Chapter 80:
In Cold Blood
----------------------------------------
Okay, the lights just went off. No biggie, maybe there's a power outage in this creepy underground murder facility. I mean, there's a small chance of that happening, right? Surely, this does not mean something bad is going to happen… right?
I felt something touch my shoulder.
While my heart made a giant leap, I twirled around and slashed whatever was behind me. My eyes still closed from shock, not that I would have been able to see anything in this overwhelming darkness.
My knife didn't connect with something solid, but I heard something scream right in front of me. It wasn't a human scream, or at least not something I think humans should be capable of making because it sounded like the vocal cords were being shredded during the scream.
The lights flickered back to life, first chaotically like a machine gun being fired. Then they stopped flickering and the light returned to normal. No, it was not normal, the light was dimmer than before, giving off this creepy closed warehouse vibe.
Once I could see, I took a few steps back, knife out and adrenaline pumping.
"Dust?!" Fay called out from somewhere on my left.
I didn't pay a lot of attention to her, I saw her looking a bit confused but not nearly as distressed as I felt I was.
{What's that?}
Just as Luna spoke, my eyes caught something purple lying on the desk.
It looked like some kind of humanoid doll wrapped in a sick-purple colored cloth but calling it humanoid was a stretch. It had a big, disproportionate, head with three stubs sticking out of it and something extended from the back of its head like a tail. Red eyes stared up at the ceiling and a ragged hole hung open like a mouth stuck in an endless scream.
A big gash divided its belly into two and it revealed a seemingly depthless black void.
"What the fuck," I muttered while my eyes were fixed on this 'thing'.
"T-that's a Banette." Fay muttered, perplexed. "How did it get here?"
Good question.
The puppet was lying on the table, its eyes staring up at the ceiling yet its entire body limp, like a discarded toy.
Before we could investigate the matter any further a voice began blaring through the intercom.
"An Emergency Situation is in effect. Containment breaches have been detected in sector s4, a4, s4-b and [ERROR], level 5 protocol is in effect. All non-combat personnel are to seek shelter immediately and await further instructions."
"Well," I said sarcastically, "isn't that neat."
"What's happening? Why are the lights suddenly so dim?" Fay gazed around as if this room would hold more answers.
{Bad news.} Luna concluded.
"Well, we might have one or more likely multiple 'experiments' rampaging through this facility, much like that one." I pointed my knife at the Banette that was lying on the oval-shaped table, or so I wanted but insteadI pointed at air. I blinked and realized it was gone.
Fay stared at the empty space. "Uhm, wasn't there just a..."
I nodded, feeling an uneasy feeling built up in my guts. "Yeah."
{I don't sense anything nearby.} Luna cautiously jumped onto the table to check out the spot the doll-like Pokémon had disappeared from.
I had only taken my eyes off that thing for a split second.
"Dust, I think I'm scared." Fay shakingly admitted.
I chuckled weakly, "Haha, nothing to be afraid of dear, just pretend that didn't happen."
That's my plan of action at least.
The black box was still plugged into the monitor. I turned the PC back on but unlike before the screen was now showing me a login screen. The blue glow cast by the monitor gave off an eerie shine.
I grimaced. The power outage had booted the pc back into the login menu. "Well, fuck let's hope I got all the good stuff."
{Are we going now?} The Kirlia turned to me with a questioning look on her face.
"Definitely, I see no reason to stick around any longer, especially with freaky monsters on the loose."
We moved to the beginning of the room and I was ready to open the door when I realized how that might be a bad idea.
"Fay, please open the door," I commanded Fay while waiting at a safe distance.
"Actually, I think you should do it Luna," Fay argued, a bit timid, staring at the closed door.
{Fine.} Luna rolled her eyes. She strode forward and managed to open the door with a simple kick.
In front of us was the familiar white hallway, the light as dim outside the room as inside. The hallway led into other non descript hallways, it felt like this hallway could go on forever..
While leaving the room, I made sure to shut the door behind me.
According to the map it should be super easy to reach the elevator, just keep walking in a straight line. Back from where we came from. Couldn’t be more straightforward, literally.
Then why did I feel so anxious?
Shivers ran up my spine. It felt as if the temperature had dropped at least 10 degrees. Our steps echoed through the halls while we walked. Fay nervously fiddled with her claws while Luna took the lead, appearing to be fearless as ever. We passed through the hallway with the broken glass and missing ceiling tile, the lights were flickering more rapidly than before in this area and electric sparks rained down from the ceiling but besides that nothing had changed there.
There was however one major difference.
The bolted steel door that had saeled the entrance to lab 4 was shredded. The door was completely torn down to pieces as if it was nothing more than mere paper. The parts of the door that were still intact revealed that the door was made up of at least 20 centimeters (7.87 inches) of thick steel. Yellow, black and red wires sprouted from the door, few of them had even sparks coming off them.
I shivered.
The cold, which I had first chalked up to my body feeling tired, was now more present and chilled my fingers.
Low hanging fog drifted out of the room and they made Luna fold her arms around herself to ward off the cold.
The smell hit me first, a smell I had grown far too familiar with the last few hours.
I stared into the room.
Behind the door was something that appeared to be a regular lab with medical equipment stacked onto different tables. Some of it lying on the floor like someone had tossed it over.
I breathed in and out, trying not to freak out. It's just like one of those horror games I always loved to play.
Inside the lab, everything was coated in a thin layer of fine white and blue that spread out over the walls and furniture like a festering mold. It was on everything, even on the ceiling lights which caused the entire scene to look as if someone put a blue filter on the room. Icy spikes dangled from the ceiling but also protruded from the ground which was also covered in a layer of ice. A few of the spikes had red stains on them.
The pale light coming from the ceiling made it look like a twisted Winter wonderland. I experimentally stuck my hand through the door and felt immediately all the muscles in my hand tighten up as the cold air bit into the flesh of my bare hand.
I pulled it back immediately.
The ice crystals extended towards the door but didn't reach past it, as if the cold was trying to stay inside the room. A metal sign hanging on the wall was frozen solid but I managed to make out a string of words through the thick layer of ice.
Project 96: Eternal Queen
"Nope," I said. "Not going in there."
{Does this mean that whatever was inside here is now out here?}
"Containment breach, remember." Fuck, this thing must have been strong. It ripped through solid metal.
I studied the door for clues. What caught my attention were the wires emerging from the door.
The electric wires had been incorporated into the door’s inner mechanisms. I assumed they must have been live before they were shredded to pieces. Maybe the electric currents would stop the monster kept inside from escaping?
If that's the case, then it must have broken through while the lights were out.
While I was clattering my teeth, I tried to piece the dots together. The electricity running through the door was a big one, mostly because it was a common technique used to keep Ghost Pokémon from phasing through. That means that there's a big chance a Ghost-type Pokémon was inside. But where did the ice and nagging cold come from?
The frozen sign read: Eternal Queen, suggesting it was most likely female.
"Did this thing make the knocking sound when we came through on our way to Redburn's office?" Fay asked.
Luna shivered and her telepathic voice was shaky from the cold. {Y-yes, wha-t else could it be?}
The puzzle pieces began falling in place and started to form a picture that I did not like one bit.
"Arceus please let me be wrong." I murmured at the ceiling.
Who am I kidding? Arceus is not down here, nor is it on Earth. We are on our own.
"What do you think it is?"
"Not a clue," I lied while rubbing my arms over my chest to warm myself. "However, we can assume it to have a lot of strength and has an AOE. That's all."
Luna narrowed her eyes at me for a long second but didn't say anything. I smiled insincerely at her before turning my back upon her and commanding Fay to take the lead again. "Come on, before we get hypothermia." I urged Fay.
Fay, who was not at all bothered by the biting cold, gave the frozen room one final look before turning her back on it.
We continued on our way.
Fay uneasily gazed around and coughed a few times before finally mustering up the courage to talk. "So let me get this straight: In this underground facility humans tried to find a way to beat a Legendary Pokémon by performing experiments on Pokémon."
{Sounds correct.} Luna said matter-of-factly.
"But then a guy comes around and kills everyone?"
"So far so good." I raised an eyebrow, wondering what the point she was trying to make was.
The Riolu stopped her steps and stared at me. She extended her paws and said. "I can't be the only one who thinks it's quite ironic?"
"Oh yeah, the people down here had it coming," I pointed at a body that was slumped against the wall. She wore one of those lab coats making me believe to be one of the scientists working down here. "Scan please."
"She is dead," Fay replied automatically, only taking a second to verify it. "But is this not exactly what they deserve?" She took a deep breath. "I mean if they are willing to go this far it's only fair to be killed like this."
{Got to agree with you on that one.} Luna shrugged.
"No, it's not fair," I shook my head. Meanwhile, I was wracking my brains, wondering how I could explain to my 2 Pokémon there's no upside to the macabre slaughter that took place. "We can not judge the dead simply because we don't know everything yet, maybe they were forced or more likely tricked. They should be put on trial and face justice, not get slaughtered down here like cattle."
Was it hypocritical of me to say that? Was it hypocritical to agree with Fay? Maybe I was only acting this way because they were the same species as I. Or maybe I am just trying to justify my own ideology. Fay shrugged but did not provide me with a counter-argument, leaving me to ponder over the matter on my own.
Why does it feel like I am slowly going crazy down here? Maybe it was all those white corridors that looked the same and gave off this claustrophobic feeling. Maybe it's the fact that this has been the closest I've been to death in my entire life.
Just like one of those horror games I used to play, if I can do that I can beat this.
A silent voice whispered into my thoughts: Except you've never finished a horror game in your life. You would rather watch other people play it.
Then how much chance do I have of surviving this?
"Dust, stop."
I mean, I play for the lore and artistic experience. Not because I want to torture myself with anxiety.
"Dust I hear something."
So that's what I'm doing here. I just extracted the useful information and I am about to rush to the finish line so I can investigate it. Or rather, have someone else do the hard work.
{Dust!} A sharp voice pierced through my train of thoughts.
I blinked. "Wh-"
Before I could finish my sentence Luna's telepathically voice hissed. {Be quiet!}
I didn't move a muscle. My eyes ferociously scanned the surroundings, looking for an opponent or obstacle to overcome. I was back at the crosspoint where I had met that monstrous Ditto, oh the fun memories all came back. The way its entire back was sliced open was like one of those dummies from biology class where you could take out the plastic organs. Even better was that the Ditto had worn my face.
Luckily, there was no Ditto this time.
Instead, there was a red streak on the floor coming from our destination. The bloody trail was about a meter wide and came from the corridor north of us where a small pool of blood had gathered.
From that point, it stretched into our direction but turned left at the crossroad. Like a river of crimson red blood it paved a path across the linoleum floor. It was thick and messy, splattering everywhere, it almost looked like someone had been dragging a body over the floor like they do in those old horror movies.
A lump formed in my throat and was begging to be puked out, despite me knowing there was nothing left to puke out anymore. Yet the sick feeling still lingered.
"You hear that?" Fay whispered cautiously.
Hear what? I was about to ask what Fay was hearing when I started to hear it too.
A soft humming noise.
It came from the right hallway, where the blood trail led. An entrancing melody was hummed and echoed through the hallways. It sounded to me like a sweet lullaby or something of that kind. The song was beautiful in a creepy, wrong way, as if the pitch had been slowed down to the point it was no longer sweet but bitter. Like someone had combined the song of a Siren with the weeping of a Banshee. It definitely sounded female to me.
I nodded at Fay, "Yup, hear that too."
My body remained frozen for a few long seconds. I expected the sound to head towards us but it did not. Nothing happened, the humming continued from the right hall but nothing came out of it.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
What was making that sound?
I silently edged closer to the corner, every step sounded deafening to me but I could not stand the curiosity. Channeling every ninja skill I had I managed to drop through my knees while the humming continued in the background.
Something was humming and it sounded vaguely human.
If I wanted I could take a quick peek around the corner, satisfy my own curiosity and make a plan. My heart was hammering in my chest and my breathing was off pace as could be. With great effort, I managed to calm both of them down.
Silently, I retrieved the Pokédex from my backpack. My fingers swiped over the screen while I leaned against the wall. My legs were already hurting from sitting this way.
An application opened on the Pokédex and I tilted the device in a 90 degrees angle. I slowly moved the top of the Pokédex over the corner. The reflection of my own face was replaced by the view of a blurry hallway. I held my breath and watched the second screen of my Pokédex as it was filming around the corner like a makeshift mirror.
The images on the screen were blurry at first. A white landscape with odd red spots thrown into the picture. A red line moved from the bottom of the screen towards the center where it extended into a glitchy mess of pixels.
My hands became sweaty and I feared the Pokédex would slip out of my hand, yet I did not dare to wipe my hand clean. After a few tries, the camera managed to focus and the quality drastically increased, revealing that the white landscape was actually another white corridor that ended in a t-split. The red dots were now bloody smears that were all over the place, on the ceiling walls and most of it on the floor, creating a path that led towards the real monster.
It stood with its back towards us and was facing the wall. The thing was floating above the floor and lacked visible legs.
Its main body was resembling a dress but only barely. A big spherical shape served as its heads where two horns protruded from. It had no real arms, or not human-like. Two appendages extended from its head and waved around like arms.
Despite the fact I could not see its front, I knew what it was. The ice, the gender, the electric wiring through the door and the knocking noise. Sometimes I hate being right.
Froslass.
There was no doubt about it, the shape perfectly matched what it should look like.
It...no 'she' was staring at the wall, softly humming to herself.
I adjusted the angle of my Pokédex to get a better view. When I saw what she was gazing at I almost let it drop to the floor.
For a fearful second, I forgot how to breathe.
She had put them in a row, all lined up against a wall that was originally white as snow but was now colored red. Half a dozen people, wearing guard uniforms or lab coats, were put in a sitting position with their back against the wall and their bodies slumped. Their wounds were left open and on display but besides the stabbing wounds I had grown used to, they had terrible patches of skin covered by ice with other parts of their bodies that seemed to be completely missing, withered away by the frostbite.
A thin layer of ice covered the dead bodies, freezing their stares into a terrifying piece of art. All the while Froslass was staring at it like she was admiring the Mona Lisa, humming that creepy lullaby. Her hands were dripping a moist red liquid onto the floor.
I'm not gonna freak out, I'm not gonna freak out and I am definitely not going to freak out!
It's a Froslass meaning she was a Ghost/Ice type, evolves from a female Snorunt and she is only standing over the frozen corpses with blood dripping down her dress.
Nothing to worry about! Both Luna and Fay can take her on, probably, most likely, why wouldn't they? Sure, Luna can't use Teleport but that's alright because there is nothing to worry about. This Froslass is just another Pokémon to battle and catch!
I was about to shout my orders to engage in battle when my sense of self-preservation kicked in and forced me to reconsider everything.
'Hasty decisions lead to nowhere.' The same silent voice in my head whispered.
I briefly closed my eyes.
This Pokémon just escaped from her cell where she was experimented on, this means that there is something about her that makes her special.
Something Galactic considered useful to stop a Legendary, or at least try. She is not a normal Froslass. That's a given. For all I know she has the same healing ability as Snowflake. If that's the case then battling should be my last resort.
No, this Froslass is an unknown factor, meaning I should avoid conflict if possible. Could we maybe sneak around her while she was busy with her art project? She was humming rather loudly.
I pulled the Pokédex back and opened the Pokédex app. I scrolled towards the page that contained information about Froslass.
Red-bold letters warned me that this Pokémon is extremely dangerous if approached carelessly. Thanks for telling me shit Pokédex.
I skimmed through the Pokédex information, hoping to find some useful weaknesses we could exploit.
Multiple entries made me stop.
-"It's said that on nights of terrible blizzards, it comes down to human settlements. If you hear it knocking at your door, do not open it!"
-"It spits out cold air of nearly −60 degrees Fahrenheit to freeze its quarry. It brings frozen prey back to its lair and neatly lines them up."
-"The soul of a woman lost on a snowy mountain possessed an icicle, becoming this Pokémon. The food it most relishes is the souls of men."
Perplexed, I stared at the words on the screen.
I felt like laughing really hard. Who the fuck thought this kind of bullshit is appropriate for a fucking children's game? Did Nintendo actually green-light this stuff? This shit is not normal!
It had to be some kind of cruel joke, yet the letters on my screen did not change.
Finding nothing else of importance I closed the Pokédex and put it back on camera mode, slid it over the edge and kept watching the Froslass.
She was still doing her own fucked up thing, staring at the row of corpses like a child in a candy store.
A loud screech suddenly ran through the building. I had heard it before, when I rode down the elevator and when I was headed towards Redburn's office. Despite having heard it before the sound still managed to insert a healthy dose of anxiety into my veins. It was a shrill sound that tore through everything. It stopped as abruptly as it came.
So did the humming.
"Fros?" A voice came from the right hallway. On the bottom display, I saw Froslass spin around, confusion written on her face. I could finally see her face, or the mask that was her face. She was almost cute but the entire covered in blood thing really fucked up the entire image. There was no warmth in her eyes, only a cold cheerful glee.
She gazed around and I had the feeling she was trying to locate where the sound came from. Her head finally fixated on the left corridor. Froslass shot the line of corpses a final endearing look before she headed down the left corridor and floated out of view. Most likely chasing after the noise.
I waited 10 seconds to make sure she did not suddenly turn around before facing my Pokémon. My hands were coated in cold sweat as I retrieved two Pokéballs from my backpack. "Good news girls, pancakes!"
"Heh?"
{What?}
My two Pokémon were sucked in by the red beam before they could even process what happened. I gripped the two balls and ran across the hallway, straight ahead. As I crossed the other two corridors I caught a full glimpse of the scene left in the right corridor.
I refused to process what I saw.
When I was finally far away from that…abomination...I slowed down and bowed over, trying to stop myself from sounding like a trainwreck. With little effort, I tossed up both Pokéballs and watched them open up midair.
Two beams grew out of them and changed into a mad looking Kirlia and a confused Riolu.
Before any of the two could speak I said: "Some things are better left unseen and unspoken. My word is final."
I put away their Pokéballs and turned around, refusing to meet their gazes. I could still hear them argue though.
"Heh what, what did you see?!" Fay barked angrily.
Luna stayed silent.
"Seriously, you can't just do that!"
{I think he means it.} Luna interrupted Fay's tirade.
"Come on, we are not children!" Fay countered proudly.
{You should trust him, he has not let us down before right?} Luna spoke softly.
Silence.
"I guess." Fay ultimately muttered, defeated, "Well, let's hurry if it's that bad."
Fay took the lead again and began walking ahead of me, hopefully ready to react to anything that might come our way.
Luna matched her pace with mine and began walking beside me. I avoided looking at her anyway. Not that it stopped her from talking.
{I am sorry you feel that way.}
After having said her piece she speeded up to walk next to Fay. They began discussing in hushed voices. I couldn't really figure out what their conversation was about because Luna was using Pokéspeak for once and Fay was barely audible from where I was.
Not that I was really trying, instead I was focusing on something that could distract me.
I wonder how Chelsea and Barry are doing, they are probably safely tucked in bed. Lucky bastards. Maybe that makes me better than them? Now I can hold this entire event over their heads and brag about it. Maybe I can exaggerate some details...is there even anything to exaggerate?
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.
When the hallway came to an end we should've reached the dinner area, the one we had passed through before but a shut door blocked our way.
It was similar to the other metal reinforced door I had seen but this one looked a bit sleeker in design, more like the doors of a scientific elevator rather than a vault door.
I studied it for a few seconds before saying, "Well, shit."
What previously had been a regular automatic sliding door was now a metal reinforced blast door, effectively blocking our way.
How did this even get here? Did it slide out of the roof or walls? If so, then this is some really high-tech stuff.
A panel on the door was flashing some text at me.
"Level 2 card required." I spoke out loud. "Guess this is part of the containment breach protocol."
There were other ways to access the elevator but all of them had me backtracking and possibly coming across that creepy Froslass again.
"Well, are you gonna hack it?" Fay asked dead serious, as if I could do something like that.
I shook my head. What to do, what to do? My eyes landed on a dead guard lying crumpled in the corner, a giant hole in his tight.
I wouldn't sink this low...right?
Haha, fuck it. Of course I would.
"Luna," I asked with a sweet voice, "Could you please search the dead guard for a keycard."
"Eeew, you're not gonna do that right?" Fay backed away from Luna.
{See no reason why not.} Luna rationally said, {He is dead anyway, it's not like he will need it.}
Phew, at least she was willing to get her hands dirty. Literally.
Without a care in the world, Luna searched for the keycard, ultimately she found it and proudly presented it to me. {Tada!}
With a stern face, I took the white card. It was a rather simple card, nothing too flashy about it. In fact, it was so ordinary I wondered if it would even work.
I swiped it through the slot and the text started blinking green.
Accepted.
With an audible hiss, the mechanical parts of the door started moving and the door slid open, one part moving towards the roof while the other part sunk into the floor. In front of us, the dinner area was revealed. Nothing had changed really.
Fay took a step into the room and I followed after her.
Bang!
A yellow flash streaked past me and hit Fay in her side. She whimpered and dropped through her knees. I dropped to my knees, heart racing once again. Before I could do anything Luna fired an LSD laser beam across the room.
A man was standing on top of the white tables.
What?! I was briefly to surprised to react.
I didn't expect to find other people down here, or at least not still alive. Seeing one was almost a breath of fresh air, reminding me there was more than this underground maze of fucked up shit. The dream was short-lived when my mind caught up with the situation and saw the weapon he was holding in his hands. It was one of the weapons the guards had been carrying around, very similar to a rifle but not quite it.
The guy holding the weapon was barely a human. He had black-short wavy hair that was sticking out in all directions. Narrow bloodshot eyes were looking into mine. He had hollow cheeks and a sharp nose that made him look like an addict. His white lab coat was shredded at the bottom and black scorch marks decorated his brown pants. With shaking hands, he aimed the weapon at us.
This guy was a wreck, a shell of a man. He was tall and thin, much taller than I was. His height was exaggerated even more by the fact that he was standing on the dinner table.
"Die monsters!" He shrieked with a high note, saliva spitting out of his mouth as he spoke.
His finger coiled around the trigger just as a colorful beam hit him in the chest. An ear-deafening shot rang through the dining area and I winced.
Luckily the bullet missed and the yellow streak hit the ceiling to our left.
With wide eyes, I witnessed the man getting hit in the chest by Luna's beam and doing a backflip. A painful crunching sound followed when he fell on his back and broke through one of the benches.
Fay's claws flashed to life and she took a defensive pose in front of me while I was still dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events.
Could it get any crazier?
Yes, yes it could.
While Luna approached the guy he got to his feet and unsteadily pointed his weapon at us, all the while leaking blood from his mouth and forehead.
"You won't take me alive!" He looked at Luna as if she was Lucifer himself. There was no acting involved, he was genuinely terrified of Luna.
Still, he was wielding a weapon and that meant he was just another obstacle to overcome.
"Shields up!" I shouted as my brains kicked into action.
Somewhere inside I really needed this, just a regular human. I could beat the shit out of that.
A blue glowing orb surrounded Fay and I.
Through the Aura streams, I saw Luna's two eyes glowing. Like a ballet dancer, she stood her ground. The man yelled something at her but Luna did not react.
He pulled the trigger just as one of the tables dislodged itself from the ground and floated in front of Luna. The metallic clanks tore through my ears as he kept firing at Luna, despite the table clearly blocking all the bullets. His shoulders shook as the weapon's recoil was clearly too much for his fragile figure. A stray bullet hit a lamp that was directly above us but the glass harmlessly slid off our safe aura Bubble.
When his rain of bullets finally stopped both shields were dropped.
"No! No NO!" He shouted, frankly yanking at his weapon's magazine. He pulled the trigger but a dry click notified him it was either out or had locked up. "I won't let them take me alive, can't have them take me alive. They must not get me!"
Luna smiled menacingly and I feared she was about to rip his head off.
"Wait!" I called to her, "He might be useful."
I had no idea who this person was but it was the first, and only person left alive in this facility. He had a lot of questions to answer.
{I'll go easy.} Luna grinned back at me.
The crazed person took this brief moment of distraction to throw his rifle at Luna. He could not even hit Luna, it fell to the ground only 2 meters away from him with a thud.
A new wave of fear crossed his face.
Why does this feel so satisfying?
He crawled away from his previous table and towards the next row. Luna chased after him, deliberately taking the time. One of the bodies blocked the table but he carelessly shoved it aside.
When there were no more tables to crawl over and the wall and locked blast doors came in sight he turned around to look at Luna's menacing smile.
"Nonononononono." He muttered to himself, slowly backing away from the glaring Kirlia. "I can not die, not yet."
Okay, this guy is nuts. I concluded that much, I wondered how much useful information he could actually give. I wondered if he was even seeing the same reality we did.
"GET AWAY!" The guy shouted, frantically waving his hands as if that would scare off Luna.
When Luna took another step towards him he suddenly put his bloody hand in the pockets of his lab coat. From it, he withdrew a shiny, red and white Pokéball.
"Get back!" another desperate cry.
Luna narrowed her eyes, eyeing the Pokéball in that guy's hands. I ground my teeth, if he really had a Pokémon he could turn the tide. Of course, he might be bluffing.
Luna took another step.
His arm unfolded and he tossed the Pokéball. With a bright flash it broke open and the light reformed itself until it had taken the shape of a small fox-like creature.
The Pokémon in question was small, not larger than a stray dog or cat. It had pointy black ears, like a fox, and just like a fox, it had a small muzzle with small, pointy fangs. It had a rough black fur that was colored red around its neck. A puffy black tail curled up behind the creature.
Red-colored eyes fixed on us.
"Attack Project Z!" Crazy guy shrieked, "Attack them!"
The Zorua in question gazed back at him with a confused look. When it turned I could see a metallic collar around that was attached to its neck, "What? No!"
It spoke. Well, just when you think things can't get more insane they do.
A sharp buzzing noise sounded through the room and yellow sparks lit up Zorua's collar. It whimpered in pain, its eyes shut and teeth clenched. When the electricity faded away it aimed its blue eyes back at the guy. "Well fuck you too!" it spat.
The Zorua had a weird voice, it was definitely female but her voice had a low pitch, like she had to suppress a permanent cough.
{Attack?} Luna asked, this time not taking her eyes off the target.
"No," I said, processing the new information, "Break Zorua's collar."
Wasting not a single second, she lunged towards the Zorua and the scientist.
Her fist glowed white-hot and before anyone could fathom what had just happened she slammed it into the Zorua.
The dark type was flung across the room and smashed into the wall behind them. Zorua hit the wall and dropped through the ground in an almost comedic fashion. A metal click sounded later, "Well well well." Project Z got back on four paws and shook her body like a dog shaking off water. Pieces of scrap metal dropped off her. "Wouldn't you look at that?"
{And now?} Luna asked hesitantly.
"Stand back," I ordered.
Zorua took a few shaky steps before fixing her eyes on the dude that had summoned her. "Oh, I've waited long for this."
With frantic movements, the guy backed away from Zorua who was looking pissed as hell. "Don't you dare you monster!" He shouted.
His eyes shot across the room but there was nowhere to go, he was closed in between two walls and 2 Pokémon.
"Monster?" Zorua tilted her head, "Me? I am shocked you think of me that way, Charles." Zorua shook her head as if she was disappointed, "You know all the fun times we used to have." Her voice changed in pitch again, getting higher. "The time you tried to burn me alive, oh, or that one time you wanted to see how long I could survive without food. Hahaha, wasn't that fun?"
"Get away, monster!" The guy, I assumed now to be named Charles, screamed. "You can not hurt me!"
"Oh wow, I just forgot to remember the time you shot Lyn? Wasn't that hysterical!" Project Z hissed the last part out. It was followed by a painful chuckle that was forced out of her throat.
Charles backed away even more, terrified beyond belief.
"Oh now I recognize him," Fay said out loud in a tone that was almost comically out of place. "He's the guy from the photo I saw in that office!"
Charles Redburn? That made some sense.
So this was the guy in charge of this facility? He didn't look like much, only a crazed madman.
Luna did not move to step in, instead she backed away from the pair, allowing Project Z to move in even further.
"Nothing to say, eh?" The Zorua chirped. "Typical. Well, let's do an experiment. For old times sake shall we?" She spoke with a fake cheery voice.
"You can't do this to me, you monster."
Project's Z mouth curled up into a snarl. "You are the only real monster down here. You and your group of psychos. Alas! Our final experiment. The taste of revenge. Can we scientifically prove what it tastes like?"
"Should we step in?" Fay asked me but I shook my head. Not sure why but a part of me was drawn to the scene in front of me. "Just be on guard."
"WELL CAN YOU!?" Project Z growled when Charles could only stare at the little fox-like creature.
Charles shook his head.
"Then we must try," Project Z's voice lowered, "For science right? I want to know what revenge tastes like."
As she said that her body began to glow a faint white color that almost hurt to look at, it was as if she was evolving. Her shape began to expand and grow and the light became brighter and forced me to blink.
When I opened my eyes again the Zorua was gone.
A big new Pokémon had taken her place. It was almost too big for the room but nearly managed to squeeze itself in. It gazed down on Redburn like a giant would look upon an ant.
"Psst, want to hear something funny?" The newly appeared Pokémon spoke with a deep female voice. "I bet there are a lot of Pokémon on the other side that would love to take a bit of you as well."
A cruel smile curled up around her face. "Let's not keep them waiting."
She opened her enormous jaw wide and a terrifying set of teeth were revealed.
Then Charles Redburn was no more.
There was no blood, no remains.
Nothing to indicate he ever existed except the smile on Project Z's face.