A Thief's Vindication {Pokémon}

Chapter 2 - Tears of Reminiscent Pt. 3

Warning: This part contains brief mention of rape and torture.

"Th-that's... a skeleton..." the dark-type voiced out, his voice still trembling, his paw frozen in it's pointing state. Meanwhile, next to the quadruped, his friend was also fixated on the remains of a Pokémon, yet something was different. He felt... almost neutral, like it's a normal sight that he is presented with. The Raboot's head started spinning, followed by a wave of dizziness, his vision getting slightly more blurry. Why... why does this feel normal to me...? Thought Salvo. I-is this... an implication of some- Before the fire-type could finish his thoughts, his friend placed a paw on his shoulder, having managed to broke out of his frozen state of shock.

It helped Salvo snap out of his sudden existential crisis, making him look away, panting lightly. His heart raced, his eyes wide, all the while all thoughts inside the Raboot's head goes haywire, unable to process or make sense of anything. Adron looked at his friend worriedly, unsure of what to do. Seconds passed, before he finally decides to speak out. "S-Salvo..? You look a bit pale.." Salvo didn't budge, still confused about the whole thing and what to make of it.

Slowly, the Rabbit Pokémon turned his head, having Adron in his peripheral vision. "S-s-sorry..." was all he could mutter. The Bite Pokémon shook his head, quickly coming closer and slowly rubbed Salvo's back.

"It's okay... I... this is nothing like I've seen before too..." said Adron, trying to comfort his friend. Salvo could only nod, knowing that wasn't the reason why he was pale in the first place, but the Raboot didn't want Adron to suspect anything. After a while, the dizziness the two was feeling started to dissipate, both of their breaths calming down as well.

"L-let's just keep moving.." Salvo trailed off, looking at his companion as he gets a nervous nod as a response. Both of them started exploring further into the shipwreck, leaving the skeleton behind and tried to not think about it. Unfortunately for the two, the task was virtually impossible, as they came across more skeletons the deeper they go. They pushed through, however, eventually making it to a sealed door that seems to lead to the deepest room inside the ship.

"According to Ivan, this room should be where we find his item.." Salvo stated, trailing off a little at the end, his eyes fixated on the handle of the door. Adron barely responded, only giving a slight nod. The Rabbit Pokémon took a deep breath to reassure himself, making a slight steam inside his bubble. Then he reached out with his paw, slowly but firmly placing it on the wooden door. Upon exerting a small force, the hinges clicked before snapping off, making the door fall back, the fall being slowed by the water.

The two stayed still for a couple of seconds, waiting for the door to completely fall and the silt to settle down. Salvo then took initiative, slowly floating in first with Adron following suit. Inside was a cabin bigger than the others on the ship. Broken lanterns scattered around, pieces of fabric from a single hammock strewn on the cabin floor, a horribly worn-out map hung on the back wall with some nails... just how long has this really been here? Salvo thought, the question resurfacing again in his mind.

His eyes slowly scanned the room, until it eventually stumbles upon something he brushed off before. A skeleton was sitting on an old worn-down chair, right under the map. Unlike the others, this skeleton in particular seemed a lot more intact, and it was quite obvious why. Most of it's exterior were armored, making the actual skeleton more protected from the erosion of water. Most of it was, as to be expected, rusty, being submerged underwater for Arceus knows how long. It was hard to see what color the armor was, but that didn't make identifying what Pokémon it was any more difficult. While still succumbing to the effects that water has on steel, it had a clear and distinctive blade around it's body, mainly at the end of it's arms, on top of it's head, and some surrounding its sides and abdomen, protruding outwards.