Chapter 58: Tricky Tricky
The scream echoed through the small room where Lucas and Skyler had taken shelter from the storm, causing both teen boys to sit up straight in fear. On the third day on their trip from Slateport City to Mauville City, it started to rain heavily. Noticing that Lucas wasn't feeling well, Skyler guided the two to an unlocked house to keep out of the rain until the weather passed. While Lucas was warming up and figuring out who the house belonged to, and why it gave him such a strange feeling, a woman's scream erupted from somewhere inside the house.
"That-that was Marcia!" Lucas whispered to his new friend. The little hairs on the back of his neck were standing straight up, and his fighter's instinct was screaming.
Skyler cocked his head at his companion, "How can you be so sure it was her?"
"Um, well, let's just say I'm pretty familiar with her screams," the other Trainer felt himself turn bright red.
"Oh." Skyler was now blushing fiercely as well. Marcia was Lucas' ex, the last serious girlfriend he had when he was still a punk in Cherrygrove City. She dumped him after cheating on him with a rival gang leader, and the two ran into each other on Route 110 after years of not speaking. She asked to travel with Lucas and Skyler, but old hurt feelings left Lucas not wanting anything to do with his ex. Now it seemed they would be crossing paths again.
"I don't get it! I know that scream came from inside the house, but there are only two rooms!" Lucas snarled with frustrated concern.
"It couldn't have come from the bathroom, you were just in there. I'm beginning to think you were right, Lucas, there's something not right about this house," Skyler glanced around the house nervously.
"I want to get the hell out of here as soon as possible but if Marcia screamed like that that means she's in trouble. She may be a bitch and a skank, but she was never a wuss. She wouldn't shriek just for the hell of it. We have to help her," Lucas grumbled.
"Wow, even after everything and how much you hate her?"
"I don't actually hate her. Intense dislike, sure, but there are only a few people I genuinely hate and what she did wasn't enough to make the list. Besides, she might be a back-stabbing, unfaithful tramp, but she's still a person and a Trainer and you help people like that out," Lucas explained. He got up and started tapping on the walls, "Come on, like I said, it seems like this house is much bigger than it lets on. That probably means there's a secret passage or something. We gotta figure out how to open it,"
Skyler nodded and the two started moving picture frames, giggling furniture and pulling at books, all while trying to feel for gaps or seams in the walls that indicated a door or passage way. It was now several minutes since they heard Marcia cry out in fear and the silence since unnerved both Trainers. Growing increasingly frustrated, Lucas pulled out some Pokeballs and summoned Diablo and Gizmo. Diablo immediately inserted himself between his Trainer and the blue-haired teen while Gizmo kept a respectful distance and looked apprehensively at Lucas. The teen gave out his command and the two Pokemon helped in the search. Diablo sniffed at the floor while the tiny Eevee maneuvered through the smaller gaps the humans and larger Pokemon couldn't reach. Still they found nothing.
Skyler ran his hands through his hair and tried to reevaluate the room, "It's impossible to see anything as dark as it is. Why didn't either of us think to turn on the lights when we started looking?" With an annoyed sigh the dragon Trainer flipped on the light switch by the front door. Much to both of their surprise, rather than illuminate the house, the entire back wall of the house lifted up silently, revealing a lone door in the middle.
"I guess that's how we get in," Lucas stated. The two Trainers nodded and approached the new door carefully. Like the front door it was unlocked, and in the still dark room all they saw behind the door was more darkness. "We don't know what's in there, so everyone, stay close,"
Skyler hunched closer to his friend while Diablo wedged himself between the two Trainers. Lucas scooped up Gizmo into his arms, and while the small Pokemon squeaked in protest, made no further move to pull away from his Trainer. Skyler pulled out the small flashlight that had become their go-to beacon. The initial corridor was completely dark but otherwise unremarkable, and at the end was a single door no different than the one they had gone into. However, as they went through the second door they were blinded by the sudden light that flooded the room. The room was huge, the size of a school's gymnasium and was made up of a labyrinth of wooden walls, all just tall enough not to see or jump over and too smooth to climb. The floors were covered with straw mats and large flood lights illuminated the room from the ceiling.
"What the hell is this place?" Lucas thought aloud.
"I dunno, but generally giant maze rooms aren't a good thing," Skyler replied warily.
"Marcia! Are you okay!" Lucas cupped his hands and yelled out.
"Lucas? Lucas is that really you?!" Marcia called back, but her voice seemed muffled somehow, like she was still in an enclosed space.
"Yes, it's me, we're coming to get you so hold tight!" Lucas yelled and stepped forward. This proved to be a huge mistake. As Lucas moved, his foot sank onto one of the mats, which moved down slightly and triggered a switch. The room slid apart, with Lucas on one side and Skyler on the other, "Skyler!" Lucas screamed out as his friend disappeared the opposite direction. The room kept moving, like a rail car on a track, moving so fast that Lucas fell on top of Diablo. When it finally came to a stop the Trainer found himself in a completely different part of the maze.
"Oh my God, baby I'm so happy to see you!" Marcia came flying forward, tackling the still disoriented former delinquent back to the ground.
As Lucas got his bearings again he shoved his ex off of himself and stood up to look around, "Where are we?"
"Some kind of secret room," Marcia explained, "Most of the maze you can see, but there are some rooms like this on the perimeter walls that get blocked whenever the maze moves. I managed to get out of the first couple, but I've been stuck in this one for a while,"
"What are you even doing here? Last I saw you you were behind us on the road,"
"I've actually been staying in Mauville for a while, doing some Training. So I've just been flying back and forth on my Pokemon. I was heading back for the night when it started raining. I didn't want to ruin my hair so I stopped off at this house. There was no one home and when I tried turning on the lights I found that stupid door and I've been stuck in this horror movie set for at least a couple of hours. I'm so happy to see you I can't even put it into words," Lucas' ex threw her arms around his neck once more.
"I said knock that off!" Lucas snarled as he dislodged the girl yet again, "You can push your tits against me all you want but that isn't enough to make me forgive you,"
"Oh come on Lucas. It was two years ago and I apologized to you! You know I never apologize to anyone for anything! So you know I mean it when I say that I'm sorry and I want you back. We were amazing together, and I know how much you loved me. I want to be in your life again, what more do you want from me!" Marcia huffed and flipped her hair behind her shoulder in frustration.
"You don't get it, I don't want anything from you. We're over. I'm happy we're over. I've moved on. Seeing you pissed me off because of all the shit you pulled, but other than that I have no feelings for you whatsoever," Lucas started looking around, "Now let's figure out how to get the hell out of here,"
"I told you, this room I got trapped in. If there was a way out I would have figured it out already. There are no buttons, no secret switches. Just three walls, a floor, a ceiling, and the fourth wall in front that is where the maze was," Marcia said irritably.
"There has to be a way out. And we need to find Skyler, he might be as trapped as we are,"
Marcia smirked with understanding, and crossed her arms to push her ample bust together, "Ohhh, now I get it. You don't want me anymore because of your new boytoy. Not that I blame you, he's really sexy, especially those lips of his. But then you were always a leg man, now weren't you?"
"I can give you about twenty reasons why I got over your sorry ass and Skyler wouldn't be in the top thirty," Lucas snapped back. Diablo was in front of his Trainer again snarling at the girl, but this time the tattooed teen made no attempt to stop his aggressive behavior.
"We both know there is nothing sorry about my ass, my ass is fabulous," Marcia continued teasingly, "And knowing you, you still haven't said anything to Mr. Fine Lips because you are a complete spaz around people you want to screw. It was one of the cutest things about you when we were dating. But I wonder how he would feel knowing you probably spend two thirds of your time staring at his ass. You might rag on me because of my personal life, but I'm not the one with such, er, wide ranging tastes,"
"Hey! I might order from both sides of the menu but I only eat one entree at a time! Unlike you, who treat people like it's a goddamn all-you-can-eat buffet," Lucas' temper boiled over, "You know—you knew—how hard it was for me to approach anybody. You flirted with me for years when we were in the gang and I fell in love with you. You used that against me. You played me and used me and cheated on me even though you know that would destroy me! And it did destroy me! I carried that knife in my heart until recently, and now you resort to blackmail to get me to like you again?!"
"Lucas, I was just teasing you," Marcia's expression fell and her shoulders slumped, "I would never do that, never out you to someone you liked. Do you, do you really think I'm that big of a bitch?"
"Yeah, I do," the teen boy's anger ebbed, "We're wasting time. I want to get the hell out of here,"
"I told you, there's no way-" Marcia began but she was interrupted by a tiny 'vii'. Gizmo was pacing around the room, tapping the inner part of the straw mats with his paw.
"What is it buddy?" Lucas' heart rose. This was the first time in a while that Gizmo was interacting so openly with him. Once more he scooped up his Pokemon and watched the place where his Eevee had been walking. As he approached the mat from all angles, he started to notice a pattern, "Marcia, check this out,"
"What?"
"Look, at the mat, I think, I think there's some kind of pattern to it, it looks like a...lightning bolt,"
"So?"
"Marcia, do you have any electric type Pokemon?"
"I do, why?"
"Can you summon it out use an electric attack on the mat?" Marcia raised an eyebrow at her ex at first and then she made the connection. She had been looking for switches and buttons, but she never thought to use something else. She pulled a Pokeball out of her bag and summoned a Raichu. She commanded the electric Pokemon to zap the floor and as soon as it did, there was a click. The wooden wall slide away and opened up to the main maze.
"Amazing...why didn't I think of that?" the female Trainer stated. Lucas started walking forward when the teen girl grabbed his shoulder, "Just because you figured this out doesn't mean you've stopped being an idiot, Lucas. You need to know some stuff about this maze so we don't get stuck again. First off, watch where you step, there are switches all over the place, that's how you got here in the first place. Second, don't lean against the walls unless you mean it because sometimes they spin around,"
"Fine. Whatever. But I rescued you, remember?" Lucas grumbled then called out to his lost friend, "Skyler, man, are you okay?"
"Lucas? I'm glad to hear from you. I didn't know what happened to you after we got separated. This maze is really crazy. Did you find your ex?" Skyler replied. His voice wasn't muffled so he wasn't in one of the rooms like Lucas and Marcia had been.
"I did. Stay where you are, we'll come get you," the other teen called back.
"All right, I will," Skyler stayed in place while the other two Trainers navigated the maze. Lucas did his best to heed Marcia's warning but occasionally they still triggered the floor switches, which caused the rooms to flip flop and move around the maze. Hours passed and they were still no closer to finding Skyler, or their way out of the maze.
Since there wasn't much else to do while they searched, Marcia made small-talk, "So, Lucas. How'd you even start being a Trainer anyway? When we were in Cherrygrove it was always 'blah blah I can never be a Trainer' brother-complex stuff,"
"I was looking down a third term at Juvey so my folks sent me to live with John," Lucas explained.
"Ouch. I think I would have rather taken the Juvey. I remember meeting your bro when he came back to visit. The dude is way douchey. What did you do anyway, another fight? You were always so hot when you fought,"
The teen shook his head, "Nah, stuck a kid in his locker and duct taped his mouth so he couldn't call for help. Finally got expelled for it, too,"
"Oh god that is awesome! I bet it was hilarious,"
"No Marcia, it wasn't awesome. It was really stupid and I had to pay for it," Lucas stopped walking and turned to face his ex seriously. The girl blinked at him and narrowed her eyes, like she observed something but couldn't exactly put her finger on it
"So what does that have to do with finally becoming a Trainer?" Marcia waved off her thought and changed the subject.
"When I was going to John's house I found Gizmo here. His Trainer abandoned him and I met Professor Oak at the Pokemon Center and he talked some sense into me. So now I'm going around trying to become this big Champion. I've already become Champion of Sinnoh,"
"I was wondering about the Eevee. I mean, they're cute little fluff balls but they aren't exactly very useful. But Champion, huh? Being that powerful. That's pretty sexy, Lucas," Marcia purred.
"Not this again. Hell!" Lucas yelped and collapsed into a heap on the ground.
The teen girl's face shifted into fear as she came to Lucas' side. Diablo snarled at her, but she ignored the dark type, "Lucas, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, just my damn leg. It really hurts. I must have been walking too much," the tattooed teen winced in pain as he gripped his calf. He started shivering again as well. Both his Mightyena and Eevee rushed over to nudge his leg.
"Your leg is really red, Lucas. You need to get out of here and get some rest," Marcia's voice softened with concern. She then stood up and called out, "Skyler! Skyler are you nearby?"
"I'm right here, I think you might be right next to me. Is Lucas okay? You said he's hurt?" Skyler sounded like he was right behind the next wall.
"I am so sick of this stupid maze and this stupid house. It doesn't play fair so why should I?" Marcia reached into her purse again and pulled out another Pokeball, "Go! Blaziken!" The tall bird-like fire type appeared before its master, awaiting her command, "Burn down the walls. Starting with the one in front. But be careful, there's someone behind there and we don't want them getting hurt,"
The Blaziken nodded solemnly and obeyed. It inhaled deeply and puffed out a medium-sized fireball at the wooden wall. The wall burst into flames and collapsed, and Skyler came rushing forward to check on his friend. "Lucas, are you alright?"
"Will everybody calm down please? You're all acting like I'm about to drop dead or something. My leg's just sore, that's all," but when Lucas tried to lift himself up and put weight on his leg, he came tumbling down again.
"You hoist his right shoulder, I'll take his left," Marcia said to Skyler. Though the redhead protested, the two other Trainers gripped him under his arms and supported him on their shoulders. Even Diablo had stopped growling at the humans and Gizmo was weaving nervous circles between the three humans' legs. Marcia once again turned to her Pokemon and commanded it to burn through the walls.
Without the previous limitations, the walls exploded into charred splinters as the three Trainers hobbled in a straight line towards the exit. As they made it to the opposite side of the maze room, they saw another door similar to the two they initially went through, only marked above was a glowing green exit sign. As the three approached a tall, jovial, fat man bounced in through the door, blocking their way.
"Welcome to the Trick House!" he practically squealed until he looked behind the three and his eyes bulged, "What did you do?!"