This story was written, conceived and published in the Fan-Fiction foum of the Pokedox Message Board, a lovely forum just off the Information Super Highway.
Also, it has the next 3 chapters already posted on it, so if you enjoy this story, then why not drop in and pay a visit? Maybe start an account and join in while you're there.
Chapter One: A Valuable Service
Since the Pokemon craze of the mid-to-late 90s, the Fuchsia City Safari Zone had become the most popular tourist attraction in Kanto, beating the previous winner, the historic Cinnabar Mansion in the first year alone. The owner of the Mansion could not be reached for comment, as he had perished in the Great Fire of the Historic Cinnabar Mansion, which was an unrelated incident.BSSSSSSSSHHHHHH
Of course the Park is best known for it's rare and exotic Pokemon wildlife and it's bizarre time constrictions, but no good park would be complete without a good staff. Our latest advertisement and image-bluster is dedicated to the most irreplaceable staff team on premise: the Safari Zone Park Trackers.
Our Park Trackers use the latest advanced equipment to contain and capture an incredible variety of Pokemon around the park, which they deliver every week for your entertainment.
So every time your laughing child wanders over to pat a grazing Nidorino on the head and subsequently gets sent to the Emergency Ward to have the venom drained, remember to thank the park trackers for their valuable serv
An image of a young boy with a big grin and a purple spike lodged in his hand disappeared from the screen, replaced by a flurry of blaring static. I cursed and frantically fiddled with the wire-antennae, perched atop the ancient TV. But it was no use; the old television had clonked out for the evening.
"Damnit" I sighed and sunk back onto the tiny old sofa that dominated the cabin living room. With the TV out of commission, it would feel like ages before anything interesting happened.
To my right, Troy sat at a small, wooden desk in the corner of the cabin, twiddling the knobs on a dusty two-way radio. Upon noticing me slumping into the chair, he stopped twiddling and turned to face me.
"TV not working again, Howie?" he asked patiently. Of course we both knew it wasn't, but Troy loved to start conversations just so he had someone to complain to. I guess it must be pretty lonely, chatting with people over a radio all day.
"Nah, the damn thing's got blank" I replied, "We'll have to let it cool down for a bit. Again." I added dryly.
"Again? That must be the third time this week! So I suppose the Warden gave us that TV so we could pass the time staring at a blank screen, then? Ah, the wonders of ancient technology! Those sapiens from the 1800s are ages ahead of us!"
As Troy was raving, I found myself impatiently drumming my fingers on the armrests of the couch. I gazed up at the clock on the wall above the doorway. It had just gone quarter-to five.
"Stuff this", I said, getting up off the couch, "Troy, I'm going out to wait for Adrian."
"Don't waste your time, Howard. He probably lost the jeep behind a stump again".
I sighed and wandered out of the cabin and into the dusk.
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Since getting that tracking job at the Safari Zone (yes, the one that was just on the TV) we'd been living out in that rustic old outpost for 4 years, only ever returning to civilisation on Christmas Day.
The cabin itself was very generic; it had a bedroom, which the 3 of us shared. We didn't have a kitchen and we practically lived on the enormous crates of peanuts that the warden supplied us with every month. Troy said that sometimes he had dreams of being chased by angry peanut people through a dark forest, screaming at him about the nutritional benefits of peanuts.
We sometimes liked to light a fire at night, and pretend we were roasting marshmallows, but that often attracted Venonats. And, sometimes Venonats would attract themselves. So, when I encountered an abnormally sized purple hairball sniffing around just outside the cabin, I wasn't surprised in the least.
That didn't mean I wasn't annoyed.
"Oi! Get lost, you!" I yelled. The little bug looked up at me with its enormous compounds eyes, let out a soft, but shrill squeak and then darted off behind the cabin. I had planned on chasing it away from the place altogether, but at that moment I heard the distant rumble of an engine. I turned to face the dusty road that led up from the park gate to our humble abode and saw the blare of headlights coming from a jeep; Adrian was back.
Adrian was a lot younger than Troy or me; he was still in his late teens, while we were both mid-twenties life-loving bachelors. He was also the only one of us who genuinely gave a damn about the environment or the Pokemon that inhabited the zone, having joined up primarily to add some pictures to his ongoing Pokemon photo collection.
Attached to the back of the jeep was a large wooden storage crate; I could already hear the peanuts rattling around inside it. As Adrian parked the jeep just outside the cabin, I heard the familiar lurch of the breaks and the fading chugga, chugga, chugga of the engine dying down. Like everything else in my life, this car was past its expiry date.
Adrian climbed out o the jeep and waved to me as I walked over to greet him.
"Hey Adrian", I said, "good trip?"
"Hey Howard", he replied cheerfully, "it was great! When I got there, they were feeding those Kangaskhan that we caught the other day! I even got to feed one of the babies!"
"Great!" interjected Troy, who had just joined us; "Let's here all about Adrian's fascinating adventure at the Kangaskhan Petting Zoo after we've had our dinner!"
"Hey Troy!" Adrian said, still as cheerful and upbeat, "How was work this arvo?"
"Well, Adie, my man", Troy said, putting his arm around Adrian's shoulders, "I think you'll be glad to know that your arrival with these yummy peanuts has been the highlight of my evening. Now" he said, turning to me and brandishing a crowbar, "Howard, if you'd be so kind. Let's try to avoid any accidents."
"Yeah, right" I muttered, taking the crowbar from him, "Stand back". Troy and Adrian took several steps away, presumably afraid that the crowbar would fly out of my hands and smash their jaws in.
We wouldn't want a repeat of that little debacle, would we?
I grasped the tool in both hands and angled it towards the crate, before giving it a mighty swing towards a convenient nook.
THUNK! The bar nestled in the side of the box. I took a breath, then pushed down on the bar, prying the crate open. The heavy jungle air soon became ripe with the stench of cheap packing peanuts as they poured out of the crate and on to the grass by the hundred.
"Excellent" Troy said, rubbing his hands with glee, "Well fellas, let's take 'em in and chow down!"
"Better hurry up then, since that little guy's about to beat you to it", Adrian pointed out.
It didn't take long for me and Troy to realise what he was talking about; the Venonat that I had met outside was now up on the cabin roof, staring eagerly at the pile of peanuts lying idly on the ground.