Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, nor do I claim to. This is a work created for entertainment value only. While we're not the first to think of Poke-hybrids, this particular fictional universe is the result of the imaginings of my brother, not me.
"What is this?" The sentence was almost a growl, so full of anger was its speaker.
Not that a growl would be entirely unexpected from this particular creature. While her overall shape was that of a 10 year old human girl, her not-quite-human status was betrayed by the long, bushy tail that was sticking up behind her back as she spoke. Also telling was the pair of fox-like ears sitting on the top of her head, making conspicuous the absence of human-like ears on the side of her head. She wore no clothing, having her modesty preserved instead by a coat of thick, chestnut-brown fur that covered the entirety of her skin except for the palms of her hand and the soles of her bare feet, both of which had claws at their tips.
"A warning?" Replied her companion, confusion colouring his voice.
He stood almost in contrast to the girl sitting across him. Though he possessed the same generally-human shape, and even appeared to be about the same age, if a little younger, he too was obviously not completely human. He possessed a pair of ears on the top of his head that were similar to his companions, but his skin lacked fur, and was a very light yellow. Unlike her, though, he was clothed, or at least appeared to be, with a brown chest-plate and two shoulder pads that may or may not have been gown there. He also had a tail, but it was more like the tail of a reptile than that of a mammal.
The girl snorted. "That's not a warning, that's a demand. Listen to this:
'We have tracked down our property to this area. If they are not returned to us willingly, we will take them forcibly. Anyone who conceals or relocates the stolen goods will meet our full displeasure.'
There trying to get us to give ourselves up with cheap threats, Abra."
"Huh? You think this notice is referring to us? But it sounds like they want some objects back, not people…" Abra protested.
"That's called 'Objectification'. It means they don't feel guilt when they treat us badly." The girl stated, bitterness entering her voice. She let out a noise of frustration. "I never thought they would actually try to take us here…"
"But this is Governed Territory!" Abra exclaimed. "Surly they don't think Celebi will let them just take-"
"And what makes you think she's going to hear about it? They don't want her involved and neither do I." The girl stated with finality.
"Kate, this is the school's main billboard! Admittedly, Team Rocket isn't that famous, but surely someone will find this odd enough to tell her! "
"Good thing we found the notice first, then." Kate was back to growling again. She reached forward and ripped the offending notice off the cork it was stapled to.
Abra squirmed uncomfortably. "So what are we going to do?" He asked.
Kate snorted. "They seem to have gotten it into their heads that we belong to them. We'll just beat that idea right out of them." She started walking away; already ripping up the notice she had torn off.
"Can't we do this without fighting, Kate?" Abra whined, following the brown-furred girl away.
Kate's voice echoed back with annoyance born from many repetitions. "Don't be so lazy!"
Neither of them noticed the boy standing absolutely still on the other side of the billboard, not making a sound. Unlike the two before him, he was completely human in appearance, stood about 170cm, and had pitch-black hair. He wore a simple shirt and pants, both of which were a dark purple, and wore a sword on his belt. He looked about 17 years old.
And he had just heard the whole conversation.
"Okay," The boy said. "this time my curiosity has gotten the better of me." He stared in the direction of the two departing figures. "This fight I have to see."
"This is where the note said to meet, right?" Kate wondered
"I wouldn't know" Sulked Abra. "You ripped up that notice before I read the whole thing."
The two were standing in a clearing surrounded by trees. The lights of the town they had walked out of were still visible behind them, showing that they were not that far from the town.
"Well, do that 'mind scan' thingy that you do." She waved dismissively.
Abra made a worried sound in his throat, but closed his eyes. Kate felt Abra's mind lightly brush against hers, and shuddered slightly. The psychic abilities that Abra possessed, as did the rest of his kind, were incredibly useful but they always unnerved her. She was just glad that he respected the privacy of her own head, using only telepathy on her, and then only in battle.
Abra's eyes opened. "There are three Psychic-types in the next clearing over."
"Wait, just three? And all the same type?" Kate's brow furrowed in confusion. Having all your fighters the same type meant they were all vulnerable to the same weaknesses. This situation didn't make any sense.
"Well, two Psychics and one Psychic-Steel, to be precise. I thought I sensed another mind behind us, but there was nothing there when I checked again."
Kate tapped her chin. If they were all Psychic-types, then…
"Let's hold on just a bit, Abra." She looked to the horizon, tilting her head as she did so. "It's night time now, yeah?"
"Yeah, because we took so long to get out of the town that we used up the whole day!"
"Well, we weren't going to hurry for them, were we?" Kate sat down, folding her legs. "I'll just be a moment."
Abra bit his lip, and then looked around. He knew what his partner was up to, and he knew it would take several minutes. Now would be a bad time for their adversaries to show up…
Kate took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and did something very hard for her.
She tried to focus on everything positive in her life.
Every happy moment, every smile sent her way. Tender friendships formed; the approval of others. What little she could remember of her mother, before….
The memories took a different flavour now. Learning to fight, training with Abra, learning to fight well. Every victory, every technique learned, every enemy crushed beneath her…
A bubbly feeling coursed through her chest, and her eyes snapped open as her body melted into energy.
Abra fidgeted as the lightshow that was currently his partner reformed, expanded, and faded, revealing a very changed Kate. During her short time as liquid light, she had gained about 6 years worth of growth, making her a 16 year old look-alike. Her figure was very plain, but she towered over Abra at 165 cm to his 113. The distinctive brown fur had changed colour, becoming a pitch black with yellow rings placed at her shoulders and thighs, on her forehead, and around her ears and tail. Her ears had become cylinders pointed on both ends, with no obvious opening for sound to enter.
But the biggest change was not in her appearance; her inner energy had changed. Whereas before it held the straightforward, unsubtle flows of normality, they now were cloaked in the shadowy sludge of darkness. She had changed, evolved, from an Eevee to an Umbreon.
"Dark beats Psychic. So let the beating commence!" The changed Kate announced, already striding toward the clearing Abra had pointed out earlier.
Kate and Abra emerged from the undergrowth to find a clearing with three people already in it. Both of them blinked upon witnessing their opponents.
On the left-hand side was a person that looked like an older version of Abra; with longer limbs, and a massive moustache. Kate and Abra both recognised it as a Kadabra.
On the right-hand side lay something that also looked familiar to the two friends. A girls frame, bright pink fur that resembled velvet, cat ears on the top of her head, and a tail that was narrow and split into two near the end. It too was an evolution of an Eevee, the Psychic-type Espeon.
In the middle though…
"YOU!" screamed Kate, fury in her eyes.
"Me." The middle speaker announced smugly. His skin was grey and slightly shiny, as though he was made out of polished metal. A bone-white X covered his face, allowing his bright red eyes to show either side. All four of his limbs were covered in thick, metallic armour and ended in claws that seemed almost robotic in nature. He was the final evolved form of Beldum, a Metagross.
"I knew that Rocket would send someone to grab us, but why YOU?" Kate's claws were twitching. Abra knew that she was dying to sink those claws into the Metagross's face. He too, felt no love for the grey-skinned man, but he wondered what he was doing here, with two people from the same evolutionary lines as them.
"Grab you? Oh, I'm not here to grab you."
"…What?" Kate was completely confused. She had been about to tell him that capturing them was pointless as they would just escape like they had when they first met. What did they want them for if not pet soldiers?
The cause of Kate's confusion motioned the two others forwards. "Meet project Downfall's newest successes!"
"I'm Emma. How nice to meet my… prototype." The Espeon announced, a haughty smile twisting her lips.
{And I am Eric. It is interesting to see Doctor Sonja's previous work.} The Kadabra's sudden telepathy made Kate flinch. Eric smiled at this reaction.
"While the two of you had flaws in your forging, these two have no such flaws!" The Team Rocket lead scientist proclaimed with glee. "Emma possesses your ability to change between evolved forms, Kate, but she doesn't require returning to her Eevee form, saving her time and energy!"
Kate's hate-filled gaze moved to Emma, but there was now a calculating edge to it. Having to revert to her base form meant that she was basically restricted to using one form only in battle, otherwise she would be too exhausted to fight on, if the enemy didn't just attack her while she was gathering the strength to evolve again.
In return, Emma smirked and knelt down, reaching a hand into a bag at the edge of the clearing. Her hand turned into light much the same way that Kate's had done earlier. After she rearranged and settled, she stood up, throwing back into the bag the orange Fire Stone she had been grasping.
Her fur had turned a dull red, but she had a bright yellow mane around her neck. Her hair was that yellow too. Her tail had reverted to a single bushy tail, which was also bright yellow. She had changed from an Espeon straight to a Flareon!
"You may have held type-advantage over me before, but we are on an even footing now." She stated simply, her earlier smirk still etched on here face.
"And Eric's ability to evolve was not sacrificed for his psychic enhancement!" Dr Sonja crowed. "He now is a higher evolution, meaning his psychic powers are stronger than yours, 'Abra'!"
"So what?" Kate asked. While she wasn't showing it, she was getting nervous. Her Umbreon form wasn't her strongest form at all; she had been relying on type-advantage. And she had been confident that Abra's mental powers were stronger than anything short of a Legendary. The outcome of this battle was starting to look in doubt, which was very bad. "You came all this way to brag?"
"Oh no." Dr Sonja's smile got even wider. "A good scientist loves to test out his creations. And what better benchmark than the creation's own prototypes?"
Both Kate and Abra tensed up. Emma walked across the clearing to stand in front of Kate. Eric did the same for Abra.
"Ready…" Dr Sonja called.
In spite of the tension that filled the air, Kate and Abra both rolled their eyes. Who waited for an unofficial fight to actually start?
Emma's smile disappeared from her face when Kate blurred then disappeared, reappearing with her fist imbedded in Emma's gut. She fell to the ground, managing to splutter "Q-Quick Attack?" before having to roll out of the way of Kate's next blow.
Eric meanwhile had barely managed to raise his mental shields in time to block Abra's first attack. He narrowed his eyes. {You didn't wait for the match to start} He observed, before launching a counter-attack.
This time Abra was on the defensive, grappling with Eric in his mind. Unfortunately, it seemed the Doctor was telling the truth – Eric's psychic strength was stronger than his.
That didn't mean he had to play fair, though.
Eric's mental assault abruptly halted when the mind he was attacking was no longer there. Quickly, he cast out his mind – there! Abra's mind had somehow moved to the other side of the clearing. He renewed his assault, but Abra's mind once more somehow vacated the space it once occupied. Another quick search found it on the other side of where their respective partners were locked in combat. How was it moving around so –
Oh. Right.
{Using Teleport to avoid my attacks? Won't that get tiresome before long?} Eric taunted.
{Nope!} Eric flinched, both from the unexpected telepathy and the equally unexpected mental thrust that accompanied it. {I'm an Abra! We're born knowing how to use Teleport! It's my speciality!}
Eric scowled. {Coward. I see now why you ran from your duties at Team Rocket!}
Being Telepathy, Abra's confusion came across more clearly that it would if the words were spoken. {Why would I work for Team Rocket?}
Another thrust attempt, Abra Tele-dodged again. {Why, to repay the glorious doctor for granting you your current abilities of course!}
{But I never asked to be involved with Rocket, let alone be experimented upon!}
An immense Psychic crush attack missed altogether. {Then the good doctor must have judged you worthy! You should be honoured!}
Abra realised that his opponent must not know about the circumstances surrounding his ending up in Rocket's clutches. Or about the other 7998 test subjects that didn't make it. Or how hard he and Kate had struggled to have as much of a life as they had. He could tell him…
But he probably wouldn't believe him over whatever lies the doctor had told him.
Eric noted that while his opponent had gone silent, he was still dodging his attacks and attempting to retaliate. Which probably ment that he would not be returning to his destined place at Team Rocket as the backup fighters. All right. He chose that path, then? One clean hit from him and the fight was over!
Unknown to him, that last thought was exactly was what his partner had thought… initially.
"Stay still, you coward!" Emma snarled, as again and again Kate dodged the various streams of fire she was shooting from her mouth.
"Uh, hello? I have a will to live, here!" Kate spat back. "It's not my fault you're so slow! You should drink some more Carbos if you don't want your opponents dodging all the time!"
Emma gave an incoherent scream as a particularly powerful Fire Blast attack went wide. "Why isn't Eric finished yet? He should have creamed that evolution-stuck friend of yours and be helping me finish you by now!"
"What's the matter? Can't get anything down without your boyfriend?" Kate taunted. "Look, your power is nothing to scoff at, but your competence certainly is!"
A stream of fire emerged from Emma's mouth, this time curling around Kate and preventing her from evading. "Got you, minx!" Emma panted, out of breath from all the lung-based fire attacks. "Try escaping a Fire Spin attack!" The steam rose into the air, turning into a fully-blown tornado of fire.
Emma had little time to admire her own technique, though, as the ground under her burst open, the form of Kate emerging from the earth and smashing into her.
"Oh wow, I used Dig to escape Fire Spin. Amazing. Like, nobody could have possibly thought of that!" Kate asked sarcastically, before tackling the off-balance Emma.
Eric on the other hand was only relatively calm because of the massive mental discipline required as a Psychic-type. He had underestimated how aggravating fighting an opponent that constantly used Teleport was. How could he stop him from – Ah. He had an idea.
Abra was sweating. Despite what the success of his strategy to avoid getting hit, he still could only achieve minor blows to his adversary. Eric, on the other hand, had come way too close to hitting him several times. If something happened to alter the fight now, it almost certainly wouldn't be –
{Disable!}
– at all good for him!
Unlike the slow but powerful assaults that Eric had been using until now, the quick mental block settled into place around his mind before he could intercept it. Despairingly, Abra found his favourite technique – Teleport, of course – had been locked off inside his own head.
All too quick, Abra found the full mental strength of Eric gripping his mind, attempting to crush it entirely. His mental shields almost immediately started to bend under the powerful assault. He glimpsed his currently Dark-type partner out of the corner of his eye…
{Ha! Finally caught you, rabbit!} Abra twitched. Rabbit? {Now to crush you!}
"A-Al-.." Abra chocked out, trying not to let his mind implode under the pressure.
{Al? Your final word is Al?} Eric taunted as he applied even more pressure to Abra's mental defences, noting with satisfaction that they were buckling.
"ALLY SWAP!" Screamed Abra, desperation tainting his voice.
{Ally Swap? What kind of move is…} Eric trailed off as he realised that the target of his attack had once more vanished. For Mew's sake! How many variations of Teleport could there be?
He would have continued this line of thought, but a feminine voice which most certainly was not his partner returning victorious interrupted his venting.
"Are you even going to open your eyes before I punch you?"
Eric's eyes flew open, and his mouth fell open. There in front of him, was the Umbreon that his partner was supposed to be fighting.
Right then, several things fell into place. The name of the technique invoked. The fact that he hadn't felt a mind because Dark-types were immune to Psychic techniques, including mind scanning. The reason why his partner was currently suspended several metres in midair by Telekinesis by the person who was supposed to be his opponent.
Mostly, though, it was Kate's fist falling into place against his jaw. The super-effective Dark move bypassed his defences, causing massive pain.
His world was spinning…
"That was a Payback attack, jerk. Now taste my Frustration!"
Pain once more blossomed in his head as Kate punched him in the jaw. He was finding it hard to think clearly…
'Why isn't Emma helping me?' was his last thought as his vision went dark.
"Huh. What a wimp." Kate dawdled as Eric fell into a limp pile on the ground.
"Let me down!" Kate hung her head. Did her 'improved version' have no idea of the situation she was in?
"You'll be sorry you messed with Team Rocket!" Emma yelled, still defiant. "Overheat!"
Abra Teleported out of the way of yet another flame stream. This caused the Telekinesis holding Emma up to fail, and she fell to the ground, landing on her face.
Kate raised an eyebrow as she looked over Emma's battered form, smiling at all the bruises she had given her before Abra had switched their locations. She sighed, however, when Emma got back up and crawled toward her bag.
"Seriously? You want to keep going?" Kate asked, bored.
"Please stop." Abra pleaded. "There are two of us now, and we were out of your league to begin with!"
"I'll show you!" She shouted, reaching toward the bag that…
Wasn't there anymore?
Emma's gaze snapped up to see her bag floating in midair between Abra and Kate. "Give that back!" She screamed.
Kate and Abra both sighed. Why would they allow her access to the bag that probably was full of healing items? She and her partner obviously have had no real-world experience.
"Fine then…" Emma growled. Her head slumped as defeat settled though her body. She turned her head around. "Doctor… I have failed – "
She stopped suddenly when she realised that the four of them were alone in the clearing.
"Hey!" Kate exclaimed. "When'd the Doctor leave?"
Several moments earlier…
"Time to go, doctor. Make one sound and my sword hand might… twitch."
Dr Sonja was torn between wondering when the sword-wielder had snuck up behind him, why his Psychic abilities couldn't seem to affect him, and if he would carry out his threat.
Ultimately, he complied, allowing the youth to take him much deeper into the forest, away from the fight occurring in the clearing. After his captor had judged the distance to be great enough, he turned the scientist around to face him, keeping his sword pressed against his throat the entire time. The doctor observed his captor for a moment before recognising him.
"You are that anomaly. The one who claims to be unravished by the chaos of The Change."
"How do you know Kate and Abra?" The boy asked, ignoring the man's knowledge about him for the time being.
The Metagross found a smile dragging itself across his face despite himself. "Why, those two were my greatest achievements!"
The boy's eye twitched. He almost didn't want to know. "'Achievements?'"
"Oh yes. My new creations are much better, though. Their improved DNA is much less glitchy, you see."
Despite his human appearance, a deep, inhuman growl made its way out of the boy's throat. "And what, exactly, are you trying to achieve with your… 'creations'?"
The smile on the grey-skinned Steel-Psychic-Type died as a serious expression covered his face. "Tell me, my boy, do you remember the time before The Change? When the world as we know it changed forever? Do you remember how, as governments were straining, trying to restore peace and order to the world, the Legendaries made themselves known, taking power for themselves?"
"What does history have to do with my friends?"
'Friends?' Dr Sonja wondered.
"Why, it has everything to do with them, my boy. Tell me, did you ever imagine what happened to those who resented the takeover? Those that treasured the ability to decide who governs you?"
"They went into Ungoverned territory."
The doctor would have thrown back his head and laughed, but there was still a sword at his throat. "And you think we were content to be thrown out of our homes with no fuss?"
"There's a 'we' now?"
"Of course, simply removing the Legendaries from power is impossible." The doctor continued, ignoring the question. "The only way to remove the Legendaries from power is to remove them from the world!"
The boy's eyes widened as the penny dropped. "You made Kate and Abra into weapons!"
"I see."
Both man and boy blinked at that. Neither of them had said that.
The sword came away from Dr Sonja's throat as huge vines as thick as tree trunks burst from the ground and wrapped tightly around the man, leaving only his head visible though a gap in the vines.
Frantically, the boy cast his eyes around the area, looking for the person he knew had to be there. He spotted her when he looked around the vine-trap; she was walking into the clearing with a barely restrained fury.
She had a face that most would describe as pretty. Her hair was combed to look somewhat like a tiara made of vines, a feat helped by the forest green colour it was sporting. Her skin was a creamy colour, and she had two wings protruding from her back that brought fairies to mind. She was the Forest Guardian Legendary, the Grass-Psychic-Type Celebi.
"Celebi!" The boy exclaimed, alarmed. "How did you find out about this fight?"
"I haven't, Alex. I won't find out until tomorrow." Celebi had moved around to face the man she had trapped in vines.
"Wait, what? Celebi! You can't use time travel for something this trivial!" Alex protested.
Celebi's voice was calm, but Alex could almost taste the rage pouring off the powerful Psychic. "You are a despicable man, Dr Sonja."
"This coming from the dictator? You'll excuse me if the irony is more palpable then the tension." Being trapped with vines surrounding him had apparently done nothing to unnerve the man.
Celebi ignored him. "What am I going to do with you, Doctor?"
Dr Sonja snorted. "Kill me, obviously. I'm too much of a threat to your precious empire."
"I don't think so, Doctor. Even though I can feel your vile thoughts from here, I have more self-control than that. But you will pay for what you have done to the children."
Something passed over the doctor's face then. An expression of… cold satisfaction?
"You don't know the half of what I did to them to protect them from the likes of you." He spat.
Alex felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "You did more than alter their DNA?" He pressed.
The doctor's cold eyes fell upon Alex then, and Alex could feel the man's hate burning into him.
The expression in his eyes reminded him so much of Kate's…
"Yes. I did more than forge weapons, I forged them."
An expression of cold realisation griped Celebi. "You altered their minds."
"Only the Eevee. Placing Psychic compulsions on the Abra might have compromised his mental abilities."
He gasped as the vines suddenly tightened themselves around him.
"What compulsions?" Asked Celebi in a low, dangerous voice.
"Oh, quite useful ones, I assure you. One to make her desperate for power, one to put the proper hatred of Legends in her heart…"
"And what," Growled Celebi "Is going to stop me from removing those compulsions when I next see her?"
"Only the final compulsion." Dr Sonja stated. "A hatred of having her mind altered. " He smiled as a horrified expression spread across Celebi's face. "Which would make the person who removed those compulsions…"
"…no better than you." Alex finished.
"You will tell me everything you know about this project of yours." Celebi commanded.
"No I won't." The doctor stated.
"And what is stopping me from ripping the information out of your mind?"
"The poison orb I've been holding since the vines showed up."
The two who weren't encased in vines froze for a second, and then started removing the vines in a frenzy, one by hacking at them with a sword, the other by ripping the vines off with her mind. But it was too late, as the the poison coursing though his systems finally did enough damage to…
"He's gone." Was all Celebi would whisper, as she bowed her head in a mixture of sorrow and frustration.
In a dark, shadowy room deep in Ungoverned territory, two figures were conversing with each other.
"You recovered all the evidence, then?"
"Of course, sir. All the remnants of project Downfall have been… dealt with."
"The old failures still live." It was not a question.
"Unfortunately sir, they are under the watch of the forest guardian. For now, they are beyond our reach. The newer failures, fortunately, attempted to return to us."
"Will the Legendaries not act on the information the older failures can provide?"
"Their claims will have no collaborative evidence, and it is clear that the female's mind has been tampered with. They will have little credibility."
The two figures contemplated that for a moment.
"With Sonja's demise, you are the new lead scientist."
"Thank you, sir!"
"I trust you do not intend to continue his work."
"No sir. His idea was flawed from the beginning; it doesn't surprise me that it failed. He was given 8,000 subjects, and returned two survivors. Even his more recent experiments proved weaker than his old ones; proof that he was unable to improve on his mistakes."
"What do you intend then?"
"Sonja's idea was to amplify the abilities of the common folk, hoping to match the power of the Legends. Mine is much more logical. I shall make my own Legend, even more powerful than the Legend so kind as to leave its fur where it could be retrieved."
The leader absorbed this information for a short while.
"And what do you intend to call this project?"
Though the room was too dark to see in, the gleam in the scientist's eyes was impossible to miss.
"I shall call it: Project Mew 2!"
Note: Alex isn't a Gary Sue, there is a reason he is human-like while everyone else isn't. It just wasn't explained this chapter. Also, this story used Gen V movesets, but not Gen V pokemon.
If you liked it, hated it, couldn't care less, reveiw and tell me why! I can't make it better unless someone points out what I'm doing right/wrong/not at all.