Pokota's Plight

Chapter Two, Switch

By Relm

Three days went by and no one had seen or heard from Prince Posel. This got the kingdom in an uproar. Where had their crown prince gone?

At first many had assumed that Pokota had gone to Sailune secretly to see Amelia. As Amelia was the only princess that showed any interested in the stuffed doll prince. But a few messenger pigeons later it was confirmed that Pokota wasn't in Sailune.

Then the thought went on to kidnapping. But that was unlikely as Pokota was quite strong with his magic so any kidnapping attempt would have him defending himself causing a lot of noise and destruction. That and the would be kidnappers had not sent a ransom note.

So by process of elimination it was decided that Pokota still had to be in Tarforashia. But where?

Every able body person searched tirelessly for Prince Posel. They checked any known place Pokota tended to go and then places he didn't usually. They used magic in their searches, fearing that Pokota had gotten trapped somewhere in one of the old underground passages.

Pokota could hear the rumbling of the earth as his people searched. He even felt it too. Each time someone casted magic above him the jar his soul was trapped in moved from the vibrations. Closer and closer to the edge both the jars got on the tiny little table they were on. Till one big blast got them right on the edge.

'Please one more spell!' Pokota pleaded. He knew how close he was to the edge. But what he didn't know was all the spells above were making the passage he set up his lab in very unstable. It was about to collapse at any moment.

BOOM! The sound of another fireball boomed through the tunnel giving the little jars that push they needed.

CRASH!

Pokota felt his soul leave the destroyed jar on the ground. He saw that his koppi had also been freed of his jar. Pokota looked to the koppi's body and the stuffed animal on the ground. For a moment Pokota hesitated. He knew that he should go back into the stuffed doll's body and let the koppi go back to his own body. But for a moment he considered the idea of taking the koppi's body. The dust and rocks that fell from the ceiling brought Pokota back to reality. The passage was collapsing.

So making up his mind Pokota went to take his stuffed animal body. Or he would had if koppi Pokota hadn't taken it first. The doll looked up at Pokota with a smile on his face.

'Why did he do that?' Pokota's mind screamed in confusion. More rocks falling over head snapped Pokota back and he did the only thing he could do. He took the body of the koppi. Right away Pokota scooped up his koppi up in his arms while shielding his face. "BEPHIS BRING!" Pokota casted creating a tunnel upwards to escape. "RAY WING!"

The people of Tarforashia were in for a shock. A large hole opened up in the middle of the kingdom and two things flew out. The stuffed animal they knew to be their prince and a boy that looked an awful lot like what their prince had been. But before anyone could question the two, both of them collapsed once they landed.

...

Pokota shielded his eyes from the sunrays poking out from the curtains. He tried in vain to turn his head away from the offending light and hold to sleep that he was wrongfully being robbed off. The smell of food however snapped his sleep mind awake as a tray of food had been placed before him.

The King of Tarforashia looked with curiosity as the boy that looked like his son woke and hungrily ate and drank all that had been placed before him. He had been quite alarmed when he found out what had happened. The boy and what he thought was his son appeared to be in a bad state of dehydration and starvation. The stuffed animal that the King thought was his son had awoken earlier and did as the boy did now, eat and drink like a thirsty and starved creature. Once sated the animal didn't respond or talk like Prince Posel did. He didn't do anything, except walk around examining things like a domesticated pet would. The King hoped that this boy would have answers for him.

"Ah that was great!" Pokota sighed patting his now full belly. Since the bodies had been left not in a containment spell they had suffered the effects of lack of nourishment. So when Pokota casted those two spells it sucked out all the energy left in his koppi's body. Pokota went to stretch while looking up. His father and just about all the guards that could fit in the tiny room where there staring at him. "Um hello...?"

"Posel?" The King dared speak.

"Yes father it's me."

A chorus of cheers rang through the castle as they celebrated not only finding their crown prince alive, but human again.

...

It had taken a few days for Pokota to recover and to explain everything that happened. Though his father had been cross with him engaging in illegal magic he was happy to have his son back. Even if Prince Posel didn't look exactly the way he did.

Koppi Pokota or Kopo as he had been named by the kingdom seemed to be extremely content in his new body. For the most part Kopo stayed with Pokota either following the prince around or happily laying on his shoulder or head. It was very apparent to Pokota that Kopo seemed much happier in the doll form then he did as the koppi Pokota. He still didn't know why his koppi chose to take the body of the doll but he was grateful for it. Because of Kopo he got the chance to be normal again.

Everything seemed to be fine for that first week. But then after a week something went wrong.

Pokota had been just going for a walk around his home when all of a sudden he felt as if his stomach was being ripped in two. He collapsed on the ground clutching his stomach while Kopo fawned over him in great concern. Many gathered around Pokota not knowing what was wrong.

...

The pain lasted a day before Pokota felt better. The healers hadn't been able to help him, nor could the doctors. The pain just went away on its own. They didn't know what it had been but they were thankful it only lasted a day.

The next day however Pokota's head hurt. And the day after that it was one of his legs. Each day brought a new strange pain Pokota had to deal with. Sometimes the pain would last the whole day; sometimes it would last a few hours.

No one was sure what was wrong but Pokota had an idea of what it was. The koppi body that Pokota had taken was unstable. It was dying. He couldn't confirm this but he couldn't ignore that fact.

"Posel we'll get you some help! Someone must know what is wrong with you." The King insisted trying to make his son feel better.

"Father I wouldn't worry, I'll be fine." Pokota lied to his father as he went to get out his bed. "I'll figure something out. But I need to leave; we don't have what I need here to help me."

"No! You mustn't leave! We'll get you help, you need to stay and rest." The King insisted.

"Where would you get the help father? I know you haven't told anyone of my new body. It's because it's the body of a koppi and making koppis is forbidden. Who is going to send healers to help me? I got myself into this mess so I'm going to have to fix it." Pokota insisted. He got up and went to pack some things for the trip he had to take.

"Then I'll send escorts with you." The King decided. After everything that had happened to Pokota, the King wasn't about to let his son run off when he could very well be dying.

"No father, if I'm going to fix this mess I'll need to keep my identity secret. If I go with a lot of guards then people will know who I am."

"Posel I don't like this."

"I know but this is something I have to do alone." Pokota decided as he finished stuff getting ready.

...

As Pokota left Tarforashia he let out a heavy sigh. He wasn't sure of where he could go and as much as he insisted on going alone he wished he had company. With his hood of his cloak pulled over his head shielding his face Pokota started aimlessly walking. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't feel the sudden weight on his left shoulder.

Pokota looked over to his side and noticed that Kopo had decided to come with him. "Well I guess it's okay if you come along." Pokota patted the little stuffed animal on the head.

Kopo smiled happily as he purred slightly.

"Well Kopo I don't know where we should go. There's only one nearby place I can think of that might have the information I need. But I don't know how they are going to react to my situation. They may refuse to help me."

Kopo tilted his head sideways as he looked at Pokota questioningly. It was obvious that little doll didn't quite understand Pokota.

"I'm sure they'd let me at least read some of the books they have." Pokota thought out loud. "Did you take the stuffed animal's body because you knew your koppi body was failing?" Pokota knew he wasn't going to get answer but he felt compelled to ask.

Again Kopo just tilted his head in confusion. It didn't understand Pokota but it seemed like it wanted to.

"I guess it doesn't matter if you knew or not. I decided to play god and this is what I get." As if god was proving his/her point Pokota got a screaming headache that was so sudden and painful that he fell to his knees.

Kopo hopped of Pokota's shoulder and got right in his face hoping to see what was wrong with his creator. He nuzzled Pokota trying to get the prince's attention but the prince was in too much pain to acknowledge the living doll.

When Pokota tried to open his eyes he found that he was blind. The pain was centered behind his eyes messing up his vision. He was aware that Kopo was in front of his but he couldn't see his little stuffed animal koppi. In fact the light from the sun was too bright for Pokota to even keep his blind eyes open. He had no choice but to keep his eyes closed. The pain was so intense that Pokota felt nauseous. With nothing else he could do Pokota curled into a ball under a tree to wait for the new pain to subside.