The Serial Game

The Serial Game​

The idea is easy: I, as the game master, will start this game by writing the beginning. You, as the players, will first READ THE RULES and then continue the story from where the last post ended. Not hard at all, huh?

Anyone can participate. You can write a single piece of story and then never come back or you can continue the story a hundred times. It's up to you, really. However, if anyone even attempts to continue the story even once without reading the rules, I will personally hunt you down and stare at you murderously until I get tired of it (you should know that I am very persistent). Also, if you keep breaking the rules, you will get banned from this game.

The Nine Rules of This Game

1. The rules of the board and section in general apply here. So, no spamming, no double posting, no flaming, no unreadable text (also no text in languages other than English), no plagiarizing... Go read the rules of Pokémon Fanfiction & Poetry if you feel you might have forgotten what is stated there.

2. The minimum length of a story piece is four lines. The maximum length of a story piece is two pages in a word processor such as Open Office (it's free!) or Microsoft Word. Even WordPad shows you pages, so that's not an excuse. If your piece exceeds the maximum length, you have to cut the extra part off and post only the two pages. I'm not going to be immensily strict about this rule and go around measuring your pieces, but please, do not write a whole novel at once.

3. It is prohibited to remove any of the protagonists from the story by any means. The protagonists will be introduced by the game master when starting the story, and those characters can not be killed, forgotten, or left out of the story by any other means. You have to have the protagonists in the story until the end. Otherwise, this wouldn't make much sense. It is also prohibited to excessively modify the protagonists. You can't change their gender, for example.
Also, the game master (me) is the only one who can end the story. Okay? Okay.

4. Other characters, however, you can kill, even if you weren't the one who made them. I sincerely hope that people will not go around killing other players' characters with a chainsaw, because that wouldn't be very nice. You can kill characters, but not needlessly nor a lot at once.

5. No too sudden, incoherent and irrealistic plot twists. You can, for example, have the stranger introduced in the last piece be the protagonist's mother, but you can't go "And then, all of a sudden, all the bad guns turned into beautiful butterflies...". Please don't do that. We all like plot twists that are sudden and a bit surreal, but there has to be a limit. Also, the bicycle introduced in the last piece can not be the protagonist's mother. Also, no "luckily, it was only a dream" plot twists.

6. If someone manages to post their piece before you do, you are obliged to either rewrite your part or delete it yourself. If the other person posted first, they posted first. There's nothing you - or me, for that matter - can do about it, so let's not start any fights about that. If someone got there first, you have to modify your piece. Sorry.

7. Remember: this is a family friendly game, so keep to family friendly contents. No explicit sex or violence, no excessive use of drugs or alcohol, no shooting anyone's heads off.

8. Any piece of story breaking the rules will be completely ignored. If your post breaks the rules, we'll treat it like it never even existed.

9. On top of obeying Astinus, when playing this game, you have to obey me as well. If I kindly ask you to delete your post because it breaks the rules, you should do that. You can always post another piece to the story later. We just don't want this thread to be glogged by rule-breaking posts, now, do we? That's why I hope you will obey me. That, and then I can proceed to take over the world. Also, we don't want to bother poor Astinus all the time.

If you have any questions, you can PM or VM me. Please do not spam this thread with questions.
If there's a need, I can also create a whole thread for the questions and general discussion.

Remember: anyone can participate!

And now, to the actual story.


An annoying scratching sound penetrated Shui's calm dreams. He frowned. As a result, the annoying sound got even louder. Shui decided to give up sleeping and open his eyes.

"Come on," he muttered. "What is it now, Ka-"

When opening his eyes, he saw anything but what he had expected to see. He was in a murky room that clearly was neither a hotel room nor his own room at home. It seemed to be a storage room, as there were wooden boxes in one corner and some barrels in another. Shui himself seemed to be laying in a pile of laundry. There was a window in the room, but it was small and close to the ceiling, suggesting that the room was mostly underground. Shui gasped.

"What the," he breathed. Then, he saw the source of the annoying noise.

A Meowth was scratching his backback very frantically.

"What are you doing?!" Shui screamed and jumped up.

The Meowth glanced at him and smirked. "I'm waking you up. As you can see, I'm very successful, too." It stopped the scrathing and turned to Shui.

"So, you can speak and everything," Shui said. He was irritated by the fact that this creature had just completely destroyed his backpack. "How fancy."

"Team Rocket always gives talking Pokémon to the most promising grunts," the Meowth said, smiling contently. "My name is Shelley."

"So, there are Team Rocket grunts nearby, too?" Shui asked, this time getting a bit nervous. He had had a few encounters with Team Rocket before and the grunts he had battled had all been very skilled. Shui also suspected that Team Rocket didn't always play fair. He concidered himseld lucky to never have crossed paths with Team Rocket in a more serious way, because he surely would have lost.

Nope, Shui didn't like Team Rocket at all.

"Yeah," answered Shelley, looking highly amused. "There is one really close. You, on the other hand, seem to have hit your head pretty badly. Want a mirror?"

"A mirror? Why?" Shui asked, getting more anxious by the minute.

Shelley dug up a mirror from the remains of Shui's backpack and brought it to him. he took the mirror very cautiously and looked into it.

Shui's face looked just like he remembered it. Normally his skin was very pale, but now it was tanned like after every summer. His eyes were the dark, small Chinese eyes he had always had. They were pretty rare around Kanto area, so many of the trainers he had fought always remembered him. He had a flat, long nose, a feature that in his mother's opinion made him look very handsome. Now that he was already fifteen, his nose had started to get a bit bigger. He also had black hair like he had always had. Only two things were a bit off about his reflection.

First of all, he had a nasty bruise on the left side of his forehead. Apparently someone had hit him very hard. He suspected it was the Team Rocket grunt or Shelley.
Secondly, he had a weird hat on his head. It was purple and had a big red "R" in it.
Shui gasped.

"Wh-Wha-Whaat?!" he cried out. Now that he had noticed the hat, he also noticed the other parts of the Team Rocket uniform. He was wearing the white gloves and boots and the purple shirt and pants, former with a huge red "R" in it.

Shelley laughed. "This is so funny! When that old man hit you, you actually forgot you had joined Team Rocket!"

"I joined Team Rocket?!" Shui yelled. "You've got to be kidding me! Why would I join Team Rocket?"

"How would I know that?" Shelley shrugged. "You came in, telling something about some horrible truth and someone called Karin, and-"

"Karin," Shui yelled even louder and ran to his backpack. He started throwing the remains of the bag everywhere and collecting the scattered Pokéballs. He only found five. "For crying out loud, this can't be possible! Where is Karin? Tell me where Karin is!"

Shui was both furious and desperate. Karin was his trusted Nidorina, his first ever Pokémon and one of his best friends, and now it was nowhere to be found.

"I wouldn't know," Shelley answered arrogantly. "You came in without any Karin, so I wouldn't know. In any case, you can't have it back now. I'm now your sixth Pokémon, so there's no room for any Karin."

"Frankly, I don't give a damn about you," Shui said calmly. "For all I care, you can go back to your Team Rocket. I want Karin back this instant. Why did you hit me in the head? Now I can't remember anything... Hey, at least this proves I didn't actually join Team Rocket. Why would you hit someone who's on your side?" He started to feel good again. Of course he hadn't really joined Team Rocket.

"We didn't hit you," Shelley said, looking straight at Shui. "Your grandpa, the old geezer whose basement this is, hit you."

"Wha..." Shui was dumbfounded. Apparently, he was a member of Team Rocket now. If that wasn't enough, he had forgotten why he had joined Team Rocket in the first place and he had no idea where Karin was. All this was because his own grandfather had hit him on the head. What the heck was going on?

All of a sudden, the door opened and Shui's granpa came in.

****

Go on, people, continue the story!

"Hello, Shui." Shui whipped around. His grandfather looked exactly like Shui remembered; small eyes, thin white hair, pale skin, and scrawny figure. Of course, Shui had never seen him in a Rocket administrator uniform before, so that was new as well.

"Grandpa, what's happening here?" Shui asked, beginning to panic.

"Shui," his grandfather began in is calm voice, "as you can tell by now, I am a Rocket. In fact, your entire male family from my side was a Rocket sometime, or aspired to be. Normally, we would have continued the tradition with you. However, your mother had something to say about it."

"What does Mom have to do with this?" Shui frowned. Shelley had an expression of great amusement on her face as she lay down and watched the two argue with each other.

"Your mother did not want the chain to continue. She was determined to not allow you to become a Rocket, and to continue our family's proud service to the group. Grudgingly, your father and I allowed her to do this. But, now that she's gone, there's really no real objection."

"Gone? She's not gone!"

"Well, I haven't seen her for a few weeks."

"I saw her yesterday."

"What was the date you last saw her?"

"September first." Shui growled, beginning to get angry with his elder.

"The first, you say?" Shui's grandfather gave an expression of mild surprise. "How odd… I could have sworn yesterday was the fourteenth."

"It was the fourteenth," Shelley said flatly, "I checked."

Shui kept looking back and forth, from Shelley to his grandfather and back to Shelley. "So, what you're telling me basically goes like this," Shui said in a slight panic. He was shaking now. "My grandfather is a Rocket admin, and wanted me to be too, except my mom wouldn't let him, but now that she's gone somewhere-"

"Sinnoh," Shui's grandpa said flatly.

"Sinnoh?" Shui's eyes got wider than they already were. "Okay, okay… Sinnoh. She went to Sinnoh for some mysterious reason-"

"To enter Contests," his grandfather interrupted again.

"Alright, to enter Contests. So, she left t enter Contests, and because my father is on your side too, I have to join a crime syndicate that I loathe with all of my being because you and Dad said so?"

"I'm surprised you were paying attention," Shelley said calmly. "Nice work. And yep, that's it in a Cloyster shell."

Whee, this looks fun. Kind of like the corpse, but more organized. Here's a short little part from me; hopefully any further ones I write will be longer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Two: Whodunit?​

"This is madness!" Shui exclaimed.

"Madness?" his grandfather mused, glancing over at Shelley. The Meowth shook her head slightly, Shui's grandfather sighing before turning to look back at the boy. "No. This, is Team Rocket!" It was almost as if he wanted to kick Shui in the gut for some reason as he said it, however fortunately he refrained from assaulting the confused boy.

"But...why?!" Shui yelled. "This is just all so random! If my family has always been part of an evil criminal syndicate, why haven't I realized anything?! Why can't I remember the past two weeks?!"

"Nya," Shelley meowed. "Isn't it obvious? You were hit on the head, silly."

"But why was I hit on the head?" Shui sputtered. "Did you really do it, grandpa?"

His grandfather tapped his chin thoughtfully a moment, before concluding with, "Nope, your mom did. You were trying to convince her that she should join too, but she was simply too stubborn—and violent—in her contest-faring ways. Sinnoh contests, in case you've forgotten. Away from here. Far away. Quite frankly, I doubt you'll ever see her again. Ever."

"But...I thought you hit me. That's what Shelley said..." Shui moaned, his head feeling dizzy.

"Nya! Yep!" the Meowth purred.

"You. Shut up," Shui's grandfather hissed as he glared at the cat, causing her to yelp and run to the corner. "She's lying. Such a prankster, that Shelley," he continued in a calmer voice as he turned back to face Shui.

"But...that...doesn't..." Shui couldn't handle it anymore, wandering in a daze back over to the pile of clothes he had waken up on. As he fell down limply on them he fainted, his grandfather tapping his chin thoughtfully again.

"He fainted," Shelley pointed out. "Again."

"I can see that. We have much work to do still..." Turning around, the old man walked up the stairs with his hands clasped behind his back, two Rocket grunts running down past him and walking over to where Shui lay. Picking the boy up, they carried him up the stairs as Shelley gathered Shui's possessions and dragged them along after the grunts.

I love you guys! Seriously!
...Also, with chapters this short, we'll be reaching chapter 25 or something in no time *chuckles* But that's not important. What is important is that people participate.
I also want to participate!

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Interval: A strange dream

While Shui's granpa and Shelley discussed about Shui's future, Shui was having a strange dream.

In the dream, Shui saw himself as a young child, running among the trees of the forest near his childhood home. He had lived there for the first ten years of his life. After that, they moved closer to his gradpa, to Goldenrod City. He had foced himself to be excited so that his mom would have been happy. In reality, he had missed his childhood home ever since they left it behind all those years ago.

A huge, blue, spiky Nidoqueen appeared from the woods and stood on the way of little Shui. The little boy stoppod and took a step backwards, intimidated by the beast.

"Shui," the Nidoqueen called him. It's voice sounded very familiar, but Shui couldn't tell whose voice it actually was. "Shui, it's me."

"Karin?" the little Shui asked. He knew it wasn't Karin. Karin was still a Nidorina.

"I'm not Karin," the Nidoqueen said and shook its head. "Where is Karin?"

"I..." The little Shui was silent. Yeah, Karin had been lost. But when and where? Had it been during the time Shui couldn't remember or before that? "I don't know."

"Shui, go to your mother," the Nidoqueen told him. "Go find your mother. She will know something about Karin. She can tell you things her father doesn't want you to know."

"Grandpa..? But why would grandpa keep secrets-" Oh yeah. Grandpa was a Rocket. Shui still didn't believe that. In fact, he was a Rocket himself, but that was even harder to believe. Why in his right mind would he join Team Rocket? That sure was a mystery. Maybe he had been drunk or something. Whatever it was, it seemed to have been grandpa's doing. Tears started to roll down his little cheeks. "But where is mom?"

"You don't know that either?" The Nidoqueen shook its head again, this time looking very amused. "Boy, are you lost. What exactly do you know?"

"Well, I'm missing all the memories from last two weeks..." Shui tried to explain with a shivering, insulted voice. He had lost the memories because his own mother had hit him so hard. What was that all about, anyway? Mom wouldn't hit him just like that. Or would she?

Suddenly, the Nidoqueen looked at him very strictly. "What if Karin is in pain?"

The question echoed in the murky air of the forest.

"What if Karin has died?" The Nidoqueen looked Shui straight in the eye. Shui couldn't tell if it was sad or angry at him. Then, slowly, the huge creature turned around and started to walk away. "Go to your mother, Shui. Don't let the Rockets stop you."

The little boy watched as the Nidoqueen disappeared among the trees. He stood there for a while, blinking, not knowing what to do. Then, he decided to go back to the house to see if it was still as he remembered it.

At least he still remembered something.

Fourth Chapter: Featherbrain Brigade

When Shui woke he was in a very different room, and Shelley had taken the liberty of perching herself on his head. The catlike Pokemon had her tail right in front of Shui's half-awake face.

"How many this time?" He asked groggily, rubbing his head.

"Two," the Meowth replied flatly.

"Two weeks?"

"No, feather-brain. Two hours."

"Whatever." Shui took the opportunity to look around the room he was currently in. It was an extremely boring room, with gray walls, a beige carpet, and white furniture. He was sitting in a surprisingly comfortable armchair, and there was another unoccupied one to his left and right, as well as facing him. He seemed to be the only person in the room, until-

"So you've finally woken up." A cold female voice rang across the room from behind him, making Shui shudder. That voice obviously belong to someone who should not be messed with.

Shui opened his mouth to respond, but a quick stab from one of Shelley's claws shut him up.

The woman walked across the room and took the seat facing Shui. Her hair was purple and cut short, and her eyes were a steely gray. She wore a purple shirt with the now-familiar red R emblazoned on it, as well as a rather wide and long purple skirt. This woman was a Rocket executive of the female variety.

"I understand, from the explanation your grandfather has given me, that you've shown interest in joining Team Rocket?" She asked, clearly trying to present herself in as light and kind a manner as possible.

"No," Shui grunted.

"Really? That's odd. I recall you wanted to be a powerful person?" The executive leaned forwards in her white chair of looming evil.

"A powerful Trainer, yeah…" Shui replied, shrugging slightly.

"Why command other Pokemon to use their powers when you can do it yourself?"

"Wha- because I'm not a Pokemon!"

"Really. You're not a Pokemon?"

"No! Aren't you capable of telling the difference?"

"Well, gee," The executive frowned slightly, looking upwards. "I really can't tell. Have you been feeling a bit… hot around your stomach area lately?"

"Yeah, kind of."

"I recall you volunteering for a project of ours."

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Feel your head," the executive commanded.

Shui did. His face soon twisted into that of great shock. "What in the name of Arceus is this?"

The executive got up and pulled one of Shui's 'hairs'. "This," she said, "is a Torchic feather growing out of your head."

Shui gasped loudly, and a nearby potted plant caught on fire.

Ooh! Nice! I like this! I think I will contribute, then get back to my fanfic.

CHAPTER V: Family History

"What the heck!?!" Shui shouted as he watched the potted plant burst into flames.

"The experiment, young Shui. You don't remember anything?" the Rocket Executive questioned as she slightly leaned forward in her chair. Shui couldn't help himself from looking at the exec's rather large breasts, but that was not the main focus of his mind at the moment. He was trying to figure out what was going on.

"You seriously don't remember? Wow, you must be as stupid as your brother, then," Shelley chuckled as she leapt off of Shui and into the lap of the executive.

"My...brother?" Shui asked Shelley.

"He doesn't know yet," the Rocket Executive asked.

"Oops! Sorry!" Shelley laughed as she preened herself with her tongue.

"Well, now that the news is out, we might as well tell you. You have an older brother, Shui. He's a Rocket Executive stationed in Johto. Well, at least he was. He became arrogant and went on a tirade claiming he had discovered a secret and threatened to spill it to the world. He quit Team Rocket, but someone with that knowledge cannot be trusted. To this day he still either hides or runs away from us. Your brother is not to be trusted Shui," the executive explained as she rose from her seat and started towards the door. Shui looked down, trying to remember anything about his so-called "brother."

"Wait!" he finally called out. "What's your name?"

The executive stopped right before she closed the door. She looked over her shoulder and looked at Shui with her cold eyes. "The name is Priscilla," she said as she walked out of the room.

Wow... I feel like joining in. Even if it's a month after the last post...

Chapter Six: the Bird, Alone With the Cat

He stared at the closed door, slack-jawed. Or it would be 'slack-beaked' now, wouldn't it? Shui groaned. "This is so messed up."

He had a supposed 'big brother' he didn't know about, hiding from Team Rocket because of some secret. His grandfather had revealed to him that the male side of his family had been serving the Rockets - a team he loathed - for generations. He had joined up with the Rockets, and forgotten about it, because either his grandfather or his mother hit him. Oh, his mother was against him joining Team Rocket, but had suddenly decided to go to Kanto for a contest. He had no memory of the past two weeks; and the most pressing matter of all, he was now a Pokemon.

"It's not that bad," Shelley grinned, hopping onto the seat that Priscilla had recently vacated.

"Really?" The Torchic-that-was-once-a-boy asked, sceptical.

"Yeah. You're a talking Pokemon. You'll get assigned to one of the promising recruits. And so will your other Pokemon," Shelley stared at him in the way only a Meowth could.

"Other Pokemon?"

"Aw, you can't have forgotten about them already? The Pokemon that you used to own. Hey, maybe we'll even be assigned to the same recruit, what d'ya think?" Shelley pounced onto Shui's chair, startling him enough for him to unbalance and fall.

"No way!" He said from an undignified position on the ground. He was on his back, and seemingly unable to get up. He tried wriggling his feet... talons... in the air, but it only served to make him look even more stupid. Flapping his wings also achieved nothing except to cool those said talons down.

"Of course, there is the other option," Shelley purred. It was amazing how quickly the Meowth transformed from being casually friendly, to being a menacing figure, standing atop a chair and looking at him with a feral glint in her eye.

"Wh-what?" He stuttered, frozen.

"Well, when you think about it, it's only natural," Shelley bounded to the floor, all the better to look at Shui's new face.

"What is?"

"Well..." She drawled, "if you refuse to be a good little Pokemon, then Team Rocket won't have any use for you anymore, so we'll have to clean up. That said; I'm a cat, you're a bird. Do we really need to keep discussing this?" She licked her lips and smiled, teeth glinting evilly in the light.

Shui stared at her, horrified. "Y-you don't mean...?"

"Of course not!" The Meowth laughed. "I was kidding, liven up a bit. Sheesh, you're so stuffy. And you should get up - you look ridiculous!"

Shui was left speechless on the carpet. Then the door opened, and a man wearing a lab coat entered the room, adjusting his glasses.

The man coughed, and Shui whipped his feathery head towards him. Shelley followed his gaze, but soon looked incredibly confused. She didn't recognize this person. Shui didn't either, evidently, as his expression reflected hers.

"You are… Shui," the man said, peering down over his glasses to look at the Torchic and Meowth. He scrawled something on a clipboard he was carrying, and continued to mumble things about Shui. All of these things, no matter how random they seemed, all were completely accurate.

""You two," he concluded after a few minutes, "follow me." He turned on his heel to walk out of the room, with Shelley by his side in an instant. Shui stared in amazement, but quickly scrambled to catch up. He did, eventually.

Finally the man stopped and removed something from his pocket. It was a set of keys. Shui desperately wanted to snatch those keys from him and get out of here. Unfortunately, reality caught up with him and he remembered that he couldn't use those keys even if he did want them (and also that his natural superior in the food chain was sitting right next to him).

The man found the key he needed, and opened a door. He gestured for Shui and Shelley to enter. As they did, the man looked over them; they were both looking absolutely normal.

How long that would last, he didn't know.

After the duo had entered, the man came in too and closed the door behind him.

"Now would be a lovely time to find something to make a fire with," the man noted calmly.

"A fire? Here? Are you crazy?" Shui squeaked.

"This will do," the man said, ripping the shaft off of a nearby object. He tossed the top part, which looked like a wig, into the corner. That being done, he cracked the item into thirds and placed them on the ground. "Set it on fire. If it's on concrete it shouldn't travel too far…"

Shui spat a small tongue of flame onto the wood. The small fire illuminated the room; much to Shui's surprise, it was a broom closet.

"…and even if it did, that would just be beneficial anyway." The man finished with a laugh.

"What?" Shelley stared, slack-jawed, at the scientist. "How could it possibly be beneficial? This entire place will burn to the ground!"

"Exactly my point," the scientist retorted calmly.

Shui and Shelley both stared at the man. "Who are you?" They asked in unison.

"Me?" The man laughed again. "My name is Joseph Bannon."

After meeting Shui and Shelley's confused stares, he sighed and elaborated.

"My name is Joseph Bannon," he continued. "I am undercover here, and am most definitely not welcome in the place. I came to rescue someone." Joseph's previously cheery face fell somewhat.

"Who are you going to rescue?" Shelley asked, ignoring the fact that this man was undercover for the more interesting second part.

"My adoptive brother," Joseph explained, "Shui."

I'll add there ;) thanks

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Chapter seven: Truth and cure

"This is completely crazy, I'm Shui! I am not sure who or what to believe anymore." Shui sighed.

However before Joseph could respond, Shelley appeared quicker in thought, realizing an intruder was in their base. She quickly ran for the doors to inform anyone; however Joseph had anticipated something like this, and used a pokeball to capture the pokemon.

"Relatively weak," He commented, "Nonetheless I will explain to you of what I have found out, after they gave me your file, to continue doing research on you."

Shui was still in a state of shock. "Step brother...?" He said under his breath.

"Anyway let me explain, the experiment you took part in, was a genetic experiment that would successfully mutate a human into a pokemon. I notice by how you look now, your transformation is not yet complete and will need a few more days dosages. To keep you under control, Team Rocket employed a Hypno to essentially rewrite your memories that too, would have become permanent. Well apparently mom found out, and though you didn't recognize her, her fury was astounding." Joseph pointed at the bruise.

Shui was almost breathless; he managed to ask the one important question. "Do I... Do I still have Karin?"

"Yes you do; unfortunately, I do not recall the whereabouts of your Nidorina." Joseph said calmly.

"That's some good news anyway." Thought Shui.

"Now I have been given the orders to continue experimentations, and otherwise see to it that your transformation is complete. Because you no longer will be following this regimen, you will feel terrible side-effects of you transformation back to a human, not to mention the memories that you will remember."

Shui didn't like the sound of this, but he also did not want to remain a Pokemon either.

"Follow me," Joseph said, "I suggest you act the part as we walk through here, if we are too encounter anyone."

Shui and Joseph walked through long sterile white like corridors not saying a word, occasionally encountering the odd Grunts, who were not interested in the two. Finally Joseph stopped in front of a door in an empty hallway.

"Unfortunately you will have to spend the night in this cell; this is where they had been keeping you the majority of the time. I'm scheduled to continue your experimentations, mutations and memory changes at 9 AM tomorrow. However, by then I should have a plan for your escape. I hope you do not encounter too much pain with the retransformation." Joeseph explained.

"Okay." Shui said simply.

Joseph pressed a button, and the cell door opened. Shui stepped in and turned around, his brother was giving a faint smile. He then pressed the button and turned around and walked away. He had not even taken three steps away when he heard her voice.

"Dr. Bannon, can I have a quick word?" It was Priscilla.

Shui sat in the cold, dark cell. He was all alone, although he did have the Pokéball containing Shelley with him. It was so quiet he felt like letting the Meowth out, but then again, he was a bird now. It was never wise for birds to be in the same room as cats.

This morning, Shui had been woken up by Shelley. At that time, he was still a human being and completely oblivious of what was going on. Now he was a Pokémon, separated from Karin but united with his adoptive brother, deep inside the Team Rocket base. He was a Pokémon. That was practically the only thing he didn't refuse to believe, and that was only because he had no other choice.

His thoughts were driving him crazy, so he sighed and pressed the button on the Pokéball. A red flash lit up the small cell. Shelley looked around.

"A cell, huh," she sighed and turned to Shui. "Are you stupid or what? I can see perfectly in this dim light, but I reckon you're half blind. I'm your natural enemy, remember?"

"I decided to trust you," Shui replied, shrugging. "I'm rather with you than alone in this cell."

Shelley's eyes narrowed and she snorted. "I'm a rocket, you know. I can't be trusted."

"Really? Then I guess I'm done for," Shui answered with a resigned tone. "Although I guess that's how it is anyway."

The Meowth was silent for a while. Then she spoke, with an arrogant tone. "Is it really that bad? Being a Pokémon, I mean. You can do so much things you couldn't do before. When you think about it, humans are kind of worthless that way. How many potted plants did you burn before you turned into a Torchic?"

"Oh, shut up," Shui murmured. "Humans did this to me, so I guess they can do something. Besides, what would you know?"

"A lot," Shelley answered. "I'm a Meowth, you know. Cats know a lot." She was silent for a while. "But I wasn't born as a Meowth."

Shui turned around and looked in the direction of Shelley's voice. He wished he could have seen her face, since he didn't quite trust the Meowth. She could be just messing with him for fun. Then again, she could be serious. "Wh-what?" Shui stuttered.

"I'm like you," Shelley answered, without a hint of sarcasm or arrogance. "I was a human once. But it's been so long, I don't really remember anything about it anymore. I just know I didn't have claws back then, so I reckon this is better for me."

"Of course it's better to be human!" Shui yelled.

Shelley tilted her head. "Why?"

"Well, because... That's because..." Shui couldn't think of anything.

"See?" The arrogance had returned to her voice. "Being a Pokémon rocks. I don't even miss anyone, so it's all good. It's not like you have anyone to miss, either."

"I do! I miss Karin!" Shui screamed, annoyed by his tiny, squeaky Torchic voice. "I miss Karin so bad!"

"But your relationship will only be better if you're a Pokémon," Shelley said smugly. "Only now can you truly be friends, as you're not the master anymore. Maybe you can even have some kids!"

"Oh, come on," Shui argued. "I don't even know where she is."

"Then, let's look for her," Shelley said and smirked, although Shui didn't see it. "Let's find her and I'll prove to you that being a Pokémon is so much better than being a puny human."

Before Shui had time to answer, the door of the cell opened and light flowed in. Shui was temporarily binded by the sudden brightness, but his ears worked just fine.

"Shui! Oh my dear God, Shui, what have they done to you? I swear heads will roll!"
"Shui?! Shui's a Pokémon?"

The first voice, Shui noticed, belonged to his mother. There was no doubt about it. No other woman her age had that rude, unsensitive tone to it.

The second voice was much harder for him to recognize, because he had never really heard it speaking English before. He had heard it, though. Many, many times. After a feeling moment, he realized whose voice it was. A sigh escaped his beak.
"Karin?"