Chapter 75

Ever since Lionel had joined Team Deus, he had been scared most of the time. Scared that someone would hurt him, scared that he would disappoint someone, or even scared that he might do what they wanted and succeed at it. Their human Pokémon were especially frightening. Most true human Pokémon were more human than Pokémon and fought very little. But the kind that Team Deus used were difficult to even call Pokémon. They were too savage, too wild, to be called Pokémon.

However, as much as the creations of Team Deus scared him, they didn't scare him as much as Tesla, the human Galvantula.

It was impossible for Lionel to look Tesla in the eye. The human Galvantula had four of them. They were shaped the same as a person's but they were half the size. Two eyes shared a single eye socket on his face, one right on top of the other. It reminded Lionel of biology class when a cell splits in two and becomes two cells instead. When he blinked, four eyelids slid shut. Tesla's eyes also lacked pupils or irises or corneas. The entire eye was a solid, dark blue. It was impossible to tell where he was looking.

Unable to look at those freakish eyes, Lionel tried to look elsewhere. Only then, his eyes shifted to the dead, limp, spider-like appendages at Tesla's sides. They were attached around the base of his rib cage and extended another foot. They were covered with thick, yellow hair. That might suggest there was still life in them, but they flopped uselessly whenever Tesla moved.

Cal had brought the two of them out of the basement and hidden them in the office that Lionel now slept in. He still had his hotel room, in the city, but Lionel was too afraid to return. If he crossed paths with Mark and his friends…he didn't want to think about it.

"It's quiet, up here," Tesla observed. According to Cal, the human Galvantula had been surrounded by the screams of failed experiments for over two years. It was lucky that he was still sane.

Even still, Cal had warned Lionel to be cautious and, above all, patient with Tesla. The change would be hard enough and there were plenty of reasons for Tesla to just start attacking everyone and everything in sight.

They spent the entire afternoon re-introducing Tesla to the world. First, they let him shower and wash away the grime and dirt of his prison cell. Cal let Lionel take off his shock collar. As an electric-type, it would be useless for stopping Tesla, anyway. The limitations of the collar were one of the key reasons that Tesla had been able to kill two Team Deus agents before being captured.

"I don't get it," Lionel had confessed to Cal, "you said he's impossible to control. Why isn't he just…attacking us?"

"It's you," Cal smirked, proud he had picked the right person for the job, "he can tell that you're not like the rest of us. You can use that."

Lionel wasn't sure what that meant, but he was glad that he was finally proving useful to Cal and Team Deus. So far, his time as a member had been nothing but a string of failures.

Next, they let Tesla eat. Not the measly prison food of stale bread, dried meat, and water, but a real meal straight out of the cafeteria. He ate quickly and silently, stopping only once his third plate was licked clean.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it," Cal suddenly announced, once Tesla was finished eating.

"Wait, what?" Lionel gaped at him, "w-what do I do now?"

"I don't know," Cal said without concern, "talk, bribe, fight. Do whatever you need to do. Just make sure he's ready for Farin. We're challenging him tonight and I need both of you to be ready."

"Tonight?!" Lionel gasped.

"Yes, tonight," Cal sighed, "now, c'mon. Stop being such a child and take some responsibility. You want to be accepted in Team Deus? Well, here's your shot. But this time, there are no second chances."

An hour had passed since Cal had left them alone and Lionel still had no idea what to do. Simply being in the same room with Tesla terrified him. How could he possibly train something that scared him like that?

"So…uhh…" Lionel tried to start. If Tesla were a regular Pokémon this would've been much easier. Well…maybe not easier, but at least he would know what to do. Battles proved everything in Pokémon. Battling was how a trainer showed his strength and earned the respect of the Pokémon he fought. If Tesla was a regular Galvantula, Lionel could beat him in battle and earn his loyalty that way. Could it be true for human Pokémon as well? Lionel reached for a Pokéball, trying to decide which one would be the best for fighting an electric and bug-type.

"Stop," Tesla said quietly.

Lionel obeyed.

The boy shuffled his feet and stared at the floor, instead. Beaten before he even started. What kind of loser was he?"

Across the room, Tesla focused his quadruple eyes on the blond boy. Since leaving his cell, Tesla had been trying to figure out what was going on. He was being recruited to fight someone, but was still unclear as to whom. He was also meant to partner with the blond boy named Lionel, but that also made little sense.

Animals, Pokémon and humans alike could sense weakness and use it to their advantage. If one wanted to control a difficult Pokémon, they would need a strong trainer. Trainers needed to prove themselves and earn the respect their Pokémon gave them. So, why send this weak little boy to him? He certainly wasn't going to earn Tesla's respect through a show of strength.

"You're name's Lionel, right?" Tesla asked the boy.

"Y-yeah," he answered.

"You can stop trembling," Tesla sighed, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"R-really?!"

"Yes, really," Tesla closed his eyes and shook his head, "what do you think I am? One of those monsters in the basement?"

"Uhh…" Lionel didn't want to answer, but he almost said 'yes.' Lionel didn't really know what the difference was and he figured that Tesla had to be down there for a reason. After what he had heard, why shouldn't he be afraid of Tesla?

Suddenly, Tesla was walking towards him. Lionel shrank against the wall. Those unnatural, freakish eyes were right in front of him.

"Look at me," Tesla commanded him. But the boy didn't listen. His eyes shifted all around the room, looking anywhere and everywhere that wasn't at Tesla.

The human Galvantula closed his eyes and breathed deep. For the two days that Rob saw his strange, quadruple, solid blue eyes, not once had he been afraid. No one else ever had that reaction. No one else accepted it.

"LOOK AT ME!" Tesla screamed.

The effort was almost physically painful, but Lionel somehow managed to look at Tesla's face…and his eyes.

"Good," Tesla told him, "now, keep looking at me and tell me what you're doing with these people."

"I don't know what-"

"Bullshit," Tesla scoffed, "you know exactly what I mean. I've been around these people for a long, long time. You're not one of them. You're not some hardened criminal. You're just a kid. Now, tell me how you got here."

"I don't know," Lionel shrugged, "I didn't…I mean, I don't want to be here."

"I know," Tesla closed his eyes for a few seconds to give the kid a break, "just tell me how it happened."

Lionel told his story as truthfully as he could.

The hard truth that many Pokémon trainers didn't understand when they set out was how difficult it was to make it on your own as a Pokémon trainer. A trainer's journey could last years or an entire lifetime. But mostly, it ended after a few months, maybe even as little as a few weeks.

When a trainer's Pokémon journey began, they left everything behind; family, friends, school, an entire life that wasn't coming with them. Starting at such a young age, trainers were not always prepared for what lay ahead. Moving from place to place, earning money, and even just living alone could be too much. Earning badges and qualifying for Pokémon tournaments was a dream shared by many. Sadly, that dream was often short-lived.

After a hard losing streak, or a few bad gym losses, it was easy for a traveling trainer to lose heart, start to get homesick, and seek out a quieter, easier life. Living at home, going to school, and growing up just like any other kid might not be as exciting, but there was no shame in stopping. Not everyone could grow up to be a Pokémon master.

Lionel had suffered through plenty of hard times, just like any other normal trainer. But he didn't give up and go home. Lionel's dad was a famous and successful trainer. He couldn't face going home and telling his dad that he couldn't do it.

"So that's when you heard about Team Deus?" Tesla interrupted Lionel's story.

"No, actually," Lionel shook his head, "I first thought about going home after I'd been away for a year. By that time, another boy from my hometown was already able to compete in tournaments. His name was Mark and he started about the same time as me."

"Go on," Tesla encouraged.

"Back then…we were…I guess you'd call us rivals. But, I was never as good as him. Not even close," Lionel smiled to himself, but it faded quickly, "now, I don't even think he remembers me. He kept going, too. Went to other regions, fought in other tournaments. I kept hearing about him. He was far from being the best in the world, but he made our town proud."

"How did that affect you?"

"Well…it made me disappointed in myself," Lionel confessed, "why couldn't I do what he could? I was from the same town and my dad was a great trainer. So, why him and not me?"

Lionel paused and gathered his thoughts.

"A few weeks later," he continued, "was when I first heard about this trainer named PureBlueSky. A guy who didn't fight in normal tournaments, but fought in some sort of underground network with trainers that used human Pokémon."

"Ahh…" Tesla nodded.

"Somebody told me that Team Galactic had connections with this 'underground network.' But, by then, they were already gone. So, I spent the last of my money and went to Unova to find out more about Team Plasma. A lot of people from Galactic ended up there, so, I figured it would be a good start."

"You became a Pokémon thief," Tesla nodded his understanding. The path to becoming a Rocket or a Plasma grunt was an easy one to fall into. Failed trainers, like Lionel, that couldn't or wouldn't return home fell into this trap. They could stay there for years, surviving off the strength of better, more experienced, and more sinister trainers. Desperate times led to desperate measures in far too many cases.

Worse still, Pokémon crime syndicates were much more difficult to bring to justice. They were just as secretive and dangerous as any other form of organized crime. But they also had Pokémon to use as weapons.

The only upside was that they often grew too ambitious. Each one gathered its strength in secret and operated with great success until they left the shadows and began attacking openly. After that, they were always defeated. Often by a traveling trainer who shattered their ambitions by defeating their biggest advantage: their Pokémon.

That was the fatal flaw in such Pokémon crime syndicates. They placed too much pride and power in their Pokémon. Defeating them in a Pokémon battle was the same as defeating a lesser group in a street shoot-out. How could they call themselves superior if their best weapon could be thwarted by children?

But with every defeat, there were members still too desperate to stop. Another strong, ambitious trainer would take charge, unite the shattered group, move to a new region and try again. The cycle would repeat and no one knew how to stop it for good.

Tesla didn't have any answers to those problems. He knew how it started, but not how to end it. It made his heart sick to think about how easily young trainers like Lionel could fall victim to such a system. They didn't know what they were signing up for. And by the time they did, it was too late for them to do anything about it.

"I was there for another year," Lionel continued his tale, "there's more kids there than what you'd think. The higher-ups keep us out of the main group and train us to become better thieves. If you keep your head down and blend in with everybody else, they don't send you on dangerous missions. I could've stayed there for a while, but…"

"But you were looking for human Pokémon," Tesla finished for him.

"Right," Lionel agreed, "I kept asking if they knew anything about PureBlueSky or human Pokémon. It was really just a matter of time before Team Deus found me."

"You were recruited?" Tesla asked him.

"Yeah," Lionel nodded, "by some guy named Frederic Pole. I guess since they knew who my dad was; they figured I'd do a pretty good job. But, so far…I'm not exactly what they were hoping for."

"Anyway," Lionel went on, "I joined up about two months ago. Not long after I started, some agents in Johto reported seeing a human Leafeon with a sixteen-year-old boy."

"Your old friend?" Tesla asked.

"Bingo," Lionel nodded, "so, I volunteered and started chasing after them. You see, Eevees are really useful, for us. So, I decided I could use Mark to get closer to Maple."

"But something went wrong," Tesla prodded.

"As bad as it could," Lionel sighed, "Mark and a bunch of his friends followed me back to the base…now, if I screw up one more time, they'll probably kill me."

"Hmm…" Tesla stopped his questioning and thought.

Lionel was no criminal. He had failed his mission because of it. He didn't want to hurt anyone, but he saw no other options. If he had run and stayed with his friend, he wouldn't be in such a terrible predicament. But he had gambled everything and lost. He lost the Leafeon, lost his friend and lost his chance to prove himself to Team Deus all at once.

The boy didn't belong here, but he no longer had the option of leaving. There was no place for him to go and he knew too much for Team Deus to let him live. He was trapped. And now they were trying to trap Tesla along with him.

Just like Lionel, Tesla had nowhere to go if he escaped. Rob was dead and Tesla might as well have died along with him. That strange man, Cal, was giving him a choice: help this sad, foolish boy or go back to his cell. If it were anyone else, Tesla would've taken the cell. But, this boy…

"My trainer was like you," Tesla began his own tale, "he was no criminal, but he wasn't a great trainer, either. He waited until he was fifteen before starting, but it didn't make any difference. He earned four badges and still quit. It's common and there's nothing wrong with it."

Lionel nodded. He understood what Tesla was saying. Still, quitting never felt like an option.

"So, he stopped," Tesla went on, "he did what most trainers do. He went home and released all of his Pokémon back into the wild."

Again, Lionel nodded. Many believed that this was another reason for the symbiotic relationship between humans and Pokémon. Most trainers did not keep their Pokémon for life. They released them back into the wild, stronger than what they had been. No one could say for sure what happened to them next, but a Pokémon that spent time with a human trainer would easily be the strongest in the community. It was easy to believe it benefitted all of the Pokémon in the area. Some even speculated it benefitted the entire ecosystem.

"That is," Tesla continued, "he released all of his Pokémon, except for me. I was his strongest and his favorite, so I stayed. He grew up and left home when he was ready, but he didn't train any Pokémon, except for me."

Tesla was pleased to see that Lionel was growing accustomed to looking at his eyes.

"When I evolved into a human, he wasn't afraid of these," he blinked for emphasis, "or these," he looked down at his spider-limbs, "he wasn't a great trainer, but he was a good person…and I killed him."

Lionel drew in a sharp breath at hearing those words.

"It was an accident," Tesla shook his head, "he was the best trainer I could hope for, and I failed him. And now, just like you, I'm trapped where I don't want to be."

"I…I'm sorry," Lionel told him.

"It can't be helped," Tesla sighed heavily. He didn't believe the words, though. Rob's death would stay with him for the rest of his life. He could not replace the trainer whose life he took. "But…we have no choice. We'll have to play their game, for now."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll help you," Tesla nodded, "you seem to need it. Much more than what I do."

"Uhh…umm…" the flood of relief that slammed into Lionel left him speechless. Just like that, he had a powerful ally. They were still under the thumb of Team Deus and Cal, but…could they actually have a shot if they worked together?

"Thank me later," Tesla waved him down, "I overheard something about a battle tonight?"

"Oh, right!" Lionel perked up, "Cal wants to fight the base commander tonight. His name's Farin. Don't worry, he deserves it. He's…insane."

"The base commander?" Tesla asked, "We're fighting someone in Team Deus?"

"Uhh, yeah…" Lionel bit his lip, "Cal won't really tell me what's going on…"

"Alright," Tesla conceded. It was an odd and very important development, but if Lionel knew anything, he would've said so. "I guess we'll worry about the details later. Just point me in the right direction. I'll see if I can get the both of us out of this prison."

AN: three months. Three months of working at least 60 to 65 hours a week. Son. Of. A. Bitch.

Anyways, I have returned to what should be a normal schedule again. So, posts should start coming on a weekly basis again (HUZZAH!)

Day 6 is going to start moving faster, too (it's needed to be over for a long time now). Most things that needed to happen, happened early. The biggest thing left is Cal's forces vs. Farin. That'll be within just two or three more chapters, but since everything's been chronological, we'll check back in with Mark and Maple first next week.

Thank you for all the wonderful reviews and messages while I was gone! I missed you guys.

Thanks for reading!