"Samuel Black,"
That was the first thing the man at the front door of the manor said. According to Sam, this manor is supposedly Richard Trevelton's idea for a 'base'. Well, I guess it is fancy, not like those guilds in the middle of forests. This is the first time Sam is taking us here. Jonathan didn't want to come because he thought it was stupid and unnecessary, but Sam managed to convince him by saying that if he doesn't like it, he can leave whenever he wanted. Sam also brought us – his and Jonathan's Pokémon – along, because apparently we'll be 'working' there too.
"Yes, that's me," Sam replied.
"And who's this fellow?" The bulky security guard gestured at Jonathan, eyeing him suspiciously.
"This is my friend, Jonathan. I hope you don't mind that I brought him along."
"As long as he causes no trouble, all's good. Alright, you can come in now."
And in we went. Instantly, you step into the front hall and see that it's bustling with activity. People chatting everywhere, handing documents, drinking coffee, running from the bathroom and back, and typing on their keyboards. There was a large black chalkboard standing alone beside the grand staircase. Crudely written on it was : 'Legend Hunters: Legends and Myths Are No Match For Us'. I quickly assumed it was their team name and motto, but it sounded really cheesy.
"Samuel Black," A dark-haired man with an Indiana Jones-looking outfit walked down the grand staircase, his warm smile greeting us. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you." He noticed Jonathan. "Is this your friend?"
"Er, yes, Sir." Sam replied nervously, scared to get scolded for bringing him. "I-I hope you don't mind."
The gentleman shook his head indifferently "Of course not. I'm always glad to show young kids what an important job we do." Jonathan rolled his eyes and those words. The gentleman noticed. "Even though some of them are really stubborn, we still try." He added.
The gentleman then lead Sam and Jonathan upstairs, although we remained downstairs. Sam told us to go explore the place while he discussed some things with Mr. Richard, the leader of the club. I'm assuming he was that guy wearing the Indiana Jones outfit, because Sam had called him 'sir'.
A loud groan made my head turn. It was Blanch, Jonathan's Buizel. Originally, Blanch was Sam's Pokémon, but Sam traded him for Vivico the Leafeon, which had belonged to Jonathan at the time. I met him shortly after Sam caught me and Arthur, and I think he was traded only a year later, when Sam first met Jonathan. Vivico became happier living with Sam. On the other hand, Blanch did not. Jonathan doesn't like letting his Pokémon out, which upsetted Blanch a lot, since he liked being outside that stupid ball. If he was let out, he would try to do everything he possibly could before Jonathan trapped him back again.
"About fudging time!" He muttered angrily, stretching his arms and legs. "Two weeks! Two fudgin' weeks! I don't know how I survived that, but I did..." Blanch noticed me, and he gave me that usual sinister grin he always gave me. "Well, ain't it the crappy Vulpix~"
Honestly, I don't even know who I hate more, Adam or him. I think Adam has a slight edge just because I see him more frequently than Blanch. That's the one thing I like about Jonathan's bad habit of not letting 'big' Pokémon like him out. "Blanch, not now..." I growled at him. I was too lazy to get in another pointless fight with him, but he persisted.
"Aw, are you getting soft, Keith?" The word 'soft' felt like a humongous stab through my pride, and it took all my willpower to resist beating the shit out of him. I just snarled at him, and then stormed off.
In my frustration, I didn't realize that I had walked into a brightly lit room. When I noticed the lighting change, I looked up and around. Dozens of bookcases created rows of corridors in there. On the walls were beautiful paintings of various sceneries such as mountains and lakes, the wall lamps beside showcasing them in a glorious orange spotlight. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling on their chains, lighting up the room. Chairs and tables are neatly positioned in a fashionable order in the corner of the room, much like a reading corner. It was obviously a library, much fancier than the last one I had went to.
As I took in the view of the library, a small, dry cough interrupted me. Turning around, I saw that there was a desk, most likely serving as the librarian's counter. The librarian, a tan-skinned man with light brown hair, was sleeping on his job. Looking a bit to the left, I saw that the Pokémon beside him was the one who made the cough. It was a Servine, his red eyes gleaming at me.
"Welcome to the Felter Library." The Servine greeted me with a male British accent. "Mind my trainer; he's basically a Slowpoke. I'm not even sure how he hasn't got fired yet, but whatever." His squinted his eyes at me, looking at every detail of me. "Hmm... You're new here, huh?"
"Y-yeah..." I mumbled quietly. I'm not used to be engaged in a conversation in this way.
"Well, glad to see a new face around here." He smiled, extending his hand. "My name's Ralph, by the way."
"Keith," I replied, shaking his hand. "so... what's in this library?"
"The usual stuff," He Ralph replied casually, flicking the pages of a notebook. "documents, manifests, maps, testements, legends, myths; it goes on and on. There are a few selection of novels in that row over there, or you might be interested in certain highly fascinating history books in that section." He pointed to the two areas he was talking about. "But I suggest that you meet the others first. They usually hang at the table in the center of the library. Just walk through that corridor and keep straight." He indicated at the narrow pathway between two large bookcases, which I went through.
A little while later, I reached the table Ralph was talking about. It was a large reading area, about 10 tables, each with 4 chairs, making that 40 chairs. Several potted plants were placed throughout the area, just for decoration and a modern touch. There weren't any humans in the library, but there were some Pokémon – three, to be exact – all sitting at one table. I walked over to the table and tried to introduce myself, even though I was never good with this 'social interaction' thing. "Er... hi? C-can I sit here... please?"
God, that was a cringe...
One of them looked skeptical, and the other one didn't react. But the last one, a Mawile, welcomed me to stay. "You can sit," She said in a calm manner. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Isabelle, and these two are Clinton and Xera." She gestured towards the Bunnelby and the Espurr sitting alongside me, respectively.
"So this is the new guy, hm?" The Bunnelby, Clint, said. Observing me, he raised an eyebrow. "One of you people with those 'different eyes' thing..."
"So?" I didn't mean to sound so aggresive, but my brain just acted on instinct. The Bunnelby just shook his head, unpleased at my response.
"Aggresive and rebellious. I can't work with people like these!" He wailed. "When will the boss ever get decent recruits!?"
I felt insulted, and I felt rage boil up inside me as I glared at him. When I was just about to get off my chair and strike, a small tap on my shoulder interrupted me. It was the Espurr, Xera. She stayed silent, but shook her head, her look saying 'don't'. Remembering my last argument with Spark and Arthur, which painfully resulted with me being shocked, I took a deep breath and remained seated on my chair (with great difficulty).
Isabelle nodded appreciatively. "I thank you for not lashing out. Clinton can be fairly... hostile, at times."
"Well course I am!" Clinton argued back. "Why can't we have proper folks with patience!?"
"Says the Bunnelby who's lashing out!" Isabelle yelled back. "Now just shut up while I talk to the newcomer!"
"Fine!" The Bunnelby then got off his seat and stormed out of the reading area.
There was a tense silence hanging in the air as the three of us remained quiet, thinking about what just happened. "I... I'm sorry. You didn't need to see that..." Isabelle said to me. "By the way, I didn't think we caught your name –"
"Keith," I replied quickly, hoping to get out of the library soon. "c-could I go now? I need to look for my friends."
"Of course." Isabelle replied, but then suddenly her eyes widened. "Hang on. Is Adam the Minccino part of your group?"
"Adam? Yeah, why?" I watched her intently. She seemed fairly disturbed by my answer, though Xera the Espurr kept a poker face. Isabelle was rubbing her hands together nervously, as though unsure what to say.
"Minccinos are normal type, if I recall?" She asked. I just nodded. She got even more nervous and sweat was beginning to visibly drip down her face. "Oh dear, oh dear..."
"What's wrong?" I was getting scared now. Was there something wrong being a normal type? Maybe there's a severe type discrimination around here? Or a 'No Normal-type' policy? Whatever it is, if it concerns Adam, I need to know. Otherwise the others might blame me for not warning them or something.
"Richard doesn't like normal-types." Isabelle said grimly. "At all. It's mainly because they're not super effective against anything, which makes the boss considers them 'weak'. And in fact..." She looked around, making sure that there was no one else but the three of us around, then leaned closed and whispered to me. "I've heard rumours that they get experimented on. A lot of normal-type Pokémon around here, strangely enough, don't last long. They either die in freak accidents, get killed by other Pokémon, or maybe worse."
I gulped nervously. Did she mean that Adam's life is shorter now because Sam joined? "Then why don't you stop it?" I asked her. "My friends will freakin' kill me if something happens to Adam!"
"Alas, I cannot." Isabelle sighed. "Other than my own word and several others', I do not have solid proof. Even if I do, would any of the human trainers here believe me? And how am I supposed to tell them? Well, some of us can write, but we risk our lives doing so. Richard would have our heads and probably label us as 'disobedient Pokémon'. It's too dangerous."
"There's no rebellion? You're not fighting against this unfairness!?" I was fairly angry that they wouldn't fight for freedom, when their fellow normal-types are being slaves to torturous and devious experiments. I could imagine Adam sitting in a restraining chair, various drugs being injected into his body through syringes, simply to make him more powerful. I couldn't bear the sight and shook my head, clearing the picture.
"As much as we would love to, we can't. These people have guns! And they're either shotguns, rifles, or rapid-fire weapons. Even if we gather all the capable Pokémon here, we might all die under an hour."
I sighed. I just hope that Adam just doesn't get into any weird shit, or if the rumours are even true. I should try and warn him though; it might just save his life. "Th-thank you for the, er... fascinating information, Isabelle." Disturbed by her tale, I walked out of the reading area and library before she could reply.
On my way to the Pokémon's Area – which Sam had pointed out earlier – I ran into Adam. Immediately, I called his name. "Adam! Can I talk to you for a minute?"
Adam just rolled his eyes, but he did walk towards me. "What is it?" He grumbled. "If it's a shitty apology, I'm not taking it."
"It's not an apology! I swear! I talked to some Pokémon around here, and I heard that normal-types like you don't fare very well around here." I told him what Isabelle had said to me about normal-types often dying here. "So... be careful, okay?" Strangely, Adam just laughed. "Wh-what's so –"
"Dude, I am not falling for another one of your curse stories," He said, snorting. "you're just trying to get in my head so I don't perform well! Hmph, I'll show you!" Without another word, he grunted angrily at me and stormed off. I could only stare after him.
Why had I told him all those freaky-ass tragedy tales in those past years, I thought to myself. I just hope that nothing bad happens to him, or else... I shuddered to think of what might happen to him. There was a small cough in front of me. I looked up, and saw that it was Clinton, the Bunnelby.
"What do you think you're doing, loitering around in the hallway!?" He snapped at me, his ears twitching impatiently. "Go to your room or something!" In my head sprung a word, though I resisted saying it: Asshole
"FINE!" I yelled at him, then sprinted past him and went straight into the Pokémon Area. "That jerk..." I muttered under my breath. "I wish he wouldn't be so rude to me..." Looking up, the Pokémon Area was basically a playground, full of all sorts of rides and toys, none of which I was interested in. I noticed Arthur, Adam, and Blanch playing together at the roundabout, Blanch spinning it while Arthur and Adam tried hanging on. "They seem to be having fun... without me..."
I was in a room full of strangers, where my only friends were busy playing without me, hanging out with other Pokémon. I watch the rest chat, play, eat, drink, sleep... This room... I feel so alone in this room, like I'm unneeded here. I shook my head. "Fuck that," I said, cursing. "I'm gonna go back to Sam's room and take a nap; find some solitude to clear my head..."
Walking down the hall and taking several turns, I reached a door. Beside with a piece of paper with the name 'Samuel Black' roughly written on it. It kinda looks like scratching. Regardless, I opened the door, which was not shut properly, and looked around. It was a simple room, almost like back in the apartment. A single bed, a dresser, a work table, a mirror, a small bedside table, and some decor. The walls were cream and the floor was wood, slightly creaking with every step I took.
I clambered onto the work table, trying to get comfy. Having six tails has its benefits; you can easily snuggle up in them and not worry about the hard surface too much. After finding a comfortable spot, I slowly dozed off...
...
Dreams... so many bad dreams...
"Adam, no!"
"How could you do this, Keith!?"
"Not after this..."
"Get lost and never come back, you filthy murderer!"
"FWAAH!" I woke up, startled. My entire body was sweating. I frantically looked around. Although the lights were out, I can still barely make out the silhouette of them still sleeping. Some of them were snoring too. "Ah... just another nightmare... I've been having so many nightmares..."
It's been a week since we've been here. Sam's been doing some scouting missions for the club, and he's been getting fairly well-known amongst the others; rookies and experts alike. The others have been getting more friends too. But not me. In fact, I had worse problems.
Every night since we've come here, I've been having non-stop nightmares everytime I sleep. Even during naps, which I thought was impossible. Sometimes I'd get twice, maybe even three times, in a single day! The worst part is, I remember all of them, vividly too. It all felt so real... Counting the one I had just now, it makes the grand total of twelve nightmares, all in a single week. "Why won't these nightmares stop...?" I breathed, rubbing my forehead. I was getting sick of it, all these horrifying and gruesome dreams I've been having... Were they normal? Or was it from an external source?
Normally, people won't be able to remember their dreams, but for some reason... I do. I try to forget, but the new nightmares remind me of the previous ones. There was one where the entire base was destroyed along with everyone in it, there was one where I was tied to a railroad track with a ghost train heading towards me, and the last one, the one I just had... I saw myself, emanating a flaming black aura, blood all over my teeth and claws, the body of a Minccino laying in front of me. Then –
"Urkh..." My stomach churned. I remembered what happened next, but I felt ill remembering it. I don't feel like telling it at all; the pain felt all too real... "God, help me..."
I prayed and prayed to the heavens that I can sleep well tonight, but even as I nestled up in my bundle of tails, I couldn't sleep, from the fear of having another nightmare. These terrifying dreams keep getting even worse than the last. I shudder to think of having another ultra-realistic nightmare... But eventually, after several hours, slumber finally overcame me.
...
"UAAARGH!"
"What are you doing!?"
"We don't need you anymore, you shit –"
"GET OFF ME!"
"You are your own undoing, Keith..."
"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" I screamed, waking up and kicking my legs everywhere. I blinked as light shone into my eyes. "Wh-what..?" I looked around me. The room was empty, all except Spark the Shinx, who was laying sleepily in bed. He seems to have woken up from my scream.
"What the hell, dude!?" He yelled at me. "You scared me half to death!"
"S-sorry..." I mumbled, my entire body sweating. "I-I had another nightmare..."
Spark just rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm gonna go find Arthur." He got up and walked away, muttering swear words under his breath. I just sighed.
"Why does this happen to me?" I said, gazing at my reflection in the mirror. "Why? Tell me why..." My reflection appeared to tilt its head a bit in pity, but I think it's just me going crazy. "I think I'm losing my mind..." I muttered, looking away from the mirror.
...
An hour later, Sam suddenly announced that we, his Pokémon, are gonna follow him on a recon mission. The last missions he did didn't need any Pokémon, but since his team were going to a not very well-known region, Pokémon and weapons were advised to be brought. Jonathan and his Pokémon stayed behind though, since they aren't part of the clan.
The mission was to go scout an abandoned town north of Jubilife City. I think Sam had mentioned it once, wanting to go there, but Jonathan prohibited him. No wonder he was so excited for this trip. The abandoned town was over a century old, some people claim that it was the original Jubilife City. Theorists say that something happened there, and the people living there moved to the spot where Jubilife City stands now.
It took about two hours by a rover to get there. We drove through Jubilife City and headed into the woods, driving several more miles before the first sight of an old building covered in vines. Several hundred feet later, we reached the abandoned town. The buildings were really old; the paint on the buildings has chipped away and cracks spread throughout the walls. Some were even covered in moss and vines.
Sam and the rest didn't waste time – they quickly hopped out of the vehicle and spreaded out in groups. But I was too busy looking around at the wasteland, and by the time I realized it... they were long gone...
The town... the air temperature just dropped a little... There was no one here, it was like a ghost town... Or was it? A tiny tingle crept up on the back of my neck. "H-hello?" I called, looking around. "Sam? Arthur? Guys?" There was no response. It was just dead quiet.
Dead quiet.
I felt shivers crawl up my spine as I wandered aimlessly around, looking for the rest. "G-guys? Wh-where did you go?" In my head I kept repeating to myself: I'm not scared, I'm not scared, I'm not scared, I'm brave, I'm strong, I can't get scared...
But even deeper inside my mind, other words kept repeating: I'm dead, that's it. I'm abandoned, lost, left for dead. I'm a gonner, that's it...
WHOOSH
I whipped my head around. What was that!?
It became quiet... too quiet...
A large shadow came over me. I was petrified with fear when I saw it. Slowly, I turned my head around, fearing whatever was behind me.
And then I saw it.
A snake- no, a serpent. A gigantic one, it's evil red eyes glaring down upon me. I couldn't move; I was petrified by its frightening gaze. I felt my knees go weak and my heart sink. All I could do was just stay paralyzed in fear.
I felt its strong tail wrap around my body and around my neck. I felt it squeeze and tighten around my throat, choking me. I tried to struggle and gasp for air, but the serpent was too strong. N-no... It can't end like this... The world started to blur...
...
...
Not like this...
Somehow, I managed to cling onto a slimmer of my conciousness, my will to survive burning. I'm not dying, not today. Arthur... What would be of him if I suddenly die? I can't let that happen... So I struggled, I resisted. I refused to black out, I refused to die, even as my lungs were nearly fully deprived of oxygen, I still hanged on. Me and the serpent's eyes locked. His cold glare intensified, making me whimper under his mighty tail's grip. But I still tried to live.
Minutes went by as I shook, I wriggled, I even bited, but the mighty serpent would not release me. Even with all my willpower to survive, it didn't matter if your body was as weak as mold. I felt cold... I felt death... I... I can't die... not yet... please... I still tried to suck in more oxygen into my lungs, but my airways were blocked tight. The world began to blur again, in fact it began to get bright...
As every sense in my body went numb, my ears managed to pick up one last sound:
"Knock him out,"
Then everything went black.