Eelizabeth's Tale

13

Elizabeth woke up in the morning in the pokémon center to the blasting music of an alarm clock turning on the radio.

"Sometimes it's hard to know,
Which way you're supposed to go.
But deep inside, you know you're strong.
If you follow your heart, you can't be wrong."

"My EARS!" Elizabeth cried "They're BLEEDING!"

"Stand Up!
(Stand Up!)
For what is right.
Be brave!
Get ready to fight.

"Make it stop! It's killing my disguised but still perfectly functioning ears!" Latias softly screamed.

"Hold On!
(Hold On!)
We're friends for life.
And if we come, together as one.

"I'll stop this thing if it kills me!" Elizabeth jumped onto the table where the alarm clock was placed. "DIE!!" She tackled the radio and crushed it against the wall.

The radio sputtered a little. "Com-"

"SHUT UP!!" She yelled at the object, and bit into it, and tore it into shreds.

Jon woke up at that moment. "Hey everybo-" he yawned, he saw Elizabeth. "What the…" He walked over to Elizabeth and what was formerly a radio. "Whoa… Hey Ellie." He put his hand forward to pet her. The eevee bristled and growled at him. He jerked back his hand, and Elizabeth dropped the radio. They stood looking at each other.

Elizabeth spoke first, and the conversation went in quick succession. "Oh my gosh, Jon, I'm so sorry. I don't know what got into me."

"Ellie, ohmygosh. What was that?"

"I don't know! I just thought… something. I'm sorry.

"Well… okay, okay it's okay."

"I don't understand why-"

"Hey look at the time!" Latias said, enthusiastically breaking them apart. "We ought to get going soon, we've got a long trek ahead of us."

Elizabeth and Jon stared at each other awkwardly. "…Yeah." they said together.

Latias changed form into Amy again. "Then let's get to it."

After a few minutes of preparation, and convincing the nurse that they were not who they were, they made it to route 207. They all walked in silence for a while, dodging away from phanphy that were all over the place.

One phanphy rolled in front of Elizabeth, who barked and scared it away. "I think I'm getting the hang of this body!" she remarked happily, trotting at Latias' heels, which now looked like the heels of Elizabeth Vance.

"Oh." Latias looked down worriedly.

"Oh? That's all you have to say?"

"Well, if you're getting the hang of being an eevee, then by definition, that means you are embracing your new self, thereby losing bits of humanity."

"Oh."

"Precisely."

They walked a few more steps when Elizabeth tried to change the subject. "What's with all the phanphy?"

Jon jumped into the conversation. "Must be a swarm. That is actually pretty inconvenient for us, but that also means that all the trainers will be trying to catch them instead of battling some guy with an eevee." The fox's ears stood up. "Oh, I thought you had gotten used to me saying that."

"She just got un-used to it. She's becoming more and more like an actual eevee." Latias whispered.

"Oh."

"That's what I said!" Latias informed him.

Jon got a little mischievous grin. "Well, if you don't become yourself again, you'll still be my best friend. I could keep you as a pet if you'd like." he suggested.

"Don't say that! I won't stay like this for my whole life!"

"Kidding!" Jon said, flourishing his hands. "You can still have fun in a serious situation!"

"That wasn't fun! It…" Elizabeth's voice trailed off and she sniffed the air. "Berries!" she giggled excitedly, and ran off of the path.

Jon sighed and followed. Latias could hear him saying to himself while walking, "What has gotten into her? At least it's sort of the way we need to be going" She felt a tingling sensation in the back of her mind, but ignored it, catching up with Jon.

When the two came to where Latias felt Elizabeth was, they saw her standing on two legs, with her forepaws against a lum berry tree, with her tail wagging. "Food!" she tried jumping for the lum berries, but was too short to reach. Jon came over and picked one off of the tree and handed it to Elizabeth, who grabbed it and began nibbling. Jon sat down and tried to stroke her, but she bashed out at him with a bark. "MINE!" She stopped at the sound of her own voice. "…Jon? Wh- what happened?" He reached down to stroke her again, succeeding this time. The eevee melted under the comfortable feeling, but jerked up after about ten seconds. "No! Stop! I appreciate that you want to make me feel good, but it's making me act less human! I… I don't know. Let's just keep going. The sooner we meet the council, the better." Jon opened his, mouth to say something, but Elizabeth ignored him and walked in the direction that they had been going before. Latias saw the odd behavior, and felt another tingling, but heard Elizabeth, "Guys, come here!"

The two followed her, and stopped when they came to a large house. They walked up to door, and knocked. No one came. "I guess there's no one home." Jon shrugged. But at that time, Flashbolt and Ninetales burst from their pokéballs, and the door came open. The two pokémon ran inside. Jon and the group looked confused, but followed. They were startled to see Flashbolt lying down in a small bed that looked as though it had been made just for him. And Ninetales was sitting in front of a framed picture of a young woman that looked about 23. She looked about 6'2'' and had smooth skin, blonde hair, and soft emerald eyes. A tear welled in the pokémon's eye. "I know you… but why?" she whispered.

Jon was more impressed at the technology and furniture of the house. "Wow! This person had everything! This gear is amazing! I doubt even your dad would have some of this stuff, Ellie!" Sure enough, there were little gizmos in several spots around the odd house. "And this furniture looks like it must cost a fortune! And there's four floors of this stuff!" He pointed to a tall staircase that went up three floors.

Elizabeth walked up to his and tugged on his pant leg with her mouth. "Um Jon? This is all fine and dandy, but I'm still a pokémon! Now let's go!" Jon agreed, and called for Flashbolt and Ninetales, but Ninetales was glued to the picture. "I don't think that she'll be too much trouble, and we can always come back for her later." Elizabeth told Jon. They went outside.

"Hmm, well this is convenient." Latias stated. "This house is right at the base of Mt. Coronet." And truly, right behind the house was a seemingly endless tower of stone.

"Man, this would take forever to climb." Jon declared. "I think it would be stupid of us if we didn't just fly up."

"But we can't. Remember what Flashbolt-" Elizabeth started

"Actually," Flashbolt interrupted her, "I never said anything about not being able to fly to the top of the mountain itself, just not to the hall of origin."

"Oh, okay, I'm not complaining then."

Jon sent out Togekiss and Tropius. "Okay, take us to the top of the mountain, but make sure not to go any further." Jon commanded. Flashbolt climbed onto Togekiss, and Jon sat on Tropius' back.

"Elizabeth," Latias said, back in her normal form, sitting on the ground, "It would be my pleasure." she winked.

Elizabeth was surprised at the offer. "Oh! Well… okay." She hopped onto the legendary's back. They all ascended the mountain at a steady pace. "Hey Latias, I'm losing some memories and becoming more like an eevee, but you said that would take about a year. What's up?"

"Oh… Did I say a year? Oops… I meant a week…"

"A WEEK!?"

"Kidding!"

Elizabeth felt a growl in her throat, but stopped herself. "… Don't do that."

"Party pooper." Latias giggled.

Before too long, they reached the top. Then the tingling feeling returned to Latias, but this time feeling more like a painful jab. Jon did not notice this. "So Ellie, are you ready to be human again?" But he was horrified at the response she gave.

She said one word. "Eevee!"

***