AN: Mhmmm, more AFK. It's not like I have two other stories to work on or anything, nope, definitely not. Sorry for a lack of updates, I've had a lot on my mind recently. Just a heads up, I'll be writing some original stuff during November NaNoWrimo, probably going to aim for around 65,000 words for that, so I'll be pretty busy then. I'll try to work on A Cold Knight while I work on that, because I haven't updated that in forever, and I'm currently planning a story that'll be exclusive to Ao3. This is going to be the longest chapter yet, and there's gonna be a pretty decently lengthed time skip in it, so be prepared for that.

(Also, I feel like I need to mention that Azathoth is permanently in Origin Form.)

"Uhhhm, Kyle, where exactly did you just come from? Because it kind of looked like you fell out of the corner." Jeremy said as he stared at me, his expression leaning more towards confused than shocked.

"You know, that's honestly a pretty fucking good explanation, and to answer your question, I was at an ice cream parlor." I grabbed my bag and dug through it, pulling out a roll of bandages, made specifically for furred pokemon, though to inexperienced eyes they would appear to be normal bandages. I pocketed them and zipped up my backpack, looking back up at Jeremy before asking him, "What were you doing packing my stuff?"

"Well, my wife was going on a 'protesting' streak, and I figured she might run into you and that lucario of yours." I heard a squeak from Lucy as he mentioned her, before she spoke up,

"S-sorry sir, b-but how did you know that he had a l-lucario?" I turned to her and raised an eyebrow at her, she was being uncharacteristically curious, and she almost never was this nervous with speaking.

"I'm a detective, it's my job to notice details others wouldn't little doggy." I grimaced slightly,

"Can you like, not tease my lucario, she's probably smarter than 90% of the population?" I spoke with a slight tenseness to my voice, though there was a small amount of humor mixed in.

"I'm sorry kiddo. Anyways, you need to go. Right now, leave as soon as possible." I sighed as he spoke, grabbing my backpack and opening the window.

"Hey Jeremy?" I looked back at him with a small smile.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for everything." And that's when I jumped.

It had taken almost a whole day, but eventually, me and Lucy reached the lake that we had been camping at previously. Our tent was still here, though something could be heard moving around inside of it. I cautiously opened the tent flaps, slowly drawing my machete from its sheath. As soon as the tent was open, a group of small pokemon, including a vulpix, which confused me, as they generally don't show up in Sinnoh, ran out of the tent. I looked inside, and found my sleeping bag was shredded, but the rest of my supplies were still there, so I quickly gathered them up while Lucy kept watch.

After I spent around half an hour getting the tent cleaned up, I sat on a log and gestured for Lucy to sit by me. She strolled over and plopped herself down, her tail swaying slowly behind her as she rested her head on my shoulder. Neither of us said a word, we didn't need to. Lucy could sense my emotions, and knowing I was content made her feel the same. We just sat for hours, my arm around her shoulders, her leaned against me. I don't know how, but this little jackal stole my heart, gilded it, and put it back. I softly kissed her forehead as my mind drifted to my current condition. I was going to have to figure out how to explain to her my current affliction, but I figured I had at least a week before I'd have trouble hiding the fur.

I don't know how, but me and Lucy had fallen asleep on the log, and when I woke up, the stars were high in the sky, twinkling like fae of the heavens. Lucy was still asleep, her head now in my lap, with her aura sensor and ears twitching occasionally. She seemed to be having a pleasant dream, and I hated the fact that I'd have to wake her up from her adorable nap, but we needed to talk. I placed a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her. As she woke she gave out a little yawn, causing me to smile. "Good morning Lucy, how's my cute little jackal feeling?" I kissed her on the nose as I greeted her.

"What the fuck do you mean morning? Kyle, it's the middle of the night!" She chuckled and nuzzled up under my chin.

"Well, there's something I need to tell you… I don't know how to put this, so here I go. Lucy, I ha-" I was cut off as she put her paw in my mouth, glaring at me.

"Kyle, I know, your aura has been shifting, and your scent changed." I stared at her for a few seconds before I grabbed her wrist and pulled her paw from my mouth, coughing a little as I did so.

"You knew and didn't say anything?"

"This will sound cliched as fuck, but I knew you'd say something eventually, so I didn't confront you."

"You've always been too smart for your own good Luc." I giggled as I teased her, and kissed her on the nose again. "Now back to sleep my sweet little jackal." She smiled and grabbed the back of my head, pulling my lips to meet with her muzzle, giving me a light kiss as she replied with,

"Whatever you say… master" She winked as she said master, a playful twinkle in her eye. I chuckled and hugged her close, before she fell asleep in my arms.

"I love you Lucy…" I spoke to the tired lucario, now with the weight of keeping my condition a secret from her off my chest.

Three months, three months since I ran away, three months I've been living in the woods, slowly making my way towards an old 'camping' spot of mine. It had been my shelter so many times during my trainer journey, almost serving as a headquarters of sorts, and I was finally going to see it again. In those three months, the fur had spread all the way up my body, covering half of my face, and both my eyes shined pure pink, no visible pupil and no whites showing.

Obviously, I had revealed my condition to the rest of my team, as I'd been spending so much time with them, maybe even more than I did on our journey, they would have noticed eventually. Azathoth was a great help when it came to keeping wild pokemon away from us, though any of the party could have easily taken them on. His very presence caused most wild pokemon to shy away from our group, and any that did get close would be pulled through the shadows and dropped off a couple hundred feet away.

We were getting so close to our destination, maybe a day or two of walking left. I was lazily using my machete to chop branches out of the way as we walked down an old, and I mean ancient kind of old, not a few decades old, overgrown path. The trail had some stone walls bordering it, and was made from stone bricks, which were now very eroded, but still there. I glanced over to my left, to see Riley staring back at me, Daniel flopped across his back, asleep. "Sweet Arceus Riley, why do you spoil that lazy fox so much?" I gave him a gentle, joking shove, and winked. He replied with a meow, which Lucy translated to be,

"I take after my trainer." I snorted and gave him a playful glare, before I reached out and poked his nose gently.

"Silly cat, I don't spoil anyone."

"I've watched you give a legendary pokemon a pile of fucking chocolate bars dude, you spoil everyone." As Lucy translated, she glared at me, and once she finished she added on,

"Kyle, when did you get 'A pile of fucking chocolate bars'? Why was I never informed of this?"

"Lucy, it was years ago, it doesn't matter." She continued to glare at me, before trying to tackle me. I ducked, then sprung up, catching her and hugging tight. "Calm down Luc!" She replied with a giggle and a hug back.

"Hehe, tricked ya!" She stuck her tongue out at me, her tail wagging behind her.

"You dirty fucking jackal, I'm going to rip your goddamn throat out!" I growled at her, before stopping for a second. The growl had come so naturally, almost instinctual. I knew the change I was going through would change my body, but it wasn't supposed to have a direct effect on my mind. I'd read plenty on the condition, and there were no instinctual changes that occurred, it was all just physical. The only theory that came to mind at that moment was that more of me was changing than it was supposed to. I noticed the lucario beginning to tear up slightly, and quickly thought of what to say to remedy the situation, "Holy shit Luc I'm so sorry, I don't know what just came over me. You know I'll love you no matter what, right?" The bipedal canine looked into my eyes, her big crimson eyes peering into my currently fucked up pupil-less eyes. I reached out and brushed the tears away from her eyes, before planting a kiss on her nose.

"I.. I love you too Kyle…" The lucario hugged me tight, shifting her body to be angled to the side so her spike wouldn't kill me, as neither of us would be happy with that. I pressed my face into the fur between her ears, and gently stroked her ears with one of my hands. After a few seconds, she pulled away and started walking again. I began to jog after her, the entire team beginning to run. After a couple minutes, we had slowed down, and had Azathoth floating above us, keeping the midday sun off of us, as my sweat glands had seemed to stop functioning, and the rest of our party didn't have any.

It wasn't more than an hour till our destination came into view. It was an old castle and town, and I mean old. There were some holes in the walls, but with a legendary assisting, it wasn't going to be to hard to repair. In fact, the castle is where I first met Azathoth, and it was his 'birthplace'. After a few more minutes, we came to the outer walls. I had Azathoth float through the walls, and unlock the gates. I smiled at Lucy, and gestured for her to head through. "Ladies first," I winked, "both of you, go on Emily." The steel type jackal and the psychic fox walked through the gates, before the rest of us followed. The town was in even worse disrepair than the castle itself, but that wasn't important to me. I walked through the nostalgic streets, remembering when I first came across this place. It had been about a month into my journey, and I had been caught in a very rough storm; being a rookie trainer, I wasn't properly prepared, and lost my tent and umbrella, then I stumbled upon this structure, through a secret side entrance. It had led into the library of the castle, the books being in surprisingly good condition. There I found an ancient riddle hidden throughout multiple books, which led me to meeting the real Giratina, who, after getting the shit beaten out of him, fragmented a piece of his being off, creating Azathoth. I swore to give Azathoth a chance to see the world, as the original Giratina couldn't enter it. Now we were returning, and I was finally getting a chance to let Az be a normal pokemon.

As we neared the gates of the castle, my legs gave out on me, and I hit my head hard enough to black out.

Pov Shift: Lucy

I saw Kyle approach the castle gates, I had always found this place nice, maybe a little unnerving, but nice. However, before Kyle could open the gates, he seemed to jolt forwards, as if his legs just threw themselves backwards, I dove to grab him, but before I could, his head slammed against the gate, and he collapsed. I did however, manage to slide and catch him before he hit the ground. "AZATHOTH, I NEED YOU TO GO TAKE KYLE UP TO THE MASTER BEDROOM, RILEY, GO SEE IF THERE'S A WELL! EMILY, DANIEL, GO TRY AND LIGHT A FLAME ON THE STOVE." Everyone turned towards me, staring with wide eyes, though the snake-like dragon spectre wrapped Kyle in his weird tendril things, honestly none of us are sure what they are, and flew him up to one of the towers, phasing both of them through the wall.

"Lucy, what is it?" Riley whimpered gently as he spoke, and Daniel leaned against him and nuzzled him gently. But before I could respond, Emily cut me off,

"His morphism, it's finally slipping into the final phase, he's going to be unconscious for a day or two, that's when his skeleton will be uh… shifting. After that, he'll be awake, but have a terrible fever. There other symptoms, but those depend on exactly what his DNA is changing into." The espeon looked over at me and nodded gently, she had explained for me, so I wouldn't have to worry.

"I know what it is… but I'm not sure if I should tell you guys… Especially with two dark types on the team…" I sighed, obviously my familiarity with auras had let me figure out the type pretty quickly, and sense of smell had allowed me to nail the species. "I mean, I doubt much will change, and Daniel should be fine with him, but Riley, if Kyle seems a bit odd around you, just try and comfort him…" The absol nodded at me, and didn't question further.

After a few minutes, we all headed inside, the two eeveelutions prepping the stove and heating some water that Riley retrieved up. I filled one of Kyle's cooking pots with the hot water, and had Azathoth quickly take me to Kyle's room. He wasn't conscious, but he was spasming, and with my sensitive ears, I could hear bones snapping slightly. I whimpered lightly and soaked a rag in the hot water, placing on one of his knees. I repeated this with the other knee, hoping it could relax the muscles around the bone, allowing a less painful shift.

"Lucy, is Kyle going to be alright?" The deep, concerned, voice of Azathoth echoed through the room, signifying he was lurking inside of the shadows. I nodded lightly, I knew Kyle was strong enough to survive this process. If he could consistently beat me, someone with fighting literally in her blood, in hand to paw combat, he could survive almost anything the world could throw at him. This was a kid who has punched dragons hard enough to keep them away from his pokemon, despite us being way more suited towards fighting.

"He'll be fine Az, we're going to make sure of it." I clenched my paws into fists, and kissed Kyle on the forehead lightly before heading out of the room. I walked down to the kitchen that we had heated the water in, everyone still sitting there. "Alright you three, Kyle is going to be out of it for a few days, so me and Emily are going to be taking charge, we need to get this place fixed up, all the holes in the walls need patching, and since we're going to be living here a while, so we want to make it as akin to a home as possible. Obviously you're familiar with the layout, so before we start rebuilding, we're going to do some scouting, make sure nobody else is here." I waved a paw in dismissal, forming a staff of aura in my paws and swinging open a door that was in the kitchen, revealing a passage downwards. I closed my eyes and let my aura receptors raise slightly as I began to use aura as my means of vision. This was more effective than trying to use a single light source, as it granted me more detailed vision, in a wider range. As I descended into the depths, probably 40 or 50 feet underground, I came to the room that had served as the servants' quarters. In the corner, there was a small being, cowering in fear. I couldn't seem to make it out clearly via aura, which meant it was probably a ghost type. I switched back to using my eyes, and held out my aura staff, as it gave off a bit of light. In the corner, curled up in the fetal position, was a pokemorph.

Pov Shift: Riley

"That lucario is so bossy." I mumbled, nuzzling my umbreon mate gently as he stared down the stairs Lucy had went down. "She does realize it would have made way more sense for us to go down, doesn't she? I mean, we can see in the dark, what can she do, look at the fucking life force of the wall or whatever?" Daniel looked at me, and licked my nose gently, just muttering,

"She doesn't want either of us to be put in danger. She cares too much, and it comes off as bossy." The umbreon always amazed me when he did this, considering that it was his sister who was the actual psychic, she was meant to get people's thoughts, but it just came naturally to Daniel. I smiled at my mate, before beginning to groom the ruffled fur between his ears. The umbreon squeaked in protest, but sat still and let me groom him.

"You're too smart for your own good you cutie." I kept grooming for a few minutes, before Emily cleared her throat,

"As much as I love watching you two be adorable together, I really do think we should get to scouting, because I don't know if you guys remember, but Lucy is probably several times stronger than the three of us combined. I don't think we should piss her off." I gulped and nuzzled the umbreon to his paws, and me and him began to walk off, heading down to the the rooms that we assumed belonged to knights who had lived here long ago. Me and my fellow dark type walked silently through the halls, Daniel sniffing around to try and find anything, while I was ducking in and out of rooms, making sure they were clear. Eventually, we came to a pile of rubble that blocked out path. At first, Daniel tried to use his weak psychic abilities to move it, but the stones were much too heavy. I nuzzled the umbreon to encourage him, and stared up at me.

"Riley, could you uh… try and break the stones to be a bit smaller?" The umbreon was always nervous when asking for help, even from me, and I was his mate. I nodded though, and fired several Razor Winds at the pile, cleanly slicing through the stone bricks. Daniel closed his eyes in concentration, his rings beginning to shimmer and glow bright, and the rocks all lifted off the ground, and found their way to the hole in the wall they came from. They began to slot themselves in it until it was completely filled.

"Daniel, you're amazing, you know that?" I licked his cheek gently as he blushed hard. It'd be hard to notice under his dark fur, but I knew him well enough to tell. He pawed at my face, pushing me away before tackling me and pressing his nose against mine, his tail wagging gently. I smiled up at him, before he pressed his muzzle against mine, pushing his tongue against my lips gently. I happily opened my maw and let his tongue slip in. The fox's tongue wrapped around my rough feline tongue as he growled playfully. I responded with a soft purr and wrapping my forepaws around his shoulders, pulling him closer as we did some aggressive tongue wrestling. After a few minutes of making out, the umbreon pulled away, leaving a small trail of saliva connecting our lips. I giggled and pushed him off me, getting back on my paws as he grinned at me. We began to head past the newly patched wall, towards the armoury.

The Armoury was a room loaded with various things, spears, swords, hammers, a couple suits of armour. The room was in rather good condition, but all the weapons had a bit of rust on them. We quickly checked the room, before heading back to the kitchen, only to find Lucy still gone, and Emily had now disappeared as well. "Well Daniel, should we prep dinner?" The umbreon didn't manage to reply before his stomach though, as it growled loudly as soon as I finished talking.

"Uh, Ye- errrr…. I have no comment." I giggled at the adorable fox, licking his cheek and going over to a bag Kyle had packed. It was full of freeze dried meats and vegetables. I dug some out and had Daniel get boiling some water. I grabbed a small bag of salt and some pepper out of Kyle's backpack as well, and threw a bit in with the help of Daniel's minor psychic power. I dumped some of the meats in first, deciding to wait on the vegetables. We let the meat soak, and eventually the water began to boil, so I poured the vegetables in. We waited a bit, just letting it all boil, before moving it off the fire, and letting it cool a bit. Emily came back soon, but Lucy was still gone. Me and the two Eons dumped some of our poorly made soup into some bowls, and began to lap at it.

Pov Shift: Lucy

The morph was backing away from me, absolutely terrified. I wondered how long it had been here. I just rolled my eyes and stuck out a paw. "Grab on you piece of shit, or I'll actually give you a reason to be afraid of me. The morph stopped backing up, staring at me with a single red eye shining. I sighed and stepped closer, grabbing his hand forcibly and dragging him behind me. He went limp, but didn't seem to actually cause any resistance. Upon closer inspection, he was floating slightly above the ground. I still couldn't make out exactly what he was though. As we approached the top of the staircase, he began to freak out, trying to pull away from me. I called out to the two dark types at the top of the stairs, as they could handle a ghost much better than me. Riley ran down first, before jumping a little, backing away. "Riley, I need your help with this, he could slip out of my grip at any time." The absol growled in response, but Daniel soon came tumbling, literally, down the stairs, and biting the wrist of the morph, draggin it up the stairs. He used Psychic to pull a chair over, and threw the morph into said chair. Once he was in the light (Daniel and Riley had lit a bunch of candles for some reason), I could see he was a duskull. His single red eye was tiny, just a pinprick behind his mask as he shook in fear. I sighed, before I caught a whiff of some food. I immediately dug an extra bowl out of Kyle's backpack, along with a spoon, and scooped some of the soup into it. I handed the bowl to the pokemorph, as he was visibly starved. He slipped the spoon under his mask, and soon pulled it out, not a trace of the food to be found. He repeated this process until he was calmed down completely. And then I punched him in the jaw.