Leo Simon
patreon
An Outlier Chapter 1
🕑 Added 2023-08-08 14:08:34 +0000 UTC"Hello is this thing working? Can you hear me?"
Opening my eyes I was surprised to find that my feet were stood on... well they weren't stood on anything. My body felt extremely strange, looking down at my hands I could see that they were almost entirely engulfed in a strange mist that was almost alive in appearance. I couldn't move freely and only my head was obeying my minds commands. What is this? Where-
"My boy?! Are you there?!"
This time my mind was clear enough to hear what was going on around me. But, with that clarity also came a large migraine. It honestly felt like some parasite was eating away at the inside of my brain! Still though, despite the strain in my voice I answered as best I could." I hear you!" I yelled from the pain, not even sure who I was talking to. Everything around me felt weird, I don't recall how I got here. I should be in bed, not this weird freaky stoner bullshit!
"Thank Arceus. You're not gone just yet." The weird voice called out from the... darkness I guess. Still not sure where I am, it's creepy as all hell through. If Max and Jack are pulling a prank on me then I swear to god I- wait Arceus? What the fuck is this pokemon?
"You've got to listen to me, it'll return any minute now." I felt the hairs on my neck stand up at those words for some reason as ice flooded my veins. Okay, why the hell did I feel the foreboding message in those words? It feels like a monster is coming for me. And fast.
I felt my mind go numb as the darkness returned, and with embracing the darkness I also felt a sense of relief from the burden my brain was carrying just to stay conscious, it was like the less I resisted the more my migraine eased, it felt nice, comfortable even, I wonder what will happen if-
"DON'T SLIP INTO THE DARKNESS!!! It might be hard but I need you to focus son, try and keep yourself together for as long as you can! If you value your life then do what I tell you!" I felt mind snap back into action at his words and my migraine returned worst than ever. Okay so if I go by his words then going asleep is definitely a big no no.
"Help is on the way, just hold on and try to keep your mind together. Start by telling me your name and age!" Okay, weird thing to ask, but this whole situation makes zero sense to begin with, so I'll indulge them I guess.
"My name is Leonardo and I'm seventeen years old." I answered honestly. If this ends up being a prank then I'm gonna kill Max and Jack. They always pull this shit and I've let them off too many times! Not anymore, they can't do this shit to people.#
"...…..now isn't the time for jokes Wyatt, your life is on the line and you can't be joking arou-"
"Gen." I sharpened my eyes straight forward when a distorted and spine shivering cry was emitted from the shadows. I didn't like that, neither did my body, in fact I was so terrified of whatever was in the shadows that every instinct in my body was screaming at me to-
A pair of malicious and bloodshot red eyes pierced the otherwise eternal darkness of this mindscape and if I could've then I'm sure my pants would be full of shit right now. My body wasn't moving at all and my thoughts were going dark once again. But, before I could be swallowed completely I heard these words from that voice that kept calling me son for whatever reason.
"YOU NEED TO HOLD ON WYATT, THAT THINGS FOUND YOU! I'VE SENT MEW THERE TO FEND IT OFF AND SAVE YOU, PLEASE JUST HOLD-"
The voice cut out and suddenly I was left with nothing but complete silence and a mind that felt like it was about to shatter like a pane of glass. I only wish it stayed like that though.
A laugh that made me want to empty my stomach resonated through the darkness and those red eyes materialised in the form of some strange purple- wait is that a Gengar? Pokemon aren't real this is totally-
The Gengar's grin stretched unnaturally wide as it opened it's mouth which stretched... and stretched and grew and grew as it lunged at me and-
----------------------
"Gengar will be done soon. Dream Eater will turn the child's mind into a hollow shell. Hopefully she'll be done soon." A black hooded man spoke to another man in an identical attire as they stood outside of the cell of their prisoner.
These two guard were currently watching as their leader's Gengar started to wipe out the memories they had of their life before. Even in that moment they were strapped to a hospital bed as the purple, impish form of Gengar lorded over them and started to slowly but surely destroy the mind of a young man. Well teenager would be more accurate of a description, he looked to be perhaps seventeen at most with purple hair and pure white eyes that were rolled back into his head as Dream Eater took effect.
The guards wondered why his mind was even being erased to begin with, they knew that their leader had zero issues with murdering others- they also doubted that children were exceptions due to her ruthlessness and borderline sadism- and because of that they don't see the logic in wiping a person's memories only to have them killed shortly after. Then again, maybe they weren't going to kill this one. What purpose could this boy even serve?
"Well, how is our youngest prisoner faring?"
The two guards had to withhold showing any form of surprise when their leader snuck up on them without so much as a sound being made. Her cold voice was sometimes enough to make others shiver, and they knew that their leader wouldn't tolerate incompetence or disobedience. She's so indescribably terrifying that if the pay they received wasn't so generous they would never even consider putting themselves under her. And even then it's a stretch to say that they'd have done so in the first place if they knew how dangerous Persephone really was.
One of them answered her as they straightened up their backs and took a quick glance at the screen monitoring the brain waves of the prisoner." According to this computer, Miss Persephone, the prisoner will be braindead very soon. Everything is going as planned."
At their words the white haired woman gained a smile on her face, though it lacked any warmth." Excellent. We'll have fulfilled our end of the bargain when this is done and our Cult will be safe. Finish your job and make your way upstairs, we're starting the ritual to summon Darkrai soon."
The two Cultists were curious about what a ritual to summon a legendary pokemon would entail, but didn't question their leader. Persephone isn't someone who likes being questioned, their were a few of their comrades in the Cult who... learned that the hard way. They'd prefer to keep their limbs intact.
As their leader walked away they finally stopped holding their breath and let out a deep sigh in unison. One of them couldn't help but comment." Are we really paid enough for this shit?"
The other one looked at him like he was an idiot." Like we have a choice. I need that money if my wife is ever gonna let me see my girl again, if doing what she says will get me paid 10,000 pokedollars a month, then she can work me to death for all I care." He said completely seriously.
The other just sighed." Look, I-I know you've got you're daughter and everything, but... my mum's condition has gotten worst, the doctor's said that it's practically cruel to keep her alive at this point. They're saying I should pull the plug, that I should just let her rest... and maybe they're right." He said that last part with a resigned and depressed tone.
In response his partner just grabbed his shoulder, but he didn't really know what to say other than." If you love someone... you should listen to what your hear is telling you to do with them. If you're really questioning whether keeping your mother alive is the right thing... then you should probably just let her go." He said that last part with absolute seriousness.
His friend just went silent for a moment, a sob leaving his hood as he just said." I'm not ready, she-she's all I've got left man. I'm- I can't lose all the family I've got lef-"
"Maybe it's not your choice to make." He was cut off from his words as the other hooded man just gave him the most simple and sympathetic words that he could think of.
The other man let out a few tears at that, but soon he lifted his black mask slightly so that he could clean his tears away, but eventually he just said to his old friend." You're right. You're always right about this stuff."
But in response all he got was a nod and some bitter words." If I was then I wouldn't be here, helping to murder children, just so that I could get enough child support to see my own. Come on, we should go." He said, gesturing to follow Persephone and get to the ritual made to summon Darkrai.
They started to walk away from the cell, assuming that Gengar would finish her job and eat away at the memories of the prisoner. So, they left their post early.
What a mistake that was.
----------------------
I groaned in pain as I woke up to find that I was staring at... a concrete ceiling? That's strange, I could have sworn that my room had white walls, and also wasn't shaped like a fucking jail cel- wait what?
I moved to sit up, but I flinched away and to seethe in pain as my brain throbbed and beated like a heart. It felt like a leech was sucking on it, or I had a brain eating parasite eating at my fucking skull!
"Mew." The sudden call of a psychic cat made me look up and I froze as I met the curious and innocent eyes of a pokemon. More specifically a Mew.
For a moment I forgot about the pain on my brain and just stared at the floating pink cat in front of me with simple fascination. It seemed to chuckle at my awestruck gaze and did a little twirl as they spoke out their name again." Mew, Mew."
I'm dreaming right, because this is just fucking dumb even for my retarded ass. Pokemon aren't real-
The crumbling of something hard guided my attention away from the hovering cat for a moment, and turned my head to see the sorry sight of an utterly battered Gengar being imprinted on the wall impressively deeply, with the concrete around them crumbling and falling off around their unconscious form. They were obviously beaten down very thoroughly.
I raised an eyebrow in the Mew's direction, they seemed to understand what I was thinking and fucking giggled as though they hadn't just beaten a pokemon so hard they made a crater in a wall. That showed that, despite their cute appearance, they were a force to be reckoned with.
But, I'm missing some stuff here. Like, I dunno, maybe- WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK IN ALL FUCK IS GOING ON!? WHY AM I IN A CELL AND WHY ARE THERE TWO VERY REAL POKEMON IN THIS ROOM WITH ME?! WHAT WAS THAT DREAM ABOUT AND WHY WAS THAT GENGAR TRYING TO EAT ME ALI-
I snapped out of my internal breakdown when Mew poked me on the cheek, almost like a slap with their little paw, to snap me out of it. I stared into their eyes, and suddenly they weren't looking so carefree and playful anymore. Far from it actually. They looked very serious, their gaze held a lot of weight in it. I needed to get moving. And fast.
Alright Leo, calm yourself down, quit being a fucking pussy. This is a jail cell and so that means your probably a prisoner, use your fucking head for a moment. If the Gengar was in my dreams for... whatever reason then that means it was like my guard, so Mew is probably trying to help me escape this place. And I doubt that I have long before my captors return. Time is of the essence, I need to act.
I got up out of bed, the pain in my head all but completely gone, and I stared at the door to my cell, then back at Mew, who still held a serious edge to it's gaze and I asked." Can you help me escape this shithole?" Because, if I was right and I was kidnapped then I doubt my captors will be merciful. I need to leave before they return. Which could be any second for all I know.
I need to leave. Now.
Mew held my gaze and nodded. So, I pointed to the clearly locked door and asked." Then can you bust that door open with a Psychic or something." That door actually looked pretty durable, so I wasn't sure-
Mew didn't respond this time, instead their eyes glowed a faint and ominous blue that surrounded the door and blew it off it's hinges.
-actually that's not a problem. Mew's OP as hell.
I sent a grin at the psychic-type cat and just said." Lets go." Those were all I needed to say before I walked up to the door and checked the hallway for any guards. It seems to be my lucky day, the hall is empty. And relatively short so I won't have to worry about being seen if I'm quick enough.
Making sure to stay quiet I move in a very rushed yet silent walk as the jail cells passed me by. There weren't very many of them, and they were all empty. So, I doubt that this was just an ordinary prison. If this were a pokemon game- which I'm becoming more inclined to believe with every second that Mew levitates besides me- then I'd be some sort of kidnappee in the bad guy's secret base.
I must surely be in some dream or something, unless I'm some sort of shitty isekai protagonist who got self-inserted into the pokemon world. But, that shit just doesn't happen in real life. This isn't some low-quality fanfiction. Until I see otherwise I just can't think like.
I turned a corner and started to run, I had a Mew besides me, and I haven't encountered any guards yet, they seem to be away for some reason, so I should pick up the pace.
I turned a corner and found a set of stairs that immediately started to climb them, but when I got to the top I slowed down, exercising caution, and I came across a split path, one of them leading to a staircase upwards and another lead to a door.
For some reason this place feels...really familiar for some reason. Almost as though I've seen this before. And I think that I have, but... I can't quite put my finger on it.
Walking up to the door I was annoyed to find that this one looked a lot more secure than the last one. Not to mention I'd really prefer to remain under the radar if possible, it'd certainly make escaping a lot easier, and busting open the last door with Psychic was loud as fuck.
What can I do to-
"Mew." The calling of their- His? Her?- name was enough to make me turn around and see that they were holding a note of neatly folded paper in their palms and gesturing for me to read it.
I just took the note from their hands and opened it, whoever wrote this note will have been the one who sent Mew to save me, maybe it can shed some light on what the fuck is going on.
"I chose Mew to help you out of this mess due to it's special ability. It is able to use Transform to change its form and disguise itself as something else. However, unlike Ditto, Mew can change your appearance as well. If you can find some DNA Mew can disguise you as someone else. You should be able to use this to escape the base. Good luck.
- Your benefactor.
Okay, this is starting to come back to me. I think I know where I am, but I really don't wanna believe it.
I stared back up at Mew and quickly asked just to clarify." You can change my appearance just by having the DNA of something else?" I felt my throat and stomach go dry as they nodded at me. Okay, I really hope this is a dream, because whilst this might have been a fun game to play on a laptop, I don't fancy dealing with cults in real life! Being offered up as a sacrifice to a legendary pokemon? Hell no!
My gaze shifted over the concrete walls of this base and landed on the stairs to another floor. A deep feeling of anxiety welled up in my chest. My heart was beating fast and my breathing became unsteady at the reality of being in Pokemon Insur-
I forced down my emotions. Now isn't the time to let your nerves get the better of you, don't be a fucking pussy, those die in situations like this. Keep it together!
I started to get my feet moving and within just a few moments I was high-tailing my way up the stairs. Alright try and think positive Leo, there's a silver-lining to everything. At least I know exactly where I am, I'm in Pokemon Insurgence. A fangame where the main character has to defeat fucking cults that have no problems with shanking up teenagers, a game where people actually die, unlike traditional pokemon games made by Gamefreak. And a game where the true antagonist, Nyx, is trying to save their universe by fucking over ours.
Lovely. Peachy. Absolutely fabulous.
I felt myself internally wincing at what I'd need to do if this really wasn't a dream. Just why did it have to be Pokemon Insurgence?! Couldn't I have actually been put into one of the mainstream pokemon games? You know one of the ones where I couldn't fucking die at the slightest mistake?! Where people aren't dropping like flies?!
I did my best to push those thoughts away, they weren't doing me any good, but I still couldn't help but be a bit pessimistic about the situation. Though maybe I'm wrong, maybe this world is actually all sunshine and rainbows, maybe god decided to take mercy on me and give me a PG 13 pokemon journey.
I finished walking up the stairs and poked my head through the top when I emerged through the hole and arrived into the upper floor. I prepared myself to stare into a puddle of blood as I saw that nobody was in this room and I made strides towards the end of the hall.
I frowned as I stared around this place. It's layout was a bit different than it was in the games. For starters, there wasn't any water in this room. In Pokemon Insurgence the place where the blood was found was surrounded by polluted water that you need to use Shaymin's Seed Flare to clear out, after that you can collect a master ball from the south west corner of the room. But, this place doesn't have any green water in, or a master ball. It was just a hall that had a few stairs that lead up to where the blood was meant to be.
Mew floated past me and towards the end of the hall. I followed behind and walked up the, stairs, preparing to see a grim sight.
I was not disappointed.
My heart humped out of my chest and my eyes widened as I came across a truly disturbing sight. It was that of a corpse, burnt and charred to the point where I couldn't even make out their faces. Their skin was like charcoal that seemed to flake off and reveal raw pink and red skin behind it, plus their hands were screwed up in a way that left me with the impression that they did not go out gently, they were probably kicking and screaming by the end.
Dried up blood was held beneath them, it seemed to be old, but not terribly so, as though this person died maybe a day before now, but nothing more than that.
In the games Persephone, the leader of the Cult of Darkrai, was shown to have sacrificed someone by burning them away in order to summon Darkrai. I don't know how that worked, it was never explained in game and you can't really scientifically explain something like this, but, based on some pieces of dialogue from her character, I think it's safe to say that they didn't get this first try. It must have taken many different attempts to successfully perform the ritual, many different methods and many different sacrifices.
I stared down at the poor man- or woman, I can't even tell at this point- and felt some pity in my chest. The mainline pokemon villains never went this far, sure they were villains and I'm sure they'd be different in real life, but I can't really picture any of them literally sacrificing someone to summon a legendary pokemon.
Well, no use dwelling on it now. I really need to leave this place.
"Mew can you turn me into this guy?" I spoke as I turned to the pink legendary pokemon. I am a bit curious as to how this works, will I change shape, or-
Mew nodded at my words and floated downwards to the pool of blood underneath the charred corpse below my feet. I felt a strange tingling sensation envelop my body as Mew glowed white, making contact with the blood using their hand, and after just a moment my skin and clothes seemed to fade away as a mask and black robes wrapped around my skin in place of my usual clothes.
I stared down at my legs to see that somehow Mew had managed to copy the clothes someone had worn before they died. I'm not sure how that works, since clothes aren't exactly ingrained into a person's DNA, but I not gonna complain.
Mew seemed to giggle and float around at my fascination, and I remembered what I should be doing, namely getting the fuck out of this joint.
I turned my face away from the corpse and started to walk in the opposite direction, not halting in my advance I merely spoke to Mew with a two words." Lets go." The floating cat heard me and followed behind like a trusted guardian.
The world is cruel. It seems that's a universal fact, no matter what universe you're in you will hurt. I felt the pain the world can bring before, this one is no different. But, I think that I might be better off in this world than the last one. My life was hollow, empty, lonely, I had no purpose, I didn't have the drive to find one either. At least if I stay here I'll have a purpose, a reason to live. I can really be like one of those heroes I've read about.
I know what happens next, lets see if I can really live.
Comments
Maxwell Mazza
It’s the game with a kill count. This will be a slaughter.
