Author's Note: Whew, I finally got this out! Sorry for it being a little late and a little short, but I had some major writer's block. Anyway, we get to see a new character, who belongs to Myuu, a guy who plays on my eGroups RPG. This is the part where the characters are all forced down the path less traveled (hence the title). Well, hope you enjoy, and sorry again for it being so short.
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to someone who is not me, nor any of the people associated with this fic. Varia and The Reaper belong to me, all the other characters belong to their respective creators. Don't use them without permission.
Chapter 4—The Path Less Traveled
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
--Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
"Varia? Varia, are you okay?"
With a groan, the girl rolled on her side and swatted in the general direction of the voice. She had a splitting headache and just wanted to sleep.
"Hey, wake up. Come on, Varia, stay with me."
"Go 'way," she mumbled.
"Her pulse is becoming erratic again," a different voice said. "You've got to get her to wake up more or she could slip into a coma." The voices were starting to sound fuzzy and far away, but Varia didn't care. She just wanted to sleep. She could feel her consciousness start to slip away…
"Varia!" the first voice shouted practically in her ear. Suddenly, Varia thought she recognized the voice. But it couldn't be him, he was off in Johto. She opened her eyes slightly and saw a boy leaning over her. He had gray eyes and white hair and a fresh scar running from just above his right eye to the end of his cheek.
Varia nearly jumped up at the sight of the familiar face. "Kyle!" she exclaimed as the last of the haze cleared from her mind. "Kyle, what are you doing here? Where'd you get that scar?" Then, realizing someone was holding her wrist on her other side, Varia turned her head to see who it was. It was Sarena, who was busy checking Varia's pulse.
"Okay, it's beating normally now. I think you should be okay," the younger girl said. Varia gave her a slight nod and turned back to Kyle.
"Kyle, what happened to you?" she asked again, brushing her fingers along the scar.
"I was attacked in Johto by Team Rocket," he explained simply. "They wanted me to join them, and when I refused they tossed me into this cell. I don't know what they're going to do with me now." The boy smiled, then gave Varia a concerned look. "But what happened to you?"
"I'm not really sure. I was attacked by a Tauros, ended up in a hospital, and the rest is kind of foggy. All I know now is that I've got a terrible headache." She noticed that Kyle still looked bothered by something. "What is it? Is something else wrong?"
"You mean, you don't know?" he asked. "You haven't looked in a mirror recently?"
"She just got them when Mewtwo attacked her," Sarena interjected.
"Got what? What are you talking about?" Varia asked, slightly annoyed.
"Put your hand on top of your head," Kyle instructed. "You'll know then."
Varia gave him a questioning glance, but did as she was told. She placed her hand on top of her head and was surprised to find something new there, two things specifically. Varia felt two soft, pointed structures on her head. She ran her fingers along them and noticed that she could feel herself touch them, as if they were part of her body. Then she realized what they were—ears. She had two catlike ears on top of her head. Varia's expression turned to one of horror. She tried to stand up but tripped over something wrapped around her legs. She looked down and saw that it was a long, thin pink tail. Her tail.
"Oh my god…" she choked out.
"Mewtwo somehow changed you physically," Sarena stated. "I think those are Mew ears and a Mew tail."
Varia didn't answer right away. She was trying to keep her hands from shaking so much. The girl could feel the panic starting to rise up in her gut. She began to ramble, "Oh my god, this can't be happening. I can't really have these ears and tail. I just wanted to be normal, have a normal life working at the gym. Oh god, what's my boss going to say? What's he going to do?! What if…What if he fires me?! I can't go back to living on the streets again! I just can't!" Her voice rose hysterically as she babbled in fear and confusion.
"Varia, get a hold of yourself!" Kyle shouted. The girl tried to stop raving, so she took several deep breaths to calm herself. She looked up into Kyle's gray eyes and felt a little more at ease.
"Okay, now that that's settled, how about worrying about our present location?" Sarena asked pointedly. Varia looked around for the first time and realized that they were in some sort of prison cell. Sarena noticed the other girl's confusion and explained, "Apparently you and I weren't supposed to meet up with that Mewtwo thing. The boss found us, had someone knock me out, then tossed us down here: the holding cells for research specimens. Your friend was here when I woke up." She indicated Kyle, who was giving her a shocked look.
"What do you mean by 'research specimens'?" he asked.
"What I mean is, we're going to be poked and prodded by scientists until we either die or become useless to them. You see, Team Rocket doesn't have any qualms about experimenting on human beings."
"Team Rocket?!" Varia exclaimed in horror. "They're that evil gang! How'd they get us?"
Sarena rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! Don't you know that your boss, the Viridian gym leader, is the head of Team Rocket?" At Varia's silence and downcast eyes, Sarena understood. "So, you never knew, did you?"
"I—I just wanted a steady job so I wouldn't have to live on the streets anymore," Varia answered tearfully. Then she turned to Kyle. "You were right. I should've found out more about who I was working for. God, I can't believe I never even knew his name!"
"Look, I hate to break up this little moment you two are having, but we've got to figure out how to escape before we end put strapped down to a lab table," Sarena stated. Then she walked over to the cell door and crouched in front of the lock, examining it.
"Are you going to pick the lock?" Varia asked.
"Even if I did have the right tools for the job, I don't think I could do it. I never really learned how," she explained. Then she stood up and turned to the other two prisoners. "Why don't you try something?" she said to Varia.
"Me? What can I do?"
"Mewtwo said you had special powers. Why don't you use them?"
Varia's eyes widened at the mention of Mewtwo. "No, he was wrong. I don't have any special powers. He must've been crazy, anyway, saying that I was related to him."
"Then what about the ears and tail?" Sarena asked pointedly. "He used a psychic attack on you, but there's no way it could've just created those if you didn't already have the DNA for it."
Now Varia looked angry. Her Mew-ears flattened against the top of her head and her tail lashed angrily. "I'm not a freak, dammit! I'm not part pokemon, nor have I ever been! I'm just a regular person like you!"
Kyle, who had been silent up until then, finally chose to speak. "Varia," he said quietly, "I think you know that's not true. You told me that you've worked here for six years. The man you work for is the very man who controls Team Rocket. Don't you think it's possible he could have done something to you during those six years? He may have even brainwashed you so you'd forget about it."
Varia's eyebrows rose. "You think he'd do something like that?"
"I don't doubt it after what happened to me. They don't care who they hurt, so long as they get what the want. I'm afraid that you were just another one of their casualties."
"Yeah, like we're all gonna be if you don't hurry up and use some kinda Mew power to break us out," Sarena added.
"You ain't goin' nowhere."
The three prisoners spun around to see four black-uniformed Rockets standing outside the cell. One unlocked the door and the Rockets moved threateningly towards them. Varia shrank back, but Sarena and Kyle stood up straighter, as if ready to fight. They probably would have attacked, too, if three of the Rockets hadn't pulled out guns and aimed them at the prisoners.
"The boss wants 'em taken to the lab. They're doin' that big experiment today," one of the Rockets said, motioning for the other three to move forward. They did as they were told, each one stopping in front of one of the prisoners. The guards shoved the guns against Kyle, Sarena, and Varia's backs, pushing them out of the cell.
"Wait, wait," the unarmed Rocket said suddenly. He pointed to Varia. "The boss don't want her in the experiment. Leave her here."
Varia's guard grunted a reply and jostled her back farther in the cell. Kyle and Sarena were still led out. As soon as they were out, the unarmed Rocket slammed the cell door and locked it again. The noise made Varia snap out of her fear-inspired trance and she ran to the bars of the cell.
"No! You can't just leave me here! Kyle!" she cried. The girl reached through the bars to her friend, but was rudely knocked back by one of the guards. She fell into a heap on the floor, watching with tearful eyes as Kyle and Sarena were escorted to the genetics lab. Varia feared that it would probably be the last place they ever saw.
****
Reaper was bored. The boss hadn't sent him a victim in over twelve hours. He had nothing to do, and that was what made him dangerous. If he wasn't sent a victim soon, he'd have to find one himself. Generally, it was some random Rocket that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Reaper had gotten in trouble for his addiction to inflicting pain, but never anything serious. He was far too valuable to the boss to be kicked out of Team Rocket.
Reaper sighed and flung a knife across the room. It landed directly in the center of a target hanging on the opposite wall. He didn't have any pokemon left to torment. He had been hoping for a whole new shipment of Rattata and Raticate, but the scientists down in the genetics lab had gotten priority over him.
Suddenly, he stood up and marched out the door of his torture chamber. "Screw this," he growled. "I'm tired of just sitting around." He turned down the hall and headed for the prison cells. He knew there was one person down there who could keep him entertained. A person he had tortured long ago, and still enjoyed torturing even now.
It took only a few minutes to reach the cells. When he got there, Reaper strode past the guards, who recoiled slightly at his approach, and walked to the very last cell in the first row. He grinned and peered through the bars at the cell's occupant. He was a boy about the age of fifteen, with white hair that fell to the top of his shoulder blades. Though his head was down-turned, Reaper knew that the boy's eyes were icy blue. He was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt with ice blue fire down the sleeves, a gray vest, and black jeans. His strangest attribute, though, were his large, Dragonite-like wings and the blades that jutted out from his forearms. The boy was crouched on the floor, trying to cover himself with his wings.
"Ah, Jason Erevan, the reluctant Rocket," Reaper said. "Looks like those scientists really had fun with you."
The boy looked up at the sound of the voice, his icy eyes cold with hatred. Reaper smiled at the sight of a jagged, lightning bolt-shaped scar cutting down from the boy's right eyebrow, through his eye, and to the bottom of his face. Reaper had been the one to give him that scar.
"What do you want?" the boy asked harshly.
"I just wanted to say hi to an old friend," he answered. "I was thinking about all the fun times we used to have together. You remember them, don't you, Angel?" He addressed him by his nickname. It was a name Jason had earned because of his kinder nature. The boy had been kidnapped by Team Rocket and forced to serve them or die. In the beginning, he had tried to escape, but Reaper put a stop to that.
"Leave," Angel said bluntly.
Reaper gave him a look of mock hurt. "Leave? Is that any way to speak to an old friend?"
"You are not my friend."
"Of course not," Reaper laughed. "Who ever heard of an angel and a devil being friends? But that is beside the point. You see, I haven't had any victims for quite some time and I was getting bored, but then I remembered you. How about if we take a little trip over to my room and play with my electric chair? I hear your pokemon DNA is really weak against electricity…"
At this, Angel jumped up and ran at the bars. Reaper took a calm step back out of the other boy's reach. "You bastard! I've had enough of you tortures!"
Reaper crossed his arms over his chest. "There's no such thing as enough torture. Now calm down so I can unlock the cell door. We're taking a field trip."
"You take one step towards this cell and I'll cut your goddamn face off!" Angel snarled.
Reaper was about to reply when a man in a white lab coat walked up to him. He sneered at the interruption and turned to the newcomer. "What? Can't you see I'm busy here?"
"Mr. Grim Richards?" the man asked.
Reaper's eyes narrowed. "No one calls me that. No one." His hand strayed to the hunting knife he always carried.
"You have been randomly selected to participate in our latest scientific venture. Please do not struggle," the man said calmly. Reaper paused, puzzled at the remark, and that moment of hesitation was all it took. The sadist felt a pinprick in his neck. He spun around and saw another scientist standing behind him holding an empty syringe. Reaper started to move forward aggressively, but then his vision started swirling. His legs buckled and he collapsed to the floor and fell unconscious.
"Finally," the first scientist said. "Finally we get to operate on this guy. Maybe he'll die during the experiment."
"We can only hope," the other said. "Now help me get him down to the lab."
As the two scientists dragged Reaper away, Angel couldn't help but smile. "He won't die, he's too strong, but he may want to after what they do to him."
Author's End Note: Another cliffhanger?! Man, I'm horrible. ^_^ I'll try to make the next part longer and get it posted sooner and put all the characters in it (Wind, I'm sorry I keep neglecting Lani!)