A/N: I am incredibly sorry for taking so long to update. I've been really busy lately with getting ready for a new school. I will be a junior this year. I find it funny that I have a new school for every year. One school for freshman, another for sophomore. At least they were a city away from each other. My junior school is two hours away from my last school. Oh well. What can I do.
Wait? Why am I talking about my schools when I'm supposed to be talking about hidden?
I was having some trouble figuring what to do next, then I came up with chapter 12's plot while taking a shower. God bless showers and their ability to give me ideas! Well, please enjoy the chapter!
Satoshi's eyes fluttered open, greeted by bright white. He tried to sit up, but found his arms and legs were securely fastened to the cold metal table. He continued to try to get free, but no matter how hard he tried, they were not coming off. He recognized the pure white office. t belong to Kurenai. He had been brought back after Mika had drugged him. He then remembered something else.
"Hikari!" Satoshi cried out aloud. She had been dying, bleeding on the forest floor. He hoped she was okay, that someone had found her and had taken her to the hopital. What scared him most about it all was that he remember that his hand had been coated in crimson blood as he stood above her. Everything before that moment seemed a blur. What had happened? What had he done?
His head felt like it was going to split into two. Tears welled up in scarlet eyes as memories began to rush back to him, memories of before. His friends. His journey. The fun times. Kanto. Johto. Sinnoh. The memories of the past year. The pain. The tears. The death. The blood on his hands. It seemed like white and red had been the only colors he had seen in that year.
"I see you're conscience now, Satoshi," came a chilling voice from behind him. He instantly recognized that voice, a a shiver ran down his spine. Kurenai. That evil woman; this was all her fault, for turning him into this...this monster.
"Let me go," Satoshi hissed, trying to break free once more from the steel restraints. Kurenai just stared at the boy, a mix of angry and sadness in her crimson eyes. She removed her white coat and pulled a syringe from her pocket. Inside was a bright orange liquid. With a swift movement, she stuck him in the neck. It felt like every vein and artery in his entire body was being frozen solid, and he found himself unable to continue moving. He was beginning to find it difficult to breath.
"That's better. Now I won't have to deal with you squirming," She said quietly as she placed down the syringe. She looked down at the young man she had gotten so fond of. He had become her favorite subject, but like they say, there are two kinds of people. Those who have succeeded and those who have failed. And unfortunately, Satoshi was now a failure. But then again, Kurenai wasn't the type to give up so easily.
"What...did you do to me?" Satoshi managed to choke out, every word bringing him more and more pain. Fortunately the pain soon subsided, although he still found it near impossible to move. Kurenai looked away.
"Not much. Besides, lets not talk about what I have done. Rather, lets talk about you. Nearly killing your old friend. That is pretty heartless. And all of those innocent priso-"
"SHUT UP!" Satoshi screamed, tears obscuring his vision. He didn't mean to do what he did. If he had managed to keep his grip on himself, he would never had done a single thing that he did. He wouldn't even have thought of it. It was all her fault, not his.
"DON"T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!" Kurenai shrieked. She slapped him across the face, the sound so loud that it echoed through the room. Satoshi was in shock that he could barely even feel it. But then he remembered, he hadn't felt much of anything lately. Kurenai's usually calm face was contorted with rage. She leaned down so that she was right above his ear. "Until you remember who the fuck you are talking to, you can stay here," she hissed into his ear. With her close, he tried to bite her, but she moved away in time. She spotted the hatred in his eyes and hit him once again. And once more he didn't feel the pain. She turned and stormed out of the room, mumbling curses under her breath. The door slammed behind her.
Satoshi couldn't hold it in. He screamed at the top of his lung, forcing his unwilling body to move. He started to thrash about, desperate to get free. Flying into a rage, he failed to notice the door reopening.
"Do you really think it'd be that easy to get free?" Surprised, Satoshi came to his senses and titled his head backward to see a familiar woman. She was young and pale with short blond hair. She had brilliant blue eyes and a sad smile on her face.
"T-Tamako-san," Satoshi whispered. Tamako, one of the only people here that wasn't mentally demented. The pale woman walked over to him and wiped away the hot tears from his cheek. Her hands were soft and gentle, calming the boy down even more. He let out a small sigh and looked up at his 'friend'.
"I'm glad your back," she said slowly. Satoshi couldn't help but laugh bitterly.
"Yes. Because it's sooo nice here." Tamako couldn't help but join in. With quick movements, Tamako undid the boy's restraints. Now free, Satoshi sat up and rubbed his neck. He could still feel where Mika had stuck him with that needle. The raven haired young man felt his anger boiling up again, squeezing his chest. He closed his eyes, trying to keep it under control. He moved to get off the cold, hard table when he noticed something in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out a small mirror shard. It had been a small hand mirror when Tamako had first given it to him, but it eventually broke. He had kept this shard for some reason. He stared at his reflection.
He didn't recognize himself at all. Warm, brown eyes replaced with a cold scarlet, shoulder length raven hair, unnaturally pale skin. The first time he looked at himself after he started changing, almost a year ago, the changes then seemed mild compared to this. He looked down at his scarred, thin body, black clothes loosely hanging. He could feel every rib as he ran his hand down his chest.
"Don't worry. I think you look better this way," Tamako said grinning. Satoshi looked up at the woman, not even a hint of a smile on his face. She's the same. She's just another one of them. The anger inside him was tearing at him, like a wild beast trying to get free. He shut his eyes tight, trying to keep it under.
"I still can't believe this. How could this have happened?" Haruka asked as she stared at Hikari, who was asleep in her hospital bed. Kasumi was teary eyed, and nodded in agreement.
Haruka and Kasumi had become worried when Hikari hadn't returned after half an hour. The two girls went in search of her, and after ten minutes, they found her in a pool of her own blood, laying on the forest floor. The girls had started to panic, frightened and confused, but they eventually had got her to Cerulean City Hospital. It had been two days since then, and the Hikari had not awoken yet.
The blunette's upper torso was bandaged; if they had not found her sooner, Hikari would probably be dead. Kasumi paced around the room, thinking. No pokemon could have given her that injury. But then, what had attacked her?
Escorted by 15 other rocket members, under the orders of Kurenai, he was forced back into his room. The door was locked and guarded, to make sure he wouldn't get out. The room was how he remembered it. Small and white, suffocating. Satoshi leaned against the wall, finding himself suddenly weak. The fact that he was forced to return to this place, it was too much to bear. He hated this place and everything about it, well at least he did now. A week ago he would be praising Team Rocket and all that they were doing.
'Heh. They really did screw with my head, didn't they?" he thought as he closed his eyes. The white was giving him a headache. He slowly sank to the floor, thoughts of Kasumi, Haruka, and Hikari running through his mind. He hoped they were okay, that Hikari was still alive. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he killed one of his friends. Suddenly, a sharp pain attacked his head and he gripped it with both hands. Anger and hatred began to boil up in his chest. At that moment, Satoshi wanted nothing more than to kill. Inflict a slow and painful death. He wanted to watch them suffer, crying and begging for their life.
Hot tears ran down his cheeks as the desire grew stronger. Then he remember Hikari. Dying in her own blood. Begging him to know why. The dark emotions began to fade away, and he found the pain dying down. Satoshi hugged his body close and wept.
He needed to escape from this place. While he was still was himself.
A/N: I know this is rather short and probably wasn't worth the wait. I'm so sorry!
Okay, Ash finally remembers who he is, although he isn't exactly fully himself. When I was working on this, I came to the realization that I completely forgot about Tamako. I keep forgetting details with this story.
I have exactly what lucky chapter 13 is going to be like in my head, so hopefully (most likely after consuming every bit of sugar in the house) I will be able to get the next chapter done soon. Then again, it is me soo...
Thanks for reading and please review on your way out!