The eight of them had crossed over the web bridge that Ollie had made, and were climbing up a steep hill, almost bent double from the steepness of the incline. Dennis was riding on Douglas' back, Terrance was carrying Amberly, and Roxanne was still hauling Skidmore. Kim was doing slightly better than the rest of them, because her Skarmory- Mimi, Roxanne had learned her name was- got to swoop around them with ease, the lucky duck.
"So," Roxanne puffed, "Kim, why… aren't you …riding on Mimi? It's gotta…be better…than walking!"
Kim flashed Roxanne a quick, tired grin. " Because Mimi can't take…all of my weight…especially not for…long periods."
"Sooo…You're saying you're fat?"
The grin changed to a glare. "Shut…Up…"
Roxanne gave a happy giggle-snort. This was better, she thought. This was a lot better. Nobody was fighting, nobody was yelling, and they were almost at the top of this Arceus-accursed giant hill-
"And here we are!" Roxanne laughed. She would have normally spun around and maybe jumped around a bit, but with Skidmore getting heavier on her back all the time the most she could manage was a half-hearted fist pump. But that was A-OK, since they were getting out of this hellhole soon enough, and then Skidmore would wake up and everything would be OK again.
The rest of the group came over the hill and onto the plateau; and Roxanne turned to Douglas, a sudden question springing to her mind.
"Hey Doug!" Roxanne called. "Doug, where's your pokemon at? You had one with you when we came in, right?"
Douglas had an almost pained look on his face when she asked him that. Roxanne wondered if maybe she should ask Kim to take Dennis for a while, to give Douglas a rest. She'd have to ask carefully, or else Kim would probably snap at her-
There was a sudden shudder in the air, and the entire group jumped in shock, too used to the motionlessness.
"The ground!" Terrance yelped.
Roxanne could feel her mouth dropping open. The ground. Was. Glowing, shimmering, shining, sparking with an incandescent energy that rose up out of the terracotta soil like it was nothing but mist and coagulating into a slightly opaque rectangle that floated about six inches of the ground. And then stayed there, motionless.
"….Wow…" Kim whispered.
They stood frozen for several moments, all of them but Dennis eyeing the rectangle as though it was going to spring at them and wallop them over their heads.
"Oh, for the love of…." Kim grumbled. "Why does this even surprise me?" Kim detached herself from the group and walked boldly towards the rectangle and jumped up onto it.
"MISS KIM!" Terrance hissed agitatedly, "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT DOES!"
"Well, we're hardly going to find out just standing there like a herd of Miltank, are we?" Kim snapped. "Roxanne, Douglas, get on here with me!"
Roxanne and Douglas automatically moved towards the floating rectangle, compelled by the authoritative tone in Kim's voice. Terrance stayed back, unease clear on his features.
"Oh come on, Terrance, just get on." Kim moaned.
Terrance gingerly stepped onto the rectangle, awkwardly jostling the others for a secure spot. The rectangle stayed floating at the same height.
"So what do we do now-"
There is another ripple in the air, this one softer, and the rectangle glows with a blistering flash for a blink before there are countless rectangles rising up out of nothing and stopping at regular intervals, each one higher than the last.
Terrance gaped. "Unconnected stairs floating and…glowing…in mid-air."
Roxanne felt a spasm of concern. Was Terrance finally cracking from the stress? "Are you OK, Terr?"
He didn't answer. Roxanne gave herself a mental note to keep a close eye on Terrance, and glanced around to see how Dennis was doing. Dennis gave what was certainly intended to be an encouraging smile and nodded towards the next floating rectangle, and Roxanne forced herself to smile in return.
Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, Roxanne thought. Then she jumped to the next stair, and waited to see if it would hold. It did.
Roxanne steeled herself, and began to climb.
. . .
"Are we there yet?" Roxanne groaned.
"1,243" Terrance replied.
"What?" Kim moaned.
"It's how many stairs we've climbed." Douglas explained.
"And with no end in sight…" Roxanne sighed.
They stopped briefly, shifting awkwardly from leg to leg, all trying to avoid looking down. They had climbed to about 600 feet, by Kim's reckoning. Roxanne was inclined to trust her word, Kim regularly flew, after all.
"Maybe Mimi will see something." Kim said with a brief burst of exhausted optimism.
Mimi chose that moment to swoop back into view, shaking her head. At the sight of that, Amberly gave a wail.
"Oh, be quiet!" Kim snapped. "Terrance, can't you control that thing?"
Terrance huffed out a breath. "Well, let's keep going anyway. We've come this far, and these stairs have to end sometime."
Roxanne shook her head. "Not soon enough for me, I tell you. Not nearly soon enough."
They kept quiet as they resumed their climb, each alone with their thoughts; the only sound their labored breathing. Roxanne began to feel a pricking on the back of her neck and a knot in the pit of her stomach. She had no idea why it was there, but if there was one thing that Skidmore had ever taught her, it was to trust her gut instinct.
Something was wrong. Well, she thought, they were in some weird alternate universe-place where they were climbing floating and faintly glowing stairs into nowhere. Maybe it was just that I'd never known I was afraid of heights before?
Besides, she thought, everything is going pretty good right now. These steps had to go somewhere, right?
So why, Roxanne thought, am I thinking that I've missed something here?
. . .
They had kept climbing, and the only thing that had kept Kim from screaming out in fury and frustration was the pressure she felt building up behind her eyes. It wasn't painful, at least not yet, but it had gagged her tongue and made her fight to keep her legs steady and away from the edges of the stairs.
I've got to keep going, I've got to keep going, Kim thought. I will not let this place beat me. I'm stronger than this place. This pressure only means that we're going up, that we're getting somewhere. And since we fell down into here, it makes sense that to get out we need to go up. Something is changing, so we must be getting close.
Mimi swooped in close enough to cast a concerned gaze towards Kim. I'm fine, Kim tried to convey with her eyes. I'm fine, you're fine, we're all fine. We're going to make it out of this stupid place, and we're going to see sunlight again. And the moment that we're safe and out of this mess, I'm going to beat the hell out of Douglas, and you can help me.
Mimi clacked her beak, and banked sharply to her right. Kim wasn't sure if Mimi had gotten the entire message, but she seemed to have gotten enough of it.
I'm going to get out of this, Kim swore again. I'm not going to let this place beat me. I'm strong- I'm stronger than Douglas, and I'm stronger than this Arceus-accursed place.
I will not let it beat me.
. . .
Denny is happy. Dougie is here. Dougie is safety, Dougie is love. Dougie and Ollie will protect me.
Gonna see the sun-shine, sun-shine, sun-shine, gonna see the sun-shine soon!
And Ray hadn't lied, either! Denny knew it! Like Ray had said: "There will always be people in the world who are good, Kid. And sooner or later, one of those good people will come for you."
But Denny was lucky, because SURPRISE! Four good people had come! Kimmy was so strong, Terry was so strong, Roxy was so strong, and Denny had always known that his brother was the strongest ever!
Gonna see the sun-shine, sun-shine, sun-shine, gonna see the sun-shine soon! Gonna see the sun-shine, sun-shine, sun-shine, gonna see the sun-shine soon!
Olly-Olly Oxen FREE!
. . .
Terrance had never known his shoes to hurt his feet this much before. Terrance had never known that Amberly was so heavy before.
Terrance kept his head bowed down, watching the steps beneath his feet. He could see for miles below him. The landscape was exactly the same as everything else, terracotta ground, water that defied gravity. There was the exception of what looked like immense dark greenish-brown and waterweed-like objects that he assumed were trees, for lack of a better word, which he had not seen when he was on the ground.
1,467 steps.
1,468 steps.
1,469 steps.
Terrance wanted to scream. He wanted to howl. He wanted to cry and rage at the heavens.
1,470 steps.
He refused to.
1, 471 steps.
I am the only sensible one here, Terrance whispered in his head. I am the only one who is capable of keeping my temper. I cannot lose control, I will not lose control.
Terrance knew that he had the control that he needed. He had trained himself for years to get it, after all.
1, 472 steps.
This place will not beat me, Terrance vowed. I am better than it.
1,473.
. . .
I'm close. I'm so close that I can almost taste it, Douglas thought. I got Dennis. I've got the others here. And nobody thought to ask me what I knew.
Douglas tightened his grip on his brother. We're so close, Denny. I'm going to get you out of here, and then you'll go back to looking normal and everything will be alright again. You don't know how happy Mother and Father will be to see you again, I don't think that they've smiled properly since you've been gone. "We're almost there, Denny." Douglas whispered. "We're almost there.
Douglas glanced furtively at the others. They all had their eyes down and glazed over, lost in their own thoughts. Good, he thought savagely, good. You keep your eyes down, and you trust me. I'm smarter than you. I'm better than you. Nothing you do can…stop…me…
"GGRROOEEKKK!"
Douglas froze in place, jaw agape as he stared at the behemoth that had materialized in front of them out of nowhere. It was a giant, dragon-like Pokémon, with an appearance similar to that of a large dinosaur . It had 6 legs, gold protrusions that look like external ribs, and golden horns on its head. It had black wings with three red thorn-like appendages called coming out of them. It gave off the same aura of fear and revulsion that Dennis and Ollie did.
"1,500," Terrance whimpered. "…1,500 steps…"
"Holy Hell," Kim mumbled, "Holy goddamn hell."
Roxanne let out a combination of a moan of pain and a scream of horror.
A bizarre thought raced through Douglas's head as his brain fought to process the nightmare in front of him without diving off the edge of the stairs. This is what the monster under my bed looked like.
Dennis threw back his head and laughed, joyous and free. "Olly-Olly Oxen FREE!"