She stopped, breathless, ears strained against the night and soaked through to the skin. In the distance, footsteps hit the pavement with wet slaps and voices shouted indistinctively, echoing in the alleyway. They were looking for her, she knew, and she forced her feet to run again, ignoring the sharp pain that shot through her lungs with every labored breath.

She ran almost blind. The night limited her view with a new moon and the raging storm above sent slicing rain down into the alley as lighting branched against the sky. Without the aid of the flashlights carried by her pursuers, nor the gifted sight of their faithful companions, it was only mere luck that stopped her from running into anything. Including the wall that awaited her at the end of the narrow alley.

Again, she paused, panting heavily as her eyes darted along the wall desperately, finding no plausible means of overcoming this obstacle. All at once she felt the hope leave her as the voices shouted again, no more than a few yards behind her followed by the unmistakable sound of a dog's baying. Was this really it? Had she really escaped for it to have been all for nothing? Were those three days of almost freedom all she was ever going to know?

Inwardly, she shook her head refusing to let such thoughts overcome her, especially now that she was so close to her goal. Still, she wondered if she could adjust to this world, the world outside of what she had known her whole life, outside of what made her feel safe. Could someone like her really make it out here? Could she ever really outrun the ones who had created her, brought her to life then gotten betrayed by their own creation?

Unfortunately the time to find out was now, just as her pursuers rounded the corner to the dead-end. She was trapped and outnumbered.

"Now, now. Don't you think this little game of cat and mouse has gone on long enough?" The first of the group stepped forward while running a hand down his restless partner's head, growling at his heels.

Said mouse offered no reply. It had become a common ritual that developed between the two upon their first encounter. He would forever be the man that haunted her dreams and distorted her reality, the reason she would now forever sleep with one eye open and yet the reason she existed.

"Silent as ever." He shook his head though a hard grin had appeared. "Then again, you were always meant to be seen and not necessarily heard. To think you somehow managed to break free from my lab and make it out into the city still amazes me. You're just like-"

"Your other failed creation." The female interjected with tones dripping acid and the man just shook his head, amused.

"Failed? No. Simply...Untamed, something that I plan to fix in due time mind you." The man's dark eyes met her own unusual amber ones through the rain as he took a daring step forward. "You and it were built alongside each other and yet somehow you remained a secret from me until just a few months ago. And what a discovery you are..."

He took another step forward and the female tensed, feeling the cold of the wall behind her set her on edge and her eyes looked over the Grunts standing readily behind him along with the dozen and a half pokémon at their heels. In the narrow space, escape was impossible and she forced to eyes to level with the man before her, realizing he had won.

"I won't lose you again, Amber. I simply won't." Seeing the look of pure disgust on the female's face, the man smirked ever so slightly. "You don't like that name?"

The female's gaze hardened. "You know I don't." She shot then looked away and quietly muttered. "..."I'm not her..."

"But you were created in her image, were you not?" It was question he already knew the answer to. "You were made to replace a lost daughter whose resurrected conscience had been lost but whose image was forever plastered to her grieving father's shattered mind. A man who had magnificent knowledge in science, particularly cloning. You look as he imagined his own daughter later in life."

"I'm not her..." The female placed her hands over her ears, shaking her head profusively. "I'm not...I won't..."

"It's true." The man continued. "You were never able to measure up to the original because you were something far more unique. Far more powerful." At this word the man's voice filled with ecstasy as a gleam crept into his eyes. "You are the first and only perfect hybrid of the creatures that inhabit our world and us."

The female looked up viciously, eyes flaring. What he said tweaked something inside her and she clenched a fist at her side, causing the Grunts to tense and their pokémon to shift. She ignored them.

"What do you want from me, Giovanni?" she asked, her voice deadly quiet.

Giovanni's smile hardened until it glistened like diamond. "You are the epitome of what Team Rocket stands for. A revolution. A change in the world we have come to know and a shift in powers. You were after all created with the duel purpose of change."

Lightning flashed, highlighting the encounter and the features of those involved. One Grunt flinched and looked up as a loud rumble ran down the sky then, all at once, panic hit his face.

"Boss?" His voice wavered drastically and he tried again. "Boss!"

Obviously uninterested, Giovanni turned around and followed the Grunt's gaze upwards to the top of the closest wall, then promptly froze. As if under a spell, everyone glanced up simultaneously as lightning branched the sky.

Giovanni faltered and took a step back. "It can't be..."