[Pokémon] Through the Darkness

However, with a clap of the Director's hands, the lights in the infirmary ceiling snapped to life, dispelling the colorful lights and revealing row upon endless row of lifeless bodies in carefully tended hospital beds. If it weren't for the steady beat of the cardiometers and the look of terror on the faces, one would swear it was a mausoleum.

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The imagery there is pretty disturbing.

A long silence passed as Arkus stared at the lifeless figures in the infirmary. Then he curled up his fist and sent a nebulous surge of power up his arm. Dark sparks crackled from his claws and hissed as they touched the floor.

"Keith is gone. Don't think you'll get any sympathy from me by bringing up that dead past."

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He really means business here.

The part with Five peeking at Arkus had me chuckled. Hm, I guess Arkus forgot he was called a Lucario before (unless I mis-remembered and the name Lucario didn't even come up)? Either way, this was still an enjoyable read and looking forward to more!

"I keep telling myself not to care," he said, not recalling such a time. "I knew I shouldn't care. It wasn't my job, it wasn't for the good of humanity, and it would only get me in trouble. But God damn it! I don't know why, but I care. There are times when I wish we could all get along, that we didn't have to hide and fear you, and I don't even know why."

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I think this is my favorite line of agent Five's so far in this story. Must be really tough for him to bottle all of that up. Five and Arkus's interaction was enjoyable this chapter also, interesting Arkus already trust Five with that vial there. Looking forward to next chapter!

The smell of grilled onions and grilled steak filled the area.

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Congratulations: now I want steak.

Her Aura pulsed in rhythm with the surroundings, and she perceived a solemn, egoless sentience in the atmosphere, as though a living library slumbered within the walls.

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Well that's cool.

When she reached the bottom, she was greeted with a spacious, glittering cavern. A pond in the heart of the cave reflected the glittering white gems in the ceiling, and gemstones studded the walls.

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WELL THAT'S COOL

Chihiro struggled to sit up, but she barely managed to raise her head and whisper, "Please don't go."

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Awww...

The machoke glanced around the room, and then seemed to remember something. He rummaged around his desk drawers and dug out a bag of mints. Most of them were cracked, and the few remaining intact pieces were buried beneath minty white powder.

"Here, have some," he said.

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That is possibly the cutest thing a machoke has ever done.

"Hey, do you have any hammocks?" he asked. "I'm not fond of beds."

"Hammocks? Well, I–"

"Nevermind, I got it." He waved his hand, and the sheets sprang off the bottom bunk, wrapping themselves around the bedposts to form a hammock.

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Well that's certainly one way to do it!

"Ah, we left without breakfast," Arkus said. "Here, I'll get it."

He traced a circle in the air, and a rift in space appeared, surrounded by a thin black halo. As he reached through it, the halo writhed and sparked. He tapped on a kitchen unit on the other side and, a moment later, he pulled two pizza pockets and two root beers out of the rift.

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I officially envy the frell out of that ability.

Gripped by these emotions, he tightened his grip on his bottle until it cracked, sending shards and soda to the floor. Cuts in his hand bled into the beverage and gave off an effervescent smell of iron and sugar.

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R.I.P. rootbeer

However, she kept watching them, only because the television, with a full spectrum of color and unparalleled sound quality was enough of a novelty to distract her from the cold, lonely emptiness best personified by the dusty old skeleton in the bed.

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DUSTY OLD BONES, FULL OF GREEN DUST

A scratching sound, which came from the kitchen, brought her to her feet. A zoroark was standing on the counter, pawing at the cabinets and leaving long scratch marks in the wood. When a claw hooked on the cabinet handle, it flung the door open and grabbed an unopened box of pasta. It gnawed a hole into the box and poured the raw spaghetti into its mouth.

"Mom?"

The zoroark turned towards her with a vacant stare and continued eating. Chihiro saw the threads of darkness coiled in her mind, stifling various portions of her brain. The entire frontal cortex was asphyxiated, a dim and lifeless mass of flesh that wilted under the intellectual shackles. Chihiro cried, the tears dripping off her chin into the vomit at her feet. She started forward, reaching her foot over the puddle of vomit, but the animalistic way her mother chewed the hard, tasteless plastic in her mouth made her shudder and curl into a ball in the corner.

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Well that's a troubling development right there, now isn't it.

"It seems to end well, but I'm never sure of that. Scars remained afterwards."

"Scars. Everything has scars, doesn't it?"

"Don't I know it!" Arkus said with a laugh. He pointed at the ring around his eye and said, "Some scars stick around for centuries."

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I am really liking these two's interactions.

As two agents slid back a panel on the back wall, Agent Five felt a massive wave of dread surge up in his gut. His skin crawled as he saw the tiny gray sphere attached to a twenty foot laser. Somewhere, deep within his subconscious, he recognized that machine, though its purpose and the reason for his fear escaped him. He reached towards Arkus and tried to warn him, but it was too late. The door sealed shut behind him.

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Ohhh that's gotta be bad news...

Okay, only have time for seventeen and eighteen for now. Might go back and edit this post with nineteen or save it for next post.

Seventeen and Eighteen

However, she kept watching them, only because the television, with a full spectrum of color and unparalleled sound quality was enough of a novelty to distract her from the cold, lonely emptiness best personified by the dusty old skeleton in the bed.

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The mentions of how Chihiro was alone with not much to do made me feel bad for her. I too would go crazy if I were alone over a week like that. The next parts with her interacting with Serisen and he mother...well, things escalated fast. Really doesn't sound good there.

Like Sike, I too like the mention of scars during Five and Arkus's conversation. Also interesting as to why Arkus gave Five the name Ashi Taka.

Darkrai attacking huh? I'm assuming they're the cause for what happened last chapter too. Geez. Also like Sike, the last paragraph of eighteen there has me curious too over Five feeling that way. Enjoyed the two chapters, hopefully will get to nineteen soon.

EDIT- Okay, able to read Chapter Nineteen now.

Nineteen

With Arkus gone, an uneasy silence fell between the zoroark and the humans. As Director Sheldon was about to activate the teleporter, a zoroark asked its companions "Do you hear something?" Then a blade jutted out from its chest, soaked with its blood. All six zoroark died before they could react, their blood pooling onto the floor. Then six agents deactivated their cloaking devices and dragged the corpses away.

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Well that went off to an unsettling start of this chapter.

Arkus turned towards Beta Five and asked, "What about you?"

Beta-Five felt the gaze of the two directors and Arkus weighing on him. He looked away and said, "I have nothing to say to you." A tear dripped out of his eye, and he dabbed it away in the same motion he used to take the tablet out of his pocket.

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Ouch poor Five. The last sentence of the chapter, "Trapped between the two directors, Beta-Five could only watch from afar as a whole race was stripped of its humanity" must be even more harder for him to handle watching that.

For a fraction of a second, Beta-Five thought said "It's your fault we're going to do this, you should watch," but he shook the thought from his mind and followed them.

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Awkward sentence there. Perhaps, "For a fraction of a second, Beta-Five wanted to say (etc)."

So yeah, this chapter really kick start something crazy here. Looking forward to more!

When the alpha ball was mentioned, my first initial thought was pokeballs. I think I already know where this is going.

Not surprised Taka chose the name arkus chose for him, though it's pretty bold of him to be in the alpha ball project. More interesting is how Doctor Lammers was in the same situation when Taka was overseeing µ2.0. Some very cool interesting developments here, looking forward to more!

Oh, glad to see this is back! And well, the situation there isn't going well. The parts with her mother and aggron's capture caught my attention (pun not intended). Chihiro trying to "save" Zangoose is also a pretty disturbing scene. Seems she'll run into her downfall fairly soon.

I feel there were a couple parts were the transitions were somewhat rushed.

She grabbed a makeshift leash, made of rolled-up curtains tied into rugged knots, and wrapped the loop around her mother's neck. She frowned as her mother bounced at the end of her leash.

The feral pokemon wandering the streets kept their distance as Chihiro stepped around the filth on the sidewalks. She made her way to an abandoned convenience store, its windows shattered and its shelves overturned. [etc]

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Here she went from tying her mother to wandering outside. Guess I would prefer a mention Chiriro deciding to go outside.

Then she remembered her mother. In a panic, she started towards the city, but she stopped herself. This time, she sank to her knees and wept into the soggy leaves beneath her.

Chihiro stayed there until the rumbling of her stomach made her think of food. She almost teleported back to the city but realized that the humans might still be there. Instead, she returned to the underground caverns. She made herself croquettes, this time using her aura to sap the excess oil from the pastry, and bit into one. It still didn't taste as good as her mother's.

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Like the mention of her thinking about her mother there, but in next paragraph the bolded part the transition seems a bit clumsy to me.

Looking forward to more!

So Taka wants to try to find Chihiro first, huh? That should be interesting to watch. Felt like it's been a while since Taka and Mewtwo interacted. The last few lines with the LOTR reference was bittersweet.

One minor thing I want to point out. When referring to Taka, you either use his full name Ashi Taka, just his first name, or Doctor Taka. Since this is in his point of view, I would stick with one of those as it gets confusing what he thinks himself as. Otherwise, looking forward to the next chapter!

So, the line near the beginning "Her face had turned gaunt and bony from years of skipping meals" does that mean the timeskip from Chihiro's last chapter has been years already? There's also these parts:

Another section, far slimmer in size, recorded the results of her attempt to have a child.

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Then she tore through her journal, grimacing as she passed over the section documenting how she kicked out her own child for its ignorance, and reached the log at the end.

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Chihiro had a child? D= Don't know how I feel about this lol. Looks like though because she wasn't in her right state of mind the child is pretty much neglected. A part of me is curious about more of this development.

Alicia's death, wow very gruesome there. Doesn't look like Chiriro is far from getting better now. Looking forward to more!

The part where Taka says it's probably too late for them to start a relationship, aw. Makes me feel kinda bad for them.

The part with Chihiro and Mewtwo, not surprising over Chihiro's reaction there. Ouch over what happened at the end to Mewtwo, though. a part of me thought, yeah not a good idea to take out your armor there, Mewtwo. Since you mentioned this was one long chapter originally, perhaps not the last we'll see of Mewtwo? Besides that, looks like the conclusion will come pretty fast, so I'm curious how all of this will wrap up soon!

Chapter 25, that's some showdown Chihiro and Mewtwo had there and looks like Mewtwo took uite a beating there. Huh, so he spotted Chihiro's child and the agents got to them first. I'm curious as to what Taka and Mewtwo will be doing in the meeting.

Chapter 26, well things take a crazy turn with Taka now the director. I admit at the part where Taka said to Sheldon he's incompetent I was like, "Dang." And Nora's threat to him just woah. Taka indeed better shape up there.

With the recent developments in breaking pace I look forward how all of this will fall into place!

Taka's last moments there ended in a bang there, and even more terrifying he brought down Nora and the others with him. The epilogue there is also just as unsettling with Chiriro controlling the humans there and Mewtwo doing something similar.

I feel there are still a few loose ends here and stuff I would like to see more. What are the whereabouts of Arkus? Will we know more about Chiriro's child? Is Mewtwo playing a bigger role now? Is Darkrai returning and if so in what fashion? I think you mention this universe is still expanding, so I'm sure you thought those out already. Either way, congrats on finishing another fic, this has been a blast reading!