Me: Oh man… I'm nervous about this one…

Verto: Yeah, you suck at writing this kind of thing.

Me: Thank you for the assurance.

Vero: You're welcome! Now for the reviews! Anna-matronic! Glad you liked the flying bit! And I read the PM! There is no way you're getting rid of me! Sucks to be you! No regrets!

Me: Be nice!

Verto: No. The Pokémon TF Fan, if you haven't noticed, Raven is a jerk with that sort of thing.

Me: No comment.

Verto: Shieldliger001, don't worry about the long review. Raven doesn't mine. Go ahead and tear apart her dreams. She doesn't care.

Me: Um… Anyway, think of Michael's dad what you will for now. That's all I can say. Anyway, Enjoy!

Chapter 9

Hannah's POV

Hannah let out a scream as she felt something large pierce her back and drag her in to the deep, blue lake. Her vision blurred as water and bubbles surrounded her, little light reaching her. She flailed, as she was forced farther down the lake. The world around her flipped and distorted. She couldn't tell which way was up or down. She flailed frantically, trying to hold her breath.

She felt an acute, searing pain flood through her. She barely kept from screaming, as she flailed harder. The pain continued to surge through her system, as she was dragged deeper and deeper underwater. She saw flashes of white. She felt as though her whole body were on fire.

Hannah could not see. She could hardly think of anything except to get away. She felt herself being dragged deeper and deeper into the large lake. Hannah looked around frantically, as she felt her attacker let go of her back. She saw red clouds of blood in the water. She was starting to get dizzy from the pain and blood loss. She felt more pain in her arm as her attacker clamped down on it, and started pulling her through a cave under the water, sending more jolts of pain down her spine.

Hannah was so dizzy, from the pain. She could not stay awake. She took a deep breath as darkness claimed her.

Hannah awoke slowly. Her vision was blurry, and she was in so much pain. Her right arm felt like someone had dug a knife through it. She felt numb all over. Her back hurt the worst though. She felt as though someone had drilled holes into her back, and then poured magma on them.

What had happened? Hannah spent a few seconds thinking about this. She was by the lake… She remembered watching Rachael flying through the air… then being yanked into the lake… did she pass out? Hannah blinked, trying to clear her vision. The rock underneath her was very uncomfortable. Her vision cleared, as Hannah looked around to try and gain her bearings.

Hannah tried to sit up, but it felt strange to. Her movements were slow, for she was unable to move normally. Why was that? It was as if she was moving…

Then it hit her. She was underwater.

Hannah let out a short scream, and then covered her mouth, trying not to breathe. But wait… she must have been breathing while she was unconscious. What was going on?

Slowly, Hannah removed her hands. Despite her instincts screaming not to, she inhaled. Hannah was shocked. It felt like breathing in air! Hannah had accidentally inhaled water in the past, and it certainly did not feel like this. Calming herself, Hannah looked around.

It felt strange, being underwater yet also breathing. She noticed that, despite any kind of light source, Hannah could see with relative clarity. The walls around her were a brown, weathered down stone, a thin layer of green algae and moss on the stone below her. Hannah looked up. There did not appear to be any air at the top of the cave. Just water. How had she gotten here?

Hannah turned and looked to her back slowly. She nearly passed out. Her shirt was in tatters at the back, and her back was covered in gashes, some of them still bleeding. The sight made her dizzy. She needed to get out of here and find Audino. Putting the pain in the back of her mind, she forced herself up. She started swimming. It felt strange: to swim but not be forced up by the oxygen at all times. While there was still a slight upward pull, she felt much heavier, though she could still swim perfectly fine.

She swam, looking for some sign of light. After swimming for a blank fifteen minutes, she came up on a fork in the cave. Perfect. She swam into the crossroad. She felt a slight tug leading to the right. A current! The only problem though: had her attacker carried her up or downstream?

Downstream being the more likely direction she was pulled, she headed in the opposite hoping to find the large lake from the village. The whole thing was surreal. Why was she able to breathe? It must have been from the phenomenon that had started turning her into a pokémon! It must have been able to start soon enough to let her breathe underwater!

It was something little kids always hoped to do. Heck, Hannah used to hope she could breathe underwater. Actually doing it though, was very surreal. It felt like a dream. She swam for what she estimated to be an hour. It must have been night at this point. The pain in her back was making it hard to keep swimming. Were her friends worried? Did they think she was… dead?

"YOU!" She heard someone shout from behind her. The sound was dulled by the water, but she heard it clearly enough. "How are you still alive?! I should have killed you!" Hannah felt a sense of foreboding, as she turned to face her attacker. It was an Eelektrik, but rather than the navy blue it is supposed to be, it was more of a sky blue.

"S-stop! What did I ever do to you?" Hannah shouted back, despite the words being muffled.

The Eelektrik narrowed his eyes. "Don't play dumb with me! You were in the village! I don't know how you got here, and how you're still alive, but I'll make sure you don't go back!" He shouted as he started sparking, causing Hannah's skin to tingle.

"N-No! Please! I never tried to hurt you! Don't you think I'd have tried to hurt Absol or Ditto by now if I did want to hurt anyone? Torterra gave me permission to stay here!" Hannah tried desperately.

He growled, and charged her. Hannah gasped as he clamped down on her left arm, a searing pain shooting through her. She screamed. "Stop! Please stop!" she begged. He glared, as his yellow markings lit up. Hannah screamed once more as electricity coursed through her body.

She was desperate. She flailed, trying to escape. Then everything changed in an instant.

Fear consuming her, she put her legs together; she did a quick flip mid air, bashing the surprised Eelektrik with them. He released her, dazed.

Not even thinking, she swam through the cloud of blood, trying desperately to reach the lake, where hopefully her friends would be. She dared to quickly glance behind her. The Eelektrik, glowing a sickly yellow, was charging her once more.

She swam with all her might. Everything blurred around her.

"Help! Help me! Please! Anyone!" She shouted, in hoped of finding someone willing to save her. She could have sworn she saw the occasional water type pokémon. She called out again for help.

But nobody came…

She was getting tired, the blood loss making her dizzy. Any pokémon she passed seemed too afraid to help her. Eelektrik was catching up. With another surge, he caught onto her shoulder, as he began shooting electricity through her.

Hannah screamed again, louder than she ever had, despite being underwater. "Stop… Please… Stop…" She begged quietly. She fought for consciousness. Red clouds of blood surrounded her. She couldn't afford much more blood loss. She felt her attacker being ripped from her back. She let out a gasp of pain, as she began to sink.

"What the actual hell do you think you are doing?!" Hannah heard someone say. She tried to see who it was, but her vision was blurry, and she could barely think.

"It's a human that was in the village! She knows where we are! I couldn't let her live!" He retorted.

"This kid? Don't you think I, who was only a few yards behind her, would have taken care of her if she were a threat? And in case you didn't notice, she is freaking breathing underwater, along with the tail!" Hannah barely even registered the word "tail." "What else should you do? Maybe you should spend two seconds figuring out the freaking situation! Now you have ten seconds to get out of my sight, or you'll have to answer to me!"

Hannah saw one of the blurry visages expand in size, the other shying away.

"Fine! But don't let yourself be fooled by a human!" Eelektrik retorted. "You're smarter than that, Ditto!"

"Five… Four… Three…" Ditto counted down.

"F-fine!" She saw Eelektrik's visage dart away. Ditto seemed to shrink and gain a purple hue, for a short instance. He then grew a little, and shifted to yellow. As he neared her, she could barely make out a Floatzel.

"Kid! Oh, Arceus! How much blood have you lost?"

"Uh… bled… lots…" Hannah slurred.

"Okay Kid! Stay awake! Don't fall asleep on me!" Hannah felt Ditto pull her onto her back, as he grabbed her arms, pulling them over his shoulders. She felt numb all over. She was very tired. Her eyes were drooping.

"Come on Hannah! Don't fall asleep on me! Come on! Stay awake! Stay with me!" He said as he used the two tails to propel forward.

"But… Tired…" Hannah slurred back.

"You can't sleep now! Stay awake for just a little while! Come on kid! We're almost there! I'll kill you if you die!" Hannah fought to stay awake. Everything was starting to fade to black.

"We're almost here, Kid! Audino is on her way! Don't worry! You'll be fine! Come on! Stay with me! Your friends need you! Stay awake!" Ditto shouted at her, as they ascended at the top of the lake.

It was nighttime. Hannah saw several figures running towards them as Ditto pulled them both to the surface.

"Audino! Hustle up! Life on the line here! She's lost ungodly amounts of blood! Keep her in the water, though!" Ditto's voice was distant.

"I'm coming! Sit tight Hannah! You'll be alright."

"Mm-hmm…" Hannah mumbled.

"Oh my Arceus! Hannah! Hannah!" It was Rachael's voice.

"Hi… Ray…Chell… How're your… wings…?" Hannah continued to slur.

"This is serious! Rachael, fly to the infirmary and-"

Hannah didn't hear the rest.

She started to wake up. She was warm. It felt nice. She heard voices.

"She's stirring. Gardevoir, put her back to sleep, before she is in too much pain. She's still critical." Hannah fell back asleep.

Hannah woke up again. She was still warm. She was comfortable. She opened her eyes, to look around. All she could see were grey, walls of stone around her, allowing her about three feet in each direction. She was also… underwater. She began to panic as memories started returning to her. Was she back in the cave? Was that Eelektrik coming back? Hannah took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She looked around. Then she looked up. She realized the walls were only about nine feet high, before it made way for air. She must be in some sort of stone tank. It must have been the water type medical tank Hannah recalled Audino telling her about. She tried to stand up, but realized… she didn't have her legs.

"Gah! What's going on?" Hannah noticed instead of legs, she had… a tail, a Milotic tail, to be precise. Oh Arceus… would she have to live her whole life like this? But she didn't even have a headache! When did this first happen?

Then Hannah remembered. She must have gotten the tail after the Eelektrik attacked her a second time! She recalled being panicked, then feeling a surge of power that she forced into her legs. Maybe she could take the power out?

Taking a deep breath, Hannah searched her… tail, for something odd other than it's being a tail. She felt a strange power there. Like she was powerful there, but nowhere else.

Slowly, Hannah tried to mentally force the power out, to spread out through her body. It was like trying to press dough between your hands, except with your mind.

It happened all at once. She felt weak as her tail began to glow a strange blue. Her tail divided into two legs, with her jeans still on. Thank Arceus. She didn't even care that they were wet. Because, well, so was the rest of her.

She once again tried to stand up in the water, only to be met with a huge flare of pain. She let out a gasp. She took this moment to analyze herself. She turned to look at her back. She had one of her extra shirts she had packed. It's being wet didn't seem to bother her though. It must be from her new water typing. Slowly, she pulled the back of the shirt up a bit.

Her back was covered in scars. She gasped at this. Some of them were large ovals, as though something had pierced her flesh and was pulled smoothly out, some of them long, jagged cuts. She put her shirt back down, feeling sick. She looked at her shoulder, another source of pain. While not as bad, her right shoulder was still covered in similar marks, though they weren't visible without pulling down her shirt collar a bit, so they could be hidden.

Her arms were also in poor condition, long cuts running down them, but they weren't as visible as the ones on her back and shoulder. She shivered, despite the water being warm. All it took was one Eelektrik, and look at her condition. She was a mess, and the scars hurt horribly.

"Hannah? Are you awake?" She heard a female voice. It sounded like Audino.

"Y-yeah…" Hannah stuttered. Forcing through the pain, Hannah swam to the surface of the tank.

"Wonderful! You're friends will be so glad! They're in their temporary house right now. You were out for a full day! We can get the Gardevoir healer to transport you while in the water to-"

"I'm fine. I-I can walk." Hannah muttered, starting to climb out of the tank. Her back and shoulder hurt horribly, but she continued anyway.

"Oh! How did you do that?" Audino asked, shocked. "We had to have Ditto transport you here after you reached the lake, by making him turn into an Alakazam. After you passed out, Rachael flew and got you some Oran berries. Ditto and I both worked for hours to keep you alive. Ditto had to purify the water by turning into a Suicune for a split second at a time. He's exhausted now. You were bleeding so much!

"I feel dizzy just thinking about it."

"Ditto explained what happened once he got down there. He turned into a Seismitoad to scare of Eelektrik. Then he swam with you, while you were barely conscious."

"Mm-hmm… I remember that. Listen, no offence, but I want to go see my friends now." Hannah admitted. She was exhausted and just wanted out of the water.

"Oh! Okay! I'll help you! Be careful! Your wounds may still hurt." Audino offered. Slowly, Hannah climbed out of the tank. It was about halfway underground, so the healers could still reach the pokémon, but elevated enough to keep the water in. Hannah barely suppressed a groan as she got out, shaking.

"Lean on me." Audino commanded. Hannah complied, still shaking and weak. It was night, the moon barely visible through the trees. The stone lanterns Audino named as dragonfire lamps lighted the village. Dragonfire apparently didn't require a fuel to burn, and could burn almost endlessly. It cast an eerie blue glow across the village.

While they were walking, Hannah couldn't help but think about what happened. It was terrifying. She had almost been killed! It was hard to actually grasp that her life was mere minutes away from ending by the time Ditto got her back.

They walked for several minutes, before they reached the house. Torterra had permitted them to stay in. It was fairly close the clearing, and was elevated in a tree's branch, not too far off the ground, but not too close. Her, Danny, Rachael, Michael, and Ditto stayed there. Hannah didn't know where Absol went during the night, but he was always back by morning. Ditto stayed to protect them from fearful pokémon; something Hannah now feared much more. They all slept in their sleeping bags the last night Hannah had been there. They weren't exactly in the position to complain about having to share a tree house, so they all kept quiet.

There was a sturdy vine ladder for climbing up. Hannah began to climb, despite her arms, shoulders, and back screaming out in protest. Tears leaked from Hannah's eyes as she climbed.

"Oh dear… Hannah, are you sure you're alright?" Audino asked worriedly from the bottom.

"Yes! I'm f-fine! You can go back to the infirmary. I'll be all right. Thank you." Hannah continued to climb. After several painful minutes, Hannah reached the top, panting. She saw Audino turn and head back to the infirmary.

Hannah made sure to roll the sleeves of her shirt down to hide the scars, and walked inside. The room was anything but bland on the inside. Flowers adorned the walls in beautiful pink and blue patterns, Michael and Danny were both asleep, but Rachael was not. The human-turned-Starly was sitting beside one of the lanterns reading. She must have packed her book.

"Hannah! Oh Arceus! You're alright!" She shouted, causing Michael and Danny to stir. Michael was even shorter, having pawn instead of hands at this point. Danny seemed to be sleeping in a hunched over position on his side, with more fur, and his nose turned completely into that of a Zorua. It looked kind of silly.

Danny's eyes widened, Michael still seeming to be half asleep.

"Hannah! We were so worried! What happened?" Rachael continued frantically. Danny reached over and clamped his hand over Rachael's beak, with a tired expression.

"Zor Zoru-Ua? Zorua zor" He said, which Hannah translated to, "Are you hurting still? You were bleeding really bad." Hannah shook her head and waved off his question. He looked skeptical, but didn't press it. He gestured to her jeans, which were still soaked, yet Hannah couldn't care less about that.

"Huh? Oh, that! Uh… yeah… I must have been able to do something that lets me either have the Milotic tail or normal legs."

"What about your hair?"

"What about it?"

"The pink antennae and strands of hair?" Hannah felt her hair. Sure enough, there were two, wire like antennae sticking up slightly, and Hannah would wager she had some pink hair. She shrugged, yet this caused a fresh wave of pain. Her breathing quickened, as she could almost feel the Eelektrik clinging painfully onto her back. Michael's eyes widened. He must have been able to feel the fear. Dang it.

Michael stole Rachael's lantern. She objected with an immature squawk. He pulled out his notepad and pencil. It was obvious he hadn't written much since his hands turned into paws, and he looked confused for a moment, before he awkwardly grabbed it with both hands and wrote out two shaky words.

What happened?

"N-nothing!" Hannah denied as she started shaking. "I-I'm fine! Don't w-worry about me!"

"We weren't allowed to see you while Audino and a few other healers were taking care of you. We didn't see the bulk of your injuries. What happened?" Rachael asked, her voice strong and firm.

"Nothing! I-I'm fine!" Hannah denied.

Rachael deadpanned, and flew up to Hannah's shoulder; thankfully landing on her not-as-badly- hurt one. She gingerly used one of her talons to pull down the back of Hannah's shirt, and gasped.

"No! No you are not fine!" She almost shouted. The marks on her other shoulder now visible, Rachael's eyes widened further. "Show me your arms." She commanded.

Head bowed in resignation, Hannah pulled up her sleeves, wincing at the pain. Rachael started tearing up a bit, while Danny and Michael looked horrified. Hannah looked away. "Don't worry about me! Let's go talk to Torterra tomorrow to get a good idea of what to do." Hannah tried changing the topic. "I'm tired anyway! Goodnight!" Hannah grabbed her sleeping bag, pulling it to one side of the room. It was thin, not as warm as the water back at the infirmary, but it would work.

Hannah fell asleep instantly.

She was back in the water cave, swimming slowly, her legs calmly kicking behind her. She was following the current this time, a gentle smile on her face. Her smiled faded into a frown when the crystal clear water became a pale red. Hannah gasped, taking a deep breath as the red fully consumed the water. The red thickened to the color of blood. Hannah couldn't see anything, until white sparks came from right in front of her.

Hannah quickly turned to swim the other way, her eyes being burned by the blood water. The current forced her backward, becoming stronger, until she was right in front of the Eelektrik. He looked happy, as he lunged towards her and-

Hannah woke up gasping. She was disoriented for a moment, as she tried to figure out where she was. She saw the familiar blue glow of the dragonfire lamp by Rachael, who was sprawled out under the sleeping bag, taking up barely any space in her new form.

Attempting to be quiet, Hannah slowly rose from her bag. She walked outside, breathing in the fresh air. It still seemed to be night, though Hannah felt like it would probably be morning soon. She sat on the wooden balcony. It was like one large, shaped, branch. She heard some footsteps behind her, as she saw Michael walk toward her, holding his notepad. He sat down next to her.

"Hey, Michael. Did I wake you up?" Hannah asked him. Michael pointed to the feelers on the back of his head. "Oh… my panicking did… sorry…" Hannah apologized. "I'm fine though, really!" She insisted. Michael frowned, and wrote something on his notebook, and showed to her.

"No, I probably won't be able to go back to sleep." Hannah admitted. He wrote something else. "The lake! Why?" Hannah whispered and shouted at the same time. 'To practice? To practice what?" Michael pointed to her legs. "Oh… okay…" She conceded, putting on a brave face.

They quietly made their way down the ladder, Hannah taking one of the nearby dragonfire lamps. The clearing was quiet and serene. Usually, at home, despite living in a more suburban area, you could still hear plenty of cars or other technological items. Here, however, it was always peaceful.

They strolled to the lake, Hannah shoving her fear down. "S-so… uh… I'm just supposed to g-get in…?" Hannah's breathing quickened. "B-but… what if Eelektrik gets back?" Michael held up his hand. Quickly, he pulled off his shirt and got into the water.

The lake was made as if someone had directly punched a hole in the ground, so the water got very deep very fast. The dragonfire lantern lit Michael up fairly well as he waded through the water. He took a deep breath, and forced his pawed fists together. His paws lit up with an ethereal orange glow. Michael jerked his head, to indicate Hannah should get in. She took a deep, calming breath, and waded in.

Michael used his paw to gesture to Hannah's legs. Amazingly, that strange orange fire-like glow was still burning even underwater. It did supply a decent light source for him though. Hannah could see under the water fine.

Hannah closed her eyes, and focused on the strange energy she felt spreading through her. After she focused on it, she could move it as she pleased. She forced it where she felt it after she woke up. She let out a short gasp as her legs began to glow an ethereal blue, and her legs started to merge together. It was a very odd feeling, but it didn't hurt. When it was done, Hannah was floating in the water, moving the Milotic tail back and forth without even thinking about it.

"Huh… the blue glow reminds me of Aqua Tail." Hannah remembered seeing a Dragonite using the move on a television show she saw once. Michael's eyes lit up, not literally of course. He gestured wildly to her tail. "So you think I just… used Aqua Tail and… that's when the tail come and goes?" Hannah guessed. Michael nodded eagerly.

"I hope you can talk soon. You look nuts gesturing like that with your arms in the water." Michael's face looked grim for a second, before it faded. He gestured underwater.

"Um… Okay…" Hannah slowly began swimming. It was like swimming with one, powerful leg. It came rather naturally. She swam under the water. She realized she was holding her breath; it was really hard to suddenly disregard the general rule of "Don't breathe water." After a second, she toughened up and inhaled again. The water felt just like breathing air, just like the last two times.

Though the water definitely did feel different on her eyes, it didn't hurt. She swam in wide circles, up and down. Now this begs the question: Audino confirmed they were able to pause the genetic changes, by forcing her DNA to stay not change further, as it were, so why did she never get a headache? One could argue it had been fairly early into the transformation, but that clearly wasn't the case. She was not as far gone as Michael, Danny, and Rachael, yet being able to use Aqua Tail to grow a Milotic Tail was not a "minor change" by any means.

So it had gone really fast yet painfully for Rachael, moderately quickly and painlessly for Hannah, slowly and unbearably painful for Michael, yet Danny's had been slow, but only painful to the point where he would groan for a second, and could power through it. It seemed to go at different speeds for all of them.

Why was it only them transforming? Hannah frowned. Was it only them transforming? Hannah and her friends haven't exactly been in touch with the world for the past week. How were her siblings? She could only hope they were all right.

She mulled over what had happened for a few minutes, then shook her head and made her way back up. Michael was on his back floating through the water calmly. "Thanks, Michael. I needed that." Hannah admitted. She was much calmer now. The sky was a dull grey, signaling the upcoming morning. Michael nodded, and gestured to their tree house. "Yeah. We can go wake up the others. Then we can go see Torterra." Hannah agreed to what Michael likely meant.

Hannah ditched the tail, and got out of the lake. Her wet clothes did not bother her in the slightest. Michael put his shirt back on as they walked back to the tree house. Some of the village was starting to wake up, the occasional pokémon visible walking across a bridge, building new tree houses, and going about their other business.

They entered the tree house. Danny was already awake, sitting on the balcony, but Rachael was still sound asleep. She probably stayed up late reading, though it probably would not take much to wake her up. She always has been an early bird, which has never been more ironic.

Within ten minutes, they were all awake, although Rachael was still drowsy. Danny seemed to be able to wake up much fast and stay up later, though he seemed forever lest energetic during the day. It must be due to the dark typing. Ditto was much more energetic, as he followed them, transformed into an Eevee. Absol was waiting by their tree house when they left. They had long since been able to take off the bandages.

The group walked to the tree house, the sun was illuminating the sky in an orange glow. They arrived at the large tree house, the tension thick enough to be cut with a knife. The two Bisharp were still standing there diligently, but they offered no resistance. They slowly walked in, where Torterra waiting for them. It was time to figure out how to stop some disaster. It was time to learn how to become human again.