SHADOW'S RETURN

Cyril?

The little mental voice deftly insinuated itself into his mind, and Cyril smiled. Lu was getting more and more adept at his psychic abilities, even managing to penetrate Cyril's intense concentration as he painted the designs for that year's batch of his Shamouti scenes postcards.

Three months had passed since the latest "Shadow" incident, summer was in full swing, and the annual Legend Festival was just weeks away. The Ashes had recently arrived, and were currently exploring the nooks and crannies of Shamouti Island so far almost inaccessible to people, seeking out the suspected rare Pokémon that lived in the forested mountain slopes at the island's interior.

Rachel was out with Lu, so Cyril wondered just what Lu wanted. He sounded concerned.

What is it, Lu? Cyril replied likewise, knowing that although his own telepathic abilities were much weaker than Lu's, Lu's strong mind would "hear" him.

Is it my imagination, or has Rachel's skin gone darker purple again? I though it was going to fade over time? Cyril sighed. He was glad that he himself had had a chance to discuss this with George, so he could put Lu's mind at rest.

Yes, we noticed, and it's George's opinion that it's Rachel's tan that's to blame. The combination of the tan and the purple hint overlaying it makes her skin appear more purple. It's just an illusion. George has taken some skin and a blood sample just to double check, but he thinks it's okay. he assured his psychic friend.

There's something more. said Lu. It wasn't particularly noticeable at first, and I put it down to the last cells making her a bit angry at times, as George said they would. When it started happening for longer and longer, I thought it was that time of the month when women got angry, but I've since found out that that time comes and goes. Rachel's mind is angry below the surface all the time. There's no variance, and it's getting stronger week by week. Her mind-it's beginning to feel how it did when Cipher had her.

WHAT! Cyril mentally bellowed. He shot out of his seat, dropping his paintbrush, and only just stopping his washing jar from spilling its contents over the picture he was painting. Grabbing his jacket and keys, he said I'm going to have a quick word with George, and then I'm coming to get Rachel. Is it something she's noticed? Have you said anything to her?

No. Lu said. She seems unaware.

Don't tell her: we don't want to worry her if there's a reasonable explanation for it, and if it IS something worse, I'd prefer to be the one to tell her. Cyril said. Just act normal, I'll be there soon.

Cyril went out and around to the Shamouti Poké Centre. Donna was on duty, and he said he needed to speak to George. Flipping open the counter, she gestured for him to go through. He went in, bypassing the Pokémon beds and intensive care section of the Poké Centre, going through to the foyer entrance to George's lab. Throwing on a lab coat as the signs asked visitors to do, he went through, to find George sitting at a microscope, checking several slides.

"George, have you had a look at Rachel's samples yet?" Cyril asked.

"Not yet. I've prepared them and have left them to stain, but they should be ready to view by now." George said. He got up, and moved over to another section of lab. He had several carefully prepared slides on a tray, and he put this tray by the microscope, and started viewing the slides. His eyebrows shot up at the first, which he removed with a mutter of "Must have got contaminated." He frowned upon viewing the second, which he also put to one side. He swore upon viewing the third, and then quickly viewed the remaining three. His language worsened with each subsequent slide, and he stood up from his stool.

"I don't understand it!" he said. "I'd best check the culture plates, although I'm not sure if they will show anything yet." He opened a special culture growth warmer, and took out two Petri dishes, peering through the plastic lid at some small spots on the special tissue culture medium within. He came out with another colourful curse, and put them back.

"The one with a drop of blood and a flake of skin spread over them are showing some sort of growth. The others have been carefully diluted, but they will probably show the same thing in the morning."

"And?" Cyril said. "What does this mean for Rachel? What's happening? What's the problem? You said the cells were dying and would be gone by now!"

"That's what I thought." George said, sitting back down. He put his head in his hands. "When I checked last time, all I could see was dead and dying stem cells. I didn't think to try growing any on culture medium, I assumed they were all dying, but all it would take would be less than one per cent of what she was given to survive and grow to start turning her back the way she was, and in fact it could get worse."

"How much worse?" asked Cyril.

"Much worse. Even a small amount of those cells surviving could cause her trouble, if they were in her body when she went through the Shadow process. Those cells are effectively the cells of a Shadow Pokémon. The type of cells they are, stem cells, divide rapidly and then specialise, depending on where they go. If they go to the liver, they will turn into liver cells, if they go to the brain, they will turn into brain cells. All it takes is a small number of these stem cells to survive and begin dividing. I think we should go and get Rachel and get some more samples. If I can compare her blood several hours apart, I might be able to get an idea of how fast this is happening. Drat!" He thumped the table. "Why didn't I think of this and check earlier?"

Cyril went down to the beach to get Rachel, and break the news to her. She saw him, waved, and swam to shore. As she got out, he was surprised to see how mauve her skin was. It was almost as dark as after her first peeling. It must have happened so gradually that he must have not noticed it.

"Cyril, what's wrong?" she asked, seeing the look on his face. She picked up a towel, and began rubbing herself dry with it. He explained about what Lu had sensed, and what George had found from the samples. She went pale, and said, "Well, I guess we'd better go see him."

They got to George's lab, and George took some more blood. He put some onto a culture plate, and spread more onto slides and stained them. "Part of the problem here is the growth of the cells. Each time they divide, you end up with twice as many. If one cell takes 24 hours to divide, you have 2 by day two, 4 by day 3, 8 by day four and so on. By Day 20, you'd need a calculator to work out how many you'd get, which would run into the thousands. It's what we call exponential growth."

"Talk English, won't you?" snapped Rachel. "What does this mean for me?"

"It means that, assuming these cells divide once every 24 hours, although it's taken you three months to get this Shadowed, you'll be twice as Shadowed as this tomorrow, and four times as Shadowed the day after tomorrow. Your Shadowing is going to accelerate rapidly, and I don't know quite what to do to stop it. You can't be put in a Purify Chamber, and I don't know a way to get these living cells that have lodged in your body out. We could try chemotherapy, but we can't be sure we'd get them all, and it could make you seriously ill or kill you. I could try and create a receptor we could attach to the drug to make it only target the stem cells, but that will take time, and I don't know how much. It could take a week, three months or a year."

Rachel bowed her head, to hide the tears that had welled up in her eyes. "So I'm going to be completely turned to Shadow, in possibly as little as a week?" she asked.

"I'd estimate a week to two weeks." Said George.

"One week or two, it doesn't really matter, does it?" she asked, turning her back so neither man would see the tears fall, or the fact that none rose to replace them. Rachel was feeling numb, and didn't know if it was due to shock, or the Shadow Process working on her further. "I'm still going to end up Shadowed, and it means that that bitch Lovrina has won."