The luminescence of the celestial in the ebony sky lit the way for Shin as he made his way to his car with a light shoulder bag. The man made sure to pack the least amount of items that would serve the most efficiency with his undercover plan, and as he sat in the leather seat of his vehicle, he made sure to feel around the pack:

His phone, a flashlight, and the metallic skeleton of a handgun and ammunition that he had taken from the weaponry room were all present under the folds of parachute fabric, sending a satisfied twinge through his body.

He knew any normal person would be doubting themselves at this moment, sitting in his SUV with the key in the ignition. Thoughts would plague their minds as they desperately fought a violent, bloodthirsty war between themselves, knowing that after they arrived at the scene, there would be no going back.

But Shin refused, or rather, physically disregarded this hesitancy. He was numb, paralyzed even, to what he was about to do. This did not excuse him from the questions that swarmed him.

What if Jaderine and Charles found out about his outing?

What if Terry was right about him risking his life for nothing?

What if he wasn't capable of stopping whatever had taken over that alleyway?

The queries could have pummeled him into submission, only, Shin chose not to answer. He chose not to think, but to finally feel for once.

Without a trace of indecision, he started his engine.

_______________________________

The alleyway was desolate when he finally parked in the adjacent car lot. In fact, the entire town seemed to be abandoned entirely. To Shin, the stillness of the nighttime was an ominously familiar sight that cast shadows of his bygone years in the asphalt.

As if it were carved into his memory, he could recall the exact spot where the little boy of his past was shunned and punished by the cruel tides of fate. Even the lamppost was still there in its corner, shining its coned spotlight on the empty street.

Shin surveyed his surroundings once more before he clipped his items onto his belt and crept his way out of the car, making sure to shut its door covertly. Once in the open, the man made his way down to the familiar sight of the investigation scene. Like the gateway to the Pokémon League itself, Shin could only muster up a deep breath to ward away the intimidating aura of the haunting alleyway.

Anything could attack him at any moment. He had to keep an eye out and his ears open, lest he became susceptible to the hands of danger.

His shoes began to tap the pavement below him, and he let his mind become distracted with the rhythm of his steps as the darkness of the stone walls began to cave in around him. Soon enough, the glare of his flashlight parted the darkness and he was left staring at the cragged and graffitied bricks. The indentation of where the 'Pokémon' had crashed thanks to Lu and Wendy still remained along with the debris from the savage battle. Shin found himself slightly disturbed by the power of that creature-- to withstand and dodge such forceful attacks... something was indeed wrong.

His eyes darted around for any signs of threat. All of his senses were heightened like never before: He could hear silence, he could see the air, he could feel the emptiness. The man was prepared for anything that could or would go wrong.

To his disappointment, all that filled his vision was a single dumpster at the end of the alley with the rotting remnants of the day's trash. No. This can't be right, he refuted. That Pokémon had to have come out from somewhere. Any kind of opening at all. He examined the impasse once more, squinting his eyes thoroughly.

Unless...

Shin's sweaty hands gripped the sides of the mossy green receptacle and he tugged it tenaciously until its wheels began to squeak and groan through the night. When it was a good distance away, he peered around the corner.

And there in the center of the dumpster's soggy impression rested a leaden metal trap door, littered with rust and mold from years of disuse. Despite this, his flashlight still gleamed off of its surface and reflected into Shin's widened eyes. He soon placed his grip on the chipped latches that held the entrance shut. It didn't take much effort before he managed to break them loose from its corroded clutches.

The latch creaked open to reveal forboding steel steps that lead into an abyss of black, sending chills through Shin. He paused briefly, looking back only once at the world he was about to leave behind. But his mind beckoned him forward, and he was descending into the depths of the unknown with only the guidance of his flashlight.

Darkness swept the area, and Shin noticed that the air in the passage had a sour and musty taste to it. It must have not been ventilated in years. He held his breath for the rest of the descent.

How long has this been here...?

When his feet had finally reached flat ground, he could faintly hear sounds reverberating the opposite side of where he stood. His light shined on another door, which was much larger than the last. He could sense a baleful ambiance from behind it as if it sealed all of the evils from the world within its grasps. He felt as if he were about to open Pandora's box, unleashing a permanent curse upon existence.

Yet, the fire inside of him refused to extinguish. He pressed his palm on the alloy frame...

...And he could only gasp at what he came witnessed in front of his own eyes.

Rows...

And rows...

Of lifeless Pokémon.

Each floating limp in its own cylinder tank, filled to the brim with an unknown electric blue substance that glowed with an undefined energy.

Each repository was hooked up to a blinking machine one might have mistaken as a copier if they failed to look closely. The faint echoes of electrical signals and tones from its screens cluttered the air with an eerie rhythm. The screens displayed arrays of charts and data that flickered with changing numbers. The waving lines upon the graphs were steady, more or so stagnant with only a gentle palpitation every few seconds.

Shin could hear his own pulse bursting from his chest like an atomic bomb.

None of this can be real...

Please don't tell me any of this is real...!

His thumb flicked off the power knob for his flashlight. Only a few stray lights that hung from the rusty ceiling were radiating the chamber and its technologies below, giving it a dim wash of illumination.

Shin's chest began to rise and fall with every step he took. His breaths were tremulous and unsteady, staggering for oxygen. He felt his body tremble and forced himself to walk forward, staring helplessly at each motionless specimen.

Marowak... Exeggutor... Tyrogue... Raichu... Sandslash...

All Pokémon big and small, different types, and varying species hovered next to each other with their eyes shut and their bodies bruised and lacerated.

He soon found himself gaping at a familiar-looking Eevee that hung stiffly in its container. Its ripped ear drifted in the soft currents of the liquid.

Isn't that...?!

Shin's heart tightened as the intense blast of epiphany lunged at him, twisting his stomach into knots. The weight of the situation seemed to coil around his entire being, feeling like thorn vines upon his skin. He did his best to repress the urge to vomit.

At that moment, the flame in his heart then bit at him, sending him into sudden realization. From within his pocket, Shin charged for his phone and launched his camera app. He carefully aimed at the morbid tanks.

This needs to be known. This has to be stopped.

And I will make sure it happens.

Whatever it takes.

As he went to press the button on his screen, the sound of hinging filled his ringing ears. He felt metal snares clip onto his arms and legs like ravenous Mightyena and his phone and flashlight clattered on the floor as they dropped from his opened hands. A short cry escaped him and he looked down at his ankles and wrists that were now captured in claw-like bands that had sprouted from a compartment in the ground. He struggled to pull them off, but it was no use: It was as if he were chained to lead weights that kept him grounded.

He growled through his teeth. "Dammit...!"

"Well now, that's no way to greet your host."

Shin jerked his head up at the sudden voice that resonated amongst the metal walls of the compacted room.

From within the shadows of the hallway, a hunched figure stood almost statically, casting an outline onto the dingy passageway. It began to prowl towards him until the cyan glare of the tanks were finally able to reveal its body.

It was a man, adorned with graying hazel hairs that stuck up messily from the sides of his emaciated head. Shin could tell he wasn't old at all, but his darkened and sun-deprived facial features made him seem as if he were in his late sixties to early seventies.

His pupils shrunk at the sudden light that projected onto his face, forcing him to adjust his boxed glasses upon his blemished nose. The stained lab coat he wore swayed behind him the best that it could, as it was crusted over with hardened yellow and scarlet substances.

The stranger's face bore an unnatural, disturbing presence that Shin could only describe as psychotic. He smirked with fascination.

"I have to hand it to you— I'm surprised that one of you officers managed to sneak in here all alone, even after we staged the evidence. Especially the one without a Pokémon."

Shin felt his heart skip a beat. "How did you—"

"I know a lot of things, young man," he replied lowly, an amusing twinge still afflicting his tone. "Luckily, I am a person who always prepares."

"Who the hell are you?!"

The older man let out a pitied scoff, ambling over to the trapped Shin in a relaxed manner. "How rude of me. I know you, yet you don't know anything about who I am." His cloudy blue eyes stabbed at him. "Doctor Elizer Dave Mason: Head executive of the Genetic Form Mutation Lab." Shin flinched.

"Genetic... form mutation?" he repeated to himself, his mind refusing to accept anything that was going on. Elizer chuckled through his breaths, turning to face the aisle of bubbling containers.

"My boy, do you know what each of these Pokémon have in common?" Shin tore his eyes off of Elizer as his sight danced around the room hastily, yet he failed to spot the significance of the man's cruel actions. He only returned his question with a frustrated scowl, earning a toothy smile from Elizer. "Ah, they never teach you anything up there anymore," he contemplated, adjusting his tipped glasses. "Evolution and different forms are such abstract concepts. A Pokémon, through certain strict conditions, will gain enough power to transform into something much stronger, much more resilient than what it used to don. Some, without even the faintest idea, are even reborn as primordial beings with the powers of god itself!

And each of these glorious Pokémon before you, my friend, have that multiple of special something within them that yearns to be divulged to our world."

His ripped derbies clanked against the metallic ground while he began to pace around the room.

"I find the human emote of satisfaction quite intriguing. It's what fuels us all, including us. We all desire it, especially those trainers who want their Pokémon to be the best of the best. Many of them crave for it so much that we go beyond the boundaries of nature to achieve it. They try endlessly until they and their partners are beaten, bruised, and broken.

And for what? I asked myself. Just so that they can be content with their shiny new weapon faster than the rest of their peers? Or is it to be the one soul with what is deemed the 'most powerful Pokémon'? It's utterly fascinating how selfish we all are.

And then I wondered, what if there was a way to speed up this process? To pacify the constant demand for this treatment in the trainer society? If I manage to find... or make... that special individual, maybe this would cease the macabre behaviors towards them. And so began my little experiments."

Elizer's arms spread to his sides, gesturing to the tanks around them.

"What more than to begin experimenting on a few chosen proteges, all equipped with genetically predestined forms if trained enough! I created substances that would boost IVs, maximize stats, and power up moves. The Pokémon hurt, yes, but I kept telling myself: If only a few were to be sacrificed, it would be worth it...

And it worked like a drug.

My strive for human sufficiency became my charge. I would enter my lab every night and experiment for hours with failures and successes. Breeding, injecting, testing, conditioning to develop that single mighty Pokémon. I wanted to see more. I wanted to push the boundaries of a human being to see how far I would go just to reach what I considered a satisfactory weapon.

Then I wondered... what was my fulfillment? I was human as well, yes? What was I striving for?

I only realized, after years of grueling research and tests: A Pokémon's potential. I had begun to grow onto this field of knowledge like a weed. I found myself wanting more. Yes, this was my way of showing my competence."

The man suddenly began to breath erratically, his outstretched arms quivering and twitching by his sides. His voice became intermittent and high.

"Isn't it beautiful? All of these Pokémon seemingly trapped in time?" he mused. "Dead, but alive in an infinite equilibrium! Each with its own screaming potential just waiting to be unlocked! And to think that, with one of these subjects, we could create such a special Pokémon on this planet that rivals all like a god, unlimited, unleashed, with our own hands!"

Shin could only clench his fists as he felt his entire body burst into flames of rage. "How could you have the heart to do this to these poor lives?!" he cried in anguish.

A hoarse chortle escaped from the older man's wheezing lungs. "Satisfaction," he replied simply. "After all, aren't I human too?"

"You're a monster if you believe anyone would even think to help you!" Elizer raised an eyebrow with his wild eyes.

"You thought I was alone in this?" he interrogated sporadically. "Satisfactory exists outside of your little trainer world as well. They see society as corrupt, I see it as a playground of thoughts and ideals. Each individual I chose to recruit in my lab has their own insignificant motives. Some do it for curiosity. Some do it for power.

Some, like my assistant, do it if they don't have a choice."

He abruptly paused, caught in a deep thought that he refused to let go of. He loathed in it, his orbs empty and desolate. Shin couldn't help but examine the particle of guilt that he seemed to adorn in his look, which caused him to hitch his breathing for a brief moment. A short exhale emitted from Elizer's mouth, and he regained his chaotic beam once more.

"Eventually, after the staff grew so large, I had to relocate here to remain discrete," he continued. "And we resumed our business, growing as we sold our masterpieces to desperate trainers on the black market. We produce while we feed ourselves with our earnings, cultivating and cultivating. In fact, at least a dozen of my workers are observing us as we speak, hearing my age-old story all over again!" As if he were a drunken sailor, Elizer staggered across the chamber aimlessly before steadying himself on one of the machines. He gaped at Shin with his bloodshot gaze. "How releasing it is to finally tell another soul of my morals," he panted heavily. "I had found social interaction an unnecessary feat, but I never realized it would be this relieving."

Incertitude boiled within the Shin, and the world seemed to be going red with a mixture of rage. His mouth tasted of blood as he stood his ground, clenching his teeth. "Why are you bothering to tell me this? Your confession gave me everything I need to make an arrest," he demanded, raising the volume of his voice steadily. "You and your subordinates are done for."

Suddenly, his vision went white as a blunt force struck the center of his abdomen. He felt his stomach cramp and swell with occluded breaths that barely broke free as a fit of strained coughs and gasps. His knees slammed to the ground next to Elizer's bent knee, and soon, the top strands of his inky hair were yanked into the air, pulling his head up to face Elizer's. The older man's stare was filled with complete insanity.

To Shin's horror, Elizer's lips curved upwards and his sardonic, alien-like tongue slithered from the cracks of his mouth as he hissed his next words.

"You may as well get to know... before I off you first."

His spine-chilling sentence had stung Shin's core, silencing him. A morbid sense of mortality prickled throughout his entire being.

This maniac was going to kill him.

His entire body began to scream at him to break out of the contraption that held him down mercilessly, but he knelt there, stunned and gagging, utterly defenseless as if he were that lost, innocent child in the night once more.

His eyes then darted to Elizer's, which had promptly started to focus on Shin's heaving chest. He followed his gaze onto his badge that proudly displayed his full name:

"Shin Alek Harper"

Elizer's pale face seemed to be entranced for only a moment, cognized and captivated, before wrinkling into an expression of pure exhilaration and delight. His pupils seemed to contract into the depths of his irises with faint crimson vines branching on top of the surrounding white.

He instantly let out a shrill cackle. "It's just about time that I share my satisfaction with you, my boy!" He stumbled over to the wall where a discolored lever was attached to a marked section of space. His boney hands wrapped around its handle as the other slipped a small remote from the folds of his coat pocket. "I'm aware that you have already been introduced to Project E. We surveyed your little fight through our hidden cameras."

Shin could feel the cuts on his chest burn even more as he was reminded of the crazed Umbreon that had ambushed him and Terry. He could recall how unnaturally saturated its eyes were, blinding him with an eerie glow as it clawed at his skin.

Even as it transformed, he noticed, they had stayed that iridescent red.

"How pitifully you held up-- Its fourth mutation would have killed you if your friend hadn't come to your rescue," Elizer sneered, interrupting Shin's thoughts. Fourth? Does he mean that it could have mutated into more forms? Can all these Pokémon do that because of him?! Shin attempted to speak, but his lungs collapsed once more, forcing him into a hacking mess. "Well now, I suppose I should finally put you out of your misery, considering you can't even stand up anymore." Elizer tapped his fingers excitedly against the plastic handle. "What you are about to see is years of grueling work. Over two decades worth of trial and error, assimilating and testing, resources, time... and years of patience.

Might as well go out gloriously with fireworks of blood. You should be thankful I'm giving you this opportunity to be its first human test subject."

He smirked eagerly to one side.

"And don't worry, no one will notice you being gone.

I'll make sure of that."

With a grunt of effort, Elizer tugged down the lever, sending low rumbles throughout the vicinity. A cage-like door at the opposite end of the hallway rasped deafeningly as it retreated into the ceiling of the chamber, revealing a pitch dark room that loomed grimly behind the luminescent tanks.

That was when, from the depths of the shadows, two faint red lights gleamed menacingly at Shin's frightened irises. They were like two moons dyed with scarlet tears of ruthlessly slaughtered men. Foaming saliva dripped from its mouth from which heavy growls emitted through its grinning fangs. It seemed to reflect the fervent glow of its eyes...

...How familiar those eyes were.

Its tremendous feet began plodding out of the mask of dark which hid it. A piercing vermillion coat adorned the monster with patches of ivory-colored pelt that was stained with chemicals and dirt.

It bore a wild, untamed mane of snow white fur that curled around its almost crooked spine and drifted over the front of its pointed face like it was dipped in ancient calligraphy ink.

Without another hesitation, it dived towards the man, using its razor-edged claws to completely demolish the traps that had held him down.

It pressed all of its weight down onto Shin's shoulders with its titanous paws, pinning him down completely and nearing its thundering head until was only inches away from his nose...

And Shin could only stare in horror as he caught the glint of a shiny object around its neck...

Rusted and tattered...

Distantly familiar...

With letters that made his entire world shatter before his very eyes.

A... Anonymous...?!