A/N: Sorry it's been so long since the last update, my fault. `^^
Anyway, here's the readers' chapter that, if you still don't know, was written from ideas submitted by you guys. I didn't get a big turn-out, but here are the ideas that were submitted:
StarFoxFan11 wanted Sarah to be transformed.
Master Hitsugaya (from another site I'm posting this on) wanted to see more spotlight on Momo.
Storm (a contact on Yahoo) wanted me to throw some romance in.
ReLeeS gave me permission to include her characters from Seven Days as a Pokemon: Stephanie, Jennifer, Umbreon, Espeon, Flareon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon.
So I mixed that all together and came up with this chapter right now. Enjoy! xD
Chapter 8: The Readers' Chapter
A gentle breeze blew across the lazy landscape, the short grass of the hill flickering in its wake. It felt chilly against my face and body and I shivered a bit, my eyes starting to get a bit droopy. I was lying spread-eagled in a small field just outside of Olivine City, occasionally rolling around restlessly. My gaze shifted randomly whenever it felt like it to wild pokemon passing by, the night sky filled with bright stars illuminating the land, and to the sleeping form of Sarah Brown wrapped up in a sleeping bag beside me, her eyes closed as she rested her head peacefully against her pillow.
Sure, we were supposed to be trying to contact Ho-oh to try and return me to my real self, but sue us for wanting to have a little fun. The World Carnival was coming to Olivine City tomorrow. People from all over the world would be coming to visit the port city. Many different foreign foods and activities would be set up for anyone who wanted to participate. Sarah and I were teenagers out on own for the first time in our lives. We couldn't resist but to come here and see what it was all about. This was a big opportunity.
Well, this could've been a big opportunity. I had been watching Sarah in the background for the past few years, never having the courage to talk to her personally. Now that we've been together for a few days on our quest to the Tin Tower, I've been feeling more and more comfortable around her. This carnival would've been an excellent time to spend with her. But, I sighed and looked down at the paws that lay out in front of me. I was stuck in the body of her pet eevee. I couldn't do anything like this. I chanced another glance at her sleeping face.
"Can't sleep?"
The voice snapped me out of my slight trance. I jumped up and looked around to find Momo grinning at me from ear to ear. Of course, it wasn't just Sarah and me here. We were traveling with my newfound friends from the pokemon village as well; Cindy, Lisa, and, of course, Momo the aipom. Momo started to snicker as he plopped down next me, nudging an elbow into my side.
"You love her, don't you?" he asked.
"What?" I snapped back. Momo erupted at that and I sighed, sitting back down. "Yeah, I just don't know what to do. I never really talked to her before and I just really want to take this chance tomorrow. But, what can I do while I'm still like this?" I groaned and shook my head. "We should've gone straight to Ho-oh."
Momo frowned and patted me on the back. "Aw, get over all this sappy stuff," he said and his face broke into a smile again. "It's no fun. Besides, I know what you can do. You know about miltank milk, right?"
I looked at him with a confused expression. "What about it?"
"Well, you see, it has a special power for pokemon and it might work on you while you're in that eevee body," Momo answered. "However, it only works when the moon is…" He paused and looked up at the sky. "…waxing," he continued. "If you milk a miltank and drink the milk right away, it's said you'll be granted any one wish instantly."
I rose an eyebrow at this, unable to not be interested. "Really?"
"Yeah," Momo replied. "You're in luck too, I saw a miltank farm not far from here." He pointed in a direction and I shrugged, getting up and following him. Just over a hill we soon saw fences appearing in the distance as well as a large white barn and farmhouse. A few of the cow pokemon were roaming around the pen grazing and mooing, their voices riding on the late night breezes.
"Alright," Momo said and I could hear his snickers under his breath. "That one looks good." He pointed at the nearest miltank that had its back turned to us, blissfully unaware as it ate away at the grass at its feet.
"Okay then," I replied, starting to feel unsure about this as we crawled under the wood boards that made up the fence. "So, what was I supposed to do again?" I asked nervously once we were standing on either side of it.
"I'll do it," Momo said. "Just get your mouth down there and catch some of the milk." I felt awkward as I shrugged and lie belly-up under the miltank with my mouth gaping. Momo leapt up and grabbed an utter, pulling it back down and sending a squirt of milk right into my face.
I leapt back in shock, rubbing my eyes, as the ground around me started to shake. The miltank we were with was crying in pain and the others started to glare daggers at us. I gulped and Momo spoke my thoughts.
"Let's get out of here!" he shouted and we dove for the fence, running toward the forest that bordered the farm once we were safely on the other side.
Or so we thought. With a round of earsplitting cracks, we turned around to see the fence shattered to pieces and the small herd of miltank charging right toward us. We quickly about faced and ran for the woods. Momo leapt into the branches and I took a sharp turn off the path, hiding under a bush. The ground quaked violently as the herd rushed past us, losing sight of its query. I sighed a breath of relief as I crawled out of the foliage and Momo fell back down to my side.
"You idiot," I said, gasping for breath and leaning against the nearest tree with my eyes closed. "I am never listening to any of your ideas again." When I didn't hear a retort, I opened my eyes and looked around for the aipom, finding him standing at the edge of the meadow, bathed in moonlight. His head was looking upward and his hands were folded, as if in prayer.
"I wish Sarah Brown would become a pokemon," he stated slowly, "for my friend Tyler Young to be with."
My eyes widened and I bounded toward him, tackling him to the ground. He glared at me, his eyes changing from the initial shock to anger. "What are you doing?" I shouted at him, despite our faces nearly touching.
"You drank the milk, right?" he replied.
I backed up a bit, breathing heavily. "Yes," I answered as the bitter taste of untreated milk was still lingering on my tongue.
"Well, I made your wish for you," Momo said with a wide grin.
I couldn't hold myself back. I slapped him across the face and dashed off toward our campsite. Momo had said the wish was granted instantly. My mind was racing, thoughts of what I would find rolled up in Sarah's sleeping bag mixing with my anger toward Momo for doing something so stupid.
My breathing slowed down when I noticed her human head still poking out on the pillow. Momo walked up behind me, the sound of his footsteps startling me a bit. "It was a joke, you jerk," he said, rubbing his cheek where I had hit him. "Miltank milk doesn't grant wishes, it just gives pokemon more energy. I just wanted to have some fun and then you had to get all riled up about it."
"It was your fault," I grumbled under my breath.
We decided to let bygones be bygones after that and left each other alone. I continued to just lie there and stare at the sky impatiently, chancing glances every now and then at Sarah. Momo had said he made it all up, and I hoped he was right, but I just couldn't rest easily after that incident. Even after I finally fell asleep and was woken the next morning by the crows of spearow passing by, I felt anxious and jumpy, constantly looking back at Sarah who was, I was relieved to find out when I awoke, still human.
As a group, we had decided to pack up early and head into town for breakfast. I managed to help Sarah tie up her sleeping bag by gripping the straps in my mouth while she held it together. I was feeling terribly moody during the process due to the lack of sleep and Sarah must've noticed because she prompted to carry me in her arms as we went into the city. I couldn't help but gaze at Momo the whole way.
I started to feel drowsy as I looked down toward the sea, its waves lapping up against the stone docks. We were looking out from on top of the beacon of Olivine City that was its lighthouse, the first stop of our self-guided tour of the city. The cool breeze blowing gently into my face was very refreshing and started to alleviate my worry over Momo. That was, until Momo decided to be stupid and tried to perform some spinning stunt with his tail on the rail, almost falling to his death, thus brining my attention back to him. Luckily, he was rescued by Lisa's confusion attack.
"Hey, look!" he called as he was being lifted back up to the top of the lighthouse. Lisa, Sarah and I all did in unison, Lisa being momentarily distracted having to refocus her confusion because of this, and saw that a ship was docking just below us. A girl was walking off the dock with an eevee in her arms and five more pokemon behind her: an espeon, umbreon, vaporeon, flareon, and jolteon.
"What about it?" I replied with a sigh. "It's the world festival, of course there's going to be international visitors coming by boat."
"No, it's not that," Momo said, now safely perched on the rail by Lisa and scratching his chin, deep in thought. "I'm sensing something strange."
"He's right," Jean spoke from within me. "I can feel a soul that doesn't match its body."
"What do you mean?" I thought.
"A soul whose physical attributes have been changed," Jean answered.
"Wait, you don't mean…" I started, but was interrupted by Lisa.
"I see we think alike, Jean," her thoughts came in and I looked at her to see her nod at me. "I agree. It's definitely a human soul in a pokemon body."
"It couldn't be another one, could it?" I replied mentally, reliving the withdrawing scales revealing the face of my best friend in my mind's eye as clearly as if it were indeed happening again right in front of me. "Not again. Not now."
"What's wrong, Tyler?" Momo interjected and I looked up him, his face actually showing genuine concern. "You look upset."
I looked back up to Lisa and sent the thought, "He doesn't need to know," and turned back to answer with a forced smile, "It's nothing. I'm fine."
After the tour of the lighthouse, we headed out onto the heavily crowded streets. Booths were dotting the town in all directions, selling food, souvenirs, and even hosting a few carnival games. The fact I wasn't human that had been dawning on me last night was forgotten as I went with Sarah to her choice of booths. After stops at archery, bottle toss, and basketball free throw, we walked down the road, her carrying an assortment of plushies up to her neck and me trying to balance whatever she couldn't carry on my back.
"You were great back there," I said as Lisa opened the mind link after a few moments of silence, except for the chatter of the crowd in the background.
"Thanks," Sarah answered with a smile. "It was fun, and thanks for helping me here." With a laugh, she added, "I guess I got carried away."
I grinned. "Don't worry about it." But even as I said that, I lost my balance and toppled over, dolls falling all around me.
"Let me help you with that," a female's voice spoke up. When I realized I wasn't being pelted with prizes like I was expecting, I looked up to see they were being suspended in midair by a purple light. I looked in front of me to see an espeon concentrating her energy on them. "If you'd like, I could teleport them to your house for you. Where do you live?"
I heard a scoff behind her and an umbreon walked up. "I wouldn't do it if I were you," he said. "Knowing Espeon, they'll end up in the middle of the Sierra Desert."
"I think I'm starting to get the hang of it, thank you, Umbreon," Espeon responded, glaring at her companion.
"Wait a second," Sarah spoke up and I looked up to see the look of shock on her face. "How are you two speaking?"
The two pokemon stopped bickering at this and looked up to her as well.
"Oh, sorry, we forgot to introduce ourselves," the espeon said. "We're Espeon and Umbreon from an island called Cyprus. Perhaps you've heard of it?" She waited a bit while Sarah considered this. "Well, it's not exactly a pokemon-friendly place. Humans have basically shut us out from the rest of the world. As a result, we learn English instead of our own language as we grow up."
Sarah gasped. "That's terrible!" she said. I had the feeling she would've dropped down and hugged Espeon if her arms weren't full.
"Well, we're working at it," said another voice and we looked up to see the girl we had watched departing the ship. The eevee was still in her arms and the flareon, vaporeon, and jolteon trailed behind her. "Hi, I'm Stephanie," she said with a smile.
"And I'm Jennifer!" the eevee added. Lisa jumped back as she looked at Jenn and I felt a thump in my chest.
"Tyler, she's the one we felt before," Jean said. "She's a human!"
"Hi," Sarah replied with a bit of a stammer. She probably felt awkward understanding the pokemon around Stephanie. "My name's Sarah."
As the rest of the eevee family introduced themselves, who all went by their specie name as well, Stephanie smiled as she glanced at the pokemon around Sarah. "I see you love Pokemon, too," she said. "That's great! If only you lived with us back on Cyprus. You'd probably be a great member of the PAP!" She put Jennifer on the ground and walked over to explain about the Protection Agency of Pokemon to Sarah.
I walked over to Jennifer while the rest of the eevee family started to talk with Momo and Lisa. "Hey," I said simply, failing to keep a tone of loathing out of my voice. "You're with the Bender, right? What do you want?"
Jennifer raised an eyebrow at this, staring at me oddly. "What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Come off it, I know you're human and you know who I am," I replied. I was about to go on but Jean decided to interrupt.
"Hold on, Tyler," he said. "This is different. It's not that her soul is in the body of a pokemon. She's in her own body. She was somehow actually transformed into a pokemon."
"Hello, are you there?" I suddenly heard Jennifer say and snapped back to the real world and continued with annoyance in her voice, "I don't know what kind of special you think you are, but I don't know you and I have no idea what this bender thing is."
"How were you transformed into a pokemon?" I asked.
Jennifer glared at me. "How did you know that, anyway?" she said. "Are you related to Espeon or something?" When I gave her a quizzical look, she explained to me that she had been turned into an eevee by Espeon's psychic powers to teach her to respect pokemon.
"Don't do it, Espeon," Umbreon suddenly shouted, causing us to look over at the group of eevee evolutions huddled in a circle. "Our hands are full enough as it is."
"Oh, but it could be fun, Umbreon," Flareon spoke up with her squeaky voice. "What do you think, Vaporeon?"
"I don't see why not," the water pokemon replied. "It's only for a day."
"Just do it," Jolteon piped in and Umbreon sighed.
"What are they talking about?" I asked as Stephanie and Sarah got up from the bench they were sitting on and started walking down the road. I decided they must have been heading for the rollercoaster that had been built on the pier for the carnival and stretched over the sea.
"I don't know," Jennifer replied. "But you still haven't answered my question." I turned my attention back to her and told her how I now shared my body with Jean's soul and had become an eevee through the process and how Jean could sense the souls in people and pokemon. Before Jennifer could respond, Umbreon walked up to us.
"Hey you two, let's get going," he said and glanced at Jenn. "We especially don't want to lose you here, Jennifer." She rolled her eyes and joined them. Momo, Lisa and I joined in as well. Espeon stayed behind to teleport the stack of plushies Sarah left behind and caught up with me at the end of the group.
"Sarah told us what's happened to you," she said. "It sounds like times are quite tough for you right now. Did Jennifer fill you in?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Too bad things aren't as simple for me. We're on our way to the Tin Tower to meet Ho-oh. Hopefully that will be all there is to it."
"I wish you luck," Espeon said.
As we walked down the street, I suddenly heard crying. The voice sounded familiar and my thoughts instantly fell on Sarah. I looked over to my side and saw an eevee rolled up against a wall, its back rising and falling with each sniffle. Without thinking, I walked over to it. The eevee's ears perked up and it rolled over to look at me with bright blue eyes.
"Tyler?" the eevee stammered in the voice I knew too well.
I lost my mind as I looked at Sarah sitting in front of me with tear streaks glistening in the brown fur that now covered her face. Anger rapidly filled me and I bounded toward the group still walking on. I roared the aipom's name at the top of my lungs and tackled him to the ground before he could even turn around.
"You told me it wasn't true!" I shouted into his face. "Dang it, Momo, your wish turned Sarah into an eevee!"
The aipom's face seemed to twist between emotions. He seemed to try to display shock and confusion, but couldn't stop himself from exploding in laughter. "Have fun with her, Tyler!" he said and I gave him a questioning glance. Espeon walked up to us with a pitiful smile on her mouth and Sarah ran up beside her.
"Sorry, Tyler, I couldn't help it," she said with an almost uncharacteristic giggle. "Momo told me what happened last night. You want to spend the carnival with Sarah, so he talked me into helping you out." She winked at me and I glared at her angrily, causing her to quickly amend, "Don't worry, it's only for today. She'll be back to normal in the morning."
"It's alright, Tyler," Sarah said and smiled at me. "That was only an act. I was in on the joke and agreed to it." She walked up to me and nudged me with her nose. "Come on! Let's go see the rest of the carnival!"
"Be careful and meet up with us at the dock after the fireworks show tonight," Espeon interjected.
"Yeah, like that's going to stop anything from happening," Umbreon said, walking up to Espeon's side. "Trouble always manages to find us in some way or another. It must be karma for messing with people's forms like this, Espeon." The psychic pokemon rolled her eyes at him and grinned sheepishly.
I felt a bit suspicious about the whole thing but quickly got over it. Sarah really seemed to be enjoying herself, appreciating her enhanced senses and commenting on things such as the scent of the sea. Stephanie tagged along and paid our way into games such as the maze of the mirrors that turned out a bit easier than I remembered as a kid, mostly thanks to Jean who helped me spot where the different paths were. Sarah wasn't as lucky and I ended up having to backtrack and help her through. The afternoon went on with different shows being performed along the streets. Sarah had her brief minute of stardom when she went up to a karaoke booth. Stephanie showed up soon enough though and pulled her out, running out of there with both of us in her arms to avoid the crowd inquiring about the singing pokemon. The sky was becoming orange with the late evening and the ground started to shake while we walked out of the karaoke booth.
We were met with screams and people scrambling in every direction. My eyes widened as I noticed the miltank roaming around among the crowd, helping themselves to the food stands, the owners helpless to stop them. I made a mental note to seriously beat Momo up for his joke when this was all over and then jumped as a stream of fire shot through the sky. It was joined by streaks of lightning and jets of water. A flash of lavender shot right by us, causing the miltank nearby to scatter.
"Hey watch it, Espeon!" We jumped and looked to see Umbreon jump out from behind a pile of crates that shattered to pieces from the attack. He noticed us and came over. "Ah, there you are. I've been looking all over for you guys. The miltank from the local farm escaped last night and so here we are. Everyone else is trying to round them up, but we still haven't found Jennifer." He scowled under his breath, "Curse it if we don't find her."
A loud scoff startled us and we saw the eevee walking down the deserted street toward us. "I don't need a babysitter, Umbreon," Jennifer said. "Anyway, we should help them out. Come on, Tyler, Sarah!" Sarah and I nodded while Umbreon groaned and Jenn glared at him. "Do it or I won't let you sleep peacefully again, Umbreon!" she declared, baring her teeth maliciously and then sneered. "Or are you too much of a wimp for these guys?"
Umbreon snorted. "Shut it, you little eevee," he said. "I don't take orders from you." The ground started to shake again. Startled, he yipped and leapt out of the way as a miltank bounded past them in a roll out. He glared at Jennifer and then shot down the street toward it, becoming split images of himself in a faint attack to help him gather the cow pokemon.
Jennifer took off in another direction and we followed her until we found a group of miltank bunched up in an alleyway, apparently hiding from the ruckus throughout the town. "We need to get them to the north side of town," she said and, just as Umbreon had, split into a couple more copies of herself.
"Wait a second, we can't do that!" I called after her.
"You haven't learned double team yet, huh?" Jennifer replied, her original self stopping as her doppelgangers continued charging for the miltank and growling at them. The frightened pokemon ran down the alleyway but the extra eevee started to fade. Jennifer gasped as they finally disappeared. "It's hard to keep that up," she said. "I've been paying attention to how Umbreon does it but it takes a lot out of you."
I was reminded of the tag dangling from my necklace and then looked up at Lisa. "Wait, I've got an idea," I said. "Follow me!"
While the rest of the eevee family sorted out the mess of miltank around the town, we headed to the main street where a large group was charging down. We spread out in front of them a few blocks away and I nodded toward Lisa. She nodded back and closed her eyes. She lurched forward a bit and lashed her eyes back open, performing a scary face attack over us. As the miltank approached, they started to slow, fear creeping on to their faces.
I smirked, the plan was for Lisa to cast an illusion on them to make us seem gigantic to them and it must have been working. I took a step forward and the miltank came to a halt, except for a few in the front who must have been feeling pretty confident. I gulped as we wouldn't stand a chance against them in a real battle. I glanced down at Luis's necklace, although that route wasn't exactly the one I wanted to take.
"Woah, what are you guys doing?" The shout surprised me and I looked out to see Momo passing by the herd and tossing what looked like a small colorful roll of paper in his hand. He ran up into the range of Lisa's scare face attack and turned on the miltank, flexing and growling at them. Even the ones who were still charging stopped in their tracks. Momo laughed. "This is great!"
I let a grin form on my face at this. "Keep it up, Momo!" I said. "Get them to head back north."
Momo grinned at me, showing me the roll of paper. "Wait, check this out," he said and turned back to the miltank, continuing in a deeper, louder voice, "Fear me, miltank, for I, Momo, command fire!" He pulled a tab on the roll, causing it to unfurl and spark at the end in a bright light. He dropped it to the ground, the illusion making the toy sparkler tower over the miltank. The air filled with the pokemon's cries as they turned around and ran down the street.
Umbreon and Espeon dashed after them from a side street, both laughing their heads off. "Way to go, Momo!" Espeon called back. "We'll take it from here."
Lisa breathed a sigh of relief as she stopped her attack. "That was exhausting," she said and slumped toward the ground near me. "Can we go to bed now?"
Once the festival authorities and the farm owners ushered the miltank out of the city, the eevee family having made it easier for them by gathering them at the north end of town, everyone started to gather on the beach. Stephanie pulled a large blanket out of her bag that we managed to situate ourselves on. The eevee evolutions lied down around Stephanie with Jennifer on her lap while Lisa, Sarah, Momo and I sat down at her feet.
Lisa was already asleep to my right while Sarah yawned at my left. "I think being a pokemon is starting to really take it out of me," she said. "It's so different. " He turned to look at me. "You made it seem natural, but I guess you had already been a pokemon for a week before you came back."
I considered this for a moment. "I didn't really think about it," I said. "I was too preoccupied with trying to find a way to return to normal." I laughed. "You get to enjoy the experience because you know you'll be back tomorrow." I stopped there and looked up at the few stars that were starting to appear in the night sky. "But oh well, at least I get to enjoy it with you right now." I felt my cheeks blush as I said it before I could stop myself.
Sarah didn't seem to notice, rubbing her head against me. "You're right," she said. "Today was fun."
I heard snickering and looked behind me. Momo gave me a thumbs-up. Espeon winked at me. Flareon, Vaporeon and Jolteon were smiling and Umbreon was making an obvious effort to look away. Conveniently, the sky lit up with the first of the fireworks. Sarah rested her head against me as she looked up. I did the same and smirked. I'd have to thank them all later for granting my wish.
A/N: So yeah, just a reminder that this isn't directly connected with the storyline, although it does refer to it. When the story continues next chapter, Tyler and co. are still under lockdown in Goldenrod City. Next chapter should be up in about 2-3 weeks, like usual. Right now I'm working on my GSC novelization and want to finish the first chapter of that before I continue this. With that said, cya next time!
