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Discussion in 'Literature Library' started by Mandriel, Mar 20, 2017.

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  1. Mandriel

    Mandriel Valor Knight

    Agravaine
    (Giratina Egg)
    Level 15
    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2017
    Posts:
    2,537
    PokéPoints:
    ₽34.9
    Red Orb ★★★★★Tapunium Z ★★★★★Love Ball ★★★★★GS Ball ★★★★★Galladite ★★★★
    AN: So this is both on AO3 and Fanfiction.net. But this is the biggest project I've ever worked on so far. I never thought I'd ever call a fanfic my baby, but... Well... This is my baby.

    Summary:
    Four children wake up in a maze with no recollection as to how they got there. All they're given is one Pokémon and one task: escape or die trying.
    Nothing is as it seems in the maze and danger of all kind lurks around every corner. But as they days drag on, ugly truths about the real world are slowly but surely being uncovered and the questions begin to bloom:
    Is the truth worth knowing?
    Do you really want to return home?
    What are you prepared to do for what you believe is right?

    ---

    Part One: Chapter One

    The first thing Flame heard was a soft buzzing sound like TV static. It cut through the pleasant darkness of his vision, making him twitch with annoyance at his peace being disturbed. He rolled over, expecting to be met with the familiar comfort of his soft mattress beneath him but instead found only cold, hard stone.

    Somebody had been talking, their voice growing steadily clearer as he was dragged into consciousness. A girl's voice, high and concerned. Flame blearily forced his eyes open to see a girl about his age leaning over him, her light brown hair unpleasantly tickling his face.

    "Do you know where we are?" was her first question. Flame hesitantly glanced around, unsure how to answer.

    Wherever they were, it's wasn't in his home in Pallet Town. They were in a square shaped room, it's only exit a few metres to his left was a doorway that looked like it had been cut out of one of the high grey walls made from cool stone surrounded them. The walls stretched up to the ceiling where flickering fluorescent lights lit up the room they were in. Flame stumbled to his feet and peeked out of the exit only to be met with a hallway of more stone that split into yet more halls.

    "It's a maze." the girl said when he didn't reply, "I'm not sure how I got here, I just woke up about an hour ago and wandered around until I found you." she looked at him expectantly, waiting for a response. He mentally cursed himself, realising that she wasn't aware of his inability to speak and fumbled for his notebook and pen that he kept in his red jacket pocket to scribble a reply.

    'Do you know how to get out?'

    It was a stupid question, he knew. But he couldn't think up anything else to say.

    "If I did, I wouldn't be here." the girl said with a sigh, getting to her feet, "But it can't be far. If we managed to get in here, there must be a way out." she made her way over to him and they both lingered by the room's exit, the two of them a tad unwilling to step into the unknown.

    Flame observed her. She looked about eleven, her clothes appeared brand new in stark contrast to Flame's scruffy hand-me-downs from the second-hand clothing shop. The way she carried herself, despite looking uncertain, she held an indescribable grace from the breezy way she walked to the way she clasped her manicured hands together. This girl no doubt had a wealthy, coddled upbringing.

    What was a person like her doing in this dirty maze?

    What were either of them doing here?

    Together, they stepped out into the hall and simultaneously glanced left and right. For the first time, Flame started to wonder whether or not there were wild Pokémon loitering in here. He almost groaned in exasperation, in just a few days he was going to receive his training license and starter Pokémon from the Professor. He'd been looking forward to this event for years and now it would never happen because some maniac decided to stick him inside a maze without a way to defend himself.

    He tried to reassure himself that this was a man-made structure and appeared to be rather well kept. Nobody in their right mind would let wild Pokémon stay, right? As well as that, if this place was maintained by people, somebody should find them sooner or later.

    Unless of course, those were the very people who put them here in the first place.

    The almost silent buzzing punctuated by his and the girl's footsteps echoing off the walls were the only sound to be heard. At least if they were attacked by something, they'd be able to hear it coming.

    To his right, the girl shifted uncomfortably, hugging her bare arms as she kept glancing behind them as if she expected somebody to be following them. She chewed her lip and finally broke the silence.

    "My name's Leaf." she blurted out, her voice agonisingly loud, "What's yours?"


    Flame wrote his name down in his sketchbook and held it out without looking at her. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead at the twisting and splitting path.

    Left, left, right, straight, right, left. They had no idea where they were going. Every turn was a guess that, for all they knew, could be leading the further and further away from their intended destination.

    Leaf, obviously put off by the awkward silence Flame carried kept trying to break it at every opportunity with one-sided conversations and the occasional question.

    "Do you think anybody else is here? No, that can't be right. We would have run into them by now. How big do you think this maze is? I say, we're rather lucky to not have run into a dead end yet- Ah, never mind. Looks like we'll have to turn around." they walked wordlessly for a few more minutes before she continued, "So where are you from?"

    'Pallet Town'

    "Oh, down south. That explains your poor appeara... Um, I mean, your unique sense of fashion." she coughed, trying to hide her embarrassment, "Well, I'm from Saffron City."

    Of course she'd be from the wealthiest city, Flame was hardly surprised. She looked like she'd never once stepped a toe outdoors.

    Figuring he might as well keep the conversation going, Flame wrote, 'I have a cousin in Saffron'.

    "Really?" she didn't sound as if she believed him and he felt his face burn slightly as she cast a scrutinising stare in his direction. If only she knew just who that cousin was... "You have a-"

    That was when they rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a snarling rhyhorn.

    Flame had only seen Pokémon like that on TV. He'd never imagined that they grew this big. It towered over the two of them, drool dangling from its rocky maw as it surveyed them with its beady eyes.

    Leaf shrieked, spinning on her heel and sprinting back the way they came, Flame close behind her. The ground rumbled and shook as the Pokémon gave chase.

    They charged through the unfamiliar corridors, Flame blindly following Leaf as she darted wherever her adrenaline took her. He could feel the rhyhorn's hot breath on the back of his neck and something brush against him as he forced himself to run faster.

    Its deep growls filled his ears, almost as loud as its thundering footfalls as it got closer and closer and closer...

    And then just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone. The two of them slowed down to a halt, doubled over and panting. They stared back the way they came as Flame sank to the floor, exhausted. He couldn't believe a sheltered girl like Leaf could run that fast.

    "I... Think we lost it!" Leaf gasped, wiping sweat from her forehead and grimacing in disgust as she wiped it on her skirt, "I can't believe this, what kind of place is this anyway?"

    An endless maze, wild Pokémon, no other people in sight... What was going on? Flame groaned and drew his knees up to his chest, the last thing he remembered that night was going to sleep back in his room and then he woke up here. But as much as he wished it was, this couldn't be a dream. Everything was too vivid and detailed for that to be possible. What he would give to see a familiar face in this nightmare, though...

    Just as he thought that, a voice sounded from behind them, "What was that all about?"

    Flame turned his head to see Rain Oak; his next-door neighbour, the grandson of Professor Oak, and most importantly: Flame's lifelong rival standing with folded arms and his famous insufferable smirk plastered across his face.
     
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  2. Mandriel

    Mandriel Valor Knight

    Agravaine
    (Giratina Egg)
    Level 15
    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2017
    Posts:
    2,537
    PokéPoints:
    ₽34.9
    Red Orb ★★★★★Tapunium Z ★★★★★Love Ball ★★★★★GS Ball ★★★★★Galladite ★★★★
    Part One: Chapter Two

    Leaf almost jumped out of her skin when she heard his voice, half expecting that monstrous rhyhorn to return. Relief flooded over her when she realised it was just another boy, possibly just as lost as she was.

    The newcomer's smirk widened at the sight of Flame, "Fancy seeing you here! And who's your new girlfriend?"

    Leaf's mouth dropped open and her face flushed red. Any liking she may have felt toward this new boy evaporated instantly and she made sure he knew it by fixing him with the most withering glare she could muster.

    "Rain, who are these?" a heavyset girl with short, choppy blonde hair appeared at his shoulder and observed them with bored yellow eyes.

    Straightening up and pushing away her embarrassment at Rain's previous comment, Leaf said, "My name is Leaf Rosenstern." she held out her hand for the girl to shake, as her parents had taught her was proper etiquette when introducing yourself to somebody.

    "Sparky." said the girl, shaking her hand with what looked like a trace of amusement on her face. Leaf couldn't help but smile a little too. At least she seemed friendly enough.

    "Oh, and this is Flame." Leaf indicated to the mute boy; who still hadn't moved from where he was sitting on the floor, still trying to get his breath back. His red eyes were fixed on Rain, delivering him a dirty look. She glanced between the two of them, wondering whether or not it would be appropriate to be filled in on any history the two may have shared.

    "Rain and I were thinking we were alone in here, then you two showed up." Sparky told them, "Have you found anybody else here?"

    Leaf shook her head, "No, but there could still be more. Maybe someone in here might know how to get out."

    Rain rolled his eyes and made a noise of exasperation as he folded his arms, "So you've elected yourself our team leader, now? I suppose you have a perfect plan to get out, don't you? Do you even know where we are?"

    "Well, no. But-"

    Rain cut her off, "We're alone in an unfamiliar place - a maze - that we don't know our way around. We'll starve to death before we'll find our way out on our own. And not to mention whatever was chasing you shows that there are wild Pokémon in here, too. By the looks of it, we're completely defenceless as well."

    "We have to try something." Leaf insisted weakly. Her dislike for this boy was steadily growing. At least she now knew the possible reason behind Flame's apparent dislike for him.

    "Sure thing, we can wander aimlessly around until we find some kind of exit through pure dumb luck." Rain drawled, "If there even is an exit at all. But hey, you're in charge here so what can I say?"

    "I never said I was-"

    "Right, right. You just run in here like you own the place and start bossing us all around. Figures, little rich girl probably isn't used to telling all of us peasants what to do."


    "I wasn't! What's your problem, anyway?" and how did everybody immediately know she was rich? Was it the hair? Or the clothes?

    "We must have been brought here for a reason." Sparky interrupted the two of them, "Nobody in their right mind would drop four kids off in a place like this if they didn't have a purpose for it."

    Rain rolled his eyes, "What use would we have hanging around in here? Alright, since I am Professor Oak's grandson I guess I do have some kind of use. But as far as I can see, the rest of you are worthless."

    Out of the corner of her eye, Leaf caught sight of Flame writing what she guessed was going to be a cutting remark on his notepad. She was just trying to think up something nasty to respond with - Oak's grandson or not, nobody called her worthless! - when she felt Sparky's hand on her shoulder.

    "Alright then, Rain. You're right. We really are worthless." even Flame looked up from his furious writing, "It looks like despite these circumstances, we really can't work together. But I can't complain, you're just better than the three of us."

    Everybody stared at her with blank expressions.

    "So," she continued, taking Leaf by the arm and helping Flame to his feet, "we're going to stop being such a burden to you and - as you put it - 'wander aimlessly around until we find some kind of exit'. We wish you the best of luck trying to get out on your own." she turned them around and led them in the opposite direction, Leaf could see she was struggling to conceal a smirk of her own, "Come on guys, we're not wanted here."

    "Wait!" they stopped and turned to see Rain hurrying up to them, "Fine, fine, you win... Whatever this is. Let's stick together or whatever. Just don't leave me alone."

    Sparky grinned, "Fantastic! I always knew you could cooperate!"

    All Leaf could think about was how in the world the other girl was able to put up with somebody like Rain before she and Flame had found them.

    Rain scowled, "I'm just making sure my dumb rival doesn't get himself killed before he gets his first Pokémon, ok? I need somebody to compete with." he and Flame exchanged glares.

    "Fine by me!" Sparky said happily, turning back to the endless maze before them, "So left or right?"

    The next half hour was spent in uncomfortable silence. Leaf wasn't used to being around people this long without conversation of some kinds but was unwilling to break the absence of sound in case Rain took the opportunity to spite her. She'd never once imagined the grandson of the famous and kindhearted Pokémon Professor to be anything like what he turned out to be.

    "I'm telling you, this is a lost cause." Rain said at last as they turned yet another corner identical to the last, "We're going around in circles if you ask me."

    'Good thing nobody did' Flame wrote.

    Leaf didn't like it, but she was starting to agree with Rain a little. Her legs were sore from walking, she was starting the feel the effects of hunger and thirst and there was no end in sight. The exit could be on the other side of the maze for all they knew, if there still was one. Maybe they really were just walking in circles.

    Absorbed in her thoughts, she didn't notice Flame and Sparky had stopped ahead of her and bumped right into them. For a moment, she thought that they'd stopped for a rest. But then she caught sight of their stunned and horrified expressions and followed their gazes to what lay in front of them.


    It was a raticate, its brown fur stained red with dark blood. One of its front paws had been twisted all the way around and half its tail was missing. The only indication that showed it was still alive was the occasional twitch of its bent and crooked whiskers.

    "Holy crap." she heard Sparky gasp. Leaf herself felt like vomiting as she shrank behind the other girl and covered her eyes. What could have done this to a Pokémon? Another awful thought struck her: was whatever did it still nearby?

    Rain must have been thinking the same thing, "We need to keep moving." he insisted, glancing nervously behind him. Leaf couldn't help but feel a sick sense of satisfaction in seeing the boy's cockiness vanish.

    Flame tugged on her sleeve and held up his notebook, 'We can't just leave it here'

    "It might have rabies!" Rain groaned, "And do you really want to carry that thing around for who-knows how long? That might make it even worse!"

    Flame looked over at Sparky who grimly nodded, "As much as I don't like it, Rain's right. It looks half dead anyway, there's not much we can do."

    Leaf looked away as he turned his gaze to her. She didn't want to leave an injured Pokémon alone and defenceless to die, but it looked like from now on she would have to prioritise her own safety before that of a wild Pokémon.

    Flame glared darkly at the ground as he shoved the notebook back into the pocket of his red jacket and gloomily followed after Sparky as she approached the motionless rodent.

    As she drew nearer, its eyes suddenly flew open and fixed on her. The four of them froze and it unsteadily got to its paws, dried blood tearing tufts of fur from its pelt as it ripped itself from the crusting red puddle beneath it. A ragged snarl echoed through the maze as bloodied foam gathered in the corners of its mouth.

    Slowly, Leaf backed away. She just thanked Arceus that it was too injured to be a real threat...

    Just as she was thinking that, the creature launched itself at them, a red and brown blur against the dull grey floor.

    For the second time that day, she was fleeing for her life.
     
  3. Mandriel

    Mandriel Valor Knight

    Agravaine
    (Giratina Egg)
    Level 15
    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2017
    Posts:
    2,537
    PokéPoints:
    ₽34.9
    Red Orb ★★★★★Tapunium Z ★★★★★Love Ball ★★★★★GS Ball ★★★★★Galladite ★★★★
    Part One: Chapter Three

    Leaf was soon in the lead, blindly blundering through the maze, hardly aware if she was being followed or not. She turned right and skidded to a halt, Sparky and Rain almost crashing in to her.

    Before here were at least five more raticates, advancing on them with their teeth bared.

    Rain was screaming at somebody to run, Flame had taken off in the opposite direction and Sparky wasn't far behind. Leaf sprinted after them, catching glimpses of the brown Pokémon out of the corner of her eye each time they passed a fork in the road. The air was filled with screeching and the sound of sharp claws against stone.

    Leaf felt her throat tighten as her lungs screamed for air. Soon, they would be cornered. And then what? They'll be ripped to shreds no doubt by the feral rodents. She'd never see her parents or her home or her pet meowth again...

    Before her, Sparky ducked into a passageway to the right and the others charged after her. They staggered to a halt to find the road path ended.

    "Door! Door!" she was screaming, motioning to the way they'd come through. Leaf had missed it, but a large metal door was sitting wide open beside the doorway. Rain gladly slammed it shut and the four of them backed away to the other side of the room, staring as if they expected a tide of raticates to come bursting through at any moment.

    Leaf listened hard, straining to hear the previously deafening sound of hundreds of paws slamming against the floor in pursuit but was met with nothing but the panting of her companions.

    "Everyone alright?" Sparky gasped, clutching at a side stitch.

    "I hate this place." Rain groaned, not taking his eyes off the door, "Do you think that'll hold them?"

    They turned their heads at the sound of pen on paper and watched as Flame wrote, 'I think they've gone'.

    "Already?" Sparky questioned, not sounding at all convinced, "They're probably just biding their time, waiting for us to let our guards down."

    Well, that wasn't at all a pleasant thought. Leaf pushed her damp fringe from her eyes as she glanced around the room they had found themselves in. It was similar to the one she had woken up in, and the one in which she'd found Flame, the only difference being the door. It was square in shape, but upon closer inspection Leaf could make out small indents in the surface of the floor all across the room.

    "Guys, look at this." she crouched down and traced the pattern with her finger, the whole thing resembled a circuit board of some sorts.


    "This place keeps getting weirder and weirder." she heard Rain mutter as Flame crouched down beside her.

    'This is new' he wrote.

    Sparky hadn't moved from where she stood, staring hard at the door, "Flame, what you said before about thinking the raticates were gone, I think you're right."

    "Great, do you want to give him a medal for that brilliant observation?" Rain deadpanned.

    Sparky ignored him, "This room's unique to any part of the maze we've been in before. It seems a little too perfect that we just so happened to take shelter here."

    "Are you saying that we were led here? Why? So we can look at all the pretty patterns? And I can't see why some wild Pokémon would - or could lead us to this specific spot. What's so special about it, anyway?"

    Leaf's eyes followed a collection of lines close to her as they stretched across the room. Perhaps this was a map? But that was impossible, the lines never split. They bent and curved and...

    Flame seemed to have noticed it, too. The two of them ignored Sparky and Rain's bickering as they made their way to the centre of the room. A rectangle had been carved into the stone, about half a metre long and twenty centimetres wide. Flame ran a nail across its indents, they looked as if they'd been carved much deeper than the others. He pressed down on it with both hands but it didn't budge.

    "Maybe if we..." Leaf grimaced as she dug her nails between the stone and tried to lift it. She made a noise of disgust as she felt her nails scrape against rock and hurriedly drew away, "On second thoughts, maybe that's not the way to go." she muttered, examining her chipped nails.

    And she'd had them professionally filed and polished just the other day.

    Flame drew her attention away from her ruined fingernails with a tug on her sleeve. She looked down to see him indicating to the indents around the rectangle and then around the room. She glanced around her and then back at the shape.

    All the lines in the room came directly from it. She watched them wind beneath their feet and through the stonework into nothingness...

    No, not quite nothingness.

    She hadn't noticed it before, but each side of the room had a small circle engraved in it, just a bit smaller than her palm. The lines led right to each circle from the rectangle at the end of their journey across the room.

    Sparky had said that they were led here. What if...


    "Guys? Guys?" it took two times to get their attention, "Look at this." she told them what they'd found. Rain sidled over to the closest circle and pressed it experimentally.

    "I guess it won't hurt to try." he begrudgingly admitted, pressing it again. Leaf saw it sink into the wall before springing back.

    They each took a position at each button, Leaf stepping over to the one closest to the door. She hesitated, praying to Arceus that it wouldn't release another wave of rabid raticates.

    "On three, ok?" Sparky said, eyes flickering to each of them in turn, "One, two, three!"



    ---​

    It took a few tries until they all pressed the button at the same time. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, there was a scraping noise beneath them and the rectangle in the centre of the room shifted and began to slowly rise.

    They kept their buttons pressed a few seconds longer, just in case letting go too soon would reverse the event. Flame was the first one to approach it, Leaf following behind him. He crouched down before the box, reaching out to touch its cool surface. He felt the others behind him leaning forward in anticipation.

    Drawing in a deep breath, he swung the lid of the box open.

    Inside were four shining red and white Poke Balls.

    Flame had no idea what he was expecting. Food, a map maybe. But Pokémon? He doubted any of them had a training license yet, this couldn't be legal. If they got caught, there would be fines.

    Slowly, he reached out and took one and peered into the translucent red top half of the ball. His own Pokémon. Finally, he had his own Pokémon. He'd been waiting for this moment for years, since he'd first heard their voices and found that he did indeed have a voice - just not one that could be heard by other humans.

    He just didn't think this moment would come when he was stuck in a maze

    Rain reached over him, almost knocking him over as he snatched the next Poké Ball, "Charmander? Then I'm taking the squirtle. You should have known better than to pick first."

    Flame blinked in surprise, he hadn't even stopped to check which Pokémon he had picked up. He pressed the ball's button and the red lizard popped out in a flash of light.

    His breath caught in his throat. His Pokémon. A friend that could hear him and would stay with him forever. Finally, his ability would no longer bring him isolation. For too long he'd watched the psychic abilities of his other family members flourish, Sabrina's future vision in particular. But now, finally, he really felt like he was part of them at last.

    Sparky's face split into a wide grin and she grabbed the Poké Ball at the end of the line, releasing a yellow electric mouse from the capsule, "A pikachu? I always wanted one of these!" she handed Leaf the final Pokémon, "I guess this is yours then."


    A charmander, squirtle pikachu and bulbasaur were soon sitting before them, staring at their new trainers in interest.

    "Charmander?" Flame reached out with his mind to the small Pokémon, "Hey, my name's Flame. I guess I'm your trainer now."

    "Great. Trainer." the bulbasaur said snidely, "If you ask me, I would have preferred to have been left alone in the wild."

    But the charmander's eyes were glimmering with excitement, "I have a trainer!" she all but squealed, flinging herself into Flame's arms, "Look! Look, I have a trainer!"

    Flame laughed at her enthusiasm, should he nickname her? He didn't want to keep calling her 'Charmander' like she was just another face in a crowd, he wanted something a little more unique.

    "Does the name Ignus sound alright to you?" he questioned, "It's Latin for fire."

    Ignus looked no less happy, "I have a name now! Did you hear that, guys? My trainer's named me!"

    Beside him, Leaf crouched down beside her new bulbasaur, her grin not disappearing even when he sourly turned his back on her, "I think it likes me!"

    Sparky was still gushing about how cool her pikachu was and Rain was struggling to get his squirtle's attention from where he was still sniffing at the Poke Balls they'd just come out of. Flame couldn't hide his smile as Ignus nuzzled up against his shirt. For the first time since they'd entered the maze, he felt relaxed.

    "About time you got this far." a new voice sliced through the short-lived excitement.

    Flame felt his stomach drop. He'd never thought seeing another human being would fill him with so much dread.

    The door had disappeared and a man in a dark blue hood was standing at the end of the hall, right before the maze bent into a corner. The only part of his face that was visible were a pair of wide eyes above a black mask that covered the bottom half of his face. Three raticates bushed against his legs, sharp yellow teeth gleaming in the artificial lighting.

    The room was plunged into silence.

    "Now that you've finally met each other, let's get this show on the road." his voice was steady and controlled, as if none of his surroundings were of any surprise to him, "Now shall we?"

    With an ear-splitting screech, the three rodents charged at them.
     

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