Chapter 82:
Don't Feed The Dark
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Our way out was on the first floor. Considering we were on the lowest floor, it meant we had to cross two floors to actually reach it. Two more floors of this bullshit.
With a careless smile on her face, Project Z guided us across the white hallways. Though I saw how she subtly checked around each corner before moving, indicating that she was not as careless as she wanted us to believe.
"So..." Zorua began when we reached blood-stained hallway numero twenty. "You guys know my name is Project Z, but I don't know yours. Care to share?"
"Dust." I pointed at myself, then at Riolu and then Kirlia, "Fay and Luna."
"Okay, so next question," Project Z continued, "What would convince someone like you to spend your night here? You don't look like you really work here. Got stuck on a 'bring your son to work day?'"
"Haha, no I work for the Sinnoh League." That was a lie. But seeing how Hylla did work for the League and I was helping her I might as well work for the League. And it would allow me to skip explaining.
"You're lying." Project Z narrowed her eyes and stopped walking, "I am 90% sure you wouldn't be walking around with a knife if you were officially representing the League. Besides, you look way too young."
Not sure how I felt about the things she said, she was right though.
"Fine, I owed someone a favor and said someone works for the League, yada yada. I found this building surrounded by corpses and went in to gather some intel."
"You found a building surrounded by corpses and you went in?" Project Z raised her eyebrow, "So, how has that been working out for you?"
"Fuck off."
Project Z giggled and continued walking.
There wasn't a lot more going on down on the -3 floor. Or atleast, where we were. The Zorua led us through this maze of doors and corridors, following an invisible path that made sense only to her. She did reassure me that the path we were taking would allow us to avoid most of the creatures on the lower floor. Project Z did not know exactly what and who breached their containment so we opted to just go for safety.
We found the stairs that led to -2 relatively fast. However, that hope quickly died down when we saw the actual stairs.
The stairwell was blocked off by a set of heavy blast doors twice the size of the ones in the dining area. That was not the real problem.
A thick wall of blue ice covered the blast doors from bottom to ceiling. I experimentally knocked on it and when I felt the hard cold I determined it was actually ice. The corridors were not warm per se but they were definitely above freezing point, yet a 50 centimeter (1,76 feet) thick shell of ice separated us from the metal doors. The ice felt like regular ice and did emanate cold wisps of air but there was no water dripping down from it even though a small puddle should have formed by now.
I slipped my finger across it and noticed that there was a thin layer of water present.
"Fay, try hitting it with an Aura knife, please." I knelt down and pointed at a spot down in the corner where the ice was only 20 centimeters (0,65 feet) thick.
Fay pulled her paws together and did her magic thing where she managed to reshape blue light into something closely resembling a dagger.
With a shrug she plunged it forward, holding it with both her paws and putting all her weight into it. Despite all of this, her knife harmlessly bounced away and dissolved into blue Aura particles.
There was not even a scratch.
"Eh? That shouldn't happen," Fay murmured apologetically.
I nodded and got back to my feet. "Well, shit this should be impossible."
The realization that I used the word, impossible, while being an anomaly myself and stuck inside an underground laboratory with more anomalies, hit me later. But still, the ice was strange. Normally Fay should at least be able to make some cracks in the ice but this was, as it turns out, not regular ice.
I'm not a scientist but I am pretty sure that ice shouldn't act like this. It shouldn't look that blue, show actual signs of melting and definitely show some cracks after Fay's Aura blade. Well, at least it confirmed my suspicions of Froslass not being a normal Pokémon besides her just being freaky as hell.
"Hmm," Project Z hummed. She slightly brushed her red paw against the wall of ice before quickly retracting it. "Let's hope that psycho queen didn't seal the other stairwells. Otherwise, we might need to go for plan E?"
{Psycho Queen?}
"What's plan E?" I asked, again not liking the tone of Project Z's voice.
"Oh, plan E is more fun, wanna try?" When she saw my annoyed face, the Zorua finally decided to explain it but not without a deep sigh, "Somewhere on this floor they keep an Electrode that explodes backwards in time. If we can trigger an explosion we could maybe escape but that plan has a lot of ifs and would have us escape the past version of this complex. Not our best option."
I couldn't tell if Project Z was bullshitting or if she was honest. At this point, Jesus could show up and I would only be mildly confused.
Luckily, we did not have to look for that Electrode. The stairway on the North-West wing was only 5 minutes away and clear of ice. The stairway was still guarded by a set of heavy doors but my keycard quickly put an end to them. The screen flashed green and with hissing and groaning, the doors creaked open. The sound echoed throughout the complex and I was scared it would attract the Froslass but there was nothing to do about that. Luckily, there was no humming to be heard. With a slightly better feeling in my stomach, I turned to face the stairs.
They were built into a concrete tunnel that led straight up. Big rectangular tiles of concrete that slightly pointed forward formed a gray staircase. The staircase was as simple as stairs could be, remarkably stainless as well.
Zorua had already climbed up the first set of stairs. "Come on, they're just regular stairs. Nothing to be afraid of. Unless you want me to hold your hand?"
I shrugged and followed after Project Z. Fay trailed after me and Luna had already scouted ahead and was poking a dead guard who somehow found his demise on the stairs. The guard had a big hole ripped through his chest but luckily my fear of the undead had spread to Luna as well. She eyed the corpse suspiciously, ready for it to get up. Can't be too sure.
I had the foresight to close the door behind me which I thought to be pretty smart. However, I did not have the foresight to check for any light sources inside this stairwell.
Turns out, there weren't any.
We were consumed all of the sudden in a thick blanket of darkness. I couldn't see a single thing and wasn't even sure if my eyes were open or closed or if that did even matter.
I managed to remain calm but I heard a feminine voice cry out: "I can't see!"
It came from somewhere from my left, immediately after I felt something very soft brush past my leg.
Two sources of light suddenly illuminated the room. Fay's eyes and paws began radiating a soft blue hue that tore apart the veil of darkness.
A second pair of eyes joined Fay in driving the shadows away. Luna's eyes glowed a demonic red that although we're not very effective at lighting up the room, did manage to make me feel at ease.
{Tada!} Luna proudly exclaimed. {There's light.}
"Amazing," I heard Project Z grasp. "You two are almost as good as a flashlight. Keep it going!"
"Well, you're not doing anything," Fay fired back.
Project Z's comment did get me thinking though. I had stuffed my flashlight in one of the side pockets, assuming it would become useful down the line. With a little effort, I managed to get hold of it and with my thumb, I hit the switch.
A pale light immediately lit up the stairwell.
With the doors shut behind our backs, the atmosphere in the room drastically changed. It felt wrong, the air felt dirty and smelled. The concrete walls made me feel claustrophobic and despite my flashlight, I couldn't light the entire stairwell because of the angle the stairs led up. Everything just felt freaking ominous. Of course, I was getting numb to that shit so I just shrugged and started heading up the stairs.
We were walking in silence with only the beam of my light as guidance, not that my two Pokémon really needed the light because for them the stairs were relatively big but for me they were really small and I feared that a misstep could trip me and break my neck.
I was quietly wondering why there were no lights in this stairwell but I quickly discovered that there were lights, they just weren't on for some reason. When I turned around the corner and saw the light of the LCD screen, I could not help but appreciate the light source.
The screen was attached to a panel that could open a set of heavy blast doors. A metallic sign above the door signified this was the -2 floor.
"We don't need to be on this floor right?" Project Z asked when I had stopped moving and started staring at the door.
"I know, but we should take a quick peek anyway," I told her. From my experience of playing horror games, I knew that missing out on information could mean death later on. Not sure if that is true in this world as well but I could at least take a quick peek.
I moved the keycard down the panel and the text on the screen started blinking. The doors slid open rather smoothly this time.
Going through the doors was a whole other story.
The pale beam of my flashlight shone upon a white substance that barred our way. A wall of tightly woven threads covered the entrance. A mess of wires that were so vast no light came through.
"Huh," I said, not sure if I was feeling surprised or not. "This looks like-"
"Aaah fuck I am stuck!" cursed the small Zorua from below me. I aimed the light at her and saw that she had tried to touch the silky substance that covered the wires.
She was yanking her arm back and forth but couldn't get rid of it. A snarl was upon her face when her pulling became more aggressive which caused her paw to get stuck even more.
"Don't transform!" I warned her while I knelt down next to the black fox Pokémon.
With unsteady hands, I tried to direct the beam of light on her paws while I readied my knife with my other hand. Project Z looked up and her eyes widened. "Hol-"
Before she could complain I brought down the knife and started slicing away at the silk that was stuck to her paws. Not wanting to waste any time doing this, I put all my strength in it which was necessary because cutting through this stuff felt like trying to tear through solid gum. It got stuck to the broad side of the knife but didn't stick luckily.
10 seconds later, Project Z was free again. She explosively jumped away from the web covered entrance. She released a sigh and mumbled something about thinking she was about to die.
"Well, what did we learn?" I asked with a jovial tone.
"Fuck off."
I grinned, enjoying the brief illusion of a normal conversation before I realized the situation we found ourselves in.
With a groan, I stared at the wall of cobweb blocking our way. "Anyone got a lighter?" I wasn't sure if it would burn but if it did then that might actually be worse. I had no idea how far this web reached but my gut feeling said that I wouldn't be able to cut through this mess anytime soon.
"I have the feeling Fate doesn't want me to pass," I murmured.
{Damnit Fate.} The Kirlia sighed from behind me.
A scream suddenly tore through the hallway and I froze, the beam halted midair and for a second I did not dare to move. I think I even stopped breathing at that moment.
The sound was loud and screechy at the same time. I recognized it as the one I had heard multiple times before but this time it was louder.
The sound came from above us, the -1 floor.
Great.
It quickly faded away again but I was shaken by it. Whatever creature could make that sound, I did not want to meet it.
However, we still had to go up the stairs…
I waited for a full minute to make sure nothing unexpected would come our way. When the eerie silence had finally returned I released a sigh of relief.
"Project Z, you know what that is?"
She hesitantly admitted, "I don't, but I think I don't want to know either."
"It sounds big," Fay murmured.
With visible displeasure on my face, I turned around and ascended up the stairs. When we reached floor -1 the stairs no longer went up. Instead, the stairwell extended towards a set of heavy blast doors.
"So what are we actually looking for? I turned the beam on Project Z. "Just in case."
"There's an emergency exit that leads up to the surface." She smiled knowingly. "It's rarely used. I am sure it will lead us straight outta here."
I shone the light at the door. The same green panel I had seen on all the other doors told me it required a keycard.
The doors opened with loud groaning and hissing that was so loud it actually almost scared me.
A black room greeted me. The lights weren't working on the other side of the doors either.. As I stepped through the door, I shone my light around. My flashlight first landed on a hospital bed. It was just a plain simple hospital bed like you always see in hospitals with wheels underneath them. It was empty.
I stepped into the room fully, my feet landed on a simple gray tiled floor.
Smack.
While my light was still on the hospital bed I was starting to hear weird noises from somewhere in the room. It started as a short slurping noise like someone drinking through a plastic straw.
As I stayed silent and didn't move the sound became more intense and frequent. It started to sound like gurgling instead. Like wet meat being twisted and molded.
It was rather hard to see in this dark room but I somehow managed to make out the shape of something lurking in the corner of the room.
I aimed my light at it.
The beam of light revealed that this stairwell apparently led to a sickbay or medical wing. I saw rows of hospital beds placed in rows with medical equipment such as heart monitors standing next to some of the beds. The walls had a dirty cream color that looked like they could use a wash.
A weird smell hung in the air, the combination of bleach and something sickly sweet that made my nostrils feel disgusted. I could not exactly determine how big the room was, not that it really mattered.
My beam had landed on a yellow Pokémon that had been lurking in the corner. It was as big as a small car and had a vaguely spherical shape, a bit like a pear. It was a rather disgusting Pokémon. The body seemed to exist out of a large sickly yellow body with eyes on it. The top of its spherical body was open, like a teacup with a green leaf-like appendage functioning as a lid. Something was stuck in its cup-like body, something red extended out of the gaping hole.
"Oh fuck," there was that acid feeling again. The feeling of bile working its way up my throat like a spider, even though there was nothing left in my stomach.
An arm was sticking out of Victreebel's mouth.
It was slowly moving up and down like Victreebel was still munching on it. The beam of the flashlight pierced through the darkness of the room and shone directly into Victreebel's eyes. It seemed to agitate the creature because it suddenly began to twist its body and started to make loud moaning noises. Its eyes stared savagely while it was trying to reach me but it seemed stuck in the corner.
The moaning turned into a hungry yearning growl that repeated itself, the sound was a weird combination of a dog barking and a sick person growling. It desperately tried to move but it lacked any appendages.
It still freaked me out and I took a step back. Something cold brushed past my arm. It was one of the hospital beds.
The Victreebel started to gurgle as well, on top of the growling. Like a violent zombie it jerked its body towards me as if trying to reach me by sheer willpower.
A second gurgling followed, this one coming from behind me. I turned around and caught another Victreebel in the ring of light. This one was sitting on a hospital bed 3 rows away from me. It was smaller than the previous one I had seen, around the size of a big pumpkin. The Victreebel was rooted on top of a red torn blanket that was shrouded over a long humanoid figure lying on the bed. Thick green roots had wormed their way through the blanket.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
This Victreebel started to growl and jerk as well, trying to reach me but utterly stuck in place.
A third growl joined, then a fourth. Soon I was surrounded by growling noises that came from all sides.
Everywhere I aimed my flashlight I saw a Victreebel. All in different sizes but still feasting on the bodies that were all over the room. Some had consumed them in their big jaws while the smaller ones had spread over their bodies like fungus. A symphony of growls and defiant screams erupted wherever I shone my light. It was so loud and horrifying it made me freeze up. For a moment I could only just stare at the fucked up scene that played out around me while the munching sound was slowly drilling a way through my brain. My heart was banging on my chest like it was trying to get out, not that I would blame it.
"There are so many," Fay cried out, her eyes glowed, signifying that she was using Aura sight.
{Dust what do we do?}
"Nothing." Project Z hissed, her voice breaking through the loud screaming, despite the fact that Project Z was not shouting herself I could still hear her voice crystal clear. Like we were in a quiet room instead of here.
I idly thought back to a line I had read in Project Z's file. A muzzle was later added after staff complaining about verbal assault but was removed when Project Z's abilities rendered it useless.
Guess always being audible must be one of her abilities. Hearing her voice somehow put me at ease. It forced the noise out of the room and pushed it in the background. It was still there but less present. It helped me focus.
A green fleshy vine started moving all of the sudden. I saw it from the corner of my eyes. It rose up in the air like a tentacle but before anything could happen I slashed at it with my knife.
The top part of the vine fell off and green juices were sprayed onto the floor. The bottom part was quickly retracted back into the darkness.
I heard one of the Victreebel hiss in pain, other vines I saw lying on the ground all quickly retreated like they all belonged to the same Pokémon.
"Oh Helix, if I was a Japanese schoolgirl this would have ended way worse." I cursed more profanities I shouldn’t be saying near my Pokémon.
"Focus," Project Z once again cut through the chorus of sound, "This is Project 115, Copy Garden, do not attack it or get eaten by it. Just turn off your flashlight and wait for it to calm down."
"You want me to turn off the flashlight?!" I stared at the tentacles that were already creeping from underneath the hospital beds like snakes.
"Yes, turn off the flashlight…" She repeated herself. "Don't worry, it will be fine."
I flipped the switch with my thumb.
The darkness returned immediately, painting the room into vague shapes of black and gray.
With the disappearance of light, the growling also subsidized. Not immediately but decently fast. First, the growls started to sound confused. Then they pacified into moaning before turning back to a soft munching sound that could easily be discarded as background noises. I waited for a sudden attack but nothing came.
"What is this thing?" I whispered.
"Copy Garden," I heard Project Z whisper. "Not sure how but it's a modified Victreebel that can copy itself and form a hive mind with its copies."
Talking about fucking freaky and impossible. But sure, fine, I am willing to accept that I am standing in a room filled with self-replicating flesh-eating swamp.
"Luckily they can't move so we can just walk our way out of here."
"Yeah except that I can't see where I'm going." I did not want to go even close to one of those Victreebels let alone trip and fall into one because I can't see shit.
"Okay, plan Z," Project Z said.
"What is Plan Z?" I asked before suddenly feeling something wrap around my thighs. Before I could even scream something soft and tickly wrapped around my mouth.
"It's me!" Project Z whispered.
"Wow!" I heard Fay mumble but I couldn't see anything.
"What are you?" I couldn't help wondering about that, last time I checked Zorua couldn't ensnare me in her grip.
"I think people refer to this Pokémon as Jellicent." She whispered. While she was talking I was lifted from the floor. I felt myself becoming weightless, combined with not being able to see anything it was a very confusing and terrifying experience. Project Z continued speaking "I can see in the dark and maneuver around those pesky little weeds. Heck, I could stomp them and they won't even see it coming."
"Don't," I muttered. It was rather hard to talk like this. "Let's get out of this place asap. You did take Luna and Fay with you right?"
"Who?"
Before I could panic, Project Z quickly hissed. "Kidding, just kidding. I am joking, they are right here."
{Correct.} I heard Luna speak Telepathically.
"Not funny." Fay groaned.
Around us dark shapes passed by. Hospital beds, hordes of Victreebel slowly festering around the room and strange dark lines that crawled over the floor, probably vines but they seemed to be passive for now.
As my eyes grew more used to the darkness, I could see a lot of bodies lying on hospital beds, a few of the ones that hadn't been infested with flesh-eating Pokémon yet did have the cuts and slashes marks all over them. Maybe they survived the initial attack by that assassin and were brought here to recover? Whatever their plan was, it ended in disaster.
"Fun fact," The Jellicent murmured, she was sounding a bit winded, "Project Copy Garden consumes other Pokémon, or humans and uses that energy to create more of itself."
I blinked, not that I could see anything. I guess Project Z saw my horrified expression because she quickly added. "Okay, not fun but hey, a fact is a fact."
'Just be quiet', I wanted to say but I rather heard Project Z talking then the sounds of Victreebels gurgling up their prey and since both Luna and Fay weren't very talkative at the moment I couldn't be picky.
Just as I was growing used to the darkness and being dragged around my eyes were suddenly assaulted by an overwhelming combination of bright colors. Like a vampire, I tried to force my eyes shut and twist away from the literally blinding light.
The soft arms that had ensured me suddenly released me from their grip and I hit the floor which was quite painful. While I laid there on the floors with my eyes shut I realized I had to open my eyes eventually.
Reluctantly I did and while I was trying to blink away the confusion I noticed I was surrounded by vague blurs. A pink balloon-like thing suddenly shifted into a black smudge. A blue and a white smudge were leaning over me.
I rubbed the confusion away and saw a Kirlia gazing down at me with a stern look. {No time for napping.}
Fuck that, I felt like I could take a nap right here and now. However, the rational part of my brain took over sadly and I climbed to my feet still feeling dizzy.
A pale ceiling light shone down harshly on my eyes, white stainless walls stretched out in three directions around me. Yup, I was back in the maze.
"I told you I got this." A smug-looking Zorua was grinning at me. "And you doubted me."
"Yeah yeah, you're a lifesaver," I said with a slightly sarcastic tone. She really had been helpful but there was no point in feeding her ego.
We were standing next to a set of slide doors. There were no windows but white metal plates instead but it didn't look enforced or anything. Just regular sliding doors you might actually see in a hospital.
A metal sign above the doors read:
Medical Wing
A small poster had some standard rules written on them and a hand sanitizer was attached to the wall. A sensory bar was located above the doors, probably to open them automatically.
There were still crunching noises coming from the other side, the doors did nothing to filter them.
I sighed and stared at the doors. "Well, that was fun."
"No, it wasn't," Fay said.
"Sarcasm."
"Be quiet," She retorted.
"Nah ah-."
"Sssttt!" the Riolu put her paw in front of her mouth, quickly silencing everyone.
I didn't hear anything, well except the usual gurgling sounds coming from next door. The Zorua gave Fay a weird look and started to twist her pointy ears around.
"Wait, don't tell me..."
{I heard nothing.} Luna tilted her head while gazing at Fay.
"No, I am pretty sure I hear something," Fay closed her eyes, "It's just hard to hear with all that nois-"
"It's her!" Project Z abruptly cried out.
I was about to ask who's 'her' when I realized there was only one 'her' to speak of in this building. Still, the Zorua answered. "That Froslass!"
With almost comedic timing the doors slid open in front of us.
And just like that, my heart stopped.
The growls increased tenfold as our lights shone into the medical wing. Rows of beds and flesh-eating Pokémon were revealed with a demonic figure standing in the middle of the path.
A smile grew underneath her mask the moment our eyes met.
Fuck.
I heard Luna fire a Disarming Voice but it did nothing to Froslass. She kept smiling and reached out her arm.
Something tugged at my leg. I gazed down and saw Fay mouth the word run.
We did.
I grabbed Luna with my arm, seeing how she was the slowest of all the Pokémon, and turned around. Fay and Project Z chased after me, following a random hallway without any idea where we were going.
The sound of humming chased after us, growing louder every step yet the tone of the song didn't change its pace. I didn't look back, I wasn't sure if I could keep running if I saw how close she actually was. I was dripping cold sweat and my breath created clouds of mist, it was that cold.
While we ran I was trying to come up with a way to stop the Froslass but her humming really made it hard to think straight, that and the fact I was running out of breath, something that did not seem to affect Froslass at all.
I had to stop and form a plan, running forever was clearly not going to work. I came to a halt near a hallway that split off into two directions. One of them had a metal blast door shielding the entrance to something.
"Door!" Project Z cried out. "Give me the card." She suddenly leaped up and snatched the keycard out of my hands. Something that actually made me jump and almost stop dead in my tracks. With the keycard in her mouth, she dashed between my legs and headed for the doors, revealing that she was surprisingly fast.
With no other option, I made a sharp turn left and followed after Project Z. Sure the doors might not stop Froslass but at least they would give me some respite, or at least I hoped they would.
The doors were already opened by Project Z. She was shouting at us to go faster and as if I wasn't on edge enough, the doors were starting to close.
A big slash was cleaved into the wall on my right side like something big sliced through the concrete. I focused my attention on the closing doors in front of me.
With a final sprint, I managed to jump through the closing gap and landed on the floor. I dropped Luna and turned around to watch my back.
Fay was staring at the closing door, only a relatively small crack remained. Through the gap, I could see Froslass floating towards us for a split second. Then the doors shut with a loud snap.
In painful silence, I waited for something bad to happen. I counted 10 seconds before I heard the first bang.
It was soon followed by more slams, it sounded like something much bigger than the Froslass was hitting the door. The floor vibrated with every hit and I was worried that she would get through by doing just that.
Okay, time to move on.
I turned around and readied myself to bolt when I came face to face with another set of doors. But those doors were not blast doors. A small button next to the door read up and another one read down.
"You're kidding right?" I cursed out loud as I stepped forward and repeatedly started to press the two buttons in a desperate attempt to open the doors.
"I think we are boxed in." Project Z said. "The elevator doesn't work during a lockdown."
"Oh really?" I groaned and kicked the elevator doors. "Well, Sherlock, what do you suppose we do?"
The banging sound continued relentlessly in the background like a butcher's knife coming down on a chopping block. A dead clock ticking down.
We were like mice trapped between two doors, one leading to certain frozen dead and another one wouldn't even open and as if to mock us even more: a dead guard was lying slumped over in the corner, ew.
He was still grasping for his gun, even in death. A big large cut tore through his protective gear and left a bloody streak across his chest that left red splashes along the wall for some reason.
Great.
"What do we do?!" Fay panicked, she turned to face me. "You must know a solution!"
How was I supposed to know what to do?
Another slam, was it me or did it look like the doors were slightly bent inwards?
{I guess this means we have to fight.} Luna sighed as she stretched her arms. She was beginning to look tired and I doubted she would be useful considering the lack of space.
Then it struck me. I slapped myself for being stupid.
"What?" Fay looked at me. "You have that look in your eyes."
I ignored her and knelt down to lean against the wall. I put down the backpack and delved through it.
"What look?" Project Z asked. "He's doing nothing."
A black box landed on my lap, I fished out the Pokédex immediately after.
'Please work.' I thought while I connected the two and flipped the Pokédex open. A window popped up notifying me new data was available.
Another slam on the door, yeah there was definitely a big dent in the door.
My hands were sweaty but I managed to navigate through all the files I had copied from Redburn's PC. Not everything was copied properly because of the power outage but I hoped the thing I was looking for was.
I held my breath as I scrolled through the list of copied documents. Then I found it. - Project 96 Eternal Queen.
This file should hold all the information regarding that crazy Froslass right? I mean these guys had her trapped, they should know what her weakness is, if not I was fucked.
"Oooo!" Project Z murmured. "You had this with you the entire time?"
"Whatever you are doing, do it faster!" Fay whispered while her gaze was locked on the doors.
I am not sure how Froslass did it but there were actually cracks in the metal. Yeah, cracks in solid steel.
"Here goes nothing," I said while tapping the button to open her file.
I was immediately greeted with a big block of text.
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Project Eternal Queen
Synopsis:
Project Eternal Queen's appearance is similar to others of its species. No physical abnormalities have been found in Project Eternal Queen's biology but an autopsy will be required if Project Eternal Queen gets terminated or dies due to other circumstances for future study.
Despite being a Ghost/Ice Type Pokémon Project Eternal Queen primarily uses ice-based attacks.
Project Eternal Queen displays advanced abilities that appear in some cases similar to known Pokémon Ice-type moves but ignore the "Pokémon Type" system and display properties that defy all known information regarding Pokémon. Those advanced abilities manifest in:
The ability to generate and construct ice in its near vicinity (7 meters in all directions) Project Eternal Queen requires no external water source to draw from. Studied samples reveal that the ice consists of 'pure water' containing no minerals normally found in surface and subterranean water sources. It is unknown whether Project Queen generates the water or if it is drawing from an unseen source.
Ice generated by Project Eternal Queen appears to be indestructible at the moment. Ice generated will always maintain a consistent -25°SC even when exposed to higher temperatures. Samples have been able to resist 56 000 units of force and 40000°VC (A modified Thunder Shock was applied). Although appearing to be indestructible it is still affected by gravity.
At the moment only Project Eternal Queen is able to destroy its own ice constructs by either using physical force or 'willing' it back into liquid.
Note: Ice generated by Project Eternal Queen might be able to hold a Legendary class Pokémon captive. Further study required.
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A crunching sound tore through the small room. My eyes snapped towards the door. A diagonal gap had been made like a knife slashed through it. A thin line of light was visible through it.
She was literally cutting through the door like this was the Shining. Except I couldn't even tell how she was doing that.
"Dust?!" Fay cried out.
I ignored her and continued reading hoping to find something, anything that could be used against her.
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Enhanced physical and resistance and strength. Although not indestructible, Project Eternal Queen is able to resist the majority of Pokémon attacks. Studies revealed a 95% decrease in damage taken by Project Eternal Queen regardless of type. This counts for both physical attacks and non-physical moves. Her strength has not been measured yet but appears to change depending on Project Eternal Queen's emotional state.
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Well, that explains why she can tear literally through the door.
Fuck, I needed something useful, not how she could kill me.
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The Ability to consume frozen victims and use their…. (No further study regarding this subject is allowed until we can safely control and/or work with Project Eternal Queen. Project Eternal Queen is not allowed to be in the vicinity of a human/Pokémon corpse without oversight again.)
PS: If given enough corpses she might be able to take down Suicune right?
(See document:ProjectEternalQueen-Cryo Abilities for more details)
Creation:
Project Eternal Queen was found in its un-evolved state (Snorunt) near Mount Silver and brought to the A2 facility as a 'disposable' resource. Upon waking up and seeing the deceased subjects it was familiar with Project Eternal Queen spontaneously evolved while the 'extraction' process (See document: Extra-Ability for further reference) was still going.
After evolving, Project Eternal Queen lost consciousness.
4 abilities were missing from the extraction process which are theorized to be the cause of Project Eternal Queen's anomalous prowess.
The missing abilities are:
Queenly Majesty
Refrigerate
Wonder Guard
Dauntless Shield
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I peeked over the screen of my Pokédex. Froslass was chopping away at the door in an almost machine-like fashion. There was no anger or aggression in her eyes, only a steady smile and an endearing look.
With a powerful chop, a large piece of metal was ripped off the door and fell inside the room. Fay and Luna were firing attacks but they did not even seem to harm Froslass.
"Scroll down!" Project Z hissed into my ear.
I did.
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Addendum:
Attempts at communicating with Project Eternal Queen through human speech have been unsuccessful so far. It is unknown if this is due to the language barrier or disinterest from Project Eternal Queen. Future attempts at communication have been planned.
Addendum 2:
Second attempt at communication with Project Eternal Queen has been conducted with the assistance of an onsite Psychic Pokémon with the 'Telepathy' ability (See document: Project 103 LonelyExeggcute(Terminated) for further reference.)
After 2 failed attempts at communicating the Project Manager managed to trigger a response from Project Eternal Queen.
Initial response was in acoustic Pokémon language and telepathy was required to translate the message.
Through external communication, it became known Project Eternal Queen was asking where it was.
Project Manager replied by stating the goals of the A2 facility and the plans for Project Eternal Queen, believing that his honesty would advance his attempts of recruiting Project Eternal Queen.
Project Eternal Queen showed displeasure upon hearing its purpose and became agitated. It requested to be released back into the wild.
Project Manager denied this request and asked if he could provide Project Eternal Queen with something else to obtain her cooperation.
Project Eternal Queen gave a final response before ending the conversation.
Addendum 4:
All future attempts at communicating with Project Eternal Queen have been suspended indefinitely after the death of the previous Project Manager. After careful examination of the audio transcription, Command removed everything from timestamp 0:50 and all copies are to be erased.
Project Eternal Queen has been reclassified as a Hyper Intelligence. No further attempts at recruiting are to be made.
Addendum 5:
Project Eternal Queen escaped containment and came into contact with Project 80 Dead Magnemite. It quickly terminated the aforementioned Pokémon which caused a local electromagnetic pulse. It decimated the guards and reached sector 2-b before the EMP effects faded away. Guards took her down afterwards and Project Eternal Queen has been moved to a new laboratory with active electric wiring.
Personnel within the hearing range of Project Eternal Queen are no longer allowed to make ice puns.
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My eyes widened. There it was, her weakness. I wanted to laugh out loud for not realizing it earlier. Before I could, however, a shriek tore through the room.
Ice cubes formed in my stomach as I saw Froslass shred the bottom of the blast doors. A hole had been created, large enough for a certain ice queen to pass through.
She floated through the gap, her weird dress floating on a non-existent wind. Behind her was a bloody red trail on the ground that divided the hall we came from into two.
Fay and Luna backed away from the Froslass. Project Z froze up like a deer caught in headlights yet, Project Eternal Queen did not seem to give them a second thought.
I slowly got to my feet, I grasped the shaft of my knife without taking my eyes off her. If it really came to it I could stab myself before she could freeze me over.
Froslass simply smiled, dead as ever. That was when my eyes caught sight of something.
For a split second, my eyes drifted towards the thing that she was hiding behind her. A smirk passed Froslass' face as she noticed it. "Fros."
With her free hand, she picked it up...no not it, him. With her weird arm-like appendage she was holding a corpse by the neck. He was dressed in a white lab coat and wore stark blue jeans. He had no visible wounds on his body except for his head. You see, his head was frozen and not just coated in a thin layer of ice. No, a solid massive sphere of ice surrounded its head like a fishbowl.
With a quick gesture, she dropped it towards me. His head hit the ground with a dunk while his body made a snapping sound, possibly because something in the spinal cord broke.
"Fros...slash!" A surprisingly warm voice came from the ice demon. An expecting smile was visible underneath her mask as we both gazed down at the corpse she had brought along.
"Well?" My dry voice croaked. I was only 2 meters away from Froslass, a nagging cold was biting inside my lungs and my bones began to feel heavy. Staying upright was becoming troublesome.
No one spoke. Froslass patiently waited...for something.
"What did she say?" I asked again.
It was the Zorua that spoke up. With a surprisingly deep voice, she said. "Froslass says she understands you don't want to leave your Pokémon alone so that's why she brought you a replacement. So you can be hers without feeling bad."
"Fros." Froslass nodded eagerly, almost proud. She pointed at the corpse.
The frozen head tilted over to the left, revealing that the ice was not stainless.
Instead, there was a smile carved into the ice.