We Are The Pokemon, & We Don't Need You Anymore

Chapter 19

Darkness.

I knew I was awake, but I couldn't open my eyes. I coughed.

No sound.

I thrashed, suspended in something but I couldn't change my position. I screamed and the darkness swallowed it, as if sound never existed.

I couldn't hear my heartbeat.

I curled up into a ball. Nothing existed but darkness. Was this all that existed? Had I ever existed? Maybe my life, my identity had been a dream. Who was I? If this darkness took everything, maybe I should let it take me too. I tried to remember a noise, any noise at all.

Maybe... a chuckle?

Yes! My mind reached out and grasped this lifeline, this memory. It was Zoura, waking me up on that raft after I had had that nightmare. That was real. This was no dream. This was life, my life, and I wasn't going to lay down and die.

I screamed and open my eyes.

Orange.

After being existential for so long, that wasn't the first thing you'd expect. I squinted and saw with a lurch I was floating suspended in a huge thing of orange syrupy liquid. Wires were suction cupped on my body, and strangely I could breathe. I saw past the glass and saw my container was in a lab.

Two whitecoats were talking over a bunch of instruments and gesturing to me occasionally. I could hear now, and my ears perked up.

"...brainwave just spiked! It's really amazing. That substance it's in should cancel all brain activity." The skinnier of the two was saying. He had tan skin and glasses, and from this short distance I could tell he had brown eyes and his name tag said 'Alex'.

"I know, it's incredible. What created these mutations exactly?" The rounder one asked, who kind of reminded me of pizza dough; pasty, white and soft looking. He had redish brown hair and his name tag said 'Anthony'.

"We found traces of, get this, PM-421 in its system!" Alex exclaimed. He reminded me of a bread stick; thin, pale and breakable.

Man I was hungry. Anthony nearly fell over, "WHAT?! But that chemical is a waste product of Potions and is highly toxic! How did it even find some of that stuff?" He snatched a clipboard away from Alex and squinted at it.

I didn't think they realized that 'it' was awake.

"I have not the faintest idea, but look at the effect on it's nervous system! See, it's cerebellum has started to change for some reason, and it's grown vocal cords. VOCAL CORDS! This could be the breakthrough our operation needs. The only side effect seems to be the odd coloration of the eyes." Alex elaborated.

What I basically got from that: the chemicals were making my brain change and made me grow vocal cords and this was somehow going to help their 'operation' whatever that was.

"We'll want to proceed with the dissection immediately. Ooh, when I get my hands on a brain sample-" Anthony was cut short by a bunch of noise from the hallway outside the lab. "Now what is that racket?" He asked exasperatedly, heading to the door.

He poked his head out. CLONK! A metal bar smacked him upside the head and into a group of expensive looking machinery. Alex squeaked and took cover underneath the nearest desk.

A group of Pokemon rushed in. 

My Pokemon.

My heart soared at the sight of them, Snivy holding a metal pipe in her vines, Kip looking both terrified and excited, Pidgey eyeing the instruments with fascination, Charmander and every wonderful scale of him, and Zoura, who had locked his eyes with mine and was gesturing to my capsule frantically.

My friends ran behind my prison, and shoved it with all their might. The floor rushed up to greet my glass and my tube shattered. I gasped, breathing real air this time, orange gunk soaking my fur and multiple cuts on me from the glass.  

My friends rushed over and Charmander gave me a hug that drove the rest of the air from my lungs. "You're alive!" He cried.

"Not for long if you keep this up." I wheezed and he released me. "You guys came back?" I asked, really unable to believe it. Snivy took my hands in hers, with a look of relief, which was surprising since she hated touching other Pokemon.

"You'd think we'd let you be all brave and noble? No way." She said, and I smiled, knowing now that we really were friends.

"Why did they think you were a pickle exactly?" Kip asked, gesturing to the shattered tank.

"No clue, but we better get out of here before we all get dissected." I said.

"WHAT!?" Everyone said and rushed out the door.

"Hang on," Zoura said, holding a twig in one paw. "I'ma leave them a little present." He said with a devilish grin, grabbed Charmander's tail, lit the twig on fire, and chucked it into the orange gunk.

FWOOSH!

The lab went up in flames in an instant. "Let's go!' Pidgey yelled, heading down the hallway.

"WAIT!" I turned back into the burning lab. Alex had crawled out from under the desk, a scratch on his forehead. "Who are you!" He cried.

I stepped through the flames.

I no longer feared fire.

What had happened that night was behind me.

And my mission would soon be done.

"We are your creations." I boomed.

It was true.

We lost our trainer that night in those flames, but we gained a goal: freedom.

All thanks to these humans.

"We are the ones who have realized the truth!" I snarled, reading the horror on his face.

The fire seemed to part before me, and my eyes--the ones that made me different--danced and reflected the flames.

I stood atop the burning wreckage, staring down at the sniveling human before me.

"We are the Pokemon!" I roared, as the horror of what he had done came to him.

I let the flames hide him from my line of view.

I marched out of the burning room, but turned and looked back once. I let my message leave my lips.

"And we don't need you anymore."

***

dat twoawesomegamers reference tho

brought to you by collette who has an unhealthy obsession