(ooc: Took me a couple of hours... a little more actually, yeah I'm a slow writter lol. Anyways, I enjoyed it and I hope at least one person to read it all lol. By the way I sweared a little tell me if it's a problem.)
Max grabbed one of his pokeballs, this was not going to be a good experience, not for him and much worse for the one chosen from the pokeball. As Max pressed the center button of his pokemon's portable chamber Liria flapped her wings slowly, she was well aware of who was coming out, and was as worried as Max.
With a beam of red light a green and frail ladylike pokemon appeared in front of the trainer; it was Midori. Even though the room was very dark, Max had a very good idea of how his pokemon would look… scared to hell.
For Midori to go out of her pokeball was a pleasant experience most of the time, except for those days, those days when she would come out from a comfy dark place t a creepy dark dark place. At first she was a little confused, wondering if she had already left the pokeball, after a couple of seconds though she confirmed it was not the case. She started to look desperately or her trainer.
Max knew she would freak out, so he placed his hand over her shoulder before she passed out from stress.
"Don't worry Midori I'm right here"
It did not make her calm down, but at least now she knew she was with her trainer.
But why? Why is Midori so afraid in the first place? It is not so hard to explain actually. First we have to take into account she is very timid and fearful. Second, she is not any pokemon, the pokemon of her species are aware of the feelings those around her emanate. This means that Max's worry combined with the feelings from the other REPO recruits and their pokemon (and whatever is lurking the chateau) will cause a mayor impact on her. And a third reason, her species is a protector pokemon, she has a deep desire to keep Max safe and having him in a place that creeps the soul out of her is not exactly part of the plan; an injured or dead Max scares her the most.
Midori was thankful to be with Max, but she could just not express happiness with the swirl of hellish emotions she was feeling, it was too much confusing and painful to bare, she needed a few more seconds to digest it; she was trembling.
Max could feel her shaking, he knew something like this would happen, he patted the top of her head and gave her some time. Without Shiro he could do nothing but hope she could handle it herself.
"Midori I need you to light this place, we should not stay idle for long either, can you do this for me?"
Midori had her eyes closed. When she heard her trainer it took her a couple of seconds to overcome her fear, but she swallowed it up and opened her eyes. Just that her eyes were not the normal pink now, no her eyes were completely blank and soon a very bright light started to emanate from her body. She used Flash.
"Good girl." Max said with a smile that showed relief.
Liria flew over to Midori. She started to wave up and down in front of her, she seemed to be happy for her, and probably attracted to the shininess as well.
"This place is a little narrow for all of us Liria, I'll let you out later."
The dragonfly was not very happy with that, but she approached her trainer anyways. Max returned her to her pokeball.
Midori was not happy with that either. As they say, the more the merrier, or rather the less scared?
As they reached the second floor Max noticed two hallways with several doors, none of his team members seemed to be around, but he guided Midori trough the hallways just in case the darkness hid someone. Not the case this time however he doors were pretty weird each. On the right side there was a scratched door, a door coated in dust with a handprint and a dark spot where the third one should stand. On the right side there is an awfully clean door, a flashing door and another non spectacular door. In the center of the hall is one large single door. Max tried to open this one first… locked. Somewhat unexpected as large doors usually lead to public spaces and he would have guessed something like a room more viable to be locked.
He decided to go right instead, and avoided entering the super clean door for some reason; perhaps it was a little too unspectacular for him. On the other side of the coin Midori regretted passing that one, signs of civilization seemed safer in her opinion.
Max stood just before the next door, a constant sound of static on the other side had caught his attention. From the opening beneath the door he could see flashing lights. What was behind this door a television? Perhaps some teammate had found a TV inside and turned it on.
"We are going trough here Midori."
The Gardevoir gulped, for her this seemed a classic horror movie scenario. A guy and his pokemon go happily unaware toward something which caught their attention, leading them into a mortal trap they will not survive. First it will just seem an empty room, but as soon as they start feeling safe, WHOOSH the infernal apparition appears from behind the drawer and with a devilish swing of his chainsaw cuts open the trainer's chest into a feast of blood and flying organs. She tries to escape, but the apparition is faster and before she is able to do anything he…. Midori gulped.
As the door opens the flashing lights from the room start to cover the darkness outside. One step, Midori is in; another step, Max is in; a third step, the door behind slams itself closed.
Midori jumped, Max turned quickly fearing the door to be exactly what it is, locked.
"Dang it…" Max whispered it in discomfort. He then continued in a normal voice volume wile turning around to face the TV. "Don't worry Midori we will find a way to…"
But Max's voice abandoned him; it turned around and went to hide deep inside his persona. It was as he had suspected a TV showing static and a one person couch, nothing more filled the room. However, Max was no coward either, what really caused him to loose his cool was something he was not even sure he had glimpsed. In what seemed to be less than a second, the TV had flickered revealing a pale small boy wearing rags.
Max tried to save his composure, but the fact it had been so sudden and so alienated to anything he had ever felt made it a little challenging. After a couple of seconds the shock transformed into curiosity, Max advanced toward the television wondering if he had been tricked by his mind.
The noise the TV was spouting was getting on Midori's nerves; she had to endure this void of madness and now this annoying noise? Her head started to hurt a little, it was bearable but knowing it would not go anywhere anytime soon made it a little more stressing.
Max was just in front of the TV now, he looked straight at the monitor while blindly tracking the volume control with his right hand; he was not going to miss the boy if he suddenly decided to appear again.
Suddenly the static noise quieted, Max looked at the image with amazement, he had not imagined it, once again the boy appeared. Midori's eyes widened in a combination of surprise and fear… it was very similar to horror movie she once saw.
"Hey… you! good you are here, I was eager for someone to…"
The image faded once again and the static reappeared, Max was perplexed. Midori grabbed his trainer's arm with both of her hands and tried to pull him.
Max though of a horror movie he once saw who resembled this right instant, and he knew Midori would probably remember as well. It was funny to see her so scared back then, but he knew how creepy and dangerous this situation was, and he felt a little sympathy for Midori and her desire to keep him out of danger.
"Wait Midori it's alright you are here with me, just let me inspect this thing a little closer."
The TV flickers again, the boy appears shocked at first and then he smiles; static again, the boy appears once more banging the crystal boundary between the TV world and the real world. Midori suddenly loses grasp of her trainer's hand, Max feels a force pulling him toward he television.
He blinks, he can still see trough the TV, and the boy is still there. However something is wrong… He can see Midori and the couch behind the boy….
"Why thank you for freeing me. I was trapped in there for such a very long time…. Now, I bid you farewell, and have a fun century in there."
The boy turns around, Midori looks pale and extremely freaked out. Her face quickly changes to anger as her eyes turn to purple preparing a psychic attack. The boy takes a couple steps as he levitates, his body starts to change, to shrink to be more accurate, and transforms into something which resembles a light bulb. It giggles and disappears.
Midori lets out a short grumble, she was too late. Her eyes return to pink again as she approaches to the TV. She is staring with a sad look, Max is on the other side and she has no idea what to do.
"Why are you looking at me like that? And how did you get there?"
Max makes questions, but he soon realizes he knows the answers. That boy… that boy switched places with him.
"Damn it I swear I'll get you little devil!" An enraged Max shouted.
It was funny that the rage caused by being so cheaply tricked overrode the fear caused by such creepy scenario. Nevertheless rage never lasts long, and soon it was replaced by worry and fear once again.
"Ok Midori, I'm getting out of here, try not to freak out while I discover how."
Midori nervously nodded, thinking just how he would accomplish that. She had to help him somehow, she really desired to leave his vortex of unstable emotions which bothered her so much, but leaving without Max was unthinkable, it was not even an option.
As Max started to look around something surprised him deeply, he was in his house. It was actually very strange, he remembered everything being much smaller than it appeared, he was in the kitchen and his head barely reached the table. He looked at his hands… they were small, he touched his head, his hair was shorter.
"What the…"
Max witnessed Sarisa, his younger sister, come down the stairs happily jumping. Something was wrong though. This was not the present Sarisa, this girl had like five years at most and the current one should have eighteen. She had long black hair and light green eyes; it was obvious she was Max's sister.
"Maaaaax! Dad is here and has brought our presents! Come quick!"
She ran toward the house's main door. Max was confused, he was just barely realizing this was the past; he was a boy, a seven year old boy probably. He felt a familiar set of legs stand on his head; he looked up to find a Yanma. It was Liria, she had always done this since he was little. Max felt a rush of nostalgia and deep care for the mischievous dragonfly, just now Max realized how much he would suffer if he lost her.
"What are you waiting for, hurry!"
The voice of Sarisa came from down the hallway.
"Calm down dear, I'm giving both of you your presents in the kitchen."
A tall man entered the room, or was Max perhaps the short one? The man had short hair groomed to the back of his head, it was dark as his children's and accompanied by a set of dark green eyes. He introduced his hand on his right pocket and took out a couple of pokeballs.
"Pokemon! Really!? Gimeeeeee!"
An excited Sarisa shouted while anxiously jumping. Max looked over the kitchen's TV, Midori was still there, looking at him wit the same worried face, it seemed she could not see any of this happening.
"Ok ok, but take it easy little one."
Dexter was the man's name, it was Max's father. The man then took a pokeball with each hand and simultaneously liberated both pokemon over the table. Max was shocked, two Ralts appeared in front of the table. They seemed both scared, but one quickly jumped in front of the other, as if ready to defend its cohort.
"These are Shiro and Midori" Dexter told the children "They are brother and sister just like you guys, and you must already know who gets which."
Sarisa left out an amazement shout, and quickly grabbed the defiant one. The little guy was brave but it had no means to cover up that bravery, he was defenseless to the avalanche of love little Sarisa was.
"This is Shiro right!? I know it because he was such a prince by trying to defend his little sister! I pick this one!"
"Wait what? You are the sister dear shouldn't you get the sister?"
"No no no! I want Shiro! I want Shiro! Besides Max already has Liria so I get to pick first!"
"Fine, fine, are you alright with that Max?"
Max was caught off guard, he was actually there but he had not been required to speak so far.
"Uh… sure dad."
Dexter approached his son. "She may look frail now boy, but one day she will grow to be a very powerful pokemon, take good care of her." Dexter placed his hand over his son's head and messed with his hair.
Max looked over young Midori, his dad was absolutely right. Back then Midori was just a baby, and where other pokemons are strong and agile even at early childhood, Ralts were not. It took a lot of training and hard work to get Midori were she was now, and thinking over this made him feel a little proud inside. Perhaps even now she held the answer to this dilemma.
Max approached little Midor and patted her in the head, the frail Ralts looked scared at first but it seemed to calm down little afterwards. Max walked over the Kitchen TV.
"Midori can you hear me?"
Big Midori nodded.
"Good, look this was the work of a ghost pokemon, you saw it transform right before it left right?"
She nodded again.
"You are a psychic pokemon and despite what you think, you are very skilled, could you try and get me out of here?"
Midori looked at Max as if expecting something more. That was all? Did he really believe she was able to pull that off? Just like that?
"Don't give me that look, just do it" Max insisted. It was actually kind of funny to hear his younger version voice speak with such authority.
Midori was in no condition to concentrate, her head still ached and it had already taken her a lot to ignore the torrent of tortured emotions this place shot right at her. But she would try anyways, if she was Max's last chance of getting out, then she was going to try at least. Perhaps her trainer was right, if this was the work of a ghost pokemon, maybe she could try and use psychic against the TV or something.
A sudden strike of joy hit her from the TV, was it Max? No, Max had a serious demeanor, then what? It was hard to discern but there was definitely something enjoying the situation in that TV. Was it a ghost? Perhaps not the ghost itself, but something causing Max to be trapped there? Se had to try and drive it away.
Midori closed her eyes, her body still shaking a little. She wanted to get her trainer out of there. Even though he always seems to exaggerate her abilities, maybe this time she would be able to do something. When her eyes opened they were a deep purple. Trying to follow the mischievous emotion around the TV, she launched a psychic attack.
A loud shriek invaded the room coming from god knows where.
Max's perception of the world flickered between two dimensions, the real and the TV world. Soon, the TV world was no more, and Max appeared in front of the TV, it was shut down. Midori looked very surprised, and for the first time since she left her pokeball she looked happy.
"Hell yeah! Well done girl!"
Max walked over Midori and briefly hugged her with his right arm.
"Let's go Midori, we need to find the others and warn the about that boy ghost thing pokemon."
Midori nodded, still very uncomfortable with the chateau, but feeling a little up from her trainer's praise, she felt more capable.
Max was thoughtful, far from being something negative this experience had helped him understand what his pokemons meant for him. He would have to be careful, this was an ancient place and god knows how many unwary travelers had found a terrible end in here. He was not going to see anyone die here if he could do something about it, and especially not one of his pokemons.
He would be careful, very careful.
