Chapter 5: Weakness
Misty slowly opened her eyes to look up at the ceiling above her. Though her vision was slightly blurry, her head and stomach were throbbing in pain, and she felt like she was going to throw up, her mind remained as clear as water. She remembered all the events leading up to the point where she had been knocked unconscious which was saying something considering how hard she was hit. She didn't even have time to defend herself, let alone bring out a Pokemon. The people that had attacked the Center were in a league of their own and were to be taken seriously.
Misty finally recovered to the point of sitting up, her vision clearing despite the throbbing pain still being present. She still felt like hurling but she ended up ignoring it and taking a look around. At first she was unfamiliar with where she was but after a few seconds of looking, it became clear that she was in the back of the Pokemon Center, where they kept the Pokemon that were either injured or just recently fully healed. The reason she hadn't recognized the room at first was because of the numerous furniture that had been pushed against the door.
"What the-," Misty muttered, but quickly stopped talking when Nurse Joy and a Pokemon known as Chansey ran past carrying numerous Pokeballs in their arms. Joy seemed rather panicked as she darted into a separate room and stayed in there for a minute before rushing out. She only stopped when she saw Misty sitting up, immediately running over to kneel by her side.
"Young lady, your finally awake," Joy said with a worried expression, clearly concerned about the state Misty was in. "You took a rather vicious attack back there and I thought you'd be out for a while longer. Please try not to move too much."
"I'm fine," Misty said, ignoring the sudden throb of pain from her gut. "More importantly, whats going on? Who were those people? Where's that boy?"
Misty had so many questions swirling around in her head that it was hard to focus on a single one. She didn't know much about the attackers except that they were obviously incredibly skilled, not even bothering to use Pokemon to wipe her out. Normally her first thought would have been thieves, but it was hard to wrap her head around mere Pokemon thieves having such skill. If they did have that much skill and strength then they should have been robbing places that had much better Pokemon rather then injured ones like the Pokemon Center. She just couldn't make sense of anything, and the pain was quite detrimental to her thinking too deeply on the matter.
"I'll explain as best I can though I don't know much either," Joy said as she helped Misty to her feet. "The two from earlier are most likely Pokemon thieves, and rather elite ones at that. I've heard about them from my cousins in other cities. They belong to an organized group that has yet to be named, an organization bent on stealing and exploiting Pokemon for power. It's said that just one of their main elites is at LEAST on the level of taking on multiple gym leaders Gym Leader if not the some of the Elite Four. These two are no doubt some of the elite group. In reality, with what little strength we have, we're in no way a match for them. All we can do is send the Pokemon to a neighboring Pokemon Center. I've already prepped the machine and have begun sending them."
"How very brave of you," A voice said from behind Joy. "Also very smart when in a crisis, however I'm going to have to ask you to go to sleep. Maybe if your lucky, help will come and you won't die."
There was a moments pause before Joy, with a rather shocked look on her face, fell face forward onto the ground, out cold. Three deep lines could be seen extending from her left shoulder to her right back hip, blood spilling from the open wounds. Behind Joys body, on top of an unconscious Chansey was a rather short figure with a small cloak, a top hat, and glasses, same as the figures near the front of the Center. It was obviously recognizable as a Meowth which, combined with a bloodied Joy and a knocked out Chansey, caused Misty to quickly back up to the point where she fell back down.
"You...your talking," Misty said as she pointed towards the Meowth, who had jumped off the Pokemon and was now walking away. "How?"
"I do apologize for this as you weren't supposed to be a part of the plan," Meowth said as he stopped by the door Joy had been in previously. "The only victims were supposed to be this Nurse and her Pokemon. I never meant to kill that other girl but she got in my way when I tried to destroy the Transfer machine. It can't be helped though. Just stay out of our way and you'll be spared. I don't need further complications."
"What?" Misty couldn't wrap her head around what she was hearing. According to what this Meowth was saying, someone had already died by its hands.
"Spectre #2, the back is clear," Meowth said as he walked away from Misty. "Proceed with the second part of the operation. The cops have unfortunately been notified when I broke in through the rear entrance. We have roughly seven minutes to finish the job. I repeat, the back has been secure and the second part is clear for go."
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"Ten seconds are up kid," The blue haired man said as he watched Vex stand up from the ground. "Make your choice."
"Pikachu, thundershock," Vex yelled as he backed up a bit. "Full power."
Sparks began to fly as electricity quickly built up in Pikachu's red cheeks. Even from where he was standing, Vex could feel the hair on the back of neck stand on end. Judging by the amount of power being built up, it seemed that even he would get caught up in the blast. Vex quickly retreated as far as he could, all the way up to the door which he tried to push open but to no avail.
Spectre #2 finally made an expression for the first time since his arrival, and it was one of irritation. "I hate when there are unnecessary complications. Very well, I gave you a choice. Death it is." The blue haired man pulled out a small pokeball from under his cloak and pressed the button twice, enlarging it. "Fighting novices is always the most dangerous. Thats why its better to just kill them. Go Koffing."
There was a flash of light that followed the click of the button on the pokeball, a bright white that illuminated the whole room for a full second before disappearing. In place of the light, floating a good several feet in the air, was a purple spherical creature that Vex assumed was called Koffing. It had vacant eyes, a wide mouth with a full set of teeth, numerous protrusions similar to geysers, and a skull and crossbones directly underneath its face. The whole thing looked kinda goofy but Vex had already learned that anything called a Pokemon could be filed under potentially dangerous. He wasn't too keen on underestimating this thing just because of its expression.
Vex turned his attention towards Pikachu who had until this point been building up his power. Just when it seemed like the power was at its peek, it released it straight ahead with surprising accuracy, headed straight for the man. However, Vex had heard him utter words before the bolt was fired, words that he couldn't hear over the sparking of electricity.
The newly arrived Pokemon known as Koffing intercepted the blast of lightning, taking it straight on, its whole body glowing with a bright green light. When the lightning finally stopped, there wasn't so much as even a scratch on the purple creature while Pikachu looked like he was already tired.
"Koffing, Gyro Ball," The blue haired man said as he began walking forward. "Take out that Pikachu. I'll finish the kid real quick."
Without even hesitating, the Koffing began to spin, the outline of its body glowing white as it spun faster and faster. It then hurled itself towards Pikachu, who nimbly but barely dodged it. The Koffing bounced off the floor and then the wall followed by the ceiling before once again attempting to smack into Pikachu. The speed was steadily increasing with each thing the Koffing smashed into to the point where Vex could only see a purple blur.
While Vex wanted to watch and give Pikachu orders, he was distracted by a sudden fist slamming into his temple. Pain erupted and clouded his vision as he stumbled backwards, more pain erupting as he felt a fist slam into his gut. He felt like he wanted to pass out, but he grit his teeth, ducked, prayed for a hit, before jumping back up with an uppercut with all his strength. Luck was on his side as his uppercut managed to connect with the tip of the mans chin, causing him to back up and fall onto one knee.
Vex moved forward to take advantage of the situation but was knocked unconscious by a kick to the side of his head which sent him flying sideways. The red haired female looked over at the unconscious youth before helping up the blue haired man. "If that kid was lucky enough to catch you unaware then you need more training. Lets go, Spectre #3 just called in that its time for part 2 of the plan. Leave the child and the Pikachu, we have no need for them nor a need to waste precious seconds killing them. Call your Koffing off."
The blue haired man looked towards the young man before getting to his feet, amazingly fine even after having his chin hit, which would incapacitate person for about a minute or so. However, no matter how you looked at it, the man was unfazed as he picked up his pokeball and recalled Koffing back into it. Then him and the red haired woman retreated rapidly from the Center.
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Infuriating and depressing. Two words that perfectly described how Vex felt while he floated about in the endless black depths of his mind. Even though he had been knocked out, for some reason Vex had retained the ability to think clearly, as if he was floating in a sea of darkness rather than unconscious on the floor of the Pokemon Center. Though normally this would intrigue Vex in a number of ways, it wasn't doing him any favors. He had already been floating through the empty space for a while now and had had plenty of time to mentally abuse himself.
Weak. Weak. Weak. This simple word had already been repeated in his head and out loud over and over again nonstop for what seemed like hours. If he had been in reality, Vex no doubt would've been kicking trees and punching brick walls until the skin on his fists were torn and bloody. The feeling of being utterly helpless was truly the worst, especially since it was his first time experiencing such a strong feeling of fear and despair. It had hit him hard and it made him angry to the point of screaming.
Vex had already gone over the situation over and over in his head. In the end, it all came down to the fact that he wasn't strong or smart enough to deal with the situation he had been given. Someone could have died or was probably already dead simply because he couldn't put up enough of a fight or even stall long enough to even be of use. Sure one could make an argument that he was a child against an adult but that didn't erase the feeling of failure or the boiling anger he felt when he thought about how he had basically been nothing but a punching bag.
Now, surrounded by this darkness, Vex mentally cursed himself for his weakness, lamenting his downfall in silence. It took him a while, but eventually his self hatred and anger slowly ebbed away, replaced with a feeling of sadness and and a sort of homesickness. He began to recall his life in his own world. It felt like it had been weeks since he had been back home when in reality it had only been roughly a day, and not even a full one. With so much happening, it was hard to believe that so little time had passed.
Be it a blessing or rotten luck, with the numerous things happening to Vex, he hadn't had the time to stop and truly think about everything. Well, actually he hadn't WANTED to think about it, because he knew the moment he fully accepted the reality of the situation, he most likely wouldn't have been able to handle it. Forcing himself forward was his own way of protecting himself from the emotions he had bottled up, from the overwhelming situation that he found himself in. However, now that he was unable to move forward and had been hit with the harsh reality of being weak, Vex couldn't help but feel the crushing levels of depression.
"It seems I came at the right time," A deep and powerful voice stated, ringing throughout the empty void. "Can't have you breaking down just yet so lets clear up those emotions real quick. I have been waiting for someone like you Vex Masters."
The negative feelings that Vex had been experiencing seconds ago were pushed away as he twisted around, searching the darkness for whatever or whoever had spoken. Eventually Vex spotted a small pinpoint of light located "under" his feet. The light was slowly getting brighter and brighter until Vex couldn't even look at it, instead opting to shut his eyes to avoid becoming temporarily blind.
Apart from the light, Vex could feel a sort of warmth flowing through him, cleansing him of all his negative emotions without even leaving a trace. Replacing the negative emotions were feelings like comfort and tranquility. It was definitely an odd thing, sort of like someone forcibly removed his emotions and shoved in totally new ones. However, Vex had little to no time to ponder these new emotions as something along the lines of gravity suddenly kicked and he felt himself enter free fall. This lasted for around three seconds before his whole body hit something hard, knocking the wind out of him.
Gasping for air, Vex opened his eyes, expecting to see nothing but light penetrating the darkness, but instead finding himself on flat ground. Not only that but the black void had all but disappeared, replaced by a large room with neither doors nor windows. A fireplace lay in front of him, the flames dancing happily in various hues of red, orange, and yellow. Behind him in the center of the room was a enormous desk surrounded by large white, cushioned chairs all positioned over a fluffy black carpet that seemed to cover nearly the whole room.
Turning back to face the fire, Vex stood up off the floor and dusted himself off. The pain from landing on the floor had already ebbed considerably before disappearing entirely. Of course the fact that Vex could even feel pain inside of what was supposed to be his mind was quite interesting. Another thing that Vex found intriguing was what this room was and how it got here along with who had spoken to him when he had been back floating in the void.
"That would be me my dear child," A voice said from behind Vex. "I called you here for a little chat."
Vex whirled around, his head spinning so fast that he heard a small crack. Sitting on the couch that had been vacant seconds ago was a man with bright silver hair and a white lab coat, looking to be in his late twenties. He had black eyes and possessed an aura of power that Vex could feel even from the distance separating them.
"I guess I should introduce myself," the man said as he smiled at Vex. "My name is Arceus. Come and have a seat Vex Masters. We have much to discuss."
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