i originally wrote this in 2011 and published it here. now we're here in 2015 and i'd like to think this rewrite is a bit of an improvement. warning: this fic is almost entirely comprised of ocs, so i don't expect that much traffic! but if you do like it shoot me a fav or a review.
everyone likes team rocket, after all :)
ONE
It was early. The sun was just starting to spread its sleepy rays across the sky, and the clouds were candyfloss-pink. Overhead, a Farfetch'd cried out, the sound muffled by the stalk in its beak.
Down below, a flock of Mareep huddled in their pen. They were asleep, for now, a bodiless mass of crackling wool. The farmer wouldn't be up for another half an hour. Until then, they wouldn't wake.
Except for one.
One of the Mareep was already awake, and had been since first light. Already awake, and already hungry. Now she was patrolling back and forth in the pen, giving impatient little bleats.
Where was the farmer? She could hardly go back to sleep with this rumbling in her belly, and her trough was empty. She nudged another Mareep.
"Reep!"
No luck – the other Pokémon snuffled and turned over.
Frustration was making the Mareep's trotters itch. She had to get out of this pen and find some food. Glancing around, she put her trotters up on the wooden beams of the pen and bleated. A soft breeze tickled her face, and she held in a sneeze.
Purple caught her eye. A Rattata was digging in the undergrowth near the base of a tree. The Mareep bleated in delight – another creature was awake! And those teeth… surely those teeth could make quick work of her pen's wooden beams.
"Reep! Reep!" the Mareep called out, trying to get the other Pokémon's attention. The Rattata paused and looked at her, nose twitching. She stamped a foot. "Reep, reep! Ma-reep!"
The Rattata cocked its head, and then turned tail and scampered into the trees.
"Reep!" Disappointment swelled in the Mareep's throat and she fell back onto all fours. She was still so hungry! Now what was she going to do?
She glanced back at the flock. Still asleep. Then she looked at the wooden beams in front of her. They were sturdy, but… her headbutt attack was strong. The Mareep snorted. She didn't need some silly Rattata. She would get out of here by herself.
Slowly, she backed away from the fence, and narrowed her eyes, measuring the distance. She lowered her head.
Then she charged.
On the other side of the field, inside the cosy farmhouse, the farmer's son was pulling on his socks. Five-year-old Leo had woken up before his parents, and it was too sunny to sleep. He'd snuck a look through his Pokéball-patterned curtains and felt excitement surge through him. Maybe he could go and visit the Mareep! He'd never been down to their pen without his mother or father before.
Leo loved the Mareep. He loved the jolt of electricity when he patted them, he loved their docile faces and placid bleating. So as soon as he'd pulled his jacket and wellingtons over his pyjamas, he stole out of the front door.
His feet left a trail in the dewy grass and he giggled. It felt like such fun to be outside so early, and to be by himself, too! It would be just him and the Mareep. His breath left him in mist as he crossed the front paddock.
"Reep!" Thud. "Reep!" Thud. "Reep!" Thud.
"Huh?" Leo squinted at the Mareep pen. Something seemed to be going on. Were the Mareep up?
He ran towards the pen, almost tripping. One of the Mareep was rushing at the fence, scratched and muddied.
"Reep!" it cried as its head struck the beam. The force of its attack threw it back and it landed in the mud, but it scrambled to its feet at once, ready for more. Some of the other Mareep had also awoken and were crying out in distress.
"M-Mareep!" Leo said. He didn't waste any time scrambling over the side of the pen and into the mud. "Mareep, stop it! You'll hurt yourself!"
The Mareep paid no attention as it slammed into the beam again, making the whole pen tremble. It fell back, panting.
It looked like it was going to try again. "Mareep, no!" Leo ran towards it as it started to charge, and grabbed its pelt.
This was a mistake. The Mareep swung around to look at him, eyes half-crazed with pain. "REEP!" it screeched, and loosed a thundershock attack.
Leo screamed.
His body was on fire – every nerve, every fibre, every cell. His eyes rolled back in his head and he writhed, but he was no longer aware of what he was doing – unaware of where he was, who he was, only aware of pain, pure pain, never-ending pain—
And then it stopped. Leo lay face-down in the mud, unable to move. His screams died to disjointed whimpers.
The smell of burned hair reached his nostrils. His heart was going mad with fear, but he was only half conscious of it. He couldn't think. Couldn't feel, even when the other Mareep came over to nose him with inquisitive eyes.
His father found him crumpled there later, and rushed him back to the farmhouse to call the hospital. But even after Leo woke up, even after he recovered, his heart didn't stop pounding fear through his body. Fear soaked through his skin and into his blood, into his very heart.
And he never went near the Mareep again.