CHAPTER TEN: IMPRISONED

Kylie walked forward. She couldn't feel the Vaporeon following her, but she knew he was nearby. Would Jen betray her? Kylie didn't think so… but with Kai following her, things were bound to be a little safer.

The Sylveon was sitting on a bench along the walkway. "Kylie?" She waved. "Oh great, you came here!"

"Yeah. Why did you want me to come?" Kylie looked around. "I don't see anything that looks like an attack."

"Over here." She stood up. "Follow me."

The Sylveon wasn't her normal outgoing self. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head. "Come."

Kylie followed her, though a little cautious. "How come they had you call me and not Aria or maybe-"

"The others were kidnapped… I thought?" She turned around.

"Oh…"

"I thought you of all Pokemon would know."

"I… I'm sorry. It's just that this is all so surprising."

They walked in silence until they came to a large clearing. "What are we doing over here?" Kylie readied herself, prepared to grab her sword. "You… why did you bring me here?"

Jen turned around. "Kylie… I've been ordered to bring you back in."

"Back in?" She stepped back. A clearing was a terrible place.

"Yes. I don't know what they want. But I'd appreciate it if you'd listen to me."

Kylie froze the blade. "So they did send you to retrieve me."

The Sylveon sighed. "Yes. I was hoping you'd understand…" She tugged at a silver collar around her neck. "But Zero Eight isn't about to fail her first mission."

Kylie opened her eyes wide. "Already?"

"Come with me please, or else I'll have to use force."

"What do they want?"

"I told you… I don't know."

Kylie surrounded herself with frozen air. "Jen… I don't want to fight you. But I'm an agent."

"I know. That's why I brought her." Kylie heard footsteps through the trees.

She whipped around, then froze. "No…"

"Well well… defector. We finally meet again." Standing behind her were two Pokemon. One was the Absol from the train. The other was Elise. The Delcatty giggled. "You have no idea how long I've dreamed for this. To pay you back."

Kylie stepped back. "Kai…" she murmured. "I'd… appreciate some help…"

Next to her materialized the Vaporeon, arms around her waist. "All right then. Good thing I'm with you."

"Wonderful!" Adore licked his lips. "Both of our prime targets!"

Elise giggled. Her tail slid out behind her. "Sheesh… it's our lucky day today!"

Kai let go of the Glaceon. "This isn't going to be easy…" he hissed. "Avore and that Delcatty look strong. And while your friend doesn't look like she's going to do anything, we're outnumbered and don't know our enemies' strength."

"I know… I'm sorry for not being more careful."

He drew his sword. "You need us dead?"

"Unfortunately, no. We do need some specific things from your bodies… or at least the researchers do. For the newest freak."

"The newest one?"

Avore pulled out the massive sword. "One better than all of you combined."

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Aaron looked around. "Meat… meat…" He fanned through the different food sections, making sure to cover himself with his hood. He picked up a box with some fish and rice, and sighed. "A little too close to Kai… and fishy. Who knows what kind of fish Pokemon it is too?"

"Are you okay, mister?"

He looked down. A young Vulpix looked up at him. "I'm fine." He shook his head before picking something else.

"Is there something wrong?" She tugged on his jacket.

"Uh, where's your mother?"

"My aunty is here with me." She pointed to a beautiful Ninetales that he felt like he had seen before. "Aunt Mikayla?"

She turned to Aaron. "Oh, hello! I'm sorry my niece was bothering you…"

"It's no problem…" He waved her off. "Say… aren't you a model?"

She sighed. "Yeah… I guess. Eons like you are quite rare too though. I've got a good friend who's one though."

"Cool." Aaron nodded. "Well, it looks like your niece is running away."

"Oh shoot… thanks!" She followed the Vulpix to the register.

Aaron huffed. "Keep a better eye on her…" he grumbled, before looking around some more. He already had picked up what Jasmine and Grant had asked for, so now he just had to choose for himself.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he looked at who was calling. "What is it, Grant?"

"Where did Kylie and Kai go?"

"I don't know. Kai never told me anything, and the Glaceon still has a grudge against me."

"Don't you have tracking devices?" asked the Umbreon.

"Yeah. But I'll have to do that once I get back. I need my computer."

"They've been gone for about an hour now… I recall Kai mentioning being attacked and… well, he'll normally tell us where he's going at least."

Aaron shrugged. "Kai's reliable. He beats me sometimes even with my type advantage."

"Yeah, I know. But he had to flee yesterday. If they were to be ambushed…"

"I'll try get back."

"Thanks. Aria should be coming towards you. Come back after you fill out the shopping list."

Aaron sighed before ignoring his own meal and quickly purchasing for the other three. William cooked on his own, so he didn't need anything. "There's no need to worry…"

"Worry about what?"

He turned around. "Aria? What are you doing here?"

"William asked me to give you a shopping list."

"Well, tell him I'm not just going to do that. He needs to give me money."

Aria pulled out a wad of cash. "You were saying?"

Aaron grumbled something under his breath. "What did he need?"

"Here."

"Hmm… all right. You grab the bread, and I'll get the vegetables."

She crossed her arms. "I'm better with vegetables. Other way."

"Whatever." Aaron grabbed the bread and raced back. The Leafeon was waiting for him. "What are you doing?"

"You should still come with me."

"Why?"

"Because what if I get kidnapped?"

Aaron grit his teeth. "You know… you're a lot more irritating than you look…"

"I don't know if that's a compliment or not, but whatever. Grant told you to hurry up. We probably should listen."

"Fine."

They walked over to the vegetable section. "How about these?" asked Aria. "It looks like a mushroom or something."

"You're the grass type."

"I know, but you don't want me to get attacked do you?"

"I suppose it would be irritating if I had to save your ass… I'll stay by you."

"Hehe, you're like a book."

Aaron ignored her comment as they looked through the fresh produce. "How about some peppers?"

"I like bell peppers. But not spicy ones…"

"Only William does really."

"Is that so?" She paused before asking, "How come you're always so angry?"

"What?"

She sighed. "You're always short tempered. You're the one who attacked Kylie first, and you're the one who attacked her again at the power plant. What's your problem?"

"What's my problem? There's no problem. I just do what I think."

"You're too quick to act…" She grabbed some berries and put it in a bag. "I suppose I'm still nowhere near your strength yet… but…"

It was Aaron's turn to sigh. "You should act more on what you think. I'm the factual brains of us. Kai's the planning and emotional brain of us. And William is the most personable out of all of us."

"So I guess you sort of miss the… never mind."

"Hmm?"

"Let's go… I've…" She shivered a little. "I've got a bad feeling."

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Kai and Avore were breathing heavily. Both of them were bleeding from some smaller cuts, but none of them had managed to land any major hits.

The Vaporeon decided to take a glimpse at Kylie. The Glaceon was fighting the Delcatty. Kylie was on the offensive with her ice spears, but the Delcatty was dodging.

"Pay attention to me!"

Kai barely ducked under a swipe and rolled back, a few strands of his dark blue hair falling onto the grass. He immediately condensed the moisture around him into his signature liquid blades, and launched them at the Absol from all angles. "So be it," he hissed.

One of them pierced the Absol in the leg, and he fell down with a howl. "Damn you…"

Kai immediately held out his hand and froze the water, locking the blade in place. He stood a few moments, panting. "Stay there while I-" Then he felt it. Something soft against his cheek. And warm.

"Sorry Kylie's boyfriend…" The Sylveon… she had kissed him.

Then he felt it. The effects of Draining Kiss… The next thing he knew, his legs had collapsed from under him. "No…" His entire body was weak, as if he'd stayed up for an entire week. His body lost its strength. Anything… even moving his fingers was tiring.

He turned to the Absol, half expecting Avore to attack him. But the Absol's leg looked pretty badly damaged, and even with regeneration, it looked like it'd take awhile. "I'm sorry…" murmured the Sylveon. "But I need to bring Kylie and you in."

Kylie immediately turned to look at Kai. "Kai! Jen, what did you…"

Kai saw it in almost slow motion. A knife, straight for the Glaceon's stomach. "Kylie!" he said as loudly as he could, desperate to warn her.

"Watch where you cut!" hissed Avore.

Kylie turned around, then looked down. Crimson stained her light blue dress. "Kai…" Her eyes were truly panicked. Then she looked at the Vaporeon before crumpling forwards.

The Delcatty withdrew her dagger. "Finally… we are even now."

Kai turned to the Sylveon. "Why?" he asked in disbelief. "Why?"

Her face was haunted. She just stared at Kylie's body.

"This is your fault…" hissed Kai. "She trusted you." He grabbed the Sylveon's ankle. "You know what's going to happen to her and I."

"I…"

Kai felt pain in his ribs as Avore kicked him. "I'd like to kill you right here, but we need both of you alive unfortunately."

Kai closed his eyes as he felt something hard hit his head. He thought about the Glaceon's face. Kylie… I should have been more careful… now… who knows what'll happen to us…

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"Okay Kylie… breathe…"

She inhaled, feeling the mask on her face. It smelled sweet. It made her feel dizzy. "We're going to cut open your ovaries. Just stay calm."

She closed her eyes. This was quite a bizarre dream. She fell a nick in the area below her navel. My body… ovaries… my… eggs? Could that be what they are after?

Then she thought about Kai. How was he doing? She had panicked. She remembered that much. Then Elise… she didn't want to think about her at all. But was Kai okay?

The pain wasn't really there. There was pressure, but no pain against her lower abdomen.

"Kylie, just raise your hand if it hurts, okay?"

It sounded like professor Blaze. He was wearing a white suit. They all looked like Beheeyems or something. She wasn't too sure what to think. Everything was blurry.

She simply nodded slightly. At least she thought. What was this gas? It was thick and sweet… but not in a good way.

Was it a dream? She didn't think so. She could smell… and taste. That normally didn't happen in dreams.

She closed her eyes. If they were going to kill her… that was okay. Maybe it was the gas getting to her. Who knew. As long as Kai… as long as he was okay… but it was her fault.

How much time had passed? It seemed like eternity since they had begun to cut her. She didn't struggle. She closed her eyes. It might be the end for her. But it didn't matter.

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"Kylie…"

Someone was shaking her. She was lying on a bed. "Nghh…" She was dizzy.

"Kylie!" The voice sounded closer now, and she tried to open her eyes. Her vision was blurry, and it was bright.

Below her stomach was sore… as if she'd been stabbed, had her organs ripped out, then stabbed again. She clutched her stomach, and gasped in pain.

"Wait…" Her vision began to adjust, and she saw the blue-haired eon next to her. He was wearing nothing but boxers. He held her arm. "Don't touch it."

Normally, she might have been embarrassed, but there was so much she didn't know… "We're here again, aren't we?"

"Yes."

She realized that she was wearing nothing but her underwear as well. She sighed painfully. "So they operated on me."

"Yes."

"I recall… eggs?"

"Your eggs. They… removed some of them." He slipped a hand under her back and helped her sit up. "See?"

"I…" She saw the stitches. She felt herself getting choked up. "My… eggs?"

"They're going to do something terrible. I don't know what. But I think they needed our DNA, and your eggs were a straight path."

"Did they collect anything from you?"

The Vaporeon paused a little. "They have blood samples from me. I don't think they collected my reproductive stuff or what, but I woke up only an hour before you."

He looked away. "I'm sorry… it's inappropriate for me to look at you like this."

"It's… it's okay…" She instinctively crossed her arms over her bra. "I know you wouldn't do anything… gah…" The wound ached terribly, and she clenched her teeth. "This pain…"

"I tired using Aqua Ring, but… well, there's only so much I can do. And they went into your organs. I can't do much about that."

"I'm…" She lay down again. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have trusted her. I didn't think that…"

Kai shook his head. "There's no point in blaming yourself."

"It's my fault that we're here. She knew that I trusted her."

"Kylie." The Vaporeon grabbed her shoulders. "It's not your fault. I should have been more cautious too."

"Do you know what's going to happen to us now?"

A brief expression of fear passed over his face. "I don't know. But we're still alive."

"What about the others?"

"I don't know. But if one of us got captured… I told them not to come after us. Those were the orders I told the guys."

"So we're stuck? With whatever they're going to do to us?"

Kai looked around. "A little… I think… well, there's a few things that I have in mind. First… do you see a camera around?"

"I…" She looked around. "I don't…"

Kai groaned. "Damn…"

"You know that Absol… how do you know him?" asked Kylie.

He looked at her. "Avore? The one who attacked us?"

"You said something about being in the snowy mountains…"

He sighed. "I'll tell it to you." He sat down next to her, and she looked at the scars left from the battle a few nights back. They had healed remarkably quickly. "Avore… he's the current top assassin, and was the second ranked before I left."

"You…"

"We were rivals. He was the more hotheaded of us, and listened to orders very well."

"So you're rivals… but why does he hate you then?"

"The mountains in the Northwest… you know them. Snowy, and full of shrines and stuff. Some major terrorist organization operated from one of the mountains. We were sent in to finish them off. It was a routine mission. Avore knew I wouldn't kill, but I was better at getting inside. Sort of like what Jasmine and Grant did." He sighed. "We weren't given orders to kill them, so we disabled them. Then… it happened."

"What?"

"A child. I was going to let Avore finish them, since most of the time, when it's not specified, that's assumed. You take them out. But a little child was there, the child of the leader. He was a Houndour, and he wasn't at fault. I couldn't find it within me to let him see that."

Kylie stared at the ceiling, bright lights shining on her. "So you told him not to do it?"

"I suggested we bring him in. There was a rendezvous point on a town fairly close, and it would have been easy to get him there. We had already broken one of his ankles. But Avore didn't want to do that. So we argued. Eventually, we agreed to bring him back to the town."

"So what happened that made him hate you?"

"He tried to kill the Houndoom. The son was right there, and began to scream. We were on a cliff, and when that happened, we got into a grappling match." He looked away. "I threw him over the cliff."

Kylie was shocked. "So that's why you thought he was dead."

"It was a 300 foot cliff. I don't know how he survived, but… he wants me dead. I can't blame him."

"I…"

"I would try explaining it better, but it's hard. We had conflicting opinions, and it was to the point of me trying to protect a terrorist. But… well that's not all."

She tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Avore lost his older sister in a terrorist attack caused by the same group."

Kylie was quiet. Suddenly, the Absol wasn't that much different than her. Revenge driven. "Really…"

"He must have returned after I left the government, and they fixed him up to be stronger. He's part of a parallel program I imagine… but their focus is more on machine modifications." He sighed. "But that doesn't matter." He tentatively held a finger over the stitches. "May I see your wound?"

"Yes…" She flinched as he touched her.

"I'm just going to try was away a little bit of the blood." She watched his hand turn into a liquid and gently begin scraping away some blood. "This doesn't hurt, right?"

"No…" It hurt a little, but not enough for her to complain.

Finally, he said, "There… it looks a lot better."

"Thank you…"

The Vaporeon moved to her side, then lay down next to her. "Kylie… have you thought about what you would do after this?"

The two of them stared up at the white ceiling. "After this?"

"You know… once we get out?"

She laughed sadly. "Once we get out? That's a bright outlook."

"Come on. I'm trying my best to cheer you up."

She paused. "You asked me this before, right?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know…" She tapped her fingers on the cold ground. At least it wasn't warm. "I haven't thought about it since then."

"Come on. Play along at least."

She sighed. "Well… maybe… maybe visit the mountains."

"Mountains?" He seemed to think about it, then nodded. "That would be a nice place to live. Clean water… cool air…"

"Yeah…"

"I don't know. I've always wanted to do something normal once I escape."

She thought it would be nice to live somewhere where it snowed sometimes. "I don't know… I'd always thought that I'd be doing this forever… working for the government."

"You never thought about becoming a parent?"

"Well, especially with my sliced up ovaries… probably not… moreso now."

"Me neither," he admitted. "I'd always thought that I'd get a beach or lakeside house of something… and maybe fish once I left the government. I don't know. A place they wouldn't bother me really is all I'd hope for."

They both sighed. "We're screwed, aren't we?"

"Just believe."

Then the door opened, and four Pokemon with tazers and torches walked in. "No funny stuff. The professor called you."

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The others were all quiet. "I… I can't believe it…" murmured Aria. "Did… did they actually get captured?"

"I don't know," murmured Grant. He hung his head, and Jasmine leaned against him.

"Maybe-" began the Espeon, but Aaron interrupted her.

"Don't think about it," grumbled the Jolteon. "I know you're going to say we should go inside and try save them, but Kaita gave us very specific directions not to save another if we ever got captured."

"Kaita?" asked Aria.

William responded. "Kai's full name. Kylie May is Kylie's full name, but she uses part of it. Just like Kai."

"Kaita…"

"So what do you suggest we do?" said Aria, standing up. "We can't leave them. Who knows what they'll do to torture them into giving us information."

"They don't need too much information. They need data," murmured Aaron.

"What?"

"Data. They're attempting to compile data on us. We're all operating at high efficiency… but Kai and your sister… they're different genetically. They can adapt more easily, and are the most well rounded out of all of us." He brushed his blonde hair. "They're the ones with the highest potential… Kai was by accident really, and Kylie was intentional. Either way, their DNA is the strongest out of all of us."

"So what?"

"They're planning something really messed up," murmured Grant. "Aaron told us about it."

"Before you ask, I don't know what it is," said the Jolteon. "But…" He sighed. "This is just as painful for me as it is for all of you. They're our friends… family." He looked out the sea cave.

"You're thinking about something," said William.

"I've got something I need to talk to you about later… you… you won't like it," said the Jolteon. "But…"

"Tell me later. What are we going to do now?" said the Flareon, sounding curious but obviously trying to ignore it.

The Jolteon sighed. "I'm not going to say we go in after them or anything, but… I've got something that can help… maybe." He waved the other 5 over to his corner of the cave and pulled out a laptop. "I do have a few things… well…" He pulled up a screen. "This is a camera inside the facility's research lab."

"I… whoah…" Aria was quiet. "That's… new…"

There was a massive glass cylinder. It looked like a capsule from some sci-fi movie. Some orange liquid was inside of it. "Hmm? What is this?" murmured Aaron.

"That looks nasty…" murmured Jasmine.

In front of it stood the two blue-haired eons. The professor was showing them something. "Is there any way you can get sound?" asked Grant. "Like a microphone?"

"No. This is a camera that I installed a while back to keep track of how the others would train. So I can't hear what they are saying…" Aaron suddenly remembered something. "Oh shoots… Kai… I told him about right before we left the program! He… does he remember the camera is here?"

Aria grabbed Aaron. "He has to remember, right?"

"I don't know… he may be our leader, but… a lot has happened since then."

Kai turned around on the blurry screen looking up around the room. He said something, and Kylie stood next to him. She nodded before leaving the room, and Vaporeon ran after her.

"Aaron… you have to save them! Please!" Aria gripped his shoulders tight to the point of it being painful. "If you've got a heart… don't let me lose my sister!"

William dragged the Leafeon off of Aaron before resting a hand on his shoulder. "You were always fighting with us before. But now… I'll listen to you. I'm sure we all will."

Grant nodded, and Jasmine blinked. "If you want to save them… no, we want to save them. We cannot lose them."

"I cannot let my sister be tortured!" said Aria. "Please… let us save them!"

Aaron sighed, before saying, "I guess you're all right. Okay. Well, Kai and I have been planning for if this should ever happen."

William frowned. "Why was I never part of it?"

"You are part of it. But you wouldn't agree to it if I told you now."

"Hmph."

"But anyways, now that we've got three more as well…" Aaron thought about it. "I think this will work. We might just be able to save them. We'll split up into a group of three and a group of two. Aria and Grant will go inside to get them. The other three of us will distract them. I'll also open the doors."

"That's pretty vague," commented Jasmine.

"I'll give you more instructions. They don't seem to be in any immediate danger, but I know they need data on their cells in extreme conditions. I'll go over it tonight, and we'll do it tomorrow."

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

The Jolteon smiled, trying to appear confident. "Don't worry. We'll break them out. I'm certain."

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"I'm sorry…" Kylie heard the professor's voice in her head, repeating from what he had told them. "I have no choice. If I don't… my family will suffer."

She had trusted the professor, and still did even now. But… they had taken the Vaporeon away. "Cell testing," one of the white suits had said. "We need to find out some important information before…"

"Before what?"

But they had walked the Vaporeon away. "I'll be back, don't worry," he said.

He had been gone for almost three hours now though, and there had been no sign of anything. "I hope he's all right…" she murmured to herself. She sat on a small bed. Breaking out would have been easy, but the walls were equipped with what looked like flamethrowers or maybe tazers… or both. Either way, doing something stupid would be painful at the least. It looked both Vaporeon and Glaceon proof.

Then the door opened, and the Vaporeon fell forward. "Nngh…" His body was shaking, and his eyes looked dull. He didn't look like himself.

"Kai!"

The door closed as she rushed to him. He had gotten his clothes back, but sweat drenched them. "Kylie?" He pushed himself up, arms shaking. "Oh good… I'd thought…"

"Thought what?"

"They'd go after you."

"What happened?"

"They collected some… nghh… data…"

"What?"

"Magnezone session… urf…" He fell to his side, unconscious.

"Kai!"

Next chapter will be big! Read and review!