Hey, guys - here's the second chapter I've posted this week, so if you haven't seen what's going on in chapter 6, I suggest you head back there now.

And now, we're back with Khrista, and if the title's any indication, things may turn out to be bad for her...or good and hilarious.

You never know.

Chapter 7 - Tests

Khrista - who wasn't able to sleep and had taken to doing different stretching exercises in her cell - paused in the middle of a runner's position when a loud pounding noise resounded on the steel door.

She quickly scrambled to her feet as it opened, revealing Charon and a blond-haired woman in what looked like a black Galactic uniform.

"Time to test your physical strengths," Charon stated, grinning. He stepped aside, allowing the woman to step into the cell and grab Khrista by the arm.

The woman gained a disgusted look when her hand grabbed Khrista's arm. "What have you been doing in here, kid?"

Khrista's startled face soured upon hearing the woman's voice. She sounded oddly familiar...

"Can't a girl be left to stretch out in peace?" Khrista grumbled. She tried to shake off the woman's grip, but it tightened instead.

"You're coming along whether you like it or not," the woman muttered.

She dragged Khrista out of her cell, then watched as Charon closed the door behind her and started down the hall. The two girls followed after him - the younger of the two looking just as disgruntled as she was curious at where they were going.

Khrista didn't even bother to keep track of the turns and warp panels they went over before she found herself in what looked like a gym-workout place of sorts. There were a couple humans - wearing the Galactic uniform, Khrista duly noted - doing something with barbells in one corner of the gym, which was taken up on one half of the room with what looked like a giant track.

However, no Pokemon were anywhere in sight.

Khrista scowled and tried to slip her arm out of the woman's grip. This time, she managed to succeed, and she crossed her arms over her chest as she looked around.

"What are you going to try to have me do?" she asked, looking over at Charon with what she hoped was an annoyed look. "Because whatever it is, I won't do it."

"Such false bravado," Charon remarked, seeing right through Khrista's charade. "I did not expect that from you." While the girl deflated and looked downright tired and nervous at whatever it was the scientist had planned, he continued, "We are going to send you through a series of tests to see how physically fit you are."

Khrista frowned, then gave the room another look around. It didn't look like much of a place for physical tests...

"Direct her towards the track," Charon stated, turning to look at the blond woman. "I want to see how well she runs. If we are going to be using any of them in the field, she is going to need to be able to keep up with some of the fastest Pokemon have."

Khrista was nudged forward by the woman from behind, and as she stumbled forward a couple steps, she scowled and asked snarkily, "Do you mean like Giratina?"

There was a loud smack as Khrista's head was hit forward with a hand across the back of her head.

She turned in order to look at the blond woman who was standing behind her, and when Khrista caught sight of the strange fire in the woman's eyes, she knew who it was.

Cassidy of Team Rocket. Well, this place was certainly full of surprises.

"You utter that name again, and you're dead," Cassidy hissed.

"Leave her be," Charon replied. He had pulled out a clipboard again and wasn't looking up from something he was writing. "The child will learn eventually.

"Boss, she's pulled enough stunts to win her indefinite time in the Box - J-4 didn't -"

"Does it look like I care?" Charon asked coldly.

Cassidy shut up. A moment later, Khrista found herself nudged forward again, and she grudgingly complied, not even bothering to reach up and try to nurse her newfound headache.

As soon as Khrista reached the track, she turned and looked back at Cassidy - who was standing a few feet away from her - and Charon, who hadn't looked up from his clipboard yet.

"Now what, Knucklehead?" Khrista called, falling into an old habit from when she played the video games with her neighbors.

Charon looked up and frowned severely at Khrista, pushing the spectacles on his nose further up. "You are going to run until you drop or until I say so."

Cassidy gave a rather dry smirk and gave Charon a nod before moving her gaze to Khrista and crossing her arms over her chest, a snide look coming over her face.

Khrista sent a glare in Cassidy's direction, but when the Rocket took a step forward suddenly in an intimidating stance, Khrista's eyes widened and she took a step back reflexively.

"Okay, okay," Khrista muttered. Turning, she started to jog along the track, hoping to save her energy for as long as possible. She was loose thanks to stretching in her cell, but that had eaten up some of her energy already.

At this point, she hoped that Charon would order her to stop before she dropped.

Khrista had managed to make it three quarters around the track and was starting to tire when she heard Charon yell out, "Faster!"

Khrista did her best to roll her eyes as she casually turned the corner in the track, but she didn't pick up any speed as she finished off the first lap.

"Kid, I'd listen to him if I were you," Cassidy spoke up as Khrista passed her. Was that fear on the woman's face? "You've done more than enough to make him mad here. Just get it over with."

"What exactly could that old man do to me?" Khrista asked, slowing down a little bit as she talked. The answer was something that she wanted to hear.

"It's not what he can do, but what he'll order his bodyguard to do. They're completely merciless."

Khrista stumbled a little when she heard Cassidy's statement, looking back at the Rocket in surprise. The woman had a grim look on her face but it soon faded into an indifferent expression that left Khrista completely confused.

However, the idea that someone like Matthew would get called in if she didn't go a little faster was as ridiculous as it was terrifying. Khrista returned her gaze to the track in front of her and started to pick up her speed. The thought that Matthew might come in out of nowhere was not something Khrista was looking forward to.

When Khrista had gotten up to a full-blown run after Charon had shouted "Faster!" two more times, the idea of a second wind suddenly became true for her. Energy seemed to flow in from out of nowhere, allowing Khrista to keep up her pace.

However, it didn't last long. Khrista managed to complete another lap at this speed before collapsing at Cassidy's feet, gasping for breath and relieved that she was getting at least some sort of rest.

Charon walked into Khrista's line of vision, writing something on his clipboard while muttering, "Not very fit for a Trainer." He looked down at Khrista with a cold expression. "Get up. We're not done with you yet."

Cassidy reached down and grabbed Khrista by the back of her shirt, lifting her up somewhat before grabbing a hold of her arms and hauling her up to her feet.

"Just give me a breather, all right?" Khrista demanded, panting. "I'm not used to running that fast."

Under her breath, she added, "Knucklehead."

Charon's eyes narrowed as he glared up at Khrista - even though the man was small, he still looked somewhat dangerous. After a moment, though, he turned and started over to the other side of the gym. Cassidy followed after him, still holding onto Khrista - but only by one arm.

As soon as Khrista saw the barbells that Charon was heading towards, she let out a groan.

"Let me faint here and now," Khrista muttered.

Time Break - change in POV

When the physical trials were over, the girl's body was glistening with sweat, the girl herself panting from exhaustion, feeling like she could collapse at any moment. Charon watched her out of the corner of his eye, recording the results on his clipboard.

A moment later, there was a soft thump, causing the scientist to look up and see that his subject had collapsed on the ground and was snoring.

The old scientist shook his head in disappointment. "Wake her up," he told Cassidy. "We aren't done here."

The ex-Rocket grunt moved over to the girl's side and shook her gently, murmuring, "Wake up."

When the subject didn't stir, the blond-haired woman tried a different approach: she slapped the teen in the face.

The girl reacted instantly, her eyes snapping open as she flipped over onto her back and scrambled away from Cassidy and Charon. The slightly panicked expression that showed on her face quickly faded into one of disappointment as she looked around. Her body relaxed a little, and she started to get to her feet.

"If you're planning on making me do anything else -" the girl started.

"I already have all the data I need for your physical abilities," Charon cut her off abruptly. "Next will come your knowledge of Pokemon and our world as you once knew it."

The girl blinked, a blank expression coming over her face. It soon changed into a confused one, though, and the girl frowned.

Charon ignored the girl's facial expressions and snapped her fingers. Cassidy instantly latched onto the girl, who simply glared up in annoyance, but didn't fight back to break free. Charon then turned and started for a set of double doors near him, Cassidy and the subject following.

The old man decided that he really needed a name for the girl, be it a letter and a number or some sort of nickname.

Charon threw the doors open and stalked into the hall beyond it, Cassidy following behind him. He could hear something being muttered - most likely from the girl. That child had already broken so many regulations that he was considering giving her own personal Box to sit in, much like J-4.

The old scientist quickly put the thought out of his mind. There were other things that needed to be taken care of before he could turn his attention to the girl and the needed disciplinary measures.

He stopped in front of a steel door with a red R emblazoned on it and turned around to look at Cassidy and the girl. "In here."

He placed his hand on the handle and threw the door open, revealing a map of Kanto and Jhoto glowing brightly on the back wall. The other walls had different multiple-choice questions.

The girl peered through the doorway, blinking in increasing confusion before looking over at Charon.

"Go in there and answer the questions," Charon stated, bored. He waved his clipboard in the direction of the door, and Cassidy pushed the girl through. The subject let out a yelp that became muffled as the door was closed behind her.

"Why not go in after her, Boss?" Cassidy asked, motioning to the door.

"I don't think I need to," Charon replied. "Give the child a few minutes, and then we'll check on her progress."

Change in POV - Khrista (1st)

I glared at the door and let out a low growl of frustration. These guys just weren't giving me a break, were they? If they were going to do this every day, I was probably going to fall apart by day five!

But...time does feel kind of wonky, here. As I turned to look at the giant map that clearly looked like it had been copied from HeartGold and SoulSilver, I realized that it felt like I was moving quickly and slowly at the same time - almost like there were multiple streams of time moving at once or something.

I decided to try and ignore it, and instead see what exactly it was that these morons wanted me to do in here.

The map had blank spots all over the place, and there was a large keyboard on the wall and directly below the map. Geography test. Ok.

The other two walls had what looked like multiple choice questions, but one side was marked with "Rocket Activities" and the other side had "White's Movements."

There's that name again. White.

That's the girl Trainer from Unova, though - Crystal's in Jhoto, isn't she? And wasn't Green - or Leaf - the girl from Kanto?

Why is Cyrus so obsessed with this kid?

That's when I noticed a subtitle underneath the title on White's side of the room.

"Answer according to what you know from the events in your world. If you don't know, guess."

A quick scan of the room tells me that I can't see the ceiling, but I don't see any of those red lights that usually means a security camera's nearby - at least, that's how it is in the movies.

They must be monitoring the screens instead for answers.

But...they won't know whether I'm telling the truth or not.

A grin spread across my face, and I'm sure that my blue eyes gained a sinister expression as I started for the map.

I would let them know I knew some stuff, but the rest...

This was gonna be fun.

The map was first - I knew that right off the bat. I could name off the cities, even if I hadn't played the games, because they were shown in the anime and the manga (the latter of which I'd been keeping up with thanks to a neighbor). I started typing names in and filled up the Kanto/Jhoto combined map.

When that was full, I turned to look at the Rocket Activity quiz.

First question: What mountain were Team Rocket grunts stationed in?

A. Mt. Coronet

B. Mt. Moon

C. Twist Mountain

D. None of the above

Sheesh, is this easy. I hit "B" and moved on.

The remaining questions were a lot like that - they asked where Rocket grunts were and what exactly they were doing in certain areas. I hit all the right answers, but I realized that I should've just checked the ones that involved the anime...until I got to the last question.

"How did you come to know all this? Check all that apply."

And right below "playing the games" and above "watching the anime," I saw the one word that I hadn't really thought of.

"Research."

I swear - whatever God calls himself in this reality - he must be looking out for me. I hit that button - and the manga and anime buttons, which were below it. I hesitated before I hit the "finish" button, though.

What if they found out about Vapor? I got him when I was playing LeafGreen, so -

That's when I remembered Matthew. They didn't know who he was, and they didn't know who I was. Which gave me a double advantage, considering that I still had my free will and everything and they didn't know what Trainer license was mine.

I went ahead and hit "finish," then turned to look at the White's Movements side. The questions over here were definitely as easy, but there were some that gave me a little difficulty.

Like, "what Pokemon did White choose as her Starter?" Of course it gave the usual Kanto Pokemon - including Pikachu and Vulpix, surprisingly. It made me wonder, but I just went with the Pokemon Type she had in the manga - Grass-Type, considering that she had the Servine given to her by N.

A giant red X appeared on that screen - something that hadn't happened on the other screens. Guess I got that one wrong - as well as a number of others.

As soon as I hit "finish" - which was on the same last screen as what had been on Rocket Activity - the door was slammed open, and Cassidy marched in, grabbed my arm, and dragged me out.

Next thing I knew, we were standing in front of a door with the symbols for Aqua and Magma - you know, the ones that look like a skull and crossbones and some sort of mountain.

"Let's see how you do in here," Charon said, grinning at me as he opened the door. Cassidy promptly threw me inside and shut the door behind me.

I found myself in the same sort of situation as I had in the previous room, except I was standing nose-to-wall with a Hoenn map and the wall that would have said "Rocket Activity" said "Magma/Aqua Activity."

I did the map first again, even though it had been a while since I had played the game, I could still remember some of the names. Lavaridge. Petalburg. Littleroot. Fortree. The rest of the names came back as I put in the other names, and I had the map filled up pretty quickly.

I went through the Teams' activity pretty much the same way as I did with the Rocket one, but this time I figured that I had to say that I'd played the games, too.

I mean, those morons probably heard that I commanded a Rayquaza to take down Giratina, so there's no way I would have been able to get away with that.

So I hit every single one of the buttons and turned to White's side of things.

Again with the easy questions, and this time I actually managed to get away with nothing wrong on her end, which surprised me - especially considering that I hit Mudkip when I had been aiming for Torchic (she did have a Tepig before getting the Servine, after all).

Cassidy came in and grabbed me again and walked me past Charon, who looked like his jaw was about to drop. When I saw the tablet that he held in his hands, I could guess why.

"No one has gotten a perfect score on that test!" the scientist hissed, moving to stand in front of me when Cassidy stopped in front of a door with a familiar shield - the Plasma logo. "How is it that you knew all of White's movements?!"

He didn't look too happy about me getting a perfect score.

I gave a shrug. "Guess I'm just lucky that way."

"Well, I doubt that you'll be so lucky in here." Charon opened the door, and I was thrust inside.

Yup. Unova test. I wonder why they completely skipped over Sinnoh...?

Wait.

They might have been looking for kids who were specifically in the Sinnoh region during the time that White was. Which means that I can't pull a fake one and say that I'd never been there.

I turned to the Plasma Activity first, and instantly noticed that something was off. It actually said Neo Plasma at the top. I didn't know there was a -

Wait. Neo means "new". In one of the mangas, there was a Neo Galactic. That means we're talking about Black 2 and White 2.

But...if White was in those games...then who took out the Plasma goons in the first one? Black?

This game was one that I didn't know so well, because it just came out and I had been spending more of my time working on getting ready to transfer Pokemon into the games. I would have already done that, but I wasn't about to try to ask for a DS from the Carlsdales when their owners are...well, gone.

I managed to get through well enough up to the point that they were messing around with freezing Drayden's place. After that, things kind of went downhill. I'd heard some things from people, but it didn't really stick with me - at least, until two questions later when I realized why I had gotten the question wrong.

Like the fact that Ghestis had been able to control White Kyruem (they didn't include Black Kyruem, surprisingly) with the key-cane thing he had.

White's Movements in this one didn't really fare much better. I did hit the Fire-Type Starter this time, but I got it wrong (again), and some of her actions were completely unpredictable.

How was I supposed to know that she had made friends with Black before she'd gotten there?

By the time I had gotten done with the map, I knew that I didn't have a full score, but they wouldn't be able to tell I had played the games. I hit "Research" for both ends of the quizzes, so that left that knowledge safe.

As well as whatever Pokemon that I might have befriended that now exist here. Cassidy stormed in again and dragged me out again, and I saw a rather grumpy look on Charon's face. Had he been counting on me getting all the ones on Unova right?

"Well, that covers her mental potential," the old man sniffed. "Not very much experience for an Avatar." He made a motion with his hand. "Take her back to her cell and leave her there."

"Yes, Boss." Cassidy grabbed my arm and started to drag me down the hall towards a warp panel.

I didn't really fight back, considering that I still didn't have much energy after the "physical tests." But that didn't wipe the knowing smirk off my face.

I may have gotten a "perfect score" on Hoenn, but there was a lot more about the world that I knew about - and they didn't know, which made my victory all the sweeter.

Now just to figure out now I could use that to my own advantage.

Well, that's different from last time. I didn't let Khrista take all the knowledge tests then, and Butch had been asking he questions.

So...yeah. They know she knows stuff, but not really how much.

Smart little sneak.

Be seein all you readers next week!