Chapter 2
Red lightning flashed
overhead from the almost pure-black clouds, and no thunder went
with it. Only lightning. Every so often it flashed, and it was as
if it was controled by something, aimed carefully to hit
something on the ground below.
All people in the
town were in some sort of shelter from the 'storm', and only the
foolish or dead remained outside. Well, with one exception. A
lone girl stood atop a hill, looking over the town at the smoke
and fire spreading from where the lightning had last struck.
Another house gone. Another life lost.
Another mission
failed.
Hearing a scream from
the bottom of the hill, she looked down to it. Towards her ran a
man, flailing his flaming arms in all directions, trying to to
extinguish the flames even as he did so. When he got close
enough, he lunged at the girl, screaming at her, begging for
salvation from the flames. The girl backed away a few steps, but
still he lunged at her, now laughing loudly. Was the pain so bad
that he had been driven insane?
Not able to stand
looking at the burning man, the girl ran down the other side of
the hill, desperately seeking any shelter she could find. The
electrical energy in the air was strong enough that it could
almost be felt . . . then suddenly, a release, and she heard the
crackle of another lightning bolt being sent from the sky.
Ah, there it was. A
building to take shelter in at last. She just couldn't handle the
pressure. She could do anything about what was going on. She'd
failed.
Running inside, she
slammed the door behind her just as another bolt of lightning was
let loose from the dark sky. In the building, people huddled in
corners, shuddering in fear, talking and whispering among
themselves. All noise stopped, however, as the girl walked in.
All eyes turned to her, as if waiting for her to make some
crucial move that would end all this madness.
Outside, another bolt
came down . . .
Meridian sat up
straight in bed, mouth open in a silent scream, eyes wide but
unseeing in her half-sleep. Slowly, her eyes came into focus as
her brain fully comprehended the situation, and she closed her
mouth, embarrassed that a mere dream could have disturbed her so
much. She sighed, and lay back down, staring at the ceiling.
It hadn't been scary,
really. Not in the sense that it had given her gossebumps, and
that common dread of falling back asleep. But it had given her a
haunted feeling, like something was off in the distance, but
coming closer, and there was nothing she could do about it but
sit back and watch. And that was what prevented her from sleeping
right then.
Deciding that there
was little point in studying her ceiling for the rest of the
night, she rolled over and turned on the lamp that stood on her
bedside table. It cast a warm yellow light over the room, but it
still felt wrong somehow. Cold and empty.
It wasn't the first
time dreams like this had happened to her. She'd been getting
them since childhood. Ones that, when she woke up, she was still
caught fully inside the dream, and she couldn't tell fantasy from
reality. It used to scare her. Up until two years ago, she
thought she might have been going insane. Now she just didn't
care. Revel in the path of insanity, she thought to herself
wryly. Don't suffer from it; enjoy every moment
Pressure on her feet,
and a soft thump told her that she wasn't alone in the room, and
she smiled. Vanyel, her pet Rattata, had jumped on the bed upon
seeing that she was awake. Meridian picked him up and stroked his
soft purple fur. Vanyel had been named after a character in one
of her favorite books, and, as such, was one of her favorite
pets.
She had a lot of pets
in the house, really. With her parents away on business a lot of
the time, she needed some sort of company, and took to keeping
pets. Set, her Ekans, was curled up in a corner by her
television; Seraph the Growlithe lay next to it. Hydrolic, a
Horsea, swam around a large fishtank with Prince the Goldeen. And
finally, the perch that held up a sleeping Pidgey was by her
window.
And that was just
what could be found in her room.
Fortunately for her,
her parents approved of her keeping Pokemon as pets. The species
was slowly dying out in the wild, and great lengths were being
taken to preserve the wonderful creatures. But due to the
overwhelming number still left in the wilds, and the size of most
of them, homes couldn't always be found, and zoos were beginning
to get overcrowded. It was a shame, really.
Having this on the
mind, Meridian picked up a magazine that lay beside her bed, and
started to read. Pokemon Monthly, read the title on the
cover. It was a new issue, one that had just been delivered to
her house the other day.
The first line on the
cover caught her eye instantly. Pokemon Zoo to open in
Scarlet City.
If it hadn't been so
late, Meridian would have screamed for joy, all traces of the
nightmare gone from her mind. Scarlet City was where she lived,
and the last place you'd expect to find something as important as
a Pokemon Zoo, which were opening up more often now to try and
save as many Pokemon as possible, and to ease the overcrowding in
existing ones. It wasn't exactly right to keep Pokemon in cages,
but it was, she supposed, better than having them all die out.
She opened up the
magazine to the article on the new zoo, and strated reading.
Opening soon . . . one of the largest in the world . . . rare
Pokemon . . . opening December 31. . . The whole thing was like a
dream come true! She bent down and kissed to top of Vanyel's
fuzzy head. "Hear that, Van?" she whispered to the
little rat. "A Pokemon Zoo, here in Scarlet City. I'll take
you some day," she finished with a smile.
She looked at the
clock beside her bed, then at the ever-so-slowly brightening
light outside the window. 5:00. She might as well get up. Not
like she really needed the sleep, anyway. Meridian rarely slept
for more than six hours a night, even when she had to go to
school the next day, so she was used to it. Besides, the 'pets'
had demanding schedules, and she often woke up early to take the
family Ponyta, Blaise, for a run around the park before
breakfast. Speaking of . . .
She walked back into
the house half an hour later, hair slightly tousled from the
wind, and was greeted by Vanyel and Seraph running at her, making
noises that told her it was time to feed them. She grinned down
at them, and walked into the kitchen. She opened a can of
PokeChow for each of them, dumped it in a bowl, then grabbed an
armload of stuff to feed the rest with. The same old morning
routine of feeding, she laughed. No changes there.
As she worked, her
mind drifted back to that article about the Pokemon Zoo. She
still couldn't believe that something that important would come
to as small a place as Scarlet City. But then again, she had her
own sort of mini-zoo right at home. People from all over the town
jumped at the chance to help her with her Pokemon, and she was
more than glad to accept their help. But this was different.
Maybe she could even get a job there once it opened up.
Once everything had
been fed, watered, cleaned, and walked, she started fixing her
own breakfast, which consisted of a 'perfectly balanced' mix of
chocolate milk, cereal, and a piece of toast. Glancing at the
clock as she polished off the last bite of toast, her eyes
widened. Ten minutes until school started! She quickly grabbed
her coat and backpack, and ran out the door, locking it behind
her to avoid anything getting out or in the house while she was
gone.
Deciding that the
only way to get there on time would be to ride, she readied
Blaise, and they sped down the street to the school.
Two whole minutes to
spare. Meridian breathed out a sigh of relief as she hitched
Blaise to a pole just outside the stables that were included on
school grounds. Fortunately for her, her school was an expansive
one, and taught many people that were interested in Pokemon of
all types. Hence the stables. Out back, there was also a large
pond for Water types to spend the day while their owners were in
classes. Meridian was glad her parents had sent her here instead
of some other place. This was the only school in the area that
she knew of with Pokemon facilities.
"Morning, Miss
Loe."
She turned around to
see the smiling face of Mr. Applegate, her homeroom teacher.
"Good morning, sir," she responded with an equally wide
smile.
"Cutting it a
little fine this morning, aren't you?" he asked as he nodded
his head slightly towards the school, where students were already
beginning to file in through the doors.
She nodded. "I
had some things to do this morning," she said. "Aren't
you cutting it fine?" Mr. Applegate was one of the few
teachers she found she could talk to in such an informal manner.
Most of the other teachers weren't anywhere near as laid back and
understanding towards the students.
He laughed. "I
suppose I am. Had some things to do this morning myself, I
guess." He paused. "Listen, I have something to ask you
before class starts."
Meridian looked
worried. "Was it about my last English mark? Look, I told
Mr. Johansen that I tried to make the essay five pages long, but
I just couldn't think of much more to write about, and besides,
my writing's really small anyway, so it might as well have been
five pages of someone else's writing, and I --"
He held up a hand to
stop her, and she realised she'd been rambling. He chuckled.
"Actually, for once, this has nothing to do with your tiny
handwriting." Meridian was known to most teachers for having
the neatest yet smallest handwriting most had ever encountered.
Some joked that they needed to start bringing magnifying glasses.
"I actually wanted to ask you if you'd read this yet?"
he held up the latest issue of Pokemon Monthly.
She nooded.
"Yeah. That's the one that says there's a Pokemon Zoo coming
right here to Scarlet City!" Mr. Applegate was an avid
Pokemon fan, just as much as Meridian herself.
He nodded. "Yes,
it is. Now, the mayor has asked me to do some of the overseeing
for the project, finding good habitats for the Pokemon that will
be brought in, making sure they'll be properly taken care of,
fed, groomed, exercised, and so on. It's a pretty big task, but
the pay's right." He smiled again. "Anyway, I'm
thinking perhaps that it might be too big a job for just myself,
and neither the mayor nor the company bringing in the Pokemon
have hired any other caretakers yet. I was wondering, Meridian,
would you like a job?"
For a moment,
Meridian couldn't speak. The chance to work at a Pokemon Zoo,
surrounded by rare and powerful and beautiful Pokemon was
something she'd never really dreamed could happen to her. Only
this morning, she had been enthralled with the idea of simply
visiting one. Now she was being offered the chance to work at
one. "Me, sir?" she asked incredulously.
He nodded again, and
behind them, the bell signalling that school was starting began
to chime. Neither one of them moved. "I've already talked to
the mayor and PokeImports, the company that's bringing the Zoo
here, and they say me having an assistant or two is perfectly
fine by them. Your hours would be the same as mine. Five in the
afternood until ten at night on weekdays, and a nine-til-five day
on weekends. It's a lot of time, I'll admit, and it's a very
demanding job for the both of us, considering we both have school
to worry about." He chuckled. "But I'm pretty sure
we're both up to it." he paused and looked her straight in
the eyes. "That is, if you are up to it."
Slowly, Meridian
nodded. "It'll be tough, considering I've got all those
Pokemon at home to help take care of too, but I think I'll be
able to handle it. Anything that helps bring Pokemon where people
can see them is fine by me." She thought about that.
"Well, unless people try to steal them."
Applegate frowned.
"Yes, that's a concern I brought up with the mayor, too.
With so many rare and strong Pokemon in one place, it'll be a
prime target for a wave of Pokemon kidnappings to start. I
suggested strict security on the place both before, during, and
after construction, and he agreed. We're just trying to hunt down
some good security guards now." He glanced at his watch.
"Anyway, if you're interested, you start next Monday. Pay
starts at $10 an hour, so you'll certainly have a little more
cash in your pockets." he smiled. "Now, what do you say
about us getting to class? I think the other students may be
starting to plot torching the classroom if we don't hurry."
Meridian laughed, and
the two began to walk towards the school.
"Are you
serious!?" exclaimed Daphne as she walked alongside Meridian
after school.
"Perfectly,"
answered Meridian, not bothering to hide her excitement. She had
just finished telling her best friend about what Mr. Applegate
had asked her that morning, and they were both practically
jumping for joy in the middle of the streets. Daphne shared
Meridian's love for Pokemon, though, as most of the other
self-proclaimed Pokemon enthousiasts in the city, it wasn't as
deep as Meridian's. Still, that didn't stop them from being
ecstatic over Meridian's new job.
"I just can't
believe it!" Daphne said, her face split in two with a grin.
"You're so lucky to be able to do this. Not many people get
to see many Pokemon anymore, let alone work with them day in and
day out." She sighed. "I just wish my parents had let
me keep Ankara instead of making me get rid of her." Ankara
used to be Daphne's Mankey until her parents had forced her to
release it. They said it made too much of a mess in the house,
and was too wild to be kept as a pet. The only thing wrong with
that explanation was that Ankara was about as wild as a stuffed
teddy bear. Her parents just hadn't seen that. They'd made her
send it back into the wild, and both Daphne and Meridian knew it
wouldn't be able to handle itself out there alone. It hurt them
both to think about what may have happened.
On that note,
Meridian tried to change the subject. "Aw, cheer up,"
she said as positively as she could. She'd loved Ankara like a
pet of her own. "Listen, why don't you come over to my place
and help me feed the gang. I could use your help. Maybe Blaise'll
even let you ride her this time." Blaise was safely back at
home now. Over the lunch hour, Meridian had taken the fire horse
back home instead of choosing to keep her at the school stables
for the rest of the day. Blaise had never much liked the stables
anyway.
"You mean
that?"
Meridian nodded.
"Hey, only if she lets you," she smiled. "But I
don't think she'll mind."
"God, is that
all you two ever think about?"
They spun to see an
obnoxious smile plastered on an equally obnoxious face. Daphne
groaned, "Donovan . . ."
"That's my
name," he answered. "And really, you two ought be
concentrating more on your school marks than those stupid
creatures that live at your house."
"Oh, pardon us
for taking an interest in the world around us, Donovan,"
said Meridian icily. "But you can't blame us for noticing
that the world extends to an area other than yourself."
A scowl replaced the
obnoxious smile, and he glared at the two. "Can't take a bit
of friendly advice, and all of a sudden you're throwing back the
insults. What wonderful people you two are," he finished,
dark sarcasm coloring his words.
"Donovan, the
day you give friendly advice is the day I dress up in a Pikachu
costume in front of the school and propose to Daphne,"
laughed Meridian. Even Daphne couldn't help smiling at that.
Donovan scowled, his
face darkening with humiliation. "Get bent," he
muttered as he walked away, his head low in his jacket collar.
Daphne shook her
head. "I can't believe that guy. When will he leave us
alone?"
Meridian shrugged.
"Dunno. Just forget about him. he's not even worth it. Now,
what were we talking about?"
"I think you
were telling me I could have a rise on Blaise," responded
Daphne with a grin.
The girls walked to
Meridian's house, smiling and laughing all the way, and unaware
that from a distance, three pairs of eyes were watching them.
There. It kinda leaves off at a really dumb point, but with
the stuff that I plan to have happen in the next part, this is
really the only place I could leave it.
