Chapter 10: The Red Eyed Man

I need to pull myself together now isn't the time for tears. I sat against a wall curled in a ball, with my arms over my knees, and my head buried in my arms in a hallway trying to choke back tears. I need to be strong for Stephen. I can't fall apart not now. But as much as I tried to hold the tears back I eventually broke down and sobbed into my arms, "Fuck man." I choked out, what am I going to tell mom and dad? I hadn't talked to them in weeks and now I have to tell them Cinder and potentially Stephen are both dead. I just want to wake up and find this to be all a dream. "What do I do man? WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO? Please somebody tell me…" I sat there crying hoping for an answer when to my surprise I actually got one, "I would start by standing on your own two feet and cleaning yourself up."

I looked up wiping my eyes to see a man with brown hair parted to the left side of his head and a cigarette in his mouth looking down at me. He had a blue jacket with a hood that was furred, the jacket was unzipped and under that was a white shirt and an all red tie, other than that he had on black jeans, and what looked to be black dress shoes. He couldn't have been more than in his thirties, his eyes were a piercing shade of red, and also if I had to guess he was maybe six foot two. "Man kid, I really am sorry this had to happen to you. I hope you aren't in too much pain from all the changes." He reached a hand out to me, accepting it he yanked me to my feet. "Now then we have somewhere to be so try to keep up with me while I walk." He began walking down the hallway, I had a strange feeling about this guy, something just felt calming about being around him like everything would be okay, wanting to keep this feeling I made sure to keep pace with him. We walked for about a minute before he spoke again and when he did his voice seemed extremely apologetic, "Listen kid I am sorry about your friend Cinder, I never intended for things to go this far but rules exist for a reason." He paused for a second to take a drag from his cigarette, "But rules also exist to be broken and I think I may be able to turn a blind eye to a few things that are about to happen. Now then about these people who have taken Stephen, I first want you to know that Stephen is still alive and when you find him don't lose hope on him he is still there. Another thing, listen kid…" He turned to face me for a second flicking his cigarette into a nearby bin and putting his hands on my shoulders, "I'm gonna give you something that will come in handy real soon, listen I wish I could do more but I'm already overstepping my boundaries with this." He reached out and placed his palm on my forehead. At first nothing seemed to happen but then his hand phased through my forehead and it felt like someone had lowered the temperature of my head too twenty degrees, and just like that it was gone as he pulled his hand back. I stumbled backwards thoroughly freaked out, "What was that?!" he flashed me a grin saying, "What I did will take effect after you make the deal with Mew. Oh to hell with being mysterious basically when you go through the change some knowledge will open in your brain and you should be able to know how to use your new body and powers right away. Now then I think everyone is expecting us so might as well not keep them waiting."

He opened the door and inside was the medical ward that I had stormed out of earlier, both Liam and Mew stared at us in surprise, Zero tried to avoid eye contact with me. "Uhm… boss what are you doing here and sorry about Jake I shouldn't have let him wa-" The man simply just waved his hand in a dismissing manner, "Don't worry about it Liam I had been meaning to talk to him this entire time anyways, and you must be Zero." He said looking down at Zero who was in Liam's lap. The man walked over to him and bent down so he was face to face with Zero, "Listen Zero, some heavy stuff has happened to you guys and heck you barely know both Stephen and Jake, but trust me when I say Jake does mean the best for you even if he isn't the best at showing it. Anyways Mew, Liam I'm going on vacation for lets say the next three months. So I won't be around to watch anything you guys are doing all right. Now then no parties, eat your vegetables, and be sure to go to bed on time." He winked at both of them then turned and ruffled my hair, "Good luck kid." Then just like that he left.

Suddenly things began to make sense, "Wait a second that was Arceus wasn't it!" Both Liam and Mew nodded in return then they turned to each other, "All right Mew we have three months to get Zero, and Jake ready to fight. We also have to track down Stephen and get him back and then get ready to prepare an attack on these assholes, think we can do it?" Mew chuckled and then shifted his attention to me, "I'm not the one you should be asking. So Jake what do you think, think we can do it?" A fire was burning in my chest and I had just gone from wanting to curl up in a ball and vanish to feeling like I could take on the world. "Damn straight, what about you Zero!" Zero was practically using Liam's lap as a springboard at this point, "Hell ya, I won't let those bullies hurt anyone else especially not Stephen, well anymore that is." The amount of determination in the room was overwhelming almost as if a lightning bolt were about to strike any second, "Listen Mew before we do any of this I want to take both of your deals, I don't care what the risks are. I want to be a Zoroark and the sooner we do this the better." He chuckled with delight, "Well then lets do this… wait I need A to help with it."

Mew was now rubbing the back of his neck and giving out an awkward almost forced laugh. Then with a sound as if a cannon had just gone off A was in front of us again, "HOLY SHIT!" I yelled out falling on my butt. This was followed by another yelp as I crushed my tail, fucking stupid tail. "You guys rang, oh ya also Jake, Zero I'm A and or Arceus but please just call me Cody. I only use A, or Arceus when we are at meetings and I'm in my Pokémon form. Anyways it will take only a few seconds for us to both be ready Jake but the process will be not be a pleasant one so were gonna have to knock you out, well we don't have to but you probably want to because it's gonna hurt." Everything has to be either painful, or more than likely kill me doesn't it. "Like I said earlier the sooner the better." Cody laughed and said, "Just as brave as always aren't we Jake, well Zero you won't be able to be in the room with us but you can come see Jake after were done, Liam you better take good care of Zero while we are gone got me." Shooting Liam a serious glance, Liam acknowledged it and then Cody snapped his fingers and I felt that falling sensation of teleporting again.

I still wasn't used to it as I landed face first on the ground. "Can you other give me a heads up or not do that, really not a fan of teleporting." I grumbled peeling my face off the floor. Both Mew and Cody found this hilarious, "Anyways were gonna need you to disrobe just go behind the curtain over there and then hop in the tank here." Standing up I could see I was in what looked like an operating room but instead of an operating table there was a tank in the center, those look just like the ones they used for Stephen and Ci… I cut myself off and just went behind a curtain that at the other side of the room. "You know now that I think about it what's the point of the curtain if he has to come over here naked anyways?" Mew asked Cody, "Well it feels a lot more comfortable taking off your clothes behind a curtain than in front of people Mew, it's just sort of a human thing." Mew still didn't seem convinced. "I mean his fur has already covered his body not like he is hiding much with those clothes." This conversation was starting to stress me out, it felt strange having my condition being talked about this nonchalantly, but I guess they picked up on that because they stopped talking about it after that at least they stopped verbally. A tense atmosphere filled the room as I trudged over to the curtain, behind it was just a wall and they could still see a shadow of me as I took my clothes off. Wow this is really fucking awkward, but I guess Mew was right you can't even see my skin anymore. I'm covered in this fur now, man whatever it takes to save Stephen I guess.

After I finished taking off my clothes I just sort of tossed them on the ground and walked out from behind the curtain. "Well uhm… go ahead and get into the tub then Jake…" Mew seemed really awkward about this now, which wasn't helping. Then Cody spoke up, "So what we are doing now is tossing you into this tank here, then its gonna fill up with a liquid that will melt off all your hair. Now we ar-." "MELT OFF ALL OF MY HAIR WHAT THE FUCK MAN!?" I cut him off, "Well if you would let me finish Jake I could tell you why." He paused as if waiting for a response but I wasn't giving one, "Now then once it does all of that we cant start the actually process because if you have that coat when your new one starts to come in it would mess it up and just make things generally a pain in the ass. So hop in." Not wanting to I sighed aloud and stepped into the tank and laid down. "Now were gonna go ahead and put you to sleep Jake so try not to fight it just let yourself fall asleep." I nodded back and I saw Mew start glowing a blue and sleepiness started to wash over me and it felt great.

Not dead, nor have I given up writing this just been extremely lazy so sorry about that and I will attempt to update at least once a month now as things have been busy with finals around the corner for me. Crab out.