Chapter Three: Heart Connection
The first thing she noticed was the height of the ceiling over her head, generously supplied with skylights. The next thing to catch her attention was the numerous wide windows that lined both walls to her right and left in an unbroken line from corner to corner. Beneath these in similar lines were fenced off square spaces with mesh netting secured to poles that provided sufficient barriers between the enclosures. And finally, behind each of these walls were several different varieties of Pokémon. At first glance, she saw some enclosures had signs on them stating if the inhabitants could be selected as starters, others saying that they were for breeding purposes only, and others that simply said off-limits. Making notes of which ones were which, she started to walk slowly through the room.
The first area to catch her attention was full of fluttering bodies, another mesh net also across the top. She saw Pidgey playing with Pidove and Fletchling, while Starly and Spearow looked haughtily on. She also saw a couple of Ducklet pecking at some seeds in a feeding trough, one of them that was particularly aggressive chasing off a rather hopeful looking Tailow. Rin smiled as she watched them, a few even showing some interest in her. Making a mental note to come back this way, maybe to check on some of the more timid acting birds, she moved away to the next enclosure.
Studiously ignoring the pen with Nidoran milling inside, she wanted to avoid anything that remotely resembled a Kangaskahn, she peeked through the mesh at a brightly colored group of Pichu that were playing a game of hide and seek in some hollow logs that had been placed in their area. Crouching down to watch a few minutes of the game, she saw one of the Pichu with spiky ears pounce happily on a Minun he had discovered trying to hide behind a tree stump. Giggling and squeaking, the two wrestled around for a moment before one of them noticed her watching curiously. With another flurry of squeaking they quickly rushed over to the edge of their enclosure and peered up at her. Giggling, Rin poked a few of her fingers through the material, enjoying it when both of the electric Pokémon began to investigate and play with her fingers. Several more abandoned the game of hide and seek to see what was going on and she ended up having to stick her other hand's fingers through the mesh. This got quite the reaction, the shiny silver metal of her robotic arm something they had never really seen before. A Plusle was the first who was brave enough to place one of her paws on the finger closest to her. When nothing bad happened, she let out a few squeaks of surprise and curiosity, moving on to explore the other fingers.
Several happy minutes went by in which Rin was able to scratch a few of the Pokémon behind their ears, wiggle the fingers of her metallic hand for general amusement, and consider quite possibly choosing one of these electric rodents. But she had to keep reminding herself that she hadn't even seen half of the laboratory's occupants yet. With a reluctant sigh, she drew her hands away and got to her feet. As she turned and walked away, she thought she could feel several pairs of eyes staring at her back in a somewhat accusing way...
Rin happily spent a long time wandering through all the different enclosures, putting her Pokedex safely into her backpack as she did so. She saw several different varieties of both types and species ranging in a large spectrum. She actually was startled into laughter as she watched a group of Abra that were concentrating on lifting twigs off the ground with their psychic powers. One of them got so excited when his lifted into the air that the stick suddenly shot straight into the middle of his forehead, sending the poor thing tumbling backwards.
What she thought were Sandshrew and Togedemaru lay curled into tight balls and bunched together as a group to take a nap. A Machop was showing off to a group of friends by smacking his fists into a rock and creating cracked dents. Several Squirtle and Merril were happily blowing bubbles into the air and letting Whooper attempt to pop them. A small group of Caterpie slowly munched on a pile of leaves, one jumping back in surprise when they accidentally bit a Sewaddle
She had just started considering returning to the electric enclosure when something strange caught her attention. On the other side of a pen that held a group of Hoppip floating around lazily was an area that was fenced off with what looked like glass instead of mesh. Curious and slightly confused, Rin made her way quickly over to the anomaly. Placing one of her hands against a wall, she was surprised to discover that instead of glass, her fingers were touching a very smooth plastic. She also noticed that where her skin touched it sent a small wave of multicolored lights through the surface. Eyebrows lowering slightly, her bright green eyes flickered around the inside, trying to discover what was being held in such a different environment.
Nothing. There was absolutely nothing behind the plastic barrier. Just in case she had missed something, she quickly moved her gaze down to the floor and quickly scanned it. Still nothing. Growing more confused by the minute, she then looked up towards the top of the enclosure. Completely empty. "Huh..." She said quietly, again moving to study the floor of the box. She nearly bit the end of her tongue as she jumped back in surprise. A dark purple ball had suddenly appeared right in front of her face, pressing itself up against the plastic, large eyes open wide, fanged mouth open in a ridiculous grin with its large tongue pressed up flat against the barrier. At the sight of her startled expression, it suddenly began to laugh, pulling its face away and grinning at her. Several other Ghastly appearing behind it and beginning to chuckle. A few other ghost Pokémon also appeared, but Rin was barely paying attention to them. She stepped back away from the plastic wall and turned away, quickly walking down the wide room.
Barely aware of her surroundings, Rin tried to control the shaking in her body, gripping her elbows and pressing her arms tight against her stomach. Rationally, she was aware that they had just been having fun, playing a trick on her. But the fright she had received was enough to rattle her and cracked open the door to the nightmares she had tried to lock away. After she had gone several yards, not really seeing the Fennekin or the Purloin she was passing, the young woman finally came to a slow stop. She waited in silence for several seconds, staring up at the ceiling high above her head, barely moving a muscle. Then all at once, Rin let out the breath she had been holding in a sharp huff, saying as she did so, "you're never going to become a good trainer if you don't get over this."
Taking a deep steadying breath, she lowered her gaze once more and began to look around, trying to regain her composure as well as her location and confidence. For a moment, she was distracted by the sight of brightly colored Chatot flapping around a multitude of perches when she noticed a solitary figure curled up in the corner of the neighboring pen, the only one in the entire area. Intrigued, as well as regaining some of her curiosity, Rin walked over to the mesh netting and squatted down, hoping to get a better look and understanding why this particular Pokémon was alone.
He was primarily grey in color, with black on his muzzle, face, and paws, a canine shape to his body. He was positioned in such a way that his chin rested on top of his front feet while the rest of his body lay sideways, back legs spread out to one side. His ears, small and pointed, were pressed tightly against his skull. After a moment, she saw his pink nose twitch as if he were checking her scent. She thought his species was Poochyena, but there seemed to be some differences that didn't add up with her memories. For one thing, there appeared to be two crescent white ridges in the middle of his back, making the fur stick up slightly in front of them. For another, there were a few black or cream-colored stripes on his back and tail. She could also see that the fur visible on his belly was a reddish brown in color.
Leaning back on her heels slightly, Rin felt herself become more confused when she also noticed that the Poochyena seemed to be refusing to open his eyes, even to make sure there was a stranger outside of his enclosure. Even when she saw his ears shift when she made a sound, his eyes still didn't open. Glancing towards the small door next to her between two sections of mesh, she felt as if she were being pulled into standing up and unhooking the latch near the handle.
Opening the door with a slight creek, she stepped through into the enclosure and gently shut the door behind her. With careful deliberate steps, she approached the small creature laying on the ground. He didn't move when she sat down carefully only a foot away from him, though his body tensed. Rin silently studied him for several seconds before extending her left hand, holding it only an inch or so away from the pink nose. It twitched several times as he sniffed, but he still made no motion to open his eyes to look at her. Dropping her hand back into her lap, Rin found herself content to simply watch the little Pokémon, allowing herself to be absorbed by the mystery of him.
"One of my assistants found him in the forest," a voice suddenly said behind her a few minutes later, causing Rin to start almost painfully and twist her body to look behind her.
Professor Pine was standing on the other side of the wall, watching her with a sheepish expression upon his face. "I didn't mean to startle you. I noticed you come into the enclosure and was... curious," he admitted, his expression changing to one of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
Trying to slow the rapid beating of her heart, Rin quietly smiled at him, glancing back down at the Pokémon in front of her, as if she couldn't look away for too long. "That's all right Professor... Why is he alone?" she asked, a slight croak to her voice from not using it for so long. She noticed that the sound of their voices had caused the Poochyena to finally lift his ears to listen to them. Even with the sudden appearance of the professor, he still hadn't opened his eyes. This, along with the subtle differences in his body, had created an unshakable curiosity in her.
"Because he is completely unique," Pine said in a matter of fact voice, earning a quick confused look from the teenager. Sighing heavily, he folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the mesh wall with one shoulder. "To start from the beginning, I sent out one of my assistants to the forest to collect some berries. While she was exploring a patch of bushes in search of low growing fruit, she discovered our friend here. He was badly injured, bleeding from cuts across his face, legs, and stomach, and was nearly dead when he was discovered. She quickly brought him back to the laboratory and we worked together to heal his injuries. I noticed several differences with his body, as I am sure you have, and proceeded to scan his body. Originally, I was thinking that he was just a Poochyena that had adopted a difference in appearance, like what people refer to as shiny Pokémon. But when the scan was concluded, I discovered the real truth behind it..."
When his voice trailed off, Rin looked over towards the tall man and felt rather surprised when she saw that he was frowning. In all the time she had known him, she had never seen his mouth turned down for anything. Even when she had shown up unexpectedly after lunch, or when she caught him napping after a long day of research, a slight smile was always turning up the corners of his lips. Now however, his expression was dark, and his head was turned away from her, looking up towards the ceiling.
"When this poor Pokémon was still developing inside of his egg, someone used very precise instruments to cut out segments of his DNA, destroying them... or storing them away for future use. They then inserted DNA from other species into the missing places. Essentially, this single Pokémon contains the DNA of five completely different species."
Rin felt horrified at the idea that anyone would want to tamper with a life, cutting sections of his being away and inserting that of a stranger. The shock was so great that she felt herself begin to cry, tears sliding down the left side of her face. So overcome with emotion was she, she reached out again with her left hand and gently placed it on top of the Pokémon's head. He jumped slightly but didn't move away.
"W-Why would someone do s-something like that?" she whispered brokenly, gently rubbing the velvety ears.
"Power... Perverted curiosity... Attempting to create the ultimate fighting machine... There have been several such sick people in the world," Professor Pine said in a disgusted tone. "I'll probably never discover the motivation behind whoever did this..."
"They're wrong t-to do that..." Rin then whispered, leaning her head closer to the soft creature beneath her hand. "I'm s-sorry little one. I won't let them hurt you again."
All at once, the eyes opened up, looking straight into hers. They were a vivid clear blue. He stared up at her with such an earnest expression, she felt as if they were riveting her to the spot and looking into her soul all at the same time. In that instant, something silently passed between them, forming a bond that would forever tie their lives into one. And she knew, they would never be parted again.