Chapter 2…
In Lab 004 (Delta), inside Mt. Chimney…
2 years from present time…
I have grown a lot since I first woke up here. I now have claws on my hands in place of fingers, and I have grown from 4'2" to 6'5". Now I'm ten and I'm taller than Yekutso, who's thirty five! Yekutso has been quieter lately, considering that we used to talk on the most trivial of things during his recordings. Now, He'll just ask me how I'm doing, and if I'm in any pain. My white hair has grown out, and now my ears have white tips on them! My tail has grown out, so it's now two feet long. I've grown so much now, that they've moved me in a different tank in my sleep! Now, I'm not in a cylindrical tank anymore, but now I'm in a more cubical tank, that's twenty meters length-wise, twenty-five meters width-wise, and twenty meters height-wise. I now swim in my tank listening to my favorite songs now, though I keep the TV off. I now listen to Citizen Soldier, Becoming the Bull, and Leave out All the Rest. I can only figure out the names of songs on the music channel. I figured out the versions of music I like is called Rock and Heavy Metal. I hate Country, Rap, and Hip Hop Music, though. I decided to listen to something else today, so I turned on the TV and a song had just started playing that I really liked. It was called Crazy Train. I looked at the lyrics at the bottom of the screen, and I closed my eyes and floated there peacefully as the music filled my tank.
All aboard
Crazy, but that's how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe it's not too late
To learn how to love, and forget how to hate
Mental wounds not healing
Life's a bitter shame
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train
Let's go
I've listened to preachers, I've listened to fools
I've watched all the dropouts who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role
Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train
I know that things are going wrong for me
You've gotta listen to my words, yeah
Heirs of a cold war, that's what we've become
Inheriting troubles, I'm mentally numb
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I'm living with something that just isn't fair
Mental wounds not healing
Who and what's to blame
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train
I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train
I turned off the TV and listened to the recording again, this time swimming a little to go with it. After the song, I got to the side of the tank facing the door as I could tell the time was when a Yekutso would walk in. I pressed against it, my claws making a clink sound when they touched the glass. I grinned, waiting for Yekutso, but he didn't show up. Instead, the man that first talked to me when I woke up walked in, smiling at me. He walked in with a Pokémon, a Gardevoir I think, right behind him. He nodded to the Gardevoir, whom closed her eyes. I then felt a presence in the tank with me. I turned around, but no one was in with me. I then noticed it was in me. I focused on it, and it surprised me when it asked a question.
{What are you, Yaru? What happened?} The voice, obviously feminine, had queried me. I looked around in confusion, and realized it was the Gardevoir.
{What's your name?} I responded.
{I asked first, Yaru.} Gardevoir told me.
"She can talk to you?" The man asked.
"Uhhh… Yeah. I think so." I replied while thinking,{Can she hear my thoughts?}
{Yes, I can.} Gardevoir answered.
"Hmm… So you have crossed that boundary…" The man said to himself.
"Uhh… What's your name?" I inquired.
"I am James Bishop. You've been a good specimen, Yaru. I hope you don't change sides too soon. Yekutso and I like the nice chats we have with you." James had replied, and he had left the room. The Gardevoir took a minute to glance over all my features, and then left as well. For some reason I had a lingering feeling of Gardevoir's presence.
That soon left, as many more presences filled my mind. It actually started to hurt there were so many presences. I even heard a couple of presences, one was thinking of food, another a wife to go home to, and another was how much he hated work. I needed something to get them out of his head, and quick. The list of many people being able to be heard in my head was unbearable. I hummed, I swam, I even did spins in the pool. None of that worked. I was going insane from all the presences! I would much rather have my head burst! I screamed and yelled in pain as my face contorted into that of anguish. Then, I tried to drown out the voices with music. I played Crazy train, but to no avail. I tried Becoming the Bull after that. Still, they persisted. I played Leave out All the rest. That didn't work, either. I tried his last song in my arsenal, Citizen Soldier. Finally, the voices started to quiet, and the presences went away. I was saved from insanity. I focused on one presence, though. It was that of James Bishop. I could not see what Bishop was thinking, or what he even felt. He was too deep for me to hear, too dark for me to listen. But he was in his room, talking to his leader. That much I knew. I knew where he was. I knew where I was, in that discovery, which told me that I was in Mt. Chimney.
I couldn't go too far, though. I figured out I had a dark zone, or an area where I could not think, could not see. I saw the exit was down the hall from where I was. I saw that the hall leads into a lobby, and that the entrance was too far for me to see. I frowned in disappointment and decided to lock it up for the night. I closed off my more opened part of the mind with much difficulty, and at the same time, I was getting back my more normal features. I had turned my claws back into fingers as my tail had retreated into my spine. My ears, however, would stay. I opened my eyes lazily. I was then shocked to see that I had fingers again, and that my tail was gone. I felt for my ears, but to my disappointment were still there. Yekutso walked in during my findings and picked up the phone as he usually did. I swam quickly over to him and put a hand on the glass. He looked at it, then back to his clipboard, then back again, alarmed.
"Yaru, what happened to your claws?!" He asked, astounded.
"I retracted them, somehow." I answered into my breathing apparatus.
"Wha--?! How did you!"He demanded.
"Well, I could feel people's minds, but I got bored with them and locked them away. I also must have locked away my claws and tail as well."I replied calmly.
"And your ears?!" He looked urgently.
"They are still with me, Yekutso!" I get close to the glass and smile at him, my ears twitching. He looks relieved, but looks alarmed at my eyes.
"Your irises are red! And… And your pupil's are white!"He gasped into the phone.
"Really? Show me!" I order urgently. He grabs the mirror from a table and puts it near my face.
"Wow… It's amazing…" I whisper in awe of my reflection. The scientist looks urgently as Bishop walks in the room and gazes upon me with awe.
Bishop starts to talk to Yekutso as the scientist set down the phone. I could not read lips, unfortunately, and decided to see what they were saying with that locked piece. I open the mental barrier and hold out against the onslaught of presences as my features come back painfully. The two look at me in disbelief and when I quiet down the storm of minds and my features have returned, I look at the two faces. The scientist is shocked, almost fearful, while Bishop's is more composed, more pleased with it. Bishop picks up the phone and chuckles into it.
"You are extraordinary! You have been here for two years, and you can change forms! Admitted it is only a tail and claws, it's still much more fruitful than I imagined! You are a one-of-a-kind, Yaru!"He exclaims. I smile in satisfaction as I touch his mind. He is more open this time, and he hasn't noticed me yet. He is happy, happy for success, happy so that his… Ohh… Oh dear… I am more to this man than just a test subject… I am a tool… I am a tool for war, for death, for destruction… I pull out quickly, and hide my shock behind my face.
"Sir? May I have a question…" I ponder.
"Yes, what is it?" Bishop responds.
"Can I be put in a coma again? I would like to think for a little bit… Also, I would like for time to pass by quicker." I inquired. They look at each other. Yekutso nodded, and Bishop sighed.
"Are you sure?" Bishop asked. I nodded, and he looked back at Yekutso. The scientist pulled a needle out of his pocket and pressed a button near the phone. A needle input area must've procured itself, because he stuck in the needle into the monitoring systems thingy, and I started feeling drowsy. I look at Yekutso sheepishly and smile before I black out.
Writer's Notes: What did you guys think? Good? Bad? Ok-ish? Whatever you think, review!!! Thank you Very much!!!
Hope you like this one! It took me a while for this one!
~Untouched Forever