Disclaimer: The original Pokéumans concept belongs to pokemonmanic3595 over on Deviantart, and I'm only playing in the sandbox
Every story has a different beginning. Some of them start in a dream, a snippet of an idea, or even something small like a moment when someone trips. Others start big, with a war, or a fight, the world is ending and it all rests on one... But this story starts as many do.
With a teenager, who's just trying to live their life as best that they're able.
Learning about themself and dealing with changes. Some expected such as the awkwardness of puberty and new emotions and experiences. Others less expected, such as yellow flecks in brown hair, and small tinges of red in hazel eyes. A pair of ears that poke out, still brown much like her hair.
"What in the..?" she narrows her eyes and raises a hand to one of the ears. It twitches at the action and she blinks before turning away from the mirror and calling out. "Mum why do I have canine ears growing out of my hair!"
"Don't worry it's just puberty!" she frowns and one of the ears twitches in annoyance. "Just wear one of those caps that you have to hide them if you're that worried!" the teenager grits her teeth together in annoyance before stalking out of the bathroom ignoring her younger brother as he passes her to proceed to his morning shower, scratching his backside as he goes. She eyes him for a moment before shrugging and then returning to her room where she grumbles at getting dressed in her school uniform.
She frowns and then wipes it down and sighs before shaking her head. Now she's ready for school. Mostly. She only needs to have some breakfast, double check her bag, grab her instrument for band practice and find a hat that would actually cover the two new appendages on her head. Both of which flicker a bit and she nods to herself. Before she leaves her room though she grabs a small necklace from off her desk and slips it over her head and around her neck. The familiar weight of the shark tooth against her chest makes her sigh and then she brushes one hand through her hair.
The rest of the morning is routine, grabbing her back and shoving her lunchpack inside. Straightening up the folder that contained her textbooks and pencil case and then moving to make sure that the saxophone that she used for band practice was right where she could grab it. Reassured that everything's in order she grabs an apple and heads out into the yard. Awaiting her right by the door are two dogs. One brown and white, the other black and white. Both of them wag their tails at the sight of her and race around a bit, the black and white one barking a greeting.
"[Hey! Hey!]" she freezes, one foot still half way back to the ground. Hazel-red eyes go incredibly wide as the canine continues to speak. "[Tamara's here. Dinner? No, walk then, walk! Walk!]"
"P-peppy?" she stumbles over the dog's name and both of the animals just freeze in place. For a moment it's all still, slowly though both canines turn just enough to look at her. The moment breaks right after that and it's back to normal, both dogs barking and no words that she can hear in the barks. "I must still be half asleep..." she mutters to herself before plopping down in one of the plastic chairs by the back door.
"[Play? Tamara play? Run chase?]" She starts when the brown and white dog trots over with wide hopeful eyes and a shaking bottom. "[Tamara play chase?]" the canine repeats rising up on their hind paws and resting their forepaws on the chair between her lap.
"Not dreaming..." she says eyes going even wider and the half eaten apple falling from her hand to the ground.
"[Apple! Mine now!]" Peppy says bounding over and swiping the dropped apple. She turns her head just enough to look down at the canine who bares a kind of grin up at her before happily munching on their swiped prize.
"Y-you're talking... the dogs are talking!" Both canines freeze before looking up at her, the apple lays forgotten at Peppy's paws.
"[Tamara understands us!]"
"Yes... I understand you..." the girl says. "Obi, Peppy, why do I understand you?" she asks pointing from one dog to the next. Both of the dogs look at each other and then back at her. Everything is still and quiet for a few moments before Obi huffs and answers.
"[Shark Tooth.]" Obi says dropping back down to the ground and shifting in place. The canine looks distinctly uncomfortable, she frowns and wrinkles her nose. Canine ears twitch in brown hair and she's about to ask something else when the dog snaps it's head back up. "[No time, Tamara must go... School doesn't wait!]"
"Wait you didn't-"
"[Worry later! I come with, bag fit?]" Obi cuts her off and trots inside causing her mother to start shouting at the canine which blithely ignores her. "[Bag fit?]"
"No. My bag does not fit you!" the teen says more than a bit grumpily. "And besides school doesn't allow pets on campus. Unless they're guide animals, or trained police rescue animals." She barely notices her brother walk into the room, stare blankly for a couple of seconds and finally just decide to walk back out of the room. "If you start laughing, I will, I'll, I'll do something!"
"[Ignore him, school... need me!]"
"Oh and I suppose that Corey needs Peppy then..." Obi shakes her head in disagreement with the teen who puffs up her cheeks and then stalks out of the room. Simply done with the conversation. Reaching her room she digs through her cap draw finding that none of them are suitable for covering the extras that she has. It's frustrating and she almost wants to just scream and tear off her school clothes, swap them for pjs and play sick for the day.
It would make everything so much easier at least.
She stops, takes a deep breath and then blows it out.
Getting upset won't help her at this point. It won't help her, so she takes another deep breath. It won't help, it'll just trigger an attack. She really doesn't want to have trouble breathing if she can help it. Doesn't want to end up clutching desperately at her chest struggling to force air into her lungs. So instead she controls her breathing and keeps her eyes closed.
Focus on the sounds around her, outside the window. The breeze, the small tap, tap of the dogs paws on the pavement below the window. The slight swish of the blinds and the small sounds that remind her where she is. Calmer she opens her eyes once more and walks over to her wardrobe once more. This time though when she shifts through her draws she doesn't just focus on her caps.
Which means she ends up pulling out a white knitted beret that suits her purpose. It's kind of scratchy, especially against the fur of her ears but it works well enough in regards to concealing them.
Even if it's going to annoy her for the rest of the day.
"Whatever..." she sighs glaring at her reflection and adjusting the beret one last time. "I'm ready for school now... so it really doesn't matter."
Most of the rest of the day is uneventful. It just seems to drag on. The most interesting part of the day is the start with Art Class, and that's only because they're not really doing that much aside from setting up their profiles and designing the front of them. Afterwards it's English, Maths and a little bit of Drama class, nothing special.
At least, until the very end of the third period/beginning of the forth. As the bell rings out she feels her ears twitch beneath the beret, and a tickle in her nose. It's annoying, especially as she feels it coming but then it doesn't quite arrive.
Those seated closet to her have the same semi annoyed looks, probably just as annoyed by the lack of a sneeze. She whips a hand up and rubs it under her nose a bit. And stops, she stops and frowns looking at her hand in confusion. It looks normal but when she rubs it against her skin, it feels wrong.
Shaking her head she simply returns to her workbook, trying to think about how to do the essay on Harvey Krumpet when she's missed so much of everything already she might as well be in the year below what they actually are. It's annoying really. Annoying and rather disheartening, but she's coping. Always coping.
Although the current teacher, a substitute just rubs her the wrong way. The lady feels weird, and she knows that she's on the defensive. It's instinctive. Something's wrong and she can't place what, so she tries to focus on her work.
Which is much harder than it should be because she's just missed so much.
Health issues, family issues, other issues.
Nothing is ever simple. The tickle is back and she sniffs, a sharp intake of breath and this time it doesn't just stop. Although what she's expecting from it is not quite what she gets. Rather than wet drips of saliva, there's a burst of flame that flickers and quickly disappears leaving the surface of her workbook slightly singed.
Of course that small flicker of flame catches everyone in the room's attention. She sniffs again wiping her hand over her nose before realizing that everyone's attention is on her.
"What are you all looking at?" she asks blinking in confusion. Really, she doesn't understand, sneezing flames is nothing new, she'd been doing it over the weekend as well. At first it had been shocking but now.
"You're one of them!"
That phrase, a shudder shoots through her body. It's like being dunked under an ice-cold spray of water from the shower and she feels the way that her pupils shrink and dilate a bit. Pokéumans a group on Deviantart she'd recently discovered and taken a faint interest in.
But that's fiction right?
She doesn't have time to think though, everyone is looking at her. Or at their classmates confused. It's a seventy-thirty split of the class really(with the majority in the confusion category). Which for a class of twenty-five is a pretty decent amount. Also the teacher is still normal, or at least not reacting by losing all expression and reaching for something that's not there.
"No!" She's shaking her head, standing up and backing away from the desk, she can feel her hackles raising. The ears hidden under her beret lowering, in anger or fear she can't quite tell. Her lips curl and teeth bare themselves in a snarl. She shifts in place, on the balls of her feet ready to bolt. Or possibly fight, though she barely even knows how to throw a punch.
"You're one of them!"
Of course that would be the moment that there's a knock at the door of the classroom. Everything becomes still and even those who're blanking(disassociating?) turn to look at the door.
Notes: For a reference in regards to the timeline I shifted it a little bit in regards to my original story Spewing Fire. Where that takes place in February 2014, this story begins March 2014, a month later. It's slightly more convenient for me.
Also again it starts on a Monday, with the transformation first beginning on a Saturday. For specific dates think the transformation started March 15th 2014, and the current day of the transformation is the third, and it's March 17th 2014. In story... so yeah.
Also, simplified the way the dogs speak.