13Bryce
I sat quietly in the darkness listening to his every motion. I heard him getting closer and closer... Oh well, so much for hoping to avoid a conflict. I closed my eyes and focused. Within seconds a tingling sensation coursed through my body and I was only a foot tall. I crept up behind a bush hoping to get a jump on him.
"Ah ha!"
I whipped around and looked behind me. No one... I peeked through the bush and saw him staring right at me. A chill ran down my spine. He lowered his rifle and aimed it right at me. Great, just as I had feared, a pokehater. I leapt out of the way just as a deafening explosion seemed to rock the forest. I landed a few feet away from the place where the bullet tore into the earth.
"Charrrr!" I yelled and sent a fiery cloud at him. He yelled as his hands were singed and his gun ruined. Now it was hand on hand combat. He rushed up to me and kicked me. I slammed into a tree hard. Injured, I sagged to the ground. This wasn't working. I needed something that blended better with the terrain. I focused and within a few short seconds became a bulbasaur on the run. I lunged into a bush and quickly worked my way deep inside the maze of foliage. I watched the pokehater from my hiding place. He scanned the bushes cautiously searching for me. When his back was turned and he least expected it, I struck! I sent a flurry of razor sharp leaves flying at him. He heard them coming and just managed to dodge. In a frenzy he began to tear into the bushes destroying them like an enraged animal. Hmmph, and we were the ones who "weren't human and should not be treated as such." Finally the time came, he was getting to close. I leapt from my hiding place and tried to escape. I hoped he would be too busy shredding plants with his hands and mouth to notice. Unfortunately he did notice. He picked up a pokeball and hurled it at me as I ran. I saw it coming and hit it away with a few razor leaves. My bulbasaur form was too slow. He caught up with me and kicked me again. I rolled across the ground and thudded to a sudden stop against a boulder. Finally I was too exhausted to stay in pokemon form. I reverted and collapsed against the boulder. I laid there while the pokehater came up next to me. He looked down at me and smiled a sinister smile.
"A pokemorph, just as I suspected. And a rare variety at that too. So, what do you call yourself freak?"
"My name is Bryce."
"Wow, it has a name. How impressive. I suppose you want me to leave you alone don't you."
"Yes, that would be a nice change. What drives you to be so cruel anyway?"
"Just look at yourself!" He said pointing at me accusingly. "You're a freak!" He stepped on my tail as though it would make some sort of point. "You shouldn't exist. That is why we crusaders hunt you. You should not exist."
"Well, we do and that is that!" I said angrily, whipping my tail free and beating him in the face with it.
"No, and now, I am going to finish you off!" He reached for a knife in his pocket. I leapt up and landed on my feet. He was right about one thing, I was a rare variety. Very few pokemorphs are part mewtwo. I hovered into the air and turned to face him. He had his knife drawn and was hoping for an easy kill. I made a quick motion with my hands a created a small ball of energy. I hurled it at him with all of my strength. It caught him in the chest and slammed him into the ground. He was knocked unconscious. I landed nimbly and inspected him. He was injured badly, but he would survive. I was very weak. I had taken many hits and morphed twice. Exhausted, I left the relative safety of the forest and began searching for a Shelter.
A Shelter is any house that has secretly volunteered to protect injured pokemorphs. We go to these whenever the weather is bad or there are too many pokehaters in the forest hunting us, or if we are injured, we will also seek safety there. The sun began to set and I began to feel raindrops spattering on my tail and shoulders. I felt my strength slipping from me. exhausted, I collapsed on the hillside and passed out.
Hours later...
I awoke in unfamiliar surroundings. I was in a room. Everything was white. The walls, the ceiling, even the bed and doors were white. I ached all over. A woman sat in a chair nearby... watching me...
"Where am I?" I managed to say.
"Shh, do not try to speak. You were near death when you where found."
"Near death? But, I defeated that hunter in the forest. He did not hurt me that badly."
"No, but the two children that found you unconscious on a hill did. According to the report I have here you were found by a woman that runs a Shelter. She says she saw two young boys yelling and acting strangely up on a hillside near here yard. According to her it was raining and it looked like they had something else with them on the hill. So, she went to investigate and I quote ''I walked up the hill. When the two boys saw me coming they ran off. I found a young mewtwo pokemorph that they had been beating on lying on the hillside. He was badly injured so I decided to bring him here.'' Here in case you're still wondering, is an underground hospital that was built to treat individuals like yourself that are injured to the point that they would need to be taken to a hospital. We created it because so few other hospitals would treat pokemorphs. I think that is enough for now. Get some sleep and we'll talk more in the morning."
"Ok, thanks."
"You're very welcome. It's the least we can do to make up how poorly you all are treated by the rest of society." She turned out the light and closed the door leaving me to think in the darkness. I didn't think long though, I was exhausted still and fell asleep within minutes.
Chapter 2
Karen
I closed the door and wandered aimlessly through the numerous hallways in the underground building. I was feeling worried and relieved at the same time. The young Mewtwo was going to be all right. I knew that was certain. This was why I was relieved. He was in bad shape when the woman from the shelter brought him in. The two young children had kicked him many times in the torso and head as well. They also managed to fracture one of his legs and cracked several ribs. He was lucky that his lungs were not punctured. That is what worried me. The two children. As I walked and thought about them a chart on the wall caught my eye. It was a pie graph showing the world's population. It showed that three to five percent of the population were pokemorphs, that was the category that Bryce fell into, fifteen to twenty percent were considered "pokefriends" to the pokemorphs, that included normal fully human people that helped pokemorphs, in other words people like me. It went on to show that about fifty five percent of the population was indifferent towards pokemorphs, and finally twenty five percentile fell into the "pokehater" category. This too was very depressing. "Pokehaters," as we refer to them, are people who treat pokemorphs like they were not at all human. Some hunt them with rifles and pistols. Others just brutalize them. They are very cruel. I slumped into a couch and thought about what this meant. Basically it meant two things.
First, if a pokemorph were to go up to an individual and ask for help they had about a one in ten chance of getting help and a one in four chance of being attacked on the spot and in every other case they would most likely be ignored or insulted. The truth of the matter was mankind was at war with itself. It was the pokemorphs and pokefriends versus the civilians and the pokehaters. Although over half the population is considered civilian, most of them despise the pokemorphs. They mock and ridicule them every chance they get. The government doesn't do anything to stop them. They outnumber us and the government tends to side with the majority.
That is why I was depressed. I mean sure, this underground facility usually has about a dozen pokemorphs brought in a day. But nine times out of ten they were here because of an attack by a pokehater. I had always hoped that possibly the upcoming generation would be more friendly towards the pokemorphs and that maybe once they were in control of the government in a few decades things would improve. But this recent incident, two kids almost killing a pokemorph, was to me almost like some sort of bad omen of the future.
I stood from my temporary rest and walked away from the disturbing chart to go check on a young girl that had been brought in a few hours after the Mewtwo had. I cracked the door and peered in. The young girl was sleeping soundly. Good, now I could actually get some rest. I fell asleep on a couch outside her room. This was in fact the place where I spent many of my nights. Slowly, I drifted off into a fitful sleep wondering all the while how long it would be till our world came crashing down around us...
The next morning...
"Karen, Karen are you all right?"
"Hmm?" I asked as my eyes opened to see a concerned face looking at me.
"You spent the night on the couch again."
"I know."
"You have got to get some rest now and then."
"That's what I was doing."
"I mean some real rest, as in going home, having a real dinner, and sleeping in a real bed."
"I guess, but what if something happened. The pokehaters aren't going to just attack pokemorphs during the day."
"That's why we have the night crew."
"Oh right! The night crew, like they can help a whole lot. There's only two of them and they have very little experience."
"Yes, but you can't be here twenty-four seven."
"I know that, it's just that... well... Think about the pokemorphs. So many people hate them just because they're different. They have to be on their guard all the time, night and day. I figure if they have to go through that, then I can sacrifice some of my time to be here for them when they are hurt. They didn't do anything to deserve this. Just last night we got two teenagers that had both been attacked multiple times. The male Mewtwo in there was injured by a hunter and was almost killed by a couple of kids when he blacked out on the way to a Shelter. And! as if that weren't bad enough there's a female Charizard right through that doorway. She was shot and thrown from a moving vehicle. She was lucky we found her!"
"Karen, I know how you feel. You're right, it's not fair. But you have to remember. You are only one person. Now you can help, but you can't take care of every single pokemorph all the time. You are a strong person. I respect you for that. But you need to remember, the pokemorphs are strong too. They may be outnumbered and outgunned, but they are clever. They will adapt."
"I know. But, they will always need help. But remember, every time the prey adapts, the predator will also adapt in order to continue feeding off of the prey."
"Yes, and that is why we are here. Now, get up off that couch, and get to work."
"You're right, I need to check on the mewtwo and see what to do about the charizard."
"That's the spirit, but tonight, go home and get some rest."
"Yeah," I started towards the Charizard's room. "And Sharon..."
"Yes?"
"Thank you"
"You're welcome." The nurse smiled and walked off to check on her two patients that had both been injured by an explosion set off by a quarry that was illegally mining near a national forest. Both of my patients had checked out yesterday. That was the way our hospital worked. Everyone got up to two patients to take care of unless everyone had two and more needed help. Then we kept adding one to everyone's limit until every patient had been checked in. Since I no longer had any patients I signed my name on the bulletin boards showing that the charizard and mewtwo were under my care. I grinned knowing that everyone would be jealous that I got to treat two rare varieties at once. In fact, I believe this was the first time we'd ever had a Mewtwo before. I opened up the small filing cabinet by the bulletin board and found the two newest files.
One was almost entirely blank. It identified the Charizard as female about five foot tall and about 14 or 15 years old. "Ouch," I thought. She's only a teenager and she's already been shot. Hmmm... The name slot was blank. She must have been unconscious when she was brought in. I left the other file on the desk and walked the short distance to the charizard's room. I opened the door quietly and stepped inside. Asleep on the bed was a young girl with long blond hair. She looked like the average teenage girl except for her large red and creme colored wings and strong fiery tail. I gave her vitals a glance, they seemed to be doing fine. The bullet wound in her leg was no longer bleeding and had been sealed up during the quick surgery she had gone through only moments after her arrival. The other bullet had grazed her shoulder and ripped a large whole in her right wing. Both of her wings were pretty torn up from being thrown out of a moving car. All of the smaller tears had been bandaged during surgery, but the larger bullet hole was left untouched. I picked up the surgery report that had been left near her bed. It said that the hole in the wing would need a skin graft. That would take a while to prepare for. It takes quite a while to grow skin artificially. I tapped her on the shoulder and tried to wake her up. She wouldn't budge. Oh well.
I walked back to the lobby and retrieved my other file. I read over it as I wandered through the corridors to my other patient's room. Let's see. "Male mewtwo pokemorph approximately five feet eight inches tall. Sustained multiple blows to the chest, back and legs. Name: Bryce, Age: appr. 16"
I opened his door quietly. He was awake, but he hadn't moved at all.
"Good morning," I said.
"I suppose so," the young boy replied. He tried to sit up but gasped and grabbed his side in agony. He shuddered in pain as he grasped his side, which in turn caused more pain. He collapsed back into the bed moaning.
"Oh, don't do that. It's best for you to just lie still for a few days."
"What's wrong with me?" The pained boy asked.
"Several of your ribs are cracked. It will be quite a while before you can do very much without soreness and pain."
"How long?" Bryce asked me through clenched teeth.
"We're not sure. Your DNA is different than most people's as I'm sure you already know. It could be a month or so."
"A month?!" Finally with a sigh he collapsed. His entire body went limp and collapsed onto the bed and he finally stopped thrashing.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, I am exhausted though."
"Understandable, You've been through a lot. I need to ask you a few quick questions. Do you feel up to it?"
"Yes."
"Ok, if you want to stop just tell me ok?"
"Ok"
"Let's see, ok, uhm, you said you defeated a pokehater in the woods. Could you please describe him?"
"I don't think so, I was in morph the whole time."
"What morphs?"
"I was a charmander, then a bulbasaur. You know we can do that right? I'm pretty sure every pokemorph can."
"Yes, I knew that. So far we haven't had a single patient that couldn't."
"Anyways, I didn't ever get a good look at him. Until he had flung me into a boulder. Then I reverted. My vision was real blurry and I was very dizzy. By the time my vision started to clear he was up next to me. Then he stepped on my tail and my eyes watered up. I couldn't see him at all then. I escaped and knocked him out with a small energy ball and tried to get to a shelter. I was exhausted and needed shelter from the rain. I was almost to a Shelter when I collapsed on a hillside. I woke up here and that is all I can remember. I am sorry that I can not be more helpful.
"That's all right, It doesn't really matter that much. After all, the government is on their side. They would not have sided with us even if we could identify him and prosecute him." I reassured him. "We're just trying to start building informational databases on the pokehaters in the area. Hopefully we'll be able to find a pattern and help you pokemorphs defend yourselves from them."
"That does sound like a good idea. The only problem is there are so many of them it will be difficult to identify which particular pokehater you are dealing with. When you're in the forest and someone pulls a gun on you , you do not wait. You react immediately. That's the only problem."
"Yes, I see your point, but at least we'll gather some useful information. Are you hungry? I can get you something for breakfast. We have eggs, waffles, bacon, and biscuits."
"I think I'd just like some eggs."
"Ok sure thing."
"Thank you."
I went to the kitchen and picked up an egg breakfast and took it back to Bryce. He thanked me and began eating as I said goodbye and went to check on my other patient. She was awake when I arrived, awake and scared.
"Where am I?" she asked in a fearfilled voice.
"You are in a hospital for injured pokemorphs."
"Ohh, How did I get here?"
"Someone found you by the road. I need to get some information from you. First of all what is your name?"
"Jenny"
"Ok Jenny, do you remember who attacked you?"
"It was a gang. I can't remember what they called themselves, but the leader's name was Kyle."
"Great, That will help us build our informational database. How are you feeling?"
"Well, my wings ache all over and my entire body feels like its bruised."
"It probably is, and as for your wings, they were both shredded pretty badly from being thrown from that car and one of the bullets grazed your shoulder and you can't see it right now, but it went right through your right wing. You've also got a gunshot wound in your leg."
"Well that explains that. I thought it was broken."
"No, actually it is pretty amazing. You didn't break a single bone. You should be as good as new in a week. Can I get you something for breakfast?"
"No that's ok. I'm not hungry."
"Ok, you just try to get some sleep. I'll be back to check on you in an hour."
"Ok."
I slipped out the door and went back to the kitchen and got my own breakfast. After I devoured a few waffles I went back to Bryce's room and picked up his tray. He must've been pretty hungry.
One week later...
Chapter 3
Jenny
After surgery my wing had been mended and I was on the road to recovery. Today Karen introduced me to a boy named Bryce. He's very nice. Right now the three of us are in a large gymnasium that had been built onto the hospital. Karen says that it is amazing that Bryce recovered so quickly. I guess we pokemorphs tend to heal faster than humans.
"Ok, Jenny and Bryce. Both of you have recovered quickly from your wounds. In fact, you could leave the hospital anytime you want but first we have an endurance test we designed here that we like all of our patients to take before they go. Jenny, have you ever flown?"
"Yeah, I fly all of the time, why?"
"Some pokemorphs have wings but aren't able to fly very well with them."
"Oh, well I love flying!"
"Good, then Jenny you will take the aerobatics course and Bryce you will take the combat course. Is that ok with you?"
"I could take the aerobatics course if you'd like." Bryce volunteered.
"You can fly?!" Karen seemed surprised.
"Well yeah, that's what I guess I would call it."
"Show me." Karen instructed.
"Ok, here goes." Bryce concentrated and lifted into the air. He hovered a few feet off the ground and looked down at Karen.
"Of course!" Karen exclaimed, "I forgot. You can levitate!. Ok come on down."
Bryce dropped to the ground and landed without a sound from his padded feet.
"You should probably take the combat course though. You can't fly for very long can you?"
"Well, not too long, but it's usually long enough."
"The aerobatics course is designed for those who spend most of their time in flight and fight while they're in the air. It'll take a minute for me to start the program. Jenny, you'll go first. Bryce you may stay here and watch if you like."
"Sure, I'll stay." Bryce said. I was kind of glad. I didn't have many friends. I don't think many pokemorphs do though. We are usually forced to spend most of our time alone... hiding...
Karen left Bryce and I in the gym while she went to the control room. I decided this would be a good time to start some conversation.
"So, where do you live?"
"I have a cave I've decorated and built things in. It's in the forest near here."
"Really?!" This was exciting news. "I have to go to a Shelter every night. How big is your cave?"
"Not too big, but there's plenty of room. I had to disguise the entrance though. If I didn't then chances are a pokehater would find me."
"How do you hide a cave?"
"Well, It wasn't too easy. The cave's hard to get to so that made it a bit simpler. There are two main entrances really. One is by swimming in through a small stream that goes through the cave. The other is a hole in the ceiling, but if you came through there you'd be in for a nice fall."
"Sounds pretty nice, especially having the water come to you."
"Yes, I hadn't really thought about that."
Suddenly a loudspeaker cut in.
"Ok, Jenny get ready. The simulation is about to start."
The hardwood floor suddenly changed to grass. Shortly after this, several objects began materializing in the air. There must have been dozens of them. Karen gave the order and I leapt into the air. I unfurled my wings and began soaring through the hoops. I maneuvered through around twenty hoops. Then I hovered in the air and turned around to view the course. All of the hoops had disappeared. But in their places were over a dozen beedrill! They came flying at me from all directions. I couldn't spew fire from my mouth, but I could shoot it from my hands! I brought my hands together and focused my mind.
"Flamethrower!" I yelled as a stream of fire spewed away from my hands and fried several beedrill. They vanished into nothingness as the other twelve continued after me. They were getting close. I decided to try something drastic. I began spinning faster and faster. Finally when I felt like I was about to vomit, I began throwing fire everywhere. Within seconds I had became a whirl wind of flames.
"Nice Fire Wind!" Bryce hollered up to me. I stopped abruptly and saw that the Fire Wall had reduced the beedrills to three. I had missed them completely. They saw that I was tired and came after me. I got off one last flamethrower before the other two got two close for fire attacks. I whirled around and beat one of them senseless with my tail. The other one used double team. Suddenly I had three targets! I saw my sudden weakness and flew higher into the air. The beedrill followed after me. I tucked my wings in and dove down towards one of the beedrills. I swerved at the last second and swung my tail down hard. It passed right through the fake beedrill. It vanished instantly.
"Ughh!" If that had been the real one my tail would have knocked its head off. Two beedrill remained. One was fake, the other was also fake, but for the sake of the simulation it was real. Somehow I had to figure it out. Both of them came at me at once. I dove again and they both missed. I circled back and rose higher into the air. Both of my wings were growing tired. Flying isn't as easy as it looks. I dove down at the final two beedrill. I slammed into him solid. I crashed into the ground utterly destroying the fake beedrill. It faded away as I stood to my feet and dusted off my shirt. I looked around to see if anymore opponents had appeared. At first, nothing happened. Suddenly a shadow fell over me. Hot, heavy breath washed over me. I turned around and found myself facing a huge full grown charizard. It opened its mouth and sprayed flames at me. I saw it coming and jumped to the side. I put my hands together and shot my own flames back. It wasn't even making him flinch. I flew up into the air hoping to gain some advantage with my smaller size. Before I knew it it was on above me and coming down fast. I tucked my wings in and dove to avoid it. I pulled up just before I hit the ground. My momentum sent me hurtling skywards. I flared my wings out to slow myself and immediately crumpled as the charizard slammed into my back. I fell from the air and crashed into the turf. Groaning, I managed to stand and face the monstrous charizard. Something was wrong, I couldn't tell what, but this wasn't right. The intercom blared to life.
"Get out of there! That's not a hologram!" Karen screamed over the intercom. I saw Bryce rushing over to help. The charizard glared at me. I was terrified. I knew I couldn't fight much longer. Suddenly it tackled me. It hit me full force and knocked me off balance. It opened its mouth and bit down on my arm hard.
"Ahhh!" I screamed in pain. I felt as though poisons were flooding my body. Suddenly the pressure stopped. The charizard lay unconcious on top of me. Its tongue hung limply from its mouth. I felt as though its body weight was going to crush me. I felt sleep clouding over me. The last thing I heard was a lot of panicked yelling and someone, probably Bryce, trying to lift the brute off of me.
I woke up hours later back in a hospital room. Bryce and Karen were watching me.
"How are you feeling?" Karen asked.
"Weird."
"We managed to capture the charizard. We believe it was planted by a pokehater." Bryce stated.
"Why?" I asked.
"If a pokehater planted it then our secret location has been discovered. We'll have to abandon this site if another accident occurs." Karen explained.
"Why do I feel so strange?"
"now that you're awake. You need to get out of here. Bryce has told me where his cave is. I want you to go with him and hide there until this thing blows over. If it was a pokehater we'll need to be evacuating pokemorphs as soon as possible. Don't worry about your injuries, you've been given a disinfectant and an antidote for the poisoning.. I'll stop by the cave in two days to see how you are doing."
"Ok." I sat up and hopped off of the cot. A large bandage was wrapped around my arm. I thanked Karen and within a few minutes I was following Bryce through the trees to the secret entrance to the cave. It wasn't that far. Only about two miles. By the time we arrived the sun was setting and I was exhausted. I stopped to lean up against a tree and catch my breath.
"Are you ok?" Bryce asked with a concerned look on his face.
"Yeah, I'm just tired. That battle took a lot out of me."
"Ok, it isn't much further." Three minutes later we were inside. The cave was fairly well lit up. Bryce had added some lights and electrical lines.
"How did you get the electricity?"
"Well, right now I'm kind of borrowing it from a pokehater that beat me up once. But I've been catching some voltorbs and I think I only need two or three more to use them as a generator."
"Really, I bet that will be fun to work on. How many pokemon do you have here?"
"Quite a few actually." Just then a bright yellow pokemon ran up to him and yelled "Pika!" Happily as it jumped onto his shoulder.
"Nice Pikachu," I commented as a Squirtle wandered into the room and found something interesting on the wall to stare at.
"Let me show you to your room," Bryce motioned for me to follow him. We walked down a passageway that was just wide enough for me to get through without beating my wings up on the stone wall. As we left the area with electrical lighting I decided that being part charizard was going to be to my advantage. My tail flame lit the passageway around me quite well.
"I was going to warn you to be careful in the dark, but I guess that won't be a problem!" Bryce laughed.
"No, it won't," I laughed.
"Just make sure you don't set the cot on fire," He said laughing again. "Ah, here we are." An opening in the passageway led into a small cavern just big enough to use as a bedroom. A cot had been left in the corner of the chamber.
"Thank you for letting me stay here."
"ahh, it's no big deal. We pokemorphs need to sitck together. I was getting lonely anyway. A few other people will be here within the next few days. I've been working on this place for almost half a year. It looks like it can easily support six or seven people and it should be easy to defend as well. I just need to build some sort of an alarm system."
"I can help!"
"Sure, I need all the help I can get. But, now it is late. You need to get some rest."
"Yeah, goodnight." I entered my cavern and collapsed onto the cot. The last thing I did before going to sleep was make sure that my tail wasn't curled back under the cot. Bryce was right. It wouldn't be good of me to set the cot on fire while I was trying to sleep.
Chapter 4
Bryce
I awoke early in the morning as the sun's rays first struck the forest. Jenny, the girl I had brought back from the hospital, was still asleep so I decided to go for a walk in the woods. It was getting to be cooler in the mornings as fall approached. Many wild pokemon came out on mornings like this. So I brought several pokeballs with me on my walk. I was just about to turn back for home when I saw something glaring at me just a few feet off of the path. I couldn't believe my luck! A scyther! It didn't seem to like me being anywhere near it. It came running at me full speed. Quickly a formed an energy ball and flung it at him. I wanted to practice my abilities, so I let him recover before striking again. He rushed at me in a blind rage. I jumped aside at the last moment. Enraged it turned to face me again. He slashed at me with his arm blade. I ducked under it quickly. As soon as it was safe I popped back up and snapped my tail into his face. Stunned, he dropped his defensive stance for a moment. I leapt into the air and kicked him in the upper torsoe, then spun on my way down smashing my tail into the side of his head. All this left the pokemon very confused and weak. I tossed the ball at it and watched as it was sucked inside and didn't even try to struggle against the ball's locking mechanism. An audible beep informed me that the capturing process was complete. I picked the pokeball up off the leafy forest floor and took it home with me where it would be safe from pokehaters. Many pokemon are killed everyday by pokehaters, so if I ever see any I catch them and give them to other pokemorphs or pokefriends. If I really like them I usually keep them.
By the time I got home Jenny was already awake. Much to my surprise she was an apt scrounger. I guess it wasn't to surprising since most pokemorphs have to make something out of junk once in a while. When I came through the cave entrance I could smell something cooking.
"Hi, You were gone, so I went to the store and got some eggs. The rest are in the fridge!" She smiled at me as I stared at the stove she had made while I was gone. Basically it was a lot of metal that she had melted together with her fire abilities. It had a large opening under the top of it where wood could be placed and burnt to cook food. Right now, she had her tail in the opening and was using her tail flame to cook. "Later on we can gather wood, but for now I think I can manage." We both had a good laugh over it.
A few minutes later we were both eating omelettes and discussing how we could make an alarm system. Finally we decided that the best way to go was to buy some DNA scanners and link them all together around the perameter of the cave entrance.
"The only problem is that DNA scanners are only a few years old and they can get pretty expensive," I pointed out.
"True, but I know how we can earn some money." Jenny offered.
"How?"
"Do you have the pokemon tournament rulebook for this year?"
"I think so, I'll go get it." I went and brought the book back. Jenny took it from me and began skimming through the book.
"Sure enough, There isn't a rule in here saying that a pokemorph can't compete in the tournament as a fighter."
"Hmm, a tournament. I hadn't thought of that. I think there's one in a few days nearby. I'll go check it out this afternoon. I think it is a three on three tournament so we'll need to find a third fighter to go with us. "
That afternoon I went to the tournament's office and signed us up to compete. It was scheduled to begin in three days. A few other pokemorphs I new were coming to join Jenny and I in the cave. I was hoping that Blake would join our team. Blake is almost completely human in appearance, but he has two large yellow Zapdos wings that make it very obvious that he is a pokemorph. He's a personality too, and he speaks with an Australian accent. He would make a good addition to the team. He, being able to fly, arrived in the evening and agreed to help us out.
"Sure thing," Blake said. "As long as I'm going to be living here I'm going to do my part. I'll fight to get some cash. It's for a security system you say?"
"Yes," Jenny said as she entered the room. "My name's Jenny. As you can probably tell I'm a Charizard pokemorph. What's your name?"
"My name's Blake. I guess I'm pretty obvious too."
"Yes," I said, "Zapdos wings do kind of stick out."
"Yeah, I guess so!" Blake laughed, "Who else is coming to stay here?"
"Let's see, you, me, Jenny, Karen is welcome to stay whenever she likes, but she's human and has a nice house to stay in. Who else was there? Oh yes, there was Garyn, Rachel, Chelsea, and Kevin."
"Cool, I don't think I've met all of them. When are they going to get here?"
"I'm not sure. Probably in a few days they'll start showing up. I expected you first since you can fly. Did you have any trouble on the way over?"
"Nah not too much. Some guy took a shot at me with a shot gun but I was too high for him to even come close to hitting me."
"All right, it's getting late." Jenny noted.
"Yes, she's right," I agreed, "Jenny you go on to bed. I'm going to show Blake to his room and then go to bed myself. Tomorrow we need to practice for the tournament."
Jenny yawned and trudged off to her room. "Follow me." I led Jake down into one of the darker regions of the caverns that held his room. "Your room is right in here. I'm sorry it's so dark, but I'm hoping to catch enough voltorb to get the whole place lit up."
"That sounds like a good idea. Maybe I can help. I'm not sure exactly how, but I can sort of sense electric pokemon when I get close enough."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah, in fact I think something is coming to visit us."
"Pika!" My Pikachu yelped happily as it ran into the room. It leapt up onto Blake's shoulder and rubbed against him affectionately.
"That is incredible!" I remarked.
"Yeah, I'm not sure how it works though and for some reason it doesn't always work. I think it has something to do with the pokemon's electromagnetic field and my own field."
"Yeah, that may be it. It may be stronger when you fly because you have to pump your wings more and they're flowing with electricity."
"Hmm, maybe..."
"Jenny was right, it's late. I'll see you in the morning."
"Yeah, good night."
"Oh hey, one last thing. I caught this Scyther this morning. Did you want it?"
"Sure, thanks!" I tossed him the pokeball and left. I slept very well that night. It had been a busy day.
Chapter 5
Blake
"Pika?...Pika!...PIKACHU!"
"Ahh!" I jerked upright suddenly as a strong current of electricity shot through me.
"Hey!"
"Pika!"
"Yeah, you're right, I guess I should be up by now." I scratched Pikachu's head behind his ears and got up. After I had changed I went into the main cavern where Bryce and Jenny were already awake.
"Hey Bryce, what's with the electric alarm clock?"
"Oops, Pikachu doesn't usually do that. Maybe he did it because your an electric type?"
ddddd "Oh, yeah, I didn't think about it that way. What's for breakfast?"
"Nothing." Jenny replied bluntly
"Nothing?"
"Yeah, we're out of food. We need to go into town."
"Well lets go, I'm starved."
"You sure you're up to it?"
"Sure I'm sure, why wouldn't I be?"
"You had a long flight yesterday. Aren't you sore?"
"Yeah, but I'm hungry too and I'd rather be sorer than sore and hungry."
"Ok, I'm going to go get something for breakfast. Then we'll be able to wait until this afternoon to go to the store." She spread her wings and soared out of the small opening in the roof of the cave. I sat down at the table where Bryce was looking over some papers.
"What's that?"
"This is the design Jenny and I made for the new security system."
"How does it work?"
"Well, basically it scans for DNA and alerts us if any unusuall DNA enters the area. The only problem is we don't have the money. That's why we're going to that tournament in two days."
"Will they let us in?"
"They should. There isn't anything in the rulebook that says all combatants must be fully pokemon."
Finally the day of the tournament came. All three of us woke up early and prepared for the battle. I wasn't sure what to expect. Bryce left a note on the table in case any of our friends showed up. We arrived in town with over half an hour to spare before the tournament began. The stands were already packed. I was nervous. I preferred to be in the forest where very few people could see me. Out here in the open I felt like everyone was staring at me. It only took me a few minutes to get over it. Most of the people that came to a pokemon tournament were probably pokefriends or just ordinary citizens that were indifferent. But, most "ordinary" citizens are really just nonviolent pokehaters. Bryce went over to the check-in station and verified with the judges that we were here. I walked over and looked over his shoulder to read the paper they had given to him.
"Just read over that and sign on the line to verify that you agree to all of the rules." the judge instructed him. He scanned over the page for a minute and suddenly seemed to choke.
"Is there a problem?"
"No, I don't think so." Bryce replied hastily.
"Well?"
"It's just that there is a small difficulty with this rule down here." He pointed to one of the rules on the page. "Number twenty-two."
I read what he was pointing at. "#22 All of a trainer's competing pokemon must remain in a pokeball when not involved in combat"
"I'm afraid I do not understand, what is the problem?"
I wasn't sure what was wrong with this guy. Slowly it dawned on me. He didn't know we were pokemorphs! Bryce was human from the waist up and all of his lower body was behind the counter. Jenny was off somewhere looking at who knows what, so he hadn't seen her either. And, at the angle he was looking at me one of my wings was blocked by my body and the other was out of view behind the divider between the booths.
"Uh Bryce..." I whispered my observation into his ear. At first he was very quiet, then he smiled. I grinned. I knew he had something interesting planned.
"Sir? Is there a problem?" the judge asked again. He seemed a little irritated.
"No, no problem." Bryce answered calmly. I watched the blood drain from the judge's face as Bryce levitated the pen up off of the counter and brought it to his hand.
"Excuse me, is there a problem?" Bryce asked the judge who looked like he'd seen a ghost. Obviously he had never seen a pokemorph in person.
"N-n-n-no, no problem!" the judge squeeked out.
"Now, about rule twenty two?" Bryce asked.
"Y-yes?"
"My friends and I don't really like the idea of going into pokeballs. Is there any way we can just omit that rule?"
"Uh, Of course!" the judge replied instantly. He was scared out of his wits. I couldn't figure out what he was so afraid of. We only attack humans when they're hunting us. "Uhh, let me think. Ahh, the rule says that all pokemon must be in a pokeball. You're pokemorphs so that rule doesn't apply to you."
"Great, thanks." Bryce smiled and signed the document before handing it back to the startled judge. He turned to me and simply said, "we're in"
"Excellent." We found Jenny and told her what had happened. She laughed at the though of it. Things happened very quickly after our encounter with the judge. Within a short half an hour we registered our team and were on the brink of starting our first battle. I felt sorry for the young boy that was up against us. The announcer's voice came blaring over the loudspeakers. As usual, the stadium's goal seemed to be making all of the spectators deaf before the tournament actually started. One of the speakers happened to be positioned right next to me. Unfortunately for it, it startled me. I sent a small charge of electricity into its core disabling it for at least an hour. The remaining functional speakers continued to blare.
"Welcome to round one of the Silverage Tournament. For our first battle we have a young trainer named Nathan going up against a new competitor, introducing Bryce Smith?"
"Bryce Smith?" I asked Bryce.
"Yeah, I didn't want to give them our last names. May I introduce you to Jenny Smith? Jenny this is Blake Smith."
"Ok, but why?"
"I don't care to let them know anything about us that isn't necessary. All of our data goes into the tournament's databases. If a pokehater got in there he\she might decide to target us to 'put us in our place' or something like that."
"Ah, I get it."
"Now, the battle will begin."
I staked out the battlefield quickly. Not much there really, a few trees and a small pond. The young boy seemed almost as confused as the announcer had sounded. I watched the young brown haired boy pull a pokeball out of his bag and toss it out onto the field.
"I'll go first." Bryce said. He stepped back from the railing around the trainer platform and lept into the air over the railing. He pulled into a ball and spun downwards toward te field. Seconds before he hit the ground he sprung up to full height and landed without a sound on his big feline feet. Nathan was now very surprised. Nevertheless he hurled the pokeball onto the field. There was a sudden blast of light.
"Oh no!" Jenny yelped as she saw what had emerged.
"Well folks this should be an action packed battle! Nathan has chosen Umbreon a dark type pokemon! Versus Bryce a young Mewtwo pokemorph.
"This isn't good. Dark type attacks are super effective against psychic type pokemon."
"Yeah," Jenny agreed.
Umbreon charged at Bryce as soon as he recognized him as an opponent. Unfortunately for Umbreon, Bryce knew exactly what he was doing. He stood there and faced the sleek black pokemon that was charging for him. At the last second he sprang aside and smashed his strong purple into the back of its head. Umbreon was momentarily stunned but recovered quickly. Bryce watched to see what it would do next. It faded away to nothingness. Suddenly Bryce flew backwards and landed hard on his back. Umbreon flickered back into existence. Faint Attack! It had to be. Bryce sprang to his feet as Umbreon began to fade away again.
"Oh no you don't!" Bryce yelled. A ball of energy coalesced in his palm. He hurled it at the spot where the Umbreon was disappearing. The ball struck an invisible body and bloomed outward as it dealt its damage. Umbreon became visible instantly and was thrown to the ground.
"Umbreon quick attack!" Nathan yelled to his pokemon. It was incredible. It moved so quickly all I could see was a blur that looked more like four Umbreons than one. It slammed into Bryce head on and sprang off of him as he stumbled backwards under the blow.
"Wow, an impressive display of speed from Umbreon!"
Bryce ignored the announcer and quickly countered with his own version of quick attack. I watched him slam into it at full speed and blaze right on past. It stumbled under the beating and just as it had almost regained its balance Bryce finished it with another blow that launched it several feet into the air. It crashed into the ground and lay panting on its side.
"Victory goes to Bryce!" the referee declared. Bryce wasn't paying attention though. He knelt down over the fallen pokemon as its trainer ran out to inspect it. A faint pulse of energy moved through Bryce and into his hands. He pressed his hands lightly against the injured pokemon's side.
"What are you doing?" Nathan demanded.
"Relax Nathan. I'm not hurting it." Bryce replied as the pokemon's eyes flickered open. It hopped up and began licking Bryce' hand.
"What did you do?" Nathan asked. This time much more kindly.
"It's a technique that gives your pokemon some of my energy so it can heal faster. He should be good as new in an hour."
"Oh, sorry for yelling."
"That's alright." Bryce turned and levitated back up into the trainer box where Jenny and I waited.
"Why don't you go next Jenny?" I suggested.
"Ok,"
"The victory has gone to Bryce! Now Nathan has only two remaining pokemon in this battle."
Jenny opened her wings and flew off the platform to meet her opponent.
"A stunning entrance by Jenny Smith! Let's see what she's up against!"
Nathan grinned as he proudly hurled his second pokemon's pokeball out onto the field. A flicker of light produced a bright blue Wartortle. Well, I had to give the kid credit for knowing his type allignments.
"You think she'll be alright?" I asked.
"Yes"
"What about that whole tail flame thing?"
"It was just a rumor. It does go out when they die, but they do not die if it goes out. It just makes them feel real sick for a few hours and drains all of their stamina. Whenever they get dried off the flame comes right back."
"Oh, that's good to know."
Jenny hovered a few feet above the field pumping her wings and glaring at Wartortle. She fired a firey blast from her hands. Wartortle countered her attack with a water gun. It immediately doused the flames and splashed Jenny. Being a fire element she was very weak to water techniques. I noticed her wings slow as the water hit her full force. She dove at Wartortle and carried it up into the air. It started to try an attack, but Jenny did something it didn't expect. She morphed. According to the judges this was legal as long as we only morph the rest of the way into pokemon. She dug her claws into Wartortle's shell as she rose higher into the air. Finally she dropped it and let it fall back to the hard earth. She reverted as she watched it fall. Wartortle took aim and fired a strong blast of water up at her as it fell. The blast caught her right in the chest. She cried out as pain shot through her. She fell backwards from the air and splashed into the small pond. The Wartortle slammed into the turf and was immediately knocked unconcious.
I was stunned momentarily, but Bryce took action. He vaulted over the railing and fell ten feet to the ground. He landed with a light thud. Fortunately he had levitated some or he would have broken something. He sprinted over to the pond and plunged in. I had forgotten. Fire pokemorphs can't swim at all the water causes them extreme pain and puts them in a state of paralysis. It's even worse for Charmander series pokemorphs. In addition to the pain and paralysis their flame goes out making it even worse. I felt bad for Jenny. She must wish she could die. I hoped inside that hitting the water so hard had knocked her unconcious. I watched the pond intently waiting for something to happen. A dead silence had come over the crowd. Not a sound could be heard. Suddenly with a loud splash a vivid blue Vaporeon launched out of the water with a barely concious Jenny holding onto him for dear life. The Vaporeon quickly morphed back into Bryce. Jenny collapsed and fell unconcious onto the grassy bank. She was going to feel terrible when she woke up. A cheer went up from the crowd. Bryce had definitely saved her life. He picked her up and flew back to the trainer's box.
"She'll be fine. I'll take care of her. You go battle."
"But"
"Go, if you forfeit the match then she'll have gone through this for nothing."
"I'll go." I jumped off of the platform and plunged headfirst towards the ground. Why not go ahead and make an entrance? Just before I hit the ground I pulled up and used my momentum to slingshot into the air. I soared high into the air and finally descended to the surface of the field and stood on the center waiting for Nathan to send out my opponent. Just to make things interesting I morphed to full Zapdos. Nathan chose his last pokemon and threw it onto the battlefield. A Pidgeot flashed into existence. This was going to be entertaining. We both flew into the air. The announcer babbled on about how rare Zapdos was, but I didn't particularly care. For a few minutes I toyed with Pidgeot and showed off. I began to get tired, so I hit it with a thunderbolt. It crumpled and fell from the air. I swooped down and snatched it out of the air in my talons. I deposited it safely on the ground and reverted.
"Victory goes to the pokemorphs!"
I flew up to the trainer box. I was worried. It didn't matter if we couldn't get Jenny back to fighting strength by round two.
Chapter 6
Bryce
"Is she all right?" Blake asked. Jenny was just coming to. She was soaked, weak, and as a result of the water her flame was out and she felt terrible.
"Yes, but she's not in any condition to do anything but sleep."
"What are we going to do?"
"Well..."
"Hey guys, up here!" someone called.
"Huh?" Blake asked. He looked up into the stands to see who was trying to get our attention. Suddenly I spotted him. It was Kevin. He was coming down the stands to meet us.
"I saw your note. Do you guys need any help?" Kevin asked.
"Yes, in fact you had perfect timing. Kevin this is Blake." I introduced him.
"Hi Blake, nice to meet you. Er umm, who's this?"
"This is Jenny. She just took a swim in the pond."
"Ouch, she must feel like she's got the plague or something. I should know."
"Yep, I'd bet that's about right. But, I think I'll take your word for it. I really don't feel like morphing a Charizard and finding out."
"It feels just as bad for Charmanders." Kevin said defensively. Kevin is also a pokemorph from the Charmander series. He's a Charmander to be precise. His upper body is completely human and his lower body is completely Charmander. He has clawed feet, a firey tail, and bright red and creme skin. "So should I go tell the ref I'm subbing for her?"
"Yes, we have an hour before we battle again. I'll take her back to the cave."
"You don't have time. It's a half hour walk and you'll have to carry her."
"Well, there is another option. It'll take a bit of extra energy, but she's much better off at the cave than here." I focused my mind and began shrinking. "Abra!" I said enthusiastically to Blake and Kevin moments before I vanished with Jenny. Seconds later I reappeared. "Whew, that was fun." I said sarcastically. My energy was getting low. I had an hour to rest though, so I was fine. I was glad it was only a three round tournament. We won the second round without much difficulty and afterward we were faced with more rest time than we cared for. Finally after three hours of boredom the final round came. We were ready. We had been the top ranked team from the southern stadium. We would fight the top ranked team from the northern stadium.
"Introducing the champion from the northern stadium, Karen!"
Karen!? I was surprised at first when I saw her. She would probably be surprised when she saw that the challenging pokemon was the pokemorph she'd nursed back to health only a week before.
"And the champions from the southern stadium the pokemorph squad! The battle may now begin!"
"I'll go first. ok?" I asked. No one disagreed so I lept of the guardrail and landed without a sound on the ground below. Karen's first pokemon was Hitmonchan. This was going to be exciting. Adrenal surged through my blood as the fighting pokemon approached me ready to fight. Hitmonchan came in quickly and tried to pummel me with his punches. I leapt up and smashed my tail into its face. It staggered back but shook off the blow. It came at me again fists flying. I blocked the first blow with my tail as I crouched and sprung forward tackling Hitmonchan. I drove it into the ground then jumped off of it is the initial shock wore off. It was up on its feet in no time and trying to punch my lights out. I tried to persuade it to give up by throwing an energy ball at it. He took the energy to the chest, but kept fighting. It was no use. I was going to have to give it a knockdown blow to the head. Quickly it moved in and began throwing punches madly. Block Dodge Counter Block Dodge Counter. Sweat formed on my forehead. Block Dodge Counter Block Dodge, an opening! My fist connected hard with its solar plexus. It groaned and fell to its knees staring deep into my eyes. I glared back at it until it gave in to the pain and fell face down into the dirt.
"An amazing display of hand to hand combat by both combatants! Victory goes to Bryce!"
Excellent. Now as long as Blake and Kevin were successful we were in good shape. I only wished it wasn't Karen that we were up against. I flew up to the trainer box and watched Blake electrocute Karen's Nidorina. After he was sure it was still breathing he flew back up to the trainer box and joined me on the bench while Kevin fought Karen's Victreebell. Kevin looks akward when you first see him, but he is an agile fighter. The battle was over in minutes. Victreebell tried to hit Kevin with its vine whips, but he lunged aside and swiped at them with his tail flame and followed up by firing a fireblast at it. It tried to dodge the blast but was hit full force and slammed into a tree. Kevin shouted in triumph as Victreebell went limp and slumped to the ground.
"Victory goes to Kevin! This young pokemorph has a lot of energy today1"
Now only one pokemon remained. But, Karen was unshaken. She threw the pokeball to the ground. An immense Golem emerged.
"This isn't good. Blake, there's no way you can take that thing."
"Really? Just watch me."
I watched him all right. His electric blasts didn't even phase it and it kept hurling large rocks at him. Finally he gave up and came back.
"That things unstoppable. I must have pumped a thousand volts into it and it didn't even notice!"
"I'll fight it." Kevin chimed in.
"Are you kidding? That thing knows earthquake almost for sure. It would flatten you."
"Then I'll go." I didn't wait for them to respond. Instead, I lunged over the edge of the platform and landed nimbly on my feet twelve feet below. Golem recognized me as an opponent and immediately tried earthquake. The ground rippled and broke, but I levitated over it. Then, when it had exhausted itself slamming into the ground, I rose higher into the air and bombarded it with energy blasts. It tried to resist, but it was too slow and succumbed within minutes.
"We won!" Kevin cheered as I vaulted up to the platform. Blake chuckled. "Good job out there. You showed that boulder what for."
"Victory goes to the pokemorphs!"
The announcer went through the technical information and babbled on about the different techniques and things from the battles. We were all tired, so we went home after claiming our prize money. But there was no rest for us at home. Jenny was still sick and her flame hadn't relit yet. We tended to our injured friend late into the night. Finally well after midnight there was a sudden blast of light as her flame roared to life. Her constant shuddering stopped instantly and she sank into a deep sleep. I fell asleep the moment my head hit the cot. I slept late into the morning. I awoke to someone calling my name.
"Bryce? Are you in here?" It was Karen. I wondered what she would say. I walked out to the main cavern.
"Hello Karen."
"Hi Bryce, you guys did great yesterday."
"Thanks, you put up a good fight. What's up?"
"I wanted to check on Jenny. Pokemon or pokemorph it doesn't matter. Fire types don't do well with water."
"Yeah, we were up half the night trying to fix her up."
"How is she?"
"She's finally sleeping. Hopefully she'll be up on her feet in a few days. Her flame relit around midnight."
"Really? That's good. A quick relight usually precedes a quick recovery."
"We hope so."
"What are you going to do with the money?"
"We're puttin in a security system!" Blake announced as he entered the main cavern.
"Really? That's a good idea."
"Would you like to have breakfast with us Karen?" I asked.
"Sure, but I've got to be back at the hospital by noon."
"Hmm, did you ever find out about that rogue Charizard?"
"No, nothing else has happened. It must have wandered in by accident. The odd thing is, we found it was capable of injecting poison with its fangs. It may be a mutation, or some escaped lab experiment."
"Hey Bryce, didn't you say a few others were going to show up around here soon?"
"Yeah, they'll probably show up today or tomorrow."
"Are they traveling together?"
"Well, I think Chelsea and Rachel are, but I know Garyn is alone."
"Three more are coming?" Karen asked.
"Yes, that will make seven of us here. Hopefully it will be easier to defend ourselves this way. "
"So when are you guys getting started?"
"Well, I think Kevin was going to get up early to go get the parts, but I don't know if he's left yet."
"Mmm, well, its been nice talking to you. But I really should be getting back to the hospital."
"Righty then, come back and see us again." Blake chimed in as Karen left.
Chapter 7
Jenny
By the evening after the battle, I had recovered enough to at least get out of bed. The boys were all outside working on the sensors. I wasn't able to help yet, so I just stood nearby and watched. After about half an hour, I grew bored and went back inside. They told me they were almost finished anyway. After another twenty minutes they all came in and announced that they were done. Kevin sat down, as best as his fire-tipped tail would allow, at a small workstation and booted up the computer. Outside there was a light humming sound as all of the electronics came online. It gradually quieted down. The computer display showed a very good map of the area. Kevin entered some settings on the computer. I'm not sure what he was doing exactly. I never was very good with computers.
"Criky!" Blake yelped and jumped away. There was a burnt spot on his shirt. Obviously, Blake had gotten too close to the fiery tail draped over the back of the chair. Bryce let out a very surpressed snicker. I just turned away and laughed into my shoulder. I turned back to see Blake glaring at me. I quickly turned my attention back to the monitor.
"So how does it work Kev?"
"Well, the scanners scan the area and search for DNA. Then, it alerts us of any abnormal DNA."
"What does it consider abnormal?"
"Anything that's not plantlife. The monitor shows a map of the area. With colored dots that are displayed when an abnormal comes on. There's two now!"
Sure enough, two dots appeared on the screen.
"Warning, abnormal DNA detected." A metallic voice said. "Scanning now. DNA analyzed." A 3-d wireframe model popped up out of the monitor. The female wireframe model spun in a slow circle. "Human DNA detected. Pokemon DNA detected. Subspecies Raichu." The wireframe model sprouted a long tail with a lightning bolt shaped tip. Also, its ears became larger and curved to a point. "Subject 1 is a Raichu pokemorph. Scanning subject 2 now..." A new wireframe popped up alongside the first. "Human DNA detected. Pokemon DNA detected. Subspecies Eevee." The second wireframe model wavered for a moment and reformed except now, the lower body was shaped like an Eevee. Subject two is an Eevee pokemorph."
"Well, that was overly informative." Bryce remarked.
"Yeah, I'll try to clean it up a bit tonight. Also, I'll tell it to tag all of us, so that instead of giving a warning. It will just show our name and blip on the display."
"That sounds good. Now, who are they?" I asked.
"Well, the Raichu is Rachel and the centauriform Eevee is Sarah." Bryce explained.
"Centauriform?" Blake murmured.
"You haven't seen a centauriform before?" Kevin asked.
"Uhh, no"
"You're kidding! Well, a centauriform morph is someone that has the lower body of a pokemon."
"Like you?"
"No, not quite. Centauriforms have four legs. Like this." Kevin explained. With a few clicks of the mouse, a picture popped up of a Centauriform Rapidash.
"Oh, well what are we waitin' here for? Let's go meet 'em!"
Everyone hurried outside to meet Sarah and Rachel. Both of them were very tired. So, after everyone had been introduced, both of them went to bed. By then, I was beginning to feel exhausted again, so I also turned in for the night. Kevin said it would be a few more days before I got all of my stamina back. Privately, I wondered if he had ever had his flame go out. He seemed to know a lot about it, but there's always something different about going through it.
The next morning Garyn showed up in the middle of breakfast. He was an Arcanine, and also a centauriform. He seemed to be very nice and also knew his way around computers. He and Kevin spent several days do very little besides working on the scanners. Finally they announced that the system was completely ready. We decided to test it by taking all of the information on Blake out of the system while he was outside. When he got close to the cave, the computer beeped to alert us.
"Scanning..." The small wireframe model popped up. "Subject is a pokemorph, species: Zapdos" The figure was adjusted quickly to show Blake's wings.
"You guys did a good job fixing that up." Bryce commented.
"Yep, let's just hope it keeps running smoothly for a while." Garyn yawned. "We were up all night finishing up. I'm going to bed."
Sarah waved to him as he left. "All right Garyn, we'll wake you up in a few hours. By the way, anyone seen Rachel? It's almost 8:00 she should be up by now."
"Bryce!" Rachel yelled from the other room. "Get this thing away!"
"I wonder what that's all about." Blake wondered aloud.
"Pikachuuuuu!" A loud crack of electricity was heard. Followed by several more. Sarah and I went to investigate. Both Rachel and the Pikachu were panting and both looked like they'd just fried themselves.
"What happened?" Sarah asked as she handed Rachel a brush.
"What happened!? That Pikachu electrocuted me!"
I burst out laughing. Sarah looked confused. Rachel looked mad.
"I don't see what's so funny. Suppose I show you what it feels like?" Sparks crackled around her.
"Woah, Rache chill out. Don't shock Jenny. She's part flying remember? You don't really want to shock her. She'd probably set the whole room on fire if you did."
"It's not that. It's the Pikachu. It electrocutes Blake to wake him up too. I just thought it was funny. It must be how all electric pokemon wake each other!"
Rachel still looked mad. I shifted to full Charizard to back up Sarah's point. Rachel shifted to full Raichu to meet my threat. Sarah hurried out of that room as fast as her four legs could carry her, Which is pretty fast.
Sarah
I slammed the makeshift door shut behind me as I ran from the sub cavern which was Rachel's room. Bryce saw me running and stopped me.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, if you go through that door right over there I suggest you be full pokemon first. There's a Raichu and a Charizard in there already and they're both on a rampage. May I suggest a rock type?"
"Oh boy. I'll take care of it." I watched as Bryce levitated into the air. He glowed for a moment, then sank back to the ground. A moment later there were two flashes of light. Bryce now stood in front of a tired looking Charizard that was sparking occasionally and a Raichu with singe marks all over her. She too looked tired.
"Come on girls. Why don't we keep all of the battles in the battle cavern? Ok? That way there's less damage to the rooms."
Both of them just stared at Bryce for a moment. Sparks began to crackle and the Jenny's tail flame began to burn at a higher intensity. Bryce saw it coming and countered before it happened. Both pokemon looked tired and collapsed.
"Well, that took care of that. We'll just let them lie here until they wake up." I noticed the Charizard shivered once in a while. It was a bit cool, but it was just October and hadn't gotten very cold yet. Bryce noticed it too.
"That's not a good sign," he said, "Her normal body temperature is very high. Especially since she is a Charizard. We'll have to keep her inside and warm all winter."
"What about Garyn and Kevin?"
"No, they'll feel a bit colder than the rest of us, but the normal body temperature of Charmanders and Arcanines is almost ten degrees lower than a Charizard."
About an hour later, both of them woke up and declared a truce. Which, might I add, was destined to fail. I knew Rachel too well. No matter where the two of us went it seemed like she always found someone to fight with. I didn't know Jenny very well yet. So, only time would tell if they ever really got along. Knowing Rachel, they would probably become friends but fight all the time. I saw Kevin working on something off in one of the unused caverns.
"Hi Kev, watcha doin?"
"I'm trying to make use of this room by building tools and things for it. Then, whenever we need something, we can build it here. Is Jenny or Garyn awake yet? I need one of them to come help me."
"No, Garyn's still asleep, and last I checked Rachel and Jenny had just knocked each other out again. Why them?"
"I need someone to help me melt a few joints together."
"Your a Charmander. Can't you do it?"
"Not right now. I've been at it for an hour and I'm out of fire."
Yes he was, even his tail flame was burning low.
"I can go to say Flareon and help!"
"I doubt it. You're not used to fire and you wouldn't know how intense the fire needs to be. Once you've been doing it for years, it's like second nature."
"Oh, well I'll send Garyn in when he wakes up."
"Thanks." He abandoned the pile of scrap metal and began measuring the walls. I wandered around for a while and ran in to Blake. He was bored too, so he told me all about the tournament that the four of them had been in. It sounded very exciting.
Chapter 8
Red lights flashed and sirens blared. A startled nurse ran up to Karen.
"What's going on?" Sharon yelled over the scream of the sirens. Karen didn't bother to respond. She threw all of the clutter off of an old box that had been used to store firewood. She opened the lid and removed a large high powered stun rifle.
"What is that!?" Sharon demanded.
"It's finally happened. We are at war!" Karen yelled out as a man dressed in black burst into the room. A look of fear shot across his face. Karen's stunner lifted him off the ground and sent him crashing through a table.
"Get somewhere safe!" Karen ordered the assistant nurse.
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine. Go! Hurry!" Two more armed men entered the room. Neither got off a shot. Karen's stunner showed that twenty six percent of her battery was used up. She dashed down the hallway firing like mad. She downed two more of them as she burst into the main hallway. Two more men saw her coming towards the exit and ran towards her. The gun leveled one of them, catching him right in the chin and slamming him hard enough against the brick to knock him out cold for hours. The gun's battery was drained. Karen cracked the other men in the side of the head and hurried out the door. She dropped the gun for a moment and grabbed a radio from her car.
"Bryce! We've got problems here!" She screamed into the receiver. A female voice answered.
"This is Rachel, who is this?"
"Tell Bryce or Jenny that Karen is in trouble and needs picked up quick!"
"Ok"
Moments later, Jenny swooped down out of the sky and picked Karen up. Jenny heard a voice coming from her headset..
"Keep flying straight ahead. Don't let them know where we're going."
"Where are you?"
"Relax, I'm the 'Cuno behind you."
Jenny looked back and saw a brilliant blue Articuno, Bryce, rising up out of the trees. She could feel the extreme cold he was generating. Bryce flew around shooting blasts of ice down at the attackers while Jenny and Karen escaped. That afternoon everyone gathered in the main cavern to discuss plans. Defenses needed to be made.
To Be Continued in book 2.