Forgotten Paths
There was only silence and darkness.
Slowly, everything came to senses.
It was cold.
It was dark.
But it was no longer silent.
There was a distant whirr of a computer, and a voice.
"So, Officer Ralph, tell us where you were Friday fifteenth, hour 1505?"
He lifted my eyes to the voice, but couldn't see a thing. There was nothing for me; even the voice was computer-rendered.
"Are these sensory suppressors necessary, sir?"
"Yes."
The short reply gave me no hints to who it was; he was lost. He sighed and then replied.
"Remove them, please."
"Answer the question, officer."
"These tools damage my brain," he then said.
"Where were you Friday the fifteenth, officer?"
"Undercover at Lake Valor Hotel," he said. "Collecting data on Diane Willow."
"You instigated an operation without orders from a superior?"
"…Yes."
"Explain yourself."
Before he spoke, he heard something other than the computer-rendered voice and the distant whirr of a fan; a door opened and people were around him.
Now I felt nothing at all.
"James isn't feeling too well," I said, turning from the windows of Lake Valor Hotel to the dark room. "He's been captured and is now being interrogated."
"So that's why he didn't come back last Friday," Mina said.
I could barely see Mark, but I heard him clearly: "We'll have to make do without him. Diane is only laying back because she had no contact from Galactic."
"Problem is that we're alone here, Mark," I said, putting my hand on the glass and feeling the cold. "The more we try to get help from the officials, the more trouble we get in."
"Then we send for the Pokémon League," Catalina suggested from another room.
My mouth twisted into a grin. "Yes, let's turn ourselves in while we're at it. How about that?"
Catalina didn't answer.
"Listen everyone. Since we're currently in a standoff and no one is doing anything, I think we should wait for the Pokémon League's anniversary. We can use the crowd to blow Diane's cover, and the League won't know it's us," Mark suggested.
"But how?" I asked. "She's a legitimate trainer and a law-abiding citizen. We only know about her because of her Pokémon's reports."
Mark didn't answer, and then he asked, "Why are you after her again?"
"What do you know about Diane Willows, Mark?" I asked.
"That we're following her…?"
"You didn't get the intelligence, and jumped in regardless?" I asked.
He didn't answer, but shuffled with his shoes.
"He likes hanging around, evidently," Mina said with a grin.
I sighed.
"Ok, then tell me what's with this girl, and I can make better plans!" Mark exclaimed.
"You know we're disqualified and you're not, right?" I asked.
"Disqualified from what?"
I smacked my forehead.
"I'm just kidding, Saif! Geez. I know you guys are disqualified as League Masters for some rule or something."
"Mistreatment," Mina said between her teeth.
Mark's eyes widened. "Is that true?"
"Yes," I replied. "There are a few rules to remain League Masters, or even trainers.
"Never battle for personal gain; never subject your Pokémon to deadly conditions; free your Pokémon after six years of companionship."
"I remember them more than just three," Mark said.
"Those are the ones we're accused of breaking. Our Pokémon Storage Box accounts have been confiscated, and now the Pokémon we caught and trained are with the League, all except the ones held with us."
Mark nodded slowly, but then asked, "But when you catch more than six Pokémon, you get the Pokéball transferred. Why can't they take these with you?"
"Our Pokémon aren't in their balls," Mina said with a grin.
"Not funny, Mina," I said. "That's why we're in Lake Valor Hotel. No one suspects a few trainers with a few Pokémon. Our escape didn't escalate to a manhunt, so we're not in immediate danger; Diane is. Where did you arrive at Sinnoh?"
"A few weeks ago," Mark said slowly. "I was here because of a vacation offer that included the Three Legendary Lakes, but then I saw you guys yesterday…"
"And here we are," I said. "About Diane…She's taking the training period before applying to Mina's post here. She should train, but she did no training at all."
"That doesn't sound suspicious; you didn't train before taking the Psychic Master post under Lucian until there were like…two days until the tests," Mark shrugged.
"That isn't why we've been watching her," Mina said. "Last Thursday, when James was supposed to be on watch, she snuck into Lake Valor, past the water boundary."
"That's…illegal," Mark said.
"Of course it is. James was assigned to patrol the lake at the time, but saw her."
"I thought you said he was arrested for helping us," Mark said.
"He got arrested Friday, when he began investigating her," I said. "James sent word to us, and…"
I didn't continue, but looked out the window. Diane was at the hotel pool, outline lit by the water's lights.
Slowly, I lifted my finger to her body, beginning from her toes. The feet were tired and strained. The blood in her veins pumped wildly. Her legs were sore.
The closer I pointed to her heart, the worst I heard.
"Those liars…"
"They will pay."
"I can't let them win."
I opened my other fingers, and when I heard and felt what she did—
"How dare they?" I cried.
The cold air bit my fingers until they were blue.
"After all I've gone through for them…" I whispered.
"Oh, they'll see. I didn't show them anything yet."
The artifacts were still hidden. Galactic aren't getting anything. The Pokémon League doesn't even deserve to be warned anonymously. No one is getting anything.
I, Diane Willow will make sure of that.
My heart stopped.
"Ok, we got something, guys," I said.
"What is it, Saif?"
I watched Diane collapse, and then wildly turn around, before running back inside.
I clutched my heart. "Man, she was hard to get into."
"Are you ok?" Mina asked, jumping off the bed.
"Yes," I said, before coughing. "I had to pull off a heart attack to get myself out. She'll be suspicious if I do it again."
"What did you do?" Mark asked.
"Possession," Mina answered. "Why did this happen?"
"She's a Dark-type Master, Mina. She doesn't want your post in Ghost-type, but she wanted to take Catalina's post."
Catalina's voice came from the closed bathroom door, "Whatever."
I turned to Mina, whose face became visible in the moonlight. "Call Jun. I need a word with her."
"Should I call Ielas as well?" she asked.
A faint echoing voice came from the back of my head. "Did someone call for me?"
"Is Jun near you?"
Ielas's telepathic voice came after a while, "Technically, yes. She's shifting between my shadow and the nearby wall, so—No, wait, at the time of the beep, she's near me.
"Beep."
"Tell her to come over. You, too. We need you to translate."
"Sure thing, commander."
I rubbed the back of my neck, and said to Mina, "Ielas is bringing Jun."
"Good," she said. "I don't want to shift if I have the choice."
I nodded, and sat back, and soon I saw my shadow shift, heading to the wall, and through it came a black pumpkin head. Soon followed with hands reaching out of the wall.
"Jun, stop it and just get in here," Mina ordered.
A single eye followed, and a Dusknoir drifted into the room.
"Poor girl, trying to be scary," Mina said, wrapping her arm around Dusknoir's belly. The single eye closed with a distinct sigh.
"Ielas?" I asked. A short flash illuminated the room with a sharp crack, and a Gardevoir stood beside the Dusknoir.
"Yo."
"Ielas, I need your help," I said.
"Name it."
"I just possessed Diane—"
"Yeah, I sensed something very disturbing," he interrupted. "You know that part of the mind that makes your personality? Yeah, well it was filled with role playing cards and dating site accounts."
"Enough jokes," I said. "I have something I can't work with."
I pulled off my right hand's gloves, and my index finger was blackened, the burn ran down to my elbow.
"This is serious," Ielas said. "You got a little too deep in her mind."
"I know. I need Dusknoir to remove it," I said.
Mina then said, "That's not ghost-influenced, Saif."
"I know, Mina."
I then saw a flash of light at the other end of the room, and saw Mark's body escape the room.
"But ghost-types aren't so different from dark-types."
Ielas turned to the black ghost, and then mentioned at my hand. Dusknoir rolled her one eye and her deep rumbling voice echoed wordlessly.
"She says it's from dark origin, and she can't remove it," Ielas said after a while. "Are you feeling ok?"
"Not really, it does sting a bit," I said. As I moved my finger, my dry skin cracked, and blood seeped out.
"A bit?" Ielas exclaimed. "Catalina, can you help us here?"
The bathroom door was still locked, yet Catalina's voice came clear, "What color is it?"
"Black," I said.
"Does it make your fingers feel like jelly?"
"Actually, my skin is dry and it's bleeding right now," I said.
"Come in," she said, and the bathroom door clicked.
"Aren't you taking a bath?" I asked, holding my hand as it throbbed.
"Just come in."
Ielas pushed me to the door and exclaimed, "You're bleeding! Take some care of yourself!"
I pushed the door open, and the bathroom was dark.
"Catalina?"
"Get in the tub. I'm near the sink."
"Can I open the light?"
"I've been spending a few hours in the dark. It'll hurt. And besides, you don't need to see with your eyes."
"Fine," I said, as I walked to the tub. It was filled with warm water, I felt.
"Dip your hand inside."
"I should tell you that I really do trust you, and I will not expect being hurt."
"Just dip your hand inside, Saif. If I wanted to betray you I'd just leave you all here and gather my bounty," she said.
I dipped my hand in. The water felt heavy and strangely dry. It was as if I dipped my hand into a bowl of mist.
"Deeper, to where the wound stops," she said from near the sink.
The pain ceased, and I pulled out my hand.
"Better?" She asked.
"A bit…yeah," I answered. "What was that?"
"Now can you get out?"
"Yes—Thank you," I said, as I left.
"It won't go entirely, though," she said, as the bathroom door locked behind me. "You'll still feel a sting, but you won't have any trouble with anything."
"I do hope you're not understating," I said, as I returned to the window. "Did Diane return?"
Mina shook her head, and said, "I think we're going to have to set up an eye tomorrow at the lobby on the girl."
"You'll keep a close eye, right?" I asked.
"Very funny. Go get some sleep," she said.
I nodded, pointed at Ielas to follow and left room 135, and went directly to my own, 137.
Drew out my key-card, slid it through and walked into the room. Ielas drifted to the bed opposite to me and sat down.
"Good night," I said, as I flung my body onto my bed.
"Big day tomorrow," he said, smiling.