Michael Summers was awake before his alarm went off at 6 a.m. He almost always was. All it really signals is that it is time to get ready for the day. He shrugged off his covers, got out of bed, and stretched. His grogginess had melted away in the time between when he woke up and when his alarm went off. He walked over to the TV and turned it on. What seemed like a movie came on, ambient music flowing out of the speakers. Michael changed the channel until he found the news. With the volume raised slightly higher than normal, he headed off to the shower.
His apartment was small, even by the loosest standards. It was literally two rooms: a bathroom with a shower and the bedroom/kitchen. Michael didn't mind; it was cheap and he didn't need more space. Plus, cleaning tended to be quick and the apartment had come with a TV.
Michael left the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. He was not the tallest person, just an inch or two above average. His body was well defined, with obvious signs of years of conditioning, like someone who runs or cycles frequently. Messy blonde hair crowned his head and the brilliant green jewels that were his eyes completed the set. He looked like someone just starting college, which was the main reason no one believed he was twenty-nine.
There was a suitcase next to the bed that contained all the clothes he owned. He dressed himself in a plain blue shirt and khaki pants. The weather report came on as he opened the fridge to see what he could make for breakfast. A few minutes later he was humming as some eggs and bacon sizzled on the stove and bread toasted silently in the toaster nearby. Michael's humming and the weather report were interrupted by a breaking news bulletin.
"This just in," began the anchor woman, "Yet another laboratory has been attacked! The V. Rutherford Institute of Pokémon, located between Saffron City and Vermillion City just east of Route 6, was infiltrated sometime last night. The perpetrators, who have yet to be identified and are still at large, seemed to have incinerated crucial documentation and other specimens being held at the laboratory before planting explosives and demolishing the majority of the building. Luckily there were no injuries. This has been the third laboratory to be attacked in past week…"
Seems the Officer Jennys will be quite occupied. All twenty of them, thought Michael as he began to lose interest in the report. Still, the story was interesting. Why would anyone incinerate thousands of hours of research on Pokémon? And why blow up the facility afterwards when they could let the fire take care of it? There was no video or letter of an organization claiming it was their righteous act for some goal or other. And how did they get in in the first place? These facilities had state of the art security systems. And the technology they housed was worth thousands of dollars, so why destroy it instead of robbing it and selling it? All these thought and any that would follow were quickly discarded for the faintest smell of burnt toast that sent him scrambling to save what he could of his breakfast.
After some slightly overdone breakfast, Michael left his apartment and entered the fresh spring air. It's been a little over a month since he had taken up residence in Saffron City but it was still a little disconcerting walking streets he didn't know and seeing faces he didn't recognize. But the biggest change was the Pokémon. Pidgeys and Spearows flew overhead as he walked down Saffron's main street. Rattatas and Meowths prowled the alleys that splinter off from Saffron's main road. Oddish and Bellsprout hid in the gardens of Saffron's central plaza. Sentrets, Hoppips, Aipoms, and Farfetch'ds inhabited the park near the PokéMart he worked at, as well as Goldeens, Poliwags, Marills, and Psyduck in the lake at the edge of the park. He knows there were many more in the forest that made up one of the borders of the park but he hadn't seen any of them yet.
Michael met his boss, Justin Stone, outside the PokéMart at 7:45 a.m. Justin was tall, lightly tanned with black hair and chestnut eyes. He was also incredibly muscular, like someone whose definition of going to the gym was exclusively lifting weights. He was a charismatic man, six years younger than Michael and always looking for opportunities to make it big. Less than two hours after he caught wind that Sylph Corporation was hiring, he had assembled everything that the application had asked for and possibly more. He also wouldn't stop pelting Michael with his dream of one day becoming the president of a company like Sylph Co. That was about a week ago, so things had begun to settle down.
Justin wore a white shirt and black pants under his official PokéMart apron, the sole article of clothing that constituted their uniform. Justin and he had once joked they could be stark naked under the apron and the company wouldn't care, eliciting giggles from a pair of girls that, unbeknownst to them, were on the other side of the aisle. Needless to say, they began restricting such conversation to the breakroom.
"Ah, Michael! Right on time, as usual," Justin greeted Michael.
"Well, we both know I can't leave you alone in the store. Heaven knows what would happen," replied Michael as Justin opened the store.
"Oh absolutely! It is absolutely forbidden that I to turn this place into a first rate establishment."
"Justin, we both know this place would become a strip club if you were left to your own devices."
"Hey," Justin retorted, "A very highly esteemed strip club, thank you."
Michael couldn't help but chuckle as he headed to the back of the store where his own apron resided. The day proceeded as it usually did; customers came in, looked around the store, asked for assistance when they could not find something or Michael asked if they needed assistance when they clearly looked like they were new trainers, they would buy merchandise, and then they would leave. Rinse, repeat; it was that simple.
"Oh, so you're going to challenge the Saffron City gym leader?" Justin asked a young girl who had approached him for help.
"That's right! My Machoke and I are going to win, no sweat!" she said, brimming with confidence.
"Is that you're only Pokémon?" asked Michael from behind a shelf.
The girl turned around to see who had spoken. Michael stepped out from behind the shelf to get a good look at the female trainer. She was short but still taller than Justin. She had baggy green pants that she had cut and tied about four centimeters above her ankle. She wore a yellow T-shirt under a blue hiking vest. He black hair was tied in a ponytail. She couldn't be younger than thirteen or older then seventeen. She didn't act like a veteran trainer, but he wasn't new to the lifestyle either. The girl folded her arms, clearly annoyed at the intruder in her conversation.
"It's the only Pokémon I need," she said.
"Not if you're challenging Walker Falkner."
"Oh, yeah? And what makes you say that? I've heard he's only around my age, how good could he be?"
"Young as he may be, Gym Leader Falkner is incredibly gifted at battling. Also, he exclusively uses Flying-type Pokémon. Machoke is a Fighting-type, weak against Flying-types. You are going to have a really tough time fighting Falkner like that, if not impossible," explained Michael as he refilled the shelves with bags of food.
"What do you know! You're not a trainer," retorted the young girl.
Michael shrugged and continued to stack the shelves as Justin led the girl to the cash register. The rest of the time until lunch continued without a notable happening. Michael and Justin closed the PokéMart to go to lunch. Normally they would have gone together to the park and eaten lunch there but Justin had said he wanted take advantage of the time and run a few errands, so Michael went by himself. He bought two hotdog and a lemonade from the vendor that frequents the park around this time of day and sat on a bench to enjoy both his lunch, the Pokémon that were frolicking in the grass, and the Pokémon trainers that came to train or relax.
Suddenly, just as he finished his lunch, a stone flew from somewhere down the path and struck Michael on his right shin. He yelped and clutched his leg as pain shot through it. The footsteps of, what he could only assume was his aggressor, approached him in a sprint.
"Oh no, I am so sorry about- Oh, it's you," said the voice, annoyed.
The owner of the voice was the girl who had been in the store earlier. Michael let go of his leg and sighed. He had an idea where this might have been going.
"Apology accepted, I suppose," He said.
"If I had known it was you I would've kicked the stone harder."
"I'm guessing you're in a foul mood because you lost against Falkner."
"I am not!" she protested, "And I so did not lose against Falkner!"
"Oh? Then show me your badge," said Michael.
"Why should I show you anything?"
"So you did lose."
"I did not lose! See?" she said as she showed him a shiny badge.
It was perfectly symmetrical shape, a perfect hexagon. The color was a light gray with black lines connecting each vertex to two other vertices. It was definitely real but…
"That's the Boulder Badge, earned in Pewter City by defeating Gym Leader Flint Hall, isn't it?" asked Michael, not deceived in the slightest.
"Wha- How did you know that?" she asked, surprised.
"I read it somewhere. So what are you going to do now?" he asked.
"What does it matter to you?" she asked indignantly.
"Just curious. If I were you, I would go to a certain Pokémon Dojo that just reopened. Ask them about Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, and Smackdown. You'll need Machoke to learn those moves if you want a real shot at winning before Falkner takes off again."
"Listen here, you! I'm getting real tired of you lect-"
"Is there a problem here?" asked a voice from behind the girl.
A police officer stood behind the girl. She wore a blue uniform that fit nicely with her long blue hair. She was tall and slender yet looked strong, as most officers did. She twirled a baton in her right hand. A Growlithe stood beside her, eyes trained on both the girl and Michael.
"Good afternoon, Officer Jenny. How has your patrol been?" asked Michael.
"Hello, Michael. Good to see you're doing well. Now, what seems to be the problem?" asked Officer Jenny.
"Nothing, Officer," said the girl before she stormed off.
"She's angry I correctly predicted her defeat by Falkner," explained Michael as soon as the girl was out of earshot.
"Ah, I see," said Jenny.
"Anyway, I'm surprised to see you here today. I thought the head Jenny would have all of you scrambling to investigate the recent lab attack."
"Don't even get me started on that," sighed Jenny as she sat next to Michael, "They've sent other officers to that case and have left the rest of us with so much work! They extended my patrol time by two hours to make up for the lack of officers. Two hours! Do you know what that's like?"
"I have an idea," replied Michael as he sipped his lemonade.
"It just doesn't make sense. Why would anyone attack and destroy the labs? They're trying to make the world a better place for everyone. Every single lab that has been attacked has given the world incredible breakthroughs. It just doesn't make sense," said Jenny.
"Yeah, it doesn't make sense," concurred Michael.
"So, how have you been Michael?" asked Jenny.
"Pretty good. Still working the PokéMart. Justin has been behaving himself, now that his 'Sylph Co.' hallucinations have calmed down a bit," said Michael.
"I bet he talked you ear off as soon as he dropped of all the paperwork," laughed Jenny.
"And then some. Still, it's nice to see young people be so passionate about something," mused Michael.
"You're not that old," said Jenny.
"No, I suppose you're right. I'm not that old yet."
"Don't you have any dreams, Michael?" asked Jenny.
"A few," responded Michael.
Before Jenny could say anything a chorus of screams rang out. Several people and Pokémon were running their way. Their eyes were terrified and frantic, as if being chased.
"What's going on?" began Jenny but was quickly silenced.
A black cloud rose from the forest. It swirled and shifted in the most unnatural way. As it approached it dawned on both of them what it was: a swarm. Hundreds, thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of Beedrill darkened the skies. They attacked anything that moved; people, Pokémon, rolling objects.
"Michael, go hide somewhere safe," ordered Jenny as she and her Growlithe ran to help those trying to escape.
"Yes ma'am," responded Michael before sprinting at full speed for the safest and closest location he could think of: the PokéMart.
He had no reason to stay behind and help; he was unarmed, armor-less, and without a Pokémon to fight with. He was going to get himself killed unless he ran away. Screams still reached his ears as he drew near the PokéMart.
Beedrill, he thought as he ran, the Poison Bee Pokémon. A Bug- Poison-Type Pokémon that attacks in swarms and uses a variety of moves that inflict the poison condition. Extremely territorial. Nests are usually found deep in the forest. It has three stingers that it uses to poison enemies while flying at high speed…
No sooner had this thought crossed Michael's mind that a high pitched buzzing noise appeared behind him. He didn't look to see what it was and rolled to the side, tumbling over a metal trashcan, as a Beedrill swooped down where he was a moment before. A Rattata rolled out of the trashcan and tried to scurry away to safety. The Beedrill, however, was faster and stung it with the spikes on its arms, injecting poison that made the Rattata squeal for a moment before going limp.
Sorry, little bud, thought Michael as he got to his feet. He picked up the trashcan lid, thinking it was better than nothing, and continued running. The buzzing became thunderous as the heart of the swarm began to move away from the park and into the city. But even then he could make out screams of people and Pokémon alike.
Michael finally reached the doors of the PokéMart and tried to yank them open but they wouldn't budge. It had completely slipped his mind that Justin locks up the store whenever they both leave. Before he could think of what do next, the buzzing suddenly became much stronger. Michael raised his trashcan lid shield just in time to block a Beedrill from impaling him with its stingers. The impact, however, still toppled him. The Beedrill had still penetrated the trashcan lid such that it was now on Beedrill's stingers.
Well, fuck that plan, thought Michael as he scrambled to stand. He was running out of options very quickly, not that he had very many to begin with. He had just about decided to gamble on running all the way to a Pokémon Center someone yelled his name.
"MICHAEL, GET INSIDE!" yelled Justin from the now unlocked PokéMart store.
Michael ran inside and slammed the doors shut. Justin wedged two brooms between the door's handles immediately and backed away from the door. Michael leaned on the counter to catch his breath.
"What the hell is going on?" asked Justin.
"No… Idea. But… It's bad," answered Michael between pants.
The Beedrill swarm, however, gave them no time to rest. They banged on the doors heavily and repeatedly. They were both sure the glass would break at any moment.
"Shit, we have to get out of here!" said Justin.
Michael, however, had different plans. The reason he thought the PokéMart was the safest location nearest wasn't because the building could keep out the Beedrill. It was because it was a PokéMart, and a PokéMart has every assortment of items a trainer could need, including a certain shipment that had arrived the night before that he was going to get to restocking after lunch.
"Michael, what the hell are you doing? We have to move!" yelled Justin.
Michael returned with the box he had been looking for and ripped it open. The glass was filled to the brim with small glass bottles. He picked one up and threw it against the doors. It shattered and spilled its contents all over the entrance.
"What the fuck, man!" yelled Justin.
The pounding slowly died down and eventually stopped within a few moments. A strong smell of antiseptic and other chemicals wafted from the liquid. Michael laughed and slumped to the floor.
"What was that?" asked Justin incredulously.
Michael smiled and picked up another bottle.
"New from the Sylph Corporation," Michael said in his best advertisement voice, "the Repel. Guaranteed to keep away all those pesky, pesky bugs. Works better than previously advertised."
Justin looked at Michael, then at the door, and finally at the bottle in Michael's hand. After a moment the two began to laugh, unable to contain the euphoria. Justin sat down on the floor and leaned against a shelf.
"How did you know that would work?" asked Justin.
"I didn't," replied Michael.
"So you rolled with this completely fucking insane plan with nothing but blind faith?"
"You see, Justin," said Michael as he got to his feet, "One of the things you learn as you get older is that when faced with certain death no matter what option one takes, it is time to think outside the box."
"You're fucking crazy," said Justin.
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" said Michael as he walked to the door.
The smell was still strong. Through the glass, Michael could see hundreds of Beedrill zooming about outside. Things looked like they could only go from bad to worse.
"So, I guess now we wait until this whole thing blows over, huh?" said Justin.
"No, we have to get moving," said Michael.
"Where? Have you seen those thing outside?" asked Justin.
"We have to get to a Pokémon Center or somewhere similar. We need someplace that can be defended and people to defend it."
"So we just march down the street, whistling and dancing with the Beefrill hand in hand?"
"Pretty much," said Michael as headed to the back of the store.
"Whoa man, that was a fucking joke," cried Justin before following him.
"You have keys to the back entrance, right?"
"What are you planning now?" asked Justin cautiously.
"I have a hypothesis, now I just have to prove it," said Michael as he reached the back door.
Michael opened another repel and poured it on himself. The stuff smelled so strong that it made him dizzy for moment. After he composed himself, he reached to open the door but Justin stopped him.
"You're not seriously planning on going out there again, are you?"
"Look Justin," explained Michael, "If this repel works as well as I think it does, we can pour the stuff on ourselves and just walk to the Pokémon Center that's two blocks from here. We'll be safe there."
"We're safe here!"
"No we're not! We're going to run out of repels eventually or we'll fall asleep and not notice the stuff wore off or a fucking Beedrill will crawl through the vents and get us. Do you need more reasons to leave?" asked Michael.
Justin bit his lip and stood aside. Michael walked up to the door and placed his hand on the handle. He took a deep breath to steady himself.
"Here's the plan: I'm going to walk outside for a little bit then I'm going to come back. Keep this door shut tight until then. When I come back, I'll knock three times quickly. That's you're cue to open the door and let me back in, ok?" asked Michael.
Justin nodded. Michael quickly opened the door and rushed outside. The door slammed shut behind him. He tensed up, ready to sprint if something came after him. He had one hand on one of the bottles of Repel in his pocket, just in case. But nothing happened. He walked to the opening of the alley beside the store without incident. What he saw, though, mad him wish he hadn't left the store.
The Beedrill were still swarming madly outside the PokéMart but not all of them. Number of them were carrying things back in the direction of the park. A group of them was flying slowly past the alley Michael was in. They were carrying about three people and at least half a dozen Pokémon, some of which were still twitching. Michael held his breath as they flew by before running back down the alley and pounding on the door to be let in. He rushed in and slammed the door the moment Justin unlocked it.
"Holy shit, it work-"
"They're taking them!" interrupted Michael.
"What?" asked Justin.
"The Beedrill. They're taking them back to the forest! People, Pokémon, everyone!"
"What? Why?"
"Don't know, but I'm going to find out," said Michael, going back into the main part of the store.
"Michael, that's fucking suicide! You can't just go chasing after them into the forest!" proclaimed Justin, trying to dissuade him.
"I'm only going to see where they're taking them. As soon as I do, I'll run back and let Falkner or Jenny know where to go."
"Still fucking suicide!"
Michael ignored him as he grabbed some Trainer Bags from one of the shelves. He opened one of them and began dumping as many Hyper Potions into it. When it was filled to the brim, he opened another one and filled it with Antidote syringes.
"You're fucking crazy!" said Justin.
"I know. Take these bags and head to the Pokémon Center," replied Michael, handing him the Trainer Bags.
"Wha-"
"I imagine the Pokémon Center will be stretched to the breaking point with everything that's going. These items will be more useful there than they will be here," explained Michael as he made his way back to the counter.
"Wai- You- We can't just take these!"
"They can take it out of my next couple of paychecks," said Michael as he divided the box of Repels between two bags.
"Are you serious with all of this?" asked Justin.
"Yes. I have a really bad feeling about where the Beedrill is taking everyone. I have to find out."
Michael picked up the bags and returned to the back of the store. He ripped open boxes looking for anything that might be important. After being satisfied that he looked everywhere, he returned to the door where Justin was waiting.
"You're fucking crazy," said Justin.
"Yes, yes I am."
Michael handed a bottle of repel to Justin and one of the bags that held the spares. They opened the bottles and poured the liquid on themselves. Michael slung the other bag containing Repels over his shoulder and placed his hand on the door's handle.
"Michael, you better come back alive," warned Justin.
"I'll be back tomorrow morning to start my shift on time, boss," laughed Michael.
Then they both sprinted outside. They bolted in opposite directions, Justin headed to the Pokémon Center and Michael in the direction the Beedrill had been carrying their victims, his only lead. He stopped once he had reached the park, having no clue where to go next. The forest was the obvious answer, but that was too broad. The forest extended North-West from the edge of the park to Mt. Moon, covering at least a couple thousand square kilometers. He did not have enough Repels for that distance.
Michael had given up when he spotted what had to be the most beautifully horrifying thing he had seen to date. A lone Beedrill was carrying a small child, no older than four, hanging limp on the Beedrill's stinger. Michael's heart contorted inside his chest but he had found his next lead. He poured another Repel on himself and ran to catch up to it. He followed it into the forest, careful to not spook it with the scent of the Repel.
The trees became thicker the deeper they travelled into the forest, more ancient, and the light grew dimmer as the tree branches intertwined more tightly. Michael had already poured another Repel on himself while tailing the Beedrill and was seriously considering returning when the Beedrill flew through some bushes. The bushes blocked his vision and the darkness didn't help either. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he tried deliberated as to whether he should press his luck or not. Luck is all he had to work with at the moment; the shrubs were too dense to see through, the dim light was not helping, and the constant buzzing that had helped him cover his footsteps now drowned any noise that could have been coming from the other side. Michael finally took a deep breath, poured another Repel on himself, and approached the bush. He placed his hand on the top leaves and pushed them aside slowly, ever so slowly, while holding his breath and trying with all his might to keep his hand from shaking.
It wasn't much brighter on the other side of the bush but Michael could make out two distinct lumps: one was the child, he assumed, and the other undoubtedly the Beedrill that had carried it. The Beedrill seemed to be panting. It flapped its wings furiously, trying to fly again. It tried for a few more moments and finally slumped to the floor.
Time stopped for eternity, or so it felt like for Michael as he remained perfectly still for a heartbeat and watched the Beedrill. The stillness, however, was quickly interrupted by six more Beedrill that had descended from the treetops above. Their descent caused beams of light brighten the clearing just enough for Michael to make out what looked like giant yellow bags attached to the trees around the area. Something wriggled incessantly right under the lips of the bag while shinier yellow bags hung from the tree branches.
The six Beedrill that had just arrived split into two groups. Two of them picked up the girl and flew to the opening of the nearest bag while the other four gathered around the collapsed Beedrill. They seemed to be discussing something, bickering and arguaing, before two of them finally lifted their fallen comrade and joined the pair with the girl. They then dumped both bodies into the bag and flew of through the canopy. The moment Michael heard the splash, his eyes widened in both horror and realization.
Resembling a large yellow bag, Victreebel's stomach acids can dissolve even the hardest of objects. They are said to live in huge colonies deep in jungles, although no one has returned from there. This was one such colony, the wriggling forms on the Victrebel's bodies were Weedle, and the hanging bags were Kakunas waiting to evolve. It was a symbiotic colony, the Beedrill hunting food while the Victreebel protected the weak Weedle and Kakunas. But such a large colony needs a lot of food, Victreebel can digest almost anything, and there was a large unsuspecting food source right outside the forest…
Michael decided he didn't want to finish that thought. He had to work fast or a lot of people were going to die a very slow and painful death. But what could he do? Could he run and get help in time? Would they be too busy fighting of the swarm to be able to help? What could he do right now, then? All he had were the clothes on his back and a bag full of Repels…
An idea popped in Michael's mind. It was a longshot but so was this whole plan from the beginning. He carefully placed his bag on the ground and removed a Repel from his bag. He wasn't sure if the Victreebel could dissolve glass or how long that would take, so he had to find a way around that. He carefully ripped a piece of fabric from his shirt, removed the glass stopper, quickly stuffed the cloth in the mouth of the bottle, and then chucked it into the mouth of the Victreebel. Then he waited, biting his lip, hoping his gambit would pay off.
The Victreebel began to convulse and thrash and screech. The Weedle scattered right before the Victreebel contorted and finally vomited the contents of its stomach. The stench was foul and almost made Michael throw up. He held his breath and walked to the pool of acid that sizzled on the ground. It was still too dark to see clearly, so it took him a moment to find the girl. He picked her up and carried her back to the bush.
Michael hadn't noticed that his hands were burning until after he set the girl down. Her skin was blistering and peeling away in several parts while her clothes slowly turned to liquid. He didn't have anything to help treat her but he hoped that she would have a better chance now that she was outside the Victreebel. He pushed the thought aside for now and proceeded to make several more Repel bombs and poured another on himself. He walked carefully throught the clearing, avoiding Kakuna and Weedle, and threw his presents into several Victreebel.
For once he was happy it was dark, both for the fact he could sneak better and that he didn't have to see the physical states of the victims the Victreebel were regurgitating. He carried each body as well as he could back to the bush or hid them as best he could. He poured repels on himself and on the areas where he placed people and Pokémon periodically.
He had used up half his shirt by the tenth Victreebel. Everyone else's clothes were basically gunk, so they wouldn't work. He scoured the area quickly to if he could find anything that he could use when his shirt was finally used up. His hand suddenly grasped something hard and metallic. It was small and light but it was not bright enough to make out anything else.
He stood up and happened to find himself with by far the largest Victreebel he had seen yet, making him stumble backwards and fall in a drying pool of acid. That was not the only difference. He could just make out in the darkness that this one was a light green in color instead of yellow. A sizzling sound brought him back to his senses and he realized the metal object had begun to dissolve in the acid. He cursed silently, picked it up quickly, brushed away the acid off of it as best he could, and hurried back to the bush. He stuffed the object into his bag and made another Repel bomb, poured another on himself and the limp bodies, and ran off to another Victreebel.
He was down to his last Repel bomb and bottle after about thirty or so Victreebel. A large number of them had been empty, but he wasn't he wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. He poured the Repel on himself and rushed to his finale target. He stopped in front of the large green Victreebel he had seen before. If there was ever a better sign of who was queen or king or prime minister, Michael could not think of one. He thought it was only fitting he attacked this one before leaving.
Right before Michael could lob the Repel, pain surged from his back. It was as if someone had jabbed a red hot needle into his back. Then another one and another one, the pain growing exponentially. Michael collapsed, the Repel bottle rolling away from him. He could barely stay conscious, much less move any time soon. He had already guessed what had happened but it was still terrifying to have a Beedrill inches from his face, inspecting him. More Beedrill flew in from above the canopy that was the clearings ceiling. He could see from the corner of his eye that they were picking up the bodies he had tried to hide. And then they picked him up as well. He suddenly saw the mouth of the green Victreebel below before he was thrown in.
Michael shut his eyes, about the extent of his control of his body at the moment, right before he hit the stomach fluid with a sickening splash. It burned, real bad. He focused his attention on keeping his eyes closed and the acid from flooding his mouth and nose. Though the poison had paralyzed most of his body, his mind was unaffected and was firing a colorful barrage of silent cursing.
I should have told Officer Jenny to help me, he thought, I should have brought more Repels. I should have bolted while I had the chance. I should have run off with the girl the moment I had gotten her out. I should have followed Justin. I should have poured the one Repel that I had in my hand sooner instead of saving it like a fucking idiot!
A voice in his mind from someone long ago said that 'should have' did not exist. He wanted to scream back that there was not going to be anymore 'should have's ever again real soon so it might as well shut up. Michael's consciousness started to fade as he cursed at anything and everything he could think of.
When Michael saw what appeared to be very dim orange light flash though his eyelids, he knew the end had come. He was starting to hallucinate from lack of oxygen or some chemical in the Victreebel. He thought it was ironic he could hear muffled voices too. Maybe it was one last pleasant moment before he died or it could be the grim reapers bickering over who would claim his soul. Michael couldn't suppress a smile as he finally slipped into the void.