Story Notes:
No pokemon are mine, obviously, blah blah blah.... Grace is, however.
Prolugue
"I have a proposition for you, Grace." His husky voice emanated from everywhere, and no where. The lights were dimmed; not that it mattered much. Grace was too confused and dizzy with tension regardless. It was so hard to tell where anything was coming from in this strange room. How'd she'd even gotten there was a mystery. One second she was riding her bike along the beach, the next she was here. It was all very odd and extremely disconcerting.
"Look, I don't care! I just want out of this creepy facility!" She was an average girl; medium height, golden brown eyes and a head of shoulder length brown hair that rested in a straight sheet against her neck. The only thing that made her unique were her bangs, which looked to be cut with a razor and fanned out from the side of her face. "I demand that you let me out, now!" She was used to making demands; she had a young brother. But he'd never done anything like this before. He'd sent her to a number of false parties over the years, but she didn't really think he was crafty enough to think up this little scheme on his own.
"My, my... Ever the feisty one, aren't we? How about this, I will let you go if you do me one favor..." Suddenly, the voice had a source. She whirled to face it. Grace was soon to discover that her captor was a big man, over six feet tall, and ripped to the core. His features were intense and she could have sworn he was the Giovanni she'd read about is history texts, but he had been dead from many, many years now. Besides that, he was young, perhaps in his mid to late twenties at the most. And, on top of that, he was attractive! Not in your beach-side bumkin sort of way, either. He was a city-learned man, dressed sharply and well groomed. In a way, she couldn't help but be tempted by hiss words. But she found a way.
"I will do nothing for you! Now, let me go!"
"All I want you to do it to take part in a small social experiment for me. One little shot is all you need to take and then I can send you out on your merry way."
Her eyes focused on the syringe in his hand and she swallowed hard. Shots were not her favorite thing. There were things she hated more, bugs specifically, but the sight of the needle glinting in the dim lighting was enough to lock her knees. Her phobia, and seeing that it was a fairly large needle, made her collapse to the ground and look up at the approaching man with fear.
"What... What will it do to me?" She asked softly, trying to speak around her drying tongue.
"Oh, nothing physical, I'm sure. It won't change your dull, drab appearance, not one bit. What it will do, however, is grant you the ability to locate all the rarest Pokémon in our ever-expanding world. Now, does that really sound so bad?" He smiled a thoroughly charming smile. It was obvious he was hiding something. What that something was, she had no idea. And that almost worried her more than the idea of that large, thick needle stabbing her.
"Why would you do that? Are you using me to track them down so that you can capture them?" She asked harshly, backing away from his as he advanced. Team Rocket had long since been disbanded, but that didn't mean there couldn't be other Pokémon capturing scum-buckets out there. But her thought carried her too far away from reality and, soon enough, she was cornered against a packing crate and the wall. There was nowhere else to go.
"Oh, hardly. We here are merely trying to save the dying breeds, Pokémon who are endangered. You see, this is a breeding program, Grace. All we want to do it initiate a mating program that could potentially save endangered Pokémon everywhere. Unfortunately, there are many who... disapprove of our ideals. It I find it perfectly reasonable, don't you?"
"I... suppose so..." She muttered weekly as the man grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him. The top of her head only came to his chest. She opened her mouth to ask just what his 'ideals' were but all that came out was a short gasp and moan.
The needle was in, injecting a clear, some how iridescent fluid into her blood stream via her neck. Final thoughts swam through her head: A breeding program? Then why was she being selected to participate? She didn't have Pokémon of her own to contribute to any sort of program. And she was a horrible trainer; she'd only ever won one battle in her life, and that was because her Growlithe at the time didn't like to see her hurt. So how was she, exactly supposed to participate? Maybe she was supposed to go around and locate them, like she feared. Whatever this serum was, it was supposed to make finding rare Pokémon easier. But how...
Before long, she was dizzy, she couldn't see - the room went sideways. The next thing she heard was the same voice only softer, telling her just how lucky she was before darkness took over.
The next thing she knew, she was outside, lying on the sun-warmed sand. Her bike lay beside her. Her annoying brother's Shinx was staring at her with its large, eerie yellow eyes. She sat up slowly and brushed the sand from her face. Had that all been a dream? It was certainly one of the weirder ones, if it were. But she was about where she thought she should be, and there weren't any tire tracks anywhere on the beach. In fact, the only tracks were those of her bike, where it fell, and the ones made by the small blue cat-thing. She felt sore all over, but that was to be suspected, se supposed. She had just fallen over. And, by the way the sun was setting, she'd been out for an hour or so.
With a heavy head, she walked her bike back home. Thankfully, she wasn't far.
"Look, I don't care! I just want out of this creepy facility!" She was an average girl; medium height, golden brown eyes and a head of shoulder length brown hair that rested in a straight sheet against her neck. The only thing that made her unique were her bangs, which looked to be cut with a razor and fanned out from the side of her face. "I demand that you let me out, now!" She was used to making demands; she had a young brother. But he'd never done anything like this before. He'd sent her to a number of false parties over the years, but she didn't really think he was crafty enough to think up this little scheme on his own.
"My, my... Ever the feisty one, aren't we? How about this, I will let you go if you do me one favor..." Suddenly, the voice had a source. She whirled to face it. Grace was soon to discover that her captor was a big man, over six feet tall, and ripped to the core. His features were intense and she could have sworn he was the Giovanni she'd read about is history texts, but he had been dead from many, many years now. Besides that, he was young, perhaps in his mid to late twenties at the most. And, on top of that, he was attractive! Not in your beach-side bumkin sort of way, either. He was a city-learned man, dressed sharply and well groomed. In a way, she couldn't help but be tempted by hiss words. But she found a way.
"I will do nothing for you! Now, let me go!"
"All I want you to do it to take part in a small social experiment for me. One little shot is all you need to take and then I can send you out on your merry way."
Her eyes focused on the syringe in his hand and she swallowed hard. Shots were not her favorite thing. There were things she hated more, bugs specifically, but the sight of the needle glinting in the dim lighting was enough to lock her knees. Her phobia, and seeing that it was a fairly large needle, made her collapse to the ground and look up at the approaching man with fear.
"What... What will it do to me?" She asked softly, trying to speak around her drying tongue.
"Oh, nothing physical, I'm sure. It won't change your dull, drab appearance, not one bit. What it will do, however, is grant you the ability to locate all the rarest Pokémon in our ever-expanding world. Now, does that really sound so bad?" He smiled a thoroughly charming smile. It was obvious he was hiding something. What that something was, she had no idea. And that almost worried her more than the idea of that large, thick needle stabbing her.
"Why would you do that? Are you using me to track them down so that you can capture them?" She asked harshly, backing away from his as he advanced. Team Rocket had long since been disbanded, but that didn't mean there couldn't be other Pokémon capturing scum-buckets out there. But her thought carried her too far away from reality and, soon enough, she was cornered against a packing crate and the wall. There was nowhere else to go.
"Oh, hardly. We here are merely trying to save the dying breeds, Pokémon who are endangered. You see, this is a breeding program, Grace. All we want to do it initiate a mating program that could potentially save endangered Pokémon everywhere. Unfortunately, there are many who... disapprove of our ideals. It I find it perfectly reasonable, don't you?"
"I... suppose so..." She muttered weekly as the man grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him. The top of her head only came to his chest. She opened her mouth to ask just what his 'ideals' were but all that came out was a short gasp and moan.
The needle was in, injecting a clear, some how iridescent fluid into her blood stream via her neck. Final thoughts swam through her head: A breeding program? Then why was she being selected to participate? She didn't have Pokémon of her own to contribute to any sort of program. And she was a horrible trainer; she'd only ever won one battle in her life, and that was because her Growlithe at the time didn't like to see her hurt. So how was she, exactly supposed to participate? Maybe she was supposed to go around and locate them, like she feared. Whatever this serum was, it was supposed to make finding rare Pokémon easier. But how...
Before long, she was dizzy, she couldn't see - the room went sideways. The next thing she heard was the same voice only softer, telling her just how lucky she was before darkness took over.
The next thing she knew, she was outside, lying on the sun-warmed sand. Her bike lay beside her. Her annoying brother's Shinx was staring at her with its large, eerie yellow eyes. She sat up slowly and brushed the sand from her face. Had that all been a dream? It was certainly one of the weirder ones, if it were. But she was about where she thought she should be, and there weren't any tire tracks anywhere on the beach. In fact, the only tracks were those of her bike, where it fell, and the ones made by the small blue cat-thing. She felt sore all over, but that was to be suspected, se supposed. She had just fallen over. And, by the way the sun was setting, she'd been out for an hour or so.
With a heavy head, she walked her bike back home. Thankfully, she wasn't far.
Chapter End Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended, and is applicable for all consecutive chapters that follow