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~Chapter I: Prologue~
The girl was beginning to get on my nerves. She spoke a mile a minute, pacing back and forth across the room, and acted like she hadn't just beat me up with her stupid pink clefairy to catch me in some stupid ball.
Did she even care?
"Gramps, I did what you asked! What more do you want from me? Come on, I have other stuff to do!"
I grit my teeth and felt my cheeks spark, then winced. My cheeks still felt sore from the magnitude of a Thunder I had unleashed earlier. I glared at the clefairy who had managed to counter it, who was currently watching over his trainer pace back and forth with a bored look on his face.
"Daisy May," the clefairy said sternly to the girl. What a stupid name. "You need to calm down."
The girl paused in her rant at her pokemon's tone then sighed. She turned around and I noticed a thin device in her hand pressed up to her ear. Was that was she was speaking into? "...fine, I'll wait a little longer. But if you and Gary don't get here in ten minutes, I'm heading out!"
She huffed into the device, "see you later, Gramps." She pressed something on the device-a button, maybe?-and slipped the device into her back pocket. I stared.
"What?" the girl asked rudely. "Why are you looking at me like that, rat?"
I ignored the clefairy's immediate groan in favor of getting to my feet in retaliation. As comfortable as the bed I laid on was, I would rather put this girl in her place. "Why are you so full of yourself? You just waltzed in on me while I was gathering berries and began attacking me like some psychopath! If anything, it should be me asking the questions around here!"
The girl rolled her eyes. "Clefairy, can you shut that thing up, please?"
The clefairy sent an incredulous look towards the girl. "I'm beat, Daisy May. Don't forget who took the brunt of that Thunder from earlier."
The girl waved her pokemon off like a typical human and swayed her hips back and forth as she left the room. "Yeah, yeah...can you watch the pikachu for a moment? I need to let Alex know that I'll be running a little late to the meeting."
"Sure, no problem." The clefairy replied as I directed my glare towards him. "What? You're a caught pokemon now, might as well just accept it."
"I'm not accepting a damn thing!" I shouted and desperately willed myself to fire a Thundershock. My cheeks fizzed out and the soreness came rushing back all at once. I felt my legs begin to shake underneath me... "I was perfectly fine as I was in the wild, and you and your stupid trainer had to come along and ruin it!"
The clefairy hummed to himself and began tracing patterns on the wooden desk he was sitting on. "First off, getting angry doesn't help your situation. All you're doing it making things harder for yourself and others. Second off, even if you don't believe me, it's true; you're far safer here at Professor Oak's laboratory than in the wild. You won't have to find your own food, either-it's handmade and homegrown here."
I wasn't really listening to what he was saying, but one word caught my attention. I slunk backwards as I felt my fur rise. The clefairy raised an eyebrow at my behavior but didn't comment. "Laboratory?" My voice felt faint even to my own ears. "This is...this is a laboratory?"
"Yes, it is."
I didn't know what a laboratory really was, but I did hear stories about it. As far as I remember, the only time "laboratory" was used in a sentence was when the words "screams" and "pain" were accompanied with it. It was a place of pure pain, I had decided and at the moment I first heard of it decided I never wanted to go near one.
Yet, here I was. Taken against my own will into some wretched red and white contraption as its walls closed in on me...I shuddered and tried to avert my thoughts elsewhere. That was a hard task in of itself, given my current location was apparently a...laboratory.
"Hey, listen," the clefairy seemed concerned, but I didn't really care. Nobody was ever concerned about the being of others in this world-concern wasn't normal. The only thing it was, as far as I was concerned, was fake. Nobody acted concerned for another unless they wanted something in return. And I really don't like giving. "This place isn't so bad. Daisy May might've made a bad impression on you, but she's really a nice human. That goes for Professor Oak too. He'll take care of you."
I recoiled from the clefairy's attempt to reach out. "I don't care," I hissed. "I'm not staying here-" I felt a sudden urge to yawn. "A-and, you're not going to do..." My eyelids felt heavy as I struggled to complete my sentence. I was swaying on my feet. What was happening to me? "T-to do...anything..."
I trailed off as I felt my body tilt. I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow.
***
Everything hurt. My head was throbbing, my limbs felt sore, and my stomach felt turned inside out. The fact that I was floating in a dark space certainly was not helping any matters.
They had put me in that stupid ball again. I felt my heart pound against my chest as my breathing began to grow heavy. I felt lightheaded. I didn't know what was happening to me but all I was focused on was the fact that I was in that stupid contraption. It was going to hurt me again, I knew it.
Electricity thrummed throughout my body. My muscles tensed as I let loose a Thundershock.
I watched in horror as it deflected against the walls of nothingness that was this space and dispersed into particles of electricity. I tried again. "Pika...CHU!!!"
Again.
And again.
And again.
And-
I suddenly felt a very unmistakable urge to electrocute someone. Someone, anyone, just to get my stress out. Or more specifically, that stupid girl with her stupid clefairy. I hope she got trapped somewhere she hated one day with no way out. I hope she died there.
The thought that I might die here was one that hadn't crossed my mind yet, but once it did, it refused to leave.
I never really cared to think about the circumstances in which I would die. But I knew the last thing I wanted was to die here, of all places. If I was going to die, I was going to die by my own hands, not by the hands of some idiotic human with a god complex.
I guess that stretches to all humans though.
I took a second to try and gather my thoughts, ignoring my heart hammering in my chest and the blood rushing to my ears. That proved impossible, so I gave up after two seconds and decided to try a Thunder.
Thundershock might not have worked but at least I had Thunder as a backup. It was a powerful move, one that I used to scare off many pokemon in the wild. It helped keep everyone away from me.
"Pi-ka..." I inhaled sharply. Then I felt a strong pull and a bright light fill my vision. Panicked, I finished my attack the second I felt my feet touch...the ground? "CHUUUU!!!"
Screams filled the air and I cracked my eyes open to see the girl, her clefairy, and some random old dude on the ground with electricity crackling all around them.
"I told you Gramps..." the girl groaned as her clefairy began fussing over her. I scowled at him. What a kiss-up. To a human, no less. "That thing has problems."
"I'll show you problems!" I snapped, my cheeks still sparking. I got into a battling position, ready to take them down. If the clefairy was going to fight me, then fine, so be it. I would be glad to hand his backside to him.
The old man massaged his forehead with a sigh. "Yes, I realize that, Daisy May. But unless you'd rather go to Viridian City and catch another pikachu, we're stuck with this one."
The girl muttered something under her breath.
"Now, Daisy May, don't you have other things to do? If I recall, you have to attend a meeting at Mrs. Nathan's bakery with Alex, correct?"
"Oh, right. The thing I had to put off so I could catch some stupid pikachu for you." I gritted my teeth, ready to charge, but was held back by the clefairy. I glared at him to which he simply cast a dry look at me. Oh, how I wanted to punch him! "I'm guessing that means you don't need me for anything else anymore?"
"Yes, Daisy May," the old man sighed. "You can go now. Thank you for your help."
"Yeah, whatever. That pikachu is your problem now." She turned to the clefairy. "Come on, Clefairy, let's go."
"Got it," the clefairy replied and cast one more look towards me before following his trainer outside. Good riddance. I didn't miss him in the slightest.
"Now..." I felt my fur bristled as I realized I still had another problem to deal with. I felt a cold wash over me as the man's gaze met my own. "Pikachu."
I flinched and hissed at the man, my cheeks sparking with warning. He made no movement that seemed threatening, but I didn't really care. He was probably just pretending anyway.
"You don't need to be so alarmed," he said calmly, and I felt an urge to bash my tail in his face. His eyes softened. "No one is going to hurt you here. I'll make sure of that."
"Liar," I hissed, even though I knew he couldn't understand me. He was a human after all. Humans couldn't understand pokemon. They couldn't understand pokemon even if they tried. "You're just going to use me for something, aren't you? Or, even better, I bet the only reason you captured me is for some ulterior motive!"
The old man let out a sigh and pulled a chair out from under his desk. It took me a moment to finally register the fact that we were in fact in what looked to be an office. Or from what I heard about what offices looked like. This was my first time being in one.
I'm not entirely sure why the wild pidgey made offices out to be some sort of sacred place. It looked like nothing special to me. It had papers literally everywhere and books were stacked like it was bricks for a building. Only the building was destroyed by a hurricane and attempted to be built back together by a group of two year olds.
"Perhaps I should introduce myself first. I can't guarantee you'll like me," I smirked at that. Damn right I won't like him. Feed me as much lies as you want, old man. Either way, I'm going to fry your brain into ashes when you're finished. "But at the very least, let me try."
Satisfied with my Plan B, I let a reluctant nod towards him and straightened into a sitting position, staring expectantly.
The man took a deep breath, and began. "First off, my name is Professor Oak. I'm the lead researcher and owner of Oak Laboratories, which is this place right here. It's the only Pokemon Lab in the rural areas of the Kanto region, specifically in Pallet Town. My job is to research and help the understanding of pokemon by helping them and collecting information. Sometimes I catch pokemon from the wild to help with my research." He caught the look on my face and held his hands up in reassurance. "The research itself is nothing more than simple observations from a distance. My research is perfectly safe for all those involved and no one here at the lab is suffering in any way."
That didn't make me feel any better. How was I supposed to trust this man's words? And why was he telling me all this anyway? Did he think I was seriously going to be okay with getting caught by some stupid humans in some stupid ball to be a stupid test subject in some stupid lab?
The man was quiet for a moment and I turned my attention back on him. His eyes were trailing off into the distance and I narrowed my own eyes in response. He seriously wanted me to trust him?
"...However, I would like you to know that you are going to be what some may call a...Starter Pokemon."
My ears perked at that. A Starter Pokemon? What the hell was that? Sounds like something bad, no doubt...
"Being a Starter Pokemon means that on the very first of April, you would be given to a new and budding trainer from Pallet Town-this town-" I wasn't sure why he thought the name of this town needed repeating, but I didn't like it. Did he think I was dumb? Just because I was a pokemon? "And you'll be their partner on their journey. Does that sound good to you?"
I let him know exactly how good that sounded to me in the politest way possible. I smirked at the charred professor on the floor. That'll teach him to mess with me. There was absolutely no way in hell that I would be a Starter Pokemon. I didn't want to have anything to do with humans, let alone travel with one.
The man steadily rose to his feet, using a chair as a crutch. He sighed heavily as he plucked himself down on the chair and looked over me with old and tired eyes. He reminded me of that old bellsprout back in the forest I lived in, always looking like he sees demons flying around every single day. I had asked him about it one time, to which he replied that he did face demons every day. I thought he was being stupid. Even more so when he said that I bore the same haunted look as he.
Yeah, that old man was crazy. So is the one standing in front of me, I realized, as the professor began speaking again. "If it'll make you feel any better..." I snorted. He was still trying to console me? "You won't be alone in the matter. There are three other pokemon who are set to become Starters as well. If you'd come with me for a moment...I could introduce you."
Yeah, no thanks. I gave the man a leveled glare before jumping off of the table and sprinting towards the door. The old man gave out a cry of surprise as he stumbled out of his chair and fell to the floor. I laughed at him. Serves him right.
I pushed the door to open it but was surprised when I fell right back. I clutched my head for a moment. What the hell...?
I noticed a shadow over me and looked up warily to see the tired looking man. He sighed and ran his hand through his gray hair. "We were going to go that way to see the other Starters, anyway. You didn't have to go and hurt yourself."
"I didn't hurt myself!" I snapped. "It's not my fault this stupid door won't open!"
"Please, Pikachu," the man said. "Just come with me to meet the Starters. Please."
I growled at him then faltered when he put his hand on some sort of handle on the door and turned it. The door miraculously opened. I stared as he walked through. How...?
"Do you know how doors work?" I gave the man a look before walking out the room into some sort of hallway with him. "It's a rather genius invention, really..."
I pretended I wasn't listening as the man proceeded to explain the mechanics of a door and its handle. As soon as the man started getting far too technical and used words I didn't understand, I lost interest and tuned him out for real.
My thoughts turned to other things, like how I was going to escape this place. And why I hadn't heard any screams yet. Did this professor just silence the pokemon's screams? With what? Back in the forest, whenever a pokemon's screams were wished to be silenced by another, cotton was often used. Not many pokemon could produce cotton in the wild, so the pokemon often risked going to human populated areas to steal some.
I remembered my own experience with cotton in the wild and shuddered. Cotton didn't just stifle a pokemon's screams, it suffocated them as well. You'd be suffocating all alone and in pure pain just because you did something stupid like wander into some other pokemon's territory. Now that pokemon has complete control over what you did and nobody around could save you because they couldn't even hear you-
I shook my head and swallowed. I felt a lump in my throat. Best not to think about that now...
We walked for a while until we came across another door, which the man opened again. He must've stopped talking a while ago, since he wasn't right now. We walked outside the laboratory, which made me feel like a spec of dust in comparison to its size. Hell, I think even the professor looked like a spec of dust compared to it.
The man continued leading the way further and further away from the lab. We drew close to a forest and I did a double take. Why was he taking me to a forest? I corrected myself immediately when I realized that we weren't actually going inside the forest. We were just walking alongside it.
"How far are these so called Starters anyway...?" I muttered under my breath.
The professor must've guessed that I was feeling impatient, so he replied to my question without even realizing it. "We're almost there, Pikachu, so don't worry. Just a little further and we should reach an outlook...ah. Here we are..."
The man stepped to the side to reveal a cliff ahead. I felt my fur bristle and tensed. I sent off sparks in warning. He was planning on throwing me off, wasn't he?
The man held up his hand in defense as he stumbled backwards in a panic. "Ah, Pikachu, calm down! I just wanted to show you this place first! Please, just look around, I assure you there's nothing to be worried about!"
My cheeks stopped sparking, but I continued to glare at him. I made sure to keep him in the corner of my eyes where I could see him as I turned towards the outlook to view what that old man wanted me to see so damn badly-
My breath caught. The cliff overlooked a huge field below that seemed to stretch on for miles. It wasn't just a field, though, as I noticed the various habitats throughout. A huge lake in one area, a large forest surrounding the field, and dry desert at the very end of it all. But the seemingly impossible clash of different environments all in one place wasn't what stunned me. What shocked me was the pokemon. Everywhere I looked, I saw groups of pokemon in the field. Variations of flying types racing through the air, water types playing in the water, normal and grass types relaxing in the shade, ground and rock types battling it out as other pokemon watched...there seeming to be no harm in the battle itself...
But the thing that shocked me the most was the fact that none of these pokemon, despite presumably being a part of this laboratory...weren't screaming. They were calm. Relaxed. Happy, even.
"See," the man groaned as I continued to stare, at a complete loss for words. "I told you there's nothing to worry about here. You might not trust me, I know, but there are still plenty of pokemon here you can talk to and confirm that I won't harm you."
My eyes hardened and I looked away. I may not trust humans, but that didn't mean I automatically trusted pokemon. For all I knew, these pokemon could be doing something for the humans in exchange for safety and comfort. Something nasty, that's for sure.
The man got to his feet huffing and puffing. "I'm getting way too old for this..." he sighed. He put his hands behind his back and gestured for me to continued following him. I scowled before doing so. I had already decided I hated everything about my current situation, but I couldn't deny I was curious about all of this. Curiosity killed the cat, everyone says, but I often replied with "what type of cat?". I knew for sure that curiosity would kill a meowth, but it wouldn't kill a persian. Maybe I was that lucky persian.
He eventually led me to the bottom of the cliff, where the field of pokemon was. I noticed a trio of pokemon arguing up ahead, near a large rock.
"But I got here first!"
"Like hell, you cheated, Charmander!"
"Oh, put a sock in it, Squirtle. We all know you're just being a sore loser. Charmander wins."
"Thank you Bulbasaur..."
"Screw that! Fight me!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!!!"
"Yes!!!"
The professor groaned as we approached the trio. I openly rolled my eyes at them. The three were bickering like a group of idiots.
"Alright, you three, let's break it up," the professor sighed. The trio paused in their argument before huffing and looking away from each other. "There's no need to argue."
"Whatever..." the squirtle mumbled under its breath. It turned its attention on me and looked me up and down. It raised an eyebrow. "Who the hell is this puny loser?"
I instantly decided I hated this trio of pokemon and wanted nothing to do with them.
Unfortunately, the professor stepped in before I could shock the squirtle and its dumb friends into oblivion. "I would like to introduce you three to someone. I'm sure you know I've been trying to find another Starter for quite some time now."
"Yeah..." the three Starters eyed each other warily before their judging eyes fell on me.
"Well, I'd like you to meet..." the professor stepped to the side and I met the three pokemon's eyes with a glare. "The newest starter, Pikachu. Pikachu, I'd like you to meet Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander, the other Starter pokemon. Now, say hello."
The trio exchanged awkward looks between each other, before the charmander spoke up. "Er...hi."
"Greetings," the bulbasaur waved with its vines.
"Hey," the squirtle said gruffly.
I continued glaring as the trio stared at me expectantly. I didn't really care about them, so I didn't see what they wanted from me, especially since we had just met a few mere seconds ago.
The professor stood awkwardly for a moment before coughing into his hand. "Bulbasaur, do you think you and the other two can help Pikachu around?"
The bulbasaur nodded wearily. "Yeah..."
"Good," the professor said before waving and walking away. "I'll leave you to it then."
There were a few moments of awkward silence before the charmander spoke. "So...you're the new Starter?"
I scoffed. "Hell, no. I'm not staying around here any longer. I said I'd stay until I met you three, which I have. So I'll be taking my leave now." I turned around, ready to bound towards the forest when I felt vines wrap around me. I turned around and scowled at the bulbasaur. "What's wrong with you? Let me go!"
"No," the bulbasaur said calmly, and I gritted my teeth. My cheeks sparked and the bulbasaur quickly rushed its next sentence. "Listen, even if you do run away, you'd still be a caught pokemon and that means you can be found if you stay within the region. IF you wanted to escape, you'd have to destroy your Poke Ball first."
I stopped struggling and looked at the bulbasaur curiously. "Poke Ball?"
The squirtle snorted at my question and I turned my scowl onto it. The charmander interrupted this time. "The round ball that you were captured in. You know, the one that turns you into energy? It's really nice to be in."
"Nice" was nothing but a lie. The Poke Ball, huh...so that was what that strange contraption was called. It wasn't nice to be in at all. It was painful. Every second of it and I wasn't exactly sure why the charmander was lying to me about it.
Still...that thing kept me a caught pokemon? Like hell. I began formulating a plan in my head to try and destroy it. "Yeah, and how would I be able to do that?"
The squirtle shrugged. "I dunno, just blast it til' it breaks? Why do you wanna escape so badly, anyway?"
I glared at it. "You don't?"
The squirtle looked down on me and I scowled. "Yeah, you're definitely a wild pokemon. You've inherited that stupidity they all tend to have." Oh, he was going to regret that...
"Pi-KA!" The Starters yelped and scrambled to escape the wrath of my Thundershock.
"Oh, yeah. You've got a one-track mind, too!" The squirtle shouted at me before he got smacked by one of the bulbasaur's vines.
"Are you nuts? Are you seriously trying to make him mad?"
"It's not my fault the guy's so angry. He needs some love in life."
"I'll show you love..." I hissed before firing off another Thundershock. The bulbasaur and squirtle continued to dodge before I realized something. Where was the charmander?
I let out a sharp gasp as I felt something scratch my side and throw me against the ground. A weight pressed on me, keeping me down. "Sorry," the charmander apologized profusely as I growled at it. It had its claws pressed against my cheek as the bulbasaur held onto the charmander's paw with a vine. Its other vine was inside the ground. I had no idea what that would do until I let loose a Thundershock. The bulbasaur and charmander grunted, but the charge seemed to go through them harmlessly before it dissipated into the ground.
I was surprised by that, then immediately began struggling. "Let me go!" I screamed, thrashing underneath the charmander and bulbasaur's simultaneous hold. "Let me go or I'll fry you so hard you'll fall into a permanent sleep!"
The squirtle let out a lazy whistle as it put its hands behind its head. "Damn. Talk about extreme. Wild as wild can be, I see."
The bulbasaur groaned. "Squirtle, cut it out already. We get it. You have a prejudice against wild pokemon. Now can you be quiet for just five minutes, please?"
I don't know what it was, but the squirtle seemed to shut up after that. The bulbasaur turned its attention on me. "Okay, listen. We know you're frustrated, angry, upset, and probably confused as all hell as to what's going on, but hear us out for a moment. You. Are. Safe. Here." The bulbasaur emphasized every single word like I was an idiot and I growled in retaliation. "This isn't like the wild. Most of the pokemon here are domesticated and have been living that way for their whole lives. Battles between pokemon aren't that uncommon here because it isn't a fight over food or to the death. Most of the time, it's just for fun."
I was about to question the stupidity in that logic but the bulbasaur still wasn't done hearing the sound of its own voice.
"This doesn't mean that fights don't occur naturally, of course, because the humans in the laboratory don't interfere with anything in nature unless someone gets seriously hurt. If someone tried to eat you, for instance, they wouldn't interfere unless they were sure you had no way of getting out of it. You're provided food, you're provided rest, and you can go wherever you want in the laboratory without any real repercussions. Sure, some pokemon might chase you out or some humans will get upset if you mess up some equipment or whatever, but you don't have the constant threat of death here. If you want to still go back into the wild after hearing all that, then that's your problem. But at the very least, try and control your instinctual urges to kill anyone who even looks at you funny."
I glared at the bulbasaur as it released its vines and the charmander stepped off of me. The bulbasaur and charmander began walking in the direction the professor had earlier along with the squirtle. Having said their piece, I suppose they found it suitable to leave. But I guess they remembered they were supposed to be watching over me, because they stopped in their tracks and turned around.
"Right about now, it's lunchtime," the charmander said kindly. "We're heading to the lab where we'll get our food. Unlike the other pokemon, us Starters get the special privilege of eating inside the lab. If you really want reassurance that this place isn't that bad, then come with us to see for yourself."
The three turned around and continued walking, seemingly under the assumption that I would actually follow them.
I mulled in my thoughts. I wanted to escape, but if what the bulbasaur had said about the Poke Ball was true, then I would have to find that thing first and destroy it. And I had no way of doing that unless I stuck around.
Maybe I could stay for just a little while? At least, until I found out where my Poke Ball is?
I debated back in forth in my mind before deciding to take the risk. I watched the thee Starters begin to walk up the cliff on a long slope, before taking a deep breath and going for the plunge. I walked forward and began following them from a distance.
I would stay until I found that stupid Poke Ball. Then I would destroy it, then leave this place for good.
There was no way in hell I would ever let that professor give me to some random dumb human.
No way in hell.
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