TheoLeung@sprint.ca

It wasn’t long before the team returned back to headquarters. They were all exhausted and anguished after their journey, and were very thankful that no one on that ship decided to pursue them as they made their escape.

However, everyone was still dumbfounded at Ice’s unique ability, which was demonstrated back on the enemy ship. Of course no one brought up the point throughout then entire trip home.

Still, Void remained solitary, staring intently at Ice while not attracting attention to himself all that time.

* * * * * *

Alex slowly pulled the smaller vessel against the side of the dock. Small waves cascaded in and out of the ship, while the hull slowly closed behind them. The motor hummed lightly as the crew began to disembark from their transport.

"Take a rest," Void suggested to his team. "I’ll report to the commander, so don’t worry about it." Just something in his tone of voice suggested a little more then he actually said. Nevertheless, no one objected, they all felt the fatigue that came from the mission. The group slowly split into smaller parties, each heading their separate ways, completing their separate tasks.

* * * * * *

Somehow, one way or another, Nil and Styx ended up with each other. The two headed towards the bow of the ship, originally walking in silent.

"So…what do you think?" Styx asked first, though confusing Nil at first. "I guess I mean…what did you think of our missions?" Styx rephrased.

"Is…is it always like that?" Nil questioned, staring out towards the distance. She didn’t seem very content with answering the question.

Styx nodded, though heaving a sigh. "You don’t like it, do you?" he asked, though the answer was quite apparent.

"How can you stand doing these ‘missions’ over and over again?!" Nil exclaimed, denouncing the purpose of such jobs. "WHY?! Why are you forced to do all this?!"

"I have my loyalties…" Styx replied softly, turning his head to face towards the horizon.

"What do you owe them?!" Nil questioned harshly, unable to believe that a person like Styx would be working for a group without a cause.

"I was…stolen from my home, when I was younger …" Styx answered, stopping Nil’s onslaught in her tracks. "Most of my kind was taken on that day…except for one, her cries calling out to me as I watched helplessly. She tried to catch our mobile prison, but to no avail, as we soon left the forest. I never saw her again…" Nil now only listened quietly, somehow relating with the events with her own distorted memories.

"Afterwards…possibly a few weeks, maybe a few days, I couldn’t tell, I was rescued…by the group of this ship…" Styx continued, sighing. "Since then, I have stuck with this group."

"Don’t you…ever miss your friends and family?" Nil asked, her heart also cracking from focring Styx to recall such terrible memories.

"I long to see my friends again…and how I miss my family…especially that one…which was left behind…" he replied, turning to face Nil. "But until I know where I can begin to search, I have no where to be except for here. I can only pray that she also is living well."

"She is," Nil replied, surprising the other Pikachu.

"Who would you know?!" he asked out, believing Nil had some information that he could use.

"I…I don’t know…but somehow…she is okay…" Nil whispered, looking away. "I shouldn’t have said that. It may do more harm then good…"

"Nil…" Styx whispered under his breath, as Nil slowly walked away from their point on the ship. "Thank you…Nil…"

* * * * * *

Ice held his flute in his hand, though he was in no mood to play it. The trainer sighed, lowering the instrument to his side, wondering how he used his ability again.

"Ice, what’s wrong?" Melody asked the trainer who lay on her back. Ice sighed, turning away.

"For the millionth time, nothing is wrong," Ice answered.

"You can’t lie to me, Angel," Melody replied. Ice again sighed, remebering Melody’s Psychic ability. Ice knew it was futile to lie to his Lapras companion, but he still tried. Ice let out a soft laugh, facing her.

"Can’t you figure it out, Valkyrie?" Ice asked, blatently referring to Melody’s Psychic ability. Still, Melody nodded, lowering her head towards Ice.

"Can’t you get Dr. Sapphire to analyze the problem?" Melody suggested, though Ice sighed again.

"I…honestly…I don’t trust anyone here…" Ice answered.

"Or is it because you don’t trust yourself?" Melody rephrased. Ice remained silent. "Until you learn how to control that ability of yours, you live in constant fear of unleashing it upon someone else." Ice completely agreed the Lapras, but, even if it was true, he still did not trust many crewmembers aboard either. The two continued to remain silent, swimming about outside with the promotion of the dock crews.

Slowly, Ice lifted his flute, placing it near his mouth, and beginning to play it softly. Melody soon joined in, and from there, the two made beautiful music that would only seem possible by a school of Lapras.

* * * * * *

Ignite shook Nil rudely in attempt to wake her. The Pikachu groaned, turning around slowly to face the Vulpix she shared the room with.

"What do you think you’re doing?!" Nil hissed, tempted to shock the Vulpix. It was the middle of the night after all.

"They took away Ice," he replied. The female Pikachu bolted right up in her bed, unable to believe what she just heard. "Two guards took him from his quarters and ‘escorted’ him to the upper decks."

"But, then, we have to…!" Nil exclaimed, though she didn’t finish.

"I know," was all Ignite said in his interruption. He slowly moved towards the door, his tails waving back and forth gracefully with his steps. "Styx is waiting outside. Whenever you’re ready, we’ll get moving." Nil nodded, leaping out of the bed, and charged for some action.

* * * * * *

"Um…the question is, how do we get up?" Ignite asked, seeing as the elevator door just won’t open for them.

"It’s a DNA locked door, which will only accept user who match a DNA and retina scan," Styx told them, making the situation seem even more hopeless. The three Pokémon stood there, in front of the elevator, unsure of how to proceed.

"Are you looking for a way up?" a voice asked, scaring the heck out of the three. They each turned around, seeing Dr. Sapphire tower over their petite bodies. "Come," she told them, confirming both the DNA sand retina scan. The door opened with a small hiss of air shooting outwards.

"Dr. Sapphire, how do you have access to the higher levels? I thought you were only a medical doctor," Styx asked, though she didn’t reply. The three exchanged glances, and without further delay, entered the elevator.

* * * * * *

"Ice…wake up…" Dr. Sapphire spoke, shaking Ice lightly. He slowly opened his eyes, though the pang of freezing temperatures struck him. He bolted up right, nothing protecting the upper half of his body from the cold touch of the stainless steel operating table. Dr. Sapphire quickly tossed him his clothing.

"But, what happened?" Ice asked, unable to recall any of the events prior to this encounter.

‘They examined you," Dr. Sapphire replied, walking towards the door. Ice, confused at first, but didn’t like being in this room, with all the operating lights, and tools, and such. He leaped off the table, then followed the doctor into the other room, where Nil, Styx, and Ignite patiently waited.

"Ice!!" Nil exclaimed first, happier then ever to see the trainer back with them.

"But…what happened? What part of the ship is this?" Ice questioned, holding his head as a small headache his him.

"I will explain, but first…" Dr. Sapphire cut herself short, removing a syringe from her lab coat pocket. "Nil, please hold still." Nil, though afraid of the needlepoint, held her ground, allowing the doctor to inject her with the clear liquid inside. Nil cringed at first, but swallowed the pain. "It’s a special formula produced to revive lost memories in your mind over a period of time."

"But, if you had it all this time, why didn’t you administrate it before?" Styx asked, definitely wondering what is going on at this moment. Nil also wondered that. If they were so nice and generous, why didn’t they try anything like that before?

"I guess I better explain everything, now shouldn’t I?" Dr. Sapphire asked, though not needing an answer. She sighed, sitting down on a nearby chair. "You are aboard a Team Rock ship."

"Before you say anything, allow me to finish…" the doctor added quickly, silencing the group from any sort of protest.

"Yes, this is a Team Rocket ship," Dr. Sapphire continued. "A research vessel studying the results of ‘Chimera’ across a small population of people and Pokémon."

"Chimera?" Ignite asked, the question occurring to more then his mind alone. Everyone was curious about it, but it was Nil who provided the answer.

"The process in which one breaks down the genetic structure through the usage of an Eevee serum. The Eevee serum is made from their DNA, due to their genetic makeup and instability, enable a breakdown of Human DNA when injected. Afterwards, DNA from other Pokémon can be added to composite for the previously lost DNA. With the new DNA infused into the Human genome, the subject may acquire properties of the DNA from the Pokémon infused with. With enough DNA, the Human may also gain attacks that the Pokémon can use." Nil recited that so well that it left everyone else in a state of disbelief, including the Pikachu herself.

"Very good Nil," the doctor spoke up first. "I see you’re memory is returning faster then I thought. However, you omitted the fact that the process is very dangerous at higher levels of infusion, with the subject’s DNA decomposing and eventually to death."

"I’m not sure how I remembered the amount that I did…" she replied softly, frightening herself with the amount of knowledge she just spewed up in those seconds.

"To continue, this ship is basically a mass project started by Team Rocket to see how well small groups of Pokémon and their trainers are when they can actually communicate with each other. So far, the results have been incredibly positive…"

"But…to put it bluntly, we have just been a project for…this ‘group’?" Ice asked, shuddering a bit. He heard many rumors about Team Rocket, even in his ‘confinement’ within the ship. Ice never imagined he would be working for them all this time. "How…would that explain my abilities though?"

"As mentioned before…if enough DNA is infused within a human, he or she can begin to gain powers of the Pokémon. In some cases, even start to ‘mutate’ into the Pokémon they were fused with." Ice shuddered at the thought, but everything came into to light for him.

"That means…I was fused…with a Lapras?" he spoke out, though the answer was quite apparent. The ability to use ice attacks, his connection with Melody…the Lapras song…it all made sense now.

"Even if it was dangerous, the procedures for a Lapras was already in our grasp," Dr. Sapphire continued, sighing. "At Glacier City, one of the few locations where Chimera was being developed, we were trying to fuse Pokémon and Human together. Eventually, we succeeded, but at the cost of many lives."

"In the end…it was my daughter who was successful at surviving the ordeal," she added, lowering her head sadly. "I wish I never had to bring her to that…"

"Sarpal…isn’t it?" Nil spoke out, getting a nod as a response.

"Of course I know she is alive," Dr. Sapphire replied. "She was at Pokémon Stadium, competing in Prime Cup." The doctor wiped a tear away from her face, trying to keep her emotions contained.

"Doctor…why are you telling us this information?" Styx asked, unable to understand the principle behind this meeting.

"I…I am informing you of all this because…I feel, that these projects have gone too far," she replied, glancing around the group. "As soon as they took Ice away…I knew it was going to far. It is like how they took my daughter away from me…" There was a short silence engulfing the group. "Nil, please identify this…" Dr. Sapphire asked, holding up a small pendant, in the shape of a star.

"It’s…Pokément…" the female Pikachu answered. "It has the ability to unlock inner attacks of a Pokémon belong close to the holder of the pendant. Created by the…remains of dead subjects through Chimera…"

"Correct, though there is more…" Dr. Sapphire responded, placing the pendant on the table. "Pokément has been confirmed as a viable organic material. Overtime, it can ‘alter’ their DNA to fit that of their holder, as well as how they were created. If ever threatened, the Pokément can ‘morph’ into their last known host."

"Like a Ditto?" the Vulpix asked, using it as an example.

"Yes, like a Ditto. However, the form becomes permanent, hence how some Pokément holders get a ‘second chance’ at life. The new form retains all memories of their past self, but only of the self that was copied. As for the Pokément itself, it become ‘one’ with the new form. It is quite an interesting subject to study…"

"It’s sickening…" Styx muttered. "To use the remains of dead Chimera victims to create such diabolic things. Can’t you just let them rest in peace?!"

"Styx?!" Nil protested, though was cut short by the doctor.

"He is right. We shouldn’t meddle in such affairs," she replied. "But…there is one more thing you should know…after this…you are free to do what you want."

"Oh, and what’s that?" Styx asked sarcastically.

"Team Rocket is now working on incomplete Chimera infusions on Pokémon," Dr. Sapphire continued, getting the attention of everyone, including the male Pikachu. "In other words, it is forced-incomplete evolution, allowing a rather large increase in the Pokémon’s ability, whether it may be getting physically stronger or learning attacks that may seem out of their reach. Void…I’m sorry to say is such an example…being able to unleash attacks from all three of his evolutions without actually having to evolve."

It was unbelievable the lengths Team Rocket would go to just to succeed. Styx sighed, angered with that fact.

"So, what can we do then?" Styx asked, frustrated at the fact he was played for a fool all this time.

"Now that you know this information, you should escape from the ship as soon as possible," Dr. Sapphire suggested. "Team Rocket won’t allow you to leave alive if they knew you knew all this."

"But…how would we get off the ship? They won’t just let us waltz off you know," Ignite spoke out.

"Melody," Ice quickly spoke up, remembering his Pokémon companion. We can ask her to get us off.

"Yes, that would be the best idea," Dr. Sapphire injected. "How ironic…it was her DNA that made you what you are now Ice…" Ice remained silent, attempting to ignore the comment. "Quickly, go, the more time you use here, the more likely the chance you will be caught!" Each one nodded, Ignite leaving first, followed by Styx, then Ice. Nil remained behind, staring at the doctor.

"Nil…if you see Sarpal…tell her that her mother misses her…" Dr. Sapphire requested. Nil nodded, somehow guessing the doctor wanted a favour.

"Don’t worry, once I find her, I’ll tell her," Nil nodded, giving a mock salute, then rushing out to join with the rest of her companions.

"Oh Crystal…I hope you can forgive me for what I have done to you…" Dr. Sapphire whispered, revealing a picture of her daughter to herself, one that was taken at Stadium.

<Fin>

Well, another session of Chimera talking. =) I have to thank GTK for allowing me to use his Chimera idea in my fics again. Forced incomplete evolution, interesting concept. Oh, in modern words, that means his Pokémon are gamesharked. (I.E., a 999 stat Magikarp…Ouch…) Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Signing out.