And here we have it. A new chapter for this strange little story.
I don't what to say about this one... I'm not too proud of it, though I do like it...
Whatever... enjoy.
Chapter Three: Spreading the Fun
"I can't believe they just took off like that without even telling us! Don't they know how dangerous that site is?" Hiro shouted as he ran toward the Old Bark Relic. "I swear when I get my hands on my sister…" He stopped to turn back towards his friends. "Will you hurry up already?" He shouted.
"Don't look at me!" Molly shouted back. "It's Kale's fault."
Kale, being on the short and portly side, was unable to keep up with lean and experienced trainers. Needless to say, the Pokémon breeder was exhausted. He was literally on his hands and knees crawling behind the trainers. "Guys…" He gasped in a raspy voice. "Wait… up… I think… I'm having… a heart attack." Kale ended up fall flat on his pudgy face.
Molly sighed. "Oh Kale… what are we ever going to do with you?"
Hiro's partner Pokémon started to poke their exhausted friend. "…I think he's dead." Voltage announced as he continued to poke Kale with his paw.
"Volt, knock it off." Hiro sighed.
"Knock what off?" Volt replied with a clueless smile. Hiro scowled at his Pokémon and whacked his Raichu's furry head. "HEY! What did I do?"
While Molly tried to calm two down, two figures approached the group of teens. "I thought I heard something." A voice suddenly said. "But it's just you weaklings…"
Hiro immediately recognized the voice. He turned to come face to face with his Silver and his Sneasel. "What are you doing here? Have you come back for round two?"
Silver merely chuckled at the thought of another battle. "Don't make laugh. Why would I waste my time with trash such as yourself?" The boy asked.
"HEY! Them's fighting words!" Voltage shouted as his cheeks started to spark. Silver's Sneasel responded by quickly jumping in front of the electric-type, giving Voltage a sinister smirk.
"Don't waste your time, Sneasel." Silver said to his Pokémon. "We have mort important things to do then toy with these weaklings."
"Weak?" Molly spat the word. "Who are you calling weak?" She asked grabbing a Pokéball from her belt. "Hiro, let me battle this asshole!"
"Enough of this… tell me what you know about those relics." Silver suddenly changed the subject.
The gang looked shocked and confused. Why was Silver interested in these old ruins? He's only been interested in become the greatest trainer to ever and has little interest in old, decaying ruins. So why the sudden interest?
Molly quickly glanced at Hiro, looking to him for suggestions. Hiro shock his and glared his hated rival. Molly nodded and look toward Silver. "First of all, why you suddenly interested in these old relics?" Molly question the boy in front of them.
"That's a stupid question. I don't have to answer myself to you of all people." Silver answered.
Molly was infuriated by his answer and thought about beating the smug little face of his with her own two hands. "You rotten, smug little bastard! I'll-"
"Molly!" Hiro shouted, standing in front of her. "Calm down and let me handle this." Hiro smiled. He then turned his attention to Silver. "If we did have any information about that relic… why would we tell you? After all, we aren't exactly 'friends.'"
Silver looked towards Hiro and smirked. "That's a very good point… Why should you tell me?" He repeated Hiro's question. "Well that's simple. There's an old legend saying that the ancient civilization that first inhabited this continent was said to have received a very special gift from the Legendaries." Silver explained. "This gift enabled the first settlers of this land to bond with the Pokémon and use their power to rule over the land. That power is said to have been stored in relics such as this." Silver smirked.
"Is that why you're here?" Molly asked, narrowing her eyes.
"More or less… someone has to claim that power before some weakling gets their unworthy hands on it."
Kale finally caught his breath and picked himself off of the ground. "Then… why tell us all this?" He curiously asked.
Silver gave the trio a wicked grin. "Because you're going to help me obtain that power."
"And why the hell would we do that?" Hiro retorted as his partner's body started to discharge some electricity. Silver simply ignored the stray bolt of electricity and continued smiling.
The group was interrupted by a sudden scream coming from the direction of the Old Bark Relic. Hiro and Molly instantly recognized the scream. "HOPE!" They shouted, ignoring Silver. They hurried towards the Relic in hopes of getting to their friends before it was too late.
(Meanwhile, at the Old Bark Relic)
The two young girls watched in fear as their friend was viciously attacked by a strange Houndoom creature calming to be his sister. The strange beast released the poor boy from her grasp and smiled in delight. "…It's done… that's one down… two to go…"
Chris screamed in pain as he clutched his bloody shoulder. "AH! My… arm… it burns!" Chris cried in pain. "Hope… Samantha… Help… me…" The boy fell to his knees and cried out as black fur began to spread across his body.
"Sssssssso it'sssss already begun… interessssssssting…" The snake mused. "I thought it took longer for the transsssformation to occur…"
"She must be near…" The male Houndoom morph suddenly sniffed the air. "…Jessica!" He called to smaller Houndoom morph.
"What is it, Calvin?" She asked in an annoyed tone as her brother's hands began to grow claws.
"Do you know the scent of the girl we are after?"
"I'm still getting used to my new body! Of course I don't know her scent!" She growled at the other morph.
The canine cursed his luck then turned around. "Let's go… we'll leave your brother to deal with these two. If we hurry to the entrance, we just may find her." Calvin commanded and led the group of morphs out of the room. Jessica stop only to look back and sneer. "Don't take too long, brother!" She teased the former human.
"WAIT!" Hope yelled only stop dead in her track by spine-chilling howl. She slowly turned around to find her once skinny and dorky friend was now a muscular Pokécreature, much like his older sister only he was a little different. The once short boy had grown in size till he was nearly the size of an adult human and his muscles had to have tripled in size and strength. His hands had grown short, razor sharp claws as did his new canine feet and he had a small stub of a tail sticking of his pants. The boys face had grown into a small, brown muzzle that grinned with dagger like teeth. Not even his eyes were spared from the transformation… his once caring brown eyes had been changed into demonic red eyes.
The Houndour boy took a deep breath and exhaled a fire that nearly burned Hope's eyebrows off. "AMAZING!" The boy shouted. "You girls don't know what you're missing…" He looked at his transformed paw and chuckled. "I understand everything now… the master is doing this for us…"
"Ch-Chris…" Samantha meekly spoke up. "Y-you're not well… Th-those creatures must have-" Chris suddenly launched a flamethrower at Samantha; the young girl narrowly stumbled out of harm's way.
"Don't you dare speak to them that way! They serve our lord and master as do I! And he has great plans for this world…" The morph grinned. "Plans you would be perfect for, Sam…"
"Wh-what?" Samantha stammered as her hear began to race.
"Yes… after all, you are a lot like your brother…" The Houndour slowly closed in on the girl. "…Brave and adventurous yet smart and careful… you always think before you act and you spot things others might have over looked… you would be perfect…"
"W-wait a minute… what about me? What are you going to with me?" The young, pink haired girl behind the morph asked.
"Please… we already have my sister… we don't need any more whiny and bossy bitches." He sneered.
With that Hope snapped and jumped on top of the morphs back, grabbing the dog's neck. "WHINY AND BOSSY? And what did you call me?" Hope roared. "Don't think that just because you're some sort of fire breathing freak now you can just call me whatever the hell you want, because you can't!" She roared.
Chris gagged and started struggling to get his crazed friend off of his back. "GAH! HOPE! I'm sorry! I forgot, okay? I FORGOT! I'M SORRY!" He yelled, trying to pry the human girl off of his neck.
Samantha just watched in disbelief. '…I must be dreaming…' She thought. '…There's no way this could be happening… first Jessica turned out of be some sort Houndoom creature, then she turns Chris into a Houndour… and now Hope is trying to strangle Houndour Chris because he forgot that she has short temper? …I HAVE to be dreaming! I must have had too much cake to eat at Hiro's party…'
"You know I hate it when you call me by those names! Don't think that just because I'm a Joy doesn't mean I can't beat your ass! Because I can and WILL!"
"HOPE!" Samantha yelled, prying her friend off of the morph. "Stop trying to kill Chris! I think he's back to normal… mentally at least."
Chris stumbled over his new feet and fell flat on his muzzle. When he got stood back up again, Samantha had noticed that his muscles had shrank in size, while they were still noticeably larger then when he was human, they were much smaller when a few seconds ago. She also noticed that he had reverted back to his original size. "…Chris… what happened to you?"
The changed boy shrugged. "I…I don't know… at first… all I felt was pain… then I felt… well… powerful. I felt strong, like I could lift a Rydon and… well I guess I went insane…" He explained, looking over his altered body. "Uh… wasn't I taller a moment ago?"
"Forget that! What was all that crap about the 'master' and those who serve him?" Hope asked her changed friend.
The canine simply blinked and gave the girl a blank look. "Uh… What?" Hope groaned and punched the canine's wet nose. "DOW! HOPE! A Houndour's nose is extremely sensitive!"
"I DON'T CARE! Now tell what the hell are you freaks planning?" Hope shouted, again punching Chris on his nose.
"OW!" He shouted, covering his muzzle. "I thought Joys were supposed to be kind and sweet!"
"Well I guess you could call me the black sheep of the family." Hope retorted, grabbing Chris by the shirt. "Now tell me, what the hell are you and your freaky friends up to?"
"I-I-I DON'T KNOW!" Chris cried. "You've gotta believe me! I don't know! It was like I was possessed! I swear!"
"I don't believe you!" Hope growled.
Samantha couldn't help but laugh at the situation. She found it so surreal and unbelievable that thought she really was dreaming. Her sudden burst of laughter caught Hope and Chris's attention.
Hope let go of Chris and gave her friend a frustrated look. "What the hell is so funny, Sam?" She asked.
"Well… think about it, Hope… not a minute ago we were huddled together in fear of being torn apart by him." Samantha pointed to the new Houndour. "And now HE'S afraid of being destroyed by you!" She laughed.
Hope glared at Chris who slowly stepped away from her. "…Well… He should be!" Hope raised a fist in Chris's direction. Chris flinched and covered his canine muzzle in fear. "After all, I've always been able to kick his little ass!"
Chris's ears suddenly twitched and with great speed, he grabbed Hope's arms and covered her mouth with clawed hand. "Shh!" He suddenly hushed her. She tried to protest through his paw-like hand but the canine once more hushed her, and seemed to have been listening closely to a strange sound… a sound the girls were unable to hear.
After a few minutes of silence, Hope bit down hard on Chris's finger. "OW!" Chris shouted taking his hand off of Hope's mouth. Once she was free, the human freed herself from his grip; she kicked Chris in the groin and backed away from him. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG IS YOU?" She roared.
"Can't talk… going to faint." He whimpered before he fell to his knees.
"You creep! What's wrong with you?" Hope asked the Houndour. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Considering the fact that canines have superior hearing? I'd say he was listening to something we are unable to hear." Samantha suddenly pointed out. "Isn't that right, Chris?" Chris slowly nodded as he attempted to catch his breath.
"Oh… right! I-I knew that!" Hope said. "Of course I knew that! Why wouldn't I?"
Samantha ignored her hotheaded friend and helped Chris back on his feet. "Chris… what is it? What do you hear?"
"…Well… It's kind of hard to describe…" Chris admitted. "It… sounds like very faint chanting… But… It sounds like they're humming… I think." Chris sighed.
"Where's it coming from?" Samantha asked.
Both of her friends look at her like she was crazy. "You have got to be kidding me!" Hope shouted.
"Look what just happened to me!" Chris said, pointed to his new body. "I've been turned into a freak!"
Samantha looked over the former human. "Well… you look kind of cool to be honest."
"I do?" Chris smiled, wagging his small, black tail.
"Besides, they still have your sister! Come on, guys!" Samantha shouted.
"Sam… you do know we're trapped here, right?" Hope pointed out.
"Oh… right… How do we get out of here?" Samantha asked frantically looking for some kind of escape route. "Hell… how did those strange Pokémon people get out? This is a small room and I can't seem to find any doors… not even the one we used to enter this place!" Samantha cried.
"I don't know… maybe we should ask the person that brought us here in the first place!" Chris growled at Hope, baring his fangs at the girl. The young Joy simply laughed and flicked his nose.
While her young friend continued to tease their newly transformed buddy, Samantha started pushing against a random wall. "GUYS! I think I found a way out!" She shouted as she continued to push against the wall.
Hope and Chris exchanged looks before responding. "I know I'm going to regret asking this…" Hope sighed. "But… What are you doing?"
"Trying to push this wall! There HAS to be a secret passage behind it!" Samantha confidently responded.
"And if there isn't?" Hope asked.
"Like I said! There HAS to be a passage hidden behind this wall!"
Hope sighed again and looked back as Chris. "She's not serious… is she?" Chris shrugged then asked "What makes you that there is one?"
"Because I saw this happen in a movie once!" Samantha answered back.
Hope's mouth dropped open while Chris couldn't help but laugh. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Hope shouted before falling to her knees. "AHH! We're going die here! We're dead… We're dead! We are SO dead!" She sobbed.
Chris suddenly saw something move in the dark. It quickly darted across the room and seemed to have disappeared into a wall. Feeling a bit curious, the Houndour morph slowly approached the wall and looked at it. He pressed his hand next to the spot where the creature disappeared and felt a small draft coming from the other side. 'This must be how those morphs got in here…' Chris noted. '…But how do I…'
A small black creature suddenly popped out of the wall, scaring the life out of firing breathing canine. Instinctively, Chris let loose a powerful Ember attack, frying the strange creature. "Whoa… How'd I do that?" He asked himself.
"Chris!" Hope shouted as she and Samantha rushed to their friend's side.
"That… that was…" Samantha started before jumping for joy. "That was WICKED!" She shouted. "Do it again! Do it again!"
"…Remember what I said about you being like you're brother, Sam? I take it all back." Hope sighed as she quickly examined the Unknown creature that Chris just burnt. The being was small and actually kind of thin. It didn't look like much and was shaped like the letter "G" with a giant eye in the center of it.
"…What kind of Pokémon is that?" Chris asked as the being sprang back up.
The Unown didn't look too happy as its eye started to glow. Before it could to anything, Chris once more attacked it with an Ember attack and then caught it in his mouth as if it were a disk.
The girls were horrified yet somewhat impressed at the same time. Chris was kind of a loser when he was human. "CHRIS!" They both cried.
Realizing what he's just done, the Houndour boy spits out the Pokémon and watches its body fall to the ground. "I-I-I'm sorry! I d-didn't mean to!" He quickly defended himself. "It's just… when I saw it… I had this bad feeling… then my mind went blank."
"…And I think I know why." Samantha suddenly said as the wall Chris was investing suddenly became transparent. "The wall… it's…" Before she could even finish her sentence, the wall disappeared, revealing another passageway.
The trio just stood there in shock all wondering the same thing. "…Okay… I know what I saw… now can someone please explain to me how that's possible." Chris asked. "That wall was pretty solid about two seconds ago."
"Yeah… and you were Human about ten minutes ago." Hope sighed. "I say we just screw this adventure and find our out of here."
"I second it." Chris sighed as he walked down the newly opened passageway. "As much as I want to save my sister, I have to admit that things are getting too weird for me. I'll let Hiro handle this crap"
Hope quickly followed behind the Houndour while Samantha looked back to the Pokémon Chris had killed. '…Small, black Pokémon shaped like letters…' She remembered the professors talking about such creatures. Beings with the power to alter reality itself. She then remembered what Chris had said shortly after being transformed. 'I have a bad feeling about this…' Samantha quickly ran off, catching up with friends in the process.
(Meanwhile)
Hiro went in first. He and his trust buddy, Voltage. "…Ever get the feeling that you're being… watched?" Voltage asked.
"Every time I enter one of these damn places." Hiro growled. "Samantha! Hope! Chris! Can any of you hear me?" He called out to the missing children. "You know you're not supposed to be in here! Come on out!" Hiro called out to his friends.
Unknown to the young trainer, his shouts had caught the attention of a pair of eyes, glowing in the darkness.
"HIRO, LOOK OUT!"
Like I said, I'm not too proud of this one... I feel that I screwed up something here...
hell I am writing this story on a whim. Sort of... experimenting, if you.
Any and all feedback is welcomed.
As Always: Love it, Hate it, Just Review it.
Gunner out.