Hypno-Vember: Re-education


Druddigon let out a feeble groan as he opened his eyes. His head throbbed in slight pain, resulting in a second groan. The dragon glanced at his surroundings, noticing that he was in a classroom. It was the kind of one that brought back bad memories from his childhood. When he tried to move, he discovered, to his horror, that he could not. Looking down, he saw he was sitting on a sturdy wooden chair and his arms and legs were pinned to it with the assistance of metal clamp.

“What the heck is going on?!” the Druddigon yelled, struggling to free himself from his binds.

“Forget it; you won’t be breaking those anytime soon; you’ll only making a noise,” a feminine voice spoke.

A Mienshao was sitting next to the Druddigon, glaring at him. He was in the same predicament as he was – confined to a wooden chair. Looking past the Fighting-Type Druddigon noticed two other Pokémon that were also just like him – a Pangoro and a Rhydon. While the Pangoro was staring ahead wearing a disgruntled expression, the rock-ground type appeared to be asleep. His eyes were closed, and light snoring sounds emitted from his mouth.

“Do y’know what is going on here?” Druddigon asked the Mienshao, his eyes shifting to look back at the fighting-type.

However, before the Mienshao could reply, the sound of a door squeaking open made them look at the front of the room. Rhydon’s head bobbed as his eyes opened to look at the entrance to the classroom with the rest of them.

An Alakazam wearing a smart suit and tiny glasses balancing on his nose floated into the room. He moved over to the teacher’s desk, turned to face the four captured Pokémon and gave them a warming smile. His glasses were engulfed in a light blue light before they moved up his nose to get closer to his eyes.

“Good morning class, I am Mr Adler,” the Alakazam introduced himself in a gentle voice. He glanced down at a pile of papers on the desk. “Now then, let’s see who we have today.”

“Rrgh! Who are you?” the Pangoro inquired, his eyes expressing a hateful stare, his fangs baring.

Mr Adler ignored the Pangoro, focusing his attention entirely on reading the papers. “Ah, I see. How intriguing. How…problematic,” he noted, speaking to himself. With a glow of his eyes, the paper he was reading quickly shifted to the back. “Oh! This is quite the long one!”

“Hey, I am talkin’ to you, shrimpy!” the Pangoro snarled, his claws digging into his chair. “You must hear as well as you see!”

“Silence, you loud-mouth buffoon!” the Mienshao snapped, “Acting like an unruly child will not improve our situation in our favour!”

“Can the two of you simmer down, even a little?” the Rydon asked after yawning. His eyes fluttered, as if he was trying to resist the beckoning call of slumber. “I bet neither of you have a job.”

While the three argued amongst each other, Druddigon tried to recall how he ended up in this mess in the first place. The last thing he could remember was standing in an alleyway outside a bar. There was no way he could forget the stench of those overfilled trashcans. It was tough to endure such an intrusion to his nostrils, but he too set on his task. Whenever a drunken Pokémon from the bar walked by, he yanked them into the alleyway with him and mugged them. While intoxicated they were easy targets. Druddigon usually got a lot of money by doing this. It was all going well until…

“Penny for your thoughts, Mr. Druddigon?” the voice of Mr Alder asked, snapping the dragon out of his recollection.

Mr Adler was still over by his desk, looking into the top drawer. He took out a long, thin piece of white chalk and walked over to stand by the blackboard. Druddigon was confused; he could have sworn the Alakazam was right next to him when he spoke to him just a few seconds ago.

“Ah, I have your attention now. Good,” Mr Adler said, looking over his shoulder at Druddigon, giving him a friendly smile. “I knew the mention of pennies would do just that. I know how much of an admirer of money you are.”

“What is that supposed to mean?!” Druddigon growled.

“Please keep that temper of yours in check, Mr. Druddigon,” Mr Adler stated, maintaining his persistent smile. “That applies to the three of you, too. Abuse of any kind at the Adult Re-education Centre will not be tolerated.”

“Ah, that does explain our surroundings,” the Mienshao noted, giving the room a quick glance over. “Though the reason for me being here still eludes me. I don’t remember enrolling for this.”

“Nor did I! Ya nuthin but kidnappin scum!” Pangoro loudly snarled, following it up by spitting.

Mr Alder, ignoring the Pangoro’s rage-filled outburst, was writing something on the blackboard, humming to himself. After a few moments, he turned around, casting his seemingly never-ending smile upon his students. He picked up a pointer stick that was hanging at the side and pointed at the words he had written. The words ‘Hello, Mr Adler. It is nice to meet you!’” was written in bold white letters.

Upon starting at the words, Druddigon, Mienshao, Pangoro and Rhydon immediately sat up straight. Their pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks and were now emitting a soft blueish glow. “Hello, Mr Adler! It is nice to meet you!” they simultaneously said, their voices void of any emotions.

Pangoro shook his head, snapping out of the trance. “W-What the heck?” he asked, bewildered at the sudden show of respect for his kidnapper.

Mr Alder sighed. “I know showing respect is a foreign concept for that, Mr Pangoro,” he stated as he turned to face the blackboard. He erased the words he wrote before starting to write something new. “Those who commit their lives to crime lack humanity. That is why you are all here. I will teach you to respect the law and live happy and peaceful lives.”

“Kidnapping is a crime too, you know,” the Rhydon noted, also haven escaped from his trance. He let out a yawn. “I am also not a criminal. I am an honest working guy.”

Mr Alder stood to one side, revealing what he had written on the board. ‘I will not speak until Mr Adler tells me to’. Like last time, he pointed at the words with the pointer.

Again, the four Pokémon instantly sat up straight, their eyes returning to express their mindless state. “I will not speak until Mr. Adler tells me to,” they declared in a creepy unified manner.

“You may have started off that way, Mr. Rhydon, but it wasn’t long until you began to engage in sabotage. You did dangerous things for corrupt people purely for money, not caring that you put the lives of your co-workers at risk,” Mr Alder explained, a serious expression dawning on his once cheery face. “Someone like you working in construction must be re-educated.”

Rhydon said nothing in response to the allegation. He knew it was true and wondered how the Alakazam knew about it. As much as he wanted to speak out in his defence, he found himself unable to utter even a single word Mr Alder hasn’t given him permission to do so.

Turning his attention to the Pangoro, Mr Adler began to address him. “You were one of the people who paid Rhydon to commit such an unforgiveable act,” he told him. “Do you think just because you work for the mafia you have the right to threaten others to do what you want? It is a very problematic way to live your life. You must be re-educated.”

Pangaro’s mouth twitched slightly, as if he wanted to yell more at the teacher. However, even he couldn’t muster even a single word. He couldn’t even emit a warning growl. Mr Adler wanted him to remain completely silent until he tells him to respond.

Next was the Mienshao. She was staring blankly ahead, her pupils no bigger than a dot. When Mr. Alder got close to her, her pupils slowly shifted to glance at him.

“As a fellow teacher, I am ashamed of your inexcusable behaviour, Mienshao,” Mr Alder said, shaking his head in disapproval. “Not only do your verbally abuse your students when they make the simplest of mistakes, you even go as far as beat them. As of now, you don’t deserve to be a teacher. You must be re-educated.”

The only thing Mienshao could do to react was tear her tiny pupils away from the Alakazam. If she was allowed to speak, she would not be afraid to express herself in a way that will match that of Pangoro.

“Last, but not least, is you, Druddigon. Your life not going your way is not a justification to steal from others,” Mr Alder said to him after abruptly teleporting to stand by his right side. “Are you aware that those you mugged had injuries serious enough to require hospital treatment? You need to be re-educated.”

If only Druddigon could answer; he would tell him how much he didn’t care. His needs for money far surpassed that of some happy-go-luck drunkard. At least that’s what he always told himself after each time he delivered gut punch after gut punch. He didn’t need to justify his actions to someone like Mr. Adler.

Mr Alder floated back over to the blackboard, picking up the chalk with his Psychic powers. He began to write, scribbling down words at a faster pace than last time. As soon as the words were written down, the letters started to emit a powerful glow. The criminals’ eyes were instantly drawn to them, their pupils starting to shine in sync with the text. Finishing up, Mr Alder stood to one side and pointed at what he wrote using his pointer.

“Now then, class. Read all of this and take it all in,” Mr. Adler ordered, tapping the board a few times. “Make sure to speak loudly and clearly.”

“We will be good citizens! We will follow and respect the law!” the hypnotized Pokémon spoke, following what was written, word-by-word. They all suddenly smiled. “We will be polite and helpful to our fellow citizens! When we witness wrongdoings, we will inform Mr. Alder straight away!”

Seeing his ‘students’ act so obediently brought the wide and joyful smile back to Mr Adler’s face. He took pride in the fact they were so ‘willing’ to improve their lives after just one short lesson. His powers, while exhibited in a strange way, were very effective in making sure these four lawbreakers will leave their past selves behind for good.

The end

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This is something I wanted to write for Hypnovember. Sadly this might be the only story that I write for this special month. I decided to make my owm prompts for this year.


I don't own Pokemon