AN: Hello again everyone!

P: This is the last of the chapters we've been rewriting.

T: Quickly, we thought we'd say that we know the shift in writing style is both abrupt and awkward, but Shadow really doesn't have the time to rewrite every chapter of this story, and we don't have the skills to do so either. We're focusing on the more important chapters, being the first few and this one, so that they aren't formatted as badly and are easier to read.

SV: I'll get into the chapter quickly, though, since we've plenty to do!

This chapter was reuploaded on 1/10/18

I paced across the room for the tenth time in the last few minutes, contemplating my decision. Leo and Ash were in the other room, talking lowly about the upcoming gym battle they both had, and I had planned to be with them, since I was going to be fighting soon too, but I'd run across a small issue.

"Jeez, Alex, what Beedrill crawled into your bonnet?" Amy asked casually, flicking through a book. Her younger twin and our cousin had gone out for a walk a while back, and hadn't come back yet.

"I need to tell them." I told her slowly, twisting again. Amy cocked her head in a feline manner, pulling a bookmark to herself and closing the book as she did so.

"Tell who what?"

"My team." I replied shortly. She raised an eyebrow.

"You haven't done so yet?" My pink haired sister asked, surprised. "I would have expected you, of all of us, to have done so."

"Ash." I said simply. "I haven't been able to really get away from him in the beginning of the journey, and the last few weeks have been hectic enough without trying to find the time to get away somewhere we couldn't be overheard so I can talk to them."

"So you'll do it now?" Amy assumed.

"I'd like to try, but I also don't really want to miss Leo or Ash's battles."

"Just go and tell them. I'll get Marionette to come over to get you if you're still not back when we're heading for the gym." I smiled at my eldest sister, glad she was taking things seriously for once, and walked out of the room, heading for the forests on the edge of Vermillion. I was going to be looking for a secluded place to release my entire team, aside from Spark and Kydyur who were following me silently, likely exchanging nervous glances, so I could tell them the truth. Finding a clearing, I unclipped the Pokeballs from my belt, looking at each of them in turn with a long sigh.

'Nervous?' Ky guessed. She'd been with me for so long she was good at guessing how I felt, and Spark wasn't far behind, so they both knew exactly the right answer.

"Petrified. I've no idea how I should handle this. Ky grew up with me like this, and you found out by accident, Spark, so it's not like I've got much previous experience to draw on."

'I'm sure they'll be fine. Jade and Star both like you, Tele's fond of you as well, Joey's happy because Rema's happy, so he'll be fine with it, and Deku looks up to you so much it's ridiculous.' Spark told me.

"That's why I'm worried. I don't want to hurt our friendships in any way because I've been withholding this from them." I bit my lip.

'Alex, it'll be fine. Just send them out and try to explain as best you can.' Ky assured me. I sighed again, then threw the collection of Pokeballs into the air. The group formed in little flashes of light and a chorus of greetings, which paused when they noticed the look on my face.

'Alex?' Deku asked, looking up at me. 'Is there something wrong?'

"Not… wrong, exactly." I said slowly. I chewed my lip again, trying to find the words that would let me go about this best, then shook my head, deciding to dive right in. "I'm not really sure how to do this, so I'll just see about background first, I guess."

'Ok?' Star replied, sounding a little unsure. 'I guess?'

"How much do you know about the old tales? The ones about Speakers?" I asked them first. Deku looked confused, while the others blinked, having Tele answer.

'Speakers were an old race of people that vanished somewhere between eight and ten thousand years ago. They could talk to Pokemon and humans in their native languages, though they looked human, and were used by both to negotiate between races.' He stated. I nodded.

"Ok, tales have changed, but that's expected." I muttered. The group looked curiously at me, and I sighed again. "What you know is correct, to a point, but some bits have either been lost or forgotten. In actuality, Speakers were a different race, not human, called hybrids. They had the ability to shift into a Pokemon form, normally one of the normal ones, with very few familes having Legendary forms. They didn't exactly vanish either. See..."

Over the course of the next half an hour, I relayed the true full story of the Speakers, or hybrids, to my team. Since this seemed to be the first time Deku had even heard of them, aside from passing mentions in the sanctuary Melanie had run, I made sure to give as detailed an explanation as I could, explaining why the hybrids left, and how they'd done so- a revelation that had brought many startled shouts- and about the world they lived in. My little group, excluding Spark and Ky, who'd already heard this, sat quietly for a minute, thinking about what I'd said.

'So these hybrids left this world to escape a war some of their own had accidentally caused, and moved to another one to live on?' Deku asked. 'Sounds kind of surreal, no offense.'

"None taken." I smiled. "I know it sounds kind of odd, even if you've grown up with the other version of the story. Hell, I grew up with that one and it still sounds odd to me."

'How come?' Jade asked, fluttering her wings slightly in a sort of stretch. 'I wasn't aware humans even knew about the Speaker story, let alone that one, since none of us have ever heard it.'

"Yeah... well..." My smile dropped a little. "That's because... well, hybrids aren't contained on that little planet they live on. They have the ability to travel between them, though it normally takes multiple hybrids to fuel a large enough teleport."

'You know some, then?' Joey assumed. Spark and Ky giggled, and I smirked.

"Not so much, no." I stood up and stepped back a few times, both my original partner Pokemon moving away as well to give me room. I took a slight breath, then transformed. 'It's more that I am one.' I floated there in a small form, only a foot tall, and looked up at my team as they stared.

'Alex?' Star asked.

'Yes?'

'You're an Arceus?!' Jade exclaimed.

'No, Arceus hybrid.' I corrected her. 'Technically, I share no relation to Arceus in DNA, but I can shapeshift into the form of one and have the ability to use Pokemon moves because of it.' I demonstrated this by using Psychic on Spark, who allowed herself to be lifted into the air and floated around for a minute before I put her down. I frowned for a moment. 'I'm also telepathic, and my size isn't really restricted.' I showed this off by growing from a foot tall to just over five, now looking down at my team. Unless Ky stretched, that is, but she chose to remain lying on the floor. I landed, shifting back to human. "These aren't restricted to being in my other form either." I used Psycho Cut and swept the blade in the air.

'Well, a ton of things just started making sense.' Joey commented, looking wide eyed at me. 'Is that the cause of your better senses, too?'

"Yup. Better eyesight and hearing, at least. Nothing else, really, but I can psychically sense the area around me, which makes my spacial awareness better." I replied, then toed at the floor nervously. "Are you guys… ok with this?"

'Alex, you can't help being a hybrid any more than I can help being a shiny.' Deku said. 'Besides, our trainers a shapeshifter who understands Pokemon better than pretty much anyone because she is one, sort of. I'm cool with that.' The rest of my team chorused the same, and I smiled.

"Thanks, all of you." I put my hand on Deku's head, looking at the rest. "Is there anything else?"

'Are the rest of your family hybrids too?' Tele asked me. 'I'd assume so.'

"Yeah, they are. Amy's a Mew, Bella's a Celebi, Crystal's an Articuno, and Leo's like me." I told them. "We all shift in the same way, that little white glow, but we have different size caps. Normally it's the average size of the Pokemon, but with Legends it's a little more sporadic."

'Do twins normally have similar forms, with Bella and Amy as exceptions, or is it the other way?' Star questioned.

"No-one's really sure. People tend to end up in pairs, Mum's a Suicune and Dad's a Raikou for example, but Legends are normally pretty rare forms. We're actually a massive exception to that, there's quite a few around my age that have them for some reason. But Lillian and Lucas are siblings with three years between them, and they're the same form, and there's Lucia and Lucian who're a Latias and Latios, so no-one's really sure how it all works. One thing we are sure of is that Arceus is extremely rare, so twins with that as their forms is pretty much the definition of one-in-a-million. There's only six in our world, including me and Leo, and there're millions of hybrids, for example." I explained. I took a quick glance at my Pokegear. "I need to go, Leo and Ash'll be ready for their battle's soon, so I need to support them." A chorus of goodbyes followed, so I returned them and levitated my partners to my shoulders with a smile.

'Wasn't so bad, was it?' Ky said.

"No." I admitted. "It wasn't."

Amy glanced over at me as I stepped back into the room we'd been using before, closing her book again.

"Finally back, huh?" She giggled. "The others have already left. Leo and Ash said they didn't mind if you missed the matches. I told Ash you'd gone to chat to your team, I think Leo caught on. He pulled Ash out, and they ran in Bels and Cryssy."

"You do remember they both hate those names, right?" I checked.

"Of course I do. That's why I keep using them." For a second, I stared at my pink haired sister, mentally wondering why Arceus had decided she was the elder one. "Anyway, come on, I said I'd wait for you to make sure you caught up. They only left about ten minutes ago, so we might catch most of Ash's battle if not the end of Leo's if we leave now." Amy stood up, stretching. "Course, there's no need to rush. Neither of them'll mind, like I said."

'Sounds good to me.' Spark commented. 'Let's go.'

"On it, Sparkler." I walked out alongside my eldest sister, letting her guide us to the gym. "You're alright doing this?"

"I got a bell from Bels, they're one-on-one matches. Surge's using some of his weaker Pokemon to do it." Amy said. "He's used Voltorb for Leo, and Ash's fighting a Magnemite with Pikachu. I think you'll be up against Raichu, he's the only other one I can think of."

'Then damn right I'm fighting!' Spark cheered. 'No way I'd pass up a chance like this!'

"Sure you wouldn't, Spark." I chuckled. "I know you well enough."

"Ash has won." Amy told me, walking over to the gym. "We just missed it."

"Damn." I frowned. "I'd have liked to have seen them just to pick up the strategies Surge uses."

"I can show you." Amy offered. "Get them from Bella."

"No, that'd be cheating. I'm late, so I missed that chance." I shook my head. My sister nodded, pushing open the door.

"Sorry we're late, we ran into some unprecedented issues." She called as a greeting, letting me in. Crystal sighed, exasperated, while Bella grinned at her elder twin's antics. Ash looked over.

"Hey Alex! We both won our matches, though we were wondering where you were." He said, coming over to me with a badge in hand.

"Sorry. Like Ames said, I ran into some stuff with my team. These two got into an argument about who got to battle. Spark won." I came up with it on the fly, but as far as excuses go it wasn't too bad.

"Well," Surge boomed. I flinched slightly; does this guy not know what an indoor voice is? "Come over to the battlefield. Raichu's been waiting for a good challenge for a while now."

'Damn right.' The Electric type agreed, looking down at Spark as she bounced to the floor. 'Doesn't look like it'll be much of one, though.'

'Don't count me out.' My Pikachu smirked, flicking her tail. 'I'm more than I appear.' Faintly, I thought I heard Ash's Pikachu, who was sitting in his hands, murmur, 'You sure are,' then brushed it off to focus on the battle.

"Begin!"

"Spark, charge, Quick Attack!" She vanished in a little yellow blob, smashing into the larger Pokemon with little effect, and a small discharge of electricity flared from her. Raichu countered with an Iron Tail attempt, which she dodged by using Quick Attack again, making him hit himself by accident. He growled.

"Thunderbolt!"

"Watch out!" Spark moved to one side, little crackles of light flaring along her coat for a moment, and both Surge and I watched with disbelief as the lightning bolt veered off in completely the wrong direction. Raichu gaped.

'What the hell?' Spark smirked viciously.

'Yes! It worked this time. Thanks, Ky!'

'You're welcome.' The purple serpent replied from my shoulder. I gave her a long look.

"The two of you have been doing something without me."

'I'll tell you later. Or Bella'll figure it out.' Ky told me. Surge apparently snapped out of his shock.

"Well, electric attacks clearly won't work, so use Slam!"

"Try a Thunderbolt of your own!" The larger rodent grunted in pain at the attack, leaving him open to another Quick Attack.

"Wild Charge!" I blinked in shock.

"Spark, can you…?"

'I don't think I can deflect it, too much power.' She reported, looking at the large ball of lightning. 'But I can try this!' She ran forwards, turning into her own ball of electricity, and charging back at her evolved counterpart. The two slammed together, the charges flickering about each other for a moment, before Spark's fur, almost invisible under the lightning, flickered again, causing both of them to go shooting backwards at high speeds. Since she'd been expecting it, Spark flipped to catch the ground with her tail, slowing herself down with a long hiss of pain, while Raichu was caught by surprise and slammed into the wall on the far side. He stumbled out, shaking his head, before Surge put a hand on it.

"Stop." He looked down at his Pokemon, who seemed to know what he was thinking, nodding. "We give up. Most of our more powerful moves are Electric type and somehow your Pikachu can counter that. You win." Spark sighed.

'I can't believe that worked.' She smiled, as Ky slipped down to ground level.

'How did you do that?' Raichu asked. 'It's amazing.'

'I managed to figure out how to change the charge on the electricity I generate.' She explained. 'The problem is that I can't sense the charge in the other Pokemon's electricity, so it's fifty-fifty on getting the right one. I tested it with Kydyur's Thunderbolts, sometimes I reflected them while others I'd draw them into myself.'

'It did work out very well, though.' My first Pokemon nodded.

'That… that is ridiculous!' Raichu exclaimed.

'It took a lot of work.' Spark responded. 'Still, it did seem ridiculous when I first came up with the concept. Not so much now, though.'

"Here." Surge said, drawing my attention from the three Pokemon. "This is the Thunderbadge." I took the small, sunflower-like badge he offered me. "I must say, that was an impressive amount of skill. We were completely caught off guard when your Pikachu deflected our Thunderbolt!"

"So was I, honestly. I didn't know these two," I pointed at Spark and Ky. "Were learning to do that, or had even figured out that it was remotely possible in the first place. They've apparently just been doing it by themselves for a few weeks now."

"Well, more power to you!" Surge laughed. "Good look on the rest of your gym challenge."

"Thank you." Ky curled around me as Spark ran up my arm, perching on my shoulder like normal. Amy and Bella pushed opened the doors again, while Crystal waited for us to follow them. As we stepped outside, I turned to look at Ash, standing on my left. "So, how did your battle go?"

"Oh, it was great!" He said enthusiastically. "It was really challenging, though, but…" I listened quietly to Ash's retelling of his battle, smiling contently.

This is nice, I decided. Very nice indeed.

AN: And that's a wrap!

P: Every chapter from now on is the original draft, at least until we decide they need replacing.

T: That's unlikely, though, since they're good enough to read in our opinion.

SV: Next up will be a triple update very soon, for Guardians of Power, Child of Mew, and New Beginnings: Second Start, as soon as I remember what was happening in them. Bye!