A/N: Useless status update: I got my angry pizza—which was delicious—and got my game the next day. And now for something completely different.

Chapter 11: Cenric

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Cenric opened his eyes, blinking away tears from the swirling lights that spotted his vision. The speckles coalesced into a single, blinding disk directly above him. It made his eyes ache, so he turned his head to the side, staring into the dark expanse. Strands of hair lodged themselves in his eyes from the movement, but when he reached to push them out of his face couldn't move his wrist. He jerked at his wrist again, but it wouldn't move. It felt like a bracelet? Something clicked in Cenric's head, and suddenly everything felt colder. Not a bracelet. Restraints.

Experimentally, he tugged as his feet, finding them in the same condition. Fear bubbled up in his stomach, clawing at his throat and trying to force a scream. Cenric suppressed it as best he could, trying to worm his fingers out. The restraints were too tight and wouldn't budge an inch.

He looked around, starting to panic. The bright overhead light was keeping his eyes from adjusting to the blackness that surrounded him. The room smelled chemical, but there was a disquieting sweet scent of an aftertaste.

Cenric swallowed, trying to get the taste out of him mouth. His eyes widened. He tasted blood. His entire body ached, and his head pounded, but…? He frowned again in confusion. His stomach just felt tingly and numb. He shifted a little, bare skin brushed against the cool metal surface the restraints strapped him to. He shivered, becoming keenly aware he wasn't wearing a shirt. He could still feel his pants, but why no shirt? Goose bumps stretched his skin taught as another round of shivers wracked his frame.

He lifted his head as best he could, violet eyes trailing down his exposed torso until they stopped on his stomach. He froze.

"That's a lot of blood," he whispered, mesmerized by the sight of his bright red abdomen. Suddenly the room spun and blackness ate at the corners of his vision. He rested his sweating head back down on the table and breathed deeply, eyes pressed closed. This was bad. Whatever drugs they put him on were working since he couldn't feel any pain, but that much bleeding was not good.

How in the world had he gotten that? He didn't rem—Oh…Castelia. Hilton. Noël. Cyan. Memories rushed into his throbbing head of a burning city, missing gym leaders, and dark hotel hallways. Wait! His pokémon! They-! They'd been taken from him after his initial capture. His insides clenched, tying themselves into sick knots. Once Reliance took away a trainer's pokémon, they never came back. Even older memories surfaced in his head from a week ago before his defection. He'd been in the process of planning his escape, but he couldn't let any of the other grunts know. They asked him to take her pokémon away. He didn't want to, but they were watching. All eyes, watching.

A looming-figure shattered his recollection. A middle-aged doctor wearing a surgical mask and long blue robe pressed two fingers to an earpiece, speaking into empty space, "He's awake."

"What are you doing to me?" yelled Cenric, twisting and writhing under the leather restraints.

"Trying to fix you," the doctor said in a mildly annoyed voice.

"Fix me‽" Cenric sputtered, "You're experimenting on me!"

An artery throbbed in the surgeon's neck, "I haven't had enough coffee for this," he growled, storming out of the room. Cenric watched him leave, the white light from the hallway lit the room for a second, before the door slid shut. There was his way out. Cenric worked at the restraint on his right wrist. If he could just get one hand out-!

"I'd stop that if I were you," said a cool voice. Cenric jumped at its proximity. A woman stood just in the gap between light and darkness. Cenric was sure she hadn't been in the room before, but that could only mean she snuck up on him.

"I bet you'd like that wouldn't you," spat Cenric, struggling even more violently.

"You'll pop your stitches," she said, taking a step forward into the light. Her face had deep rivets, crow's feet and frown lines. Signs she hadn't taken ageing well. Her eyes were hard and calculating, but in the light it was impossible to tell the color. She wore an unfamiliar black uniform, pristine and crisp in its presentation. Her long white-blonde hair maintained equal control with not a strand daring to move out of place. She stood upright, chest out and hands clasped behind her back militarily. This was a woman who knew what she wanted and was perfectly capable of getting it. There was something about her presence that was more frightening than the doctor.

"I won't be your next science project!" Cenric shouted, as phantoms images of Hilton's mutations flashed before his eyes. She actually smiled at that.

"That's not very nice to say to the people who are helping you," she said.

"Helping me‽" Cenric laughed bitterly. "I know how Reliance works! You're transplanting-!"

"Unfortunately," she interrupted, "you were injured in your battle. Our top surgical doctor is treating you."

Cenric laughed, a hollow sound. "Ah, yes. Being strapped to a metal table in the middle of a doctor is obviously standard medical procedure. Oh, and I'm sure kidnapping trainers-"

She interjected, " There was a miscommunication, between—"

But Cenric cut back in, "You're trying to tell me Reliance kidnapping and experimenting people, then attacking trainers was a misunderstanding‽ How stupid do you think I am? I used to be a grunt, you know" Cenric spat venomously.

"You honestly believe Reliance kidnaps people and experiments on them? That was the actions of a few, and as I said before, a miscommunication. The supervisors of those compounds have been appropriately punished," she said, unphased by his outbursts.

"You think a slap on the hand makes this all better‽ What about my missing pokémon? What about Hilton‽ He's stuck like that! What about Claire? Oh, and don't think I don't know about Dialga!" he shouted. She blinked in surprise about his mention of Dialga, but quickly regained control of her face.

"I assure you, we will have your pokémon returned to you as soon as possible. I do not know who Hilton is, but our scientist are working on ways to reverse—"

"So you admit to the human experimentation!" said Cenric, triumphant gleam in his eye and a smirk on his mouth. But when the woman smiled back, his fell.

"That was never a secret. Though the media loves to vilify Reliance, some of our various operations do benefit both humans and pokémon. Our current batch of testing was only to be done on volunteers for the express purpose of—" she was stopped by Cenric's chuckling.

"Arceus, not even the gossip mags would believe that piece of bulls—" she cut him off, eyes narrowing.

"So you should know, as an insider, that as dubious as our methods seem, we have humanity's best interest at heart," she said carefully.

"Experimentation‽ Capturing legendary pokémon‽ How does that help humanity? How does experimenting on me help me in any way‽" he asked, face contorting into a snarl.

Her face darkened for a moment, before she could force the smile back, "I believe I've already stated that you are not being experimented on. That injury happened when you surprised one of your fellow grunts. A deeply regrettable incident that I've am going to great lengths to remedy."

He spit in her direction, though it landed painfully close to his own face thanks to his supine position. "Pull the other one," he snarled. She raised her gloved hand high in the air, ready to slap him across the face, but the door opened and the doctor rushed in.

"Oh! C-Commander, I didn't know-!" he stuttered, seeing the woman.

"Some things need to be taken care of personally," she said saccharinely, placing a hand on Cenric's arm. He tried to jerk her off, but she held firm. The woman leaned in close, a strand of hair fell over his shoulder and brushed Cenric's collarbone. He shivered.

"You're a fool for trusting in your pokémon," she whispered into his ear, "They're simple-minded animals, and they'll abandon you. And remember, all that time ago you chose us. Your friends, your family, and your precious League won't forget that."

Withdrawing, she addressed the doctor. "The procedure is completed?" she asked, glancing towards Cenric's bloody stomach.

"Well, I have to clean it and dress it, then antibiotics and pain medication, but after that, yes. He's done." He said, grabbing a small gauze pad. She nodded, and twisted around, striding for the door.

"Cyan is waiting outside. Make use of her when it's time to show him to his room," she called, stepping out into the hallway.

"Wait! My room! You're keeping me here‽ After all that "we're not evil" stuff she spewed?" Cenric said. The doctor ignored him, wiping the blood off Cenric's skin. He worked away at cleaning and dressing the wound while Cenric glared at him, and any other object in his line of vision.

"This is illegal! When the League finds out about this-!" Cenric started.

"Illegal how, young man? Because so far a licensed doctor has treated a wounded patient for free," he said, trailing off into a mumble, " I told her a lower level doctor would be fine for this. Just sutures, but nooo, she had to rip me from my important work…" He taped a large gauze pad in place over the wound, and looked up at Cenric, "Keep this dry and clean for the next 24 hours, after that you can do gentle washes with antibacterial soap," he said before returning to his grumbling.

"And after a week or two then you'll experiment on me," Cenric said, eyes narrowed.

At that the doctor dropped his tools in frustration and yelled, "Cyan!" A shadow lingering at the doorway entered, coming up to the table.

She was a young woman, early twenties maybe, but there was just something off about her. Her blue eyes were clouded over like a cataract. Her etiolated skin scarcely covered the web of green arteries and veins beneath, and her straight platinum blonde hair hung lifelessly from her scalp. It was like she was a shell of a person. A husk.

"Can you help the boy to his room? He may have trouble walking," the doctor said, untying Cenric's restraints. Cenric waited patiently for the leather strap to fall loose, the he swung and punched the doctor in the nose, sending him stumbling back. Cenric jumped up, scrambling to undo the strap on his other arm.

"Oww oww, Cyan, stop him!" the doctor said, holding his nose, blood trickling down in his mouth. Cyan reached for her belt, unhooking a slick ultra ball and tossing into the air. A strange green and black bird materialized near the operation table.

"Xatu, use Thunder Wave," she said dully. Xatu opened its wings, releasing a spark of blue electricity from its mouth. Cenric tried to dodge, but the spark found him like a heat seeking missile, vanishing into the center of his chest. Cenric fell still.

"Great, how long is that going to last?" asked the doctor, pinching his nose shut, but failing to stop the blood.

"Ten minutes or less," she said, face blank and voice dead.

The doctor nodded, "Can you take him to his room? I need to go take care of this," he said, eyes crossing to look at his nose. Silently, Cyan moved over to the table. She unbuckled the restraints without a glance towards Cenric's face. He could already feel the paralysis fading around his mouth, maybe he could surprise her, over power her, then escape.

She went down to undo the straps near his ankles. Cenric twitched his big toe. Yes, that might work! He'd have to wait until they were alone…

She grabbed both of his legs, and swung them over the side of the table, letting them dangle into space. Xatu hopped over, placing her body against Cenric to support him as Cyan dragged the rest of him off the table. He was surprised to find the woman was actually capable of supporting his weight, well, most of it. The paralysis had worn off enough on his legs for him to put some of his weight on them.

Together they stumbled out of the room into the narrow white hallway, Xatu trailing behind.

"Why?" Cenric couldn't help himself from asking, though it came out rather strained because of his partially locked jaw.

Her eyes flicked to him, betraying nothing.

"Weren't you supposed to be the leader? Why are you taking orders? Why are you helping her?" Cenric persisted, thoughts flashing back to the intimidating Commander. All this time she'd been the real head of Reliance if the doctor's and admin's treatment of her was anything to go by, but what did that make Cyan? A figurehead? For who's sake then?

Cyan didn't answer Cenric's initial questions, so he continued, "I only talked to her for a minute, but even I can tell she's insane! Reliance is insane! How can you stand by as they kidnap and experiment on people? Whatever their "humanitarian" goals are, this is not that way to reach them. Any sane person can see that!"

No answer. She dragged him down and hallway, towards an unmarked door at the end of the corridor. Cenric flexed his hand, trying to regain control faster. They reached the door, and Cyan grabbed the card key around her neck, reaching out towards the lock. Now! Cenric struggled, pushing her aside. He got two steps away before a blue aura surrounded him, once again freezing him in place. If he could curse, he would.

Xatu turned him around in midair, eyes glowing blue with psychic power. Cyan righted herself without missing a beat and swiped her card key. The door slid open, revealing a small room, sparsely furnished. It looked like a prison.

Cyan stepped inside, and Xatu levitated Cenric body after her. The pokémon floated Cenric over to the bed, and released her psychic hold.

He fell onto the mattress with an "oomphf" and the fall immediately sent, waves of soreness up his bruised body, and made his stomach twinge distantly, the pain still held at bay by whatever numbing agent they'd given him. He exhaled deeply. His strength was drained. That would be the last escape attempt for now.

Cyan turned towards the door to leave, but a dark figure appeared in it before she could exit. Cenric scowled. That awful commander woman was back.

She addressed Cyan with a disdainful look on her face, "Change of plans. The base is being evacuated. The police are getting—" she stopped, looking up at Cenric, "Our guest needs to be relocated."

Cenric sneered. Guests. Yeah right.

"Where?" Cyan asked.

The Commander's eyes darted over to Cenric, and she smiled.

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A/N: Short chapter, but I like to at least try to split POV switches if possible. Thoughts about Cyan after this revelation? Who is this strange pasty woman after all? Do you think Cenric will be okay?

Fun Fact: Cenric only has the first four gym badges from Sinnoh.