Prologue

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"Oh, this is a nice office," Emma exclaimed, clasping her hands together as she spun around. "So clean and orderly." Mimi, her Espurr, floated around Emma's head before settling atop it, tilting her head curiously at the portly man in the red suit sitting behind the desk. The white room itself was rather small with a bookshelf on one wall and two other shelves that appeared to be filled with some sort of electronic gizmos. 

"Please, have a seat, Miss Emma," the man gestured to the padded chair at the foot of the desk. Emma sat down, suddenly feeling nervous again. She glanced around the man's desk. The left side was piled high with papers and another small stack was positioned in front of the man himself. A metal name plate sat to one side. The name appeared fuzzy, but when Emma blinked, it had cleared. "Xerosic".

"So," Xerosic started, starling Emma. His skin was so white it dazzled Emma. And his red hair stuck up in the back like a flame.

"Ahem," Xerosic coughed, making Emma squeak aloud this time. She kept getting distracted. She realized her nerves were causing her foot to tap the floor, so she forced herself to stop. That only seemed to make her feel worse.

"Sorry," Emma bowed her head quickly, only to have Mimi fall off and crash onto the table, nearly causing the stack of papers to topple over.

"Ah!" Emma cried, pulling her Espurr back. "I'm so very sorry!"

Xerosic sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose beneath his red goggles. "Miss Emma, are you taking this interview seriously?"

"Yes," Emma said quickly. She grew red. "I, uh, I'm just really nervous. I've never had a job before, so this is my first time taking an interview."

Xerosic merely extracted a piece of paper from the pile in front of him and clicked open a pen. "Alright then. So you've never held a job." He scribbled something down. Emma gulped. The interview had already started!

Xerosic didn't look up as he continued to write. "How's your health been? Any recent injuries or visits to a hospital?"

"Uh, no," Emma said after a quick moment's thought. Weird, she couldn't ever remember getting hurt, much less going to a hospital.

"Hmph," Xerosic set his pen down and leaned back in his chair. "So, what made you want to work here? Is there any reason in particular?"

"Well, I," Emma stared down at her hands clasped in her lap. She bit her lip, unsure. "I..." she looked up at the man. "I heard that this job does research for helping people and Pokemon. Even if I don't do much, if it ends up helping others, then I'll be happy to do it!" She tried smiling, hoping it didn't look as awkward as it felt.

Xerosic's blank stare persisted for a couple more seconds before he wrote something quickly down on his paper. "That's it for now. You may go."

Emma stood up, still as nervous as she was when she had walked in, and headed for the door, clutching Mimi in her arms. As she opened the door, she paused and looked back. Xerosic glanced up. "Yes? What is it?"

Emma opened her mouth, but no words came out. She swallowed and tried again. "Th-thank you very much for interviewing me!" She bowed her head quickly, hit her side against the door, and stumbled out of the room, accidently slamming the door shut behind her.

"Even if I don't do much, if it ends up helping others, then I'll be happy to do it!"

Xerosic smirked, removing his goggles as he set the paper on the stack next to him. It seems you're well on your way to perfection, my Essentia."

...

Footsteps echoed in the dark, grimy tunnel. Water dripped from the ceiling with tiny plops. A bipedal Pokemon led the group, sniffing its way through all the muck. Several beams of light slice through the darkness ahead of them, showing the aged bricks sewer walls.

A screech echoed down the tunnel towards the group, halting them in their tracks. A blur of movement up ahead had everyone target their torch beams on it. A Raticate was hunched over, facing the brick wall, body quivering. 

"Lycanroc," one of the men spoke, holding out an arm to halt his compatriots' progress. "Deal with it. And make sure it doesn't flee."

The bipedal Rock type growled, red eyes gleaming as he prepared to charge. Raticate suddenly turned in their direction, its wide eyes suddenly flashing purple as it let out another horrible, ear-rending screech. It charged forwards with uncharacteristic speed, fangs glowing. Lycanroc howled with delight, body glowing orange as he raced to meet him.

Here it is! Because my Fate story isn't getting a whole lot of traction, and my schtick is Pokemon, I've put it on hiatus and finally decided to begin writing my LDOC spinoff; Essentia! This is only Part 1 of what I plan to be a full blown trilogy, filled with my usual twists and turns that you all have come to expect, or not expect, and much more! This type of story will be new for me to write, but I'll do my best and I hope you all will enjoy it! Toodles!

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