"You must be one of our new recruits," he says with a large smile.
I nod, hopefully convincingly. This place seems okay, and he seems nice enough. I know I have nowhere else to go. The professor lives very far away, I realize my earlier plan involving me running away would only have succeeded had it been nice and warm the entire journey, and there had been no random evil people invading my house and chasing me through a downpour.
He smiles even more, and guides me through a hallway.
Bringing me into a room, he kindly says "I know you're not really a recruit, but you seem nice enough. Okay, our business is called Team Rocket. We take on jobs for other companies in order to stop insane criminals, by hunting them down and bringing them back with the use of Pokemon. I'm assuming you all ready have one?" he asks.
I shake my head, knowing my chances are going down the drain.
"Okay," he grins, "why don't we just give you one?"
My mouth drops open. I stutter out a nearly incomprehensible "Ye-ye-yes plpl-please!!!" with what I hoped was an energetic grin.
"Very well," he smiles, "come this way."
He leads me through a corridor, finally stopping a door with no markings. Bringing me in, he shows me a Pokeball with a small, whitish Pokemon inside, doglike with a yin-yang type horn on it's head. It was asleep.
"This," the man expains, "is a baby absol. It was born only a few hours ago. Would you like it?"
I nearly go crazy with happiness. "Ye-Ye-Ye-yes!" My mouth makes the largest smile it ever has.
"Then it's yours." He hands me the ball. I tuck it safely into my pocket.
"Now," he says, "this job is not easy, many would even say that it is dangerous. It only pays 1000 poké a month. No sick days, we don't tolerate absentees, or people who are late. But I think you would be up to it. So, what do you say?"
"YES!" I yell. But then, I remember something. "I don't have anywhere to go, though."
"That's okay," he replies. "Just stay here, we have cots and rooms."
I practically jump with joy. THIS IS THE BEST. A place to stay, a job, a Pokemon, and money.
How could it get better?
"I'll show you to your room," he says.
He leads me once more through the long corridors; I'm already starting to try to memorize the twists and turns. He shows me into a room, and gives me a map marked '642854'. I have no clue what the numbers mean, but I'm sure they mean something. It has many rooms and places, but over half of them are marked 'off limits'.
I decide not to ask questions because I want to do my best for these people who have taken me in, no questions asked.
Looking back, much later, I realize how naïve I must have seemed to him. But enough of that for now.
He continues, "Okay, so you see that room marked 'Room 24'? That is your briefing room. I expect you there promptly at 8 A.M. tomorrow morning."
He hands me an alarm clock, and leaves, allowing me to examine my new, tiny, room. The small, but nice, bed takes up about half of the room, but I don't care. I sit down on my bed and plug the alarm clock in. The room, other than the bed, is completely empty. I place the new, small alarm clock on the floor, turn the volume down, set the alarm, and lie down in bed. I simply stare at the ceiling. Then, realizing I should probably set the clock itself, I roll out of bed and take a good look at my watch. I set the clock, then jumping into bed I promptly fall asleep. 'Zzzz'
---/---
'Beep Beep Beeep Beep Beep Beee-'
*Whack*
*Yawn*
I yawn, stretch, and climb out of my new bed. The door is ajar, when I went to sleep I closed it, but I don't pay it any attention. Last night I was so tired I didn't even bother to undress, so I strap on my backpack and head for the briefing room.
Knowing how close to 8:00 I had set the alarm, I adopt a rather brisk pace. Running into the room without even bothering to knock, I see the man I met yesterday with a grim smile on his face, sitting behind a wooden desk with a nice computer, with a wireless keyboard; a nice, yellow, pen with a ballpoint; and a few sheets of looseleaf paper with some writing. The desk is large and appears to have many drawers. Glancing behind him, my eyes widen slightly. I have made a dire miscalculation, and forgotten to ask what time their clocks were set to; mine appears to be slow. The built in digital clock behind him reads 8:04, and I am late.
I stutter out a "I-I d-didn't kn-know that y-you had set th-the cl-clocks dif-differently"
He nods grimly, and motions for me to sit down.
"I'll let it by this time, but next time..."
"Anyway," he continues, resting his hands on his lap, "today you will begin your training, the whole of which will take little more than a month."
He stood up, and strode briskly to the door, which he opened and continued to walk in the direction of which I had no clue. He showed me into a room, where there were many different pokeballs.
"This is your first training exercise. Pick one."
With a rather concentrated look on my face, I study the pokèballs for the one that looks the weakest, as I am sure this will be my first battle. I pick a rather, I don't know, weak looking purple ball with a white 'M' on it.
His mouth twists into a semi-smile. "Are you... Sure?"
I nod. It's not like the Pokemon will be so easy that it'll be boring, right? I pull my absol's pokéball out and throw it. The disaster pokémon appears, in all it's splendor. It looks at me; the look in it's eyes saying, "You woke me up for this?"
Yes absol, I did. But, I realize, I can't keep just calling you absol. "How about... Doom?" I say out loud, directing my question to the Pokemon henceforth named 'Doom'.
He gave me another eye statement, this one reading, 'And you're already giving me nicknames the first time we meet? Sure.'
I grin. Bring it on, purple 'M' pokéball. The person, who's name I have not yet asked, shrugged and threw it.
"AUGH!"
All I can see is blackness. I can't move, all my senses are overloaded with pain, and darkness consumes me. My mind feels like it has the greatest headache ever. I drift away, my consciousness shrouded in darkness.
End---/II/---End
This is a second edit. I just deleted some of my ranting.
Read on! Oh and I'm editing titles as well :D
The Shadows of Dusk [The Darkened Time Series Book 1] ~ 2
Start from the beginning
