Chapter forty-six: Guinea Pig

The break of dawn…

I open my eyes to meet the sun's welcoming rays. Last night was colder than usual...I guess that's why the fireplace is here…we're next to water, so I guess it's colder because of that. The logs were not replaced and were ashes by the time Orion, Rigel and I drifted to sleep.

I get out of bed, stretching my tiny yellow arms before walking up to the window beside me. I immediately catch eye of somebody down by the garden surrounding the cottage: it's Bill, and he appears to be spraying repel to keep pests and unwanted Pokémon away. He is wearing a straw-hat on his head and a patterned flannel. He lifts his head to look around, and actually catches sight of me, and I immediately pull away from the window. Bill just simply shrugs and returns to work. This is already a creepy day for me...

It isn't long before the others wake up and we all head down to meet Bill once again for breakfast. Afterwards we are led straight to his laboratory where we gather around the researcher. Bill's lab is a lot like Professor Oak's lab in Pallet Town, but the difference here is that stone covers the walls and there are two large, and strange, egg-shaped devices, or pods, against one of the walls in the room.

Bill and I get right to work as the family lounges nearby. Orion, however, watches the entire thing in silence, never seeming to take his eyes away. Bill first takes a sample just like Oak and runs the same tests on a special machine. Then, he examines me by putting me in a scanner of sorts, like an MRI, to look for anomalies.

As time passes, it becomes ever so clear that Bill, just like Professor Oak and his team, is having problems trying to figure out Bartoli's formula.

Speaking of Oak, he had called George not too long afterwards: saying how difficult it was trying to concoct a cure for me...

For the past few days, he and his associates had tried everything, and now it seems like they had given up...can this be true? Does this...does this mean Bill is my last remaining hope to becoming human once more? I shudder at the thought...what if Bill can't...no...I've got to remain positive! M-maybe Oak just needs more data or something, maybe he needs Bartoli herself to help with the cure!

Then it dawned on me: Bartoli. I asked about the wicked scientist yesterday as an option to help with my recovery. I don't think Bill has made contact yet, so I decided to ask him right now about it…

The researcher turns to me after I get his attention…

"Did you...call Bartoli?" I asked him about Bartoli as my human speech continues to improve each day. The man turns away as my ear flops to the side...I wait for his answer...and hope he says yes…

"I...um...do you know where she is currently being held, Lucas" he inquires while I scratch my small chin and think to myself.

Actually no, I say in deep thought, I guess we'll just have to check to see where they're holding the mad doctor…

I suggest to Bill that we could possibly narrow our search to Viridian City or Pewter by phone or video-link; the man seems to agree with this plan, but first he needed to acquire information from the authorities.

By this time, George and the others, including Orion, had exited the lab and were somewhere else, so it is just Bill and I. He makes a call to Viridian first, and right off the bat he finds her. The scientist introduces himself and explains the situation in a manner that wouldn't expose me or my predicament. The other person on the phone had asked several questions as to why Bill was calling, but eventually, with enough info provided from Bill, the officer agreed to schedule an interview with Bartoli by video link.

By now I was excited! Could this turn everything around now!? Everything appeared to be falling into place, and soon Bartoli would give us enough data to help Bill turn me back into my old self! I am so excited, that I didn't seem to notice sparks coming off my red cheeks. The human next to me notices and yelps as he gets slightly shocked, "Lucas!"

I immediately stop jumping up and down, lowering my excitement level to stop the sparks and I put an arm behind my back in embarrassment, "sorry Bill..."

...

Bill spends most of the day studying algorithms and charts he had made from what he found from my blood tests. Even though I couldn't follow all the technical stuff, it seemed to me that Bill was making progress.

When it got to the time that the man was too tired to work anymore, he stood up from his desk and said to me, "I'm sure that with Bartoli's help during the interview, I can find the key to reversing the effects of the formula in your bloodstream. We'll just have to wait until the interview the day after tomorrow, I hope that's okay with you Lucas?"

I nod to Bill in agreement.

And so, the day ends and we leave the lab for dinner in the dining room where everyone, including the family, gathers. Today the food is less than a feast and more casual than before with some rice noodles and vegetables to satisfy our stomachs. The day ends soon afterwards and we all retreat to our bedrooms for the night. As everyone surrenders themselves to nightly dreams, once again I am unable to follow them, and I stay awake as a result. The crescent moon rises up from the ocean floor to fill the night sky. As I stare blankly at the celestial object, a particular mouse walks up behind me, but this time I don't notice him until he taps my shoulder.

I don't even need to turn around and find out who it is because he always does this: it's Orion.

"H-hey Lucas" he silently mutters as I turn around to meet him, "Orion" I greet him softly and simply.

"I just-I just wanted to say...say how sorry I am to have been so selfish this whole time with you" the Pikachu exclaims softly.

"Hmm" I give a look of 'what do you mean' to him, tilting my head to the side as my long straight ear drops toward the same direction.

He gives a long winded sigh to me, "you were right...I felt disappointment when you would try to change back into a human, but you deserve to be happy again...to be HUMAN again. Rigel, my human parents and I will be behind you every step of the way on your road to regaining your true form" Orion assured me as I paused momentarily.

Soon enough though, I return with an amiable reply, "it's alright Orion. I appreciate it, but I should apologize too…" I say this as he tilts his head in confusion, "I reacted harshly towards you, I'm sorry too."

Orion slumps to the ground, drooping both ears before giving another long sigh, "I guess we both need a major change in our lives. It's just...I dunno..." the Pikachu shakes his head as I playfully roll my eyes to him, "just quit it already" I retort.

"You're right, I shouldn't be melodramatic, that's YOUR job" Orion drops his act and gives a smug grin on his face as I put my hands on my hips and shake my head to him in a playful way. He shrugs afterwards, going back to a neutral tone:

"But yea...you're good Lucas, I just don't want to leave on bad terms" Orion adds as I raise my brows to him.

"What do you mean?"

Orion looks up to me and gives a slight shrug, "I just want us to still be friends when our journey ends...human and Pokémon...heck...it might not be so bad...maybe Rigel and I will visit you when we eventually leave Kanto for other leagues"

"Maybe...we'll just have to see what happens" I finish.

I sit next to him, joining him by the window where the moon has risen somewhat into the night sky. After sometime, the shorter Pikachu, still wearing his blue good luck charm around his neck, "Lucas..."

I turn to the mouse, my ears perked up, "yea?"

"Do you really think Bartoli will help you after everything that has happened" Orion asks.

I fold my arms to this question in response, "Does she really have a choice? She made the formula that turned me into a Pokémon. It isn't crazy to think she is the one who is most qualified to change me back...I mean...think about all the data she must have on it and how much it can help Bill" I explain.

"I guess that makes sense" Orion thinks to himself for a few moments, "but...what about us...what if they find us again...Team Rocket I mean..."

"Bartoli is in jail and Team Rocket is probably done for...since the whole thing at the research base and prison outpost they seemed to have vanished altogether. Plus, we're pretty far away from Viridian in a secluded spot...there's no way they'll be able to find us all the way out here unless we tell them..." I finish, lying down on the floor before Orion joins in.

Orion turns his head to me, "We'll just have to wait and see, right Lucas?"

"Right..." I finish.

...

Close to Viridian City in a jail complex not too far from the skyline: where guards and Pokémon patrol the inside and outside of the building. In the darkness of one of the cold and damp cells is me: the Team Rocket scientist...Doctor Sarah Bartoli. I've been in this rotting place for too darn long, though...it's given me time to reflect: to think about everything that has happened these past few weeks.

Preston and his lackeys have gone way over their heads with everything. Preston put Cy and Km's lives at risk! I had to do what I had to do to make sure those kids would survive the carnage at Outpost 3C 273…

I just hope those kids are okay...

Me, personally...I'm now in this cell...probably going to spend the rest of my life here...now that I think about it...being in here long enough...it's made me realize what I was doing to all the Pokémon and people I experimented on: how I locked them in cages and subjected them to so much torture. Now, I'm living their nightmare…

My thoughts had drifted towards Lucas...the first person I transformed into a Pokémon for my experiments...why did it take me so long to realize what I was doing...all it took was for me to live the same way…

Oh Giovanni...brother...why did it have to come to this? We were on the verge of finding greatness in the world...create a new world for Team Rocket...bring Kanto and Johto into a new era, but now everything has fallen apart for us all.

Dang it Preston, why did you have to force me to submit Cy and Km to your agenda? We should have just let them leave Team Rocket peacefully…

Suddenly, the ground around me vibrates...it's pretty faint, but soon it intensifies! The floor shakes violently as everything around me falls down or breaks. I hear men yelling outside and explosions abruptly place me on the floor as I start to hear an intense battle outside! What the heck is going on!?

Then, the wall behind me crumbles all of a sudden as several men pour in my cell carrying tranquilizers guns and Poké balls. They are wearing familiar attire that I immediately recognize.

One of the grunts couches next to me and asks, "Dr. Sarah Bartoli, we've come for you."

The delight on my face shows as I stand up. I'm being rescued! Giovanni must be outside waiting for me! I follow the grunts out as I look around: fire is widespread as chaos dominates the landscape, reminding me of the battle of Outpost 3C 273. It is because of this that I waste no time leaving this place. I am escorted towards a truck, one I imagine I will be carried away in to safety. I'll be out of this ugly orange jumpsuit and back in my lab coat...ready to take revenge on Preston for his crime. As I wait to be placed in, the truck door opens and my wide smile...quickly vanishes as a look of horror replaces it.

It's not my brother waiting for me in the truck...it's Anthony Preston!

Preston looks down at me and gives a quite sinister chuckle and a wide grin, "Hello Bartoli...please, come in"

I am forcibly taken away from the jail: no longer a prisoner of the police...but now a prisoner of somebody far...far worse…

I am now Preston's guinea pig now…

...

What a tough chapter: Bartoli is now under the custody of Anthony Preston...her former associate turned leader of a new faction of Team Rocket. What is going to happen next?