"Kommo-O was moved to a box! Lets play again sometime!"
A pit formed in my stomach as those words pinged across the screen. Or rather, the pit that had already been there somehow doubled in size. Kommo-O was a more recent addition to the team, I'd only evolved her a few months ago from a Hakamo-O while exploring the Vast Canyon. The fifth... and final member of my team, who was subsequently the last to be put away in her little virtual world within the PC in front of me. She was far from the least painful goodbye, but I still felt myself sinking into an upcoming misery as I watched the text fade away, and the PC power down... the screen displays little pixelated icons of my beloved party disappearing as well. My dream of being a trainer.. gone.
It had only been around 7 months into my journey, a drop in the bucket compared to the years some other trainers put in. In that time I had amassed a decently competent team, one I treasured like family and was in turn treasured by. My Brionne was my first ever Pokemon, and putting her in that box first crushed me. I think that's why I put her away first... I couldn't have bared it if I did it last. She was a bubbly creature, always looking to play and enjoy herself, even amidst a battle. She loved, more than anything, to annoy my Gumshoos, the second member of the team and practically Brionne's big sibling. Irritable and hardy, that Pokemon... it hurt to put her ball in the box, knowing she'd never fight again. It was her favorite pass-time, right up there with hunting Ratattata.
Toucannon, Mareanie, my entire team were put away... how. How could I let this happen? That thought plagued me as I turned from the box, making my way to the front doors. I held my head downward, staring at the floor despite seeing nothing. All I could do was think, about this choice, about what it implied, about my poor team.
What was I doing? Had I not thought this through? I swore I had felt more sure of this when I walked in... I knew I had to do this, but... but why? I sived through my memories as I looked for an answer, trying desperately to find a reason... it's like I had lost all my memories from the last few weeks. Why did I even want to do this? I wanted to be a trainer, I wanted to battle, I wanted too --
As the automatic door opened, and I took that single step outside, all those thoughts... stopped. In an instant, a single breath, I could hardly muster a thought. Something filled my lungs as I exited the Pokemon Center, a sweet and intoxicating scent that fogged my senses. I raised my head in surprise, a faint pinkness surrounding me, almost like a hazy cloud of sweet smelling smoke had over taken me. With every confused breath I felt more and more dizzy, as if I had been hit with a laughing gas or sedative just by taking in a breath - it was all so confusing. The world seemed to slow down around me, and suddenly that intense guilt I had been grappling with was little more than a mushy after thought, already gone from what was left of my brain.
With a wobbly motion I looked around, trying to find the source of this hot pink mist, and in my delirium I began to wobble a bit too hard, losing my footing until - BANG. I was on the ground, garnering confused and somewhat concerned looks from passers by. I crawled up onto my hands and knees, still encircled by the toxic aroma and growing groggier by the second. The mist took on a different scent now, a headier, almost musky scent with simple notes of sweetness rather than any genuinely sweet smell. It was having a correspondingly more intense effect on my mind, my thoughts genuinely almost incomprehensible as I tried to crawl out of the cloud of intoxicating mist. I shuffled along the ground on all fours, almost free of the aroma until.. I felt something. Amidst the confusion, the unmistakable sensation of eyes peering down at me took hold, and suddenly I was frozen. I stayed there for a moment, sheepishly taking a gulp of the still tainted air before lifting my head eeeeever so slightly... and then... I saw her.
The reason I entered the Pokemon center at all. The source of this addictive, heady musk I was huffing. The one and only Pokemon I had left... My Salazzle.
My Mistress.
