Maya’s Mis-Adventures (v1.01) -v1.01: Fixed some correspondence errors and some minor grammar errors; nothing much. My name is Maya, and I’m a Delta-Species of Gardevoir. “Maya” was actually the codename of a scientific experiment that involved imbuing Steel-type characteristics within me, but after I escaped the Holon Research Institute, this was the only name I could use to identify myself… If you’re asking why or how I had escaped the Holon Research Center, I will tell you my whole story… … Firstly, I was only a little Ralts back then, when those wicked Holon Scientists captured me from the wilderness and carried me into their scientific lair. I didn’t even know who those people were; let alone what they wanted with me. However, they fed me well, and that was all I cared about – I was so innocent, or say naďve, at that time… And that one day, as I remember it very clearly, one of those researchers brought me, in a cage, into an intimidating large laboratory, filled with hi-tech machinery and supercomputers… He unlocked my cage and told me to “be a nice little girl” and “don’t move” while he laid me flat onto a bed, attached to a crowd of steel arms and legs. I lay there, and didn’t move a muscle – if I had any – not because he told me not to, but that I was far too scared to move with all those chaotic, piercing beams of monochromatic light splicing within my tiny little body, mainly my head, as another researcher operated on a nearby computer. He told me it was done before I even realized what was going on. He then took me back, in that same cage, to my usual space in another lab, and he gave me heaps to eat – I ate it all, of course. However, I didn’t realize that they put some sort of sleep-inducing drugs into my food, and I fell into a sleep right after I consumed it… I woke up in another different lab, this time with about 15 scientists there; some were surrounding me, while I was lying on another so-called bed, with those familiar gizmos hovering above, sometimes below, my head… The only words I picked up from those scientists were something like “we failed…” and something about a “wrong type-code”, then there were an explosion of cursing and blaming – I had no idea what for… but for one thing I was certain: I was the subject! … That was the time I finally realized that I was only an object of research for those people to experiment on, and they only fed me to keep me alive and fit for their purpose! For the very first time in my life I was filled with a burning rage, and with that raging lust for true freedom, I learned Confusion, the weakest Psychic-type attack. I tried and tried, to use Confusion to break free from my cell – or whatever, I don’t know how to call it – but I was far too weak to succeed… But that was not all, as those, or one of those, researchers saw me trying to break free; he became worried and activated a force field which absorbed all my psychical energy, rendered me exhausted and helpless. I didn’t want to give up. From my genetic memories, I knew that I could free myself without struggling, with an ability called Teleport, and so, I managed to master it, although with difficulty… … One night, I used my Teleport to escape that lab I was in, but as I sneaked out into the corridor, I only realized how enormous their concrete lair was: there were only doors and more doors leading to different labs in my sight, either way I looked. I decided to take a chance and headed for a direction guided by solely my instinct, and it proved its usefulness – I saw a pair of huge doors at the very end of that corridor – it was obviously the entrance, or the exit as in my case. So I, while still youthful and impulsive, forgot to use my Teleport ability, but made a straight dash towards those giant doors, unaware of that I was being watched by about 50 security cameras… I was shocked and then caught by a concealed electric trap just before those doors; I couldn’t do a thing to break out of it, and I was too weak to Teleport, so I was trapped until the next morning… … And the next morning came, of course. The same scientist found me there and brought me back into that same lab, again. He warned me about escaping those premises, and said that I must be “purified” before I can be released back into the wilds. I knew it was but another trick, so I waited, again, for a perfect, or at least good enough, opportunity to come for me to escape – I didn’t get shocked and trapped for a whole night for nothing, I found out where the main door was, and that was a significant achievement… I slept during that day and woke up just before the nightfall, when all the scientists had gone for the day. I tried again to escape, only this time I was far more careful. I stuck to the shadows of the walls and I looked for blind points of those security cams, and I then sneaked to the main door again. I knew that trap will activate if I get too close, so I decided to Teleport through the window instead. Fortunately, they left one of the windows open, and I didn’t even need to Teleport – I just climbed up the wall and jumped out of that window! I succeeded; I was finally free! Yes, I was free, and that was the first time in those 6 longest months in my life, I saw a patch of grass, a tree, and the beautifully serene night sky! It was so romantic, although I was only by myself… I realized that I must escape Holon Island permanently, or they will eventually find me, and capture me back again. So I ran, with all that feeble strength I could muster, to the nearest seaport. I hopped onto a random ship later that night, and it departed the next morning. I had no idea where it was going – I didn’t care anyway, as long as it’s somewhere far away from Holon… That ship brought me to Vermillion City in the Kanto Region. I found myself a quiet back alley to live temporarily, and it was right behind an elementary school. A kind street Meowth offered me to share with it its rather cozy nest up in the roof of that school building, and I accepted, of course. It told me that I was a one-of-a-kind Pokémon around that region, so it must protect me. I was very grateful, although I didn’t know why it said that I was “one-of-a-kind” – why would I care anyway? During the daytime, when my Meowth friend was asleep, which it was most of the time, I often wandered inside the school, and sometimes even attended classes with those children – that’s how I learned to talk – it wasn’t easy, but it was well worth the time and effort! Maybe this is another type of experience, I evolved into a Kirlia not long after I learned to read, speak and write. That meant an increase in my body size, and that I could live with that Meowth for no longer, because I was too big for its nest. So I thanked and said goodbye to my Meowth friend, and moved on to find a nest of my own, out in this large, crowded city… I did find a deserted factory storeroom after all. I used my psychic powers to decorate it into an inhabitable place, I called Meowth to move over, and we lived there happily for a couple of years. However, no joy lasts long enough before it’s taken over by sorrow… That store room was to be demolished in order to build an apartment. I protested with my still limited language, to those construction people, but that proved its uselessness; after all, who’d care about a little Pokémon like me? I protected my, or our, home with Reflect, but that only enraged those people. Day after day they’d been trying to drive us out of that place, and they threatened us with their Machokes and other rough worker Pokémon like Primeapes, but I’ve managed to fend them off, until those workers finally decided to throw us out with brute force… They ordered all their Pokémon to attack together, about 20 of them in total. During that 20-on-2 melee, I told Meowth to run away with its Feint Attack, because I knew it was no match against Fighting-types, and it did. I saw it ran towards a window, and before it jumped out, it turned back and looked at me – its big eyes were soaked in tears, as it knew that I was literally sacrificing myself for its safety… That sorrowful look from my friend injected a stream of peculiar power into me, and it was that power allowed me to shrug off all that excruciating pain from my wounds while I was knocked into crates time after time. I didn’t realize it, but I’ve just learned the powerful Psychic attack. I managed a last struggle and absorbed every power that I could, and released a devastating Psychic attack that knocked out at least half of those villains… That was the moment I gathered enough fighting experience, and became what I am now, a Gardevoir. A renewed strength circulated within me, and I, without even bother examining my new body, used that strength to unleash another Psychic attack, which completely annihilated their team. Those workers were shocked right from the moment I evolved, and they were even more so when they saw me defeating about 20 of their Pokémon single-handedly. They backed down, maybe just for the time being. However, seeing that they would never really give up, I’d decided to leave Vermillion City once and for all, and so I did, after finding Meowth and saying goodbye to it once again… I realized that I was much taller than what I used to be; I was just as tall as a person, so I took advantage of my physical traits and disguised as a real person, not to mention that I was lucky enough to find a wallet full of cash in a corner of a street. I used that money and bought a ferry ticket to another distant region known as Hoenn. On that ship, I looked at myself inside a mirror for the first time: I looked so astoundingly beautiful that I couldn’t even recognize my own image! I arrived at Lilycove City in the Hoenn Region, and I found a quiet forest to the south-west of the city. I set up my home there, and I was never disturbed by another person for years since, until that day I met him… His name is Malace, and he was a former executive of an organization in Orre, called the Shadow Research Institute. This is how we encountered each other… … It was only an ordinary rainy day in that forest, and I was running back to my tree house after collecting some berries for lunch, and I bumped right into someone – he was Malace, and he was only trying to shield himself from the heavy rain with those trees. At first, he didn’t seem so nice; he was furious at me for knocking him over and falling right onto him. I quickly apologized, but all he did was pushing me away and calling me a “blind bitch”, and he treaded away… Once again, I felt so hurt – by a person. I was soaking wet, and I paced homewards, melancholically hanging my head, only to find that Malace accidentally dropped one of his Poké-Balls onto the grass when he fell over; that made me feel even worse, and somewhat… guilty. I picked it up, hoping he would soon realize it and come back to look for it, and he did, after about 2 hours… … He was looking all over the place while cursing loud, as I heard him. I was too afraid to approach him and give that Poké-Ball to him, because I knew should I do that, I’m only asking to get thrashed and captured. So, I stood there, exactly where I was when I knocked him over, and waited for him to come close, and of course, he did. He saw me, but to my greatest surprise, he didn’t seem to recognize me until I showed him that Poké- Ball I found. I apologized to him once again, but he seemed to have become a whole different person – he said sorry for calling me that, and then thanked me for returning his Poké-Ball. He offered me to follow him to his place, considering I was all wet, and I didn’t refuse… … I followed Malace to his house just outside Lilycove City – it wasn’t big, but it was warm and cozy. He wrapped a bath towel around my wet body and sat me next to his fireplace to get me dried up; he sat next to me, and said, “You must be Maya, right? I’ve heard about you from those damned Holon Researchers, and those news regarding your escape spread all over Orre… They might’ve failed your experiment and accidentally imbued Dark-type characteristics into you, but I don’t see any need for you to be ‘purified’…” Then, he mentioned something about “Shadow Pokémon”, and saying that they are the ones that need purification, not me… So I learned from him that I’m partly Psychic and partly Dark-type, and what their ‘failure’ was – they gave me the Dark-type’s characteristics instead of Steel-type’s, and that also meant – I’m immune to all Psychic- type attacks like all Dark-type Pokémon are! I actually felt so very lucky that they made such a mistake on my experiment – I don’t have to carry that huge body-weight like all those other Steel-type Delta Species do, also, my Dark-type characteristics rendered me not only immune to all Psychic-type attacks, but they also gave me this mystic shade of darkness around all the tips and edges of my body, it’s that what made me so “uniquely attractive”, as Malace said. … The rain didn’t stop that evening. Malace cooked some dinner for us, and he then offered me to stay at his house for the night until it clears up; I accepted his kind offer – to be honest, I was too modest to refuse any of his offers, because that was the very first time in my life I’ve ever felt “love”. After dinner we sat next to the fireplace again, and I asked some more about him, and he told me that he was a former executive of the Shadow Research Institute, an arch-enemy of the Holon’s counterpart, that produces Shadow Pokémon instead of Delta Species. He didn’t want to go into the details about Shadow Pokémon’s creation, because that process is far crueler than the Delta Species’. He quit only because that he heard the news of my escape from Holon, he said my escape had made him realize that he’s had enough of tormenting innocent Pokémon, although his job was only related to paperwork… … We talked for that entire evening, and even I was amazed by how well I could speak, but Malace didn’t seem to be surprised at all, well, maybe it’s because he used to be a Pokémon researcher. That night, Malace, again, “offered” me to sleep with him in his bed, considering he had nowhere else for me to sleep in, and that was first time I tried to refuse, because I was too shy to sleep with a person, especially when he is a male person… Maybe he could read my mind or something, he immediately assured me that it was all right after seeing me feeling uncomfortable, and he wound his loving arms around my body, saying, “Maya, I know you still wouldn’t trust a person after what people have done to you, and I was one of those groups, too. But please trust me this once; I’ll help you…” And then, he gave me a warm embrace and a light kiss on the cheek; he also said I’m very cute and “sexy” – I never had any idea what that means; maybe it’s just something he said to make me feel better… We did sleep together that night, in each other’s arms, so did we every following nights, and, something more I found about him made me feel even closer to him – he’s not a human either; he is one of those creatures that they call “dark elf”, as I realized from his long, pointed ears and dark skin. Well, that might be the reason that he thinks I’m attractive with my Dark-type characteristics, and it might also explain why he joined the Shadow Research Institute, but I don’t really care about those, all I care is that he loves me like he would a person – in fact, he treats me just like a person, maybe because I too closely resemble a real person. Just incase you’re wondering, no – Malace never captured me inside a Poké-Ball; we’ve always seen each other as the best and closest friends. However, I did participate in some Pokémon battles on behalf of him, and I even helped him to win the last Hoenn League Cup – those opponents seemed only too easy for me, considering I single-handedly defeated our opponent’s all 6 Pokémon in the final round for the Cup. With his research skills, Malace found out that I’ve actually become a Pokémon-ex, that is, a Pokémon who has surpassed the conventional maximum level of 100! How proud did I feel upon knowing this, as I never, ever had an official trainer! For the first time, I am saying thanks to the Holon Research Institute, especially to the scientists who made that wonderful mistake; well, it might sound sarcastic, but it’s not – I truly am grateful for that mistake they made! After all, I am still myself – Maya, the partly Dark-type, Delta Species Gardevoir-ex, and I’m proud to be what I am!