"Director Falon, this is serious! Please, we have to stop this!" I whisper-yelled at my device. My superior officer on the screen didn't even blink though as she shook her head.

"I understand your anger, Agent Ketchum, but under no circumstances are you allowed to compromise your cover or this mission," Director Falon said in her monotone voice. I wanted to chuck the device across the room to try and crack her calm demeanor but settled on glaring angrily at her.

"They are torturing pokemon! The ones that aren't being forced to evolve unnaturally are being experimented on or killed so they can grind up their bones to try and make their new evolution stones take on their type properties. If we just stop them now we can lock up Neptune for life and it won't matter that she had a bigger plan!' I hissed angrily, imagining all of those innocent pokemon being dissected somewhere in the heart of Mount Coronet.

"That's not good enough, Agent Ketchum," Director Falon retorted mildly. Without thinking I slammed my fist against the wall, trying my best to rein in my anger so I wouldn't alert anyone outside to what I was doing.

"So you want me to just keep capturing pokemon to feed Neptune's insane experiments until we know how she's planning to destroy the world? It doesn't matter to you that dozens of pokemon could be dying every day that we wait?" I growled, trying to keep the device from shaking from the anger that was causing my entire body to vibrate.

"Of course it matters, Agent Ketchum," DIrector Falon said with the tiniest of sighs. "But you have to focus on the big picture. If we storm in and in the chaos of the fray Proteus or one of the researchers or even Neptune herself managed to escape our clutches and we didn't know what their end goal was then everything would be for naught. We will have to start over from square 1 and by the time we find their base it may be too late."

I remained silent, thinking of multiple ways to try and prove I could make sure that wouldn't happen. But the more I thought, the more I had to acknowledge that plans never really worked out the way you expected. There was just no way I could guarantee one of the leaders COULDN'T escape if we stormed in like I was demanding we did.

"You have a good heart, Agent Ketchum," Director Falon said with a hint of kindness in her tone. "I know that this is going to be difficult for you. But everyone in the IIA is counting on you to get us the answers we need so we can take Team Galactic down for good this time. And that means you will have to do everything that Neptune asks you to do. No matter how detestable. no matter how wrong. Gain her trust. Get the plan. And then all of this will be over."

Director Falon met my gaze straight on through the device and I gritted my teeth together. My insides were in turmoil and I had been letting out my pent-up stress through punishing exercise sessions in the gym the last few days, which had left my body sore and bruised. But I knew... I knew I couldn't stop now. I was in too deep, and I couldn't take down Team Galactic by myself, no matter how powerful my team was.

"Fine," I breathed out unwillingly. "But the second I find out what is going on you are going to put a stop to this, right?"

"I give you my word, Agent Ketchum," Director Falon stated seriously.

Not being able to stomach the conversation any longer, I shut off the device and stuffed it back into its hiding place. Pikachu had been pacing on the floor while I spoke with Director Falon and when I flopped back onto my bed he sprang up and patted my head comfortingly.

"What are we doing here, Pikachu?" I asked in anguish, pushing against my tired eyes with the heel of my palms. "Why did I ever choose to become an agent?"

"Pika pikachu pi," Pikachu responded sadly, laying down and curling up next to me.

"I know we've done lots of good but... it's like everything I'm doing now is negating all of the good we've done in the past. I hate this, Pikachu," I growled angrily, wondering when life had gotten so complicated.

"Pipi chu." I blinked and looked over at Pikachu, who was looking up at the ceiling.

"What about Serena?" I asked, feeling a knot of dread form in my stomach. What would Serena think of me if she knew what I was doing? Would she ever forgive me?

"Pipi chu pika chupika pika pipi." Pikachu raised and lowered his arms to enunciate his point further and I sighed, flopping back down and looking up at the ceiling along with my partner.

"You're right... if we don't do this Neptune might destroy the world, and then Serena will never get to make her dream come true. So... I guess we don't really have a choice do we?" I asked him, remembering how Celeste had said something similar to me not too long ago. Pikachu shook his head sadly in acknowledgment and we both let out long sighs.

"Alright. We better get some sleep,"

Pikachu curled up next to me and I hugged him close, needing his warmth to give me the courage to do this. It took me a long time for sleep to finally come to me, and when it did I was plagued with nightmares of pokemon slit open and bleeding on workbenches. I didn't even have the energy to smile during my training classes and for once I wasn't surrounded by grunts when I went to the canteen for my meals.

During dinner, I had just started on my third bowl of creamy potato soup when I felt the bench I was sitting on shake slightly with somebody's added weight. I looked up, prepared to tell whoever it was to leave me alone, but my eyes met lavender colored ones and I instantly shut my mouth. Neptune leaned her elbow on the table and cupped her chin in her hand as she studied me. I nodded awkwardly to her and took another bite of soup as I wondered what she was going to ask me to do this time.

"You look tired, Satoshi," Neptune commented after a healthy pause. I shrugged and muttered something about bad dreams as I continued to ladle up my soup.

To my surprise, Neptune waited without saying anything until I had finished my bowl. When the last morsel was gone, I turned to look at her and realized she had been staring off into space. She slid her eyes over to look at me and one corner of her lips rose before she reached out and took hold of my wrist.

"I want to show you something," she said quietly, standing up and tugging on my wrist.

Pikachu looked too tired to be annoyed at Neptune's touchiness today. He climbed up onto my shoulder without a word as I stood and followed after Neptune. I could feel eyes on me as I passed through the canteen while being led by the hand. Still, Director Falon had said to do whatever it took to get closer to her, so I wasn't about to pull away... even if her touch was sending shivers of disgust through my entire body.

I was surprised when Neptune didn't take me to her office. Instead, she took me to the hanger where all of the jets and other flying contraptions were kept. Without once letting go of my wrist, Neptune guided me to a back corner of the hanger and pressed on the bottom corner of the large G that had been etched into the stone wall. Her push depressed a lever of some sort and a small section of the wall slid up to reveal a scanning pad.

"Go ahead," Neptune said, finally releasing my wrist. 

I walked forward without speaking and pressed my hand against the scanner which then turned green and triggered a perfectly concealed door to slide open slowly next to us. "I thought I could only go in through your office," I commented tiredly, although I knew I should be happy at this new discovery.

"This entrance will be more convenient for you when you get back from your hunts," Neptune replied with a dismissing wave of her hand. I clenched my fists slightly at the word "hunts" but quickly relaxed them as I followed Neptune through the fully open doorway. I was immediately greeted by stairs made of crectin that led deep into the belly of Mount Coronet. When we got to another doorway, Neptune placed her hand on the scanner this time and I followed her silently into a section of Headquarters that I hadn't been to yet.

My pulse quickened angrily when I heard faint cries of pain coming from unseen pokemon and I grit my teeth to keep myself from reacting. Neptune glanced over at me and I bowed my head, trying to avoid her eyes while I got myself under control. I flinched unintentionally when Neptune slipped her small hand into my own and I looked up to see her smiling over at me.

"Come," she commanded, before pulling me past door after door that seemed to lead into operations rooms. I refused to look through the windows to see what was happening beyond them, and I could feel Pikachu burying his little face against my neck as we continued walking.

I released my held breath when we finally got past the horrendous torture area and blinked when Neptune led me through a double door that looked big enough to fit the largest pokemon in the region through it. A human-sized opening was cut into the larger doors that Neptune brought me through and when I was inside I felt my jaw drop. The room was HUGE. The ceiling soared up above me twenty or thirty feet away and on each story of the gigantic room it was filled with doors made of metal bars. Inside all of the visible metal cells pokemon I had never seen before stared out of them.

There was so much to see I couldn't pick one thing to focus on and my gaze kept jumping back and forth at the strange and beautiful pokemon that were being imprisoned in this room. Neptune silently strode forward towards a cell off to the left of this first floor and inputted a code on the keypad next to it. The crectin bars slid open and Neptune looked over her shoulder at me with a grin.

"Satoshi, I'd like you to meet my newest creation," Neptune said excitedly before looking towards the open door with glee in her pale eyes and barking out a commanding order: "Come,"

My attention swiveled to the open cage and I watched as the pokemon, who looked to have been sleeping inside, slowly raised itself up and began padding out of the cage toward its freedom. Even though I knew that this pokemon had been created through truly horrendous means... I couldn't help but feel in awe as the pokemon came out into the light and stood before me.

It was glorious. Its body reminded me of a muscular Persian, but its fur was white as an Absol's and it had black stripes down its body that reminded me a little of an Arcanine. Its fur was thick, and its entire body was dotted with icicles, especially its front legs which were almost fully encased in sheets of thick ice. The pokemon looked sturdy and strong, but I frowned when it sat down silently just a foot outside of its cage and did not attempt to move any further.

"Beautiful, isn't he?" Neptune said with obvious pride. "I call him Tigrice. He's the culmination of months of testing and fine-tuning. Isn't he wonderful?"

I looked at the docile pokemon whose gleaming green eyes looked like they didn't have a soul behind them and I swallowed my distaste. "It looks strong," I commented, since that was what I had truly thought, and Neptune grinned widely.

"Oh, he is. Tigrice is one of the most successful of our new breeds of pokemon and I want it to become a symbol of our new world. Unfortunately..." Neptune trailed off for a moment while glancing from the meek pokemon and back over to me. "We have run out of necessary ingredients to create more."

"Will I be sent to gather some more then?" I asked, trying to sound interested.

"You understand me so well, Satoshi. I'll be sending you and a small group of grunts to go collect Ice Types to use for both our evolution experiments and creating more Tigrice," Neptune said while reaching out and stroking Tigrice's furry cheek. The large pokemon stood perfectly still, almost like a statue, and I just barely kept myself from frowning.

"When do we leave?" I asked, wanting to leave this horrible place and the captive pokemon inside before I lost my cool. Neptune let out a 'tut' sound and I looked down to see that she was scowling softly.

"Don't make it sound like you can't wait to leave me," she said with a frown and I grimaced.

"That's not what I meant Neptune... I'm just tired. I'm sorry," I forced myself to say with a bow, hoping that I hadn't actually offended her. If I lose my spot in Neptune's confidence now it will all have been for nothing. Get it together, Ash, I scolded myself fiercely.

Black shoes came into my field of vision and I looked up to see Neptune standing directly in front of me with her eyes narrowed. I met her hard gaze with my most apologetic smile and Neptune cocked her head to the side.

"You do know that I am the only one who can give you a fresh start, right, Satoshi? Isn't that worth more than the life of a useless pokemon?" Neptune demanded, narrowing her eyes at me.

I had never wanted so badly to punch a woman before in my life. But I had snapped out of my depression and I knew what I had to do. Gathering all of my acting skills, I slowly lowered myself to my knees and bowed my head in the most humiliating show of loyalty I could think of.

"I hate seeing pokemon hurt more than anything," I began. I was fully aware that my acting skills weren't good enough to keep me from looking disgusted if she forced me to actually watch one of her experiments in the future, so instead of trying I decided I would get that fact out in the open. Then I looked up and locked our gazes. "But I want to help you create a new world, Neptune. Tell me what to do and I'll do it."

It could've been my imagination, but for a moment I thought I saw a look of triumph cross Neptune's delicate features. The expression disappeared as soon as I saw it though, so I wasn't sure. Neptune distracted my thoughts when she nudged my stomach with her knee gently.

"Stand up, Satoshi. There's still one more thing I want to show you," she said with her voice nearly a whisper.

As I pushed myself up, Neptune ordered Tigrice back into his cell and I frowned as I wondered why it didn't seem to have any emotions. Pikachu had been silent throughout the show and when I glanced over at him he gave me an almost imperceptible nod. I knew that he thought I made the right decision, but I also knew that it was making him as sick as I felt. Punctuated by the fact that he had remained silent this entire time

Neptune led me down and back towards Proteus's section of headquarters. I was grateful when we didn't make our way to his lab though. Instead, Neptune led me to what looked to be a storage area of some kind. The room was packed with wooden crates on metal shelving and everything had a clear label marking what they were.

"Flying stones?" I read out loud, looking over at Neptune to confirm. She smiled at me and gestured for me to remove the lid. I did and was surprised to see that there were only four diamond shaped stones that were the palest blue I had ever seen.

"Proteus only discovered the formula recently, but I am quite pleased with the results we have had," Neptune said with a grin. "Unfortunately we ran out of a key component to make them, so we are behind schedule in their creation."

I nodded vaguely, not wishing to know what "component" she was referring to. Scanning the room, I frowned as a thought came to mind and I turned around to pose a question to Neptune.

"Hang on. If we're going to destroy this world, how are you going to get all of this stuff to the new one?"

Neptune smiled at me, seeming genuinely pleased with the question. She hopped up and sat on one of the crates that were stacked on the ground before she began to explain.

"You have heard the story of how Dialga and Palkia are the masters of Time and Space and they are the ones that created this world?" Neptune asked me and I nodded. "I don't have the technology to create a completely different world, but I will use their power to do that as well as destroy this world that they originally created. Instead of allowing them to create a copy of this world, however, I will use the pokemon and everything I have created as a guide for them. That way they can use my new creations to populate our world instead of the tired old pokemon they arbitrarily created themselves."

"But how will you get them to do what you say?" I asked, thinking back to the time when Cyrus had attempted to control Dialga and Palkia in a similar way. The legendaries had gone berserk and they would have destroyed everything if Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf hadn't managed to calm them down.

Neptune smiled again and gave me an approving nod. "I like the way you think, Satoshi. But don't worry. I have come up with a way to not only get the legendaries to do EXACTLY as I say, but I am close to putting the last piece together so that once our world has been created the legendaries will be banished and will never be able to affect our new world again."

My eyes widened in shock at this declaration. Banish the legendary pokemon of creation? How would she do something like that?

The click of the storage door opening sounded behind me, interrupting our conversation. I turned around to see who it was but did not expect the person to be carrying a large box in his arms. I collided with the box, knocking it out of his hands and spilling dozens of deep purple disks onto the ground.

"You idiot, what do you think you're doing?" Neptune snapped, jumping down from the crate and coming over to give her most intimidating glare at the man in a lab coat. He was already frantically picking up the circular stones, looking at each one before placing them back in the overturned crate.

"I'm so sorry, please forgive me," the researcher mumbled frantically as he continued inspecting the stones.

"It was my fault too. Let me help," I offered, gently placing my hands on Neptune's shoulders to ease her to the side so I could kneel down and help the frazzled guy. Neptune sighed with obvious irritation and stepped gingerly over the mess of stones towards the open door.

"Come see me in my office once you've finished, Satoshi. I will give you the details of the hunt I want you to lead," Neptune ordered with one last glare at the researcher before whisking out of the office.

The researcher was muttering to himself under his breath and seemed to have forgotten I was even there. I followed his example and checked each of the stones before placing them in the crate, but when I saw a few stones that had skidded toward the edge of the room, I got an idea. Crawling on hands and knees, I glanced over to confirm the researcher was distracted. Making sure he was facing the other way, I reached out and slipped one of the purple stones into my pocket. Pikachu offered me another stone he had found behind one of the crates and I slipped that one into my other pocket.

Checking quickly to make sure the stones weren't visible in my jumper pockets, I turned and brought the other three stones I had found back to the researcher. He hastily thanked me before carrying the crate back to a shelf that was labeled "Ghost Stone" and placing it carefully in its spot.

I tried to start a conversation with the guy, but he just nervously bowed to me and scuttled away. I frowned, not quite understanding why he would react that way, but I shrugged it off. Neptune had given me a glimpse of her plan, giving me hope that if I kept up the loyal soldier act she would eventually tell me everything Director Falon needed to know in order to make the IIA come in and put a stop to it. Plus, I had just managed to steal two of their lab-grown evolution stones to send back to the IIA for testing... Although HOW I would send them back was a problem I'd have to figure out later.

For now, I left the storage room behind me and made my way to Neptune's office. A ray of hope shone in my dark thoughts.

A/N Hmmm. Don't really know what to say... Thanks for reading! :P