DarkFoxKit: … Crit…? Why are you crying?
ConstructCritical: *is in the corner, sniffling* I-I'M NOT CRYING! I'm… just, well, I'm just… uh… I WAS STARING INTO A BRIGHT LIGHT!
DarkFoxKit: … I don't think that's the case. Come on, tell me what's wrong.
ConstructCritical: *bursts out crying* I DON'T WANNA GO…! *hugs onto Fox's fur, sobbing loudly*
DarkFoxKit: Ah! *falls down at his sudden hug* O-okay, take it easy… What do you mean 'don't wanna go'? Where are you going?
ConstructCritical: Out of town. I'm leaving for awhile. I'll come back for a bit but then I'll have to leave again! I just wanna stay hoooome!
DarkFoxKit: Oh… I see… w-well don't worry, you'll come back before too long, right?
ConstructCritical: T-THEY HAVE BUGS! *shivers* I HATE BUGS! THOSE CATERPIES… AND WEEDLES… AND JOLTIKS! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! DON'T LET 'EM TAKE ME!
DarkFoxKIt: Waaaah! *she grabbed the camera as it went static.*
Chapter 4: First Mission
Team Evoshock worked hard to try and get better use to their bodies and how to use their attacks. Auro told them to attack a punching bag so they can get use to their attacks. Kit had to use her Tackle and Flail while Crit learn how to salvage his energy better and direct it with his Thundershock, and by watching his partner Tackle a lot, he ended up learning Quick Attack.
The classmates usually just do their own thing, they never talked much or interact with the other students. Cella would sometimes give them advice, but otherwise didn't say much to them, and Venus would try to flirt with Kit every now and then, but Crit would chase him off.
And soon… Auro made an announcement.
"We're doing our first mission today?" Kit spoke up, surprised.
"I thought we couldn't leave the stone building whats-its." Crit commented.
"We just call it the HQ, Crit." Auro sighed. "And even Training Rankers have missions, but they just don't go outside. Instead, we are to solve the problems of Pokemon and other teams inside HQ. Somebody has to and it's the perfect 'practice' mission for Training Rankers like you two."
All of the Students nodded, well, except for Telek, he just sat there, sleeping. Crit walked over to him and whispered "Shadows are coming, we have to run." and he smiled mischievously.
Telek woke up, which was surprising because Crit had never seen him awake before. The Abra suddenly began teleporting like crazy! Going up, down, in front of Crit, behind him, and from corner to corner!
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, buddy!" Crit yelled, trying to get the panicked Abra's attention, or curious Abra, or angry? He didn't know how the Abra felt about being woken up.
Auro sighed as he held out his paw and said, "Enough!"
The Abra stopped suddenly and sat down.
Crit stepped back, a little freaked out by the constant teleportation. He finally sat down, hoping no one would get mad at him, but he was pretty sure that ship has already sailed.
The Vulpix chuckled, "Wow, way to go Pikachu, you just caused Telek to freak out."
"I've never seen Telek freaking out so much." the Pichu said, looking at the Abra curiously.
Kit sat beside Crit and said, "... Maybe you should cut the jokes right now…"
"I was just trying to wake him up." Crit said, shrugging, trying to look more confident than he felt.
"I heard that Abras are sensitive while they're sleeping. They still release some Psychic impulses in the air, so they're still aware even while asleep. You don't need to wake him up." Cella explained.
Crit kind of wanted to leave, so they could make fun of him when he wasn't there. The other students didn't know it, but he heard their whispering, namely That stupid Pikachu… or Wow, he's gonna be humiliated, oh wait, he already is! He also heard several students chuckling or full on laughing.
"H-hey!" Kit suddenly spoke up. "Stop talking about Cri-" She began, but not before Crit clamped her mouth shut with his paw. "Shh! They'll laugh at both of us if we don't keep quiet!" He hissed quietly.
Auro sighed and said, "That's enough, we're not here to poke fun at other's mistakes, we're here to do our part in the P.A.S. Now, since the other teams are always too busy doing field works, it's our job to maintain order in the HQ. We take jobs that would help troubled Pokemon or teams in here, even if it seems ridiculous or small like doing chores, it's just something we have to do. And it's good practice for learning the basic art of teamwork."
Kit pushed Crit's paw away from her mouth just as Cella asked, "So are we all going to take on one mission or do it separately?"
Auro answered, "We will split into teams of two. I will lead you to your missions and once you are finished, you are to come back here, understood?"
Everyone nodded in unison, even though the once-hyperactive Pikachu tried to make himself as small as possible.
So, Auro gave Team Evoshock their mission, he gave them a piece of paper. "Go to this location and the client will give you the details of your mission."
Since Crit could stand on two feet, he took the paper and read it, they were to go to Room 305 in the mountains part of the environment.
Crit nodded at the paper, as he heard some more chuckling as the Pokemon filed into their groups and left. He just grumbled and started walking out, motioning for Kit to follow.
The Eevee walked beside her Pikachu partner, when they were out of sight from the others, she spoke up, "Um… Are you embarrassed about what happened back there?"
Crit nodded, clenching his teeth and fists, his cheeks surging with electricity. He wanted a way to let it all out, but at the moment, he didn't have one.
Kit gulped, seeing how angry he is. She looked around for something and picked up a random trash on the floor. "Uh… if you want… you could dust this trash with your Thundershock…"
Before she could even finish her sentence, the trash had been completely obliterated, all that remained were a few indiscernible scraps.
"... I uh… guess it would take more than… a little scrap to make you feel better." Kit said hesitantly.
Crit shrugged. "I'll be fine. Let's just get this over with." He said, fists still clenched.
"R-right…" Kit just quietly followed.
They made it to the mountains and found the room they were looking for. They looked in to see three Pokemon and apparently they're a team. There was a Charmeleon, Luxio and Pupitar there.
"Uh… e-excuse us…?" Kit shyly spoke up to get their attention. "W-we are… h-here to a-answer a m-mission h-here?"
Crit nodded. "We really need to work on your peop-Err.. Pokemon skills." He whispered to her. "Can you help us out with our mission?" He asked the group.
The Charmeleon, presumingly the leader, nodded as he spoke up, "Yes, you see our supplies are rather low. It seems that someone's been ransacking all our supplies at night while we're asleep. Since we're always too busy with training and our missions, we were hoping a Training Rank team could help us find these little thieves."
Kit stayed behind Crit, since he's less shy he has to do the talking.
Crit nodded. "Can you give us the last known location of the thieves?"
Luxio nodded as he spoke up, "Last we heard, they're near the pond, but we're not really sure where they are exactly."
"P-pond?" Kit whispered to Crit. "Th-they could be Water types…"
"Relax, Kit. My attacks will be Super Effective against any fish we might face."
"B-but they could be underwater… and if that's the case… won't your electric attacks shock ME as well? Water CAN conduct electricity after all." Kit said timidly.
"You can't even really swim very well. If it's underwater it may be wise for you to stay on the surface." He told her.
"I think we HAVE to swim in order to find them…" Kit sighed.
Pupitar spoke up, "If it helps… I think one of them looked like a Squirtle wearing a sunglasses."
Crit nodded. "Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Crit and this is my friend Kit."
"That's all good, but if you don't mind, please hurry get those little thieves before our next supplies gets raided." Charmeleon said impatiently.
Crit and Kit left their room and the Eevee sighed, "Okay… so apparently teams of a higher rank couldn't care less about us Training Rankers… they just want us to get the job done."
Crit sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, but when we become Legends, we'll have a little talk with them on how Trainees are the future." He said, with his head held high, as he began to march to the pond.
Kit looked around the pond… she only saw peaceful Water Pokemon around though, none of them looked anything remotely like a thief. "... How are we supposed to find thieves? I'm sure they would hide themselves well."
"Remember, we're looking for Squirtles. With… sunglasses…"
"But we'd still have to FIND them." Kit pointed out. "And what if they take off their sunglasses? How would we tell if they're thieves or innocent Squirtles?"
The Pikachu thought for a second. "I know! We'll get a Berry from our own… house, and then carry it around, asking people to trade it for a different Berry. If we find some Squirtles, we'll offer it to them for a different Berry, if they try to steal it, we take them down." He suggested to her.
"... I suppose we could try that. Do you have any berries with you?" Kit asked.
Crit shook his head. "That's why I suggested we get one from the 'house'."
"Great… now we have to go all the way back to our room… do you know how FAR away that is?" Kit grumbled.
"Hey, it's good exercise. We need exercise if we want to do well here." He defended. "Let's get going." Crit told her, and he started bounding back to their room.
Kit only groaned as they made their way back to their own room. She was mumbling about how much of a waste of time this was and wish they didn't have to go all the way back. But when they got there… their berry bushes were all gone!
"... WE'VE BEEN RAIDED!" Kit shouted.
"Hey look! They forgot one!" Crit exclaimed excitedly, looking at a small berry that had fallen on the ground during the rush.
"... That's just a little Oran Berry! Why would the thieves want a tiny Oran Berry when they have a whole BUSH of it!?" Kit cried.
"Because thieves always want more." Crit said, blandly, shrugging.
The Eevee sighed, "Fine, but this better work."
They head back to the pond, where they looked around. Kit pointed at someone, "Over there, Crit, I see a Squirtle… but this one doesn't have sunglasses, I guess it's time we test our theory."
"Hello over there! Would you like to trade berries with us?" He asked, holding up the Oran Berry,
The Squirtle looked over… it turns out this one was a female, she has a big green bow tied to her tail and she smiled a seductive smile at Crit. "My, aren't you a cute Pikachu?"
Crit wanted to see how Kit reacted to something. "You don't look too bad yourself." He said, smiling a little.
Kit looked at both him and the Squirtle in shock, not yet saying anything.
The Squirtle smiled even more, "Ooh, you're not shy at all, I like that. The name's Tidal… you know, as in Tidal Wave? What's yours, handsome?"
"A powerful name, for a powerful woman. They call me Crit." He said, pretending to eye her.
Kit suddenly grabbed Crit's ear and hissed, "What are you doing!? Are you actually flirting with her!?"
"Why do you care? Maybe I like her." He said, continuing to pretend he has an interest in her.
The Eevee's face turned a bit red and she glared, "You just met her! And for all you know she could be a thief!"
The Pikachu feigned a gasp. "No! Not my Tidal-Widal-kins!" He shouted in mock horror.
Tidal crossed her arms and said, "Is there a problem? Oooh, does the little Eevee Weevee have a crush on the Pikachu?" she mocked.
Throwing shyness out the window, the angry and red faced Eevee stormed up to the Squirtle's face, "I am NOT a 'Weevee' and I don't have a crush on anyone, but if you keep that up then I'll crush you!" she gritted her teeth threateningly.
"Okayyy, Kit. Calm down. I won't let you hurt…" Taking a glance a little disinterestedly at Tidal. "...Tidal."
Kit suddenly snatched the little Oran Berry from his paw with her tail and said, "Look, do you want to trade berries or not?" she said to the Squirtle with a snap. "Yes, it's a little small but it's still an Oran Berry!"
Tidal just made a clicking sound with her tongue and said, "I suppose an Oran Berry, no matter how small, could be quite useful… Alright, what do you want to trade it with, hmmm?"
"Got any Petri Berries?" Crit asked, any 'interest' in Tidal completely gone in his voice.
Tidal didn't seem to notice or just didn't care. "I'm afraid not… anything else?"
"Pecha Berry? Perhaps a Prism Berry? Anything?" Kit asked.
The Squirtle shook her head and said, "... How about this? You two give me the Oran Berry and I'll come right back with a good Lum Berry for you, it's a rare berry that heals all sickness and status alignments, what do you say?"
Crit nodded, without even consulting Kit, as she pouted a little. "Here you are. We'll wait right here." He said, handing her the Berry without a second thought.
Tidal smiled and said, "Good… I'll be back in an hour then." she smirked and jumped into the water, swimming away.
Kit sighed, "You do realize she's most likely never coming back, right?"
Crit only gave her a crooked smile. "Yeah." Before diving into the water, letting loose a Thundershock that basically paralyzed everything in the pond, including Tidal, who was about to enter a warehouse looking place. Crit motioned for the Eevee to follow him, as he swam down to where Tidal was.
"CRIT! What was that for!? You just zapped every Water Pokemon in this pond!" Kit snapped. "You better hope they don't call the authorities on you!"
"Okay, I guess you'd rather starve to death, along with everyone else in this giant rock?" He asked rhetorically, swimming to Tidal, snatching the Berry and swimming inside the warehouse.
"You're an idiot." Kit snapped, still angry. "Only a complete brute would think like that!"
"Or someone who actually wants to live." He retorted. "Hurry up and stop falling behind, Kit."
"I'm not even IN the water! Because it's still full of static electricity! If I jump in I'll drown from paralysis you dolt!" the Eevee yelled from across the shore.
"Suit yourself. Goodbye, love!" He said, adding in that last part because he thought it would be funny to see her reaction.
Kit either didn't get it or was too angry to care, she just walked off somewhere else. "Numbskull… couldn't even try to get the Squirtle without resorting to immediate violence. We don't even know if that Squirtle really is a thief either and he just attacked her for no real reason. We're so gonna get in trouble for this!"
Meanwhile, Crit swam into the warehouse. It was practically filled with berries, all in fishing nets. "Jackpot!" He yelled, before sputtering with all the water getting inside his mouth. He quickly grabbed one of the smaller nets with berries and quickly swam for the surface.
Tidal suddenly retracted in her shell and spun it around, tackling the Pikachu from behind, making him lose precious air.
Crit started gagging, and rammed into Tidal using a Quick attack, before using it again to try to quicken his ascent. But Tidal wasn't willing to give up, she blew out Water Gun, which was far stronger from the pressure underwater and blasted the Pikachu into a wall, still underwater. Crit began choking from the lack of air and the water getting into his lungs. Soon he started seeing spots in his vision.
Tidal looked ready to attack again, when something caught her attention. She looked over to see a berry floating in the water. Temptation taking over, the Squirtle swam at the berry, carelessly taking it, however, that berry was attached to a string, which was tied to a certain Eevee's tail, who yanked the Squirtle out of the water.
"Gotcha~" Kit said as she used Tackle at the Squirtle's belly and it threw her right into a tree. The Eevee then pounced on her and looked her right in face. "Where's Crit?" she demanded.
Crit however, had already blacked out, still holding onto the berry net, as if it was his life source. However, another Water Pokemon was swimming towards him, and picking up his body before taking him somewhere.
"Probably drowning right now." Tidal smirked.
Kit's eyes widen, "WHAT!? CRIT! CRIIIIIIT!" she shouted.
Meanwhile, the mysterious Pokemon had taken Crit somewhere… The said Pikachu began waking up in an unfamiliar place.
"I think I'm seeing two of everything." Crit said, with a squiggly smile, before falling back into unconsciousness.
"Hmmm…" the mysterious Pokemon touched his cheeks and suddenly used an electric attack, immediately revitalizing and energizing the Pikachu.
"AH! Where are the berries?!" He exclaimed, and then seeing his paw still holding onto it, before realizing he was still underwater, and started holding his breath. Oh no! I'm gonna drown! I'm never gonna see Kit again! He started saying to himself, making himself panic.
"Oh stop flailing around. If you were gonna drown you would've a long time ago. You're in a bubble, so you can breathe." the Pokemon said with a bit of a giggle.
Crit stopped flailing but held his breath until his face turned blue. Then he fell on his side and finally let himself breathe again realizing that the Pokemon was right. He was fine. "Who are you?" He asked the mysterious Pokemon.
"I'm someone who brought you and your partner here. But I'm afraid I can't tell you my name right now." the Pokemon answered.
"Partner?" He asked, confused.
"Yes, the Eevee girl that you seem to like so much." the Pokemon said with a giggle.
Crit raised an eyebrow. "O-Okay… I like her, now don't tell anyone!" He exclaimed in a harsh tone, a blush covering most of his face.
"I'm impressed that you'd admit that out loud, especially considering how you kept trying to convince yourself that you don't like her that way." the Pokemon said, flying around him.
"Well you seemed to know anyway, so I would have just embarrassed myself further if I tried to hide it." He said, his voice suddenly getting really small and quiet.
"Hmm…" the mysterious shadowy Pokemon came up closer to him. Crit's eyes widen when he got a glimpse of the Pokemon's face, which looked like a pink cute little cat with big blue eyes.
"W-WHA?! I'm dreaming! Yeah… I'm dreaming. Clearly." The Pikachu said, hitting himself with his fist. He looked up again. "... Are you… real?" Crit asked the pink feline hesitantly.
"As real as punching yourself in the face real." she answered, giggling. "I'll bet you could tell just what I am by now, right?"
"Mew." He said, trying to bow, but falling flat on his face, only to scramble up again into an awkward salute.
Mew gave him an amused smile and said, "Aww, thanks, you flatter me~ But anyway, don't tell anyone else you saw me here, they don't know I'm in here. I used Transform to see how the non-Shadow Pokemon are doing." then she floated around him. "It looks like you were in danger of drowning though… so I had to save you."
Crit nodded. "Sorry about that." He said, hanging his head low. "I guess I almost blew your cover."
"Nah, it's fine, it gave me the chance to use my Dragonair transformation!" Mew giggled happily. "Anyway, it seems you caught those little thieves, or at least one of them. Your friend managed to catch Tidal by using the bait and fishing strategy."
Crit nodded. "Mew… do you know about… humans?" He asked suspiciously.
Mew nodded, "Uh-huh! Of course I do! I was here when humans still existed around these parts~"
"Uh, do any… still exist?" He asked a little nervously now.
Mew thought about it for a minute and said, "Well… I hadn't seen any since the humans went extinct… but maybe there might still be some out there… surviving. It's been over a hundred years since humans went extinct and Pokemon became the dominate species of the Earth."
"Uh, Mew… I guess we both have a secret we need the other to keep. I'm not exactly… a… Pokemon…" He said bluntly, a little surprised at himself that he had the audacity to compare himself with the Mew.
Mew crossed her arms and gave him a deadpanned look, "I know who you are. I just told you; I'm the one who sent you and Kit here. I know you two were originally humans."
"So are we from the past? You know, if all humans are extinct by now?"
The pink legendary cat shook her head, "Actually, this is more like an alternate universe than the future. In your universe the humans thrive and work with Pokemon, however, in this universe, the humans died out and Pokemon took over. It's rather complicated really… but while I was fleeing from Shadow Pokemon, I accidentally used a powerful Psychic blast into the sky, so powerful it broke time and space, and you two were right in the middle of it and came here in the bodies of a Pokemon if you were born here as Pokemon."
The human-turned-Pokemon nodded, even though all these facts were making his head spin. "So what are we supposed to do then? Stay here forever?" He asked her, a little confused.
Mew sighed and said, "Well I could send you two back if you want… but… I realize that this is actually a blessing in disguise. You see… you and Kit are not the first cases to be humans that turned into Pokemon, there have been other cases before. One stopped a meteor from destroying the planet. Another defeated Dialga when he was growing crazy and saved Time itself. And there was another who stopped the Bittercold from destroying all of existence. So I believe that humans who turn into Pokemon were destined to save our world again."
"I think I may only have one more question. Shadow Pokemon. How much do you know about them?" Crit asked, curiosity rising in his voice a little.
Mew gave him a grim look and said, "... I know what started it all… You ever heard of a Pokemon called Mewtwo?"
"Vaguely. Some organization called Team Rocket created it, but he was some kind of experiment gone wrong, correct?"
Mew shook her head, "He's not just an experiment… he was actually 'perfect' in every way… what they didn't realize was that Mewtwo has a mind of its own… it's not just a mindless slave they can just order around, and Mewtwo himself didn't like the idea that he was just some human's toy they can make or break whenever they feel like it, so he went on a rampage and destroyed them. Or that's how the story went." she sat on the bubble. "... In this universe… Mewtwo was like a brother to me… he was the only one who could match my own power."
"And?"
"I think Mewtwo said something about checking a mysterious dark aura that was covering the sky lately… but… when he came back… he was not the same Mewtwo anymore. His color was much blacker and evil looking, his eyes were blood red and just his aura alone you could tell he was out for blood." Mew cringed just thinking about it. "I tried to stop him, really I did, but it's like his power was multiplied by thousands, I didn't stand a chance… Eventually though… Mewtwo began infecting other Pokemon with this strange black aura. Each one he infected turned into what we call Shadow Pokemon today. At first, they were just mindless monsters, killing machines really… but as the years passed, they started getting intelligent… and began forming teams, or hunting packs as we call them, and hunt down any Pokemon worthy of transforming into Shadow Pokemon, and it became an endless chase for almost all of us."
"And that's where Shadow Pokemon originated from? It wasn't even Mewtwo's fault. If anything, he was doing the right thing, he investigated something dangerous, trying to stop it." Crit said, trying to comfort Mew. "How long had Mewtwo been like this?"
"Today marks the 30th year since that dreadful day. This has been going on for 30 years." Mew said. "We've lost so many Pokemon… best friends and families turn into enemies, it was horrible… and it tore me apart. I've tried everything in my power to stop it, anything to change it back to normal, but nothing I do ever works. I was on the constant run since Shadow Mewtwo would do anything to turn me into a Shadow Pokemon too."
Crit nodded grimly. "Is there any way to reverse the effects that you have found?"
Mew shook her head, "If there was, I would've taken care of the out-of-control situation already. This is why I need your and Kit's help, I can't do this alone anymore."
"We'll help you. You're basically god, we can't say no to you." The Pikachu said enthusiastically, beginning to bounce around in the bubble excitedly.
Mew sighed, "I'm no god, but I thank you for helping me. Now I better get you back out there, your friend is worried about you. Be sure to pass this information to her, but nobody else, okay? I'll see you two later."
"Goodbye Mew! We won't fail you!" He said, starting to walk, only realizing he was stuck inside the bubble.
"Hee, hee, hee~ Maybe you should wait until you're out of the water." Mew giggled and used Psychic to teleport the Pikachu back on shore.
"Thank you." He said, only to realize that Mew had already left.
DarkFoxKit: *turns on camera* There… I think I fixed it… Sorry about that readers… my co-writer is having a breakdown because he's going out of town for almost a month…
ConstructCritical: *is off crying in another room*
DarkFoxKit: Uh… so yeah… um… I guess we don't have much to say in this AN… so uh… while I go and try to cheer him up… why don't you readers go ahead and leave your reviews? Maybe that'll cheer him up.
ConstructCritical: *walks in* Hey, Fooooooooox~
DarkFoxKit: What? Are you finally finished crying your eyes out?
ConstructCritical: Sorta. Uh, I wanted to say bye.
DarkFoxKit: …. Uh… you're leaving now?
ConstructCritical: Yeah. *grabs some balloons* CYA! *flies away*
DarkFoxKit: ….. Oooookay… well I'm sure he'll be back soon, until then, maybe I can get some peace and quiet for a few weeks-
Mew: Oooooh Fooooooooox~
DarkFoxKit: …. Fudge my life.