Previously -

Rayce - I want my old life back. I am going to turn on this machine, and become human again.

Amber - But what about me? Are you gonna leave me and your friends back at the Guild?

Rayce - This had been my life for around 18 to 22 years of my life. Sure the guild was 4 years, but what does that compare to my 18 or 22 years?

Chapter 12 - Humanity

I pull the lever and Grovyle presses the buttons on a control panel. The tubes that are wrapped around the machine start filling themselves with white smoke which glows green. The smoke enters the main chamber in the machine. Translucent liquid of a grey hue fills the chamber. Sparks fly around inside the chamber.

A mass of organic matter begins to form.

It starts as a massive clump of cells and tissues, according to the screen on the board. In the chamber, a clump of flesh and blood in a spherical shape forms.

The clump starts taking a shape. It's the human heart. Around it, a mass of blood vessels and nerves form and wrap themselves around the heart. The grey liquid turns to red, and the heart starts beating...

Grovyle sighs. He says, "Well, the first stage of your body formation is a success. The nervous system shall form now. We have to come back in around 25 minutes to check up on it, and to start the formation of the brain. You two should rest now. I'll start the making of my body in the smaller chamber. Since my body is much less complicated, it shall be made quicker. I'll come in a few minutes."

Sighing of relief, I leave the DNA Lab and go to the Living Quarters. Amber follows me. The Living Quarters is a floor beneath the lab. The floor consists of 5 rooms. They are the 2 bedrooms, the kitchen, the bathroom and the living room. I plop down on the bed and quickly fall asleep. Amber goes to the kitchen to get something to eat. I wake up after a few minutes.

Grovyle is sitting on the Pokemon bed across from me. I feel a bit awkward, as we are both pokemon and I instinctively chose the bed and he went to the Pokemon bed. As though, he heard my thoughts, he says, "That was your bed for years. You slept on it for years. You should not change your place of sleep now that your circumstances have changed. You are still a human and you still have a human soul."

Even though Grovyle said those words in sincerity, the atmosphere still persisted to be awkward. Feeling weird, I left the bedroom for the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Amber fiddles with the various utensils on the counter. He sighs in frustration, and then he notices me. He says, "What in the world are these things? Where's the berries?"

I say, "Wait for a few minutes. I'll make you something." Even though I don't have memories from my old life, I instinctively know how to use the kitchen and how to make food. I take out a glass bowl. I add plain yogurt to it from the refrigerator and mix it with semolina. I add salt and some pieces of cut up mushroom, tomatoes, corn and cheese. I take out a pan and put a few drops of oil on it. I place the batter on it as thinly as I could. When it comes off easily, I flip it over. After both sides have become light brown, I take it out and put it on a plate. I drizzle it with few drops of lemon juice and give it to Amber.

He smells it cautiously and then quickly eats it up. He asks me, "What did you do? What is this thing? Why is this so tasty?"

I reply, "I know that there isn't cooking done back at Treasure Town. Things are eaten raw, so I decided to cook something for you. I don't know how I did it. The recipe just came to me. I don't even remember what it is called. I haven't made it out of any berries, but out of normal vegetables and milk."

Amber says, "Vegetables... What are those?"

"It's a thing to eat, like fruits and berries. We have all 3 of them on this Earth. Humans can eat all of them, but prefer fruits and vegetables. Berries are classified as a type of a fruit.", I say.

"Wow. This world has so much more to offer than my world. It's not fair. Technology exists here that no one like me can even understand. That is why our myths called the humans the superior race. We can never hope to compete with your species. Humans have variety, in looks, ideas, feelings and personalities. Our Pokemon have none of that. The pokemon here are better too. Look at Grovyle. He is more intelligent than everyone at Treasure Town." says Amber.

"Hey, don't be like that! It's just some food. Sure, the world here is different, but it just happened. Some people had ideas. Anyone can have them.", I reply.

"No. It's not that. You have been in my world for 4 years while this one has been waiting for you. It is so much more complicated than my world. Here, humans have a family, a childhood and a life. Pokemon, once born are left by their parents to survive or die. Of course you want to come back here.", cries out Amber with eyes of tears.

I try to console him. I say, "Hey, the superiority of worlds does not matter to me. I only want to return to here because of my family and my old life."

"So? You are still leaving my world. I'll be alone once again. You know, you were my first real friend.", he says.

"Hey. You won't be alone. You'll have the entire guild and the team recruits. Plus, Dialga is also on good terms with you.", I say.

He replies, "I guess. But you are my best friend. The only one who I trust enough to share my secrets with. I'll try to be more mature and open about the whole thing."

The clock strikes 7 PM and Grovyle comes in. He gestures us to follow him and we let him lead us to the DNA Lab once again. The chamber is now filled with a huge bundle of nerves and blood vessels that surround a beating heart. My heart. I take a deep breathe. Grovyle starts typing on the control panel's keyboard. He then looks towards me and says, "Hey, I need some of your blood to infuse the memories of after we left for the other world."

He takes out a 10 ml syringe from the drawer to his right and opens its cap. He breaks open a vial and sucks its liquid up to the 5 ml mark. He also takes out a swab and dabs it on my neck. It feels cold. My perception of souls was much different than imagined. It wasn't much more than being invisible and being able to walk through walls. I still had a "body" and "blood" and my "organs". I close my eyes. I feel a small pain in the back of my neck and it stays there for a minute. I realize that the syringe is out of me when the pain dulls down.

I ask Grovyle, "Why didn't you take my blood from my arms? It would've hurt less."

Grovyle replies, "Because the neck is much closer to your brain than your hand. Your blood in the neck has touched your brain and can be an indirect sample of it. I might be able to duplicate either a brain cell or a spinal cell from it, if the liquid in the syringe works properly."

Grovyle shakes the syringe for a few seconds and then puts a few drops of the mixture of blood and chemical on a touch pad on the control panel. The pad soaks up the mixture and beeps. A mass of organic matter starts to form in the top corner of the chamber. I ask Grovyle, "Will that brain have my old, human memories in it?"

Grovyle quietly replies, "Yes. It is made of your old human DNA and memories from your pokemon DNA are being added to it as well."

Grovyle then presses a few more buttons on the control panel. A head gear with a metal pipe connected to the control panel comes out. Grovyle says, "This'll transfer your consciousness to your new brain. We need to do it before the brain finishes completion. You will then gain bodily control once it finishes construction. Wear this."

As I put the helmet on, Amber asks me, "Are you sure that you want to do this? Once you do, you won't be accepted by the people of Treasure Town any more. You won't be allowed to come back. Humans are not allowed there."

"I am sure.", I say. "I want my old life back." I put on the helmet and Grovyle presses a button. Instsntly, everything falls to black. I feel nothing, except for a state of calm. It feels like I was in that state for hours. I had no thoughts, no desire, nothing, except for happiness.

Then, I heard a voice calling out to me. A flash of white light. My eyes opened. I looked at the clock. 11:28 PM. I was inside the chamber, in the liquid. A panic came over me. Then the glass opened and I fell out. Grovyle caught me with his hands, using his body. I looked at the smaller chamber. It was empty. An unbearable headache came over and I blacked out.

Now that Rayce is out of the chamber, what will happen next. Find out next time in the upcoming chapter.