~Dream~

Kira's POV 🫧

Silence...

That was the first thing I was hearing before opening my eyes and sitting myself up, while stretching the tiredness out of me a little.

Once I was fully aware and alert, I looked around, seeing that I was still in my room that Sada had lent over to me, since the day I started working for her.

Looking at the digital clock, I noticed 3 hours had passed, giving me the message that it was around the middle of the night. Probably either around 12:00 am or 1:00 am.

"That's weird. Have I really slept in that long?" I asked myself.

And not to mention the fact it's also very unlikely of me at all to even wake up super early in the morning like this.

As I sat there, I suddenly remembered something that Sada told me earlier before we returned.

'There's something I want to give you...' those words echoed through in my head.

"I'm starting to grow worried. It's not like her at all to take this long when it comes to leaving, just to go get or give something to me from another room..." I said to myself as I stared at the door.

'...Wait in your room for me. I'll be over there in a little bit...' her words echoed through my mind again.

For a few minutes, I just sat there, waiting.

After that, I sighed as I got up to my feet and approached the door, seeing that it was opened a crack.

"Sorry, Sada..." I thought to myself. "But, I'm leaving the room to go check on you. I don't care if I find out what the gift is or not...I just want to make sure you're okay."

And just like that, I stepped out of my room and started walking down the halls, carrying my flashlight with me just in case.

As I silently walked down the halls, looking for Sada, everything was all quiet for a little while, before I suddenly heard a scream full of terror, in which it immediately alarmed me.

"Sada!?!?!" I went before hurrying my way down to where I heard the scream, as I also noticed the hallways were getting darker and darker.

For a moment, I paused before hearing the same scream again, which immediately made me aware it was coming from outside and probably in Research Lab 4.

Without any hesitation, I immediately ran out, before hurrying to the research lab that was closest to the one me and Sada were mostly in.

During the moment I was heading my way over quickly, I had Sada's Koraidon out with me to battle the wild pokémon in Area Zero and clear a way for me, so I didn't get hurt by the paradox pokémon that have escaped into the wild, after running from the lab.

Once I arrived, panting heavily a little, I recalled Koraidon to its pokéball before thanking it and entering into the building.

- - -

As soon as I got inside, I started looking for Sada, running down a hall before opening the door to one of the rooms that I heard her screaming from.

In the room, Sada was blindfolded, gagged and tied to a chair, struggling to move as she had tears in her eyes and streaming down to the sides of her face.

Looking over at her, her lab coat was torn and she was wounded from the chest to her feet down, right to where she bled a little bit and a lot.

At the same time, her body was shaking like a leaf in fear.

It was very obvious she was terrified to death, and the screams I was hearing from her were muffled.

"Oh my Arceus! Sada! What the hell happened to you?!" I asked in shock, with horror and worry mixed in, as I quickly hurried into the room and removed the blindfold from her eyes and the cloth that was gagging her.

As soon as she heard my voice, Sada looked up at me while tears continued appearing in her eyes and running down to the sides of her face, as I untied the ropes to set her free from being tied to the chair.

Once that was done, I immediately took her out of there and quickly carried her to the infirmary room and sat her down on the examination table.

After doing that, I quickly locked the infirmary door behind me, and brought out the first-aid kit to treat her wounds.

As I was treating them, I noticed Sada's breathing was rapid, almost like she was panicking.

In an attempt to reassure her, I gently grabbed her hand and just allowed her to hold onto my arm.

Every once in a while, she would squeeze my arm a little bit, which didn't bother me at all, since I had already gotten used to my mother doing this to me, before I joined and started working for Sada.

Once I was done treating her wounds, I looked at her with worry again, before helping her stand up to her feet.

For a moment, she just stood there for a solid few seconds until her legs suddenly gave away from underneath her.

"Woah! Take it easy! Slow your breathing and calm down..." I said as I caught her quickly, stopping her from falling to the floor, before I gently pulled her into a hug, seeing that her breathing hadn't slowed down.

In response, Sada just started crying silently, while she hugged me back tightly in return.

From who, or whatever the hell it was, that did this to her, it clearly shook her up pretty badly to the point where she'd cry.

Looking over at her, while she wept, I sat down on the floor with her and just rested my chin on her head as I closed my eyes and started rubbing her back soothingly.

"It's okay...I'm here with you..." I said to her gently.

For a little while, we remained like this together, until Sada calmed and slowed her breathing down.

Once she did, I kissed her by the forehead for a moment, after opening my eyes to look at her.

Just before she could say anything, she started coughing hard a little for a moment from where she had been gagged for Arceus knows how long, until she stopped and looked back up at me.

"Kira, just leave me here and run...Go! Get out of here!" She only said tearfully next.

"Wait...What?! Why?!?!" I asked in disbelief.

Just before Sada could answer, she suddenly covered my mouth quickly with her hand for a moment, as the sound of approaching footsteps and faint giggling was suddenly heard, sounding like...Sada's???

"Sada~" I heard someone say, their voice shockingly sounding exactly like hers too. "Come out, come out, wherever you are~"

For a long while, silence stretched between us, before we heard the unknown woman speak up again.

"I know you somehow oddly escaped from the chair I made for you, Sada...There's no point in trying to play hide and seek with me. Wherever you are, I'll find you eventually~!"

Looking back at Sada, she had a terrified look in her eyes as her body shook more than like a leaf now at this point.

"Sada, what the actual fuck is going on?!?!" I silently hissed, asking and demanding her for an answer about this. "And do you have a clone created by you from your own DNA? Or a sister that sounds exactly like you or something?!?!"

In response, she silently shook her head 'No' quickly, while looking at me straight in my eyes to show how dead serious she is about her response.

Seeing the serious look in her cyan eyes, made me realize the fact right away that she isn't joking around, made my face turn pale and blood run cold.

"Then...who the hell was that?!" I silently asked. "And why does she sound exactly like you?!?!"

In response, Sada didn't say anything as she was apparently too scared to speak more right now, making me sigh a little silently to myself before looking at her wearily.

But, for now, we can worry and discuss about that later.

As we both remained quiet, we both heard the woman's footsteps again for a moment, seemingly like she probably couldn't find Sada and was retreating for now.

Without making any noise, I silently got up and moved the lab window curtain aside a little, before peeking out to see if the woman was gone.

Unfortunately, she apparently didn't leave and somehow made it seem like she did, because she was standing outside with her back facing the window.

I was lucky she didn't see me, but I immediately noticed she looked exactly like Sada, making me silently move away from the window quickly.

"Sada, I need answers...Now. Who is that woman and why does she look exactly like you?!" I silently asked her, demanding to know.

"Please...I need to know what's going on, so I can help you."

In response, Sada just looked at me as I silently walked over and sat back down on the floor next to her.

Gently, I embraced her into a soft hug, knowing she's still a bit traumatized from what happened to her earlier.

For a few minutes, silence stretched between us, before Sada went into tears.

"Sh-She...She's my....inner demon." was all she managed to choke out silently through her tears.

"I don't know why...or how this came to be...but she's very dangerous. Those injuries I got....were from her...."

"How did she injure you? I didn't see her carrying a knife in her hand when I peeked out the window and saw her." I asked, still feeling worried.

"I don't know...She blindfolded me, remember?" Sada answered.

"True...But, let's focus on the now...There's gotta be a way to get you out of here safely, and figure the rest of the situation out from there in the main research lab." I sighed before silently getting back up, and peeking back out of the window again.

As expected, Sada's inner demon was still standing there, but she turned around without any warning and spotted me.

Chills immediately ran up my spine when she looked directly at me.

Her eyes were the same as Sada's but they were glowing and had a faint hint of red in them. At the same time, I noticed the sclera part of them were solid black.

"She looks more like an AI than an inner demon..." I thought.

But, I immediately changed my mind when I noticed her pupils weren't human-like and was more like a snake's instead, along with the fact her canine fangs were a bit longer and there was blood stains on her body and coat.

For several seconds, we were just looking at each other, until she suddenly drew her fist back and smashed the window open.

Luckily, I had already stepped back quickly and shielded my face from the glass with my arms in advance, before quickly realizing she spotted Sada through the window when I was looking at her.

"Found you, Sada!" She said, her voice sending fear into me, before slamming her hand down on the shattered window and started to climb into the room, while I heard Sada scream.

Without hesitation, I immediately grabbed her inner demon self by the back of her lab coat and threw her against the wall that was nearby me.

"Ugh!" She went as she slumped a little to the ground before I pinned her against the wall.

"RUN SADA! RUN!" I screamed out, as I quickly looked over at her, before her inner demon struggled and got one of her arms free from my grip and slammed her fist into my stomach.

Without hesitation, she immediately nodded before getting up and running out of the room quickly, while she took the first-aid kit with her and stuck it in one of the pockets of her lab coat.