Well, it was a long time in the making, but here's the next chapter. A review would be truly dandy.
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Jesse booted an empty can of coke across the bitumen road, its rolling clunk the only sound besides a few birds and the distant whirr of a lawnmower. Involuntarily, his lips arched into a smile. He liked walking home; the streets of Ecruteak were deserted this time of day. No noisy students, no screaming children, just peace. The dual towers of the town were outlined against the sky, their oriental frames like dark cut-outs against the brilliant blue sky.
Jesse liked visiting the towers, provided he went when it wasn't full of excited tourists. Many people found the eerie quiet in the place spooky or even haunted, but Jesse liked it. It gave him time to think.
He kicked the can a couple more times, before picturing a teacher who had given him particular grief's face on it and sending it flying. He watched it for a moment, until it turned into a speck against the sky. He continued down the street, hands in his pockets and his head hunched, making him appear smaller than he already was.
The sound of a motor touched his sensitive ears; they involuntarily twitched as he swung around to see a curious looking green van coming down the road behind him. Jesse snarled in irritation that he had to walk on the footpath for a moment, but obliged.
He had neared the end of the road when he heard the door open and shut. His ear twitched, but he ignored it for now.
"Hey, kid."
The voice was hard and gravelly, not at all pleasant. It made the adrenalin that coursed through Jesse's body bolt through him at a faster rate, and he felt irritation boil up. He just wanted to walk home, not be chased by some paedophile.
The man approaching from behind was not much taller than he was, but his bare arms showed a wiry strength that impressed him. He wore dark green clothing with golden edging, and a dark green cap pulled so low over his head that Jesse couldn't see his face, only the dark stubble on his chin and the smirk on his face. Grey tufts of hair that might have been ginger a while ago stuck from the corners of his cap. When he neared the Warreon mutant, Jesse smelt the sharp tang of tobacco and was reminded of his home ec teacher.
"How ya' going?" The man grinned, showing broken and yellowed teeth. A silver badge of the letter "C" glinted dully on the man's chest.
Jesse was not impressed. He had to get off the road, and then he had to talk. Ugh, this wasn't a good day. "I'm fine, I guess." He answered in a clipped and cold tone, running a hand through his short orange hair.
The next question was more direct. "You're the Warreon mutant, aren't you buddy?"
Jesse tasted the pang of bile in his mouth at this question. "Yes."
The man grinned even wider, raising his head up so that Jesse could see his murky green eyes the colour of phlegm. "I've heard you're pretty strong?"
Jesse's expression did not change. If this guy though that flattery would get him what he wanted, he was wrong. "I don't know. I guess so, compared to most humans."
The man spat a clump of something on the road, before continuing to grin at the Warreon mutant. "Just as I thought. Look kid, I have a proposition for you."
Jesse sighed. "I'm not doing adverts on T.V. for your fucking cereal, if that's what you want."
The man stared at him for a second, and burst into a bout of chuckles. "Oh god kid, that's the funniest thing I've heard all day. Good one!" He stopped laughing, and took his hat off to reveal a sunken face and tufty grey hair. "I have a much better proposition than that. Heard of Team Chronos?"
Jesse snorted in response. "Oh yeah, the criminal organization that uses Pokémon as tools and tortures them? I know all about them." Jesse spat the last word. He hated people, but he loved Pokémon. They were so simple and blatant.
The man's smiled dropped. "Well, uhhh yes, but I was specifically sent to ask you if you'd like to join. We could use you." The man played with the edge of his hat nervously, eyeing the ground.
Jesse stared hard at him. He didn't have to even think.
"Fuck off."
The Warreon boy left the Chronos Grunt staring after him with a bewildered gaze.
---
Farren lay on her bed, using a knuckle blade to scrape her twelfth day in the mental hospital on the headboard. Two more days, and she was a free girl. No more sloppy meals, no more room dingy room, no more screams through the day and night from the patients down the corridor. It would feel good to be outdoors, to feel her blades on something other than the headboards. She planned to go home and chop up a nice bunch of firewood for her carers.
One thing confused her though. Why hadn't Cam been to see her?
It was over a week since her friend had last visited her. To a pair of teenage girls who had been friends since they were fourteen, this was an eternity.
Farren wondered if it had been what she said about accepting herself as a mutant. After all, Cam did leave with a rather shaken look on her face. But she had known about Farren's, well, differences, since she had known her. Would being more open about who she really was make Cam avoid her after all of this?
The Chromeon girl sighed. It was insignificant; she would be home soon, and could visit Cam and their other friends as much as she wanted. But she wouldn't lie, she was a mutant now, and she was going to start accepting it.
A sharp rap on the door snapped her out of her thoughts. Not bothering to sit up from her lying position, she watched as the door swung open to reveal a grinning Dr. Marshall.
Farren couldn't help but grin back; she liked this man. He was kind, friendly, and accepted her. He dared to talk about the things nobody else dared to.
"How are we today, young Farren?" The doctor asked, taking a seat on that infamous grey chair that seemed to make everyone's back ache. Farren and her other friends had joked about it in the days before.
Farren knew to be honest with this man. He had the emotional intelligence of a Lucario. "I'm just a little confused as to why Cam hasn't been visiting me. I thought maybe the whole 'Farren's part vicious beast' thing had caught up with her."
Dr. Marshall's eyes were concerned. "Cam does seem like a true friend to me, and I'm sure she has a good reason. It doesn't seem to bother any of your other friends, does it?
The last few visits from friends passed through Farren's mind, a blur of different smells, gossip and giggles. "No." she admitted.
"Well there you go," Dr. Marshall said, his famous grin returning. "Now, I actually have something to ask you."
"And that is?"
He pulled a folded up piece of paper from his pocket, and leaned over to hand it to Farren. "This is something I've organized because I think it might help you."
Farren looked up at him with a frown, but unfolded the paper curiously. After she had seen what was written, her frown deepened.
Are you one of the…
EV-MEN?
For all the mutants out there, this is an opportunity to meet up with each other. You've all spent far too long separated and lonely, it's time to come together!
When: 3rd October, 11 am -9 pm
Where: Rockwell Community Hall, Lorto
How: Via boat and bus
This is a free event payed for by the Lorto Government. All transport and accommodation will be provided with no charge.
Farren stopped frowning. "EV-Men? Did you think of that?" Dr. Marshall nodded. Farren laughed.
"So, do you think it's a good idea?"
Farren's face became more serious. "I'm not really sure."
"Why not?"
Farren liked her carers, Bob and Jill. She also liked her adopted sister, Steph. But she did not enjoy being at home because of her neighbours. They were psychos, the family always said that, but it affected Farren more than any of them. Chris and Mary St. Clare and their dreaded offspring Lizzy and Issak were terrors of the worst kind. They practiced a strict form of religion that disallowed anything fun or natural. Most of all, they despised Farren and made her life miserable. If she was out the front, they would yell abuse at her. If she was out the back, as she often was since being indoors was against her wild nature, the kids would yell stuff at her and often throw rocks at her. They were – for lack of a better term – the neighbours from hell.
"I told you about the St. Clare family, right?"
"Farren, this is a private event. No members of the public are going to find out."
Farren raised her eyebrows and uttered a short bark of a laugh. "Oh, for sure. So when a girl with huge claws sticking out the ends of her fingers walks into a building with similar creatures with many other strange attributes, nobody is going to think anything is suss?"
"You mean Ester, right?"
"Yep."
"Nobody will see. They'll drop her off out the front in a government car. Farren, I know you're worried, but you shouldn't be. You have the right to exist. It wasn't your – or any of the other mutant's- fault that you are the way you are. Be a Shelgon, and let their insults bounce off your shell."
Farren chuckled, pushing a black strand of hair out of her eyes. "I'm actually a Chromeon. We generally slice up anyone who insults us."
Dr. Marshall laughed. "I don't think that's such a good idea. But are you in?"
Farren nodded, watching as she pushed her knuckle blade through her skin. Using it to chip some leftover polish off her fingernail, she added: "But let's say, something gets slipped, and the media leaks out the info to the world. All these crazy protesters show up, and then what?"
Dr. Marshall met Farren's questioning slate eyes. "Then the police deal with it. Or we arrange another venue."
Farren nodded, her mind finally made up. "Ok. I'll do it. But one more thing."
The doctor strained to keep in his joy. "Yes? What is it?"
Farren smirked, something she had not done in a long time. "The name – EV-Men. It's catchy and I get it, it's like that movie X-Men. But I'm a woman. And so are half the other mutants."
Dr. Marshall laughed, pale eyes twinkling. "We have a young feminist on our hands."
---
The zombie in Ellen's kitchen shuffled over to the toaster, her eyes dull as she pressed the button down again.
Why she even bothered was a mystery to Ellen; she wasn't going to eat the toast anyway. She would just plonk it down on the table and stare at for twenty minutes, before throwing it to the birds. Then she would walk into the kitchen; stare at the phone for a few moments, before muttering something about homework and returning to her bedroom. Not to sleep, either, because the light was on every time Ellen went to check.
Ellen didn't know this only because she could see the future, but because this was what had marked her sister's behaviour for the last week or so.
The dark haired girl had not bothered to put in her contacts, which was normal when they were at home, but it showed the pure agony in her dark crimson eyes. Ellen found it hard to watch as her sister stared at the toast as if she could see right through it, through the ground and the layers of rock below, right to the core of the earth. Ellen considered placing a hand over Darcie's in comfort for a moment, but the future showed that her usually warm hands were freezing, something that disturbed Ellen.
The scenario that the future had told Ellen played out before her, and her sister shuffled out of the room, her ebony hair ruffled and her lighter tips bright with pain. The psychic sister remained in her chair, indigo eyes fixed on the table, her hands in her dark chestnut hair. She wished there was something – anything - she could do for her sister, but her powers only worked on the physical body. It couldn't mend a broken heart.
A slight twang of interest in the future piqued Ellen's interest. She saw herself at the computer, reading an email that made her excited. Curious over what could pull her out of such a depressed and sympathetic state, she padded over to the computer and logged on.
She found a few emails in her inbox; most were spam asking if she'd like to increase the size of her penis. She deleted them with a slight brow twitch of annoyance, before her eyes widened at something she would never had expected to see.
Sender: Jesse Turner
Time: 3:25 PM
Subject: Mutant meetings
Hello, Ellen.
A man who calls himself Dr. Alex Marshall sent me the following email, and asked me to forward it to all the other mutants I could. I've cut out some of the bits that don't matter. I don't have Darcie's email, so could you please show it to her?
Dear friend,
My name is Dr. Alex Marshall and I am the psychologist of Farren Moore, whom you should all know is the Chromeon mutant. I have evaluated her after an incident at her school and believe that it would be beneficial to her if I organised a meeting between all the mutants. I can send the full information flyer if you are interested.
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Ellen's sapphire eyes, which were usually quite squinty, widened suddenly. A meeting between the mutants? Now this was interesting. She knew for a fact that when they were created and the expected uproar occurred, the government had agreed to mostly keep them apart.
Ellen and Darcie were the only biological twins of the Mutants. Ever since they had been artificially born, they had been inseparable, despite their obvious physical differences. Nobody in their right mind would have separated them, so only they were allowed to live together. Jesse was a year older than them at sixteen, and he had lived in Ecruteak before they moved from Cherrywood as ten-year olds. They were the only three mutants who shared a town.
They occasionally heard about other mutants through the news, especially when one did something wrong. Ellen had heard about the Chromeon mutant, Farren, accidentally slicing her friend's arm up. Aside from Jesse and her sister, this girl was the only one she had actually seen. They'd showed a picture of her on the news, a lanky, pale thing with piercing eyes and sunken, sickly face. She did not look well.
"Darcie?"
The door of Darcie's bedroom opened, and her head popped around the door. Her eyes were red-rimmed and she was wiping her nose. She said nothing, just looked.
"Come here."
Ellen watched her sister crumble into a thousand black shiny shards before reappearing with a crackle next to her. Ellen tapped the screen with a long finger, and Darcie leant in to read it.
After her eyes had scanned the screen, Darcie pulled a chair over to sit next to her sister. "I don't think it's a good idea." She finally responded.
"Why?"
Darcie sighed, and run a hand through her hair. She clearly didn't want to talk about this. But she knew how persistent Ellen could be, so she answered.
"How do you think the public are going to react to that? They hate the fact that we're alive bad enough. Can you imagine how disgusted they'd be if we all met up?"
It was Ellen's turn to sigh. Her sister was so self conscious and so afraid of humans. The Espeon girl swivelled around to face her. "Who cares what the humans think? And why are you so afraid of them? They're just like us, except weaker. If anything, they should be afraid of us."
Darcie nodded. "That's my point. They'll be huge protests to keep us for meeting up and plotting to destroy them…"
Ellen saw that she could not get around Darcie's way of thinking. So, she changed the topic. "I think it would be good to go regardless. I'd like to meet some others like us, and I think it'll help you get over Naomi."
That was the buzz word. Darcie's highlights turned iridescent gold, and her crimson eyes widened. "I…urhh… do whatever. Doesn't… bother me. Ummm… got to go." And the girl detached her molecules with a crackle.
Ellen felt another pang of sympathy, which was fast beginning to be her most prevalent emotion. She stretched her back muscles before returning to type at the keyboard.
Jesse,
Tell him yes. We'll both go.
And it's nice to hear from you
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Awww, Jesse's getting a bit of luff.
But it seems all the mutants are worried about the public's reaction. Typical self-conscious teenagers, I say.
Anyways, as mentioned before, comments and crit are much appreciated!