Chapter 1: Who Needs an Alarm Clock?

Dan

The first thing I noticed was the heat, the sunlight. Then I felt the ground under me. Then I noticed…THE PAIN!! AAAHHH!!………………… After a while, the pain began to fade. Slowly, so slowly, so very slowly, perhaps TOO slowly (it certainly FELT too slow), it faded……………… After a weird moment where I couldn't feel anything, I began to take in my surroundings, well, as well as you can with your eyes closed. I was covered in something, the wind was blowing softly, and I felt like I was in some sort of costume. You know, the ones with a tail that was poorly attached so when it's pushed sideways the costume digs into your back or your… never mind, but you get the idea. I felt so weak………Then I remembered, the stars! Where was everyone? Where was I? Wait, HOW CAN I STILL BE ALIVE AFTER THAT?! After a while (a few hours… OK, about 20 seconds), I decided to move and find out what happened. I opened my eyes, and saw, FIRE!! … OK, OK! I'm joking. Man, you don't have to pound me! OK, what I really saw was darkness, with one small hole of light close to the ground. I inched my way to it, and stuck my head out, but oooffff, something held me back! It was my cheeks, and something attached to my head. I pushed harder, still holding back. Harder, harder, HARDER! Then, POP! I flew out, flew about 7 feet into the air, and landed, face first, into the dirt, about 3 inches from a lake. Wait, since when did Mike's backyard have a lake in it? Looking closer, I saw that it was only about 6 inches deep, but it was huge! Did I shrink or something? Then I saw my arm. WHAT THE-!! My arm was blue! I followed it to my hand… It was some kind of 3-toed paw! Gulp… I pulled myself closer to the lake/puddle of water, closed my eyes, put my head over the water, and opened my eyes …………………………………………… AAAHHHH!!

What I saw in the water's reflection was……….THE LOCH NESS MONSTER!!... OK, OK, OK, OK!! Come on, can't you take a joke? No? Well, that's your problem, not mine. If you can't stand my humor, then you can leave. What do you mean "if I leave this ends?" WHAT?! YOU'RE FUNDING THIS!?...Fine, I stop with the jokes, but I'm still putting in my comments. Anyway, what I really saw was a blue-skinned creature, with black oval eyes, small slits for a nose, orange half-a-star-shaped gills sticking out on the cheeks (probably what held me back), and a plank-shaped dorsal fin on the top of its head. I slowly turned my head around and saw my body: blue, four legged (with the same 3 toed paws as my arms), white stomach, and a white fin-like tail. Yes, I knew what I was, yes I knew everything about what I was, and YES, I was dumbstruck. I was a Mudkip, a Pokémon. I tested this theory (though it was obvious, I was trying to deny it, that's all). "Hello?" I said hello, I heard hello, but I also heard "Mudkip" come out of my mouth…………………………………………… I just stood there (well, sort of, Mudkips stand on 4 legs), letting this all sink in. Then I remembered that everyone else was with me, so they had to be in similar messes.

You're probably wondering why I wasn't freaking out at the fact that I had turned into a Mudkip. Here are a few reasons: 1) I knew a lot about Mudkips (playing Pokémon all night (1st anniversary) does that to ya), so I knew how to survive as one. 2) I had already flipped out (if the giant "ah" didn't tell you that, than the exclamation points would've told you). 3) I like Pokémon (same reason as point 1) so I didn't have a problem with them. 4) I have a natural ability to stay calm. Yes, even in a situation like this. 5) I was more worried about Mill, Sam, and Meg (the first 2 because they're young and Meg because there was NO WAY she wasn't going to freak out about this). 6) I was probably dead right now, so I was happy to be alive, even as a Mudkip.

I started to walk, OOFF! I fell onto my face! Alright Dan, THINK! You have 4 legs now; you need to use all of them, not just your hind legs. With that in mind, I tried again (OOFF!), again (AAAHHHH! OOFFF!), again (steady, steady, OH-OOFFF), and again (got it! OOFFF! Tripped). After about half an hour, I felt a little comfortable with walking on 4 legs, though I still fell down a lot. Then I looked at my surroundings. I was in the middle of a clearing in a forest, so I was definitely not in Mike's backyard. There were trees, sunlight, and several puddles (I knew they were puddles, now that I knew I was Mudkip-sized) all over the place. Was I sent to the Pokémon world too? Likely, but, why was there no bird song? Even the Pokémon world has it, though it's Pidgey instead of robin. Then I noticed something out of place: my clothes! I must have been buried in them when I got here, wherever here was. I ran over (OOFFF!) and searched them. Everything was there: my bag of marbles, my pocketknife, my matches, a candy bar (3 Musketeers), a mini flashlight, my badge (a trinket I got at a dollar store, nothing impressive), and my handkerchief (you need one when you're the leader of something to calm you down when you can't take the complaints, just to let you know why I had one). My clothes were WAY too big, so I didn't bother to fold them. I carried everything else away for sorting. I attached my badge to my handkerchief (with the pin in the back, NOT with glue) and tied it around my neck like a scarf (I won't tell you how hard it was to do that without fingers) so the others would know who I was, and not just some average Mudkip (though they're not very common, even in the Pokémon world). I was hungry, so I ate the candy bar (again, I can't tell you how hard that was, and it didn't taste so good to my Mudkip tastes). I put the rest aside for later, and with that, I was ready to find the others.

It didn't take long to find the first member of the gang. There was a bundle of clothes with a lump in it just a few meters from my pile, though it was behind a tree so I didn't see it 'till after I finished eating my candy bar. I approached it slowly. OK man, if it's John or Mike, just tell 'em, they'll be alright with this. If it's Jess, explain it slowly. If it's Sam or Mill, take it VERY slowly. And if it's Meg- I pulled away the shirt, and saw a Chikorita. It was unconscious, and was breathing slowly. They're women's clothes, so it's not John or, Mike. The clothes are too big for Sam or Mill, so it's probably Meg or Jess. Great, I have to go through the hard one or the hard-hitting one first. I pulled the Chikorita out and pulled so its head was in front of a puddle. That would explain everything to whoever it was. Suddenly, it stirred. It trembled a little, and then slowly opened its eyes (which were red). "What the-", it said weakly. Then Meg (I knew it was Meg because her voice hadn't changed, though she did say "Chika" when she spoke) realized she was looking in a pool of water. I plugged my ears (though I didn't have any, I held my front paws to the sides of my head) and…………………………………AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! (I'm not exaggerating, she did scream that loud, and that long) …………………………………………………………WHAT'S HAPPENED TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEE?! …………"Well, you kind of turned into a Chikorita…" "I KNOW THAT!!" "Then why did you ask what happened?" I asked her, knowing that she was going to take forever to calm down…

Megan

"Because…wait, is that you Dannie?" I asked, the Mudkip. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!! I'M DAN!!" Yep, that was him, even though the badge on a cloth tied around his neck made that obvious "But you're a Mudkip!" "Yea, and you're a Chikorita." It countered. Well, it DID have a point there. I did feel kind of funny, I was standing on 4 legs, my skin was green (EWW!), and I did look like one in the lake, no, puddle… giant puddle………… "Wow, you calmed down 100 times sooner than I thought you would, you know that?" The Mudkip said, "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked it- no, Dan. "It means that I knew you were going freak out like this, but you calmed down rather quickly so-" "HOW CAN I BE CALM?! I'M A CHIKORITA!! I'M AN ANIMAL THAT IS NOT REAL!! And, YOU'RE NAKED!!" "I'm wearing a scarf, so that's not true, but you're naked too, but I'm not fre-" "YOU'RE SICK!! I'M NAKED, AND YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME! HOW CAN YO-" "THAT"S ENOUGH!! YOU'RE NOT HUMAN RIGHT NOW, SO WHY ARE YOU FREAKING OUT?! HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A POKÉMON WITH CLOTHES ON?! WILL YOU JUST CALM DOWN FOR THE LOVE OF-" "Jeez, can you guys give it a rest?"

While we were arguing, a Pikachu had stumbled into the clearing. "I mean come on, who needs an alarm clock with you two arguing?" "Mike, is that you?" the Mud- Dan asked, "Yea, what gave that away?" "Your voice, plus what you're carrying." He had a point there; Mike was the only one within 200 miles of our hometown that had a custom designed hat and shoulder bag, though he was wearing it like a backpack. "All right, now that you've had your argument time, can we focus on finding out what happened?" The Pik- Mike asked. "I'd rather find the others first." The M- Dan replied. "How about we just TRY TO GET BACK TO NORMAL instead?" I put in. They were silent for a while, then "HA HA- HA HA HA HA HA HA HA- HA!!" They were LAUGHING at that! "'Get back to normal' that's rich!" the- Mike said between his chuckling. "HAHA- HAHA- HAHAHA-" "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO!? YOU'RE POKÉMON, YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF WHERE EVER, AND YOU'RE NAKED!! HOW CAN YOU BE LAUGHING?!" I yelled at them. "Three things: 1) You've been awake for ten minutes, how can you still be freaking out? 2) I'm wearing my hat, so I'm not naked, and Dan's wearing a scarf so neither is he. 3) You expect to be able to turn back in about half an hour after transforming? Haven't you ever played Pokémon Mystery Dungeon? You're crazy." Mike said with an irritated tone. They're the crazy ones. No one can stay calm in a situation like this. I'm going to have to do better if I'm going to knock some sense into them…

Mike

Dan was caring about the others, Meg was freaking out, I was starving, and everyone else was still to be found. Don't you just love it when that happens? "So, Mike, what do you got in your pack?" Dan asked me, "Everything I could fit: my calculator, my hiking gear (This includes rope, tools, compass, and my trail mix. In case you're wondering, I got it for a family vacation and decided to take them with me incase we got lost (which we do a lot) looking for lost pets (we're the children's police, remember?)), and my watch and hat. Oh, and also my Pokepedia (Pokémon encyclopedia, I was planning to sneak a little playing in that night when everyone else was asleep) and Gameboy. "Want some of my trail mix?" "No thanks, I just had a candy bar so I'm not hu-" "HOW CAN YOU BE THINKING ABOUT FOOD AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!" "You're starving right now, aren't you?" Dan asked Meg… Grumble… "Thought so, here…" I handed her some trail mix. "I'll eat my own food, thank you very much." She said, walking over to her pile… "Umm…" She had just realized that she didn't have fingers (as expected, she's so predictable sometimes). "Here…" I pulled out her stuff: makeup, a bag of chips, some money (again, as expected), a mirror (I paused when I saw my reflection- it was weird seeing my face clearly, with the cheeks, ears, and fur), and a cell phone (she took one to the camp-out? And I thought I couldn't be taken away from my electronics). I opened the chip bag, the old-fashion way- BANG!! Chips everywhere!! "DID YOU HAVE TO POP IT?!" "Yea, because I can't get a proper grip on it" The chips were everywhere, on the ground, in the puddles, and even in the trees. We couldn't get some of them (I was the only one who could climb, and I hadn't adjusted to being a Pikachu enough yet to do it), and others were soggy from the puddles, but Meg managed to get enough to fill her stomach, though she complained that they tasted two years expired (I don't think Chikorita's eat chips, but I wasn't about to tell her that after all that complaining). Dan went looking for the others (promising not to go too far), and I munched on my trail mix, though I could only eat the nuts and raisins (everything else didn't taste so good).

After awhile, I was picking up the last of the chips (didn't want to make an odor from rotting chips), Meg was mumbling and pacing (and stumbling), and Dan? He was still looking for- "Found one!" Dan called about 40 feet from the clearing. We ran (in Meg's case, stumbled) over to him and there it was: a bundle of clothes with a lump in the middle. "Women's clothes, too big for Mil, It's Jess." Dan said. "Is she going to panic, or accept it?" Meg asked (good, she was accepting the situation, which is a big thing for her). "In the middle, She'll jump, then calm down" I said. "Mike, give me a hand here, she's a lot harder to pull out than Meg was." Dan said. With a little effort (and some cheering from Meg ("Get her out of there or I'll pound you two 20 feet under the soil!")), we managed to pull Jess out, as a Torchic. "What do we do? Look into her eyes, pull her in front of a puddle, or let her find out for herself?" Meg asked "She's a fire-type, so a puddle would be stupid, and she'll pound us if we don't tell her, so we better just tell her when she wak-"The Torchic's eyes opened, looking straight at me………"AH!!"…… "Wow…She calmed down faster than me!" Dan said. "Dan? A Mudkip? But that means… (she looked down)…I'M A TORCHIC!!" "Yea and I'm a Pikachu, Meg's a Chikorita, and Dan's a Mudkip. What else is new?" I said. "OK, any idea what happened to us? " She asked. "HOW CAN YOU BE CALM LIKE THAT IN ONLY TEN SECONDS?!" "Don't look at me. Any ideas Mike?" Dan replied. "HOW SHOULD HE KNOW?!" "I think it had something to do with the shooting stars, but I don't know anything after that." Mike answered. "YOU'RE ALL MAD!! YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT HOW WE GOT HERE AND WE'VE ONLY BEEN HERE AN HOUR NOT COUNTING DAN!!" "Hey, where's everybody else?" Jess asked. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU GUYS?!" I replied, "We're still looking and for them-" "YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME!!" "Meg, are you still panicking?" Jess asked. "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO YOU?!" "I'll take that as a yes." "Oh-"…bump… "Meg fainted from herself, she REALLY needs some training" I joked, and got a few chuckles for it.

"That's a relief, no more whining, for about ten minutes." Dan said, "All right, Mike, look in Jess's stuff for something useful; Jess, we're looking for the others." With that, they took of, went around a tree, and "OOFF!" They ran right into another bundle. "Boy's clothes, too big for Sam, its John." Jess said. "Give me a hand here -er- wing ……I'll do it myself." Dan said. Meanwhile, I was busy getting Jess's stuff to the clearing: hair pins, water bottles, some string, earrings, some paper and pencils (she's an artist in training), and a spoon…OK, why a spoon? It's her good luck charm: green never was her favorite color, so she prefers non-clover charms, but our poor town doesn't have anything else…… Yes, I don't have a clue either. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Dan and Jess with a Treecko (a grass-type gecko Pokémon) that just opened its eyes… "WOAH!" "OK John, just stay calm-" "COOOOLLLL!!" John wasn't upset with this, he was having a blast! "What's the ruckus? Oh! John, YOU'RE A TREECKO!!" Meg was up. "HOW CAN YOU BE HAPPY ABOUT THIS?!" She yelled, noticing his happy face. "Um…" "For once I agreed with her." I said, "I'm not even jumping with joy. Why is it such good news?" "Er… I've kind of dreamed about this happening…"…BAM! We're all on the ground. We replied: Dan-"ARE YOU SERIUOS?!" Meg-"YOU'RE CRAZIER THAN THOSE TWO!!" me-"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" and Jess- "FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, ARE YOU NUTS?!" After we finished yelling at him, I took the stuff from his pile: paper and pencils (for his jokes), some fruit, and a walking stick (John's the adventurous one). I knew this was going to get crazy after that, and we hadn't found Sam or Mill yet. Everyone was worried about what to do now, but I was worried about the future, and what we were going to do…