Rocket Dreams
 
Shaya looked out her window, imagining what her day at school would be 
like. With these new clothes, I might finally become popular, she 
thought dreamily. She went on with her day-dreaming.
 
Her thoughts were suddenly interupted by a loud yell from downstairs, 
"Shaya! Time for school!"
 
She was broken from her dreamland by the shout. "Coming, Lance!" she 
replied loudly.
 
"You look ready,' said Lance as she came running down the stairs. "Have 
a good day at school, Hon!"
 
"Bye Lance. Miss me now, 'cause when I come back with the party guests, 
you're gonna wish I was still at school," Shaya shot back jokingly. She 
grabbed her backpack and ran down all the floors of the building, 
thinking about how Lance, even though he was not related to her, had taken 
such good care of her.
 
When she got outside, she pulled something out of her pocket. "Moltres, 
go!" she yelled. A gigantic, fiery bird popped out of the ball in her 
hand. "Okay, take me to school now, Moltres," she ordered.
 
"Wait"
 
A voice stopped her from climbing onto the large bird.
 
"C'mere, kid," came the voice again.
 
"What do you want?" she said, the fear made obvious in her trembling 
voice.
 
"I just wanna talk," he said, without any trace of a desire for no 
good.
 
"About what?" inquired Shaya suspisciously.
 
"Just c'mere," encouraged the guy.
 
Shaya stepped cautiously and slowly toward the voice. The fear overcame 
her will when she tried to scream, as a rough, gloved hand covered her 
mouth. She kicked and struggled, but pointlessly as she found out as 
soon as the world slipped into an obliviating darkness.
 
Later, a groggy Shaya began to open her eyes, but they felt heavy, and 
everything wsa blurred. Her head was spinning. "Wha...,"she groaned 
helplessly.
 
"Sir, the one is starting to come around," she heard a smooth but not 
at all gentle, yet so... dull voice say.
 
"Very well. Well, what about it? Don't just stand there; help the girl 
up!" another voice commanded.
 
Shaya felt someone swiftly pull her into a sitting position. She 
finally managed to force her dragging eyelids open and slowly looked around. 
"Huh?" she she asked as she snapped into reality. "What the heck's 
goin' on here? Where am I? Who are you? WHAT are you? What do you want? 
Especially with me?!?! I'm missing... oh yeah, I'm missing math class. 
Hehe, I hate math... but that's beside the point! Who? What? When? Where? 
Why? How?" she continued to yell, furious yet in a state of confusion.
 
"Calm down; we just want to talk to you," coaxed a gentler voice.
 
"What do you want from me?" she yelled even louder than before. "Look, 
on December the 13th, I was at school, buying lunch at 11:46, okay? 
Whatever it was, I didn't do it!!!"
 
"Shhh, we just have a few questions for you," the same man crooned 
soothingly.
 
"Oh, sure, that's why you hit me over the head and knock me out to get 
me here!" she protested. "Look, if I'm in trouble with the cops..."
 
"No, you're not, but..."
 
"...I am NOT in the mood for an interrogation here, and I don't know 
anything," she continued. Then she took a deep breath. "Okay, now, what 
were you saying, officer...?" She trailed off as she examined the man. 
He was wearing a black uniform with an outstanding red "R" on the shirt. 
"He seems pretty nice," she thought. "What k-kind of q-questions?" she 
asked nervously.
 
"Good," he said. "First things first: What is your first name?"
 
"Shaya," she replied very promptly and obediently.
 
"Shaya, Shaya, Shaya," he repeated softly and thoughtfully, "okay. 
Would you like a job, Miss Shaya?"
 
"Job?" Shaya asked. "I'm only 13, though. I guess so, but the catch 
is...?"
 
"No catch," he replied ensuringly. "Not a single thread attached."
 
Shaya looked at him inquisitively. "Well, what kind of job?"
 
A broad smile spread across the man's face. "We are extending a 
proposition to you, Miss Shaya, to join the worldly-known Team Rocket," he 
explained, still smiling.
 
"What the heck is it? No, nevermind, I don't even care what it is. I'll 
take the job."
 
"Good, good. Now, what Pokemon do you have?" the man interrogated.
 
"Um...," Shaya thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah. I have a Moltres, a 
Dragonair, a Misdreavus, a Ho-oh, and an Entei. Why do you ask?"
 
"Hm... good, good. I think that you would do well as a Rocket League 
gym leader," he said thoughtfully, stroking the hairless mount known as 
his chin.
 
"ME?" Shaya exclaimed excitedly. "A Gym Leader? Wow! Cool! I'd love 
to!!!"
 
"Good, good. You shall start immediately. I'm pretty sure you will go 
far here. Your number: 003. Good luck to you, Miss Shaya," he 
congratulated.
 
And with that, two burly men walked into the room and securely led her 
through a dark, gloomy, cold underground passageway. "This is a 
terrible long walk," Shaya complained. Then she lightened up a little. "Oh, 
well. It's so most definitely totally worth it!" The men said nothing.
 
After a long bit of walking and walking and walking, and maybe an 
occasional jog, they arrived at an underground building. It was a deep black 
building, one with the symbolic red "R" on the roof and also on the 
front. "Wow," she breathed in awe. "Where exactly are we?"
 
"We are underneath Viridian City," one of the 'men in black' replied. 
"This is the 8th Rocket League Gym."
 
"The 8th! How'd I get here?" Shaya asked, shocked.
 
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