CHAPTER 7

"Wow! Really?" Thomas asked, his eyes shining with excitement.

We all nodded. Yes, today was the day our group grew bigger. By one.

But in order for that to mean something, we would have to get out of here safely.

We explained to him what we were going to do. Then, Bounce and Blitz morphed Spearows and flapped their wings crazily, rose up towards the grate-less hole, and went inside. Michael leaped up and followed them.

˂Okay, I can't see anything!˃ Blitz said. ˂It's too dark! OW!˃

˂Blitz, please get your foot out of my face,˃ Bounce said.

˂I would if Michael would get off my wing!˃

˂Hey, let go of my tail!˃

Rachel sighed. After about five minutes, they managed to get themselves organized and continued on down through the duct.

After a few minutes, I heard Michael's faint thought-speech voice. ˂Heh, well waddya know? This goes straight up to the roof! I can see light!˃

There was silence for a few seconds, then Michael said, ˂Uh, slight problem. There's a fan here. A fast fan.˃

We all waited, tense and nervous.

Then, finally, Blitz said, ˂Yay! We're through! We're on the roof!˃

˂We managed to slip past the fan,˃ Bounce said. ˂It was very risky, and I don't want to do it again.˃

˂Okay, we'll be back as soon as possible,˃ Michael said. ˂Don't worry!˃

Then there was silence.

"Well... now what?" I muttered.

"Now... we wait," Lisa said.

We put the grate back where it was supposed to be. And then, we waited. We just stood there for a while.

Suddenly, the steel door opened.

In stepped a Scyther. It was accompanied by four Pinsirs.

The four of us - Thomas, Rachel, Lisa, and I - turned to face them.

˂So... you are the Pokémorphs,˃ the Scyther said, stepping forward. ˂I am Parasecter Four. I am in charge of this facility.˃

He stared at us, inspecting us.

What should we do? Morph? I thought.

˂If I had let Parasecter One have his way, you would all belong to him right now,˃ Parasecter Four said. ˂And Parasecter Three wants you too. But we captured you outside my facility, so you are mine.˃

Parasecter One has a Mewtwo body. I was very glad that this wasn't his facility.

But Parasecter Three? We hadn't met him. So far, we had met Parasecter One, the Mewtwo; Parasecter Two, a Pinsir; and Parasecter Four, this Scyther.

Yeah, I'm confused, too.

"We don't belong to anyone," Lisa said. "Not you, Parasecter One, Parasecter Three, or anyone else."

˂Oh, I think you will change your mind after some torture,˃ Parasecter Four said. ˂Even though I can't do the terrible mental tortures of Parasecter One, I can still break your fingers... one by one.˃ Suddenly, he stopped. ˂Where are the others?˃

"What others?" Lisa asked.

˂Don't play dumb! There were seven of you. Three of them are gone! Where are they?˃

"Why should we tell?" Lisa sneered.

Parasecter Four stepped closer. ˂Because I just might do the torture ahead of schedule.˃

Suddenly, I leaped forward and slammed the Parasecter hard over the back.

˂Argh!˃ he cried, falling forward.

I instantly started morphing to Bulbasaur.

Lisa and Rachel started morphing to Pikachu and Charmander. As the bulb started to grow on my back, I glanced over towards the door.

The Pinsirs! They raced towards us.

I kicked out at a Pinsir with one of my rapidly shriveling legs. Then, I fell forward onto all fours.

We didn't have enough time to morph properly. The Pinsirs would get us before we had finished morphing.

My vines! My vines! Had they grown yet? Yes!

I reached out with my vines and whipped at a Pinsir.

My head was still human, and I had pink skin with fingers and toes on my Bulbasaur feet. Overall, I was one strange-looking creature.

Lisa had human hands and feet, yellow skin, a human face with red cheeks, and pointed ears.

Rachel had orange skin, a tail with a flame, a human head, Charmander arms, and human legs.

As I watched, Rachel swung her tail at a Pinsir, setting it on fire. Lisa hunched over and released some electricity, but not much because she wasn't fully morphed yet.

I wrapped my vines around a Pinsir and lifted it up off the ground. Then, I slammed it down. I kept slamming it on the ground until I noticed another Pinsir racing towards me from the side.

I threw the Pinsir in my vines at the second Pinsir, and they both went rolling back towards the wall.

I was fully morphed! So were Lisa and Rachel.

˂Great Boris!˃ Rachel said. ˂You just had to start a fight, didn't you?!˃

Author's Annotation: How did Michael's group get past a spinning ventilation fan? Especially when the ducts were cramped? Shh... no more questions.