So he brought in one of his scientists and we talked. I didn't say a much during the "talk," which was mostly just questions about how I got my ability and from who and how well I could command it. Idiots. I stood there like a statue and stopped hearing words. Now my ears registered just nonsense.

"...simulation and back to your cell," Giovanni finished, waving his hand at the scientist as a dissmissal. I, of course, heard nothing before that. But I didn't let him know that, so I scowled in response. The shadow of a smirk lingered on his face for just a moment, making me believe he said something along the lines of, "Now you are going into the simulation and back to your cell."

     I mentally braced myself. Last time was when I was in the Survival Area, and I was scared half to death when I woke up. Even though nothing could ever prepare me for the simulation place.

     Giovanni moved a hand under his desk, and my mind was whisked into another place. Faintly I felt myself fall, but then I was taken more deeply into the simulation before I actually felt the floor. This time there weren't any visible surveillance or speakers, or anything. The room was the same from the battlefield before; a room that buzzed with tech and was a Pokémon Gym field, though the walls weren't anything disorienting and just white. The battlefield below me was marked out in some black marking.

     Wait, below me? How did that happen? I looked at my form, and I noticed two things: first of all, I was a Sky Forme Shaymin; and I was slowly gliding down, not actually floating. Okay... how did they make me a Shaymin and why? The second was more disturbing than anything: I could feel the chip in my body. I shivered. It was next to my spine, near my lower back. It was attached to my nervous system and therefore my brain. I pushed the thought from my mind, floating downwards. The chip hasn't harmed me physically, so I figured I could ignore it for now.

     Once I landed, something in the air shimmered. Outlines shimmered. This again. Great. Mentally I rolled my eyes and got into a fighting stance I had never known before. It must've been a Shaymin's natural battle stance. Well, that's something else I learned from my ability.

     No cat Pokémon appeared this time. No, this time it was actual weaknesses, unlike when I was a Staraptor and facing cat Pokémon. Crap. Charmeleon, Raichu, and Arboc, this time only one of each. A Shaymin's type weakness. Makes sense, but--

     The battle had begun. At first, all I did was dodge the attacks. I had seen--heck, I have made--these kinds of match ups. Normally the Pokémon with vulnerability to its opponent loses. Everyone knows that. While dodging, I mentally chose the moves I wanted to use. I found I could chose any four moves I wanted, strangely. But did I? No. Another ace. I quickly chose Leaf Storm, Solar Beam, Sunny Day, and Giga Drain.

     I dodged so far on the ground, half of myself in my mind, so I didn't have to worry about crashing into walls or Pokémon. Now, though, I had moves at my paws. I ran to a wall, bypassing Raichu and being hit by its tail. I felt a minor shock go through me, but I kept running until I was at the wall. I jumped up as high as I could, bounced off the wall, then spread out my ears all in a smooth motion that made it seem I had trained in aerial combat as a Shaymin. As I was gliding, I used Sunny Day and then charged up for Solar Beam. Arboc hit me with Smog, hitting Raichu and Charmeleon too, so I held my breath and sent a yellow beam towards it.

     Since I wasn't too far in the air, I landed running. I hit them all with a hasty Leaf Storm, sending them flying, and then I charged up for a Solar Beam again. Easier than I thought, I thought, smirking. When I was about to let the charged up energy loose, I felt as if I crashed to the ground and couldn't move. My eyes hadn't been open, but I saw the red of my eyelids, so I kept them closed. There was dead silence in the room for a minute, like a conversation was interupted. What I had "crashed" onto felt like the bed in my cell, but more rough, and there were no lights in the actual cell. Where am I? Then I sensed a presence, a familiar presence, and murmuring. Then I heard three voices, two male and one female, with worry and concern in them. I knew these voices, but I was disoriented, confused, and still had adrenaline pumping through my veins.

     Abruptly I was taken back "under" and was where I was, right about to let loose my attack. Once again, I tried to let it loose, but I wasn't staying in the simulation. What is going on?

     I woke up. My arms felt light, even though the metal bands weighed next to nothing. It was dark where I was, and my cell bed wasn't as comfortable as I remembered. In fact, it felt like I was sleeping on the ground. I didn't feel the metal bands on me anymore, but before I could wonder why, something urged me to sleep, a strangely familiar scent of grass and freshness. So I did, though lightly. Time stretched out in the dead silence of my half-sleep, until I heard heavy, familiar footsteps. My mind instantly recalled a bright flame as I brought my head up. The footsteps got closer and I realized this wasn't my cell in the Rocket HQ. The darkness slowly disappeared and three figures entered where I was. One was huge, he must've been the heavy footsteps. Another was somewhat humanoid, though his skin color was a dark blue and he had a snout. The third was darkly colored too, but she had light blue skin with yellow stripes on her legs, and walked on all fours. When the middle one suddenly looked in my direction, they all stop and stare.

"Crystal?" he asked hesitantly.

"Guys," I breathed, "I..." My head fell back down and hit something, possibly my PokéBag. I heard Lucario and Luxray semi-rush in, Charizard behind them. My vision turned red from light through my eyelids again, and I felt heat on my face this time. Charizard's tail, I thought, foggily. Luxray sat next to me with Charizard and Lucario on my other side. I sensed something else, close to my face, then it retracted and I faintly heard Lucario say, "She's not pale anymore, or cold. I think she's fully here," softly to Charizard and Luxray. Then I drifted back into sleep, as more of my Pokèmon were brought out of their Pokèballs by Lucario.

✦ ✦ ❦ ✦ ✦

     "...we should find someone, Lucario," came a catlike, male voice. "Just look. Don't you agree?"

     "No," came Lucario's stern reply. They must've argued about getting someone for a while. Why do we need someone? What's happened?

     "It may be the one way we can expose ourselves, Persian." A brief silence, I open my eyes a sliver and see a big, dark head shaking. "We just need to wait. Besides, nothing seems wrong. Lucario would know." This voice was female, and it came from the dark figure. Luxray.

     Before they could argue more about getting someone for Arceus knows what, I slowly push myself up. "What?" I rasped, "Why do we need someone?" My Pokèmon exchange a quick glance between themselves and Lucario doesn't really give an answer I want to hear.

     "Never mind it. Are you okay?" He changed the subject. How unoriginal.

     "Fine," I said, my voice stronger now. "Why did we need someone, guys?" I made it a point to use the past tense. They needed to tell me if something is or was wrong.

     "You weren't waking up,'' blurted Venusaur, "and some of us got worried." He shot a meaningful glance at Lucario. "Not all of us can sense your aura." Then Persian and Serperior joined in with their thoughts, making the arguement start again.

     "You were fading."

     "We don't know what happened."

     "You suddenly collapsed."

     "She was fine. She was prepared."

     "Lucario could sense her danger."

     My head was spinning. Their arguments weren't helping. "Stop!"

     Their arguments stopped. They watched me.

     "Look, the last thing we need is all of you arguing about something that doesn't matter anymore. I'm fine, okay? Just a little... disoriented. Giovanni probably doesn't know what happened with my disappearance." My stomach growled and I reached into my PokéBag, bringing out four berries, two Chesto berries (cures sleep) and two Persim berries (cures confusion). "Might as well make myself sensible with berries I don't even use while eating something." I ate them, briefly noting their strong flavors. My eyes lost the grogginess from sleep and my mind became more focused when I had finished.

✦ ✦ ❦ ✦ ✦

     We started planning shortly thereafter. Once I woke up in Mt. Moon's cave, a feeling of unease had settled around me. I was alone in the cave at the very back, shrouded in darkness. Serperior was with me, further away from the back, while the rest were either in their Pokéball or scouting. Lucario came up with the idea when I was 'away.'

     When I slept, I dreamt of nothing. Literally nothing. I would just exist in a dark place until I woke up, confused. The uneasiness never went away, even when I was confused. Lucario sensed it, I was sure, though I never acted different or told them. He never talked about it... bluntly, that is. He's asked me if I was okay, or if I had any problems troubling me. I denied having any problems and that I was perfectly fine for being hidden away from everything. I kept this to myself, not due to lack of trust, but to see if I could come up with an answer or theory first.

     The day's hours waned away while I was wondering about the unease. Soon, shapes filled the cave mouth and settled. I stayed awake, and grew weary. I eventually and slowly started to lie down, laying on my PokéBag. Maybe I can think more later... it must be near midnight. I let my eyelids, heavy as stones, slide closed.

     And I woke up with a jolt. I was in my cell, with a familiar Rocket grunt in the doorway.

     Kevin shook my shoulder. Kevin? "Come on, Crystal!" he whispered, "get up already!"

     The uneasiness still is here. Along with a newfound suspision. "What's going on?" I ask groggily, even though I was fully awake.

     "You need to leave," he replied simply. Kevin pulled me to my feet with my arm, making the metal band chafe against the scratch on my wrist from the aircraft incident. Some blood seeped out, though that was the least of my worries. What's going on?

     He finally got me to my feet. "We have to get you to your hideout before they realize that I didn't really betray you. Come on!" He dragged me into a series of hallways. One we passed led to the air-glass-floaty room I fell into after the maze. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously since I knew he couldn't see me. Even if he saw my face, it was sometime during the night, and couldn't have seen my facial expressions too well anyway. But I played along to see what happened at the end of this.

     "Where are we going?" I whispered into the silence. The hallways started getting darker, and I felt a little blood dripping down my hand.

     "No time! I have to get you out before they realize. You do trust me, don't you, Crystal?" Kevin's voice had an unusual and unfamiliar edge to it. Kevin? This isn't you, is it? My Pokémon abilities as a trainer were faint, but I had a little of everything the more I learned. Including minor psychic sense of an aura. This was not Kevin, or the Kevin I knew, at least.

     I nodded. "I trust you, even after you betrayed me." Will that make him correct me?
"Good," he said simply. No, seems not. They want me to reveal Kevin's true purpose while in the simulation. Well, sucks for them. I'll wedge Kevin in deeper into their good regards. If I can.

     We went through many, many hallways, and I lost track of how many we went through or even how to get back. After a while the hallway walls switched to a darker material. I was about to ask, when Kevin explained what the wall was.

      "This is made of sound-proof material. Normally, while under the battle simulations, you are taken here. You know, in case you make too much noise while battling." He was talking normally, but even then his voice was absorbed by the walls. I felt that even if I were to shout at the top of my lungs it wouldn't alert anyone and no one would hear.

     We then passed a room. There was a window that was fairly big connecting the room and the hallway. I stopped and peered into the dark room. Inside, the same dark wall material was on the floor and celling as well as the walls, excluding the window I was looking in and another sheet of glass. The sheet of glass looked to be a mirror, but a tiny bit seemed to be clear, like I could see through it. One way mirror. The room was altogether bare, having a chair in the center facing the wall I was looking in from. The chair wasn't unlike a dentist's chair, though it was only shaped like one (or an Amimus 2.0 for you Assassin's Creed fans). There was a band that had a few wires sat on a table next to it. A shiver made it's way through me and I realized that Kevin wasn't joking about what he said, that I am normally taken right here for my simulations.

     Kevin didn't stop when I looked into the room, so I caught up with him. Then he abruptly stopped at a door.

     "Here," he said simply.

     "Kevin..." I start, then he hugged me.

     "Stay safe Crystal."

     "You too. Make sure to say you were chasing me and not with me, that I was in a state of fear and adrenaline was fueling me."

     We separated and I exited the door, Kevin going back into the building that was a prison. Big mistake, Giovanni. I can do so much more than you can imagine, even in a simulation. You just helped me get free.

     I looked around for something to break the metal bands on my wrists and ankles. I saw a rock, more like a small boulder, and walked over to it. The metal bands were a bit loose so I got my right hand heal under the right side band as much as possible, then hit the rock very hard. I had to stifle a scream of pain with an exhale, but something else burned inside me. I smiled. I did the same thing with my other hand, already feeling more free. Again the pain came, and the burning inside me grew. It was hope and determination. Strength. Love for my brother. Freedom.

     "Time to go." And with that, I vanish. The metal anklets clanked to the ground, though I didn't hear them. I was already back in the Mt. Moon cave and out of the simulation.

Or so I had thought.