[Pokémon] TRINITY v2

Latest Update: 7/13/10 - Chapter 0 + 1


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Introduction
Welcome to the new thread for my fanfic, TRINITY! I ran into a bit of a problem with editing in revised chapters in my old thread so, uh, here's a new one without the old chapters to get in the way.

As for the fic itself, I often like to say that TRINITY is unlike any other Pokémon fanfic online, and rightfully so. While there are a handful of other Pokemon fics out there with similar settings, very few use a futuristic sci-fi approach like I do here. If you've ever seen the anime Ghost in the Shell, you'll have a good idea of the general feel and tone of TRINITY as it's a sci-fi Pokémon fic which uses several cyberpunk concepts.

The Pokémon world I represent in TRINITY is nothing like the Pokémon world we all know it as; there are no trainers for one. Technology has granted Pokémon and humans the ability to fully communicate with each other, allowing Pokémon to integrate into human society as somewhat accepted and civilized creatures. The core around which the plot focuses, cybernetics, is widespread in use not only in humans but Pokémon as well. If you think Pokemon is getting too futuristic with every generation, well, consider this a very distant extrapolation of that.

I hope you enjoy TRINITY, but just be forewarned right now that I have a habit of taking a long time to post new chapters, anywhere from one month to three. If you wish to be easily informed of new updates without needing to constantly keep tabs on the thread, my preferred method is via thread subscription. You can also post a reply or shoot me a PM saying that you'd like to be added to my TRINITY PM update list if you prefer that, however.

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Table of Contents and Information
Overall Fanfic Rating: PG-15 (Swearing, violence, occasional gore, and other generally more mature themes)
Genres: Science Fiction, original universe, drama, action

Phase.Alpha

• Chapter 0
• Chapter 1

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Metal and plastic lined maze-like corridors; the metal gave the passages a cold, sterile feeling that plastic sheets inlaid with holographic screens could only attempt, and ultimately fail, to warm up. To a newcomer this could be off-putting. To the man walking through those halls, it was familiar. He hadn't been to this exact place before, but it was similar enough so as to grant a sense of familiarity. As he walked, screens of orange light flashed into existence within the plastic panels along the walls; signs pointing him in the direction of various offices, labs, elevators, stairs, even restrooms. The man wanted none of that. A small nook in the corridor up ahead beckoned him, an overhead light reacting to his presence and illuminating a free-standing computer terminal.

The man barely glanced at the screen that flickered into existence before him, running his hands along the stand from which the holographic display and keyboard were projected. A single circular interface port was inset on the stand, but it was all he needed. Reaching up the left sleeve of his trench coat and the shirt underneath, the man pulled out a cable with a matching plug on the exposed end. Plugging it into the interface port, his eyes slid up to look at the screen. However, he didn't pay much attention to it. Invisible to anyone else, a panel of pure light seemed to appear in the air before the man, much like the holographic screen of the computer terminal. Unlike it, the panel of light followed the man's eyes, always squarely centered in his vision. Indeed, his eyes didn't play any part of him seeing it. Implants that intercepted the nerves running from his eyes to his brain modified what the eyes saw, overlaying that vision with the translucent panel that words were now beginning to appear on.

The words scrolled by at speeds that would have made them impossible to read if seen normally, however as the words themselves were purely data processed within the man's own mind, he could tell exactly what every word said. He didn't need to, though; the initialization required when connecting to any external device rarely provided any useful information unless an error occurred. In this case, the man was thankful that no error occurred. Quickly, he drew up a handful of new panels using only his mind, each running a separate program and outputting their own relevant status messages. He didn't really care about anything they said; they were passive and didn't require his attention. Mentally he shoved all the panels but one to a stack of icons on the side of his vision to clear what was essentially his virtual desktop. On the remaining panel, he watched as more status messages appeared, all of which he ignored until finally the entire panel cleared itself, leaving only a flashing command prompt. Mentally typing out the commands, the man quickly went to work.

It didn't take long for the computer to crack wide open, the man calling up all the external network connections the terminal was connected to. One by one he examined them, until finally he located what he had come for. A single network connection, leading directly from the terminal to another networked system located elsewhere in the facility. Not much differentiated it from the other connections, except for the label given to it: "Security Camera Monitor." Copying the networked computer's address, the man executed a remote connection to it tunneled through the current terminal. No security greeted him, the system had been designed to be protected by the terminals it was connected to. A new panel popped up to load the camera monitoring interface, but as soon as it appeared the man lowered the opacity on it and returned his attention to what his eyes were actually seeing: the terminal hidden away in a nook in the hallway. He quickly glanced around to ensure he was still alone. He was.

The man returned attention to his mind as thumbnails of various camera feeds suddenly appeared in the networked computer's interface panel. Immediately the man applied a filter, narrowing them down to those from the floor he was on. Enlarging them, he began viewing them briefly one at a time, flicking through to the next when he determined it wasn't what he was looking for. A minute passed, but then he found what he wanted. The man stared at the camera feed for a brief moment before enlarging it, focusing it on one specific object. Barely a moment had passed before he tore his interface cable out of the terminal, the cable retracting back up his sleeve automatically. Turning down the hallway, the man set off running as he followed a virtual, invisible line on the floor.


"All levels nominal. Proceeding as requested."

The voice was flat and emotionless, coming from within a room that was small yet spacious. Not much filled the room, so despite being small it was mostly empty space. Only two elements stood out: a curved terminal in the middle of the floor that the woman who had spoken stood at, and a large glass tube set against the wall the terminal faced. Both were visible to the camera mounted in a corner of the room behind the terminal. However, despite almost the entire room being in clear view of the camera, it was hard to see who was at the terminal due to the dim lighting of the room. In fact, the only source of lighting was a circle of lights around the base of the tube.

"Test subject appears to be at one-hundred percent physical health, however final mental examination indicated deteriorating mental health detrimental to further testing. Despite success with the integration procedure and promising test results, it was determined that subject is unsuitable for further testing. Subject will be terminated and examined postmortem for concluding details. Initializing termination sequence."

The woman barely seemed to be aware of what she was saying, much less what was around her. She stood at the terminal, eyes facing straight ahead and vacant. Hands flew across a holographic keyboard at an inhuman rate without her even looking at the keys, yet without missing a single stroke. Her words were spoken as if by instinct, for indeed that was how she had been programmed. No one was observing her in the room or through the camera, but she did not know that nor did her program care. To her it was possible that anyone could be watching, at any time. Procedure had to be followed, above all else. Her program wouldn't have it any other way.

A small hum began to emanate from the glass tube, ripples flitting through the orange liquid inside. Floating buoyantly within that liquid, yet with arms and legs secured by clamps to the ceiling and floor respectively, was a large, furred creature. It was currently unconscious. Tubes ran from underneath its skin to the top of the tube where it met the ceiling, snaking through holes to machinery above that pumped the creature full of various chemicals; perhaps the most important was a direct flow of oxygen to its lungs, preventing it from drowning. Slowly the creature began to stir, twitching slightly before suddenly opening its eyes and gasping. Liquid filled its mouth and lungs as it did so, however one of the tubes carried away the liquid before damage could be done prematurely.

"Subject is regaining consciousness. Termination sequence initializing... Eighty-percent and rising."

The test subject clamped its mouth shut as it realized where it was, its eyes flicking about to take in its surroundings. Before it could gather much in the way of information, five metal rings that had been laying inset in the floor of the tube suddenly rose up around the creature, floating in the liquid. The creature's eyes widened as the rings began to rotate in alternating directions, sparks of electricity leaping between the rings as the speed of rotation increased.

"Termination procedure started. Thirty seconds until subject termination."

The test subject began to howl, thrashing about and trying to free itself of the clamps that secured and immobilized it. Its efforts were futile, however; all it could do was watch as electricity leapt amongst the rings, building up a charge that would kill anything in the tube within a nanosecond. Dejectedly the test subject lowered its head and growled.

This wasn't supposed to have happened.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the room as the door flew off its hinges and crashed against the wall, taking out the camera in the corner with it. The creature snapped its head up in time to see a man dressed in a long black trench coat spring through the smoking doorway and over to the operator standing at the terminal, throwing a punch with his left arm that sent her crashing to the floor. Reaching into a pocket in his coat, he pulled out a small black box that he pressed against the single port in the back of the robotic woman's neck. Her whole body shook for a moment before falling still, but by that time the man was already on his feet and examining the computer console.

<It's about damn time you got here. Why didn't you tell me about this beforehand?!> The test subject angrily yelled, his speech not verbal but rather mentally transmitted to the man through a matching implant in both of their brains.

"Later! Need to concentrate!" the man shouted as he withdrew a cable from up his sleeve again and connected it to a port on the top of the console. His eyes narrowed as he stared at nothing in particular, working mentally on saving the test subject before it was too late.

A smile slowly crept across the man's face until finally he relaxed and nodded. "Termination procedure canceled," he said, adopting an emotionless voice like the woman before him. "Releasing the test subject. My test subject."

<Please. Spare me the flattery.> The former test subject rolled his eyes as the rings suddenly stopped rotating, falling freely to the floor of the tube with a clatter. The clamps that held him in place let go and the liquid in the tube began to drain as a mechanical hiss filled the room. Dropping to the floor, the former test subject lay sprawled out and began breathing normally again as his head rose above the liquid. Finally the last of the liquid had drained and the glass walls silently slid into the floor as the umbilical cords retracted; the small, insignificant wounds they left on the subject's body lost among his slicked down fur.

The man smiled as he walked over to the opened tube, running a hand through his short blonde hair. Stopping before it, he appraised the creature sprawled out weakly on the floor: a Typhlosion. "Good to see you again, Havoc." He grinned as he reached his left arm down. Its hand was covered with a fingerless black glove, in opposition to his uncovered right hand. Havoc sighed as he took the man's hand and was pulled to his feet.

<What took you so long, Tashima?> the Typhlosion asked as he cautiously took a few steps himself, trying to warm his muscles back up.

"Long? Man, this was short," Tashima snorted as he walked back over to the computer console. "You must have lost track of time or something because I'll tell you now, it is five days before when I was supposed to bail you out. I happened to find out, completely by chance, that you were being done in today. That was fifteen minutes ago." As Tashima was ranting, he knelt down over the still body of the operator drone and pulled the black box out of her neck, sliding it back into a pocket.

Havoc leaned against a wall, examining the room. Despite the door having been clear off, no alarms were sounding. Even without them though, he assumed it was only a matter of time before someone or something came to investigate what was happening. They would have to leave soon. <I assume that means you don't have much of a plan now?>

"Plan?" Tashima repeated as he adjusted the glove on his left hand. "My plan consists of us running like hell to an elevator and getting out of this place."

<Cameras?>

"Tagged and disabled. Thank Zan for that program..."

Havoc raised an eyebrow, an odd expression for a Typhlosion yet one that Havoc found himself using frequently. <You still think it's safe to trust him?>

Tashima shrugged, not elaborating much more beyond, "What other choice do I have? Any more questions?"

<Yeah, why aren't the alarms sounding?> Havoc finally asked. <You've blown up the door, knocked out an operator drone, and released me. You'd think something there would do it.>

"Cut the alarms on the way here," Tashima answered simply.

<And? Explosions are loud. Someone must have heard it and alerted security manually. How do you think they'll respond when they find both me and the door missing, and that operator drone disabled?> Havoc growled as he walked over to the door and peered out it, glancing down the empty hallway in both directions. <And why are we just standing around here?>

"Because you keep asking stupid questions like that," Tashima rolled his eyes in response.

<Well then, let's get going...> Havoc stepped out into the hallway, but was stopped by Tashima.

"Wait, hold on. Got to hide the fact that you escaped..." Tashima muttered as he reached into one of the interior pockets of his trench coat and pulled out a small black sphere. Squeezing it caused the sphere to split open around the middle, revealing a pulsating red core. Casually Tashima threw it into the middle of the room, Havoc shaking his head as the human took his time slowly walking out of the room. "Remote detonation," he explained to Havoc whose fur was bristling. "I'll wait until we're clear and then all evidence of your rescue will be gone."

<Except the fact that I'm alive,> Havoc growled as he set off down the hallway in the direction Tashima pointed out.

"You're a Pokémon. You know how most people treat you guys; they can't tell the difference between individuals. Don't let them ID you and they'll never know who you are."

It didn't take long for Tashima and Havoc to reach an elevator, quickly shoving their way into it and fortunately finding that it was empty. As the elevator began to descend downwards, Tashima nodded as he pressed the mental button to detonate the explosive he had dropped. The building shook slightly and alarms finally sounded as the lights flickered for a moment. Sighing, Tashima wiped some sweat off his brow and pried off a panel on the wall, extending the cable from his sleeve again and interfacing with the elevator. Havoc weakly fell to the floor in the corner across from Tashima, his ears drooping.

"How'd it go?" Tashima finally asked after he was done disrupting the elevator's functionality so that it wouldn't stop to let anyone else on.

<Successful, you could say,> Havoc grumbled. <Yet at a cost.>

"You knew the risks beforehand. I warned you and told you that you didn't have to do it, yet you insisted."

Havoc merely grunted and rolled onto his side, exhausted after the near-death experience. Frowning, Tashima walked over to Havoc and sat down beside him. Gently he ran his hand through the fur on Havoc's neck above the red incendiary spots, parting it. Beneath lay the indistinguishable marks of Havoc's previous experience. Situated in a hexagon on the back of Havoc's neck were six circular interface ports, and in the middle of the hexagon a tattoo reading:

Property of CYPHER Corp.
Test Subject #5687-9504-5609
Test Procedure #9013-4598-0043
Procedure Details:
Cybernetic Integration
TRINITY Integration

"It's not like being cybernetic is anything new to you; you've always had a couple implants. Besides, trust me, it isn't all that bad. Just wait until you see the Cybernet," Tashima grinned, trying to cheer Havoc up.

<There's a difference between 'a couple' implants and having most of your body replaced with cybernetic parts. What did I have before? A wireless interface with this communicator, a single prosthetic eye, and a couple other implants here and there. Not even a cybernetic brain. Now not only do I have a cybernetic brain, but nearly my entire body has been reinforced with metal plating, electrical wiring, sensors, mechanical joints, and more; hell, I wouldn't be surprised if I have a couple concealed weapons in here someplace,> Havoc sighed as he rolled over to face Tashima.

"You might want to look for those, they could be handy someday. I'm still trying to figure out how I can get this old thing fixed or, better yet, updated without CYPHER getting suspicious, or breaking the bank." Tashima smiled as he pulled off his single glove and pushed up his left sleeve to the elbow, revealing an arm and hand that looked to be more machine then man. The skin was oddly shiny and reflective, and the faint outline of inset buttons could be easily seen spread over the surface of the arm.

Tashima pressed one of the buttons near his wrist and with a whir the entire surface of his lower arm and hand snapped apart into quarters to reveal the messy inner workings of the cybernetic arm. Exposed within the arm, wires and red organic tissue formed a complex maze that made sense only to the original designer. Amid all that, the most prominent feature of the inner arm was revealed: a dark gray gun barrel that ran through the center of the arm. Over the surface of the gun barrel, exhaust vents aligned with the gaps between the opened skin panels to provide the necessary ventilation it needed when being used.

"I've tried firing this thing a couple times lately but it seems to be broken. Spent quite a bit to get this plasma cannon installed under the radar and a lot of good it amounted to..." Tashima scoffed. "I guess that's what you get for cheap, damn bargains. Good thing I've never had to use it..." Tashima sighed, looking up at the elevator's floor readout; they were almost at their destination now.

<That's a good thing. You already put us in enough danger as is...>

"Maybe so," Tashima mused, pressing the same button on his arm again. The arm snapped closed seamlessly with a hiss, no signs that it had ever opened up visible. His arm back to normal, Tashima pulled his sleeve down again and slid the fingerless glove back on his hand to mostly hide its cybernetic appearance.

Silence followed for a moment before Havoc gave another sigh. <We don't even know what this TRINITY thing is; is it really worth all this trouble?>

Tashima shrugged. "CYPHER is keeping very secret about it and it's going to go into mass production soon, but not for commercial release. It's obviously important for something and thus I want to check it out for myself first."

<You and your toys... Was the cost really worth it this time?>

"...As I said, you didn't have to do it."

The two of them both pulled themselves to their feet, the Typhlosion standing about a foot shorter than Tashima. <Don't get me wrong, I'm suspicious about it too and want to find out what it is. Plus, I'd never let you down. Perhaps being fully cybernetic won't be so bad after all...>

"...Thanks," Tashima simply said as the elevator slowed down, finally stopping.

The pair stepped out of the elevator and into a large, spacious lobby. Security guards stood about the place, while a mixed variety of scientists and formally-dressed business people walked about minding their own business. No one paid the two of them much attention. Havoc followed Tashima as he walked over to one of the sliding doors on the wall, passing through it without incident. The human and Typhlosion stepped out onto a transparent floor that extended out from the side of the building, far above the ground below. The building rose up behind them like a giant pillar, thrusting straight upwards miles into the sky. However, only the bottom portion of the tower could actually be seen from where the two stood. A giant dome enclosed the base of the tower, cutting off the miniature city clustered around the tower's base from the larger city outside.

As prominent as the tower was, the large dome and what it enclosed was arguably the most important feature of the complex for most people, including Tashima. While he did work for CYPHER, the corporation that owned the entire complex, the tower was merely a place of work for him. The dome was where normal employees such as Tashima actually lived and enjoyed life. Much smaller towers rose up out of the ground around the base of the CYPHER Tower, completely covering the ground below except in the areas right around the base of the CYPHER tower and against the edges of the dome, where the buildings were small and sparse enough so as to actually expose the ground. Light shone down from the top of the dome where transparent glass panels allowed natural light through, augmented by powerful lamps that circled the interior of the dome; however, the multicolored lights from the buildings below were often enough to light up the inside of the dome on their own. It literally was a miniature city under the dome, one in which the CYPHER employees could live out their entire lives without having to leave.

Tashima escorted Havoc down one of the several glass-floored piers that branched out from the tower, seemingly supported by nothing. Reaching where he had parked, Tashima wirelessly connected to the small red aerocar sitting in the spot he had left it at the end of the pier, turning it on and opening the top hatch. The top part of the car swung upwards to expose the small two person interior, Tashima leaping over the side and into the driver's seat while Havoc pulled himself into the passenger seat situated behind the driver. An array of holographic displays appeared in midair as Tashima sat down, his eyes scanning over them while he pressed the button to close the car's top hatch.

"Hey, want to grab something to eat?" Tashima asked as he prodded at the holographic displays, flicking some out of the way and enlarging others, looking over the news feeds to see if anything interesting had happened in the world. Naturally, nothing had.

<Do I even need to eat anymore?> Havoc grumbled.

"You need to work on that bitterness. But whatever, can't hurt to try it," Tashima grinned, scrolling through a list of destinations in one of the holographic windows before picking one out, selecting it. Automatically the aerocar lifted into the air, rising up and away from the pier as it slowly drifted away. Having drifted far enough from the pier, the main thrusters kicked in and the car flew away from the tower, spiraling down towards the miniature city below as it accelerated to its top speed in just a few seconds. Tashima sunk down in his seat as he let the aerocar fly its course on autopilot, only now able to truly relax.

Pokémon and humans, two mutually dominant yet independent beings that inhabit the world which we know as Earth. Together the two have lived since the beginning of time, yet throughout history the relationship between the two sentient forces of our planet has ebbed and flowed almost with the tides. It is possible that once, eons ago, humans and Pokémon may have lived communally together to such an extent that the separation between what is human and what is Pokémon was a matter only of shape, although if such a history were to ever have existed it has long since been lost upon the world.

It is a fact that compared to Pokémon and several other species of animals on our planet, humans are physically weak. To make up for this, throughout history humans have banded together to form great and widespread civilizations. Utilizing their intellect and large numbers, humans built great cities and focused on scientific growth, the development of new technologies driving humanity forward. Meanwhile, Pokémon retained a tribal and in some cases almost feral lifestyle. This separation in the paths that the two species took was compounded by the fact that historically humans and Pokémon have been unable to communicate, leading to the beginnings of a rift between the two species.

Over time, the fact that Pokémon are sentient beings became lost on humans. Humans began to see Pokémon as nothing more than exotic animals with mysterious powers that some believed could only be gifts given to them by a go or, as was popular, gods. While there was never any unanimous belief as to Pokémon's sentience among humans, the percentage of people who believed Pokémon to be sentient gradually decreased as civilization and science increased. Eventually, science led to a discovery that would become known as "Pokéballs", devices which could capture and contain a Pokémon's unique energy makeup. With this discovery, a new "game" of sorts was born.

At first simply a hobby for the richest of the rich, the activity known as Pokémon Training quickly developed into a full career for many people. Men, women, and even children of all ages would travel the breadths of the world on a journey alongside Pokémon they had tamed. Some people traveled the world to capture more Pokémon, collecting them as if they were action figures. Some people traveled to have their Pokémon do battle with other Pokémon owned by other trainers, or perhaps even wild, feral Pokémon encountered in their travels. Through these battles, trainers obtained glory and even riches, driving an economy which had adapted to the new craze and by that time relied heavily upon it.

This all ended in the mid twenty-first century, at which time cataclysm befell the world. While many rumors and conspiracies abound it is unknown the cause of the catastrophe, but whatever the cause may be the effect remains known: all Pokéballs the world over ceased to function at exactly the same moment. Without Pokéballs to contain Pokémon, Pokémon Trainers soon found themselves unable to continue their hobby. While some Pokémon who were extremely loyal to their Trainers remained by their side even without needing to be carried in a Pokéball, the inability for a Trainer to capture new Pokémon dealt a swift and harsh blow against the world.

Most affected was an island chain dubbed "The Pokémon Islands" situated in the Pacific Ocean between North America and Japan. It was on those islands of Kanto-Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and so on that the highest concentration of Pokémon and thus Pokémon Trainers lived, their government being the organization known as the Pokémon League. The League, as it was called by many Trainers, regulated Pokémon Training throughout not only the islands but the whole world. One by one, each island fell to riots as Trainers demanded to know what had happened. The Pokémon League was overthrown, and those Trainers with sense fled the islands to escape the panic and mass hysteria. As the Pokémon Islands fell to ruin and the global impact of the cataclysm upon the world's economies began to be felt, the Earth entered the first dark age it had seen in millennia.

Not long before that cataclysm occurred, a group of scientists made a breakthrough they had hoped would have as much effect on the world as Pokéballs had. The scientists had miraculously completed the first Pokémon translator in the world, with which communication with Pokémon would become possible and prove to the world that Pokémon were sentient and could think just as humans can. Unfortunately, the company those scientists belonged to soon suffered a hostile takeover from an unknown competitor and the translator technology, while it was perfected and began production in small batches, was never made known to the public. After the great cataclysm that company was dissolved and many of its unpublicized discoveries sat unknown for years. Eventually human society began to pull itself together again, and like the legendary phoenix, humans rose from their own ashes and civilization was reborn after decades of strife.

As civilization adapted to a return of life without Pokémon Training, investigations were made into the several companies and organizations that had fallen apart due to the cataclysm. Eventually the research done for the Pokémon translator was discovered, the world finally exposed to the technology that its creator's had hoped would change the world. Proof that Pokémon, which had for so long been but a toy in the eyes of children, were sentient became widespread and irrefutable. Perhaps it was due to the still vulnerable state the world was in after the chaos the cataclysm had caused, but acceptance of the sentience of Pokémon spread rapidly and almost instantly across the world. It would be centuries before the translator technology was perfected for widespread use and mass production, but the downfall of Trainers proved to be the first step towards the unification of human and Pokémon society.

Excerpt from an article written by Steven Adams for the Joint Central Archive for Pokémon and Human Historians, dated June 12th 2458.


The air was hazy with tobacco smoke, its vile scent clinging to every surface inside the dimly lit nightclub. Heavy, thumping, bass-driven dance music played over the loudspeakers installed overhead, orange-tinted lights shining down onto the dance floor below. The club wasn't the largest in the city, but the crowd that packed the place every night didn't seem aware of that. Overhead, through a hexagonal opening in the ceiling, the oppressive interior surface of the CYPHER Dome could be seen, blocking out the night sky. A red car suddenly flew past the open ceiling, disappearing out of sight as it descended to a parking platform suspended off the side of the tower. Soon, the nightclub's door slid open to let two people through: a human and a Typhlosion.

Tashima glanced about at the people in the club. He didn't recognize anyone. Gesturing for Havoc to follow he walked over to the bar next to the dance floor, sliding onto a seat and motioning the bartender over. The burly man nodded, already familiar with what the young adult usually ordered. Silently Tashima held up two fingers: one for him, one for Havoc. Almost before he put his hand back down, two shot glasses came sliding across the bar, Tashima catching both and passing one to the Typhlosion. Swirling the liquor around in his glass, Tashima frowned before picking it up and downing it in one gulp. As he set the empty glass back down, it was then he noticed a girl sitting all by herself just a few empty stools away from him. She was a red-head, with curly, frizzy hair. Turned away from him, he couldn't see her face.

<Hey, Havoc. Think I can get her?> Tashima asked his friend privately.

<No.>

<Hah, I'll show you.>

Tashima smoothly slid off his stool and to his feet, straightening his shirt before walking over next to the girl and sitting back down in a seat next to her, putting on an act as if he had just walked in and chosen that seat by chance. Tashima simply glanced at her out of the side of his eyes, waiting for her to make a move first. It took a while, but eventually she gave in and glanced over at him. That was Tashima's cue.

"Hey," he said, nodding slightly.

"You want something?" she asked, turning to look away again.

"Nah... Just wondering if you were by yourself."

"For now," the girl shrugged. "Waiting on a friend."

"Ah." Tashima nodded. He had to find out just who this friend was quick. Pointing over at Havoc, he explained, "I have a friend right there. Big, fearsome... Yet cuddly and couldn't harm a fly. Yours?"

"Lithe. Grace." The girl was still avoiding looking at Tashima, but he could see a smirk form on the corner of her lips. "Could snap your neck with a single thought."

"Ah, psychic. How'd you meet them?" When the girl remained silent Tashima figured it was time to move on to the next stage, swirling around to face her and holding out a hand. "Name's Tashima, by the way. My friends just call me Tash though."

The girl continued to ignore Tashima's gaze, and his attempted handshake. As he set his hand back down, she finally answered with, "Hali. My friends call me Hali too."

"How about Hal?" Tashima smiled. Again he got no verbal response from the girl, she merely smirked again and shook her head disapprovingly. "Okay, Hali it is then. If you're in this dump of a place I assume you work for CYPHER?"

Eyes still on the dance floor, yet seeming to observe nothing in particular, Hali nodded. "Give me your department and I'll give you mine."

It seemed like Tashima was finally getting somewhere so now was no time to hold back. "Integrated Software Development," he answered truthfully. "I program stuff for use in, well, I don't really know. It's all confidential, even from us."

"Intelligence," Hali flatly answered.

"Ooh..." Tashima grinned. Now this girl was getting interesting. "That's part of Security isn't it?"

"On paper," Hali shrugged. "Not in reality."

Tashima pulled a leg up and crossed it over his other, leaning forward slightly. "Mind telling me more? I've always wanted a position in something security-related."

"Can't," Hali shook her head. "I'd be fired on the spot."

Tashima grinned and leaned forward more, lacing his fingers together and resting his head on them. "I promise I won't tell."

Hali paused a moment, glancing sideways at Tashima again, narrowing her eyes. "I've counted thirteen bugs in this room alone. They'd know."

"Thirteen? Really..." Tashima whistled, somewhat impressed. Uncrossing his legs he leaned back again, dropping his arms to his side and clasping them together behind his back. "I've counted fourteen."

That grabbed Hali's attention finally. While she still didn't turn to actually look at him, her eyes narrowed as she started scanning over the room again. Reaching out to her, Tashima tapped her shoulder to silently get her attention before pointing up to a neon sign that hung on one of the walls over the dance floor. Tashima couldn't tell for sure, but he imagined she was running all sorts of sensor scans on it to check for even the smallest emissions to signal the presence of the bug. Eventually she started slowly nodding in approval.

"You've got a good eye, and some impressive hardware to pick that up." Spinning around to face the bar, she motioned over the bartender. "Here, let me buy you a drink."

"No, no," Tashima waved it away. "Let me buy you one."

Hali shrugged, turning back to the dance floor. "Okay, if you insist."

The sound of Havoc's mental laughter burst out in Tashima's head. <That didn't go as planned, did it?> he mocked.

<She was supposed to insist further on her buying me one...> Tashima sighed, meanwhile ordering Hali her rather deserved drink.

His laughter fading away, Havoc went back to being his usual serious self. <Watch yourself with this one. She's good. And don't try anything stupid.>

<Oh, go back to being cuddly will you?>

Time flew by as Tashima continued talking to Hali, trying to find out more about her with little success. Still, she seemed to be opening up more and Tashima knew that just a little more hammering could crack her right open. If nothing else, the two were certainly becoming quick friends and Tashima knew it was time to pull out his next card. Standing up, Tashima stretched his arms out before saying to Hali, "Hey, want to come back to my place? I don't think there're any bugs there so we can speak freely. Well, no bugs I didn't install at least."

Hali finally turned to look at Tashima, nodding and grinning as she teased "Sure. Maybe I can spot what you missed this time."

Tashima glanced over his shoulder at Havoc, pointing to Hali as he said, "Hey, we two will be taking the car back. Mind getting a taxi when you're ready?"

"Oh, he can come too," Hali slyly interrupted. "It's his house too after all, right? Don't want to strand your big pal..."

<What did I tell you?> Havoc directly said to Tashima, unable to suppress a physical grin that Hali surely noticed.

<Oh shut up. I'm trying to get it on over here and you are not helping in any way.> Switching back to focusing on Hali, Tashima verbally responded, "Well, the thing is, we only have two seats in our car..."

"Not a problem," Hali interrupted. "I'll just follow you in my own."

"Well, uh, sure..." Tashima gave in, not seeing any way to shift this back in the direction he had wanted it to go. "In that case, didn't you mention waiting for a friend?"

"She got here a while back but didn't want to interrupt," Hali shrugged. Tashima noted that this probably meant they too had communicator implants, or the psychic friend could also do telepathy. "Fae?" Hali spoke up, presumably the friend's name.

Sure enough, a glowing light appeared next to Hali, flashing brightly before taking the tall, slender form of a female Gardevoir. The psychic Pokémon was fairly humanoid, looking as if she was dressed in a loose-fitting, flowing gown that surrounded and completely hid her feet. Noticing Tashima, she politely nodded at him.

"This gentleman his offered to entertain us at his house," Hali explained to Fae, adopting a rather disturbingly aristocratic tone. "Mind joining us?"

"That would be lovely," Fae answered in a verbal voice as equally flowing and graceful as her appearance, even through the extra layer Tashima's translator implant provided. "I would enjoy it."

"This is your friend?" Tashima skeptically asked, scratching the back of his neck nervously. Fae wasn't quite what he had been expecting.

<She is playing you like a game of chess,> Havoc remarked. <Man she's good. I can see why she's with Intelligence...>

<...Shut up,> Tashima growled mentally, maintaining his composed exterior. As he motioned toward the exit that led to the parking platforms, he added to Havoc, <You ruined everything. It's all your fault.>

<You honestly think you could get her into your bed even if I wasn't here?> Walking along besides Tashima, Havoc shook his head when he saw Fae and Hali grab each other's hands, the human woman glancing back over her shoulder at Tashima and grinning slyly. <You need a reality check...>

The group of two humans and two Pokémon walked through the club's door and into the elevator leading to the parking platforms. As it began to descend, the scene seemed to get blurry, dimming out of existence in the mind of the person who was just now realized it for what it was. Tashima slowly opened his eyes, finding himself not in the elevator but rather lying in his bed as light just started to penetrate the curved, tinted window that lined one wall of the room. Raising a hand to grasp his forehead, Tashima sat up in his bed and pulled the sheets off him.

Other than for a pair of boxers, Tashima sat in his bed completely naked for a few minutes as he thought over the dream. Without clothes on, the prosthetics that composed the left side of his body were highly visible. Just as his left arm was clearly discolored and in places even misshapen, so was his entire left leg. Furthermore, the left side of his chest was covered in a flexible panel that ran from his shoulder down to his hip, metal hidden beneath more of the synthetic flesh that completely failed to blend in with his real skin. Tashima sighed, dropping the hand from his head and looking at the tinted window, the light bright enough that he could see through it anyway. His apartment being located fairly high in the building, he could see the tops of several of the towers that composed the so-called CYPHER City underneath the dome that cut them off from the much larger Helios City outside. Off in the distance he could see the building housing the nightclub he recognized from the dream, or rather, memory. Why he had relived it in his sleep he had no clue.

Finally Tashima slid off his bed. As soon as his feet touched the floor, the tint on the window that had blocked out most of the daylight vanished. In an instant the pane of glass turned clear enough to let the light flood in, Tashima wincing and narrowing his eyes despite knowing it was coming.

"Good morning, Tashima!" an annoyingly loud and overenthusiastic voice suddenly rang out through the room, Tashima instinctively raising his hands to cover his ears. It was too early for such an onslaught on his senses.

"I ask again, is it possible to turn you off?" Tashima grumbled as he rubbed his eyes tiredly, looking about his room to gather his bearings now that he had pulled himself out of his thoughts. The room was mostly plain, not much hanging on the walls or laying about. About all of importance in the room was his bed, a desk with a chair, and his dresser next to the closet door. The most striking feature of the room was certainly the large concave window that occupied practically one entire wall, easily drawing attention away from the otherwise spartan bedroom.

"Not likely!" The voice reverberated through the room, somehow managing to be the most irritating sound Tashima had ever heard.

"Stupid AI... You realize how annoying it is to wake up to you every single morning?" Tashima growled, walking over to a hook on the wall from which a blue robe hung. Lifting the robe off the hook, Tashima pulled it over himself to conceal his mostly naked body.

"I apologize, but I am merely acting upon my programming," the AI voice said in a more serious tone as various displays showcasing the day's news seemed to literally pop up over the window's surface, in actuality being holograms projected just over the surface of the glass. "If you were wondering, the weather today outside CYPHER Dome is a pleasant seventy-five degrees with no sign of rain in the foreseeable future. The temperature under CYPHER Dome is maintained at a constant seventy-two degrees with today being no exception." The voice was losing the annoying edge it had just moments before, which pleased Tashima. He remembered how when the AI was first activated a few months ago it was so constantly annoying he wanted to tear his ears off. Ever since then, with each passing day and berating in the morning, it was gradually becoming more bearable.

Tashima ignored the weather report as he walked over to the window and looked over the news postings, moving them around and scrolling through the articles with quick brushes of his fingers through the holograms themselves. Noticing that he had received some messages over the night, Tashima pulled over his inbox and began to read through them.

"Hey! It's Saturday, you don't have to work today!" the AI exclaimed, its serious and informative tone immediately lost as the AI reverted back to the over-excitement that grated Tashima's nerves each and every time he heard it.

"I know that. I have a clock in my head, thank you very much." Tashima angrily hissed, grumbling under his breath as he quietly cursed at the AI.

"I am sorry, this is my programmed personality and while I am trying to adapt to your taste, I wish only to please you," the AI said, actually managing to sound disappointed.

"Yeah, well, why don't you disable yourself then..." Tashima mumbled, grabbing masses of junk mail at once and flicking them off to the side into the waiting icon of a garbage bin. Leaning back against his bed, he looked up at the small camera in the corner of the room that functioned as an eye for the AI. Of course CYPHER would like it very much if they could use the cameras to spy on their employees, however Tashima had taken the liberty of ensuring all the cameras in the apartment were wired solely on a local network with no outside access. "Hey, if you want to please me, how about you tell me where Havoc is?" Tashima asked as he looked at the camera.

"He is downstairs, I believe he wishes to speak to you," the AI responded, actually proving helpful for once.

"Well then, I better go see him." Tashima walked around his bed and passed through the automatically opening door that led into the hallway outside his room. Walking down the short hallway, past the doors leading to Havoc's bedroom and a bathroom, Tashima turned and descended the staircase leading to the first floor of the apartment he shared with his non-human roommate.

At the bottom of the stairs, Tashima stepped out into a moderately sized room which was, like his own bedroom, decorated rather sparsely. On the wall across from the stairs, a blank panel was set into the wall with a couch and chair sitting in the middle of the room facing it, a small coffee table separating the couch and the wall. To his right was a window like the one in Tashima's room, a door next to it leading off onto a balcony. Next to the stairs a door led into the garage, while to the left an arch led into the kitchen and dining area. The apartment wasn't much, but it was fine when only two people were living there.

Sitting on the couch was a large creature with cream-colored fur over its belly and blue fur on its back, a line of red spots ringing the back of its neck. It had four legs, although it could walk just as well on only its hind legs using the others as arms. It was a Pokémon, or to be specific a Typhlosion, and as unlikely as it may have seemed he was indeed Tashima's friend and roommate. They had met when they were both young and ever since had lived together and been companions, protecting and helping the other whenever possible. As Tashima stepped into the living room, Havoc turned around to look at him with his fiery red eyes.

<You've got a letter,> Havoc said through his wireless communicator, one of the few standalone implants he had. As he mentally spoke, he raised a paw holding a paper envelope and waved it in the air.

While not the only form of communication between humans and Pokémon, wireless communicators proved useful because it was possible for the the transmitted "voice," to only be received by people the speaker designated. Additionally, the speech was automatically translated to whatever language the recipient had set. Of course this did require the recipient to have a communicator implant as well, which due to somewhat high prices prevented them from becoming too popular. Perhaps more common were simple translator devices and implants which let humans understand the native speech of Pokémon, while Pokémon were able to naturally understand humans so long as they learned the language. While Tashima along with all but the poorest of the poor had a translator implant, Havoc still preferred to talk using his thoughts. Tashima, on the other hand, quite liked the sound of his natural voice.

"A letter?" Tashima was clearly surprised. "On paper and everything?"

<Yep,> Havoc nodded, waving the envelope some more.

"Who the hell sends letters anymore?" Tashima said incredulously, walking over to the couch and grabbing the letter before sitting down in a chair off to the side.

<Hali, apparently,> Havoc said what Tashima had already noticed. Her name was scrawled in the corner of the envelope, with Tashima's full name, Tashima Navara, written in the middle. There was no address, not like there was any postal service that could have delivered it either.

"What, she just slide it under the garage door over night or something?" Tashima asked as he held the envelope up to the light from the window. All that seemed to be inside was a folded piece of paper, and the sensor array built into his head wasn't picking anything up from it.

<Dropped it on the balcony, actually,> Havoc clarified as he shrugged. <Same concept, though.>

Frowning, Tashima slid a finger under the corner of the envelope flap and worked at tearing it open, pulling out the letter within when he was able. Unfolding it, he scanned over the hastily scrawled contents before reading it out loud. "Electronic communications unsafe. Something important's come up. Come by my house ASAP, we need to talk," Tashima read before throwing the letter down on the coffee table.

<What is it this time...> Havoc murmured.

With a shrug, Tashima said, "No idea. It sounds pretty urgent though."

Havoc stood up and stretched out, yawning with a sound that seemed more like a roar. The fangs that lined his large mouth were visible for a moment, but only briefly before Havoc closed his mouth again, looking over at Tashima. Not moving his mouth, he again spoke up through his more preferred method. <If she wants us there ASAP, we should probably leave soon.>

"I dreamed about her last night, you know," Tashima frowned, staring at the blank screen along one wall. For television, he preferred the better picture quality of a real physical screen. "It was the first time we met, over at the Hive nightclub..." Tashima shook his head as he stood up, walking across the living room to the doorway leading into the kitchen while grumbling, "We'll leave soon, when I'm ready."

<You might want to hurry,> Havoc said, turning his eyes to look out the window that lined one wall of the living room. The window provided a perfect frame for the giant tower off in the distance that the entirety of CYPHER City was focused around. Even with its full height not visible due to the dome the miniature city was enclosed in, the tower was still just as large and overbearing as ever, seeming to press down on and dominate all below it.

<...I have a bad feeling about this.>


It didn't take long for Tashima to get ready, hastily downing his usual morning coffee and changing into real clothes. As Tashima walked down the stairs back to the living room, he adjusted the black leather trench coat he wore pretty much everywhere before pulling a single fingerless glove out of a pocket and sliding it over his prosthetic left hand. Ready, he nodded to Havoc and opened the door leading to their garage, the Typhlosion standing up and following him. The small, red, two-seat aerocar Tashima was so proud of sat in the middle of the garage, overhead lights automatically turning on to illuminate it as the man and his Pokémon roommate walked over to it. The car came to life as Tashima mentally commanded it, the top canopy lifting open to allow the two access.

They quickly leaped into the car, Tashima sitting in the front driver seat and Havoc in the rear passenger seat, Tashima closing the canopy behind them. Once they were sealed in, he hit a holographic button on the dashboard of the aerocar to open the garage door built into the side of the tower their apartment was located in. The segmented metal door slid up, exposing the open air outside. It was still early in the morning, the lights built into the inner surface of the dome dimmed down while the natural light coming through the regularly placed transparent segments of the dome cast a dim orange light over the inner CYPHER City. Deftly, Tashima manipulated the aerocar's controls, powering up the fixed lift thrusters that sent the sleek red vehicle rising into the air. At the same time, the thrust vectoring nozzles at both the front and rear of the car kicked in, helping to provide some vertical lift at first before rising up to provide horizontal thrust. At that moment, the aerocar shot out of the garage, flying off between the towers of CYPHER City amid the rather sparse traffic.

Hali didn't live far from Tashima and Havoc's apartment, merely a few blocks away. Rather than bother flying between the towers for the whole way, however, Tashima instead rose up into the empty space above the tops of the majority of CYPHER City's towers. As most traffic was concentrated down below, Tashima was literally able to sail right over both other cars and buildings in a straight line to Hali's place. Locking the aerocar's steering, Tashima relaxed his hands and looked down at the city below. Labels appeared in his vision, pointing out various buildings and the businesses they contained. None of them were of interest to Tashima, though.

It wasn't long before the duo within their red aerocar were close to their destination. The building Hali lived in was fairly unremarkable, a cylindrical tower with balconies running around the lower levels and wedges cut out of the side of the building at seemingly random intervals. Hali's apartment itself, however, was rather interesting. Due to her high rank within CYPHER, she had managed to afford a penthouse on the top floor of the building. Around the protruding penthouse Hali also owned the surface of the building's roof, on which she grew a small garden of various plants. On the other side of the penthouse, away from the plants, two circles on the roof marked landing pads for Hali and guests. One of the circles was occupied by Hali's own aerocar, a silver model that was about the same size as Tashima's, while the other was empty. Tashima maneuvered their aerocar over the empty circle, hovering in place as the vectoring nozzles on the front and rear of the aerocar swung downwards. With both the vectoring nozzles and fixed lift thrusters pointing down, Tashima slowly eased the power off them, allowing the aerocar to slowly drop down and land without any damage.

No one came to great them as Tashima and Havoc jumped over the side of the car and onto the building's roof. Tashima scanned his eyes around as the aerocar's canopy closed behind them, looking for the girl that had summoned them there. She was nowhere to be seen as the two walked around the penthouse to its front, Tashima pressing a doorbell next to the roof-access door before turning to look down the aisles of plants Hali was so fond of growing. While Tashima stood by the door waiting, Havoc wandered off on his own, silently looking over the various flowers. Spotting a cluster of small purple flowers, Havoc suddenly stopped, reaching down and lifting one of the clusters up with a paw while being careful to avoid hurting it with his claws. Bending down, the Typhlosion gave the purple flowers a sharp sniff, ears perking up as he took in the fragrance.

"They're called lilacs," a female voice said behind Havoc. Gently releasing the flower, Havoc turned around to face Hali. "They don't grow very well here on this island. No plants do," Hali said as she walked over to the lilacs, her red, frizzy hair bouncing slightly as she walked. "Fortunately for me, this dome acts kind of like a greenhouse. Out in Helios City at large though, well, I would need special equipment there." Gently, Hali brushed a finger along the lilacs as if they were a living thing before again speaking up to the silent Typhlosion. "You come from out there, right? Born in the Pokémon Ghettos? Have you ever seen flowers before?"

Havoc remained silent for a moment, not comfortable with the question. Trying to change the subject, he slowly spoke in his natural voice for the benefit of Hali, "Fae is not here. Where is she?"

Hali wouldn't be dissuaded so easily though, merely repeating her own question again as she stooped over her flowers, "Have you ever seen flowers before?"

Havoc turned around, looking away from Hali as he bowed his head. "...My mother used to grow them. We had a garden. She loved lilacs."

"...I see." Hali stood up, looking at Havoc even while he did not look back. "Fae is gone. I'll explain more inside. Tashima's waiting by the door, is he?"

"Yes."

"He doesn't seem to appreciate nature... Come on."

Hali motioned for Havoc to follow as she turned and walked down the aisle of flowers. Silently the Typhlosion walked behind her, nodding to Tashima as he came back within view. The young adult raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms, leaning against the wall of the penthouse. <What were you two up to back there?>

<Nothing important,> Havoc responded.

<Sure...>

"So you got my letter then," Hali said as she pressed a hand against the palm scanner next to the penthouse door to unlock it.

"Yeah, about that, why a letter?" Tashima asked, keeping his arms crossed. "Why not just send an email or something?"

"As I said, electronic communication is unsafe," Hali shrugged as the door slid open, she stepping up into her house and motioning for her two guests to follow. "I couldn't risk it being intercepted. I don't want you two to be linked to me now, this meeting is unsafe enough as it is."

Tashima stepped up into Hali's apartment, glancing around as he stepped to the side to allow Havoc to enter. He had been there before and it looked pretty much the same as every other time. The roof entrance opened into a main living room which was connected to the kitchen and dining room, with a hallway leading off to the bedrooms. The elevator leading down into the building below was connected to the hallway by a small foyer, a closed and locked door hiding it from view. The walls of the living room were entirely made of glass, allowing people inside to have a clear outside although a tint meant that the reverse wasn't possible. Hali sat down on a couch in the middle of the room, Tashima and Havoc following and lowering themselves into separate chairs.

Tashima rested his elbows on his legs, leaning forward and resting his chin on top of his clasped hands. "What's going on that's so secretive?"

"And where's Fae?" Havoc said, worried about the Gardevoir's absence. She rarely left Hali's side.

"That too," Tashima added, trying to cover the fact that he hadn't noticed it.

Hali furrowed her brows, looking at her lap before standing up again and walking over to one of the glass walls. As she stared out it, she quietly said, "I don't know what happened to Fae. I had sent her out to... Dig up some information. She hasn't returned."

Chills began to run up Tashima's spine. He clasped his fingers tighter, raising his head up and looking straight at Hali. "Where did you send her?"

"It was a stroke of luck," Hali softly spoke, off in her own world now it seemed. "I was doing my job as usual, hacking into the corporate network of a weapons manufacturer called Mako Ballistics. My boss, she said that they suspected Mako to be allocating a reserve of money for something. It was my job to find out just how much money Mako had set aside in this private reserve. I found the number they wanted, but it wasn't quite what I had been expecting. I thought they meant maybe a couple thousand, but no, it was in the millions."

Tashima gagged, almost leaping out of his seat. "M—millions? What the hell do they need that for? Yes, weapons research is expensive, but there's no need to keep funds for just another research project private, unless..."

"Unless the research they are conducting isn't exactly legal, or is for a customer that could get in trouble if it was known had hired out for weapons development," Hali finished. "Needless to say, I was instructed not to investigate further, that the case would be handed over to someone else."

"Like that would stop you," Tashima smirked.

"It didn't. On my own time, I resumed my digging. It took a while, but I ended up finding the company who had contracted Mako for R&D. Turns out the money I found wasn't a reserve from Mako's own profits after all, it was a transfer from the customer. That customer? CYPHER."

"Wait," Tashima stopped Hali from continuing. Havoc flicked his eyes over to his friend, silently observing and taking in the situation. "Why would CYPHER need someone to find out how much money they themselves transferred to Mako?"

"You don't believe me?"

"I do, it's just suspicious."

"Most likely it was to ensure Mako hadn't 'reallocated' any of the funds CYPHER had given them," Hali theorized. "Whatever this is for, it must be very important for CYPHER that it continue as planned."

"Did you find out what the contract's for?" Tashima asked, keeping his eyes on Hali as she stood and peered out the glass wall. Havoc also turned his attention back to her, concerned about where this was going.

"No. Not entirely. I stopped short because I found something much more important." Hali raised a hand up to the glass, holographic panels along the wall flying out of nowhere. Entering a passcode to unlock the computer interface, Hali began browsing through it for something as she continued. "Naturally I wanted to know what the contract was for, so I began looking for that. This time, I looked through not only Mako's network but also CYPHER's. Turns out that was unneeded though as in time I managed to find a memo in Mako's financial server confirming they had received the transfer. The memo itself is rather interesting..."

On the glass wall, the file Hali had found appeared, Hali adjusting it so that only the relevant part was visible and large enough that Tashima and Havoc could read it from where they sat. Narrowing his eyes, Tashima read it out loud, "The acceptance of this transfer has been approved by the Mako Ballistics Accounting Department as per research and development contract numbered 05869. All records of the transfer and the funds themselves are to be kept confidential and disclosed only to persons with an authorization level of T(Theta) or higher. Funds are to be used solely for our contract with the Cybernetic Pokémon and Human Enhancement Research Corporation for the development of energy-based weaponry powered off the newly developed TRINITY power core."

"This is all sorts of troubling," Tashima sighed after he finished reading that. "One, why does CYPHER need weapons? Two, why does CYPHER need to keep their desire for weapons secret? Three, what the hell kind of weapons are these if they're spending so much? Four, what's this TRINITY thing?"

"I can't answer those first three, at least not without guessing," Hali said. "Either they simply want to patent new weapons derived from their new technology, or they're secretly militarizing. And for that, either they want to expand into the security business or they're expecting a fight."

"Or planning one," Tashima grumbled. "Not sure which is worse: underhanded corporate politics or your own employer wanting a gun to shove down your throat. So, what about four?"

"That's what I was most interested in," Hali said as she closed the file she had brought up. "Obviously, TRINITY is some secret project CYPHER's been working on. Secret enough that as far as I can tell, it's been carried out exclusively in the basement labs which of course have their own private network. I can't access anything on there without actually going into CYPHER's most secure laboratories in person."

Suddenly, it all clicked for the two visitors. Havoc let out a low growl and lowered his ears against the back of his head, while Tashima narrowed his eyes and gripped the arms of his chair, finally saying, "So, you sent Fae down there in your place."

Hali fell silent. When she finally spoke up, her voice had once again fallen silent. "Fae could teleport past several layers of security. A displacement field surrounding the labs themselves would block her from directly teleporting in, but being able to teleport right outside the labs gave her a better chance than if I had to penetrate several initial layers of security myself. She agreed she was better suited for this task."

"They probably caught her!" Tashima exclaimed, leaping out of the chair he had been sitting in and storming over to Hali. "She may be dead!"

"The risk... Was acceptable," Hali whispered. "It was too important that we find out what this is, before it's too late..."

"So you threw away your... Your..." Tashima struggled to come up with a word that could adequately describe Hali and Fae's relationship. Glancing over at Havoc, he saw that the Typhlosion was not taking kindly to the news. He seemed to be forcing himself to remain sitting instead of running over and beating some sense into Hali. "You throw away your partner's life just to find out what something is," Tashima sighed. "Something that may not even be as interesting as you think."

"Something that's going to be used to take other lives." Hali looked up at Tashima. He could see tears in the corners of her dark eyes. "If this thing can be used to power weapons, it's dangerous and certainly interesting. We had to find out before it was too late."

Tashima's shoulders sagged and he rubbed his forehead with his fingertips out of frustration. "But in the end, it was useless. Nothing even came of Fae's sacrifice."

"...Not quite."

Tashima looked up at Hali. Her head was bowed, curly hair falling over and obscuring her face. Silently she reached into a pocket in her pants, retrieving out of it a small data card. "Last night, a data packet came through. It was broadcast from the basement labs in CYPHER Tower. In the packet was a file, one single file, outlining this TRINITY power core and, perhaps most importantly, the energy source that powers it."

"Fae's alive," Tashima said breathlessly as he eyed the data card.

"I don't know. I can't feel her," Hali flatly said. "But she didn't fail, she sent me this, but... CYPHER can and did track the signal. In sending me this, CYPHER now knows I have this information. They're on their way here. Right now."