I could feel sweat dripping down my forehead as I positioned the soldering iron underneath a large magnifying glass. This delicate work was painstaking, but I wouldn't trust it with anyone else. Especially since I meant for no one but Proteus to even know that this part of the plan existed. I would have preferred to keep even Proteus in the dark, but I needed a second set of eyes for safety's sake and even if he was a little handsy, he was a hard worker and I trusted his intellect.

"Almost done?" Proteus asked from across the room where he was working on a separate, much larger link than the one I was currently finishing off connecting the electrical currents to make it work.

I carefully dripped the last of the superheated metal to make the final connection and I quickly pulled the soldering iron and the loop of metal solder away from the tiny electrical circuit. Turning off the soldering iron and resting it on its stand to cool down, I inspected my work critically before letting out a satisfied smile.

"Finished," I said with pride. Proteus looked over at me with a congratulatory grin before he left the jumbo version of what was in front of me. We both gazed at the prototype of my greatest invention and I could hardly believe the giddiness that was rushing through me.

"Is it ready to be tested?" Proteus asked, his black eyes glittering with barely contained excitement.

Feeling my own excitement mounting I shook my head briefly before turning and walking over to a cylindrical platform in the middle of the room. I gently laid the shimmering black chain on the white surface and then pressed a button to close the glass dome around it. With another push of a button, the bottom of the white surface under the chain began to glow with a bright red color. The black links sucked in the red glow making the link begin to have a luminescent glow to them, although they remained as black as night.

"Just a few hours should be plenty," I said, the same giddy feeling bubbling inside my chest and making me want to skip around the room like a schoolgirl. I held it in though as I turned and looked up at Proteus. "How are your Ponyta experiments going?"

Proteus seemed reluctant to tear his gaze away from the chain links absorbing power on their stand and look at me. When he did meet my eyes though, I felt myself frown in annoyance.

"I haven't been successful, yet, Neptune. There is only one more Ponyta in our stores to test on, but if my current rate of success remains the same I am going to need at least two more to perfect the transformation," Proteus admitted, sounding disappointed but also firm.

I did appreciate that he understood his limits and the limits of his own knowledge in this groundbreaking work we were doing. But that didn't make me any less annoyed with the fact that he hadn't accomplished the task I had set him to.

"I'll send Satoshi to collect more samples for you then," I responded testily, looking down to check that the power siphoning into the protected dome was remaining constant.

I heard the telltale sound of grinding teeth and I looked up sharply just before Proteus reached out to grab me. He froze at my icy glare, but his anger was not so easily cowed.

"What's going on between you and Major Satoshi?" Proteus asked with a sarcastic slur of the title that I had given him.

Proteus' jealousy was incredibly annoying and I sniffed imperiously at him. "Satoshi is my soldier, Proteus. Do you have a problem with that?"

He scoffed at my response and turned around so swiftly that the bottom of his lab coat brushed against my legs. I watched him stalk over to the large version of the chain that was still charging and sat down with so much force I wondered if he had bruised his tailbone.

Ignoring his temper tantrum, I turned back to my workstation and began cleaning things up. I hated it when things were cluttered. Unfortunately, I had an annoying habit of when I got sucked into a project things would start piling up without me even noticing. As I was cleaning, I felt a buzzing come from my pocket. It was extremely rare for someone to be contacting me when they knew I was working, but I pulled out my communicator and pressed it to my ear.

"What?" I snapped as I continued shuffling papers filled with complicated calculations and designs into a neat stack.

"You may not care," Celeste's usual gruff voice said through the speaker of the communicator pressed to my ear, "but Killian was attacked today and is in the infirmary."

Silence descended around me as all my attention focused on nothing but the feel of the phone against my ear and processing the words that I just heard. A strange numbness descended over my brain. It felt like hours before I could collect myself enough to respond.

"Attacked? Infirmary? Why... How bad...?" my mind was spinning as I tried to grasp what Celeste was saying and it felt like the floor was dropping out from under me. Satoshi was my soldier. He couldn't get injured. He was meant to always be there when I needed him.

"He got torched by a Flamethrower. The doctor is looking at his burns now. His Pikachu is hurt too, several broken bones from what the nurse can tell," Celeste's voice droned on and I stepped backward unsteadily. Strong arms suddenly wrapped around my shoulders and I looked up to see Proteus looking down at me with the most genuinely concerned expression I had ever seen from the normally testy boy.

"What's wrong?" Proteus asked, squeezing me in his strong arms. I felt absolutely nothing as I looked up into his concerned face, though, as I imagined Satoshi burned and in pain.

"I'll be right there," I said into the phone before ending the call and focusing on Proteus. "Stay here," I ordered without any emotion in my voice. 

Proteus frowned and tightened his grip on me but I pushed against his hold and his arms flopped down to his sides as if I had just electrocuted them.

"Watch the chain. Stop the infusion after two hours and do nothing until I return," I ordered in a cool monotone. 

Proteus' eyes scrunched in obvious confusion and he moved to follow me. "Neptune, what..."

"Do as I say!" I snarled, feeling an unusual amount of anger rushing through me as I glared at Proteus. "Satoshi would never question me," I snapped mercilessly at him.

Proteus froze in open shock at my jab, but I simply turned and whisked out of our private lab. This lab was so far underground that it was close to where I kept Detective Looker locked up. I ran for the upper levels of the hideout and tried to remain calm.

Satoshi is my perfect soldier. Perfect soldiers don't die, I thought to myself as I raced for the infirmary. My mind flashed through the names of all of the medical team that I had in headquarters and I wondered why I had ever thought that having only two on hand was enough. I immediately began plans to research and bring the best of the best doctors to Team Galactic. By choice or by force, I didn't care.

I was short of breath by the time I got out of the research section of headquarters and into the main area of the hideout. I raced towards the infirmary, not caring what the grunts thought as I passed them by. My hair was still caught up in a bun and I was wearing my grungiest suit that I only used when I was experimenting or creating things, but none of that even registered as I squealed to a halt outside of the infirmary door. I opened it with so much force that it slammed into the wall behind it, but I was already halfway into the room before it completed its swing.

Celeste's platinum blonde pigtails swished against her shoulders as she jumped and turned to face me after the door banged against the wall. Her deep green eyes widened as she took in my appearance, but I hardly spared her a glance before pushing past her. It didn't take long for my eyes to land on the one occupied bed in the room.

My eyes traveled from Satoshi's face, which was contorted into a mask of pain and his hair plastered to it from sweat, down to his exposed chest. Apparently, the doctor had cut away the top half of his uniform completely and I felt slightly nauseous when I saw that from the base of his neck down to his elbow his left side was all bright red with his skin twisted and puckered and there were even some dry, almost leathery patches.

Satoshi was on his right side and the doctor was carefully removing what looked to be strips of torn cloth which were eliciting several whimpers of pain from my normally strong soldier. Striding forward, I reached out and gripped his uninjured arm tightly as I glared over at the doctor. The man didn't even seem to notice my approach, he was so focused on his work.

Before I could order him to give Satoshi some kind of painkillers before continuing, the arm under my hand tensed and jerked forward, throwing my hand off. I blinked down in shock and felt my entire body freeze when Satoshi's eyes slit open and I could see him looking at me with an emotion that was close to disgust.

"Don't touch me," he whispered before closing his eyes and flinching from whatever the doctor was doing to him. My hand fell to my side, utterly shocked. I quickly shook my head though and focused on the doctor.

"Why haven't you given him any pain medicine? I'm sure we have plenty in stock," I asked forcefully, glaring at the man who had just removed the last of the cloth strips that were covering his burns.

"He refused them, Miss Neptune," the doctor said in a clipped tone as he turned and ran over to a small sink where he washed his hands vigorously before returning to Satoshi's side. He took a tube of medicine that had a distinct scent of Rawst berries when he squeezed some into the palm of his hand.

"I don't care if he refused them, look at him! His body can't handle this level of pain," I growled, pointing at his twisted and sweating face. My point was only punctuated when the doctor carefully dabbed some of the ointment onto the edge of Satoshi's burned back and he let out a howl of pain and gripped the sheets under him so hard his knuckles turned white.

"I understand that, Miss Neptune," the doctor said, not taking his eyes off of Satoshi's back as he carefully and methodically smoothed the ointment onto his burned skin. "But the other doctor was called away due to a training accident, my nurse that normally assists me is caring for Satoshi's injured Pikachu and the other nurse is out buying supplies. Unless you know how to put in an IV drip then please stop distracting me. I need to dress his wounds before Chancey comes in and uses Heal Pulse or his skin will scar or could become infected."

My hands gripped into fists and my vision turned red for a moment at the doctor's impudent tone. I had never wished more that I had some medical training so I could shove this arrogant jerk's ego down his throat. But what was really upsetting me was something else he said.

"WHY is his Pikachu receiving treatment when it could wait until Satoshi gets pain medicine?" I asked, my voice sounding icy even to my own ears. The doctor flinched at my tone and finally glanced up at me, but it wasn't him that responded to me.

"Pikachu is hurt even worse than I am," Satoshi said through grunts and gasps of pain. I looked over at him and was shocked at the strength in his eyes as he glared up at me without fear. "I'm not getting knocked out until I know he's alright."

I met Satoshi's determined eyes even as he grimaced from the pain of his burns and I felt a strange tug in my chest. That Pikachu really is the most important thing to him. That realization had already come to me earlier when I interrogated him after he got back from his mission to capture ice types, but part of me had wanted to believe that his loyalty to me was even stronger. Now I couldn't deny it any longer.

If his Pikachu were to not recover... for several seconds I contemplated how I could remove this nuisance from the equation. However, knowing how strongly Satoshi felt for his Pikachu I was certain things would not go favorably for me if I were to get rid of it too soon. This was going to take some careful planning, but for now, I needed to remind Satoshi of the proper attitude to have with me.

I stuck out my hand in front of me within an inch of his hand that was clutching his bedsheets and allowed my face to become a mask of quiet intimidation. A wariness took over Satoshi's expression as he regarded my hand and I was glad to see that his previous rudeness at tossing my hand off was probably due to the pain he was in.

"Hold my hand," I ordered firmly. 

The doctor must have hit a particularly tender spot because Satoshi gave a muffled cry as he bit his bottom lip and gripped the sheets even tighter. Tears were dripping slowly from the corner of his eyes but after taking a second to gather himself he looked up at me again. I wasn't sure why he felt so reluctant about this order, but I wasn't going to allow anyone but me to be by his side.

"Either hold my hand until the nurse finishes with your Pikachu or I will order her back here now to give you pain medicine," I said darkly, not dropping my hand from where it was in easy access to him.

Satoshi's eyes widened and I thought I saw a brief look of something akin to hate in his eyes before he let out a shuddering sigh. With obvious difficulty, Satoshi released his grip on the bed sheets with his left hand and I watched as his shaking hand reached out and took mine. I was briefly surprised at how large his hands were compared to mine. Satoshi was a little above average in height, but he seemed short compared to Proteus so I was surprised when his hands were nearly equal in size.

Once Satoshi's hand was securely in mine, I glanced over my shoulder at Celeste and the other grunts gathered in the infirmary. Most of them were watching me with shock evident in their expressions, all except for Celeste and one of the grunts that had gone with Satoshi to capture ice types. Celeste was regarding me with a cautious confusion that actually resembled fear and Marcus was completely ignoring me and was staring at Satoshi with a look of pure guilt on his face. My eyes narrowed at that expression, but I would figure out HOW this had happened once I was certain that Satoshi would be healed.

"Get me a chair," I ordered gruffly to the group as a whole. 

A small pause followed as the grunts all looked at each other, but eventually, one peeled off from the group and fetched me a chair as instructed. I sat down, holding Satoshi's hand firmly before making my face as hard as I could, and addressed the whole group again.

"Leave."

Everyone but Celeste flinched at my curt command. They all immediately bowed toward me, but I noticed that most of them looked worriedly at Satoshi. From the corner of my eye, I saw him give them a tired smile before they turned and left the infirmary. Celeste, however, stayed put. I was in no mood to have an argument with my opinionated captain though, so I turned my back on her.

"Don't you have things to do, Celeste?" I asked while watching the doctor. He had moved on from spreading the ointment on Satoshi's back and was now working on his neck and shoulder.

"I could ask you the same thing," Celeste responded quietly. I frowned at that and glanced over my shoulder to see that she was looking down and seemed to be conflicted.

Ever since I took Celeste under my wing after her mother's death, she had lost the innocent happiness that I witnessed in her as a child. She always wore a tough exterior to keep a distance between herself and other people. However, as I observed her I realized that maybe her issue with Satoshi hadn't been that she disliked him after all.

Sorry, Celeste, I thought inwardly as I turned my back on her once again. I'm already giving you the opportunity to restart your life. I have no interest in sharing my soldier with you.

"Our Ponyta inventory is low, Celeste. I want that rectified within three days." I could hear Celeste shuffling and she took a breath, probably to argue with me, but I didn't allow her to speak. "You are dismissed, Captain."

A small clack of teeth snapping together was all I needed to know that Celeste had understood my tone. Like the smart girl she was, I heard the swish of cloth from her bowing to me before she turned and walked out of the infirmary, closing the door behind her quietly. I glanced out of the corner of my eye to look at Satoshi and saw that he was regarding me with an unreadable expression and his grip on my hand loosened.

"What do you need more Ponyta for?" he asked between winces as the doctor transitioned to his arm. I wondered if the pain that he was in was making his tongue a little looser than usual.

"I have a certain quota I like to maintain for each species that we collect," I responded coolly. Satoshi did not seem convinced, but he dropped the topic, proving again that even now he truly was my perfect soldier.

Well.. nearly perfect, I corrected myself as I thought of how stubborn he was being about his nuisance of a pokemon partner.

The doctor continued spreading the ointment and he must have found a deeper burn because Satoshi let out a horrendous roar of pain. His grip on my hand tightened so much that my knuckles were ground together painfully and I couldn't keep a wince from off my face. The doctor shook his head and muttered to himself about false bravado, but Satoshi soon calmed down and flopped his head back on the pillow as his hand went slack in mine.

"Sorry," he panted out and I couldn't help but frown heavily.

"What happened, Satoshi?" I asked quietly. I had been planning to wait until he was healed to question him, but seeing him in this much pain made me want to hunt down whoever dared to harm my soldier and make them pay tenfold.

Satoshi shook his head with a grimace, apparently in too much pain to shrug. "Some random trainer with a grudge against Team Galactic picked a fight with me. He pulled out a Gliscor though and Pikachu got hurled into a tree. When he brought out a Salamence Pikachu used up all the rest of his energy and I had to protect him."

My mouth dropped open in shock and I gripped Satoshi's hand so hard he flinched.

"You got these burns... because you took a blow for your pokemon?" I asked slowly, enunciating my words as I tried to keep the rage from my voice. Satoshi nodded with his eyes closed, but his face was calm and I could almost see him thinking that it had been the obvious choice in the situation.

My feelings were a writhing mess of shrieking serpents as I tried to remain outwardly calm. THIS was precisely what made Satoshi so uniquely qualified to be my soldier. He was blindly loyal and would do anything to protect others... but I HATED that he would protect someone other than me. I wanted him to be MY soldier and no one else's.

A female nurse and her Chansey walked into the room at that point. She looked terrified when she saw me, and I realized that this was the daughter of one of my business partners. He had been more than happy to provide me with his daughter's medical services in exchange for some high-demand stocks, but she was terrified of me, and rightfully so.

She managed to stutter out that Satoshi's Pikachu was resting and was out of any immediate danger before she quickly joined the doctor on the other side of Satoshi and helped apply the last of the ointment on his burns. An IV drip with liquid and painkillers was inserted swiftly into a vein in Satoshi's hand that was not holding mine and almost instantly his whole body relaxed and his hand went completely limp in my own. The Chansey began to use Heal Pulse on Satoshi's burn and I decided that there was somewhere else that I should be.

Leaving the doctor and nurse duo with strict instructions to alert me the moment Satoshi woke up, I left the infirmary with my head held high. As I walked back towards the research labs I undid my hair from its messy bun and walked with poise as I reflected on what had happened and how I reacted to it. I knew myself well, and I wasn't exactly shocked that the news of my soldier being injured sent me into a mini panic. I WAS surprised at the seething jealousy that still continued to plague me as I thought of Satoshi risking his life for his Pikachu.

There were two things that were clear to me now. 1. Satoshi needed to focus on expanding his team instead of relying on his nuisance of a Pikachu. If he had other pokemon of my choosing to bond with perhaps he wouldn't be quite as focused on his 'partner'. And 2. Satoshi would never truly be loyal to ONLY me unless I could insert the loyalty genome into him somehow.

The second point was what guided me down to the genetic experimentation wing of the research labs. It only took me a few tries to find where Madeleine was. I waited patiently outside of the lab with a large capsule filled with water and a Staraptor bobbing up and down in the water. Small tubes were connected into four different spots on the Staraptor's head and I silently observed Madeleine who had goggles that completely sealed her eyes from seeing anything but what they were showing her. Madeleine's hands were covered in specialized gloves that were designed so that the microscopic robots that were implanted into the Staraptor's brain on the end of the tubes that I could see with my bare eyes would move as she moved.

I watched with bated breath as she moved her fingers with delicate, surgical precision. I could not see what she was manipulating, but I assumed that she was attempting to insert the loyalty genome at the precise moment one of the Staraptor's brain cells split so that the somatic cells would then take on the mutation and grow it naturally until it became an actual code in its genetic makeup.

My excitement plummeted when Madeleine's fingers began to fly in the air and her entire body tensed as she tried to rectify whatever was happening on the screen in front of her eyes. After several moments, she tapped the back of her hands together, shutting off the communication between her gloves and the tiny robots she had been controlling, and ripped her goggles off her face. She slumped into a chair next to her workbench and let out a long sigh.

Frowning lightly, I walked over and placed a hand on Madeleine's shoulder. The scientist jerked at my unexpected touch. When she met my eyes her disappointment seemed to crash onto her like a physical weight and she slumped down in her chair once again.

"It's not working, Neptune," Madeleine admitted with obvious frustration in her voice. "Even if I manage to insert the genome the cells will either reject it and shrivel up, or it causes a trigger of almost cancerous mutations that ultimately kill the specimen. I didn't create this to be inserted into a living being!"

I frowned heavily at Madeleine's pessimism. Her thirst for discovery was one of the things that had allowed us to create all of the incredible advances and mutated pokemon that we had to boast of. If I didn't understand science at the level I did though, I would tell her to just try harder. However, I understood I was asking something that had never before been attempted in this format so I needed to support her.

"Have you tried radiation?" I asked, hopefully derailing her spiral into hopelessness and pulling her into a new train of thought. It appeared to work because Madeleine blinked and looked up at me with obvious confusion.

"Radiation? We can't use radiation to insert a new set of DNA into cells, Neptune. It breaks down cells or fries them so they can't replicate," Madeleine explained with a confused frown. I nodded in agreement but then glanced over at the Staraptor still floating in the tube of water.

"What if you expose a subject to a weak form of radiation, just enough to start the breakdown process of a cell, THEN try to introduce the new genome. It may be that the cells that do succeed in replicating would be more likely to carry on the new genome since it will strengthen them."

Madeleine immediately opened her mouth, ready to debate my suggestion, but then she paused and slowly closed her mouth. She appeared to be pondering something deeply and I remained silent to allow her time to mull things over. After several minutes of silence, she finally let out another sigh and held her hands up in defeat.

"Alright, Neptune. It's worth a shot," she agreed tiredly. I patted her on the shoulder encouragingly before slowly turning and leaving her to her work.

It will take time, I thought to myself as I slowly walked towards the research lab where Proteus should be waiting for me to return. But I WILL have my perfect soldier.

A/N Blech a blah! Goodness, Neptune is one messed up chick. Writing from her POV is oddly fun, but also slightly creepy. Also, just a reminder that this is a purely fictitious story. I try my best to incorporate true facts, but I am no genetic scientist, so if things seem weird it's because it's just a story :P I hope you all enjoyed the chapter