Two Days Earlier

"Goodnight and bless you, motherfuckers! Tonight was fucking awesome and you all fucking rock! We all cannot wait to be back in Castelia City to see you again soon!"

The voice of Clear Raven rang out across the indoor arena she occupied. The female Pikachu stood at the front of the purpose built stage she shared with six other Pokémon. They all form the increasingly legendary metal band StarScape, to which Clear is its vocalist.

Alongside her stood the band's bassist and co-lead vocalist, Cesarino Vento. A male Lucario with naturally black and dyed red hair; shaven on one side, his green eyes looked towards Clear. His black Chelsea Grin shirt glistened and stuck to his body with sweat.

Behind him and Clear sat a second Lucario, albeit female. The drummer known as Zet Urshu, she sported long blue hair, a black hoodie and white undershirt which were again drenched in sweat.

Alongside her to one side was the keyboardist, a Roselia. Caroline Campbell's green body shone in the stage light like one of seven angels. Her pink and black pompoms sat on top of her black keyboard.

On the other side of Zet Urshu stood a pair of DJs. One, a male Gabite and the other a second female Pikachu. The Pikachu wore a nice fitting pale green scarf wrapped around her neck. The Gabite, known as Zodiac, wore nothing. The Pikachu, known as Akira Little also sported cyan and black patterns upon her ear and tail tips.

Last but not least was a unique black furred male Floatzel. Wearing a well-fitting (if sweat soaked) tuxedo of matching colour, he also had his yellow float on top of it. The band's guitarist, his name? Odin Vándr. His yellow-orange eyes gazed out upon the sold out arena. All seven band members wore beaming smiles in front of the crazily rapturous fans loyal to StarScape's cause. Many copied the devil horn gesture made by Clear Raven. Her black Job for a Cowboy shirt stuck to her body, wet with sweat. As she applauded the crowd for their noisy love and passion, Cesarino placed his bass guitar beside the drum kit and sauntered offstage. He appeared to be sulking as he made his way to the dressing room.

The stage was decked black with a huge StarScape banner unfurled at the back. The banner had a large ringed blue planet design on a black background. In front of it proudly presented the sci-fi styled StarScape logo. All around the stage was strobe lights programmed to perfection by the band's lighting specialist. They were currently trained on the six remaining band members on stage.

The arena itself was three tiered with banks of seating on the upper two and a standing area on the lower tier. The upper two curved in a semi-circular sweep around the stage. The lower tier was up close and personal, allowing for mosh-pits to form. There had been three of those on the night.

While the arena reeked of sweat and alcohol, it was time for StarScape to vacate the stage. The buzzing fans filed for the exits in disorganised lines. Clear and the other band members placed down or slipped away from their instruments. As they made their way backstage, hired staff began working on transporting the instrument onto the band's tour bus.

"Well I'll say that was fucking awesome, dudes!" Clear exclaimed in delight as she led most of the other band members down a modern corridor towards their allocated dressing room. The corridor itself was resplendent in its bareness. Barring square lighting fixtures embedded in the ceiling down the entire passage, the odd picture of musicians hung on one of the two long walls. Otherwise it was an understated white from the ceiling to the floor.

Each of the six members were still dripping sweat from their bodies as they piled through the plush wooden door into the dressing room. Clear took one last look down the corridor. On the opposite end to the stage entrance was a pair of glass fronted doors leading outside. To the right, a pair of vending machines. The female Pikachu noted them with a nod of the head and slipped into the dressing room. The door closed behind her. She observed the other six band members with a smile before slinking over to her bench in one corner. The bench itself was plush, polished wood and sat on it was her black rucksack. As she grasped its zip and opened it up, her sweat dripped onto it as she pulled out a bottle of Peroni beer. Opening it with a bottle opener, the beverage inside fizzed before the cap dropped off. As the cap hit the floor with a 'ping', she sat back upon the bench with her back against the wall. Necking some of her Peroni before placing it beside her, she surveyed the dressing room laid out before her. Odin and Zodiac had gone to take showers in the adjacent large washroom. Akira and Zet were talking to one another, Cesarino was on the phone and Caroline was munching on a packet of crisps.

Swigging some more beer, she noted the benches around all four sides of the room including her own. Cesarino wandered around in the centre while Akira, Zet and Caroline shared the bench to Clear's left.

Square lighting fixtures fixed into the ceiling brightly illuminated the surroundings. Modern and spacious, the dressing room was devoid of anything particularly interesting, much like the corridor outside. There was a gap in the wall on one side which allowed the occupants to proceed into the aforementioned washroom. That side was directly opposite Clear whom secretly eavesdropped on Cesarino's phone conversation. Most of it slipped through one ear and out the other until he suddenly changed the subject.

"Yeah tonight was pretty good. Fans were loud and all that. They still want Atomic back though. It's the same everywhere we go. I feel I get no appreciation for being good too, you know?"

Clear's ears flicked inquisitively as he mentioned Atomic, a purple furred Raichu whom the Lucario had replaced in the band. She took another swig of her beer before standing up. She knew Cesarino had finished his phone conversation. He was moping obliviously, muttering to himself with his phone still in his paw. Clear placed her beer aside and shuffled towards him, speaking up on the way.

"Hey, dude. Why are you still so concerned about what our fans think? They aren't booing you."

Cesarino detected her raised voice and with a frown, glared at her.

"Is a little appreciation so much to ask for? I work up as much sweat as the rest of you and I get nothing to show that it's worth the effort." He declared, defiantly as the other band members, including the showered Odin and Zodiac, watched on. Clear followed on her opinion.

"We all in here appreciate it, Cesarino. The fans will come around. I mean fuck…I had to endure it too to begin with."

Again though, Cesarino countered.

"So you keep fucking saying. Yet there's been no change at all for weeks. It's always about how great Atomic was and…"

The female Pikachu cut the male Lucario short, interrupting.

"You're so fucking sensitive. It would also help if you didn't keep walking off the stage at the end. You know, before any goodbyes are said."

Her voice rose further. It angered Cesarino enough to lurch his arms forward and violently shove her to the ground with his paws. Clear fell back and used her paws to grip the floor to her side, to ensure she only fell to her backside.

"Those fans don't deserve my respect if they don't give me any, you stupid bitch!" Cesarino snarled and glared wildly. Odin quickly stepped in and kept the irritated male Lucario away from the female Pikachu whom broke wind on the floor.

"Hey, hey, hey no fighting! I understand you're upset, Cesarino but we do not need aggression in the band. Come on, let's go have a smoke outside." The male Floatzel diffused the situation. Cesarino accepted Odin's offer of a smoke and accompanied him outside of the dressing room to cool off.

Clear was still sitting on the floor, frustrated as Akira stepped up to her.

"Oh, man that stinks, Clear. Sorry about him." She said quietly. Clear was unsure of whether her fellow female Pikachu was referring to the scuffle or the smell of her earlier fart, but shrugged nonetheless.

"It's OK, dude. Let the motherfucker calm down a little while." Clear shrugged and took Akira's outstretched paw, hoisting herself back onto her feet. She thanked Akira with a quick embrace before heading over to her bench. She scooped up her beer and swigged another portion of it. When she stopped she placed it aside again with a refreshed 'ahh'. Then, she turned to the remaining band members in the room and spoke up softly.

"I'm just gonna go get a snack from the vending machine out there. You know, to go with my Pot Noodle."

Akira, Zet, Zodiac and Caroline nodded respectively. Clear then turned away and trudged towards the door.

She heard the others talking behind her. Their voices echoed and muffled unnaturally. Her vision began to pulsate back and forth and blur around the edges. Her heartbeat thumping in her chest became the most dominant sound. Finally, she staggered to the door and placed her paw on the handle. Opening the door by turning the handle downwards, two beads of sweat escaped from her forehead. As they hit the floor with a sound like raindrops, she stumbled through the doorway. She looked down the corridor both ways. Just across to the left; the vending machines a mere few steps away.

Stepping out through the doorway, everything was silent…too silent. One could jump at the mere sound of a pin dropping.

Clear lurched forth two steps and heard the door to the dressing room close unceremoniously behind her. The sound was loud enough to make her jump. Now she felt truly isolated. As she thought to compose herself, she looked at the ceiling lights. Each one flickered continuously as if the venue's electricity was cutting off. Her eyes scanned each one, all flickering. Then, she looked away, down the corridor towards the exit doors. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Through the glass frames, a hooded figure in red robes stared back in right at her. The red hood concealed the figure's face where nothing but a mass of black could be seen. It made the figure appear faceless.

As Clear noted the figure's humanoid look, it turned and made its way to the right, thus disappearing behind the wall. Her expression relaxed a little. 'It couldn't have been real' she thought. Her mind was torn. She wondered if the freaky figure was there or if she had been drinking too much during the course of the night.

Either way her breaths were heavy and frequent, clearly affected. Her vision was still blurry, throbbing as if it had a pulse. She began to hear eerie voices echo around her as if there was people embedded in the walls.

"Who the fuck is there?" She asked but immediately felt stupid afterwards for having done so. Her breathing was heavy and her vision continued to pulse and blur.

Her head suddenly throbbed and pounded with the power of the most dreadful migraine. It had her clutching her head with her paws desperately from pain as she groaned. Once she had stopped clenching her eyes shut, she looked towards the walls to either side of her. Her eyes widened again at the sight.

On each wall, a large red circle engulfing an inverted pentagram took pride of place. They looked to have been scrawled with blood with some dripping down the walls beneath them.

Clear looked horrified. Something was clearly afoot and worshipping some hellish ritual or religion. The voices seemingly seeping through the walls became louder. Then, they evolved into a combined, high pitched shriek that did not want to stop. On and on it went, leaving dreadful ringing in her ears. She covered them with her paws and grimaced with gritted teeth and hasty breathing. Covering them however did not help as the shrieking only became louder instead. Her vision blurred to the point she could barely see and she shook her head from side to side. Her desperation did not pay off.

Without warning, she then felt something lash her abdomen with blunt, brutal force. The physical trauma was enough to force her to her knees. She coughed up blood and saw it wetting the floor. The stark contrast of red on the white surface clearly shocked her. She felt significantly weakened as undecipherable, ritualistic chanting rang in her ears. It was all around her in every conceivable direction. Slowly, she weakly keeled over onto her back with blood still dripping from her mouth. She closed her eyes for a moment, spread eagled on the floor. Then, they fluttered open again. To her horror, a number of red robed, hooded individuals stood over her. She assumed they were watching her silently despite their faceless appearances, while the ritualistic chanting had faded into the background. The shrieking disappeared too. Everything was eerily silent. Then, as Clear breathed hastily and wheezed, one of the robed individuals callously stomped on her face. Her vision faded to black, completely out cold…