The morning flashed by at a surreal pace, causing a new thread of anxiety to coil around her chest and constrict her breathing every time she looked at the clock. Jayde showered quickly, working out all the pine needles and bits of grass that had tangled themselves in her hair, and threw on a fresh change of clothes. The lobby and field of the Center hummed with excitement, and she was able to talk to several trainers – a group of four even asked her if she'd like to walk with them, and she happily accepted.

Walking to the conference was a circus in and of itself, with a huge mass of trainers and their Pokémon strutting down the city sidewalks towards the lake. The conference was to be held on a fairgrounds set up on a large cliff overlooking the beautiful body of water, and many trainers were playfully daring each other to find out if they could dive better than their Pokémon.

The trainers Jayde walked with – Sarah, David, Mira, and Victor – each already possessed five full Pokéballs save for David, who had four. Sarah and Mira had begun their journeys two months ago in Vermillion City, and a month after that they met David. Victor, like Jayde, they had met this morning.

Syn was happily chasing Yora (a Weedle and David's partner), and, farther down the street, Lyn (Sarah's Venonat) and Marx (Mira's Abra) were harassing a group of boys in their late teens. Flashing Mira a wink, Sarah ran after them.

"Lyyyyyyn! Leave those nice guys alone! Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!..."

Mira quickly joined her, and soon the two of them shot apologetic but triumphant waves at the three they had left behind. David snorted and rolled his eyes. The large boy came up beside Jayde and shook his head.

"Those two are unbelievable. Going guy-hunting and not bringing me along? Lame." He looked appraisingly at the five older boys ahead of them. "What do you think the odds are of me getting some numbers?"

Jayde laughed. "A hundred percent. Go for it."

He grinned and mussed his hair, making his way over to the group. Jayde smiled and tried to find Syn, but he had vanished into the crowd. She wasn't too worried about him, but she hoped he would remember to find his way back to her once they reached the fairgrounds – she wanted to use this time to train for her next destination, the Viridian Gym, and their battle there against its leader, Erebos. She glanced at Victor, but he had headphones in and was clearly on autopilot.

Jayde smiled again and looked at the ground in front of her, but soon that nameless anxiety crept back in the absence of conversation and wrapped itself snugly around her thoughts.

Syn pawed at the dusty turf of the fairground's battle area as Victor debated which of his team to send out.

"Hmmm…." His fingers flitted around one of the Pokéballs at his belt and he gave a playfully malicious grin. "I could be mean… But you're just a rookie, aren't you? I can't promise to go easy on you, but I'm nice enough not to let Nat roast you."

Nat, the Growlithe inside the ball he was currently tapping, was Victor's first Pokémon, and they had already won three badges – Jayde was very thankful Syn's first battle wouldn't be against that Fire-type.

Victor's fingers instead clasped the ball next to Nat's and tossed it into the air.

"Cor, you're up!"

Syn roared (or tried to, at least) as the stout pink Poison-type appeared. It flicked its large ears and gave out a call of its own.

Victor smirked. "You can have the first move, rookie."

"You're going to regret that," Jayde replied, and she turned to Syn. "Alright, let's see a Tackle!"

Syn rushed forward with surprising speed and crashed into the Nidoran, knocking it to the ground before bounding back. This began a volley of Tackles and Poison Stings, with Victor becoming more and more frustrated as it became apparent that Cor was taking more damage.

"It should be super-effective! It's Poison on Grass!"

Jayde laughed and looked at him teasingly. "Only a rookie would forget that Bulbasaur is part Poison!"

As the final words left her mouth, Syn delivered a final Tackle – Cor went sprawling and, after trying to rise, fell over on his side, panting.

"Aw, it's okay, Cor. You did your best. That was my fault," Victor said as he recalled the tired Pokémon. He shook his head and replaced the ball in his belt. "Damn, I forgot about the dual-typing there. I thought I was being clever."

Jayde smiled and walked over to him. She stuck out her hand.

"Don't worry about it. Lots of people forget about Bulbasaur. But that was still a great battle."

Victor smiled ruefully and shook her hand. "Yeah, you were pretty good… for a rookie."

Throughout the morning, Syn battled several more Pokémon (his winning streak ended with a draw against a Spearow). Jayde bought him a treat from one of the vendors around the periphery of the clearing and laughed as he exclaimed loudly over it. For herself, she ordered a basket of fries and a large soda – for the next half-hour, she sat next to Syn, sipping and snacking contentedly.

At around noon, a voice rang out of the various speakers mounted around the fair, and everyone quieted down for a few moments to listen.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to invite you to let all your Pokémon out for a bit of R&R in our playpen! This will only be open for the next hour, but we have plenty of room for everyone! Enjoy!"

The playpen was an enormous enclosure in the center of the fairgrounds. It contained tall grass, a pool, a heated patch of rocks, and ample space for all sorts of Pokémon. Syn had wanted to go in earlier, but a woman standing next to the entrance had apologetically informed them that it wouldn't be open for a few hours.

All around Jayde, trainers were grinning at the Pokémon already outside, and beams of light from hundreds of Pokéballs flashed in her vision. Syn head-butted her shin, bleating excitedly – she nodded her permission and watched, laughing, as he went racing off beside a young Oddish. They reached the edge of the enclosure and bounded down one of the tunnels, their playful cries echoing into the bright afternoon air, before emerging on the other side a few moments later. Jayde smiled at their light horseplay and turned, craving an ice cre-

She suddenly whipped her head back to the play area, heart beating wildly. She saw nothing different from a few moments ago – Syn and the Oddish were chasing each other through a patch of ferns. Her worry dissolved as quickly as it had bolted into her mind, leaving behind it a simple confusion. Why had she done that? The question was meant to intone Why did I act so stupidly? but instead held a more honest hue. Why had she suddenly jumped? It wasn't as though anything had changed – though that wasn't entirely true, was it? For an instant, on the very edge of her vision – in the corner of her eye – she hadn't seen the playpen. She wasn't sure what she had seen, but it had seemed to her as though some mask had slipped – but even this realization began to slip away, filling her with a calm, satisfied feeling.

It doesn't matter, her mind soothed – the word mask flashed suddenly across her mind again before fading – and she smiled and shook her head, watching Syn and his new friend capering through the small forest of knee-high plants.

She ordered a mint-chocolate-chip cone – extra sprinkles, please.

She seemed to zone-out for the next several minutes – she remembered ordering the ice cream, and then suddenly she was nibbling at the last bit of the cone and wiping her tacky fingers on a napkin, again staring at the playpen with absent and unconscious fascination. Glancing around, she realized vacantly that the noise and laughter had quieted some time ago – the trainers around her had small smiles on their faces, staring in the direction of the enclosure… but not at it.

The silence would have struck her as strange, but she felt just as calm and sleepy. The rays of the noonhour sun were settling lazily around her, and she was happy just to follow Syn's movements as the wind gusted. He and the Oddish had been joined by a petite female Nidoran, and they were playfully tackling one another in the cool grass. Syn's chipper cries drifted towards her ears – but was there a tinge of something else in those cries? Or, rather, behind those cries? Her eyebrows furrowed, but the euphoria began to infect her again, gently sweeping aside any doubts…

And then the mask slipped again, and she saw the shadows behind the screen. The wind gusted yet again, but it could not hide the panic in Syn's insistent shrieks, and the afternoon sun couldn't veil the cold metal and bare earth that had replaced the lovely image of the sleepiness – nor could it blind her to the black aircraft hovering above the fairgrounds, its rotors blurring together and sending rivets of air to lash at the dust.

Her eyes widened and she took two rapid steps toward the steel mesh separating her from Syn, not knowing what to do when she reached it but knowing she must – and suddenly a jolt ran through her legs as her knees collided with the packed earth, and her fingernails dug into her temples and sent wet drips down her cheeks as her reality was consumed by white agony. A scream tore from her throat. Her eyes had closed without her volition, and she forced them open again in spite of the pain, suddenly realizing she was lying in the dirt and looking up at the world. At the top of her vision she could see a corner of the helicopter, and still the trainers around her stood with vacant smiles on their faces, staring at the metal which imprisoned their terrified Pokémon, without reacting. Her mind was again overcome by an agony which blocked all thought and input, and her eyes clenched tightly shut before she drove them open again. Her throat opened as a fresh shriek burst forth, and she saw the few trainers nearest to her raise a hand to their ear, as if brushing away some insect buzzing there.

Syn's screams grew louder as the helicopter began to rise, now hooked to the web which encapsulated all the hundreds of creatures being ripped away from all they knew. She twisted her head, ignoring the hairs being yanked out of her scalp by the force of the movement against the dirt, and her eyes fixed on his ever-smaller shape pressed against the steel – no, not pressed against. Had he been truly pressed against it, he and all the others near the bottom would have been crushed – something was holding each creature just a hair away from the others, some force…

The pain seared in her mind again, but it only seemed to reinforce the realization. They have a Psychic-type… Just who they were she wasn't certain, but the fact that she could glean this piece of information filled her with a furious determination – not quite enough to fight the mental bonds on her body, but enough to loosen their grip. Her thoughts flashed to the promise she and Syn had made to each other in the forest, and she saw in her mind's eye a cereal box arrogantly bearing a Trivia Fact of the Day that she had never seen during her childhood but that still echoed in the same way:

If you think a human can fight against a Psychic attack, you're an idiot!

Below these words was a large smiley-face drawn in thick blue lines.

Fuck that shit, she thought angrily, grimacing as a new bolt of torment fired into her brain – but suddenly she had rolled to her feet and, pushing herself up violently, she fixed on Syn's shape again as the net that so entrapped him began to draw further away from the cliff.

"Syn!"

The syllable tore through the serenity like a gunshot through tissue paper, and, all around her, heads jerked up and eyes jolted open as though their owners had awakened from a deep dream – a dream of falling for so long that it felt like flying, until the bottom suddenly burst into view and the wind swallowed the sounds of their screams.

As if to make up for this, those screams now resounded throughout the clearing, following Jayde as she sprinted for the edge of the cliff and leaped.

She was suddenly filled with the disconnected certainty that she would miss the net and simply fulfill the dream of falling that the others had – only this time there would be no waking up before she hit the bottom. But then her fingers closed on cold metal and wrapped tight, and her feet kicked in empty air for only a moment before finding gaps in the mesh.

Directly in front of her was a large Beedrill, buzzing excitedly at her and wiggling as best it could. She knew it wanted to be freed, but the steel, though thin, was very strong – she doubted even an industrial wire cutter could snap it easily, let alone her tiny pocket knife. She looked up to where the mesh met the helicopter's underside and was grimly motivated by the sight of a possible weakness – the clips which connected the cables.

She started to climb before another realization struck her – she glanced down at the Beedrill and struggled to make herself heard over the rush of wind being blasted by the rotors overhead.

"If this works, all the Pokémon that can fly need to carry the ones who can't! Okay? Understand? Fly them back to the clearing!"

The Bug-type's droning burst out suddenly staccato before it turned and started buzzing insistently to the Pokémon around it. There you go, buddy.

She began climbing again.

The blankets around her were thick and warm, but as her eyes snapped open she felt freezing. The Pidgey-shaped clock next to her bed informed her that it was three o'clock in the morning – that must have been what awakened her, the clock chiming the hour with the cry of the tiny bird Pokémon. She couldn't remember what she had been dreaming about – had it been falling? – but she clutched the twisted blanket to her chest ferociously. All she would have to do to go back to sleep is relax and let go of it. She shivered again and glanced at the clock… hadn't it been a Pidgey a moment ago? It suddenly was again, but she could have sworn that it had just been in the likeness of a Spearow instead.

…Masks…

The word whispered across her mind, but she didn't understand it. She must be tired – that must be it. She should just let go of the blanket – she must have been very restless – it was twisted so tightly it almost felt solid… and very cold.

Masks…

The word came more insistently this time, but she waved it away impatiently. The clock chimed the hour with a sharp cry… wait, hadn't it already done that? Why was it playing the bird call again? And the sound was very loud and grating – strange for a bedside clock. Shouldn't it be softer?

She felt very tired suddenly. She knew that she should just relax and go to sleep, but something (masks) wouldn't stop nagging her. It must be the blanket. She would be so much more comfortable if she just let go of it. Her grip slackened-

MASKS!

Salt filled her mouth as her teeth clamped down, ripping a gash in her tongue that spewed blood. She felt it spill out past her lips, where some of it dribbled down her chin towards the neck of her shirt and some was whipped away in the buffeting wind from the rotors. Her grip hadn't slipped much, but she had slid down several inches on the cold metal cable, and her feet kicked wildly for a few moments until they found purchase again. She reached back up for the clips, using them as a handhold to lever herself up once more.

She could feel the alien presence pressing against her mind and shoved it away as she reached around to her pocket. Her numb fingers fumbled for a moment before closing around a small metal object and pulling it out. She caught the edge of the blade on her teeth to draw it out and then levered it on the cable to fully straighten it. The pain was back now, but she bit down again and pretended it was all from the hole in her tongue – it wasn't so bad if she felt in control of it. Her fingertips found the edge of one of the clips and guided the knife towards it. She felt it catch, slip, and then catch again. She put her weight into pushing the blade down and then levered it carefully towards her.

In one terrible instant she felt the knife bend.

She desperately slid her fingers down to the small gap it had created and pressed them against the blade itself, reinforcing it, before pulling towards her again. Her hand convulsed suddenly in another Psychic assault, and she felt warm drops of red splash onto her face from the wound that opened on her right palm. The knife tilted, but she caught it again before it could dislodge and resumed her work. She glanced down, focusing not on the dangerous – inviting, her mind whispered, warm – blue of the lake so far below but on the faces of the Pokémon through the steel web. She smiled as she caught sight of a Pidgey, shrieking incessantly, near the top.

Thanks, buddy. I owe you one.

She turned back to the clip, and, steeling herself for the worst, gave one last yank downwards.

She knew the blade had snapped even before the hilt slipped out of her numb hand and spun downwards towards that treacherous blue.

But she also knew to grab onto the cable with all her strength as the clip finally gave way and opened a wide gap in the mesh, through which a rush of feathers and screeching Pokémon poured almost immediately.

She saw with relief that all the winged Pokémon – a medley of Pidgey, Spearow, Butterfree, Beedrill, and even one enormous Venomoth – were carrying passengers. A shriek pulled her eyes down to a small purple mouse tumbling out of the net towards the water, but a Spearow dove down and caught the shivering creature before it fell far enough to be hurt by the impact. The convoy of Pokémon flew on. As they reached the cliff, the birds and insects came in low enough for their cargo to dismount and then wheeled around to pick up those that had been left behind. Jayde saw with dismay that Syn had not been in the first round, but a quick glance down as the fliers returned soothed her anxious heart as Syn nabbed a spot on the Venomoth's back (along with a Caterpie and a familiar young Oddish) and began his return to solid ground.

As the last of the fliers left and Jayde allowed herself to take a breath, however, she became aware of movement on the helicopter's underside – a plate of metal was slowly lowering a few feet to her left. A hatch. The bastards in the chopper must have finally realized that their master plan had a few holes. Her amusement at this internal joke was cut short with the small click of a metal hook above her – the hook that was the only thing attaching the steel web to the aircraft.

With a shout ("Fuck!"), she leaped for the shadow between the hatch and whatever lay inside the helicopter just before the tension entirely left the cable. Her right hand, still slippery with blood, slid off of the smooth metal, but her left found purchase enough that she could swing the right up again and catch hold.

A shadow suddenly appeared to her right.

A boot.

Her head snapped up as more shadows appeared on the metal. There were two people in black uniforms standing before her – a man and a woman, maybe in their early twenties. There was some symbol on the front of their shirts, but Jayde's angle didn't allow her to see it properly. The man said nothing, sneering, but Jayde felt saliva spatter against her face as he spit at her. The woman, however, looked dispassionately at the falling mesh for several seconds before turning to Jayde and speaking in a cold voice.

"You little bitch."

Jayde suddenly bit back a scream as the woman's heel came down on her left fingers, which then lost purchase and left her dangling by one hand. She tried desperately to swing it back up, but the woman had already brought her heel down again on Jayde's other hand.

The rush of air around her ears robbed her of the sound, but she felt the jolt of the bones snapping, and she screamed.

She swung her left arm up once more, caught hold of the edge… and slipped.

The helicopter was suddenly growing smaller, and she could more fully see the two shapes standing in the dimly lit cargo area – and she could see the insignia on their fronts. Her mind fixed on it as she fell, and it seared itself in her memory.

A black N surrounded by a flaming ring. The orange flames seemed to flicker like true embers, and they burned on in her eyes even after those eyes had slipped closed without her noticing.

After a few seconds the falling felt like flying, but the blue hurtled ever closer.

Woo, longest chapter yet! This was one of the original plot points I had in mind when I began, and I tried to do it justice. I'm working a few chapters ahead, and I think there may be another few that are this long - I tend not to know how long the chapter's going to be until I actually finish it and check the word count - so hopefully I can keep the story interesting.

I've also nailed down goals for updates, so a new chapter should be up every Monday and Friday evening. I'm going to try to stay a few chapters ahead so that I can actually meet those goals, so we'll play it by ear.

As always, thank you for reading, and feedback is incredibly appreciated! Stay gold, everyone.