Chapter2 The last unearthly notes died away. Artic suddenly burst out laughing.
"Silver! That's brilliant! Let's see how Josh's lot will beat us now!"
"We don't know what they might be," warned Zapper. "Josh may-"
"Who cares? Whatever they are, a Lugia can beat them!"
"-be Jigglypuff," finished Zapper calmly.
"Ah." A pause, and a couple of them tried not to laugh at the thought of the ultra-tough Josh being a Jigglypuff morph.
"I wish I could have been the Lugia," said Artic enviously, eyeing Silver. "Still, this morph has done wonders for my voice, even if it's not as good as yours... There's just ten days until the Battle of the Bands. We'd better get going. Although Silver won't need any practice, with her voice..."
"Oh, are you still mad that I was the Lugia instead of you?" laughed Silver. "Look, I didn't exactly get a choice of what I was going to turn into. Still, I agree with you. We all need to get some practice in. Even me," she said.
Artic was certain that she had put the slightest emphasis on the last two words. Still... "You're right. No point wasting my time being jealous. Let's beat those guys!"
~-~-~-~

"For the LAST TIME," Josh said to his group of legendaries, with that sort of semi-patience and calmness that makes an all-out rage look harmless, "You have to wait for my lead! Not taking off on a wild solo! You got that, Drago?"
Chadran winced. He had tried to get himself a bigger part in their song, but Josh had suddenly gone cold and harsh on them. Overprotective of his part, perhaps? "Got it. Blue."
"All right then," Josh said, emphasizing his words. "Now we've only got ten days. Let's get going!"

~-~-~-~
"What are you saying? This could revolutionize our future!" Jack, a half-Arcanine scientist, said. "For god's sakes, it already has! Look at us? How much is this going to change? People mixed with pokemon... battles taking place without the need for pokemon, greater energy and power, I can't see how this could be bad..."
"You don't get it, do you? There could be harmful side affects we might need to know about." David, a half-Ninetails scientist with a german accent, said.
"Yes, but..." Jack started.
"No buts. I always tell you, no matter how good a situation looks..."
"It could become the worst thing in the world, I know, but..." Jack started.
"Lets just get back to work." David said sternly. Jack deflated.
"Yes, sir."
~-~-~-~
Back at Holly's garage, the band had stopped playing so the singers could test their voices. Silver's voice was incredible, perfect for just about anything she chose to sing. Artic's was practically perfect also, and she ran off her part flawlessly to one of their songs accompanied only by Maura's drums and Holly's keyboard, without Silver overshadowing her.
But it was obvious she wasn't content. Even when she was singing she'd occasionally throw a jealous glance at the Lugia morph. As she unleashed the final chords of the song and the music faded into the background, she looked down, feeling useless, until she heard the Lugia clapping, though it was rather muffled by the feathers.
"That was fantastic, Aria!" Laura congratulated her.
"No... you're just trying to make me feel better..." She said, turning away.
"No I'm not... Seriously, you're fantastic."
"Stop comparing yourself to her, Aria." Maura called over the drums, then ran off a line of the song herself. The others cringed slightly. "See? I can't sing. But you can, and it's great."
"But..."
"Just do it, or I'll sing." Zelda threatened. Aria laughed, and nodded - the Zapdos's shrill, crackly voice was completely unsuited to any type of song.
Holly laughed too. "Yeah, I'm not so great either. But these make it easier to play, I think." She held up her winglike arms, the fingers elongenated and feathered. "And they're pretty fun too..." With two heavy flaps, she lifted herself into the air and dived across the garage, before swooping back and grazing the wall to return to where she started.
"Anyway, should we take it from the top?"
Zapper flicked her guitar back on as the two singers readied theirselves for song. A short set of drumbeats, then the other instruments came in...
With a deafening crash, Zapper's electric guitar fell to the floor. The speakers practically blew up from the feedback, and all the birds covered their ears...or where they used to be, at least.
"Oops," Zapper said, looking sheepishly at the instrument. The sharp feathers on her shoulders had severed the guitar strap, and the long feather-fingers weren't built to take that sort of weight that suddenly. The others sighed.
"We've barely got ANY practice in AT ALL." Artic muttered. "Is the guitar okay?"
Zapper sat down and gave a strum, and it came out fine, if just a little off tune. She fiddled with the tuning, and tried again, getting a perfect chord. "It'll be fine."
"Good. Come on, we've got to get a new strap for that thing. If we don't hurry up, Josh's lot WILL beat us, no matter how good Silver's voice is." This statement appeared to be lost to the ears of the other members of Legends Alive. Artic sighed again and began singing anyway, in her new, somewhat more confident voice.
~-~-~-~
Endangered was in the middle of playing their theme when Josh suddenly stopped singing and turned away, down further into the city. The band's playing faded away they realised he wasn't accompanying them.
He cocked his head. "What was that?"
"What was what, Blue?" BubbleJet asked.
Josh stared away for a minute, then shook his head and said "Nothing," turning back to them. "Let's start again. From line five. FireDog, start us off..."
Drums echoed over the neighbourhood, followed by a hard guitar riff, quickly joined by another... and the voices rang out in heavy, dark song...
~-~-~-~
As the scientists worked, they were finding themselves becoming more and more confused about this transformation. There was no evidence of what had triggered it, what it had changed beside the physical form...
Jack studied the cells beneath the microscopes. A natural Arcanine's, a full humans, and a sample of his own flesh... it was a perfect mix. Halfway between the two.
What on earth could have done such a thing to everyone on earth?
"AHHHHHHHHH! NOOOOOO!!" Everyone in the lab started as screams sounded from the above floor of the laboratory. Jack immediately headed for the stairs at a run, and soon found his Ninetails partner running at his side, while others followed behind.
When they got up, they soon spotted the problem. It was a Vaporeon morph, one of their co-workers, crouched over something on the ground. As he heard them approaching he twisted and gave a low growl, crouching in anticipation of attack.
His jaws, face, and the front of its lab coat were covered in blood. David spun onto the others as Jack, somewhat larger and stronger than the other, stared the approaching morph down.
"Close the windows!" David roared. "Get some tranquilizer guns! I know we've got some in this place!" Suddenly it charged full-on at the Arcanine morph, ramming into him... but he stood his ground. As he struggled with the maddened morph, the others scurried about following David's commands. Shortly afterwards, the morph had a pair of darts sticking out of his back, and Jack was supporting his unconscious form.
"Alright, let's get him back down in the basement" ordered David. The strong Arcanine morph scooped up the attacker with little difficulty and carried him down.
"Well, David, for once, it looks like you were right." Jack conceded, moving down the stairs. But his friend wasn't interested in bragging.
Most of the scientists stopped at the stairs leading down. David turned back to them. "Oh, and make sure the media doesn't hear about this! The last thing we need is everyone panicking."
"Yes, sir," The scientists chorused and reluctantly wandered away from the scene.
Nobody saw the Electabuzz morph running away through the forest. "This will make the story of the century!" He cried to himself. He'd just come to see what progress they'd made on the Day of the Morph... but this...
~-~-~-~

Josh had worked Endangered hard into late evening, until a small group of Zubat morphs flew overhead, their loud, near-supersonic voices drowning out the band. All the legendary morphs looked up, and were startled to notice how dark the sky was.

"Can we go now?" Thunder pleaded. "I'm getting tired of all this, and my paws are killing me. It's not easy to play the electric guitar now, and besides; it's really late."

The other band members murmured agreement, and Josh sighed. "All right. But be back here tomorrow morning at ten AM sharp!"

~-~-~-~

"I think that's enough practice for now," Laura said as she glanced out the garage door. The sky was already dark blue, with stars twinking above. "We'll meet up tomorrow afternoon, say about two?"

Everyone agreed and packed up their instruments. But still, Laura felt a bit uneasy. When Artic had stopped singing and looked outside, she had sensed something as well. A strange presence, focused on them.

Oh well Laura thought as she flew home. I guess I'll have to figure this out tomorrow.

~-~-~-~
Some distance away, a pair of eyes focused on the girls as they left Holly's backyard one by one. A mixture of awe, envy and hatred flashed in the pupils for a second, before they turned away and their owner vanished into the shadows...