She placed a large black hat on her head, which dropped lifelessly round it, 
covering her hazel eyes; she lifted the front flap of the hat, and smiled at 
her husband.
“I think I’ve finally found something to counteract this pregnancy” She 
tilted the hat to one side and smiled again “What do you think?” 
“It goes very nicely with that dress” Her husband answered, looking up 
briefly from his file work.
“You like my dress?” She gave him a clumsy spin, in the eighth month of 
pregnancy finesse is one of those skills forgotten.
“Not really” He answered casually, careful not to make a smile.
“Oh?” She waddled over to him and spoke into his ear seductively “Perhaps 
you’d like me with no dress on”
“Maybe” He answered “but to be frank…you’re eight months pregnant, perhaps we 
should wait for your erotic-metre to flush out before we start that again… 
maybe, Gina?”
“Ugggh” Gina melodramatically fell backwards onto the bed “It’ll have to come 
out soon” She whined stroking her stomach softly.
“Give it another month” Her husband said, piling all his papers and placing 
all his pens in their respective places. He got up from his seat and looked 
down at his wife.
“At most?” She asked, perching her self on her elbows.
“At least” he laughed lovingly at her, as she fell down onto the soft 
mattress again, sighing deeply.
“Don’t grow impatient with the poor thing; it’s not its fault”
“No, it’s yours, and you’ve got some nerve talking about impatience” Gina 
jokingly said, scooting her way to the headboard and leaning on it 
comfortably.
“My…my fault?”	
“You know perfectly well it’s your fault…not two weeks after our honeymoon do 
I realise that you were too much of an impatient, sex-o-holic and had planted 
this thing inside of me” She pointed to her protruding stomach.
“I see no reason to place the blame on me” He sat down on the bed next to his 
wife “If I remember correctly half of what happened that night was your 
doing. It’s all well and true to blame the man for an un-wanted pregnancy, 
simply because it’s the woman that gets pregnant. Blame a woman for it and 
you’re chauvinistic, blame a man for it and you’re a feminist heroine, its 
all part of this fake ‘respect’ we all have to show for you, it’s just the 
woman’s insecurity showing through and we’re all too nice to do anything 
about it”
“Is that really what you think, Arthur?” Gina asked, raising a sceptical 
eyebrow at his crusade for masculinity speech. “That the whole feminist 
culture is created by men simply trying to be ‘nice’?”    
“I’m just saying that the men are always blamed for things when the blame 
really should be split fifty-fifty” Arthur lay his head down on his pillow, 
Gina shook her head and picked up her book from the bedside table.
“I don’t know why you’re mad” Gina said, putting her reading glasses on and 
continuing with her book “You were perfectly happy with me a few minutes ago, 
and now you can’t stand women”
Arthur opened his eyes and looked up his wife “I never said I couldn’t stand 
women, you’re just being touchy. I can stand you anyway” Gina looked sternly 
at her husband for a moment, before taking off her glasses and putting down 
her book.
“I’m a woman you know” Gina said scornfully, “If you can’t stand women, than 
how can you stand me?”
“Didn’t you hear a word I just said?” Arthur pushed himself up and leant his 
back against the head board “I never said I couldn’t stand women, I just 
said”
“So you just can’t stand me” Gina interrupted, moping.
“Oh sweet Kanto” Arthur said to himself “I’m not having this goddamn 
conversation with you again, it always ends the same way”
“Oh, Arthur, you have such a way with words” Gina said, folding her arms.  
“And you’ve got such a way with manipulating them” Arthur lay his down on his 
pillow and closed his eyes; Gina gazed down at him, a weird look on her face.
“You’re not seriously going to sleep in you clothes are you?” she looked at 
his as if she had just gotten into bed with a snail, a look of utter repulse 
that made Arthur’s spine tingle.
“I’ve had a long day, Gina; I’d just like to get some rest” He sighed once 
and closed his eyes again.
“Will it really take so much effort to change?” Gina asked, urging him to 
move “You’re only in the your thirties, Arty, when all you do is sit and sort 
out insurance papers and occasionally go to the bathroom or the kitchen, it 
does not tire you out so much that you can’t change one set of clothes for 
another ”
“But, I’m already in bed, I’m nearly asleep, I might as well-” He was 
interrupted by Gina who has forcefully pushed him out of bed. Arthur got up, 
rubbing his head, checking to see if it was bleeding.
“You pushed me out of bed” Arthur said simply, looking at Gina with 
suppressed rage “You actually pushed me out of bed, what the hell is wrong 
with you?”
“What’s wrong with me? I’ll tell you what’s wrong with me, I’m-” Gina stopped 
rising from the bed and held her stomach supportively, her expression changed 
from one of anger to one of shock in the space of less than a second. “I’m in 
labour”

* * *

“In this day and age, you would think you could hire a babysitter after nine 
o’clock” Gina said putting down the phone and wrapping a scarf around her 
thin neck. After the baby was born she had restricted herself to one meal a 
day and had, as a solution, got as thin as a garden rake. 
“Couldn’t you find one then?”  Arthur asked from the kitchen doorway, tying a 
bowtie round his neck, seeming to have trouble with it.
“What, are we now the richest family in Celadon?” Gina asked “We should have 
a nanny, Arty, with all this excess money lying around we should do something 
practical with it”
“It’s wasting it, Gina” Arthur said, entering the hallway with a sad mess of 
knots around his neck. “I worked hard for this money”
“You worked hard?” Gina retorted, taking off his bowtie and tying again for 
him “I distinctly remember my parents giving you the money you apparently 
needed.”
“And since then it’s been doubled, tripled and now even quadrupled.” Gina 
finished his tie and walked over to the phone again, where she dialled a few 
numbers into it and waited for an answer. 
“But without the starting money, your career would have been as fucked as- 
oh; hello is Holly Henderson there, please?” Gina closed her eyes in 
embarrassment causing Arthur’s eyes to roll as he ventured up the stairs, 
Arthur, since the birth of his son, had put on a few pounds and now carried 
with him an innocent plumpness  which didn’t really help his persona as it 
wasn’t suited to having such a jolly overtone to it. He reached the top of 
the stairs and walked to a door which he quietly opened and peered in side, 
there was his son, Giovanni Arthur Blazer. Arthur walked stealthily over to 
his son and stroked his hairless head, he was sound asleep, his mouth moving 
with the way his dreams went. He was a beautiful boy; his vibrant glazed, 
hazel eyes were almost a fiery orange, like a demon’s eyes. You could see the 
prominent marking of bristle on his head, where hair was soon to come, and if 
he was anything like his father it would be a deep dark brown, black to the 
eye.
“To think you weren’t wanted” He tucked him in tightly, forcing the baby to 
wake up, he neither screamed or squirmed, he stared, stared right through 
him.
“You’ve got great eyes, Gevvy” His father smiled at him and kissed his 
forehead “A gambler’s eyes, just like your father”
	From down stairs Gina called “Holly said she’d be over in a few 
minutes, do you think we should leave now?” 
“We can’t leave the baby alone” Arthur answered, coming down the stairs in a 
handsome tuxedo, with golden cufflinks and a plastic rose pinned to his 
pocket. “What if something happens?” 
“Arthur” Gina went over to comfort him “Don’t worry so, in the space of two 
minutes what could possibly happen?”
“It’s the done thing”
“You know what else the done thing is?” Gina took her coat off its hook and 
put it on, straightening her luscious brown hair afterwards. “Not missing a 
party held in your honour at your casino.” She threw him his coat and smiled 
at him cheekily. “She’ll be here any minute.”
	“I just feel uncomfortable” Arthur said across at his wife, he was 
driving down a busy road, with neat driving gloves on, an obvious sign of 
wealth and pretension. 
“What’s wrong, the tux?” she sighed “They guaranteed full comfort for the 
rest of its years.”
“There’s nothing wrong-” he was cut short
 “That’s it, I’m taking it back first thing tomorrow, I can’t stand all this 
shit that gets spread around when you’re simply trying to buy something, 
always talking it up like it were god’s chosen tux, or god’s chosen food 
processor, or god’s chosen yoghurt, it simply makes me sick-” Gina was 
interrupted.
“Not literally uncomfortable, Gina, the tux is great, it’s very comfortable” 
Arthur patted her bare shoulder and noticed the chill he got from her “You’re 
freezing” He took off his jacket, while carefully keeping an eye on the road. 
He then draped it loosely around her shoulders. “Anyway, about the baby, 
little Gevvy.” 
“Yes, little Gevvy” She smiled across at him “Giovanni?”
“What?” Arthur turned his full attention to Gina, before quickly turning his 
eyes back to the road “That was my father’s name.”
“Yes, but it doesn’t exactly exude cuteness” Gina smiled “It sounds like 
master criminals name, Master Giovanni, head of the CND” Gina laughed and 
looked at her husband, who had an expression of stone by this time “I’m only 
joking, Hun”
“I always thought the name sounded cool” Arthur sighed to himself “What does 
the CND stand for?”
“No, it’ll just make you madder” Gina laughed lightly again, he pulled her 
close to him and kissed her cheek, driving with only one hand.
“I’m not mad, I like the way you make fun of everything…even though it’s 
goddamn annoying sometimes” He chuckled and kissed her head.
“Okay…Crappy name department, that’s all, you’ve heard me bad name it before”
“Yeah” Arthur smiled again “Have you heard anymore news on the alien 
capture?”
“Yes actually, they’ve got it up in Saffron” Gina got out of Arthur’s hug and 
leant back against the seat “Silph has got hold of it”
“Silph?” Arthur furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, putting his other hand on 
the steering wheel “What do they want with it?”
“Well, what does anyone want with it?” Gina asked “I imagine they want to 
make a little profit from it, show it to the public, make a little alien 
attraction theme park from it”
“That does sound like what they’d do” Arthur let out a little laugh “Remember 
when people thought their were asteroids at Pewter, they excavated the entire 
place, made a permanent cave there”
“I know, they never even found anything” Gina straightened out her gloves 
“Who was the one who nick named it Mount Moon?” 
“Uh, one of the guys at my casino, Parker, I think” Arthur answered “Hey, 
we’re here” Arthur pulled up outside a large colourful building, with neon 
lights covering the outside, even from outside an aura of a party could be 
felt, there was always a feeling Arthur had about parties, he could sense 
them. This was his birthday after all, his wife had said she invited a few 
close friends, neighbours and family, he sensed that the whole of Celadon 
city was in there waiting for him, which turned his stomach and made him 
swallow nervously.
“Just think, not two months ago this was a dump” Gina said, getting out of 
the car and looking up at the towering building. “You really are a genius, 
Arty”
“I like to think so” Arthur said to himself whilst getting out the car “Can I 
have my jacket back?” Gina took the jacket off her shoulders and passed it to 
him.
“It’s itchy anyway” Gina smiled and linked arms with her husband “Shall we?”

* * *

They entered through the double doors and were welcomed grandly with a loud 
applause. Inside it was a high ceiling with glass chandeliers hanging in rows 
across it. The slot machines were moved to the side and the poker tables and 
roulette were in full use, surrounded by gentlemen in full evening wear and 
ladies in sparkling dresses. 
“Any later and we’d have grown worried” said a gravely voice from the crowd, 
out of it emerged a small, fat man by the name of Parker. His little round 
glasses were at the tip of his nose and his little grey beard was combed 
straight down, which made a change from the messy, tangled state it was in 
usually. 
“Parker” Arthur said shaking the stout man’s hand “My humblest apologies, it 
was the damn babysitter, couldn’t find one on time”
“No apologies needed, it’s the service in Celadon, the economy, it’s 
collapsing into a slum” Parker said darkly “Until now of course, the coming 
of this game house has caused the entire city to flourish. We owe it all to 
you, Arty”
“That’s a little exaggerated isn’t it, Parker?” Gina asked, linking her arms 
with her husband again
“I assure, my dear, I joke you not” Parker said, cleaning his glasses “The 
entire region of Kanto is under a giant boot, with Silph Co in hibernation at 
the moment. We need something grand in this country, Johto and even Hoenn 
have outshined us with new technology, just last week Devon. Corp up in Johto 
had developed a mobile technology in which telephones do not need to be 
connected to a land line, they’ve even made video phones readily available to 
the public. Unless something comes along soon…our country’s in trouble” 
Parker placed his glasses back on and smiled. “But this is your special day, 
Arty, let’s not worry about this just now, all this political crap, I know, 
bothers you”
“It makes him feel uncomfortable” Gina added, leaning her head on Arthur’s 
shoulder and kissing his cheek.
“Well, lets find a table, continue this chat sitting down” Arthur said 
looking at his wife, then Parker, who nodded “Gina?”
“I’ll join you later, it’s just Lois is over there” Gina leaned and whispered 
into her ear “they say she had a job done on her face…I’d like to get a 
closer look”
Arthur smiled and kissed his wife, before she walked over to a very plastic 
looking Lois.
“I took the liberty of reserving a table” Parker said “it’s over by the 
kitchen; I’ll go get us some drinks”
Parker left in the direction of the bar, while Arthur was left to find his 
table, he shuffled through the crowds of people, looking for the kitchen 
door. Although actually having the idea of the casino, paying for its 
construction and visiting it every weekend, he had little knowledge of where 
everything was, It wasn’t up to him to build it…just to manage it.
He soon found an empty table, fairly close to the kitchen; he could only 
assume that was the one.
“You found the table then?” Parker said, waiting impatiently across it “I got 
the drinks and still managed to beat you here, I know this place better than 
you do, did you get lost or what?” 
“I was distracted, someone needed to know where the bathroom was” Arthur 
lied, not to save himself from embarrassment, mainly because he didn’t like 
people giving him faults. Anything he couldn’t do, or handle, he would prefer 
never to be mentioned.
“You know where the bathrooms are then?” Parker asked, stirring his drink 
slowly, a sarcastic grin on his face,
“Of course”
“Where, then?”
“Next to the entrance” Arthur answered hesitantly.
“If that’s what you told the person then you’re going to have a very messy 
coat room” Parker laughed “The ladies and gents rooms are located on the 
second floor, didn’t you know that?” he asked, holding up his drink.
“Parker, I didn’t even know we had second floor” Arthur took a long drink 
then put his glass on the table “But seriously, what were you saying about 
Silph before?”
“Silph? You know they’ve got the creature, right?” Parker asked.
“Yeah…the alien”
“Please, lets avoid calling it an alien, I’ve seen the thing okay…it looks 
more like a ancient cat than an alien” Parker said knowingly.
“But the whole point about aliens is that you don’t know what they’d look 
like” Arthur had experience in debates; the construction of the casino was 
only undertaken because of his way with persuasion. 
“Call it what you will, Arty, the thing now resides in Saffron…and later on 
in the year they’re importing it to Cinnabar Island, apparently they’ve 
constructed a million dollar laboratory especially for research on this 
thing. And the thing is, they’ve been very low on money the past few 
years…their must be some plan they’re hatching, there must be. I know these 
people, I worked with them. They wouldn’t take a chance like this…not when 
they’re on the brink bankruptcy” Parker took another drink, and sighed 
heavily.
“Is something wrong?” Arthur asked.
“You know Mark Preece?” Parker asked, looking generally pained. “The 
‘blackjack master’ as they call him?”
“I’ve never heard him called that, but yeah” Arthur raised an eyebrow “What 
about him? You’re not in love are you?”
“No. He’s coming this way” And he was right, Mark Preece was a particularly 
greasy looking man, his hair was combed into a side parting with as much gel 
as physically possible, he had a little goatee growing and was the only guest 
who was wearing a bright white tuxedo, he walked with a gentle finesse which 
gave off an arrogant vibe, that quite literally made you want to punch him.   
“Hey, guys” He said smoothly nodding his head slightly with every word, 
looking like one of those novelty nodding dogs that sit at the back of cars.
“Hey, Mr.B, great party, great place as well, like what you’ve done with it. 
Seen my girlfriend around Parky?” He smiled smugly.
“No, where’d you buy her?” Parker asked, wisely.
“Ha! That’s the thing I love about you guys, you always kid, and I love it. 
But seriously, seen my new gal?” He looked at both of them “She’s quite a 
catch, but, hey, let’s face it, can’t get a good catch without good bait, 
right?” He elbowed Parker in the side, forcing his glasses to fall off the 
end of his nose.
“Hey, Parky, watch out. So Arthur heard you and the missus had a little too 
much fun in the sack, what’s the little bundle of joy called?”  
“Giovanni”
“Ooooh, sinister” Mark said “How’d you talk the missus into calling him 
that?”
“We both agreed on it, me more than her…but still, it was a combined 
christening” Arthur took another swig of his drink and continued his 
conversation.
“Hey…Mark, you used to work with Silph didn’t you?” He asked.
“Yeah, for about two days…those guys seriously cramp your style, they all, 
like advertise about being the buddies of the small people and everything, 
but they’re just has stiff as the rest of the high powers out there” Mark 
smiled again “Which reminds me, thanks again for hiring me here, seriously, 
this has got to be the best job I’ve had…I’m good at it too, you know what 
I’m saying” Mark took a swig of Parker’s drink “Seriously, getting paid for 
dealing cards and drinking from the bar, it’s like heaven to me, man”
“You drink from the bar…for free?” Parker asked him, putting his glasses back 
on his nose.
“Well…yeah” Mark looked around “Doesn’t everyone do that?”
“Does the barkeep know you do that?” Arthur asked “Because you’re not 
supposed to, you still have to pay” Mark looked at both of them anxiously, 
before shrugging and laughing it off.
“I was only kidding with ya, would I drink? I’m not even twenty one yet” Mark 
said smoothly, putting Parker’s drink slyly back onto the table.
“You’re not twenty one yet?” Parker asked sternly.
“Well, hey, look! There’s my girlfriend” Mark got off his seat and darted 
over to his girlfriend who was wondering round the room, with a clueless 
expression on her face.
“Young love” Arthur said, sighing dramatically.
“It’s young something” Parker said, turning his attention back to Arthur “Why 
so interested in Silph all of a sudden?” 
“The creature just interested me; I’m surprised it hasn’t done the same to 
others, especially you. I was sure everyone would be” Arthur finished his 
drink and placed it on a passing waiter’s tray.
“Arthur, I’m not interested because it’s probably a fake or a hoax” He 
stroked his grey beard “It’s only captured the imagination of a few people, 
you’re one of the few, Arty, you’re a believer”
“A believer? I believe the thing’s real…I’ve seen it, I’ve heard stories”
“You’ve heard stories? You’ve seen it? Did it move?” Parker smiled wisely.
“It seemed pretty out of it”
“I’ve seen this thing in real life, Arthur, it’s made from suede and plaster, 
you could see it from a mile away” Parker looked more serious “I was sad as 
well, Arty, I was hoping the creature would be an angel, bearing gifts for 
the country, our saviour from the technical drought we’re going through”
“But, Parker” Arthur said loudly, he looked around and whispered “You said 
they were taking it to Cinnabar, why would they do that if it were fake?”
“Of course they would say it were real…for all we know it was them who faked 
this thing, but believe me, if not as a friend, but as a lawyer. This thing 
is only propaganda, nothing more.” Parker’s serious tone was quickly 
countered by a charming laugh. “How about another drink? This is your 
birthday after all. Waiter!”
“Parker, is there something you’re not telling me” Arthur asked, his eyes 
transfixed on Parker, a look of complete curiosity on his face. This creature 
had sparked in him the wonder that was hidden away inside him, he wanted to 
know as much about this thing as possible, and see, maybe, if he could get in 
contact with it, see it, touch it. Arthur had a large collection of friends 
and contacts that were quite high up in the community; one of them must be 
involved with the Silph.Co business. “Parker?”
“Arthur” Parker whispered, “You have to keep your voice down about this. This 
thing is much bigger that people say it is, it’s one of my many jobs to keep 
propaganda low on this”
“You even lied to me?” Arthur asked “I hold only the greatest interest in 
this thing; you could trust me with the information”
“It’s not a case of trust or mistrust, Arthur, it’s a case of my downfall or 
my well being. If Silph find out about me talking to you about this, they 
could ruin me. Arthur, they could kill me” Parker leant backwards and 
breathed out heavily.
“Don’t be so melodramatic, they couldn’t kill you”
“You really don’t understand how powerful this company is, do you?” Parker 
said “To everyone apart from Silph and Devon and the other technical 
companies, the regions of the world are self-governing countries, but that is 
not true. In this country Silph makes the decisions for all of us, that’s why 
this region is falling apart, because Silph is out of ideas, and there for 
our country is on a standstill”
“But they’ve now got the Alien” Arthur said “Surely they could use it for 
something”
“They are, but its all hush hush at moment” Parker sighed again “But I 
believe they plan on reinstalling the cloning programme” 
“They closed that years ago. There was a whole big law suit when someone was 
permanently brain damaged because of the outcome” Arthur said “Why would they 
want to resurrect that, it was what caused the beginning of their bankruptcy”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Parker asked “They plan on cloning the creature…god knows 
why, but that’s what they’re doing”
* * *
	

“What were you and Parker talking about?” Gina asked, taking off her gloves 
and placing them over the headrest of the car seat.
“Oh, uh. The casino mostly” He closed the car door and waited for his wife 
“And Politics”
“Politics?” She sighed deeply “Politics get you all riled up and angry, 
you’re going to be in a bad mood all day tomorrow”
“Gina, I really wish you wouldn’t patronise me, we were just talking about 
the U.FO.” He smiled.
“It’s not a U.F.O, honey” Arthur looked across at her “Was it flying?”
“No”
“Was it really an object?”
“No, it was an animal”
“And I’m sure it’s not unidentified anymore” She smiled and leant back.  “Why 
do you have such an interest in it? It’s probably a fake” Arthur looked over 
at Gina, and smiled ever so slightly. It was his ‘shut-up’ smile that he 
pulled every once in a while, especially when it was a subject he didn’t want 
to discuss. The rest of the trip was silent, only the very quiet hum of 
Arthur’s brand new Devon Arc, which was an imported car from Johto. It was 
his second most important thing to him, apart from a red eyed rich boy, who 
resides, at this moment, in a crib. 
The car suddenly stopped.
“What happened?” Gina asked “Why did you stop the car?”
“I didn’t, it’s out of gas” He tapped the metre.
“You didn’t fill it up this morning?” Gina wasn’t one to stay calm in 
situations “Why didn’t you fill it up this morning?” 
“I didn’t go out this morning, you daft bat” Arthur secretly regretted saying 
that, but kept his expression to one of defence.
“What did you call me?” Gina sat up in her seat and stared menacingly at her 
husband. 
“I think you heard me, Gina” 
“Well I don’t think I did, speak up, will you?” Gina’s expression hardened 
“Come on, you… fat… bastard”
“Fat?”
“That’s right, Fatty”
“You’re fatter than I am” Arthur closed his eyes and regretted his words once 
again, comebacks weren’t his speciality.
“What?” Her voice was shaking slightly.
“Heard that all right then…” He said to himself.
“Please repeat what you just said…” 
“I said I love you?” He smiled sadly.
“One meal a day!” She shouted “One god damn meal a day! Do you know what that 
means?”
“I’m gonna take a random guess and say it means you have on meal a day”
 “Shut up!” She was revved up for some insults, but she breathed heavily, and 
made it look like she was calming down “I remember what our therapist said, 
Arthur, so I am calling a taxi, and going home”
“You’re just going to leave me here?” 
“You can come too, if you want” She opened the car door and scooted out “But 
that would mean leaving your wonderful Devon style car”
“You know perfectly well I just couldn’t leave my baby here!” He shouted, 
getting out of the car, and arguing over the roof of it.   
“You’re baby is at home, and you left him there” She said “Some caring parent 
you are”
“I wanted to stay, daft fat...bat” he corrected himself, he always prepared 
himself for arguments, but every time managed to make himself look like an 
idiot. “YOU were the one who was o-so desperate to leave”
“I’m calling a cab, Arthur” She closed her door silently and got her mobile 
phone from her purse.
“Where’d you get that?” he pointed at the phone “Those are expensive, and I 
certainly didn’t buy it for you”
“It was a gift, from a friend”
“Ha! Liar!” His eyes went wide; he got secretly excited, like he just 
completed a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle “You and I both know that we don’t 
have any friends!”
“I bought it for myself” She said indignantly “We needed one anyway”
“Those things are expensive”
“But we’re rich, Arthur!” She screamed “We can afford a cell phone! We can 
afford to move out of that two bedroom match box you call a house, we can 
afford all the things we ever dreamed of, including a fucking nanny!”
“Don’t swear so much!” Arthur slammed the car door “Shit!”
“What?” Gina asked, as Arthur looked through the car door window.
“The keys are in there”
“Well done, genius”
“Uh…” Arthur got out his wallet and pulled out his credit card.
“What are you doing?” Gina rubbed her bare arms “Oh God. Please don’t try, 
you’ll only embarrass yourself”
“I’ve seen a lot of movies, Gina” Arthur said, kneeling on the road and 
sticking the credit card between the slots of the car door. “I know how it’s 
done” Gina dialled the numbers, and waited for an answer.
“Those weren’t car doors; you need a wire or something for car doors” At the 
other end of the phone, a gruff voice answered.
“Hello, Celadon Taxi Service how may I help?” He didn’t exactly sound happy, 
he was chewing gum loudly, and Gina grimaced at the sound.
“Hello, I’d like a taxi to pick me up from…hang on” She put the phone on hold 
“Arthur…what road are we on?”
“Shit!” Arthur kicked the door of his car then held up a broken credit card, 
he threw it on the floor then proceeded to moan, sitting on the floor.
“Arthur?”
“I don’t know…the middle of nowhere”
“What?” Gina asked “This is Celadon, there’s no ‘middle of nowhere’ in 
Celadon”
“Well, I don’t know, near route seven, I guess” Gina lifted the phone to her 
ear again.
“We’re near route twenty two… could you look for us around there somewhere?” 
Gina listened intently while still shivering; Arthur stood up and draped his 
coat around her shoulders, which she immediately took off. 
“It’s itchy” She whispered. “How big do you think route twenty two is? Just 
send a taxi to drive up till he finds two rich people standing by an 
expensive car…with a large dent on the left hand side.” She scowled at her 
husband, who was, now trying to smooth the dent out.
“…well there’s a small tree…that’s pretty much all the notable landscape 
around here” She was growing impatient. “Listen…if you do this for me there a 
shiny nickel in it for you…no not an actual nickel, it’s a metaphor isn’t it? 
…For money” She sighed deeply “okay sorry, I correct myself… if you do this 
for me, you’ll get lots of money!”
“Gina…don’t bribe” Arthur said looking up from his work.
“Doesn’t’ matter anyway… he hung up” Gina put the phone back in her purse and 
crossed her arms looking around.
“What are you looking for?” Her husband asked.
“Some signs of life…”
“Call someone…call the babysitter!” Arthur said sternly, remembering that she 
was only staying till ten o’clock and it was currently half-past. Gina 
hurriedly pulled the phone back out of her purse and dialled five numbers.
“…..it’s ringing” She said.
“Well… keep me informed…” Arthur replied.
“...it’s still ringing” She said again.
“Good, good”
“…I think she’s left” she pressed end call, and sighed again “looks like 
we’re walking back”
“Looks like we’re running back”

* * *

So they ran…
“This dress is not made for athletes…” Gina said; breathing heavily trying to 
keep up with her husbands, not fast, but quick pace.
“No, we’re not athletes. I’m fat, you’re thin” He stopped and rested on his 
knees “we’re both healthily messed up”
“But… you have to admit, I have a stunning curvy figure for someone who’s had 
a child, a near ten pound child at that” Gina said, smiling slightly.
“I admit, that you look very sexy…but that is one of the reasons I married 
you, remember?”  He smiled again, and took a deep breath “It was the first 
thing I said to you”
“Yeh…” She sat on the damp ground next to him, not concerned about her 
crimson dress “Why do we always fight, Arty? I mean, we have twice as much 
reason to love each other than most couples…”
“Do we really?” Arthur smiled “We have happy moments as well, like when we 
got married…or when you gave birth, we just remember the fights more, because 
horrible things stick in your mind much more than wonderful things”
“I guess so.” She turned to him “Are you under the impression giving birth 
was a wonderful experience for me?
“Well, granted it must have been painful, but look at the end result, you’re 
a mother now”
“Hip hooray” Gina said in possibly the least enthusiastic voice.
“Come on, that child is beautiful”
“Yes. He is.” She said quietly to her self. Arthur looked across suddenly to 
a dilapidated building. Its door was missing and the windows were smashed, 
all in all it looked abandoned, and had probably looked it, for some time.
“How long do you think that’s been there?”
“A few years…I’ve never seen it before personally” Gina answered.
“…Neither have I”
Both of them got to their feet, and looked at each other again. Arthur moved 
a piece of straggling hair from her face.
“I do love you, Gina” He said.
“I know”
“Going to the moon, going to the moon,
We announce the ways, of truth and love.
Extend our reach, to the stars above
Going to the moon, going to the moon.
We’re Blazers, we love it.
We blaze like a rocket.
Going to the moon.
We’re going to the moon”

“That was…surprising” Gina said, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
“It was grandfather’s song; he used to say we were called Blazer, because we 
blazed like a rocket. We could go anywhere, and get there fast” 
“I’ve never heard you sing before” 
“Was I good?”
“No” She smiled “But it was still beautiful” 

* * *

	They reached their front door and opened it quickly, Gina hurriedly 
rushed upstairs while Arthur walked into the living room, on the leather 
sofa, was Miss Holly Henderson, lying under a blanket with a her clothes, all 
her clothes, thrown on a pile on the floor.
“Holly?” Arthur said calmly from the doorway. A sleepy moan was heard from 
the couch, as she raised her head above the arm. Her eyes shot wide as she 
scrambled to cover herself with her blanket.
“What was his name this time, Holly?”
“S-s-steve” she said sheepishly, picking up her clothes. Arthur turned around 
away from her, while she put on her trousers.
“Steve, hasn’t Steve been round here before?” Arthur asked
“…different Steve” she said, sliding on a top and heading for the front door. 
Arthur opened it for her.
“Now Holly, you’re seventeen”
“Eighteen”
“Eighteen, when are you going to invite the same boy over?” Arthur asked.
“I dunno” She shrugged “When I find the right guy, I guess”
“Well, you’ve got plenty to choose from” Arthur handed her twenty kantolians, 
which she took and looked up nervously.
“You’re not gonna tell my folks are ya?”
“Do I ever?” He shut the door and headed to the living room. He started 
folding up the blanket previously used by Holly. Before he decided it should 
probably be washed before further use. Gina came down slowly, holding 
Giovanni.
“He’s okay” She said “Not that he cries that often anyway!
“He keeps his worries to himself” Arthur said “It’s not healthy, not at this 
age anyway”

* * *

	The next morning felt cloudy to Arthur, like his mind wasn’t awake yet, 
he plodded through the morning and walked out to get his car, with his spare 
set of keys.
He saw the building again, and through his clouded mind, for some reason he 
thought he had to go in there. He entered through the crumbled entrance and 
looked around; in the centre of the front room was a smouldering fire.
“Gypsies, they all come here” Arthur said to himself “Come to Celadon, 
gypsies, we’ve plenty of flowers” He wandered into the next room, where there 
was a laptop computer on a small wooden table.
“Gypsies with laptops” he said to himself “okay” A sleeping bag was crumpled 
in the corner and a lurking figure was creeping up behind Arthur, being 
careful to keep out of sight. Next to the sleeping bag was a pile of liquor 
bottles, some broken on heir sides, and, strangest of all, from a rotting 
rafter, hung a pure white tuxedo, hanging precariously from rusting nail.  
“Probably stole it…”
“You’re not gonna tell the guys at work are ya?” said a young voice from the 
shadows “I mean, don’t tell em about the way I live, right?” out of the 
shadows stepped, Mark Preece, the Black-Jack Master.
“Mark?”
“Hey, Boss” He said, he was in his boxer shorts and nothing else; his hair 
was still gelled from the night before, though now it was sticking up in odd 
angles.
“You live here?” Arthur asked, picking up an empty liquor bottle and looking 
at it. “What about your girlfriend?”
“She went home after last night; I haven’t exactly told her where I live”
“So you do live here”
“Ya-huh”
“Why?” Arthur asked, putting the bottle down and standing up again “And why 
didn’t you say something?”
“I have a reputation to live up to” Mark said “I’m the Black-Jack Master”
“Black-Jack is pretty much luck…” Arthur looked around again “Which by the 
looks of things, you do not have”
“This is only temporary” Mark said “I’m getting good pay at the casino; I got 
a two hundred already, just for a months work”
“I know” Arthur sighed “If you want some money…”
“Stop right there! I don’t want to borrow anything, not if I have to pay it 
back, it gets all muddled and I end up with less than I had before”
“You can keep it”
“Really?”
“I have plenty of money; I can afford everything I’ve ever dreamed of, 
including a fucking nanny” Arthur laughed
“Well, thanks” Arthur handed Mark a cheque for one thousand kantolians 
“A cheque?”
“Is that a problem?”
“Well, sort of” He rubbed the back of his neck “I don’t actually have a bank 
account”
“I’ll sort one out for you, don’t worry”
“Hey. You’re a decent, guy Boss, real decent” He smiled “Silph didn’t think 
twice before throwing me out”
“Silph” Arthur said, looking up from his cheque book “Do you know anything 
about, you know, their recent scheme”
“Not really, they told me about transferring to Cinnabar, didn’t tell me why 
though” He pulled on a pair of dirty jeans that were folded up on the floor. 
“Some big lab up there or something”
“You know anything about that new species?”
“The alien?”
“The alien” Arthur said “Is it real?”
“Pfft, yeah its real” He answered, as he slid on a white T-shirt “Pretty much 
dead though”
“It was dead?” Arthur asked sitting down on the sleeping bag.
“It was basically dead, looked like it was having trouble breathing” He knelt 
down by his laptop “I got some pictures of it if you really wanna see”
“Seriously?”
“Yeh, whole bunch of ‘em” He opened a folder on his desktop “They told me to 
delete them, threatened to kill me if it leaked, pfft, they’re all talk, yep, 
here we go” Arthur walked over and knelt down next to Mark. On the screen was 
an unclear image an operating theatre, people in white coats surrounded an 
operating table, with a faded pink creature, whining and writhing on it.
“How did you take these?” Arthur asked, moving on to the next image.
“When I was working as a porter, clearing up after everything. I saw it and 
thought I could make a little money out of a few pictures if it”
“I’ll give you a three hundred kantolian raise for these pictures” Arthur 
said “five thousand for the laptop” Mark was speechless, he sat down on the 
dusty floor and opened his mouth slowly.
“Done” he said in a raspy voice “There’s also a video on there”
“Which directory?”
“The…the same one, just go back”
Arthur did as he was told, he scrolled down through the images, fifty four 
pictures of this creature, god knows what they were doing to it. At the 
bottom of the folder was a video file. He double clicked on it. The video was 
silent, full of bustling white-coats; glimpses of the creature were rare.
“The sounds turned down” Mark said “Turn it up on the side” Arthur turned it 
up and the room was still very quiet, only footsteps could be heard, though 
immediately a shocking noise came from the creature, a loud cat-like noise. 
It seemed to echo through the room, and several of the people held their 
heads in pain.
“I hate that bit” Mark said rolling up his sleeping bag “Makes me jump every 
time”
On the video few of the people left, so the creature was more visible. The 
camera moved in on it, as parker had said, it looked like an ancient cat, its 
eyes were closed and it breathed harshly and slowly. It looked like suede for 
its skin, pale peachy suede. Its arms and legs were thin and skeletal, and 
small. Looking almost in a different scale than the rest of the creature, it 
also had a long wiry tail, with a fury end to it, which swished in full life, 
though the creature itself looked almost dead. Suddenly, once more the room 
erupted into noise, when one of the remaining ‘doctors’ shrieked hysterically 
clutching the sides of his head, the other doctors trying to calm him down, 
by now he was almost laughing, the pain was so bad. As suddenly as it started 
he fell to the floor, and the room fell silent again.
“Get more people in here” shouted one the doctors “this mans dead for god’s 
sake” Shouted another one; various rushed orders came from different people, 
the camera switched off.
“What happened to him?” Arthur asked 
“I dunno” Mark answered “Very scary though, didn’t go back into that room 
after that. Hardly anyone did”
“He died though” He looked up from the screen “How did he die”
“They didn’t tell me”
“I have a feeling they didn’t tell anyone”

* * *

“Why are you so interested in this thing?” Mark asked, in the passenger seat 
of his car.
“It’s a new life” He replied “It’s an actual alien”
“If I were you I wouldn’t make too much out of it, they did threaten to kill 
me y’know. You’re a powerful guy now, boss, they might take notice of ya if 
you start coming up with all sorts of theories” Mark opened the door of the 
car and stepped out of it, Arthur did the same.
“Theories?” He asked, as he closed the door “You don’t need theories when you 
have all the evidence you need under one arm” He tapped the folded laptop.
“Still, be careful with it” Mark followed him to the front door, where he 
opened it and stepped inside. “So it’s okay if I crash here for a while, 
right?” Arthur wasn’t paying full attention; he plugged the laptop into the 
wall and watched the movie again. “Boss?”
“What?” he asked, in a trance.
“I can stay here for a while, right?”
“Sure. There’s a spare bedroom on the second floor, on the left” Arthur said, 
not turning his head. Mark nodded once, before heading upstairs, with his 
sleeping bag slunk over one shoulder. 
	Arthur gazed at the video again and again, the creature fascinated him. 
He knew that guy died because of him, but he couldn’t figure out how. It was 
unarmed, and it didn’t move a muscle.
“Honey?” Gina asked from the doorway “There’s a man upstairs that says he’s 
living with us”
“He’s a guy from work, he’s needs a place to crash” Arthur said, still 
focusing on the video.
“Since when do you use the term ‘crash’?” Gina asked “Where’d you get that 
computer?”
“I bought it, from a guy at work” Arthur said “The same guy in fact”
“To quote a man o-so careful with money, ‘those things are expensive’” Gina 
said “How much did it cost?”
“Five thousand”
“Five. Thousand.” She said slowly “What is so special about that computer 
that makes it cost five thousand?”
“Come and look at this” Arthur beckoned his wife over to the coffee table, 
where she knelt down beside him.
“My god, what is that thing?”
“That is the alien from Silph” He paused the video “The guy upstairs used to 
work for them. He took a bunch of pictures, and even his video. Watch”
So she did, she didn’t seem half as fascinated as Arthur, but she was still 
taken back.
“What happened to that guy?” She asked “He died, right?”
“I assumed so”
“Was that thing?” She pointed to the pink creature on the table.
“I think it was. But how Gina?”
“I don’t know” she got up off the floor “But I need to make dinner”
“You need to order the maid to make dinner” Arthur said “How much does she 
charge, by the way?”
“Ten an hour, not a bad wage” Gina said “Just, don’t get too into this” He 
didn’t listen; he played the video over again. Time dwindled on, when dinner 
was served he ignored it, when the first signs of dawn shone through the 
window, he closed the drapes. When the time came to go to work, he just 
watched the video again, scrolled through the images and watched the video 
once more.
“Arty” Gina said, as she came down the stairs with a blue dressing gown on 
“Every five minutes upstairs I could hear that god damn cat scream” Gina 
walked over and sat on the floor next to him again “You’re getting obsessed 
and you’ve only had these things for a day”
“Gina, watch this” Arthur played the video again, and fast forwarded to the 
point where the man was about to scream “Watch here” He played the video, 
Gina blinked once.
“Did you see it?” Arthur asked, excited by his discovery.
“…I didn’t” Gina said sleepily “I didn’t see a thing”
“I’ll play it again” Once more he re-wound the video to the same place and 
played it again. Just before the doctor screamed the creature’s eyes opened 
slightly, and were staring straight at the now dead doctor.
“You saw it this time” He said, pretty sure “He opens his eyes”
“So?”
“It has to be to do with him” Arthur said, his eyes wide, a big grin on his 
face “He staring right at him” He re-wound and paused it “look at him, it 
looks like he’s looking through him”
“You should get some sleep” Gina said, getting up and going to the kitchen.
“You just don’t care enough. Mark!” Arthur sprung up from his place and 
darted to the bottom of the stairs “Mark, come down and watch this. He’ll 
care.” He said assuredly to Gina. A very tired Mark cam to the top of the 
stair case, in just his boxer shorts again.
“You need something, boss?” He said, rubbing his head “Cos I got a bit of a 
headache right now”
“Come and see this thing” He ordered, and he rushed back into the living 
room. Mark slowly went down the stairs, and went to the doorway of the living 
room. On the floor was Arthur again, watching the computer screen closely.
“Come and watch this” He said.
“I’m coming” Mark said and sat on the couch behind Arthur “Boss, I’ve already 
seen this, like a thousand times”
“No you haven’t” He re-wound the movie “Watch this bit” He played the movie 
file again and paused as the creature opened it’s eyes.
“See!” Arthur shouted.
“Woah” Mark said “He’s staring at that guy, have to say I hadn’t noticed that 
before”
“It’s the same guy that gets killed” He played the rest of the movie “It’s a 
weird power he has, like a psychic ability or something”
“Psychic?” Mark asked “Like, you mean, reading peoples minds?”
“That’s exactly what I mean” Arthur closed the laptop suddenly “He’s an 
alien, right? It’s said that aliens communicate using telepathic language”
“But” Mark thought for a moment “That’s impossible”
“Why?”
“Because it is!”
“Its only seems impossible because we can’t do it” Arthur explained “We can 
swim; we run we can even fly with planes. There is no technical or natural 
way for us to be psychic, and that’s why we think it is impossible”
“That’s right though, there is no technical or natural way” Mark said, he was 
a smart young man, but still foolish and very arrogant.
“Impossible for us, but this thing isn’t from here” Arthur said “Alien 
describes something that is from another place. This is from another world, 
why would it talk a language, why would it walk on two feet, why would it 
breathe at all!?”
“Because that’s the only way we can imagine life…” Mark said, catching onto 
the idea.
“Another creature from another planet could be so different from us, that we 
can’t even imagine what it would be like. We only have biological needs for 
this planet” He sat down “It doesn’t correspond to others…” 
“You’re all riled up” Gina said from the doorway “Like I said you would be”
“Gina!” Arthur said, getting to his feet again “This is a real alien creature 
here!”
“So?”
“Are you completely mad?” He asked “this is the best fucking discovery of our 
lifetime and you’re just, no wait, not just you, everybody! Everybody’s too 
involved with their prissy pointless lives to notice the big picture here!”
“And what exactly is the big picture here, Arty?” Gina crossed her arms “That 
there’s an alien? That there’s another life? Everyone just takes it in their 
stride Arthur; they don’t get all dumb and excited, just calm down”
“The big picture is that Silph is going to clone that poor creature. Silph 
controls the whole operation in Kanto” He explained
“Hey!” Mark said from the couch “Kanto is a self governing country! It’s what 
makes it the country of freedom”
“Than how come it’s turning into shit?” Arthur turned around “Parker told me 
this. He said that it’s all falling to pieces because Silph is out of ideas”
“I don’t have to listen to this crap” Mark said “This country is free, and 
I’m fucking proud of that! It was the country I was born and raised in”
“And look where it got you, Mark!” Arthur shouted “Sixteen empty liquor 
bottles and a dilapidated shit-hole!” 
“Fuck you!” Mark shouted he got off the sofa and headed to the door; he 
opened it and turned around “You’re all fucked up, if you don’t mind me 
saying. Try telling anyone what you think, they’d say the same thing as me!” 
He slammed the door and left.
“You’re losing friends, Arthur” Gina said “We don’t have that many, but we’re 
losing them”
“Gina” He said quietly, going over and lying on the couch, by now the baby 
was crying “The baby’s crying”
“I can hear…” she looked up the stairs “He’s crying”
“For the first time” Arthur said, still lying down on the couch “Obviously he 
doesn’t like fighting” 
Gina went upstairs to check on him; as soon as she entered the room he 
stopped crying. He seldom got upset; a moan from him was surprising. He never 
worried or begged for anything. Or he just didn’t show it.
“Why were you crying?” Gina asked him, though he only smiled gleefully and 
waved his limbs around “Were you upset over the fighting?” Again, the 
squirming carried on. Gina travelled down the stairs again, glancing into 
living room. Arthur was fast asleep.
“Stupid bastard” Gina whispered to herself, kneeling down beside him 
“Politics. They always get you riled up”

* * *

There were three sudden knocks at the door, Arthur woke up quickly and made 
his way to the door. He had been sleeping for a long time, it was dark 
outside, and Gina was now on her way to Lois’s house, as was her way. 
The three knocks came again. Arthur carefully opened the door, the seldom 
scruffy man, was now a complete wreck. His eyes like red road maps, bloodshot 
horribly, with his eyelids drooping down to avoid the harshness of the 
outside lamp.
“Arthur” Said a friendly voice “You look a mess”
“Parker, I’ve had a busy day” he replied, opening the door fully, inviting 
him in.
“You’re darling wife said you were asleep. All day” 
“I had…I had a busy night, and morning” Arthur said, sitting down in the 
living room, opening the laptop again. “I want to show you-”
“I don’t want to see it” Parker said “And I don’t want you to see it anymore”
“Gina told you a lot then”
“She told everything. I think you should delete those files”
“No” Arthur said simply “I don’t think I will”
“You don’t really know what you’re getting yourself into” Parker said, taking 
off his glasses and polishing them with a silk cloth “You have a child. You 
have a child and a loving wife”
“Yes”
“It’s going to end badly for you” Parker said “If you mess with this stuff, 
they will kill you”
“Everyone has said that to me” Arthur said “I know I should be worried, but 
I’m not. This feels right to me”
“Right?” Parker asked “You’re a rich man. Rich men don’t trouble over things 
that are right, or wrong. They’re rich, you’re rich, and you don’t have to 
give a shit about anything, or anyone”
“I am a rich man, Parker” Arthur stood up and closed the laptop “But I’m also 
a Blazer”
“…Arthur, do you really think you can make a difference in the world. Silph 
will do what Silph is going to do, and you can’t change that, a dead man, a 
poor man, a rich man, cannot change that. Neither can a Blazer”
“A Blazer can do anything, they blaze to the stars. Like a rocket” Arthur sat 
down, he was a little distraught and tired still, and he didn’t one hundred 
percent know, what he was saying. 
“What exactly are your plans?”
“I will stop them”
“How?” There was a long silence. All the lights in the room were off; it was 
just two figures, talking politics in the darkness. “Do you; empathise with 
this creature, Arty?”
“How can I not?” he said sadly
“Because it’s dead”
“What?”
“Word from Silph says the creature is dead” Parker coughed slightly “Though 
the cloning process went very well” Arthur said nothing. “They’re 
experimenting on-”
“What exactly is your link with Silph?” Arthur asked tears in his eyes “Why 
would they tell you privately, why they send you a letter?”
“Actually, I was there” He said darkly “I am the vice president of the Silph 
Corporation” 
Arthur smiled slightly  
“Of course you are” Arthur said, and punched Parker in the face.

* * *

“Three have been killed already; this is getting out of control,” a scientist 
by the name of Warren Ivy said. “The creature is-”
“How did they die?” another asked.
“You know the strange signals we’ve been receiving, the waves that have been 
distorting out equipment?” Ivy asked.
“What about them?”
“They also interfere with human brains…”
“In what way” The other scientist removed his mask. It was a well respected 
man, Samuel Oak, in his mid twenties.
“He crushes them, Professor” Ivy said “Into a pulp” Ivy walked over to an 
operating table. On it was a man, a dead man. On his fore head was a hole, 
drilled there.
“Take a look” Ivy said, allowing the professor to walk past and look “Into a 
pulp”
“It looks like tomato juice” Samuel said, he turned to face Ivy again “And 
all of them are like this?”
“All three of them” Ivy replied. Another professor quickly walked into the 
room, his pace was quick.
“Professor Morgan” Samuel said nicely “Have any new information on the powers 
of this creature”   
“It’s hard, Professor, his powers being invisible” Morgan smiled “It’s hard 
to prove they exist at all”
“Of course they do”
“I know they do” Morgan said “This…psychic ability it has. It fascinates me”
“This creature continues to fascinate us all”
“Which is why I have to ask, Professor” he stuttered slightly “I think we 
should treat it more fairly”
“What?”
“Make it more comfortable, you mean?” Ivy asked “How many more people would 
it kill, if we did that?”
“Perhaps it’s killing people, because we’re being so hostile towards it” 
Morgan said, narrowing his eyes at Ivy.
“You’re acting very protective of this thing, yet you keep referring to it, 
as…it” Samuel said. “Surely if you truly admired this creature, you would 
give it a name, or at least call it ‘he’”
“We have no idea whether it’s a male or a female” Morgan said “That’s why I 
call it it, as for a name, it was made reasonably clear to me, that any 
attempt to tame, or nurture the creature would end in banishment from the 
institution and up to four years in prison”
“You’ve done well to keep so quiet up till now, Morgan” Samuel said “But I 
really must insist that you stop these demands, or I will have to let you go”
“Demands?” Morgan asked “I didn’t demand anything. Don’t try and make 
yourself sound so reasonable”
“Morgan” Samuel said, putting his hand on Morgan’s shoulder “Take the rest of 
the day off”
“Professor-”
“I think you need it” He said “You’ve been working especially hard these last 
few days and I think you deserve a rest”
Morgan looked at him with hate-filled eyes. Samuel Oak had this way with 
people, a seemingly innocent tone that always made him sound like the 
reasonable one. He was a psychopath, plain and simple, only concerned with 
his well being, his image and his career.
“Thank you” Morgan said, removing the Professor’s hand from his shoulder “You 
always know what’s best for me” Morgan smiled sarcastically and left the 
room.
“Professor” Ivy said “Have you any ideas”
“For what, sorry?” Samuel turned his attention back to Warren.
“How protect ourselves, from, him” He pointed to another table. On it was a 
sedated creature, its eyes were closed and it’s breathing harsh and rare. Its 
tail swished from side to side, much unlike the rest of the creature, like it 
had a life of its own. Sam looked upon the creature and closed his eyes 
calmly.
“How many are completed?” He asked, his eyes remaining closed 
“Three, Professor” Ivy said “One for each man dead”  
Samuel breathed out heavily and opened his eyes.
“Show them to me”

A thick metal door opened to a brightly lit room, inside were three large, 
glass cages. Samuel was led to the first one.
“You have to wait” Warren Ivy said “ This one doesn’t take kindly to 
strangers”
“I’m not a stranger” Samuel put his face nearer the glass, and looked around 
the cage “I’m this creature’s father”
“Professor” Ivy said. “Would you like to hear some of the characteristics, 
the behaviour and, it’s… powers”
Samuel looked up from the cage suddenly.
“Powers?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “Tell me, Warren, what ‘powers’ does 
this thing possess?”
“Down in genetics, we got a little ambitious” Ivy said “We mixed the original 
creatures DNA with that of the simplest we could think of. That of a frog 
Agalychnis callidryas”
“A red-eyed tree frog” Samuel said knowingly “How is that ambitious, 
exactly?”
“Half way through the gene mixing process, we added floral DNA, it went 
surprisingly well-”
“Floral DNA?” A gravely voice asked from the doorway. “What sort of ‘floral 
DNA’?” Samuel and Ivy turned around to see Parker standing there. The door 
closed behind him.
“Ah, Mr. Loren” Samuel said “Just in time for the grand opening” 
“Adenium obesum, Sir” Ivy answered “A desert rose”
“Very poisonous flower, that” Samuel said “But very beautiful, to say the 
least”
“I believe instructions were given” Parker said “Animals only; I don’t know 
much about science or genetics, but I know that adding too many genes 
together will create a mutated mess. Tell me, what does this horrendous beast 
look like?”
“Why don’t you look for yourself” Ivy said, indicating the cage. Parker 
walked over to it, with little care and glanced around it once.
“I can’t see it” He said.
“Has it escaped?” Samuel asked.
“That’s impossible, Professor” Ivy laughed “Just wait one minute”
Inside the glass cage was jungle, assorted plants littered the area, growing 
fast and large in the brightly lit cage. Species of insects also travelled 
around, crickets, grasshoppers and others. In the centre was grassy clearing, 
where most of the light was directed.
“I still don’t see anything” Samuel said, but as he did, a rustling came from 
the leaves. Out walked an amphibious creature. Its feet were webbed, but the 
creature still had little sharp claws on the end of its long frog-like toes. 
Its skin was unlike a frogs, and was more like the aliens, smooth and suede-
looking, the most defining feature was most probably the collection of folded 
leaves on its back, where the midrib and the petiole connected to the 
creatures Latissimus Dorsi muscle. Its eyes were wide, and indeed, red.
“It’s not very big, is it?” Parker asked, looking inquisitively at it.
“It’s bigger than a red-eyed tree frog, sir” Professor Ivy said, smiling.
“Quite a cute little fella, isn’t he?” Samuel said, moving closer to the 
cage. At this, the creature leaped backwards and widened its eyes fully, 
between the leaves on its back, an ochre coloured gas exuded.
“What’s it doing?” 
“It’s defending itself” Ivy answered “When frightened or troubled, it sprays 
around a deadly nerve gas, that currently, there is no cure for” The creature 
skulked backwards back into the wilderness, it’s eyes still glowing in the 
darkness. 
“What species is it?” Parker asked “Is it a plant or an amphibian?”
“It’s a monster” Ivy said “By all scientific rules; it’s a pure natural 
monster”
“There’s nothing natural about it” Parker said, a worried expression on his 
face.
“He’s right” Samuel nodded “All it is is a scientific breakthrough and the 
end to Silph’s bankruptcy” 
“Unfortunately, the psychic ability from the creature didn’t progress into 
this one. But it has gained some peculiar abilities from the flower. It needs 
little food or sustenance, most of it’s energy is taken from the light” Ivy 
explained, reading from a self made notebook “We named it bulbizzare” Ivy 
smiled.
“Bulbizzare?” Samuel asked “Try bulbasaur”
“It’s no relation to a lizard, professor” Ivy said.
“But it’s far more appropriate” Samuel said “And it looks better written 
down, I can assure you”
Ivy solemnly scribbled the creatures name out, and replaced it. He placed the 
pencil back in his pocket and directed Parker and Samuel to the next cage. 
Out of the glass, an immense heat could be felt through it. The landscape 
inside was bleak but emanated lot of heat. Lying peacefully in the centre, 
was a small fiery-orange coloured lizard, its under-belly was cream coloured 
with smooth scales covering it, while the rest of it seemed harsh and bumpy. 
Its eyes were closed at this time, but it had two shiny, silver fangs and a 
long, strong tail, with a flame-like fan on the end, it kept spreading and 
then folding, as if the creature had no control over it.
“We called this one Charmander” He looked across at Samuel, who was nodding 
at the name. Ivy smiled “It’s able to survive shockingly high temperatures 
and has a natural immunity to fire. We found it feeds on brimstone, well, 
feed is a strong word. It collects brimstone it its mouth, chewing on it 
continually, grinding it into a fine dust”
“That’s rather strange behaviour, wouldn’t you say?” Samuel asked, looking 
puzzled at the creature.
“We had no explanation as to why, until yesterday” Ivy coughed lightly “It’s 
defences differ from the last specimen, Professor”
“Of course, that’s expected” Parker said.
“This one uses…pyrokinetics” Ivy said, closing his fact book.
“It can control fire?” Samuel asked.
“It can create fire” Ivy opened his book again “The mix of DNA has provided 
it with great intelligence; it uses the brimstone to create these powerful 
bursts of flame. Its teeth are made of a platinum-like substance, which 
reacts with hydrogen to create a natural flamethrower”
“Where does it get the hydrogen?” Parker asked.
“It stores hydrogen in a second lung, and releases it when he needs to” Ivy 
closed the book again and looked pleased with himself “That’s not all. See 
the strange lumps on its back? We believe they could be maladapted wings, and 
with time and more tests, I believe we could make it fly, or glide at least”
“It would be a dragon” Parker whispered to himself, looking closely at the 
beast.
“A real life dragon” Samuel said.
“It’s just the miracle of the modern age, Professor” Ivy smiled, obviously 
delighted with their reaction.
“No, it’s the miracle of that creature out there” Samuel smiled wider “That, 
alien”   

The room was dark now; everyone had gone to lunch and locked the doors. 
Morgan tried the handle, he wasn’t sure if he could use his ID card. No one 
really trusted him; he was always questioning whether what they were doing 
was right. 
“Stay together here” Morgan said to himself “Go in. Go out”
Morgan pressed his card against reader, which successfully opened the doors 
with a quiet buzz. In the centre of the room was the creature. It had been 
placed in its glass case, though it escaping was never likely, they had to 
take precautions. Morgan closed the door slowly and opened the glass coffin, 
it had been placed in.
“I have no idea what you are” Morgan said “But nothing should be treated with 
such…disrespect”
“Mew” The creature said quietly, Morgan didn’t hear it, he undid the buckles 
around the creature’s arms and legs.  
“I can’t let them butcher you like this” Morgan said “Taking what they need 
from you, leaving you hungry”
“Mew” It said again, Morgan looked down at it with much confusion “Mew” It 
said again.
“You’re speaking” Morgan whispered to it “Tell me, what does ‘mew’ mean?”
“Mew”
“Is that all you can say?” Morgan asked “Can you tell what you are? Who you 
are?”
“…Mew” The creatures eyes opened wider, and Morgan stared right into them. 
Inside the creatures eyes were images of tortured animals. Meaningless 
battles between people, and the bloodshed of the innocent. Morgan fell 
backwards onto the cold tile floor; his breathing became quick and harsh.
“Your psychic powers…Mew” Morgan said “Those were your psychic powers?”
The creature didn’t move, its eyes were slowly closing.
“Come on” Morgan said “I’ll carry you out of here” Morgan stood up and placed 
his arms around the creature’s neck. Immediately a searing pain shot though 
his arms into his brain, a feeling so horrible and dark. Like someone erasing 
his mind, crushing it. The pain stopped, and when Morgan opened his eyes, he 
was on the other side of the door. He frantically got his card out and placed 
it against the reader, the doors opened and on the table, in the glass 
coffin, the creature’s tail, Mew’s tail, had gone limp.

“Squirtle” Said Ivy.
“I can’t see this one either” Parker said, looking into a glass cage filled 
with water. The bottom of the tank was covered with jagged rocks   
“Very well camouflaged” Samuel said. “Aren’t they?”
“This one is the genetic DNA of a sea turtle, plus that of the alien of 
course” Ivy said “I believe this to be the most successful, the most adapted 
anyway, most like that creature next door. Like the sea turtle it is well 
adapted to marine life, and is a fast swimmer. The reason you can’t see it, 
is because when nervous, it hides in its shell, which blends in well with the 
rocky sea bottom.” Ivy said knowingly.   
Out of the jagged rocks came a creature, its jagged shell blended almost 
entirely to the rock below, out of the shell popped a scaly blue head, with 
large shark eyes. Two pairs of legs also came out, and a tail. What was most 
striking, was the creatures tail, it was long, and soft, like the clouds. It 
swished through the water elegantly behind the creature.
“When out of water, it carries water in its lungs” Ivy said “And is able to 
spew it out of its mouth with such force; it is able to breakthrough rock.  
Its defences apart from that are non-aggressive. It is able to hide in its 
sturdy shell until danger is out of sight”
“This truly is fantastic” Samuel said, unable to control his glee “Parker, I 
think you should inform the president of the progress we have made, and start 
getting the public hyped up about this” 
“Alright” Parker said “Try to remember though, Samuel, I am your boss. Don’t 
tell me what to do”
“I apologise, Sir” Samuel said, charmingly “It’s just I am a little over 
excited. We’ve made monsters, Warren” He said, turning to Ivy.
“We have indeed”
“We’ve made mythical monsters…real” Samuel said “And we’re about to make 
millions. You could afford that place by the sea you always wanted, Warren. 
Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“It would, Professor. You could get that place in the country” Warren 
laughed.
“The place in Pallet Town”
“But!” Warren said, causing parker to freeze in his tracks. “I haven’t 
finished yet”
“What?”
“There is so much more to tell you first” He said. “You said the creatures 
should be tame. Well, they are under your control, once you make them yours”
“And how do I make them mine, exactly?”
“Christen them”
“Christen, them?” Samuel asked “Rather strange, to christen beasts like 
these.
“I mean name them, professor” Ivy said “Name them yours and they will obey 
your every command”
“They’re like slaves, then?” Parker asked, from the doorway.
“Slaves?” Samuel turned around.
“I assure you, sir, these creatures have no sense of anything outside obeying 
their owner’s commands, it’s the life they were made to live” Ivy said, 
closing the book again.
“But-”
“This isn’t really a moral subject, sir” Samuel said, calmly “They are made 
to fight, serve and to obey, like bees are made to make honey”
“Bees aren’t made, Professor” Parker said “They are born naturally, that’s 
why this is so…wrong” Behind Parker came another scientist, who had a very 
noticeable sign of worry in his eyes; he pushed passed him quickly and 
whispered something in Professor Oak’s ear.
“It seems we have a problem with the creature” Samuel said


“You sure it’s dead?” Ivy asked, circling around the alien.
“I checked its pulse” said the other scientist.
“Did it even have a pulse to begin with?” Parker asked “It’s a completely 
different life, after all”
“It had a pulse, Sir” Ivy answered 
“Warren, go to the file retrievement office, collect all the data you can on 
the creature” Samuel asked, Ivy nodded and headed for the door “And check the 
door’s card identity history, see who was in the room last” 
“Why do that?” Parker asked
“I have a feeling…” Samuel said 
“Clear” said the scientist, holding electrical paddles.
“What are you doing?” Samuel asked “It’s dead”
“You’re not just going to give up, are you” Parker asked, pushing up his 
glasses.
“What do you suggest we do?” Samuel asked “We have all we need, Sir”
“It seems like such a waste to me” Parker said “It was quite a beautiful 
creature”
Ivy entered the room, a collection of files under his arm.
“Here are the files, Professor” Ivy said “And the last person to enter the 
room is…Professor John Morgan, head of the psychic division”
“Sir” Samuel said, turning to Parker “May I suggest letting Morgan go. It’s 
obvious he doesn’t take the project all that seriously, or he wouldn’t be so 
careless with the creature”
“You think he was responsible for the creature’s death?” Parker asked.
“When we came in the buckles on the creatures restraints were undone” Samuel 
explained “As was the safety catch on the glass cage”  
“Morgan has a little girl to support” Parker said “And his wife died 
recently, I can’t let him go after all he’s been through”
“He might jeopardize the operation, Parker” Samuel said.
“Don’t call me that” Parker took off his glasses “He’s working till the end 
of the year at least. Give him warning and time to get a new job”
“Of course, Sir” Samuel smiled, charmingly “You can rely on me”

* * *

In the Blazer household, the Christmas tree was up, and the first flakes of 
winter fell from the grey sky. Three months had passed since Parker had 
admitted his link with Silph, and Arthur was far from forgiving him yet. Mark 
Preece was now a full time resident in the household, and had taken a shine 
to both little Giovanni and Holly Henderson, who still babysat occasionally 
for them.
“Hands down the best Christmas I’m ever gonna have” Mark said, coming down 
the stairs, holding Giovanni lovingly “Last Christmas, I was at my Uncles in 
Ecruteak”
“You don’t like your uncle, Mark?” Gina asked, from the hall.
“Oh, no” He said, handing the baby over to her “I love my uncle, when he’s 
sober. When my uncle gets drunk he tends to focus on the past a lot”
“What do you mean?” Arthur asked who had now gained a few more Christmas 
pounds, and was currently eyeing a new batch of mince pies.
“He tends to re-enact the war against Sinnoh” He answered “He always got me 
to play the Sinnoh bad-guy. He’d get a little too into it you know, he 
stabbed me last year with a plastic fork”
“Oh my god, were you okay?” Gina asked, resting the baby on her hip.
“I was fine, but I still carry the scar right here” he patted his chest “I 
promised my Auntie I wouldn’t go round there again” He went into the living 
room, where the television was on. Arthur was parked in front of it; with a 
half empty plate of mince pies on the coffee table.
“You know when the guests are getting here?”  Mark asked, straightening out 
his shirt “You invited Holly, right?”
“I invited her, she said she might come” Arthur said “She never promised 
anything”
“She might as well have done” Mark laughed “She always says that, it’s like a 
guarantee when she says that” 

Knock. Knock. Knock. 

“Answer the door, Mark” Arthur said, taking another pie from the plate. Mark 
got up and yawned, before going to the front door and opening it grandly.
“Merry Christmas! - oh it’s you” He said, behind the door was Parker, who 
looked a little stressed at the moment.
“I need to see, Arthur” He said darkly, he was slightly out of breath, but 
Mark didn’t bother to ask why.
“Sure thing”
	“I need to meet with you privately” Parker said “It’s about the 
creature”
“You said the creature was dead, Parker” Arthur sighed “I really don’t want 
to get into that thing again. I have been a lot happier since I forgot about 
it”
“You invited John Morgan and his daughter I presume?” Parker said “Because I 
need to talk to him as well”
“He said you fired him” Arthur said “His wife just died, Parker, I would have 
thought you would have a little more sympathy”
“I’m a lawyer” Parker said quietly.
“But he’s been a friend for a while, what did he even do?” Arthur asked, 
taking the empty plate out to the kitchen, Parker following closely behind.
“He was the one that killed the creature” Parker said “At least there’s a 
good chance it was him, and I did give him three months to find a new job”
“You’re going to leave before the other guests get here” Arthur said “None of 
them can stand the sight of you at the moment, and my wife has been planning 
this party for a while”
“I’ll be gone. But I need your word that you will meet me tomorrow, and try 
to bring along John” Parker said “You’ll value this information”
“Okay”
“There’s a deserted building on the outskirts of Celadon” Parker said “meet 
me there at five O’clock”
“I will” Arthur said, he hesitated, but he held out his hand “Merry 
Christmas”
“Merry Christmas” Parker shook his hand vigorously “And be careful”
	“I’d like to make a toast” Mark said, getting up from his chair “I’d 
like to make a toast to Arthur and Gina Blazer. Without them I wouldn’t be 
who I am today…” Mark had had a little too much to drink. He was acting like 
it was a wedding, and kept thanking everyone for turning up, shaking their 
hands and congratulating them. Everyone soon got used to his rambling, and 
learned to ignore it.
“Glad you could make it, John” Arthur said, pouring out another drink “I 
didn’t think you’d make it”
“I needed a break” John Morgan said “Heard anything from Parker?”
“Actually, he dropped by before you got here” Arthur said, shaking his drink.
“What did he say?” Morgan asked.
“He wanted to meet me, and you, actually” Arthur took a big gulp from his 
glass and coughed lightly “I think it’s something to do with that creature” 
Morgan suddenly looked taken back, he breathed out heavily.
“What creature?” Morgan said, avoiding eye contact “It’s Sabrina’s Birthday 
in January, perhaps I should throw a party”
“John” Arthur said “The creature, he said you killed it”
“I didn’!t” Morgan said sternly, changing his tone to a whisper “They said I 
did but I didn’t. I helped it”
“Well. It’s dead, I can’t imagine you helped it that much” Arthur said “What 
exactly did you do to it?”
“I helped it. If you saw how they treated that thing” Morgan talked down a 
bit “They were heartless towards it. It was a beautiful creature, with 
abilities unlike anything we’ve seen before. And they killed it. They killed 
it”
“What kind of abilities?”
“Psychic…It was psychic” Morgan answered “I snuck into the lab when people 
were gone; I planned to take it away from there. I touched it, and it didn’t 
want me to, and tried to kill me”
“How?”
“It has this, look, like it sees into your mind. It has such power and 
control over that ability he can dominate peoples brains, and crush them” 
Morgan said “Ever since my encounter with that poor creature, I’ve felt 
strange, when people stare at me, I feel what they’re thinking, like a second 
voice inside my head”
“He looked at you” Arthur said looked down at his drink and smiled “He always 
looks at them”
“Tomorrow, I’m coming with you” Morgan said “I need to know what is going on 
there, at Silph, how far the cloning programme has gone”
“They’ve cloned it?” Arthur asked
“They have mixed it” Morgan looked around the room before speaking “They have 
mixed genes of other creatures with it, creating these mutated creatures, 
they look unnatural, and they look sad”
“Everyone!” Gina shouted, holding Giovanni lovingly “Little Gevvy has just 
said his first words, go on Gevvy…say them” Gina urged, Giovanni looked 
around at everyone staring at him and looked happy, he started waving his 
little arms in the air.
“Say the words, Little-man” Mark said, slyly putting his arm around Holly “I 
practically raised that child” He whispered into her ear.
“…Mew” 
Morgan’s eye shot wide, he stood up and stared at the child, and the child 
stared right back. Morgan started breathing harshly again, and he sat down, 
in his mind the simple word conjured images of the creature back to him, and 
he could feel the powerful mind crushing feeling begin to affect him, he 
rubbed his temples and breathed slowly and calmly.
“Mew”

“What does that even mean?” Holly asked, raising an eyebrow “I believe when 
someone says their first word, it has to be an actual word”
“Mew” Mark said “Mew is a word; it’s the sound a cat makes. You know ona- 
something”
“Onomatopoeia” Gina said “It’s not really a word, no, but he sounds so cute 
saying it” Gina held up the baby and smiled, making funny faces at him and 
making him laugh.
“Give him here” Mark said, taking hold of the baby. Mark held him closer to 
Holly, who poked him in the stomach playfully, the baby laughed and waved his 
arms and legs excitedly.
“I think I’m gonna go home” Morgan said, his hand still on his head “Gina, do 
you know where Sabrina is?”
“She’s upstairs in the crib” Gina said “Are you feeling alright?”
“A bit if a headache actually” Morgan smiled briefly.
“Mew” Giovanni said again, Morgan crippled to the floor, keeping his hands on 
his head.
“Oh my god!” Gina shouted, kneeling down next to him “Do you need a doctor?”
“No, no” He said, sitting up and dusting himself off “I just need a good 
nights sleep” Morgan and Sabrina left, and pretty soon so had all the other 
guests. Apart from Holly who was currently getting wooed by Mark in the 
doorway, he was wearing his famous white tuxedo, and had gelled his hair into 
an extravagant spiked style; each hair seemed to have been gelled 
individually.
“You know, I have had a lot of Girlfriends” Mark started, not a great place 
to start, but he knew what he was doing “But, seriously, you’re like the best 
thing that has happened to me”
“Mark” Holly said “I’m not exactly undefiled” Saying this caused Arthur to 
snort in the next room. Mark looked up slyly, causing holly to look up. 
Hanging there was some festive mistletoe, tied neatly with a red ribbon.
“Holly” Mark said…and we can leave it there.
“Okay, Holly, time to go home” Arthur said, getting up from the couch and 
opening the front door “I think you’ve spent enough time taking Mark down to 
your level”
“Oh no, Arty, she’s my little Holly berry” Mark said, holding Holly’s hands 
firmly “This is the real thing, I swear!” He looked at her one last time. 
“Why doesn’t she spend the night, huh?”
“No!”
“I tried” He said quietly to her.
	“Have you any idea how long I have wanted a proper party” Gina said 
“That was a dream come true to me, apart from that poor John”
“John?” Arthur asked “What happened to John?”
“He collapsed!” Gina said “Said he had a headache”
“Oh” He shook his head “Tomorrow I’m going out, to meet Parker”
“Parker, after what he did to your dream, to your friend?” Gina shook her 
head also “No way. You should hate him!”
“I know I should, but I trust him, he’s my lawyer after all” Arthur sat down, 
and took a handful of nuts from the kitchen table.
“How is that a reason to trust him” Gina said “He a lawyer!”

“It’s just a few miles away, the outskirts of Celadon” Arthur said “Route 
seven”
“Saffron city?” Morgan asked, it was about five o’clock, and it was just 
getting dark. All the trees along the road were bare. It hadn’t snowed this 
Christmas, it rarely did in Celadon. It was a bohemian place, full of gypsies 
and peddlers, selling rare and fragrant flowers to passers by. Arthur 
resented them, he felt like they were taking over his home, and he would not 
allow that.
“Near there” Arthur replied.
“How did you find this place?” Morgan asked “A dilapidated building, in 
between the two most technically powerful cities”
“I got lost driving home” Arthur said, he was looking all along pavement, not 
that you could miss the building.
“You got lost?” Morgan laughed “In Celadon? You’ve lived here your whole 
life”
“Not quite” Arthur said “I was born in Viridian, and went to university 
there” Arthur started walking faster.
“Do you get lost easily?” Morgan asked, looking closely at a road sign “Did 
you say it was on route seven?”
“Yeh”
“Well, this is route sixteen, and it is dangerous” Morgan said “I got mugged 
here once, full of nasty biker types”
“You’re joking” Arthur said, walking slowly towards the sign “We’ve been 
going the wrong way?”
“Completely the opposite direction” Morgan said “I think we should probably 
hurry there” They both set off, a faster pace than before.
“You never said you were mugged” Arthur said “It’s a pretty traumatizing 
thing to happen, why didn’t you say anything?”
“On the same day, I came home and my wife was dead” Morgan said smoothly, he 
looked across at Arthur “I didn’t think it mattered when I saw her”
“I’m sorry” Arthur said “I didn’t- we should probably get going” They walked 
again, Arthur was now carrying some extra pounds, and got tired quite easily. 
He was breathing heavily when they got to the top of route seven. They had 
stopped there looking into the now dark sky; heavy smoke was lifting into the 
air.
“A forest fire?” Morgan asked “Do you think we should call the fire 
department?”
“That’s the house” Arthur said “I swear to you, that’s the house”
“What?”
“Parker’s set fire to the house” Arthur started running, Morgan close behind 
“I have no idea why”
“He’s probably not thinking clearly” Morgan said “He’s probably guilty 
or…something”
“Parker doesn’t get guilty, he doesn’t lose his mind” Arthur said “He keeps 
cool under pressure, and it sounded like he had something important to tell 
me”
“Why do you think he wants me around?” Morgan asked.
“I don’t know” They reached the house; the fire department hadn’t been 
called. It was roaring loudly, flames licking and spreading across to the 
trees.
“Do you think Parker’s inside?” Morgan asked.
“Go back to the city” Arthur said “Tell them, the fire department, tell them 
about this” Morgan nodded and started sprinting back. Arthur hadn’t had any 
real action in his life, which is why, when he reached the door of the 
flaming house, he didn’t kick it open heroically and save who ever was 
inside. He just looked at it, with a look of regret on his face.
“I blaze” Arthur said to himself “I blaze like a rocket” He tightened his 
fists, took a deep breath and stood there, looking at the burning ruins. The 
damp wooden walls of the cabin created a lot of smoke, though through the 
thickness of the smoke and smell of burning wood, another smell drifted. A 
smell so foul and unnatural it sent a tingle up Arthur’s spine. It was a 
scent almost like an overdone steak, or a moth burning in a candle.
“Parker?” Arthur said, he was convinced, he picked up a rock and bashed down 
the ember door, there was a small pathway through the flames that lead into 
the room where he had purchased Mark’s laptop. Arthur tied a handkerchief 
round his nose and mouth and blinked constantly. On the floor crouched in the 
fire place, was an unconscious figure, the smoke was too thick to see who it 
was, but the flames illuminated one horrifying feature, the figure’s leg was 
stretched out into the flames. Arthur looked away, and tried to focus more of 
the figure, he crept closer towards him.
“Parker” Arthur said “Are you dead?” There was no reply, Arthur crept forward 
a bit more and he could now hear sirens from outside. He knelt on the floor 
and reached out for the figure’s hand, he pulled him forward; it was indeed 
Parker, though his beard and hair had been singed quite drastically, and a 
lot of his skin was covered in burns. Arthur put his hand to Parker’s chest, 
he could feel a heartbeat. He pulled the figure up, and only too a quick 
glance at the state of Parker’s leg, before looking up, with tears in his 
eyes.
He dragged him though the house, and was met outside by Morgan. Spread around 
was the fire department, focusing on putting out the trees rather than the 
house. On the ground was a stretcher brought along by two paramedics, who 
looked sternly at Parker’s leg. Arthur lay him down on the stretcher.
“Oh my god” Morgan said, looking away and covering his eyes “What happened?”
“His leg was in the fire” Arthur said, kneeling down by the stretcher “He’s 
still breathing though” The state of Parker’s leg was unimaginable. The left 
trouser leg was complete burnt off, with serious third degree burns down the 
thigh, from the knee, the burns got a lot worse. In some places close to all 
the flesh had been burnt off, orange and black patches of ash and skin had 
collected round it. The foot had completely gone, probably left behind when 
Arthur pulled him free. Arthur looked won to the ground and cried, before 
looking at his hand, the hand he had used to check his heartbeat. It was 
covered in blood, thick, red blood. Arthur looked up, and checked Parker’s 
chest, he ripped open the smouldering remains of his shirt to reveal three 
gunshot wounds, hidden well by the blackened skin. 
Parker’s eyes opened, one of the pupils had blacked out, and was glazed over, 
due to smoke damage. The other rolled to look at Arthur, who was looking 
straight back.
“Blaze” almost no sound came from Parker’s lips, but the slightest noise said 
“Blaze. And treat them fairly…”
“We’ll take it from here, sir” One of the paramedics said “We’ll take him 
back to the ER, see what we can do. Though for obvious reasons, he won’t be 
able to walk again”
“He’s been shot” Arthur said “In the chest, this was a murder”
“On three. One, two three” The paramedics lifted the stretcher and pushed it 
into the ambulance “Don’t worry sir”
“Aren’t you listening, look at his chest!” Arthur demanded “He’s been shot 
three times”
“I can assure you he has not, sir” One of them said.
“His injuries are serious burns and nothing more, probably fell asleep 
smoking” The other said.
“He doesn’t smoke” Arthur said “He quit three years ago, almost killed him 
doing that”
“Sometimes they sneak one now and then”
“Was he under a lot of stress?”
“Why won’t you listen to me?” Arthur screamed “Open the ambulance and I’ll 
show you right now” He walked over to the ambulance doors.
“Sir, will you please step away from the vehicle” One of them asked “You have 
no business doing that”
“I can show you, just let me-” Arthur never finished that sentence; one of 
the paramedics had punched him in the stomach. The other ran round to the 
driver’s seat and started the engine. Arthur looked up and was struck in the 
face.
Arthur’s eyes fluttered open, to see Morgan standing over him, fanning him 
gently with his hand. He looked across at the burnt building, it had been 
out, the smouldering remnants lay still, and the sounds of nature were 
silent.
“Are you okay?” Morgan asked “You had quite a nasty fall, why did that guy 
hit you?”
“Because I asked too many questions” Arthur said, grunting as he got off the 
cold ground, it was pitch black outside it must have been past midnight.
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Morgan asked, helping Arthur to his feet “He 
looked… he didn’t…”
“He’s going to die” Arthur said, dusting himself off “I doubt those 
paramedics were even from the hospital”
“You do?”
“Let’s go there, now” Arthur said, setting off down route seven again.

* * *

“Parker” Arthur said, holding an icepack to his head “Parker Leron, he was 
brought here with serious burns to his legs and chest” 
“Their have been no emergencies tonight, no burns and no Parker Leron” The 
receptionist said, looking through his charts. “Are you sure he wasn’t taken 
to another hospital?”
“This is the only hospital is Celadon, they wouldn’t have taken him to 
Saffron city, that’s ages away” Morgan said “
“Then I’m sorry, sir” he said “There is no Parker Leron in this hospital”
“Have you checked under John Doe?” Arthur asked “I never gave them his name”
“I have”
“And?”
“Nothing” He answered “I’m sorry, their must be some sort of mess up”