Chapter Text
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
The chair shifted, Lysander looking at the woman who spoke to him. Regarding Malva with little more than disinterest as she simply questioned, “I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t be.”
“You don’t think the kid will react poorly to his sister suddenly being gone?” Malva questioned again, leaning forward on the desk so she was at eye-level with Lysander. “You think this is foolproof but I can see this going very poorly.”
“Abel went through it once, I’m sure he’ll survive his sister's absence. He’s still young, better to do this now than later.”
A loud, relenting sigh. “Fine.” But she didn’t agree.
“You’d think Team Flare would be above sending children to do their dirty work,” A gruff voice grumbled, moving down the hall with one of his co-workers in tow. Both of them donned the Team Rocket uniform and neither seemed too impressed with the child they were practically dragging down the hall with them.
“Didn’t even notice her until they dispersed, this just seems like more of a risk than anything else.” The softer of the two grunts spoke, shifting her eyes toward the child in question as she was struggling in the secure grip of the grunt that was forcing her forward. One hand easily kept the twelve's arms locked behind her back ahead of them.
”Let go of me!” Pandora snapped, attempting to dig her heels into the ground and stop any movement forward. The attempt was futile however as she was shoved forward and was sent stumbling forward, the only reason why she even managed to stay upright was due to the grip on her.
“So what do we do with her then?” The first grunt questioned, turning her attention away from Pandora in favour of looking at his co-worker. “She isn’t necessarily a threat but I don’t think we can really just let her go either.”
There was a short hum in consideration from the second grunt, before she gestured her head to a storage room a little further up, “Shove her in there and lock the door. We’ll send someone to deal with her at some point, let her be somebody else's problem.”
Pandora puffed up her cheeks in annoyance at how she was being spoken about like she wasn’t there. Beginning to struggle again, a little more frantic this time at the prospect of just being left here until someone decided to come to pick her up. Pandora was pretty much ignored, however, as the grunt holding onto her gave a prompt good idea. As they approached the door in question.
With no tact and little care, the second the door was opened - Pandora was shoved in. The twelve-year-old stumbling forward a few steps, the door slamming shut behind her before she even had the chance to steady herself. The sound of the door clicking into a lock was clear as day as she spun around to face the food.
“Let me out!” She yelled, moving for the door and pounding her fists on it. She was doing her best not the let the panic that was rising show in her tone, though she was doing a poor job of it as she was promptly ignored by the grunts who had thrown her in there, to begin with.
“Can she get out of there?” The first grunt had questioned as their voices began to fade away. “We didn’t even check for Pokémon.”
“Doubtful, all the doors are reinforced. We’ve got bigger things to worry about now considering Team Flare knows of this hideout now…” Any further conversation had tapered off. The talking fading away until she was left in silence.
Knowing she was alone now, Pandora backed away from the floor. The feeling of dread quickly took over as she fully processed her current situation. It was pitch black and dark, leaving her completely unable to see anything that was around her. She managed to bump into something prompting a terrified squeak as she stepped out of the way. As the seconds ticked on she could feel her own heart rate begging to rise, blood pounding in her ears as her breathing began to grow deeper.
When her back finally hit a wall, she slid to the floor. Pulling her legs up to her chest as she felt her hands her body begin the shake, so much so that she didn’t notice the PokéBall attached to her belt that had begun to shake as well.
She squeezed her eyes shut, her breathing becoming shallow - barely able to hold back the choked sob that left her mouth. It was pure fear that had taken over, the darkness making her feel trapped and helpless. Feeling as though she was about to get swallowed up into an endless sleep from the darkness that surrounded her, a sleep she would never wake up from
How did she get herself into this situation? How could she let this happen?
It was so dark…
The sound of a PokéBall snapping open could be heard beside her. It was loud enough that even in her own state she had flinched at the noise. But she didn't pull her head up, she didn’t dare look at what was waiting for her.
Though it was her own Pokémon that materialized. The Umbreon glanced around dark the room in confusion before allowing the rings on her body the glow a soft yellow. Further taking in her surroundings, Night Light turned towards the door. Charging and firing a shadow ball towards the door that only dissipated on impact. The noise prompted Pandora to flinch again from her spot behind her Pokémon.
Lowering her ears, Night Light turned her attention back toward Pandora. Approaching carefully with a soft ”Bre…” To try and encourage her trainer to move. The most she did was raise her head at first, the girl's face covered in tears as she looked down at her Pokémon before folding her legs into a crossed position.
Taking this as an invitation, the Umbreon crawled onto her trainer's lap. Allowing the rings on her body to glow a little bit brighter as Pandora wrapped her arms around Night attempting to seek comfort. Cuddling her head into Pandora’s neck.
Night Light would stay there as long as she needed to.
It was two days later when the two of them were finally found by Abel.
Pandora vowed to never let it happen again, though you can fault a child for what she never had any control over.