Chapter Two - To Change the World
-.-
I woke up to the sound of screaming.
With a jolt I sat up, heart pounding. All the blood rushed to my head as I stumbled off the couch and my vision filled with black spots. People were rushing past the newspaper room in the hallways, more than one looking over their shoulders in terror.
"G-Giovanni?"
Lily. My eyesight zeroed in on her pale, shivering form, huddled into a ball on the couch. Her normally rosy cheeks were chalk-white and her eyes were wide with terror.
I never wanted to see her like this again.
"Giovanni… what's going on?" Her voice was trembling, so much so that my heart clenched painfully in my chest. On impulse I surged forward, grasping her thin wrist in my far larger hands.
"I… I don't know. It's crazy, it's absolutely crazy." I took a deep breath and steadied myself; centred my thoughts, and exhaled. I opened my eyes and stared directly into hers. I refused to be waver, I refused to cower. If my thoughts, if my crazy thoughts were in any way right… then I was going to take advantage of this situation in every way possible.
And I wasn't about to leave Lily behind.
"It's crazy… but there's a chance that it's true… and if it is?" I loosened my grip on her wrist and took her hands in my own. "Well, if it is… I want to show you something amazing." I smiled at her, and with urging motions pried her off of the couch, her hands still held delicately in my own.
Letting go of her right hand with my left, I dragged her over to the door and tugged it open, pulling us both into the bustling, and violently panicking, hallways of Vanier College.
Neither of us noticed the fact that we'd subconsciously intertwined our fingers together.
Pushing against the throng of people, I shoved my way through the doors and out onto Vanier's Campus, most of which sat behind the main building of the school. The entire way I made sure that Lily was close by my side.
It was quite the sight to behold. Amazing and terrifying all at the same time.
Sitting approximately six or seven stories in the air was a massive purple portal, through which thousands upon thousands of Pokemon were streaming to meet the unforgiving ground below.
High above, circling the writhing mass of bodies, were two military-grade choppers, but they didn't seem to be doing anything but circling the massive portal.
If I'd been paying attention, I might have noticed the the flaming orange monkey before it was too late.
"Giovanni, look out!" Lily screamed, clutching my arm tightly. I noticed the enraged Infernape barreling towards us, and swore beneath my breath. "Shit!" It leaped into the air, it's right first alight with bright red flames, and I made a decision.
I jerked my elbow backwards with just enough force to wind Lily a little, and I felt her grip on my right arm loosen. Though I was staring the crazy monkey down, I could see Lily's shocked expression in my peripherals. Time seemed to slow down for a moment, and I took in her beauty for the last time. Her hair, her eyes, her cheeks, her lips. I smiled, just a tiny curl of the lips, but it was enough.
"No!"
The scream that left her lips was harsh and painful, the sheer amount of sorrowful understanding in it excruciating to hear. Our eyes connected for a moment, one second frozen in time.
She understood.
I understood.
*Thud!*
…
My heart skipped a beat. Two beats.
The Infernape was tumbling across the grass to my left, leaving deep gouges in the grass wherever its body connected with the earth.
'… What?'
Sitting proudly before me was a sight that I wouldn't forget until the day I died. Deep blue body, pearl-white underbelly, little webbed wings for ears and big, furious doe-brown eyes.
A Dratini.
It was looking right at me, intense brown orbs staring deep into my eyes, judging me, weighing my soul.
Then it cocked it's head a little, looked at Lily, looked back at me, and cooed, "Dra?"
"Oh you magnificent bastard!" I laughed, literally jumping in excitement. "Lily, come one!" I lunged over to her and grasped her tiny hand in my own, dragging her alongside the elegant snake-like dragon.
"Go, go, go!" I yelled, still laughing excitedly. We rushed through the fence gates off to the side of the campus, sprinting past the Gymnasium, into the parking lot, and passed the football field.
The wind blowing through my hair, my crush's hand clasped in my own, a Pokemon by my side… maybe dreams really do come true after all.
-.-
*Smack!*
The sound of Lily's palm connecting solidly with my cheek echoed against the walls of the alley I'd dragged her into.
"L-Lily…?" I could only gape at her with my jaw hanging open and a hand on my stinging cheek. There were tears in her eyes, but her gaze was unflinching.
"Don't…." Her fists clenched, and for a moment I thought she was going to hit me again. I was a little surprised. Lily had never really struck me as the type of girl who would get angry if she cared about you and you did something idiotic. "… Please… please Giovanni, don't…." Her gaze dropped from my eyes to her feet. I almost mist the first tear as it splashed against the asphalt in between us, but I clearly saw the next four as they made their way over her cheeks and down her chin.
I made a bold decision. I took a step forwards and wrapped my arms around Lily's shoulders, burying her head in my chest.
"W-what's happening? What's going on Giovanni? The whole world is going mad!" Her hands came up to fist themselves in my shirt and her body started shaking softly. "You saw the helicopters, didn't you? Those guys were armed, Giovanni. They were armed, and they were aiming at those creatures!" She turned her head slightly to gaze at the Pokemon sitting in the alley's shadows with one eye.
I frowned down at the head of brown hair leaning into my chest. In any other situation I would have been too ecstatic to even think properly (and man did she feel right in my arms), but this wasn't just any situation.
I'd accidentally made a wish that brought Pokemon to our world, the world seemed to be going to shit, if the armed military choppers were any indication, and I was now housing one of the beasts that were being hunted (though we couldn't be sure) by the military. Yes. By all means, I should be ditching the incredibly dangerous creature sitting no more than ten feet away from me.
I'd never be able to do it. That Pokemon had saved my life, and by proxy it'd saved Lily's as well. I'd never be able to repay that.
To top it all off, my current thought process was moving something along the lines of: 'Holy shit Pokemon are real, Pokemon are really honestly real… and I've totally just bagged myself a freaking Dratini! That is, if it still wants to stick around, I mean it doesn't exactly have any reason to, but you never know. I hope it wants to stick around. The world's going to shit and I have a Dratini. I'VE GOT A DRAGON, ASSHOLES! HAHA! I'M GONNA BE THE MOST BADASS PERSON ON THE PLANET!'
Yeah… that about summarizes up my thought process.
"Shh, shh," I soothed, outwardly trying to be as calm as possible while I attempted to slow my racing heart, "It's okay, it'll be okay." I rubbed her arms, comforting her, trying to calm her down.
As much as I was excited about having real-life Pokemon around, Lily wasn't wrong. Soon enough, the world really was going to go to shit. Pokemon wasn't so popular that we'd (and by 'we', I mean those of us familiar with the Pokemon World) be able to convince the government that these fire-breathing, energy-creating creatures capable of incredible feats of destruction weren't 'actually' dangerous. Soon enough, these Pokemon were going to be hunted en-masse.
I wasn't going to let that stop me, though. There were definitely going to be others like me, those who understood that these creatures are not meant to be hunted, but befriended, trained, and bonded with through friendly competition and battle. There were definitely going to be others like me… and I was going to band those people together.
With my crush in my arms and my saviour at my side, my resolve hardened, and I set my eyes on the sliver of the horizon that was currently visible to me. I'd had an idea, and I was not going to take no for an answer.
I knew we were in for a period of intense strife, but I'd be damned if I… no, if we didn't come out of it better, wiser, and stronger.
Pulling Lily gently away from my chest, I bent a little to look her in the eyes, gently wiping away the last of the tears trailing down her cheeks.
"Lily," I dropped my hands to her shoulders, gripping the cold leather of her jacket in my hands, "Come with me."
Her brown eyes seemed startled at the sudden question.
"W-what? Where?"
I grinned. Sometimes I really can't help my odd sense of humour.
"Wrong question. Ask me 'why?'"
She hesitated, looked at the Dratini, licked her lips, and looked back into my eyes.
"Why?"
I grinned.
"Why, to change the world, of course!"
-.-
AN: Normally I don't update so quickly (or at all XP), but this is a short chapter as it is and I really want to write this story. This chapter is more of a segway into the next, which will incorporate the Dratini a little more, will set some of the ground rules for the 'real world' Pokemon, and explain a little about where the future of this story may be headed.
See you guys next time,
The Chthonic Professor, out!