"Mommy, how much longer do we have to wait? We've been standing here forever!"
"Not too much longer, Brice. We'll be inside soon enough."
"Hmph," Brice sighed, looking around.
In front and behind him, all Brice could see were others lined up, waiting to enter the Safari Zone. The new exhibit's grand opening was today, and everyone-even Brice's grumpy old neighbor- was going to be there. No one knew what the exhibit was about, but it was advertised as "A must see," "A rare specimen found," and "Appropriate for all ages."
For young Brice, only one thought preoccupied his mind currently: how tired his legs were.
"My legs are killing me. They're going to give out soon."
"Can't you at least stand until we get inside? I'll carry you then."
Brice pouted and looked up at his mother, who was blocking the sun's rays with her head. She seemed so far away. She had always been tall, even when he was a baby. She even towered over most of the others in the line right now! Every time Brice asked how she had gotten to be so tall, she just laughed and responded, "I wasn't always this tall, and you won't always be this short!"
He couldn't wait for that to happen.
Brice's mother was the best. Everyone was usually scared of her because she was strong, so they kept their distance. This also meant that no bullies ever bothered him at school.
The secret was, Brice's mother was actually really nice.
The cheering from the line around him interrupted the young boy's thoughts. Brice's mother took hold of him; "I'm going to hold you now. The doors just opened, so it's going to be crowded."
As he was lifted into his mother's arms, he saw the doors opening in the distance. Brice couldn't see what was inside, no matter how hard he tried to squint. "Mommy, I wanna go in."
"We'll get inside, soon enough," she said as she glared at someone who had tried to cut the duo in line.
They scurried away quickly.
Once inside of the Safari Zone, Brice and his mother were led to a large room off to the side, along with everyone else. There was pushing and shoving as everyone tried to stand in the best place in front of the stage, but Brice's mother easily made it through the crowd.
"Hello everyone, the new exhibit is about to unveiled. Please stay quiet, so that everyone can hear, and no talking, as to not bother others," a voice sounded on the intercom.
"It's starting soon!" Brice squealed with excitement in his mother's arms.
Then, workers pushed a cage on stage. It was covered in a white sheet, so Brice couldn't see what was inside. Around him, people began to cheer, but were quickly silenced by the voice on the intercom.
"For hundreds of thousands of years, these creatures ruled the land. In the past, our species executed their every demand without question. Without us, these creatures would have never survived.
"They knew this, but still continued to take advantage of us. That is, until one hundred years ago. We started the revolution, we fought for our independence, and we won. No longer were we subjected to the torture, the orders, or the fighting.
"We believed that we had wiped out most of these creatures. There was no purpose for them, so why keep them? They were only a bother, a waste of resources. But, a small group was found living near the ocean in secret. What we have for you today, everyone, is a member of that small group."
A hush fell over the crowd.
Brice's eyes widened.
"Today, the Safari Zone is proud to present a living, breathing, human!"
The white sheet was ripped off of the cage and it's door opened, revealing a small boy. He was standing in the far left corner of the cage, only wearing brown shorts, and had a panicked look on his face.
Brice had never imagined that a human would look so…weak. From all the stories he had heard in school, humans were portrayed as evil, strong, and barbaric beings. Even though it was still his first time seeing a human, Brice couldn't help but feel a little stunned at how different a human looked in real life.
"Fuck the humans!" someone screamed from behind.
Soon, the crowd began to yell out all types of profanities. Brice covered his ears, as his mother had always told him to do whenever someone said a bad word.
The human boy looked at the crowd in front of him, with wide eyes.
"Please let me go, I never tortured any of you," he sobbed, "I'm sorry for what my ancestors did to all of you!"
The crowd began to laugh.
"Oh, he's sorry?"
"Sorry won't makeup for the torture you put us through!"
"My kind is on the brink of extinction because of you humans!"
"Damn you to hell!"
The shouts continued, until a metal ball was launched on stage. It collided with the human. He let out a small whimper of pain. The metal ball was painted red on the top half, white on the bottom half, and there was a black stripe in the middle, surrounding a smaller circle that seemed to resemble a button.
A voice sounded from the intercom.
"Some of you were given a bag of painted metal balls. These represent poké balls, the devices that were used to capture us when humans ruled. You are allowed to throw them, if you would like."
Seconds later, many of the contraptions were flying through the air, towards the small, human boy.
"Hey, we should let the tyranitar thrown one. She's definitely got some power."
At the mention of his mother's species, both Brice and his mother turned towards the creature that stood next to them, a chansey.
"Oh no, I'm just here to observe," Brice's mother replied.
The chansey turned towards Brice. "What about you, little larvitar? Would you like to throw some?"
The pokémon held out a small plastic bag, where inside, Brice could see a couple of the round, metal balls.
"Can I please, mommy?"
"If you would like, then go right ahead."
Brice smiled and took the bag.
"What do you say to the nice chansey, Brice?"
"Thank you!"
"No problem," the chansey chuckled, "the young ones need to know that humans deserve no respect."
"Come on, I'll bring you closer to the stage so it's not too far of a throw," Brice's mother said as she began to move.
The crowd moved easily for the duo, most moving out of the way as soon as they saw Brice's mother. Soon enough, Brice was right at the front of the stage, close to the cage, in his mother's arms.
The larvitar reached into the bag, pulling out one of the cool, metal balls. Moving his arm back, Brice threw the ball at the human, making a direct hit against one of the boy's arms.
"Great throw, son," Brice's mother said.
"Can I throw another one?"
"Sure."
The human and Brice made eye contact as he reached into the bag for another ball. There were tears coming from the human's eyes.
"This is for my grandpa," Brice whispered, before throwing the metal ball.
Author's Note:
This is just a dark, small one-shot I've been thinking about for a while. Hopefully you enjoyed it.
Please review, it helps me a lot. Thank you!