"Doctor! Doctor! She's awake!"
Her eyes were open and she saw a vast white expanse before her. She was lying down but she did not feel anything. She just stared at the white ceiling.
"Lyra honey, are you okay? How are you feeling?"
A woman in a white sun dress came into her view. She might have looked vaguely familiar but Lyra's mind was completely out of sync with itself. The concerned-looking, tear-stained face did not register in her mind; nor did the anxious, quivering words bear any meaning. The information to her mind was like water down a Psyduck's back – it merely slid off without being absorbed at all.
Now a man wearing a white coat came into view as well. He said many things to her and did a few things but Lyra did not comprehend anything and her body was completely numb to his touch. She merely continued to stare at the ceiling for that was the only thing her brain told itself to do. No thoughts passed through her blank mind at all. Even when the man shone lights into her eyes, she did not flinch for she did not notice what was going on.
"Lyra! Lyra! Are you alright?"
A third person entered her field of vision. He was wearing red, except for a black and gold thing on his head. He started talking rapidly but Lyra did not perceive him, for he was irrelevant.
In fact, everything seemed irrelevant. Everything was incomprehensible, intangible and unreal. Whatever was happening around her resembled a meaningless dream.
She was unconscious of the people talking to her, unconscious of her surroundings and unconscious of how she was feeling. She was unconscious of even the fact that she existed. And similarly, she was also unconscious of the fact that she was slipping back into unconsciousness.
A violent jolt shot through her body, causing her to bolt upright from her previously supine position on the floor. It felt like she had just been hit by a Thundershock attack and that had done a good job of waking her up. Shaking off any feelings of torpidity and that weird dream about being on a hospital bed, Lyra looked around her, taking in her surroundings. This was a colouful and brightly-lit building, not much different from the Department Store where she had awoken multiple times under similar circumstances. All around, large crowds of people and Pokémon moved about their own business, largely ignoring the girl who had been passed out on the floor. However, instead of the rows of merchandise and sales atriums which were iconic of the Department Store, this place was full of transaction counters and seating areas designed for Trainers to interact with their Pokémon. This hive of activity was unmistakably the Global Terminal – the Johto region's Global Trade Station, located on the western edge of Goldenrod City.
On the ground in front of where she had awoken was a bank of computers; the kind used by Trainers to store and transfer items and Pokémon. It seemed as though she had bit spat out of one of these PCs, after being pushed through one by Ethan at the Day Care Centre. And with the recollection of what had happened at the Day Care, a sudden thought came to her.
She pulled out Dragonair's Poké Ball.
If all her Pokémon had been safe and sound at the Day Care, then what could be in this ball? It certainly did not seem empty.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" Lyra looked up at the source of the voice and saw a GTS attendant standing over her, looking down at her disdainfully. "You have a trade awaiting you. This way, please."
And just like Jill from the Department Store, the attendant physically hauled Lyra to her feet and dragged her to the counter where inter-regional trades were conducted.
"I'll take that," said the attendant, snatching Dragonair's Poké Ball out of Lyra's hands before she could react.
"Hey! Give that back!"
"Don't tell me what to do, BITCH!" the attendant suddenly yelled, shoving one hand into Lyra's face and pushing her onto the floor. She then ran through a doorway behind the counter and the door slid shut after her, clicking close with its electronic lock.
"Why, you…," Lyra quickly sprang back to her feet and vaulted over the counter to chase after the attendant but of course, the door was firmly locked. No problem. She reached for Banette's Poké Ball, fully intent on ordering the Ghost Pokémon to shred open the door with Shadow Claw or phase through the wall and knock down the obnoxious attendant inside with Night Shade.
And that was when she discovered that she did not have Banette's Poké Ball. Frantically, she began emptying the contents of her bag onto the floor, going through all the individual items meticulously, hoping against hope for Banette's ball to be merely caught in one of her items and not entirely missing.
"Looking for this?" the door clicked again and slid open to reveal the trade attendant leaning sassily in the doorway, smiling slyly while holding up a Poké Ball. "Here's your trade!" she trilled while tossing the Poké Ball to Lyra, who caught it nimbly. Checking quickly, she saw that the Poké Ball indeed contained the Banette she knew.
"YOU! HOW DARE YOU-," Lyra started angrily, advancing on the woman behind the counter but was cut off once again by another exclamation from the latter.
"SECURITY! SECURITY! SECURITY!" the attendant was screaming. Instantly, two uniformed security guards appeared, as though by teleportation, behind Lyra. Each guard grabbed one of her arms, handcuffed them together and pinned them behind her back, restraining her.
"Get this woman away from me! Please!" the attendant pleaded, suddenly frightened and cowering behind the counter.
"Alright miss, you're coming with us," said one of the security guards sternly and Lyra felt herself being pulled away and herded in the opposite direction, leaving her bag and its scattered contents lying on the floor. Well, at least she had Banette with her now.
After being led and pushed through the bustling crowd, Lyra and the two security guards reached the direct centre of the large convention centre, standing right in front of a massive digital globe. However, the guards turned her around, so that they now stood between her and the globe with her back facing it. What was that thing called, again?
"IT IS TIME," boomed one of the guards in a low and loud voice and immediately, all activity in the Global Terminal ceased. The entire building was suddenly quiet, with all eyes, both human and Pokémon, focusing on Lyra and her captors.
"TIME FOR THE GATHERING!" announced the other guard. Upon that pronouncement, everyone in the building began moving silently and quickly as one towards the middle of the room, forming an immense crowd but stopping just a few metres short to leave a ring of space around Lyra, the guards and the globe.
"THE GREAT LORD GEONET HUNGERS!" declared one guard.
"AMEN, AMEN, ARCEUS!" the crowd responded together.
"AND WHAT SHALL HE EAT?"
"FRILLISH! FEMALE FRILLISH FACE!" the crowd now screamed in unison.
"THEN LET HIM EAT!"
The Geonet, which had been stationary, began to spin rapidly, its digital displays lighting up.
Lyra knew that she should have been panicking but somehow, the sheer absurdity of her predicament made her find the situation amusing. She couldn't help but burst out laughing, her laughter ringing out across the otherwise silent room. She didn't know whether it was her imagination but this seemed to give pause to everyone; a few gasps were heard amidst the throngs. Even the Geonet seemed to hesitate ever so slightly in its rotations. Then abruptly, it stopped dead with its displays turning red in colour.
"AAHHHH!" A shocked exclamation rippled through the congregation. As one, including the two guards, they quickly fell to their knees and bowed towards the Geonet, with their faces on the ground. And with that, the digital globe suddenly burst into flames, sparks flying from it.
"Forgive us your highness, for we have sinned!" the two guards behind her wailed.
"Forgive us, your highness!" the crowd echoed, chanting the phrase over and over again mournfully.
Though many bizarre things had happened within the last 24 hours, Lyra couldn't help but still be completely dumbfounded by the irrationality of everything.
"Just get me out of here," she muttered, to no one in particular.
"Yes, your highness!" the assembly affirmed, rising hastily to their feet.
The security guards removed the handcuffs. Then suddenly, the crowd closed in on her and she was swept off her feet, hoisted above heads and paraded like a rock star. However, instead of being crowd-surfed, the people held her in place while still remaining disturbingly-silent. Quickly they moved towards the exit of the Global Terminal, filing out of the building in an orderly manner. Out on the streets, they still continued moving in a well-coordinated fashion. Toward an unknown destination the masses advanced, in a tightly-compacted formation; like an army on the march heading for battle, with Lyra held aloft as their war standard.
Author's Note: This fanfic is coming to an end. The last chapter will be soon. Hope you've enjoyed reading!