Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

The Awakening -- Chapter 14 -- History

I just realized that I've gotta change one fairly minor detail in that chapter....

Thx for the props!
 
welcome, looks like he has a battle demon in him

Not quite, but very close. It should become quite clear in the next 3 chapters. I'll prelude what I'm about to do by simply saying that I *LOVE* monkeying with time and the perception of time. You might have seen a bit of that in this last chapter if you were looking closely enough.
 
Would right about now feel good for you? :tongue:

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Chapter 11 – A Plan of Action

“Lizaaaaa, lemme alone!”

“But Tate, your hair is a mess, and you didn’t clean up after your lunch!”

Two youths, identical at first sight, sat in front of a vast array of computer screens. One was trying desperately to edge her hairbrush and a napkin towards the other’s face. The other was doing everything in his power to resist.

“Getoff! I don’t need you to take care of me!” He slapped the napkin out of her hand, and it floated gently to the floor. A red light began flashing on the wall behind them, but neither noticed.

“But that’s what big sisters are for!” She dove at him again, kicking the still falling napkin away from the consoles, but missing his head by mere inches. Lying facedown on the tile floor, she turned and smiled sweetly back at him.

He looked down, mumbling, “by two freakin’ minutes”. He scowled, obviously agitated, and attempted to resume his place by the monitors.

The girl, Liza, seized the opportunity and launched herself at her twin, placing him in a one-armed headlock. She continued to smile. “Just hold still, and this will be over quickly,” she said gently as she tried to run the brush through Tate’s long hair.

Tate struggled mightily, but his breathing was coming in short gasps. His face turned red, then purple as he struggled against his sister’s powerful grip. I’m gonna pass…

“STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!!!” A loud, stern voice came from the back of the room. The twins looked up as Sabrina ran down the stairs from the upper level to their area. “We do NOT fight against our colleagues, and we most CERTAINLY do not put them in headlocks!”

Liza immediately dropped Tate, who fell to the floor, gasping for breath, and she walked towards Sabrina. “I apologize, Professor Natsume. I was merely trying to impress,” she emphasized the word, “upon my brother that his appearance determines the amount of respect given by his students.” The smile never left her face as she said this. Behind her, Tate let out a loud cough that sounded strangely like “Brownose” as he continued to gag and gasp for air.

Sabrina looked down her nose at the pint-sized teacher, her eyes flashing and a small scowl appearing on her young face. “It does not matter. You have a job to do, and nothing should stop you from that job.” She peered over Liza’s shoulder. “You might have noticed that we have an alert. Check it, now.” Sabrina turned on her heels and walked up the small flight of stairs towards another console which faced the front of the room.

Liza’s smile faded slightly. “Yes, Professor.” She turned on the bottom level of the room and resumed her position at the console, dropping her comb on Tate’s stomach. Tate had begun to breathe regularly, but was clearly not quite ready to retake his place.

Liza scanned her screen for a moment, checking what the alert was about. She started. “Professor, it’s about Doshi.”

Sabrina turned on her heels, peering at the largest screen in the room directly above Liza. “Put it up there, and pipe in whatever audio you can find.” She waited while Liza typed some commands into the console. Tate finally regained enough strength to crawl his way back to his console. Picking up the napkin that had been dropped earlier, he sat and also typed furiously.

The main screen flashed black for a moment, then showed a room which Sabrina immediately recognized as one of the elevators, and she was fairly certain it was Elevator 2. There was a boy there, tall for his age but thinner than a rake, moaning. His words weren’t making any sense. “…two years…”

Sabrina glanced at Tate. “When is this occurring?”

“Right now, or just a couple of minutes ago.” Tate replied curtly. “I can’t get an accurate temporal lock on this.”

“…blackthorn mall…”

“Clear it up,” ordered Sabrina, who summoned a captain’s leather chair from across the room and sat in it like it were a throne. The room was in silence for a moment, other than the boy’s mutterings, which were making less and less sense by the second.

Liza’s head popped up. “This happened exactly 31.8 seconds ago, Professor. Elevator 2. The tape is being erased as we’re watching this. We do not have the ability to pause.” Her smile was still unchanged from earlier as she continued to type.

Sabrina swore. “Tate, find some way to back this up, even if the method is unreliable.”

Tate rose quickly. “Gotit, Prof,” and he sped up the stairs past Sabrina into the control room above and behind her.

Sabrina shook her head, and turned to watch Tate’s movements in the control room.

“BRANDON!!!”

All three jumped. Liza knocked her chair over, and Sabrina very nearly fell down the three stairs to the ground floor. All three looked with great interest at the main screen.

Bull sat bolt upright, still grasping his head with both hands. Quickly, he shook his head. “No. That incident was two years ago.” He was still shaking his head, but his mumbling was far more coherent now. “You were cleared of everything involving that incident. By both the police and by one of Sabrina’s assistants. You had no control over that.”

Bull went silent for a moment. His face went pale, and he braced himself against the wall, completely forgetting that he was still sitting on the floor. “No. You’re wrong.” His voice was weak.

Again, silence. It looked like he was listening for something. Still shaking his head, Bull talked into thin air. “I didn’t… I couldn’t…” He could hear his voice crack as he said it, as though he didn’t believe it himself.

His face was getting paler by the second as he again lost his voice. After a brief moment, he whispered, “That’s why I came here.” Bull’s entire body was shaking now. “My desires are nothing short of … Intense … And vivid … They cannot be fulfilled …”

“What’s going on in there?” Sabrina’s fists were white as she clenched them and Bull again fell silent. Tate continued running around the room behind her, stopping only momentarily at various desks and screens to move some piece of electronic equipment or to enter some code.

Liza had regained her chair and was typing furiously at her screen. Shaking her head, she said, “I don’t know. It seems like he is having a conversation. I know not with whom.”

“STOP!!!” Bull screamed, the most forceful action he had taken in a good few minutes. Color began to return to his face, but only faint. “It wasn’t my desire for that to happen there. It wasn’t my desire for Brandon to have to endure that.”

Sabrina swore again. “I know with who.” Liza turned, her smile faded as she raised an eyebrow. “You don’t need to know about it.”

“Then why does he no longer remember the incident?” Bull was talking into nothingness, and only one person watching knew why. “You know as well as I do that the Police can’t do anything to the mind. As you also know that Sabrina’s assistant told me directly that I would have to live with the consequences of your actions.” Bull’s voice was getting stronger as he spoke. “She modified nobody’s memories. Immediately thereafter, I forced you into the deepest portion of my mind that I could think of, and created the most complex maze possible for you to get out. I assume you remember that.”

Liza continued to gaze at Sabrina as she turned away from the screen. “I need to make preparations for this. Liza, allow Doshi at least twenty minutes after he leaves that elevator. Monitor his progress closely. After those twenty minutes are up, send him directly to my office.” Sabrina’s voice shook slightly as she spoke.

If anything, Liza’s eyebrow raised further. Though, when she spoke, no hint of a question was on her voice. “I understand, Professor.”

Bull smiled. “I’m amazed you haven’t seen it yet. That wasn’t designed as a permanent barrier. It just needed to buy me some time. You are so weak in the aftermath of using your abilities. I found Brandon immediately. Put him into a telekinetic coma. Tried to erase his memories of the event. But I wasn’t skilled enough then. I accidentally erased his memories both from the six months prior to that day, and every memory he ever had of me.”

Bull began to pick himself off the floor. “You must have noticed that Brandon didn’t come anywhere near me after that incident, didn’t you?” Bull’s smile widened.

Sabrina stopped at the top of the stairs. “I know you have questions, Liza. I don’t have the answers you seek.” Liza turned back to her screen, her serene smile returned at last.

She walked into the control room and spoke directly with Tate as he rummaged through a box in the corner. “Bull’s battle is beginning. You know what you must do.”

Bull looked in his reflection smiling in the side of the elevator. “Think back again. Think about how Brandon acted. If he were once a friend who had been betrayed, he would have been the furthest person away at any given moment. He would have been as far away as possible from me, so that he couldn’t have been hurt again.” He continued to smile at his reflection, and wiped some sweat off his brow.

Tate’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean, that, do you?”

Sabrina nodded.

“I never thought we’d need to use her like this,” Tate said softly as he shook his head. “She won’t like being pulled out early.”

“Just like everybody else.” Bull finally stood up straight. “He was no different from anybody else after it happened. In fact, for the first week or so, he was perfectly friendly, even though he didn’t know me. You took far too long to figure out my ‘simple’ puzzle. It was almost a month before I heard your voice again.”

Sabrina turned back to the screen. “I know she won’t. But we need her. Right now.”

Bull nodded his head. “You’re not coming out again. This trap, you haven’t seen anything like this before. Even my vaunted Cyclone Defense is nothing compared to this. See you in hell.” Bull swore, held out his hand, and closed his eyes, slipping softly to the floor.

Tate watched as Sabrina shuffled around to him, bending so their faces were level. “You have your assignment. I will be waiting.”
 
This is one of the shorter chapters that I've written, but just SO MUCH FUN to write! The second half of that conversation in the last chapter. Will something finally happen in this? (You bet it will!)

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Chapter 12

Still clutching his head, Bull ran headlong into the closed elevator door. Stunned for a moment, he dropped to his knees, and used his right hand to press the button, keeping a vicegrip on his head with his left. Still mumbling to himself, still on his knees, he started throwing his head at the elevator doors.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

He continued, only barely conscious of the sound of the elevator’s gears as they groaned and moved the car to his floor. As he reared back for one more smash, the door opened, and he flung himself inside the elevator.

“Floor thirteen.” His strained shriek echoed through the empty car, and it began to move rapidly. After a moment, Bull cried out, “Emergency stop.” The car immediately halted and the lights dimmed. He was still curled on the floor, clutching his head, almost completely unaware of his surroundings. Still mumbling.

“…can’t be let out…” Time passed, Bull laying twitching on the floor, trying desperately to smash his head on something, anything solid. “…two years...” The gears of the elevator tried to click, tried to move the car to its intended destination. “…holdup…” The lights began to flicker, like a weary strobe on its last legs. “…blackthorn mall…” Bull’s twitching intensified, as if he were in a deep and painful trance.

“…BRANDON!!!!

Bull sat bolt upright, still grasping his head with both hands. Quickly, he shook his head. “No. That incident was two years ago.” He was still shaking his head, but his mumbling was far more coherent now. “You were cleared of everything involving that incident. By both the police and by one of Sabrina’s assistants. You had no control over that.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, something else began to speak. But I did. You let me out that day

Bull’s face went pale, and he braced himself against the wall, completely forgetting that he was still sitting on the floor. “No. You’re wrong.” His voice was weak.

Just like you let me out a minute ago.

Still shaking his head, Bull talked into thin air. “I didn’t… I couldn’t…” He could hear his voice crack as he said it, as though he didn’t believe it himself.

You have desires, Bull. Yet you won’t act on them. I fulfill those desires. The voice was getting stronger.

“That’s why I came here.” Bull’s entire body was shaking now. “My desires are nothing short of … Intense … And vivid … They cannot be fulfilled …”

He could hear the voice cackle, and it was stronger than he had heard in years. You’re naïve if you think just being here would be enough to stop me. We share a mind, a consciousness. You can’t stop me any more than you could stop the wind from blowing. You couldn’t stop me from…

“STOP!!!” Bull screamed, the most forceful action he had taken in a good few minutes. Color began to return to his face, but only faint. “It wasn’t my desire for that to happen there. It wasn’t my desire for Brandon to have to endure that.”

There must have been, or else I wouldn’t have done it. A faint tremor in the voice, Bull knew it was getting weaker.

“Then why does he no longer remember the incident?” Bull was talking into nothingness, but he needed to hear these words as well as say them.

The voice in his head stopped cackling abruptly. “You know as well as I do that the Police can’t do anything to the mind. As you also know that Sabrina’s assistant told me directly that I would have to live with the consequences of your actions.” Bull’s voice was getting stronger as he spoke. “She modified nobody’s memories. Immediately thereafter, I forced you into the deepest portion of my mind that I could think of, and created the most complex maze possible for you to get out. I assume you remember that.”

A pause. Of course. That was designed to keep me in your mind forever. But, Bull, I know the way you think. Better than anybody, I daresay. I knew the secret to your puzzle almost immediately. It took me virtually no time to break through. The voice was beginning to fade slightly, though its cockiness still remained.

Bull smiled. “I’m amazed you haven’t seen it yet. That wasn’t designed as a permanent barrier. It just needed to buy me some time. You are so weak in the aftermath of using your abilities. I found Brandon immediately. Put him into a telekinetic coma. Tried to erase his memories of the event. But I wasn’t skilled enough then. I accidentally erased his memories both from the six months prior to that day, and every memory he ever had of me.”

The voice was silent, and Bull began to pick himself off the floor. “You must have noticed that Brandon didn’t come anywhere near me after that incident, didn’t you?” Bull’s smile widened. He knew he had that voice beaten.

Of course. Nobody in the school or the orphanage would come within ten feet of you after that. Everybody was afraid, everybody was skirting corridors when you walked around. For the first time, the voice began to falter a little bit, as though it were nervous about what it might not know.

Bull looked in his reflection smiling in the side of the elevator. “Think back again. Think about how Brandon acted. If he were once a friend who had been betrayed, he would have been the furthest person away at any given moment. He would have been as far away as possible from me, so that he couldn’t have been hurt again.”

There was a very pregnant pause in the air, as Bull waited for the response. He continued to smile at his reflection, and wiped some sweat off his brow. He knew this was almost over.

…He… He acted… I don’t believe it… The voice was as faint as it had been since Bull entered the elevator.

“Just like everybody else.” Bull finally stood up straight. “He was no different from anybody else after it happened. In fact, for the first week or so, he was perfectly friendly, even though he didn’t know me. You took far too long to figure out my ‘simple’ puzzle. It was almost a month before I heard your voice again.”

…no… The voice was as faint as Bull could ever remember it. NOOOOO!!!

Bull nodded his head. “You’re not coming out again. This trap, you haven’t seen anything like this before. Even my vaunted Cyclone Defense is nothing compared to this. See you in hell.” Bull swore, held out his hand, closed his eyes, and went into a deep trance.
 
Can somebody plz post here and lmk if I'm just trying too darn hard with this thing? I know where I want it to go, even if it takes an unnecessarily long and circuitous route to get there.

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Chapter 13 – The Beginning

The motivations, feelings, and thoughts of the present can be inexorably linked to the events of the past. We now again travel through time to better understand the events leading up to this pivotal confrontation, to comprehend the actions and reactions of all parties involved, and finally to gain the knowledge of the past, to better understand the present and the future.


“All stations, I need a complete analysis of this experiment.” A tall man, easily dwarfing the others in the room, with short brown hair and large thin glasses, spoke to the room. “Engineering, report.”

A slightly heavyset and shorter black man answered. “Power is stable. Voltage and amperage are both within tolerances, though outside of the ideal slightly.”

A second, distinctly older man, continued. “The chamber is undamaged, still operating normally. We’ll get this kid through this.” He grinned to himself and muttered, “Not like we have much of a choice.”

“Good. Science, report.”

A pale man, younger than anybody else in the room, with longer black hair, replied. “The subject is reacting as expected. Our specialized E-M radiation is currently working directly on his neural network, unlocking the potential we all know to be there.”

“Excellent. Medical, report.”

A short but very attractive woman with shoulder length brown hair answered. “The subject’s vitals are unchanged. He is currently sleeping normally. The radiation is having no ill effects.” She looked up from her station. “I find it unsettling, Nev, that medical is the last station you call for. That is our son in that chamber. Our six-year-old son. Have some concern for his welfare.” Her eyes began to well with tears, but she successfully fought them back as she turned towards her husband, whose face remained unchanged.

He crossed the room in a few short steps. “We must endure this. Our research has gone too far for something so trivial as a lack of test subjects to allow it to stop.” He gripped her shoulder. “And I do care about Bull, Marcia. He is our crowning achievement. As long as everything goes right and our calculations are correct, which they are, he will feel no adverse affects from this experiment.”

Marcia nodded and turned back to her station, concealing again her eyes tearing up. Behind her back, Nev smiled slightly, imperceptibly, and then regained his stoic demeanor. He walked back to his initial position at the back of the room near the entrance. “Let us begin the experiment.”

“Initiating intense E-M radiation.”

“Vitals stable.”

“Containment field holding.”

“Focusing E-M wave.”

A massive machine in the middle of the room began to hum and vibrate as it spun up, producing the highly effective but dangerous radiation the scientists so desired. A light emanating from the center of the machine briefly encompassed the entire room, then began to focus itself onto a single point along a wall. A point where a massive tube had been positioned. Full of liquid and containing a child, the tube began to absorb the light.

“All readings stable.”

“Proceed.”

“Intensifying field.”

“Graviton waves initiated.”

“Excellent. All going as planned.” A mumbled response.

“Vitals stable.”

“Refocusing both beam and wave.”

“This is going to work!”

Suddenly, the machine sparked once. Then again in quick succession. Nev began to sweat as the team began to shout through the room, panicked.

“Containment destabilizing. Initiating backup generator.”

“E-M wave intensifying. Reduced focus. Reestablishing correct parameters.”

“Glass viewer cracked. Chamber losing proper pressure. Breach is imminent. Readjusting force fields and shields to compensate.”

“Increased heart rate. Movement erratic and unpredictable.” Marcia turned towards Nev. “He’s not going to make it.”

Nev took a step forward. “Stop all radiation and gravitons. Stabilize the containment field. Prevent that breach.” His panic was evident in his voice.

“Computer unresponsive. Radiation increasing, becoming unstable. Gravitons increasing in power and magnitude.”

“Boosting power to containment. No effect. Diverting power from radiation and gravitons… Unresponsive.”

“Chamber self-repair subroutines already started. Ineffective. Glass crack growing larger. It’s not going to hold.”

Tiny…

Nev looked around. “What was that?”

The team turned to him. “What?” “I didn’t hear nuttin’.” “You sure you’re alright?”

Nev walked towards the chamber slowly. “That voice. You couldn’t hear it?”

A collective murmur of “no”s rumbled through the room as the machine continued to spark.

“Return to your…”

Are you… So tiny…

“There it is again!” Nev looked around the room, falling his gaze on each face in turn. “Don’t you guys hear it?!?” He was becoming somewhat frantic.

Another collective murmur, another negative response.

Show me… You made… Show me…

He turned again towards the chamber. “Are you…?” The rest of the team appeared anxious, but continued with their work on stabilizing the machine and the container. “Are you…?” Nev placed a hand on the container carefully, caressing the machine as though it were a sick child that he couldn’t reach.

Show me… YOUR POWER!!!

Nev suddenly grabbed his head, screaming incoherently.

Marcia immediately stopped her calculations and ran to him. “Nev! Nev! Honey, what’s going on?! Stop screaming and tell me! Nev!”

The rest of the team quickly abandoned their stations and gathered around the couple. “Mr. Doshi?” “Are you alright?” “Answer us, Mr. Doshi!”

Nev’s screaming stopped for a second, and he smiled weakly. “Success!” he whispered triumphantly. His body went limp, his eyes closed.

Marcia was weeping. “Nev? Nev? Say something! Open your eyes!” She began to rock him like a baby.

The black man from engineering put a hand on her shoulder and helped her away from her husband with some force. The pale man from science checked Nev’s pulse. He bowed his head. “Nev Doshi is dead.” The team dropped their heads in a moment of silence.

Without warning, the glass on the front of the container shattered, showering the team with fine glass particles, though miraculously none of them were cut or harmed in any way. The team turned towards the broken container, and Marcia let out a gasp.

A boy, no taller than four feet tall, naked with a perfect crew cut walked barefoot from the wreckage, his eyes closed. “Did you… Create me?” He asked nervously, pointing his unseeing face towards the team.

A murmur of assent. Marcia began to weep. “It worked! Our Bull is still alive!”

The boy smiled toothily, pointing his heads down to the floor. “Fool. Bull did not survive.” Each member of the team grabbed his or her head except for Marcia. “Bull died mere moments ago.” Except for Marcia, the entire team was writhing on the floor in intense pain. Marcia was stunned, unable to move, her right hand reaching towards her son.

The boy walked towards the unmoving woman, oblivious to the shrieks of pain emminating from all points around him. “Your experiment was a complete success.” He kneeled in front of Marcia and placed her hand upon his chest. “I am the result.” He smiled into the face of Marcia, who seemed ecstatic to have her son back in her arms. “My name is Yami. Nice to meet you.”

His eyes shadowed over. Marcia shrieked once in intense pain, then fell still alongside the rest of her team.

The boy laughed once, then walked out of the room, his face stoic once again.

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Yes, the inspiration here is most definitely Hao from Shaman King. The manga, not the anime (worst ending EVA!!!) The name is taken from YGO, though the personality is a cross between Hao and Hyde. Hopefully, I can give this more sense in the next couple of chapters...
 
I have been reading this, and you might be trying too hard. But still, this is really good.

I like it how 2 people died in one chapter. Adds more depth to it all.
Just, I can't see how Nev died. Could you clarify this? And Bull dying was unexpected.

In short, great work. :thumb:

David out.
 
The body count is actually 5 right now. Of the people that actually matter to the story, 2 are currently dead.

I'm just wondering if the coherency in this is just in my mind, or if there's actual coherency in what I've written thus far.
 
Really? Huh. Even though 3 of them were complete throwaway characters?

I write when I feel like writing. This particular chapter has actually been written for about a month. I haven't really had a good inspiration for writing since then. Might feel good next weekend. Might not.
 
Took me darn near long enough. I'm not really happy with this chapter, but I needed to get this thing done before I forget about this story altogether. I need to at least make *some* headway into this thing, so here's the next chapter, warts and all.

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Chapter 14 -- Aftermath

The young woman approached a dilapidated factory in the section of Saffron City that nobody knew ever existed, and even fewer actually visited. There was nothing particularly unique about the building, especially in this area. Brown brick faded from the original red, some of them cracked, many missing. None of the glass in the windows were original to the building. Many were missing. Those that remained were either cracked, or maintained colors other than clear. Some of the windows were covered in what looked like either saran wrap or tin foil.

The woman shook her head as she approached the building. More to herself than to anything, she mumbled, “This place is still around? Can’t believe it wasn’t destroyed…”

“You say somethin’, man?” An enormously fat policeman standing guard caught on to her last few words.

She held up a hand, speaking with her usual formal diction. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with.” The cop snorted and spat at the ground to his left. “You called me. Why?”

The cop adjusted his belt so that his pants weren’t sliding down his fat bottom. “Not me, lady. Boss chick couldn’t get her pretty little head ‘round this one.” He spat again, and a brown substance hit the ground mere feet from the woman’s legs. She grimaced. “Said you’d figure this one out quicklike.” He snorted again, inhaling deeply through his nose.

The young woman walked past swiftly. Disgusting jackoff “Thank you for your assistance.” She could barely hide her disgust over the police she had to endure. The cops here are pathetic. How’d this city get this way?

She walked into the building, her deep purple hair flowing behind her as the policeman stared at her back. Suddenly, he grabbed his head, a jolt of pain flowing through his eyes. He screamed. The young woman turned and flipped her hair. “Never insult a Psychic. We do not need weapons to exact our revenge.” She continued into the building.

It was, if possible, even more disgusting inside than it was outside. Dust was thick on the floor. The walls were coated with a slime that reeked like battery acid but looked as thick as pudding. Few of the fluorescent lights in the ceiling actually worked. Those that did flickered as though they were about to die. The hallway was obviously once perfectly symmetrical, but was also ravaged by both time and lack of attention. The doors, where they existed, were off their hinges and contained holes or were rotted through.

Police lined the hallway at nearly perfect 50 foot intervals. For the most part, the woman ignored them, though they refused to ignore her, watching her hips and her hair as they followed her, swaying with her steps. She spared each a contemptuous look until she reached a door flanked by two of the uniforms.

The one on the left spoke. “The Lieutenant is waiting for you, ma’am.” He stood aside, and the door swung open on its hinge, which was unique given the state of all the other doors the woman had passed. Without a word, she entered.

And nearly immediately stopped in her tracks. Machines and instruments of all varieties that the woman couldn’t understand were strewn everywhere. Shelves and desks of the purest white had been upturned with wires hanging from every surface. The room had obviously once been a tremendous center of technology. However, most of that technology had been recently destroyed. Even the fluorescent lights that had once completely illuminated the entire room had been ripped from their sockets, leaving a scant few behind for the barest of light.

A young female officer who was crouching in a corner immediately stood as the woman entered the room. Her skirt was noticeable around the pants of all her male coworkers, and her bright blue hair would have flowed behind her if it hadn’t been tied in a tight bun. A few straggles were left all over the place, as though she had done it up very quickly. She smiled, extending her hand as she walked towards the newcomer. “Sabrina! Thank god you’re here!”

Sabrina took the officer’s hand quickly. “You called, Jenny?”

Jenny smirked. “Cold as always, huh? Well, we’re gonna need you to lighten up a little bit.” She motioned towards where she was crouching, where a young boy was kneeling in front of two adults, a man and a woman. Both of the adults were fussing with the other’s hair in a manner that reminded Sabrina of gorilla cleaning rituals, picking out random specks and placing them in their own mouths. The boy seemed beyond tears, gaping at the two adults before him.

Sabrina had to work hard to start walking towards the three. With effort, she lowered herself onto one knee, not an easy feat given she was wearing a short purple skirt. She heard whistles from behind her, which quickly gave way to quick screams of pain. Putting one arm on the boy’s shoulders, she tried to speak quietly. “Is your name Bull?” The boy nodded but continued to stare, unblinking.

Sabrina bowed her head slightly. Jenny was speaking behind her, but she couldn’t hear her words. Again, she spoke to the child. “Do you remember what happened here?” The boy quickly shook his head, pursing his lips as he did so.

Sabrina stood slowly, keeping her hands on the boy’s shoulder. Turning to Jenny, she said, “What can you figure out?”

Jenny looked annoyed. “I was just trying to tell ya. Looks like this was a lab of some sort. I think these two were the heads around here. Not sure what they were researching, but it must have had something to do with the mind. We found the boy in the hallway when we got here, sitting in a corner, giggling insanely, but his face was wet from tears.” She backed off a little bit. “We think he might have been the subject of the experiments here.”

Is that so? Sabrina lowered herself once again to the boy’s level. Forcing a smile, she crawled in front of the boy, blocking his view of his parents. “Bull, I need to take a look inside of your mind. I want to see what happened here, and I believe you had the best vantage point. Would you mind…”

The boy’s eyes focused on Sabrina’s face for a second, then began shaking his head vigorously, his arms still clenched across his knees. “You can’t! You can’t!” He began sobbing silently, and his head began to slow. “Nobody’s strong enough! He’s coming! He did this!” Bull kept shaking his head with his eyes closed, not meeting Sabrina’s eyes.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, and his spasms slowed again. “Worry not about me,” she said with a genuine smile. “I’m far stronger than I appear. I am able to handle anything a Psychic can produce, especially one of your experience.” She grasped both of Bull’s hands in one of hers. He looked into her eyes for the first time. “Please, trust me.”

The boy nodded, and both of their eyes rolled into their heads.
 
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