On a stormy night of her childhood, Lilia was woken up by a loud booming sound not far from her house. Even under the sound of crashing rain, hectic sounds that could only be depicted as monsters fighting can be heard. Of course, even Lilia was aware that it wasn't safe.
She got down from her bed and walked to the other side of the room, to her friend's bed. Her friend, Irene, had been sleeping so comfortably, the loud noise hadn't bothered her at all. Her sleeping face looked so relaxed, Lilia almost didn't want to wake her.
She did, anyway. Lilia was afraid. Even in the safety of her home, she couldn't feel safe. Not without all those horrifying sounds outside. Sounds of trees falling down, of earth being ripped apart, of large feet crushing branches. She didn't want to endure it all alone.
She tried and tried. With all method she could think of, to wake her friend up. Even hitting her with pillow and slapping her. It was all futile, Irene still sleeps comfortably like she had been doing for the entire night. Before long, she gave up.
Instead, she went to find her mom, who should be sleeping in the next room. Waking her, as well, was impossible. Normally, her mom wakes up with few nudges. Her usually restless Pokémon was lost in deep sleep as well. These ghost-type Pokémon are usually up and playing around the house at this time, thought Lilia. As she was walking down to the living room, Lilia saw the television blaring and flashing.
Lilia smiled out of relief. She hurriedly ran towards the television and smacked it a couple times.
A tiny ghost came out from the television screen.
Entro the Rotom hovered in front of her.
"Bzzt… Lia… Do you need me to clean up your bedshe- What are those sounds!? Bzzt… Pokémon…?"
"Entro! Irene and mom won't wake up! I'm so scared!" Lilia smiled widely and cheerily shouted. Just from the sight of Entro, her fear mostly melted away.
'Entro is one of mom's Pokémon! No one can beat him for sure!' She thought so.
"Bzzt… I didn't notice anything while in the TV, bzzt. This is bad… We should wake Flora up! Bzzt!" Entro looked anxious, but Lilia didn't pick up on this.
"But I tried! No one wakes up! Even Hyde and others!" Lia threw her arm up in a cheer everytime she end her sentence.
"Let me try…" The Rotom flew upstairs in a flash and passed through her mom's door. After a few moment, he came back to the waiting little girl. "No good, bzzt. Maybe I should Discharge on them?"
Suddenly, spike on top of his head jolted forward. His permanently bored scowl turned grim and serious at once.
"Lia… Stay behind me…"
Entro hovered in front of Lia, facing the window. Lia started to realize he's serious and doing without questioning.
"Bzzzzzt… It's quiet all of sudden… Something's coming this way!"
The window grew dark. Light from the moon. Light from lightning strike. They all got drown out by the deep darkness approaching. In the blink of an eye, there was no light outside anymore. The only thing that keep Lilia sane was Entro's glowing body.
The Rotom didn't wait. He shoot a blast of electricity at the window. It shattered, but still dark. Now, even the light generated by the Rotom's electricity was fading.
Lia shivered. A droplet of tear formed in her eyes as she walked closer to the Rotom. By then, the darkness had enveloped the entire room. She couldn't even see her feet anymore, therefore, she stayed close to the only light, her only hope.
From within the seemingly endless darkness. Both of them saw a glimmering red. A red… eye… with black slit pupil. It wasn't the only one. Parts of the darkness opened up, like eyelids, revealing large red eyes, surrounding them, watching them.
Lia's legs were giving out. She wanted to cry, to call for help, but she couldn't utter a word. She stayed as silent as possible, in hope whatever it is wouldn't notice her.
"Lia… On my mark… Run as fast as you can…" Entro whispered. He tried to sounds as calm as possible. He was preparing to attack.
"BZZTTT! [Over Limit : Electron Explosion]"
A burst of electricity gushed out from the small Rotom, flooding the entire room. A voltage strong enough to knock out a tough Pokémon like Tyranitar seemingly didn't do any damage to the eyes at all. But it was starting to work, the darkness began to back out a little. It wasn't nearly enough. A hand- a tendril reached of from within the darkness, closing in on Lia.
As it did, she heard voices echoed out from it.
Á̷̱̩͉͚̯͙͎͉̲̈̇̇̂̐̂̎͊̀̋̕̚͝ͅR̴̢̼͍̘͈̪͔͈̣̞̭̟͐͝ͅE ̤͉̱̱͈̃́̅̅͌̿͂͛͋̈̈́̑ ̷̘̗̩̾͌̈́̉̐̕͝͝͠͝Y̵̧̧̛̯̭̭͚̪̖̤͓̜̫̿̋̅̈́̋̀̅̈͂̍̕͜O ̢͕̫̜͔̤̳̳̻̤̟̟́̈͆̓̑̽̓̎͘ͅŰ̵̮̭̥̩̫̰̠̓̀̌̀̅̋́̓͂͌͝-̴̝̜͇̯̜̥̞̎̉̌̈
Aside from being multiple voices at the same times, nothing seems to be scary about that voice. However, just by hearing it, it recalled Lia of all horrible memories in the past. She wanted to throw up. All of sudden, her mind went blank.
"DON'T THINK I WILL LET YOU!" Entro screeched.
Electron Explosion blew away the darkness and part of the house. Heavy rain and moonlight spilled in from huge hole in the wall.
"Lia! Now!"
When human face extreme stress, their brain shuts down emotions in order to avoid further mental damage. This was happening to Lia. She didn't feel fear anymore, yet she still understands the danger of the situation and ran at the order of Entro.
Before leaving, she knelt to pick up something and shouted. "Entro, come with me!"
"I can't, Bzzt! There are still people in the house! Go get help, Lia!"
Lia understands. She threw an item at Entro, and he instantly knew what it is. It was a special mix of battle item that raised all the users stats at the cost of extreme fatigue called 'Burst Boost'.
With that, she ran off in to the cold night. Her house was built in the forest, but there was a town few minutes away. She began to make turn for the town, but a thought crossed her mind that 'what will happen if the townspeople won't wake up as well?'. Then she saw blue light from far ahead, from where she had first heard the sound of fighting.
Her intuition told her to go there. So she ran, as fast as her little legs can. The ground was muddy and slippery with rain. Some fallen branches scratched her as she ran past, but she couldn't feel it.
The site of the battle was ravaged completely. It was at the small clearing with stone egg, which has now become large clearing due to the trees being broken down. Lia thought the stone egg was just a normal stone shaped like egg, but she seems to be wrong. The stone egg was glowing with pale blue light, the one she saw.
But her attention wasn't at the egg. There were two large Pokémon fainting on the ground. They were heavily wounded. One was a massive blue bird with long ribbons hanging from the wings. Another was gigantic black dragon with armor-like scales and long tail with sharp blades.
Lia had one Full Restore she took from her house just in case. She planned on using it on whatever was fighting with the darkness. She understands the risk, so she decided to wait until the last seconds to use it, so that when the Pokémon get up it would attack the darkness and not her.
From far ahead, she saw the forest growing dark. It's coming. Hurriedly, she approached the dragon and use Full Restore on it. It… didn't seems to work that well on Pokémon of this size, but it slowly rises to its feet.
Lia quickly got out of the dragon's sight. She found the spot behind the stone egg to rest. She didn't realize this before, but her legs were already ready to give out at any moment. When she tried to sit down, her legs just collapsed and she fell to the ground.
She heard it again.
n̵̹̩̙̫̥͎̪̬͌̆͊̈́͊͑̍̓̈̍̊%̵̢̰̙̙̟̘͕̞̤̈̓͋̃̿̄͗̈́̓͑̉͊͘ͅ%̴̨̺̤̻̠̺̠́̈́̎͌͑̒̊̈́͝%̴̥̺̼̩͗̑͛̈̎͝%̷̡̞̲͍̹̬͎͈̎̃͒̈́̇͂͐̾́͋̅̔̔͠͝ͅ^̵̛͎̫͔͍̠͉̪͈̟͛͆̔̕͝#̵̢̜̞̠͓̤̼̼̪̣̖̗͕̑̑͋͂͐̊̾̅̊̽͘ͅ$̴̢̮̲͍̱͇̰̬̔͋̏̊͆̔(!̵̣͈̠̹̼̬̗̠̈̾̿͗̀͌̀̄̏͝Y̷̡̢̛͍͖̭̺̩̗̑̈͒̀͗̐̌͘)̵̧̨̧̦͕̗̯̦̙͙̬̇͋͐͝ ̵̮̮͖̟̟͚̻͚̳̀͑̍̓͆̃́̏̚ͅ_̶̢̜̗̤̯̜͕̞̤͓͚̝̑͂̓̒̅̂̄́̏ͅ!̵̳͙͎̪͕̘̱̹̱̥̺̉̽_͎̤̖̻̦̫̃̈͌̈́̍̾͛͊̋̈́͝*̴̘̗̘̝̻̠̹̼͎͂͊̿͂̓́͌̅͑̎̆̽̔̾͜ͅ)̷̛̗̹͚̮͚̔̉̋̈́͝*̴̨͚͚̖̖̳͉̜̱̼̱̉̽̉̊È̶̛͍͈̀́͑͛̀̉̿͋͂̕͝ n̵̹̩̙̫̥͎̪̬͌̆͊̈́͊͑̍̓̈̍̊^̵̛͎̫͔͍̠͉̪͈̟͛͆̔̕͝#̵̢̜̞̠͓̤̼̼̪̣̖̗͕̑̑͋͂͐̊̾̅̊̽͘ͅ$̴̢̮̲͍̱͇̰̬̔͋̏̊͆̔(̸̥̟̦̠̟̠͎̯͖͍̦̒͜ͅ!̵̣͈̠̹̼̬̗̠̈̾̿͗̀͌̀̄̏͝Y̷̡̢̛͍͖̭̺̩̗̑̈͒̀͗̐̌͘)̵̧̨̧̦͕̗̯̦̙͙̬̇͋͐͝ ̵̮̮͖̟̟͚̻͚̳̀͑̍̓͆̃́̏̚ͅ_̶̢̜̗̤̯̜͕̞̤͓͚̝̑͂̓̒̅̂̄́̏ͅ!̵̳͙͎̪͕̘̱̹̱̥̺̉̽_̸͎̤̖̻̦̫̃̈͌̈́̍̾͛͊̋̈́͝*̴̘̗̘̝̻̠̹̼͎͂͊̿͂̓́͌̅͑̎̆̽̔̾͜ͅ)̷̛̗̹͚̮͚̔̉̋̈́͝*̴̨͚͚̖̖̳͉̜̱̼̱̉̽̉̊È̶̛͍͈̀́͑͛̀̉̿͋͂̕͝ %̷̡̞̲͍̹̬͎͈̎̃͒̈́̇͂͐̾́͋̅̔̔͠͝ͅ^̵̛͎̫͔͍̠͉̪͈̟͛͆̔̕͝#̵̢̜̞̠͓̤̼̼̪̣̖̗͕̑̑͋͂͐̊̾̅̊̽͘ͅ$̴̢̮̲͍̱͇̰̬̔͋̏̊͆̔(̸̥̟̦̠̟̠͎̯͖͍̦̒͜ͅ!̵̣͈̠̹̼̬̗̠̈̾̿͗̀͌̀̄̏͝Y̷̡̢̛͍͖̭̺̩̗̑̈͒̀͗̐̌͘)̵̧̨̧̦͕̗̯̦̙͙̬̇͋͐͝ ̵̮̮͖̟̟͚̻͚̳̀͑̍̓͆̃́̏̚ͅ_̶̢̜̗̤̯̜͕̞̤͓͚̝̑͂̓̒̅̂̄́̏ͅ!̵̳͙͎̪͕̘̱̹̱̥̺̉̽_̸͎̤̖̻̦̫̃̈͌̈́̍̾͛͊̋̈́͝*̴̘̗̘̝̻̠̹̼͎͂͊̿͂̓́͌̅͑̎̆̽̔̾͜ͅ)̷̛̗̹͚̮͚̔̉̋̈́͝*̴̨͚͚̖̖̳͉̜̱̼̱̉̽̉̊È̶̛͍͈̀́͑͛̀̉̿͋͂̕͝
That voice… gripped and squeezed her heart. Even her suppressed fear… was starting to leaks out…
"I don't want to die… I don't want to die…" She whispered with trembling voice. She didn't know what else to do now. She didn't want to run anymore. She can't run anymore. Putting blind faith that the dragon win was her only choice. Her brain races to find anything that will let her survive. That made her mother's advice came up in her head.
'…Remember, Lilia… When you think you are in danger… The first thing you must do is stay calm… Don't panic… It won't do you any good…'
"Does that mean… If I cry, I will die? If I cry, I will die. ificryiwilldie….."
She stopped crying completely.
Never cry. Stay calm at all cost. If not, I will die.
She continued to whisper to herself, as if to try and hypnotize herself, even after her fear was gone. The feeling of fear completely disappeared. No, it was replaced. By deep, mind-numbing despair that rendered her unable to think anything. So, she decided to throw it all away, in order to survive.
And now, the one which caused such fear to the little girl took a peek around the stone. A single bloody red eye spied on her.
Lilia didn't wait a second. She took a broken stick with pointy end and jammed it right into the monster's eye. Perhaps taken by surprise, the eye winced and retreat.
She was about to run out from behind the stone, attempting to push her legs far beyond their limit. Blast of crimson flame stopped her from getting out of the cover. The attacker… the dragon?
The flame was unrelenting, it seems like it will go on forever, until its foe was destroyed. This time the creature let loose a horrifying screech that made Lia forget to breathe. It was really suffering. The dragon's attack is working. Lilia, shielding herself behind the stone, was completely safe. Just then, the monster's tendrils gripped on to the stone and pulled. It was trying to hide behind the stone.
Lia grabbed the biggest stick she could lifted, and began swinging at the monster's tendril. It didn't work. The grip was too strong. It felt her attack, and one of them released its grip on the rock and bolted at her.
Lia stood still. Her last thought was 'I stay calm. Will I still die?'
The blue glow of the stone egg morphed into a red, and then purple. It cracked, and broke- no, it exploded. The tendril and Lilia was blown away by the explosion. And her vision cut to black.