"Wait… Diamond? Is that really you?"
Black stared at the Sinnoh trainer standing in front of him, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. The other boy looked like something out of a horror movie. His clothes were dirty and tattered, with splashes of scarlet blood staining his arms, chest, and legs. Dia's blue eyes stared back, cold and emotionless. It was the knife hanging from his belt loop that drew Black's attention however. The reddened blade had clearly seen plenty of use. It was stained completely to the hilt, and the edge was chipped and dull.
Black inched backward, as far away as he could from the door. "What happened to you?"
Diamond hissed in frustration. So much for the element of surprise. His cover was blown, unless the damage was contained now. "That doesn't matter," he said, stepping into the room.
Black's eyes widened. He pushed against the side of the television to pull himself to his feet and fought back the wave of dizziness that washed over him. He shook his head and scrambled away as the other trainer came closer. "I meant it, Diamond. Don't come any closer."
The other boy's eyes narrowed. He kept coming closer. Black slipped to the side. "Black," Diamond said. "I don't have time to chase after you, or get into another shoving match."
The younger boy gulped and tried to make a run for the doorway. Diamond was there in an instant, blocking the only exit with his body.
"What the hell?" Black shouted. Wasn't he supposed to be the lazy one out of the Sinnoh dex-holders? How was he so fast? Black slid to a halt to keep from running into the guy. He glanced at Diamond's hand. His bloody fingers twitched inches away from the knife at his belt.
"Please, Black," Diamond said with a flat voice. "Just give up."
Black scrambled backwards once more to put some distance between him and the bloody trainer with the knife. "What the heck are you doing, Dia? What is going on?"
Those blue eyes glared back at Black from beneath Diamond's red cap. "I'm doing what needs to be done," he said slowly. "I'm not going to let you out of here unless you come with me."
"And why would I do that," Black spat. His lip curled up in a snarl.
"Because there isn't anything else you can do." Diamond smirked.
The fingers at Black's sides curled into fists. He wished he had flat out punched this guy when he had the chance. "Why?" Black growled. "Why? Why are you doing this? This whole time..."
Diamond blinked in surprise. The smile on his face disappeared. He shook his head quickly and took a step back into the hall. "You don't get it," he said with a cracked voice. "I don't want to see anymore-"
Clunk!
Diamond's shocked face snapped to the side as the handle of Gold's pool cue connected with the side of his head. "Uuuuugh….." he groaned, doubling over and clutching his head.
"Hahah," Gold laughed. "Payback for locking me up, bastard!" he said, telescoping the cue back down and putting it away.
Black watched with wide eyes. What was going on? "Where did you come from," he asked.
Gold rolled his eyes. "From New Bark Town," he scoffed sarcastically. Black frowned. "He had me locked in a room back there," Gold said and pointed with his thumb towards the other end of the hall.
Diamond groaned once more. He whipped the knife out of his belt loop and leaned against the wall to try to push himself back to his feet.
Gold's eyes widened. "Shit." He pulled his foot back and landed a well aimed kick in Diamond's side before scrambling out of the junior's reaching distance. The younger boy toppled to the floor in a fit of coughing.
"Come on," Gold shouted, waving at Black. "I just saved your ass. Let's get outta here before we both end up with a knife in our backside." Shocked and numb, Black nodded and stumbled out into the hallway.
The senior dex-holder rolled his eyes and grabbed the shoulder of Black's jacket. "My Arceus yer slow." With that, he yanked Black past Diamond and half dragged him down the hall. "Looks like it's up to me to get us out of here. Now where did that floor plank go?"
He spotted the crack in the hall wall where he had pushed Crystal out of the way. Over there.
Diamond's knife sliced through the air inches away from Gold's ear as he ran. It clattered to the floor a ways ahead of them. What a cheap shot.
Gold skidded to a halt near the crack in the wall. The two boys turned to see Diamond pull himself back to his feet. He saw Gold smiling deviously and tilted his head in confusion. "See ya, psycho," Gold said triumphantly and slammed his foot down on a raised floorboard. It creaked and sunk below the other floorboards. The walls started to groan.
The Sinnoh trainer's eyes grew wide. "No," he shouted charging forward. Too late. Another wall shot out from the hallway's foundation. Diamond disappeared behind the very wall that had cut Gold off from the rest of the group.
Gold and Black stared at the new wall for a moment.
Black felt like he didn't understand anything that just happened.
The older boy sighed. "We better get movin'. He knows how to open that wall back up. If we're still here when that happens, he'll have us."
Black looked at him. "Last time I saw the others, they were dealing with some zubats and golbats downstairs. We can look down there and tell them about the killer. About… about Dia." He paused, not exactly comfortable thinking of one of the dex-holders as a cold blooded murderer. Even if it was the jerk who let White die.
Gold nodded and started walking down the hallway. Black stood unsure for a moment before following. The senior scratched his head nervously for a moment. "So… uh, Black? I know I've kind of been missin' for a while. And I know a lot of bad things happened while Diamond had me locked away. I just wanted to ask… how bad's the damage?"
The younger boy stared at the floorboards that passed beneath him with every step. "I'm not sure how it all happened myself," he admitted. "I was kind of gone for awhile myself, but it's not good. There's not many of us left."
"What about Crys, or Red?" Gold pushed nervously. Black shook his head, and Gold sighed in relief.
By now, they had reached the doorway leading out into the foyer. The entered the room carefully, keeping an eye out for any bat pokemon that might have decided to stick around. Seeing none, they worked their way down the stairs.
"Hey," Gold called, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Olly olly oxen free. Where is everyone?"
A girl's voice drifted from the direction of the dining room. "That voice! I'd know that voice anywhere!"
Gold glanced at Black, who simply shrugged. They turned and started towards the dining room doorway, only to have Crystal run out with tears in her eyes.
"Oh my Arceus! Gold, you're alive," she gasped, plowing into a very surprised Gold and knocking him to the ground with a giant hug.
"Hey, Crys," He said. "I could say the same about you." Gold awkwardly wrapped his arms around her to hug her back.
Black laughed despite himself as Red appeared in the dining room doorway. His eyes were wide as he realized the two dex-holders were back.
"You're both back!" he exclaimed with wide eyes. "Gold, where the heck have you been all this time."
The junior smirked and pulled away from Crystal. "It's a long story."
"Ouch," She shouted, smacking him across the face.
He reeled back and rubbed the red mark already appearing on his face. "What was that for?"
"That was for probably breaking my arm. Your hug just made it hurt more," she said angrily and smacked him once more. "And that was for disappearing and letting me think you got yourself killed."
By now, both of his cheeks were red and burning, he rubbed his face in a halfhearted attempt to bring some feeling back to them. He looked at Red for help, but the older boy just shrugged and gave him look that read, 'you're the one that made everyone worry, you have to deal with this yourself.' Gold frowned and looked back to the other Johto trainer. "Geez, Crystal. Sorry. I never meant to break your arm, and I told you I'd survive, didn't I?"
"I guess," she conceded and sighed. "Oh shut up and come here," she said and hugged him once more, burying her face in his shoulder. Gold's face softened and he held her close. This time, he was much more gentle near her arm.
Death Count: Silver, Sapphire, Emerald, White, Blue, Pearl, Green, Yellow, and Platina.
Live Count: Ruby, Crystal, Gold, Black, and Red.
Missing Count: Diamond
Turns out, I accidentally left out an important chapter a while back. Everything's fixed now. I just added what was supposed to be chapter 6 to the end of chapter 5 so now you all can read the the chapter I accidentally missed. Just go back to 5 and reread to see what you missed. Sorry if anyone was confused. It won't happen next time. ;)