Hello. You probably want me to talk a little about myself first, so I will.
First off, my name is Leland Parsons. I'm seventeen years old and, until relatively recently, I was a normal guy living in the small town of West Yellowstone, Montana. If you had ever told me that anything even close to as ridiculous as this would happen to me, I would say that you were crazy. It's not every day that your normal bike ride goes awry.
I made some decisions that I'm not proud of, but I'm forced to stand by them. No matter how hard I try, I can never erase the fact that, at one point, I made those decisions. And, no matter what, I have to live with them.
You might be asking me the question below, and, if you are, I can completely forgive you for that.
Leland, where does this story start?
The answer to that question is really quite simple. It started the day after my seventeenth birthday.
I got out of math class, sweating like a bitch. It was a very hot day out, nothing that you wouldn't expect at this time of year. I normally rode a bicycle home, not thinking that anything out of the ordinary would occur. Perhaps I'd sweat a little more than usual, but so would everybody else.
As I walked out of school for the day, I located the bicycle in the rack outside of my high school. It was a nice seven-speed, a red bike with my name on the side. LELAND PARSONS had been printed on the side in large, silver, metallic letters. Because that was the thing about the bike.
It had been designed specifically for me.
You see, my family's kind of rich. We're not necessarily investor-level rich, but we're rich enough that we never had to worry about too many things. If I wanted something, there was a very good chance that I would get it. If that makes me sound like a bratty rich kid, then so be it, because that's the truth.
Okay, I wasn't bratty, per se, but we'll move on from that.
For my birthday, I had asked for a bicycle, so we'd gone to the store and gotten it specifically customized. This was why it had my name on it, because it had been specially designed for Leland Parsons. I enjoyed the feeling of speeding over the small cracks in the sidewalk, weaving in and out of the minimal pedestrian traffic that there was on the streets. West Yellowstone was a small town, and most of the adults were at work at this point; it was really only children that I had to avoid.
Indeed, I was thinking about the heat wave that had hit most of southwestern Montana, northeastern Idaho, and northwestern Wyoming. It was supposed to last a while longer, throughout what remained of the school year. Attending school in 95-degree weather is never fun, but I had to do it. I simply had to complete my sophomore year of high school, and then I'd be free for two and a half months.
I had two other things on my mind. One was Elyssa, my pet Eevee. I absolutely despised her, simply because of how she always seemed to get in my way, invading my personal space when I least wanted it. Certainly, that was something I could do without. Unfortunately, no matter how many times I begged my parents to get rid of her, my sister, Stephanie, loved her too much for them to allow it.
Which I supposed was her right, but still. Having a pet to feed and clean up after can be quite annoying, although I was never responsible for either of those two tasks. My parents knew enough about me not to make me do those things.
The other was the fact that I had homework to do. I wasn't sure how long it would take me when all was said and done, but I did know that it would take up some of the precious time that I could have used for various other things, such as talking on Discord or playing video games.
As I biked along the road, I suddenly felt as though there was something off. Something that, no matter how much I wanted to believe otherwise, simply wasn't quite right. Something that would make me absolutely terrified if I knew what it was, and yet I didn't know, which, if anything, made me even more terrified.
Sure enough, I soon felt myself go flying over the handlebars. With a lurch of my stomach, my bike had simply connected with something on the ground, or about a foot above it, that had caused it to fall. Completely shocked, I fell to the ground.
I got the wind knocked out of me, but I did not seem to be seriously hurt. I started to crawl my way back to my feet...
...and then I lost consciousness. The last thing I had felt was a dart piercing my skin before I sank into blackness.
Pain.
It was everywhere, mostly in my head, neck, and chest. It wasn't like a little pain, either. It felt as though those parts of my body were being pounded with a sledgehammer.
I tried to open my eyes, but the pain was too great. However, I was able to tell that I was lying on my side, and there was a needle that was about to puncture my skin. Based on the fact that my upper body felt cooler than usual, I deduced that my shirt had been removed.
The needle was hovering over my back, I could tell. There was that chilling feeling that came right before you were about to get an injection, followed by the small, sharp, momentary stab of pain. I was bracing myself for it, and, sure enough, it came.
Now, I'm normally not one to complain about needles; they really don't affect me too much. However, when that needle was jammed into my skin, I couldn't help but let out a whimper...which turned into a full-on scream. And, with that scream, my eyes were opened.
I was in a dark room, which looked kind of like a drug lab that you might see in a movie. I could tell, vaguely, based on the poor quality of the air, that we were underground. Exactly how I had gotten underground, from my current location above ground, was anyone's guess. I had no clue.
Anyone's guess, that is, besides that of my captors.
Looking up at the man that had just given me the injection, I saw that he was rather tall, with a blue tie on. He was wearing a business suit, making him look more suited for The Apprentice than this dark lab.
As they were cleaning my left arm, presumably for another needle, I dared to ask him a question.
"Why?" I asked. "Why are you doing this to me?"
The man chuckled. "It is to the benefit of science, my young friend. You know that experiments cannot always be conducted in...ahem...ethically correct ways". He cackled maniacally.
Great. I'm trapped in an underground lab with a bunch of crazies. Could it get any worse?
As a matter of fact, it could.
"We are about to start an intravenous line with a special solution, young man. This solution is designed to produce the specific result that we are looking for. You are going to look a lot better than you used to" he said, laughing again.
I was already groaning internally. I thought that I already looked good enough, thank you very much. I was tall, not lanky, and had long, fluffy hair that was a light brown color. I had never dreamed that I'd ever receive many negative comments on my physical appearance. Perhaps I was not prepared for the real world, but I digress.
The scientist, the man in the blue tie, held up a bag with a black fluid in it. Even in a room this dark, I could tell that this solution was just as dark as the walls.
"Once this bag is drained, you may go. There should be no immediate side effects...it will take some time for the contents to take effect. Now, this will only hurt for a second".
I felt another sharp jab, this time in my left arm, and then a tube go into my skin. However, like he had said, the pain didn't last for too long, and I was soon able to comprehend other things.
"All done" the man said. "You see, Leland Parsons, you will make history as the first human to ever-".
"Wait. Hold the fucking phone. WHAT IN ARCEUS'S NAME ARE YOU DOING TO ME?"
"I can't tell you that".
"And how the hell do you know my name? I wasn't carrying my ID or anything like that".
"We have a database of every resident of West Yellowstone. Indeed, there is a database for all of Gallatin County, as is the rest of the state of Montana. You can't run or hide from Team Rocket, so you might as well not even try".
Team Rocket.
Those were words that struck fear into the hearts of anyone. They were an evil organization that captured, experimented on, and sometimes even killed Pokémon, all in the name of "science". Call me a pacifist, or a pussy, or whatever, but if that's "science", I don't like science. I've always thought that humans should never be experimented on without their consent, and I had most certainly not given my consent to this.
As I felt the solution drip into my left arm, I started feeling a mild burn. It was as though it was a hot drink being pumped into my veins, rather than a mystery solution. It was not a pleasant feeling, though; it really did hurt.
I felt a shiver run down my spinal cord as I gave an involuntary jerk. I had a feeling that, whatever these scientists had in mind for me, it was not going to be in my best interest.
I could only hope, as the solution continued dripping into my arm, that I was going to be able to deal with the consequences.
Me: Well, that's Chapter 1.
Leland: You don't know the pain of a spinal tap, Snow! It was really bad.
Me: I had a spinal tap once as a baby, when I had meningitis. But I don't remember that. It was certainly nothing like getting experimented on, and you have my full sympathy.
Leland: So...when will the next chapter be up?
Me: I don't know. Probably pretty soon, knowing me. And I'm sorry this one was so short, but it was just necessary to state the first few things that happened to Leland.
Leland: I hope you guys will review. That'd be awesome.
Me: So, yeah...see you guys next time.