No one really readswhat authors typehere, do they? They all just go straight for the story. Heh. Can't blame them in the least.

Onward.


Wes whirled around to face none other than Shady, who was standing in the middle of the room, smirking, his arms folded.

"I had a feeling you'd be down here," Shady drawled, eyeing Wes lazily. "I guess I was right."

"Must be a first time for you, huh?" Wes shot back, desperate to buy some time. How long had Shady been in the room? If he had seen Wes find Espeon and Umbreon, Wes was finished.

Shady scowled.

"So how come we're the same?" Wes asked bluntly, all the while listening intently for sound of more people coming down the stairs.

Shady jerked his shoulders in a shrug, still glaring. "I don't know," he spat scornfully, "And I really don't care."

Loud, angry voices could be heard overhead, and footsteps were echoing down the stairwell. It was time to leave, and quickly.

"Just wondering." Wes took a casual step back, looking as if he were just shifting his weight. He could still make a break for the elevator in the back. If he was even luckier, Shady wouldn't even know about the elevator and suspect nothing.

"I wouldn't try that," Shady warned, slightly smug. "I know there's an elevator back there. You don't have a chance."

Damn.

"No chance? How so?"

Shady smirked. "One, there's a whole bunch of Grunts and Peons guarding the front door of the lab, in case you were to make it that far. Two, I'd just do this."

In a blink, Shady had drawn a Pokeball and had released the Pokemon inside. A large Venusaur crowded the room; making Shady and Wes each take a few steps back.

"I don't see how a Venusaur could—"

"Use your vines!" snapped Shady.

Two long, thin vines shot forward from somewhere around the Pokemon's shoulders. They each wrapped tightly around Wes's middle, and then lifted him off the floor, so he was once again dangling uselessly.

"Ah," Wes said, slightly feeble. He could have called out Espeon and Umbreon, but he didn't want to give away the fact that he had them yet, so he was forced to just stay put. "I see."

Shady just threw him a dirty look, before leaning against the wall, arms folded again, with a bored expression.

Gonzap, Ein, and Miror B. suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs; or rather Gonzap and Ein did while Miror B. did a graceful leap into the room, standing high up on his toes like some sort of freakish ballerina. Gonzap looked livid, and Ein looked annoyed at the entire situation.

Gonzap's eyes fell onto Wes, helpless in the Venusaur's grasp.

"Well done, Shady," he snapped gruffly, his eyes still on Wes.

Wes tried to swallow, but his mouth was too dry. This was going to hurt.

"Oh thank goodness he didn't escape!" Miror B. cried, doing a small jig in celebration. "Everything would have been most ruined!"

"I suggest you get it out of your system now, Gonzap," Ein stated coldly, going over to his desk and beginning to shuffle through some papers. "So then we could move on. To slightly more important things."

"Oh, I'll get it out of my system alright," Gonzap snarled, his eyes glittering as he advanced towards Wes. He seemingly chose to ignore Ein's last dry comment. "And Shady, you tell that Venusaur to hold him still until I'm done with him."

Shady smirked from his position leaned against the wall. "He won't move an inch."

Gonzap stopped inches away from Wes, nearly eye-level with him. "This is for what you did to the Hideout, and Team Snagem."

And then, there was an explosion of pain.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

May gave a soft groan, opening her eyes blearily. She was aware of harsh voices, and someone being thrown forcefully to the ground nearby, and then a loud slam, before everything was quiet. As her awareness fully returned, she realized it was Wes lying in a heap nearby, panting harshly.

With a soft gasp, May pushed herself up so that she was in a crouched position next to him. Wes was covered in all sorts of bruises, most of them bloody. One arm was in a make-shift sort of cloth sling, but there was something wrong with his breathing; uneven and short as it was. Tentatively, May reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

Wes flinched away from her touch, and with effort rolled himself over so that he was out of her reach and could see her. When he saw that it was only her, he relaxed slightly.

"What happened to you?" May breathed, concerned and afraid.

Wes pulled himself up into a sitting position, resting his back weakly against the wall. "My old boss and I had a run in," he answered weakly. He coughed, and then wiped his mouth with a gloved hand.

"Your old boss?" May wondered, for the first time looking around. They seemed to be in a cell of sorts, but, for the exception of the back wall, the walls were made of a thick-looking glass. There were other cells in the room, but they were empty. "Where are we?"

Wes gave another shuddering cough, his hands clutching weakly at where his ribs were located. He spat, and May glimpsed a tiny flash of red. "An old lab," he gasped out, "Out in the middle of the desert."

May was silent, thinking. The only sounds in the room came from Wes—his harsh, uneven breathing and his occasional feeble cough.

"So…this is where those men from the alley hide out?" May asked.

Wes just nodded, his eyes dull with pain.

"I woke up when they were taking us here," May admitted, giving Wes a suspicious look, "And I overheard some…interesting…things. About you."

Wes gave another painful-sounding cough, and this time May noticed a trickle of blood going down his chin. He wiped his mouth, seeing her stare, and then met her gaze. "It probably wasn't quite exactly accurate."

May folded her arms, sinking back into a sitting position.

"Alright," Wes rasped weakly, seeing the stubbornness in her eyes that was not unlike Rui's mulishness. "I'll explain, but just listen. Then decide on whether or not you want to trust me."

"Rui does," May replied slowly, slightly surprised on how well Wes had just read her silent suspicions, "Rui trusts you. Right?"

Wes nodded, but then winced. "Rui does."

"All right," May relented, "Please just explain what this is all about."

Wes drew in a rattling breath, gritting his teeth—his ribs were killing him—before releasing it in a rush. His breathing was slowly leveling out and becoming easier, so that was an improvement.

In a steady, even voice, Wes began.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"How long do you think this'll take?" Brenden asked Rui as they stepped out of the cool air conditioning of the Poke Center and into the heat of Orre.

Rui shrugged. She still clutched the Pokeball Brenden had just given her, looking down at it in reverence. It contained a Flying Pokemon—an Altaria, according to Brenden—and she would be using it to Fly high above Orre's desert. After much thought, she had decided to Fly on a Pokemon by herself, rather than on one with Brenden.

"I'm not sure," she admitted as they started slowly for the edge of town. She was beginning to feel slightly nervous about this Flying business. "We know what general direction the lab's in, but as for its exact location…"

"We'll just have to get lucky," Brenden finished confidently. "We'll spread out a bit too, so we can cover more distance."

Rui nodded. She hoped fervently that she would not suddenly develop a fear of great heights. She had been okay, she guessed, back when she and Wes had battled Dakim on the hovering platforms high up on the side of Mt. Battle. But then again, she remembered feeling very dizzy and nervous as they had crossed each of the narrow bridges leading to the next platform…

"And if one of us sees something, or if there's trouble, we'll signal," Brenden continued, unaware of Rui's doubts and worries. "Or wave or something. We'll figure it out."

Rui smiled despite herself. "I'm glad one of us is optimistic."

Brenden looked over at her and gave her a warm grin. "Hey, don't worry. We'll find Wes for ya. I'm really worried for him, too, and especially May. You and him are best friends, and so are May and I. We're all in this together."

"And now all four of us are best friends," Rui said, brightening slightly. She couldn't help it; that was her personality. Wes would always look at her and remark darkly about how sunny she was, but then give her one of his rare grins. Yes, she would just hang on to her hope. Just for him.

Brenden grinned again. "Right."

They were walking out of the gates of Phenac now, and the vast desert of Orre lay out before them. Heat rose up in shimmering waves, and far-off mirages of pools of water glistened invitingly; though their promises were empty.

"Thirsty?" Rui asked wryly, watching Brenden gaze out across the massive desert with a mixed expression.

"That's not funny," he replied, shaking his head, but he gave her a reassuring grin. "Let's go. Swellow, I choose you!" He tossed out a Pokeball.

"Altaria!" Rui tossed the Pokeball she had been holding, following suit.

Two bird Pokemon appeared before them, looking up at them calmly and questioning. Rui immediately liked the Altaria Brenden had loaned her. It was a pretty blue color, with a wispy cloud around its body, and two long, flowing feathers coming out of the top of its head. It reminded her of the tiny Swablu Wes had Snagged, so long ago…

"Ready, Rui?" Brenden asked. "Altaria, you're to obey my friend Rui for now, okay? Do as she says and show her your good manners."

The Altaria cooed softly, blinking up at Rui serenely.

"Just give the command when you're ready," Brenden said, and he put a hand on Rui's shoulder. "Don't be afraid. Altaria won't let you fall."

Rui nodded, steeling herself. Heights should be the least of her worries right now. She needed to concentrate on rescuing May, and of course Wes, her gallant prince…He needed her, and she wasn't about to chicken out. She would be brave. Just for him.

"Altaria! Fly!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"So basically, you used to be a member of this Team Snagem bunch—their top Snagger—but then you blew up their Hideout and made off with the portable Snag Machine—which helps you Snag Pokemon from their Trainers and which was key in how you and Rui saved and Purified all those Shadow Pokemon—and then rescued Rui from a couple thugs—that's how you two met—and then saved Orre from a terrible Shadow Pokemon plot—which were created in this lab place by Cipher—and now Team Snagem and your old Boss Gonzap—the guy who just beat you up—are after you for revenge and other such things, which is why those men in the alley—Grunts from Team Snagem—attacked us, and brought us to this lab out in the middle of the desert. Right?"

Wes blinked, running over in his head what May had just said. "All of what I just explained to you put into one way-to-long sentence," he muttered wryly. "Yes. That about sums it up. Basically."

May nodded, satisfied. "Okay. I get it."

"Oh good," Wes muttered beneath his breath dryly. It still hurt to breathe, but it was better than what it had been.

"How are you feeling?" May asked, growing concerned again and ignoring his mutterings under his breath. It seemed as if her mind had been made up, and now she trusted him again. "Gonzap beat you pretty bad, didn't he…?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Wes muttered, slightly bitter.

"But you weren't in here when they did it, weren't you? I woke up, and they had just thrown you in…"

"I had been trying to escape," Wes explained as patiently as he could manage, "But they caught me. Luckily I found my Pokemon and stole them back before they did." He dug into the inside pocket of his coat and flashed two Pokeballs before pushing them back down into the pocket once more.

"Did you find mine?" May asked hopefully, her eyes wide. "Because they took mine, too…"

"Oh," Wes answered, feeling slightly guilty. Which surprised him, because usually only Rui could manage to make him feel any sort of guilt. Was he growing too soft? "I didn't know they had taken yours. Sorry, I didn't see any other Pokemon where I was…"

"Oh." May slumped slightly, looking put out. "It's okay…"

"We'll find them," Wes assured her, with another small cough. Silently, though, he was wondering if they had already turned May's Pokemon Shadow.

May brightened considerably. "Okay."

"They don't even know I have my Pokemon back yet," Wes responded, "And hopefully they won't notice for awhile, but I have a feeling they might notice soon. In the meantime, just don't say anything about me having anything."

May nodded seriously. "Right."

Wes put his head back against the concrete behind him, the feeling of deep exhaustion returning. The beat-up session, while familiar enough, hadn't helped. And now he was stuck with getting both himself and May out of the lab alive and in once piece, something that was much easier said than done.

He hoped fervently that Brenden and Rui were okay. Especially Rui. That explosion had been nasty, and he hoped that Rui wasn't hurt. He would kill Miror B. if Rui had been harmed…

"Wes?"

At the tentative question, Wes opened his eyes with a small start. He hadn't even realized that he had shut them. He shifted slightly, holding back a small moan of pain.

"Yeah?"

May looked embarrassed that she'd disturbed him. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

The door to the cell room slid open, and Dakim lumbered in. His eyes immediately locked onto Wes, and his face contorted into a murderous scowl. He was accompanied by Venus, who had to trot to keep up with his wide strides.

"No," Wes muttered to May flatly.

May was too busy staring at Dakim, her mouth open, to answer.

Just as before, Dakim approached the door to the cell and wrenched it open, ducking inside. Venus followed him, twittering away.

"Oh, look! The little girl is awake! Do you think I could have her as a Peon if she were to join us and our noble devise? Hello little girl, I'm Lady Venus! Yes, Lady Venus: that's me!"

"Get back," hissed Wes quietly to May as Dakim approached.

May scooted back quickly into the far corner, still staring at Dakim with an expression that was half-horrified, and half-terrified.

Dakim stopped when he was standing over Wes, right in front of him. Wes was forced to look up at him from his spot on the ground, wondering whether or not he was about to be brutally kicked.

"You're to come with us," Dakim grunted finally, reaching down with one meaty hand to pull Wes to his feet roughly. He then put both his hands on Wes's shoulders, and nearly marched Wes out of the cell.

Venus followed a little more slowly. "Bye-bye, little girl! I hope we'll be able to talk again real soon!" She shut and relocked the door of the cell and then hurried to catch up with Wes and Dakim, who were already halfway out the door of the cell room.

Even Venus was silent as they traveled through the lab; the only sound she made was the clicking of her heels on the shiny hard floors. Wes kept his back straight and stiff, though it cost him some effort—he was still in pain from Gonzap's beating, and with every step he took, Dakim's grip on his shoulders became tighter and tighter.

At this rate, he would have a broken collar bone to add to his collection of injuries by the time they reached their destination.

Suddenly Dakim yanked him to a stop, and thrust open the door they had stopped next to, before shoving Wes inside. Briefly, Wes could make out the lab room he had first woken up in, along with Shady, Gonzap, Miror B., and Ein, before he was knocked to the ground.

He landed hard on his stomach with a groan—he had landed on his bad arm, too, and all his other injuries that were now too numerous to list. As the world swirled, he was dimly aware of Dakim and Venus entering the room behind him and shutting the door.

"Just get it over with," snapped Shady tersely.

Suddenly Wes was picked up by the back of his jacket and shaken mercilessly. Doing the only thing that seemed sensible at the moment, Wes frantically shrugged out of his jacket, dropping to the floor for a second time.

"Here," Dakim grunted, and tossed the jacket to Shady, as Wes weakly picked himself up to his knees, left only in his sleeveless, Shuckle-neck-like shirt as a top garment.

To Wes's confusion, Shady shrugged off his own red jacket and donned Wes's blue one. He dropped the red one in front of Wes carelessly, brushing off the blue one he now wore, looking disdainful.

"Don't worry about the blood, you'll be bloody two once we're satisfied," Gonzap said, looking slightly eager.

Shady glared at him. "I know."

Suddenly realization donned in Wes, and it took both Dakim and Ein to pick him up and drag him to the lab table, wrestling him down into place.

Miror B. did a little twirl. "Oh, how I wish there was music! The thrill of it all!"

Venus gave a high-pitched giggle, quickly covering her mouth with a hand.

"What are you doing?" Wes cried, struggling wildly as Ein began to clamp Wes down to the table, so that he was lying helplessly on his back.

"It's obvious that you've already figured it out," Gonzap retorted dryly, though his eyes sparkled darkly with pleasure.

"But why! You've already beat the hell out of me, why not go for m—"

"Because as much as it pains us to say so," Ein interrupted coldly, calmly finishing installing the last restraint on Wes, "We need your skills."

"For what?" snapped Wes angrily, still trying vainly to break free, despite the panging from his injuries.

Dakim, seeing that Wes was now held down by the clamps, released his grip on the boy and stepped back, looking smug. He had managed to raise another bruise on Wes's cheek when wrestling the boy down onto the table.

"We can't tell you that now," Ein answered loftily. "Gonzap, get on with it."

"Alright," snarled Gonzap, coming to stand menacingly over Wes. "You can either have this done the easy way, or the hard way. You can either dump that stupid red-head and your other little pathetic friends—" He said the word as if it were a curse nastier than any of the other numerous curses he was known to spit out, "—and rejoin us willingly by yourself. Or we'll send Shady in, posing as you, to dump them for you."

"Never," hissed Wes, glaring up at Gonzap with all the defiance he possessed. "I'd never rejoin you, you low-life scum of the—"

Gonzap smirked. "I was hoping you'd choose the hard way. Shady, you're going in."

Shady just glared at them all, still wearing Wes's blue jacket.

"He knows you, Wes. He knows how you act, what you know, and even what Pokemon you use," Ein said, soundly smugly pleased, "We've been carefully training him in that area. So don't go thinking he won't be able to pull it off."

Wes glared, still trying to break loose from his captive state.

"We'll be dumping you back in the cell with the brown-haired girl, once we make you look a little more beat-up. Wes stole back his Pokemon already, correct? Take these—the Grunts got them off the girl. They're her Pokemon." Ein dumped Pokeballs into Shady's hands.

Shady shoved them into the same pocket Espeon and Umbreon's Pokeballs were in, silently handing their Pokeballs to Gonzap, who smirked at Wes as he took them.

Wes watched, shocked into silence. So they had known that he had stolen back his Espeon and Umbreon. In fact, they had wanted him to. He had been set-up…

"Say you managed to steal them when we weren't looking just now," Ein continued. "Break out, and make a run to the entrance—the Peons already to know only pretend to try to go after you. And you know what to do from there."

Shady nodded, and gave Wes a sly look.

"Take a week to get it done," Gonzap ordered gruffly.

"It would be odd for you to take off right away," Ein explained, folding his arms and leaning calmly against the desk near the table Wes was on. "Dakim. Knock Shady around a bit, so it doesn't look like we've completely healed him."

Dakim acknowledged the orders with a grunt.

"And Shady," Gonzap called as Dakim prepared to 'lead' Shady back to the cell room with Venus. "Make sure you dump that red-head in the meanest way possible," he ordered, his eyes glued to Wes's. "We wouldn't want her snooping around looking for you if you didn't make it seem like she was no longer…wanted."

Shady nodded, gave Wes one last triumphant smirk, and then he, Dakim, and Venus disappeared out the door.

Before Wes could shriek a string of curses at Gonzap, Miror B. was suddenly taping his mouth shut, despite Wes's furious struggles and now muffled howls.

"We don't want the girl to become suspicious if she hears your insolent shouting," he explained to Wes cheerfully, smoothing the tape down tightly.

"Don't worry, Wes," Gonzap said, mockingly soothing as he smirked widely, "We're moving on to bigger and better things. It's for your own good. And if you're especially good, we'll even let you watch Shady dump your girlfriend."

Throwing back his head to laugh raucously, Gonzap left the room, swinging his broad arms heartily as he walked.

Miror B. did another of his little twirls, striking another horrifying pose. "You won't be pinned down long," he promised in a sing-song voice, "This is only to keep you out of the way so that Shady can 'escape'—" Here he gave an annoying bark of laughter, "—without you interfering and messing things up. Let the music play on!" He moon-walked out of the room, waving his arms outrageously.

The door slid shut with an ominous click.

Which left Wes still secured tightly to the stainless steel lab table, with only Ein, tapping away at a keyboard in front of a computer, for company. Wes's struggles were noticeably weaker now; his exhaustion was taking its toll.

He felt torn in all directions as he lay there, gazing up at the ceiling with dull eyes. A part of him was still fuming with intense anger and deep hatred towards Gonzap, while another part of him was under an anxiety attack for Rui's safety. Poor grammar as it was, he hadn't liked Gonzap's request for the 'meanest' method of getting rid of Rui.

And yet another part of him was fearful for himself. What did Gonzap and the other Admins want from him, to go to such great lengths? Whatever it was, it couldn't be too pleasant…

Wes finally let his muscles slacken limply in defeat, slumping in his restraints. Everything was messed up, and it was all wrong...


So. One of Shady's purposes has finally been revealed--As if you all couldn't figure that out by yourselves anyway. What kind of havoc will he wreak with poor little Rui, May and Brenden?

Well I'm not quite sure either.

Just kidding; I do have an idea but that'll just have to wait for the next chapter.

R&R