“Huh?” I leaned closer to her, certain I’d heard wrong.
“I. Know,” she repeated slowly.
“But…uhh…..” I just stood there gawking like an idiot for a
minute. “Wait, are you trying to kidnap me or something?”
The driver sighed. “Look, I’m not trying to kidnap you. You
are in no danger.”
“Uh-huh,” I said sarcastically. “You better let me off this
bus NOW, or I’ll-“
“Or you’ll what?” she retorted.
“I’ll…umm….uhh…”
“Just sit down. Don’t make this hard on me, okay? I don’t
want to have to use force.”
Even then, I stood my ground, scanning the bus for a
possible escape. There was none. The windows were far too small, and had always
been hard to open. I couldn’t jump out the emergency door in the back, this was
a fairly busy road and I was sure to be run over, or perhaps die on impact. But
still…I had no idea what the bus driver was planning.
Death on one side. Death on the other. Once again, my
traditional bad luck had gotten me into another fine mess, and this time I
didn’t even know how much time I had to decide…
CRASH! The bus veered right, into the woods beside the road.
Startled, my feet slid out from under me, planting me on the dirty floor. I was
thrown against the back door, but now I had absolutely no intention of opening
it. “WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!?” I shouted as tall redwoods fell
into each other with a sickening crack.
“SHUT UP AND LET ME DRIVE!” she screamed violently.
By now I was completely terrified, my eyes wide in fear.
“AHHH!” I shrieked as we hit a tree broadside, and another busted through our
windshield. “SHIT!” the driver exclaimed as she spun the steering wheel
frantically. We turned right- at least, I think it was right- and stopped. I
was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when two pines collapsed onto the
top of the bus, denting the roof. Then came a horrifying creak as they sunk
lower…lower…
…and stopped.
“Ahh…ahh…” I gasped in ragged breaths. “WHY DID YOU DO
THAT!?” I cried out.
“She had to,” called an unknown voice.
“Who- who are you?” I asked softly.
A woman stepped out of the shadows. “That is not as
important as who YOU are,” she replied. She had short, dark brown hair clipped
to the top of her head and a sharp, upturned nose. Her piercing blue eyes
matched her navy jacket quite well, which was carefully placed over a red
ribbed shirt. She wore a navy blue skirt which came down to her mid-thigh, and
even navy heels at the end of her long legs.
“Come with me,” she said simply.
“Why?” I scooted into an empty bus seat.
“Do it,” she snapped, “or I’ll come in after you.”
Reluctantly I opened the back door and hopped out. The woman
strode over and took my hand gently but firmly. “Umm…where are you taking me?”
I was almost afraid to ask.
“You’ll see.” I was SO sick of everyone being so vague I
wanted to scream. But I’d already done enough of that on the bus to last me for
years.
The strange woman led me deep into the woods, ducking under
trees and stepping over vines. I wondered why the heck she would bother to drag
me in farther; the bus had gone pretty far back. Then I remembered the trail of
destruction it had left, and sighed silently. I was going to die in the middle
of nowhere.
A tumbledown shack appeared in the distance. It was made of
warped, rotten wood and had ivy growing all over it. Oh great, now I was going
to die in this hunk-of-junk. Things just kept getting better and better.
The woman turned the discolored knob and pulled the faded
door open, leading me inside. It shut with a long creak, and banged a few times
before it closed. I turned to the woman, and she looked at me expectantly. I
wanted to ask, “What now?” but I knew that she would pull a gun and shoot me.
Neither of us said a word.
She sighed and folded her arms across her chest. “Well?”
“Well?” I asked back. “You’re the one that brought me here.”
She gazed at me pityingly, and replied, “You have no idea
what’s going on, do you?”
“No.”
She paused for a moment, and said, “We need your help.”
“Who’s we? You and the bus driver?”
She would have laughed had the tone not been so serious.
“No…everyone.”
“Okay then,” I grinned broadly, “whaddya need?”
“It’s a long story…” she started, “but one that needs to be
told. You see, in the center of the universe is…well, a kind of control panel.
It regulates everything that goes on, so things will be like they’re supposed
to be. But recently it got messed up. We’re not sure how, but it did. Anyway,
several worlds are being destroyed right now. And it’s spreading. And that’s
why we need you.”
I just stared. This sounded like something off a movie. So I
asked the terribly clichéd question, “Why me?”
She laughed. “We need someone with nothing to lose. You hate
your life, yes? Well, when this is over, you can have absolutely anything you
want. Anything.”
I blinked. “Really?”
“Yes,” she grinned, “really. In fact…we have something for
you now. COME!” she shouted, clapping her hands. I started to get up when I
realized the command was meant for the Vulpix that came bounding into the room.
The eyes. Even then, they held me transfixed in such a way I
could never explain. “Vulpix,” she smiled a cute little Vulpix smile.
I bent down and stroked her. “What’s the Vulpix for?”
“We’ve been watching you,” the woman said darkly, “and we
know you want a pokemon.” Before I could ask how they watched me, she said,
“You better give her a name.”
I wracked my brain for a good name for the small red
pokemon, but none came. And as if it were destiny, one just clicked. Desire.
I stared down at the Vulpix, then looked up again. Truly
enough, a Vulpix always had been my heart’s desire. The name was fitting.
“Desire,” I proclaimed proudly, “her name is Desire.”