Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Rejected ❯ Purification Denied ( Chapter 2 )

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

Chapter 2 is up.

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REJECTED
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CHAPTER 2: PURIFICATION DENIED
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When I awoke, there was nothing... nothing but darkness and I instantly felt the cold steel... and I knew that my fears had came true. I could not hear or see anything... but I could feel the shackles that kept me bound to the cold, hard wall...

Unlike the old room, there was no window here... and judging from the lack of the slightest breeze, there was no opening. I was completely trapped... and altought I was chained to the wall, the humans had probably taken no chance and sealed the room.

However, there were no needs for any shackles, for any walls... for I was trapped within my own mind. I had failed everyone... miserably. I was now in the high-security prison and as such, since Derlank would never leave without me, I had caused our escape plan to be nothing more than what it had always been... a fleeting dream.

We were trapped and we would remain so for a whole month... and I do not know where that old rat and Minun are. I am alone... and it doesn't matter. I'm always like that... I bring about chaos and destruction... for I have "It".

Still, Derlank has "It" too and he can control it!... why can't I? What is wrong with me? Why is the Darkness controlling me unstead of having myself control it? Derlank can shape and reshape the Dark Flames to his will, concentrating the Darkness into specific shapes and forms... but I cannot. Unlike him, the Dark Power only rise when one of my feelings grow extreme and then... terrible things happen.

Was there a point to it all? Was there a point to this destruction I was causing?

CLANG!

The room was suddenly filled with light as the Defect Trainer entered. Still, there was nothing to see. Dull, rusted grey steel was on the floor, walls, and ceilings... and nothing else. As for the size of the room... I was surprised I could fit in it so well considering it's size.

"It seems to have awakened." said the human to the shadow behind him.

"Well... Let us try again then." replied the shadow. Judging from the voice, it was one of those cursed scientists.

The scientist approached, carrying a needle of some sort. I knew what this was... and altought I knew it would bring me nothing but pain, it was in my interest to fool them into thinking that the mind-control toxin was effective.

FLIIIIISCH!!!

My eyes widened as I felt the needle pierce throught the left vein in my neck. I felt every nerve in my body burn and I felt... I felt... the pain was too great to describe. It felt... horrible. I felt all strenght leave me and I had the urge to scream... but I did not. The pain was too much for me to make even a single move...

"Man! Why is he so tense? It's... creepy." said the Defect Trainer.

As much as I wanted not to cry... not to submit to those humans... the pain got the best out of me and I relaxed and all of the sadness and despair I had kept in my heart for so long was released. Without being able to control myself, I begun to sob... and the sobs only got louder and faster as the toxin invaded my bloodstream, setting my entire nervous system ablaze.

The scientist took out the needle out of my neck. He stared at it and noticed how it was covered with blood...

"I must have made the injection at a wrong angle..." he whispered to himself.

The Defect Trainer came to me and placed his right hand on my shoulder in a compassionate way. Normally, I'd feel insulted from having a human try to calm me down like they try to calm common mindless animal-type wild Pokemon... but the combined physical pain and emotionnal depression was more than enough to break my mental resistance and caused me to welcome the gesture with open arms.

"Calm down... calm down..." said the Defect Trainer...

It doesn't matter if one doesn't truly love you for when one is in the deepest abysses of despair... even the most inept and fake gesture of compassion will feel like a gift from Ho-oh himself. His words and the warmth of his hand calmed the emotionnal storm within my heart and allowed my mind to reform and take ahold of the physical pain.

I stared at the Defect Trainer, no longer crying and struggling against the pain so that I wouldn't fall into such a vulnerable state again. I felt so ashamed by my moment of weakness... I had emotionnaly welcomed a being who did not care for me, who only wanted me to his slave. I had acted like the animal this human believed me to be.

CLACK! CLACK!

The shackles that bound me were removed and then, the humans walked back to the door.

"Follow me." ordered the human.

My legs were shaking, my vision was blurry, I felt like collapsing in tears again as the pain was once again getting the upper hand on my reason... but I gathered my strenght and attempted to step foward.

My right foot... it was so... heavy... As I rose it above the ground, it felt as if thousands of Snorlaxes were sleeping on top of it... I was shaking so hard I wondered if my nerves had broke down... I tried to move the foot foward... so... hard... so... heavy... I knew I wouldn't be able to do it physically.

I tried to concentrate on myself... Clear your mind... such pain... ignore it... Brain... surging with signals from all over the body... Lungs are burning... heart is ripping apart... I must numb... the signals... But the signals are so strong and come from everywhere at once... My mind must... triumph... over the matter... of my BODY!

My eyes glowed blue and I could make the step foward... but instantly, I felt my strenght leaving and I fell down. I landed right on my nose... but I didn't felt pain from falling down. I was already at my limit point and I knew for sure that it was impossible for me to feel extra pain.

I hoped to lose consciousness... to have the cold sleep carry my mind away from this place... or at least, carry my soul to the depths of the Darkness, where pain wouldn't reach me until my body was freed of that vile poison the humans injected into my body... but the cold sleep did not came, not this time.

"I think you REALLY missed when you made that injection!" said the Defect Trainer, a bit panicked!

"That bleeding seems pretty consistant! Bring the medic team! We cannot afford to lose the subject!" said the scientist.

My vision was now blurred beyond recognition and finally, I felt as if the pain was numbed down... For a second, I tought that I had succeeded at overcoming my physical pain... then, several humans came and I felt as if I was lifted and carried away... but unfortunately, my vision was so bad that I couldn't see where they were carrying me...

"Man! Look at him! I never seen a Defect so tense!" said a voice.

"His tension is too high! He gonna have a heart attack!" said another one, panicked.

"It's the serum! That serum is causing a reaction in his nervous system!" said yet another one!

Way to go! You only figure it out NOW, after seven years? Sheesh!... but then, those toughts were promply expelled from my mind as... AAAAAAAARG!!! OH GREAT HO-OH!!! WHAT... THE... HAPPENED?!?

"NO! He's having a heart attack!" yelled a voice which I barely heard.

"Man! Why is the lab so far?!?" panicked another one.

My.. my... mind broke... ag... again un... under the effect of... of the... the... pain... Unable to... t... to... cont... t... trol mys... s... self... I begun to sob... it... it was hurting so... much...

BAM!

"Finally! We're here! Connect him! QUICKLY!" screamed a voice.

FLATCH!

I felt... something... enter... ring... my body...

BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!

"His heart is going on too fast! It's gonna explode!" yelled a voice.

"We're gonna lose him!" screamed another.

"NO! We cannot afford to lose the subject! Lower his tension! At all cost!" said the only voice that seemed calm.

"Pre... preparing the injection!" said a voice.

"I saw Defects dying before... but never like this..." said a rather depressed sounding voice.

"What kind of Defect Trainer are you?!? You should have seen signs that the toxin was having this kind of effect before!" screamed a really, REALLY angry voice!

"OH MY..." screamed the same voice that was preparing the injection.

"The vein in which the injection was done... EXPLODED?!?" yelled yet another voice.

"It's that g*****n serum! Get it out of his body!" ordered the calm voice.

"It takes a full day for the serum to be diluted!" said another voice.

"I don't f*****g care! Cut his veins wide open!" ordered the calm voice.

"But... he's gonna die!" said another voice.

"We need to get his tension down and that serum out! We'll do both at once! He's gonna die anyway if we don't try anything!" said the calm voice.

BLAAAAM!!!

Then, I heard a sound from within... an explosion?

I felt all the pain disapppear, as if completely destroyed by the explosion... and then, I wondered if the humans had succeeded... but then, I felt as if I was lying in a pool of water... and I begun to suspect what had happened...

The voices faded and slowly my vision disappeared. The Darkness did not replace my vision, unlike before... no... my vision just... disappeared. It was really... weird... and then, the pain disappearing like this... I had never felt like this before.

It was... becoming hard to breath... but strangely enough, that was not bothering me... not anymore... and I felt like a cloud of emptiness rising within me and clouding my memories.

Then, I realised it... I was dying. They had failed. I had a final heart attack and with my heart completely stopped, it was only a matter of time before my brain would use up the last ounces of oxygen left in my bloodstream.

My eyelids felt so heavy... and I felt so tired... so I closed them and then, a kind of sleep like which I had never, ever felt begun to rise... Then, I begun to think that all of this was quite ironic.

So... in the end, I do escape the next day after the Guest Match... yes... I do escape... altought I never suspected it might have happened like this.

For a second, I felt guilty for giving in so easily, to accept death so easily... but then, did I had any reason not to? For so many long years, all I ever knew was pain, sorrow, anger, and despair...

My dreams kept me alive for so many years... they gave me hope but they remained only that; dreams... and one cannot live only from dreams. I needed a reality... and that reality had forsaken me.

Then, I had hope... hope that I would escape... but then, it was impossible. This abyss was well-designed. No matter how strong I tought I was... I was too important to the humans, too precious for them to let me go. I ignored the proofs for years... but the event that happened yesterday couldn't be ignored. There was no going out. Either I became a slave of humanity, either I died...

I had nothing to hope for, nothing to return to, no loved one to await my return... Derlank? He is old... I know he won't last... in a few months at best, he will join me... Minun? She was never alive to begin with... she is a walking dead...

Maybe death wasn't so bad. After-life or not, it didn't mattered. Even a lack of existance was better than this hellish life. Heck! I bet that even Hell itself is better than this place! Wherever I go, may it be to the Emptiness or to the After-life... I welcome it. Finally... the suffering comes at an end...

The sleep came to reclaim my soul... and I instantly gave in. After such suffering, the end of my life came out as a breath of fresh air, a liberation.

Such irony... the ONLY good side to my life, when you think about it, was, in the end, that it eventually ended... such irony...

...

There was a blinding light... so bright I couldn't see... everywhere, blinding light.

Was this the famous tunnel humans, Pokemon, and Defects alike spoke of? The tunnel that lead to the end of existance or the After-life?

But then, I recognised something in the light... I felt as if I could see two figures... one male, the other female... and I could recognise both of them despite the fact that I couldn't truly see them.

I couldn't make any details... but for some reason, I felt I knew them... in fact, I felt as if those were the same figures that haunted my dreams... and I felt a part of their feelings.

For some reason, as happy as they were in my dreams, they were sad in the tunnel... sad... from seeing me. But... why? Why such sadness?

FLASH!!!

The tunnel faded and I awoke.

I opened my eyes and stared at the surroundings. I was in another room of the Defect Center... which meant that...

I stared at my hand... and it was still there. I touched my own chest, then my face, then my tail, then my feet... they all seemed material. A single claw came out of one of the fingers on my right hand and I scratched my left hand...

OUCH!!! It hurts!... which means that I'm still alive.

I sighed, disappointed. Well... the suffering continues then...

"What's with the long face?" asked a familiar voice.

I turned to see Derlank, sitting next to Minun. Minun was still not breathing... and her heart wasn't beating either... which creeped me out a bit but not as much as before, strangely enough. I felt as if my near-death experience had made her look more... normal... more... alive... or maybe it was just her who was recovering from her fatal experience yesterday?

"You know, an anwser would be nice!" said the old rat, frowning.

"Well... nevermind. Tought I would... escape..." I said.

For some reason, I felt that Derlank understood what I meant about... and it didn't pleased him! "Oh no! You were NOT thinking of escaping THAT way, don't you? You're the last person I know who would have such toughts! Believe me! If you're having such toughts... then you can be sure you'll be the one matin' with our good ol' cute undead girl!"

Minun turned to Derlank and slapped him with all of her strenght!

"Heh! Breathing or not... she's as energic as ever! Hehehe!" he grinned despite the fact that he had been slapped quite hard.

I begun to look around... and I recognised this place. The strong lamps on the high ceiling, the trees and plants around... the strange altar in the middle... Yep, it was that stupid Celebi Shrine place... which meant that the humans would attempt to Purify us all... again.

"Tell me... how long was I unconscious?" I asked.

"Well... you were unconscious a full week. I was so worried..." Minun begun to cry... but without her body working, there was no tears coming out of her eyes. This felt weird... she was crying but there were absolutely no tears...

"Oh! Cheer up! It takes more than this to kill our dear psi kitty!" said Derlank, laughing.

Minun stared at Derlank with a murderous look...

Then, humans entered the shrine.

A Pokemon trainer and his six Pokemon as well as the Defect Trainer and some scientists arrived. The Defect Trainer and the scientists positionned themselves far from us and took out analysis tools while the Pokemon trainer and his Pokemon formed a circle around us.

"My Pokemon are in position! Ready to remove the Darkness trapping their hearts!" stated the Pokemon trainer.

Derlank turned to me, chuckling. "Hehehehe! Those stupid humans! When will they learn that not all Dark Pokemon had their souls sealed? After all, I'm a Dark Pokemon from my full free will!"

I stared at the Pokemon... maybe Derlank was... but not I. To him, the Dark Power was a gift, an extra power, an attribute that made him different from the norm... but not for me. Unlike him, I wanted the Purification to succeed. I wanted to get rid of that stupid destructive power that keeps on killing my friends and destroying my dreams!

As for Minun... well, the humans should have analysed her better! Humans are know to confuse undead for Dark Pokemon... but while both lack the Inner Light of regular Pokemon and Defects, there is still the fact that undead usually do NOT have the Dark Power!

As the six Pokemon surrounded us were encased in bubbles of holy light, I felt the purifying power being summoned...

"Bah! Just close your eyes and ignore them as always, isn't ol' kitty? Huh? Kitty? KITTY?!?" Derlank gasped as he stared at me... but I was no longer staring at me.

I was staring at the light that was coming from the ceiling... or rather from the portal in the ceiling. The holy light was here... the purifying power was here... I could feel it call to me and Derlank...

I stood up and stared at the circle of light... the humans leaned foward, in interest. Was the Purification FINALLY going to work?

As the holy light grew even more intense, I stepped in the middle of the altar, bathing into the light.

"NO! DON'T!" yelled Derlank. Minun, her, stared at me, eyes widened...

"Rid me of that dark curse! I don't care whatever happens! Just take away that evil stuff from me!" I tought as I closed my eyes and waited for the light to erase the Darkness that haunted the depths of my heart...

...and then, there was a bright flash and the Purification ritual was completed.

"Alright! RETURN!" yelled the Pokemon trainer as he called his Pokemon back into their pokeballs now that the ritual was completed.

"Well... it looks like the ritual failed on the Pikachu, as always..." stated the Defect Trainer, noticing that the Pikachu hadn't changed.

"Maybe... but the Unknow Subject..." said one of the scientists.

"Are you... feeling alright?" asked Derlank, unsure of how I felt for some reason.

I felt good... better than I had ever felt. I felt... different. Finally, the curse was gone. Sure I would never be able to use those Shadow attacks ever again... but who cares? I would never harm anyone by accident ever again...

"He looks kinda brighter." said the Pokemon trainer.

I turned to Derlank and tried to smile... but suddenly, I felt as if something was burning within me. I grasped my chest as an intense pain seemingly ripped me apart from within.

"AAAAAAAAAARG!" I could do nothing but scream as an unknow surge ripped me apart...

...and then, I closed my eyes, not sure what to espect... and I felt... dirty...

When I opened my eyes again, the humans all seemed disappointed... and I knew why. The Light was gone, completely driven out by my Inner Darkness. Why? Why wouldn't it leave? Why would it continue to make my life miserable?

"Oh you! YOU!" said Minun angrily, pointing at me. "NEVER do that again! You hear me? NEVER!"

I frowned. Yes... I would not try this again. It didn't mattered if it was I or the humans that wanted it... for the Darkness had chosen. I was cursed with eternal Dark Power... and until the day of my death, it would always, always remain. Truly, Fate was cruel toward me. I imagined Ho-oh, flying above the Defect Center and laughing at me as he denied the Light to me...

The Defect Trainer walked to us and we all knew that he would bring us back to our rooms... or maybe not.

"The Minun and the Subject, come with me. Pikachu, stay." said the human.

I figured out they wanted to study Derlank a bit longer or something...

"Wish me luck!" said Derlank as we left the shrine.

"I wish you anything but luck!" I replied, grinning. Derlank smiled back. An inside joke between us...

With that said, the Defect Trainer led us back to our old room much to my relief. I tought I was gonna return to the high-security room for a while.

As I sat down in the room, it suddenly, didn't felt as filthy as before. More than ever, I liked the rays of light that came from the window and the fact that this room wasn't cramped, despite it's disgusting floor.

CLANG!

The door closed and I was alone with Minun. I sat down in a corner and begun to imagine Derlank, being tortured in the lab by those cruel scientists as I stood there...

"Kitty?" asked Minun.

I was suddenly forced out of my toughts by the yellow and blue female mouse. The way she stared at me... that was rather strange. In all the months she remained, I only remember her staring at me like that about a dozen of times...

"Kitty musn't be your real name. You must have a name, don't you?" she asked.

I looked down. It was true... I had a name of my own... a name which I hadn't used in so many years... a name which I remembered having obtained before coming to the Defect Center and since all that I could remember of my life was the Defect Center... this meant that this name was the sole link, along with my dreams, to my origin... for while I often felt as if I was born and would always remain in this place, I knew that I came from another place... a place which was very different from this pit.

I looked at the mouse and wondered... should I tell her my name?... No... no need to tell her my real name. I'll make something up...

"My name is... Meltow." I anwsered.

Minun smiled. "Meltow? That's... original. Much more original than mine, that's for sure!"

I raised an eyebrow. Minun wasn't her real name? Seeing how she giggled as she saw my reaction, she guessed what I tought...

"Oh no! Minun is not my name... it's merely the name of my specie. My name is Cherlie. I was named like that becease that it sounds a bit like "cheerleader". After all, the Minun and Plusle are know as the "pompom girls" Pokemon!" she said.

Cherlie? Actually, that wasn't that bad of a name.

"You know... it doesn't sound that bad. My name may be original... but I believe yours sound better, personally." I said.

Cherlie seemed surprised for a second, her ears rising straight up and all... but then, she giggled a bit and blushed... and she stood in front of me, standing and staring at me as if she tried to look innocent...

"Meltow? I always wondered... with all those years of yours, you must have probably met with a female of your kind and... well..." she winked and then giggled like a teenager.

As I stared at her, I begun to notice some stuff I hadn't noticed before... probably becease I had never paid attention. I knew that Cherlie was quite young when she arrived... but I didn't knew how young she was. However, as I stared at her now, I came at the conclusion that she must be a freshly adult Minun... and as such, she has all her life in front of her... well... if you can call what awaits her in this strinky pit a life.

As for myself... well... I was not especting such a question. Well... since the life span of Pokemon and Defects is quite short, our reproduction instincts are quite strong and at the age of about ten years, almost every Pokemon and Defect that isn't the lowest-ranked member of a pack or society has mated at least once... and I stood as one of the rare exeptions.

Maybe it was becease of how quiet and sensitive I was... or maybe it was becease I was quite tall and pink... but no female was interested in me. As for meeting females of my own specie... in fact, I never even heard of someone of my own specie. It looks like I am definitely unique after all... As for mating with Defects of other species... well, this would be possible... maybe... if the females were interested. It was a sad fact... but becease of our reproduction instincts, males and females disregard love as nothing more than an hinderance and as such, males and females meet with each others, mate, and then leave each others... even worse, often, the female will gain an instinctive grudge against the male with whom she mated. Probably an instinct that was there to warrant genetical diversity by forcing Pokemon and Defects never to mate the same being of the opposite gender again...

However, to myself, those facts were pretty... cruel. Humans had none of these problems. Their reproduction instincts weren't in the way and many, if not most humans could live with the same partner for their entire life, forming a family. This is something that not many Pokemon and Defects achieved... as for myself... I was strangely enough, spared from those instincts and altought I DO have a few reproductive instincts of my own... they are closer to that of a human to that of a normal Pokemon or Defect. As such, I could never bring myself to mate with a female without knowing them... and by the time we know each others, they already found a partner... and furthermor, the instinctive grudge always scared me... Mating a female only to have her hate me for life becease of it is not my idea of fun... especially since, unlike Derlank, I would prefer a lasting emotionnal love to a physical passion that barely last two days.

"Meltow?" she asked again.

I stared at her... and wondered if I should tell her.

"Mating isn't part of my instinctive behaviour... well, not in the way you're thinking." I stated.

Obviously, this anwser confused her. "Huh?"

"I do not only thirst for knowledge and hapiness like a human, Cherlie... I cannot mate unless I have a feeling of love mixed in... just like normal humans." I explained.

"Heeheehee!" she gigled. "Well! Are you SURE you are a Defect? You act like a human, you thirst for knowledge like a human, you feel like a human, you think like a human... you even dream like a human, with colors and all! You sound more like a human stuck in a Defect body than a real Defect, to me!"

"You won't be the first to tell me that..." I slowly mumbled to myself.

I had never understood it... why wild Pokemon despised human traits so much. They want to be caught and "loved"... and yet, they hate everything related to humanity? Cherlie was an exeption... for almost every wild Pokemon that had arrived in the past had grown to despise me upon when knowing me. Almost all of my friends were ex-Pokemon or wild Defects.

Cherlie kept on staring at me... what did she wanted? First, she wants to know my name and then, she asks me if I mated before? Then, she goes around and...

"Meltow... you were unconscious for a full week... and as I already told you... I was really, really worried." she said, staring at me in a strange way...

She got closer... "All those I've know have died... I seen all of them vanish, one after another... Promise me... that you will not leave me."

"What kind of promise is that? It's not like I'm going to run away or teleport away anytime soon!" I said, smiling.

She kept on staring... and then, I stopped smiling upon seeing how distressed she was.

"Meltow... I will be frank to you... I... I am not quite what I look like. While I may appear young to you... I am quite older than even Derlank and you are." she said.

"Really? Then why don't you look old, then? You seem young than both I and Derlank!" I stated.

"The dead... does not age." she stated.

I realised it... it must be true. It IS possible that she could be older than me! After all... she is an undead and the undead never die...

"Tell me... how old are you?" I asked.

Cherlie closed her eyes... "21 years-old. A full year past the limit. I seen all my parents, my brothers and sisters, my pack... I outlived everyone... and while they all grew old, I would forever stay a freshly adult Minun..."

She opened her eyes and stared into my own. "I asked you to promise me becease that time does not seem to affect you... or at least, not nearly as much as it affects regular Defects. Will... you remain?"

"Cherlie... I will not be going anywhere. We are friends and you know it. I will never let a friend behind..." I stated.

The yellow and blue mouse stepped away from me... "Friends... This is how you see me..."

She turned toward the window, her look distant for some reason... and then, she turned back to me, staring at me with her usual, cheerful look.

"Well! You made a promise... be sure to respect the promise you made!" she remainded.

"I will not forget. Do not worry." I told her.

CLANG!

Derlank was thrown back into the room. He wasn't beat up too badly apparently...

The Defect Trainer pointed me... "Come on! The scientists wants to do a full analyse on you! They worry why the Purification failed... and there's not two thousands of finding out why it failed!"

I followed the Defect Trainer, knowing the the analysis would probably involve many tests involing injecting powerful poisons in my body and would also involve taking tissue samples off me... Looks like I will suffer some more... but well, I once again have a reason to not let the torture push me over the edge and into insanity... for I believe that Cherlie may have an interesting backstory after all...

Huh? What am I thinking about? Why am I wondering about where Cherlie came from? I, Cherlie, and Derlank are all alive and well!... well, in a relative way! We will have to think of a new escape plan!... we must...

=TO BE CONTINUED