D groaned and buried her head into her pillow. "Stupid alarm," she grumbled into the feathery headrest. She snuggled a bit deeper into her warm, cozy bed, attempting to get a few more minutes of sleep. It wasn't going to work, and she knew it, but that didn't stop her from trying. After a few minutes of listening to the infuriating buzzing of her alarm from across the room, the girl got up and stumbled over to where she had placed her alarm clock…
Something wasn't right.
She blinked a few times, trying to understand what made her think that. Slamming her fist into the clock to make it be quiet, D looked at the time. 6:33 AM. "So why is it light?" she asked herself quietly. Looking around, she stared quizzically at the bands of amber light that streaked through her room. Looking at her window, she saw that the light was originating from beyond the room.
Something was out of balance.
D walked slowly over to the window and peeked out through the blinds. What she saw made her stare before she pulled hard on the cord that forced the covering up.
Outside her room, the sky was the golden-orange of autumn leaves, the clouds taking on a slightly pink tint. The sea beneath the vast expanse was roiling and choppy, the darkest of navy in its pure and brilliant perfection. Waves climbed to the cliff tops along the rough coastline, soaking the grassy plain with saline liquid.
Something was going to happen.
This was certain.
As for what…
She did not know.
Cautiously D left the window behind, brushing her hair while gazing curiously at the rays of light that continued to streak into her room. The orange gradually faded to a pale saffron gold, a color she had never known the sky to be. Hurriedly brushing her teeth, she finished her morning preparations and again stared out the window.
The sky had changed in the ten minutes it had taken her to brush her hair and teeth. Instead of being amber it was a fading yellow edging on gray.
Something about it scared her.
What it was…
She did not know.
But something was going to happen.
Again D left her vigil at the window, moving over to her small closet to put on her normal attire: a soft green velvet turtleneck blouse and a pair of dark slightly faded blue jeans. Taking a pair of pale blue socks from her drawer, she slipped down the carpeted hall, trying not to wake any of the other occupants of the rooms. After all, there was only one person up other than herself, and that was Crimson. Crimson was up before the crack of dawn's whip. It was normal.
However, this day was not.
And why she couldn't the feeling of foreboding off of her chest, D didn't know. She just knew it was there and it was persistent.
Reaching the kitchen, she giggled as she saw BlazeWing the Crotales sleeping atop the refrigerator. "You pick the oddest places to sleep," D muttered, grabbing a stool and pulling it over to the cooling device. Climbing warily atop it, she wavered for a moment before gaining a stable position. Slowly, carefully, she pulled the hybrid off of the machine and stepped off the stool. Setting the creature on the counter, D went off to make a batch of pancakes for herself and any other person who might wake up in the near future.
As she walked past the window, she saw that the cool slate coloration had begun to dominate the sky, severely dimming the vivid saffron hue she had seen less than ten minutes before.
The ominous feeling persisted. She suddenly didn't feel like a big meal.
Petting the Crotales, who continued to sleep peacefully upon the countertop, D grabbed a few slices of bread, slipped them into the toaster, and waited. As soon as they popped up she grabbed them, yelping softly at how hot they were, and set them on a paper towel. Buttering the toasted slices lightly she took her leave, heading down the hall to her elevator. As she reached it, she looked outside one last time before sinking into her underground world of experiments and creations.
The sky was black as ink-smeared coal. Rain began to lash at the windows as she stared outside.
Something big was going to happen.
Something MAJORLY big.
Silently the girl slipped into the elevator, pressing the button marked LAB. No sound was made as she descended, save the sound of whirring motors and gears and the rain pounding the panes of glass in each window.
D relaxed as she reached the bottom floor, almost three stories underground. It was her laboratory, her sanctuary, the place where she could really be herself without anyone laughing. Stepping out of the elevator, she headed off down the carpeted hall and pressed her palm against a pad jutting from the wall. A large stainless steel door slid open with a hiss, allowing her entry to yet another carpeted room.
It was a cozy room, with hand-drawn pictures here and there along the walls and tables. Near the door was a large desk with a computer on top, the monitor dark and lifeless, waiting to be started. D pressed the button to wake the computer from its night's rest, then looked around again. She had company, as usual.
Sitting in the large black computer chair alongside the desk was yet another hybrid, this one a large creamy cat with brown and tan wings. He blinked sleepily at D as she moved forward, then leapt lightly to the top of the chair to allow her to sit down. She did so, and immediately after the feline settled on her lap, purring contentedly.
"Good morning, D," he said smoothly. "You're tense. Any reason why?"
"Orange sky," she replied shortly. The cat seemed put off by her curtness, but passed it off as the tension getting to her.
Both heard the click of large claws on steel long before their second guest arrived. A Pokémon resembling an Arcanine entered from the lab alongside the computer room, ducking his head as he came through the doorway. His small bat-like wings seemed miniscule in proportion to his body, which nearly reached the ten-foot ceiling.
"Morning, Pyro," D smiled. He barked softly, a deep, rich sound that filled the room. "Anything new today?" The hybrid gave a rather sinister smile before heading back into the lab, ducking again so that his horn would not hit the doorframe. Shrugging to the feline on her lap, she stood up. The hybrid hopped onto the floor and followed the girl into the next room.
The place seemed to be made of steel, with silvery walls and gray tile floor that gave the hard impression of metal. The ceiling, however, was an off-white color, soft and swirling in strange patterns overhead. The Arcanite was laying down by a small teleporter, a new object lying in the tray attached.
"What's that?" the feline asked, raising a non-existent eyebrow.
"Dunno, Gryf," D replied. "Shall we find out?" The Perowl nodded and the pair slipped forward, toward the new item to be added to her collection.
The computer alongside the teleportation device had gone to sleep sometime during the night, but a quick slide of the mouse brought it back to normal functions. Noticing the programmed graphics of a Raichu with a letter in its mouth trying to jump up to a mailbox, she chuckled.
"Looks like our experiment worked," she muttered, double clicking on the moving image. One of her recent projects had been creating a cute and creative E-mail alert. She was more than pleased.
"Well? Come on, D, snap out of gloat mode and open the mail!" Gryf nudged her leg impatiently as Pyro nodded solemnly in agreement.
"Okay, okay, hold your Ponytas," D grumbled, opening her mail. "It's from Brian. Looks like HyRyse is developing a new chemical to help them morph humans faster…" Scrolling down the page she looked for any added information. "Apparently the chemical hasn't been well-tested, so its full effects are unknown. They just know that it will morph a person on contact."
"So descriptive," Gryf muttered sarcastically. PyroMaster snorted indignantly.
"Hey, you have to give him a break, he's doing his best," D reminded them. "And if they find out he's been sending me any of this stuff, he's in big trouble. MAJORLY big trouble. Remember, they hate me at HyRyse."
"Yes, yes, we know," Gryf sighed. "Now, are you going to do your tests or not?"
"Yeah, rush me and make me mess up," D chuckled. "I can't wait until your pushing makes me drop it, and then where would I be?"
"In the body of a Pokémon." Gryf nodded to himself. D snorted faintly in amusement, then pulled the vial out of the tray and held it up to the light.
It was a pale lime green in color, faintly resembling the color and thickness of half-congealed lime Jell-O. This struck her as odd. Most of HyRyse's other experimental fluids were radical colors, such as neon orange or deep, stunning violet in color, and had the same consistency as water.
Why was this one so different?
D had no idea that all of her hybrids were assembling behind her. BlazeWing, PyroMaster, Gryf, Quetzalcoatl, FlameBand, Dandylion, ZapWing, Hollowein, Disaster, Catastrophe, NewMoon, PaleoFure, every one of her hybrids brought together in the lab.
And the LightWing decided to get her attention.
The hard way.
"SKAMO-SKA!!!!" D yelped in surprise as the Raichu-Skarmory hybrid shouted out her name in his own tongue. The vial of fluid slipped between her fingers, crashing on the floor with the chime of broken glass.
D stared.
The hybrids stared.
The liquid had formed a glob where it had fallen, shivering as the hybrid's footfalls created minute tremors on the floor. D crouched down, staring at the globule on the floor, now filled with tiny air bubbles. Warily she reached out and poked the blob.
It exploded in every direction with a blaze of neon green light. D was thrown back by what seemed to be an incredible force, blasting her into the comfortable room beyond the steel of the laboratory. She hit the wall hard, then fell onto the floor.
If one were to have looked into the room at that time, they would have seen a pile of rumpled clothes on the floor and a pair of cracked glasses on the carpeting beside them. If a person would take the time to look more closely, they might just notice a long, black rope curling out from under the white-gray lab coat before slipping back beneath it.
It was the start of a long day.
A very long day.