Part XII: What Indifference?
We weren't even seven minutes in to this movie, and Lyra Soul had already broken into a shivering mess beside me. Being the good rival I was, I naturally poked her arm and gave her a good taunt or two as to test how far she had been reduced. Judging by the sputtering denials and jumps at every loud noise, she was a shattered mess on the floor at this point.
"What's up with all the clocks?" Silvon looked around as his gang of mischief-makers trailed his every move. Their eyes locked on the large cuckoo clocks that rang true every second, covering the walls with ticking that could grind on a man's mind. "This place sounds like a cuckoo's nest."
"Pfft, who cares?" Leera, the more bold of the group and the only female, simply shrugged her shoulders in the dim atmosphere and headed to her quite attractive leader's side. "Once we rob this joint, we'll be out of here before they even strike the hour!"
Little did they know that someone was watching them from only a few feet away.
"C-Clocks?" Lyra was sitting straight up with a large blanket on her lap, her eyes wider than the Pokéballs on her belt. "W-What's so scary about a hall of clocks?" I tried to keep my eyes off the screen as much as possible. Despite that my rival knew me by my whole 'tough guy' thing, I wasn't particularly interested in watching multiple people die within the span of an hour and a half.
"Nothing, this is just the build-up." Flaunting my knowledge of such hideous movies, I just leaned back and watched my far more interesting rival. "They're going to lure you in with a false sense of security and start giving the beef of the plot before they start killing people. Studies show that these types of movies are more effective with actual plots and bonds with the characters."
"Well then," The resident comic relief, who happened to be named Finn, decided to speak up. "How about we get our pay and get going, instead of hanging around like this? I'm starting to get a shiver down my spine."
"That's a Spinarak, not a shiver." The strong man of the group pointed to the scrawny boy's back, earning a squeal to rival the tiniest of women. Leera, rolling her eyes at the sound, simply grabbed Silvon's arm with a grin. The redhead glanced down at the pretty brunette for a second and flashed her a grin before looking back up at a grandfather clock.
"Would you look at that..." His voice echoed in the silence. "This clock's got Finn's name on it." True, the clock proudly presented the boy's name in vibrant red, the hands heading towards the top of the clock. The group stopped to look at the device and suddenly the blond boy who's name happened to be in question frowned.
"But there's no such thing as a clockmaker named Finn. There's only the Alvedas and the Burngonettes." The others turned with a disbelieving look while the boy just gave them all a shrug. "What? It's basic information for a tinker such as myself."
"Pfft, what a nerd." I tried to remain unfazed by the movie, if only to shield myself from the suspicions my rival commonly held against me. "Who cares about clocks? Get to the action, already!"
"Please don't get to the action already." My rival was paler than even me as she gripped the couch cushions between her fingers. "Please let this be one of those spoof movies were no one dies and then they all go home and eat pizza. Please let it be one of those movies."
I decided against my better judgement to taunt her about this.
"What's the matter, little girl?" She flinched before whipping her head towards me at the mention of that hated insult. "Are you scared of a little movie? Pfft, how pathetic!" Her eyes narrowed into furious slits. A small growl escaped her as she then shook her head.
"No way! I'm not scared of anything!" She sat up a tad straighter and thumbed her chest with utter pride. "I'm Champion Lyra Soul of the Johto region! I've defeated eight Gym Leaders, all of the Elite Four, the ex-Champion Lance, tamed a great bird of rebirth, became the top Trainer in my whole region and," she paused to flick some of her hair over her shoulders. "I'm stronger than you." I narrowed my eyes as she then finished, "Therefore, I can handle such an idiotic movie such as this."
"Fine then," I sat back in my seat and turned my attention back to the movie. "If you say you can handle this..." I knew she couldn't handle this. Heck, I couldn't handle this type of! The way she was now, I wouldn't put it past her to faint before we reach the first death.
"Finn!" The group became stunned as the blond fell to the floor in a motionless heap. The nearest member of the gang, Trev, shook the boy to wake him, but his efforts were useless. Upon closer inspection, red oozed from his open mouth, almost if he had bitten his lip. The man checked for a pulse, for a heartbeat, anything to see if he was still with them.
Nothing.
"He's dead." Silvon's eyes were cold slits as Leera held him tight in fear. "There's no use in trying anymore, Trev. Finn's gone." The man looked up with a pale face as the clocks continued to resonate throughout the room.
"But that's impossible! He was perfectly fine until that clock hit midnight!" Silvon glared at the man before stealing a glance at the clock. His eyes widened as he found the clock reverted back to three o'clock, even though it had hit midnight just moments ago. To make things worse, the clock no longer held Finn's name.
Trev's name was now in place of the late blond.
Things only got worse once we hit the halfway point.
Lyra was now stricken motionless with fear, unable to turn away as the next death played out on the screen. Her cheeks shimmered with silent tears as she found herself unable to look away from the source of her terror. Something inside of me hated the fact that this was technically my fault, seeing as I had taunted her and all. The rest of me, however, simply criticized her for being weak.
And I hated the fact that I couldn't make up my mind as to which half was wrong.
Before I could figure it out, a jump-scare magically appeared and sent my rival screaming into the air before hiding—of all places—behind me, her head wedged between my back and the couch while the rest of her quivered in plain sight. Ignoring the heat rising in my face, I just grabbed the back of her jacket and yanked her out of there.
Wide eyes met mine as I gave her a glare. Apparently, no words were needed, for she just gave me a nod and set her hands in her lap, acting as if the whole thing never happened. I decided that seeing her like this...wasn't funny anymore.
"Hey," She flinched at my voice, but I kept talking. "If you don't like the movie, we can stop watching it. It's not that big a deal." She stared at me for a few moments before shaking her head violently.
"N-No way! I'm perfectly fine, redhead! I can handle some dumb movie like this!" I raised an eyebrow as she stubbornly folded her arms and glared at me. "Don't treat me like I'm a coward! Last time I checked, I'm perfectly fine." I gave her a familiar glare before rolling my eyes and looking away.
"Fine, suit yourself."
Run.
They had to run.
But, where could they run to?
"Silvon!" The redhead in the lead turned around as he found the brunette tripping over her own two feet. The male ignored the fact that the killer was currently on their tail and raced back to her side, pulling her up off the ground. The girl gave him a smile of thanks just before she left him behind in long strides.
"Leera!" Silvon raced after her with a pounding heart. Why would she just take advantage of him like that? Leaving him behind after he stopped to help her back on her feet...why would she betray him like that? His mind raced for answers as he found nothing making sense. He would have thought that the two of them could be honest to each other on their deathbeds, but apparently he was sorely mistaken.
"Silvon! Over here!" The redhead stopped dead as he found her voice coming from the forest to his right. Ignoring how his mind screamed that this was a trap, he darted inside of the thick foliage and undergrowth. Despite her earlier behavior, he trusted her. He shouldn't, but he did. Long ago he had realized that arguing with this feeling brought only confusion and shoved her away from his side. He wasn't going to push her away when they might not make it out alive.
It was when he was running that the lead male was stricken from behind and sent tumbling to the ground with glassy eyes. I cringed as Lyra let out a sharp scream and leaped in the air. Before either of us could think, she was grabbing my arm and hiding her face in my jacket as if she was about to be sick. My face felt hot as she clung to me like an Aipom.
And that's when the lights went out.
I expected the rival to scream again in fear at the sudden change, but instead she pulled away and started to look around. "Oh, the power's out." I faintly heard a tone of relief in her voice before she seemed to scoot away. "Well, that's odd."
"Yeah," I sat up straight as it seemed all motion beside me ceased. "That's pretty odd. Do you think Nurse Joy overloaded the Center's power supply or something—" I was rudely cut off by my rival covering my mouth with one of her hands. I let out a muffled complaint as I faintly became aware of a glow of golden light in the room.
"Quiet," Lyra's voice was a deadly calm, sending a jolt of nervous energy down my spine. Upon closer examination, the glow seemed to be coming from the hand covering my mouth—her left hand to be exact. "Something's not right." The golden light illuminated her face and created a ghostly look to her features. "Every Pokémon Center has a back-up generator that automatically kicks on when the power fails."
I moved her hand away with a glare as she reached her glowing hand to her belt. "In other words, I think something's up."
"Well," I reached for my own belt with a frown. "What do expect us to do, genius?"
Lyra let out a small grunt before unclipping a Pokéball from my belt, tugging on my waist with a short yank. Before I could even open my mouth to complain, Crobat popped out beside us and the girl gave him a pat on the side.
"We're going to investigate, that's what."
Author's Note: ...Writing horror movies isn't my forte. I tried to make things interesting, but I feel like I really need to improve on that. How I did is up to you guys, though.
What's going on? The power's suddenly cut inside of the Pokémon Center and the two of them are left alone? This doesn't seem very good. What could be the cause of the back-up generator's failure. Well, we'll soon find out in the next chapter!