Darkness. Ever lasting darkness was all I could see upon regaining consciousness. I know not what happened. I felt like I was awake, but I couldn't be quite sure that I was. One thing I thought I felt different was that I was not standing, but floating. So was I dead? No. I couldn't be. If I were dead, it wouldn't be so dark like this, would it? I could feel my brain trying to think and placed a paw over my chest. I could hear the thumping of my heart, beating a little fast, worried that I might be what I thought I was. But if my heart was beating, then that would mean that I was alive, right? Or did your heart go with you wherever you went in the end?
Suddenly, a chilled wind swept past, chilling me right down to the bone. I shivered, curling myself up into a tiny ball. The wind continued to sweep past me, chilling, almost freezing. But as quickly as it started, it quickly began settling down until it was barely even a breeze. I uncurled myself slightly, taking a quick look around. For some strange reason, I felt as though there was someone else in here with me, hiding somewhere in the darkness. The feeling was quite uncomfortable for me and my heart began beating faster.
"He-Hello?" I called out, curling up quickly as my voice echoed across the vast emptiness of the darkness. I kept still, waiting to see if whatever was nearby would come out and attack me. What seemed like minutes passed by as nothing seemed to happen. I was quite fearful of making an attempt to uncurl, for if I did just that, the thing hiding would take it's leap at me. I'd be dead before he even did anything to me, due to my weak heart.
I curled even tighter as the chilling wind suddenly began to pick up again, whistling and whipping slightly all around me. At first, nothing was heard but the whistling, chilling wind. Then, from within the wind, sounded what could only be described as a small chuckle. It started small, but then began to grow little by little. But this wasn't a happy chuckle. This chuckle sounded a little happy, yet at the same time had a strange tone to it, like it was enjoying what was going on.
"Hello?" I called out again. "Wh-who's there?" The chuckling began growing into a laughter. A pleasurable laughter, like it was mocking me, but there was something within that laughter that didn't sound right, something that chilled me more than the wind itself.
But suddenly, the wind immediately died down, the laughter dying with it. I stayed curled up for what seemed to be like hours, only uncurling once nothing seemed to have happened. My heart was pounding hard against my chest as I slowly sat up. That was one of the most scariest experiences I have had in my entire life. I hoped that it would never happen again.
However, just as I thought those words, my entire body tensed up again as I heard a soft whisper flaot across the darkness. "Quil," it whispered. "Quil. Quil."
"Quil," I heard someone shout my name. "Quil. Hey Quil. Wake up! I'm freaking out here man. Wake up!"
"Huh?" I said, confused, snapping my eyes open. I moved my head around, searching for the person who called out my name.
"Oh thank goodness you're awake," Rat said as I looked over to my left. "I was beginning to think you would never wake up."
"What's going on?" I asked, yawning.
"Uh," Rat said, pausing for a moment. "You want to take a look at our current position?"
I blinked a few times, staring at Rat until it was then I noticed that he was dangling above the ground. Come to think of it, I seemed to be hovering above the ground myself now that I was taking notice of my surroundings. Strange. It feels like I've been in this same situation not mere moments ago. Why couldn't I remember it? And why did my muscles ache so badly?
Taking a look at my paws, I saw what looked to be green vines wrapped around them. I followed one of the vines down to where the source of them sprouting up was from, only to see a small, green, four legged pokemon below me with a rather giant leaf upon its head. Come to think of it, there seemed to be a quite a few of them, surrounding both Rat and I. Then, like that, everything came rushing back to me. How Rat and I stopped at a pond to take a sip to drink after leaving a city and being captured by a bunch of these leaf heads whom were called the Chikas.
"So you finally awaken at last," one of the Chikas said, stepping out from among the other Chikas and heading towards us. I could only assume this Chika was the leader, much like Gus was the leader of the Quags. The reason being that she was slightly bigger than the other Chikas and her legs looked like she had been working out, as well as her body. And I mean she because of her feminine curves. And she looked like she could easily snap me like a twig with just one paw.
"Um, hello," Rat said nervously. I watched as the Chika's eyes glanced over to him, her eyes taking on a kind of yellow glow as she glared a little at him. I looked over to Rat as he went limp a little, looking a little on the tired side. "I'm feeling quite relaxed right now." He lolled his head over to one side, looking like he was out of it.
"Pay attention," the Chika said, bringing my attention back to her. "Now you mind telling me exactly where he is before someone starts getting hurt?"
"Where who is?" I asked meekly. The Chika growled, her eyes narrowing.
"Playing dumb isn't going to help you," she said. "The only reason we knocked you out with our sleeping powder so that none of your little mountain friend pokemon would know our location. So no one's coming to save you. So I ask again, where is he?"
"I don't know who 'he' is," I answered the Chika, putting some emphasis on 'he.'
"You're really starting to test my patience," the Chika growled. "And patience is the one thing I don't have. So you better start talking before my patience runs thin on you."
"But I don't know what you're talking about," I said, getting a sigh from the Chika. The next thing I knew, she lashed out a vine at me, slapping me with it. The slap stung badly and I could feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes, wanting to cry.
"I really don't like playing games," the Chika yelled. "Now tell me where he is before the pain continues."
"I-I-I," I tried saying, but couldn't get anything out but tears. My cheek stung really bad. All I wanted to do was rub the pain away and try to talk things over with the Chika, but that didn't seem like it was going to be that way. All that seemed to be happening were the tears rolling freely off my face.
"Aww!" I heard the Chika say. "I didn't know mountain pokemon could cry. And I thought they were all toughies." She and all the other Chikas began laughing. And their laughter was directed at me. Why did pokemon have to be this cruel? If the world was like this, then no one had a chance to do anything. Why did they have to make a mockery out of me? It hurt. And the hurt was turning into the familiar bubbling feeling I felt since leaving the safety and comfort of my home.
"We were just passing through," Rat suddenly said, the laughing ceasing instantly. "We don't know who you mean?"
"Keep your mouth shut," the Chika leader yelled, slapping Rat with a vine. "We have no interest in you. So if you don't keep quiet, I'll make sure you do."
"Leave him alone," I said through a trembling voice, all eyes turning back on me. "We hadn't done anything and you accuse us of something we don't know about."
"That's enough out of you!" the Chika leader yelled. Though my eyes were blurry with the tears, I could see the Chika leader reeling back her vine to do some more damage to me. Just as she sent it forward to strike, however, an idea quickly popped into my head.
"I do know where he is, however," I quickly said, the vine stopping an inch from my face.
"What was that?" the Chika leader asked.
"I said I know where he is," I repeated. "I think I remember seeing him."
"Only because you sent your mountain friends down to take him," the Chika leader yelled. "I can't trust anything you mountain pokemon say. All you care about is yourselves. You just take what you please and don't care who gets hurt." At this point, I could see a single tear rolling down the Chika leader's face. I had my suspicions on why she was crying.
"How about I make a deal with you then?" I asked. "I know you won't trust me, but it's all you've got to lose at this point." The Chika leader remained silent aside from a hurtful sigh escaping her breath. "You let me go and I'll go find him for you. Give me one week and I'll be back with him."
"Liar," the Chika leader yelled. "Once we let you go, you're just going to abandon your friend and never return."
"I promise you," I said. "Just give me a week and I'll return with him. If I'm not back by then, you can do whatever you want to my friend and use the scope to however you choose." I looked over at Rat who lolled his head over in my direction. I'm pretty sure if he wasn't so relaxed right now, he'd be giving me a glare saying, 'Thanks a lot, friend.' All I could mutter out to him was a simple, "Sorry."
"That's a pretty risky deal you're making there," the Chika leader said, regaining her earlier attitude. "You're willing to go find him and leave your friend to be tortured for the remainder of his life until death?"
"No," I replied. "I'm willing to go find him so I can help my friend. And to help you too as well."
"Help us?" the Chika leader asked, becoming suspicious of me once again. "How exactly can you help us?"
"If you let me go to find him, I'll tell you how I can help you," I said, desperately trying to get her to let me do what I needed to do. She stared at me for quite some time, thinking over on what she should do. Finally, after a long period of silence, she spoke again.
"Fine then," she said. "If you really mean to help find him, then a week it is I'll give you. Release him." I felt myself being lowered until my feet hit the ground. The vines holding me were unwrapped, allowing me to stretch my aching muscles. I looked up at Rat whose head was now hanging over his body, staring down at me. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Think you can manage while I'm gone?"
"Just as long as they don't scratch the Silph Scope," Rat said. "Now go."
"Right," I said, turning my attention to the Chika leader. I gave a simple nod to her, letting her know I was leaving now. She gave a slight nod back at me in return before releasing a cloud of purple dust at me. I instantly felt my eyes drooping quickly. Before I knew it, my vision blurred and I had blacked out once again, entering the void of darkness.