Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Trouble in Meiji ❯ Science Gone Wrong ( Chapter 1 )

"Hey, Lisa! Wait up!!!"

I turn around at the sound of my name. Running up behind me are my three friends, Kate, Mallory, and Britini. "Hey, guys! `sup?" I call.

"Nothing much." Kate says.

"Oh, oh!!! I have something!!!" Britini cries, bouncing up and down in excitement. "I took this quiz to tell if your crazy or not and there was this question `what's you favorite color' and the answers were red blue green or do I look like a bunny and then there was this other question that asks how often do you talk to yourself and the answers were yes all the time no not a lot or fishy fishy fishy isn't that funny?" she says, and then promptly falls over from not taking a breath as she spoke.

"Britini!!" Mallory cries. "You have to breathe when you talk!!"

Britini sits up, her backpack swinging limply from a shoulder. "Why?"

Kate rolls her eyes. "Because people need oxygen or else they'll die," she says, as blunt as always.

"Ooooohhhh…" Britini says. "I get it." She picks herself up, picking a few leaves out of her hair. "Ooo… what a pretty leaf!" She grabs a bright red leaf off the ground and holds it up, admiring it. "I think I'll keep it." She opens her handbag and stuffs the leaf in.

Mallory leans over. "Hey, Britini, how much stuff do you have in there?"

Britini stops fumbling with the zipper and looks thoughtful. "Ummm… I got a flashlight, twenty pens and pencils, some lint--"

"As in Lindt chocolate?" I ask excitedly.

Britini shakes her head. "No, as in pocket lint," she resumes listing her belongings. "I also got a few notebooks in there, notepads, a hairbrush, some hair scrunchies, a portable Joey shrine…"

I raise an eyebrow. "A Joey shrine?"

"YUP!!!" Britini says happily. "I also got a Mark shrine in there." She reaches in and pulls out a heart shaped picture of Mark, stroking it as she does so. "My Mark…"

I sigh. "Britini, you're obsessing again…"

Britini pouts. "So?"

"Nothing. Just saying." I look up. "We're almost at school. We have chemistry class last, right?"

"Yeah," Kate says. "Today we'll actually be using chemicals!! That's good, since I'm sick of just doing worksheets."

"Yeah. The worksheets are so easy! It'll be good to actually do something." I agree. Even as I say it, I get this odd feeling in the pit of my stomach, as if something's about to happen. It's weird, because I felt something similar this morning, but it went away so quickly I didn't bother paying a second thought to it. Now it was back, but stronger than before…

"Hey, Lisa! Are you in there?" Mallory asks, waving a hand in front of my face. "You looked like you were constipated, or something."

I scowl. "Very funny. I just spaced, that's all."

"Whatever." Kate says.

A loud ringing sound interrupts our conversation.

"Oh, damn, we're late!!!" Mallory yells. We run for the school, making it before the bell stops ringing.

"Bye! See you in chemistry!" I call over my shoulder as I rush to my locker.

"Bye!" Britini, Kate, and Mallory all shout.

I soon forget about the feeling as I concentrate on opening my locker and getting my stuff out.

"Math book, History book, math notebook, English notebook…"

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

My paws splash through the puddles of the forest floor. Raindrops hit my nose and bury themselves in my fur. Up ahead a sickly red light glints through the gaps in the trees. Screams of pain and anguish reach my sensitive ears. Fear, sweat, pain; all the scents of war assault my sensitive nose. I run faster, some unearthly force compelling me to keep going. My breath comes in ragged gasps as I break through the underbrush and gaze upon the terrible scene below. Corpses litter the ground, all manner of weapons protruding from the still-warm bodies. Arrows, swords, bullets; all carry the scent of death and corruption. Fires burning unheeded provide harsh light, their flames dancing in the night air. Shadows flicker over the faces of the fallen warriors, their faces twisted in expressions of pain, giving the illusion of false life. Standing on a ridge above the battlefield stands a giant of a man, a severed head swinging from his hand, fresh blood dripping darkly off the end of his tainted sword. An ice-cold sound in the air--- laughter. Laughter at others' pain, their sorrow. Joy in their misery, their suffering. Closing my eyes, I turn away from the gory scene and fade back into the shadows. Alone in the darkness, three words reach my mind.

"Help us, please."

"Lisa! Hel-lo!!! Earth to Lisa, come in Lisa!"

I groan and close my eyes tighter. Maybe if I ignore it, the noise will go away.

Someone takes a deep breath. "LISA!!! WAKE THE HELL UP!!!"

I jump up, my heart throbbing against my chest. "Who? What? Why?" I ask as I blink stupidly in the light.

Britini punches me in the arm. "What are you doing falling asleep?! We have to get this experiment done in the next ten minutes or we fail two test grades!!!"

"Oh, yeah. What's the experiment about again?"

Kate rolls her eyes. "Like we know. Just follow the instructions and write down some random observations. That's all I'm doing."

"Oh, right," I grab the sheet with the procedure written on it and scan its content. Or at least I try to scan it. Somehow I can't seem to focus; the words swim in front of my eyes, twisting, merging, slipping. As soon as I catch one word another slips away.

"Hey, Lisa, are you okay?" Mallory asks worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I quickly assure her. "Just a headache."

"Maybe you should see the nurse. You don't look so good," Kate says.

"I'm fine!" I protest. "Come on, we need to get this done, right?"

"Yeah," Britini says. "Okay, we've put the calcium chloride in, and the sodium chloride, now all we need is the bleachie-stuff."

"Got it," I say. I reach out towards the beaker containing the bleach, but somehow there are two beakers where there should only be one. "Uh, guys? Which beaker has the bleach?" I ask.

"Uh, how about the only beaker that's there, huh?" Britini says. "Dur!"

"Oh. Gotcha," I say. I pick up a random beaker, hoping the liquid at the bottom was indeed the bleach we needed. "Here we go," I quickly pour it into the test tube, making sure to not spill any. As I pour it in, the room starts to shake. Plaster falls from the ceiling as the quaking gets worse, and the test tube starts to smoke and fizz.

"Ummm… Is it supposed to do that?" Mallory asks, her voice uncertain.

"Definitely not," Kate says. Her voice shakes, although whether from fear or the earthquake I cannot tell.

I watch as the test tube bubbles up, and a small ball of fire starts burning in the center. Sparks fly from the test tube's mouth, and in the background I hear the teacher yelling for everyone to duck and cover. My limbs, however, are frozen, and I can only watch as the test tube explodes, releasing a clap of sound and a wave of unbearable heat that engulfs my body from head to toe. I scream, but no sound comes out as my throat is burned by the flames. I remember only a brilliant flash of light before I succumb to the darkness of unconsciousness.

There! I hope that's okay. I originally had a different beginning, but I forgot to save it… and I think you can figure out the rest. All I had left was that last paragraph (which I fixed up a little) and most of the second chapter. So I had to make an introduction that would tie in with the work already completed. I'll probably update that last paragraph even more later, but right now I think it's okay the way it is. So, if things don't seem to run as smooth as they could, you now know why, and I'd appreciate it if you contact me with a few suggestions, okay? Bye!