Alright, fist (or at least one of the first) stories of 2013! Don't worry, it gets happier later on.


Pain. No, it was beyond pain. Beyond agony. There were no words to describe it. Each second was an eternity, and it seemed to go on for minutes, hours, days. Darkness came and went, temporarily blocking out the pain, only to leave a while later and allow the terrible agony, like a million hot knives, to once again take hold. Slowly, almost unnoticeable at first, the pain began to recede. Then once again the blackness came back, and this time did not release its comforting embrace of obliviousness.

Dirt. It smelled like moist dirt, along with the sea, wood, and living things. There was a momentary scuffing noise, as if someone was moving slightly, then stilled. Fainter noises could also be heard: shouts, cracks, moans, and other less definite sounds. Whatever she lay on was hard. She was a she, wasn't she? Eyelids flickered open. She was lying on hard packed dirt. Slowly, carefully, she raised her head slightly. A wall met her sight. It was rudely constructed of ill-fitting wooden boards with gaps wide enough to let plenty of sunlight through. Above that was thatch supported by wooden beams. Like the wall, there were gaps that let sunlight in. The sounds were coming from behind her.

With the smallest movement possible, she looked down at herself. She was dressed in a simple long-sleeved white shirt and brown pants. There was nothing on her feet. Her hands, when she looked at them, seemed strong, with long fingers. She turned them over. On the back of each hand was a circular piece of what looked like metal, rising into an extremely flattened cone. Gently, she touched one. She couldn't feel her fingers touching the metal. The skin seemed to join with it much like a fingernail. For some reason, it seemed strange. Hands were not supposed to be like that. She pulled some hair in front of her face. It was straight, black, and shoulder length. Feeling the back of her head, she found four small lumps, two on either side. They didn't hurt when she touched them, so she assumed they were supposed to be there, like the things on the back of her hands. Nothing else seemed to be out of the ordinary.

Cautiously, she turned her head to see what was behind her. A figure was framed by a rectangle of sunlight. Beyond the figure were several more huts like her own and, in the distance, the sea, barricaded by a tall chain link fence.

The figure turned around. He was dressed in dark clothes with a red R on the chest. She immediately had a bad feeling about him, and it wasn't because of the weapon he carried.

"Get up." he commanded, waving his weapon toward the outside. Slowly, she rose to a crouch, not sure if she would fall flat on her face when she stood. It was not fast enough for the guard. He marched in, grabbed her arm, and yanked her to her feet. "Move it." he said with a shove towards the door. She stumbled outside. Another guard was waiting. She was marched to a small enclosure, almost like a fighting ring. Several other men were standing there. She noticed that they were all taller than she was. One of them stepped forward.

"These are your superiors. You will do what they say. Unfortunately, we can't kill you." he gave a nasty smile, "Yet. But we can make death sound like a pretty good option if you don't." He unwound a long whip and cracked it a few times. "First, you are going to learn how to speak. Start talking."

She stared at him. Talk? She didn't know if she could talk. Faster than lightning, the whip ripped across her back, causing her to stumble. Two guards grabbed her arms and held her while the whip hit her again and again. She didn't know what she finally screamed, but the whip stopped. She could feel warm blood begin to trickle down her back. Eyes blurry with pain, she looked up. The man was curling his whip and tucking it into his belt.

"That's a start." he said, walking over to a narrow wooden beam set on two blocks. "Walk across this."

The guards holding her shoved her towards the beam. For a second she didn't know if her legs would hold her. When her knees quit shaking she mounted the beam and began walking across it. She was about a quarter of the way across when something sliced across her shoulders, causing her to loose her balance and fall. When she looked up, the man was swinging his whip in a carefree manner.

"Not fast enough. You should have been there and back by that time. Get up and do it again, faster this time."

Back throbbing, she got up and started across the beam again. The whip lashed across her back again, but this time she managed to retain her balance. She went faster. Several more times the whip hit her, but she managed to stay on the beam and was soon running across it was quickly as she could. Finally, the man said, "Enough." She half jumped, half fell off the beam, feeling blood start to trickle down her legs. She was required to do several more things, such as push-ups, lifting a heavy weight and holding it above her head, and running with weights tied to her feet. By the time the sun started to set she was exhausted. Her hands and feet were bruised, and she was sure there was no skin left on her back. The last thing she had to do was stand perfectly still while the man walked around her and made a long-winded speech on how he was going to break her. At the end of the speech he put his face close to hers, no doubt to make some last parting remark.

She snapped. Suddenly lunging, she managed to get her hands around his neck as he fell backwards. His face was turning purple by the time the other guards were finally able to haul her off of him. The man got up, seething with anger as he rubbed his throat. With one deft movement he uncoiled his whip and began beating her viciously. She felt darkness begin to close in on her when she heard yelling. The beating suddenly stopped. There was more yelling, and she was hauled out of the ring to a large open area. A huge metal container filled with a colorless mush stood in the middle with a large crowd surrounding it. Roughly, she was shoved towards the crowd. Several people caught her as she stumbled forward. Looking up, she could see that almost everyone in the crowd was a strange mixture of human and Pokémon. One, a part-Wartortle, gently helped her to the mush. He smiled as he looked into her eyes.

"Eat up. You new ones are always hungry. You'll get used to it after a while."

She noticed that he had beautiful sea-green eyes that also held a lot of pain and suffering. Hesitantly, she broke eye contact and dipped her hand into the warm mush, hearing several whispers about the condition of her back. The mush was as tasteless as it was colorless, but after her harsh day that didn't matter. After several more handfuls she backed off a bit, letting others get to the food. She noticed another container of water, with others also gathered around it. She had no sooner decided to try to get to it when the part-Wartortle took her arm and helped her through the mass.

"We are poké-morphs, or morphs for short." he whispered, "I'm not sure what kind of morph you are, but if you can still stand after what they did to your back, you must be a tough one."

She nodded thanks as they reached the water. After a couple of sips she began to get dizzy, probably from her many beatings. The Wartortle-morph watched her, concerned. A couple of guards came through the masses, lashing out with their weapons when morphs did not move out of the way fast enough.

"Dinner's over, get to your huts!" they called. When they reached her, they grabbed her and hauled her to what must have been the same hut she had woken up in. One of the guards pointed above the door. An M was carved there, followed by the numbers 151. She had no idea what that was supposed to mean.

"This is your hut. If you aren't in it by curfew, there will be serious consequences."

Wearily, she collapsed onto the dirt floor, not caring how badly her raw back was jarred. She would have fallen asleep that instant, except for one thought. Who was she? She had to be a morph. The Wartortle-morph had said as much. But who was she? She didn't even have a name. Had she had a life before this nightmare? After several minutes of pondering, her weariness overcame her, and she sank into a dreamless sleep.

"Come on, you lazy trash, get up!"

There were several cracks. She opened her eyes. It wasn't even light out. The man with the whip was walking down the row of huts, cracking his whip and yelling for everyone to get up. Her shirt stuck to her back, forming a sort of bandage. She hissed in pain as it started to tear away from her wounds. Wishing she was anywhere but there, she stumbled outside. Others were also emerging from the huts, heading towards the place where the food had been yesterday. She followed them. There was a fresh batch of mush, and everyone was crowding around, trying to get some before the day started. A slight hush fell as she approached, and a slight gap appeared. She heard several whispers that she shouldn't have been alive as she passed. As she ate, she saw the Wartortle-morph. He nodded to her, and she nodded back.

Soon after men came and began gathering different morphs. She was taken to the same place as yesterday. Her day went much the same, except that it seemed like she wasn't beaten quite as much. For the next month it was about the same. She learned which guards preferred whips, rods, belts, and other sundry weapons, how to avoid getting beaten, and how to talk in complete sentences. She was also aware that she was getting stronger and faster, though inadequate food and rest limited by how much. Then an unexpected change came to her schedule. Around noon, she was taken to a large ring obviously meant for fighting. On the opposite side of the ring another morph was brought in. She recognized him as the Wartortle-morph who had helped her those first few days.

"This will be a fight to the death." a guard said, "No rules. Get to it."

She froze. A fight to the death? She knew she wouldn't be able to kill the morph, even if it meant dying herself. He attacked, and she was knocked down, but quickly got up. Some instinct guided her through moves that she didn't know she knew. After a few minutes she had the Wartortle-morph pinned. It was clear that she had won. Looking into his eyes, she saw sadness, and a fear that she would end it. She couldn't do it. Taking a deep breath, she backed off. The morph just lay there staring after her, surprised.

"Finish him!" someone yelled. She shook her head. It wasn't worth it. She was suddenly seized and held while a whip lashed across her back again and again. Finally they let her go. "Finish him." a guard commanded. Once again she shook her head. This time she was beaten until she was nearly unconscious. Through the haze of pain she heard someone say, "Take her back to her hut. We won't get anything else out of her today."

Roughly, she was dragged back to her hut and tossed in unceremoniously. She didn't know how long she lay there, fading in and out of consciousness as blood dripped from her back. Then there were footsteps. She was immediately awake and alert. There was a thud and a soft moan. Perhaps she had a roommate. Her back hurt to much for her to move and see who it was. After a while she felt a gentle touch on her back. A warmth seemed to come from it, taking the pain away.

"Don't." she said quietly. The warm touch paused, but did not withdraw. "They'll do the same thing to me tomorrow. Besides, you'll need every bit of strength for yourself."

There was a long pause, then the warmth continued, stopping the bleeding and easing the pain. After a short while it stopped. She turned her head to see who it was. A Gardevoir-morph was kneeling next to her. She sat up.

"The first thing they will probably do is beat you until you say something."

The Gardevoir-morph's eyes went wide.

"I can help you, if you want."

The morph nodded. For an hour she taught the morph how to speak. By the end the morph could say several sentences. With a quiet, "We'd better get some sleep," she laid down and drifted off, knowing that her new roommate was doing the same.


As a side note, this story will be updated at least semi-regularly, since it's already finished. Reviews are always welcome!