Transformation: Quarantine

Chapter 4- Dark Discoveries

A/N: To all my readers out there, let me take this time to say thank you for your support, especially TurtlesandMonkeys since this is a spin-off of her story. Now in another moment of insanity, I'm adding a character that was made by Lord Nalthren for a spin-off of my story…read along to find out. MEE-YAA!

Oh, on a side note, as of this writting, today is 08-6-08, exactly one year since TurtlesandMonkeys original "Transforamtion" story made its debut. Happy anniversary! MEE-YAA!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Pokemon or the Transformation universe established by TurtlesandMonkeys. The character of John belongs to Swack 16, Lord Nalthren's character belongs to him, and Cindy belongs to me. Formalities aside, let's get to it!

Cindy and John both waited in the tent that they were placed in. The sounds of the V.P.C.U. could be heard outside. Cindy and John haven't heard from the men or any other trainers who crossed paths with the unit since their apprehension. While Cindy was worrying what was happening to her pokemon, John was trying to escape from the handcuffs that bounded him to the chair, but he gave up after his arms began to grow tired.

"This sucks! How long are we supposed to wait here?"

Cindy simply shrugged, closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't know. I just wonder what they're doing with our Pokemon. They're treating them like they're dangerous…weapons or something. Have you noticed the way people have been acting here since our arrival?"

John thought about it for a sec.

Cindy continued. "All the stores have been cleared out, People are boarding themselves up, trainers are being taken by this "Viral Pokemon Containment Unit", and not one wild Pokemon has appeared on my way here. The forest was unusually quiet when I was coming here. Something big is going on here John."

John looked at her. "So, what are we going to do?"

Cindy stood up. "I'm going to find Quilava and some answers." She stood by the tent entrance to make sure no one was guarding it.

"I'll be back."

John was about to say something when Cindy left the tent. He simply put his head down. "Well, guess I'll just wait here…"

Cindy was walking around the camp, getting an idea of her surroundings. The tents were made of gray nylon, the lamps stood on stands, illuminating the camp and the nearby forest. The men in suits were patrolling the city entrances while several Humvees were parked with their headlights on. Several others were just standing as motionless as statues, their heads turning like autonomous machines. With their haz-mat suits, they did seem like machines or soulless ghouls or something. Cindy kept low to avoid the searchlights. She felt almost like a criminal, but she was on a mission and could not lose focus.

Quilava…don't worry, I'll find you…

She got behind another tent when she heard voices inside. One voice was smug and relaxed. The other was cool but reluctant and a little agitated. Hoping to hear information on the whereabouts of her pokemon, Cindy listened in on their conversation.

"…Now just relax and listen, what happened on Omega Island was a necessary containment procedure…"

The agitated voice cut the smug voice out.

"You'll never convince me of that. I understand my employment, but now you step in and shut down what has been in my family for…"

"You understand the risks involved and why we did what we did."

Cindy saw the silhouettes through the tent. One of them was standing up. He appeared to be wearing a trench coat or something. The other one was sitting behind a desk. The figure sitting behind the desk raised his arm. "What we do is for the greater good of the world."

The standing figure raised his hands to his head. Cindy couldn't see it, but she had a feeling he put is hand to the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, I bet you do. Another thing has been bugging me besides the little predicament you left my sister in on Omega Island; what is all this commotion I here from trainers that you're taking their pokemon?"

The sitting figure sat in his chair back some more.

"Akira, it's a crisis and in order to get things done, sometimes you got to twist a few arms for co-operation. It's another necessary containment measure. These trainers are "high risk carriers" and if we don't intercept them, some poor community will and they'll suffer the consequences unless we prevent it."

The standing figure (Akira, Cindy guessed) bent down on the sitting figures' desk.

"Another thing that's bugged me is that you've kept me in the dark about what exactly you're trying to prevent. I want answers, Jason."

"Just keep doing your job and all will be clear. Help us out and you'll be back in your cozy execs office back on Omega Island in no time. But you got to help us contain the situation first. I understand your group has caught several carriers."

"They're in the van, but I still don't see why you got us going after trainers when the real threat is in the wild…"

A van? Cindy looked around and sure enough, there was a long trailer behind a semi. It was large and looked like it contained cargo. There were troops guarding it. She left the two to argue among themselves and headed for the containment vehicle. She hoped Quilava was in there and not hurt. She needed to have a distraction or something so she could get inside. Suddenly a cry erupted from the center of the camp.

"BITE! WE GOTTA BITE HERE!" It was one of the containment units' voices. All the troops got up from their post and began to mobilize. There was activity from the command tent and out stepped a man with gelled blond hair and a silver HAZMAT suit. Behind him stepped a younger man with dark hair who looked about twenty wearing a trench coat and shades. The blond man strapped his helmet on and moved his arms in the direction of the cry. "What time is it?"

"11:55p.m, sir!" That was Marlow, who was rushing towards the panic area.

The blond man had a look of frustration. "Damn it. It's too late for a Lily Cove airlift. All right, everyone locate the subject and proceed with containment measure Zeta."

Cindy was wondering what was going on, but knew that this was her chance. She ran up to the containment vehicle, making sure nobody saw her. She looked around and thought she saw a boy in the distance with troops converging on him. From what see saw, he had terrible slashes across his shirt, some of the wounds bleeding. He clutched his bleeding arm, clutching a Pokeball. The men made a move to obtain it.

"My Sneasle...attacked… don't know why…needs help…" The boy said weakly.

Two men appeared behind him and grabbed him suddenly. His ball dropped to the ground while another troop went to retrieve it. They began forcing the boy off his feet and began taking him somewhere. Cindy then turned back to the vehicle and opened the door. She stepped inside, still hearing the boy's frantic struggle against the troops. There was a second door and Cindy opened it and when she walked in, various sounds of pokemon assaulted her ears. There were many types of pokemon in different cages, rattling them, hissing, spitting, roaring as if Cindy was a source of the agitation.

These must be the pokemon infected with this "virus"…

She began to get familiar with her surroundings. The pokemon that were not trying to have a piece of her had scared expression on their faces, as if they were unsure of their fate. There was something…odd about those pokemon. Cindy guessed that these Pokemon had belonged to trainers and were forcibly removed by the unit. She pitied them, and then grew angry at the men responsible for this. Sure this was a crisis, but did they have to resort to taking these pokemon from their trainers like this? She let her anger boil for a little before she began looking for her pokemon. She saw her poke belt, along with several others, hanging off of a bar. She began looking in the cages for any of her pokemon. "Quilava? Quilava, where are you?"

She listened, hoping for a familiar cry.

"Lava!"

Cindy headed for the direction of the sweet sound. Quilava was in a cage, looking back at Cindy with a scared expression on its face.

"Quilava! Hold on, I'm gonna get you out of there." She bent forward and began looking for a lock. She found it and undid the latch, lifted the swing door, and got Quilava out. Cindy hugged the little fire shrew as tightly as she ever did, tears coming to her eyes.

"Oh Quilava, I found you. We gotta get out of here." She reached for her Poke belt and clipped it on. She found her back pack and swung it around her shoulder.

"Ok, Quilava, let's get out of here." She stopped. What about John? She looked around for his poke belt and found it. She recognized it from the last time the battled. But I still have to find keys for his cuffs…

She searched around but couldn't find anything. She still took the belt in hopes of returning it to John. It would be safer with her than in this desolate dreary place.

She opened the door carefully. Looks like the unit was still occupied with the injured boy. She didn't know who he was, but she hoped he was alright.

Cindy was running to get back to the tent John was in when a terrible, shill scream erupted through the night. Cindy stopped, scared by the horrible noise. It was the injured boy.

She turned her head in the direction of the scream and although she couldn't see anything, the light made shadows on the surface of the tent walls. The silhouettes were visible and it looked like the troops were holding him by the arms as his head hung in pain. He kept screaming and screaming.

"Back away!" Cindy heard the red-patch man's voice.

The troops let him go.

Cindy went back to the tent. John looked up at her.

"What's up?" he asked, referring to the screams.

She put his poke belt next to him and gave him a frantic expression. I don't know, but we have to get out of here, and fast." John tried to get up, but his cuffs still held him to his chair.

"Damn it, I gotta get these off." He spotted a pitcher of water on the table. It must be for the unit.

"Hey, I have an idea. Grab into my poke belt and grab the first ball."

Cindy complied. "You mean this one?" She held the ball up.

John nodded. "Yeah. Now release it."

Cindy nodded. "Ok, Poke ball, go."

Light erupted from the ball and began to take on the shape of a pokemon.

"NAPE!" An Infernape cried out victoriously and beat its chest. The little fire pokemon resembled a red-faced monkey with a large flame burning on its head. It wore a gold chest ring and had shoulder pads, knee pads, and wrist bands. This pokemon was a fighter, much like its trainer.

"You remember Burn, my Monferno, Right? Well now he's an ass-kicking Infernape."

Cindy just stared. "You made me bring him out so you can show him off to me?"

John smirked. "This little hot-head is gonna help me out here. Burn?"

Burn stepped forward. "Heat up your hands as hot as you can and grab on to these handcuffs." The Infernape hesitated before complying with his master's wishes. John winced a bit as the metal began to grow hot. Soon the cuffs began to glow.

"Quick, Cindy, grab the water and splash it on, now!"

Cindy rushed with the water and splashed it on his cuffs. Soon, the metal began to creak and cracked. Infernape then tugged and the cuffs fell to pieces. They landed on the ground with a clattering sound. John massaged his wrist, a few minor burns on them. He grinned none the less.

"Good job. Burn return! He recalled the monkey pokemon back into its ball.

"Pretty smart, huh?" He asked Cindy.

"Yeah, whatever, lets get out of here!" The two ran out of the tent, but not before another scream caught Cindy's attention. She turned and saw the silhouette of the boy fold in on itself, clutching itself in pain. Cindy thought she was imagining things, but she could have sworn that its shape was changing. What looked like a feather appeared on one side, kind of like…

A Sneasle's?

The silhouette then held out his arms as what looked like claws appeared. The screaming then altered itself into a feral cry as the changing…boy or whatever, lashed out at the containment crew. The tent fell aside revealing a horrible sight.

"Come on Cindy, we have to go!" Johnwaved his arm, but Cindy couldn't pry her eyes from the scene.

The boy was blackish blue all over his body. His teeth was sharp and they attempted to bite into the containment suit of a troop. His limbs started to grow slimmer as his hands completely fused and his claws grew their full length. The inhuman boy continued to jump and lash out at the troops, his changes furthering themselves. The last of his brown hair fell to the ground as a gem appeared on his forehead. Three red feather like appendages sprouted from his rear as his body shrunk, his head getting a little larger as his nose turned black. His eyes grew more intense looking as his ear moved to the side and became a bit pointed. His clothing fell of and a red gem appeared on his chest.

"SNEEEASLE!" The newly formed pokemon roared defiance at the unit, forsaking its former humanity, it eyes the eyes of an active predator.

Cindy stared at this abomination with fear. Is this what the virus does to us?

Quilava rubbed against her leg, trying to alert her of something. Cindy looked down and realized she never felt such an uncertainty about her pokemon before. What if…

She felt a hand grip her shoulder, she gasped and turned around to face John.

"Cindy. Let's get going."

Cindy nodded blankly, her eyes still wide, her brain replaying that horrifying image.

John looked back

"Oh crap! Looks like they spotted us."

Cindy glanced back. While some of the team stayed back to contain the boy/Sneasle, others began pointing and running in their direction. Cindy began to run, Quilava following behind her.

"Hold it! In the name of the Hoenn Defense Corps, HALT!" That was the red-patch man.

Cindy and John ran away from the unit as fast as they could. Quilava almost fell behind but Cindy scooped it up in her arms and continued to run, faster than she has ever done before. She ran to escape, the V.P.C.U., to escape their pursuers. But mostly, she ran to escape the ghastly scene that transpired before her. But she knew, deep in her mind, she would never escape those screams.

A/N: Finally. Isn't wonderful when your creative reservoirs unleash wonderful ideas that work? It took me several drafts to write this chapter the way I liked it, but it got done. Finally have a TF scene in this story and its taking a dark turn in tone, if you ask me. Well anyway, please review. Oh, and bonus points to anyone who can name the movie that inspired the "BITE!" scene above. (Hint:"...evila llits s'tI")

JonseyCat out! MEE-YAA!