The Grandee
Chapter Six
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
But remarkably and miraculously I didn't throw up. Besides from tossing and turning in the few hours that permitted sleep, and only getting three hours worth of it, I didn't puke. I welcomed the mysterious echo that sounded like bells. Letting it lull me to and from reality. Its familiar ring somehow was louder and more profound.
I sought the mild peace to guide me to at least the morning.
When there wasn't any sunlight piercing through a window by the time it was seven, I got up and looked around. There were no windows.
No windows, a impenetrable glass case keeping my Pokémon away from me...was this some sort of message to mock my loss in freedom in these walls? I could imagine Daias' living in the moment if he saw the sights of me break down from his little game he started. He would have none of it.
I couldn't help looking to longingly at my Pokémon, though. I wonder if Daias himself had held them with his hands and fingers gliding past the shiny, reflective ball. This set my feeling far from ease. Did that mean he had the code to unlock the cabinet?
I quickly jumped out of the bed from the sound of the door opening, both annoyed and fearful if a blue haired man was casually about to set foot inside.
"Ethan!" I laughed in relief when he came in with a tray of food. I went over to take it from him as he shut the door. From the corner of my eye I could see the key he had hovering over the lock. But he put it back in his pocket.
"I'm glad you can trust me." I said half-heartedly, placing the tray on a coffee table. I proceeded to pluck a berry from a bowl and sit catty-cornered against the arm and back of the couch parallel to it. Examining it carefully I added, "Where did these come from?"
Ethan reassured me with a quizzical look, "I got them myself from the mess hall. I'm not going to poison you, Lyra. You can still trust me."
"I know."
We sat and ate while watching the clock relentlessly, waiting for the minutes to draw nearer to nine o'clock. The conversations in between were mainly of us catching up with one another, and I was surprised to find out Ethan became a specialist in grass and psychic type pokemon.
"That's great how you found your calling," I began to say, but quickly added, "in Pokémon."
Darn it, I shouldn't have had said that.
"That's okay, I understand. No one told me I'd be in if for life." He winced as he touched his backwards placed hat gently like a wound. This upset me. A grunt for life didn't feel all to grand, and Ethan took the position without knowing the full consequences. He only became one because he wanted to help Silver, not take over the world. When the clock struck almost five 'til, we decided it was time to leave; I decided it was time to stop acting to distant and awkward with him.
"So," I questioned with my hands clasped behind my back, just as I had always done out of natural habit, "what's the meeting about?"
Ethan had a big smile on his face as he opened the door for me. "Today your going to meet Legizeroth."
My eyes widened. The Pokémon! I grew nervous and exited when we walked down the narrow halls. I could hardly remember what its holograph looked like, and each step brought me closer to physically seeing it. Butterfrees fluttered in my stomach. Melodic bells ringing in my ears progressively got louder and more distorted. I held my head.
"Is something wrong?"
"Don't you hear that?" I pressed my temples as the sound became less pleasant. We were in front of the lab. Ethan frowned.
"The bells."
"Yeah, they're-" The strident noise completely blasted against my eardrums before I could finish when Ethan stepped through the automatic doors, bringing me with him.
"What do you think your doing?" He shouted. When I properly stood up, I saw Silver at the control panel, Daias shadowing over him, and a large test tube rooted in the middle of the room. The two men looked up unison, stopping whatever they were doing. The noise stopped.
"Communication failed." A computer generated voice registered. Daias had the nerve to grace me with a disgusted look.
"We were researching."
"No, no, no. Your hurting it!" Ethan stormed over to the controls and pushed Silver aside. The boss looked incredulous.
"Impossible! There was no reaction!" He wedged his way back to the main computer and pointed something out to the grunt. "See?"
"What the hell is going on here? Care to clue me in?" I put my hands on my hips to get their attention. Daias, unfortunately, was the only one listening.
"Care to refrain cursing? Its barbaric." I shot him a look but he was already over by the other men. They huddled in front of the screen as they verbally fought with each other. Feeling very angry being the only one left out, I marched over and broke them up.
"Lyra!" Finally when Silver decided to notice my presence, I didn't acknowledge his. Instead, I stared up at the tube in front of me. There it was.
"Legizeroth." I whispered. It floated in the chemical fluids wherein it was born, its silvery fur swaying along with its body. What did it look like? There was nothing it reminded me of but pure creation. Its eyes were closed, but strangely I could feel it looking at me. My name echoed in my ears.
"She's the one, Silver. It spoke to her. She heard the bells." Ethan gravely said to the red haired man. My eyes tore away from Legizeroth for a moment and looked at them, my lips forming the question before I had time to speak it. Silver's stunned expression turned one into cold expectancy.
"Then I was right."
"Like always, Boss." Daias intervened, coming up to Silver and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Shall we move to your office?"
"No, its better if we stay in here. Lyra,"
"Are you finally going to tell me what's going on here?" I demanded. He nodded his head.
"The first time Legizeroth responded was when you entered Rocket Headquarters. I believe your the only one that can awaken it. If you can learn more about the Pokémon with these," Silver walked over to a shelf to file through some papers, taking a manilla folder out and walking back to hand them to me, "then you'll have a greater chance in communicating with it. A faster chance in befriending it."
I stopped. "Why would I say yes to the leader of Team Rocket?"
Silver did the same. "What about saying yes to a friend then?" Daias quirked a brow at this, and I hesitated, remembering how Ethan got mixed up in the organization; by obliging to a friend. But it didn't mean I'd become a grunt right? I was free to make my own decisions and could stop whenever things got out of hand. Anyways, Legizeroth made me extremely curious. I wanted to find out more about it.
I reached for the folder with a hand, feeling its smooth texture between my fingers uncertainly. Silver's hand wasn't too quick to let go of the other side, and I keenly regarded this as a handshake; an agreement.
Silver's charge smiled only to himself.
I stepped back to stand beside Ethan and looked at Legizeroth, holding the folder close to me. "What did the bells mean?"
The grunt who was my friend spoke, "Its a way of showing emotions, and only certain people can hear it. Right now, only one person is able to: you. But if it was to become conscious, it would be able to speak telepathically."
Wait. Ethan was the one telling me this? "So you helped create Legizeroth?"
He looked a bit uncertain before answering, like he really didn't want to say anything a all. He looked almost...shameful. Of course, with joining Team Rocket, he had to agree to the orders of their leader. Even though I didn't need the answer now, Ethan spoke.
"...Only with that part. I specialize in psychic type remember? Even though Legizeroth isn't psychic, doesn't mean Pokémon who don't have the ability are unable to establish a telepathic network."
Suddenly, my excitement grew more with the thought of speaking with the Pokémon inside the tube. But then I realized something.
"You can't keep it caged up like that." The glass looked like the type that held my Poké Balls- indestructible.
Silver took over the conversation, "Legizeroth can only survive unconsciously like that for now. Once it wakes up, confinement wont be a problem."
There wasn't much else said during our meeting, and after Daias forcefully shoved his boss out of the lab, Ethan and I were left to study the sheets on the new creature.
A pang of remorse stabbed me when I hadn't had the chance to say good bye to Silver before he left.
Okay! Wow, this chapter was quite small. But I felt like the ending was kind of rushed since there wasn't anything thing else I felt the need to add in this chapter.
Anyways, Happy Reading!