DarkFoxKit: *was stuck in some kind of invincible playpen* …. How did I get in here?

ConstructCritical: *voice is coming from a speaker inside the pen* I will say this one last time… tell us what the rival ships are plotting! *slams hands on a table* Litleo and I will not tolerate such feigned ignorance!

DarkFoxKit: I don't care about your little felineshipping, why did you put me in here!?

ConstructCritical: Tell me what you are doing for the other ships or you'll never see the light of day again! Last time, you underestimated me. This time though... I'll make you fear the one true ship!

DarkFoxKit: I don't do ships you moron! Let me out! *scratches the bars in anger*

ConstructCritical: Not until you tell me the information I want to know. And, uh, since you're trying to escape so hard, I PUT BUTTER ON THE BARS! Too slipper to scratch! Plus, it'll make you all messy, and I hate that, do you hate that? I mean, with all the slime, and the goo, and when you walk around it make you slip and you sometimes almost fall when you're in public…- *coughs* Off topic! Tell me!

DarkFoxKit: … You put butter on the bars? … *begins squeezing myself out through the bars, the butter makes it nice and slippery.*

ConstructCritical: No, wait! Please stay in? Pleeease?! Oh c'mon, can't you just stay here a bit longer? I just want some info…!

DarkFoxKit: You are SO finished! *comes out of the playpen and begins chasing Crit around.*

ConstructCritical: *runs around in circles* Boss's Log; Stardate… I don't know. Some random numbers, I guess. I'm being pursued by a mad monster and I cannot escape. I fear this may be my last log. I leave Swoshawosh… *sob* my… snowcone machine… and… *wail* Litleo is now in charge… of the felineshippers. *falls over and beats the ground* It's over for me! Oh, I can see the light! Right there! Goodbye, cruel world! *bittersweet weeping*

DarkFoxKit: You're not dead. *grumbles* You're in another playpen, only this ones doesn't have butter for you to slip out of. But we've kept the readers waiting long enough. Go ahead and read.

Chapter 8: Etiquette

Kit was running… running from or to she didn't know, but she knew she had to keep running. All she knew was that something bad is about to happen. The Eevee didn't know where she was, but it looked like some kind of dark palace.

Kit didn't stop until she came across a bunch of Pokemon gathered together… but they were similar to those Shadow Houndour… were they all Shadow Pokemon? Why weren't they reacting to her? "What's going on?"

Then she saw something… a Pokemon coming into the front, the center of the Shadow Pokemon's attention. It… looked like big cat-like Pokemon, almost like Mew but also very different. "Is that… Mewtwo?" she asked herself, but she couldn't get a good look at the Mewtwo. Then she heard someone crying in agony, it sounded like… Crit.

"C-Crit? CRIT! Where are you?" she yelled, looking for him. Then she turned back to the mob of Shadow Pokemon and saw the Pikachu there, right in the middle. He was hunched over, looking like he's in pain. He was screaming and yelling, seemingly to be talking to the Mewtwo, but she couldn't understand what he was saying. "What's… what's happening to him?"

The Pikachu seemed to be screaming something to Mewtwo, but it was drowned out by the growling and barking of the crowd. The purplish hue to him was impossible to ignore. Kit could do nothing but watch in horror as she sees her friend in pain and changing before her eyes.

The transformations started at his tail. It covered him like a disease, his fur became a dark grey, and his normally brown stripes were death black. Even the golden badge on his chest grew a purplish tint. Eventually, the grey reached his face. He beat the ground in anguish, as his red cheeks became black, and his eyes a blood red. His teeth turned into sharp fangs. He suddenly got up, and smiled devilishly. Feeling was gone. No, feelings didn't exist for him anymore. Only the need to hunt. To kill. To slaughter. To assimilate.

Kit's eyes welled up in tears. "C-Crit… No… what have they… d-done to you?" she cried and then she screamed and wailed. "CRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

The Eevee jolted up, sweating and breathing hard. "Crit! Crit!" she yelled, looking around the unfamiliar room. Her Pikachu companion was laying down on the bed next to her, sleeping soundly, completely at rest.

The Eevee checked on the sleeping Pikachu, studying him and noticed a purpilish tint on his tail. "C-Crit?" she poked his face.

Crit rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Kit?" He suddenly bolted up. The Shadow Pokemon are probably still on our tail! his mind shouted at him. He quickly looked around, finding himself in a room, not a scary one, just a room, like ones in hospitals. He let out a sigh of relief and let his head fall back to the pillow.

"..." Kit looked at him and said, "... Oh good, you're not a Shadow Pokemon." she was relieved.

The Pikachu blinked. "What? What are you talking about? You were the one who was almost eaten alive." He told her.

"I was? … Oh, I guess I was too out of it. But uh… you don't have a craving to go after other innocent Pokemon do you? Like how sharp is your teeth?" The Eevee opened his mouth to check his teeth, which caught the Pikachu off guard.

The Pikachu had opened his mouth to laugh at her statement, but then squirmed when she opened his jaws wide. He tried to say 'Hey! Let me go!' but it came out as "Ey! Lelee oh!" with his mouth wide open.

The Eevee finally let him go, "Good, you're normal." she sighed in relief.

Crit stared for a second, muttered something, and then got out of bed. At least this time he didn't scream out in pain when he got up. Everything was still aching, but he could walk fine. He looked at himself, his eyes coming to his tail. "M-My tail! It looks so ugly now.." He said sadly, examining the purplish wound on his tail. He sighed and walked out of the room. "Where are we, anyway?" He asked her.

"I think we're in a hospital again, but it looks different than the one in HQ. Did we somehow make it to the village last night?" The Eevee wondered.

"I hope Nidogirl is here, too. Or at least alive if nothing else." Crit said as he got to the front desk of the Hospital.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, she knew what she was doing, unlike us… we just ran off like scared little kids." Kit said with a shameful look on her face.

"Well… we were scared, we are little, and we are kids." Crit commented, hoping to put a smile on her face, though he thought maybe that wasn't the best way to go about it.

"... We really need to work on how you comfort others." the Eevee hissed.

Then the door opened, both of them looking to see a… male Audino, they knew it was male because its voice was deep. "So… how are you two feeling?"

Crit looked at him. "Like we just got beat up by a pack of Shadow Pokemon." He said sarcastically.

The Audino looked through his sheets of paper and said, "Mm-hmm, yes, you two were indeed attacked by Shadow Pokemon. Yet some kind Psychic type used Teleport on you to get you in the village and safely in the barrier. Someone found you unconscious and called me and brought you here. Most of your wounds were… pretty bad, especially the Eevee's, she got hit with a Shadow Fire, but we managed to treat it before it got too bad." then he looked over at the Pikachu's tail. "Unfortunately… your tail seem to have… some shadow symptoms."

The Pikachu looked at his tail accusingly. "Pokenglish, please."

The Audino sighed and said, "Shadow symptom, don't tell me you don't know what that is."

"No… we don't…" Kit frowned.

The doctor sighed again and said, "Alright, to make it simple, it means there's a good chance the Shadow Pokemon infected your tail."

"So… you're saying any second now I could become a Shadow Pokemon?"

"Eh, or it could just be because you got bitten and it left a purple mark on your tail, it should go away after some time, or it could be there forever as a scar." the Audino said suddenly, writing it down.

"So… you're saying that I probably will not be a Shadow Pokemon?" Crit asked skeptically.

The Audino shrugged, "To be honest, little Pikachu, it's impossible to tell when someone becomes a Shadow Pokemon. Although… it almost all cases it's an immediate transformation. You've been asleep for hours and still hadn't changed, so I'd say you're in the clear."

The Pikachu let out a sigh of relief. "In that case, can I get out of this Hospital?" He asked the doctor.

"Stop rushing." Kit grumbled. "I'm not too fond of the idea of going outside any time soon."

Crit sighed, letting his arms and head droop. "Oh, fine. What are we even going to do, though?" He asked her, frustrated.

"Read a book, surf the Internet, watch TV. I don't know, and I don't care. I don't want to go out." Kit said.

Dr. Audino wrote something else down and said, "It's possible the Eevee is suffering from anxiety after being attacked and nearly killed by the Shadow Pokemon. She fears to leave the building."

Crit muttered something. "Well, I'm going to take a walk." He announced as he promptly marched outside.

Kit picked out a book to read, but when she looked into it… she couldn't read a single word. "What the? What kind of language is this?" she tried another book… and another… and another, but they were all written in the same unreadable language. "... I… can't… read… in… this… world…"

The Pikachu passed by several shops, one selling berries, another selling an ancient artefact used by an extinct species, something called a 'Pokeball'. Crit was intrigued by this, as he felt reminded of something. He quickly trotted over to the stall, which was manned by a Meowth. "Excuse me, sir, do you know where you got that artifact?"

The Meowth looked at him as he was putting up a sign and said, "It's… something I once had a long time ago…"

"Who did it belong to? How did you get it? Did you make it?" Crit asked, hurling question after question on the Meowth. "And.. why do you stand on two legs?" He asked innocently.

"You sure ask a lot of questions." Meowth grumbled as he pushed the Pikachu's face away. "You remind me of a Pikachu I once knew… he was like an arch nemesis to me. Anyway, the Pokeball belonged to… a human before they went extinct."

Crit blinked. "Humans? I thought no one even knew what humans were! I need your help, I think…" Crit looked around nervously, hoping no one was watching.

Meowth was looking at him, "Yeah, nobody ever really cares about learning the beings that existed long before this whole Shadow Pokemon mess. What do you want? I'm a very busy Meowth and, I won't lie, I don't like Pikachus too much. That one kept shocking and exploding me to the sky."

"Uh, do you know a man named Giovanni? I hear he was the leader of an organization named Team Rocket." Crit asked, Maybe if I know more about Mewtwo, it'll help me defeat him. He thought.

"... How could you possibly know about Giovanni?" Meowth hissed. "Nobody knows about humans here, and even if they did, they don't know anyone's names! How could YOU possibly know?"

"Can we talk somewhere in private?" Crit asked nervously.

The cat Pokemon crossed his arms and said, "... What do you want? Nobody ever comes to look at this artifact anyway."

"Could we just talk?" The Pikachu asked urgently.

"If you want to talk, then just talk, nobody's stopping you." Meowth said, walking away to polish the Pokeball.

The Pikachu hurried to keep up. "Fine! Listen, I'm not really a Pikachu, in fact, I'm not a Pokemon in general. I'm a human boy and I need your help!" He said, shouting the 'I need your help!' part for emphasis.

The Meowth looked at him and said, "... You're a human boy… in a Pikachu's body? …" then he started laughing. "That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!"

The Pikachu facepalmed. "Okay, this isn't working. Listen, if you know the name of Giovanni, then there has to be an equally absurd reason for why you're here, too, so spill it!" He shouted at the Meowth.

"Okay, so say you ARE a human boy that was turned into a Pikachu, why are you here anyway? There haven't been any humans around for hundreds of years!" the Meowth pointed out.

"I can explain that, but I won't say any more in public, as not to reveal my.. contact. If you want, you can follow me, my friend is at the hospital, and she refuses to leave after a Shadow Pokemon attack." Crit told him.

"Who is this friend of yours and are they also a supposedly human turned to Pokemon too?" Meowth asked him.

The Pikachu looked at him for a second and raised an eyebrow. "Well wouldn't you like to know? You can follow me for answers, if you'd like." He said, as he walked off towards the hospital.

The Meowth sighed and said, "... Fine, it's not like I have anything better to do anyway, not since I ended up here after Dialga went on a rampage in the lab." he grumbled to himself as he followed the human-turned-Pikachu.

It didn't take long for the two to get to the room… only to see the Eevee frantically throwing books and newspaper around. "I CAN'T READ! I WANNA READ!" she cried.

Crit stopped. Without warning he fell to the ground, it sounded like he was crying. Then he rolled over, showing he was laughing so hard that he was almost choking. "I needed that so bad!" He exclaimed, wiping a fake tear of joy from his eye.

Kit wasn't laughing though, in fact she looked more in distress than anything. "Why!? Why!? WHY!? Why are these all written in the same yet foreign language!?"

Meowth blinked and spoke up, "Uh… it's not in a foreign language, it's in Footprint Runes, all Pokemon can read it… why can't you?"

"WHAT!?" Kit snapped, getting in the Meowth's face. "FOOTPRINT RUNES!? IS THAT EVEN A LANGUAGE!?"

Crit got up. "Still think we're only Pokemon?" He asked as he elbowed the Meowth. "Kit, apparently this Meowth has a pretty vast knowledge of humans…" Crit explained, trying to avoid the flying death books.

"If we can't read in this world, how will we ever know!?" Kit yelled, still in hysteria. "How will I ever be the writer I wanted to be!? Where are the letters!? Where are the English freaking LETTERS!?"

Meowth blinked again, "... Well… nobody here really knows what 'letters' are, but they call them Unown characters. And no Pokemon can actually read them… only humans could."

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!" the Eevee cried again.

Crit walked up to her, and patted her back. "Calm down… I'm sure you'll learn to read." He said, rolling his eyes a little, but not letting Kit notice.

"Okay, so you wanted to know how we got here?" Crit glanced at Kit, as if asking if he could tell the Meowth.

"Yes, I would like to know how." Meowth said, crossing his arms.

Kit was still crying over the fact she can't read anything in this world, completely ignoring Crit's look.

Crit sighed. He closed his eyes and sent the mental message "Mew, will you allow me to tell him?"

"You could tell him, but he might not believe you. Try telling him a legendary Pokemon was behind it, but not which one." Mew answered back.

Crit took a deep breath. "Well, to tell the truth, we were living our normal human lives, when one day, a legendary Pokemon was fighting some Shadow Pokemon, and accidentally ripped a hole through time and space. We don't know very much about it, because during this incident both of our memories were lost, but we know a few things. Plus, the legendary has… visited us a few times." Crit said, trying to explain as best as he could.

"Visit YOU maybe, but I've never seen her!" Kit snapped, now in a foul mood. "Maybe she can enable us to read Footprint Runes!"

"Whoa, somebody's in a bad mood." Meowth said, looking at the angry Eevee nervously. "A-anyway… so you say a legendary Pokemon brought you two here because it was fighting with Shadow Pokemon accidentally tore a hole in space and time, and transformed you both into Pokemon but you lost most of your memories, is that the gist of it?"

"I suppose so." Crit said as the Meowth summed it up.

"... Well… I guess that WOULD explain a few things. Both of you are either from the distant past or a different dimension altogether, either way, this is pretty interesting…" Meowth said as he crossed his arms. "... How long have you two been here anyway?"

"For about a month, and what good did THAT do if I never learn how to read!" Kit snapped, still cranky.

"A MONTH? … Then where did you two come from? You had to have lived somewhere in hiding from the Shadow Pokemon if you survived this long!" Meowth asked, now curious.

"Well, we were on our own for the first maybe 10 hours, but then we registered to P.A.S. and now we're already at the Normal Rank." Crit replied. "So far it's only us two and we're looking for new team members."

Kit then blinked and said, "What about Cella and Venus? Didn't they said they wanted to join our team?"

Crit was a little surprised she was off her little temper tantrum, but he thought it was an improvement. "Well, we haven't seen them since we graduated, and I have a bone to pick with Venus, anyway." He said, clenching his fists a little.

"Eh? Why? I thought Venus was a nice Bulbasaur, if a bit flirty." the Eevee said, blinking.

Meowth looked at the Pikachu and at the Eevee before giving a chuckle. "I get the feeling you two are a bit closer than you think. But I'm surprised that you two joined the P.A.S."

The Pikachu blushed for a second before getting a hold of his emotions. "Well, can you blame us? We were wandering around, barely able to walk on all fours, and the first person we come across who doesn't run after the slightest noise or doesn't attack us on sight, just happens to be a P.A.S. Recruiter. We were promised food, water, shelter. When you're in somewhere you've never been before, it's a pretty appealing offer, no?"

"Oh, I didn't mean it's a bad place. I meant that I'm surprised you two got in, if you really are humans then you're not used to your Pokemon bodies, so I'm surprised someone wanted to recruited you in the first place." Meowth said. "They are a big stickler for potential recruits… I should know… they wouldn't let ME in."

"Well, we were able to defeat the recruiter, although she was going easy on us. It was kind of a test, but I feel bad for the Pokemon who fail, they are likely left inside the cave to rot, because they're too hurt after the battle." He thought, just realizing what would happen if they hadn't have won. "Or maybe they heal them up? Not sure."

"Actually, they would leave them an Oran berry if they were defeated. But if Shadow Pokemon are nearby, they would carry them to safety, they're not heartless." Mew spoke in his head.

"Whatever the reason, I wish I learned how to READ!" Kit yelled, going back to her temper tantrum.

Meowth sighed and said, "Okay, it's obvious you two are humans or at least have human minds. If you want to stay inconspicuous, I would suggest you learn from another Pokemon before you give yourselves away or get put into awkward situations."

"A little late for THAT." Kit grumbled, remembering how many times they embarrassed themselves by saying something only a human would say.

Crit glanced at the Meowth, with eyes saying 'Help me! Don't leave me with her like this!'. "Do you think you could help her learn to read… Footprint Runes you said?" Crit asked the Meowth.

"I could try, but for someone who's mind only knows letters instead of Footprint Runes, that could take a while… a LONG while." Meowth said with a frown. "... I think we should start with the basics, like the Pokemon's culture differences with human's, including some terminology differences as well."

The two Pokemon sat on the bed, as Meowth grabbed a few books out from the shelf to help them learn.

Little Mon: Baby Pokemon

Memma: Parent

Brother/Sister *insert Pokemon name*: Sibling

Grand/Elder Memma: Grandparents

Learning Institute: School

Maze: Role-model/Hero

Crusader: Protector and Friend

Kit and Crit's eyes widen at all those terminologies, "That's a lot to remember!"

"Oh please, these are only half of them." Meowth smirked as their jaws drop.

"... This is going to be a long night." the Eevee grumbled.

DarkFoxKit: So do you think something's going to happen to the Pikachu? Do you think he'll turn into a Shadow Pokemon? And what's Meowth doing here? So many questions!

ConstructCritical: *bangs on the bars* Let me out! I need to ship Meowth with Mew! *kicks the bar, causing him to grab his foot in pain*

DarkFoxKit: *growls in irritation* You'll do no such thing! Stop being such a whiny baby and I'll let you out! And anyways, we're sorry for the delay, we seem to be having a few difficulty in meeting up for the story.

ConstructCritical: *grumbling, then gasps* You know… you need to let me out if we work on CoS~

DarkFoxKit: There's no need, I'll just give you a laptop and you can work on it then. Either way, you're not coming out until you let this felineshipping thing die, or at least stop bothering me about it!

ConstructCritical: But I've devoted my life to shipping Meowth and Mew! Are you insulting my beliefs?! I'm telling my attorney!

DarkFoxKit: You don't have an attorney. *growls* And even if you conjure one up, I couldn't care less.

ConstructCritical: I'll see you in court! Kidnapping, assault and, who could forget, insulting my beliefs! *dials up the courthouse, only to have the phone start singing something about princesses, ponies and unicorns*

DarkFoxKit: First of all… YOU'RE the one who kidnapped ME! This is self defense what I'm doing. YOU assaulted ME first, so again, this is self defense. And all I said is that you stop dumping your beliefs on me, this isn't me insulting your beliefs.

ConstructCritical: *gasps, and begins to sob* Y-you monster! How could you?! *begins to 'break down', looking up occasionally to see how Fox was reacting*

DarkFoxKit: *dials up her phone* Hello, animal control? Yeah, I have a blubbering Minccino that keeps kidnapping, assaulting, manipulating and annoying me, do you think you could come over here and sedate him?

ConstructCritical: Nooo! Wait! Just wait until my lawyer finds out about this! You will paaaaaay…! *is towed off by Animal Control*

DarkFoxKit: *waves* See you in court soon then.

*camera is left on because no one was there to destroy it*