Chapter One: Behold the Power of Pikachu

 Hey guys! So, you're probably wondering about the title, and here it is:

This is...

*Drumroll*

THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY NOVEL!!

I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 1

Behold The Power of Pikachu

Alex Winters let out a growl as Rita Millborn dangled her lunchbox over the edge of the window. “Look,” Alex told her archnemesis, “there are two ways I can take my lunch back. One, you can give it to me politely. Two, I take it from you, then post this on Snapchat.” 

The gathered kids oohed, and Alex fingered her phone tucked in her pocket. Even though using it during school hours was forbidden (except in emergencies), every kid with a phone had their ways of skirting the rule. Talk your way out of that, worm-hair!

 Rita’s long, wavy golden mane fell to her waist, bouncing slightly as she tossed it behind her irritatingly. “There are actually three options, Sunshine,” she said with relish.

Sunshine. Rita had come up with the evil nickname in kindergarten when Alex had to go to the bathroom and nearly wet her pants. Alex’s rage boiled up inside her, until a clever plan that would humiliate Rita had formed in her mind. “Okay,” she said with a nonchalant shrug.“You asked for it.”And with that, she lunged. Rita must’ve thought that Alex was too grade-conscious, or, fresh rage powering her closer to Rita at this thought, too cowardly to do it.

Rita dropped Alex’s lunchbox, and dove out of the way just as Alex changed her path, and leapt over the edge of the windowsill. 

As Alex fell, she heard a chorus of screams, the yells of Mrs. McCarthy, the lunch monitor, but she didn’t bother calling to her...who?. This was just part of her plan. Gracefully, Alex snatched her lunchbox out of the air, did an impressive backflip, and landed squarely on the science room window-ledge. Thank God I took parkour lessons! The middle school was about two and a half stories high (if you counted the basement) and made of brick.

Alex surveyed the view from where she stood, glorying in her newfound pride. Bet no one in the whole school could do that! she thought with satisfaction. Suddenly, she heard a yell from above her. “ALEX WINTERS, IF YOU DON’T HAUL YOUR BUTT UP HERE BY THE TIME I COUNT TO THIRTY, I WILL PERSONALLY MAKE SURE YOU ARE SUSPENDED UNTIL THE SKIES SHATTER AND THE OCEAN TURNS TO FLAME!” 

Her English teacher, Mr. Anderson was burning with such fury that Alex was surprised to find that the smoke detectors didn’t go off. Realizing that her normally calm and gentle teacher was serious, Alex didn’t waste a moment. She clambered up the black metal fire escape and made her way back into the shocked cafeteria. She gulped. Mr. Anderson was every bit as livid as he had appeared. “Miss Winters,” he stated a little more calmly than before, “I would expect that utter fools would attempt such a feat as you did. What on Earth drove you to defenestrate yourself?!”

“Er… you see, sir, I-- um… jumped out the window to retrieve my lunchbox. Rita Millborn threw it, sir.” Mr. Anderson turned his gaze on the still cowering Rita. “Is this true?” he asked icily as he turned to face Rita.

“I--I--I-- LIES!” Rita suddenly shouted. “That psycho meant to push me out of the window!”

Their English teacher glanced at Alex. “If Miss Winters had truly meant to push you out of the window, Miss Millborn, I am doubtful that she would’ve done it with no provocation.”

Rita looked abashed.

“Furthermore,” Mr. Anderson continued, “you are both suspended for a week, and are to show your parents or guardians a note explaining the circumstances.” Alex and Rita turned pale. Both girls knew that their parents were bound to be furious.

In the sea of kids storming out of the Blue River middle school, Alex distinctly caught Rita hiss, “I don’t care what Anderson says, brat. You’re still a psycho.” 

“Shut up and don’t waste your breath,” Alex replied. “Go annoy the heck out of someone who actually deserves it.” The clear, pre-summer sky was brushed by leafy green treetops, and birds twittered to each other, unseen in the branches. Suddenly, Alex heard a happy mrrow from the shadows of the trees, and out bounded a very handsome gray-and-white tomcat with amber eyes. “Slate!” Alex cried as the cat leaped into her arms. Slate nuzzled her joyfully and purred until he gracefully hopped into the bike basket and settled himself there. Alex noticed with satisfaction that the scar on Slate’s leg had healed so well that it was barely visible anymore. She put on her helmet, mounted her bike, and began to pedal the several blocks home. 

When Alex arrived at her house, she parked her bike in its usual place by the porch and dismounted. “You know what to do,” she told Slate. The tom responded by lightly leaping onto the rich green lawn below, rubbing Alex a final time, and disappearing in a nearby rhododendron.

Alex smiled after him, but the smile quickly slid off her face as she remembered the note from her principal was still tucked in her backpack. How on Earth was she supposed to tell her adopted mother, Mitsuki, about what had happened at lunch that day? She would have to do it later. “Haha! I’m home!” she yelled as she banged the front door of her large, blue house closed.           

Suki was already dressed in her navy blue veterinary scrubs in the hall and talking in very fast Japanese. “Gomen'nasai, Lexi, I have a shift from three to eleven, you can heat the leftovers from yesterday, and Jade will be here in twenty minutes. Itoshi teru.”

Jade was Alex’s babysitter. As much as Alex was disappointed that her mother wouldn’t be joining her for dinner, she couldn’t stifle a twinge of relief at the fact that she wouldn’t be filled with guilt all evening. 

“Love you too, haha. Sayonara,” Alex said, bounding up the stairs and bursting into her room just as Suki slammed the door behind her.

When she entered, Alex reveled in the sense that she was in her private domain. The walls were painted the palest turquoise, and there was a zebra-striped fluffy coverlet on the bed.

All around the room were posters of upcoming fantasy novels in series that Alex adored, such as Warrior Cats, Aru Shah and the End of Time, and The Land of Stories. Tiny plant terrariums dotted the windowsills and dresser, and there was a feathery pink rug on the floor.

Alex collapsed on her bed, groaning into the bedsheets. She then sighed, stuck her head up, grabbed her laptop from the bed, then paused. She felt more like playing something than working on homework. 

She picked up her Nintendo Switch, which was composed of a red controller on the right side, a blue one on the left, and a screen in the middle where the game appeared. But this time, when she turned it on, a game didn’t appear. There were words! Big, loopy words that read:

“A girl, eleven years of age, will embark on a perilous quest…

Accompanied by new friends of six, to set the virus to rest…

If the girl and her friends do not stop the virus in time,

They will face the consequences of the virus's crimes.”

The strange words disappeared almost as quickly as they’d come, and suddenly, there was purple fog swirling in a circle on the screen. The sight transfixed Alex, but it also made her terrified. She tried to run for the door, but actual tree roots had erupted from the switch, strapping her down. Then, the swirling, which had at first sounded like a soft breeze, became a deafening, ear-splitting roar, as if Alex was in a tornado. Blood pounded in her ears, her auburn hair was being whipped around her face. She screamed as loud as she could, but it was drowned out by her rapidly beating heart. Then all was eerie and quiet. Darkness folded around Alex.