I thought it was a bad idea from the start. It had been a bad idea to go out at night, it had been a bad idea to approach the fallen star, and it had definitely been a bad idea to sign up for whatever weird thing the mutation Pokemon had done to us. But Midori doesn't listen to me, not anymore. I'm not sure whether it's that she's lonely without Kip, or if she's just pushing herself too hard to try and prove herself, to show that she deserved to go on a journey, too. Either way, she hasn't been content to stay put, in the lab or in the hotel room we're in right now, and someone has to look after her. So when she went sneaking out again, even though I thought it was a bad idea, I followed. "Midori, let's go back."

"Stop being such a wet blanket, Praseo. Don't you have at least a little sense of adventure?"

"No. I don't. My idea of adventure is having a nice meal and listening to the professor talk about the spread patterns of Pokerus."

"Then last night with the whole mutation, DNA thing should be a blast for you." She scampered her way out of town, toward the beach, and I obligingly followed on my short legs as best I could. When we got to the beach, however, the hole was gone. As if it had never existed, the dirt smoothed over. "Huh, would you look at that," Midori said, scratching at the dirt. "Someone covered it up. Look, you can smell it. Humans have been here."

"That means they don't want us out here, Midori. This isn't safe," I stressed. "And it doesn't involve us. Let's go."

"Do you think those infected people did it?" She ignored me, as usual, pawing around in the dirt.

The grass rustled, and I jumped, preparing to turn on the flames. Thankfully I recognized the Vibrava from last night. "Hi, you guys!" he said with a grin. "So you were poking around here, too? Absol thought you might show up. Well, c'mon, hop on. We're gathering at a secret base."

"A secret base?" Those words were like a gateway opening to Midori. "Let's go!"

"This was not the 'let's go' I had in mind," I hissed at her.

"Don't worry," the Vibrava assured me. "It's perfectly safe. No humans around. And we won't hurt you. Hey, you can trust me," he added as he saw my face. "I'm the partner to a Pokemon Ranger."

"I'm not afraid of you," I said, fluffing myself up. In reality, he could pound me into the ground and we both knew it, but I had to do something to protect Midori. Speaking of Midori, she was already climbing on the Vibrava's back, so with a sigh, I had no choice but to follow.

The Vibrava flew us southward, down past the town to the local bike trail set up over the water. Skimming between the water and the ramps, he flew out into the lake itself, finally landing on an island barely big enough for the tree growing on it. "Hold tight," he instructed, climbing up into a hole among the branches.

To my surprise, the hole was bigger than it appeared on the outside, a hollowed-out space that was definitely large enough for all of us to be comfortable. Absol, as well as the funny gray creature from the other night, both sat on the interwoven branches, clearly waiting for us. "Good morning," the Absol directed to us.

"Found 'em by the hole, just as you said, big sis," the Vibrava told her.

"I figured that'd be the case. It looks like someone has repaired the area-who, I don't know. So I thought it best to be cautious. This used to be a human base, but they haven't come out here in quite some time."

So it was a human base. I felt a bit jealous. It was amazing what you could accomplish with Secret Power-or thumbs. Midori took a seat next to the funny gray Pokemon, and I obligingly sat next to her. The Vibrava settled down next to Absol, watching us all calmly. "Well, then," Absol said. "I suppose we should begin with-"

"Introductions, of course," the gray one said, fluffing up her fur. "It's only the polite thing to do."

Absol looked at her. "A good idea. We'll have tea next."

"Well, I do like a spot of tea."

"That was a joke."

The Vibrava let out a little snort of laughter. "Well, I'll get started, then. My name's Avocado. I'm a Vibrava with big dreams of being a Flygon, and I'm currently working as the partner of a Pokemon Ranger named Astra."

"Won't she miss you?" I asked.

"Nah, we do our own thing all the time. So, you are?"

Ack! Now I was on the spot, the others watching expectantly. Midori came in to save me. "This is Praseo, and I'm Midori. We live with Professor Birch."

"Of Littleroot, right?" the Absol said. "I thought he worked out in the field more. Isn't he getting a little old for that?"

"He does," I spoke up. "We mean the other Professor Birch, his daughter. She's in town to meet with the gym leader about New Mauville. Did you know? It's a big underground space that they want to renovate into an emergency shelter. And it's got a power plant, and-"

"One day, we're going to go on Pokemon journeys," Midori said. "Oh! I'm a Treecko and he's a Torchic. I named us," she added proudly.

Absol nodded. "That's a good goal to have."

The gray creature fluffed herself again. "Well, I'm Cici, a proud member of the Cinccino species, and my trainer Emilio are travelling around the region to participate in Hoenn's contests. Of which I plan to win them all, of course. So, I really don't have time to deal with this nonsense about space viruses. Don't you think it's all rather absurd? I mean, can we really go trusting strange Pokemon like that?"

She was a strange Pokemon, but I didn't say that aloud. "I did take a look at the professor's pokedex. There's nothing that looks like that Deoxys did, not even close. So there's that."

"You think Deoxys was lying?" Avocado asked her. "Seems weird to me that it'd lie when it knew it was going to die soon."

"Well, maybe he wasn't lying, but he couldn't have been right. Maybe he was just insane," she said, flicking her tail around. "Who ever heard of space viruses possessing humans? It's the stuff of little kids' storybooks, not real life."

"I think that's the point, though. We haven't heard about it, and that's why they're a threat." Avocado looked at Absol. "What do you think?"

She folded her paws in front of her. "I've... been feeling an ominous presence for some time. Some impending danger. To me, it is not unreasonable that this would be the cause. So I certainly do not wish to let things go without a proper investigation."

Cici harrumphed, fluffing herself again. "Well, what do you expect us to do about it? We're just a bunch of Pokemon. If they've already gotten to the Gym Leaders, what do they expect us to do?"

"You do have a point," Avocado agreed. "We don't really know anything about this. Maybe I should ask my partner-"

"No," Absol cut him off. "I don't think we should involve any humans at all, unless we are sure that they are not being controlled by this space virus. We have to assume that at this moment, we are the only ones who know about this and that every human is a threat."

"That's... kind of a lonely feeling," I mumbled to myself.

Absol looked over at me, and smiled. "Do not fear, little one. At the least, we can rely on each other."

"Now hold on," Cici said. "I haven't agreed to anything."

"You don't have to, of course," Absol agreed. "But I think it would be in our mutual benefit to work together, at least for a short while as we figure out what we know about this situation and how we are going to respond to it. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it. You have a trainer, don't you?"

Cici scowled at Absol. "I'm in!" Midori volunteered immediately.

"Midori..." I scrunched down, feeling as if I'd reached my saturation point with her lust for adventure.

"What?" She scowled at me. "Don't you want to protect the professor? What do you think will happen if she gets sick with this virus? And what about Kip's human? Shouldn't we protect him, too?"

"But what do you think we can even do?" I asked, some of my frustration seeping into my voice. "We're low-level Pokemon. We can't fight Gym Leaders."

"If you want to go, I can't make you stay," Absol said. "But we're the only ones there are. Keep that in mind. And no one's said anything about fighting Gym Leaders, anyway. All of you, from what I see, are involved with humans. You have a personal stake in this."

"Shouldn't we tell other Pokemon?" Cici said. "Surely there are some more that are capable."

"Tell them what? We barely know anything as it is," Avocado pointed out.

"Let's review what we know," Absol said. "First, our enemy is a virus that comes from space. Second, humans infected with this virus have their bodies controlled by this virus. Third, humans do not show any symptoms of this virus. Fourth, the Pokemon League is said to be infected with this virus."

"There's a lot of holes," Avocado said. "How does this virus spread? What are its weaknesses? And equally important, what's its goal?"

Absol nodded. "From what Deoxys said, it does sound as if this virus is self-aware, as humans and Pokemon are."

"Not that we're talking about the same kind of virus," I said slowly, pausing to see if anyone interrupted, "but the professor's studied viruses before. Their 'goal', if you could call it that, is just spreading itself. She said once it's the basic instinct of life. Sometimes they spread so much they destroy their hosts..."

"That's another good point," Avocado said. "Will this virus kill the humans it infects? How long has this infection been going on?"

"This isn't something that has just now happened," Absol said. "If this virus is the cause of the ominous feeling I've been sensing... it's been at least a couple of months, growing slowly. Most importantly, we don't know if this virus has a cure or if there is a way to keep it from infecting untouched humans."

"Humans make vaccines to stop infection," Midori mused, "but I suppose that would have to involve humans."

"And I'd rather not yet."

"What about that Deoxys?" Cici spoke up, busying herself with dusting off her section of floor. "What is it it did?"

Midori looked down at her hands, and I followed suit with my own short wings. "That's a good question," Absol said. "It said something about transforming, didn't it? I wonder what it meant."

"Transform is the signature power of Ditto, a Kanto pokemon," I spoke up again. "It allows it to transform into Pokemon it's seen." I looked over at Midori.

"Well, let's give it a try." She turned to face me, staring hard. "Nope. Not working."

"I tried that as well," Absol said. "As you see, whatever the Deoxys gave us, it is not as simple as Transform."

"Maybe what it tried didn't work," Cici suggested.

"No, it happened, I'm sure of it," Midori said. "I felt it. Didn't you?"

I sat back, tuning them out. DNA, the mutation Pokemon, transformation... "You know, we were holding its hand when we got the power," I said to myself. "Maybe we have to touch?"

Midori looked over at me, then put her hands on my face. "Still not working."

I ignored her (well, as best I could) and thought about the feeling that Deoxys had created when we'd touched. There-I felt a tingle, again. In front of me, Midori let out a yawn, looking content and sleepy. "Still not working."

"I felt something. Hold on, I'm going to give it a try," I told her, closing my eyes. Of course, being a Torchic, I didn't have any idea how Pokemon normally did Transform, so I just focused my thoughts on changing, like it was any other move. I thought about the fire that burned in my belly when I used my fire attacks, but this time, instead of letting it out, I held it inside myself, and pushed the fire through my body. And then things began to shift, to enlarge and elongate. I dared not open my eyes to see what was going on, but I wasn't sure that I liked this sensation.

Midori's shriek made my eyes snap open again. "By Arceus!" she swore, cautiously approaching me. "How did you do that?"

"Uh?" I looked down at myself. Instead of my feathers and wings, I was looking down at a smooth green belly and sucker-tipped fingers.

"So that's what it does?" Avocado said, looking at me. "You're not just transformed, you're pretty much an exact copy."

I looked over at Midori, who seemed weirded out. That made two of us. "I-I'll change back," I told her, and closed my eyes again. Within a minute, I was back to fluffy and orange.

"Can you explain the process by which you did that, Praseo?" Absol asked me.

"I... I thought I'd focus on like it was last night, with the receiving," I said, shrinking down. Couldn't they stop staring at me for a little bit and let me think? "I felt a tingle, just like when Deoxys gave us its power. After that, I just focused on changing into her."

"That's so creepy, but really cool," Midori said, now over her initial surprise. "I wanna try!"

"What, right now?" Cici asked.

"Why not?" Avocado agreed. "Let's try transforming into each other."

Cici took a step back, clutching her tail. "I'm not sure how I feel about that. Having two of me would just be strange and too pretty."

"You can abstain if you wish." Absol nodded to Avocado. "Let's go in a circle, then. Try touching me and acquiring my DNA."

He nodded. "And you touch me, Praseo. Unless you want to sit this one out?"

I looked up at him, nervously. The Vibrava was so much larger than me, making it hard to imagine becoming him at all. "Oh, fine," Cici huffed, stepping forward again. "I'm not such a chicken," hey, I resented that, "that I'll let kids do what I won't. I just have to touch this little green one?"

"It's Midori," she said with a scowl, even as she reached out, taking my wing in her hand. Her touch felt cool, and I felt calm radiating from it, spreading through my body and relaxing me. I reached out with a foot, and the Vibrava obligingly moved his tail under my claws. Acquire his power, I thought, and just like before, it felt like holding Deoxys's limb all over again, feeling it enter me. Now there was another something else inside me.

"Now what?" I heard Cici ask as I snapped out of my relaxed state. "That wasn't as bad as I thought."

"Next, let's give transforming a try," Absol said.

I did what I had done before, and focused on making a change into the Pokemon I'd seen, had acquired the DNA of, eyes tightly shut. I heard Cici let out a squeal, and Absol's voice: "Don't stop. It'll be worse if you do it halfway."

"It'll be hideous, I'm sure."

I took those words to heart, and kept the fire burning until it had done all it could do. Then I opened my eyes, and looked down at the self I had become. I was now a Vibrava in appearance, but not just any Vibrava, I realized; I had the same unusual reddish coloring Avocado did. And if he hadn't been transformed, I bet we would have been a perfect match. The rest of the room contained the same Pokemon it had before, but now I had to remember that the Midori next to me wasn't actually her at all, but disturbingly, was me. "I'M SO FLUFFY," she shouted, and burst into flame.

"Midori, calm down!" I shouted. "You'll burn the whole tree down around us."

She blinked at me. "Oops!" Letting her fire go out, she stepped back, and I began stomping on the flames, joined by Cici-er, not Cici. Absol?

The actual Cici had stepped back from the group, looking displeased as she looked at her hands. "So this is what a Grass-type is like? I'm not impressed."

"Hey," the me-Midori snapped, "don't diss my body."

I backed up a little, and jumped as my tail hit the wall. I'd always thought being small had its problems, but being big had a whole new set of issues. I didn't know where to put my legs, my wings. Wings! What would flying be like in this body? Could I fly?

"You really are an exact copy of me," Avocado-who-looked-like-Absol said. "Right down to the color. I wonder why?"

"It's DNA," I realized. "Didn't Deoxys say it was the power of DNA? If we're acquiring each other's DNA, that would be why we look exactly the same."

"Should we stay like this for too long?" Cici spoke up. "And, uh, how do we change back?"

"The same way we changed, I suppose," Avocado said. As I watched, his fur took on a soft glow, and then his outline began to shift. It was almost like watching an evolution, except in this case, he was "evolving" into another species altogether.

And then there were two Vibravas in the secret base, and what had felt large to begin with was starting to feel cramped. "How do you handle being so big?" I grumbled, shifting my feet. "This is too confusing." I thought about turning back into my original form. With my eyes closed, I don't know if I was glowing, but I could certainly feel myself shrinking, scrunching up. And when I felt the changes stop, I opened my eyes again. The feet were mine. The wings were mine. I felt immense relief to be back to normal. And yet... being something else hadn't been all bad.

"How long is a good question," Avocado said as the others changed back. "So if we transform for increasing periods of time, we should be able to suss out some comfort levels for us."

Absol nodded. "I think it would also be a good idea to acquire the DNA of some different Pokemon and get accustomed to this ability. It won't be easy to move around in a body we're not used to, let alone use its abilities."

"This is exciting," Midori said to me. "We can get DNA from some of the Professor's other Pokemon. In secret, of course," she added. "We won't tell anyone what's going on."

"That's all well and good," Cici said, "but how is this going to help us with this virus problem?"

"I suppose, when we decide what we're going to do about this space virus, we would be able to answer that question," Absol said. "We don't have enough information right now. But we do have one lead. Deoxys said that the Pokemon League is under their control. If this space virus is acting with a goal in mind-and if they're in control of the Pokemon League, I certainly think that's a possibility-then sooner or later the gym leaders will have to do something towards that goal. I'll ask some of my friends around Hoenn to keep an eye on the gym leaders without telling them why. Hopefully, we should catch them in the act sooner or later."

"But if they're acting in another city, how are we going to catch them?" Midori said. "We live in Littleroot. We're far away from everywhere else."

"You should learn to teleport, then," Absol told her.

"... I'm a Grass-type."

"That was a joke. In all seriousness, I would look into learning how to transform into something with wings."

After the meeting wound down, Avocado did us the favor of flying us back to the hotel directly, letting us slip back into the window Midori had left open. "This is going to be fun," she said, climbing the wall above the hotel room's bed. "Changing into other Pokemon! What do you think we should try? There's that big ol' Venusaur back at the lab the professor borrowed from Kanto, that might be pretty awesome. Oh, but we need something with wings. Maybe that Tropius that delivers the mail will stop and talk with me."

I let her crawl around the walls and chatter, flopping onto the bed and making a little nest in the blankets. All this excitement was exhausting. "Hey, Praseo," Midori said from the ceiling. "What should we call this power? It's not really like a transform, but it's not an evolution, either."

"Call it a Forme shift," I mumbled, closing my eyes.

"Forme Shift! That's brilliant."

When I slept, I dreamt of flying.