Chapter 1 – Just An Ordinary Day

OCTOBER 2001

THE BUCHANAN RESIDENCE

CHELSEA, LONDON, ENGLAND

7 A.M.

The alarm rang loudly in the air as Rhonda's eyes fluttered open and she stirred with a soft groan.

"Bloody hell," she muttered underneath her breath as she turned on her left side and leaned over to shut the alarm off.

"Get up, Rhonda! You need to get ready for school!" an older female Scottish voice hollered from a distance.

"Coming, Mum!" Rhonda yelled back as she threw the covers off of her and rolled out of bed before she trudged out of the room with her younger stepsister Abigail.

A short time later, Rhonda and her family were sitting around the kitchen table as they were eating breakfast, with Beatrice sipping on a glass of orange juice and some toast with raspberry jam, while Harold was munching on a plate full of bacon, fried eggs, and some biscuits covered in butter. As for the girls, they were eating cereal, with Rhonda eating some Honey Nut Cheerios while Abigail was stuffing her mouth with some Fruity Pebbles.

"How are you this morning, love?" Beatrice asked Rhonda.

At first Rhonda remained silent as she continued to chew and munch on her Honey Nut Cheerios.

"Your mother asked you a question, Rhonda," Harold reminded her in an admonishing voice.

"I'm fine, Mum," was all that Rhonda said as she swallowed her food.

Then just as Rhonda finished her meal, the bus pulled over in front of the flat while honking its horn loudly.

"Go, go, go! You're going to miss the bus!" Beatrice urged her stepdaughter as Rhonda grabbed her backpack and flung it over her shoulder before racing out the door.

Then once she boarded the bus, it then pulled away from the residence as it headed towards its destination.

As the bus continued on its leisurely route, Rhonda was staring at the window while watching people pass by with an absentminded yet pensive look in her eyes when suddenly a loud, boisterous male voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Hey, Rhonda; whatcha doing?" Luthor greeted her with an audacious and mischievous smirk as he leaned over her seat.

"Luthor, get down from there! The bus driver is going to see you!" Rhonda snapped angrily.

"You've been watching those people again, haven't you?" Luthor declared with his smirk widening.

"Yeah; I mean, there's really nothing to do on the bus until we get to school," Rhonda shrugged while averting her gaze bashfully.

"Look at this magazine Dad got me," Luthor announced as he took out a Pokemon fan magazine and showed it to Rhonda. "It's got lots of cool stuff. It even shows you the official Kanto Starter Pokemon."

Rhonda then grabbed the magazine and poured it over for a moment as she stared at the images of Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbusaur. Her face then softened as she stared sadly at the picture of Charmander in front of her.

"Man, I wish Pokemon was real," she sighed. "Then maybe I can get Jen and her cronies to stop bothering us."

"So do I, mate," Luthor concurred. "But we live in the real world unfortunately."

"The real world is so lame," Rhonda groaned with an eye roll as she sunk into her seat. "I wish for just one moment I can be in a world where I can train my own Pokemon and we can have fun adventures together."

"Maybe you can ask your dad to buy you a Pokemon game for your birthday this year," Luthor suggested.

"Yeah, but in order to get a Pokemon game I need a Gameboy Color and I don't even have that yet," Rhonda retorted tersely.

"All right then; why don't ask your dad for a Gameboy Color for your birthday so that you can buy that Pokemon game you want?" Luthor suggested pithily.

"Yeah, let's just see what Daddy says," Rhonda sighed dejectedly as she started to fidget with her seatbelt anxiously.

She then glanced over towards the window next to her and saw Katie's morose and downcast face reflected before her.

"Hey, Kev; is Katie feeling all right?" Rhonda hollered as she gazed at the seat in front of her.

"She just hasn't really been herself lately," Kevin replied while glancing at his twin sister worriedly. "Ever since Cousin Ollie died, she's been keeping to herself and not saying much to anybody. If I were you, I'd keep an eye on her."

"Good to know," Rhonda nodded.

Katie said nothing as she continued to stare at the window listlessly while playing with her Star of David pendant.

A short time later the bus finally arrived at the front entrance of the school as the students filed out of the vehicle and headed inside the building. The minute that Rhonda, Luthor and Katie entered the corridor, however, they saw a small group of girls congregated around Jasmine as she was in the middle of a major face-off with Jen.

"Why don't you leave and go back to where you came from, you filthy mongrel?" Jen sneered curtly with narrowed eyes.

"I have as much right to be here as you do, Jen, so bugger off!" Jasmine snarled fiercely.

"Oh really? I hope you and your kind aren't planning the next major terrorist attack, because if you are, you would be caught and apprehended by the government so fast that it would make your head spin," Jen shot back snidely.

"I am nothing like them!" Jasmine growled, her eyes flashing with anger and fury.

Jen just smirked and laughed sadistically with an arrogant and haughty look in her eyes.

"I hope for your sake that's true, because honestly I'm not so sure if I truly feel safe around people like you. You better watch yourself Shirvani. You're on thin ice as it is. One call to Interpol… and you and your family are out of here."

"You're bluffing," Jasmine sneered at her coldly.

"Hey, leave her alone, you bully!" Rhonda yelled angrily as she and her friends marched over to Jen.

"And who asked for your opinion, retard?" Jen growled as she whipped over to face Rhonda.

"That's enough!" a female voice hollered and everyone turned to see Ms. Caldwell standing in the doorway with a stern and disapproving frown on her face. "Everyone get inside right now before I mark all of you tardy for the day!"

"Yes, madam," the students chorused as they all rushed inside the classroom and Ms. Caldwell headed inside before closing the door shut.

TLSTLSTLSTLS

Several hours later, recess rolled around and the students were gathered outside in the track and field area as they were getting ready to do laps for the day. The skies were now beginning to darken as thunderclouds were converging together ominously with low peals of thunder roaring from a distance.

"All right, everyone; now I want you to do three laps around the race track for me. Let's see if any of you can beat your record from last week," the coach instructed them.

She then picked up the whistle dangling from her neck as she put it to her lips and blew on it shrilly.

"Go!"

The students then broke into a frantic and wild run as they began their mad dash across the race track. As for Rhonda, she was completely oblivious to her surroundings as she kept on running as fast as she could, even as her mind began to drift and she became deeply lost in her thoughts.

Rhonda was standing in the middle of the stadium as the crowd was cheering and screaming loudly and she was holding up a golden trophy with a beaming and proud Charizard by her side.

"We did it, Charizard!" Rhonda declared as she hugged her Pokemon tenderly. "We beat the Pokemon League together!"

Together… together… together…

Just then a light drizzle began to descend down the area as the coach blew on her whistle loudly while beckoning her students to come back inside.

"Everyone get back to the bleachers! It's raining like cats and dogs out there! We'll try this again tomorrow!" she hollered.

However, Rhonda wasn't even hearing her as she was still lost in her daydream, even as her speed began to increase and accelerate even more and her figure became even more of a blur.

The students then stopped running and looked over at Rhonda with awe and disbelief as they noticed that she was speeding around the track wildly.

"What's she doing?" one student whispered.

"She's running even faster than I've ever seen her," another student murmured.

"Go Rhonda!" Luthor cheered. "You can do it! Fly like Superman!"

Katie broke out into a small, quiet laugh at Luthor's remark, while Jasmine just rolled her eyes and shook her head in sheer disapproval.

Meanwhile, Rhonda was now tearing across the course as large clouds of dust began to trail after her. The light drizzle then gradually changed into a thundering and raging downpour as more peals of thunder and lightning exploded in the sky.

Rhonda then smiled as she felt the rain caress her face even as the world around her was careening into a slow standstill. From a distance she could hear muffled sounds of excited cheers echoing from the bleachers as they continued to watch her solo run. But just then she heard a loud crack of lightning explode from right behind her as Rhonda suddenly jumped with a start and lost her footing. She then started to skid across the field rapidly while flailing her arms frantically as she was sliding towards a metal chain-linked fence.

"Rhonda, look out!" Katie yelled in horror.

She then bolted from the group as she headed to where Rhonda was about to crash.

"Come back here, Rosenberg! You're going to get hurt or killed!" the coach yelled.

Katie then arrived at the metal chain-linked fence as she stood in front of it and had her arms spread open, ready to catch Rhonda.

"Katie, what the hell are you doing?" Jasmine shouted incredulously.

"This is bonkers, mate!" Luthor exclaimed in amazement.

Rhonda then continued to scream and wail in utter terror as she was now careening straight for Katie. However, just as she was about to crash, a magenta force field suddenly materialized and shielded Katie even as Rhonda was flying straight for her.

It wasn't long before Rhonda collided with the mystical force field and fell to the ground with a loud thud. Katie's force field then suddenly vanished just as quickly as it appeared just as several of the students raced over to where Rhonda fell and gathered around her.

"Let me through! Let me through, damn it!" the coach barked angrily as she pushed through the crowd of students before she appeared and looked down at Rhonda with slight concern on her face.

"Are you all right, Petrie? You're not hurt, are you?"

"Just peachy… coach," Rhonda answered with a sheepish and bemused smile as she still appeared to be completely dazed and stunned.

TLSTLSTLSTLS

A couple of hours later, Rhonda was back home from school as she was lying in bed with an ice pack sitting on top of her head.

"Rhonda, what happened to you? Are you hurt?" Abigail asked innocently as she entered the room.

"I ran into a metal chain-linked fence, Abby; it's no big deal," Rhonda quickly explained with a sheepish grin, not wanting her to know the real truth about what happened.

"No big deal?!" Abigail balked in utter disbelief as she shot a withering glare at her older stepsister. "Are you being serious right now? Do you realize that you could've gotten seriously hurt or even killed? Mum will go spare if something were to happen to you!"

"I know that, Abby; I'm not daft, you know. Besides, I'll be fine. The headache will sort itself out in a few hours," Rhonda shot back with an annoyed eye roll as she rubbed her head sorely with a groan.

"All right then; I'll be back here later to summon you downstairs for supper. Bye now," Abigail replied as she turned around and skipped out of the room while humming loudly.

Rhonda then let out a deep, exasperated sigh as she closed her eyes and continued to lie in bed for the rest of the afternoon.