Chapter 84:

Until Dawn

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Climbing up the vent to the surface was one of the easiest things I ever did. My body was on auto-pilot and my mind was just...blank.

I wasn't thinking of anything, I just moved up the ladder. Wrapping my fingers around the cold metal, pulling myself up and letting go of it. Over and over in a seemingly endless cycle.

My arms felt heavy and tingly and I was tempted to just drop myself but I kept moving.

Project Z was holding onto me, using the backpack as a seat.

Sweat made my hands slippery so I clutched the bars with all my strength which hurt even more.

It was completely dark up there, the light from the room below us could only reach so far and was now only a mere spot in the darkness below.

One hand over the other; I continued.

And then the ladder stopped.

"We're there!" Zorua excitedly exclaimed. "Hold on, I'll open the lock."

I felt the Pokemon above me move, I heard a dry clicking noise followed by a loud metal screech. Paws pushed into my head like someone was forcefully rubbing me.

Suddenly a pale light shone into the manhole. I gazed up and felt a breath of fresh air in my face. I saw a metal door that was shaped like a vault wide open above me.

Project Z jumped off my shoulders and I climbed out of the hole. My hands felt moist grass. Petrichor was almost overwhelming my senses.

I stood up and blinked. Blinked again and again, slowly the realization that it was over dawned on me. I was no longer down in that horrible maze, no more monsters.

"Are...are those…" I looked down and saw the black fox Pokémon staring straight up at the sky, her mouth agape.

I followed her gaze. Dark tree tops loomed above but only at the edge of my vision.

A star filled sky shone brightly above our heads. Thousands of tiny specks of lights twinkled down on us.

"Are those stars?" Project Z didn't take her gaze away from the sky. Neither did I. It was a beautiful sight, after all, there were no clouds and it wasn't even that cold.

"I've been to the surface before." Project Z spoke. "But there were no stars in the sky."

"Light pollution." I muttered automatically.

"What?" Project Z snapped her focus on me.

"The stars only shine when it's dark enough." I calmly answered.

We were in the middle of nowhere again, no big cities that would ruin the view. No loud noises, just this beautiful sight that made me wish I could just stand there for all eternity.

Of course we can't have nice things in life, reality caught up with me and I was painfully dragged back.

I heard a loud barking coming from behind me, it sounded like a dog.

We were standing in what seemed to be a large grove of trees. The moon was bright enough to see quite well in the dark.

Red eyes were looking at me from the treeline. Without flinching I drew a golden gun and had it loaded and pointed at the beast hiding in the bushes

It emerged from the shadows, a big dog like Pokémonn with horns curling up behind its head like a satyr.

I was about to pull the trigger when I realized a human was standing next to the Houndom. It was a bald guy wearing clothes I recognized as a police uniform.

It was hard to say who was shocked the most but the police dude reacted faster. He opened his mouth and loudly shouted. "We got a live one!"

Multiple shouts came from somewhere I couldn't see and answered his call. The replies sounded like gibberish to me. My sluggish mind considered if I should shoot him or not.

Before I could, more people and Pokémon came into view. Staring at me, some of them were confused as well while others were looking like they were ready to tear me apart.

One of the newcomers was holding a bright light that almost blinded me when I looked at it. I heard surprised and shocked mumbles which melted together into one confusing blur of background noise.

The Zorua cautiously took shelter behind my legs.

"Dust?" A person from behind the light called out to me. They took a step forward and I was met with a familiar face.

Purple eyes scanned over me, her purple hair danced in the wind. There was way too much purple in my opinion. I shook my head and focused my attention.

"Hylla?" I blinked.

"Stand back." the purple haired lady didn't immediately reply. Instead she began talking to the people I couldn't see. She appeared to be shouting orders. The light dimmed and most of the people dispersed, back to do whatever they did.

A thin line broadened into a smile as I finally put all the dots together. "Wait Hylla?"

She was done with telling people to fuck off and approached me cautiously, her eyes fixed on me like I could explode any moment. "Dust, what kind of plushy did you receive in Sunbright Town?"

I frowned, wondering what she was talking about. After cranking my mind about it I answered the question nonetheless. "A Pidgey plush. It had a camera hidden inside it."

My smile disappeared. That was not fun at all.

A grin appeared on Hylla's face though. Her posture relaxed and she approached me, revealing her Luxray had been charging up an attack behind her. It sizzled away but the blue lion's eyes never strayed away from me.

Hylla suddenly embraced me and for a second I was just too confused to process what was going on. I subtly stuffed away the gun as she hugged me.

The hug was alright, not gonna lie but I was too confused to feel comfortable. Hylla pulled back and let out a sigh of relief.

She was dressed in a jacket with a black shirt under it. Her blue jeans had red stains on them, like she had been wading through blood.

"I thought you were stuck down there," as Hylla spoke she created tiny clouds of condensation in the air. She shivered and pressed her arms against her body. "I was already setting up an operation to retrieve you." A knowing grin appeared on her face, "Of course I should have known you would escape on your own."

Well this was awkward.

I felt like I should be mad at Hylla for sending me down there as a favor. It was her fault I ended up in that hell hole. Yet at the same time I felt too tired to be mad. Screaming felt like too much trouble and I was afraid I would break down if I did..

However a smaller voice in my conscience argued that no matter my reasoning, it was me who went down there. I knew it wouldn't be good, despite that I made the decision to do it even though I could have easily refused it.

Why did I go down there? There was nothing for 'me' to gain.

I yawned and looked at the girl in front of me.

She genuinely looked relieved to see me. I decided to put being mad on hold.

With a bigger effort then I'd like to admit I smiled. "I was stressing for a second but you know, I'm like Houdini when it comes to escaping death."

"Houdini?" Hylla arched her eyebrows. "Wait, how did you even get here? The elevators are jammed."

I stepped to the side and pointed at the hatch I came through. It was really easy to miss, especially in the dark grass in which it was buried like some evil well.

"That also leads into the facility," I said, "There's a ladder that goes to the first floor."

A grim expression spread over my face as I thought about what happened. I was still not sure about it but I felt that thinking about it would make it worse. I turned my gaze away from the hatch. "You shouldn't go down there."

"Explain." Hylla challenged.

"Not now," I murmured. I definitely did not want to talk about what happened in that lecture room. "My Pokémon need healing, and I might need a checkup as well."

I moved my sleeve and showed her my arm. "I think I am supposed to have feelings in my arm but it is just numb."

And covered with blood apparently. My eyes widened when I noticed multiple wooden splinters had nestled themselves into my arm. Weird how I never notice that kind of stuff. Well at least it explained why I had so much trouble using that arm.

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Hylla's eyes widened. "You come with me right now!"

She pulled me by my other arm. Project Z darted after me, following in silence. Hylla gave me a questioning look.

"My new Pokémon, long story." I shrugged.

Hylla gave me a skeptic look but I just stared at her with a blank expression which convinced her to drop the subject.

The Zorua in question raised an eyebrow but I ignored her as well.

Hylla led me back to the main part of the Red Orphanage where it had all started. We passed a shitload of humans and Pokémon. Some of the humans present looked like they were some kind SWAT team with even bigger Pokémon accompanying them. One of them even had a real rifle which I wanted to touch but Hylla pulled me away before I could. White blankets were put over the corpses that previously were all over the place but now had been put in a neat row like some weird sleepover.

Some sort of camp was set up with big spotlights aimed at the lodge holding the elevator.

We passed a woman with raven black hair and an ugly scar on her hand. Hylla told her quickly about the manhole that led into the facility and told her to guard it. I thought it sounded like a sex joke in the making but I was too tired to speak up.

After that Hylla brought me to a big tent which had multiple medical beds set up, they reminded me of the hospital wing with the Copy Garden Victreebel. There was even a deadly guard lying on one of the tables which made me involuntarily flinch.

Things went pretty smooth from there. I was ordered to sit down and hand over my Pokéballs. I warned them about Fay's condition which resulted in a horrified look from the doctor and everyone in hearing range.

I explained there was a huge Kabutops that managed to cut through all her defenses. That one gave me more horrified looks and more questions but the doctor, a guy who didn't look to be older than 30, told them to leave me alone and get back to business.

My Pokéballs were taken from me, Fay was apparently injured so badly they had to treat her at the Pokémon Center, Luna was alright though, she just needed regular healing.

They somehow transported them away using computers before I could even protest. Hylla pinched my shoulder and I looked up.

She smiled and said they would be alright. It was a bit cliché because I knew they would be alright but I felt so defenseless without them.

Then it was my turn. I asked for morphine or something but the doctor said I was already high as a Talonflame which was not true at all, I was fairly sure I was not even a meter above the ground.

The doctor first removed the splinters in my arm which was indeed surprisingly painless. He cleaned the wound with alcohol and bandaged it. After that he looked me over and asked me how I got injured.

I told them I fell which got a chuckle out of Hylla but that turned into a grimace when I added; from 10 meters (32 feet) high.

Not sure if it was 10 meters but I like round numbers and it certainly felt like a drop of 10 meters.

The doctor used a weird device that was similar to the thing people at airports used to check for metal except with this one provided a live view of my bones.

I thought it was pretty dope and thought that this kind of technology would give doctors in my old world wet dreams but the doctor only looked grim.

"It appears you fractured multiple bones," he paused as I moved said broken arm without any effort. "But somehow they have all healed at an astounding speed."

I frowned. Did I break something? I did remember a horrible pain when I hit the floor but it had all dissipated when...

A needle was put in my arm, causing me to wince. I really hate needles, always have and I hated it more when I couldn't get a warning. The doctor gave me an apologetic smile and pushed the needle in even deeper. Red liquid was pumped up and he withdrew the needle. He gave me a piece of cotton and told me to press it against that spot which made it feel tingly.

The doctor transferred the blood into a small vial which he proceeded to shake. After 10 seconds he stopped and my blood began to emit a blue glow.

"Mmm, a large concentration of Aura residue in your blood."

"What?"

"Like I thought, you were healed by a Pokémon," he shared nonchalantly. "Physically you are fine, a night's sleep should bring you back to peak condition."

"Your Riolu doesn't know any healing moves right?" Hylla curiously asked.

I shook my head. "It wasn't Fay who healed me."

A pang of guilt shot over me, a knot in my stomach twisted. Zorua stared at me, wide eyed but didn't say anything, indicating she had made the connection as well.

I cast my eyes down, not sure what to do except feeling bad.

The doctor spoke to Hylla, giving her some advice which reminded me Hylla was technically a doctor as well. Hylla nodded respectfully and they seemed to have reached an agreement.

The doctor handed me a sheet of paper with a string of numbers printed on it.

"You might physically be fine, a bit high on Aura but that will fade away quickly."

"Then what is this for?" I was confused.

He pointed at my head. "I don't know how you are doing mentally, that's outside of my expertise but this person should be able to help you further."

I looked down at the sheet of paper and recognized the string of numbers as a phone number. I nodded and made a promise to call it tomorrow.

Hylla pulled me out of the tent. Project Z followed of course, we were back at the Red Orphanage and I had hoped things would settle down but me being there was still a big deal. People looked at me with weird looks, I didn't say anything about it and the people just kept staring, some less subtle than others.

It made me feel uncomfortable anyway.

One of the people who was initially staring approached us. It was a young guy with short snow-white hair and black eyes. He wore a protective vest and had a gun holstered on his belt.

A Crobat sat perched on his shoulder, wings folded around its body like a vampire. He shot me a quick look before returning to Hylla. "We breached the elevator shaft, Miss Shiner."

His voice was a bit shaky from the cold.

Hylla opened her mouth to speak but I was faster. "If you see a giant Kabutops, don't engage it. Use long ranged attacks to pin it down and keep damaging it constantly."

The guy turned his black eyes on me. "There's a giant Kabutops down there!?"

"Some of the experiments down there breached containment," I went on. "They are not like normal Pokémon."

"Seriously?" He asked incredulously. I somehow had the idea this guy was pretty new to the job. Watching him squirm was kinda fun.

"Oh yeah, there's a Victreebel on the second floor's medical wing. If you kill it the Victreebel will duplicate itself, like a Hydra."

"What is a Hydra?" Hylla narrowed her eyes.

I shook my head as I realized my error. Before Hylla could ask more questions I knelt down and opened my backpack. "Almost forgot."

The black box was still plugged into my Pokédex. The screen shared it had successfully copied the files. I detached the Pokédex and put it back in my backpack while I got up, still holding the black box.

"Is that?" Hylla stared at it..

I nodded and tossed it at her, she almost dropped it once she caught it. "A power outage occurred while copying the files but most of it should be on there.

"What is that?" the white haired guy asked.

Hylla's eyes glazed with an almost childlike glee. She managed to regain her composure however and turned to face the new guy. "Tell the Vanguard team to stay on standby. Get someone to go over the contents of this drive. If they did experiment with Pokémon down there, we should know what to expect."

The guy gave her an almost relieved nod. He was about to turn around but gave me a quick smile before he did.

"Damn, that Kabutops sounds like a nightmare. I’m glad you went in first, we owe you one." His smile broadened. "Thanks a lot!"

I didn't catch his name as Hylla hurried me away, her eyes stuck on the black box like it was a christmas present.

She brought me to a small green bird Pokémon that was, well, not exactly sure what it was doing besides staring at a tree bark for no apparent reason.

Hylla stopped dragging me and smiled at me. "Don't worry, we'll fix this mess."

"I doubt that."

She rolled her eyes. "Have a little faith. You gave us the perfect start for this operation." Her eyes drifted towards the Red Orphanage, "We'll put a stop to this nightmare. Meanwhile, you should get some rest."

"Are you in charge?" I asked her, first making sure no one but that weird Natu was in our near vicinity.

Hylla grunted. "Against my will, yeah."

"Huh?"

"The League is conducting an internal investigation into the possibility of moles," she rolled her eyes. "They appointed me to oversee this place and protect it until they can sort things out, but considering there are also unknown Pokémon down there that might escape, time is of the essence."

"You don't sound very happy with that." I noted.

"Duh," Hylla gave me a dark look. "This is above my paygrade! I should be investigating things, not be dumb muscles!"

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

I was scared she was going to shout again but she managed to calm herself. "You know," she said almost inaudible, "It's weird how things always unravel around you, don't you think?"

"Unravel?" I frowned.

"Nothing," she shook her head with a smile. "Anyway, I'm sending you to a Pokémon Center so you can get some sleep and see your Pokémon."

"You need help?"

Hylla smiled. "You need sleep more than I need your help."

Before I could say anything the world around me blurred. I saw the tiny green bird's eyes swirl and pulse with power. Project Z held onto my leg with her paws at the last second before I was pulled through the fabric of space.

The world twisted until I was no longer outside, the wind disappeared abruptly and was replaced by a gentle room temperature.

I was standing in what appeared to be a standard Pokémon Center lobby. Red furniture, a long desk and tv screens all over the walls. Yup, I was teleported.

"What the fuck?" I heard a female voice cry out.

It was the Zorua. She frantically started looking around. Her eyes wide and mouth wide. "Did we just get teleported?"

"Yeah."

"Dust Wildfire." a woman from behind the desk called out to me. "I was told you would arrive soon."

"Where are we?" I asked immediately.

"Floaroma Town," She knitted her eyebrows. "Do you feel alright?"

She didn't give me the time to answer. She started going through her stuff and retrieved a key. "Room 15, it's upstairs. Don't worry, your Pokémon will be brought to you in the morning."

I took it and started heading down the hall towards the stairs. Project Z followed after me.

Soft lights luminated the halls, we passed multiple closed doors.

"Why did you say I was your Pokémon?" Project Z asked all of the sudden.

I reached for the railing. "Well, I thought you would prefer some sleep before being questioned, after all it is your first taste of freedom."

"Mmm," Project Z contemplated. "Yeah I suppose I would prefer a small break."

We came to a stop in front of a wooden door with the number 15 on it. As I put the key inside the hole a grin spread out on Project Z's face. "Already inviting me to your room? Isn't it a bit early?"

I didn't look at her as I replied. "Sure, if you want to sleep in the hall…"

"No, I'll shut up," Project Z quickly said but with a lower voice she added. "For now."

I opened the door, dropped my stuff without any care and watched the bed waiting for me in the corner of the room.

The digital clock in the corner of the room read 3:10 in the morning.

I handed Project Z a pillow, she refused it and hopped onto the bed instead. Deciding I was too tired to play games I just shoved her to the edge of the bed and crawled under the blankets, not even bothering to take off my clothes.

The Zorua muttered something incoherently but curled up anyway, like how a dog would sleep.

Deciding I was officially done with today I shut my eyes, trying to fall asleep.

But I couldn't fall asleep. The moment it became quiet in my head my mind started drifting towards the scenes I had witnessed down in Red Orphanage. I tried to distract myself by counting sheep and thinking about anything except that but my mind kept going in cycle.

I always had thought that the world was boring and could use a bit more magic. Now I got that magic, I was transported to another world.

For the first time I truly regretted being in this world.

I'm not gonna lie. That night I cried myself to sleep.

End of Arc 4: Serial Experiments