An abstract trainer who taught Charmander the Incinerate move

Chapter 156 The Road to Common Peace: I Am a Little Rattata (Seeking Monthly Tickets at the Beginning of the Month)

Under the questioning gazes of the crowd, Akromar's lips curled into a pleased smile of complete control, and he elegantly snapped his fingers.

Snapped!
The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a pebble thrown into a stagnant pond, instantly stirring up the unsettling shadows deep within the warehouse.

rustling... rustling...

A sickening scraping sound came from the darkness of the warehouse. Then, in the eerie light of the warehouse's pale lights mixed with gunpowder smoke, two figures emerged, writhing like worms squeezed out of the cracks of hell.

A twisted figure emerged first—it was the outline of a person, but crawling on the ground like a rat.

It crawled laboriously with its forelimbs, its dirty, tattered clothes hanging on its body, indistinguishable from strips of cloth or skin, its face almost pressed against the cold, rough ground.

What's even more chilling is that as he crawled slowly and stiffly, he chanted repeatedly in a dry, monotone voice, like a broken music box.

"I am Rattata, I am Rattata..."

The dreamlike whispers echoed in the deathly silent warehouse, carrying a chilling eeriness that seeped into the very bones.

The smaller creature that crawled out behind him made everyone who saw it feel a nausea.

It resembled a wriggling blue ball of flesh, silently crawling behind the "big rat".

Its round belly dragged on the ground, its limbs were so short they were almost invisible, and even its eyeballs were bulging outwards from the fat piled up on its face, as if they were about to burst out at any moment, flashing with a murky and dull light.

It mechanically and clumsily followed the figure of the "little Rada" in front of it, making unintelligible "hoarse" sounds from its throat...

"hiss……"

"Holy crap! What the hell is this?!"

"vomit……"

Gasps of cold air, muttered curses, and even suppressed retching echoed among the remaining members of the quick-fire squad and the poison smoke squad.

A chill, a mixture of physical disgust and deep-seated fear, instantly gripped everyone.

The two figures, crawling like rats, instantly dragged the atmosphere of the warehouse into the abyss of a horror movie.

The air seemed to freeze, save for the chilling crawling sounds and the dreamlike whispers.

The elite members of the quick-fire squad instinctively took a half step back, their knuckles clenched white as they gripped their weapons, and cold sweat silently trickled down their foreheads.

Carbin and Gatling felt a chill run straight to the top of their heads, and their stomachs churned.

Even the handsome guy who had seen all sorts of crime scenes couldn't help but feel a slow wetting in his crotch when he saw this bizarre scene.

The scene before my eyes was blasphemous, exuding an inhuman aura that seemed to have been confined to a laboratory.

Even Colt, who had just been immersed in the fantasy of a successful betrayal and a promising future, now had all the color drain from his face.

He stared intently at the large, crawling "human-shaped rat," his muscles beneath his suit slightly tense.

He had initially thought Akromar was just an ambitious man with access to future technology, a collaborator he could exploit.

But now, looking at the experimental subject twisted into such a shape, he realized with horror that he might have opened Pandora's box.

This seemingly refined scientist was far more terrifying than he imagined, with his bizarre methods and vicious heart.

A shadow fell over his heart. His cooperation with Akromah seemed to be far more than just an exchange of benefits; it was more like dancing with the devil.

"Hahahaha!"

Akromah seemed to enjoy the mixture of fear and shock on the faces of the crowd below, and his gleeful laughter sounded particularly jarring in the empty warehouse.

Like a collector displaying his prized possessions, he elegantly raised his chin, as if a god were looking down at ants, and asked a question to the large rat crawling on the ground like a maggot.

"Tell me, what are you?"

The large rat on the ground suddenly stopped crawling, as if it had been pulled by an invisible thread.

Its lips twitched nervously as it shouted in a hoarse tone that was more frenzied and mechanical than before.

"I am Rattata! I am Mr. Akromma's experimental Rattata! My value lies in dedicating myself to scientific exploration... dedication... dedication..."

He mechanically repeated the last word, his empty eyes showing only absolute obedience to orders, devoid of any human emotion.

Akromar's eyes, behind his lenses, gleamed with a cold, satisfied light as he continued to ask questions, as if conducting a sacred trial.

So, do you love science?

The experimental little Rada roared almost reflexively, his body trembling violently with excitement, his eyes vacant yet burning with a twisted piety.

"I love science! Long live science! Long live Big Brother!"

"very good."

Akroma nodded, very satisfied with the experimental results.

"One last question. Who is the greatest person in the world?"

The figure of the experimental little Rada on the ground suddenly twitched violently, as if this question had triggered some kind of deeply buried switch.

Its body began to convulse violently and uncontrollably, and it emitted a wheezing sound like a broken bellows from its throat.

After a few seconds of suffocating silence, it used all its strength to shout out the final truth in a hoarse, piercing scream that seemed to tear its vocal cords apart.

"It's Lord Akromma! Lord Akromma's wisdom is astounding! His technological prowess is unparalleled! He wields the power of dreams to benefit the world! Supreme and magnificent!!!"

The declaration, imbued with a fanaticism born of utter self-destruction and nothing but blind worship, lingered in the warehouse for a long time.

"Hmph, this is your reward."

Akroma's face showed the arrogance of a benefactor. He casually pulled a glass test tube containing pale pink smoke from his pocket and tossed it to the ground like it was being thrown to a stray dog ​​wagging its tail.

The test tube traced a faint arc in the air. On the ground, the little Rada's eyes instantly blazed with an extreme, almost instinctive, yearning that transcended hunger and pain!

It let out a low, inhuman growl and crawled toward the landing point with all four limbs at a frenzied speed that exceeded its physiological limits.

Dirty fingers scratched frantically on the cold ground, and finally, just before the test tube hit the ground, they gripped it tightly with trembling, filthy claws!
Like a drowning person grabbing onto the only piece of driftwood.

It clutched the test tube tightly to its chest, curled up on the ground, its body still trembling violently from extreme longing and humble satisfaction.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Mo Zhen's eternally burning golden eyes contracted violently, reflecting deep within them the figure crawling and howling on the ground like a humanoid rat.

In my mind, scenes like those in an old movie began to play...

The boy who was timid yet still had a glimmer of light when we first met in the lower city.

When talking about dreams, her eyes shone with a pure, innocent light...

Inside the wall-mounted training room, sweat pours down their faces...

The highlight of the Pokémon Tournament: the roar of the water gun...

All the images flashed by in a montage-like speed within a hundredth of a second!
That face!
That is indeed a fair and just situation!

That person he personally cultivated, and then personally pushed into the abyss... Gong Ping!
[Oh my god, oh ...

Xiao Mengzi's shrill squeal, like a pig being simultaneously violated by ten thousand powerful beasts, exploded in Mo Zhen's mind, completely drowning out all other sounds in the warehouse.

Its entire pink body convulsed, swelled, and twisted violently on Mo Zhen's shoulder, its tiny red bean eyes almost bursting out, spraying out tears that were a mixture of extreme fear and selfish rage.

【It's over! Utterly over! Ughhhhhh! Mo Zhen! It's all your fault! It's all your fault! Look at your handiwork! What did I tell you?! I told you to stay out of it, I told you not to pop that soap bubble! But you wouldn't listen! You insisted on this bullshit truth! This bullshit grand flame plan! And now?! Our future! Our precious dream energy! You, this self-righteous idiot, have destroyed it all by your own hands!!! Our world is plunged into darkness! Darker than that glass armored clam! Our future world has been completely ruined! Ughh ...

It screamed incoherently, frantically shifting all responsibility as if it were the worried, far-sighted sage.

However, before Mo Zhen could make a move, its roar suddenly changed tone, turning into a more shrill and terrified scream, like a dying fat pig that had been stabbed a thousand times.

[No! No! My energy! My dream energy! What's happening?! A black hole! It's a black hole! Something's sucking me in! It's drawing in my dream energy! No! Give it back! That's mine—!!!]

It seems that because the business did not meet the target, the world line's punishment mechanism was triggered. The huge body became like a leaky balloon, constantly losing dream energy and visibly shrunken.

At this moment, its voice was filled with the extreme panic and pain of selfish people being deprived of their core interests. That hypocritical "righteousness" was crushed to pieces amidst the heart-wrenching squeals of the pig.

Just as Gongping's filthy fingers were about to crush the fragile glass test tube with brute force, releasing the pink smoke inside that would bring him back to his "dream," a voice pierced through Xiaomengzi's squeals, through the smoke and silence of the warehouse, and rang out clearly.

"Gongping..."

Mo Zhen's voice was no longer the usual playful, manic, or aloof director's tone.

It was an extremely complex tone of voice that was difficult to describe with a single word.

Shock...Anger...Regret...Heartache...Heavy...

A myriad of emotions are contained in these two simple words.

The call was like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, or a faint flash of lightning piercing through the thick fog.

Just as my fingertips were about to touch the test tube, I heard the word "Gongping" and froze in mid-air as if struck by an invisible electric current!
Gongping...?
Who is that voice calling?

Gongping...?
So familiar... It hurts... It hurts so much... My head hurts so much!

who am I?
I am... Little Rada... No...

Equal...equal?!

Yes...yes! That name!

That name that has been buried deep, forgotten, and stripped away!
Like a person who has sunk to the deepest seabed being pierced through the darkness by a bright light, the enormous impact caused Gongping's cloudy eyeballs to tremble violently.

In those empty eyes, a trace of human confusion and fear stirred up faint ripples, like a stone thrown into stagnant water.

I am... Gongping?
"Ho-"

A choking sound escaped from his throat.

As if he had been forcibly pulled awake from a long nightmare, he looked sharply in the direction from which the sound came!

My gaze passed over the filthy fingers, over the cold test tubes in my arms, over the pervasive smoke and dust...

He saw it.

That bright red suit was still striking even in the dimly lit warehouse.

And that familiar face that had lost all its playful smile, freezing his very soul!

Mr. Mo Zhen?!
Om-! ! !
Gong Ping's entire world instantly turned into a blank!
All sounds disappeared, and all sensations became numb.

"Ho... ho ho..."

Immense terror gripped his throat like two invisible giant hands, and every cell in his body screamed in agony, trying to escape this reality that was more cruel than any nightmare!

No! This must be a dream!
It was an even deeper nightmare created by Lord Akromma, as punishment for my wavering just now!

Yes! That must be it! I'm not Kyopei! I don't want to be Kyopei! I'm Little Rattata! I'm Experimental Little Rattata!
Go back! Let me go back to that dream! Even a nightmare... is a million times better than this!!!
Please, please let me go back... please let me go back!!!
"Hmph! H ...

A scream that surpassed human limits, a mixture of extreme pain, despair, and collapse, suddenly burst forth from Gongping's twisted throat!
Amidst this soul-rending scream, Gongping's thoughts were forcibly dragged back to that afternoon when the nightmare began...

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

It's the beginning of the month, let's cast our minimum monthly vote!

(End of this chapter)