The Void She Filled

Chapter 6: The Internet Explorer Conundrum

Author's note: Forgive me for the cheesy chapter title, but as you can see by the picture, I just couldn't help myself.
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"Damn it!" I roar at his distant, retreating shadow. I leap from the frigate entrance and over the icy cliffs, my hands slapping the cold earth. My recovery is quick, as I veer sharply left and book it as fast as a Rapidash. My Lucario is already well ahead of me, leaping through the piney undergrowth.

...I have a lot to explain, I know. Let me start with the moment after Hugh, N, and I split up.

Those fears I held, the ones that insidiously whispered over the potential loss of my friends? I ended up just shaking those out of my mind completely, forcing myself to focus. It was hard to do, but did I really have any other choice? Otherwise, I would've dwelled on the pain of losing them, my fear and uncertainty paralyzing me on the spot. It was all I could do to stop myself from wondering whether I would ever see them again...

No. I can't allow that to happen. I need to stop this crisis before it's too late. It's all on my shoulders now, and I can't let the Unova region down. I can't let my mother down. I can't let Hugh down. I can't let my beloved Pokémon down. Most of all, I can't let N down. He clearly despises what Team Plasma had become, and I knew their continued reign would only pain him to no end. To alleviate his suffering and grant him some peace from his sordid past... Yes, I can destroy Plasma for this reason as well.

After Hugh and N went on their way, I managed, by some godforsaken miracle, to score the ship safely. My senses were on hyper alert. Whenever I heard the telltale fall of footsteps or mindless chatter, I was quick to bolt towards a doorway and hold my breath. Thankfully, there laid an alcove every couple of feet, so concealing myself wasn't too difficult. It must have been the shadows that helped to hide my presence. Still, I can't even begin to tell you how much my palms were sweating. And how fast my heart was ticking, like a time bomb ready to explode.

Beyond that, my other fear was that I would get lost, because every hallway looked practically the same. Occasionally, there was a barely noticeable steel door that indicated an entrance to another place, but I didn't even bother looking in those. I took the gamble that they lead to small side rooms, and not as passage points to other parts of the ship. Also, I figured that the leader behind all of this wouldn't be just sitting in any old room. They would be in a huge area of some sort— like a kind of mastermind hub. So, I just kept walking, kept making my way forward... until I found something so horrid that it took my breath away.

I didn't get much of a warning, either. The metallic hallway remained identical to all of the others. But as I drew closer to its end, my eyes caught what looked like a huge, transparent wall of glass— one that housed a gray, indistinguishable mass. For some reason, the sight filled me with a vague sense of rising terror. And yet my curiosity compelled me forward, my strides becoming all the larger. As I approached my destination, the ceiling jumped up by several stories to reveal a large chamber. I cupped my hands to my mouth to silence my unstoppable gasp of horror, my brain refusing to process the sight.

The myths and legends of Lacunosa Town and other places spoke of this gray dragon Pokémon with a sense of fearful respect. Yet its very existence is still the topic of endless debate and speculation, as sightings were virtually impossible to verify. But now, here I was, seeing it face to face. For reasons I can't explain, I instantly knew that this creature was the very same dragon— that I was certain of the moment I laid my eyes upon it.

That creature was called Kyurem— now a prisoner who was being held captive inside of this huge glass cage. At the top of the container's metal lid, many transparent hoses spread out along the ceiling and connected to somewhere unknown. Actually, maybe "transparent" wasn't exactly the right word— they were so frosted over that I couldn't see their insides. Two hallways branched out on both sides of this holding cell, each equipped with glowing warp panels at their ends.