Trapped in the Darkness - Chapter Twenty

A Pokemon fanfiction

Thank you for sticking with me after all this time!

Pearl: The author owns nothing!

~000~

Red and the others jogged down the various hallways that lead to the massive control room of the separate part of the castle. N was trying to keep up with Black, who was leading the pack, trying to get his attention unsuccessfully. It seemed to be important, but Black didn't seem to see that and continued to ignore him.

White tried to sooth the green haired boy by talking to him. "What's wrong, N?" she asked, slowing her pace to meet N's as she fell into step beside him. N chewed the corner of his bottom lip for a quick second before turning to meet her gaze.

"I couldn't find one of my Pokemon."

White worry cooled somewhat when she heard this. She smiled, punching the taller boy on the shoulder lightly. "Oh, don't get so worried, N," she said, laughing a little. "We'll find it. What is is, your Vanilliuxe? Klinklang?"

N didn't look consoled. He looked over at her gravely. "Neither of those are missing, White."

White arched an eyebrow. "Than what's still miss-oof!"

She had incidentally run into Black, who had stopped dead in his tracks. She was about to snap at him when he spun around to face his taller male friend. "Don't tell me."

N blinked, his mouth open like he wasn't sure how to respond. Black looked deadly serious. "Which one was the one you couldn't find, N?"

N took another second before responding. "Reshiram."

There was a brief shudder of shock that passed through the group of children on the floor that caused the group to stop. Black looked utterly dumbfounded.

"How... how the hell do you just loose Reshiram?" he asked, not angry at N this time. "Where could they have hidden it?" He looked down at the ground in thought.

"Couldn't Zekrom find it?" N asked. Black's mocha eyes returned to the green-haired boy, blinking slowly.

"I don't have Zekrom with me," he said quietly. His eyes returned to the ground and his hand went to play with the brim of his hat, tapping his heel impatiently. N sighed quietly.

Red glanced over at Green to check on him when the group fell into quiet conversation, the slow murmur mainly about this Reshiram. Green seemed a little better, but he was stifling coughs into his elbow. His green eyes were darting up and down the hallway.

There was a soft rumble of thunder around the building. Diamond snapped his fingers together and everyone's attention went to him.

"They must have sealed it off in its own chamber. That's the only solution that makes sense. They wouldn't just release a legendary like that," he said, looking pleased with himself. Black frowned, glaring at N from where he was standing.

"Why didn't you think of that, N?" he hissed. N flinched at the tone of Black's voice but immediately began to apologize when Black waved his hand in the air. "You want to know what? Never mind. I didn't say anything." He turned away and started knocking the walls to listen for hollow sounds. N blinked, his mouth still open.

"Oh, okay," ha said slowly, scurrying off in the opposite wall to do the same as he muttered something about still not being able to understand people. The trainers split up in separate directions, all knocking on walls they found. Red hesitated at first, but as he watched Green yawn as he scuffled off, he decided to follow him.

Green seemed to know his friend was following him, because he turned toward him, grinning impishly. "Who would've thought there's another one of us who met a legendary? Not only you, but both Black and N have the Unova duo caught!" he said, excitement an undertone in his voice. He tapped at the walla few times before moving on. "I mean, I expected it because of this many trainers, all Champions or close to it, were all locked up together."

Red almost laughed. "They aren't the only ones."

Green blinked, tipping his head to the side in a state of confusion. "What do you mean?"

Red looked up at the ceiling, sighing. "I mean they aren't the only ones with legendary Pokemon." Green's look of confusion turned slowly to amazement, but there was a hint of disappointment flickering in his jade irises.

"How many of them have?"

Red bit his cheek subtlety, immediately feeling guilt well up in his stomach when he remembered Green hadn't met any of the legendary Pokemon. He tried not to answer and pretended he didn't hear his friend's question and continued down the hallway as he knocked on the walls.

Green blinked in confusion before frowning angrily as he mistook Red's guilt for pride. He sighed, setting his mouth in a hard line when he didn't receive an answer to his question. "Whatever, Red," he said irately, knocking on the wall much harder than he should have. The wall was solid, however, and didn't give anything to put him in a better mood.

Green growled and blinked hard. That migraine was coming – faster than Green hoped it would have. His arm was still aching about the oncoming rain, and his chest still had a dull throbbing in it from earlier's run-through with the mind games. Resting his head against the wall, Green sighed and punched the wall. Everything was working against him, it seemed.

"Every stupid thing had to happen today, didn't it," he muttered lowly under his breath. He screwed his eyes shut to try and help the pounding in his head but it didn't seem to help any. "Just fuckin' perfect."

He took a deep breath before the walls started shaking again, Red and Green freezing before it stopped and a triumphant White cheered out, "Found it!"

"Do you have magic shoes or something?" Gold's voice followed.

The two boys exchanged glances quickly before hurrying over with the rest of the group, who was huddled near the entrance of the large door that had opened up. The inside of the chamber was warm, but only N had gone inside to try and calm his friend down. There was whispering before N poked his head in from the sealed off room.

"My friend is okay," he said, his smile bright. "It would be best if we released all the Pokemon now. They're really eager to get out of those uncomfortable cells and stretch their legs."

Green rose an eyebrow but didn't question the green-haired boy's words. Sapphire ran off without another word to go throw the switch, and everyone went off to the main room to await the arrival of their partners.

~000~

Green stared at the cage with his Eevee in it. "Don't worry, girl," he said calmly, smiling. "You'll be out of there in no time at all. You're okay, right?"

The Eevee chirped in response, walking back and forth in front of the cage quickly and as well as it could as it got ready to leap out.

There was a universal click that cracked as every single lock on all the doors of the cages unlocked. Then every door swiveled open.

There was a multitude of roars and cries from the separate chambers of the section of the castle, and soon all the trainers were laughing with their teams.

Red was standing somewhat away from the rest of the group, silent as usual, but as alight with happiness as the others were. None of his team was hurt and they were all overjoyed to be out of their cages.

Green was on the floor – his Eevee had used a lot of power jumping out of her cage like that – but he was surrounded by his team. His Rhydon had a few bruises here and there, and his Alakazam had a bruised line around his neck where the collar was from before, but they all looked energetic and ready to fight. Green's Arcanine sniffed at him worriedly, however, but the trainer shoved him aside playfully without noticing its concern.

Gold's Furret had wrapped itself around it's trainer affectionately, and the raven put his goggles back over his hat as his Beedrill landed delicately on his head. When it bent down over the brim of the boy's hat to look at the trainer, Gold shrieked quickly before he began laughing breathlessly. He scolded the bug-pokemon for startling him gently but didn't seem angry at all.

Silver's Sneasle and Crystal's Wigglytuff were talking to each other as the two trainers looked over their teams. None of them seemed out of the ordinary however, so the trainers just started rooting through their bags for berries that hadn't had rotted in their time without use.

Sapphire seemed most overjoyed in the return of her Metagross. When Pearl asked her about it she grew a distant look on her face and told him she was given this Pokemon by a very special person who was far away now. She didn't only care about the Metagross though, she turned to her Azumarill and Swampert and others with the same looks before giving them both great big hugs.

Ruby watched Sapphire and his Sceptile nudged him in the arm before motioning to the girl. The Pokemon professor's son grew red in the face and shook his head quickly, and there was some laughter from his Frosslass and Milotic. He searched through his bag before finding a pair of glasses, frowning as he discovered one lens cracked and unusable.

Platinum and Pearl each had a Staraptor, and each one was checking the other out with quick weaving and head bobs. Platinum was surrounded by Pokemon, hers along with Pearl's and Diamond's, laughing gently and feeding them some Cherri berries that were still good. Both of her male companions were standing with their starter Pokemon, Pearl with his Torterra and Diamond with his Infernape, putting bandages over the scrapes and cuts that were over their bodies.

Black was the happiest that he had ever been around his team. He spun around with his Lilligant and Chandelure quickly, nodding at his Gothitelle, sweeping up his Cinccino in a huge embrace. No one had seen him this happy while he was in the cell. White hugged him quickly before showing him her Galevantua and Emolga, and the two began animatedly talking about one another's teammates. N was communicating with his Zoarark quietly as he surrounded himself with his own Pokemon, a content smile on his face.

This was most likely the first time in a long time that many of the children that were trapped in the cell had smiled genuinely. They no longer had to worry if they were spending their last few hours together. Despite their torn and dirty clothing, their grime covered faces, and the dark circles under their eyes; felicity radiated off them, glowing brilliantly and filling the room with light.

"We're going to be alright," the light seemed to whisper. "We're fine."

Everything was in its place, and it was going to stay that way.

~000~