Heavy Consequences

I was dragged into another room. I dug my heels in the ground wrenching against the tight grips on my arms. "Let me go!" I yelled twisting around, but what I saw escorting me stopped my resisting. They were huge, muscular, burly and... not human. They stood on two legs and held me with massive hands bigger than my head. Their muscles bulged ballooned to unnatural size and they wore a belt like a wrestler, but their skin muted gray and hardened as rock. They had three red ridges on their head and their face was disfigured. Wide mouths pressed closed lipless like a lizard and sharp red eyes stared down at me furiously. They let me go and I wordlessly stumbled backward.

Oh when will we see our heroines face. I decided to color in her jacket thing. Hood worked better this time. Braid not so much. She is also wearing jeans, if you can't tell...

"I see you have met your first  Pokemon." Oak said suddenly appearing at my side. "This, dearie, is called a Machoke. As you can see we like using it as a strong arm. Very handy..."

Oh god no. Not corny endearments and terrible puns. Panic rising, I blurted out the intensifying questions "Where am I? How did I get here? Where is my mom and da-"

"You are in the Kanto region in the world of Pokemon."

"But -"

Oak cut me off and continued on "Now, you are too old to be assigned to a family. We will give you a job  and match you with a Pokemon to assist you and protect you. Every person in Kanto working and living alone is required to be accompanied by a pokemon just as every household is required to have one." He stopped talking suddenly quiet.

In the heavy silence, my first thought rushed out of my mouth "So you can tell my age, but not my gender?" It came out flippantly and exasperated, but my hands were shaking.

His face seemed to darken and he continued his silence as I wilted under his gaze. His ever present smile never went away.

"First, here is a pack to start you off for the first couple days" he gestured to a table that had a messenger type bag sitting on it. It was an awful lurid green and yellow. Flipping it open he started taking out the contents. He pulled out first two pairs of gloves "These are required to be worn at all times. Pokemons skin is poisonous to our touch and ours deadly to them. The leather pair is for working and the other one is for home use"

My hands reflexively gripped my bare arms where the Machoke had curled its fingers around. "Of course, the Machokes hands were treated before we allowed them to touch you. We, here, in Kanto value the safety of the humans." I eyed him my jaw set deeper and took a quick look around. The room was as cluttered as the last one was bare. There were boxes and shelves filled with the skeletons of weathered bags. They looked misplaced and wrong as if they were violently taken away from who they belong. Each one bore memories of a long gone adventure and person. I took a second glance at the bag before me measuring it with new eyes.

Oak was rummaging through it and took out a pair of clothes holding it out . "Ah. It looks like you will be a fisherman. We have much need for those." I grimaced biting my tongue. The best option right now seemed to be to wait until I get out of this place, then I can figure out what is going on. This Oak intends to set me off on my own and will not help me in any other way than the way he wants. His words and smile are too well rehearsed and his movements mechanical. This must be routine. I can't be the first, so does that me there are others here from... my own world?

As I ruminate these thoughts my mind easily zones out the Professor as he pulls out and explains each object. The Machokes are standing solidly behind both of my shoulders. I focus on Oak again when they scoot in breathing hot breath on the back of my neck. He's waiting expectantly holding a pair of gloves out to me. "From now on you are required to wear these." He said.

Well, there's her lovely face! And the front of her super cool jacket that is definitely not based off of my own... Um yeah, so this is a problem. The picture is sideways... How do I fix that?

I hesitantly took the warm grey gloves pulling them over my hands. They reach up to my elbows and coarsely scratches my bare skin. On the back is a diamond pattern. The previous wearer must have been a girl as well for they fit my slim arms. Before I could finish adjusting them, Oak shoved the bag at me and the Machokes pushed me forward. I fumbled with the bag slinging it over my shoulder. This time the room emptied out into a long hall.

I gagged at the sudden interrupting smell pervading from under the doors. It smelled like animals. Guinea pigs stuck in a dirty cage for weeks. Except there were more smells. One door we passed let out fumes of sulfur and rotten eggs the next was acrid and smokey. We finally stopped at the smell of dead fish. Fisherman, great. Oak opened the door and the odor hit heavily. Prodded through, I stumbled into a long room the walls lined with aquariums and cages.

In the cages were multitudes of creatures, birds, and giant bug like things. One had long thin legs supporting a small horned body. Another was shiny blue and circular with a long skinny black tail that zigzagged and ended in a ball. The birds all had a seagull look with what might have originally been white feathers, but they were so crusted in grime that it was hard to tell. They had bare patches of skin where they must of plucked feathers, leaving flurries of feathers in the air and on the ground. Yellow chubby ducks stared expressionless outside of the cages. Otters with a yellow tube around their necks crowded the next set of cages, swarming over each other. In the tanks, I could see eery twin lights glowing through the murky water. Behind those lights big eyes were illuminated. Other large dull red lights blinked sporadically hinting at more creatures. I shivered looking away.

"These are our available water Pokemon! Look at how the Chinchou and Staryu move through the water. These Wingulls and Surskits are the fastest you will find and the Buizels are just delightful. You otter like them." Oak beamed. All the names passed over my head as my head swam. The odor did feel heavy, heavy and moist pressing against my skin.

"They are all fed the very best Tympole that we breed ourselves in the farthest tank." My eyes involuntarily wandered down to their food buckets. They were filled with fish heads with bulging eyes covered in their own guts. Bile came up my throat and I covered my mouth with a gloved hand looking away forcing myself to swallow.

"I guarantee no better Pokemon to accompany you out in the treacherous waters. For you, though, I have one in  particular in mind." He gestured at cages across from the tanks. Inside were blue sleek cat like creatures with thick long tails and three fins on their head and a white frilled collar. They all laid together in a heap of limbs.  "They are called Vaporeon and are from our prized signature eevee stock. Along with Jolteon and Flareon they are the ideal elemental working companion. Cindy, please take out a Vaporeon for a new citizen" I blinked becoming aware of a woman in a green apron her hair tightly pulled back into a low ponytail also wearing long orange rubber gloves. Her face was lined and weary, but watched the Pokemon impassively.

She opened the cage and pulled out the Vaporeon laying on top by the scruff under the white collar. The Vaporeon hung limply its belly covered in a swirl of brown. Her ear like fins appeared torn and tagged  like a rabbit. The Vaporeon gazed out at me with empty soulless black eyes. Captivated, I lower my hand. Cindy checked the tag in its ear "01892vf"

Argh not again

"Ah a female." Oak declared. Oh so he can tell if a Pokemon is female, I thought bitterly.  I was handed the vaporeon who was surprising heavy and slick even with the gloves. I held her rigidly away from my body. She laid limp in my arms. Oak turned around leaving the room. The machokes pressing me to follow. Oak continued to talk as we walked down the hall.

"From now on, Jericho, you are responsible for this Vaporeon. This Pokemon is primarily for working purposes and under no circumstances will be used otherwise. There are heavy consequences for misuse of a Pokemon. If you are deemed inadequate for working, then we will return your Pokemon and you will face heavy consequences. All other Pokemon not accompanied by humans or tagged must be killed on site. Failure to do so will result in heavy consequences. If you attempt to leave your assigned boundaries-"

"Then I get more heavy consequences" I muttered my arms already growing tired.

"Precisely!" Oak exclaimed. We walked through another set of doors. "Your adventure awaits you. Good luck" I was thrust through the doors the the stuffy air letting up into open sky.

Suddenly chilled, I swung back around "Wait! What am I-" Professor Oak and the Machokes were gone. "supposed to do?" I finished quietly shocked by my sudden loneliness.

So, there were plenty of Pokemon this time and I believe I promised some crochet patterns. Well! Here we go. Today's Pokemon featured will be Vaporeon.Yes, I know Machoke would have been awesome, but it's too early for me to be making patterns myself and I am way too busy at the moment. Conveniently, Vaporeon is the only eevolution I have made, so far.

Here is the pattern I used:
https://shedko247.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/vaporeon/
It worked lovely. Everything came out fine and I just love the tail fins. One problem I had was with the white collar. It was flat and did not want to go around the neck, so I weaved string through the bottom and tightened it to make a ring and viola! Actually the biggest problem I had with this pattern was the body which is wolfdreamers Umbreon's body. For some reason my front legs came out super small, though I used a rather large gauge hook. Overall, I am happy with it, though. She is a very nice size and very huggable. If I wasn't lazy and impatient, I would redo the legs or at least position them differently. Also, her top fin I'm going to add a wire or something to help it stand up right. I just haven't yet. After writing todays post I added a tag in her ear. So, here she is.

This cutie needs a name.