Chapter 7: Easy Come, Screaming Go

Tristian woke up suddenly, his body shaking and teeth clattering. After giving his eyes enough time to open, he looked beneath himself to see that he wasn't lying on his bed, but on the cold floor. He got himself up and started to look around the room to find his bed. "Rachel, where did my…"

But he fell silent as he noticed how dark and empty the room was, and how silent it was… a cold dead silence that sent shivers through his entire being.

"…Maybe she's somewhere in the guild…" He pondered aloud. He took a deep breath and started to walk out of the room.

It was no better in the hall. It too was extremely dark… yet he could see the walls as if it was daytime. It was as if the entire world had been turned to grayscale.

"Hey, anyone there!?" He shouted. There was a faint brushing noise somewhere, but it soon faded. He looked behind himself for a moment, before pressing onwards.

Upon entering the main hall he stopped and realized that he might just be dreaming, since the lack of color would be quite fitting in that case. He tested this idea by pinching himself, but when the pain registered for him, it became painfully clear that this was reality. He looked around the room trying to find anyone else, but it was just as empty as the previous ones…

…But he could've sworn he saw a pair of crimson eyes looking at him…

He swallowed and climbed up the ladder to the second floor. He was relieved to find Bidoof looking at the bulletin board. He walked over and tapped Bidoof on the back. 'Hey, Bidoof. Do you have any idea what's going on?'

He was met with dead silence.

Tristian let out a grumble and walked over to meet Bidoof face to face. He was met with an empty gaze from the recruit.

Was he even breathing?

Suddenly, his ears perked up, as the sound of footsteps approached him. He quickly turned to face whatever was approaching and was met with a wall of fire. He quickly jumped out of the way, the attack only burning a small spot on his fur.

Those eyes were back, staring at him from the shadows, filled with contempt. "Leave." The owner of the eyes demanded, with a harsh and femenine voice.

Tristian's heart was beating a mile a minute, and his entire body refused to move.

The eyes narrowed in anger, and a snarl echoed out of the darkness as the owner of the eyes jumped towards Tristian. "I SAID LEAVE!"

"Who are you!?" Tristian asked in a panic, catching the intruder off guard and making it stop just short from nailing him to the floor. He took the opportunity to see what he was dealing with now that the mysterious attacker was more visible.

The owner of those Crimson Eyes had yellow fur, showing spots of dirt and bruises, nine long tails with orange tips at the end, all extremely unorderly, and a messy yellow mane on their head.

"Ninetales. Now, leave." She said coldly, looking straight through the Shinx.

A million thoughts were filling his head at once. Who is she? What is she doing here? Does she have anything to do with Bidoof's frozen state?

The last question struck something deep in him, making him grind his teeth.

"No, you're going to explain what happened to Bidoof?! What happened to him? Did you do it?" He snarled.

Ninetales looked stunned for a moment, only for her to brandish her teeth and shake with rage a moment later. "YOU WILL LEAVE!"

Before he could realize how much he had screwed up, the Ninetales had unleashed an Inferno upon the small Shinx. He cowered in fear and screamed as he closed his eyes…

After a few seconds of screaming, Tristian became confused as to why he wasn't being scorched alive. He carefully opened one of his eyes and was met with the surprised gaze of his partner.

"Mind telling what the fek you're doing?" She asked, sounding a little annoyed.

Tristian pinched his cheek again, and after feeling the sting he tried to slow down his breathing.

This caused Rachel to catch onto his panic, causing her anger to be exchanged with worry. "Did you have a nightmare or something?" She asked.

"M-must've been…" He said, still shaking.

"Heh, sounds more like you're trying to convince yourself than you're trying to convince me." Rachel said with a grin.

"HEY! WHY ARE YOU TAKING MY JOB!?" Loudred shouted as he stepped into the doorframe of the room.

Tristian, just realizing how loud he might have been, starts to sweat. "Oh boy… I'm sorry..."

"This is going to be a long day…" Rachel muttered.

As the flames died down, the Ninetales was faced with a frozen Shinx, just as frozen as the Bidoof that the electric type tried to talk to earlier. Ninetales raised an eyebrow and wandered over to the Shinx. After some pushes against the cat, she concluded that he had been frozen. "…but how? Did… I do it?"

She shook her head and brought herself back to reality. "Let's get you somewhere else, I'd rather not have to explain this to him… "

Her day has certainly become very interesting…

So much wait, for a short chapter?

Yeah, I had this one on the backlog for a while. Things were happening so I didn't have a lot of time.

Once again, I'd like to thank pepperfruits for Beta Reading this chapter.

I promise the next chapter will be longer.

Team Galactic Time & Space Scanner

chat log

Comm_SA

Who has accepted to fund our mission?

Comm_MA

Team Rocket refused, because, of course.

Team Aqua and Magma took some convincing, but they are on board.

Team Plasma was being annoying about it, but when I mentioned the potential consequences of inaction, they seemed to change their tune.

Team Flare is still on board.

Comm_SA

What about the big guys?

Comm_MA

Macro Cosmos seemed too easy to convince... I think Chairman Rose might be planning something on the side.

As for the Aether Foundation...

Comm_SA

Let me guess, they refused to budge?

Comm_MA

Exactly, they think we're just using this problem as an excuse.

Comm_SA

Then call in Commander Mercury. It looks like the original plan is still going through after all.

Comm_MA

Understood.

End of log.