People in Johto were really stupid, weren't they? As a blast of fire high above drew Jet's attention skyward, he couldn't help but wonder who in their right mind would use a Flamethrower during a rainstorm. That was just one step below trying to light a match underwater. But upon catching sight of the golden body from which the flames seemed to have come, he suddenly felt a sense of dread.

What was that Dragonite chasing? The boy could hardly tell, fore not only was the creature as dark as the night around, it was flying incredibly fast as well, almost nothing more than a blur of black, red, and… Blue? Unbelieving, he attempted to rub the raindrops from his eyes in order to get a better look. He could've sworn he saw a flash of bright blue on the dark beast's back.

But the creatures were already far ahead of him now, the Dragonite suddenly seeming to rear up in the air before roaring and beginning to glide in circles. It wasn't until the golden dragon then began flying back in the way it had come that the teenager realized that the black creature had vanished somehow, and that the chase had started in the same direction he was sulkingly walking away from.

Stopping in his tracks, Jet simply stared at the watery road beneath his feet. No… It was just a coincidence that the two creatures had come from that direction. And the blue… It was just a trick his mind had played on him. And the Dragonite… Well, that was just a coincidence, too. After all, he was in the city of dragons. The Dratini Evolute could've been anyone's! Hell, it could've been wild, too!

But as hard as he tried to convince himself, he just wasn't believing any of it. Sure the coincidences were strong cases, but the glimpse of that blue made him uneasy. He had only ever seen that shade in two places; the day-lit sky and her hair. Sighing in a frustrated manner, as if it were the water trainer's fault for his decision, the boy turned on heel and followed after the Dragonite, though did not go faster than his previous pace. If the girl was safe and he had been wrong, he did not want to seem like he had cared.

By the time he finally was in eyeshot of the blue house, he felt his heart begin to sink. The girl's beasts—minus that blue and yellow fish thing from yesterday—were all gathered in the front yard except for Kin, who was on the other side of the fence. But regardless of where they were, the creatures seemed to be in discussion of something and didn't notice him until he had stopped a few feet away.

"What hap-" Was all he managed to get out before an angry hiss interrupted him.

"YOU! This is all YOUR fault! You traitor! You Rocket!" Omi accused, fangs bared at the dragon trainer as she thrashed violently in an attempt to get free of Ai's strong grasp. The Feraligatr had her clawed paws around the Espeon's shoulders and was holding her tightly while shooting the teenager a slightly apologetic look.

"I'm NOT a Rocket!" Jet shot back in just as hostile of a tone. "What the hell happened?!"

But silence ensued as the watery creatures looked helplessly to one another. How could they fill the boy in on their situation when he would not be able to understand a word they said? Only Omi had the ability to speak to humans in their own language and she was currently too enraged to be of much assistance.

Their eyes, now, were set on the Sun Pokémon, who didn't seem to notice the sudden attention as she began to gnaw on one of Ai's scaly fingers in an attempt to force the reptile to loosen her grip. With a humorless grin, Ai abruptly shook the feline for a few seconds.

"Stop being petty and tell him what happened," She ordered in an unamused tone. "Now is not the time for rage."

Hissing, the Eeveelution dug her claws into the Totodile Evolute's hand, continuing to resist until Ai shook her around again and refused to stop until she agreed to aid them.

"Fine! Fine!" With her tail twice its normal size due to the bristled fur, Omi turned her violet eyes back to Jet and began to explain. "As soon as you left, Team Rocket swooped in and took Otomé! What did you do? Leave to give them the all-clear?" Such a bitter remark earned the cat another disapproving shake.

"I'm NOT apart of Team Rocket, you jackass!" The dragon trainer snarled. If it had not been for that Feraligatr's protective grasp, he would've impaled that bastard cat on his sword already. His anger fogged his mind, though, so it took a minute or two for the news of the water trainer's kidnapping to take hold. Once it had, he felt his heart sink, but quickly told himself that he had no heart, no compassion. Why should he care?!

"How do you know it was Team Rocket anyway?" The boy inquired with distrust, giving the Espeon a glare that mirrored his tone.

"Because I recognized her kidnapper, you idiot," Omi retorted coldly. "It was Hebi Oni of Kanto."

The Hoenn branch of Team Rocket was severely cut off and isolated from the rest of the massive organization, so the codename only rang a minor bell in Jet's mind. All he knew was that Hebi Oni was an Executive, one reputed to be fast, cunning, cruel, and young.

"So what? You just let her waltz in and take Otomé?!" He didn't bother trying to mask his harsh, condescending tone. At the accusation, the psychic cat hissed again.

"NO! I tried to get her back, but that blasted woman would use her as a shield! I couldn't land a hit unless I wanted to harm Otomé instead!" The insulted and indignant manner in which the feline replied betrayed that he had struck a nerve. So the little hellion felt guilty for letting the Rockets get a hold of the girl? Though to his curious dismay, it wasn't even close to explaining why the Rockets wanted her to begin with.

Cruelly, the dragon trainer dismissed Omi's excuse for failure. "Whatever. Which way did they go? I hate letting Team Rocket get their way."

The six Pokémon all looked surprised by his words. Was he volunteering to find their mistress and return her to them? But the fact that someone like him seemed to care so much was suspicious. Didn't he hate the water trainer? Even spiting Team Rocket was not a good enough reason to want to save her anymore. If he truly was a traitor to Team Rocket, then going back to face them could very well cost him his life.

"Mahogany," The Espeon answered cautiously. "But I doubt that they're there. Hebi Oni probably only went in that direction to throw us off."

In a slightly frustrated manner, he growled. "What the hell do you mean by that?!"

"For one, Hebi Oni is extremely proud. Having been born in Kanto, she thinks that Kanto is king. Hence why you never hear reports of her crimes happening anywhere outside of Kanto," She elaborated, gaining another misgiving look from Jet.

"Two… … … Just trust me. They'd take her to Kanto, to Viridian probably."

The cat was acting incredulous, that long pause only further proving that she was hiding something. Probably the reason why the Rockets would want such a stupid girl like Otomé at all!

"Fine! Then I'll go to Viridian!" The silver-haired teenager announced after studying the lavender feline with leery eyes. When he turned to leave, however, Omi stopped him.

"Now? Are you retarded?" He growled at the insult.

"They'll be expecting you right now, just like they expected you to leave in the first place." Closing her large, omniscient eyes, Omi sighed wearily. "Our best bet would be to wait until at least morning and hope that by then they think we're not coming and have relaxed their guard. Viridian is dangerous for us… Only the best soldiers are there, including the four Executives. One slip-up…"

Regardless of his cause, Jet was still not too happy about going back to Team Rocket.

Her head was pounding, throbbing painfully like there was a jackhammer at her temple. The ground below her felt hard and cold to the touch, though the latter didn't bother her one bit. She had always been tolerant of the cold, chalking up the reason to having been born in the mountains. Her blood was thick, so she was insolated, she had always figured. But it was all so dark.

Reactively groaning, Otomé shuddered and flipped over onto a side to better curl into a ball, hands and knees to her chest before she finally eased her eyes open. She felt dizzy and nauseated and had no clue where she was, but other than that she seemed fine. But it was all so dark.

After taking a minute to refocus her eyes, the girl finally began to survey her new surroundings. She seemed to be in a cell of some sorts, the walls behind her and to her side composed of solid concrete while the one in front of her was nothing but thick, iron bars, like a cage. Across from her she could see other cells of the same construction, but they were empty. Was she completely alone in this strange, dank dungeon?

"Oh, finally. Yer awake."

The fine hairs on the back of the water trainer's neck stood on end as her ears filled with that familiar voice and much to her dismay, the fox-eared woman stepped into view from the left. Only now with nothing to obstruct her sight, Otomé noticed that the woman also sported quite a few sleek, cream-colored tails with golden ends. One, two, five six… There were too many for her to count.

"W-What are you?!" The girl stuttered in a slightly frightened way as she bolted straight up into a sitting position. "W-Who are you?! Where a-am I?! And what do you w-want with me?!"

Without emotion, the brunette grinned toothily. "The name's Hebi Oni an' I'm the Executive of Intelligence an' Reconnaissance. Nightmare kept failin' too much, so the Boss sent me ta git ya instead." As if proud to have accomplished a task the blonde Executive had been unable to, her apathetic grin turned into a smug smirk.

"An' stop lookin' at me like Imma monster er somethin'," Hebi Oni barked when she noticed the fearful looks Otomé was giving her. "I'm still human… Mostly."

"What… What are you, then?"

The brunette frowned and eyed the girl, as if there was more to her inquire than simple, innocent curiosity.

"Imma Pokémorph," She finally answered. "A human with Pokémon DNA. I'm almost half Ninetales, so they call me a Ninetalesmorph." For a reason she could not identify, this intrigued Otomé, a million and one questions running through her mind now.

"Were you born like that?"

"No, I was born a normal human. But I betrayed the Team an' this was my punishment. Morphin', they called it. Took a year an' a half before they thought I was loyal enough again ta stop and take me back." But the frown Hebi Oni wore made it seem like she was unhappy with something. Though before the Blackthorn native could inquire further, the woman continued on.

"An' don't ask me why yer here, either, 'cause whatever issue involves you was before my time. I was jus' followin' orders." Stepping closing to the bars, the Executive looked down at the prisoner with slight pity. But quickly, she stepped back and turned away.

"Anyway, I'm goin'. Yer alone down here, but if Nightmare starts botherin' ya, just scream or something," She advised as she disappeared from Otomé's line of sight, her boots resounding heavily in the deserted dungeon. "Boss thinks he's makin' it too personal an' doesn't feel like losin' his money, so he's forbade the idiot from dealin' with ya. But like he'd listen?"

"Wait!" The girl cried, scrambling forward to wrap her hands around the clammy bars of her cell. "Wait! Where am I?!" But her only response was her own echo.

The dragon trainer hadn't slept much that night, though refused to admit that it was because he was worried about that dumb girl. Why should he be? She was annoying and frustrating and stupid and had big mouth! He was only going to go after her to spite Team Rocket! But…

Staring blankly up at the ceiling (fore it had been wordlessly agreed upon that he would spend the night in the blue house), the reason behind the crime organization's interest in the girl still plagued his thoughts. She was innocent, probably having never committed a crime in her life. Her Pokémon seemed rare and strong, but if that had been the reason then why hadn't Hebi Oni taken them, too? No, no matter what he came up with, it just didn't make sense.

But that Espeon, Omi… She probably knew. Oh, it was as obvious as his worry for the girl. That cat knew exactly what was going on and exactly why her charge had been targeted, but damn her for keeping her mouth shut! As soon as he rescued the girl, he would get the truth from that feline, even if he had to cut it out of her!

Adrenaline and anxiety kept his mind hazy, however, so the next few hours were nothing but a blur of sights and voices, none of which he really saw or heard. All he could focus on was getting in and out of Viridian City without causing too much of a ruckus. The last thing he needed was to have Executives after him too.

They were on the outskirts of the slightly large city now, just him and Omi. The cat had teleported the two of them there fore she knew the city well enough to be able to do so. 'We can't teleport to places we've never been or seen, though,' she had then explained further. But even from so far away, they could still see the top massive Viridian City Gym.

"I guess now we gotta find a way to sneak in," Jet remarked more to himself than to that devil cat.

"And run the risk of setting off an alarm?" She threw back, causing him to once again narrow his eyes down at her.

"Got a better idea, genius?"

"How about we just teleport inside, O' Great One?" Yes, as soon as they got back to Blackthorn, he would beat the truth out of the Espeon, including how she knew the interior of the Rocket Headquarters.

"Fine. Then let's teleport," The boy agreed coldly. "The more time you spend blabbing, the more time they have to do whatever to Otomé."

Rolling her eyes, Omi ignored his rudeness in favor of concentrating her mental powers. Teleporting more things than just herself took focus. After being outlined by a soft, purple glow, the two of them then vanished in the blink of an eye. But almost instantly, she felt her mind begin to stray, her focus on getting them inside the Gym safely waning as the journey that should've taken mere seconds dragged on.

Something was fogging her thoughts and even slowly blocking her powers. Had the Espeon been in possession of enough clarity at that moment, she would've realized that even after waiting out the night and the rain, they had still walked into a trap. Luckily, she unwittingly released her powers and allowed herself to be pulled in whatever direction the haze was taking her and in doing so also released the dragon trainer from her guiding, psychic grasp.

Hopefully he would end up in a beneficial place.

Roughly, Omi summer-salted through the air and crash landed on a fine-woven rug, a large, black desk looming up over her like a great beast. As the fog in her mind dissipated as quickly as it had invaded, she then began to realize what had happened.

"I figured you'd try to sneak back in," A deep voice admitted with a chuckle. Looking up, the feline hissed and arched her back when her eyes met with Nightmare's.

That damned cat. Had she tricked him?! Teleported him alone into the den of his enemy as some sort of cruel joke?! Yes, Jet would definitely strangle that little hellion, just as soon as everything would stop spinning. The interrupted Teleport had disoriented him and to make matters worse, he had collided head-first with something much more large and solid than he.

So now dazed and with the beginnings of a headache, he was sprawled out on a cold floor, the room around him dim. There was a soft humming. And empty chairs gathered around a barren, circular table. And the thing rising from the floor by his feet—most likely what he had struck—was… Was..

A snack machine?

Groaning, the boy covered half his face with a hand and propped himself up on the other.

"Where… In the seven hells… Am I? Where did that fucking cat take me?!"

But he froze when another humming reached his ears, one less mechanic than the snack machine's and more lively. Someone was coming, but not only was he still too befuddled to act, there wasn't any place for him to hide, either. The small room—probably a break room or something—was bare. All he could do was tense up and wait.

"Make nneeewww, but stay in the llliiinneess. Just let it ggoo, but keep it iiinnsssiiiiddeee."

From around the corner a brunette woman appeared, the eyes behind her thin, oval-shaped glasses closed as she strolled into the room with her hands hidden inside the pockets of her baggy black jeans. But her ears… They were like a fox's, and tails…! She had tails!

"Smile bbiigggg for everyooonnee, even whheenn you know what they've dddooo-Aiye!" Both she and Jet yelped at the same time when, having not been paying attention, she accidentally stepped on him. While she jumped back, he jumped up and the two glared at one another.

"Oh, it's jus' you," The strange woman remarked suddenly with lidded eyes and a strange accent.

"What the hell?" He was lost. "What do you mean, 'it's just you'?! Who the hell are you?!"

"Quite demandin', aren't ch'ya?" She replied with a chuckle, moving closer but turning away from the dragon trainer in favor of facing the snack machine instead. Idly she withdrew a wrinkled dollar from a pocket and carefully fed it into the machine.

"Who-?!"

"Hebi Oni," The Ninetalesmorph immediately interjected as she punched in a combination of keys. "Stop askin' already, stars… Sound like a broken record."

"Hebi…?" Oh, what a lucky break! Now it would be easy as pie finding Otomé. "You! You're the one that-"

Again, the brunette interrupted him. "Yes, genius, I'm the one. But no, I'm not gonna take ya ta 'er. I don't need ta give anyone around here a reason ta not trust me."

Threateningly, Jet took a step forward, hoping his reputation preceded him. "You'll take me to her, or I'll kill you."

Hebi Oni simply rolled her eyes defiantly as she bent down and stuck a hand past the bottom flap of the snack machine to retrieve the bag of chips she had just purchased.

"Ya can't threaten an Executive, kid. Especially one as awesome as me."

Straightening up and turning away again, the halfbreed began to stroll away again, lightly struggling with her bag of chips as she attempted to pull it open. Annoyed that his intimidation had failed, the silver-haired teenager thought quickly and followed after the Rocket. There had to be some way to force her to take him to the water trainer.

"So... Uh, why'd you come back, anyway?" He began, trying to recall what Omi had said the night before about the Executive. "Or perhaps you enjoy doing Grunt work?"

"Oh, go burn in hell, ya traitor," Hebi Oni retorted though still with her back to him. "I didn't come back ta take orders, but it's somethin' I have ta do if I wan'ta eventually give orders." Angrily, she threw a few chips into her fanged mouth.

"Then how about we make a deal?" The boy suggested with a smirk, glad to know that he seemed to be annoying the Ninetalesmorph at least. "You take me to her and I won't have my dragons tear you to pieces."

Short tempered, the brunette spun around to face the wickedly grinning ex-Rocket. "Let's git one thing straight, ya so-" But a loud, soprano scream suddenly echoed down the hall they had been walking in, causing Hebi Oni to curse colorfully in a language that was more guttural than English before sprinting off, still in the direction they had been going. Nimbly, Jet followed after her.

Within minutes they both were charging down a set of stairs and into a damp, chilly dungeon full of lonely holding cells. Every long, barred door was closed and locked except for one, towards the middle on the left. But such a detail was unimportant to the boy, whose eyes immediately flew to a terrified-looking Otomé who was darting nervously around the massive room in her best attempt to evade the familiar blonde-haired man that was chasing her.

Snarling, the dragon trainer unsheathed his slender sword as Hebi Oni shouted aggravated, "Nightmare! Leave her alone! You know the Boss's orders!" Her accent was gone, each word now enunciated properly. But the blonde paid his fellow no heed, instead pouncing upon the blue-haired girl as the sight of Jet distracted her momentarily, allowing him to hurl her against a stone wall and pin her to her with a large hand tightly around her throat.

He would kill her. It was all her fault. If she hadn't been such a failure, none of it would've ever happened. But it had, and so he would kill her. He'd make her feel every shred of pain he had felt. It was only fitting. But first, he had to deal with the two traitors. Surely, they would try to stop him!

So as the brunette and the boy charged forward, Nightmare swiftly took out a Great Ball he had had hidden and released one of his many beasts; a sinister, ebony canine as big as a small person, with two large, ivory horns curling out from its head and a motif reminiscent of a ribcage in a dirty white on its back.

Viciously, the hell dog snarled as it stood between its master and the two perceived enemies. But knowing its intimidation would not work forever, it suddenly charged forward and spat a scrawny stream of eerie, purple fire at the two. Hissing, Hebi Oni shoved Jet out of the way and dodged to assault herself.

"Fuck! It knows Will-O-Wisp! Nightmare, you bastard!"

But the blonde Executive could not hear his peer. No, he was too focused now on slowly cutting off Otomé's air supply, taking great pleasure in watching her attempt to gasp for oxygen but failing, her lips gradually beginning to turn a shade of blue that matched her hair.

With one cyan eye squeezed shut and the other barely open, the water trainer tried in vain to loosen the man's iron grip around her throat, desperately clawing at his hand and struggling despite how doing so only made her suffocate faster.

She felt cold, like ice was running through her veins. She couldn't feel her feet or her hands; she was slowly going numb. Was this how it felt to be choked to death? Why was there a pain in her back, too, as though she was being stabbed between the shoulder blades? Had Nightmare decided to draw blood as well and her oxygen-deprived brain just hadn't registered it? Really, that pain in her back was excruciating. She wished it would stop…

Victory was in sight now. Nightmare was smiling like the devil himself as Otomé's thrashing lessened and lessened. That dumb boy was screaming, but he could be dealt with later. But then it was all like slow motion. There was the sound of tearing fabric. A sudden rush of air. The blonde felt himself being pushed back, his grasp around the girl's throat weakening and breaking all together.

The next thing he knew, he was sprawled out on the cold dungeon floor, blinking up dumbly at the tall ceiling above. His Houndoom was still snarling, Hebi Oni was laughing madly, and finally Jet had ceased his rageful screaming. Hissing in pain, the blonde Executive sat up and immediately whipped his head around, stopping only when his gaze fell upon the water trainer, shocked.

She, too, was collapsed on the stone ground, but on her stomach, and was coughing and sputtering like there was no tomorrow, gasping loudly as she tried to pay the debt of oxygen that was owed her deprived body. The silver-haired boy was at her side, sword still gripped in one hand as he glanced over and shot Nightmare a death glare. But none of that mattered. It was all significantly unimportant when compared to the pair of large, dusty blue wings that had sprouted from the girl's shoulders blade area, as though they had been there all her life.

A/N: Yes, I realize I have a different view of Pokémorphs than most. But in my 'Verse, the word "Pokémorph" is an umbrella term that simply describes the product of a genetic experiment involving Pokémon. Stemming from this term are two more specific ones: "Halfbreed Pokémorph" and "Anthromon".

A Halfbreed 'Morph is what Hebi Oni is; a human with Pokémon DNA in them. An Anthromon is the anthromorphic Pokémon you always see commonly associated with the word "Pokémorph".

But for the sake of the story, from now on when "Pokémorph" is mentioned, unless otherwise stated, it is referring to Halfbreed Pokémorphs.

And the song Hebi Oni sings to herself is "Lights and Sounds" by Yellowcard. xD