Jay
Down on the mats below, eight pokémon were fighting. Half of them were eevee kits, and the other four were Rangers. They had broken off into pairs so that each of the kits could try sparring with a more experienced opponent. Lyra the lucario, Warden of the Fighters, moved around the room, fretting over the battles and scolding the Rangers whenever they got too rough with their partner. She paid special attention to her son, Spike, a young riolu with shifty, nervous eyes. Every movement he made seemed to be flavored with uncertainty, though his punches connected more often than not.
Despite Lyra's worrying, Spike was probably the one she needed to watch the least. The other three seemed far more dangerous. The leader of the Ranger team, the eevee that Char had named Red, never passed up an opportunity to hurt his kit. He was probably the worst fighter of the four, but since he was fighting a child that didn't really matter. His attacks were slow but he struck brutally hard. A cruel smile formed on his face whenever he drew blood from an opponent, and his red eyes were filled with a lust for violence.
Char was sparring as well. Jay was pretty sure that the charmander knew some elemental attacks, but he wasn't using them right now. He relied mainly on his claws to fend off his kit, and occasionally he swung his burning tail around to spook the eevee into retreating. Lyra frowned at him whenever he did that. She didn't seem to trust his fire.
The fourth Ranger, a pawniard named Blade, was by far the best. It was hard to tell whether he was fighting or dancing. He moved graciously and constantly, carrying the momentum from one attack into the next. Despite the fact that the lower ends of his arms were knives, he never actually hurt any of the kits. Occasionally he would smack them with the flat side of his arm, but that was it.
Jay watched them from the bleachers. Dane the servine sat next to him, keeping Jay company as he waited for his turn to spar. Almost fifty kits filled the benches. The High Warden was down in the center of the lowest row, with Terrin and Doki seated to his left and right. Occasionally one of them would make a comment to the absol, and the High Warden would listen, sometimes nod, but never say a word in response.
This would be the last day they spent in the Ward of the Fighters. It was the third day that they had come down to this sparring room to spend hours on the bleachers, watching each of the kits take their turn, four at a time. They had gotten through sixteen on the first day and another sixteen on the second. Jay had spent both sessions worrying about when his time would come, but in the end he had not been called on. Now the third day was nearing its conclusion, and only four eevee had not yet been chosen to step down onto the mats for the High Warden's judgement. Jay was among those four. He knew that his turn was coming as soon as this current set was finished.
"I hope I get Blade," Jay confided to Dane, hoping that some idle conversation would ease his nervousness.
Dane looked confused. "Why? He's the best of all of us. Maybe you'll get me. I'll go easy on you if you do." The servine had spent most of the past three days fighting, but the six Rangers had a rotation, and right now it was Dane's turn to take a break. The last Ranger, a very fat eevee named Sig, sat over on the other side of the bleachers, dwarfing the kits that surrounded him.
"He's the most careful, though," Jay said. Blade had not spilled a single drop of blood in any of his battles over these three sessions. He hadn't taken any wounds, either, but that didn't really matter to Jay. "He won't hurt me even if I lose."
"You will lose. You'll lose no matter which of us you get matched with. You're not supposed to win. The High Warden just wants to see how you do against a better opponent. He wants to see if you'll beg for mercy, or if you'll cry, or if you'll refuse to fight. Want my advice? Do not do any of those things. The High Warden hates cowards."
Jay had already learned that for himself. Most of the kits had been obedient, but a few had broken down in tears and tried to flee when their turn came to fight. The High Warden had sent those away. Jay didn't know where they had been taken, but he hadn't seen any of them since then.
"Anyway, as I was saying," Dane continued, "you don't want to fight Blade. You won't get hurt, but you won't land a single attack either, and that's no way to make a good impression. And honestly, it may not be the best idea to try me or Char. I'm sure the High Warden knows you're friendly with us, and he might see that as taking the easy way out. You could try Sig…but he puts that weight of his to good use, and he's quicker than you'd expect. Besides, he'll probably manage to get out of the next shift anyway. He always manages to avoid doing work."
That only left Spike and Red. "Who, then?" Jay asked.
Dane thought for a moment. "I'd go with Red."
"Really?" Jay had spent plenty of time watching the team leader, and he was not eager to fight him.
"Yep. He's the dangerous choice, but you actually have a chance with him. You've seen him. He's a slow, heavy attacker. Those are the easiest to beat. In my opinion, anyway." Dane shrugged. "But hey, if you want the safe choice, pick Spike, or me, or Char. Doesn't matter to me. Just know that you have no shot against us three. We fight more carefully than Red. He puts all of his weight into every attack, and he gets stupid when he's angry. He might hurt you, but if you're good, maybe you can turn the tables on him."
Jay stayed silent as he thought. If I fight Red, maybe I can impress the High Warden. It startled him to realize just how badly he wanted that. Why was he so concerned with the absol's opinion of him? He wasn't even sure what the High Warden wanted from him, or why he was even here. Nobody had explained anything to him. He had asked Doki once, but she hadn't told him anything either.
"How come you're helping me, anyway?" Jay asked after a while.
Dane gave him a look. "Well, we're friends, right? Friends help each other."
"Yeah," Jay said, "but Red's your friend and your teammate. Why tell me how to beat him?"
"I dunno. Maybe I just want to see all of that arrogance catch up to him." Dane smiled. "Honestly, he's not a tenth as good as he thinks he is. Well, none of us are great at fighting, except Blade. That's why we're here in the first place, y'know? We're a pretty new team, and we need the practice as much as you kits do. Blade, Char, and I got shipped in from the Unova branch less than a year ago."
"The Unova branch?"
"What, you think this is the only Lab?" He laughed. "Nah, there's at least one in every region. Most of the branches specialize in a certain kind of pokémon. That's why there's so many eevee here. When a branch needs Rangers or Wardens or something like that, they'll usually take some of the more qualified pokémon from another branch to fill the slot."
"Oh." Jay had been wondering why almost everyone he saw was an eevee, but he hadn't really bothered to ask about it.
He was trying to think of something else to say when the High Warden rose from his seat.
"Enough," said the absol. All four fights stopped immediately. Lyra approached him, and she, Doki, Terrin, and the High Warden held a brief, quiet conversation. The Rangers and kits on the mats stood around quite awkwardly as the four talked.
They were done in less than a minute. Lyra backed away again, and the High Warden began to speak, addressing the four kits who had been sparring. "Thank you for your cooperation. I have judged your skills. You may return to the benches." Jay had heard him say those exact words more than half a dozen times. The old absol turned to face the rest of the kits behind him. "If my count is correct, only four of you remain to be tested. Doki, Terrin, kindly retrieve them. Rangers, you may take a short break as they prepare for battle."
Terrin climbed up the ascending seats, making a beeline straight for Jay. "Your turn, beast," he muttered when he reached him.
Jay had no choice but to follow. His anxiety returned as he made his way down the ground. A dozen kits were looking right at him. He tried to ignore them. Doki smiled at him as he passed her, and that made him feel a little better. He stepped down onto the mat, and the other three eevee crawled down beside him.
The High Warden stepped up to them. "You should all know what is expected of you by now. Do any of you have any questions?" When none of them responded, he said, "Good. And are any of you too frightened to participate? Say the word, and I will send you away." Again, neither Jay nor the kits opened their mouths. The High Warden nodded. "It will begin as soon as the Rangers are ready, then. Good luck." He turned away and walked back to his seat.
The Rangers were back a few minutes later. Blade, Char, and Red resumed their positions on the fighting grounds. Dane descended from the bleachers to replace Spike. Sig, Jay noticed, had indeed managed to get out of this shift.
Lyra approached the four eevee. "Go on," she said. "Pick a partner."
Jay still wasn't entirely sure who to choose. He had ruled out Blade, but that still left Dane, Char, and Red. Should he choose Red? Dane had told him to, but maybe the servine was wrong. The team leader didn't look like he had grown any kinder in the past ten minutes. It would be so much easier to fight Dane, who had promised to go easy on him…
The three kits were hesitating as well. They all looked scared. Well, one of us needs to go, Jay thought. The High Warden might get mad if they didn't move soon. He suppressed a sigh, then stepped over toward Red.
The red-eyed eevee looked shocked that he would be anyone's first choice. Then he laughed. "You're stupider than you look, kid. All right, we'll see what you can do." He continued to chuckle, but his expression had changed to one of loathing. Had Jay somehow wounded his pride? Suddenly this didn't seem like such a good idea. I really need to stop making enemies…
Lyra noticed the look as well. "Don't you do anything stupid," she warned Red, but he didn't acknowledge her.
Jay's decision had inspired the other three to act as well. The first kit went to Dane, the second to Char. The last reluctantly stepped across the room to face Blade. Jay prepared himself, and so did everyone else.
"Begin," the High Warden commanded.
Remember what Dane said, Jay told himself as Red began to stalk toward him. He hits hard, but he's slow. Anger makes him stupid. But how could Jay abuse that? He would need to figure that out very soon.
Red increased his pace. He had closed half of the distance between them. I'll just dodge for now, Jay decided. Would that make him look cowardly? He hoped not.
He leapt away from the first scratch. Red had obviously been expecting him to be slower, so Jay was able to dodge it easily. The second attack came more quickly, but Jay managed to avoid that one as well.
Red chased him across the room. Jay no longer cared that he was being watched; he was focused entirely on the fight. The scratches kept coming, and Jay kept dodging. With every attack, the red-eyed eevee seemed to grow angrier. His swipes began to come more quickly.
"Quit running and fight," Red said, glaring.
Jay did not respond. He rolled away from another attack. He was growing tired from all this moving, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up.
The next scratch came too quickly, and Red's claw grazed Jay's flesh as he jumped out of the way. Jay felt a flash of pain. He didn't have time to check if the blow had drawn blood. He forced himself to forget about his fatigue.
Red was satisfied. "Come and fight me properly, or you'll get worse." He came forward again.
But Jay continued to run and dodge. He forced himself to be quick, and took no chances. Red began to grow angry again. Fortunately, the red-eyed eevee's heavy attacks were taking a toll on him. He looked like he was growing tired more quickly than Jay. His attacks slowed, his run became a walk, and he took sharp, heavy breaths.
Now's my chance, Jay knew. He charged at his opponent, hoping to take him off guard.
He realized too late that Red had only been faking his fatigue.
As Jay pounced, the other eevee's paw came up and slammed into him, knocking Jay away. He fell hard onto the floor. He tried to rise but Red was already standing over him. The leader of the Rangers smirked, then scratched Jay across the chest. It wasn't a very hard scratch, but it hurt Jay's pride.
Lyra appeared beside them. "All right, step off him," she told Red. "You've won."
Red obeyed. He gave Jay one last smirk, then turned around and started walking across the mat.
That smirk filled Jay with rage.
He sprung to his feet and sprinted toward his opponent. Red never even heard him. He yelped as Jay bowled into him and knocked him to the ground. Then, without even thinking about it, Jay began to attack, just as he had attacked Flame in the Unnamed Forest.
Some time later, Lyra dragged him off. "That's enough of that," she said, dropping Jay to the floor.
Red got to his feet. Jay must not have been on him for too long, because he was only bleeding a little. "That's cheating!" he screamed in a whiny voice. "My back was turned!"
"You taunt your opponent, turn your back, and expect nothing bad to happen?" The High Warden was approaching. The others were no longer sparring. All eyes were on Jay and Red.
Red was seething. He looked like he hadn't even heard the absol's words. He gestured toward Jay. "I want him killed. I want him dead."
"Why should I have him killed? He taught you a valuable lesson, and all you had to pay was a bit of blood. I call that a bargain. Pain fades, but knowledge does not."
"It was cowardly on his part," Red snarled.
"And foolish on yours." The High Warden gave him a scolding look. "If you cannot even defeat a child, then why do I have you leading a Ranger team? Perhaps you would serve me better in the kitchens?"
Red looked away. "No."
"I thought not. Next time I watch you fight, you will give me a better show." The High Warden turned away from him. "Go."
Red went.
The High Warden looked to Jay. "That was not the most graceful win I have ever seen," the absol said. "But a victory is a victory, I suppose. Perhaps you truly do have promise."
Jay didn't know what to say. "Thank you, sir," he managed.
The High Warden did not respond, or give any indication that he had heard Jay. He was already turning his head to the others who had been sparring. "I have seen enough of these other kits for now. You three may return to the bleachers. Charmander, Servine, go with your leader. Or stay and watch, if you wish. It does not matter to me. Pawniard, come here."
Blade approached. He even walked elegantly. "Yes, sir?" He bowed.
"You and Jay will spar. I am curious to see the result."
Oh, Jay thought.
Blade bowed again. "As you command, sir."
Two minutes later, Jay and Blade stood at their starting points. Because there were no longer three other fights going on at the same time, they had more room to move around than before. They were twenty feet apart. Blade had his deadly arms up near his chest in a fighting stance. Jay knew that he was probably supposed to do something similar, but he wasn't really sure what post to make. It made him feel silly to just stand there in front of everyone. He knew that everyone's eyes were on him. The High Warden was watching, and so was Doki, and Terrin, and Dane and Char, and all those eevee kits were still there as well. But Jay wasn't looking back at them. Blade stared at him with dark, unblinking eyes, and Jay returned the gaze.
"Begin," the High Warden called out.
In his other matches, Blade had been careful, patient, and methodical. Now he adopted a new strategy. As soon as he heard the word, he sprinted right at Jay with one arm raised, ready to strike.
Jay forced himself to stand his ground. He knew he was going to lose, but he wouldn't be a coward. All of his rage was gone.
The pawniard had closed most of the distance. It was time to act.
He rolled away from the first slash, but Blade had been expecting that. The pawniard raised his foot and put it firmly on Jay's body, pinning him to the floor.
Great, Jay thought. I already lost.
But after a few moments, Blade backed away and allowed him to rise. He stared at Jay with eyes that showed no emotion. The fighting resumed.
It went on for a while, but it went the same way every time. Blade would attack. Jay would dodge. Blade would stop the dodge. The cycle repeated a dozen times. Twice, Jay tried to attack, but Blade danced away from his strikes and delivered his own.
It was a little bit humiliating, since everyone was so focused on him. Jay could feel the rage slowly building up inside of him again. He tried to harness it, but he didn't know how. It grew on its own, expanding constantly.
Finally, after ten minutes of failed attempts, the rage came back to him fully. Jay considered the emotion for a moment. Then he charged straight at Blade, ready to hurt him the same way that he had hurt Red.
Blade's eyes showed the tiniest bit of surprise. He held his ground and waited for Jay to get close.
When they were two feet apart, Blade's arm lashed out. Jay just barely managed to duck under the slash, then sprang up to pounce at Blade's vulnerable body. He soared through the air, speeding toward the pawniard, and—
Something heavy slammed into the side of his head. Jay's trajectory changed, and he ended up crashing into the floor instead of the pawniard. He gasped when he landed. His head hurt so badly that he wondered if he was dying. A few drops of blood rolled down his cheek. That was when he realized what had hit him. Blade's arm. Only the dull side, fortunately, but the metal slap had still been agonizing.
Jay tried to get to his feet, but then the pawniard was there, standing over him. He put his foot on Jay. "We are done," he said.
Jay reluctantly nodded.
The High Warden agreed as well. He rose from his seat to speak. "Thank you both for your cooperation." Thankfully, he didn't look or sound disappointed in Jay. "Rangers, I no longer require your assistance. You may return to your team's chambers." Once they had left, the absol continued, addressing all of the kits. "I have evaluated each of you, and deemed most of you adequate enough to continue your training. However, some of you are not suited to this task. If I call your name, come to me." He gave seven names. Jay didn't recognize any of them. Those kits descended to the floor, each one looking nervous.
"I thank you for your time," the High Warden said to them, "but I have no use for you here. Doki will escort you back to the Cells. Each of you will be sent to a new Ward in the morning. Do not speak of your time here to anyone."
Doki gathered those seven up and led them from the room. Jay was still on the floor, feeling out of place.
The High Warden had more to say. "The rest of you have passed this first test. Tomorrow, your real training begins. Each of you will be assigned to a Warden, who will teach you the ways of their Ward."
After that announcement, he was done. The High Warden said something to Terrin, and then left the room.
"With me, beast," Terrin said, approaching Jay. Jay followed.
Terrin ordered all of the kits off of the bleachers. Once they were all on the floor, he said, "I'm bringing you back to your room. Keep up or you'll be punished."
They exited the sparring room and began to make their way down one of the Lab's huge hallways. The Ward of the Fighters was comprised almost entirely of arenas and practice areas. Doki had told Jay that, because those rooms took up so much space, it was one of the largest Wards in the Lab.
After a few minutes of walking, Terrin looked back and eyed Jay. "Up here, beast," he said.
What does he want now? Jay wondered. Maybe he was going to mock him for losing to Blade. Well, he couldn't exactly defy a Warden, so he stepped up to walk beside him.
"You're stupider than I thought," Terrin growled.
Even for Terrin, that was awfully direct. "Why?" Jay asked.
"For trusting those Rangers. You think they're your friends?"
"They are," Jay assured him. "Dane told me they so. He even gave me advice on how to beat Red."
"That servine is almost an adult. Why would he want to be friends with a child?" Terrin shook his head. "He's just using you, beast. He knows you're a Halfman, and he knows the High Warden's taken an interest in you. The way he sees it, you're either going to end up as someone important, or you're going to end up dead. He wants you to like him in case you succeed. But if you fail, don't expect him to grieve for you. He'll forget your name within the week, and then he'll move on to the next pokémon he thinks he can leech off of."
Could that be true? Jay didn't want to believe it. "Why are you telling me this? I thought you hated me."
"Hate you?" Terrin snorted. "No, beast. I only dislike you. That's different from hate. The things I hate are liars and leeches and cheats. Never could stand them."
"Dane and Char seem so friendly, though…"
"I told you already, beast, they only seem that way. They can act nice if it pays them. But don't think that's really them. I've heard things about that servine. He likes to hurt things." Terrin glared at Jay. "Do you even now what a Ranger's job is?"
Jay shook his head. Someone had told him once, but now he couldn't remember.
"They're the only ones who're allowed to leave the Lab," Terrin told him. "They get sent off into the wild to find as many eevee as they can. They fight them into submission and bring them back to this hellhole. That's what these friends of yours do. The humans specifically choose the most ruthless and violent pokémon to become Rangers. Empathy is seen as a negative trait."
Jay was surprised to hear that. "I'll think about what you said."
"Good. Now get back with the others, beast."
An hour or so later, after a quick stop at the cafeteria, they got back to the room that Doki had dropped him off at on the first night. It was dark inside, and blankets were strewn about the floor.
"Go on," Terrin said. "Get in."
Jay entered the room, and half of the kits followed him inside. The other half needed to be led to the other room a few hundred feet away. Once everyone was inside, Terrin pushed the door closed until only a small ray of light came in from the hallway.
Now it was time to sleep. Jay had grown to hate this part of the day. Back in Box Four, he had always been able to fall asleep snuggled next to Blizz and the other twins. But his brothers were gone now, and he wasn't sure he would ever see them again.
The loneliness wasn't the worst part, though. No, the nightmares were the worst. Every night, Jay dreamed something terrible. He usually couldn't even remember what they were about by the next morning, but he knew that the visions he saw were terrifying. Maybe he was only having them because he was in a new place, or because he was scared, or something like that. They would pass soon, hopefully, and then he could go back to dreaming about normal things.
Everyone went to claim a spot on the blankets. A few of the kits had made friends, and they held whispered conversations with each other. Jay ignored their noises as he laid down and closed his eyes. He snuggled against a random kit's mane.
The room slowly grew silent as everyone fell asleep. The conversations died out, replaced by snoring.
An hour passed, but Jay was still wide awake. He wanted to sleep, but his body wouldn't let him. Maybe it was because he missed his brothers, or because he was scared of the nightmares. He wasn't sure.
Eventually, he decided that he couldn't take being still any longer. Jay rose quietly and carefully, making sure not to disturb the kits around him. He stepped over sleeping bodies as he made his way to the door, then pushed it open.
As soon as he stepped out into the hallway, he knew he was making a bad decision. Nobody had explicitly forbade him from wandering the halls on his own, but he knew that the High Warden probably wouldn't approve. I should go back and close my eyes and try to sleep. He didn't, though. Jay was restless, and he wanted to explore. For some reason he wasn't afraid of the consequences, even though he knew he should be. So he began to step down the dark, empty hallway, wondering what he would find.
Before he had gone a hundred feet, someone rounded a corner and saw him.
Doki looked like she was as surprised as Jay. "Hey, you can't…Jay?"
He had frozen midstep. "Hi," he said nonchalantly.
"Terrin must have put you to bed more than an hour ago," Doki said. "Why aren't you asleep?"
He decided to be honest. "I have nightmares."
Doki gave him a look that was somehow scolding and sympathetic at the same time. "Well, a lot of pokémon here have that problem. I can't say why, but…well, you'll find out for yourself tomorrow. The High Warden's assigned you to Resin." She walked over to him. "Anyway, you can't just stop sleeping because of nightmares. And you definitely can't just go and wander off on your own. If a Watcher had found you…" She shook her head. "Promise me you won't sneak off without a Steward. It's dangerous."
"I promise," Jay said, feeling a little ashamed. "I'll go to bed now. I don't think I can sleep, though. I'm not even tired."
Doki studied him. Then she sighed and said, "Why don't you come with me? I'm patrolling the area for…well, to catch kits like you who sneak through the halls at night. The Watchers won't bother you if you're with me, and it might be nice to have some company. My shift ends in an hour. You can go to bed afterward."
Jay didn't have much of a choice, so he agreed. They walked back and forth through the same few hallways, watching for anything out of the ordinary.
"I don't see how you can be so alert," Doki told him as they patrolled. "With how hard you fought today, I figured you'd be the most tired out of all the kits. But the others are all asleep, and you're here."
"The others are just babies," Jay said. "I'm not a baby, though." He was a little more than two years old, and that wasn't young at all.
That made Doki laugh. "I guess you're right," she said. "You're definitely not like all the others. When they were sparring, they just focused on avoiding pain. None of them actually tried to fight except you. The High Warden liked that, you know. He told me. That's why he wanted to see how you did against Blade."
"I lost, though," Jay said glumly. His face still hurt a little bit where Blade had slapped him.
"Nobody expected you to win. Terrin even tried to get the match called off. He said it was a waste of time. The High Warden insisted, though." She smiled at him. "He said you did well."
"I didn't even touch him," Jay objected.
"No, but you almost did, near the end. That's more than any of his other opponents can say."
"I guess." Jay didn't really see why it mattered if he almost did, but he wasn't going to argue.
They returned to silence for a while. Jay decided that patrolling was pretty boring. Minutes crawled by. He wanted to start talking again but he didn't know what to say.
Eventually he decided on a topic of conversation. "How did you get to the Lab?" he asked.
Doki froze. "What?"
Something about the tone of her voice made him hesitate. But he was curious, so he carried on anyway. "Why are you here? Were you kidnapped, like me?"
"You shouldn't ask questions like that." Doki's voice had grown stiff. "You'll make someone angry. Most of us don't like to think about the lives we lived before the Lab. It reminds us of what we lost."
"I was just wondering," Jay said. "I'll tell you about what my life was like, if you want." She didn't answer either way, so he continued. Jay spoke for a long time about all of his brothers. He spoke about Night, and how he had always been the unofficial leader, and he spoke about Flame, who could always make you laugh. He spoke about Box Four, and the games they played there, and how nice it was. Most of all, he spoke about Blizz, and how inseparable they had been before the Lab had separated them three days ago. He didn't realize he was crying until he felt a tear rolling down his face. Doki never interrupted, but she seemed to be listening.
"It was a good life," Jay said, trying to dry his eyes. "It ended when Mother sold the six of us because she got mad at Sky."
Doki stopped and looked at him abruptly. "Your own mother sold you to these people?"
Jay nodded.
Doki gave him a sad look, then turned her head back forward and continued walking. She said, "Maybe we're not so different. My mother sold me as well."
Jay looked up. "Really? What happened?" It wasn't until after he said it that he realized that it might have been a sensitive topic.
But Doki didn't seem to mind this time. "I thought my mother loved me, but I guess she didn't. I don't know." Her mouth twisted, and now it looked like she was going to start crying as well. "That's not the worst part, though. If it was just me, it wouldn't be so bad. I could have a good life as…as a Steward.
"But it wasn't just me. I have a big family. Tons of siblings, and an aunt and an uncle. I've never met the aunt, but I was close with some of my uncle's kits. Two of them found out what happened to me, and they tried to save me." Her eyes were moist, glistening. "They failed, obviously, and they were taken too."
Like me, Jay thought. "I'm sorry."
Doki continued. "One was a girl and one was a boy. They made the girl a Breeder. I know she hated every second of it. She wanted to die. Eventually she managed to escape the Lab. I don't know how she did it, and I don't know where she is now. The boy escaped too, but they caught him again after a few months. The humans were suspicious of me for a long time. They thought I helped them get away. I didn't, though. Sometimes I wish I had."
When she finished speaking, a somber silence filled the hallway. Jay hated to see the girl so sad.
"None of that's your fault," he said, and meant it. "It's not like I blame Night or Sky for getting me here. It was your mother who made all that happen, not you."
Doki looked at him and smiled. Her eyes were still wet. "Those are kind words, Jay. I wish I could believe them."
The sound of their footsteps filled the air.
"I'm sorry," Jay said. "I shouldn't have brought all this up. You're sad now."
"Don't worry about it," Doki told him. "I guess it is nice to talk about it with someone who understands. At least I got it all off my chest. But look, my shift is almost over. Time for you to go to bed."
Jay knew better than to argue. He let her lead him back to the room with all the kits. She closed the door behind him, and he went to lie down with the others. Jay felt a little bit better now, and it was almost easy to fall asleep.
That night he did not dream at all.
The following morning, Doki came in and woke them up early. She smiled at Jay when she saw him. Once everyone was up, she brought them to the cafeteria for breakfast. The brown slop was served every day for every meal. Sometimes it had chunks of meat in it, but today it didn't.
"You've all been assigned to a Warden," Doki announced as they ate. "I'll take you to them once you're done here. At the end of the day, I'll come around to retrieve you."
Fifteen minutes later, they started down the hallway again. Their first stop was the Ward of the Dreamers. Doki left five kits with Aidren the manectric, who seemed to be the Warden. After that, she led them to the Ward of the Rangers and the Ward of the Fighters. The two Wards appeared to overlap a bit. Next she took them to the Stewards, and then the Cells, and then the Deathseekers.
It took hours to visit all of the Wards. The time passed quickly, though; Jay and Doki spent most of the time talking to each other. The topics of their conversations were far more pleasant than they had been last night.
The numbers of the kits dwindled and dwindled until finally they had visited all but one of the Wards, and only Jay remained.
"You made me last on purpose, didn't you?" Jay grumbled. His paws were sore from all the walking.
"Maybe." Doki grinned at him. "I needed someone to talk to, didn't I? Besides, I don't like bringing too many pokémon to the Dark Cells at once. It's a dangerous Ward, and I don't want to be held responsible if a kit does something stupid."
"It's dangerous?"
"Oh, don't worry, you'll be fine. Just do what Resin tells you. He's a strange pokémon, but he knows what he's talking about."
As they walked toward the Dark Cells, the hallway seemed to thin out and grow even darker. Suddenly, there were no more branching paths. The doors along the walls became less frequent, and then they stopped appearing as well. It was just a straight path that stretched on and on.
They eventually reached a door at the end of the hallway. It was thick and made of iron, but apparently it was designed for pokémon to go through, because Doki was able to push it open and step inside.
Jay followed. This new room was very small, with black walls and no lighting at all. It was shaped like a square, with the same iron door in the center of each wall.
"The cells to the left and right are empty," Doki said. She gestured to the door directly in front of them. "Go in there and do as Resin says. I'll be back later." She started to walk back down the hallway. The door swung closed behind her, leaving Jay alone in the black room. There was nothing to do but go into the cell. Sighing, he walked over to the other door and pushed it open, expecting the worst.
But what he found on the other side wasn't so bad. The cell looked quite a lot like one of the control rooms back in his trainer's PC. The walls looked like they were made of dark metal. Two shelves full of buttons and switches jutted out of the back wall, one on the left side and one on the right. Between the shelves there was another, much larger door. Windows above the panels allowed Jay to see into the room beyond the door. It was pitch black in that room. Jay guessed that that was the Dark Cell, and that this preceding room was only a place to monitor whatever lived inside of it.
There was a stool in front of each shelf. The vaporeon named Resin sat at the one on the right. Jay had only seen him once, four days ago, but he recognized the silly straw hat he wore.
Resin glanced over as Jay entered the room. He gestured over to the stool in front of the left shelf. "Go on, have a seat." The vaporeon looked and sounded exhausted. He had a soft, quiet voice.
Jay obeyed. He leapt up onto the seat. "What's in there?" he asked, looking through the window. It was too dark to see anything.
Resin took a long blink. "A Darkrai," he said unceremoniously.
Jay's head snapped over to look at the vaporeon. Resin fixed him with a small smile.
"You really are new, aren't you?" Resin said. "Most hear about him on their first day. I dunno how. Rumors, I guess. Or maybe the Wardens tell 'em. I don't really care."
"How can there be a Darkrai here?" Jay asked, astonished. "Aren't they supposed to be gods or something?"
"I dunno," Resin said. "Maybe. Didn't stop him from getting captured."
A steaming mug was resting on one of Resin's buttons, holding it down. The vaporeon stooped forward and lapped some black liquid out of it.
"What is that?" Jay asked, squinting.
"Coffee."
"Coffee?"
"Coffee."
Jay frowned. "I don't know what that is."
"Human drink," Resin said. "Helps you stay awake." He drank some more and sighed. "Tastes awful, if I'm honest. Bitter as all hell."
"Why do you drink it, then?"
"Well, I can't exactly be falling asleep in here, can I?" He looked at Jay like he was stupid. "Not with that Darkrai so close." He lapped up a bit more of the coffee. It splashed down onto the buttons and Resin accidentally flipped a few switches as he drank. "Whoops," he said, flipping them back. "Anyway, I probably don't really need it, but the humans think it's funny, so they give it to me. I just use the mug to hold that down." He gestured to the big red button.
Jay looked at his own panel. He had a similar button on his.
"Don't go pressing that," Resin warned him. "It's an emergency switch. It'll free the prisoner. It only works if both are pressed at once. Usually I'm here by myself, so I keep this one pressed down all the time, so I can run over and hit that one if I have to. But yeah, if you hit that button, we're both dead." That didn't really seem to concern the vaporeon.
"Can't you just take the mug off the button while I'm here?" Jay asked, unsettled.
Resin considered that for a moment. "Nah. I like it there."
Jay just stared at him. How could this pokémon be a Warden? He was so unlike the other ones that Jay had met.
"Hey," Resin said, "you wanna go in and look at him?"
"Uh…not really."
"Too bad. It's about time to feed him anyway, and I don't feel like getting up." He pressed a button on his machine, and the door to the cell began to slide open. A dark aura seemed to leak into the room. "Don't worry, I'll do most of the work with these buttons. You just need to get everything in place."
Jay hopped down from his stool, feeling very nervous. "I didn't think god pokémon needed to eat."
"Well, they do. Go on, get in there. He can't hurt you. I mean, he can, but only if you pass out or something. So don't do that."
Jay stepped into the Dark Cell. There was nothing but blackness around him.
"One sec," Resin called. "Let me get you some light." Jay heard him fumbling around on the control panel.
A bulb turned on in the cell. It gave off only a pitiful amount of light, but it was enough for Jay to make out his surroundings. The room was very small, maybe five square feet. The walls and floor were black. The ceiling was covered by a monstrous amount of machinery.
And in the center of the room, the Darkrai. It was bound by a thousand mechanical restraints. Its arms were tied to its sides, and it was gagged so that it could not speak. The machinery kept it suspended in the air a foot above the ground.
Its eyes snapped open. In the darkness its bright blue eyes seemed to glow. It stared at Jay emotionlessly. He took a step back.
"Oh, don't be so scared," came Resin's voice. "Here, I'm gonna lower the feeding tools."
A whirring sound came from overhead. Jay looked up to see something descending from the mechanical mess that made up the ceiling. It was a needle, attached to a big hunk of steel and a plastic tube.
"You'll need to stick that into a vein," Resin said. "Go find one on his arm."
It was a struggle for Jay to move the tool; it was clearly designed for humans. Eventually he managed to pull it over to the Darkrai, who made no attempt to resist. Jay searched for the vein on his arm. It was almost too dark to see, but in the end he found one. Somehow he was able to position the needle correctly and push it into the Darkrai's flesh. It didn't show any sign of pain.
"Got it?" Resin asked.
"I think so," Jay called back.
"Good."
Some light fluid began to travel through the tube connected to the needle. It went into the Darkrai's body. After almost a minute, the liquid stopped coming. On Resin's instructions, he removed the needle and watched as it was raised back up to the ceiling.
"All right," Resin said. "That's all you need to do. Come on back."
The Darkrai was still staring at Jay. He left the Dark Cell quickly. The door slid shut behind him, and the bulb inside of the cell flickered off.
"How'd you like that?" Resin asked him.
"It was scary," Jay admitted, jumping back onto his stool. "I thought you said I was going to feed him."
"You did feed him. I've gotta say, those humans are geniuses. Evil geniuses, but whatever. That liquid gives him enough nutrients to stay alive, but since he's not actually eating he's too weak to break out of those restraints."
"Why don't they just keep him in a pokéball? Or a PC? He couldn't break out of those, could he? And they wouldn't even have to feed him anything."
"Well," Resin said, "they wanna do more than just keep him locked up. Pokémon like that have powers, kid. The humans use those machines to harness and abuse those powers. That's why the Ward of the Dreamers is near here."
"What do the Dreamers do?" Jay asked.
"Oh, they see things. All sorts of things, really. Sometimes they see the future, or the past, or something else." He scratched under the fin around his neck. "Oh, wait, I'm not supposed to tell you about all that stuff. Classified info, y'know? Sorry. I'm not a very good Warden, am I?"
Jay was silent as he tried to find a polite way to agree.
Resin let out a loud burst of laughter, startling Jay. "Ah, don't worry about it, kid. I know I am. Everyone knows I am. But they can't replace me." He grinned. "They've tried to replace me, kid. Two years back, the High Warden got sick of me, so he sent me off to the Cells. Three weeks later, he offered me the job back. In the time I was gone, five different pokémon were given the title of Warden of the Dark Cells. Four went mad after a few days. The fifth actually fell asleep." Resin snorted. "Poor fool. No, they can't afford to get rid of me, so I figure I might as well act however I want. I'm not gonna be as stuffy and proper as that old absol."
"How come you can handle the Ward so much better than everyone else?"
"Couldn't tell you. Maybe I've just gotten used to it. Just like that Darkrai in there. I was already here when they captured him. The first few months, he struggled constantly. Never slept, never kept still. But now years have gone by, and he's stopped fighting. I've known him for so long I almost think of him as a friend."
"Really?" Jay asked.
Resin laughed. "Nah, that's stupid. Maybe I would if he didn't hate me so much."
Jay looked at the vaporeon. "How can you tell he hates you? He doesn't talk or move or anything."
"Not while he's awake. But those creatures can travel through dreams, you know. He speaks to me every night. Makes me have the worst nightmares. Tells me how awful I am, how badly he wishes to kill me." Resin leaned forward and took another drink from his mug. When he spoke next, his voice was much softer. "I think that someday that wish might just be granted."
The rest of the day passed in silence.
When Doki finally came to retrieve him, Jay was relieved.
"Did he do well?" she asked when she stepped into the room. "Were there any issues?"
"If something had gone wrong," Resin said, staring into the void beyond the window, "you'd know."
Doki led him around to the Wards again, and they picked up the rest of the eevee as quickly as they could. It still took almost two hours, though, and by the time they were finished Jay was starving. He hadn't eaten since breakfast. Thankfully, they went to the cafeteria as soon as everyone had been gathered. The food served was the same brown slop as always.
Later that night, as Doki was putting the kits to bed, she stopped at the doorway and gestured for Jay to follow her. He did.
"I'm going to be patrolling again tonight," she said. "I thought you might like to come, since you don't like sleeping early."
Actually, after his dreamless sleep last night, Jay was no longer anxious about sleeping in the Lab. And because of his long day in the Dark Cells, he really was quite eager to get to bed…but for some reason he really wanted to go with her, too. So he nodded and followed along.
They were more talkative tonight than they had been the night before. They talked about happier things this time, and there were only a few pauses in the conversation. Jay was actually enjoying himself. Eventually Doki began to talk about some boy she used to have a crush on. Jay told her that he hated anything to do with romance.
"You wouldn't understand," Doki laughed. "You're not old enough."
"I am so," Jay pouted. "My brother Night had a mate, and he's only a few months older than me."
"Really? How old are you, exactly?"
"I'm two," Jay told her.
Doki scrunched up her face. "You're only two months old? I figured you were a little bit older than that, maybe four months. And your brother…"
"I'm two years old," Jay said.
She just stared at him. "But…no that can't be right. You're so small."
"Everyone's always said I'm a runt."
Doki was quiet for a while. She looked a little bit scared. "Oh."
"What? Is that bad?" Suddenly Jay felt self-conscious.
"Yes, Jay," she said. "That's bad. Come with me. We need to go see the High Warden. Immediately."
Her sense of urgency frightened Jay. She moved quickly, and it was difficult for him to keep up.
They walked all the way back to the very first room that Jay had seen when he entered the Lab. This was where the Wardens had come to separate them. A bulb flickered and filled the room with light, and Jay could see the staircase against the wall. They climbed the stairs and came to the trapdoor at the top. There was an electronic scanner built into the ceiling next to the door. Doki placed her paw against it, there was a beeping noise, and the trapdoor opened up.
"Only Stewards, Wardens, and humans can open this door," Doki explained as they climbed out of the underground section of the Lab. She still looked worried, but she had calmed down a bit.
They left the room and entered another hallway. The lighting was excellent here, the walls were a pure white, and the floor was very clean. Jay could tell that this was a place for humans.
This section of the Lab was far less confusing than the underground was. It didn't seem to be as large as the winding maze downstairs. They moved quickly down the hallway toward wherever Doki was taking him.
It only took a few more minutes to get there. They met nobody else on the way. Jay knew they were close when he started to smell other pokémon.
Doki turned left into an empty doorway, and Jay went in after her. It seemed to be a bedroom for a pokémon, with a few doors that split off into other rooms. The High Warden stood inside. He looked like he had been pacing when he heard Doki and Jay approaching.
"Doki," he greeted. "You are back early." He turned his eyes to Jay. "And the boy…"
"This is important," Doki said. "It's about him."
The High Warden studied them both. "Very well. We will need to wake Terrin, I think."
"I'm up," a voice rasped. Terrin appeared from one of the adjoining rooms. His eyes were bloodshot. When he saw Jay, he groaned. "You again?"
Jay ignored him. "You all sleep up here?"
"All the Wardens have chambers above ground," Doki explained. "A few Stewards do too."
"Answer the boy's questions later," the High Warden told her. "What was so important that it could not wait until the end of your shift?"
Doki opened her mouth to reply, but something made her hesitate. Jay heard the sound as well. Approaching footsteps. Everyone turned toward the room's entrance. A few moments later, Bald appeared in the doorway. Jay was surprised to see him.
Terrin had not been expecting him either. "What are you doing here?" he said.
"I heard someone rushing down the halls," the furless eevee said. "I thought that I would investigate." He looked around and saw Jay. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"
Terrin scoffed at that, but Jay wasn't really sure why.
"You may remain," the High Warden said, though he looked like he would rather send Bald away. "Doki was just about to tell us something that she claims is important."
Bald looked at Jay as he stepped into the room. "It's about the kit?" he inquired.
"That's the thing," Doki said. "He's not a kit at all. Just a runt."
The whole room grew very quiet. Everyone was looking at Jay.
"What?" he said. "What's wrong with being a runt?"
"How old is he, exactly?" the High Warden asked.
Doki answered. "Two years old."
Bald sighed. "Jay," he said slowly. "Over the past several days, did you not realize that every other eevee you were grouped with was a kit?"
"I did," Jay said nervously.
"And did it not occur to you that we might have mistaken you for a kit, due to your size?"
Jay blinked. "Oh."
Terrin was furious. "Oh? You've caused all this trouble, and you say oh?"
Jay took a step back, but somehow he found the courage to defend himself. "I did tell you I thought I was in the wrong place. On the first day. You called me a beast and told me to stop talking to you."
The High Warden glared at Terrin. "Is this true?"
Terrin looked away. "Uh…yeah, I think I remember something like that."
"Then this is your mistake," the absol said. "You should have inspected the boy more closely."
"I still don't understand," Jay said. "Why does my age matter so much?"
"For one thing," Bald said, "it explains why the Halfman serum didn't affect you. The dose you were given was designed for an eevee younger than six months. Your body may be no larger than a kit's, but it is far more mature, and far more capable of fighting off such things."
The High Warden said, "It also tells us why you seemed so much more capable in the sparring room. Of course a two-year-old would perform better than a six-month-old."
Now that it was all laid out in front of him, Jay felt stupid for not realizing it earlier. "So…what now?"
The High Warden sighed. "The Halfmen exclusively seek out kits. If you are older, you cannot be one of them."
"But why?" Jay said. He wasn't even sure why he was arguing, considering how dangerous the Halfman serum was, but for some reason this was important to him.
"To truly be a human," Bald said, "you must have humanity drilled into you from a young age. You must experience the language and culture before you turn two or so. Otherwise, you will always see other men as distant, loosely related creatures.
"But I am two," Jay protested.
"A two-year-old eevee," Bald said. "But eevee mature more rapidly than humans. If you were a man, you would have the mind and body of a six-or-seven-year-old. It is too late for you to even become fluent in the human language."
"But I already know the human language," Jay said.
The room grew quiet again.
Jay hesitated, then continued. "I mean, not well or anything. But I know the letters, and some words. My brother was learning it before we got brought here, and he taught me some."
Terrin gave him a hard look. "If you're lying-"
"I'm not!" Jay insisted.
The High Warden stared at him, obviously thinking hard. "We will tell the humans of this. They will want to test you. If you are sufficient enough, then perhaps they will allow you to continue the Halfman training. Out of curiosity, if nothing else."
Bald said, "That doesn't seem likely to me. But I'll speak to them."
Jay resisted the urge to smile. It wasn't even close to a guarantee, but he had a good feeling that his training would indeed continue.
"And what about the other thing?" Terrin asked. "What about the real training?" He looked at the High Warden.
The absol did not say anything for a very long time. Everyone waited for him to finish thinking. Finally he said, "That will continue as well."
Terrin looked incredulous. "But-"
The High Warden cut him off. "If he is capable of learning the human language as a pokémon, then he is likely capable of any task I give him. If it turns out that he is not, then we will deal with him then."
"What tasks are you talking about?" Jay asked.
The High Warden paused to think once again. "I suppose I might as well tell you now. I was planning to tell all of the kits before the end of the week."
"Is that wise?" Bald asked.
"Perhaps not," the High Warden replied. "But I have grown very tired of being wise." He looked to Jay. "You will have noticed that I am old. Very old. So old that my age is a constant barrier in everyday life. Not long ago, I realized that I am quickly growing incapable of running the Lab on my own. So I have decided to select a kit who is right for the job. I will groom them, train them, watch them grow. And in the end they will be as capable of ruling the Lab as I am."
Jay realized what the absol was saying. "You're looking for a partner?"
"No," the High Warden told him. "I am looking for a successor."