Location: Celadon City, Kanto Region
Time: 1300 Hours

There is only one thing worse than killing, and that is watching someone die. The Freezings are worse- they are almost a monnthly tradition in some regions. But of course they don't kill everyone. Team Plasma need people to rule, don't they?

N visited me a few hours ago. The first thing I noticed was the white scars on his hands. Had they not gone away yet? Next I registered that it was, in fact, N and not some odd impersonator. I don't know why I would think that. I don't really know anything anymore.

He didn't waste time with formalities, he just started talking. His velvety, smooth voice droned on and on and on. My head was throbbing with pain and I could feel my pulse rushing through the veins in my forehead. Minutes turned to hours and hours turned to lifetimes as I sat there and squirmed, desperately wishing for an Aspirin. I then remembered something- the nurse's parting words before she had left me last night. I sat up sharply, my upper body screaming in protest, and reached my arm out to the nightstand to the left of my cot. My lungs were burning from all that moving. I quickly tore open the aluminium package, my clumsy tin fingers clanging into another, and popped two pills in my mouth, downing them with a swig of water.

Almost immediately, the fogginess cleared my brain. It might have been a mind over matter thing, the pills working so quickly, but hey. I'd take what I could get. I shook my head a few times to lock in my good feeling, then motioned for N to continue. This time, I listened to what he was saying.

"I... Well... I had no idea of your capabilities. I can't exactly say with confidence that what you can do doesn't scare me, but Lance seems elated about this. He says between your... ability and mechanical arms that you'll be an unstoppable opponent."

"What ability?"

"I knew you weren't listening," N growled. "For Arceus's sake, your Aura!"

"No." I shook my head and repeated it again. "No. I'm not using my Aura to kill someone."

N looked surprised, but then shook his head slowly. "I thought you'd changed at least a little bit. But you're just the same as you were seven years ago."

"And what's wrong with that?" I swung my legs off the bed, prepared to stand up, and stopped immediatly. The strain on my lower body was going to make me delusional.

He recieved my snide comment with even less stoicism than my last; He stood up and turned toward the wall, looking as if he wanted to punch it. I can't say I blamed him.

"Nothing. Nothing at all's wrong except for the fact that you'll die. It's just that this world is changing faster that any of us can run. And Ash, you haven't even started the race yet. The spectators have forgotten about you, while you're sitting there at the starting line." He took a deep breath, looking back at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

I could feel the throbbing in the back of my head slowly returning. It wouldn't be long before the throbbing gave way to a second assault on my senses.

"I think you know I could kill you if I got mad enough, right here and right now. So why are you taunting me like this?"

Without missing a beat, N answered, "Because I trust you. You know that I only want to help you win this race. I don't want to see another ignorant death and get blamed for it!"

"Yeah? Ignorant, am I? Then what does that make you, Professor Oak? There is so much that you don't know, and so much that you never bothered to care about! You should know that somehow, I'll end up winning the race. People like Astrid and Lance will get me there, somehow."

I felt the Blue Tide pushing against my concoiusness, trying to waver my resvole to remain in control over my actions. Once, it even washed over me completely, but I saw N's concerned face, his body poised to run, mouth open and ready to let out a cry, and I resisted.

N trusts me with his life. And I am scared that I will destroy his faith in me completely. I have killed more than I would like to admit. I've killed my friends, my foes, my loved ones, the ones that I hated. But I am still alive, only because the Blue Tide forces me to resist. And I will resist, only because I have no other choice.

I won't forget Pikachu. I won't forget the Freezings at Saffron, or Lavender, or Mahogany. I won't ever forget the faces of anyone I've killed, because they all torment me.

I will never be relieved of my sins, will I?

I miss Volcarona and Lucario and Zangoose and even maybe Mandibuzz. And I wonder what became of our egg.

Master stood tall, though he was shorter than most of his kin. He loved fiercly, though he was punished by all who did not know the feeling of it. He died silently, though he was loud and full of life. Everything about my Master was odd. But I loved him anyway.

But Master is gone now. Cold treats me well. He pets me and he lets me curl up to him when I miss Master. When a female raised her whip to me, he defended me, soothing me with his crooning voice. He is one if the leanest Humans I have seen, and he dons a white cloak and glossy pants. And on the rare occasions that I look at Cold's face, I see his pale face, shrewd eyes, and sleek glasses on his pointy nose. His hair is unnatural, with bright tones of blue and yellow.

Cold is quite comforting to look at. He is almost as soothing as my Master. And yet he is not. He will never replace my Master, whom I grew irritated of and whom I thought I hated for leaving us behind.

And as ashamed as I am to say it, the only thing stopping Cold from becoming my Master is-

"Ghetsis has ordered me to take you to visit Mr. Steven Stone. At least I won't be alone on this suicide misson, eh?"

Cold's voice comes to me as though from the heavens. Instantly, I know what is going to happen, and I obey his orders. I slither over to the cage made of metal

Metal.

and I curl up in the corner. Cold talks to three males and a female, all dressed in white

White.

while he makes eloquent motions with his hands. I feel a sharp prick of a needle and I try not to move as the female carries away a vial of my blood

Blood.

and the males rub me down with a harsh-smelling liquid. I notice that my scales now gleam brightly. A smile crosses my face.

Location: Unknown
Time: 0400 Hours

They close the doors of the large vehicle and it rumbles to life, driving slowly at first, then quickly gaining speed, until it is careening down a hill, taking its precious cargo down with it.