Muted_Programmer_404
Banned
- Pronouns
- he/him
Pokemon: Shifted Earth
Chapter 1
In a Brisbane police station’s break room, Officer Ryan Terwin pressed a few buttons on a coffee machine.
He turned around as he heard footsteps behind him. Police Chief Edward handed him a stapled together stack of papers.
“Here. New materials for your case.”
Ryan picked up his coffee and began to read. The contents were more than a little depressing.
Video Transcript – “Pichu Challenge 2028! (TRY NOT TO LAUGH)”
The scene opens on a grassy field in a deserted city park in Australia. A group of college-aged students are talking amongst each other. They show signs of being inebriated, with empty beer cans near them. A male, presumably the cameraman, speaks.
Male #1: “Hey, guys! Anyone who can pick up this Pichu here without getting shocked gets $200!”
A second student looks around, checking for any passers-by.
Male #2: All clear.
One of the female students approaches the Pichu.
Female #1: “Hello, little guy.”
She picks the Pichu up before bringing it to the table. It struggles initally, but finding itself unable to escape, discharges some electricity from its cheeks. Her friends laugh.
Male #2: “Look at that! Lauren’s already failed the challenge!”
The female student hands the Pichu off to another student. This student pinches the Pichu’s static pouches with a slight twist, leading to them getting shocked.
Male #1: “Daniel, hand him off to me! Lemme see how you like this, bud.”
The cameraman puts the phone down, camera facing up. It shows him pulling the Pichu’s tail as it shierks in pain.
Male #2: “Wimp. You didn’t even pinch his cheeks!”
Male #1: “Hah! Let’s--”
The Pichu looses a Thundershock, hitting the group of students. They retch and vomit for a while before standing up.
Male #1: “Oh, fuck! Let’s get outta here!”
The recording ends.
Officer Ryan sighed as he put down the stack of papers. These dumb college students had decided that manhandling a Pokemon for internet clout was worth more than their lives.
Only a month into the Shift, and then this happens, he told himself.
At least they were dumb enough to post it up with comments. “Has the video been taken down yet?” he asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” Edward replied. “It’s still up. Worse is, they’ve been getting a lot of likes and comments on that video. The good news is, these kids were dumb enough to leave links to their Facebook accounts, among other things, in the description. We’ve got in touch with their parents now.”
Ryan sighed. Even with super-powered creatures around, his job wasn’t getting any easier. “I guess they’ll start with the underage drinking first,” he muttered to his partner, Neil. “Grab them for that, then find out what else they were doing – apart from the abuse and drunkeness.”
Edward nodded. “There’s also the question of that Pichu.”
“What about it?” Ryan asked, sipping scalding hot coffee. He smiled as it burned his tongue. Anything to forget the insanity the world was going through, with fantastical monsters roaming the world.
“Well, some animal control workers found it. They’ve been trying to care for it at an animal shelter,” Neil said. “That’s what I heard, anyway. It’s not far from here.”
“Oh.” Ryan put his coffee down. Frankly, he wouldn’t expect anything less.
“Man, I can’t imagine what they’d do with it. Quite irresponsible to release a creature like that out into the wilds.” Neil shook his head. “These Pokemon have been out here for only a few months. Quite a lot of them are still scared and confused. Not to mention they know so little about our world.”
Ryan said nothing as he kept reading the report. While the video had gone viral mere hours after it was posted, with billions upon billions of views, a little more than a quarter of the three-thousand comments were rightfully horrified. The Pokemon who had arrived on Earth were declared sapient beings only a week ago, with a basic bill of rights already drawn up and passed for them.
He dreaded speaking to raucous teenagers with little regard for others. Luckily that dreaded talk and phone call with the parents would be some days away.
“Where’s the shelter that Pichu was taken to?” he asked. “I want to call them, see how that Pichu’s holding up.”
“It’s the ‘RSPCA Brisbane Animal Care Campus’, Edward replied. “Sure, call them if you must.”
Ryan dialed the number and pressed ‘call’. The too-cheery-voice of the receptionist came through. “Hello! This is the Brisbane Animal Care Campus. How may I help you today?”
“I’m Officer Ryan Terwin, calling to discuss a Pichu that was brought in recently in an abuse case.”
“Yes, we’ve got the little guy here. He’s sparking every time one of the workers approach him. What do you want to speak to us for?”
“I want to speak to the Pichu. Ask a Psychic-Type to be there too, for translation purposes.”
“Hmm,” The receptionist sounded concerned. “We don’t have any Pokemon of our own, but there are a few Psychic-types wandering the streets outside. Asking them would be easy enough. When can you come in?”
“I can be there in two day’s time, at the most. What time would work best for you?”
“Let’s see.” Ryan heard some keys tapping on a keyboard. “Thursday, 1:30pm?”
“That works for me. Goodbye!”
“Bye!” The receptionist said. Ryan only heard a click and a dial tone before he hung up.
“Right. That’s settled then.” His shift was over. Sure, having coffee late messed with his digestion – but it was better than getting tired at a bad time.
He started his car’s engine and drove back home.
“Dad!” Marcus shouted as Ryan came in.
“Hello, son. How was your day at school?
“Great! We got to see some wild Pokemon running around in the fields near the school. Mr. Davies wouldn’t let us get near them!”
“Now, now, son. I know you saw your dream come true – but Pokemon can be dangerous. Mr. Davies wanted you to be safe. You hear me?”
Marcus pouted. “Dad! I saw you help save some Pokemon on the news in the First Days! They were really happy for you to help!”
“They were. But not all Pokemon are like that. Some of them can get angry easily, or hurt you if you hurt their children. You understand?”
Marcus nodded.
“Alright!” Sandra said. “We’re getting takeaway tonight. What’ll it be?”
“Hello honey!” Ryan said with a chuckle. “Let’s see. Pizza for tonight?”
“That sounds great!” Sandra replied. “What would you two like?”
After some arguing, the family settled on a meat-lover’s and a cheese pizza. A small amount of garlic bread was also added on, for tomorrow’s breakfast.
As they ate, Sandra began, “So, how was your day, Ryan?”
He sighed. “Not too much. We did get some older children causing trouble in the park.”
“Oh? Marcus replied. “What were they doing?”
Ryan shook his head. “You’re nine years old, Marcus. That stuff isn’t for you to know.”
“Dad! Please!”
Ryan sighed. “They were drinking beer. Of course, they weren’t supposed to.” He decided to leave out the most concerning part of the crime out; his son didn’t need to know about that.
“See, Dad? I know that wasn’t too hard. Besides, you catch bad guys and stop them!”
Sandra ruffled Marcus’ hair. “He does, honey. If you want more stories from each other, finish your meal first.”
Ryan frowned as he sat in front of the TV. There wasn’t much on the news; since the teenagers hadn;t been caught, there was no stories on about them.
A reporter droned on about the case of a teacher in Los Angeles attempting to teach young Pokemon to read.
“It’s quite an interesting idea,” she said. “If these things are capable of reason, imagine what they could do!”
He tuned out the questions from the reporters.
The truth was, he had little idea how to deal with this. He sighed. The day was likely turning into a month of long work.
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