Alex rubbed his eyes tiredly for a brief moment before rapidly finishing what he was typing into a computer. Alex studied the computer screen closely with narrowed eyes, double checking for any mistakes. Satisfied that what he typed in was mistake free, he glanced backwards towards another person that was standing behind him, focused on another task at hand. "Okay, so are we looking at plant or animal cells?" he asked.

The tall man with his long hair neatly bundled in a ponytail that Alex was with was peering into a microscope, giving the tool small adjustments to help him see better. The pulled back the smallest amounts as if he was confused by what he was seeing, then squinted his eyes, looking at it even closer. "I... can't actually tell," he muttered.

Alex swiveled in his chair, facing the man with confusion. "You can't tell? What, is the microscope lens not focusing enough or something?"

The man peered into the microscope for several seconds more, staying silent all the while, he turned away from the microscope, facing Alex more directly with a look of puzzlement. "No, it's not that. I can see the cells clearly. It just doesn't look like your traditional plant or animal cell. It almost looks like it's a hybrid."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Well. That's certainly not what I would've guessed."

"Me neither," the man muttered, giving a thoughtful stare downwards as he pondered the odd discovery.

It had been over a month since Alex received the phone call letting him know he got the job. Since then, Alex had his share of ups and downs. The job paid well, and the hours were very reasonable. But it was not the sort of job Alex had ever had before. He found the first couple weeks to be very difficult and stressful, even if he wasn't the one doing the bulk of the work. His first day outside of training alone was a disaster. Alex made multiple mistakes, such as repeatedly entering in the wrong information, continuously went to different locations than he was supposed to, and even misplaced his lab ID, locking him out of the main study lab for over an hour, which no one seemed to realize until someone else had come along and just happened to be entering the lab at the time. To say that first day was overwhelming for Alex would be a pretty large understatement, but since then, he slowly started getting better and more comfortable with his job, with the patient guidance of his superiors.

The job itself was roughly what Alex was expecting, that being mostly taking notes of the tests and results of various pokemon-related studies, as well as the occasional lab assistance regarding biohazard material. The things they were studying, however, were a little less glamorous than what Alex was hoping for. It may have been something that sounded better in Alex's mind than it actually was, but Alex found the studying of pokemon skin tissue and the composition of their blood just to be a tad mundane. Still, it sometimes produced very interesting results, much like what they were studying in that moment: the skin tissue graciously donated by a petilil that attended the university as a student.

"So what should I put in the system?" Alex asked

The man brought a finger up to his thinly bearded chin, still deep into thought, until he shook his head in disappointment and leaned against the table behind him. "Just mark the entire thing down as inconclusive for now. I have an idea on how it's structured and how it functions, but it's going to take more time to test than we have for the remainder of the day."

Alex frowned, but did as was suggested to him and swiveled his chair back around to face the computer, once again typing with purpose. "Well that's frustrating," he murmured as he typed.

"Well I suppose frustrating in that we don't have time to look into this ourselves, but I think it having a unique cellular structure is a pretty damn neat find in and of itself. But yes, I agree, it's frustrating that we're not gonna be the ones looking into it further," the man responded, sounding equally disappointed and intrigued.

Alex heard light sounds of metal moving, accompanied with footsteps, letting Alex know that his coworker was likely putting the equipment away for the day. After a few more seconds of typing, Alex felt the man's presence behind him, looking over his shoulder at the data Alex was entering. "Looks good. Go ahead and save that and start shutting down for the day."

"Already?" Alex asked in a somewhat surprised manner, "We still have a little time left for something else, don't we?"

The man stepped away from Alex and began typing on a separate computer. "I mean, we could open up one or two more studies, but given how much testing the lab boys have to do tonight, I figure we should take it easy for the time being."

Alex thought it over briefly and gave an acknowledge nod. "Fair enough, I suppose." Alex finished typing out the results of their preliminary study, clicked 'save,' and wheeled backwards in his chair a couple feet. "Alright, all good. Now hopefully we can-"

Alex was interrupted by an excited voice echoing in the halls, prompting him to look towards the laboratory exit with a curious gaze, with his coworker's attention being drawn there shortly after. The owner of the voice promptly walked in. "Cory! Alex! Didja find the meaning of existence yet?" a young girl who couldn't be more than a couple years older than Alex enthusiastically asked.

Alex's coworker gave a weary grin and shook his head. "Hello, Avery. What's got you so excited this time?" he asked, completely ignoring her question.

The well built auburn haired girl bounced excitedly and leaned in a little too close to Cory. "We found out what water is!"

Alex and his coworker stared blankly at the excitable girl. Alex slowly stood up from his chair and put his hands inside his lab coat pockets. "You mean H2O? That kind of water?" he asked in a deadpan tone.

Avery gave Alex a playful pout. "No, silly! I'm talking about pokemon water!"

That got a couple of surprised looks from Alex and Cory. Cory took a step back, giving himself a healthy distance away from Avery as he posed his own question. "Wait, you're saying you found out what the chemical composition of it is?"

The girl nodded and calmed down slightly as she began explaining her discoveries. "It's really cool. The molecules are structured similar to a hydrocarbon, but what's different about pokemon water is that there's primarily oxygen instead of carbon or hydrogen! And as a result, you get this liquid that is slightly more oily than normal drinking water, is super good at conducting energy, and it's completely non toxic. And from what I found, all water pokemon use that same liquid."

"So what, you can drink it just like normal water?" Alex asked without much thought, earning a good natured smile from Cory, and a patient headshake from Avery.

"I mean, you could, but it wouldn't help you any. That stuff is a fair bit more dense than normal drinking water. It's not gonna hydrate you like normal H2O does. It's not gonna hurt you though. It's like swallowing a marble. Obviously you don't wanna do that, but if you do, well no harm no foul. It'll just pass through your body in a day or so."

Alex gave an understanding nod. "Ah, gotcha." He turned back towards the computer to start shutting it down for the day while Cory and Lynn carried on their conversation. 'Hmm, well there goes the infinite water cheat. Ah well, not a huge deal. Still, pretty neat they found that out so fast. I wonder what they're going to find for the different elements.'

"...by the way, did anyone from the University of Wyoming ever get back on the albinism issue?" Cory asked in a hopeful tone, prompting Alex to look over out of curiosity.

Avery shook her head and frowned. "No. I think we're still waiting on them to get back to us. It's so weird, though. None of us can tell what's causing it, and it doesn't seem to have any correlation with what their human health is either."

Alex narrowed his eyes, curiosity getting the better of him, and he stood up once again, facing the two researchers. "Sorry, you said something about albinism? When it comes to pokemon?"

Cory shared another look with Avery before facing Alex again with an analytical expression "Yes, so within the past few weeks, we've been getting reports of pokemon that appear differently than what their species would normally be. Most pokemon that we've seen with an appearance shift seem to have much more pale skin or fur, but in more extreme cases, their coloration doesn't even remotely resemble what they would normally look like. It's almost as if the melanin or whatever equivalent in their body is completely missing, giving way to what their skin or fur actually looks like underneath. It seems to be a pretty rare condition- though compared to human albinism it's alarmingly common- and we haven't been able to pinpoint any differences from a normal pokemon to one with their appearance altered. No differences in overall health, muscle build, motor function, mental capacity, nothing. Perhaps you'd be able to shed some light on the subject?"

Alex felt a switch get flipped in the back of his mind and he raised an eyebrow, deciding to follow a sneaking suspicion he had. "You said that it was a rare condition, right? How rare are we talking?" he questioned.

Cory closed his eyes and pinched his forehead, trying to recall all information on the topic. "Uumm let's see... I think if I remember correctly, it happens in roughly one in ten thousand pokemon. It's difficult to say because most pokemon that were interviewed didn't even realize they had this condition in the first place, so it's very likely to be more common than that, if only by a slight amount."

Alex paused for a moment, then dropped his head down, facing the ground and shaking his head in amused exasperation. "Unbelievable. They found shiny pokemon," he chuckled to himself, prompting his two coworkers to face him in confusion.

"What did you say?" "You recognize the condition?" the two researchers asked.

Alex looked up again and pulled his phone out of his pocket, quickly unlocking it and tapping on his pokemon app. He switched a few settings and showed it to his coworkers. "These look familiar to you guys?"

Cory's eyes lit up instantly and snatched the phone out of a startled Alex's hand.

Alex simply left his suddenly empty hand hanging in the air for several moments, staring blankly at Cory, who was hurridly flipping Alex's pokemon app while Avery watched with amusement. "...Yes, Cory, you can borrow it. How kind of you to ask," he shot in a snarky tone, dropping arm to his side again.

Cory simply continued scrolling through Alex's phone, completely unabashed. After getting to a particular entry, his eyes widened and he stopped scrolling instantly. "Oh wow. Avery, look. This one's in here too," he muttered, flashing Alex's phone in Avery's direction.

Avery leaned forwards to get a closer look and her eyes grew to the same size as Cory's. "Wait, huh? He's an albino- but it's so... pink!"

Alex reached forward and plucked his phone out of Cory's grip without giving him a chance to react. "That's because it's not albinism," Alex corrected rather pointedly, briefly glancing at what pokemon they were looking at. It happened to be a murkrow. "That off coloration is what's known in the pokemon community as a shiny pokemon. And I can't say for certain that it's the same way in real life, but in the games, there are no differences whatsoever between a shiny pokemon and a normal pokemon. All of those physical and mental aspects you listed that could potentially be affected? No change at all. It's literally just a color palette swap."

Cory seemed to have difficulty wrapping his head around the concept. "Then why are they even a thing?"

Alex shrugged. "Well it's a rare collectable. I dunno how much you know about pokemon, but it's a creature collection franchise. So naturally, they're gonna need rare collectables too," Alex paused and noted the unsatisfied expression Cory was fixing at him, and noted his impending objection, but Alex cut him off before he could get a word in, "I know, I know, real life is different. I'm just saying that's what they are in the games, so I'd be willing to bet something similar takes place in real life. If I were to hazard a guess as to why there are shiny pokemon in real life too, I'd say it's because it's a series of recessive traits in each pokemon's genes that just so happen to line up at the same time. Sort of like having red hair or freckles. But a lot more rare, obviously." Alex saw that Cory's and Avery's expressions both became thoughtful as Alex explained the shiny phenomenon. "I'd also be willing to bet that pokemon being shiny happens in one in eight thousand one hundred ninety two times, since that's how often it happens in the games... well most of them, anyway."

Cory raised a curious eyebrow at Alex. "Why so specific?"

Alex gave another shrug. "Probably because it's a power of two. Which computers are good with."

Cory's eyes narrowed as his expression shifted into a frown, but after a couple seconds of trying to think of something to say, he just shook his head and dismissed his own line of thinking. "Hmm, well alright, then. In any case, we probably want to look into that a bit more," Cory paused and faced Avery again, "See if you can have someone contact anyone from Wyoming again with the shiny pokemon theory. If Alex is right, they'll probably know exactly what to look for on the subject. We might have to consult the pokemon websites for more information in the meantime."

As Avery nodded in response to Cory and quickly made her way out of the lab with lots of energy in her step, Alex fixed a confused frown of his own onto Cory. "Wait, have you guys not already been doing that...?" he trailed off with uncertainty in his tone.

Cory waved his hand in a 'kinda sorta' motion. "A little bit, but we mainly try and stay away from that, mostly cuz it's not gonna give us the biology related answers we need. For what it's worth though, I did try and look up the shiny phenomenon, but I didn't find anything remotely helpful."

Alex was baffled even more upon first hearing Cory's explanation. "You found nothing? It's literally one of the biggest-" Alex paused. It occurred to him that there may in fact be a reason Cory didn't find any information on shiny pokemon. "Oohh wait, you probably didn't look up shiny pokemon by name, did you? Probably something like 'albino pokemon,' or 'off-color pokemon'."

Cory nodded and leaned against one of the lab tables again. "That's about right, yea. I guess I'd end up getting a lot more results with the term 'shiny,' huh?"

Alex nodded. "Oh yea you would. Still though," Alex continued, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at his coworker, "I can't believe you didn't learn of shiny pokemon being a thing considering all any of you had to do was scroll down on any one pokemon's bulbapedia page," Alex finished rather pointedly.

Cory gave Alex a patient smile. "Again, we try and stay away from those websites. Most of the information there is going to be rather useless for our purposes, especially since an alarmingly large percentage of the pokedex entries seem to be outright myths. That's why we have people like you, though. To filter out all of the irrelevant information, and give the relevant stuff when it matters. Like just now with shiny pokemon. Mind you, I'm pretty sure some people here already knew of shiny pokemon existence, but things may have gotten lost in translation when we mentioned 'albinism,' so nothing came of it."

Alex's expression once again became confused. "Were they not helping you with it? I thought everyone collaborated with each other on everything. Is that not the case?"

Cory threw his head back tiredly at the mere idea of Alex's question. "Oh God no. That many people researching everything at once? That'd be a logistical nightmare for multiple reasons. The vast majority of the time, we all split off and research separate things, sometimes collaborating past a simple question, but for the most part handling things in separate groups. Though given that you've been working almost exclusively with me, Avery, and Kennith, you've probably figured that out by now," Cory explained, flashing a playful smirk at Alex as he spoke his last sentence.

Alex frowned. "Hey, I'm still getting used to the job, okay? It's not remotely similar to anything I've done before," he huffed, looking away from his coworker.

Cory chuckled and reached forward to give Alex a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I'm well aware. And trust me, you're doing great so far. I'm just yanking your chain."

Alex didn't respond outside of a barely audible grumble, but couldn't hide a small smile from his face at the sudden praise for his hard work.

Cory looked away from Alex and scanned the lab room they were in. "Hmm... but yea, I think that's about it for the day, actually. You can go ahead and go."

Alex faced his coworker again. "You sure? You don't need help with clean up?"

Cory waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "Nah, there's not much to clean up this time. It's basically just me putting some stuff away, sending this tissue sample to the lab, and that's it. I can handle it. Go ahead and clock out and I'll see you next Monday. Unless you're going to the Oklahoma State game this Saturday?"

Alex made his way over to a separate computer by the laboratory door and typed something in, then clicked on two tabs before standing back up. "Nah probably not. I've been planning to catch the Red River game in Dallas this year, so I'm holding off on going to other games for that trip."

Cory was busy putting away more equipment when Alex responded. With a quick huff, he finished cleaning up the area he was in and faced Alex again. "You sure? That loss against La Tech tanked the value on some of the tickets pretty hard. I'm pretty sure you can get in the gate for just twenty bucks if you find the right seller."

Alex rolled his eyes and frowned. "Yea, don't remind me," he grumbled bitterly to himself. "I dunno, I'll think about it," he responded tiredly.

Cory just gave Alex a friendly smile. "Alright, well whatever you decide to do, hope you have a good weekend."

Alex nodded and returned his smile with a small one of his own before turning towards the door. "Thanks, man. You too."

Alex opened the door to his apartment and trudged through the door, letting off a tired exhale.

"Hey, hun. Work go okay?"

Alex sharply turned towards the dining area, not expecting to hear a voice from anyone. Isaac and Eli were both there playing a card game of some sort. Alex blinked and slowly shut the door, eyeing both of them curiously. "Hey. Uh... I thought you had work today too?"

Isaac shook his head and lightly chuckled. "Nope, they messed with my schedule again. My 'weekend' is now Thursday Friday Saturday."

Eli waved a hand towards Alex, still holding onto a few cards. "Also, I'm here. Didn't have much to do today, so Isaac invited me over."

Alex paused for another moment before shrugging it off. "Well alright, then." He quickly made his way to his room to change into casual wear before returning to the living room and flopping unceremoniously on the couch.

Alex then glanced over to see Isaac with a suspicious look on his face. Alex raised an eyebrow, eyeing the pair curiously, wondering what's eliciting that type of reaction from his roommate. All of the sudden, Isaac swiftly swatted at the air behind him and seemed to contact something solid in thin air. At the same time, Eli, sitting across the table from Isaac, had his entire body shimmer and fade in some spots. Almost instantly, Isaac dropped the cards in his hand and turned towards the area that he just swatted at, now flailing both arms towards that same area as if to shoo something away. "So that's how you suddenly started winning a bunch! You little brat!" Isaac complained. Eli's body then completely disappeared with a flash of purple, while another flash of purple appeared in the middle of the floor and shot towards the armrest of the loveseat. The purple glow faded and in its place stood a very smug zorua, giggling like a maniac. Isaac huffed at the troublemaking fox pokemon. "Aleeex! Your friend is cheating at cards again!"

Alex snickered and smirked at his roommate. "Hey, I'm not the one who invited him over this time. You dug your own grave."

Isaac just gave both Alex and Eli a stare of disapproval. "Hate you. Hate you both. Targeted by a troublemaker and betrayed by my roommate. I'm being ganged up on. The lone non pokemon in this apartment. Woe is me."

Alex rolled his eyes in a very exaggerated fashion, still grinning in amusement. "Oh give me a break, fricken drama queen. You're nowhere close to the only target of his antics. You should see what he gets up to whenever I'm at his place."

Eli just snickered in response.

Isaac let out a huff and began picking up the cards that had fallen onto the ground.

"Besides," Eli chimed in, "ganged up on? I know you don't mean from Alex too. He hardly ever hangs out in his mew form, let alone pulls pranks with it."

Isaac glanced up at Alex as he finished picking up the rest of the cards. "Actually, now that you mention it," Isaac paused, stood up, placed the cards on the table again, and faced Alex more directly as he finished his thought, "why don't you ever just... I dunno, relax as a pokemon, Alex? You know we're both more than okay with it, right?"

Alex gave a noncommital shrug, feeling slightly uncomfortable being put on the spot all of the sudden. "I dunno, I guess I just don't see a reason to. Especially cuz any period of time that I'm a mew means a non-zero chance I get found out by some random passerby."

Isaac didn't respond beyond looking towards the closed blinds and shut curtains, still letting enough daylight through to illuminate the living room, then back at Alex with a raised eyebrow and head tilted forward.

Alex grunted and looked away from his roommate. "Look, I'm just not comfortable with it right now, okay?" he grumbled rather aggressively.

Isaac lifted his hands slightly in a placating manner. "Okay, okay. That's all you had to say, hun. If you're not comfortable with it, that's good enough for me."

Alex exhaled through his nose and stared blankly at the currently turned off television.

Eli hopped off of the loveseat armrest and onto the couch next to Alex. "You could always turn invisible. Just saying," he offered.

Alex's gaze drifted downward as he considered Eli's suggestion. "Mm, maybe. I'll think about it. Not right now, though."

Eli nodded his head to the side. "Well alright. Just a suggestion. Whatever you're good with is A-okay."

Alex smiled lightly at his friend's wording.

Isaac made his way towards the living room and sat down in the loveseat. "By the way, have you two thought about sparring with one another?"

Alex and Eli both faced Isaac with Alex being the one to respond. "What, you mean like a toned down battle?"

Isaac nodded. "Yea, exactly that. Alex, you'd probably have to take it easy a bit to avoid hurting Eli, but it'd be a good way to simulate a real battle experience. Just in case you two need it."

Eli switched his gaze to Alex to gauge his thoughts on the subject. Alex, meanwhile, pursed his lips and glanced off to the side. "Mm, well, I have thought about it, and while that does sound like a pretty good idea, the problem is I'd have to be invisible to do so. Cuz I am not going out in public as a mew in plain view. No matter how good the hiding spot is. And if I'm invisible, well uh, kinda goes without saying that that'd be pretty unfair to Eli. Even if it wasn't and he could use his illusions too, it'd be a pretty uneventful battle. No one would get anywhere fast."

Isaac shrugged, obviously not seeing the problem. "So just transform into a different pokemon, then. You may not be fighting in your mew form, but any battle experience is useful, right?"

Eli grimaced and glanced back at Alex again, knowing exactly what the problem was.

Alex bit his upper lip and let out an elongated sigh of frustration. "I can't," he muttered, unhappily.

Isaac leaned in closer. "What was that?"

Alex leaned back and hit the back of his head against the couch cushion. "I said I can't. I can't use Transform. I've tried it several times in the past and made zero headway. It's not like I can feel the beginnings of it and I'm just having difficulty... I dunno, finding the exact direction or method to go for like I have with invisibility, teleportation, and all my other moves. No, I just straight up haven't even found a starting point," he ranted in a disgruntled manner.

Isaac held his befuddled gaze through narrowed eyes with his mouth hung slightly open as Alex vented his frustrations. He looked off to the side and mouthed something Alex didn't catch, but made Eli glance at Alex again with a look of sympathy. Isaac then cleared his throat. "Ahem, sorry, that was kind of... well anyway," Isaac faced Alex directly again, "how long would you say you've been trying? Total practice time, I mean."

Alex hummed lightly as he mentally tried to piece together all the times he tried training Transform specifically. "Probably... I dunno, a dozen hours, all told? Maybe a few more?"

Isaac nodded lightly. "Okay... and when was the last time you tried using it?"

Alex weakly shrugged, not meeting Isaac's eyes. "I dunno. I guess it was when Eli first visited? ...wait no, sorry, it was right before the botched rescue in the abandoned warehouse."

Isaac raised an eyebrow at Alex again and tilted his head forward. "Alex, hun, that was almost two months ago. You don't think there's any chance something could've changed by now, given all the times you went off to train other skills?"

Alex let out a frustrated sigh. "I mean, I guess it could've? I just really have no idea where to start. Do you realize how frustrating not being able to do something that should be a staple to you is?" Alex crossed his arms and fixed a glower towards the window. "I feel like any amount of time I dedicate to it it just wasted."

Isaac fixed a stare of disapproval to his roommate, but then glanced off to the side, going into deep thought for a moment before softening his gaze and facing Alex again. "Look, I completely understand where you're coming from. I know just how frustrating it is to make zero headway into something. But it clearly means enough to you to the point that it's seriously bothering you that you're unable to do it. And if it's causing you that much anguish, I think it's worth at least putting some serious effort into it. At least every once in a while."

"Look at it this way," Eli chimed in, "if you were able to, you'd really enjoy being able to transform into other pokemon, right?"

Alex scoffed. "Well yes. Obviously," he begrudgingly acknowledged, still not facing either of his friends.

"Then it's like someone famous once said," Eli continued, "anything worth doing is worth doing badly."

Isaac pointed to Eli, still eyeing Alex. "See? The fox gets it."

Eli shot an indignant look in Isaac's direction. "'The fox?'"

Alex gave a weird look to Eli. "What famous person said that?"

Eli maintained a light offended glare at Isaac for a beat longer before deciding to shrug it off and face Alex again. "I dunno, I just remember seeing it online. It had quotes on it, so someone famous must've said it," Eli nonchalantly stated, looking far too proud of himself for citing a quote he had no context for.

Alex scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Okay- questionable platitude source notwithstanding," he chided, shooting a look at Eli, whose smirk only grew wider, "I feel like you guys are missing the main point of I don't know where to start," he reiterated, placing extra emphasis on each word of the ending part of his statement.

Isaac hummed thoughtfully and his gaze began shifting downwards as he drifted into deep though. "Maybe we need to look at it from another angle," he muttered.

Eli also appeared to be going into deep thought, losing his air of mischievousness to try and take the subject seriously. His eyes kept flitting between Alex and the ground like he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure if it was worth sharing. After a few moments of this, Eli decided to share his thoughts. "Uumm... maaaybe you have to see the pokemon first to transform into them?" Eli offered with an awkward smile.

Isaac did a double take at the seemingly odd suggestion and fixed a confused stare at Eli. "Why would that help?"

Eli tensed up a little bit and avoided eye contact with Isaac. "Well it's just uh... I dunno, some fan canon has it that dittos can't transform into anything they haven't seen, and I'm just wondering if, you know, something similar is going on with Alex cuz he uh... hasn't seen many pokemon in real life before."

Alex let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head. "It's not a bad idea, but unfortunately not the case. I tried transforming into that hatenna that healed my chest on my last transform attempt. Nothing doing."

Eli responded with a disappointed nod, looking away from both Alex and Isaac.

Isaac threw a hand up in the air before letting it drop on the armrest of his seat. "Then, I dunno, maybe you have to actually battle them to transform into them? How many pokemon have you battled anyway? Not very many, I'd wager."

Alex gave a noncommittal shrug. "I think just the one, really. Which, I mean, I suppose it's possible," Alex granted, though not with much confidence, "I don't think I've tried transforming into a kangaskhan yet. It really depends on what constitutes as a battle though," Alex continued before Isaac or Eli could say anything, "I mean yea, obviously that bout between me and that kangaskhan was a battle in every which way you look at it, but where is the line? My transforming into a hatenna failed, so it's not simply having a move used onto me."

Isaac pursed his lips and crossed his arms, eyes drifting down again as he further pondered the issue. "Yea, I guess a rule like that would still be a little too nonspecific," he muttered.

"Maybe the move used on you has to be an attack?" Eli asked with a hopeful smile.

Alex let out another frustrated grunt. "Okay, but similar problem. What constitutes as an attack? Cuz I used an incredibly weak confusion on a mudbray to lift- well..." Alex brought a finger to his chin, as he pondered the issue at hand, "I mean, I never did try using transform after that fiasco, so I suppose I could have the ability to transform into a mudbray. I just- I dunno, it just seems weird and too unlikely that if there's a prerequisite to transforming into any given pokemon that it would be using a move but only an attacking move, instead of something like... I dunno, simply seeing them like Eli mentioned, or maybe body contact of some sort, or..."

Alex gasped loudly and sat up straighter than he had that entire day.

Isaac and Eli both flinched, incredibly startled at Alex's sudden reaction. Isaac was the first to speak. "What? What is it, hun? Did you think of something?"

Alex's attention shot to Eli with eyes wide open. "Eli. That strange feeling I had that day. You don't think...?"

Eli narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what Alex was trying to tell him. Then it clicked in his mind, and his eyes lit up as much as Alex's. "Do it. Right now. Transform into me right now!" he exclaimed with growing excitement.

Alex swallowed nervously and faced Isaac, wordlessly seeking his approval.

Isaac gave Alex a nod of encouragement. "If you think you can do it, go for it, hun!"

Alex closed his eyes and took a breath, trying to calm himself. Alex opened his eyes again and realized just how worked up he was getting over the prospect of attempting transformation again after almost two months. 'Why am I so nervous about this?' he wondered to himself. After internally chastising himself for being so anxious for no apparent reason, Alex began taking multiple deep breaths, and managed to push his nerves down to a manageable level. As soon as he regained control of his emotions, he opened his eyes again, and then willed himself into his mew form. Isaac and Eli both watched with bated breath as Alex floated towards a relatively empty area of the room, and shut his eyes yet again, trying to concentrate and harness his powers in various different ways.

At first, nothing happened. Alex could feel his powers working in the background, but he kept on hitting wall after wall, unable to find the method to use it in the way he wanted. Alex began getting frustrated all over again. He clenched his teeth and let out a high pitched grunt of irritation.

"Alex."

Alex opened his eyes and flinched, not expecting to see Isaac standing so close to him. He looked way bigger than Alex was used to. Isaac knelt down to get to eye level with Alex and made an exaggerated breathing motion, using one of his hands to accentuate the motion. "Breathe... calm yourself, and just breathe. If it doesn't happen right away, don't force it. You haven't tried it in a while, so it may not happen right away even if you're able to. Okay?"

Alex took a few deep breaths, matching the speed of Isaac's motions. He could feel any tension and anger he had remaining melting away from his body. After a few of these, he gave his roommate a swift nod and, after Isaac stood back up and took a few steps backwards to give Alex room, closed his eyes again. 'Okay, so that first try didn't work. Is there a different way I can go about this?' In the midst of Alex trying to harness his energy, he realized he might have been missing out on one key aspect of using the move Transform. 'Wait, maybe if I try...' Alex attempted simply envisioning himself being a zorua, and almost instantly, he felt something inside of him change. Almost like the very energy that gave him his powers began to churn. Alex felt his heart leap in his chest. 'Holy shit, I think I just found the starting point. But- wait, how? I already tried that several times in the past! Huh... maybe that really is the prerequisite. Fuck me, and it was so simple and staring me smack dab in the face almost the entire time.' Despite Alex's frustrations, it was more than overshadowed by his excitement that he may have finally solved his greatest frustration about being a mew. Alex's body began trembling with excitement. But he didn't allow himself to stop. Not when he was so close. Alex once again envisioned himself as a zorua, feeling his inner energy begin to shift again, and decided to make an attempt to harness that energy while it was churning inside of him.

And then it happened. Almost instantaneously, Alex's body began glowing a silvery blue color, and began slowly growing in size until he matched Eli's. After just a few seconds, the silver blue glow on Alex's body faded, and in his place, a small, fluffy, and black fox pokemon dropped from mid-air and landed awkwardly on its side. "Ah! Fuck, okay, wasn't prepared for that," Alex muttered, awkwardly moving his body in various ways to try and right himself. After flailing around awkwardly and making the mistake of trying to stand on his hind legs, Alex finally righted himself, standing up on all fours. Alex looked upwards at Isaac, who was staring at Alex, mouth hanging open with expression of shock and wonder, and then Eli, who was giving Alex his biggest and toothiest grin possible.

Eli bounded off the couch and ran right up to the newly transformed zorua. "Oh my God! It worked!" he exclaimed excitedly, rapidly walking around Alex, eagerly inspecting the results of Alex's transformation, "Holy shit, you look like a carbon copy of me! This is so cool! You did it, man!"

Alex looked downwards to inspect his body. Even after knowing what he was going to see, Alex was still stunned to find that his body was charcoal black, incredibly fluffy, and possibly the biggest change of them all, he was now a quadrupedal vulpine instead of his usual bipedal feline form. Alex had successfully transformed into a zorua. "I did it," he muttered in shock, "Holy shit, I actually did it!"

Isaac's expression shifted into a grin as well, shock quickly giving way to excitement for his friend. "Nice going, hun. I knew you had it in you."

Alex let out a shaky breath through the clenched teeth of an ecstatic grin, still inspecting his new body solely out of pride that he was able to execute a technique that had frustrated him for so long. He turned his head to face Eli and Isaac, who were both holding a grin and a warm smile, respectively, and flashed them both a grateful smile of his own. "Thank you guys so much. I'm honestly not sure how long I would've gone without trying that again if you hadn't nudged me to do it."

Eli gave Alex a friendly shoulder bump to the side of his body. "Anytime, man. I'm really happy for ya."

Isaac's excited smile turned to one that was slightly more amused. "Hey Alex, just to let you know, I can't understand what you're saying."

Alex's smile faded for a moment before letting his head drop to the ground with an amused scoff. "Right, right, I forgot, pokemon speak." Alex chuckled and lifted his head again to face Eli. "Hey man, do you think you can translate what I just said? I can't talk with illusions yet."

Eli snickered and faced Isaac, still standing by Alex. "Alex said he was thankful for the support both of us were giving him."

Isaac nodded and gave a supportive smile to Alex. "I figured that was it. So I'm guessing you found out what the requirement was for Transform to work?"

Alex nodded in affirmation. "Yup. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I think I have to physically touch a pokemon in order to gain the ability to transform into them. It'd explain why I felt this weird bit of adrenaline shooting through me that day both of y'all found out about me being Mew. And it also explains why I haven't been able to transform in the past, even though I already tried the exact same method to use the move multiple times in the past already."

After Eli relayed the information to Isaac, Isaac let out a disbelieving scoff and shook his head, smirking at the absurd implications. "Unbelievable. Now that's taking 'Gotta Catch Em All to a whole new level," Isaac paused when his phone began vibrating erratically in his pocket, causing him to pull it out, "Who woulda thought that'd apply to real life?" he wondered, finishing his line of thinking.

Eli burst out laughing while Alex's reaction matched Isaac's almost completely. 'Wow, he's right. I now have a way to 'collect' all of the existing pokemon in real life, and all I'd have to do is get close to them for only a second. That's just insane.'

Eli bumped Alex again to get his attention and flashed a toothy smirk at him. "So? You thinking about going to get all the pokemon forms you can?"

Alex sheepishly smiled in return, still overwhelmed by the feeling of success and discovery. "I dunno. I might if the opportunity presents itself, but I think for now I'm just gonna focus on getting used to this body," Alex decided, looking down at his zorua form again, "It'd be a great way to go out and about as a pokemon and not arouse suspicion... well, more suspicion than normal."

Eli responded with a nod, then his eyes lit up with an excited glint. "Ooohhh I could be the one to train you, now!"

Alex felt a cold chill run up his body at Eli's suggestion, causing him to shudder. "Oh boy, I'm regretting this already," he muttered aloud with an exaggerated nervous smirk.

Eli giggled maniacally. "You are wise to fear me, young grasshopper. Come! We shall-"

"What the fuck?!" Isaac suddenly shouted, causing a startled pair of zoruas to instantly whip around and direct their attention to Isaac, who was standing up uncomfortably straight, looking at his phone, horrified at what he was seeing.

"What? What is it?!" Alex asked almost instantly. Alex felt his panic levels begin to rise, dreading what could've possibly elicited this sort of reaction from his roommate.

Isaac continued staring at his phone with his mouth agape in shock, tapping on it once more before answering. "It uh- there's a video of a pokemon attacking a group of innocent people in downtown Miami, killing three people and injuring multiple others!"

Alex and Eli's eyes shot wide open, pupils shrinking to pinprick sizes. "WHAT?!" they both yelled out simultaneously.

Isaac shook his head, mouth still agape as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "It... what the fuck... it really looks like they just came in from out of nowhere and started shooting off electric attacks indiscriminately!"

"Let me see!" Eli quickly hopped onto the loveseat armrest, with Alex slowly and awkwardly making his way to the chair as well, missing the first hop onto the cushion, but making the second. Isaac sat down so both zoruas could watch as he replayed the video.

It was a phone-captured video. The video was taken in a rather crowded part of downtown Miami, with multiple people moving up and down the sidewalk, and in and out of shops. The camera man had spotted a luxray charging in from the distance, and the closer it got, the more nervous the camera guy clearly was, having backed up a few steps the closer the electric lion got. Alex noted that the luxray looked enraged by something. Then Alex noticed the telltale signs of it charging up for an electric attack. Alex gasped loudly as the first bolt left its mane, hitting a man square in the chest, causing him to collapse in agony and the surrounding populace to scramble in all directions, the camera man included. Alex thought the video was over, but to his horror, it was not. The camera man ducked behind a nearby bush, but continued to film the scene before him. The luxray was yelling all sorts of obscenities as he fired off multiple bolts of electricity in several directions, even pausing his electric assault to use what Alex presumed was an Iron Tail attack. The luxray went after a woman who had tripped on the far side of the sidewalk he was on, and spun around, lashing out with his silver-glowing tail. The woman was fast enough to roll out of the way, causing the pokemon to strike only the side of the building, but it still tore through a large layer of brick and mortar. "You're not getting away from me, you little shit!" the luxray yelled, before turning around and pelting the fleeing woman's head with another bolt of lightning, causing her to scream and writhe in pain. The luxray remained in the area, firing off a few more lightning blasts before snarling angrily and charging down the remainder of the street. "Oh no you fucking don't! Get back here, jackass!" The camera man turned his camera, following the electric lion down the road as it caused multiple car accidents and panic-related casualties.

Finally, the video cut off, leaving both fox pokemon stunned and horrified at what they just witnessed. Eli was the first to speak. "What the absolute fuck was that?! How the hell is there already a luxray in the world?!"

Isaac locked his phone and deliberately dropped it onto the ground in favor of holding onto the back of his head with both palms of his hands. "There are just some horrible people out there, unfortunately. But for someone to be so blatant and deliberate about their destructive tendencies..."

Eli let out a fearful whine and curled up onto the couch armrest. "I really hope there weren't too many hurt... where did you find that video? And when did it happen?"

Isaac exhaled through his nose and stared out the window. "It was sent to me by a friend. Apparently it happened yesterday, and it's starting to go viral."

A jolt of fear went through Alex's body and he let out a nervous exhale. 'Oh no...'

Eli shook his head in disbelief. "I really hope they catch whoever did that soon... that's just awful."

"Me too," Alex muttered. But truthfully, what was depicted in the video wasn't even his biggest concern. 'That luxray without a doubt needs to be caught and sent to prison for life. There's no excuse at all to be that fucking destructive. But... oh holy shit, how is this going to affect the general public's perception of pokemon?' Alex swallowed nervously as he realized he didn't have a good answer. Even if the luxray was caught within the hour, the damage was still done. Alex was afraid that the public would have all the more reason to see pokemon as dangerous and not a productive part of society. The regirock incident alone caused a firestorm of negative media coverage. But this event was anything but an accident. Alex glanced over to Eli and shared a nervous look with him. No words were exchanged, but there didn't need to be any. In that one look, Alex realized Eli had the exact same fears. In a mere instant, any optimism Alex had in pokemon being accepted into society was now shot. Alex was afraid that there'd be worse retaliation coming for pokemon even existing than there ever had been.

((Last chapter for the 2021 year! Hope yall have a happy holidays and I'll see you next year! As always, please let me know what you think. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I'm always reading what you have to say, and I enjoy every bit of feedback.))