Sorry my last author's note got cut off. For some reason, my word processor didn't save it. You guys are going to really love this chapter. A lot. I hope. I'm excited. Anyway, here's the responses to your comments from the last couple chapters:
Japaneserockergirl: Glad you don't think my action sucks. :) Hermes has been through hell and back, and he's about to make a return trip. Also, thanks for the shipping names. From now on, I declare that HermesXAlaska is hostageshipping and HermesXIsis (I didn't come up with that pairing, guys) is Shadowshipping.
VDAF: Yeah! A fourth reviewer! If you got teary eyed at that, holy shit are you going to have a tough time getting through this story. Also, I have a Typhlosion in HG, too. :) But I have a Feraligatr in SS. Yes, I bought both of them. :b
Ultima-owner: Your comments made me laugh. Those names have significance by the way. Believe me. If you haven't already figured out who they are by the end of this story, you're going to crap your pants.
Banjo2E: Yeah! You reviewed again. Maeve's not really special, she just has a sixth sense to make up for her eyes. Also, remember what she said about Alaska being special? Remember that. Lunar relationship? I think you might be off a little. Go back, and think green and pink. Green and pink. If you think about it long enough, you'll face fault and go "OH!" Don't spoil it for everybody else, though. ;)
My mouth fell open in disbelief as I stared at the wreckage of our car. Pieces of it were spread out over an area of 100 yards. Finally, my shock dissolved into realization. "Oh shit! Shit. Hermes! Are you okay? Where are you?" There was no answer.
Cautiously, I started walking towards the biggest pile of rubble, where most of what had been a crappy Dodge Neon was. Suddenly, I tripped and fell flat on my face. I gasped in pain as my knees hit the metal door that was laying on the ground. I got back up, wincing, and continued limping towards the wreck. I flinched when I saw it up close. The roof of the car was crushed down and the windshield was shattered. Two of the doors were missing and all of the windows except for the left back one were smashed. There was no way a normal human could have survived the wreck. Thankfully, Hermes wasn't a normal human. I wanted to crawl into the car and look inside, but none of the openings were big enough for me to get through without being torn to pieces with glass. I walked around the demolished car in a circle, before I got an idea. I took a deep breath and concentrated on the image of a Pokemon I had seen on TV once. I vaguely remembered that it was called Nidoqueen and that it was able to pick up huge boulders. Surely, tearing the roof off of a car wouldn't be a problem. I felt the changes begin.
First, I began to shrink in size. This surprised me, as I had imagined the powerful Pokemon would be taller than me, but I hadn't gotten too much shorter before I felt the powerful muscles building beneath my skin. My arms thickened and both of my thumbs and little fingers disappeared. My remaining three fingers hardened into claws. My feet widened and I lost all but two of my toes on each foot. I felt my ears move to the top of my head and become huge. Tiny pinpricks on the top of my head told me I had sprouted horns. I felt a curious sensation as my hair and teeth were sucked into my head. I reached down to itch my changing body and saw that my skin was hardening and turning blue. Spikes grew down my back and a tail erupted from the base of my spine. The transformation was complete. I roared when I felt the power contained in every muscle of my body.
I leaped forward and ripped the roof off of the car. It groaned in protest as I pulled it back, almost like opening a can of Pokemon food for my Skitty. This would have been fun if Hermes' hadn't been in danger. I peered inside the car and felt my heart drop down to my stomach. Hermes was still sitting in the driver's seat, but his head was twisted unnaturally to the side. His nose was bleeding and he was covered in bruises and shards of glass. I didn't know whether to remove him or not, in case I injured him further, but as the sun rose and became burning hot in the sky, it made the decision for me. If I left Hermes there any longer, he would die. I ripped through the seat belt with my claws and discovered a problem. My stubby hands couldn't move in the right way to pick him up with out cutting him. I needed more flexible hands, but I still needed the strength of a Pokemon. Another nature show I had seen came back to me:
Gardevoir, the Embrace Pokemon, is well known for looking incredibly human. People have become lost in the woods chasing them, believing they are women who need help. Gardevoir are one of the few Pokemon with hands as complex as a human's. They have amazing physical and mental strength, allowing them to move past almost any obstacle.
I would change into a Gardevoir then. I concentrated on the image of one and began to feel my Nidoqueen body melting away. My hard, scaly skin became light and silky. It looked and felt almost like fabric and it hung off of my body like a dress. My arms became thinner, though they retained their strength, and I reclaimed my missing fingers. However, unlike my human hands, these hands were much more delicate. I didn't have as mush strength in my hands, making it harder to curl my fingers around objects. My head changed to a vaguely human shape and I felt myself growing hair. My ears disappeared into my head and I lost my spikes. My legs lengthened and became human like, though I couldn't move them outside of the dress-like skin that covered most of my body. I looked down at my white and green body and saw that the transformation was complete.
Carefully, I reached into the car and lifted Hermes out. His head rolled back limply and I felt my heart ache. It seemed as though he had a broken neck. I cradled him in my arms as though he were a baby. With one hand, I curled my hand around his wrist, checking for a pulse. I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, I removed my now shaking hand. There was no pulse. I set him carefully on the ground and stood there. I stood completely still. A desert wind blew my dress against the legs hidden underneath and I shivered, breaking my trance. I quietly sat down next to his body and began to weep. I made no sound, Gardevoir were almost always silent, but tears rolled down my cheek and landed on him. I let myself be consumed by a wave of grief. From somewhere inside myself, I felt victory. Suddenly, my watery eyes became dry as I allowed my anger at Isis to build up. I let it build and build, until I could almost no longer control it. Then, I went into my mind. As soon as I felt myself inside the empty white space, I sensed Isis' presence.
"Come to beat me up?" she crowed, "Good luck. I finally did it, I killed-" She stopped as she noticed the look of fury in my eyes. "Um...Alaska?"
I screamed, an otherworldly sound, and released my anger. I felt a grim satisfaction at the fear in her eyes, before the invisible wave of anger struck. It acted like a shock wave, knocking her to the ground. Then came the aftershocks. I screeched in wild fury as the world of mind shook around me. I teleported myself next to her, as she lay on the ground, trying to catch her breath. I looked down at her and smiled. "If you thought what Hermes did to you was bad, you haven't seen anything yet."
"Please," she begged, almost exactly as she had in the memory, but I ignored her increasingly panicked pleas, "Please, no, please!"
My eyes glowed with energy, and using Psychic, I picked her up and threw her across this meeting room in my mind, and into one of its invisible walls. I heard a satisfying thud as she crashed into it. She quickly got to her feet and began backing away from me.
"Stop! No, no, no, get away from me!"
I got sick of her screaming and used Imprison, holding her silently in place as I approached her. She was paralyzed. She wouldn't put up a fight as I destroyed her. I decided the form of Gardevoir wasn't enough. I eagerly gave up my body for that of a dragon. I was about to give my mind over to the darkest parts of myself, so I wouldn't have to hear her screams. Then, I felt myself growing weaker. A look of triumph crossed Isis' face.
"Don't think this...is over...yet," I slurred and gave in to the sleep that was pulling me down.
"YOU SHALL NOT WIN THIS BATTLE TODAY," said a voice, the last thing I heard. I passed out.
I woke up in pain. What in the hell was happening? I tried to move my arm, but it felt very heavy. I couldn't move. It was like a bad dream. I couldn't open my eyes. I was tempted to go back to sleep, but I heard a voice that made it impossible. It was a soft voice, one that shouldn't exist anymore, but it was enough to make me open my heavy eyes.
"Alaska? Oh God, not again. Alaska?" called the voice. I looked up and thought I had gone back to sleep. Standing in front of me, was Hermes. I smiled. There was nothing wrong with him. No cuts from the glass, no bruises, no broken neck. He was perfect. "Alaska?" he asked, staring directly into my eyes, "You need to get up Alaska."
I started to sit up, though the effort it took was incredible. My body felt so heavy. "What happened?" I managed to say.
"You need to turn back to human, Alaska," I heard Hermes say worriedly. It took me a moment to understand his words.
"Human?" I looked down at myself and screamed, a horrible, mixed up sound. My body was not a body at all, it was a jumble of useless parts. My torso was that of the Garchomp I had tried to morph into, but I had Gardevoir arms and legs. I felt my head and realized it was a mixture of both Gardevoir and Garchomp. I vomited onto the dusty ground.
"Alaska, focus on being human!"
Human. I resisted the urge to throw up again and concentrated. I thought about myself. Thought about how I looked like, my feelings, my hopes, my dreams. I felt the changes begin. Just like the last two times I had regained my human shape, it felt as though the Pokemon parts were melting away. Slowly, my human form emerged from the monstrous combination of Pokemon that I had been. I nearly fainted again, this time in relief, when Hermes grabbed me and pulled me close to him. I felt something like an electrical shock where our bodies touched. I shivered. Then I remembered that he had been dead. I started crying again.
"You were dead, Hermes. I saw you." I let out a muffled sob.
Hermes smiled. "You were in Gardevoir form when you found me dead, weren't you?"
I nodded, too emotional to speak.
"Gardevoir know a move called Healing Wish. It completely heals the Pokemon or human it's used on, but it causes the user to faint. I think that's what you did."
"But you didn't heal right away. I went into my mind to fight Isis and you were still dead."
"Healing Wish doesn't activate until the user switches out of battle."
"So, when I retreated into my mind...Oh my God, I just thought of something," I yelped.
"What?"
"What in the hell happened to Isis?" I quickly withdrew into my mind. I wasn't worried about Isis, but I wanted to make sure she was dead, if that's what had happened. "Isis?" I called. I didn't see her, but I heard a faint hiss.
"Stay away," she said and hissed again. "I'll get you back."
Without bothering to check on her any further, I pulled myself back to the real world. "She's still alive, unfortunately," I told Hermes.
He frowned. "She's getting pretty dangerous. Both of us could have been killed. We'll have to figure out a way to get rid of her soon."
"Yeah...How are we going to get to Dallas now?"
"Well, I can fly on Ares, but now that Apollo's...gone, there's no Pokemon to carry you. I don't think Bluebelle can fly long distances, can she?"
I shook my head and thought for a moment. "I could turn into a flying Pokemon."
"Yes, I thought of that, but I was afraid you might be too upset to morph again."
"No, I think I'll be fine..." Honestly, my stomach was churning, but as long as I didn't try to change into another Pokemon while I was already a Pokemon, I wouldn't get stuck like that again. I looked at the sky. The sun was getting lower. I wondered how long I had been passed out.
"We should probably go, if we're going to get to a town tonight," Hermes said.
"Yeah."
Suddenly, he seemed to realize his arms were still wrapped around me. He pulled away from me and I felt...disappointed. To hide the awkwardness of the moment, I started morphing. This time, the first thing to change was my hair. It turned red and yellow and divided into several feathers. More feathers grew all over my body, those these were white and brown. My arms flattened into wings and my nose and mouth grew together, forming a beak. My legs were sucked up into my body and my toes grew out from my feet before curling up and becoming claws. I felt a patch of red feathers erupt from my back, turning into a tail. I had changed into a Pidgeot.
Hermes reached into his pocket, pulled out a Pokeball, and summoned Ares. The Charizard roared when he saw me and looked confused.
"Your a Pokemon, but not a Pokemon," he said.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Sherlock. It's me, Alaska."
He scratched his head and looked confused. I had to resist making another smart ass comment.
"Ready to go?" Hermes asked.
I nodded. Hermes jumped on Ares' back and we took off. I spread my wings wide and felt the wind lift me up into the sky. I chirped happily. I flew through the sky, a goddess high above the ground. I had never felt so powerful, not as any other Pokemon, and certainly not as a human. My powerful beak and talons were made for ripping and tearing. My wings could break bones. I could fly faster than an airplane. I loved the freedom of the sky.
"We're going to Phoenix," Hermes shouted to me, "Follow Ares, he knows where to go."
I nodded again and flew up and around the orange dragon. Hermes laughed as I flew by upside down. Flying, we managed to make it to Phoenix by five o'clock that evening. Much quicker than we could have gotten there by car.
"Land in that alley," Hermes called to me and pointed to the dark space next to a shady looking motel. We were now much closer to the ground, only ten or twenty feet above the tops of buildings. Luckily, Ares and I could fly so quietly no one on the ground could hear us. I landed on top of a dumpster and immediately began to return to my human form. I noticed that it seemed to not take as long to demorph this time around. Maybe I was getting better at it. I jumped off the dumpster as Hermes recalled Ares.
Hermes sighed. "I'm so tired. Let's go check in."
I nodded. "I feel like I could sleep for a week."
We checked into the room and immediately dropped down on the beds.
"You know," Hermes said, his voice muffled by the pillow his head was face down in, "All of our supplies were destroyed. We'll have to go to the store tomorrow."
I groaned. "I don't want to move for at least a week."
Hermes smiled and got up. "You're going to be unhappy tomorrow then. Actually, you should probably get up now and let your Pokemon out." As he said this, he released all of his Pokemon except for Zeus. Ares, Demeter, Poseidon, and Hades. The bigger Pokemon settled onto the floor and Hades leaped onto Hermes' bed. The space in the middle of Ares, Demeter, and Poseidon where Apollo should have been was empty. It made my heart ache. I wanted to release my Pokemon, but didn't feel like moving.
"Do you want to release my Pokemon?" I asked Hermes hopefully.
He smiled. "Don't get lazy on me."
I stuck out my tongue and stood up. The room was small and when I got up off the bed, I was standing right next to him. I release my Pokemon, who spread out across the room. Bandit chewed on my ankle affectionately before crawling onto my bed and falling asleep. I heard Hermes sigh and turned around.
"Alaska," he said suddenly, "What happens if one of us dies?"
I shrugged, unwilling to think about that possibility. "I don't know." My heart felt like it was breaking at the thought. I didn't want to lose my friend, even though we had only known each other for a week.
"I want you to know, if something happens, that I-" his voice broke off and he blushed. I stared at him, not used to seeing him look so uncomfortable. "I think that, maybe I...er..." He blushed harder and something snapped in my brain.
"Oh. I think I feel...the same way." I smiled.
Hermes looked relieved and pulled me close to him as he had done earlier that day. This time it didn't feel awkward. I felt sparks shooting through our skin, the electrical current connecting us. I leaned further into him and our cheeks brushed. Now it was my turn to blush.
"I love you," he said effortlessly this time.
"I love you, too." The words seemed to have some effect, as if a deal had been made. I felt as though the connection we had was now solidified. As if we had a magnetic pull on each other, we both leaned forward again and our lips met. My heart nearly beat out of my chest as we kissed.
Awwww...I'm so friggin' happy. I've been waiting for that a couple weeks. Are you guys happy yet? Sorry there wasn't much action. You'll get more next chapter, I think. I have a big surprise for when they get to New Mexico. *maniacal laughter*
