A/N: Chapter 10 Great innit? ^_^
Disclaimer: I'm not gonna repeat myself!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not gonna repeat myself!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not gonna repeat myself!!!!!!!!!!
Testing
Oh yeah, like your going to be able to hide me. I stand out in a crowd no matter what I do. I have a feathered tail, wings and a beak for heaven's sake! Do you not think someone is going to notice? – reflection by Circe
Ember curled up on the bed, wrapping her nine golden tails around her. She had heard the screams and was worried. Jale had said he knew nothing, but he acted like he was keeping something from her. She sat in the room, looking around at the others. From when the rogue Houndoom anthro had been caught, there were now only two creatures left in their pods. There were eight beds in the room where Jale had left her, only four were occupied, one including herself. One girl had long green hair and strange petals around her neck. Apparently she was a Pokèmon called a Meganium. Another was almost perfectly human, all but her long pink tail and pink pointed ears was all that proved she wasn't human. She never spoke once, but her bright blue eyes seemed to look around as if she knew everything and still wanted to know more. The last had black fur running down her back, and golden along the front. She had very sharp teeth and claws, and, was also able to make flames leap out from the back of her neck. She however, did speak, and seemed to be easily angered, even at the slightest thing. Jale said she was a project creature, one made to see if she would survive since she was able to make the flames come and go as she pleased. Both her and Bret were made for that reason, and she too, just like Bret and Ember herself, used to be a Pokèmon. She used to be a Typhlosion, and still was in a way. Asel said that she used to be called Chrysies, and had accepted that name to still be her own. The Meganium girl's name was unknown, and so was the other's. The plant Pokèmorph lay on her bed, seemingly asleep. She had only just come back and was covered with burn and whip marks. She didn't say what had happened to her, and just lay on the bed and curled up. Chrysies also seemed weakened, since when she joined Ember she was soaked through. Ember had the bed at the far end in the left corner. Her red eyes watched each of them in turn, and now and again looked towards the door longingly. Suddenly, the door began to slowly open. Ember sat up, looking towards it hopefully, but fell back into her corner when it wasn't who she had wanted it to be. Two female scientists wheeled another creature into the room. She was chained down, the wings that grew from her back chained and strapped. She had a strange face, since she had a beak. Lifting her, the two women placed the girl upon one of the empty beds. Looking at the rest, the women then left, leaving the girl still chained up. Chrysies stood, moving over to her, hands wrapping around the chains. Pulling with all the strength she had, the anthro was unable to break them.
"Damned! I'm not strong enough!" She looked around at the other "Any of you ladies care to lend a hand?"
Ember watched, but didn't move.
"You, Ember! Your strong enough aren't you? Help me get her out of these chains"
Slipping from the bed, Ember walked over, laying her hands onto the cold metal. With the power of the two fire Pokèmon, they managed to break the chains. The almost human girl watched silently, her blue eyes staring. Rising slowly, the new girl sat up, then stretched her wings upwards.
"Thank you"
"Hey, no problem there dear, Chrys is always ready to lend a hand" Chrysies said gently. Her voice sounded up beat and happy, even when she had just returned so weak she couldn't stand.
"Chrys?" the girl asked, her beak moving slightly
"Yeah, Chrysies, that used to be my Pokèmon name, so I'm keeping it, but you can call me Chrys for short"
"What about you?" she asked Ember
"Ember" she replied quietly.
"Thank you both very much Chrys and Ember. I'd kindly offer my name, but I don't have one"
"Circe" came a voice, the human-like girl said, looking over at the winged hybrid "They're going to call you Circe"
'I know that voice! It's her! She's the one that spoke to me! She can talk to us in our minds! But? But, why did she speak normally then?' Ember questioned herself, looking from the girl and 'Circe'
"How...how do you know that?" Chrys asked, rising to look over at the girl, a few licks of flame leaping from her neck.
The girl sighed, leaning forwards on the edge of the bed, lowering her gaze to the cold stone floor. "I don't know how I know, I just know"
"You find out what you want to know, you told me!" Ember snapped, her tails flowing over each other and over the floor "You told me everything! You're the one that can speak into our minds! You gave Bret and Venom all the knowledge you have, yet you give me only words that you don't even speak"
The girl sighed, nodding "Yes, I thought it might be easier for some of you if you only know what you have to when you have to"
"Then why give Venom and Bret that knowledge though?"
"Because they need to know, otherwise they would of done what the Houndoom boy did and run wild through the building"
"Ember, calm down dear, I'm sure she had her reasons. I'm sure not all of us have what she knows" Chrys said, placing a hand upon the Ninetales shoulder. "I'm sure it'll all be fine in the end"
Ember sighed, shrugging the hand from her shoulder and curled back up onto her bed, sinking into the corner. Her head lowered, ears falling low, her eyes slowly closing. She curled all but one tail around her legs, the last she clutched in her hands, holding it close to her chest, running her long, slender fingers along the fur.
Meanwhile, in another part of the building, Samantha sat, resting her head in her hands, elbows resting upon a table. Jale sat opposite, watching her closely and silently. Thanatos was seated at the left of the two, arms folded upon the table top. Not one said anything to each other, each sitting in complete silence. Then the Professor strode in, head held high. Reaching the table that sat around, he dropped a pile of files onto the wood, then looked at each in turn.
"I don't understand any of you morons! Each of you have put those creatures in jeopardy and none of you tried to stop the other!" He glared at Jale, then focused upon Dr.Daleos and she moved one hand to cover the bruise around her neck. "Dr.Daleos, that hybrid could of killed you, and you, Dr.Ichael, that Sneasel girl is not your sister anymore, quit protecting it!"
"I'll protect that hybrid with my life! It's her you used to create that, that, thing with! Asel is my sister, no matter what you say!"
"Shut up Dr, when I want you to speak, I'll ask for you to speak. Until that happens, quit being so stupid and keep your mouth shut!" He then turned to Jale, placing one of the files infront of him. Jale opened it to reveal empty sheets of paper.
"That Jale, is your file on Ember!" He threw his hand onto the file, closing it, eyes glaring at the young male "You've so far handed no information in on that Ninetales girl. You were chosen to observe and find out as much as possible about her, and what do you give me? Nothing you moron!"
"What do you want me to report?" Jale said quietly, lifting his head to look at the Professor squarely. "Do want me to report on what ways you can torture her to see if she's strong enough to take the beatings Giovanni is going to throw at her!?"
"Jale Whistler!" Samantha shouted, pushing strands of blue from her eyes. "Listen to him or you'll be thrown out"
"Good comment Dr, but, I don't need a pathetic female sticking up for me. I want a report on that girl handed to me tomorrow morning or your leaving this research facility, and that precious hybrid of yours!"
Jale sighed, nodding "Yes sir"
"Now, you two, I have reports from you both, but they're not good enough. You'll re-write each of them until they reach the standards I desire!" And with that, the Professor turned and left the room the same way he had entered
"I hate him..." Jale muttered, knocking the file onto the floor, the papers scattering everywhere.
"Jale, stop being such an ass. You knew we weren't supposed to get involved with them" Samantha said, lowering her hand from around her neck. The marks were easily visible, even a few claw marks could be seen.
"Not get involved! Look at Thanatos!" Jale shouted, pointing at him "His own sibling was experimented on!"
"It was so she'd survive. Asel would of died otherwise. It was the only thing we could do" Thanatos whispered, his voice quiet as he scanned through the file on his sister.
"And you Sam, you gave Bret up for this"
"It was all in the aid of research" she stated coldly.
Jale stood up, hitting the table with his hands "I don't believe either of you! Your just gonna sit there and let them experiment on those you hold dear! Well, I'm not going to stand for it!"
"And how do you propose to get Ember out of it Jale? She's in this just as much as Asel and Bret. You can't just fly into that room they're staying in and confess how you feel"
"Confess how he feels?" Thanatos asked, looking up from the file.
"Don't you dare tell him Sam!"
"Tell him what? That your in love with that hybrid?"
"SAM!"
"What? Oh, opps, sorry" She smirked, knowing exactly what she had done
"What? He's in love with what hybrid?"
"Oh, you know the one, Ember, the Ninetales. I'm sure you know which Thanatos, she used to be Asel's Pokèmon Lea"
Jale growled, turning and walking away from the table to stare out the barred window at the darkness. It had been morning when the Anthros has begun awakening, and it was late into the night now. Folding his arms against his chest, he listened to the conversation between his two colleagues behind him
"Lea? She won't go by that name any more, she told Asel herself that Jale had named her Ember"
"Yep, she's the one. It's so obvious too. He cares for that girl more than the others"
"Is that why he hasn't done a report on her yet?"
"I supposed so" the female mused, twisting a few strands of her blue hair around her finger.
Thanatos sighed, looking over at the other male "In a way, I agree with him. We can't let them suffer. But, there's no way we could get them out, and even if we did, what would we do with them? There's no where they can hide. Circe stands out in the crowd most. You don't find many people with beaks and wings. You can't even hide Asel, Bret or Ember"
"We have to do something" came Jale's voice from where he stood "What if we took them to a place where no one will find anything wrong with them, and won't know of the project?"
"You know that's not possible Jale. There is no where for them to hide" Samantha chimed in, lowering Jale's hopes to the lowest level.
"We have to do something"
Venom sat upon his bed, looking at each of the others in his room in turn. Eight beds filled the room, four on either side. He sat on the left central bed, opposite Bret. The young Charizard anthro lay on his back, looking up at the ceiling. Also in the room with them were three others. One, very much similar to Bret, dragon-like wings, long tail, but without the flames, Venom somehow knew he was a Dragonite. The other stood beside the barred window, the large gun-like appendages growing from his back where his shoulder blades should be. His skin was a pale blue, his eyes brown. A Blastoise, yet, he didn't look anything like his Pokèmon counterpart. The last was a dark, ghost-like hybrid, his skin seeming slightly transparent, making Venom feel like he could see right through him. He too seemed perfectly human except for the black pointed ears and grey-ish transparent skin. A Gengar for sure. His orange eyes seemed to hold a mischievous glint. The other three kept their distance from both Bret and Venom, and neither one of the two friends knew why. When each of the others had came into the room, they were seriously weakened, all of their strength lost. The Gengar's male's eyes seemed to wander aimlessly around the room, never remaining focused on one thing for longer than a minute, and only passed over the Arbok and Charizard for a split second each. The Houndoom male was brought in, then taken out again shortly afterwards. No one in the room spoke, each keeping to his own thoughts.
"Venom, I wonder where Ember is" Bret spoke out, breaking the silence. The other males in the room didn't seem to bother.
"Unknown Bret. Sheee could be anywhere" Venom always spoke softly, a gentle 'hiss' combined with every word.
"I'm worried about her. We left her alone, she could be lost in this place"
"Jale would of found her"
Bret sighed, nodding slowly.
"Who's Ember?" asked the boy at the window, turning to the pair, the silver weapons glinting in the light.
"She issssss a friend of ourssss. A ninetalessss I presssume"
The hybrid nodded, sitting upon the bed next to Bret. "They're probably testing her"
"Testing her? What do you mean?"
"Yeah, testing her, like they did to me. I can shoot water from these things on my back, and they made my use them until I was dry, and then they suspended me in some room and attacked me with this powerful electric thing. It hurt badly, I kept screaming, but someone drowned out my screams. Her's were the loudest, or so I think, coming from the room next to me when they shocked me"
"They shocked you too?" asked the Dragonite Pokèmorph, rising to sit upon his bed, looking over at the others. "I was suspended too, while pain surged through my body. I heard one say it was 'shock testing', whatever that means. They also put me in a room and blasted me with fire, and another with water. Then they made me attack, with fire, water and electricity"
"You can usssse fiiire, water and electrisssity?"
The boy nodded "Yes, so I found out"
"I fell through a wall" came a quiet voice from the other male in the room, his orange eyes looking over at them. "I wasn't attacked like you, but what they did to me hurt"
"Looks like we've missed out on something" Bret said, looking over at Venom, the creature nodding in agreement with him.
"Sssseeeemssss that way"
The door to their room entered, and a male, familiar to Venom and Bret walked in, his head low, a few strands of his brown hair falling infront of his blue eyes. Venom looked up at him, Bret merely tilted his head back to look at him
"Where's Ember?" Bret asked, his flame tipped tail swaying at his side slightly.
"She's in her room, with the other girls. She's fine in there. Bret, do you mind coming with me?"
Bret sat up, his red hair falling over his shoulder as he sat up. The dragon wings that grew from his back, much larger than the Dragonite's, flexed slightly. Slowly, he walked towards Jale, his powerful legs moving like pistons. Opening the door, Jale led Bret outside and away.
"They're going to test him now" the Blastoise male said, turning back to face venom when the pair had left. "Just like they'll do to you soon enough"
Leaning, with his head against the wall in the corridor, Jale stared down blankly at the floor, angry at himself for what he had just done. He had brought Bret to his torture, and not even told him a word about it. Growling slightly, he bashed his fist against the wall, once, twice, three times.
"Damn yourself to hell Jale! They'll be working on her next! He'll send you in to get her, to bring her to her living hell!"
He stopped hitting the wall, hand falling flat against the cold stone, tears dropping to the floor. "Why can't you just tell her!? Why did she have to be what she is!?"
His voice rang through the hallway, reaching the ears of the woman as she approached. Her high heels trotted along the ceramic floor, her white coat flowing behind her. Long blue hair was pulled up into a messy bun. Her face lifted from the notes she was reading to look at her friend. Stopping next to him, she shook her head and sighed
"I warned you Jale. You knew the consequences"
He looked up at her, his face angry, not letting her see him cry "Yeah, after I fell for her!"
"You took this job at your own risk"
"My own risk!? I wasn't expecting to fall for a creation that's been awake for barely a day!"
"You shouldn't be so succumb to beauty then"
"You went and told Thanatos!"
"He had a right to know"
She spoke so coldly, like she didn't care what he was going through
"Whatever happened to you Sam? Whatever happened to the girl that I loved like my sister? Your so cold now. I've lost my hold on you and you've drowned and I can't dive in and save you, the tide has swept you away"
"Save your words for the Ninetales girl when you have to take her back to her room"
"What!? You mean she's in there right now!?"
She nodded, locks of midnight blue falling over her eyes. "Of course. It was her and Bret's turn. The Professor is going to use the flames from each of them to build up their physical strength"
He growled, punching the wall again
"Don't take it out on the wall, it's not the one killing them slowly"
"Does the Professor know?"
"Of course not. Only Thanatos and I know. Or so I believe anyway"
"I have to get her out of there!" he said, heading down the corridor towards the experimentation rooms.
Samantha turned, watching him go "Jale, wait!"
Stopping he turned and looked back at her "What?"
"Do you honestly think that he'll let you get her out?"
Jale shrugged "I'll try anyway" he said, walking away.
"I've lost my hold on you and you've drowned, and I can't dive in and save you, the tide has swept you away..."
She muttered her words to herself, turning and walking to wherever she was headed.
In the main Experimentation Room, a large, battle area, Bret and Ember face each other, electrodes attached to their bodies in several places. Each stood upon a metal platform, their feet chained to the floor. Their hands were chained together. All that had free movement were their tails, spines, and heads, and even that was limited. Green eyes stared at red, which looked back in return. Neither of them had any idea what was going on, or what was going to be expected of them.
"Right! Pokèmorphs Three and Four, the main fire types, created from Pokèmon, you are both going to be tested on your ability to withstand high powered flame attacks." Boomed the Professors voice over a loud speaker, when suddenly, Chrysies was brought into the area, flames burning brightly from her neck. She too was wired up like Ember and Bret, and was brought to a stop on the metal platform. The three fire types stood in a triangle, shape, looking at each other, slightly confused. Only Chrysies knew the reason they were there. They were to be tested on.
"Ah, Pokèmorph Ten, nice to see you have been brought to join us"
"Just shut up and get on with it!" she shouted
"Do not answer me back. You three are to use your ember attack on each other. Three will attack Ten, and Ten, you'll attack Four. Four, Four will attack Three. Understand?"
'What!? Three will attack Ten? Ten will attack Four? Four will attack Three? What does this all mean? Who is who? Am I Ten? What If I'm Four? I'll have to attack Bret! But, I might be Three! That means attacking Chrys!' Ember's mind raced, confusing running wild.
Bret looked as confused as she did, only Chrys seemed to know what he was talking about. She was looking straight at her.
"I'm sorry Em, I'm really sorry, but we have to do what we're told. I'm sorry if I hurt you"
"Well!? What are you creatures waiting for?!" shouted his voice over the auto-com.
"What? I don't understand?" Ember asked, her, noticing the number on her platform. It was a ten. Glancing over at Bret, she saw his was a three. That meant she was four.
"I won't!" she shouted, red eyes glaring at the ceiling
"Em, you have to! We all have to" and without another word, the fires from Chrysies back leapt higher, and flames spewed from her jaws, heading straight for Ember.
Bret watched as the flames encircled his friend. Suddenly, they were pushed back as Ember countered with her own ember attack. The two female fire Pokèmon were locked in a fire battle, each stopping the other from getting hit. Ember's golden fur was scorched slightly, her tails lashing madly behind her form.
"What are you two moronic creations doing! Your not supposed to be doing that!"
The females ignored the Professors shouts, trying to stop the flames from encircling herself. Suddenly, flames rose from Bret's tail, and flew from his mouth, sending the girl's combined attacks straight for the wall, cancelling both out. Ember hung forwards, breathing heavily, her golden hair falling over her face. Chrysies too, also slumped forwards, the fires on her back dying down. Bret took a deep breath, looking at them both
"What were you doing!? You could of killed Ember!"
Her head flew towards, him her eyes glaring. "I was following orders! Ten was to attack Four! I'm Ten, she's Four! Those are our numbers! Now, attack me Three!" she shouted over at him, awaiting his attack. Instead, he stood there, fighting to free himself from his bonds.
Unexpectedly, the door to the area flew open, and Jale ran inside, running over to Ember.
"Jale you stupid idiot! What are you doing!?" came the Professors voice.
Ignoring him, he freed Ember, lifting her down. She let herself fall into him. Lifting her up in his arms, she lay her head against his chest, her own still rising and falling rapidly.
"Jale! You put her down this instant! I'll have you fired for this!"
Looking up at the room where the Professor had been observing the room, he narrowed his eyes, then turned, heading out of the arena and away.
"That idiot! I'll do more than fire him when I get my hands on him!" screamed the Professor from within his observation room. Storming around madly, the scientists in the room, ducked and covered from his swings with the clipboard, although few managed to escape a blow.
A/N: Wow, looks like he's mad dun't it? Well, as you can see, each of them are tested in various ways. Chrysies is pretty compliant isn't she? [evil grin]
Each test is either to upgrade their attack, or defence. The one that Bret, Ember and Chrysies were in was to improve both. There are now only, ummm,, two left to meet, and you'll have to wait and find out what Pokèmon I picked them to be.
What name would you give a Blastoise boy? I'm still deciding my Houndoom's too.
Circe's name is pronounced Sur-see, just incase you didn't know how, and it means bird in ancient Greek.
R&R just as before!!!