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((Sorry I took so long previously, Sin. sweatdrop ))

The Haunter-morph smiled weakly at Nny. She wasn't exactly optimistic, but who could blame her? This was a horrid place that left little to hope for.

"If that's what you want, then I suppose it's for the best," he told her with a melancholy tone. "But I warn you - I'm pretty selfish. I may just have to keep you sane if only to have a decent conversation with someone."

Taken aback by her question, he was silent for a few minutes before replying. He laughed bitterly. "Sane? I've already lost my mind. See, I'm a failed experiment. Ghost pokemon DNA doesn't mesh together so well with human DNA, if you know what I mean." Again, he held up his detatched, floating clawed hand for emphasis.

"They...when they were working on me, I guess the ghost pokemon's minds are too warped. They scrambled my human mind, so nearly all my memories of my life before were shattered. I don't even remember my real name." He shrugged. "So now, I'm nobody. I didn't have anyplace to go, so the Rockets put me to work for them. I couldn't really see a reason not to. It gave me something to do - a purpose."

His crimson eyes flickered. "Still, it horrifies me to think of what they did to me. I guess I have this hope that someday...just someday they might be able to fix us. But for now..." he let his voice trail off before meeting Nny's gaze once more.

Putting a hand to his head, he strugggled to remember something. "I don't remember my full name, but I know it started with 's', 'h', and 'a'. And then somewhere else there was 'd' and maybe another 'a'...I don't really know." He exhaled, giving up. "But anyway...the staff ended up calling me 'Shadow'. It sounds familiar somehow, so I tolerate it. You can call me that if you like."

Regarding the Glacion-morph, he looked tired. "What's your story? If you feel like telling me, that is."

Shadow winced, as if her words stung him. "Probably not...but do you have to be so blunt about it? It's the only reason I can come up with for myself, anyway...what else do I say to the morphs who hate me for being a Rocket? 'I love my job'? Because we all know that would be a lie..." He dropped his gaze. "Truth is I really don't know why I joined...no where else to go. And yeah...about half way I realized we're too valuable for them to every let us go. But still...let me hope, will ya?"

He blinked at her curiously. "Blocking it out? It must have been pretty terrible..." he mumbled. "Hold on...biting and scratching...? Did you used to be a human or a..." he hesitated. "A pokemon?"

At her last sentence, he was silent for a while before nodding. "You're right...we can only hope for the best..."

He cast her an incredelous expression at her mention of biting as a human. "Now why in the world would you go around biting people? No wonder they'd think you were crazy. Maybe you're better as a pokemorph than a human - more suited to what you like to do. Pokemorphs don't need much body strength considering our powers if we put our minds to it," he pointed out. "All we need is a strong will and good mental focus. ...And to ignore the pain," Shadow added quietly.

"I know," he answered to her comment about the world. "Though...maybe that's why I stayed. Because..." he hesitated. "Because I'm too much of a freak to let outside the base. The only sunlight I've ever seen since I was experimented on has been through the windows of this building and from the training grounds. Did you know that?" He spoke the words with a thinly veiled undertone of hatred and a pent up fury. "They're all slowly trying to drive us out of our minds...it's so dark indoors and in my mind its even darker...there's too many shadows, shadows eating at me all the time in here," he told her, pointing at his head. "Some day they'll consume me. They'll have me believe I'm nothing. Because what else can you say of a ghost? A ghost does not exist. I don't truly exist." He grew silent, his voice barely a whisper, before suddenly snapping out of his trance. He shook his head and put a hand to his brow.

"Sorry...don't know what came over me," he offered a shaky laugh. "Yes, keep hoping. And dreaming. It might save you someday; you never know. Shh...don't cry..."

Shadow's detatched hand reached out and paused for a moment before gently stroking the side of the Glaceon's cheek to wipe away her tears. He hadn't touched anyone in a long time. He had forgotten how warm it was. The feeling of her smooth skin made him take a sharp breath and his concentration fell for an instant. His hand faded slightly, becoming transparent and like an illusion it passed through Nny's face. He quickly withdrew it, looking troubled. As soon as he did so, it reverted back to its normal color and was solid again.

"Oh?" The haunter-morph's crimson eyes grew dark and almost hypnotic as she mentioned having been attacked. "Tell me." His gaze seized her, as if he was almost staring straight through her, intense and chilling. It would have been enough to give most people the creeps.

He looked at her, his face the face of a lost, weary soul tired of being bound to the restricting ties of reality. "Not really," he murmured, his tone void of emotion. "There's a reason I was a failed experiment. I'm not really standing. I don't even have any legs. I hardly have a torso. I'm just...floating..." He continued to watch her for a reaction, as if expecting her to shrink away in fear or disgust. He did too, when he first saw himself in the mirror. It was only his clothes now that helped him pretend he was at least humaniod.

"You might be right - sure, I exist. But it's only a partial existance, like a memory. I can't stand it. I'm like the ghost of someone who died - the kid I used to be. Only I have no idea who that kid was. Only what I am. That's maybe what's trapping me. I'm still part of someone, but it's someone I know nothing about." His eyes narrowed. "I need to find the files...one day I'll find the files they keep of us, and I'll find out who I used to be."

Shadow flinched at Nny when she jumped at his touch, and he quickly appologized, looking quite embarressed. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to, really...sorry..." he continued to mutter, looking away from her and hiding his detatched wrists under his sleeves. It was as if he was determined not to meet her eye. "There's nothing wrong..."

Of course, he thought bitterly. Of course she'd be afraid of me. Who wouldn't be? I'm afraid of myself. How could I have been stupid enough to try and touch her?! the haunter-morph wondered furiously. But...she was so soft...and warm...

Her words brought him back out of his mental self-scolding and he listened. Shadow listened carefully to her story. He almost even smiled when she pointed out that she should have ran, but didn't. It was often the foolish that got themselves into places like this, the prison cells of the Rocket Base. But it also took very brave people.

He wondered if he too had once been a brave and foolish kid like herself. He would have been proud to think so. The girl had guts, and he admired that she kept them. It was probably one of the few things that had gotten her this far. Not all experiments survived the process. There were survivors, and then there were failures. Shadow just never figured out exactly which one he was.

"That was stupid," he agreed with a small, rare chuckle. "But I guess you caused him some damage, at least." He was quiet for a little while before a slight frown appeared on his face. "Hey...you never told me your name."

At her compliment, Shadow smirked. "Nice?" The word seemed almost alien to him. It had only ever been used sarcastically towards him since he could remember, so he had trouble believing she meant what she said. "Yeah, well...you should worry less about helping me and more about helping yourself. Otheriwse you'll end up getting hurt."

He shook his head, dismissing her appology with a careless gesture. "Don't be sorry. You get used to avoiding the touch of others after being here for so long. I should have kept that in mind." The haunter-morph still refused to meet her gaze, humiliated and ashamed of what he'd done. "Nny, hmm? Better name than Shadow..." he uttered softly.

"Nny," Shadow spoke without looking up, his tone serious. "I know you say you think I'm 'nice', but please don't get the wrong impression. I'm only doing this because right now we're alone, and no one's here to watch us. But I can't be like this all the time." Pacing the room, he paused a few feet from the far wall. "As I said before, tomorrow morning all of us pokemorphs, both captives and Rockets, are all going down to the training grounds. Let me make this clear: You can't act like you know me."

He turned to look at her. "Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to have met you. But we're going to get into a lot of trouble if the other Rockets find out that we've been talking. They tend to get suspicious, especially of me. Long story."

"Point is, I'm not generally allowed to talk to captives. In fact, I really shouldn't be here right now. The last thing I would want is for you to be punished for my breaking the rules. The Rockets seem to think I get too friendly with captives, because there have been rumors that I've been helping them escape." He caught her eye. "It's all just lies, of course. But still...if they find out we've met, we'll never be able to talk like this again."

Shadow was facing her now, leaning back against the wall. "In the morning, follow the insructions you'll be given and you'll be fine. I already explained to you a little of what we're supposed to do. But no matter what happens, keep away from me. Understand? Win in battle against the person you're paired with, and you'll get lunch. Oh, and another thing."

"You know that Rocket I mentioned earlier? Agent Lindsay? Stay away from her. She's one mean joleton-morph, and one of the nastiest Rockets around. She'll be the first to suspect something if given a reason to, but most likey she'll be watching me, not you. She hates me and anyone associated with me, so just ignore me, obey her orders, and you'll be fine."

Shadow exhaled deeply. "Sometimes the best way to help someone else is by helping yourself. Other times it's accepting that you can't do anything for them."

"Thank you," he replied gently at her compliment of his name. "If only I knew what it had been before, then maybe I wouldn't think so bad of it myself. Was your name always Nny?" he asked absently, tracing a single claw along the wall of her cell.

At her final question, the Haunter-morph grinned at her. "Of course," he remarked casually. "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. But if you plan to leave this place one of these days, well..." He paused to turn and touch the wall once more before his hand became transparent and he prepared to phase through. "...that's your choice. But be careful about it."

As he proceeded to step back through the wall, he glanced back once over his shoulder. "Get some sleep, Nny. You'll need your rest. I'll see you in the morning." He didn't turn around. "Stay sane just a little longer."

Adora stared at the rocket base, plotting to let out all of the pokemorphs out of their cages, she finnaly came up with a plan,just go in and deal with whatever comes up, she ran in, quietlly, making surenote to disturb anything or anyone, and without being noticed she began to open a cage, when she was attacked by a meowth, adora used ember to get away but was grabed by the scruff of her shirt and thrown into a cell, just as the team rocket began to walk away she used ember on him, "take that!" she murmured to herself as the team rocket was scolding her, after he left adora sat in her small cell ploting on ways to get out, she looked down the hall and saw a morph lying in his bed, "Hi, im Adora, whats your name? sorry i couldent get you out, those team rockets are always patrolling around like they own the region, when they clearly, dont..." A team rocket walked up to her cell and said in a crooked voice, "No rashins for you either... well not untill you shut up at least!!!!" Adora felt like busting through the cell and scorching his head right off but she managed to stay put and deal with her punishment, "so," she waited for an answer from across the narrow hall, after wait seemed like years of waiting, she shouted out to the gaurd, "may I have a pen and some paper? I am dreadfully board," "here, knock yourself dead," and the gaurd gave her the 20 pieces of paper and a pen, and so she began to draw, drawing pictures and drawing, her bed and the small stool in the center of her room, then it hit, her, if she sat in he stool,and stared out the cage, people would think she was dead!!!! so she sat, and stared out of the cage, breathing slowly and softly, them she closed her eyes, she imagened she was swiming in water and the flame on the tip of her tale didn't go out and she opened her eyes and didn't move at all, holding on to thaat happy thought would get her through the long days ahead of her,