Chapter three: A Persian's Master
Before we continue I would like to say a huge thanks to AbsolKitty and HakuTenshi for the favorites. I am so honoured! Thanks, you have given me the inspiration to finish this chapter.
Please R+R, enjoy.
After the few minutes of panic Kei was able to calm the boys (and herself) down enough so she could think about the changes in thesituation they were nowfacing. For poor Chamander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur, the changes were quite literal and they were still quite jittery. As the boys got use to handlingtheir new bodies, Kei was talking to herself. "How could this have happen? This can't be evolution, you're all too young!" Kei said, her head in her hands. Charmander was the first to start a conversation between his brothersas he ran his fingers through his newburning locks.
"Char. Charmander!" (('Do you think the glowing water had something to do with this? Oh, it's gone!'))
"Bulbasaur" Bulbasaur said looking back at the water, which now look like normal water. "Bulba bulbasaur?" (('It looked funny, didn't feel right either. Apart from changing us into... into this, our cuts are gone. What else could it have done?')) Squirtle rubbed his head, his headache had returned with a vengeance and the strangeness of the situation wasn't doing anything for it.
"Squirtle squirtle" (('I'm more worried about what it did to Kei.')) The boys looked at Kei who wasstill talking to herself.
"Mander?" (('What do you mean?'))
"Squirt. Squirtle squirtle?" (('Bulbasaur said that the water healed our cuts, it also healed Kei's. What I'm worried about is, if this is what that water did to us...')) Squirtle said pointing to himself (('... then what else did it do to Kei?')) The boys went silent and jumped as Kei appeared out of nowhere and told them what she had come up with.
"There's no use talking here, we should get out, there could be another cave in and we should get checked out. You guys all the more so." Kei said as the boys got up. "Come on let's go." They began to walk towards the only opening, and the same one they had fallen down, then began the long slog to climb back up to the surface.
As they got deeper into the hole it became apparent that this hadn't been caused by the power works and that this was natural. Jenny was actually quite disappointed, she liked seeing the officials squirm as long as it didn't affect her officers. She was in the lead, with Roary and the volunteers following behind her. She hoped they didn't spend too long on the surface, to survive a fall like this over such sharp and cragged rocks was asking for alot luck, but for some reason, she felt that this Kei girl had plenty of it. Jenny's footslipped suddenly,and the rocks scrapped her left arm, tearing both cloth and flesh.If she hadn't had the simple climbing gear on she would've been joining Kei far quicker than intended.
"Be careful of this part, some of the rocks are loose!" Jenny called up. Roary was already past them and was continuing on, Jenny caught up with the ten year old quickly thanks to her better experience with climbing. She could still hear the rocks that shehad disturbed falling down the hole as dull clinks, the effect of an echo made it sound similar to rain.
"Owww, hey! Who's up there! That hurt you know!" came a young,female voice from somewhere quite far below them. When Jenny had slipped, one of therocks that had come loose had fallen down the steep climb and landed on Kei's head, who had been gradually climbing her way back up with her boys following. Everyone stopped suddenly, they had expected the girl wouldn't be doingat lot of much once they found her, but here she was, trying to climb back out without help; to say they were surprised was an understatement.
"Kei! Kei is that you!" Roary called down, a faint red light could be seen and then the outlines of a person and three strange pokemon climbing up the sharp stones.
"Roary? It's you!" Kei said happily "Get down here quick we have to get the boys to the pokemon center, something really strange is happening!" Jenny, Roary and the volunteers made their way down, happy enough to not have to carry their quarry out on a stretcher. (('The boys do look kind of strange, could it be they got hurt?')) Roary thought as Kei and her pokemon continued to climb. It was only when theygot closer did theofficers and the young boysee what Kei meant. (('That's... that's impossible!')) Roary thought seeing the boys' new look and not believing his eyes. Jenny seemed quite taken aback too.
"Kei Danna, right?" Jenny asked, tearing her eyes away from the transformed pokemon to their trainer for a moment. Kei nodded. "I'm Officer Jenny, I'm sorry for all this inconveniencebut I'm sure there's going to be a full injuiry." Her eyes went back to Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur. "And what happened to your pokemon? This isn't normal."
"I don't know Officer." Kei explained "I just woke up and they were like this, that's why we were trying to get out, to get to the Pokemon Centeras quick as possible to get them checked out." The ground began to shake stirring more pieces of loose stones and casting them onto the rescuers and thevictim.
"We should get out of here. Miss Danna hang on to me real tight. Three others take the pokemon to help them up." With proper help and equipment the climb back up wasn't as differcult and Kei could rest, her arms stung like crazy from all her new cuts from climbing back up the craggedrocks. When they reached the surface Kei sheilded her eyes since they had grown used to the dark of the cave, but she was happy to feel sunlight on her skin again. Her boys sat down next to her, staringat the cuts on theirnew feet, it was then Kei noticed they were being stared at by all the people who had gathered there. A woman with her red hair in pigtails came forward looking a bit perplexed, wearing a nurses uniform, behind her stood a chansey with the same perplexed expression.
"What happened to your pokemon?" the woman asked. Roary spoke up at that point.
"We were hoping you could find out Nurse Joy," he said "Kei wasn't awake to see what happened."
"Kei?" Joy looked back at her as the other persons began to fall out of their trances and start to help Kei and Jennyinto the back of an ambulance, leaving the boysin the capable hands of Nurse Joy and her chansey. "You wouldn't be Professor Oak's Kei would you? Kei Danna?" Kei nodded and wondered if she had forgotten anything from home (('Why else would he call?')) Kei thought as the ambulance doors shut with an apology from one of doctors to Nurse Joy, saying they had to take her and the Officer to the hospital to check theirinjuries.
"I wonder if the Professor's call has anything to do with you three?" Joy said as she helped the boys into a Pokemon Center ambulance (('The three of you do look kind of cute though')).
"Bulba?" Bulbasaur asked.
"Oh, don't worry about Kei, she'll be fine, it's only a few cuts." she reassured the bulbasaur boy. Roary travelled with the boys, he wanted to make sure they were okay since he couldn't go with Kei, he still needed to get Hot Spot healed anyway.
"I've run several DNA tests on each one and everything says they're normal." Joy said to an ecstatic Oak and his grandson.
"Just the same over here. This is amazing! Where's Kei, there's something I needto show her." Professor Oak asked over the video phone. Gary was holding something that looked like a rattata in the background behind his grandfather, but it was rather slim for a rattata, from the glimpses she could see of it it looked kind of female, it had feminine human features as well as the long rattata tail and large, slightly pointed ears, but she couldn't see any buck teeth.
"Kei's still at the hospital, she had quite alot cuts. I guess they're being through with her, they know her medical history."
"Yes, I suppose so. Oh, you won't mention this to her parents will you, not unless she tells you right?"
"Of course." Joy said with a smile. "Everything turned out alright... well, nearly everything." She added looking over to where the boys were playing around, they had gathered quite a crowd with their antics. Bulbasaur was practising dodging with Charmander and Squirtle with improving his bubble beam attack on an old, worn out stuffed toy which had received get a few beatings such as these from various pokemon over the years. Roary was watching closely and turning down many offers of trading one of them. They weren't his after all. Some of the pokemon the other trainers were willing to trade were amazing, there had been a couple of very rare pokemon for Charmander alone. Mind you, he was the best looking out of bunch (or that was Roary's belief), it had mostly been female trainers wanting to trade for Charmander.
"Are you sure you don't want to trade?" a rather older male trainer asked. (('This dude is annoying, I've already turned down a trade for a porygon for Articuno's sake. I've told him that they aren't mine! Oh, come back Kei, get this guy off my case!')) Roary just looked at him tiredly, trying to send the message he wasn't wasting anymore breath repeating himself. "Okay, my Blastiose and my Garydos for the squirtle!"
"No!" Roary's last restraint snapped. "I'm not the owner, I'm only looking after them! If you're interested in trading then ask the owner when she gets back! And I'm quite sure you will only get as far with her as you have with me." Most of the trainers backed off, including the annoying male trainer, only the trainers who wanted to watch the boys stayed close. Even so, many of the trainers did wait for the trainer who owned these strange pokemon.
"Well Kei, apart from a good few bruizes and alot ofsmall cuts you're fine." Doctor Tyson said, looking at the large, purple bruise on the left side of Kei's face. He put the ice pack back to the tender flesh and had Kei keep it there as he went back to his seat.
"So what was the blood test for?" Kei asked.
"Check up."
"I thought I was clear?"
"You are," the doctor assured "but might as well do another check to make doubly sure. Your lungs are still rather... sensitive.I'm taking whatever chance I get to make sure you stay in the clear." There was a silence in which Tyson typed something on his computer and Kei looked at her bruise in the mirror; she was going to have to find a good excuse for her parents. "By the way Kei," the doctor suddenly said "how did you get that scar on your hand?"
"Pardon?" she asked, having no idea what he was talking about.
"The scar on the palm of your right hand." the doctor said, watching Kei turn the said hand palm-up to look at the large white, shiny scar that was noticable and looked quite new. (('It couldn't be... nothing heals that fast!')) Kei thought.
"I don't... I don't remember... "Kei said, mostly honestly, she had an idea of how she got it, but it was unthinkable. "Sorry Doctor."
"Don't worry, just that you didn't have it the last time you came." Kei continued to stare at the strange scar, trying to think if she had it when she fell down the cave in; she couldn't remember any pain, but she was certain she didn't have any cuts before then. She would have to think about it later, it was making her head hurt and she was worried about her boys. "Right, you can go now Kei, that's all." Tyson finally said "It was nice to see you again, though I was hoping not as a patient. You can keep the ice pack."
"Thanks, Doctor." Kei said to the young doctor, as he got up and escorted the young trainer to the hospital entrance. "Thanks again doctor!" Kei called back over her shoulder as she ran to the Pokemon Center. Tyson watched the young girl as she ran before noticing a rather anxious doctor walking towards him from his right.
"Err... Tyson, the blood test concerning your patient." Docter Nada said, Tyson turned to show he was listening. Seeing a strange emotion on the the female doctor's face made him wonder if something actuallywaswrong with Kei.
"What's wrong Hanah?"
"I... I found several strange anomalies in Kei's blood." she looked down at the files that showed the resluts of the bloodtest "Errr... it's better if you come and look for yourself, David."
The entrance of the pokemon center hissed open as a grey haired figure walked in, panting slightly from her run; she didn't have much time to recuperate as she was suddenly tackled by three very happy pokemon. Charmander had been the first to see her as she entered and with a high pitched 'Char!' he, Squirtle and Bulbasaur ran as fast as the could... right into Kei's midriff, knocking the wind out of her.
"I'm... glad to... see you too." Kei said through gasping to get her breath back, which was kind of hard when three, physically altered pokemon had their arms around her stomach, chest and neck. "Please... I can't... breathe!" The boy's realised they were suffocating their beloved trainer and got off her, helping her up and thenbursting into a flurry of questions.
"Char charmander?" 'Did they find anything?' the yellow and red reptilian asked.
"Squirtle squirtle squirtle!" 'Tell us what they said at the hopital!" Squirtle wanted to know if they found anything wrong with Keibecause they couldn't find anything wrong with him or his brothers other than their appearances, but the water must have done something to Kei and he wanted to know if his trainer was okay. Bulbasuar was justtalking about everything all at once in his excitement. Roary ran up once he saw who the boys had 'attacked' and just like the boys, began asking questions of the same nature.
"Well, did they find anything?" he asked as Kei sat down on one of the chairs and placed the ice pack back on her bruize. Bulbasaur and Squirtle sat on the arms while Charmander sat on her lap, Roary sat oppersite her in another chair.
"Apart froma few bruizes and cuts, they couldn't find anything wrong, nothing at all." Kei saidpulling the boys into a hug. "As for you guys?"
"Everything says it's just an alteration in appearance, though they don't know how it was caused, you should ask Jenny." Roary said "Oh! And Professor Oak called as well, Jenny was saying he said it was urgent you speak with him." (('Urgent? What could I've forgotten that was 'urgent'?')) Kei thought. She got the boys down and went to the desk at which sat the same red-headed woman she had seen earlier, who had turned out to bethe Nurse Joy Roary spoke so highly about. At Kei's approach Joy turned and smiled warmly at her as she greeted the new trainer.
"Hello Kei, I'm sorry to tell you I have no idea how your pokemon could've changed like this." she explained, a note of concern in her voice.
"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will come to light... eventually" Kei said, not too sure what else to say with the boys around "Roary told me Proffessor Oak called, said it was urgent." Joy went back to her warm smile and nodded.
"Yes, yes he did, one moment." she said, she picked up the receiver of the video phone on her desk and called the Pallet Town Lab. After a couple of rings a familar voice was heard comming from the receiver.
"Hello Joy, is Kei there?" came the raspy voice of Professor Oak.
"Yes, she's here. I'll pass her on." Joy moved from her seat and allowed Kei to sit down and gave her the receiver.
"Hi Professor, what did you want to talk to me about?" Kei asked, knowing that he had probably knew the boys predicament but asked it out of habit more than not knowing.
"I... what happened to your face?" he asked
"Oh, it's nothing to be concerned about, it will heal in a couple of days."
"Okay" the Professor said, not too sure what to make of it "Well the situation with your pokemon,it's got me stumped, I'd say it was some kind of mess up during an evolution but they're all too young, and having them all evolve at the same time with whatever caused a mess up would be too coincidental." he explained
"So you don't really know what caused this?" Kei stated, looking down she saw the anxious looks on the boys faces, Charmander looked like he was going to be sick.
"Not a clue" said a younger voice as Gary appeared on screen next to his grandfather. "Plus, I think the pokemon here are starting to like their new bodies." That made Kei's mind sound warning bells.
"Pardon?"
"Your pokemon here. Your rattata just found out that having a slightly smaller head means you can get into smaller places." Gary explained. (('That mean's...'))
"Everyone out!" Kei said grabbing all the pokeballs in her belt and activating them together. The sight shocked everyone watching; Pidgey, Rattata and Spearow looked rather different then from when she had seen them at breakfast. Pidgey and Spearow both still had their feathers and their wings, however, they now had arms which were just peeking from under slightly larger wings. They were standing upright on legs which had hand like feet, with three digits and a thumb. Their beaks had disappeared and they now had lips, Pidgey's feather's had remained sleek and stright, making him look smart, while Spearow's was still spikey, making him look messy and more aggressive. Rattata also stood upright though her feet had remained rather rattata-ish and her ears were still rather large and reminded Kei more of a ponyta's when they were laid back; the buck teeth had retreated into her mouth and she was slim and physically fit, her tail had remined the same. Kei was silent before her face went blank. "Mum and Dad are gonna blow."
Elsewhere meanwhile, a powerful man sat at his desk, half covered in shadow with a beautiful persian sat by his side, he was gently stroking the top of its head with an obvious pride. The smug look on the cat-like pokemon's face showed it liked it's master's show of affection; the master only showed such affection to it alone. The silence of the room was broken by a phone ringing on the desk, the stroking never stopped as the shadowy figure picked up the receiver and placed it to his ear.
"What is it? I asked not to be disturbed."
"Sorry Sir, but I have just seen something that you might like." a male voice anwsered, obviously kind of shaken by speaking to his superior's superior. "I've sent some photographs over." the laptop on the figure's desk came to life and showed pictures of some very interesting pokemon. They looked like a charmander, squirtle and a bulbasuar, but they all stood very upright and the limbs were elongated, making them look human. The pokemons' faces looked very human and from other photos it appeared they were much more atheletic then their normal counterparts. The shadowy figure was quiet.
"Have you tried to obtain one?"
"The trainer refuses to trade, Sir. She outright turned down my gyarados and blastiose for the squirtle look-a-like." the young man replied. Again, the figure paused.
"What's your name, Grunt?"
"S-Simon, Sir"
"Simon you are relieved of your previous superior, you work for me now."
"Thank you, Sir! I'm honored." Simon said, shocked "What would you have me do?"
"Keep your eye's on these pokemon, don't do anything... yet. Wait for my orders. Dismissed."
"Yes, Sir." the figure hang-up the phone and used both hands to stroke his beloved pet.
"Let us see what these creatures can do, my Sweet." The smug persian just purred louder to show it's agreement with its master.
