First off, Pokemon and the related characters are property of Nintendo and not of me or cydra.
Exo-Gene and the related elements are a company I made up.
Finally…despite the name…this has no relationship to the pokemon episode of the same name
This is also an unofficial sequel to Cydra's Pokethropy Story, set a year after the events of that story. It is done with his permission
Key:
Human speech
translated pokemon speech
CPS Chronicles: Loose Ends
Chapter 2
May and Max went to the Pokémon Center in the morning. They had gone there with that Charmeleon they had found the previous night. Since it was so beat up, they were worried if it had recovered or not. Nurse Joy took them to where the charmeleon was. "I'm still confused as to how he got some of his injuries. You say you found him in the woods near that new laboratory?" she said, looking at the bandaged and still unconscious Pokémon.
"Yeah, it looked like some big Pokemon had beat him up," said Max. "Well, he'd show some signs of bruising," said Nurse Joy, "But it looks more like he's been hit with a beam-based attack. And I'm not aware of any Pokemon around here that knows of any beam attack. As a matter of fact, I don't believe Charmeleon live anywhere near here."
The pokemon on the bed stirred for a minute before laying still again. The three leaned forward and jumped as the Pokemons eyes shot open.
--
Matt opened his eyes when he began to hear voices on the edge of hearing. What had happened? Oh yeah. Dante had been using his own Morph gun and had used the damn peacemaker setting. He looked around at the blurry figures at the end of his bed. Had a splitter team picked him up? The silluette's of the people were gigantic.
Matt blinked his eyes and the figures cleared up to be those two kids from yesterday, Max and May standing there with a nurse. "Hey, what are you guys doing here? And how'd you get so big?" Something didn't seem right. The words didn't sound quite the same coming out of his mouth. And apparently, they didn't understand him.
"Guys...this isn't funny. Dante could be here any minute." he said, reaching for one of the heart monitor strips and freezing when he spotted his hand. He raised the other up to what he realised was snout level now and looked to see the other hand was identical. Covered in red scales and sporting three nasty looking claws. "Ok...intel screwed up again and there was a hostile reality field. Memo...dropkick, Lieutenant Tallow out a window upon returning." he muttered before proceeded to step two of the standard reaction: Freaking out.
Matt got up onto his feet and was hit by a big dizzy spell. That and his new center of gravity caused him to lose his balance and fall over. That's when he noticed that he now had a lizardlike tail and the tip of it was on fire.
Matt stared at this. At least it managed to shock him out of his freak out. "Ok...this is headed into Twilight Zone territory ." he said, pinching the tail just to make sure it was real. Judging from the pain, it was. He sighed and took a deep breath and spelled something that somehow put his teeth on edge a bit. He turned to find that it came from Max. "Weird...stupid nose." he muttered before getting an idea. He jumped down and began scratching letters in the floor, only to be picked up by the nurse. "HEY...HANDS OFF LADY!" he yelled.
The exact wording didn't through the language barrier, but the implement did. "Oh dear," said Nurse Joy. "We better sedate him until he fully recovers." Matt stared at this. "You bring a needle anywhere near me and I'll...I'll...smeg it." he muttered, giving up and sulking.
--
While Matt was getting a brief introduction to a new species, Dr Zine was fervently wishing he'd been left behind. "Ok, ya little snake. Y'all tell us where the captain is. We all know Dante missed him cause the computers picking up his ID chip." said Anderson threateningly.
"How should I know?" said Dr. Zine, "I'm not psychic." "You know because your little lab project attacked him," said Chloe, "and charring a layer of scales off of you is hardly the worst thing I can come up with right now if you don't tell us more."
Dr Zine shrugged. "Then I'd hurry up and get out there to find your brother. I doubt you have much time...URK!" he said as Chloe kicked his chair over and put a foot on his throat. "If he's even less then healthy when we get him, you won't be...comprende?" she said coldly.
"Easy, Chloe," said Techo, "You can't much information out of a corpse." Then he turned his attention to the computer, "Ok, I've got a lock on his signal. That's odd." "What?" said Anderson. "It says that he's in town." Chloe got her foot off Zine and wandered over. "It's some kinda medical facility." continued Techo. Chloe grinned. "Simple enough. We go in and discharge him."
Zine laughed and said, "I doubt it will be as simple as you think." Chloe glared at him and said to the others, "Remind me to tear a bit of his hide off when we get back." Anderson nodded. "I could do with some new boots." he said with a smirk.
"Ok, I've the address," said Techo, "It's the Petalburg...Pokemon Center?" He gave a wary glance towards Zine who just smiled in a mocking way. "Perhaps this really isn't that simple," said Techo.
--
Meanwhile...
Matt had decided that if he had to be sedated he'd make the orderlies work for their paychecks. He had managed to get onto one of the ceiling lamps in his room and was sitting there with the closest thing a charmeleon could get to a smug grin. "I'm not coming down." he said happily.
May tried to get him down using a broom, but that only ended with it catching on fire. "Maybe if we squirt him, he'll drop down," said Max. Matt heard this and glared. "Don't even think about it, kid." he said then realised he was still speaking pokemon to them and decided to save his breath, though he did blow a raspberry.
May released Squirtle and said, "Squirtle, use Water Gun, but don't do it so hard." Matt dodged the water blast barely, almost losing his footing. "Hey...Donatello...watch it with the squirting. I don't even wanna be here...if I get injured my sister'll turn you into soup." he said, scrambling back up.
The next water blast missed Matt, but it hit the lightbulb. This resulted in Matt getting a rather big zap and falling to the ground like a moth that flew into a bug zapper. "I haven't hurt this bad since Veemon head butted me." he groaned, weakly before getting up. Some little mental voice was telling him to put turtle boy in his place. His post-zapping body seconded the idea. "You want a fight then?" he said.
Squirtle noticed the unfriendly look in the Charmeleon's eyes and quickly ran behind May's leg. Matt sprung up and chase after him, trying to scratch him with his claws. "Hey, cut that out!" yelled May. Squirtle turned slightly and hit Matt with an Ice Beam. However, Matt had recently spent the last few months being shot at and had honed good dodging reflexes, sidestepping the beam. He opened his mouth without thinking and lunged with a fire fang attack.
Squirtle used Withdraw and ducked into his shell. The Fire Fang attacked bounced off, but Squirtle's shell gave Matt the mental image of a hockey puck. He aimed a push and sent the withdrawn Squirtle into the wall. Unfortunately...exactly like a puck, the shell bounced off, shot back at Matt and knocked him head over tail.
"This has gotten to rough," said Nurse Joy. She released her Chansey and told it, "Chansey, use Sing on that Charmeleon." Matt turned at that, snapping out of it. "Wait. I'm not a poke...mon...night night." he said as Chansey used her attack. He fell forward with a clunk.
"My goodness," said Nurse Joy as she picked up the dozing Matt, "This Charmeleon certainly is rambuctious." Max gave the Charmeleon an odd look and said, "Yeah, we'll come back later. I think there's a little more to this Charmeleon than meets the eye."
--
Matt sat in one of the rooms used for wild pokemon that had been brought in. The other pokemon couldn't have given him a wider birth had he been a carrier of Quantum Virus. "For heaven's sake. I'm not a nutcase." he said for a fifth time to the few pokemon that shared with him.
"You're not a natural Pokemon neither," said a Shroomish nervously. "Well done. You're the first...thing to admit that. I've been saying that since I woke up." he said in an irritated voice. Suddenly the world went dark as something big loomed behind him. He turned to see the biggest crocodile he'd ever seen...a Feraligator. "Uh...hey there..." he whimpered.
"You don't belong here," growled the Feraligator. "Yeah, I know," said Matt, backing away, "I'd leave as soon as I can but I have to wait for..." "You'll leave now!" Matt narrowly avoided becoming flattened by the Feraligator's Iron Tail attack.
Matt fled across the room at a good turn of speed until he found he'd run out of space to flee. "Oh...bugger." he said as the Feraligator advanced on him. "Now, now," Said Matt as he backed up into a corner, "I'm sure there's a way to deal with this nonviolently." Suddenly the window broke open and a Mightyena leaped in.
Matt settled for curling into a ball until the noises stopped. When he looked back, the Mightyena appeared to have used the Feraligator as a punching bag as it was lying on the floor with its eyes spinning. "Dude..." he muttered and squeaked when the Mightyena turned to look at him. "DON'T EAT ME...I DON'T TASTE GOOD!" he screamed.
"I'm not here to hurt you," said the Mightyena. It's voice sounded familiar, but Matt couldn't place it at the moment. "You're...you're not?" he said, calming down a bit. "Please believe me. This days been wierd since I woke up in this...hospical. I'm not supposed to be like this." he said
"I believe you," said the Mightyena, "You're a Pokethrope, aren't you?" "A what?" Matt said. "Are you just here to take the smeg?" he added in a suspicious tone. He sighed and remembered what had happened back at the lab. "One of...well...me, bit me...I got shot...woke up like this." he said
"In that case, how comes you're in Pokemon form during the day?" asked the Mightyena, "and how comes you're not trying to fight the other Pokemon?" "Cause I don't want to..." said Matt. "Hey...I saw you...at the gym." he said, putting destination to the memory of the pokemon before him. "I saw you just after that big sloth thing knocked me over." he said
Mightyena chuckled and said, "Yeah, Vigoroth does get wound up on rainy days. Well, I better get going before Nurse Joy sees what the commotion's about." "What about me? I don't want to be someone's...pet...wait...you believe me?" he said.
"Of course," said the Mightyena as he was climbing back up to the window, "I went through the same thing myself." Matt was about to ask who the Mightyena was when he wasn't beating the hell out of crocodiles when the door opened and Nurse Joy looked in. Matt followed her gaze to the dazed Feraligator and back to her. "Erm...I didn't do it." he said.
Nurse Joy looked disapprovingly at the Feraligator, "That Feraligator's trainer needs to teach him some self-control. A Pokemon should know better than to attack smaller Pokemon in a hospital ward." Matt turned and smirked at Feraligetor who returned it with a death glare. "Sleep tight...Don't let the german shepard sized wolves bite." he said and wandered over to a corner to go to sleep.
--
The next morning, Max and May were walking to the Pokemon Center. "Are you certain about this?" said May. "Definite," said Max, "He said he was a Pokethrope and he saw me before when he got tackled by Vigoroth. There's only one person who's been there."
"Three people...it could have been any one of them." said May, remembering the other two. "How will we know for sure?" she began as they turned the corner to come face to face with Chloe. "Oh...erm...ok." said Chloe, unsure what to say. She was dressed up like a trainer this time around but the sports bag was still there.
"Hello, Chloe," said May slowly, "Where have you been yesterday?" "You know...escaping certain lasery death...capturing wanted fugitives...and looking for my AWOL brother." she said without a hint of sarcasm.
"Hmm, such uncharacteristic honesty," said Max, his voice heavy with sarcasm. Chloe sighed and said, "Listen, I'm sorry we lied to you, but this thing's a lot more complicated than you could ever hope to imagine on your own. I'm just here to get my brother." Chloe spotted Max's gaze and pulled a blaster out, losing it for a second. "Where is he?" she snarled before getting a hold of herself and putting the gun down. "I'm...sorry. Please...where is he? He's the only family I have."
"Ok, ok, we were just on our way to see him," said May. "Yeah, please put the futuristic gun away," said Max. Chloe put it back in her holster. "It was just a stun gun...ok...lead the way." she said as if she hadn't just waved a raygun around a minute ago.
Nurse Joy was waiting for Max and May. "Oh good, the Charmeleon has recovered nicely. He's in the other room." Chloe looked at the kids suspiciously but started her plan. "You found him? I was so worried." she said, eyes welling up while ignoring May's Max's and even Techo's stunned looks.
"Oh, is it your Charmeleon?" asked Nurse Joy. "Yes," said Chloe, "We got separated three days ago and I was worried what happened to him." "Ok then," said Nurse Joy, "I'll go get him at once." Chloe watched the nurse walk off then turned on the two kids. "30 seconds to explain...make it good." she said, dropping the act at warp speed.
"We found this Charmeleon in the woods after you guys broke in," said May. "I think he's Matt and he's been turned into a Pokethrope." "A Pokewhat?" said Techo. "It happened about a month ago when I was going through the Contests in Johto," said May, "I was heading towards the Contest in Olivine City when I stopped at Ecruteak City. My dad was having a meeting with the Gym Leader there so Max came along with him." "We were staying at the Dancing Sisters' place and I decided to go for a walk," said Max, "But then a Mightyena attacked me and bit my leg. May came and scared it off."
"We learned later that Mightyena was cursed and had given Max Pokethropy," said May, "It's this curse that spreads when an infected Pokemon bites a human. When it does, that human turns into a Pokemon at night and starts fighting other Pokemon. Eventually, the human becomes a Pokemon permanently."
"Fortunately, we met this witch who made a special Moon Ball to help me control this curse," said Max, "It's not gone permanently, but at least I can change how I look whenever I want."
Chloe glared throughout the explanation. "You expect me to believe that...that rubbish?" she said icily but quickly turned when she heard a happy sounding 'CHAAAR.' and was staggered as a creature almost identical to the creature from the labs ran over from the returned Nurse Joy and hugged her leg. She picked him up, unsure then spotted something on the pokemons shoulder. "Oh...oh, Matt..." she said in shock before smoothly dropping back into character...not that she needed much acting. "I was worried sick," she said.
Techo walked over to Nurse Joy. "Thanks for finding him...how much do we owe you for the treatment?" he said, reaching for the pocket where he kept a few credits handy. "Oh, no money is necessary," said Nurse Joy, "I'm always happy to help a Pokemon in need." "Well, here's a few credits to cover anything he might have damaged," said Techo, putting the money in Joy's hand. "How did you know he-" "He's often breaks anything that's around him," said Chloe, getting an annoyed look from Charmeleon.
The mercs walked out, followed by May and Max. "You sure thats your brother?" asked Max. Chloe nodded and pointed to a faint line on the charmeleons shoulder. "He got...into trouble against one of Dante's toys on our last op. Piece of metal cut him." she said. Matt nodded and started gabbering away in pokemon. Chloe seemed to get an idea. "Yes...yes you can have first shot at Zine when we get back...just try not to kiill him." she answered, causing Matt to grin evilly.
"I don't think you should let him do anything violent," said May. "Pokethropes tend to get carried away in battle," said Max, "Look what happened with Squirtle." Chloe looked at Matt. "What did happen? Wait, why am I asking him? Hey, kid." she said to Max. "If you can go all pokemon'y...you ask him."
Max looked around to make sure no one's watching and then shrank down into a Mightyena. After a short conversation, Max resumed human form and said, "He said he felt a little voice inside encouraging him to fight." Chloe and Techo however seemed to have lost all communication with...anything. They were staring at Max in shock with their mouthes open so wide they were in danger of catching birds, let alone flies.
"Um, its rude to stare," said Max. Matt asked a question in pokemon and Max said, "Yeah, I was that Mightyena you saw. It turns out that if you start out at the same level as your age and you keep fighting to level up and evolve."
Chloe was first out of her shock at that. "I doubt it...the guy who had Matt's biter...he's a genius in genetics...he's bound to have improved what he saw as mistakes." Techo snapped out of it next. "Guess he wanted to restart Kurata's Bio-Weapon project." he muttered.
"Maybe we should keep him at the gym just in case," said May, "My dad has strong enough Pokemon to subdue him if he gets out of control." Chloe looked at Matt. "Well...I'm not leaving him alone...so I go too...Techo...you and anderson keep an eye on Zine and grill him for info on how to fix this mess." she said. Techo nodded. "Gotcha, Boss lady...OW!" he said as Chloe kicked him, yelling "DON'T CALL ME THAT!" "I can see we have a lot in common," said Max to Matt. Matt nodded, trying to hide behind May from Chloe.
So...poor matts caught the same condition that max caught back in 'Pokethropy'. At least he and his sister and crew have help...tune in next time.
