, and the same color marked the tip on its tail. Alice began to choke when she walked closer and discovered it had been dissected, various organs preserved floating in different colored liquids in various jars scattered about the table. It was only barely recognizable as an Eevee, its lifeless eyes stared straight through Alice as she struggled to force herself not to faint.

Alice could hold it back no longer, she fell to her knees and began to vomit from the scene displayed before her; her parents' cruelty forever burned into her retinas. Tears streamed down her face as she choked on the ground, she could feel herself shaking as her muscles shuddered. She nearly hyper-ventilated, fighting harder and harder for each breath she took in. Then she heard a faint whimper from somewhere nearby, it awoke her from her daze and she noticed it to be emanating from beneath the large metal table. She crawled over to the source of the noise, and before long she was staring into the terrified eyes of another Eevee. Its fur resembled the one that lay on the table, only it was very dull, almost gray instead of the normal brown color.

The creature had been locked in a kennel, no doubt it was to be the next victim of her parents' sickening experiments. Slowly Alice began to reach out to unlock the kennel, the Eevee began to growl fiercely and attempted to bite her through the metal bars. "Please," She whispered to the frightened Pokemon, "I won't hurt you, I want to help you," She pleaded through her tears. Eevee eyed her warily, still growling lowly as she reached out and unlocked the cage. The tiny Pokemon slowly, and cautiously, exited the kennel. It looked around as if a trap would be sprung at any moment before finally staring at Alice.

"Ee," It said in an airy voice, it trembled from fear as it approached her. She looked at it through blurry eyes as it cautiously nuzzled up against her, it was only a baby. She saw another of the plain white Pokeballs with a black middle beside the cage, she picked it up and pocketed it. She didn't exactly know why, maybe she was subconsciously collecting evidence. She picked up the Eevee and held it in her arms to make it feel safe, and to warm it up as she soon realized it was trembling from being locked inside a cold, metal cage as well as from the fear of this place. When she stood, she hid the Eevee's eyes with her sleeve, to prevent it from seeing the scene displayed on the table. She noticed a clipboard on a stand nearby and went over to investigate, stepping over various wires connected to monitors and beeping machines as she did so, it was like some kind of sci-fi movie.

Doctor Robert Vanguarde, experiment number 347. Alice realized that they must be notes that her father had written on his current experiment. My wife, Celia, and I have hypothesized that the same adaptive nature that allows Pokemon to evolve can be used to prevent diseases from infecting human systems, by introducing human DNA with the same DNA that allows Pokemon to evolve, immune systems could adapt to better fight off infections. Unfortunately, all test subjects so far have come back with less than satisfactory results. When the diseases are introduced into Pokemon systems, the results have been quite the same as they would be in a human, for whatever reason their bodies are not creating the antibodies necessary to fight off the infection. So far we have lost many test subjects, and this is unacceptable. We have decided to investigate what the differences in human and Pokemon systems really are, as well as specific organ functions. There must be a key somewhere that we are missing, something within the Pokemon DNA that will cause them to adapt to prevent themselves from dying. It just needs to be found and awakened. Alice shook her head, they were killing Pokemon for the sake of finding some super cure for disease? Due to the extraordinarily adaptive nature of Eevees, we have decided that our best chance at finding the results we require rest somewhere within this Pokemon's DNA. Following… From there the data just seemed to ramble on about the experiments themselves.

Alice looked down at the Eevee in her hands, "It's wrong." She whispered as she set the clipboard down.

"We are trying to do the world a favor," Came a reply from behind her, she quickly turned to see her parents standing in the doorway, her father being the one who had just spoken. From behind the creatures blindfold, the Eevee in Alice's hands began to growl. "We knew you wouldn't understand, no one seems to understand that our research could benefit all of mankind." Her father practically growled.

"At what cost?" Alice replied disgusted, "Do your delusions of grandeur justify the killing of innocent Pokemon?!" She screamed.

Her father merely shrugged, and her mother laughed, "Pokemon are only here to benefit us, they're nothing more than convenient test subjects." She commented, as if being responsible for taking lives were not a problem at all.

"You're monsters." Julia backed away, all the Pokemon in their cages began to shriek, each and every one of them was terrified at the cold couple standing before them. The doctors began to enter the room, slowly.

"Just put the Pokemon back in the cage and we can forget all of this." Her father said coldly as he reached out to grab her arm.

Alice jolted away, knocking over a tray covered with multiple metallic objects with a resounding crash upon the tiled floor. "No, I won't. You can't do this!" She pleaded as her mother attempted to block her path from behind.

"Don't be foolish, child," Her mother snapped at her, "Don't make us take drastic measures." Alice could tell she was being threatened by the way the sentence seemed to seep through her mother's teeth. Once again her father attempted to approach her.

"Hand. Over. That. Pokemon." He spat each word at her, his eyes were blank and unfeeling.

"How can you be this way?" Alice questioned, her usual defiance masked by fear, she could tell she wasn't far off when she called these people monsters.

"It's a ruthless world," Her mother commented casually, "We're just trying to get ahead in it."

Her parents were closing in on her from either side, she had no where left to go. The Eevee shuddered in her arms. Impulsively, Alice shoved a nearby rolling stand into her father, which came up to about his waist and was pushed with enough force to cause him to stumble to the floor, letting out a curse as Alice sprinted past him and out the door of the lab.

"You let her get by you." Celia scoffed as Robert picked himself up off of the ground.

"Yes, well, you didn't do much to stop her." He said pulling something out of the inside pocket of his black lab coat and sprinted off after his daughter. A click escaped as he pressed a clip into the black handgun, "I'll go after her on foot, you take the car." He yelled as he ran out the front door.

"Stupid, stubborn girl," Celia sighed, "We can't let you go to the police, all you had to do was listen to orders for once in your life and put the Eevee down." She shook her head as she pulled a handgun that matched her husband's out of her purse and walked leisurely out the front door, slamming it behind her. She climbed into the driver's seat of their black sedan, the engine roared to life as she started the ignition. She flipped on the headlights as she pulled out of the drive way, the sun had just managed to sink below the horizon making the lights a necessity.

Alice didn't know where she was going, and more importantly, she didn‘t care. Away from her parents, she could tell from their eyes and their voices that they'd do anything to keep her quiet. Not that letting their daughter die would have bothered them in the first place. She ran as fast as she could down Route Sixteen. She could hear at least one of her parents running after her, the other was no doubt driving the car to try and cut her off. Celadon was out of the question, the car could beat her there and then she'd be an easy target to hunt down. No, she needed to lose them before she tried to go to the police.

She darted in between trees, the foot falls and labored breathing behind her didn't disappear, whomever was after her was not about to give up. From within her jacket, the Eevee whimpered, cold, night air pierced into both Alice and her tiny companion. The scent of the wild grass slowly began to mix with the scent of saltwater. She avoided the main road, she heard a car engine pass by and her heart skipped a beat, the blinding headlights seemed to scan the tree line. Still, she didn't stop running, even when her legs burned and her muscles wanted to give out, she kept on running. Not only for her life, but for the Eevee's life as well, the lives of all the Pokemon her parents were experimenting on. She needed to survive, she needed to find the police, she needed to tell someone. "I can't leave Rein alone…" She panted, voicing the thought which gave her enough drive to push her to continue running.

Finally, the sound of crashing waves could be heard up ahead in the distance. Alice exerted all of her strength and emerged from the trees, twigs scraping against her face. She was greeted by a sudden drop into a roaring ocean, waves being tossed about by heavy winds, as well as a closed checkpoint that led to the Cycling Road. She threw herself against the locked door, her eyes hopelessly fixed on the sign that hung loosely from the door that read, ‘closed for maintanence. She closed her eyes, mournfully, clutching the tiny Pokemon tightly as she vainly attempted to kick down the door. She was panting heavily, labored breaths being drawn into burning lungs, her legs felt weak and shook beneath her weight. At any second she would collapse, utterly exhausted, but it didn't matter; she was already dead.

Her father emerged from the forest, his gaze piercing into Alice's eyes as he pointed the black handgun at her. "Stupid girl," He muttered, out of breath. He was breathing heavily, having given a good run after his runaway daughter, "Your mother and I can't just let you go, you realize that?" He walked toward her, slowly, never lowering his weapon. Alice stepped back, the sound of crashing waves grew louder causing her to briefly look behind her, she was standing at the edge of the ledge overlooking the ocean. "Come back to the house, and we'll forget all about this." The tone of his voice said that he wasn't playing any more games.

He suddenly become nothing more than a silhouette as blaring headlights lit his back, and for a brief second, Alice allowed herself to hope. Immediately, reality smacked her in the face as the door opened, and she heard her mother's high pitched complaint. "You haven't taken care of this yet?" She insulted, aiming her own handgun, "Just kill the little wench, if you don't she'll just go to the police." She tightened her finger on the trigger of the gun, exerting a little more pressure, the trigger pulled back slightly.

"I suppose you're right, Celia." The husband agreed, Alice looked at them hopelessly.

"How can you do this? To your own daughter?!" She screamed, more out of fear than from anger.

"We can't let anyone interfere with our research, don't you see?" Her father asked, taking on a slightly crazed tone, "They won't understand. No one understands. They can't see the genius of our experiments, the benefits they'll have for all of us. So what if a few Pokemon had to die? Don't you see it's for the good of everyone?" They were absolutely mad. They were willing to do anything for their beliefs, believers were often the most dangerous people to deal with. The extents they'll go to uphold their beliefs; and her parents, Doctors Robert and Celia Vanguarde, were adamant in their belief that they were doing the world a favor. Despite what the law may think.

"You're lunatics…" Alice whispered.

"No. We are not. We're visionaries!" Celia yelled, "You're just too stubborn to see it. I knew we should have beat it out of you." She looked Alice in the eyes with a gaze that told Alice exactly what was coming. A gust of wind lashed her hair about her face. Her mother's hair and lab coat fluttered in the wind, her fathers lab coat did the same. Chills ran down Alice's spine from the cold gust hitting her and easily penetrating through her clothes. Her mother applied more pressure to the trigger as the hammer of the gun pulled back slightly.

Then, time seemed to freeze. Alice heard nothing, the world went deathly silent as she inhaled the sharp, crisp night air that felt like it was freezing her lungs as it entered through her nostrils. Tears rolled down her face, but she didn't feel them, she didn't take any notice of them at all. She closed her eyes, hugging the Eevee still in her arms, they were suspended in an instant that lingered for an eternity in her mind. "Rein… I'm--" The crack of a gunshot shattered her momentary peace, the world came rushing back into existence like water flooding through a breach in a ship‘s hull. Her eyes snapped open as the bullet passed through her, she felt no pain, the shock saw to that. All she felt was warmth from the blood already seeping from the wound, and the force of the bullet that sent her reeling back, its momentum passing to her, "Sorry…" She whispered before she plummeted off of the ledge, into the dark waters waiting to devour her below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rein was sitting alone in the small park, his back was to a tree lining the grassy field in which he failed earlier. He was putting off going home for as long as possible; the sooner he left, the sooner he'd have to face his sister's disappointment. He hadn't stopped beating himself up over his humiliating loss, he stared at the Pokeball that held the defeated Hitmonlee as he clutched it in his hand. The sun had already set and the chilling, night air moved over the city like a phantom, a breeze weaved its way through the leaves of the trees, they seemed to hum a chilling song that was echoed by every tree within Rein's earshot. Even the grass joined in the music as the crisp, green blades were moved by the wind, it was peaceful. Rein enjoyed listening to the somewhat haunting song.

Many trainers had come and gone since he had sat down after his defeat, and no one had taken any notice of him. He didn't mind, if anyone did come over, it would have undoubtedly been to mock him for his meager battling abilities; he wondered how Alice made it look so easy. Of course, she wasn't paired off against an airborne enemy for her fight the other day. Rein inhaled deeply, grabbing his side where the boy had kicked him. It was still very sore, he was certain that there would at least be a bruise at the spot.

Rein winced as he adjusted himself against the tree, and he closed his eyes for a moment. He began to imagine what would have happened if he had won the battle: he would have won the money and went immediately to buy his sister a pack. Then, he would have hurried home and kept it hidden from his parents until Alice was let out of her room. She'd be so surprised when he handed her the pack that she'd almost faint from the shock, laughing a hearty laugh when Rein told her that he had won a battle to pay for it. Then she'd immediately start to pack all of the things that they would take with them on their journey.

Rein sighed, feeling even worse about failing his sister after imagining the smile she would have worn on her face when he gave her the gift. He opened his eyes and gazed up at the clear sky, it would only be a few more days now until he and Alice could leave for their journey. He'd never wanted anything so badly in his life. Stars had begun to appear one after another in the darkening sky, "Better be getting back, I still have to take Hitmonlee to the Center so that mom and dad don't realize I took him." He mumbled to himself.

"Why, hello there." The nurse behind the counter smiled at him, Rein smiled back as he handed her his Pokeball. The red-haired nurse took it, "All right, it'll be a few minutes, why don't you go sit down and relax? You look exhausted." She said kindly, Rein thought that Nurse Joy was appropriately named, she always seemed to have a smile. What's more, it actually seemed sincere. Rein nodded as he turned and walked leisurely over to one of the red couches lining the walls. The only problem Rein had with Pokemon Centers was the smell. All the medicine and cleanliness, it felt too obvious that it was a hospital. Rein didn't like to think about the injured Pokemon, and the smell of the Center made him do just that.

There were various other trainers, some of them were doing exactly what he was; waiting for their Pokemon to be healed and rested. Others were walking upstairs to the free rooms provided for the traveling trainers, and others were on their way out, having just received their Pokemon and heading off for more battles. Rein swung his legs back and forth off of the edge of the couch, he wasn't exceedingly tall. Of course, he wasn't even ten years old, but he was a few inches short for his age. Short enough to the point where, if he were sitting all the way back, his feet didn't touch the ground. "Young man," Nurse Joy called from behind the counter, "You're Pokemon is all healed up and ready to go." Rein got up and walked over to the counter, his boots squeaking slightly on the clean tiled floor. He reached out and took the Pokeball from Nurse Joy, "Be careful out there." She said with another smile.

Rein kindly returned the smile before turning and running out the door. Once he reached the gate out to Route Sixteen, he got a sudden chill. It wasn't cold out, despite the sun setting, so Rein thought it a little odd, a strange feeling came over him; something had happened. Children have a way of knowing when something is wrong, or at least they suspect something is wrong, and when Rein got that feeling it was usually right. He picked up the pace, running as fast as he could to get home to see what had happened. His legs ached as he reached the front door, it was already opened, creaking open and closed at the whim of the breeze.

The lights were all down, and it was eerily silent. Not to say that his house was normally overly buzzing with conversation, but it was lacking even common sounds; like the house itself was aware of the goings-on that had occurred earlier that night. Like it was paying silent respect to Rein for the hardships that he would face.

As Rein stepped through the doorway, the darkness seemed almost palpable; the silence in the air felt as though it were gripping his throat, like not even his presence within the house was allowed to break the spell that had been cast. The illusion was shattered by another loud creak from the door hinges, causing Rein to gasp. He stood in the darkened living room, nothing was out of place, but something was wrong. A cold breeze flew through the opened door, the air current traveling up the stairs. Rein heard a faint sound from upstairs, he couldn't discern what was making the noise, but he heard it clearly as it echoed through the silent house.

Slowly, he took the stairs one at a time, running his hand along the railing as he did so, remaining silent except for the creaking of the stairs as he applied pressure to them. He wasn't even sure if he was still breathing, but his heart was still beating; he could hear his pulse ringing in his ears as he ascended, one step after another. As he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed that his parents' lab door was opened, and he became sick with anxiety. He closed his eyes and reached out cautiously, shaking slightly as his hand made contact with the metal door handle, sending a slight chill down his spine.

He took a deep breath and stepped inside, he was not prepared for the image that he saw; how could a child ever be prepared to see such an image as this? The carcass on the table stared blankly at him, as if he was responsible for it's death. The Eevee's face was too painful to look at, it filled Rein with a guilt that he should not have been forced to bear. He forced himself to look away, it's eyes still burned in his mind, he turned his head away. Nausea had sent spasms into his body, he began to cough, which quickly turned to vomiting. He fell to his hands and knees, fighting the light headedness that attacked him, he wiped tears from his eyes and forced himself to his feet. He stumbled a few steps before he fell again, he began to black out. The slow rhythm of the fan in the ceiling, the single purpose of which was to suck the smell of death out of the lab, was like an uneasy lullaby, begging him to lose consciousness. Then he heard the same sound as before, a whimper from one of the walls. It called him back to his senses, nausea still racked his body, but his eyes began to focus.

He looked up slowly, he noticed all of the Pokemon lining the walls of the laboratory in cages. "Mom and Dad did this?" He muttered, his fists clenched, the lifeless eyes of the Eevee glared at him from the table, and within his own mind. He knew what he had to do, all of these Pokemon needed to be freed, he refused to ignore their plight. He moved to the cages, simple padlocks held them closed. Rein began tearing the lab apart looking for the key, but try as he might, it was no where to be found. He dumped contents of drawers and cupboards to the floor, sifted through various objects, and still he couldn't find it. He clenched his fists again, anger consumed him, so much so that his knuckles began to turn white. Blood seeped between his fingers, his nails were cutting into his palms.

He grabbed a heavy object, it was a tool box of sorts, filled with instruments that were useless to him. The box itself, however, was perfect for his current need. He smashed down on the padlock of the nearest cage to him, a sorrowful eyed Murkrow sat within it, eyeing him distrustfully. Finally the lock gave way and the cage swung open, the Murkrow cautiously eyed freedom before looking at Rein again. "Go on," He whispered, "Be free." He smiled as the Murkrow fluttered out of the cage and flew out the open door, down the stairs, and out into the night sky.

Rein repeated this for almost twenty minutes, luckily for him there weren't many cages in the rather small laboratory. Every Pokemon he freed followed the Murkrows example and rushed out into the night, soon his parents' lab was completely empty. No Pokemon sat desperate behind locked doors any longer. "I have to go to the police," Rein panted, throwing the tool box to the ground, as he ran a few steps forward, his eyes fell to the box that his father had fumbled with the other day. Rein remembered the Pokeballs that were within and went over to see if there were anymore, in the bottom of the simple cardboard box was a single remaining white Pokeball with a black center. Rein reached down and grabbed it, he was about to release the Pokemon within, when he heard a car motor coming up his driveway. He panicked, pocketed the Pokeball and rushed down the stairs and outside, but he wasn't fast enough.

His parents climbed out of the car, a Raticate that Rein had released growled at them as they did so. "Why are you still here?!" Rein called to the Pokemon, "Run, get away!" He pleaded. His parents looked at him with utter malice as his father raised a black pistol and fired several rounds at the poor creature. It crumpled to the ground with a thud, dark red blood began to form a puddle around the creature's corpse.

"You stupid little bastard," His father growled, "You just had to follow your sister's footsteps, didn't you? You let those Pokemon go?!" He raised the gun at the boy, there was no hesitation in eyes. "At least you can rest easy knowing you'll be reunited with that bitch you called your sister soon." He spat. His mother just shook her head with a chuckle.

"You kids just didn't get it, all you had to do was stay out of trouble," She sighed, raising a weapon of her own, "I've had enough of this, I'm not going to try reasoning with you, boy. We're just going to kill you, grab our equipment, and start over somewhere else." These people were heartless, their own children; murdered for their own selfish reasons.

"You're willing to murder a child?" Rein asked, "Your own son?!"

"Listen to him, he sounds just like her. You stupid child, you really think we'd even hesitate to protect our research?" His father mocked as he inserted a fresh clip into his hand-gun. Rein's eyes wandered over to the body of the Raticate. He stopped breathing, he stopped thinking, all he wanted to do was run. Too bad his feet weren't responding.

"I won't go to jail for you, or anyone else. Your life means nothing, foolish child, now we'll be kind enough to end it for you." His mother stepped forward, followed by her husband.

There was no justification for the actions that the Vanguardes took, they had gone insane somewhere along their twisted lives. Murder was their business, they took the lives of Pokemon every single day, why should people be any different? The world was just a giant pool of test subjects to them, life was nothing but a game as long as it wasn't their own.

Rein accepted his fate, and he did so with bravery. A nine year old boy showed more courage in the face of certain death than his parents ever had in their entire lives. He stared defiantly at them, the only thought that went through his mind: Alice would be brave, I can be too.

Sirens echoed from the path leading up to the house, red and blue lights flashed in the night sky, behind doctors Robert and Celia Vanguarde headlights blared through the darkness, turning them into nothing but silhouettes to Rein. Without hesitation they turned and fired at the police officers, Rein acted out of pure instinct and ran into the foliage that grew around the house. He ran through the forest as fast as he could, toward Celadon. He had enough time to make it to the city, and if he was lucky his parents would be captured, or killed. They deserve it, He thought as gunshots ran out through the still night from behind him. He knew now that his parents were effectively monsters, if it was possible for a person to live without a heart, those two would be the ones to prove it. The gunshots stopped, but he didn't. He ran panting through the trees, branches cut his skin and grabbed at his clothes as he evaded roots and stones littering the ground.

Behind him, the gunshots started up again, only they were closer. They were coming after him, he heard a bullet ricochet off of a tree a few meters behind him. He hugged the trees as he ran past them, leaving no target assuming they could see him in the darkness. The grass beneath him was wet with dew, cold air chapped his nostrils, and his legs ached as he sprinted. Behind him, he heard his parents' footsteps, they weren't going to let him get to the city, it was only a little farther now. Cutting through the forest was the fastest way to get to Celadon, but it was also the most dangerous. Rein tripped on a vine that got tangled around his foot, and came crashing down on the wet grass beneath him. The Pokeball in his pocket tumbled out, and a very frightened looking creature formed from the red light. It stared at him and trembled, muttering an almost silent, "Eevee." Rein scooped it up into his arms without hesitation.

"Don't worry, you're safe now, we'll both be all right. I promise." He said to the creature, it was partially to sooth the creature, and partially to convince himself that he would survive this night.

His parents wildly shot after him. But suddenly the gunshots ceased, angry murmurs were carried on the wind. Soon the footfalls from behind him faded away, the murmurs became nothing more than a distant buzzing before disappearing completely. Robert and Celia turned around, they were giving up. They were running. They obviously thought he wasn‘t worth their time, that they should just get away from Celadon as fast as they could. Maybe they were hoping that Rein would get lost and die in that god-forsaken forest, it was definitely a possibility. Rein had no idea where he was, or how far he had run, all he knew was that if his parents escaped, they would go on hurting PokeMon.

Rein stumbled again, he burst through the tree line and nearly fell face first onto the road. Less than half a mile away stood the Celadon City gate. He ran as fast as he could, never slowing to take a breath, the Eevee in his arms shuddered as Rein spoke. "Just a little farther, I need to find help." He thanked God for his luck, he could have gotten lost easily in the forest. He had been completely lost, but with stroke of luck that he often did not see, he had found Celadon.

Rein burst through the gate, "Please help, my sister has been shot! My parents shot her! You have to help!" He cried to anyone who would listen, "Please you have to help me!" The streets were deserted, the hour of the night had everyone home in bed. The city was asleep, all the lights were down in the city, except for the street lamps. He ran to the only place in the city that never slept.

He ran faster through the streets of the city, looking for someone who would hear him. He saw a building with a large neon sign that read: GAME CORNER. There would be people in there, there were always people playing at the Game Corner, someone would listen. He pulled the PokeBall back out of his pocket, "I'm going to put you back in your ball now, but I'm not going anywhere," He reassured the Eevee before he returned it. With the PokeBall back in his pocket he sprinted forward again, his legs burned and nearly buckled beneath him.

He noticed a group standing out in front of the building. They were all dressed in dark clothes, most of them black, and they almost all had a hat covering their head too. Rein ran up to them, "You have to help, please…" He panted, praying to see a friendly face in their midst.

Unfortunately when they turned round at his plea, there were no friendly faces among them; only wicked smiles, and blood red ‘R's on their uniforms.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

Boo you Chad for distracting me from my work like this!

This was easily one of the most intense things I've ever read. Your descriptions were really well done, but you're such a good writer, I guess that's expected. Either way, awesome chapter and I can't wait to read more ^^

 

[Weeds]

Boo you Chad for distracting me from my work like this!

I agree! Can't you let us work in peace?

That was awesome. It was definately the most thrilling fic I've read, EVER. The scene where Alice enters the lab was like the most exciting shit I've ever stumbled upon. I had no idea what she was going to encounter. (Although it was pretty obvious now that I think about it afterwards.)

I have one question though; are Alice's and Rein's parents Rockets? Or will that be revealed later on?

 

[Chadwyck]

OoC: I'm hoping that it will be clearly explained later on... Or at least somewhat clearly, enough to get the point across anyway >>;
Also: Yayyyy! Ilu guys, I'm actually getting some comments and this makes me very happy XD

Chapter 4: (Oh look, I actually remembered to put what freaking chapter it is.)

As soon as the group looked at him, Rein knew that he'd made a mistake. "What's that kid? You need help?" The man standing at the front of the group mocked, he walked up to Rein and placed his hand on the boys head, messing up his hair. The man was tall and thin, with extraordinarily pale skin, which looked even more so because of the black uniform. His hair was the same red color as the ‘R' on his uniform, and he was without a hat, wearing his hair in messy spikes. The worst thing about the man was his piercing violet eyes, Rein shuddered as the man looked at him with false concern. "What a coincidence, we need some help too," He raised his hand and signaled a few of the men behind him, "Why don't you come with us?"

Rein started to back away, turning on his heels and taking a few steps; he didn't make it very far. He was being grabbed by various sets of hands, and he heard numerous grunts of, "Calm down, kid," "Play nice," and "Just come on," Along with others that he couldn't make out. Before long he was detained, despite the fact that he was trying as hard as he could to fight them off. He bit, he kicked, he twisted, but it was no use; he just wasn't strong enough. With almost no resistance, they managed to sedate him.

"Relax, kid," Said the man with the violet eyes, "Welcome to the family." As Rein began to lose consciousness, his mind began to race. He relived the moment where he was almost shot by his parents, the moment where he freed the Pokemon from their lab, it was as if his mind was a tape that was rewinding, until finally his mind focused on Alice and her unknown fate. Rein imagined her dead body as he blacked out, the last thing he saw in his mind's eye was the look of terror on his sister's lifeless face; then blackness.

Rein awoke with a start, gasping for air. He thought that he had died, dreamless darkness that had lasted for God knows how long left him in an empty state of mind, he felt like he was in a dream. He hoped that it was a dream, but the dim light that focused on a single spot in the middle of the floor and the cold stone walls around him proved otherwise. It was very much real, and now he had no idea where he was, what day it was, and worst of all; he was alone. Or so he thought, until a strange voice broke the gossamer webs of his dreamlike state. All Rein knew for sure was that it belonged to a man.

"Good morning," The voice said, it was silky and warm, and it frightened Rein even more. He tried to stand, but immediately felt light headed and fell to his knees groggily. "Careful, don't try to stand, you've been knocked out for quite some time." The voice echoed off of the bare walls of what Rein could now tell was a cell. It rang in his ears and resounded in his mind. It sounded so loud that he had to cover his ears. "Ah yes, that would be an effect of the sedative, my apologies, but you were struggling quite a bit." The voice obviously had no intention of cutting to the chase, the man seemed to be toying with him.

"W-who are you?" Rein struggled with the words as the muscles in his throat began to relax, it was like teaching himself to speak all over again.

"My name is Richard," He said, finally a figure stepped into the cone of light that beat down on the center of the cell. Rein's hopelessness returned when he saw the manner of the man's clothes. He was in an all black suit, complete with a black tie and black dress shoes. On the left side of his coat, he wore a single red rose, and on the opposite side of the coat was an engraved ‘R' in the same blood red color as the group from before. On his left hand he wore a gold ring with a red ‘R', and on his right wrist was a silver watch that looked expensive. His hair was pale blond, and his eyes were the color of the ocean. He was tall, with strong arms and a strong chest, mainly. If he were described as a shape, he would be a triangle, with broad shoulders and a body that narrowed as it moved towards the feet.

"Wh-where--"

"Save your breath," The man's warm voice suddenly became very harsh, and then faded back into a soothing near-whisper, "You are currently in Saffron City, at a headquarters that our company keeps in the heart of the city." Richard stepped a little bit closer to Rein, he picked him up roughly and set him on the small bed, rubbing his hands together like he was trying to clean them after he had done so, "And before you ask, we are Team Rocket, and you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." He stated.

"You mean, y-you kidn-napped me?" Rein coughed.

"Not exactly, no. We recruited you. If I were you I'd be thankful, you could have simply been killed for interfering with our plans. Aren't you just the luckiest little boy?" Then man asked with a sort of sick pleasure in his voice, "Are you ready to become one of us?" He clicked his heels together.

"I can't!" Rein cried, in a half raspy voice, "I have to go to the police, my sister could be dead. Please, let me go!" He yelled, suddenly remembering everything, he became frantic.

"Wrong answer." Richard said disapprovingly, he punched Rein hard in the face with the hand that housed his ring, Rein collapsed on the ground. The force of the punch had knocked him off of the bed, "Better forget about your life outside of Team Rocket because from now on, you belong to us." He snapped his fingers and two men came in and picked Rein up, he was carried to a bright white room and tied to a chair. Richard stood in the corner of the room, blood dripped from Rein's mouth. "Now then, this is what we like to call ‘conditioning.' You see, all you have to do is swear allegiance to us, and that's it." He stepped toward the door, which slid open automatically when he drew near, "But we have to be sure you mean it, so I'll be back in a few hours. Have fun with the other boys until then." Richard stepped out of the room, the door closed behind him with a swish. The two men who had carried him to the room looked at each other and smiled, cracking their knuckles as they did so. The first man walked up and grabbed Rein by the hair, holding his face up with one hand, and drawing his other hand back. Rein closed his eyes right before he felt the man's fist slam against his face.

~~~~~~~~

The next few hours passed by in a blur, all Rein could remember about them was the pain, all he was sure of was that he was being tortured. It didn't take him long to start sobbing, he could clearly remember because of the sticky wetness that streamed down his face. Aside from cries of pain, he kept silent. He never begged for them to stop, never tried to talk his way out of it; he just wept to himself, thinking to himself over and over: Alice would be brave, I will be brave. Blood dripped from his nose, and mouth, the man who was currently beating him stopped and cracked his knuckles as the door slid open and Richard strutted in.

Rein was bound to a chair that was bolted to the floor in the dead center of a sickeningly white room, the lights in the ceiling reflected off of every surface, Rein could hardly open his eyes to look at the man who began to speak to him.

"How are you feeling, son?" Richard asked with his hands folded behind him. Rein remained silent, partially out of stubbornness, and partially because every muscle in his body ached. He was quite unsure if his jaw would even function correctly, though he was fairly certain there would be more pain if a bone had been fractured. "I can see you aren't feeling too well. Do you want it to stop?" Richard walked over and patted him on the head before placing his hand under Rein's jaw and raising his face so he was looking the sinister man in the eye.

"W-wh-why are you doing this?" Rein whispered, it felt as if his lungs were incapable of holding any of the air he was inhaling.

"Because we are making you one of us." Richard replied simply, shrugging as he let the boy's head drop.

"But," Rein coughed, "Why?"

"You know," Richard began, "We've met before, you and I." He said, ignoring Rein's question. Rein looked up at him with a look of curiosity, "Ah. You want to know where? It was in your very house." Richard kneeled down and placed his hand on Rein's shoulder.

"I'd r-remember meeting someone like you." Rein mumbled.

"Oh, you were very young, I don't think you'd remember." He paused, looking away and making meaningless gestures with his hands, then he returned his gaze to Rein, "But I remember you. You were an exceptional boy, I could tell right away that you were something special, you were gifted." He said, almost like a proud parent.

Rein chuckled, "A-and how d-did you know that?" He asked in another whisper.

"You know what the sign of a good trainer is?" Richard asked, ignoring Rein's question again, "It's keen eyes and a sharp wit. You could have all the knowledge of Pokemon in the world, but if you don't know how or when to use it, you may as well be sitting in the bleachers. You have to see the subtle changes in your opponent, and you have to quickly decide what to do. You were doing just that when we met, Rein," The man had used his name, and Rein had never spoken it, that caught his attention, "You were about three, I was invited into your house. You and your sister, she's quite the talented one as well. Anyway, you two were watching a battle on the television, and even at such a young age, you followed every movement, you caught every subtle change in the Pokemon's battle stances, I could see it on your face." With each statement, he got a little bit more excited. "Then you proved my suspicion when you saw the trainer give an order, and you merely shook your head as the Pokemon obeyed; falling valiantly in battle because of a bad call. And you were only three years old." Richard sighed.

"How do you know, I wasn't just w-watching the battle? I may not have even known what was going o-on."

"But you did. Because you did it again in that battle you had today." Richard stated, a little irritated by Rein's lack of faith.

"I lost." Rein spat, finding that he was irritated with himself, not Richard. "How did you know about that?" Rein asked when he realized what the man had said.

"We‘ve been watching you, you and your sister. You said something about her being shot. It's a shame, she had such promise." He shrugged, then he continued, "You see Rein, you may have lost that battle, but you almost didn't. With training, you could excel beyond even the League champions." He grinned, building up for his grande finale.

"Then why are you doing all of this? Why are you torturing me?" Rein regained a bit of the strength in his voice, though not much of it.

"Because we want you to be our champion. Our tool who follows orders without question, and gets the job done. With the skills that you could gain, why you could be quite an addition to Team Rocket. Unlike your worthless parents. Scientists," He laughed, "They tried to sell that nonsense to us, that's what I was doing at your house all those years ago. They were trying to get funding." Another laugh, "They're lucky we didn't burn down your house for wasting our time with that idiocy. But returning to the subject at hand, Rein, when you commit yourself to Team Rocket, we need to know you won't betray us. We are your new family, and an improvement to the one you've had up until now, eh? So all you have to do is say yes. Or else." He snapped his fingers, another fist connected with Rein's face.

"I-I won't." Rein breathed. Richard sighed and slapped him across the face.

"That's not an option." Richard walked over to a table lining the wall, he picked up an object from it and walked back over to Rein. Rein was expecting some horrible torture device that would likely electrocute him or brand him, what it actually was, was a white Pokeball with a black center. Rein's eyes went wide when he realized what it was. Richard grinned wickedly as he released the creature from within; a terrified Eevee that whimpered at all the people around it, shaking and whimpering even louder when it caught sight of Rein beaten and bruised. "What a pretty little Eevee," Richard said as he picked up the tiny Pokemon, "She's a keeper, eh, Rein?" He asked mockingly. Suddenly, and without warning he threw the poor creature across the room, it collided with a wall with a terrible thud.

"No!" Rein cried so loud that it hurt his lungs. Richard nodded to one of the men who proceeded to walk over to the Eevee, raising his boot over the creature's head. "Stop! Please stop!" Rein pleaded, Richard raised his hand with his fingers prepared to snap, "I'll do whatever you want! Just… Just don't hurt her." Rein said defeated, hanging his head.

"Good, we understand each other. You belong to us now, remember that and no one will be hurt," He paused as he began to walk over to the door, "Except for those that we want you to hurt." He laughed again, the maliciousness melted away and he was a confident, jolly man once again. But he was even more of a monster than Rein's parents on the inside. "Damn kids think they run the world," He joked as he walked out the door. The men came over and unbound Rein from the chair. He immediately ran over to the Eevee, scooping it up in his arms.

"You'll be all right, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you." The Eevee looked at him as though he was a hero, "I don't deserve that look, I can't save either of us from this. But I won't let anything happen to you…" A tear ran down his face as he was led to the elevator that would take him to the main area of the headquarters, and his new home.

~~~~~~~~

Rein's room was simple. It was painted plain white, there was a bed equipped with red sheets and a black comforter, and there was a simple desk tucked away in the corner. He looked out the single window that his tiny room held, and saw that he was several stories up. He knew that he was in Saffron, but he had never been there before; the sight was truly something to behold. Celadon was a large city, to be sure, but it seemed small in comparison to the vast expanse of buildings and skyscrapers that he saw laid out before him. Down below on the street, Rein could see cars speeding by as well as tiny people walking along the roads. Giant billboards hung from each building, advertising anything from a sale at the Poke Mart to a new Silph Company item.

Rein sighed and opened up his closet, just to take a look at the space that it would have, needless to say he was surprised to find it fully stocked with familiar looking black uniforms; complete with the black hat and matching black boots with red soles. He felt a twinge of guilt when he saw the red ‘R' emblazoned on the front of each one.

"Rein Vanguarde," A short, fidgety man with glasses in a white lab coat read from a clipboard as he entered the room. "Get changed, if you please, and bring your Eevee. You're training begins right away, Mister Griffith's orders." The man continued in a high pitched, soprano voice. His lack of height was partially to blame.

"Mister Griffith?" Rein asked, he ached all over, and all he wanted to do was collapse on the bed and spiral into the dark embrace of sleep. Preferably forever, since his situation was not exactly ideal.

"You know him as Richard, and you know better than to keep him waiting." The man said somewhat smugly. Rein thought about the look on Richard's face as he prepared to give the order that would have killed the Eevee, he shuddered and nodded to the man standing in his room. As soon as the man left the room Rein began to change, the uniform fit, though it was a little big for him. He pulled the hat down onto his head, and pushed his feet into the boots; he couldn't bring himself to look in the mirror. He fastened a gray belt around his waste, and promptly clicked the Eevee's Pokeball into place.

He opened the door and stepped into the hall, "Well, aside from the bruises and the bloody lip, you're starting to look like a Rocket." The short man mocked, Rein didn't respond. Instead he simply followed along behind the man as he was led through the building, back to the elevator that took them down a few floors. The doors opened with a chime, and the room that Rein stepped into was a fully equipped arena for Pokemon battles, Richard was standing in the center.

"Took your sweet time, eh?" He joked, though Rein suspected that on some level he was actually irritated.

"My apologies, I wasn't aware that I was to start training today." Rein said through clenched teeth, he knew he was a tool. If he didn't obey, the Eevee, or even he himself, would be killed.

"Ignorance is no excuse, but no matter." Richard snapped his fingers, a man stepped out of a door on the opposite side of the room. The man shuffled over and handed Richard a Pokeball with a red ‘R' and a black top. Richard nodded to the man and the man shuffled away. "We're going to have a little battle, to keep you on your toes," Richard tossed up the Pokeball and a Pokemon Rein had never seen before took shape before him. It was a black dog with an orange muzzle and what appeared to be part of a skull atop its head. "Do you like my friendly, little Houndour?" Richard asked when he noticed Rein staring at the Pokemon.

"Houndour," Rein repeated the name, "What am I to battle with?"

"That Eevee on your belt isn't just for show. If you want it to stay, it has to prove useful." Richard chuckled a little darkly.

"I don't know any of Eevee's move set, I've never battled with it before." Rein muttered. Richard sighed in reply.

"Well, what better way to learn?" Richard asked as he took his position on the opposite side of the field.

"But, it could get hur--"

"I don't care!" Richard interrupted, losing his composure, "For God's sake you little bastard, stop complaining or I'll just have the thing put out of its misery, now battle." Rein shakily took his side of the field, pulling Eevee's Pokeball from his belt. Richard shook his head when he saw the lack of confidence on Rein's face. He snapped his fingers and a man shuffled over to Rein, holding what appeared to be a small red and black box, it had the Team Rocket ‘R' on it as well, just like everything in this place. "You have done nothing to deserve this gift, I expect you to win this battle now. Otherwise there will be consequences."

"What is it?" Rein asked. He opened the front cover, it revealed a screen with several buttons around it, when he pointed it at the Houndour, a light began to flash followed by a computerized voice.

"Houndour, the dark dog Pokemon." The voice said, a picture of the Pokemon appeared on the screen, accompanied by basic moves that the Pokemon was capable of learning.

"It's a PokeDex," Richard said proudly, "Reverse engineered by an official model created by Professor Oak of our very own Kanto Region." Richard looked smug, as if this was a great accomplishment. "Now, call out your Pokemon, and show me what you've got."

Rein held the minimized form of the Eevee‘s Pokeball, he then pressed the center button and it grew to the appropriate size. He let out a heavy sigh, then he tossed the ball high up into the air and the Pokemon was summoned forth from the red light of the Pokeball. Rein held the PokeDex out to the small Pokemon, taking stock of the Eevee's stats and information, he nodded as he looked up at his opponent. "I'm sorry, Eevee, but this is the only way that we can both be safe. We have to battle, and we have to win. I'll be right here with you." Rein said comfortingly, the Eevee hesitantly obliged and took its place on the field.

"Ember." Richard said calmly. The Houndour obeyed, a small flame erupted from the dog's mouth, flowing across the ground ready to burn Rein's Pokemon.

"Dodge it and counter with Tackle!" Rein called, Eevee jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the embers that glided across the ground. As soon as it built up the momentum, the Eevee ran across the field. Once it was within a few meters of the dark type, it launched itself off of the ground, ready to tackle the Houndour.

"You'll have to do better than that, Smog." Richard retaliated. Houndour opened its mouth and exhaled a plume of smoke at the incoming Eevee. The tiny Pokemon missed its target as the Houndour moved aside. Eevee crashed onto the floor with a thud, the normal type coughed as it struggled to move out of the smoke. "Bite." Houndour moved into the smoke with its teeth barred, ready to strike the Eevee in the confusion.

"Eevee," Rein hesitated for a moment, "Jump straight up!" He called, and not even a second later, the Eevee was in the air; free of the smoke. As soon as it went up, the Houndour followed with its Bite attack, "Flail!" Rein called as he looked at the move on the PokeDex. The Eevee twisted in the air, it looked like a combination of a Tackle and Tailwhip, as if it had no idea what it was doing. As the Houndour attempted to bite Eevee, the normal type twisted and kicked down on the dark type, causing the Houndour to fall back to the ground with a crash. Eevee landed a few feet away from its opponent. "Don't give it a chance to retaliate, hit it with a Quick Attack!"

"Get up, Houndour, use Fire Spin." Richard seemed as if he was brushing Rein's attack aside. The Eevee rushed forward, ready to deliver the blow to the Houndour. The Houndour stood and released a burst of flames before Eevee's attack could connect. The flames began to spin like a small tornado, scooping up the Eevee in a wave of searing fire. Before too long, however, the torrent of flames subsided and the Eevee was left laying on the ground, panting heavily. It had been badly burned. "Anticipate your enemies' moves, Rein." Richard sighed, "I'm so disappointed." He was about to return the Houndour when Eevee stood back up.

The Pokemon looked at Rein, a look of determination on its face, and it nodded to him. Rein smirked, "It isn't over yet, Richard." Tough words, but he needed to figure out something fast or that's all they would be. "Eevee, use Tackle!" The Eevee repeated the attack on the Houndour, gaining momentum before it leapt, ready to strike its opponent.

"Haven't I proven I can best this move?" Richard asked with a hint of boredom, "Use Smog." He repeated. He was feeling too sure of himself to notice the smirk on Rein's face. Once again the Houndour opened its mouth and exhaled a plume of smoke.

"Eevee, stop the attack, just focus on sticking your landing!" Rein called, instead of following through with the attack, the Eevee twisted a bit and landed, a little off balanced, in the smoke.

"So you managed to prevent the creature from crashing, so what? You can't win if you don't land any monumental hits." Richard ridiculed, "Pursuit." He said, still as calm as ever. The Houndour began to focus on the spot that the Eevee had landed, and it leapt at the spot with mouth agape, its fangs infused with dark energy.

"Eevee, Quick Attack toward me!" The Eevee came bolting out of the smoke, but the Houndour was close behind it. The Houndour leapt, it was planning to come down and strike the Eevee from above. "Now, use Headbutt!" The tiny, normal type leapt straight up into the air as the Houndour was passing over it. Houndour had no time to adjust itself, it was still moving forward, the Eevee's attack made solid contact with the dark types underbelly, sending the creature careening off course and crashing to the ground with another crash. But the fight was not yet over.

Richard's face showed a certain disbelief, he was pleased that Rein was doing so well, but he was appalled that he was allowing himself to lose to this child. He never had any intention of the boy doing well during this battle, he merely hoped to break the boy's spirit. This was not at all going according to plan, and he hated when things didn't go according to his plan. "Get up, Houndour, I've had enough games." He sounded irritated, it was the first time during the battle that he had allowed himself to show his emotions in his voice. "Fire Fang." He growled.

Houndour rushed forward, Eevee was panting from the burn that it had already received from the Fire Spin, it had already been fighting for longer than it should have. Just a little more, Eevee. We can do this. Rein thought. The Houndour's maw was emitting heat waves, the bite attack held the power of fire in it, and Rein did all he could think to do.

"Dodge it!" Rein called, the Eevee leapt; no good. The Houndour changed course, it was going to hit, he didn't know what to do. Then the word just burst out of him, "Endure!" He cried, the Eevee braced itself, and took the full force of the attack. It shrieked in pain, Rein couldn't bring himself to watch as the Houndour tossed it aside. Every muscle in the tiny Pokemon shook as it shakily rose to its feet once more. Houndour was standing beside it, "Bite!" The Eevee latched on to the dark types neck, the Houndour whined as Eevee's teeth sank in. "Don't give in!" Rein called, he felt himself going through a change of attitude. He directed all of his anger, everything that had happened and all of the feelings that he was feeling, into ordering his Eevee's attacks. Everything was focused on the Houndour, and the swell of negative emotions blinded him.

"Eevee, let go and hit it with another Headbutt!" Rein commanded, the Eevee released the Houndour from its bite, and launched itself straight up into the Pokemon's chin. Rein was fairly certain that he heard a crack when the dark type hit the ground, it was panting, but Rein didn't care. "Bite it again!" Rein commanded, and Eevee obeyed. Houndour cried out in pain, the fight was clearly over, the Houndour had no intention of getting back up, and still Rein persisted. The Eevee bit long and hard, cutting into the Houndour's flesh, fresh blood came from the bite marks. The Pokemon shrieked, and Rein suddenly snapped to his senses. He looked at the Eevee's ferocity, it had been feeding off of his commands. He felt nauseated with himself, his anger toward his parents, toward his entire situation, got the better of him. "Eevee, stop!" He called, the Eevee released its defeated opponent and walked back over to Rein.

"Well," Richard whispered, "That may not have been what I intended, but it is a welcome surprise." He walked over to congratulate Rein. "Good job, my boy, that was very impressive. And quite quick thinking on your part." He patted Rein on the head, Rein pushed aside his hand and wiped tears from his eyes. "Of course," Richard continued, ignoring Rein's reaction completely, "There was a bit of luck in there, and I wasn't battling you at my fullest. I expect you to become much better." He smiled, "Now, why don't you take your little friend down to the infirmary, we've got a Poke Center right here in the building. Third floor." He offered, Rein picked up the Eevee without returning the Pokemon to the Pokeball. He turned and stepped into the elevator alone, pressing the number three. The doors closed with a chime and the elevator was off.

"I'm sorry." Rein said, partially to his Eevee, and partially to himself. He hated the way that he had no respect for the Houndour‘s life, that his anger had turned him into something that wasn‘t himself. And the worst of it was that it reminded him of the way his parents had acted when they were prepared to kill him. "I don't know what came over me, but I promise… I'll do my best to make sure that I never become that again." He wiped the streams of tears away from his eyes as the elevator doors opened with another chime.

OoC: I hope that the battle didn't pass too quickly, I'm still working on my Pokemon battle writing, it's just something I'll have to learn by doing. If you think that it's a bit too "lolwut? I couldn't follow that at all." Or something of the like, let me know and I'll attempt an edit...

 

[Aura]

That was good awesome. Like insanely awesome. Looks like I'll be stalking this thread as well.

I'm feeling prettty sorry for Rein. If I was him, I'd be in histerics. I just hope he doesn't end up being a heartless monster; the more conflict within the character, the more he/she will be loved. Or that what I think anyway.

*round of applause for Chadwyck*

 

[Tatile]

Very impressive. Pokemon battles can be quite hard to write, but you captured and conveyed the action well here and it was easy to follow. The Eevee seemed very much like an automaton(?) in that it appeared to have no real emotional reaction or hesitation to Rein's questionably sadistic orders - though I suppose this is to expected given the poor critter's previous experiences.

And Rein! Holy crap! He's nine! When you went into the lead-up to the light-torture scene, I was expecting something very Clockwork Orange-esque, perveresly I'm glad to see he was just beaten within an inch of his life (have you read that book? Nothing but the ol' ultra violence).

 

[Black Wolf]

Interisting story, great detail, great everythin, and now a bit of Irony, I was in a Pokémon RP before I came here and there was a team rocket member named Rychard there.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

...I really should stop checking this before I have to study. Either that or just develop some self-discipline

 

[Weeds]

Very impressive. And when I say very impressive, I mean VERY impressive. The battling scene was superb. I'm writing a fic of my own, and I'll SERIOUSLY have to rewrite my battles. Very well done!

When Richard first arrived I kind of expected him to be a nice guy, that would've given a contrast to the otherwise ruthless Rockets. But this way it makes more sense; if Richard would've been nice, why would he have joined Team Rocket in the first place? Then again, Rein isn't a bad guy, so...

Evil as I am, I kind of hope that Rein is going to become a bad guy. Because if Alice is alive (which I hope she is D their meeting could become a very interesting scene. You probably have your own plans concerning that already, so this is just my opinion.

So, now I shall leave you alone so that you can finish the next chapter.

 

[Pheonix]

Silly me... can't believe I haven't posted here yet. Already generally told you my thoughts in chat, but I suppose I will repeat a few of them here.

This is quite a detail oriented story. I like the setup, very nice with the living environment arrangement and how the two kids grew up etc etc. The only thing I found humorous was how articulate Rein was especially when he was in danger. I can't see a ten year old talking like that.

So far, love the premise of the TR initiation and the few battle scenes you have showcased so far have been great. Keep up the great work. ^^

 

[Chadwyck]

OoC: Thanks for all the comments guys ^_^

Tatile: I know! I feel terrible putting a nine year old through all of this, and funny thing; I actually debated putting him through the Clockwork Orange-esque torture. But I didn't feel like it would fit.

Pheo: It's actually because I have no idea how to be a kid, and the only 'model' I have is my sister, and she's actually pretty articulate for her age. So I figured it didn't matter, since I know nothing about how kids talk XD

 

[Chadwyck]

OoC: It was like three AM when I finished this, so if there are slight typos I beg your forgiveness. I got inspired and finished the chapter.

Chapter 5:

Days passed, and Rein's training continued. He was worked to the point where he could hardly hold his head up, and to the point where it pained him even to stand still. And yet, he continued to train, continued to do as he was told. If I don't keep training… His eyes wandered over to the Eevee, whom he had discovered disliked her Pokeball very much, and as such he allowed her to sleep in a small blanket he had laid out on the floor, "What will happen to us?" He wondered aloud. He thought about the day that he had ordered Eevee to attack the Houndour, the day that he let his anger get the better of him. He knew that it was wrong, but it felt good. He was filled with guilt at the thought, but that didn't stop it from returning.

He questioned everything that was happening. He needed to escape Team Rocket. "Where would you go?" He needed to find Alice. "Can't you accept that she's dead?" Every bit of hope that he tried to find was met with a swift response, like some cynical voice inside of his head took pleasure in causing him pain. "Team Rocket is your home now, once you accept that life will get much easier." The voice said. Rein covered his ears, not that it mattered, the voice still echoed in his mind. "Your parents never loved you, Team Rocket is better than being stuck with them," It mocked.

"Shut up." He whispered.

"You should have just let them kill you."

"Shut up." He said a little bit louder.

"You're worthless."

"Stop it." Tears began to roll down his face.

"That's why Alice abandoned you." The voice hissed.

"Shut up!" He screamed as loud as he could, he grabbed an alarm clock off of the dresser next to the bed and threw it. He punched the wall so hard that his knuckles began to bleed. "Just leave me alone!" He yelled.

"You are alone." It replied. Then, his mind was silent once more.

Rein's shouting had caused the Eevee to wake up, she seemed frightened by the shouting. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He whispered as he wiped tears of frustration out of his eyes. He walked over and picked up the Eevee, hugging it tightly, "You're the only one I have now. My only friend in the world."

The Eevee nuzzled against him as if to say, "You're all I have too."

Then the door opened and Richard walked in, flaunting himself as usual. "Sorry to interrupt this sickening little moment, but I think it's about time we put you out in the field." The man smiled, "The guard tells me that you were causing quite a ruckus in here, anything I can help you with?" He asked with an attempt at a sincere smile.

"There's nothing you can help me with." Rein responded coldly. Richard didn't like that, and he showed as much when the smile faded from his lips. He walked over and backhanded Rein across the face.

"You need to learn your place," He scowled, "Don't forget that we saved you, you could be living on the streets." Richard slapped Rein again, "Now get up, you've got your first field training day today."

Rein inhaled sharply, his cheeks flushed where Richard had struck him, he felt a dull stinging pain; he was getting used to being hit. Rein stood, he was already dressed in his uniform. He learned not long after getting there to get into uniform first thing after waking up, if he was called upon and he wasn't dressed, they would hurt his Eevee and they would make sure he watched. "Yes, sir," He said through clenched teeth.

"You have to watch that temper," Richard said as he walked toward the door. Then, as he always did before he left Rein alone, he stopped at the door and added, "You'll meet your partner in front of the Silph Company building. He'll tell you exactly what you'll be doing. Do remember to bring your Eevee, you never know what might happen." He smiled and left the room without another word.

"Well, I know you don't like it, but you'd be safer in your Pokeball." Rein said after Richard had left. The Eevee looked at him with a look that he couldn't quite understand, though he could guess that it wasn't pleased. "I'm sorry, but who knows what they're going to want us to do. Better safe than sorry, right?" The Eevee rolled its eyes before it seemed to agree, jumping out of Rein's arms and sitting on the ground in front of him. A second later it disappeared in a beam of red light and Rein hooked the Pokeball to his belt. He looked at the window before he stepped out the door, "At least I get to go outside, maybe today won't be so bad after all." He tried to be hopeful, after all, things couldn't get much worse than being stuck in the Rocket building all day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Rein stepped foot outside of the Rocket building, every building seemed to be the biggest he'd ever seen. From the window of his room he couldn't see much, it was on a floor that gave him a very good view of the building across the street. Once he stepped out into the sunlight, which he had to shield his eyes from momentarily, "No matter how bright that building is with its white rooms, nothing prepares you for stepping back out into the real sunlight." He said with a smile on his face, it was much warmer than he had remembered it being, though days being stuck in a fully air-conditioned building probably had something to do with it.

"The Eevee would love this," He thought looking down at the Pokeball on his belt, "I'd better not, we could get separated in the crowds." He finally decided, looking around at all the people walking about down the streets, he never thought he'd be so happy to see other people. "Excuse me, ma'am…" He said to a woman wearing a pink blouse, she took a look at his uniform and pretended that she hadn't seen him. "Ma'am?" He called after her. He looked at the sea of faces around him, and noticed the array of reactions that he was getting. Some people glared at him as if they were debating coming over and punching him square in the face, others avoided eye contact all together, they looked as if they expected him to rob them on the spot.

"What's the point in wearing this stupid uniform, anyway?" He wondered aloud, "If everyone knows I'm in Team Rocket, against my will or otherwise, what does Richard expect me to do?" He hung his head in defeat, which was becoming a habit for him.

He walked toward the Silph Company building, in the center of Saffron, sticking to side alleys like Richard had told him a few days into his training. "You can't very well walk down a main road, how do you expect to get any work done with people watching your every move?" Now Rein knew what the man had meant, the uniform he wore was like an open invitation for people to distrust him. It made him wonder why the group wore uniforms at all, of course, only the lower level grunts like himself wore the actual uniforms, everyone else wore more natural looking clothes. They all had the red ‘R' in common, however, it just wasn't as obvious when it wasn't plastered to one's chest.

Rein enjoyed being outside, it gave him something to think about in spite of the negativity he was feeling. At least the voice hadn't returned. It was strange, the voice he heard in his mind that morning had spoken some truth. Things would never get easier if he didn't start accepting what his situation was. Once he could learn to live with it, even if he didn't like it, things wouldn't seem quite so difficult. Of course, that still meant he'd have to live with the cruelty of Team Rocket every day of his life, and he wasn't about to give them that satisfaction. Yet, the idea stayed at the back of his mind.

"If I stick with it, I may even out rank Richard one day," He mused aloud as he passed through another alley, "I'd love to see the look on his face when I start barking orders at him." Rein smiled as he exited the shadows of the alleyways back into the sunlight, the Silph building towered before him at the end of the next block. From the base of the building looking straight up, it looked like it extended into the sky. Rein was awed by the size of the building, it took up a whole city block. "Wow." Rein whispered, he wanted to see the view from the top, he may even have been able to see Celadon from up there.

"It's quite the view, huh, kid?" A familiar voice said from behind him. Rein turned on his heels, and found himself staring at the man who he had encountered outside of the Game Corner in Celadon. "Don't look so surprised," The man said with a cocky smile, "I work very closely with new recruits, Richard usually asks me to help ‘em out on their first mission." He patted Rein on the back, Rein shoved his hand away.

"Does he also ask you to kidnap kids off the street?" Rein stared the man in the face defiantly.

"Not usually, but you were a special case. The funny thing is that he had sent me to Celadon to kidnap you, and you came right to us." He chuckled, "Looks like it was your lucky day."

"More like unlucky." Rein muttered, causing the man to chuckle again.

"I guess from your point of view, but look at it from my perspective. You saved me a lot of work, and a lot of time. As a matter of fact, I should be thanking you for how easy you made that mission." The man shrugged.

"Cool, you can thank me by letting me go." Rein said sarcastically.

The man laughed again, only it was louder and stronger than the ones before, "If I wanted Richard to rip my lungs out, sure. You've seen Richard get annoyed, kid. Trust me, you don't want to see him mad. He's just scary when he's mad." The man's piercing violet eyes seemed softer than they had the night he kidnapped Rein, though he was still pale. Something was different about him though, he was still cocky, but he seemed sincere when he smiled. And the look in his eyes was friendly. Rein was cautious about falling for any tricks the man might try, but he saw no dishonesty in his eyes.

"You're different." Rein said softly and innocently, "Not like the rest of them."

"Careful, kid, don't go trusting just anybody because of a few kind words. That'll get you killed." The man said as he started walking away, his face turned very serious, but not unkind. "The name is Jeremiah, I don't think we were properly introduced before." He didn't stop, assuming that Rein was following him.

The man's sudden change in demeanor didn't bother Rein, he wasn't being rude or unkind, he just seemed to be giving genuine advice. "Rein," He said simply, "So, are you just part of the trick?" Rein asked Jeremiah, "The make you work with people like me so we think that Team Rocket isn't all bad?"

"How old are you?" Jeremiah asked, turning and looking at Rein, summing him up.

"I'm going to be ten in a few days."

"You're a smart little bugger, then. Only nine, pfft, you're too clever to be nine." Jeremiah scratched his head, Rein was more intelligent than the average nine year old. Though with all that had happened lately, he'd been forced to act very grown up.

"That didn't answer my question." Rein pointed out.

"No, no it did not." Jeremiah stated, turning down an alley that they were passing on the left had side of the street. "And to answer your question, no, usually I only work with new recruits who joined Team Rocket by choice. I made an exception for you."

"What exactly am I supposed to do today?" Rein asked, not wanted to delve any deeper into Jeremiah's reasons. He didn't seem too prepared to talk about them anyway.

"It won't be too difficult, I got the hardest part of the job. I'll explain once we get to the Center." Jeremiah said with a sigh.

"You mean a Pokemon Center?" Rein asked, though he was fairly certain that he knew the answer.

"What else?" Jeremiah said a little bit unenthused, but still with a slight smile. The terror that Rein had felt on their first meeting was real, but he had trouble accepting that this was the same man. As far as first impressions go, Jeremiah hadn't done too well, but the rude, sarcastic, and unfeeling man that had taken Rein that night couldn't have been Jeremiah. It had to be some sort of a trick, never judge a book by its cover. Rein caught himself thinking. Maybe not everyone in Team Rocket was terrible, Jeremiah certainly didn't seem that way.

"Oh, I'm not going to like it am I?" Rein asked dropping his shoulders, causing Jeremiah to laugh again.

"Probably not, thievery doesn't seem to be your thing." Jeremiah chuckled.

"Thievery?"

"Stealing stuff, kid." Jeremiah rolled his eyes.

"I know, I was just wondering what I was going to have to steal." Rein explained, he didn't like being treated like an idiot because of his age.

"You really are a smart kid. I'll tell you when we get there." He stated, brushing the question aside. "No sense getting you all worked up before we even get there. But let me give you some advice, no matter how much you don't like what you're going to have to do," Jeremiah stopped walking and looked Rein in the eye, "Just do it. You get used to doing things you don't like, and the more you do them, the more chance you'll like them with time." Jeremiah said with a grin.

"I don't think I'll ever enjoy stealing," Rein said, looking at Jeremiah like he was the idiot.

"Maybe not, but you'll certainly get better at pretending you do. Unless you like Richard beating you senseless for disobeying orders. Maybe you'll learn to like that before you learn to like stealing, seems like a pretty stupid interest to me though." He shrugged and started walking again, turning out onto the street that met them.

Rein lingered for a second, thinking about what Jeremiah said. Everything in him told him that the man wasn't to be trusted, that it was pointless because he'd just turn into a monster like all the others. But at the same time, he wanted so much to find a friend, someone to dull the pain and fill the hole left behind when Alice was torn out of his life. Even though, he knew, that someone taking her place was as impossible as bringing her back from the dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rein and Jeremiah stood together beneath the shade of an awning extending from one of the shops lining the street, they accumulated a fair share of disapproving glares. Jeremiah smiled at a police officer who walked by, "Don't look so nervous, Rein." Jeremiah whispered when the officer wandered away, "They have no proof that Team Rocket does anything illegal. And even if they did, they couldn't prove that we were up to anything just because of a few uniforms." He explained.

Rein wondered for a moment why he hadn't cried out to the police officer for help, why he didn't tell him that he'd been kidnapped and held against his will. The feeling in his stomach told him that he was afraid, afraid of what would happen to him and his Eevee if he went to the police. But that wasn't the only reason, he was ashamed to admit it, but he was curious to see what Jeremiah and himself were supposed to be doing. The combination of the feelings of fear and exhilaration kept his mouth shut, he remembered the voice's words from that morning. "Team Rocket is your home now."

Maybe he was starting to believe it.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do…" Jeremiah paused for a second, "First you have to promise me that you won't get all emotional and whatnot." Jeremiah said through squinted eyes. Rein thought it looked almost comical.

"I promise," Rein said suppressing a smile.

"Somehow I don't think that I can hold you to that, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time." He said, suppressing a smile of his own. It was good to see he was getting through to the boy. The feeling of guilt was an ugly thing, driving Jeremiah to actually care about Rein. He looked away, toward the Pokemon Center that sit at the end of the street, every second a new trainer emerged or entered the red roofed building.

"So, what are we doing?" Rein asked when he noticed Jeremiah was lost in thought.

"Oh… Sorry about that, just devising strategy." Jeremiah scratched his nose, a nervous habit he'd picked up. "We're going to be stealing some Pokemon from the Center, anything that looks worth the trouble we take. Eventually it will be conditioned, rehabilitated, and used by one of our people in Team Rocket. Who knows? It may even pass on to you."

Rein didn't like the idea of stealing Pokemon from other trainers, people who had worked hard to catch them, who spent countless hours training them. But he kept his word, he didn't complain. He swallowed his pride and nodded, "So what do you want me to do?" He asked, keeping his mind on the task at hand, trying not to think of the trainers who would be losing friends and partners.

"Well, you've got the easy part of the job. You wait for my signal and sneak in the back. While I keep everyone distracted out in front, you go through the rooms and take the Pokemon, by force if you have to. But it is a hospital, so chances are the Pokemon will be too weak to fight back. If we're lucky." Jeremiah handed Rein a handful of small, black spheres. "Use these to catch the Pokemon, they're special Team Rocket Pokeballs. Use your PokeDex to decide whether or not a Pokemon is worth the effort, but only do so if you absolutely have to. We have to do this fast, get it done in ten minutes, and then run back to Headquarters. I won't meet up with you afterwards, I'll be running as well." Jeremiah said with a nod.

"What if I run into a nurse inside?" Rein asked, a little afraid of the answer.

"Make sure they don't get in your way, by any means necessary. Try not to kill anyone, though, it's only your first time out." The man laughed, Rein didn't think it was funny. Jeremiah remembered Rein's sister, and the smile faded from his face. "I'm sorry, Rein. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Don't worry about it, just tell me what the sign is." Rein said shaking his head.

"Just listen for an explosion, that'll be your cue to get inside. That's also when your ten minute timer starts, so don't slack off. If you're in there for longer than that, the cops could show up, and they'd be the least of your worries if you get caught. So, in and out, yeah?" Jeremiah reminded Rein again. Rein only nodded and walked down the street, slipping around to the back of the red-roofed building. "Guilt," Jeremiah sighed, "Who needs it?" He reached down and pulled a Pokeball off of his belt.

Jeremiah walked casually up to the front entrance of the PokeCenter, tossing up his Pokeball and releasing a large Pokemon with fire around its neck, it let out a roar as it stood beside its trainer. "All right, Typhlosion, use Fire Blast on the window!" He commanded. The ring around the fire type's neck grew larger and hotter as it opened its jaws, flames could be seen building in the Pokemon's mouth before it released the blast on the indicated target. The Fire Blast hit the window and caused a deafening explosion of shattering glass and fire. People started to panic, screams could be heard from inside, some people had been hit by the shards of glass and cut, but that was only to be expected.

Jeremiah walked up and opened the door, strutting into the chaotic mess that was the Pokemon Center, people were running all over. Many trainers were begging Nurse Joy to give them their Pokemon back so that they could run, others abandoned their Pokemon and rushed out the door, nearly trampling Jeremiah before they froze in sight of his Pokemon. He snapped his fingers and the Pokemon emitted a fiery roar from its mouth. The smile was no longer on his face, he was now completely serious, his eyes were icy, and he looked frightening. "Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm." He called out into the silence of the crowd that he now commanded. "Hand over all your valuables, and your Pokemon. Then I'll be on my way." He said forcefully.

The people looked among themselves, but many had been wounded in the explosion of glass, and others were too shocked to move. Some reached for their belts and rolled Pokeballs toward Jeremiah, until one man stood up. "What if we refuse?!" He yelled, "You Rocket jackasses don't scare me." He said confidently.

Jeremiah reached into his uniform and produced a handgun, holding it straight toward the man, immediately sapping away most of his courage. "I really hate when people try to play hero." Jeremiah said tightening his grip on the handle of the gun, "I don't want to have to hurt you, but believe me, I will. Everyone get down on the ground." He commanded without raising his voice, but with force behind it.

Most obeyed, even the man who had been so brave a moment before obeyed, only Nurse Joy stood her ground behind the counter. But it wasn't defiance on her face, "Please stop this," She said, his voice shaking a bit, "This is a hospital, people come here to be safe. Please just turn around and leave." She pleaded.

"You can stop stalling now, Nurse Joy, I know you already called the police. I assure you I will be gone soon," he bent over and scooped up the Pokeballs that had been rolled to his feet. Nurse Joy knew she'd been caught, she quieted down, but she refused to get to the ground.

"At least let us tend to the wounded." She said, it wasn't a request, so much as a demand. Jeremiah saw no problem with it. He nodded, Nurse Joy sent her Chanseys to examine the injuries of the people nearest the explosion first.

"You think you're tough? Attacking a hospital?" A voice said from Jeremiah's left, through the smoke and debris he saw a boy of about fourteen facing him, "Hiding behind your gun." He spat, pulling out a Pokeball. "Put the gun down and let's settle this with a battle." He said with a cocky tone. He was dressed in a yellow and black baseball cap, a simple Pokeball design tee shirt and jeans. For a moment Jeremiah thought about asking him to join Team Rocket, then he decided it would be a waste of time.

"A battle? You really think you'd win?" He looked down at his PokeGear, he had set a timer and it was down to about five and a half minutes. "I don't really have the time, but how about a rain check?" Jeremiah asked, the boy looked angry.

"See? I knew you were too scared, hiding behind a gun makes you a big man." The boy taunted, not a wise move to taunt a man with a gun, luckily Jeremiah had never planned on shooting anybody.

"Fine, but make it quick, I've got to go." He snapped his fingers and Typhlosion stepped forward, exerting its power by feeding the flame around its neck.

The boy tossed his Pokeball up into the air, and out of the red light of the Pokeball came a white furred monkey with a fire lit atop its head. The Infernape cracked its knuckles and took a fighting stance.

"Fighting fire with fire, eh?" Jeremiah rolled his eyes, "This will be over sooner than I thought."

"We'll see," Said the boy, "Fury Swipes!"

The Infernape rushed forward, through the debris of the explosion and the smoke from the fire, its arms raised and ready for an attack.

"Defense Curl." Jeremiah said, Typhlosion acted immediately. It pulled itself into a ball, the flames of its neck still extended. Infernape started swiping at the balled up Pokemon, using a combination of palm attacks to attack with quick blows. With Typhlosion curled up in Defense Curl, the attack was doing nothing, "Rollout." Jeremiah added.

Typhlosion began to spin while still in Defense Curl, it rolled forward, shooting off from its stationary position. Infernape barely managed to avoid the attack, but avoiding the first blow only added to the damage that would be done with the next. Typhlosion changed direction, making a wide turn to keep its momentum, Infernape's back was turned as it had just finished dodging and it was hit by the full force of the attack, but Typholosion didn't stop there. He continued to roll, turning around again and hitting the Infernape before it had even hit the ground from the last attack. Typhlosion hit the monkey Pokemon four more times, and it turned to make the final hit.

"Counter!" The boy called. Infernape managed to roll out of the way of the Typhlosion's incoming Rollout, and when Typhlosion began to turn the Infernape made its move. It ran forward, meeting the Pokemon while its momentum had slowed momentarily. It threw a kick that knocked the Typhlosion off course, causing it to collide with one of the walls with a loud thud, cracking the tile that lined the walls. The Infernape struggled to stay standing.

"I told you I was in a hurry," Jeremiah sighed as the Typholsion stood, slightly dazed. "Blast Burn, I'm done with this monkey." Jeremiah commanded. Typhlosion began to focus its energy, the ring of fire around its neck becoming more intense with each passing second. Finally, it unleashed all of the energy in a giant burst of flames, Infernape hadn't been fighting long but it had all ready taken a lot of damage. Jeremiah hadn't been playing around and the Infernape was too tired to move out of the way. The wave of flames collided with the Infernape like a wall, and despite the fact that it was a fire move against a fire type Pokemon, it still got the job done. The fire on Infernape's head was dim, its white fur was charred, and it lay motionless on the floor. Concerned faces peered at the boy from all over the Center, as well as looks of fear toward Jeremiah. His Typhlosion was a powerful Pokemon, and his most trusted partner. Training the Pokemon had been his life, and he was very proud of the work that he had done. It paid to have a Pokemon that you had trained your entire life.

Jeremiah checked the PokeGear, the timer was just below a minute and counting. "Sorry to demolish your Pokemon and run, but I'm afraid I don't have time to shatter your confidence any further." He returned Typhlosion with a respectful nod and ran out the door and down the street, he had managed to take a few Pokemon, about eight or so. With Rein's haul included it would be a decent score, he hoped.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rein heard the explosion from the front of the Center and didn't hesitate for a second, he opened the back door to the Center and snuck inside. He waited by the door a second to see if there was any movement, which there was but it was only a few Chansey and a Blissey running toward the front of the Pokemon Center. Whatever Jeremiah was doing to keep their attention was working, "Good news for once," Rein sighed. He thought it a little depressing that the only good luck he'd had in days came when he was doing something bad.

He went into the first room, moving quickly to avoid getting caught inside when the ten minutes was up. There was an injured Pokemon hooked up to a machine laying on the table, it was a fairly large, green spider. Rein pulled out his PokeDex, "Spinarak, the String Spit Pokemon. Spinarak spin webs of powerful silk and motionlessly await prey." The device described the Pokemon in its robotic voice.

Rein pulled out a black Pokeball and stared at the injured Pokemon, it seemed to stare back at him like it knew what he was going to do. "I'm sorry," He whispered, "I truly am." He tossed the Pokeball at it, the Pokemon was too weak to fight back and was sealed within the ball with no trouble. Rein fought back tears of shame as he moved onto the next room.

It was the same for this room as well, there was a small, orange dog-like Pokemon breathing into a mask. It appeared that it had been poisoned, Rein could tell by the vial of Antidote that lay on the table beside it. It whimpered as he stood over it, this time unable to keep his tears back and they began to roll down his face. He didn't need to use the PokeDex on this one, he'd seen a Growlithe before on TV, "Please forgive me," He whispered as he sealed it away within the Team Rocket Pokeball.

The same scenario continued for another three rooms, Rein looked at the time and he still had about five minutes left. He heard a crash from the direction of the main lobby and decided to move a bit faster.

He came upon another room, this time the door was closed. He didn't think anything of it and opened the door, there was a small, orange lizard laying on the table. Its eyes were closed and it was breathing shallow breaths, the flame on its tail was small and weak. But Rein's eyes didn't fall onto the Charmander, he looked instead at the little boy who was even younger than he was sitting beside the Pokemon. The boy jumped when he looked at Rein. "Who are you?" The boy asked, he was dressed in a white tee shirt with blue stripes.

"How did you get back here?" Rein asked, ignoring the boy's question. Better not to answer than to try and come up with a lie.

"I asked the nurse if I could stay with my Pokemon. It used to belong to my big brother, but he…" The boy began to cry, Rein hated himself for what he knew he had to do. "He went away." The boy finished. Rein felt ashamed, it cut into him like a knife, but he knew that it had to be done. "His Charmander is still here, and I want him to get better. I promised my brother I would take care of him."

"I'm so sorry." Rein said, thinking of Alice and how she had been taken from him as well. Only he wasn't left with anything to remember her by, nothing but memories. "I have to take your brother's Pokemon away."

"You're taking him?" The boy asked between sobs.

"I have no choice." There was a change in Rein's demeanor, he went from being ashamed to being enraged. He was angry toward the little boy. Why should he get to hold onto a piece of his brother when I have nothing to remind me of Alice. Nothing at all.

"The nurse said that he just needed rest. Why do you have to take him?" The boy wiped away his tears.

"Because, you don‘t deserve to have him. Look at you, you already got him sick. Your brother wouldn't want his Charmander to be hurt." Rein mocked. Why he was so adamant about taking this Pokemon, he didn't know. It was like something in his mind was telling him to do it. Like something within him triggered this anger and frustration that he had tried so hard to bury.

"I didn't mean to…" The boy began, he sobbed again, "I tried to take care of him." Rein scowled and pulled out a Pokeball, ready to steal the Charmander right in front of the boy. To teach him a lesson.

"What are you doing? I said I was sorry… Please don't take him away, I'll take better care of him I promise." The boy threw himself on top of the Charmander, holding him in a tight embrace, tears falling onto the table the Charmander was on.

Rein stood staring at the boy, he felt as though he were staring into a mirror. He remembered when he had been crying like that, Alice would always come and cheer him up. She would give him a hug, and then she'd surprise him with something or say something that made him feel better. I have my memories of Alice, and as long as I do, she's still here with me. The same as that Charmander does for the boy and his brother. Rein thought, he began to cry along with the boy. The anger and frustration began to fade.

"I'm sorry." Rein whispered, the boy looked up at him. "You really are taking good care of him, your brother's Pokemon is in good hands." Rein said with a smile that held a mixture of sorrow and pain within it. But there was also a sense of peace. "I have to go, take good care of that Pokemon. Your brother is depending on you." Rein turned to leave, wiping the tears from his face.

"Thank you." The boy said, Rein smiled.

He hadn't obeyed the desire he felt inside himself, the desire that seemed to originate from no where. He ran out the door without looking back, he didn't care what Richard did to him, he felt proud of himself for standing up to that desire, to those feelings of hopelessness. A voice in his head had been enticing him, telling him that he needed the Charmander, promising him that it would make him feel better. He had almost listened, he had almost stolen from that little boy. "What am I turning in to? Will they turn me into a monster too?" He was afraid of the answer to the questions he whispered to himself as he ran back toward the Rocket base.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He's resisting every step of the way." A voice said quietly in the darkness. Richard sat in front of a monitor, staring at the figure on the screen in the darkness.

"You'll just have to try harder," Richard said to the figure, "You won't be coming out of that cell until he's so hurt and alone that he'd steal an elderly women's cane and beat a baby with it." Richard said, in a tone that made very obvious that he wasn't joking.

"I can only do so much. I can't make his decisions, I can only implant suggestions." Said the voice.

"If you've outlived your usefulness, I'm sure that we can find someone to replace you." Richard said with a devilish grin. The figure didn't respond, "No? Then try something else. Torture him in his sleep, I don't care. As long as he breaks."

"Yes, sir."

 

[Aura]

Good. It appears that Rein's holding onto his humanity for now, which is great in my opinion.

I really want to know who that person Richard was talking to is. At first I thought it was Alice but... *shrugs*

And I failed to see any typos sooo... XD

*round of applause for Chadwyck*

 

[Rex]

Looks good so far. I can't see any typos either. It looks as if he is losing his sanity, which I find hilarious. I think I know who Richard is speaking with... But I won't say anything, I like cliffhangers as much as the next guy.

 

[Tatile]

Valura?

Poor little Rein, he's really being torn apart. There seems to be certain malicious brotherhood in (fictional at least) crime organsations, that appears to be happening now between Rein and Jeremiah. A tutelage perhaps?

 

[Weeds]

This is getting more exciting by the minute! I actually found a typo, but I forgot what it was, it'll have to pass. I was hoping that Rein was going insane, but it seems as if the voice was an external source... I feel almost disappointed.

But this is turning out really awesome, please, PLEASE don't stop!

 

[Chadwyck]

OoC: Wow, it's been entirely too long since I posted a chapter here, so here it is Chapter 6. It's finally done, it's a bit shorter than the last few, I believe, it's hard to tell on my new lappy. Anyway, let me know what you think ^^

Chapter 6:

Rein was strapped to a chair, blood seeped from his nose and mouth and his wrists were raw from the ropes that bound him. He couldn't see more than a blur from his left eye, and his right eye was in pain, the tears stung like lemon juice in a fresh cut. If he could have seen his face, he was sure he wouldn't have been able to recognize himself. "I did everything you asked…" He tried to yell, but it came out as hardly a whisper. He was in the painfully white room again, they were trying to break him a second time. "I haven't done anything wrong, I did everything you wanted." He protested, the men around him only smiled, their faces were shadowed despite the abundance of light in the room.

"Not yet you haven't," Richard's voice echoed around him, he was no where to be seen, but his voice rang from every corner of the room. "I told you that you need to think of us like family, but there is hesitation in your heart. You will learn to follow without question or you will die here." Richard said, he sounded angry, Rein knew that if Richard had been standing in front of him, he wouldn't have seen the man, but the monster.

"I don't question my missions, I stole those Pokemon for you, didn't I?" Rein said defensively.

"Not all of them."

"What do you mean? I had to get out of there, I couldn't let the police find me, Jeremiah said so." Rein couldn't believe this was happening, he hadn't done anything wrong, and he knew it. A fist in his stomach told him that Richard didn't believe him.

"You had enough time to take that Charmander." Richard said maliciously, and Rein knew that he had been caught. He hung his head, it was useless trying to defend himself now, "I see that you aren't protesting, good, I've never liked liars."

"I'm sorry, there was a boy there. I couldn't steal it right in front of him. I just couldn't." Rein whimpered.

"That's my point exactly, my boy. You need to be ruthless, you need to care only about Team Rocket. Everything you do is for us." Said the man, his voice wasn't as harsh, but he was still angry. "Now you must redeem yourself."

"What do you want me to do?" Rein asked, looking up. Suddenly Richard was in front of him; smiling.

"Tell me that you hate your sister. Make me believe that she means nothing to you, and that Team Rocket is more important. If you can convince me that you are telling the truth, I will release you from this prison." The man wore a wicked grin, he knew the seriousness of what he just asked Rein to do.

"I… I can't." Rein said, hanging his head once more, "She's the only one who is important to me. I'll do whatever you ask, but I can't hate her. I just can't."

Surprisingly, this news didn't make Richard angry, his smile grew a bit larger. "I see, you really do love her. You could never hate her?" Richard asked, slight mockery could be heard in his voice. Rein shook his head lightly. "Too bad. Alice, could you come in here please?" Richard held out his hand toward the door, which slid open with a sigh. In the doorway stood Alice, her hair was sticking out of a black cap, and she wore a black uniform with a blood red ‘R' on the front.

She stepped forward and smiled at Rein, "Hello, Reiny." She said, it was her voice. There was no mistaking it, Rein knew that this was his sister, not some trick that Richard was playing on him.

"Alice?" He said weakly.

"My dear, would you be so kind?" Richard asked, holding out a metal rod that looked quite heavy. Alice took it and set it lovingly in her hands as she walked to the side, out of Rein's view. "You could never hate your sister? Even knowing that she is a member of Team Rocket?" Richard asked.

"You probably forced her here the same as me." Rein said, tears in his eyes again.

"Not quite."

Richard stepped aside, and there was an Umbreon on the ground in front of him. It was bound with ropes so that it couldn't move, and it looked like it was in pain. Rein wondered briefly what the creature had to do with him, then it looked into his eyes and he saw it. "You recognize your Eevee now?" Alice said as she stepped back into his line of sight, still holding the heavy, metal rod. "Remember when we talked about the Pokemon we wanted, Rein? Your Umbreon is here waiting for you, come and save her. All you must do is admit that Team Rocket is your home, your family. They are all that matter to you."

Rein struggled, attempting to free himself from the ropes. "Lunara," He said, knowing the Pokemon's name without having to think, it was the Eevee that he had talked with Alice about, the Umbreon that he wanted as his own.

"Say it, Rein." Alice commanded.

The ropes cut into Rein's wrists as he struggled, "Team Rocket is the only thing that matters, they are my family, and I live to serve them." He sobbed, tears fell as he stared into Lunara's eyes.

"Good." Alice grinned, then she brought down the rod and Rein heard the sickening crack of his Umbreon's skull.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No!" Rein screamed until he was out of breath. His heart was racing and he was covered in a cold sweat. He panted, trying to stay calm and figure out where he was, "Lunara?" He asked, looking around the room. "Alice?" He stood and flipped on the light switch, he was in his room. His Eevee was safe in its bed, though it looked frightened. His yell must have awoken it, it crawled out of bed and slunk over to him. "A dream," He reassured himself, he walked over and sat at the edge of his bed, picking up the Eevee and holding it close. He felt its heartbeat and it was racing too, it had been worried about him. "No, a nightmare." He corrected himself, clutching the Eevee close to him until his heartbeat slowed and he calmed himself down.

"I'm sorry I woke you," Rein said, the Eevee replied with a soft hum and nuzzled against him. It didn't mind. Rein sighed and looked at the clock, it was six in the morning, the sun was in the process of rising, but it was still dark. Rein chuckled slightly, it wasn't a happy chuckle, it was the chuckle of someone who realized something terrible that would have originally been good news. "Today is my birthday," He said simply to the Eevee, "The day that Alice and I were going to become trainers and start our journey." He looked out of his small window, "Some adventure this turned out to be." He set the Eevee down and lie back in his bed, the Eevee curled up next to him and drifted back to sleep. They wouldn't have to report for their next mission for a few hours, but Rein was too frightened to go back to sleep.

Rein wandered aimlessly through the Rocket building, it was only about a half an hour before he had to report for his mission, and he had finally gotten sick of sitting in his bed too terrified of his dreams to sleep. That hadn't been his first nightmare since arriving at Team Rocket, but it had definitely been the only one to leave him horrified. It still scared him to think of what had occurred in his nightmare, unlike most dreams, it was as if every detail of this particular dream was photographed forever in his mind. As vivid as if he were dreaming it constantly, something held it in his mind, told him that it was true, that everything that had happened in the dream was a reality. It haunted him, and took every ounce of willpower within him to convince himself it was all a dream. But the voice was back, the taunting voice that was his waking nightmare.

"Just give yourself to Team Rocket, everything you are is theirs. Admit it. Accept it. And that future can be avoided." It said.

"Future?" He said aloud, as he walked the corridors of the Rocket building.

"Your nightmare, it may not happen exactly like that, but do you want to take that chance?" The voice oozed malicious intent.

"That won't happen. It was only a dream, dreams can't hurt you." He argued.

"Suit yourself, I wouldn't want that poor Eevee's blood on my hands." It said with a sing-song voice as it faded away to the back of his mind.

Rein let out a long sigh as he leaned against a nearby wall, generally speaking birthdays should have been cause for celebration, and if he had been at home with Alice, it would have been. She would have cooked him something for breakfast, but not before wishing him a happy birthday and giving him a few good swats on the arm. Rein didn't mind, she always made sure not to actually hurt him. They would have eaten their breakfast together, laughing and talking, then they would have packed up all their stuff and left home for good. Just the two of them traveling together, and Rein would have been happy, in fact, nothing could have made him happier. Instead he was trapped in this place. It was a prison, a luxurious and well furnished one, but a prison none-the-less.

Rein decided that it was about time to get his mission from Richard, he was still about ten minutes early, but Richard liked it if he took initiative and showed up before he was supposed to. He walked into Richard's office, which was overly comfortable for a place of business. It had anything that Richard could want; a couch, a bed, a television, his desk had a built in refrigerator and he had a fully equipped kitchen behind his desk as well. The chair behind the desk was a large one, and it may as well have been a recliner. "Ah, Rein. Come in, my boy!" Richard said cheerfully. "How did you sleep?" He asked. There seemed to be something hidden behind his smile, but Rein failed to notice it.

"Fine," Rein responded nonchalantly, trying not to think about the nightmare, "Nothing to report or anything if you were asking." He added.

"No, not at all. I just heard that there was some reports of some aggravated shouting of some sort this morning from your floor, perhaps I was mistaken." The man behind the desk added politely, Rein knew that meant that he heard him screaming, or at least someone did. Rein still refused to talk about it.

"I don't know what to tell you, everything was fine." He said in a way that meant he didn't care to discuss it, he tried to sound as menacing as a newly ten-year-old could.

"Of course, of course," Richard acted as if he cast the thought aside, but his smile was still disquieting, he was pleased about something. "I understand that today is your birthday?" He produced a small sphere from one of the numerous drawers in his desk. Rein recognized it as a PokeBall. Richard tossed it to him with little effort, "For you, my boy." The ball was black with a red ‘R' on the top half, just as everything around here was. It seemed that one couldn't walk down to the Cafeteria without purchasing Team Rocket milk, which of course was just milk in a black package with an R on the side. "Sorry to ruin the surprise, but I don't want you releasing it in my office, it's an Oddish." Richard said simply, Rein was given pause, it was actually a considerate gift, something that Rein didn't have to earn but was just given. It was strange.

"Th-thank you, sir." Rein said, nothing else would come to mind.

"Of course, Rein. Like I've told you before, I take care of my own. Especially on such a big day. And the surprise doesn't stop there. Come." Richard stood and began leading Rein to the elevators.

It was obvious that Richard was pleased about something, when he was pleased with Rein's performance on a mission or with his training, he often took to using phrases like ‘of course' and ‘my boy'. When he was upset he often called Rein useless and inflicted some form of bodily harm as a reminder that he only accepted the absolute best from members of Team Rocket who worked under him.

A gift, however, had never entered the equation before. Rein was caught off guard to say the least, even if the gift was only an Oddish, it was a gift none-the-less. Not to mention that, in all honesty, there was no problem with Oddish, especially after Rein checked the RocketDex information on the grass type and saw what it could become. The acquistition of the PokeMon was bittersweet, however, having come from Richard. Rein didn't know whether or not to simply give the PokeMon back. That would no doubt cause Richard to become angry, which Rein wanted to avoid at all costs, especially after the events in his dream.

Rein entered the elevator, following closely behind Richard. As the door closed, Richard turned to Rein with a grin. "So, how do you like your present?" He asked. Something was very wrong, Richard shouldn't have been acting so kindly toward him, but he was. Something had happened, and Rein had the worst feeling he would soon see firsthand just what it was.

"I can't believe that you gave me a PokeMon." Rein said simply, and rather ungratefully. He was more confused than anything. "Why did you give it to me?"

"Can I not get one of my minions a present on their birthday? It's a big day for you, after all. You've turned ten years old, old enough to join the PokeMon League, in fact." He nodded sagely to himself.

"Not that you'll let me, I'm guessing." Rein added smugly, Richard frowned a bit.

"You guess right, I'm not giving you up that easily." The doors opened with a chime and Richard stepped out, "I think you'll be more grateful after you see the next part of your present." He turned left out of the elevator, down a long hallway. At the end of the hallway was a room used primarily for battling, it was usually where Team Rocket did their training, but every so often it was opened to the public when Team Rocket held a fixed tournament of some kind. Richard opened the door proudly and allowed Rein to step in ahead of him.

Rein wasn't prepared for what was on the other side, although having been their third encounter together, the shock was gone almost instantly, and it was replaced with aggravation. Standing before him was the boy he had battled that day, the boy who had made him feel worthless. The boy who had kept him from being able to protect Alice. All the feelings that Rein had been keeping bottled up for the past weeks began to boil to the top, all of his misfortune could be traced back to this boy and while it was unfair to blame all his problems on this boy, Rein couldn't care less about what was fair. His life had not been fair lately, so it was a safe assumption that life was not meant to be fair in the slightest. It was as good a reason as any to justify his current hatred for the boy standing before him. He looked frightened, and Rein found himself enjoying the thought.

"It's you." The boy said when he saw Rein enter the room, "You're one of them? They kidnapped me, they brought me here. I-I'm scared. Tell them to let me go." The boy shivered from fear. Rein knew how he felt, frightened and lost, but it only added to his enjoyment.

"Why should I?" Rein said slowly, eying the young man, "What's in it for me?"

"I'll give you anything, anything at all." The boy said desperately, it was a promise he couldn't keep, but in near hysterics he would have said anything.

"What makes you think I can set you free? I'm just a worthless child after all." Rein said spitefully.

"I'm sorry…" The boy said, Rein only now noticed the bruises on his face, and the men standing in the shadows on either side of him. He had been taken forcefully, and he had tried to fight.

"Anything I want?" Rein asked, the boy nodded, "I want my sister back, can you give me that?!" Rein demanded.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about." The boy stated. Richard entered the room and stood beside Rein.

"Rein, this is my gift to you. You are responsible for this boy, you can decide his fate." Richard said with an evil grin. All part of the plan, it was like playing a game of chess, a few more moves and it'd be checkmate.

"He'll battle then." Rein said quickly, Richard looked at him, confused at first and then he nodded, a smile on his face again. The boy looked at Rein like he was crazy. "If you win you are free to go, if I win you will stay here and become a member of Team Rocket." Rein said, he wanted to put this boy through everything that he had been through, starting with his defeat in battle. "Now choose your PokeMon and fight." He demanded.

"That's it, just a battle?" The boy asked, the confident air that he had when he first defeated Rein was gone, now he was only frightened and lost. "All of this just to battle me?" He couldn't believe what was happening, Rein took pleasure in the look on the boy's face, he felt as alone as Rein felt. Maybe Richard wasn't such a bad guy after all. Team Rocket had given him a fine present; a chance at revenge.

"That's all, nothing to it, right? You've already beaten me once." Rein smiled a wicked smile that made the boy even more terrified. There seemed to be something malicious hiding behind Rein's face, whether he had wanted the boy to see it or not didn't matter; the boy saw the intent.

"I don't believe you," The boy said, Rein frowned.

"If that's how you feel," He began, "I could always just tell them to brutally torture you, I've endured it, I know the pain that you would be facing." Rein didn't know when it had happened, but he had changed. Everything had changed, and it all started with that dream. The fear left him, all that remained was to incite that fear into others, to make them face the difficulties that he had faced. He remembered the words that the voice in his mind spoke, and he knew that they were true. The sooner he admitted that Team Rocket was his home, the sooner he could prevent the events of his dream from ever becoming reality.

"I understand." The boy said, defeated. There was no sense in trying to argue, even if Rein had been lying, there would be no avoiding the battle. "I'll use my Onix." The boy said, a PokeBall was handed to him from one of the men standing behind him. The boy tossed the ball up into the air and a red light flooded his side of the battle arena, the light quickly took the form of the rock snake PokeMon.

"Good, I'll take out your Onix as easily as Alice did." Rein said, he was no longer unsure of himself, he was confident, he was angry, and he was fighting for revenge. "Too bad I won't get the chance to take on that stupid Pidgeotto again." He added with a sarcastic sigh. He pulled out the only PokeBall he had on his person. He had let the Eevee stay in his room, it deserved some rest, and Rein had been frightened to bring his PokeMon with him. It didn't matter; Rein would have used the Oddish in this situation anyway.

Rein tossed the ball up into the air, and out of the red light that flooded from the PokeBall took the form of a small purplish-blue creature with blades of grass sticking out of the top of its head. It had no arms, and stubby feet. Its eyes were not much more than small dots, and it was miniscule in comparison to the massive rock creature on the other side of the field. The Oddish didn't even stop to look at its new master; it simply stood ready to fight. It wasn't fazed by the size of its opponent, it had been in Team Rocket its whole life, it had been pushed to its breaking point, it was no longer afraid. Rein admired it already.

"Onix, hit it with a Rock Throw!" The boy called, not wanting to spend any more time in this place than necessary. The Onix obeyed immediately, smashing its tail heavily on the ground directly in front of it, the ground cracked and shattered into varying sizes. The creature grabbed the largest rock, coiling it up in its tail and hurling it toward the Oddish.

"Dodge it, Oddish, and counter with Sweet Scent." Rein commanded, the small grass type moved quickly, the rock was easily avoided as it was thrown at a small target. As soon as the rock missed its mark, the Oddish went into action, the blades of grass on its head began to rub against one another and a small pollen cloud quickly formed; a sweet aroma filled the air. "I don't know if that big rock of yours has a nose, but we'll see soon enough." Rein said.

It seemed to be affecting the rock type, the Onix shook its head, slightly dazed by the scent filling the air. "Onix snap out of it!" The boy called, but the Onix still swayed slightly, moving rather sluggishly.

"Now, Oddish, hit it with a Seed Bomb." Rein said with a smile. The Oddish obeyed, once again the blades of grass on its head began to move. Oddish jumped up and spit a seed from its mouth, it cut through the air toward the Onix, who was still slowed by the aroma in the air. The seed hit the rock snake between the eyes, sending it reeling back in pain. As its head hit the ground, there was a loud rumble. The boy looked worried; the Oddish had landed a good hit. With the stakes riding on the battle the boy was not thinking clearly, he was frightened of his fate. Rein smirked, the boy's confusion would make this battle go much more quickly.

"Onix, get it! Hit it with Slam!" The Onix shook out its head, it was a bit dazed from the hit, but it was moving again. It slunk forward, moving quickly along the ground toward the small grass type. Its head became a battering ram, ready to slam into the Oddish at full speed.

"Razor Leaf!" The Oddish began shuffling the grass atop its head, the blades of grass shot out in small fragments of leaves began to swirl through the air toward the oncoming Onix, the torrent of razor sharp leaves created a wall of blades that the Onix had to move through, and as it did so it grumbled out in pain. Deep gashes carved into its hide. It veered off course and crashed into a wall behind the Oddish. It exhaled as it began to lose consciousness, "Not over already, is it?" Rein asked the boy.

"N-not yet." The boy answered, "Get up, Onix. Rock Tomb!" The boy demanded, he was becoming desperate.

"Don't give it the chance, Oddish, Giga Drain!" Rein shouted. Roots grew quickly into the ground from the feet of the Oddish. The roots spread quickly into the floor of the arena, cracking the ground as they moved toward the Onix. The roots came up from beneath the Onix, they wrapped themselves around the rock snakes body and began draining the energy from the Onix, flowing it straight into Oddish's own body. The Onix let out a sigh as it fought to remain conscious, to no avail. "That was disappointing." Rein sighed, "What happened to your skill?" Rein asked sarcastically.

"I… I lost," The boy's head hung, "I guess that's it, then?" The boy chuckled disappointedly, returning his Onix.

"That's it," Rein scoffed, "You're a part of Team Rocket now, after a bitingly disappointing battle." The boy stepped forward, holding out his hand for Rein to take in a handshake. Rein looked the boy in the eyes, slowly extending his hand. When the boy went to take Rein's hand, he quickly moved and delivered a hard punch to the boy's jaw, then another into his stomach, and a final uppercut that sent the boy onto his back. He followed up with a hard kick to the boy's ribs, similar to the one he received after he lost to the boy, only much harder. "I'm adding another part to the deal. You will be a member of Team Rocket for as long as you can't win a battle against me. If you ever beat me, you will be released. But whenever you lose, you will be locked away for three days."

"Only three days?" Richard asked from behind Rein, finally speaking for the first time, "I propose that a loss be worth at least a week. Team Rocket can't afford to have weaklings after all."

"Fair enough," Rein replied, with a smile, "Now get up, you start your training at dawn." Rein said to the boy.

"What about my parents?" The boy asked, "Will they ever know where I am?" He grunted.

"You're a trainer aren't you? As far as they're concerned, you're traveling the world. Now get up." Rein said, and then Richard stepped forward.

"We'll see that he makes it to his room, I'm proud of you, my boy." Richard smiled as men stepped out from the shadows and grabbed the boy, hoisting him to his feet and pushing him out the door.

Rein followed them out, returning to his room; content with himself and the eventful birthday that he had. He wore a real smile for the first time since arriving in Team Rocket, things seemed so much simpler now that he'd accepted his fate.

Richard began to walk away, when Jeremiah emerged from out of the shadows and stopped him. "It isn't right what you're doing to that boy." He said, shaking his head.

"I don't think that you are in any position to question me, I have the authority to do what I wish. Rein will become one of us, and when he does, he will be ruthless and powerful. He's well on our way already."

"He has his whole life ahead of him, and you're stealing it away."

"Watch what you say, Jeremiah, you aren't above punishment."

"Do what you must, but you know that it's wrong, even by our standards. Manipulating him into becoming a monster is wrong, even the boss would agree."

"Then you obviously know nothing about Giovanni, he would have done it himself if he were here. Now, get out of my way, Jeremiah." Jeremiah obliged, stepping out of Richard's way. Most men would have been frightened to stand up to Richard, Jeremiah was not, Jeremiah had morals, even if they were frowned upon within Team Rocket.

"Good day, sir." Jeremiah said as he walked out of Richard's way.

"And to you, now I'm going to talk to the girl. I have another job for her, something that will undoubtedly make Rein feel like he made the right choice. I knew that the nightmare would work, didn't I? He's so close to breaking I can taste it." Richard looked like a Arbok readying to strike, he really did enjoy when his plans worked out. And this one was working out beautifully.

(EDIT) Thank you for pointing that out Tatile, I edited it so that it wasn't in the same sentence three times. That'll teach me to write at one in the morning, apparently I give up on synonyms xP

 

[Tatile]

Richard seems to have ascended to a level of cruelty only humans can achieve (Crowley knows what I'm talking about). I was wondering how it all could have gone so drastically wrong, but the revelation that this first bit was only a dream sequence was... well actually, less than reassuring, particularly for dear Rein.

On the fight scene, you seem to have used 'ground' an awful lot, three times in one sentance. Dirt not good enough for you?

 

[Weeds]

I also reacted on the ground thing, but that was equalled out by the intensity of this chapter.

I mean, holy crap! The end of Rein's dream gave me an adrenaline kick. That was absolutely terrifying. I was almost as relieved as Rein was when he found out it was only a nightmare.

And Rein's going evil. Perfect.