Rachel's POV
Raven: I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I know this took a super long time! I just had a lot of issues going on in real life that kinda deterred me from writing… but I'm back!
Verto: Don't worry so much, Raven.
Raven: Oh, hi Verto. You're in a good mood today.
Verto: Yep. So don't ruin it.
Raven: Alright. Want to take the reviews?
Verto: Sure.
Verto: November Red Angel, Raven totally forgot about the tags at the top.
Raven: Ehehehehe… and thank you! It means a lot to me!
Verto: Oh yeah, Raven made some major changes to the story after your comment, Hyperjade. She decided-
Raven: Spoilers.
Verto: Taking a book out if his page, eh? Anyway, Sorge, thank you for the compliment. Hopefully Raven continues to do well, or my existence will be pointless. Magic Ball, nice guesses. Because shiny Eevees have red tipped fur.
Raven: Be nice.
Verto: Yeah yeah, anyway, yes she got the idea from an unfinished Digimon fic that's a couple years old. And Secret, hashtags are all one word.
Raven: Because you're a social one.
Verto: Shuddup.
No! Dear Arceus no! It simply made no logical sense! Michael's last words echoed around in her mind. "We're turning into pokémon!" Rachael felt the world spiraling around her.
"W-what?" Rachael gasped, desperately hoping she heard incorrectly; however, it would explain the strange phenomenon that has been going on for the past two days. The logical side of her brain couldn't ignore that truth. The past few days had been… lackluster, to say the least.
"I… no… chirp, what!" Rachael stuttered, her head reeling in shock. "What do you chirp mean 'turning into pokémon?' "
"I- I mean exactly what I cough said…" Michael muttered dully, as reality started to hit him. "How else do you explain… that?" Michael gestured to Danny, who was remaining uncharacteristically quiet and pensive.
Danny shrugged. "I guess cough so…"
"What! How can you be so calm about this! If this keeps going on, what will happen? We can't very well go back chirp to school! Today was bad enough as is!" Rachael was yelling at this point, Michael and Danny were not intervening while she let her emotions out. "I mean, I can't go to chirp college as a pokémon! And what about my parents! What about your parents!" Michael and Danny visibly flinched at this, not liking the thought of their parents reacting to this news.
"What do you suppose chirp we do? I've spent half my life in books, but never have anything like this been known to happen like this! In even all the transformation fiction stories I've read, not once has it chirp been a gradual change! It's not like we can go to the doctor's office for this!" Rachael was crying at this point, as tears streamed down her face, her voice becoming more and more desperate. All at once, any fight left within Rachael drained away, as she curled up and let her tears freely flow.
Rachael cried for the next few minutes, Danny and Michael allowing her to do so. They could offer her no comfort. Rachael's crying was interrupted by Hannah who burst through the door in a panic.
"I heard someone crying! Is everyone… okay…" She trailed off as she looked around at her friends. She donned a calm face. "What is going on?" she deadpanned.
"Well… cough Rachael just went nuclear after Michael told her cough that we are turning into pokémon." Danny answered in an equal level of deadpan. Rachael could see Hannah fighting to maintain her calm. Her reply was not the reply any of them expected.
"Okay… so I know this is bad and all, but I have to say… That is kinda cool."
Michael raised his eyebrows, skeptically, as Hannah continued. "I mean, sure there are… um… bad things about this, but I mean, c'mon! Pokémon! I'm almost jealous! So, what pokémon are you turning into?" She asked a bit too eagerly. All three of their eyes widened. That had not crossed their minds.
"Well… cough this… uh… fur is dark grey, and cough the top of my hair is turning red, so the only cough pokémon I can think of that fits that is… Zorua. Maybe cough Zorua?"
"That would cough explain your cough more… trickster style strategies yesterday, perhaps." Michael added, causing Danny to smile broadly, much to Rachael's bewilderment.
"Well, this grey mask-like fur on my face as well as the blue fur on my arms is similar to cough that of a… Riolu!" Michael looked as if he had just discovered the cure to mortality. "That explains everything! The weird way I've found myself walking, and the swirling colors too! That was cough the emotions Riolu can sense! When Danny smiled just cough then, I could see some green start swirling along with the… blue." Michael slowed down, looking at him. Danny shrugged.
"So you see emotions chirp as colors or something chirp of that nature?" Rachael inquired, interested.
Michael nodded. "Not only that. I can see the colors, but also… feel cough the emotions in a sense. It is hard to cough explain. It's like feeling them without feeling them myself… if that makes any sense."
"So!" Hannah interrupted, "What pokémon are you becoming Rachael!" Michael face-palmed; Danny rolled his eyes.
Rachael felt the panic welling up back inside her as the reality of the situation started to weigh down upon her further. She felt herself start to tremble. Slowly, she put her hand behind her head, closed her eyes, and took some deep breaths. Hannah's eyes widened as she mouthed "sorry" to Danny and Michael. Michael shook his head dismissively; Danny looked at Rachael calmly. He then donned a mischievous grin.
"Yeah, Birdbrain, what Pokémon are you becoming?"
Rachael froze, raised her head slowly, as Michael and Hannah's eyes widened.
Michael jumped up. "I… uh… have to… cough get some cough medicine from cough the kitchen! Hannah, will you help me look?" Michael was frantic.
Hannah instantly nodded. "Sure! You probably won't with… uh… your eyes messing up! Let's go!" The two hurried out of the room.
"What did you call me?" Rachael asked slowly, deliberately, as she gave Danny an icy glare.
"Ooh! Honing your ability already, eh? Intimidate, right?" Danny pressed on.
"So, that doesn't answer my question, Birdbrain. What Pokémon are you becoming?"
Rachael and Danny help each other's stares. Rachael's a rage-filled glare, Danny's, a deadpan stare. Until, at the same time, their façades faded as they both burst out laughing.
"Seriously, Danny? Birdbrain was the chirp best you could come up with? I'd at least give you chirp something clever, like Kitsune Boy or something!" Rachael exclaimed intermittently, between fits of laughter and chirps.
"Oh c'mon! Can't it at least be cough Kitsune Man?" Danny pleaded, with a broad smile on his face.
"You chirp wish! That makes you sound like nineties' comic book superhero!" The two friends burst out laughing again, until Rachael started calming down. Danny quickly stopped laughing as well.
"Seriously, though, Danny. What are we chirp going to do?" Rachael managed to maintain her composure this time. "I mean, it's barely started, by chirp the looks of it, and these past chirp few days were awful enough as-is.
"What happened?" Danny casually asked. Rachael felt herself being brought back to yesterday, as she began to recount the events of the past two days.
Yesterday had started the same as most other weekends: with reading. After getting up at about seven in the morning, Rachael went downstairs and prepared and ate some razz berry pancakes and pecha berry juice to wash it down. It had tasted far better than it had ever tasted before, despite her doing nothing more to prepare it.
After she had eaten her meal, she went up to her room and sat by her large window, the golden sunrise bathing her bookshelf on the opposite end of the wall in a beautiful glow. She picked up a blue, hardback book on the origin of the universe, and read it for the next few hours; tales of epic battles and adventures raged through her mind.
Rachael read for hours, only stopping when her phone buzzed at approximately two thirty. She had gotten a text from Hannah.
Hannah: Hey Rachael. What are you up to? Wait. Dumb question. Don't answer that.
Rachael: Indeed, you know me well. Anyway, what is it you want?
Hannah: Do you want to go see if any new books are in the library? I have a few books to return, and I figured you might want to come.
Rachael: Sure. I have a few books to return, and I want to check a few more out. Plus, I have a paper for school due in a couple of weeks, so I need to check a few books out.
Hannah: Yeah, okay. Well I'll come pick you up if you want.
Rachael: Sure. Sounds fun.
Hannah: Of course it does. I'll be there in ten minutes.
Rachael smiled, and went to her bookshelf. It was a simple brown bookshelf, but it was one of her prized possessions. She had books on Pokémon training, stats, EVs, and IVs, but she also had stories about pokémon. A few non-pokémon books were scattered in there too. All of the books were worn from overuse, except the seven books on the bottom of the shelf, checked out from the library.
Rachael grabbed a book bag, carefully placing the library books and a folder with stationary in it. Just in case, Rachael also grabbed her book from earlier and shoved it in. It was easily her most read book, as well as her favorite. Rachael read the book as she walked down her stairs. Her parents were at work and wouldn't be home for a while, so she made a mental note to lock the door on her way out, and to write a brief note explaining her whereabouts, in case she was gone long.
Her parents, though not home very often, worked incredibly hard, sometimes staying up all night. Rachael hated when they did that. She could handle them being away for a while, but she hated when they stayed up all night. She looked around at her nice interior.
Her kitchen, which was in front of her front door, had cherry cabinets, granite counters, and stainless steel appliances. She knew working was the only reason they could afford this house, but-
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. Rachael sighed, grabbed her bag, and greeted Hannah at the door. Her childhood friend standing there in a pair of jeans, with a very nice red shirt, and many bracelets and necklaces adorning her arms and neck. It was slightly overdone, but Rachael has long since grown accustomed to it.
"Heya Rachael!" Hannah said in her cheery voice. "Ready to go?"
"Sure." Rachael answered simply. The two got into Hannah's small, white car. While they were driving Hannah started chatting on about some of the drama at school. Rachael mentally rolled her eyes at this. She did not see the point in staying on top of everything love related at school when you could read a good book instead. Sure, she had her crushes every now and again, but she kept that to herself and never let it dictate her actions and change her behavior.
Hannah was incredibly extroverted, trying to get along and befriend just about anyone at school. Rachael was the opposite, incredibly introverted, preferring a smaller social group, so she chose to stick with her three closest friends most of the time. Whenever they all sat at the same table during their lunch period, they often got some strange looks, but they had all learned to ignore it. Usually tables consisted of a single gender.
Hannah pulled up to the simple brick building that was their library. It was two stories high, had several windows and a ceiling comprised of several glass panels for natural light. It looked fairly small, but it felt much larger once you were inside. As they walked around inside, Rachael gazed at the seemingly endless supply of books on the many shelves, which were an extremely dark brown that accentuated the brightly colored spines of the books.
"Meet you over there." Hannah pointed to a wooden table and a few chairs by a window. Rachael nodded and went to return her books. After returning her books, and checking out the books needed for her paper on the pokémon attacks, communication, as well as EV's and IV's. Rachael opened her book and started to read the information on her paper.
Rachael rubbed her head and looked up from her paper, now filled with notes on various topics. Her eyes drifted over to a clock, where, to her astonishment, read three o' clock. She groaned. Hannah looked up from the book she had been reading for the past while.
"What's wrong?" She asked, her unusually loud voice startling Rachael. That was when Rachael let out a squealing noise, or something akin to that, from surprise. She covered her mouth; sure her face was likely turning twenty shades of red. The people sitting in the nearby seats shot Rachael dirty glares. She averted her eyes to her paper, then to Hannah, who was looking at Rachael with a mixture of worry and amusement. Rachael pushed her glasses farther up my nose and looked at her nonchalantly.
"Shall we depart?" Rachael stiltedly asked. Hannah got the indication that she wanted to leave well enough, and without a word, packed her books into her bag while Rachael did the same. They silently left the library, and got into Hannah's car.
"What was that all about?" Hannah asked. Thank Arceus she wasn't Danny, or Rachael would never hear the end of that little blunder.
"I'm unsure… you just startled me." Rachael responded, rubbing her temples. "Maybe I just needed to take a break?" She suggested, though that rarely happened. Danny may only be able to last twenty minutes working like that, but Rachael has read for twelve hours straight without looking up from her book on particular weekends. Regardless, Hannah nodded.
"Want to come hang out at my place?" Hannah asked. "Perhaps play some video games?" Though they weren't as nearly into it as Michael or Danny, Rachael and Hannah played both their games quite often. Rachael sighed.
"I didn't bring my console…" Rachael admitted reluctantly.
"I'll swing by your house and you can grab it if you like!" She enthusiastically stated, more of a demand than a suggestion. Rachael rubbed her temples and nodded wordlessly.
The library was approximately fifteen minutes from Rachael's home. Hannah continued to chatter about some sort of gossip from school, but only a few words got through to Rachael in her pensive state of mind. Why was she so startled by Hannah simply asking a question? Why did her head hurt so badly? And why was Hannah talking so loud? Rachael rubbed her temples and squeezed her eyes shut, Hannah glancing over at her, her chatter cutting off instantly.
"You okay, Rachael? You've been rubbing your head like that for a while now." Hannah remarked, her loud voice causing Rachael to flinch.
"Just a headache…" Rachael murmured. Hannah looked at her apologetically.
"Oh, okay… sorry…. I didn't know…" she trailed off, looking straight at the road ahead. "Do you want me to just drop you off at home?"
Rachael shook her head. "No, I'm alright. I wanted to try out some new pokémon anyway. I just finished with their training.
Hannah still looked concerned, but nodded regardless. A few minutes of somewhat awkward silence later, Hannah pulled up to Rachael's house. It had a quite nice exterior, with a well-kept yard to the right of the driveway. In the back of the yard, a white sidewalk followed the front of the two-story house, which was comprised both red and white bricks. There were three windows, and a patio with a bright red door.
Rachael stepped in through the doorway, glancing at the granite counter, her note she left her parents remained untouched. Rachael sighed. Stumbling over to a raised cherry-colored cupboard, she analyzed the labels of the many bottles of medicines, some white and large, others small and clear, with liquids or pills filling them. Spotting the bottle she wanted, a large and white one, Rachael took the bottle, and took some of the pills from it, putting them in one of the clear baggies kept in the corner of the cabinet for this kind of occasion. Rachael grabbed a water bottle from her refrigerator, taking one of the pills as she walked up the wooden stairs, and into her room.
Rachael gazed at the beige walls of their room. She had never noticed it before, but they looked really dull. She thought of buying some posters to put up, or some pictures… or anything to add some color to the blank walls. Now that she looked around, her whole room, excepting the bookshelf, of course, seemed rather, Spartan. All her room really had was a window, an all-too ordinary bed with a dark, wooden frame and pale blue covers, the only spot of color aside from the books on her shelf, and a plain, brown desk for homework, with a basic office chair and the necessities for said homework… she would really have to redecorate.
Rachel grunted and shook her head. That came out of nowhere. Rachael grabbed her game system, which she had laid on her bookshelf the prior night. It was a bright pink, dual screen edition, with all her games downloaded onto it. This was contrary to Danny and Michael, who had physical copies of all their games on their systems. It just felt more organized to have them all in one place.
Rachael grabbed her game, and her charger as well, just in case she ended up needing it. After putting the items into her bag, Rachael groaned once more and continued to rub her temples. What was with this random headache? Rachael walked slowly outside her room, and down the short hallway, adorned with pictures from Rachael's youth, into her bathroom. Rachael turned on the faucet; water began to pour from it. After splashing her face with the water, Rachael glanced in the mirror. She noticed something sticking out from her sleeve. She felt something akin to being poked gently by a needle as she pulled out the strange object from her sleeve.
Rachael analyzed it. It was a small, gray feather, about the size of her fingernail. Rachael didn't recall ever being near flying type pokémon that day… shrugging, Rachael threw the feather in the empty trashcan, and proceeded to walk down her stairs. Her headache suddenly flared. Startled, Rachael let out a squawk of sorts out of sheer surprise when she slipped, falling down the last few steps. She hit the floor with a loud thud, and curled into a ball, clutching her head. Hearing the bedlam, Hannah came barging in.
"Oh Arceus… Are you alright, Rachael!" She ran straight to Rachael, and checked her for injuries.
"My head…" Rachael whined. "Headache… slipped… ugh…" It was no exaggeration. It was like someone driving a chisel into her skull, her heartbeat like a mallet, sending waves of pain over and over again.
Hannah stood above Rachael, not quite sure what to do, as Rachael lied there, for what felt like, to Rachael at least, hours. Suddenly, as suddenly as the pain began, it stopped. Her head throbbed slightly still, but the majority of the pain just… vanished. Not that she was complaining.
"Is it… is it gone or something?" Hannah asked, very confused.
Rachael opened her eyes and blinked several times as the world started to come into focus. "Yeah. I'm all right. Perhaps I should skip out on the battling today."
"I'd say so! Are you okay? Would you like to come to my house? I can tell my brothers and sisters to shut up for once. They are angels around other people."
Rachael chuckled. "No, no… its fine. I'll just go to sleep early. Rest should help me feel better for school tomorrow.
Hannah blinked. "Ok, but do not hesitate to call me if you have any issues."
Rachael smiled. "Of course. Thank you." Hesitantly, Hannah made her way to the door, glancing worriedly at Rachael.
"See ya tomorrow then!" she called.
"Indeed." Rachael replied. After Hannah left, Rachael looked over to the note she had left for her parents in case they came home.
"Guess I won't be needing that anymore…" She muttered under her breath as she ripped up the note and threw it in the trashcan.
Once again climbing up the stairs, Rachael stumbled into her room, as she closed the blinds, considerably darkening the room. Deciding that was enough, Rachael flopped onto her bed and got under the covers. She was soon slung into a night of tumultuous sleep and vivid dreams.
Rachael awoke with a start, her head still throbbing. This troubled her. She rarely got headaches, much less headaches that lasted as long as this one. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes. The room was surprisingly clear and easy to see. Rachael jerked upwards, swinging her head to view her bedside clock. She breathed a sigh of relief, for it was only five-thirty.
Rachael blinked in surprise. She wondered why her room was so… clear, when the sun was yet to rise. Leaning over, Rachael clicked the button that turned her alarm off, and proceeded to get out of bed. Over the next fifteen minutes, she continued to prepare herself for school.
She looked at herself in the mirror, looking at her uniform, for she went to a private school. She saw her burgundy shirt, navy blue skirt, her gla- Rachael gasped in surprise. Where were her glasses? She couldn't see without her glasses! Yet, here she was, seeing herself clearly in the mirror, without her glasses. This kind of thing doesn't just… Happen. Why was she suddenly able to see without her glasses. Looking at her reflection warily, she noticed something poking out from under her shirt's collar. Tugging at it, she felt a sharp, unexpected pain.
She examined the object. It was another grey feather. Where did this come from? Rachael shook her head, she must have been going crazy. Still wary, however, she decided to put on her uniform jacket, before grabbing her backpack.
She was walking down her stairs, when she noticed something at the bottom that should not have been there. Her glasses. Rachael hurried down the stairs, and examined her glasses. How did they get there? Then Rachael remembered yesterday, falling down the stairs. She must have dropped her glasses and forgotten to pick them up. For the most part, they were undamaged, minus a slight bend on the end. She put them on, and flinched.
The glasses made her vision blurrier! This alarmed Rachael. She had never heard of anything like this happening before, but she didn't have enough time to do some research. She only had a mere fifteen minutes before she had to leave for school. Her parents were likely either asleep or already at work, so Rachael didn't bother looking to them for an answer. She decided she would just leave early for school. Tucking her glasses into her backpack, she got into her car, prepared for a good day.
"I'm guessing it cough was a not-so-good day?" Danny stated the obvious. Rachael nodded woefully.
"I let out a ridiculously loud chirp in chirp the middle of third period, left a bunch of feathers in the bathroom, and chirp made a ton of people suspicious given I wasn't wearing my glasses, and I was, you know, chirping. I was in the car, on my way home, when Michael texted me."
"Ouch," Danny replied sympathetically. "Don't worry, cough Rachael, we'll figure this out, cough somehow."
"Thanks Danny. I chirp needed that."
"No prob. Anyway, what pokemon cough are you becoming? The feathers suggest a flying type." Rachael nodded at this.
"The only flying type I can think of off the top of my head with feathers of this color is Starly. Maybe Starly?"
Danny nodded, then seemed to remember something. "Oh yeah!" He shouted. "You're in the clear guys!" Michael and Hannah re-entered the room warily.
"Have you calmed down a bit?" Hannah asked Rachael worriedly. Rachael nodded.
"Okay cough guys. We need to decide what to do from here. Any cough suggestions?" Michael looked at the others, all of whom were deep in thought.
"Well chirp clearly, we are losing our vocal chords, so do you chirp have any spare notepads and pencils Michael?" Rachael asked, while creating a mental list. "We might also want to pack some backpacks, because we never know what we might need. I don't see chirp us going to chirp the doctor's office for this. Any book chirp or TV show points to going as far away from lab-related places as possible."
Michael intervened "What about cough our… parents? What do we cough cough even cough do next?"
Their thoughts were interrupted by a loud THUMP from the back door.