REVIEW CORNER:

-Pokegamma54: I'm really glad you liked the choice of music for the last chapter. Believe me, half of the struggle came with getting certain parts of the song to line up with certain parts of the battle. Even then I had to factor in how fast someone could be reading it and adjust accordingly. I simply could not keep the readers waiting another week or two for me to get a second song in the same chapter so I'm putting the second half in this one.

-Sega Nesquik: I appreciate the review and, yes, I had been wanting to make chapter 22 something memorable despite my tendency to get repetative with battle scenes. This chapter 23 will be more focused on who Sir Preston Walcott is, Why he created P.A.I.R., as well as a few tidbits on just how freaking insane the man is.

-mockstevenh: Once again the cons of doing all of this on an iPad are revealed...the thing can't keep up with my fingers and it tries to finish words on its own. As always however, thank you for the continuous reviewing of my story! *pets the shiny Umbreon*

POKESPEECH/THOUGHTS:

"Normal Speech"

'Normal Telepathy/Normal Thoughts'

'Pokemon Telepathy/Pokemon Thoughts'

'Subconscious'

"Pokespeech/Abilities"

WARNINGS: (Listed below)

-Graphic Violence

-Explicit Language

-Dark Themes

Viridian City- Outside of the remains of the Viridian City Gym (Approximately fifteen minutes after Moltres' death.)

Michael's POV

'This man...so he is the one behind the Hell Pokemon?'

My gaze never left that of the one named Sir Preston Walcott. This was the one responsible for ordering the cold-blooded murders of Professor Langston, his wife and all of their pokemon.

He was the same man who captured untold numbers of pokemon and conducted horrifying experiments on them in an effort to turn them into mindless and rage-filled machines of war.

The same man who ordered a squad of his Agents to capture a legendary pokemon for the sole purpose of using it as another tool in this unfathomable game, the goal of which was merely "To prove that humans are the superior race."

'Humans are the ones in control! All Pokemon live to serve humans and the Master!'

The words of my beloved while she was possessed by the same hellish corruption at work in Moltres and, more than likely, every other pokemon unfortunate enough to be caught in P.A.I.R.'s web of entropy resounded in my head, causing my body to quiver and shake with barely suppressed rage.

'Jessi...'

I began grinding my teeth together at the thought of those murderous hands grabbing Jessica and putting her in a glass prison, injecting her with whatever foul substances were required to break a pokemons mind. I felt rage course through my very being thinking of the moment I saw my beloveds' eyes absent from her form, as though they had been gouged out.

'You...'

I knew this was dangerous, to let my emotions take control of me again, but I felt as though I had to do something here and now. This man, the same one responsible for all of the pain and despair Jessica, Blade, Amber and myself went through. Not just us, either, but also Gary, Ash and those pokemon who never had the chance to form a bond. That simple act alone would have been more than sufficent to prevent such a crime from taking place.

"You took the lives of innocent pokemon as well as the lives of innocent people; people who could have made a difference in this world. You killed the man who could have saved humans from Pokerus, then you killed his wife and their pokemon..."

I could feel those chilling eyes piercing through me, those same soulless orbs that saw pokemon only as specimens and tools in the grand scheme of whatever plan he had going. It was as though he was sizing me up as yet another potential experiment.

It made me sick to my stomach. It made me want to kill this son of a bitch right here and now. I wanted to slit his throat and watch him bleed to death while I chopped off his fingers and toes one by one and then spit in his face before he died...

...I wanted to but I had to know, above all else...

"Why do all this? Why kill innocent pokemon and attempt to make them into things they are not meant to be?"

Walcott looked at me as though I was insane but what he said to me made ME question HIS sanity.

"Did you just ask me WHY I'm doing this? A POKEMON asking ME of all people why I am doing this?" I watched as Walcott took out a blood red pokeball and smashed it on then ground, immediately Moltres' corpse began to break apart until nothing but bones were left. "I am the one who controls ALL pokemon! They are nothing more than my playthings as I prove how silly and benign human emotions are to these...pathetic creatures..."

"For so-called 'pathetic creatures' You sure seem to rely on them an awful lot, Blaze..."

The P.A.I.R. leader looked at the source of the voice and saw a very pissed off Ash Ketchum. "Pardon me, boy? I believe I told you to address me as Master Blaze...as for 'needing' pokemon I am merely utilizing the tools at my disposal. Besides, it is so much cheaper experimenting on lab rats then it is on actual human beings."

Misty was the next to speak up and she had a look of utter disgust and disdain. "You Sick BASTARD! What gives you the right to treat pokemon this way!? Pokemon have-"

"Feelings? That is what you were going to say wasn't it, dear Waterflower?" Walcott looked at the enraged red head as though she were a fly on the wall. "Tck...you truly are blind from this worlds teachings...you have let them brainwash you into thinking these animals care one single iota about human beings and are even capable of bonding with us."

Gary had turned a blind eye to everything Walcott was saying; he wasn't buying any of his story as a legitimate reason for doing what he did, and he made the leader of P.A.I.R. aware of this.

"You think I'm just going to believe that your whole reasoning for corrupting pokemon, murdering innocent humans and attempting to use a legendary pokemon to wipe out Kanto lied solely with getting even? Pokemon ARE living and breathing creatures. Pokemon ARE our partners in battle, as well as our partners in life. We rely on pokemon and they rely yo on humans."

Gary pointed over to Ash, who was shielding Latias with his body.

"Pokemon are perfectly capable of having the same emotions humans feel and experience, they are also more than capable of forming friendships and bonds with their human trainers and partners!" Gary's voice was rising as he went on, clearly irate that this whole mess was created by a man who thought he was above pokemon and only sought to use them as tools.

"Will you get to the point, Oak? I have a busy schedule to keep up with and a base full of incompetent rats to purge before I can continue my operations on Hell Pokemon. Which reminds me...do you see this pokeball?" Walcott pulled out a regular pokeball that was oozing blood everywhere yet did not ever fall off of the surface.

Jessica and Latias and myself saw it and shared the same reaction- Rage.

Ash, Gary, Misty and all the Shadows and elite members of the Kanto Frontier Brains looked at the disgusting object with trepidation and concern.

"What is the purpose of that ball? Why do I smell hundreds of different types of pokemon blood seeping from that pokeball?"

Latias called into question the origin of that blood-soaked ball and Walcott immediately turned to face the legendary Eon Dragon like a hawk who had just found live prey.

"A fine question, Latias! You will be demonstrating how it works and your mate..." The red-haired man turned towards Ash and gave him a glare full of disgust. "...that boy will learn that the world doesn't take kindly to those who fornicate with the likes of BEASTS!"

Walcott suddenly chucked the bleeding pokeball at the red and white legendary in an attempt t capture her. I had to act fast so, using a burst of Agility, I pushed Latias out of the path of the ball and watched as it sailed just over my right shoulder. When then ball made contact with the ground it burst into hundreds of sharp fragments, each one sent in a random direction.

One of he fragments was picked up by Gary and looked at closely. What I heard the BoE leader say left me slack jawed.

"Son of a bitch! Those fragments are machines! Nano machines! What the hell would such complicated technology be doing inside a pokeball, Walcott!? What is the purpose of these chips?"

I watched Walcott stand on his heels and rub his temple in an annoyed manner. From what he had told us thus far he was everything you could find in a sociopathic freak, from being incredibly homicidal to having a genuine disdain for anything involving pokemon. The simple fact that he had blood shards and machines installed in a pokeball that were then absorbed into a pokemons body...

It was beyond sociopathic or insane, it was borderline genocidal and the work of a madman.

"Those nano machines are sent directly into a pokemons brain where they begin to shut down unnecessary processes such as eating, cognitive thinking and, of course, pointless sympathy. I need servants, ones who will follow my orders without delay and crush those whom I deem illogical and a waste of space on this planet. There are silly obstacles such as regret and compassion, these are some of the many sacrifices that must be made for my research."

Professor Oak made his voice heard next and he was just as irate as Misty.

"You're a fool, you do realize? Having pokemon go about their lives without the capability to perceive positive emotions or to know the difference between right and wrong only jeapoardizes the whole of their being! What in Arceus' name would possess you to pursue such madness?"

Walcott merely gave Professor Oak an annoyed stare. The Pallet Town legend wasn't done questioning him however.

"Did I hear you correctly when you said pokemon require no food or nourishment? That is a most idiotic kind of thinking! Pokemon need food just as humans require it in order to survive! By depriving pokemon of natural emotion, as well as refusing them any kind of nourishment, you are only limiting what they can do! That is not even counting the simple fact that what you are doing is anything but 'research.'

The P.A.I.R. leader, once again, gave the aging Professor a look that was easily interpreted as 'get on with it already.'

"I have studied pokemon all my life and not once did I ever encounter someone so screwed up in the head as you. Your actions alone make Team Rocket look like a group of charitable saints!"

"You must be the famed Professor Oak of Pallet Town. I could smell your stench even before you opened your mouth and began flapping those gums of yours. I'm not surprised that you would spew out the same nonsense as the rest of the rabble I've had the misfortune of running into. Honestly, Oak, I would have pegged you as somewhat smarter than what you carry yourself on as being. Surely you must be tired from endlessly studying these beasts of burden! All your research has done is brainwash the masses into thinking pokemon are actually worth sending the youth of our generation out to do what you were too lazy to try yourself!"

Professor Oak had a look that could bend steel but Walcott kept talking.

"Oh, and another thing! How could you, a so-called know-it-all on all things dealing with pokemon, fail to prevent your own collapse as a human being? You've devoted your entire life serving as entertainment fodder for these creatures and not once did you ever stop to think that you were being used by pokemon! You see the, as curious and fascinating things when the fact of the matter is this- Pokemon are BELOW human beings! WE do not serve them, nor do we NEED them for anything outside of making human's lives better manageable! We do NOT befriend them, THEY serve US!"

Walcott pulled out a small-caliber pistol and aimed it at the Professors head. His piercing icy blue gaze had the look of a man on the edge of oblivion and I had to act quickly t prevent a second great mind from being slain by this man.

"POKEMON HAVE MORE RIGHTS THAN THE HUMANS WHO CAPTURE THEM! HUMAN BEINGS ARE SLOWLY BEING CRUSHED UNDER THEIE OPPRESSIVE REIGN AND IF WE DO NOTHING ABOUT IT THEN IT IS HUMANS WHO WILL BECOME THE GUINEA PIGS!"

Walcott pulled back the safety on the weapon and I made my move.

I tried to anyway.

I looked down in horror as one of the blood-soaked nano machines had wrapped some sort of dark energy around my ankles, effectively rooting me in place and, without my Mega-Evolution, leaving me unable to make an attempt for the gun in Walcotts hand.

Walcott pulled the trigger and a deafening shot rang out across the city.

I closed my eyes expecting to find Professor Oaks body twitching on the ground, a bullet hole made in the center of his skull when I opened them.

Instead I heard a metal object hit the hard, unforgiving earth. A scream of pain erupted...from Walcott.

I opened my eyes and saw Walcott without his pistol and clutching his right hand in severe pain. There was copious amounts of blood dripping from a hole in the center of his hand and he looked to be biting his lip so hard he caused it to split open.

I turned to the left, towards the charred tree line, and saw a new figure standing amidst the remains of Viridian Forest. They were holding a sniper rifle and there was a large trail of hot smoke flowing from the barrel of the gun.

"Sorry I took so long to get here, Master Oak."

Everyone turned to Gary, including the Shadows that were gathered. Even Ruby and Sabrina looked perplexed as to who this woman was.

"Well, I'll critique your timing later...Shadow Yule."