Ch 7

The final level of the laboratory was completely dark. Rui held her flashlight ready as she crept down the halls and followed her PDA. She was getting closer, she could feel it. Jupiter perked its ears up and darted down the hall, yipping to lead her and the twin after it.

"Wait up! Is that the room? Is that where Wes is?" Rui called, following it to the door. She took a deep breath and slowly opened it.

The room was nearly empty, save for Wes lying on a metal examination table and various machines set up around the room. The remains of the fake Snag Machine still were scattered across the floor. Rui cried out and ran in to check on the Snagger.

"Wes! Wes!" she called to him, shaking his shoulders, then setting to work on undoing the straps tying him down, "Oh, what did they do to you? Wes! Wake up!" She received no response and looked around for something to help her. The Eons ran to the computer and stood on the chair, peering at the little window that flashed repeatedly on the screen. "What's that?" Rui murmured and hurried over to check it. "Is this the data that woman was talking about? Where did they find it?" she murmured and closed the window, reading the pages on the screen.

"'Project: WSLY, codename Seth, received orders to eliminate the subject listed in image 29-a, Jupiter the Espeon. Complete. Received orders to eliminate subject listed in image 29-b, Pluto the Umbreon. Complete. Received orders to eliminate the subject listed in image 46-a, Rui Roane. Error in transmission. Data download from Seth, complete. Save to disc, complete.'" she read and furrowed her brow, "What does this mean?" She re-read the page, trying to make sense of the words as Seth opened his eyes and sat up on the table.

He shook his head to clear it and dropped the ear-clip that had come loose during his tossing and turning. He rubbed at his eyes, then looked around, narrowing them when he caught sight of Rui and the Eons nearby. Sliding from the table, Seth walked to them quietly, raising his hands together in a fist.

"What does it mean? Is Wes working for Cipher again?" Rui murmured in confusion and cried in pain as something hard slammed into her back. She spun, striking back with the flashlight and knocking Seth backwards. "Wes! You're awake!" she declared with a smile even as her back ached.

"Shut up." Seth growled and spun into a kick, throwing her aside. Jupiter leaped at him, knocking him to the floor before jumping away.

"Ow! Wes! What are you doing? Stop it! It's me, Rui! Remember?" Rui cried, climbing to her feet and holding out her hands. Seth rolled over and got up, glaring at her until she spoke her name. His eyes widened and he looked confused.

"Rui? I...I know that name." he whispered and cringed, pressing his hand against his forehead, "Owww. No... no..." He snapped back to her, eyes dark again, "No! You are my enemy! You are a threat to Cipher and our plans of world domination!" Seth charged at her, poised to punch her, "I'll eliminate that threat!" Rui darted aside and mimicked the self-defense move he had used on her days earlier, the Snag Machine on her arm adding to the power of her move.

"No, I'm not!" she cried and jumped back as he fell to the floor again, writhing in pain and lashing out at the Eons as they closed in to sniff at him. "Wes! Those guys did something to you! You're not acting like yourself! Snap out of it!" Had the window meant Wes? Was it right when it said that he had orders to kill them all? There was something clipped to his ear that pulsed with a soft green light. Was he taking orders from the computer? "Project: WSLY? Wesley. Wes! You're the database that was made to hold all of Cipher's research data?" she cried in realization.

"I am a Cipher Admin! And as such, I'll employ every skill I have to ensure that you do not interfere with us!" Seth snapped, climbing to his feet again.

"No, you're not! Your name is Seth and Wes, that's true! But you are not a Cipher Admin! You're my gallant, golden-eyed desert prince!" Rui cried sorrowfully, leaping towards him with her eyes shut tight. Seth grunted softly as he was tackled and dropped to the floor, the girl hugging him tightly as she sobbed. "You're a good person, with a kind heart and loving soul! That's why you saved me and why you purified all the Pokémon you snagged! Because you care about them and me and we're your friends! We care about you, too!"

He was propped up on his elbows, looking past her head at the wall in a wide-eyed trance. The information he had was crumbling apart with every word she said, unable to support the orders he had been given because of lack of evidence that he was what he had been told he was, and the error in transmission of that final order didn't help it much. Rui's whole-hearted sobs and cries seemed to be touching a part of him that had not been... accessed was the only word he could think of to describe it.

Jupiter and Pluto whined and joined in, nuzzling his face and licking his cheeks. The Espeon nibbled at the ear-clip and pulled it off, crunching on it once before dropping it in favor of licking his ear.

"Please, please, don't be the bad guy anymore! You're a good person! We all care about you! Jupiter and Pluto and Nett and Secc and all our friends! They're trying to help you!" Rui went on, hugging him with all her strength, "Open your heart, Seth! Open it up like you told all the poor Shadow Pokémon when you snagged them! Open your heart and be free! Don't turn into them!"

"Rui..." Seth murmured softly, closing his eyes and struggling, mentally and physically, "No... no... she's... threat..."

"Don't go back to Cipher, Seth!" Rui screamed in tears, "I love you!" The Snagger shook his head and cried in pain, pushing her away and holding his head, doubling over on the floor. She called his name again, holding up her arm in fear of what may happen next. He kept screaming wordlessly, then suddenly turned over and writhed on the floor, still holding his head, looking for all the world as if he were in death throes. The Eons leaped back and stood on either side of Rui, watching and waiting.

Finally, the scream died away and he slowed his movements until he lay exhausted on the tile. Still the three rescuers waited.

"Rrr..." Seth seemed to growl. He gasped and let his hands drop from his head, breathing heavily. "R-Rui..."

"Wes? Seth?" she whispered back.

"Just Seth. I never liked the name Wes." he replied and turned to look at her, lidded eyes wet with tears. "Thank you... for saving me. For opening my heart... and my eyes." Rui smiled tearfully and crawled forward to help him sit up. "Did I... hurt... anyone?" he asked hesitantly between breaths of air.

"No, not at all. We're all fine." she answered softly.

"They... destroyed the chip... How did you... find me?"

"I had two of them. I didn't know how to tell you, and I thought you'd be mad if I did. I put the first one in the necklace you're wearing." Rui replied carefully and looked at him worriedly. "I was afraid of losing you. To the monster. To Cipher. To Death."

"Smart girl." Seth breathed and winced as he started to stand, "We have to get out of here." His strength began returning as he rested against Rui. "Cipher got all their information back, actually most of it. They didn't have a chance to put a fresh upload in my head before I resigned from Team Snagem."

"Then, it's true? You're an experiment, too? Like that shadow beast and the Shadow Pokémon?" Rui asked, helping him to the computer. He nodded. "Are you... the regenerated Pokémon?"

"Yeah, but not a Pokémon, an enhanced human or something. I have a few abilities and strengths from the Pokémon DNA they used to make me, but that's it. It's also how I know about them all. It's like a genetic knowledge." he explained, "I don't know how it works. But they left the disc here." He closed the windows and unplugged the weighty black device from the computer. "Looks like an external hard drive. Two of them. Ein must have come by earlier for a check up while I was knocked out." Seth muttered and picked up the two discs. "We'll take these to Nett and see what he can learn."

"Then we'll find out what you really are and find a way to keep anything like this from ever happening to you again!" Rui added brightly. She took the discs and shoved them into her pack. "All that's left to do is to stop the shadow beast and get out of here."

"Already on the data here." Seth remarked, calmly purging the system of the information that was pulled from his mind. Rui blushed as she watched.

"Um, Seth? About what I said earlier..." she started bashfully.

"Can we talk about it another time? Ein and the other bozos might come back any minute now." Seth hastily interrupted and pulled back from the keys, "There. It's completely blank now. Let's go, guys!" Rui sighed and followed him to the door.

It opened to reveal Professor Ein standing there in surprise, a paper bag in one hand. He blinked down at Seth and opened his mouth to speak. The Snagger yanked on the tendril of hair coming down from the scientist's head and kicked him in the gut, sending him flying back across from the doorway.

"Run!" he called back, letting the group run by Ein before following them. The professor quickly radioed the breakout and signaled the Chaser beast after them again.


Sera rushed down the halls, angry by the fact that Ein had let her twin get away. She hadn't waited for so long to lose him now. She'd been forced to stay in the shadows, waiting, watching him grow and mature into a prime Snagger, collecting vast amounts of information during his life. To hell with what was in his head, she just wanted what was in the young man's jeans. Her mouth curved into a hungry smile. No thanks to Ein constantly being in that lab room with him and her having to set up the maze of light and dark rooms to confuse and terrify the girl, she had to hold back on her delicacy.

Then she gets word that he'd escaped the lab, and their control, once again.

Sera was fed up with it. The second she found Seth, she wouldn't care who was around. She'd gobble him up then and there, and walk away purring like she had done with so many other richer and handsome men in her lifetime, but this time, she'd actually keep him around. Gonzap was merely an indentured servant, the engagement a farce. She was only marrying him to get Team Snagem securely under her power. And with Snagem under her control, she could have access to Seth at any time.

She was growing hungrier thinking about it.

But no, oh no! Stubborn, bull-headed, golden-eyed Poké-Man had to run off on them the same day she was going to go down and personally take him back to Cipher, blowing the hideout apart, destroying her father's brand new investments, stealing the last working portable Snag Machine they had... and making off with a delectable body still untasted. It had infuriated her to no end.

"Bloody hell! He's purged the system! And stolen the discs! Dammit all, why the hell couldn't we have just gone back to base the minute we got him and do the download there? I knew this would happen!" Ein griped over the radio.

"Stop your whining, you twit! We'll get him back and the data, too!" Sera called back. Ha, he can have his precious bits of data. Just so long as she got the Snagger afterwards to celebrate her rise to power. "Have Gonzap move in to cut them off! I don't want them getting to the elevators!" The brute had better be slow in finding them. If he got his hands on Seth first, Lord knows what condition she would find the Snagger in later. She found the Snagem Boss rather repulsive, more so when she learned he got his jollies from abusing others. That explained quite a bit to her; every word or action Seth made was enough to set Gonzap on him. The new data she was able to read told her nothing more than the usual beatings had taken place.

That was good for her. She liked opening a present untouched and unseen by others. It made it all the more exciting when they fought to stay that way.

She spotted the group running around the corner of a junction ahead of her and smiled. The little tranquilizer pistol in her hand was ready to fire. Sera raised it, aimed and squeezed the trigger, licking her lips.

This was going to be deliciously sweet.


"I see you're wearing some of my oxide!" Seth called up as they ran on, "Handy in the desert, isn't it?" Rui laughed as the Eons hustled alongside them, keeping their speed even with the humans so as not to overtake them.

"It was! Want your visor back?" she asked, tossing it over her shoulder for him. He caught it and placed it on his head securely. Grinning, he sped up to run beside her.

"I'll race you to the elevator!" he challenged and started to pull away. Rui smiled and pumped her legs harder to catch up. "Come on, Rui! You can do better!" She could hear it clearly in his voice, the joy of being free, the light-hearted nature that he had been forced to hide for so long. Maybe the desert was harsh and cruel at times, but wasn't it beautiful and wonderful at times, too?

She heard a gunshot, felt something rush by her, then cried in horror as Seth stumbled and fell to the floor. She skidded to a halt and knelt by him, then noticed the dart-like object embedded in the back of his shoulder. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed and yanked it out, pressing her hand against the wound. Who could have done this?

Rui looked up in a fury at the woman from the monitors, walking towards them with the gun still aimed at them. She had been the one who shot Seth. The Snagger managed to sit up and roll to one side, looking up in confusion at the woman.

"Move away from him if you want to stay alive, little girl." she ordered with a smile, "And maybe I'll let you watch me, if you don't try and stop me."

"What do you think you're doing? Are you crazy? I barely rescued him, I'm not letting a nutcase like you brainwash him again!" Rui snapped.

"That's okay. I'm not going to 'brainwash' him. It's more fun to have him screaming in agony during the ride." the woman replied, a mad light in her eyes. Rui glared at her, realization dawning on her as she hugged Seth close to her, trying to protect him. He frowned and mirrored Rui's expression.

"Jupiter..." Seth whispered the name, the command silently embedded in the tone. A blue aura surrounded the little gun in the woman's hand, wrenching itself from her grip and spinning to aim at her.

"Wh-what? What's happening?" she cried and fled from the gun as it charged after her, "You can't do this to me! I'm Sera Evice, the head of Cipher Corporation! I can not be defeated by parlor tricks!" A gunshot sounded and the woman wailed before falling silent.

"I hope it was fatal." Rui growled and yelped when Seth sat up to nudge her shoulder with a hand.

"Don't say that. You're too kind to start thinking that way." he told her sternly and stood, unsteady at first, then recovering quickly as the Espeon nuzzled his hand. "Jupiter wouldn't do that. She just got hit in the same place as me, but with a stronger dose. I feel a little numb in my throwing arm."

"Will you be all right?"

"I'll live. Let's go. Before Gonzap finds us. I'd like to be far away from here before he has a shot at my ass again." Seth replied and they continued on, "And the race is still on!"