Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. The characters and story are mine, however.

A/N: Yes, I do appreciate comments! Working on next chapters, but with no feedback, I can't really add much...

Guess what was the first thing I saw that morning? Yup, my alarm clock. I glared at it and murmured death sentences, reaching over to shut it up. Monday, the first day of a long week. Why couldn't Monday be Tuesday, or even Thursday?

I rolled lazily out of bed, landing in a heap on the floor. I disentangled myself from my covers and began my daily routine, as usual. Quick shower, quick breakfast, quick scramble to look for my things, quick traumas as I couldn't find them. Mom occasionally reprimanded me about this, but had decided some time ago that only I could deal with it. If I chose to start the day off like that, it was my decision according to her. Most of the time she watched me run from one side of the house to the other, "chasing my tail" as she put it.

I sat down to eat, serving myself a couple of small pancakes. They were extremely hot, so I dove into an apple while I waited for the pancakes to cool a little. I heard Mom talk to Dad about how things were going at work.

"David, listen to me. You need to stop this at the office before it gets out of hand..."

"It's just a bunch of workers who have been listening to the wrong speeches, honey. Once they realize that what they are demanding is impossible, they'll abandon their union and come back to work. Mark my words, we'll be fully up and running again before they start asking for Cinco de Mayo."

I looked at my watch and realized it was past time I get going. I grabbed some money for lunch from the kitchen counter and headed out the door, waving and shouting goodbye to my parents. They were still arguing, waving back distractedly.

I hurried to my car and dropped all my junk in the passenger's seat, running over to the driver's side and starting it up. I couldn't afford to be late today. A tardy would mean detention, which would mean we wouldn't get to do our little Saran wrap activity...

As I got onto the road that ran outside of my neighborhood, I noticed that a black Land Rover was speeding from behind me. Well, I wasn't going to let him cause me any trouble, so I changed lanes and continued on my path. If some people wanted to drive freakishly fast in the city, that was their choice. The last thing I needed was a ticket or a collision, for that matter.

When I neared the street that turned away from the edge of the city towards my school, I noticed that the Land Rover was slowing down. Great, I told myself. Now that I need to turn left, he takes up that lane. I slowed down even more to get behind him, but he drew up even with me. I glared at him, and got an evil smile in return. Before I knew it, his Rover had bumped into my car and was pushing me to the right, off the street and into a patch of trees. I screamed as my car bounced up and down with the uneven terrain, finally coming to a stop a few feet from a tree.

It took me a few moments to catch my breath again, and as I did, I felt myself getting angrier and angrier by the second. The display screen on my car's stereo said 8:27. There was no way on Earth I would make it to school on time now! Fuming, I unbuckled my seat belt and slammed the door open. He wanted to play rough? Then he'd get rough.

I stormed towards the Rover. The driver stepped out, a tall man in an expensive black suit. He had a grin on his face that only exacerbated my fury.

"You IDIOT! What gives you the right to do that?! I hope you're happy, mister, cause you're the one who's gonna be paying for that! Huh?" I stopped as I saw him fumble for something in his pocket. Then my blood ran cold as I stared into the barrel of a gun.

Oh crap... Next time, I check to see if he's armed before I start yakking! With a supernatural effort, I managed to drop and roll out of the speeding projectile's path. This guy's NUTS, I told myself as I started running off, away from the road. Probably not the smartest move but it was the only way I could think of getting away from that psycho. The area was rough, with uneven stretches and hidden holes that would do a lot of damage to speeding ankles.

Please, let me pull out of this one alive!

I looked back, finding that the man was lagging further and further behind. I searched for a hiding place, anything I could hide under to get away from my pursuer. I took a sharp turn into a tree copse, and hid within the densest bush I could find. The leaves tore at my clothes and scratched my bare arms, but I took no notice of this. My main focus was survival.

My heart beat so hard I thought it would make the bush shake, giving me away. I tried to get control of my breath, forcing myself to slow down. I peered from the shadows of the bush, watching as the man passed by in the direction he thought I'd gone. His footsteps faded as he went away. I sighed, relieved, and fought my way out of the bush. If it had been hard to get in, getting out was almost impossible! I tugged and struggled, pulling and pushing until I finally managed to get out. Dusting my clothes, I started walking away from the tree, heading in what I roughly judged to be the direction of the crash.

I felt a sharp pain on my shoulder, and swatted at the bug that had bit me. My fingers felt a small dart sticking out of my shoulder, and I fell, quickly swallowed up by unconsciousness.