Alexis' eyes cracked open as the sunlight peeked through the windows of her home. Glancing through the living room window, she saw that the sun was rising. She guessed it to be about six in the morning.
She nudged her Pokémon awake. Victor jolted upright. Then his entire body drooped.
"You ready for this?" Alexis asked one last time.
"How many times I gotta tell ya? I'm ready when you are," Victor lowered himself to the floor and looked up at her.
Alexis grinned and nodded, checking in her bag to make sure she had everything she would need.
Water, clothes, food... I think that's all I need, Alexis thought. She closed the bag and stood up, stretching her shoulders carrying the bag along with her.
"Alrighty then, Victor," she whispered, "Let's do this!"
With those words spoken, Alexis tiptoed to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it so as not to make a sound.
She could taste the fresh air of Littleroot and feel its coolness through her purple hoodie. Licking her lips, the woman closed the door behind her and turned around to face the settlement she called home.
Littleroot Town was small. It only comprised of ten houses, and the population only counted about forty. This early in the morning, there were few people.
"Yer sure about this?" Victor asked, standing in front of her long, lean legs.
"Never been more sure of anything in my life," Alexis replied, "We're gonna do this, we're gonna make it. I don't have a doubt in my mind," She began to walk north. Victor walked next to her staying perfectly in step.
They arrived to the 'entrance' of the town. It was marked by two large birch trees, both of which had a sign on them that read 'Route 101' in red paint.
Alexis patted the bag at her side and walked into the next route. Route 101 was slightly forested, with large, leafy trees lining the grassy path. There were several ridges on the road that Alexis had tripped over multiple times before.
She took several steps into the tall grass. She heard a low growling below her. She sighed and looked down. It was a little, feral black dog. It bared its teeth at her and snarled loudly. Victor peeked out at it from behind Alexis long legs.
"Don't worry," Alexis chuckled to her Pokémon. She swiftly knelt down and yelped "Boo!"
The black dog recoiled and walked away, rustling through the long grass as it went.
Alexis grinned as she looked at Victor, "If you were actually scared of that, I think we've got a long way to go."
"I wasn't scared!" Victor cried, "I just wanted to see what you were gonna do!"
"Of course, Victor," Alexis cooed as she kept walking up through the tall grass.
Alexis stopped in Oldale town, "Well, that's destination one. Tired yet?"
"We've only been walkin' for a couple minutes!" Victor said.
Oldale town was also tiny, perhaps even smaller than Littleroot. It got little trade with other cities and was forced to make do on its own. They weren't able to make much supplies, but with the Apricorns and berries they reaped from their harvest, they were able to make the bare minimum; Poké Balls and healing items.
Alexis folded her arms and looked around, "I was just checkin'"
Alexis ran her fingers through her curly black hair, before tying it into a makeshift ponytail. She scanned the town for anything of interest. They had a small cluster of trees bearing fruit, a shop and several houses.
Victor tugged her pants, "We should go get some supplies, right?"
"Victor, my friend, that's exactly what I was thinking," the woman replied, walking over to the shop with Victor trailing behind.
It was a poor excuse for a shop. It was made completely of wood. Poke Balls filled one wooden box, and various healing items filled another. A teenage boy rested behind a counter. He had long, greasy black hair, and glasses that seemed to be too small for his face. He looked bored but greeted Alexis with a wave and a smile.
"We're having a special this month," he said, obviously rehearsed, "We give five free Poké Balls and a Potion to inexperienced trainers."
"Oh? And how do you tell if I'm inexperienced?" Alexis said, walking over to the counter and leaning on it, staring at the boy.
"Well, if you're still here, chances are you're inexperienced. No one comes here and the bridge on Route 103 to Mauville screwed itself a couple of months ago. No passage," he explained. He bent under the table and retrieved five Poke Balls and a Potion, placing them on the desk.
"So, you're on the road to the Elite Four, eh? Another one gone," he muttered.
"Oh, screw you, I'll make it, or I'll settle down somewhere nicer than Littleroot," Alexis retorted.
"Yeah, if you even make it past Petalburg," the boy replied.
"Why, what's happening there now? I thought the problems in Petalburg were solved ages ago," Alexis almost shouted.
"Whoa, whoa, don't get so offensive," the boy reassured, backing away, "I'm just sayin' that some time ago, we saw some footprints leading from Route 103, to Oldale, to Route 102, and then all the way back to 103, with more foot prints following. It was really odd," he explained.
Alexis furrowed her brow, "What sort of footprints were these?"
"Human footprints, paw prints and little circular prints. Really suspicious, maybe a group of Morphs just passin' through to Mauville. Of course, they might still be around," he replied.
"Well, with any luck, they left and I won't have to deal with them," the woman said confidentally. She scooped up the supplies and put them in her bag. She marched out went to the outskirts of Oldale town. Considering that the town was so small, it didn't take too long.
"A-Alexis... You're not scared of Morphs, are you?" Victor whimpered, tugging her leg.
"Me? Um... well," she swallowed, "A bit, but they're sort of unavoidable. We can take 'em, right? Why? Are you scared of them?"
Victor looked down in shame and then back up at his trainer. He nodded, "Yeah. They'd come by the cliff every once in a while. I've seen 'em fight with other Pokémon too. Glad I had a river separating us... unless they could swim," he explained.
"What'd you do when they crossed?" Alexis wondered. She'd never heard of Morphs being able to swim before.
"Usually they couldn't. But sometimes they can, for a short while. I'd have to run and hide, until they went back. The cliff's pretty much a dead end for them. Not for me. though..." he attempted to crack a smile, "Alexis?"
"Yeah?" Alexis said, peering at the route in front of them.
"Where did those Morphs come from? What coulda possibly happened that they even exist? What are they?" Victor asked.
Alexis sighed, "I have no clue what these things are exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's the spawn of some kind of disease. My Pops has medical reports of this thing coming up from even way back when his great granddad was around."
"We can talk 'bout yer father later. Cut to the chase," Victor said.
Alexis bit her fingernails, wondering how she would explain this properly, "All I know is that there is a disease that affects everything that's alive. And when this disease gets a hold of them, they start to change. Humans that got infected would start turning into strange creatures. Their skin would start growing patches of fur, feathers, scales, rocks and everything in between."
"Then, as this disease got stronger, they became more primitive. And aggressive. As their condition got worse, they started to attack people. And we thought it'd stop there, but it just got worse. As even more time passed, their bodies changed. And they bred with each other, and their offspring were born with the same defects as the parents. But once the disease had reached its final point, they stopped their little... transformation. And the creatures that were infected suddenly weren't so aggressive. They acted completely normal, as far as normal went. And the creatures that went through the complete 'transformation' are what we know as Mons. In other words, things like you," Alexis finished, hoping Victor understood.
Victor listened intently throughout her speech, although he looked a little confused, "That's where I came from... that's... kinda cool," Victor cleared his throat, "So, if these things completed their transformations, what're these Morph things yer so 'fraid of?"
Alexis paused, "Some infected ones, mostly humans... weren't so lucky. The disease stopped affecting them at some point that wasn't complete. They stayed stuck in a half human, half monster form and stayed feral. I don't even want to describe it, looking at them is just... They're abominations."
"And if you said they infected everything, why're you still here? Why's humanity still here?"
"I don't know how the disease spread. But there were people who were immune to it. And they're the survivors," she cracked a smile, "Is that all you need to know? I'm not some kind of expert here, but I can try. If not, well, we're not gonna get to Celestite just standing here, right?"
"Right," Victor nodded in agreement, his mouth a thin line.
"Great," Alexis brought herself to her full height, six feet and three inches, and marched out of Oldale Town with Victor and onto route 102.
She walked past the water and paused for a moment to look at her reflection. She hoped her tall, muscular body would be able to carry her throughout the region of Hoenn. The region seemed to do a number on even the toughest of trainers. She hoped it didn't show that she'd been staying inside for several months.
At least having black skin doesn't mean I can pale too much, she thought with a smile.
Her amber eyes turned to Victor as he beckoned her over.
Victor was standing next to a tree, and looked up at what appeared to be a large wad of silk, "Look at that thing, Alex, what is it?"
Alexis walked next to her Pokémon and gazed as well. Her nose wrinkled as she saw a pair of bright blue eyes split open through the silk. Upon closer inspection, she could see a magnificent pattern inside the cocoon, as if the shell was transparent.
The cocoon began to bulge and stretch before it finally ripped open. A black and white insect with gigantic blue eyes exited the shell. It hung upside down on the tree branch flicking its foot-long antennae at Alexis and Victor. It spread its enormous multicoloured wings and flapped them softly.
All of a sudden, it let out a loud hissing sound and began to beat its wings harder. Alexis began to back away before the insect screeched and launched itself off a tree, heading straight for Alexis.
Alexis sidestepped out of the way and the butterfly crashed into what had been standing behind her. It knocked the beast to the ground. The bug's proboscis stiffened and began thrashing away at the foe.
The creature fought back, slashing madly at the insect, cutting its body and wings. The bug beat its wings frantically and let out an ear-splitting screech.
Alexis scooped Victor up in her arms and moved away from the fight, although both kept their eyes glued on them.
Finally, the butterfly plunged its proboscis into the fiend's gullet. It struggled, landing several more hits on the insect, before it began moving more and more sluggishly before it let out a cry and went limp.
The insect looked back at Alexis with its enormous blue eyes.
"Alexis?" Victor whimpered, "Alexis, we should go! Alexis?!"
Alexis' fingers made their way into her pocket and gripped a Poké Ball.
The butterfly flapped its wings and its antennae twitched. Alexis raised her arm over her head and chucked the ball at the insect with all her might.
The ball hit the bug, fell to the ground, and cracked open. The butterfly hissed and beat its wings, raising itself up into the air and charged at Alexis.
Alexis broke into a sprint towards Oldale, hugging her Pokémon close to her chest.
Victor looked over her shoulder as she ran, "Wait! Wait! Look, Alex!" he yelled.
Alexis skidded and turned on her heels just in time to see a red ray swallow up the insect and suck it into the ball. The ball shook once.
Twice.
Thrice.
And it stopped moving with a click.
The duo stared at the ball and then exchanged glances. Alexis slowly approached the ball, bracing herself for the moment when the bug burst out and attacked her next.
She let Victor down next to her and hesitantly gripped the ball. She tossed it up and caught it several times. She let out a sigh of relief and glanced at Victor.
"Let's hope it was going for the Morph and not me..." she muttered with a fake laugh.
Victor wasn't looking at her. He was more concerned with the creature the insect had attacked. Alexis neared the corpse, looking down at it.
It bore resemblance to something that may have been human once upon a time. By the look of its body, it used to be bipedal, but its spine was hunched. Its milky white skin was heavily patched with shaggy brown and cream fur. Its golden eyes were wide open, its claws on its padded fingers and toes must have measured at least half a foot. The beast's face was covered with fur. Its ears looked like a badly mangled mix of human and raccoon's. Judging by its size and shape, the creature was a juvenile male.
It had several large gashes across its face, neck and chest and was stained with blood, although the flow had stopped, even though the body was still so fresh.
Alexis gazed at the deepest gash, in its throat and felt her mouth go dry.
"It sucked out all its fluids," she breathed.
Victor stared at the carcass, "So, these were what you meant when you were talking 'bout Morphs..."
Alexis pressed her hand to her face and wiped off sweat, "Yeah, that's what I meant. Let's get going... I can't stand looking at this. it makes me sick," her voice shook.
Victor gripped her pant leg and pulled it when Alexis hadn't budged. He looked up at her, his mouth slightly agape. She could hear him panting heavily.
"That was just some kinda freak accident. Not all o' Hoenn can be like that. It'll get better," Victor attempted to reassure his trainer.
"How would you know? You lived under a cliff your whole life," Alexis sighed and moved forward, with her Pokémon keeping so close to her leg that they touched.
"Well, we ain't gonna get nowhere bein' pessimistic," Victor replied.
She stayed in the tall grass, behind the cover of the trees, scanning the area around her intently. She crouched down, creeping slowly, making little sound. Victor moved in front of her, staying perfectly in step with his trainer.
Her heart pounded in her head as she made it into shorter grass. This was much more difficult to hide in.
Alexis threw herself on top of Victor, slapping a hand over his mouth. She heard a loud distorted cry, a bird chirp and a snarl, both mixed with the sound of a human's groan.
Her eyes narrowed to make out the movement in front of her. Two fairly large creatures, a little smaller than human sized, had their backs turned to her. One resembled the creature that was sucked dry by the insect. The other was crouching down. Its back was covered in black down, and its legs were yellow and scaly. Both animals clawed at the ground, snarling loudly.
It was then that Alexis heard a loud snap. The feathered animal raised its head and spread its arms. Its hands and underarms were connected with a plumed membrane. She got a good look at its profile. Its lips were stretched into a beak form.
The bird cried out to the other creature. The mammalian one snarled, fell on all fours and bounded off, thankfully away from Alexis.
The bird raised its arms and beat them madly, jumping and kicking its legs. It approached a tree, dug its nails into it and clawed itself up.
Alexis shakily raised her head, trying to see what they had thrashed at.
It was an acorn, about the size and shape of the average human's head. It had been split in two, and a thick, sap-like fluid puddle around its corpse. What horrified Alexis the most were the acorn's human-like eyes staring directly at her.
She felt bile rise into her throat and spat it upon the ground. She could feel Victor shivering at her legs. She rubbed his head and continued walking.
She flinched every time she heard a sound, a rustle in the brush. However, most of the time, it would just be her imagination acting up, or one of those black dogs or raccoons, which quickly fled.
She crept forward, surveying the area. She was too scared to even speak. She walked between a row of trees, looking up to make sure no bird abominations were looking down at her.
Alexis suddenly bumped into something, eliciting a yelp from her and a gasp from Victor. She looked down. She had knocked into a plain, high, metal fence. She followed the fence until she reached a gate. A signpost was placed next to it. It had a floral pattern on it and read:
"Welcome to Petalburg!"