Coloured Fire
This story is the beginning of a series that will run concurrently to my main story series: Portal to an Affair, and eventually will merge with it.
It takes place in the same country, at the same time, and the stories are linked, however, this story's protagonist is a lad named Sareh … I hope you enjoy this.
As with Portal to an Affair, this story is about Pokemon, and it is also written from the protagonist's viewpoint.
The beginning of this 'fic' is loosely based on another I read a few days ago, but I have made absolutely sure that I have not stolen any ideas, I had thought of it all before anyway, enjoy.
Part One: the Past
It all started when 'Liour industries' set up shop in my town, they claimed to be a company funded by the government attempting methods of making medicinal potions with cheaper and more effective ingredients.
I wasn't a trainer, but I had two pokemon as pets, and so this seemed like a great idea to me…
In a matter of days, I managed to gain a part time job in the facility… but on my first day… that's when it all began…
"Ah, Sareh, I need your assistance with what is a potentially ground-breaking test!"
Music to my ears, I could hardly resist the thought of being famous… so I followed my tutor and overseer, Mr. Marcone to his laboratory.
When I got down there, he was sitting on his leather computer chair, spinning left-to-right, then back again, anxiously waiting for… something…
"Sareh… this is incredible… I think I have created an offshoot of the common medicinal potion that also has curative affects on humans!"
"That's amazing! But you don't sound so sure…"
He looked me in the eye, almost with a look of regret…
"Well… that's why I called you here… I need you to take a draught of this as a test… I assure you it is safe as houses…"
"But why me?" I said as he brought out the opaque vial from his coat pocket…
"Because you had a paper cut this morning, did you not?"
"Oh, I get it, if it works, my paper cut will heal… good thinking doc…"
He poured the liquid into a shot glass he had prepared… it was a murky blue-purple colour… and it looked very much different to a potion… I was getting worried.
"So… h… how is it different to a normal one then?" I asked him, realising I may well have just got in over my head…
"Well… we, just made minor changes to its molecular structure, that's all…"
"Then why is it that colour?" at that question, he stopped, his eyes nervously darting side to side… my suspicions were confirmed when he simply thrust the glass in front of me and shouted "Drink it down now!".
I would have simply refused and quit, the pay wasn't worth this… but… he had drawn a small pistol, so I had no choice…
"What kind of a scientist carries a gun around?" he simply waited for me to imbibe the chemical, as if he could only tell me once I had downed it…
I brought the glass to my lips… it… tasted like salt water, causing me to splutter slightly, but, alas, I had swallowed all of it…
"So… it's going to heal me now?" I said to him… a smile broke out on his face, his form was wracked by barely contained laughter, until he could hold it back no more and began howling in hysterics at me, pointing…
"You idiot! This gun isn't even loaded! and how could you believe even for a second that that was a potion?"
My worst fears were confirmed, as I began feeling unusually hot and began to sweat…
"What was that then?" I asked, dreading his response…
"I'll start from the top" he smirked "so I don't confuse you… first of all, this company is a lie… have you ever heard of 'aura'?"
I wracked my brain, remembering it was a form of energy latent in all living creatures, few could truly harness it…
"Y… yeah…"
"Well, 'Liour' is just an anagram of 'Riolu', we were originally trying to find a way to chemically utilise aura, we were even funded by team Galactic! but in the end, the closest we got was…" He smiled broadly at me, pointing "A chemical formula capable of altering the form of any human being into the form of our namesake, an aura user…"
I think I had grasped what he meant, but I asked again, as I could not believe his words… "a… what?"
"Awww, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, you know that… uhh… 'Lucario' thing? Yeah? Well, it's the one before that, Riolu… I'm sure you know, all kids your age are trainers!"
"Wh… what?… so… I will… become… one of them?…"
He said to me an a very matter-of-fact way "In about a minute, yeah, but you wont evolve or get caught or any of that crap, you'll just look like a freak! Hah! And its permanent!"
I slumped to my knees, and began to cry… what would I say to my mother? How can I explain that what I had told her was the nicest job ever was actually a scheme of team Galactic, and ended me up as a pokemon look-alike!
All of these thoughts left my head when I felt a sudden shudder… the moment of transformation was at hand…
Steadily, I began to get shorter, eventually stopping at a height of about 3ft…
I could feel the front of my face pushing out… my eyes widening… it felt almost sickening… something felt horrendously uncomfortable behind me, until my spine finished extending into a tail…
All of this took about another minute or so, when the feelings stopped, the scientist picked me up by my waist… in one hand, and held a mirror in front of me, cackling maniacally…
Everything he said was true… I was in all physical respects… Identical to a Riolu…
"B… but… why… why?!" I begged, tears in my eyes.
"Well, your one of several who have been changed in similar ways to this, we're doing it all over the country to aid our research into Pokemon… and their weaknesses…"
He began to laugh again as I struggled feebly "There is another, more immediate gain, however!"
He reached into the pocket of my old trousers, that had slumped off my new, smaller body, and plucked out my wallet, pocketing it.
It was embarrassing to think that… as my clothes no longer fitted, my mentor was staring at my naked body… but I guess that's what my fur was for…
Things were looking bleak… I had no idea what he was planning on doing with me… but I knew it wouldn't be good at all.
Plucking up all of my courage, I bit into his hand, with a shout of rage, he dropped me… using this window of opportunity, I knew what I had to do…
If I just ran outside, no-one would believe me, they had no reason to, they'd just think I was some crazy little Riolu… I had to have proof of who I am… and that was my key card…
It had my name, address, information and a photo of my old self, so I snatched it from my old trouser pocket and began to run…
Mr. Marcone began to chase me, yelling out… "How dare you! I even put in a good word for you so that we wouldn't tag you after we were finished! And this is how you repay me?"
I just kept running, the doors were in sight… my heart sank as I saw they were locked and barred… but I just kept running… and with a loud crash, I broke through the glass window! Clearly team Galactic was too stingy to install double glazing…
Eventually Mr. Marcone gave up the chase and went back, muttering, I may have been half his size, but he was quite an unhealthy man to say the least…
It began to rain, I was close to home, but it didn't stop me from getting my fur soaked through.
I jumped up and pressed in the button to ring the doorbell… it was hard to swallow that the door I was three-quarters the height of this morning, I now was only half its height…
The door opened, and I was greeted by my mother's warm smile…
"Oh, you poor little thing, are you lost? Please, come in, I'll try to get hold of your trainer for you…"
Of coarse, she had no idea it was really me…
"B… but…"
"Oh my, you can talk? That makes things easier… please tell me, who is your trainer?"
A bit of me didn't want to tell her the truth, but I knew I had to…
"I… I'm sorry… but… it's me… mother…" I handed her the key card, at first she smiled, still thinking I was a misguided little pokemon…
But then she looked into my eyes, and gasped…
"Sareh… but… but how?…"
"I'll do my best to explain… 'Liour industries' is a fake… it was a secret scheme being run by team Galactic to harness latent natural energies… my supervisor did this to me as an experiment…"
"Oh my poor boy… when does it wear off?…"
I began to cry… "It's… it's… permanent…"
She picked me up, and carried me upstairs… "Calm down, Sareh… remember… you always said you wanted to be a pokemon when you were younger…"
"Yeah… but… who didn't?… there is a bright side to it though… I can't be caught, and I don't have to worry about evolving… its only a physical change…"
"That's the spirit" she smiled at me again "dry those tears… your still my son… and your still Sareh… and I personally think you'll get to liking this new form of yours… anyway, you need a bath, little one, your cold and dirty…"
I blushed with the realisation that my new size and 'cute-ness' gave my mother an excuse to mother me all over again…
The bath water was a great relief, although it felt strange cleaning my… new body, especially when your doing it with paws…
Blushing even more, so much that it showed through my fur, I asked her "Ehh… c… can you please… please… help m… me wash?"
Her eyes lit up, I knew from that second that my transformation was the best thing that happened to her… and to be honest, I was getting to like it too…