A Fan Till Death Do Us Part - Anthology / CLOSED

Better Left Unknown - @DeskLampNinja

Red had no idea how long he'd been in the hospital before they'd let him go home. He knew that after the Voices had left him that he'd collapsed half-dead right onto the machine that had registered his pokemon into the Hall of Fame mere seconds before. 

He must have given Professor Oak a real fright. But he was home now, and that was what mattered. No more falling off ledges or bumping into walls over and over for him, he thought with a smile. No more unbearable burning sensations in his legs, no more uproar drowning out all but the most basic of thoughts.

He stretched his arms in preparation to get out of his bed at home. He stretched his arms, all by himself, under nobody's control but his own. He thanked the Helix in a silent prayer for his free agency, then rolled himself into a sitting position and hopped to the floor, ready for a loving reunion with his mom.

left

Dread dropped into the pit of his stomach. Red wanted to go back to bed, wrap himself in the sheets, and never come out. He wanted to scream for help. Instead, he turned West and took a single step.

The single left soon turned into the unfortunately familiar din that had rang constantly in his head for over two weeks, and he clung to his connection with Lord Helix, feeling infinitely safer when his hand brushed His pokeball. It's okay, he told himself. The Helix is with me, and He will keep me safe. Red mentally repeated his new mantra as his feet disobediently shuffled him North out of Pallet Town. He could think, he noticed. There weren't as many of them this time. Viridian City's paved roads soon greeted him.

democracy democracy democracy democracy

What? Something akin to a primal rage burned in Red's chest, and his movement came to a stop, leaving an expressionless statue of flesh that might have taken a step or two every once in a while in his place. Thirty seconds, he counted over the outrage that had taken him. Anarchy! Start9! He wished he could shout above the Domist scum, but they seemed to ignore him completely. He could feel Lord Helix's anger brewing alongside his own, but the God of Anarchy did nothing to sway the Voices' decision.

glitches in anarchy Kappa

He was suddenly engaged in conversation with that old man who had taught him how to catch pokemon (which the Voices found boring, having already known). He nodded at the right moments, tuning out whatever it was he was saying. His efforts to get back anarchy mode continued, with the mental support of the Helix, but before he knew it, he was on the back of his Pidgeot, zipping across the clouds and over the ocean to Cinnabar Island.

Why they had taken him here, he had no idea, but Red had no choice but to comply with their demands to walk to the beach, hop on his Lapras' back, and surf along the coast. His vision flashed white, and his hand flew to his belt, where his pokeballs were located. What kind of wild pokemon would pop out here?

What came out of the water was not, in fact, a pokemon.

It was a mass of anomalies, sand floating in perfect cubes, sky behind it inverting colors, and little holes in reality that led to some sort of void that oozed a haze of terror like a fog machine. Adrenaline coursing through him, Red tried to run, hoping against hope to wrest his mind away from the Voices, but no, he'd already thrown Abba's pokeball to engage in combat, and his stomach churned with worry for his Pidgeot. There was a battle, a short one, and he- rather, the Voices- threw a pokeball. One shake. Two. Three.

Click.

Red's pokedex couldn't make sense of the being(?) either. Pixels on the display were discolored in incomprehensible shapes and colors that hurt his eyes. He was still shaken as he got on Abba's back once again to fly to the Safari Zone. What was that thing, he thought as he flew? Were there others? Did he want to know? Upon arrival, he stepped into the park entrance, walked to the desk painfully slowly, and paid the entry fee. The Voices immediately walked him towards the wrong side of the gate, where they had him decline the offer to leave, but walk out anyway. He wandered aimlessly for a while, glad that Anarchy mode was back in effect, but feeling like the slightest pressure could shatter him. What was going on? He consulted the Helix. No answer. His vulnerable feeling shot up to his throat, taking some bile with it.

He was traversing a patch of tall grass when the Safari Zone PA sounded. Red had left the Safari Zone, of course, so this should be impossible and wait a second whoa-

Nothing around him made sense. The Voices were cheering as Red scanned the landscape, if it could be called that. The ground was letters and disembodied pieces of land and buildings and people. None of the signs within sight had anything but utter gibberish on them, flashing to other pieces of nonsense even as he watched. The sky? It didn't exist. There was nothing but blackness above him, despite the area being apparently sunlit.

Suddenly, the job of keeping him on his own two feet was his again, and he tripped, expecting to hit the ground, but finding an invisible wall instead. Trembling, he wrapped his arms around himself and started trying to explore. It was difficult when terrain was impossible to identify as safe. Soon, he was somehow even more lost than he'd been before with no idea how to getback to his starting position. With a tiny whimper, he sat down and holy Helix his leg was all over the place. He tried to scramble back, screaming a little, but of course, his leg followed. How he hadn't felt his limb decomposing into the same nonsense around him was beyond him, and that made it all the more alarming.

Red, hands shaking, let Abba out of his pokeball, running his fingers through his feathers for comfort. He was so selfish, he chided himself. If this place had rotted his leg, why shouldn't the same thing happen to his pokemon? Hot water intermittently left salty trails down his cheeks as he waited for the Voices. They weren't coming back for him. It was odd to be wishing for them, but they were bound to know how to get him out of here, right? Despite the torture they'd put him through, they did hold a little fondness for him. He was pretty sure.

Unearthly silence stretched on and on. Even Lord Helix had no words of guidance for him, and an ugly truth started to sink in.

He was going to die here.

Red wailed like the child he was, waiting for oblivion.