Title: To bud
Author: Shadow/Phantomness
Pairing: None
Fandom: Pokémon
Theme: #144, Congeal
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

Warnings: None

She stirred the test tube carefully, sliding a needle inside and giving the embryo its daily dose of growth hormone. The nurse frowned as she glanced at the calendar. She was running behind schedule. The boss had ordered this batch of Charmander hybrids for the Celadon City Siege in three weeks, but there had been a problem with the initial growth formula. Some kind of contamination had happened, so they had to restart from scratch. The cells had been unable to implant and grow. What a mess.

The loss of life didn’t even occur to her. Only the reduction in her paycheck did.

Two weeks later, she was lying in a pool of her own blood as the Charmanders fled, and she thought, somewhere in her shell-shocked mind, that it looked like the nutrient broth, slowly congealing.

Penance is the price, after all.

End Fic

Completed 11/27/07

4 minutes!