Breaking the Chains

(Pokémon)

Chapter 2: Breaking Free of Misery

I woke up sometime later to the sound of rustling keys and the screech of the opening door. It wasn't Dr. Anderson this time in the doorway. Instead, it was that blue haired man I saw yesterday. I looked out the window to estimate the time.

"Dawn hasn't even broken yet." I noted.

"Get up, Test Subject L-251…"

"Yeah, yeah I heard." was my response. Probably shouldn't have said that, but I am VERY grumpy when waken up earlier than my normal 7:00 time.

"NEVER INTERRUPT ME WHEN I AM TALKING!" he shouted. He took out his cat of nine tails whip and started swinging at me.

I felt the stings of his whip multiple times. 1,2,3,4,5…But he didn't stop there. 6,7,8,9,10… It kept coming and he showed no signs of stopping soon. I lost count of the number of whiplashes somewhere after 25…

Finally, after what seemed like infinite lashes, he finally stopped. I looked at my wounds.

"S..S..So much blood…" I barely whispered. I had no power left to heal the wounds.

"Oh, and by the way, I thought you'd like to know that the reason why I came early in because we finally found a way to extract your aura. The aura transfer machine is ready now, so if you'll just come along with me. But first…" Cyrus smiled, sadistically.

I didn't like that look in his eye. Behind his back, I could see the point of a needle. He had a syringe, but I had no time to react as he was quick and injected a pink liquid into my skin.

"Wha…What was that…?" I asked, beginning to feel extremely tired.

"Sedative. It'll make it easier for me to get you to the lab. But we'll wake you up for the extraction and finally awaken Project Alpha…"

"W..Whyyyy?" I uttered before I slipped into unconsciousness.

I awoke to find myself strapped to a stainless steel table…again. But this isn't the same one as the one in the… Why does my head hurt so much?

I wanted to clutch my head to stop the pain, but my hands were restrained, as well as the other movable parts of my body.

"Finally, you woke up." Cyrus sighed. "I had to hit you over the head 10 times to wake you up, you believe that? Guess I used too strong of a sedative. Ah well."

"Why didn't you just leave me unconscious?" I wondered.

"Because the aura extraction will only work if you are awake. Otherwise, our Ultimate Pokémon will have your aura, but will be unable to use it." he explained.

I noticed three large blue wires connected to a hemispherical suction cup that Dr. Anderson placed over my heart, which also held my aura center; something I figured out yesterday. It didn't hurt; it just felt kinda…funny.

The other ends of the wires were connected to a large machine that was, in turn, connected to a being inside a large glass capsule filled with liquid. The being was floating in the liquid and was very tall; about 7 feet.

"I believe you know what those wires are for, right?" smiled the sadistic Cyrus.

I stared him straight into his eyes, not afraid of his ice-cold gaze.

"You should know that I am not afraid to die." I told him. Actually, I wasn't scared of death, but I just really hoped it wouldn't an excruciatingly long and painful one.

"Don't worry; you'll really be helping us." he laughed. "Pull the switch." ordered Cyrus.

A scientist near a large power switch (who appeared to be young and perhaps inexperienced) nodded and did as he asked.

I expected to feel unimaginable pain coursing through my body, but…nothing. I didn't feel anything at all, with the exception of that major headache Cyrus gave me.

Several seconds of silence passed before I decided to ask, "Am I suppose to feel anything?"

Cyrus groaned. "Why is the machine not working?" he demanded of the nervous scientist.

"I-I-I d-don't know, s-s-sir. The stabilizers are i-i-in working c-condition. The g-g-gyroscopes are…"

"Did you forget to plug it in?" he asked, sarcastically.

The scientist gasped. "That might work!" He ran off to check, carelessly leaving the switch in the 'ON' position.

Cyrus slapped his head, saying 'Dear God, I'm surrounded by idiots…", and I chuckled despite the fact I'll be dying soon.

"YOU WILL BE QUIET!" he commanded.

I did as he said and shut the heck up.

"I found the problem!" shouted the young scientist.

Cyrus, Dr. Anderson, and three other people: a red short-haired woman, a purple-haired woman who had a small stub for a ponytail, and a spiky blue-haired man who; unlike Cyrus, had only two points of his hair sticking up, approached the young scientist who was behind the large machine.

"Well, what is it?" demanded the red short-haired woman.

"It really WAS unplugged!"

Everybody sweatdropped, including me, at the young scientist's stupidity.

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, THE NEXT ICE AGE? PLUG IT IN, ALREADY?" roared Cyrus.

"Y-Y-Y-Yes, M-M-Master C-C-Cyrus…" trembled the frightened scientist.

He plugged it in and I waited for the machine to start, but instead something completely unexpected happened...the machine… the machine that was to take my life…blew up. Smoke began to fill the room and flames engulfed the large machine. The fire alarm began to sound.

"*cough* *cough* Master Cyrus, what is happening?" asked the nervous scientist from before.

"YOUR STUPID MACHINE BLEW UP, DR. CARTER! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!" screamed Cyrus at the top of his lungs.

"Oh…"

"We can't let Project Alpha be harmed! We need to extinguish the fire ASAP! Mars, get the fire extinguisher!" ordered Cyrus.

I couldn't see the woman named Mars leave, as the smoke became extremely thick. However, after a few seconds, I heard a button 'click' and my restraints were released. How? How is this possible? Why would they release me? Maybe it was an accident… That didn't matter as I could use the smoke to make my way out. I took the suction cup off of my heart. Very fortunately, the other people were too concerned about the fire to notice me sneaking out.

I looked around and found a hidden exit behind a desk that was probably used in case of emergencies. (Like now, except they don't want their 'Ultimate Pokémon' to succumb to the fire.)

I crawled through the small space and attempted to find a way out. Unfortunately for me, the air vent network was very long and complex. I eventually came to a three-way fork.

"Darn." I muttered to myself. "Now which way do I go?"

I heard voices coming from behind me; those were probably the people in the main lab. I also heard them to my front and right, so I decided to go left; I had a much better chance of escaping if I went away from the voices.

After several more minutes of crawling, I came to a two-way fork this time and I felt a warm breeze coming through to my right. I figured that the breeze came from outside the base and going to my right would lead me there.

Fortunately, I was right. The path led me to a grate with light shining through on the other side. Sunlight. Something I had not seen in many years. It was easy for me to remove the grate and crawl out.

I knelt down on the soft green grass. I haven't felt it in an eternity. It was so soft compared to the stone-cold cell floor and the steel lab tables. But I had no time to relax. I needed to get out of here, pronto.

I looked down at my foot. The metal anklet…how could I be so stupid? Of course, this escape was futile from the start. Why, you ask? Because not only did the metal anklet serve as an electric shocker, but it also worked as a tracking device. It could only be taken off with a special keycard. If I ran, Team Galactic would surely find me anyway. It's hopeless…I'm gonna die.

I reached my hand into my side pouch to pull out the picture of my parents to look at it one last time. But to my surprise, I felt something else in there besides the picture. It was rectangular and flat. I quickly withdrew the other item from my pocket.

"A Team Galactic keycard?"

I flipped the card and saw the back. In a gold cursive font, it read:

'An answer to your prayers.'

"How'd this end up my pocket? I surely didn't put it in there… And who wrote this?"

I decided not to waste time pondering the subject. I inserted the keycard into the metal device and it snapped off. Then I ran.

I ran away from this prison.

Away from this nightmare.

And towards…

Towards freedom.

Lucario © 2005 Nintendo/Game Freak

Cyrus © 2006 Nintendo/Game Freak

Commander Mars © 2006 Nintendo/Game Freak

Story and all other characters (in this chapter) belong to me.