Dungeon 13 – Unnatural Selection: Part 1

The sound of bird peeps signaled that it was morning. A Starly flew through the clear sky over the small village of Thornwell. The villagers started their daily chores as the sun rose, chatting among themselves and opening their stores. It seemed like it would be a good day.

Inside one of the houses, there was a small Pokémon lying on a bunk bed. He opened his eyes, rubbing them with his hands and yawned. He then leapt down from the top bed, still sleepy, and stretched his arms. On the bottom bed, another Pokémon was sleeping peacefully. The child, having woken up, approached and shook him.

“Brian! Wake up! This is the day!” he said in an excited tone, wagging his tail while giving him a broad smile.

“Five more minutes Lance…” His brother turned his back, wrapping himself in the blanket.

“We don’t have five minutes!” He replied, pulling the Zorua’s sheet.

Brian yelped and fell to the ground, but quickly got back on his feet, before yawning. Lance, seeing that his plan had worked, looked at him with a sincere smile on his face.

“The next time I’m excited for something I’ll push you…” the Zorua scratched his own ears using his front legs.

“Ah! But come on! We’ll start the training! I can’t wait!” Lance gave his brother a grin.

“Maybe we’ll make a world trip! Who knows?” Brian agreed, his face showing a light smile like that of his brother.

The boys left theirhis room, going down the stairs of the house. They could smell food in the air and went straight to the kitchen. Sitting on the chair was the boys’ father. He was a black and blue furred canid, much like Lance. But, he was two heads taller, and unlike the Riolu, his arms had two white thorns instead of the metal plates in his son’s, alongside a third spike in his chest, surrounded by a fluffy, yellow coating in his upper body. He put several pancakes on the plates.

“Good morning, Dad!” Lance said as he sat, looking at the Lucario.

“Good morning…” Brian then jumped on the chair, sitting on his hind legs, scratching his eyes.

“Good morning boys… it’s today, right? The day that the guild training will begin…” Their father smiled slightly, the corners of his mouth pulling up in the side of his snout.

“Yes! Dad! You’re coming with us, righ?!” Lance asked, starting to eat.

The adult sighed, lowering his head as he heard his son’s question. He then quietly sat between the two, thinking about what he was going to say this time.

A few minutes passed without anyone saying a word, and the siblings’ father whined, feeling like he just dug his own grave.

“Hey… aren’t you going?” The Zorua finally said, staring at his parent.

“Unfortunately, your uncles and I were called on a mission… I don’t know how long it will take for us to return, but we must leave today.”

“You promised us…” The Zorua took one look at his brother and turned his face to his father.

“When will you get back?” Lance lowered his head, his smile and excitement from before were now replaced by sadness. “I really wanted your company…”

“I…” The Lucario tried to speak, but was interrupted by a noise.

Someone had knocked on the door of the house, and the auric Pokémon got up to open it, passing through another door on the way. Standing at the other side of the door was a Swampert, smiling as wide as his amphibian body could muster, and he then entered, wrapping an arm around the Lucario’s shoulder.

“Good morning Nick! How are the kids?” the Swampert said, giving his friend a thumbs-up.

“Shiron… good morning, they just woke up and… I told them about the mission, they know.” Nick sighed.

“Dude, you could have waited at least a little…” Shiron said, a little uneasiness visible in his eyes. “Well, I’ll try to talk to them…”

The duo went back to the kitchen, seeing the two brothers finishing their meals in silence. When Lance noticed his uncle, the boy gave him a weak smile, waving to the Swampert.

“Hi Uncle Shiron!”

“And there you are, children! How are my favorite nephews?!” Shiron laughed, leaning away from Nick.

“Guess we’ll have to wait for Dad to come back from the mission to celebrate.” Brian still sounded sad as he said that, thoughtful.

“Kids, don’t worry, a friend will take care of everything.” Nick said, scratching his chin. “He’s a Heracross.”

“Dad? Are you leaving now?” Brian asked, sighing, with his ears still lowered.

“If we stay here any longer, Yuu will end up falling asleep in the middle of the road…” Shiron answered, rolling his eyes.

“Well, then… have a good trip…” Lance got off the chair, still looking sad, but forcing a smile to his father.

Nick hugged his kids and then took a deep breath, before looking at the Swampert. They were a very famous team, so they constantly had to go out on jobs around the continent, and sometimes even abroad. He just hoped that the relationship with his children would not worsen in spite of all this. The children kept watching the two adults as they left the house. For a few moments, neither brother wanted to say anything.

“I hate this…” Brian broke the silence, looking down. “Dad acting like it’s no big deal every time he has to leave…”

“I’m sure he doesn’t like it either…” Lance said.

“Says the guy who can see aura…” Brian rolled his eyes as he walked to the door. “Let’s go!”

The siblings left their house. Far in the distance could be seen the guild headquarters where they would register as recruits. The building was medium size and appeared to be made out of concrete. Some Pokémon were outside doing renovations. The two boys entered the building without hesitation.

In the center, a Pokémon was talking to others, it was a bug type with a body similar to a beetle. They realized that it must have been the Heracross that their father had mentioned, getting closer to him.

“Good morning…” the small Riolu said, looking at the adult with a faint smile.

“Hello, mister!” Brian waved to him with his right paw, tail wagging.

“Well, hello! You must be the new recruits…” the Heracross then checked a paper on his hand. “You’re both… eight years old? Don’t you think you’re too young to enter the guild?” Alder said, a smile on his face.

For one moment, Lance saw the bug staring at him and shivered.

“Well, I think if we start early we’ll finish early!” Lance said, wagging his tail, his brother agreed with a nod.

“Well, let’s register you, come on.” He laughed a little, going into a room inside the building’s main section.

Brian noticed that Alder’s office was big, and his eyes sparkled when he saw a radio. Beyond that, he noticed a few windows, and of course, a desk with chairs. He sat down, and the brothers did the same. The Heracross took a pen and a notebook, looking at them.

“So… let’s go from the beginning, what is the name of the team?”

“I honestly haven’t thought about it yet…” Lance tapped his fingers on his chin, thinking.

At that moment, Brian raised his head pridefully. Now that they were registering, he could finally tell an idea he had! He let out a little laugh, showing his teeth on purpose and looking at his sibling. Lance nodded, a bit worried, because by that point, Brian’s tail was wagging so hard it could break.

“I think we should call ourselves… Liberators! Lots of Pokémon need help, and… I thought this name would be cool!” the Zorua suggested to his brother, whole body trembling in excitement.

“Interesting, I liked the idea” Alder laughed, his eyes fixed on Riolu.

“Wow, that’s so cool Brian! I love it!” the Fighting type said, wagging his tail. “By the way, Mr. Alder, I’ll be the leader!”

“Got it. We’ll start your training next week, one thing, you’ll have to wake up early.” He wrote on the paper, seeing that both of them had agreed.

Alder smiled again.

“Alright, the Zorua is dismissed, but you… Lance, right? Since you’re the leader, I need to discuss some things with you.”

“Hm… ok!” He thought that was a little weird, but trusting his father’s judgment, Lance decided to trust the insect.

“See you guys soon. I need a nap.” Brian got up, leaving the place.

Looking out the window, Alder saw the Zorua walking rather slowly, yawning a few times on the way, until the moment he opened the door to his house, leaving the bug’s field of vision. A smile appeared on his face as he turned on the radio in the room.

“The operation was a success… we can take the boy. Send the message for the other members of the guild to leave.” He said on the device.

“Mr. Alder? What are you talking about?” Lance asked, lowering his ears and starting to tremble a little.

“Well, kid… sorry, but your dreams of being an explorer will have to end here…”

Upon hearing this, Lance jumped out of his chair, desperately running to the door without thinking about anything, when he hit what looked like a red wall, falling to the ground. Looking up, he saw a red Pokémon, one he had never seeing before, but he still recognized the species: a Blaziken, that looked at him with a blank expression. The child moved away, crawling on the ground, when he was grabbed by Heracross and before he could say anything, the bug covered Lance’s mouth.

“Let’s take him away from here… I swear, this job was horrible. Working as a spy in a famous guild! If the guildmaster found out about this, we’d be dead!” He grumbled, going out with the Blaziken.

As they left, they saw that the place was already empty as planned. The two then proceeded to a back door, away from the view of the villagers.

Finally realizing what was happening, Lance started crying, trying to get rid of his kidnappers at all costs. Heracross, angered by his tries, just grabbed him harder. They then followed a forest road, south of the village.

“Stay still boy, it’s nothing personal… but our boss needs a Riolu and you are an easy target…” Alder kept holding Lance as the boy struggled, trying to get free.

“Do you really believe that crazy mon managed to unlock an evolution that nobody has ever heard of?” The Blaziken commented while they were walking.

“I don’t know, who cares? As long as we get paid, that’s what matters…” he rolled his eyes.

“Hmph… Hm!” Lance tried to talk to them, but with his mouth covered, he couldn’t say anything but grunts.

“Kid, I swear to Arceus, you’re annoying…” Alder said, punching Lance in the back of his head, knocking him out. The kidnappers kept walking for another hour.

Meanwhile, Brian was laying in his bed, sleeping again. He woke up yawning loudly, before getting on his feet, stretching his body to get rid of the numbness on his muscles.

“That nap felt amazing… Now, where is my brother?” He then went down the stairs, looking for Lance. “I guess he’s still in the guild… hehe! Must be working hard!” Brian ran off, heading towards the establishment.

The boy looked at the building from far away, seeing that there wasn’t much movement, which was strange, there was only one Pokémon standing at the entrance. Usually there were several coming and going. Having a bad feeling, he ran as fast as he could, approaching and seeing a Quilladin with his arms crossed while looking at the interior, waiting.

“Uh, mister, hi?” The Zorua got closer, greeting the other Pokémon.

“What do you want?” The Quilladin turned around, facing the boy.

“Did everybody leave? My brother was there…” He spoke feeling a shiver run down his body, as if something bad had happened.

“That stupid manager gave the alarm for us to leave!” The grass type impatiently tapped his foot on the ground, “But there was no emergency! We came back and there was no one there!”

“No-nobody?! What are you talking about?!” He ran inside the building, seeing that it was in fact empty. He then went back outside, his face down and ears drooping.

“Kid, what happened?! You look like you saw a ghost!” he said approaching Brian.

“I told you! My brother was there! The manager said he had to discuss something with him in private and I left!”

The silence that followed only served to confirm the Zorua’s suspicions. His brother was missing. He fell to his knees, desperate, not knowing what to do. In his mind, several questions were being asked. Where was Lance? What was the reason they took him? Was he ok? How could he tell his father?! The questions filled the boy’s head who then started crying and screaming.

The Riolu woke up lying down on the floor, his body was exhausted from the trip and he opened his eyes slowly. Lance tried standing up, but quickly was shoved back down by a terrible headache. He decided to just look at the place he was in.

It seemed that the walls were made of metal with a locked door. Forcing himself to get up, Lance saw there was no way out and, on the corner of a wall, he could see a speaker. Feeling something on his neck, he looked down, seeing a collar in place. Scared, he started screaming, punching the walls.

“Get me out of here! Dad! Uncle Shiron! Uncle Yuu! Help! Help me, please!” He desperately clawed at the door, trying to leave the enclosed space.

Suddenly, the collar on the boy’s neck activated and he felt a shock running all over his body, causing him to fall to the ground. Then, the speaker turned on, a voice coming out of it.

“I’m sorry kid… you will stay with us as long as necessary.”

Lance didn’t recognize who was talking and stayed on the floor without moving, feeling his whole body burning from the discharge. The door opened and the same Blaziken as before appeared, picking up the Riolu in his lap and taking him to another area of the place. With his blurred vision, the boy could barely discern where he was, seeing only gray walls. How long had it been since he was kidnapped? He couldn’t answer, being carried by the red Pokémon. All he could do was wait and trust that his family would find him.

Eventually, they arrived in what seemed to be an operation room, with a hospital bed in the middle, where the Blaziken put Lance. On the other side of the room there was a tall Pokémon, it wasn’t possible to see much of him, but he had white skin with some traces of green on his head and arms.

He was touching some utensils, only to feel their texture, almost as if he was used to it, when he noticed the boy, and smiled at him.

“Ah, the new test subject arrived!” He said and Lance noticed that was the voice that had spoken on the radio before. “My name is…”

The child couldn’t hear his name right, lying on the stretcher. The scientist then pulled a syringe, before injecting it into Lance’s arm.

“Don’t worry… boy… you won’t die… well, I don’t intend to let you die, but if it happens…” the Gallade said. “There are many Riolu in the world! I’m just sedating you at the moment.”

Lance wanted to scream, to run away, to call his father. He was scared, even if he couldn’t move because of the sedative. Still, he remained awake, but unable to do anything. The boy wanted to stay conscious as much as he could to try to identify who had done this to him. The scientist just smiled, taking a bisturi and starting to cut Riolu’s stomach slowly. Despite his efforts, he lost consciousness.

Waking up, the boy opened his eyes, noticing that he was in the same room as before, only this time there was a thatch bed.

I don’t know how long I’ve been in this place… Dad… help me… he thought.

The routine was the same. He woke up, went to the room, was sedated and dissected by the doctor. Whenever he tried to escape, he was electrocuted by the collar. The more often this happened, the more the boy began to lose hope. Where was his father? Nick should have found this place by now.

At the current moment, he was being carried through the corridors again, but this time, he went to another room, wider, but with nothing but a knife on the floor and a fainted Pokémon, a Houndoom. The smell of blood hovered in the air, stirring up a feeling of nausea in the Riolu, who was then thrown to the ground by the Blaziken.

“Where… I am now?”

“Welcome to your new test, number ten.” The doctor’s voice spoke through the speaker, he never referred to Lance by name, only by numbers.

“Test? Please let me go!” the boy screamed, tears flowing from his eyes.

Although Lance couldn’t see him, the Gallade smiled.

“I’ll tell you something interesting about where I come from… we have a medicine, a pill that is able to make the Pokémon stronger. It’s called ‘Rare Candy’. Unfortunately, it has become a taboo and illegal.”

Rare Candy? I’ve never heard of it… what is he saying? the boy thought, looking at the other Pokémon inside that place.

“Of course, being the genius that I am, I was able to recreate, despite these primitive lands.” He gave a small laugh.

Lance tried to move, but looked at his collar. If he tried escaping again, he would only get hurt…

The scientist continued. “Of course, I haven’t perfected yet. You see, this Houndoom… was another subject, unfortunately he’s become unstable. Your mission will be… to survive. Kill this enemy and you may have a break from my experiments.”

“Kill him?!” Lance couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

As if it were the cue, Houndoom stood up, snorting smoke, before looking at Lance, showing his sharp teeth. He set off on the boy, shooting a gust of flames.

Lance barely had time to react, picking up the knife on the ground and rolling to the side, dodging the blow. Even so, the dog continued dashing, sharpening his claws. He jumped, slashing through the child’s chest in a single hit. What followed was the sound of blood pouring from Lance, and an ear-piercing scream as he was thrown against the wall.

Barely being able to move, Lance used all the strength he had to stay on his feet, until he finally fell, his chest bleeding from the cut.

“Hm, disappointing… finish him off, Houndoom,” the Gallade said.

Following the order, the black dog advanced, his mouth open and his teeth flaming. Lance screamed, holding the knife and shoving it into the enemy’s eye after he approached.

Being hit, the dog whined, disoriented. The child wasted no time, stabbing him in the other eye. This time, it was Houndoom who fell. Lance, still angry, continued hitting his enemy in the rest of his body, no matter what happened. He realized that only this would make him survive.

After stabbing his enemy several times over, Lance fell to the ground, fainting from his wounds, the last thing he heard was the laughter of Pokémon who had made him go through it.

Waking up again, the blue Pokémon found himself on a bed of the medical wing, tied up. Moving his head to the side, he managed to identify the doctor who had tortured him all this time.

A Gallade…? he thought.

“I see you’re awake, child.” The scientist turned around, revealing a syringe filled with a blue liquid in his hand.

“What’s that?!” Lance began to struggle, trying to escape.

“You think very bad things of me, I already told you what it is when I introduced my canine friend to you…” He was smiling in such a way that only made Lance panic more.

“Get away! I don’t want that in me! Why are you doing this?!”

Hearing the boy’s question, the Gallade stopped for a moment, reflecting on what he should answer. Shrugging, he continued on his way.

“Let’s say… scientific curiosity, kid. I perfected the serum… probably. I can’t be sure until I see the effects on someone, and I won’t test it on myself.” Smiling, he injected the contents of the syringe into Lance’s arm.

Immediately the boy started screaming. Tears coming out of his eyes, he felt as if his bones were burning every second, his body moving uncontrollably, trying to get away, shaking his head while crying.

The Gallade just watched, his smile still on his face. Lance was already running out of voice, he just wanted to get out of there and go to the comfort of his home, where everything would be fine.

But even if that was what Lance wanted, nothing seemed to change. There was no sign that he was going to escape so early from the torture he was going through. Then, finally, he seemed to give up. His movements were weakening, the pain diminishing little by little, while he looked at the aggressor, panting, his body was exhausted from all that.

“It seems that the infusion experiment was a success… congratulations, number ten, you won a few days of rest, there won’t be any tests for a week…”

The child was half-eyed, his vision blurred, and his mind tired. Would it be his fate to stay there until he died? The last time he saw his family, he had wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an explorer. Help other Pokémon as much as he could.

But now everything seemed to have been taken at once. He would never see his father or brother again. He would never see the sunlight again. Lance started crying again, the tears coming down like a waterfall on his body, until the fatigue caught up to him, knocking him out.