A/N—So, this is one of those ideas that come into your head that won't go away, and you're pretty sure nobody will like it but you're writing it anyway (because it won't go away). So, sorry if it's really bad, I didn't spend all that much time thinking it through. Also, this is not in any way meant to be too serious, sooo…don't take it too seriously. Just R&R, tell me if I should continue (or just throw it out altogether).
So, this takes place sometime in the '90's, probably late, and will be the kanto generation and probably fourth or fifth xf season.
"Mulder, why are we here?" It was a question he had heard many times, though he never failed to come up with some explanation. This time was no exception.
"I've told you, Scully, we're investigating the disappearance of Henry Gill, Arthur McIntyre, and Ashley Hodgson. One disappeared three months ago, the second seven weeks ago, and the last only last week. They—"
"I should have been more specific," she amended with a look. "What I meant was, 'why are we here?' As in, how is this an X-File? And, is there any reason to believe that these disappearances are related, apart from their all being in this area." Satisfied that she had clarified her reasons for indignation, she fell silent and looked up expectantly at him.
"Oh, is that what you meant?" he asked with a grin. By this time he had finished fishing the file out of his bag and had stepped out of the car. He stretched out, after having been cramped for so long in the tiny car, and one of the files dropped to the ground. A gust of wind whipped some of the papers away.
"Mulder," Scully sighed, before taking off after the flyaway papers. When would he ever learn?
Papers retrieved and restored to the folder, he began again. "So, back to why we're here. You're right, there's not a lot of evidence connecting them. At least, not according to local authority."
"And you found something they didn't?"
"At each of the disappearance sites, there was an unusually high amount of electrical charge in the surrounding area, in everything from the wires to the air. Apart from that, the kidnappings seem fairly classifiable. The first disappeared on his way home from work, out of his car on an empty street just three blocks from home. The second was taken from his shop, in the middle of the downtown area in the middle of the day. The third was taken on her way to school. All common places to disappear from."
"We're here because of some electricity in the air?"
"You got it." Mulder looked fairly pleased with himself for discovering that fact. Scully, on the other hand, was wearing an appropriately incredulous expression. She stalked off in the direction of the police station, unable to believe that she had been dragged into yet another case that was so far showing no signs of X-Filish behavior.
Mulder jogged a little to catch up, then fell into step beside her. "Look, we'll just check in with the police, then we'll go look at the sites. If there's nothing unusual, we'll tell them to deal with it, and then we'll go home. But really," he cast her another grin, "how often am I wrong? You never believe me, and then something happens, and then it turns out I'm right, like, ninety percent of the time. At least."
"Yeah, sure," was her short reply, although she knew it was true. But she could never bring herself to admit that the things he believed in existed. And she would never admit that he was right, not to herself, let alone to him.
They reached the small police station and Scully swept past Mulder as he held the door for her. Taking command before he could do her speaking for her, she introduced herself as an FBI agent and Mulder as her partner. She glanced over her shoulder and grinned at his slightly miffed expression. She returned her attention back to the sheriff as she realized he was talking to them.
"—Never seen anything else like it, we're not sure what to do. Nothing has happened in this town for two decades, and now three disappearances within three months. We're just not sure how to deal, you know? We not even sure it's all the same person, there's no evidence—"
"But there is," Mulder interrupted, despite the small elbow in his ribs from Scully. "At all three sites a surge of electrical energy was recorded."
"Well, that must be a coincidence, you know? As I was saying, we called the FBI when young Ashley was taken last week…" The sheriff seemed to carry on forever. His long winded apologies for lack of knowledge, punctuated by "you knows" fairly put Mulder and Scully to sleep. Had they been paying attention, they might have noticed that someone was watching them.
Outside, somebody had picked up one of the loose papers from the file that Mulder had failed to pick up. Somebody examined the information, and, seeing that it was information about the disappearances he had caused, muttered, "Oh, no. This will never do. They must be dealt with, soon." Then, as though somebody had replied, he continued, "Yes. We should."
Oblivious to these goings on outside, Mulder and Scully finished talking to the sheriff and left. Safely back in the car, they both sighed. "He seemed…nice," Mulder tried.
"If everybody here is like that we're leaving even if this is an X-File."
They arrived downtown twenty minutes later, after getting slightly lost in some of the back roads. They got out of the car and looked around. The small downtown contained some office buildings, a sweets shop, a book store, and some other small businesses. At each corner there was a lamppost, from which a basket of colorful flowers hung. All these things gave the town a very small, ordinary feeling.
Mulder led the way into the nearby comic book store, which was the second disappearance site. Before Scully could do anything, he pulled out his badge and introduced them.
"Sheriff said you'd be by today. Do you want to look around?" The clerk was a young man, probably still in high school.
As the two agents looked around, he followed them as though fascinated. Occasionally he'd ask a question like, "So what's it really like working for the FBI?" After tiring of this, Mulder countered with his own question.
"What did the crime scene look like? Before it was cleaned?" This had already been discussed—the store had been cleaned shortly after the initial investigation, much to Mulder's chagrin. The police had agreed to this, because the store was barely able to support itself and months of no income would permanently shut it down.
"Well, I had left about eleven thirty for my lunch break. I left Arthur—that's the owner—to mind the counter. I got back about one, and he was gone. Every pack of cards we had had been torn open and scattered around, like someone had been looking for a certain one. You know," Scully cringed, "I've told all this to the police already."
"We, uh, like to hear it all first hand. Might find something that doesn't translate to paper," Mulder covered, not wanting to admit their hurried exit from the station. "Did you say cards? Like, a deck of cards?"
"No, no. Trading cards. The ones that were opened were all Pokémon."
"Okay…" Mulder was clearly confused. Before the clerk could begin his no doubt detailed explanation of "Pokémon," Mulder pushed Scully toward the door. He quickly thanked the man and practically shoved her outside.
"Mulder?" she asked with one of her what-was-that-all-about looks.
"I just wasn't in the mood for some geeky insight into a card game."
"Don't you play Dungeons and Dragons?"
He ignored that and quickened his pace down the road.
"Mulder, where are we going? The car's that way." She gestured vaguely behind them.
"We're going to talk to Ashley's parents. They don't live too far from here. I'm hoping they have more information than…what was his name?"
"I don't know. And we're in such a hurry because…?"
"I wanted to get as far away from there as fast as possible. It reminded me too much of the lone gunmen. I'm just…not in the mood."
That was when the world went black. Everything disappeared, though they could see the electrical charges all around them. They couldn't feel anything, except the other's hand in theirs. It was as if nothing existed except the electricity and the blackness. Then, quite suddenly, they found themselves on solid ground again.
"What h-happened?" Scully asked shakily after a moment, as they both blinked in the suddenly bright sunlight. The sky was now unnaturally blue, with perfect white clouds spread across it.
"Where are we?" Mulder put in, finally having realized it was now a sunny day, whereas the town had been grey and foggy. He also realized that they were sitting in the middle of a dirt road and seemed to be in the middle of a forest. The surrounding trees were a beautiful green, unnaturally so just like the sky. He almost began to panic when Scully, sitting beside him, screamed and clutched at his jacket.
Now, he knew that it took a lot to make Scully scream. But he was thoroughly unprepared for the sight which met him.
It was a snake. But not just any snake. It was a twelve foot cobra, completely purple, hood spread and fangs bared. And it was coming at them very fast.
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