Professor Socotra watched the Shedinja carry the unconscious Sliggoo out of his laboratory. There was no chair in this room. With all his jumping and pacing during the streams, there didn't seem to be a need for one. But as he scrolled through the comments, reviewing the live chat as he jumped through timestamps…

"The eye does have photoreceptors! However, they seem to be mostly rod photoreceptors —that's the thing that helps you see in the dark. So Sliggoo's eyesight is actually good at night, but when exposed to the smallest ray of light? Yeah, you could consider it 'blind', just as-"

Live Chat

AyAnT3ro: What did I miss?

TeATOwHo: Nothing. Boring stream today.

AyAnT3ro: Again?

MorroM: Where's the gore?

TeATOwHO: At the start of the stream. But there's not much action.

He was suddenly aware of the aching in his feet, as well as the incessant pounding in his head from those sleepless nights. And he still had to clean the lab, which he had to admit, wasn't as messy as the end of his other streams.

Shedinja?

No. Shedinja wouldn't know how to properly wipe this room down, and it would be too time-consuming to teach it. And to order it to clean for him…

Professor Socotra grabbed a soaked rag and some surface cleaner from a compartment under the lab table.

"Get a grip, Socotra. You're losing your touch."

It was time to get back on schedule.

I awoke with a start. I was back in the cage, with no recollection as to how. The last thing I remembered was being dropped into a place enclosed by invisible walls, and more tingling on my skin.

At least I was still alive. Never did I think that fact would be reassuring.

A pinprick of light in the distance blinded my vision as I pushed myself up, feelers waving at the detection of a familiar shape.

"You again?! Who are you? And w-why are you here? I'm not dead."

"I am a Shedinja. I'm here because I just wanted to chat."

The creature spoke, its voice low and rough. As it did, I felt an involuntary shudder when noticing that none of its features— hollow indentations which seemed to have been carved into its body—moved at all.

"You're not here for me?"

"Why would I? I mean you no harm. I would just like to ask about your reactions in my presence. They were absent in other Pokemon I interacted with. "

And if I don't want to tell you? Was going to be my indignant response, but it had been two whole days of shouting at air and being shouted at by foreign creatures. Even back at the marsh, there wasn't this little social interaction. Gulping down the knot of fear that had risen in my throat, I continued the conversation. It did say it meant no harm, right?

"You… just reek of death."

"Excuse me?" It was hard to tell the Shedinja's intended expression under that monotone delivery.

"You have an aura around you that's found around corpses or rotting meals. But I can still sense that you're alive, and yet you're dead. So what's the best way to react to something like that, especially something that doesn't respond to any of your shouts?"

That was logical. For a Pokemon with barely any vision, a creature of that description would certainly be terrifying… and interesting. How many more Pokemon perceived me like that?

"I apologise. I was hurrying to make up for lost time, to take you to Professor Socotra."

"Professor Socotra? Do you mean the creature in that other room?"

"That is his name, and his kind are called humans. I am his Pokemon."

" 'His' Pokemon? Why are you 'his'?"

I tried to sigh, but it came out as a raspy growl.

"Would you like the short or long version?"

The Shedinja's story was fluent, like he had retold this too many times. And yet, it didn't seem bored when reciting this, even drawing its words out at certain points, like slowing down the story would help me— or it?— better understand the spoken scenarios.

The story was miserable, though. Shedinja was created by this Socotra human, and now it had to serve him forever, sending other Pokemon to their possible deaths during streams? As much as I felt bad for it, things were going to get worse for me. I couldn't sense any harm done yet, but I had to get out of here. I had been trying since it started telling stories, and was getting increasingly agitated as nothing budged.

"Why don't you escape from this place? This human sounds horrible."

There was a pause. I tried to force myself through the bars, but the gaps were too thin.

"I just feel… tied to him. Maybe it's because he made me, and I want to know why I came to be. His orders give me an answer to that question, but to leave this place… out there, I'm afraid I won't be able to answer it myself."

"That's nice. Can you let me go, at least?" There was no escape upwards either, as bashing my face against a solid surface quickly revealed. The Shedinja had not stopped talking, and the constant sob story of its life was starting to feel a bit irritating. Maybe I would have empathised in other circumstances, but survival came first.

"I can't disobey Professor Socotra. He has a very strict schedule, and if I don't do as he wants, I think—"

"Please! Shut! Up!" I rammed my body against the cage, bouncing uselessly off it with every attempt.

The silence that followed was punctuated by heavy breaths.

"I'm sorry."

"Do you know… what he does to us… during the streams?"

"No. He—he's calling me."

With the Shedinja out of the room, I sunk to the floor, my indignant facade fading. It was hopeless. I had h thrown everything I had at this cage and nothing worked. I just needed to accept the fact that I was going to die here. Alone.

I regret what I did to my fami-

"Here's your food." I jumped as the Shedinja spoke right next to my cage. A few small orbs rolled through the gaps.

"Doctor Socotra told me to give them to you. No one's stayed the night before."

"Can you turn off the light when you leave? I see better in the dark."

"Okay."

Finally, I could see properly. The orbs turned out to be berries. They were fresh, and even more surprising was the familiar scent of the marshland still clinging onto them. Were they recently taken from my home? I squinted, seeing if the fruits were the same shade of blue as the ones I—

Hang on. I blinked furiously at the berry in my hands, and that blinking intensified as a sinking realisation slowly set in.

Why can't I see out of my left eye?

Doctor Socotra heaved a cage onto his lab table. The cube was covered with a red cloth, but they couldn't muffle the squeaks coming from behind the fabric.

The mud and swamp water would require about three days to remove completely from his gear. He'd have to make Sliggoo last until then, but what he had done tonight should be enough to make up for it.

After tomorrow's stream, he would have the people's attention again.

He would make them listen.