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Encounters - Shortstory Writing Contest (Monday, October 24th - Sunday, November 6th)

Kurodashi

By Kurodashi
in Events Archive

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fredrichnietze

fredrichnietze

Posted
Posted (edited)

ign fredrichnietze

 

 


Meowth woke up in a field of grass with a strong sense of dread. Every hair stood straight up and he could feel eyes on him. He started to run and heard something follow. Meowth wanted to look back, but didn’t dare slow down. Eventually he stopped hearing the thing following him and the sense of dread went away but he couldn’t figure out exactly when that was? Where was he? How did he get in that field? The last thing he remembered was being in a cave when the exit got blocked. How did he get out?

As Meowth pondered these question a little boy walked up to him. Around 7-8 years old, black hair, average height, and pretty average overall. The boy asked “how did you die?” Meowth not having notice him, shocked replied

“Wot?!?”.

“You are dead. otherwise you would not be able to hear me. Only other ghost can hear ghost, well and those fucking asshole mediums.”

“Should you be using that kind of language kid? How old are you? And what do you mean dead? I don’t feel dead. I don't recall dying.”

“I died when I was 7, that was 27 years ago. And people who die in their sleep or pass out first usually have no idea what happened. Did you see the reaper? Has it come for you yet?”

Meowth started to remember that he spent days in that cave and their were no openings to bring in air.

“Wait so, im dead, your dead, and where are we? Whats going on? I thought it'd be over and then nothin or i'd get revived as a bug or somethin. And whats with you? You act so bored and factual it's like talking with a robot!”

“You are on earth. You died and from what I can gather the reaper takes you to whats next, but we both got away. I theorize the existence of us proves some sort of soul, and this soul will go on to something. Be it heaven, hell, life as a bug, or whatever. Oh and i'm a sociopath. Everything bores me because I have no emotional investment because i'm missing most of my emotions. How do you feel? What are you thinking?”

“Wait wait wait. I don't know nothin bout no souls and afterlife, but I have known a whole lotta psychopaths working for the boss and they acted nothin like you. And what d'ya mean how do I feel? Why do you even care?”

“I don't. No empathy, no sympathy, no love, but I do have a little curiosity and most importantly fear. That's why I ran. And as someone who feels fear and who is alien, other to normal people I need to know everything about how they think and act and speak to better emulate them. So how do you feel?”

“I feel like I just heard the worst news of my afterlife and you are poking and prodding me like a lab rat to see whats what. I mean thanks and all for the info, but you seem kinda crazy. And what's in it for me? Why should I help you learn to be a better fake? Why bother we're dead anyways.”

“The existence of the reaper implies an afterlife. If we go on to heaven or hell it matters not, but if we get reincarnated I will still be unable to feel most emotion. I'll still be an alien because i'm still like this as a ghost. I must have a soul because I exist after death and I still cant feel anything when I look at this field of grass and flowers and trees I objectively know must be pretty. Therefore when I get reincarnated I will again have to pretend and you haven’t run away like all the others and you understand people. But you don't care about that, what you care about is that I have escaped the reaper for 27 years and can teach you how to stay away from him and all the other dangers here on the other side.

Meowth pondered the little boys words.

“Eh what the heck, got nothin better to do, and I know sure as hell I don't want that thing to catch me. What's your name kiddo?”

“I'm Rikku. And the first thing you need to know is the reaper is slow. You can outrun it because you no longer have a real body that requires oxygen and wares down. The reaper gets tired. I theorize it's some sort of hybrid between the spirit and the flesh so it can interact with both. Point is run and stay away from things like dead ends and you'll be fine.”

“Is that it? Sounds easy.”

“Well there is also ghost pokemon.”

“Wait am I a ghost pokemon now?

“No you are the ghost of a pokemon. Ghost pokemon are also somewhere in between the spirit world and the world of the living. They can travel between the two as a means of defense. What that means for us is they can do as much damage to us here as back when we were alive.”

Meowth chuckles.

“Looks like I got it made, i'm immune to ghost attacks.”

“Do you have any way to hurt them back?”

“Yes, bite, why?”

“Well I heard that if you killed enough ghost pokemon you could somehow take their essence and use it to crossover into the real world and live again.”

“That sounds fishy, where d'ya here it?”

“Doesn’t matter it works im sure of it. And there is a tower nearby infested with ghost pokemon near by in Lavender town. Over the years I found humans cant hurt them in any way, so I do need your help.”

“You're sure this'll work? Like 110%?”

“Don't be a worry wort we got this in the bag. Now lets get walking it'll take us the rest of the day.”

They walked to Lavender town conversing on the way. Slowly Meowth and Rikku taught each other about the spirit world and being a person. As night fell they arrived at the city. It's fairly small and quiet with a single building bigger then 2 story’s towering over everything. This building is the Lavender tower. As Meowth and Rikku approached they felt something like being near the reaper only not as strong.

Rikku “Getting near ghost pokes always feels like this. Idk why.”

“Ok so whats the plan now?”

“We get up there and find the nursery. The lowest level gastly will be the easiest and I don’t think quality matters, only quantity.”

“Listen kid, im not killing baby pokemon. That's one of those person things. You do not hurt children ever.”

“Why not?”

Meowth sighs and facepalms.

“Some things are so evil as to be taboo. Just NOT done.”

“What is evil? What is good? No one can agree so it's a conversation. If it is a conversation and arbitrary then it has no absolute definition and is subjective. If good and evil are subjective can I not choose to believe it is not evil to kill these baby’s?”

Meowth stares at Rikku.

“That's not how it works kid. I don’t even know how to explain but you don’t get it.”

“Adult gastly and haunters it is then.”

They entered the tower and started fighting their way up. Thankfully midway up they found a way to heal.

Meowth “I’ve beat 20 gastly and 2 haunters so far. How many more till we get to live again?”

“Im unsure, as may as we can. Wait what was that?”

They both felt a sense of dread grow and heard a hissing noise. They turn around to see a gengar staring at them mad as hell.

Meowth “ahhh shit.”

Gengar uses sludge bomb, but Meowth dodged away. The poisonous sludge hits the ground and Rikku starts to cough and vomit. Meowth uses bite on gengar and he flinches. Gengar then uses hypnosis on Meowth and it hits! Meowth passes out on the floor.

Gengar “kid I know you, didn't we beat the shit out of you back when I was a gastly all those years ago? Hell you havent aged a day.” Gengar uses sludge bomb on Rikku. Meowth wakes and sneak attacks with bite from behind and it's a crit! Gengar faints.

Meowth “kid are you alright?”

~cough cough~

“Naaah im done for, i'm already starting to dissolve.”

“What was that gengar talking about? You knew him?”

“I lied. There was never a way back to the land of the living. These uguus attacked me in the early days several times years ago and I have been waiting to get revenge for years. I'd say sorry but you know I wouldn't mean it.”

Meowth starts to tear up.

“Idiot why'd you even bother after all these years? And ~gasp~”

The room darkens and the sense of dread they felt from the ghost types goes way up.

Rikku “Guess i'm finally getting to other side to see what's what. Thanks Meowth.”

Meowth smiles.

“Asshole”

Meowth starts to run as fast as he can while the reaper enters the room. He finally gets a glance and he is a she and she looks like a glowing human dressed in armor. She looks kind, but still feels scary. He kept running.

 
 

 

i was going to do a comedy but couldn't think of any good material. happy Halloween.

 

edit:almost deadline and no @Gunthug maybe we have a chance?

Edited by fredrichnietze
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Gilan

Gilan

Posted
Posted

ign: Gilan

 

Spoiler

The Search

 

               The smoke wafted upwards, expanding and mixing with the mist that blanketed the summit of Mt. Pyre until it and the mist were one and the same. Crouched behind a gravestone covered with moss and weathered so severely that the name etched in the face of the stone was illegible, a figure cloaked in a green lab coat took a couple of puffs from his cigarette, but otherwise remained motionless. His eyes surveyed his surroundings constantly as he analyzed the ever changing shadows that materialized in the swirling mist.

               bzzt. The small device clipped onto the figure’s waist turned on with an electrical charge. Though unnoticeable to the casual observer, the mysterious stranger jumped ever so slightly at the sudden sound that broke the deafening silence.

               “Gilan, come in. Gilan, are you there? Over” A female voice chimed in. bzzt.

The man, still crouched, exhaled in relief. Truth be told, he was not a fan of hanging around in a graveyard alone at night, and the reassurance that there was another human being on the other side of the PokeNav gave him just enough comfort that he could relax. Gilan reached down and unhitched the device from his waist and brought it up, close to his face.

               “Yeah, I’m here, Sialia” Gilan replied in a hoarse whisper, “What’s going on? Over.” He released the transmitter button and waited a few moments for a response.

               bzzt. “Glad I could get in touch with you” She said with a sigh of relief. “I was just calling to check in; you missed your scheduled report 20 minutes ago, you know? Over.” bzzt.

               Gilan cursed under his breath. It wasn’t that he had forgotten to report in, he had lost track of time and didn’t realize how late it actually was.

               “God dangit. Give me a minute, I just set it up a couple of minutes ago; I’ll check its status…” Gilan slowly rose from his position, getting slightly light headed as all the blood rushed to his legs; he hadn’t realized how long he had been crouched behind the gravestone. He tossed his cigarette onto the damp ground and stomped it out; he began to turn, but thought twice about it and bent down, wincing at the proliferated tingling sensation that his legs radiated, and picked up the cig and dropped it into his coat pocket. No sense in defiling the ground in which bodies are buried, he thought. Taking a few painful steps, Gilan made his way over to a device that rested on a tripod stand. The device had a small screen on the front that was about the size of a loose leaf sheet of paper, and a rotating radar fixed to the top of the rectangular device that was about the size of Gilan’s hand.

               As Gilan waved his hand over the screen, it lit up and displayed complex graphical data that he had to study for a few moments to fully understand. After confirming that he had deciphered the graphs correctly, Gilan turned and made his way back to the gravestone that he had been hiding behind. He sat down on the damp soil and rested his back against the tombstone, legs fully extended so to avoid cutting off the blood flow to his legs once again. He pressed the transmitter button on the PokeNav.

               “Sialia, you still there? Over.”

               bzzt. “Yeah I’m still here. Over.” bzzt.

               “The readings are normal. There’s nothing here. Over.”

               bzzt. “Dammit!” The disappointment in her voice was all too prevalent. “I’m at a loss…” bzzt.

               Gilan noticed that Sialia broke protocol without indicating that she was done talking on the PokeNav, which showed her frustration with the news he gave her. “What’s the matter? Tyrone and Bluejim still need to report in, right? I know that Riga and Fred already called in with no leads, but there’s still hope in the other two… Right? Over.”

               bzzt. “Tyrone and Bluejim both reported in about an hour ago. There were no traces at the Pokemon Tower nor at Meteor Falls. And yes, Rigamorty reported no trace at Mt. Moon and Fred the same at Cape Brink. To be honest, I thought that the Pokemon Tower and Mt. Pyre were the two most likely spots. I fear that if we… d.on’t……ind……Ora…..niac”

               “Sialia?!? You’re breaking up!”

               “…oon…..e…..m….ever…..ee….im…….agai……………………………………..” bzzzzzzzzzzz...

               The electrical crackle abruptly ended in dead silence. Gilan, who had held the PokeNav in his outstretched arm to try to regain a signal, suddenly froze in place and felt an ominous chill climb up his back. His heart felt like it stopped beating altogether, and his chest tightened painfully, but he was too frightened to even twitch a muscle. A cold drop of sweat worked its way down his neck. Though he could not explain how he knew, Gilan was acutely aware of an extremely dangerous entity drifting in the mist just several meters behind him.

               BWEEEEEEEEEEEEE! BWEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

               The radar device that Gilan had checked just moments before began giving off an ear piercing screech. At the sound, Gilan’s heart suddenly came back to life and began beating at an uncontrollable rate. His breathing intensified and everything began to happen in a blur. He reached inside his lab coat, retrieving a smooth, red and white plastic ball. In one swift, circular motion, Gilan spun out and around the gravestone to face this unknown adversary. With the pokeball in his right hand, he stood in a stance that would allow him to toss the ball without hesitation. His eyes quickly scanned the surroundings in front of him… but the presence was gone, and he couldn’t see anything through the mist.

               He stood in the same position for a few more moments, and then he let out a sigh of relief and released the tension that had kept his body rigid.

               Right at that moment a soft, silky-smooth voice whispered right into Gilan’s left ear. “I found you!” Gilan could feel all of the blood drain from his face and felt a shiver run down his spine. He instinctively ran several paces forward, the sight of which made the dark entity let out several low, sinister laughs.

               Once he had put, what he thought to be, a safe distance between him and the source of the malicious aura, Gilan turned on the spot to face this evil entity. What he saw before him made him wish he had never been born into this world. What looked like a jack-o-lantern floated several feet above the ground. On either side of its body protruded long, dark purple, ethereal arms that seemed to fade in and out of existence. The thing’s face was slightly tilted down, so that the dark red pupils of its eyes remained just under the ridge of its eye sockets. Its mouth was jagged and open in a sinister grin; inside was pure emptiness, just a simple, black void.

               “W-what are you?” Gilan managed to croak.

               The evil figure continued to float there, the sanguine eyes trained on the green cloaked man. “Me?” The being asked sarcastically. “I am your worst nightmare! You people fear Hell, but you fail to recognize the even greater evil that still lurks in this world. And that evil, is ME! I AM THE PUMPKING! Those who die by my hand don’t even have the privilege to journey to Hell; they will forever remain inside of me, until I have consumed the last of their soul! And it just so happens that I am hungry, and you shall satisfy my FAMISH!”

               Suddenly, spurred by the fear of death itself, Gilan swung his arm releasing the pokeball from his grip, and his voice cracked as he yelled, “DITTO, HELP ME!” The ball exploded into a flash of light and a bright, blue blob plopped down onto the soft earth just in front of him. The Pumpking watched with mild amusement.

               “Ah, yes. That is exactly what the other one did just before I ate him.” The Pumpking filled the surroundings with the sound of his snaky voice.

               “The other one?” Gilan tentatively inquired.

               “Your orange counterpart. I must say, he was quite tasty.” The Pumpking let out a malicious cackle as he pulled an orange lab coat, identical to the green one that Gilan was wearing, out from inside its mouth.

               “OrangeManiac?!?” Gilan’s fear began to turn into anger. “You ate him?!? BASTARD, I’LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THAT! Ditto! Use Transform!” Ditto glanced at Gilan in acknowledgement and began to mutate its body. It began to grow and steadily take on a round shape with limbs protruding out of its sides. And then, as if a rubber band had snapped, Ditto contracted back to its original shape.

               Transform had failed.

               The Pumpking’s cackle intensified for several seconds and then abruptly halted. His grin faded and his face contorted with anger. It advanced forward in one quick motion and swiped at the shiny ditto with its ethereal claws. The ditto was knocked back with such force that it flew and crashed into a rock wall, several meters behind Gilan, and the mist parted from where the ditto had flown.

               “DITTO!” Gilan screamed and rushed to where his companion lay. He bent down and took the blue blob into his arms and was so fixated on his friend that he failed to notice that the evil figure was hovering right over his back.

               “Good Night!” The Pumpking said curtly. Without hesitation, it swung its arm down toward Gilan’s head, and the last thing Gilan could remember was the cold, dark feeling of emptiness.

 

               Gilan could faintly make out a soft voice that was shouting his name over and over again.

               “Gilan! Gilan!”

               Gilan slowly opened his eyes, only to be blinded by a light that was fixated to the ceiling. He brought his arm up to shield his eyes, and they slowly adjusted to where he could make out the face of the figure bent over him.

               “Sialia?” Gilan whispered faintly. “Where am I?”

               “Gilan! Thank god! Yeah it’s me, Sialia. You’re in the Lilycove PokeCenter. After I lost your signal I headed straight to Mt. Pyre. It was a miracle that I found you in that thick mist! You’re lucky to be alive, you hit your head pretty hard.”

               “How long have I been out?” Gilan couldn’t remember anything and Sialia could tell from his expression that he was extremely confused.

               “About an hour or so. I used my Alakazam to teleport to Lilycove and then I rode my Charizard up to Mt. Pyre’s summit. But don’t worry about that! You need to rest!”

               Suddenly Gilan remembered that he had been up there with his ditto. “Ditto! Where’s my ditto?”

               “It’s right here, Gilan. It stayed by your side the entire time you were out. Nurse Joy healed it up a bit, but it was overall in good shape; you’ve trained it well.”

               The blue blob looked at him with concern. As Gilan stared into its eyes a sudden flash of orange enveloped his mind. Gilan jolted upright in the bed that he was laying in. “OrangeManiac! The Pumpking took OrangeManiac! We have to go after it!” Noticing the sudden movement, Nurse Joy rushed over to the bed and injected a light sedative into Gilan to calm him down.

               “Calm down, Gilan!” Sialia exclaimed in surprise. “You aren’t making any sense. What’s the PumpKing? And, who is OrangeManiac?”

               At those words, Gilan’s heart sank. “You’re joking, right? Please tell me that you’re joking!” He knew that Sialia was not one to joke, but he had to ask anyways.

               Very steadily, Sialia looked straight into Gilan’s eyes. “I’m not joking. I’ve never heard of OrangeManiac in my life.”

               Gilan swallowed hard upon understanding the meaning of those words. He brought his hands up and covered his face. He couldn’t believe it. How could Sialia forget about OrangeManiac? What’s going on?!? The thoughts swirled through Gilan’s head without remorse.

               A couple of moments passed and the doors to the PokeCenter slid open. Gilan noticed that it was pouring outside, and the man that entered was drenched. He wore a lab coat that was identical to the ones that Gilan and Sialia wore. Gilan eyed the man with interest as he took long strides towards Gilan’s bed.

               “I came as soon as I could, is he OK?” The man remarked, a puddle formed by his feet.

               “Ah, I’m glad that you did, and yes he is. He just came to.” Sialia addressed him. “Ahem, Gilan, I’d like you to meet Scaramanzia!”

               “It’s nice to meet you, Gilan! I’m the newest member of the Desu’s Labcoat Club!” Scaramanzia stuck out his hand.

               “Likewise.” Gilan replied still confused and shook the outstretched hand. As he did, Gilan noticed that the water that ran off the newcomer’s lab coat was tinted with the same color that the coat was dyed. Gilan, all of a sudden could feel his heart pumping in his chest. He fixated his eyes on the cuffs of Scaramanzia’s lab coat, and what he saw caused his eyes to widen to the point that Sialia could see the full whites of his eyes.

               “Gilan are you OK?” Sialia asked with obvious concern in her voice.

               Gilan continued to stare. The small blotches of orange were barely visible and almost completely drowned out by the color of the majority of the lab coat. With their hands still clasped, Gilan slowly shifted his gaze up the length of Scaramanzia’s arm, then shoulder, then neck, until his eyes rested on the figure’s face. There, Gilan was met with deep, dark red pupils and a sinister grin that locked him in place.

               “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Scaramanzia said in a deep, smooth voice, “it just looks like he needs a bit of rest, that’s all.”

               Gilan, unable to act, simply laid back down, and closed his eyes, wishing that it would just end.

 

I hope you enjoy it. The Word Count is 2323.

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Gunthug

Gunthug

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, pachima said:

@Gunthug We blieb in u

im at 699 words lel. Still need to write till like 4,000 then frantically cut down under 2500 - this could be a close one

2 minutes ago, pachima said:

@Gunthug We blieb in u

im at 699 words lel. Still need to write till like 4,000 then frantically cut down under 2500 - this could be a close one

 

 

and as you can see by this double quote, i'm not working with the greatest of internet connections right now

Edited by Gunthug
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Gunthug

Gunthug

Posted
Posted (edited)

Alright, I kinda word vomited this one up so not sure how the quality is. But, it's finished, so at least there's that.

 

Downstream

 

wc: 2,497 (plus 3 *'s)

 

 

 

 

 

 


The two men stood tall in the pouring rain. Visibility was low, but Officer Travis Reid could still make out the silhouette of a building up ahead.
 

“This must be it!” Travis shouted, though his words were muffled amidst the torrential downpour and occasional burst of thunder.


“WHAT?” returned his partner, Officer Jason Snide. Jason was new – brand new. In fact, he’d just graduated from the academy nearly a month ago with perfect scores on his exit exams. Usually Travis wouldn’t take an interest in that sort of thing, but Jason never shut up about it.


Travis sighed, and began walking through the rain towards the famous Kanto Power Plant, once a bastion of cutting edge technology and clean energy. It had been three years since the plant was last operational, though. Apparently, there had been some sort of accident, though not many details were released to the public thanks to the fiercely litigious parent company who had been running the place.


Jason quickly fell in line behind his commanding officer. The sleek yellow sheen of the Plant’s enormous walls towered above them as they approached the entrance, a set of titanium double doors. Travis reached out to the handle and yanked, but to no avail – the doors were locked. He turned to Jason, who already had a pokeball in his hand and a grin on his face. Travis nodded and stepped back.


“Let’s go, Rhydon!” shouted Jason to no one in particular, whipping the ball towards the door. Red light poured from the ball and took the shape of the hulking stone giant.


“Rhydon, use strength to open those doors!”


With immense force, Rhydon reared back and slammed its shoulders into the metal barrier. It came off its hinges, revealing the unlit interior of the building. The two men quickly made their way inside, out of the rain, and beckoned Rhydon to follow.


Once inside, the drone of the falling rain faded out. However, they had new problems. For starters, Travis couldn’t see a thing, which was strange for a power plant. Second, and perhaps stranger, was an overwhelming odor permeating the plant, one of the most disgusting things Travis had ever smelled. His nostrils were bombarded with the relentless assault, causing his eyes to water. He knew an inappropriate comment was coming.


“Jeez, chief, was that you?” said Jason, right on cue. Despite the wise crack, it was obvious the smell was affecting him too – he had buried his face in his arm, and his eyes were red and bloodshot.
 

“Maybe that’s why the distress beacon was pressed,” said Travis. “We’ve gotta figure out where that smell is coming from.”


“Well, I can’t see shit, chief,” complained Jason. “Too bad your daughter isn’t here, she’d really light the place up if you know what I mean.”
 

Travis let the comment go. He’d gotten used to Jason’s advances on his daughter, Katherine, and was content knowing that she found him repulsive. In fact, she’d said as much just yesterday while at the headquarters in Saffron. She had dropped by to fill her father in on her latest environmental project – cleaning up pollution off the coast of Fuschia City. Travis was so proud of her for trying to make a difference. She was just like her mother.
 

The foul stench snapped Travis back into focus, and he quickly knew what to do. He grabbed ball two from his pokebelt, and let it fall to the floor. Joining the two officers and the rain-soaked Rhydon was another Pokemon, this time an Arcanine.


“Arcanine, how about an ember to light this place up a bit?” said Travis.


His trusty companion nodded at him, then produced a brilliant yellow flame that hung several feet in front of the group, illuminating a small section of the dilapidated interior of the building. The now illumined walls were lined with computers and machinery that had been charred beyond recognition. Various colors of viscous grime caked the walls, pooling on the floors in foul smelling puddles.


“Looks like a god damn bomb went off in here,” muttered Jason.


“It may have. We still don’t know what happened.” Travis whipped out a small red device from his pocket and powered it up. The dim screen burst to life, bringing up a two-dimensional blueprint of the building. A blinking red dot indicated their position, near the southwest entrance. A blinking blue dot rang out about halfway up the eastern side of the plant.


“Alright, shouldn’t be too far to the distress beacon. Try to keep quiet, and don’t touch anything.”
 

“Yeah, yeah. I know what I’m doing, old man,” sneered Jason. “Let’s go, dog.” He thrust his finger to the east, down the dimly lit corridor, and Arcanine began hustling in that direction. Behind the fiery guide dog jogged Travis and Jason, with Rhydon still out of his pokeball ambling slowly at the rear.  
 

The stench of the place got worse the further in they crawled. Every new hallway was the same scene – the shrapnel of file cabinets and circuitry littered the floor on the sides of the room. Travis knew to keep his guard up – who knows what they were experimenting with here before the accident.
 

The four continued through the maze-like interior of the plant, drawing closer to the signal they were seeking. Another set of doors, which Rhydon made quick work of, opened to the eastern wing of the building. Arcanine stopped, sniffed the air, and began to growl.
 

“C’mon boy,” said Travis, patting his Pokemon on the head. Jason moved forward into the lead, walking to the edge of the ember’s faint flare. Arcanine picked up the pace again, but he wouldn’t stop growling.


“Careful, Jason, we don’t know what’s up there”


“We’ve got two of the strongest Pokemon in Kanto at our disposal. What’s there to be afraid of?” barked Jason, forging further into the darkness. Suddenly, the steady clack of his combat boots on the linoleum floor was replaced with a muffled splash.


“What the…” Jason said. “Feels like a swamp up here.” Arcanine, still growling, walked in his direction, slowly bringing the stubborn soldier back into the light. Travis looked past Jason, though. This was where the distress signal, that blinking blue dot, had originated, and Travis just figured out why.


“Jason. Get back here. Now!”


“Pfft, chill out, I’m fine. What is this sludge, anyways?” Jason looked down at his shoes, which were now submerged in a thick, purple sludge. “Man, I just got these poli…”


His voice trailed off. He had just noticed another pair of boots, hauntingly close to his own. The owner of the boots was there, too, crumpled face down in a pile of the sludge.


“Oh, shit, Travis, I think he’s alive. There’s definitely movement” shouted Jason. But Travis wasn’t paying attention – he was looking at the walls. In loud spurts and spasms, the grime on the walls congealed into larger and larger patches, lurching its way down to the floors. Machinery once deathly still began to rumble, a thick purple substance beginning to ooze from every orifice.


We’ve gotta get out of here, thought Travis. “Jason!”
 

“You want me to just leave the guy?!” he responded, before crouching and looking more closely at the mound of clothes. It wasn’t the body that was moving, he noticed slightly too late. It was the slime.

 


Horrified, Jason turned to flee, only to find that to be quite a useless endeavor. The slime he had stepped in had hardened beyond malleability.

“I’m stuck, Travis!” he shouted desperately. His Rhydon let out a roar, and charged down the hallway to its owner.


“Take your boots off, then!” responded Travis, “you’ve got to get out of the slime!” Just as he finished, a loud crash pierced the room. Travis turned just in time to see part of the ceiling crash down, a cascade of purple slime gushing from the newly formed cavity in the roof. Behind him, he heard a scream.

 


Moments earlier, Jason had managed to slip out of his right boot. To get the left one off, he’d need to place his right foot down for balance. But the floor surrounding him was filled with the corrosive slime. He set his foot down anyway, and Travis could hear the sizzling of flesh and bone from across the hallway as soon as Jason made that deadly mistake.


“Arcanine, Fire Blast!” A burst of brilliant flame launched from the leaping dog towards the site of the ceiling crash, temporarily blasting a path back towards the building’s entrance. Travis looked back one last time at the gruesome scene behind him – Jason’s right leg submerged to the knee in the acidic sludge, with his right arm now being assaulted too. His screams still filled the room, and his Rhydon stood nearby, horn spinning rapidly but powerless to help.


Travis knew he had to snap out of it, or he’d share Jason’s fate. He sprinted towards his Arcanine, who already stood at the second set of doors leading out of this horrible room. As he caught up, Arcanine and his ember fell into a full run back out the winding path, towards the entrance.
 

All around them, the building shook and shifted on its foundations and more and more purple sludge poured from the walls and ceilings. They snaked right, then left, then left again through the corridors come to life. Another crash, and another section of the ceiling fell ahead of the pair, dropping a metallic beam into their path. Arcanine effortlessly lept over the obstacle, but as Travis jumped his back foot caught the top of the beam and sent him tumbling to the floor.


Gasping, he scrambled to his feet just as Arcanine turned and charged back in his direction. Travis braced himself for the impending sludge death, when his vision abruptly went white. He blinked repeatedly, trying to bring it back. Slowly, the room faded back into view – the column of slime, as well as all that on the floor, walls, and ceiling, had temporarily disappeared. Arcanine lay on his side on the ground, panting heavily.


He must have overheated! The rumbling and shaking of the building had increased in intensity, however, and slowly the purple slime began seeping through the walls and ceiling again. Travis sprinted towards the door, recalling Arcanine to his pokeball in the process.


Travis could see the entrance now. He pushed himself, running at full speed towards the rainy reprieve. However, as soon as his boots contacted the wet outdoor ground, he lost his footing, barreling forward and tumbling several times before landing on his stomach several feet from the beaten down doorway.


Gasping for breath, he turned back. The way the walls looked on the inside, oozing with pink slime? That’s what the outside walls looked like now, too. Moments later, the Power Plant, which had stood for 77 years, caved under the weight of the sludge behemoth, crashing down into an impotent pile of rubble. Rising from the dust was the ooze, now operating as one coordinated entity.
 

Travis squinted through the rain at the swirling vortex of corrosion and death. He was out of options. None of his Pokemon could compete with this thing – it was 50 times their size, and mere contact with it would mean a painful death. Was this how it ends?



Though the building had already fallen, the ground once again began to rumble. The huge purple Muk seemed distracted by the rumbling, allowing Travis to slowly make his way to his feet. A sharp, crackling line split open across the small patch of earth beneath them, ripping along and magnifying the tremors.
 

Jason’s Rhydon! There was hope again for Travis. Had it burrowed underneath the earth? Was it now using Earthquake?


Suddenly, the gash in the earth split open and began to widen. A deafening sound rang out again, and more cracks appeared in the ground, the relentless downpour quickly filling the newly formed gaps. A line shot through the land directly beneath the Muk and split open abruptly, forcing sections of the swirling mass of sludge to fall off beneath the earth.


Travis began to run away from the building, towards the narrow channel of water from which he arrived. Again, though, his footing failed him, as the shaky crust of the earth bent and folded beneath. This is no ordinary earthquake, Travis thought.


It’s a Fissure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The enormous Muk let out a roar as it continued to split and particulate into the beckoning recesses of the earth. Travis grabbed on for his life, just as the rapid current from the channel began to cut through the newly formed fissures. It sloshed and buckled through the gash, ripping past Travis at a furious speed and causing him to lose his grip. Tossing and turning beneath the riptide, Travis felt a sharp thump on the back of his head, and the world went black.
 

*                                                 *                                                    *


With a loud gasp, he awoke on his back, the clear sky floating effortlessly above him. He attempted to sit up, but a pounding headache changed his mind quickly. Deducing where he was at wasn’t difficult – he could hear the cry of wingulls above, and the steady flow of water below his ears. Beneath him, he felt a familiar shell. It was a standard issue Lapras, his high utility water transport. He must have had the wherewithal to summon it just before he was swept up by the currents.


The currents! The fissure! The Muk! It all came rushing back to him now. Had Rhydon’s desperate last attempt worked?
 

Travis propped himself up on his elbows, and surveyed his current surroundings. He was floating quickly downstream amidst a bevy of rubble. Reaching for his pocket, he was relieved to feel the familiar shape of his poke nav. He whipped it out, and checked his location. South of the Plant, and traveling south at a rapid pace.
 

Just then, he glanced to his left, and noticed something strange in the water. At first, he thought it was a normal pack of Goldeen, swimming near the surface. However, as he got closer, he noticed that the fish were dead. Ahead, the lifeless body of a slowpoke also hung in the current.
 

The Goldeens, the Slowpoke, they were both covered in purple sludge.
 

It’s still alive. The fucking thing is still alive, and it’s moving downstream even faster than I am.
 


The next thought hit him like a semi-truck. His whole world upended, with one small realization. He was heading south. Muk was travelling in the same direction, and it was travelling faster.


How long? How long do I have? How much of a head start did it get? Can I get there in time?


The questions pelted at his consciousness while the horror set in. Was there anything he could do? Travis knew exactly where this current was headed. South of the Power plant, then west. To Fuschia. To his daughter.




 

Edited by Gunthug
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