Alright! This is the new prologue, made to be better than the first! I know that the other one was really…. dark…. but I hope that this one is more engaging too. It was done at 12:30 am, so I don't really know how well I did… but it's still good, so please read it and the following chapters. Thank you!
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Prologue
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"Reading Pokemon stuff again, Jaimy?" Torgan asked, suddenly appearing at my shoulder, making me jump.
"You startled me," I complained, then added defensively, "So what if I am? I have more books in my backpack, not just this." I gestured, and the aforementioned books were sprawling out of the backpack onto the floor. Titles such as Deep Secret and Snakehead were visible.
"Uh, you'd better pick those up. School's starting soon," Torgan warned.
"Fine, you're right. It's so exciting though, isn't it? We get to see all the adorable kids and we get to show them around!"
Our school was newly sponsoring a 'Buddy Day' event, where high school sophomores showed a group of K-6 graders around. It was a pretty crazy idea, mixing in 6 year olds with children twice their age, but go figure. We didn't think up the event.
"I guess," Torgan grumbled, "It sounds kind-of boring to me. Seriously, what's the point of this 'Buddy Day'? To torture us?"
"Probably," I replied, as I shoved my stuff into my too-small locker, "I'm glad you and Sarah are in my group though. I was thinking we could head down to the basement or whatnot because of this heat. The air conditioners are either broken or too weak."
The heat, even though it was Alaska, was absolutely melting. A lot of people blamed global warning, but we all knew that it was coming from the Jirachi Comet. That wasn't its actual name, but it was a highly popular nickname among Pokemon fans due to the fact that it was shaped like a Jirachi head. It had a big blob of yellow in three points, and on each of the points, a small rectangle of light blue. It appeared about the size of a dime and it was fairly fuzzy to the naked eye, but it looked really impressive through a telescope.
We had all been assured multiple times that the comet was harmless, and would pass by without causing any damage. Every scientist the media could get their hands on claimed that World War Three was more likely to happen than for the comet to hit Earth.
It was a familiar sight, really, it was visible ever since I started 8th grade. But the heat had built up as it drew closer, and nobody felt too comfortable anymore. Familiar or not, it was still frightening.
"Good idea. Yeah, this heat should die,"
"You know," I mused, "I think that there's a lot of food down there. I mean, I've only gone down there once, but I think they just toss whatever down there."
The bell rang, and we rushed off to our classes. We would get to show the kids around later in the morning.
10 'o clock rolled around. All the sophomores in my group, Torgan, Sarah, Talina, Sean, and Tyler, headed down to the front entrance.
"I'm glad we're the first group to do this," Sarah whispered to me, "We get to go straight to lunch after we're done."
"Yep," I agreed, then remembered something, "Hey, have you seen Keegan around? I swear he was in our group."
"No idea." Sarah said in return. "Maybe… he's skipping? Nah, that's not like him though. He's probably designing a computer program or something."
Laughing, we placed him out of our minds.
All the kids were waiting for us, and we all introduced ourselves. I apparently impressed this one girl, Emily, who was in 2nd grade, and she thought I could do anything. She was cute, but a bit annoying.
"Hey," Sean spoke, "Why don't we go down to the basement? It's pretty hot up here, and I'm sure we can find some snacks or something. We can go around Lathrop later."
"Good idea!" Emily squealed. "You're so smart!"
"Uh, well…" Sean looked uncomfortable, "It was actually Jaimy's idea."
"Ooh, of course! Jaimy's the best!" Emily squealed even louder, rushing over and glomping me.
Torgan smirked from where he stood.
"Yes, well, let's go now," I hurriedly spoke, glaring at him, "Time's a wastin'."
It was quite nice down there, compared to anywhere else. We saw all sorts of things down there; play sets and costumes, boxes full of school supplies, old computers, and a whole wall was dedicated to emergency food. Amazingly, there was even a bathroom.
"Well, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we opened this one weensy box." Torgan whistled innocently as he pulled out the heavy box, "Heck, there's more than enough to feed an army here."
"Whatever," Sarah replied, "Come over here and share the food already."
Talina and Tyler had set up a rough circle of dingy chairs and old cushions that they had found lying about.
We all settled in, sipping Capri Suns and munching on animal crackers, when it happened. A fierce, sudden shake tossed us like rag dolls.
"What the heck was that?" Torgan spat, "What just hap-"
Another brutal shake hit. This time, it didn't stop. The earth kept shivering, hard, for what seemed like years. Finally, it subsided a bit, but the ground still wracked with tremors every 30 seconds or so.
Only three of us were still conscious from the blows we just suffered: Sarah, Torgan, and I. The room was an absolute mess, yet nobody seemed to be anything but unconscious.
"We…we should take a look above ground," Sarah stammered, "I mean, that was a really bad earthquake. At least a 10 on a seismograph."
"Yes," I answered, my throat dry. Quoting Torgan, what the heck was that?
We climbed up the stairs, opened the trapdoor (no lie, Lathrop has some weird taste) and stepped outside into a blinding new world.
Blue dust, as fine as powdered sugar, dusted us. Everything was covered in it, and the sky was filled with it. It was truly beautiful. However, under the surface, it was horrible.
It took me a second to realize that I should not be able to see outside. It was all gone. The school building, the trees, the road, everything. Everything looked as if it went through a meat grinder.
It was terrible, yet so beautiful.
Unexpectedly, completely out of nowhere, Sarah said something. "I…I think only Pokemon could live in this gloom…"
Pokemon? Where did she get that from? But I felt too devastated to ask. Torgan replied instead.
"Yes, I agree. If only we could turn into Pokemon ourselves…"
Where were these two getting this from? It was almost funny, but I didn't feel like laughing. More like crying my eyes out.
To keep my mind off important things, like parents, family, friends, I thought about what she said. Sarah was probably right; they could live in almost any place. They could eat almost anything.
"If only we could turn into Pokemon," I thought, "We might actually have a chance to survive in this strange landscape."
Then, I wished. It was childish, I know, but it was this feeling that I should. After a moment, I glanced down and saw some books. I bent down and picked them up, quietly murmuring, "To entertain the kids with."
We all looked at each other for a moment, then contemplated dark thoughts. What would we do? What could we do?
Finally, we all silently agreed to go back down to the kids below. I paused for a moment before following them, and listened hard for a moment. After a few seconds, I shook my head, and started to go down the stairs. I surely must have imagined it, our three voices repeating the wish I had made. I must have. But before I closed the trapdoor, I heard it again. Definitely. My wish.
I wish I could turn into a Pokemon.
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Okay. I really hope that it's more interesting to the previous prologue, and I tried to add all the things that were in the original (i.e., what we said, what we did) and tried to put some references for later. I really hoped you like it, all the members of ArcBlazeon do. Thank you for reading!
