Unova was always frigid during the Winter months, no matter how many tropical winds blew off of the coasts and bays. Temperatures as low as -25 degrees celcious are common grievances that the population had to deal with, and because of that, many people chose to stay inside. Snowfall was heavy, almost blocking streets, shutting down schools, and making quite a few unfortunate people trapped inside of their houses.
Thankfully, said season was reaching it's yearly limit; spring was just around the corner, and many civilians looked at their calendars with glee upon realizing April was fast approaching. Of course, the towns and cities closer to the mountains, most notably Iccirus and Anville,would have longer till the grass popped up, but the majority of Unovans were cheering with joy that their long haul in darkness and cold was nearly over.
The day was a Wednesday, and due to the recent warmth flooding the region, sludgy water, still cold from being snow, tugged at the pant legs of people walking, and sloshed against tires of vehicles. Combined with traffic, this caused quite a bit of delay in the morning routine of many. Some of these people included those of high status, but thankfully, Gita Metali (Minister of Environment and Conservation, Metali, respectfully), was not one of these people. The Indian woman sat at a large, oval shaped desk that overlooked Nimbasa's busy streets and many buildings, an unreadable expression on her face. Her mouth was but a thin, straight line, her eyes held no hint of emotion, and her hands were folded across the table neatly atop her small set of papers.
Eying the other Ministers, around four of them, she spoke up, her voice breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"Is the Minister of Foreign Affairs coming?" she asked, stirring the papers underneath her hands, and pulling up a tabbed page, "It says on this document that he will be holding this meeting. Yet he has not shown up."
The table was quiet, with the exception of briskly moving hands ruffling papers. Yes, surprisingly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Minister Joshua Kambel, as was his name) was to be the main speaker at this meeting. It was odd, considering Unova had limited need for such a minister. As of present, Unova had no lasting conflicts with any of the other countries, with the exception of Kanto. However, that was years ago, and was no more than a slight skirmish over Unova wanting more Ditto for endangered breeding projects. Because of that, the population of Archeops almost went extinct (again), because the Kantonese wouldn't give in, but after a few years, it was settled and forgotten.
There was no possibility of war. Why would he call such an urgent meeting?
"There is a possibility that Minister Kambel has been held up by the near-floods we've been experiencing. Hopefully, he will show up soon; my eleven year old is at home, trying to house train our Numel. I'd rather not have my house burnt down in my absence." a tall, middle aged man, the Minister of Economics, said, an edge of humor to his voice.
Others around the table laughed quietly at the little joke, with the exception of Gita, who shook her head as she re-read the documents she'd been given. Pokémon training had faded considerably in the past decade; mostly due to teenagers losing interest after obtaining a full team. After having one too many Pokémon abandoned, the governments stepped in, and together, made the legal age to receive a Pokémon eighteen. While they could assist with family Pokémon care, they could not personally own one for training purposes until they reached that age point. After that, many Pokémon simply returned to the wild; breeding projects halted due to the now mature applicants being disinterested. The governments' plan worked, and many dropped the idea once they were old enough to think of their future. To Gita, this was a good scenario, as she thought imprisonment of the creatures was disgusting. Still, some people wanted to keep them, if not to battle, than as 'pets'. She glowered at the man who spoke, but fortunately, kept her lips shut, and continued reading. Although, she chose to say nothing, a stout man, presumably around sixty years of age, abruptly stood up, his stubby index pointing straight at him.
"If you had read your damn documents, Mr. Hall, you would know that this is not a laughing matter!" his voice boomed around the table, effectively quieting the group. Once satisfied that everyone was paying attention, he continued, his voice still loud from his very dramatic announcement.
"This past month, we have been receiving complaints; mostly from small towns toward the center of the country. They seemed odd at first, as they depicted some sort of living dead type nightmare. Of course, it seemed to silly to investigate, but we continued to get more calls, so eventually, we sent a small squad of officers to check it out, and put any prank to an end. They never came back."
The man began to circle around the table while carrying a stack of papers, which he slapped onto the table in front of each person he walked by. Their responses to what it was varied; one gagged, one screamed, and one looked about ready to cry. Upon receiving her copy, Mrs. Metali let out a loud gasp, placing a gloved hand over her move to stifle her gag reflex.
The photo was of what seemed to be a human. Blood covered most of it's body, which seemed pretty beat up. Several lacerations oozed the crimson liquid, further adding to the mess. The blood swas the darkest down the chest, almost like it had been vomited up abruptly, and caked along the mouth. What was more worrying, was the look of sheer anger on it's face; it's mouth open in what could only be a loud snarl, it's hands reaching out, almost like it was trying to grab the photographer, and eyes full of rage.
Rage was the only word to describe it. It is one of mankind's most brutal and raw emotions. It is a mixture of hatred, malice, anger, and pure animalistic power. If you compared it's heat and savageness to a flame of a Charizard, the Pokemon's ember would fall short. It was one of those things that made Pokémon, and mankind, so terrifying.
It was what made this picture so terrifying.
"Thankfully, we found the squads carcases, although they had been torn to pieces, and not by any scavenging Mandibuzz, I assure you." the man, incidentally the Minister of Defense, continued, his voice subdued now. He surveyed the table, and eventually, those seated looked up at him, eyes pleading for answers. "We still don't know too much about it; just that it is a virus, not a zombie-voodoo, Halloween prank. It seems to cause violent aggression in whomever is infected. Think of rabies, but on a much, much higher scale. Cannibalism has also been reported."
"Why hasn't the military been sent to deal with this?" a woman, Minister of Culture, snarled, looking down at the photo with disgust. "We've been sitting here for hours, waiting for this meeting to begin, when all along our army could be fixing this? This country, and yourself as well, really needs to get it's act together."
The Minister of Defense frowned, looking down at his stubby hands. Everyone in the room, Gita included, leaned forward in their seat, eager for his response. After a few seconds, which felt like hours to the information-deprived ears, his voice was echoing again, his face turning purple with anger.
"Excuse me?! How is it my fault? You expect to send young men and women to get infected and turn out like this?!" he slammed a purple fist onto his copy of the picture, spit dripping off of his pale mustache. "I'm not an idiot, Ms. Secnor, no. I will not send people to die!"
Mrs. Secnor shrank back in her seat, although her look of disgust was still plain across her face. Summoning up her breath, she spat out another retort, although it was inaudible to anyone except the Minister of Defense. He immediately pulled out another document, which was encased in a manila folder. It had an icon of a Pokéball on it, as well as a Microsoft-Word clip art depicting a ridiculous Plusle wearing an army hat. Certainly this comic humor wasn't appropriate for the situation, but it wasn't the silliness that pissed Gita off.
"What is that about?" she questioned, her eyes narrowed conspicuously and her mouth sealed in a tight frown. This trespassed on her territory, and she certainly hoped that it had nothing to do with the animals she had swore to protect upon taking her position.
"This, is how we secure the situation. Pokémon. Simple, disposable, easy to command, and have nothing to live for. They're perfect for the job-" he was immediately cut off by a series of protests all around the table.
"They're animals! They can't fight!"
"How can we take trained Pokémon away from teenagers, and send them to this!"
"This is a terrible idea!"
Sighing, he held up a chubby hand to cease their protests. Grumpily, they quieted down, although all of them were glaring daggers at the plump minister. Flipping through the file, he settled on a page, and pointed to it, encouraging the others to come and look.
"Pokémon are not affected by the virus. It is human-only, and hasn't crossed species, even when given many opportunities to do so. A farm where a large outbreak occurred housed hundreds of Mareep. None of them were harmed, infected, or touched in any way,"
This news satisfied the group, except for Gita, who had risen out of her seat in disbelief. "This is still an outrage! How can you expect innocent creatures to fight a war for us! What are we going to do? Sit here? Why don't we ask the other countries to help? Sinnoh has a huge team of microbiologists and virologists! This isn't the answer!"
"Excuse me, but, like I said, they won't be harmed in anyway. It is for the better good, anyway. The infection has reached Driftveil, and will be bursting through our city gates in a few moments, I can imagine," the Minister explained, while he picked up the folder. In a few short strides, he had walked over to her, and placed the folder down in front of her gaze.
"As Minister of Environment and Conservation, I need your signature, as well as everyone else's'. I assure you, this is the only way; Sinnoh, Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn have all given their consent to help, so we just have to give the 'okay', and we can evacuate, and let our plan unfold. It's on the document yo were given before the meeting; I saw you reading it. Granted, the Pokemon part was left out until now, but combined with our ideas from that document, this will without a doubt work. B-besides... that photo was taken this morning... of the Minister of Foreign Affairs... He was driving from his home and..."
Pushing the issue, he pulled a ball-point pen from the pocket in his striped jacket, offering it to her with pleading eyes. Gritting her teeth, and sending dirty looks in his direction, she grabbed the pen from his hand. Shakily, she signed, letting out a defeated sigh, just before the screams started in the streets below...
AN: This is pretty short, but it is a prologue. I promise chapters will be at least double this length. We'll meet our mains next chapter as well.
Also, I'm considering taking OCS for this story, although their screentime may not be long, depending on what I get. The information is on my profile.