The Animal You Once Were

I pulled up to the back of the Lab, where the road led, and parked in front of the garage. The entire time I had made no progress about what I was going to do about Jackie.

The entire time I had been going over what to do about the docks with Dirty Harry. The original idea that I had didn't seem like such a good plan after considering some things.

"Burn it down, and that is just more reasons for people to come and investigate. Plus, there is a very good chance that professor Oak had contracts with the company he was supplying. If you want to keep this place safe, you are going to have to think very hard about this," Harry had explained to me.

I had asked Gallia, and she was working on getting me all the information about the company. Before I got back, it was revealed that two companies came to pick up shipments every two weeks.

I was about to get out of the truck to open the door, but then it started to rise on its own. Graves and the other side pull on a chain like the one I had used on the dock house.

I pulled the truck in and then shut it off as Graves closed the door behind me.

I looked over at the brunette lying across the truck seat and the turtle shell sticking out of her cooler. I was surprised that the two of them were still out cold, and I was concerned that I might have overdone it.

I opened the door and got out of the truck, and Graves came over with a questioning look.

"How was your visit with Gyarados? Also, why do you have a human with you? Shouldn't she be a Pokémon or dead already?" Graves asked in a low growl.

"Not everything is quite that black and white, and I don't plan on forcing myself on this person. I plan to give everyone that I can a chance unless they are clearly evil to the core. Even then, the evilest people would have been the kindest people in their previous life," I explained, and realization crossed over the Psyduck's scared face.

"Sorry, I didn't really think about that. I guess that I have a hard time remembering that after everything that has been done to us over the last ten years. You weren't here, and you were human before this, so I can see when this might be hard to wrap your head around," Graves said, but I gave him a pointed look.

"You have a brain; use it. You are no longer the animal that you were before, and you now make conscious decisions. That means that you should be able to see why someone's choice is wrong, or should we just become just like the people we are trying to stop?" I questioned, and Graves stiffened.

The two of us started with locked eyes for a moment, but then Graves turned away.

"Maybe you are right, but you are going to run into places where you won't have the time to make a concise choice," Graves explained, and I nodded in agreement.

"Yes, that is very possible, but we are going to work on making sure that we don't run into those problems in the future. I have the time, so I will use it to do things properly to the standards that I feel are right. I am not going to become like them to win, that is not the answer, and that will just start a war," I explained, and Graves nodded in agreement with a sigh.

"You are the boss; I just want to make sure that you are ready to do what you need to if the time comes," Graves explained, giving me a knowing look, but I ignored him and walked around him to the passenger's side of the truck.

I planned on ensuring that I could prevent that from happening because I wasn't sure that I could force myself on a girl like that. I couldn't become that kind of monster; I would sooner just kill them if it came to that.

I opened the passenger door, and Jackie sat up in the seat like the walking dead, startling me. She actually laughed at me as I put my hand to my chest.

"Good lord! Scared the bejeezus out of me!" I said, making Jackie laugh more, but then she looked down at the cooler with Randy her Squirtle in it.

"What happens now? You aren't going to kill me, or you would have just done it down in the water, right?" Jackie asked with a worried look plastered across her face, and I sighed.

"Let's go inside, and we can talk with the other girls around so you can get more than one opinion," I said and offered Jackie my hand.

Jackie looked unsure but still grabbed the hand I offered and got out of the truck.

"Can you please bring the Squirtle in, but please wait to feed him a revive, or I think he will interrupt the conversation," I told Graves, and he nodded to me.

I walked into an open door, still holding Jackie's hand, and I walked into a room filled with crates on pallets. I saw some Poké Balls in the boxes, and then I turned back to focus on the door ahead.

This was the transfer room, the pre-slaughter house for unwanted Pokémon, but now that would have to change.

I walked out of the room and into the Lab where Gallia and Misty were waiting for me, Jackie trailing behind me. I really wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I was hoping that the girls would help me convince Jackie that this was the best option for her.

"Jackie, this is Gallia and Misty," I said, introducing the girls, but it seemed to be unnecessary.

"Misty? You named your Vaporeon after my friend?" Jackie asked with confusion, but then her eyes went huge as Misty spoke.

[So, the story doesn't seem to be a hit with you readers, so I am dropping this for now. thanks for reading, but with so few stones and comments it's clear that it's not hitting the way I or you the readers seem to want and people are just going to complain about minor little details. I will just put this off to the side for now, and maybe things change in the future.]