It didn't escape me that Mr. Undercover had taken Serena's hand at some point during the endless journey through the hallways carved into the mountain. I also did not fail to notice the blush on Serena's face or her obvious attempts to hide her happiness. At any other time, I would have wanted to tease her mercilessly... But right now the only thing I could think of was: If Satoshi was here, with us... then where was Aryan?

He's fine, Bree, I mentally scolded myself. Aryan's ridiculously strong. No way anything could take him down.

I hardly even noticed when we suddenly left the hallways and I found myself in a hangar with more jets and small airplanes than I'd ever seen in my life. The room was suspiciously empty though and I nervously jogged after Satoshi and Serena as he led us across the hangar over to where a metal G was hung up on the wall. He pressed some kind of switch which opened a doorway and I continued to follow after him silently. This hallway was not as well-lit as the main paths that we'd been traveling through previously, but I didn't comment since Satoshi continued leading us forward.

When we came up to a large door Satoshi held out the hand not holding Serena's and hesitantly placed it on the scanner. He breathed a sigh of relief when the scanner turned green and the door began to open painfully slowly. I moved to go through the door but was surprised when Satoshi suddenly sprang in front of me, stopping me in my tracks.

"What?" I asked quietly and Satoshi shook his head quickly.

"All these doors that lead into headquarters are booby-trapped. You have to let it open all the way before you go through or else you'll get shot with paralytic darts," Satoshi stated seriously. 

I blinked, wanting to laugh out loud at this ludicrous claim. Yet his face held no sign of joking so I swallowed my laugh and nodded in understanding.

It was nearly torturous to wait for the door to creak its way open. But once it was fully open Satoshi motioned for us to remain quiet as he walked into the hallway. Satoshi looked both ways but then did a double take down the hallway on his right. I looked over that way as well and was shocked when I saw scorch marks on the weirdly white floor and walls. The hallway was empty but Satoshi's frown made it obvious that he found this very strange.

"Does Aryan have any fire types?" Satoshi asked quietly, pulling Serena slowly into the hallway as the door began to close.

"Yes. He has a Pyroar. It's super strong too," I whispered.

"Crap," Satoshi muttered under his breath. "Stick close. If anyone comes out of their labs just get behind me."

"Pft," I scoffed automatically. Satoshi gave me a half-smile but didn't comment and cautiously began to move down the hallway toward the scorch marks.

I frowned when I glanced to my left and realized that most of the workstations we were passing had windows that allowed you to observe what the people who were all wearing white lab coats were doing. My brow furrowed when I saw several people gathered around a table wearing masks and gloves and looking as if they were surgeons from a medical drama. I couldn't quite see what they were operating on though but my stomach twisted with a strange sense of trepidation.

"Satoshi... What are they doing?" I asked quietly. 

I hadn't realized that I'd come to a stop in front of the window showing the people operating on something that I thought looked vaguely furry. Not until I felt a gentle hand wrapped around my elbow tug me forward.

"You... really don't want to know," Satoshi responded tersely. His usual easygoing expression was hardened by what I could only describe as disgust. I shuddered involuntarily but turned away from the window.

Satoshi let go of my elbow and easily slipped his hand back into Serena's. It was sweet how casually attentive he was to her, and I felt better knowing that both Satoshi and Absol would be looking out for Serena, which left me free to worry about Aryan.

We had almost made it to the scorch marks when something from the corner of my eye caught my attention. I stopped midstep and felt my jaw drop so hard it was almost painful. A gurgling gasp escaped me and I felt Serena clap her hands to her mouth to try and smother a yelp as well. Through the large window, I could see a room that was easily three times as big as the other labs we had been walking by. Along the far wall were several large tubes that stretched from the floor up to the ceiling. Some of them were empty... but in the first tube was a hulking Ursaring floating in a green-tinted liquid. The second tube had an older man with his eyes closed and head sunk down. And in the third was...

My vision turned red. I could feel hands trying to grab onto me and stop me but I flung them off and grabbed for a pokeball. Garchomp materialized beside me and I pointed at the door that was separating me from Aryan and the people who had stuffed him into a test tube.

"Use Dragon Rush," I ordered, half surprised at the cold fury in my tone.

Garchomp didn't even stop to think before she backed up, tucked her head down, and then a neon blue light expanded from her body. The ghostly image of a dragon extended a foot in front of her and she charged forward, slamming the manifestation of her dragon power into the door causing it to crack, and then a split second later following up with her own powerful body which tore the door off its hinges and sent shattered pieces of the door flying.

Shrieks and yelps of alarm could be heard but I walked in without fear and released Empoleon as well. It took my two pokemon less than a minute to bring the terrified researchers to their knees. Several people came into the lab to see what the commotion was about but they never made it over to me so I assumed Satoshi had it under control.

Once everyone in the room was either unconscious or cowering in a fetal position, I turned away from them and ran over to the tube where Aryan was being held. I could feel tears threatening to gather in my eyes as I looked at him. Whoever put him in there removed his shirt and I could see several metal disks attached along his ribs and to his neck. A mask had been placed over his mouth to allow him to breathe and I let out a choked sob when his eyes fluttered open. Our eyes met and his hands clenched into fists.

"Garchomp!" I called over my shoulder, not moving from where my hands were pressed against the plexiglass tube. "Use Dual Chop and get him out of here."

"No, wait!" a female voice cried out from behind me.

Garchomp and I both ignored her though. The fins on Garchomp's arms glowed and I finally stepped back so that she could release two savage chops against the glass. I growled when the plexiglass held, although it showed two deep scores from Garchomp's attack.

"Again, Garchomp! And Empoleon use Steel Wing!" I demanded, taking one more step back, although I didn't take my eyes from Aryan's.

"Ack!" the female voice yelped from behind me, but I kept my eyes trained on Aryan, who was beginning to feebly thump against the plexiglass as well.

With both Garchomp and Empoleon working on it, the plexiglass finally gave way and Aryan sloshed out of the tube along with the strangely thick liquid he had been hanging suspended inside. I dropped down to the ground, not even caring that the green stuff was soaking into my jeans and swiftly turned Aryan onto his back and began removing the weird metal discs on his body. Thankfully they came off with a firm tug and I ripped the mask off of Aryan, letting him take in a gasp of fresh air.

"What kind of hero gets stuck in a test tube?" I asked, feeling mortified when my voice squeaked from the effort to keep myself from crying. Aryan coughed piteously for a second before pointing towards the test tube holding the older man.

"Right, of course!" I gasped, sending Garchomp and Empoleon to free the man and then the Ursaring after they were finished.

"Stop you barbarians! Do you have any idea how expensive that equipment is?" the female voice from before spluttered.

I whipped my head around to glare at the owner of the voice but blinked when I realized that she had been wrapped in an Electroweb. I could hardly keep myself from laughing when I saw her brown hair standing up on end as the electric current from the web caused sparks to travel along her hair.

"We should get going," Satoshi said, also ignoring the electrified researcher. "Once we get Looker out I'll show you the way to an exit then I'm going after Neptune."

"I'm staying with you," Serena interjected firmly from my side where she had crouched to take a look at Aryan for herself.

"Serena, it's too dangerous," Satoshi retorted dismissively. 

I saw Serena's expression darken and I was sure she was about to argue, but the electrified researcher hissed out a laugh. We all looked over at her and I wondered if I had ever wanted to hit someone more when I saw her self-righteous smirk.

"You're too late. Neptune has already started to rebuild this narrow-sighted world," the researcher announced with a smug look.

Aryan let out a feral growl that caused me to jump. I looked down at him and was shocked to see the pure hatred in his expression.

"We need to stop her," Aryan growled, but I frowned heavily as I realized that he was sweating badly in addition to the green liquid that was still clinging to him and his voice sounded hoarse and raw.

"You are in no condition to stop anyone, hero," I pointed out resolutely, laying a hand firmly in the center of his chest. I yanked it back when he winced though and started coughing. "What did they do to you?" I groaned, never having felt so useless in my whole life.

"Didn't count on the darts," Aryan muttered through his gritted teeth.

A splintering followed by a whoosh of liquid that sloshed onto the floor and caused Aryan's hair to swirl around in the green stuff interrupted his explanation. I looked up and frowned when I saw Garchomp holding the older man Satoshi had called Looker in her arms. She carried him carefully over to us and laid him down next to Aryan before returning to help Empoleon free the Ursaring.

Looker didn't even twitch when he was laid down and I could see Aryan trying to turn himself around to look at him. Not wanting to hurt him, I gently reached out and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, pulling him up a bit. He leaned heavily against my side, his slick hair pressed against my jaw as he groaned from the obvious pain he was in. I bit my lip, wishing I had a pokemon that new Heal Pulse and feeling absolutely useless.

"I need to go after Neptune," Satoshi reiterated firmly, turning away from where he'd been speaking with the researcher who called me a barbarian.

"I'm going with you," Serena repeated firmly and Satoshi let out a sigh.

"I don't have time to argue with you," he said, but I was surprised when he reached out and enveloped her hand into his own and turned to me. "I'll keep her safe. Do you want me to leave one of my pokemon behind to help you?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Just go. I'll take care of these two," I stated firmly. 

Aryan let out a strangled huff at this declaration but he was still too weak to move away from me so I ignored his nonverbal disagreement.

"Aryan's pokemon were stashed over there," Satoshi said while pointing under the large table and I noticed there were many drawers built into the bottom of it. "Just sit tight. You can't get in or out of headquarters without being authorized so you'll have to wait until my backup gets here and knocks down the doors."

"We'll be fine," I repeated with a wave. "Just go. And don't you dare let anything happen to Serena," I warned with a threatening glare.

Serena gave me a soothing smile but Satoshi didn't leave time to say goodbye. He tugged her out of the lab at a run with Absol following as smoothly as a shadow clinging to its caster. A brief pang of anxiety went through me as I hoped that Serena wouldn't get hurt and that she and Satoshi would stay safe. But another groan from the man wrapped in my arms pulled my attention away from my thoughts.

Without thinking, I brushed the side of my hand across his forehead to wipe the sweat and residue tank water from him so it wouldn't drip into his eyes. Aryan's hand flopped awkwardly towards Looker's shoulder but I felt him leaning against me even more and I wondered if it was for physical or emotional support.

I tightened my grip on his shoulder as he finally got a grip on Looker's shoulder and shook him slightly. Looker didn't blink and I could almost feel the desperation radiating from Aryan as he shook him again.

"They wouldn't put a dead body in a test tube," I pointed out soothingly to Aryan as he continued to shake his friend. 

Aryan didn't respond though so I reached out as well and briskly patted Looker's cheek. One of his eyelids finally twitched and Aryan let out a shuddering sigh of relief.