4: The Pain of the Afflicted

4: The Pain of the Afflicted

Disclaimer: Pokemon is copyrighted to Nintendo, not me.

Warning!!: This chapter contains some strong scenes that may be inappropriate for younger readers. Viewer discretion is adviced.

A/N: I bet none of you saw THAT coming! Can I do a plot twist or what? Continue on to read the concluding chapter!

Chris awoke with a start. She rushed through her morning routine and arrived at the lab as soon as she could, where she instantly went out to the pasture.

Flare was sitting up on a hill forty yards away. The sight of her brought Chris out of a jog she didn't realize she was in. She went the rest of the way walking slowly, the two locked in eye contact.

When she finally reached the top, she fell to her knees. "God, I am so sorry, Flare."

The small creature looked up with a sort of "about time" look. But beneath that was a look hope.

And even below that, Chris new there was sadness and loneliness. She hugged the canine tightly. "I'm going to get you out of here. I can't do it now or today, but I WILL get you out."

A sound approaching forced the two apart. Chris went back to her duties, not getting a chance to return to the field at all that day.

When Flare awoke, she was in a far corner of the field, lying under a group of trees. Alone. Her thoughts returned to her brother, who was also alone somewhere. He was probably in a worse situation than she was.

And Mother is probably terrified right now.

A man came from around the trees and placed a hand on her side. Flare yelped and tried to get away, but he held her tight. "Shhh. Calm down. Nothing's going to happen to you." She struck out, but he caught her paw mid-swing. He started to carry her off towards the main building.

Terror struck Chris's heart. This would be her second day here, the same day as…

Flare struck out again, this time even more fiercely fueled by fear, but he once again stopped her. She resided herself to simply going along. There was not going to be a way out of this now. She was too far in.

They entered the lab and she was set down on the table. Soon after, Chris, her human side, came in and injected the sedative into her arm. Everything in her body went numb.

The Professor came in and gave out the instructions, Chris going right along. First was the blood sample. No problems. But she knew that a muscle sample would be next. She looked pleadingly up at herself. The human Chris simply looked down. "Don't worry. This won't hurt at all." She sighed and looked straight ahead.

Chris was right; it didn't hurt at all. But she could still feel every action they made, from cutting the small incision to taking out the tight fibers of her leg muscle.

Next was the stomach sample. Even from the other side, she had hated this procedure. But now she was forced to endure it. A long, thin plastic tube was inserted into her mouth and fed down her throat. She forced herself to breathe through the nose and not gag, but that couldn't stop the feeling of violation. Her entire being was being stripped.

She looked up, seeing the human draw the tube back out. How many other Pokemon had been forced to undergo this? How many had had their entire life, their entire SPECIES, torn apart in the name of science? Surely there were better ways?

Flare lay motionless as they performed the final set of tests, the most horrific when they cut an incision into her side and "took a peak inside." She felt her organs move as they probed her inner workings. It took everything she had to sit through it all without bursting out into tears.

When they were finally finished with her, they stitched her up and took her back to the group of trees and lay her down. There was no physical pain. But the wound was deep and unhealable.

Finally out of sight, far from home and alone, with no one to help her but herself, she broke down and cried.

It was all Chris could do to keep herself from tearing down the fence and setting all of the Pokemon free. She knew that if she went that far, the lawsuits would be tremendous. But no one would miss one Growlithe that wasn't scheduled for anything in the next few days.

She met Flare at the fence to the east, the closest point to her previous home. A pokeball rested in Chris's hand. She set knelt and set the ball down for a moment. "I'm truly sorry that we've caused your kind so much trouble. I'll do everything in my power to stop it from happening again."

Flare came up and licked her face, causing Chris to laugh. "Ok, ok." She picked up the pokeball and touched it to Flare's forehead, drawing her up into it.

Then she turned to the fence. It was tall to prevent the Pokemon from escaping, but it wasn't tall enough to stop her now. She hurled the pokeball high. It soared up and then fell to the other side. As it hit the ground, it split open and Flare was once again free.

She took one look back before running off into woods. Chris had no worries. She could get home by instincts and scent.

"Chris!" She spun to find the Professor staring at her aghast. "What did you just do?! You set our only Growlithe free?! You are fired!"

"No, I'm not. Because I quit!" Chris removed her lab coat and threw it in his face. "And I intend to do the right thing."

The Professor watched her go, only speculating about what she meant by the remark.

When Chris returned home that night, she found a strange sight. The stone Eon was shattered. She thought about it for a moment; no one had broken in and there was no reason it should have suddenly been destroyed. But she didn't dwell on it. She was much too tired.

That night, she did not return to Flare. She slept her own life.

She rented a scooter the next day. Using her memory from her time as Flare, she drove four hours over rolling hills and through forests until she reached an un-named stretch of woods. She recognized the trees and the smell of pine.

Another thirty minutes walking, she spotted the cave. A large Arcanine suddenly jumped out, growling fiercely.

Chris dropped to one knee, spreading her arms outward along the ground in a show of peace. "Please. I'm not an enemy. I'm a friend."

The great beast took a step toward her when a smaller Growlithe came out and ran to her. It was Flare. She came up and rubbed against Chris with a yip.

The Arcanine barked loudly.

Flare turned to her father and barked back, almost startling even him.

Chris slowly stood. "Listen, I can't understand you, but I think you can understand me.

"I'm truly sorry for what my people have done to you. We have no right to do what we do and you have every right to hate us. But I'm here to make things better." She slowly pulled out a small video recorder. "Would you let me help you?"

The large Arcanine eyed her. Flare barked, and it seemed to completely change his attitude.

Six months later, by unanimous vote from the Pokemon League Council, all labs were closed. In their place was going to be erected new lab facilities that researched Pokemon strictly by observation.

Chris smiled as she hung the sign on the door to the lab she had previously worked at.

Helping all without any sacrifice. That IS the greater good.

A/N: Pretty dark for a Pokemon story. Sorry if it feels like this was short and moral-driven, but this is how I felt led to write it. Please tell me your thoughts in your review!

Special Thanks to Felix the Eeveetrainer, my beta reader for this story.