End of a Reality
by Blue9Tiger and DarkMutatedBrock
*~*~*
sy-ringe, (se rinj´, sir´inj) n. [ Gr syrinx, a pipe] a device consisting of a tube with a rubber bulb or piston at one end for drawing in a liquid and then ejecting it in a stream: used to inject fluids into the body, etc.
--Webster's English Dictionary
*~*~*
Chapter 2: And Into the Lion's Fur
*~*~*
"You....are.....a.....twisted...bitch."
"Why, thank you," Ivy smiled softly with an undertone of pure sadism. One might have interjected and said that "pure sadism" was an oxymoron, but somehow, she managed to pull it off with flying colors.
Brock groaned as those same chemicals coursed through him again, and again, and again as he continued to stare up at the screen. He finally narrowed his eyes, regaining his vision. He gasped and recoiled in pure horror at the nightmarish image.
"What......what IS that......thing?!"
"Care to clue him in?" Ivy turned her face towards Giovanni, who was standing close to her--dangerously close, as Ivy was not the most trustworthy person around.
It was only towards Ivy that the severe Team Rocket leader showed his true emotions; whenever he met with the woman, he somehow became.... humble. He would lax into tenseness, if such a thing could ever be possible. Coming to think of it, he had always felt uncomfortable around her, as if he was being dwarfed. Although his height exceeded hers by at at least a foot, she somehow managed to be just as tall as him, and this perturbed him immensely. Even so, as he turned towards Ivy's pitiful victim, he lapsed into the uniform manner that he regarded everyone else with: terse and blunt.
"That is the monster you are about to be transformed into."
And one would have to admit that he could not get much more frank than that.
Brock stared at the screen. His mind was still half-shut down and all he could do was stare at that hideous monster, the horrifying abomination..... that supposedly was to be his future self.
The frightening thing was...
He didn't doubt it.
Brock began to chuckle. Then laugh. Then proceed to giggle maniacally, shaking his head violently as tears coursed down his face.
"Haha... Hah-hah..... HAAAAHAAHAAHAAHAA!!!!!!!!!!"
For a brief period of time, Brock the Rock, the solid, sensible member of Ash's little band, completely lost his marbles.
Giovanni was silent through the boy's brief tenure of insanity, and was shifting his eyes about, trying to keep them out of contact with Ivy's deceptively relaxed irises, as if her gaze could turn one into stone.
"Yes, isn't it hilarious?" Ivy giggled once more at Brock's mental torture, oblivious--perhaps--to Giovanni's strange suspicions about her. "Your friends won't even recognize you... At least, they won't want to recognize you.."
Giovanni's lip suddenly curled. He disapproved of the way she played with the boy's mind. A HUMAN mind. It disturbed him to see her enjoyment in lowering a superior being, as humans were the most advanced, mentally and physically, of all the five kingdoms. Besides insects, the humans were at the top of the food chain, though he wasn't aware of the latter fact, and even if he had been informed that his assumptions were incorrect, he wouldn't have listened or cared.
Brock's laughing stopped arubtly, and he stared at the screen. That creature... so familiar... somehow... and yet, so revolting and mortifying...... No, he couldn't let her do this, he couldn't let Ivy..... experiment.... on him... again....
But then again, what were his options? Even with all his struggling, the straps remained firm and secure, and the chemicals continued to be pumped into his bloodstream. Oh, the pain of that, the pain of an alien force seeping into his flesh, his soul, his brain....
"Ash... Misty...." He said, quietly, almost subconsciously. "ASH.... MISTY....."
Ivy paused, only long enough to grin perniciously at her subject before she turned back towards the new needles that she was preparing.
"AAAAAASH!!!!!!!!!! MIIIIIISTYYYYYY!!!!!!!" Brock finally yelled in pure torment, in a voice so full of pain and torture that there was no doubt that his friends could hear his cries from the dungeons below. In fact, it seemed as if the guards had forgotten to flip the soundproof switch, as the first one had assumed that the second would perform the task. However, the second had stayed behind, and it was Ivy's bad luck that the "twerp's" cell was just below the lab on the adjacent floor.
Ash was jolted out of the induced sleep from the agonized cries coming from above, and his eyes shot open, looking around the small cell he and Misty were now in. After verbally noting that Pikachu was gone, he shook Misty awake, and her eyes slowly opened, the effects of the Sleep Powder finally dissipating.
"Ash?! Where are we?!" Misty demanded in a hushed voice, after her initial groaning. Her cerulean eyes darted, and the sight of cold iron bars entered her line of vision.
"I don't know, Misty!!"
She realized something else, and pure, instinctive terror washed over the orange-haired girl. Three minus one equalled two.
"Where's Brock?!"
"I dunno, but he's in big trouble!" Ash answered, in a tenor much more grave than usual, knowing that whatever was happening to their friend was no laughing matter.
"What's that THING?!??!?!" Brock's voice suddenly came at a high pitch yell, in answer to Misty's question. "NO..... NO MORE NEEDLES.... Oh, GOD..... DON'T TOUCH ME!!!!!! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME........"
However, the voices from above were muffled, and all they could hear were some select phrases as the horrible events unfolded.
"You hear that, Ash?"
"Yeah, someone's talking!"
"I can't hear it... maybe if I stand on you, we can hear what they're saying!"
"Uh...okay," Ash agreed reluctantly, rooting himself in the middle of the small cell. Misty shakily climbed up on his shoulders, both trainers wobbling unsteadily. She awkwardly placed her ear to the ceiling, and when she heard what was unfolding above the floor, she paled, almost losing balance.
"Oh...my...GOD....." she whispered.
"Perhaps you'd prefer a concoction down your throat, sweetie...." Came a strangely familiar voice.
"No... NO... NOTHING!!!! I DON'T WANT ANYTHING!!!!!" Yelled one that was even more distinct.
It was then Giovanni attempted to intervene. This was a rather amazing feat, since he usually stuck up for no one, be they alive, dead, or somewhere in between.
"Are the needles neceesary?"
"Necessary? They are essential. How do you suppose that we'll be able to induce the changes?" Ivy's answer was heard.
Giovanni's next response would have shocked anyone that had worked under him.
"Could you at least give him anasthetics?"
"Anasthetics?!?" Ivy suddenly exclaimed, in complete and utter shock towards Giovanni's inquiry. "ANASTHETICS?!? Why... that would defeat the whole PURPOSE of this venture!!! I must OBSERVE the specimen's reaction, the CHANGES..... How else do you suppose that I can record my findings?!?"
A thought ran through the narrow canyons of the questioner's mind: it is so...inhumane. Yet he did not voice his opinion, now thoroughly convinced that this was a dangerous, perhaps mentally ill woman.
"Misty, what're they doing to Brock?!" Ash suddenly cried out, Misty's heels digging into his shoulders.
"Ash.....you...DON'T want to know..." Misty whispered in a muted voice. She closed her eyes, but that did not block out that fearsome word, that implied the unknown and the dangerous. Changes... what do they MEAN by "changes"??!?
However, her thoughts were interrupted as a weak prayer was heard, in stark contrast to the maniacal yelling that the voice had just given out. "Help me, God, please help me....."
It seemed as if the table was just above where Ash and Misty had positioned themselves.
Misty's eyes began to tear slightly, and she wiped a falling drop delicately from her paling face. She knew what was going on: she could not see it, but it was almost...blaring in her ears, what was happening a floor up from where they were situated. She yelled up to the wall and what was beyond it: "We're here for you...please hang on, Brock!"
Ash couldn't hear too much from where he was standing, but two of the voices rang a bell in his somewhat dull mind. One.....definitely was Ivy, but the other..he had heard it several times before, but did not strike him as anyone he knew, or so he thought.
"Misty....." Brock heard the shout of encouragement, but his voice stayed quiet, as to not draw attention. It was panicked and filled with some kind of wild desperation. "Misty...."
A loud bleep came from the computer.
"Ah.... the preliminary chemicals have settled. His nervous system is prepared.... However, first we must begin the blood transfusion....."
The clinking of metal, another cry of pain from Brock as Ivy took his right arm and administered two more needles into that as well.
"See, Demoni? This one is connected to a mechanism that will pump new... enhanced blood in, while this one will be used to pump the current liquid and antigens out. Very simple."
Giovanni uncharacteristically and unintentionally blanched. SYRINGES......at the end of which protruded those long, thin needles, hateful and abominable. He was not quite sure why he hated those objects. There was something about the sight of them that made him recoil in loathing. By this point, he was not listening to the scientist's explanation, just staring at the poor boy that had been pumped so full of liquids by use of those NEEDLES.
The bones in Misty's legs grew shaky as her brain registered the voices on the upper floor. Blood transfusions...enhanced blood? Not normal blood, but strange, unknown blood? She was now very pale, and had to latch onto the uneven parts of the ceiling in order not to fall. She closed her eyes again, praying to every god that she knew of to let her friend be okay. Yet, how could ANYONE be OKAY after that...torment?
"NO.... IVY.... NO....."
"Now.... how, Demoni, do you expect me to connect him to the computer terminal unless his chest is bare, mm?! Argh, I suppose if you want things done, you have to do them yourself...."
There was the sound of clothing being ripped from Brock's upper body, and then a small crackle of electricity, followed by yet another yell.
"AAAAAAAAARRRGHH!!!!"
"There... those sensors should--Ah, yes. Heartbeat, blood pressure.... and brainwaves from the implant under his skull. Hah-haaaa.... I knew that that device would prove handy.... It certainly helped when your Rockets attacked, mm? Migraines can be extremely crippling...."
It was then that Misty let out a piercing shriek of terror, and she toppled off of Ash's shoulders, the both of them falling onto the ground with a hard thud. The girl was shuddering from what she had heard, things that only a mad scientist out of books or movies would say. Her skin was crawling with swarms of goosebumps, and she looked upwards, her mouth quivering at the gruesome "conversation".
"Brock...!" She choked, her fear escalating rapidly.
Ash looked at Misty, blinking. Since he was on the bottom, he couldn't really discern the words, but he couldn't help shuddering at Brock's agonized screams. However, at the back of his mind , he continued to try and place a face on the other voice. Wonder why it sounds so familiar...
Ivy smiled at her subject, whose eyes were filling up with tears of pain. "Now we activate the pumps....."
She fairly waltzed over to the mechanism that both the tubes and the needles were connected to. She smiled at Brock once more, and leaned down, flipping the "On" switch.
Brock's eyes weakly wandered towards the tube, too tired... too tired to resist.... to feel pain.... His blood was being drained out one of them, and he stared longingly at that red liquid of life as it flowed through the plastic encasing.
And then....
He looked towards the other tube.
BLACK.
Blood as black as midnight, the color of a raven's feather, the hue of a starless, midnight sky.....
The tears fell from his eyes to his cheeks.
".....Monster....." he whispered, and then gasped in pain as he felt the new blood, the artificial black liquid, move backwards somehow, reversing the flow of his bloodstream.
"Yes. 'Monster'," Ivy stepped back, watching as her specimen lost all strength. His shivering skin was slowly, ever so slowly changing from being the color of tanned olive to a strange, greyish hue. "A very good description of what you will soon be."
".............Monster.........."
At this point, the organizer of the whole venture could not take his eyes off of the pure black blood in the tube, just waiting to be infused into that unfortunate young boy. He had little time to contemplate the implications of that dark, ebony concoction when he saw the beginnings of the mutations. The process looked horribly slow, crawling, staggering, and that sluggishness probably increasing the agony of the subject. The human lying there was slowly becoming inhuman, CHANGING into...TRANSFORMING into...BECOMING.....what the tormented boy so recently described.
"A monster...." Giovanni murmured in suppressed awe.
Brock suddenly choked, and then groaned.
"Don't be so eager to feel pain, now," Ivy smirked, turning away. "The blood is only a special addition. to your body.... Your actual makeup can ONLY be determined by God almighty.... and THIS......."
Ivy whirled around, her eyes engulfed in flames as she held up a syringe.
A syringe.
A syringe, filled with a liquid so dark that the black blood paled in contrast.
A syringe, with a point so sharp that it could tear through the flesh of any being.
A syringe, so small that it could be wielded with deadly precision and surprising force.
Unbelievable, unimaginable potential... riding all in that small, glass syringe.
"The syringe...." Ivy murmured, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction at the concoction. "Is mightier than the sword."
Again, there was the cruel mention of the syringes. Giovanni scowled inwardly, shifting his weight in discomfort. Someone so much of control of himself fearing the sight of a needle? It was bewildering.
Yet one thing that Ivy had said lifted the guilt from his conscience. By saying that Brock's makeup could only be determined by God almighty, (and the syringe, but he didn't want to think about that), he thought she was implying that possibly the boy was born this way. Maybe the boy actually was a Pokémon. If that was the case, he had nothing to agonize over. Pokémon were lower than humans in nature's hiearchy in his view. Thus, he grew slightly less disturbed as he watched the process unfold, and gradually more acceptant of this horrible, unspeakable deed. The...experiment was slowly losing his... no, it's humanity, and the tormented boy, that had done nothing to deserve such barbaric treatment seemed to be doomed to become part of the true Pokémon World in every way.
Brock, who now had taken on the greyish hue of the rocks that formed his family's legacy, could only widen his eyes as Ivy approached him with the mortifying, fear-inducing object. He was paralyzed with terror once more, staring at it, as if it had a strange, hypnotic power over all that it was directed at.
"Gemini," Ivy addressed him, bringing the syringe up with her slender hands over her specimen's bare chest. Her eyes, although narrowed, seemed almost red, hellish, and in Brock's sight, she seemed to be the very encartion of Satan him--or her--self. Everything blurred behind the sadist, and then she drifted out of sight as well, leaving only the syringe visible, as clear as crystal and at the same time as opaque as night.
He heard the distant sound of words.
"May God have mercy on your soul."
She struck downwards.
*~*~*
There was a yell. A horrible yell which soon escalated into a scream, and then a wail. It managed to drift down lazily into the cell below. Slowly. Painfully.
"Did you hear that?!"
"Yeah...what're they doing to Brock?!"
"Some kind of....." Misty's breath was ragged as she tried to bring herself to stand up on her unstable feet. "..torture!!"
Ash balled up his fist, and shook it in anger at himself. If he had simply listened to Brock and just RAN.....RAN from their enemies that they usually defeated so swiftly, then they wouldn't be in Team Rocket's dungeons, and Brock wouldn't be elsewhere, getting tortured by the two-faced Ivy and that other man that was on the above floor. Their day could have continued to be perfect, if it wasn't for his ill-made decisions. Misty made this known to him loudly and clearly, and very nearly punched the younger boy in the head.
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! If you weren't so gung-ho about beating Team Rocket, Brock wouldn't be getting....tortured like this!!!"
Although Ash agreed wholeheartedly, his excessive pride caused him to retort: "Oh yeah?!? Well, maybe you should have listened to him too, you dumb, diary-obsessed--"
However, the fight that was about to ensue was suddenly interrupted by a hellish, unearthly sound. A roar. A roar of pain, sorrow, regret, guilt, anger, hate, disgust, but most of all... shame.
"HUUUUURRRROOOAAAAARRGHHH!!!!!!!!!"
It was inhuman. Not of this world or the next. A guttural cry that somehow attempted to convey a thought, an idea, and fell flat on its face into mud in the process. A deep, black pool of mud....
It must have lasted a minute. Maybe more. Perhaps it went on for a day, a year, a lifetime. It was impossible to tell as it continued, and then weakened suddenly, as if choking, and stopped.
In the silence that followed, one could have heard a pin drop. The only sound that dared tread upon that bone-chilling moment was the dew that collected on the bricks of the cold dungeon, dripping downwards.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
One got the strange idea that the liquid might have been blood, dripping off of the hand of a body impaled upon a spear, or perhaps crucified on a wall, as the silence prevailed over all life in the rank prison.
And yet, it was an omen.
Misty's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates--no, platters. What WAS that roar? That tremendous din that struck unspeakable terror echoed and resounded in Misty's ear, and she gasped in horror, clamping her hands over her ears so that the monstrous sound would not penetrate. But its message, so forlorn, so morose, so full of anguish and pain, communicated itself to Misty, and she KNEW it was Brock. But...it didn't SOUND like Brock. He was human: this sound was the furthest THING from human. It was the voice of a monster, something that didn't quite fit into the scheme of nature. And when the silence came, she sobbed softly on Ash's shoulder, and Ash did his best to try and awkwardly comfort her, though it wasn't working in the least bit.
Another voice broke the silence, muffled, quiet, and filled with satisfaction and triumph.
"It'd be wise if you left it somewhere to get used to its new.... form for a while. It would be dangerous to use it so soon after.... the Changes."
A pause. One of those all-knowing, omnipotent pieces of silence that seemed to be timed too well, too perfectly.
"I suggest the lower dungeons."
The unmistakable sound of a PokéBall opening and closing further broke the silence, and Misty could hear heavy steps walk out of the room above them and then fade in the distance. Misty was just about to let out a sigh of relief when she heard new steps, similar to the first, descend towards where Ash and herself were. The surrounding darkness made it impossible to see past the rusty bars, but her ears could detect the sound of a cell door swinging open and then shut, in between the two sounds a brief flash of white light. The figure lingered for a moment, and then was gone, walking back up the stone stairs that were falling into disrepair.
After the danger had left, both trainers found their curiosity getting the best of them; they were eager to find out what Pokémon it was that was left in the cell opposite theirs.
"Team Rocket's so mean....they put a Pokémon in this place?" Misty shook her head, temporarily releasing worries in her mind about Brock... and the roar.
"Wonder what kind it is!" Ash dug for his PokéDex, that had been one of the few things that were left on his person save for his clothes, and aimed it at the darkness. Dexter came alive, and said in its monotone:
"This Pokémon cannot be identified."
"Can't be identified...?" Misty echoed, her hand on Ash's shoulder as she looked over it. "Hmmm...." She narrowed her cerulean eyes and leaned forward, trying to get a glimpse at the strange animal. "That's weird."
"Hey!!!" Ash exclaimed after a moment of "deep" thinking. "Maybe it's a new species or something!!!! If I can catch it or record it on Dexter, maybe I can show Professor Oak!!!" The ambitious young trainer clenched his right hand into a fist and grinned. "Hah-hah!!! That'll show that Gary!!! Maybe if I can get Tracey to sketch it....."
"Be quiet, Ash!!!!" Misty tensed as she whispered, her eyes widening as they detected a faint movement from the opposite cell. "I think it's waking up!!!"
There was the strange sound of a metallic object scraping against the stone floor, and then rough, heavy breathing, the inhaling and exhaling sounds that an Ursaring might have made after a small scuffle. Then, a slight whimper from the darkness, and suddenly....
Two bright orbs red light, points of crimson intensity, seemed to suddenly appear at the sound of Misty's last words, bodiless and eerie in the pitch blackness of the dungeons. It was impossible to tell if they were moving, or what they even WERE, as the breathing arubtly halted from the other cell.
"Wh---what IS that?!" Ash yelled, frantically shaking Dexter, but the red PokéDex made no more sound. Frustrated, he slammed it shut, put it into the pocket of his blue jacket, and continued to watch the eyes in horror.
"Ahhhhhhhh!!!" Misty screamed as she jerked away from Ash and moved to the back of the cell. Her eyes were wide and her whole body was shaking, afraid that the owner of those eyes would lunge and rip the two of them apart without a second thought.
The creature was silent as death. The eyes disappeared for a moment, hidden under whatever lids the monster possessed.
Then, something unexpected took place.
The faint sound of crying could be heard, the quiet flow of tears onto the cold, wet floor. However, it wasn't human; the sobs were in the form of short growls, and as it grit its teeth against apparent emotional turmoil, a meager bit of light reflected off of a pair of impressive one-inch long canines that could have qualified as belonging to a vampire.
"It looks pretty mean.....!" Ash remarked, advancing towards the front of the cell slowly, his sneakers hitting the decrepit floor softly. As he gulped at the sight of the fangs, Misty stopped shaking and took a long listen at the growls. She was not keen on the emotions of big, scary Pokémon, but it was clear that the growls were of sadness, and not of bloodlust. Yet, those fangs, gleaming in the faint glow of sunlight from outside, were obviously not used for making friends. Even so, there was something familiar about the dark creature, the hideousness of which was dulled by it being familiar to her sight.
It stopped crying for a moment, pausing.... almost thoughtful. The red orbs appeared once more, and there was another scraping of scales upon metal, as it seemed to near the iron bars. It then unexpectedly, slowly reached out a hand towards the occupants of the other side.
It was a hideous sight to bear witness to, as yellow light from one of the flickering light bulbs laid its glow upon it. Black scales laid upon it which didn't seem to reflect the light at all and instead absorbed it, and claws that seemed to be made from steel. The arm was muscled as well, lightly, but with tendons that seemed to be made of some kind of material that was stronger than the aforementioned metal.
However, the most astonishing piece of this puzzle was that the arm itself was SHAKING. Not in anger nor in hunger.... but terror, trauma, loneliness...
However, the ever-shrieking Misty was completely REVOLTED by the sight, and she screamed for a drawn out period of time. "GET IT AWAY FROM MEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
If she had known who it was she would be kicking herself in the head. However, that faint familiarity had dwindled... and died.
The hand suddenly recoiled back into the darkness, and there was another period of silence.... and those short growls which seemed to be sobs. Suddenly...... there was a faint cry of realization, and the distinct sound of clothing being ripped through by claws soon after.
Another whimper, this one of a last hope, an almost-defeated determination. The hateful claws were outstretched once more, but this time, the hand was in the form of a fist, clenched around something or other.
"Come on, Misty! It's not going to eat us!" Ash said in forced cheerfulness, trying to reassure his friend.
"How can you be so sure of that, Ash?!!" Misty screamed, her eyes shut tight. She was so frightened of that creature--the MONSTER, no doubt of that, and it struck more terror into her than any Ariados or Beedrill ever would. Ash liked all types of Pokémon, and though he could be closed-minded to certain things, and though he was scared half to death , a Pokémon was still a Pokémon. Funny...it had Brock's hair.
"Hey, look, Misty! It looks like Brock!"
When Ash said that, the water-type trainer froze, and she inched her way to the front of the cell, and that unsavory, abnormal hand. Her eyes began to fill with tears, and she leaned her orange-haired head against the bars, sobbing piteously, realizing that the creature......was indeed their older friend.
"It" recoiled its hand once more, suddenly realizing that he had just created more of a burden to their minds..... He tried to make them understand... but no, it was impossible. It was settling in slowly..... these new senses.... these feelings.... he clutched the small piece of fabric that was in his claws to his bare chest, closing his eyes for a moment. It was a piece torn from the bottom of his brown pants, which were now tattered and beyond recognition. But maybe.... he could somehow communicate something to them if they realized.... that.... that it was him. Brock. He WAS Brock.... right?
Before he could dig up any other doubts about his being, he leaned forward once again and laid the cloth in front of Ash and Misty, bringing his monstrous arm back once more. Suddenly, he felt as if he didn't want them to know, and skittered backwards against the farthest wall. This body.... these quick reactions, the strange muscles... Were so alien to him, as he attempted to move. Every muscle he used, every tendon he pulled... seemed to be agony to his mind, his heart. He felt wrong.... so wrong.... WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG---
"WRRRROOOARRGHH!!!!!" he suddenly roared, the sound only half-sounding like the word that he was trying to yell, to scream into the face of God himself. Why did he feel so WRONG?!??!
At the sound of the tremendous roar the two trainers jumped backwards, Ash crashing into the stone wall with Misty following, landing in a heap. Then they both inched foward on their hands and knees, the girl grabbing between the rusting bars for the fabric that the creature had laid down in front of them, and pulling it backwards haltingly, not wanting to completely confirm that the fabric was part of Brock's clothing, or what was left of it. However, she HAD to know for sure, and held the brown material up to her quaking eyes, and she nodded, whispering like a timid stream of wind:
"It's Brock."
Ash's eyes narrowed and he stood up with some difficulty, and shook his fist at the upper floors.
"We're 'gonna make you sorry for what you did to our friend!!"
However, no one was listening, and no one probably cared to listen, because those in these dungeons were many times, if not always, insignificant to Team Rocket.
"It's no use, Ash," came a voice, a hoarse growl that, with much effort, was being forced to grind words onto the rough vocal cords of an inhuman throat. "They aren't listening.... they won't ever listen."
"Brock!!!" Ash cried in surprise, leaning down towards those two scarlet eyes that glowed amidst the prevailing darkness. A few moments of silence followed before Misty broke in.
"My God......what did they DO to you?!"
That was perhaps the most unnecessary question she had ever asked, but she was frightened, and fear caused her to do irrational things.
The eyes narrowed, and the sound of an exceedingly powerful fist slamming against stone was heard. However, it was the stone that could be head breaking. Not the hand.
"Isn't it obvious?" After a moment of silence, he suddenly gave out a yell, that escalated into a roar. "ISN'T IT OBVIOURRRGHHH?!??!?"
The roar was frightening, but now that Misty knew that the creature was Brock, she found some relief in it. She nodded, finding herself without words, her face full of tears, and slowly reached her hand out to grab that claws that so mercilessly but rightfully wrecked the stone, in an attempt to comfort him.....somehow....if that was even possible. Ash said nothing, still belieivng that he was the cause of all this. How little he knew that this would have happened with or without his blunder.
The creature looked back towards Misty, and his eyes suddenly narrowed, bitterly.
"You didn't seem so eager to do that before."
He was angry at the world for obvious reasons, and his turbulent emotions, which had not yet come to face this new problem, this new LIFE, seemed to be overtaken by the chemicals that were coursing through his system. The combination was causing something that Ivy had PLANNED, and Brock wasn't disappointing. He was lashing out at everything, his hatred building.... Ivy had taken him to the pool of inhumanity and shoved him in, and because no one had been there to stop Ivy from doing it, he was refusing to let anyone try to pull him out as he sank.
Of course, Ash and Misty had been there.... but Brock didn't care. His apathy at this moment was too great, as he tried to ignore the life-changing event that had just took place. He couldn't... he couldn't even remember the details of the Change... Too painful. Too heartbreaking.
There would never be a less inopportune time for the Rocket leader to descend to the dungeons. Misty gasped as she heard the steps, and shoved her guilt at reacting negatively to Brock into the back of her mind. Ash looked confused, and stared blankly at the hideous monstrosity that was Brock, hardly noticing Team Rocket's Boss, (who, unbeknownst to him and Misty, doubled as the Viridian City Gym leader).
The large man strode confidently down the musty corridor, whatever remorse he had pertaining to this venture having dissipated entirely. He glanced briefly at the two trainers, though his view of Ash was obscured by Misty. He was--unfortunately for our heroes--acting as normally as ever, with that twisted grin once again on his creased face. The man looked down at the creature in the cell with a long, hard, condescending gaze, that practically laughed, "I'm better than you because I am human."
Giovanni thought about this for a moment, smiled, and after a small chuckle, produced a PokéBall and looked threateningly at the tormented Pokémon.
Brock's crimson eyes widened. He had been unconscious the first time that he had been in one of those.... loathesome.... objects, and his mind was fuzzy about the recent occurrence. However, one thing was certain; it had not been pleasant.
Giovanni held out the virtual cage that was different from the normal type of PokéBall: these ones were marked with the intimidating R, and at this moment, was aimed towards Brock.
"Gemini..... return."
"Gemini", as he had been dubbed by his "superiors", shook his head, his bloodshot eyes widening as he backed up against the wall.... but to no avail.
A yell leaped from his inhuman throat as he practically disintegrated, transformed into that scarlet light for a moment, and with a sudden cry, disappeared.
"BROCK!!" Misty cried, running up to the bars and trying to shake the ancient, rusty metal in her deep frustration. The man in the orange-red suit turned around, grinned maliciously at Misty for a long moment, and shoved the PokéBall into his pocket, walking back up the steps with the whitish figure of a feline following.
Misty was frozen in shock at the sight of that grin. So cold.... so filled with malice, so incredibly and utterly evil.....the man who posessed that grin could never be otherwise.
She closed her eyes and screamed.
"BROOOOOOOOOOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
*~*~*
DMB: We'll leave you hanging in suspense. Again, do not be afraid of fluffy enigmas; it is perfectly safe to leave a wonderful REVIEW! Only one for the first chapter. Oh, well. We love ya, Master Garo Something! ~.^
B9T: But even though the reviews might be scarce, we'll keep on writing! ^_-
DMB: Wait.... FOUR now?!? Ah, great!! Um.... THANKS TO ALL OF YOU! ~.^
TO BE CONTINUED.....