The ghost and the cat sit and stare from their perch on the mountainside, in a trance induced by the blending of the ocean and the sunrise. The two of them blink slowly, tilt their heads to one another then tilt back and proceed to gaze below quietly. The bigger group had recently coalesced on the beach to question the unexplained actions of Drifblim. His sudden spontaneity had aroused many questions that unfortunately cannot be answered, for he, the monotonous balloon, had floated too far from the island, triggering the bomb in his collar.
The group is in a frenzy. Screaming and panicking, vomiting into the breaking waves, and violent debates put the community in jeopardy. It has officially been confirmed that this predicament of theirs is, in fact, a life-or-death situation, where they must solve the dilemma of kill-or-be-killed. Though there has yet to be any technical homicide, the animals are now well aware of what is expected of them. The almighty capsule, the iron structure that came from the sky, has been regarded as the government, the creator of the game, and the harbinger of turmoil. The animals believe it watches them. It could possibly be responsible for the addition of the collars and weapon bags, as if it were containing such contents, waiting for the moon to rise so it can deploy them. But the capsule itself is as motionless as a rock. Cold as one, too.
The animals all gather around the capsule to have a discussion. They establish that this is not a practical joke, though that was quite obvious before, at least for the more pessimistic of the bunch. #03: Pichu and certain others were horrified to find out they were not going home any time soon. The youths are in need of constant attention and placation, which Kangaskhan and Sceptile humbly handle.
Meanwhile, Charizard consults Alakazam along with several other wise animals. "It just infuriates me how these people are playing us like this—putting us in this veil excuse for a 'game,' and we can't do anything about it!"
"We can find a way out of it," says Alakazam. "The only problem we are currently facing is the lack of food. However, we have enough leather from the bags to last us a couple days."
"Hey, yeah. We can show these 'game makers' that we're not stupid! We can search until we find an infinite food source of some sort and all coexist on the island without having to kill each other. But you know what would really make them angry...is if we repopulate—you know, 'cause every other animal is dead—"
"Shut up, you fool!" #13: Armaldo reprimands Charizard, peeking at the capsule anxiously. "You know they can hear us," he whispers. "You want them to...to tie our tubes?"
Charizard stiffens up, his nostrils flaring. "They can't possibly..."
"No, no," Alakazam speaks up. "It seems as though whoever these 'game makers' are are able to hear or see us and alter whatever they want in order to keep us from breaking the rules. Remember when you said you were going to fly away, Charizard?"
"...Yeah."
"That's when we got these collars. And when we said we wouldn't fight each other, that's when we got the bags. Coincidence?"
"Definitely not," says Armaldo. "Whatever we say must be broadcasted directly to them."
"Therefore, they have the power to, er, 'tie our tubes.'" Alakazam gives Charizard a stern look, eliciting one of dismay from the dragon.
Charizard thinks for a moment. "...Well gee," he says aloud. "I sure hope no cake falls from the sky; I'm allergic to gluten." He stairs expectantly up above.
Alakazam feigns a chuckle, while Armaldo follows his example. The fourth member of the group of wise animals, however, does not laugh. She frowns in distaste and eyes the sky, her aloof stare infuriating Charizard.
"Laugh why don't you?" He commands. He turns to Alakazam. "She never says anything. Never says nothin'. Doesn't contribute. She's not trustworthy."
The blue-furred animal stands up, preparing to retort by making sure she is circumspect with her use of words. "If it proves I have no intentions of killing anyone, then I will contribute," says #18: Lucario. "I...I guess I agree with Alakazam—about how we should be able to survive if we were to use our resources wisely. As for your caustic remarks, Charizard, I have to say I am entirely opposed to repopulating." She nods and sits down politely with her paws on her lap.
"What the—well I..." the dragon splurts. "Fine. We'll eat tree bark and grass for the rest of our lives." He peeks at the female out the corner of his eye. "But just so you know, repopulation can also serve as a method of gaining food." He then treads off proudly. Lucario looks at the ground. Alakazam tries to the best of his ability to refrain from laughing.
"Who let him in on our discussion anyway?" Armaldo inquires.
"He sure is a character. He's the entertainment of the group."
"He's belligerent and choleric," Lucario deplores.
Alakazam and Armaldo exchange concerned stares.
Pichu sits against a tree a good ways away from the vicinity the rest of the group lingers around. She sighs and hugs her legs, burying her face in them. "I just want to leave," she whimpers, her voice muffled. She hears a click-clacking to her right and immediately becomes attentive, entering defense-mode. To her surprise, the noise was produced by the colliding of a bunch of small rocks, now piled together on the ground. Above the rocks, a purple animal with crystalline eyes peeks out from behind the tree. Pichu's fur sparks up and puffs out slightly. "E-evil...!" she stammers, slowly crawling backwards away from the animal.
#11: Sableye shakes his head, pleading for Pichu to calm herself. Sableye takes one of the rocks, shows it to Pichu, then puts it in his mouth and eats it, hoping for Pichu to do the same.
Instead, Pichu frowns and says, "No, I really can't."
Sableye looks genuinely disappointed. He picks up the rocks, but before leaving he asks, in a voice disrupted by intermittent and involuntary cackles, "Are...you...sure?"
Pichu is silent for a moment. Then she weakly smiles, something she hasn't done since the game began, and nods her head. Sableye nods too and disappears. Pichu blinks vacantly before her body is sent into a fit of shivers. She was frightened that she had encountered the sableye, but he, unlike the other ghost-types, did not seem to mean any harm. In fact, he offered his food with Pichu, perhaps hoping to establish some sort of bond or friendship. Despite this, the timid pichu is still skeptical for the most part, which is only natural for someone her age.
When the moon emerges from the line of horizon, the animals know it's time for them to rest, and so they station themselves around the capsule and go to sleep, feeling empty and cold without the fire pit aflame. There are fifteen animals there. The group of animals is aware that the outcasts, Gengar and Umbreon, are in the mountains and that Drifblim had died, leaving his remains to sink to the bottom of the lifeless ocean. But, who were the remaining two? No one had ever seen Sableye before, though he must surely be apart of the game. And as for the last one, he still lurks in the depths of the jungle, his whereabouts unknown—provided he's still alive.
Gengar, as per usual, stargazes into the later hours of the night. This is becoming his nightly routine: just sitting at his perch on the side of the mountain, contemplating silently. Umbreon writhes in pain, his distended belly aching badly. He lies on his side, too weak to move. He's been like that since sunset, and there is little to no chance he will be getting up unless he is given some form of nourishment.
"Hey," Umbreon whispers hoarsely, his eyes focusing on Gengar from where he lays. "Still thinking about..." He stops, coughs and wheezes, then continues, "Drifblim?"
Gengar sighs. "It's just that he abandoned us. Left without even saying anything."
"But he stayed with us for nearly a week when h-he could have gone any time he wanted to ... The only reason he stayed as long as he did was b-because of us."
Gengar nods and looks at the umbreon. "We'll get you some food soon, buddy. Hold in there."
"I'm not sure I can last another night, Gengar."
"...You'll be fine. Tomorrow, I'm going to pay them a visit, just to see how they're managing and if they have food."
The next morning, Gengar sets off towards the area where the larger group is. He traverses down the steep, rocky ledges at the base of the mountain where the forest begins. Then, allowing himself to be absorbed by the shadows of the forest, he is surreptitiously transported through until he reaches the area, where he emerges from the shadow of a large oak. To his surprise, the area is soulless. The fire pit is how it was before with the capsule situated in its center. Gengar walks around the site, his mischievous smile slowly fading away. "Where did they go?" he asks himself. He scans the distance, expecting to see them stationed somewhere else, having relocated since he was expelled. He sees no one. He scans his surroundings again, thinking his eyes may have failed him the first time, but once more he finds no one. His grin returns. "They're hiding from me?" He calls out, "No need to hide! I'm just checking to see if you've found food yet! Heh heh."
The wind blows, sending flurries of red and orange leaves helicoptering down. Gengar loses his smile again as well as his confidence. In a squeaky, small voice, he says, "Come on, guys. Keh heh, Umbreon really needs food..." He looks around, but his searches are fruitless. Checking the proximity again, he makes sure he isn't missing any obvious evidence as to where they may have gone. The capsule looks exactly the way it did before he left, as does the fire pit and just about everything else. "So where is everybody?"
Then he sees something white poking out from behind a tree at the outskirts of the clearing. He approaches the white thing, hopeless and thinking nothing of it. But as he gets closer, he sees more white, as well as darker shades of red and pink that he initially suspected to be the blending of the fallen leaves and old, withering cherry blossoms. Standing over the thing, his expression is no longer mischievous, having been completely replaced by one of horror and disgust. Below him is the corpse of a fellow animal, its body mangled and torn apart beyond recognition. Its blood adorns the tree next to it, still dripping down the bark, close to coagulation. This was done recently.
Gengar stares at the animal for a long time. He kneels down and inspects the corpse more closely. He picks through the flesh and peruses through the organs, hoping to find out which animal it was. Not much of its organs are left however. He prods at one of the only few organs that has remained intact: the stomach. He peels away a piece of loose tissue to find that the stomach is filled with a dark-green, pulpy grass. "Heh?" Gengar looks around before grabbing ahold of the carcass. He begins to drag it away from the site and towards the mountain, where he eventually reaches Umbreon.
"Umbreon," Gengar pants. "I found fresh meat." He presents the mess to Umbreon by plopping it down in front of him.
Umbreon does not respond. Instead, he lies at his perch, motionless.
"Umbreon? I brought...I brought you food, heh heh. Heh?" Gengar walks up to the body. "Umbreon?" He pokes it. "...Umbreon?" He blinks nervously. "Umbreon!"
"What."
"I brought you food. Don't be lazy."
"Put it next to my mouth."
Gengar sighs and tears what's left of the flesh from the bones and puts the shreds near Umbreon's face. Umbreon sniffs it and weakly crawls closer. Slowly, with his eyes shut, he eats the flesh.
"Good," Umbreon says softly. "Is there any more?"
"All that's left are the bones and the gooey innards."
"Put them here."
"Ew! But—"
"Come on..."
Gengar groans and pushes the pile closer to the animal.
Umbreon, too weak to open his eyes, continues to eat the remains, only pausing to cough. Once finished, he says, "Thanks Gengar," and falls back to sleep next to the pile of bones and remnants of the organs.
#01: Charizard
#02: Alakazam
#03: Gengar
#04: Kangaskhan
#05: -
#06: Pichu
#07: Umbreon
#08: Miltank (devoured)
#09: Sceptile
#10: -
#11: Sableye
#12: -
#13: Armaldo
#14: Absol
#15: -
#16: Drifblim (exited perimeters)
#17: -
#18: -
#19: -
#20: Braviary