There was pain. There was nothing but the electric stabbing as nerves, muscle, skin and bone were twisted, and quickly ripped though and re-mended. Bones were being snapped like twigs, and fused back together under extreme heat and pressure.

An LED name-tag on the health monitors beside the operating table displayed the name "Subject_14", along with heart rate, blood pressure, brain activity, and numerous other signs of health information.

The room that contained this subject was titanic facility. The walls were cold metal, which had been whitewashed, along with everything else, it had been totally whitewashed. Even the lab tables, chairs, and light fixtures; all an electric shade of bright white.

The room almost seemed like heaven, with all the glowing bright lights, but with the procedure taking place beneath them, was obviously far from it. In the center of this blank operating room was a table, standing out amongst all color white in the room. A steady flow of crimson blood ran though the bottom of the operating table, flowing steadily into a drainage hole. A few drops found their way onto the floor and had been doing so for hours now. There was a rather large pool of blood that had gathered at the feet of the white-cloaked doctors who worked on the subject.

They were far too busy to care, however, they had much more important things to do, like ensure the success of this operation.

Each doctor wore a white hair-net, doctor's coat, and operating mask, they mocked the appearance of angles. They had been silent for hours, only speaking when asking for a tool, or getting information about the operation, each one of them was entirely devoted to succeeding. It was their last shot.

Subjects one through thirteen had died in this process. This operation was known as Stage Six, The Awake Physical Remodification and Alloy Infusion. Because of its numerous failures, the workers in the facility came to regretfully call it "The Execution Stage", for they didn't wast to see their hard work fail, but knew it always would in the grueling process. All subjects prior to Fourteen had all screamed through out the process, their vocal chords had gone horse with agony -- the subject had to be awake in-order to determine if death or brain failure had occurred.

Subjects one through Thirteen had all writhed in pain, screamed in agony as what they believed to be an endless torture of men ripping them apart, and reassembling them, there were no words to describe it, it was hell for them. As the doctors continued to endlessly work on their battered and broken bodies, they would all struggle with every bit of remaining strength to break free, perhaps they'd break a few fingers, but was no use, the doctors weren't willing to take such a risk as the patient breaking free, the Subjects were heavily restrained to the table. Large, leather bands surrounded Subject_14's wrists, neck, thighs, and feet, attached to a chain, and hooked to the table. It was not necessary though, Subject_14 was still.

Each Subject prior to Fourteen had all failed either before or at Process Six. They had all died, had whatever data and technology recovered from their bodies, and then promptly disposed of.

Subject 14 was an anomaly, he remained silent, still. His respiratory and heart rates all displayed normal levels, purely looking at the monitors, you'd never guess such a brutal operation was taking place on the patient. Subject_14 laid on his back, looking up at the doctors as the worked on him, his deep, hypnotic, green eyes traced over the figures of the men and women working on him.

Not a single doctor would make eye contact with him, he could not figure out why.

Perhaps some were scared of the Subject being silent, it was certainly an odd change of events, perhaps some felt so ashamed about the work that they were doing that they weren't able to look the patient in the eyes, or perhaps still, some were just too caught up in their work.

Subject_14 remained silent, until the shrill sound of a flat-lining patient quickly filled the room, the health monitors had indicated that Subject_14's heart had stopped, and he wouldn't be coming back. The alert grabbed the attention of the instantly crestfallen "doctors", just like that, it was over. All of the doctor's eyes met with the health monitor's screen, they all stopped, and let the final wave of failure wash over them. With a sigh of anguish and disgust alike, one doctor looked down at the dead Subject -- he pitied the poor beast they had spent years, money, and resources on. All gone, again. Stage Six was just too harsh for organic creatures to endure.

"Damn-it, there goes our last chance." One of the doctors said, removing his bloodstained rubber gloves in an obviously annoyed and aggressive fashion, tossing them to the side. He removed his operational instruments and crimsoned tools on the cold metal tray beside him, it was time to pack up, game over.

"What? Were you really expecting success here?" another of the doctors looked up and replied, his remark seemed to peek the attention of his surrounding workers. "All Subjects in Project Crucifix have died, so it's obvious organic beings cant handle these drastic changes to their physiology. I told you all this when I joined, it was a waste of time and money, no one listened to me... I only joined out of curiosity...". He trailed off in an almost pouting fashion, everyone expected the Subjects to fail, but Project Crucifix seemed so promising from the beginning... It was a chance to work with the world's top doctors, with the most expensive and advanced technology money could buy to work on such an amazing Project. Too bad it was all gone now, the high hopes that the doctors had for Project Crucifix were down the drain.

The pouting doctor received mix reactions from his coworkers, even though he tried to sound shoddy and calm, it was obvious he was more furious at the death of this patient than anyone. A few of the doctors shot him glares, some gave nods, as if they agreed with him, and others still ignored his complaints, as they wouldn't change a thing.

The subject died, they always do, during the fatal Stage Six.

It was almost ironic, each doctor in a room, around a patient that had just died under their care, each one of the were saddened and angered by that, but not for the loss of life. They wanted the Subject to survive so they would be successes, their hopes were for their own selfish purposes.

This was the final patient. The last chance of success was now gone, Stage Six had claimed another life. The monitor was turned off, ending the depressing monotone flat-line sound, and the doctors began to disperse.

"Time of death; 6:23 PM," pronounced one of the female doctors at the base of the operating table. She then removed her surgical mask, and looked down upon the still eyes of the patient one last time. Now that he was no longer alive, her conscious would allow her to look in his eyes. They were beautiful to her, the Subject's eyes were a deep crystal emerald, that seemed to fragment the light around them, they were just so...unusual.

"Bag him, tag him, and get rid of him." Said Dr. Michals, the doctor supervising Stage Six ordered, as he left the room, letting out a sigh of defeat. Dr. Michals pushed open a set of large white steel doors, and exited the room. The sound of the doors slamming shut shook the dream apart.

Jolting awake, sitting up in a cold sweat, a traveler awoke out of his resting place beneath a dead tree, to find he had just experienced a horrible nightmare. He lay with his legs outstretched, leaning against the base of the lifeless tree, the ground beneath him was damp, and cold. He placed a hand on his forehead, his palms completely covered in surgical tape, and sat up. He looked upon the world surrounding him, and took in his surroundings.

He recognized nothing, he was alone, beneath a dead tree, in a cold, damp forrest. The harsh wind-chill of the winter hissed past his face. He was nowhere, he hadn't an idea of how he had got there, who he was, or where he was going. His eyes traced over his surroundings, he felt no panic, he felt no fear... he couldn't feel anything. He didn't know what to feel, he was in an unfamiliar place, by himself, with no memory of his existence. He didn't even know if he was still dreaming or not.

His only memory was the nightmare he had just had.

The man inhaled a small breath, and sat himself up. He stood upon shaky legs, and began to walk.

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"Cheese!" Everyone happily said as they presented their diplomas and licenses to the tear-jerked mothers furiously snapping pictures out of disposable cameras. The sounds of flashes and cameras was almost overwhelming as their light filled the Event Hall of the Pokemon Trainer's School. The room was large enough, with the students, now graduates, standing at the exit for one last picture together before they all left on their journey.

The graduates held their fake smiles as assorted mothers took pictures vertical, then length-wise, then vertical again, then moving closer and further away, and finally making up excuses to take more pictures, like "Oh honey you blinked" or "That one is going to come out blurry". But eventually, the finished and the graduates could relax their face muscles, the feeling was like finally relaxing your jaw after the dentist removes the metal clamp that holds it open.

"Finally..." Some muttered as the swarm of mothers departed, each student then began to walk towards their respective parents to get their congratulations of finally graduating the Pokemon Trainers School.

It had been tough but school was finally over, each graduate now knew enough to begin training pokemon.

A boy of about 16 years of age, ran a hand though his short black hair as he removed his graduate cap and began searching for his parents

"Noah!" He heard his mother cry, "over here sweetheart!". He rolled his eyes and began walking over to her.

His name was Noah Ariston, but only his parents called him Noah, everyone else just called him Ariston. He liked going by his last name better, it felt more natural.

Ariston was an average height kid, with short spiky black hair, and an unusual shade of light blue eyes. He had an athletic body, and was about 5'10" in height. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

"I'm so proud of you honey" Mr.Ariston said with the cheeky grin. "I wish your father could've seen this"

Mr.Ariston was one of the countries best doctors, and was called away on urgent business to Snowpoint City, which was a long trip away from their house in Sandgem Town.

"He would be here if he could, you know." Mr.Ariston said trying to reassure her son.

"Yeah, I know, he's got an important job." Noah replied, not sure if he really believed that.

"Lets head on home, okay?" She asked him.

"Alright."

Noah said his final goodbyes to his friends at the Pokemon Academy. He said goodbye to his best friend, Shane, who had longer black hair always seemed more relaxed than everyone else, he didn't really seem to care that much that he was going to be leaving on his journey away from his parents.

He also met up with another of his best friends Conti. His name was actually Michael Contios, but people just called him Conti. Conti wasn't the smartest of kids in the world, in fact, this kid was pretty damn stupid, but he was one of the nicest kids Noah had ever met. It was impossible to not like Conti, no one had anything bad to say about him.

After numerous other goodbyes, some friends and parents waved goodbye to Ariston and he made his way back home for a quick rest before he left.

He was leaving today, to journey across the _______ region and beginning to train Pokemon.

He started packing his dark red backpack with his various supplies. Food, water, medicine, antidotes, and a few empty pokeballs. After making sure everything was packed and ready to go, he went up to his room to find his restless Pokemon.

He'd caught this little Shinx off of Route 201 a year ago by complete accident. The little guy came up to Ariston smelling food. Ariston's backpack was on the ground, he was running to Twinleaf town to visit some friends, and he was taking a quick break.

The Shinx managed to find his way inside of Ariston's backpack, and while sniffing around for food managed to activate a pokeball and get himself trapped inside.

Ariston almost had a heart attack when he later found a live pokemon inside one of his seemingly empty pokeballs. Ariston tried to release the little guy back into the wild, but he seemed to want to stay with Ariston, so he just kept Shinx inside his house until he was legally allowed to train him after he graduated.

"Today's the day, big guy" Ariston said ironically to his small Shinx who was under his bed wrestling with a loose sock. Shinx always found ways to entertain himself.

Ariston didn't really expect much out of his Shinx, he was really more of a house pet than a Pokemon suited for battle.

Regardless of what he thought, he interrupted the wrestling match between Shinx and his sock and gathered him inside of his pokeball.

He said his drawn out goodbyes to his mother as she was reluctant to let him leave, but finally he managed to make his way out of his house (as his mother watched from the window) and start walking to the exit of town.

He was relieved, he was on his own now, and rather than feeling scared or anxious, Ariston felt relaxed, happy he didn't have to live at home anymore...He was free.

Ariston made his way through the town, heading for the north exit. He passed by other trainers saying goodbyes to friends and family on his way. Lost in his thoughts he accidentally bumped into a young black haired trainer with a tough looking female Gardvoir by his side.

"Sorry, my bad" Ariston said as he regained his focus on what and who he was walking into.

"Don't worry 'bout it." Replied the trainer. Ariston then continued to walk for the north exit.

Ariston idly tossed his pokeball with his Shinx inside of it up and down in his hand, wondering weather or not this little guy could handle himself in battle. He might be making a lot of trips to his town's Pokemon Center before he got anywhere.

After a short while of walking, Ariston finally reached the north exit, which led to Route 202. Ariston let a smile creep over his face as he passed the sign for city limits.

"Ariston!" He heard a male voice yell right as he was about to leave. Ariston sighed a breath of annoyance as he turned around to see who was bothering him now.

It was Dr. Jason Rose, the town's physician and Pokemon breeder. Dr.Rose was Ariston's dad, Mr.Ariston's, best friend since high school. They even went to the same College and Medical School.

Dr.Rose was a young looking fellow, he was about 45, but looked as if he was in his mid 30's. He had short blonde hair, a narrow head, and round glasses. He had the generic doctor look about him. Currently, he was even wearing his doctor coat, as if he just came from work.

"I'm glad I caught you before you left, your dad would have killed him if I didn't, haha." He said in a breathy voice, he had obviously been running.

Ariston never knew Dr.Rose that well, but his father always told him stories of the fun things they did together through out their years of school. His father even told him of how the good Dr.Rose managed to out drink the president of a fraternity in college. Arisotn assumed this guy was pretty cool.

"What's so important?" Ariston asked him.

"Your dad had been planning on this for about two years now, he'd give you this himself, but you know, he's got work to do in Snowpoint." Dr.Rose told him

"Yeah, I know. So what'd he want to give me?" Said Ariston, now expecting something nice as a going away present from his dad.

Dr.Rose reached into the backpack he was carrying and carefully removed a rather large, blue spotted, grey egg.

Dr.Rose wrapped the egg in a soft white towel, and handed it to Ariston.

"This, is what he asked me to give you."

"...An...Egg? What am I supposed to do with this thing? Eat it?" Ariston asked, taken back by the fact his dad left him more of a chore than a present.

"Haha, you really don't want to eat this egg, trust me, I don't know why he wanted to give this to you so bad, really, but he told me I had to make sure you got it, we've had it at my Breeder Range for about two and a half years, and this thing still hasn't hatched," He explained, "he finally told me to give it to you once you left to see if it would hatch on your journey."

"Uhh...Well, I mean, I don't want to drop it or anything...Do you even know what Pokemon will hatch out of it...Is it even a Pokemon egg?" Ariston continued to ask, now examining the egg more closely.

"Yeah, it's a Pokemon egg, though we aren't sure what will hatch out of it, it was found out on Iron Island and shipped here for further study. And as for dropping it, I wouldn't worry about it, it's pretty tough, you'd have to hit it with a hammer to get it to break." Dr.Rose said as he re-zipped his backpack.

"Okay, I guess I can take it with me, if my dad wanted me to so badly.." He said, obviously sounding reluctant.

"Good, and don't worry, it's not going to be like a child when it hatches, it'll be pretty mature, it's been developing in that egg for quite some time."

Reassured now that he wouldn't have to babysit, Ariston gently placed the egg in his backpack, and zipped it closed.

"Alright, I'll take care of it."

"Thanks, Ariston, I'll give your dad a call later and tell him you're taking it with you, he'll be happy to hear it." Dr.Rose said as he turned to walk away.

"Wait, I have one more question," Ariston asked, "Do you know what my dad is doing in Snowpoint?" now talking in a more serious, rather than sarcastic, tone.

"Some sort of project, lots of top doctors are there working on it, all hush-hush kinda stuff, so I can't get any details." He explained, "Which ever it is though, it's big.".

"Alright, thanks. See you later then.".

Dr.Rose gave a waved his hand goodbye as he started walking back to town.

"By the way," Dr.Rose said with out turing around to face Ariston, "Team Galactic is probably in the area, and those people are nothing but murders and criminals, be careful." With out waiting for a response, Dr.Rose walked back to town.

Ariston didn't worry to much about Team Galactic, he didn't think he'd ever cross paths with them, however, Arisotn started to get worried about the kind of work his father was doing, and thoughts of what could be so important to fly all the top doctors to a place as desolate as Snowpoint. These thoughts occupied his mind as he left his hometown, the egg safe and secure in his backpack.

Now outside the city, Ariston released Shinx out of his pokeball and onto the soft dirt. Shinx let out a sigh of relief, and quickly stretched his muscles.

"Ready to go?" Ariston asked, receiving a nod from his Shinx. They then continued to walk down route 202.

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After about a half hour of walking, Ariston started to notice the growing number of trainers that were around, battling and capturing wild Starly and Bidof.

As Ariston watched some battles, he unknowingly ran into a wild Bidof at his feet, who was trying to act intimidating by growing and standing up on it's hind legs.

Ariston couldn't help but laugh at the stupid looking thing as it continued to growl. He found the Bidof to be a truly ridiculous looking thing, the Bidof's disproportionate features and body parts warranted involuntary laughter from Ariston. Ariston's laughter came even harder when the thing tried to attack with it's massive front teeth.

Ariston's laughter caused Shinx to let out a confused "Nyaa?" as he looked up as his master.

However, Ariston's laughter was cut short as the damn thing clamped onto its legs with it's surprisingly powerful jaw.

"Ow, damnit!" He cried as he shook the thing off of him. The thing had almost put a hole in his favorite jeans. Since it was getting cold out, Ariston had changed into blue-jeans and a blue and grey striped hoodie.

Shinx was quick to jump in front of the thing, FINALLY getting something to fight other than his master's socks. As the Bidof made another run at Ariston's legs, now angry from being laughed at, he got clipped by a high speed Shinx running into it's side, knocking it to the ground.

Shinx looked back to his master, as Ariston displayed an expression of surprise, he never expected Shinx to be able to battle at all.

The Bidof regained it's balance and bared it's teeth at Shinx. Shinx sidestepped as the Bidof made another run at him, and as the Bidof passed him, Shinx managed to grab the Bidof's neck with his teeth. Wrestling with the Bidof on the ground, Shinx continued it's grip on it's neck, and tossed it aside. The Bidof then scurried away, leaving a confident Shinx awaiting his master's praise.

"Wow, Shinx, nice job!" Ariston said with surprise at his "house pet's" strength. Ariston scruffed the fur on Shinx's head, as Shinx let out a relaxed "Nyaa", which Ariston figured to be the "meow" of his species.

Shinx happily trotted at the heels of Ariston as they continued to walk towards the City, occasionally defeating Bidof and Starly along the way.

After a few battles, Shinx started to move more precisely and hit harder, it seemed this little guy was a fast learner.

The city was in sight now, no more than an hours walk. They were quickly making their way along the path of Route 202, when Ariston noticed a large amount of children...with nets...

"Oh god damnit..." Ariston said as he started walking hesitantly towards the children who call themselves "bug catchers".

Shinx gave a confused "Nyaa?" as his master seemed rather angry at having to pass these kids.

"These little kids are unbelievably annoying, Shinx. They catch one goddamn bug Pokemon and suddenly they try and battle every person that comes their way. It's impossible to tolerate these kids...I just hope they don't notice us."

Ariston quickened his pace though out the children infested grass fields hoping to get though undetected. Alas, it's almost as these hyperactive children had Pokemon Trainer Radar, as soon as one realized he was in the area, they immediately wanted to battle him.

"Trainer! You there! I'm a trainer too! Let's battle!" One yelled.

"No thanks." Ariston gave as an annoyed reply.

"You there! Hey I wanna battl--" Another child yell out, but was cut off by Ariston's reply.

"No."

"Hey I just caught these bug pokem--" Yet another said.

"Don't care"

The floodgates were opened, and an increasing number of children ran to him to try and battle.

"Lets battle!"

"No, damnit"

"Hey are you a trainer? Cause I ca-"

"Jesus, no, not battling you."

"How about me?! Hey Trainer!"

"Jesus Christ on a fucking Pogo Stick. No." Ariston finally said.

"I'm. Not. Battling. Any. Of. You." He said, frustrated by their inability to understand this.

There was a silence where all the children started at him, confused as to why he didn't want to battle.

Ariston seemed to have gotten his point across, as they stopped asking.

"HEY!" Ariston heard from behind him as yet another child sprinted at him full speed waving the pokeballs he was carrying over his head. "A TRAINER?! LETS BATTLE!!" The child continued.

Before Ariston could even think of a response, they child sent out a tough looking Kricketot, which appeared ready and willing to fight.

Ariston was suprised by this, usually all these kids have are either Cascoons or the popular Bidof/Starly combo, and they were usually weak, too weak to fight Shinx. Ariston knew that he could hurt or even kill the Pokemon that most of these children had, but they didn't seem to know, or care.

This was the main reason for Ariston refusing to fight these kids, that and they were put-a-nail-in-your-head annoying.

This Kricketot looked pretty tough though, so Ariston decided to let the eager Shinx have some fun.

"Alright, I'll fight just -one- of you. Okay?" Ariston explained, as the children nodded, happily getting to watch an actual Pokemon Trainer in action.

Ariston knew that Kricketot weren't that strong, but they could take a lot of hits.

Ariston leaned down to his Shinx, giving him a little advice before the fight. "Alright Shinx, watch out, Kricketot have some nasty antenna on their head, stay away from them, alright buddy?". Shinx nodded in understanding.

Shinx calmly stepped forward, crouching in a pouncing position. The Kricketot just stood, looking clueless.

Shinx pounced at the bug, trying to land his teeth on the creature, the Kricketot's misleading clueless expression quickly vanished as it rolled forward, under Shinx, and out of the way of it's pounce.

Before Shinx had time to turn around, the Kricketot lunged at him. Shinx was able to react and begin to dodge, but the Kricketot was able to scrape Shinx's side with the antenna on it's head.

"The Kricketot and Kricketune's antenna" Ariston remembered hearing in class, "are actually made up of tiny micro-fractures, which are like tiny spikes and rivets. They can cause great harm if they come in contact with a human or a Pokemon's skin."

Although the hit was slight, Shinx stumbled a little as a tiny amount of blood seeped though his tiny Pokemon's fur.

The Shinx and Kricketot approached each other once again, facing each other, as Shinx cautiously circled around it.

"Way to go Kricketot!" one of the children yelled, as it seemed their friend's Pokemon was doing well.

"Shinx, stay away from those antenna, time your attacks, use your head!" Ariston yelled to help Shinx in his struggle.

Shinx continued to circle around the Kricketot, thinking about what happened last time. The Shinx were a quite smart breed of Pokemon, and had good instincts, which is why Ariston enjoyed having one.

Shinx made up it's mind, and pounced one again at the Kricketot, almost the exact same action as his first attack.

"Not the same thing..." Ariston thought as he expected his Pokemon to be clobbered by the antenna again.

Exactly as before, the Kricketot rolled forward, under Shinx, ready to attack it. This time, however, the moment Shinx landed on the ground, he rolled to his left, knowing what was coming from behind him. The Kricketot lunged forward again, but this time, Shinx was ready.

"That-a-way Shinx!" Ariston yelled in surprise at his Pokemon's clever thinking

After Shinx got on his feet again after rolling out of the way of danger, he saw the Kricketot make another lunge, this time in vain, easily avoided by Shinx.

As soon as Kricketot passed in front of Shinx, he pounced again, slamming his teeth down into the Kricketot's soft skin.

The force of Shinx's hit forced Kricketot onto the ground, Shinx hanging on by it's teeth. The Kricketot rolled around, trying to shake Shinx off, but with no use, Shinx had it in his teeth, and had no intention of letting go.

After awhile, Shinx managed to get enough control to toss the Kricketot to the side.

"Hit it again, Shinx!" An exited Ariston yelled.

Not missing a beat, Shinx began to charge at the Kricketot before it had a chance to recover. This time, Shinx made contact with the Kricketot's torso, slamming into it with his head. Knocking the wind, and will to fight out of Kricketot.

The defeated Kricketot instinctively curled into a defense ball position on the ground, not wanting any further harm.

"That's enough," Ariston happily told Shinx, "you got him.". Ariston didn't want to cause any unnecessary harm to the foe's Kricketot.

The energy in the children overflowed as the crestfallen young bug catcher withdrew his Kricketot, defeated. Cheers for Shinx rang out amongst the voices, and some laughed at their friends defeat.

"Nice work, Shinx, you handled that like a pro." Ariston congratulated Shinx. Ariston scuffled Shinx's fur a bit and continued to pet him as the children dissipated to catch bug again. They now didn't seem to want to battle him after seeing what his Shinx could do.

It felt good to have an audience cheer for his Pokemon, he liked the glory of winning, even if it was just a kid who was overly eager to fight, a win was a win, and it felt good.

Shinx let out a "Nyyaaa" sound as he yawned, showing his tiny fangs, and continued walking beside his master. Before continuing, Ariston was sure to spray some antiseptic medicinal potion on Shinx's cut, which would help him heal faster.

"You know, I never expected you to be so powerful, little guy." Ariston joked with Shinx, Shinx just looked up and gave a reassuring "Nyaa" that seemed to say, "Well of course you didn't."

Making their way to Jubilife City, he had Shinx battle a few more wild Pokemon along the way. It seemed no bug catcher wanted to bother him, as word spread about his Shinx.

As they finally reached the city, after a short while of walking, Ariston felt something move in his backpack.

"Oh shi--" He yelled, as the movement nearly scared the life out of him.

He remembered the egg in his backpack. Ariston carefully set his backpack on the ground, and retrieved it, it nearly occupied all the space he had in his backpack.

He placed his hand on the grayish egg, and could feel movement inside.

"Woah, that's pretty cool." He thought aloud as he felt the creature stirring inside. The egg didn't seem to want to hatch at this moment though, it was still developing.

Ariston placed the egg back in his backpack and continued walking into the city. The cool breeze brushed his hair back has the tall buildings made the city streets a wind-tunnel to walk down.

Ariston scratched Shinx's chin a little bit and told him, "Good job today, we'll get you healed up at the Pokemon Center, then we'll go find some food." Shinx let out a happy "Nyaa!" at the sound of food before being put inside his pokeball. Ariston then started to make his way though the city, heading for the Pokemon Center to get his Shinx back to his energetic self.

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Miles away, the traveler walked on a dusty road, far away from any town or city. He felt the metal inside him dragging him down with every step. His bones ached, his skin twined with pain, his blood seemed to be on fire, like hot copper was running though his veins

"...the hell did they do to me..." He though as he ignored what pain he could, and continued to walk. After a few amount of steps, the traveler stumbled onto one knee, holding himself up with his bandaged hand on the ground. A hospital bracelet with the text "Subject 14" was wrapped around his wrist.

He then reluctantly picked himself up, his body not wanting to cooperate. He ran a hand though his grey-silver hair, wiping it out of his face, his bright green eyes scanned the road ahead of him.

For a moment, he considered staying where he was, not moving, and just letting himself die here, but for some reason, decided it'd be better to keep walking, even without a destination. Every step felt like he was walking on shards of jagged glass, cutting into his feet, but he pressed on...not an idea as to where his final destination would be.

To be continued...Chapter End Notes:I hope you enjoyed Chapter One.

The chapters get progressively longer...check out Chapter Two next!

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended, and is applicable for all consecutive chapters that follow.