I woke up with a loud groan. The night passed by without anything too extraordinary happening, granted I suffered from insomnia and tripped on a branch while trying to find somewhere to use the bathroom, but other than that, nothing went wrong. As soon as I opened my eyes I was greeted with harsh sunlight, even under the protection of a tree. I immediately squinted to prevent the light from blinding me.
After letting my eyes adjust I began to wake up my friends. Gabrielle was a rather easy task, I just clapped in front of her face and she sat up with a rather annoyed look on her face, but I just ignored her glares and laughed. Raymond took a lot more effort, being a naturally deep sleeper. I shook him, clapped my hands and even shouted in his ear, but it was to no avail.
"He's a professional Snorlax." Gabrielle snorted, looking quite frustrated with Raymond's inability to wake-up.
"That's for sure." I replied. After a few more fruitless attempts I took out a pokeball and sent out Maestro, my Kricketot. I pointed at Raymond's sleeping figure and he got the message immediately. Maestro waddled over to Raymonds ear before creating a loud, high-pitched ringing sound which caused all the pokemon nearby to flee. Raymond literally jumped up and took a fighting stance, until he realized we weren't being attacked.
"Not funny." Raymond said with a scowl. He looked extremely irritated and a bit worse for wear, in fact so did the rest of us. Our campout in the cemetery wasn't exactly a peaceful one, the hoots of pokemon and other eerie noises seemed to have stopped all of us from sleeping comfortably, not to mention the floor was not the best bed.
"Hey, where's Michael?" Gabrielle asked.
"I'm right here!" The voice came from above, and looking up I saw Michael tinkering woth his pokedex on a branch above.
"What are you doing up there?" Raymond asked. Michael leapt down from the branch and walked up to us before displaying his pokedex.
"Well, our pokedex have an e-mail function. So, I tried to e-mail my parents, but it said that it couldn't find the server that I specified. That's why I decided to try it at a higher level, but it still didn't send through." Michael explained dejectedly.
"Wait, then how did we get that e-mail from yesterday?" I wondered out loud.
"Well, I think that the e-mails come from automated server inside the pokedex. It calculates a complicated algorithm to predict the day's events, it must process every possible action in order to come up with its prediction. Also, the slightest error in such a complex algorithm could cause the whole thing to mess up. Like yesterday, when we defeated the Rhypherior we were able to get rid of the cause of our death." Michael explained, leaving my head spinning.
"Ah, slow down whiz-kid! Speak English for the rest of us non-eggheads!" Gabrielle frowned.
"Short and simple, the e-mails come the pokedex itself." Michael frowned. I opened my mouth to make a comment about how the heck the pokedex could predict our actions but was interrupted by the sound of a message coming through. Sure enough, there was a new e-mail in my inbox.
Good Morning! Here is today's news!
Blackouts will continue all through out the day inside Castelia and other surrounding areas.
Over the course of the day there will be increasing injuries on humans caused by pokemon.
At 5:00 p.m several captured pokemon will be forcibly ejected from their pokeballs then rage out of control.
Have a nice day!
"Hm, this one's a bit different from the others." Michael mused, curious as to what he was talking about I lifted my head from the pokedex to look at him and asked, "what do you mean?"
"Well, yesterday we got specific time-stamps, today we got mostly a general overview." Michael explained to me as I drunk in every word, "but if it's important or not, I'm not sure."
"Pokemon being forcibly ejected." Gabrielle muttered her voice pitch high, "we have to get out before then."
"Let's see if we can get out." Raymond said with a shrug, he didn't seem to find the e-mail worrying at all. Where did he get all his courage from?
"Don't you remember? Everythings blockaded until the government gives us the green light to leave." Gabrielle said adding a long sigh at the end.
"Well, it's better than sitting here like Psyduck and waiting for the lockdown to end. Besides, we might be able to find a secret passage way or something." Raymond countered back. I had to admit, I did not feel like doing nothing for who knows how long, so I nodded in agreement. Gabrielle gave up and we all gathered up our belongings before we left the cemetery.
After exiting through the cemetery gate we began walking back towards te subway, as we walked I noticed that the streets looked torn apart and that several cars had been crashed and damaged.
"Do you think the blackout caused all this?" I asked.
"No, cars have their own headlights. Even if the power went out the drivers should still be able to see," Michael replied. He had a look of worry on his face which I didn't like at all, "I think a rampaging pokemon did it all."
"No way." Gabreille said in shock, "pokemon are our friends, they would never do something like this."
"What about the Rhypherior last night? That thing went out of control and tried to kill us!" Raymond argued back. That left Gabrielle speechless and as we continued walking down the street we saw more trails of destruction left by rampaging pokemon. Talon marks in the aphsalt, holes in buildings, burned trees, and crashed cars were seen on every block and the thought that pokemon caused all this scared me. Were they our allies or monsters waiting to be unleashed?
When we reached the closest subway station there was still a barricade. People were angrily protesting about how they had jobs and families waiting but they were just told to stay calm and remain inside Castelia until it is deemed safe to leave.
"Please, my son is having an operation soon! I need to be with him!" I man pleaded.
"I'm sorry but we're under direct orders not to let anyone through. So please, don't make this more difficult than it needs to be." A man on the barricade line replied. A wave of pity swept over me, the man gave up and stepped away from the line, then disappeared into the crowd of people. I spotted a girl with long brown-hair and a pink dress protesting with them, the first thing that crossed my mind was cos-player and I laughed at the thought. Despite the protests, the men behind the barricade refused to let us out, then, for the second time, the crowd thinned out until it was just us and a few other stubborn protesters.
"Well, conventional exits are a bust," Michael grumbled, "this isn't fair... I'm about to keel over."
"What's the matter, Michael?" Raymond asked. Now that Raymond mentioned it, Michael did look a bit clammy and distressed. My first instinct told me he was sick, but considering his perfect attendance record I ruled out that possibility.
"I'm going through an internet withdrawal, I haven't been on for a whole twenty-four hours!" I burst out laughing, but Gabrielle didn't find the situation as I did because she stomped on Michael's foot and called him a tech junkie.
"Oh, how marvelous!" A voice cried out. I jumped up, into the air in surprise and turned around after regaining my composure. The voice came from a man with a camera around his neck and wire-framed glasses. He quickly began taking pictures of Gabrielle, ignoring her questions of "who, what, when, where, how?"
"What's your name? Do you want to be a model?" The man asked, still taking pictures. Gabrielle face turned a light-shade of pink before she ran behind the nearest person, which happened to be Michael.
"And, who are you?" Raymond asked in an annoyed voice. The man stopped taking pictures, looking angry at Raymond for interrupting him. He straightened his coat and glasses and flashed a ridiculous looking pose.
"I'm Klavier! The one and only!" He screamed out. It drew the attention of by-standers who instantly began whispering about him. Just who was this nut-job?
"Who?" Raymond asked again.
"You boorish churl! You don't know who I am?" The man asked, Raymond held the same annoyed face as he shook his head, "where do you live? Under a rock?"
"No way! Are you really Klavier!" Gabrielle exclaimed, suddenly dashing out from behind Michael and running towards the man.
"Of course, and you, my dear are the epitome of grace and elegance. What may I call you?" Klavier said, taking Gabrielle's hand and putting a small kiss on it. Raymond groaned out loud at the sight and whispered "creeper."
"Gabrielle." She answered, her voice in a state of reverie.
"How do you know this doofus?" Raymond asked, he seemed like he was about to snap after being ignored two times.
"I know him too. Klavier is a renowned artist in almost every field. Photography, painting, sculpting, you name it." Michael piped up. His description suddenly recalled a memory of someone giving a presentation on him in art class.
"Oh, I remember now!"
"See! Any normal person could recognize me." Klavier smirked. I sighed, also remembering that the person who presented put a great amount of emphasis on Klavier's rather large ego.
"In any case, what do we do now? It really looks like we're stuck here." I said, trying to steer the topic away from Klavier before Raymond got arrested for assaulting a celebrity.
"Hm? Oh, you're looking for an exit are you? I have some information that might intrigue you." Klavier said, flashing a smile that nearly blinded my right eye. Everyone perked in and moved closer, I, to make sure I was hearing him right, "uh-uh-uh. Information doesn't come free!"
"What do you want?" Michael asked suspiciously.
"I'm looking for this famous cam-girl, her name is Dahlia and I just have to write an article on her!" Klavier explained, showing us a picture. She was wearing a white dress and had brown, butterfly braided hair. I didn't know why, but something about the girl rang familiar to me.
"Oh, Dahlia, I hear she cos-plays quite for her jobs." Raymond mused, taking a good look at the picture.
"Cos-play? Well, I did see this one girl..." I said under my breath, but Klavier seemed to catch me and grabbed me by my shirt desperately. His wild eyes reminded of me of a wild animal, and his glare didn't help either.
"Where?" He all but shouted.
"I think I saw her heading for the art museum." I replied, slightly panicked at Klavier's sudden change of demeanor.
"Now, tell us how we can get out of here!" My friends shouted unanimously.
"Alright, alright. Well, there's an urban legend about a secret tunnel. The building across from the Gym used to be a hideout for Team Plasma, and they used it in order to transfer member in and out of Castelia without drawing too much attention." Klavier explained, "now if you excuse me, I have to get the scoop of the century!"
He quickly said his farewells before running in the direction of the art museum.
"That was... really weird." Michael said, deadpanning. I nodded my head in agreement, that being one of the strangest experiences in my life.
"Okay, how about we head for the exit?" Gabrielle chirped happily.
Our walk to the building was uneventful, there were little to no people on the streets because most of them were gathered up in the park. It was almost deathly silent as we continued, and I was absentmindedly walking when Michael tapped my shoulder.
"Hm, what is it?" I asked, regaining some of my senses. Michael just pointed at a large crowd of people in front of me; when did they get there? At very strangely-dressed man was standing on what seemed to be a make-shift stage, his loud voice was able to carry through to the back of the crowd where we stood.
"Long ago, Arceus, the creator of the world almost destroyed humanity. He was angered because we had taken four of his plates, and because of that civilization was almost wiped out. However, now we have the technology to be self-sufficient!" The man said. As he continued speaking several other people in similar attire walked around, trying to convince people to join their cause. As my eyes followed the members of this organization, I noticed Ami. When her head turned to look at my direction, I hastily shifted my eyes elsewhere and hoped she hadn't seen me.
"Arceus has sent this ordeal upon us; he wants us to remain trapped in his chains for all of time! If we band together, we will be able to overcome this ordeal and prove the worth of mankind!" As I looked around, several people were shaking their heads, and others were nodding.
I listened to his speech intently, trying to absorb every word he said. A world free from Arceus' ordeals? Does Arceus even exist? The only time I had ever heard about Arceus was in my textbook, no pictures, just an extremely long story and a brief description of its appearance.
"How foolish..." A woman standing next to me muttered.
"Don't like his speech?" I asked. My friends turned to see who I was talking to, the woman was dressed in a purple jacket and pink shirt. She looked slightly aged, but still young at the same time.
"He believes that it is Arceus' fault for this ordeal. However, was it not us who wronged first? For every crime there is a punishment." The woman explained. Her words confused me, it's our own fault that we are in this cordon? Aren't we victims?
"What are you talking about?" Raymond asked, his face told me he did not understand a word the woman just said.
"Nothing, you're just kids." The woman said, and she left without another word.
"There sure are a bunch of weirdos here." Gabrielle said, I nodded in agreement. After listening for a few more minutes. When the man finished his monologue, his followers packed the stage away and they left. However, several people remained, whispering to each other and taking up the street.
"C'mon guys, we have to hurry! It's already one!" Gabrielle exclaimed. I nodded and we slowly pushed our way through the crowd. People scowled at us when we bumped into them, several of them saying "kids these days have no respect". When we broke free of the crowd, I noticed many heated glares being shot in our direction and I quickly motioned for everyone to run.
It was a good half-hour before we finally reached our destination. The building looked like any other building in Castelia, tall and gray with several windows on each floor and I began to doubt if this building could actually be our savior.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go." Michael said nervously as he took the first step forward. I followed in after him (Maestro beside me) with Gabrielle behind me and Raymond trailing last. The interior looked just as dull as the exterior, there were beige colored tiles, and a few chairs situated in front of a television, nothing seemed out of place. The only thing that stood out was a single elevator at the far end of the room.
"Well, going down anyone?" I said jokingly, but no one responded. We spent a few minutes inspecting the room we were in, the television wasn't functional, there was nothing behind the front desk, the chairs were uncomfortable and the painting didn't have anything behind it.
"I guess that's the last option." Raymond said as he approached the elevator and slowly pressed the button. However, it didn't light up and no "ding" from the elevator sounded.
"The power's out, doofus," Gabrielle sighed, "of course the elevator wouldn't be working."
"Well, excuse me for trying."
"Guys, stop bickering. Honesty, sometimes you two are like an old married couple." Michael said with a sigh, both turned their and quickly shouted out, "we do not!"
While Gabrielle and Raymond were having their spat with Michael as the mediator, I noticed Maestro wasn't by my side.
"Hey, has anyone seen Maestro?" I asked out-loud. Raymond and Gabrielle both stopped and looked at me with confused faces while Michael gave a small shrug. Fear and panic rose up in me as I tried to replay entering the building. I knew he had had entered with me, but after that I couldn't remember anything else. I was beginning to lose my composure when a quiet chirp caught my attention.
Everyone remained deathly silent as I followed the chirps, reaching an area at the corner of the room. I bent over and realized that the chirping was coming from under the tiles. My eyes scanned around and noticed that a single tile was a bit out of place.
"Hey, I think I might have found our exit!" I said loudly. Everyone gathered around me as I lifted up the tile revealing a hole with a set of ladders which stretched down into the dark abyss. As I tried to find the bottom of the abyss, I heard more chimes and chirps.
"Well, who wants to go first?" Raymond asked, his voice a bit shaky from excitement, or was it fear? I silently volunteered and began my descent down the ladder. After a few steps it became difficult to see, and I couldn't tell how far I've gone. Occasionally my friends above would ask if I was okay and I would reply with a simple yes.
It felt like forever and a half had passed before my foot reached the ground. As soon as it did I called out , "Maestro!"
My pokemon literally leapt into my arms, giving of happy chimes, "I missed you too, buddy."
"Hey, Ulrich, did you find him?" Raymond's voice called out.
"Yeah, come on down!" I yelled back. After a few minutes, all of us were reunited at the bottom of the ladder. Michael sent out his Starmie, Raito. Its bio-luminescent core gave us some vision. We were in a very wide corridor, it was completely empty except for the few Rattata scurrying about.
"Hmm, I guess the urban legend was true." Michael mused, he didn't seem to be disturbed by the situation at all.
"Guys, let's get going." Gabrielle sighed. We all silently trudged forward through the corridor. The sound of dripping water and chattering Rattata did everything but calm my nerves, and I constantly looked over my shoulders to make sure no one was creeping up on us.
I opened my mouth to complain about how long we walked, but a click caught my attention and I tensed up immediately.
"Freeze!" A loud, male voice boomed. A figure appeared from the darkness carrying a large gun, and he pointed it straight at us. As he moved I saw a slight glimmer on his chest caused my reflecting of the glow Michael's Starmie gave off, "what are you doing here? Answer me!"
"Crap, run!" Michael shouted as he signaled for Raito to set up a Protect. The man began firing, however, the bullets ricocheted off the protective barrier. Although the man's face was covered in darkness, I could feel his eyes burn steely glares into me as he stopped firing and watched us run away, Raito tailing behind.
We kept running through the dark corridor. Even though I knew we had just escaped death, I couldn't help but wonder who that man was. Why he was there and how did he know about this place.
"I think we're back at the entrance." Raymond said, pointing out the ladder to the side. He began climbing and we all followed up. Once he reached the top, he pushed up the tile and we climbed out into the light.
The sun was at it's highest point when we exited the building. Raymond checked his phone and informed us that it was almost three.
I let out a loud sigh as I looked around. After our escape, we all headed for the park where we deemed it would be safe, there were several people sitting idly, waiting for the lock down to end. I returned my gaze to the floor, but picked it up again when two feet stepped in front of me. A tall male in a blue button-up shirt and yellow tie was standing in front of me.
"Hi, may I ask you kids a few questions?" My first instinct was to say now, but the ID on his shirt and pin on his cap told me he was someone of certain authority. Despite the fact he looked the same age as me, I nodded.
"What were you doing underground?" The four of us exchanged a few glances before Michael spoke up.
"Why do we have to answer your question?"
"My name is Detective Theo Sereid. I saw you kids enter then leave the tunnel, and I'd like a few answers for the article I'm going to write once I get out of this codon." He replied smoothly.
"Well, we were informed that it lead to somewhere outside." I said.
"That is true, but why are you still here then?"
"There was someone there, he didn't want to let us through." Gabrielle quipped.
"Hm, then this subject is pointless. What's been the most difficult thing about this lock down for you?"
"The lack of electricity, I haven't been online for so long." Michael muttered, Gabrielle promptly elbowed him in the ribs.
"I see, okay. I don't want to take up anymore of your time so I'll ask one more question," Theo said, writing down Michael's response in a small blue notebook, "when do you think this lock down will end?"
"Never?" I replied with a shrug. I instantly recieved a glare from Gabrielle and a worried look from Raymond. I blushed slightly before turning my gaze away sheepishly to look at a patch of flowers.
"Wow, that's dark." Theo said with a semi-playful smile. "Well, thanks for everything. No one else would give me the time of day."
He turned his back to us and left, and after a few minutes I couldn't see him anymore. I looked around and everyone held the same puzzled face as I did. We sat in silence, waiting for what I considered Armageddon. A light 'tut tut tut' sound made me perk up and look at the sky. A few helicopters carrying wooden crates descended. However, as soon as they dropped off the crates, the helicopters returned to the skies and left.
Government officers arrived in cars soon after, they pried oped the boxes and preserved rations came tumbling out. People rushed to the crates, despite the orders to form straight and steady lines.
"Are you guys hungry?" Raymond asked, as he stood up.
"Kind of." Gabrielle replied quietly. Michael and I stood up as well and the three of us ran towards the crates. When we arrived, several people were still grabbing for food. I gulped before pushing myself into the crowd, bumping into several bodies and arms in my quest for lunch. Tripping over a foot, I fell face-first to the floor. Luckily, there was a packaged ration near the ground I landed on, so I quickly grabbed it and escaped the crowd.
"Phew, that was torture." I muttered to myself as I brushed dirt and dust off the sleeves of my shirt.
"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, you know?" A voice said to me. I flinched before recognizing the voice. I turned around slowly, and gave a meek smile to the woman who criticized the man's speech earlier in the afternoon.
She was slowly chewing on a piece of bread while she was staring at me.
"Hello." I said quietly.
"Speak up, I can't hear you!" She yelled. I jumped up at the sudden tone of voice, "men these days. Have no backbone what-so-ever."
"Is there something you wanted from me?" I asked politely, while still raising my voice higher.
"Yes, don't you think it's outrageous how the government is doing nothing to help us?" She asked me with a heated gaze. I gulped and wished I was a different person.
"Well, they did send us the crates of rations." I answered, she gave a haughty scoff at my answer. I tried to distance myself from her as people began to give us weird looks.
"These rations? They're like throwing raw meat in a cage filled with starving lions." The woman said between laughs. My mind began to relate her to the Cheshire Cat, and her outfit didn't help with that regard either. However, I shook off the thought as she continued to speak.
"Unova is supposed to be a democracy," she shouted, "but the government is keeping us trapped here like we carry the plague. I, Marilyn Iccasus, will not stand for this tyranny!"
Several people were starting to stare now and I distanced myself a little further from her. "Well, my friends are waiting for me, bye!"
I quickly ran away as she continued her rant, not even noticing my exit. When I returned to my friends, they had already started eating without me.
"Hey, mwhath thook so long?" Raymond asked, between chews.
"Well, I got caught up in a bit of madness." I replied, as I sat down and opened the plastic wrapping around the sandwich. Even though it was plain peanut butter it tasted like ambrosia to my starving stomach. I quickly finished the sandwich in under five minutes.
"Hey, how about we take a walk in the forest?" Michael suggested. Castelia's central park was extremely large, it held several large nestles of trees.
"Alright." I agreed.
"Aren't you guys forgetting something?" Gabrielle said, "remember, we have to get out by five!"
My mood sank at her words. I had completely forgotten about the e-mail. Gabrielle stared at us, but we stayed quiet. After running into the man underground, all hopes of escaping had been dashed for me.
"... Okay, you guys can go..." Gabrielle muttered looking downcast. I looked at her as if she had three heads and she seemed to get annoyed with me for she raised her voice, "I'll be fine! Go! Just make sure you're back before five!"
"But Gabby-"
"I said go! And don't call me Gabby!" She shouted, punching Raymond roughly on the arm.
"Guys, let's run!" Raymond said, quickly running away. Michael quickly followed after him, but I lingered a bit. Even though Gabrielle gave me another look that said 'go', I grabbed her arm and dragged her along.
"Hey, let me go!"
Dried out leaves crunched under our feet as we navigated our way through the forest. I didn't know why I decided to walk through the forest, I just knew I didn't want to be helpless sitting at the park, waiting. Raymond was blazing the trail while Michael continued tinkering with the pokedex, Gabrielle was just trying to avoid the various bug-pokemon which inhabited the forest.
"Do you even know where you're going?" I asked.
"Yeah, are we lost?" Gabrielle added.
"Of course not, I know exactly where we are." Raymond muttered.
"Yeah, where, Sherlock?"
"We're right here on this very spot!" Raymond replied.
"... So we are lost." Michael said, looking up from his pokedex. Raymond shushed him and continued walking. It was a good few minutes before I piped up again.
"Shouldn't we head back to the-"
"Ahhh!" A loud scream cut me off. A girl came crashing into Michael, causing both of them to fall to the floor. Michael got up, shaking his head in pain and I was about to question her about why she was crashing into people but I noticed she had fainted.
I heard a snarl and gasped when I saw that a pack of masked Mightyena had surrounded us.
"Not this again!" Gabrielle whined. The Mightyena slowly circled us, drawing closer with each revolution. As I stared at them, I noticed their masks were marked with the roman numeral for twelve.
"I do not plan on being dog meat." Raymond said, sending out his Tropius, Verdes. I was reaching for my Scizor's pokeball when Maestro popped out of his pokeball.
"Maestro! Do you want to be lunch?" I asked loudly. he just chirped happily and waddled up next to Verdes, making him look even smaller by comparison.
"Alright, Verdes, use Magical Leaf!" The large dinosaur, bat its wings once to send a flurry of multi-color leaves towards it's opposition. However, the wolves were too fast and evaded the attack. To my surprise, after the leaves flew past the wolves they made a u-turn and struck a the pokemon in the back.
"Alright, Maestro use Uproar!" He let out a lour screech, which had some of the dogs whimpering from the ear-pain. Maestro was silenced when one of the larger dogs who I assumed was the alpha-male grabbed Maestro with his jaw.
"Gah, use Struggle Bug!" Maestro glowed slightly before squirming and letting out a screech. The Mightyena release him quickly and after Maestro dropped to the floor, Raymond's Verdes was able to hit the pokemon with a well-aimed Air Slash. Hitting the alpha-male made all the other pack members to dash towards Verdes and latch on to it with Bite attacks. Raymond's Tropius groaned in pain as it shook its body, trying to get the pokemon off.
"Artemis, use Water Pulse!" I turned and saw Gabrielle ordering her Dewgong to attack. It shot spheres of water which knocked the Mightyena off Verdes and left them fainted on the floor. Just like last time, as soon as the pokemon fainted the masks they wore shattered.
"... Darkrai will rise." A voice rasped. I stiffened up as I shifted my eyes towards the right where the voice came from, but there was no one there.
"Ughhh..." The girl groaned as she sat up, rubbing her head.
"Are you okay?" Michael asked, extending his hand to help her up. She ignored the gesture and picked herself up, dusting off her outfit. She wore a pink dress and glasses, and she had blue hair tied in a butterfly braid. She looked at us strangely and we stared back.
"Why are you guys staring at me?" She asked.
"Well, you're wearing a pink dress and you have blue-hair." Raymond pointed out.
"It's called cosplaying, duh..." She replied with a smile, "oh, and thanks for saving me! I guess heroes do exist!" Her cheery voice made me a little sick, and she was so perky I could feel myself being drained just by talking to her.
She looked a little familiar and Gabrielle obviously thought so as well because she raised an eyebrow and asked, "what's your name?
"Dahlia."
I suddenly remembered the photo we were shown by Klavier hours ago. Although her hair was a different color, it was still in the same style.
"Dahlia? THE Dahlia?" Raymond all but shouted. She nodded with another smile.
"Well, erm, someone was looking for you..." I said
"Do you mean that pervert? He's the reason I'm in the woods right now!" She said with aggravation and annoyance showing in her voice. "If he wasn't stalking me, I wouldn't have had to run in here!"
None of us spoke as she continued to talk about how Klavier followed her around for an hour while taking pictures.
"Well, we have to go now." I said, after she talked for about five-minutes.
"Oh, can I come with you guys? Please..." She begged, giving us a pout that would beat a puppy's.
"Sure!" Michael answered, and I slapped him in my mind.
We were able to find our way out of the forest after getting lost a few times. The others headed for the benches while I head for the water fountain to get a drink.
That was when the large clock tower rang five. I picked my head up from the flowing spout of water immediately as I waited for the gongs to pass. One, two, three, four, at the fifth gong several pokemon burst out from their confinements and I tightened up and closed my eyes as I waited for my pokemon to escape, however, the stayed inside. I was a little confused, but probably not as confused as the released pokemon who were looking up at their trainers with faces of distress.
I started to head back to my friends when a sudden high-pitch sound resonated through the air. I clenched my eyes shut and covered my ears instinctively but the pokemon had a different response. I opened one eyelid and say that the pokemon's faces were slowly being covered by a mask. The masks were almost exactly the same as the one on the Mightyena and Rhypherior!
As the sound died out, the pokemon escaped their stupor and turned on their trainers with feral growls. I ran back to my friends as the pokemon began attacking, jets of water, fire, electricity, rocks, and more flew through the air as I ran.
People who weren't lucky enough to escape fell prey to the attacks of pokemon.
"Ulrich, over here!" I turned my head to see Raymond behind a group of government officers. I ran towards him as the officers stormed forward. The pokemon seemed frightened by their presence, and began hiding within the safety of the park's forest.
"Attention citizens, we have set up several shelters at schools and libraries. Please head their for safety!" An officer yelled as they continued to drive the masked pokemon further into the park.
We were slowly being lead to several of the make-shift shelters. I tried to stay as close to Michael, Raymond, Dahlia and Gabrielle as possible. Every few minutes I would look up from the floor to check on them. However, no one spoke a word until late at night, long after we had entered our shelter.
The four of us decided to sleep in a corner of the library, away from everyone else. After Gabrielle, Dahlia and Raymond fell asleep Michael whispered to me, "the world's going mad..."
I nodded.