Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Rejected ❯ Exposure to Death ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 1 is completed.

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REJECTED
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CHAPTER 1: EXPOSURE TO DEATH
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Altought every day was identical within this dirty pit that was our prison, now that we had a plan for escaping, everything felt different...

Our prison... Altought I used to call this place my home, I have decided to stop calling it that. This place... is not my home. It is an abyss of pain and despair where the unwanted slaves are thrown away by the Pokemon Trainers. I refuse to continue to decay in this forsaken place... and altought the plan is progressing slowly, it truly does progress...

Minun changed much during the two months she had passed with us. Surprisingly, I didn't seen the hapiness and motivation disappear from her eyes as time passed, as she went to the lab as, just like us, suffered from the experiments.

On the opposite, the experiments motivated us to work even faster toward the completion of our goal. Minun tried her best, learning and remembering the serie of words that made up the human language... learning how to read, understand, and writte them. Learning how to assemble entire sentances and disassemble them.

In fact, I was surprised at the rate which Minun learnt. It took me two entire years to learn the human language... and now, Minun does so in two months, more than twelve times less time than me.

I also begun to notice changes... changes in both I and Derlank. The old geezer didn't seemed so old suddenly... he seemed to be able to bear with the pain much more easily and he, who used to laugh at people who publically showed their emotions, begun to open his heart for I and Minun to see...

I figured out that Derlank now had three motivations to escape. He wanted to know what corrupted the hearts of humans turning into Pokemon trainers, he wanted to be free... and he wanted to impress Minun. Altought he doesn't deny that he thinks that she's cute, he's sure denying the fact that his attraction for the female is now more than merely physical!

As for Minun... I just cannot figure it out. Is she amused, pleased, or is she kidding us all? Pokemon become mature fast but never truly grow old until the day Death visit them. Maybe it's becease of the short life span of the Pokemon beside me...

This is one of the many mysteries about myself... the effect or rather, the lack of effect of time on me. Altought I was nearing the deadly age, twenty, at which most Pokemon and Defects died... my body was still one of a two years-old, freshly adult subject. My aging process had somehow stopped... why? Why was I not aging while Derlank is?... this is a riddle I hope to solve someday.

Still... there were not only positive angles to the fact that our plan being prepared... As such, I knew that Death was swift to strike... especially in such a place.

Pokemon have short life spans... Defects, such as us, have even shorter life spans. We knew that a nasty attack during a battle, just one wound too many during an experiment, a nasty disease striking in the middle of the night... One of us could perish any day, any minute, any second... especially considering that today is a special day...

Tomorrow, a special match opposing us to another team of Defects is planned in the main arena... and it will be then that our plan will be put in action.

However, today, we have to battle a team that was assembled in order to push us to the limit by a Pokemon trainer... and this was really, really bad news.

Last time, one year ago, that Scizor extracted Derlank's eye from it's orbit. It was a disgusting, disgusting sight... and that Rhydon did a Drill Horn attack right in my chest. The attack had missed my heart from merely a few centimeters... and as such, I had passed really, really close to death. Still, I recovered... but unfortunately, Derlank never got his eye back.

Would Death claim one of us today? I hope not... It is the first time that our escape seems so probable, so imminent... Most definitely! I will NOT let Death interfere with our escape! It doesn't matter if we win or lose... what is important is our survival! We must survive to escape from this place tomorrow!

"Err... guys?" asked Minun, tilting her head to the left, wondering why both I and Derlank were silent... "What's wrong? You didn't spoke ever since this morning, when the Defect Trainer announced that we would have a Guest Match."

Derlank turned to me. "Tell her. You know I lack subtility."

Minun raised an eyebrow. What did subtility had to do with this? I frowned... I hated explaining such things... but well, someone had to explain to her.

"Minun... we are about to fight a team of trained Pokemon assembled specially to "push us to our limits"."

"And?" asked Minun. "That can't be much worse than when they took samples off me, right?"

A shiver went down my spine. The samples... they had taken nearly half of her flesh off her body. The nightmarish picture of her figure, open from every angle and emptied of all substance, staring at me, it's eyes filled with tears... It took a long, long time for her to recover... the first couple of days, even the Defect Trainer asked many times the scientists if it had been a little extreme and if she would live... but each time, the scientists told him it was OK... and she had been OK.

Well, if I look at the positive side... Minun didn't had to go throught experiments and battles for a week and that left Derlank plenty of time to teach her about the human language.

Still, there was a major difference between the Guest Match and the time when they took samples of her... the experiment was almost a guaranteed survival case... while our survival chances for the Guest Match were rather low.

I could already imagine our opponents... tall, fully-evolved, and trained to the death souless war machines that obey their trainers' every whim as if they were simple puppets...

The image of the Rhydon which almost pierced my heart was probably the most scary thing I had ever, ever seen... not becease I got close to death... but becease that I saw how empty the Rhydon's eyes were. He was... emptiness... He heard orders and executed, without question.

I remembered how that trained Electrode we fought died... for it did die.

Derlank and I, we had defended ourselves well against Scizor and Rhydon and the enemy wanted to get rid of us quickly... I knew it since the Pokemon trainer was thinking aloud, believing we were unable to understand human language. He said that he already had twelve Electrodes and that using one in this case wouldn't be such a big deal... and as such, he ordered the Electrode to use Self-Destruct.

The Electrode did not hesitate... it did not even asked itself the question if it was right or wrong to die for such a petty, meaningless battle against two tortured souls who simply wished to survive... The Electrode exploded in a hurricane of fire and wind. It's remains flied about and were consumed at the same time as our endurance. The wind of fire allowed the Scizor and the Rhydon to attack...

Just before being struck by the Rhydon, I caught a glimpse of the trainer's eyes... and they were cold, insensitive, heartless. There was no cruelty, no enjoyment... just pure cold logic. He was seeing Pokemon as mere tools and treated them as such...

... and after this, wild Pokemon still think that life as a trained Pokemon is a fairy tale? Our world is sure a strange one!

How could I explain all this to Minun? How could I explain the horrors she was about to witness?

"Minun..." I begun. "You will see how Pokemon trainers truly treat their Pokemon. You will see the cold, heartless logic of a being willing to sacrifice everything for a meaningless victory... including those who are supposed to be his friends."

Minun raised an eyebrow again. "Huh?"

Derlank stood up, annoyed. "You don't get it? We're going to die or they will!"

Minun smiled. "That's some kind of joke, right?"

Derlank smiled. It was the signal that he was about to say something sarcastic... "Heh! Sure! I bet that the Champion became a Pokemon master by coming up to Pokemon like us and offering us pretty flowers! I'm sure that he has respect for his opponent and will do everything to ensure a safe match that is perfectly following the rules!"

Minun frowned. She HATED it when Derlank spoke like that... and I admit it that while I'm used to it, I don't like it either.

"You know, not ALL Pokemon trainers are like that!" she stated.

"You know, girl, that reputation among humans is set by the number of slaves... OOPS! So sorry! Pokemon that they own! How many hearts and lives do you think those humans broke in order to gain such large collections? Plenty, I bet!" stated harshly Derlank.

"HMPH!" Minun turned her back to Derlank.

"Great, just great. When a gang of souless war machines is about to attack, you two start fighting? How are we going to even live throught that fight if you keep up like that?" I asked, worried.

They didn't had the time to anwser, sadly enough...

CLANG!!!

It was that stupid Defect Trainer. "The Pokemon trainer is here! Come on! Come on! I don't have all day! Come with me!"

We followed the human...

Along the way to the arena, Pokemon jumped to the edge of their cages to stare at us. They all had learnt of the news... and then, dog Pokemon howled, cat Pokemon made a long, slow hiss, bird Pokemon sang a depressingly sad song...

"Errr... what are they doing?" asked Minun.

"All creatures, Pokemon and humans alike, support those who are marching to their deaths. They are supporting us, we who walk toward an uncertain death." stated Derlank.

"WHA... WHAT?!?" Minun was positively shocked!

"Heh! Don't worry! I and the psychic kitty survived throught four of them! Why would it be different this time?" he asked.

Suddenly, the bird Pokemon's song became faster as if some of them were panicking. Some of the Pokemon screamed, others begun to cry...

"What the?!? What's happening?!?" asked Minun, all panicked.

I pointed to the two humans going in the opposite direction...

"They're... they're carrying..." slowly whispered Minun.

The two humans were carrying a large white bag. The bag wasn't really opaque and you could see what was within... but I instantly wished that it would have been possible upon seeing what was within.

It didn't mattered how many times I seen it... it always had the same effect on me... and seeing from how Minun's face turned pale and how Derlank frowned, they couldn't take it very well either.

Within the bag, the corpses of a child Rattata, an adult shiny Mareep, and a black and red Treecko were visible. The Rattata was seemingly in good shape and I wondered why it was inside the bag to begin with... until I noticed how odd what the angle at which his head was... and I realised that it's head had been ripped off, only a few bones connecting the head to the body. The shiny Mareep was barely recognisable. It's fur was almost completely burnt off and many limbs were cut off. A weird curve in the Pokemon's back suggested that the lethal strike was a crushing blow from above. The last Pokemon, a Treecko, wasn't in such a bad shape, like the Rattata was at first glance... but I noticed what was his last expression, which was forever stuck on his face. An expression of sheer terror and despair... as if gasping for air. There were many strange, long marks on it's body as if something cylindrical had squeezed on it's chest and neck with a lot of strenght. Strange needles were visible all over it's side also.

"OH GREAT HO-OH!" screamed Minun, crying.

It was her first exposure to Death. She had never seen any Pokemon or human die before and let's just say that this was a very, very rough way of being introduced to it... altought I believe that it did took a lot of time for Minun to be exposed to Death. It was only now, after months, that she saw her first corpses... Derlank and I seen them on a much, much more regular basis.

I tried to look away from the bodies of those poor Pokemon, trying to think of anything else... but all that came to me was that nightmare...

Sometimes, during the night, I had something else than my usual dreams... and altought I would normally welcome the variety... I knew that it often meant that I would have nightmares... very bad ones.

In one of those nightmares, I could see my own body, trapped in one of those bags with which they carried the dead... I could see myself, the neck broken, the body covered with lethal wounds...

I tried to think of something else again. I looked to the side and gazed upon an adult female Radicate. She was staring at the Rattata within the bag, her eyes filled with tears as she slowly and rythmically banged her head against the bars, as if her nerves had broke.

This Radicate... must have been the rodent's mother. I wondered... what did this child do to deserve such a fate? What did the mother did to deserve seeing her child die before she does? To grieve for the parents... is sadly, a normal and natural process... but not the parents having to burry their own chldren! A parent shouldn't normally outlive it's children...

As I turned to face Minun and Derlank, I couldn't do anything but fear for our safety. Minun was hysterical and Derlank was strangely silent, his eyes as wide as his cheeks... and I knew that if I could see my reflection, it would be very pale. We were all terrorised about the imminent fight... we knew that unlike the trained Pokemon we were about to face, there would be no one to take us out of battle should a lethal hit be imminent.

"Man! Those animals sure are noisy today!" said the first man carrying the white bag.

"Bah! They're always excited the day of the Guest Match. Ignore them." said the second man.

"Still... that's... creeoy. I knew that my job would include such a duty... but I didn't tought I'd have to do it with screaming Defects around!" said the first man, feeling a bit nervous from seeing all those Defects doing so much noise...

"You'll get used to it, don't worry." said the second man, who was obviously not minding the Defects at all.

Suddenly, the Defect Trainer turned around and stared at me. I frowned, knowing what was incoming...

BAAAAAAM!!!

"Come on, lazy animals!" said the human after punching me right on the nose. "Why did you slow down? I don't have all day!"

Minun and Derlank stared at each others... I looked at both of them... We all nodded. We knew that we had to bring ourselves together and to go over the shock of seeing those corpses.

"This is the last horror we'll get to see and experience. Tomorrow we're out of here." said Derlank.

"Ye... yes..." said Minun, struggling against her intense fear. "Giv... giving up now would be stupid..."

I simply nodded, not able to think of saying anything worthwhile. We turned to the Defect Trainer and walked foward...

Slowly, the two men carried the corpses away as we entered the arena... Normally, Derlank says sarcastic stuff before entering the arena... but today, he was not in the mood to say anything and no one was in the mood to listen to anything sarcastic either...

The arena was one of the few places which weren't totally disgusting in this building. While it wasn't clean like the laboratory, the artificial grass was in good condition and the walls were still in a good shape altought, despite the staff's best efforts, they had been unable to repair every part of the walls and clean out them of all of the "natural red paint" that covered them as Derlank like to say it.

The mechanical door slowly closed itself and I stood, along with Minun and Derlank, in front of the Defect Trainer. In front of us, at the other edge of the arena, a human teenager wearing blue jeans and an official Pokemon League coat was staring at us... he was our grim reaper... the Pokemon trainer we would face in this Guest Match.

Minun turned to Derlank. "Why don't we escape now? I... I can't take this anymore..." she said, trembling.

"Security is at it's highest when Pokemon trainers arrive from the exterior." stated Derlank. "It would be unsafe to try it now. We'd better do it tomorrow, when there will be less security."

"This is a three against three team battle." announced the Defect Trainer. "I will use this Minun, this Pikachu, and the Unknow Subject for this match."

The Pokemon Trainer grinned and took out his pokedex. "Unknow Pokemon you say? Let's see what the Pokedex thinks about this!"

He pointed the red, thin object toward him and it begun to speak in a robotic voice... "Unknow Pokemon Subject. Held at Pallet Town Defect Center. Data on Pokemon classified until analysis was completed. Elemental Type appears to be mostly psychic... altought until analysis is completed, this Type matchup may not be 100% reliable. Pokemon is extremely unstable and may spontaneously attack humans without even noticing it. Exercise caution."

The Pokemon Trainer was obviously not satisfied by what his Pokedex told him. He placed it back in his pocket, frowning, and then took out three Pokeballs.

"Alright! Since I'm facing two Electric Pokemon and a Psychic Pokemon... I choose YOU!"

He thrown his Pokeballs. "GO! MIGHTYENA! GOLEM! MAROWAK!"

Before us, some kind of tall wolf, a big boulder with a limbs and a head, and a brown reptile wearing a skull helmet and carrying a large bone as if it was a boomerang...

Derlank turned to Minun. "Whatever the Defect Trainer says, listen to the orders that comes from your mind and feelings. Do not let that human boss you around."

Minun didn't anwsered...

I turned toward the foes... but I couldn't concentrate on them. All that I could see what the Pokemon Trainer... I stared into his eyes... he stared back...

"Mightyena! Crunch!" ordered the Pokemon Trainer.

It was too obvious that this attack was going my way... so, I closed my eyes and concentrated...

I had learnt the hard way, years ago, that psychic blasts does not work on enemies made of and/or using the Dark power... and as such, I developped other ways to defeat them.

I concentrated, trying to use the hidden power that the humans have been trying, ever since I can remember, to remove from me... and I felt it rising... but unfortunately, I was unable to sense my target... all I could sense was the Pokemon trainer.

In fact, he was appearing very clearly in my mind... and he was alone. Derlank, Minun, the Golem, the Mightyena... all of them were just... not here.

Then I knew what was wrong... and I heard a distant, very distant voice that sounded like Derlank...

"Ta... cov..." I couldn't hear all of it.

Then there was a deafening explosion and when I opponened my eyes, the arena was ruined. The ground had cracked open, the walls had almost crumbled down, wires and metal frames from the various systems in the walls and ceiling were scattered everywhere... and the three enemy Pokemon stood there, leaning on the walls, their heads leaning at an angle of about 180 degrees... an impossible angle unless they were...

Derlank got out of the pile of rumble under which he had been burried and looked around at the carnage...

"Oh great Ho-oh..." he slowly whispered. "What have you done this time..."

I looked around... the Defect Trainer was cowering next to the door, his left leg twisted in an unnatural way. His clothes were covered with blood... his own. He was trembling and was staring at me, terrified.

"I... I tought that... that the Purification had been successful... but he's still a stinkin' Dark Pokemon!" he whispered...

I looked down... and noticed that there was no ground under me. I was floating above a large cratter... and judging from the looks of things, I had used something really, really powerful. I also noticed that there were multiple cuts shaped like teeth on my body.

Then, I realised what had happened here...

"You... you used the Shadow Supernova? Again? Didn't you learnt your lesson already?!?" scolded Derlank. "They will lock you up for weeks! We won't be able to escape!"

I couldn't understand how and why it happened... "Shadow Supernova" was what everyone called what I did when I lost my temper... and by that, I mean when I turned really enraged! In all of my years, I had unleashed it only three times... two times before and now, a third time today.

What had caused me to unleash such destructive power? Why did I do this?... and now?

As I gazed at the corpses of the Pokemon that once belonged to the Pokemon trainer... I realised why.

I couldn't take it anymore... I had enough, enough with all of that. I couldn't bear the experiments, the Purification process, the torture when we do something that displease the humans, the rancid food, the disgusting state of our prison, the fact that we never ever saw sunlight exept throught the window of our room... I couldn't take any of this anymore!

I felt the rage rising... I felt everything turning dark again... That blood on my hands... it was the humans' fault! They rip apart my body and torture my soul and then, they demand that I obey them? They DARE to try to enslave me! I curse them! I curse this place! I wish that this whole place may be burnt down! That the lab may be nuked! That those halls may burn! That this arena may crumble! I will destroy everything!... and I will kill all of those heartless fools! I WILL...

"Calm down psi kitty." said an ederly voice.

Derlank? Is that Derlank?

"It isn't like you. Do not lower yourself to their level. Do not let your raw power and desires control you..." said Derlank.

I looked around... and I realised that it was not worth it. I was not powerful enough to do this... and even if I was, destroying this place will not give me back the time I lost in this forsaken pit. Also... thousands of Defects live in this place. They do not deserve to die... they do not deserve to be consumed by my fury during a moment of temporary insanity... I must control myself...

Slowly, I felt myself floating back to ground level and I landed. I turned to Derlank...

"I..."

Tears flowed out of my eyes as I realised the consequences of what I had done. I had caused this. I had destroyed this place, robbed three innocent Pokemon from their lives, and wasted our only opportunity for escape. After this incident, we would probably be placed in the high security zone...

"I... I..." I tried to say that I was sorry but my heart ached too much and my mouth couldn't move to formulate the words. My psychic powers were of no help for the emotionnal pain was too great...

Derlank simply approached me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Calm down, little kitty. Everyone's nerves breaks one day or another. There was nothing you could do..."

It was true. If it hadn't happened today... it would have happened later. Staying completely sane in such a place... is impossible.

Then, as the sadness left, a new pain replaced it. Worry...

"Derlank? Where is Minun?" I asked.

Derlank suddenly jumped away from me, panicked. "Dang! How could I forget about her!"

We both looked around... and both of our eyes widened in horror as we caught a glimpse of a small yellow object just behind the Pokemon trainer...

The human was standing there. He was covered with dust but just like Derlank, it looked like he was somewhat spared from my attack's deadly effects. The Pokemon trainer's face was awfully pale as he was staring at the yellow furball leaning on the wall...

Minun stood, upside-down, staring at us with a blank stare, her body facing the opposite way.

For a second, everything froze and I felt a cold wind pierce throught my heart and extinguish all hopes, all dreams, all desires within me... I... I... had killed my friend... I had killed... our only chance for freedom.

Derlank jumped on the top of a nearby pile of rubble and screamed at the sky, throught the ceiling.

"WHY?!? WHY GREAT HO-OH?!? WHY DO YOU REFUSE TO TAKE ME AWAY FROM THIS HELL HOLE?!? I AM OLD AND WITHERED! SHE DIDN'T DESERVE THIS!!!"

Derlank collapsed from exhaustion and sadness. I stared at my blood-stained hand... and altought I knew that it was my own blood that was on it, I couldn't help but feel that Minun's was on it too...

I was... a murderer... and it was not the first time...

Charmander... Psyduck... Marill... Natu... Wingull... Skitty... all of them... had died from my own two hands... All of them were consumed by the power that sleeps within me... and now, that same power had taken Minun's life as well. Derlank was the only Defect I ever met that hadn't died becease of me...

"What... kind of monster am I?" I asked to no one in particuliar...

"You're not a monster..." said a familiar voice...

I looked back at the place where Minun used to be... and my eyes widened. Minun was standing there, her neck totally broken and her head facing the wrong way... and still, she was alive?!? But... how?!?

CRRRRAAAACK!

I'll never forget this digusting sound of bones being broken as Minun spun her head, replacing it back in the correct position...

Tears appeared in her eyes... "Do not grieve for me... for I was never alive to begin with. I was born dead."

She walked up to me and smiled sweetly. "That's why I am a Defect. Undead Pokemon does not fit in Pokeballs..."

Confusion replaced my sorrow... Minun... she was... No! It couldn't be! She is so full of energy, so full of life! How could she be...

"There is nothing to say... I will understand if you hate me..." she said.

Hate her? What kind of idea was this?!? Minun is and will always be my friend!

She turned to Derlank... "He is lucky for his body decays... someday, his soul will be free. I will never leave the material plane, never ever..."

I approached Derlank... "We should wake him. He must know... he tought you had... you had..."

Minun nodded. "I heard him. I was conscious when he jumped on top of that pile of rubbles and screamed."

As she approached Derlank, it's then that I noticed a detail I had failed to notice... Minun... wasn't breathing. In fact, there was no sound... she was not breathing and her heart wasn't beating either and yet... she stood before me. This felt... awkward... She shouldn't be alive... and yet, she was.

She slowly shaked Derlank. He whispered: "No... that's not right... I said to the left..."

It looks like Derlank was dreaming...

"I wonder what kind of dream is that!" I stated as Minun proceeded to shake him again.

"Oh... oh... yes... now you got it. Now that's right... hmm... Minun..." he whispered.

Minun frowned while I could hardly keep myself from laughing. It was too obvious as for what kind of dream Derlank was having...

Minun decided that a sharp kick would be better to wake him than shaking him... so, she turned around him, placed herself right in front of him and...

SPLAAAAAM!!!

I covered my eyes, not daring to look at the scene. Judging from the incredibly high-pitched scream Derlank let out when waking up, I figured out easily that Minun must have kicked him "where it counts". Poor ol' electric rat...

"AAAAAARG! Oh my... Why did you... OOOOOOW!!!" cried the ederly Pikachu.

"Serves you right, pervert! I tought you meant it when you made a scene atop that big rock! Pah! You stupid old geezer..." she harshly said.

Derlank stopped and stared at Minun, wide-eyed... and then, he smiled. "Heh! Must still be my dream! I saw you dead! Now come over here my..."

SLAP!

Minun slapped Derlank with all of her strenght!

"Ow! This hurts you bi..." Derlank stopped right in the middle of his sentance. "This hurts? Wait a minute! A dream cannot hurt so... Minun?!? YOU'RE ALIVE?!?"

"Of course I am you dummy! If you could just shut up for a second and keep your "thing" where it belongs for a minute, I'll explain everything!" she almost yelled. Obviously, she was NOT happy!

Derlank frowned and sat down. "Alright... As I already explained to the kitty, I was born dead and thus, cannot die a second time. That's all."

"How can this be? I mean... if you were born dead, how can you be alive right now?" the old rat asked.

"Well... I don't know. I just am." she replied.

We all stood there, staring at each others... and then, we all felt a harsh, very harsh pain... and we all collapsed. We were used to this. Since Pokeballs doesn't work on Defects, Defect Trainers use special chemicals to put them to sleep and then carry them back to their cages or rooms... and this meant that we had received an injection of those nasty chemicals from our Defect Trainer...

Thus, my vision faded... All that I hoped was that I would not awaken in a high security zone, separated from the others...

As the Darkness came to me, I welcomed it and soon, all of my toughts were emptied from my mind and I fell into a state of deep, unconscious sleep...

=TO BE CONTINUED