Chapter 22

Conner, Unmasked

I woke up, feeling lips pressing against mine as I spat up some liquid that was in my lungs. I coughed, rolling over to my side vomiting as I gagged.

"I got him!" I heard a woman's voice say. "I got him! He's awake!"

I couldn't make out anything, my vision was still impaired, all I could see was flashes of color and a blurry object in front of me. I could feel my glasses were not on my face, which probably had something to do with seeing only fuzzy images.

"Rachel!" I heard a man scream. "His vitals! I think we're losing him!"

"Oh, God." The woman said again as I felt her lips press on mine again, but this time, I felt my body go limp and I saw only black again.

***_-Scene Change-_***

I opened my eyes, seeing a beautiful blue sky above me with white clouds that drifted by almost whimsically. What was going on? I rose up, holding my head as I looked around. I was in a field, a field of sunflowers. "This is so strange." I said, surveying the field. All around me, as far as I could see was sunflowers with Butterfrees floating around them, dancing and singing a beautiful song. But then something else caught my attention, a voice.

"Kyle!" She cried out.

I turned around, looking at a small figure in the distance as she ran towards me. I would know that voice anywhere. It's her! I know it is! "Shonna!" I screamed, raising myself to my feet as I ran towards her. Soon I saw her face clear as I saw the Butterfree that were humming around her. Her beautiful blonde hair blew in the wind, her face, flushed with a smile on it, her eyes, just as blue and beautiful as the first time I laid eyes on her. She ran towards me as I ran towards her. Her sky blue dress blew in the wind as she came closer to me.

"Oh Kyle!" She said as we fell into each other's arms.

"Shonna!" I screamed, tears running down my face. I hugged her tighter and tighter. I held her close, feeling her face brush against mine as she pulled away.

"Kyle…" She said in a hesitant way.

I looked deep into her eyes. "I love you."

"I know you do…" She spoke as she turned away from me. I looked at her dumbfounded and confused, watching a gust of wind come up and blow her hair and dress to one side. She then turned her head around to look at me as a tear ran down her face. "Kyle…" She spoke calmly.

"Yes?" I asked, scared of what she would say.

"If you love me…" She then turned away again. "Then promise me something…"

"Anything, Shonna. Just name it." I walked closer to her as I placed my hand on her shoulder, but it passed straight through, almost like she was a hologram.

"Promise me you won't die. Not yet." She then turned to face me. It was then that I could see her eyes filled with tears. "If you die I will never be able to hear you say that. Please, don't die!"

As soon as she said that I saw everything get black. It was as if a black hole appeared in the field, and everything began to be sucked into it. I saw Shonna began to be pulled away from me. "Shonna!" I screamed, reaching out for her. "Shonna! Please don't go! I love you!"

"Then tell me." She said as she was consumed by the darkness. "Please, tell me."

***_-Scene Change-_***

Articuno's eyes opened wide. She was in the holographic room in the Cinnabar Research Lab. Something's not right. She looked to the people glancing in at her. They looked shocked, confused, but she knew it wasn't for the same reason she was. They were only concerned about her. She could read their minds, and she knew that it was something about the feed she was giving off to those blasted machines.

Something's wrong. She closed her eyes, concentrating hard. Something is happening. Something is… she then found what she was looking for.

Her eyes shot open as she spread her wings. That stupid fool! "BRAaaaa!" I told him! I told him! "Braaa! Braaa! Braaaaa!" She then flapped her wings as she shot a beam of ice through the ceiling, causinga massive hole to appear in the roof.

She flew up into the air, looking around. Where is he, where is he? She then locked on to him, turning her attention to Mount Silver far in the distance. I'm coming Kyle!

***_-Scene Change-_***

My eyes shot open as I rolled over in the cell. "Shonna!" I screamed out. "Shonna! Shonna! Don't leave me! Shonna!" I curled up on the cold rock below me, sobbing as tears ran down my face. "I love you…" It was then that I had realized that I had woken up. I tried to stand, almost falling over by my clothes being drenched in cold water. I looked around. I was in a cell, a stone prison cell. There were no windows in it at all, only a massive door with iron bars over it. I ran over to the door, looking out and seeing two guards in Rocket uniforms standing on either side of me.

"About time you woke up." One of them spat.

"Yeah, I was getting sick of hearing about 'Shonna' or whatever her name was."

"You had better get me out of this cell!" I screamed.

"Or what, shrimp?" The guard to my left said as he kicked my fingers that were latched onto the bars. i flinched, but didn't pull them away as he continued. "What is a little twerp like you going to do?"

"I'll show you." I grit my teeth as I reached for the pokeball around me neck, but it wasn't there. What? I ran my hand over my belt only to find it empty. I then glanced around the cell, Pichu was gone too. "What did you do?" I screamed at them. "Where are my pokemon?"

"Like I'm going to tell you." The guard on the right said as he took a stick that was laying on the ground in his hand, shoving it through the opening in the bars making it strike into my gut.

I fell over, grabbing my stomach as they both laughed.

"Stand down!" I heard a man scream. And when he did, the two guards jumped at attention.

I know that voice. I glanced up seeing a man in a white lab coat with glasses, looking at me on the floor in a heap of wet clothes.

"Conner wants him out of those clothes." He said as he threw me a Rocket uniform through the bars.

It was then that I realized who it was. That is the same guy from earlier. The voice I heard … before my … dream.

"I don't think Conner really said that, Richard." The guard on the right spat.

"Yeah, you don't exactly have a clean record any more, mister 'rebellion'." The one of the left mocked.

"Then why don't I say that you two are part of my rebellion as well." He laughed. "I'm sure Conner would LOVE to hear that."

I looked down at the clothes as they all began to argue. It looked funny for it just to be a pile of clothes, it was lumpy and looked rather… oddly shaped. I picked up the stack of clothes and felt some things inside. One was round, one was making crunching noises and the other felt like some kind of metal. I glanced back up, seeing that Richard was doing a great job at distracting the guards as I looked inside the clothes. A smile came across my face as I saw what it hid. Two pokeballs, and not just any pokeballs, but Arcanine's and Gyarados's pokeballs, a set of keys, and a letter. I unfolded the letter and read it quickly.

Your pokemon are being held in section A-1, AKA Conner's Lab. The keys are for your Pichu, he is down the hall. I'll tell you more once you break out.

Richard

I stuffed the paper in my pocket, glancing up to Richard to let him know I was done. When he saw me he nodded and then shouted at the guards again. "It doesn't matter anyway you grunts! I outrank you in everyway possible!" He then turned to walk away, heading down the dark cave like hall.

"Phft." The left guard spat again. "What a sack of hot air."

"Hot air, huh?" I said with a smile. "You all want hot air, you'll get it."

"I thought I told you to-" One of the guards said, spinning around before gasping as he saw the massive Arcanine standing beside me in my cell.

"Heat Wave!" I screamed, pointing at the door and guards as Arcanine let out a wave of heat that burned melted the bars in front of us, but stopped before hitting the guards. He also blasted some heat back to me, drying my clothes instantly.

"Oh yeah?" One of the guards said. "You think that is going to stop us?"

"Extreme Speed!" I commanded as Arcanine vanished, striking the guards at lighting speed, knocking them out instantly.

"Very nice job" I heard Richard say as he rounded the corner to my cell. "But come, you must hurry! Your pokemon's lives depend on it."

"Right." I nodded, jumping on Arcanine as we ran by him. When we did I reached down, grabbing him by the arm and pulled him up on Arcanine's back with me. "Now, where is Pichu?"

"About five minutes up." He pointed. "You are on the bottom floor, the basement of a mountain, if you will."

"Why did you help me?" I asked, looking back at him.

"I am Richard, head of…" he paused. "Was head of the rebellion before it was shut down."

"So?"

"So? I started a rebellion against Team Rocket." He then looked ahead as Arcanine leaped over people in Rocket uniforms. "I don't know if you noticed, but you are in the Team Rocket headquarters."

"Wow, really?" I said in a sarcastic way. "And here I thought I was in a cosplay-convention."

"Kyle, I need you." Richard said in a serious voice. "That's why my wife and I have risked everything to save you."

"Your wife?" That must have been the person that gave me CPR.

"Yes. We are the last of the resistance, and we want out."

"What do you need me for?" I asked.

"The only way out now is for you to beat Conner. Normally that would be impossible because he implanted his pokemon with artificial intelligence units designed to modify their physical abilities."

"Pokemon trainer terms, please." I said annoyed.

"He put a microchip in them to make them invincible."

"If they are invincible then how do I beat him?"

"Normally you couldn't, but I have disabled the chips." Richard then pointed up ahead. "Down that hall!" Arcanine cut the corner, scrapping his claws on the rocks as we came to a stop. Inside a small metal crate was Pichu, sitting in ball crying.

"Pichu!" I screamed, jumping off Arcanine as I ran over to him.

I saw his ears jump up as he looked at me. His tears went away with a smile that went from cheek to cheek. "Pi! Pi-Chu!"

"Hang on." I said, shoving the key in the little door and turning the lock. As soon as I did Pichu leaped out of the box, hugging me tight as I dropped the box, wrapping my arms around him too. "Oh little bud, I'm so happy you're alright."

"Kyle, you might want to hurry it up." I heard Richard say. I turned around to see at least thirty Rocket guards and grunts running at us down the narrow hall.

"Alright." I ran up to Arcanine, jumping on his back. "Where to next?"

"A-1 is at the top floor." Richard said. "Just keep going up and we will get there."

"Fine by me." I smiled. "Arcanine, make some room."

"Arf!" With that he bolted down the hall, running right at the guards. They all stood strong, not budging. Arcanine went faster and faster, right up to the point where we were about the hit them, then he jumped, placing his paws on the right wall, and running on it over the guards heads. At the end he jumped down, sliding to a stop as he ran up the set of stairs and hallways that lead up.

"So." I asked Richard. "You said you had them disabled? The chips?"

"Yes, but it will only be disabled for an hour." He held onto me tight as Arcanine took a sharp turn. "That was about ten minutes ago. So if you want to make it out of here with your life you have fifty minutes to get to Conner and beat him."

With my… life… The words echoed in my head as I remembered Shonna in the field of sunflowers. "With my life."

"There is something else you need to know." Richard said as we leaped over crates. "Your pokemon were being used to created something, something awful."

"How bad could it be?"

"With your pokemon Conner made a mutated… thing, that has every type, move, and ability that is possible all compressed in one being. Not only that, but he has been feeding it fluid made of Rare Candies 24-7 for the past 2 months."

"Great." I said sarcastically again. "So, I'm just wondering, do you have any good news for me?"

"You're alive." He said seriously. "Conner wants you dead, and he almost had it too, if it wasn't for Rachel."

"Dead?" I asked, looking back to him. "Why does he want me dead?"

"It's a long story."

"Well, we have time." I said, watching as Arcanine blasted a bunch of Rocket pokemon with a Fire Blast as we jumped over them. I think they know we are coming; they are starting to have their pokemon ready before we even get to them.

"Conner wasn't always the leader of Team Rocket. First Giovanni was. After he went to jail then Dr. Conner took his place, but Dr. Conner died in a freak accident in Kanto when a cave fell in on him as he was out trying to capture-"

"An Articuno?" I asked as I started to piece everything together.

"Yes. And since Dr. Conner was dead, the role of Team Rocket leader went to his lunatic son, Conner." He paused, and then continued. "Do you see why he wants you dead? At first he just wanted your pokemon, but when he found out about your Articuno…"

"I know." I said, swallowing the lump was felt in my throat. "I killed him. It was my fault. I killed all those people."

"The cave in was an accident." Richard said, placing his hand on me. "There is no way possible that one person could do that on a whim." He then looked up ahead. "We are here."

I felt Arcanine slide to a stop as I looked up. In front of me was a large iron set of double doors engraved with the Rocked 'R' on it. I hopped off Arcanine as Pichu sat on my shoulder.

"Remember." Richard said. "You have about…" he checked his clock. "You now have thirty minutes. Make every second count."

"Yeah… thanks." I placed my hands on the doors, pushing them open as I walked inside the cold cave room. Inside I saw rows upon rows of liquid filled glass cylinders, all of which held one of my pokemon. I saw Umbreon, floating in the blue liquid. He looked at me with pain in his eyes. I felt my heart tug as all of them began to whine and whimper as they looked at me. Tears began to swell in my eyes as I gasped with every look they gave.

"Wonderful for you to join me." I heard someone say as a light turned on, beaming down over top of his throne. A man in a white mask, the same mask that I saw in Kanto at the Sea Foam Islands the day I got Articuno, sitting on the throne. "Tell me, do you like my handy work, Mr. Gray?"

"You… You…" I grit my teeth as tears ran down my face. My hands were clenched in fists as I grabbed the pokeball from my pocket. "I'll make you pay for what you have done!" I threw out Gyarados. "I will make you pay! Ricky Conner!"

"No, my dear friend." He said as he stood from his throne. "It is I…" He reached for his mask, taking it off and throwing it to the ground as he looked at me with his blood red eyes. "It is I who will make you pay."