Chapter 3:
A Look at the Other Side
A/N: Thank you all who reviewed and like this story. One thing I forgot to mention last chapter. Although this story is finished, there is still room for adjustment. So if something is wrong, tell me. I can take a few flames.
Sarah lost her head and ran around screaming. Of course, all that came out was a stream of "Bulba! Bulba! Bulba!" That was all she could produce in her new body. After a few minutes she got tired and sat down. She couldn't help but look at her paws. They were green and small. They quickly became disgusting to her. She dropped onto her stomach and put her face into the ground, where she proceeded to cry.
"Why is this happening?" she asked herself over and over. She couldn't come up with an answer. She simply sat and cried for what seemed like hours. Eventually she ran out of tears and stood. "Well, if I'm going to be a Bulbasaur, I might as well get used to it."
She took a small sniff. She was surprised at the amount of scents she could pick up. The grass was fresh, the flowers tantalizing. A strange scent came from the camp, no doubt from Luke.
A small crunch made her turn. It was a Caterpie crawling her way. The crunch was simply the grass under its feet. Her hearing was much better too.
Sarah got an idea. "If I'm a Pokemon, I should be able to use attacks." She focused on her side but didn't know exactly what to do. She experimentally flexed several muscles. A long brown vine sprouted from directly beneath her flower. It felt strange as it rubbed against her back, but she adjusted it so it simply went higher up. With a flick, she sent the whip forward and snapped it just in front of the Caterpie's face. It turned tail and ran. Sarah let out a laugh and let the vine retract back under her skin.
"It's not very kind to attack the weak," a voice said from behind her. She spun around and looked up to see a Rattata sitting on a tree branch.
"Sorry, but I just had to try that."
The Rattata sniffed. "I don't recognize your scent. You're new to this area, aren't you?"
"New to this species is more like it." The Rattata looked at her strangely. "Well, I'm actually not a Pokemon. I'm a human."
The rat looked over her. "You look like a Pokemon to me. But I can play along." The creature jumped down and landed softly in the grass. Its purple skin was would have been difficult to see if Sarah were still human. "Just so you know us 'Pokemon' find that name kind of an insult."
"But why? Humans call you that all the time."
"Yeah, but humans are stupid. We just go along with it."
"So what should I call them then?"
"Most prefer our original name, 'Shaiyas.' But usually we just call strangers by their species. Seeing as how you're new to this side of life, why don't I show you around the woods?"
Sarah took a look back in the direction of the camp. Should she go back and try to explain? No, Luke wouldn't be able to understand. If anything, she would find her way back later. "Sure."
The pair walked deeper into the forest. It was surprising easy for Sarah to see in the moonlight. Everything looked clear and crisp. "I could actually get used to this," she thought to herself. Just as before, her nose was attacked with dozens of scents she had never smelled before, and it was incredible. Her Rattata companion pointed out several things, like edible fruit. For not believing her, he was "playing along" really well.
Sarah picked up a strange scent. It was sour and slightly repulsive, yet sweet and tantalizing at the same time. "What's that smell?"
The rat stopped and sniffed the air. He changed his direction a few degrees. "There are two Pokemon mating somewhere. We should try to avoid them."
Sarah took another whiff to remember the scent and followed, forcing the images in her head out at the same time.
The pair walked for few more hours before they stopped. Sarah sniffed the air and picked up a familiar scent. Luke. They were right were they had met earlier. "Any reason we went in a circle?"
"I figured you'd want to go with your human friend, that's all."
Sarah nodded. She would have to tell him. Her stomach rumbled loudly. Sarah took a quick glance at the sky. The moon was low and there was an ever-so-slight hue of red on the eastern horizon. No wonder she was hungry: it was almost morning. She spotted an apple tree a few yards away and used a vine to pluck a ripe red apple. She sat against a tree and munched away. The Rattata sat down next to her and they waited for the sun to rise.
Just then, Sarah felt an intense pain in her side. Her vine untwisted and curled back into her side. She leaned over and panted for a moment and the pain subsided. It was the same type of pain that happened the earlier. She reached out her front paw. The green was receding to her elbow and her paw had reverted back to a human hand! Looking down, her legs were changing the same way.
The Rattata jumped several yards back. "Holy s#!" It quickly turned and ran back into the trees.
Sarah keeled over as another round of pain attacked her body. It wasn't as bad, but it still hurt. Through it, she could feel her spine grow longer. Her flower also shrank into her back and her head reshaped. After two more stabs of pain, she was back to her human self.
Slowly, she stood up. Her legs were shaky, but they held her. She looked down at herself, just to make sure. Everything was like it had been before last night. With a small surprise, she found herself naked. "Duh. Pokemon don't need clothes." She walked in the direction of their camp. When she reached it, she hid in some brush behind a tree. Luke was already up, packing up his things. She thought to herself several times, "Please leave. Please leave."
Luke pulled out a couple of canteens and looked in the direction of the woods. "Sarah, if you can hear me, I'm going to get water!" She didn't answer. After a moment, Luke got up and left.
When he was gone, Sarah ran over to her sleeping back. Sure enough, her clothes were still inside. She slipped them back on quickly and started to roll up her bag just as Luke reappeared. "Where were you," he asked.
She had to stop herself from spilling everything. "I can't just tell him. There's no way he'd believe me." So she simply answered, "I was using the bathroom." He nodded and they went on as if nothing had happened.
But it continued to itch at Sarah's mind the rest of the day. As they walked through the forest, she drifted in out of awareness from the lack of sleep. Her mind tumbled about possible ways that last night could have occurred. Had she simply dreamt it? If so it was one incredible dream. But no, it had been much too real.
Several hours later, they stopped by another stream to take a rest. Sarah went off to look for some food. When she was out of Luke's earshot, she called out her Bulbasaur. "Ah, some fresh air. You know, that pokeball can get cramped sometimes."
"No, I wouldn't know. There's something I think we need to talk about." As they wandered the forest, Sarah spilled everything that had happened.
Bulbasaur listened, though his face betrayed that he had doubts about her story. "Wow. That's quite a story. Do you have anything to prove it actually happened?"
"That's just the thing. I don't."
Bulbasaur thought for a moment. "Well, could you do it again?"
"What?"
"Well, maybe you could do it again. Perhaps tonight or maybe you could control it and change at will." He grew a little excited. "Do you realize all the stuff you could do?"
"Hold on a moment. I don't think I'm ready to do that just yet."
"But if you have this gift, why waste it?" the little creature pleaded.
Sarah thought for a moment. It was sort of enjoyable. All the smells, the feeling of being one with nature. "I guess so, but I wouldn't know how to do it."
"Good point," Bulbasaur said, thinking. "Did you feel anything when you changed last night?"
"Yeah, pain. It felt like my body was rearranging itself."
"Try to recreate that feeling."
Sarah shuddered. "I don't know. It hurt. But I guess I'll give it a try." Sarah closed her eyes and focused first on her back. She tried to picture it shrinking and twisting into a new shape. With a twist of pain, she felt her spine start to move. The pain wasn't nearly as intense; it was now more of a bad irritation. That must have been a good sign, she though. She moved on to her hands. With a little force of will, they shrank into paws. Finally she imagined the flower on her back. There was a final spike of pain and the flower grew in an instant.
She opened her eyes and found she was surrounded by red. It was her shirt. She backed up, and came out into the open forest. Her clothes were simply lying on the ground in front of her. She looked up at her shocked Bulbasaur's eyes. She was now at the same eye level as he was.
"Wow," it said simply. "I have to say, you look pretty good as a Bulbasaur."
Sarah blushed. "Thanks, I think." She took a deep whiff of the air. It was so fresh. She loved it.
"Can you attack?" Bulbasaur asked.
Sarah got an evil smirk. Without saying anything, she whipped out a vine a smacked it across his face. He spun from the recoil and turned to look at her, forming an evil smile of his own. "Oh, you are going to pay for that."
He ran at her with a Tackle, but she jumped to the side and he ran head-first into a tree. As he was dazed, Sarah sent out two vines that spun him around and held him tight to the trunk. Then, with a slight dip and a swing, she let fly several Razor Leaves. The stuck into the tree inches around Bulbasaur's head. His face was completely terrified.
Sarah walked up close to his face. "Looks like I win."
There was a rustling of brush that made Sarah turn and take a sniff. "Luke! He can't see me like this." She let go of Bulbasaur and ran over to her clothes. She dove inside while she instinctively forced her body back to its human shape. She was back to herself and standing in only seconds, surprising herself.
"Bulbasaur, use your vine whip to knock some of those apples down," she said softly, pointing to a nearby tree. "Act like nothing happened."
Just then Luke walked through a bush. "What's taking so long?"
"Sorry. We just now found some apples."
Bulbasaur sighed and used his vines to crack several stems and the apples fell to the ground. Sarah went around and collected them and they all went back to camp.
At the camp, all of the Pokemon were out and munching on their food. Sarah noticed that throughout the entire meal, Bulbasaur looked at her with a resentful stair.
"There's a Pokemon Center a few miles ahead. We should be able to make it there by dark," Luke said in between bites.
Sarah perked up. "Cool." If there was a Pokemon Center, she could get a room and then no one would see if something happened again.
About two hours later, they arrived at the Pokemon Center with plenty of daylight to spare. The nurse gave them each their own room. Sarah immediately went to hers and let Bulbasaur out. He still had a glare on his face. "Ok, what's with the evil eye?"
"You know what it is," he replied back.
"I know you want me to tell him, but I can't. He'll think I'm either psycho or a freak of nature."
"Well, if he does, he's not your friend."
That threw Sarah off guard. Bulbasaur was right. A real friend would accept you no matter who, or what, you were. And to her, Luke was a friend. "You're right." Bulbasaur smiled. "But first I think we should run this by Prof. Oak, just to get his input."
Bulbasaur became mad again. "You're just putting it off. You can't deny who you are."
"And I'm not. It's just that I'm not telling anybody. Not yet, at least."
Bulbasaur sulked for a moment. "Fine. I'm only going along with it because I think of you as my friend. But I'll tell you now that putting it off will only make it worse."
Bulbasaur returned to his pokeball and Sarah stood alone in the room, thoughts tumbling through her head.