The good, the bad, and the unknown
Those of you who may have read this before I got the full chapter, please read from the end again. I added a lot.
Ok, so, first off, I would like to say that this first part might seem lame and unrelated to you people. BUT, the second part is where it gets good. Right now, this first chapter might not seem Pokemon related, but trust me, it's getting there.
Please offer me your feedback, gimme the brutally honest truth. I'd appreciate it so I know how to improve, and let me know what you think of the first chapter! Tell me if it's worth it or not!. Thanks!
Anything is Possible
Chapter 1: The good, the bad, and the unknown
I had this feeling that I was falling, falling from a great height, not able to see anything because it was all black, but I was falling. I could sense the ground coming rapidly to meet me. 'This is it,' I thought, 'this is the end.'
* * *
Brennan's body jerked awake. He looked around, wide awake now, and saw a couple of people smirking or laughing quietly at him. He shrugged and returned his attention to the teacher. She had stopped her lecture and was looking directly at him, a look of severe distaste clear on her features.
"Sorry," he mumbled half-heartedly, not caring as much as he probably should have been for being caught sleeping in her class...again.
"Yes, Brennan, you will be sorry if it happens again," Mrs. Flare sneered.
He mouthed what she said as she said it, word for word. Having heard this oration so may times in the past, he practically had it memorized. "Yes Mrs. Flare," he answered, just like every other time. And, just as she did every other time, she had him tell her what they were doing and what the answer to the current question was. He glanced at the board, then orated, "We are focusing on derivatives today," his eyes wandered back to the board, seeking the question, "and the derivative of that function," he nodded his head toward the board, "is 18x + 36." He figured that the only reason he hadn't been given an OCD (on campus detention) was because he already knew the material from studying ahead of the slow pace at which she taught the class. He had the rest of the weeks homework figured out already.
She smiled at him mirthlessly, then turned her back to him and continued her lecture, writing another formula on the board. "Now, the formula for taking the derivative of x raised to the n power is n times x raised to the n - 1 power, and the formula for..." Brennan had begun to drift off to sleep once more, when the bell rang. As habit brought him to do, he was the first out of the class. He hadn't needed to unpack anything for that class anyway, so he had nothing to gather together. He made his way at a fast pace to the English hall, where he would meet his girlfriend on her way out.
Jade smiled at him warmly as she stepped out of her class, slinging her backpack on her back, "Hey!" she said, spreading her arms for a hug.
Brennan didn't even hesitate as he moved forward to hug her, kissing her cheek lightly, "Hey," he replied, "You got anything going on today?" he asked her as they parted and walked toward the buses, hand in hand.
Jade thought for a moment before responding, "No, I don't think so, why?"
"I was thinkin' we could go horseback riding today. I have my horses prepped for the ride already." He knew she loved horseback riding, and knew she couldn't resist, "Jayce is gonna come too," he added almost as an afterthought.
"Of course I'll go!," she exclaimed., "I'll meet you at your house at..." she prompted.
"2:45"
She nodded, "2:45 it is then. See you then!" she waved as she walked to go to her car. They lived almost 7 miles apart and Brennan didn't own a car yet, so she drove and he took the buses home. He watched her as she departed, observing her beautiful frame. She stood at about 5'4" and was about 110 lbs., was 17, had long red/brown hair, and light green eyes. Better yet, she didn't have one of the stuck up types of personality that he often found good looking girls had in the school. She cared, was compassionate, and didn't cuss up one side and down the other.
He found himself unbelieving that he was lucky enough to be with her. Besides, he was just like the exact opposite of her, psychologically and physically. Well, at least he didn't consider himself what she said everyone thought about him, and that was 'cute'. He was half Korean, olive skinned, brown eyes so dark they were almost black, and black short (Almost high-and-tight style) hair. He stood at 6 feet tall, weighed about 145 lbs, was 17, was considered in the whole school to be a 'high tech' redneck, and he wasn't one of the 'good' kids in school either. By 'high tech' he was literate with computers, most anything electronic or mechanical. He excelled at mathematics, sciences, and literature (though people wouldn't believe it by the way he talked). He normally wore somewhat baggy pants, but didn't believe in sagging them down past his butt, and some sort of tank top. He was frequently called 'gangsta' or 'playa' all the time as well, but he didn't care to indulge in labels. He was himself, that was all that mattered.
As tough as he may have sounded, Jade brought out his compassionate nature. Yes, he had one, but he didn't publicly show it, or tried not to.
Jayce put a hand on his shoulder and Brennan looked at him, gave a curt nod, the normal greeting they offered each other, and started walking to their bus.
Jayce was Brennan's best friend, his only trustworthy friend. They were so alike, it was scary. Either they were exactly alike, or exactly different, no in between. But it was mostly exactly alike. He normally wore cowboy getup, though he didn't have any land or anything, and his relatives had horses. Cowboy hat, boots, levis, massive belt buckle, the whole shabang.
"Hey man," Brennan said, "Up for some horseback ridin'?"
Jayce shrugged, "Sure, got nothing better to do."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brennan led the group of three, riding a black bay Arabian, up a trail into the forested mountain. Behind him was Jade, riding a brown Arabian, and last came Jayce, riding a quarter horse, all of whom were Brennan's. After a couple hours of riding, idle chat, and picture taking of the scenery, they stopped in a small clearing to eat. Brennan dismounted and tied the halter to his horse to a sturdy fallen tree, doing the same for Jade, letting Jayce tie his. He unloaded his saddle pack and pulled out their lunch, Jayce getting water from his, and Jade, a blanket from hers.
"Whatcha think so far?" Brennan asked Jade.
"It's beautiful, I'm glad I came," she smiled.
"Alright you two lovebirds, let's eat, I'm starving," Jayce interjected.
"Yeah, yeah, just make sure your stomach doesn't eat itself before we get set up here man," Brennan chuckled sarcastically.
They ate, talking about how school was, how their lives at home were. Brennan didn't care to divulge his household situation, because it would take away the happy air around them. He was hearing them, but not listening as his mind wandered, when he spotted something from the corner of his eye, move in the deep shadow of the more heavily wooded area off to his right. He looked to see what it was, but it was gone. He didn't know anything that could move quickly enough to be out of sight, or hearing, that quickly. Puzzled, he set down his sandwich, and stood.
"Where are you going man?" Jayce asked.
Brennan shrugged, "Nature calls."
"Nature doesn't call, it demands, how many times do I have to tell you that?" Jayce laughed. Jade looked at him questioningly, and Jayce explained, "He's got to pee." She shook her head, a smile on her face as she took another bite of her sandwich.
Brennan walked on into the forest, heading deeper and deeper. Faintly, from behind, he heard Jayce call, "Hey man, it's not like we're going to look or something, you don't have to go that far," but he kept on going, deeper into the densely wooded area, further into the shadows. Again, off to his right, he saw something bolt away. He turned and walked toward where it went. As he rounded a rather thick tree, there was a blur of movement right in front of his face, and a sharp pain to his forehead. He fell back, one hand clutching his head, the other finding the knife he carried with him everywhere on his belt. He freed it and took his hand from his head to see if he was bleeding. He sure was, not too bad, but it wasn't superficial, that was for sure.
He looked up and put the knife in front of him. There stood a man in a black suit, M16 shouldered and pointed at Brennan. "What the fuck was that for ass hole?!" He screamed, and wished he didn't as it made his head throb and feel like it was going to split in half, "what, did I walk in on the fuckin' president or somethin'?" he said a bit more quietly, it just now sinking it he was at gunpoint.
The man said nothing, merely smirked and took a step toward him. Brennan raised his knife in defense quickly and the man stopped, pondering if he would really be a threat. Brennan was frozen not sure what to do. He started to walk backward after a moment, slowly at first, then quicker. He bumped into a tree and started to go around it.
BANG
Brennan flinched at the loud noise, tried to draw breath, but couldn't. He looked down and brought a hand to the fresh new wound that resided in his ribs. He looked up, tried to draw breath again, and nothing happened. Blood seeped through his tightly clenched fingers. There stood the man, not too feet in front of him. The knife had slipped from Brennan's fingers long ago. He fell to his knees, fell forward, but the man caught him, but dropped him almost as quickly. Brennan heard voices, felt the ground vibrate beneath his face as though a struggle were going on. Hands pushed Brennan on his back. There was Jade, looking down at him. She said something, but he couldn't understand her.
BANG - BANG
There was silence, then a slight 'thud'. Jade looked up, then buried her face into Brennan's chest, crying. He tried to look over to see what happened, but he couldn't. He couldn't raise a hand to wipe away her tears, he couldn't move. The world dimmed, and he blacked out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Breath escaped his lips. He tried taking a deep breath, but coughed as a result of his greediness. His breaths came strained, erratic, and rapid. Beyond his own breathing, he could depict another sound, calm, rhythmic breathing of one who is unconscious. Where was the third?
His eyes snapped open and he looked around frantically. He could see, he was sure of that, but there wasn't enough light to make out what he was seeing. He couldn't even tell where the source of the light was. He kept his eyes on something that seemed to be not too far from him, maybe four feet, and watched it for a moment. Concluding it was a person by the rise and fall of it matching the breathing he heard, he whispered in a ragged breath, "Hey..." but his voice broke halfway through. He licked his lips and tried again.
"Hey, are you ok?" he asked. Coughing from the effort, his hands moved to cover his mouth; however, they were restrained. He yanked against them and pulled hard to no avail. He tested his feet, and they were cuffed too. He was cuffed to a bed of sorts. Out of sheer anger and frustration, he yelled, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?"
"Is that you, Brennan?" echoed a faint voice from next to him.
"Jade! Are yeh ok? Where are we, what's happening?"
"Brennan, they killed Jayce. He's dead...," she trailed off and began to cry softly.
He let the words sink in for a moment. "What?" he said silently to himself. The events flashed back to his mind. The gunshots, the thud, and he envisioned the dead body of Jayce, his best friend. He started shaking his head, his face slowly contorting to that of anger. "No...," he said, "No, no, no, NO!" He started yanking, squirming, kicking, screaming, tried to get himself free. He pulled and pulled until he started bleeding where the cuffs wrapped around his wrists and ankles. Abruptly, the lights in the room turned on and Brennan had to squeeze his eyes from the fierce burning caused by the lights. He blinked a few times and looked around the room. It seemed completely of windows, one-way seeing windows. He couldn't see out, but he bet they could see in. And one door, there was a door opposite the foot of his bed. His eyes wandered to the end of his bed and observed where he was. He lay on a standard military bed, spread with white sheets and a pillow. He was cuffed to rails on either sides at the ankles and wrists, and a belt stretched over his chest. Next to his bed was a console, one like he had never seen before. Wires and tubes extruded from the console and lead to where they attached on his skin. There was one needle, but that had fallen out due to his frantic measures to get free.
The soft sound of sobbing met his ears and he looked over at Jade. She was turned on her side, her back facing Brennan. She had the sheets pulled over her head tightly, which made him assume she wasn't restrained.
"Jade, please. Can you help me get off of this thing, help me get free and we can leave?" he asked. Just then, the door opened. His eyes focused on who entered. A man dressed in a white lab coat strode directly to his bedside. Behind him came two more black suited men, armed with M16's and who knew what else. They stood to either side of the door, and another came in from behind. He wore a white suit, his gait steady and sure, hands clasped behind his back. He moved to Jade's bedside and smiled down at her as he gently, but firmly pulled the sheets from her to expose her face.
"How are we today, Jade?" the man's deep voice came. She shook her head and pulled the sheets over herself once more. The man tore the sheets from her grasp and slapped her with the back of his hand across her face, "Now you know that when you are asked a question, you answer it," he said calmly.
"You son of a bitch, you better back off before I kick your ass!" Brennan snarled, straining against his captivators, teeth bared, "Don't you dare touch her again." He glanced at her face and the anger was doubled. He saw a black eye, a tear stained face, and many superficial cuts and bruises on what skin was exposed.
The man nodded to the doctor who now stood behind the console. The doctor stood, holding a needle, and walked over to Brennan's bedside.
"You touch me with that and I'll tear you a new one you fuckin'...," but before he could finish, the doctor drew what looked like a gun from his pocket and pressed it to Brennan's exposed skin on his neck. All the muscles in Brennan's body tensed and he fell back against the bed, temporarily paralyzed from the shock he received. He watched as the doctor stuck the needle into his neck, and once more, blacked out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When next he awoke, he didn't move, didn't change his breathing, didn't do anything except open his eyes slowly. This time, the lights were already on. He looked around slowly. The bed beside him lay unmade and empty. He looked around frantically when a soft hand pressed against his cheek.
"Shhh...lay still," came the soft, familiar voice of Jade.
"Jade? What's going on..." he whispered, completely exhausted.
"Just stay..." she began, but was interrupted as the door burst open and in marched the doctor and his two guards. The guards moved forward and past Brennan to apprehend Jade, while the doctor moved behind the console and out of view. Brennan moved to yank against the restraints, but found there were none! He leaped from the bed and ran toward one of the bodyguards, tackling him full hilt and knocking him to the ground. He punched the guard in the face three times, then took his M16 and aimed it toward the other guard. But there wasn't another guard. There was a pile of ashes, and there stood Jade, completely naked. But she didn't look like Jade...
"Jade...what happened to you?" he asked.
She blushed deeply and covered herself with her hands and shook her head. The doctor lunged from behind the console toward her with the same device he shocked Brennan with.
BANG - BANG - BANG
A small wisp of smoke escaped from the barrel as the doctor fell in a pool of his own blood. Jade was covering her mouth looking at the man. Brennan stood and walked over to Jade and reached out to touch her fur, but she jerked away.
"Don't," she said quickly.
"But...why? Look at you...what did they do?" he asked, "You look like a...a Pikachu. Some kind of weird version of a Pikachu..." he trailed off.
She nodded, "I am, at least that's what they said," she pointed to the still doctor. "They said it was some kind of scientific breakthrough, I'm some kind of...well they called me an Anthropomorphic Pikachu." She hesitated, then quickly moved toward her bed and gathered up sheets to wrap around herself.
"How...that's impossible..." Brennan mumbled, shaking his head.
"It's not impossible!" She exclaimed and began to cry, "You're looking at one!"
He still shook his head slowly, moving toward her to wrap her in his arms. She moved away once more and sobbed, "Don't, I'll kill you."
"You'll...what?" he asked surprised.
"I can't control the electricity. I will fry you like that guard," she pointed a finger at the pile of ashes, "Well, at least I can't control it that well. I can when I think about it...like when I touched you."
Brennan looked at the pile of ash, then to the other guard, "But what about..."
She cut him off, "Full rubber body suit." She answered, beginning to calm down a little bit.
Brennan moved to his bed to sit down. Instead, he stood there, jaw dropped as he looked at the remains of his restraints. Then it hit him, he could be like that too! He dropped the gun on the bed and looked at his hands. No, he still had skin, but then why were the cuffs twisted and broken?
"They tried many things on you, but they couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work," she whispered quietly. She kept silent for a long moment, then spoke up again, "I couldn't bare to watch them do that to you, they injected you, they replaced tissues in you, but for me, it worked the first time. They didn't know why, so they kept testing." She shook her head. "You broke it because they replaced some of your muscle tissue with that of a...I can't remember...I think they said Machomp or something like that..." she trailed off and sat on her bed facing Brennan.
'Machamp,' Brennan thought and flexed his arm. It didn't seem any different, he didn't feel different. He heard the tapping of shoes against a hard floor, and looked to the door. Just as he did, there stood four guards, all weapons pointed at him. Jade screamed, he looked over at her to find she had a ring around her neck connected to a long pole, held by...no, it couldn't be. An actual, real life, Machoke! Surges of energy crackled from the collar up the pole to try and shock her captor, but were negated by the material of the restraint.
Brennan lunged at the machoke.
BA-BA-BA-BA-ANG
Four shots rang through the air. Four bullets stretched their fingers of death toward Brennan.
Ok, so, first off, I would like to say that this first part might seem lame and unrelated to you people. BUT, the second part is where it gets good. Right now, this first chapter might not seem Pokemon related, but trust me, it's getting there.
Please offer me your feedback, gimme the brutally honest truth. I'd appreciate it so I know how to improve, and let me know what you think of the first chapter! Tell me if it's worth it or not!. Thanks!
I had this feeling that I was falling, falling from a great height, not able to see anything because it was all black, but I was falling. I could sense the ground coming rapidly to meet me. 'This is it,' I thought, 'this is the end.'
Brennan's body jerked awake. He looked around, wide awake now, and saw a couple of people smirking or laughing quietly at him. He shrugged and returned his attention to the teacher. She had stopped her lecture and was looking directly at him, a look of severe distaste clear on her features.
"Sorry," he mumbled half-heartedly, not caring as much as he probably should have been for being caught sleeping in her class...again.
"Yes, Brennan, you will be sorry if it happens again," Mrs. Flare sneered.
He mouthed what she said as she said it, word for word. Having heard this oration so may times in the past, he practically had it memorized. "Yes Mrs. Flare," he answered, just like every other time. And, just as she did every other time, she had him tell her what they were doing and what the answer to the current question was. He glanced at the board, then orated, "We are focusing on derivatives today," his eyes wandered back to the board, seeking the question, "and the derivative of that function," he nodded his head toward the board, "is 18x + 36." He figured that the only reason he hadn't been given an OCD (on campus detention) was because he already knew the material from studying ahead of the slow pace at which she taught the class. He had the rest of the weeks homework figured out already.
She smiled at him mirthlessly, then turned her back to him and continued her lecture, writing another formula on the board. "Now, the formula for taking the derivative of x raised to the n power is n times x raised to the n - 1 power, and the formula for..." Brennan had begun to drift off to sleep once more, when the bell rang. As habit brought him to do, he was the first out of the class. He hadn't needed to unpack anything for that class anyway, so he had nothing to gather together. He made his way at a fast pace to the English hall, where he would meet his girlfriend on her way out.
Jade smiled at him warmly as she stepped out of her class, slinging her backpack on her back, "Hey!" she said, spreading her arms for a hug.
Brennan didn't even hesitate as he moved forward to hug her, kissing her cheek lightly, "Hey," he replied, "You got anything going on today?" he asked her as they parted and walked toward the buses, hand in hand.
Jade thought for a moment before responding, "No, I don't think so, why?"
"I was thinkin' we could go horseback riding today. I have my horses prepped for the ride already." He knew she loved horseback riding, and knew she couldn't resist, "Jayce is gonna come too," he added almost as an afterthought.
"Of course I'll go!," she exclaimed., "I'll meet you at your house at..." she prompted.
"2:45"
She nodded, "2:45 it is then. See you then!" she waved as she walked to go to her car. They lived almost 7 miles apart and Brennan didn't own a car yet, so she drove and he took the buses home. He watched her as she departed, observing her beautiful frame. She stood at about 5'4" and was about 110 lbs., was 17, had long red/brown hair, and light green eyes. Better yet, she didn't have one of the stuck up types of personality that he often found good looking girls had in the school. She cared, was compassionate, and didn't cuss up one side and down the other.
He found himself unbelieving that he was lucky enough to be with her. Besides, he was just like the exact opposite of her, psychologically and physically. Well, at least he didn't consider himself what she said everyone thought about him, and that was 'cute'. He was half Korean, olive skinned, brown eyes so dark they were almost black, and black short (Almost high-and-tight style) hair. He stood at 6 feet tall, weighed about 145 lbs, was 17, was considered in the whole school to be a 'high tech' redneck, and he wasn't one of the 'good' kids in school either. By 'high tech' he was literate with computers, most anything electronic or mechanical. He excelled at mathematics, sciences, and literature (though people wouldn't believe it by the way he talked). He normally wore somewhat baggy pants, but didn't believe in sagging them down past his butt, and some sort of tank top. He was frequently called 'gangsta' or 'playa' all the time as well, but he didn't care to indulge in labels. He was himself, that was all that mattered.
As tough as he may have sounded, Jade brought out his compassionate nature. Yes, he had one, but he didn't publicly show it, or tried not to.
Jayce put a hand on his shoulder and Brennan looked at him, gave a curt nod, the normal greeting they offered each other, and started walking to their bus.
Jayce was Brennan's best friend, his only trustworthy friend. They were so alike, it was scary. Either they were exactly alike, or exactly different, no in between. But it was mostly exactly alike. He normally wore cowboy getup, though he didn't have any land or anything, and his relatives had horses. Cowboy hat, boots, levis, massive belt buckle, the whole shabang.
"Hey man," Brennan said, "Up for some horseback ridin'?"
Jayce shrugged, "Sure, got nothing better to do."
Brennan led the group of three, riding a black bay Arabian, up a trail into the forested mountain. Behind him was Jade, riding a brown Arabian, and last came Jayce, riding a quarter horse, all of whom were Brennan's. After a couple hours of riding, idle chat, and picture taking of the scenery, they stopped in a small clearing to eat. Brennan dismounted and tied the halter to his horse to a sturdy fallen tree, doing the same for Jade, letting Jayce tie his. He unloaded his saddle pack and pulled out their lunch, Jayce getting water from his, and Jade, a blanket from hers.
"Whatcha think so far?" Brennan asked Jade.
"It's beautiful, I'm glad I came," she smiled.
"Alright you two lovebirds, let's eat, I'm starving," Jayce interjected.
"Yeah, yeah, just make sure your stomach doesn't eat itself before we get set up here man," Brennan chuckled sarcastically.
They ate, talking about how school was, how their lives at home were. Brennan didn't care to divulge his household situation, because it would take away the happy air around them. He was hearing them, but not listening as his mind wandered, when he spotted something from the corner of his eye, move in the deep shadow of the more heavily wooded area off to his right. He looked to see what it was, but it was gone. He didn't know anything that could move quickly enough to be out of sight, or hearing, that quickly. Puzzled, he set down his sandwich, and stood.
"Where are you going man?" Jayce asked.
Brennan shrugged, "Nature calls."
"Nature doesn't call, it demands, how many times do I have to tell you that?" Jayce laughed. Jade looked at him questioningly, and Jayce explained, "He's got to pee." She shook her head, a smile on her face as she took another bite of her sandwich.
Brennan walked on into the forest, heading deeper and deeper. Faintly, from behind, he heard Jayce call, "Hey man, it's not like we're going to look or something, you don't have to go that far," but he kept on going, deeper into the densely wooded area, further into the shadows. Again, off to his right, he saw something bolt away. He turned and walked toward where it went. As he rounded a rather thick tree, there was a blur of movement right in front of his face, and a sharp pain to his forehead. He fell back, one hand clutching his head, the other finding the knife he carried with him everywhere on his belt. He freed it and took his hand from his head to see if he was bleeding. He sure was, not too bad, but it wasn't superficial, that was for sure.
He looked up and put the knife in front of him. There stood a man in a black suit, M16 shouldered and pointed at Brennan. "What the fuck was that for ass hole?!" He screamed, and wished he didn't as it made his head throb and feel like it was going to split in half, "what, did I walk in on the fuckin' president or somethin'?" he said a bit more quietly, it just now sinking it he was at gunpoint.
The man said nothing, merely smirked and took a step toward him. Brennan raised his knife in defense quickly and the man stopped, pondering if he would really be a threat. Brennan was frozen not sure what to do. He started to walk backward after a moment, slowly at first, then quicker. He bumped into a tree and started to go around it.
Brennan flinched at the loud noise, tried to draw breath, but couldn't. He looked down and brought a hand to the fresh new wound that resided in his ribs. He looked up, tried to draw breath again, and nothing happened. Blood seeped through his tightly clenched fingers. There stood the man, not too feet in front of him. The knife had slipped from Brennan's fingers long ago. He fell to his knees, fell forward, but the man caught him, but dropped him almost as quickly. Brennan heard voices, felt the ground vibrate beneath his face as though a struggle were going on. Hands pushed Brennan on his back. There was Jade, looking down at him. She said something, but he couldn't understand her.
There was silence, then a slight 'thud'. Jade looked up, then buried her face into Brennan's chest, crying. He tried to look over to see what happened, but he couldn't. He couldn't raise a hand to wipe away her tears, he couldn't move. The world dimmed, and he blacked out.
Breath escaped his lips. He tried taking a deep breath, but coughed as a result of his greediness. His breaths came strained, erratic, and rapid. Beyond his own breathing, he could depict another sound, calm, rhythmic breathing of one who is unconscious. Where was the third?
His eyes snapped open and he looked around frantically. He could see, he was sure of that, but there wasn't enough light to make out what he was seeing. He couldn't even tell where the source of the light was. He kept his eyes on something that seemed to be not too far from him, maybe four feet, and watched it for a moment. Concluding it was a person by the rise and fall of it matching the breathing he heard, he whispered in a ragged breath, "Hey..." but his voice broke halfway through. He licked his lips and tried again.
"Hey, are you ok?" he asked. Coughing from the effort, his hands moved to cover his mouth; however, they were restrained. He yanked against them and pulled hard to no avail. He tested his feet, and they were cuffed too. He was cuffed to a bed of sorts. Out of sheer anger and frustration, he yelled, "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?"
"Is that you, Brennan?" echoed a faint voice from next to him.
"Jade! Are yeh ok? Where are we, what's happening?"
"Brennan, they killed Jayce. He's dead...," she trailed off and began to cry softly.
He let the words sink in for a moment. "What?" he said silently to himself. The events flashed back to his mind. The gunshots, the thud, and he envisioned the dead body of Jayce, his best friend. He started shaking his head, his face slowly contorting to that of anger. "No...," he said, "No, no, no, NO!" He started yanking, squirming, kicking, screaming, tried to get himself free. He pulled and pulled until he started bleeding where the cuffs wrapped around his wrists and ankles. Abruptly, the lights in the room turned on and Brennan had to squeeze his eyes from the fierce burning caused by the lights. He blinked a few times and looked around the room. It seemed completely of windows, one-way seeing windows. He couldn't see out, but he bet they could see in. And one door, there was a door opposite the foot of his bed. His eyes wandered to the end of his bed and observed where he was. He lay on a standard military bed, spread with white sheets and a pillow. He was cuffed to rails on either sides at the ankles and wrists, and a belt stretched over his chest. Next to his bed was a console, one like he had never seen before. Wires and tubes extruded from the console and lead to where they attached on his skin. There was one needle, but that had fallen out due to his frantic measures to get free.
The soft sound of sobbing met his ears and he looked over at Jade. She was turned on her side, her back facing Brennan. She had the sheets pulled over her head tightly, which made him assume she wasn't restrained.
"Jade, please. Can you help me get off of this thing, help me get free and we can leave?" he asked. Just then, the door opened. His eyes focused on who entered. A man dressed in a white lab coat strode directly to his bedside. Behind him came two more black suited men, armed with M16's and who knew what else. They stood to either side of the door, and another came in from behind. He wore a white suit, his gait steady and sure, hands clasped behind his back. He moved to Jade's bedside and smiled down at her as he gently, but firmly pulled the sheets from her to expose her face.
"How are we today, Jade?" the man's deep voice came. She shook her head and pulled the sheets over herself once more. The man tore the sheets from her grasp and slapped her with the back of his hand across her face, "Now you know that when you are asked a question, you answer it," he said calmly.
"You son of a bitch, you better back off before I kick your ass!" Brennan snarled, straining against his captivators, teeth bared, "Don't you dare touch her again." He glanced at her face and the anger was doubled. He saw a black eye, a tear stained face, and many superficial cuts and bruises on what skin was exposed.
The man nodded to the doctor who now stood behind the console. The doctor stood, holding a needle, and walked over to Brennan's bedside.
"You touch me with that and I'll tear you a new one you fuckin'...," but before he could finish, the doctor drew what looked like a gun from his pocket and pressed it to Brennan's exposed skin on his neck. All the muscles in Brennan's body tensed and he fell back against the bed, temporarily paralyzed from the shock he received. He watched as the doctor stuck the needle into his neck, and once more, blacked out.
When next he awoke, he didn't move, didn't change his breathing, didn't do anything except open his eyes slowly. This time, the lights were already on. He looked around slowly. The bed beside him lay unmade and empty. He looked around frantically when a soft hand pressed against his cheek.
"Shhh...lay still," came the soft, familiar voice of Jade.
"Jade? What's going on..." he whispered, completely exhausted.
"Just stay..." she began, but was interrupted as the door burst open and in marched the doctor and his two guards. The guards moved forward and past Brennan to apprehend Jade, while the doctor moved behind the console and out of view. Brennan moved to yank against the restraints, but found there were none! He leaped from the bed and ran toward one of the bodyguards, tackling him full hilt and knocking him to the ground. He punched the guard in the face three times, then took his M16 and aimed it toward the other guard. But there wasn't another guard. There was a pile of ashes, and there stood Jade, completely naked. But she didn't look like Jade...
"Jade...what happened to you?" he asked.
She blushed deeply and covered herself with her hands and shook her head. The doctor lunged from behind the console toward her with the same device he shocked Brennan with.
A small wisp of smoke escaped from the barrel as the doctor fell in a pool of his own blood. Jade was covering her mouth looking at the man. Brennan stood and walked over to Jade and reached out to touch her fur, but she jerked away.
"Don't," she said quickly.
"But...why? Look at you...what did they do?" he asked, "You look like a...a Pikachu. Some kind of weird version of a Pikachu..." he trailed off.
She nodded, "I am, at least that's what they said," she pointed to the still doctor. "They said it was some kind of scientific breakthrough, I'm some kind of...well they called me an Anthropomorphic Pikachu." She hesitated, then quickly moved toward her bed and gathered up sheets to wrap around herself.
"How...that's impossible..." Brennan mumbled, shaking his head.
"It's not impossible!" She exclaimed and began to cry, "You're looking at one!"
He still shook his head slowly, moving toward her to wrap her in his arms. She moved away once more and sobbed, "Don't, I'll kill you."
"You'll...what?" he asked surprised.
"I can't control the electricity. I will fry you like that guard," she pointed a finger at the pile of ashes, "Well, at least I can't control it that well. I can when I think about it...like when I touched you."
Brennan looked at the pile of ash, then to the other guard, "But what about..."
She cut him off, "Full rubber body suit." She answered, beginning to calm down a little bit.
Brennan moved to his bed to sit down. Instead, he stood there, jaw dropped as he looked at the remains of his restraints. Then it hit him, he could be like that too! He dropped the gun on the bed and looked at his hands. No, he still had skin, but then why were the cuffs twisted and broken?
"They tried many things on you, but they couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work," she whispered quietly. She kept silent for a long moment, then spoke up again, "I couldn't bare to watch them do that to you, they injected you, they replaced tissues in you, but for me, it worked the first time. They didn't know why, so they kept testing." She shook her head. "You broke it because they replaced some of your muscle tissue with that of a...I can't remember...I think they said Machomp or something like that..." she trailed off and sat on her bed facing Brennan.
'Machamp,' Brennan thought and flexed his arm. It didn't seem any different, he didn't feel different. He heard the tapping of shoes against a hard floor, and looked to the door. Just as he did, there stood four guards, all weapons pointed at him. Jade screamed, he looked over at her to find she had a ring around her neck connected to a long pole, held by...no, it couldn't be. An actual, real life, Machoke! Surges of energy crackled from the collar up the pole to try and shock her captor, but were negated by the material of the restraint.
Brennan lunged at the machoke.
Four shots rang through the air. Four bullets stretched their fingers of death toward Brennan.