Secrets Exposed
Part 3 : Back to Cinnabar
By Freakachu

"How is everything?" A man with dark green hair who looked to be in his mid-30's asked as he walked into the room. He adjusted the collar on the white lab coat he wore. In the wall to the far right was a mirror sided window, so they could see in the room beyind, but the young subject on the other side would only see her reflection.

"Everything is going smoothly. Glad we got her back or we'd have to start over again with a new one." The younger man nodded in the direction of the window. His light purple hair swished as he moved his head.

"Well, Leander, it took us 3 years to get to where we were before we found her missing. Looked like a 5 year old when she was 3 though, so the injections were working. Another couple of years should do it, then Giovanni will finally have what he wants. Are you still giving her the injections?" The green haired man questioned.

Leander nodded.

"Three times a day. You were here the day they brought her in, to the day she escaped, Remus. Tell me, was she really only four when they brought her back?"

Remus picked up some papers from the table Leander was seated at, and flipped through them. There were also photos of the subject, at various times in her life stages. He pointed to one of the pages.

"The human-meowth hybrid is named Nyarthashi, of course, you already knew that. She was only a year and a half old when we got her. After succesfully splicing her genes with the meowth's, we started the injections to make her mature faster. Giovanni wanted a Rocket member who was fast, strong, and stealthy. He said choose whatever pokemon we desired, as long as it met the requirements. He wanted her ASAP, so we decided to speed the growth rate with the injections. She ran off about 3 years back, at that time she was only 3 years of age and looked 5. Two of Giovanni's team members found her and brought her back, but I don't believe she had escaped by herself. They also brought back what appeared to be a new type of pokemon. We ran a few tests on it, and discovered it to be an all-type pokemon named Freakachu. Giovanni by that time knew we had chosen a meowth to be the gene donor for Nyarthashi, but he insisted that we splice the Freakachu into her as well." He held up a picture of a rainbow pikachu type pokemon, which looked very unhappy in a cage.

Through Remus's long speel, Leander just sat and listened with awe. He was a new scientist in the field and had only been there a month.

"If you spliced the all-type pokemon into Nyarthashi, why doesn't it show? All I can see is meowth." Leander asked.

"Unfortunatly, we never had the chance. The pokemon escaped, under my watch. The little devil bit me, then escaped out the window! But if we had gotten the chance to make Nyarthashi better with the Freakachu, she would be unstoppable, powerful even. How old does she look now?"

Leander pondered that for a minute.

"Well, I'd say about 10 or 12." He finally answered.

Remus grinned.

"She's only 6. By the time she's 9, she'll have the stature and educaton of an18 or 19 year old. But the best thing is, the girl she was with when Vera and Sergio found her, was the girl who owned the Freakachu. She has 6 more, so we have another chance! The bad news is, we have no idea where this girl lives."

Misty sat up grogily. The night before brought a smile to her face. Jumping off a cliff was the dumbest things Ash had ever done, but he had done it for that girl. Misty didn't think he'd ever do that for her. Thinking of which, she turned to where Lilja was sleeping, and saw that she wasn't there. Not her, not her sleeping bag. Sharply turning her head to where the group left their bags in a pile, she noticed that Lilja's was gone. She hoped that Lilja wasn't in the woods somewhere, gettin a bug to scare her with. After last night, Misty expected some sort of revenge for what had said to Lilja. Misty turned her head, and something caught her eye. There, over by the log. It looked like a piece of paper. She squirmed over, still half in her sleeping bag and picked it up. It was damp from the dew, and the writing was slightly smudged.

" I'm sorry you guys, but I have to leave. I'm going back to Cinnabar to take over my Uncles job as Gym Leader. To Ash, I will miss you greatly. Maybe someday we will see each other again. What I said to you last night I meant. I hope you don't hate me for being outright. It seems you like Misty more than I thought. I was starting to really like you alot, but I see that it doesn't matter to you. That's one of the reasons I'm leaving.

Forever yours,
Lilja "

Misty chuckled to herself.

'So she left, eh? Makes it easier for me, now that she's not in the way. I love Ash more than she or anyone else can.'

She crumpled the note up and stuffed it in her little red backpack.

"Chuuuuuu." The multicolored chu felt as unhappy as it's trainer looked. It waddled along beside her as she walked, practically dragging her knapsack on the gound. It was late, she had been walking for two days. Stuck in the forest, and no light to see by.

"Whats the matter, Freaka? I'm tired, we're going back to Cinnabar,ok?" She said, a little angrily. Freakachu flattened it's ears against its head and looked pittiful.

"Freakaaaaaa..."

Lilja sighed.

"I didn't mean to snap at you. Going with Ash, Brock and Misty was a mistake. I should have stayed in Cinnabar."

"Freakachu, freaka fre, chu chu chuuuuu!" Freakachu was trying to tell her something, waving it's arms around and making a deal of something. Teleport! It was saying. Remember, you can teleport!

Lilja hadn't forgotten that she could teleport. The last time she had, she had scared the crap out of Nyarthashi. Of course, Lilja was only eight at the time, and could never teleport long distances. It used up too much of her energy.

"I can't, it's too far." She explained to the rodent.

Freakachu slapped her backpack.

"Freakachu, freakachu, freakachu!"

"Freakachu, eh? That's right, you can teleport. But doesn't it use up alot of your energy?"

Freakachu kept slapping her backpack. Lilja, understanding at last what it was Freakachu meant, took seven rainbow pokeballs out of her backapack. Tossing them on the ground, out came five Freakachu and two Taichu.

"That's a great idea Freakachu." Try as she might, she couldn't make herself sound even remotely cheerful.

The Taichu and Freakachu started chittering with one another and a couple seconds later, they had all combined their teleportation powers, and Lilja found herself in a new place. A quick glance around in the dark told her that she was in her backyard. Quickly she recalled her pokemon, and slumped down on the cool dark grass. The past few days events played in her mind and soon she found herself in tears again. She sat sobbing on the ground for a couple minutes. Maybe a hot shower would make her feel better. Her long dark red hair felt dirty, so maybe she should wash up, even though it was 4 in the morining.

She opened the door as quietly as possible, but the door squeaked like the dickens. She stepped into the front hall and immediately her sweater caught on something. It was a sweater Blaine had given her. He said that her mother knitted it for herself, but then just before she died, gave it to him to give to Lilja when she was big enough to wear it. She tugged at the red garment to loosen it and heard a small ripping sound.

"Shit!" She'd had it for a while, even before she started on her journey. It was the only thing of her mothers that she ever had. Once again, this seemed too much, and she started sniffling again. All of a sudden, brightness enveloped her, and she felt like a deer in headlights. Someone was in the house besides her! Before her eyes could adjust to the light change, a familiar voice rang out.

"Lilja? Is that you? My, you are a mess."

Lilja blinked twice and looked up.

"Uncle Blaine?"

"Didn't you leave with that boy and his friends quite a while ago? I thought you were acompanying them on their journey."

Tears filled her eyes, and she took a step toward him, and threw her arms around his waist.

"Uncle Blaine, they didn't want me there!" She choked.

He hesitated, then hugged her back. He had never felt fatherly toward her, he didn't have to, he was her uncle.

"It's okay, Lil. You can go on your own journey."

Lilja looked up at her uncle, confused.

"But I already have, and I got 7 badges. Remember? I left when I was eight." She reminded him. Old age has a tendancy to make you forget, she pondered. He's going senile. She thought it with affection dispite the fact that it might be the truth. He was also going bald, and was already grey, what hair he had left. "I want to stay and help you with the gym. Can I become the gym leader?"

Blaine held her by the shoulders at an arms lenght.

"You're growing up, faster than I know what to do with you. You can't just stay around here all your life, as much as I want you around. There's another league you can enter." He explained.

Lilja brightened a tiny bit, although she was tired enough to fall asleep right there, and still felt terrible now that she thought Ash didn't like her.

"Really? Where is it?"

"You look beat, in more ways than one. Get some sleep and we'll talk about it in the morning, ok?" Blaine responded.

Lilja nodded, and toted her things up to her room.

The space was small, not spacious enough for someone around the age of twelve to run around in. The person who occupied the space wasn't twelve, however, but six. So instead of running around, banging on the walls like she did when she was put in this room, she sat and put together a puzzle. Like a four year old would do. There were also blocks, coloring books and crayons. There wasn't anything in the room for a twelve year old to play with, but rather boring toddler toys. She looked toward the giant mirror on the far wall.

'They think I don't know that's a window that they're watching me through? Bakani. I know alot more than they think.'

Nyarthashi could never forget the girl who had once saved her from this hell. But then they had found her and brought her back. Everyday, she suffered the numerous injections. She used to struggle with the man who did them, but finally gave up. After all, she was feeling stronger every waking day. All the time, she was planning her escape again. She carefully fit a sky printed cardboard piece into the remaining put together sky in the puzzle.

In a little while, maybe a week, she'd make her move and escape. They'd be the first to die.