Chapter 7

Michael woke up. The first thing he noticed was the blaring light above him, and the fact that he was tied up. Michael lay in a reclined position, his arms were strapped down in two places and so were his legs. Snattle had probably left his midsection free of any ties in order to allow him to struggle. Quickly he found out that it was not Snattle who had captured him.

In a chair to his left, with one leg crossed over the other, Lovrina impatiently tapped on her thigh. Her other hand rested on her chin, as she stared intently at him. A smile creeped up her pretty face when she saw that he was awake.

"Hello there, Michael nice to meet you again. I assume that you can at least guess why you are here, tied up, with your shirt off, and torture tools next to you. That's right! I'm here to get a little bit of revenge. As a former member of the Cipher research and development team, as in, I was like, the head of that particular branch, I happen to know about torture." Michael realized that he was completely in for it.

He had thought that this kind of situation could happen, given his line of work, but he couldn't believe that it was now happening. Michael wasn't sure if he would be able to handle very much pain.

Lovrina spoke again, "I've been examining your body for a good hour trying to decide where to start, and I think that I have decided to start with your forearm." she smiled a creepy smile, that somehow barely marred her pretty features.

She pulled out some tool that he could not identify. It looked as if it was a needle, a cord attached to the back end. He wasn't sure what was about to happen and he didn't really want to know.

"Roselia use your pain enhancer poison, I want to make this enjoyable." Lovrina said, and her rosy Pokemon approached. Her roselia looked much healthier than his. It was obviously better cared for than his new roselia had been. The roses both red and blue looked far more colorful than his. Then again, his roselia was also a shadow Pokemon.

Michael didn't feel any different, yet. Soon however, he became aware of the pain of his acid rain burns. Lovrina bent over and Michael heard a small whirring sound, which he assumed meant that whatever the tool in Lovrina's hand was, it was a machine. That made him even more terrified for his life, considering that a specialized tool for death was about to be administered to him.

Lovrina brought the needle down to his arm, and he grit his teeth in preparation. He knew that whatever was going to happen, it would be many more times painful than normal. Michael felt a heavy sting in his arm. He clenched his teeth together until they were sore because it certainly did hurt.

The pain was bearable enough though for him to not shout or scream, or make any noise that indicated his pain. He kept his eyes closed for the entire time that Lovrina worked on his arm. What he didn't know was that the pain was also made much worse because of the shadow acid burn.

After a while, the sound of the machine stopped and the sting faded somewhat. On his ear, Michael could feel the soft breath, of what he assumed was Lovrina. He heard her whisper in his ear.

"Its over now, you can open your eyes. You're a big boy now."

Michael did as her enticing voice said and slowly opened his eyes, which were slightly blinded by the light of the lamp above him. He couldn't even shield his eyes because his hands were tied down.

"For your information, roselia did not multiply your pain, she had been blocking it. I had her add the reagent that stopped the nerve blocking reaction. It was all invisible powder and the like, so you totally couldn't see or smell it." Lovrina said in a passive way.

That just made Michael a little more than confused. Then Lovrina loosened the restraints on his arms. This gave him the freedom to sit up. Lovrina moved on to remove the straps on his legs while he examined what she had done. It was rather odd that she had been torturing him, and then suddenly let him go. Then he realized what she had truly done.

The machine with the needle had been a tattoo machine. The ink she had drilled into his arm? She had tattooed her own name into his forearm. Lovrina.

Michael felt his face heat up with embarrassment. There engraved in ink, and permanent ink at that was her name. The area around his ink was red and inflamed, quite sore and stingy.

"That's just a present from me to you. I needed to get my revenge somehow and this was a perfect idea. I know I'm not the most artsy of people," it was true, the writing was a little bit shaky, "but now I can totally stay with you and remind you of the fear you should have of me! If I find you again and you remove it I will not so not be happy. This was the best way I could think of to cause you pain, and apparently embarrassment so that's a score."

Michael swung his legs over the side and stood up. He recognized that he was no longer in an exceptional amount of danger. He stretched his arms out and ran a hand through his hair.

Lovrina handed him his pokeball belt, and in her other hand was a key. Then, she handed him the large arm length piece that was his snag machine.

"I managed to swipe this from Snattle. I don't like him, and I know that he won't even realize that its gone or that it was me who took it. Anyway, now that you have your stuff back, I think I can escort you out now." she said.

Lovrina stepped toward the door with a hop in her step. Michael followed her and did his best to ignore the pain in his right forearm. He strapped his belt back on to his waist and put the elevator key into the small pouch on his belt. Then Michael set about the process of reattaching his snag machine. It took up most of the 40 minute walk to the outside of Phenac city.

The machine was quite complicated and Michael had to sit and remember how to put it on. Even though he had done it a number of times, his right arm was in pain, and he had gone through a bit of a traumatic experience. First he was scalded by shadow acid rain, the he was captured, and a tattoo was forcefully implanted on him. Michael wouldn't dare to remove it, for he did fear Lovrina beautiful as she was.

Lovrina was like a rose, very much pretty to look at and of the highest quality, yet there where thorns, and it would always be a good idea to be careful when grabbing it. Some of the thorns were larger, and longer, and would therefore hurt more. Some of those thorns would be quite a bit shorter, and while still prickly and painful, they would be less so.

At the gate to Phenac his bike still sat there as it had when he left it there. Leaning next to the bike was his travel bag, and what appeared to be an extra canteen of water.

"I just wanted to show you your stuff before you go and free the citizens." Lovrina said, "I think I, like, will go with you, maybe improve my own image, a little bit." then Lovrina did something completely unexpected.

When Michael turned back to the city with Lovrina, she turned to him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Michael walked back towards the gym with Lovrina, and he was in a bit of a daze, more than a little surprised and embarrassed.

When Michael got back to HQ he was greeted directly by the professor. He was escorted back into the the building and walked with professor Krane into his office. There, Michael briefed him on the happenings of the town, leaving out, of course, the part were he was beaten, and kidnapped by Lovrina, as well as those extra little bits.

Professor Krane gave him some time to rest, after all, he had gone through quite the ordeal. The professor just didn't know what kind of ordeal. He thought he had an idea but it was much worse for Michael than he realized. At that time Michael happened to have on a long sleeved shirt so nobody could see the blemish on his skin.

After the professor was done with him, Michael went to his room in the other part of the building for some rest and reflection time. Not that he hadn't had plenty of reflection time on his way to the lab while driving his bike. To others, Michael probably seemed like he had been spending a lot of time alone, and he had. There were things in his life that had come up quite recently that were rather alarming.

Now Michael had a tattoo of a girl's name on his arm. If anybody, particularly Jovi or his mother, he was certain a firestorm would be coming his way. So while he was showering, (and hissing at the pain of his arm) Michael thought up a plan. Several plans actually. His last resort plan involved completely running from his problems, and devoting himself to the vigilante work he was so proud of. His first, easiest, and most likely option of action would be to just do what he had done during his talk with the professor.

Michael checked his closet after showering and found plenty of longer sleeved shirts and even a few sweaters. That might have surprised most, considering how hot it almost always got in the Orre region. Then again, it also got quite frigid at night. Winter in the Orre region was more like late spring for the average temperate climate.

Another great thing about wearing long sleeves in the desert was avoiding sunburns. Even if wearing a long sleeved shirt or jacket was not the most comfortable thing to do temperature wise, in fact it made him a bit on the overheated side. Wearing longer clothing did keep the burn of the sun away. Being a little bit hot was likewise not as much of a problem for Michael, as he rode a bike nearly everywhere he went, and was therefore rather well ventilated.

Michael was tired now. He wasn't going to force himself to stay awake and greet his sibling, and mother. The long drive back from Phenac city was very tiring for him, and a borderline two day trip.

Michael would wait for the morning in order to greet his family. Lily was a patient mother, especially with him, who might be called a problem child. He was after all the self proclaimed end to all of Cipher. He was a vigilante, who technically participated in illegal activities. He wouldn't be caught, and the lab would protect him in the court if he was.

Michael knew his mother worried about him and his profession. It was dangerous work, and he didn't plan on telling them about what had happened involving Snattle. They only needed to know that he saved the citizens of Phenac city from a threat, and was thanked for it. That was one of the things he lived for. That is, the appreciation of people.

He had a good life, if not a dangerous one, for a man who wasn't quite an adult yet. The lab kept him well supplied, and in turn, he provided them with a sought after service. He was essentially the security for the lab, even if they had actual security he was better, and only asked for funding to do what he wanted.

Michael laid in bed, and fell asleep.

A/N: As I usually say, would you as my viewers please give me some constructive criticism. That is the thing I truly crave. You don't even have to leave I review, which I know most others request, as it brings them more publicity. Just PM me and tell me what you all think about my writing.