Sneak peak

Here's a draft for the next garchomp story. It's a little rough round the edges because I felt bad for leaving you all in the dark for a couple weeks. Here the first 1300 something words for you to enjoy :p

“Call me Schwarzenegger, because this is Total Rehaul levels of impressive.”

By the end of the week, most of the construction equipment had departed, the few remaining machines laying around the refurbished hall that looked different even at a distance. The front lawns had been layered with mulch, a fresh bed of dirt ready for the seedlings. The concrete path ringing three of its four sides smooth and grey, the noticeable cracks from before covered over. The external bricks, weathered by months of weather and neglect, had been either replaced or painted over, the windows that spaced them apart refitted with glass that was actually intact, and not splintered.

The sloped roof was painted blue, the angled tiles contrasting neatly against the brown bricks and white outlines of the pair of glass entry doors.

“It feels like they’ve knocked it over and built it back up, but it’s still the same building,” Cassidy mused, craning her head up to examine the building just as he was. The past few days the pair had been studying and submitting their assignments, the Garchomp’s critical eye keeping Jim’s grades from slacking. There’d been a moment of silent reflection for the young man at one point, when he’d taken the initiative and asked the Garchomp if they could go over their last report. Not because he was worried it needed more work, but because he’d had an epiphany to try and make his arguments stronger, Cassidy blinking when she added his own ideas to her documents.

He’d actually had… fun, while doing it. It was truly a wonder for the ages, and when they’d heard the hall was ready for students again, a part of him was a little disappointed they had to get off the study grind. Was this what it felt like to be inspired to learn?

They walked into the main lobby, which sort of looked like an airlock with the two pairs of doors, designed so that the sound outside didn’t bleed so much into the interior. Someone had placed down a bag rack against one of the walls, a certain Typhlosion squatting there as she fished through her bag.

When she looked up at the pair, Jim recoiled at the sight. Not only was her face a shade lighter than her usual demeanor exuberated, she was exposing her teeth, her lips pulled up and backwards. If that was a smile it was a bit too sinister for Jim’s taste.

“Cass, Jim! Have you seen what they’ve done to this place?!” Kendra asked.

“No we just got here,” Jim replied. “Any good?”

“Goodis an understatement of the century. Come on, I’ll give you the tour, the rest of the club is already inside.”

She moved over and pushed the next set of doors aside, the pair behind her. Too many things stood out to Jim all at once, the man blinking in surprise as he regarded the new and very much improved interior.

First thing of note was the smell. Gone was that musty, wood-saw riddled stench that overpowered the oppressive mothball scent that lingered like a bad odour, instead replaced with a cool, air-conditioned room temperature that smelled as clean as a greenhouse.

Second was the stage. Huge velvet drapes as red as wine flanked the sides of the raised, wooden platform that seemed a little grander than before. He could just make out tall support columns behind and above the stage, walkways that people could maneuvra about on the stage without being seen by the audience.

A huge empty space before the stage acted as a buffer between the stands and the raised stage, the varnished wood shining as it caught the light of the ceiling floodlights, which were tinted blue instead of yellow now, making the whole scene easier on the eyes.

Last was the audience stands. Even the spiffiest Cinemax would be jealous of the accommodations. The chairs were big enough to support Pokémon, with comfortable leather backrests cushioned in all the right places, the seats towards the sides curving slightly inward so the people sitting their wouldn’t have to turn their heads so much to look at the stage. Over a hundred people easy could fit inside, double that if they were to fill the empty buffer zone with extra chairs.

“As you can see we’ve got a lot more space to work with,” Kendra said, turning to the pair like a tourguide as she gestured behind her. “We can control those floodlights to get just the right angle on any individual on the stage, using this handy control panel over here.”

To the right side of the stage, there was a square section mounted on the wall, the buttons labelled with different functions for the lights. “These buttons only work if you insert this key the principal provided me with, so there’s less chance of someone pranking us.”

“Is that a coffee machine?” Jim asked, leaving the tour to examine said appliance. It was set up on a simple trestle table along with a tray of finger foods Jim helped himself to. “You guys got the proper digs now, huh?”

“Quite,” Kendra muttered. “Take one beverage only thank you. They’ve also installed a couple of handy features for the stage, follow me.”

Passing a group of Pokémon reciting a group dance, watched over by a few new faces, they moved up the rear of the stage, and up a couple of steps until they were up on the platform. From here Jim got a clean look at the overarching walkways, imagining the people in charge of lights up there able to keep things rolling with a good view during a performance.

“This control board does a lot of the hard work for us,” Kendra continued, moving out of line of sight from the stage to a circular desk that looked as complicated as an airliner cockpit, hundreds of different coloured buttons blinking away at random. “This one closes and opens the curtains, so we don’t have to have designate someone to do that for us. This one is a master switch for all the lights, and this one controls the speaker volumes.”

“This is like Jigsaw’s control room,” Jim noted. “All you need now is to set up a bunch of cameras.”

“I can get a good view from up on one of those catwalks,” Kendra replied. “I’ve never realised how much we’ve needed this until now, especially with all these new members and the extra space. With this intercom I might as well be my own little principal inside these walls.”

“Intercom?” Cassidy asked.

The Typhlosion gestured at a microphone stand off to the side of the dash. “It’s only one way, but I can reach everyone from here without having to run around like a chicken without its head.”

“Neat,” Jim said, leaning down and hitting the on button, his mouth against the microphone. “Breaker 2-9. Breaker. Breaker.”

His voice reverberated throughout the hall, Kendra slapping him away while Cassidy stifled a chuckle. “That thing is not a toy, you dolt,” Kendra scolded. “Mrs. Felix is backstage!”

“There’s a backstage now?” Cassidy asked.

“Indeed there is,” Kendra said, perking up as she resumed the tour.They ringed around the stage proper, a corridor curving round until a hall with several doors stood before them, each labelled with a sign.

“We have dedicated change and makeup rooms, along with a planning room and recital area. A break room too.” Kendra waved at each room in turn. “All airconditioned.”

They went into one of the makeup rooms, the far wall completely mirrored, depicting the rows of stools setup before a couple pairs of sinks and shelves stacked with eyeliner and makeup, and other facial cosmetics Jim couldn’t identify. Jim whistled in surprise as he took it all in.

“They went all out with this place,” he said. “Don’t you think Cass?”

“It’s a little overwhelming,” she said with a chuckle. “We’ll have to really pull off something big to make sure this wasn’t all for nothing. Speaking of which…” She turned knowingly to the Typhlosion.

“We’ll get to that,” Kendra replied. “For now I want to make sure the new people know what they’re doing, and I’ll need your help determining their strengths and weaknesses. Both of you,” she added, giving Jim a look.