Red threw himself at the bookshelf in the doorway. His good shoulder slammed into the wood, but he bounced of. It didn't budge. Beside him, Green pressed her palms against the shelves side. She would look every time the boy picked himself up and hit it, but continued to push.
"Stop it," Crystal shouted. She stood behind the two with Pearl, Ruby, and Black. "It's useless. The shelf is too heavy. You're not going to get back in, and after everything that's happened in there, I don't think we want to get in either."
Red picked himself off the floor once more. "Blue, Yellow, and Emerald are still in there," he said without looking back at her.
Green relaxed her arms and pulled them away. They tingled at the sudden relief of pressure. She rubbed her sore shoulders and turned to face the others. "We won't leave them," she said sadly.
"Don't be ridiculous," Pearl burst out. He waved his hands back and forth in frustration. "Emerald left us. And we can't save Blue and Yellow. They're DEAD!" Everyone flinched as he emphasized the last part. "As if we could get inside anyway," he continued somewhat more cautiously. He pointed first at Green's bloody torso, then Red's mangled shoulder, then he whipped around and pointed at Crystal's arm. "Look at you three. You should be in a hospital right now. Running into a freakin' bookshelf will only make things worse."
Crystal rested her good hand on his shoulder to calm him. He felt her touch and clammed up. Growing red in the face, he lowered his head to stare down at his feet. "Pearl's right. A little stressed and harsh, but right." Pearl seemed to grow redder at her words.
Green and Red couldn't meet Crystal's eyes. "We're not that hurt," Red mumbled halfheartedly. All the determination and anger had left him. Green slumped against the wall and sighed.
Black's voice cut through the silence. "Maybe… Pearl's right about more." The other's turned to face him. The boy hadn't realized he'd said anything out loud, and when everyone turned to look at him he realized his mistake. Black slapped a hand over his mouth.
Crystal blinked in surprise. "What do you mean, Black?"
"I-I mean," he said between his fingers. He pulled his hand down and took a deep breath. Back to normal. "I mean being in the hospital. And not here." They stared at him blankly. He shrugged. "Why don't we just leave? Whatever's going on here, it's too much for us to handle. We've been trying to deal with everything ourselves, but we were never prepared to deal with all this crap. If we leave, we could get Crystal and Red and Green to a hospital. We could tell everyone about what happened here, and we could come back ready to save the others."
Everyone stared wide eyed at him as he finished. It was so silent, you could have heard a pin drop. Black rubbed the back of his head. Stupid. Of course they must have already thought about leaving. This was the worst time to bring it up.
"I never thought about that," Crystal said. Black's jaw dropped.
"Maybe that IS the best option," Ruby said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Can we really leave without the others," Green asked. Her eyes wandered back to the library, then the dining room door. "Even without…" She didn't finish, but the others knew what she meant. Without the corpses.
"We could send help back to pick them up," Crys said, thinking out loud. She looked at Pearl. "You know the fastest way out of this forest to civilization, right?"
He glanced at her in surprise, but nodded. "Yeah. I know the way. We could go to Eterna City and go to the pokemon center… Does that mean we really can go?"
Everyone shot a look to Red, the only one who had remained silent. The older boy was staring down at his shoes. His hands were clenched into fists. They stared at him for what felt like a lifetime before Red finally nodded his head. "We should go," Red muttered and lifted his head. He was scowling. An angry, determined glint came to his amber eyes. "We'll go, then make sure the bastards responsible for this pay."
A small smile worked its way onto the other's' faces. "You know it," Black shouted as he lifted a fist. They'd come back with a vengeance.
Red nodded at the youngest member of the group. "Lead the way, Pearl."
Pearl shuddered slightly. He could do this. He'd just need to focus on his will to get out alive. The boy lifted an arm and pointed to the far end of the foyer. "The door out is there. Follow me."
SLAM!
As quickly as the words left his mouth, the door and windows flung open. Light filtered in from outside, illuminating the dust motes and sending a cold breeze through the chateau. The door swung closed slightly from the force of being flung open, but hung ajar.
Everyone in the group exchanged glances. Slowly, they creeped closer to the door. Pearl wanted to hang back behind the rest, but Black pushed him forward. "Not chickening out on us, are you? You're supposed to be showing us the way, after all."
Pearl opened his mouth to argue, but snapped it back shut. Stupid Black. Instead of letting the Unova trainer push him along, he picked up his dragging feet and strode on ahead of the others. When they reached the door, he lifted a hand for the others to wait. Then he slid forward. He could just see out the doorway from this angle. Outside, the trees were softly rustling, the sun was shining, and grass type pokemon were playing in the tall grass. Pearl turned to the others and gave a thumbs up. "All clear!"
A shadow fell over the sun, keeping the light from entering the building. Ruby looked past him. His eyes widened and he pointed past the junior. "You might want to check again, Pearl."
"Huh?" Pearl turned. Dozens of zubats and golbats dove out from the tree branches above. Their bodies blotted out everything in sight as they swarmed together, then dove at the doorway. The dex-holders scrambled to get out of the way as the swarm of shrieking pokemon flooded into the building.
"Zubats! Golbats!" Crystal shrieked and dove out of the way.
"Of all pokemon, why them?" Ruby shrieked.
Their words were lost in the beating of wings. The dex-holders were battered and scratched as the pokemon dove past them and back again. A few who had been standing close to the door tried to run outside, but the door had shut as soon as the pokemon entered. "AAAAAH!" Shrieks broke out as the pokemon started picking up some of the trainers.
Crystal was surrounded in a living vortex as the pokemon swirled around her. As she whacked a zubat away with her arm, she could see for a moment until the beating wings once more filled her vision. Nearby, Pearl slipped and fell to the ground. His eyes widened in fear, before he was whisked backwards into the shadows by his legs. Overhead, two golbats were carrying a kicking and screaming Black up through the upstairs doorway. Two golbats were tearing at Red's bad shoulder, trying to get a taste of his blood.
It was madness for what felt like an eternity. Then the pokemon were gone.
The batlike pokemon dispersed more quickly than they had appeared. The remaining trainer's crouched on the floor, in case the pokemon returned. When the swarm didn't return, Crystal stood up on shaky legs.
"Okay, everyone," Crystal said, taking a deep breath. "Let's do a roll call. Who's left?"
A shivering Ruby picked himself up off the floor. His black hair was ruffled, and he had a few bite marks running up and down his arms. "I'm okay."
Red popped his head out over the upstair's railing and looked down at them. The swarm had carried him up the stairs before it disappeared. He was pale with blood loss. His torn shoulder had been ripped open further, so that the gash ran down his forearm. There was even a zubat fang poking out of the soft tissue near his neck. He reached other with his other arm and yanked it out with a groan. "I'm still here too," he said in a pained voice.
No one else spoke. Crystal looked around. "This can't be all that's left of us," she said in a cracked voice.
Ruby pulled out his glasses and took in the rest of the room. He groaned when he saw the left staircase. "Um, Crystal? I think there's one more, but you're not going to be happy."
Red took a few steps away from the railing, his legs shaking. "Why's that, Ruby?" he rasped.
The younger boy pointed towards the bottom of the red stained staircase. A limp figure lay draped across the bottom few stairs. "I think Green's dead."
The zubats eventually dropped Pearl next to one the two beds in the upstairs bedroom across the hall from the foyer entrance.
"Ack!" He tumbled to the floor as they let go. "That's right you better leave me be," he shouted at the retreating pokemon. When they vanished from sight, he sighed and lifted himself to his feet. At least they didn't try to drain his blood, right?
But why did they bring him here? His amber eyes scanned the room around him. Nothing had changed since Diamond and him had last visited the chateau. Back when he had thought it was safe. Nothing but a few beds and a broken up floor.
The thought of his friend made his stomach drop. Diamond was still missing. "Huh. I hope him and Missy are still alive," he said under his breath.
"EEE HEE HEE HEE! Wouldn't you like to see them again?" A shrill cackling floated through the door.
Pearl was back on his feet in an instant. "Who's there? Show yourself," he demanded. His hands clenched into fists at his side.
The hallway outside the door light up for a split second. Someone was standing outside. Their face burned its image into Pearl's mind. His mouth dropped open. He stood shell shocked, frozen in awe and surprise. "It can't be. Dia… is… is that really you?"
"Die," the voice hissed seconds before shadowy creatures reached out from under the closest bed.
The boy didn't even have time to scream before they dragged him down with flaming hands. The fire leaped from their claws onto his clothes, searing his flesh while they ripped into his flaming body with needle-like teeth.
The figure in the hallway stood motionless, watching as Pearl fell. Watching as he died and the creatures grew bored of his charred carcass and melted once more into the shadows. "Good riddance to him," the voice said with a giggle. The figure lowered their head. "You deserved it to, fool."