I'm trying to work fast here in order to get this out by Saturday, but life once again has kicked
me while I'm down. Between limited computer use and worrying about finals in a week, I've barely
been able to write anything. Sorry for any delay I'm gonna cause, but I'm trying my best. After
next Monday, I'm offically done with school for the summer, and from there on it's smooth sailing!
I'm also sorry, for once again, I'm ending in a cliffhanger. I know I'm gonna tick a lot of people
off, but I need to do it for Chp 15. Anyway, enough time talking. Lets get it on!
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Chp. 14- A Glimpse Into the Future?
"Vaporeon! Are Chu almost done?"
"Vapor!"
We'd been out a few days from Vermilion, heading toward Lavander Town. I'd been spending
most of the time in debate with myself over what to do about our Poke'mon and putting them in
balls. Part of me knew I couldn't possibly have all my Poke'mon out of their balls 24/7, but I
still couldn't help but feel guilty for putting them in there at all. I've tried to ask our
Poke'mon if it's always so dark and lonely, but I never get enough of what they say to make a
decent guess. To be fair, I always leave out one of my Poke'mon out at all times, as does Sara.
It's far from perfect, but there's not a lot else I can really do now. When we stop to rest, we
let them go out and roam around for a while. As long as they stay in earshot, we always know where
they are.
Anyway, at this point on our trip, we stopped for the night by a stream. There was a
seculued spot where we went one at a time to get cleaned up. I went first, taking the shortest
amount of time. Sara went next, taking her time with washing due to her natural weakness to water.
Vaporeon took forever, though I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. He's a water type, after all,
and Sara and I could hear him splashing around as we set up everything for dinner.
"So, Sara," I pulled out a box of pasta and a can of soup from my bag, "which do Chu think
Vaporeon will make less Rai mess with?"
"Hard to say...Vul guess the pasta." I put away the soup and poured some water into a pot
so we could get it to boil. Sara started the fire(she saves me a lot money on matches. One quick
Ember into a pile of sticks, and boom, instant campfire!) and went to go look for more firewood
while I got everything ready for dinner.
Vaporeon just came back wearing a pair of sweatpants I'd lent him by the time dinner was
ready. I handed him a bowl of pasta, turned around to get some sauce, and by the time I was ready
to pour it on, Vaporeon was already halfway done with his pasta. I almost yelled at him to wait
next time, but just sighed and gave him the sauce anyway. Hard to believe it, but Vaporeon can be
worse than me when it comes to eating. We rotate between giving him Poke'mon food and real food,
but ethier way, he has it all over the place by the time he's done. Even our Poke'mon look kind
of disturbed when they watch him eat.
I gave Vaporeon a towel to clean himself up while I thought about my so far unsuccessful
attempts to teach him how to act human. He already had the basic idea of clothing and how to put
it on, which was good, but everything else just didn't seem to work. Walking was going nowhere;
I have to help him to his hind legs, and even then, he needs to lean against something just to
stand up, much less move. Other things were just totally foriegn concepts to him, like eating
with utensils, not eating foods that fall on the ground, things like that.
Sara, in the meantime, has taken up the responsibility of teaching Vaporeon and the
other Poke'mon how to read. She's already taught two Poke'mon how to read, she reasoned, so why
not teach them all? Well, I've watched her try, and she seems to be doing a good job so far.
However, she's taken on the addtional task of trying to teach Vaporeon how to write, and that
coming along very slowly. After about two hours of practice today, she's managed to teach Vaporeon
which end of the pencil you're supposed to write with. He just hasn't developed the muscle controls
and knowledge to write yet.
After dinner, Vaporeon went to the tent early, but Sara and I stayed up for a while to
watch the fire. I was poking at the embers with a stick when Sara spoke up.
"Hey Dan, Vul ever think Vulpix the future?"
"Rai future? Sure, all Rai time. Rai think about what kind of team Rai want to train, or
what Chu do"
"Pix, not that. Do Vul ever think about Pix humans would react to us? Vul, at least ones
that don't already know Vulpix us. What do Vul think their reaction Vulpix us?"
"Rai don't know..." What would the normal persons reaction to us be? Once they got over
the inital shock and fear, then what? I mean, if all the Hybrids in the world held a press
conference to say that we don't mean humans any harm, but just wanted to be treated equal, I doubt
we'd immeadiatly be met with open arms. Still, humans have been known throughout history as great
adapters to most anything. Then again, they also burned people at the stake for practicing,
"witchcraft". I'd bet not one of the people involved in those burnings were witches or warlocks.
I tried not to think about it too much at the time. I don't like to go to bed with a lot
on my mind, or else it takes me forever to fall asleep. We both retired to the tent soon after,
each one of us taking a seperate spot in the tent with our Poke'mon laid out in various places.
Even still, sleep didn't come quickly. Vaporeon was shivering like mad over on his side of the
tent, and it creeped me out big time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!
"YEOW!" I fumbled around on my dresser for the OFF button on my alarm clock. Finally finding
it, I punched it and shut off the alarm. Man, not another day of school...
School? I picked my head up off the pillow and looked around, still half asleep. What
the...and why am I home? This was my room, alright; N64 laying on the ground, closet in the corner,
three windows...but why am I here?
I slowly got out of bed, stepping over Furret, who'd parked herself right near the edge of
it. Passing a full length body mirror, I realized I'd grown. I was about an inch or two taller,
and it looked like I put on a little weight, giving me a more solid build than before. I was
still a Hybrid, mind you, but I looked, and felt, older.
"Weird..." I quickly changed into some jeans and a shirt, tossing the clothes I just had
on in a corner of the closet. As I put on the jeans, I noticed something. There was a hole
already in the back of them, which that in itself wouldn't have been so odd, except when I pulled
out my tail, it closed up so the hole wasn't visible. This was getting really weird...
"Mom? Dad?" I went out and searched over the entire house for them, not bothering to change
forms. After all, if I was home, surely they'd be used to seeing me as a Hybrid, right? They were
nowhere in the house, though. Everything looked exactly the same, but they weren't around. I even
checked their bedroom, but they weren't there. Someone else was, though...
"Sara? What are you doing in my parents bedroom?!"
"Huh?" She slowly rose and blinked sleeply at me. "Dan? What are you doing here?"
"This is my house!" I pointed out, noticing her Poke'mon were all about the room, resting
in various places.
"Your house? But this is my dream..."
"Your dream? It's mine!"
"What? That can't be...hey, were not talking like we normally do!"
"What do...oh." I nodded. We weren't saying, "Raichu", "Vulpix", or parts of it anymore.
Sad to say, that's not normal for us.
"Look, why don't you get dressed and wake up your Poke'mon? We'll meet in the living room
and figure this all out?" I suggested.
Sara nodded. I closed the door and went back to my room to wake my own Poke'mon. As soon
as they were up, though, I realized something else had changed.
"Hey, why are we getting up so early?" Nidoran moaned as he got to his feet.
"Sorry, Nidoran, but we...uh-oh..."
"Yeah, what's going on?" Bulbasaur asked.
"Sara!" I called out. "Are you getting this too?"
"They're speaking English to you too?"
"Yup."
"English? You're speaking my language!" Nidoran said.
"No, they're speaking mine!" Bulbasaur argued.
"Why is everyone speaking my language?!" Furret cried out, confused.
"Sara, when do you speak Raichu?" a new voice called out.
"Could've told me you knew Totodile..." said another.
"Why is everyone speaking Pidgeotto?" called out a third voice.
Well, this was just plain confusing. I instructed my Poke'mon to follow me downstairs.
Sara and the others were already down there by the time we arrived. The Poke'mon took up all the
couches and chairs, so Sara and I were forced to stand.
"Alright, what's going on?" Pidgeotto asked from her perch on a rocking chair.
"Well, as best I can tell," Sara said, "we're all having the same dream. We all hear our
own language when someone speaks, even if they only know one language. Last, no one has any clue
why this is happening. Is that everything?"
"Yeah, I think so." I agreed.
"Well, this doesn't make any sense." Furret pointed out. She was laid out across the top
of the couch.
"Thanks for that insight, Furret." Nidoran muttered. He looked around for a second before
saying, "Someone's missing."
"Who? Who's mi...Vaporeon!" I realized. "Where is he?"
"I dunno." Bulbasaur said, looking around. "Did you check the whole house?"
"Yeah. I guess I'll look again."
I started off through the neighboring kitchen to look again. As I passed by the refrigorator,
I happened to glance at the calander on it. When I saw the date, I froze.
"Uh...Sara? What's todays date?" I called out.
"It's 6/10/01. How could you forget?"
"I didn't. This calander did."
"What?" She came into the kitchen to see what I was talking about. As she walked in, I
couldn't help but noticed that she too, looked a little older. She was maybe about an inch taller,
but I noticed other...things...had changed as well(I'll leave that to your imagination).
"Look at the date." I said, pointing to the current day.
"It says it's 6/10/..." she paused for a moment before going on,"28?"
"It's 27 years into the future!"
"But...that doesn't make any sense!" Sara held her head and moaned. "I don't know what's
going on here..."
"I do."
I glanced back into the living room to see the owner of this new voice. I could feel the
fur on the back of my neck stand up when I saw it.
"You..." It was that trenchcoat creature that'd telported Sara and everyone else away from
me after the incident in Sara's town. He still looked exactly the same. Our Poke'mon were taken
aback by the sudden arrival of this creature. Pidgeotto almost lost her grip on the chair, and
Furret fell off the couch.
"What are you doing here?!" I demanded.
"You said you didn't know what a future with humans would be like. I'm here to show you."
"Show us? How?" Sara started toward him(her? it?), but I grabbed her arm and held her back.
"Be careful. This is the thing that teleported you guys all over Vermilion."
"Did you not find what I promised, and more?" he pointed out.
"Where's Vaporeon?" Railina asked, ignoring the question.
"Getting ready for school, as should you."
"School? What are you..."
"Gotem! Sit down before I write you up!"
Sara and I were now standing in a moving school bus. We were both human, so we didn't look
out of place with all the other humans. The person yelling was the bus driver.
"What was that all about?" Sara thought aloud.
"Maxamillion! Same to you! Sit!"
"Yeah, sure." I gently pushed Sara into a nearby empty seat before sitting myself. The seat
was big enough to hold two people, so we weren't on top of each other.
"What's going on here?" Sara whispered fericely to me.
"I don't know, but lets just see what this guy wants so we can get out of here. He can
probably hold us here as long as he wants until we do."
We sat pretty much in silence for the rest of the trip. For the first time ever, I got
to see Sara as a human. She's a nice looking girl, and minus the fur, muzzle, weird feet and Vulpix
ears poking through her hair, looks exactly the same. Her eyes are brown as opposed to grey, and
she's a Caucasin like me. She's really a nice looking girl.
The bus soon pulled up to Pallet High, and we were instructed to get off. The crowd pushed
us along toward the school, but even if they didn't, the giant line of police with riot gear
would've of. Seeing that each of them had a mini arsenal on them, I didn't question what they were
doing. Sara, however, pointed out what they were probably doing. She pointed to a large line of
students heading down into what looked like a cellar. These, however, were no ordinary students.
Hybrids, hundreds of them, were all being forced down through the doors. They came in all
shapes and sizes, and the types seemed to be infinite. I barely saw Vaporeon through the crowds
and the line of police. As soon as I tried to call to him, one of the officers moved in front of
me, blocking my view.
"Come on, kid. Tease the freaks on your own time." he said gruffly.
"I'm not teasing anyone. I'm trying to call to my friend!" I replied.
"Yeah, right." He let out a little laugh. "Come on. Their lives are bad enough as it is.
Leave them alone."
"Dan, we gotta go!" Sara grabbed my arm and dragged me away into the school building, and
refused to let go until we were inside.
"What was that all about?!" I asked no one in paticular.
"I don't know...let's get somewhere so we can figure this out." Sara suggested.
I nodded. Yeah, that was exactly what we needed to...
"Dan G and Sara M, report to the main office!"
Confused, we found a map of the school on the wall and followed it into the main office.
We were given schedules by the secretary, then were escorted by monitors to our first class.
Conviently, Sara and I had the exact same schedule.
"Hybrid Awareness?" I asked of the teacher, a young looking guy, when he came in. "What
exactly is this class about?"
"You've never taken this class before?" I shook my head. "You're one lucky...take a seat
and you'll find out."
"Probably some sort of sensitivity class." Sara suggested.
Sensitivity? More like bashing! The entire class was devoted to telling us how to avoid
contact with Hybrids, and what to do should we ever come in contact with one. The book that had
been handed out explained that these steps were nessacary, because, "All Hybrids take any sort
of apporach, friendly or hostile, as a threat, and therefore become violently enraged and attack
with any power available to them."
Needless to say, Sara and I were having a real problem holding in our tempers. By the time
the class was over, I was about ready to put my fist through a wall, and Sara looked like she was
really starting to dislike the guy behind all this.
"Who the heck does he think he is, telling us what the future is going to be like?" she
whispered to me as we were once again escorted to our next class. "I want to put my foot through
this guy's..."
"Hang on." I warned. "It's probably gonna get worse."
The next class was, "Hybrid History". Maybe we could avoid some negativity here. Sure, you
can determine history however you want, but you still have to present it unbiasedly, right?
The old man who was the teacher for this class instructed us to grab books on our way in.
Sara grabbed hers, then looked at the title and moaned.
"What's wrong?"
"Take a look at the title and tell me it's being fair."
Confused, I took a book and looked at the title. I almost ripped off the cover right then
and there.
"Hybrids:Nature's Biggest Mistake."
After we got seats, I tuned out the teacher and looked over the book. It was a history
book alright, and as far as I could tell, it was the only honest source of information we had
acsess to.
"Back", in early 2006(I'd be 18 then), Hybrids first introduced themselves to the human
race as a whole. Many people weren't pleased with the idea of half human, half Poke'mon creatures,
but when they realized that a lot of world leaders were Hybrids themselves, they had to accept
them. Some basic laws were quickly drawn up for Hybrids; same rights as humans, no capturing of
Hybrids allowed, equal rights in general.
After all the Hybrid leaders had been ethier assinated or run out of office, things took
a turn for the worse, or as the book put it, things were "corrected". Hybrids with decent jobs
were forced out, Hybrid homes were attacked and often destroyed, and humans shunned Hybrids
altogether. Most Hybrids are stuck in manual labor jobs with minimal pay, and Hybrid students are
seperated from human ones in school as means of protection for both of them.
"I don't understand," Sara said after she'd looked through most of the book. "If life is
so horrible for Hybrids, why don't they just stay in their human forms, or their Poke'mon form,
for that matter? Surely ethier of those has got to better than be treated like second class
citizens."
"Well, maybe one of our new students can answer that." The teacher looked up at us. "Can
one of you two explain for us?"
"I...didn't hear the question." I blurted out.
"Control Bands. What are their purpose?"
"Control Bands, right..." Sara flipped to the glossary and read the lengthy definition.
"Control Bands: A baraclet-like device used to keep Hybrids in their Hybrid form. A series
of fluids are injected through the many needles inside of the band, which blocks out the signals
that let Hybrids shapeshift. Any attempt to remove the baraclet is ethier met with an extreme
tightening of the band, or in the case of Hybrids with hard skin or gaseous forms(ghosts), a
supersonic signal is released, causing great pain to the Hybrid. While the bands have been known
to go as far as to ampute limbs, cause permenant damage from the signals, or strangulation where
a baraclet has to be put around the neck, they have...BEEN DEEMED EXCEPTABLE AS SAFE WAYS OF
PROTECTING HUMANS FROM EVER BEING SURPRISED BY A RAGING HYBRID IN DISGUSE?!"
"Thank you, but there was no need to yell at the end there." the man said.
"NO NEED TO YELL?! WHY I OUGHTA...mmph!" She probably would've went on like this had I
not quickly clamped my hand over her mouth. Judging by the way everyone else was staring at her
like she was insane, things would've gotten ugly had I let her go on like that.
"Sorry about that...she's kinda jumpy till she's had her fifth or sixth cup of coffee. Can
I take her outside to let her calm down?"
The old man looked like he was about to have a heart attack, but numbly nodded. I half
walked, half dragged Sara out of there. Sara broke away just as I closed the door to the room.
"Who does this guy think he is? Why'd you take me out of there?!"
"Hey, don't get upset with me. I'm mad too, but if I'd let you go on like that, goodness
only knows what would've happened. Let's just get through this now, and you can tear his throat out
later."
Sara looked like she was about to explode, but the bell rang, and the monitors were once
again there to escort us. I understood Sara's anger; I was about ready to punch someone myself.
We were forced to listen to how horrible and evil Hybrids are, when we in fact are Hybrids ourselves.
You might as well gotten together realitives and descendants of all people whose family members
were slaves at one point in time, and told them how much more profitable it was to force people
to do work and treat them like dirt than it was to pay them and treat them like normal people. It's
just plain wrong!
"So, what's the next class?"
"Says here...Debate."
"Debate? That's it?" I nodded. "What exactly do we do here?"
"I guess we'll find out."
The teacher, a young woman this time, quickly gave us our instructions as soon as we got
in. We were going to have a debate about equal rights for Hybrids, and why it was right or wrong
to treat them the way they were being treated. When asked who was going to be against Hybrid
equality, it seemed like everyone raised their hands except for Sara and me. When asked who was
going to be for it, I thought Sara and I were the only ones. Not so, as the teacher read out our
names as she wrote them down.
"Gotem...Maxamillion...Jones."
Looking in the back, I saw a boy with his hand raised along with ours. Maybe there was a
little hope for us after all. We were instructed to sit at one table, while the rest of the class
sat at the other tables. Before we started, I asked the boy who was with us his first name.
"Paul." he said. Hey, that was my middle name! I didn't have time to say much more, as
the debate was quickly started. We each had to give a one minute speech on why Hybrids did or
didn't deserve equal rights.
The opposers went first, and this was the basic summary of all their points: Hybrids were
unstable, backstabbing and worst of all, cunning. They deserved what they got.
The three of us went next, and we pretty much had the same point: Had they ever been
Hybrids? What if they suddenly became a Hybrid right now? How would they like being treated like
that? Would all their friends and family leave them in the gutter and treat them like trash?
Next came rebutals. The opposers went first again, but only one of them had anything that
was at all worthwhile. The boy that spoke had jet black spiky hair and green eyes that stared right
through you. It creeped me out big time.
"Going back to my original point," he stated, "Hybrids get what they deserve. If they get
attacked by a Hybrid, and it somehow turns them into a Hybrid, then they're obviously not strong
enough to be human. If they get kidnapped and someone turns them into a Hybrid by experiments, then
obviously they were too weak to defend themselves. If they volunteer to become Hybrids, well, then
they get it for being too stupid to be human."
The clock counted him out there. It was a good thing it did, or I would've clocked him
myself. Paul went up for us and rebutalled the rebutal.
"Too weak? Too stupid? Not strong enough? What is that, really? I think that you're too
stupid to realize that people don't ask to be Hybrids. I think you're too weak for hiding behind
all the stereotypes of something you don't even fully understand. I think you not strong enough
to give any real reasons for why Hybrids have to be kept away from humans. Does that mean that
you deserve to be a Hybrid? Is it really that bad that Hybrids has to be used as a curse word?"
The clock and the bell rang him out there. We slowly packed up and went out to the lunch
rooms, Paul's words still ringing in my ears. For once we weren't escorted, and Sara took
advantage of the situation.
"Dan, lets head downstairs to where the Hybrids are. I want to see what they're being
taught, and we can get to Vaporeon."
"Alright." We snuck off out of the lunch rooms and down toward the cellar. Right outside
the door, we shifted forms, which only took us a second, and didn't have the usual energy drain.
That was a surprise, especially since we'd been human for hours now. Normally, we'd have been dead
tired.
Pushing open the unlocked, ungaurded door, we slowly made our way down the slimy steps,
taking our now useless shoes and socks with us. There were only a few doors down here. We appeared
to be the only ones not already in a room.
"I wondered when you two would make it down here."
"YAH!" Sara yelped.
"AH!" I agreed. I guess we weren't the only ones down here. We turned around to see the
owner of this new voice. When we first got a good look at him, I had mixed reactions. It was a
Hybrid, but the odd thing was that he wasn't a Hybrid of one Poke'mon, but of TWO Poke'mon.
The boy looked to be about our age, wearing the same clothes Paul had just been wearing.
He had a human shaped body, arms and legs, like Sara and I. However, it was the rest of his body
that weirded us out. He had SIX Raichu tails. Yes, not one, but SIX. His feet were shaped like
Sara's, but they were covered in brown fur like my feet. His hands were covered in red fur like
Sara's, and he had a muzzle and nose like Sara. The fur of his face, though, was like mine; mostly
dark tan, with yellow cheeks, plus he had Raichu ears. He had black hair like Sara's in my style
and brown eyes. If I had to guess, I'd say he was about 1/4 Raichu, 1/4 Vulpix and 1/2 human.
"Sorry I scared you guys like that." he apoligized. "I figured you head down hear after
that little debate."
"Debate? I didn't..." Sara put it together faster than I did. "Paul?"
He nodded. "When I saw you two willing to defend Hybrids, I knew there had to be more to
it than simply pity."
"Geez, I never guessed..." I said, still trying to get over the intial shock.
"Guessed what? I was a Hybrid, or I was a Hybrid of two Poke'mon and a human?"
"Both, to be honest."
"Yeah, well I thought it was odd that you have the same name as my parents, but hey, were
all full of surprises. You must've named yourself that after your parents ditched you..."
"Uh, actually we..." Sara started to say, but Paul cut her off.
"I'm really surprised no one suspected you already with those last names. Oh well." He
shrugged. "We'd better get ready for the next class."
"I..." I started to say, but there was what sounded like an egg timer going off, and the
doors opened. Paul quickly fell in with the masses of Hybrids going out of the rooms, but Sara
and I held back. I think it slowly dawned on both of us what was happening.
"Dan, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I think so, though I'm not sure if I believe it..." I said. There was no way...
"I think Paul is...our son."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry about the cliffhanger. I promise, I'll try not to make Chp. 15 a cliffhanger, but it's also
probably going to be a really long chapter if I don't, since I've got to write a lot for later. Hate
to say it, but expect Chapter 15 to be a cliffhanger as well. Ethier way, you'll want to bring a
box of tissues with you, since I'm aiming to draw some tears in it. Hopefully, you'll cry out of
sadness of what happens, and not out of sadness of how badly it's written. Until next time!
A man brings his dog into a vet, not sure why it isn't moving. The vet looks the dog over,
then tells the owner that the dog is dead.
"What?" the man cries. "All you did was look at it! I want a second opinion!"
The vet leaves, then comes back with a Labador. The Lab looks over the dead dog, sniffs
it a couple of times, then barks(meaning dead and gone). The vet leaves again, then comes back
with a cat. The cat looks, sniffs, then meows(simply meaning dead). The vet then hands the
man his bill.
"$600?!" the man yells, shaking the bill in the vets face. "All you told me was that my
dog was dead!"
"And if you listened to me, it would've been $50 dollars," the vet replied, "but for the
Lab work and the cat scan..."
me while I'm down. Between limited computer use and worrying about finals in a week, I've barely
been able to write anything. Sorry for any delay I'm gonna cause, but I'm trying my best. After
next Monday, I'm offically done with school for the summer, and from there on it's smooth sailing!
I'm also sorry, for once again, I'm ending in a cliffhanger. I know I'm gonna tick a lot of people
off, but I need to do it for Chp 15. Anyway, enough time talking. Lets get it on!
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Chp. 14- A Glimpse Into the Future?
"Vaporeon! Are Chu almost done?"
"Vapor!"
We'd been out a few days from Vermilion, heading toward Lavander Town. I'd been spending
most of the time in debate with myself over what to do about our Poke'mon and putting them in
balls. Part of me knew I couldn't possibly have all my Poke'mon out of their balls 24/7, but I
still couldn't help but feel guilty for putting them in there at all. I've tried to ask our
Poke'mon if it's always so dark and lonely, but I never get enough of what they say to make a
decent guess. To be fair, I always leave out one of my Poke'mon out at all times, as does Sara.
It's far from perfect, but there's not a lot else I can really do now. When we stop to rest, we
let them go out and roam around for a while. As long as they stay in earshot, we always know where
they are.
Anyway, at this point on our trip, we stopped for the night by a stream. There was a
seculued spot where we went one at a time to get cleaned up. I went first, taking the shortest
amount of time. Sara went next, taking her time with washing due to her natural weakness to water.
Vaporeon took forever, though I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. He's a water type, after all,
and Sara and I could hear him splashing around as we set up everything for dinner.
"So, Sara," I pulled out a box of pasta and a can of soup from my bag, "which do Chu think
Vaporeon will make less Rai mess with?"
"Hard to say...Vul guess the pasta." I put away the soup and poured some water into a pot
so we could get it to boil. Sara started the fire(she saves me a lot money on matches. One quick
Ember into a pile of sticks, and boom, instant campfire!) and went to go look for more firewood
while I got everything ready for dinner.
Vaporeon just came back wearing a pair of sweatpants I'd lent him by the time dinner was
ready. I handed him a bowl of pasta, turned around to get some sauce, and by the time I was ready
to pour it on, Vaporeon was already halfway done with his pasta. I almost yelled at him to wait
next time, but just sighed and gave him the sauce anyway. Hard to believe it, but Vaporeon can be
worse than me when it comes to eating. We rotate between giving him Poke'mon food and real food,
but ethier way, he has it all over the place by the time he's done. Even our Poke'mon look kind
of disturbed when they watch him eat.
I gave Vaporeon a towel to clean himself up while I thought about my so far unsuccessful
attempts to teach him how to act human. He already had the basic idea of clothing and how to put
it on, which was good, but everything else just didn't seem to work. Walking was going nowhere;
I have to help him to his hind legs, and even then, he needs to lean against something just to
stand up, much less move. Other things were just totally foriegn concepts to him, like eating
with utensils, not eating foods that fall on the ground, things like that.
Sara, in the meantime, has taken up the responsibility of teaching Vaporeon and the
other Poke'mon how to read. She's already taught two Poke'mon how to read, she reasoned, so why
not teach them all? Well, I've watched her try, and she seems to be doing a good job so far.
However, she's taken on the addtional task of trying to teach Vaporeon how to write, and that
coming along very slowly. After about two hours of practice today, she's managed to teach Vaporeon
which end of the pencil you're supposed to write with. He just hasn't developed the muscle controls
and knowledge to write yet.
After dinner, Vaporeon went to the tent early, but Sara and I stayed up for a while to
watch the fire. I was poking at the embers with a stick when Sara spoke up.
"Hey Dan, Vul ever think Vulpix the future?"
"Rai future? Sure, all Rai time. Rai think about what kind of team Rai want to train, or
what Chu do"
"Pix, not that. Do Vul ever think about Pix humans would react to us? Vul, at least ones
that don't already know Vulpix us. What do Vul think their reaction Vulpix us?"
"Rai don't know..." What would the normal persons reaction to us be? Once they got over
the inital shock and fear, then what? I mean, if all the Hybrids in the world held a press
conference to say that we don't mean humans any harm, but just wanted to be treated equal, I doubt
we'd immeadiatly be met with open arms. Still, humans have been known throughout history as great
adapters to most anything. Then again, they also burned people at the stake for practicing,
"witchcraft". I'd bet not one of the people involved in those burnings were witches or warlocks.
I tried not to think about it too much at the time. I don't like to go to bed with a lot
on my mind, or else it takes me forever to fall asleep. We both retired to the tent soon after,
each one of us taking a seperate spot in the tent with our Poke'mon laid out in various places.
Even still, sleep didn't come quickly. Vaporeon was shivering like mad over on his side of the
tent, and it creeped me out big time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!
"YEOW!" I fumbled around on my dresser for the OFF button on my alarm clock. Finally finding
it, I punched it and shut off the alarm. Man, not another day of school...
School? I picked my head up off the pillow and looked around, still half asleep. What
the...and why am I home? This was my room, alright; N64 laying on the ground, closet in the corner,
three windows...but why am I here?
I slowly got out of bed, stepping over Furret, who'd parked herself right near the edge of
it. Passing a full length body mirror, I realized I'd grown. I was about an inch or two taller,
and it looked like I put on a little weight, giving me a more solid build than before. I was
still a Hybrid, mind you, but I looked, and felt, older.
"Weird..." I quickly changed into some jeans and a shirt, tossing the clothes I just had
on in a corner of the closet. As I put on the jeans, I noticed something. There was a hole
already in the back of them, which that in itself wouldn't have been so odd, except when I pulled
out my tail, it closed up so the hole wasn't visible. This was getting really weird...
"Mom? Dad?" I went out and searched over the entire house for them, not bothering to change
forms. After all, if I was home, surely they'd be used to seeing me as a Hybrid, right? They were
nowhere in the house, though. Everything looked exactly the same, but they weren't around. I even
checked their bedroom, but they weren't there. Someone else was, though...
"Sara? What are you doing in my parents bedroom?!"
"Huh?" She slowly rose and blinked sleeply at me. "Dan? What are you doing here?"
"This is my house!" I pointed out, noticing her Poke'mon were all about the room, resting
in various places.
"Your house? But this is my dream..."
"Your dream? It's mine!"
"What? That can't be...hey, were not talking like we normally do!"
"What do...oh." I nodded. We weren't saying, "Raichu", "Vulpix", or parts of it anymore.
Sad to say, that's not normal for us.
"Look, why don't you get dressed and wake up your Poke'mon? We'll meet in the living room
and figure this all out?" I suggested.
Sara nodded. I closed the door and went back to my room to wake my own Poke'mon. As soon
as they were up, though, I realized something else had changed.
"Hey, why are we getting up so early?" Nidoran moaned as he got to his feet.
"Sorry, Nidoran, but we...uh-oh..."
"Yeah, what's going on?" Bulbasaur asked.
"Sara!" I called out. "Are you getting this too?"
"They're speaking English to you too?"
"Yup."
"English? You're speaking my language!" Nidoran said.
"No, they're speaking mine!" Bulbasaur argued.
"Why is everyone speaking my language?!" Furret cried out, confused.
"Sara, when do you speak Raichu?" a new voice called out.
"Could've told me you knew Totodile..." said another.
"Why is everyone speaking Pidgeotto?" called out a third voice.
Well, this was just plain confusing. I instructed my Poke'mon to follow me downstairs.
Sara and the others were already down there by the time we arrived. The Poke'mon took up all the
couches and chairs, so Sara and I were forced to stand.
"Alright, what's going on?" Pidgeotto asked from her perch on a rocking chair.
"Well, as best I can tell," Sara said, "we're all having the same dream. We all hear our
own language when someone speaks, even if they only know one language. Last, no one has any clue
why this is happening. Is that everything?"
"Yeah, I think so." I agreed.
"Well, this doesn't make any sense." Furret pointed out. She was laid out across the top
of the couch.
"Thanks for that insight, Furret." Nidoran muttered. He looked around for a second before
saying, "Someone's missing."
"Who? Who's mi...Vaporeon!" I realized. "Where is he?"
"I dunno." Bulbasaur said, looking around. "Did you check the whole house?"
"Yeah. I guess I'll look again."
I started off through the neighboring kitchen to look again. As I passed by the refrigorator,
I happened to glance at the calander on it. When I saw the date, I froze.
"Uh...Sara? What's todays date?" I called out.
"It's 6/10/01. How could you forget?"
"I didn't. This calander did."
"What?" She came into the kitchen to see what I was talking about. As she walked in, I
couldn't help but noticed that she too, looked a little older. She was maybe about an inch taller,
but I noticed other...things...had changed as well(I'll leave that to your imagination).
"Look at the date." I said, pointing to the current day.
"It says it's 6/10/..." she paused for a moment before going on,"28?"
"It's 27 years into the future!"
"But...that doesn't make any sense!" Sara held her head and moaned. "I don't know what's
going on here..."
"I do."
I glanced back into the living room to see the owner of this new voice. I could feel the
fur on the back of my neck stand up when I saw it.
"You..." It was that trenchcoat creature that'd telported Sara and everyone else away from
me after the incident in Sara's town. He still looked exactly the same. Our Poke'mon were taken
aback by the sudden arrival of this creature. Pidgeotto almost lost her grip on the chair, and
Furret fell off the couch.
"What are you doing here?!" I demanded.
"You said you didn't know what a future with humans would be like. I'm here to show you."
"Show us? How?" Sara started toward him(her? it?), but I grabbed her arm and held her back.
"Be careful. This is the thing that teleported you guys all over Vermilion."
"Did you not find what I promised, and more?" he pointed out.
"Where's Vaporeon?" Railina asked, ignoring the question.
"Getting ready for school, as should you."
"School? What are you..."
"Gotem! Sit down before I write you up!"
Sara and I were now standing in a moving school bus. We were both human, so we didn't look
out of place with all the other humans. The person yelling was the bus driver.
"What was that all about?" Sara thought aloud.
"Maxamillion! Same to you! Sit!"
"Yeah, sure." I gently pushed Sara into a nearby empty seat before sitting myself. The seat
was big enough to hold two people, so we weren't on top of each other.
"What's going on here?" Sara whispered fericely to me.
"I don't know, but lets just see what this guy wants so we can get out of here. He can
probably hold us here as long as he wants until we do."
We sat pretty much in silence for the rest of the trip. For the first time ever, I got
to see Sara as a human. She's a nice looking girl, and minus the fur, muzzle, weird feet and Vulpix
ears poking through her hair, looks exactly the same. Her eyes are brown as opposed to grey, and
she's a Caucasin like me. She's really a nice looking girl.
The bus soon pulled up to Pallet High, and we were instructed to get off. The crowd pushed
us along toward the school, but even if they didn't, the giant line of police with riot gear
would've of. Seeing that each of them had a mini arsenal on them, I didn't question what they were
doing. Sara, however, pointed out what they were probably doing. She pointed to a large line of
students heading down into what looked like a cellar. These, however, were no ordinary students.
Hybrids, hundreds of them, were all being forced down through the doors. They came in all
shapes and sizes, and the types seemed to be infinite. I barely saw Vaporeon through the crowds
and the line of police. As soon as I tried to call to him, one of the officers moved in front of
me, blocking my view.
"Come on, kid. Tease the freaks on your own time." he said gruffly.
"I'm not teasing anyone. I'm trying to call to my friend!" I replied.
"Yeah, right." He let out a little laugh. "Come on. Their lives are bad enough as it is.
Leave them alone."
"Dan, we gotta go!" Sara grabbed my arm and dragged me away into the school building, and
refused to let go until we were inside.
"What was that all about?!" I asked no one in paticular.
"I don't know...let's get somewhere so we can figure this out." Sara suggested.
I nodded. Yeah, that was exactly what we needed to...
"Dan G and Sara M, report to the main office!"
Confused, we found a map of the school on the wall and followed it into the main office.
We were given schedules by the secretary, then were escorted by monitors to our first class.
Conviently, Sara and I had the exact same schedule.
"Hybrid Awareness?" I asked of the teacher, a young looking guy, when he came in. "What
exactly is this class about?"
"You've never taken this class before?" I shook my head. "You're one lucky...take a seat
and you'll find out."
"Probably some sort of sensitivity class." Sara suggested.
Sensitivity? More like bashing! The entire class was devoted to telling us how to avoid
contact with Hybrids, and what to do should we ever come in contact with one. The book that had
been handed out explained that these steps were nessacary, because, "All Hybrids take any sort
of apporach, friendly or hostile, as a threat, and therefore become violently enraged and attack
with any power available to them."
Needless to say, Sara and I were having a real problem holding in our tempers. By the time
the class was over, I was about ready to put my fist through a wall, and Sara looked like she was
really starting to dislike the guy behind all this.
"Who the heck does he think he is, telling us what the future is going to be like?" she
whispered to me as we were once again escorted to our next class. "I want to put my foot through
this guy's..."
"Hang on." I warned. "It's probably gonna get worse."
The next class was, "Hybrid History". Maybe we could avoid some negativity here. Sure, you
can determine history however you want, but you still have to present it unbiasedly, right?
The old man who was the teacher for this class instructed us to grab books on our way in.
Sara grabbed hers, then looked at the title and moaned.
"What's wrong?"
"Take a look at the title and tell me it's being fair."
Confused, I took a book and looked at the title. I almost ripped off the cover right then
and there.
"Hybrids:Nature's Biggest Mistake."
After we got seats, I tuned out the teacher and looked over the book. It was a history
book alright, and as far as I could tell, it was the only honest source of information we had
acsess to.
"Back", in early 2006(I'd be 18 then), Hybrids first introduced themselves to the human
race as a whole. Many people weren't pleased with the idea of half human, half Poke'mon creatures,
but when they realized that a lot of world leaders were Hybrids themselves, they had to accept
them. Some basic laws were quickly drawn up for Hybrids; same rights as humans, no capturing of
Hybrids allowed, equal rights in general.
After all the Hybrid leaders had been ethier assinated or run out of office, things took
a turn for the worse, or as the book put it, things were "corrected". Hybrids with decent jobs
were forced out, Hybrid homes were attacked and often destroyed, and humans shunned Hybrids
altogether. Most Hybrids are stuck in manual labor jobs with minimal pay, and Hybrid students are
seperated from human ones in school as means of protection for both of them.
"I don't understand," Sara said after she'd looked through most of the book. "If life is
so horrible for Hybrids, why don't they just stay in their human forms, or their Poke'mon form,
for that matter? Surely ethier of those has got to better than be treated like second class
citizens."
"Well, maybe one of our new students can answer that." The teacher looked up at us. "Can
one of you two explain for us?"
"I...didn't hear the question." I blurted out.
"Control Bands. What are their purpose?"
"Control Bands, right..." Sara flipped to the glossary and read the lengthy definition.
"Control Bands: A baraclet-like device used to keep Hybrids in their Hybrid form. A series
of fluids are injected through the many needles inside of the band, which blocks out the signals
that let Hybrids shapeshift. Any attempt to remove the baraclet is ethier met with an extreme
tightening of the band, or in the case of Hybrids with hard skin or gaseous forms(ghosts), a
supersonic signal is released, causing great pain to the Hybrid. While the bands have been known
to go as far as to ampute limbs, cause permenant damage from the signals, or strangulation where
a baraclet has to be put around the neck, they have...BEEN DEEMED EXCEPTABLE AS SAFE WAYS OF
PROTECTING HUMANS FROM EVER BEING SURPRISED BY A RAGING HYBRID IN DISGUSE?!"
"Thank you, but there was no need to yell at the end there." the man said.
"NO NEED TO YELL?! WHY I OUGHTA...mmph!" She probably would've went on like this had I
not quickly clamped my hand over her mouth. Judging by the way everyone else was staring at her
like she was insane, things would've gotten ugly had I let her go on like that.
"Sorry about that...she's kinda jumpy till she's had her fifth or sixth cup of coffee. Can
I take her outside to let her calm down?"
The old man looked like he was about to have a heart attack, but numbly nodded. I half
walked, half dragged Sara out of there. Sara broke away just as I closed the door to the room.
"Who does this guy think he is? Why'd you take me out of there?!"
"Hey, don't get upset with me. I'm mad too, but if I'd let you go on like that, goodness
only knows what would've happened. Let's just get through this now, and you can tear his throat out
later."
Sara looked like she was about to explode, but the bell rang, and the monitors were once
again there to escort us. I understood Sara's anger; I was about ready to punch someone myself.
We were forced to listen to how horrible and evil Hybrids are, when we in fact are Hybrids ourselves.
You might as well gotten together realitives and descendants of all people whose family members
were slaves at one point in time, and told them how much more profitable it was to force people
to do work and treat them like dirt than it was to pay them and treat them like normal people. It's
just plain wrong!
"So, what's the next class?"
"Says here...Debate."
"Debate? That's it?" I nodded. "What exactly do we do here?"
"I guess we'll find out."
The teacher, a young woman this time, quickly gave us our instructions as soon as we got
in. We were going to have a debate about equal rights for Hybrids, and why it was right or wrong
to treat them the way they were being treated. When asked who was going to be against Hybrid
equality, it seemed like everyone raised their hands except for Sara and me. When asked who was
going to be for it, I thought Sara and I were the only ones. Not so, as the teacher read out our
names as she wrote them down.
"Gotem...Maxamillion...Jones."
Looking in the back, I saw a boy with his hand raised along with ours. Maybe there was a
little hope for us after all. We were instructed to sit at one table, while the rest of the class
sat at the other tables. Before we started, I asked the boy who was with us his first name.
"Paul." he said. Hey, that was my middle name! I didn't have time to say much more, as
the debate was quickly started. We each had to give a one minute speech on why Hybrids did or
didn't deserve equal rights.
The opposers went first, and this was the basic summary of all their points: Hybrids were
unstable, backstabbing and worst of all, cunning. They deserved what they got.
The three of us went next, and we pretty much had the same point: Had they ever been
Hybrids? What if they suddenly became a Hybrid right now? How would they like being treated like
that? Would all their friends and family leave them in the gutter and treat them like trash?
Next came rebutals. The opposers went first again, but only one of them had anything that
was at all worthwhile. The boy that spoke had jet black spiky hair and green eyes that stared right
through you. It creeped me out big time.
"Going back to my original point," he stated, "Hybrids get what they deserve. If they get
attacked by a Hybrid, and it somehow turns them into a Hybrid, then they're obviously not strong
enough to be human. If they get kidnapped and someone turns them into a Hybrid by experiments, then
obviously they were too weak to defend themselves. If they volunteer to become Hybrids, well, then
they get it for being too stupid to be human."
The clock counted him out there. It was a good thing it did, or I would've clocked him
myself. Paul went up for us and rebutalled the rebutal.
"Too weak? Too stupid? Not strong enough? What is that, really? I think that you're too
stupid to realize that people don't ask to be Hybrids. I think you're too weak for hiding behind
all the stereotypes of something you don't even fully understand. I think you not strong enough
to give any real reasons for why Hybrids have to be kept away from humans. Does that mean that
you deserve to be a Hybrid? Is it really that bad that Hybrids has to be used as a curse word?"
The clock and the bell rang him out there. We slowly packed up and went out to the lunch
rooms, Paul's words still ringing in my ears. For once we weren't escorted, and Sara took
advantage of the situation.
"Dan, lets head downstairs to where the Hybrids are. I want to see what they're being
taught, and we can get to Vaporeon."
"Alright." We snuck off out of the lunch rooms and down toward the cellar. Right outside
the door, we shifted forms, which only took us a second, and didn't have the usual energy drain.
That was a surprise, especially since we'd been human for hours now. Normally, we'd have been dead
tired.
Pushing open the unlocked, ungaurded door, we slowly made our way down the slimy steps,
taking our now useless shoes and socks with us. There were only a few doors down here. We appeared
to be the only ones not already in a room.
"I wondered when you two would make it down here."
"YAH!" Sara yelped.
"AH!" I agreed. I guess we weren't the only ones down here. We turned around to see the
owner of this new voice. When we first got a good look at him, I had mixed reactions. It was a
Hybrid, but the odd thing was that he wasn't a Hybrid of one Poke'mon, but of TWO Poke'mon.
The boy looked to be about our age, wearing the same clothes Paul had just been wearing.
He had a human shaped body, arms and legs, like Sara and I. However, it was the rest of his body
that weirded us out. He had SIX Raichu tails. Yes, not one, but SIX. His feet were shaped like
Sara's, but they were covered in brown fur like my feet. His hands were covered in red fur like
Sara's, and he had a muzzle and nose like Sara. The fur of his face, though, was like mine; mostly
dark tan, with yellow cheeks, plus he had Raichu ears. He had black hair like Sara's in my style
and brown eyes. If I had to guess, I'd say he was about 1/4 Raichu, 1/4 Vulpix and 1/2 human.
"Sorry I scared you guys like that." he apoligized. "I figured you head down hear after
that little debate."
"Debate? I didn't..." Sara put it together faster than I did. "Paul?"
He nodded. "When I saw you two willing to defend Hybrids, I knew there had to be more to
it than simply pity."
"Geez, I never guessed..." I said, still trying to get over the intial shock.
"Guessed what? I was a Hybrid, or I was a Hybrid of two Poke'mon and a human?"
"Both, to be honest."
"Yeah, well I thought it was odd that you have the same name as my parents, but hey, were
all full of surprises. You must've named yourself that after your parents ditched you..."
"Uh, actually we..." Sara started to say, but Paul cut her off.
"I'm really surprised no one suspected you already with those last names. Oh well." He
shrugged. "We'd better get ready for the next class."
"I..." I started to say, but there was what sounded like an egg timer going off, and the
doors opened. Paul quickly fell in with the masses of Hybrids going out of the rooms, but Sara
and I held back. I think it slowly dawned on both of us what was happening.
"Dan, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I think so, though I'm not sure if I believe it..." I said. There was no way...
"I think Paul is...our son."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry about the cliffhanger. I promise, I'll try not to make Chp. 15 a cliffhanger, but it's also
probably going to be a really long chapter if I don't, since I've got to write a lot for later. Hate
to say it, but expect Chapter 15 to be a cliffhanger as well. Ethier way, you'll want to bring a
box of tissues with you, since I'm aiming to draw some tears in it. Hopefully, you'll cry out of
sadness of what happens, and not out of sadness of how badly it's written. Until next time!
A man brings his dog into a vet, not sure why it isn't moving. The vet looks the dog over,
then tells the owner that the dog is dead.
"What?" the man cries. "All you did was look at it! I want a second opinion!"
The vet leaves, then comes back with a Labador. The Lab looks over the dead dog, sniffs
it a couple of times, then barks(meaning dead and gone). The vet leaves again, then comes back
with a cat. The cat looks, sniffs, then meows(simply meaning dead). The vet then hands the
man his bill.
"$600?!" the man yells, shaking the bill in the vets face. "All you told me was that my
dog was dead!"
"And if you listened to me, it would've been $50 dollars," the vet replied, "but for the
Lab work and the cat scan..."