Chapter 16

Rin didn't say anything. She just sat there staring at Yusei blankly.

"Rin… if you are Ryujin-senpai's sister… why would they give you a Model E though?"

"I…" She was still trying to digest this new information. She knew it shouldn't be true; she shouldn't be so quick to accept. But she had felt the familiarity of her brother's voice. "I don't know. Where's Naruchi? There's some things I should ask him…"

"With his father. I don't know… its been about two hours or so."

"Can the Model E resurrect a Pokemon? Like save one who died?"

"I think so. They cut open my chest, and that would have killed me. So I probably was dead for a period of time."

Rin put together the pieces of the puzzle. She had never remembered anything before, and her vision had blacked out. "So they revived me with the Model E. And erased my memory…" Enough had happened today, so she just sighed, not thinking too much about questioning it.

Yusei moved closer to her, and Rin lay down flat, her feet hanging off the side of the bed. "Thank you…"

"For what?"

"For helping me realize all this stuff."

Yusei rubbed the back of his neck. "It's no problem." He sat up. "Well, ready?"

"Ready?" She blinked. "For what?"

"Surgery."

"What do you mean?"

"They're going to re-equip our Model Es."

"For what?"

"I don't know… Naruchi-"

"Naruchi is going to be gone for a little while." Professor Kasashi walked in through the doorway. His coat trailed behind him. "We're going to recalibrate his Model E."

"Is he going to be alright?" asked Rin nervously.

"He will be fine. They're just a few… upgrades…" The Espeon murmured something under his breath. "It seems we need to take better care of those who we choose in order to make the upgrades… worthwhile. After all… you are all designed for specific purposes."

"What do you mean? Rin may have a Model E, but she's not part of the program. You leave her alone no… nngh…" Yusei suddenly collapsed, and rolled on his side.

"Yusei!" Rin quickly knelt down, and luckily, the Flareon was alright. "Why are you doing this?"

The Espeon chuckled. "It's to help the world progress. With a more powerful race of Pokemon, the world will evolve to fight or become like them. The most powerful of us all will be the only ones to live. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Rin lifted up Yusei's head, and he groaned. "You're crazy… Naruchi may be short tempered, but he's not crazy."

"Leave Yusei alone… he… he doesn't deserve this. He's the gentlest Pokemon I know!" said Rin.

"You know that the ones that seem gentle are often the most dangerous."

"I never hurt anyone…" The Flareon pulled himself to his feet. "But you hurt Naruchi. He's confident now, but think about all the killing he's done here and overseas. I'm sure he still thinks about it." The Flareon paused. "Don't you have any remorse for modifying a Pokemon, let alone your son? Forcing him to go through that psychological trauma?"

"He's the future. He's the smartest of you all and soon… he'll forget emotion completely."

"You're… a monster…" gasped Rin. "You're going to erase his mind?"

The Espeon snapped his fingers. "You catch on quick, Sylveon. Yes. We're in the process of doing it now. The next time you see him, he probably won't remember you. He'll need to be trained to become what we need him to, but it's sort of a reset button if you may. You two probably need that much more, but we'll only use him for now."

He was already walking away. Yusei quickly turned to Rin. "We have to stop them!"

"I…"

"Rin… he's been my best friend. I can't let him become a monster like his father. I don't think I can do this alone."

Rin nodded. "Of course. But is it done yet?"

"It should take a little while longer for them to finish it. We have maybe 15 or so minutes… I hope… If only we had more time… Ryujin was really good at planning, but I don't know about this kind of stuff. What's your moveset?"

"Moonblast, Charm, Psyshock, and Rest."

"Hmm… I know Flare Blitz, Will-O-Wisp, Swagger, and Iron Tail…"

"Maybe moves aren't the way to go. We've got other things at our disposal. You're physically strong, right?"

He looked a little embarrassed. "I guess… that was one of my enhancements."

"We'll use that to our advantage too. But what about our Model Es… they can cripple us at will with it." Rin and Yusei stood there for a few seconds, thinking.

"I've got a plan," he said finally. "You're not going to like it, but we've got to hurry."

"I…" He was already heading down the hall.

She ran after the Flareon.

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The two burst into the room where they were operating on Naruchi's Model E. Naruchi's father was nowhere to be seen.

"Stop! Leave him alone!" shouted Yusei, pushing them away. Most of the researchers fell to the ground, away from the unconscious Jolteon.

"What are you doing?!"

While she didn't want to do it, she knew that using one of her fairy abilities would distract them long enough. Yusei had pleaded with her. She used Charm, and suddenly, a bunch of creeps were after her. "Hurry up Yusei! These perverts are after me!" She felt a hand touch her leg, and she quickly kicked it away. "Get off."

Yusei typed some things into the computer, then quickly unplugged the cord connecting the Model E, and lifted the unconscious Naruchi off the table.

"Come on, Rin! Let's get out of here!"

Rin half expected an alarm to go on or something, but nothing happened as they ran down along the mirrored hallway. Of course, standing in front of the door would be none other than the crazed Espeon. "Well well…" He pressed a button. "You first, Sylveon."

Rin expected to feel the immense pain, but it never came. Yusei had stepped in front of her and block it, though his body shook in pain. He dropped the Jolteon, though he seemed okay. "R-Rin… attack him." His voice sounded very weak, and Rin knew what to do.

"Eat a Moonblast, you maniac!" she screamed, venting her frustration at everything that she had learned. His eyes were wide as it hit him in the face, and he dropped the switch, which cracked on the floor.

He fell to the ground, bleeding from the blast of energy. Much to her surprise, he stood up. "Huh, I should expect nothing less from one of my experiments." He wiped some blood off his face, and adjusted his lab coat. "But I've been changing myself as well." He waved his hand and all three of them were launched backwards.

"Urf…" Rin held her stomach. "That hurt…"

Naruchi had seemed to regain consciousness, and unsteadily hobbled to his feet. The three of them stood there, facing the bloody Espeon. "You should all just give in. You're the future of the world, and I have no intent to let you go easy."

"My dad has heavy regenerative properties." The Jolteon's eyes were tired, and he was clutching one of his arms. "You're going to need some sort of direct blade to stop him. We don't have anything right now."

"I…" Rin suddenly remembered. The night with the mirrors. "Yusei… the mirrors… remember how we all agreed it was just a hallucination?"

"Yeah… I…" He paused. "We all agreed not to talk about it… so you're saying…"

"Let's pass through the mirror. It's probably our best shot."

"I can't feel my arm…" murmured Naruchi, who looked very sleepy now. "Where's my eyepiece…?"

Yusei picked him up. "We'll pass through where his dad won't see us." They turned around a corner.

As if on cue, the mirror shimmered. "I don't really see much choice," said Rin, and she slowly pushed into the mirror.

A few moments later, Yusei and Naruchi passed through. "So we're either hallucinating again, or…"

"The mirror again… interesting…" Naruchi was looking even worse.

"We should rest here," said Yusei. "He's lost some blood, and he'll need some time to recover."

Rin looked at the Jolteon, whose chest was leaking blood. Luckily, Yusei had picked up his shirt, but she wasn't too sure about how water worked in this new alternate reality. "Uh…"

"We'll just let him rest," said Yusei. "He is designed to regenerate slowly. He'll probably be okay within a few hours."

"You're a good friend to him," said Rin.

"Yeah… well, he's always been there with me, though I hadn't seen him for a few years before. I always looked up to him before, and I know about what he was forced to do. It's respect more than anything."

She chuckled. "Not Yaoi?"

"Hey, I'm straight. I know that much."

"Oh really? How do you know?"

He looked at her, then said, "I think you're cute… is that enough?"

She blinked, then realized what he had said. "Oh…"

He raised his hands up. "I-I'm sorry! That wasn't appropriate…"

"No, it's fine. I always thought I'd know what to say in this situation, but… well, I don't." She blushed. "You've always been a nice guy… more friendly than Ryujin and not a pervert like Kousei or Naruchi. So… I guess you're cute too?"

"Okay." The two sat there in awkward silence. "Umm…" Yusei picked up a small pebble on the ground, and began tossing it. "How has all this knowledge come to you? Have you accepted it?"

She nodded. "So much has happened… I've really had no choice but to accept it. And there is other proof as well."

"I see…" The Flareon looked away. "I need some time to cool off." He stood up. "My chest is a little sore from the Model E. Can you look after Naruchi?"

"Alright." Once the Flareon walked off, Rin began to think. So he does like me. I thought he had a thing for me a little while back, but I never expected him to muster up the courage to say it. She sat next to Naruchi, who was scabbing over where they had changed the Model E. I wonder… what do I say next though? What's the next step? He told me he likes me… I sort of like him… what now? She huffed. "Come on. You're a fairy. You're supposed to be good at this kind of stuff."

"I don't know what you're muttering, but it's annoying me," grumbled Naruchi.

"Gah! You heard what I was saying?"

"Something about fairies. Whatever."

"You sure recovered quick."

"Mph. I still feel terrible though. Can you get me something to drink, Rin?"

"I'll go look around. Just stay here, okay?"

"What does that mean?" he said dryly. "It's not like I'm feeling like running around."

"It's good to see you're okay. Just let me get some water." She realized that they had appeared in the same laboratory, but it was pretty much completely deserted now. "Naruchi, we're in the mirror world. Is the water here… uh, safe to drink?"

He groaned. "I'm really thirsty though. Did you have your heart ripped out?"

She huffed. "Whatever. Give me a second to get some water."

So… they're in the mirror world now. What about Kousei, Keira, Minato, and Saki? We'll see. Next should be Ryujin though. Please read and review!