A/N: UPDATED: Like Chapter 1, this chapter is next to receive an update. Same as before, just some grammar and spelling updates, yadda yadda. And maybe I edited some of the parts that I didn't really like much initially. Just read the chapter, will you? :P
Enjoy, and please Review!
Wednesday, June 9 – Genta City Outskirts
Well, we've arrived at last at this 'facility'. This was honestly the most tense ride in a car I've ever had, but Brian was kind enough to stop at a fast food place for some burgers. No one had ever just...well, done that for me before... Usually I'd have to pay out of my own pocket (with money I received from Mother, who would give out a weekly "allowance" of sorts), but Brian never even asked for an extra quarter or whatever. I had almost thirty Pokédollars on me, but he covered the whole fee without the slightest hesitation. Wow, I guess he really does have a heart...
...Or can people really be this generous? I can't even begin to wonder why, though. Almost everyone I know is usually so selfish... I'll even admit, I can dip into that territory on occasion...
It's actually hard to believe Brian is a scientist. I mean, the guy is dressed like one, but he doesn't act like one. Most scientists that you see on TV or whatever seem like really boring, technical guys with a droll sense of humor (that is to say, none). I asked the man why he was being so nice to me, and he just shrugged.
"It's just who I am," Brian answered. "I treat everyone with as much respect as they deserve. You in particular, along with those five other kids, deserve a special kind of respect."
I gazed at him curiously. "And that would be?"
He chuckled. "Well, obviously you need to be cared for. You're all orphans after all, one way or another. And I was the one who adopted you all too, so...I guess that makes me your "father"! Haha, well, you get my point."
He was silent for a moment.
"...You know, I trust you, Max. My question is, can you trust me back?"
I was taken a bit off-guard by the question. Brian trusts me already? Well, I guess he struck me as being a kind, polite and smart kid, which isn't really all that false (sorry if I'm seeming a bit full of myself), but how can he all of a sudden trust me when we hardly know each other? And he's asking if I trust him? Eeesh, how do I answer that? Honestly, I do trust him a bit, but is that genuinely considered real trust?
Still unsure, I responded, "Well...I suppose I do." Wow, that was convincing.
Brian raised an eyebrow at me. "'Suppose you do'? Really now?" he said, throwing in a cheap laugh to lighten the situation.
"Okay, okay...I do trust you," I said, a little embarrassed. "You haven't lied to me yet; you came out with all that stuff plainly and honestly... So yeah, I can trust you."
This seemed to satisfy him, since he smiled.
Pulling into the facility's parking lot (which was pretty small, not surprising as the place has few staff or visitors), he found a tight little spot and set the vehicle to park.
"Alright," he said, undoing his seat-belt, "here we are. Mind the step, it's a bit tricky."
I undid my own seat-belt, then left the vehicle. Looking up at the building before us, I saw it wasn't really all that huge, roughly the size of a normal apartment building. A sign that read "PokéGene Incorporated" was on one side of the facility. A rather bland building, to be sure, but at least it seemed more..."modern" than the orphanage.
Following Brian up to the building's entrance, I got a really weird sensation, and I hesitated before entering. Something in my gut told me this would be the last time I would be outside. Outside as a human, anyway. But what did I expect? I knew that was me reminding myself that they're going to turn me into a Pokémon. But hey, that was precisely why I came here. I suppose if I had very much to live for, I would've turned their offer down, but I didn't, so I accepted. Pushing away these foreboding sensations, and taking a last look at the natural world around me, I stepped through the door and into the building.
Entrance Lobby - PokéGene Inc. Facility
The first thing I noticed when I entered the facility is that it's very stuffy. Of course, it seemed not much different than a typical office building, so it didn't bug me that much. I caught sight of Brian, who was talking to the secretary lady, so I rushed over to see him.
He turned, and saw me approach. "Ah! Here he is!" he said, then looked back at the secretary. "Marilyn, this is Maxwell, the boy I was talking about."
The secretary, a young-looking brunette apparently named Marilyn, bowed slightly. "I'm pleased to meet you Maxwell. I hope that you find your time here meaningful," she said rather warmly.
"Th-thanks," I replied, smiling weakly. "I...hope so too."
Marilyn giggled and began speaking to Brian. "Okay, we have everything already prepared. CPT-019/6 is ready as well, it just needs a DNA candidate. Dr. Peters is in the Testing Room, and he's expecting you two."
Right about now, I started to get that sickening feeling in my stomach, the kind that you usually feel when about to see a doctor, appointment, or whatever else like that. I'm pretty sure the expression is "butterflies in your stomach". Whatever label you prefer to slap on it, I was pretty antsy.
Brian noticed my disturbed look, and so he came to my side and reassured me. "Don't worry about a thing, it'll be a lot easier than you might think. Dr. Peters—you can call him Frank, since that's his first name—will explain everything to you. We've done this successfully five times already, so what do you think will happen?"
"Uhrmm... It should be...okay then?" I said, feeling comforted a bit.
"Of course it will! Don't worry, Frank is a really nice guy. He can be a bit...well, Frank-ish sometimes, but he always means well."
"Frank-ish? And what is THAT supposed to mean?" I wanted to say, but I held my mouth shut and smiled a bit. But still, with those darn butterflies...
"Oh, hang on," the secretary Marilyn interjected. "Your bag...you can put it over on the chair there. I'll put it in your room later, 'k?"
"Thanks...again," I answered, and carefully placed it on a nearby chair, then followed Brian to where we were going.
He led me down a short hallway, until we came to a door that read 'Testing Room'. "This is it," Brian said slowly, and he opened the door and ushered me inside, then shut it behind him. To my surprise, the so-called 'Testing Room' looked almost nothing like those experimenting labs you'd expect to find in movies or on TV.
It seemed to be nothing more than a rather homely-looking room, obviously to put any volunteers at ease, with a few chairs and small worktable. The only thing remotely medical/experiment-ish was a metal operating table, and even that was topped with a foam mattress of sorts. A tiny end-table with a tray of needles and general doctor equipment was here too. It was a bit less stuffy in here than outside in the halls, even.
As I looked around the room, I barely noticed Dr. Peters come up and greet me. "Hello, you must be Maxwell. I'm Dr. Peters, but you can call me 'Frank' if you want," he said, introducing himself.
I didn't respond, as I was mesmerized by the almost-comforting atmosphere of the room, so Brian had to gave me a little nudge to wake me up. Once I came to my senses, I looked at Dr. Peters and said hi back to him. Dr. Peters seemed to be a much older man than Brian, at least 60 or 70 years old maybe, with pale white hair, faded, tired-looking blue eyes, and seemed a bit...down-to-earth. Unlike Brian, he wasn't wearing glasses. He did wear the same kind of lab coat and pants though.
"It's nice to meet you at last," he greeted, offering a handshake that I quickly accepted. "You know, we took one look at your file and knew right away that we had someone special, isn't that right Brian?" the old scientist said.
Brian looked up at Frank and smiled. "You know it. I had a feeling that Max here would accept...though not without some careful thought, right?"
I looked at him and nodded. "Uh, yeah..."
"Great! Now then, Frank, just tell Maxwell here everything he needs to know about the procedure. Just so he won't be so nervous, alright?"
Dr. Peters nodded in understanding and led me over to a grouping of three chairs, all facing each other in a circle (as if this was a perfectly planned operation), and we each sat down in one. Again, that fear of confrontation came about, but here I didn't really have to ask questions, as Frank obviously had a speech all organized.
"Now then," he began, "please pay attention, as this information is very important. For this procedure, we will be using the formula known as CPT-019, as I believe Brian may have already told you. This formula is a miracle of genetic engineering. It is a powerful chemical agent that can be likened to a cancer on steroids—oh, don't look so shocked, it's perfectly harmless, I assure you—by spreading through your body rapidly while replacing your current genetic code with any alternative DNA that the formula is 'plugged-in' with. In this case, we use Pokémon DNA. Once your DNA is rewritten, the formula induces a heavy physical metamorphosis to match the DNA coding. Admittedly, this process can be quite...unpleasant, which is why we've added an anesthetic into the mix. You'll pass out before anything can happen, and you'll wake up an hour or so later, in your new form. Am I clear with you so far?"
This was quite a lengthy explanation, but I somehow managed to keep up with it. "Umm, yeah. Anything else?" I asked, twiddling my thumbs nervously.
Dr. Peters nodded. "Yes, there is. I just want you to be aware that, even though Brian may have already informed you, the formula's effects will be permanent. You will have the full, DNA-exact body of a Pokémon, and will spend the rest of your life as one. We are not sure what typical Pokémon attributes, such as moves and abilities or even evolution will be like with this latest formula, but we assume them all to be present. You will be able to communicate with other Pokémon as well. Granted, you will lose the ability to speak English, although that may be obvious. You should have enough understanding of body language or writing though, so that is still a way to talk with us. Another thing to take note of, this formula is designed to keep your human mind and personality almost perfectly intact. That way, you won't lose your memories and such to the primal Pokémon nature. We learned that the hard way with formula CPT-013..." The old man started to look a little upset, and Brian looked away, obviously ashamed.
I let myself gulp, and somehow summoned the nerve to ask for details. "Wh-what about that one formula? Was it...er..."
"A failure? Yes, mostly. Pokémon transformation was achieved, but the volunteer's mind was lost to the Pokémon's nature. He wouldn't respond to his name, and even behaved aggressively towards us."
I felt very disturbed at this thought. A person basically losing their minds? Yikes, I couldn't even imagine that happening to me. "What happened to the guy?" I inquired, afraid to ask but still curious.
Dr. Peters' mood brightened up a bit. "Well, after a couple of weeks we found a way to restore his memories, thank goodness, though his Pokémon-ish behavior wouldn't go away. We fixed this problem in formulas CPT-014 onwards, so don't worry about that too much. Of course, some base Pokémon behavioral habits persist, such as self-defensiveness, instinct, and...well...mating," he said, smirking a bit at that last word.
I couldn't help but chuckle a bit, but I shut myself up after seeing that Frank was giving me a serious look. "Sorry," I said hastily, but he waved it off and muttered, "Think nothing of it, I know it sounds a tad strange, but bear with me."
Dr. Peters then took a small vial out of his coat pocket, and showed it to me. Inside it was a clear liquid, almost like water. "This," he began, "is the base CPT-019 formula. It won't work on its own, which is where you come in. Take a look here..." He handed me a small folder, with the name 'DNA Samples' printed on the front. "This is a folder with the samples of DNA we are able to use. If you look, you'll see that 'Starting Pokémon', as they're often called, are better suited for this kind of work. Of course, there are a few exceptions. Go on, you can pick one now."
I opened up the folder, and was immediately greeted with pages full of information. Tiny sample bags of some random kinds of material (hair, fur, scales, bits of claws, teeth, etc...) accompanying each Pokémon listed down. Even with only less than 40 or so Pokémon listed, much less than the total number of Pokémon species in the world, it was still a huge list.
I skimmed through all of them, trying to absorb as much information about each of them as possible, though for some reason I was drawn to one in particular. It was a water-type Pokémon that looked a lot like a sea otter. I looked up its name: Oshawott.
...I don't know why, but this one seemed to 'click' with me. Sure, it looked cute, and according to the information on its page it could wield the shell on its stomach like a weapon, or a tool. Rather handy, actually. And for whatever else reason...I felt as though I could relate to it somehow. I was also considering a couple others, though after roughly ten minutes of heavy contemplation, I had to go with the Oshawott. I took the DNA sample (a chip out of some kind of shell apparently) from the folder and handed it to Frank. "I'll go with this one," I said as confidently as I could manage, holding out the sample, and he took it.
"Well now... Oshawott, eh?" Frank said, eying the sample I gave him. "A fine choice indeed. It is a stronger Pokémon than it looks; it shall be a fine candidate."
I smiled a bit, happy that I made a good choice. "Thank you...sir," I said, and he smiled back at me.
"You're very welcome. I shall go and process the formula now. It will only take a moment, so if you could please be patient," Dr. Peters said, and he took the sample and formula vial and brought it out of the room. He was probably taking it to some kind of processing room or whatever.
I looked at Brian, who was nodding approvingly at me. "You seem to be going through with this easier than I thought. That's really good progress. I know that you can be withholding about your feelings—it said that in your profile too—but you really seem to seriously wanna do this. I'll ask again: are you one hundred percent sure? Be honest," he said, giving me that 'dead serious' look again.
I smirked a bit, feeling good about myself. "One hundred and ten percent, Brian. I haven't much left in my normal life anyway, but at least this should be an...interesting experience."
He laughed. "It sure as heck will! Heheh... Oh! I just remembered, when the procedure is done I'll go and introduce you to the other kids here. They've already been transformed via the CPT procedure, so it's just you they're waiting on."
"Oh, umm...what kinds of Pokémon have they...become?" I asked, my curiosity still unsatisfied.
"You'll find out soon enough. If I told you, it would ruin the surprise now, would it?" Brian answered, flashing me a quick wink and snickering.
I rolled my eyes at him. Obviously this guy doesn't act like a real scientist, and he knows it. But that's what I like about him; his friendliness and sense of humor, which, as I've said before, are traits that stereotypical scientists do not have. Though, there are the eccentrics... But I don't think Brian is in that territory (yet).
After at least five minutes (it felt like ten), Dr. Peters finally came back into the room, holding a syringe filled with a semi-transparent blue liquid. I recoiled briefly upon sight of the thing, as needles weren't exactly my thing. "D-does it have to b-be in a n-needle?" I sputtered, focused intently on the sharp point of that malicious tool. I always HATED getting my immunizations, as my fear of the needle would always tense me up. As a result, I had to dodge those shot checks on a regular basis, but sooner or later I would end up getting the injection anyway. Nrgh... That feeling when the needle goes in...I'd rather not relive it...
Frank sighed, but gave a dismissive shake of the head and came towards the table, a small ways from where I was sitting. "Now now, there's no reason to be afraid. And yes, it has to be through injection, otherwise if it's taken orally—that's by simply swallowing it—the formula will be destroyed in your gastric juices before it can be absorbed into the bloodstream. Just come on up here onto the table whenever you're ready. I promise it won't even be a minute."
"B-but," I protested, wanting to resist, but I couldn't. I had to endure it just this one time. Just this one time. What would be the point of me coming here otherwise? I somehow managed to force myself onto the table and lay down on it, looking up to the ceiling. If my inside consciousness had a real voice, then everyone would have to cover their ears, as it would probably be screaming.
I kept telling myself to endure it, and it will all be over soon enough. Of course, this was a losing battle against my better judgment, which was telling me to get the heck out of there. I did my best to pay no attention to anyone else. In fact, I didn't even hear Dr. Peters say, "Here we go, just relax..."
I was arguing with my mind when I suddenly felt the prick of a needle, though I hardly paid much attention to it, as I was pretty caught up in my 'self-argument'. It wasn't until a sudden tingling and warm sensation started to flow through me that I finally took note, but by then the anesthetic was doing its job, lulling me into the blackness of sleep.
...
...
"(...Urgh... Huh? What? Where am I? A...forest? Wha...? How did I get here?)" I thought, gazing around at the foliage all over. Something didn't feel right about this at all. I couldn't remember what had happened, or even how I got there. Weird...
Suddenly, a group of Rattata rushed through the forest around me, passing me by. Oh, but that wasn't the crazy part. The crazy part is that they were TALKING to each other. Like, I could actually understand their language! Bang! A flock of Pidgey fly overhead, and they're also talking! Wham! A small gathering of Caterpie are huddled together, and even they are speaking to one another! What the heck is going on here? Am I going insane?
It wasn't long until I noticed something was wrong with myself. At first, I thought I had somehow gotten shorter, but that would be just messed up. People don't just randomly shrink! Starting to freak out, I looked at my hands...or rather, my paws.
"(What the—? How did this...!)" My hands had—for some reason—become some kind of fingerless paws (it almost seemed like I didn't have hands period), and my arms were much shorter than I remember them being. The entire limbs were both pale white and slightly rounded as well.
By now, I was having a full-on panic attack, wondering what the heck happened to me. Last time I checked, my arms weren't quite so...not normal, to put it as gently as I can manage. In a panic, I began rushing through the forest aimlessly, though I stumbled and fell flat on my face more than a few times. To my horror, I soon saw this was due to the fact that my legs had become some kind of dark blue-colored flipper-like feet. "(Wonderful! How could this be any worse?)"
Ugh, I just had to ask. I found a pond in the middle of this forest, and I somehow summoned the courage to look into it. When I saw my reflection I almost passed out from shock then and there. Staring back at me in the pond was not my own, human face, but the face of the Sea Otter Pokemon: Oshawott! "(Whoaaa! Holy...!)"
Jumping back, I completely freaked out and started running around as fast as my short limbs would carry me. But I wasn't exactly 'accustomed' to my new feet, so I kept on stumbling and tripping over myself. I hardly cared though, so I just stood back up and kept running every time I fell. "(What happened what happened what happened!)" I began shouting incoherently. "(I must be going nuts! What's wrong with me...!)" Hopelessly shocked and confused, I continued to run in circles around the forest, earning many strange looks from the nearby Pokemon, until I heard an oddly distant and familiar voice.
Maxwell? Maxwell? Maxwell? Are you still with us?
"Maxwell! Wake up!"
Regaining consciousness, I began to stir, and finally opened my eyes. "(Phew, thank God. It was just a dream,)" I thought, slightly reassured. But then I suddenly remembered what had happened. The formula, the scientists, and every other detail came rushing back to me. But then, I wondered, what was that dream about...?
I sat up, feeling surprisingly sore, and I cringed in pain a little bit.
"Careful now, you've just been through a lot," I heard a voice say. I recognized it as Brian's, so I responded.
"Brian? What just went on? I'm having a hard time remembering anything..." ...That's what I meant to say, but imagine my surprise when a completely different sound came out, in the form of, "Osha? Wott wott? Oshawott..." I knew—somehow, I just knew—what that sound meant, but Brian didn't seem to.
"Umm, yeah, sorry, I can't really make that out. I'm assuming you just had a bit of bad dream; you were thrashing around in your sleep," he replied, sounding a bit confused.
I was a tad confused myself. "Huh? Well, yeah, I did but...why can't you understand me?" I asked, giving him a questioning look. "I'm speaking English!" Again, all that came out was, "Wott? Osh...osha? Wott!"
Brian just shook his head. "Again, no, I can't really understand what you're saying Max. Such is the unfortunate side-effect of CPT...but don't worry a thing about it. Just relax for a moment. So, I'm just gonna ask you a couple of questions, okay? Nod your head for a 'yes', or shake your head side to side for a 'no', understand?"
Clueless as to what was going on, I nodded. My head was ringing a bit with pain for some reason. If only I could remember what was even...
"Good then. First question, do you feel any different?" he asked.
What a strange question to ask. Obviously I felt different, pain-wise. But there was another feeling, too...it was almost like I seemed...smaller somehow. I didn't quite feel myself, to say it that way, so I nodded.
Brian chuckled. "I suppose you would, after what you've been through. Now, next question: Do you remember who I am and why you are here?"
Again, another strange question. Of course I knew him. He was Brian, the scientist who "adopted" me from that orphanage not long ago. Why I was here in this room kind of...escaped me a little bit. I remember that...he offered to take me here and...wait...
...I suddenly remembered why I was here. The formula...for turning me into a...wait...have I gone through that procedure? I don't remember it very well, so I tried to think as hard as I could. So much so, that I had to bring a hand up to rub my head in contemplation. That's when I noticed that it wasn't my hand. Not my human hands anyway. I stared at my now-shortened and pale white arms—almost like flippers that lacked proper digits—wondering how the heck that this came about. Looking over at Brian, whom I now realized looked huge compared to me, I nodded slowly, my mouth hanging open from shock.
Brian patted me on the head reassuringly. "There there, you're okay. The procedure was a complete success, and it appears from our observations that your body is adapting quite well to the change. You should be feeling "whole" within the day, which is quite excellent."
Change? The heck? What change does he...oh, now I remember. The change into a Pokémon. Almost in disbelief, I uttered a low cry, looking up at Brian pitifully.
"Oh, I suppose you're feeling a bit...shocked? And confused?"
I nodded, my mouth still hanging ajar.
"Heh, that'll be the formula talking. It likes to mess with your head a bit. That dream you may have had is most likely a result of its psychological effect. Don't worry if you can't really remember the details either, that's a common side effect. The point is, you are medically healthy and you have the full looks and abilities of an Oshawott." Brian pulled out a tiny 2-foot mirror from under the table, and aimed it away from me. "...Are you ready to meet your new self?"
I stared at the scientist, wide-eyed. I was going to say no, but seeing myself would be inevitable I guess, so I nodded.
"Okay," he said quietly, and held the mirror directly in front of me. Upon seeing my full reflection, I swear that I felt my heart stop. It wasn't me looking back...but an Oshawott. I was quite bewildered for a moment, so I tested this reflection by waving one of my arms. The Pokémon's arms waved too. I raised up a foot, and it did the same.
Finally I realized, almost unwillingly, that the Oshawott...was me.
I let out a rather high-pitched cry of disbelief and I covered my mouth with my tiny arms. I was doubtful at first, but that feeling had soon gone with the wind. That formula of theirs had worked. It really did. I'm a Pokémon. They actually did it. Holy. Crap.
I looked at my new body in the mirror, and felt my face, body, and elsewhere to make absolutely sure that this wasn't a dream. Though this couldn't possibly be one, I just had a dream already! At least here there's a reasonable explanation for what happened. But here I was, a Pokémon, and even though this truth was literally staring me in the face, I still couldn't quite bring myself to accept it fully.
Even when Brian briefly lowered the mirror I was still in shock. I actually agreed to go through with this, so it's not like I hated it, but still...I was more than very surprised at the magnitude of the transformation. After all, going from a 12-year human kid into an otter-like Pokemon that's only about a foot high...that's pretty darn extreme.
I examined myself thoroughly, actually feeling quite intrigued once the shock wore off. I had everything that an Oshawott had: The yellowed clam shell on my stomach area, the blue torso and pale white head, slightly triangular dark blue ears(?), among other things. My eyes were black and shiny, with an oval-shaped dark-orange nose between them, and I also had...are those freckles? (Well, they weren't actually; apparently they were just really short whiskers.)
When I opened my mouth, I could see two tiny little fangs protruding downwards (and as far as I could tell, those were the only visible teeth). I turned my head around to see behind me, and I noticed that there was a paddle-like dark-blue tail involuntarily wagging up and down. Seeing that part alone was enough to incite a slight blush from myself. To be perfectly honest...I thought that I looked pretty cute. ...Eesh, that's not something you'd hear out of me normally...
Brian silently laughed, and put away the mirror. "Quite a shock isn't it? That's pretty much how they all react when the process is over with, but you'll get used to it. Hey, maybe soon you'll be able to use Moves and stuff like that! But not now, it's still a bit early."
I nodded absentmindedly, still examining my new self with interest, but then Brian gave me a light tap on my side to get my attention.
"Now Max, I'm gonna need to have you co-operate with us a bit, okay?" he said rather seriously. "We're gonna need to run some post-procedure tests to check for any imbalances. We don't expect any however, so they should slide by nice and easily, okay buddy?"
Nodding, I took the chance to gaze curiously around the room. It was a whole lot bigger than I remembered, though I noted that as an obvious effect considering I was around a foot tall.
At that moment, the door to the room opened and Dr. Peters stepped in. "Oh? Maxwell's awake now, is he?" the good doctor said. "How's he looking, Brian?"
"Very good, Frank," Brian replied, nodding. "He was in a bit of shock over the transformation's effect, of course, but Max here seems to be adjusting already. And I ran a few easy questions by him, so his mind's in one piece."
Frank smiled. "Wonderful, as I expected. This formula has already been successful so far...although one of the other volunteers had a slight 'hiccup' in her mind, so to say. I believe the subject's name is Samantha..."
He walked over to me, and picked me up (this was an incredibly weird feeling I might note, no one has ever picked me up like this, so for a moment, I felt like a newborn baby or something), and then spoke calmly to me. "Come along now, Maxwell. We need to run a few tests, as I'm sure Brian has told you, to check for any after-effects that need attention. Do you understand?"
I nodded, wondering what kind of "after-effects" they could possibly be looking for. And what was this about one of the others—Samantha I think he said her name was—having a mental 'hiccup'? I sure hope that doesn't happen to me...but even if it doesn't, how will I fit in with the other "volunteers"? Hopefully we can be friends...but...
Dr. Peters carried me as carefully as possible out of the room (with Brian following) and into the stuffy hallway, then took me down the hall further and turned right down another hall, until at last we arrived at a room that read "Medical Center". Somehow, I figured that these tests weren't going to be pleasant, but again, my expectations were subverted when I saw that the interior of the room was much like the Testing Room, but with medical monitors and workstations and the like. The rest of the room had a rather homely feel, like the other one, as if this was intended to keep everyone at ease and relaxed. If that's true, it's working.
While the two scientists were scurrying about—me waiting on a table—they performed numerous tests, like blood tests, DNA analysis, more yes/no questions. They even brought in a special psychologist to do some rather tedious examinations. After all was said and done, they finally told me what they found out.
"So, good news!" Brian said, skimming through a stack of papers. "There are no negative health effects, as your body is adapting very well to the changes. Heart rate is good. Blood pressure and composition, ditto. And according to the psychoanalysis there are no visible signs of primal Pokémon behavior. Overall, you're just peachy! In fact, these are the best results we've had so far! I just wanna say thank you so much for being co-operative with us."
I smiled brightly at him. I guess I really can trust him after all. Dr. Peters, or should I say Frank, is a pretty nice guy as well. "You're welcome. It was nothing, really," I said as modestly as I could, forgetting that they couldn't understand me, so all that came out was, "Oshawott. Wott wott..." Brian seemed to realize my intended speech regardless, so he smiled back at me.
Both he and Frank led me out of the room (they granted me the dignity of walking, since the pain had long gone by now anyway, though this was quite an awkward process at first as I had to get used to using my new feet), and explained that they were going to take me to meet the others.
"They're a...colorful bunch, but they seemed nice enough, so establishing any friendships shouldn't be too hard," Brian said reassuringly. "Just watch yourself around them, some of them might still feel a bit...antsy, so I would advise giving them a berth if they should so desire it."
I looked up at Brian and nodded understandingly, silently hoping that the others would be kind enough. This, I realized, is where my new life begins...
…I'd better enjoy it while it lasts.
A/N: UPDATED: So yeah, I fixed up this chappie and so on, so...yeah. ANYHOW, if you haven't yet reviewed, then please do so! And don't be shy to point out any more flaws, if there would be any. I may as well try to polish this story as much as I can, right?
Review where it's due, osha! Until next update, fare thee well!
-TheAuthorGl1m0