Chapter 2

Fallout

Dana's POV

Dinner was exquisite, however as I ate the roasted unfezant I was anything but at ease. Who was after me, and why was the artifact so important to them? If the MRPA considered them a tier 2 threat then they were definitely not simple thieves.

I was snapped from my thoughts when I heard a sound. It sounded like an explosion. I stood up, time for everyone to leave. Before I could announce that the night was over, a purple haze appeared from the vents. It moved like it was alive, a malevolent specter of sorts. The serpentine trails of gas began to swirl around the guests. One came towards me. I covered my mouth and nose, only for the gas to stop mere inches from my face. It flew around me, like an Arbok preparing to constrict its prey. Then the plume made what sounded like a growl and dissolved

"What the hell is this stuff?!" I yelled.

I looked at the guests and my jaw dropped. A few guests were shrinking while others were growing, some developing fur and claws while the growing ones were gaining even stranger traits. One man fell on all fours as his hands turned into blue flippers. His neck extended as a single horn grew on his head. A shell adorned his back as he finished transforming into a lapras.

I looked around the room, all of my party guests had been turned into pokemon, except for one. One of the butler's skin had turned grey, he was frozen in place like a statue. His skin was cracking, then he fell apart like he was made of rocks. Nothing remained of the man except a pile of ashes.

I nearly threw up, after my time at the MRPA I detested violence and that was far too much. The group descended into madness as guests shouted in pokespeech and accidentally used powers they had not control over. A Cyndaquil squirmed out of his clothes and sneezed out a small ember of fire, only for the lapras to put it out with a water gun.

I heard a cracking sound, then a bang. I turned around to see that Jake had kicked down the door. He looked around, his eyes going wide as dinner plates as his mouth went agape.

"What the..." he began to say before I cut him off.

"Jake, call in a decontamination team, secure the perimeter, no one leaves this mansion or we could have a full blown outbreak!" I yelled.

He nodded quickly and pulled out a radio. "Agent 48 to MRPA command i need a decontamination team and a secure perimeter ASAP, get Ivan here as well, tell him to get DNA testing ready." he ordered.

I looked around as the chaos continued, we needed to try to calm the guests down. "Everyone, please calm down!" I requested.

No one acknowledged me, Jake stood up on the table and yelled "QUIET!"

The mob of transformed guests went silent, all looking at Jake. He pulled out his badge and said "I'm agent 48 of the MRPA, we need you to stay calm and stay quiet, help is on the way but if you don't keep yourselves together we'll have to resort to tranquilizers, understand? UNDERSTAND?!" He repeated.

The guests nodded slowly.

"Why are we immune?" I asked Jake mentally.

"Because we're shifters?" he guessed.

I heard sirens in the distance, all I could manage to say was "What a mess".

As the last Pokémon was loaded into the truck Jake shook his head.

"What?" I asked.

"This doesn't make any sense..." he muttered.

"I know, what the hell was that gas?" I said, slightly discouraged.

"No, not the gas, well that doesn't make sense either but what I'm trying to say is that whoever planned this doesn't seem to have a plan." he explained.

I raised an eyebrow and said "What do you mean? They transformed all those people to cover up stealing the artifact."

"I highly doubt that was the goal, why not just slip out the staff door and avoid a public incident if that was the plan?" he offered.

I said nothing.

"These people have a plan and resources, they wouldn't be able to stay off the radar as long as they have if they didn't, but even if their goal was to kidnap someone for ransom or experiments they wouldn't have sent one guy." he continued.

Just then a newscaster holding a microphone ran up to the barricade with a cameraman. Jake immediately hid his face.

"Miss Lance, Do you know what happened tonight?" the woman asked.

"Tell them there's been a terrorist attack, unrelated to Cipher with no fatalities and that's all you know, I can't show my face, I'm a level one agent." Jake telepathically instructed.

I simply repeated Jake instructed message.

"Why is the MRPA here if Cipher isn't involved?" the woman pressed.

"I don't know, no further questions." I said before walking back from the barrier.

This was going to be a long night.

5 days later

3rd person POV

"Move your left paw, please" The scientist requested.

The Cinccino nodded and moved its paw as much as it could.

"Good, you're motor function is getting a lot better" He complimented.

The Cinccino was then carefully lifted up by an aid and carried out of the room.

The scientist sighed and went to his computer. He pushed up his glasses and rubbed his eyes as the computer booted up. His normally cleanly kept brown hair was messy, likely thanks to the long hours he has been pulling for the last week. He immediately checked his Email, a new file had arrived from the DNA lab.

"Good news Ivan?" Jake asked from behind him.

Ivan jumped, he turned around and said "Don't sneak up on me, but yes"

With a few pecks on the keyboard a image of blood cells appeared on the screen. One looked slightly different from the other.

Jake looked at the image perplexed.

"This is incredible, cellular self alteration!" Ivan exclaimed.

"English, please." Jake requested, he was exhausted as well.

"This sample from three days ago had only the slightest trace amounts of human DNA. The sample from yesterday however has slightly more human DNA." he explained again.

"Meaning…?" Jake said impatiently.

"When a shifters changes their form their cells still have human DNA in it. While the victims at the mansion originally had almost none they are gaining more human cells. Eventually they'll be like normal shifter and have the ability to switch back and forth between human and Pokémon." Ivan explained a third time.

That got Jake's attention, he put a hand on Ivan's right shoulder and asked "How long?"

Ivan shook his head "No idea. If this is as fast as it gets it will be months before any of them have a chance of being able to change back." He confessed.

Jake took a deep sigh but managed a small smile. "That's way better than telling them they're never gonna be human again." he admitted.

"I just hope that's not the only good thing we've learned." he thought as Ivan showed him over to a bulletproof glass case.

Jake pointed to the case containing the artifact and said "Any progress on that thing?"

Ivan looked at Jake as if to say 'really?'

"The metallic parts don't match any metal on the periodic table, neither does that black gem in the center. It's also giving off trace amounts of shadow energy, but Arceus help us if we can get it open to learn anything, every tool I've thrown at it just breaks!" Ivan said, clearly frustrated.

"Keep at it" Jake ordered as he left the room.

Things were looking up, if only slightly…

Chapter Proofread And Edited By FXCF