Ash's POV

It was nearly dawn by the time the blizzard had blown itself out. Serena and I had managed to keep each other awake by trading stories about our childhood throughout the long night since we were afraid of falling asleep and catching hypothermia.

It had been a little weird to have Serena tell me about the pokemon camp where she met me as a kid and how much that interaction affected her. She sounded so sad when she talked about how she worried she'd never meet Ash again and she always kept a handkerchief I wrapped around her injured knee as a kind of talisman. I wished desperately that I could tell her that I was really me... but I promised myself that once Team Galactic had been taken care of once and for all, I would request a vacation from duty and I'd explain everything to her and beg her forgiveness.

I was shocked at how stiff I had become in the hours that Serena and I huddled against the cold. But I forced myself to move through the pain as I pushed aside the large branch to let everyone out into the open. Stars still twinkled in the predawn sky and I couldn't help but admire the beautiful sight for a moment. That moment passed when Serena walked out and immediately began shivering though.

When I reached out my hand, Serena immediately slipped her smaller one inside it and gave me a tired smile. Absol didn't look pleased with our joined hands, but he didn't say anything as he walked along close to Serena's other side. Finding the ride a little squished, Pikachu wiggled his way out of Serena's jacket and jumped over to my shoulder before he dived into the small opening at the top of my jacket. Once he was comfortable I held him against me with my free arm, enjoying the warmth his little body transferred into my chest as Serena and I walked through the silent forest.

We passed the clearing where Serena had been attacked by the gang of Sneasel, but all of them must have headed home when they woke up because there was no sign of them now. Part of me had wanted them to be waiting for us so I could let Pikachu teach them a lesson, but Serena was still shivering as she followed behind me so I put thoughts of revenge from my mind and forged forward. Although it was Absol that ended up leading us out of the forest and towards the path that led us to Snowpoint.

Serena sighed in obvious relief as the small, snow-covered city came into view and she gripped my hand tightly in her gloved one. Now she became the leader, and I followed her along until we got to a small neighborhood near the pokemon gym. The sun had just started peeking out from behind the mountains and Serena was eagerly pulling me towards a small, tan-colored house near the end of the street.

Serena jumped when a bang sounded from that very house and we watched as a person wrapped in snow clothes leaped from the house and began running down the street. Bree came to a skidding halt when she saw us all walking toward her and I heard her let out a cry of relief.

"Serena! Oh my gosh, Serena!" Bree raced through the undisturbed snow left behind by the blizzard and slammed into Serena, wrapping her in a tight hug and yanking her hand out of mine from the force of her hug. "The snow started to fall and I tried to find you, but Samantha said I'd get lost and I've been waiting for the snow to stop... what happened to you?! Do you have any idea how scared I was?"

Serena rubbed Bree's arm soothingly while trying to push her back a bit so she'd stop suffocating Misteon who was trapped between the two hugging girls. Surprisingly, Absol came and sat down next to me, watching the display of affection with obvious distaste. I reached over and ruffled the shock of fur hanging down the side of his face and he glared up at me with annoyance.

"Thanks for protecting Serena, Absol," I said quietly, giving Serena time to calm down her frantic friend. 

Absol looked away, his expression seeming almost awkward as he huffed out a foggy breath. Chuckling to myself, I patted his head, not caring if he found it annoying or not. I heard Serena say my name and suddenly Bree stepped back, looking over at me like she had just at this moment realized I was there.

"Satoshi? What are you doing here?" she asked in bewilderment. I shrugged and gestured toward Serena.

"She can tell you later. Can you get her warmed up? It was a bit of a rough night," I said, noticing that Serena still hadn't stopped shivering, even after being glomped by Bree.

"Of course! Both of you come in. I'll get some hot chocolate and soup going," Bree offered while wrapping an arm around Serena's shoulders and gesturing for me to follow her. I reluctantly took a step back though and shook my head.

"I have to get back to my coworkers. They probably think I got lost or something," I said while gesturing back toward the forest.

"But you need to eat something at least," Serena protested, looking close to tears. I gave her a confident smile, though, and waved my hand in a soothing gesture.

"I'll be fine. You go get warmed up," I insisted, taking another step back. My eyes widened when Serena broke away from Bree though and rushed over to me. She was soon wrapping one arm around my back and burying her face up against my chest in a hug while holding Misteon gently against herself to keep him from being squished again.

Feeling myself smile, I gently wrapped one arm around her waist and the other cupped the back of her head. Serena was trembling slightly and I slowly rubbed her back and wondered if I had ever enjoyed holding another person as much as Serena. Oddly enough, it felt like she fit perfectly inside my arms and I really didn't want to let her go.

"Thank you for saving me. Again," Serena mumbled into my shoulder. I chuckled and moved back slightly so I could rub Misteon's head gently.

"You're the one who saved Misteon; it's only fair someone saved you too," I said with a grin. Pikachu pushed himself out of my jacket and climbed onto Serena's shoulder, rubbing her gently with his fuzzy cheeks and patting Misteon on one of his ears affectionately.

"Do you really have to go?" Serena asked, pulling away from my chest to look up at me with shimmering eyes. 

I frowned as I realized that each time I had to say goodbye to Serena it was getting harder to actually leave. But my determination to see my mission through had only increased after spending more time with Serena so I forced myself to nod.

"They're probably getting panicked by now," I said, wondering how the grunts actually would react when I made my way back to them. It was a 50/50 toss-up between whether they had assumed I was dead and left me behind, or they had completely broken down without any leadership and were sniveling in a group, wondering what to do.

"I'll see you again, though, right?" Serena asked, stepping just a little closer to me as she looked up into my eyes. I wasn't sure what prompted me to do it, but I leaned down a bit and pressed my cracked lips against the lip of her hat just above her forehead. Pulling back I grinned at her and nodded.

"'Course you will. I'll look for you next time I'm sent out to catch some more pokemon."

Serena blinked and slowly touched her gloved fingertips against the spot I had kissed, looking completely stunned. Realizing I had done something strange, I awkwardly stepped away from her and held out my arm for Pikachu which prompted him to jump over and take his usual spot on my shoulder. We both waved silently to Serena and Misteon as I walked backward a few steps. Bree's silhouette caught my eye and I waved to her as well before turning and jogging away.

"Pipi chu pika pikachu," Pikachu said with a chuckle as I jogged out of the residential area and towards the shopping district of Snowpoint.

"Oh, shut up," I mumbled, wondering myself what had come over me to make me kiss Serena like that. It had been instinctual, plain and simple, and there was nothing I could do to take it back.

At least she didn't hate it, I thought grimly to myself as her shocked expression floated through my mind's eye.

Shaking my head to banish the image, I pulled up my navigation device and made my way steadily toward a small cafe that had just barely opened for the day. It didn't take long for a teenage girl sporting a belt filled with Pokeballs to walk up to the cafe and open the door without hesitation. I waited in the shadows of another building for a few minutes before the girl walked out holding a to-go cup in each hand and sat down on one of two tables set up under the shop's awning, protected from the snow.

"I guess that's our cue, buddy," I whispered to Pikachu. Walking as casually as I could, I made my way to what anyone would assume was a normal trainer and sat down across from her. Flame-red hair peeked out from under her beanie and before she had even looked up at me I instantly knew who Director Falon had sent.

"Hullo, Isla," I greeted her with a cheery grin. Isla Falon, Director Falon's daughter, sniffed with obvious annoyance and pushed one of the styrofoam cups toward me.

"You're late, Ketchum." Isla's words were as frosty as the air and I grimaced slightly, wondering what I had ever done to make her dislike me.

"I got caught in the blizzard. How's your pokemon journey going?" I asked, gesturing to her outfit which was supposed to make her look like a normal gym challenger.

"I've been trying to figure out Celeste's recruitment pattern," Isla replied with a frown, keeping her voice low even though it seemed like we were the only two people in this sleepy town. "The analysts can't find any pattern to it at all, and we always hear about it days after the meetings happen. I don't get it."

"I can try to ask Celeste. She's been more friendly with me since I got promoted," I offered, but Isla shook her head.

"You can't look too nosy, Ketchum. Just stick to Neptune and I'll work on Celeste. Besides," Isla pulled a badge case out of her pocket and displayed the six pins all placed proudly inside. "I'm kicking people's butts. I haven't had this much fun in years."

I couldn't help but smile at that and Isla smirked in self-satisfaction. She caught me up on the information that the IIA analysts had gleaned from what I had told them and putting together clues. I was shocked to find out that they had linked more than a dozen missing-person cases to Team Galactic and I frowned heavily when I found out that most of the missing people were molecular scientists or engineers.

"Do you think it's possible she's making these people create her new materials and pokemon?" Isla asked in a hushed whisper, taking a sip of her drink. I had forced myself to drink as much of the bitter concoction as I could stand but I pushed the rest of it away as my mind turned to the researchers I had seen in headquarters.

"It wouldn't surprise me," I agreed after a pause. "When I snatched the evolution stones the researcher looked absolutely terrified of Neptune. I mean, more than usual. He wouldn't even look me in the eye before he went back to work."

"Speaking of which, we should probably stop stalling and get this over with, huh?" Isla said, looking around to make sure that there wasn't anyone in the vicinity before moving one hand stealthily under the table.

Knowing what was coming, I grimaced slightly before pulling the remaining ghost stone out of my pocket and placing it into her hand. Isla didn't move, looking at me expectantly, and I pulled my hand from under the table to rub the back of my neck.

"Ketchum..." Isla prompted with obvious annoyance and I sighed.

"There was a complication. An Eevee was dying and the only thing I could think was to use the evolution stone to save it," I said quietly. Isla's eyes widened and her cheeks turned red as her temper flared visibly.

"You USED it on a pokemon?!" Isla whisper-yelled harshly and I nodded. "What were you thinking, Ketchum? Where is it?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, glancing over at Pikachu who had stiffened visibly at her demanding question.

"Don't be an idiot, where is the pokemon you evolved? We can't just let one of Neptune's experiments wander around in the wild! What if she sees it and realizes that you stole from her?" Isla hissed, banging a clenched fist onto the table to enunciate her point. I jumped at the unexpected sound and glanced around, making sure we were still alone in the early morning light.

"It's not wild. There was a civilian that saved it from being beaten to death and it chose to stay with her," I explained, trying to keep my voice soothing to assuage her mounting anger.

"A civilian?! You entrusted an experimental pokemon to a CIVILIAN?!" Isla spluttered, looking like she was about to pop a blood vessel.

"I can see you are upset..." I began to say, trying my best to mimic one of the therapists that had given us a crash course on Behavioralism back in my training days. Unfortunately, Isla had been in that training too and was NOT amused.

"Who is she," she muttered darkly under her breath, looking like she wanted to leap from her seat and strangle me. My entire body stiffened though and I leveled a glare at Isla which actually made her eyes widen with shock.

"I'm not telling you," I declared firmly.

"You what?" Isla spluttered, her mouth opening and closing with incredulity. "You are ENDANGERING a civilian by letting her keep it. You do know that?"

"She promised she won't let anyone know where it came from," I said firmly.

I recalled how the conversation had come about last night about what to do with Misteon. Serena suggested that he go free, but to my surprise, Misteon had vehemently objected to that idea and made it clear he would not be parted from Serena. I'd already inflicted enough harm on it by forcing it to evolve, so I wasn't about to take it away from Serena who he had obviously bonded with. I knew that even if the IIA wasn't a bad organization, they would definitely want to analyze Misteon for themselves, so I decided this would be the best thing for him, to hide him away with Serena. Although I had made her swear on her life she would never tell anyone how Misteon evolved.

"You can't just take her for her word. How did you even meet this civilian? Do you know her?" Isla's questions were rapid-fire and filled with anger, but I didn't let up my glare as I folded my arms firmly.

"You've got what you came for. I'm going back now before they leave me behind," I said firmly, standing up and turning away briskly.

"Ketchum, I'm not done with you!" Isla called after me, looking like she was about to follow me. I turned and narrowed my eyes at her, and I was surprised when she actually flinched and stood rooted to the spot.

"I don't take orders from you, Agent Falon," I said slowly, enunciating her low rank. Isla's mouth snapped shut and she glared with more loathing than I had seen from her since I had beaten her in our game of Capture the Flag and her mom had praised me.

Turning away before she could come up with a retort, I jogged away, leaving her and her bitter coffee behind. I was majorly regretting not ordering a scone or something from the cafe an hour later as I forced my way through the deep snow and towards the place we had parked the jet near Lake Acuity.

"KILLIAN!" A piercing shriek cut through the silence, slicing right through my eardrums and making my poor head ring.

"It's great to feel needed, huh, Pikachu?" I asked sarcastically as I heard a chorus of terrified grunts calling out my alias like their lives depended on it.

"Pika pikachu," Pikachu huffed, turning his nose up at the pathetic calls for help.

"I know it's their own fault for robbing the nest... but they did wait for us. Plus, I don't think Neptune would be happy if we let pokemon rough up her grunts."

"Pichu pika," Pikachu muttered darkly and held on tight as I ran towards the frightened voices.

When we got to the source of the commotion I grimaced as I realized that Pikachu's warning might just have been misinterpreted by the pokemon I released. Instead of hiding, my group of five grunts was completely surrounded by ice types. There were a few Froslass, several irritated Glalie, a handful of Weavile, even an Abomasnow had joined the fray. The grunts had obviously exhausted their pokemon reserve and were all huddled against each other, trembling fearfully and looking like they were about to wet themselves.

"This might be a bit of a workout, Pikachu," I said, glancing over at him to see how he was faring. Surprisingly, he looked raring to go and I shook my head.

Note to self: Don't tell Ice Types that there is a crazy group trying to collect you so they can dissect you and use your body parts to create new pokemon. It creates a mob.

"Let's get their attention with Discharge, buddy."

Pikachu didn't hesitate. He leaped from my shoulder and in midair called down dozens of slivers of electricity that shocked and sizzled against the cold Ice Types. The grunts all cowered away from the light display and I reached up to turn my cap to face backward... but found I wasn't wearing one.

Man, Serena is right. I really do miss being a trainer, I thought to myself before refocusing on the multiple opponents that Pikachu had to face.

"Let's do this."

Neptune's POV

It usually wasn't worth my time to be upset when one of my incompetent researchers messed up. It's not like most of them were working out of anything but fear for their loved ones' lives after all, which often made for stress and nervousness. However, I DID find issue when they made mistakes that caused unnecessary delays. Such as having to search the storage room inch by inch to find two missing ghost evolution stones.

"If they broke when you dumped them on the ground just tell me and I will spare at least one of your children. Are you really willing to condemn all of your posterity to extinction?" I snapped, feeling my irritation mounting at the sniveling man on his knees in front of me.

"No, please, Miss Neptune! I promise, there were no damaged stones after they spilled. Please forgive me. Don't hurt my family!" I felt my frown deepen at the man's hysteria. Even though I wanted to blame him, something about his pitiful excuses and cries for mercy rang true to me.

Blowing out a perturbed sigh through my nose I waved the man away, not wishing to hear his sniveling any longer. The man bowed low to the ground, thanking me profusely, before dashing away. As he made his escape I felt my lips tighten in a straight line as I recalled what happened that day in the storage room. Satoshi had stayed behind to gallantly help the idiot who had knocked over my evolution stones, and I had thought nothing of it since I knew that was part of Satoshi's personality. But with the stones still missing and having combed over the storage unit there was really only one explanation.

But why would he take the stones? I thought to myself in frustration.

As much as I wanted to believe in Satoshi and his blind faith in me, I had seen how upset he was when witnessing Soleon's evolution. The creature's tears moved Satoshi and brought out more genuine emotion than I had ever seen from him before. And I also recalled how dissatisfied he appeared when I showed him Tigrice. It hadn't escaped my notice when I had stroked Tigrice's cheek and Satoshi frowned when there was no reaction. My thoughts turned to his Pikachu that was a constant nuisance on his shoulder and I wondered if he really was willing to abandon this world and the pokemon he clearly loved in order to join me in a new world of my creation.

As my thoughts swirled in a turmoil of frustration, I realized that it was far past the time Satoshi should have been back from his hunt, which only worsened my mood. I had nearly given up on my dream of having someone completely loyal to me for no reason other than their conviction and personality. Satoshi had come into Team Galactic like a breath of fresh air. His enthusiasm and simpleness were exactly what I had envisioned when I pictured my loyal sidekick, and I admitted that I may have pushed him too fast into that role without considering his past more fully.

"If there was just a way to adjust his priorities..." I muttered to myself quietly as I paced in the storage area. My eyes widened as an idea came to me and I could feel my lips cracking apart as a grin took over my face.

Forgetting the issue of my missing evolution stones, for now, I rushed to the area of headquarters where all of my genetic experimentation was done. Pulling aside the head scientist, I excitedly explained my idea and the woman's mouth dropped open in absolute horror.

"You want me to replicate the loyalty genome in Tigrice in a HUMAN?" she asked in shock and I could feel my whole body thrumming with excitement.

"It can be done, can't it?" I demanded as I thought of my most perfect creation.

Tigrice was the culmination of all of my experimentation and dreams of creating the ultimate pokemon. It had the stamina and power of a mythical pokemon, we added DNA adapters so that it could learn a multitude of different moves and not be constrained to just ice type moves, and the best feature was the "loyalty genome". This added strand of DNA made it so the pokemon would feel completely and unbreakably loyal toward the first human it came in contact with. Almost the way that a ducklett would imprint with the first pokemon it came in contact with even if it wasn't its true mother.

"Neptune, we created Tigrice practically from square one. He was grown and cultivated, so adding that genome was just inserting a piece into an incomplete puzzle. Adding it to a human being would be like trying to reach blindly into the most complicated knot ever created and HOPING that what you attached won't make everything unravel into an irrecoverable mess." 

My excitement cooled into a wave of icy anger as I glared at the only woman in the world I had ever considered my equal when it came to intelligence. "Madeleine, where did your thirst for discovery go?" I sneered, but it changed to a smirk when her cheeks reddened in a blush of shame.

"Of course I would WANT to do the experiments," she said with a huff before frowning at me. "But I can't in good conscience run my tests on human beings!"

"Start with pokemon then," I retorted with a dismissing wave of my hand. "Take whatever and however many you need from our stores. Major Satoshi has already increased our capture rate by 30% just through his training. Now that he is joining the hunts we'll soon have more test subjects than we know what to do with," I said with a grin.

I knew that, for now, Satoshi had committed himself to help me. But until I understood why he had taken those evolution stones I would have to be careful not to upset him too much. It was weak of me, I knew, but I didn't want to lose my soldier I had waited so long for. A sigh from Madeleine pulled me from my thoughts and I looked over at her in exasperation.

"I'm happy to do the experiments until I get it right on a pokemon... But there is no guarantee that the process will be the same between a pokemon and a human, Neptune. Genetic mutation of that level is extremely delicate. I am going to eventually have to do human testing... is that really okay with you?" she asked with pleading in her eyes. I rolled my own eyes at her and crossed my arms.

"They're all going to die anyway, Madeleine. Why should we care if we create a few extra vegetables in the process?" 

Madeleine flinched at my choice of words and I briefly felt the faintest hint of guilt. I didn't know everything about Madeleine's past, but I did know that when she had once been hailed as the leading geneticist in the Kalos region she had conducted an experiment on her research assistant that should have had a margin of error of .005%... but it had ended with her assistant slipping into a coma and Madeleine losing her medical research association. She had jumped at the chance at getting back to her research under my funding and readily accepted my plan to create a new world far away from the region that belittled her and called her a witch (among other things). However, I knew she had been traumatized at the loss of her assistant, so I tried to smooth my features into a sympathetic expression.

"I promise that I am not planning to create a world of genetically loyal zombies, Madeleine. I just need the genome in one person. Please, can't you help me? No one else could pull it off." Madeleine glanced between me and the floor as she debated within herself and I patiently waited for my desired outcome. When she finally nodded, I forced myself to keep a neutral expression as I thanked her quietly.

"But what about when I need to move on to human testing? Who will we use?" she asked with obvious reluctance. An evil smirk bloomed across my lips as my mind called up the image of the person I hated more than anything else in this cursed world.

"I have the perfect test subject for you. And if you need more than one I can find several suitable options," I said, turning around so I wouldn't have to hide my gleeful grin. Madeleine didn't answer, but she didn't object either, so I left her to start her new line of experiments.

My feet led me almost on autopilot to the very depths of headquarters. The farther down into the belly of Mount Coronet I traveled, the colder it got, and also more eerily silent. There were hollowed-out caves spotting the tunnels where Aron and Lairon used to inhabit, but I had either chased them out or imprisoned them long ago when I first began building Team Galactic's headquarters.

The silence was broken by a carefree whistling that caused me to grind my teeth in annoyance. Why can't this man just wallow in his misery properly? How can he be so calm when he hasn't seen the sunlight in months? 

Making sure to hide away my annoyance behind a composed mask, I entered the code only three people knew before striding into the dark dungeon and walking over to a cell that was secured not only with high voltage bars, but also a force field that my team had spent years developing for the express purpose of keeping this man in.

The man inside the cell was gaunt and pale, looking nothing like the robust man who had stormed my Grandfather's workroom and destroyed our life's work. He turned from where he had been leaning against the sidewall of his cell to look at me and I couldn't keep myself from smirking. His once dark brown hair had become almost completely gray in his months of imprisonment, and his clothes were tattered and worn, a far cry from his smart trench coat that he had always worn.

"Why, Miss Neptune, what a pleasure to see you. Have you been well?" Detective Looker asked with a cheerfulness I hated and I glared at him.

"You seem to forget that I am your captor, Detective. NOT your friend," I hissed spitefully towards the man wasting away in front of me. I was making sure he was being fed and I hated poor hygiene so there was a working toilet and shower in his cell so he could remain clean, but the lack of movement and Vitamin D best absorbed from the sun was taking its toll on the once-proud detective and I relished that.

"Once I extend my friendship to someone I do not take it back, young lady. Even if you betrayed me, I will still hold out hope for you," Detective Looker said with a carefree smile and I tried to hold in my urge to puke.

"You killed my only family. Just after he had accepted me, no less. You will forever be my enemy, make no mistake," I snarled angrily at the man who had taken away the only place I had ever belonged in this world not once, but twice.

"I didn't kill your Grandfather," Detective Looker said firmly, looking serious for once and I laughed bitterly.

"You condemned him to a cell ten times worse than this. He was an old man and he died because you couldn't leave well enough alone," I snapped angrily, picturing my grandfather weak and shriveled in his cold cell when I had visited him in prison and he was too weak to even come to the visiting rooms.

"He was planning to destroy the world, Neptune," Detective Looker said placatingly.

Before I could stop myself I grabbed a Pokeball from my pocket and threw it straight at the force field. A bolt of electricity sprouted from the point of impact and raced to the nearest human body, which happened to be the detective. I smirked in satisfaction as Detective Looker writhed from the impact momentarily before collapsing on the ground with a groan of pain.

Something tapped my side and I looked down to see my beautiful Bisharp holding out his Pokeball that I threw and offering it back to me. Bisharp had been one of the first pokemon I had ever evolved myself and also the first pokemon I had genetically mutated. He had retained his steel typing, but, through tampering with his DNA, I had managed to make his secondary typing Fighting like a Lucario. His armor, which used to be a deep red color, was now burnt orange with copper accents, and his razor arms could morph into steel-plated fists, or elongate into wicked swords on command. I stroked the side of his head adoringly before returning him to his Pokeball and looking over at Detective Looker as he shakily pushed himself back into a sitting position.

"We were not going to destroy this world, Detective," I said quietly, feeling my animosity for the man who ruined everything build up. "That was Cyrus's plan. Grandpa and I were going to simply create a new world for Team Galactic where we could live in peace without meddling people like you butting into our business. But when Grandpa died, I decided that he had been much too soft-hearted. If you all believed us capable of destroying this world, then I am happy to live up to those expectations." Detective Looker's eyes widened and I grinned at him. "But don't worry. I have come up with an appropriate punishment for you. You are going to help me so that my soldier will never question me again." 

Detective Looker stood up, shuffling towards the force field and looking like he was about to try and argue with me, but I was done with him for now. Turning abruptly, I left his cell, ignoring his shouts as I left him to stew over his wrongdoings and what they would ultimately cost him.

A/N Alllllllllrighty then. Goodness, I get so creeped out when I write in Neptune's POV :P Things are getting pretty heavy now, huh? Thanks for everyone reading this! I hope you are enjoying it as we are getting close to the climax :D And sorry for such a long chapter...