Disclaimer: Seriously. I don't own Pokemon. Only thing I can really claim is my characters. And my plot, I guess. And... uhh, my writing style?
Thanks to ziggy9677, Salimus, Foxyjosh, pikachuhunter1 and Calling Wind for reviewing! This chapter is brought to you thanks to their encouragement! If you would like to request/inspire a new chapter, please click on 'Submit a Review' and leave something nice :3
Here's the deal: I decided to update again, but the trade-off is that I still haven't written any more. Please keep that in mind... next update might be a while :O
Oh goodie, you guys get a longish chapter. Well, enjoy and don't forget to stop by the "submit a review" part... Please? If you do, you get a batch of virtual cookies! I promise there's no strange after-taste... or is there?
Okay, all kidding set aside, please review! Let me know what you think :D
The next day, the door woke me up again. Mr. Handler was there, waiting with a tray of food in his hands.
"Get up. You're scheduled for another trial in approximately an hour and forty-five minutes".
"Couldn't I have slept until then?" I mumbled, rubbing sleep out of my eyes. I was a little sore from yesterday, but nothing really big enough to mention. I stretched, eyeing the food hungrily. There were scrambled eggs with pieces of ham, a small orange, and a carton of milk. Yuck, I hate eggs...
"Is there any cereal or something else? I really don't like eggs..." I picked at the eggs with the fork, making a small pattern on the plate.
"You're supposed to eat them. They're one of the best things you can eat for breakfast, and they'll last until lunch, so you won't feel hungry until then." He offered the tray, and I took it, still not convinced by his information. I sat down cross legged, placing the tray on my lap, and started eating the eggs. I tried to ignore their flavor by focusing on the ham hidden among it, and washed it all down with the milk when I was done. I made a face as the flavor still lingered on my tongue. I could have had Cocoa Puffs or something chocolatey for breakfast...
Next came the orange. I smiled and used my new claws to peel it. I guess there is some use to them after all! The slices were incredibly juicy and good, and my mouth watered as I ate one after another. The orange disappeared quickly, and I wished I'd had more of those instead of the unappetizing eggs.
"Now what?" I asked my handler, putting all the trash back on the tray. I licked whatever was left of the orange off my face, and washed my hands the only way I could think of. Gross, yet it feels so natural...
"Here, these will come more in handy, and they're better than what you're wearing right now." He held up some black clothes, and I took them, grateful to get out of my torn garments. "Use the screen, I will go make sure no one's looking..." he trailed off, losing himself in his thoughts.
"You better not look," I muttered, examining the clothes. There was a sporty top, black, strong, and comfortable, and a pair of shorts, made of the same material and cloth. I walked behind the screen, avoiding the hole in the corner. Now, how do I do this? I crouched and changed into my new clothes, making sure I was protected by the screen. I still didn't trust my handler with that.
When I was done, I stood up and admired the outfit. It was just like the sort of stuff I used to practice with! Now I'd have more flexibility, with no dirty hospital gown to worry about. I twisted and stretched every which way, and, satisfied with the clothes, sat down to wait for the handler to come back.
I was humming a song to myself when the atmosphere in the cell changed. My fur stood on end, and I looked around for the source of the disturbance. The cell was as empty as ever, and I shivered unintentionally.
"Who's there?" I asked softly, feeling a little foolish.
-I am,- replied a faint voice in my mind.
"Who's that?" I said, ears perked up.
-A friend, I hope. I can't explain all... too far... but shhh! Don't tell anyone...- The voice was fading, and with it the strange presence. Soon, the cell was back to normal.
Weird...
My handler came in after a while, when he thought I would be fully changed. He paused and looked at me, taking in the clothes. "Better?" he asked, picking up the old gown.
"Much..." I replied without paying much attention.
"Anything I should take note of?" He looked around, trying to find what I was staring at.
...Don't tell anyone...
"No, I'm just... thinking, that's all." I managed a small smile and stood up. "So, what's today's trial about...?" I stared at him, realizing that I didn't know his name.
"Ray," he finished. "Name's Ray. Today, you will be required to run for a certain amount of time, while I monitor your vitals and heart rate. Now, if you're done, we can go to the trial..." He motioned for me to exit, and we walked the same path we did before.
This time, I took notes on my surroundings, noticing that every hallway was monitored by a camera. There were several doors, yet one of them called up unwanted memories. Of course... The 'Room'. The smells wafting from that direction were too overwhelming for my sensitive nose, so I sped up and walked past. I had so much to find out about this place... but how?
The reception room was just as it was before, with the exception of a person sitting in a couch facing the TV. He had jet black spiky hair, a black shirt with white writing on it, a blue vest, and dirty jeans. He looked at us and grinned, waving a hand lazily in our direction. "Ray, so nice to see you. You brought the freak along? Well, I'm not meaning to be disrespectful or anything, but it has to go elsewhere. I'm not in the mood to deal with it," he turned back to the TV, surfing the channels.
I frowned and glared at the back of his neck. Who does he think he is, calling me a freak? I crossed my arms and headed for the door leading to the trial room. The sooner we got out of this room, the less time we'd spend in the company of that person.
"Carson, shut up and mind your own business. I thought you were on duty today as well?" Ray raised an eyebrow, staring at him and demanding an answer.
"Oh, that. Yeah, well, I decided to take a break. There's only so much a person can take... Hey, look, yours actually behaves!" he was looking at me now, interest clear in his eyes. He stood and started walking towards me, a nasty smile forming in his face.
"Back off, Carson. You're not going to spoil another one. You've already done enough damage for one person." Ray moved in between us, and I started to get a little nervous. Carson grabbed him by the clothes and threw him away, taking out his Taser.
I growled a warning, and backed away from him. I didn't like this Carson guy, and the sooner we got out of there, the better. He circled around, taunting me with his Taser, pointing this way and that. I was getting more than a little bit annoyed and actually started worrying.
"Let's see how you dance to my tune!" He pointed yet again, and fired. I managed to duck out of its way, and came up behind him. Duh, you don't give out a warning that you're gonna attack, you dummy!
"Big mistake..." I whispered in his ear, suddenly willing to teach this jerk a lesson. I laid a claw on the back of his neck, breathing heavily on his neck. "I don't want to ever see you again, understand? I may be a freak now, but you've always been a jerk and, from the look of things , you don't stand a chance. Or would you like to pay the hospital a visit, see if they have any ointments for severe burns?" He shook his head and I tossed him away, disgusted by him. Some people are just like that...
"Let's go. I'm not wasting my time with that scum." Ray and I stepped around him to the door, and I managed to slap his face with my tail. I'd never had any respect for bullies...
"Would you even be able to burn him?" Ray asked as the doors slid shut behind us.
I flashed him a toothy grin. "No, but he doesn't need to know that, now does he?"
The same scent from yesterday lingered in the air. I wonder... I followed it slowly, picking it out of the air. Here was a musky scent, one that reminded me of the smell of a campfire. Mine, perhaps? It led directly to room number 1. I stood stunned, shaking my head in disbelief. I never imagined I would pick out my own scent...
I turned away from it to follow the other scent. It reminded me of the times I had gone on Nature walks, of wet grass and trees. It led to door number 2, and I examined it, dropping to my hands and knees to peer under it.
"Hey, get away from that door!" Ray had followed me on my quest for scents, and now looked genuinely concerned.
"Why? What's in there?" I turned back to the door, but it gave away no secrets.
"Nothing of concern... we're just, um, not going there today, that's all." Ray led me to door number 3. I shot the door a backwards glance, thinking that there was something important about that door if it made Ray act that way.
The doors slid shut behind us as we entered a new trial room. Ray took a small remote control hanging by the door, and turned the lights on. There were fitness machines scattered around the center of the room, and a rack of weights varying in color and size lined the walls. I saw a mechanical arm above our heads, wires hanging down.
"What's that for?" I asked Ray, eyeing the mechanism suspiciously.
"That is to measure your vitals." He took one of those things and stuck it on my arm, motioning towards a screen. There was a line across the middle of it that sprang to life as soon as I felt the cool electrode's surface. I shuddered slightly, and stared at the screen, entranced. A small dot ran from left to right, forming peaks and valleys on the screen. I remembered vaguely that it was my heart rate, but, other than that, it was completely out of my league.
"And... uhhh, how is this supposed to work again?" I grabbed a couple of electrodes and experimented with them, trying to set them up. I managed to somehow end up tangled in the myriad of cables and electrodes. "A little help please?" Ray groaned, and I shot him as innocent a smile as I could muster.
It took a while to get me out of the mess I got myself into, but Ray finally managed. I watched him as he started up a machine, and typed a few commands into the computer. At least one of us knows what to do... I grinned sheepishly and let him direct me for setting up the electrodes. Two for the temples, one for the neck, one on the chest, two for every arm, two for the insides of the legs as well.
I felt like a puppet.
"Okay, now what?" I said, resisting the urge to rip them off. I felt unnerved all of a sudden. Being hooked up to a machine like this didn't feel natural. We hadn't even started and I was already having trouble with the trial...
"Now follow me." He moved towards the other side, the mechanical arm moving so it was directly above my head at all times. "Step onto this machine," I followed his order, stepping onto a treadmill, "...and get running."
Without warning, the machine turned on and threw me off. I landed in a pile, dazed and a little annoyed. Why does he never give a warning when he does that? Seriously...
"Try again. We'll adjust the pace so you can keep up." He was trying to hide a grin behind a mask of seriousness, but he was utterly failing.
"Next time let me get my footing before you sweep the floor from underneath me, yes?" I grumbled and got up, stepping onto the machine again. I managed to tune to the pace, and ran along with it.
"But where's the fun in that? No one ever said I wasn't allowed some entertainment while training you. It's just too much fun!" I shot him a mock death glare, then stared ahead of me, deciding not to allow him any more laughs at my expense. Ignoring him would be the best way to annoy him.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Now, let's get started for real. You have a twenty minute run ahead of you, with all your vitals monitored. Please don't mess up..." he added under his breath.
I sighed and settled into a running pace. It really wasn't any more difficult than most of my soccer games, although the weird anatomy had me struggling for a little while. I was used to a smaller stride, so I had to adjust and ended up with a strange mix of power-walking and jogging as my running pace.
After what I guessed to be twenty minutes, the treadmill slowed down, and I let it drop me off on solid ground. I saw Ray picking up a pile of papers that had just come off a printer of sorts, and wondered what they said.
"Well, it seems you have passed the endurance trial. You scored well on it, I might add. Athlete?" he asked, flipping through the papers and looking at graphs that I couldn't make heads nor tails of.
"Soccer," I replied. "Captain of my team, before you guys decided I had no right to a normal life anymore..." I trailed off, feeling resentful. Why had they done this to me? Why was I deprived of my life without a reason? Why?
An uncomfortable silence settled in between us. Ray squirmed and fidgeted with the papers while I stared at him, frowning. If it wasn't for the Taser, I would have forced a few answers out of him. As it was, I wanted to avoid being shocked into submission. At least for the moment.
Ray finally broke the silence. "We should go back now... we're done here."
There were no new events to speak of on the way back, only a penetrating silence occasionally broken by the sliding of the doors. I followed Ray, making no attempt to break the silence. It let me think for a while and cleared my head. Yes, I had to get out of here, but how? I didn't even know roughly how many people worked here. Not that it mattered anyways.
I wasn't a fighter.
I'd have to figure out a way around those Tasers and rods. I didn't stand a chance against one, let alone dozens or hundreds of them. I might get away if I run, but for that to be successful, there can't be any doors in my way. It might be extremely painful otherwise.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when we reached my cell. Ray lingered even after I'd gone in, and I wondered what was going on.
"Look... I know I'm not exactly innocent, and I know you might be mad. Okay, very mad," he corrected himself as my frown deepened. "Just... don't give up. You have to work hard before the end of the week, or you might not make it. As much as the professor likes fluffy and cute, it's numbers that she really cares about. I can't really say any more. Believe it or not, you're not the only prisoner here..." With those words, he turned around and left, the doors sliding shut before my mind could grasp what he had said.
More mysteries... Just what the heck is this place?
A/N: Hey, if you guys are nice and review, I'll let you know something cool! Yes? ... Fine, I'll tell you first so you can review!
Next chapter is the second-longest one, I believe, just a few words shorter than the first one. I personally like it, although be forewarned: it's a bit bloody. I don't believe it's enough to crank up the rating, but if you're not sure about that, skip it and PM for a cleaner version...