Author's Note: Finally! Sorry, but we picked up a virus that wouldn't let me log on to the Internet. So, without further delay, here's the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon, so don't sue. I do own Varia and Reaper, and all other characters belong to their respective creators. Please ask before using them.
Chapter 5—Hope of Escape
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 sat huddled in the back of the cell. Her entire body was shaking uncontrollably, though she was not cold in the least. In fact, she was terrified of her present situation. Varia had never been alone in her whole life. She had always had at least one pokemon companion to talk to.
"I'm going to die," she mumbled to herself over and over. "I'm going to die. I'm going to—huh?"
The girl stopped her frightened chanting as two Rocket guards and a scientist walked up to her cell. They were escorting two girls. Something seemed odd about the girls, but Varia couldn't see well enough in the dimly-lit prison to identify what seemed so different about them.
"Experiments 0202 and 0203 were successful," the scientist was saying. "Put them in here with the Mew girl. The boss will be down to check on these final products when he finishes his gym battles for the day." The scientist unlocked the cell door and the two girls were pushed in, the shorter one stumbling and falling to her knees. The taller girl quickly went to her side to see if she was all right. The Rockets just laughed at the display and walked off.
Varia waited until the guards were gone to move slowly towards her new cellmates. When she was fairly close, she realized what was so strange about these two: they seemed to be part pokemon. The tall girl had the coloring of a Raichu, with the stripes on her upper arms, and a Raichu tail. The smaller girl looked to be part Vaporeon. Her skin appeared to be tinted blue and shimmer slightly. She also had three fins, two where her ears should be and one on top of her head, just like a Vaporeon.
"What happened to you?" Varia asked in wonder. The tall girl looked up at her, her gold eyes glittering dangerously. Varia instinctively took a step back.
"You better not try anything smart! Just leave Emery alone!" she snapped.
"I don't want to hurt her," Varia said quietly. "I just wanted to know why you guys look the way you do. Besides, we're all in the same boat now. We're all prisoners of Team Rocket."
The tall girl paused to think about that statement. Then she nodded. "You're right. Sorry I yelled at you. But after the stuff they did to us in that lab, I'm a little on edge. I mean, look at us! They messed with our genes! We're freaks!"
Varia winced slightly at the word "freaks" but the other two didn't notice. "Are they going to do the same thing to Kyle and Sarena?"
"Not that I know who they are, but I'd say there's a pretty good chance." Suddenly, the girl extended her hand, grinning. "I'm Indigo, by the way. And this is Emery."
"Hi," Emery said quietly.
"I'm Varia," she said, sitting down with the other two.
"Nice ears," Indigo commented. "I take it you got dragged to the lab as well?"
"Um…no, not exactly," Varia answered. "There was this…this pokemon guy, I guess, that thought I was its sister or something. It didn't want me to have a normal life, so it made me look like this so I would join up with it."
Emery looked at Varia. "We have to leave this place."
Varia blinked, surprised by the statement. "What makes you say that? I mean, besides the obvious reasons?"
Emery looked over her shoulder nervously. "There's a monster here. This boy who calls himself The Reaper. He might come back for any one of us. We have to leave before that happens."
"The Reaper?" Varia questioned.
"Yeah, this really scary guy," Indigo explained. She pointed to the long scar on Emery's arm, which made Varia gasp at the sight. "He gave her that. I met him when he came down here and grilled Emery about the slave trade in the Orange Islands. Seemed pretty psycho to me, and if he ever comes near us again, I'm going to rip his black heart out," she growled dangerously, looking extremely serious.
Varia wrapped her arms around herself to prevent from shivering again. This place was terrible. Emery was right about getting out, but how could they do that? And how would they find Kyle and Sarena? She certainly wasn't about to leave those two behind.
"We do have to leave, but how do we do that? There's bound to be guards all over the place," Varia stated. "And besides, we don't even have the keys to the cell."
"Oh, no?" Indigo asked with a grin. Then she turned to Emery. "I think my friend would beg to differ with you."
Emery smiled and reached into the pocket of her jeans. She pulled out a key ring with several keys attached to it. "A gift from that scientist."
Varia could do nothing but gawk. "How…?"
"You don't spend your life as a slave without learning a few tricks to escape," she said proudly. "I just slipped them out of his pocket when he pushed me in here."
Varia nearly hugged her in delight but managed to restrain herself. "That's wonderful!" she said in an excited whisper. She had completely forgotten about guards when the prospect of escape was inserted into the equation. "Quick, let's get outta this cell and find my friends. Then we can make a run for it. Sound good?"
"Definitely," Indigo agreed. Emery nodded and stood up. She walked over to the cell door and tried different keys in the lock. The fifth key she tried successfully opened the lock and she pushed the door open slowly to prevent it from creaking. Indigo and Varia walked out after her and shut the door behind them. If anyone happened to glance down the hall and see the open door, it could set off an alarm before they had escaped.
"How are we going to find Kyle and Sarena?" Varia asked.
"They probably took them to the lab. Come on, we can lead you there," Indigo told her. As they started off down the hall, she added, "But we might have to do some fighting. You think you can handle it?"
"I hope so," Varia answered quietly.
****
Angel sat hunched in one corner of his cell as he usually did. He kept himself hidden in the shadows as much as he could. He hated what those scientists had done to him, and he hated Team Rocket even more for allowing it to happen. However, Angel was still forced to work for them. If he refused, he would be dragged off to The Reaper's dungeon. He hated Reaper even more than he hated Team Rocket. That sick, twisted maniac had tortured Angel to within an inch of his life on several occasions. The pain itself was bad enough, but the way The Reaper enjoyed it was worse than the pain. Angel hated seeing anyone hurt and he loathed The Reaper's delight in sadism. That boy was the most unholy creature on the face of the earth.
Angel's dark thoughts were interrupted when a scientist appeared in front of the cell door. The man unlocked it, but Angel made no move to escape. He just watched as a young girl was brought into the cell. She was still unconscious from whatever they had done to her. The scientist placed her carefully on the cold floor of the cell then left, locking the door after him.
After he was sure the girl was asleep, Angel moved forward to see what they had done to her. She had been a genetic experiment, just like himself, except she had been blended with a Persian. She had a feline tail that was twitching ever so slightly. There were also rounded ears top of her head, each decorated with a large pink earring. Cat's claws now tipped her fingers and had torn through her black gloves. Suddenly, she groaned and turned. Angel backed away from her and returned to the shadows as she woke up. The girl pushed herself into a sitting position.
"Oh, man, what happened? I've got the biggest headache," she muttered and put a hand to her head. Her eyes widened when she felt her new ears. She noticed the claws and tail soon after. "Whoa. Those are new…"
"You've been genetically altered," Angel said quietly. It was mostly to himself, but the girl's feline ears picked up the sound easily. She turned to look at him, her green eyes wide. Angel pulled his wings around himself subconsciously.
"Who are you?" the girl asked.
"Jason Erevan," he answered. "Most people call me Angel, though."
"Angel?" she repeated, trying to remember why that sounded familiar. "Oh, I know you! They call you the Angel of Team Rocket! You're that nice guy they drafted a while back, aren't you?"
Angel looked surprised. "You know me?"
The girl grinned. "Of course! Everyone knows about you. I hear they had to stop sending you out on certain missions because you refused to hurt anyone. Anyway, my name's Lani," she said, extending one hand. Angel looked at it for a moment, then reached out and shook it. Lani noticed the blades on his arm. "Hey, where'd you get those? And what's with the wings?"
"Genetic experimentation," he explained. "These are Dragonite wings and the blades are from steel pokemon DNA."
"Wow. And it looks like I'm part Persian," she said quietly, as if coming to terms with what had happened to her. Then she jumped up and squealed with delight. "This is so cool! I can't believe I'm a cat girl! This is great!"
Angel gazed at her in horror. "You like having your very DNA tampered with?"
"It doesn't bother me. I mean, they made me totally cool!" Lani practiced swishing her tail. As the new appendage moved, she grinned with delight. Then she turned to Angel. "Don't you like your wings? I mean, now you can fly. That's got to be fun."
He dropped his gaze to the floor. "I hate them. I can't stand what they've done to me." He raised his ice blue eyes to meet her lively green ones. "I've never flown because I couldn't bear to go outside where other people could see me."
Lani immediately stopped fooling around with her tail and became serious. "I'm so sorry, Angel. I didn't know you felt that way. Maybe those scientists will change you back if you ask nicely," she suggested.
Angel sighed. "I doubt it. Nothing could repair the damage that's already been done."
****
Indigo, Emery, and Varia somehow managed to reach the lab without being spotted by any guards. They slipped into the women's locker room to decide their next move.
"Okay, we're here. Now let's go save my friends!" Varia said.
"It's not that simple," Emery returned. "The genetics lab is one of the most heavily guarded labs in this place. We'll have to get a key card from one of the scientists who works in that area."
Varia groaned and plopped down on a bench. "Great. This is just impossible." Suddenly, she looked up and found Indigo standing right in front of her, her arms folded across her chest.
"You give up too easily, you know that?" she said sternly. "Listen, of course it's going to be impossible if we don't at least try. Now, you can sit here feeling all sorry for yourself, or you can get up off your butt and start looking for a key card with us."
Varia was surprised by the girl's harsh tone, so she didn't react immediately. After a brief pause, she stood up and faced Indigo. "Okay, I'll help, but only if you promise not to do anymore pep talks."
Indigo blinked, then smiled. "You got it. Now let's go!" Then she added, "Was the pep talk really that bad?"
"I'm surprised you didn't say something like 'Impossible is a misprint, little lady. It's really I'm possible,'" Varia said with a slight smile.
"Hey, it's not like I do this very often!" Indigo countered. "I've never coached a team or anything like that!"
"And there's no I in team."
"Stop picking on me!" Indigo exclaimed, though it was obvious she was only pretending to be insulted.
"Um, guys?" Emery interrupted tentatively. "Don't you think we should be going now?"
Varia and Indigo stopped their verbal battle and turned to the other girl.
"Um, yeah, we should start looking for a card key," Indigo agreed. The other two nodded and started walking out the door. Just as Varia pulled on the handle, a lady stepped into the locker room. A lady dressed in a white lab coat.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she started to say, then she glanced up and saw who she was talking to. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped. "You're…You're…" She was abruptly silenced by a right hook to her jaw, courtesy of Indigo. The woman fell, knocked completely unconscious. Varia and Emery just gawked at their companion.
"You hit her!" Varia exclaimed.
"I know," Indigo answered, rubbing her sore knuckles. "It really hurt."
"I can't believe you did that!"
Indigo shrugged, her usual grin returning. "I'm just full of surprises. Anyway, we're lucky. This lady was from the genetics lab. That's why she recognized us." Indigo knelt down and went though the woman's pockets until she pulled a card out of one of them. "Jackpot!" Then she nearly broke out into a run down the hall. Emery and Varia ran after her, trying to catch up.
"Did you see that?! She hit that lady!" Varia said to Emery, her voice rising shrilly.
"I know. She's like that. You'll get used to it," Emery answered. She couldn't help but smile at Varia's shocked look.
"I can't believe she did that!"
The three raced down several halls, ducking from various scientists and guards and using the key card to get past the security doors. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the last door, the door that stood between them and the genetics lab.
"Okay, let's save your friends and get the hell outta here," Indigo declared, swiping the card through the electronic lock. After a few seconds of processing, it beeped and the door unlocked. Indigo pushed it open…and found herself face-to-face with about ten scientists.
"It's experiment 0202!" one of them shouted.
"Oh crap," was all Indigo had time to say before the scientists ran at her.
Almost too fast to see, the Raichu girl dropped to the ground, then kicked out one leg, tripping the scientists in the lead. As they fell to the floor, several of the others tripped over them. With a majority of the scientists sprawled on the floor, Indigo jumped up and ran past them. She shouted for Emery and Varia to find Kyle and Sarena quickly.
"Right!" Emery called back, running into the lab. She grabbed Varia's arm, pulling her along. "Varia, this is no time to stand around!"
"But…She just hit all those people!"
"Not now!" Emery shouted at the Mew girl. "Now help me find your friends."
Varia nodded slightly, trying to ignore the sounds of fighting behind her. She gazed around the dark lab, looking for any sign of her friends. Varia thought she saw a human outline strapped to a table a little ways away and was about to say so when a scientist loomed up in front of her. She shrieked as a wayward scientist charged at her, but Emery suddenly appeared and punched the man in the stomach. As he dropped to his knees, trying to regain his breath, Emery kicked him in the head, sending him skidding across the floor. She turned back to Varia and noticed the other girl looking at her in stunned disbelief.
"You just—"
"Yes, I hit that guy, I know! We can discuss the negative points of violence later, just find Kyle and Sarena!"
With a small yelp at the other girl's outburst, Varia spun around and pointed to a far part of the lab. "Over there! I think that's them!" Without waiting for a response from Emery, she ran over to the operating table she had spotted. Sure enough, Kyle was strapped to it. Something about him looked different, but Varia didn't have time to figure out what it was. She tugged the straps off his arms and legs, then shook his head gently.
"Kyle? Kyle, can you hear me?" she asked worriedly. He didn't answer right away. Finally, he moaned and opened his eyes. Varia breathed a sigh of relief and hugged him. "Kyle, you're alive!"
"Yeah, but what's going on?" he asked groggily.
"I'll explain later. Right now, we have to find Sarena."
"I've got her!" Emery shouted. Varia turned and saw the slave girl with Sarena, the latter's arm draped around the former's neck to help her walk. Varia's eyes nearly popped out of her skull when she saw what the scientists had done to Sarena. The girl had two huge, feathered blue wings, as well as a long-feathered tail and a blue crest on her forehead.
Varia was about to comment on it when someone collided into her. She staggered back and realized that it was Indigo. One of the scientists had knocked her back. Indigo stood up shakily and, though she was obviously hurting, positioned herself defensively in front of the other four.
"Give it up, 0202," one of the scientists said, wiping blood from his lip. "We've got all of you trapped. Just give up peacefully and we will go easy on you."
"Never," she hissed defiantly.
The scientist shrugged casually. "Your loss." He and the others started to move forward. Varia shrank back, her Mew ears flat against her head.
"You haven't won yet!" Sarena suddenly exclaimed. The scientists paused at her declaration and the girl's eyes glowed brightly. She shouted, "Teleportation!" and she, Emery, Indigo, Kyle, and Varia were surrounded with a blue glow and disappeared.
****
He could hear several voices around him. Each was talking so quietly and he couldn't make out what was being said. He strained to hear what was being said.
"His pulse is steady. Breathing normal."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. It looks as though he will pull through."
"You've got to be joking! No one else has survived this experiment! He should be dead!"
"No such luck. He appears to be doing just fine."
"Damn! The only reason we chose him for this was because he was supposed to die. Well, perhaps there could be some post-op complications…"
The listener remained still, not wanting to give himself away. He waited until he felt a cold shaft of metal touch his stomach, then lashed out. His eyes flared open and he grabbed the scientist by the throat. The scientist was so surprised that he dropped his scalpel, which the listener quickly snatched up. Then the listener squeezed the scientist's throat, crushing his windpipe with surprising ease.
As the body dropped, he heard the screams of others. He saw three others trying to flee from the room. With an inhuman snarl, he leapt off the table. He tackled the first scientist from behind, then flung the scalpel at the second. It nailed the scientist right in the back of her neck, releasing a spray of blood as she fell. The third was just turning the door handle when the listener caught him by the arm, twisting the limb behind the scientist. It cracked loudly as the bone broke, which was quickly followed by the snap of the scientist's neck as the listener spun the head all the way around. As that body slumped against the door, the listener slowly turned back to the first scientist.
The man looked terrified. "Now, listen to me, Grim…"
"NO ONE CALLS ME THAT!" Reaper roared. He grabbed the man by the front of his lab coat and sliced his throat cleanly with his black claws.
Black claws? Reaper looked down at his hands and realized that they were now more like paws, each finger tipped with a lethal black claw. After the initial surprise wore off, Reaper smiled, exposing large fangs and pointed teeth. He began to laugh, quietly at first, then escalating to a maniacal cackle.
And those who heard it would have nightmares about it for the rest of their lives.
Author's End Note: Oooh, scary! What has Reaper become? Feel free to guess if you want. And don't forget to R/R!