Chapter 1: Fragile Lives
Life has a funny way of blowing up in your face. It seems like wherever you think your life is going, it can spin out of control and leave you in a place where you have never been before. Sometimes you don't even recognize who you are anymore.
Oh, you thought I meant figuratively? Well, sure I mean… that's what most people would assume. Not me though. My story left me different in every way imaginable.
"Why does this crap always happen to me?" The young man had tired himself out from all the running he had just done. When he turned around, he saw the long winding road that had got him where he was, as well as the familiar and iconic tower in the distance. It only reminded him of the humiliation he had just faced.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! That was the best chance I ever had at getting a decent job and I blew it," he said, shaking his head and sighing. "Just like always…" He reached to the lone Pokéball on his belt and threw it up, releasing his one and only companion. A small black fox-like creature materialized in front of him.
"Master," the man heard a female voice say in his mind. "Where are we?" He looked down at the creature that he would call an Umbreon. The Umbreon wore a small grey collar with a place for a stone which was currently taken up by a moon stone that shined from the light of the evening sun. She looked concerned, her head tilted and eyes questioning.
"We're at Mt. Mortar, Eve." He knelt down and petted his friend on the head. "I managed to mess up again." Eve looked downcast by that news.
"Oh no. Did it not work out at the gym?" The human shook his head, a melancholy smile on his face.
"Are you really surprised? I've never been able to do anything right." He stood up, continuing to walk up the mountain trail. Eve watched him go, looking sad.
"William, please," Eve said as she caught up with him. "You can't always be thinking that way." He looked down at his Pokémon.
"Why should I not? At this point, I'm gonna end up living on the street if I can't hold down a job." As they kept walking, they came upon a river up top of the small mountain that flowed into the interior below. "Ah, here we are." He sat down at the edge of the river and stared into the distance. Eve was very sad to see her trainer so distraught, so she came over and sat next to him on the river bank. They sat in silence for a few moments, before William turned to her with a frown on his face.
"You know something, Eve? I'm starting to think that maybe I should just give up. This is the third job attempt in the last month that hasn't worked out," William said with a defeated sigh. It was true. Ever since his failure at the Indigo League all those years ago, he had been in a rut that he couldn't get out of. Eve knew her master's pain. She had been with him since they were very young.
"But, Master," Eve replied. "You mustn't give up on life, because it is far too precious a gift to waste. Be more positive and positive things will come your way. Please… don't be so hard on yourself, Master."
"I appreciate your words, Eve. You and Mom have given me so much support, but I haven't shown anything for it." Eve looked upset that her trainer was still beating himself up, but William didn't notice her disappointment. He held his head in his hands and looked sadly at the river, getting lost in the ambient sound of flowing water. Suddenly, something caught his eye.
A glint of light shot into his face straight from the river. He followed it as it flowed down the river. He launched out his arm and caught it before it went any further. When he pulled it out of the water, he tilted his head. It was a small stone, but it wasn't like any stone he had ever seen. It was rainbow-colored,round, and completely smooth. It had some sort of strange double helix symbol on the inside of it.
"Wh-What is this? It looks like one of those Mega Stones that some people have," William said, looking over the stone with intrigue.
"I don't know, Master. I've never seen any sort of stone like that in my life. I doubt Mother knows, may Arceus rest her soul," Eve said solemnly. William stashed it into his vest pocket.
"I can probably find something to do with this. Maybe Elm would want to see it."
"Or you could keep it as a momento." Eve smiled up at her master and nuzzled him affectionately. William allowed a legitimate smile as he returned the affection in the form of a hug.
"Thanks, Eve. I honestly feel a little bit better. What did I do to deserve a friend like you?"
"William, we've been together for as long as I can remember. I'm never going to give up on you."
Eve and William spent nearly thirty minutes on top of Mt. Mortar just sitting by the river and enjoying each other's company. They looked out over the nearby cliff, seeing the sprawling forest and the Sprout Tower all the way in Violet City. A happy memory about Pokémon training actually came to the surface of his mind, beating the Violet City gym when Eve was still just an Eevee. Things were different back then, that was for sure. But, even in this moment after William felt content.
When the sound of the Kricketot came rolling in, it became apparent that night was soon going to fall. "Well, we should probably head home, Eve." He gulped. "This is gonna be really hard to explain to mom…"
"She won't be angry and you know it," Eve said. "What is gonna be hard is having to listen to my sisters and their gossip."
"What, about how much of a loser your trainer is?" he guessed with a cheeky grin that clued Eve in about his lighter mood.
Eve giggled. "If they rip on you, they can go suck a Solrock." The two both laughed heartily before walking away from the river and down the cliffside trail.
"Look, we just want to know how you got here. It's not every day someone like you shows up in our caves," the tall and round rock Pokémon said, looking down at the small creature. The creature looked desperate, tears in its eyes.
"Right now… I need help… they're gonna capture me. They already know I'm here. Please, just… help me."
Footsteps were echoing through the cave system ahead. They were going arrive any second now. The gathered group of Geodudes and the Golem surrounding the small creature had made their decision. In order to save her they had to do something drastic. They formed a line in front of her, standing protectively while they prepared to use their move.
"Thank you… I just hope no one gets hurt…"
"Hm?" Eve stopped in her tracks only a little bit down the trail, looking down to her feet.
"Eve? What's up?" William asked, stopping when he noticed that she wasn't by his side.
She looked very concerned. "Something's happening… I feel like I felt something coming from the caves."
The ground underneath the both of them started to shake, the low rumble causing Pidgey and Spearow in the woods to take off into the sky in a panic. Eve and William both looked at each other with growing fear evident in their eyes. Just a few moments later, it was becoming hard to stand up straight from the shaking they both felt.
"Dear Arceus… it's an earthquake!" William shouted, turning around and sprinting back up the mountain trail. "Come on Eve, we need to get away from here!"
Eve quickly followed, catching up to her trainer and keeping pace with him. The flat top of the mountain was in sight. They had nearly made it.
Crrk!
"Gah!" William lost his balance as a part of the cliff fell away where he stood, throwing him over the edge. "Eve!"
Eve nearly froze up, the shock of seeing her trainer falling making her limbs lock up. "No!" She threw out her Psychic grasp, encasing the human in her power. She tried to focus, tried to pull him back up to safety.
Crrrrrk!
Eve suddenly felt gravity push down on her hard, her Psychic power breaking as the entire mountain trail broke off from Mt. Mortar's side. Time seemed to slow down as Eve and William caught a glimpse of each other. Eve couldn't even think of anything to say over their telepathic link.
The earthquake and the subsequent landslide buried the land underneath, walling off several cave entrances and crushing everything in it's path. The loud crashes and the aftershocks could be heard and felt across Johto, the entire ordeal lasting a full two minutes. What nobody anywhere could hear was the faint sound of pained cries and cracking bones muffled by the rumbles.
The Geodudes and the Golem had done it. There was now a huge wall of rock in front of them because they had collapsed the cave inward in a very skilled way. The Golem looked at the small creature. "It is done," he simply said. "With minimal damage to the mountain too. Great work, G-Dudes." The Geodudes flashed a thumbs up.
The small creature had huddled up against the wall, still looking just as pained as before. She could hear the sound of light weeping through the new cracks in the walls. "I'm grateful that you were able to preserve the mountain… but it seems like not everything came out unscathed." She reached out with her extrasensory vision and gasped. "No way…"
William barely held onto consciousness, blood seeping from a blunt wound on his head. "Eve…" he muttered. He crawled on his hands and knees, every movement shooting new pain through his body. He was pretty sure one of his legs was broken... but he had to hold on.
The fallen rocks had caved him in, the light of the setting sun barely shining through the cracks. He knew the rocks were unstable… If he couldn't escape from under this he was as good as dead.
He noticed a light yellow glow coming from around a corner, one that was a different color than the orange sunset. "Eve!" he said, adrenaline kicking in. He crawled faster, going around a bend. His heart sank when he saw his beloved friend. "No, no, no, no, NO!"
Eve's body was mangled, blood seeping from her many laceration wounds and front her lower half which was completely buried under the rocks. The collar had been undone, the moon stone shattered in front of her in the dirt. She had her eyes barely open, trying to hold on just as much as William was. "Will…"
"Eve, no…" William said through clenched teeth, sliding himself over to her. "I… we…"
"No, Will… this is it," Eve said through her link, William noticing that she sounded physically distant, almost as if she was standing at the other end of a long hall. "There's no way… I'm gonna survive."
"But you can't leave me! You're the only friend I have left!" William wept loudly, leaning right down next to her. "You're the only thing in my life that I haven't ruined... I don't want to live in a world without you…"
Eve shook her head, coughing up blood before looking him in the eye. "No… you have to. You've shown... that you are far more than your failures. Tonight, when I saw you happy…" She gave him a melancholy smile similar to the one he had given her just a little earlier that evening. "That… meant the world to me. All I've ever wanted… is for you to be happy." Her eyes were starting to get heavy, her body's glow fading out like a dimming light. "Live your life… to the fullest… Goodbye William…"
William could only stare in utter shock as he watched Eve give her last breath. The injured human collapsed next to her without another world, putting his hands on the still warm body. He cradled her body as close to him as possible, his own pain finally catching up to him. With the last bit of strength he had, he picked up Eve's collar and reached into his vest pocket to retrieve the Mega Stone. The small stone fit perfectly into the spot…
And then something amazing happened.
William recoiled from the bright light that suddenly washed over him. He seemed to be lifted into the air, the collar floating as well. He was too out of it to understand what was happening, but he stared in awe as the collar floated to him and fastened itself around his neck.
In an instant William felt a warm energy flow through his body, one that was comforting and a little familiar. "It feels like Eve…" he thought. The pain he felt melted away, as did the sadness addling his mind. Amidst the calm feeling, William couldn't feel his body changing.
Black fur quickly spread across his body, covering him head to toe. His face elongated slightly, becoming a very short muzzle while his ears became larger. His entire body slimmed down, becoming daintier and sleeker in some places but wider and thicker in others. The bone structure changed in his feet, giving them a very animal-like look. His spine extended out, quickly covering in fur as well to become a tail. Two mounds of flesh ballooned out on his chest, quickly gaining a lot of mass until they easily D-sized. Finally, his former sex disappeared inside of him, leaving something else in its wake as his internal organs readjusted to serve a new purpose.
William was lowered to the ground, the state of near euphoria he just experienced wearing off when his new feet met dirt. He opened his eyes, noticing a warm yellow glow against the rocks surrounding him. "What... is that?"
William blinked when he realized how weird his voice sounded. It was light, feminine and… almost kinda cute. He gulped, slamming his eyes shut for a moment before looking down at himself. The fur, the glowing rings on his thighs, the slim torso. The breasts. The lack of feeling between his legs.
"William…?"
"Gah!" he yelped, not expecting another voice. "Wait a minute… that was in my head." He glanced down to the limp Umbreon body, making the connection. "Wait, Eve!?"
"I… what… happened?"
William tried to formulate words to answer this question. He wasn't even sure if the voice was real or if his body was real. For all he knew, he had died and was having some bizarre dream. When he heard the sound of rocks crumbling, he knew for sure that he didn't want to take any chances.
"I don't know… but I do know that we have to get out of here." He moved quickly, grabbing a rock and tossing it aside with surprising strength. That one move made just enough space for him to slip through a crack and run away from the giant pile of rocks. With one final crash, the entire thing came crashing down as the transformed William ran off into the nearby forest.
"What did you do?" the Golem asked, carrying the small creature away to safety. "Back there at the crack I mean."
"I had to do something to help two friends escape from a terrible fate… and I was able to manage it albeit in an unorthodox way…"
"You're too kind, mistress," the Golem chuckled.
The small creature sighed, but she looked up at the Golem holding her and gave a weary smile. "Maybe. But I feel like I won't regret what I've done here tonight."
