Chapter 2

The first day was, by far, the worst. The fact that Maple was still more like a Leafeon than a person didn't help anything. She had an intense curiosity about absolutely everything and she investigated absolutely everything as thoroughly as Mark would let her.

At first, Maple seemed content with rubbing her bare feet along the carpet. She bent down on all fours, again, and rubbed it lovingly. She had seen and felt carpet when she had been a Leafeon, but Mark decided that she was still getting used to her new body. The touch of her skin against something must've felt completely different. He sat down on the bed closest to the window and sat watching her, wondering what it was like.

When Maple grew bored with the carpet, about twenty minutes later, she moved to investigate the unoccupied bed. She pulled all of the sheets off it at once, and buried herself, letting out a surprised yip. After a few seconds, the pile of sheets began to move and a lump appeared in the center and began searching for the edges. A moment later, Maple emerged, shaking her head and sneezing the dust away.

Mark smiled as he watched her. So much of how she acted reminded him of a kitten. She was adorable to watch as she explored her new world.

Maple rubbed her hands and face against the sheets, once again taking in the sensation. She tried licking it, but it proved to be a bad idea. She grimaced and coughed a few times before tossing away the sheets in a small hissy fit.

She moved towards the bed itself, peering at the mattress. She poked at it a few times, but nothing more. Then she discovered the pillow. At first, she simply held it tight against her body, delighting in the wonderful softness of it, but then she saw a loose thread on it. She tugged on it gently at first then became mesmerized as it started to unravel.

"Hey," Mark didn't realize what was happening until Maple had a foot-long thread stretched out in front of her, "what the hell are you doing?" He darted over to her and snatched the pillow out of her hands before she could cause any more damage. The pillow was still intact, but a good portion of the trim around its edges was transformed into a single three-foot long piece of string.

Mark looked down at Maple and couldn't help but feel awful. Maple had a strange look in her big, brown eyes, a mixture of shock, fear and shame. She was on the verge of tears.

"No, no, no, no," Mark stammered, bending down to the floor, with Maple, "I'm sorry. It's just that this'll fall apart if you keep doing that. Then we won't have it to sleep on." This didn't help much. Maple didn't really understand why the fluffy thing was going to fall apart just by taking off the string.

"Look, I'm really sorry," Mark tried again, "but you're gonna just have to trust me a little on this. Can you do that?"

Maple nodded, wiping her eyes clear of the water that had started to form there. Everything felt so new. She had seen it all before, but being human made exploring so much more enjoyable. The problem was that Mark didn't want her to explore everything. She didn't know what to think.

"Okay," Mark sighed, "I'm gonna go get some food. Can you wait right here, until I get back?" Again, Maple nodded. It seemed to make Mark happier when she nodded.

Fifteen minutes later, Mark returned from the small kitchen of the Pokémon Center, with a few sandwiches in a paper bag, to find Maple exploring an electrical socket. She was completely entranced by the strange holes in the wall and had been poking at them with her fingers. As Mark was entering the room, she decided it was safe enough to try licking it.

"NO!" Mark yelled, tossing the food aside and rushing forward. He wrapped his arms around Maple's waist, and yanked her backwards. The girl in his arms started to thrash, panicked by the assault. Suddenly, her tail went rigid and Mark had a split second to realize what was happening.

He dropped Maple and dodged out of the way. Maple's tail sliced clean through the wooden desk chair, slicing a diagonal cut that split the back of the chair in half. A second later, the wood tumbled away, onto the floor.

"Holy..." Mark breathed, staring fixedly at the chair. Maple was on her feet, also staring at what she had done. Both of them stared at the chair for fourteen or fifteen seconds, before simultaneously turning their heads to look at each other. Maple's ears drooped and she sank back to the floor, ashamed of what she had done.

"Umm…yeah," Mark spoke slowly, still comprehending what had happened. It must have been her Leaf Blade. That meant that she still had all of her abilities from when she was a Leafeon, just as Kim had said. He hadn't realized it at the time, but if there was a tournament going to be held…

Mark shook his head. There would be plenty of time to worry about things like that later on. He had more immediate problems.

"Uhh…" Mark searched for the forgotten sandwich bag, "here. You and uhh…me, well, both of us, really, ought to eat something." He pulled out a ham sandwich for each of them and held Maple's out for her. Cautiously, she sniffed at it, afraid of what it could do.

"It's okay," Mark did his best to sound cheerful, "you're supposed to eat it." Maple's hands shot out and grasped the sandwich. Mark sat down on the edge of the bed and started to eat his sandwich, hoping that he could convince Maple to at least try it.

She sniffed at it a bit more and then finally nibbled on the bread a bit. She didn't seem to have much of a reaction one way or another. Taking the top layer of bread off, she examined the rest of the sandwich.

Recognizing the lettuce, she quickly gobbled it down, smiling at the taste. The slice of tomato took a bit more examination, but she ate that too, licking the sticky juices off of her fingers. However, the ham presented an issue, and she discarded it after sniffing at it and recoiling. She casually threw the ham behind her, paying no attention when it stuck to the wall, and she turned her attention back to the bread.

"A vegetarian, huh?" Mark couldn't help but laugh as the slice of ham slid down the wall. Maple looked up sharply, her ears perking up, when he started laughing. After a moment she started to giggle along with him, despite the fact that she had no idea what he was laughing at.

Sighing, Mark sat back and watched Maple nibble at the sandwich. He wondered about what was happening to her. Kim had said that she would be as human as Volt in just two more days. She had also mentioned that putting her back in her Pokéball would slow the process. That, and Maple's sudden display of power, suggested that Maple was, for all intents and purposes, still a Pokémon.

On the other hand, the way Volt had acted he had seemed more like a person than a Pokémon. He could talk coherently and he had even been reading when Mark first saw him.

There were still so many questions, and right then the only way to get answers would be to just wait and see what happened to Maple. If she didn't accidentally kill him first, that was.

Fortunately, the rest of the day passed in relative peace. Maple explored less and listened to Mark more readily. Instead, she stayed close to Mark, rubbing against his legs like a cat.

At first, Mark thought it was cute, but as it went on, it rapidly became more and more awkward. It had been fairly common for Maple to show affection this way when she was a Leafeon, but as a sixteen-year old girl, it felt completely different. At one point, he absent-mindedly stroked her hair, exactly as he would have the day before. The human hair that he stroked was soft and silky. It felt very soothing and pleasant against his hand…

He jerked back, as if stung, but Maple didn't seem to notice and continued rubbing her cheek against his leg. Mark sprang to his feet and went to the other side of the room, feeling awkward and somehow dirty. Maple stared after him, bewildered. She made a small, scared, cooing sound; as if afraid he would leave entirely.

Mark kept his distance, after that; strategically thinking of some excuse to move away whenever she came close to him. What was he supposed to do? He didn't know which was worse, Maple destroying things out of curiosity or seeking attention and coming so close that he could feel the warmth of her now human body.

The hours passed agonizingly slow. For their dinner, Mark tried giving Maple a full salad. She ignored the utensils he had given her, aside from examining which one was the sharpest. However, Mark had planned ahead. For once, the dull plastic utensils proved to be useful and Maple found it near impossible to cut anything. Which was fine by her, and she tossed them aside with about the same amount of care as she had shown the ham.

So, she took to eating the salad with her hands. She carefully examined each new vegetable or differently shaped leaf by sniffing, licking and finally eating it. She ate it piece by piece, delighting in the variety of new tastes.

When she was done, Mark handed her an open bottle of water, and immediately regretted doing so. Maple tried sticking her tongue through the small opening to lap up the water but found it impossible and also painful. Instead, she tried pouring some out and lapping at it as it fell. That worked, but Mark had a less than positive reaction at the amount of water that landed on the carpet.

"Okay, that was my fault," Mark admitted as he capped up the water. He had placed a towel on the puddle to soak it up and was trying to think of an alternative. He pulled a thermos out of his pack and unscrewed the lid. He decided that a cup had better odds. He poured the remainder of the bottle into the lid so that it was filled to the top and handed that to Maple.

Once again, Maple cautiously examined the new object by sniffing at it and poking it. She found the water inside, but holding the cup in her hands didn't feel right. She placed it on the ground and bent her head forward over the bowl. It would've worked if her long hair hadn't fallen down and into the water. Dismayed, she sat back and began to whine.

"Oh, come on," Mark teased, "It's not that hard. See?" He lifted the cup, in his hands, and held it for Maple to see. He wasn't quite sure why he did it, but he found himself bending forward to lap at the water with his own tongue. He could've taught Maple to drink like normal, but maybe that would have been too much right then.

Maple stared with intense interest. It made so much sense!

Mark handed back the cup and watched as Maple imitated what he had done. Delighted over her success, she started lapping up the water quicker and quicker. Mark was even amazed that she successfully figured out how to tilt the cup to bring the water closer.

Was she actually getting smarter? He hadn't really noticed any big changes, but as he thought about it, maybe she was. After all, she had stopped trying to scratch and lick herself and she used her hands more readily all the time. Those were definitely good signs. On the other hand, she still made Leafeon noises and seemed to prefer moving on all fours as opposed to two feet.

Still, Mark had noticed progress and he was clinging to the hope that it meant something. He supposed the day hadn't gone half as bad as it could have. Aside from a broken chair, a partially unraveled pillow and a wet spot on the carpet, there wasn't any damage done. He actually found himself wondering how bad the damage could have been if Maple could, say, shoot fire or call down lightning bolts.

He smiled to himself. He had gotten lucky with Maple.

Maple became a lot less active once the sun went down. Mark remembered that Leafeon were active almost exclusively during the daylight, so that must've affected her.

She picked a spot to herself between the two beds and laid down, testing different positions for comfort. At one point, she started chasing her tail, which abruptly ended when she smacked her head against the bed. Rubbing the spot in pain, Maple started to whimper, fighting back tears.

"Oww…" Mark winced in sympathy, "that sounded like it hurt. Let me see." He bent down on the floor next to Maple and examined the spot where she bumped her head.

"It's okay, don't cry," Mark gently wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes with a tissue he grabbed off of the nightstand, "it might be black and blue, but that's all. You're fine." After hearing the diagnosis, Maple brightened up immediately and tackled Mark with a hug. He almost didn't catch himself in time to keep from hitting his own head against the night stand.

Once more aware of how much like a girl Maple had become, Mark permitted her to nuzzle against him for only a few more seconds before the strangeness of the moment made him withdraw.

"Here," Mark hastily motioned, "the bed's a lot safer. No accidents on the bed." He patted it for emphasis and Maple's confused look vanished as she sprang up on top of it. She paced back and forth on it a few times before selecting a spot to lie on, resuming what she had begun on the floor. Mark sat on the bed across from her and watched.

After another twenty minutes of trying various positions, Maple decided that lying on her side worked best. She curled up, tucking her legs against her and resting her head on top of her hands. Her tail curled against the back of her legs. Gradually, she closed her large, brown eyes, half-blinking in the manner of a cat. She was asleep in just another few minutes.

"Bed time, huh?" Mark said to himself, "yeah, it's been a long day." It was just a little bit after 8:30 when Mark pulled a blanket over Maple, shut off the lights, and also went to sleep. Drained from the day, he felt like he could sleep for days. As he fell asleep, he could hear Maple breathing softly in the next bed.

AN: not a lot going on in this chapter, i realize. still, a clean evolution from pokemon to human didn't make much sense to me.

also, in case you missed it, i opted for a world with normal animals along with Pokemon (mostly because i didn't want to have to explain exactly what Pokemon they're eating in their sandwiches) o_O