Introduction

He gazed from his deep, leather chair out at the sunset through his window. The suns rays tickled the bottoms of the passing clouds. It was the end of another uneventful day. However, his time of peace would soon be interrupted.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” A girl asked as she peeked in the door. She was dressed in a black and white uniform and had the bangs of her hair hanging on either side of her face, allowing you to see her gray eyes which sparkled in the sunset.

“Yes...” the man said as he turned around, revealing his white hair and his executive outfit, “It has been a while since we last heard from our funding source at the Slowpoke well...” He put his elbows on his large, oak desk and leaned against his clasped hands, waiting for a response.

“And what do you want me to do, sir?” The girl asked, timidly entering the room.

“Shouldn’t you know?” The man asked, “I want you to go and give me a status report. Stay undercover, though. We don’t want to draw any attention to our organization.”

“Yes, sir!” The girl said, politely bowing before leaving the man back to his sunset. The sun now danced on the horizon as it slowly sank to the West.

*Beep, beep*

The man sighed as he swiveled around in his chair once more. He pressed a button on his intercom phone.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Boss,” A voice responded clearly over the intercom, “I called to tell you...it’s done...”

“At last,” The man replied, “How is it?”

A faint roar was heard over the intercom.

“It’s quite lively, sir,” The man replied.

“Good,” the man replied, “I will be down in a few minutes.”

“Yes, sir,” the man on the other end of the intercom replied. The phone clicked off. The man turned around and took one last look as the sun was consumed by the horizon.

“So it begins...”


* * * * *

“Shadow, wait!” Kris cried as they walked along the simple, dirt road that ran between the cities of New Bark town and Cherrygrove. Shadow grumbled as he stopped and turned around to wait for his little sister, who was having quite a bit of trouble keeping up with his relentless pace. Kris panted once she had caught up to Shadow, and leaned her weight against his as she tried to catch her breath, “Why are you in such a rush?” She asked, panting, “Besides, I’m starving!”

“You ate five sandwhiches an hour ago. Besides, I just want to get this thing over with,” Shadow said impatiently in his rough, callous voice as the male-symbol-shaped charm dangled from a string around his neck. Shadow and Kris had left their home town of New Bark on an “errand” for their mom’s acquaintance, Professor Elm. This errand involved hiking all the way to Cherrygrove to pick up something from Mr. Pokemon, the local crackpot. It seemed that Shadow and Kris had to do a “favor” for Professor Elm twice a week, normally with computer repairs or to get his groceries. Shadow was never fond of these tasks, and having to take Kris with him everywhere only made things more difficult.

Kris was energetic and optimistic most of the time, but she was clumsy at times and tended to mess things up. Because of how paranoid their mom was, she never let Kris or Shadow leave unless they went together. However, the way many people saw how Shadow treated Kris made it seem like she was a burden to him.

“Are you sure it’s no to get away from your f--?” Kris asked before she was cut off. Shadow had clasped his hand across her mouth, growling.

“Come on,” Shadow said, “Let’s get moving. I want to get this done by the end of the week.” He turned and began walking again at his fast pace, causing Kris to lose her balance and fall into the dirt. Coughing, Kris stood up again and continued after her brother. In her time around Shadow, Kris had actually developed quite a bond with him, dispite how she was sometimes treated. She really loved her brother and had been trying to break through his shell since the time she was born. To tell the truth, Shadow and Kris were just a little over a year apart. Shadow, however, developed a larger build and Kris was a little late to start on development, so the two look further apart than they really are.

Shadow suddenly stopped in his tracks. Absentmindedly, Kris bumped into Shadow, causing him to stumble forward a step or two, “What’s up?” Kris asked.

“Shhh...” Shadow said, slowly reaching for his belt. It was then that Kris saw the tall grass nearby begin to move. Kris put her hands on Shadow’s shoulder and positioned herself so that Shadow was between her and the moving grass. Out of the grass wandered a Rattata, sniffing around with its sensitive nose. It had become enticed by the smell of the food that Shadow and Kris were carrying with them. When it saw Shadow and Kris, it hissed violently and began shaking its tail. Judging by the injury across its left eye, this Rattata had been through a lot of fights before and was obviously quite experienced. It showed off its large buck teeth and growled softly. Shadow pulled a pokeball from his belt and pressed the button, causing it to expand in its hand. He then cast out the pokeball at his feet, revealing Larvitar, his first pokemon. The Rattata lowered its head.

“Larvitar,” Shadow said, “Pursuit attack!” Larvitar nodded in agreement and lunged at the Rattata, landing a critical strike on the left side of the Rattata. Startled and injured, the Rattata quickly ran away back into the grass.

“Wow...” Kris said, “That looked easy...” As soon as she had finished saying that, tenscore more Rattata popped out of the tall grass surrounding them.

“Um...crap?...”