Garnet sat on the bed in the Pokémon Center; she had been staring out of the window for the past few hours, her mind racing with all sorts of thoughts. She considered leaving without Sapphire, the girl most likely suspected too much already and Garnet had a bad habit of letting things slip while around that girl… what was it about Sapphire? Garnet never saw her as a human, but a companion, her personality was just so similar to Vaporeon. Thinking of her old friends made Garnet homesick.
She pressed her fist into her other palm. "You made your decision, stand by it." She growled at herself, "You can't go back; you can never go back there." Her voice was low, her anger at the silly longing to go back to Kanto resounding in every word. Garnet didn't understand where this sudden weakness came from, she had decided long ago to leave, she had hopped from place to place being pursued by that gang, and now she had chosen this region. There was no way she was going back now.
Garnet stood, Titan raised its head, its red eyes following her movements. Titan could feel her distress and couldn't figure out how to help.
"So you're awake after all. How about we go training until Sapphire wakes up? I want to teach you a move with I think will be helpful." She gently picked up Rayna, the movement not waking the little Electrike.
"The move is powerful, yet it's dangerous if you cannot control it." She stood facing the Pokémon, "Use Magnet Rise so you don't get harmed by my demonstration." She still held Rayna, who was snoozing gently in her arms.
Titan rose far from the ground watching her as she lifted one foot from the ground. When she stomped it down, the entire earth shook violently, jagged balls of earth pounded up from the ground before setting back where they came from, making the landscape look as if nothing had just taken place.
"Now, do you think you can learn Earthquake?" Electricity crackled at her feet as she rose into the air to avoid the Earthquake attack he would be practicing.
After a time of training, Garnet and her friends returned to the Pokémon Center, once Rayna had woken she joined in the training session and learned a few new moves of her own. The three held about them an air of readiness, they were eager to get on the road again and fight a Gym, or perhaps just a few good strong trainers.
Sapphire was sat in the canteen of the Center, tucking into a breakfast with a thoughtful look in her eyes. "Good morning!" Garnet cheerily greeted as she sat opposite the girl, her bright mood shocked Sapphire, who looked up in shock at her travelling partner.
"Morning," She offered back, not sure how to react to the peculiar girl. "You're awful cheerful today." Her eyes returned to the remnants of her breakfast as she stated what was on her mind.
"Oh, sorry, do you prefer me miserable?" Garnet laughed at Sapphire's further confusion. "Come on; are you nearly ready to go?"
"Have you even eaten?" Sapphire asked, knowing that the canteen hadn't been open long and she certainly hadn't seen the fiery mane of Garnet.
"Yep, already eaten," Garnet lied swiftly, waving away the topic quickly, "Have your Pokémon eaten?"
"Yes, I feed them before I eat." Garnet nodded at the girl's answer.
A large pile of rocks lay in the way of the route they wished to travel down. Garnet had a suspicion that she might have caused it indirectly by her training session this morning. All the rocks were too big to shift between the two of them. Sapphire released Chic and Rono - a sturdy-looking Lairon - who joined with Titan to smash away at the rocks, one by one so that the mini mountain would not come crashing down on the two girls.
"Why are you in such a good mood today? Last night you seemed… as if you were retreating into yourself." Sapphire enquired, she needed to know more, this mystery was eating away at her and she needed to know all she could! She suspected that she received this trait from her father. "You keep doing amazing things that people cannot do and then try to cover it up. Are you a Zoroark, or Ditto? I heard those are Pokémon from other regions who can change into different things."
Garnet turned her amethyst eyes on the girl, whose speculations had come out as spoken words. Sapphire stared into the blank gaze of the girl. "It's nothing… Forget they ever happened." Sapphire could feel something prodding in her memory, what was it? "I'm sorry," Garnet blinked, breaking the unsettling eye-contact. Sapphire could not recall what she had just been asking about.
"Sorry for what?" She narrowed her eyes, irritated that she had forgotten something which she felt was important.
"Exactly that…" Garnet turned away, her eyes dropping to the ground. "Come on, we can get through now, thank you all." Garnet picked her way across the short stretch of uneven ground to pass into the next route.
Sapphire followed the confusing redhead, still picking through her mind for what she could not quite place her finger on. Sapphire felt uneasy, had she simply forgotten what she was thinking? It didn't seem like her.
They were accompanied down the route by an awkward silence. Garnet refused to break it as they walked, she could almost feel the mistrust emanating from Sapphire and she didn't blame the girl, humans didn't usually react well to having a portion of their memory obscured. Garnet had not removed the memories entirely - she didn't feel comfortable doing that - she had simply hidden them from the forefront of Sapphire's mind.
They came to a fork in the road, one path vanished ahead of them - covered in heaps of sand blown from the desert ahead - the other forked off to the left leading towards a large mountain. Garnet pulled out her PokéNav Plus to see which way they should take - Sapphire also had taken her PokéNav out to check - each hadn't seen the other's action until they both looked up to tell the other which way to go. At that moment they simply nodded at one another, their mouths half open, and walked off down the left hand path.
Two people dressed in red were blocking off the entrance to the cable car Sapphire and Garnet needed to get to in order to complete their trip from one city to another. The red-clad people were bickering about something or another. Garnet moved closer to them, feeling a deep-seated discomfort in the action. "Excuse me, may we get passed?" She asked. The two glared at her, uh oh they recognised her.
"YOU!" They chorused, making a grab at her, she simply batted away their clumsy efforts. "You're lucky the boss is in Meteor Falls or you'd get such a beating!"
"Interesting," Garnet mused, a half-smile on her face, she had met buffoons like these two before. Sapphire caught the wink Garnet sent her way, she mimicked the smile Garnet wore and joined in.
"So, why's your boss in Meteor Falls? It's a nice place there, I think we'll go visit your boss, tell him you're slacking off." The grunts looked fearful.
"That's a good idea, so what are your names? Buffoon #1 and #2? Okay, I'll remember that. Right, we're off, don't do too much work while we're gone, you'll strain yourself." The two moved off into a cave labelled 'Fiery Path' which led through the mountain. They waited until they'd entered the cave before bursting out laughing.
"Did you see the look on their faces?" Sapphire chortled; she leaned against the wall of the path to support herself. "They look horrified like they shouldn't have told us about Meteor Falls."
"I've dealt with people like that before," Garnet spoke after calming her own laughter, the grunt's expressions had been quite a sight as their eyes widened to about ten times their regular size and their mouths flew open, they'd also raised their hands as if wishing to take back what they had said. "Once you learn to deal with one, you've the basis on how to wind all of them up to the point of breaking."
"Who were those guys? They knew you didn't them?"
"Yeah they know me. I met their gang and another gang in the Oceanic Museum back in Slateport City. I took on a group of the other gang and won, then the red gang showed up to challenge both me and the other gang. But I managed to stare them down."
"You faced a whole two gangs? How did you manage that?" Sapphire looked up at her; they started walking as Garnet answered.
"Well I had Titan here and little Twitch, we fought their Pokémon then all I had to do was look confident and tough and the other gang backed off. But I reckon they'll want payback for making them run away with their tails between their legs." Garnet mused. "They're probably up to no good, so I'll stop them if I really have to."
"You're not scared of them at all? It's a whole gang you're talking about here! Not just one or two people!"
"I have it covered, I'm sure I'll be fine." 'They can't threaten me as I have my freedom in this bag, if they were to take that then I would be in trouble.'
"Your only Pokémon are Electrike and Metang, you're no way strong enough!" Sapphire argued, stubbornly refusing to accept this girl's calm throw-away attitude on a matter like this.
They bickered all the way through the path; once they exited they were confused to see something white fluttering down from the sky.
"Is this snow?" Sapphire asked, having never experienced the event of snow beforehand. Garnet, who had, knew it was not snow.
"No, definitely not." She caught some of the powdery substance in her palm, examining it closely. "It's ash. But where it's coming from I don't know. Come to think of it, this place is littered with igneous rock, this mountain, is it a volcano?"
"Yeah, it's Mount Chimney, an active volcano."
"Well that'll explain-" Garnet stopped, hearing a voice nearby, a Pokémon was crying loudly also. She turned away from Sapphire and ran as fast as she could.
"Get in line!" A gruff voice shouted, afterwards came a loud thud and a cry. Sapphire was hot on Garnet's heels; she had heard this yell as well as Garnet.
Garnet spotted a man dressed in red; he was beating a little Sandshrew who was rolling on the ground trying to get away. He was in a ditch of sorts, perhaps made by a great impact of a rock later moved. Garnet pounced, grabbing onto Titan's clawed hands so he could take her over quickly instead of landing and having to run once again. Once she was near enough, Garnet released the claws and dropped, smashing into the man. "What do you think you are doing?" She stood over him, her foot on his chest ensuring he couldn't move.
"Training, get the hell off of me!" He tried to move, but he couldn't budge this girl, even though she didn't seem to weigh anything she stood firm against him.
"You were beating up that little Sandshrew." Sapphire yelled as she ran up. "That's unacceptable! You should know better if you're a trainer!"
"So you think you can lecture me kid?" He grinned at Sapphire. "How old are you? You should be in school. You little runt get out of here, adults are talking." Garnet bent down quickly, slapping the man across the face.
"Speak with respect or I'll break your jaw," Her growl was low, the man looked into her face and saw in her eyes her stony resolution. He decided not to mess with her; she seemed as if she could cause him quite a lot of agony if she was so inclined.
He decided to turn to his relative good looks to win over the heart of this teen, teenage girls were so fickle, she was angry now but in a few moments she would be swooning. "Okay darling," He half-closed his eyes and gave her a dreamy look. "If you just let me stand up then we can talk properly, maybe get to know one another a little better." He stroked her ankle gently.
"Sapphire, look away I'm going to break his jaw." Garnet waved to the girl to turn her back. She then crouched down.
"No need to do that dear. You don't really want to hurt me do you?" He whispered as she got closer. "You're really pretty, what's your name?" Garnet fixed her hand on his jawbone, glaring at him darkly. The man finally realised his attempts were failing spectacularly. "No please! I swear I won't do it again, just don't hurt me!"
"Huh," Garnet let out a triumphant noise as she narrowed her eyes and smiled. The look scared the man just as much as her threat. "Is that Pokémon wild or have you a PokéBall for it?"
"Here take it!" He grabbed a PokéBall off his belt and thrust it at Garnet.
"Thank you; now get out of here before I change my mind about breaking your jaw." She moved, letting him stand, revealing the black 'M' on his chest. She knew that attire. Once he had fled she turned to the little Pokémon. "Please come here little one, you have nothing to fear from us I swear." She sat on the ground, to make herself seem less threatening. The yellow Ground-type looked at her before standing and slowly walking over. "There we go," She placed her hand on his head gently, watching as a faint multi-coloured energy emanated from her palm and moved through his body, healing up any injuries he had gained from the man's mistreatment.
Sapphire watched but didn't speak, something had clicked in her mind, an image of Garnet catching a pulse of dark energy and throwing it into the sky, and another of her absorbing an enormous amount of electrical energy. Her suspicions returned to the forefront of her mind and they mingled with new thoughts of 'She erased my mind!'.
"Would you like to be free again?" The yellow Pokémon shook its head quickly, the movement seeming jerky in its haste to refuse the offer. "Then what would you like?" The Pokémon looked up at her with big pleading eyes. "Alright, alright you can come along with me." She smiled, fixing the PokéBall next to Titan's.
When Garnet rose to her feet, she looked at Sapphire, waiting for her inevitable questioning. But Sapphire said nothing. The two just nodded and moved to climb out of the indent they had leapt into, Garnet offering a boost for Sapphire, but the younger girl had already started clambering up, she was more nimble than Garnet had expected.
They continued on their way to Meteor Falls, where they would find whoever had the power to shift those grunts out of their way.
"So I finally caught up to you huh. Subject 663 you've made it quite difficult for me to find you and your little clone friends. But keeping your albino guise gives the game away." She stood on the top of Mount Moon; a large amount of Pokémon surrounded her and the three Eeveelution clones. "Surrender your possessions peacefully and no harm will come to you or your friends. If you resist and refuse to give me what I want, then we attack."
Her ruby eyes looked up at the helicopter he spoke from, it had a burnished red 'R' on the side. "The funder, no his son, grandson?" She muttered to herself as she examined the scene around her. "I don't wish to harm any of your partners around me, however if you try and capture me here I shall have no other option." She called up to the helicopter. "I will allow you to retreat here and now before making a big mistake."
She could hear his condescending laughter, after this died he calmly called for an all-out attack."
Subject 663 tapped her friends on their heads, one by one they vanished. She hadn't quite mastered teleporting herself, but others she could send anywhere.
Many Weezing emitted a green poisonous gas into the air, concealing the world around 663 and also tainting her lungs, her primary form of life. She held out her arms and raised a gale-force wind, blowing the smoke around in an enormous Whirlwind. She dispelled the gas and breathed in fresh air. Many Arbok surrounded her, throwing themselves at her and sinking their fangs into her flesh. She closed her eyes and sent out a powerful Psychic attack, sending all the Arbok flying through the air, once they had landed she tore the ground apart with a devastating Earthquake. The Weezing, having managed to avoid the attack due to their ability to levitate, closed in, spitting Toxic substances at her. The purple gunk seeped into her skin; she could feel the poison pumping through her body.
She clutched her chest, narrowing her eyes and focussing her attention on the Weezing around her. She felt the air growing cold as she prepared her next attack. The ground froze around her and a Sheer Cold wind froze the Weezing solid, each and every one fainted as she released the attack. She doubled over as the poison pulsed through her.
Next came the turn of a great mass of Raticate, the masses bared their fangs and scurried towards her. She weaved to the left to avoid one before its large teeth sank into her face. She was using her Recover to heal the wounds she had gained from the Arbok, but this only sealed the poison in her veins. She ducked and twisted around the others, a Double-Kick here and a Karate Chop there, she was trying to deal with them all before they could land a blow.
One jumped at her from behind, she twisted away but it was expecting that move and flicked its head, sinking its fangs in, one deep Crunch and 663 gasped as her arm snapped sending a great crack reverberating around the mountaintop. She turned to face the Pokémon and screamed, her Hyper Voice blasting it at point blank range. 663 clutched her broken arm to her chest; the wound wasn't healing fast enough. Another Raticate tried to take advantage of her weakness, rushing her but she snatched its tail and tossed it into the air, the Pokémon vanished beyond the clouds.
She panted, trying to replenish her energy by taking in the fresh air around her. "Your ancestor paid for a super-clone of Mew, I've pieced it all together now. You simply want to control me huh? Well, let me show you why you will never be able to control me!" She yelled up at the helicopter. She changed her stance, her feet were shoulder-width apart, her broken arm by her left side and her right arm rose out to the side.
Giovanni watched with wide-eyes as the earth around the girl seemed to set ablaze, swirling firewater churned around here where rocks had been mere moments before. She looked up, her eyes completely red. "Get us out of here!" He ordered to the pilot. The helicopter jerked into movement and flew out of range as fast as it could.
663 raised her good arm up, as she did a column of the fire shot into the air, lighting half the region up in an amber glow. "I can't believe he fell for it!" She laughed, letting the illusion die. She'd used her psychic powers to create an image in the mind of the man, an image which would force him to retreat. "Now to go find my friends, and fix this damn arm." She hovered down the mountainside, headed for the hideout she had sent her friends to, where a sight she would never forget awaited her.
A/N: I realized that I had changed her from 'Subject 663' to 'Experiment 663' so I went back and changed it to 'Subject' instead as it sounded better than 'Experiment'. Thank for reading!
PhantomGalaxy13: Ugh, you've raised so many questions I never thought of when I first squashed the canons together xD. I have a plan for Ash's age, but as of May, i'm still flicking between two ideas. I think with those I'm set, but there are so many other things that now are clear questions jumping out at me xD. I guess we'll just have to see what happens in the end! Thank you for your review! Iris