7 - Walking Image
"I suppose we should try to get out of here," he said. "This place is depressing." With their backs to their corpses, the trainer and his faithful pokemon began to walk toward the crumbled stone wall. Each step that the trainer and Gengar took made no sound, although Golurk's steps made rather heavy impacts upon the floor, rattling the cell and making bits of dust fall from the cracks in the ceiling. As they drew closer to the makeshift doorway they could walk through, something peculiar caught Dusclops' eye. On his trainer's beltline where he had kept his Pokeballs in the past, there seemed to be something in their place.
"Dusc," he vocalized.
The trainer stopped and turned to Dusclops. "Hmm?"
Dusclops lifted one of his thick, mummified hands and pointed toward the trainer's beltline. He looked down, and, surprisingly enough, there were strange objects attached to his belt loop. They appeared to be Dusk Balls, much like you could purchase at any higher tier Pokemart, but they were clear like glass.
"Where'd these come from…?" the trainer inquired. The mysterious glassy Dusk Balls seemed to be uniform; nothing distinguished one from the other.
Curious, he pulled the first dusk ball off of his belt loop. The only light in the room came from his ghostly visage, but it did not illuminate the room in the least, let alone the strange sphere he held in his hand. From his ghostly eyes, however, he could see the Dusk Ball's details; it was mostly green with jagged purple streaks strewn around it in a basketball-like pattern. It was absolutely clear as well; the stone floor below was unclouded when viewed through the ball.
He casually tossed the ball up and caught it like it was a baseball before looking back up to his pokemon. Their eyes were upon him, but Dusclops seemed fixated specifically upon the Dusk Ball that he held in his hand. It looked almost as if it was calling to him.
The trainer looked back and forth between the ball and Dusclops. "Um, should I try to use this or something…?" He looked at Dusclops, who had stepped forward. "I guess so," the trainer said, unsure. As he pointed the Dusk Ball at Dusclops, he squeezed it as he typically did with the Pokeballs he used in the past to return his pokemon to them. As he did, a sickly green beam fired from the center point of the ball. It was pale and almost disturbing in color, as it seemed to be very close to being the same color that represented grass-typed pokemon. As the beam made contact with Dusclops, the trainer's soul felt a strange, almost stinging sensation in his chest.
"Aaagh!" he flinched, not expecting the strange pain to appear, especially since he had felt no physical pain since reawakening. The beam began to retract, and Dusclops' image dematerialized into the same color as the sick light. As the beam pulled back into the Dusk Ball, the trainer felt as though something was pushing against him, almost trying to make its way inside of him through his chest. He stumbled backwards as the Dusk Ball finished pulling Dusclops within it. The other ghosts moved forward, ready to assist him if he fell.
Barely on his feet, the trainer caught himself before he fell. He felt…different…as if there was a new presence within his mind. Within the recesses of his mind, he felt as though there was another being trying to make space for itself. Rather disturbed, his eyes drifted back down to the Dusk Ball in his hand. Within it, the same color light was present in the center of the glassy sphere. It flickered and pulsed with life, almost as if it was Dusclops himself.
"That was…rather strange…" the trainer said aloud to his pokemon, who seemed to be confused at the strange ordeal.
'(You're telling me,)' a voice echoed in his head.
"What the?!" he blurted out loud, looking around as if the voice had come from above. "Who said that?!" Chandelure, Golurk, Froslass, Jellicent, and Gengar looked around, confused as to who he was yelling at.
'(Wait, did you really hear me?)' the voice intruded once more.
"Yes, I heard you! Who are you?" he rebutted.
'(It's me, Serperior, err, Dusclops!)'
"S…Serperior?" The trainer's eyes were unfocused as his attention turned to his mentality. "Where are you, in my head or something?" Despite the odd situation, he spoke casually, as if nothing strange were occurring.
'(I don't know,)' Dusclops responded. He was not speaking in the same language that humans spoke, but rather in understandable impulses that allowed his trainer to communicate. '(That makes the most sense of anything else that's happened so far.)'
The trainer looked at his other pokemon and pointed to his head as if he was wearing a wireless headset. "Oh my god, you guys, Serperior's in my head." His pokemon looked at him rather questionably. The pose he was making made him look rather stupid.
'(When I was sucked into the Dusk Ball,)' Dusclops continued, '(it felt as if I was being pulled into another entity or something…like I was being connected with you.)'
The trainer's eyes widened. "I felt the same way! Err, rather from the other perspective."
"GENGAR GENGAR GENGAR!" Gengar yelled, holding her head as she shook it over and over. Scrafty always did hate not knowing what was going on.
The trainer looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, Gengar, and everyone else. I suppose this is rather confusing.
'(Maybe you should use the other Dusk Balls, too,)' Dusclops suggested.
"Good idea," he said, placing the Dusk Ball back onto his beltline. He grabbed the second one closest to his front and looked back up. The others were looking at him expectantly, but Jellicent seemed to be just as hypnotized as Dusclops was when he held the other ball. "Your turn, Jellicent."
Jellicent smiled and nodded to him. He took a wider stance, prepared to brace for the impact at hand.
'(Wait, does this mean I have to share my thoughts with the others?)' Dusclops interjected.
"Probably!" the trainer proclaimed as he squeezed the Dusk Ball, sending a very pale beam of pink into Jellicent. The contact sent the same pressure against his chest, but this time he had prepared himself.
'(I guess this means my private thoughts need to be a bit friendlier)' Dusclops said with a rather distasteful tone. Regardless of his negativity, the trainer could feel he was rather ecstatic about the relationship he now had with his trainer and fellow team.
Jellicent's body diffused into the bright pink light as the Dusk Ball pulled her in. As she became fully encapsulated within, the force of the event was still almost enough to knock the trainer off balance. He managed to remain on his feet as he felt Musharna digging into his shared mind. The strange feeling was definitely not the type of experience he felt he could become used to.
Regaining his sense of location, he glanced back at the Dusk Ball, which like the previous Dusk Ball carried the same color light within. The pulsing ball of pink light gave him the feeling of Musharna's presence, while her mind began to become embedded within his own.
'(Yeah, Musharna's always like that isn't she?)' Dusclops randomly thought.
Musharna's presence within his mind became as constant as Serperior's as her conscious connected. '(Whoa, that was- wait, Musharna's always like what?)' Jellicent immediately interrogated.
'(Oh, nothing. We were just talking about you.)' Dusclops' tone was rather taunting.
'(Screw you, Serperior…)' she thought back disdainfully. Dusclops let out a mental snicker.
The trainer smiled at their dispositions, but was even more ecstatic about his newfound connection he would have with his pokemon for who-knows-how-long. With a big grin across his face from blue ear to blue ear, he swapped the Dusk Ball with the third at the belt. "Let's go ahead and get you guys settled, too," he said to them. The others looked at him eagerly.
One at a time, he retracted each of his ghost pokemon into their respective Dusk Balls, and each time he did he felt them enter his conscious. Strangely enough, it was more than simply having them within his thoughts; as he withdrew them one by one, he felt as though they had truly become a part of him, as if their minds and souls were forever bound to his through an unbreakable bond that was formed whenever they were brought into those little glassy Dusk Balls. He had absolutely no way of rationalizing or explaining any of the strange occurrences that had taken place all of this time, but he decided questioning it would bring more harm than rolling with whatever spiritual experiences came his way.
He stared at the flickering lights within the six Dusk Balls, now on his beltline. Dusclops' was green, Jellicent's was pink, Golurk's was a deep brown, Gengar's was orange, Froslass' was white, and Chandelure's was red. All of them danced in a brilliant display of soulful light, signaling just how alive their existences were despite their fatal decay. "Alright you guys are you ready to go?" he inquired aloud.
'(Ready,)' Dusclops assured.
'(Roger,)' Froslass called.
'(Mhmm,)' Golurk bellowed.
'(Ready as I'll ever be,)' Chandelure thought.
'(Yup!)' Gengar added.
'(Let's go,)' Jellicent agreed.
Still wary of their current condition, the trainer reassured himself that they would all learn more of their present state as they experienced living this way for a while, he looked around the room. All of the events that took place up to Tyranitar's Stone Edge were fresh in his visual memory, but nothing more persisted. Whatever else had occurred had systematically destroyed the doorway.
Suddenly, as the trainer had thought of the lack of knowledge he suffered from, new memories began to engrave into his mind: memories he had never had in the past.
A massive Fusion Flare that was conjured by Reshiram had completely obliterated the small doorway in an attempt to exact revenge upon Tyranitar and the sages. Tyranitar's roars of pain were fully audible as the explosion smashed the rocky supports above.
The trainer staggered, almost falling backwards. '(Did I just…learn that…?)' he thought. '(There was no way...)'
He looked back at the dusk balls. The flickering lights reflected off of his glowing pupils, as if his pokemon were visually communicating with him. The hypnotic colors melted his thoughts, filling his mind with visions of the past from the eyes of his own pokemon. The sight of him dying, the enraged assault, and the explosion, all of the details flowed from his pokemon into his mind.
'(How on earth could they have possibly fought back so much?)' he thought to himself. '(There was no possible way for them to fight, let alone do all of this…)'
'(Perhaps you just don't give us enough credit,)' Jellicent sassed. He had forgotten that his thoughts were interlinked with theirs.
'(I guess you could hear all of that, huh?)' he thought back. He could feel them silently nodding mentally. '(Still…I don't understand where all of that power came from…)'
His pokemon remained quiet as he thought for a moment. He turned back toward the embracing corpses that had once been their bodies. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that all of his pokemon's bodies had blood running from their mouths and noses, with the exception of Gigalith who did not have either. Most of their fatal injuries were internal, not external. '(So how did…)' he trailed off.
More borrowed memories relapsed in his vision, this time with physical feeling. During their rampage, his pokemon had been so focused upon avenging their fallen master that they did not notice the immense amount of internal pain that erupted when they attacked. Even slight movements, such as mild walking, caused great pain within their bodies. Their bodies were tearing themselves apart.
With a blank stare, the trainer took a moment to take in the possibility of what happened. His pokemon's outrage was mentally fueled by the loss of their trainer, but physically fueled by the energy their bodies used for vital processes. The energy used for their thinking, for their breathing, for their heartbeats. He knew that they shared a strong love for each other, but...
His dead heart ached. He was sure his pokemon knew what he was thinking, but they didn't respond.
"...Let's go ahead and..." he paused, touched by their devotion. "...and find a way out of here." His soft words were very choked and emotional. Without returning a thought, his pokemon agreed.
He walked up to the crumbled rubble he had flung himself through and placed a hand upon it. Slowly, he walked through the rocks as if nothing was there. As he passed through the solid objects, his vision saw through them, revealing a darkened, ornate hallway ahead of them with several Team Plasma grunts leaning against the wall, conversing. The hallway was dark and burnt, since the lights and decorations had been destroyed in the blast.
He phased fully through the wall to an interesting sight. The grunts were staring at him, horrified at his visage. He only stared back at them; unlike earlier, it was clear that he was now visible to them. Blue smog flowed off of his body while his piercing yellow eyes looked into theirs.
Hysteria overcame them. "AAAAAAAH! IT'S HIM! IT'S HIM!" one of them screamed. "THE GUY WHO WAS KILLED BY TYRANITAR!"
"T-THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" the next yelled out in panic.
"HE'S BACK FOR REVENGE! RUN!" the first grunt screamed as he bolted down the hallway away from the trainer.
The terrified grunts ran off in a panic, knocking over many of the smoldering decorations along the walls and on small metal tables. Still without most of his emotions, the trainer smiled. He was glad that others could see him, but he was more pleased in the fact that he was able to scare the people he hated nearly to death.
'(Well, that was certainly fun!)' Jellicent delightfully beamed.
'(Haha, yeah!)' Gengar jumped in. '(Let's go find some other grunts and sneak up on them going "OoooooOOOooo!")' She giggled.
The trainer enjoyed how his pokemon were still as vibrant as ever, but his smile quickly faded as he remembered what he was looking for. He wanted to find him. He wanted to make him pay. He didn't know precisely how much time had passed since the tragedy, but he'd locate him no matter what. He bolted forward toward the direction the grunts ran off to, expecting to find them hiding behind others. Rounding corner after corner in the labyrinth castle, he ran into more and more Team Plasma members, each more terrified than the last. He even ran into several higher ranked people, but they were still chased away with their tails between their legs.
After wandering the darkened halls, he finally reached a hallway with working lights. '(Sheesh, Reshiram, try to control yourself next time, hmm?)' he thought. Chandelure beamed with pride as his Dusk Ball flared red.
'(Sorry, I was a bit upset when I saw you get murdered a little,)' Chandelure quipped.
As he stepped into the light, a peculiar change occurred. As the light illuminated his appearance, his image shifted. Instantly and without a transition, his appearance shifted to something that intrigued him.
He appeared normal. His skin and eyes were no longer aglow, his pants turned blue, his shirt white with the old shield and monochromatic roses decorating it, and his hoodie reverted to black: the blood gone. Intrigued by the changes he could see by looking at his hands, he quickly found an intact mirror close by on a wall.
Peering into it, he was astounded. Everything seemed to be how he remembered them being. His jet-black hair loomed over his eyes slightly without blocking his field of vision. His face was relatively average in proportions: not too round and not too pointed. His brown eyes were surrounded by a relatively thick line of black caused from his eyelashes and his natural face shape, leaving a prominent black rim around his gazing eyes. The features of his face were soft and unblemished, which was normal for someone who was around his age, whatever that age was. Judging from his own appearance, he estimated between 14 and 16 years. He was rather scrawny with no real muscles or fat to show, and from the looks of things, he appeared to be at about 5'8" in height.
He placed his hand gently on the mirror. '(My old face…)' he thought. '(It's just like my old self in every way.)'
Curious, he looked to his belt loop. The glassy clear dusk balls now appeared to be ordinary Pokeballs with no light glowing from them.
His pokemon were interested as well. While they, as well as the trainer, could tell that he was still a lost soul, he appeared to be completely alive.
'(Wow,)' he thought to his team, '(are you guys seeing this? I…I look alive…)'
He held his arms out, looking at them as though he had been looking at them for the first time. Positive energy beamed from his Pokemon. Even if the change was simply aesthetic, gazing upon their trainer in his living image made them feel as alive as he appeared to be. He smiled, enjoying this strange event that occurred when he stepped into the light.
'(Is…is it real?)' questioned Froslass. '(Like, do you feel anything different?)' The trainer continued to look at his arms in a mesmerized way.
'(Try to, um, move through an object or something,)' Golurk suggested.
At the suggestion, he gently placed his hand on the mirror and began pushing against it. After a moment of pressure, his solidity gave way and his arm passed through the solid metal and glass. He sighed while still smiling. '(At least I don't look murdered,)' he thought as he withdrew his hand.
The moment over, he rounded the corner and was immediately met by a large group of Team Plasma members standing in fear behind a burly looking executive. They seemed both shocked and confused at the sight of him.
The executive raised a finger toward the trainer. "Is this the boy you were talking about?" he said in a somewhat wretched voice.
"W-what?" one of the grunts stammered in a shaken, timid tone. It was the grunt that had ran away first.
"What happened? L-last time, he was... And blue... And, eyes..." another grunt attempted to add.
The executive sighed. "This is why you're grunts. You're all spineless fools." He looked at the trainer. "Who are you, boy? What are you doing in our castle?"
The trainer looked at the executive hard. After all that had happened, he realized he really didn't know who he was, even after viewing his old self in the mirror. His memories didn't consist of anything pertaining to who he was, only that he was "the guy who challenged N", "the guy who challenged our master", and more recently "the guy who Tyranitar killed." That appeared to be his only identity that he could relate to. The guy...
"I'll ask you one more time. Who are you, kid?"
He let out a short breath and shrugged.
"I'm The Guy," he declared.
"What? What guy?"
"The Guy." he repeated and shrugged carelessly once more.
The executive's face shifted to an expression of annoyance. "That's not a name. Give me your name now before I throw you off this castle."
The trainer took a step forward and presented himself. "I'm The Guy who challenged N, The Guy who defied Team Plasma," he boldly declared. He felt as though he was building a name for himself the more he said those two words.
"What? That's impossible. That guy was taken to a holding chamber, where he refused to give up his pokemon. Our high sage even sent his Tyranitar on him. Poor fool was too stubborn to submit, so they had no choice but…" He chuckled to himself for a moment. "…but to kill him." The last of his words were backed by a sense of undeserved smugness.
The Guy's face hardened. "The sage with the Tyranitar, where is he?"
"Well wouldn't you like to know?" said one of the grunts in the back. They seemed to be gaining confidence that he wasn't a ghost.
"It doesn't matter where he is, what matters now is what to do with you since you refuse to cooperate and tell us who you really are." The executive drew a Pokeball from his waist.
"Just tell me where he is. I have some business to take care of." His tone and expression turned deathly serious.
"Maybe I'll tell you if you defeat me in a battle." He seemed unusually confident, yet that's how most executives are in these organizations.
'(Hey, um, The Guy, is it?)' Golurk echoed, '(Can I, um, punch this guy's teeth in or something?)'
Without breaking eye contact, The Guy placed his hand on Golurk's Pokeball.
"Heh. Prepare yourself for defeat, little boy!" With wide swing, the executive threw his Pokeball into the space between him and The Guy. In a burst of yellow light, a Liepard appeared with a battle ready cry. The executive smugly stood with his arms crossed, acting as though his Liepard was unique despite the thousands of them The Guy ran into.
The Guy tossed his Pokeball. It burst open with a darker light, the type of light that a Dusk Ball usually creates when opened. The black silhouette took shape into a giant humanoid form with stout legs, wide forearms, and a large upper body structure. As the black light faded, Golurk adamantly stood, ready to fight.
The presence of a ghost type pokemon immediately unnerved the grunts after they had seen a specter in their base.
"Pff, a ghost type? Against my dark type? Hah!" the man gave the smuggest look The Guy had ever seen. He wanted to punch him in the face as much as Golurk did.
The Guy began to calculate his moves; his mind seemed far more clairvoyant and focused than when he drew real breath as he seemed to be uninhibited by random thoughts. Now that Golurk was physically away from him, it seemed that their thoughts were no longer intertwined like the others, that they were once again a trainer and his Pokemon. Despite this, The Guy seemed to know his moveset and battle style instinctually after it was figuratively downloaded into his memory.
"Liepard! Agility!" the executive commanded.
"Liiiiiee!" The grunts watched in awe as Liepard began to swiftly zigzag back and forth at an increasing speed; never before had they watched an executive in action. Liepard soon peaked in speed, moving so fast that it was difficult for any living soul in the room to see. Golurk didn't move an inch.
"Now, Liepard. Night Slash!"
Liepard's rapid erratic movements soon turned into a directed assault as he began to bolt straight for Golurk. Liepard's claws began to glow a bright purple, creating a visible trail of neon light.
'(What was the point of using Agility first? Gigalith's already slow as a rock,)' thought Gengar. The Guy watched closely, unimpressed.
"Liiiiiieeeeeeeeee...PAA-"
A wave of shock washed over all of the spectators as well as the confident executive, whose confidence was shattered.
"W...what...it can't be...!" Sweat rolled down his surprised face.
Liepard twitched in both shock and pain as his foreleg was engulfed in Golurk's massive right hand. Golurk only stared at the struggling Liepard, not easing his steel grip.
"Ah...ah...aahhgrrrRRRR" Liepard growled as he swung his body around to attack Golurk with his unbound claw. As his claw neared its target, Golurk tightened his grip on Liepard's leg, making an audible snap.
"PAAAAAAAAAARD!" Liepard screamed in pain as Golurk released his grip, dropping him onto the floor with a hard thud.
"Liepard! No!" the executive dramatically exclaimed.
The Guy only stared at Liepard with disappointment.
"Golurk, that's enough," The Guy commanded.
Golurk didn't move very much, but his stance was relaxed.
The executive ran to his Liepard and stood over him. "Can you fight?"
Liepard looked at him painfully, letting out a weak, negative cry.
"Liepard's had enough," The Guy interjected. "He doesn't deserve to be damaged any further."
The executive shot a look in The Guy's direction. "What?!" he barked through his teeth.
"There's no reason to savagely hurt any of your pokemon. They only follow what you tell them to do." He spoke with an emotionless face.
The executive stared at him in insulted disbelief.
"Now, I will ask you again. Where is the sage with the Tyranitar?"
"GrrrRRRRR YOU SON OF A BITCH!" The less than mannered executive pulled out his only other Pokeball.
Out of the tossed Pokeball emanated a bright white silhouette. The Guy's eyes slightly widened in shock as he saw the shape the light took. The triangular shaped body slowly became resolute, revealing two stumpy legs, two limbless hands, and a swirl-topped head. In a burst of white, the executive's Dusclops stood before Golurk, letting out its cry.
A memory flashed in The Guy's mind.
"I have recovered the Dusclops you have requested. The trainer was...complicated, but was no trouble."
The Guy clenched his fists in anger. '(This Dusclops…)' he thought.
Intense anger and rage emanated from his pokemon. They knew exactly which Dusclops this one was based off of The Guy's shared memory.
'(That Dusclops is the same one those bastards stole!)' Froslass yelled in their mind.
'(Those low-life hypocritical thugs!)' thought Gengar. '(They wiped that Dusclops' mind! He doesn't even have his personality anymore! Just look at that lifeless gaze of his!)' One look in the Dusclops' eye showed mechanical servitude, the type of gaze only produced by those who were completely mindless servants.
'(Let us out,)' Chandelure barked, losing his usual cool-headed composure. '(Let us out and let us free him! Let us punish Team Plasma!)' The others cried out in agreement.
With very controlled patience, The Guy responded. '(Calm down, everyone. This isn't the time for that. But I do promise you, we will tear Team Plasma apart.)' His serious tone was both assuring and intimidating to his pokemon.
"Shadow Ball!" The executive yelled, wasting no time.
Dusclops' eye began to glow as he levitated high off the floor. Hands out, a ball of shadows quickly congealed before him. In an instant, the ball shot forward toward Golurk at a high speed. The dancing dark light glimmered in Golurk's oddly-shaped eyes as he watched the attack approach.
Golurk had retained all of his memories from when he was alive when he had awakened. His old Gigalith-style battle tactics and strategies were present along with his newfound train-of-thought. One of the techniques he remembered as a Gigalith was how to take a hit and then return with a devastating blow. His instincts as a Golurk told him to use his foe's energy against them.
The Guy said nothing. Although their minds were now separate, he knew exactly what Golurk had intended to do, despite having no formal orders. Smirking, he nodded with approval toward the ghostly giant.
As the Shadow Ball was about to hit Golurk, he shifted his stance to a more bracing position. He extended his left arm toward the attack, palm wide open and waiting. The Shadow Ball crashed into his open hand, the energy crackling against his fingers. After a brief moment, the ball dispersed into waves of purple energy and electricity as it flowed down Golurk's arm, filling him with its energy.
"What?!" the executive as well as many of the spectating grunts exclaimed.
Golurk clenched his fist, his arm pulsing with shadow energy that crackled like an arcing bolt of lightning.
"Shadow Punch," The Guy said at the same time Golurk thought.
He leapt into the air toward the disarmed Dusclops, fist clenched and flowing with power behind him. Halfway to reaching Dusclops, Gigalith reached the peak of his jump and descended out of reach of his target. Looking to the floor, he smashed his fist into the ground, making what seemed like no physical contact with the solid stone flooring. As he did, a charged fist of shadow erupted before Dusclops and smashed into his forehead and eye. The massive force of the impact sent dark purple sparks of shadow energy across the ceiling and walls, interfering with the lights on the ceiling and the candles along the walls.
The executive and his audience were stunned as Dusclops fell to the ground with a loud thud. His eye tightly shut and flowing with dark purple blood, Dusclops didn't move in the least.
"Good aim, Golurk," The Guy complimented. "I see I'm not the only one who thought to do that." He looked down toward Dusclops. "That blow to the head will hopefully reignite his erased memories."
The executive shot a nervous glance at The Guy. He had lost to a child.
The Guy took a short step toward the defeated executive. "Now, I will ask you for the final time." As The Guy spoke, the lights across the ceiling and along the walls began to fail as they flickered rapidly.
The surrounding grunts each thought what they were seeing was a trick of the mind. Each time the lights flickered, the child's appearance seemed to change.
He spoke slowly.
"Where"
One by one, the flickering lights began to black out from the back of the hallway toward the lights directly above them.
"is"
Each candle that lined the walls behind The Guy died one at a time. The dead ceiling lights burst with a loud, glassy crack.
"the"
His voice became louder and more commanding. The last of the candles died out as the final ceiling light burst, leaving the hallway lightless. The executive and the grunts froze in paralyzing fear as the child in front of them had transformed in the dark. His hoodie turned to a ghostly white with disturbingly real blood splatters across it. His jeans turned a dark red. His eyes were aglow with an eerie light. His voice began to echo slightly. Most prominently, his skin had become clear and pale blue.
"SAGE!"
As he yelled out his demand, Chandelure's Dusk Ball flared with bright red light. The dead candles upon the walls ignited with sickly purple fire, the same type of fire that burned from a Chandelure. In unholy fear, the executive and the grunts only looked at the angered spirit before them, terrified for their own lives and souls. Many of the grunts in the back of the crowd turned to run off, leading the rest of them to follow in horrified discord.
As the last of the grunts made it up the staircase and through the doorway, a wall of ice instantly condensed around it, preventing the fleeing executive from proceeding any further. Froslass' Dusk Ball was aglow with an eerie white light.
The executive turned around, his heart and mind racing. With a panicked look in his eye, he breathed heavily as he stared at the dead child that approached him.
"I'm waiting," The Guy said with false patience in his voice.
"Please, don't kill me!" the man desperately begged. Hysteria had settled into his mind.
"Just tell me what I want to know." He slowly walked toward the executive, blue fog rolling off of his feet and legs. Gigalith followed closely behind.
"He's upstairs!" the executive cracked. "Two floors up, the last door on the right! Please..."
"That's all I wanted to hear." As The Guy thought to return Golurk to his Dusk Ball, he dematerialized into a beige silhouette and disappeared into the ball.
Running past the cowering executive, The Guy silently glided up the stairs and up to the now-frozen door. Without slowing down, he ran straight through the impassable glacier, leaving the mentally scarred executive trembling in fear at what he just experienced.
The hallway he entered at the top of the stairs was properly lit, and his appearance reverted back to a human the instant his body left the shadows. The hallway was somewhat littered with Team Plasma members of every rank who were questioning the massive group of grunts that had just stampeded by.
The Guy ran down the hallway at full speed, immediately catching their attention.
"Hey! You there! Stop!" the first of them yelled.
"Stop this instant!" the second yelled. Every man and woman he ran by immediately gave chase, but he didn't acknowledge their presence.
'(Two floors up…last door on the right…)' he repeated in his head.
Rounding a corner, he came to a steep set of stairs with an iron door at the top. The top half of the stairs was shadowed by an unlit ceiling.
Team Plasma began to catch up to him when he began to scale the stairs. While just a few meters from the first stair, the man in front of the group reached out to grab the hood of The Guy's jacket. Just before making contact, he crossed into the shadow. Instantly, the man and his following Team Plasma halted. They didn't get more than a second to take in what he turned into before he phased through the thick metal door. They stood, stunned and dumbfounded.
The Guy entered a long, somewhat over-decorated lit hallway. The doors were ornate and fancy compared to the iron doorways found in the rest of the castle. Across the walls were regal designs that patterned the wall in gold and blue. There were no twists or turns in the ornate hall, only a straight path to the end wall with doors all along the sides. There were no people in this hallway.
Immediately, he shifted his gaze to the end of the hallway, focusing on the door on the right. It was open, and the door intruded into the hall.
As he drew nearer, he could feel his pokemon becoming as restless as he was. Images of the soulless sage and his bloodthirsty Tyranitar flashed in his mind. With each step he could feel the air becoming heavier with tension as time seemed to creep by too slowly. He clenched his fists tightly, making an audible crack.
He slid to a stop in front of the doorway and looked into the room with a burning gaze. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.
