Author's Note: This story has been improved in many ways since I last introduced this years ago. But personally, I'm trying to have a good grasp of writing an investigation story similar to Outlast and Detective Conan.
Chapter 7: Klefki and the Gate
As we continue exploring the second floor looking for things that may help me find my friends, a lot of times, they are pretty pointless. When we find the stairs, a group of zombies are guarding the next floor: about six of them from what I can guess.
"Arceus. What should I do now?" After pondering the possible options, the sight of rusty garbage snaps in my instantly.
"What is it you're thinking Motto?" Vana asks.
"Does any of you know how to lure someone into a corner? Only to find nothing is there?" I whisper to them.
"Are you asking us to play tag with them? You better be joking camera guy." Even if our situation is serious, one part of me is joyful that I get to give Cybele a shock.
"Don't worry Cybele. This floor is cluttered with broken stones, tin cans, loose bricks, and other metallic things. So I bet you two now know what I'm thinking."
"Like. Tossing the scrap near those guys to get their attention." Her swinging arm blades fit the idea I'm sharing.
Petting her head is a way that I can say confidently, "You read my mind Vana. That's good for you."
"And I thought that I'm a Psychic type. I should toss a can on your head if I could." Telepathically she teases me won't stop me from being judgmental.
Leaning myself on the wall, "Sorry Cybele. I don't fully trust you yet. But…"
"Be honest with us Motto. She's like sister to you. Your sister pokemon as I should call that." Even if Vana plays her role as Cybele's mother, her tendency to give us flattery is rather good for me. Yet, I kinda agree with her. I mean, she was a motherly woman as a human back then.
"Let's not dawdle. Let get those junk from the room next to where we hid ourselves." Leaving the fortified stairs, we check on the room while we pick up a couple loose bricks mixed with stones and rocks. However, one particular item catches my eye, "Could this help us? I mean, there are keys on it. This key ring…"
The moment I grab onto the bulging part with my hand, my hand gets shocked as I get a numbing treatment of electricity flowing through my arm. "W-wha-what the? The key chain's alive?!" throughout the pain, I let it go expecting it to fall down. But it ends up floating.
"Klefki!Klef!Kiiii!Klef!Klefki!"Oh dear. Don't tell me this is a pokemon I've never seen before. While Vana is talking with that thing in her language, Cybele and I are now testing something that she wants me to do; something along the lines of sticking her psychic powers into my brain so that I can understand the language of pokemon. I mean, all I have to do is to close my eyes until she instructs me to open them again. For me, it feels like some kind of string –two of them perhaps- are connecting itself inside my brain where I felt like something is put inside it; kinda like veins and aortas.
"Open now." Not only do I clearly understand and hear every word that this object pokemon is rambling, she actually retains my eyesight.
"-just what right does this human have to muffle my poor little key chain face!"
"I hate rambling pokemon like you personally little key chain. So shut up! And tell me what in the world are you?" I cross my arms as a personal necessity for control.
"Or what? Order this leafy bug to take the keys I steal?" angrily says this key chain pokemon whatever its name may be.
"Motto. Don't get too bossy." After that peacemaker side, Vana steps up for me as she looks at the levitating pokemon. "I'm sorry about this human. But all he asks is to who are you."
"Klefki. That's my species name." it says.
"Clef…key? Okay okay. Sorry for what I'm just about to do to you: toss you to the ground near those zombies." I said to this floating key chain pokemon.
"You don't know about my kind huh?" with a nod, I answer its question. "Now let ME ask you three a question. What were you doing here?"
"We're trying to explore the depths of this school ruins…" for the minutes we stay in that room, I tell it about my purpose inside this place along with everything that the three of us did. "…and this is where we are now. Just getting through that gate."
"Hhhmmmm… you look like someone that I knew human."
"Knew?" I ask.
"Or so my mom told me back then. Some kid who's deathly afraid of bug type pokemon. But I don't know. It could be any other kid…" Klefki, as I say it correctly this time, sways a bit on air. "Anyway. For you to get to the remaining floors of this place, you're going to need my help. For this floor, one of those unfortunate human-pokefied-zombies is carrying the key for this floor. Leave that job to me. But, for the rest of the guards though, you have to find other ways to get through the gate."
With our new companion, we settle on our previous plan tweaked with our little Klefki.