Chapter 11
The morning was cold, and the grass was still wet from the morning dew. I sat and waited patiently for Grace to arrive. The parents and Joe had left to gather things for Megan and Sam's birthday party, Megan had gone out to see some friends, and Sam had left to run some errands. So once again we were home alone.
Grace slowly descended from the sky and landed gently in front of me. She gave me a warm smile and pulled me in for yet another one of her bone crushing hugs.
"Good morning Jackson…Uno whoever you are. I told you I would be back." Grace said just as she realized she was crushing me.
"Good morning Grace." I wheezed, "It's good to see you again. Could you let me go…please?"
"Grace you really need to stop with those hugs. You're going to hurt someone." Said a young female voice.
"Maybe if you stopped looking at people with your ugly face then maybe they wouldn't stop crying!" Replied a young male voice.
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU ASS HOLE!"
"BITE ME YOU HAG!"
"Please both of you shut up! I brought you along so you could say hello not argue!" Grace ordered sternly to the two passengers on her back.
"Where sorry." Both voices replied.
"OW! GRACE MIN HIT ME!"
"NO I DIDN'T PLUS YOU'RE JUST BEING A BABY!"
I gave Grace a confused look and she only shrugged. Plus and Min jumped down from Graces back and walked around to see me. Both of them seemed confused as they walked around me.
"Grace this is Uno…not Jackson…Jackson is taller and has hands and feet." Min said as he looked up at Grace with a look of confusion.
"Yeah he doesn't look like Jackson." Plus said as she pulled on my ears, "They feel real and he's in pain."
"I'm in pain because you're pulling on my ears!" I yelled.
Plus let go of my ears and joined her brother in giving Grace a confused look.
"Well I think he is Jackson." Plus declared.
"Oh yeah and how do you know that?" Min asked as he rolled his eyes.
"He smells like Jackson."
"Yeah he smells like a fucking sewer. Just like a certain loser!"
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU ASS HOLE!"
"NO IM NOT GOING TO YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
"I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I?"
"A GAINT PIECE OF SHIT THAT SMELLS LIKE YOU CRAWLED OUT OF THE FUCKING SEWER!"
I again looked up at Grace and shook my head in disbelief. Grace puffed up her chest and picked up the two arguing pokemon. They struggled and tried to free themselves form the flygons tight hold.
"Anyway I brought these two because they told me that they wanted to see if you really were Jackson. Now I see that was a bad idea." Grace said as she held the two pokemon.
"Well it is good to see them again." I replied, "Besides these two does anyone else believe you?"
"Well it toke some time, but I have a feeling that half of them believe me. So that's a start in my book."
After she said that Plus and Min freed themselves from Graces grasp and both of them landed face first into the grass. Grace and I let out a small laugh before helping them back to their feet.
"Also I wanted to give you something Jackson." Grace said as she reached for the bag that was hanging on her neck. She pulled out a necklace made out of a piece of brown twine, and on it hung a small silver whistle.
She toke the necklace and tied the string around my neck and tucked the sliver whistle into my collar.
"I found this on your night stand and I thought that maybe you would need it." Grace said, "It's your dragon whistle the one you use to call for me whenever I go out on my little adventures."
"This is awesome thank you Grace." I said
"If you ever need me just give it a blow, or have someone raise it to your mouth. I kind of forgot that you don't have hands." Grace said as she rubbed the back of her head and gave me a warm smile.
After giving me the whistle Grace sadly told me that she had to go. Plus and Min jumped onto her back and Grace began to ascend into the sky. Plus looked over her wings down at me and gave me a small wave.
"Jackson!" Plus yelled, "WE WILL MISS YOU! KNOW THAT WE ARE ALL WAITING FOR YOU TO COME HOME! PLEASE DO HURRY AND FIND A WAY!"
I nodded and watched as the three of them continued to ascend until they reached a good height. Once there Grace spread her wings and soared back home. I watched as the Grace disappeared into the morning light leaving me alone in the wet grass hoping that someday I would get to ride on her back again. Not as an umbreon, but as a human.
After about ten minutes I went back inside to see if there was anything to do besides read and watch TV. As soon as my head pocked through the pet door Sophie came barreling down the stairs in excitement.
"JACKSON I HAVE TO SHOW YOU SOMEHTING!" Sophie yelled excitedly as she ran towards me.
"What is it?" I asked as I pulled the rest of my body through the pet door.
"I can't tell you it's a surprise. You just have to follow me." Sophie said before she turned and ran back towards the stair case.
I chased after her and bounded up the stairs, and into Megan's room. I jumped up onto the desk and sat next to Sophie. She let out a small sequel of excitement as she wiggled the mouse beckoning the monitor to life. The monitor displayed a page filled with words and letters. I looked down at the Pikachu and then turned my attention back to the screen.
"Sophie how long have you been able to type?" I asked as I reread what was on the screen.
"Well after you and DJ went on your little break I tried to do what you guys were doing. After looking at the books I remembered that I have seen them on the board with letters…"
"The keyboard."
"Yeah that thing. So I copied what I saw on the book onto the screen."
"Can you read what it says?"
"No but after hearing you ad DJ yesterday I think I have a general idea. Anyway do you think I could type more stuff. Could I type a message for Megan?! Could I…"
Sophie continued to daydream about all the cool things she could do now that she could use a keyboard. I was stunned by what I saw. She had copied the book word for word perfectly…well except for a few spelling mistakes. Seeing this gave me an idea. Trying to speak like a human proved that it might take some time, but if we could get Sophie to type a message then maybe we could get help!
"Sophie I need you to do me a favor." I asked my voice filled with excitement, "Could you type us a message?"
"Why can't you or DJ type? You both seem to know how to use this machine a lot better than me."
"Well it's kind of hard to type when you don't have fingers…or hands…you on the other hand have fingers which make it easy to type."
Sophie cocked her head and scratched her chin as if she was in deep thought. After about a minute of silence she smiled and nodded. She turned back towards the keyboard and sat down. She laid her fingers out onto the keyboard and was ready to type our message.
"So this is your new master plan…I like it more than trying to learn to speak." DJ said as he watched Sophie fingers pushed down the keys.
"DJ" Sophie muttered as she looked desperately for a letter, "Please stay quiet I am trying to focus…Jackson how do you spell HELP again?"
"It's h…e…l…p"
"Ok I'm missing the P. Where are you pesky P for I the great word maker Sophie will find you?! AHA"
It has been thirty minutes since we started typing the message. I told Sophie what I wanted her to type and she would press the keys. The only downside to this was Sophie can't spell certain words. I would tell her how to spell it then she would take three minutes to find the letters. It was a rocky start but once I started using the same words she quickly caught on and knew how to spell them.
Sophie lifted his paws up from the keyboard and let out a sigh of relief. It was finished. I moved closer to the screen to get a better view of our work and I have to say I was happy it all worked out.
Dear Family.
We are wiring you this message to inform you that the umbreon and the riolu that are living with you are not what they seem. In fact we are humans in the bodies of pokemon. This was done by and organization known as Team Sandstorm. They used a machine to trap us inside of our own pokemon and we are looking for help. We ask that you please alert the authorities and help us find a way to reverse this. We only want to go home so please help us. We are begging you to assists us right now. Please believe us we are begging you.
Sincerely Jackson (the umbreon), and DJ (the riolu)
"Now all we have to do is wait for someone to come home and see it." I thought to myself, "Then once they read, and hopefully believe it, they can call the authorities and we can get back to normal."
The three of us sat on the desk and waited for someone to come home. The anticipation and the excitement was killing me. I could go home. I could be with my family again. I could get my revenge and fulfil all my promises to everyone in habitat five. It could all come true today and all someone had to do was believe what was written on the screen. But even though I was excited I had a bad feeling that something bad was going to happen. That on this day we would set in motion something horrible.
Sheldon poked his head into the room and looked up at the three pokemon sitting on Megan's desk. The three pokemon were admiring the computer screen. He shifted his eyes over towards the screen and noticed the message that was typed on the document. He slowly began reading the words and shook his head in disappointment.
"That stupid umbreon is breaking our deal." Sheldon thought to himself as he left the room without making a single sound, "He's making Sophie type him a message so that they can get help to take down Team Sandstorm…"
Sheldon walked into Sam's room, and made his way towards Sam's night stand. Once there he opened the small drawer and pulled out a small gray box. He lifted the boxes lid and looked down at the three colored buttons. Sheldon lifted his finger and pressed one of the buttons and a pre recorder message spoke.
"You have pressed the code red emergency proto call button. By pressing this button you are alerting Team Sandstorm that a test subject is breaking rule number 34 in section B. If you are certain that they are breaking this please press it again, and the proto call will be incited."
Sheldon was about to press the button, but the sound of the front door opening stopped him. He gently placed the box onto the ground and pocked his head out to see who was home. Megan had returned from the movies and Sam had returned from running errands. Both of the humans were making their way upstairs. Sheldon pulled his head back in and picked up the gray box and positioned himself in front of the door. From there he waited patiently for his master to come into the room.
Megan walked into the room and noticed the three of us sitting at her desk. She smiled and waved her hands signaling us to get off the desk.
"Well I wasn't expecting a welcome home committee." Megan said as she walked over to her desk, "You're not allowed to be on my desk. I'm afraid one of you might slip and get hur…"
Megan's voice trailed off when she noticed that something was written on the screen. She read what was on the screen then looked down at us and then reread the message. She repeated this four times before she got up and walked out of her room.
"Sam can you come here for a minute?" Megan asked as she walked into Sam's room.
"I'm kind of busy right now…can it wait?" Sam responded.
"No I need you to come here right now. I want you to look at something."
The three of us watched as Megan reentered the room with Sam right behind her. She pointed at the screen and Sam read the message that was on it. After about a minute of reading it he let out a small laugh and looked at his sister with a big grin on his face.
"All right you got me I typed this message." Sam said as he highlighted the message and deleted it, "I typed it right before I left, and I was hoping that you would freak out and start claiming that the Pokémon were trying to communicate."
He walked out of the room chuckling to himself about his "joke". I was crushed by this. All of our hard work was gone. All of the time we toke to type the message was for nothing. We were so close to having someone help us, and Sam deleted everything. I lowered my head in defeat and began walking towards the door. There was no point in me staying in there. I might as well sulk back downstairs and lay on the couch.
"Jackson…is that really your name…" Megan asked as she looked down at me with a look of curiosity.
I nodded and Megan casted her gaze towards DJ.
"And your DJ…right?"
DJ nodded his head and raised his fist in victory.
Megan looked back at the monitor and undid Sam's erase. She reread the message and looked down at us.
"I know when my brother is lying. So I know he didn't type this message. Plus you guys were sitting on the desk as if you were waiting for me." Megan said as she made eye contact with each of us, "Though I find it hard to believe…but at the same time the facts do line up…so maybe it could be somewhat true…"
Megan was interrupted by the sound of Sam clearing his throat. He briskly walked towards me and grabbed me by the tail. He then walked over to DJ and picked him up by the ears. Without saying a word he turned and walked of the room closing the door behind him. Once the door had closed Sam lifted me up to eye level and gave me a venomous look.
"I guess you two couldn't keep your damn mouths shut, huh? What, life as a pet not good enough for you? I guess you enjoyed being lab rats eating nothing but slime and being tested until you were exhausted." Sam spat angrily as he carried the two of us towards his room.
He kicked open the door and threw us onto the bed. He glared at us as he quickly closed the door behind him sealing us in. I ran towards the door and placed my ear up against it. I could hear Sam talking to someone outside the door.
"This is Sam I would like to report a code red…Yes…Two test subjects tried to interact with an outside source…right I will meet you outside…I will see the squad in 20 minutes."
After saying that Sam began to walk away from his room and towards the stairs. Once his footsteps were gone I looked up the door and tried to plan our escape. There was only one problem I could reach the door knob but didn't have hands.
"Jackson don't worry I got this." DJ said noticing my plan and he quickly jumped off the bed.
DJ ran up and quickly climbed up my back. Once he reached the handle he pulled it down and the door opened. The door slowly opened and revealed a figure waiting for us. Sheldon looked at us with annoyance and walked towards us with his scallops drawn.
"I told you last night to not do anything that would put this family in danger!" Sheldon yelled as he advanced towards me, "Now I get to kill you for breaking the rules and almost putting this family in danger!"
"Wait don't you want us alive!" DJ exclaimed as was backed away from the advancing, pissed off dewott.
"Oh, you mean nothing to the scientist. That's how Joe was able to bring you two home. So really I'm saving my master and Team Sandstorm a bit of trouble by eliminating you two now."
After Sheldon had finished speaking he dashed towards us and sliced the air in front of us. He quickly recovered and sliced at me with one of his scallops. The scallop grazed me and I felt a small sting in my leg. He sliced at me again and I dogged him again. I got into my battle stance and launched myself at Sheldon. My head slammed right into his chest causing him to fly out of the room and into Megan's door.
DJ and I used this opportunity to escape Sam's room and try to get some distance, but a sharp pain ran up my leg and I tumbled to the ground. I moved my head to see my attacker and saw Sheldon picking up the scallop that he threw at me. He slowly began to advance towards me and I tried my best to get back up onto my feet. Sheldon gave me a mad smile and charged at me. He slammed right into me sending me flying into a wall. He let out a small crazy laugh before he began to walk towards me again.
DJ jumped into his path and tried to punch him. Sheldon held up his hand and blocked the attack. DJ tried again to hit Sheldon, and again Sheldon blocked it with incredible speed. DJ began firing a barrage of punches and each one of them was blocked. Sheldon grew tired of this stupid game and slammed his fist into DJ's head causing the riolu to topple over.
"You may think that because you are pokemon you have the abilities that they possess. You were not naturally born as pokemon so it takes longer for you to develop any kind of natural instinct. Your punches were pathetic as a fighting type you should be ashamed of yourself."
"SHUT UP!" DJ yelled as he launched himself at Sheldon again, "IM NOT GOING TO LET YOU KILL US!"
Sheldon only sighed and sent a powerful punch into DJ's gut causing the riolu to fall to the ground gasping for air.
I looked on in horror as my friend was throwing everything he had to stop Sheldon. I was becoming angry and furious. As my rage began to build I felt a strange energy rush through my body. The pain in my leg and in my head vanished and I stood up and looked at the dewott. Sheldon looked at me with a bored expression and got ready to attack. He charged at me and I quickly dogged his scallop. He again charged and sliced the air trying his best to slice to ribbons with his scallops.
After about ten tries Sheldon let out a roar of anger and unleashed a stream of water from his mouth. I ducked under the stream and got ready to attack. I cleared my mind and focused. Sheldon was getting closer and I prepared myself my attack. I opened my eyes and unleashed my attack.
"Confusion" I muttered and as I said this small purple circles began to flow out of the circle on my forehead.
Sheldon was strapped within the funnel of purple circles. He gawked in amazement before he was sent flying across the hall way back towards Sam's room. Sheldon got to his feet and began to teeter around. He began to swipe the air around him as if he was trying to hit a target that wasn't there.
"Hold still you little…ass hole… I'm going to cut…you into ribbons…" Sheldon muttered as he swiped the air, "OH SO YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD GET AWAY! Ha you're right in front of me!"
Sheldon raised his fist and punched himself right in the face. He spun around in a daze before he realized what was going on. He turned around to face me and slammed his foot against the carpet in annoyance. He picked up his scallops and charged at me. This time I was ready for his attack.
I ran towards Sheldon and slammed my head into his chest. The dewott gave me a pained look as he stumbled back and braced himself up against a wall. His breathing was slow and heavy. He quickly gave me a merciless glare before he aimed his water gun. I got ready to dodge the attack and give him another head but in the chest. Time seemed to slow down as I charged forward and Sheldon unleashed his attack. Only one of us was going to win this match.
In the middle of this final attack a single figure darted out into the center and held up their hands signaling us to stop. I quickly stopped myself and Sheldon swallowed the rest of his attack. Both of us stared at the figure who was interrupting our fight. The figure lowered her hands and looked at both of us with eyes filled with sadness.
Sophie stood there looking at both of us. Tears streamed down her face as she saw all the bruises and cut marks.
"Sheldon…why…why are you doing this…" Sophie asked as she looked towards the dewott.
"Sophie this does not concern you…get out of my way." Sheldon ordered.
"NO I'm not moving from this spot until you tell me why you are hurting a member of our family!"
"Sophie…he's not a member of the family…he and his friend are not a part of this family…"
"They are too me… I am their family because you kidnapped them and toke them away from their families." Sophie said as she wiped away her tears and looked at Sheldon.
Sheldon shook his head and lowered his scallops.
"Sophie you need to be careful of what you say…if you are saying you're with them then I have no choice but to consider you an enemy…"
"What happened to you Sheldon?" Sophie mumbled as tears began to flow again. "The Sheldon I knew who once told me that families need to stick together and protect each other from the dangers of the world. They need to be there for each other…what happened to you Sheldon…I want you to come back…"
Sheldon didn't say anything he just stood there looking at Sophie. Finally he let out a small sigh and raised his scallops. He positioned himself for a charge and looked at Sophie.
"I'm sorry Sophie…but I have my orders…I am to protect this family from anyone who puts them in danger…I'm sorry Sophie but you are now…my enemy." Sheldon said as he launched himself up into the air.
Sophie wiped her tears away and got ready. Once Sheldon was in range Sophie spun around and slammed her tail into the dewott's side. She closed her eyes and sent a wave of electricity through her tail and into the dewott. As she shocked him she heard Sheldon's words echo through her mind.
"Don't worry Sophie I promise I will always protect you. After all we are family and families always stick together no matter how tough the battle."
"I'm sorry Sheldon, but they need their families and I know I can help them go home. We are family…" Sophie thought to herself as she finished her attack and allowed the dewott to fall to the ground, "Maybe someday you ca see why I helped them."
DJ and I watched as Sophie walked past us and towards the stairs.
"Let's go you two…the faster we get down the faster we can get outside to hide. We can hide in the forest until things die down or try and think of a plan." Sophie sad as she began to walk down the stairs.
I helped DJ to his feet and the two of us quickly followed Sophie down the stairs and to the back door. Just as my tail passed through the pet door flap Sam opened the front door and Sandstorm grunts began to flood the house. The three of us quickly dashed towards the back of the yard and dove into the thick foliage. We kept going until the house had vanished behind the wall of leaves and branches.
Sophie sat down and began to softly cry. I walked over to Sophie and sat down next to her. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to comfort her, but I couldn't think of the right thing to say.
"Sophie…I'm…I'm sorry…I didn't mean for this to happen…" I said avoiding Sophie's eyes.
"Jackson…Sniff…this was my choice…after typing and reading that message I had a feeling that something was going on. I also heard what Sheldon said last night to you…I wanted to help you… I could tell you missed your home and all your family and friends…So I decided that I wanted to help you. Don't blame yourself for this."
Sophie looked up at me and gave me a warm smile.
"Besides you guys are part of my family, and I promise that I will help you any way I can."
Meanwhile
As Jackson and his friends made their escape Sam and his group of grunts began to search the house for the test subjects. Sam split the groups up and made his way upstairs. When he reached the top step he noticed his bed room door open and Sheldon lying face down on the carpet. Sam quickly ran over to the unconscious dewott to make sure he was still alive.
"Those two are starting to really piss me off… they couldn't even sit still for twenty minutes. When we find them I will make sure that Sheldon get his revenge." Sam muttered angrily as he picked up the unconscious dewott.
Sam slowly got to his feet and began making his way towards his room. Before he could enter two grunts came out of Megan's room with Megan.
"What are you doing with her? She has nothing to do with the incident that occurred." Sam ordered.
"Sorry sir, but she was found reading the message that you told us about in your report. The rules say that people who have had direct interaction with the subjects must be brought in for questioning." The grunt responded.
Sam looked at Megan and then back at the grunt. There was nothing he could do rules are rules. Plus if Megan tells them the truth then they will let her go.
"Very well, but Megan please tell them everything that the note said…all right?"
Megan only rolled her eyes and the grunts lead her over to the stairs, and out the front door to the van waiting for them.
Sam and his team searched the entire house for the pokemon and found nothing. After an hour of searching the grunts and Sam got into the van and made their way back to base. During the ride Sam continued to hope that his twin sister would cooperate and tell them everything that she read, and hopefully they would let her go.
The members of team Sandstorm and Megan rode on in silence until they finally reached the base.
The grunts lead Megan inside and Sam followed behind. The night air was cold and Sam looked up and noticed the moon hanging over him. He stopped for a moment and thought about what might happen if Megan didn't cooperate. If that happened then he would never forgive himself.
