Disclaimer : I do not own Pokémon
You are sitting on your everyday sitting sofa and sipping on a insta-ready tea you made not long ago. You pressed various button on remote but none of the channels you flicked caught your interest. Until, you arrived at a news channel and the heading picked your interest.
Another Crime Unsolved: Murder of Sinnoh Elites?
You decided not to switch channels and hear the report. A reporter is standing beside a screen that shows photographs of certain scenes. You presumed those are the crime scenes caught on camera. You gave equal attention to the photographs and the reporter's report. As you eyed the photographs with the reporter continued. The screen highlighted the first photograph out of seven and zoomed it to the size of the screen.
"Security cameras set on respective rooms caught disturbing amount of blood on the walls of the Sinnoh Elite Fours and Champion Cynthia room." The reporter continued. "This first image that is zoomed shows the room for Elite Four Aaron..."
You see that the way blood splattered looks as if his body is dragged across the wall. There are so fewer blood puddles on the ground than on the walls. There are nothing else different than his room but with blood splatters everywhere.
The screen zoomed out the first image and zoomed the second photograph. "This second image views Elite Four Bertha..." The reported continued on.
Your eyes took its main focus to the center of the room where Bertha should be standing is replaced with a large puddle of blood. The other elements are untouched and it makes the puddle quite out of the place.
"The police forces are astonished by there is no proper way to tell how Elite Four Bertha might be possibly murdered." The reporter paused inhaled then exhaled. If even the reporter might need some bravery to display the next. What awaits? Your thoughts while holding the urge to smile.
The photograph had a censored half right of the full photograph and it is horribly blurred that practically it seemed like a red censor instead of transparent ones.
"The f-f-following image s-s-shows you the scene o-of murder of Elite Four Flint. As you can see we have b-b-blurred the photograph as it..." The reporter gulped, "We are afraid it m-may contain u-u-unappropriate content e-even for adults."
"Moving on," She sounded more relieved. "The next photograph we will show the after-murder that takes place in Elite Four Lucian.
You noticed that the view of the camera is taken from camera from the center of the room viewing blood leaking from the upper corner of the room. And the screen divides to two parts. The left shows the view from crime scene room while the seconds shows the view taken from the exact same side but taken from Champion's room. There is nothing at all in the Champion's room.
"We are showing these two photographs taken from Elite Floor Flint and Champion Cynthia's room respectively. There is leaking from the skies of Elite Four Flint's corner but the other image shows the contradictory; there is no corpse or possible source of blood to leak from the upper corner."
You mentally agreed on this statement. But what is left is the Champion's room? You grinned on the exciting thought. Just when you are eagerly waiting for the sweet sweet moments
The screen turned static
You jumped from your seat, frantically rubbing the screen as if your life is in the grasp of it. After a few minutes of mentally imagining reviving the news broadcast you gave up. Much because of curiosity than frustration you head to your changing closet and wear your usual attire.
You head to the closet mirror. Your short coffee brown hair matches the dark colored outfit you wore today. Not even bothering to turn off the static screen you dashed towards your door.
Upon exiting, and after running a few distances from your house you had arrived on the broadcast station. You paced through the small crowd in the first floor and made your way to the receptionist. The receptionist greets you warmly while you can tell she might be holding the urge to give a confused look. You calmed down and requests the unbroadcasted images from the news not so long ago.
The receptionist gave a confused look
What?!
After shouting it aloud you make an excuse that you might have visited the wrong station. And rushed back to your small and deserted-from-others home. There you make some kind of a harsh punch than a smack to your television. The metal box gave a noisy and rather strange sound then followed by the ejection of a... tape?
You knew what this meant and what to do.
You bring your flying Pokémon and summoned it to fly. The answers must lie in the Champion room.
Fortunately, your previous employment made these kind of stealth mission quite normal to you and you made it to go to the champion room in no time. All thanks to the top secret files and your superior hacking skills.
What seemed weird at first is that there is no trace blood massacre going on with the room. Only that... The Elites and Champion are nowhere to be seen. You did a few scanning on all the four rooms and you expected right. Your fist shook in rage, you cannot tolerate being pranked when you are hungry for another mystery to be solved.
Just when you are too furious to pay much attention to surroundings your feet pressed on a circular... switch? You took a better look but as you tried a hidden passageway showed. Behold a stairs leading downwards to pitch black. Your curiosity took better control of you as you ventured to the unknown.
The journey was a silent and cold one. The only sound that was heard was footsteps of your shoes.
The first room that greeted you is the sight of
Sinnoh League?
Sure enough, the room looked exactly like the first Elite Four room and even Aaron is here too. Not greeting you though, he is sleeping on the stone chair attached to the wall...in the position where his blood is on the wall from the tape news. He looked as if he is sleeping, and looked as if he could stand and walk any time soon. The room is filled with disturbing amount of vines shaped like hands and where he sleeps made it look like as if they are about to engulf him. After fulfilling your desires to another crime scene you noticed a small machine to the thick metal door in the other side of the room. You approach it.
It turns out to be a device with a small digital screen with small light bulb beside the screen. There is written UNSOLVED with all capital and the light is glowing a red glow. You re-scanned your surroundings to search for a method to proceed. Unnoticed to you before, Above the chair where Aaron 'sleeps' a paper and series of sentences scribbled on it reads
When you turn your back, will everything be the same as you see before?
Thinking that this might be a puzzle that leads you to next door. You were interrupted by the small movement that Aaron makes, you feel that it might be your imagination but then Aaron flinched and started to rise from his seat you voluntarily takes a step back only to see that the room has drastically changed. Flowers that looked more like skulls surrounded with petals decorates the already unsettling
vines. As you feel an odd sensation coming to you from your back you turned your head to see Aaron walks unnaturally to your direction.
You ordered your legs to move but then it happened, you saw that your legs are bound to vines, not to forget with those creepy flowers that seemed to stare back at through their hollow eyes. You panicked for two reasons. One, the once a human Aaron is now going to make you part of this place. Two, what does the sentence scribbled earlier mean? You could practically scream at your lungs right now but you knew no one will came.
Then it struck
Maybe this is all just a bad dream? You arrived here after running two times from going to a channel station and so you must fainted from exhaustion from coming here. You let 'Aaron' to come near you and he went behind you to open his mouth and showed razor sharp fangs. He plunged to your neck and
Your eyelids flickered open to see the digital screen showed SOLVED and the bulb glowing green light. You sit back to a sitting position to see Aaron still sleeping on his chair with those vines surrounding him. You smiled to the point of cackling almost madman-like that you had never been thrilled all these months to solve the unsolved puzzles you had always craving for.
You stood, dusted your clothes and proceed to the next room.
The room floor is filled with sands that even made you almost gave up to close the door. In the middle of the room is a gigantic hourglass that is filled with red liquid famously known as blood. And Bertha is sitting on top of presumably the bodies of police teams and trainers who failed the life-threatening puzzles.
You searched the hourglass and in a short time, a paper with sentence scribbled on it sticked on the back side of the hourglass. It reads
Time, time, where is the few seconds earlier gone to?
Then as previously, the room changed to some place generally more unsettling than before. Bertha is now a skeleton, save for her outfit and hat she wore. The bodies she sat on is now piles of skeletons. The hourglass is now replaced with a desk. You approached the desk, which in more detail looked like a desk. There is a rectangular metal closing and a small circular hole so that you could reach your hands in. Also there is a tube just the right height for you to place your eyes and see what is inside. You did.
A paper white and new is placed inside with a simple pen placed next to it. And hand bones scattered around it which you think it as unfortunate visitors. You directly figured out the system so you reach out your writing hand inside.
But a metal grabbed your hand so that only until your elbow is inside
You hastily wrote down your answer for you thought it is correct. There is a few seconds of silence then the metal gripper released your hand and the device at the back beeped with green light and SOLVED. You low chuckled in victory and proceeded.
The next destination is sizzling hot. Lava poured from every corner of the room and formed a lake below a metal grates that can be concerned for its safety. The other side which leads to the door is covered in red curtain. On the right side of the room is Elite Four Flint, chained to the wall and looks like as if he is sleeping. Just like the encounters before.
Unlike previous encounters though, the paper is just laid on the floor and there scribbled the puzzle hint.
What is that fire cannot melt?
Then as if anyone knew that you finished reading the sentence the curtain opened to reveal series of objects placed on a display case. They were brain, heart, a book, a clay doll shaped like a mini human, money, opera mask with a happy face, then followed with one of sad face, crown and gold coins, and last is a Poké ball. Talk about unsettling it took you some time to think what to choose. Finally you gave in and stood in front of the object you think is correct. Bearing good reason to choose the object you believe, you pressed the button below the display case.
A huge tube enough for you to fit in falls and enclosed you. Through the transparent glasses you can see other tubes enclosing the area in front of the other display cases as well. You can see lava pool ready to pour down to you for answering incorrectly from above.
Miraculously only the tubes other than what you are standing in are quickly filled with lava. After approximately twenty minutes no more lava came down and the other tubes opened up. The only other thing changed is the color of the bulb glow to green and the word SOLVED is written on the device's
screen. You made your way to the door and silently proceed.
The last Elite Four room is a series of doors. Lucian is 'sleeping' at a small purple couch at the exact position where the blood leak in the tape falls to. Book on his lap and a small television above the couch. It displays an image of Lucian being guilotined.
The room is basically filled with no decorations but doors. Every door, ? in total has a small screen above that shows various pictures. Picture of a spotlight in eternal darkness, picture of panorama inside what is very deep in atlantic ocean, a mirror, bugs and spiders, and others what seemed to build in the list. The paper above Lucian's book reads,
What is your deepest fear?
You thought, surely the displays are showing fears of people. The problem lies in how to answer it: Will you lie about it or not? It is obvious that anyone will have to open these doors and passed and went to the Champion's room. You remembered that previous riddles demands a correct answer not the incorrect ones. So you went on the room that had the most intimidating image displayed on the screen.
You opened the door and there is a long endless dark tunnel in front of you. The only light source came from torches on the sides of the tunnel wall. You closed the door behind you and walked.
Nice traps you had there, but you won't be getting me
You walked for what it seemed like eternity and the device at the end of the long road you take gave an automatic free SOLVED and a green light.
You opened the door. Smile on your face.
The Champion awaits...
The last room... decorated in the exactly same way Champion Cynthia room is. The only different is that there is no Cynthia around. You took your time to scan the room and the decorations. They looked precisely like what decorations awaits you at the Champion's room. All of a sudden the lights are off. It turned on few moments later.
There is Cynthia, her neck has a circular metal that is connected to chains. Her right leg is bound to a weight you normally use them on jailed criminals. The chain from her neck leads to the hand of the holder. You saw the holder. Your eyes widened.
"Cyrus?"
"What took you long enough? Hnn?" And lazily smiles at his victim, none other than Cynthia herself. Cynthia certainly is desperately struggling to look down but as the Galactic leader pulled those chains forcefully she was framed to meet his face. "Does my little game puzzled you enough?"
You did not answer. Instead you feel something boiling in your chest and you managed to let it out.
You laughed.
It was pure mad laugh. Intimidating enough to send chills down to the mighty Cynthia herself. You could not control yourself, you have to admit those puzzles gave you the thrill you had long forgotten.
Now grinning with that others may perceive as creepy you continued...
"I was enjoying those moments" You held back an urge to laugh, then continued. "I solved them fast so I can savor every second of sensation I had been hungry for months."
Cyrus smiled wider at this
Cynthia's eyes widened and shook violently in hope for an escape. Her struggle was a vain as Cyrus pulled the chains harder that restricts air for her to breathe. She doesn't want more innocent trainers to become another to turn like him. One is already too much for her to manage.
"What do you say about joining me? These little game is nothing compared to the things I have to feed your dark desires." He kept watching Cynthia. Her struggles is way too amusing to miss. "That reporter earlier is her by the way, she obeys every of my commands now."
Your greed gets a better hold of you and you spoke in an a monotone voice
"I'll do it. Whatever to have me fed."
"Welcome abroad." He then motion you to hold the chains. "She's yours now. Do what ever to her that pleases you."
You grinned and dragged the Sinnoh Champion away
Its time to do it
AN: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed!
And I'll leave the last statement to your imagination :p