RACHEL AND LU.

Rachel's sedation was beginning to wear off, and she was beginning

to feel very depressed. She had had plenty of time to think as she

'rested', and it was obvious to her that Lovrina would finally get her

own way, that no matter how much Rachel screamed and struggled

and protested, she would eventually be turned into a creature of

Shadow, bent to the will of Lovrina and her twisted colleagues. She

felt like bursting into tears, letting her fear and despair out. It was

one small shred of resistance left that would not let her cry. She

might be powerless to avoid or avert the inevitable, but she was not

going to give Lovrina and her cronies the satisfaction of knowing just

how upsetting the prospect was to her.

As if her thoughts had summoned them, Lovrina and her two

uniformed cohorts came around the corner of the corridor and headed

for her cell.

Lovrina as usual unlocked the door, and the peons swiftly came in

and took her arms, She put up a token struggle, but her heart wasn't

in it, and they easily got her out. At that point, Rachel gave in,

hanging her head and going meekly with them. What was the use,

struggling wouldn't stop them doing whatever they wanted to her.

Rachel didn't know that Lovrina had noted the despair in Rachel's

eyes, and had spotted her lack of struggle, and was watching her

with a look of triumph on her face.

She led them down the same corridor as before, down to the

conveyor belt room. Rachel realised it was vaguely familiar because

she had been up and down it at least twice (three times if you

counted her initial trip in from the lab.) As she was taken into the

room with the conveyor belt, two things happened.

Firstly, the two grunts had realised she was not going to fight, and

had loosened their grip so they were barely holding her upper arms

anymore. Secondly, they had stopped because the machine was

being primed for a Pokémon ahead. Lovrina had chosen a bad time:

Rachel was in a queue for the processing machine.

Then Rachel noticed who was about to be processed: a very familiar

blue-and-white Pokémon, ten feet long and very scared. Gorigan

stood at the machine, calibrating the dials while the two peons

holding Lu lifted him up and placed him on the conveyor belt. The

terrified little Lugia shied and tried to pull away, but to no avail.

Rachel's apathy disappeared. They had Lu! She lunged forwards,

breaking Lovrina's grunts grip on her arms completely. She almost

knocked Lovrina over. Lovrina's huge green eyes got huger in

surprise. By the time Lovrina had reacted with a wordless cry, Rachel

was dodging around Gorigan and trying to reach for Lu, who had just

been aided into the tunnel by a shove from the peons who had

brought him. She realised she wasn't going to be able to reach, and

acted without thinking. She jumped, and launched herself towards

Lu, arms outspread to catch hold of him. Unfortunately her trajectory

and velocity served only to carry herself and him into the tunnel.

Hearing Lu's muffled cries of terror, Rachel did the only thing she

could think of. She took the tape off his beak, shoved his head into

her lap, and threw her arms around him, stroking and cuddling him,

hugging him tight like her mum used to hug her when she was woken

by thunderstorms as a child and was scared Zapdos would come and

bolt the house. Rachel was careful to avoid a large, painful looking

scabbed-over injury on his neck. She didn't want to think where he

might have gained such an injury.

"Close your eyes!" she cried to him, wishing she could do the same,

but she could not, as she was watching for the signs that they were

about to come out of the other end. If they fell awkwardly, they could

both be hurt. Rachel tried to soothe Lu, having to force herself to

resist the process that the treacherous cells in her brain were

responding to. She felt anger become strong inside herself, knew

what it meant, and suppressed it. I will NOT get Shadowed in

just two processings! she thought to herself. She felt Lu twitch as

he felt the same anger within himself.

"Lu, resist it! Focus on your family, your friends on the island, things

that make you happy! Fight this! They want to close your heart and

make you fight all the time for them!" She stroked and caressed him

on his back, between the plates, the sensitive place he loved having

rubbed and scratched, hoping to distract him from the noises and

images being used to close their hearts. She felt Lu relax, even as her

own fury continued to grow, and she kept it tightly under control, for

although she felt like lashing out, the nearest target was Lu, and he

had enough problems already. She had to get him out of there!

Looking ahead through the purple haze that was dancing around her

eyes, she could see what she recognised as the end of the tunnel.

"Lu! Get ready to land!" she told him. "When you do, look for the

door and just RUN, and fly, fly for your life as soon as you get out in

the open air! You remember it wasn't far into here, don't you? I'll be

right behind you, but in case something goes wrong and I'm not,

don't turn back for anything, just go and look for help!"

Okay. Lu responded.

Rachel felt Lu tense to land as they spilled out of the other end. As

Rachel had surmised, there were two hefty-looking grunts waiting for

them. As they moved forwards, unsure which of the two they should

grab first, Rachel turned loose the anger that had been building up

inside her throughout the processing.

With a snarl of rage, she used her body as a weapon, slamming it

hard enough into the first peon to knock him over. She heard him cry

out in pain and exulted in it. She threw herself at the second and

they went down in a tangle of arms and legs, her fists and feet

flailing. She saw Lu take off at a stumbling run for the door as

Lovrina and Gorigan turned to find out what the commotion was

about. Lu bolted between them too fast for either to react, their grabs

belated as he shot through the doorway and vanished from sight.

Both Gorigan and Lovrina about-faced and gave chase.

Rachel, in the meantime, was fighting a losing battle. Her earlier

sedation, combined with the disorientaion the processing had caused

her, combined to put her at a disadvantage, and when the first grunt

recovered enough to join his companion in subduing her, it tipped the

balance against her even more. By the time Lovrina and Gorigan

returned, two minutes after their exit and empty-handed, the peons

had her pinned down on the floor, motionless.

Neither Gorigan nor Lovrina looked very happy.

"She had better be worth all the effort and hassle we've been

through, Lovrina!" Gorigan said. "She's just cost Grand Master Greevil

his second XD001!"

"It is so worth the effort, really." Said Lovrina. She crouched down by

Rachel, who bared her teeth and growled at her. Lovrina grabbed a

handful of Rachel's hair and pulled her head up, twisting it painfully

upwards so Gorigan could see her eyes. "Look, Gorigan, her eyes are

almost totally in Shadow now. "I do so believe the process is working

oh so better than even I had anticipated." She pointed towards the

first thug Rachel had attacked. "Did that hurt? It looked oh so painful.

Were you bruised?" The peon nodded. Lovrina looked back at

Gorigan.

"Don't you so see? I do believe my XD002 has just done it's first

Shadow Rush! A few more processings and it will be oh so totally in

Shadow!"

She released Rachel's hair and stood up. "Hold it there a moment, it

is so time for its next dose of stem cells, and, of course, it will so

have to be sedated again. Later, I can give it the final dose of stem

cells, and then as many trips through the processor as is required to

break its will and complete its Shadowing. In fact, I think I so may be

able to make my XD002 so unpurifiable, just like my XD001!"

Lovrina prepared the now-familiar two syringes, administered them,

and then she and Gorigan, refusing to underestimate Rachel again,

took her back to her holding pen.