Intact.

[Lord]

Impact. Knees already stained red, as if they were some sort of omen, collided with grass, mud and debris. No objections from the exhausted upper torso were to be heard as it followed suit. Hands were not lifted to protect the heart and brain and a sharp piece of metal infiltrated the retina. No cry of pain; no desperate pulling or clawing to save his eyesight; Samwise lay sloping upwards, his head supported by the metal. Every passing second, it moved a little bit, further away from his gate to colours and closer to the command unit. It was degrading and humiliating, this happy coincidence, but could work out, this could be the method of escape. Through the skull and into the pink organ as blood would seep in via the entry wound. And the pain, oh, the pain. Ever constant, seemingly never ending. The secrets held forever forgotten; splicing and merging a thing of prehistoric, unrecorded, unrecoverable past. Completely worth it for the sake of preservation; of humanity; of Pokemon; of the planet - perhaps even the entire universe itself.

Closer now, the metal scraped against his skull. Samwise realised sloping would not be enough, he would have to apply force. He lifted his hands and positioned his knees, braced himself but clenching his teeth together and dived forward. Pain like nothing he had ever experienced. Yelping, sliding backwards and then repeating. The exercise continued for some minutes. He could feel his bone being eroded. Against the odds, against the pain threshold - he could do this. The greatest feat of his entire life would be leaving it behind. What a way to go. Only a few more minutes now, surely. What was it his father once relayed to him, among all of those other misguided articles of advice and goodwill? 'Pain is temporary, my son, glory is forever.' He shook his head thinking of it, he was not in this for glory. He was in this because the world needed him to be. Samwise McNulty was the last middle man of the greater good.

That... that and he knew that if he were caught, the consequences would be much, much worse than what he was going through right now.

He didn't know how much longer he could keep going with this manic suicidal drive. Not much longer, surely. Surely he'd be able to pull this off.

Then he heard them; the unmistakable synchronised marching; the heavy, rapturous breathing. He could hear excited shouts but was unable to make out what they were saying. Not that he needed to know. He was being kidnapped. A journey would follow; he'd be smuggled out of the ruins of Cinnibar Island and taken to Saffron City, where they'd demand... everything he had. And then? He shuddered to think of the torturous activities the Order engaged in... and the sacrifices.

The Cinnibar meadows, bright, beautiful and green once upon a time, now swallowed him up. He was finished.

[Lord]

BEGIN INTERLUDE

What they want, he's got,
And it might be hard to handle,
Similar to Constantinople,
Now he ain't so hot.

What he's got's full stock of scattered information
Changin' laws of creation,
And how, he can't explain
Coughin' up will make their dreams come true,

Sight compromised, Pokemon stolen,
Day to day, the Ebon Order,
Put him under constant torture,
He ain't no dog, he ain't gon give in and start rollin'

Oh oh oh,
Oh oh oh,

END INTERLUDE

[Hicky]

CANDIDE: The federal bureaucracy,
wants to prevent my harmony
I'm tired of it: can't you see?
My Pokémon just want to be set free

And the Ebon Order maniacs
Quest for knowledge in shady tracks
Another man dead who has what they lack
Cinnibar Island: I'll never go back.

[Lord]

And only now that the sun was setting over the desolate meadows,
Did Samwise think back to the first thing he thought, when he was hired for the Ebon Order,
'Surely these crimes against creation, can only lead to death row?'
The very crimes were hidden in his bag pack, thanks to a video cassette recorder.

What if one of the maniacs had stumbled upon it while looking for him?
Surely that was all the information, any of them would need.
Samwise was now sweating, aware that the future looked dim,
When someone opened his door, said, 'it's time to do the deed.'

The first day is always the worst, his cellmates had revealed,
And while pain doesn't last forever, waterboarding you don't get used to,
But the lab rat's heart was strong, the secrets he knew; sealed
Inside of a rusty vault, no waterboarding torturers would get into.

Samwise found himself in a field, hoping he would die,
He still hadn't quite recovered from what he'd done to his eye.
And still he found room for celebration,
For if he died, all of creation,
Would survive.
Get out alive.

The first day was just like the others, it never really got better,
But one day after he had lost count, Samwise met The Master
Lord of the Ebon Order, to who Samwise must pay his debt or
Keep being tortured, then die alone on these pastures.

But The Master raised his hand and cried,
'We found your video recorder, Samwise.
Now we know your secrets, why
Couldn't we see eye to eye?'

And Sam started breathing rapidly, wondering if this was the end
'Sir, please, you must understand where I was; my position.'
And The Master merely cocked his head, as if he was trying to send
A message saying, 'hold up Samwise, listen to my proposition!'