Pokémon Obsidian | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 14: Misbehaving Prisoner

Below the resort, the walls of Zileh's cell were white. Her uniform was white. The rice they fed her, on perfectly white plates, was white. All she ever saw of the guards was their white gloves when they slid the food through a slot. They never spoke. Her only reminder of a world where colour existed was a streak of blood she hid under her blanket. If they knew it was there, they would scrub it away, to ensure her senses were permanently stifled.

She assumed Reira was still in a similar cell, but for all she knew, Reira was turned into a Shadow Trainer, since she could see auras. Once, when lunch arrived, she heard a woman screaming incoherently. The food slot was hastily yanked shut. The prisoners weren't supposed to hear anything but themselves. When the slot shut, the thick walls blocked out all sound.

That woman wasn't Reira. There was someone else trapped in there. It shouldn't have surprised Zileh, but it did, because she knew how thoroughly they searched the tunnels. She was blindfolded when she was transferred from her first cell to this white torture chamber, but they were moving for a while. Their transport didn't sound like moving platforms. It sounded like a train. There must have been new tunnels, further underground, that they were unaware of.

Did they connect the nearest mine, run by Leroy, to the underground village? Were they in the mine? Maybe it wasn't a mine at all. Maybe it was Cipher's lair. Any information was useless to Zileh when she was trapped, presumably until she died, in a cell miles below the surface; but even as the outside world faded from memory, frighteningly quickly, she never gave up hope that she would escape.

The cells were so secure and the prisoners so tortured by their stifled senses that there was only one guard. Zileh had an idea. If she wanted to attempt anything, she had to do it sooner rather than later, before her strength and grip on reality disappeared completely.

There were several sets of white gloves. Most were indistinguishable. One, however, had a loose thread. That guard's wrists were thin. There was no guarantee that meant he was weaker than his colleagues, but there was a chance. Zileh waited for the loose thread. Then she seized his wrists.

The guards didn't interact with prisoners. They weren't trained in combat. That was a Peon's job. He wriggled, but he couldn't free himself from her grip. Zileh yanked him towards her. Then, with one hand still pinning his wrists, she grabbed his collar to slam his head against the door, repeatedly until his consciousness faded. She didn't let go. If he fell from her grip, he would be too far from the slot to reach the keys around his belt... but her heart sank. There were no keys around his belt. It was apparently a Peon's job to unlock the doors, too.

A half-Orrean, half-Galarian accent floated from speakers. Leroy.

'802 to Cell 67, please. We have a misbehaving prisoner.'

Footsteps charged down the corridor. Zileh crouched beside the door. A key card was swiped. The door shot open. Two Cipher Peons, wielding knives, burst in. Before their eyes could swivel to see Zileh beside the door, she leapt to tackle the nearest Peon to the floor. A knife stabbed the wall above her head.

Leroy must have been watching the CCTV. He continued.

'Her mom's dead. She's divorced. No-one will come looking for her. Kill her.'

Zileh snatched the knife before its owner could. The second Peon was a burly man. He hurled his body weight at Zileh. As she rolled to dodge, the woman seized her ankle. Her legs were swept from under her, but her bare foot hit the man's visor. Another kick flung his helmet across the room. He hesitated. He no longer had his knife or his helmet. Zileh twisted from the woman's grip. She used the moment of hesitation to ram the man in the chest. He was winded. Once he was on the floor, she snatched his helmet and whacked him in the temple. She pulled the helmet on.