PokeHybrid: Soulmate
Book One
Written by:
M&M's
Prologue:
Flee for Your Life!
Raksha
Four days ago…
"C'mon! Hurry up, Raksha!" I felt Shakeran telepathically push me. My bare feet pounded the ground hitting every rock, my arms getting sliced by sharp sticks and thorns. I didn't matter to me, I healed fast anyway. Anything to get away from the Syndicate's lab. I was running for my life.
Who are the Syndicate, you ask? They are the ones who turned me and my friends, Cherish and Shakeran, aka Shak, into PokeHybrids, half-Pokemon, half human creatures. And now, we had escaped, Shakeran had blasted a hole right in the side of the building, grabbed us, and ran like hell.
My ears picked up barking and snuffing noises in the distance. Oh, no, I thought. They just released Shadow Growlithe, who could probably smell us out from a mile away. Great. No way I could outrun those Pokemon unless-then I saw it. A light up ahead. A clearing? I'm home free! I forced myself to run faster, bursting out of the forest and seeing…Oh, god, no.
I was standing over a ravine, at least a hundred foot drop. At the same moment a Shadow Growlithe and a Syndicate member burst from the trees. I was cornered. I turned and ran for the cliff, plunging into darkness. I heard shouts of surprise and anger as I called the wind around me. I flew upwards, in the direction of the setting sun. Not today, you bastards, I thought I'm not gonna die today.
Chapter 1
Failed Experiments
Nine years ago…
"Let me the hell out of here, you bastards!" a seven-year old Shakeran yelled punching the steel walls of his prison as hard as he could. He was only seven years old and he can cuss like that? Raksha thought. She watched the other PokeHybrid with interest, and enjoyed it when he snapped at the scientists who where trying to calm him down…and failing miserably.
Shakeran was so pale-skinned that his skin almost had a grayish hue, with wild black-and-purple hair, black marks like crescent moons on his face, was already developing fangs and claws, and had burning red eyes, which where currently narrowed dangerously at the people facing him. He launched himself at one of the scientists-a male three times his own size-and sucker punched him in the stomach hard enough to make the man's breath leave him with a whoosh. Raksha smiled. She'd been watching this fight for a little more then an hour. The scientists were trying to take him away because they believed Shakeran was a failed experiment, due to his wild, Mightyena attitude.
The scientists had succeeded in surrounding Shakeran, who just seemed to sit there his eyes radiating with hatred and fury and-
That's when it happened a wave of pure, dark energy slammed into the scientists, swatting them down like flies and pressing down on their bodies. The Superior's voice sounded from an intercom above them, "Stop! We'll let this one live, for now."
Little did he know that that would be his biggest mistake.
Chapter 2
Blue Fox Eyes
Two years later…
"I wonder if Subject 005 will ever awaken. She's been in cryogenic homeostasis for nearly two years now." One of the whitecoats said, walking up to a tall tube full of a weird-smelling, green-colored liquid. The little girl inside was curled in a little ball. Her long blue hair floated around her, framing her angelic face. She looked almost normal, unless you counted the finlike ears, the frill around her neck, the fins on her elbows, the blue ridges along her spine, and oh yeah, the mermaid-like tail.
"Experiment 001 and 002 woke up within the first few months of homeostasis. Why is it taking so long for this one?" Shakeran tuned them both out, Experiment 001, that's me, he thought unhappily. His stomach growled and he frowned; all he'd had to eat today were two small cups of water.
Footsteps sounding from the hall alerted him, and he turned to see an old whitecoat female carrying a tray of food. She handed Raksha a cookie, then faced to see the nine-year old Shakeran glaring up at her, clawed hands balled into fists. She dropped a small piece of meat into the cage and said, "What's wrong, Experiment 001?"
How could she ask him that, dammit? Was this human completely retarded or what? He was trapped in a cage for God's sake! He was completely appalled. Shakeran said nothing, just looked down and started tearing apart the meat with his fangs. The whitecoat watched him for a few more seconds, then resumed her duties
'That human is an idiot.'
The telepathic thought caused Shakeran to jump, bang his head on the roof of his cage, and start swearing as loud as he could. This caused the whitecoats to look at him startled expressions on their faces, and Shakeran quickly shut up. He sat down and directed a thought towards Raksha, who was facing him, short white hair framing a beautiful face, except for her red Absol eyes.
'My god, Shakeran where did you learn to use that kind of language?' Raksha asked. Shakeran ignored her.
'What does she think? We are in cages, dumbass. No wonder I seem like I'm in a bad mood. Of course she's an idiot, Demon.'
Raksha grinned wickedly when she heard her nickname. The name Raksha meant demon and it suited her well, especially when she discovered her wind power and slammed three whitecoats into a wall. Just then, both of them felt a wave of Power coming from the tank in the back of the room. Raksha looked at it, the blue-haired child's eyes were opened and another wave of Power shattered the glass of the tank.
The girl had a very, very pissed off expression on her baby-like face. Her eyes, fierce and bright, were a dark blue, glittering like sapphires.
Cherish had finally awakened.
Chapter 3
Dark Orbs
Three years later…
Cherish was running as fast as she could, her blue hair streaming out like a flag behind her. Every time she'd stop an electric jolt would end up ripping through her body, making tears well up in her eyes and she'd shout in pain. But this was it, she had reached her limit. She couldn't run anymore. She collapsed to the ground. The shock came once, twice, three times, but it was more like an unpleasant stinging than actual pain.
Cherish awoke to a human crying out in pain and a rough voice that said, "If you touch her with that damn shock stick again, I am gonna take it and ram it down your throat." She opened her face to see Raksha's relieved face looking down at her.
Raksha smiled at her, then turned to face Shakeran, saying, "She's okay, Shakeran. You can put him down now." Shakeran grudgingly and unwillingly threw aside the struggling whitecoat, who had to be over twice Shakeran's age, but was struggling like some helpless prey, and whacked him once in the back of the head with the stick.
"How dare you, mutant!" the whitecoat shouted, throwing himself at Shakeran. Big mistake. Within a second, Shakeran was under him and drove his palm into the man's underbelly, enjoying the sounds of a rib breaking. The whitecoat fell onto the ground, blood leaking from his mouth. Weakling, Shakeran thought, regarding the man with disgust.
"Let's make a run for it!" Raksha called, pushing a grumbling Shakeran and shocked Cherish out into the hall. As they started racing down the hall an alarm sounded above their heads and soon found themselves completely surrounded by the Syndicate's grunts.
A grunt leaped into Raksha, hitting her in the stomach with a spinning kick. He landed on top of her and she was swearing loudly, verbally and telepathically.
"Get off of her, now." Shakeran said softly, but with a sharp edge in his voice like steel. The grunt looked up to see the wild-looking, twelve year old glaring at him, a purple energy orb forming in his hand. Before the grunt could do anything, he was blasted off Raksha and was sent flying into two other grunts.
He started forming another orb in his hand, but before he could launch the attack, they were surrounded by a green force field. Shakeran looked to see the grunts part to let a woman through. She had short brunette hair, her face was framed by a gold crescent moon shaped crest, and had bluish-lavender angel wings. She was wearing a long, white dress and a shawl made of pink, shimmery gauze.
She looked at him with pure, pink eyes and said, "I wouldn't launch that energy attack of yours, Experiment 001. Not unless you want to blow yourself up." She laughed when Shakeran narrowed angry, red eyes at her. "You can take them back to their cages now," she said to a grunt standing by her, "We'll let Evice deal with them later."
Chapter 4
Great Escape
Four years later…
"Yield already, Shakeran! I've knocked you down four times already, dammit!" Fifteen-year old Raksha said. Shakeran continued glaring up at her but still didn't yield. My God, the sixteen-year old could be so stubborn! But instead of yielding, he knocked Raksha off with a blast of Power. She stumbled backwards and fell on her butt. Next thing she knew, Shakeran was standing over her, the pointy end of his fighting staff in her face.
"You should be the one yielding." Shakeran said, the barest hints of a smile on his face. Raksha made a huffing noise and said, "Drop dead, Shak."
"You first, Raksha." he said, still giving her the slight grin, "Now yield or I'll blast you again." Raksha glared at him. "Try it, then I'll hit you over your thick head so hard you won't wake up for a week." she threatened playfully as Cherish walked up to them.
"Hey guys." Cherish said, her blue eyes glittering brightly. Shakeran grinned at her and Raksha pulled her closer to them. Seeing all the other 'experiments' there made her feel awful, but seeing an innocent child trapped here tore at her heart. "Hey sweetie." Raksha said, scratching at Cherish's finlike ears the way Cherish liked so much.
Shakeran sat down and stared them both straight in the eyes. 'Not today, you aren't. Because we're escaping tonight.' Raksha and Cherish's eyes widened.
'How? They caught us last time! Don't you remember? And what do you mean tonight? Did you finally learn-?' Raksha yelled telepathically, making Shakeran wonder how no one else but him and Cherish-the Vaporeon-human hybrid-could hear her.
A small orb of dark, purple colored energy formed in his hand. 'Yeah, I can now use Shadow Sphere anytime I want, unless of course I'm out of Power.' This made Raksha's stomach lurch, remembering the time when she was taking care of the Mightyena child. He'd run out of Power and collapsed in a mini-coma, not waking up for three days.
'Now, let's go.' Shakeran said, launching the ball of dark energy at a wall. At first, the ball of energy touched the wall, it didn't seem to do anything. Then, it exploded. Then the three PokeHybrids were off and running. Freedom had finally come.
Chapter 5
Freedom Comes in Many Forms
Current day…
Raksha awoke to the smell of an Egg McMuffin. "If this a dream, my God, don't wake me up." she murmured, savoring the scent. "It's not a dream," she heard Shakeran say, in his usual cool way. Raksha opened her eyes and sat up, yawning. Shakeran sat in front of her, wearing his usual black T-shirt, jeans, and combat boots. His wild black-and purple hair was disheveled, several strands falling over his eyes. He held a McDonald's back out towards her.
"For you," Shakeran said, giving her the bag. Raksha tore into it, then a thought occurred to her. "How did you get this?" she asked, mouth full of McMuffin. Shakeran shrugged his shoulders and said, "I stole some guy's wallet. I actually make a pretty good pickpocket. Anyway, if something went wrong Cherish would've used her Influence so he would forgot he even saw us."
Raksha laughed, almost spewing McMuffin out of her nose. "Poor guy. Hey, where is Cherish?" she asked, looking around. As she said Cherish's name, a little girl walked out of the forest, carrying an armful of sticks and small branches. Cherish wore a white nightgown under an oversized hoodie that covered the frill on her neck, but came down to the nine-year old's knees.
"I brought back some more firewood, Shakeran. Is this enough?" Cherish asked, looking at Shakeran with her innocent blue eyes. "Yeah, that's perfect. You did an excellent job, Cherry." Shakeran smiled, taking the sticks and arranging them for their next fire.
Raksha looked at the little girl, who looked a lot happier now that she wasn't stuck in a cage or having to go under the usually painful experiments or some awful other thing. Raksha thought back to when she was trapped in those cages, weeks to years of feeling sick, vomiting, wanting to die rather than go through another day of even more torture. She shook the images out of her head. You don't have to go through that anymore, she told herself. You can actually be happy. Or so she thought.
Chapter 6
Ambush!
Explosion of Power!
Evice watched through a video camera as the three renegade PokeHybrids were being surrounded by several Syndicate grunts. He saw one grunt being leaped on and knocked to the ground by Shakeran, a Mightyena-hybrid from what his record said about him. The older female, Raksha the Demon, was fiercely taking on two grunts, blasting them with Razor Wind.
The littlest one, Cherish, had Influenced one of his men into running into a tree, over and over again. He watched as the boy leaped off the grunt he was on earlier and slammed the ones Raksha were fighting with a blast of his Power. His creations were…amazing.
A cut appeared on Shakeran's face as a grunt slashed at him uselessly with a knife, and Shakeran threw him into another grunt. And then all three kids were off and running again. Yes, all three of the children were amazing, but they were all expendable. And that is why they had to be destroyed.
"You, grunt." Evice said and a grunt snapped to attention. "Yes, Leader Superior?" the grunt answered. Evice flicked his tail. "Go awaken Experiment 006, we will need him as bait." he ordered.
Experiment 006 was an Espeon-human hybrid. And he was Cherish's twin brother.
Chapter 7
Strange Dreams of Another Life
That night…
'Where am I?' Images were flashing through Cherish's mind. Was she dreaming this? She saw a boy with light purple hair floating in a tank. He was about her age, and had a red gem in the center of his forehead, purple tuffs of fur sticking out from his cheeks, large purple fox ears, and a purple forked tail. She saw his eyes open, already alert. They too were darker and almost completely purple, but had a white pupil.
She felt a blast of fear and Power as the boy realized he was trapped, then shattered the tank. The boy sat there breathing hard. She could tell that he had a long, hard body like Shakeran's but had features similar to hers. Weird, she thought. Who was he?
'Sister.'
Chapter 8
Experiment 006-An Espeon Hybrid
Back at Pokemon Research and Development Labs…
Jovian shivered and looked around, taking in his surroundings. Other glass containers full of liquid were along the wall next to his. Three were empty, one held a child who looked like…a mistake. The child was covered in red-and-navy blue scales, his arms and legs were short, a sparse tuft of hair was on his head, and human-like eyes stared at him with an expression of utter despair.
"Where am I? Where's my sister?" he asked, but the words sounded in his mind instead of coming from his mouth. Weird, he thought. He tried to talk again, but no sound issued from his mouth. He watched as a man stepped out of the crowd and bent down in front of him.
"Hello, Experiment 006. Welcome to our world." the man said nicely, but already Jovian didn't like him. A dark aura radiated out from the man like a sinister cloud. Jovian flicked his tail in annoyance at the man but said nothing. The man looked down at some papers he was holding. "According to our files, you're an Espeon hybrid."
"What are you talking about? What the hell's an Espeon?" Jovian asked, annoyed. The man looked up, startled. "I-it spoke!" he stuttered. This made Jovian even angrier. "It? I'm not an it!" he shrieked, but the scientist ignored him.
"Listen to me!" Jovian roared, and the scientist was hurled into a wall, as a burst of Power flew out of Jovian's fingertips. Jovian looked at the scientist, shocked. Then he looked at his hands. Did I do that? Jovian wondered. He looked as three whitecoats ran to help the scientist up. He felt better now that the scientist was away from him. Served him right, Jovian thought.
"Get Evice! Tell him that Experiment 006 has awakened!" The scientist barked at a female whitecoat. She was pretty, but she had a red gem in the center of her forehead and black cat ears. "We could use him."
Chapter 9
They Know Where We Are
The next morning…
Cherish's eyes fluttered open. "Weird dream, " she muttered, taking in her new surroundings, a junkyard. Raksha and Shakeran were still asleep together, lying on the ground, so Cherish walked over to Raksha, gently shaking her awake. Shakeran was the first to wake up though, his lean body stiffening, now that he wasn't in such a relaxed state anymore. Come to think of it, Shakeran almost never looked relaxed; even in his sleep he looked anxious. His arm was wrapped around Raksha's middle.
Raksha opened her eyes, grimaced, and said, "Shit, it's pretty late in the morning. That ambush must've taken a bit out of us. More than we thought, anyways. How's the cut, Shakeran?" Shakeran's cut yesterday was pretty deep, but it was nearly gone today, due to the PokeHybrids' amazing healing abilities.
"Fine." the dark-haired boy said, turning his head and giving a view of his cheek. The cut was only a scar now. His shirt was ripped from the fight yesterday and he had an apprehensive look on his face. "What's wrong?" Raksha asked, noticing this.
Shakeran looked over at her. "They knew where we were." he said, "How the hell did they know where to find us? We're nearly fifty miles away from their main research lab!" Shakeran seemed to be working himself up into one of his Extremely Excited States pretty early this morning, Raksha thought.
She stared into space for a few minutes, then finally said, "I've got no freakin' idea. Hidden video cameras, maybe, or someone who worked for the Syndicate saw us and reported it, like a grunt or a whitecoat. One of those perverted cretins." Shakeran nodded, "It's a bit unnerving, like what the hell are we going to do if they come after us with, like, I don't know, a Shadow Legendary Pokemon or something else that could bite our heads off?"
"Lovely image." Raksha said, receiving a sideways look from Shakeran that'd kill Pidgeys in mid-flight. "But if they do come at us with a Shadow Legend, I guess just run like hell and hope to God/Buddha/Allah/Who-the-hell-knows that they don't catch us." This statement got a barking laugh from Shakeran. "Amen." was all he said.
Chapter 10
Playing Bait
The grunts taped Jovian's hands and feet together so tightly he couldn't move. He was a prisoner, was the only thing the men had told him. He felt like one. He had only woken up last night, went through a hell of a lot of tests, and now this? It was absolutely insane!
Now he was blindfolded and sat next to Evice, who from what Jovian was told was the leader of the Syndicate. Yeah, right. Like I care, just untie me, dammit, Jovian thought, struggling to free himself. "Calm down, Jovian. We're going to help you find your little sister." a voice, layered in phony friendliness, sounded in Jovian's head. "Why can't we be friends?'
Uh, because I don't perform freakish experiments on people then tie them up and ask them if they want to beFRIENDS! Jovian thought, wanting to strangle Evice. "This may surprise you, my child, but I am just like you." Jovian felt something brush his arm, something with rough, wiry fur. What freaked Jovian out was, he could tell it was real. The boy said nothing.
"Why don't you say something? Anything at all? Aren't you glad we're being nice enough to bring you to your sister?" Evice asked, his 'voice' sickly sweet. Jovian pretended to think about this for a second. "Okay, that you're a wackjob pedophile who has nothing better to do than experiment on kids and then tie them up so that you can do God-knows-what-else to them."
The rest of the men in the room sat in stunned silence. Jovian awaited Evice to slap him or order him killed or some other thing. He wasn't expecting the reaction he got though. Evice chuckled darkly. "How…amusing." was all Evice said.
Chapter 11
Moonlight Mayhem-
Jovian's Life Hangs in the Balance
That very night…
Strange images flashed through Cherish's mind. She heard an unhappy voice call someone a 'wackjob pedophile' and heard someone laugh this god-awful spooky laugh. She didn't know what the word 'pedophile' meant; perhaps she could ask Raksha in the morning. Then another image, a little girl with long blue hair, crying, being held by a same-age purple haired boy.
Who was this boy? Why the heck did he seem so familiar to her? Then, it dawned on her. She knew! She knew who this boy was! She hadn't seen him since she was about four, when the scientists took him for an experiment, but he'd never come back. More images flashed into her memories, test tubes, cages, the boy was trapped in one of these, tears staining an already wet overlong T-shirt.
The boy just glared out at the scientists, trying to hide his tears, trying to look tough. Funny, the boy almost reminded Cherish of Shakeran, the way he was acting. She could remember comforting Shakeran on more than one occasion, before he could tell her to go away.
The boy in the cage was her twin, her brother, Jovian. Cherish had to save him. Jovian's very life could be hanging in the balance.
Chapter 12
Decisions
"We HAVE to rescue Cherish's brother, Shakeran! Will you stop being so goddamn stubborn for once!" Raksha yelled, from her position on Shakeran's back. Cherish had told them about her dreams and Shakeran thought it was too dangerous to go back to try to save him. Raksha had started a whole speech about how PokeHybrids should help each other and then it went downhill from that into a struggle that was worthy of WWE.
"It's too damn dangerous, Raksha! We'll walk right into a trap if we go back there and you know it! Now get offa me will ya?" Shakeran finally shook Raksha off him and caught her as she fell, holding on until she righted herself. She looked down at the ground, kicking away soda cans. "Yeah, but we don't want the Syndicate to get ahead. Taking the kid may be useful in hindering their research. Plus the boy's one of us." Raksha said. "Uh, Shakeran? Why are you still holding me? I'm fine now."
Shakeran let go of Raksha's arm and held his arms loosely to his sides. "Fine, I'll go with you guys to help out this kid, but I'm going to be really pissed if this is a trap." Raksha looked at him. "I can live with that."
Chapter 13
The Return to Hell:
Saving Jovian!
A few days later…
"I was hoping, I'd never see this place again…" Shakeran said after tossing one of the many guards around the building aside after rendering the man unconscious. He took the man's Key Card and swiped it. The door opened to reveal a narrow, white hall. "C'mon, let's get this kid and get the hell out of here."
"Yeah," Raksha said, pulling Cherish behind her. Shakeran hated this place more than any of them did. They started to move quietly down the hall and eventually came to the room where the experiments were kept. The room was full of cages and test tubes. That was when Cherish noted that one of the cages held a sleeping occupant with features very similar to hers, the boy from her dreams. She ran over to him and gently shook him awake.
The boys eyes opened slightly and he looked at Cherish with a confused look on his face. "We're busting you out of here, kid." Raksha said, moving aside to reveal Shakeran, who was forming a Shadow Sphere in his hand. "Duck," he said, firing the Shadow Sphere. The little boy ducked down as the Shadow Sphere tore the roof off of his cage.
As soon as the Power blasted the roof off his cage, an earsplitting alarm sounded above them and they found themselves nearly surrounded. Shakeran extended his hand, knocking some Syndicate members on their backs with a sharp burst of Power, his Pressure ability coming into play. Raksha started to launch a Razor wind attack but the grunts parted, slammed aside by a burst of Power coming from one of the most grotesque PokeHybrids she ever saw.
The Hybrid was a male, with two cuffs on his wrists and ankles, he had a hard crust along his body and a steel crest on his forehead. His eyes were bloodred and he had tombstone shaped teeth. He was an admin, a Legend hybrid. Raksha could feel Power radiating off him. And he was about to attack.
Chapter 14
A Fight and A Kiss
"And where do you four think you're going?" the PokeHybrid asked, his voice dripping with menace. "Anywhere but here. I don't like this and I don't like you, now back off." Shakeran said, stepping in front of Raksha and getting into a fighting stance. "Take the kids and get out of here, Raksha. I'll fight him." Shakeran commanded, then launched himself at the PokeHybrid.
Shakeran was knocked back by a sharp blow to his face. Shakeran slammed into a wall, glanced off it, and snarled furiously. Raksha pushed the kids behind her and launched a Razor Wind. It smashed into the PokeHybrid, making him stumble and giving Shakeran an opening for a Shadow Sphere. The PokeHybrid fell backwards, roaring.
Shakeran launched himself again, then clutched his stomach as the PokeHybrid cuffed him in his stomach. Shakeran stumbled to his feet, throwing up. "Damn you…" he swore. Suddenly a stream of water, hurled by a Razor Wind slammed into the PokeHybrid. It howled in agony, then fell to the ground, knocked out.
Raksha ran up to Shakeran. "Are you okay?" she yelled. Shakeran glared at her and said, "I thought I told you to get away. He was out for blood: you could smell it on him." She looked at him. "I couldn't let you fight him alone. He was throwing you around like a rag doll." Raksha said. She suddenly found herself in his arms, kissing him.
His lips were rough and passionate. Then as soon as it started, it was over. "As you can see, I'm fine." Shakeran said, his voice husky. "Can we get out of here now?" He pointed at the little boy who Cherish was holding. His eyes were a dark purple with white pupils. He was shaking hard.
"Yeah, let's get the hell out of here." Raksha said, still blushing.
A while later…
"Get up, Hetrane. Otherwise Evice is going to have your head on a platter." Hetrane heard someone say as a boot touched his side. Hetrane opened his eyes to see Cresselina standing over him, her beautiful face full of disgust. "Kiss my butt, Cresselina. You ain't so tough." Hetrane growled. "I can handle Evice."
Chapter 15
Jovian
A few days later…
"Shakeran, I'm beginning to wonder if this boys alright. It's been three days since we rescued him and he hasn't spoken a word to anyone but Cherish." Raksha said. Shakeran turned over on his side. "He's probably just a little shell-shocked. Let me go talk to him." Shakeran said, getting up and walking to where the little boy was sitting. He sat next to the boy, who gave him a wary look, then turned away.
"Hey, I know what you're feeling, kid. This is a little shocking, being trapped in some cage, then being dragged away into the outside world by some people you barely even know since we played with each other as little kids." Shakeran said. "Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't want to talk cause you're a bit traumatized. I be surprised if you weren't." The boy looked at Shakeran, eyes wide, then looked away again. "I don't know who you people even are…" the boys voice, cold and upset flickered through Shakeran's mind.
"You can think of us as your new friends. Anyway you should know us. We were subjects too. We used to pay together growing up, remember? I'm Shakeran. The one with the white hair is Raksha. Her name means Demon, which is her nickname. And well, you know your sister, already. So no explanations required there." Shakeran said.
"I kind of remember you," Jovian murmured as recognition dawned in his eyes. "Aren't you the one who threw one of the whitecoats across the room?" Shakeran snorted, "He they pissed me off. It was justifiable!"