While they were walking, Silas took the time to examine his new body. The first thing he noticed was that he was shirtless and bare foot. His feet were, much like his hands, were half-paw half-foot. Both his hands and feet were a bright red, matching his "eyebrows" and the little tuft of fur between his ears. He also had a black mane of fur that wrapped around his chest, shoulders and upper back. The rest of his body was covered in medium length slate grey fur. It took him awhile to get used to his muzzle always being at the bottom of his vision.
Just as he finished, they had arrived at the base of a rather large hill with steps leading up. Silas could barely make out a wooden roof at the top of the hill. Silas noticed about halfway up the stairs that his legs didn't feel the least bit tired. In fact, he felt like he could run 10 miles. With that thought, he started running up the stairs, he was surprised by the speed he was able to achieve. By the time he reached the top he was going fast enough that he wasn't able to stop himself before running head first into the door of the temple.
The door was made of some strong wood, whilst the rest of the building seemed to be made out of wooden beams with some paper-like material connecting them. It looked like some kind of Old-Asian building from the textbooks Silas was forced to read in school. Silas sat at the top waiting for the monks to make their way to the top. Once they reached the top, the yellow furred monk gave Silas a quizzical glance. Silas responded with a shrug.
The yellow furred monk opened the door to reveal a courtyard that held the most beautiful garden Silas had ever seen. The flowers seemed to all mold together into one, forming a beautiful canvas of pink, blue and white.
"Beautiful isn't it?" The yellow furred monk asked
"Yes, it is," Silas said with a smile on his muzzle.
"Sister Roselia has quite the green thumb," the yellow furred monk said with a knowing glance to a hooded monk.
They continued through the courtyard and entered a large room, resembling a dojo.
"I will show our guest to the library," the yellow furred monk said, "The rest of you may resume normal duties."
With a nod the rest of the monks dispersed in different directions.
"You haven't told me your name yet," Silas pointed out.
"We gave up our names when we entered the order," The yellow furred monk said, with a chuckle, "You may call me Alakazam."
With that, Alakazam led Silas to a room with books lining the walls. Alakazam looked through them quickly before grabbing a large book off the wall.
"You said you were human before, right?" Alakazam asked
Silas answered with a nod. Alakazam placed the large book on the table with a loud thud.
"What do you know of the catastrophe that left our world in shambles?" Alakazam asked.
"Nothing really," Silas said with a shake of the head, "We were told that no one really knows."
"Lies," Alakazam dismissed with a hand pointed at the book, "for its all documented right here."
Silas reached for the book and Alakazam slapped his hand away with remarkable reflexes.
"These books are extremely old and delicate," Alakazam explained, "And there shall be time for reading later. Allow me to summarize it. Long ago, humans lived alongside creatures known as Pokemon. These creatures had the ability to manipulate certain elements. One day, when civilization was at its peak and huge cities sprawled over the landscape, all of the Pokemon began to disappear and people began to change. People began to gain the features of Pokemon and there terrible power. But Pokemon were limited to the elements that their types dictated, such as fire types or water types. The Humans, however, had no such limitations. These Human-Pokemon hybrids are known as 'Pokemorphs.' Only remote settlements and the most rural places were left untouched by these transformations. Many of these Pokemorphs were consumed by the power they wielded, and went mad. These rouge Pokemorphs wreaked havoc on society, and entire governments fell under their power.
"There would have been nothing left if it weren't for the dark types. Instead of just changing their shapes, the spirits of the dark types destroyed the spirits of their victims and taking control of their bodies. These Pokemorphs rallied under the leadership of an immensely powerful leader, one some still believe still lives to this day. With their combined forces, the dark types destroyed all of the power mad Pokemorphs as well as all who disagreed with their new rule. The dark types forged an iron fisted rule that has withstood many rebellions, to this day.
"Eventually, the transformations stopped, and some of the offspring of the original Pokemorphs had only the power of their types, the rest had no power at all. Under the watchful eye of their dark type overlords, now named the Black empire, split off and formed puppet-nations separated by types. Now, it seems, several centuries later, one of the Dark Empires Sorcerers managed to figure out how to forcibly transform humans into Pokemorphs."
"But you said that when humans became Pokemorphs, they gained tremendous power," Silas reasoned, "But I don't feel powerful."
"Perhaps it is a side effect of the transformation being forced and not natural," Alakazam respond, "But when I found you, you were consumed by a powerful power of a type I have never encountered before. It felt of…Death."
At this, Silas recoiled, "Death?"
With a nod, Alakazam went back over to the bookshelf and took down another large book and opened it on the table.
"In this book," Alakazam stated, "Contains every known type."
Alakazam opened the book up to the first page, which contained an index, and ran his finger down the text until he appeared to find what he is looking for.
"Ghost type," he said, reading off a page in the back of the book, "Is an element that only a Pokemorph who has experienced true death (had his blood cool) and came back. Because of this, only a handful of Pokemorphs have been able to use this ability."
"At the end here," Alakazam said, pointing at a list, "It gives a list of every ghost type move and how to use them."
"Alakazam," Silas said, "You said earlier that when dark type Pokemorphs were created the hosts mind was destroyed. But you called me dark type in the woods, and my mind is still intact."
"You're not going to be happy until I pull every book of this shelf, are you?" Alakazam joked for the first time sense Silas first met him.
Alakazam pulled an absolutely massive book off the shelf and opened it up.
"This book contains every known Pokemorph, their Pokemon counterparts and any special abilities they may posses." Alakazam explained.
Alakazam then spent several minutes looking through the book until it came to a drawling that resembled Silas.
"Zorua, the tricky fox Pokemon," Alakazam stated, "A dark type that possess the ability to manipulate light waves to change its shape and that of the surround area. An ability called Illusions."
Silas closed his eyes and concentrated on becoming his human self again, to no avail.
"Worth a shot I suppose," Silas said.
"Perhaps it will come to you in time," Alakazam said, "But this confirms my previous observation, you are in fact a dark type. So the question stands, how did you survive? Think hard, do you remember anything of your transformation?"
Silas tried hard to remember that terrible experience, "I was floating in darkness. The abyss he called it."
"What was 'It'?" Alakazam inquired.
"The Pokemorph that was in there with me," Silas explained, "It intended to leave me trapped there. All of a sudden, pain raked through my head and chains started appearing, binding me in place. I gathered my strength and pushed. The chains flew off of me and the Pokemorph seemed surprised for a minute. Then the pain and the chains reappeared, and hurt even more. Then I remembered my sister and how I promised to return and fought back. I threw the chains off of me and onto the Pokemorph."
"Hmm," Alakazam said, running his hand through his mustache, "It seems that your sister's memory gave you the strength to mentally overpower the dark type spirit that tried to control you."
"But why did the dark types do this to me?" Silas asked, sadly.
"They must have wanted to create another original Pokemorph, one that can manipulate every element. But that seems to have backfired," Alakazam said.
"What do you mean?" Silas asked.
"You resisted," Alakazam explained, "and now instead of that power being in the hands of a dark type puppet, it is controlled by a free-willed child with his sanity intact."
"Child?" Silas asked, somewhat offended
Ignoring him, Alakazam suggested, "If you wish, you may stay here, where we can teach you about the world outside your walls, as well as teach you how to control your powers."
"Really?" Silas asked, surprised by the offer, "I suppose I can't go back home, not like this. I accept your offer."
"Good," Alakazam said with a nod, "We will start immediately."