Even though he was good at what he did, Dr. Sorensen had a major problem with the way he looked. Not his 'normal' appearance mind you, but something far more intimidating than his primary form which he quite honestly had no idea how to control or even what triggered it. It was essentially what amounted to a phase 3 pokeboy form, which mainly occurred during times of great stress or fatigue from his job which was obviously quite often. But it always happened at the most inopportune times, such as right in the middle of a patient's therapy session. He would become almost werewolf-esque in design principle including the swept-back leg look, on top of that gaining razor sharp claws able to render most softer metals useless, a tremendous strength boost and roughly a foot in height. The first time it happened in a therapeutic setting was with Fio herself. They were discussing her feelings on her life, when all of a sudden he felt rather itchy and scratched at his hand, noticing something was off, and that his speech sounded a bit funny. He finally caught on when he saw her face, now full of sheer terror. Since that day he has felt ashamed and tries to hide out in his office until it subsides, which takes on average anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days max. We now go to him yet again chatting with one of the patients, the Espea from the impromptu dinner introduction to Nic, where she is speaking outright against all the new security updates and the ones soon to come.
"I still don't see why we have to have all these mechanical things in here, the regular guards were enough! The cameras give me a headache anyway, it's the way they smell and the noises they make when they move, plus they follow your every move which is just flat-out annoying!" She griped. This continued to be a one-sided conversation until she began trailing off, looking rather shocked at Dr. Sorensen. Suddenly his eyes went wide seeing this with the words,
"Oh god, not again!" He said in a squeaky growl of a voice. He immediately got up to leave and banged his head on the ceiling, knocking some dust down in the process, causing him to start sneezing, sending spittle spray everywhere. He quickly stumbled out of the room making sure to lock it again and barreled down the hallway at full tilt, intending to get to his office when he saw Nic in the way of his escape. He screeched to a halt with the words,
"Move! I can't let the patients see me like this! They'd lose their minds if they saw..." That's when Dr. Sorensen saw that Nic was escorting several patients back to their quarters after breakfast. His heart leapt into his throat and he looked extremely meek, despite his current physical appearance. Among them however was Fio, who to him looked horrified and shocked by this form. But to any normal outsider, she looked more intrigued by it, curious-like. He dodged past them and ran into his office, now totally mortified and humiliated by this unfortunate turn of events.
...
3 1/2 Hours later, the changes had completely disappeared, leaving Dr. Sorensen to face whatever sort of reaction that would most certainly occur. He wanted to apologize to Fio but couldn't bring himself to do anything more than pace back and forth nervously outside her room. Eventually he started to head back to his room when he heard her pull the eye slat for viewing inside the room from outside and call for him. He stopped dead still in a cringe position, wondering frantically what she would say. What she said however caught him completely off-guard.
"Dr. Marx? I've got a question... C... Can you... Do that thing... again? It was a... Big puppy, right?" She said, calmly, completely upending the doctor.
"I don't... Know how to, it just comes and goes..." He said after walking up to the door.
"Then... Could you, uhm... Could you show up... More?" She said, her face showing a reddish tinge for the first time in years. This was a major breakthrough with her, he COULD NOT let this opportunity slip by, lest she slip further into her vicious cycle-like depression.
"Yes... I'll make absolutely sure to do that, I promise... Would you like me to get you a drink in the meantime? Maybe something special?" He offered which she thought about for a second or two.
"A Dos Equis, if you don't mind... and something to munch on, maybe some more alfalfa..." She said, actually expressing an interest in food, let alone actually eating it. He nodded in response, too numb to do much else and practically skipped down the hallway he was so elated at how it turned out. She was definitely coming out of her funk, and Todd couldn't be happier, as she was one of the longest-running cases in Bramble View, actually being one of the first few patients brought in since the construction of the place! He was stopped by Nic who was waiting outside the security room, obviously aware of what had just occurred.
"Way to go, you actually got through to her... Keep this up and she might be able to leave for once and not have to come back... I think she likes you like that, by the way... How did you get like that to start with?" Nic asked.
"Well I'll fill you in when I get my errand run done for her, I'm so happy I could cry! This is her first major breakthrough since she's been here! It's amazing!" He said in a singsong voice.
"Alright Mr. Brightside, don't go floatin' into the upper atmosphere on me..." Nic teased.
"Alright, be right back..." Dr. Sorensen said.
...
After a few more words were exchanged and Dr. Sorensen saw to it that Fio had everything requested, he went back to tell Nic about his strange problem. As it turns out there was no apparent cause or trigger and began when he was about 7 years old. It always happened in high stress situations though such as the necessary restraint of a particularly rowdy patient, or when the job itself got to be a bit much. but sometimes it didn't even need that to occur and would just happen at random sometimes. At any rate it was more physical strength and his outward appearance was all that changed. His strength would roughly be the equivalent of 15 or so strong young men in their prime, but speed saw very small improvement, overall only 2 to 3 times normal human average. But what he lacked in speed he made up for in tracking it. That and raw power obviously, but he could track objects with his eyes in that form that would normally be just a flicker of movement to most.
"Well that's pretty good considering I an run at those speeds if I really push it... So if you see me gtfo'ing somewhere, that means you'd better follow suit cause all hell's broke loose in the opposite direction I'm running." Nic said with a grim look.
"Noted, say... Are you getting tired of the cafeteria food? I could really go for some specialty meals, that form takes a lot of energy out of me when I revert back..." Dr. Sorensen explained.
"Sure, why not... You plannin' on eatin' out tonight?" Nic inquired.
"Like you said just now, 'sure why not?'" Dr. Sorensen said as Nic grinned.
"So what kinda food ya got in mind?" Nic asked him.
"Feel up for a bit of everything? I've yet to repay you for all your hard work, and all that's yet to come which by the way... What else are you going to add? We have the security system installed already..." Dr. Sorensen wondered.
""For Pokegirls with average strength yes, that's all well and good... But cameras aren't gonna stop the high-risk patients from busting out, like that Berserker you've got holed up in isolation cell #15... She had a huge sword she'd always try to get before considering escaping... I'll fill you in on the details over the meal and on the way to and from... In the meantime, let's chow down!"
Chapter 4: The Beast Within. In Name Only.
Even though he was good at what he did, Dr. Sorensen had a major problem with the way he looked. Not his 'normal' appearance mind you, but something far more intimidating than his primary form which he quite honestly had no idea how to control or even what triggered it. It was essentially what amounted to a phase 3 pokeboy form, which mainly occurred during times of great stress or fatigue from his job which was obviously quite often. But it always happened at the most inopportune times, such as right in the middle of a patient's therapy session. He would become almost werewolf-esque in design principle including the swept-back leg look, on top of that gaining razor sharp claws able to render most softer metals useless, a tremendous strength boost and roughly a foot in height. The first time it happened in a therapeutic setting was with Fio herself. They were discussing her feelings on her life, when all of a sudden he felt rather itchy and scratched at his hand, noticing something was off, and that his speech sounded a bit funny. He finally caught on when he saw her face, now full of sheer terror. Since that day he has felt ashamed and tries to hide out in his office until it subsides, which takes on average anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days max. We now go to him yet again chatting with one of the patients, the Espea from the impromptu dinner introduction to Nic, where she is speaking outright against all the new security updates and the ones soon to come.
"I still don't see why we have to have all these mechanical things in here, the regular guards were enough! The cameras give me a headache anyway, it's the way they smell and the noises they make when they move, plus they follow your every move which is just flat-out annoying!" She griped. This continued to be a one-sided conversation until she began trailing off, looking rather shocked at Dr. Sorensen. Suddenly his eyes went wide seeing this with the words,
"Oh god, not again!" He said in a squeaky growl of a voice. He immediately got up to leave and banged his head on the ceiling, knocking some dust down in the process, causing him to start sneezing, sending spittle spray everywhere. He quickly stumbled out of the room making sure to lock it again and barreled down the hallway at full tilt, intending to get to his office when he saw Nic in the way of his escape. He screeched to a halt with the words,
"Move! I can't let the patients see me like this! They'd lose their minds if they saw..." That's when Dr. Sorensen saw that Nic was escorting several patients back to their quarters after breakfast. His heart leapt into his throat and he looked extremely meek, despite his current physical appearance. Among them however was Fio, who to him looked horrified and shocked by this form. But to any normal outsider, she looked more intrigued by it, curious-like. He dodged past them and ran into his office, now totally mortified and humiliated by this unfortunate turn of events.
...
3 1/2 Hours later, the changes had completely disappeared, leaving Dr. Sorensen to face whatever sort of reaction that would most certainly occur. He wanted to apologize to Fio but couldn't bring himself to do anything more than pace back and forth nervously outside her room. Eventually he started to head back to his room when he heard her pull the eye slat for viewing inside the room from outside and call for him. He stopped dead still in a cringe position, wondering frantically what she would say. What she said however caught him completely off-guard.
"Dr. Marx? I've got a question... C... Can you... Do that thing... again? It was a... Big puppy, right?" She said, calmly, completely upending the doctor.
"I don't... Know how to, it just comes and goes..." He said after walking up to the door.
"Then... Could you, uhm... Could you show up... More?" She said, her face showing a reddish tinge for the first time in years. This was a major breakthrough with her, he COULD NOT let this opportunity slip by, lest she slip further into her vicious cycle-like depression.
"Yes... I'll make absolutely sure to do that, I promise... Would you like me to get you a drink in the meantime? Maybe something special?" He offered which she thought about for a second or two.
"A Dos Equis, if you don't mind... and something to munch on, maybe some more alfalfa..." She said, actually expressing an interest in food, let alone actually eating it. He nodded in response, too numb to do much else and practically skipped down the hallway he was so elated at how it turned out. She was definitely coming out of her funk, and Todd couldn't be happier, as she was one of the longest-running cases in Bramble View, actually being one of the first few patients brought in since the construction of the place! He was stopped by Nic who was waiting outside the security room, obviously aware of what had just occurred.
"Way to go, you actually got through to her... Keep this up and she might be able to leave for once and not have to come back... I think she likes you like that, by the way... How did you get like that to start with?" Nic asked.
"Well I'll fill you in when I get my errand run done for her, I'm so happy I could cry! This is her first major breakthrough since she's been here! It's amazing!" He said in a singsong voice.
"Alright Mr. Brightside, don't go floatin' into the upper atmosphere on me..." Nic teased.
"Alright, be right back..." Dr. Sorensen said.
...
After a few more words were exchanged and Dr. Sorensen saw to it that Fio had everything requested, he went back to tell Nic about his strange problem. As it turns out there was no apparent cause or trigger and began when he was about 7 years old. It always happened in high stress situations though such as the necessary restraint of a particularly rowdy patient, or when the job itself got to be a bit much. but sometimes it didn't even need that to occur and would just happen at random sometimes. At any rate it was more physical strength and his outward appearance was all that changed. His strength would roughly be the equivalent of 15 or so strong young men in their prime, but speed saw very small improvement, overall only 2 to 3 times normal human average. But what he lacked in speed he made up for in tracking it. That and raw power obviously, but he could track objects with his eyes in that form that would normally be just a flicker of movement to most.
"Well that's pretty good considering I an run at those speeds if I really push it... So if you see me gtfo'ing somewhere, that means you'd better follow suit cause all hell's broke loose in the opposite direction I'm running." Nic said with a grim look.
"Noted, say... Are you getting tired of the cafeteria food? I could really go for some specialty meals, that form takes a lot of energy out of me when I revert back..." Dr. Sorensen explained.
"Sure, why not... You plannin' on eatin' out tonight?" Nic inquired.
"Like you said just now, 'sure why not?'" Dr. Sorensen said as Nic grinned.
"So what kinda food ya got in mind?" Nic asked him.
"Feel up for a bit of everything? I've yet to repay you for all your hard work, and all that's yet to come which by the way... What else are you going to add? We have the security system installed already..." Dr. Sorensen wondered.
""For Pokegirls with average strength yes, that's all well and good... But cameras aren't gonna stop the high-risk patients from busting out, like that Berserker you've got holed up in isolation cell #15... She had a huge sword she'd always try to get before considering escaping... I'll fill you in on the details over the meal and on the way to and from... In the meantime, let's chow down!"