Rowan was examining his body, trying desperately to see his current situation as nothing more than a bad dream. So far, nothing seemed to work; not even pinching himself with his new clawed fingers. "T-This isn't a dream…or a game. We really are Pokemon now…aren't we?" Rowan asked Aaron, who was still beside him.

"Count yourself lucky." Aaron huffed. It had taken him a while to calm down, though he was still fuming. "At least you still have your arms and legs. I'm a frigg'n Pokeball!...I wonder what these bastards did to everyone else."

Rowan grimaced. He didn't want to know the answer, but at the same time he wanted to know what the scrubs had done to Marcy.

A soft sobbing brought his attention past Aaron to see a Jinx studying herself in a mirror. There was a look of complete and utter horror upon her face. "Hey, Aaron, five bucks says that that Jinx is Jo's Aunt Sharon."

"Jinx?" Aaron rolled himself, rather clumsily, around to get a good look at the dark skinned Pokemon.

The Jinx suddenly collapsed to the ground screaming and sobbing, while two scrubs stood over her. "I-I look like a negro!"

"Yep. That's definitely Aunt Sharon." Aaron muttered as he rolled back around to face Rowan. Unfortunately, he was leaning sideways, but he didn't let it bug him too much…yet. "Karma, eh?"

Rowan smirked before sighing heavily. "Do you think the others know about, uh, this? The change?"

Aaron stared at him before growling irritably.

"What?"

"I can't shrug anymore. Damn those scrub-wearing freaks!" Aaron roared.

Rowan grimaced remorsefully. "Sorry, dude. If we could switch, I'd take your form. I've got no use for these legs anyhow."

"Don't say that, Rowan. Be grateful that they let you keep them…more or less." Aaron muttered. He looked up at the scientist who was still standing over Rowan. He had left temporarily to collect a tape recorder. "He's been recording us for quite a while. You getting everything, shithead?!"

"I don't think he can understand us. The ones who were working on me said that they were doing something to my vocal chords. They also mentioned something about stitches in my head. Maybe we're talking like Pokemon?"

"I'm no doctor or scientist, but changing our vocal chords wouldn't do anything to change our languages, although it will change the way we sound. Messing with our brains and the language side of our brains might."

Both boys looked up at the man. He had a smug gleam in his eyes as he held the tape recorder out to them. "Are you two done conversing with one another?"

Rowan stuck his tongue out at him in response.

"If I still had my hands, I'd be giving you the bird right about now." Aaron hissed.

"Are these two ready?" A man pushing a large cart of cages asked as he came up behind the machines. Rowan glanced at the cages to see a hunched over Hypno, a Paras, a Vulpix, and a Meowth, and a Poliwag.

"Yep. Go ahead and take them." The man said as he helped the cart pusher lift Rowan and Aaron from the machines and place them inside two of the cages.

Luckily, kind of, they were placed beside one another. Adding onto their 'fortune' they were finally going to be leaving the lab after who knows how long.

"Are there anymore in the back?" The cart pusher asked.

"It'll say on their labels."

The cart jerked forward as the cart pusher guided the cages towards the back room of caged children. Rowan cast an anxious glance at Aaron, who seemed to wear a similar expression. They wanted to see their friends again, but not as Pokemon.

The man released the cart and began checking the name tags below each of the cages. While he scanned each tag Rowan crawled to the edge of his cage and searched for Marcy's cage. Much to his dismay, both he and Aaron were too low to see into her cage. They were, however, able to see into Jo and Elen's cage.

They were empty.

Rowan snuck a peek at Aaron. The boy looked furious. The men had moved the two girls somewhere…hopefully. "That one guy, Adam, called Jo a 'mistake'. They didn't do anything…bad to her, hopefully. Maybe she's back in the lab? Is Marcy in her cage?" "Marcy?"

No response.

"Alright. That looks to be everyone for now." The cartman said as he placed a sleeping Rattata in the last empty cage next to Aaron. The newcomers were the Rattata, of course, an Ekans, an Igglybuff, a Weedle, a Nidoran, and a Clefairy.

Rowan tried to study their faces and expressions for any signs of recognition, but no one looked familiar. Anyone of them could be his friends or even Marcy. He mentally slapped himself for not paying attention as to which cages the man pushing the cart pulled from moments ago.

The cart man was now whistling as he guided the cart back through the lab and towards the exit. He was only a few feet away from the door when one of the scrubs called to him.

"Hold on, Eric. We've got two more for you."

Two medium sized cages containing adult turned Pokemon were stacked onto the end of the cart. One held a hunched over Mr. Mime, while the other was a curled up Dewgong.

"I wonder if one of them is Grandpa Reece or mom." Rowan thought hopefully to himself.

The cart man pushed the cart out of the lab and into a gray hallway. He continued to whistle as the wheels of the cart rattled along the linoleum floor.

The Igglybuff began crying as it's cage was jostled roughly. The sound of the cages grinding against each other along with the harsh shaking of the cart was scaring it.

Everyone, except for the cart man, was staring at the Igglybuff. Most of them had pity in their eyes, while the Mr. Mime looked at it with annoyance.

"There, there, little one. Please don't cry." The Hypno spoke soothingly.

"Hey! Let's play Peek-a-Boo!" The Paras chirped as it covered it's eyes with it's pincers before suddenly throwing them out. "PEEK-A-BOO!"

The Igglybuff slowly stopped crying and tried to timidly mimic the Paras. "Peeeek…"

"Peek-a-Boo!" The Paras sang as it repeated the motion once again.

Igglybuff giggled and waved it's tiny hands up and down. "Fuy, Eyie!"

The Paras froze. Shock and denial flooded the Pokemon's face as it recognized the Igglybuff.

"Eyie? Ellie?" Rowan said aloud as he tried to make sense of the name. "Wait…Abby?"

"Elen? Abby?" Aaron gawked. His eyes widened as he looked upon the formally pink-haired girl and her baby sister.

Elen looked up at Aaron and Rowan with a puzzled expression. "Who are you? Who…were you?"

Before either Rowan or Aaron could reply, Eric stopped the cart inside a cinderblock room. There were a handful of other Pokemon in the room along with some of the 'R' grunts. They looked like they were weighing and measuring the human-turned Pokemon.

"Got you the last batch of the night." The man at the cart announced as he began unloading the cages. "Just make sure they're ready for-"

"Get out of here, Eric. The vans will be here within the hour for them." A female grunt huffed as a few of the grunts took the cages and walked to the other side of the room.

They set them down and opened each cage up one at a time, yanking each Poke-human out to be weighed. The first was the Dewgong, followed by the Mr. Mime.

Abby began whimpering as she hugged one of Elen's pincers. "Eyie…noo."

"It's alright, Abby. I won't let them hurt you. I've got you." Elen said softly as she attempted to hold her baby sister. Unfortunately, pincers didn't work as well as hands did with hugging.

"Elen, it's us. Aaron and Rowan." Aaron said. His statement was followed by an agitated grunt as he glared at Rowan. "I'm trying to motion to you."

"Aaron?" A gruff voice gasped. It was the Hypno who had spoken.

"Grandpa Reece?" Rowan gawked.

"Ro?"

"Elen?"

The group looked over to see a Doduo staring at them.

Rowan could feel the color drain from his face. "Please tell me that that isn't who I think it is. Oh, man, these scrubs are sick."

A Doduo awkwardly walked over to Aaron, Grandpa Reece, Elen, and Rowan. It looked at them with both pairs of black eyes.

"Which one is which?" Rowan swallowed.

The heads exchanged a grim expression with one another before the left one answered. "He's…Flynn."

"And…he's Sora." The right head added softly.

Rowan and his friends gawked at the twins. They wanted to say something, but there were no words they could say to make the twin's condition…bearable.

"So…Rowan, you're a…a Charmander…that's cool." Flynn mumbled. He was trying to sound positive, but it wasn't easy.

Sora's gaze drifted towards the others. "Who's what exactly?"

"Aaron is a Voltorb, Grandpa Reece is a Hypno, Abby is an Igglybuff, Rowan is a Charmander, and I'm a Paras." Elen replied. "We have yet to find Jo or Marcy, but we don't know what they were turned into."

"Could they still be back in the lab?" Flynn…shrugged?

"Or still in their cages?" Sora added.

"Rowan and I saw Jo's cage empty." Aaron argued. "Jo may have clammed up again in order to hide from Mr. P. Neither he nor we know what she looks like now so-"

"Rowan, how are you supposed to move around now?" Elen asked abruptly. "It's been bugging me."

Rowan looked down at his legs that were splayed out before him and grimaced. "I don't know. It may have been kinder of them if they had made me a flying type, huh?"

"We can carry you if you need us to." Flynn offered.

"We can?" Sora huffed. "Flynn look at him and look at us. Do you really think we can carry him? We're still learning how to walk together. We could drop him or collapse."

"We can at least try, brother."

Sora sighed. "Do you want to try, Rowan?"

Rowan shrugged. "Why not."

The twins knelt down as Rowan climbed up onto their shared back. It was a little awkward for them, but Rowan managed to stay on.

"Now what, Flynn?" Sora asked coolly.

"I don't know. We now know we can carry him, so that's a plus." Flynn smiled.

Rowan, using his new height advantage, scanned the room for Marcy…even though he probably wouldn't recognize her even if he spotted her. "Can we look for Marcy? Or…have you guys run into her yet? Or Jo?"

The twins grimaced and shook their heads. "Sorry, Rowan. We haven't seen either Marcy or Jo. We were brought in here about…er, fifteen minutes before you guys."

"Did they do anything to you boys?" Grandpa Reece asked.

"Not really. They just took measurements of us and gave us a number. Apparently once they're finished with us here and the vans arrive, we'll be moved out to another city. That's all we heard though."

"Have you found you mom?" Aaron asked.

"No, not yet. We can also go looking for her too, Sora!" Flynn grinned as he turned their body towards the crowd of Poke-humans. "Let's go look for her!"

"M-Mom…" Rowan thought pitifully as the boys entered into the crowd of Poke-humans. His mind flashed back to being in the back of the grunts' van. Seeing his mother's unmoving, breathless body lying on the floor of the van was both surreal and horrifying to him.

He would have been lying if he had said that he'd hoped the scientists hadn't at least attempted to bring his mother back from the dead. Then, even as a Pokemon, maybe she could still be with Marcy and him.

If only he had been able to keep Marcy from seeing or, better yet, understanding that their mother was gone. They had both lost their father due to the drafts and now their mother to these vile men. Now, they only had each other.

"Marcy!" Rowan called loudly.

Following Marcy

The young girl couldn't speak and her body still ached from all the changes that had been done to her small being. She barely moved, let alone made a sound as she and a few other Poke-humans were carted from the lab and into the cinderblock room. Her mind was still a bit sluggish as the grunts unlocked her cage and dumped her onto the ground with the others. So much that she hadn't noticed her brother or the others talking not even two feet away from her.

She blinked her eyes before letting them scan the new room.

"What are we doing now?" She wondered lazily as she tried to lift herself up off of the floor. Her legs felt sore, but it was bearable enough for her to stay standing…kind of.

The poor girl fell back down onto the ground. Her hind legs couldn't hold her up on their own. She now had to rely on both her hind and…front legs.

Marcy let out a soft whimper as she picked herself back up again, this time using all four of her limbs. It, to be honest, felt better. Although, it would take her a while to get used to walking on all fours.

"Marcy!"

Her fuzzy ears perked up. "Ro-Ro?!" Her head swirled around to find her brother, but where was he? What was he? "Rrrr! Rrrr! *Cough!*" Something felt like it was stuck in her throat.

"Marcy!"

"Rrr!" She tried again. This time, thankfully, she was able to spot him on top of a Doduo. "He still can't walk. Wait, they're getting farther away!" Marcy ran after the Doduo, but this was her first time using her new legs. "Uumph!"

She had tripped over her legs and fell flat on her face.

"Are you okay?"

Marcy slowly looked up to see a pink, gelatin-like creature looking down at her with small, black eyes. Its voice sounded both masculine and feminine. The little girl frowned. She had never seen nor heard of this type of Pokemon…whatever 'type' it was. "Wwwha…rr u?"

The Poke-human looked down at itself and sighed. "I have no clue. Uh, who are you? Your voice sounds kind of familiar."

"Mmmarrr."

"Mar? Wait. Marcy?"

The young girl nodded.

"Jo."

"Jjo?" Marcy exclaimed as she examined the pink creature. She slowly fell back onto her hind legs in astonishment. "Jo…"

"I look like a freak, huh?" Jo huffed with a hint of a tease in her tone. "I'm a wibbly-wobbly, pink bloob! Look at me jiggle!" She shook her strange form, causing her whole being to jiggle.

Marcy giggled loudly, but wound up coughing roughly.

"Sorry, Marcy. You okay?" Jo asked.

"Hurts. *Cough!*"

"Rest your voice. I'll get Aaron and the others. Alright?" Jo turned her attention towards their group of friends to call out to them, but—

A tongue of fire slipped from Marcy's mouth as she released another cough.

"…Did…Did that hurt?" Jo gawked.

Marcy shook her head. Her throat actually felt better. "I feel better now."

"You should still rest your voice just in case, ya know. We don't want to—what do you want?"

Marcy looked over her shoulder to see a grunt bending down with an outstretched arm to her. He grabbed her by the nape of her neck and lifted her up into the air. "Jo!"

"Marcy! Put her down!"

"Looks like you're starting to develop your abilities. Your price just rose by quite a lot." He lifted her higher into the air for the other grunts to see. "Add about a thousand more to this one, guys."

"I said, put her down!" Jo roared as she tried to attack the grunt. Unfortunately, her gelatin form couldn't deliver a ton of damage.

The grunt didn't pay Jo any mind as he carried Marcy over to a metal scale. He placed her down and picked up a clipboard. "Weight: 21.8 lb. Height: 2'0''. Abilities: Showing. Type: Fire. Number: 37. Starting Price: $25000."

"Starting price? What does that mean?"

The grunt ignored her and picked her up again. "You'll be racking in a ton of money little lady…unless you're a boy. I don't know. Doesn't really matter. You'll definitely be purchased and used by someone. How will be up to your master, though probably as a pet."

"Pet? I-I don't want to be a pet! I wanna be me again! I wanna be a human again!" Marcy cried as she struggled in the grunt's arms. "RO-RO!"

"Calm down will you? Jeez." The grunt growled as he opened one of the cages. However, just as he placed Marcy inside one of the empty cages something sharp sank into his back calf. "YEOW!"

The little girl looked down from her cage to see Rowan biting down on the grunt's leg. There was fury burning in his eyes. "Ro-Ro…you're…you're standing. You're standing on your own. You're standing!"

"Someone grab this damn Charmander!" The grunt barked as he tried to grab Rowan.

Rowan leapt out of the man's grasp and bolted for Marcy's cage. Unfortunately, it was too high for him to reach, but that didn't mean he would abandon his little sister. "Marcy, I'll get you out as soon as I can!"

"Ro-Ro, be careful!" Marcy cried as she noticed three grunts racing towards her older brother.

Rowan ignored her as he tried to leap up and grab the door to her cage.

One of the grunts held out a net to snag Rowan with, but before he could grab the boy, Grandpa Reece and an Arbok tackled the grunts. The remaining grunts and Poke-humans slowly turned to look at one another. One shared thought ran through their minds.

Fight!

The room erupted into chaos as the grunts and Poke-humans clashed. Bodies were thrown and knocked around the room like ragdolls.

Marcy felt someone slam into her cage, sending the small crate clattering to the ground. She groaned in pain as she hit the cement floor. "Owie…"

The last thing she saw as her vision faded to black was Rowan ripping the cage open with his teeth and lifting her out. "Don't worry, Marcy. We're getting out of here."

The next thing she heard was a loud explosion and screaming.