Pluto lounged in the armchair of her apartment. She had just been promoted to the rank of captain in Team Rocket, partially in charge of Team Rocket's Research and Development division.
This was exactly what she wanted.
Only Commanders and Captains got to speak to Giovanni in person.
Steven wasn't sure what to think. He'd just died, and now he was curled up to a milk bottle, getting hand fed by his best friend. Part of him wanted to just be happy he was still alive, but another part of him was feeling embarrassed by the treatment he was getting.
"Why did you have to give me to Aron? Of all the people in the world..."
Aron wasn't sure what to think. A quick check of the Hoenn Pokedex showed his new Pokemon to look a lot like a Taillow, but instead of the blue plumage that would have covered his wings and back, it was black, and the colouring on his underbelly was a light blue instead of the cream white it was meant to be.
Aron had actually decided to call Isrea, whom he had become good friends with over the time they spent with Steven, for her opinion.
Isrea, once she came over and saw the baby Pokemon lying on the porch, immediately ran over and picked him up and started squeezing him to her chest.
"Aww! He's so cute and fluffy!" She was forced to put the Pokemon down as he had started struggling and squawking. "What's wrong with him? I don't recognise his species. Doesn't he like me?"
Steven was trying to get a good idea of what he was, and it seemed like he had been reborn as a Taillow with different colouring, which he didn't mind at all. What he did mind, however was when someone pounced on him from behind and started squeezing the life out of him.
"Argh! Can't breathe..."
After he was placed on the bench-top again, sprawled out, trying to regain his breath, he realised that the girl who had just tried to kill him was Isrea. She bent down towards him.
"This is really awkward...my best friend is treating me like a plushie..."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to squeeze you that hard...can you say anything?" On the side, she mentioned to Aron. "Pokemon can generally only say the name of their species."
Steven had already expected this, and knew that they wouldn't understand what he said.
"Ahh, screw it, I'll just say something random..."
"Whatever pies and cucumber."
"Taillow, Tail Tail Ta-ailow."
Aron turned to Isrea. "Well, at least we know he's a Taillow...do you have any idea what he said?"
"I dunno...it could have been anything, from him saying hello to something random like...cucumber or fishcake. What are you gonna call him? What's his name?"
"Name? Err..."
Alexa did not know how long she lay in that bed, stuck in her own little void of emptiness. She didn't mind the silence, the darkness, the lack of smells...
She just lay there...drifting off...
Arceus turned around to face Celebi and Palkia. Celebi tried to make one more last ditch effort to save his skin. "Your freedom and a great trainer's life for that of a boy? I felt it was a fair trade-off..." he trailed off.
"Indeed. And do you think Steven feels this was a fair trade-off? If you had asked him beforehand if he had been willing to sacrifice himself for Lucas and I, then I would not have minded. But you...you and Palkia, have meddled in his affairs and manipulated his life for your own benefits. This is not what we are here for. Your love for convoluted planning and plotting has clouded your decision making. Palkia, you could have stopped Celebi, but chose not to, even though you felt what he was doing was wrong. As a result, your punishment will not be as severe." Behind him, Mew giggled.
"Hehe! He knows what I've got planned! Palkia! You're gonna like this!"
Celebi paled.
"Yes...a name. You know, the word people use to call you when they want your attention? Heeelloooo?" Isrea waved her hands in front of Aron, who seemed to have zoned out for a moment.
Steven took this opportunity to observe and explore his new body. Heading over to the microwave (with some difficulty, his kneecaps had been inverted), he looked at himself in the reflective door. His entire body was covered in black feathers, with the exception of a small amount of red colouring around his head, and a light blue underbelly, which extended to the insides of his wings. Other than that, he looked just like any Taillow. Giving his two-pronged tail an experimental wriggle, he pondered on the other changes he had received.
His eyesight was much better, and he could see the individual pixels on the TV screen in the living room, but he had to get used to his eyes being placed nearer to the sides of his head. He could see further around him, but it was disorientating getting a much wider peripheral vision, and he constantly found himself cross-eyed while subconsciously trying to refocus his eyes. His sense of smell and hearing were vastly improved, and the world that he was now experiencing was vastly superior to the one he had known before he had died.
"Strange, to not know how much we were missing out on..."
"Name...those people in my dream...I never found out who they were. Shut up! They were just dreams...then why did it seem so real? I...don't know..." "Ow! Hey!" He was snapped out of his reverie by the hand that was pinching his nose.
"What happened there? You just went all AWOL on me right there! Have you got a name for him yet?"
"Hmm...I'm not very good with names...how about Xanadu?"
"LOW!" came the terrified shout from the bench-top. Aron looked down to find his Taillow glaring angrily at him.
"Xanadu? What kind of screwed up spaceboy name is that? Ugh...why do I need a new name...although calling a bird 'Steven' does seem a little far fetched. Huh, farfetch'd... I better not get stuck with a name like Xanadu..." Steven was furious. He didn't want to be called some weird name like Xanadu. He wanted something simple...so he voiced his thoughts in the only way he could.
"NO!"
"Oh...you don't like it?" Aron asked. His Taillow shook his head, firmly indicating that Xanadu wouldn't do.
"Ok, then...I just can't think of any good ones...How about...Boris? No? Err...Petrie? No...I guess not. Janis? Oh wait...that's a girl's name... Neville? Argh...I give up! I can't think of good names!"
"How about Scout?" Aron and Steven turned to look at Isrea, who had decided to come up with a name of her own. Isrea and Aron then looked at Steven, waiting for his approval.
...And it is for this reason, among others, that have led me to consider the remaining years of my life and how I would most like to spend them. I feel that I have contributed enough to Science, and its development within this organisation, and it is with the greatest sorrow that I wish to express my wish to resign from my role as head research officer and retire from Team Rocket upon the completion of this project, regardless of outcome.
Yours Truly,
Sonya Tanem.
Drifting off...into sleep.
Sonya watched from the monitors as the information from the chip showed that she was now sleeping. If she was right, Alexa would never wake up again.
She headed over towards the minibar in their hotel room. "Kova! I need you to head over to Alexa's room in our rented house in..." She checked the readings on her monitor, " 3 hours, got that? We need to pick her up after we finish."
Kova yawned. "Yeah, got it."
"Ok." Sonya headed out of the minibar and back to her computer. She checked the screen.
Transfer: 99.73% complete. Estimated time: 1 hour 24 Minutes 45 Seconds
Sonya sighed. "This is the last one, remember? No more experiments after this. 3 more hours and you're free from all this forever. Just hold yourself together..."
"Scout? I guess it's better than Xanadu, or Boris...perish the thought...It'll do for now, I guess..." Satisfied with his new name, Steven gave a chirp of affirmation.
"Ok. I need to go out with Isrea to get some stuff for you, do you want to come?"
"Why not?"
Steven, now Scout, nodded his head.
Kova lay at the minibar with a bottle of beer in his hand, pondering how to dispose of the girl's body. He didn't want to do any dirty work, and was too lazy to do it anyway. He resolved to just carry her to the park and make an emergency call before dumping the body.
The authorities could deal with the bloody stupid vegetable. Why did he have to tie up the loose ends anyway?
Aron and Isrea headed over to the Pokemart together, with Steven nestled inside Aron's jacket. Inside Aron's jacket, Steven wondered why he didn't mind being carried around like this. At the Pokemart, Steven heard Aron buying some more formula, potions and a small rubber ball. Then...
"Can I also get a Pokeball please?"
Steven blanched. He'd forgotten he would have to be placed in a Pokeball. Aron must have felt Steven, and quickly changed his mind.
"Wait! Sorry, can I get a Glass Ball please?"
Aron felt the small bundle within his jacket relax slightly.
" Sure, that's 400 dollars."
Alexa was back in the forest again. This time, it all seemed so real. Her own body was nearly completely solid, and as she began her run back towards the forest, she noticed something.
She could smell the grass.
"Palkia...you'll beco-" Arceus had started handing out his punishment, but was cut across by Mew.
"Come on! It was my idea!" Mew pouted. Arceus sighed
"Very well then..."
"Ok! Palkia, you'll be turned into a human! And Celebi, you get to become Palkia's Pokemon! Palkia gets to choose what Pokemon you are, but you choose Palkia's gender!"
"WHAT?"
"NO WAY!"
Firael looked up to see Alexa running in her general. She clambered up and walked towards Alexa...
"Hey! Over here!" Alexa saw her and approached her. She looked even more real than before.
"Firael, I've just realised! I can smell the grass!"
"Um...ok? I could always smell the grass...can you see it?"
"Yes, of course!"
"Ahh...good...I was beginning to wonder whether you were a figment of my imagination...another one."
"Hey!" Alexa shouted out, feeling slightly insulted. Then her vision blacked out...
She wasn't waking up, but was falling deeper into sleep.
"How is this possible?"
Rynade alighted his Murkrow at Veilstone City. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the Headquarters of Team Galactic, rehearsing his story in his head.
That night, as Aron got into bed, Steven stood on his bedside table, not knowing where to sleep. Aron solved that problem for him by picking him up and cuddling him to his chest.
"Scout...I go on my journey to become a Pokemon Master in 3 months. You wanna come?"
"Ta." Aron chuckled at his Pokemon- no, his friend's response.
"I'll take that as a yes then."
As Aron drifted off to sleep, Steven huddled closer to Aron, feeling his body's warmth close over him, his heartbeat lulling him to sleep.
"I could get used to this..."
Transfer: 100% complete. Estimated time: 0 hours 0 Minutes 0 Seconds.
Now initializing closing sequences: 0% complete. Estimated time: 0 Hours 0 Minutes 16 Seconds
Kova whistled, waiting for the call from Sonya that was the signal for him to enter their rented house and retrieve the subject's body.
...In the abandoned warehouse near Canalave City...
"This is so boring. How long are we meant to be watching a sedated Charmander for? It's been 8 bloody months since she was put to sleep!" One of the scientists there moaned to his friend over lunch.
"Quiet! You want to be on the receiving end of those wires on that Pokemon?"
Alexa opened her eyes and saw that sphere, dancing with multicoloured lights...
And within that sphere, lightning leaped from the outer shell to the core...
And in the centre of the sphere...the core...
There was...
Exactly...
Nothing.
Transfer: 100% complete. Estimated time: 0 hours 0 Minutes 0 Seconds.
Now initializing closing sequences: 0% complete. Estimated time: 0 Hours 0 Minutes 0 Seconds
Terminating program...
...
...
..
.
"Hello?"
"Kova, you can go in now. The orders are to dispose of the body in any possible way." Sonya's voice, a little tinny over the phone, carried a tone of elation and...disgust?
"Ok. Bye."
Smirking, Kova headed into the house. The nurses at Jubilife Public Hospital would be getting quite a shock tonight.
Sonya walked out of her hotel room, and posted her notice of resignation at the post office. Then she bought a plane ticket to Unova from the travel agent, and got on the train to Canalave City, intending to head for the airport there.
"Never again..."
LIGHT!
Alexa opened her eyes. But were they her eyes?
"You have got to be joking...You can't turn me into a Pokemon!" Celebi started to panic and was shouting at Arceus. Behind him Mew was trying to contain her laughter, while Palkia stood off to the side, deep in thought.
"My word is final. Palkia? What should Celebi become?"
"Hmm..." Palkia whispered into Mew's ear. Mew's ears drooped. "Aww...you didn't pick an evil Pokemon like Zubat, Bronzong or Ludvisc for Celebi to be..."
"Celebi, will Palkia be a male or female?"
"Female." Palkia nodded, relieved that she would stay the same gender.
Mew eyes sparkled with delight. "Ok!"
"Unnh!" Aron groaned as he got out of bed. For some weird reason, school always finished on a Monday, which meant that he had to go to school for one day before going on winter holidays for 2 months. The reason behind this was that the last day was more formal, with a third of the day being taken up by a long assembly, followed by a cleanup of the general area, before getting out of school early.
Still, he wished the holidays had already started. Picking up Steven, he deposited the baby Taillow onto his bedside table and went to brush his teeth.
Steven woke up, not knowing where he was, before he recognised the walls of Aron's bedroom. His keen hearing picked up the sounds of teeth being brushed. Getting up, and brushing himself off, Steven hopped onto Aron's bed and decided to try running and jumping.
Running and jumping were easy, but Steven was glad that he decided to practice jumping on a soft surface. Jumping was easy...but landing wasn't. He overbalanced and fell onto his beak.
"Oof!"
Alexa woke up, not knowing where she was, before she recognised the padded walls and floors of her original cell.
"Aww...not this place again...I thought I was still in that hotel place?"
Her musings were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"What. What? Is that you, Alexa?"
Firael.
When Aron came back from the bathroom, he found Steven sprawled out on the bed, and couldn't help laughing at his friend's predicament.
"What have you been doing while I've been away? Look Scout, I've gotta go to school, but today is the last day of school. After that I'll have 2 months of holidays before I start secondary school. At secondary school we're allowed to bring Pokemon, as long as they're well behaved, but I can't do this in primary school. Anyway, I'll only be a secondary school for 1 month before I'm old enough to register. So basically, you've gotta stay at home alone for today only, ok?"
"Ta!" Steven chirped back.
"Oh no...We're in the same body...Alexa?"
"Hmm?"
"Don't look at your hands. I know you want to. Just don't move. I know a way that might get us free, but you've got to let me control...us."
"Oh."
Alexa felt her conscious mind get dragged back, to be replaced with Firael's mind. It was quite similar, but bore several contrasts with her personality. Firael was more aggressive, passionate and savage than she was.
"I guess I have no choice...wait...one more thing. Mew, you know how Steven's body was left on your island? Could you drop it off at Hearthome city in two weeks? It's to ensure his friend gets the items in Steven's will, but you have to do it after 2 weeks."
"Ok... It's a strange request, but you're going to have to get used to strange for a while, so I'll do it! Have fun!" With that, Mew teleported Celebi and Palkia away before disappearing herself.
Arceus shook his head. "So childish..."
After Aron left for school, Steven decided that he would try flying. He ran off the bed, flapping his wings frantically to gain height.
"I'm flying! This is so awesom-"
Thud.
"Ow..."
Palkia opened her eyes to find that she was sitting in a chair, one Luxury ball strapped to her belt. People bustled around, all heading to a woman with pink hair and a red cross on her hat. Assuming that she was in a Pokemon centre, she wondered how no one noticed her sudden appearance.
"I'm psychic you silly! I just made them think that you've always been there. Psychics can do that, you know. Money is in your back left pocket, some provisions are in the bag, and you can guess what's in your Pokeball. Also, you can speak to Pokemon, so Celebi can still abuse you whenever you fail epically."
Palkia shook her head to dispel Mew's annoying voice, checked her bag and her pockets, and joined the queue to book a place to sleep.
Celebi opened his eyes. In front of him lay nothing. Looking around him, he saw nothing. Reckoning that this place seemed a little like Limbo, he tried making something...and a glowing cube appeared in front of him.
"Ahh well...time for some interior decoration..."
Waving his arms mainly for the effect, he started creating a house, and a hilly area around it, but during his work he failed to notice one thing.
His arms were dark green.
Firael looked up and around her. Noting that she seemed to be alone in the room at the moment, she proceeded to lay down to sleep.
"Hey! I thought you said you were going to do something, like burn down the room or something..." Alexa's voice sounded in her head.
"Look Alexa, let me go to sleep, and I'll explain my plan to you."
...And it is for this reason, among others, that have led me to consider the remaining years of my life and how I would most like to spend them. I feel that I have contributed enough to Science, and its development within this organisation, and it is with the greatest sorrow that I wish to express my wish to resign from my role as head research officer and retire from Team Rocket upon the completion of this project, regardless of outcome.
Yours Truly,
Sonya Tanem.
Giovanni growled, crushing the letter he had just had delivered to him. His most valuable scientist had just decided to leave, and he didn't have anyone to take her place. At least she'd be finished with the current project she was working on.
Pluto was walking past Giovanni's room when she was called in.
"Captain Nix? Come in."
She walked into his room. Contary to expectation, it was the same size as hers, but the desk at which Giovanni sat at was of the finest mahogany wood, and several shelves of memorabilia rested on the walls.
"Yes, sir?"
"I need you to call our research team in Canalave. Ask them how their Charmander is going. Tell them I expect a full report in 3 days."
"Yes, sir.
As the Charmander lay asleep, three scientists crept into her cell and moved her into a room. It had a large mirror on one wall, and the entire room was covered in a shiny white plastic. One of them whispered to the one next to him.
"Hey! Why is there a mirror on that wall? Is it some kind of one-way mirror or something?"
His colleague was quick with her reply.
"No! It's just a normal mirror. What does it look like? If you want to know why it's there, go ask the psychiatrists."
Steven got up, wincing from falling on his right wing. Flying was a little harder than he had anticipated. Falling wasn't much fun, and landing was worse. Sighing, he decided to try flapping his wings as quickly and as hard as he could.
All he got were some messy feathers and sore wing muscles. Grooming himself a little, he was about to go back to rest on Aron's bed when he realised something.
He couldn't get back up.
"Ugh...I wish I had hands...then I could climb back up..."
Instead, he hopped towards the staircase, deciding to head for the sofa in the living room downstairs.
"Hmm...I can't fly, but what if I don't flap? What happens then?"
Spreading his wings he jumped off as high and as far as he could from the staircase, and felt his wings catch some of the air as he angled them slightly downwards. He was gliding down the stairs.
"Whoo! I'm flying! Well, I'm gliding, but it's still pretty cool!"
While he glided down, he realised that he could make small turns with his tail, and used that to glide into the living room. As he was over the sofa, he decided to try flapping his wings, but once he had pulled his wings up, he lost balance and tumbled towards the sofa.
"Aww...at least it didn't hurt this time..." he grumbled to himself, buried in the folds of the sofa.
Palkia walked out of the Pokemon Centre after booking a bed, and headed towards the park, where Pokemon were allowed out of their balls to run around a bit. In most cities, large Pokemon were banned within city limits as it tended to cause accidents and large Pokemon also took up too much space. However, smaller Pokemon were allowed.
Still, Palkia had decided that she wanted a little privacy, and so headed deep into the park before releasing Celebi.
"Celebi needs a new name. I'll still call him Celebi, but he needs a name for others to call him by."
Celebi had finished the final touches to the hedge maze he had made about 500 metres away from his house, and was about to fly to his house before he realised he had no wings anymore.
"Aww...crap. What am I?"
However, before he had a chance to look himself over, his vision disappeared, and Celebi found himself with a red-haired girl, about 15 years old. After looking him over for a second, she spoke,
"Celebi, is that you?"
"Of course it's me! Although you probably can't understand me, so I don't know why I bother answering." Celebi was surprised by what came next.
"Hey! I can understand what you're saying! Anyway, you're an Axew, which is a Unovan Pokemon. We're currently in Mistralton City, and I basically plan to stay here a few days, see how well you know your own form, and then we'll fly to Sinnoh. By the way, I assume you know who I am?"
Celebi winced a little when Palkia mentioned how he had to learn his new form, but was puzzled as to why Palkia wanted to go to Sinnoh.
"Yes Palkia. Why do you want to head to Sinnoh? What's wrong with Unova?"
"Ok, look. I'm not actually a registered trainer yet, and we're ages away from Nuvema Town where you register. Also, Sinnoh is my home region, and I know the Sinnoh Pokemon much better than the Unovan ones." Palkia replied.
Firael and Alexa found themselves in the forest again, and Alexa was relieved that she wouldn't have to run again from the field she used to find herself in. Firael started speaking first.
"Alexa. This is my plan. They obviously want Pokemon with human intelligence. Why? I don't know. Most Pokemon are as smart as humans. Maybe they want Pokemon to speak human, or have more loyal Pokemon, but this is the fact of the matter. We must act as if you" She pointed at Alexa, " don't exist. Basically, let me control our body, and they might think the experiment had failed, and release us."
Alexa now understood why Firael hadn't tried to burn down the cell and had ordered her not to look at her han-... claws. That was human behaviour, not Pokemon behaviour.
"Ok. I won't even speak to you when we're awake...I don't want to give something away."
Aron got home at about 1 o'clock, and was a little surprised to find Scout lying on the couch, looking a little bored. He walked over and picked him up, saying...
"Hey, you want lunch?"
"Ta!" Came the reply. Scout jumped from his hands and glided into the kitchen, but couldn't get enough height to get onto the bench top, instead skidding to a halt on the floor. Aron chuckled and put Scout back on the bench top.
"So, you can fly now?" Scout shook his head, looking a little forlorn. He'd been spending the rest of the morning jumping and flapping his wings, but to no avail.
"Hell, it doesn't matter. You do realise that Taillow only start learning to fly when they're about 2 weeks old? You're 1 day old and you can already glide...sort of, in nearly straight lines...but hey, it's something!"
After depositing the Charmander in the new cell, the scientists headed back to the main lab for some coffee. As they walked past an office, one of the few grunts working there ran out with a phone, saying,
"Hey! I've got Captain Nix on the phone. She wants to speak to a scientist." One of the scientists reached out her hand, and was given the phone.
" Hello? Vila Turnel here. I'm a head scientist at this facility."
"This is Captain Nix. I've been ordered by Giovanni to ask for another report on your project. Send two copies for backup purposes. Deliver them to the Post office in Celadon city, and I'll pick it up there."
First up, I have to acknowledge Buwaro for name of Scout, which went to another bird Pokemon in his fic. I hope he doesn't mind me using the name, but it's only temporary anyway. For how long, you'll have to see! You'll get a more detailed description of what Celebi and Palkia now look like in the next chapter.
Oh, can anyone guess what the mirror in Alexa/Firael's cell is for? It's a perfectly normal mirror, and doesn't have any tricky devices in it or anything.
Crazyjosie: I hope you're right and this does turn out to be an awesome chapter...
Ryu D: I've already PM'd you, and can't really comment on your review too much without spoiling the plot
Cyberfire22: I guess cliches are a part of any story, but I'm really just making fun of myself with the cliche thing.
Steven: I failed to fly.
Alexa: No you didn't.
Steven: Yes I did! I crashed...twice!
Alexa: Ah...so you failed to land.
Steven: One day...I'm gonna get you and #&$%*&%^$*$%&$**($&(%^*)(#^#!
Alexa: Ow. Really?
Steven: No.