Wayward Loser
Chapter VII
"The Abandoned Factory"
I slept fairly well for lying on grass in front of a fire. It certainly couldn't compare to a nice, cozy bed in the safety of an in-ground home, but for what amenities it has, it works.
I sat up, yawning and rubbing my eyes before fitting my spectacles back on. Darkrai was already awake, most likely either having gotten up earlier than me or never having slept at all. It sounds rough, not sleeping altogether...
The sensation of willingly falling unconcious in a comfortable position to recharge your mental batteries is something everyone seems to silently revel in. It's too bad that sometimes sleep is disturbed by nightmares, or sweet dreams.
"You're finally awake," Darkrai started, calmly.
I yawned again.
"Indeed. I finally feel rested for once..."
"That's good to know. It'll be a bit of a trip to get to the Abandoned Factory."
I nodded, and got to my feet.
"No better time than the present to get going. Shall we?", Darkrai asked.
"Let's," I replied.
The fire had burned itself out, most likely under Darkrai's watch, so we simply left without any other thought.
"So, where is the Abandoned Factory located anyway?", I asked.
"It's tucked into a mountainside which I found by chance. 'The Abandoned Factory' is just the name I gave it from what short stint I spent inside looking about," Darkrai answered.
"Hm..."
Interesting... An empty dungeon? This could possibly help with research on the behaviors of mystery dungeons throughout the world. Taking refuge there could reveal some important knowledge as to what makes these labyrinthine locales tick!
I felt a small smile take shape on my face. Maybe, after all of this is over, I could actually contribute to society?
It slowly vanished though as I thought about my companion, Darkrai. I understand what he had done before by Team Syndicates word, along with that of Cresselias. Yet he doesn't seem nearly as sinister as described, even though his description of how he got his amnesia and that of Raichu's initial amnesia when he first came to our time seem to match up.
I looked at him for a bit, studying the back of his head in the sort of way that felt like you were trying to get to know them just by looks... Trying to understand how he felt. At this point in my life, he was the closest thing I could call a friend. Funny, that...
The worlds enemy, my temporary companion.
We continued to trek across the land, making our way to the mountain range. We'd probably have to check around several mountains, but fortunately for both of us we were capable of levitation and thus didn't need to physically exhaust ourselves hiking up and down looking for the entrance.
Given, we're not there yet.
We continued to go through the forests- I believe we were within the Oran Forest, actually, as I collected some berries to eat as we went along. We avoided going down into the depths however, as that would waste time.
It was quiet, until Darkrai started to speak.
"It's odd, your dreams," he said, starting the conversation off.
"What about them?", I asked.
"Them being your nightmares. You live a life of luxury, with all of your needs of survival fulfilled. You have money, you have power, you have love... What is so terrible about that?", he countered.
I was struck dumb for a moment, then I realized.
"Because that's the life I don't want to live. That's if I evolved into a Gallade and stuck to living a northern-breed life. I guarantee you the 'me' in my nightmare most likely didn't have a very emotional relationship with that... that... amoral partner he had!", I said, trying to defend myself.
Darkrai shrugged.
"At least you have visions of lives you could've lived. I can't even remember the life I used to live."
... I ached, knowing full well what he must've been like pre-amnesia.
"Maybe having amnesia isn't so bad," I said.
"Why?"
"Well, what if you had done something wrong that you couldn't shake away from your conscience? It's gone now, and you can worry about new things with a new life," I explained.
Darkrai remained quiet for a moment as we continued to search for the entrance to the Abandoned Factory, having made it to the mountains.
"You have a valid point, I suppose... I still want to find out who I really was before I move on to a 'new' life, though," he surmised.
"Fair enough. If I were you, I'd probably be doing the same thing," I said, trying to comfort him.
Darkrai looked at me. I could barely see it, but I think he was smiling a bit.
"I'm glad you can sympathize with me, Gelaard. You're one of the only friends I've ever had," he admitted.
I nodded slowly.
"Either way, let's find the Abandoned Factory. I just need to... hide out, for a while."
And thus ended our exchange of words. We focused on finding the entrance to the dungeon Darkrai had made mentions of without much further words.
I felt a little sad for Darkrai. I'd be leaving him to try and wait out my 'wanted' time in some cold and defunct dungeon that nobody would visit... I had no choice however. I had to hide out, or else I'd eventually be found if I wandered out and about. I'm not so sure about Darkrai though, considering his 'natural defense mechanism' of inflicting nightmares on perceived threats.
He must be an awfully lonely Pokémon...
My chest felt cold.
I looked down and gently stroked the red shard abruptly jutting out of my abdomen. It's the closest thing to what our hearts truly are. It's our emotional 'centerpoint', if I were to put it into technical terms. It changes temperature based on how we're feeling.
At most, it's been lukewarm down to a bit cool. It feels far colder than that now.
Am I feeling sorrow?
Abandonment?
Loneliness?
I shook my head and tried to think about other things, but my mind kept wandering back to myself and my life. I don't want to think about it...
Anything but myself. I don't want to think about myself.
I was quickly hoisted back out of my mental black hole by Darkrai's intrusion.
"I found it! Here's the entrance to the Abandoned Factory," he stated.
I shook my head and looked. The entranceway was a large steel hangar that could most likely be entered by an Onix if it slouched a bit.
The walls were also made of steel and I could see various pipeworks sticking out of the walls or worming along the ceiling.
I glanced at my black-clad companion.
I stared into the one eye I could see, and he stared back at me. It's almost as if we knew something deep about eachother and we had a bond that could never be easily shattered...
As if we were brothers.
As if we were brothers...
Our gazes were locked for but an instant, then Darkrai looked away.
"I suppose this is where we part ways, Gelaard. You have something you need to do here, and I need to find myself- somewhere, out here," Darkrai said after a pause.
I coughed.
"Yes. It's been nice travelling with you and having you as a... companion," I said.
I glanced towards the entrance again, hiding my face. My eyes were... watering.
"I wish you luck on your findings," he said, bidding farewell.
I turned around to see him float away. I didn't even make a final call out to him. I knew it was goodbye, and I'd probably never see him again.
... It's somewhat amusing, at least in a certain sense that I wouldn't exactly call 'ironic', but...
It's just that I feel like I've found one of the world's most hated Pokémon to be one of the closest friends I could've ever even made.
That speaks volumes about my social life...
I heaved a sigh from my chest, turned, and started to make my way inside the Abandoned Factory.
It was mostly just a descent down a flight of steps before I started coming into contact with the corridors of a dungeon. I started to walk about, taking in my surroundings- I'd have to get used to them if I was going to stay here for any extensive period of time.
It didn't take long until I started to see the 'abandoned' part of the factory.
There were all sorts of parts lying around for artificial-type Pokémon like Magnemite and Voltorb. Some of them were even half-finished with mechanics sticking out, or rusted scrap-heaps lying about by conveyor belts.
All of the blank stares these lifeless artifical lives were giving into the abyss before them...
... It sent a chill down my spine. I half felt like they would come to life all of a sudden like a horde of mindless monsters and try to eat me, even though I know it's completely irrational to think so.
I shuddered a little and kept going. The rooms continued to get larger and larger as I kept going in, and as I descended. Conveyor belts, furnaces, large machines that assembled parts-
-Hold on. I'm sure you want to know how I even know what all these machines do.
I've committed into a -lot- of studies about history. I read about the birthplaces of artificial Pokémon before, but I never thought it'd be something as large-scale as this. The machines here are elaborate and took me some guesswork to even figure out- and even then, some of these things I don't even know what they are or do.
Either way, I continued on. I'd have to find a place where I could build a makeshift shelter, or maybe an end to the dungeon?
I doubt I could make a 'shelter' here considering that this was meant to make complex living objects, and that all the spare parts would either be unusuable, flimsy, or otherwise.
I went even deeper.
I found the most unusual thing- there were these mechanical-esque constructs, inactive of course, that had round bodies, dome-shaped heads and had a bandolier making a perfect 'X' across their bodies. They were also teal in color, and went up to about my waist in height. I've never even -seen- artifical Pokémon like this before...
I wonder what-
I stopped dead in my tracks.
I resisted the urge to vomit-
I found the remains of dead Pokémon. Either skeletons, or corpses. None were fresh, but they were a gruesome thing to see. I'll not go into gory detail about how these lives were ended, but I'll tell you: Nothing living could've wrenched the life out of these Pokémon.
I became afraid to press on, but I knew I was being superstitious. Nothing came alive so far, and I've gone relatively deep, possibly to the point of 'no escape' should the 'dead things come alive' scenario decides to kick in.
I went across a few rooms of these dead Pokémon- and odd machines that seemed too eccentric to call machines- until I hit a dead end.
In it, I found another artificial Pokémon I've never seen before- It was like the small ones earlier, but this one was a real titan- it stood at almost twice my height, and had this sort of bandage on it's abdomen, barely doing a good job of hiding a large, vacant crack.
It looked rusted and inoperable, but I wonder what it's doing here?
I peeked behind it from where I was, and I saw a large glass indentation in the back wall, and a moon-shaped risen section of the floor with all sorts of knobs and buttons. What exactly was this room?
I took a step towards the desk-
-And the giant machine roared to life, albeit with plenty of sputtering.
"UNKNOWN ENTITY... DETECTED!"
I froze and slowly looked up at it.
It's head cracked and cranked as it looked down at me.
"ENTITY SHALL STATE... ITS... BUSINESS!"
I looked about the room, as I slowly struck a professional posture.
"Are you the machine in charge of this facility? The boss, employer, owner, CEO, et cetera?", I inquired.
"SCANNING RECORDS... POSITIVE. THIS UNIT CAN BE CONSIDERED 'BOSS'."
I opened my mouth to speak, but I was interrupted.
"ENTITY IS NOT IN ANY EMPLOYEE RECORDS..."
I swallowed.
"THEN ENTITY... IS..."
I braced myself.
The large machine became fully functional as an inside glow kicked up.
"TRESPASSING!"
The rusted derelict had no hesitation in winding back its large fist and swinging at me. Due to the sheer amount of telegraphing the derelict displayed for the attack, I got out of the way with ease. If it kept being this slow, I'd have to be more worried about how to defeat it rather than how to stay on my feet!
Something tells me however that the makeshift 'bandage' on its chest might be a good clue-in for how to bring this goliath down.
The derelict turned around and swung a fist overhead.
I dove forward between its legs for a bit of breathing room. I looked off at the wall and tore away a segment of pipe with my telekinesis. I faux-wielded it like a club-in-hand to have better bearings over it (intense combat makes me stressful, and my psychic power gets a bit shaky without coordination).
I primed the pipe to swing at the machines chest as it turned around.
It did as I predicted-
-Except it performed a backhand at the same time, knocking the pipe out of my mental grip!
I gazed up at it for a moment.
No wonder none of these are out and about- Whatever must've made them decided they were too powerful to subdue should they rebel!
"ENTITY MUST BE REMOVED FROM THE FACILITY!"
I lobbed myself upwards with a Psychic as it lunged its fist into the wall, and got stuck.
... Typical.
It started to yank its way out, so I had to capitalize on the situation.
I grabbed onto it's seal (telekinetically, of course) and tugged, trying to pry it off.
"WARNING! WARNING! CORE ENERGY SYSTEM IS IN DANGER!"
It changed priority quickly, swatting me off with what could essentially be described as a... fly swat. Shut up, I couldn't think of anything else to describe it.
I hit the floor violently, cringing and trying to keep my gasps of pain inside. I rose to my feet to face my opponent who had just wrenched its fist free from the wall.
It monotonously glared at me.
"ENTITY TOO AGILE TO HANDLE. CHANGING ATTACK PATTERN."
It stood erect, and suddenly shot electric bolts from its eyes- Charge Beam I presume- and by a stroke of luck it missed.
I started to duck and weave my way through it's barrage of repeated shots until I was up close. Simply put: It can only attack me one way at a time. I just have to keep forcing it to change attack patterns...
I once again reached for the seal and pulled on it more. I know it wasn't as tight-on as it intially was- I heard it creak.
"WARNING! WARNING! REPEATED ASSAULT ON CORE ENERGY SYSTEM LIMITER!"
I backed away-
-URK!
The derelict plucked me out of the air in one of its big mitts during my retreat. Its grip was unshakeable- I was too scrawny, and my mind wasn't strong enough to free myself from it...
It puts its other hand around my body-
-And I howled as it started to squeeze me.
"ENTITY MUST BE ELIMINATED!"
I felt the blood start to go to my head very quickly. I was going to get crushed- or worse!
I simply had to keep trying-
I pulled on the seal- I heard it jingling it was that loose!
I have to!
I mustered every ounce of mental might I had left, and pulled!
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CLANG! DONG!
I felt myself dropped to the ground. I felt so dizzy I don't even know how to describe it. I almost died!
"DANGER! DANGER! CORE ENERGY SYSTEM LIMITER HAS BEEN REMOVED! ALL PERSONNEL STEP AWAY FROM UNIT! CORE MELTDOWN IN TEN... NINE... EIGHT..."
I staggered to my feet, barely aware of what was happening.
"SEVEN... SIX... FIVE..."
I looked up at the machine almost as if I had just woken up.
"FOUR... THREE... TWO..."
My eyes widened as I snapped awake and turned for the door-
"ONE... MELTDOWN!"
I was once again the victim of being blown around like a ragdoll half into the doorway, half on the wall. Again I was the victim to trauma that really shouldn't be applied to such a frail body such as mine.
I sat up, barely, to see that there were... ghosts?
Ghosts flying out of the rusted derelict's body?
And not like Ghost-type Pokémon- These were literally phantasms of deceased Pokémon! Ones I didn't even recognize whatsoever, but still!
The ancients powered these machines by KILLING Pokémon and trapping their very souls into them?
I felt a myriad of feelings- Anger, regret, pain, sorrow, satisfaction, pain, dizziness, pain...
I lied back down, blacking out due to my injuries.
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I moaned as I got up at last, finally out of danger. I inspected my person- I was bruised all over like a Nanab berry's flesh. The derelict was standing in a slouch, all glow inside if it gone. It was finally unpowered and truly lifeless.
I levitated (I hurt too much to walk) past my defeated opponent to the raised segment of flooring in front of the glass. It was written in footprint runes- But I could translate. I hit a switch that said 'power'.
All of a sudden, the glass panel lit up.
"INITIALIZING DATABASE... STANDBY."
Database? Is this some sort of production log?
"SYSTEM INITIALIZED. OPENING POKEMON ARCHIVE."
I scratched the back of my head, unsure as to what it was really on about. Did this machine catalog every living pokemon we have? I know most breeds as is...
It zoomed into a list alongside a picture view of the pokemon. On the view was...
Something I've never seen or read of before.
It was a snakelike Pokémon with brown eyes, an apricot colored bellyskin and leaf-green back skin with yellow curls on its chest and a smug look on its face, and on the end of its tail was a leaf.
I looked at the log entry.
"001. SNIVY."
... Snivy? What's a Snivy?
I started to browse through the entries, beyond puzzled as to what sorts of Pokémon these were.
Tepig. Oshawott. Patrat. Purrloin. Munna. Roggenrola. Drilbur. Tympole. Sewaddle.
Venipede...
Whirlipede...
I froze upon seeing the next image.
According to the data, it was an eight-foot tall centipoid with a red carapace (with a tinge of blue, giving it a faint purple hue), purple rings engraved on the carapace, mighty horns on its head, claws protruding from the carapace, reverse-jointed legs, a somewhat protruding stomach...
... This is the creature that the statue in Treasure Town was modeled after!
I looked at the label.
"545. SCOLIPEDE."
Scolipede, huh...?
Wait a second.
... Are these our ancestors? The ancient Pokémon that lived before our time? The extinct strands of...
I had so many questions buzzing about my head! This was the discovery of the century! Darkrai may have just led me into fame and fortune by accident!
Oh, how I cherish him and his company now!
I felt full of regret having to leave him, but... I'll see him again someday, I'm sure of it.
I yawned. I was bushed... Almost getting killed and all the strain I put on my mind has made me sleepy.
I removed the lower part of my getup and used it as a makeshift bedspread on the floor. I lied down and quickly dozed off.
I was going to clear my name and become famous...!
