Woo! Lookidat! Chapterchapterchapterchapter. Not quite the mother of all plot twists, but if this didn't happen. . . well, you'll see.
Chapter 38: Introducing. . .
"Nido. . ." No way. . . Charlie couldn't believe it. None of them could believe it. But it was true. They were turning into Hybrids.
Both Charmander and Porygon grew to a human height, around five feet tall, and the light dissipated around them both.
Trent's first reaction was to cover Charlie's eyes, as both of them were not only naked but also both female.
"Do! Ran nid!" Ow! What happened?
It might have been an understatement to say that there was a long, awkward pause right there, that was broken when Jenna slapped Skye across the face for looking too long.
"Chu!" Sorry. . . Skye said, averting his eyes.
Jenna pulled off the dull green covering blankets of the stacked crates and wrapped them around Charmander and Porygon, who were both still in the same daze that Todd was in not but five minutes ago.
"Char. . ." What happened. . . Charmander was too confused. Everything felt different to her. She pulled the blanket around herself a little more, and she crouched, curling her tail under herself fearfully. Porygon was still computing everything that happened when Jenna put a blanket around her.
Trent uncovered Charlie's eyes. Skye returned to staring blankly in utter surprise.
All at one the three of them broke into argument.
I think that. . .
The chemical's must have. . .
How did that. . .
"KAAAA!" QUIET! Jenna barely had time to understand what all three of them were saying, "Pika pika, pi pikachu!" Stop yammering and find some clothes!
The chemicals had dried up, or more possibly became airborne, and Charmander and Porygon sat on the low crates, Jenna and Charlie with them. Skye and Trent were looking around for said clothes, if there were any around.
"Nido ran ran. . . nid nid nidoran. . ." Charmander. . . are you alright? You haven't said much. . .
Charmander sighed. Her long brown hair had appeared from the transformation out of almost nowhere, but she brushed it off her face almost instinctively. "Char char. . . charmander char. . ." I'm fine, Charlie. . . I just don't know what to make of it. . .
"Nid nid. . . ran ran Nido Nido." Well, I can't call you Charmander anymore. . . something significant.
"Char! Mander char. . ." No! I really don't mind. . .
"Nid nid! Ran nido nidoran." I have to! I can't keep calling you Charmander.
"Char. . ." Master. . .
"Nido! Nid nidoran nido! Nido nid. . ." No! I'm not your master anymore! You're free. . .
"Char char. . ." But I want to stay with you. . . Charmander attempted putting her arms around Charlie, who almost pulled away, but hugged back even more fiercely than her.
"Nido nido nid. . . nid nido. . ." I've had you for less than two weeks. . . And I can't let you go. . .
"Char. . ." I don't want to. . .
"Pika pika. . . pikachu." Phil's going to be awfully surprised. . . if he ever comes back.
Porygon was indeed much more feminine than before, aside from the obvious humanoid characteristics, she had an odd kind of hair, that was still polygon crystal and mostly stiff, like the rest of her body. Her joints were strangely divided by almost nothing, like a real Porygon's. "Pory pory porygon pory." It doesn't make sense. How could a virus affect me?
"Pi pi pikachu. Pika pika." You heard Ben out, right? I have a feeling he'll know.
"Porygon. . ." I'm not sure about that. . .
"Pi pika pi! Pi. . . pika pika pikachu!" Ben could think of anything! I bet. . . I bet it has something to do with the Gamemaster. . .
". . . pory gon. . ." . . . maybe so, but what? . . .
"Pika pika pi. . . pikachu. . . pikapika pi pika pika." Well, considering my knowledge of video games. . . possibly. . . this entire thing was a planned event.
Porygon sighed. "Pory gon gon. . . pory." That doesn't matter much if it did. . . look at me.
"Pika pi? Pika pika pi pi pikachu. Pi pika!" What about it? You're getting used to you new body, the process is most likely unreversable, and there's lots of things you can do now.
"Pory?" Like what?
"Pika pi, pika." Like not compute every factor of everything you witness, for one.
"Pory gon por. . . pory gon porygon. . ." It's true I lost most of my computing capabilities. . . but the essence of humanity is something I've never felt before. . .
"Pika pika. . . pika pi." It's a good thing, trust me. . . making decisions based on the strictest facts is not always for the best. . .
"Raichuuu!" We found something! Skye called out suddenly. He and Trent trotted over quickly to where they were sitting, to find Charlie and Charmander holding each other closely underneath the blanket.
"Chu. . ." Ahem. . .
Charlie blinked awake. "Nid?" What?
Skye looked at him for a few moments. "Rai chu raichu." We got some clothes for the two.
"Nido ran nid." I don't wanna let go. . .
"Chu! Raichu rai!" Is that it! You're in love!
"Nid!" Am not!
"Rai chu!" Are too!
"Niid!" Am not!!
"Slash!!!" Stop it! Trent yelled in a very loud voice. "Slash san slash sand! Sandslash slash." Let's just get this over with so we can report back to Ben! Charlie, let go of her.
"Nido. . ." She fell asleep. . .
Both Skye and Trent heaved a sigh.
After a while, they were all situated right around the Hunter's van. (Who, by the way, are still out cold on the floor) They decided to christen Charmander and Porygon as Liz and Crystal. ("Rai? Raichu?" What? Why are you staring at me?) Luckily, Trent found some overnight clothes of a female scientist who worked here. Liz wore blue jeans, a green blouse and a plain collard blue silk unbuttoned overshirt, and Crystal wore sweatpants (so the fabric wouldn't tear against her body) much like Jenna's, only they were blue. She also had a long sleeved ash jacket like Charlie's, but marked with an 'nike' on it.
"Pika pika pi. . . Pika pi pi pi pikachu." So what do we do now? . . We have a lead and it'd be a waste for everyone to go back to the castle.
"Raichu rai. Rai raichu." We'd probably need to let them know about Liz and Crystal. They need to go back.
"Nido!" I'll go!
"Slash. . ." You're still young. . .
"Nido ran nido. . .ran ran nido." I used to be a pokémon trainer. I can take care of myself!
"Slash. . . sandslash." Still. . . I'm coming with you.
"Pika pikachu pi!" Looks like it's you and me, Syke! Jenna kissed her boyfriend on the yellow cheek, which sparked at the sudden touch.
"Sandslash. . . sand sand. . . sandslash slash." Alright. . . don't get carried away. See you later, honey.
"Pika pi. . ." See you later, dad. . . Jenna hugged her father, knowing that it might be a long time before they saw each other again.
"Rai chu. . . rai rai." Charlie. . . take care of Liz.
"Nid. . ." Okay, big bro. Charlie looked down on the ground as to avert his brother's gaze.
Sky whispered into Charlie's ear, "Chu. . . raichu rai. Raichu rai. . ." Hey. . . It's okay to love someone you care about. That's what love is about.
"Nido ran ran nid." Stop saying that. I'm not in love with her.
"Chu. . . rai chu rai." You know. . . you don't have to be 'in' love with her to love her.
"Nido ran." You meant it that way.
"Raichu rai. Chu chu rai rai. Chu." You know I didn't. You can't misunderstand anything in the pokémon language. You were a bit hasty to defend yourself. . .
". . ."
Skye laughed and patted his brother on the back. "Chu rai." See you later, kiddo.
Trent had torn a convenient tail hole into every seat in the van, and with a little help from Liz to weld the passenger door back on, they climbed in.
"Nid-"
"English. I'm a little tired of all that confusing pokémon talk."
"Oh. . . well, um, Mr. Pikanne. . . the Hunters left a lot of weapons in the back."
Trent sighed. "What'd you expect?" He set the van into reverse, and backed out of the warehouse. Jenna and Skye continued waving goodbye as they pulled off down the dust dirt path they came.
"Rai rai?" You know where to look next?
"Pika. . . pikachu." Yes. . . I have some clue. . .
*Dances* I think I foreshadowed some parts a bit too obviously. Oh well. Next Chapter: We rejoin hero Phil as he approaches the hideout of Mario. . . Until then, Ciao!