Less talk, more story:
Link: Wait a minute! Das DISCLAIMER!
Gamer21 does not own the Pokémon franchise, nor does he own the stories Unfair Fate by Kantah and Unfair Destiny by Mullenium Master.
Present-Day: February 13, 2006
The Cornerian Outpost, Katina
"...raise output pressure to 200."
"Right, sir."
"...keep the chamber at a consistent temperature of 72°F."
"Of course, sir."
Many miles underneath the desert crust of the planet Katina, in the Lylat System, a facility hidden away from the rest of the galaxy was swarming with all kinds of activity as men in white coats swarmed the rooms around the central hub. Computers, sophisticated equipment and the dull white of the stainless steel walls revolved around the core center of the main lab, where several scientists were hurrying this way and that, carrying various items in their hands.
"Sir, all that has been requested by you has been done. What service shall we do for you now?" a timid assistant asked the one in charge, a burly man with a thick mane of hair and a rough shaven beard.
"Good. Fire up the equipment, and make sure that, AT ALL COSTS, the subject is unharmed!" The man replied loudly. "We have waited too long for a most brilliant specimen to conduct this experiment on, and I am not going to let this chance slip through my fingertips!"
"Yes sir!" the assistant replied somewhat quickly, as he nearly tripped on a series of wires laid upon the spotless floor. The wires led up to a glass tube in the center of the room, which was full of a chemical solution at the moment. "Do you want the others to bring in our specimen?"
"I will personally see to it that test subject Alpha-A1 is brought here in pristine condition." The scientist replied. "Do not fail me, good man. If this experiment is successful...we will have revolutionized Katina—no, the ENITRE Lylat System—as we know it!"
"But what if it doesn't work, sir?" the scientist asked doubtfully. "We would have wasted the government's funds for naught! And if wind of this EVER reached the governor's ears, he'd—!"
"There is a saying, my anxious friend: What the governor doesn't know won't hurt us. Now shut up and let us be."
Although the assistant didn't like his tone of voice, he merely shrugged and replied, "...all right, sir. What we have done is what we shall do."
"Good." The scientist replied. "Pretty soon...the universe will know the TRUE power of Katina!"
The Hidden Facility, Several Minutes Later
Great numbers of various scientists marched down the hallways, patrolling the passages of the facility with cold faces. The rhythmic beeps and whirring of the machinery echoed silently through the room as pulsing blue lights ran the length of the walls. The rough scientist merely observed the others as he made his way to a mortifying 'vault' within the core of the facility. The others regarded the intense young man without emotion, continuing their patrols.
At the end of one of the hallways stood a single door made of titanium and bolted hinges. The hinge-less side was lined with titanium hulls as the scientist placed his palm on the keypad, causing the huge door to open with a scalding creaking noise. A spiral of platinum steps snaked down into the shadows where the specimens were kept, frozen in eternal ice.
Ice cold steam and the thick stench of decomposing flesh overwhelmed the scientist as he stepped into the body vault, where the corpses of those long departed were kept, hidden away from the world. As the fading fluorescent blue light streamed down into the mausoleum below, the scientist worked his way through tables upon tables of dead bodies until he stopped in front of one particular one, eyeing it with a sort of morbid fondness for the corpse underneath.
Ripping off the white sheet that covered the operating table, the scientist smiled with glee as he laid his eyes upon the specimen. It was a beautiful young girl of only 10 or 11, her delicate body marred with bruises and broken bones and her ample chest crushed by some form of hideous death-dealing force. Stroking the girl's cheek lovingly, the scientist snickered in glee as he wheeled the table carefully over to a hidden elevator as cold, if not colder, than the mausoleum itself.
The assistant tapped his foot nervously as the head scientist came back to the main lab minutes later, wheeling in the table from the mausoleum underneath. "What took you?"
"I forgot where the body was." The head scientist replied, "So sue me."
"Shaddup and wheel it over, will ya?"
"Chill, you. Chill." The scientist merely shrugged as he rolled the table over to the center of the lab. Smiling, he revealed the girl's corpse underneath the sheet before smirking triumphantly at his assistant. "What do you think? Beautiful, no?"
"But, sir!"
"What?" the head replied callously. "You have a problem with it?"
"Um...sir, her body's totally crushed!" the scientist replied, gesturing to the crushed chest of the girl's corpse. "Are you SURE this will work!"
"It will." The scientist replied. "It WILL work, my friend. You will see." The assistant merely acknowledged this with a huff as he sulked off. "So impossible..."
Outside the Katina Outpost...
Outside the Katina walls, a sinister black ship with a bloody cross on the back had stealthily landed on the canyon walls of the large crater that the outpost was built inside. The ship was a dark omen to the trouble ahead as it opened up to the world around them, admitting heavily armored me out into the desert. Masks and goggles hid their faces, and they were carrying mortal weaponry as they began their ominous march around the crater...
Several guards were stationed near the main entrance to the base, a large diamond-covered stainless steel blast door intermeshed with a complicated locking mechanism. As the sun rose high above the sweaty guards, one of them asked the other, "Slow day, huh?" He had a knack for stating the obvious.
"If you call watching the sun rising exciting, than nah."
"Lucky you."
The head guard rolled his eyes. His subordinate was a very dimwitted man to begin with.
"I'd like an attack right about now. Break into mash new gun," he laughed, hefting his powerful grenade launcher and patting it affectionately.
"Heh. You'd be dead before you'd break into it."
"Sh'ah right." He looked back to the horizon, just as a strip of brown decided to come up over the crater wall. "Hey, whazzat?"
In the strip of brown, tiny black dots bounced above the dunes in the south, their destination: the Cornerians' outpost. Confused, the head guard brought out his binoculars and gazed at whatever was coming this way, even though it was too bright to really tell.
"Huh. Looks to be supply trailers, bringing in rations and equipment."
"Hehe, maybe they finally brought us some real food, huh?"
"That'll be the day." As other guards raised their various weapons, he made a silent hand gesture for them to hold fire, for now, at least. The scouts reluctantly obeyed.
And then something happened. A gunshot rang out through the silent noon, a flash of bright light from the black dots indicating the shot's source. At the sound of a thud, the commander turned to find his subordinate on the floor beside him, his head torn open like a cantaloupe, vital fluids draining out. But he only stood there for a second, turning away as if the death never occurred. But the gunshot certainly did.
"Open—!" he shrieked the command just before another bullet found its way into his throat, tearing into his voice box. He spent his last few seconds of life gurgling before he collapsed onto the dry desert crust
The guards immediately unleashed lead upon the attacking force, but they had no chance as more lead pellets ended their life. Before they were able to call in a situation, the guards were killed as the men in black charged down the crater wall and up to the main door, taking the guards' guns and clothes before blasting their heads with more lead.
And as the other soldiers began digging into the dry desert sand, the head of the assassins smiled to himself as he pulled out several large diamonds, gunpowder and rocket fuel drilled inside their beautiful cores. Hurling one into the air and catching it, he smiled ominously before attaching the bombs onto the locks on the blast door.
"This planet will now regret ever messing with us..."
The Hidden Facility, Katina
"Sir, the machines are ready for the test."
"Excellent." The head scientist smiled to the assembly before him as he carried the dead girl from the table up to a large metal slab embossed in the north-most part of the lab. Laying her corpse on the slab, he sighed deeply in admiration of his life's work before pressing a single blue button on the nearby console.
Several titanium pipelines began to quiver nearby as a sparkling light blue fluid poured forth from the ends of the pipes, feeding into the tank in which the corpse was laid. The pipes continued to pour the creation fluid into the shallow container until her corpse was no longer visible. As the assistant watched the process, intrigued, he asked his boss, "Sir! What is THIS for?"
"Stop asking questions." The head scientist replied warmly, and yet with firmness that imparted confidence. "See? You will find out now."
"Sir? Bu—WHOA!" the assistant exclaimed. The blue creation fluid was now glowing brightly, like molten turquoise flowing through a pipe. Bright light emanated forth from the corpse underneath, giving off an unearthly brilliance in itself as the creation fluid whipped and whirled around the tank. Pressing another button on the console, the slab peeped up through the fluid and dripped with it as the girl's corpse was revealed to the other scientists as the creation fluid drained away. The corpse had been repaired; it was in such a pristine condition that at first glance, it would look like the girl was newly dead. But of course, she wasn't. Also, the damage to her body—the bruises, broken bones and crushed chest—had been reversed to the point that there was no evidence of it left AT ALL. The other weird thing was that the body had matured a few years to that of a normal 13-year-old. The assistant was part of a collective gasp around the room as he exclaimed, "Sir! The girl's body is back to normal...amazing!"
"Yes, it is." The head scientist acknowledged his assistant, patting him on the back. "This discovery will revolutionize medicine, history—hell, it will change the known UNIVERSE as we know it!"
"I know! We'll be...FAMOUS! RICH! POWERFUL! WE'LL BE THE SUBJECT OF ALL GIRLS EVERYWHERE!"
"...as long as I know that I made a difference in this world that is enough for me." The head scientist replied. "Now help me hook some wires up to this thing, all right? It is time that this corpse became a living girl!"
"YES SIR!" After hooking up the wires, the head scientist picked the now-teenage girl up in his arms, all the while looking at her fondly and stroking her beautiful brown hair. "Don't worry, my dear. You will return to the land of the living soon enough."
Meanwhile, on the surface...
Several guards were gathered around the table as money, food, water and various magazines of questionable content were scattered on the tabletop. Around the pile were at least five soldiers, cards drawn and sweat dripping down their faces. As minutes ran by without end, several of them resigned in defeat, leaving only two young men slumped over their cards. As the silence grew unbearable, one of the men sighed in happiness as he laid down his cards. "Heh...straight in diamonds."
"Oh, crap!" the second guard replied. "Not good...!"
"I know." The first guard smirked.
"...for you." The first guard's smile quickly vanished when he saw what was in his comrade's hand. "Royal flush."
"SONUFABITCH!" the first guard yelled as the second one scooped up the winnings from the table, snickering gleefully. The others laughed for a while, until...
BOOM!
"What the hell was that!" the first guard yelped, as the other guards turned toward the source of the BOOM. Eyes widening to small ovals, the guards watched as the front gate of the Katina Outpost was in chaos. The guards in front of the door were being shot down systematically until the blood literally flowed through the door. The blast door itself was completely destroyed, as well as the guard towers next to it. As some of the other guards panicked, the head guard yelled into the radio, "What's going on? Talk to me!"
"...oh, shit!" he cried, dropping the speaker and shouting to his bunkmates. "Guys, get out your guns! We're under attack!" Shouts blurred together, mixing with the static.
"What!" The commander screamed into the speaker, sitting up in his seat, panicking. "What the fuck is going on!"
"Terrorists! They're surrounding your tower! Get outta there!"
And then a gunshot rang out, followed by a loud blast and continuous fizzing. Shouts in the room below indicated that the others were beginning to panic.
"DAMMIT!" the commander cursed, hand reaching for his gun. Just as he glanced forward, a male terrorist's head popped out from above, scaring the crap out of him. The terrorist cackled and raised a weapon, but the commander beat him to the punch, drawing his revolver and firing several shots. The windows shattered and the terrorist's body bounced off the controls as he fell to the ground, dead with a few bullets into the skull.
The commander tore through the tan drape and into the main chambers. The two guards were cowering in the corner as a third stood above them, readying his rifle.
"Stay in the control room and keep your damn mouths shut," the commander ordered. "We'll take care of them."
More bullets rang out and holes began to pepper the tower's side. Three shatters rang out as the other three windows caved in to admit the terrorists.
"Fuck!" the commander shouted in fury. "Those damn bastards! I just replaced those!"
"Come on," his subordinate said heavily, attaching a bayonet to end of his Uzi. "Let's gun down some terrorists."
As the two guards leapt out, the first guard heard shouts and raucous laughter, followed by gunshots and sick thuds in the dust, then whoops and hollers of excitement. He was never one for fights, especially with guns. But soon the danger outside escalated as obviously terrorists had entered the fray, and fear shifted to curiosity. Pushing a drape to the side, he gawked at the carnage that lay before him.
Debris lay scattered around the room in a circle, blocking any escape for their enemies. Many corpses lay twitching on the ground, a blend of both guards and terrorists. Upon seeing their enemies, the terrorists seemed to have turned into bloodthirsty animals, most of them touting a mortal weapon and shooting the guards multiple times, howling with wild abandon. The poor guars couldn't believe what he was witnessing. With their fury, the outcome of the battle was severely one-sided, and fear came upon the young lad. Just then, a single bang rattled his eardrums, and sharp pain struck the guard across the head. He fell back from the force, dizzy eyes gazing at the olive ceiling above. The young man knew with the last bit of consciousness left that he had been shot and would die soon.
All his thoughts drifted away, and the sounds of the melee outside melded into a dull roar. Dizzy, his head slumped to the side, his eyes glancing upon a bloody corpse of a guard that lay beside him before they blurred out all images and faded to black…
The Underground Facility
"Is everything ready?"
"YES!" Within the last few minutes, the wires had been hooked up to various pressure points on the girl's body, such as her neck, wrists, and even one on her ankle. Turning a little green knob on the nearby console, mysterious clear fluid began to bubble up in a glass cylinder, bubbling slightly and glowing an ominous shade of blue. Once the tube was filled to capacity, the girl's body was dropped inside.
More bubbles gushed forth from the grate at the bottom, and the fluid began to pulse as electrons hidden away within the substance began to circulate around the girl, finding their way into t he wires and sending sparks into the muscle and nerves inside. Turning the button some more, the scientist's eyes began to light up as he electrons pulsed more and more, causing the glass tube to brighten in light and increase in speed. Then, before the light blinded the other scientists, with a faint popping noise, the light disappeared and the glow of the tube vanished completely.
"Did it work?" one of the other scientists asked the head of the operation. The head scientist shrugged unknowingly.
"I don't know...there's no response so far."
...huh? Wh...who are you?
"You hear that?" a third scientist replied. The head of the operation scrambled over to where the third scientist was monitoring he girl's brain-wave activity, which had appeared on the monitor with the suddenness of a snuffed candle. The lab tech told his boss, "We can hear her thoughts now."
...ugh...who are you? And what...what happened to me?
"She stirs...the lady stirs." The head scientist replied, pointing to the glass tube in the center. As if on cue, the other scientists turned, and the girl's eyes were partly opened, revealing the pupils to be a bright blue, a color so rich and beautiful that it seemed to rival the envious skies above the steel walls of the facility. The other scientists froze in half-fear and half-anticipation as the girl's head turned slightly to face the scientist.
Who are you? And what happened to me?
"Sir, what should we—?" Immediately, the lab tech was silenced with a potent gesture from his boss.
"Let ME handle this." After what seemed to be a few tense moments, the head scientist put on a mysterious metal headpiece of some kind and thought, "Can you understand me?"
C...clearly! What happened to me?
"Before I answer your question, I have to ask you something. Look around. What do you see?"
I see you...and many others that look like you...and...my body! It's covered in wires! Am...am I in some kind of lab?
"You are correct, my dear. Now try to move. Is there anything wrong?" The girl inside the glass tube was able to move freely.
I...I think so. But why am I here?
"It may be hard to understand..."
I'm ten, dammit. You don't need to baby me.
"..."
What? I'm just stating the truth!
"You have been dead for three years, my girl. You would have been thirteen today."
I...I'm dead? I've been dead for three years! But...that's impossible!
"Alas, it is."
...if you ARE right, I suppose I will take your word for it. But if I'm dead, then how is it that I can see and hear you?
"You took that better than I expected. Anyway, my girl, we have returned you to the world of the living! We've also genetically enhanced your body to the proper age it's supposed to be!"
...That explains why I look...more like a young woman, I guess...
"...you seem to be taking this well." The head scientist asked a few more offhand questions to the girl, but after a while his suspicions seemed to have been laid to rest. "...and that is what you remember last?"
Yes. And now I'm here.
"Excellent." Removing the headgear and wiping sweat off of his temple, he told the other scientists, "The experiment has been a success!" Amidst the cheers and the whoops of the other scientists, he made his way to the glass tube itself and pressed a button on the console nearby. The tube opened up suddenly, and the girl felt herself fall into the scientist's arms as the clear fluid dribbled around his feet before draining out of the nearby grates. While she coughed a little, the scientist removed wires from her body as he asked her, "Are you ready to obtain your identity?"
"...y...yes. But, erm...may I have something to wear? I..."
The scientist chuckled lightly. "Of course. I'll take you there myself."
Several minutes later...
"How do I look?" the girl asked.
"Heh. That will work quite nicely." Looking in the mirror, the girl noticed that the scientist had somehow cleaned up the frayed edges of an old blue sweater, which was now sleeveless over her new white blouse. He had convinced his lab tech to part with a pair of his favorite khaki shorts that fit the girl with a bit of work. A white belt was fastened loosely around her hips, which as a special touch, had been touched up by sewing on a large piece of her old red bandana with the scalloped hem that had come with her personal belongings when her body and its belongings were shipped three years ago. She wore warm navy knee socks and the scientist's female assistant had run to her room to fetch this girl a pair of high-laced brown boots that reached her mid-calf. All in all, she looked completely mismatched, yet inexplicably stylish. "I think you'll be quite a looker, huh?"
"Yeah..." the girl giggled. The scientist left and returned several minutes later with a dusty, yellow fanny pack as well as four Poké Balls. "...! Are those...?"
"Yes, from when you were still alive. Do not worry. They're safe and sound."
"T...thank you..."
BOOM!
Suddenly, alarms rang out through the compound as several explosions reverberated through the laboratory. On the surface on the Katina outpost, the terrorists had placed a mysterious circular machine on top of the titanium flooring and stepped away several paces before pressing a button on the controls. The circular machine exploded and fell downwards, creating a clean-cut tunnel that led all the way down to the facility, where the main bombs detonated and destroyed the ceilings, killing several of the scientists below.
Upon running out the door, the scientist and the girl found the hall in utter chaos. On one side, several of the soldiers in black were firing rifles and pistols into the crowd of fleeing scientists, killing some outright and gravely wounding others. Some of them were gutsy enough to grab guns of their own and return fire, only to have more lead pellets end their lives.
Remembering his 'specimen,' the head scientist ran towards the main lab, carrying the girl in his arms. "Come with me!"
"Do I have a choice?" the girl retorted lightly as the scientist carried her back to the main lab.
Placing her behind a bulletproof glass wall, the scientist ran over and yelled to the defense manager, "What's going on?"
"Sir! Invaders! They're breached the facility!"
"Sweep our hard drives! Put us in lockdown!"
"We...we can't! They've spread out into all of the halls!" the defense manager panicked.
Sweating slightly, the scientist realized what had to be done before the invaders breached the main lab. Working quickly, he gathered all the papers and data on his research, several vials of the mysterious blue creation fluid, grabbed a vial of the clear fluid, stuffed them into a satchel, and handed it off to the girl along with a P99 and a clip of fresh ammo. He told the girl, "These men are here to destroy my research! But whatever you do, DON'T lose this satchel, I beg of you! This must be shared with the world, and it must not fall into enemy hands! Do you understand me?"
The girl nodded solemnly. "I do. I will not betray your trust."
"Thank you. That's the way to act towards a friend." Grabbing a shotgun from the inner folds of his lab coat, he shouted to his techs, "Do whatever you can to make sure they don't move on!"
"Right, sir!" And with that, the battle for the Katina frontier was on.
Taking the girl by her wrist, the head scientist told her urgently, "Follow me! And don't fall behind!"
"Right!" Fully restored health and morale, the duo moved as one unit down the so far empty corridors. Taking the long, perimeter halls prevented the invaders from trapping them, as the head scientist gunned down any and all who tried to intercept their path from branched-off halls. He had to reload his shotgun after every onslaught.
He did so with no pity towards them, no emotion. It was a little unnerving to the girl, and she finally shouted to him over the ongoing noise.
"I thought you wouldn't like death!"
"I don't like the death of innocent people!"
They kept on running, ever persistent to reach their destination. They turned a corner and left the southernmost hall, sprinting down the westernmost wall now. Finally, after wave upon wave of soldiers, they reached their destination: a hidden elevator to the surface world of the desert planet. Sprinting inside, the head scientist input several codes of computer data as the girl watched with wide-eyed interest. "Whoa! What's all this?"
"We don't have time!" the scientist replied. "Get into the cylinder!"
"This?" The girl pointed to a one-person lift near the center of the room.
"Yes! Get in!" As the girl hopped on, he instructed her, "When you get to the top, there will be a small spaceship in the center of the hangar! Type in this code..." He gave her a piece of paper with a scribbled-down set of numbers and letters on it, "...and press the green button. You'll be able to escape!"
"But what about you?"
"Never mind me!" With that, he pushed the girl into the lift, and before she could react, he smashed the green button on the nearby console, sending the lift flying up...up...up...
Meanwhile, the soldiers had blown their way into the chamber, where the old man was sitting on a chair nearby, smirking to the other soldiers. "WHERE IS SHE!"
"Where is who? There is no one but ourselves here."
"Don't make us shoot, old man! Where did she go!"
"You'll have to kill me first."
"You bastard!" With that, the head of the platoon fired several shots into the scientist, his body convulsing upon the collision of lead bullets into his body. "Nothing can save you now, old man!"
"...you may kill me...but I'll drag you all down to...hell with me!" Suddenly, the scientist weakly raised his hand to reveal a pistol, and fired into the console nearby, setting off a dreaded mechanism that no invader liked to hear:
Self-destruct sequence in three minutes.
"...shit!"
The Spaceship Hangar, the Katina Outpost
"Where is it...where...aha!" The girl squealed happily as she located the white spaceship in the corner of the hangar, just like where the scientist indicated. Running inside, it shut around her as the dashboard came to life, causing a keyboard to emerge from the hatch in the center. Pulling out the scientist's paper, she began to frantically type the code into the system...
"THERE SHE IS!"
"Oh, no!" As the soldiers came ever closer, her hand quickened the pace as she typed in more and more of the code. Bullets ricocheted off the glass and metal as the head soldier lunged at the ship. By luck, the girl finally managed to input the code into the system and abrupt pressed the green button.
The ship bucked into life as the jet thrusters activated and blew white-hot flames into the soldiers, incinerating them instantly. The next thing that happened was an explosion of wood and metal as the ship blew a hole in the hangar as it made its way out of Katina's atmosphere.
The head assassin, on the surface, caught sight of the ship and ordered to the others, "Destroy this outpost! I'll pursue that ship at once!"
"Right!" the soldiers replied, as the leader jumped into the black ship and disappeared into the Katina atmosphere. Zooming ever closer to the white spacecraft, the hot-blooded leader set his sights upon it, pointing the laser cannon at it. "Heh. This will be fun!" Unfortunately for him, just as he was about to fire, the ship became a bright light and disappeared from view, causing him to stop in outer space completely.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Back in the Katina Outpost...
Soldiers ran amok through the halls as blast doors shut behind them, sealing them off from their only exit. Others were shooting themselves and their comrades to avoid death, while still others were praying to their god for some kind of salvation before they died and met their fate.
In the hidden elevator room, the old man chuckled to himself as he lay sprawled out all over the console in front of him, showing that his specimen...the girl he brought back into this world, had escaped the clutches of his enemy. With his last ounce of life, he began to say into the console, which was recording his voice at the time:
Ugh...it is F...February 13, 2006...and as I lay dying, I will tell of the progress that we have done today! Our...aaah! Our labs set out three years ago to create the forbidden technology...and after many years of work, we...we finally did it! A machine...that, if ever discovered...would revolutionize the world...nay, the UNIVERSE as we know it! Cough...as I lay dying...let me say this...we set out to create the ultimate in technology...and we succeeded.
With one last gasp, his hand hit the "Add to Memory" key on the console, leaving his message for eternity upon that computer. His body slid off the console and collapsed onto the floor with a sickening THUD, blood pooling around his lab coat. He died with a smirk on his face, basking in the knowledge that one day...this world would remember what HE did...and what his legacy would be, forever protected by the flames of eternity...
Self-destruct in three...two...one...
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
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Gamer21