Well here is Chapter 28. Things are now calming down a bit in the story as everyone is trying to move past the events they've experienced. I really had a hard time finding time in my schedule to write this chapter. Not that I'm usually busy its just this week has been a little hectic for me. Anyways I'll see if I have time to get another chapter up later this week but we'll see lol. Thanks for reading! and thanks to all those who review and fav and follow my story!

Chapter 28: The Price of Freedom.

Point of View Flare

Black and Alex where in the monitoring room for around five minutes before they finally came out, Black was the first one to exit and the first thing I noticed was his dilated eyes that looked agitated since from him crying. I was a bit surprised that he had a mental break down here out of all places. Following Black out of the monitoring room was Alex who looked like he was in a much better mood.

"Sorry about that" Black said in a gloomy voice. The detective who brought us here was now leaning against a wall with a drowsy expression on his face. After Black spoke it looked like it startled him and brought him out of his lazy state.

"Let's just finish up what we came here for" Black said and the porygon from before translated his words for the detective to hear.

For around the next hour Black told us everything that happened to him during his short stay in the Team Genesis facility. He told us about the DNA they extracted from him, to Stark killing Crystal and he told us about their escape. By the time he was finished showing everyone step by step of where he was when everything happened we were next to the exit of the facility.

"So that is everything that happened up until you actually left the facility" the detective said as he jotted down some notes on a piece of paper.

"Yeah, after we left we found ourselves in that burnt down house. Of course at the time it wasn't burnt down like it is now" Black said as the porygon translated his words right after he finished talking.

"Well I think you've helped us more than enough. With your story we now have a better idea on how Team Genesis operates and pretty soon we may have enough info to start putting pieces together" the detective said as he continued writing down notes on his paper. "Anyways I think we have all been crammed down in this facility long enough. How about I take you guys back to Amberette town?" the detective said as he yawned.

Black gave a nod and we all then made our way outside and finally saw the light of day for the first time in a few hours. Despite the fact that our visit to the facility was brief my eyes still burned a little once we got outside. The air outside was nice and fresh compared to the dull air in that facility.

After we all took in the fresh air we all made our way to the detectives car so we could finally head back to town and rest up a bit. Everyone was able to get in the car just fine except for Black who needed to be lifted into the car since he was still injured. The detective was driving and Alex was in the front passenger seat and Black and I were stuck in the back of the car.

I couldn't help but notice that Black still had that depressed look on his face. I then got the brilliant idea to try and cheer him up or at least try and take his mind off of the painful thoughts in his head.

"So what's your plan from here" I asked curiously.

Black just shifted his gaze at me for a few seconds before he said anything "I don't know. I'll probably just wonder around aimlessly like I was before I met you" Black said as he lied down on his right side and avoided eye contact with me.

"I know you probably won't come with us since you fear for our safety. But if you are going to go your own way actually try and do something instead of just hating your life. You're a good pokemon but I can tell you are always depressed and things are weighing you down" I said in a serious tone.

Black still refused to make eye contact with me and just stayed in his spot "It's not like I want to be this way Flare and I don't expect you to understand how I feel" Black said in a depressed voice.

"Well I already know better than to try and get you to talk about how you feel, but when you do leave just take care of yourself and try not to get yourself killed" I said in a depressed voice. I was now saddened by the fact that Black was back to icing people around him out, when before he was actually starting to become more social and friendly. I know he would probably get over his depression in a few weeks but the thing was that once he left he would probably be alone again and I doubt he would meet anyone who will help him through these hard times he was going through and once he left he would go back to being alone.

"Flare… there is something you need to know" Black said as he slowly sat up and looked directly into my eyes.

"When I saw all of those pokemon die in that room I realized something" Black said in a serious voice.

I was very confused on where this was going and nor did I like where it was going "What" I replied.

"I realized how far those people will go to cover up their tracks. They slaughtered all of those pokemon just to tie up any loose ends that could risk them getting caught" Black said.

"Where are you going with this" I said in a worried voice.

"Flare… these people leave no loose ends… They know who you are. They know you know that they exist. Flare when I saw that film I realized that by you being involved in this you and everyone else may already be dead" Black said in a serious tone.

I didn't even know how to respond to something like that. "H-how do you even know that" I asked in a worried voice.

"Because they were trying to force me to tell them where you guys were" Black said as he looked down.

"What does this even mean for us then" I asked as I realized how serious this may be.

Black then looked back into my eyes with a serious stare "I don't know…" Black said as he looked down again. "I-I'm so sorry…" Black said as he looked down.

The rest of the car ride was rode out in silence and I had nothing to really say to Black at this point. I know that up to this point that I tried helping Black out with his problems with the pokemon that were after him, but until now I never realized how big this whole thing was.

After a long silent car ride we were finally dropped off at our hotel and Alex said bye to the detective. Black didn't have to go to the pokecenter since the detective was able to get him out for our little trip. Once we were out of the car we headed towards our hotel room. Alex carried Black up the stairs even though he probably hated him for it. Once we were up the stairs we finally walked into our hotel room.

Once we were in I saw Kana lying on the bed still dead sleep even though it was late afternoon and Gray was on the couch but his eyes were locked dead on Black. Kana was now slowly waking up from the noise of us walking in and she sluggishly rolled over and got up on all four of her legs and stretched out while yawning.

"How did it go" Kana asked in a cheerful voice. I just sat their silently still taking in what Black said to me earlier.

"Flare" Kana said as she snapped me out of my deep thought.

"-oh uhh it went fine I guess" I said awkwardly. Kana didn't look too satisfied with my answer and she jumped off the couch and walked over to me.

"Is something bothering you" She asked in a curious voice.

Obviously I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell anyone about what Black said so I continued to lie "No everything is fine don't worry" I said in a nervous voice. Kana let out a sigh and I could tell she knew I was lying.

"Well if you say so Flare…" Kana said in a slightly disappointed voice as she walked towards Black.

"What about you Black how are you holding up" Kana asked the depressed umbreon.

"Fine" he replied in a depressed tone that showed he was not in the mood to socialize.

"Well I'll just let you guys settle in" Kana said awkwardly as she caught on to our mood and she headed back towards the bed.

Black then began walking towards me and he sat next to me on the floor. "Flare obviously one of us is going to have to tell everyone that they are in danger" Black whispered into my ear. I knew he was right but I just didn't want to think about it yet.

"I know…" I said in an unhappy voice.

Point of view Stark

Every muscle in my body felt as if it was strained and I felt extremely fragile. I was now lying on a cold cement floor in a dark room with a small light bulb on the ceiling illuminating the room I was in barely. I had just woken up from my slumber and the last thing I remembered was the kadabra shocking me with the receptors in my body until I was unconscious. Infuriated by that last memory I slowly got the strength to stand and I struggled to my four paws. Once I was up on all four paws I had to take a second to maintain my balance as I swayed back and forth and wobble legs.

Once I got my balance I slowly began walking towards the door of the room which was slightly cracked open. When I was about halfway to the door I felt an intense series of coughs possess me as I coughed violently. After about fifteen seconds of constant coughing I finally got control of my body back. I took a few seconds to recover and I slowly began walking towards the door again.

After a minute of slowly struggling towards the door I finally made it. I took my paw and cautiously pushed the door open even more so I could fit through. Then I walked out the door and I was in a bright white room. My eyes were instantly blinded by the bright light of the room and I clenched my eyes shut as I tried to withstand the light.

"Ahh you are finally awake" I heard a familiar voice call out to me. Once my vision adapted to the room's bright light I quickly noticed that I was in some kind of briefing room. On the wall there was a giant map of Kalos and in front of that map were a few chairs facing the map. In the corner of the room was a table with a coffee maker on it. The walls and floor of this room were a pure white and didn't even have a single shadow in the room.

I then looked over to the other corner of the room and saw Zero leaning against the wall.

"You" I said with a growl as I started walking towards him as fast as I could with my weak body. Zero looked unfazed by my anger and didn't even bother moving.

"I would stop right there if I was you" Zero said in a bored voice.

"And why is that" I snarled at him.

"Because your weak and on top of that I'd hate to have to hurt you even more" Zero said in a provocative voice as he held out the remote he used to shock me from before. The instant he said that I stopped in my tracks and gave him a death glare.

"Good now that your calmed down I have some things I'd like to tell you" Zero said as he walked towards me. I just waited for him to speak as I continued staring at him with an untrusting glare.

"Team Genesis has one final mission for you and if you cooperate we will let you leave for good as a free pokemon. Of course that is if you agree to stay silent about us."

"And what do you need from me now" I said in an unfriendly voice.

"Due to some conflict between us and the Crimson Dawn we need someone to keep tabs on them from the inside" Zero said as he looked at me.

"And let me guess that's me your wanting to do that mission" I said.

"Correct."

"And how would I gain their trust so I can spy on them" I asked as if that was an impossible request.

"Simple. They think that you are on their side right now and they think we are holding you hostage. After all we originally reanimated you so you could hunt down that umbreon they were after. Plus on top of that we already have a spy with them now so he will smooth things over with them so they will trust you and think your one of them." His plan sounded like it could go wrong really fast and I was in no mood to help someone that shocked me until I was unconscious and basically referred to me as his property.

"And you think I'm just going to roll over and just do whatever you say. I'm no one's pawn" I snapped at him.

"Give up your pride Stark and just do what I tell you and you can be a free pokemon. That's the price of your freedom" Zero said with a sinister smile on his face.

"And how would I know that you are not going to just kill me right after?" I asked since I didn't trust him or Genesis even slightly.

"I guess if you really want I could just kill you here and that will be the end of that" Zero said as he took a step towards me and held out the remote he used to shock me.

I knew better than to believe him. I knew that the instant I was done helping them they were going to just kill me the instant my head was turned, but I knew that if I even wanted a slight chance of escaping I'd have to play along for now.

"Fine I'll help you" I said in a stern voice.

Zero then let out a small smirk "Good we will be meeting someone very important soon who you will need to learn as much about as possible" Zero said.

"Who" I asked curiously.

"The leader of the Crimson Dawn, Mandus" Zero said as he began signaling me to follow him "I'll explain everything you need to know on the way there."

Chapter End

Author Note: Well it looks like Mandus may finally be revealed. Anyways you can expect some interesting stuff to be going on for Stark now in the story and hopefully I can build onto him more and show more sides of him that doesn't have to do with him being a killer with no empathy. Anyways I'm going to keep this short since I'm tired now so yeah lol. Thanks for reading!