Poke-genetics: first explanation
He was not feeling well. He felt like his body was under a sleeping snorlax. Put blatantly, Ash felt paralyzed. It was a frightening sensation. To be unable to move your body while you were conscious.
Something splashed his face.
«Huh?»
It happened again, though this time it was less of a splash and more of a gentle touch.
Periodically, the treatment was repeated until Ash began to feel better. When he finally got enough strength to move again, he opened his eyes slowly. Everything was blurry. Next to him, there was a yellow shape resting on its side.
«Pikachu?»
Instead of the usual «pikapi», he got something very unusual.
English words, which made no sense.
«Nope, try again.»
It took his brain a while to register what had just happened. By the time he had actually understood his Pikachu talked, his vision was no longer blurry.
Pikachu just walked toward him with a smile.
«I was pretty worried about the side-effects, but it seemed they weren't too bad. Just a big fever.»
He paused for a few seconds before he continued.
«Well, to be honest, I was also worried about the primary effect of the gas. »
«What effects?»
Ash frowned, his voice sounded… different. Was that what Pikachu was talking about?
Apparently no, because as soon as he asked, the pokemon looked away in shame.
«You didn't realized?»
«Realized what? That you can speak English?»
«It's the other way around.»
«Huh?»
«Here, look at yourself.»
And he handed him a bucket of water. Ash peeked inside of it, afraid of what he was supposed to see.
As soon as he saw himself, he snapped.
«AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, NOT AGAIN! »
He was running in circles, screaming in panic. The other way around! Pikachu was not speaking English, HE was talking like a pikachu. He had been turned into one!
Again.
«Ash, CALM DOWN! »
He was slammed on the side and he began rolling on the grass. Before he got the chance to get up and start running again, Pikachu jumped on him and nailed him to the ground.
«Settle down. I know it's extremely freaky, but if you don't calm down, this will get worse. »
«Let me go, Pikachu! » Ash ordered.
«I already told you, I'm NOT Pikachu. »
«What? Who are you? »
«Guess. »
The Pikachu on top of him looked a little bit familiar. Some of its hairs were spiky on the top of his head.
«Sparky? » he asked, completely clueless.
«Who is that supposed to be? »
«One of my friend's pokemon. »
«Oh come on, if you were turned into a Pikachu, what makes you think I haven't? »
«Genno? »
«Yup. »
«Where's Pikachu? »
«He's sleeping inside. »
«What happened to us? »
«You turned into a Pikachu. »
«Yeah, thanks for the info. I mean, why did I turn into a pikachu? »
«To explain that will take a lot of time, do you mind if I get off of you and we go inside? »
«No… »
Now that he was calmer, Ash found it hard to walk on all four and the trip to the house, which was not that far, turned out to be longer than he thought.
Inside, everything looked huge and he was slowly beginning to freak out again. This was not a dream. He had been turned into a pokemon! His favorite pokemon, but still... he would have appreciated if it didn't happened without his consent.
Genno lead them to the living room and sat in the middle of the room.
«I'd usually say: «take a seat», but you're probably not used to your body enough to jump on the chairs. »
Ash had an annoyed look on his face.
«Alright.» Genno added. «The transformation… well, it would be easier to begin like this. My name is Genno Avery, the son of Jonathan Avery.»
Seeing as Ash was about to say something, Genno interrupted him.
«Let me finish! I was name like this after the Greek origin of the word «Genetic». My father is a poke-geneticist, one who studies the DNA of pokemon. Poke-geneticists were the ones who discovered how to make pokeballs, among other things, but my father was mostly interested in one particular pokemon: Ditto. The only pokemon upon whom Mew bestowed the transformation ability. »
He took a deep breath and continued.
«Two years ago, his research took a much more serious turn, since I had finally caught a Ditto. What was but speculative theories became much more serious ones, until they became facts. My father made major discoveries about pokemon DNA in the space of a year. For example, he discovered that the transforming abilities come from DNA production. »
«What's that? »
«To morph, a Ditto produces other creatures DNA and releases it inside its own body. The only difference between a ditto and the pokemon it morphed into is a fraction of ditto DNA hidden inside it. »
«Ok… and? »
«Well, my father succeeded in reproducing these DNA samples in big quantities. He found out that mixed with a certain fluid, namely water, it creates a chain reaction and triggers a transformation. The liquid in the sprinklers was some of the solution that my father duplicated.»
«Your father discovered something to turn humans into pokemon? »
«Well, that was not his goal. I think. But what's strange is that it was not supposed to be in the defense system. The last time I checked, it only shot nets to capture intruders. »
«So… what does this means? »
«Actually, it would be better if you let me continue. »
Ash simply nodded.
«The thing is, producing that kind of DNA samples is monstrously hard. To isolate the ditto's original DNA, it took him nearly a year. Then, the production also had its own practical difficulties. My father and I worked extremely hard to produce the first Ditto DNA solution, but…»
Genno stopped talking and began breathing heavily. There was hidden wrath in his voice.
«Ash, I'm sure you guessed by now, but there wasn't a power outage here. »
Okay, Ash wasn't going to tell anyone he had believed that part of his story.
«…What happened? »
« Well, it seems what we were doing was interesting for some. The night we finished the production, Team Blast broke into our house. »
«Who? »
Genno looked at him with an ironic smile.
«You've been away for a long time, haven't you? »
«Well…»
«They're Team Rocket's new rivals. Apparently, they were created by some Team Rocket's ex-member to take over Giovanni's business. They're dangerous. They are successfully stealing Team Rocket's influence bit by bits. I'm pretty sure that they are going to defeat Giovanni completely someday. »
«Bad guys succeeding at something… it feels weird…»
«You don't know the half of it. I woke up after they got in. Before I could even get out of my room, they had already capture my father. I only saw them briefly. Just when I got close enough to get them, they threw one of the test tubes at me. One containing the samples. I had to run away before they realized what it did. »
«What? But… this doesn't make sense. If they threw the same thing that affected me at you, you would have been a pokemon when we met. »
«What makes you think I wasn't? »
«You'd have to be blind not to see a difference between now and then. »
«Ash, I'm not a pikachu. »
With abyss deep irony, Ash answered:
«Yeah, you're also totally not covered in yellow fur, smaller than a dog, with a thunder shaped tail and the power to generate electricity. »
«Ash, we had just finished the DITTO samples when they came. » Genno said with an insisting emphasis on the word «DITTO».
«You mean…»
Deciding this was taking too long, Genno decided to just show his friend.
Just like an evolving pokemon, he was surrounded by glowing light and his shape began to change. However, he didn't become a raichu as the evolution process said. Instead, he became a mass of dark green matter, a green ditto.
«Does it make sense now? »
Ash was too stunned to talk. While he was looking for words, Genno turned back into a pikachu.
«The me you met a few days ago is actually the body of a random stranger I met after turning into a ditto. I just copied him to get a human body for a while. »
«Why… didn't you tell me?»
There was a lot of sadness in his voice. He thought of Genno as a friend. Knowing that he had so little trust in him was kind of… depressing.
«I… was afraid. You're a trainer and I thought that if you saw me… you might…»
«Catch you? »
«Yeah… »
Ash turned around. Could he just accept that? Genno just said that he was afraid of him. Part of him wanted to be angry, but another… if HE was a pokemon looking for help, would he easily believe a trainer he just met?
Unsurprisingly, he had no trouble trying to be in Genno's shoes. He remembered the first time he turned into a pokemon. He had not told the others at the time, but he had been secretly afraid of being Team Rocket's new target.
Ash turned back to Genno and said:
«Alright, I forgive you for that. More importantly, how do we become humans again? »
His friend looked at him in the eyes. There was a really solemn tone to his voice, it sounded like a doctor... announcing bad news.
«Ash, we were at the beginning of the research. We didn't even imagine it would be used that way. We didn't create a counter to the DNA samples. »
Ash felt a rock fell in his stomach.
«Are you saying…? »
«I don't know if it's possible for us to become humans again. »
He was a really pale yellow now. No antidote? He was STUCK as a pokemon this time? What about his dreams of being a pokemon master? That title was only for humans trainers. Heck, who would do a pokemon battle against a pikachu pretending to be a trainer? What about his friends? They wouldn't even understand him anymore. What about his mother? He would have no way of telling her. His life had been ruined in the space of a few hours. Out of nowhere. It was so… UNFAIR!
Ash did what most people who do when they feel like victims and pressure what getting too overwhelming. He ran away.
«ASH! ASH!»
Genno wasn't fast enough. When he got out of the house, he only saw a flash of yellow fur disappearing in the bushes of the woods.