Chapter 2

Adele sighed, watching as Wes gently closed the door behind him. That really sucks, she thought, frowning a bit. It wasn't like he couldn't get a pokemon at all, but to have that anticipation of receiving something... only to have it snatched away... must be a terrible feeling. She sighed, and turned back to her own pokemon. She couldn't dwell on it too much, he would have to figure it out on his own.

Her charmander was still exploring the space, and had made his way over to the bathroom. She followed the flame on his tail, making sure he didn't burn anything. Suddenly, she remembered something she had seen in Otto's book. "Anthro form..." she muttered. Her charmander had gotten bored of the bathroom and was heading over to the kitchen. "Hey... hey!" she said, realizing that she hadn't named him yet. He turned around, looking at her. She suddenly felt self conscious. "Um... can you look like me?" she asked.

The charmander just stared, and she could swear it raised its non existent eyebrow at her. "You know... can you have a shape like I do?" It grinned a bit, but didn't do anything else. "An... anthro form?" she tried.

That last time, the charmander nodded, laughing a bit. His body began to shimmer and morph, growing to be several inches taller than her. His chest was ripped, his abdomen sectioned off into eight parts, and his pectoral muscles impeccable. And... he was naked.

"Agh!" Adele cried, shielding her eyes.

"Cha ha ha," laughed her nameless charmander, hands on his hips. Nudity, what's that?

"Okay... we need to get you some clothes," she said, heading upstairs. Her charmander followed. She made sure not to turn around. Hopefully Wes doesn't mind if I borrow some of his clothes, she thought.

Wes strolled the empty streets of Pallet down, walking along a sidewalk that passed a few small stores and an arcade. Pallet down had certainly started to grow, from what he'd been told. There were rumors that the town was once barely a speck on the map. Wes cared little of the history, more focused on what the future had in store. HIS future. He began to wonder if it was a mistake to come in the first place. Then again, it wasn't like he really had many other places to go.

He carelessly kicked a can, having a streetlight shining over him. It flew off into the distance, hitting into the side of a movie rental place. He glanced at it, seeing VHS tapes displayed in the windows. He couldn't help but laugh. Seriously? Still with VHS? For a world that was so technologically advanced, they sure needed to get with the times. His laughter faded off into the night.

His thoughts wandered, thinking about his plans for this new place. Maybe he'd focus on making connections. Maybe do some odd jobs. Or maybe be a pokemon trainer full time. That thought stopped him in his tracks, halting where he was. He was halfway across a small bridge that passed over a water drainage canal below. He reached inside his pocket, pulling out the pokeball that professor Oak had given to him. He stared at it, wishing he had at least gotten SOMETHING.

"Fuck it," Wes sighed.

Resting his hands on the railing, he lowered his head, staring down at the little water that was ticking by.

"hhhhhHHMMMM!"

"Sssssh! Shut up, you stupid bitch!"

Wes quickly looked around him, hearing what he thought sounded like someone in distress. He'd been around that kind of life long enough to know when something wasn't right. No matter which direction he looked in, he saw nothing.

"Heh heh, yeah, that's right," he heard a male voice chuckle. "Don't fight it."

Not good. NOT good. Wes finally realized that the voices were in fact coming from UNDER him. He looked over the railing, seeing there was a walk path on the side of the water drainage. He reached behind him, pulling out his gun. He quickly made his way to the end of the bridge, taking a turn and carelessly jumping over the railing.

Wes landed on his side, sliding down the sloped that led down to the water drainage. He slowly slid down, gun still in hand, finally reaching the walk path and getting on his feet. It was dark enough for him to remain hidden, with his dark clothes aiding him in keeping hidden. He had his silver 9mm lowered, trying not to have it give his position away.

In the darkness under the bridge, he saw a large figure pushing someone up against the wall underneath the bridge. It was hard to see the other person, with only the man being seen. He saw the man's teeth bare, showing a white toothed smile. His clothes looked dirty, having mud caked on the lower part of his jeans, wearing a torn tank top, being what looked like what used to be a white color. Used to. Sweat stains had changed the color to a nasty yellow. Wes heard him chuckle again.

"You ready for the time of your life, baby?" he asked, reaching for the belt of his jeans. Whoever he had pinned against the wall let out a cry, but was muffled by his large hand over their mouth. The man started to undo his belt. Wes wasn't about to let this go any further. He flicked the safety off, fully pulling the hammer of his gun back.

Wes moved out from the darkness, slowly stepping in the direction of the man, having his gun raised and held with both hands.

"You may want to reconsider that," Wes told him calmly. The dirty man's neck snapped in Wes' direction, quickly pulling something from his belt and raising it. He moved the figure he had captive in front of him, using them as a human shield, putting what was a large hunting knife up to their throat. Wes saw that it was a woman. Not a human; an anthro Pokemon.

She stood a little over five feet tall, covered in a dark fur. She had red eyes, with tears in them. She was completely shaken, looking so hopeless. She was completely naked. Her tail was frayed and she was visibly shaking. The dirty man held the knife to her throat, with Wes calmly standing there before him, gun pointed in their direction.

"You best walk away, boy," the man sternly told him, having his eyes ablaze and his grip tighten around the handle of his knife. Wes was unphased, not having moved a single inch.

"Put down the knife," Wes calmly told him. The man looked at him like he was crazy.

"You deaf, boy? Get the fuck out of here! This ain't none of your concern."

Wes took a step forward, with the man putting the knife closer to the female pokemon's neck, whatever it was. Wes quickly stopped the moment he saw her wince. He took a step back, showing he understood.

"Let's take this slow," he told him. "Let's talk about this."

The man was starting to get angrier.

"We ain't got nothing to talk about!" he yelled. Wes had the gun pointed in the direction of his head. He knew he could make the shot, but didn't want to be rash.

"I'm not leaving," Wes told him sternly. "If you don't let go of her, I WILL shoot. And I don't miss."

The man with the knife stared at the gun in his hand, getting a little fidgety. He looked back at Wes, eying him down.

"You're that good of a shot, huh?" The dirty man said, suddenly removing the knife the pokemon's throat, shoving her forward. She went flying towards Wes, with him catching her. He caught his balance, having her held with one arm. He looked up just in time to see the man running at him with his knife. With stunning reflexes, Wes aimed his pistol at the man's chest.

He pulled the trigger, with the pokemon he held folding her dog-like ears back from how loud it was. She had her face buried in his chest, with Wes staring at the man he had just shot, lying on his back with blood beginning to pool beneath him. Wes frowned, with the female pokemon slowly starting to turn her head, as if to see it her prior capture was still going to hurt her. Wes quickly put his hand on the side of her face, making her look back towards him.

"No, no, no," he told her, doing his best to shield her from the terrible sight. "Don't look, okay? Are you alright?"

The female pokemon looked up at Wes, with tears streaming down her face. She suddenly burst into tears, crying hysterically. He clung onto Wes for dear life. With his gun still smoking in his other hand, Wes reached into his pocket as she cried, pulling out his cell phone. Not sure if the phone number was universal in...well, that universe, he pressed 0. He placed it up to his ear, letting it ring.

"Hello?" Wes said still calm, with the pokemon he now held sobbing helplessly still. "I need the police."

Adele pushed open the door to Wes' room, still keeping her head turned away from her new anthro charmander. His bag was on his bed, the plaid purple and black duffel being unzipped partially. Already feeling like she was prying, Adele reached in, avoiding looking inside, and grabbed the first pair of shorts and shirt she could find. The shorts were mesh work out shorts, and the shirt a simple black T-shirt. She passed them behind her to her charmander, who took them out of her hands.

The shirt fit fine. But the shorts... The charmander was having issues putting them on due to his tail. But, he quickly solved this problem in an efficient manner. He got his clothes situated, and tapped his trainer on the shoulder, very much proud of himself.

"Great," Adele moaned, looking at what he had done. The shirt was fine, actually fitting quite well, not to mention showing off his figure. But the shorts... To solve the tail issue, the charmander had used his tail flame to burn a hole through the back of them.

"Cha!" he exclaimed, excited. Adele rolled her eyes, his naive excitement contagious. She smiled a bit.

"Let's go downstairs and get out of his room," she said, heading out his door and closing it behind him. She was going to have to buy him some new clothes later on. Both of them.

Once downstairs, it instantly became awkward. She turned back around to face him. He walked over to the couch and leaned against the back of it, positioning his tail in a way so it wouldn't burn anything.

"You're... pretty self aware of your tail huh?" she said lamely, starting conversation. He nodded, amused.

"Can you speak?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Char chaha charmander," he said, as if explaining. Adele nodded, not understanding what he said, but understanding the point he was trying to make.

"Gotcha... Do you have a name?" she asked. He shook his head no. She frowned, puzzled.

"I don't want to name you something you wouldn't like..." she said. He shrugged, gesturing with his clawed hand for her to list off some things.

"Okay... um... Yasser?" He grimaced, shaking his head. "Carlos?" He frowned, shaking his head again. "Vortex?" His reaction was more positive that time, but it was still a no.

Adele listed off several more names, before finally reaching an agreement on a name. "Draco?" she said, Harry Potter popping into her head for no reason. Her charmander's eyes lit up, and he nodded vigorously.

"Draco..." she said, testing out the word. It seemed cliché, however odds were that no one in that universe had ever heard of Harry Potter. So it wouldn't be too bad. "Draco it is then."

Draco grinned, baring pointy teeth and smiling.

The pokemon Wes had prevented from being sexually assaulted still clung onto him, watching a covered gurney being taken into the back of an ambulance. Her face buried into Wes' chest, with the police officer that had been dispatched in front of them. The three of them watched as the ambulance doors closed, slowly taking off with the sirens not bothering to come on There was no need.

The officer shook his head, almost in disbelief, turning back to face Wes.

"You've got one hell of an aim, boy." he told him. "Pieced his heart- straight on through."

Hearing this, the pokemon clung onto Wes a little tighter. Still in her anthro form, she was now wearing Wes' black over shirt, which went down over her backside, just barely being long enough to cover her.

"He didn't give me much of a choice," Wes said a little remorseful. The officer nodded his head.

Resting on the hood of the officers car was a needle and syringe, having been used on the pokemon.

"We IDed the guy," the officer told him, being somewhat of a burly man that looked like he threw trees logs for fun on his spare time. "He's got a record of violence, sexual assault, and even drug trafficking. That poochyena was injected with a chemical agent that's been surfacing around Pallet for the past few months. It induces the pokemon to enter it's anthro form unwillingly, leaving it that way for a while. It doesn't take a genius to know what he was planning on doing with her."

"A poochyena, huh?" Wes said silently to himself. He glanced at her neck, seeing where she'd been stabbed with the drug. "Any telling how long it lasts?"

The officer standing before them reached up and scratched his square jaw, rubbing his stubble. His eyes were a dark brown with his hair being a matching color.

"That's hard to say," he told Wes, still rubbing his chin. "It depends on how it's made, how potent it is, and the type of pokemon it's used on. The department is still trying to figure out what the hell this stuff is even called. There's a lot of street names for it, but pinpointing it's actual scientific name has proven difficult." The officer looked at the shaken poochyena, seeing her holding onto Wes for dear life. He frowned. "She yours?"

Wes shook his head.

"Well," the officer told him, "taking her into the station doesn't look like it'd help in her state, and setting her 'free' stuck in that form would leave her helpless in the wild."

Wes nodded, still with the poochyena holding onto him.

"I don't mind looking after her," he told him. "After everything she's been through tonight I don't think it would be fair to just leave her this way."

The police officer nodded, feeling like Wes, after everything that had happened, would make sure she'd be alright. He watched Wes reach behind him, pulling out his gun. It was unloaded, racked back without the clip. It was painful for him to hand his gun over to the officer.

"I'm assuming you'll need this for evidence?" Wes said with a sigh. The officer took the gun from him, and examined it. He chuckled, handing it right back.

"I got all the evidence I need," he told him. "You must not be from around here. It doesn't work that way in Kanto. It's a nice piece though."

Wes gladly took his firearm back from him, actually really surprised. Even so, he wasn't going to complain. He'd never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth before. He tucked his gun away behind him, covering it with the black undershirt he was left with.

"Thank you," Wes said to him, "it was a gift from my dad. He was a police officer too where I'm from."

The officer seemed a little enlightened by this fact.

"That clearly explains how you've got such good aim," the officer stated. Wes nodded his head, patting that back of the poochyena. "You live nearby?"

"Yeah, not to far actually. A little less than a mile."

"How about I give you two a ride home," he told Wes. "It's the least I can do after everything. I'd hate for you both to have to walk back in this chilly weather, especially seeing as she has no real clothes."

Wes gave him a thankful nod.

"That would be very appreciated, Officer..."

"Nash." he told him. "Samuel Nash. Sam works just as well."

With that, he led them to his police car.

The poochyena held onto Wes' arm the entire ride, still shaking.

Adele had decided to take an inventory of the things that she had, figuring out how much time she had left before she would need to get a real job. With both her and Wes each having 2,000,000 tabs each, or roughly $2,000, she had quite a while to get used to the new world first. Especially since their house had been paid for in full. With no rent due, the only bills they needed to pay were water and electric bills.

She had discovered that the fridge and cabinets had been stocked with local foods, all labeled in neat handwriting that she did not recognize. Draco followed her around as she searched, helping her take an inventory of the things, though he couldn't speak. She made a list, as he pulled each thing out of the fridge or cabinet, setting them on the counters.

"Four steaks..." she muttered. "Four jars of oran jelly..." They seemed to have gotten samples of nearly all the local foods offered, probably as a way for them to discover which foods they liked. She couldn't wait to try some of the berries that she recognized so well from the games. She noticed that there was food from actual animals in the fridge too, and no pokemon meat either. She assumed it was because pokemon were sentient, and animals weren't. She hadn't known that real animals existed in this universe, and she made a note of that as well.

Earlier she had gone through her bag of items that she had been given, finding a few items that would come in handy. First and foremost, she found a cell phone. A basic flip phone, it was connected to a local phone network called Jolt-Eon, apparently the fastest network in Kanto. There was a sticky note on the phone, saying that the phone service, as long as they keep those phones, is paid for by their winnings. She didn't argue with that.

Also in the bag was a Pokedex. However, instead of it being a device that she would have to fill on her journey, like she would have had to in a game, this Pokedex was already filled with information on pokemon from what she recognized as the first three generations. And it wasn't just a tiny sentence of information like the game gives. It was essentially an encyclopedia of information on all pokemon, including their habitats, diets, mannerisms, special care, unique colorations, anthro forms, special interests, and much much more. She had put it away at the time, but was going to make sure to read up on charmander that night.

There were two more things inside the bag. One was a strange looking black collar, with a sticky note on it, reading "Talker Collar. Compliments of Otto." She made sure to note that, and do research on what a talker collar was.

The last thing in the bag was a literal gift basket, with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, a candle, and some chocolates that tasted chalky. The perfect thing to cap off her day.

"Two loaves of bread..." she counted, with Draco gingerly picking up the bread in his claws and setting it on the counter. He was extremely helpful with her, and she could feel his emotions in the back of her mind. He seemed generally carefree and happy about life, excited to be exploring the world as an anthro pokemon instead of in his beast form.

Suddenly, the lock on the front door jiggled. Adele flinched, whirling around at the exact same time as Draco. He bared his teeth slightly, the flame on his tail inflating, until the door opened to reveal Wes.

As Wes entered their home, still with the poochyena clinging onto him, he froze. Standing in their home was the charmander.

Wearing his clothes...

"Uh..." Wes didn't know what to say. There really wasn't much of a way to open things with. 'Oh hey, nice to see you're still here! I just shot and killed a rapist! How are you?' Yeah, that wasn't going to fly. He felt the poochyena adjust, moving behind him a little. He raised his eyebrow, completely lost.

"I'm...back?" he said at a loss.

Adele relaxed, realizing that somewhere in her panic she had grabbed a butter knife, and was holding it at the ready. What she was going to possibly do with a butter knife she had no idea, but nevertheless she felt silly when Wes entered the room.

"You're back," she said, exhaling. She set the knife down on the counter. Draco visibly relaxed as well when his trainer did, their emotions linked through her DNA. Adele was peering at Wes, analyzing his expression, when out from behind him she saw a muzzle peering over his shoulder.

"What..." She shook her head, correcting herself. "Who is that?" she asked. Clearly a pokemon, she was black in color, with a large dog-like muzzle, pointed wolfish ears, and sad sad eyes.

Wes glanced back at the poochyena, seeing that she was still clearly shaken. He looked back towards Adele, giving somewhat of a forced half smile, feeling the pokemon he'd saved holding onto the backs of his shoulders.

"It's a little...complicated..." Wes explained.

The next thirty minutes consisted of Wes explaining what happened on his little walk. The first part, at least. The entire time he told the story, sitting on the couch with the poochyena sitting right next to him (still only wearing his button up that went past her thighs), he contemplated on how much he should fabricate his story. He got to the part where the man had pulled a knife on her, having casually left out the part about him pointing at gun at him. Wes finally let out a large breathe of air. This was now or never. Either tell the truth or don't.

"Look," Wes said almost as if he had done something wrong. "I don't honestly know how to say this without you freaking out. I um... you see..." He paused, closing his eyes and telling himself to grow up. "I came prepared. Since we're probably going to be roommates for some time, I might as well just be honest with you... Don't freak out, okay?"

Wes stood up from the couch, reaching behind him and pulling out his gun. He gently placed it on it's side on the coffee table, making sure it wasn't pointing at anyone.

"My dad's a cop. Well, was a cop. I've known how to shoot a gun since I was a kid."

Well, actually the truth of the matter was he'd known how to properly shoot a gun since he was five, but he wasn't going to start bringing up pointless facts.

"I wasn't given much of a choice. You see, I um..."

Wes looked away. There was no way around it.

"I pulled the trigger..." he told her. He proceeded to explain what happened afterword, telling her how he called the cops after 'the deed was done'.

"She's not able to switch back to her beast form after being injected with that stuff," he told Adele, avoiding making eye contact with her. "I didn't want to just leave here there and decided it would be beast to take her with me. I'm... sorry…."

Adele blinked, looking back and forth between Wes and his pokemon. Assuming he was keeping her. The mention of the gun and the killing wasn't a surprise to her, given her own past. The rapist was the most shocking, as she hadn't expected this world to be as heartless as her own. But... what else was she to expect? She was more concerned with the poor pokemon than anything, the sadness just radiating out from her.

"So... you're keeping her... right?" she asked expectantly, looking between them again. If Wes thought he was going to throw her out on the street... he had another thing coming.

The gun was the least surprising of the statements Wes had made. With her living in a farm down south, and her father owning plenty of hunting rifles and pistols, Wes wasn't the only one who knew how to use a firearm. Adele had grown up with horses, riding them in shows, and on occasion even racing, and had become a sport hunter at a very young age. She had gone on annual trail hunts with her father and her uncles, and could shoot a gun almost better on horseback than on the ground. And while her experiences with guns usually had involved shooting deer and rabbits, she wasn't about to mention any of her experience to him at this time.

She looked at the poor girl again, who appeared to be close to her own age, but her absolute fear made her appear several years younger than she really was. "Because if you don't keep her, I will."

Wes looked back up at Adele. He was more surprised that she was more worried about the poochyena rather than the fact that he'd just wasted someone. He nodded his head. As much as he acted like it, he was far from heartless. He wasn't about to just let such a poor pokemon like that out into the wild. Not after everything she'd been through.

"Of course I'm keeping her," he told her. He placed his hand on his poochyena's knee. She tensed up, balling her body up a little bit as she still sat on the couch. "I'm actually kind of glad Oak gave me an empty ball. MUCH better than a Magikarp."

He looked at her, giving her a warm smile. She shyly lowered her ears, looking down at the floor. Wes frowned, with his attempt to raise his spirits failing. He looked at the shirt he'd let her use.

"Even so, I don't think having her parading around in only a shirt is very... comfortable for her."

Adele glanced at the poochyena, the large shirt barely covering her lower areas. "I think I have some clothes upstairs," she said, thinking about what would best fit the pokemon. She reached out to her. "Come on," she said, speaking in a baby voice like she would to a puppy. The poochyena shrank back, shying from her hand like it was a hot poker.

Adele frowned. "You might have to bring her upstairs with you, she's still way too skittish," she said, slightly offended. Wes nodded, and with Draco following, the four of them made their way upstairs, the poochyena shivering, though it wasn't even cold.