This next chapter's written from 3rd person - Ash's perspective (so to speak...).

Because of his present status as minion, a few things in the story are going to have different names, even if you guys already know who is being talked about.

Chapter 2 - Reporting In

Ash gave a nod to the three Lake Spirits. "I was about to do the same myself."

Dark Uxie wordlessly removed his tails from the back of the brown-haired girl's neck, where he had applied a large force of Psychic energy a few seconds ago. Then the Pokemon floated ahead and continued down the corridor. Dark Mesprit and Dark Azelf followed after him, carrying the unconscious other-worlder between them.

Ash followed after them, his face shifting to a blank slate. He was so intent on getting to the master of operations that he didn't even notice a pair of wide, shocked eyes follow him down the corridor.

When the Red Chain-bound Trainer turned an invisible corner and disappeared out of sight, the pair of eyes snapped back into a blank stare at the figure across from her. Both figures shared a quick exchange full of emotion before settling back into the blank state of the others around them.

Ash ended up taking another warp panel at the end of the corridor, taking him and the Lake Spirits to a hall that had steel doors on either side, each with a different symbol in different colors. The hall was filled with noise, despite the strong metal, and the cries of the Pokemon would have made normal Trainers cringe.

The brown-haired girl would have most certainly started shouting in protest if she had still been awake.

As Ash walked by a door with a yellow lightning bolt, something on the other side let out a loud scream. It wouldn't have sounded like anything in particular if the hearer couldn't understand Pokemon, but some did know.

Ash certainly knew. The Pokemon was screaming his name with a vengeance.

"Ash! Break loose! I know you can!"

Ash stopped suddenly and gripped his chest as he doubled over and gritted his teeth.

The Lake Spirits turned and looked back at him. The girl didn't fall from the lack of attention, however.

Ash noticed them looking and glared up at them. "I'm fine," he hissed as he stood upright. "Let's keep moving."

He walked past the Lake Spirits and onto a glowing, dark blue panel. The three Legendary Pokemon followed after him with the girl.

When Ash stepped off the panel's other end, he walked over to stand in front of a desk and stood ramrod straight with his arms at his sides. The Lake Spirits appeared not long after and moved to hover next to the warp panel.

The man behind the desk gave Ash an indifferent look. "Report."

"We've got the last kid who came through," Ash stated. He didn't bother to look back at the three Pokemon that were holding the girl. "She broke Dark Giratina minutes after I found her."

The figure behind the desk suddenly looked interested. "And the Pokemon she had used?"

"A Rayquaza." Ash gave a sneer. "She was willing to sacrifice herself for it. Can you believe that?"

"I can." The figure behind the desk turned his head and looked out over the dark area in front of the tower through a large window. His blue eyes scanned the area in front of the mountains' bases, but didn't see the large green dragon. "And you let them get away, you foolish boy."

Ash shrugged, but his face showed that he was oddly nervous - especially since it actually showed in his red eyes. "I was going to let them get a head start so I could hunt them down, that's all."

"Boy, you have to get them when you get the chance, not so that you can gain the thrill of the hunt," the man snapped.

Ash bowed his head. "Sorry, Master. It won't happen again."

Ash's master scoffed. "See to it." He looked at the Lake Spirits. "Bring her to me."

The Darkened Legendaries wordlessly came forward with the girl, coming to a stop next to Ash. The man behind the desk got up and walked over to the girl in order to inspect her more closely.

Ash's gaze moved with the man, watching him as he observed the girl's face and her clothing. For a second, his eyes flickered to brown, but they returned to red just as quickly.

"She may look like the one I am searching for, but this isn't her," Master growled, stepping away from the girl. "And every single child has already been taken from that place. She must have learned of me and found a way to avoid me."

"Then your enemy would come, wouldn't she?" Ash pointed out. "You said yourself that she wouldn't want anyone to suffer."

"The child has connections," the Master replied. "I doubt that she would leave this world undefended." He turned and looked out the window again, his gaze going over the three sphere-like items that hung from the walls like trophies.

Well, one of them wasn't going to be of much use to him anymore, considering that the corresponding Pokemon had left his sight.

"Take her down to the Chamber," the Master stated without looking over at Ash. "She can still be of some use to us, at least."

Ash bowed, then turned and started for the warp panel as the Lake Spirits followed, but then a loud screech was heard from somewhere outside of the building.

A blast of cold air came in through the ventilation system - which had been previously cycling lukewarm air - and, at the same time, the window the Master had been looking through completely shattered.

A wall of snow rammed into the room, covering the floor and swirling around Ash and the Lake Spirits in small tornados. The girl dropped into the snow and lay on her side.

Ash paused as the snow enveloped him. He felt something wrenching at his heart from somewhere outside of the building.

The boy heard something crack, and instantly the snow died. A red dust moved across his vision before it dissipated in a shower of sparks.

Red eyes flickered brown again for just a moment, and they moved when Ash heard something - no, three someones - yawn almost instantly.

Mesprit stretched out her limbs as the dark magenta part of her head flickered back to a more friendly pinkish. "Thanks, Arctic! We really needed that."

Azelf also stretched, bending back as though aiming to get a nice crack from his back. His dark purple head flashed back to a bright blue. "Nice touch, breaking the window like that." He looked over at Uxie and grinned. "You want to do your thing?"

Uxie's tails moved around to the front of his head and brushed a clump of snow off the red jewel on his forehead while his green head lightened into a friendly yellow. "No. Now is not the right time for it. Deserve it though he does, there are other things to attend to."

Below them, the teenager started to stir. As she started to get up on her hands and knees and notice the man who was watching everything with a blank look on his face, Mesprit flew down and touched the girl lightly on the shoulder.

"Sleep," the Legendary murmured. "You will need the rest."

The girl collapsed into the snow again without saying a word.

Azelf snorted, still looking at Uxie. "Well, if you won't use it on him, we can at least get the kid out of here." He flew down to the girl and grabbed her shirt.

Ash got into a defensive stance, red crystals starting to form on his arms. "Don't you dare. You've got nothing from stopping me changing you back."

Azelf looked over at the boy's arms, his eyes widening. The Legendary quickly backed away from the girl and exchanged glances with Mesprit.

Uxie placed his paws on his fellow Lake Spirits' shoulders. "There is another way."

There was a bright flash, and the three were gone.

Ash dropped his arms, and the red crystals disappeared into dust.

The Master looked at the place the three Legendaries had been for a moment longer, then looked over at Ash. "There was a Legendary here, and you didn't sense it?" The man's voice was somewhat strained from use of emotion.

"My focus was on my objective, Master," came Ash's reply. He looked down and nudged the brown-haired girl with a shoe, but she didn't move. "What should I do with her?"

"Do what I told you previous to the attack: take her down to the Chamber." The Master turned and looked at the shattered opening that had once been a window. "I doubt that the Legendary who did this is still nearby. Neither are the Pokemon that belong to this girl."

He turned and looked back at Ash. "No matter. There is a chance we can use her to track them later."

Ash gave a nod and started to reach down towards the girl, but paused.

A moment later, the boy stiffened, and his arms slammed against his sides as his eyes violently changed from red to brown - an angry brown.

At the same time, rings of red crystals formed around the boy's chest, waist, and legs, keeping his arms and legs in place.

A snarl formed on Ash's face as he glared at the man he was forced to call Master. "You've got to stop! You're tearing our world apart!"

"It's my world, boy, not yours," the man sneered in reply.

"It's the Pokemon's world, too! What makes you think they're enjoying this as much as you are, huh?! I know Giratina wasn't - and Pikachu -"

"You will NOT speak that creature's name in my presence!"

"Pikachu is HATING it!" Ash roared, ignoring the man's order. "EVERYBODY IS!"

"You are going to pay for your insolence, boy," the man growled, starting forwards.

"No. You are." Ash raised his voice again, looking out the window. "I'M STEERING CLEAR! YOU CAN HAVE HIM WHENEVER YOU WANT!"

The man turned sharply in order to see who Ash might have been talking to, but a bright red flash caught his attention before he had even fully turned around.

Glancing back, he saw that the red crystals were gone, and that Ash was calmly picking up the girl and throwing her over his shoulder.

Red eyes looked over at the Master with a blank stare, the last dredges of anger disappearing from Ash's face.

Without another word spoken between them, Ash turned and walked over to the warp panel and out of sight.

The Master glared after the boy, then turned and grabbed a phone-like device off his desk, not particularly caring about the cold glass shards. Pressing a number, he promptly held it to his ear.

I need a crew to replace my window, and five others to search the area. The Legendary who attacked me may not have gotten far."

::Understood, sir. We're moving out::

Time Break

"The Master wants her conformed pronto?"

Ash gave an annoyed sigh. "I believe that was implied?" He sounded like he was annoyed with the man in the lab coat in front of him. "Now are you going to take this kid or not?"

The scientist swallowed and carefully grabbed the girl and moved her off Ash's shoulder. If he was at all surprised that the teenager had managed to carry his burden into his working quarters, he didn't show it, even when he had difficulty carrying the girl on his shoulder.

"It may not work," the scientist warned as he started to turn to face the largest machine in the room. "It's been overheating because of repeated usage on those two -"

"Just do it," Ash replied shortly. "I already have someone who could take over as an overseer for the girl."

The scientist's green eyes widened, and he turned around fully and walked over to a conveyor belt that had metal bands strapped to it. He dropped the girl on the belt with a thud, then strapped the metal bands over her arms, legs, and waist. "Maybe this will last a little longer, if the effect stays on our other subjects."

"Does it look like I care?" Ash replied. "I've been telling you guys that you should just use me on them and save you the trouble."

"The effect it had on you is...questionable at best." The scientist moved to a collection of controls mounted to the side of an alien-looking machine in the middle of the conveyor belt, completely covering the moving device from view.

"We're lucky this is working with our upgrades," he muttered under his breath. "It's good machinery, despite being made by a Pokemon..."

"You don't need to tell me," Ash snapped, his eyes flashing a deeper red. "I was there, you idiot. Remember?"

The scientist let out a sigh. "So they tell me." He pulled a lever, and the machine started up with a rickety hum that deepened to a roar. The conveyor belt began moving with a start, then more smoothly.

As the girl passed the scientist, she grumbled something in her sleep. He didn't catch what she had said, but took it to mean that she might be waking up soon.

As soon as the subject was out of sight, the scientist pressed a blinking red button on the control panel, then turned to look at Ash. "There."

"Not quite."

Ash turned his head upon hearing the familiar telepathic voice. His red eyes zoomed in on a blue head peering up from the other side of the machine, grinning like some madman.

"What are you still doing here?" Ash demanded, glaring at the Pokemon. "Your friend had the better idea and left."

Azelf chuckled. "You have no idea as what he says is a good idea, Ash of Pallet Town." He ducked down for a moment, and the scientist and Ash heard something slam. "There. Time to go." The Legendary Pokemon cackled, then disappeared in the flash of a Teleport.

And then everything that could go wrong went wrong.

There was a loud, spluttering cough from the machine, and all the buttons and levers on the control panel were suddenly pressed down at once. The entire thing started to smoke and shudder before sparks stated to fly.

The scientist took a step back. "Uh oh." He looked over at Ash. "We need to get a couple mechanics now."

"You go," Ash replied shortly. "I'm going to make sure the kid is still of some use." He dashed for the smoking machine while the scientist ran in the opposite direction.

When Ash reached the machine's exit end, he peered into the smoking opening.

When his red eyes didn't find the head of the girl, he cursed under his breath and jumped onto the conveyor belt - which was still moving, although much more slowly than it was supposed to. The minionized Trainer [a/n: Hah! New word!] got under his hands and knees and slipped into the exit seconds before his red eyes started to glow eerily as he looked for the girl they had sent in.

Ash ran into her almost immediately, and saw that the girl was still intact, even though there were exposed sparking wires above her and it looked like have of the braces had already been torn to shreds. Moving quickly in the smoky environment, he easily tore the remaining two braces off her wrist and waist before dragging the girl out by her arms. He managed to get out, coughing for air, just as the conveyor belt died.

Ash stumbled off the belt as two men wearing tool belts dashed in, followed by the scientist, who was looking much more nervous than usual. And behind him...

...was the Master.

Ash dropped the girl on the tile floor and stood fully upright, ignoring the mechanics who were starting to work on the machine and try to find the source of the smoke.

"What happened?" the Master demanded, looking between the scientist and Ash.

"Sabotage," the scientist replied quickly, looking terrified. "It happened right in front of our eyes."

"Explain." Master looked at Ash.

"Azelf decided to enact a bit of revenge," Ash replied stiffly. "He made himself known after the girl had been out through." He looked down at the girl lying at his feet. "He might have prevented her from conforming properly. Or at all." His red gaze returned to the Master. "You know I can remedy that."

The Master inclined his head, then looked down at the girl at Ash's feet.

"Sir!" one of the mechanics ran over and stood next to Ash, then respectfully took a step away from the teenager. "The wiring was cut and rewired in several places, and there was a strange energy signature that matched the gemstones."

The Master's eyes narrowed. "Any trace of the Pokemon?"

"None, sir."

Ash's blank face morphed into something of a meaningful look, but whatever the teen was implying was ignored.

"Take the girl to the Nurse Joy squadron," the Master ordered, looking over at Ash. "Then go out to the PokeBall Graveyard and start tracking those Pokemon you let escape."

The meaningful look morphed into a blank expression. "Understood." He reached down and grabbed the girl again before throwing her up over one shoulder.

As Ash walked out of the Chamber, the Master turned to face the scientist and the mechanics. "Disconnect the Conformer and have it scrapped. If we cannot find her, then she must come to us."

Ash's face became a sinister grin. "And she most certainly will."

Oooh, boy. Something's definitely up with Ash, there. And you can all guess who the "Master" guy is, right? I don't think I made that too hard.