Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo/Game Freak/whoever else. But my story and my characters are mine.

Four

"Project Legend is just a story," Marcus said, rolling over onto his stomach and facing Zack. His green eyes flickered in a rather uncertain manner.

"Yeah? I thought so too," Zack replied. "But Harrow told me otherwise. Harrow said that it's one-hundred-ten percent real, cross his heart and hope to die."

"No way…." Marcus looked up at the ceiling, thinking. How could Project Legend possibly be real? It seemed impossible. It WAS impossible.

It was rumored among the Pokemorphs that deep in Eclipse Labs, there was a secret area of the lab that only the best scientists were allowed to go into. Supposedly a single Pokemorph was being kept there - a human infused with the DNA of all the legendary Pokemon. However, the legendaries had existed for thousands of years on their own with little human contact. How was one even supposed to FIND a legendary Pokemon, much less extract DNA from it? The story seemed too good to be true.

"How does Harrow know, exactly? Did he go and find out himself?" Marcus asked.

Zack shook his head. "You know Arthur? Short, red hair, Kecleon morph?"

"Yeah, I know him."

"He turned invisible and decided to sneak around the lab for himself." Zack's voice was a low whisper that Marcus almost couldn't hear. Maybe Barron was outside listening.

"Arthur said he came to a strong steel door with a keypad and a sign that said 'Scientists Only.' He waited for a while until a scientist came along and punched something into the keypad. Then he followed the scientist in while the door was open. He knows the code, he says - but he won't tell us until later. Doesn't want us sneaking around by ourselves and stuff."

Marcus nodded. "Uh-huh."

"And so then Arthur said he felt like he was in an entirely different lab. There were test tubes everywhere and lots of scientists. He saw a few silver feathers on a tray and a couple of scales as blue as the ocean. And a lot of other stuff too. It must be the legendary DNA!" Zack said.

"Cool!" Marcus said, a smile on his face. Still, he was skeptical. Arthur wasn't exactly the most trustworthy person around. He was known for making up lies to get him out of training.

"And then he heard a voice. A kid's voice, he said, coming from behind another heavy steel door. It sounded like it was crying. And he heard a man shouting at the kid. By that time, the scientists had gotten suspicious that someone else was in the room - Arthur's been sneaking around before, ya know. So they got out a Growlithe to sniff him out, but it was too late. He had already returned to share his story."

"Anyway, Harrow says that the plan is to break that Project Legend kid outta here," Zack said. "And to use his power to get rid of this dump once and for all."

"But how's he gonna do that?" Marcus asked. "Security's really tightened around here recently. The guards are suspicious about us whispering to each other in groups and whatnot."

"Oh, he'll find a way," Zack said, then yawned. "I'm tired. Anyway, g'nite, Marcus."

---

"Hey, Marcus. Long time no see."

Marcus looked up to see Eva the Espeon morph he had met the other day. She sat down next to him at his dinner table. He noticed her brother Darius wasn't with her.

"Hi, Eva," Marcus replied, taking nervous bites of his chicken.

Eva looked confused as to why he was so paranoid, but shrugged and began eating her fruit salad anyway. Marcus heard heavy footsteps and noticed a tall figure walking toward him.

It was an Ursaring morph with enormous muscular arms and tiny brown bear ears. It appeared to be carrying a bowl of soup.

"Here ya go, Marcus. Here's your dinner," the Ursaring man said.

"But I already have my - "

"I SAID….here's…your…dinner." The other gave him a glare that made Marcus feel like screaming and running away. It was best not to argue.

"Okay, thank you." Marcus took the bowl of soup from him and smiled weakly. The Ursaring man lumbered off.

"That was pretty weird," Eva replied, raising one eyebrow. "I wouldn't eat it if I were you. It's usually not a good idea to accept food from random forceful strangers."

Marcus wasn't eating it, oh no. He was staring at a message in the soup. It was alphabet soup, and the letters were rearranged to spell out a message.

"Empty training hall after dinner."

---

Marcus followed the message, his Charmeleon tail swinging nervously. After he had finished, he approached the training hall that nobody ever used anymore, being careful not to be seen by any guards. This hall was an enormous stadium, but its lights were out and the entire empty place gave him the creeps.

"Hello?"

A pair of bloodred eyes caught the moonlight seeping through the windows. "Hey there, Mark. So nice of you to join us."

Marcus backed away, his green eyes wide with fear. The figure stepped toward him and pretended to slash his neck.

It was only Harrow, an amused grin on his face.

"I see you got my message, Mark. Otherwise you wouldn't be here." The frightening-looking Mightyena morph turned his head. "A little light in here, please, Kate."

A Raichu morph's cheeks lit up, and Marcus could see who else was in the room. Zack, Kate the Raichu morph, Harrow, Ren, Darius, Arthur, and two others he didn't know - a Noctowl morph and a girl who looked half-Kadabra.

"Excuse me…what's going on?" an unknown voice asked. Each head turned to the doorway. Eva was standing there, the red jewel on her forehead illuminated in the darkness.

"Are you a Psychic type?" Harrow asked.

"Yeah. Espeon."

"Good, you'll work perfectly. Come in, come in." Harrow waved a clawed hand and Eva nervously walked in, standing next to Marcus.

"Um…who are you?" Eva asked nervously.

"The name's Harrow, hon. And I'm your ticket outta this dump."

To be continued…