Chapter Three

"Clay, look who I found." Silver pushed me forward, and I fell to my knees in front of a wooden desk. There was movement, and I could feel someone hovering above me. I looked up, seeing Clay's familiar smile on his handsome face. Yet I felt more disgusted than I ever had before, and I wanted so badly to reach a hand up and choke the smile off of him.

"Ah, so a single Champion remains! How delightful!" Clay exclaimed in a cheery voice, and I rose to my feet as he backed away from me, sitting on top of his desk and folding his hands. What did he mean by that? A single Champion? Was I really the only one left? Perhaps he just meant from the Indigo Plateau. "Champion Lyra, how good of you to join us this wonderful evening! We all thought you were dead."

I narrowed my eyes and pursed my lips, moving a hand to the hem of my shirt in preparation for the inevitable battle that would soon ensue. Clay's eyes dropped, but the smile didn't disappear off of his face. Instead, he just closed his eyes and tilted his head, looking more ecstatic than ever. Silver, on the other hand, stood closer to me, knowing what I was trying to do. But… why would he even try to stop me?

"What did you do to him, Clay?" I pointed at Silver, reaching under my shirt for a Poké Ball with my other hand. Clicking it off my belt, I clicked the center button, enlarging it and holding it out to Clay. He just continued to smile at me, this time showing his straight white teeth to me, looking particularly amused by the situation. "Tell me."

"You're funny. Have you ever seen movies where the villain tells the hero the plan?" Clay shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes flashing over to Silver. What was he talking about? "Listen. I know I'm the bad guy here. I'm not afraid to admit it. I'm not pretending to be the good guy. I didn't conform to the ideas of society, so that immediately makes me wrong. But I'm not like the bad guys in the movies, Lyra. I'm better than them. I'm not going to tell you my plan because that gives you the advantage that you don't deserve."

"I didn't ask for a plan, I asked for an explanation of what you did to Silver." My face was heating up, and I felt so unbelievably angry. I didn't know that I could hold so much rage within me, but it was bubbling up, and my hands were shaking. "Because there is no way that he would stay here voluntarily." I turned to Silver, dropping my hand with the Poké Ball. "Silver, come on. Don't you know what you're doing? Don't you know who I am?"

"Of course I do. You're Lyra, and I'm turning you in to Team Xana's boss, Clay. Because you're a threat to our organization, and you're shouldn't be here." Silver crossed his arms, nodding at Clay, but I saw something else pass through his eyes. There was something else he wanted to say, and he wasn't saying it.

Clay held out his hands, jumping off his desk and stepping between Silver and I. "This is a touching reunion, but I'm afraid we need to cut it short. Silver, thank you for bringing her to me. You'll be in charge of her holding in the dungeons since you know her so well… just for the extra bit of torture." The smile finally vanished off his face when he turned to me, moving his hands to his hips. "I thought we needed you once, but it turned out we didn't after all. But I think you could prove useful at some point, so I won't kill you yet."

"I'm not doing anything for you. I'm going to destroy you!" I threw my Poké Ball up in the air, and my Tyranitar roared as it materialized on the ground. Clay jumped back, pushing Silver to the side as Tyranitar slashed at the air. "Ty, use Hyper Beam! Destroy this room, starting with that computer right there!"

Tyranitar shot a beam out of its mouth right at the computer, blowing it up and destroying the desk in the process. Chunks of wood exploded around the three of us, and I ducked behind Tyranitar to protect myself. The beam hit the wall, blowing a hole through the plaster and hitting the earth on the other side.

I immediately recognized my mistake. The earthy wall collapsed, and the ceiling of this room began to cave in on top of us. Recalling Tyranitar to her Poké Ball, I covered my head as chunks of the ceiling began to fall. Clay shouted something at Silver, and Silver grabbed my wrist. Then, just as before, we vanished from the room without any warning or Pokémon to guide us. I screamed, unable to do anything else, but when we landed, I just closed my eyes instead.

I tried to ignore how tightly Silver was holding my wrist, his hand slipping down a little closer to my hand. I tried to ignore how much I missed his touch and how much I loved seeing him again, in spite of our horrible circumstances. I tried to ignore how hard my heart was beating against my chest, from fear, I thought, and I brushed it off easily. But it was so difficult to ignore it all. Being here with him, I just couldn't.

"Well, that was stupid," Clay said, popping us behind the two of us, his voice low. He didn't look happy anymore, nor did he look amused. In fact, he just looked pissed off at me. His eyebrows were furrowed, and his dark eyes were narrowed into slits. This was not a common occurrence, and I now realized that he was truly frightening. For such a handsome young man, he seemed to contain all of the evil in the world within him.

I glanced around our new location, finding myself in a room filled with dozens of other people, all standing in a tight layered circle around Silver, Clay, and me. Their faces all held the same stoic expressions, their eyes and heads shielded behind black sunglasses and white helmets. Their white uniforms blinded me, and I realized why they wore those sunglasses as I squinted.

Clay grabbed my wrist on the arm that Silver didn't hold, pulling me towards him with such force that I broke away from Silver's grip. "You're lucky that the data from that computer and the files in my office are all stored in other locations. And you're lucky that we may need you," he hissed at me, lips dangerously close to my face. "Very lucky. Pull a stunt like that again, and you won't live to see the walls come down."

Then, he shoved me towards Silver, but I tumbled down with the force of the push, collapsing in front of his feet. Silver didn't reach down and help me up like I knew he would have in the past, but I saw the flicker of his fingers. There was still something there in him. He still knew who I was, and I would find that person.

"Stand up!" Clay leaned down, yanking on my wrists again and pulling me to my feet. I yelped, unable to stop myself, and Clay just laughed dryly. "Oh, shut up. You're supposed to be the world's strongest Champion, but you're pathetic if you think this hurts. Just wait until we get you training. Then, you'll really have something to cry about, you disgusting girl. If you're screaming now, I can't wait to see you screaming then! Just you wait, Lyra!"

Clay let go of me, crossing his arms and turning to the men in white surrounding us. "This is Champion Lyra, everyone. She'll be in cell three on the first floor of the dungeons, priority chambers. Admin Silver will be in charge of her holding. Your job is to make sure that she doesn't escape. If she does, you all disappear with her."

No one's lips or hands twitched, but I sure as hell felt unbelievably nervous. I was so underprepared for this, and I hadn't even realized. If I thought Team Xana was strong before, they were brutal now, and I stood no chance against them. I really was pathetic. I couldn't even begin to hold my own against them.

"Silver, take her Pokémon and bring them to the PCC," Clay continued, facing Silver now. "That Tyranitar of hers is quite strong. I want to utilize its abilities. Make sure it is put into the system, and make sure it's done quickly. I want to see a report by the end of this week detailing its statistics and the data errors. Do the same for the rest of her Pokémon. I think they've significantly improved from the last time I saw them."

"PCC?" I demanded, and Clay just gave me a cold glare. "I don't know what you're planning on doing to them, but I've taught them to escape when necessary. They won't trust any of you, and if you try to do anything—"

"Wrong." Clay pointed at Silver as I raised an eyebrow. I taught my Pokémon well that they couldn't trust anyone they didn't know. "They'll trust Silver. They know him. The two of you used to be pretty great buddies, didn't you? So, nice try, but they're ours now. Say buh-bye to your precious pets because you won't see them ever again."

My eyes shot to Silver, and I touched the hem of my shirt again. "Silver, please."

I didn't know what to do anymore. If I tried to send out one of my Pokémon again, everyone in the room would just let me die. Even Silver. It just seemed so wrong that all of this was happening and I had no control over any of it. Did I surrender my Pokémon and save myself (at least for the time being)? Or did I just give in now and save no one?

How had all of this happened, anyway? How was Silver standing here, clearly recognizing me these five years later, but having no recollection of our friendship? How could he have gone from vowing to destroy Team Xana one moment to working for them the next? It didn't make sense. He didn't seem like the type of person who would work for them just to save himself. If Ethan died for the cause, Silver would have, too.

I couldn't trust him. Even though he was my friend—or he used to be—I couldn't let that get in the way of how things were now. I couldn't fool myself into thinking that things would return to normal just because we had been friends. He had been with Team Xana for five years—that was enough time to change a person.

He wouldn't save me now.

"Pathetic. The omnipotent Champion of Johto is pleading for help; guess you aren't so strong now, are you?" Clay pursed his lips, watching me as I dropped my hands to my side, powerless. Then, looking around at the men in white, he clapped his hands together. "Get moving now! Put her in the dungeons! Silver, take her Pokémon and start your work for the PCC."

I turned back to Silver, hoping that he wouldn't. I didn't know what the PCC was, but it didn't sound like a good thing. Pokémon Conversion Center. Well, what the hell did that mean? It didn't make any sense to me, but I didn't want to wait and find out. I didn't want any of my Pokémon to find out.

I thought it was a good sign when Silver stepped closer to me, holding out his arms. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he did remember, and maybe he was going to help me. Revenge seemed all the more sweeter when I thought he was dead; perhaps it wasn't such a good idea, after all. Not if I could escape with him.

But then he clapped his hands together in front of my face, and I jumped, surprised by the sudden movement. I took a step backwards in shock, finding myself feeling woozy. Putting a hand to my head, I tried to stable myself, but I could no longer focus on anything. My vision blurring and head pounding, I found myself in a state of vertigo.

Clay blurred in front of me right before I fell to the floor, the world around me going black.

Author's Note: I always put a bit of symbolism into all of my fanfictions (except maybe my earliest ones, which I wrote when I was quite young), and this piece is not an exception. The white outfits of the "men in white" and the black sunglasses are very symbolic pieces of imagery. As are the white walls, the white lab coats of the scientists and the more "normal" clothes of the PCC members from the previous chapter. Perhaps I'll explain my thinking at the end of this fanfiction.

I personally think that Clay is being quite intelligent in not telling Lyra about Team Xana's plans. Have you ever seen "The Incredibles"? Syndrome tells Mr. Incredible all about his plan, and that eventually leads to his demise. If Syndrome hadn't said that he was sending the robot to the city, the Incredibles wouldn't have known. (Well… kind of. I still think Mirage would have helped them, but that's beside the point.)

So, yes, Clay is actually being a smart villain. Good for him! XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.