CHAPTER 10
The procession of Covenant soldiers and their captives marched back towards Cerulean City.
"I don't like the look of this," muttered Fredrickson, "The Covvies never take prisoners. Something must be up with them".
Misty was quivering with anger, "That bastard Bill! I'll never forgive him for this!"
As they crossed the bridge, a Phantom hovered ominously at the end.
As they passed underneath, the ventral hatch opened up, and they felt a strong tugging sensation as they were pulled up by the tractor beam. Misty looked about the interior, noting the theme of the colour purple.
The Phantom shifted across the river below to a small cliff face on the other side. There was a cave entrance in the cliff face, guarded by two Jackals.
The Covenant forced their captives one by one to jump back down. Misty was hesitant, scared of the long drop. A Brute huffed and pushed her down. She screamed as she was caught by the tractor beam, which lowered her gently to the ground.
The Covenant forced their captives into the cave.
As they were led further in, Misty looked around at the hordes of Covenant perched around on the walls and ledges, staring at them as they passed. Flame torches lit the way as they came to a small creek. The Covenant had set up make-shift bridges out of fallen tree logs.
After what seemed like an endless maze of passages and rooms, the Covenant finally dumped the captives in a secure cavern. As the captors left, they rolled a large boulder behind them, blocking the exit. The soldiers all settled down around the room, muttering to each other. A soft whimper suddenly drew their attention to the back corner of the cavern. A Flareon, an Umbreon and a Glaceon were huddled up together with frightened expressions on their faces. They had tight collars around their necks, and there were various cuts and scratches covering their bodies.
"The poor things..." murmured Misty.
Sabrina crouched and slowly approached them, holding her hand out while whispering something indecipherable under her breath.
The three Eeveelutions seemed to settle down, and accepted Sabrina's presence. She slowly rubbed the backs of their necks. Within moments, they were all making a soft purring noise.
"You seem to have a way with animals," Fredrickson commented.
"Being a Gym Leader requires you to be able to do this sort of thing. Assisting and helping Pokémon is a part of what helps us to co-exist with them so effectively here," replied Sabrina, "A bond that the Aliens will probably never truly understand".
Misty soon joined in Sabrina's pet-fest. She crouched down and started stroking Flareon's back. The Flame Pokémon responded by cuddling into her. Almost instantly, she noticed how warm Flareon was.
The other Eeveelutions huddled up to Misty as well, rubbing their faces against her.
"Now you seem to be the Dr Doolittle here," cracked a Marine. The other Marines all glared at him. "Yeah, not cool," he shrunk away.
"The Aliens must be planning to use them for some sort of research project," Sabrina mused, "Being a newly-encountered group of creatures for them, they'd want to know everything they can about them".
"But why BILL of all people?" asked Misty, "He's an inventor and a technician, not a Professor!"
"Perhaps his knowledge about how to operate the PC system is valuable to them," suggested Sabrina.
"When we next get a chance, maybe we can ask him," said Fredrickson, cracking his knuckles.
Sure enough, the boulder suddenly rolled to the side with a low rumble, and Bill himself stepped inside.
"You have twenty minutes, vermin," growled the Jiralhanae moving the boulder back in place.
"Speaking of the Devil..." muttered a Marine.
Bill bowed his head sheepishly, "I bet you have quite a few questions to ask".
"Damn straight we do!" Misty shot to her feet in a flash, "What the Hell is going on here?"
"I can explain everything," he raised his hands defensively, "Just calm down, and I'll begin".
"This'd better be good..." she muttered under her breath.
...
Several hours earlier...
Bill stared in horror from the window as hordes of Phantoms dropped from the Covenant Battle Cruiser in orbit above.
He could see as they started killing the helpless civilians in the City, and could hear and feel the rumble of explosions and gunfire.
Almost instantly, his brain kicked into survival mode.
He ran to the transporter at the back of the room and started typing calculations into his computer. He gambled that if he was able to replicate the time he accidently turned himself into a Clefairy, he'd be able to hide and survive amongst the Pokémon.
He double-checked to make sure everything was the same as they were on the day, and then pulled a Poke-ball from his pocket, releasing a Flareon.
"Listen up buddy," He crouched down, "What I want you to do is to just stand in the capsule, and I'm going to perform a little experiment".
Flareon was accustomed to Bill's more scientific antics, so it just nodded and went with the flow.
When it was in position, he pressed the timer button and scrambled into the other capsule. When a random Clefairy wandered in through his open door and into a machine, the machine transformed Bill into one as well when he triggered it. He figured the results would be no different if the Pokémon in question was one of his favourites: an Eeveelution.
The two sat in silent anticipation as the timer beeped towards zero.
There was a loud click, and everything went white in a bright flash, then it went black.
...
"Ugh..." Bill groaned as he came round. He jolted alert when He saw an alien, staring straight at him.
He scrambled backwards up against the wall. "P-p-p-please don't kill me!" he stammered.
At least that's what he tried to say. What actually came out of his mouth was a series of whimpers and yelps.
"Dumb animal," the alien muttered and wandered off, "Where are the Humans? They're hiding around here somewhere...!"
He sighed in relief, and then realised that the experiment worked. He checked himself in the shiny surface of his machine, and saw a Flareon staring straight back at him. The real Flareon stared at him incredulously.
"Heh, it worked buddy!" He said cheerfully, "I'm one of you now!"
Flareon blinked, still not sure what to make of it.
"Now let's get out here before-"
A loud scream rang out.
"What the heck? I don't remember anyone else being in my house," Bill frowned.
"You've been out cold for at least twenty minutes," said Flareon.
"Hey, I can understand you know! What a bonus!" Bill's eyes widened.
Flareon facepaw'd (if that's even a word...), "Idiot..."
They turned and watched as a Jiralhanae dragged five screaming girls from Bill's basement, all begging to be left alive. He instantly recognised three of them as Misty's older sisters: Daisy, Violet and Lily.
Bill almost instantly sobered up, "Oh shit".
"The aliens are going to kill them!" Flareon growled, "If you're going to be one of us Bill, you have to be prepared to fight for the safety of the Humans. Let's get 'em!"
"Wait, what?" Bill went white as Flareon launched a Flamethrower at the aliens. They all jumped about in surprise to avoid the deadly stream of fire, which slammed into Bill's working desk and destroyed it. Bill cringed, "There goes several year's work to Hell".
"Move!" Flareon yelled as it ran off.
Bill stared like a deer caught in a truck's headlights as a hail of plasma fire hurtled his way.
"BILL!" Flareon screamed as the bolts struck their mark.
Bill cringed... and then felt nothing. He looked up. The Aliens made confused looks at him.
He noticed he was surrounded by a red aura, and suddenly felt a surge of energy.
Flareon realised what was going on. "That's our Flash Fire ability!" it said, "Your body has simply absorbed the green stuff and used it to make you stronger! But how? That certainly was not a Fire-Type attack..."
"That's because that's all Plasma is: a molten-hot, concentrated burst of energy," He said in a flash of inspiration, "So technically, their plasma weapons will act exactly the same as a Fire-Type attack!"
"...What?" Flareon stared at him with a confused expression, not quite understanding the concept.
"The green stuff. It's called Plasma," he said flatly.
"Oh".
He noticed the girls huddled in the corner, watching the spectacle in fear, then turned to his companion, "You're going to have to give a crash course in battling".
"Moves are complicated sequences that aren't mastered instantly," replied Flareon, "For now, just tackle them with all your might".
"But... I'm not exactly the sporty type..." Bill cringed sheepishly.
"That was when you were a Human, but you're one of us now, so you are much stronger than you probably realise," Flareon replied calmly, "Trust me on that".
Bill just sighed, steeling himself up, "Alright... let's give it a go".
"I'll cover you with Flamethrower, you just smash 'em up good! Ram them with your head in a Headbutt attack, or Bite them as hard as you can, are simple enough but effective methods!" Flareon told him.
Bill found his grip, and then started running.
The Kig-Yar in his sights raised its shield and started shooting erratically at him.
Each shot that struck him simply gave him another burst of energy as he lowered his head and rammed into the shield at full pelt.
The two went flying backwards and landed on the floor with a thud, rolling about, kicking and biting each other in a fury.
Bill sunk his teeth in the bird-like creature's neck in a Bite attack, snapping it. He tasted blood, and by golly it tasted like shit.
Flareon attacked a Brute in a similar manner, using Fire Fang instead of Bite. The Brute punched it across the face, sending it flying clean through a wall on the far side of the room with a crash.
Bill turned to see another Brute ram its foot square in his gut, launching him into the air and slamming into a control panel, before stopping at the door of the transporter.
He struggled to pick himself up as the machine whirred to life again.
"Oh shit-"
A bright flash lit up, and everything went white, and then black again.
...
Flareon stumbled back inside just as Bill was reverted back to Human form.
The Covenant stared incredulously at the unconscious man lying in front of them, and then started to closely scrutinise the machine.
"This human possesses the power to transform a creature into a different one without any negative fluctuations..." a Jiralhanae murmured, "Imagine what we could do with such power..."
"Since this human is the only one capable of operating this machine, I say we keep him alive for the time being," another one motioned, "and maybe he can teach us how to use it, and then we can kill him".
Its comrades seemed to agree with this plan of action, before realising Flareon was back in the room.
"Get... away... from... MY FRIEND!" it growled.
Of course, that's not what they heard, but that didn't really matter as they scrambled out of the way of a large Fire Blast attack that caught them off guard.
Two Kig-Yar were struck by the inferno star and burned alive. The other Covenant roared in fury and became bent on finishing the pest once and for all. They all pounced on the hapless Eeveelution and pounded the hell out of it to a battered pulp.
They then turned to the girls in the corner, who had witnessed the entire event.
"In order to fully understand how this machine operates," said a Brute, "We should practise on these vermin".
It rammed its Plasma Rifle into Bill's side, jolting him awake.
"Get up vermin," it growled.
Bill looked to see he was human again, "Oh Arceus, Please don't kill me!"
The Brute spat, "Don't worry. Your demise is not yet due. First, we have a few things to talk about..."
...
In the Present...
"After that, I was forced to transform the girls into Pokémon. The Flareon is Daisy, the Umbreon is Lily and Violet is the Glaceon," said Bill solemnly.
"That's why they like you so much, Misty," realised Sabrina.
Misty just shook her head, "I can't believe they'd do this to you... where are the other two girls?"
"They were uncooperative, to say the least," replied Bill, "so they were shot in cold blood as a persuasion for the other three. It worked".
"And what became of the real Flareon?" asked Sabrina.
"She's somehow still alive. They're using her as a clone source. Now that they're sure of how my machine functions, they'll start using it on their own soldiers".
"But then we won't be able to tell who the real enemy is..." murmured Fredrickson.
"Actually, it'll be pretty easy," said Bill, "They'll all be Eeveelutions marked with a strange tattoo. It isn't very obvious at first, so be careful".
"What does it look like, and where do we find it?" asked a Marine.
"It's kind of like a...well I don't know what it is. But it can generally be found on the backs of their ears. The good thing is, they won't know the first thing about catching more Pokémon, so we can assume that they'll stick with what they have".
"They won't know the first thing about battling in our style either," remarked Misty, "So in theory, we have the advantage".
"For now," Bill murmured grimly, "Until they figure it all out, which they will eventually".
"So where did they get the Eeveelutions anyway?" asked Sabrina.
"They WERE mine," Bill grumbled, "I'm also a Pokefan in my spare time, so collecting rare Pokémon is another hobby of mine. I started with two Eevees, and worked from there, breeding them until I had all 7 Eeveelutions".
"7?" exclaimed Fredrickson, "How does a creature grow into seven different others?"
"Eevees have a rather unstable genetic code," explained Bill, "which means they will undergo metamorphosis, or as we call it on this planet, evolution, and transform into a different creature. An Eevee has seven different options in can evolve into, but it can only evolve once, so once it picks a form, it's stuck like that for the rest of its life. Although I once heard that there was an experiment long ago for an Eevee to be able to change its form at will... but anyway. Eevee has a different set of conditions for each evolution. To get a Flareon for example, you have to expose it to a Fire Stone, and for some reason, its DNA will react to the stone, and long story short, it evolves. There are three Eeveelutions that require a peculiar stone: Flareon, Jolteon and Vaporeon . Sometimes, you have to make the Eevee happy enough, and it will evolve simply because it loves you so much. That's how you get either an Espeon or an Umbreon. The last variation is when the Eevee is in a certain environment, and its body will accustom itself accordingly. In a forest, it will evolve into Leafeon, or in a cold, snowy place, it will turn into Glaceon". He paused to take a breath and to let the information sink in. "I had to start my collection when I was much younger, because Eevees aren't exactly quick breeders. Their reproduction cycle is fairly slow, and the eggs take AGES to hatch".
"...They lay eggs?" Fredrickson raised an eyebrow, "They look like mammals to me".
"All Pokémon lay eggs," replied Bill, "The mammals are just all monotremes".
"...They're what now?"
"Mammals that lay eggs, that's what they're called. Monotremes".
"Uh...huh. By the way, you use the word 'Eeveelution' a lot. What is it?"
"That's just a street term for an evolution of Eevee," replied Bill.
"There's one thing I don't understand," Misty looked at him scrutinisingly, "Why were you acting like such a prick when you betrayed us?"
"Firstly, I didn't betray anyone," Bill defended, "You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were lying in wait for stragglers to come looking for shelter, and what they got was a heavily-armed strike team and some Gym Leaders instead. Secondly, I was trying to look tough so they didn't kill me for being weak. I agreed to help them, so I wanted to look good in front of them".
"You were using your house as bait to draw people in!" she said flatly.
"You didn't need to put it that way. Besides, nobody ever comes here anyway. You certainly didn't come here just to look for lil' old me, did you?"
"Well... no..."
"Then there you go! I make my point," he folded his arms triumphantly.
"But you're still working for THEM! That in itself means you've betrayed the entire planet!"
"They would've killed both me and your sisters. Would you prefer that?" he asked.
"No, but-"
"Then that's it. There's nothing more to discuss on that topic. Let's move on".
She grumbled incoherently under her breath.
They all turned when the boulder in the doorway rolled across, and several Kig-Yar strolled in.
"It's time!" one screeched.
They moved to round up the prisoners.
"I think I prefer being a human to be honest," muttered Fredrickson.
A Jackal reached to drag Fredrickson away. Suddenly it was on the floor with a Needler in its face.
It blinked incredulously.
What the others saw, was Fredrickson grab the hapless Kig-Yar by the wrist and flip it over his back, causing it to drop the Needler. He kicked the Needler into the air and rammed it into the creature's face, shooting it at point blank range.
Within seconds, all the other Jackals found themselves in similar postures with Needles between their eyes.
"See if you can remove their shield gauntlets!" said Fredrickson.
Several Marines tried, but to no avail.
Fredrickson shrugged and pulled out his knife.
"You aren't going to cut its arm off, will you?" Bill looked disgusted.
"We need it more than they do," Fredrickson said simply, and then hacked off the Jackal's forearm at the elbow.
He motioned for the other Marines to do the same. Soon, all the Jackals were bereft of a left arm.
They briefly examined the gauntlet's control panel. He pressed a button, and the shield flared to life.
"Alright, you press this one to turn it on," he raised it to show them.
Several other Covenant soldiers marched in, wondering what was going on, and then ducked back out when they were greeted by a hail of Plasma and Needler rounds.
"We're under attack! The prisoners are trying to escape!" they yelled.
The entire base went into a frenzy.
"This is exactly why we don't take prisoners!" a Brute grumbled.
They stormed the makeshift prison block, but were cut down by a fierce volley of plasma fire.
Bill, Misty and the Human Eeveelutions huddled down behind the shield wall of Marines.
Sabrina released Alakazam, and they all engaged in a bitter firefight.
Wave after wave launched their attack, and the constant pressure was having an effect.
"Friggin how many are there?" exclaimed a Marine.
"They just keep coming!"
"We need to get moving!" said Fredrickson, "Form a circle around the others and we'll move as a unit!"
"Yes sir," they replied.
They urged the non-combatanants into the circle, and they slowly shuffled out.
Keeping their heads low, they slowly trudged through a hailstorm of plasma, as the Marines returned fire, until they came to a ladder going up.
Making a defensive circle, the Marines provided cover fire as half of them went up top, followed by their consorts, and then the other half followed behind.
There weren't as many Covenant up here, so they broke formation and dashed for the exit.
Three burly Jiralhanae quickly stepped in the way. "Not so fast there, vermin," they chuckled menacingly.
Misty gulped nervously.
"We'd kill you where you stand, but we have one more... experiment we have to perform," one grunted.
They stepped aside to reveal one of each Eeveelution, making determined stances in the doorway.
"This experiment should, theoretically, come naturally to you," said a Brute, "Pokémon battling, as you call it. We will have ourselves a little contest, us and our Pokémon against you and yours. Your final humiliation shall come when we beat you at your own little game, and then we will either kill you or enslave you for our little army, we haven't quite decided yet".
"What did you tell them about battling?" Misty whispered to Bill.
"Just the basics," he replied sheepishly, "Types and Type advantages, Status ailments, the rules and how battling operates here, nothing too major".
She sighed.
"This battle shall be all-in. Every Pokémon shall be fighting at once," said the Brute with a grin, "Whether you can handle that or not, is too bad. If you win, we'll let you go without any further action. If we win however, you will be enslaved and transformed into Pokémon, where you shall be put on the front lines against the Humans you so love and hold dear. Any disobedience will result in punishment, Jiralhanae style".
Fredrickson looked to Sabrina, "Think you can do it?"
She swallowed a lump in her throat, "I sure hope so. Misty, do you have your team on you at the moment?"
Misty made a sheepish grin, "They're all at the Gym, last time I saw..."
Sabrina facepalmed, "Well that's just perfect..."
Alakazam made a defiant grunt.
"I know you're up to the task," Sabrina laid a hand on the Psychic's shoulder, "but can you take on seven of them at once? Wait, I just had an idea..." She turned away and drifted off into her own thoughts.
Everyone stared at her expectantly. She stood there for a full minute, completely motionless.
"Well? Are we going to begin?" the Brutes became impatient.
Sabrina broke from her train of thoughts, "Yes, We're ready".
Alakazam stepped forward.
"You do realise we said it was 'all-in', right? You will lose," a Brute snorted.
"We shall see," Sabrina made a stance.
"Then let's begin," the Brutes motioned for their team.
The Eeveelutions growled evilly and made unnerving grins.
Alakazam remained stoic.
All at once, the Eeveelutions pounced.
Alakazam disappeared in a bright flash.
They landed in an empty space. They all looked around confused.
Alakazam suddenly appeared behind them, launching a Psywave attack.
Umbreon jumped in front and harmlessly absorbed the attack with a grin.
Jolteon leap-frogged Umbreon and launched a Thunderbolt.
Alakazam reflexively used Light Screen, which absorbed the brunt of the attack.
The Eeveelutions all leap-frogged the other to launch an attack, all of which were severely weakened by Light Screen, limiting the damage they inflicted on the lone Psychic Type.
Alakazam attacked Leafeon with Psychic, but all at once, Umbreon, Flareon and Jolteon threw themselves at it, forcing it to abort and move out of the way.
Alakazam was consistently on the defensive, denied any and all chances for an attack.
There were simply too many of them.
...
Alakazam finally launched a successful attack, hitting the Flareon with a Psywave to the head.
Flareon stumbled back with a growl.
Alakazam paid it no further attention as swerved to avoid Vaporeon's Hydro Pump.
Everyone watched tensely from the sidelines.
"This doesn't look good," murmured Fredrickson, I don't know how much longer your friend can hold out against seven hell-bent opponents".
"Don't worry," Sabrina assured him, "Alakazam has never let me down before. He is not an easy opponent to defeat".
The twisted Eeveelutions were becoming frustrated as to how long this was taking, as well the Brutes also watching.
A large crowd of Covenant soldiers had also gathered around, and were watching the spectacle with interest.
An impatient Brute raised his Spiker to simply shoot the Alakazam, but the leader stopped it.
"Don't! If we kill it, we cannot credit it to the new team. They must be able to win under their own efforts".
"As much as I see the logic in that, they are clearly lacking in proficiency! They should've won before this even began!" the other countered.
"Let's just remain patient and see. The others are clearly enjoying the spectacle anyway".
Alakazam was tiring out quickly. Constantly dodging and blocking was having a toll. If any one of its opponents could land a successful hit, it was curtains.
Umbreon slipped away as Leafeon launched a Razor Leaf. Alakazam easily defended against the attack, but didn't see the Lunar Pokemon sneak up behind it. Umbreon jumped on its back and sunk its teeth into the Psychic Type's neck.
Alakazam kicked and struggled frantically, but the end was nigh.
As Umbreon held it in place, Glaceon launched an Ice Beam, hitting its mark dead on.
Umbreon released its hold, and Alakazam's limp form slumped to the floor.
The Covenant all turned to the Humans with evil grins.
"Shit..." cursed Fredrickson, "and we were so close to the exit as well..."
Sabrina glanced once more outside. The light rays gleamed in through the doors, until a Brute blocked the path.
"As you humans say: 'So close, but no cigar'!" it chuckled.
Sabrina shot it a glare, "...You will regret ever coming here and doing this. Mark my words, you will all pay. Eventually".
Several Covenant roared with laughter. "Heh heh heh, I highly doubt that'll be anytime soon, vermin! You just keep dreaming!" chuckled a Brute, "Now if you'll just come along quietly..."
The Marines swiftly made a defiant circle around Sabrina, Misty, Bill and Misty's sisters.
"Marines, cover your eyes!" yelled Fredrickson.
All the Marines quickly donned a pair of sunglasses as Fredrickson pulled something from his belt.
The Brute looked confused, "What-"
"We'll see you lot in Hell!"
He slammed the object against the ground, and everything went white.
...
A/N: I've got mid-year exams coming up next week, so wish me luck!