Coming to is once again rather painful. Her head's swimming and there's a weird taste in her mouth. On top of both those sensations everything in her body is screaming, and she jerks with the aftershocks of whatever happened. Obi and Daniel are clearly not much better, Obi's fur is even smoking. The only member of the group who seems unaffected is the rattata. He at least has the decency to look sheepish about it.
"Sorry..." he says running a paw over the back of his head. "I'm still not quite the best with thunderbolt!" That was a thunderbolt?! She blinks and twitches trying to sit up. Obi growls something that she doesn't quite catch but already wholeheartedly agrees with just based on the tone. Daniel groans and rolls over looking up at the rattata with half glazed eyes.
Hybrid pushes herself up and glares at the rodent Pokéuman who shrugs before wrapping his tail around himself and looking at all three of them. Obi growls as she gets to all fours and walks over to stand by her. Daniel grumbles something and pushes himself up into a seated position before shaking himself out.
"You call that a thunderbolt, it was more like a discharge..." he mutters and she blinks before nodding. It's that moment that it registers, echoed in the back of her head by the other voice.
'{Do we even know his name yet?}'
"Hey! We don't know your name!" she actually points at him as she speaks and the rattata boy snorts closing his grey eyes. Daniel blinks and looks at her before the sentence seems to click in his head. He opens his mouth, pauses and snaps it shut before glaring at the rodent. "So... who are you?"
"Ronan... You can call me Ronan!" he says holding out a paw to them. Obi snorts from beside her and Daniel rolls his eyes.
"Yes well, I'm Daniel, that's Tamara-"
"Hybrid!"
"Hybrid... and the dog's just along for the ride." he continues despite her interruption and she feels her ears both twitch in annoyance at his words. At his dismissal of Obi who doesn't really seem to care one way or the other. Which makes her relax and calm down.
Ronan on the other hand rolls his eyes, stands up and walks off into the darkness. In fact she realizes looking around it's much darker now than it was before. She stands up, and almost topples over since her feet feel much different to how they should. Swapping her stance so she's on the balls of her feet helps.
It still feels weird, but less so. Looking down she can't see any reason for the weirdness, but that might be since she's still wearing her sneakers. Either way she huffs and walks until she finds a window. She has to reach up and hoist herself up to even peer out of it. Obi follows her and stands guard ready to catch her should she fall.
As it is though she's too busy staring.
'{What is this place? It's not familiar at all...}' the voice echoes her thoughts, there's trees, a pine forest and a lake with ripples that spread as she watches. Green bright green grass and a moon stands watch over head. But the thing is, there's nothing to tell her where exactly they are. Daniel trots into the hall behind her and she turns to face him.
"We'll be staying here for the next four days. Three of them so you can finish your transformation." She's about to ask but he holds up a paw stopping her "The last so we can actually figure out how we're going to get to the Roamers Association Meeting." She blinks and mouths a small Oh before looking out the window once more. Before snapping her head back around and asking.
"Wait three for my transformation?" Daniel bewildered nods his head and she sort of slumps. That means that she missed a day. She missed a day of her transformation. An entire day, then again it might have just been lost in the confusion.
After all there was the thing with the Gardevoir and then they were all attacked by some idiots. Also Ronan's uncontrolled thunderbolt. She grimaces and the voice in the back of her head bursts into laughter at her thoughts.
'{Sure was shocking wasn't it!}' they laugh before falling back into silence. The pun is in rather bad taste though and she grimaces, both at the memory and the pun. And she blinks, before looking around. Nobody else is in the hall, aside from Daniel but he's used to her weirdness. Everyone from the school would be. Wandering around with her head in the clouds…
Talking to people who aren't there.
Fighting monsters that aren't there.
She takes a deep breath and narrows her eyes. Hands curling into fists and she closes her eyes. Ears perk up, and twitch once. A twitch of the nose as she sniffs and she thinks.
'Who are you? Where are you?'
'{Finally you catch on!}' the voice huffs at her before growling something that she doesn't quite catch. Which is weird if they're apparently inside of her head. '{I don't care, you're just a weak little idiot anyway!}' the voice shouts.
'You… you didn't answer-' She cuts herself off, startled by some distant noise. Her eyes snap open and her head whips around to see… Obi. The dog has the decency to look sheepish at least for surprising her. "Obi… what is it?" she decides to ask instead of getting mad or anything. The dog's tail wags and she grins at her.
"[Prepare… Practice.]" Straightening eyes that narrow and feel like they're looking right through her. "[Pack safety first. Information important!]" Obi growls and she actually feels herself backing away slightly, there's a sense of shock and confusion and faint fear in the back of her head. "[Move set, types and check the chart... fairies lurk...]"
"Fairies..?" she asks blankly and distantly she's able to hear the voice swearing. It takes only a little moment longer for it to click and she grimaces. "Right... Dark type... but Fire resists... so I should be okay?" she actually frowns.
"[Still prepare, find moves. Confirm, and control. Harmonize!]" is the canine actually suggesting what she thinks that they are. "[Harmonize!]"
"Meditation?" she says completely blankly.
'{Are you kidding me?!}' the voice practically howls in the back of her head. '{Meditation is fucking bullshit! That won't do anything!}'
She completely agrees with the voice but doesn't say anything as her canine companion sharply grins. Eyes slightly narrowing and tail beginning to wave from one side to the other. 0bi abruptly spins around and her eyes follow. Left, right, left, right...
Blink...
A yawn.
Why's she suddenly so tired?
Another yawn, and eyes droop.
'{So much... so much bullshit...}'
She can't help it, it wouldn't hurt to close her eyes for just a little while would it? Slowly they sink shut fully and her physical body sinks down to the ground.
Colours swirled over her head. A bright citron green and dark crimson red. The colours pulsed, ebbed and flowed and she found herself looking up with wide eyes. Before she looked down at herself. She raised her two front paws, patting her brown muzzle, and running them over the yellow partial skull on her head. She felt a swish from behind her and turned just enough to she a blue tail with a yellow star on the end.
That didn't seem right.
She crouched and spun around, managing to see that yes, her hind was blue. That was definitely not right. Not for a houndour.
"Don't worry about it!" the voice came from the left, she jumped before looking over. It was a cyndaquil, with inverse colours. "I'm pretty sure you double triggered..." they rolled their eyes before sighing. "The rest of us... well we got the leftover genes?"
"The what?"
"The missed possibilities!" They growled, and that was when she noticed something else. Stumbling back in recoil she barred her teeth at him yes, him!
"What the hell... you're a boy!" the cyndaquil blinked before snorting and rolling his eyes.
"Yeah... took you long enough Hybrid" the way he almost sing-songed her name was so obviously a tease that she bristled, but at the same time, it was a boy, in her head... and she was a girl... mostly. "Anyway aside from that I don't know where the others are right now... probably sorting out their own issues..."
"Okay..? And who're the others?"
"Honestly, I don't know... and I don't care." he said before turning to walk away. "It's not like that matters right now anyway. Just do what you're here to do then get back to the real world!"
"Real world? You mean..." He snorted and a puff of smoke drifted up into the air. She frowned and an ear twitched before she looked around. Back up at the shifting sky and finally back at him. "But aren't you real as well?" The boy simply sighed and shook his head before walking away.
"Not exactly..." his voice echoed back to her, she blinked and he was gone. A small confused sound left her before the surroundings shifted and she was falling. Ice and broken shards of ground, before she landed on a slide. Round and round as she went further down eventually coming to a stop on a patch of grass at the bottom.
She shook herself off before standing back up and coming face to face with herself in a mirror. Black fur, shark tooth still around her neck, four metallic links around her ankles, yellow half skull, two golden bands, the blue hind half and the star at the tip of her tail. At least her eyes were the same, a shifting hazel.
As she watched though the reflection grinned, backed away and lightning glowed blue around it. Racing forwards hitting something, Spark.
Next flames blazed for a moment in the reflections mouth before it looked away took a deep breath and blew a stream of embers at something, Ember.
Curling up into a ball the reflection once more charged towards the surface of the mirror, Rollout.
And finally they bounced away before flames spun around them and they spun forwards right towards her, Flame Wheel.
The mirror burnt away in flames and her reflection seemed to give her one last grin before leaving. She had a move set now though. While she was still transforming it wasn't going to be very useful though. She frowned pensively, considering the cyndaquil.
What could he have possibly meant by the fact that he didn't exist. She had been able to see him, to speak to him, how could he not be real?
"But how... How can he not be real?" she muttered to herself, before both of her ears flickered. She crouched instinctively as the sky shattered. Abruptly she was pulled up, flying off into the sky.
Eyes snap open to stare blankly up at the roof. At the panels overhead, and she closes them again, taking a deep breath. Holding it for merely a moment before blowing it out. Opening her eyes again she looks down at her hands, creeping black fur, fingers just beginning to meld together. And her shoes just feel wrong. She tugs them off to see fully formed blue covered paws.
"Double trigger..." her voice is soft, quiet. She's more than aware of those around her still sleeping. Aside from her new paws, and the fur there's also a weight on her back and raising a paw it's hard on her head. Helmet, skull, cap already firming up itself. Crossing her eyes the tip of her nose is beginning to darken as well. "Houndour... and what though?"
Also her posture feels weird. She straightens and she can kind of feel a strangeness in the way her legs are. Slowly she walks, and finds a mirror.
"My posture is Meowth's..." she blinks and frowns, her clothing still feels weird... Especially her pants, probably because they're swamping her legs. She grumbles a bit before pulling them off and throwing them to the side... To her relief it's all fur. In fact the fur is already creeping up her belly a bit... She'll keep her shirt. Shaking her head she returns to the mirror, it looks incredibly odd honestly.
A pair of black ears, with creeping fur down her face, the yellow cap half-formed, light smattering of black on her slightly pointier nose, mostly furless arms aside the hands and bracelets, and the cartoon meowth posture for her blue covered legs. Also, her T-Shirt looks a bit like a short dress if she's been honest.
An incredibly short dress.
"Oh modesty... what happened to you?" she mutters grimacing. Before rapidly shaking her head. How much more of the transformation... the rest of her visible skin, and she has yet to gain her tail... That's not actually all that much.
That must make today, if there is a today the sixth day... The second last day of her transformation. There really isn't that much more to go. Some small part of her is deep in awe, a larger part is stuttering in terror and fear at her imminent life change. The loss of her humanity, and she's already lost pieces of herself...
That's...
Oh.
The realization hits her like a freight train and she slams down into a seated position.
Pieces of herself. That's what the cyndaquil is... He's a part of her that's been fractured and torn away given a life and soul of it's own.
We're... Fractured
The significance of the statement is only realized in hindsight. It aches and it tears and the worst part is she still doesn't quite know what she's lost. What they have, what the others that he mentioned might have. Or if she's still got those pieces, but minimized.
'{Now you fucking notice...}' his voice grumbles and she sucks in a breath. '{Well... what are you going to do about it? Are you going to try and reintegrate us... or... keep us like this?}'
