Chapter 20
Stephanie: Switched and Otherwise
AN: The "Otherwise" in the title deals with the other stuff that goes on in this chapter when Stephanie is in her own body. Also, this chapter has a slight PG rating. Very, very light. But I just wanted to make sure you readers weren't insulted.
I guess this is the first time I've gotten to talk to you. And you want to know about the whole "Big Switch" thing, right?
Okay.
I should start with my situation at the time. I had no idea where I came from, or really who I was. Cos had completely taken away my past.
Jim told me that Jessica had once been brainwashed. He told me that they had gotten her back by showing her a picture. She recognized it and she remembered everything almost immediately.
But, Jessica was dead, and so I had no one to really talk to. I didn't even have a picture.
All I remembered was working for the Rockets since I was about fourteen. I was almost seventeen at the "Switch", which was only months after they had rescued me. I could only remember three years of my life.
I had been planning on going to maybe the police or somebody that could help me. The day I was going to, I woke up in a body that was not mine.
It wasn't bad, except that Goliath had a lot more hair on him than I did. His pits looked like he was smuggling Sentret. You don't know how many times I was tempted to shave his legs. I figured he wouldn't like that very much, so I left the razor alone.
And another thing: what psycho decided that almost all the girls had to trade bodies with guys? Sabrina either had no choice whose mind went where, or she had one sick sense of humor.
I was faced with a choice. Either take no showers for a week or try to undress and bathe with my eyes closed.
After a day in Goliath's SST class, my decision was made. If I had to smell this bad after one day, a week would kill me.
This was not the easiest task in the world. I won't go into it; I'm trying to keep this at a light PG.
When I got out (almost killing myself with the towel), there was the fact that I had to redress. "Mom, I'm out of bras," halfway came out my mouth before I stopped.
Very tired from lifting weights, I retired for a nap.
Bring on the dream sequence.
* * *
I was enveloped in darkness. It was icy, and it felt like it tried to suck the breath from my lips.
I tried to look around, but there was nothing to the right or left. I looked down and tried to lift my hand to my face, but it was tied to the chair I was on.
All I could do was feel. Barely, though. As far as I could tell, my arms were tied above the wrist, my feet were bound together and then strung from a crossbar on the underside of the chair, and there was a gag over my mouth, which I tried to talk through.
All that came out was, "Mff! Mm mmm mm mm!"
Strangely, that got a response.
"That so?" a female voice said.
I jumped. Or tried to, but my seat prevented that.
Wait, I knew that voice. "Mm-m-mm?"
"Yes, I am Sabrina," it replied.
Suddenly, the cloth was removed from around my jaw. "Bleh," I said, stretching my mouth out. "What do you want?"
"I need to warn you," she replied.
"Warn me? About what?"
A light switched on. I closed one eye against the glare. I saw I was in my own body, so this had to be a dream.
"Maybe, even though you're dreaming, you should at least 'see' me." The psychic walked into the ring of illumination. "I've been having strange visions recently. Much stranger than you would believe, I assure you.
"I believe they are dark omens. That much I am sure of. I see Cos falling, and..."
"Wait, how is that a bad thing?"
"Because it brings about greater evils, ones past your worst fears. After you meet this challenge I had set up for you..."
I struggled against my bonds as I yelled, "You witch, change us all back!"
She chuckled. "No. You will have to find your own solution to this problem. Right now, I need to finish my future telling.
"After you change back, you and your friends will embark on a journey. It will take you to the underworld of Kanto and then, even deeper, to the dark belly of evil. Dark as my master is, he still will not go to these places.
"Jim will find someone from his past. Friends will betray each other. Sides will be chosen. Only one of your friends will remain faithful to their schoolmates. A war will break out as your fellows' enmity grows deeper for one another. Only the remaining one will make peace again."
I stared, wide-eyed, at her. While she had said this, her eyes had glazed over, and I felt dizzy. Her mental hold on me was weakened while she was crystal-ball gazing.
"Now, I will let you sleep," she said, then the light went out, and the next thing I knew, it was morning, and Goliath's alarm was going off.
AN: That may have been short, but it's a prelude for what's to come. And no, the "person from Jim's past" is not Jessica again. She's dead for good.
AN: The "Otherwise" in the title deals with the other stuff that goes on in this chapter when Stephanie is in her own body. Also, this chapter has a slight PG rating. Very, very light. But I just wanted to make sure you readers weren't insulted.
I guess this is the first time I've gotten to talk to you. And you want to know about the whole "Big Switch" thing, right?
Okay.
I should start with my situation at the time. I had no idea where I came from, or really who I was. Cos had completely taken away my past.
Jim told me that Jessica had once been brainwashed. He told me that they had gotten her back by showing her a picture. She recognized it and she remembered everything almost immediately.
But, Jessica was dead, and so I had no one to really talk to. I didn't even have a picture.
All I remembered was working for the Rockets since I was about fourteen. I was almost seventeen at the "Switch", which was only months after they had rescued me. I could only remember three years of my life.
I had been planning on going to maybe the police or somebody that could help me. The day I was going to, I woke up in a body that was not mine.
It wasn't bad, except that Goliath had a lot more hair on him than I did. His pits looked like he was smuggling Sentret. You don't know how many times I was tempted to shave his legs. I figured he wouldn't like that very much, so I left the razor alone.
And another thing: what psycho decided that almost all the girls had to trade bodies with guys? Sabrina either had no choice whose mind went where, or she had one sick sense of humor.
I was faced with a choice. Either take no showers for a week or try to undress and bathe with my eyes closed.
After a day in Goliath's SST class, my decision was made. If I had to smell this bad after one day, a week would kill me.
This was not the easiest task in the world. I won't go into it; I'm trying to keep this at a light PG.
When I got out (almost killing myself with the towel), there was the fact that I had to redress. "Mom, I'm out of bras," halfway came out my mouth before I stopped.
Very tired from lifting weights, I retired for a nap.
Bring on the dream sequence.
* * *
I was enveloped in darkness. It was icy, and it felt like it tried to suck the breath from my lips.
I tried to look around, but there was nothing to the right or left. I looked down and tried to lift my hand to my face, but it was tied to the chair I was on.
All I could do was feel. Barely, though. As far as I could tell, my arms were tied above the wrist, my feet were bound together and then strung from a crossbar on the underside of the chair, and there was a gag over my mouth, which I tried to talk through.
All that came out was, "Mff! Mm mmm mm mm!"
Strangely, that got a response.
"That so?" a female voice said.
I jumped. Or tried to, but my seat prevented that.
Wait, I knew that voice. "Mm-m-mm?"
"Yes, I am Sabrina," it replied.
Suddenly, the cloth was removed from around my jaw. "Bleh," I said, stretching my mouth out. "What do you want?"
"I need to warn you," she replied.
"Warn me? About what?"
A light switched on. I closed one eye against the glare. I saw I was in my own body, so this had to be a dream.
"Maybe, even though you're dreaming, you should at least 'see' me." The psychic walked into the ring of illumination. "I've been having strange visions recently. Much stranger than you would believe, I assure you.
"I believe they are dark omens. That much I am sure of. I see Cos falling, and..."
"Wait, how is that a bad thing?"
"Because it brings about greater evils, ones past your worst fears. After you meet this challenge I had set up for you..."
I struggled against my bonds as I yelled, "You witch, change us all back!"
She chuckled. "No. You will have to find your own solution to this problem. Right now, I need to finish my future telling.
"After you change back, you and your friends will embark on a journey. It will take you to the underworld of Kanto and then, even deeper, to the dark belly of evil. Dark as my master is, he still will not go to these places.
"Jim will find someone from his past. Friends will betray each other. Sides will be chosen. Only one of your friends will remain faithful to their schoolmates. A war will break out as your fellows' enmity grows deeper for one another. Only the remaining one will make peace again."
I stared, wide-eyed, at her. While she had said this, her eyes had glazed over, and I felt dizzy. Her mental hold on me was weakened while she was crystal-ball gazing.
"Now, I will let you sleep," she said, then the light went out, and the next thing I knew, it was morning, and Goliath's alarm was going off.
AN: That may have been short, but it's a prelude for what's to come. And no, the "person from Jim's past" is not Jessica again. She's dead for good.