A/N:
Drew sat dejectedly by against a tree. Vaporeon and Masquerain were still playing in the water. Roselia and Absol were whispering together, shooting him concerned looks every once and a while. Flygon was once again sitting up in a tree, staring impassively out over the lake. Quilava was sheltering under some bushes as far away from the lake as he could possibly be without losing sight of the others.
Drew couldn't believe it. His Pokémon becoming humans, well, that was fine…it wasn't a big deal, really. But…him becoming a Pokémon? A Piplup? Drew could just die of shame. He was fat! And he waddled. Plus he couldn't even swim. Or at least, he hadn't been able to as a human…he was afraid to try it as a Piplup, just in case he still couldn't. He didn't want to suffer the humiliation of having Vaporeon or Masquerain rescue him. After all, as a human, at least he could have touched the ground with his feet and walked, but now that he was a Piplup, well, it was a different story altogether! Finally Roselia scooted over to sit next to him, while Absol took a seat next to her.
"Master Drew?" She said hesitantly, "Are you feeling okay?"
Drew sighed. "You don't have to call me master, you know." Roselia and Absol exchanged confused looks with each other, then looked back at Drew.
"It's a habit, I couldn't stop now," Roselia admitted, "All Pokémon call you people master…"
"If you've caught them, of course," Absol added.
"Anyway, we thought maybe we could go into town and see if anything is out of place there." Roselia continued, "Maybe we could figure out why this happened."
"Flygon and I already checked around the forest while you were still passed out, and nothing seemed out of place there," Absol said. Drew glanced up at the intimidating figure of Flygon and wondered if he had always been like that.
"So what do you say?" Roselia asked.
"…we'd have to find you some names," Drew said, "You couldn't go around as Pokémon anymore. And what about me?"
"We figured it all out," Roselia assured him, "We'll split up into three groups. I'll go with you and pose as your trainer. Flygon can go with Masquerain and Vaporeon to make sure they don't get into trouble, and then Absol and Quilava can go together. Sound good?"
"I suppose."
Roselia looked at him closely. "Are you sure? I don't want to make you go into a city before you're ready to face other humans."
"What if we see someone I know?"
"They won't recognize you, don't worry," Absol assured him hurriedly.
Drew sighed. "I guess so."
"Right, then that's that!" Vaporeon said cheerfully, and Drew jumped – he hadn't noticed when the other four Pokémon came over to listen.
"Can we go now, Flygon?" Masquerain said, practically bouncing up and down in excitement, "I want to see what the shops look like!"
"Yeah, me too!" Vaporeon added. Flygon rolled his eyes at Absol, who shrugged.
"You may as well get going," He said, "If we all come into town at the same time it'll attract attention."
"Great!" Vaporeon and Masquerain squealed in unison. They linked arms and skipped off, and Flygon went striding after them, his long legs meaning that he could keep up easily.
"You two go next," Roselia instructed Absol and Quilava, "But go sort of diagonally so you don't get there in the same place, and walk a little slower than them." Absol nodded and walked off in a slightly different direction than the others, but still towards town. Quilava followed him.
When they had faded from sight, Roselia smiled at Drew. "Shall we?"
Drew nodded mutely, and followed her. He wondered just how much he had been missing of his Pokémon's lives when he couldn't understand them. He had always known that Masquerain and Vaporeon were great friends, but he hadn't understood just how naïve and happy they both were, and just how close their friendship was. And if he had ever imagined either of them being human, Drew probably would have switched the rolls of Flygon and Absol. He had always thought that Absol was more withdrawn and introspective, while Flygon would be more of the leader. And had Quilava always been so little and shy? Had Roselia always been sort of the mother of the group? It made him feel kind of bad. Drew had always thought he was a great trainer and nice to his Pokémon, and he had thought that he understood them. But really…well, he hadn't understood them at all.
Was May any better? Drew wondered if that time at the second Grand Festival they had ever entered, when May had gotten angry at him for being mean to Absol, had been an indicator of just how little he did understand his Pokémon. He was sure that May understood hers better. Probably her friends Ash and Brock did, too. The more he thought about it, the more depressed he became. Roselia and all the others would probably die for him if he asked them to, and yet he hardly understood a thing about them. Had the world always seemed this big and confusing? Drew sighed.
Roselia glanced at him with concern. "Are you sure you want to go into town?" She asked, "We don't have to if you don't want to. The others could search it just fine, I'm sure."
"No, I'm sure," Drew said hurriedly, "I wasn't thinking about that."
"Oh," Roselia said. She still sounded concerned, but she tactfully didn't press the subject.
"Roselia…" Drew said reluctantly, "Has Flygon always been this…intimidating?"
Roselia looked surprised for a moment, then relieved. She laughed slightly. "Is that what's been bothering you? Don't worry about it. He just likes to be left to his own thoughts more than the others, but he's really nice. He really respects you, too. I think seeing you as a Piplup was just –" She broke off, realizing she was about to say something rude about her master's current physique.
"It's okay," Drew sighed, "I know I'm fat."
Roselia snickered a little bit. "And you waddle." Drew glared at her.
"I said I know, you don't have to rub it in," He snapped. Roselia's face sobered immediately.
"I'm sorry, Master Drew." She said.
"You know, I meant it when I said you don't have to call me master," Drew said, "As far as I'm concerned, we're friends, and I'm certainly not anyone's master."
Roselia didn't really know what to say to that, and so they walked on in silence. To tell the truth, she was having doubts of her own. She had always thoughts that trainers would want their Pokémon to call them master. Plus it was just unheard of not to – all Pokémon did it. But then again, you were supposed to do whatever your master said to…so if he said not to call him master…did that mean she wasn't allowed to? Except that he hadn't said that she couldn't…he just said that she didn't have to… Roselia shook her head. This was all so confusing. It was even more confusing when she realized that other Pokémon would be thinking of her as a master now, and thinking of Drew as an equal. It made her a little indignant to think of them calling her master by his first name only, but then she remembered that they would call him Piplup, not Drew. Speaking of Piplup… Roselia glanced sideways at Drew. They were almost to the city now and they were going up a steep hill. Drew was toiling away and moving as fast as he could, but he wasn't making much progress.
"Are you sure you don't want me to carry you, Master Drew?" she asked, all doubts falling away as she fell back into the habit of calling him master, "It would be much easier, really it would."
Too out of breath to say anything, Drew continued silently until he reached the top of the hill, then flopped down onto his back. Waddling was a lot harder than walking, he was realizing. Plus he was so small that while Roselia was walking slowly for her, he was walking as fast as he possibly could. Unfortunately he hadn't counted on how round he now was, and the second he laid down he started to roll down the hill head over heels.
"AAAHHH!"
"Master Drew!" Roselia scooped him up instantly to stop him from rolling all the way to the bottom, and, remembering that he had told her not to pick him up, quickly put him down at the top of the hill again. There was a silence, as Roselia wasn't sure what she should do now that Drew hadn't answered her question and since he had already said no once. But he was obviously exhausted…and what was more his feet were so small now that they kept on sinking into whatever mud they came across, so his bottom half was covered in mud…in short, he didn't look like he was enjoying himself much.
"Lots of…trainers…carry their Pokémon," She said finally, trying again, "So…so it would help with the disguise if I carried you."
Drew, finally regaining his breath, relented. "Okay." he said wearily.
Roselia wordlessly picked him up and carried him into town. She was worried that anything she said might hurt her master's already shattered dignity and then he would order her to put him down again, which she really didn't want to do. After all, another part of being a Pokémon was to not let your master suffer, if it was at all avoidable, and while it wasn't as if his life was being threatened or anything…like she had thought before, he didn't look like he had been enjoying himself very much.
Drew, meanwhile, was discovering that good part of being a Pokémon. He stared dreamily around at all the shops going by, his poor tiny feet and almost non-existent legs blissfully freed of all weight, thinking that for as long as he was a Pokémon, he was never going to let Roselia put him down. He had forgotten all about his human-version of dignity. After all, like Roselia had said, Pokémon were carried around by their trainers all the time. So while he was a Pokémon and had an excuse, he might as well enjoy himself.
Or at least, he was enjoying himself, until he realized that May, Ash, Brock and a certain blue-haired girl that he didn't know were coming towards them. Pikachu and Beautifly were riding on their respective trainers' heads, while the blue-haired girl had a Piplup on her head.
"They'll recognize me!" Drew cried, squirming out of Roselia's arms and dashing behind her legs, "Hide me!" He peeked out from behind her ankle at the approaching foursome.
"Oh, what a cute Piplup!" The blue-haired girl cried, "Was it your first Pokémon?"
Roselia stiffened at having her master called 'it', but nevertheless, with acting skills born of her performing days, answered warmly as if it meant nothing to her. "Yeah, he was."
Okay, perhaps she did put the teeniest emphasis on the 'he'.
"Cool, just like you, Dawn," Ash said.
May, meanwhile, was eyeing Roselia strangely. "Have I…seen you before? You look familiar. What's your name?"
"Um…why are you in town?" Roselia diverted.
"Oh, there's a contest coming up!" Dawn said excitedly, "And it's a really famous one, too! I came over here all the way from Sinnoh just to be in it!"
"No, really, what's your name?" May persisted.
"You don't have to be scared of them, you know."
Drew, used to focusing on the human side of conversations, dropped and let out an undignified yelp when he realized that Pikachu, Beautifly and Piplup had come up to him. It was Pikachu that had spoken – it was smiling at him.
"They're nice people, don't worry. They're great masters!" Pikachu said earnestly.
"Do…do I know you from somewhere?" Beautifly asked, "You look familiar."
"Oh…" Drew said, glancing wildly at Roselia, who had just proclaimed that her name was Rose, and then looked back at Beautifly, "maybe in contests or something…"
"Yeah, now that you mention it, he does look kind of familiar," Pikachu said thoughtfully.
"Aren't contests great?" Beautifly said happily. Drew was surprised that she seemed so gentle and sweet and naïve. He had expected her to have more of May's fire and stubbornness, but he had seen none of that so far. Beautifly was just…sweet.
"Well I certainly haven't seen him before," Piplup said, crossing his flippers and looking down his beak at Drew, "He's such a sorry excuse for a Piplup he hardly deserves the name…I would have remembered seeing him."
"Piplup…" Pikachu began soothingly, but Drew's inner Piplup pride had been awakened.
"I'm more of a Piplup than you'll ever be!" He said, crossing his flippers and sticking up his beak in true Piplup fashion.
That got Piplup going. Fuming with anger, he shot a Bubblebeam at Drew. "Take that!" He cried.
"AH!" Drew cried as it hit him right in the face, sending him flying backwards. He had never thought that bubbles could hurt that much, but it hurt.
"Maste – I mean, Piplup!" Roselia cried, starting forwards, but Drew's new Pokémon fighting instincts had been roused.
"You're going to regret that!" He cried, raising his flippers above his head. An enormous swirling whirlpool appeared above his head. Everyone screamed as they were caught up in the whirlpool; everyone except Beautifly and Roselia, who managed to leap out of the way in time. No one but Beautifly noticed the superhuman speed with which Roselia did it.
"That's ENOUGH!" Pikachu yelled, and the whirlpool (and Drew) was electrocuted by a powerful thunderbolt.
This whirlpool disappeared and everyone fell on top of Drew, who was lying in a daze from Pikachu's Thunderbolt. He wondered how he could have ever thought that Piplup's Bubblebeam had hurt.
"Ma – I mean, Piplup!" Roselia quite literally flung Brock aside in her desperation to pull Drew out of the pile. She then cradled him in her arms.
"You should try being a bit nicer, Master Drew," She said quietly while the others untangled themselves, "You aren't strong enough to be rude."
Drew weakly raised a flipper and pointed at Piplup. "He…started it." He proclaimed.
"I know," Roselia sighed, "Should…should I take you to a Pokémon Center, or something?"
"No!" Drew protested, struggling into a sitting position, "I'll be fine, the Thunderbolt just…surprised me, yeah, that's all!"
Roselia looked at him sadly and opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment Dawn was on her feet, holding her Piplup and glaring at Roselia.
"You should learn to control your Pokémon a bit better!" She snapped, "It messed up my hair with that Whirlpool!"
Roselia bristled. "He's not an it! And in case you didn't notice, your Piplup started it!"
"Piplup did fire the first attack, Dawn," Brock pointed out, trying to bring the peace, "You should both just chill out."
"Calm down, Roselia," Drew muttered so the others couldn't hear him, "I don't mind…"
Roselia took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She wasn't going to be mad if Drew thought it was okay, but still, the indignity of it… Noticing that Dawn was still fuming, she decided to change the subject.
"Well, some good did come out of that," She said, smiling at Drew, "Piplup figured out how to attack."
"What?" Ash said disbelievingly, "That was the first time your Piplup has ever attacked? How long have you been together?"
Not noticing Drew's frantic head-shaking, Roselia said: "Quite a while."
Drew suppressed a groan. Roselia, who had never paid attention to human conversations before, didn't know what Ash was going to say next. But Drew thought he had a good idea of what Ash would say…
"Hey, then we can help it out!" Ash said immediately, "I bet if your Piplup was in a real battle with my Pikachu it would figure out how to do attacks better!"
Roselia's face fell as she realized what was happening. "Oh, I don't know…"
"Come on," May said, "it'll be fun. You're a coordinator, aren't you? You'll have to battle sooner or later, and Ash will go easy on you."
Drew and Roselia exchanged helpless glances. "Okay…" Roselia said, and allowed the four humans to lead her to a clearing just outside the town.
She put Drew down, who had mostly recovered from the Thunderbolt, and Pikachu leapt down to face him.
"Don't worry Piplup," Pikachu assured him, "I'll go easy." His ready stance proclaimed otherwise.
"Let the battle begin!" Brock said. He was being the judge.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt, but go easy!" Ash ordered instantly. Pikachu obeyed just as instantly and Drew, the memory of the last Thunderbolt still fresh in his mind, ran.
"AAAHHH!" He screamed. Fear lent him new speed and he dashed all over the battle field, dodging Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Roselia muttered, dancing from foot to foot and biting her nails, "What do I do? Oh, Master Drew, what did I get us into…?" Fortunately, no one heard this last bit. Except Pikachu, who had big ears, and was starting to get a little confused about this whole situation.
"Rose, you've got to order Piplup to attack!" May cried, "Hurry, before he gets fried!"
Drew, meanwhile, was trying desperately to do an attack, but he couldn't for the life of him remember how he had done that Whirlpool. Desperately he hoped that if Roselia ordered him to do something, some part of the Pokémon inside him would hear and understand and he would just start automatically doing whatever attack she told him to.
Unfortunately, Roselia was having difficulty of her own.
"Uh, right," She stuttered, "Um…attacks…Piplup's attacks are…" Secretly she was also frightened of ordering her master to do anything, and the fear seemed to be paralyzing her thinking abilities.
"Whirlpool, Bubblebeam and Peck!" Dawn said, coming to the rescue, "Tell it to use one of those!"
"Just pretend you're me!" Drew shrieked, still rocketing around the battle field.
Fortunately, none of the humans could understand him, and Piplup was too busy laughing his head off to hear. Beautifly did hear him, but immediately decided that she must have heard wrong. Pikachu, however, believed what he had heard and started to get suspicious.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Ash ordered.
"Here he comes!" Beautifly warned as Pikachu shot towards Drew with blinding speed. Beautifly felt bad for him. Drew barely had time to scream before Pikachu rammed him in the stomach and he went flying backwards. He groaned and tried to sit up.
"Uh…uh, right, Mas – I mean, Piplup, use…Peck!" Roselia said hesitantly.
Unfortunately, Drew did not discover that he could use Peck now that she had told him to. More unfortunately, Ash didn't notice this, and ordered Pikachu to use Thunderbolt in order to counter it.
"I'm sorry, PIPLUP!" Pikachu cried as he electrocuted Drew at half his usual power. Pikachu being as strong as he was, half was plenty enough for Drew.
Drew stopped trying to sit up and simply lay there, dazed and exhausted from running, every fiber of his being aching from the attack. Little did he know, his eyes had become big swirlies.
"Piplup is unable to battle – Pikachu is the winner!" Brock proclaimed.
Pikachu turned to Ash. "I went as easy as I could," He said sadly.
"It's okay, buddy," Ash said, kneeling down and petting his head, "I know you tried."
Drew felt utterly miserable at that. Could Ash understand his Pokémon? He couldn't have been with Pikachu any longer than Drew had been with Roselia. So why could Ash understand Pikachu and he couldn't understand Roselia? That was his last thought before he blacked out.
