HOW JULIE PHELPS-TRUMAN BECAME JULIE ARTICUNO.
LATE JULY, YEAR 2000.
The day was a nice one, and like her other days, started with a nice lie-in.
Seventeen year old Julie Phelps-Truman yawned and stretched, and looked at the time. She had time to do herself some breakfast, wash up, and briefly tidy before she needed to get ready for her job, keeping the scientists studying the mysterious Pokémon Unown in the Ruins of Alph fed and watered.
She ate, cleared up, and dressed, stopping briefly to tie back her brown shoulder-length hair in a ponytail, stepping out into the glorious sunshine of that morning, and walked the short distance from her house to the gate to the Ruins of Alph.
"Ah, there you are Julie." The gatekeeper said, giving her the tea bags, large bottle of water, and some rice balls. "Here's today's food and drink. Do you ever get lonely in there, with them beavering away at their work?"
"I used to." She admitted, "until I asked one of them to talk to me and tell me what he's doing. It's actually very interesting. The Unown, Pokémon that live in the ruins, seem to correspond to an alphabet found carved in the walls. It's thought-"
"Spare me the lecture." He cut her off. "I'm sue it's fascinating if you are interested in that sort of thing, but I'm afraid I find it just dull." He chuckled, a self-deprecating laugh, not a snide one, so she realised he didn't mean to sound officious. Smiling, she bid him goodbye and went through.
It started out as an ordinary day, with her making them cups of tea every hour, and making sure they didn't work through lunch, and she got so interested in what one of them was telling her that she didn't really notice the drop in temperature. He was telling her that the Unown seemed agitated. They seemed to be trying to spell out a message, but they couldn't get the message across. It was a phenomenon that had never happened before, he admitted, and they were nonplussed as to the cause.
It was when she noticed the time and realised she had to go to Faulkner's Gym, to sweep up at the end of the working day, that she noticed the temperature had dropped-quite noticeably in fact, odd in itself for June. It was when she opened the door to find herself blocked in by a three-foot snowdrift and a howling blizzard outside that she realised something was very wrong indeed. Closing the door, she went back through to the scientists and informed them of the situation, and checked that they still had water for tomorrow. She hoped Faulkner would understand that not only could she not get out, but even if she could, she wasn't going out in THAT!
She was stuck in there, snowed in for two days, and when she got out, saw the newspapers and news broadcasts about the events on Shamouti Island. It seemed the bad weather had originated there, precipitated by the actions of a rich collector called Lawrence III, who had tried to add the four Legendary birds Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos and Lugia to his collection. He had not, it seemed, realised that his actions would unbalance the ecology of the world, and only the actions of a fourteen-year-old Pokémon trainer, Ash Ketchum, had saved the world.
One newspaper Julie had bought at the time showed a picture each of both hero and villain, and Julie thought the villain had rather tasty looks. "Mmm, he can collect me any time!" she had laughingly remarked to the female newspaper vendor, who had given her a funny look but a knowing smile. However, Julie was under no illusions that someone as wealthy and good-looking as him wouldn't look twice at a plain Jane like her. The only thing she had going for her were her eyes, which were large and clear and green. Sighing, she had stopped daydreaming and gotten on with life.
A couple of weeks later, she had all but forgotten the event.
OCTOBER 2000
Julie circled the ad in the paper reading "LAB/OFFICE DOGSBODY WANTED-MORNINGS ONLY." Her current two jobs were only just about making sure that ends met, and she wanted a bit of a safety net, or even a bit of luxury money. Looking at the address given-"The Old Stables, Ruins of Alph, Nr Violet City, Johto"-she realised that this was, happily, another small job within walking distance. As her job with the Unown scientists was an afternoon job, she could probably leave the stables to go straight to the scientists. It seemed odd there was no contact phone number nor interview date, but she thought it might be an idea to go down and see if she could clinch the job, get an interview date, or find the job was already taken, whichever. She picked up the paper and her bag put on a comfortable bat-winged blue top and matching trousers, and set off to the address given.
It looked a bit run-down, she thought, and she knocked on the door. A man peered out.
"Yeah?" he asked. Julie was almost put off there and then, but held up the paper and said, "I've come about the job. I'd like to be considered." The man looked at the paper, and then yelled "Oy, Martin! Tell the boss we've got some bird applying for a job here!" He didn't invite her in to wait, which Julie thought was downright rude, but all the same she waited patiently.
Five minutes later, the man at the door was displaced by as average a man as you could get. He was brown haired, brown-eyed, average attractiveness, average height, average build and clean-shaven. He stuck out a hand, which she shook.
"Greg, you shouldn't leave our job applicants out like that, it's rude!" he said, giving the doorman a look (when he thought Julie wasn't looking) that meant the exact opposite. Perhaps she should have left then, but it didn't seem particularly sinister, just odd, so she dismissed it and went in. The door was quickly closed behind her, which did produce a twitch of alarm, which she quickly suppressed. She shouldn't be getting jumpy! It was a job interview, not an execution!
"I'm George. Come through to my office." He said, taking her through a corridor. At the end of the corridor, Julie could hear voices and, worryingly, crying. George quickly ushered her into his office, and offered her a seat.
"I'm terribly sorry, I was concerned, I could hear crying through there, and it sounded like a child." she said.
"We rescue children from abusive or neglectful situations and look after them and teach them a trade," he said. "Some of them still react adversely to things we would consider normal such as hugging, kissing, raised voices, even certain phrases or words that their abusers used in reference to the child or an action they did to a child. We try to help then get beyond that and realise that not everybody is like that. By the way, you've already hit one of my criteria. You have to care to work here. These children need someone who will be sensitive to their feelings. You probably won't be working directly with the children, at least not at first, but you may do later, depending on how well you do."
'Well, that sounds hopeful, but I'm not going to get overconfident just yet.' Julie thought.
"Next thing I need to know is what family and friends you have, just in case they end up coming here for you." George told her. "Again, we'd need to vet them thoroughly before we could allow you to come here. We do not want the children to come into contact with another possible abuser. This does sound bad, but believe it or not, it's not uncommon for child abusers to have friends and family who are totally unaware of their abusive tendencies."
"No problem there." Julie said. "My father died when I was ten years old, and my mother's in a nursing home. Last time I visited she didn't even recognise me, and got scared of me. I'm thinking it's probably best if I just send things in for her." Julie said sadly. "I also have a brother, but we never got on and I don't even know where he is-he zoomed off one day without even an address for his mail. And as for friends, well, I have no time for friends, I work when I can. I know a total of six people-Faulkner, whom I sweep up for in the evenings, the ruins gatekeeper, and the four Unown scientists who work in the ruins. I hardly see Faulkner, the gatekeeper and I are just about on speaking terms, and the Unown scientists probably wouldn't even notice if I stopped turning up. You know scientists, sometimes they get so wrapped up in their work, they forget the rest of the world exists."
"Indeed I do." George said. "I'm a scientist myself."
'Oops!' Julie thought. 'Bad move, Julie, alienating your prospective employer!'
"I-I'm sorry." She stammered. "I meant no disrespect…""Of course you didn't!" he said cheerfully. "I'm not offended, you are in fact quite correct, sometimes we do forget the rest of the world exists. So, you don't have any friends or family who might come around at all? No one who cares? Nobody who would notice if you just…went away and never came back one day?"
"No, not really." She said nervously. That seemed a very odd, and possibly sinister, question to ask, and she wondered if she should have lied. Again he must have seen the apprehension in her eyes or on her face, for he reached over and squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"I'm sorry, that must have sounded rather alarming. Some of our children come from that sort of background, where no one would care if they never came back, so I have sympathy for people like that. However, I gather yours arises from the circumstances of your family and your lack of a social life rather than because no-one cares. With you, I suppose, nobody knows. Like this job interview. I bet nobody knows you're here. That paper came out today. Poor you. You had no-one to wish you luck, and you'd have nobody to celebrate with if you gained it and nobody to commiserate with if you didn't get it."
"No, you're right there. I guess I could tell Faulkner or the Unown scientists this afternoon and tonight." She said.
"Yes, of course you could." George said. "Having said that, if I could offer you a full-time job, would you be willing to give up those two to work just for me? You'd make plenty of friends, people doing the same sort of work, because I think I could give you a much better position than office dogsbody, you're just the sort of person I am looking for. You'd get contact with the children and a fair few adults, you'd gain new skills and get to know you'll eventually be making a big difference to improving the lives of abused children worldwide."
Julie stared, wide-eyed. Full-time work always paid more than part-time work, and if her work would go towards helping abused children worldwide, well, that was a pretty big incentive! She was certain the Unown scientists could get a new tea girl, and Faulkner could certainly find someone else to sweep up the gym. She knew kids in the town would happily do the work, and made her decision.
"I accept!" she said happily. "I may have to work my notice because I can't just leave, but I'll do it!"
"Actually, I know Faulkner and the Unown scientists, I'll have a word with them about that notice, I'm sure they'll be happy to waive it for me." He said, picking up a bag which he took behind her and opened. She couldn't see what he was doing without craning her neck round to look, which would be rude. She resisted the urge to look at him as she heard him rummaging, and asked, "Okay then, assuming that that will go through as you say, without a hitch, when do I start?"
She heard him approach her from behind, and felt his hand drop on her shoulder a moment before she felt the needle enter the fleshy part of her neck. She immediately felt drowsy and didn't even have the strength to cry out. The world began to go fuzzy and swim, and she felt her suddenly heavy eyelids drop over her eyes. The last thing she heard before she lost consciousness was his reply to her question.
"Why, today. An immediate start." He said.