The day began like any other—with a trash bag tossed my way, landing next to the doorway with a wet plop.
"Throw it away."
The ground sloped downwards, a singular route straight to Disposal. This task was carried out on the deepest floor, in an outer room of the lab separated by a simple dead-bolted door.
It was a small cavern, like someone had given up before even starting excavation into an actual room. A stack of tiles was piled up in the corner. Two rotten timber poles and a beam were the only things supporting the crushing weight above. A dusty bulb hung from the ceiling, but the light source was the one seeping in from behind the door, which I made sure was locked behind me.
I headed further into the 'room', floating over the other pieces of black plastic that littered the dirt. The air was growing colder, and multiple presences could be felt approaching this space.
Black silhouettes emerged from the numerous shadows enveloping the room, eyes and wide smiles forming in the inky darkness to complete their features. These were strong Ghost-types, to have maintained intangible forms for so long just to get here.
I tightened my grip on the trash bag as I ventured further into the cavern, with more Pokemon materialised around me. Gengars and their pre-evolutions. The heads of Trevenants and Dusclops poked out from the walls, their one eye intently tracking my movements. A Chandelure lurked in a corner, its blue flames casting no light.
"What's in there today?"
"Ooh, I hope it's fresh~"
"Looks small. Hope there's enough for everyone, bug. If not you're starting to look pretty tasty..."
"I can't wait anymore! Let us eat already!"
A Haunter swiped at the bag, tearing through its thin layer and the contents within. Blood was drawn, but there was a flash of yellow before the fur was matted red. It looks like I'll be meeting a new Pokemon today.
That was the unspoken cue everyone had been waiting for. I dropped the bag, watching the shadows surge forward and converge underneath the falling object. The room burst into a frenzy of claws and jaws, guttural roars driving away some of the weaker ghosts as everyone tried to fill their mouths with as much as possible.
They were all too distracted fighting over a meal to notice me leave the room, floating back through the door. Even if they did, it would be logical that none would dare chase. There was some rubbish that even these Pokemon would not touch, and the ones they did were grisly to watch. A body suspended in midair, laying limp while the soft parts were ripped out first, before chunks of flesh were torn haphazardly, flying into the air and disappearing into the darkness. Bones were not spared.
It was an effective trash disposal unit, and that fact was all that mattered to him.
He dropped a dirty rag into a nearby trash bag as I entered, dusting his hands off. The lab was cleaned thoroughly after each stream, but some of the red stains were impossible to remove from the metal table, where most experiments were carried out.
Including the one that created me.
There was no time to dwell on that for too long. He had already left the lab, right on schedule. It was time to bring in the new arrival.
Life is funny sometimes. One moment you're leaving your bog to eat some berries—berries that were too close to the water, now that I think about it—and the next, the peat gives way under your foot. It's not uncommon for this to happen, but something was different. Instead of the wide expanses of acidic marshland, my antennae only detected solid surfaces in all four directions.
Dread started to set in as I remembered word around the swamp about 'cages', and how similar their descriptions matched my own situation. I pushed against the walls, feeling minuscule gaps too small to squeeze through. Even my mucus had no effect on whatever this was made of.
"Finally… managed to get one." My skin started to tickle with the sensation of little particles landing on its mucous surface.
Not particles… powder.
"Hopefully the dosage will be strong enough for it to sleep through the ride back… This'll make for an interesting stream." I started to feel woozy, and the sudden weightlessness of being lifted upwards cut everything to black.
The Warehouse shared the same gloomy atmosphere that permeated the rest of the lab. The large windowless room was lit by a few fluorescent lamps, but their light didn't carry far with their placement high up on the ceiling. Tall stacks of empty cages cast gridded shadows, a wide assortment of cubes that were unique in more than size. I navigated through the room, searching for the correct cage.
Strange. Two shattered hemispheres lay discarded on the floor, their location betrayed by the smallest glint of red. They looked familiar. Maybe this was worth taking time to check out before returning to the daily routine…
"Hey! I'm stuck here!"That voice sounded close. Glancing around, the blinking of green light caught my eye, a cage signalling the presence of an occupant.
What was I thinking? I had my orders. There was no time to be distracted by something as trivial as garbage. I had been to Disposal enough times to know that anything outside of his expectations would not be tolerated.
"Anyone? Is anyone out there?"
I hurried towards the increasingly frantic cries for help, shaking my head to clear any remaining thoughts about the broken object.
It was time to bring in the new arrival.