Slaves and Soldiers

Chapter 7: Inorganic

WARNING: SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER FOR POKEMON: BLACK AND WHITE! Though, I'm sure most of you guys have already played the new games…

"The cyborg would not recognize the Garden of Eden; it is not made of mud and cannot dream of returning to dust."

Donna Haraway


"Typhlosion…"

"I don't want to talk."

Typhlosion and I had come back to Team Rocket HQ as required of us. When we finished our assignment, we got in a bit of a… quarrel. I was… very aggravated over the fact that I was stuck here until someone came to save me. I didn't want to do any of this stuff… but… my temper took me way too far this time. I said words that I now regret ever came out of my mouth. We were back in the break room that we first met in. I've been trying to apologize to him, but… what are the right words?

I'm sorry?

No, I'm gonna need to say more than that. One sorry just doesn't cut it with Ty…

"Maybe… maybe calling you a 'machine' was a bit much…" I sighed.

"Well… no actually. That's quite accurate." he confessed, sighing to himself. "Machine would be an accurate term."

I tried to protest. "Well…" and that's when I stopped myself. I wasn't going to win this argument… because Typhlosion was right.

"You can say it, Raikou. You already did. What you said at the museum hurt me… but in all honesty… it was a 100% true. On the way back, I really took your words into consideration. Team Rocket revived me from near-death because they saw use in me… but sometimes, I wish they never did. A machine is what I am now and I can't change that, no matter how I want to."

He continued to explain his thoughts to me.

"I guess… it's not all bad. After all, there are plenty of advantages; if there wasn't then I would be dead now."

He then lifted his eyes to look at me coldly. The difference was easily seen inside them. One was natural, was perfect, organic… and real. The other was not something a Typhlosion was ever supposed to or meant to have. It was unnatural, cold, fake… inorganic. His metallic red iris looked shamefully at me. Fear and regret pierced my heart simultaneously.

"But one thing I am most certainly not. I might be 'Mon, I might be machine, I might be a freak, but the one thing I am most definitely not is EMOTIONLESS!"

It was now Ty's turn to be a raging sea of emotions. I could not feel what coursed through him, but I knew what was.

Fear.

Anger.

Hurt.

Sadness.

And…

Regret.

"Umm… Ty?" I whispered.

"Get out. GET OUT! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"

Typhlosion roared loudly and how. His terrifying screams were fearful, angry, pained, saddened and regretful. It was even enough to send me, Raikou, stumbling back in fear of him. He began to throw objects around the room like a mad man. Various glasses, the coffee table, and even the couch we first sat on all went flying.

I immediately high-tailed it out of there as fast as my legs could carry me.

I dashed out and turned a corner quickly, not taking notice of what was ahead of me.

BONK!

"Ow. Ow." I muttered as I rubbed my head. "That makes the second time today I've bonked my head…"

"Are you OK?"

I took my paws off and saw an Infernape sitting on the ground, also looking at me. His head was purple from the bruise I probably gave him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I told him while I stood back up. "But your head probably looks worse than mine."

"I doubt it." he said as he regained his balance. "Yours doesn't look that bad. But don't sweat it, I'll get over mine."

Both of our eyes widened as we heard a ferocious roar still coming from the break room.

"Uhh… what was that?" he asked me.

"You really want to know?"

"Rhetorical question." the flaming monkey told me. "That's Cyber-Ty, isn't it? I'd recognize that roar anywhere."

"Yeah…" I sighed.

Suddenly, as soon as Ty's roaring rampage started, it stopped. His terrifying howls had ceased.

"Do you… think we should go check on him?" I asked, unsure if it would be safe or not.

"We should. He should be calmed down by now."

The Infernape and I walked back to the break room and opened the door. The room had been hit by a violent tornado. The coffee table was upside down in the middle of the room, the magazines on the table were now strewn across the floor, and the coffee machine had shattered and glass pieces as well as made coffee were spread around the floor. Inside was Cyber-Ty, with his head hanging low and his paws over his face.

Now he was ashamed of himself.

"Typhlosion?" I asked him gently. "Are you OK?"

"What does it look like?" he sighed, facing downward hiding his face from my view. "I'm an idiot."

"Hey Ty," began the Infernape. "We all lose it at one point or another. How about I help you clean this mess up?"

"It's not your responsibility Victor; it's mine. I lost it; I rampaged. I'll have to tell Team Rocket that I did this and then…" Typhlosion shuddered.

"Ty, I'm not going to risk my best friend since I first got here getting shut down. Ty… I don't want them to do that to you. We'll just clean it up, so it's like nothing ever…"

All hopes of just cleaning up the mess and getting away with it instantly vaporized when Archer himself walked into the break room. His face was filled with shock and horror; he certainly hadn't expected this…

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED HERE?"

Typhlosion stepped up to Archer to confess.

"I…"

Victor cut in almost immediately. "I kind of lost my cool in here. Typhlosion and I got into a fight over something stupid and well, I sorta spazzed out. He tried to calm me down, but I went a little too far. Forgive me, Archer. I'll clean up if you want me to."

My jaw dropped. That was a tremendous sacrifice Victor was making for Typhlosion, especially considering how harsh Team Rocket's punishments were. I didn't know this Infernape personally, but he had already earned himself several points in my book for such a selfless act.

"…Infernape." sighed Archer. "What are we going to do with you? Come along with me, and Giovanni will decide a proper punishment for you."

Victor simply nodded his head.

I looked over at Typhlosion, whose guilt was destroying his heart. He didn't want his best friend to take the fall for him. I could even feel his guilt stack up taller and taller and taller and taller until…

"It wasn't Infernape; I did it."

Both Victor and Archer looked back, startled by Typhlosion's shout. Ty looked over to his friend.

"Victor, you're a great pal. Really and truly. But I can't let you take the fall for me; it's not right."

"But Ty, I don't want you-"

"So Typhlosion, you're the one who caused this mess."

Ty slowly hanged his head down then slowly raised it back up.

"Yes."

"…Come along, Typhlosion. Giovanni will decide what to do with you."

Typhlosion gulped nervously. "Yes, sir."

The two then left the break room, leaving me and Victor by ourselves.

"Victor… do you… do you think he'll be OK?"

"We can only hope, Raikou, We can only hope…"


"Yes, Archer. What is so important for you to interrupt my work?"

Giovanni was at his desk, sitting in his chair and working on paperwork. I had quietly followed Archer to Giovanni's office and was peeking at what was going on through an open crack in the door.

"Typhlosion made a bit of a… mess in the break room."

Giovanni shrugged his shoulders. "So, if it's just a minor mess, then…"

"It's far from 'minor', sir."

Giovanni glared suspiciously at Ty then looked back up to Archer. "What do you mean by 'far from minor'?"

"Well… the entire room is trashed, sir. The table and couch are flipped over, coffee is spilled everywhere, and glass is all over the floor."

Giovanni looked to Archer. "You're dismissed. I'll talk to Typhlosion about this."

"Of course." And with that he left. Fortunately, I was hiding in the shadows of the hall, so he hadn't seen me. I looked back through the door which he had left cracked open again.

Giovanni looked to the cyborg. "And you did that?"

Typhlosion could only nod his head slowly.

The Rocket Boss closed his eyes as he rubbed his temples and sighed. "Typhlosion, that's the second time you've done something like this." He then turned his gaze back onto the Cyborg Pokémon. At Giovanni's deathly gaze, Typhlosion faltered.

"In all honesty, Typhlosion, I don't want you to turn out like Cyborg Model #001…"

Typhlosion's eyes went wide with fear upon hearing that; he clasped his hands together and pled with the Rocket Boss; "Sir, please! I-I don't want to turn out like Charizard did! I won't; I promise!" Ty's voice then lowered to a whisper; "Please. I don't want to be shut down. Don't shut me down. Please."

Giovanni went deeper into thought then asked of Typhlosion; "Are you… angry about this whole scenario? That there's no way to reverse it without killing you?"

Ty then confessed to Giovanni about what he had apparently lied about to me earlier today. Now, he was revealing his true feelings…

"Well… to be truly honest… I'm a little frustrated, sir. I am… knowledgeable of that fact that it cannot be reversed. Though, I'm not… completely furious, sir."

"Then why on earth would you totally demolish the break room?"

Typhlosion stuttered. "It's because… I-It's because… I-I don't want to turn out like the others!"

His sudden raise in voice alarmed Giovanni and caused him to shush the cyborg. "Not so loud. Just-Just cool down."

Typhlosion took a few deep breaths and continued. "I-I'm very sorry, sir. Forgive me. B-But I-I don't want to be… emotionless. Like the prototypes…"

"Wait." Giovanni's gaze on Typhlosion tightened. "You knew of Charizard; everyone knew that; he was the first official complete cyborg. But how did you know about of the prototype cyber Pokémon? That's a top secret!"

"Prototypes…?" I whispered to myself. "He had others?"

"Umm… during one of my… modifications in the computer room on my… what was it…? Oh yeah, my Wi-Fi connection. During that mod, I saw a… Scyther in the corner, sir. But I knew it wasn't a normal Scyther. It had multiple cybernetic attachments on it and I'm sure that it was… sh-shut down, sir. I told Archer I knew that was a shut down cyborg in there and I wanted to ask him to be why it existed, because I only knew of the…Charizard incident, sir. He told me the truth."

Giovanni sighed. "I've got to talk to Archer about that later… For right now, just… go back to your room and get some sleep."

"Yes, sir." Typhlosion nodded.

"But I must warn you; this is your second strike. One more and you're out of the game."

The cyborg gulped nervously. "Y-Yes sir."

"You're dismissed."

With that, Ty left the office and began to walk back down a dark hallway, away from me. I was about to follow when…

"Raikou?" came Giovanni's voice. "You were spying on me this whole time?"

I turned my head towards him. "Well… yes."

"Well then… come in here. I was going to call for you anyway."

"Fine." I walked into his office and sat myself down on the floor ahead of his desk. I held my head up high and proud as he spoke to me; "Hmm… haven't seen you since you threw your saliva on my face."

"A moment I'm ever so proud of." I smirked.

"Right… do that again and you're a dead 'Mon."

I shrugged my shoulders. "That figures. So, what did you want me in here for, anyway?"

"First off, I never gave you the room number where your Pokéball will be kept. At the end of the day, you are expected to seal yourself back in your ball. You will remain in there until dawn the next day. Your room number is #072."

"Anything else?"

The Rocket Boss smirked. "I was curious as to how you are enjoying your stay here."

My left eyes began to twitch like crazy upon hearing that. "My stay?" I whispered to him quietly. "MY STAY?" I screamed at Giovanni, turning my voice up by more than a few decibels. I stood up on my hind legs and slammed my front paws onto his desk.

"First, you capture me against my will and bring me here! Then, your scientists performed some kind of freaky analysis that scared the living daylights out of me! After that, you pretty much tore me apart when you tested my powers! You know very well that an Electric Pokémon can't do a damned thing do a Ground-type! Finally, I get to spend a night with your Garchomps! That was the worst night of my life, and that's even including the time Entei spiked the punch at Giratina's birthday party! WHY THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M ENJOYING MY STAY IN THIS PRISON?"

There goes my temper again.

My insane shouting had stunned Giovanni so much that he fell out of his chair and onto the floor. He seemed to recover quickly from the shock though, and he stood back up to face me.

"Listen here, Raikou. No Pokémon who enters this facility to work for us will ever leave. Never. There is not a single Pokémon who escaped here, and hasn't been recaptured. You're stuck here for as long as you live; I suggest you make the best of it. Do you understand?"

"…"

"Raikou?"

And with that final word, I left his office with nothing more to say.


I was walking around in the hallway, looking among the corridors for a route to the cafeteria. He had to have one somewhere; it would be a bit weird if he didn't. I caught up to Victor who was ahead of me, walking in the same direction.

"Hey, Victor."

The Infernape turned his head to the side and saw me strolling next to him.

"Hi Raikou." he greeted me. "What did you find out about Ty? He's going to be OK, right?"

"Well… Giovanni said this was Ty's second strike. One more and he's out."

"Oh boy…"

"There's… something else, as well."

We both stopped walking and turned to each other.

"Something else? Like what?"

"Typhlosion said he knew of prototype cyborgs before him. He said that he didn't want to turn out like they did."

Victor seemed a bit hesitant to ask more info from me, but asked anyway; "How… how did they turn out?"

"…"

"…O-On second thought, maybe I don't need to know yet." the Infernape stuttered.

"But something else still has me baffled." I brought up.

"…What?"

"Why would Typhlosion lie to me? He told me that he's grown to accept himself… but… what happened earlier in the break room… not to mention he nearly broke down in front of Giovanni… it says otherwise."

Victor sighed and began to talk to me. "Raikou… something you need to know… Ty's my best friend; we share everything. When he first became a cyborg, back when he was a Quilava… saying he freaked would be the understatement of the decade. He… he had a complete and total mental breakdown when he discovered what he was. I was his best friend; I wasn't going to freak just because he was different now. He still… really struggles with it. He doesn't like to let a whole lot of people know; that's why he must've lied to you. Raikou… don't let him know I told you any of this, promise?"

"…I promise, Victor. I'm a 'Mon of my word."

"Thanks Raikou. It means a lot."

"By the way, there's something else…" I sighed dramatically.

"Umm… w-what would that be…"

"…Do you where the cafeteria is? I'm starving!"

Victor remained motionless for a few seconds, and then did a double-take. "Raikou!" he shouted. "Don't scare me like that!"

I chuckled as we got up and began to walk again.

Infernape rolled his eyes as he told me, "The cafeteria is just a little up ahead. Keep walking until you hit a 4-way split, and then turn right. The cafeteria will be in plain sight ahead of you."

"Thanks."

"I'll come with you; I'm kinda hungry myself, too."

We walked quietly in the hallways; all throughout the trip, my mind kept drifting back to Typhlosion. He lied to me… Though to be fair, I couldn't really blame him. He had to struggle with becoming something completely different. Part robot… I could never imagine myself in that situation. I just hope things turn out well for him.

Victor and I arrived at the cafeteria and entered the large area. Inside, there weren't really many Pokémon or people. I looked at the clock across the room.

"10 already? Is it really that late?"

In fact, there was only one 'Mon in there besides us. It was large, extremely large. It looked like a black dragon with a generator… for its tail. He or she was sitting at a table in the center of the cafeteria. I decided to walk over.

"Who are you?" the 'Mon asked with a gruff voice. I instantly assumed that it preferred the 'male' gender.

I introduced myself to him. "I'm Raikou, one of the Legendary Beasts of Johto. And you?"

"…Name's Zekrom. How'd you end up in this nightmare?"

I sighed. "I got kidnapped from my cave near the Burned Tower in Johto. This is my first day here."

"Try 6 years." snarked Zekrom.

"ARE YOU FREAKIN' SERIOUS?"

The black dragon sighed. "Today marks the 2,190th day I've been trapped here. The 6th year anniversary of my capture from Unova…"

"Wow… and I thought I had it hard. Can they… seriously keep you here for that long?"

"Team Rocket has state of the art tracking technology. There's nowhere you can go where they can't find you. Heh heh. And I thought Team Plasma was a pain…"

"Team Plasma? I don't think I've ever heard of them…" I pondered to try to recall a possible memory out of my brain but no such luck.

"Team Plasma members are essentially animal rights activists TO THE EXTREME. At least, that's what Ghetsis; the lead sage of Team Plasma would have you to believe. He wanted people to give up Pokémon because he claimed it was equivalent to slavery. But surprise, surprise; he only had citizens try to do that because he wanted to not so secretly rule the world. Duh."

"How DID you get kidnapped? I mean, you look WAY more capable of defending yourself than I am!"

Zekrom sighed. "They didn't even have to battle me… It was much more effective for them to threaten the one I love… Reshiram." Upon saying those words, Zekrom shed some tears.

He continued; "It was our wedding day. She and I were to marry and live a wonderful life together. We had so much in store for us: a solid marriage, having children, watching them grow up and have their own kids…"

Zekrom briefly had to stop to take some deep breaths to regain himself. "OK, that's better. But… we had so much in store and… Team Rocket took all of that away. Giovanni… and many of his grunts came to the castle which I took residence in after the events of Team Plasma. Reshiram took residence in Anville Town. She was going to move in with me after the wedding… Giovanni… had everything perfectly staged. I woke up that morning to see Giovanni. He ordered me to come with him or else I would see the one I love be blown to pieces. Naturally, at first, I didn't believe him. Then he showed me a picture he had taken of her, timestamped at 4:30 a.m. that morning. It was very clear that I saw a strange spherical gray device planted in her skin. It WAS a bomb. Giovanni wasn't bluffing. I had chosen to go with him, to keep Reshiram alive. I never saw her again… Today is the 6th anniversary of what was to be our wedding day."

"I-I-I'm sorry, Zekrom. I wish I could help you."

"Someday," he whispered. Then his voice began to escalate, "Someday, before I die, I WILL get out of this prison and I WILL see Reshiram again! You can bet a million dollars on it!"

I grinned at the black dragon's eagerness. "Someday, I'm getting out of here, too."

"I can third that." agreed Victor. "But right now, it's getting really late. I think it's about time we all hit the sack. We'll need to be prepared for tomorrow."

"All right." Zekrom finished the last of what he was eating then threw the remains in the trash. After he left the room, Victor and I followed.

"Victor, do you where room #072 is? That's where Giovanni said my Pokéball was kept…"

"Yeah, I know where that is. I have the same room. Just follow me."

It wasn't a long walk from the cafeteria; in fact, it took maybe less than 2 minutes to get there. After following Victor down some of the almost maze-like corridors, we reached our room.

"Our Pokéballs are going to be in here." the Infernape told me. "Just let yourself in, and then we'll need to get out tomorrow morning."

I walked into the room with him. Pokéballs were on rows of shelves inside; they were sorted by Primary Type and then alphabetically. Victor seemed to know exactly where his Pokéball was. With a push of a button, his being transformed into energy and he was recalled inside. I found my ball with my insignia imprinted on it in the Electric section of the room.

I sighed to myself, looking at my reflection on the ball.

"Entei… Suicune… I'm getting out of here someday. Wait for me."

With that, I recalled myself inside, wondering what would await me tomorrow.


Pokémon © Nintendo/Game Freak

Inorganic is probably the most dramatic chapter in this story I've written so far. I've even cried a few moments while typing this (yes, I am overly emotional). Several things become truth now: Typhlosion lied to Raikou; the cyborg is still struggling to accept himself. Charizard wasn't the first cyborg Team Rocket made; there were prototypes before him that were emotionless and Ty doesn't want to end up that same way. Raikou blows up at Giovanni again… go figure. And it seems the electric tiger wasn't the first Legend here…

Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Be sure to Read & Review!