28.
THE END OF THE TUNNEL
Following the departure of Ben and Luna, I head back to the Pokémon Center in Silverton City, which to my relief is open twenty-four hours, and as such I am able to check into my pre-booked room despite the lateness of the hour. I leave my Pokémon with reception so that they can be healed overnight before heading to my room, where I fall asleep almost instantly upon falling onto my bed.
The next morning I give my mom a quick call to apologise for my absence over the last couple of days. I wince at her expression when I tell her I broke my old Xtransciever, although this quickly changes when I tell her of the source of my replacement. Mom has clearly heard of Ramon Victitious too, and although she does not bombard me with questions about him, like the clerk in Creater Town's Pokémon Center, she seems impressed that I have made friends in such high places.
After this I head downstairs and back to Reception, where I hand in my room keys and collect my Pokémon. I finally release Reo back into the open once more, and we exchange a brief look before I return my attention to the receptionist.
"Thanks for everything," I tell her gratefully.
"Not at all," she replies with a genial smile. "We're here to help, after all. Where are you heading off to today then, hmm?"
"Well… I guess we'll need to head off to earn our eighth Gym Badge," I ponder to myself. After the drama of last night, something normal like earning Badges seems like a somewhat tame option to be considering.
"Oh, you have seven Badges already?" the receptionist asks, impressed. "Which one do you need?"
In response, I open my jacket and display my collection of badges. She beholds them for a second before nodding. "You'll want to head to Briteland City next. That's where you can earn your Tempest Badge from."
"Where's Briteland City in relation to here?" I ask now.
"It's on a peninsula to the southeast," the receptionist explains. "If you want to get there quickly, you can catch the Metro through the Silverton Tunnel. That'll save you from having to hike over the Needle Mountains that separate Briteland Peninsula from the mainland. If you get the Trainers' bus it'll take you to the Metro station, and Metro trains depart every fifteen minutes."
"You sure do know your stuff," I compliment.
The receptionist smiles. "When you work in the Pokémon Center in Silvari's capital city, you get asked for directions a lot," she says modestly. "Good luck on your journey," she finishes with a polite curtsey.
I thank her and head out of the Center into the sunshine. It's a beautiful day in Northern Silvari, and I am quite looking forward to the prospect of heading to the seaside metropolis of Briteland City. I remove my jacket whilst waiting for the Trainers' bus, and choose a seat on the open top deck when it arrives.
"I wonder what kind of Pokémon the Gym Leader of Briteland City uses," I ponder to myself. Reo, who sits beside me, does not respond. "It feels like ages since my last Pokémon Training class at school. I can't even remember who the Gym Leader is." I glance over at Reo, who does not offer any response to this proclamation. He stares off to the horizon, looking lost in thought. "Reo? You OK?" I ask him.
Reo seems to snap out of his reverie and turns to face me. "What was that?" he asks.
I smile at him. "You look like you were miles away."
Reo nods. "I guess I was," he says thoughtfully, turning to look at the horizon once more. "I was just thinking…"
"About what? Last night?" No response. "I don't understand it either. Why did The Blue One turn up in Stella's house like that?" I notice my partner shudder visibly when I mention his name. "But hey, that base is gone now. They'll get further trying to operate out of the Needle Mountains than that burned-out old warehouse," I say with a satisfied smile.
Still Reo does not respond. I sense that something is bothering him, so I decide to try and cheer him up.
"So, you looking forward to getting to Briteland City? I remember learning about it in Geography class. Apparently it's the centre of entertainment in Silvari. They've got lots of casinos and resorts, plus the Pokémon Gym. And on the beach, the Grand Silvari Stadium, home to the hottest battles in the region. At least, that's what they say on the adverts," I add with a slight chuckle. One of the highlights of my summer was always watching the Silvari Summer Showdown tournament held at the Grand Silvari Stadium on TV. It'd be awesome to actually visit the stadium, even though the tournament itself will have finished by now…
I turn my attention back to Reo, who is now sitting with his eyes closed, as though dozing. I guess he must be worn out, I think to myself, having no idea of how much sleep he would have gotten last night, especially after what he went through in Team SPF's hideout. I decide to leave him be for a while and sit in silence in the sunshine, enjoying its radiating heat as we travel on towards our next destination.
When we arrive at the Metro station I purchase a one-way ticket to Briteland City, reasoning that once I defeat the Briteland Gym Leader I should be able to Surf to the Pokémon League from there. After paying an alarming amount of money for my solitary ticket, due to having to add compulsory insurance for each of my Pokémon, I board the sleek, streamlined Metro train that arrives a few minutes later and sit back in one of the comfy cushioned seats. The train departs and after a few moments we are plunged into darkness as we enter the Silverton Tunnel, with the only light coming from the dim lamps set into the ceiling of the train.
I sigh inwardly to myself. According to the stationmaster, we should arrive at Briteland City in about forty-five minutes' time. Once again I take a look over at Reo, and still he seems to be pondering something serious, staring out of the train's window with his brow furrowed. I decide to be bold.
"Reo… Do you mind if I ask what's bothering you? You've not been yourself all day. What's up? You wanna talk about it?"
Reo looks over at me, a somewhat sombre expression on his face. "I've just been thinking…about the past," he says.
I narrow my eyebrows slightly, confused. "The past?" I repeat. "What part of the past?"
Reo pauses for a moment before answering me. "The part before you and I met. Back when I was still a Riolu," he tells me.
"Oh…" I behold my partner, who sits opposite me, looking suddenly vulnerable. "You've never said anything about the time before we met before. How come you've been thinking about it so much today?"
"Because… Because last night reminded me of it."
"Why?" I realise that I probably sound like I am prying by now, but I am intrigued as to why Reo's past pains him so much.
Reo looks at me straight in the eyes. "Do you really want to know?" he asks seriously.
I nod once. "Yes," I tell him, not forcefully, as I want him to know that he only need explain all if he wants to.
"All right…" Reo says with a sigh. "Then this is my story."
I hit the floor with a heavy thud, returning to consciousness immediately. Slowly, I open my eyes to take a look around. The room around me is dark, with a solitary bright spotlight shining on me from above. I raise my right paw to shield my eyes from it as I turn towards it. From some distance away, I hear someone laugh.
"Well, well, what have we here?" a deep voice asks. I turn in its direction and strain my eyes, but I can't see anything through the darkness. If I concentrate, however, I can detect a powerful, dark aura emanating from, presumably, whatever uttered the voice. This aura causes me to shudder. It is unlike anything I have felt before.
"We found it wandering around the forest, sir," a voice says from behind me. I focus on it and detect two more auras behind me; still dark and foreboding, but mere shadows of the horror which lies in front of me.
"A rare Pokémon indeed," the deep voice comments. "Well done for capturing it."
A Pokémon… Yes, that's what I am. And this person captured me? Does that mean…they are my Trainer now?
"Thank you, sir," the voice from behind says. "What shall we do with it?"
There is silence for a moment. "Take it to Blue's lab," the deep voice instructs. "Let him put it to the test. Then I shall decide if it is worthy to serve me or not."
"As you wish, sir," answers the voice from behind. Suddenly a bright red light flashes all around me, and I feel myself being pulled backwards. When the light clears I find myself inside a dark capsule, spacious but somewhat uncomfortable, and I realise with a mixture of surprise and horror that I am now contained within a Poké Ball.
For a moment I struggle furiously in an attempt to break out, but then I stop and think. This person is my Trainer now, isn't he? And that means I should serve him, no matter what my aura senses are telling me. And anyway, as a young Riolu who has never seen a human before, maybe this is what all human auras are like.
I feel myself being carried in the ball for some time longer, though the precise duration is a mystery to me. Eventually my body becomes engulfed in the red light once more and I spring forth out of the ball and into the real world.
I take a look at my new surroundings. I seem to be in a small, clear box which appears even smaller than the inside of my Poké Ball. I turn to look behind me and see a man, presumably my new Trainer, holding the box in which I sit, cramped. He wears an odd black uniform with three human letters across the front and a tall black hat.
"Ooooooooh!" comes a slightly distorted, high-pitched voice. I turn around once more and behold some sort of camera pointed towards me, with a speaker just below it. "Isn't it just delightful! Hello, my darling!"
"Do you approve, Master Blue?" my Trainer asks.
"Oh, I most certainly do!" the voice from the speaker says. Something about that voice sets my teeth on edge. "I'm so looking forward to seeing how it holds up in my tests."
"Shall we start it on the carrot-stick test?" my Trainer asks now.
A somewhat malicious laugh echoes through the speaker. "That sounds like a delicious idea, number four forty-seven."
"Actually, sir, I'm four forty-eight. Four forty-seven was my brother," my Trainer comments.
"Ohh, that's a shame. I always preferred four forty-seven," the speaker voice says in disappointment. "But oh well, I suppose you'll have to do. All right then, Not Four Forty-Seven, get that Pokémon up and running. I shall expect news of your progress in seventy-one minutes and twenty-eight seconds. Twenty-seven. Twenty-six…"
"Yes sir! At once, Master Blue!" my Trainer comments. He takes the lid off the box I sit in, grabs me roughly and drops me onto the floor of the room.
"Now, pay attention, little Pokémon," my Trainer says. I look up at him, confused. He points forward and I follow his gesture. Ahead of me I see a small door, beyond which I can see a green, grassy field not dissimilar to where I used to live. I smile to myself. That looks like my kind of place, I think, taking a couple of steps forward.
As I step forward, however, the floor under me begins to move backwards, taking me away from the green and promised land and back away from it. I stand still in alarm for a moment, until a bright flash behind me catches my attention. I turn and see a savage beast waiting for me at the back of the room, with deep black fur that looks as though it has been ripped away from its grey body and a fearsome, slobbering mouth.
I cry out in horror and begin to run against the floor again, desperate to get closer to the outside and further away from the beast, but after a while I begin to tire, and despite my efforts the floor continues to drag me backward. I turn and see the beast behind me, only a foot away, now six inches, now three…
The beast closes its jaws around me and I cry out in pain. It lifts me clean off my feet and hurls me against a nearby wall, which I crash into, feeling as though every bone in my body may be broken. I slump down against the floor, and from behind me my Trainer laughs cruelly.
"'Fraid that's what you're gonna get unless you can learn to run a little faster," he sneers. "See, this is what we call the carrot-stick test. They say even a stubborn mule can be made to move if it has a juicy carrot in front of it and a punishing stick behind. So here's the deal. You outrun the conveyor, you'll get the carrot. That is, you'll be free." He points once more to the outside, and I stare at it longingly from my painful position on the floor.
"But every time you run out of energy, Mightyena here will be waiting to give you the stick," he says, pointing at the beast, which lets out a fearsome bark.
"And that's how it's gonna go until Blue gets here in a week to pick you up," my Trainer finishes. "He'll then subject you to some more intense training, and if you make it through that, you might just be worthy enough to serve our Leader. But if not…" My Trainer chuckles to himself evilly. "Well, I'm sure Blue will find a way to, how to put this, end your stay with us."
The man lets out another evil laugh, and my eyes dart fearfully from him, to the beast, to my one salvation: the exit. My only shot at freedom. For the man, I have now decided, is not my Trainer. One week, he says.
I have one week to get away from here.
For the next few days my life continues in this vein. I am let out of my Poké Ball up to four times a day for carrot-stick training, usually at random intervals so that I have no time at all to prepare. On the first day I tire very easily, and as such I am dealt with by the beast swiftly and painfully. As I get more used to the running, though, I begin to find that I can last for longer and longer, until eventually my legs just give out and I am carried backwards and into the waiting mouth of the beast.
After the first few times of this happening, I formulate a plan. Whenever I am recalled to my Poké Ball I give myself no more than a minute to lick my wounds and recover. From then on, it's training time. I find myself doing laps of my Poké Ball, interspersed with short rest periods, to get my body used to the sensation of running and build up my endurance in the hope that one day I might finally be able to outrun the conveyor and finally reach the green and promised land.
The one thing that interrupts my regime is another aspect of my so-called training, known by my captors as electrical endurance, or EE for short. This involves me being strapped into some sort of machine which passes a massive electrical current through my body, seemingly done for no reason at all other than to find out how much of it I can take, and for the twisted pleasure of my captors.
Naturally, the first time this happens I am out cold after the first blast of electricity. As my body becomes used to the sensation, though, I can stand more and more jolts before passing out. In many ways this is worse than simply going first time, as I have more agony to contend with before I am released. Eventually, however, I learn to embrace these sessions of EE, as my passing out finally offers me the opportunity to sleep, and get some rest from my constant and rigorous escape training.
On the fifth day of my captivity I am released once more for my carrot-stick training. It has been several hours since my last session (helpfully, an EE session), and I have been training hard myself and am feeling good about this particular attempt.
As usual, I start running as soon as I am free, hoping to get a couple of inches' head start on the conveyor. Today I manage a whole foot before my captors realise and hurriedly turn the machine on. The floor begins to drag back behind me…but somehow I am still managing to stay ahead of it. The beast barks furiously behind me but I don't care; I continue to run, edging closer and closer to freedom.
"Turn it up!" my captors shout from beside me.
"This is as fast as it goes! How is this possible?"
I quicken my pace yet more, pressing onward. Only a foot left to go… Six inches… Three inches… I make one final dive for freedom and burst out into the open, the sunlight blinding me until my vision clears and I behold greenery and peace all around. I've done it. I've made it to the outside.
Without a second glance backward I begin to run once more, determined to get as far away from my captors as possible. I make for a forest ahead of me and bury myself in the trees, still running, still putting as much distance between them and me as my training and energy will allow.
I stick to the forest for the next few days, sleeping when necessary, keen to avoid human eyes. My one experience of humans so far has not been a pleasant one, and I am not ready to have another just yet. I find that I can outrun most solitary predators with ease thanks to my constant efforts and exertion whilst held captive, and if a pair of wild Pokémon do occasionally team up, I battle them, using my instincts and improvisation to keep myself alive.
Enjoying my newfound freedom, I have lost track of both how long I have been free and my way through the forest when I stumble through a pair of branches and find myself in an open clearing by the roadside. At first I am surprised, but it has been so long since I felt the sunlight properly that I allow myself this moment to rest and enjoy it. I nose around the roadside for a few minutes before becoming aware of a different aura - someone new entering the scene. I emerge from around a rock and behold a teenage boy sat on the other side of the road next to a similar rock, his hat down over his eyes, clearly enjoying the sunshine as much as I am.
This boy is the first human I have seen since escaping from my captors, and naturally I am initially uncertain as to whether or not to approach him. My instincts, however, tell me that this person is not someone who will want to harm me. This intrigues me, as I have never felt a human aura like this before, and I take a couple of steps closer inquisitively. As I do so, the boy raises his head, and we exchange a glance for the very first time…
Reo's stare moves from the Metro's window to my face, echoing the moment when we first met, when we looked into each other's eyes by the roadside between Tranila Town and Busell Town. Neither of us could have known, in that moment, how much time we would end up spending together, or how close we would become.
"I think you might remember that last part," Reo tells me quietly, with a smile. "Do you recognise the boy from my story?"
"Did you base his character on me, by any chance?" I ask in return, and Reo chuckles slightly. "I never knew…" I say now. "All that stuff you went through… No wonder you're so afraid of The Blue One."
Reo nods. "I never actually met him, all that time I was the prisoner of Team SPF," he says. "The only ones I ever met were four forty-eight and a couple of other grunts."
"And the leader," I remind him. "You said you'd met their leader as well, that first time you were taken to their hideout? The bit with the spotlight?"
"I never actually saw him, though," Reo tells me. "I couldn't tell you what he looked like. All I know is that his aura was…dark. Very dark. There was something wrong with that man. Even Brandon of the Elite Four didn't give off as much negativity as that man."
"Well, I reckon we'll meet him again someday," I say grimly, determined to pursue Team SPF to the end, and even more so now that I know how my partner suffered at their hands. "But this time, you and me will face him together, and beat him together."
Reo smiles warmly at me. "Thank you, Luke."
I look at him in confusion. "For what?" I ask.
"For sticking by me all this time. I know we've argued over things in the past; I still don't trust Ben as much as you do. But you've stood by me from the beginning. I owe you for that."
"Reo…" I say, slightly embarrassed. "You were my first Pokémon. Sometimes, it seems weird to think of you as a Pokémon, the way we just get on and stuff. You act so…human sometimes."
Reo laughs. "I'm honoured," he says, turning to the window once more.
I think back to his story. "So that moment after you fought off those Spearow in the forest, when you just ran off… You weren't running from me after all. You were running from Team SPF."
Reo nods again. "I thought they'd been sent to recapture me," he says. "I didn't recognise any of them, though. Then when I saw you challenge them so boldly, I decided that enough was enough. I needed to stop running and face up to my past. So I did. So we did," he corrects, smiling over at me once more.
"Well, I'm sure glad you chose to come and help me," I tell him. "Though why you'd ally yourself with a rookie Trainer who'd never had a battle before is beyond me."
"I told you: your aura was so different to theirs. You have a powerful sense of what is right, Luke. I warmed to that instantly. And besides, you and I have a lot more in common than I think you realise."
"Like what?"
"Well, when I was kept prisoner, I developed a sort of tunnel vision, if you'll pardon the pun, of that exit gate. That was all I could see, and everything else I did revolved around my aim of getting through that gate and earning my freedom. Now tell me, how is that so different from you and your quest to conquer the Pokémon League, hm?"
I think about this as the announcement rings out over the train's tannoy system to inform us that we will be arriving in Briteland City in just ten minutes. I realise that Reo is right. Our journeys and ambitions are so similar in ways I never even knew about until now. And now that we're approaching Briteland City, and our final Gym battle, it seems that our tunnel may finally be coming to an end.
