Chapter seven- Shinoke
A small yawn brushes past needle sharp teeth, as cobalt blue- almost black- eyes squeeze shut. A sleek body lithely stretches, making darker blue ridges roll up and down with the body. Sleek fur, not unlike that of a seel's, makes the body appear smooth and flawless. Yellow ear-fins fall to pin back as a pink tongue curls upon itself inside the cavernous mouth. After a moment, the mouth snaps shut, and blue eyes blink twice, to focus on their surroundings.
A woman sits not far away at a desk, typing furiously, completely absorbed in her work. The walls are cold concrete, but the room is well lit. Aside from the desk, the light shines on a leather chair with a petite table by its side. A rug prevents decorates the floor, which like the walls, is cement. Also, upon the floor, is a bright yellow cushion, on which the pokémon viewing the room is sprawled. Her ears pick up other pokémons' calls which echo about outside the room.
The woman, with long brown hair that is loosely tied back and glasses that perch upon her nose, turns around, to look at her pet. With a smile, and a voice conserved only for small babies and pokémon, she coos "Shnookie Wookie Wookems, vaporeon darling, how are you?"The object of her coos is an average vaporeon. The only thing that sets her apart from any other pokémon is that one of the ridges at her scruff has a hole driven into it, through which a thin chain is looped, so it hangs from her neck, with a pendant swinging from it, irremovable unless the chain be broken. The pendant, a simple silver oval tag, has words stamped in it, which are as follows: Stardom Underworks, Section A, Katelyn.
To her trainer's ridiculous voice, the vaporeon replies "I was perfectly fine until you used that stupid 'pokevoice' of yours." Her voice is mildly cynic, and reflects the tone of voice her trainer typically uses. Her tail twitches irritably as eyes narrow slightly.
"Oh, Shinoooookie, don't be such a sour creature." Despite the woman's odd ways, she is remarkably in tune with her pet, and can sense her mood.
"Oh, Katelyn, don't give me that crap. You very well know it is pronounced 'Shin- oak' You were the one who gave me the name!" her eyes narrow an inch further as her lips threaten to pull up to reveal sharp teeth.
"I'm guess someone woke up on the wrong side of the cushion today. Now, don't snarl at me Misses Sassy Tail." With a giggle, the lady swoops over Shinoke and snatches her from her pillow, then swings her around.
"Honestly, lady, you act like a five year old around me. Whatever happened the icy woman most people have to face?" She lightly puts her mouth on her trainer's arm, letting teeth rest on bare skin. With out a moment's hesitation, the woman swats her vaporeon's nose, still refusing to release Shinoke from her arms. After another nanosecond of allowing her trainer to cuddle her, the vaporeon wriggles out of the arms and leaps back onto her pillow. "The indignity of it all." She huffs.
This insane woman is her fourth owner, and typically, she would leave she felt her trainer were not fit for her. However, this woman is the one that works in a place that is advantageous to her. She had gone through quite a bit to get to the 'perfect' trainer, and she is not going to throw it all away. This owner works in the Stardom Underworks laboratory, and this is where she, Shinoke, belongs.
To herself, she thinks Katelyn is insane, but she works in the right place, and though I don't necessarily believe everything the SU does is alright, it does great things… but also awful things as well. Because of the pokémon that suffer, new medicines for both pokémon and humans are coming out, and possibly new pokémon. From what I've heard, this place is destined for great things… if that's true, I'll be a part of it from the start… she trails away from her thinking, reluctant to even think about what she is going to think about while in this place, for the dangers of even thinking along the lines of what she was going to think are very, very bad.
Shinoke looks towards the woman, who has returned to her typing. Seeing she is busy, Shinoke stealthily slips out the door, and a corridor that makes up the huge labyrinth the Stardom Underworks lab is. However maze like the lab is, it is nothing to Shinoke, who has come to know it like the back of her paw. Without truly thinking, she lets her paws take her around corners, through long halls, and past doorways, until she ends up at one the sections where the pokémon are held.
One would think that keeping pokémon in pokéballs would be easier, but in truth it is not. Too easily, the balls are misplaced, or jumbled up, and it is impossible to monitor the pokémons' reactions and general health to different tests. Because of this difficulty, the Stardom Underworks lab doesn't attempt to keep the pokémon in the capture devices. Instead, there are rows upon rows of large stainless steel cages that protrude from the walls, layered upon each other, from floor to a height that requires even the tallest of people to use a stool to reach the pokémon. This section holds pokémon that have just arrived and need evaluation
The variety of pokémon is stunning. Pokémon from regions Shinoke has only heard of pace in their cages. Every type of pokémon is here. Ghost, electric, fire, water, grass, bug, normal, ground, rock, flying, steel, ice, fighting, and even a few dragon, the list goes on and on. When her eyes light upon a desperate gengar attempting to rid itself of its cage, Shinoke does a double take. She wonders how those seemingly ordinary cages are able to detain a ghost type. For a moment, her brow wrinkles with thought, then she sighs, deciding to leave complex ideas and theories for the scientists.
One such scientist, with whom she has an odd relationship, spots her. Panic makes his eyes widen as he jolts towards her, while exclaiming "Shoo, get out Shinoke, get out! I don't have time for your pranks!" he flaps his hands at her, however she merely ignores him. With a sigh, he rubs the stubble on his chin, and then strolls over to her. With a boot clad foot, he nudges her side, attempting to dislodge her stubbornness. "Out, shoo, leave, NOW!" He grits his teeth, then bends down to pick her up, which is the worst possible thing to do. Without even blinking, she spins, slapping his face with her tail, then stops once she is facing him again, only to lunge and bite his hand.
With what sounds to be a playful growl, she taunts "How tough are you without your high-tech machinery? Apparently, not tough at all." The man half way surprises Shinoke when he chuckles, for he is hard to offend. Rolling her eyes, she sighs "You'd think you'd learn, Professor. We go through something like this Every. Single. Day." With a flick of her tail, she sashays towards the door, only pausing to twist the lock and open the door to an aipom's cage. Without looking back, she leaves as a mild case of chaos appears in the room.
Having done something interesting, she sets back on her informal patrol, stopping here and there to visit other rooms. However, none of the other rooms she visits have to deal with her impish behavior, and only see the 'angel' side of her, for she seems content to terrorize only one room, and only that professor. Interestingly enough, none of the other professors in the other rooms believe the professor she always visits first, when he calls her words like 'devil', 'prankster', 'evil', or even 'troublesome'. Nor do they listen when he proclaims that she must 'be contained, or at least kept away from that room!'.
Once she has finished her patrol, she returns to her trainer's room, but is puzzled when Katelyn isn't there, and the room is dark. This time of day, she is always working. It's not part of her schedule to leave the room, or take a nap… Mildly worried, she hesitantly steps into the dim room, then softly calls out "Katelyn? Trainer? Where are you?" The sound of footsteps make her whirl around.
The source is not her trainer, rather a large Mightyena, who says softly "She's not here... I suggest you go find her before the day ends."
Fur bristles and her Elizabethan-collar like ruff at the base of her chin bristles when she demands "Where is she?"
Yellow eyes blink as he says "She went to the avian hold, where people were trying to subdue a raging charizard."
Shinoke blanches then nods, and forces out the words "Thank you." Then she whirls around, racing off to find the trainer whom she both loves and hates.
