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Was it worth it?

Glen moaned. It was mid-afternoon. He could tell that much from how badly his eyes hurt. It was especially troublesome in tandem with his pulsing headache.

You're a mess. Hold still.

"I could have sworn I was the caretaker in this group." He hissed in pain as a cold cloth wiped the back of his head with a sting.

"Ivy." "But you didn't swear anything, so shut up while we make sure you don't have a concussion." He felt soft paws behind the cloth and the tips of Amber's vines gently feeling around the swollen lump on his head. "Saur." "She hit you pretty hard, for a girl."

"It's really not that bad. I'm telling you, I don't have a concussion." He tried to get up and open his eyes, but groaned again as he felt Allanon's psychic embrace hold him down.

We got up an hour and a half ago, and we were hit by a hypno's hypnotic attack. She got you pretty damn hard.

"Maybe I was just tired. I don't have a concussion." He struggled again, but Allanon was in control.

"Chu." "She took the kid." Synapse was trying to hide his disappointment.

"I kind of thought she might. Ow! Damn it!"

"Ivysaur!" "Suck it up. That's the site of the bruise; what do I do now?"

With a wince, Glen repeated, "I don't have a concussion. A concussion is a brain injury. You're just checking for a fracture, which I really don't think is there, since I'm not screaming right now. Let me up. Not that I don't appreciate the concern."

"Rai..." "It's just that you bled... a lot. We got worried."

Glen felt the psychic pressure lift off his back and slowly got to his knees. Synapse was holding a bloody, antiseptic cloth and Amber had redirected his vines to massage Glen's cramped neck. Allanon was sitting against a tree and calmly watching him. The ivysaur and raichu were smeared with their own and others' blood in multiple places. Glen smiled gratefully. "Thank you. Cuts to the head do bleed a lot. None of you exactly look pretty, either. We all need to get these wounds cleaned; is there a river nearby?"

Synapse nodded. "A half mile or so east."

"Were any of you awake to see her leave?"

They all shook their heads. I tried to put a tracer on her and Zach, but... I... I'm sorry. I was... worn out. And then the little... He trailed off angrily. The little bitch hit me! Who hits a psychic pokémon?!

Glen smiled sympathetically. "That was pretty low, but she was kind enough to leave us all alive. Don't let it get to you, and missing the tracer is hardly your fault. I should have known she'd turn on me. I just thought... damn it, I want see the good in people. I'm a sucker for kids her age. We'll just have to hope she's got a double-cross in mind for Pokénomics."

"Raichu." "She took everything; I found this in your pocket." The raichu indicated the cloth he was holding. Glen felt for his pokéballs. At least they were still there.

"What about the Rocketeers?" He looked over to the scattered bodies from the day before. "Has she raided them?"

No, but Syn did. Nothing but pokéballs, guns, knives, and cash. He raised his hand to show that it was filled with a wad of money. About one hundred seventy-three dollars and ninety cents. We stacked the weapons under the van.

"About?" Glen asked with a smirk. "Any food?"

Amber grunted. "We haven't checked the van yet. We were waiting for you to wake up. Mostly to use you as a shield in case there was a bomb."

"And here I was thinking you all loved me." He stood up and patted the two nearby on their heads. As he walked over to the van, he added, "Most trainers have treats for their pokémon when they do well, but you all are slightly more mature than most pokémon. Do you want me to find you hookers, or something? Yesterday was pretty amazing on all accounts. 'cept for mine."

"Chu!" "YES. As quickly as possible."

Freaking horny rat.

"Rai!" "Just because your species doesn't have a mating season is no reason to decry mine." "Chu!" The voice changed pitch to something more friendly. "Look! Butterfly!"

"I. Vy. Saur." "A. D. D."

Glen had reached the van by this time and pulled the handle. Nothing exploded, so he went in and started digging around. The keys had been left in the ignition, but he didn't dare try them. "How about the chip? Did she take it?" The abra nodded. "Damn. She really is stupid. Never trust young women." He continued rummaging, but aside from submachine guns and a bottle of chloroform, which Glen promptly confiscated along with the few pokéballs he had snatched, there was nothing. Rocketeers were single-minded bastards. Not even a pokédex to be found anywhere.

Suddenly, he heard a moan. One was still alive. Glen jumped out of the van, scanned the bodies for the only one that was moving, and had his knife at the woman's throat before she could even protest. "Where'd Rachel go?"

"Huh?" she asked groggily. Her long, smooth, red hair was all about her. Besides the blood soaking the back of her uniform, she was relatively ravishing.

"The assassin Pokénomics sent to get me and the kid." His voice was deadlier than his knife at that point. "Where is she?"

"I don't know..." she groaned, and moved her hand to her holster, unaware that it was empty. Glen grabbed the arm and twisted it, making her cry out weakly.

"Well, you're going to remember soon enough. Amber, would you mind handing me the torch?"

"Wha...? No!" She started struggling furiously, but Glen kept her down.

Amber trundled over and extended a vine that was encircling a small, brown berry. Glen took it gratefully and showed it to his captive. It glistened in the sunlight. "Don't worry, it's not a flamethrower. It's this. Now, you may know that ivysaurs are fairly adept at creating different poisons and storing those poisons in their bodies for long, long periods of time. Usually, they come out as a powder, but mine, being as freaking awesome as I've trained him to be, has learned to produce berries full of a liquid form.

"A few years ago, I played a prank on Amber here and fed him a bunch of habeñero peppers. I'm sure you know what those are?" She nodded, eyeing the berry. It had a very smooth texture to it. "The molecule in those peppers isn't really a toxin, but Amber retained it, anyway, and has been saving it for just such an occasion. Do you know why spicy things give you that burning sensation?"

She shook her head, watching him carefully. "No? Well, let me tell you. There's a chemical in them that activates the pain receptors. It has easy access to your tongue because of the relatively porous membrane. So, imagine if it were to touch an open wound, or your eye..." He trailed off suggestively. "That would be terrible, wouldn't it? And the only way to stop it is to wash it out somehow, and the nearest water source is half a mile away."

The girl tensed up in terror. "I swear... I swear I don't know where she is! I only heard about her being hired because I was listening in on the chief's conversations! I had no idea she would be here."

"So you knew she was here?" he asked acidly, rolling the berry in front of her eyes.

She answered quickly. "She hijacked the van and demanded that we take her with us. Said it was part of the operation."

"Do you know anything else about her?"

The woman spat bitterly. "She's a self-righteous brat. Thinks she owns the world just because she's good at what she does." She suddenly groaned painfully and arched her slashed back.

"Anything else?"

"She's one of the highest on the payroll, but we're all expendable, apparently." She said that last with a combined bitterness and fear that usually came after awakening from a heft dose of disillusionment.

Glen ignored it. He was tired, and she wasn't feeding him anything he wanted to hear. "You're useless!" he shouted at her, and smeared the berry into her eye. She shrieked, but very quickly quieted down with a confused look on her face.

"What?" was about all she could manage.

"That, my good friend, was mud, glazed with ivysaur spit." He got up off her and brushed himself off, then knelt and roughly tore open the back of her uniform. He noted that she did not immediately wipe off the offending sod. "Now I'm not sure why you're still alive, because I slashed open your back and my raichu zapped you... oh." Synapse had resuscitated the woman, effectively. Just before death, a lot of electrical contacts start going haywire in the body to try to keep it alive, assuming a violent death. It was a miracle that Syn's little pulse had done anything to aid them, but it had apparently worked.

"Well, nevermind. Anyway, stay down while I look at this wound."

"Wait... you want me alive still?" She wiped her face off, revealing pale blue eyes. "Why?"

"Because I can use you as a bargaining chip, duh. Not a very valuable one, but I might be able to negotiate with one of your own, even though... you guys turned on your leader pretty quickly. Maybe I can turn you in to the police, or something. Also, I need you to show me to Pokénomics' headquarters, where they'd have the kid." Using the cleaner parts of her uniform, he started rubbing off the dried blood so he could look at the wound. It would be pretty clean, given how sharp he kept that knife. It had been nice of Rachel to leave him that, at least. He had cut pretty deep, though, which was why it had taken her down in the first place. A simple shock still didn't explain why she was alive; he could see where he had severed her spinal cord. A white slice of bone was visible.

He frowned. "Someone wanted very badly to keep you alive. Try moving your legs." They shifted a little.

"I can't feel them."

Glen inhaled sharply and started darting his gaze from place to place. He whispered, "There is a very powerful psychic pokémon around here. More powerful than I thought was even possible. Allanon, come here." The abra obediently walked over and sat down by her head. "Would you please tap into her brain and find out what is manipulating her?"

She seemed confused. "What?"

"Your memories are being accessed by someone who can't see you; they can only feel you. That's why they originally moved your legs just now, even though you can't feel them. They want to help me without being seen. They're controlling your lungs and arms and it's tapping into both your subconscious and conscious minds, simultaneously, to create the illusion that you're still alive. I should have checked your pulse."

Her eyes widened. "I'm dead?"

"That is how it would seem. Your apparent consciousness is either because the creature is playing with us or because it isn't quite strong enough to mimic your actions and voice perfectly, so it's reactivated your brain to help itself out. This has got to be pretty stressful for you. By the way, it's going entirely on what you're able to see, hear, and feel to respond, if you're interested." He kept looking around the area, as though he would be able to see the perpetrator.

Allanon finally responded. It's masking itself expertly.

"Ivy?" "Has either one of you considered the possibility that she really is alive and can't feel her legs because they're numb from Glen sitting on them?"

Glen looked down. He was sitting on them to hold her. For her benefit, he repeated the question. "No, I had not considered that she might not be able to feel her legs because I'm sitting on them. But my theory is a lot more fun." He turned to her. "How badly hurt is your arm?"

She glared at him, quickly comprehending. "You scared the living fuck out of me with that stunt!"

"Answer my question," he said lightly, trying to ignore the red tinge his ears were gaining. He glanced again at the cut. There was a piece of her undershirt stuck in it that looked like bone. It had not severed her spinal cord. Well, darn.

"It was asleep from being at that angle all night," she growled.

"And you were asleep because...?"

"Saur." "That scyther wasn't being careful - he must have knocked her out instead of cutting her open when he went through." There was more than a trace of derision in those words.

"Well, I do apologize for that mistake." He got off her legs. "There really is a river a half a mile east of here. We can go there and get us all cleaned off. None of us have even eaten yet and whoa..." he suddenly stumbled backwards from dizziness as he stood up. "I suppose I haven't eaten in the past... hm, sixteen hours? Eh, that's not so bad. Just a little disorienting. Oh! One more thing. Pokénomics set you up to die."

"Excuse me?" She tried out her legs and looked around at her dead compatriots with something approaching animosity.

"Ah, sorry, I'm so racially insensitive. Habla Español?"

"No. Don't screw with me, kid. Do I even look Latino?"

"Well, sorry, I thought that was why you asked me to repeat myself. Pokénomics, the corporation that asked you all to do this little job, sent you here so that you would die wearing me out and so that Rachel could steal the little kid. They knew that six of you was just barely enough to take me down before I was worn out; trust me, I've been on their radar for a long time by now. Lucky for you, Syn here shorted all your electronic equipment so they think you're dead, and I'm sure that Rachel is busy reporting her success as we speak, so they shouldn't be sending anyone out after me."

She pushed herself to her feet with a wince of pain, almost fell again, and caught herself. She tossed her hair back. She was almost as tall as Glen in her high-heeled boots. She was also naked from the waist up after he had taken off her shirt and uniform; they lay on the grass. He raised an eyebrow. "Not bad."

Syn, Amber, and Allanon were also staring, Syn more than the rest of them, Allanon less. The objects of attention really weren't bad. She turned away from them quickly as she realized why he had said that. "Bastard!" Her ears went crimson as she quickly stripped another Rocketeer's uniform off a corpse and put it on.

Glen laughed good-naturedly. "I'm not going to apologize for giving you a compliment. And I'm sure I deserve _some_thing after being kind enough to examine your wounds after you tried to kill me."

She harrumphed. "Whatever."

"Alright, let's go. Syn, lead the way."

"Wait, where are my pokémon?" She felt for her pokéballs in the tight leather pants she was wearing.

"Dead," Glen answered casually.

"Like me?" she returned sardonically.

"Nope. They're dead. 's what happens when you try to take down someone like me. Your pokémon get more than knocked out. They're dead."

She glanced worriedly around the carnage, but only seemed concerned for her own safety. "What about my fearow? I don't see him here." She thought for a moment. "I remember telling him to run for it. He had something... He ought to be back in a few hours."

Glen stopped in his tracks and didn't look behind him. Aren't you glad you didn't eat it? Al asked. All Glen said was, "I don't think we're going to be the closest of friends."

"Why's that? What did you do to him?"

With a little smile, he just kept walking, and his pokémon followed, after grabbing a firearm for each of them and watching their captive to make sure she didn't get one. She walked after them, afraid. "What did you do to Shred?"

Many miles away, Rachel was holding Zach's limp body in her arms as she walked towards Pokénomics' secret outpost. She had teleported inside the safety ring using Ceres' enhanced abilities, so no one would see them approaching the underground center.

Rachel was angry. She knew that anger would muddle her thinking and make her careless, but that stupid boy wouldn't get out of her head. His stupid dance... When her eyes were open, she heard him telling Zach the story behind the kid's impending transformation. When they were closed, she saw his stupid grin while he danced with his pokémon. She saw his stupid grin as he looked up at her, totally comfortable in her presence. She saw his stupid grin as she pressed a knife against his throat.

And when she thrust that image out of her mind, her fingers felt the miniscule, nearly invisible furs on the bare chest of the boy she was holding. She felt the weight of the scientific papers carefully organized inside the bag, along with salves, shampoos, a bone saw, pokédexes, poison darts, and dozens of other random bits Glen seemed to have collected over the years. Clothes, belts, washcloths, a kit of make-up, nail clippers, bolt cutters, a handful of shrapnel, balloons, several yards of twine, at least six different wires, half a week's worth of food, eleven vials whose contents she couldn't read because he had written them in code, nine hundred dollars in cash, and a tiny tank of acetylene. There had been more. And more. And more. After unpacking it all, she had spent the next hour trying to remember how to pack it back in, and even more time wondering how on earth he had been carrying it around for so long. It hadn't looked like it had bothered him in the least.

"Scy..." "You know I could carry one of those for you..."

"I'm fine," she answered softly, panting with every step and sweating even in the evening cool. "Thanks, though."

You're worried that you're making the wrong choice.

She wanted to laugh, but only managed a proud smile under the weight of all she was carrying. "And you're frighteningly good at reading my mind, now."

From one woman to another, he really was a good-looking catch. A little on the thin, mysterious side, but handsome in his own way. The hypno smiled jokingly and swung her pendulum around her finger.

Rachel blushed. "Oh, you. I swear, I hope you and my mother are never in the same room together."

The pokémon sighed. You... I will get to the point, then. You are not addressing the question of whether or not it really is worth the money to turn in the kid. You believe that if you can ignore it for long enough, by the time you have to address it, the deed will be done.

Rachel glared at the road ahead of her, but all she heard was, "I'll be safe with you, though, right?" Or she heard him, whimpering, "I don't wanna change! I like this!" and then her fingers could not ignore the fur on his chest... "He's just another child fed to another sinister idiot's cruelty."

Yeah, but... you could save him.

"Devil's advocate," she growled. The weight of the papers in the bag, the look on Glen's face as he realized the full meaning of them... what had he discovered? What had Glen said? "...manipulated by his father to become a genetic experiment for an evil corporation..." They were just kids, though. Kids with no futurs before being taken in, fed, clothed, and housed until they... died. This one would turn into an eevee. How far would it go? Did it matter?

"Until they're killed," Ceres corrected her. "Even Glen does not have that answer. I speculate that Pokénomics does not, either.

Rachel clenched her eyes shut and heard Zach crying. "Get out of my head!" she barked suddenly. She bowed her head tiredly. "I'm sorry, I just... I don't want to talk about it."

Ceres stopped moving. A low, motherly, smooth voice slipped into the air, clipped by a stately accent. "You need to talk about it. I will follow you into Hell, Rachel, but I will not let you blindfold yourself as you jump in."

The strength went out of the girl's legs. She fell with a gasp and let Zach roll out of her arms onto the ground. "Ceres... Five hundred thousand dollars, Ceres... We'll be rich! I can provide for Mom and... and Dad..." A tear rolled down her cheek, but didn't wash onto her voice. "...and you know I have to stay with them." Her entire body was shuddering.

"Mom? Mom? Please, stop coughing. I'll make it better, okay? I'll get you medicine. I'll get doctors, and I can help you! Mom, please... please stop! Dad, lemme go! I can help her! I can! I'll go find Benny and we can get you help. Lemme go, Dad, please! Please! Ow! You're hurting me, Dad! Lemme go! I wanna find Benny! I'll bring him back! We'll make it better, Mom, Dad. It'll be better!"

"Still, though?" The golden creature knelt down beside her with a comforting arm around her shoulder. The voice was soft and warm, and Rachel could feel the serenity in her voice. "That boy knows more, and can learn more. He even said he knew why Benny is dead."

"He was lying," she spat. "You know he was lying better than I do."

"And you know that you're only ignoring the truth. He meant that he knows how to find out. He can show you." She tenderly wiped a tear off Rachel's cheek. "Don't cry."

"Don't cry! Don't you dare cry! They never did anything for us. They never loved us. They treated us like animals! Like trophies! You think I want to help them? You get away from me, Rachel. For your own fucking good, you get and stay away from me, and tell our parents I hope they rot in hell! And don't you cry for them. They're not worth it, Rachel! Don't cry!"

"I'm not crying."

"Of course not." She wiped the tear from the other eye.

Rachel put a thankful hand on the pokémon's arm. "I'll be fine. For now... we deliver the boy. We've come this far. When we're done... I can't imagine that Glen is alive after all that, but I'll see if I can find him."

Ceres nodded solemnly. As they stood, the pokémon took the bag and pushed away Rachel's arms when she tried to take it back. And when Rachel gasped at Zach's disappearance, she merely gestured to Heracles, who had folded his blades across one another to make a platform that could carry the boy against his chest. Rachel nodded back at them. "Thank you." They continued their walk, with the pokémon carrying Rachel's burdens.

A voice emptied into a quiet air. "So, how does your back feel?"

"Better, thank you," she answered sincerely, softly. "My name is Enya, by the way."

Glen looked at the few pods he had left, then shifted his gaze to Amber. He wanted to apologize for using so many, but the saur was lazily drifting in the river they had found, just his flower and nostrils above the surface of the water. Glen lay the green balls on the drying clothes by the riverbank. Amber was about as happy as he could possibly be. The sun was shining brightly down on them all, and he was soaking it up in total bliss.

"For your hair?" he asked.

She smiled, though he couldn't see it. "How did you know?"

He smirked. "Lucky guess." His thoughts were different, though: You're not brilliant, but you're not incompetent, either. No one on this continent passes down that name. Your parents wanted something pretty that described you, but didn't want to think too hard about it. Enya means "little flame." It had to be for your hair. Normally, he would have shot all that right in her face, but for some reason, he had not.

The two humans were in the nude, given that niether had a clean change of clothes and both needed badly to bathe. Enya was dangling her legs in the water over the bank and Glen was seated behind her to crush the pods Amber had produced and apply them as a salve to her wound. She had pulled her hair around to cover her breasts and so he could reach the slash better. She had not pursued the question of her late fearow's fate.

The pods were another product of extensive research. After learning about the ability to store toxins, Glen decided it would be a good idea to see if they could store other chemicals, as well. As it turned out, there were a few and as a result of his experiments, a small sample of about a dozen saurs had gained the capacity to store and produce various soothing balms. His was one of them.

He had gently washed off the wounds his pokémon couldn't reach, wondering, as he always did, at their unanimous reactions to that simple act. Sometimes, he was almost certain it was why they stayed with him. He kept them clean and he cared for their hurts. Despite Allanon's prickly and proud manner, he never failed to be silently grateful when Glen would kneel behind him and rub his shoulders, clean off the armor there, and minister to whatever damage he may have received. Usually, because Allanon was a ranged fighter, that was little, but he had been struck pretty hard to make sure he stayed unconscious while Rachel and Ceres took flight. So Glen had massaged his bruised back and shoulders, and Al had just rolled along with the contact, not saying a word. Synapse, however flighty and defensive he could be, had the exact same reaction. And of course Amber, who was a generally quiet soul, was even calmer while under his master's reassuring hands.

In reciprocation, the human had grudgingly allowed Syn to tend to his own various scratches and scrapes, although he was sure that the electric rat was not exactly doing everything he could to keep the idea of arousal out of his head, what with how close his small body happened to get to Glen. The scientist needed to find the thing a mate before something really untoward happened- this had been a problem in years past, but not nearly as much when he was a pikachu, and the solution had always been just to wait it out and let the creature go blue-balled until it passed. Glen was not about to let one of his pokémon create an unnecessary attachment to something by impregnating it. He had never before asked anyone else what a good solution was... it was too embarrassing a topic to bring up in conversation, and the pokédex basically said "It's best to let him wander for a few weeks until he comes back, and just don't worry about what it is he's up to." Normally, Glen would have let him do it, but there was never any way to know when he'd need a security camera shorted or a car to break down (or start), so he had very apologetically kept the creature close every year. He sighed regretfully. One of these days... he shook his head. Better not to think about that.

Getting naked had been an ordeal, but having seen how innocent Glen could be and after repeated oaths and a little nudging from Allanon, Enya had agreed that it was impossible for them to trust one another if one went far enough downstream that the other couldn't see him or her. Glen felt comfortable in the buff around his pokémon, given that they were all male, all different species, and at least Amber and Syn had seen him naked before. Enya was not happy about it, but after the third time they had caught the raichu just staring at her chest, Glen had gained her trust by walking into the stream and cuffing him soundly about the ears. The boy had then, of course, had to maneuver very carefully so he didn't expose himself to the only female present, but he had heard her giggling, so it was okay.

While washing her back and applying the salve, Glen had found himself more than once unintentionally massaging her as he did it, making slow rounds with the cream as the cooling sensation sank slowly into her back. She had gasped as he touched her the first time, and he had felt each of his pokémons' eyes flick towards them more than once as he tended to her. They were definitely intrigued by this new development. Only once had she asked, "What are you doing?" She had tried to be indignant and angry, but after what she had gone through - realizing her bosses thought no more of her than of a sheep, nearly losing her life, becoming indebted to someone she had tried to kill - she had melted under his nervous hands as he blushed and stuttered an apology.

The cool sound of the water and Syn's occasional splashing were the only noises to be heard. It was a very peaceful scene, with the five of them there, just enjoying a moment of relaxation. This area of the stream was under watch by a few trees with bright, green canopies and a handful of old kakuna and metapod husks surrounded by regular cocoons. Grass grew right up to the riverbank. An oddish tottered peacefully by once, but Enya wasn't in a mood to catch it. The water of the river was clear down to the soil beneath, and there were mostly mundane fish, with a pokémon here and there, swimming close to the bottom, away from the heat, and happily away from Syn's dangling tail. "This really isn't much of a river, Syn," Glen called out nonchalantly to the chu, who was floating on his back and using that tail as a rudder.

"Chu." "Shut it."

"I don't understand your relationship with your pokémon," Enya said wonderingly, watching the three of them relax. "They seem almost human. You don't use commands with them; they just... do things, without you having to tell them. None of the pokémon I've met before are like that. And you let them out of their pokéballs like this. Not many people trust their pokémon that much."

Glen smiled and hesitantly put a hand to the top of her shoulder. She shivered, but didn't brush it off. He glanced over at his abra, who was asleep and sitting waist-deep in the stream, wavering listlessly on a rock. When there was no reaction, he narrowed his eyes at the creature. He was feeling something for this girl and he was afraid it was just her physical appearance. Which was certainly, certainly nothing to laugh at, even with her back turned. But it had happened so quickly that even though he couldn't possibly guess at a motive beyond a practical joke, that Allanon had something to do with it. In addition, for someone who had joined the Rocketeers for any reason, she was suspiciously passive to his uncertain advances. "I'm picky in choosing pokémon. These are the only three I've ever even tried to keep with me. If I had one that wasn't as smart as these... I don't know what I'd do. I mean, I can understand why some people would rather have just... pets... but I needed them to be able to think the way they do."

"Hm." She swished her legs in the water a little. He couldn't believe they were like this, really. It seemed too pure, too innocent after everything he had done recently. Lying to children, losing a charge, killing people and pokémon, making a girl cry, dissecting a pet... And the woman who wouldn't look at him was gorgeous. He understood her modesty. Travelling as he did, he often forgot modesty in the lack of human contact he so frequently endured. Jumping naked into random bodies of water, stripping to his underwear to mute his sounds as he infiltrated buildings, streaking through a town at midnight while being chased out of a house by an irate mother and a frying pan... he had become comfortable with it. But around a girl who was likewise nude? There was no reason for him to feel so natural, and he certainly couldn't expect her to easily acquiesce.

Abruptly, Synapse was floating between her gently kicking legs and staring up at her breasts. Her eyes widened and she shrieked and pulled her legs out of the water so fast that she splashed Glen. "You little pervert!" she shouted at the mouse. "This is the fourth time!"

"Raichu-rai!" "Her legs messed up my navigation! I swear!"

"Oh, I have a nautical electric rat now, do I?" Glen said, and reached around Enya to pick him up by the scruff of his neck. He glared with mock-fury and poked the orange-red creature's nose with a finger. "You be decent around the pretty lady. Do you understand me?"

"Rai?" "It was an accident?"

"Like hell it was." Glen grinned mischievously. "Amber! Catch the rat!" He put his other hand on the rodent's pudgy belly and tossed him at the floating ivysaur.

He squeaked as he flew through the air. "Rai!" "You bitch I hope you rot in Hell!"

"... ivy?" "... the heck?"

"Incoming!"

The saur set loose a pollen blast that blew him underwater and sent Syn sailing back at Glen with an evil look in his black eyes and his clawed paws forward. Glen's eyes went saucer-sized. "No!" The shot knocked him onto his back and flailing as Syn clung to him. "Get off my face! Get it off my face! Arrgh!"

Amber laughed and splashed his legs in the water. "That's what you get!"

"Rai-rai!" "This is for hitting me earlier!" Enya watched it all while cracking up and holding her sides, just barely keeping herself decent as she did. The sun was still shining. It was a good time to be.

But Allanon was silent as he watched the games behind closed eyes. Something was strange about what he was seeing. It sent a discordant taste winding through his mouth while the rest of them laughed. Glen's body... why was his eye drawn to it... again, and again... and again? Something was different...

A few hours later, there was a meeting outside of a cell that stank of blood. "What's the final report?"

"Sir. The subject eliminated two soldiers before being properly restrained."

"Mm. And its reaction, afterwards?"

"Immediate quiescence."

"Mm. Moniter its activities. Find Glen. Kill him before he goes too far; we don't need him. Give Rachel a new pokédex and moniter how she reacts."

"Sir."

Blood, blood, anger red, copper in my mouth, like rubber, rubber on my teeth, sweet, sweet, meat, sweat salt, blood, bleed, floods and rivers, screams, bubbles, red, bubbles, gurgle, taste, tongue, skin flesh, fingernails, claws, fingernails, claws, fingernails, RIP, growl, scream, hate, hate, lick, flesh,

FLESH

FLESH

BLOOD

RED

RIP

I killed them... they made me kill them... mad dog, mad dog... bred to fight like a pit bull... he can keep me thinking, keep me brave, keep me human GLEN TERRIAN!! GLEN Terrian! GLEN!

GLEN

GLEN

GLEN

Glen

Glen

glen

glen

gle...

no...