Author's Note: Greetings, folks! While I was working on the next chapter of "The War Against Giygas" (hopefully, it will be done by the end of the week), I came up with this. My inspiration comes from a late-night TV Tropes romp, specifically from the Go Mad from the Isolation and Nothing Is Scarier pages. I wrote this in a notebook during school hours and took three days to finish. Welp, sorry for wasting your time with this stupid note! Please note that there are a few references to "The Normals", as well as a spoiler for the ending.

The Primids, the employees and caretakers of the Smash Castle, were huddled together during coffee break, discussing something that happened a few days ago.

"What was the boss thinking...?"

"His evil genius is showing!'

"He has one?"

"He said genius, not..."

"Uh, excuse me. I was sorta sick that day - what did happen?"

"Allow me to tell you. Trust me, it ain't pretty."

==The Empty Room==

The pristine walls of the Smash Castle's second floor darkened as the test subject was led further into a section of the castle, an area not usually visited. Lucario, the chosen subject, frowned at the foreboding environment. "So... what's this thing the Minister needs me for?"

The Primid that was accompanying him, looking a bit tense, answered, "He'll explain when we get there."

They continued walking until they arrived at a big metal door that said, "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" on it; the sign was an obvious lie, as when the Primid pushed him through, Lucario saw a fully furnished room with machines and computers sitting around.

A floating figure stared at him as he entered - ROB, better known as the Ancient Minster. "AH, LUCARIO. I'M SURE YOU MUST BE WONDERING WHY I BROUGHT YOU OUT HERE."

"Er, yes, actually." Lucario replied plainly.

"WELL, I NEED YOU TO TEST SOMETHING."

The Pokémon saw the robot's gaze trail to a door. It was a door made constructed with the finest and strongest metals, with only a button to open and close it. Written on it, in bold ominous letters, was a sign saying, "THE EMPTY ROOM."

"The... Empty Room?"

"YES. THE EMPTY ROOM." the robotic leader responded. "THIS ROOM IS A WORKING DESIGN FOR A DETAINMENT CENTER; IN THE CASE ANOTHER "INCIDENT" HAPPENS, WE MAY NEED TO TAKE PRISONERS."

Lucario slowly nodded. "I see, but... what does this have to do with me?"

"YOU ARE ONE OF THE SANEST SMASHERS THERE ARE, SO, I NEED YOU TO TEST IT OUT."

"What?"

"I NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT IT ISN'T TOO "HARDCORE", AS SOME WOULD PUT IT, SO I NEED A VERY SANE AND PERFECTLY NORMAL TEST SUBJECT."

The Ancient Minister floated to the door.

Lucario sweated - what kind of horror lied behind the door?

The button was pushed.

and behind the door was

an empty room.

Empty, however, did not do it justice. The room was like a blank canvas, a pure white void. Nothing notable aside from the blinding white could be seen. Utterly pristine. It seemed so pristine that it radiated its own light, as if it was a bright star.

"THIS IS THE EMPTY ROOM. THIS ROOM DEPRIVES PRISONERS OF VISUALS, AND THANKS TO HIDDEN MACHINES, MUFFLES NOISE FROM WITHIN EXCEPT YOUR OWN VOICE AND REMOVES ALL SCENTS. ALL SENSORY STIMULATION IS TAKEN AWAY IN HERE. HOWEVER..." he glanced at some Primids grouped behind computer consoles. "...THERE HAVE BEEN SOME PRESSING CONCERNS ABOUT THE ROOM, HENCE WHY WE NEED TO TEST IT OUT. I JUST SO HAPPENED TO PULL YOUR NAME OUT OF A HAT."

Presumably, there were only four slips inside said hat.

Lucario was no longer on edge. It didn't sound dangerous. In fact, it seemed peaceful and and relaxing. "I'll be happy to test it out then. How long will I be inside, though?"

"2 HOURS."

"Hmm... I'll do it."

"Wait!" One of the Primids had spoken up. "Are you positive? I mean, this is like, serious hardcore stuff!"

"I doubt it." he answered.

However, he admitted that the Primid's reaction was a bit... disconcerting.

"RIGHT THEN. REMEMBER THOUGH, THESE ARE YOUR WORDS, NOT MINE."

He started to push Lucario inside.

"What do I get out of this, though?"

"YOU'LL BE PAID HANDSOMELY."

They passed the threshold.

Lucario's steps as he entered did not make any noise.

"Ah. That's good, I actually want to get that new Shin Megami Tensei game."

"RIGHT, RIGHT."

Lucario was completely inside now, in the middle of the room.

"WE WILL STOP THIS AS SOON AS YOU'RE HIGHLY TROUBLED - YOU WILL STILL BE PAID, SO KEEP THAT IN MIND. GOOD LUCK."

With that, the door closed, its back a blank panel as pure as the rest of the room, leaving the Pokémon alone in the void.

It didn't look too bad.

What could a room do to him?

Lucario started to quietly pace the room. Emphasis on the quiet. No sound accompanied his steps, which he was highly impressed by. "Wow, this place really can't make noise!" He pounded on the walls to further test this out. Pain was felt, but no noise was made.

Lucario thought it was pretty neat.

He quickly got bored by his surroundings. The pure whiteness was a bit of an eyesore.

He decided to do a little test.

Scratching himself, fur got loose and lande on the floor. The specks of blue and black looked prominent on the floor. He took a quick sniff - he couldn't even smell his own fur.

In mere seconds, the bits of fur disappeared, as if sucked up by an invisible vacuum.

"Haha, neat."

The extremely plain visuals got to be disorienting after a while; nothing notable was in the room, and the fact that the floor, the ceiling, and the walls looked the same confused one's sense of direction.

Feeling dizzy, he sat himself down on the floor.

He started to hum a tune to himself.

The room couldn't mask his voice, after all.

"Somewhere, over the rainbow..." he sung - he noted the irony of a song about a rainbow being sung in such a blank place.

Despite his singing, however, he wished for something else to make a noise.

A soft breeze went through the room.

Lucario, in the middle of humming the Victory Road theme, looked up.

King Dedede was now in the Empty Room. The penguin king, the former Normal, waved to him, "Yo, what's up, Lucario?"

"I... Dedede? Why are you here?" the aura creature asked; he was suddenly aware of how raspy his voice sounded.

"Oh, I'm doing this for the cash and the Minister wanted another guinea pig." he answered with a shrug. "Being a Normal pays."

"I suppose it does." the first tester said, nodding. King Dedede sat down right next to him.

It felt like old times.

"...Pretty boring in here..." Dedede groaned after a minute, eyes looking around the room.

"It can't be that much longer, can it?"

"Ugh, I hope not..." he frowned. "This sounded like a good idea at the time.."

"I know - but hey! How about we pass the time by talking?"

The rotund man shook his head. "I can't do that."

Lucario was puzzled. "Why not?"

For once, Dedede stared at him with a completely serious look on his face. However, his eyes were blank, as if he were a ghost staring into his soul. Then, out of his mouth, came:

"Because I'm not even here."

Lucario blinked.

Upon reopening his eyelids, he realized that Dedede was indeed not there.

The hallucination made an impression on Lucario. He was much too shaken up to go back to humming. He looked at his palms, worriedly.

"I can't believe I saw that.."

"I know."

"Maybe this room really is dangerous."

"Yes, I regret not listening to that Primid."

"It can't be that much longer now, can it?"

"I really hope s-"

He bit his tongue.

Now he was talking to himself.

Stimulation.

He needed some.

Some stimulation.

Preferably from a non-hallucinatory source.

He looked at his arm.

Then he unhinged his haw.

And then.

And then he bit it.

"Ow!" he shouted, quickly tearing his arm away.

Pain was still a feeling.

A sensation.

After all.

"This room is okay, once you... once you get used to it.."

"No, it really isn't. You know, we could try adding something to decorate."

"I'm sure that would get... removed."

"But you want to know what we can add?"

"Well. What. What is it?"

"Blood. We can add our blood."

He wisely chose to shut up.

Lucario couldn't think.

Straight.

He could not think properly.

His brain was seeking sensory interaction.

Too busy to.

To think. He.

He really needed to see something. Something.

Something that wasn't the blinding white. Or his own body.

Himself.

Using the last of his mental power, he went into his aura sight mode. He needed to see. He must seek behind the bleak walls. It was necessary. He craved it.

Instead.

He was treated to more blank.

"I... I don't... see.. anything?"

"Maybe the room blocks out our powers."

Good theory.

Or maybe.

Maybe.

There was nothing out there.

It could have disappeared.

Or the outside world may have never existed.

Maybe he was delusional all along.

Walking

through

a

blank void.

All his life.

It seemed ridiculous.

Yet very believable.

His eyes wandered.

And wandered.

And wandered.

Then.

His eyes looked down

and found a pistol at his feet.

Was it always there?

Maybe the room generated it.

For the prisoners that wanted to end their existences.

To escape the emptiness.

He very much wanted to die.

The hand moved toward it.

"Maybe... I was... right..."

He gripped it tightly - it felt nice to hold something.

"Red..."

The gun lifted in the air.

"It'd... look nice on the floor."

It was now leveled at his head.

"Death..."

He pulled the hammer.

"...would be a nice sensation as well.."

Then he pulled the trigger.

The Primids stood up from their seats, looking alarmed.

"He fainted!"

"WHAT?" the Ancient Minister examined a screen; in the midst of the blank prison, was a blue and black, slumped body. "GET HIM OUT OF THERE!"

"I told ya'll we should 'ave stopped this when he started talking to himself!" a random employee yelled.

"...HOW LONG WAS HE IN THERE...?"

A Primid examined the clock on the lower right part of his computer screen. "...43 minutes. We broke one of the sanest Smashers in 43 minutes."

"...the project got shut down after that. Too inhumane."

"What about Lucario?"

"Still in the infirmary, I hear. No one knows how his mental state will be when he gets out, however."

"Damn it, what was the boss thinking?"

"He's insane, that's what."

"Yeah, he's a robot - he doesn't know how it's like to be deprived of all senses."

"Shh! What if he hears you?"

"Why are you so worked up about it?"

"Do you want to get thrown in an Empty Room?"

"Come now, he wouldn't do that... right?"

"What of the room, though?"

"We blew it up."

"Good riddance."

"But just imagine: Lucario was just testing it. If there was a prisoner involved, what would have happened?

"And would the Minister keep them there?"

Author's Note: I don't know how unsettling this was to you readers: if it was, I have succeeded, and if it wasn't, well, that's disappointing. Well, please tell me how you thought about it. Thank you for reading!