She was suddenly aware of many sounds around her and she slowly opened her eyes, rubbing them as many bright lights cut through her blurry vision and dazzled her. At first she thought she had been asleep at home or while camping somewhere outdoors but now, it was apparent that she had been unconscious and was in the middle of a public place. As the fog in her head and her eyes cleared, she sat up and looked around. Shards of broken glass surrounded her, keeping the crowds of people in the background from coming near and stepping on her. Where was she? What was she doing in this place? She had been lying sprawled on the floor, unconscious for… how long? And now, as she struggled to regain her bearings and to recall what had happened, she suddenly realised where she was – the first floor of the Goldenrod Department Store!
All around her, shoppers moved up and down the escalators, happily chatting with one another and testing their new purchases on their Pokémon, all ostensibly oblivious to the girl who had been lying spread-eagled in the middle of the lobby surrounded by broken glass. That was when she remembered she was a Trainer and quickly felt around for her Poké Balls. That surge of panic that shot through her as she fumbled around for her Poké Balls immediately grew into a tide that swept over her as she realised that she could not find them. Quickly springing to her feet caused a wave of dizziness and nausea to overwhelm her and she fell back down, clutching her head feebly.
"Ow… Someone help!" she cried weakly
Immediately, a shop assistant sprang into her field of vision out of nowhere. "Hello, welcome to Goldenrod Department Store! My name is Jill. How may I be of assistance?" the shop assistant chirped, as if it was completely normal for a customer to be sprawled on the floor looking violently ill.
"Oh my goodness! What happened here? Did you break these?" The shop assistant named Jill suddenly became aware of the pieces of broken glass surrounding Lyra, ignoring the fact that Lyra looked as though she were about to throw up.
"I've no idea what happened! I just –"
"I'm sorry ma'am, but you will have to pay for these. Let's get you over to customer service!" Jill said brightly while strong-arming the weakly-protesting Lyra to her feet and hauling her over the glass, which scraped against her sneakers, to the customer service counter.
"This one," Jill said simply, while pointing at Lyra, to the vacant-looking man behind the counter before walking away.
"Look here, I have no idea what happened! I just woke up and –"
"I know all about you. I was watching you," the man said in a monotone, staring straight ahead through half-lidded eyes as if he were looking at a computer monitor instead of a person's face.
"You were? Then can you tell me how I ended up here? And what happened to my Pokémon?" Lyra asked desperately. For all she knew, Team Rocket could have stolen her dear Meganium to conduct all sorts of horrible experiments.
"No."
"What?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"…"
"Excuse me! I'm just trying to find my Pokémon and find out what happened! Couldn't you at least help me?"
"I have sounded the alarm. The police are on their way. Security will take charge of you in the meantime," the man deadpanned without flinching or his expression changing at all. A burly man in uniform with the word "Security" printed on his jacket appeared instantaneously by her side and took her by the arm. Lyra was flabbergasted at this asinine and bizarre response but since she had nowhere else to go and thought that the police could help her, she quietly complied as the security guard marched her into the department store's administrative office, past cubicles of clerks typing furiously at their computers, to a backroom.
The room was basically a small cubicle with no door or windows and only a fluorescent tube of lighting on the ceiling. It was bare except for a few cardboard boxes stacked in a corner. After opening the door and pushing her in, the guard slammed the door shut and locked it, sealing her in alone.
What was going on? Being sealed in such a small and confined room made Lyra feel claustrophobic, making her nausea and dizziness return. That was when the pile of cardboard boxes started to rustle. Supporting herself against the wall with one hand, she slowly inched toward the boxes, curious and slightly afraid to see what was inside. Then just as she bent down to inspect them, one of the boxes burst open and a Banette shot out from it.
Falling backwards and screeching in surprise, she looked up at the marionette Pokémon. Its sinister red eyes fixed on hers and it let out a chilling cackle before it lunged down straight at her face.
She heard only her own screams before everything went black.
