Only got one chapter out and posted yet this story already has far more followers than any of my previous attempts at writing on this site. Crazy. Either way, here's my sloppy excuse for a second chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter II

Hours slowly crawl by as my attempts to pass out fail in rapid succession. With a growling stomach and parched lips, I start playing mind games with myself. Attempting to count the number of sidewalk lines, seeing how many houses are white, generally just stuff to distract my frazzled mind.

Almost like counting sheep, keeping track of the individual sidewalk lines is doing wonders for helping me fall asleep. Until I realize that fact, that is. Lost count, too. Damn.

Restarting my count, I made it to around fifty before I lost my count again, though for a different reason. A duo was walking down the sidewalk, and my eyes reached their feet. Er, well, paws for one of them. No matter.

Excitement flared within me as I looked up at them, but I managed to calm myself down somewhat as to not scare them away. One was a regular guy in hiking boots and the like, while the other was a lion-like creature with a mostly black coloring. My head instinctually raised slightly as they continued toward me. I can't tell if they were scared of me and being cautious or if they were scared of me, but their pace slowed as they neared me. Then, a few feet away from me, they stopped. We simply stared at each other in silence for a while, me a bit worried about scaring them away and them for some other reason. I think I'm at just about double the size of the cat from my neck alone.

The big cat finally comes out and says his first sentence to me, nervous all throughout. "Hey, uh... Is there any way we can help you...?"

My eyes widen and a smile comes to my face, though said smile is soon replaced by a frown. "...Thank you for offering. Is there any food you can provide for me at the very least? Uh... I don't know how anyone will be able to move me if I can't do it myself."

The cat looks far more comfortable, and in return, so does the man next to him. "Yes. Food we can provide. We'll have to work on moving you. Anyone we can get in contact with for you?"

"Do you have a phone to do that? I think mine's like stuck underneath me or something. Also, yeah, there is someone. My mom's probably tried calling me already." I answer, far more carefree than I was previously.

"Alright, how can we do this... Ah, I've got it. You know her phone number, right?" The big cat questions, and I nod. I look over to the man who's just watching the two of us converse. "Is this guy mute?"

The cat laughs for a second before frowning. "Ah, you don't know, do you."

"What do you mean?"

"This'll be a bit of a tough pill to swallow, but we who've transformed don't speak the same language as humanity. We understand them, but they don't understand us."

I start shivering.

"I'll move on from that for your sake. How old are you?"

"Sixteen, was walking home from high school when all this happened. Froze up, witnessed several cars crash, passed out, and woke up as a light blue loch ness monster who lacks the ability to traverse land."

The feline flinches harshly, eyeing me with undisguised pity. "...Do you want us to call your mom?"

My head almost immediately bobbles up and down, but I stop myself in realization.

"...What about the communication barrier?"

The cat looks at his human partner in a short bout of realization and turns back to me. "He can probably talk for you, for the most part. He can't understand you, but he knows what happened to you. He can do an alright job of describing it to your mom. I can put in her number."

With a slow and hesitant nod, I let them call her. Listing off her digits, their phone starts ringing and my nervousness reaches a boiling point. I can hear her answer, and I immediately notice her frazzledness from her first few words. "Hello, who is this?"

The man responds with a gentle voice. "Hello. My name is Martin. Probably don't know me, but that's understandable. Point is, we might've found your son."

Various noises can be found on her end, from relieved sighs to loud sobs. When she collects herself, she responds. "How is he?"

The now named Martin looks back at me, and I give him a broken smile. "Your son is... okay. I have him with me right now, but he can't speak. I can send a photo of him after the call finishes." My mom then promptly hangs up, leaving Martin to take my photo. Then, I realize something and get the black lion's attention.

"Hey, uh... What if my mom doesn't recognize me?... My phone's underneath me and has some forms of identification: Driver's Permit and School ID." The cat looks at me for a moment, realizing my idea, then tries to get the man to help us out with it. He obliges after a minute of failing to understand. Each of them grabbing one flipper while I use the other two as well as I can to push, I manage to move a couple of feet along the sidewalk. My flippers are burning, but it worked and that's all I could hope for. Laying on the cement is my phone, completely intact. Martin's eyes widen as the cat takes out my permit from the phone and places it in front of me. My mom texts them again wondering why he was taking so long, so we hurry with taking a photo. I give a sad smile and it's sent away.

"Alright. Now, food..." The cat mumbles. He once again gets Martin's attention and gestures to get me food. Once again takes Martin a moment, but he understands. "Alright, food, cool. I'll... be right back. keep him company, friend."

The cat nods and the man goes on his way to get food. The cat then turns to me and lays down. "Alright, god that was stressful."

"Am I the first creature you've helped?" I ask carefully.

"Technically, yes. We've tried to help a few others, but instead found something disturbing. Many of those who were transformed became feral. Attacking randoms, killing mercilessly, lacking basic self-awareness. Ya know, stuff like that. Happened to one of my friends, actually."

I flinch, looking down.

"Here's a question for you then. Do you know what you are?"

Nervously, I shake my head.

"Alright, I'll try to make this as simple as possible. Ya know what Pokémon are?"

I tilt my head. "I mean, I know about the more famous ones like Pikachu, Charizard, Lucario and Greninja from Super Smash Bros. Other than that, my knowledge of Pokémon is essentially nil. Why do you ask?"

"To keep this simple, that is what thirty percent of this world has been reported as turning into. I, for example, am a Luxray. You, from what I remember, are a Lapras."

"Pokémon... Lapras? I think I've heard of that somewhere before. Might've seen it once or twice online. I don't know."

"Either way, try to think of all the positives. You're a creature with magical powers of water and ice now. Enjoy it as best you can!" The Luxray tried cheering me up.

"...I might, though the sun beating down on me is making my skin feel dryer by the minute. Don't really feel that great to be honest."

The Luxray's eyes slam open. "SHIT. God damn it, we need to get you into the water pronto. Lapras is a WATER Pokémon, and is not meant to live on land. No wonder you feel sick. We've gotta figure out this transportation method FAST. Damn it."

I just stare at the cat, expression blank.

"What's your name?" I ask innocently.

"Ah, name's Sid. You?"

"M' name's Jance. Nice to meet ya."

The Luxray chuckles to himself. "We'll figure this out soon enough. Just hang tight for now, Jance. Like the name."

"Thanks..."