"I'm quite disappointed, you know?"

Helene's voice came suddenly, and it was soft; I could barely hear it above my sniffling tears and infrequent gasps for breath. I sniffed one last time and forced myself to look up through a haze of misty tears. My eyes went straight to Helene, who was sitting idly on a chair only a few metres away from me. Her legs were crossed, her arms were firmly folded and she was wearing a look of extreme disdain as she watched me.

"Di-disappointed?" I hiccupped, finding my voice wavered and caught as I tried to speak.

"Yes," she said coldly with a jerk of her shoulders. "I did not expect you to be so… accepting of everything I've just told you," she was jeering now. "From what Nathan told me of you, I thought you would struggle. I thought you would fight back! Try and fight me off and do whatever you could to stop me. But I'm just disappointed now. You seemed so promising. You seemed like a girl with so much spirit."

I flinched at the use of that word. For some reason, I couldn't stand to hear it…

"Where is that spirit? Where is that spark? Where is that fire in your belly?!" she demanded, leaning further and further forward in the chair with every question she expelled forth.

"W… why do you care?!" I spat. "You're one of the bad guys! Surely you shouldn't care about any of that? Surely you should want me to sit still and behave myself so I can't try and stop you?!"

"While that may be true," Helene said with a callous smile. "I like to see women with a little bit of spark and fire! Women that can stand up for themselves and make their own way in life. Women who do not need to depend on men to save them. Women like me!" she said with a flourish.

I winced again, her words hitting me harder than I expected them to. "I… I don't need men to save me…" I murmured defiantly, but at the same time, images of Elliot and Dad's faces swept through my mind. I tried to banish them from my thoughts, but I couldn't…

"Really?" she inquired, raising one eyebrow in a calculating manner. "Then why do you not struggle?" she then narrowed her eyes. "If you're waiting for daddy or your boyfriend to come and save you, you're wasting your time. Nathan is keeping them busy."

"D…doing what?" I cried out.

"Nothing that you need to concern yourself with," she brushed me off coolly.

I grunted angrily. "You… you're really…!" I broke off, thinking of no word to describe her.

"Really what?" she inquired, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward even further in her chair. "Cruel? Evil? Please," she said with a short laugh, before her voice hardened slightly. "I've heard all that before. Words mean nothing. Actions matter."

Frustrated and absolutely clueless as to what to do, all I could do was clench my eyes tightly shut.

"I am disappointed, Sienna Volbeda." Helene repeated herself. "Your father is perhaps one of the strongest Pokemon trainers I have ever met, and he burns with a determination as strong as the tail-fire of a Charizard. And I know you are strong. You took down Nathan and the people of Team Quantum. You, a little fifteen year old girl, thwarted the aims of an evil madman with the legendary Pokemon of the world in his command. Your achievements, it pains me to admit, are nothing short of… remarkable. I both admired your tenacity and skill and also found myself quite frightened by it. I worried about facing someone like you if you, at only fifteen, had achieved so much already."

My eyes opened again and my mouth swung open in astonishment.

"But now I see that I was wrong," she then said coldly. "You disappoint me. You don't fight. You don't struggle. You don't even protest. You seemed so promising; a young woman able to fight and stand up for herself. But really… really you're just a little girl who's still waiting and hoping for Daddy to save you, aren't you?"

I took in a sharp intake of breath, flinching away from her cutting words and feeling tears prick at the corner of my eyes again. "I… I…" I floundered helplessly.

Helene shook her head before getting to her feet and walking slowly towards me. Every iota of my body ached to run and get away, but the fierce grip of the Serperior held me tight. "I guess it doesn't matter if you struggle or not," she said, rather standoffishly. "You wouldn't even make it out the door even if you did get away from my Serperior." She said, her fingers suddenly pulling at the side of the white overcoat, revealing a belt of six gleaming Pokeballs. "I'm not just a scientist, you know? I'm also a highly accomplished Pokemon trainer. And let's not forget, your Pokemon can't fight."

At her words, something suddenly struck me. "W…wait!" I cried out, my voice sounding alarmingly pitchy and sharp. "There's… there's something I don't understand…"

"Something?" Helene frowned. "My dear girl, there appears to be a lot you do not understand…"

I ignored her jibe. "Your Pokemon! And Nathan's Pokemon! How… how come they're not affected like our Pokemon are?"

Helene smirked. "Oh, I was beginning to wonder how long it would take you to realise that. Well, the electrical impulse of the technology I created can actually be manipulated slightly so that it does not affect Pokemon with particular brain structure and brain waves. I was able to adapt it so that it does not affect the Pokemon that he and I use. Unfortunately, that created a few… how do you say… shortcomings?"

"Sh…shortcomings?"

Helene then looked a little alarmed, like she had revealed something she hadn't meant to, but after a moment of silence a wry grin once again took over her face. "Well, yes. But it doesn't matter. You won't be hanging around long enough to find out what they are."

"What do you mean?" I asked shakily.

"Well, Nathan is upstairs taking care of your father and your friends, so as soon as he's done with that, I'll be delivering you to him."

She spoke so casually and easily, like she was describing her day to a close friend that it sent a tremor of fear shuddering through me. "T…taking care…?" I whispered hoarsely.

"Although knowing Nathan, we could very well be waiting a while…" Helene said with a snort. "He never thinks! And then he talks and talks and talks when he should be taking action! He has always been a talker! Even while we were in Team Plasma, he was always talking!"

Part of me was tempted to tell her that she was doing the exact same, just jabbering on incessantly, but the part of my brain still holding onto common sense told me to bite my tongue. Instead, the mention of Team Plasma had stirred a memory in me. I remembered something my father had told me, some time ago. "Team Plasma…? Oh yeah… you and Nathan were in Team Plasma together, weren't you?"

"Indeed," Helene said with a nod. "Nathan entered Team Plasma rather foolishly, if you ask me. He was young, impressionable and power-hungry. He spent many of his younger years fascinated by the actions and work of Team Rocket in Kanto and Johto. He idolised them even. He felt if he could become part of such a team it would allow him the stepping stone he needed for his own desires. So when he heard of Team Plasma, he signed up immediately. But Nathan was rash and foolish. He did not know what Team Plasma stood for when he joined their ranks as a lowly grunt. Liberation of Pokemon was nothing to him. He desired only to control Pokemon. But what choice did he have but to stay? Team Plasma allowed him the perfect cover to continue his work and his research and develop his skills amongst other skilled trainers. And of course, that was when he met me."

I swallowed deeply.

"I told you before, I also came to Team Plasma with little care for the liberation of Pokemon that everyone seemed to care so greatly for. Team Plasma allowed me the access to laboratories and equipment that I had lost after being… dismissed… from my position as professor in Castelia University." She said the word 'dismissed' with a wry smile, and I sensed some kind of story lurking behind it. "Team Plasma were very accommodating. They allowed me free reign of their laboratories to research what I liked in exchange for my services as a Pokemon trainer and whatever research they requested of me. Now our time with Team Plasma was relatively uneventful until we met each other. I… I had never met a man so passionate and determined about anything, until I met Nathan."

A strange softness encompassed Helene's voice and I couldn't help but let out a snort. Helene either didn't notice it or did an excellent job of pretending she hadn't, and carried on talking.

"He was an unpredictable man." She stated, rather bluntly. "And he had a temper that could snap at any given moment. Our relationship was… passionate, but unstable. We irritated and despised each other as much as we admired each other. I admired his strength and determination, but he was close-minded and arrogant, with barely two brain cells to rub together. Sometimes it felt like he could only see things that were dangling right in front of his face. And I know he resented my superior intelligence, yet I know some part of him admired it also. We had a very… surreal relationship… I have never known a man like him. He is such an enigma. It… it appears to me that we spent all of our time in either passion or hatred. We never had a middle ground. And as our relationship fluctuated, we both also found ourselves at the mercy of the two main figures of Team Plasma."

I breathed out in slight annoyance, finding myself wondering how she could stand to talk for so long when she had just criticised Nathan for talking so much…

"Time went on and I began to experiment further, delving into territories that have fascinated me for years but which are seen as… cruel and unethical among other scientists." She snorted as she said those words, clearly displeased at the connotations they held. "I had at my disposal hundreds of Pokemon that Team Plasma took in. It wasn't too hard to take Pokemon here and there, breed them and raise the eggs to use for my own means."

I didn't like where this was going. I wanted to open my mouth and tell her to stop, suddenly afraid of what she was going to say, but I couldn't.

"When Team Plasma learned of the experiments I began conducting, it was needless to say, they weren't pleased."

"Wh…why?" I found myself asking, my voice sounding thin and reedy in the emptiness of the tiny room I was in. Even as I spoke, the Serperior that was still holding me captive hissed softly and menacingly, its long forked tongue slithering inquisitively from its jaws. "What… what did you do?"

A cool smile slipped over Helene's face. "I wanted to find out what areas of the brain were involved with sensory perception."

"S…sensory perception?"

"Yes. Sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing. I'm sure you're familiar with them in their layman's terms," she said, rather impatiently. "I wanted to know what areas of the brain controlled them. So, how would you imagine I would find that out?"

"I… I don't know…" I admitted.

"Well, you take away the senses and then look to see which areas of the brain were underdeveloped as a result," Helene said casually, while a stab of terror punctuated my heart. "So, I took several newborn Rattata and reared them without any access to sensory stimuli. They spent the entire of their lives in tiny cages, totally in darkness and silence, and fed only through tubes. They had no physical contact with humans or contact with any other Pokemon. The results were… staggering…"

I felt sick. A cold, clammy, nauseous feeling suddenly washed over me and shook me right to my core. My head was suddenly crammed full of thoughts of those poor baby Rattata, torn from their mother the minute they were born, thrown into captivity and reared in nothing but a tiny dark room, with no light, no sound and no contact with anything. How lonely and frightened and terrified those poor Pokemon must have felt. I felt horrible as the gravity of what Helene had did sunk in. I was utterly devastated and disgusted, sour bile slowly rising in my throat. "How… how could you do things like that?" I choked out.

"It's for the good of science," Helene said with a casual shrug. "Sometimes we must take the risk. Sometimes we must do things that others consider unethical in order to really, truly learn and advance."

"But those Pokemon were innocent!" I cried.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few!" Helene's voice suddenly hardened as she got to her feet, the chair scraping sharply across the floor. "Let me ask you something, Sienna Volbeda! What would happen if these so-called unethical experiments ended up doing some good? What if the results of an unethical experiment gave us an insight into something we didn't know? What if those results helped someone? Can you comprehend that? What if it opened a whole new field of research? What if those results helped save someone?! I ask you, what is more unethical? To hurt a few people now or to let many more suffer in the future?!"

"But you don't even care about helping people!" I screeched.

"I used to," Helene said, her voice frigidly cold before she sat back down again and crossed her legs. She tossed her hair again and snorted in an exasperated manner. "After Team Plasma found out what I was doing, I was expelled from their ranks in disgrace. They wanted nothing more to do with me. And no sooner had they shown me the door, I was arrested for crimes of cruelty to Pokemon."

"Good," I spat.

"But it didn't end there, you know? Even while I was in prison, I thought of Nathan. Kept up with what he was doing. Heard about all the things he did after he left Team Plasma. He left not long after I did, you know?"

"He… he did?"

"Yes. Nathan grew unstable the longer he had to stay in Team Plasma. His desire for power couldn't be satisfied within Team Plasma even when he was promoted further and further up the ranks. He rebelled against the authority, argued with the others he worked with and tried to bully the grunts into doing what he wanted. He canvassed the young impressionable ones, trying to convince them to leave Team Plasma and join him in an attempt to find the legendary Pokemon. His efforts went largely ignored. I hear that he was finally isolated as being a danger to Team Plasma and was also expelled in disgrace."

I took a sharp intake of breath.

"Once I heard about his failed attempts, I saw an opportunity. A way for both of us to achieve what we wanted. I had to take that chance."

"But… but like this…?" I whispered hoarsely. "What… what do you even want, Helene?"

Helene smiled. "It's simple. I want recognition; the credit I am due for all my achievements in science and psychology. I want my name and reputation restored. And of course, I want the power."

"You're just like Nathan…" I said in disbelief. "All… all you care about is power…"

"I am nothing like Nathan," Helene said coolly, getting to her feet again and slowly beginning to walk forward up to me, her heels steadily clacking off the polished floor.

"Don't kid yourself! You sound just like him," I snapped. "You're like the two heads of a Doduo. You're exactly like each other. It doesn't matter what you want this power for, but you still want it!"

"You shouldn't tar me with the same brush as Nathan. He is a fool."

"A fool?" I repeated indignantly. "But I thought you and he had a relationship."

"Our relationship was… complicated," Helene said thickly. "There… there was no emotional connection. It was… physical. Purely physical." She said with a short laugh that I swore was tinged with bitterness. "He used me as he needed me. And when we were not being physical, we spent much of our time arguing and…" she broke off, grunting angrily, her eyebrows fiercely knotted together.

"You loved him, didn't you?"

"I… I beg your pardon?"

"You said you didn't have an emotional connection, but I'll bet that wasn't through lack of your trying," I said. "I think you loved him, but he didn't see you and your relationship as anything more than just physical. I think the only reason you're doing this is because you want him back!"

"Liar!" Helene suddenly spat.

"Touched a nerve, have I?" I said with a smirk. "What a shame. You come in here shooting your mouth off about being a strong woman and not needing a man, but you're just some insecure girl looking for the approval of a man!"

All of a sudden, I felt force collide sharply with my cheek. Pain exploded through the entire right side of my face and I let out a yelp as my head reeled back from the force. Stunned, I blinked up at Helene, my face burning, to see her looking down furiously at me, her hand still raised. I whimpered slightly, wracked by pain, but some part of me still feeling wickedly triumphant that I had her figured out. I had found a possible weak spot. And without my Pokemon, I needed to take advantage of every little weak spot I could find.

Helene turned on her heel haughtily to sit back down and a few moments of tense silence passed between us. My breathing rose sharply in my chest as my cheek slowly grew numb and the pain eventually slipped away. I didn't date to look at her for some time.

Eventually she let out an angered sigh, directing her eyes skywards. "Nathan's taking too long!"

"What...what's he doing?" I asked, my voice catching suddenly.

"I told you," Helene said, her eyes flashing dangerously. "He's taking care of your father and your little friends. We can't have them intervening."

"Taking care?" I shrieked, suddenly hysterical. "What's he doing to them?!"

A smug look passed over her face as Helene opened her mouth to answer, but she was suddenly cut off by a frantic fanfare of beeps that seemed to pierce the tense atmosphere around us like a burst balloon. I watched in horror as she fished around in the pocket of her long overcoat and pulled out a sleek, shiny state-of-the-art mobile phone. She pressed a button and spoke a very calm "Yes?" into the mouthpiece.

But no sooner had the call connected than I heard an almighty racket blast out into the muffled silence. I heard the roars of Pokemon and the noises of crashes, bangs and angry yells burst out from the other end of the phone. The Seperior that was holding me captive suddenly let out a manic hiss and spat viciously as the deafening noise rang out. Then, almost incomprehensible above the racket from the other end of the phone, I heard a furious voice.

"Helene! Get up here now!"

"Nathan...?" I whispered hoarsely, instantly recognising the distinct accent.

Helene looked stunned, her mouth swinging open in surprise. She looked like she was about to speak, but she was immediately cut off by Nathan's voice again, letting out a roar of "We have a problem! I need you here now! Bring the girl!"

And with that, the phone was abruptly cut off. Helene stood there dumbly for only a minute before she reacted with lightning quick speed, clearing the space from her chair towards the Serperior in one single leap. Before I knew what was happening, the Serperior had suddenly been recalled back into the Pokeball. My legs buckled at suddenly having to support my own weight again and I crashed uselessly to the ground, letting out a pained squeak as I did so. Winded and in pain, I couldn't even react as Helene's hand was suddenly gripping around my upper arm and I was hoisted to my feet. She proved deceptively strong, dragging me like I was nothing more than a child's ragdoll out of the door and up a flight of steep, dark stairs.

As I stumbled helplessly under Helene's strong grip and emerged into a brightly lit room, the noises of banging and crashing hit my ears and a sudden explosion ripped through a room adjoining to us. I looked around in fright, my legs still like jelly at being forced into use so quickly, trying to pinpoint exactly where I was. I vaguely recognised the hallway I was standing in, but I had no time to process it as Helene's grip suddenly tightened viciously and she let out a haggard snarl.

"Men! If you want something done, do it yourself!" she hissed, pulling out a Pokeball from behind her white overcoat. She didn't throw it but kept a tight grip on it, before continuing to pull me towards the door at the opposite end of the room. The numb, prickly feeling in my legs was slowly beginning to subside, but despite how much I tried to wrestle out of her grip, she held fast and wouldn't let me go.

Eventually, she pulled me through the door and we emerged into one of the big dojo training rooms, normally reserved for intense training or meditation. I let out a gasp in sheer horror as I realised it was destroyed; all the furniture was ripped away and lying in pieces and huge gaping holes adorned the walls and ceilings. In the centre, backing away slightly from an advancing Golem, an Onix and a Quagsire, was Nathan. Dad, Scott and a very nervous looking Bailey stood beside their Pokemon while Nathan looked flummoxed as the Pokemon advanced. But no sooner had the door behind us banged shut, Nathan turned around to us, a look of fury quickly spreading across his face.

"Helene! What have you done?!"

"What!?" she cried, sounding irked.

"It doesn't work!"

"What doesn't work!?"

While she was distracted, I took my chance and eventually wrenched my arm out of Helene's grasp. She yelled out in surprise as I got myself free. No sooner was I free; a voice suddenly rose up like the bellow of a Rhydon.

It was Dad.

"Sienna! Not all the Pokemon are affected!"

"Dammit!" I heard Helene suddenly scream. "Why did you let them release their Pokemon, Nathan?!" she cried, suddenly hooking out two more Pokeballs to go with the one she was already holding and throwing them, revealing the Seperior and two more Pokemon that I had never seen before. She called them "Golurk" and "Cryogonal" and they were so frighteningly strange and abnormal compared to most Pokemon that I had ever seen that I was instantly intimidated and frightened by them.

As the Serperior and the two unfamiliar Pokemon suddenly swept towards Dad, Bailey and Scott, for a moment, a strange sense of calmness and clarity took over me as the significance of what Dad had just yelled to me just sunk in.

"Not all the Pokemon are affected."

I found a tremble descend all over my body at this information. Not every Pokemon was affected by Helene's technology! I remembered her mentioning some 'shortcomings' with her technology while she had been talking to me earlier… Could this be them? Could it be that certain Pokemon just weren't affected by the electrical signals? I studied the three Pokemon briefly. Quagsire, Golem and Onix… All stocky, hefty, Ground types. It would make sense if Pokemon like that weren't affected. Did I have any Pokemon that fitted that description?

But before I could even grab a Pokeball, I screamed as another Pokemon suddenly rose up in front of me. This one was huge and looked horrifyingly like a set of living gears, spinning erratically and making a horrible grinding noise as it approached me, a vague gormless face adorning one of the steely, churning gears. I screamed as the Pokemon suddenly dove at me, bodily tackling me to the ground. I hit the ground a lot softer than I had anticipated, but a sudden crackle of tingling electricity suddenly coursed through my body, making every single limb in my body seize up painfully. I let out a howl of pain as I felt the all-too-familiar paralysis set in. As I lay there, unable to do no more than twitch and groan in pain, the unfamiliar Pokemon disappeared from my sight. I lay there, the electricity sparking through what felt like every cell in my body, before an almighty bang ricocheted through the ground and the pained cries of an Onix came to my ears.

Then I heard laughter.

And then, I felt pain again. Unbearable pain. It blasted down my veins, coursing through every fibre of my being and I felt like my body was literally being torn apart from the inside out. Despite the paralysis, my body writhed and I let out a scream that seemed to go on forever. But as much as I screamed, the pain did not cease…

But then, above everything, I heard a voice. Above even the excruciating, throbbing pain that made me feel like my whole body had been lit on fire, above the sounds of my own screaming, the sounds of the crashing, banging, and sounds of battle, above the pained shrieks of Pokemon, I heard a voice.

A voice I never thought I'd hear again.

It spoke just one word.

"Sienna."

Author's Note

Hey guys, another chapter for you all!

I don't have many excuses for not getting this out a little earlier, except for me being a little lazy…

Well, we're winding down now and the end of Free Spirits is within my grasp! I can't believe it…

Oh yeah, to anyone wondering, all the brain related research is pretty much my area of interest. I'm a psychology student, so I'm fascinated by all of it. And to anyone a little bit confused as to it all, there's still quite a bit of explaining to do in regard to how Helene's technology works. You know me, I never explain anything in just one chapter.

Thanks so much to my readers and reviewers! I don't have time (again, sorry…) to do personal replies, but thanks to Shadow-Wolf-Hikaru, MasterFreezeman, TCoBlackRoses, ArchXDeath, WarriorSwift and Shadow Serenity 57.

Until next time, guys!

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