An advanced apology; we don't get to see Ralts, Jack or the rest of them in this chapter. This time, it's focused mainly around Alexa and I'm also introducing a newer character into the bunch. You'll see what I mean later in the chapter. For now, I'll stop taking up your time and let you read the story. Hope you like it because it was a very inspired one to me, even if it is a bit short.

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This was definitely one of those days where I really hated head aches. Blearily I opened my eyes while rubbing my head, it felt like someone was pounding a huge drum stick against it. And, damn it all; a drum stick somehow lead to the thought of food. Not only did I have a bad head ache but it felt like I hadn't eaten in days...

I blinked when I finally took notice of my surroundings though; I was in a cell with rock walls on the sides, ceiling and the ground with only the metal bars and door in front of me. Down the hall I could see lights, the bastards probably had those every so often so that they wouldn't trip and kill themselves in the dark. Immediately I could tell that where I was being kept was worse than a jail cell though; jail cells had beds, toilets and sinks. This was just a bare cell to keep me in. I'm being treated worse than a convict... How could things possibly get any worse?

Later I would regret asking myself that question.

Footsteps started to sound down at the left end of the hallway while a person's shadow began to form outside of the cell door; great, someone was either just patrolling or they were coming to see me. Either way it couldn't be good... if I was stronger I probably would have gone and kicked their ass, but as it was my head was killing me and I was starving. When said patroller stopped outside of the door, he slid a tray through a slot on the door, "Oiy, you'd better eat; don't want you to starve to death on us..."

I recognized that voice; it was the guy who had used the tranquilizer on me when I tried to run out of the gym. And, when I saw the disgusting gruel he wanted me to eat, there was only one thing I could do; take the tray and then throw it at the door. With satisfaction I watched it go all over his face, right before spitting at him, "Then I'll just go and do that! I'm not letting you use me!"

"Fucking... fine, I don't care if you starve to death you little brat! Let someone else get this shit in their face..." While grumbling the guy stormed off, apparently I had pissed him off enough to drive him away for a few hours at least. But, that left me with a problem; I still had nothing to eat.

After collapsing against the back wall of the cell again, I sighed and looked up at the ceiling while trying to think of things that would take me away from the pounding skull I possessed. I could only hope that Jack and Ralts got out all right... Dad too, along with his pokémon, hell I even hoped Greg was okay. But, there was just no way they weren't okay... I would have seen or heard them by that point if Team Rocket got to them, wouldn't I? And then, there was the issue on how the hell I would get out of there.

So far, this cell was impenetrable for me. The guard had given me food through a little slot so I couldn't wait until he opened the door to run out... and even if the door had been opened, I probably wouldn't be strong enough outrun the guard or even slip past him. And then, I still didn't know exactly what these bastards were planning to do with me... Whatever it is, it can't be good.

I jumped slightly when I heard someone coming again; so they were coming for more abuse? There were more of them this time though... Then, I noticed that the first shadow was different; an all-too-familiar voice echoed down the hall only a second before I knew exactly who it was, "So you're going to be stubborn and not eat? Fine... I guess that means we have to surprise you a lot sooner than planned."

"And this surprise is a visit from you, hag?"

I received a glare from Kujaku when she came up to the door; she was flanked by three grunts in the same black suits that one guy wore earlier. Then, her glare slowly turned into a smirk before she signalled for one of the grunts to open the cage door, "You're taking part in a little experiment, kid. One that will test your loyalty to Team Rocket..."

"What loyalty? You guys are just a bunch of filthy pokémon thieves; I'd never work for bastards like you!"

After I had said that, from no where the strength to run came; I tackled the grunt that had opened the cage out of my way and began to run towards the door Kujaku and her cronies had come from. Something that came only moments after really started to make my heart race though; a loud alarm began to sound while red lights from the ceiling began to flash (honestly I hadn't noticed them before they turned on).

I couldn't feel my head anymore, and my stomach wasn't bugging me either; all that mattered was running like hell to whatever seemed like a way out. There were corridors upon corridors in this place though... one wrong turn would probably be the end of any hope when it came to getting out of that shit hole. Unfortunately, said turn came a lot sooner than I had expected.

Right in my face was a grunt when I turned right at one corner; his hat was pulled so low over his head that all I could really see were the colour of his skin, his nose and his lips. When I turned tail to run back in the other direction, the guy's voice came through the air as I heard the familiar sound of a pokéball opening and releasing the pokémon inside, "Metagross, use confusion to stop her."

One moment I was running for my life, the next I was frozen in mid-air. I couldn't even struggle as I found that we had caught Kujaku's eye; she began to approach with a smirk on her face and some strange headset in her hand, causing a sinking feeling to settle in my gut... and, again, she was flanked by those three grunts, only this time they had their pokémon with them, the Houndour and Houndoom I had previously battled included in the bunch.

"Good work. I know catching pests is beneath you but you did your job well," I gritted my teeth at that (and then found that I could still move my face at least) as Kujaku's eyes closed with the malicious laughter that rang in my ears. And then, as the woman stepped closer I glared into her stormy eyes when she smirked again, holding up the headset I had been eyeing, "Now that you're sticking around..."

I spat in her face then, earning a disgusted look from the woman while the alarms in the background finally died down. She wiped off the saliva before glaring daggers at me; maybe I shouldn't have pissed her off so much, but it was my turn to feel nauseous when she spoke to me again, "I'm going to love you so much more when you're a mindless slave. If the damn device doesn't work then a psychic pokémon will have to do..."

I couldn't move because of the confusion attack still being used on me, and as such I couldn't even try to bite Kujaku when she took off my baseball cap and put on the metal contraption that wrapped around the back of my head. And then, her face was right in mine while her hand went to my right ear, "I'll warn you now, just to be courteous; this is going to hurt. A lot."

I hated that smirk on her face so much that I just had to give another one of my opinions of the agent before she activated whatever was on my head, something that made her face darken and that smirk go away almost immediately.

"You are such an ugly bitch."

Instantly after a click in my right ear I began to hear a high-pitched screeching coming from all around, my eyes clamping shut with the pain that I felt with it. My head ache from earlier was nothing compared to this!

I was screaming by that point, begging for it to stop, begging for the noise to stop and for the pain to leave. Everything was causing the noise, everything was hurting me... I wasn't sure if I was on the ground by this point or if I was still being restrained. Regardless, I was struggling with all of my remaining strength before it became too much; now everything was starting to fade. Weakly I opened my eyes before they slid shut again, in that brief moment I saw I was on the ground before I slowly lost my world. There was nothing I could do... I was powerless, something else was taking over. Only two thoughts I would manage to remember came out then.

Help me...

Please...

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I could only watch as my master used the device on that other human. Actually, I couldn't even do that; when the human girl began to flail about and scream I had to close my eyes and flatten my ears in order to shut out her experience. It was only when the noise stopped that I looked towards her again; she was sprawled out on the ground now, tears in her weakened eyes before they closed. And then...

They opened again. But, they didn't have the vitality that the girl had before, nor did her face give off any sort of emotion. It was then that she stood up, right before bowing to my master and speaking to her, her voice also an expressionless void, "Kujaku, I apologize for my words. I ask for your forgiveness and for the privilege to serve as a member of Team Rocket."

My master smirked at that before nodding to the grunts, "The device is working. I'll report the results to the boss, the rest of you are dismissed. Good work in apprehending her, Executive."

"Of course, Kujaku. I was only doing my job," The man my master was talking to nodded before turning to his pokémon, "Metagross, return. You did well."

When the other human walked away, I looked to Houndoom before I looked at the ground, following my master and the human girl slowly. I know I should have felt victorious because the job was done, but... it still felt like I had done something wrong.

"Houndour. Hurry up or Master will leave you behind again," My ears perked at Houndoom's voice before I ran forward to catch up with her and with our master. Once I had done so the other rolled her eyes at me before she spoke to me again, "I saw you squirming when Master used the device on that kid. Don't be so squeamish in the future, it's sickening to watch."

My eyes fell slightly at that, watching me squirm wasn't the sickening thing. Ever since our Master had caught us, we had been forced to do terrible things. Countless other pokémon had been hurt because of us, and something else I noticed was a change in Houndoom's disposition. She used to care about the lives of others, whether or not our actions would hurt them, but now...

She had changed so much since Master caught us. She was no longer the older sister I remembered; she hadn't been that pokémon for a long time.

"Sister," I noticed Houndoom's eyes going to me when I addressed her in such a manner; it was a glare that told me never to use that name for her again, "What do you think of what we do? I don't see how Master can hurt another human in such a manner without feeling anything..."

"She does feel things, Brother," I felt the mockery used to identify me when she looked on ahead, right before I saw her fanged smirk aimed towards our master, "She feels pleasure from watching such acts and from exacting revenge on those who wronged her. She smiled when she heard that human screaming. And, I did too."

I winced when Houndoom said that before I looked towards the ground again; the bad feeling in my stomach just wouldn't go away. I felt sorry for that human girl, sorry that she was controlled through such vicious means. What we were doing wasn't right at all... it was terrible and hurt others too much. I wanted so badly to run from this place, but that would be no way to atone. Besides, Houndoom and our master would catch up with me long before I could dream of escaping this place and these people...

It was a short time more before we reached the place where our master wanted to go; we were now in a room full of bright lights coming from the devices humans called 'computers.' Then, my master pushed a button on the computers before the image of another man showed up, right before she began to speak, "Giovanni, this is the report on our Mind Control device in the Hoenn Region. Do you accept this information?"

"Get on with it," It sounded like the other human was irritable, as if something else was on his mind. My master seemed to notice this as well but she didn't say anything as the human on the computer screen spoke again, "Please tell me at least one thing went well today."

"It works to full capacity; the subject feels pain when the device is first activated but after that is entirely loyal to Team Rocket. Long-term observations have yet to be made," With one of her hands raised to her forehead Kujaku kept looking up to the screen while speaking, "The subject it is being tested with was previously the daughter of the Gym Leader Norman in the Hoenn Region; someone who absolutely despised people like Team Rocket."

This seemed to give interest to the man on the other end before he nodded and asked something else of my master, "Show her to me. I want to see for myself exactly how well it works on human test subjects."

"Understood, sir. You go up to the screen," When my master stepped away from the screen the other human girl approached it upon my master's order, staring up at it with nothing but obedience in her eyes. I couldn't help but feel another sickening flip in my stomach as I heard what she said.

"Good evening, Master Giovanni. I am honoured to meet you at last and to pledge my loyalty to both yourself and to Team Rocket."

"Hm... continue observation and report to me in a fortnight, Kujaku. If it continues to remain successful then your promotion to Executive will be secured and immediate."

"Sir!" The screen shut off immediately, leaving us all in a slightly darker room; light from the other screens was enough for me to see the smirk on my master's face before she held the chin of the human girl in her hand, "Kid, you're the key to my promotion. Now that you're not mouthing off at me, anyway."

I saw that, without warning, she returned Houndoom to her pokéball before the same action was taken with me; all around I saw the fiery, near-barren land where I used to live before I was captured. It was there that I sat before I gave a low howl of frustration; it just made me angry, how I couldn't do anything about what was happening to the people my master wanted to deal with!

Would there be any way to stop it all and atone for what I had already done...?

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Yay, we get to see Houndour's thoughts on the whole mess! I hope you enjoy reading things from his point of view as much as I enjoyed writing it, I thought he would be a fun pokémon to get the moral issues about what he, his sister and his master are doing in the world. I promise that in the next chapter we'll get back to Ralts and Jack, but for now I have to leave it there. Read and review, I want to know what you all think! Again, big thanks to all of you who have read and reviewed so far!