Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo/Game Freak/whoever else.
One
"Stay close to me, Marcus. Don't wander off."
A small boy of seven clutched his mother's hand as his green eyes surveyed the crowded marketplace. People were bargaining with the shopkeepers, trying to get a decent price on food. He noticed a pack of stray Poochyena run past a butcher's stand. A chain of hot dogs trailed from the leader's mouth, and a squat man chased them. His face was red with fury and there was an enormous cleaver in his right hand.
Marcus' mother led him to the produce stand. "How much for these bananas?" she asked the shopkeeper, holding up a particular yellow one. Marcus was focused on the strawberries. How he loved the tasty red fruit…
"Mommy, can we get some strawberries? Please?" He tugged on her skirt, but she dismissed him with a flick of her hand. Crestfallen, he looked down at the dirty ground. He didn't even notice the man dressed in black that was standing close by.
A Meowth ran up to Marcus and sniffed his hand, begging for some scraps. Marcus patted it on the head and giggled. "Sorry, I don't have any food." The Meowth purred and rubbed its head against his hand. Marcus was delighted. The boy had always loved Pokémon and hoped to be a trainer when he reached age ten.
The Meowth soon dashed off and Marcus stood to look for his mother, but she was gone. There was an enormous crowd of people in line at the fruit stand, but his mother was nowhere in sight.
"Mommy?" He checked the butcher's. The medicine store. The Pokémon supplies shop. But his mother was gone. Maybe she had gone home! Yeah, that's it! Marcus decided to walk back home, hoping he would see his mother there.
As the boy passed an alley, a pair of slender yet strong arms shot out of the darkness and grabbed him. One hand was placed forcefully over his mouth. The other was wrapped around his stomach. Marcus tried to scream, but he was unable to because of the hand. He clawed and scratched and kicked, but the arm around his body was too strong.
It was the man in black. A hood was pulled over his head, so Marcus couldn't see his face. All he saw were a pair of vivid yellow eyes with blood red slits for pupils, and a mouthful of dagger-sharp teeth. A Zangoose was at his side..
He woke.
He was drenched in sweat from head to toe. It had always been the same dream every night for Marcus. So why was he so scared? Every time he had dreamed that dream, a new detail had always come up. Tonight he had remembered the teeth of the evil, unusual man. It sent a shiver down his spine.
No longer was Marcus a puny seven-year-old. He was fourteen now. Seven years…he couldn't believe it. Seven years had been spent in this despicable cell. Seven birthdays passed. Seven Christmases. He wasn't even sure what year it was now. His connections to the outside world had been completely cut off.
He brushed a strand of shaggy, unkept dirty blond hair away from his green eyes and rose from his cot. His roommate, Zack, was still asleep on the cot on the other side of the room. Marcus smiled slightly at Zack - the boy always had some sort of erratic sleeping pattern. He wasn't fourteen like Marcus, but nine. His black hair was in his face and his bare feet were resting on his pillow.
Marcus walked to the sink in their cell and turned on the faucet, splashing water in his face and looking in the stained, cracked mirror. He felt the red horn protruding from his hair. A long red tail, tipped with a small flame, hung behind him like a limp rope. His fingernails had been replaced with silver claws, and his human teeth had turned sharp and formidable. All the time he felt overheated, like his insides were going to melt.
Marcus was a "Pokémorph." In his case, a person who was part human and part Charmeleon. The Charmeleon part was new to him. He had only just evolved last year, at thirteen, from Charmander. That was how it worked. Younger kids were the first evolved forms. At adolescence, teenagers evolved into the middle forms. Usually around age twenty-five, the final evolution took place.
"Wake up!"
Marcus turned to see their advisor, Barron, rapping loudly on the cell door. Across the hall, he saw others stirring and getting ready for the morning.
"Rise and shine, grub! We have work to do!" Barron snarled. His crimson eyes were glaring at Zack, who groaned and put his pillow over his head.
"Don't make me come in there, runt!" Barron yelled. He fished for his keys in his back pocket.
"Unh? I'm up! I'm up!" Zack squeaked. He sat up and jumped out of bed as if it were on fire. He saluted Barron and made sure to stand up straight. Marcus stifled a laugh.
"Do NOT mock me!" Barron brandished the long blades attached at his elbows. His hair was jet black, but streaked with lime green, and he was muscular in a limber, slender sort of way. He was a Scyther Pokémorph, and was as scary as they come to Marcus.
"Sorry, sir. I'll get ready, sir." Zack's pointed orange ears went back and his fluffy cream-colored tail went between his legs in a most canine-like manner. Barron gave an unsatisfied snort and walked off to harass a Nidorino Pokémorph in the cell next door.
"Wow. Some people are just NOT morning people." Zack's tail swished from side to side as the Growlithe morph looked up at Marcus. "Ya know what I mean, Mark?"
"Yep." Marcus brushed his teeth in front of the mirror. He was amazed at Zack's easygoing personality and optimism. Zack had been at the facility since age three. Most others would have given up hope and accepted their fate as an experiment, but Zack didn't. The younger boy was eager, hopeful, and joked about his situation.
"Ready for a tough day of training, Mark?" Zack was dressing in his uniform. Oddly enough, it was black. One would think that a place like this would have brighter uniforms, so an escaped prisoner could be spotted if he ran away. This was not the case. Eclipse Lab knew their prisoners wouldn't even try to run off. The forest that the laboratory was in was harsh and unforgiving, home to many powerful and merciless wild Pokemon. Even if a morph did manage to escape, nobody would accept him in the real world. He would be shunned. It would be impossible to get a job or accomplish anything productive. His life would be miserable. Eclipse Lab was the only place that accepted Pokémorphs.
Marcus pulled on his black pants and matching black shirt. "Yep. The Fire Center ain't easy." He and Zack trained with other fire-type morphs in a special training center.
Moments later, Barron returned to their door and unlocked it. "Come on, you two. Time for breakfast."
To be continued…