Chapter 28
"Ransom"

A multitude of emotions flooded over Drak at seeing Ella E again after so long. It overwhelmed him at first, leaving him stunned. Anger, surprise, fear, worry, love...all of the emotions crashed against him. Underneath this influence, he wasn't aware of Dr. Dowasure and Teishi looking at him in a confused way. This was understandable...they did not know who this girl was or why she would have such an effect on Drak.
"I take it this is worth something to you, isn't it?" Dr. Kagakusha had her lazy, bored stare again. "If you don't want to see her harmed, you will come with me."
"How do I know you won't hurt her?" Drak kept his eyes fixed on Ella E. As it was, she seemed uninjured...but she was unconcious. How did she get in the grasp of those two creatures? Why had she come here...
"You don't. I don't have to promise anything...after all, I'm in the position of power here." Dr. Kagakusha smiled. "You have no power, while I have all. I don't have to promise anything to you."
"What do you want from me?"
"Many things." Dr. Kagakusha waved a hand. "I don't think I should tell you them, however. Why should I? Dr. Dowasure..." Dr. Dowasure flinched at the mention of his name. "You said that certain words can trigger the fainting spells, isn't that correct?"
"Yes, I think that's the general theory..." Dr. Dowasure didn't want to speak, but in the end he found himself speaking against his will, unable to resist answering a question that he knew the answer to.
She smiled again. "Technically there are three ways to disable you, Drak." She pointed at Ella E. "There's the threat of harm coming to her..." she brushed her fingers of the shoulder of her labcoat, over the letters enscribed on her sleeve. "There are the key-words..."
She reached into her labcoat and pulled out a shotgun. "And there is this. And this isn't loaded with a net."
"What do you want from me?" Drak repeated, wanting an answer.
"As I said before, I don't have to tell you, therefore I won't. You'll know soon enough, anyway."
"I won't go unless I know what you're going to do."
"You don't have a choice." She checked the ammunition in the shotgun and clicked it shut. She sounded bored. "You're coming with me, whether you want to or you know what you're doing or not."
Drak was silent, not sure of what to do or say. She had him trapped.
"First, however, the witnesses must be disposed of. They could be bothersome. Michelle, come here."
One of the creatures, the one with dark blue long hair and red eyes, let go of one of Ella E's wrists and walked forward, their claws scraping against the floor. The other creature took both of the girls wrists, keeping her aloft. Drak stared at her in concern. She wasn't going to wake up soon...why was she here? Why had she let herself get captured?
"Michelle, you can kill Teishi. The Blond one. I don't care about him. Incapacitate the Doctor, however. He may be useful."
"You aren't hurting Teishi!" Drak moved forward. Teishi moved behind him, evidentally understanding Drak's gesture of protection. He, however, remained silent. Dr. Kagakusha sighed.
"Fine, I'll dispose of Teishi myself. Just take care of the Doctor, Michelle."
Dr. Dowasure cringed against the wall, trying to get as far away from the strange creature as possible. She walked towards him slowly, her wings folded along her back. As the creature continued moving towards him, he tried to get as far away from it as possible, eventually sinking to his knees against the wall and holding his hands forward in a futile attempt to protect himself.
"You're going to hurt him, aren't you?" Drak said venemously.
Dr. Kagakusha shrugged, looking off to one side. "If he tries to struggle, he may get hurt. I don't care, as long as he's alive."
Dr. Dowasure made a small noise of fright as the creature towered over him, it's wings spreading slowly until he was enveloped in the dark shade. He stared at it with his frightened brown eyes, unsure of what he could do to stop her.
"Please...don't hurt me..." he whispered, unable to raise his voice any louder. Michelle stared down at him with the same emotionless expression that seemed to remain constantly on her face. Her clawed hands reached forward quickly and gripped his uplifted wrists. He made a short cry before he was lifted easily off the ground. Not even trying to break free, he only trembled under the creature's grasp. Dr. Kagakusha shook her head at him, a vague expression of annoyance on her face. Dr. Dowasure barely managed to turn his head towards her.
"Dr. Dowasure, why did you do something this stupid?" Dr. Kagakusha spoke in the cold, methodical way that Drak remembered her using before when speaking with Dr. Dowasure. "Attempting to assist an escape...didn't you know you'd be caught?" Now the tone was more angry, something that Drak was not used to hearing from the woman. "That there was no way to fool everyone here?"
"I...I..." Dr. Dowasure was unable to form words in his fright. Drak could see him trying and failing. Dr. Kagakusha laughed spitefully at him.
"And now you can't even speak from fear. It's your memory, isn't it?" She had a kind of hatred in her voice that Drak could recognize in Cyrus' voice when speaking to the Doctor. He could see Dr. Dowasure's eyes softening with sadness, much like when Prof. Denka was speaking to him.
"Can't remember what words you want to say? I'm not surprised. The more stress you're under, the stupider you get. If it weren't for your theories, I would have had you ejected from here long ago."
Dr. Dowasure stared at her blankly. She rolled her eyes.
"The cloning theories. They were incredibly useful...it's a wonder they came from an idiot like you."
Dr. Dowasure stared at her, still confused. He then turned his gaze towards Drak, painfully. Drak stared into his sad, brown eyes. He didn't want to see him or Teishi hurt...even if it meant his own life...he didn't want someone else to get hurt because of him.
"If you let them go, I'll come with you." Drak said quietly. Dr. Kagakusha stared at him and then shrugged.
"A noble effort, I understand. But I don't have to bargain with you. You have nothing to offer me."
"I won't resist."
"You won't and you can't resist anyway." Dr. Kagakusha sounded mildly annoyed at repeating herself. "Even if you do, there are a number of ways I can incapacitate you."
Drak was searching desperatly for some way out of this. He tried to stall for time, although he knew most of his questions wouldn't be answered. "Does anyone else know what you're doing?"
"Why should I tell you?" Dr. Kagakusha rolled her eyes. "You don't quite seem to be getting the concept here. I thought you were a little smarter then that."
Drak narrowed his eyes at the comment. He glanced back at Teishi, who was simply watching without a definite expression. He turned back to her.
"Won't someone notice if you kill Teishi?" Drak kept his eyes locked with the woman's, although this bothered him to some extent for a reason he could not understand. Teishi remained silent behind him.
"No one cares about him." Dr. Kagakusha laughed briefly. "No one knows he's here. He has no family. And he can easily be replaced."
"Replaced?"
"Yes, replaced. I can see you want to know more, so I won't tell you."
Drak looked back at Teishi to see how he reacted to Dr. Kagakusha's words, but found he still had the same expression that he had before.
"How did you find Ella E?"
"I don't have to tell you."
Drak was getting annoyed at the woman's persistance. In movies, whenever the hero asked the villain a question, they would explain it perfectly. This didn't seem to be the case in real life, he found. That was considering, he heard a voice in his head whisper, that he was the hero and she was the villain. However, Drak had more pressing problems then the morality of the current struggle and shook away the thoughts. "What are those two creatures?"
"Gabriella and Michelle." Dr. Kagakusha gestured towards Gabriella, who held Ella E securely, and then to Michelle, who held Dr. Dowasure. "But other then that, that information is highly classified."
"So there's actually a reason for not telling me this time?" Drak laughed humorlessly, unable to understand where such a flippant statement had come from. Dr.Kagakusha simply stared at him.
"If it wasn't classified, I wouldn't tell you anyway."
"I thought as much."
"As much as I love to linger here and tell you what you can't know..." Dr. Kagakusha put a hand on her hip, leaning the shotgun against her shoulder with her other. "I have a schedule to keep."
"Why did you bring a shotgun?"
Dr. Kagakusha sighed. "In case some undesirables showed up. And also to get rid of the witnesses. But I suppose that can wait until you're out of the way."
Drak wasn't sure whether she meant literally or figuratively. "Would you really kill Teishi?"
"Yes."
Drak paused for a moment, regarding the woman's quick and emotionless reply with amazement. It took him a moment to speak, this time with more energy. "Don't you care?"
"I'll tell you one thing." Dr. Kagakusha put on an emotionless, blank face. "When you're in a profession like mine for a long time, you begin to care less for things like ethics and morals. They only get in the way."
"What about Dr. Dowasure? He told me himself that he cared-"
"Have you heard anyone here say he's a true scientist?"
Drak thought for a moment and realized that almost everyone he had met had called Dr. Dowasure a disgrace to the scientific profession...Cyrus, Prof. Denka, Dr. Kagakusha...why? Was it because he had a bad memory or because he cared too much? Hadn't Dr. Kagakusha herself remarked about how much he cared? Was that why he wasn't a true scientist? And yet, he seemed to have done more then all the others...Dr. Kagakusha almost thanked him for the theories that he had created. Drak was confused. He shook it away, cursing his mind for distracting him.
"What do you need Dr. Dowasure for?"
"I'm not going to tell you." Dr. Kagakusha sighed again. "Now come with me. This is making me very late."
"I'm not going with you." Drak took a defensive stance, not sure of how the woman would respond. However, it was different then he expected.
"You don't have a choice." She walked near Ella E, placing the barrel of the shotgun underneath her chin, pushing her head upwards. Drak extended a hand, not sure exactly what he could do.
"Should I start with her? Kill her right here? That would undoubtedly scar you for life, I would think. Just come with me quietly and there won't be any problems."

~~~
"Are you sensing anything?" Eclipse asked. "Stalagmite on your left."
The Mewtwo sidestepped the stalagmite, trying to keep his balance. The cut on his forehead had impaired his vision somewhat, so he had left the navigation through the dark caves to Eclipse. She had better night vision anyway.
"Not yet, mother. I think I can feel some kind of psychic enamanations over in that direction."
"Watch your step, there's a incline here." Eclipse fluttered off her son's head, hovering near the beginning of the incline. She sniffed delicately. "Yes, people have definitly been around here. Caleb, I think. I wonder how he got down without hurting himself. My son, can you concentrate long enough to float for a few moments? I don't think you can walk...wait a moment." Eclipse leaned closer to the ground, pawing at some of the rocks. She brought her paw to her nose and looked at the Mewtwo. "Yes, there's blood here...I think it's Calebs...but there seems to be a different scent here...I can't tell what it is though...reminds me almost of the Manachu for some reason..."
The Mewtwo kneeled down next to his mother. He brushed one of his paws over the rocks, noticing the vague red color.
"You're right...it is blood. It does kind of remind me of the Manachu...there's something wrong about it...I think it came from the creatures that attacked me."
"We best move on as fast as we can. This place doesn't seem right for some reason."
The Mewtwo's eyes glowed momentarily and a blue field of energy encircled him. He slowly raised off the ground, hovering awkwardly. He then began to float down the incline, keeping it in sight by remaining only a few inches away from the gravelly surface. Eclipse flew alongside him, looking around cautiously.
"Do you think the others are all right?"
"I'm sure they must be, mother. They can take care of themselves, I think."
"I'm worried...what if what attacked us attacked them too?"
"We would have found traces now, I'm sure. They must have gone this way. They..."
The Mewtwo paused for a moment, near the end of the incline. Eclipse stared at him.
"What's wrong?"
"I can feel something now...it's not Drak, but it's something else...it feels very powerful...and almost familiar..." The Mewtwo shook his head. "It's gone now. That's strange..."
"Where did it come from?"
"It was over there."
"I have a feeling we may need to battle soon...you best reserve your strength." Eclipse took her customary spot on the Mewtwo's head as he touched the ground gently. He continued walking.
"What will we battle?"
"I don't know...it's just a feeling. I wish the Nyashock was here...it could tell us...but it disappeared along with the others..."
"I hope we find Drak soon, mother."
"I hope we do too. You seem to be getting along nicely without him, however."
"It's only the hope of finding him again that keeps me from killing myself."
Eclipse nodded. "Understandable, of course. The pain of abandonment doesn't lessen, it grows. Loneliness is terrible."
"Well, at least there's you, Mother. I'm not alone."
"I'm no replacement for Drak and we both know it." Eclipse smiled. "That's why we're looking for him and not running back for help."
"...I'm sorry, Mother."
"You shouldn't be, you haven't done anything wrong." Eclipse laughed gently. She peered around the cave. "Hmm...haven't you noticed something odd?"
"What?"
"There aren't many other Pokémon in here...I think those two must frighten or eat them all."
"I noticed that...I remember there used to be lots of Pokémon in here, but now..."
Eclipse paused for a moment, as if choosing her words. She spoke softly. "I'm sorry that I ran away while you were attacked."
"It's okay, Mother. I know that you don't like to fight." The Mewtwo smiled. "Besides, I'm not sure what you could have done. Those things...they didn't even slow down when I hit them with my most powerful psychic attack...I don't understand how that is possible. I AM the strongest Pokémon alive, aren't I?" The Mewtwo seemed to be asking this question to himself more then to his mother. She didn't seem to notice.
"That's the theory, yes. But I don't think those two were Pokémon. Hmm...this is odd..." Eclipse flew forward, touching the wall they had come to. "I think the trail ends here...but how could that be?"
"Hmmmmm..." The Mewtwo walked forward, pressing his paw against the wall.
Immediately horrifying images from his creation lept into his mind, the pain, the darkness, the agony all rushed into his mind unbidden, causing long forgotten unpleasant memories to reappear frighteningly for a moment. He nearly screamed, tearing his paw away from the wall with a jerk. Eclipse was near him instantly.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
The Mewtwo looked at his paw, as if expecting it to be burned, then turned his gaze to the wall. "This is it, mother, I know this is it. I can tell just by how it feels...this must be an entrance into that horrible place somehow. I think this is a secret door."
"That would explain it. Do you think you can open it?"
"I can try..." The Mewtwo gingerly placed his paw back on the wall, fighting back the urges to run from his feelings as best as he could. He sent some of his psychic energy into the wall, only a little, as a test, and the door slid open. The cold hallways were revealed.
"You did it!"
"A little too easily, I think..." The Mewtwo looked around suspiciously. He walked inside as the door slid shut, Eclipse sitting on his shoulder. He noticed a small pad near the door, totally bereft of light. He studied it carefully. "It seems that someone else has overloaded this before me."
"It's not important. Do you feel Drak? Is he here?"
The Mewtwo placed his paws to his head, focusing all his power. "I....I can't feel him...but I can feel the others...they're in a group...Atelli and Monty and..." The Mewtwo's eyes jerked open. Eclipse stared at him with worry.
"What?"
"There's something else...it's not one of the group...it's some other thing...something powerful...much, much more powerful then me...but it feels familiar...I'm not sure..."
"Is it the one from before?"
"No no, this one is even greater...but I think it's sleeping..."
"Well, at least we know the others are in here. Do you know where they are?"
"I think they're in that direction, but I'm not sure. This place clouds my thoughts...do you know what it's like to come back here after what happened to me, Mother? It's-"
"It's okay...just focus on trying to find our friends. Then we can leave and we never have to come back, okay?"
The Mewtwo sighed and began walking, his huge footpaws causing small thuds on the cold metal floor of his ultimate nightmare.

~~~
"Open it!" Kotake shouted hysterically.
"I don't know how!" Ashstar looked helplessly at the container that held Kame. "Besides, it might kill her...those wires look important."
"You can't honestly believe she needs to be in there!" Kotake pressed her hands against the cold glass. Tears flowed from her eyes. "My sister...my poor sister...what have they done to you?"
Monty sat on the floor, trying to read what he had printed out by the faint green light.
"According to this, the synthesis between Kame's genes and whatever other genes they're putting into her isn't complete. The M2AL6 set...according to this, it's missing the M2 part, whatever that means. It says that they...well, more like Dr. Kagakusha really...he seems to be the only one who worked on this. Hmmm...he needed two sets of gene samples from things called M2's, or something...two different kinds. But I'm not sure why..."
"What else does it say?" Atelli kneeled next to Monty.
"It says that the whole process has been...paused, I think, because he wasn't able to get the right genes for it in time. So he paused it and left her here...it doesn't give any motive for doing this, though..."
"Mewtwo was created simply to see if it could be..." Reimia stared at the tube passively. "Perhaps this was just simply some idle curiousity-"
"My sister is not a curiousity! This is horrifying! How dare they do this to a human being! We have to get her out somehow!" Kotake seemed to be constantly crying, tears continued to fall from her eyes regardless of how she felt.
"I don't think that would wise..." Monty continued reading. "According to this, she's not complete...so if we took her out, she might die. Or worse, go insane."
"Like she wasn't before." Colt mumbled underneath his breath. Luckily no one heard him.
"It'd be better if she died then if she became some monstrosity! Kame, Kame, wake up! It's Kotake! Open your eyes! Please! Please, Kame! Please!" Kotake struck her fist against the tube uselessly, but in the end gave up. Kame floated serenly, not giving off the slightest sign of her being aware of her surroundings or her sister in any way.
"I think there's some kind of motive..." Atelli took the first page away from Monty, reading over it critically. "See, they pay special attention to the fact that she would have no free will or identity in the objective part. Like a machine."
"Mewtwo gave itself an identity...that's why it escaped, isn't it? It's certainly not a machine." Caleb stared helplessly at Kame's prone form.
"I think...I think they wanted to make sure that wouldn't happen again. So they don't want her to have a personality or anything."
"Hmm..." Monty squinted. "I think there were others before Kame..."
"What?"
"It says here that there were three others before her, all of which were...it says 'flawed' here because of personality defects."
"Well, this raises an interesting problem." Tashi walked to the tube and placed her hand on it, noticing the frigidness of the glass. "If we take her out before she's done, she could die. If we wait for her to be done, she'll be nothing but a machine. What can we do?"
"Well, before we talk about after we get her out, we might as well figure out HOW to get her out. Does it say anything about that in there, Monty?" Colt paced around, looking at the blank walls. There were no switches, no levers. Just a blank wall. And on the other wall the line of tubes continued.
"Um...I'm looking...this is hard to read, you know. I've never SEEN technical talk this complicated before...listen to this...'Subject illustrates previous mental disorders which could prove facilitory to the synthesization-hybridization process. Subject's seems receptive to preliminary chemicals and resources, no signs of rejection. The experimentation must proceed with care, the female's mind is in a fragile state which could be harmed inadvertantly by over-stimulation and an overflow to the introduction of the preliminary psychic bombardment...'...It goes on and on like this...and don't even get me started on the talk about DNA chains and different gene patterns and stuff like that. I don't even understand what the heck they're talking about most of the time."
"My sister is not a subject!" Kotake slowly sat down, staring at her sister with pained eyes. "She's a living, breathing human being..."
"Hey, it mentions that Leyp thing here..." Atelli had taken one of the last pages and was scanning it quickly. "Doesn't explain what it is, though."
"Doesn't it mention anything about buttons or switches or anything?"
"I think there's a release function here...but according to this..." Monty paused for a moment, re-reading the sentence several times. "It's only mentioned after the process is complete. I don't think there's a way to get her out before then."
"How bad do you think she is?" Indigo looked at Kame. Everyone looked at her. She shrugged. "I mean, how far gone do you think her mind is? I'm sure that wiping her mind clean would be a gradual process, probably started at the beginning with that 'psychic bombardment' you were talking about before, Monty. So probably a lot of her memories are erased by now..."
Kotake sobbed. "She probably wouldn't even remember me!"
Ashstar kneeled near her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure she would at least remember you. She's known you for years upon years. I bet she's just forgotten about the massacre and Ella E and Max and everything by now. She's probably back to where you first met me."
Kotake brushed Ashstar's hand off her shoulder roughly. "Well, at least she won't remember you. There's something positive."
Ashstar sighed and stood. "I guess some things don't change over time."
"Maybe we could hide here..." Caleb mused aloud. "We could hide here and wait for Dr. Kagakusha to come and inject her with one of those sets of genes. He would probably have to remove her for that, wouldn't he?"
"I'm not sure...it's not exactly clear here...I think so."
"So we wait for that, then we can grab her and run."
"Great plan." Colt rolled his eyes. Caleb glared at him.
"Why don't YOU think of a better one?"
"Now we have three problems." Atelli placed her papers on the floor. "There's the problem of getting Kame out of here without her becoming a zombie, there's the fact that my sister has mysteriously disappeared, along with the Mewtwo, and there's the original reason we came here. Drak. There's still no sign of him."
"But...but if we leave Kame alone, that Doctor could come and finish the process!" Kotake leaned against the tube. "We can't just abandon her to go look for the others."
"We can't just sit here, either. It could take days, weeks for this person to find what they're looking for. We would starve." Caleb looked down.
"But...but my sister..." Kotake began crying again in earnest. "Why did this have to happen to her!?"
"...This gets me wondering about Max. Whatever happened to him?" Caleb again thought aloud.
"Who cares." Colt said irritably. "I think I have an idea." The others looked at him. He stood, brushing himself off. "Why don't we split up?"
"Split up?"
"Since Kotake really wants to stay here, she can wait here for whoever it is to come and finish the job. Anyone else who doesn't want to stay can continue looking. If we don't find anything after a few hours, we come back to check up here."
"That's not that bad of an idea...but who should stay?"
"I can't stand waiting around doing nothing, so I'll be looking." Colt smiled. Monty placed his papers on the ground.
"I might as well come along too...I don't want to wait around here for nothing..."
"I'll come too." Caleb suddenly spoke, causing the others to blink in surprise.
"Why?"
"If you do find Drak, what if they wiped his mind clean like Kame's? He might need us to remember. All three of us."
"I never thought about that..." Monty looked thoughtful. "What if they've messed around with his body or something...?"
"Don't talk like that." Colt sounded slightly angry. "I'm sure Drak would never let some wacko scientists screw around with his body."
Monty nodded and smiled.
"I might as well go too." Atelli sighed. "My sister is missing...it's my responsibility."
"I'm staying here." Indigo sat down. "I don't want to walk around this creepy place more then necessary."
"Ashstar, you should probably come with us. We need you to open the doors."
"We're staying here." Reimia and Tashi stood defiantly. "As it is, this whole thing has become a little too weird. We're with Indigo on this."
"So Reimia, Tashi, Indigo, and Kotake will stay here...what about you, Nick?" Atelli turned to her cousin, who flinched. He looked awkwardly at Reimia and Tashi.
"I don't know...I haven't seen Ella E in a while...I guess I should come..."
"So that makes Colt, Monty, Caleb, Me, Nick, and Ashstar that are going to keep going." Atelli finished her list.
"How will you find your way back?" Reimia raised an interesting point. The group that wished to continue paused for a moment.
"Caleb, you still got that pencil?"
"Yeah..."
"Caleb can mark the walls as we go along, that way we can find our way back." Colt smiled. Caleb shrugged.
"I guess that could work."
"We'll see you guys later, then..." Indigo waved. "Good luck with finding Drak, Ella E, and Mewtwo."
"We're going to need it..." Colt mumbled as their group slowly split, one group hiding themselves among the eerily glowing tubes, the other walking towards the door. Ashstar placed her hand against it, spoke briefly, and the door slid halfway open. Then they were gone.

~~~
"You have to promise me you won't hurt them." Drak was desperatly trying to find anyway to spare the two who had become his friends.
"I don't have to promise you anything." Dr. Kagakusha sighed again. "You don't seem to understand that you're powerless right now. Come on."
Drak felt something tingling in the back of his mind, something important and familiar, but he couldn't identify what it was. As much as he tried to rid himself of it, it kept niggling at him.
He took a step forward, his fists clenched.
"Good, you're finally understanding. I didn't think it would take you this long. What about you, Dr. Dowasure? What do YOU think?" she spoke cruelly towards the scientist, who was still petrified with fear. Michelle kept a tight grasp on his wrists. Dr. Dowasure's eyes were closed tight, evidently he was trying to shut out the outside world.
"Can't even talk anymore. Stupid man." Dr. Kagakusha closed her eyes and sighed again.
There seemed to be a slight popping noise from the other side of the room, as if a circuit had exploded. Dr. Kagakusha turned in that direction urgently, staring at the door. The touch pad beside it had lost all it's illumination, sparking gently. The tingling in the back of Drak's mind became stronger. He knew what it was trying to tell him.
It was angry. Very angry.
Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, it struck him. He knew what it was.
The sliding door slid to one side to reveal what seemed like a mass of violet-blue energy.
"Gabriella-" Dr. Kagakusha never finished her statement. The energy rocketed across the room, causing a sound much like an explosion, knocking Drak, Teishi, and Dr. Kagakusha to their feet. Michelle was sent flying across the room into the wall, although she gave no cry of pain. Dr. Dowasure, abruptly freed from the creature's grasp, fell roughly to the floor with a surprised gasp. Gabriella flapped her wings, attempting to gain altitude, but another powerful surge of energy knocked her away, freeing Ella E, who fell limp to the floor.
Drak tried to stand, but found his limp coming back painfully strong. He cursed the incredibly inopportune timing.
Slowly, through the residue of energy, walked a single form. Although walk may not have been the correct term...Drak could tell that his feet did not touch the floor. He smiled brightly.
A quiet, authorative, and incredibly dangerous voice spoke, it's words laced with a strange accent. "Stay th' &%$@ away from them."
"You!" Dr. Kagakusha stood quickly, glaring at the form. "I knew you'd come to their rescue. This is exactly like I thought. Michelle, Gabriella, incapacitate him."
The two creatures stood slowly. One of Michelle's wings hung limp on her back, broken from the impact with the wall. They began walking. Cyrus walked to Drak, grabbing his arm and pulling him upwards roughly. He glared at Dr. Kagakusha, his eyes flaring brightly.
"Yer little toys can't hurt me, lady. Maybe B's too weak for 'em, but 'm stronger then B. Much stronger. Now stay th' &%$@ away."
"Cyrus, I told you to leave! What are you doing here?" Drak called, confused.
Cyrus focused on the two who were studying him intently.
"Savin' yer @%&, kid!"
Gabriella spread her still functioning wings and used the wall for leverage, pushing off of it and running towards Cyrus, her claws extended. She still made no sound. Cyrus roughly pushed Drak to one side, his other hand flaring with bright energy. As Gabriella passed, he sent the energy towards her, causing her to fall to one side, breathing heavily.
Michelle ran towards Dr. Dowasure, who managed to finally jump to his feet. Unsure of what to do, he ran towards Cyrus, who looked at him with hatred.
"What th' &%$@ you think yer doin', Doc!? Get out of th' way!" Cyrus roughly shoved Dr. Dowasure to one side, nearly knocking him into Drak, as Michelle leapt for the Doctor's back. Cyrus's eyes flared brightly and she was knocked back, her body smoking. Cyrus turned to Dr. Dowasure, who was smiling brightly, his confidence having returned.
"What th' &%$@'s yer problem, Doc? What were you tryin' to do?"
"Technically, you're the safest person to be near. Therefore..."
"God! Yer a &%$@in' moron!" Cyrus shouted at Dr. Dowasure, who simply seemed relieved to be free from the grasp of the two, who made no movements whatsoever.
"You are a fool." Dr. Kagakusha smirked gently. Cyrus whirled to face her. She pointed near his ankle, where Drak could see a thick line of scars and cuts, but no electric anket. Drak wondered what Cyrus had exactly done in his desperation to remove the emitter. "Even though you may have removed that precaution, I have a weapon that you can't surpass. One you can't defend against."
"Stay th' &%$@ away from me!" Cyrus shouted angrily at her as she walked towards him. She had the predatory look in her eyes again.
"It's all very simple, C." Dr. Kagakusha kept walking closer, causing Cyrus to take a step back, almost against his will. "You can't fight me anymore. You know why?"
"Get away, you god@#$%ed %&@#$." Cyrus stared at her angrily, his voice shaking. Drak could see his hands trembling...with what he could tell was fear and rage. It suddenly dawned on him He knew what she was talking about now...why Cyrus couldn't fight against her. Drak tried to stand, but his leg refused to respond. Finally, Teishi seemed to emerge from his emotionless facade. He kneeled down next to Drak, placing his hand on his shoulder. He had a look of concern, one that as welcome to Drak after the strange emotionlessness that he had while Dr. Kagakusha was talking.
"Sir, your limp...are you okay?"
"It should pass." Drak spoke distractedly. Dr. Kagakusha continued advancing on Cyrus, who was taking small, stumbling steps backward, near to where Drak, Dr. Dowasure, and Teishi crouched against the wall.
"Because when I look at you, you cringe. When I speak, you back away from me. Why? Because you're afraid of me now, C. Even if you won't admit it, you're afraid of me, terrified of me. Because of what I did to you."
"SHUT TH' &%$@ UP!" Cyrus shouted angrily. He was slowly retreating from her, although it made him furious to do so. She simply walked slowly closer, continuing to move towards him until he was backed against a wall, only a few feet away from where the three were sitting. She raised a hand and watched as he cringed away from her, frustration and hatred showing on his face for doing so.
"Even my touch scares you now. I knew this would happen. You're too predictable. That was why I did it, you know. Because now I have power even over you, who thought you were so powerful. You're nothing now."
"Cyrus! Don't listen to her! She's playing with your mind! Fight back! Fight her!" Drak cried, but he knew it was useless. The trauma to Cyrus' mind had been too great and although it was tearing him apart inside, he could not bring himself to touch her. The thought reviled and terrified him, but he fought his inner war, trying to overcome his fear. All his muscles tensed, but he could do nothing. The instinctual fear had taken him over and he could not fight against it.
"Since you seem to care so much for those three over there, C, I think I'll take care of them in front of you. I'll kill the boy, take the Doctor and Drak, and leave you here, paralyzed under your own weakness." She turned away from him, leaving Cyrus trembling from the intense stress he had been under at being so close to her. He tried to move towards her, but found his body would not respond. He narrowed his eyes.
"Don't you &%$@in' touch them, you %&@#$!"
Teishi had not realized that, in sitting beside Drak instead of behind, he no longer had a shield. Drak noticed her movements swiftly, but before he could speak Dr. Kagakusha swiftly aimed the shotgun at Teishi.
"You can't stop me."
The shotgun went off with a deafening sound. Drak, not sure of what posessed him, saw that the blast was aiming directly for Teishi's chest. He could see fear on Teishi's face, in his eyes. He wasn't sure what told him to do what he was doing. There was some inner instinct that forced him to do it...he turned and pushed Teishi roughly, knocking him clear from the intended blast.
However, there was now a new target that had taken the previous one's place.
Drak felt the bullets tear into the right side of his chest. He looked at the wound and made a short noise of both surprise and pain, unable to believe nor understand what had just happened. He fell to the ground silently.
"Sir!" Teishi's voice was laced with pain. He knelt next to his fallen master, crying furiously, trying to think of a way to stop the bleeding. "Sir, sir, why? Why did you do that...why did...why...sir...SIR! Answer me!"
"You..." Cyrus stared at Dr. Kagakusha, who seemed as surprised as everyone else. She looked at Drak in shock and anger.
"That was unintended...I needed him intact. Why did he move in the way...stupid boy-"
"YOU GOD@#$% &%$@IN' %&@#$! 'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Cyrus shouted, utter fury raging through him. She turned to him, as if confused, apparently not expecting such a strong reaction that was not of fear. Cyrus felt fear as she stared at him again, but he felt incredible rage countering it. The two forces fought in his mind, causing the fire to lessen slightly...
His friend...the only person who ever called him friend...the only person he ever called friend...the only person who even remotely cared about him...that he remotely cared about...
"If you get hurt, I swear...I swear I will find th' $#@&er who did it an' kill them. I promise..."
Thoughts and voices raced through his head, each demanding full attention and presenting a solution. But Cyrus only found one solution. His own.
His eyes flared brightly, so much so that Dr. Kagakusha closed her eyes briefly from the intensity of the light. A massive aura of violet-blue light flared around his body, like some kind of unholy flame. Dr. Dowasure covered his eyes with one of his sleeves, but Teishi was far too distracted to even care.
Dr. Kagakusha wisely decided that her presence in the room was no longer desired and decided to make a swift exit. She ran for the door that had been opened by Cyrus, while Cyrus tried to control his intense rage long enough to actually do something with it. The pure intensity of the feeling, the incredible power that had overflowed his body, had overwhelmed him and had allowed Dr. Kagakusha the few precious moments she needed. As he extended his hands towards her, sending the furious energy racing across the room, she was running down the hall outside as fast as she could. The explosion rocked into the wall, but he knew that he had missed her.
He had failed.
Cyrus cursed rapidly, mainly at himself for his moment of weakness.
"Drak! Drak! Wake up!" Dr. Dowasure shook the young boy furiously, whose eyes were half-open, yet seeing nothing. He was bleeding heavily from the wounds on his chest. "I think he's going to die...he's going to die..." Dr. Dowasure also seemed near tears. "This is all my fault..."
"How's he doin'?" Cyrus finally calmed down enough to kneel with the others. They looked at him helplessly. Cyrus stared into Drak's half- open eyes.
"Kid...kid, can you hear me? Kid? #%@$ kid, you can't die...yer too important. Don't you know that? C'mon kid..."
"He...pushed me out of the way...I don't understand..." Teishi was crying constantly, tears flowing from his emerald eyes. "Why...he knew he'd get hurt...why did he do that...why did he care enough to do something like that...why..."
"I don't think he'll last much longer...this looks very serious..." Dr. Dowasure rummaged through his pockets. His voice was shaky. "I don't know what we can do, I don't think I have anything to help him now...I'm not sure what we can do...I can't believe this happened..."
Drak seemed to awaken for a moment, his eyes fluttering. The others stared at him, surprised.
"Sorry..." he mumbled, a tickle of blood coming from his mouth. "Teishi...I'm sorry...I guess I...won't take you out...of here..."
"Kid! Kid, don't talk like that!" Cyrus seemed to be channeling what should have been sadness into anger. Drak tried to look at him, but his head wouldn't move under his own power anymore.
"Sorry...we won't go...there...together, Cy..."
"@#$% it, you can't die, kid! You can't! I won't let you, god@#$% it!" Cyrus furiously grabbed Drak's shoulders. Drak looked briefly at Dr. Dowasure, his head having turned that way.
"Sorry...for makin' you...feel guilty 'bout this..."
"Drak...why are you doing this? Don't you know you're going to die?" Dr. Dowasure was staring at Drak in confusion, tears building in his eyes. "Why are you sorry...it was our fault..."
Drak tried to speak for a moment, but only coughed, a slight splatter of blood appearing on the metal tile below him.
"@#$% you, wake up! God-&%$@in'-@#$% it, kid, don't you die!" Cyrus shook him roughly, but Drak only closed his eyes. "#%@$! #%@$, open yer @#$% eyes!" Cyrus shouted angrily, but sadness was taking his fury away. His eyes softened. "Don't..."
"...Cyrus..." Dr. Dowasure spoke softly. "I think he's..."
"Oh sir..." Teishi rubbed at his own eyes. Cyrus looked at the limp form in his hands with a mixture of sadness and confusion. His eyes narrowed with determination and anger momentarily.
"@#$% you, kid, I ain't lettin' you go!" Cyrus retreated his bloody hands and his eyes lit briefly.
Drak wasn't sure exactly what was happening. At first, all he could feel was pain. But now the pain was fading, much like everything in his vision. Everything was becoming very numb...he wasn't sure where he was. He wasn't sure what he said when he thought that he spoke. He finally just closed his eyes and let the blackness overcome him, hoping to find some kind of respite in wherever he was going.

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