Eros spent a good thirty minutes, at minimum, walking down the hall and to the next branch off the hallway. The walls were a simple concrete much like the room, the only significant differences being the rectangular form, the occasional studded-in torch and the barred steel prison doors, much like the one in his chamber. It wasn't that interesting moving for a half hour, considering he was making a pathetic pace. Just as he was about to make it the the illuminated hallway and see what was around the corner, the guard patrolling down the halls finished his job and was walking back toward Eros, and quickly.
Eros, not wanting to get caught, started kicking at the ground again in an effort to dig a hole and escape from view, if not at least partially, but only found himself starting to borough his body into the ground when the guard was directly over him, his black cowl only partially obscuring the rough face hidden beneath. He looked down upon Eros, observing the Trapinch for only a second before shouting, "No! Stop that! Stop!"
The guard hovered his hand around Eros' massive head, attempting to grab his body and lift him up; Instinctually, as the man's hand approached his head, he immediately stopped his digging and snapped at the man's hand, causing him he yelp. "Damnit!"
A voice came from down the hall, "What is it?"
"A friggin Trapinch bit my hand!" His voice hastened as a result of his pain.
"Use a morphine patch or something!
"What?!"
"I just heard a guy in Ashport did that once!"
"Just get over here and hit it or something!"
"How about YOU get over HERE, you lazy bastard!"
The man grumbled and almost started to run down the hall, being careful not to shake Eros as his teeth dug in almost against his will. He soon turned the corner and revealed a lobby very unwelcoming with its well illuminated concrete walls, a common theme within this building. There was a counter in one of the corners, the other side blocked off by iron bars, holding what looked to be an uninterested Mage behind who was busy flipping through papers. On the other side of the room were a few backless benches that could hold more than at least six people, even though it only held one. Between the benches was another corridor that Eros would never discover the contents of and a double glass (although reinforced) door in front of him, which appears to be the way out.
The Mage with Eros on his hand walked into the room and towards the man behind the counter, almost panicking at the situation at hand (no pun intended). The man behind the counter looked up from his book, a novel about a hero or whatnot, and looked to the man. He simply stated, "You friggin idiot."
The man tried waving his arm a bit, only managing to let a little blood into Eros' mouth and tearing at him in the slightest. He retorted, "How do you get it off?!"
"You don't. You just have to wait." The man with the Trapinch frowned at him, earning another response. "Are you sure that one prisoner is fine?"
"I-I told you! He's just in the corner!"
"He was staked to the middle." The man was starting to lower his book and reach for something under the counter.
"Well, the shackles looked a bit loose on him. Might've just slipped off." For whatever reason the man was deciding to lie, likely for his own benefit, Eros was much for the better.
The man eased himself a bit, leaning back and emitting a small clink from under the desk. "We should probably get them back on."
"Y-yeah, but..."
"Eh, mages are a pain to do anyways. Probably got some seal on him or whatever, from what I heard. Useless without magic. I don't even know why they just didn't do a normal cell. How about tomorrow?"
The man smiled and rested the hand with Eros on the table, laying him on his back. "So..."
The man sighed and started to read his book again. "Go to the nurses' room or something, it's not my problem."
The man frowned again and started towards the door when Eros saw the Mage on the bench, who Eros thought was at least a nine. I mean, she was butsy, even under all her robes, and from the quick peek under the hood, she had a good face, too. He thought she was quite the lady from his first glance.
However, as she opened her mouth, she dared to say, "I can help ya' with that bugger if ya want, mate." Whatever accent she had was a total deal breaker.
The man, willing to accept help from this lady, brought Eros down upon her lap, where she scratched some part of his forehead. As she did, Eros felt his lower jaw loosen up against his will and he let go, dropping into the woman's lap. He scrambled to stand up, looking up at the now negligible yet still a little beautiful face of the unclearly accented woman. "There ya go, buddy. Ain't so mean, are ya? Just needed a bit of me magic touch... Hey, you keepin' this fella?"
The man, now with an awful mark around his hand, replied, "Hell no. I just might throw that fucker over!"
The lady gasped and clamped her hands around Eros' ears, her following words mostly muffled and completely indecipherable. A few minutes passed of hateful conversation before the lady uncovered his ears and said directly to him, "Well, seems your mate's keepin ya. Treat him pleasant." Ugh, why does she talk like that?
The man mumbled something and grabbed Eros from behind, carrying him out of the prison. As the man rocked up and down, Eros had a spectacular view of the world around, the unbelievable beauty of this forbidden domain inspiring every aspect of his soul. All around him was a small town that slipped downwards, giving view to a numerous amount of houses spotting a light forest, almost like a suburb. The pathways were cobblestone, the Mage carrying him passing many unhooded mages who, despite their black uniform and generic clothes, were simply people who even seemed to be living just as anybody else did. Some of the mages even had a few Pokemon, some of which were walking around and acting as they normally would.
However, to say that this town was normal would be far from the truth, for many aspects stood out due to the nature of magic. First of all, there would be the occasional spellcaster who would be practicing or utilizing their magic, sometimes doing tasks as simple as lighting a cigar with an ember or drawing figures in the air to pitting their powers against some Pokemon and disappearing in an instant. This was to be expected of a place with so many mages and a strong presence of magic; However, this was the least disturbing of aspects that Eros noted.
Second, as the Mage holding him passed down a corridor, he had the fear of witnessing one of the legends first-hand. Although his normal routine for passing through a crowd involved one or two cheery girls petting him on the head, an event that could best be described as a soothing motion, he passed through one group that was more focused on the massive presence of Lugia, who was accompanied by Keldeo. While an odd pairing, he could see that Lugia was possibly motivated by the mounds of Poke and gold he laid upon just outside a lake (his home), covering as much of it as he could with his body. Keldeo also stood near the gold, although he didn't look nearly as contempt as did Lugia with his avarice. Mages and Pokemon stood about, either contributing to the pile with their own money or talking to them, both willingly engaging in open conversation.
The man took a second to step through the crowd and pull out a piece of gold, tossing it towards the mound and contributing to its size, also giving Eros a chance to observe the odd stone figurines around them that he could only now see. From what it appeared, the stones represented the two, as well as Mewtwo, almost appearing religious in setup. The shrines and tributes obviously played towards the two being there, as well as Mewtwo (in theory), but he couldn't understand the moral deficiencies that would permit them to be here. He accidentally spoke his thoughts, stating, "I thought Keldeo was a good guy...?"
Although none of the Mages understood him, he did get the attention of an Aggron standing near him, who replied, "What do you mean? He is. These brave Pokemon dare to do what none have done before: Hold their blades to the neck of evil! Hahaha! You can't stop war without war, you know?"
The Mage probably understood that Eros was having a conversation and set him down, turning to a Mage beside him and speaking of matters far beyond Eros' understanding. Eros, standing to the side of the Aggron and not wanting to attract any significant attention, simply smiled and replied, "Thanks, I didn't understand." Of course, it seems as if the mere mention of Keldeo's name caught his attention as he started to make faces at Eros, the kind of faces that make you wish you were a million times smaller and as far away as possible.
Just as Keldeo took a step forwards to likely observe Eros even closer, Lugia raised his arms/wings and shouted out to everybody, "I bless all of you! YES! I am pleased! Together, we can wipe evil off of the face of this planet!" As he said this, the man suddenly picked Eros up again, avoiding his autonomous snap and catching him from behind, carrying him far away from Keldeo; And, although Keldeo attempted to follow the two, the crowd was nearly impassible as they swarmed around him.
The third thing that upset Eros, and, in some way, the most concerning thing, was that every time he looked to the horizon he saw the sea. As first, it simply implied that he was stuck on an island and he had no exceptional means to get off; However, as he was only now realizing, the horizon looked steeper and farther away than it normally did, implying that the sea was somehow farther below him than he thought... Unfortunately, without a clear view of the coastal line, he couldn't interpret what this meant.
Eventually the man carrying him walked into one of the odd houses, claiming the adjective odd due to their unusually colored styles, placing him on what looked to be a couch. The man walked into another room and came back with a piece of rare meat, waving it above Eros' head and saying, "You want a piece of meat, mister...?" Eros considered it for but a second before realizing it likely was the flesh of another Pokemon and clenched his jaws shut, for he could barely even consider committing such an unsavory act. "Are you sure buddy? You a vegetarian or something? Suit yourself." The man left the room and came back with a few berries, all of which Eros ate happily.
Eros didn't exactly have a plan to leave, considering how poor his physical and magical abilities were right now, as well as the fact that eventually somebody would find out he was missing, no matter how incompetent the guards were. He thought on this, wondering how other Pokemon tend to have gotten where they wanted to go. Surely, if there was a means of asking the man...
Eros looked around the room, looking for something along the lines of an Ouija board to communicate, finding only a television within sight. It played some kind of television show, one that featured the Contest Spectacular. Eros managed to make out Hank in the midst of it, seeing him prancing about with some young Pichu. It must be a rerun, because his Pikachu evolved long ago... However, just as the first round of the contest concluded, an advertisement for some kind of seaside resort spa and battle mansion played, describing the luxurious beaches and seas that were across all the little regions of the world...
Eros shouted "Tra!" at this, bringing the Mage's attention to him. The Mage stood over him and asked, "What is it, buddy?" Eros exclaimed "Tra!" once more, trying to motion to the screen; Because of his stumpy body, unfortunately, all he could do was lean forwards and look at the television screen intently. None the less, the Mage got the point that he wanted to communicate a message. "Could you be a bit more specific, buddy?"
Eros, thinking of how to communicate this, exclaimed, "The television!" in his Pokemon's tongue, making another, longer screech of "Traaaaaaaaapiiiiinch!" Still not understanding, the man said, "What?" once more before looking to the television and seeing the ad. "You want to go to battle resort?"
Eros, becoming quite frustrated and impatient with this charade, shouted, "Traaaaa!" Once more, shaking his head and motioning even more.
The man, looking back at the screen, asked another question similar to before, asking, "Do you want to go to the beach?"
Eros simply smiled and nodded, looking now at the Mage. The Mage, understanding the desires of him but appealingly troubled by the request, continued, "I'll see what I can do. I have to go to seminar, though. See you later." He walked out of the room, making a few rustling sounds in some other part of the house before returning with a backpack over his shoulders and leaving through the front door, leaving Eros alone in the house.
To say the least, Eros felt odd being alone in a place like this, almost as if he were invading the private space of somebody who he didn't know. Of course, he found out quickly that this was more boring than he anticipated, so he ended up messing around the house for a few hours. He started by trying to nimble hop off the couch; With the help of his seal and clumsy body, however, he ended up doing more of a fall. Throughout the few hours the man was gone, Eros spent his time exploring the house and going through the man's things. The place was a slow trot to go through but held his interest in the slightest, as the house was unusually like most others he'd seen, coming with a bathroom, kitchen, living room and a few closed doors he could only assume to lead to a bedroom. He made sure to pull out an object from a shelf every so often just to make sure that there was nothing suspicious in them.
By the time he made it in the pantry and was tearing open a massive bag of gummy worms he found on the lower shelf, the Mage had returned home and was face palming so intensely as to project his dissatisfaction across the house and to Eros. Soon enough Eros found himself inside a Pokeball and inside the belt of the Mage; He did oversee, however, that there was a bag packed with sunscreen and a towel, giving him high hopes for something he was completely unprepared for...
He was only able to feel the dampened pattering of the man's shoes as he was inside the Pokeball and vision to the outside world was obscured by the belt. Because of the orientation of the ball, all he could see was the clear blue skies, save for one moment where he could've sworn he had caught a glimpse of a dashing young female Mage who gave a weird glimpse to the man carrying him. He could have only guessed that the two were going somewhere as a couple, since he had no other means of explaining why the two were following each other.
Only time did reveal that they were headed somewhere similar to where Eros intended, where he thought he could eventually circle around, find a boat and get back home, no matter how improbable the odds would be. He was released from his capsule much later, finding himself a good ten yards from a sandy beach. Something was off with the water, as if it was much farther than it actually was... Only a meter behind him was the grass that led into the forest and back into the city where they came from. The sky was orange and violet with the setting sun, since quite a bit of time had passed. He looked for the Mage, who was sitting with the female but inches away, where they kissed atop a towel resting on the ground.
The male turned to Eros and, after retrieving a small velvet box from his bag, which Eros was only now noticing, he said, "Hey, buddy, I know we just met and all, but... Can you guard my bag for me? I gotta go make somebody a lady, if you know what I mean." Eros nodded as the two started down the beach on their walk, enjoying the setting sun. Eros waited for them to reach some point closer to the horizon before starting towards the shore with the Mage's bag in his maws; After all, it could contain something useful...
He made it to the edge of the shoreline before deciding to put the bag down and look at it, which he was glad he did now sooner than later. As he looked at the shoreline, standing right above the water, he looked down upon it, finding it still looked distant; Now, however, he only gazed closer at it, since he should be right above it. He looked for a few seconds before fully realizing what this meant, why the water looked distant and why the horizon seemed lower no matter where he ventured on this island.
The island was floating.
Which would be utter bullshit unless there was some sorcery going around, which there was. The implications for this were serious: Without a flying type or being able to fly, he had no other means to escape this island. What's worse, it was simply a matter of time before the Mage put two and two together and found out who he really was. On top of that, he had-
"Wait, the new prisoner's... A DRUID!?" The Mage, ever distant yet audible from across the strip of sand, started running across the shore and towards Eros, realizing his epiphany had come all too late, as Eros jumped over the edge with his bag.
None of the past matters now, as Eros found himself free-falling with the messenger bag at his side. Staying buckled, the bag simply tumbled in the air alongside him, tumbling about just as he did, preventing him from getting a decent bearing on where he was or what he was looking at, his inconsistent spiraling fueled by the non-symmetrical form of his body. The sea wasn't too far below; With a few more seconds of falling, he'd hit it and die.
Why didn't he let himself get caught? Why did he have to jump? There were infinitely many places to hide in the island, given time. He could've just stayed there a little while longer and come up with a better plan, maybe involving finally flying, which was now a distant dream for him... Why did he have to jump? Why?
Just as Eros was about to hit the water, however, he was something move under its surface, jumping just out of the water as he was about to hit it...