Turokmaster: Why thank you! I'm trying to write as fast as I can before the idea slips away XD

Kassehface: I love cliffhangers :P Ans suspense :p :P

Pachysam: I LOVE the movies/ TV specials when they're together cause it always ends up EPIC. That's probally why I like the manga so much cause Mewtwo only trsted Ash (Or "Red") XD

TG101: Didn';t it though? o.o It creeped me out just writing it but I was trying my best to keep him in character :D Granted it's been a while since I've seen/ heard him

Shadowonground: I have a knack for awkward beginnings XD

Tenten628: All becomes clear in this chappie! And the next XD And possibly the next .-.

Forsaken Avenger: What? OHAH Not enough for you? :P MEWTWO PAWNS ALL. Quite literally XD This chappie is a tad longer! :D

Ashton Nauran: Thanks ;)

Blue-Red-Ninja: You're name is very color afflicted XD I have a habit of slow starts and gradually giving more info :)

Amber jerked awake, utterly panicked for reasons she couldn't fathom, soaked in a cold sweat and panting. Almost immediately, a sharp pain shot through her skull, sending fire to her brain and she closed her eyes in a wince.

"Pi?"

Her eyes shot open to come face-to-face with a curious-eyed pikachu and she jumped despite herself, sitting upright -big mistake- as her hand shot to her head. Looking around in the manner of a trapped animal, she realized she was no longer in the alleyway, in fact no longer outside and in a bed. Glancing back at the yellow mouse perched on her lap she allowed herself to calm slightly when it smiled up at her.

"Pika pi!" It suddenly bolted from her lap and landed squarely on the floor before racing out of the tan-white room and through the door on the opposite side. A few minutes later it returned at the heels of a woman and younger male, neither of whom she recognized.

The woman, pink-haired and dressed in a standard nurse outfit, made her way to the bedside. "Good morning," she greeted, giving Amber a warm smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Where am I?" Amber asked warily, meeting eyes with the young teenager. He grinned back at her as the pikachu ran up his leg and hung over his shoulder, obviously content with its new perch.

"Celadon City," he replied before the nurse did. "You're at the local Pokémon Center." Seeing the female blink his expression changed to a mix of confusion and concern. "Don't you remember?"

Amber opened her mouth, then closed it. As hard as she tried, she realized she didn't remember anything past last night, and even that was blurred. She had been running from Team Rocket's leader then there had been something on the buildings above, that she was sure of, but what had happened after that?

Taking the silence as a sign she didn't, the teen exchanged looks with the nurse who smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. You found her in the niche of time, she isn't hurt too badly and memory loss is quite common with head injuries. It's nothing that time won't cure." The nurse looked over Amber briefly before announcing she was indeed fine and left the room to check on further business.

"Thank you..." Amber said after a short, awkward silence causing the teen to look at her, puzzled. "You found me, correct? Who knows what could have happened to me if you hadn't come along..."

The teen cracked a smile. 'Awe, it was nothing, we couldn't have just left you there after all," he paused for a moment. "I'm Ash by the way. And this is Pikachu." He gestured to his companion.

The female hesitated. "I'm...Amber," she managed somehow, unable to think of a name she favoured more in such a short time. "It's nice to meet you."

"Pika!" Ash's partner raced off his shoulders and hopped onto Amber's lap again, looking up at the female with its big, dark eyes expectantly.

Getting the hint, Amber smiled slightly. "It's nice to meet to meet you too." Satisfied, the pokémon beamed then turned back to Ash while spewing what sounded like a question and even cocking its head during.

"It sounds like Pikachu wants you to come spend the day with us," Ash stated (this was confirmed by a nod from his partner), then quickly added. "Once you're all better, that is."

"I wouldn't want to bother you," Amber said earnestly, though she was sourly tempted to take the offer. He seemed kind enough, and there was no doubt he had a strong bond with his pokémon, but she couldn't, not with Giovanni lurking somewhere. Moreover, she had another mystery to solve. What had that thing on the roof been? And why did it seem so familiar? Rack her brain as she might, she couldn't put her finger on it and it was maddening.

Obviously disappointed with her answer Ash insisted she tag along, explaining how he couldn't leave a person he just rescued in a city they knew nothing about. Amber was just about to assure him she would manage somehow when a scream erupted in the air causing the pair to turn to the door.

Sensing it far more than she saw or heard it, Amber managed to raise her arms to shield her face as the lone window in the room seemingly exploded, sending glass shooting into the room. Luckily, neither Ash nor his partner were close enough to obtain injury and were at her side in an instant, relief came in a sigh as Ash saw she was uninjured.

"What was that?" The teen voiced Amber's thoughts aloud as he cautiously made his way to the window's edge and leaned out just far enough to see the ground below and paled slightly.

Before Amber could figure out just what he had seen the door burst open, hitting the wall with enough force that a wide crack would later be found on the opposite wall, revealing several people that made her stomach flip-flop.

"Target located." One of them, noticeably female, stated into a radio (Amber already had a good - and none-too-surprisingly accurate - guess as to who was on the other side). "Shall we proceed to capture?"

"Who are you and what do you want?" After he said it, Ash realized it couldn't have been a dumber question. He had after all, since the start of his journey as an official trainer, encountered this group more than anyone else in the world to the point were he could almost predict when and where they would show up next. Granted, it was usually a trio he faced but nonetheless they were all a part of Team Rocket. Still, that didn't explain why they were here now.

The air sparked as the teen's partner growled, electricity glowing from its cheeks, ready for battle. Amber let it pass through her mind that her newfound friends might actually be able to defeat the group before them, but for what purpose? She knew better than to think they wouldn't return ten times more powerful next time, not with Giovanni pulling their strings.

A voice, badly cracked by static but still obviously carrying more authority than anyone else in the room, affirmed the female's request and it only took a second for the female to fix Amber with a sneer, one of someone who clearly enjoys their line of work.

"I suppose I don't need to tell you what's about to happen do I, Amber?" She asked, coating each word with as much bliss as she dared. Unlike the simpletons who accompanied her she was fully aware of what they were up against and what someone like her could do without so much as breaking a sweat.

Ash turned a shocked, more puzzled, look to Amber, who had finally arisen from the bed. "Wait, you know these guys?"

Seeming to ignore the question from Ash, Amber glowered at the unnamed female. "You're here to take me back, right? If he sent you he must be getting a bit frantic, and desperate."

"Seems that way," the female replied casually. "He could hardly stand losing his first experiment, much less someone as, uh, unique as you." She turned to Ash, who had been following the conversation with a rather large amount of confusion. "Tell me Amber, does your little rescuer realize what you are? Then again, I've come to doubt he's that smart considering he still doesn't recognize me."

It wasn't the full truth. From the moment she spoke there had been a sense of familiarity about her that Ash couldn't put his finger on. He did feel like he had met her before, but a long time ago.

Having taken the silence as a sign she was right, the female smirked and withdrew a black flower with a long stem. "I guess I'll just have to refresh your memory then, won't I?" With a subtle flick of her wrist she sent the flower flying into the opposite wall in what should have been an impossible feat but, sure enough, the stem stuck a good inch into the solid wall before erupting with an explosion that shook the room.

Through the bits of plaster and resulting thick clouds of white powder, the female's voice rang up from all around. "I'm called Agent 009." It announced. "But my preferred name is The Black Tulip, one of the most trusted of Giovanni's agents."

There was a short silence during which thought had overcome the young trainer's face until at last it clicked and he found out he might have been better off not knowing.

"Domino?" Ash asked, not entirely believing it. The last time he had seen her hadn't been an experience he wanted to repeat and wouldn't be easily forgotten for anyone involved. Ash blinked, recalling the event and frowned. The truth of the matter was that Domino shouldn't remember it, or him for that matter. Certain measures had assured him of that.

Someone grabbed Ash, snapping him out of his thoughts, and the trainer turned a relived sigh to Amber. The panic in her namesake eyes already informed him what she wanted and he nodded, gesturing to his partner to follow as they hurried to the door, now abandoned by the group searching for them in the clouds of plaster. By pure miracle, they were to confront no on as they hurried down the stairs, nearly tripping over them in their haste. Once on ground level, they saw the situation was no better than the one they left upstairs. Nearly every square inch of the room was filled with grunts, terrified trainers and their pokémon all scrambling about in a mixture of confusion and panic.

"What's going on?" For the first time Ash wondered this aloud. From his multiple dealings with Team Rocket, the good and the bad, he knew they were low-down and dirty, often stealing pokémon for their own selfish reasons, but never like this. It was common to run into a grunt or two with a similar goal but never a mob like this unless they wanted something...bad.

Ash shot a quick glance at Amber. While he had never been big on asking people questions unless they wanted to, he knew what was happening here had to have something to do with her. Why had she been in that alleyway, drenched and injured? How did Domino know who she was and why was Team Rocket after her? All at once questions began to flood the trainer's mind.

Exactly whom had he saved?

"This is all my fault..." As if she had read Ash's mind, Amber spoke softly and turned remorseful eyes to him. "It's...It's because I'm not who you think I am..."

Ash struggled to keep his facade and grinned half-heartedly. "Don't' worry about it, we'll find a way out of this I promise."

Seemingly unmoved, Amber closed her eyes and turned away. "I'll never find a way out," she said so softly Ash couldn't make out clear words and moved closer to the female. Before he could ask her to repeat what she said, a sudden chill ran down his spine, shocking him to silence.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu ran to the trainer's heels, pulling at his pant leg and pointing ahead. Ash looked and felt his heart skip a beat. He had almost forgotten about the grunts that surrounded him, now focused directly on them. What more, he could hear rapid footsteps heading their way from behind. They were cornered.

"Amber." The trainer tried to snap the female out of her thoughts, an attempt all in vain, and turned back to the female desperately. "Amber, we need to-"

Ash cut off abruptly as his blood ran cold. A light, no, an aura had appeared around Amber. An outline of whitish-green whose cold Ash could feel all around him and, based on the sudden stillness of the room, everyone else did too. From the base of the stairs, Domino gasped.

"I-it's really true..." she breathed. "He really did it..."

"What are you talking about?" Ash demanded, trying to keep his voice steady. "What's wrong with Amber?"

Domino laughed, a sound full of pure delight yet Ash sensed a sliver of fear as well. "Wrong? Nothing's wrong with her it's just who she is, you little idiot. What she is." Seeing clear confusion overcome Ash, Domino's smile hardened to a glistening diamond. "Why do you think our leader convents her so badly?" No response. "She's unique. A miracle of what science, money and greed can really do as a team. An extraordinary experiment who doesn't know her place. Neither a human nor a pokémon, but a hybrid."

Ash blinked. "A...Hybrid...?" His voice sounded small even in his own ears, his mind looping Domino's claim. Impossible. That was surely the only word to describe this, right? It was a lie, had to be a lie. He had traveled the world and several regions, seen everything and done half of that. He saw marvels, things people never got to seen in their lifetime and still, he couldn't believe this.

Sensing the trainer's disbelief, Amber spoke up softly. "It's true. I wasn't born as much as I was created for a purpose I refuse to fill, one I managed to escape from but almost had to go back to last night."

"But don't worry, she'll be returning home shortly." Domino smirked as she withdrew another tulip and sweetened her voice. "Giovanni's missed his pet."

Amber set cold eyes on her as the aura flared and whipping around her wildly. Domino hesitated before flicking the tulip through the air with amazing accuracy towards Amber. It never made it to its target, however as the aura surrounding the female acted as if it were a shield. Halting the flower in its path, the aura didn't so much as falter when it exploded. When the smoke cleared, Amber still stood within the aura, but noticeably inches off the ground her eyes glowing a color matching the energy around her.

"Amber..." Ash's mind raced as he stared at the scene before him. A strong wave of emotions washed through the teen. Fear that he would soon be a part of something he'd regret, anger at Giovanni for making another creature so angry at others. She's just like-

As to what happened next, Ash never really knew. What he was sure of was that a light, blindingly white, had engulfed the room in a mere matter of seconds, expanding from Amber's position. It had been deadly silent and he had just been about to ask what was going on before realizing the air had left as quickly as the light had come. The world started to go white and, try as he did, he couldn't gather a breath and he felt dizziness loom over him. After what felt like years, the light faded and his world went black.

And so, after many months, I finally post chapter 2. Man, I'm a bum with so many ideas and so little motivation XD Please read, then review. Or the otherway around, don't matter to me ;)