15Kate's Story
By Vaporeon (Character Kate is © Stormchaser Raichu aka Pink Parka Girl)
Part 1
The sun set slowly behind a hill as Kate watched a group of children playing a ways off. She was careful to avoid being seen as she made her way through the darkening forest. She was constantly on the move, for it seemed that someone was always following her. She had known these people before, and she hated them. They had hurt her, hurt her badly. They had no respect for life and it seemed to her that just because they looked different than her, they felt they could treat her poorly. Kate's mind was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the human youth until she almost ran into it. He looked up at her with an expression mixed with wonder and fear.
"Hiya!" He said, "Who are you?"
Kate growled at him. She hadn't wanted to be seen, and now this young boy had witnessed her flight through the trees. The boy began to back away nervously. After all, Kate was an imposing figure, especially when she was angry. She stood just over five feet tall and had light brown eyes and long flowing light blond hair that hung just past her shoulders. But what set her apart and gave her an intimidating appearance were her other features. Two pointed yellow furred ears poked out through her long hair. They matched the long lightning jagged tail that grew out from the base of her spine through a slit in her dusty jeans. She didn't ever where shoes, as her feet were too large to fit most sizes, and the sales clerks would probably just freak out if she tried to go into a store ever anyways. Her feet were covered in the same yellow fur that grew on her tail, ear, and hands. Both her feet and her hands were furry yellow paws with deadly sharp claws.
Kate owed her Pikachu DNA to the tampering hands of a scientist who though her could make her senses stronger by splicing her DNA with Pikachu DNA. Her hybrid form was the result. After a childhood of pain and endurance tests, Kate Richards had managed to escape. One day she knew the scientists would find her. They would approach her thinking, "At last we've found our escaped experiment," or "Aww look at the poor Pikachu girl. She must be so scared out of her cage." But they would be wrong, she would show them. But now she had to deal with the youth.
She glared at him, daring him to say another word. He started to cautiously approach her. Kate hesitated, he was trying to calm her, but finally he got to close. Her instincts kicked in, "He's too close, make him go away, run away!" She raised her right pawlike hand above her head and tensed her muscles. Her claws sprang out into view. The boy took one look at them and freaked out. He sprinted away, only looking back once. Satisfied that he would not be back, Kate resheathed her claws and continued wandering aimlessly through the trees until the sun finished setting. She curled up at the base of a tree and fell asleep.
Early morning brought her another day of running. She woke to the sound of crunching leaves. With surprising speed she jumped to her feet. Her eyes darted back and forth searching the dimly lit forest for signs of her pursuer. A twig snapped behind her. One of her ears twitched involuntarily to focus on the source of the sound. Not wanting to be caught and dragged back to the lab, Kate sprinted off through the trees. Her padded feet silenced her flight, but her pursuer was still lurking in the shadows behind her. The chase was on. Kate fled for hours, but the man was still behind her. How could he be so quick as to be able to keep up with the her? But Kate had no time for pondering. She had to keep her mind focused on one thing: Escape. Eventually the terrain changed from the flat forested lands to rivers, caverns, and ravines. Kate paused for a moment to catch her breath and listened. She could still here the man chasing after her. He was right behind her. She took off again, marveling at the human's stamina. No human had ever managed to keep up with her for so long. The only explanation was that he was either on some sort of steroid drug, or he was genetically enhanced. While wondering about this, Kate ceased to pay attention to her path. She realized her critical mistake when she abruptly encounter a dead end. She chided herself for being foolish enough to enter a ravine and not stick to the higher ground. She unsheathed her claws and started scaling the wall.
"Don't move another inch!" A harsh male voice commanded her. No! She would not go back to that place. She reached up for another handhold. A bullet zinged off the rock just above her, it fell loose and toppled down onto her head. Stunned, she lost her grip and tumbled three feet into a pile of brush. Immediately she scrambled out of the bush and faced the man. He was standing at the entrance to the ravine almost twenty feet away. He had his rifle pointed at Kate now. He was tall and quite obviously very strong. He wore a strange metal device on his knee, and a red bandana on his dark black hair. Beads of sweat crawled down his rough face.
"Kate Richards" He sneered, "So I've finally caught up with the escaped Pikachu girl. What do you have to say for yourself?"
She groaned and backed up until she was pressed up against the rock wall with her tail poking out from behind her back at an uncomfortable angle. The man knew that Kate was unable to speak, but he enjoyed taunting her.
I have nothing to say to you! She signed. It was her only method of communication.
"Really? That's quite a shame really."
Why have you been chasing me?
"Your friends back at the lab are paying me top dollar"
I will never go back there again!
"That's correct, my instructions are to kill you and burn your body." He raised his rifle again. Kate put her hands against the rockface trying to steady herself. Her thoughts were swimming in confusion and terror.
Escape! Her instincts screamed, Trapped! Run! Flee! Escape!
No! Her human side reasoned, If I run he'll shoot for sure, maybe I can find a way out of this!
By now her breathing was labored. The man was aiming his rifle. She heard him click off the safety.
_
Jonathon Boltz walked happily through the afternoon forest. He held his hunting rifle at his side, and on his back he carried a bag with the two Farfetch'd he'd bagged earlier in the morning. The forest was oddly silent. Jon heard a gunshot, then someone yelling. Not in celebration over a kill, but in hate as though someone were about to commit a terrible crime. Curious, Jonathon dropped his pack and made his way towards the yelling. He came up on a ravine. There was a man standing at one end with a rifle, and a girl at the other end pressed against the wall.
"I hope you're ready to die!" He yelled hatefully.
"FREEZE!" Jon yelled, leveling his rifle at the enraged man. He leapt down from the side of the ravine and landed with the girl to his back.
"Mind you own business kid!
"What are you nuts!?" Jon yelled, "You think I'm going to let you shoot another human being?!"
"She's not human! She's a hybrid freak!" he spat. Jon did not turn around, but instead kept his eyes and his sights trained on the rage-filled man.
"I do not care what you say she is! I will not permit you to desecrate this peaceful place with cold-blooded murder!"
"ERRRRAAAAAA!" The man yelled. He snapped his gun up towards the girl in a firing position and tore back on the trigger. Jon squeezed his own trigger tightly. A deafening shot exploded out of the barrel, propelling his bullet on its deadly course. The sound of it reverberated through the shallow ravine and finally escaped and echoed through the trees, disturbing all the creatures that lived there. Jon pried open his tightly shut eyes. The man lie on the ground in front of him gasping for air. He clutched desperately at his chest, trying to stop the bleeding, but Jon's bullet had torn a hole in his lung and his mind was quickly growing muddled from his dwindling ability to supply it with oxygen.
Jon stood by silently as the man breathed his final breath.
"Jerk" He murmered and turned his attention to the girl. Fortunately the bullet from the other man's gun had gone wide and struck the rock only a foot from the girl. Jon's heart skipped a beat when he saw he actually looked at her. Her appearance was so surprising he was barely able to convince himself he wasn't having some sort of weird dream. She was pressed up against the rock face, her eyes fixed straight ahead. Obviously she was in a state of shock. Her chest rose and fell with the heavy breathing of a trapped animal that had just fought for its life and barely survived. Her long pointed ears laid limp in her long hair. Her furry paws clutched desperately at the rock behind her. One of them also served to hold her jagged tail against the rock.
Jon was still for several minutes. He stared at the bizarre creature that stood in front of him. It took him that long to get over seeing a creature so unreal as a human/pokemon hybrid. Finally he shook off the shock and saw her, not just her species. She was beautiful.
"Are you you okay?" He stumbled over his words like a drunken man. The Pikachu girl nodded feebly.
"W-What are you?" He asked. The girl put her furry yellow paws on her hip and gave him a 'What do I look like' look.
"What's your name?" He asked. He was unsure whether she was able to think with human intelligence or if she was just a pokemon trapped in a part human body. She raised her paws up to eye level and made several odd movements with them. Jon took several moments to figure out what she was doing.
"Oh, Sign Language!" He laughed, "Sorry, but I don't know any of that. Can you write?"
The girl sighed and got down in the dirt. Jon gasped when she flexed her wrist and sharp claws sprang out of her fingertips. She used her longest claw to carve out 'Kate Richards' in the sandy soil.
"I'm Jon Boltz. Why was that man after you?"
Kate didn't reply. She just gave Jon a 'Why do you think?' look. Jon looked up at the darkening sky.
"It's getting late. Why don't you come to my house. I've got an extra room you could stay in." He offered. He was fascinated with this bizarre yet beautiful creature and wanted to know more about her. Where did she come from? Has she always been this way? Why was that man willing to take a bullet to the heart to get one last chance at killing her. All these questions running through his head. He wished he could at least get a picture of her. None of his friends would ever beleive this. He wouldn't have beleived it himself if she weren't standing right in front of him.
Why was that man after her? He wondered again. Is she dangerous?
He looked over at the girl standing by the rocky wall. She was looking at him thoughtfully, her paws relaxed against her hip. Each digit concealed a single potentially lethal claw.
Okay, yeah she can definitely be dangerous, but she's definitely sentient. So she's probably only dangerous when someone's trying to hurt her.
"So, did you want to come with me?"
She shook her head 'no.'
"Why not?"
She looked at him hesitantly. He took a step towards her. too close, stay back, caution. Something inside her whispered to her at first, then as Jon grew closer the little voice became a much bigger voice and started yelling. Back! Back! Too Close! Back! Run! Kate tried to resist her instincts, but it was a losing battle from the start. She backed away from him until she was once again pressed up against the rock wall. Jon drew a few steps closer and she couldn't take it anymore. She stepped awaay from the wall and bared her claws. She sunk low to the ground in a fighting stance and hissed at him like a wounded animal that had been cornered by its predator.
"Woah woah!" He said, taking a few steps back. He raised his hands up as though they could block Kate's attack if it came. "Take it easy, I'm not going to hurt you." He said, sitting down on a rock. Kate was not an easy person to calm down. After several minute of yes or no questions, she finally relaxed and retracted her claws.
"Do you trust me now?" Jon asked.
Kate looked at him uneasily and shrugged. Part of her trusted him, but the other part of her was just plain scared to death of him.
"My house is just a half mile up that way. I've got to go now. If you change your mind, my door will be open for you." He got his gun and left. He got home still curious about the Pikachu girl he'd seen. He hoped that she would change her mind about him and come to his house. He didn't like the idea of a girl that young spending the night alone in the forest. Especially with people like that after her. But it was not his decision to make. He stayed up late into the night hoping that she would arrive, but she never came.
The next morning he packed a lunch and a camera in his bag and left early in the morning to go back to the site of the previous days events. He hoped that the girl would still be there.
Kate spent the night in the rocky drop-off. She was unnerved by the presence of the hunter's body and finally worked up the courage to drag it away from her temporary home and dumped it where she wouldn't have to see it again. She fell asleep on the rocky soil wishing she could have had a better place to sleep. The young human man had offered her a place to stay, and he seemed honest and forthright, but the hunter's were deceitful and treacherous. She had begun to fear that she could not find a single person in the world that she could ever trust. She fell asleep feeling tired, lonely, and depressed.
"Hello? hello? Kate? are you awake?" Kate felt something nudge at her. Her sleeping mind jerked awake. DANGER!
ZZZZAP!
"Yeow!" Jon yelped and was thrown back by the force of the electrical blast. He landed face down in the dirt, but got back up quickly. His hair was singed and looked as though he hadn't combed it in days, and his clothes were also singed in a few places.
"Ow! What did you do that for?" He asked rubbing his sore neck.
Kate shrugged and grinned. There was no way she could not have really. The human mind wakes up slowly as it has been conditioned to a life of comforts, but the feral mind of a pokemon is constantly on alert and wakes up as fast as possible in case of an attacker. In short, when Kate was asleep, waking her up gave you a few good seconds of angry Pikachu before any human reasoning kicked in. Kate knew this very well. She had shocked her brother for his forgetting this fact several times. She saddened at the thought of him. She missed the boy very badly. But when they had made their escape they were followed and had to part ways. She hoped he was okay.
"So where did you come from? Who are your parents?"
Kate shook her head. She didn't know.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I brought you some food." Jon said, opening his bag. He tossed a sandwhich to her, having learned that she didn't like him getting too close. The two talked all day. Finally it started to get dark again. Jon was surprised at how quickly the day had passed. By the end of the day he had somewhat learned basically what had happened to Kate and how she'd escaped, but he still didn't know who had done the deed that started it all. As it got dark that same question came to his mind.
"Will you come to the house tonight? You can stay in the guesthouse."
The Pikachu girl seemed hesitant. Jon stared silently into her beautiful eyes, hoping that she would accept his offer. He knew that if she stayed outside in the wild she was likely to vanish without a trace. He couldn't bear the thought of her leaving when he was just getting to know her.
Much to Jon's surprise and delight, Kate nodded her head 'yes.'
"Really!? That's great, come on let's go. It's getting dark after all." Jon said very quickly. He was starting to sound like a babbling idiot. He trudged through the woods in a clumsy manner common to humans. Kate on the other hand moved with such stealth that Jon had too keep checking to be sure she was still there. They arrived at the house a short time after dusk. Jon showed Kate to the guest house. She opened the door and stepped inside. Jon didn't take his eyes off her until she closed the door behind her. He slept fitfully all night long in nervous anticipation. In the morning he was going to have lots of questions.
End part 1