Verto: Sorry, you'll have to do without Raven these A/Ns. She's currently catching up on sleep she missed writing these eleven pages in three days. You'll have to live with me covering the review, Anna-matronic. Sorry not Sorry.
Raven used the last chapter for something in school, so she had considerably less time to work on it, so any issues you see may be chalked up to that. She will go through all her chapters; typo spotting soon though. She is behind on… sleep in general.
Glad you liked the last chapter. Raven was visibly worried about this chapter, due to it being wildly different from the previous chapter. Go crush her dreams and hate it or something. Ack! Don't tell Raven I said that!
This is Raven's first attempt at writing, and since it's my debut, I'd rather it not suck, so go ahead and tear into the flaws of the story for her, though. Enjoy.
Chapter 7
Danny's POV
They were all at Michael's house. Michael just got back from the kitchen, saying he wrote the note for his father. Rachael was sitting on his couch with her head in her hands. Danny didn't blame her. Not being able to talk, especially so soon for her, must not be easy. Why did she seem to be transforming much quicker? If whatever was doing this to them affected girls quicker, then why was Hannah not transforming into a Pokémon either? What could be causing this in the first place?
Danny hoped wherever Absol was taking them could help in some way, and yet… Would it hurt to stay like he was, if even for a short while? His and Michael's ability to speak were probably going to go down the drain soon, likely sooner than they could reach the village. He did not want to live his whole life having to play a game of charades just to say he wanted some food or something stupid like that.
"Danny? Earth to Danny!" Danny shook his head.
"Huh? What cough is it, Hannah?"
"We're ready to go. C'mon."
"Ah." The forest behind Michael's house was enormous, larger than many large cities, even connected to the mountains and coast. Environmental protections programs help ensure urbanization never spread too deep into pokémon habitats. There was, however, a commonly used path made for trainers. One of the entrances into the forest was only about half a mile away, at a nearby park. Trainers who managed to make the journey across the country then win in the region league were greatly respected. The trainers who won their region leagues got to compete in the world league: a competition everyone in the world hoped to win.
If they could not fix what was happening to them, would Danny never be allowed to compete when he was old enough and good enough of a trainer? Danny pondered these things as everyone made their way out the door.
Danny thought about Absol. He had been mostly quiet. His wounds had stopped bleeding long ago, the bandages barely visible under his white fur. He seemed to be the more quiet and observant type, only lending his opinion very now and again.
"Danny, you may want to put your hood on." Absol advised as they started walking.
"Oh yeah! Sorry!" Danny put his hoodie on quickly; as he checked around to make sure nobody was looking. Rachael looked worried.
"Star- chirp –ly Star chirp…" Rachael's face fell further. Even Danny wouldn't laugh at her for that. He could not imagine being unable to talk. Soon he would have to though.
They entered the park, where you could see pokémon and children playing while parents watched from blankets or benches nearby. Trees surrounded the whole area, though pokémon rarely ever wandered outside the forest, and when they did, there were enough other pokémon around to repel them. The occasional patrol officer and their growlithes were monitoring the woods and the people in the park. Danny double-checked to make sure his hoodie was hiding the stupid Zorua ears on his head.
His ears felt strange under the hoodie, yet he could hear more than he ever could in his life. It was strange. He could hear most any group, and what they were saying. He must have a heightened hearing thanks to his ears. Danny noticed Michael swaying beside him.
"Whoa, dude. Are cough you okay? Relatively cough speaking? Another headache?" Michael shook his head.
"Ugh… No, not that. Emotions cough flying all over the place."
"The part of you that is still currently human must not be accustomed to your pokémon abilities." Absol supplied. Rachael crossed her arms.
"Heh. Steal your thunder, did he?" Danny poked at Rachael.
"Star-chirp-star star!" Rachael let out a small cough from the strain on her throat.
"I'll take that as a 'yes.'" Danny supplied, while Michael was using his shoulder as a means of support. "So, cough anyway, how do you suppose we get past the cough patrolmen? " Danny saw Rachael pull out a pen and paper as she started writing. She handed it notepad to Hannah.
"It says 'the forest isn't off-limits to teens so long as we have a pet pokémon with us. We are allowed to train and battle with pokémon, but they can be our pets, so to speak. Absol, you'll have to play along. Absol are not a very common pet pokémon, so Hannah, you'll have to talk our way to freedom.' Jeez Rachael. How did you write all this so quickly? In cursive, with one hundred percent correct punctuation, no less."
Danny laughed as Michael finally regained his balance. They walked to the entrance to the forest.
"Hey! That forest is dangerous!" A patrolman shouted at them. "No way you kids are trainers. That Absol your pet?" he asked, his growlithes standing regally beside him, a stark contrast to his blue outfit.
Absol nodded. "Yes, but I shall protect them." He said. The man looked to his Growlithe, who nodded.
"Hmm… An Absol 'aint a very common pokémon nowadays. Where did you kids get him?" Hannah stepped in.
"He's mine! Isn't he great? My parents gave him to me for my birthday! Soon I'll be able to train and battle with him! How awesome is that? For now he's just my really good friend, though!" Hannah reached down and hugged Absol, putting on one heck of a show. She was way more of a people person than Danny could ever hope to be.
The officer analyzed them. "Hmm… alrighty then. Be careful in there. Have a nice day." He hesitantly walked off, the Growlithe shooting them one more glance.
The five some finally were able to begin their walk into the forest. The forest itself was beautiful. The trees were tall and vast, covered in moss. They towered over Danny. He could even see the occasional Pidgey or Starly (Rachael would appreciate the irony, not.) in the trees overhead. The pale evening light shone down upon them, lighting up the forest beautifully.
The forest was full of berry bushes and trees, the green leaves presenting their rainbow of berries, all ripe for the picking. Danny noticed Rachael picking some Pecha berries off a nearby tree. Danny suddenly smelled something very familiar: Oran berries. He happily bounded over to a bush to pick them. Danny blinked in surprise, realizing he had smelled the berries from quite a distance. His sense of smell must also be improving. Danny shrugged as he picked a few of his favorite berries.
"Hey, Absol! What cough berries do you like?" Danny asked, after picking some Cheri berries for Michael and Chesto Berries for Hannah.
"I find Oran berries to be my favorite." He decided.
"My man-er, mon! Here cough ya go!" Danny offered Absol an Oran berry. Absol gingerly took it in his mouth, savoring it in its entirety. Danny ate. Danny walked. This was the next two hour. Nobody said anything. They just walked on the path, without complaint. The minutes and hours blended together. The day was turning to dusk, as the moon became their primary source of light. It was still very early into the night, however. Despite the dark, it wasn't cold. It was quite nice outside, really. Everyone had long since taken his or her hoodies off.
Danny couldn't help but notice what a strange sight they all were. Michael, with the Riolu feeler thingies, Rachael, with he feathered hair, and Danny, where the ears spoke for themselves.
"Here," Absol suddenly said, causing everyone to jump. "This is where we should divert from the path." They were fairly deep into the forest at this point. Not knowing where they were going could easily lead to them getting lost.
"How do you know we won't get lost?" Hannah asked, taking a guess at what Absol meant.
"He found his cough way to cough us, didn't he?" Michael asked.
"Ah. Okay then." They all made their way from the path. It went from a clear, empty path, to a rugged forest terrain. Rocks and trees were now obstacles. Yet, Danny had no trouble. He could clearly see every object, and was able to avoid them. It was back to relative silence for the next couple hours. At about ten pm, they reached a clearing where the trees made way for the moon. A river babbled nearby.
Hannah collapsed in the clearing, Michael doing the same.
"Man. That was the longest cough walk of my life. And cough it was great!" Michael laughed. Hannah nodded in agreement. Rachael nonchalantly walked over and sat down wordlessly. Not that she could talk if she wanted to.
Danny walked over, Absol in tow. "This is cough great! I feel cough amazing! This cough has been cough great!" Danny's rant was interrupted with a searing pain in his head.
His head felt like it was ripping apart. Danny let out a weak groan, as he stumbled over to the river nearby. The others turned to him. "My turn, Rachael." He grunted. She heard him. Her mournful gaze met Danny's. He kneeled down, though for the most part, he remained upright. He started breathing heavy as the world lurched around him.
As quickly as it started, it stopped. The pain was gone, in his head, at least. Danny noticed his back hurt moderately. He tried to groan, but all that came out was a strange growling noise.
"Are you alright?" Absol asked. Danny shook his head, and gestured to his mouth, then his back.
"You cannot speak and… Your back hurts? That may mean the more… skeletal changes are starting to occur." Everyone except Hannah's eyes widened. Michael whispered the translation in her ear. She flinched in disbelief.
"How cough long until we reach the village?" Michael asked worriedly.
"If we leave early in the morning, we should reach it before the afternoon." He supplied. Michael translated for Hannah, who nodded.
For now, they all decided to sleep. Danny did not say anything. He could not. He knew that. Sorrow filled him at the idea of not being able to talk again, but right now, sleep was his only worry.
"I have fur to keep myself warm, but how are you four going to keep warm at night?" Absol asked in concern. Danny snapped his fingers. He pointed to the bag Hannah had been carrying through the trip. After she handed it to him, he dug through the tightly packed front pocket. He pulled out four thin sleeping bags. They weren't comfortable; built more for compact warmth, but they would do. He tossed on to each of his friends.
"How did you fit this in that one pocket, Danny?" Hannah asked, incredulously. Danny just smiled. He would not answer that if he even were physically capable of it. They all slipped into the sleeping bags. The stars above them were gorgeous. It truly felt like they were on with nature. Danny pulled his phone out. He had no service here anyway. How had his father reacted to him leaving? It hurt Danny to leave them like this, but he had no choice. That was the story he went with, at least. Deep down, he knew that he had mainly gone along with it because he wanted to. Not because he needed to.
Danny's eyes drooped. Total, blissful darkness claimed him.
Danny woke up to the smell of Oran berries. His new sense of smell forced him up and to the food. He reached into the bag, where the smell was coming from. He pulled out the metal lunch box. Danny unpacked an Oran berry sandwich from it, the jam perfectly spread on the bread. His favorite. Danny smiled.
Munching on his snack, he glanced around. Rachael and Hannah were sound asleep. It made sense, given the sun had not even begun to rise. He could just tell it was morning, albeit early morning. It may have had something to do with him being part dark type now. Maybe some pokémon instincts had given him the internal clock he never had. That, or the fact he was awake at all meant it was going to be morning soon.
Absol was lying down, but was awake, keeping watch. Danny noticed Michael's sleeping bag was empty. Glancing around, he spotted Michael by the river. Danny grabbed one of the sandwiches and strode over to him.
"Hey Danny." Michael greeted him as he sat down next to him. "I couldn't sleep. My back cough has been killing me. This may sound cough stupid, but I feel cough as though I am shorter…" Danny noticed Michael did indeed seem several inches shorter, about half a foot, to be exact. He nodded. Danny sighed.
"Ugh. So it wasn't my imagination. Figures."
Danny handed Michael a sandwich. "Heh. Thanks. This whole cough thing has been freaking me cough out, really. We have cough reached the point where if they were cough to find some way to just cough halt the transformation, we'd cough all pretty much be in cough a permanent state of cough pain. Rachael hasn't cough said anything, but she simply looked in pain last night. Her cough arms were so stiff and she was cough slightly panicked." Danny felt bad for not noticing that.
"She probably has it the cough worst and best at the same time. On the cough one hand, she's turning into a bird. She won't cough even have digits, aside from talons. On the cough other hand, she'll have wings. She was slightly excited at that aspect, though cough mostly afraid." Danny was worried about her too. She was a strong person though. They'd all be okay. He looked intently at Michael.
"Yeah, I know. She cough is a strong person. But how cough about you?" The question surprised Danny. "Are you cough alright?" Danny gave a so-so sign with his hand, shaking it.
"I hear that. This is cough exciting and terrifying. I wonder cough how the pokémon will receive us. We are humans, after all." Danny looked to Absol.
"He's been worried too. But this cough is the only lead we have." Danny nodded in agreement.
"Thanks Danny. Let's go wake the sleepyheads up. We should get a head start. Danny nodded and followed as the sky slowly turned a dull grey.
Fifteen minutes later, they were walking again. They just walked for another few hours. None of them were athletes or something like that, so this amount of walking was exhausting. He could see Hannah trying to hide her exhausted limp. Nobody complained though. It gave Danny time to think, anyway.
The whole thing was still hard to grasp. Danny was turning into a pokémon, a Zorua, of all things. Why was he turning into a Zorua, when Michael and Rachael were turning into two totally different pokémon? Honestly, a Zorua was perfectly fine with him, if he had to pick a pokémon to turn in to. The whole ideas of illusions sounded fun.
Michael had not complained about Riolu. He knew it was a pokémon Michael liked, but he had yet to sing praise about being a Riolu. Danny could not imagine why though.
Then there was Rachael. She was the most mixed bag out of all of them. She seemed excited and terrified about turning into a pokémon, excited and terrified at being a Starly; exited and terrified at being able to fly.
Danny's thoughts just continued on as they walked. The forest all looked the same. Large trees, moss, flowers, and berries; these were the only things Danny saw while they walked.
"Stop," Absol demanded out of the blue, shaking everyone out of his or her thoughts or idle chatter. Michael translated as Absol gave instructions. "The village is near. You should follow behind me. The village knows me quite well, but they will likely be suspicious of you. Humans are typically not welcome around here, but this is not 'typically.' We will speak with the village elder. He should lend us aid. Treat him with respect when we do."
"Will they try and harm us?" Hannah asked fearfully.
"They are much less likely to attack if I vouch for you. Do not make any threats, and you will be fine." Michael translated; Hannah nodded.
Nothing looked majorly different. They walked another mile or so through the forest. Danny noticed subtle changes in the environment. The berry bushes were located with much more order, the trees were taller, and there seemed to be a lot less pokémon. The forest was dead quiet. Not even the occasional Pidgey or Deerling were visible. It was eerie- until a blue sphere of energy barreled towards Danny. Before he had time to react, the sphere slammed directly into his chest. Pain exploded in his chest. He was vaguely aware of slamming into a tree.
His vision was fuzzy, but he forced himself to stand up, albeit unsteadily, anyway. Danny stared hazily at the figure in front of him. It was a Lucario- correction, a very upset Lucario.
"Who are you? How did you find this place?" He demanded. He lowered his voice an octave. "What are you?" He held a firm stance, as if ready to attack at any moment.
"I went out searching for the cause of the strange upcoming disaster I sensed. It seems to hinge on these four." Absol explained. He opened his mouth to explain more, but the Lucario interrupted him.
"You dare bring the cause of it here? You fool! If you won't kill them I will!" The Lucario lunged at Rachael, paws outstretched and glowing a faint orange.
"No! Wait!" Absol moved to intercept him. The Lucario jumped to avoid Absol, bringing the force palm down upon Absol. He let out a yowl, before collapsing under the force of the super effective attack.
"Fool." He murmured. Holding his arm back, the Lucario charged an aura sphere, the blue orb of energy growing bigger. Rachael tried to take cover, but had no time.
"NO!" Danny shouted at the top of his lungs, as the sphere hurtled toward Hannah. Suddenly, he felt a power unlike any he had ever felt build up in him. He thrust his arms outward. A black beam of swirling energy erupted from his hands.
"What?" The Lucario was shocked as the ray of energy intercepted the sphere, causing a compact explosion. He stared at Danny. "What are you?" Danny was not sure how to respond to that. He could not say human, or he would be blasted in the face. If he said he was a pokémon, he would be blasted in the gut.
Suddenly another pokémon joined in. A Ponyta seemed to appear out of nowhere. It galloped up to Danny and stood next to him. "It's a kid, moron! Kids without any clue why you are attacking in the middle of nowhere. And in case you didn't notice, like everything else; they came here for help." The Ponyta continued, "Maybe you didn't notice the ears, idiot. Let me give you a little reminder." The Ponyta suddenly became engulfed in light. For a split second, all that could be seen was a shrinking ball of light. It vanished the next instant, a Zorua standing where the Ponyta was.
Hannah gasped in surprise, Rachael letting out a surprised chirping sound. Michael could not do much more than cough. Danny kept his cool though. He was not in the mood to bark or anything; not with his chest, hurting like it was. Random dark pulse laser beams were not miracle chest wound cure-alls.
The Lucario took a step back, but maintained his icy glare.
"Oh and these feathers! Remind you of anything? Light engulfed the Zorua for an instant, before a Starly took off where he was, making a short flight up to Rachael's shoulder. She stiffened, but did not move otherwise. The Lucario's expression had changed from enraged to irritate.
"Oh! And my personal favorite! To think you were about to strike down a future member of your own species! For shame!" He said in an overly dramatic voice. The pokémon was enjoying his game at this point, transforming into a Riolu and walking over Michael, leaning on his leg. The Lucario stared daggers into the transforming pokémon.
"Relax, if they wanted to hurt me, they would have tried by now! Not that they could." The Riolu laughed. "Seriously though. Go back to patrolling. I'll look after them until the chief deems them trustworthy." The irritated Lucario shook his head.
"Should you not be doing your job?" He demanded.
"Pssh. Kids are my job. Now scram. Watch for a real threat, rather than four harmless children."
The Lucario looked furious. "Whatever. You're not worth my time, anyway." He sprinted off.
"What a moron. Anyway, here, Kid." The Riolu turned into Audino, a pink beam of energy shot out from the pokémon's hands, straight into Danny's chest.
Immediately, Danny felt leagues better. He was still exhausted, but the pain was gone. "Thank you. I feel much better." Danny thanked.
"That's the point of heal pulse. Now c'mon. We've got to go talk to the chief. We'll get you filled in on… everything really. Follow me- Oh wait." The pokémon turned to Absol, as he healed him too.
"Ugh…" Absol groaned, standing up slowly. The Audino transformed back into a Ponyta.
"Hurry up. Time to go to the chief." The pokémon snapped, in a seemingly completely different mood.
"Nice to see you, too, Ditto." So the pokémon was a Ditto. That explained the transforming, but how did he turn into a Ponyta and Audino? It's possible he was able to turn into a Zorua, Starly, and Riolu because that's what they were all turning into. A ditto needs to be in the presence of a pokémon to turn into it, yet there were no Audino or Ponyta in sight.
The Ditto turned Ponyta took off at a soft trot. "When we get there, don't do anything stupid. The village is full of impulsive morons, like Lucario. He guards the village, but he's way too rash." The pokémon explained. "So what are your names?"
Danny tried to answer, but instead let out a short yip, forgetting he could not speak for an instant.
The Ditto halted. "Hahahahahaha!" He fell on the ground in fits of laughter. Danny had to admit it was funny, but it was still embarrassing.
"Hah… Hah… Nice bark there! Can't you speak normally?" He was still chuckling. Danny shook his head.
"Any clue why that's even happening to you guys?" Danny shook his head again. Ditto groaned.
"Lame. Can any of you, aside the full human, duh, speak?" He continued.
"I can a cough little, but cough I doubt for long." Michael informed.
"Ugh. That cough is annoying. C'mon. We'll worry about talking to the chief in a minute. We're almost there." Suddenly, Danny became aware of a pink ripple effect around the Ditto. Slowly, he disappeared, right in front of everyone. Rachael let out a surprised squawk, which Danny would make fun of if he could.
"Um… explanation please?" Hannah said lamely.
"Follow me." Absol commanded. Michael translated for Hannah. They walked up to where the pokémon had disappeared. Now that they were closer, Danny could see what looked like a pale pink layer of… something or another. It extended to the top of the trees before curving, as if it were a giant bubble. It was borderline impossible to see from several feet back. Despite the Ditto seemingly going through it, he was not visible on the other side.
"Do not fear. You are in no danger." Absol assured. Then he walked through it. Pink ripple effects formed in the bubble as he walked through. By the time the ripple effects cleared, he was completely gone.
Danny shrugged, being unable to do much more. He decided to bite the bullet, and walk through. Instantly, Danny's surroundings changed. His jaw dropped to the ground. There was an entire city in the forest!
Danny couldn't believe how unexpectedly beautiful this city, in the middle of the deep forest, could be. Large trees overhead created a canopy of green and blue leaves, but not too many to where it was dark. The sun shone down like spotlights, illuminating the many simple yet beautiful tree houses. Various wood types and colors made up different tree houses, so while each tree house looked similar enough to match, they had enough color distinction to stand out, but also not too much to where they looked gaudy. The roofs of the tree houses were made of vines of varying sizes with lush green leaves and flowers mixed in, adding splashes of color that made the tree houses stand out further. They even had windows, which were really just holes cut out in the houses, yet they were lined with flowers ranging in all kinds of colors, all of them strategically placed to match the flowers near it.
Bridges that ranged from being made of wooden planks to sturdy vines and branches connected all the houses to the ground and each other. One tree in the middle, larger than the rest, particularly caught Danny's attention. It was at least three times at wide as the rest of the trees in the town, and seemed to have much more attention and care put into it, for it did not have a tree house in it. Instead, there was a large opening in the trunk itself, surrounded by carvings in the tree. Patterns aligning the doorframe were very smooth and well cut, giving off a sense of extreme importance to this tree.
Danny looked behind him. His friends were walking through, equally as amazed as he was.
Danny saw the Ponyta-er… Ditto that was helping them earlier. He was talking with a pawniard. "These teenagers, for now at least, are under mine and Absol's responsibility until further notice, whether you like it or not." He stated bluntly.
The Pawniard nodded emotionlessly, and sprinted off. It was here Danny noticed a lot of pokémon were staring at them, with varying emotions.
There must have been a hundred pokémon, just in the few miles Danny could see. A stark contrast from the ominously empty forest he had thought he was in.
Many different pokémon were there, such as grass, bug, flying, and normal types. There were also several mountainous pokémon, and Danny could even see a few ice types walking around.
Some of the younger, basic stage children pokémon looked at them with wonder and curiosity. However, the stage one and two pokémon looked at them in fear and anger. He was vaguely aware of Rachael cowering behind Hannah. She had never been a huge fan of crowds.
"Well? C'mon! I don't have all day!" Ditto commanded. They all followed him through the village. The village was dead quiet, a silence that was making Danny uncomfortable.
Several painful minutes of walking later, they reached the large tree, where two Bisharps stood, blocking the doorway. The knight pokémon were almost immobile, as they closely watched the group.
"Let us through." Ditto commanded. "We need to talk to the chief."
"You must request audience with him beforehand." One of the Bisharp stated in deadpan.
"Would you rather me take these guys to some place in the village until 'later' comes? I'm pretty sure nobody would."
The Bisharp looked uncertain. Well, as uncertain as one could look when all you moved were your eyes.
"Let them in," called a deep voice from inside the tree. The two Bisharp moved out of the way without hesitation.
The oddball group entered the large tree. The entire tree was hallowed out. An azure glow lit the tree up on the inside; with small lanterns mounted on the wall made out of smoothly cut white stone, each with a bright blue flame in it. Some were mounted on walls, yet some were hanging by sturdy vines from the ceiling at different heights. The entire room was several yards high, and large enough to hold about fifty people. A large, wooden arch was adjacent to the doorway, with more small lanterns hanging from it, as well as pink and blue flowers.
Standing under the arch, was a Torterra. The giant turtle's shell was embellished with flowers as well. On the right end of the room, two Turtwigs were romping and playing, tackling and fighting each other in play. One of them noticed the group, and froze up while on top of the other Turtwig, who stared at them while still on his back.
"'Sup, chief!" Ditto greeted, somewhat distractedly, as he stared affectionately at the Turtwig children. "Take two guesses as to why I'm here."
The Torterra sighed. "Yes, hello Ditto." His voice was mildly raspy, as though old and wise. "Humans, I know Absol would not have brought you here without reason. Explain yourselves."
"Uh… hi." Michael started awkwardly. "So I'm Michael, this is cough Hannah, Rachael, and Danny. Hannah cough can't understand you, and neither Rachael nor Danny can speak. I can cough only barely speak. So we are cough all kinda in the dark here. We were just having a cough Sunday, when… things… started changing. It started small, walking cough differently, losing cough our voices, things like that. All three of cough us got major headaches, which flare up every time something new happens. Such as cough feathers, ears, and these feeler thingamabobs."
"Eloquent, kiddo." Ditto interrupted.
"Anyway," Michael continued, "We were cough trying to figure out what to do, when cough Absol came in cough and started talking about some kind cough of disaster we all had something to do with, and that you may cough have some idea of what to do. We had no other cough leads, honestly." He admitted.
"I see. When did these headaches start, exactly?" Torterra asked.
"About… four PM to six PM I believe." He answered.
"Peculiar. Had you been in contact with any pokémon before then?"
"No."
"Hmm… the issue is, some pokémon have been getting headaches as well these past three days."
"Uh… what?" Michael asked for all of them.
"We have been able to treat this, yet some pokémon have been getting strange headaches, which have been altering their behaviors or deteriorating their health in some way. Somehow you three specifically seem to have been affected by the same thing."
"Can you cough cure us?" Michael asked, albeit without much hope behind his voice.
"Not at this instant. If our healers were to stop whatever was doing this to you now, we would not be able to reverse the affects. Merely halt them. You would be trapped the way you are currently in." Rachael's eyes widened visibly. Danny could notice a fair amount of sorrow in her eyes especially.
"At… this instant?"
"There may yet be hope, and you are clearly intertwined in this issue. I have a few ideas, but we must tend to some things before we can attempt them. Ditto and Absol will stay with you at all times. For both our safety and yours. Many pokémon here fear humans, and may react with hostility to lone humans."
"Why me?" Ditto demanded.
"Children are your job, are they not? The normal Dittos can deal with the village children for a while." Normal Ditto? What was special about this Ditto?
"What do you need to tend to?" Hannah asked. Everyone whipped his or her heads around to Hannah. She blinked. She blinked again. Then it dawned on her, as she gasped.
"H-how did I…?" she looked panicked at that moment. The Torterra looked trouble.
"Are you in any pain, human?"
"N-no…? I just could… understand you at some point… I'm not sure when… I was paying more attention to the words…"
"We may be able to halt the transformation then, if it is indeed the same thing plaguing us, since you are yet to be in pain. When was the last time any of you had a headache?"
"We had not cough had any today, but one of us is bound cough to soon. Rachael's seems cough to be moving the fastest, however." Michael supplied.
"I see. You may stay in one of the vacant tree houses. Again, very few Pokémon will be welcoming of you, so you best be on your guard. Ditto will help you for the next few days. I am willing to give you a chance, given your circumstances. Do not abuse this chance. Rachael stumbled. Oh the ironic timing.
"Chirp Star-chirp ly ly-help… hurts…" All three of them gasped, as her speaking suddenly became clearer, meaning forming behind the chirps and squawks she was only capable of making.
She collapsed onto the ground, tears flowing from her eyes. At first, Danny thought this was just another small change, but that all changed when there was a resounding SNAP! Hannah put her hands to her mouth as she looked away. Rachael's body was slowly contorting gruesomely. She was curled into a ball, crying. Another SNAP! She went limp.
"She's unconscious. Let's take her to the infirmary! Now!" The ditto was deadly serious, turning into a Machamp. Using all four arms, he was able to lift Danny's unconscious friend.
"Ah! Th-thank you cough for your help!" Michael hastily thanked the Torterra.
Torterra nodded. "Yes. Now go with your friend."
Everyone turned to follow Ditto. They ran about a quarter mile, drawing several more stares from the pokémon of the town.
They ran into a particularly embellished, wooden house on the floor. It was covered almost top to bottom in pink flowers, likely to stress it being an infirmary. Ditto set Rachael down on one of the wool beds. An Audino and Chansey quickly ran in to care for the unexpected patient.
"She's stable." The Audino confirmed. "There is not much we can do except wait, however. We need her to stay asleep, however. We have a Gardevoir healer we will have her on standby to make sure she stays asleep. We will ask for the details later." The Audino was far more concerned for Rachael's immediate health rather than her being human, which Danny appreciated.
Another sickening SNAP! Longer feathers were growing from Rachael as Danny watched. He felt sick to his stomach. Rachael's transformation was finishing, one-way or another. There was nothing he could do to help.