Chapter 35: Release Your Inhibitions
"Oh come on! You call that running? I've seen Slowpoke run faster than you! Speed it up!"
"Mew wanna try this and see how easy it is?" Ken growled, tail lashing back and forth angrily. When he'd agreed to this "special training" running on a treadmill while Danny criticized his running speed wasn't what he'd had in mind.
Chris stared over Danny's shoulder at the screen that monitored Ken's speed, a curious expression on his face. "How fast is he going?"
"Actually, a bit faster than your average human, but don't tell him that," Danny replied with a sly grin, while simultaneously turning up the speed of the treadmill a few notches.
Chris looked puzzled. "Then why are you pushing him so hard? He's not exactly what you'd call athletic in the first place, you know. It seems to me that he's doing pretty well."
Danny sighed and shook his head. "For a human, he's doing really well, but for a Pokémon-a legendary Pokémon-not so much. I honestly expected him to be faster than this. It's strange…"
"What do you mean?" Chris asked, glancing over at his friend, a concerned look on his face.
"Well think about it: Ken's more Pokémon like than you are and he can't even perform a simple attack. Why is that?"
Chris frowned, not sure how to answer that. "We've been working on it…" he mumbled, running a hand through his short black hair thoughtfully.
"Have you had any luck?"
"Not really," Chris admitted, glancing over at his friend with concern.
"How about you?" Danny asked, hoping to figure out exactly why Ken had been unable to use moves. "How did you learn to use your abilities?"
"Well, I really didn't," Chris replied with a shrug, looking thoughtful. "When I hit thirteen, I just got this sudden muscle increase, and then after that it just came naturally."
"What about Crush Grip? How did you figure that out?"
"It's not really that hard, all you do is grab the other guy and squeeze," Chris replied with a shrug.
Danny laughed. "It's a bit more complicated than that. Come on, you must have done something."
Chris frowned, deep in thought. How did I learn how? I couldn't have just woken up one day and magically figured out how to use Crush Grip! But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that that was exactly what he recalled happening.
"I just knew," Chris replied at last, sighing as he realized how stupid that must have sounded.
However, instead of looking irritated, Danny looked intrigued. "Hmm…if I had to guess, I'd say that your Pokémon instincts must have kicked in. A Pokémon doesn't have to think about how to use its moves; it knows instinctively how to perform them. The Pokémon part of you knows how to use moves, but Ken..." Danny looked over at the Mew hybrid, wincing as he tripped and went flying off the treadmill. "If Ken keeps pushing his instincts away, he'll never be able to use moves, psychic power, or anything else Pokémon related for that matter. Never."
"He won't?" Chris asked, a knot forming in the pit of his stomach.
Danny shook his head, a deep frown on his face. "It would be impossible."
Chris watched with a mixture of sadness and pity as Ken tried and failed to get back on the treadmill, jumping onto it and promptly falling over and being thrown off again. If they didn't do something, Ken would-
"MY TAIL!" Ken cried, rubbing the furry appendage where he had landed on it, his expression one of pain.
Danny regarded the Mew hybrid with a sigh and a shake of the head, an equally sympathetic look on his face. "If we want to help your friend, we need to figure out how to bring his instincts to the surface," he whispered to Chris, hoping that Ken wouldn't hear them. "Do you know how to do that?"
Chris frowned. Was it even a good idea to do that? What if I lose Ken forever? he thought to himself worriedly, recalling how Ken wasn't always Ken. What if next time, he doesn't come back? Chris frowned, not sure what to say. He wanted to help Ken learn how to use his abilities, but was afraid that forcing Ken to tap into his instincts would destroy everything that made him Ken.
"CRAP!"
Chris sighed as he watched Ken try and fail once more to get back on the treadmill, wondering if it wouldn't be simpler to just turn the stupid thing off and let him back on it. Shade, on the other hand, seemed to be having much better luck. He was currently in a small pool made to simulate the oceans current, and was swimming against the waves, a determined look on his face.
If even a Magikarp is doing better than Ken, then maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to try and awaken Ken's instincts, Chris thought with a sigh, realizing that the Mew hybrid really wasn't making any progress.
"Well…Ken likes to swim, at least, I think he does. He sure seemed into it when we were at the Cerulean Gym."
"He won a gym badge?" Danny asked, looking excited. Chris shook his head and the man's smile faded. "Ok, well that's a start, I guess."
"He's also got a thing for Pokémon Food," Chris offered, hoping that the information would help in some way.
"Hmmm…that could work," Danny mumbled, a sly grin slowly making its way to his face.
Oh boy, what does he have planned now? Chris wondered, as the man loudly announced that Ken and Shade should take a break.
Ken sat down on the floor, breathing heavily and wondering if the so called Daycare Dude even knew the first thing about raising Pokémon.
"A good warm up, yes Master?" Shade asked, flopping out of the pool to sit beside Ken.
"Warm up?" Ken asked, eyeing the crazy fish with disbelief. "That treadmill tried to kill me and you call that a warm up?"
"Forgive me for saying so Master, but I don't believe that you were doing it right," Shade replied calmly, looking apologetic.
Ken was about to protest when Danny walked over to them, a huge grin on his face. "Having fun Ken?"
"No," Ken replied without the slightest bit of hesitation. "What is the point of making Mew run anyway?"
"When in battle, a Trainer has to learn to think on their feet. The slightest bit of hesitation can mean the difference between glorious victory and crushing defeat," Danny explained with a hint satisfaction. "Besides, speed is one of the easiest things to start with when training a Pokémon."
"I'M NOT A POKEMON!" Ken growled, scrambling to his feet and glaring daggers at his new teacher. "Come on Chris, we're gonna be late for the SS Anne anyway," he grumbled, picking up his backpack and turning to leave.
"But the SS Anne isn't due to arrive for three more days!" Danny called after him, causing the Mew hybrid to stop in his tracks.
Slowly turning around, he stared at the Daycare Dude in disbelief, right ear begging to twitch like crazy. "So you're telling me that we've been scrambling to get to a party that is scheduled for three days from now?"
"We need to get there early for my ticket anyway Ken," Chris explained as he stepped between the two of them, hoping to avoid a fight. He saw Danny give him a look, then quickly added, "But we might as well stay and finish Shades training, we're paying for it anyway."
Ken's eyes widened. "Say what?"
"I was going to give you a freebee for letting me train someone as unique as yourself," Danny smoothly interjected, "but if you want to leave early, that's fine. Shade should have learned Tackle from all the speed training, so that comes to a total of one hundred Pokédollars."
"WHAT?"
"Or you could stay and I'll train both of you for free," Danny added with a shrug.
"Fine," Ken grumbled, beginning to wish he had never opened the door in the first place, and missing the triumphant grin on Danny's face.
"Great! Now who wants lunch?"
With a groan Ken nodded, and Danny headed off into the next room, followed immediately by Chris.
"Ok first of all, there's no way that teaching Shade Tackle would cost that much. Second, I really doubt that he learned it that fast," Chris remarked, arms crossed.
Danny flashed the Rigigigas hybrid a guilty looking smile as he began rummaging through containers of Pokémon Food. "Yeah ok, so I might've stretched the truth a little bit, but he wasn't going to stick around otherwise, and believe it or not, I do want to help him."
Chris said nothing, but wasn't really sure that he liked the idea of lying to Ken. Instead, he decided to occupy himself with reading the labels on the cans of Pokémon Food.
Back in the other room, Ken sat impatiently waiting for his food, tail twitching. What's taking so long? he wondered, sighing as his stomach let out a growl.
"Ken's stomach is angry!" Zoey gasped, jumping backwards in alarm.
"I'm just hungry Zoey," Ken sighed, though inside he was laughing his head off. "And just how did you get out of your Pokeball?"
"Zoey is tired of staying in the magic world," the little Clefairy sighed, skipping playfully over to Ken. "Zoey feels better now and wants to play!"
Ken blinked. The magic world? That's a new one. Oh well, it's not like The Sphere of Command is normal. "I can't right now Zoey," he sighed, picking up the little Clefairy in his arms who began to pout. "This nice man has offered to help me train Shade-"
"More like forced you to," Sora laughed, causing Ken to cast an irritated glare her way.
"And might be able to help me with my own…er…problem."
"Also because he forced you to."
Ken glared at Sora but said nothing. "I'll play with you later, ok?"
Zoey's eyes lit up. "Promise?"
"I promise-wait, I mean-"
"Ken will play with Zoey!" the Clefairy sang, causing Ken to sigh, realizing that it was too late.
She's going to hold me to that promise, he realized, ears drooping in dismay.
Oh come on Ken, you like that kind of stuff! a childish voice at the back of his head giggled, causing Ken to look around to see who it was that had spoken.
That's funny, Ken mused, I could have sworn…no that can't be.
"What's wrong Ken?" Sora asked, jolting him back to reality.
"Oh, uh, nothing," he replied, shoving the thought to the back of his mind. "Don't worry Sora, it's nothing."
Ken actually EATS this stuff? Chris wondered, staring at the cans of food with a deep frown on his face. He popped off the lid and took a cautious sniff, wrinkling his nose in response. It sure doesn't smell very-
"That's for small rodents," Danny explained, laughing as Chris hurriedly closed the lid, face already beginning to turn red. "It's geared towards Pokémon like Rattata and Pikachu. You'd probably want the kind for inorganic Pokémon that are mineral based in nature. I usually feed that to Pokémon like Magneton and Golem. Wanna try?" he asked, holding up a can of Pokémon Food.
Chris rolled his eyes. "Do I look like a walking pile of rocks to you?"
Danny shrugged. "Hey, the other Regis are made of ice, rock, and steel. That formula is pretty much what they'd go for."
Chris was about to protest, then decided that Danny might have a point, and shrugged it off. "So…you have a different type of food for different kinds of Pokémon?"
"That's right. Pokémon vary greatly from species to species, so I try to give them the type of food most suited for them. Now where…ah, here it is!" Danny exclaimed, holding up a can of food triumphantly. "If anything is going to get Ken to pay more attention to his Pokémon side, it's this food right here."
Chris was about to ask what he meant, when he saw what was written on the label: Small Feline Formula.
Ken was getting really impatient by now, and was about to go see where Chris and Danny had gone, when they walked through the door, Danny carrying several cans of Pokémon Food triumphantly. Ken groaned.
"Chris, did you really have to tell him about my…eating habits?" he asked, searching for the right way to fraise it.
"Sorry Ken," Chris replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "On the plus side, Danny says that you're really gonna like this kind. It's a special brand devoted specifically to…er…your needs."
"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Ken demanded, eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Yes, Mew Mew!" Danny laughed, placing a bowl in Ken's hands and filling it up with Pokémon Food. "Sorry, but unlike your friend here, I have no idea what you just said."
Ken sighed. It would be so much easier if I could just keep my stupid languages strait. And just because I'm part Pokémon, it doesn't mean that…he trailed off, the scent of the Pokémon Food making its way to his nostrils. That smells…DELICIOUS!
Danny's eyes widened in surprise as the Mew hybrid happily began to devour the food, face first. Chris just sighed, as he'd heard about Ken's previous experiences with Pokémon Food.
The Mew hybrid continued to inhale the Pokémon Food, a rather loud purr rumbling within his throat, his tail twitching merrily. After a couple seconds, he began to lick the crumbs out of the bottom of the bowl, eyes wide with delight.
"So Ken," Danny asked, as the Mew hybrid finally finished and stopped to look at them, "how do you feel?"
The Mew hybrid stared at them with big blue eyes that radiated innocence, a smile quickly finding its way to his face.
"This food is wonderful!" he cried out happily in Pokéspeak, tail twitching with joy. "Is there more?" he asked, holding up the bowl, eyes huge and pleading.
Danny laughed. "I don't even need a translation for that one. See, I told you that everything would be fine," he said to Chris, while pouring more food into Ken's bowl. "And here you were worried over nothing!" The Mew hybrids eyes widened in joy, and he quickly began to chow down on the kibble. "Now he's happy, and we can see about trying to reach his instincts in a safe, controlled manner."
"What does that mean?" Chris asked, a nervous lump forming in his throat.
"Well, he's constantly at war with himself!" Danny pointed out with a laugh. "Honestly, it's a miracle that the guy hasn't developed a split personality!"
Uh oh. "Um…how would I know if his personality was starting to split?"
"Oh you know, he'd have periods of time that he didn't remember so well, times where he'd start acting like someone else, you know, stuff like that," Danny replied with a shrug.
Oh boy. "And hypothetically, if his personality was starting to split, this wouldn't, you know, push him over the edge…would it?"
Danny frowned, an extremely serious look on his face. "Huh. Never thought of that…"
Chris's eyes bulged and he grabbed the Daycare Dude firmly by the collar. "What do you mean you never thought of that? This is my best friend's brain we're talking about!"
"Look, I'm sure he's fine!" Danny insisted, trying to push a very angry Chris off of him. "There's absolutely no reason to-"
"Bubbles are FUN!"
Chris and Danny turned to where Ken was standing, mouths dropping open. The Mew hybrid was currently popping several pink bubbles that had appeared out of nowhere, giggling like crazy. His eyes glowed pink, and a rather large pink bubble materialized from nowhere, after which Ken jumped onto it and began to bounce on it playfully, not a care in the world.
"I thought you said he couldn't use psychic powers?" Danny asked, confused.
"He can't," Chris replied, equally dumbfounded.
Yet here was Ken, bouncing on a pink bubble of psychic energy as if he'd done it a million times before.
"So…my plan worked then!" Danny exclaimed after a moment of silence, throwing his arms up in the air in triumph.
Chris, on the other hand, was a little uneasy about this sudden use of psychic power. Surely giving Ken special Pokémon Food wouldn't be enough to bring out such energy, there was no way it could be that easy.
"Ken," Chris called to the Mew hybrid, who paused and looked at him curiously, "could you come here a minute?"
"Sure Chris, what's up?" Chris's eyes widened as the Mew hybrid floated over to him, his blue eyes glittering with excitement and playfulness. "Something wrong?" Ken asked when he noticed Chris's concerned expression.
"Ken, do you know what you are?" Chris asked, beginning to feel that something wasn't right. Ken was acting a little…strange.
"I'm a Mew silly!" Ken laughed, spinning around in the air playfully. "You know that! Oooh! Is this a new game? I like games! Let's play Monopoly! I call the doggie!"
Chris stood there, mouth open, as Ken continued to rattle on about all the games they could play, the truth of the situation finally sinking in.
Ken's personality had split.
Worse yet, Ken's personality had split, and they now had a very playful Mew hybrid on their hands who didn't seem to realize that there was anything wrong.
Oh boy, this can not be good!
"And checkers! I LOVE checkers! Do you like checkers Chris? Chris? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Um, could you give me just one second?" Chris asked, glancing over at Danny. He noticed the Mew hybrids ears droop and sighed. "Just one minute and then we'll play any game you want."
Ken's eyes lit up and he nodded enthusiastically, flying off to go play with the bubbles he'd created and leaving Chris to explain the situation to Danny.
"Ok, so I screwed up," Danny sighed after Chris relayed Ken's conversation to him. "In my defense, it was bound to happen anyway. I probably just…helped it along a bit."
"Danny this is serious!" Chris growled, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the Mew hybrid, who was trying to catch his tail. "My buddy just lost his mind, and all you have to say is, 'Oh well, it was bound to happen eventually'?"
"Hey, relax," Danny assured him with a wave of his hand. "His personality split, it's not like it was replaced or anything. He'll go back to normal eventually. You just have to wait."
"We don't have time for that!" Chris growled, fists clenched. "That could take days, or weeks, or even-"
"Chris calm down, you're getting yourself worked up over nothing."
"Nothing? My friend is-"
"He's still Ken," Danny pointed out, causing Chris to go silent. "This is just a different part of his personality-the Pokémon half. It's not like he's going to forget who he is or anything."
Chris nodded his head slightly, but deep down, wasn't so sure. Ken was already convinced that he was a Pokémon, something that he'd always been quick to deny. Just what else had changed about him during the personality split?
"Chri-is! Are you done yet?" Ken whined, floating over to his friend, a frown on his face. "I'm boooored!" Chris face palmed, not sure how he was going to deal with Ken's new personality change. The Mew hybrid frowned and floated over to Chris, a confused look on his face. "What's the matter Chris? Do you not like me anymore?"
Chris normally would have laughed at such a question, but the Mew hybrid looked genuinely hurt. "Of course I do, you're my friend," he replied, causing Ken's eyes to light up. "I just…don't think there are any games here," he explained, deciding that it would be best to discuss the personality split when Ken's human half decided to pop back in again.
Ken's face fell. "Oh…" he said, sounding very disappointed.
"Didn't you say that you were going to play with Zoey?" Chris asked, hoping to keep Ken happy.
Ken's expression instantly brightened. "Oh yeah! Come on Zoey, let's go play!"
"Yaaaay!" the little Clefairy cried out, running after Ken as the two engaged in a game of tag.
As the hours passed, Chris watched the pair with an amused smile. They played everything from tag to hide and seek, and even managed to get Sora involved on a couple occasions. Zoey didn't seem to mind Ken's sudden personality change, or else didn't notice. Sora seemed a bit concerned at first but soon forgot about it, glad to see Ken so happy.
While the three played, true to his word, Danny began to train Shade, who made slow but steady progress.
"So then the Bug Catcher says, I can't believe it's not butter!" Ken announced, causing Sora and Zoey to burst out laughing.
Chris smiled; he had to admit, Ken did know some pretty good jokes.
Suddenly the Mew hybrids eyes went blank and he toppled from the air, landing hard on his tail.
"YOW!" Sitting up, he began to rub the furry appendage, glancing around the room as if he had no idea where he was. "Chris? What just happened? How did I manage to fall on my tail?" He glanced around, looking thoroughly confused. "Where'd my food go?"
Chris let out a sigh of relief, realizing that Ken was back to normal-at least for the time being. "Well, it's a little hard to explain…"
"So you're saying that my personality split? And I flew and everything?"
Chris nodded. "You don't remember?"
Ken shook his head. "The last thing I remember is trying some of that Pokémon Food…" His eyes narrowed, and he grabbed Danny roughly by the shirt collar, ignoring his cry of shock. "You poisoned me! Why you no good-"
"Ken calm down!" Chris cried, forcibly prying the angry Mew hybrid off the Daycare Dude. "Look, if you keep bottling your Pokémon instincts up inside, eventually their gonna find a way out! You understand?"
Slowly, Ken nodded, although he didn't really look happy. "First I start turning into a Pokémon and now this? What's next? Am I going to start shrinking?"
"I really wouldn't say that Ken," Chris chuckled. "You just might."
Ken's eyes widened and he let out a long heavy sigh. "Can we just get to Vermillion City?"
Chris laughed and nodded.
After picking up Shade, who had learned Tackle and Flail under Danny's care, and thanking Danny, who apologized repeatedly for Ken's recent personality issues, the group continued on their way to Vermillion City.
Author's notes: Ok, first off I'd like to apologize to all of my readers for the late update, I've been having a bit of writers block. ^_^;
Ken: I'll say! This thing just won't DIE! *pulls out flamethrower and starts torching the hideous monster*
So while Ken is working on getting my writers block back into its cage, I hope all of you will bear with me and I thank you for your patience. Also, I know it's taken thirty-five chapters and Ken still hasn't made it to Vermillion City, but rest assured, next chapter will involve Ken finally making it to Vermillion and the plot should pick up then.
Ken: That's what you said last chapter!
Me: I know that, but I mean it this time!
Ken: We'll see. *pulls out mallet* Ok writers block, it's either you or me!
Writers block: *lets out a deafening roar, causing the room to shake*
Tyson: Don't worry, I brought the cage! *motions to gigantic cage*
Me: Great, Tyson's here! Now the two of you can work together to get it in the cage! ^_^
Writers block: *growls*
Tyson: *sweatdrops* I hope this thing doesn't show up when you update my fanfic…
Me: Don't worry, if it does, Ken will help you! ^_^
Anyway, I'm not sure if this is my best chapter, but I'll let all of you be the judge of that! :)
See ya! :)