Chapter Two
For nearly two days, I didn't sleep.
The commander who's name I had yet to learn left me in the dark room he had initially taken me to. The second he left me alone, I took to assessing my surroundings.
After allowing time for my eyes to adjust to the dark, I could just barely make out my surroundings. A small holding cell that's maybe only a few feet wide and deep, in the back of what I'm assuming is a basement based on the lack of cell signal on my pokétch. Boxes stacked up outside the chain-link fence than ran from the floor to the ceiling, all thick with the smell of mothballs and age.
I reached for my bag out of habit, but the commander had taken it with him. I was alone completely. No pokémon, and I would eventually find out that nobody was around. Wherever this basement was, nobody came through it.
The first night was easy enough. Still pumped full of adrenaline, sleep refused me. I listened intently for anything that could aid me. Not even a distant rumble to indicate foot traffic. The only sound that greeted me was the soft air conditioning, along with my heartbeat and breathing that felt deafening in my own ears.
The second night was worse.
Hunger and the need for a restroom had taken hold of me, and the metal and concrete walls all sucked the heat from me. I had already missed all my pokémon, but as I struggled to keep myself awake, I missed Infernape more than ever. The air had grown cold and damp, the heady smell of mildew permeating the air around me.
Huddled in the corner of the cell, fear of the commander showing up again was the only thing that kept me from falling asleep…
Time is irrelevant to me at this point. My Pokétch vibrates against my wrist now and again, alerting me it needs to be charged. It was already low on power when I stormed Lake Valor, and I didn't think to set it to a low power setting until it was nearly dead. Soon enough I might not have to worry about time altogether.
The me from only a few days ago would have been mortified to even have this thought, but I can't help but contemplate giving up. Allowing myself to lay on the floor and just succumb to my inevitable death. Let the concrete floor suck the last of my body heat, listening to the deafening sound of my heartbeat.
Thump.
The commander had said he was going to ruin me. By that he must have meant let me starve in some basement.
Thump.
I wasn't exactly sure what he had meant when he said it, but somehow I had imagined it being far more gruesome and physical.
Thump.
The thought of dying alone without getting to say goodbye to anyone brings a sting to my eyes, but tears refuse to form due to how dehydrated I am.
I barely had time to say goodbye to Barry and Lucas when we parted ways from the Canalave Library. The three of us were in such a hurry to save the day, I can't even remember if I looked either of them in the eye.
Thump.
I haven't even seen my mother since she came to one of my contests last month.
Thump.
I wish I had hugged her tighter.
Thump.
Thump..
Thump…
Just as the very edges of my vision darken and I threaten to pass out, the distant sound of a door slamming jolts me out of my stupor.
Sitting up with my back against the wall, I feel a renewed fire under my skin. It's a weak fire, but a reminder that I'm still alive, and that somewhere there is fight left within me.
The footsteps are soft in their approach, gradually getting louder, and I can make out the sound of something being repetitively tossed up and caught again.
The second the person comes into view, I feel myself shrink back against the wall, bile rising in the back of my throat.
The nameless commander, this time, dressed more casually. Instead of the Galactic garb I initially saw him in, he wears a sweater that I can make out to be blue in the dim lighting, and dark wash jeans.
Even from the back of the cell, I can smell the spices of his cologne, along with something sweet and bready, as if he just stepped out of a bakery somewhere.
My stomach growls in response, prompting me to slam my arm over it.
"Aren't you having the time of your life?" he asks me.
I say nothing, choosing only to scowl at him, if only because my mouth is so dry it feels like I've swallowed a wad of cotton.
He tosses up a standard poké ball, leaning up against the chain barrier. "Tell me, how hungry are you?" he asks.
I still refuse to answer him. I'm not about to give him the satisfaction.
He turns his gaze to the poké ball, watching it move with every casual toss. "You know, it's fascinating. The last two days we've been studying your pokémon closely; trying to figure out what –if anything– makes them so powerful."
My heart leaps into my throat, and I must have made a sound without realizing, because he turns to look at me, the look in his eyes like a predator who caught their prey.
"And not one of your pokémon were abnormal in the least. Infernape, Garchomp, Staraptor– none of them. Completely average in every way." He shrugs, returning his attention to the capsule.
If I wasn't in such bad shape, I would verbalize my anger with him calling my pokémon average.
"Really, the only pokémon of interest was your Porygon-Z."
As he says it, my stomach drops, realizing what poké ball is in his hands. If he harmed zir in any way…
"See, you can always trace the manufacturer on the parts used to evolve a Porygon. There's always a signature on them, if you will." He pauses his tossing, looking directly at me. "Porygon-Z here, both its upgrade parts have Team Galactic signatures on them."
I roll my eyes.
"I can only assume you stole these parts when you raided our Eterna City base," he says.
I don't understand what he's getting at. "Stealing from thieves hardly matters to me," I tell him, my voice scratchy and painful.
"I don't think you're in much of a position to talk back to me, besides, you're missing what I'm getting at." With a flick of his wrist, he releases my pokémon.
Zi floats beside him, the glow from zir eyes burning mine until they adjust.
"Knowing your pokémon was using our upgrade parts, we were able to…reprogram it."
Instead of leaping into my throat, my heart threatens to stop all together. "Ziva!" I yell out, using zir nickname in a desperate attempt to get her zir to listen.
Ziva doesn't even acknowledge me, looking only at the commander.
I lean forward, the cool air leaving me wracked with chills. Pitifully, I drag myself closer to the chain-link fence, reaching a hand out to my pokémon, despite knowing how gratifying it must be for the commander to watch.
"Discharge," he orders.
Porygon-Z turns to me in a blink, zapping the barrier quick enough for my hand to get caught in it, sending a painful jolt through my whole body.
I grip my chest, desperate to catch my breath and steady my heartbeat, absolutely sure I'm going to die if it doesn't settle.
The commander laughs low in a way that distinctly fills me with anger, wrapping me in a hot-flash.
"Who even are you?" I ask, my voice reverberating around me. "Mars, Jupiter– all of them! All of them couldn't wait to tell me who they were, but you– who the hell are you?"
I hate that I can tell how amused he is by my outburst. He smirks at he gives me a look over, the gesture still making my skin crawl just as it did back at the lake. "Are you looking for my given name, or my commander name?"
"I don't care," I say through gritted teeth.
"Seeing as you haven't earned my given name, I'll tell you who I am in Team Galactic. I am Commander Saturn, right hand to Leader Cyrus."
Not long ago I had wondered if there was a ranking to the commanders, and today I got my answer. There was a ranking, and I had clearly tangled with the worst of them. Cyrus might be the leader, but I could already tell that Saturn was far more conniving and vindictive that him.
In my silence, he kneeled down, getting eye level with me, my pokémon hovering over his shoulder, staring into my soul with zir bright yellow eyes.
"But more importantly," he said, his voice soft like velvet, a texture I distinctly loathe. "I am the man who is going to win." Without me noticing, he slipped his hand through the chain-link, grabbing a hold of my scarf, pulling me forward until my face was pressed up against the metal. "You may have won our battle, but I will conquer you."
He holds me firm to the metal, long enough to leave an imprint against my cheek, before finally letting me go.
I claw my way to the back of the cell, desperate to stay out of his reach. "How? By letting me starve in some basement?"
For someone so conniving, he had to have something else up his sleeve. Something as hands-off as starvation seemed…below him.
He stood tall, continuing to stare me down. He shook his head. "I could easily do just that, but…" He shrugs. "That wouldn't be nearly as much fun, now would it?"
A shiver runs up the back of my spine, and if I had anything in my stomach, I might have threatened to puke, but instead I force the feeling down, knowing hurling nothing but stomach acid would only make things worse.
He recalls my pokémon, turning himself to the side to step away. "I'll send one of my grunts to move you to your new holding. I think you've spent enough time here as it is."
Without another word, he heads off, returning to his game of tossing my pokémon's poké ball into the air, my heartbeat echoing his footsteps.
I want to yell at him. Demand to be set free. Demand to know where I am.
But words fail me. All that comes out is a scratchy breath.
I desperately want to fight back. Every fiber of my being is telling me to, but I just don't have the energy to do so. Hunger spikes in my stomach again, reminding me of how helpless I really am.
For now, all I can do is curl back into the corner, and pray to whatever being out there that I make it thought this, and try not to think too hard about what Saturn might be doing to my pokémon.
Are they all safe? Are they being cared for in any capacity?
Are the lake pokémon safe? I failed Azelf –were Lucas and Barry able to protect the others? Are they safe? Or were they taken by the other commanders like I was?
Is Sinnoh going to be safe?
Somewhere in the middle of cycling through the endless questions I had, I dozed off, finally succumbing to exhaustion, my last conscious thought being how much I hated Commander Saturn…
AN: idk if i'm going to keep up with the repetitive things, like in ch 1, "im not scared" and this one, the heartbeats, but I literally haven't TOUCHED this fic since 2016 so i'm getting back into the swing of things. esp writing in first person. this fic was the last i wrote in 1st, so it's a muscle i haven't used in a long time.
i'm not ENTIRELY sure where this fic is going. past me didn't leave me much of an outline, so i think i'm just gonna have fun with this and let it flow. i do have a full time job now, so no clue what kind of schedule this will be on, if it even will be lmao
thanks for reading!