Project Vampir
The Satra-Maysa Series Book 1
Chapter 1
Welcome to the Island
Many centuries ago, pokémon and people coexisted peacefully in harmony with one another. Humans and creatures helped each other in everyday aspects and both enjoyed the benefits of being civilians, merchants, warriors and leaders. This was long before the time where battling and training pokémon became a job and quest for people to achieve greatness. In this time, the only fighting that the creatures did was alongside their human allies. However, with the advent of the pokéball, the battling structure started to go to an extreme. People had taken an advantage over their counterparts and the creatures were forced into a system that pitted them against one another for the human's benefit. Many people had taken this newfound power over their former 'friends' with an iron fist, and soured the relations between humans and pokémon.
Pokémon no longer saw people as their equals, but as tyrants waiting to grind them into submission. Eventually, these amazing creatures severed their ties with the humans and took to the wild, vowing never to return to man. Luckily over the next few decades, the people perfected the pokéball and learned how to not use it erratically and erroneously, they selected a few of the population to take on the challenge to capture and train the creatures that had once so freely lived among them. Despite these advances, the two species never again were reunited with each other. Though some of the trainers were kind to their newly captured 'friends', some still remained mired in the old ways, using them as miniatures machines that needed a humans help to be perfected.
Unlike many tales that circulate through out ancient lore, our story does not begin in Kanto, nor does it begin in Johto or the Orange Islands. In the ocean waters far to the east of the main Island they lay another island chain by the name of the Satra-Maysa. Its largest island was caught with the impending clouds of war hanging over it. The Northern half of the island was supposedly running experiments on pokémon attempting to create the perfect fighting creature that would rival the power of the legendary mew. The Southern half was fearful whether this prevalent rumor was based in any truth and all they needed was a single scrap of proof in order to have a valid reason to attack the north. Both sides were at each other's throats waiting for a reason to start what might spawn into a very bloody conflict.
Our story begins at a very turbulent time in pokémon history, the pokéball has just been invented and the power shift was slowly, but inevitably, becoming more and more present in the lives of the Island chain's many inhabitants. The Northern Government was under the jurisdiction of a single man by the name of Rudolf DeNatter. At this moment in time, DeNatter stared out of the window in his office at the top floor of the government building. The sky was clouded over that dreary winter's morning. As a matter of fact, it always was cloudy and misty on the Isle of Satra-Maysa. He stood tall and straight backed, a stony expression on his pale features. His dark red hair was streaked with silver signifying his age and was plastered smooth against his head. His eyes were of a piercing silver color and a jagged scar that ran parallel to his cheekbone marked the right side of his face. He wore a tan uniform that was decorated lavishly to show that he was the one in charge. The peaked hat lay on its brim at the corner of his desk, waiting for him if he ever needed it.
DeNatter's office was well organized and everything, with the exception of his desk, was clean and well kept. Two massive mahogany doors opened up into a large room lined with bookshelves to the right wall and a map of the entire region to the left. Blue flags marking where his regiments lay situated stood out against the aged paper of the map. A deep green rug complimented with sage green designs was laid across the center of the floor and covered most of dark wood but fell a few feet sort of the wall. In that expanse, the room's dark wood floors were exposed to the electric light causing them to glow. A dark wood desk that matched the floor perfectly was situated promptly in front of the window that was opposite the Mahogany doors. It was immaculately polished and the symbol of a black cross was emblazoned on the front of the desk. A high-backed, black leather chair faced away from the door toward the window.
Papers were scattered all over his desk in an unordered fashion. At that moment a report lay open, the pages of it bound like a book waiting for him to read. It told of the progress of the lab and their advancements in the creation of the perfect pokémon. His mind slowly played about the possibilities that this report might hold in his quest for domination of the Island Chain. However, his process of thought was interrupted as the door of his office was flung open. The loud crash made him jump slightly for he was not expecting such a noise to be sounding. At first he was surprised, but that feeling soon evaporated into annoyance, no one entered his office without his permission unless it was something dire that he needed to address with the up most speed. DeNatter turned around, an angered look on his face, to see who had the gall to break in on him without an announcement.
The leader saw no one at first, this made his face change to one of confusion when he found that there was nobody there waiting for him. He blinked twice as he shifted his gaze from side to side searching for whoever had thrown the door open. "Lord DeNatter," came a voice. Rudolf came closer to his desk so that his silver eyes could see over it, and he caught sight of who had just entered his office without permission. His Second in Command and head of the project had come to speak with him. His opposite was of the Raichu species and went by the singular name of Abner. Though the Raichu did not appear it, he was actually very intelligent and processed the right sort of mind that DeNatter needed to run his project that had been so lovingly called Vampir. Abner was dressed in a navy blue tunic that almost matched DeNatter's lavishness to prove to the world that the Raichu was one step behind the Dictator in chain of command.
"My Lord," Abner said as DeNatter came around the desk so that he could see the raichu better and be at the same level as him. "What have you to say, Sir Abner?" DeNatter asked with his hands folded in front of him. He was still agitated from the sudden entrance that the second on command pulled on him. Most likely there was nothing important, Abner had a bad habit of walking in without a forewarning. The Raichu had a black streak on its head that resembled a patch of dark hair and, unlike normal raichus, the crème color patch that would usually have stopped at the belly ran up and covered his muzzle in the pale color. Abner's ears quivered with a strange from of excitement that reflected in his small black eyes. "We might have a break-through," the raichu said with a smile. DeNatter's agitated nature fell almost immediately as the thought of finally having one of his dreams realized thanks to the twisted mind of his raichu second in command. "You might want to come down to the lab and see the new experiments test battles," The raichu's excited smile only grew wider, 'I assure you, my lord, that this one experiment has potential."
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The lab that ran the experiments spread underneath the city. The entrance of it lay on a side street just off of the main plaza that ran to the government building. What looked like an abandon lot that was on the verge of foreclosure, was really the opening to the expansive underworld that was the lab. Abner and DeNatter had gone the half-mile they needed to go to get to the lot incognito so as not to draw attention to themselves. For what reason would the leader of the north and his second in command trouble themselves with an abandon lot unless they had something to hide. The two definitely did have something to hide. The city might be crawling with spies and all that the north needed was a war when they were not fully prepared to engage a much more massive enemy. They had gone in to the lot and entered the small shed like building that masked the entry way with out a problem and they hoped that their streak would not be disrupted.
The underground below the city was a vast network of passages and corridors that might cause anyone who does not know them well enough to get quite discombobulated. Abner had been the one, with help of DeNatter's Minister of Public relations Luz Schrader and the leader's head architect, to design the underground network, so if anyone knew the system best it would be the raichu. The Leader walked alongside his second in command for several hundred feet in complete silence, neither of them making a move to speak. They were generally on good terms with each other, but today DeNatter's respect for the raichu would be heightened if what he had said were true about the new experiment. They passed many corridors that broke off of the main hallway leading to places that even DeNatter himself had no idea where. Finally DeNatter spoke, for the most part he was not one for idle conversation, but right now he was looking for some sort outlet for is troubled mind. "How is Zuri and Heinrich?" he asked without turning to look down at the pokémon that marched beside him.
The leader had inquired about the raichu's wife and three-week old son. Abner's ears twitched as he tilted his head toward his leader, and his stony faced expression melted into one that was nearly unreadable. "Zuri… she's… she's doing well…" His tone was unmistakable though. On top of the experiment and the woes of being a leader, something else was troubling him. DeNatter saw it almost immediately. "Something troubling you, Abner?" he inquired. The raichu's tail twisted in an unusual way, "You mean on top of this experiment's test battles? Yes, there is plenty that is troubling me." The northern leader followed the raichu as he turned down one hallway to the right. "We need your focus to be on this experiment, Abner, what's on your mind?" he asked. The raichu's eyes dropped to his feet as his ears fell against his head. "It's just… it's hard to say…" Abner cleared his throat. "It's Heinrich, there's something wrong with him. He…" the raichu put his hands to his head. "He can't see, even the doctors can't say what it is."
DeNatter had never known that his second in command was such a family orientated creature, but after all, Heinrich was his first-born son so he had a reason to be concerned. The northern leader gave Abner a strange stare, "He can't see?" Rudolf had never met the raichu's son, so he had no perspective to put this news in. Abner nodded, "He just… can't see. The doctor's think it's a sort of disconnect, but nothing is certain." "Like these experiments?" DeNatter tried to draw his second in command's thoughts back to the problem and challenge that they would soon be presented with. Abner's tail quivered, "I'm sorry, my Lord…" silence suddenly fell between them as they turned the corner and were greeted by a bright light. "Here we are, sir…" the raichu's words announced the opening to the underground hangar that housed the experimental machines and battlefield. The cages that held the several successful experiments that the lab had produced were in a sister complex that stood across the hallway. Strange sounds were being emitted from the successful experiments cages.
The large hangar like structure was split into two haves by a suggested wall that was made up of the wiring for the combining machines. The left half was the part where all the genetic splicing and matching was performed, machines of ever shape and size were being manned by several humans and pokémon who all looked as though they had never expanded their limits beyond the compounds confines. The other half was the covered battlefield. It was sunk several meters lower into the ground so that the scientists and who ever else was there could watch the battling experiments and take notes on what they observed. At this point in time a single creature that looked nothing like anything that DeNatter had ever seen before occupied the stadium. As he was led along side the battleground by his second in command, he tried to figure out what sort of creature concoction was pacing dangerously back and forth within the stadiums confines. The northern leader's brows furrowed as he leaned in closer to the plexiglass to get a better look at the pokémon in front of him.
The pokémon had the body and build of a Persian, crème colored and cat-like, but unlike a true Persian, a pair of blue wings sprouted from its shoulder blades. Its legs, instead of ending in paws, ended with the hooked talon of a bird. Its tail was a blue ribbon-like appendage that swirled and billowed around its body. The face was clearly a Persians, but three blue blade-like feathers rose from the top of the ruby-colored jewel in the center of its head. It screeched and screamed when it saw the approach of Abner and DeNatter; it threw itself at the glass and caused the northern leader to jump back in surprise. "What is it?" He asked. The raichu jumped up onto the ledge of windows so that he could see the new creature. "This," he said, his voice quivering with strange emotions. "Is a Persian/Articuno mix. Its has shown extraordinary aggressiveness which might be a plus in the battlefield." As if on cue to Abner's words, the new pokémon threw itself at the glass once again and hovered there for a few moments, wailing and screaming, before falling back to the ground.
"Yes, very, I can see that." DeNatter said as he confronted the animal when it rushed at him, trying to rip him apart but failing because of the element-proof plexiglass. The northern leader tilted his head, "Fire," he turned to his second in command, "shouldn't a fire type be able to defeat this creature?" Abner bowed his head as he looked to his leader. "True, sir. But that is what this test battle is going to try and prove wrong." The raichu pointed at a set of iron doors at the far end of the battlefield, with a smile on his face. "We have a Ninetales and a Charizard waiting behind those doors, ready to fight the Persian/Articuno." The second in command than waved his hand and DeNatter saw, for the first time, two scientists on the other side of the battlefield, dash away in the direction of the doors. Abner turned to the leader who stood next to him. "We are ready when you are sir." DeNatter's head shook very slightly, "No, we need Tordo here as well, he needs to see this." The raichu's expression changed to one of confusion. "Tordo, sir?"
The northern leader smiled, "Is he not right after you in rank for this project?" DeNatter asked. "Yes, sir… but," Abner stuttered as he failed to finish the signal that would have opened the door to let the two pokémon in to face the Persian/Articuno. "Then he has a right to witness this test battle…" DeNatter's word was final. It took Abner a few moments to call forth a sergeant who had been patrolling the hallway just outside of the hangar-like complex. "Answer me Abner, if this test battle is a success, will this creature be entered into the records as a plausible candidate for reforming into an even more perfected pokémon?" Abner's ears twitched nervously, "Let's not be too hasty, sir, this new pokémon might not be as perfect as the lab scientists say it is." With that all that Leader and Second in Command could do was look back at the vicious creature that glared at them with up most hate, and wait for the man named Tordo.