A/N: Hey, hi, hello. So I came up with this AU idea with a pal a month or so ago, and then they started an AU fanfic contest on their blog (incorrect-pokespe-quotes on tumblr), so I decided to write this up for fun and enter! I'm having tons of fun with it and have a lot of ideas for it, so with any luck, I should have more chapters coming! Hope you enjoy!
Crystal knew things weren't going her way the moment her best friend screwed her over, she became the babysitter for all of nineteen people, and became the sole barrier between peace and anarchy for the city of Goldenrod. It was… an undesirable situation, to say the least. And it had all begun with the guy in front of her, sitting on the couch with a guilty expression and fidgety hands.
"Alright Gold, let me get this straight," She began, pacing around her desk and glancing at him over the top of her glasses. She set her clipboard down on the desk sharply, and Gold gulped.
"You, a member of the department of monster protection, accidentally managed to bust the program? It's a giant machine, how does that even work?"
"Hey, hey. It's not as bad as you make it sound," Gold butted in, raising his hands in defense. "I'm not a member. I'm a member in training."
"That makes it worse."
"Does it?"
"Okay, you know what? That's really not the problem here. I don't care how your mediocre, in-training amulet somehow had enough power to damage the cloaking-"
"You totally care." Gold cut her off.
"Shut up for a minute!" Crystal took a deep breath and set her glasses down, regaining her composure, "As I was saying, the bigger problem is that you literally busted the cloaking machine-"
"Crystal, if you're gonna talk to me about what I did in a professional setting, you should use the proper names for everything." Gold interrupted, a disgusting smirk on his face. Crystal's grip tightened on the edge of the desk.
"The bigger problem," She hissed, "is that you busted the glamorizer - stop laughing Gold or so help me I will kick you out of that window - and now every monster in the city has lost their cover. Do you even know what this means?"
"Thaaaat you're gonna have to work overtime."
"More like you've jeopardized the safety of innocent civilians, but y'know, that too," Crystal answered wearily, slumping into her chair and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Also don't think for a second that I'll be the only one working overtime. You got us into this mess, you'll be helping us out of it."
"That suuuuuucks. How long did you say this is gonna take?" Gold sighed, sticking a pinky up his nose.
"I didn't. But we'll find out the extent of the damage soon enough." Crystal replied, anxiously twisting the bracelet on her wrist. As if on cue, the gem on her bracelet flashed twice.
"Speak of the devil… seems they're finished inspecting the-" she paused at the look on Gold's face, and sighed. "Glamorizer. C'mon, you're coming with me."
"What, so they can chew me out again? Nah, I'd rather stay here." Gold whined.
"And I'm not giving you a choice." Crystal said threateningly, walking over and grabbing for his hoodies strings. He ducked under her hand and stood up, grumbling.
"Fine, fine. I'm coming."
The two of them walked down the hall in an uncomfortable silence. It was a surprisingly narrow walkway, considering it was in the upper reaches of one of the largest buildings in all of Goldenrod. Most non-magical folk simply knew it as Radio Tower, but contrary to the name, the tower had nothing to do with the radio at all. Most folks had never seen the interior of the building, in fact, only those that worked there could enter. And that was a very small amount of people. The two walked past tall, glass windows that overlooked the city. It was a terribly gloomy evening, and the tiny lights flickering from houses were barely discernable under the thick sheet of rain that smattered against the side of Radio Tower. Crystal looked out at the gray wall of clouds and twisted her bracelet again. Despite her denial, her curious mind couldn't help but mull the incident over. She was baffled as to how Gold's tiny, training ring had enough power to fry the most important, not to mention most protected, machine in the entire tower. It was doubtful that even she, with her powerful Z-bracelet, would've been able to put a dent in the machine under normal circumstances. Not to mention that Gold could still barely use magic, and was nowhere near to mastering his ring. But what was worse was that was, as his overseer and assistant head of the department, Crystal would be held responsible for the slipup.
Reaching the end of the hallway, Gold and Crystal pulled up short at a heavy, steel door. Crystal held her left wrist up to a sensor where a door handle would normally be, and the gem on her bracelet flashed. With a pneumatic hiss, the door slid open. The two of them walked into a spacious elevator, and Crystal turned on her heel to punch a code into the keypad to the right of the door. With a sigh, she stepped back, impatiently tapping her foot as the elevator began its ascent. Gold leaned against the back wall, tapping out a rhythm on the chrome with his finger nails. They waited in awkward silence as the neon floor count slowly rose.
With a small ding, the doors slid open, and the two walked into an enormous, circular room. It was situated at the top of Radio Tower, right below the spire that supposedly transmitted radio waves. Well, it did do that, but it had another function, too.
Crystal stared in awe at the giant wonder of technology in front of her. It never failed to amaze her, with the sheer size and complexity, the cloaking device was a sight to behold. It took up nearly the entire room; a mountain of shining pipes, panels and blinking lights that reached all the way to the ceiling, spitting steam and letting out various whistles and clicking noises. A shame that it had to have such a stupid name.
"Ah, there you are!" Somebody said, and Gold and Crystal whipped around to see a man rising from a seat at his desk. He looked harried and worn, his lab coat disheveled and glasses slipping down his nose. Even his curious swoop of blue hair looked limp.
"Head scientist Colress," Crystal nodded. "What's the news?"
"Nothing good, I'm afraid," Colress sighed. "As we know, the Glamorizer is a machine based around two concepts. Science, and magic. It is the pride and joy of the monster protection department, and keeps normal humans from seeing and recognizing monstrous behaviors. In fact, most humans, with the exception of very open-minded ones, have no idea that monsters exist. But the most useful function, is that it keeps monsters from realizing that they themselves are monsters. The Glamorizer completely blocks monstrous instincts and behaviors, allowing our beastly little friends to live their lives like any normal human. This makes it much easier to protect them, and keep chaos from breaking loose." Crystal nodded. Gold looked confused.
"Right. Well, there wouldn't be much of a problem if the damage had been to the mechanical parts of the Glamorizer… that I could fix in a heartbeat. The 'science' bit is my specialty, after all. But unfortunately, the damage seems to be more internal. More… magical, if you will."
"Just our luck…" Crystal groaned, "How the hell did you manage this, Gold?"
"Hey man, you guys are the smart ones. You tell me." Gold shrugged, and Colress cracked a smile.
"Yes, well, I would if I could. But I truly am stumped on how your ring managed this." He said, running a hand through his swoop.
"How long do you think it'll be before you can fix it?" Crystal asked tentatively. "Or do I even want to know?"
"According to my calculations… well, at the bare minimum it'll take me at least a month." Colress sighed, adjusting his glasses.
"A month!? The monsters of Goldenrod will be without protection for an entire month!?" Crystal squawked.
"At least," Colress nodded grimly, "And I'm afraid that's not the whole of it."
"Oh no… well, let's hear it." Crystal said in a muffled tone, burying her head in Gold's shoulder.
"As you know, we have profiles of every known monster in the city. They're top secret and kept completely private, of course, but they contain information on the species, names, and addresses of each monster. Well… it seems… somehow… all of those profiles were completely erased from the system. I'm running a recovery program now, but currently we aren't in possession of that information." Colress said helplessly.
"What am I supposed to do with that?" Crystal moaned. "Not only do we now have a city's worth of monsters on our hands, but we don't even know who they are!?"
"Yes, it is quite the problem." Colress sighed.
"Indeed, it is," A new voice said, and the three of them turned to see a woman with an impressive beehive hairdo clicking towards them in heels. Crystal had a theory that working with magic had a correlation to gravity-defying hair.
"Professor Juniper!" She said, standing up straight.
"Hello, Crystal. Colress." She said, cooly. Gold looked offended she hadn't mentioned him. "This is quite a mess, isn't it?"
"It is, Professor. I trust you read the full report I sent you?" Colress asked, and Juniper nodded.
"I did," She turned to look at Crystal, "And I understand that the trainee you were overseeing is responsible?"
"I... yes, professor." Crystal answered.
"Well, while I understand that accidents happen, this is a very serious issue and must be resolved immediately. We no longer have access to our files, but the monsters out there will still need to be found, calmed, and protected. They pose a danger to both the human civilians, and themselves. So, Crystal and Gold, as the ones responsible, I will be assigning you two the duty of finding the monsters in the city, documenting them, and keeping them safe." Juniper said, matter-of-factly. Crystal felt her stomach plummet. It was a daunting job, and Juniper knew it.
"Luckily," Colress butted in, "There's only about one monster in every four hundred people. That cuts down the number significantly. There should be no more than twenty monsters, according to those odds. Though, that still leaves you the task of finding those people in a city of roughly eight thousand…"
"Inspiring, Colress," Juniper said in a very flat tone. "Under normal circumstances, I would confiscate both of your artifacts for this incident. But something tells me you're going to need magic for this job. Please start right away. This is a matter of the utmost urgency. And, as a precaution in case dear Colress here is unable to recover the files, I'm giving this to you." Juniper handed Crystal a small red device.
"It looks like a DS." Gold whispered.
"It's an electronic encyclopedia of sorts. It contains a large wealth of information on monsters. If you get close enough to a monster, it should automatically tell you what kind of monster it is. All you have to do is enter the name of the person in question, and it will create a new file. I call it the Monsterdex. It's out backup, so be very careful with it." Juniper said, tapping the device that Crystal was clutching.
"I-I will, professor." Crystal gulped.
"I wish you both the best of luck," Juniper turned back towards the elevator once more. "Oh, and don't worry. You will be getting paid overtime."
"Oh, joy. Paid overtime." Gold said sarcastically. "That makes it all worth it."
"Well, you two best be going. Good luck." Colress gave them a sympathetic smile. Crystal tried to return it, and then walked briskly back to the elevator, dragging Gold along with her.
"Where are we going now?" Gold asked.
"We're stopping by my office to grab some supplies, and then we're heading out." Crystal answered.
"Wait, seriously? We're starting now!? It's almost eight!" Gold yelped, almost jogging to keep up with Crystal as she stalked down the hallway.
"Well, too bad. Your video games and cartoons will have to wait." Crystal snapped.
"Hey, chill out. I'm not talking about that, I mean we need to sleep, y'know? You're already fried from today, and now we might be out there all night! Also, the cartoons are all Silver, not me." Gold said, raising his hands in defense.
"Sleep is for the weak." Crystal replied, turning into her office and snatching up a half-drunk cup of coffee. She downed it in one go, and opened the mini fridge in the corner of the office. She pulled out an enormous bottle of Mountain Dew and began drinking it, then tossed a second one to Gold.
"We'll be up all night if we have to." Crystal said, giving him a slightly manic, definitely overcaffeinated stare. Gold looked at her in genuine fear. If he had learned anything from working in her department, it was to never underestimate the power or workaholics on caffeine. Crystal slung a backpack onto her desk, quickly shoved into it the Monsterdex, a roll of duct tape, a regular, non-magical cellphone, and a six pack of unidentifiable energy drinks. Gold was concerned by the amount of neon on the drink cans.
"So uh… what's the duct tape for?" He asked, tentatively.
"Gold, there's always a use for duct tape." Crystal said, and with that, she swept out of the office. Gold followed, grabbing Crystal's umbrella on the way out. He followed her at a distance, sneakers squeaking along the white tiled floors. Then all but sprinted down the stairs trying to keep up with Crystal. As she neared the sliding front doors, he grabbed her shoulder. Opening the umbrella, he let her go and the two of them walked outside together.
It was only drizzling, leaving a wet, freshness to the air, and the smell of grass. The air still crackled with distant thunder, but the thick bank of black clouds had started to recede. It was dark, everything seemed to be a mix of inky blues and grays. The temperature had dropped as well, and Gold was suddenly very grateful for his red hoodie as their breath fogged out in front of them. They walked up to the edge of the road, standing on the curb and looking down the street.
"I can't believe we're going out in this weather to hunt down monsters. This seems like a really poor plan." Gold grumbled.
"Job's a jo- uh oh. That might be a problem." Crystal murmured.
"What?" Gold said, following Crystal's gaze into the sky. The fog of clouds was thinning fast, leaving tiny wisps scudding away from the golden face of a very bright, concerningly round moon.
"Please tell me that's not a full moon. That is not a full moon. Was there supposed to be a full moon tonight? What's the date? Do we have werewolves in this city!?" Crystal said in a rush, fishing in her bag for the phone. She froze at the sound of faint beeping. With trembling fingers she pulled out the Monsterdex, and the beeping got stronger. A small, red light was flashing on the exterior.
"Gold. Gold where is it? Where's the monster?" She hissed, looking up and down the street for any sign of movement.
"Uh, Crystal?" Gold stammered, his voice at a much higher pitch than normal.
"What? Do you see it!?" She said frantically.
"No, uh, I think we have a slightly bigger problem…" He replied, sounding very un-Goldlike. Crystal whirled around, and met Gold's wide, terrified eyes. Then she realized that there was fur sprouting on his face and hands, and his head seemed to be getting longer as he doubled over…
"Oh." She said.