Tri-Kappa Labs

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Wow that is really intense. o_o I loved reading about the background behind the gijinkas and how they control them. It sound so terrible though. And the fact that he just lost 4 years of his life randomly is horrible! I wonder what was happening during that time.

[Noblejanobii]

Yeah that was one of the darker chapters so far but Casey wasn't going to sugar coat it. And trust me, we've only scratched the surface. That was only the Gamma level, which is one of the bottom levels. As the story progresses youll get to see more of what goes on.

As for what happened during the fours years of his life that he lost, well it was mainly his transformation into a Gijinka but that will be developed later on when you meet the main antagonists for the story.

[Noblejanobii]

Hey guys, so here is an update because the two of you that actually read this deserve it. So here it is. Um… well after midterms… I will be honest I had a four day weekend and I went down to the beach. The plan i originally had for doing stuff down there went out the window when I started playing pokemon again and wasting hours on it. So, I didn't get to work on chapter 6 or fix up the other chapters. That being said, most of my exam grades were good… except… well let's just say one of them I made a fantastic on without the curve. My grade didn't suffer that much. I'm still passing with a mid-B but… that was a real self confidence shaker. As a result, in order to try and focus on school, I will not be working on the story this week very much. Mostly because when my parents find out that two of my exams were… not very good… well let's just say you guys better hope they find my corpse.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Don't worry, you don't owe us any explanation. It's your story and you should update it whenever you have the time! Don't feel pressured or anything! Sorry that a couple of your exams weren't so good. I hope your parents aren't too mad about them. :O

[Noblejanobii]

Well they aren't asking so I'm not saying anything. But I felt bad for not telling you guys anything so I decided that because I actually have loyal fans here, and you guys are all awesome, that you all deserved an explanation.

[Noblejanobii]

So I finally got the nerve to tell my parents about my grades and by some miracle they weren't mad. With that note my inspiration has returned so in celebration i edited chapters 1 and 2. I'll get to work on 3, 4, and 5 then I'll start back up on chapter 6!

[Noblejanobii]

Tri-Kappa Labs
Chapter 6

Casey and I peered silently from behind the cover of a few trees, watching the few base users in the clearing in front of us. We had been tracking them for days now, trying to figure out if they knew where I was supposed to go. We had had no luck so far. They had pretty much been patrolling the woodland area the past few days, not doing much beyond that. It was boring business, I could tell. Still, learning about these base users had proven interesting and been a source of entertainment for the past few days.

The team we had been tracking had split into two groups. The group Casey and I were watching now were all single base users. If I had to guess the other group was the group that had attacked Casey, Shaymin, and I the other day. This group contained a Arbok base user (named Imfezi), a Serperior base user (named Quetzalcoatl), a Dunsparce base user (named Tsuchinoko), and a Seviper base user (named Habu). All snakes. Lovely. Though I have to say that the mythology lover in me did find some humor in all of their names.

For the most part this group is pretty calm. For the most they don't do anything except… well be boys. It's be kinda fun watching them be idiots and lazy for the past few days but my patience is wearing thin. No offense but I want this test to be over already. As much as I love Casey's secret bases, I'd rather be back with civilization than in the woods. Still, these guys haven't gone anywhere lately and I am starting to get the feeling that they won't be any time soon.

"Shayla!" I heard Casey hiss. I turned slightly to make eye contact with Casey. He motioned for me to come closer. I got down into a crawling position and moved over to him. Casey bent down to meet me. "I just heard Habu mentioning something about heading back to base."

"Are you thinking we should follow them?" I replied in a whisper. Casey nodded his head a little, his hair falling on his face as he glanced back up.

"Yeah I do. We need to get you and Shaymin back." Casey whispered to me. He looked over the bush and frowned as he scanned the small camp. "They're packing up. We need to get moving if we want to follow them."

"Right." I signaled Shaymin then followed Casey as we trekked around the camp in a semi-circle. Then we hid in the trees, waiting for the base user team to start moving. It wasn't long, ten minutes at most, before the snakes were all packed up and heading southward. With Shaymin holding onto his shoulder and myself close beside him, Casey lead the way, keeping track of the snakes as we hiked through the large forest.

The sun seemed to move quickly, moving just as we moved and only slowing when we decided to rest. I was amazed how it appeared that only moments ago it had been early in the morning, but once we rested for the fourth time, it was almost sunset. It was like we were in another world where time suddenly flew much faster than before. For all I knew I very well could be. However, real or no, there was no sign of lies in my relief upon the mention of the final stop.

"Not long now Quet!" Habu said. The seviper base user showed off his fangs at the panting Serperior base user. Quetzalcoatl groaned and glared at the others standing around him. None of them seemed bothered by the amount of running and given the looks on their faces, Quetzalcoatl usually wasn't either. He spit on the ground and straightened up.

"Man I don't know what's wrong. It's like I can't breathe." Quetzalcoatl rasped out as he linked his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

"Could it be that Dustox gijinka poisoned you earlier?" Tsuchinoko proposed. Quetzalcoatl shrugged a little while taking deep breaths.

"It's very well possible. In which case we need to get there soon. Otherwise I might not make it."

"I can carry you if you want." Habu proposed.

"No. I'll be fine." The other three boys looked at one another with worry but did as Quetzalcoatl commanded. If I had to guess, he was either the leader of this group or of the entire team.

"Will he live?" I asked Casey as we started off after the snakes again. Casey frowned a little and shook his head.

"I cannot say for sure. It depends if they get him treatment soon and how long ago he was poisoned." The Quilava gijinka trekked onward slowly. "But he is of no importance to us right now. Our main priority is to get you back to the Roman Charioteers. We do not have the supplies nor the time to help him."

"But-"

"That is final Shayla." I watched Casey, a darkened look in his eyes. There was something he hadn't told me about his past. Something that had happened that he didn't want to say to me about why he was against curing this base user. I decided not to press, for now.

We continued to follow the group of snakes and it was not long before we spotted three familiar faces. It was the female base users, the Empoleon, the Raichu, and the Charizard. I saw Shaymin bristle at the sight of them. Casey pat her head and nodded his head a little. That seemed to soothe Shaymin a little. We waited in the darkness of the forest a little ways away from them as they got reacquainted and then resumed our trek as the team of base users did. The sun began to move swiftly across the sky once more as we ran through the forest. In the blink of an eye the sky changes from blue to orange to black and the stars were out as decorations. Moonlight led us along after our unknowing leaders. I was going through the motions, my body moving but my mind asleep. It wasn't until Casey said my name that I woke up.

"Shayla!" Casey whispered with an edge of caution to his voice. I jolted a little and blinked my eyes before looking at him. He smiled a little. "I think I found your way home." He said, pointing ahead to a clearing. I followed where he was pointing and squinted. At the back of the clearing against a large wall of rock were three white cylinders. They had a blue glow around them that was very faint, my eyes barely even picking it out.

"How do you know?" I asked Casey as I watched the base user team run towards the cylinders. Casey frowned and creases appeared on his forehead.

"I… can't really remember… but something in my brain is saying that takes you home." He explained in a hushed voice. I decided that Casey's intuition had been right so far. I had no reason to question it now.

"How do we get to it then? We can't exactly just walk up and say, 'Oh hey I need to get back to the Roman Charioteers and sorry for attacking you earlier.'" Casey snorted a little and shrugged with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"Oh yeah. I would love to see their faces if we actually did that, but I had something else in mind. Here's what we do…"

***

Quill drummed his fingers on the arm of the couch as he watched the TV screen. He was watching BBC, the only reliable news network when it came to finding out what crap was going down in America. He frowned as a map lit up, showing just how much of the United States had fallen to the Greek Riders.

"And as you can see here, the majority of the United States has fallen. Only Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon remain, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. China, Mexico, France, and many African countries have also fallen to these new terrorists. Great Britain fears that these 'Greek Riders' will soon arise in her own country, but we have been assured that our government is taking extreme caution to protect the country and the citizens within it. We can only hope that those around us, in countries that have fallen and in those that haven't, have at least begun to take the same precautions."

The TV turned off suddenly, making Quill blink a few times before spotting the culprit. Sloane was standing at the edge of the couch with her arms crossed.

"You're worried." She said accusingly. Quill rolled his eyes and shook his head at the younger girl.

"The idea of me being worried is absurd." He said, "I am a trained soldier that-"

"Knows no fear and has no emotions. Yeah yeah I know. I've heard that BS speech before and I still refuse to believe it. In case you haven't realized it yet Mr. Emotionless, you watch the news when you're worried. It takes your mind off of your problems."

"I find that hard to believe." Quill replied with a stern look. Sloane returned it, her brown eyes filled with accusations.

"I don't." She said in a low voice. Sloane turned her back and added, "Dr. Mullins wanted me to inform you that Shayla has almost reached the transporters." With that she promptly exited the relaxation area. Without a second thought, Quill was on his feet and running to the labs, a Cheshire Cat smile following him the entire way.

***

Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump! Whoosh!

Casey's feet beat against the ground as he used the flames that burned inside of him to force power into his leg muscles. He shot forward at high speeds, the sleeves of his blue jacket starting to turn red as he ran. The base user group was directly in front of them and if his plan was going to work, they had to stay there.

Casey reached the edge of the clearing and launched himself high in the area. He spun quickly and a ring of fire formed around him. Eyes glowing the same color as the fire, the base users watched him carefully. He spun three times before starting to fire balls of lava at the users. They scattered, slowly starting to shift into their base forms. Casey narrowed his eyes, aiming with precision as he made sure not to actually hit anyone, no matter how tempting it might be.

Casey pulled back his arm and launched another lava ball at the Arbok user. The Arbok dodged and slithered away as the Dunsparce prepared an ancient power attack. Casey kept looking out the corner of his eye as he attacked, knowing he couldn't keep this up for too long. He was a goner if they all ganged up on him. Finally, much to his relief, Casey saw a figure dart quickly from the woods to the white cylinders. Casey smiled a little as Shayla entered one of the cylinders. Then, Casey heard a loud crack, pain shoot through his leg, and everything went black.

***

"Casey!" I watched in horror as an Empoleon released a hydro cannon, hitting Casey square in the left thigh. His ring of fire disappeared and he began to plummet towards the ground where the hungry base users were awaiting the Gijinka. "CASEY!" I screamed as my friend's fate was almost sealed.

My muscles in my arms and legs suddenly stiffened. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt my emotions surge forward in a force of power. Blue light surrounded Casey and he froze midair. His body was completely still, leaving the base users confused until Casey's body shot towards Shaymin and I. As Casey's body reached us, I saw the Empoleon say something to the Raichu and automatically knew what that meant. We were screwed unless I got this cylinder to work in the next ten seconds.

Casey's unconscious body flew inside the capsule. I started pressing random buttons, unsure of what to hit or push. However, I must have done something right because the door slammed shut and there was a loud whining noise. The cylinder began to shake and I shut my eyes in pain when the entire place erupted into white light. Pain filled my skull and I pressed my fingers to my throbbing head but it wasn't long before it all disappeared and we weren't in the cylinder anymore.

***

Quill knocked on the door loudly, breathing hard as he waited for someone to answer. After a minute he beat on it again.

"Alright alright! I'm coming! Calm down! I have a patient in here!" Dr. Mullins shouted as he reached the door and opened it. "Oh Quill, how nice to see you. I'm assuming you want to see the girl?"

"Yes I want to see Shayla. How is she?" Quill asked, trying to look around Dr. Mullins to attempt to see Shayla.

"She just woke up. She is a little startled and confused, but otherwise she appears fine." Quill started to push forward past Dr. Mullins when he felt the man dig his nails into Quill's arm. Quill glanced down at the scientist. "Be warned though, she appears to be hallucinating a little. When I left the room she started speaking to the wall."

"I thought you said she was fine." Quill said with a stern look. Dr. Mullins shrugged.

"Medically yes she is. But I do not know how the test may have affected her brain." Quill pinched his nose.

"That is medical doc!"

"No it is not!" Dr. Mullins countered.

"Yes it- oh I don't have time for this!" Quill pushed Dr. Mullins out of the way and walked into the lab room. "Shayla?" He called.

"Quill?" I looked up as I heard him call my name. Casey gave me a weird look before shrinking back as Quill entered the room. He smiled broadly and hugged me.

"Oh Shayla! I- we were all so worried that you wouldn't make it. It took so long for you to wake up." Quill said. I blushed a little at his lack of bashfulness.

"Q-Quill! I'm glad to see you too. But it wasn't that long was it?" I asked. Quill pulled back and nodded.

"It was. You've been out almost a week." My jaw dropped. Almost a week had passed in the woods too. Could it be then…?

"No way."

"Yeah. Time passes the same inside the test as outside. It's weird but luckily you won't have to do it again." I cast a glance at Casey, who shrugged slightly in return.

"Well, that aside, do we know what my base is?"

"Not yet." Dr. Mullins said as he reentered the room. "However, we will know by tomorrow at the latest. The data of your test has to be fully processed. For most people it doesn't take long but the longer the test the longer it takes to process it."

"I understand." I replied, keeping down my eagerness. I really wanted to know my base, now more than ever after the events of my test. But if I had to wait then so be it.

"Come on, we can get you registered on the team and get you a dorm in the meantime." Quill said.

"What about Casey?" I asked. Quill paused, giving me a confused look.

"Who?"

"Casey? The guy standing right there?" I pointed to Casey. Dr. Mullins and Quill both looked over at Casey before looking at me.

"There's no one there Shayla. You must be still feeling the affects of the syringe. Hallucination right afterwards is common. Don't worry it will wear off." Dr. Mullins assured me. I wasn't convinced but I decided not to push it. Quill extended his hand to me. I took it and stood up. My legs wobbled a little, not able to handle my weight just yet. Quill put one of his hands on my right shoulder to steady me.

"Careful. You've been out for several days. Your legs aren't going to be steady yet." He warned me. I nodded shyly as Quill wrapped his arm around my shoulders and said, "I'll help you until you feel strong enough to walk by yourself. Deal?"

"Yeah sure." I mumbled, blushing a little out of embarrassment. Quill lead me out of the room and back out into civilization, if that is what you would call it. It took me a minute to readjust to the environment around me. It felt like forever since I had been here and the part that perplexed me the most was that I was glad to be back. I was somewhat appalled at myself for moving on from my old home so quickly, but at the same time I knew there was nothing else to do but accept it and move on.

"Shayla! You made it!" I looked up as I recognized the male voice. I saw the small charmander push his way through the people walking nearby to meet Quill and I. "I was so worried!" Trebble added as he hugged my left leg. Quill released me as I bent down to Trebble.

"Hey little guy. I missed you." I replied, rubbing his head a little as I did. "You kept everyone in check for me right? No one has gone crazy yet?"

"No ma'am. But we were all worried you wouldn't pass your test. You were out for so long, almost a week! Most people finish in a day. i was really worried." I smiled at Trebble and lifted up his head a little.

"Now Trebble, you should know better. I may be new but I'm not going to leave just yet and not without a fight first. Got it?" Trebble's tail began to wag. He saluted me and said,

"Yes ma'am!"

I frowned as a low beeping noise emitted from the walkie-talkie strapped on Quill's waist. He unclipped it from his belt and pushed a button on it before holding it up to his ear. Quill listened to voice on the other end before groaning loudly.

"Again?" He said. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yeah ok. I'll be right there." I gave Quill a confused look as he puts the walkie-talkie back on his belt. "Sloane got into a fight again. We have to go bail her out of jail. Come on." He turned without waiting for a response and started off. I jogged after him, having to almost run to keep pace with him. Trebble followed behind us, running on all fours. After a minute I stopped to let him climb onto my shoulder.

"What did he mean by again?" I asked as I resumed my run after Quill.

"Sloane gets into a fights a lot." Trebble said, "As you know she tends to go out on the roof a lot. She's really the only person who does it and there have been conspiracy theories going around for a while now. Many of the other Greek Rider members are convinced she's in league with the Roman Charioteers or something." I frowned at that. Sloane seemed like a really nice girl. Why would people spread rumors about her like that?

"Is she a traitor?" I asked cautiously. Trebble shook his head. "I severely doubt it. Sloane hates the Roman Charioteers with all her heart. She especially hates one of their admins who is an ice type gijinka. He's the reason she joined us. If anyone's a traitor, it's the guy who started the rumors about her."

"And who might that be?"

"Troy. He's the leader of the Team Theta-Heta Harpies. He has a Wigglytuff base." Trebble said with a growl, "I hate him. He treats me like I'm a pet or something." I raised my eyebrows in surprise. So… Trebble didn't like being treated like a pet? That's going to be a hard urge to resist from now on. "But worse, he treats our whole group as if we're traitors even though we obviously aren't."

"Sounds like a great guy." I said sarcastically.

"Exactly." Trebble replied as we neared the dungeons. I recognized this area from when I exited it earlier. It didn't seem like that long ago yet it also felt like forever ago. Time was confusing to me ever since I entered this place and it made me wonder if something made time flow differently here or if it was just me.

Quill, Trebble, and I traveled down the same hallways that I could remember walking through on my first day here. Guards didn't cast us a second glance as we made our way to the dungeons. Quill opened the door and walked inside, scanning the cells until he spotted Sloane. It would not surprise me that Sloane had been in fights before. Unlike myself in that situation, Sloane was perfectly calm in the cell. She was lying on her back on the metal bed, arms crossed behind her head, and her eyes closed. She appeared to be listening to some music in her headphones but she still heard us approach as her eyes opened when Quill stopped in front of her cell.

"Hello captain." Sloane said, gazing at him with a bored expression.

"Same reason as usual?" Quill asked.

"Same reason as usual." Sloane confirmed as she sat up. Quill unlocked her door and let Sloane out. She stretched a little then yawned. "You'd think he'd get tired of arguing with me and just not pick a fight with me anymore. Especially since he loses all the time."

"Maybe you should just not get in fights with him anymore." Quill replied.

"And let him walk all over me? Yeah. Sure." Sloane said.

I walked behind them in silence as I listened to them bicker. My head was elsewhere though. I couldn't help but wonder what my base was. I was eager to find out but at the same time somewhat terrified. What if it was lame? How could I be useful then? I just had to hope for the best I guess.

I was so deep in my thoughts I didn't even notice where I was being lead until Trebble poked my cheek gently. I glanced up and noticed I was being taken to a sector of the building meant to serve as quarters for the members.

"You're in room 747. I checked you in while you were out. Here's your key." Quill said as he tossed me my key. "Get a good night's sleep. We'll talk in the morning."

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Yay, a new chapter! It's really interesting that the others can't see Casey. I'm looking forward to finding out more about that!

[Noblejanobii]

Yeah sorry for the wait. I've been struggling with school which has taken away from not only my writing time but also my inspiration. This kind of got pushed to the side for a while. It's a lot longer than I thought it was but there's a lot more that I wanted to put in there. Also I'm sorry if there are any typos for like… the last 3/4s of the chapter. I finished that at like 2am because guilt!

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Haha. No worries. :) I know how that can be. I hope school gets better soon so you can get your inspiration back! :D No need to feel guilty though. ^^