NEW CHAPTER! REJOICE AND BE GLAD, FOR ANOTHER PLOT TWIST IS UPON US!
Chapter 37: That Was Certainly Quick
"Chu rai. . ." Up ahead. . . Skye said in the pokémon language, (As they grew accustomed to when in each other's presence) trying to make out the map he had taken from his pocket, "chu cha rai. . . chu rai chu chu raichu rai. . . chu raichu rai." . . . and unless that's shifted as well, should be the. . . well, I know it's a warehouse.
"Nidoran nidonido." Johnston Chemical Labs Warehouse. Charlie read over his brother's shoulder, "Nidoran nid nido nid ran nidoran Nidnid ranido." I read about that in the newspaper once. It's said to be the first lab the locked up after the hybrids escaped. .
Trent was following behind them about three feet. He could hear what they were saying, and he understood it. But it wasn't English. The inflections weren't English. The sentence structure wasn't English. They weren't even talking with the same words. The entire basis and concept of words didn't remotely match that of any branch of language that he knew of. But he could still understand them. He didn't want to open his mouth. He was afraid he'd say something that wasn't in English.
"Char char?" Asked the tiny Charmander who slowed it's pace down to a brisk trot to be in line with Trent. What's wrong?
It's not so much it seems to understand the words, but feel them. "San. . er. . ." I. . . er. . . Trent sighed. He might as well get used to it. "San sandslash slash. . ." Nothing, really. . .
Jenna's ears perked up. "Pika pikachu?" Was that you? She turned her head around to look at her father. "Pika pika chu. . ." You haven't said anything for the past hour.
How all that meaning could fit into a short phrase was beyond Trent.
"Rai!" Up ahead! Skye shouted in triumph. Trent noticed than in speaking that, besides talking in a Raichu dialect, he had noted that it was he himself saying that. Trent's head was spinning and he decided not to think about language so much.
The warehouse was very picturesque, if once had an eye for those sort of things. It laid on the very edge of the city up ahead, right where the road stopped. The structure's outside looked to be entirely concrete. Windows hung up near the roof, many broken by the years of disrepair. Two large garage doors were on the side that the group approached, and one small wooden door was to the left. Skye kicked the wood one in.
It almost flew across the room and shattered on the crates on the far side. The building seemed bigger on the inside that from the outside. The walls, floors, and ceiling were smooth concrete, except for the rudimentary cracks found every so often. Jenna tried the light switch to the left. A single light flickered on in the back, then sputtered out. The fuses were blown and the bulbs had long since been broken.
Charlie quickly found some lanterns that were sitting on the nearby table. Trent was about to open the hangar doors, but Skye told him not to, in case the Feds had followed them all the way here.
The light from the upper windows and the open doorway were not enough to go by, and everyone in the group had to find batteries that had not expired and were not leaking.
Trent looked through several desks in one corner of the warehouse. He found some batteries in a drawer full of some sort of electrical equipment, and snapped them into the coverless battery case of his lamp. Light.
He was about to get up and look for something interesting in the crates, but the papers on the desk caught his eye.
June 21, 1989
Dr. Jack Forrester
The synthesis is almost complete. Research in the human genome has barely begun, but we are almost positive that this compound will treat human genes so that the immune system will improve greatly.
Another paper. August 20, 1989
Dr. Jack Forrester
Something is wrong. I saw a pokémon in the lab the other night. I am afraid he might have contaminated the mixture. I'll try and tell my colleagues tomorrow. I want another thorough test before the fact and will not condone the continuation of this project if the formula has been altered in some way.
Another paper. September 19, 1989
Dr. Robert C. Clayton
Dr. Forrester has not shown up for weeks. But we must continue the project. All signs are go. Dr. Andrew Greene, Forrester's understudy, will take his place in the proceedings. Mr. Milton Futch will be our test subject, and we hope that nothing goes wrong. All pokémon test subjects had taken test vat number one and shown a stronger resistance to disease. Mr. Milton Futch is ailing from a rare tropical virus, and we hope that this will catch it in the early stages.
Another paper. September 19, 1989
Dr. Westley Sweede
Something horrible has happened. The test subject had transformed into the most hideous creature. Well, that is what Clayton commented, but I never saw it that way. He seemed to have been changed into a kind of pokémon, only more. . . anthropomorphic. It was astonishing. I hid behind the equipment in the back, and came out to find everyone had evacuated the premises. Test tank number one had been broken, and I'm afraid the virus might have become airborne.
"Slash san. . ." That explains a lot. . . Trent noted. He remembered, his daughter was always interested in pokémon since it released in America in 1998. She was into almost everything of the fandom and remained true to it even though it was turning into a 'just another fad', but this. . .
He knew about all the basics of Pokémon and Mario. He did find some of the games to be entertaining, but never really anticipated their need for coming in useful. At least he knew what to make of this. . .
"San slashsan!" Skye! Jenna! Come here! And everyone crowded around anyway.
"Raichu rai. . ." That explains a lot. Skye said, after hearing Jenna read the papers, "Rai chu rai raichu rai! Chu rai chu rai." Dr. Forrester is the missing man from this world! If he had stayed around. . .
Jenna suddenly thought out loud, "Pika pika. . ." It only mentions one test tank. . .
"Rai. . ." I wonder. . . Was Skye's response as he looked upward near the shelves above the crates on the far end of the room. "Rai chu raichu rai. . ." I saw those up there earlier. . . Skye sprinted off with a flashlight in hand to the chemical storage.
"Porygon Porygon pory pory gon gon" Does not compute. Chemical is what caused the change in the first place.
"Pika pikachu pi pi pika. . . pika pika pi." He's had a hunch ever since we've been here that the Feds have been following us. . . I think I know what he's up to.
Charlie was bored out of his mind by the entire thing as was shining his light elswhere, behind the boxes on the right. "Nido nid nido. Ran nido." Looks like a testing chamber back here.
"Char charmander char." It's where the test subject was hooked up. Charmander stood right behind Charlie. "Mander. . . charmander char." Look. . . you can see where he escaped. The glass lining of the case was spread out in so many peices all over the floor around. Charlie hardly noticed at first, as his feet were so thickly padded that the glass didn't cut through, and didn't even embed into his skin. He shone the light through the glass, on the black leather seat in the middle, with iron straps that were torn out.
Charlie winced at that.
"RAICHU!" I found something! Skye yelled from the upper shelves. Charlie turned out of the dark corner and proceeded to the open area.
"Pika pika!" What is it? Jenna yelled up at him.
"Raichu rai rai chu!" There's at least another four or five test tanks up here.
"Sandslash san sandslash! Slash sand sand!" Why are you looking? You don't even know how violent those could be!
"Chu rai, chu rai! Raichu rai!" Don't worry about me! You're the one's that are in trouble!
Skye's sudden warning gave way to a disaster, as a van smashed through the largest metal door on the left. Two men jumped out.
"Freeze, hybrid scum!" The man with blonde hair yelled as he opened fire on Jenna, who was actually moving quite fast. Jump, handspring, jump; in a series of acrobatic moves, Jenna hoisted herself to the upper shelves where Skye stood.
"Hey! It's that Raichu kid from back in the city!" The brown haired man said, "You! Give up now and we promise not to hurt you!"
"Like last time?" Skye remarked snidely, remembering an event with these same guys not but five weeks ago. Everyone else was lost on the subject.
"Now! Or we fire!"
"Too late! You shot at my girlfriend." Skye kicked the barrel marked 'three' off the shelf and toward the truck.
The brown haired man, who was closer, muttered a profanity not to be repeated, as the barrel hit his straight on. A purple liquid substance came out as it smashed over his head, spilling out everywhere.
Nothing happened.
The brown haired Hybrid Hunter got back to his feet, and fired several shots up into the rafters.
Nothing happened.
So Skye smash kicked another barrel right into his face once more.
Then something happened.
A green substance came out this time, and once more drenching the Hybrid Hunter, and a very familiar eerie glow enveloped him.
"Todd?" The blonde haired man asked, his pistol dropping to the floor.
Todd screamed a string of words which were very, very naughty, which impressionable ears like Charlie's should not have heard. The glow subsided. Todd shook his head and stood up straight. He was an Arcanine Hybrid.
"TODD!!" The blonde man shouted, falling on his rear and fumbling for his gun.
Todd was in a daze, not sure what just happened.
Trent, meanwhile, was not just standing by. Tearing the open van door off it's hinges with his oversized claws, he stood there over the Hybrid Hunter in a dreadful look of doom.
"NO!" The man grabbed the gun and pulled it in front of him to meet this adversary, but Trent knocked it away quickly, Then careened his blades just on the outer boundaries of his neck, pushing him down, and effectively pinning him to the floor as the claws punctured through the concrete. Trent stood on his chest, crouched.
And this man began to change, as well.
Trent pulled out the moment he started to glow white, and his form reappeared all the same, except for the fact he was now a Rhydon Hybrid.
"Rico!" Todd turned to his partner.
"Todd!" Rico once more reiterated as he looked up, and both of them looked in a nearby rearview mirror of the van.
"Congratulations!" Skye said, "Or rather, Raichu rai chu rai!" Congratulations! You are now one of us!
Both Todd and Rico muttered an explicit. And fainted onto the floor.
"Slash sand. . ." That takes care of them. . . Trent sighed. That move he just made. . . it seemed to be some sort of instinct. . .
"Pika pi. . ." That was too close. . . Jenna sighed as well.
"Nido. . . ran nidoran?" Wait. . . why didn't the purple goop affect them?
The purple goop ran downhill. . . touching both Charmander and Porygon at the same time.
Skye, Jenna, Trent and Charlie gasped as they watched them become enveloped in a white light. . .
I will most certainly not believe you if you said you were expecting that. Next Chapter: Well. . . you read through and you should know what's coming next. Until next time, Ciao!