Hailey's Golbat
Chapter One: World Displaced
"I made guava cake for the bake sale," Kristine said to her close friend Hailey. "Shaped like a hat, of course." She showed her a picture on her phone.
"Wow, that looks fun to eat, Hailey said, as the girls walked down the sidewalk.
"Doesn't it, though?" Kristine asked, grinning down at her screen. "But it's for those who come to the bake sale so we can have an amazing freshman dance."
"Yep, gotta have that," Hailey said, though she was more interested in crossing more items off her extensive list and saving the world in the future. Which, admittedly, serving something at a bake sale was unlikely to be anywhere in there. Not that she had checked constantly, leave Beta to know the list front, back, and center.
"What have you made for it?" Kristine asked.
"Um, cinnamon rolls," Hailey said, watching a hummingbird flitter by. "Nillsbury."
"What? You're using a store-bought mix?" Kristine asked, blinking. "Do you think people will buy those?
"Hmmm, maybe you can come over and we can put lemon and chocolate icing on them to make them more enticing.
"Lemon and cinnamon sound they might not mesh well," Kristine said, frowning. But then her expression changed. "But I'm always up for trying new hats." Then her palms went to her cheeks. "Say, if we can make the cinnamon rolls somehow resemble hats, maybe using the icing, it''ll be so cute!"
"I'll throw in sprinkles as well," Hailey said, "if that helps."
"We'll see what we can make of it," Kristine said, and so the girls moved in the direction of Hailey's neighborhood. Good thing Hailey didn't have anything from the list on the schedule today.
Though Beta might come up with something she needed to do pronto if she ran into him. Not that he'd reveal himself to Kristine.
They arrived at her house and Hailey dug the cinnamon rolls out of the fridge. Then she fetched the icing from the pantry, as well as sprinkles.
"Sweet, now let's transform these into hat masterpieces!" Kristine said, getting out a knife, and performing culinary surgery.
She instructed Hailey on what to do with her own knife, but Hailey's didn't look quite like something one would put on their head should it be made of wool or any other material hats tend to be made of.
"At least they'll still taste really sweet," Kristine said.
"Yep," Hailey said. Hopefully people will buy them."
"Oh, I think they would've bought these even before we dressed them up, but I do think standing out is important."
"Gotta go against the status quo," Hailey said.
"More or less."
Hailey's phone dinged and she got it out, Was a message from Beta. Apparently he was in her room, and had found something from the list for her to work on today, just great.
"Sorry, got to go..upstairs for a minute," Hailey said.
"Okay, I'll put these in the refrigerator," Kristine said, as Hailey moved toward the kitchen door. Which was when an explosion fo light volleyed into the kitchen. Kristine dropped the tray of cinnamon rolls as a purple creature swooped into the room. It had a Bart Simpson like spiky head, big white teeth, and was grinning hugely. This was not a Barney-type purple creature, but something freaky, especially when it's tongue lolled out.
"Look, I don't know what you are, but get out of my kitchen!" Hailey shouted, grabbing a broom and waving it at the beast.
Its pink tongue wrapped around the brom handle and try as she did to keep her girp on it and hiss at the creature, it got the broom free and started chomping on it.
"Hey freakazoid, that's not a pretzel, it doesn't even have salt on it!"
The creature just kept on chomping.
""You are the reason these delicious hat-decorated cinnamon rolls will never be bought or eaten!" Kristine said, her temper up high, tossing some of the floor-ruined otherwise delectables at the purple creature whose tongue caught them as if this were some kind of game.
Hailey made a swing to punch it, but her hand went straight through. "What the…?"
Had a ghost somehow got in her house? She had heard of such a thing from her pen pal, Internet chatroom pal? Molloptimistic298. Apparently that girl was best friends with an actual ghost.
This beast though, seemed anything but friendly.
And then a yellow creature with a cooked nose and some white fluff around its neck entered, waving a pendulum. Hailey tried punching this creature too, and she landed the hit, and felt triumphant, until…she yawned hugely and felt herself drifting off to sleep.
Before she went full-unconscious, she noticed Kristine succumbing to the same effect.
She didn't know how long she was out, she had a series of dreams in which Beta screamed at her for not completing the list and causing the world to be destroyed by inactin and other ones where she finally got the courage to ask Scott to kiss her so she could check that off the list, but he said it wasn't worth doing that, that he needed to have feelings for her in order to effect that, and he just didn't, and others where she got pecked to death by canaries or trapped in a Silly String netting.
She woke up screaming….shooting up to a sitting position in the bed she found herself in, wearing rocket pajamas for some reason, when she saw…a green kitty with huge eyes on her bed, its head tilted to the side.
Hailey stopped screaming and tickled the kitty under the chin, who leapt into her arms, purring.
"I don't know who you are, kitty, pretty sure cats aren't green. Unless someone spilled paint all over you."
"Sprig?" the feline seemed to say.
That was an odd sound for a cat to make. Hailey frowned, not sure what to deduce from this.
And that was when she saw a purple flying freakazid with blue underwings smiling at her through the window. It was the creepiest thing she had ever seen, even beyond that ghost, Hnestly Hailey would think this was still a dream, she certainly wasn't in her room, but she could literally feel the kittys' fur, and no dream shed' ever had went that far.
And that was when the purple bat creature with fangs smashed the window open and flew in, smashing one of its claws into Hailey's neck.
The kitty hissed at it while Hailey shrieked, and then something very odd happened, leaves burst from the kitty's sides and sliced intot he bat, who wailed from pain, it smashed its claw down on the kitty's head, the lettering growling and scratching at it, the bat made a pinch at the kitty's leg before flying backward and zipping out the window, glaring at Hailey before disappearing frm view.
"Well, that was…bizarre," Hailey said.
"Sprig," the kitty said.
"I hope you're not hurt," Hailey said, feeling there was no chance that her mother would let her keep a cat, not after they got a pet flamingo.
But considering she wasn't even in her room, she was curious whose house this was. The kitty leapt off her bed, so seemed fine.
Hailey didn't know if she had clothes to change into here so went out into the hallway wearing these rocket pajamas, only to run into Kristine wearing her own set of peculiar sleepwear, featuring rocks of different colors, blue, pink, yellow. They sort of looked like asteroids.
"Who dressed us in space-based clothes?" Hailey joked.
"I dunno, but there's something freaky in my room! And I don't know what to do about it!" Kristine bit her nails a bit. "Or…the room I woke up in. I guess it isn't actually mine."
Hailey followed her gaze to the door and poked her head inside. "I don't see anything to odd, other than that boy band post—"
But then a red and white creature with a green stem coming out of its head popped out from under the bed.
It was smiling.
"Did that creep cme in through the window?" Hailey asked, thinking of the bat.
"No, it was already in there, but gosh it was burning up when it rubbed against me!"
Hailey was about to scoop it up and throw it out the window, when the green kitty ran in and started purring, knocking its head against that of the weird red-and-white beast that kind of looked like a baby alligator.
The kitty fell backward, still purring, while the gator creature just rocked back and forth.
"Well, if my kitty likes that criter, cant' be to bad," Hailey said.
"Whoa, you woke up to that cute cat? Wow," Kristine said, entering the room to pet it, having dropped on her knees.
"Yes but…" Hailey said. "Don't you think this place is weird?"
"Weird how?"
"Your pajamas, my pajamas," Hailey said. "Like who would even wear this?" she asked, pulling at her long-sleeved sleepwear top.
"Buzz Lightyear?" Kristine asked.
"Well, that would work, if I had a pullstring or was a wind-up toy, but as a human, no thanks."
Kristine scowled at her own pajamas. "Yeah, I wouldn't have put these on myself."
"Yeah but I also mean these creatures, have you ever heard of a green cat?" That can shoot leaves out of its back? Hailey wasn't sure she should mention this yet, but that bat…not bat should be that big. Ever. Realistically it was impossible.
She also recalled it had a stinger on its tail. And those pinchers. Was it maybe…a scorpion-bat?
Which meant they were in some place with genetic engineering, freakers!
There was thundering of footsteps heard and then someone ran in, barreling into Hailey.
A blond boy with wild crazy hair wearing a horizontal striped shirt.
"Oh, you two are awake," he said.
"Yeah, and you just smashed into me," Hailey grumbled.
"Yeah, sorry about that," He said. "Just came to check that you like your closets, but I see you haven't dressed for the day."
"But the clothes in the wardrobes can't be ours," Hailey said.
"Oh, but they are, as long as you live here."
"We don't live here!" Hailey said.
"Oh really?" the blond boy asked. "Plasma Grunge or Aqua Base?"
"Huh?"
"If you don't know what those are, then you definitely belong in a haven like this."
"We live in our own houses," Hailey said.
"These partner Pokemon also say otherwise," said the blond boy, pointing at the alligator baby and green kitten.
"They're just interesting creatures," Hailey said.
"Oh, I see," the boy remarked. "You're one of the Amvat."
"The what?" Kristine asked.
"The Beeheehym-Gengar Association summoned you. I'm guessing you don't even know what Pokemon are."
Hailey and Kristine looked at one another.
"Guess I'll have to teach you," the blond boy said, sighing. "I'm Barry, by the way."
The girls introduced themselves and Barry shook a hand of each of theirs.
"So yeah, those two are Pokemon."
"Pokemon?" Hailey repeated.
"Yep. The green kitten is called Sprigatito, and the other one is Fuecoco."
Hailey gazed at them, they were both fascinating. "Are you saying that we're in a place with tons of creatures like this?"
"Oh yeah, all over, the entire planet," Barry assured them.
"Interesting," Hailey said. She could use less of the scorpion-bat thing and more like the kitty. Also, that purple ghost must've been a Pokemon too.
"Yep, but not all are friendly. Still, you learn as you go," Barry assure her.
Then a rock with arms and a face bounced int the room.
"This is my partner, Geodude," Barry explained.
"Dude," said the rock.
"Wow, even rocks are alive here?" Hailey asked.
"Some of them," Barry said. "But I should leave you two to get dressed."
Hailey went back into her own room which the kitten followed. She was overwhelmed by being in a new world, but what could she do about it?
In the closet, she found a bunch of outfits with a big red R on the chest, all white besides for the shirt, as well as matching pants. She'd have to ask Barry about that. But there were regular clothes as well. She would've liked overalls but no luck, so she went for a peach shirt and jeans.
Kristine was wearing a yellow-orange dress when she met up with her.
Barry returned, having come from his own room, only now he was wearing one of those outfits with the red R.
"Strange clothing," Hailey said.
"Yeah, why were so many of those in our wardrobes?"
"Because they are necessary," Barry said.
"Um, why?" Hailey asked, squinting at him through her glasses.
"It's going to be a lot to explain."
"Well, we're in a whole new place and it doesn't seem like we're going back anytime soon," Hailey said, "so you might as well tell us."
Kristine seemed a bit spooked at hearing they had no clue when they might go back. Obviously she'd miss Scott, her family, and many other things such as her hat collection. Beta was probably panicking right about now, unsure where Hailey was. But whatever, not like they could reverse this.
"I guess I'll tell you, but we should really go down to breakfast," Barry said.
"Fine by me," said Hailey. The three of them went downstairs, but as Hailey was about to get off the last step, she saw a green critter with yellow on its chest portion and little yellow legs and also pink circles on its sides, moving along, it had big eyes too, seemed like a bug. Had to be the cuddliest looking one ever. Hailey never wouldn't thought she'd apply that word to an insect.
"That's a Caterpie," Barry explained, following her gaze. "But goodness, Melony had made pancakes, chocolate chip it seems like, let's go!"
He grabbed Hailey's arm and the three moved into the kitchen where a woman wearing a heavy coat was putting pancakes on a plate.
"Oh Barry, I see you got acquainted with our new arrivals."
"I have," Barry said.
"Sweet, all three of you can help yourself to pancakes."
"Don't mind if I do," Hailey said, putting three on a plat and getting out a fork. She moved to the table and Kristine also came with her own pancakes. Then they both poured syrup on them and enjoyed munching on that deliciousness, though Hailey was curious what other wonders they would see.