Chapter Seven

"Hey," Silver greeted bitterly when I showed up with Clay, whose arm he had looped around mine as we walked over to him. I couldn't help but note that Silver was staring at our linked arms, looking slightly annoyed; I hoped that was a good sign, but I knew not to get overly excited about it. Any sign at any time could be false, especially if he was basically under Clay's control. Or maybe he was just annoyed that I had run off. I didn't know.

"You heard the message. No more of this… slipping information in when you think you can. Just get her to work and get started on the remainder of the plan." Clay unhooked his arm from mine, brushing his black hair out of his eyes. "Have fun, Champion Lyra. Enjoy it while you can. And don't try to stop us. You're just going to lose."

I stuck my tongue out at him, if only because I felt utterly unprepared to do anything else but that, and he laughed, patting me on the head. "You're cute. I can see why so many people liked you." He patted my cheek next. "I kind of like you, too." Clay shoved a hand in his pocket, waving at me with his free one just before he vanished. I was quite upset that I didn't get to punch him in the face before he left. It would have been satisfying.

"Gross," a different voice muttered, and I looked over to see a tall brunette walking over to us. Her cheek bones seemed to poke out of her face, and her eyes looked sunken in. I couldn't guess how old she was, but probably looked older than she was. Even her clothes looked old-fashioned and grimy, but she had a certain radiance about her that told me that she wasn't just some grunt. This had to be Lindsey.

Silver, I noticed, appeared a tad bothered by Lindsey's presence. If he had looked annoyed with Clay, he didn't seem to like Lindsey much more. It was a strange thing; if Silver didn't like these people, then why did he listen? But, I realized, Pokémon were only evil if their masters were. And Silver "belonged" to Clay, didn't he?

"Champion Lyra of Johto: the last Champion standing." Lindsey walked closer to me, circling me like a Pokémon examining its meal before diving into it. She raised a finger, dragging her nail across my cheek in her final circle, and I stood still, cringing only slightly. "You're so young. You're Silver's age. And you're the Champion that Clay wants? How could you possibly be stronger than any of the others?"

"She's alive, isn't she?" Silver snapped, and Lindsey turned to him, her eyes flashing dangerously. Considering the Admins of the Science Labs got along so well, it was surprising that Lindsey and Silver didn't like each other very much. Allison and Henry just seemed so different from the PCC Admins; it was so easy to tell why no one wanted to work in the PCC.

Lindsey finally looked back at me, laughing shortly. "For now." Then, crossing her arms, she glanced over at the large machine in the back of the room. "So, we're not allowed to tell her anything, are we? That's fine. Just get her started on the PCC central control, and make sure she doesn't screw it up. Got it, Silver?" She smiled, a terrible, frightening smile, and walked away, leaving Silver and I alone together.

As soon as Lindsey was out of sight, I grabbed hold of Silver's arms, staring at him with pleading eyes. "Silver, can't you fight this? You're a human, not a Pokémon. You have self-control, you have a mind, and you have the ability to make choices for yourself!" Nothing seemed to resonate with him; his eyes were vacant, his annoyance from earlier gone. "You don't belong to Clay! Just because he's strong does not mean he gets you. You're strong, too. Silver, you're strong, too!"

He just shook his head, yanking himself out of my grip and grabbing my wrist instead. Dragging me towards the side of the large machine, he didn't show any signs of caring. How could Clay have done all of this? How could he kill a Pokémon and alter a human being forever? Was this not temporary? Was this going to be Silver the rest of his life?

"Silver, I'll fix you! I'll fix you! But you can't listen to Clay," I begged, but he just kept walking. Why didn't he care? Didn't he care earlier? Didn't he want me to fix this? Wasn't he the one pleading for me to keep trying? Now that I was, why was this something he could so easily ignore? Couldn't he read my thoughts? Couldn't he see that this was true? "What did he say to you now?"

"You'll be working here." Silver gestured to a little alcove in the wall, with a single computer sitting on a desk. Other than what appeared to be a rotting wooden chair, the desk, and the computer, there didn't seem to be any other furniture in the room; not that there was really space for anything else, but compared to the Science Labs, this was trashy.

Seeing that I wasn't getting through to Silver, I gave up, figuring I would try again later when I actually had him alone. I knew he would be the one to bring me back to my cell, and he usually spent a little bit of time with me before disappearing to who-knew-where. It was better to interrogate him where no one else could hear.

"Silver, get her working!" Lindsey snapped, and the two of us glanced back out from the alcove, seeing Lindsey standing with her bony hands on her bony hips. I narrowed my eyes at her, but before I could see the look she gave back, Silver grabbed my shoulder and pushed me down into the rotting chair. It creaked beneath my weight, which—honestly—wasn't that much, and I feared it would break.

Silver reached across in front of me, typing something into the computer. With a few strokes, the computer's screen flashed, and a list of Pokémon came up in front of me with their listed abilities: Butterfree (Compoundeyes), Arcanine (Flash Fire), Flareon (Guts), Scizor (Swarm), Kingdra (Swift Swim), Salamence (Intimidate), Froslass (Snow Cloak), Luxray (Rivalry), and Sazandora (Levitate). All final form, all with their own abilities, all powerful Pokémon. But was this computer just documentation?

"Press enter. That's all you have to do. Then, make sure the check mark comes up next to all of those names," Silver told me, pointing to the screen. I stared at the enter button, not bothering to follow my eyes to the screen. If all I had to do was press enter, then it surely could not be just documentation. No. This was worse.

I shook my head, refusing to help them. "No. I won't press any buttons. I am not going to help Team Xana accomplish their goals. I'm not going to help them do what everyone else knows is wrong. I don't know what that enter key does, but I am not going to press it. Everything here is a trick. Clay is not going to get me."

"Silver, why isn't she working?" Lindsey asked in a sing-song voice, coming into the small alcove. Her hands were still on her hips, but she didn't look annoyed; she looked amused, like she was expecting me to fight back. "Lyra, press the enter key. It isn't very hard. This is the easiest job here at the PCC."

I crossed my arms, sitting firm in the chair as it creaked again. "No. Especially when I have no idea what this machine does."

Lindsey smiled, making a little humming noise. "I thought you might ask. You are the Champion, and they never jump into anything without a reason… or a plan." She winked at me, and I winced. She knew I had no plan now, that my original plan had failed, and she was making fun of me. "Okay, dear Lyra, watch and learn."

She hit the enter key, and the names on the screen flashed. A whirring noise erupted throughout the whole PCC, and I stared out at the main machine in the center of the room. Lindsey walked over to it, and I followed; it only took me a moment to notice the Poké Balls traveling along a black conveyor belt into the belly of the machine. And I knew immediately by Lindsey's smug face and Silver's sick expression that this was the main action of the PCC.

And now that was my job. I was the one who was supposed to kill the Pokémon.

"No!" I screamed, running forward and pushing people out of the way to get to the conveyor belt. I threw myself at it, grabbing as many of the spread out Poké Balls as I could. How could they even ask me to do something so horrible? Especially when I still had the choice. What was Clay planning? What was he doing?

I heard Lindsey's voice, but I didn't hesitate. I reached for more Poké Balls, determined to set them free. "Silver, stop her."

Once I had them all in my grip, I turned back around. They were all strong Pokémon in the Poké Balls, and I was Champion. I could use them to my advantage. Screw what Clay said about trying to fight back. I wasn't a coward.

"Silver! Do it now!"

I cradled all of the Poké Balls in my left arm, reaching with my right hand to grab the first one I could.

"Silver!"

My head began to ache so terribly, a migraine pulsing through my whole body. No one stopped working, no one watched as I fell to my knees, dropping all of the Poké Balls except the one I held in my hand. I cried out, squeezing my eyes shut in pain, wishing that it would just stop. I couldn't move, and I couldn't feel anything but the pain.

Then, it stopped, and I collapsed onto my stomach on the ground. This was Silver's power. This was his doing—a Psychic-type attack. How could he so easily attack me? Under the control of Clay or not, how could he hurt me? How could he lay so much trust in a person he knew he shouldn't trust, but he couldn't trust me?

I looked at him, involuntary teardrops falling from my eyes. It hurt in more way than one, and I truly realized that I needed to fix him again. I needed to bring him back to the way he was five years ago—back to the boy I remembered. This wasn't him, and it never was. He wasn't the one hurting me. Clay was.

Before I could even push myself up, Lindsey walked over, stepping on my hand that still held one Poké Ball. I grimaced, biting my lip to keep myself from screaming out in pain as my bones crunched. Finally, giving up, I slid the Poké Ball away, and she took her foot off my hand as she swooped down to pick the Ball up. I pushed myself up to my feet, cradling my hand in my other.

Collecting all nine of the Poké Balls, she put them back on the conveyor belt and came back over to me with a serious expression. Then, without even waiting a moment as she stopped in front of me, she slapped me right across the face. No one else paid any attention to this, but I saw Silver wince out of the corner of my eye. And that wince was worth it.

He reacted. He reacted to someone else hurting me, but he had no reaction to his own violence…

"Don't do that again. Get back over to that computer, and if I have to break your other hand, fine. I will. But you are going to send those Pokémon through," Lindsey snapped, and I rubbed my hand, feeling its swollenness. It was so numb now that I couldn't even feel it, and I wondered if maybe it actually was broken.

"No."

"I swear, if you don't—"

"Lyra!" Silver yelled, and Lindsey and I both stared at him. He looked just as surprised as I felt at his outburst, as though he was shocked that my name had come from him. Lindsey raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms with a bemused expression on her face. "Just… hit the enter key. Just do it. Clay won't be happy if you don't, and you don't really want to mess with him."

He was concerned! He was worried that I was going to get hurt! He was sacrificing the lives of Pokémon for me, and while that was slightly disconcerting, I was so happy that he was subtly saying that he still cared. Because, subtle or not, that was exactly what he was saying. I didn't even know if he realized it, but I certainly did.

Then, grabbing my wrist with her bony fingers, Lindsey pulled me back into the alcove and pushed me down into the seat. "Hit the enter key. Now."

"No."

"Now!"

I looked at Silver, and though his eyes were vacant, I knew he wanted me to press it, too. Not because he was part of Team Xana, and not because this was part of some horrible plan—because of me.

"No!"

Lindsey growled—actually growled—and I wondered if I was going too far in evoking her Garchomp persona. "Hit the key! Hit it now, or else I'll send in your Pokémon in these Pokémon's place—and I'll hit the enter key for you! Hit it, or your Pokémon die!"

I hit the enter key way too fast, not even hesitating when she threatened my Pokémon. And the second I hit the key, I pulled my hand back, covering my mouth, aghast that I had just done that. How could I have just done that? How could I have placed value on my own Pokémon more than anybody else's?

But I just sat there this time, watching the conveyor belt move. Because I didn't want it to be my Pokémon.

"Good girl. You're done for today," Lindsey said, a smug smile back on her face. And before I could say or do anything, Silver grabbed my wrist and Teleported us back to my cell.

Author's Note: Lindsey is horrible. She is just a mean lady. Clay is cruel, and he's certainly evil, but he doesn't go to the extents that Lindsey does. You'll find out more about her later. Actually, you'll find out all the Admins' back stories (and Clay's) soon.

Question: Do you think this needs to be rated mature? I'm honestly not sure. There was a little violence in this chapter, but teenagers should theoretically be able to handle this, right? I dunno. What do you think?

Also, since I won't update before Christmas, to those of you who celebrate the holiday, Happy Christmas! To those of you who don't, have a good break! :) The next chapter will probably be up a week from today (as well as an update on New Year's).

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.