Author's Note: Hello! Anyway, since it's summer, I'm starting to get off my lazy ass (not really), and work on these stories (my HM one, remember that). First off, let's answer a few reviews:
M1DN1GHT: (the 1337 still scares me Jennilyn) Damn it. I did spell couch wrong. Yes, these characters aren't familiar to you. So bah. But, you will figure out who they are now, in this chapter.
Cursedninetales: I didn't quite get that…thanks for reviewing. Hee.
Twilight The Umbreon: And I love your username dear. And, it's being updated now. I'll be sure to e-mail you and such, when it's updated.
Fjord Cannon: And you're just about to find out too.
Now that's over with, on with Chapter Eight! Now, if only my damn font would work correctly…
Chapter Eight: Kyte and Lexus"Rise and shine Ashley! Time for breakfast! Big day ahead! Hello! YOU ALIVE?"
Ashley awoke with a moan, yet again, and slowly opened her eyes. Right in her face was Amphie, cheerful and happy.
"GET OUT OF MY FACE!" Ashley screeched, clawing at Amphie. Ashley then froze, and quickly sat up, letting her feet drift over the sides of her bed. She then checked herself over, and groaned. She had expected that yesterday had been a dream, well, a nightmare. But, it was true. The bracelets and anklets were still there, and as were the skulls. And the skull under her neck was there as well. Figures. Life always had something wrong with it, and for Ashley, that was more than one thing that had screwed her life up.
Amphie gave a disapproving look, as Ashley just seemed to stare at herself. "Come on Ashley! BREAKFAST IS READY! AND IT'S GETTING COLD!" Amphie then quickly pulled out a comb, and began to drive it rather harshly through Ashley's hair, now back to its normal brown.
"WOULD YOU MIND?" Ashley retorted. Amphie looked quite feeble at her attempts to help Ashley get ready, which Ashley obviously didn't like. Ashley then snatched the comb, and began to quickly comb her own hair. "I'll be there in a minute."
Amphie beamed," ALL RIGHTIE THEN!" and ran off out the door, taking a left towards the kitchen. Ashley shook her head; mumbling as she wiped her eyes with her other hand. She couldn't believe how much of a morning person Amphie was. Of course, she had never noticed, as she wasn't there in the morning with Amphie before.
Exactly one minute later, Ashley appeared in the living room, in full outfit, the exact same one was last night, and the days before. If you had looked into her closet, there were actually seven exact outfits of this, and one dress that Grandpa had bought her for the dance, which he had obviously known about earlier than she had herself.
Desert was busy placing the plates on the placemats, also pouring in orange juice from a pitcher his tail held up. Grandpa was busily checking the news, like every morning, and had just flipped to the PNN the Pokemon News Network, where there had just begun a story on the events of the dance, only yesterday. Amphie sat down next to him, having done her help by getting Ashley up, and helping to make waffles with Grandpa.
Grandpa was in a trans basically, as he watched the video cameras zoom in and around the gym, blood still coating the floors. Then, a police artist held up a drawing of what, by witnesses' reports, the character looked like, in fine detail, with his Metagross beside him. Grandpa immediately snatched the remote from Amphie, and paused it on the zoomed in angle on the photo, via TiVO. He seemed utterly speechless, as his eyes squinted, studying the mysterious man in black. Ashley could obviously tell something was up, but decided to ask later.
"What time is it?" Ashley asked Des, who seemed to be the only one she could ask for this information, as Amphie was juggling a few oranges with her tail in perfect rhythm.
"Ten o'clock. Oh, and Ashley, I have some information for you," Des said. "At one o'clock, you have a date." At Ashley's confused look, Des added," Not that kind. It's a meeting, with two other people."
"Do I have to go?" Ashley moaned. "I'm still tired from yesterday. You know, the whole morphing thing hasn't worn off yet."
"Yes, you do. It's incredibly important. And, Amphie and I have been invited." Des's eyes gleamed as he grinned. "So, you won't be completely alone."
"Oh goodie. I feel much better."
Des rolled his eyes, hearing Ashley's sarcasm. "Just eat up. We've got a long day ahead of us."
/…/
"So, some man stormed into the dance and killed two dozen people, and even more injured? Why, that's impossible!" Grandpa was disgusted, fidgeting in his chair. "And to think I did not come along to help! Why, in my day, I was quite a trainer, let me tell you!"
"Yes, Grandpa. Shut up. Anyway, we're fine," Ashley, said, glancing at the clock that read nearly half past twelve. "I need to get going. Actually, we need to get going, Grandpa."
"Fine, fine. But if anything happens to any of you…"
"Bye!" Ashley, Des, and Amphie dashed out the door, before Grandpa could even say goodbye.
/…/
"Oh, and Ashley, you're supposed to be in Pokemorph form when you get there, so they can recognize you," Des said, as they turned another corner down a busy sidewalk.
"Ugh. I don't know HOW morons."
"Well, think really hard maybe," Amphie suggested. "Then you might turn into the morph again!"
"You've got to be kidding me. Well, I'll give it a try, but this is so damn stupid." Ashley took a deep breath, and exhaled, closing her eyes as she focused. She formed her hands into fists, holding them at her sides, and she clenched her teeth. "Anything happen?" she asked finally, eyes still closed, she still in position.
"YOU DID IT ASHLEY!" came Amphie's high voice. "You morphed! And cute outfit!"
"Uh…yeah…" Des agreed nervously.
"What?" Ashley opened her eyes, and immediately studied herself. "WHOA!" Her clothing had definitely changed. Instead of her regular dress like attire, she now wore a rather skimpy black top, showing her stomach and tied at the back with red and orange ties. Short black shorts covered her thighs, with a red and orange skull on the sides, and a few chains hanging from the shorts. Also, her boots were now black instead of red, and had spikes in them, for gripping and I suppose kicking people. Not to mention, on the back of her shirt where the ties met, was a massive red bow, the trails ending at almost the floor.
"HOLY SHIT! WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?" At this announcement, a few boys turned to glance, but were a bit disappointed, only seeing Ashley wearing clothes.
"Not sure…but jeez…you think Devon Corp. had something to do with this?" Des asked, chuckling a bit, although a bit embarrassed around Ashley's clothing, which was somewhat revealing.
"Probably. Damn them to hell. They'll hear about this later, I swear." Ashley pointed towards a rather fancy Café across the street with her tail, and asked," Is that it?"
"Let's see…yep!" Amphie yelled, glancing at a piece of paper, which was actually a map. "'The Golden Goldeen Café'. Isn't that a weird name? I don't see any Goldeens anywhere." Des then laughed, and tapped Amphie on the shoulder, pointing at the Café again. "OH!" Amphie glanced and saw that a huge aquarium was present, with many Goldeen swimming in and around the water, crystal clear, and on the building itself, was a magnificent stained glass portrait of a realistic looking Golden Goldeen.
"How are we going to find them anyway?" Ashley asked, as they walked across the street and into the Café.
"Uh, Ashley, I think that's them."
Ashley glanced towards a Café table, where two Pokemorphs were glancing around, looking for someone. Amphie squeed, and went heart eyed, at the older male.
"Isn't he a hunk?" Amphie squealed at Ashley, but she only rolled her eyes, glancing back.
The male, about Des's age, which put Des off right from the start at having someone his age, was exactly the same height as Des, which didn't help matters much. He was very handsome looking, and was probably used to girls falling all over him. On his wrists and ankles, was white fur, much like the white mane around his neck, which a few of the girls seemed to adore, but dared not come up to him and chat, as he was with another female, so they could only watch in envy. His skin had an orange tinge to it, and was covered in a few black stripes. Retractable claws protruded from his hands and feet, but he wore shoes and gloves, both black, although the gloves were fingerless. A pair of large Arcanine ears protruded from his messy black hair, the bangs falling into his eyes and face. Eyes were coal black as well. From his black pants with a chain or two on the pockets, was a large fluffy Arcanine tail, which wagged a few times before settling down. He gave a lopsided grin at the younger girl he was chatting with, resulting in giggling from the girl, and Ashley and the others noticed he also had fangs. Not to mention, from his black muscle shirt with a few chains hanging around his neck, Des could tell he had a six-pack and well developed biceps, which put him off even more, as he gave a harsh hiss.
"Oh Kyte! How mean!" the girl said, laughing. Immediately, Amphie noticed who she was, having seen her on the television a few times when she lived in Lilycove. She was quite the dancer, often appearing at dancing clubs, and singing as well.
"Hey, that's Lexus!" Amphie yelled, pointing. Ashley and Des glanced at her, raising an eyebrow, as Amphie watched Lexus, who had yet to notice her.
Lexus was a fair girl of sixteen, and quite the party girl from Amphie's description, as she rambled on to Ashley and Des. Lexus was obviously a Clefable morph, from the two horn-like things that were pink with black tips protruding from her shoulder length cut pink hair, the bangs in that little rolled up ball form. She stood quite tall, at about five foot six, and Ashley immediately disliked this party girl. A Clefable tail, curled and round, protruded from her white mini skirt, so mini, I have no idea how much smaller it could be. A black top without sleeves with pink netting reaching her wrists was secured with a white belt around her waist, making her tiny stomach only tinier, like a freaking corset or something. Also, white platforms only made her taller now, as they saw her slip them on, about an inch taller to be exact. Lexus laughed, her coal black eyes glassy like, obviously crying from laughing too hard, and two Clefable wings, too small for actual flying but from her tiny weight I suppose she could at least hover, flapping in amusement.
"We have to work together with them? This is going to be a living hell!" Ashley muttered through clenched teeth, observing the two older teens.
"And Night said they would be around your age. Well, I guess they are. Only a few years older. Not that bad. But, I don't like that older guy. Lexus, or whatever her name is, mentioned him as Kyte." Des snorted, glancing down at Ashley and Amphie. "Let's go meet them, I guess."
But Kyte had already noticed the morphs, and grinned at Des, who gave a glare and a snort back. "Hey! Are you three the ones we're looking for?" Kyte yelled, waving his hand for them to come over, in which they did.
"Awesome outfit girl! I love the colours!" Lexus complimented, looking at Ashley's outfit. "Reminds me of mine!" Ashley could only shudder, as hers was red, orange, and black, while Lexus's was black, white, and pink.
"Uh…thanks?" Ashley asked, cocking her head, confused at if she was being serious or sarcasm.
"Welcome! So, you're the ones we're looking for! You have to be! The two superiors said that they were three morphs, one a Flygon, one a Houndoom, and one an Ampharos." Lexus glanced at Kyte, who was staring at Ashley's outfit, checking her out with one eyebrow raised, almost in praise.
"YOU QUIT STARING AT ME BOY," Ashley ordered, glaring at the older male, who frowned a bit and glanced away, arms crossed against his chest. But, he couldn't help glancing back at the young girl. And every time he did, he received a cold glare, and he quickly jerked his head away.
"Yeah, we are," Des agreed. "And you must be the two people from the other cities."
"Yep! So, what are we going to discuss anyway?" Amphie asked, glancing up at the other teenagers.
"What we're going to do to stop the murderer, of course," Ashley said in retort, sitting herself down, taking Lexus's chair without a word edgewise.
"And exactly how?" Des gave a glance at Kyte, who returned it with a colder one, as they pulled up chairs of their own, Kyte pulling one up for Lexus, as Ashley had taken hers. Amphie took Kyte's seat, her short legs not reaching the floor.
"I say we just box him in a corner and kill him off that way," Ashley said, grinning evilly as she glanced around the table, barely big enough for all five of them to fit around, for their agreement.
"Not kill him!" Of course, Amphie, Des, and Ashley had taken it was an older male, from his height and appearance. "What about we…just capture him and then turn him into the police?" Amphie suggested worriedly, thinking about being more humane.
"He's killed all those people last night. They'll give him the death sentence, no doubt," Des said more to himself, staring down at the table, his eyes and face showing signs of deep thought.
"Wait, he's already attacked here?" Everyone except Kyte glanced at Lexus with confused looks. "YOU MEAN HE'S HERE?"
"Well, what'd you expect? You were called upon to do this mission," Ashley answered bitterly, leaning forward a bit.
"Actually, I just received a package of strange fluid in a box with instructions, and I morphed, and I called the return address's number, and a young woman and a young man told me what I had to do," Kyte informed the others, nodding his head, agreeing with himself, as he stated this fact.
"Same with me," Lexus chimed in, nodding.
"Why the hell did you drink it without notifying the place it came from?" Ashley gave a look with her eyes only half-opened, giving a yawn and resting her head on her open palm.
"You did the same," Amphie and Des pointed out in unison, glancing towards her.
"Well, I was thirsty, as Mom was away at the store," Lexus muttered, Kyte nodding in agreement. "Me too."
"Well, we're stuck with each other." Des gave a moment's silence, and then added, without everyone turned towards him," And we'll have to agree that we got each other's backs, or we'll easily fail this mission…in death."