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Chapter Six: Severance

Begin Report :
The sector sweep of Experimental Items Testing chambers in Area Four remains inconclusive. Employee number 286 is continues to evade apprehension by unknown means.
A more extensive search will be conducted within the hour and will include ventilation ducts as well as maintenance areas. Porygon drones have been launched to patrol food and water sources to ensure # 286 will be brought out by whatever means possible.

Internal interference detected within central unit. Running diagnostic: ………Extracting Program……… Initiating Program………..
[Warning: P-Z Disk Operation System_Offline][P-Z NXS System _Online]

"I've been reduced to little more than nothing. How?! How could He allow this to happen to me?! Someone will pay the price. Ha! He abandoned me … Once I find him … I will kill him. I'll kill them all."
[Warning: P-Z NXS System Failure]
[Location_ Redacted][Time_ Date: Redacted][Report_ Nature_ Undisclosed]

They were tired, she knew it, and she was certain Jay and Leo knew it too. Kelly wasn't sure how they'd arrived in the middle of Liberty Market, or even if Gear was telling the truth to begin with on the means of their arrival.
The last thing she remembered before waking up in Gear's quarters in the jail was standing over Leo trying to heal his wound. As they walked through the Square she shot a glance at her strange teammate.

The only indication that she wasn't dreaming when it happened was the thin, jagged scar that ran over his chest scales.

It doesn't make sense, she thought as they ignored the sideways glances of the townsfolk and their whispered gossip, we were all injured by that Metagross, but now here we are and none worse for the ware. Even my leg is fixed, and I'm certain it was broken. Not even a Chansey can heal bones that quickly.

She wasn't going to complain, whatever had happened, she was glad it did when it did. She thought back to the battle. She had stood in shock as Leo jumped on the beast's head, giving her a chance to run. Jay almost being crushed as he tried to land punches on the Metagross while she wandered around in a daze. Her heart had stopped when she saw Leo waving to her without a care in the world while blood was pouring profusely from the wound in his chest.

Her body shuddered involuntarily, not at the thought of the blood, but at the thought of losing him. She might have only met him a few days ago, but they'd been through a lot in a short period of time.

As far as she was concerned, Leo was as close of a teammate and friend as Jay and she was not about to lose a friend.

The group finally broke free of the town and started down the forest trail to their base. As her tired paws dragged along the ground, she wondered why Gear had arrested them in the first place.

She knew those mechanical spawns of royal decree had something to do with it, but with all the looks they were getting from the citizens of the Square, she assumed they must have made a big disturbance. Gear had taken them into custody to protect them, not to harm them.

His "interrogation" of them was merely asking them if they knew what happened. When they'd answered that they didn't, he'd taken the liberty to recount to them eye witness accounts of the incident.

They then told him of the Metagross; Gear assured them that wanted posters were already being put up at all nearby stations. After Gear was finished with his questions, he suggested that they lay low and relax for a couple days and Kelly agreed completely.

They had been attacked and beaten in the last two dungeons they did a job in, so she felt that a break was exactly what they needed. Gear, in some sort of pity, felt it in his heart to give them all badges to replace the ones lost the day before.

She looked at Leo again, unlike Jay who just wore a tired expression, he seemed … almost jumpy. His eyes darted around, looking at each and every tree and shadow as if a ghost were going to pop out from behind one of them at any moment.

Had her legs not felt like they were going to fall off at any moment, she would have gone over to him and asked what the matter was. Though he didn't seem like the type of Pokemon that opened up easily, she would at least ask what was troubling him. She reminded herself to do this first thing tomorrow.

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw their base after leaving the forest trail. It may not have originally been theirs, but it seemed thoroughly abandoned by the previous owners so she and Jay quickly took up residence in it.

She felt like she was cheating someone every time she entered it, she and Jay would have had to do three month's worth of jobs to even begin to afford a home like this, but instead they got it free.

Most citizens worked and worked, but were only able to live in the wooden shacks scattered around the Square and the valley.

Every night she whispered a prayer to Raikou that fate wouldn't come back to haunt them for taking advantage of this, or if it did, at the very least haunt Jay.

Regardless of her guilty conscious, she dragged herself inside ahead of Leo and Jay. Even though it was not yet late in the afternoon, she groggily mumbled something that sounded like "Good night" to them and went to her room.

She staggered to her bed of hay and plopped down on top of it with a sigh. She heard the sound of paper crunching underneath her and fished around with her paw until she found the source of the noise. Holding it up, she looked at it in the glow of the Luminous Orb shards.

Kel? Please write back.
We can only hope this letter reaches you.

I'm- we're sorry about everything. You have no idea what is like as a father being unable to do nothing but write letters knowing his daughter is alone somewhere in the world. I can't possibly express how badly we miss you. Your mother cries every night believing it was her fault that you're not with us.

I'm sorry. I know you think we failed you as parents, and I think the same way. We were putting our own interests ahead of our only daughter and for that, I will never forgive myself, nor will your mother for that matter.

We wish terribly that you were with us, but we can't leave the Colonies, not yet. The Pokemon here need us, we must do our duty and lead them through this crisis. However, if the general would let us, we'd have you here at Latios speed. We try everyday to secure passage for you, but the war is making it difficult as you know.

Kelly, we love you. I will do whatever it takes to make it up to you, even though you probably hate us now. For one and a half years, we've been away from you, and for an entire year and a half it's broken our hearts to be so far away from the joy of our lives.

I can only pray to Arceus that you are healthy and are happy with where you are. I am certain that you have grown into the strong Pokemon I'd always hoped you would become.
I promise you we will be together again as a family. Even if we have to commit treason to do so, we will see you again. Please, Kelly, forgive us.

Your loving parents.

She shook her head, that letter was six months old and she still hadn't wrote back. Why would I? They left me for the Colonies. They made their choice, she thought bitterly as her fur bristled with electricity.

Tears welling in her eyes, she held the letter in her paw as the minute charge flowed up her forearm and into the letter. It began to smoke and blacken as it quickly turned to ash. Without another thought closed her eyes.

As she slept, memories from two years ago resurfaced in the form of a nightmare.
She was in her parent's home, alone. They had been gone for a week now, but that was usual.

Their business in the Colonies often kept them away, but they had always returned before now. She never knew what they did during their trips to the Kingdom's northern annexes, but whatever it was, it paid well.

She anxiously kept looking out of the window, desperately hoping to see her parents figures suddenly appear in the yard via her mother's Teleport. After waiting by the window until well after midnight, she sobbed to herself to sleep.

She repeated this routine for two weeks, with occasional trips into Solace Town using her parent's money to buy food.

After two weeks of nothing, she overheard conversations that spoke of reignited civil war between the Kingdom and the Colonies.
It was at that moment that she knew her parents weren't coming back for a long time.

She spent the next few months in a state of disbelief as she continued her routine, still hoping that what everyone said was untrue, that her parents were somehow apart of the Colonies' treason, that they were … traitors. Her parents, traitors? Impossible.

She wasn't sure when she woke up from her delusion, but when she did, she gathered a bag of supplies, left a letter incase her parents ever returned, and set off away from Solace and everything she had ever known.

She didn't know why she was leaving, but she knew that she couldn't stay. She traveled for the next few months through the backland highways that wound through the heartland of the Kingdom until she arrived at Loyalty.

She never planed to stay, but when she met Jay in the café and they found out that they came from similar situations. How the subject of forming an independent exploration team came up or how they both agreed to it, she couldn't remember, but she was glad it happened.

Their team, Team Salient on the official records, made a small living doing small jobs for Gear and the various shops around town, and later took the job of patrolling the boarder of Tranquility Fields.

She was happy, just as her parents hoped she would be and she didn't need them.

Leo woke the next morning grateful that he didn't torch another piece of literature. His body may have rested slightly, but his mind never stopped racing. He constantly went through all of the experiences he had ever since joining this Team Salient, and with each one, he grew more and more uncertain of his wellbeing.

He had been bruised, slashed, beaten, and even killed, though subsequently brought back to life by that … thing. All within the last few days. Any sane person would have pieced together the puzzle by now that staying here provided few health benefits.

He was relieved that both Jay and Kelly shared his idea of not doing a job today, though the relief didn't last long as his thoughts from the night before continued to plague him. He was so engrossed in his mind that he refused to eat breakfast or lunch.

He couldn't bring himself to talk to his teammates at all, even while he was training with Jay to gain more control over his attacks, he remained distant. When Kelly had come over to him and asked him what was troubling him, he reluctantly brushed her away. Reading the collection of books in his room brought him little respite from the memories.

The more he went through them and analyzed them, the more he came to the conclusion that he couldn't remain here. He hated the very idea of leaving his teammates, but the facts could not be ignored. That was why, while they were eating their dinner of Berry soup he spoke for the first time that day.
~

"I'm done."

Kelly's ears perked up as she heard the phrase. Leo was sitting there, his face downcast, looking at his untouched bowl of soup. She had asked him if something was wrong earlier, but he'd refused to answer. There was no denying it though, something was up with him.

"Done? You haven't eaten anything though," Jay pointed out before emptying his bowl's contents into his mouth.

Leo slowly raised his head, as Kelly nearly gasped. He looked horrible. His eyes looked more sunken then they were yesterday even though he slept longer than her. If she wasn't convinced that something was wrong before, she was now.

"I'm done," he repeated emotionlessly as his gaze slowly shifted from Jay to her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jay asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"I'm leaving," he said before reaching down and taking something out of his bag. He slapped his replacement badge Gear had given him down on the small wooden table.
Than he turned and began to walk away.

Jay shot to his feet before she did, running to the Charmeleon and tried to grab onto his shoulder. Leo suddenly spun around and grabbed the Riolu's paw in mid air, his eyes burning with the emotion he lack earlier.
He threw Jay's arm to the side with an angry huff.

"Don't try to stop me, Jay," he said coldly, narrowing his eyes at his teammate.

Jay wasn't fazed in the slightest. "Just where do you think you're going, Leo?" He asked calmly.

"I don't know, but anywhere's safer than here," Leo shot back.

"What are you talking about, Leo?" Kelly asked, wondering if what was troubling him had finally gotten the better of him.

Leo slapped his forehead in frustration. "I've been bruised, arrested, beaten, shocked, gassed, slashed, and nearly killed on multiple occasions! I'm done! I'm leaving!" he screamed as he turned tail and stomped out of the base.

Jay just closed his eyes. "… damn it" he muttered.

Kelly quickly looked to her teammate. "What are you doing standing there!? Come on! We've got to go after him!" she yelled as she tugged on Jay's arm.

Jay pulled his limb out of her grasp. "Why should we? You saw how adamant he was about leaving. He obviously doesn't want to stay here," he countered, crossing his arms.

"Are you really that shallow, Jay!? Something's wrong with him! We can't let him leave, he'll get himself hurt, or worse!" she exclaimed as the horrible scenes from the battle with Wire flashed through her mind.

"Fine. Let's go find that undeserving piece of –" Jay nearly swore, but was cut off as Kelly dragged him out of the base.

Leo ran out of the yard as fast as he could, he had to get as far away from here as he could before something nearly killed him again. He sprinted onto the dirt pathway that lead into the woods, not quite sure were he was going, but he didn't care.

He felt guilty at the way he yelled at them, but there was no turning back now, guilt or no guilt. He ran through the low undergrowth of the forest, trying to keep his tail aloft as to not ignite an inferno.

He mentally slapped himself for not having a better plan of leaving, no supplies, no map, no bag, nothing. I really let my emotions get ahead of me back there, didn't I?

He was just about to figure out where to go next when his head suddenly felt like it had been hit with a brick. He went sprawling to the ground, as the headache grew more and more painful with every passing millisecond.

"Hello, my friend. Whatever are you doing on the ground? Oh yes, I remember: I put you there." Leo just groaned as the voice invaded his ears.

"I'm afraid that as a candidate you cannot leave. Your absence would be felt deeply since you have shone a very small glimmer of success in this operation. My employers would not be pleased if I let you continue on this path," the voice told him.

Leo gritted his teeth.

"Oh yeah? Just try and stop me. You and your employers can go die as far as I'm concerned," he said as he forced himself to his feet and continued walking despite the increasing sensation of pain in his head.

"It would be unwise for you to underestimate my abilities, Leo. My generosity in … reviving your worthless corpse was not free. You still have a debt to pay. I suggest you think carefully before answering."

"Bite me," Leo growled as he stumbled further along the path.

"So be it. Praestigiae!"

A hallway lined with clinical white panels, an equally white light shining from the ceiling, and a strange mechanical humming. Leo was puzzled, and rightfully so. He didn't remember entering this place.

Holding his tail close to his body for warmth in the cold facility, he started walking down the hallway.
Suddenly, the panels on both sides of the corridor started to shift. They slowly moved closer to each other, sealing off the hallway.

Leo gasped and started sprinting down the path, but his steps were halted as the floor opened up beneath him, sending him down to a place forsaken by even Giratina. His screams went unheard by sentient ears.

Dazed, Leo looked up as the small chute connecting to the hallway directly above disappeared.
He looked around; dark, cracked concrete slabs walled him in on three sides, leaving only a single exit to the strange room. Groaning as he got to his feet, he held his tail out in front of him to light the dark passage.

Faint sounds of screeching metal mingled with the occasional echoing drip of some forgotten faucet, but even the subtle background noises couldn't hold back the oppressive silence that permeated every inch of the decrepit building.

It wasn't the lack of any signs of life in the place, or even the haunting sounds that resonated from beyond the walls that scared him, it was the murals. All along the wall, hundreds of them painted there.

Some were abstract, showing faceless figures running from some unseen threat, but it was the vivid paintings that could lay the foundation for nightmares.

A man laying in a puddle of his own blood, crushed by a cloud of green. Blurs of colors fused into a gigantic rainbow vortex that consumed an entire wall.

Words of unknown origin were scrawled in some sort of insane pattern, each phrase accompanied by screaming figures or ominous red eyes. And the worst one of all was when he saw himself among one of the prophetic murals.

He traced a claw across a painted Charmeleon figure was backed up against a wall of darkness with the phrases "Nowhere to run!" , "Too Many Variables!", and "Can't Escape!" Leo was perplexed at how it was only the words seemed to float, shift, and flip until he could read them.

The other countless murals on the wall that he couldn't understand, but had no time to ponder why as the hallway violently lurched, throwing him to the ground.

Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him, but Leo realized that he saw a light at the end of the passageway that hadn't been there before. He hopped to his feet and started running towards the glow, not caring about the danger.

Another rumble shook the building, slamming Leo into the hard wall. Stars danced in his vision as his head knocked against the concrete. Aside from his aching skull, he didn't feel nearly the amount of pain he expected to feel.

He got to his feet and noticed that an odd smell was in the air along with a weird hissing sound. He wasn't sure what the strange smell was, only that it smelled strongly of rotten eggs and it seemed to appear where ever the hissing was.

Combustion , he wasn't sure what to make of the word his brain had decided to show him, but he knew he was in for a bad time regardless.

It was then that he noticed that the small glowing light at the end of the tunnel was growing closer and brighter. He couldn't figure out why this was until an immense wave of heat washed over him. His eyes widened as his mind finally managed to put the puzzle together. The glowing light was fire, and that smell was none other then methane gas.

His feet froze as he clutched the wall in fear. He stared at the growing flame as the seconds counted down until it ignited the pocket of gas around him. In the final moments before incineration, muttering voices from the murals all bore down on him, screaming insanity as he squeezed his eyes shut and plugged his ears in a vain effort to block them out.

He wasn't sure why, but suddenly it felt like his body wasn't under his control anymore. He removed his clawed hands from his ears even though he wanted to press them in farther. His eyes opened and his legs moved until he was standing in the middle of the hallway, the inferno growing ever closer.

He had no chance to brace himself, or even utter a quick prayer to anyone who might be listening. There was only a loud "whoosh!" as the flames caught onto the gaseous fuel and combusted the entire cloud of methane.

Leo shut his eyes as he waited for the inevitable heat of the flames to embrace his skin, only to have his body convulse in near shock as a frigid blast of air and powdered snow blew past him. After blinking a few times to ensure he wasn't dreaming, Leo turned around in a circle.

All around him was a vast plain of ice and snow that extended farther then he could see. There was no sign of the mysterious hallway and the fire, and no explanation as to how he got to this wasteland. He stood in awe of the magnificent ice desert, the harsh Arctic sun glinting off the smooth deposits of ice.

The small falling flakes of snow fizzling into steam as they encountered Leo's tail.
Taking a tentative first step forward onto a patch of ice, he felt his heartbeat stop when he heard a deep, ominous cracking noise from far below him.

In the blink of an eye, the pristine field of ice shattered into a million shards of ice. The ground he was standing gave way to thin air and he fell into the massive crevasse. The frozen wind sliced through his scream like butter as he raced the ice shards to the black bottom of the abyss.

He twisted his body around, clawing wildly at the air as he hoped against hope that a handhold would appear. As soon as he brushed up against something metal embedded in the side of the chasm, his instincts kicked in and he dug his claws into the cold metal wall.

Leo saw sparks fly as his body was brought from terminal velocity to a screeching halt within the span of a second. Even though the forces of speed and gravity had temporarily relinquished their hold over his body, inertia had over plans, sending his head smashing into the hard steel at breakneck speeds.

Everything went dark as the abyss, the wall, and the ice all faded.

"Wake up, scum!" The order cut across Leo's unconscious mind as he slowly returned to the realm of the living.

Leo tried to yelp as a painful electric shock forcefully woke him up. He looked around the darkened room; he was sitting in a chair with his wrists secured to the arms.

A strange muzzle wrapped around his snout, making speech impossible. His breaths grew quicker as he looked up across the table in front of his chair.

Barely discernable from the darkened walls, two figures stood against the wall watching him intently. A third figure walked out from behind his chair to the other two, twirling a strange, black machine in his fingers.

Leo was able to catch a glance of his captors when he briefly stepped into the dim light. He was a human.
Leo's mind went into a tailspin. Humans!? How!? What is this!? his mind shrieked as his body went numb.

"I don't know, 'ow about we just kill 'im now? He isn't important to anyone af'er all," one of the leaning figures asked. Suddenly a voice came from an unseen speaker on the ceiling.

"Fine, just make it quick. We've got fifty-three more prisoners to 'interrogate', and there's a shipment of a dozen new freshies captured from the riots down in the Steel Province."

The human smiled as he casually walked up to Leo, his fingers upholstering a different, sinister device from his belt. Unable to talk, Leo shook his head violently as the human male pressed the device to the side of his head. Leo's eyes grew wide in terror, as the human put a strong foot on the chair, keeping it and Leo secure.

"One less freak in the world now," the prison guard said smugly as he pulled the trigger and a blast of white light erupted from the end of the machine and traveled the few millimeters to Leo's head.
At once, the world cut to black and he knew no more.

Leo landed on the dirt floor hard. Groaning, he slowly got to his feet, unsure of what sort of thing he'd have to go through next.

Wearily looking around, he saw that he was in a large, circular pit with a high stone sides, a dirt floor, and a strange white light shinning from above the entrance of the pit. After what seemed minutes of absolutely nothing happening accept the routine passage of time, the ground started vibrating.

After being nearly incinerated, frozen, crushed, and shot, Leo realized he was getting somewhat jaded. He barely flinched as the center of the floor exploded in a shower of dirt and pebbles and a rather familiar, sentient blue tank crawled out of it.

"Oh, it's you," Nexus said quietly before letting out a primal, static-filled war cry and charged at Leo.

Leo sighed, unfazed at the spectacle, he knew it would just pass through him like all the others did and he'd be transported somewhere else. The illusion Nexus came to a screeching halt inches away from the bored Charmeleon.

Her phantom circuits nearly shorted with the thought of an unafraid enemy, but she quickly got over herself and grabbed the unsuspecting Leo with her front foot, squeezing him tightly.

"You do know that courage is not the absence of fear, right? Wait, that can't be right. You're not courageous, you're just stupid."

Leo felt like his ribs were going to explode; he let out a pained yell, hoping someone would hear him. Nexus chuckled as she threw the Charmeleon into the ground like a bouncy ball, except he didn't bounce when he hit the floor.

He didn't have time to register the fact that his entire body was screaming in pain as the "illusion" Nexus picked him up once more and slammed him down again onto the packed dirt. She continued to repeat this process, while Leo hoped that he would slip into the painless bliss of unconsciousness. He didn't.

He wasn't sure how Nexus wasn't going deaf from his screams, or indeed, how he was still able to scream when his neck should have snapped long ago. Somewhere in the deepest recess of his mind, he was wondering how his mind was still conscious even though his threshold of tolerance was crossed long ago.

Leo screamed, not stopping as the possessed Metagross's blows continued to rain down on his battered form. Somehow, his screams became even louder for an instant as he felt his right arm break, and again when every bone in his legs shatter into tiny fragments as Nexus smashed them with her leg not unlike what a hammer does to nails.

Even if he could, he was unable to stop the one-sided beat down, as his muscles seemed to be paralyzed by some unknown force — probably shock. Unable to do anything else, he continued to scream while Nexus laughed as she splintered what remained of his left arm with a crushing blow.

Leo didn't remember if he passed out during Nexus's carnage, but he was glad he couldn't feel anything anymore. Leo couldn't see; anything outside of his immediate proximity was complete and utter darkness.

"There were others. Others who failed to comply. Their fates weren't pretty, but you must learn through example it seems. Study their faces well."

The darkness rippled and distorted as colors filled the void. Red and gold hues blended together to build a dying sunset, grey and steel slithered over each other like vines, becoming a oppressing wall, and in the center of the courtyard, a single figure of blue was being dragged onto a pedestal in the middle of the yard.

The scene came into focus; the Golduck, escorted by a squad of Magnemite was bound to one of the several stone pillars that jutted from the pedestal floor. He seemed to not to struggle as the floating spheres fastened the metal cords around his body.

Leo wasn't sure how he was watching this scene, but he could see them but the guards showed no signs of acknowledging his existence. The Golduck closed its eyes as the final cord was tightened; it looked like any chance of escape was extinguished.

The Magnemite chattered amongst themselves for a small moment before lining up in a single, uniform line exactly ten feet away from the base of the pillar. At the direction of a large zebra like Pokemon, the Magnemite units eagerly began spinning their magnet arms, charging up tremendous amounts of very lethal electricity.

The Golduck simply lowered his head, his will to prove himself innocent long since broken in the two days he had been in this prison. As if drawn by a morbid part of his brain, Leo couldn't his turn his gaze away from the impending execution.

The Zebstrika let out a quick whinny and stamped the ground three times. The Magnemite calmed their charging and took aim at their prisoner.
The commanding Pokemon stamped the ground twice more as sparks flew from her hoof. The Magnemite went silent as the Golduck looked up one last time.

The Zebstrika stamped the ground one last time. Just as the executors were about to fire their volley of electricity, time seemed to slow down like it had been replaced with frozen molasses.

"Good evening, Jack. I sense that something is troubling you. Whatever could it be?"

"Go away. P-please. I-I'm done, finished," the Golduck's strained voice croaked.

"Oh, believe me, my friend. This will be the last time I burden you with a visit. Since I know you are not a Pokemon to 'beat around the bush', as it were; I'll get straight to the point."

"About damn time you stopped being to vague," Jack growled.

"You have proven to me that you are clearly unqualified for the generous employment opportunity my superiors offered you. They have given you many chances to change this view, and they now agree with me that your time is up.

"You're telling me that you're done following me? R-really?"

"I am done being the Deus Ex Machina for you; saving you from an imminent demise . I'm regret nothing, Jack. Standards must be upheld in this business, and you have failed to do so."

"F-finally! I'm free! I'm free!" Jack screamed in insane joy as the frozen Magnemites began to move once more. Their bright bolts of electricity arcing through the air as they homed in on the captive water type.

"Kyogre, Lugia, Suicune! Thank you! Thank y--!" The electricity hit him square in the chest. It coursed through his body, amplified by the metal cords. His agonized screams were drowned out as the scene blurred and another took its place.

"I'm afraid …"

A small, blue and white squirrel clung to a thin branch of a tree, an abyss stretched out beneath it. Unable to take the creature's weight, the limb snapped, sending the Pachirisu downward.

"… that your observation …"

With those words, the world changed once again. A small, purple and cream colored cat was backed into a dark alley, several larger figures snarled as they surrounded her. Without warning the figures launched separate beams of ice, fire, and green energy at the cowering Pokemon. As they collided with her, the landscape dissolved and reformed again.

"… has been …"

Two figures, one small and one large, hugged each other as a loud, insane growl shook the ruined tower around them. They instantly became enveloped in a bright, white light as the world ended.

"…terminated."

A battered Ninetales and equally worn brown fox skidded to a halt as the cliff-side path ended abruptly, leaving only an uninviting abyss beyond. It looked to the path behind it, a large mob of Pokemon blocked off their escape. Magnemites and a score of Pokemon Leo had never seen before all closed in on the fleeing duo. Suddenly, a streak of shadow rushed out and knocked the Ninetales off the side, where it hung on only by the efforts of its smaller companion.

Without warning, the Magnemite fire off a volley of lightning, hitting the duo directly. The Ninetales' companion couldn't hold on and they both fell into the crevasse. Their screams are cut off by a dim flash of blue from within the gorge as the ground started vibrating.

"Effective …"

A white-furred Pokemon with a patch of red fur around its claws swiped at a large, black snake. The snake retaliated by swinging its razor-sharp tail at the Zangoose's neck. It was a direct hit. The Zangoose fell to the ground clutching its neck as its life bled out of the wound.

"… immediately."

An electric yellow mouse braced itself as a wall of water crashed down on top of it.

A small, brown creature with a mask of bone on its head smashed its bone club onto its attacker, to no avail.

A tiny blue, penguin slipped on the wet rock of the cave as its bloodthirsty pursuers caught up with it. Its screams of terror were amplified by the acoustics of the cave system.

"Good luck in the afterlife, former candidates."

As before, the blackness was soon pierced by a voice colder then the wasteland he was in earlier.

"Shall we continue? There are – or rather, there were--- one-hundred and fifty-eight candidates when I began this operation on behalf of my employers. As you can see, a … considerable amount of your comrades have been … disposed of. I can assure you that continuing on this path of yours will result in immediate termination of potential employment and all future work opportunities. I won't be vague with you, Leo. You comply with standards, or you will die in every possible meaning of the word. If this isn't a 'compelling reason' for going along with my employer's plan then I don't know what is. This is your final warning, Leo."

"Wake up, Leo. Wake up, and face the consequences."

"Wake up, Leo!" Jay's voice shouted from above his unmoving form.

"This doesn't look good. Leo, can you hear me? Oh no, oh no, oh no …" Kelly's worried tone sounded after Jay.

Leo groaned softly as feeling returned to the vast majority of his body. He slowly struggled to move his legs as pinpricks of pain shot through his nerves.

"Thank Arceus, you're alright!" Kelly exclaimed as he nearly collapsed to the ground again she as hugged him in joy. A pained groan from the Charmeleon caused Kelly to break her embrace.

"So, what happened to you? One minute you're intent on leaving us, the next you're on the ground screaming like Giratina himself came for your soul. Mind telling us exactly what happened?" Jay asked as he grabbed Leo's arm and forced him to his feet. Leo winced in pain at being jerked upwards.

"Nothing happened. I'm … fine," Leo huffed as he tried to take a step forward. Instead of moving ahead, he ended up clutching a nearby tree for support as his legs almost gave out.

"No. You're not fine, Leo. You're going back to the base, and you're going to tell us everything. Whether you like it or not," Jay stated as he grabbed Leo by the shoulder and peeled him off the tree.

The sudden change in momentum and position proved to be too much for the traumatized Charmeleon as he fell to his hands and knees and threw up whatever remained in his stomach on the forest trail.

"Leo! Jay, help me with him!" Kelly yelled as the Riolu reluctantly hoisted Leo to his feet. Using Kelly and Jay as support, Leo gingerly walked back towards his temporary home, uncertain what the next day would hold for him.

"I-I'm sorry. For everything." Leo whispered as he slowly limped along the trail.

Two Hours Later

In a small booth in the darkest corner of the café in Loyalty, a group of Pokemon conversed. The loud chatter of the late-night patrons all around them providing more then enough noise pollution to keep their affairs from potential eavesdroppers.

Their where three Pokemon at the booth, to be precise. Two of them sat scrunched up against each other on one side of the booth, while leaving a respectable amount of space for their superior on the other half.

"Didn't your team gain a recruit recently?" the authoritative figure said to his two subordinates.

The two he was addressing looked at each other for a second before answering.

"We thought best not to include him in this business until after we could trust him."

Their superior chuckled, "Wise choice, now why I' m here…"

"There have been only two instances, though they'll straighten out on their own. We do have three teams on the threat list that need to be … you know… dispatched as soon as possible … before the damage worsens that is," the figure on the right of the booth reported.

"That will put a strain on our available resources, but you're sure they pose a threat to the general's plans?"

"We're certain, especially team Beta. What's happened to them is too much of to be a coincidence. They, Alpha, and Gamma need to be disposed of quickly."

"Of course. It that it?" the superior asked.

"Sir, the king, he's tightened security, as I'm certain you've noticed. It's going to be much harder to get anything done with them in the way."

"Never you mind about them. There are contingency plans in place to take care of 'his royal highness' when the time is right. Now go, your positions cannot be compromised. Not when we're so close to the end."

"So, the rumors are true then? About the war. It's almost over?"

"….. Yes. It will all be over soon. Now get back to your positions."

"Yes, sir. For the Colonies."

"For the Colonies …"

The figures then left as unnoticed as they entered; not one of the patrons even knew they were there.

"Sir, I'm sorry to intrude on your … solitude. However, I believe I have received enough optimal data from my observations. I can firmly say with upmost confidence that I believe Phase One is over. The time to initiate Phase Two is nigh …"

End Chapter Six

Description
Chapter Six: Severance

Begin Report :
The sector sweep of Experimental Items Testing chambers in Area Four remains inconclusive. Employee number 286 is continues to evade apprehension by unknown means.
A more extensive search will be conducted within the hour and will include ventilation ducts as well as maintenance areas. Porygon drones have been launched to patrol food and water sources to ensure # 286 will be brought out by whatever means possible.

Internal interference detected within central unit. Running diagnostic: ………Extracting Program……… Initiating Program………..
[Warning: P-Z Disk Operation System_Offline][P-Z NXS System _Online]

"I've been reduced to little more than nothing. How?! How could He allow this to happen to me?! Someone will pay the price. Ha! He abandoned me … Once I find him … I will kill him. I'll kill them all."
[Warning: P-Z NXS System Failure]
[Location_ Redacted][Time_ Date: Redacted][Report_ Nature_ Undisclosed]

They were tired, she knew it, and she was certain Jay and Leo knew it too. Kelly wasn't sure how they'd arrived in the middle of Liberty Market, or even if Gear was telling the truth to begin with on the means of their arrival.
The last thing she remembered before waking up in Gear's quarters in the jail was standing over Leo trying to heal his wound. As they walked through the Square she shot a glance at her strange teammate.

The only indication that she wasn't dreaming when it happened was the thin, jagged scar that ran over his chest scales.

It doesn't make sense, she thought as they ignored the sideways glances of the townsfolk and their whispered gossip, we were all injured by that Metagross, but now here we are and none worse for the ware. Even my leg is fixed, and I'm certain it was broken. Not even a Chansey can heal bones that quickly.

She wasn't going to complain, whatever had happened, she was glad it did when it did. She thought back to the battle. She had stood in shock as Leo jumped on the beast's head, giving her a chance to run. Jay almost being crushed as he tried to land punches on the Metagross while she wandered around in a daze. Her heart had stopped when she saw Leo waving to her without a care in the world while blood was pouring profusely from the wound in his chest.

Her body shuddered involuntarily, not at the thought of the blood, but at the thought of losing him. She might have only met him a few days ago, but they'd been through a lot in a short period of time.

As far as she was concerned, Leo was as close of a teammate and friend as Jay and she was not about to lose a friend.

The group finally broke free of the town and started down the forest trail to their base. As her tired paws dragged along the ground, she wondered why Gear had arrested them in the first place.

She knew those mechanical spawns of royal decree had something to do with it, but with all the looks they were getting from the citizens of the Square, she assumed they must have made a big disturbance. Gear had taken them into custody to protect them, not to harm them.

His "interrogation" of them was merely asking them if they knew what happened. When they'd answered that they didn't, he'd taken the liberty to recount to them eye witness accounts of the incident.

They then told him of the Metagross; Gear assured them that wanted posters were already being put up at all nearby stations. After Gear was finished with his questions, he suggested that they lay low and relax for a couple days and Kelly agreed completely.

They had been attacked and beaten in the last two dungeons they did a job in, so she felt that a break was exactly what they needed. Gear, in some sort of pity, felt it in his heart to give them all badges to replace the ones lost the day before.

She looked at Leo again, unlike Jay who just wore a tired expression, he seemed … almost jumpy. His eyes darted around, looking at each and every tree and shadow as if a ghost were going to pop out from behind one of them at any moment.

Had her legs not felt like they were going to fall off at any moment, she would have gone over to him and asked what the matter was. Though he didn't seem like the type of Pokemon that opened up easily, she would at least ask what was troubling him. She reminded herself to do this first thing tomorrow.

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw their base after leaving the forest trail. It may not have originally been theirs, but it seemed thoroughly abandoned by the previous owners so she and Jay quickly took up residence in it.

She felt like she was cheating someone every time she entered it, she and Jay would have had to do three month's worth of jobs to even begin to afford a home like this, but instead they got it free.

Most citizens worked and worked, but were only able to live in the wooden shacks scattered around the Square and the valley.

Every night she whispered a prayer to Raikou that fate wouldn't come back to haunt them for taking advantage of this, or if it did, at the very least haunt Jay.

Regardless of her guilty conscious, she dragged herself inside ahead of Leo and Jay. Even though it was not yet late in the afternoon, she groggily mumbled something that sounded like "Good night" to them and went to her room.

She staggered to her bed of hay and plopped down on top of it with a sigh. She heard the sound of paper crunching underneath her and fished around with her paw until she found the source of the noise. Holding it up, she looked at it in the glow of the Luminous Orb shards.

Kel? Please write back.
We can only hope this letter reaches you.

I'm- we're sorry about everything. You have no idea what is like as a father being unable to do nothing but write letters knowing his daughter is alone somewhere in the world. I can't possibly express how badly we miss you. Your mother cries every night believing it was her fault that you're not with us.

I'm sorry. I know you think we failed you as parents, and I think the same way. We were putting our own interests ahead of our only daughter and for that, I will never forgive myself, nor will your mother for that matter.

We wish terribly that you were with us, but we can't leave the Colonies, not yet. The Pokemon here need us, we must do our duty and lead them through this crisis. However, if the general would let us, we'd have you here at Latios speed. We try everyday to secure passage for you, but the war is making it difficult as you know.

Kelly, we love you. I will do whatever it takes to make it up to you, even though you probably hate us now. For one and a half years, we've been away from you, and for an entire year and a half it's broken our hearts to be so far away from the joy of our lives.

I can only pray to Arceus that you are healthy and are happy with where you are. I am certain that you have grown into the strong Pokemon I'd always hoped you would become.
I promise you we will be together again as a family. Even if we have to commit treason to do so, we will see you again. Please, Kelly, forgive us.

Your loving parents.

She shook her head, that letter was six months old and she still hadn't wrote back. Why would I? They left me for the Colonies. They made their choice, she thought bitterly as her fur bristled with electricity.

Tears welling in her eyes, she held the letter in her paw as the minute charge flowed up her forearm and into the letter. It began to smoke and blacken as it quickly turned to ash. Without another thought closed her eyes.

As she slept, memories from two years ago resurfaced in the form of a nightmare.
She was in her parent's home, alone. They had been gone for a week now, but that was usual.

Their business in the Colonies often kept them away, but they had always returned before now. She never knew what they did during their trips to the Kingdom's northern annexes, but whatever it was, it paid well.

She anxiously kept looking out of the window, desperately hoping to see her parents figures suddenly appear in the yard via her mother's Teleport. After waiting by the window until well after midnight, she sobbed to herself to sleep.

She repeated this routine for two weeks, with occasional trips into Solace Town using her parent's money to buy food.

After two weeks of nothing, she overheard conversations that spoke of reignited civil war between the Kingdom and the Colonies.
It was at that moment that she knew her parents weren't coming back for a long time.

She spent the next few months in a state of disbelief as she continued her routine, still hoping that what everyone said was untrue, that her parents were somehow apart of the Colonies' treason, that they were … traitors. Her parents, traitors? Impossible.

She wasn't sure when she woke up from her delusion, but when she did, she gathered a bag of supplies, left a letter incase her parents ever returned, and set off away from Solace and everything she had ever known.

She didn't know why she was leaving, but she knew that she couldn't stay. She traveled for the next few months through the backland highways that wound through the heartland of the Kingdom until she arrived at Loyalty.

She never planed to stay, but when she met Jay in the café and they found out that they came from similar situations. How the subject of forming an independent exploration team came up or how they both agreed to it, she couldn't remember, but she was glad it happened.

Their team, Team Salient on the official records, made a small living doing small jobs for Gear and the various shops around town, and later took the job of patrolling the boarder of Tranquility Fields.

She was happy, just as her parents hoped she would be and she didn't need them.

Leo woke the next morning grateful that he didn't torch another piece of literature. His body may have rested slightly, but his mind never stopped racing. He constantly went through all of the experiences he had ever since joining this Team Salient, and with each one, he grew more and more uncertain of his wellbeing.

He had been bruised, slashed, beaten, and even killed, though subsequently brought back to life by that … thing. All within the last few days. Any sane person would have pieced together the puzzle by now that staying here provided few health benefits.

He was relieved that both Jay and Kelly shared his idea of not doing a job today, though the relief didn't last long as his thoughts from the night before continued to plague him. He was so engrossed in his mind that he refused to eat breakfast or lunch.

He couldn't bring himself to talk to his teammates at all, even while he was training with Jay to gain more control over his attacks, he remained distant. When Kelly had come over to him and asked him what was troubling him, he reluctantly brushed her away. Reading the collection of books in his room brought him little respite from the memories.

The more he went through them and analyzed them, the more he came to the conclusion that he couldn't remain here. He hated the very idea of leaving his teammates, but the facts could not be ignored. That was why, while they were eating their dinner of Berry soup he spoke for the first time that day.
~

"I'm done."

Kelly's ears perked up as she heard the phrase. Leo was sitting there, his face downcast, looking at his untouched bowl of soup. She had asked him if something was wrong earlier, but he'd refused to answer. There was no denying it though, something was up with him.

"Done? You haven't eaten anything though," Jay pointed out before emptying his bowl's contents into his mouth.

Leo slowly raised his head, as Kelly nearly gasped. He looked horrible. His eyes looked more sunken then they were yesterday even though he slept longer than her. If she wasn't convinced that something was wrong before, she was now.

"I'm done," he repeated emotionlessly as his gaze slowly shifted from Jay to her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jay asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"I'm leaving," he said before reaching down and taking something out of his bag. He slapped his replacement badge Gear had given him down on the small wooden table.
Than he turned and began to walk away.

Jay shot to his feet before she did, running to the Charmeleon and tried to grab onto his shoulder. Leo suddenly spun around and grabbed the Riolu's paw in mid air, his eyes burning with the emotion he lack earlier.
He threw Jay's arm to the side with an angry huff.

"Don't try to stop me, Jay," he said coldly, narrowing his eyes at his teammate.

Jay wasn't fazed in the slightest. "Just where do you think you're going, Leo?" He asked calmly.

"I don't know, but anywhere's safer than here," Leo shot back.

"What are you talking about, Leo?" Kelly asked, wondering if what was troubling him had finally gotten the better of him.

Leo slapped his forehead in frustration. "I've been bruised, arrested, beaten, shocked, gassed, slashed, and nearly killed on multiple occasions! I'm done! I'm leaving!" he screamed as he turned tail and stomped out of the base.

Jay just closed his eyes. "… damn it" he muttered.

Kelly quickly looked to her teammate. "What are you doing standing there!? Come on! We've got to go after him!" she yelled as she tugged on Jay's arm.

Jay pulled his limb out of her grasp. "Why should we? You saw how adamant he was about leaving. He obviously doesn't want to stay here," he countered, crossing his arms.

"Are you really that shallow, Jay!? Something's wrong with him! We can't let him leave, he'll get himself hurt, or worse!" she exclaimed as the horrible scenes from the battle with Wire flashed through her mind.

"Fine. Let's go find that undeserving piece of –" Jay nearly swore, but was cut off as Kelly dragged him out of the base.

Leo ran out of the yard as fast as he could, he had to get as far away from here as he could before something nearly killed him again. He sprinted onto the dirt pathway that lead into the woods, not quite sure were he was going, but he didn't care.

He felt guilty at the way he yelled at them, but there was no turning back now, guilt or no guilt. He ran through the low undergrowth of the forest, trying to keep his tail aloft as to not ignite an inferno.

He mentally slapped himself for not having a better plan of leaving, no supplies, no map, no bag, nothing. I really let my emotions get ahead of me back there, didn't I?

He was just about to figure out where to go next when his head suddenly felt like it had been hit with a brick. He went sprawling to the ground, as the headache grew more and more painful with every passing millisecond.

"Hello, my friend. Whatever are you doing on the ground? Oh yes, I remember: I put you there." Leo just groaned as the voice invaded his ears.

"I'm afraid that as a candidate you cannot leave. Your absence would be felt deeply since you have shone a very small glimmer of success in this operation. My employers would not be pleased if I let you continue on this path," the voice told him.

Leo gritted his teeth.

"Oh yeah? Just try and stop me. You and your employers can go die as far as I'm concerned," he said as he forced himself to his feet and continued walking despite the increasing sensation of pain in his head.

"It would be unwise for you to underestimate my abilities, Leo. My generosity in … reviving your worthless corpse was not free. You still have a debt to pay. I suggest you think carefully before answering."

"Bite me," Leo growled as he stumbled further along the path.

"So be it. Praestigiae!"

A hallway lined with clinical white panels, an equally white light shining from the ceiling, and a strange mechanical humming. Leo was puzzled, and rightfully so. He didn't remember entering this place.

Holding his tail close to his body for warmth in the cold facility, he started walking down the hallway.
Suddenly, the panels on both sides of the corridor started to shift. They slowly moved closer to each other, sealing off the hallway.

Leo gasped and started sprinting down the path, but his steps were halted as the floor opened up beneath him, sending him down to a place forsaken by even Giratina. His screams went unheard by sentient ears.

Dazed, Leo looked up as the small chute connecting to the hallway directly above disappeared.
He looked around; dark, cracked concrete slabs walled him in on three sides, leaving only a single exit to the strange room. Groaning as he got to his feet, he held his tail out in front of him to light the dark passage.

Faint sounds of screeching metal mingled with the occasional echoing drip of some forgotten faucet, but even the subtle background noises couldn't hold back the oppressive silence that permeated every inch of the decrepit building.

It wasn't the lack of any signs of life in the place, or even the haunting sounds that resonated from beyond the walls that scared him, it was the murals. All along the wall, hundreds of them painted there.

Some were abstract, showing faceless figures running from some unseen threat, but it was the vivid paintings that could lay the foundation for nightmares.

A man laying in a puddle of his own blood, crushed by a cloud of green. Blurs of colors fused into a gigantic rainbow vortex that consumed an entire wall.

Words of unknown origin were scrawled in some sort of insane pattern, each phrase accompanied by screaming figures or ominous red eyes. And the worst one of all was when he saw himself among one of the prophetic murals.

He traced a claw across a painted Charmeleon figure was backed up against a wall of darkness with the phrases "Nowhere to run!" , "Too Many Variables!", and "Can't Escape!" Leo was perplexed at how it was only the words seemed to float, shift, and flip until he could read them.

The other countless murals on the wall that he couldn't understand, but had no time to ponder why as the hallway violently lurched, throwing him to the ground.

Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him, but Leo realized that he saw a light at the end of the passageway that hadn't been there before. He hopped to his feet and started running towards the glow, not caring about the danger.

Another rumble shook the building, slamming Leo into the hard wall. Stars danced in his vision as his head knocked against the concrete. Aside from his aching skull, he didn't feel nearly the amount of pain he expected to feel.

He got to his feet and noticed that an odd smell was in the air along with a weird hissing sound. He wasn't sure what the strange smell was, only that it smelled strongly of rotten eggs and it seemed to appear where ever the hissing was.

Combustion , he wasn't sure what to make of the word his brain had decided to show him, but he knew he was in for a bad time regardless.

It was then that he noticed that the small glowing light at the end of the tunnel was growing closer and brighter. He couldn't figure out why this was until an immense wave of heat washed over him. His eyes widened as his mind finally managed to put the puzzle together. The glowing light was fire, and that smell was none other then methane gas.

His feet froze as he clutched the wall in fear. He stared at the growing flame as the seconds counted down until it ignited the pocket of gas around him. In the final moments before incineration, muttering voices from the murals all bore down on him, screaming insanity as he squeezed his eyes shut and plugged his ears in a vain effort to block them out.

He wasn't sure why, but suddenly it felt like his body wasn't under his control anymore. He removed his clawed hands from his ears even though he wanted to press them in farther. His eyes opened and his legs moved until he was standing in the middle of the hallway, the inferno growing ever closer.

He had no chance to brace himself, or even utter a quick prayer to anyone who might be listening. There was only a loud "whoosh!" as the flames caught onto the gaseous fuel and combusted the entire cloud of methane.

Leo shut his eyes as he waited for the inevitable heat of the flames to embrace his skin, only to have his body convulse in near shock as a frigid blast of air and powdered snow blew past him. After blinking a few times to ensure he wasn't dreaming, Leo turned around in a circle.

All around him was a vast plain of ice and snow that extended farther then he could see. There was no sign of the mysterious hallway and the fire, and no explanation as to how he got to this wasteland. He stood in awe of the magnificent ice desert, the harsh Arctic sun glinting off the smooth deposits of ice.

The small falling flakes of snow fizzling into steam as they encountered Leo's tail.
Taking a tentative first step forward onto a patch of ice, he felt his heartbeat stop when he heard a deep, ominous cracking noise from far below him.

In the blink of an eye, the pristine field of ice shattered into a million shards of ice. The ground he was standing gave way to thin air and he fell into the massive crevasse. The frozen wind sliced through his scream like butter as he raced the ice shards to the black bottom of the abyss.

He twisted his body around, clawing wildly at the air as he hoped against hope that a handhold would appear. As soon as he brushed up against something metal embedded in the side of the chasm, his instincts kicked in and he dug his claws into the cold metal wall.

Leo saw sparks fly as his body was brought from terminal velocity to a screeching halt within the span of a second. Even though the forces of speed and gravity had temporarily relinquished their hold over his body, inertia had over plans, sending his head smashing into the hard steel at breakneck speeds.

Everything went dark as the abyss, the wall, and the ice all faded.

"Wake up, scum!" The order cut across Leo's unconscious mind as he slowly returned to the realm of the living.

Leo tried to yelp as a painful electric shock forcefully woke him up. He looked around the darkened room; he was sitting in a chair with his wrists secured to the arms.

A strange muzzle wrapped around his snout, making speech impossible. His breaths grew quicker as he looked up across the table in front of his chair.

Barely discernable from the darkened walls, two figures stood against the wall watching him intently. A third figure walked out from behind his chair to the other two, twirling a strange, black machine in his fingers.

Leo was able to catch a glance of his captors when he briefly stepped into the dim light. He was a human.
Leo's mind went into a tailspin. Humans!? How!? What is this!? his mind shrieked as his body went numb.

"I don't know, 'ow about we just kill 'im now? He isn't important to anyone af'er all," one of the leaning figures asked. Suddenly a voice came from an unseen speaker on the ceiling.

"Fine, just make it quick. We've got fifty-three more prisoners to 'interrogate', and there's a shipment of a dozen new freshies captured from the riots down in the Steel Province."

The human smiled as he casually walked up to Leo, his fingers upholstering a different, sinister device from his belt. Unable to talk, Leo shook his head violently as the human male pressed the device to the side of his head. Leo's eyes grew wide in terror, as the human put a strong foot on the chair, keeping it and Leo secure.

"One less freak in the world now," the prison guard said smugly as he pulled the trigger and a blast of white light erupted from the end of the machine and traveled the few millimeters to Leo's head.
At once, the world cut to black and he knew no more.

Leo landed on the dirt floor hard. Groaning, he slowly got to his feet, unsure of what sort of thing he'd have to go through next.

Wearily looking around, he saw that he was in a large, circular pit with a high stone sides, a dirt floor, and a strange white light shinning from above the entrance of the pit. After what seemed minutes of absolutely nothing happening accept the routine passage of time, the ground started vibrating.

After being nearly incinerated, frozen, crushed, and shot, Leo realized he was getting somewhat jaded. He barely flinched as the center of the floor exploded in a shower of dirt and pebbles and a rather familiar, sentient blue tank crawled out of it.

"Oh, it's you," Nexus said quietly before letting out a primal, static-filled war cry and charged at Leo.

Leo sighed, unfazed at the spectacle, he knew it would just pass through him like all the others did and he'd be transported somewhere else. The illusion Nexus came to a screeching halt inches away from the bored Charmeleon.

Her phantom circuits nearly shorted with the thought of an unafraid enemy, but she quickly got over herself and grabbed the unsuspecting Leo with her front foot, squeezing him tightly.

"You do know that courage is not the absence of fear, right? Wait, that can't be right. You're not courageous, you're just stupid."

Leo felt like his ribs were going to explode; he let out a pained yell, hoping someone would hear him. Nexus chuckled as she threw the Charmeleon into the ground like a bouncy ball, except he didn't bounce when he hit the floor.

He didn't have time to register the fact that his entire body was screaming in pain as the "illusion" Nexus picked him up once more and slammed him down again onto the packed dirt. She continued to repeat this process, while Leo hoped that he would slip into the painless bliss of unconsciousness. He didn't.

He wasn't sure how Nexus wasn't going deaf from his screams, or indeed, how he was still able to scream when his neck should have snapped long ago. Somewhere in the deepest recess of his mind, he was wondering how his mind was still conscious even though his threshold of tolerance was crossed long ago.

Leo screamed, not stopping as the possessed Metagross's blows continued to rain down on his battered form. Somehow, his screams became even louder for an instant as he felt his right arm break, and again when every bone in his legs shatter into tiny fragments as Nexus smashed them with her leg not unlike what a hammer does to nails.

Even if he could, he was unable to stop the one-sided beat down, as his muscles seemed to be paralyzed by some unknown force — probably shock. Unable to do anything else, he continued to scream while Nexus laughed as she splintered what remained of his left arm with a crushing blow.

Leo didn't remember if he passed out during Nexus's carnage, but he was glad he couldn't feel anything anymore. Leo couldn't see; anything outside of his immediate proximity was complete and utter darkness.

"There were others. Others who failed to comply. Their fates weren't pretty, but you must learn through example it seems. Study their faces well."

The darkness rippled and distorted as colors filled the void. Red and gold hues blended together to build a dying sunset, grey and steel slithered over each other like vines, becoming a oppressing wall, and in the center of the courtyard, a single figure of blue was being dragged onto a pedestal in the middle of the yard.

The scene came into focus; the Golduck, escorted by a squad of Magnemite was bound to one of the several stone pillars that jutted from the pedestal floor. He seemed to not to struggle as the floating spheres fastened the metal cords around his body.

Leo wasn't sure how he was watching this scene, but he could see them but the guards showed no signs of acknowledging his existence. The Golduck closed its eyes as the final cord was tightened; it looked like any chance of escape was extinguished.

The Magnemite chattered amongst themselves for a small moment before lining up in a single, uniform line exactly ten feet away from the base of the pillar. At the direction of a large zebra like Pokemon, the Magnemite units eagerly began spinning their magnet arms, charging up tremendous amounts of very lethal electricity.

The Golduck simply lowered his head, his will to prove himself innocent long since broken in the two days he had been in this prison. As if drawn by a morbid part of his brain, Leo couldn't his turn his gaze away from the impending execution.

The Zebstrika let out a quick whinny and stamped the ground three times. The Magnemite calmed their charging and took aim at their prisoner.
The commanding Pokemon stamped the ground twice more as sparks flew from her hoof. The Magnemite went silent as the Golduck looked up one last time.

The Zebstrika stamped the ground one last time. Just as the executors were about to fire their volley of electricity, time seemed to slow down like it had been replaced with frozen molasses.

"Good evening, Jack. I sense that something is troubling you. Whatever could it be?"

"Go away. P-please. I-I'm done, finished," the Golduck's strained voice croaked.

"Oh, believe me, my friend. This will be the last time I burden you with a visit. Since I know you are not a Pokemon to 'beat around the bush', as it were; I'll get straight to the point."

"About damn time you stopped being to vague," Jack growled.

"You have proven to me that you are clearly unqualified for the generous employment opportunity my superiors offered you. They have given you many chances to change this view, and they now agree with me that your time is up.

"You're telling me that you're done following me? R-really?"

"I am done being the Deus Ex Machina for you; saving you from an imminent demise . I'm regret nothing, Jack. Standards must be upheld in this business, and you have failed to do so."

"F-finally! I'm free! I'm free!" Jack screamed in insane joy as the frozen Magnemites began to move once more. Their bright bolts of electricity arcing through the air as they homed in on the captive water type.

"Kyogre, Lugia, Suicune! Thank you! Thank y--!" The electricity hit him square in the chest. It coursed through his body, amplified by the metal cords. His agonized screams were drowned out as the scene blurred and another took its place.

"I'm afraid …"

A small, blue and white squirrel clung to a thin branch of a tree, an abyss stretched out beneath it. Unable to take the creature's weight, the limb snapped, sending the Pachirisu downward.

"… that your observation …"

With those words, the world changed once again. A small, purple and cream colored cat was backed into a dark alley, several larger figures snarled as they surrounded her. Without warning the figures launched separate beams of ice, fire, and green energy at the cowering Pokemon. As they collided with her, the landscape dissolved and reformed again.

"… has been …"

Two figures, one small and one large, hugged each other as a loud, insane growl shook the ruined tower around them. They instantly became enveloped in a bright, white light as the world ended.

"…terminated."

A battered Ninetales and equally worn brown fox skidded to a halt as the cliff-side path ended abruptly, leaving only an uninviting abyss beyond. It looked to the path behind it, a large mob of Pokemon blocked off their escape. Magnemites and a score of Pokemon Leo had never seen before all closed in on the fleeing duo. Suddenly, a streak of shadow rushed out and knocked the Ninetales off the side, where it hung on only by the efforts of its smaller companion.

Without warning, the Magnemite fire off a volley of lightning, hitting the duo directly. The Ninetales' companion couldn't hold on and they both fell into the crevasse. Their screams are cut off by a dim flash of blue from within the gorge as the ground started vibrating.

"Effective …"

A white-furred Pokemon with a patch of red fur around its claws swiped at a large, black snake. The snake retaliated by swinging its razor-sharp tail at the Zangoose's neck. It was a direct hit. The Zangoose fell to the ground clutching its neck as its life bled out of the wound.

"… immediately."

An electric yellow mouse braced itself as a wall of water crashed down on top of it.

A small, brown creature with a mask of bone on its head smashed its bone club onto its attacker, to no avail.

A tiny blue, penguin slipped on the wet rock of the cave as its bloodthirsty pursuers caught up with it. Its screams of terror were amplified by the acoustics of the cave system.

"Good luck in the afterlife, former candidates."

As before, the blackness was soon pierced by a voice colder then the wasteland he was in earlier.

"Shall we continue? There are – or rather, there were--- one-hundred and fifty-eight candidates when I began this operation on behalf of my employers. As you can see, a … considerable amount of your comrades have been … disposed of. I can assure you that continuing on this path of yours will result in immediate termination of potential employment and all future work opportunities. I won't be vague with you, Leo. You comply with standards, or you will die in every possible meaning of the word. If this isn't a 'compelling reason' for going along with my employer's plan then I don't know what is. This is your final warning, Leo."

"Wake up, Leo. Wake up, and face the consequences."

"Wake up, Leo!" Jay's voice shouted from above his unmoving form.

"This doesn't look good. Leo, can you hear me? Oh no, oh no, oh no …" Kelly's worried tone sounded after Jay.

Leo groaned softly as feeling returned to the vast majority of his body. He slowly struggled to move his legs as pinpricks of pain shot through his nerves.

"Thank Arceus, you're alright!" Kelly exclaimed as he nearly collapsed to the ground again she as hugged him in joy. A pained groan from the Charmeleon caused Kelly to break her embrace.

"So, what happened to you? One minute you're intent on leaving us, the next you're on the ground screaming like Giratina himself came for your soul. Mind telling us exactly what happened?" Jay asked as he grabbed Leo's arm and forced him to his feet. Leo winced in pain at being jerked upwards.

"Nothing happened. I'm … fine," Leo huffed as he tried to take a step forward. Instead of moving ahead, he ended up clutching a nearby tree for support as his legs almost gave out.

"No. You're not fine, Leo. You're going back to the base, and you're going to tell us everything. Whether you like it or not," Jay stated as he grabbed Leo by the shoulder and peeled him off the tree.

The sudden change in momentum and position proved to be too much for the traumatized Charmeleon as he fell to his hands and knees and threw up whatever remained in his stomach on the forest trail.

"Leo! Jay, help me with him!" Kelly yelled as the Riolu reluctantly hoisted Leo to his feet. Using Kelly and Jay as support, Leo gingerly walked back towards his temporary home, uncertain what the next day would hold for him.

"I-I'm sorry. For everything." Leo whispered as he slowly limped along the trail.

Two Hours Later

In a small booth in the darkest corner of the café in Loyalty, a group of Pokemon conversed. The loud chatter of the late-night patrons all around them providing more then enough noise pollution to keep their affairs from potential eavesdroppers.

Their where three Pokemon at the booth, to be precise. Two of them sat scrunched up against each other on one side of the booth, while leaving a respectable amount of space for their superior on the other half.

"Didn't your team gain a recruit recently?" the authoritative figure said to his two subordinates.

The two he was addressing looked at each other for a second before answering.

"We thought best not to include him in this business until after we could trust him."

Their superior chuckled, "Wise choice, now why I' m here…"

"There have been only two instances, though they'll straighten out on their own. We do have three teams on the threat list that need to be … you know… dispatched as soon as possible … before the damage worsens that is," the figure on the right of the booth reported.

"That will put a strain on our available resources, but you're sure they pose a threat to the general's plans?"

"We're certain, especially team Beta. What's happened to them is too much of to be a coincidence. They, Alpha, and Gamma need to be disposed of quickly."

"Of course. It that it?" the superior asked.

"Sir, the king, he's tightened security, as I'm certain you've noticed. It's going to be much harder to get anything done with them in the way."

"Never you mind about them. There are contingency plans in place to take care of 'his royal highness' when the time is right. Now go, your positions cannot be compromised. Not when we're so close to the end."

"So, the rumors are true then? About the war. It's almost over?"

"….. Yes. It will all be over soon. Now get back to your positions."

"Yes, sir. For the Colonies."

"For the Colonies …"

The figures then left as unnoticed as they entered; not one of the patrons even knew they were there.

"Sir, I'm sorry to intrude on your … solitude. However, I believe I have received enough optimal data from my observations. I can firmly say with upmost confidence that I believe Phase One is over. The time to initiate Phase Two is nigh …"

End Chapter Six