"Now, you've learned how to speak to people around you. But you need to learn how to act around people. It's important to be polite and kind to people both who you know and who you don't know." She blinked fuzzy images from her eyes, trying to focus of the man sitting in front of her; he wore his usual white lab coat.

"Even if I don't like them?" She asked, blinking through her ruby-red eyes up at him. He was the one who had taught her how to talk, how to understand human speech. But he was also responsible for the pain that shot through her body at all times. He promised it would go away when everything was finished, but she had no idea when that would be. She had been trapped in this suffocating place for years. She yearned for the fresh air, the glistening emerald-leaved trees of the forest she had lived in. She wanted to roam free with her partner again, but her partner, along with her freedom, had been torn from her by people, nothing could change that.

"Especially if you don't like them. It's important to send the right messages to people. Smile at them; laugh if they make jokes, even bad ones. You just need to learn a few simple tricks and you'll blend into any crowd in any region." They sat on had-backed chairs in a separate room from the main laboratory. He never touched her, never grasped her hand or placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He felt as if he had no right to act like a father to this child. He had put her through hell and was still trying to drag her out the other end. But they were close now, her body had grown strong these past years, and it was almost time, time to let her go.

Her appearance was that of a teen, about seventeen years of age, but she had been in this lab for far longer than that amount of time. He had withered considerably since their experiments began, but she was still childlike. Her hair billowed out from her, a wavy mess of white strands falling as the shifting air caused by the door opening, died down as the man entered.

She sensed his hostility, fear, hatred. It tainted her pallet and made an instinctive defensiveness rush through her body. She wanted to rise, wanted to back away and protect herself from this man, but she breathed in all that and simply sat there, looking up at the stranger.

"How is it coming along? How much longer are you planning on taking?" The man demanded of the scientist.

"Her body is stable at the power level she has reached. However it is but a tenth of the power we've analysed contained within the DNA we gained from the-"

"Tell me straight! What is the issue?" The man clad in black cut through the scientist's explanation before he was truly lost in the jargon of this man.

"The power contained within the DNA within her has not yet shown its true limits. We cannot tell if it is because she's human and that is what is holding it back, or whether it is in our calculations of what her new DNA really holds."

The men who often checked up on how the project was going had given up telling him she was no human. They just let him delude himself into caring about the thing like she was a human girl. He taught her manners, languages, expressions and gestures but no one expected she would become anything but a monster.

"Subject 663, return to the lab immediately, you too professor. Get the readings correct. Unleash that power. Your employer is not happy with the pace, his father's dream has been put on hold for long enough! The real tests begin tomorrow. And we do not tolerate failure."

She felt a metallic object nudge against her face, blinking her eyes open she came to see Beldum's ruby-red eye glittering in the moonlight streaming through the window. Last night she had reached Slateport, Mr. Briney had given her a lift over to a beach south of the city and she had made her way to the Pokémon Center, where she resigned to stay the night.

Zigzagoon was snuffling on the bed beside her, deep in sleep, even now his nose twitched as though he was trying to track a scent. She smiled and tickled his nose, watching it twitch faster under her gentle touch. "I'm sorry Beldum, did I wake you?" She brushed her fingertips across the shiny exterior of the Pokémon. He drifted down onto the pillow beside her head, she could sense his concern.

"You were yelling your dreams were dark and scary. Are you alright?" He spoke up. He did not speak often. He had spoken to her while they travelled from Mossdeep to the mainland, speaking of Steven, speaking of his life in Mossdeep, mentioning the name of another island he had visited before and how he hadn't been to the mainland. Now he was here, he had barely spoken a word.

"I'll be fine, I should just stop sleeping. You may need rest but for me it's just a bad habit. It neither rests nor refreshes me; it simply allows my mind to wander unrestrained. And when that happens, all the things I want buried come crawling out." She thought to the dream before yanking her mind away from the claws of the past. "I can't stand how weak my mind is!" She stood up, not jostling Zigzagoon at all as she paced the room.

"Why don't you talk about it? Won't facing your past help you head to a better future?" He hovered around her, his worry revealed in his metallic voice and in his crimson eye.

"How are you so wise for one so young? But I am quite content to let sleeping Poochyena lie. Facing my past won't change it." She paced over to the window and stared out at the sky. Twinges of green and gold were flickering across the sky to the east, dancing upon the waves as they stole the sky's beauty for themselves. Although the wise words of the little thing did echoed through her mind, perhaps talking about it would be better. But she had no one to talk to other than him, yet he was too young to hear it.

He settled back onto the pillow and rested for a few more hours. She continued to walk around the room, forcing her body to do something so her mind would not play out those thoughts again. Snippets of conversations flickered to the forefront of her mind. 'Always accept an offer of assistance, you may not need it but it would draw too much attention for you to shun everyone.', 'If you are called somebody's friend do not deny it. Do not tell them your thoughts as they might hurt the person you're talking to. People are delicate things, you are much stronger than that but you need to be aware of the fickle creatures you will be dealing with.' then finally, 'Tonight I will get you out of here,, there are some clones in laboratory 9, take them with you, you can get all seven of you out of here and flee, flee until you can run no further, then defend yourself. Do not let them take this from you; it is the only thing they have to use against you. Keep it with you at all times and for Arceus' sake don't let anyone know what it is! They'll be here soon to…'

Zigzagoon let out a loud yawn as he woke up, Beldum floated up from the pillow, his psychic powers alerting him to her distress and he rushed over, nuzzling her cheek comfortingly. She hugged him and whispered, "I can't face the past. If I do I shall lose myself." Letting him go she stared to the window, dawn had set in a little time back, the sky was lit up a bright aquamarine, she gathered her belongings and picked up the Devon Parts, intending to deliver them immediately.

"So if this goes here, and this, that and the… No, that can't be right!" She approached a man in his late twenties, he was pondering over a blueprint of a submarine. She glanced down at it, her mind working out what needed to go where within an instant, but she didn't tell the man for fear of being questioned. He was so close anyway; he'd get it sooner or later.

"Excuse me?" The man looked up at the lady before him, a Beldum on her shoulder and a snuffling Zigzagoon at her ankle. "Can you tell me where Captain Stern is? I have some parts here from Devon Corp for him."

"Oh, that must be the delivery he's been waiting for. I'm sorry; he isn't here at the moment. I believe he went off to the museum in this city. Could you give them to him there? You'll know the building when you see it." He returned to his pondering of the print, making a few alterations and frowning deeply.

She exited the shipyard - the smell of sea-air was so pungent here - it permeated all the buildings and lay thick in the air. It reminded her of home. She shook this thought off as she looked around the buildings, looking for any which stood out. But all the buildings she saw seemed to be unique in their own ways. One was a very large, red-topped building, moving across to it she read its sign, it informed her the building was a 'Contest Hall', she wasn't sure what a 'Contest' was and why it needed its own hall. But it wasn't a museum so she passed it by. She moved past the Pokémon Center and PokéMart, she knew those buildings well. Past a 'Name Rater's House' she sighed, reading yet another sign which wasn't what she was looking for, a 'Pokémon Fan Club' was not what she wanted to see. So she moved across to the side of the city near the sea, and she was immediately faced with a grand looking building which had to be a museum.

Something seemed to be taking place within the museum. Through the doorway she could see a lot of blue and a lot of people moving around very quickly, she could taste fear in the air. Rushing into the building she found it overrun with men and women dressed in the same attire as the man who had attacked her in Petalburg Woods. "Are you ready you two?" She whispered to her Pokémon partners. She needed to know if they were fit for battle. Each of them nodded quickly and she relaxed her shoulders and strolled through the middle of the museum.

"You! You're that girl!" Upon turning her head, she spotted the man who had fled from her before. He was surrounded by about four other people, all wearing matching outfits, all glaring at her with hostility seeping from every feature. Her reaction to this welcome was to smile and wave to them all as they approached her. "We'll make you pay for what you did."

"So you'll make me pay for your incapability to deal with a little girl?" She smirked at them, her eyes showing no fear of them. "You're too weak to face me. Numbers mean nothing to me. If you wish to fight, you can come at me one at a time or all at the same time." She spread her arms out, opening her body for attack. "But if you're too frightened to do this, I can also defeat you in a Pokémon battle. Either way, you'll lose this fight." She indicated the little Zigzagoon and the Beldum who peeked out from behind her hair.

The gathered trainers guffawed at the sight of the little Pokémon. "Which say? Shall we beat up the little Pokémon then the little girl?" One called to the others who cheered and jeered at her. She didn't retreat; she stood her ground and indicated to her Pokémon to step forward.

All five trainers sent out their Pokémon. All of them had a red, yellow and blue Water-type Pokémon. She had seen them swimming in the oceans she'd crossed. Its scales were sharp and it was graced with a very large, harshly pointed set of teeth.

Zigzagoon's nose twitched in fear of these Pokémon. Beldum showed no fear, but she could feel it in his mind, it swirled around as he faced the five Pokémon. "Zigzagoon, use Sand-Attack on as many of the Pokémon as you can!" She ordered, seeing the Pokémon's ears flick up as he became alert to her words, he kicked up dust and as much dirt up from the floor as he could and scratted it towards the Pokémon, several of which closed their eyes after being struck by the irritant. "Beldum, Iron Head on the first Pokémon!" The silver-white Beldum zoomed towards the first sharp-scaled Pokémon.

"Carvanha use Bite, grab it!" The Pokémon snapped its jaws at Beldum. But its attack missed as dirt interfered with its eyes. Beldum's attack struck and the Pokémon went flying backwards, the attack doing a lot of damage. However, Beldum recoiled; the blow had harmed him as well. The spiked scales of Carvanha clearly damaged his metallic body.

"Zigzagoon, use Baby-Doll Eyes, lower their attack!" The furry Pokémon's brown eyes grew large and made the enemy Pokémon unwilling to fight against him, he looked so innocent and harmless. "Iron Defence Beldum, wait for their next move." She glanced at the Beldum, who grew stronger quickly by thickening his iron armour.

All the enemy trainers yelled for their Pokémon to use Bite. All the Water-types hurtled forward, some veering off far too wide to hit her Pokémon, still trying to rid dust from their eyes. "Zigzagoon, Double Team, quickly!" The little rodent moved fast, avoiding the attacks, none of which came close to Beldum. "Iron Head again, then Zigzagoon, use Tail Whip!" Her Pokémon acted quickly - the flow of battle washing over her - this was a bit more challenging than facing just one opponent, she needed to keep her eyes out for all five of the Pokémon.

Beldum's attack hit the same Carvanha as before, he was knocked out of the battle, his trainer cursing and recalling the Pokémon. But the rest of them sent their Pokémon on another wash of Bite attacks. This time her Pokémon weren't to be so lucky. Beldum was caught by a fierce snap of the jaws of one of the Pokémon; he was trapped in its teeth as another hurtled towards it.

"Zigzagoon, Tackle that Carvanha, help Beldum out of there!" The little Pokémon darted forwards, his small legs carrying him faster than she had expected as he rushed to the aid of his ally. He leapt at the Pokémon holding Beldum in its jaws and crashed into its side, it released the Beldum, but the second Carvanha snapped its jaws onto Zigzagoon's tail. The brown Pokémon squealed its pain into the air. Her heart wrenched as she could only watch for the seconds it took Beldum to recover. "Iron Head!" She ordered her desperation to get Zigzagoon out of there plain to hear in her voice. Beldum rushed forward, knocking the Carvanha from Zigzagoon, who was too badly wounded to continue battling. She stepped forward and picked him up, cradling the injured Pokémon and glaring at the opposing trainers.

"Bite it, we have her finished!" The Carvanha hurtled forward, aiming straight for Beldum.

"Dodge it and hit it with another Iron Head!" She commanded, watching as her Pokémon obeyed without question, looping around the attacking Pokémon and slamming into its side, knocking it too from the battle. She looked to the Zigzagoon; he had fainted in her arms, scratches across his face from the Rough Skin of the Water-type Pokémon he'd tackled, his tail in a right state. She looked back to Beldum, who had been absorbed into a bright white light. Her eyes widened as the orb of light swelled and burst outwards, revealing a new Pokémon where Beldum had just been hovering. Its body was a strange shape; it seemed to be flat on the bottom but domed on top. It had two appendages which semi-resembled arms, sharp golden spike-claws on the end of them; golden spokes also were evident on the other end of the arms, seeming to be where a human elbow would be. There was one final golden spike, sticking out from its face, from between his glaring red eyes. He was the same silver-white and gold of Beldum, his eyes the same colour as little Beldum's eye, yet this Pokémon seemed stronger, more ready for a fight and less shy than Beldum had been.

"Don't fear Metang, he is still weak! Bite!" The three remaining Carvanha rushed forward, attacking in one line, each aiming for different parts of Metang's body.

"Wipe them all out with one final Iron Head Metang!" She waved her free hand to indicate he move fast, Zigzagoon whined in her arms with the pain of movement. She had not wanted to confine him in a PokéBall, but she seemed to have no other option here, she picked a PokéBall he himself had snatched up from the sands of Dewford, holding it and watching the red light envelope him and he vanished from her arms. She attached the red and white capsule on her bag-strap, right next to Metang's.

She watched as the Metang rushed forward, his large head smashing into all three Carvanha, sending them out of the battle in a wave, they crashed into their trainers and sent them reeling also. She breathed a small sigh of relief, they had won! Each opponent pulled some money out of their pocket and threw it on the ground before hurtling out of the museum, the man she had met twice now in the lead.

Metang gathered the money with his psychic abilities, piling it into a neat wad and handing it to Garnet, who tucked it away into the little pocket of her bag. She stroked her thumb over Zigzagoon's PokéBall with great concern, she was torn. She needed to see what was happening here, see if this blue-clad organisation was causing chaos on the second floor of the museum or not. But she needed to heal Zigzagoon and Metang needed a rest. She looked towards the Pokémon who was staring at her with his gleaming red eyes. "Well… Wow…" She smiled, admiring his tough new form. "You look as strong as titanium." He rushed at her, grabbing her in his new limbs and hugged her, a bone-crushing hug which she returned awkwardly. "Well done! You beat 'em! You did it!" She had avoided being impaled by his face spike narrowly; his head was slightly turned so that it would rest along her collar instead of through her neck. "But I need you to do something for me now. Take him to the Pokémon Center, he needs help, and you need a rest, so wait there for me okay? I'll be right there just as soon as I wrap things up here." She handed over the PokéBall; he grasped it in his claws and nodded his great head, zooming off out of the museum.

She watched him vanish out of the doors before turning and ascending the stairs to the chaotic upper level of the museum. Another group of blue-clad people were gathered around one man who stood out from the rest, he did not look like he belonged to this thuggish organisation. He must be Captain Stern. She hooked her arm further through the briefcase handle, resting it on her elbow crease before clapping her hands loudly together. She almost saw the sound ripples moving through the air, as the group turned and glared at her.

"Hello, I was just in the middle of dealing with the buffoons downstairs, well I finished them up really quickly actually. I was wondering if you lot posed more of a challenge. But by the looks of it, you lot are just as weak as they were. Now stand aside before you get hurt." She glared at them, seeing the wavering confusion in some of their eyes. They didn't know how to react to her blasé statement. She seemed to radiate confidence even though they outnumbered her six-to-one. The biggest thugs stepped forward and cracked their knuckles menacingly, she yawned at the movement, peering at them through half-closed eyes, knowing how this infuriated them. If they got angered they would start making mistakes, which she could work off of.

"Enough." The thugs backed off instantly. She turned to face the speaker. He was an extraordinarily muscular man, who wore an outlandish suit of blue and white. A blue bandanna restrained his brown hair, but nothing could even attempt to restrain his goatee. A cross seemed to decorate his face, she wasn't quite sure why. But the air of importance this man exuded was quite tangible. It gave her the chills, he acted much like…

"Who are you?" She challenged. Her instincts screaming at her to shut up and flee; leap through the window and run as fast as she could to put as much distance between her and this man. But she could not do such a thing, well she could but didn't much like explaining away a shattered window to those who owned this museum. Unlike the other thugs, he was calm and collected, he would put up an extraordinary fight, which she did not much fancy getting into here with all these artefacts strewn around them.

"Heh! That's quite a fierce expression for such a wee little scamp. That face tells me you're not just another mindless Trainer brat. The name is Archie. The rough-looking lot you see here are members of my team, Team Aqua." He glared down at her, his eyes zeroing in on the Devon Parts attached to her elbow. "I came to see why it was taking so long to steal a few parts. Then I witness you beating a group of my subordinates scamp."

"Do not call me 'scamp' or 'brat', I am no child." She glared, refusing to be intimidated or spoken down to by this man. "These unorganized thugs are members of your team? Hah! Well, I won't be betting on your success in the future. Team Aqua? Doesn't sound very grandiose like other organisations titles. So you're a sea-lover, why not simply become a swimmer or sailor. That'd be best suited for you. Though don't become a fisherman, the fish would outsmart you." She couldn't even pretend to be kind and polite to this man, not when his aura was so like… so like…

"Don't you dare speak to the boss like that brat!" A grunt yelled at her, storming forward to hit her, but Archie held up a hand and smirked down at Garnet.

"Ya talk big for such a short scamp. I'll give you this advice. If you get in the way of Team Aqua again you won't get off so lightly." His glare turned dark, she stared right back, defiance in her amethyst orbs.

"I'm shaking."

"Archie," A new voice echoed in the room. Another aura joined the tumult of hostility. She looked around to see a large gang of newcomers, all wearing red with a black 'M' emblazoned on the chests of this outfit, much like a weird 'A' in white decorated the blue-clad gang. "I see you and your brutes have beaten us here, yet you and all you might have not yet obtained the parts you and I both desired." Garnet listened to his voice, he seemed a stern man yet his voice was so sarcastic when he spoke to the other leader. They seemed to know one another quite well. Their teams snarled at one another, visibly restraining themselves from attacking the other side. "So where are they? Ah, this girl has a hold of them. That's an easy take." He gestured to the red-clad grunt nearest to her. He made to step forward and grab the briefcase, but Archie blocked his way, knocking him to a side with one arm.

"Ya know I ain't lettin' ya take those parts Maxie, ya an' ya little gang can jus' toddle off. Me an' the scamp got business to attend ta." He turned away from the man clad in red.

"I won't let either of you two take these parts. If you want them, come get them." She held out her arm, dangling the briefcase teasingly close to both Archie and the grunt. Neither made a move. The girl seemed so sure of herself. Who was she? What was she planning? The look in her eyes unnerved both leaders. Both their minds ticked and whirred, trying to figure her out. But both unable to and figured their best bet was to simply retreat and nab the parts when they fell into someone else's hands.

They both turned away, leaving, the red-clad team first then Team Aqua, most of the grunts glaring back at her, grinding their teeth, trying to spook her.

The man was simply flabbergasted as he watched the dozen-or-so thugs filing out having been scared off by this girl…

"Are you Captain Stern?" She asked as she spun on the spot. Her hair waving around her, he saw she had only one PokéBall on her, so she hadn't been expecting to fight using her Pokémon against all those thugs… "My name's Garnet." Her smile was jarring; it was such a change from her stern defiant expression moments earlier.

"Yes, I am Captain Stern, are those the parts from Devon?" He asked, looking to the briefcase she still held hooked on her elbow, she shimmied it down to her hand and offered it to him.

"Yes they are I brought them from Rustboro on request. I wasn't expecting so many people to want them though." He took them from her and opened the case, inspecting the impeccable items within. None of the contents looked like it had been stirred even though she was practically waving them in front of the thugs, odd, but very much relieving. "Now if you don't mind, I need to go back to the Pokémon Center, I need to make sure my friends are alright." She turned on her heel and strode from the museum, seeing that there were no longer any blue or red-clad thugs loitering around here.

She directed her steps towards the Pokémon Center, seeing cameras and microphones being set up near the Contest Hall. She found this curious, and decided she would stop by there before she left this city. But as to right now she needed to go see how her Pokémon were doing.

PhantomGalaxy13: Thank you so much for reviewing all the chapters of my fic!
About the name, yes it took me a little white to reveal it I apologize for that. But when I started the fic I didn't actually have a name for her. But after the first chapter I resigned to calling her Garnet. I am also sorry for the rather underwhelming description of Rayquaza; by the reference to an Ekans I simply meant he was serpent like in appearance. Obviously Rayquaza is nothing like an Ekans in any way shape or form except they both resemble the reptile.
Yes, there is a lot of building up and up in this story, but I needed to do this to build the character and world up in order to then throw it into chaos, I have a tendency to linger on minor details and if I threw her into a mayhem of events instantly I feared I would lose the mystery surrounding her in the hectic situations.
About Ruby and Sapphire, I wasn't sure whether or not to put them into the fic, however now upon review of the story it could do with some fleshing out in the form of a rival, travelling companion or both. So I shall definitely be adding the two characters in the story.
In regards to Gym Battles, I promise the next one to be more of a fight. I based the first two on my experience with many of the first two Gyms in games. They seem to usually fly by and be lost to the wind before I even realize what happened. However, usually by the third Gym the challenge becomes more prominent and things slow down in battle and become more difficult. But perhaps that's just me. Either way, playing through Emerald, Wattson always gave me a hard time of things.
With Lisia and even Wallace I always fear that I write them wrongly. Their characters are so prominent in game even though you may not speak to them much, it makes me always wonder if I have done something wrong when I come to try and mimic their characteristics. But I hope I manage alright in this chapter.
Thank you for the Beldum name! I shall be using it! Since none of the names I can think of are any good J