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a store near YOU!
Seen January 23rd, 2018
Posted January 3rd, 2018
703
posts
15.3
Years
A/N: Okay, another attempt at a fic... this time, I'm determined to finish it. I just had a fun idea in my mind, but it has evolved into a completely unrecognizable fic. It does kinda start off slow... Criticism is appreciated.
Her ears twitched and she swished a mauve tail, purple eyes narrowing as they focused upon the house. A red gem gleamed on the Espeon's forehead, reflecting the fading light from the sinking sun as she turned to look at her accomplice. He was camouflaged in the deepening shadows, his red eyes and their narrow pupils glowing morbidly. The abode on which their gazes were fixated was located in a small village called Galfiss on the west side of a snow-capped mountain, halfway up the slope. They had some of the most dazzling sunsets in the world, but the completely remote location discouraged all but the most extreme tourists. Sadly, the view was wasted on the sturdy, practical people who had seen it all their lives and had more mundane things to do than gaze romantically at a ball of fire, such as gathering food or wood to keep them from freezing during the winter nights. Unimportant things.
<Who do you think will answer?> She purred, her eyes gleaming. This could almost cause one to overlook the scars and bruises on her flanks. On closer inspection, the pair was more bedraggled and scruffy than Pokemon of their rarity and caliber would generally be, painfully thin from their diet, which included just anything edible they could scrounge up.
<Only one way to find out. Come on,> the other sighed, emerging from the shadows with obvious reluctance. The yellow rings on his body started to glow with an innate light, and the Umbreon nodded at her.
They approached the wooden door, hung with a simple, stone knocker. Espeon concentrated on it, her eyes shining a light blue. All by itself, the stone lifted and thudded into the door five times in rapid succession.
Silence.
Then they heard the door being unbarred, their bodies tense and ready to spring. The door was flung open violently, and several sharp stones were hurled through at the two Eeveelutions. One bounced off Espeon's side and another glanced off Umbreon's nose, opening a bloody gash. They scrambled away, disappointed. There had been two possibilities whenever they knocked on that door. The first, and the one that had become a reality, was the cruelest boy in Galfiss, who threw stones and drove them away without remorse or mercy. The second was his mother, who would open the door and lay out two overflowing bowls of Pokechow. She was the only person in their village who could, and would, spare some of her food and waste some money for two wild creatures; tow a couple of pests. Everybody else just slammed the door in their faces, snarling in disgust.
The two left, starving and dejected, several new cuts visible in the soft dimness of twilight. They crawled into a cold ditch and huddled for warmth as they tried to ignore the hunger pains and the Espeon tried to catch some sleep. Umbreon just watched over her, wondering why the world treated them this way. Perhaps there was no point in trying to continue fighting for their lives every single day and night.
We can't keep this up much longer...
*
'I can't believe you!' Marianne cried, placing her hands on her hips, her usually warm brown eyes flashing dangerously. 'How could you do that? Throw rocks at the poor things instead of feed them! Did I raise you to be nothing more than an arrogant bully?' She kept yelling. This was almost a daily occurrence now, and she despaired for her son. Am I a bad mother? Am I the reason he's turned out this way? She just couldn't help asking herself these questions. Her son will never learn the joy of training, laughing and sharing experiences with Pokemon, the most wondrous and awe-inspiring creatures alive. Her son will never truly live. She didn't know how this had happened. Marianne used to be a very gifted Pokemon coordinator, having traveled throughout the region and succeeded in winning the grand festival. Since then, she had retired to the mountains, bringing up her Pokemon alongside her son. The son that was glaring at her with an alarmingly belligerent look on his face.
'Whatever. It's not like they're human, anyhow,' he shot back. He was fed up with how his mother treated him. Pokemon this, Pokemon that - he swore that if she could've chosen, she would've been born as a Pokemon.
'You're right; they're not human. Does that give you any reason to cause such suffering and misery on a fellow living creature?' She demanded furiously.
"Le! Ledian!" A voice piped up from a doorway branching off the hall. It suddenly seemed embarrassed, and the Ledian creeped forward on foot.
'In fact,' Marianne continued, her face flushing angrily. 'I sometimes think that they're more humane than a human could ever be. They forgive, they're compassionate, they love; what makes people better than them?'
'We can talk,' he said sourly.
'They do, too. Just because you can't understand them--'
'Well, that's convenient,' he sneered. 'Kinda like how trees can talk, but you can't hear them. Can you prove it?'
'Joseph Burridge! You know just as well as I do that Pokemon are intelligent beings! Why do you behave like this? If you know how much good they've done for the world, and you do, how can you keep punishing them for no reason?' Marianne snapped. Her Ledian cowered in a corner, scared of the volume in her voice.
'Yeah, whatever, mother. Go and feed those amazing, wonderful, intelligent creatures then, or whatever else you do with them all day,' Joseph said coldly.
'Joseph! You--'
'God, I hate you!' He hissed at her, storming off to his room upstairs and slamming the door shut. Marianne stood frozen for what seemed like an eternity, before giving out a low moan and collapsing onto the floor. Her body shook with sobs, and she tried to stifle the sounds with her hand. Her curly blond hair covered her face from view.
'Oh my g-god, what am I going to do? Cal, w-what can I do? He hates me! Oh god, I must b-be the worst m-mother alive. Cal...' she wailed loudly in between sobs. The Ledian, Cal, buzzed over and gave the woman a six-legged hug, not letting go until she calmed down. Marianne was merely sniffing when Cal let go, looking at her quizzically.
'At this rate, that b-boy... He's never going to be h-happy,' she sniffed, her eyes filling with tears again. 'I-I only wanted what would be best for him! But... he... he's always so...' she gave up, and started to weep unintelligibly again. Cal pat her on the back, making soothing noises.
I just don't know what to do...
*
Time. Space. Elements crucial to the maintenance of reality. Their ebb and flow carefully overseen by two legendary creatures, ensuring the peaceful and logical continuation of the very universe. Dialga. Palkia. Their immortal beings confined to a non-world, outside space; outside time, stretching their power throughout everything that ever was, is, and could be. Infinite... untouchable...
Until now.
Suddenly, without warning, the steadying power of the mighty beasts... stopped.
Slowly, bit by bit, space and time twisted in on itself. Thoughts were sucked out of people and Pokemon's minds alike, carried over a theoretical breeze that might have existed, and dumped elsewhere. Roads that took weeks to travel were crossed in three small steps. One small household was set in a perpetual rewind, without ever realising it. It snowed in a desert, and an ocean dried up.
Reality distorted. The universe was left to fend for itself. It grew wild.
If the beasts don't wake up, the universe will shatter...
*
Joseph stared hard into his own reflection. He was still the same; light brown hair, rich, chocolate brown eyes, thin face, thin arms. Marianne said that he was so thin because of the high altitude he had grown up in, but he suspected she just said that to convince herself that she could be a good mom. Last night, he had been deeply wracked with guilt as his mother's muffled sobs floated up the stairs and through the closed door. Remnants of this guilt had compelled him to avoid his own mother for most of the following day, and by that afternoon, she left the house with Ledian. The fact that he knew she would be up at the lake, crying, managed to twist his heart into an improbably tighter knot.
He sighed, averting his gaze before giving a short bark of laughter. I can't even face myself in the mirror... You've sunk to an all-time low, Joseph, he thought bitterly. He cursed himself before cursing his mother and her Pokemon. It was their fault anyhow - they were the reason why he was like this towards his mother. It was sad to know that your own mother thought a bunch of misshapen creatures were more important than you, no matter how hard you tried to show her what a good son you could be. He ground his teeth in annoyance.
Several quick knocks echoed through the house, and Joseph went to his bedroom to look out the large window, which was technically nothing more than a large hole in the wall. This hole, however, faced outwards, to the west. The sun had sunken just below the horizon, a reddish glow hovering still hovering in the air. The stupid things were there to beg again. Those two Pokemon were more reliable than clockwork. Pests. And that was what everybody apart from his mother thought, too.
In that part of the mountains, most of the villagers considered Eevee and their "Eeveelutions" as nothing more than fluffy nuisances. The fact was that an illegal organization had hidden some of its members high in the mountains to build a kind of breeding ground for Eevee, hoping to make millions when they were ready to be sold. This plan never made it to fruition. The organization had been shut down, and all the Eeveelutions had escaped. Ever since, the tip of the mountain had been overpopulated with the Pokemon and they were treated with about the same respect as Ratatta or Pidgey in other places. Which meant that they were shot at, shooed away and otherwise merely a part of the background.
Joseph sneered to himself, grabbing a bucket filled with rocks on his way back down the stairs. He snatched several up in his hand, drew his hand back, opened the door... and was then stopped cold.
For one blinding instant, the world stretched and was shaken apart. He couldn't move. His body felt as if it had turned to rubber, and somebody had then decided to twist him up into as many knots as they could. Colours swirled; the sky turned brown, and the trees grew leaves made of metal with hints of rust. Then, in another, jarring moment, the world snapped back into focus like an elastic band, leaving Joseph leaning heavily on the door, gasping for breath. He looked up and gaped.
In front of the doorway, crouched on all fours and staring back at him with a slight panic in their eyes, was a pair of... people. Human beings, strangely clothed and looking as though the fur that they had just a moment ago would be bristling with agitation. They had been just dumb Pokemon before. Now, they were actual people. People who, when they were Pokemon, had had stones chucked at them.
Oh my God, Jason thought stupidly.
'Oh my God,' he breathed after he took a moment to figure out how his mouth and tongue worked. 'Oh my God,' he repeated, just to make sure that the entity could hear him blaspheme. Finally, after several more pauses during which he flapped his mouth open and closed, he had another, slightly more coherent thought.
What the hell is going on...?
Tides of Change
Chapter 1Her ears twitched and she swished a mauve tail, purple eyes narrowing as they focused upon the house. A red gem gleamed on the Espeon's forehead, reflecting the fading light from the sinking sun as she turned to look at her accomplice. He was camouflaged in the deepening shadows, his red eyes and their narrow pupils glowing morbidly. The abode on which their gazes were fixated was located in a small village called Galfiss on the west side of a snow-capped mountain, halfway up the slope. They had some of the most dazzling sunsets in the world, but the completely remote location discouraged all but the most extreme tourists. Sadly, the view was wasted on the sturdy, practical people who had seen it all their lives and had more mundane things to do than gaze romantically at a ball of fire, such as gathering food or wood to keep them from freezing during the winter nights. Unimportant things.
<Who do you think will answer?> She purred, her eyes gleaming. This could almost cause one to overlook the scars and bruises on her flanks. On closer inspection, the pair was more bedraggled and scruffy than Pokemon of their rarity and caliber would generally be, painfully thin from their diet, which included just anything edible they could scrounge up.
<Only one way to find out. Come on,> the other sighed, emerging from the shadows with obvious reluctance. The yellow rings on his body started to glow with an innate light, and the Umbreon nodded at her.
They approached the wooden door, hung with a simple, stone knocker. Espeon concentrated on it, her eyes shining a light blue. All by itself, the stone lifted and thudded into the door five times in rapid succession.
Silence.
Then they heard the door being unbarred, their bodies tense and ready to spring. The door was flung open violently, and several sharp stones were hurled through at the two Eeveelutions. One bounced off Espeon's side and another glanced off Umbreon's nose, opening a bloody gash. They scrambled away, disappointed. There had been two possibilities whenever they knocked on that door. The first, and the one that had become a reality, was the cruelest boy in Galfiss, who threw stones and drove them away without remorse or mercy. The second was his mother, who would open the door and lay out two overflowing bowls of Pokechow. She was the only person in their village who could, and would, spare some of her food and waste some money for two wild creatures; tow a couple of pests. Everybody else just slammed the door in their faces, snarling in disgust.
The two left, starving and dejected, several new cuts visible in the soft dimness of twilight. They crawled into a cold ditch and huddled for warmth as they tried to ignore the hunger pains and the Espeon tried to catch some sleep. Umbreon just watched over her, wondering why the world treated them this way. Perhaps there was no point in trying to continue fighting for their lives every single day and night.
We can't keep this up much longer...
*
'I can't believe you!' Marianne cried, placing her hands on her hips, her usually warm brown eyes flashing dangerously. 'How could you do that? Throw rocks at the poor things instead of feed them! Did I raise you to be nothing more than an arrogant bully?' She kept yelling. This was almost a daily occurrence now, and she despaired for her son. Am I a bad mother? Am I the reason he's turned out this way? She just couldn't help asking herself these questions. Her son will never learn the joy of training, laughing and sharing experiences with Pokemon, the most wondrous and awe-inspiring creatures alive. Her son will never truly live. She didn't know how this had happened. Marianne used to be a very gifted Pokemon coordinator, having traveled throughout the region and succeeded in winning the grand festival. Since then, she had retired to the mountains, bringing up her Pokemon alongside her son. The son that was glaring at her with an alarmingly belligerent look on his face.
'Whatever. It's not like they're human, anyhow,' he shot back. He was fed up with how his mother treated him. Pokemon this, Pokemon that - he swore that if she could've chosen, she would've been born as a Pokemon.
'You're right; they're not human. Does that give you any reason to cause such suffering and misery on a fellow living creature?' She demanded furiously.
"Le! Ledian!" A voice piped up from a doorway branching off the hall. It suddenly seemed embarrassed, and the Ledian creeped forward on foot.
'In fact,' Marianne continued, her face flushing angrily. 'I sometimes think that they're more humane than a human could ever be. They forgive, they're compassionate, they love; what makes people better than them?'
'We can talk,' he said sourly.
'They do, too. Just because you can't understand them--'
'Well, that's convenient,' he sneered. 'Kinda like how trees can talk, but you can't hear them. Can you prove it?'
'Joseph Burridge! You know just as well as I do that Pokemon are intelligent beings! Why do you behave like this? If you know how much good they've done for the world, and you do, how can you keep punishing them for no reason?' Marianne snapped. Her Ledian cowered in a corner, scared of the volume in her voice.
'Yeah, whatever, mother. Go and feed those amazing, wonderful, intelligent creatures then, or whatever else you do with them all day,' Joseph said coldly.
'Joseph! You--'
'God, I hate you!' He hissed at her, storming off to his room upstairs and slamming the door shut. Marianne stood frozen for what seemed like an eternity, before giving out a low moan and collapsing onto the floor. Her body shook with sobs, and she tried to stifle the sounds with her hand. Her curly blond hair covered her face from view.
'Oh my g-god, what am I going to do? Cal, w-what can I do? He hates me! Oh god, I must b-be the worst m-mother alive. Cal...' she wailed loudly in between sobs. The Ledian, Cal, buzzed over and gave the woman a six-legged hug, not letting go until she calmed down. Marianne was merely sniffing when Cal let go, looking at her quizzically.
'At this rate, that b-boy... He's never going to be h-happy,' she sniffed, her eyes filling with tears again. 'I-I only wanted what would be best for him! But... he... he's always so...' she gave up, and started to weep unintelligibly again. Cal pat her on the back, making soothing noises.
I just don't know what to do...
*
Time. Space. Elements crucial to the maintenance of reality. Their ebb and flow carefully overseen by two legendary creatures, ensuring the peaceful and logical continuation of the very universe. Dialga. Palkia. Their immortal beings confined to a non-world, outside space; outside time, stretching their power throughout everything that ever was, is, and could be. Infinite... untouchable...
Until now.
Suddenly, without warning, the steadying power of the mighty beasts... stopped.
Slowly, bit by bit, space and time twisted in on itself. Thoughts were sucked out of people and Pokemon's minds alike, carried over a theoretical breeze that might have existed, and dumped elsewhere. Roads that took weeks to travel were crossed in three small steps. One small household was set in a perpetual rewind, without ever realising it. It snowed in a desert, and an ocean dried up.
Reality distorted. The universe was left to fend for itself. It grew wild.
If the beasts don't wake up, the universe will shatter...
*
Joseph stared hard into his own reflection. He was still the same; light brown hair, rich, chocolate brown eyes, thin face, thin arms. Marianne said that he was so thin because of the high altitude he had grown up in, but he suspected she just said that to convince herself that she could be a good mom. Last night, he had been deeply wracked with guilt as his mother's muffled sobs floated up the stairs and through the closed door. Remnants of this guilt had compelled him to avoid his own mother for most of the following day, and by that afternoon, she left the house with Ledian. The fact that he knew she would be up at the lake, crying, managed to twist his heart into an improbably tighter knot.
He sighed, averting his gaze before giving a short bark of laughter. I can't even face myself in the mirror... You've sunk to an all-time low, Joseph, he thought bitterly. He cursed himself before cursing his mother and her Pokemon. It was their fault anyhow - they were the reason why he was like this towards his mother. It was sad to know that your own mother thought a bunch of misshapen creatures were more important than you, no matter how hard you tried to show her what a good son you could be. He ground his teeth in annoyance.
Several quick knocks echoed through the house, and Joseph went to his bedroom to look out the large window, which was technically nothing more than a large hole in the wall. This hole, however, faced outwards, to the west. The sun had sunken just below the horizon, a reddish glow hovering still hovering in the air. The stupid things were there to beg again. Those two Pokemon were more reliable than clockwork. Pests. And that was what everybody apart from his mother thought, too.
In that part of the mountains, most of the villagers considered Eevee and their "Eeveelutions" as nothing more than fluffy nuisances. The fact was that an illegal organization had hidden some of its members high in the mountains to build a kind of breeding ground for Eevee, hoping to make millions when they were ready to be sold. This plan never made it to fruition. The organization had been shut down, and all the Eeveelutions had escaped. Ever since, the tip of the mountain had been overpopulated with the Pokemon and they were treated with about the same respect as Ratatta or Pidgey in other places. Which meant that they were shot at, shooed away and otherwise merely a part of the background.
Joseph sneered to himself, grabbing a bucket filled with rocks on his way back down the stairs. He snatched several up in his hand, drew his hand back, opened the door... and was then stopped cold.
For one blinding instant, the world stretched and was shaken apart. He couldn't move. His body felt as if it had turned to rubber, and somebody had then decided to twist him up into as many knots as they could. Colours swirled; the sky turned brown, and the trees grew leaves made of metal with hints of rust. Then, in another, jarring moment, the world snapped back into focus like an elastic band, leaving Joseph leaning heavily on the door, gasping for breath. He looked up and gaped.
In front of the doorway, crouched on all fours and staring back at him with a slight panic in their eyes, was a pair of... people. Human beings, strangely clothed and looking as though the fur that they had just a moment ago would be bristling with agitation. They had been just dumb Pokemon before. Now, they were actual people. People who, when they were Pokemon, had had stones chucked at them.
Oh my God, Jason thought stupidly.
'Oh my God,' he breathed after he took a moment to figure out how his mouth and tongue worked. 'Oh my God,' he repeated, just to make sure that the entity could hear him blaspheme. Finally, after several more pauses during which he flapped his mouth open and closed, he had another, slightly more coherent thought.
What the hell is going on...?
Wow i'm waiting to see how this Fic will shape up, i really loved the way you handled the conversation between Joseph and his Mom. And the way Both had their guilts and sorrows. Pretty good Fic, i'm starting to think what suspense it actually holds. Well gotta wait for the second chapter till then.. good work :)
a store near YOU!
Seen January 23rd, 2018
Posted January 3rd, 2018
703
posts
15.3
Years
Chapter 2
Marianne sniffled as she climbed expertly back down the steep and treacherous path back to her home. She had spent over an hour at the lake, listening blankly to the gurgle of a stream made up of dozens of tine waterfalls less than a foot high as it flowed down the side of a mountain. She'd spent most of it wondering how Joseph had become such a cruel, heartless boy at seventeen years of age. After she decided it must've been the influence of his no-good friends, she'd decided that she'd have to change him and show him the right path - be kind and sympathetic to all living creatures, understanding, patient, loving and wise. She gathered her grey, nondescript dress in her hands to leap down from a boulder taller than she was onto unstable ground with ease. The sky was darkening around her and she looked up to see the first stars of the night twinkling above her. Beautiful, she thought.
Her gaze was dragged back down to her humble home and she noticed Jason standing outside, gawping at two figures. When she neared, and could make them out clearer, she gave a small gasp. They were children, barely ten years old; a boy and a girl. The boy had short, scruffy black hair with yellow tips and large, red eyes which seemed to glow slightly in the dark. His shirt and shorts were both black, although on the back of his shirt in between his shoulderblades was a buttercup yellow ring. His unbelieving gaze was focused on his partner. She had the same haircut he did, except her hair was a solid, blue-green colour, and she had violet eyes. Her attire consisted of a jacket and shirt underneath, and cotton pants, both a purple so light it could've been mistaken for pink. Embedded on a silver choker around her neck was a large, ruby-like gem. Both of them were crouching strangely and were moving awkwardly, as if they had suddenly outgrown their skins.
'What is happening?' The girl purred, jumping at the sound of her own voice.
'I - we appear to - to be... human,' he answered in a low murmur.
Marianne's eyes widened in realization as she pieced the pieces of the puzzle together. They looked strange, they dressed strange, they moved strange and they talked strange. Of course! She smiled slightly in bemusement, having never expected to encounter such creatures in all her days.
They. Were. Tourists.
She clapped her hands together in delight, skipping over to the trio, all of whom were unaware of her presence.
'What the hell...?' She heard her son mutter, running a hand through his caramel hair and unable to stop staring.
'Joseph,' she admonished sternly, 'don't frighten them off.'
'Frighten them?! I'm the one who's pissing my--'
'Joseph! Behave!' She hissed before turning to the couple with a bright smile. 'Do come in! Where are your parents? How are you enjoying the mountains so far? Fresh air, friendly folks and the Pokemon up here! You were just out enjoying the sunset, weren't you? It's beautiful, isn't it?'
'Mom...' he started awkwardly, trying out different phrases in his head to try and explain what he saw. None of them sounded like it would come from a sane person's mouth. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly, as she ushered their new guests in firmly and shutting the door, oblivious to their expressions. They looked as if their world had been tugged out from under their four paws and they were being hurtled through space and, in their new forms, didn't know how to land.
'Joseph, they're tourists. Foreigners. People who come from the plains up to the mountains to take pictures,' she said, talking to Joseph as if he were two years old. She busied herself in the small kitchen that doubled as their dining room. The chairs and table was made of wood, although there were only two chairs in the room, since nobody ever visited. Joseph sat down on one of the chairs, taking a breath and starting again.
'Listen, mom, you won't believe--'
'Joseph, get off the chair and let our guests have it,' Marianne snapped at him. She still hadn't quite forgiven him for yesterday's argument and was keeping firm on her resolve to teach him manners. 'They must have traveled a long way, up into unfamiliar territory and expecting kindness, only to get some rude boy who won't even let them sit on a stool.'
Joseph didn't budge. 'Look, mom--'
'Move, Joseph!'
Joseph had had enough. He shot up so quickly that the chair tipped over behind him. His mother opened her mouth to scold him again, but he had spun around and stomped out of the room back to his bedroom and slammed the door again. She gaped at the doorway, fuming silently as she stared at the hall.
Throughout the exchange, the "tourists" had stared at the arguing couple, their heads snapping back and forth as if they were watching a tennis match. Now, the girl was figuring out what to do with five long, suddenly dexterous fingers where there had been a paw, the guy watching with interest. They were both sitting on the seats in a way reminiscent of a Glameow or Vulpix. Marianne shook herself and busied herself again, finally managing to put two plates of soup in front of them.
'So, what's your name, sweetie?' Marianne kneeled down in front of the girl. She glanced at her brother before answering.
'C-Crysta,' she said slowly, trying to get used to the shape of the mouth and tongue. The movements were too weird. Everything was too weird. Her hearing and sense of smell had diminished considerably since her change in form. Everything was too long and often moved in the wrong direction. Her forelegs were shorter than her hind ones now, and the pads had disappeared, only to be replaced by nails, and the whole selective growth of fur was starting to freak her out even more. Her face had become this flat mass of flesh with a single lump that represented the human nose, and she couldn't see very well into the Psychic realm at all. To top it all off, her tail had disappeared into these two huge buttocks. She was starting to get mad.
'Pullus,' the boy, who seemed a little bit older than Crysta, said in a low voice without being asked. Marianne also gave him one of her sweet smiles which she used for the disabled, the injured, the widowed, foreigners and other people's children. Everybody had one of these smiles. It meant that, because they were handicapped in some way, they would be treated with patience and kindness and as if they were little puppy Growlithes. Eager to please and soft and cuddly, but often widdled on the carpet because they didn't know better.
Marianne's smile faltered when she noticed both of their gazes concentrated on her. She noticed that they seemed capable of doing so for the whole day without the urge to move, and that their expressions were curiously blank. Foreigners, she reminded herself, of course they're strange. She coughed and looked down, gently grasping Crysta's hand.
'So, why have you come to our village?' She asked to search for something to do.
'What does she mean?' Crysta's eyes didn't leave her face as her head tilted towards her brother. 'We've been here all our lives.'
Pullus would have shrugged, had he gained control over the use of his new, angular shoulders yet. 'Perhaps she does not recognize us...?'
'Hang on, I know all the villagers here and I've never seen you two before! Besides, you're obviously foreigners,' she said, seemingly unaware of how offensive her tone of voice would've been to normal humans. 'You know, with the fancy clothes and the strange hair-dye you young ones use down from the mountains. You look absolutely ridiculous, really,' she told them, laughing a little.
Perhaps it should be stated now that while Marianne was soft and tender with Pokemon, she wasn't very good with people, often being blunt and scathing without realizing. Quite a few people whom she considers "friends" had taken to avoiding her in a less-than-subtle way, but failed to inform her of their reluctance to accompany her anywhere. She was really quite thick when dealing with people.
'Oh,' the former-Pokemon chorused, uncertain as to what to say. Pullus decided to start.
'We... my sister and I are... were not...' he spoke very slowly, forming the words with some amount of hesitation, 'We were not, that is to say...'
Marianne decided to try and fill in the end of the sentence for him, seeing how drawn out he was making the sentence. 'Expecting to stay over for dinner? You weren't wishing to intrude? That's fine, my dear, my house is always welcome to visitors, although my son... He is always so rude and callous towards people,' she declared, 'Go on, eat your soup before it gets cold.'
'No, we were not...' Pullus struggled again.
'Human,' Crysta jumped in before Marianne could interrupt with assumptions.
'What? Of course you're human! You're just from another part of the world; it's nothing to be ashamed about! Who put this stupid idea into your heads?' She looked at them sharply. 'Was it Joseph? Oh, he has crossed the line, this time.'
Pullus frowned slightly, finally managing to get some control of his new facial muscles. 'Your son has nothing to do with this matter,' he said. Marianne smiled that smile again.
'Oh, don't you worry. You're being all noble to protect him, but he needs to learn to be nice. He should take a leaf out of your book, so don't worry about him,' she assured him, reaching over to pat his cheek in what she considered a motherly fashion. He looked puzzled.
'What book is this?' He asked, his speech becoming a little faster and clearer. She looked back at him in confusion.
'Book? Would you like to read a book?' Marianne blinked.
'You said, "take a leaf"--'
'We were Pokemon,' Crysta told the woman in impatience.
'Yes, dear,' she answered tolerantly, smiling again. 'You were playing Pokemon? Tell me all about it after you drink your soup. Children do have such wonderful imaginations,' Marianne shook her head and tidied the place up. Obediently, the two tried to drink the soup. Both of them tried to lap it up but, unused to the shape of their heads and its new size, Crysta knocked the bowl over and splashed the soup on herself as Pullus squished his face against his bowl, stretching his tongue out to try and reach the actual soup. Marianne had turned around at the crash and pursed her lips.
'That's enough playing Pokemon already. Stop it and drink your soup sensibly,' she scolded them lightly. 'Tell you what, I'll let you play with a real, tame Pokemon, okay? And afterwards, drink your soup,' she said.
'We were real Po--' Pullus started before Marianne called out.
'Cal! Can you come and play with these kids? They're tourists!'
'But--' Crysta started, frustrated.
'Hush, it's fine, Cal likes the company,' Marianne said, smiling genuinely at the Bug-type as she slowly flew in. Cal took one look at Crysta and Pullus before her eyes went wide... wider, actually. Pokemon had a much better sense of reality and natural harmonics than humans, and she instantly recognized the two as Pokemon; no matter their shape.
<What happened?> Cal asked, worriedly buzzing towards them.
'We don't know,' Pullus replied. 'Something has gone very wrong; this is unnatural.'
<You're telling me,> the Ledian said with a touch of irony.
'Yes, I am,' Pullus said, puzzled. Only Pokemon who have been in the company of humans for an extended amount of time learnt sarcasm, lying, boredom or greed. Perhaps that said something about the human race.
Marianne smiled again. She did that a lot around guests, thinking that it made them feel welcome. Most times, it made them feel like punching a certain someone. 'You're talking to Cal, are you? Even I don't understand her, and we've been friends for longer than you've been alive. What do you think she's saying?' Marianne said in a condescending tone of voice.
'How come you've been turned into a human?' Pullus answered solemnly.
<I'm sorry about Marianne; she means well at heart,> Cal buzzed apologetically. Crysta reiterated, to Cal's subsequent horror.
'She says "I am sorry about Marianne; she means well at heart."'
Very suddenly, the woman's smile disappeared then reappeared with an edge. 'That's not a nice thing to say, Crysta. Don't make jokes like that.'
'I was not making a joke; that is what she said,' Crysta informed her.
'Alright, that's enough,' Marianne said firmly. 'Where are your parents? I'll tell them you're staying over. And we should have a little talk about your attitude.'
Just then, Crysta got a hold of her Psychic powers again. It seemed as if they weren't completely human after all. Her eyes glowed blue and she showed Marianne what happened from her point of view. How, one moment, she was expecting rocks to be thrown at her, and the next moment, reality ripped and she was suddenly heavier, clumsier and very uncomfortable, shivering in the cold. Her eyes stopped glowing as she let Marianne go.
Unfortunately, Marianne was very stubborn. She shook her head distractedly as if to shake off a nagging fly and focused on them again. 'I'm sorry; I must've started daydreaming.'
Crysta closed her eyes to avoid the temptation to throw the woman out of the window. Pullus slumped into his chair, dejected, and Cal apologized again.
This woman is... completely unbelievable...
*
Joseph sat on his bed, trying to keep fuming. He wasn't making much headway. After the initial flare of anger, he really just felt disappointed. Disappointed in himself, that he can't control his anger, disappointed in his mother, for how she acts and her disregard of peoples' feelings, disappointed in the whole world. He sighed. The fact was that two Pokemon had turned into humans right in front of him. His mother wouldn't believe that without a lot of proof; and even then, she'd be extraordinarily skeptical. Hell, even I hardly believe me, he thought despondently.
So, the Pokemon-turned-to-humans could talk. True, it was barely coherent at the time, but it was still speech. They already looked like lunatics with too-big eyes and strange fashion sense, and they were small children. He had noticed that they were incredibly skinny and bruised; something that his mother would blip over. It wouldn't be too hard for her to completely disregard everything they said. She barely regarded anything that he said, either, but he had to try. He owed it to the presently human pair.
They had talked. It was now impossible for him to be in denial about their intelligence and made it impossible for him to hurt them without good reason. But they were sure to hate him and distrust anything he said or did after the years of throwing rocks. He would, in their shoes... paws.
He opened the door quietly and slipped back downstairs, stopping out of sight of the doorway that led to the kitchen. His mother was speaking.
'You know, not telling me your parents' names and where they live is just getting you deeper into trouble,' Marianne warned. 'I'd thought that you were the imaginative type, but obviously, you're using it for no good. People like you; they're sneaky. You're probably going to grow up to be--'
'Mom, lay off,' Joseph interrupted, stepping into the kitchen. She turned to glare at him.
'I remember now; you started it, didn't you? Telling them that they're not human. The idea! They're just tourists! It's exactly the kind of thing a child like you could do,' Marianne waved a cooking knife at him, making his blood run cold. Of course, as always, she remained oblivious to his expression. He tried again, using a placating tone.
'Mom, can you listen to--'
'And I suppose you're going to say that they're just like Pokemon. Dumb, weird and from another world,' she went on.
'Mom--'
'And you're teaching them to sneak, and--'
'MOM!' He yelled, finally catching her attention. She stared at him, her lower lip starting to quiver.
'Did you just... yell at me, Joseph? Your own mother?' She said in a dangerously low voice. Her hands were on her hips again.
'Listen, mom, those two are Pokemon,' he started desperately. Marianne had another flash of realization.
'So you're the one that encouraged them into believing that nonsense! They're only about nine years old! They're at a very fragile age. What you say now could seriously affect their psychological being as they grow older!' She yelled, seriously upset.
'Look, mom...' Joseph trailed off as he saw his mother glowing blue and being lifted into the air. Looking back, he saw that the girl was lifting her up with psychic powers. Wow, that's... kinda awesome, Joseph whistled. His mind had probably given up fighting the battle for sanity and had let him just go with the flow. At that moment, he wouldn't have been surprised if they were suddenly transported to a mansion in the middle of a sky with people dancing around them, wearing grass skirts and coconuts. That, unfortunately, did not happen.
Marianne suddenly found herself willing to listen, for once. Hanging in the air did that to a woman. 'Okay,' she swallowed, 'explain this to me nice and slowly so that I can understand.'
Crysta let her down. 'We were Pokemon,' she repeated.
'Well, now you're not,' Marianne said shakily.
'Now we are not,' Pullus agreed.
'So...' Marianne's eyes widened as, finally, the actual truth hit her. 'You're the Umbreon and Espeon that come around at sunset! That's why you were outside our house!' She exclaimed, looking more closely at the two.
'Yes.'
Jospeh watched his mother struggle with this new information, her mouth forming a silent "o". He could almost see the wheels of her brain crunching to a stop before slowly going in reverse as she backpedaled. 'But that's impossible,' she vouched.
'Yes,' Pullus answered again. Marianne couldn't seem to deal with monosyllabic answers very well at the moment, because she looked on the verge of shouting again. Instead, she started to hyperventilate.
'But... Oh, dear Arceus, I'm dreaming right? Got to be a dream, this isn't happening,' she murmured to herself, screwing her eyes shut. 'I'll wake up and... and open my eyes, and everything - everything will be normal. Five... four... th-three... two... one,' she opened her eyes and closed them again when she saw that Pullus and Crysta hadn't magically disappeared.
'Mom...' said Joseph uncertainly.
'I'll just - go have a lie down...' she answered faintly. Ignoring their strange looks, she tottered into the next room and collapsed on the couch. Marianne was a rather simple person, with firm, unmovable ideas on what a world should be like. For example, she thought that anybody who treated Pokemon cruelly was just a sick person who had no conscience or morals. Or that people who dressed or initially acted in a certain way fitted some form of stereotype conjured in her mind, and nothing short of, say, being suspended in midair and glowing blue, would change her opinion. There was one thing she had been completely and utterly certain of, and that was that people and Pokemon didn't suddenly change species due to some freak accident. She was probably in more shock than the two technical-Pokemon.
On the other hand, Pullus and Crysta had readily accepted what was happening. A human would not believe their sense and would either break down, like Marianne, bemusedly go with the flow, like Joseph, or poke and prod and say "Hmm... this is interesting. I'll just strap you down and examine what you are exactly, and what caused it, injecting strange fluids inside you just to see what they do". Fortunately for them, only government agents or chillingly sane scientists did so.
'Um... uh... how do you... feel?' Asked Joseph. He inwardly cringed. How do you think they feel? Oh, wonderful, I love morphing into some strange and bizarre fleshy, pink-tinged, awkward-looking thing? He thought sarcastically. But his mouth seemed to move of its own accord, asking questions that every human seems to ask when they came in contact with strange, exotic things. 'Does... it... hurt?' His brain gave up on him and went away to do something more interesting.
'We feel fine, and it does not hurt. It is just strange,' Pullus answered politely.
'As is obvious,' Crysta said, not quite as mindful as her partner.
'Ah. Um... why do you think this happened?' Joseph's mouth, now completely disconnected from his mind, acted on autopilot. 'I mean, this doesn't happen everyday, does it?' He laughed nervously.
'No, it does not,' said Pullus.
'As I have stated; obvious,' Crysta watched Josh cautiously. She still hadn't forgotten about years of gashes and dread. True, she could've just used her Psychic power anytime to turn the tables, but Pullus had stopped her, telling her that it just wasn't done. It wasn't right. That would make them no better than the humans. Because. It just would, alright?
'Right, right. So, uh, what're you going to do?' He asked vaguely.
'Live.'
'Right. Apart from that.'
Pullus stared at him. 'There is a need for us to accomplish some other matter?'
Joseph stared back at him. 'Uh... aren't you going to try to find out why...? Or how to change back or something...?' Both of his guests looked at him blankly. He started to say something, changed his mind, started to say something else, and surrendered. 'Why don't you just sleep in here tonight? The sun's been down a while already, and we'll sort it out in the morning.'
'Sort what out?' Crysta asked.
'It. It. Everything. The problem,' he expanded at her look of confusion.
'Problem?'
'The whole being human thing! Are you dumb or something?' Joseph shouted, frustrated.
'You would consider that a problem? Why?' Crysta questioned, blinking in puzzlement.
'Because... because... it is!'
'We are now human. At the moment, we are not able to change that fact, so we continue to live. If this proves difficult or impossible, we shall seek help. There is nothing puzzling about this,' Pullus said, hopping onto the kitchen tiles and curling up.
'Other than your feelings about this opinion,' the former-Espeon slunk down from her chair. It would have been normal for a Pokemon, but for one in a human shape, it looked comical. Jospeh wiped a hand over his face, suddenly exhausted.
'You know what, you guys can sleep in mom's bed, or at least grab a blanket. You'll catch a cold,' he told them. Crysta stared at him again.
'How can you catch a cold?' She said, gaining the ability to emphasize words in such a way as to ridicule someone. Groaning, Joseph just herded them upstairs and into Marianne's bedroom, throwing them several spare blankets.
'Just sleep. It'll look better in the morning. Hopefully,' he added to himself.
'How--' she started.
'Sleep.'
Yeah, everything would look better if they just disappeared...
Marianne sniffled as she climbed expertly back down the steep and treacherous path back to her home. She had spent over an hour at the lake, listening blankly to the gurgle of a stream made up of dozens of tine waterfalls less than a foot high as it flowed down the side of a mountain. She'd spent most of it wondering how Joseph had become such a cruel, heartless boy at seventeen years of age. After she decided it must've been the influence of his no-good friends, she'd decided that she'd have to change him and show him the right path - be kind and sympathetic to all living creatures, understanding, patient, loving and wise. She gathered her grey, nondescript dress in her hands to leap down from a boulder taller than she was onto unstable ground with ease. The sky was darkening around her and she looked up to see the first stars of the night twinkling above her. Beautiful, she thought.
Her gaze was dragged back down to her humble home and she noticed Jason standing outside, gawping at two figures. When she neared, and could make them out clearer, she gave a small gasp. They were children, barely ten years old; a boy and a girl. The boy had short, scruffy black hair with yellow tips and large, red eyes which seemed to glow slightly in the dark. His shirt and shorts were both black, although on the back of his shirt in between his shoulderblades was a buttercup yellow ring. His unbelieving gaze was focused on his partner. She had the same haircut he did, except her hair was a solid, blue-green colour, and she had violet eyes. Her attire consisted of a jacket and shirt underneath, and cotton pants, both a purple so light it could've been mistaken for pink. Embedded on a silver choker around her neck was a large, ruby-like gem. Both of them were crouching strangely and were moving awkwardly, as if they had suddenly outgrown their skins.
'What is happening?' The girl purred, jumping at the sound of her own voice.
'I - we appear to - to be... human,' he answered in a low murmur.
Marianne's eyes widened in realization as she pieced the pieces of the puzzle together. They looked strange, they dressed strange, they moved strange and they talked strange. Of course! She smiled slightly in bemusement, having never expected to encounter such creatures in all her days.
They. Were. Tourists.
She clapped her hands together in delight, skipping over to the trio, all of whom were unaware of her presence.
'What the hell...?' She heard her son mutter, running a hand through his caramel hair and unable to stop staring.
'Joseph,' she admonished sternly, 'don't frighten them off.'
'Frighten them?! I'm the one who's pissing my--'
'Joseph! Behave!' She hissed before turning to the couple with a bright smile. 'Do come in! Where are your parents? How are you enjoying the mountains so far? Fresh air, friendly folks and the Pokemon up here! You were just out enjoying the sunset, weren't you? It's beautiful, isn't it?'
'Mom...' he started awkwardly, trying out different phrases in his head to try and explain what he saw. None of them sounded like it would come from a sane person's mouth. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly, as she ushered their new guests in firmly and shutting the door, oblivious to their expressions. They looked as if their world had been tugged out from under their four paws and they were being hurtled through space and, in their new forms, didn't know how to land.
'Joseph, they're tourists. Foreigners. People who come from the plains up to the mountains to take pictures,' she said, talking to Joseph as if he were two years old. She busied herself in the small kitchen that doubled as their dining room. The chairs and table was made of wood, although there were only two chairs in the room, since nobody ever visited. Joseph sat down on one of the chairs, taking a breath and starting again.
'Listen, mom, you won't believe--'
'Joseph, get off the chair and let our guests have it,' Marianne snapped at him. She still hadn't quite forgiven him for yesterday's argument and was keeping firm on her resolve to teach him manners. 'They must have traveled a long way, up into unfamiliar territory and expecting kindness, only to get some rude boy who won't even let them sit on a stool.'
Joseph didn't budge. 'Look, mom--'
'Move, Joseph!'
Joseph had had enough. He shot up so quickly that the chair tipped over behind him. His mother opened her mouth to scold him again, but he had spun around and stomped out of the room back to his bedroom and slammed the door again. She gaped at the doorway, fuming silently as she stared at the hall.
Throughout the exchange, the "tourists" had stared at the arguing couple, their heads snapping back and forth as if they were watching a tennis match. Now, the girl was figuring out what to do with five long, suddenly dexterous fingers where there had been a paw, the guy watching with interest. They were both sitting on the seats in a way reminiscent of a Glameow or Vulpix. Marianne shook herself and busied herself again, finally managing to put two plates of soup in front of them.
'So, what's your name, sweetie?' Marianne kneeled down in front of the girl. She glanced at her brother before answering.
'C-Crysta,' she said slowly, trying to get used to the shape of the mouth and tongue. The movements were too weird. Everything was too weird. Her hearing and sense of smell had diminished considerably since her change in form. Everything was too long and often moved in the wrong direction. Her forelegs were shorter than her hind ones now, and the pads had disappeared, only to be replaced by nails, and the whole selective growth of fur was starting to freak her out even more. Her face had become this flat mass of flesh with a single lump that represented the human nose, and she couldn't see very well into the Psychic realm at all. To top it all off, her tail had disappeared into these two huge buttocks. She was starting to get mad.
'Pullus,' the boy, who seemed a little bit older than Crysta, said in a low voice without being asked. Marianne also gave him one of her sweet smiles which she used for the disabled, the injured, the widowed, foreigners and other people's children. Everybody had one of these smiles. It meant that, because they were handicapped in some way, they would be treated with patience and kindness and as if they were little puppy Growlithes. Eager to please and soft and cuddly, but often widdled on the carpet because they didn't know better.
Marianne's smile faltered when she noticed both of their gazes concentrated on her. She noticed that they seemed capable of doing so for the whole day without the urge to move, and that their expressions were curiously blank. Foreigners, she reminded herself, of course they're strange. She coughed and looked down, gently grasping Crysta's hand.
'So, why have you come to our village?' She asked to search for something to do.
'What does she mean?' Crysta's eyes didn't leave her face as her head tilted towards her brother. 'We've been here all our lives.'
Pullus would have shrugged, had he gained control over the use of his new, angular shoulders yet. 'Perhaps she does not recognize us...?'
'Hang on, I know all the villagers here and I've never seen you two before! Besides, you're obviously foreigners,' she said, seemingly unaware of how offensive her tone of voice would've been to normal humans. 'You know, with the fancy clothes and the strange hair-dye you young ones use down from the mountains. You look absolutely ridiculous, really,' she told them, laughing a little.
Perhaps it should be stated now that while Marianne was soft and tender with Pokemon, she wasn't very good with people, often being blunt and scathing without realizing. Quite a few people whom she considers "friends" had taken to avoiding her in a less-than-subtle way, but failed to inform her of their reluctance to accompany her anywhere. She was really quite thick when dealing with people.
'Oh,' the former-Pokemon chorused, uncertain as to what to say. Pullus decided to start.
'We... my sister and I are... were not...' he spoke very slowly, forming the words with some amount of hesitation, 'We were not, that is to say...'
Marianne decided to try and fill in the end of the sentence for him, seeing how drawn out he was making the sentence. 'Expecting to stay over for dinner? You weren't wishing to intrude? That's fine, my dear, my house is always welcome to visitors, although my son... He is always so rude and callous towards people,' she declared, 'Go on, eat your soup before it gets cold.'
'No, we were not...' Pullus struggled again.
'Human,' Crysta jumped in before Marianne could interrupt with assumptions.
'What? Of course you're human! You're just from another part of the world; it's nothing to be ashamed about! Who put this stupid idea into your heads?' She looked at them sharply. 'Was it Joseph? Oh, he has crossed the line, this time.'
Pullus frowned slightly, finally managing to get some control of his new facial muscles. 'Your son has nothing to do with this matter,' he said. Marianne smiled that smile again.
'Oh, don't you worry. You're being all noble to protect him, but he needs to learn to be nice. He should take a leaf out of your book, so don't worry about him,' she assured him, reaching over to pat his cheek in what she considered a motherly fashion. He looked puzzled.
'What book is this?' He asked, his speech becoming a little faster and clearer. She looked back at him in confusion.
'Book? Would you like to read a book?' Marianne blinked.
'You said, "take a leaf"--'
'We were Pokemon,' Crysta told the woman in impatience.
'Yes, dear,' she answered tolerantly, smiling again. 'You were playing Pokemon? Tell me all about it after you drink your soup. Children do have such wonderful imaginations,' Marianne shook her head and tidied the place up. Obediently, the two tried to drink the soup. Both of them tried to lap it up but, unused to the shape of their heads and its new size, Crysta knocked the bowl over and splashed the soup on herself as Pullus squished his face against his bowl, stretching his tongue out to try and reach the actual soup. Marianne had turned around at the crash and pursed her lips.
'That's enough playing Pokemon already. Stop it and drink your soup sensibly,' she scolded them lightly. 'Tell you what, I'll let you play with a real, tame Pokemon, okay? And afterwards, drink your soup,' she said.
'We were real Po--' Pullus started before Marianne called out.
'Cal! Can you come and play with these kids? They're tourists!'
'But--' Crysta started, frustrated.
'Hush, it's fine, Cal likes the company,' Marianne said, smiling genuinely at the Bug-type as she slowly flew in. Cal took one look at Crysta and Pullus before her eyes went wide... wider, actually. Pokemon had a much better sense of reality and natural harmonics than humans, and she instantly recognized the two as Pokemon; no matter their shape.
<What happened?> Cal asked, worriedly buzzing towards them.
'We don't know,' Pullus replied. 'Something has gone very wrong; this is unnatural.'
<You're telling me,> the Ledian said with a touch of irony.
'Yes, I am,' Pullus said, puzzled. Only Pokemon who have been in the company of humans for an extended amount of time learnt sarcasm, lying, boredom or greed. Perhaps that said something about the human race.
Marianne smiled again. She did that a lot around guests, thinking that it made them feel welcome. Most times, it made them feel like punching a certain someone. 'You're talking to Cal, are you? Even I don't understand her, and we've been friends for longer than you've been alive. What do you think she's saying?' Marianne said in a condescending tone of voice.
'How come you've been turned into a human?' Pullus answered solemnly.
<I'm sorry about Marianne; she means well at heart,> Cal buzzed apologetically. Crysta reiterated, to Cal's subsequent horror.
'She says "I am sorry about Marianne; she means well at heart."'
Very suddenly, the woman's smile disappeared then reappeared with an edge. 'That's not a nice thing to say, Crysta. Don't make jokes like that.'
'I was not making a joke; that is what she said,' Crysta informed her.
'Alright, that's enough,' Marianne said firmly. 'Where are your parents? I'll tell them you're staying over. And we should have a little talk about your attitude.'
Just then, Crysta got a hold of her Psychic powers again. It seemed as if they weren't completely human after all. Her eyes glowed blue and she showed Marianne what happened from her point of view. How, one moment, she was expecting rocks to be thrown at her, and the next moment, reality ripped and she was suddenly heavier, clumsier and very uncomfortable, shivering in the cold. Her eyes stopped glowing as she let Marianne go.
Unfortunately, Marianne was very stubborn. She shook her head distractedly as if to shake off a nagging fly and focused on them again. 'I'm sorry; I must've started daydreaming.'
Crysta closed her eyes to avoid the temptation to throw the woman out of the window. Pullus slumped into his chair, dejected, and Cal apologized again.
This woman is... completely unbelievable...
*
Joseph sat on his bed, trying to keep fuming. He wasn't making much headway. After the initial flare of anger, he really just felt disappointed. Disappointed in himself, that he can't control his anger, disappointed in his mother, for how she acts and her disregard of peoples' feelings, disappointed in the whole world. He sighed. The fact was that two Pokemon had turned into humans right in front of him. His mother wouldn't believe that without a lot of proof; and even then, she'd be extraordinarily skeptical. Hell, even I hardly believe me, he thought despondently.
So, the Pokemon-turned-to-humans could talk. True, it was barely coherent at the time, but it was still speech. They already looked like lunatics with too-big eyes and strange fashion sense, and they were small children. He had noticed that they were incredibly skinny and bruised; something that his mother would blip over. It wouldn't be too hard for her to completely disregard everything they said. She barely regarded anything that he said, either, but he had to try. He owed it to the presently human pair.
They had talked. It was now impossible for him to be in denial about their intelligence and made it impossible for him to hurt them without good reason. But they were sure to hate him and distrust anything he said or did after the years of throwing rocks. He would, in their shoes... paws.
He opened the door quietly and slipped back downstairs, stopping out of sight of the doorway that led to the kitchen. His mother was speaking.
'You know, not telling me your parents' names and where they live is just getting you deeper into trouble,' Marianne warned. 'I'd thought that you were the imaginative type, but obviously, you're using it for no good. People like you; they're sneaky. You're probably going to grow up to be--'
'Mom, lay off,' Joseph interrupted, stepping into the kitchen. She turned to glare at him.
'I remember now; you started it, didn't you? Telling them that they're not human. The idea! They're just tourists! It's exactly the kind of thing a child like you could do,' Marianne waved a cooking knife at him, making his blood run cold. Of course, as always, she remained oblivious to his expression. He tried again, using a placating tone.
'Mom, can you listen to--'
'And I suppose you're going to say that they're just like Pokemon. Dumb, weird and from another world,' she went on.
'Mom--'
'And you're teaching them to sneak, and--'
'MOM!' He yelled, finally catching her attention. She stared at him, her lower lip starting to quiver.
'Did you just... yell at me, Joseph? Your own mother?' She said in a dangerously low voice. Her hands were on her hips again.
'Listen, mom, those two are Pokemon,' he started desperately. Marianne had another flash of realization.
'So you're the one that encouraged them into believing that nonsense! They're only about nine years old! They're at a very fragile age. What you say now could seriously affect their psychological being as they grow older!' She yelled, seriously upset.
'Look, mom...' Joseph trailed off as he saw his mother glowing blue and being lifted into the air. Looking back, he saw that the girl was lifting her up with psychic powers. Wow, that's... kinda awesome, Joseph whistled. His mind had probably given up fighting the battle for sanity and had let him just go with the flow. At that moment, he wouldn't have been surprised if they were suddenly transported to a mansion in the middle of a sky with people dancing around them, wearing grass skirts and coconuts. That, unfortunately, did not happen.
Marianne suddenly found herself willing to listen, for once. Hanging in the air did that to a woman. 'Okay,' she swallowed, 'explain this to me nice and slowly so that I can understand.'
Crysta let her down. 'We were Pokemon,' she repeated.
'Well, now you're not,' Marianne said shakily.
'Now we are not,' Pullus agreed.
'So...' Marianne's eyes widened as, finally, the actual truth hit her. 'You're the Umbreon and Espeon that come around at sunset! That's why you were outside our house!' She exclaimed, looking more closely at the two.
'Yes.'
Jospeh watched his mother struggle with this new information, her mouth forming a silent "o". He could almost see the wheels of her brain crunching to a stop before slowly going in reverse as she backpedaled. 'But that's impossible,' she vouched.
'Yes,' Pullus answered again. Marianne couldn't seem to deal with monosyllabic answers very well at the moment, because she looked on the verge of shouting again. Instead, she started to hyperventilate.
'But... Oh, dear Arceus, I'm dreaming right? Got to be a dream, this isn't happening,' she murmured to herself, screwing her eyes shut. 'I'll wake up and... and open my eyes, and everything - everything will be normal. Five... four... th-three... two... one,' she opened her eyes and closed them again when she saw that Pullus and Crysta hadn't magically disappeared.
'Mom...' said Joseph uncertainly.
'I'll just - go have a lie down...' she answered faintly. Ignoring their strange looks, she tottered into the next room and collapsed on the couch. Marianne was a rather simple person, with firm, unmovable ideas on what a world should be like. For example, she thought that anybody who treated Pokemon cruelly was just a sick person who had no conscience or morals. Or that people who dressed or initially acted in a certain way fitted some form of stereotype conjured in her mind, and nothing short of, say, being suspended in midair and glowing blue, would change her opinion. There was one thing she had been completely and utterly certain of, and that was that people and Pokemon didn't suddenly change species due to some freak accident. She was probably in more shock than the two technical-Pokemon.
On the other hand, Pullus and Crysta had readily accepted what was happening. A human would not believe their sense and would either break down, like Marianne, bemusedly go with the flow, like Joseph, or poke and prod and say "Hmm... this is interesting. I'll just strap you down and examine what you are exactly, and what caused it, injecting strange fluids inside you just to see what they do". Fortunately for them, only government agents or chillingly sane scientists did so.
'Um... uh... how do you... feel?' Asked Joseph. He inwardly cringed. How do you think they feel? Oh, wonderful, I love morphing into some strange and bizarre fleshy, pink-tinged, awkward-looking thing? He thought sarcastically. But his mouth seemed to move of its own accord, asking questions that every human seems to ask when they came in contact with strange, exotic things. 'Does... it... hurt?' His brain gave up on him and went away to do something more interesting.
'We feel fine, and it does not hurt. It is just strange,' Pullus answered politely.
'As is obvious,' Crysta said, not quite as mindful as her partner.
'Ah. Um... why do you think this happened?' Joseph's mouth, now completely disconnected from his mind, acted on autopilot. 'I mean, this doesn't happen everyday, does it?' He laughed nervously.
'No, it does not,' said Pullus.
'As I have stated; obvious,' Crysta watched Josh cautiously. She still hadn't forgotten about years of gashes and dread. True, she could've just used her Psychic power anytime to turn the tables, but Pullus had stopped her, telling her that it just wasn't done. It wasn't right. That would make them no better than the humans. Because. It just would, alright?
'Right, right. So, uh, what're you going to do?' He asked vaguely.
'Live.'
'Right. Apart from that.'
Pullus stared at him. 'There is a need for us to accomplish some other matter?'
Joseph stared back at him. 'Uh... aren't you going to try to find out why...? Or how to change back or something...?' Both of his guests looked at him blankly. He started to say something, changed his mind, started to say something else, and surrendered. 'Why don't you just sleep in here tonight? The sun's been down a while already, and we'll sort it out in the morning.'
'Sort what out?' Crysta asked.
'It. It. Everything. The problem,' he expanded at her look of confusion.
'Problem?'
'The whole being human thing! Are you dumb or something?' Joseph shouted, frustrated.
'You would consider that a problem? Why?' Crysta questioned, blinking in puzzlement.
'Because... because... it is!'
'We are now human. At the moment, we are not able to change that fact, so we continue to live. If this proves difficult or impossible, we shall seek help. There is nothing puzzling about this,' Pullus said, hopping onto the kitchen tiles and curling up.
'Other than your feelings about this opinion,' the former-Espeon slunk down from her chair. It would have been normal for a Pokemon, but for one in a human shape, it looked comical. Jospeh wiped a hand over his face, suddenly exhausted.
'You know what, you guys can sleep in mom's bed, or at least grab a blanket. You'll catch a cold,' he told them. Crysta stared at him again.
'How can you catch a cold?' She said, gaining the ability to emphasize words in such a way as to ridicule someone. Groaning, Joseph just herded them upstairs and into Marianne's bedroom, throwing them several spare blankets.
'Just sleep. It'll look better in the morning. Hopefully,' he added to himself.
'How--' she started.
'Sleep.'
Yeah, everything would look better if they just disappeared...
I love how you portray the pokemons' point of views about the whole thing and Marianne's conclusion 'They. Are. Tourists.' Had me in stitches XD
I'm eager to read the next part!:D
I'm eager to read the next part!:D
Age 31
Over there! Where that guy's standing!
Seen May 13th, 2009
Posted May 10th, 2009
169
posts
15.3
Years
Haha This is really good! I really like Crysta/Espeon and Pullus/Umbreon I'm looking forward to the next chapter!:P
^when i heard that i fell off my chair laughing!
They. Were. Tourists.
^when i heard that i fell off my chair laughing!
"Before you critisize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. that way, when you critisize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes"




Hey the character development of both Crysta and Pullus is really good and the fic is quite funny, i'd really like to see more of arguments between joseph and both of em' waiting for the next chapter :)
One word:
AWESOMENESS
Nice work, i hope you continue this.
AWESOMENESS
Nice work, i hope you continue this.
a store near YOU!
Seen January 23rd, 2018
Posted January 3rd, 2018
703
posts
15.3
Years
Thanks, everybody! :) Here's the next bit. Hopefully, you don't fall asleep.
Chapter 3
It was a beautiful morning. The sun was hidden behind the mountain, the sky was a wide, never ending blue with little puffs of cloud that looked as though they came from a cartoon, the chilly mountain air burned its ways into their lungs and, somewhere, a Murkrow was luring an irate man deeper into the mountains where he would lose himself for several weeks, living on leaves and berries.
Marianne had slept fitfully the night before, too busy worrying about the upheaval of her world. But she had come to a decision, and was her usual definite self in the morning, making breakfast for them all and most especially herself. She had forgotten about supper the night before, and her rumbling stomach could be heard throughout the kitchen. Joseph still hadn't come down from his room, but she had gathered the two calm... Pokesapiens, she decided to call them. She always knew Pokemon were fellow sapient creatures at any rate, so it was really just a new humanoid species. Yeah. Right.
'Alright, we're having toast and Blukberry jam today,' said Marianne cheerfully. 'And if my son ever decided to show up, I'll tell you all what I suggest you do.'
'Do about what?' Asked Crysta. She was learning how to hold a fork, although to what end, she could not fathom. Even humans didn't use forks to eat toast. Marianne had told her that it would probably help her get the hang of using fingers more. When she'd asked what hanging had anything to do with it, Marianne had just looked at her strangely.
'About... this,' the woman answered, unknowingly echoing her son last night.
'The problem,' Pullus filled in, muttering in his usual quiet voice. He looked very silly, twisting his arms every possible way in wonderment. They were certainly more dexterous than when he was an Umbreon. He just had to learn to control them.
'That's right. Fancy you asking such a strange question, dear,' Marianne bemusedly shook her head.
'You do not have to fancy, or imagine. I did ask the question,' Crysta said, pulling her eyebrows together. They'd finally got the hang of that, as well. Expressions were coming much easier to them once they discovered that it was natural for a human to move their facial muscles more than necessary as they talked. They wanted to be moved. However, they still hadn't discovered the world of gestures.
'She meant that nobody would usually ask such a simple question, and was commenting on how rare that was,' a voice said from the kitchen doorway. A disheveled Joseph had arrived, rubbing his eyes.
'Why didn't she just say so?'
'It's just a saying. It means something else, and if you were a native, or at least human, you would know what it meant,' Jason tried to explain. He sniffed the air. 'Is that toast? I think it's starting to burn.'
Marianne's eyes grew wide, and she hurried back to the toaster. Battery operated, for those who were wondering how it worked this far up the mountains. It had become stuck again. 'No! You stupid thing,' she cried, banging forcefully on the tin casing. The blackened pieces of bread popped up with a friendly "ding".
'How--' started Crysta.
'Mom's just cursing the toaster,' Joseph said tiredly. He was getting used to the questions Crysta asked, especially about English idioms. Pullus seemed the quieter and less curious of the pair. Which reminded him... 'So, how come you two are always together?' He asked, looking at the Pokemon in an eight-year-old, female human body and nodding to the ten-year-old-looking boy. 'And how old are you, exactly?'
'Crysta is of the same birth-parents as I am,' Pullus replied as Crysta stared at the fork. She'd managed to get a normal grip on it, bewildered by the mere idea that fingers could move in different ways at the same time. 'She is six winters old and I am nine winters.' Joseph tried to translate that in his head.
'So... she's your sister?' He clarified.
'We are of the same batch, yes.'
'Batch?' Joseph pictured a batch of bread, straight out from the oven. And not burnt like the piece of toast Marianne was placing in front of him as she positioned a Blukberry jam jar in the middle of the table.
'Eat up,' she cooed in a motherly voice. Joseph's breakfast was so charred, it looked as if it was naturally black instead of brown and white. The stench of it was overpowering. With a nagging suspicion, he looked over at the others' slices and was proved right. They were all less charred, although the Ledian, at least, was eating Pokechow. He sighed, reaching out to smear a very thick layer of jam to try and drown the taste. It didn't work.
'May I have some Pokechow instead?' Asked Crysta, eyeing Cal's bowl. Marianne shook her head.
'We don't know if your body can handle it or not. We all know that while humans shouldn't eat Pokechow in case we get sick, Pokemon can basically eat the same thing people can without fear,' she told the girl. 'Oh, and I have a plan,' Marianne told her son.
'Great, that's exactly what we need. A plan.' Joseph wasn't sure if that statement was meant to be ironic or not. She ignored him.
'Now, we can either find out what happened to make you guys turn into Pokemon before finding a way to turn you back, or turn you back and then find out what happened.' This was said in an annoyingly cheerful way. If asked, nobody could say what it was about the voice that grated on their nerves or when it starts to happen. It was like the background buzzing of a fly that slowly entered your consciousness and then ate away at your mind. Perhaps it was the unrealistic quality to it that suggested it was from a land of flowers and rainbows and pink, fluffy things that combined to make the eyes water and the blood rush up to the head.
'Guys? I am a female, whatever species--'
'Whichever way we're going to do it, I know the perfect person to go to,' Marianne smiled, clapping her hands and ignoring Crysta.
'The suspense is killing me,' Joseph said, bored. 'The wording means that it is unbearable, but the tone of voice I used means that I meant the opposite,' he continued before Crysta could open her mouth.
'Of course, she's not on the mountain, just at the base. Yes, she's perfect! I can't believe I didn't think of this yesterday--' Marianne's eyes gleamed.
'You weren't thinking of anything, yesterday,' Joseph muttered. She glared at him before her eyes went back to twinkling peacefully.
'She's an old friend of mine--'
'You have friends?'
'Joseph! Shut up and listen!' Snapped the woman. He did so, sullenly. 'She lives at the base of the mountain. I know, it's a long way to go, and rather dangerous, but it'll be worth it,' Marianne looked at the Pokesapiens. Crysta, having mastered the fork, was feeling the ears on the side of her face with a puzzled look and Pullus was looking at his wriggling toes. She refused to be put off. 'Joseph, pack your bags. Don't worry,' she said, for once interpreting the look on his face the right way, 'you won't be going at it by yourself. I'm enlisting some help.'
'From who?' He asked skeptically. He doubted that Cal would be much help.
'You'll see when you get your things ready. You're leaving after breakfast.'
'Wait, what?' He said. That was way too fast. 'Why do I have to go anyway?!' He protested angrily. 'Why don't you go?!'
'Well, if you can pay the taxes, feed yourself, gather all the wood, look after the house, wash the sheets and, most importantly, your own damn underwear, then yes, you can stay,' Marianne flashed. At the mention of his underwear, Joseph turned red, both out of anger and embarrassment.
'It's a recipe for disaster!' He yelled.
'How can--' Crysta had obviously not learnt that there was a time and place for questions.
'You're going to go,' she said dangerously. Joseph bit back his next words and tried to lower his temper. Maybe then...
'Fine,' he sulked. 'I'm gonna go pack,' he stood up suddenly and made his way angrily to his room for the third time in just as many days.
'Pack some things for the Pokesapiens, okay?' Marianne called up the stairs.
'The what?'
'I mean, Crysta and Pullus,' she corrected herself. He reluctantly called out a muffled affirmative. She smiled slightly and beckoned the two to follow her. They did, slowly as they tried to walk on two legs. She waited patiently at the front door and watched as they first stamped their feet and thought hard about each step as they took them. Their first steps were very shaky, but soon they could move without wobbling too badly. Now, they just had to get the upper body movements to match. Marianne demonstrated several proper steps. They copied her to the best of their ability, although by the end of their crash course on walking, they still had a strangely feral element to their movements.
The trio, followed by an excited Cal, went outside. Marianne breathed in deeply. It had been so long since she had last called for her. Years, actually. Cal hadn't seen their friend for a long time, either. She stuck two fingers in her mouth and gave an ear-splitting whistle that echoed off the mountainside. She paused, gave another two short blasts, and gave a long, final whistle. Then she waited, arms crossed and a slightly worried expression on her face. It had been a long time. What if she had forgotten of their promise? Or if she was out of range? Or worse... if she had died and Marianne was still unaware?
A single bark echoed back, proving her fears foundless. She beamed, hugging Cal and doing a little happy dance. After several minutes of waiting, she heard the sound of the approaching Pokemon before she landed gracefully in front of her, barking crazily and giving Marianne a big lick. She was an Arcanine; and not just any Arcanine, but one with a lovely yellow coat instead of an orange-red one. A shiny Arcanine. She was taller than the woman that commanded her, and dwarfed the children-sized Pokemon with her. She gave them a sniff, whining as she felt something wrong.
<Why do you look like that?> She asked, cocking her head.
'We do not know, although your human master,' Crysta spat the last words, 'is sending us to find out and return to our true forms.' Both the other Pokemon and her trainer became indignant at the tone.
<Marianne is not a master, she is my dearest friend,> the Arcanine replied stiffly.
'What do you mean "human master"? Niffy knows that I've never considered myself like that!' Crysta stared at her, having forgotten that she was speaking in English.
'We are sorry,' Pullus apologized quickly.
'Why should we be?'
'We seem to have insulted them both, Crysta.'
'So?' She didn't see any problem with what she said. It was what she thought. No matter if she said it aloud or not, that doesn't change the fact that she's thinking it.
'They are being cordial towards us, so we should pay them the same respect.'
'Why?'
'So they will continue to be cordial with us,' Pullus said with an amazingly acute grasp of morals and politics coming from the mouth of a young boy. He sat down and tried to scratch at an itch with his right foot. Marianne stopped him, informing him that he could use his hands to scratch. He looked impressed.
The girl sighed unwillingly. Her brother was right. he was always right about these things. 'I apologize, Pullus is correct. We have insulted you. Forgive us.'
<No problem,> Niffy said, grinning wolfishly. She wondered why they spoke so formally for a moment, but realized that the two must've been one of the wild Pokemon. They were brought up strangely.
'Oh, um... It's nothing, I guess,' Marianne said, less willing to completely let it go. Niffy nudged her shoulder with her nose, causing her to laugh. 'Yes, yes, it's fine.'
'Thank you,' said Pullus, dipping his head in appreciation. She smiled down at him fondly when her expression turned to annoyance and she called up to her son.
'Joseph! Are you ready yet? What are you bringing? A wardrobe?'
Ah, he doesn't know about Niffy, does he...?
*
She peered from behind the curtains, squinting as the harsh sunlight blinded her for several moments. Outside the second-story window, she could see the people below, walking like little ants, always rushing and hurrying. There was always some appointment to keep, something important that had come up just as they sat back and put their feet on the table. Litter was visible everywhere on the streets, the majority of them being cigarette butts. Just visible over the houses on the opposite side of the road, was the peak of a mountain. She sniffed disapprovingly at the world, before she reached up with a gnarled hand and tugged the heavy maroon curtains back in place, sealing herself once more in darkness.
She let her eyes adjust once more to the darkness as she slowly rocked in her chair. Although its occupant was unaware of it, the room had a distinct odour of old people - one which suggested cobwebs and mould. She puckered her lips and looked down at her knitting, adjusting the glasses she wore. For a moment, there was no sound except that of the clock ticking before she filled the room with clacks as she started knitting again. She was eighty-seven. She could barely remember what she had done half an hour ago, and she knew that she would die soon, alone, wrapped in a shawl in this rocking chair, staring outside the window like a hawk. She regretted so many things, and since she had no future, she looked into the past.
In the past, she had lived and loved, laughed and lamented. In the past, Old Crackpot Beccy had been Rebecca Jacob; passionate, sweet and loved by one and all.
Now all I have is a maid...
*
Jacob checked that he had everything he thought they would need. Several changes of clothes, check; long-lasting canned foods, check; sleeping bag and tent, check. He'd wondered why his mother even had a sleeping bag or tent. It wasn't like they had to go camping - they practically lived their lives camping. His bag itself was a faded, dusty sort of brown-black. As were his thick jacket and pants. His shirt was more grey than any other colour, and his thick-soled boots were a dull brown. In the mountains, people very rarely dyed their clothes to look attractive. Especially since those would mainly make you look attractive to large, feral Pokemon.
He thought for a moment. Ropes, check; flint and knife, check; some useful medicinal herbs, check; a log book in case the... What did his mother just call them? Pokesapiens? In case they got sick and died, so he could record why...
In another life, Joseph might have been a renowned scientist. If only he had been brought up down in the plains by richer people with fancy schools nearby. Up in Galfiss, there were no schools. Everybody had happily traded Education (knowing how to get the circumference of a circle) for the other stuff (what plants were edible, and which ones were poisonous).
His mother shouted at him from outside the house to hurry. He rolled his eyes. Yeah, she wasn't the one going down with two Pokemon/human things which didn't even know how to eat. He hoisted the supplies onto a shoulder and walked slowly down the steps. For some reason, he would've thought there would be some more ceremony involved with going on an adventure, even if it was against his will. You're going on an adventure, pack your bag, goodbye, slam the door shut. Was this how everybody was treated when they moved out of the house?
He reached the front door, looked up and almost ran back into the house. It was massive. And it had big teeth, he noted. On a very strong-looking jaw, with big, fierce eyes. He knew it was an Arcanine - his nearest neighbor downhill had showed him a picture once. But in the picture, it would have been red. Not yellow. Why was it yellow?
His mother waved cheerfully, patting the beast on the head like a lovable stuffed toy. 'This is Niffy, Joseph. She's going to help you down the mountain,' said Marianne, giving her a quick hug around the collar. Joseph let out a strangled whimper.
'There is no way I'm riding that thing,' he claimed, shaking his head. Marianne sent him an annoyed look.
'Of course not. You'd probably kick her or pull her mane out if you did. No, she's going to carry Pullus and Crysta, because they still haven't gotten used to their new bodies yet,' Marianne said matter-of-factly. She helped Crysta onto the Arcanine. 'And they're smaller.'
Joseph said nothing. Sure, he was glad he wouldn't have to ride it, but the fact that his mother thought... the way she did about everything, hurt him. Not that he would ever mention that to anybody in any world at any time in any place or form. He was reluctant to go near the thing. His mother was still talking.
'Okay, because she's a Fire type,' she said, giving Joseph a feeling of apprehension, 'you can't let her go into lakes or anything, and keep out of the rain. When she overheats, she has to let out bursts of fire, so make sure she's not facing bush or trees. And keep out of her way.'
Joseph whimpered again. So not only was the canine able to crush his head in one bite, it was able to completely fry him on command. He'd better not make it angry.
'Alright, off you go. You should make it there in two or three days; more if it rains,' said his mother, seemingly oblivious to his fear.
'Make it where?' He managed, staring at the yellowing, aha, canines of the Pokemon.
'To my old friend's house. Niffy'll know the way,' said Marianne, trying to be mysterious on purpose.
'Wait, how did you get... that... to "help" us?'
'She's an old friend as well.'
Joseph stared at her. 'Your other "old friend",' he made quotation marks with his fingers, 'isn't a Pokemon, by any chance?'
'What? No! She's completely human. Or she was when I last saw her,' Marianne laughed a little. 'Off you go, the sooner you leave, the sooner you'll come back home.'
'Yeah, like that's much of a good thing,' he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
'Joseph!' If looks could kill, Joseph thought, I would've been rotting in the burial ground ten years ago.
Pullus was experimenting in trying to get onto the other Pokemon. He'd managed three close tries and countless failures before asking for help. Marianne gladly obeyed, chatting happily again all-the-while.
'Now, Joseph, remember to change your underwear every day. I've packed your toothbrush and paste, and you have several towels. Dry them properly or they'll get mouldy. Come to think of it, you need to dry yourself immediately after a dip, otherwise you'll catch pneumonia. Don't eat berries just because they look good - they may be poisonous. If you're unsure about any, hold it up to Niffy's nose and she'll tell you whether you can eat it or not. Don't forget that the others have to eat, too. Remember to wash behind the ears, and find caves to sleep in, because you could die of exposure from sleeping outside too much. Drink plenty of water and get to bed at... Are you rolling your eyes at me, young man?' She asked, her back turned to him.
'No, mum,' he replied sullenly. He didn't want to go on an adventure. Not like this, anyhow. To some weird, stupid person who had stupidly managed to become friends with his stupid mother so that he could find why two stupid Pokemon turned into two stupid humans. The whole situation was stupid.
You're being stubborn, you difficult, spoilt child, a part of his brain reminded him. Oh, shut up, he snapped back. Yes, he had wanted to get out of the house for a prolonged period of time, and he'd been fantasizing about going on some adventure for a while, but that was different. He hadn't expected to actually have to go away.
'I would certainly hope so,' Marianne said in her best 'firm parent' voice, as she secretly called it. Her little boy was growing up. The fact that he had grown up to be a monster towards Pokemon still nagged at her, but a mother would always feel an illogical and undeserving pride as their child left the nest. Not that she was going to show Joseph how much she cared. He was immoral.
'Marianne,' Crysta said in a conversational tone, 'What is a toothbrush?'
They stared at her. 'Nothing you really need to know about for now, dear,' the grown woman said uncertainly. Should she teach them, or should she let them be? She would let Joseph decide.
'Why not?' The lavender-haired, eight-year-old asked petulantly.
'Because it doesn't concern you.'
'Why not?'
'Because you're not a human.'
'I have a human form. Does that not make me human to other humans?' She stared back at their puzzled faces as they tried to work that one out.
'Um... until they find out?' Joseph hazarded a guess as to the answer to the question.
'Then there is no difference,' she said. 'Therefore, why does this "toothbrush" not concern me?'
Neither Joseph nor his mother answered Crysta, both giving up on her. Marianne turned to him. 'Sling the bag around Niffy's neck; she'll help you carry it down,' she ordered rather imperiously. He looked at her, horrified.
'Huh? You're asking me to go near that thing's mouth? Are you crazy?!' He shook his head at her, backing away. She sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes and flapping her hands uselessly by her sides.
'You've got to get to trust your companions, Joseph! Trust is everything on the road,' she clenched her jaw.
'Like you'd know,' he muttered bitterly. 'Besides, it's not as if you'd trust me with anything.'
'How can you - you know what? Never mind,' she said angrily, wiping her palms on the shapeless gray dress she was still wearing. 'Go and get yourself killed or something. I don't care!' She turned and fled back inside the house, slamming the door shut.
Those words probably cut Joseph deeper than almost anything else she could have said. His own mother wouldn't care if he died. How was that for affecting his psychological being?
'Yeah, well, whatever,' he said lamely. He was definitely not going to go back into that house. At least, not now. Hoisting the bag more securely onto his shoulders, he set off down a rocky path towards the center of the village where, Joseph knew, there was a small clearing which they called a square, and several homes and shops to trade supplies. Looking uncertainly behind at the lone house, Niffy followed him, the two passengers on her back getting themselves comfortable.
Next stop, Marianne's "old friend"...
Chapter 3
It was a beautiful morning. The sun was hidden behind the mountain, the sky was a wide, never ending blue with little puffs of cloud that looked as though they came from a cartoon, the chilly mountain air burned its ways into their lungs and, somewhere, a Murkrow was luring an irate man deeper into the mountains where he would lose himself for several weeks, living on leaves and berries.
Marianne had slept fitfully the night before, too busy worrying about the upheaval of her world. But she had come to a decision, and was her usual definite self in the morning, making breakfast for them all and most especially herself. She had forgotten about supper the night before, and her rumbling stomach could be heard throughout the kitchen. Joseph still hadn't come down from his room, but she had gathered the two calm... Pokesapiens, she decided to call them. She always knew Pokemon were fellow sapient creatures at any rate, so it was really just a new humanoid species. Yeah. Right.
'Alright, we're having toast and Blukberry jam today,' said Marianne cheerfully. 'And if my son ever decided to show up, I'll tell you all what I suggest you do.'
'Do about what?' Asked Crysta. She was learning how to hold a fork, although to what end, she could not fathom. Even humans didn't use forks to eat toast. Marianne had told her that it would probably help her get the hang of using fingers more. When she'd asked what hanging had anything to do with it, Marianne had just looked at her strangely.
'About... this,' the woman answered, unknowingly echoing her son last night.
'The problem,' Pullus filled in, muttering in his usual quiet voice. He looked very silly, twisting his arms every possible way in wonderment. They were certainly more dexterous than when he was an Umbreon. He just had to learn to control them.
'That's right. Fancy you asking such a strange question, dear,' Marianne bemusedly shook her head.
'You do not have to fancy, or imagine. I did ask the question,' Crysta said, pulling her eyebrows together. They'd finally got the hang of that, as well. Expressions were coming much easier to them once they discovered that it was natural for a human to move their facial muscles more than necessary as they talked. They wanted to be moved. However, they still hadn't discovered the world of gestures.
'She meant that nobody would usually ask such a simple question, and was commenting on how rare that was,' a voice said from the kitchen doorway. A disheveled Joseph had arrived, rubbing his eyes.
'Why didn't she just say so?'
'It's just a saying. It means something else, and if you were a native, or at least human, you would know what it meant,' Jason tried to explain. He sniffed the air. 'Is that toast? I think it's starting to burn.'
Marianne's eyes grew wide, and she hurried back to the toaster. Battery operated, for those who were wondering how it worked this far up the mountains. It had become stuck again. 'No! You stupid thing,' she cried, banging forcefully on the tin casing. The blackened pieces of bread popped up with a friendly "ding".
'How--' started Crysta.
'Mom's just cursing the toaster,' Joseph said tiredly. He was getting used to the questions Crysta asked, especially about English idioms. Pullus seemed the quieter and less curious of the pair. Which reminded him... 'So, how come you two are always together?' He asked, looking at the Pokemon in an eight-year-old, female human body and nodding to the ten-year-old-looking boy. 'And how old are you, exactly?'
'Crysta is of the same birth-parents as I am,' Pullus replied as Crysta stared at the fork. She'd managed to get a normal grip on it, bewildered by the mere idea that fingers could move in different ways at the same time. 'She is six winters old and I am nine winters.' Joseph tried to translate that in his head.
'So... she's your sister?' He clarified.
'We are of the same batch, yes.'
'Batch?' Joseph pictured a batch of bread, straight out from the oven. And not burnt like the piece of toast Marianne was placing in front of him as she positioned a Blukberry jam jar in the middle of the table.
'Eat up,' she cooed in a motherly voice. Joseph's breakfast was so charred, it looked as if it was naturally black instead of brown and white. The stench of it was overpowering. With a nagging suspicion, he looked over at the others' slices and was proved right. They were all less charred, although the Ledian, at least, was eating Pokechow. He sighed, reaching out to smear a very thick layer of jam to try and drown the taste. It didn't work.
'May I have some Pokechow instead?' Asked Crysta, eyeing Cal's bowl. Marianne shook her head.
'We don't know if your body can handle it or not. We all know that while humans shouldn't eat Pokechow in case we get sick, Pokemon can basically eat the same thing people can without fear,' she told the girl. 'Oh, and I have a plan,' Marianne told her son.
'Great, that's exactly what we need. A plan.' Joseph wasn't sure if that statement was meant to be ironic or not. She ignored him.
'Now, we can either find out what happened to make you guys turn into Pokemon before finding a way to turn you back, or turn you back and then find out what happened.' This was said in an annoyingly cheerful way. If asked, nobody could say what it was about the voice that grated on their nerves or when it starts to happen. It was like the background buzzing of a fly that slowly entered your consciousness and then ate away at your mind. Perhaps it was the unrealistic quality to it that suggested it was from a land of flowers and rainbows and pink, fluffy things that combined to make the eyes water and the blood rush up to the head.
'Guys? I am a female, whatever species--'
'Whichever way we're going to do it, I know the perfect person to go to,' Marianne smiled, clapping her hands and ignoring Crysta.
'The suspense is killing me,' Joseph said, bored. 'The wording means that it is unbearable, but the tone of voice I used means that I meant the opposite,' he continued before Crysta could open her mouth.
'Of course, she's not on the mountain, just at the base. Yes, she's perfect! I can't believe I didn't think of this yesterday--' Marianne's eyes gleamed.
'You weren't thinking of anything, yesterday,' Joseph muttered. She glared at him before her eyes went back to twinkling peacefully.
'She's an old friend of mine--'
'You have friends?'
'Joseph! Shut up and listen!' Snapped the woman. He did so, sullenly. 'She lives at the base of the mountain. I know, it's a long way to go, and rather dangerous, but it'll be worth it,' Marianne looked at the Pokesapiens. Crysta, having mastered the fork, was feeling the ears on the side of her face with a puzzled look and Pullus was looking at his wriggling toes. She refused to be put off. 'Joseph, pack your bags. Don't worry,' she said, for once interpreting the look on his face the right way, 'you won't be going at it by yourself. I'm enlisting some help.'
'From who?' He asked skeptically. He doubted that Cal would be much help.
'You'll see when you get your things ready. You're leaving after breakfast.'
'Wait, what?' He said. That was way too fast. 'Why do I have to go anyway?!' He protested angrily. 'Why don't you go?!'
'Well, if you can pay the taxes, feed yourself, gather all the wood, look after the house, wash the sheets and, most importantly, your own damn underwear, then yes, you can stay,' Marianne flashed. At the mention of his underwear, Joseph turned red, both out of anger and embarrassment.
'It's a recipe for disaster!' He yelled.
'How can--' Crysta had obviously not learnt that there was a time and place for questions.
'You're going to go,' she said dangerously. Joseph bit back his next words and tried to lower his temper. Maybe then...
'Fine,' he sulked. 'I'm gonna go pack,' he stood up suddenly and made his way angrily to his room for the third time in just as many days.
'Pack some things for the Pokesapiens, okay?' Marianne called up the stairs.
'The what?'
'I mean, Crysta and Pullus,' she corrected herself. He reluctantly called out a muffled affirmative. She smiled slightly and beckoned the two to follow her. They did, slowly as they tried to walk on two legs. She waited patiently at the front door and watched as they first stamped their feet and thought hard about each step as they took them. Their first steps were very shaky, but soon they could move without wobbling too badly. Now, they just had to get the upper body movements to match. Marianne demonstrated several proper steps. They copied her to the best of their ability, although by the end of their crash course on walking, they still had a strangely feral element to their movements.
The trio, followed by an excited Cal, went outside. Marianne breathed in deeply. It had been so long since she had last called for her. Years, actually. Cal hadn't seen their friend for a long time, either. She stuck two fingers in her mouth and gave an ear-splitting whistle that echoed off the mountainside. She paused, gave another two short blasts, and gave a long, final whistle. Then she waited, arms crossed and a slightly worried expression on her face. It had been a long time. What if she had forgotten of their promise? Or if she was out of range? Or worse... if she had died and Marianne was still unaware?
A single bark echoed back, proving her fears foundless. She beamed, hugging Cal and doing a little happy dance. After several minutes of waiting, she heard the sound of the approaching Pokemon before she landed gracefully in front of her, barking crazily and giving Marianne a big lick. She was an Arcanine; and not just any Arcanine, but one with a lovely yellow coat instead of an orange-red one. A shiny Arcanine. She was taller than the woman that commanded her, and dwarfed the children-sized Pokemon with her. She gave them a sniff, whining as she felt something wrong.
<Why do you look like that?> She asked, cocking her head.
'We do not know, although your human master,' Crysta spat the last words, 'is sending us to find out and return to our true forms.' Both the other Pokemon and her trainer became indignant at the tone.
<Marianne is not a master, she is my dearest friend,> the Arcanine replied stiffly.
'What do you mean "human master"? Niffy knows that I've never considered myself like that!' Crysta stared at her, having forgotten that she was speaking in English.
'We are sorry,' Pullus apologized quickly.
'Why should we be?'
'We seem to have insulted them both, Crysta.'
'So?' She didn't see any problem with what she said. It was what she thought. No matter if she said it aloud or not, that doesn't change the fact that she's thinking it.
'They are being cordial towards us, so we should pay them the same respect.'
'Why?'
'So they will continue to be cordial with us,' Pullus said with an amazingly acute grasp of morals and politics coming from the mouth of a young boy. He sat down and tried to scratch at an itch with his right foot. Marianne stopped him, informing him that he could use his hands to scratch. He looked impressed.
The girl sighed unwillingly. Her brother was right. he was always right about these things. 'I apologize, Pullus is correct. We have insulted you. Forgive us.'
<No problem,> Niffy said, grinning wolfishly. She wondered why they spoke so formally for a moment, but realized that the two must've been one of the wild Pokemon. They were brought up strangely.
'Oh, um... It's nothing, I guess,' Marianne said, less willing to completely let it go. Niffy nudged her shoulder with her nose, causing her to laugh. 'Yes, yes, it's fine.'
'Thank you,' said Pullus, dipping his head in appreciation. She smiled down at him fondly when her expression turned to annoyance and she called up to her son.
'Joseph! Are you ready yet? What are you bringing? A wardrobe?'
Ah, he doesn't know about Niffy, does he...?
*
She peered from behind the curtains, squinting as the harsh sunlight blinded her for several moments. Outside the second-story window, she could see the people below, walking like little ants, always rushing and hurrying. There was always some appointment to keep, something important that had come up just as they sat back and put their feet on the table. Litter was visible everywhere on the streets, the majority of them being cigarette butts. Just visible over the houses on the opposite side of the road, was the peak of a mountain. She sniffed disapprovingly at the world, before she reached up with a gnarled hand and tugged the heavy maroon curtains back in place, sealing herself once more in darkness.
She let her eyes adjust once more to the darkness as she slowly rocked in her chair. Although its occupant was unaware of it, the room had a distinct odour of old people - one which suggested cobwebs and mould. She puckered her lips and looked down at her knitting, adjusting the glasses she wore. For a moment, there was no sound except that of the clock ticking before she filled the room with clacks as she started knitting again. She was eighty-seven. She could barely remember what she had done half an hour ago, and she knew that she would die soon, alone, wrapped in a shawl in this rocking chair, staring outside the window like a hawk. She regretted so many things, and since she had no future, she looked into the past.
In the past, she had lived and loved, laughed and lamented. In the past, Old Crackpot Beccy had been Rebecca Jacob; passionate, sweet and loved by one and all.
Now all I have is a maid...
*
Jacob checked that he had everything he thought they would need. Several changes of clothes, check; long-lasting canned foods, check; sleeping bag and tent, check. He'd wondered why his mother even had a sleeping bag or tent. It wasn't like they had to go camping - they practically lived their lives camping. His bag itself was a faded, dusty sort of brown-black. As were his thick jacket and pants. His shirt was more grey than any other colour, and his thick-soled boots were a dull brown. In the mountains, people very rarely dyed their clothes to look attractive. Especially since those would mainly make you look attractive to large, feral Pokemon.
He thought for a moment. Ropes, check; flint and knife, check; some useful medicinal herbs, check; a log book in case the... What did his mother just call them? Pokesapiens? In case they got sick and died, so he could record why...
In another life, Joseph might have been a renowned scientist. If only he had been brought up down in the plains by richer people with fancy schools nearby. Up in Galfiss, there were no schools. Everybody had happily traded Education (knowing how to get the circumference of a circle) for the other stuff (what plants were edible, and which ones were poisonous).
His mother shouted at him from outside the house to hurry. He rolled his eyes. Yeah, she wasn't the one going down with two Pokemon/human things which didn't even know how to eat. He hoisted the supplies onto a shoulder and walked slowly down the steps. For some reason, he would've thought there would be some more ceremony involved with going on an adventure, even if it was against his will. You're going on an adventure, pack your bag, goodbye, slam the door shut. Was this how everybody was treated when they moved out of the house?
He reached the front door, looked up and almost ran back into the house. It was massive. And it had big teeth, he noted. On a very strong-looking jaw, with big, fierce eyes. He knew it was an Arcanine - his nearest neighbor downhill had showed him a picture once. But in the picture, it would have been red. Not yellow. Why was it yellow?
His mother waved cheerfully, patting the beast on the head like a lovable stuffed toy. 'This is Niffy, Joseph. She's going to help you down the mountain,' said Marianne, giving her a quick hug around the collar. Joseph let out a strangled whimper.
'There is no way I'm riding that thing,' he claimed, shaking his head. Marianne sent him an annoyed look.
'Of course not. You'd probably kick her or pull her mane out if you did. No, she's going to carry Pullus and Crysta, because they still haven't gotten used to their new bodies yet,' Marianne said matter-of-factly. She helped Crysta onto the Arcanine. 'And they're smaller.'
Joseph said nothing. Sure, he was glad he wouldn't have to ride it, but the fact that his mother thought... the way she did about everything, hurt him. Not that he would ever mention that to anybody in any world at any time in any place or form. He was reluctant to go near the thing. His mother was still talking.
'Okay, because she's a Fire type,' she said, giving Joseph a feeling of apprehension, 'you can't let her go into lakes or anything, and keep out of the rain. When she overheats, she has to let out bursts of fire, so make sure she's not facing bush or trees. And keep out of her way.'
Joseph whimpered again. So not only was the canine able to crush his head in one bite, it was able to completely fry him on command. He'd better not make it angry.
'Alright, off you go. You should make it there in two or three days; more if it rains,' said his mother, seemingly oblivious to his fear.
'Make it where?' He managed, staring at the yellowing, aha, canines of the Pokemon.
'To my old friend's house. Niffy'll know the way,' said Marianne, trying to be mysterious on purpose.
'Wait, how did you get... that... to "help" us?'
'She's an old friend as well.'
Joseph stared at her. 'Your other "old friend",' he made quotation marks with his fingers, 'isn't a Pokemon, by any chance?'
'What? No! She's completely human. Or she was when I last saw her,' Marianne laughed a little. 'Off you go, the sooner you leave, the sooner you'll come back home.'
'Yeah, like that's much of a good thing,' he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
'Joseph!' If looks could kill, Joseph thought, I would've been rotting in the burial ground ten years ago.
Pullus was experimenting in trying to get onto the other Pokemon. He'd managed three close tries and countless failures before asking for help. Marianne gladly obeyed, chatting happily again all-the-while.
'Now, Joseph, remember to change your underwear every day. I've packed your toothbrush and paste, and you have several towels. Dry them properly or they'll get mouldy. Come to think of it, you need to dry yourself immediately after a dip, otherwise you'll catch pneumonia. Don't eat berries just because they look good - they may be poisonous. If you're unsure about any, hold it up to Niffy's nose and she'll tell you whether you can eat it or not. Don't forget that the others have to eat, too. Remember to wash behind the ears, and find caves to sleep in, because you could die of exposure from sleeping outside too much. Drink plenty of water and get to bed at... Are you rolling your eyes at me, young man?' She asked, her back turned to him.
'No, mum,' he replied sullenly. He didn't want to go on an adventure. Not like this, anyhow. To some weird, stupid person who had stupidly managed to become friends with his stupid mother so that he could find why two stupid Pokemon turned into two stupid humans. The whole situation was stupid.
You're being stubborn, you difficult, spoilt child, a part of his brain reminded him. Oh, shut up, he snapped back. Yes, he had wanted to get out of the house for a prolonged period of time, and he'd been fantasizing about going on some adventure for a while, but that was different. He hadn't expected to actually have to go away.
'I would certainly hope so,' Marianne said in her best 'firm parent' voice, as she secretly called it. Her little boy was growing up. The fact that he had grown up to be a monster towards Pokemon still nagged at her, but a mother would always feel an illogical and undeserving pride as their child left the nest. Not that she was going to show Joseph how much she cared. He was immoral.
'Marianne,' Crysta said in a conversational tone, 'What is a toothbrush?'
They stared at her. 'Nothing you really need to know about for now, dear,' the grown woman said uncertainly. Should she teach them, or should she let them be? She would let Joseph decide.
'Why not?' The lavender-haired, eight-year-old asked petulantly.
'Because it doesn't concern you.'
'Why not?'
'Because you're not a human.'
'I have a human form. Does that not make me human to other humans?' She stared back at their puzzled faces as they tried to work that one out.
'Um... until they find out?' Joseph hazarded a guess as to the answer to the question.
'Then there is no difference,' she said. 'Therefore, why does this "toothbrush" not concern me?'
Neither Joseph nor his mother answered Crysta, both giving up on her. Marianne turned to him. 'Sling the bag around Niffy's neck; she'll help you carry it down,' she ordered rather imperiously. He looked at her, horrified.
'Huh? You're asking me to go near that thing's mouth? Are you crazy?!' He shook his head at her, backing away. She sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes and flapping her hands uselessly by her sides.
'You've got to get to trust your companions, Joseph! Trust is everything on the road,' she clenched her jaw.
'Like you'd know,' he muttered bitterly. 'Besides, it's not as if you'd trust me with anything.'
'How can you - you know what? Never mind,' she said angrily, wiping her palms on the shapeless gray dress she was still wearing. 'Go and get yourself killed or something. I don't care!' She turned and fled back inside the house, slamming the door shut.
Those words probably cut Joseph deeper than almost anything else she could have said. His own mother wouldn't care if he died. How was that for affecting his psychological being?
'Yeah, well, whatever,' he said lamely. He was definitely not going to go back into that house. At least, not now. Hoisting the bag more securely onto his shoulders, he set off down a rocky path towards the center of the village where, Joseph knew, there was a small clearing which they called a square, and several homes and shops to trade supplies. Looking uncertainly behind at the lone house, Niffy followed him, the two passengers on her back getting themselves comfortable.
Next stop, Marianne's "old friend"...




