I didn't say this would update every two weeks- anyone who tells you that is a massive liar or delusional. Or probably read my last chapter. Sorry for the delay; the annoying thing known as real life got in the way. Anyway, on with the chapter!
"Wake up. We have something for you."
The cool voice reached into Tobias's mind, which was dreaming of him and a rather pretty looking girl, and dragged him out of his sleep, back into the room he had woken in last time. Lance was standing there, holding a tablet that he was scrolling across, and staring at it with loose interest. "Oh, good. You actually survived. After your vitals dropped back to zero, Joy thought you might be permanently dead, with the ECG machine being… borrowed by someone else." His tone became annoyed when he started talking about the machine, giving Tobias the impression that Lance didn't like whoever was borrowing it. That, however, didn't matter to him.
"Has it been two days already?" He rubbed his eyes, feeling awake already. He just wanted to get out of this bed.
"No. It came up last night." Lance threw Tobias the tablet, and he barely caught it. "Your group must have money to spare…" Tobias muttered, looking over the screen. The screen was mostly taken up by a picture of an abandoned building, somewhere, with a small amount of text along the bottom of the screen, giving co-ordinates.
"Any do you want to buy this house? I'm sure it could make a brilliant new base for your organisation." He was slipping back into his usual persona, Tobias noticed.
"Our organisation, now." Lance took the tablet back, correcting him. "And we don't want to buy it. We believe it is infested with some form of spirit, which is beginning to present a threat to the general public." Lance spoke to him like a teacher would speak to an unruly student- impatiently and being as obvious as possible. Tobias did not like this.
"How can a spirit be such a danger to people? Can't we just get a Psychic type in there and-"
"You speak as if we haven't already tried this. Any Pokemon we sent in there never came out, except Psychic types. They walked out, but were silent. No-one could communicate with them in any way. And any humans that went in returned with their minds broken- they were completely insane, resisting any effort to speak sense. All we know is that there is something in there is seriously dangerous."
Tobias was having a slow sense of realisation. "How did you even figure this out?" He was trying to distract Lance for long enough for him to work out what was going to happen. As far as he could tell, this was not going well.
"It was a local dare for teenagers to enter this abandoned hospital as a coming-of-age rite. We picked up on it when a whole group of them were found outside of the entrance, having been in there all night. They were dead; they had slit each other's wrists with a piece of glass. One was rescued, and said two words before he slipped back into a coma: 'The eyes'. We have yet to know what it means."
Tobias came across an idea that he thought could save him. "And you're going to send a robot with a camera in…" He tentatively said the idea, not liking what he could see as the only other option.
"We have tried. It failed. So we're sending in our newest asset." Lance put down the tablet on a table, and looked at Tobias. "You."
Tobias, to put it lightly, wasn't surprised, so much as he was slowly becoming scared of what the heck he was being forced into. "And what makes you think I won't just be driven insane? Which, in case I have to remind you, would be bad!"
"Simple. Your mind, due to the link with Yveltal, contains a psychic barrier, because of its dark typing. This protects you from basic mental invasions, as we learned from several tests conducted on you during your time spent unconscious."
"Why am I not surprised you did tests on me?" Tobias sighed, only half listening to Lance.
Lance continued, ignoring Tobias's complaints. "No dark-typed Pokemon we had access to was willing to go in there, so we have to send in something else. We can force you to go in without anyone getting angry, since you're already dead and have agreed to be a special operative." He picked up the tablet, flicking through until he reached the page he needed. "This will be a test to see if you are worth keeping around."
"And if I fail…?" Tobias was not looking forwards to the answer.
Lance didn't answer, except with a small smile, which scared Tobias more than any words could.
"That is not the answer I was hoping for."
"I don't care. We're dropping you in one hour. Go pick up your Pokemon, eat something, and get ready." Lance got up to leave. "And try not to die again."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Nice to know you care about me so much."
"No. It would just take too much effort to recover your corpse for an autopsy to see what exactly is keeping you around." Lance walked out of the door at the end of this sentence.
Tobias hung around for a couple of minutes, changing back into some clothes that had been left for him: a black jacket, black trousers, and a blue shirt. He walked out of the door into a thin corridor, with no windows. He looked inside an open door just down from his own room to see the Nurse Joy he had met yesterday tuning up a machine, halfway inside the casing. "Hello?"
"Oh!" She tried to remove herself, but ended up hitting her head on the shell. "Ah, sorry! I'm just trying to fix this!" She struggled for a few seconds, before finally exiting and spinning to look at Tobias, smiling, her face covered in grease. "Are you looking for me?" She asked, her voice sounding hopeful.
"Not really, but can you tell me where to find some food? And my Pokemon, what's-his-face-"
"Lance." Nurse Joy corrected him.
"Yes, him. He said I should find them for my mission." Tobias looked at her, eyebrow raised, wondering if she knew.
"Oh, it's a good job you found me!" Joy searched around in the pockets of her lab coat before pulling out a Pokeball. "It's standard procedure for only one Pokemon per operative, to keep things subtle and low-key. And this is the best match for you." She passed the ball to him, and he released the Pokemon inside it. A Gallade stared back at him, briefly glancing at the Joy in mistrust.
"Blade? You OK?" The Pokemon nodded, still on edge. "It's fine. Relax. She doesn't mean us any harm. I think." Blade slightly relaxed, standing more calmly. "Right. So, where are the others?" Tobias looked concerned as he said this, doing a terribly job of keeping it private.
"They're fine. They've been sent to the storage system through a bunch of proxies, to make sure no-one knows you're still alive and accessing it. The only other one here is Yveltal, and you're not having that." Tobias started to question this, but Joy cut him off.
"We don't know if it will listen to you, and it's a very overkill. We do try and be subtle! "Joy smiled at her own comment.
"We're flying in an airship. Subtlety doesn't seem to play a part in it." Tobias dryly responded to her claims.
"A camouflaged airship…" Joy became slightly quieter at this. "Anyway, I presume you'll want some food. It's at the end of the corridor." She smiled at Tobias, trying to make him feel happy.
"Thanks." He smiled slightly at her, and then started walking away, followed by Blade. "So, let's see what this organization that can afford to throw around computers has for food…" He opened the door into a small room, with a couple of small tables and a kitchen attached. There was a window looking out onto the sky, with clouds above the flying ship. There was a plate lying on the table adjacent to the window, with several slices of toast on it. There was also a bowl on the floor, containing several pieces of brown lumps. "I guess that is for you…" Tobias said, passing the bowl up to Blade as he sat down. Blade looked at him, slightly disgusted, and Tobias gave him a piece of toast. "I agree. That's really not good for you." He said, stuffing his own mouth with a piece. Blade slowly ate the slice, bemused at his master's way of eating.
When he was finished, which took less than five minutes, he returned Blade to his ball, and stood up. "Now, where to go…" He spoke aloud, only for Lance to walk in, handing him a backpack. "To the mission. We've arrived at the drop zone."
Tobias was slightly stunned as Lance dragged him out of the kitchen and into the corridor, dragging him down to the other end. "Wait... Drop Zone?" He looked at the backpack as Lance pushed him through the end door, into a small room, with a large, mechanical door opposite. "No… I haven't done this before…" His voice carried a note of panic
Lance grabbed him, putting the backpack on his shoulders. He pulled a cable out and attached it to a link close to the door. "We're at around 3500 feet, and when you jump out, this cable," he flicked the cable attached to the door, with it making a "ping" noise, "will deploy the parachute. When you land, try to make a running stop, otherwise you may break your legs." He paused. "Which would be bad." Lance moved to the door, and typed in a code. Lights above it turned green, and the door began to open.
"Since when did you care about my safety?" Tobias asked, his voice shouting in fear. "You experimented on me!"
Lance didn't answer, and instead strapped a leather bracelet around his wrist. "Good luck." His face didn't make it the comment believable. He left the room, and closed the door leading inside, with it hissing shut, just as the door leading to the sky fully opened. Tobias walked up to the edge of the ship, looking downwards to the ground. The very distant ground. He could see a plain beneath him, with a city a few miles north. He took a deep breath. "Well, here goes…" His voice was lost in the whistling wind, and so was his shout when he jumped out of the ship.
Sorry this is kind of short, but my current college schedule means that I don't write very often, and I would much rather give you guys short segments rather than making you wait several months between single chapters. Even if I do that anyway... So, as always, please review, and I'll see you next time! Bye!