Sorry this chapter is a few days late. I'm on vacation so I am not in wifi often. But anyways onto the story!
Chapter 8:
"Mmh!?" Hikari let out a startled noise as Claire's fluffy tail smacked her in the face. After swatting it away, and receiving a subsequent smack for her actions, Hikari blinked away the weariness in her eyes only to notice that her hair was now a solid lavender pinkish color, matching her current ears and tail. She maneuvered herself, from her current position of now on top of her sleeping bag facing in the complete opposite direction of the opening, so that she could wake up Claire. Hikari began shaking the now blonde, fox-dragon girl hybrid's shoulder in an attempt to wake her.
"Hmm…sleep..." Claire mumbled quietly, not opening her eyes.
Hikari sighed before flicking Claire's forehead. "Come on Claire, wake your foxy self up already."
Claire let out a grumpy grumble, "Hmm.. alright alright," Claire slowly sat up rubbing her eyes. Once she opened them fully she looked at Hikari and then herself, looking at her hair. Claire sighed, "More changes….greeeat."
"There isn't much that we can do about that currently. Not until we figure out the origin of the spell and how to reverse it."
"Yeah…" Claire sighed again. "Well let's go see how the others are doing then. We should probably explore more of the island if we can."
Hikari nodded in agreement as she began to change into her combat outfit, while Claire changed into her normal attire. They stepped outside and saw Xavier, walking around the camp area.
When he saw them exit the tent he stopped and walked over to them, "Good morning, how are you guys feeling?"
"I feel fine at the moment." Hikari replied.
"Same...though I am still not happy with these changes." Claire muttered. "Well… Let's get some food ready before the guys get up." Claire went over to her bag and starting pulling out some food to eat.
Hikari also started digging through her bag, pulling out a bowl as well as a box of cereal and a spoon. She poured herself a bowl and began eating, leaving the box beside her.
Some minutes later Sora and Riku exited the tent, their hair color showing slight change, with Riku's being slightly more white and Sora's slight yellowish.
Sora and Riku went over to where Hikari and Claire were sitting and sat down across from them.
"Whoa your hair really changed a lot overnight," Sora commented.
"Yeah… Don't remind me…" Claire grumbled as she ate a bagel.
"You know your hair is starting to change…" Xavier started to say, but then paused, "You know I just realized, you guys never gave me your names."
"Oh, well I'm Sora." Sora said and then pointed to Riku, "And this is Riku."
"Claire." Claire said before biting into her bagel again.
Hikari finished her mouthful of cereal before answering, "And my given name is Hikari."
"Well now that's over," Sora started as he stretched, "What are we going to do today?"
"Find a way to fix this weird magic." Claire said.
"I've been here months and I haven't found anything…But if you want to search more then go ahead." Xavier said.
"We have to at least try to look for something." Riku said.
"It's entirely possible that you've missed something Xavier." Answered Hikari.
"Maybe...I mean I have been just by myself this whole time. More people searching might make it easier." Xavier responded.
"So after we eat, we go explore more of the island then?" Sora asked.
The others nodded in agreement and soon the guys got some food from the magic bags and began eating. After everyone had finished their food they cleaned up and split up into the same groups they had done the day before. Xavier agreed to go with one of the groups and went off with Hikari and Sora when the groups split up, once again going off in opposite directions.
Riku and Claire started walking off in their direction, and eventually they were deeper into the forest area. The two looked around for a while before Claire spoke up.
"So, what do you think we should be looking for?" She asked.
Riku shrugged, "I have no idea, I've never been in a situation or a world quite like this."
Claire let out a heavy sigh, "This is just great…"
"Are you alright?" Riku asked.
"I just really want to reverse this spell as soon as possible...If we don't figure something out soon… We will all be Pokemon in the next few days."
"I know. I do wonder though what is causing this to happen. I can tell there is a lot of darkness surrounding this island. That could be causing it."
"Can you find the source of it?" Claire asked as they continued walking.
"No, there is a lot of darkness here so it's hard to pinpoint the source." Riku sighed.
"Oh… I see." Claire said.
As they continued to walk through the forest, they soon heard some rustling from the trees around them. A few seconds later a few bird-like creatures flew out from the trees and flew past Riku and Claire. For the brief moments that they got to see the creatures, they saw that the birds had brown and cream colored feathers. The two stopped and watched the birds fly off.
"So those are some other Pokemon." Riku stated.
Claire nodded, "Yeah, I wonder what they are called though. We can ask Xavier later though." And with that, the two continued their walk through the forest.
"Who are you two?" A little voice spoke from somewhere.
Claire and Riku looked around, but couldn't locate the voice.
"Hello?" Claire called back. "Someone there?"
Seconds later a little Pokemon came out from behind a tree. It looked very similar to a ferret and had brown and tan fur. "Hello!" It said cheerfully, "I'm Joey."
Claire and Riku just looked at the talking Pokemon with surprise.
After having split up with Claire and Riku, Hikari, Sora, and Xavier reached the division between forest and shore.
"So, tell me Xavier, what have you learned about this place during your time here? Any information would be helpful in our search." Inquired Hikari after walking in awkward silence.
"Not that much...I've mainly just learned about the different types of Pokemon. Other than that I don't really know much else. I had searched the island several times, but never really found anything. The Pokemon here also didn't seem to know much about what had happened to me." Xavier explained.
"So the other day you said there are eighteen different types of Pokemon. Can you tell us what they are?" Sora asked as he placed his hands behind his head.
Xavier nodded, "Most are element related and then there are a few others, there is; fire, water, electric, ground, ice, grass, rock, steal, bug, poison, dark, ghost, dragon, psychic, flying, fighting, fairy, and normal."
"And each Pokemon is one of these types?" Sora asked.
"Well some are just one type. There are some Pokemon that have two types. Like there can be a flying bug Pokemon or a water and dark Pokemon." Xavier explained.
"Is there a method or reason to the Pokemon that we're becoming?" Hikari asked.
Xavier shook his head, "I have no idea. Based on my powers I should be a dark Pokemon...but I am an electric one. I have no idea how or what decides what Pokemon we become…"
Hikari hums in thought, but doesn't say anything else as she stopped walking, turning towards the trees, as if looking for something. Both Xavier and Sora stopped and looked back at Hikari.
"Do you hear something?" Sora asked.
"I'm not sure, but there's something or someone heading straight at us." Hikari answered.
Xavier turned and face the direction Hikari was looking, "Probably just a Pokemon wandering around. The island may seem quiet, but there are a lot of Pokemon hidden around here."
Shortly after Xavier's comment, a small, blue creature came into view. It had a turquoise oval shaped bump on it's head, really long floppy ears, a skirt shaped body with no arms, a pair of stubby legs, and an odd black tail that appeared to have an eye. The pokemon waddled it's way towards them, tripping on a tree root when it reached the edge of the forest.
"Why…" it muttered as it landed on it's face. It then used it's ears to stand itself back up before saying "Why not" chirpily and waddling away.
"Well that was random." Sora said as he watched the little Pokemon waddle further into the forest.
"Yeah," Xavier added, "I think I've seen that same guy wander around here a lot."
"Do you know if he's like us or a native here?" Hikari asked Xavier.
"Nope. Everytime I see him he just says something random...always saying 'why not' and then just wanders off." Xavier said.
"What kind of Pokemon is he?" Sora asked with curiosity.
"It's a psychic Pokemon called Wynaut." Xavier informed.
"He's quite a curious fellow." Hikari commented
"We may see him again, I've seen him wander all over this island." Xavier stated as they continued to walk.
Moments later as they continued to walk, they all saw some movement coming from the bushes near then. Soon two little Pokemon tumbled out and over each other, and they seemed to be giggling. One pokemon was fox-like in appearance with mostly tan-brown fur while the fluffy scruff around it's neck and the tip of it's tail were a lighter tan. The other was a monkey that had mainly purple fur with light, yellowish tan fur on it's face, belly, feet, and the hand thing at the end of it's tail.
"That was a fun game of tag." The monkey Pokemon giggled.
The fox pokemon nuzzled the monkey and said "Let's play again."
"They can talk!" Sora nearly shouted in surprise, causing the two little Pokemon to look over at the group of three.
"Yeah you can understand them, after being here a day that happens." Xavier commented.
"So the initial physical changes allow for us to be able to understand them." Hikari stated.
Xavier nodded, "That's what it seems."
The two little Pokemon sat up and continued to look over at the others, the little monkey one titled it's head, "Who are you two? I've never seen either of you before."
"They look so different," Began the fox thing. "Maybe they're like the grumpy Luxray."
"You mean that Luxray? The one you told me about?" The monkey asked it's friend as it looked at Xavier.
"Uh huh. That's him alright. He was always avoiding everyone and never wanted to have some fun."
"Oh wow, he does sound grumpy." The monkey replied.
Xavier let out a annoyed sigh, "You know we can hear you two...right?"
The fox thingy just giggled, and stuck out it's tongue before saying. "That's the point silly."
Xavier sighed again and opened his mouth to speak, but Sora spoke first.
"So what Pokemon are you guys?" He asked.
The fox titled it's head. "Silly Pikachu, weren't you taught anything. My name's Ava, and I'm an Eevee."
"And I'm a Aipom. Name's Jack." The monkey replied.
Xavier took a step forward towards the two, "These two don't know much of Pokemon...Like I did when I first showed up here. And Ava...remember my name. I'm not the grumpy Luxray…"
"Grumpy Luxray is grumpy Luxray." Ava pouted.
Xavier let out a sigh and mumbled, "More annoyed than grumpy…"
"Cousin, why you no say anything?" Little Ava had now turned towards Hikari and walked up to her, nuzzling her leg.
Hikari knelt down next to Ava and began stroking her head. "What do you mean little one?"
"Does Ava think she knows you?" Sora questioned.
Ava shook her head. "Espeon evolves from Eevee silly. We may not be directly related, but we're still family."
"Do you guys not know about evolutions either?" Jack asked.
"No, they wouldn't, they are still fairly new here." Xavier answered.
"So what are evolutions then?" Sora asked.
"Evolutions are what happen to a Pokemon at a certain age. It's like growing up, except that the Pokemon changes its appearance greatly and other things. Eevees have a rather interesting evolution, having the ability to evolve into one of eight different evolutions." Xavier said as he looked at Hikari, "Both you and Claire are an evolution of an Eevee."
"It's also completely voluntary." stated Ava, having returned to nuzzling Hikari's hand as she was being petted. "When I get older, I can choose to evolve or I can remain an Eevee. I haven't decided though."
Just then, a rumble of thunder roamed over head. Everyone looked up to see that dark, grey clouds were rolling in.
"Awww." Ava began to whine. "I have to go now cousin. Momma wanted me home if it started to storm."
"Let's hurry Ava. Before the rain starts." Jack informed as he started walking towards the way they came.
Ava started to follow Jack into the forest, calling over her shoulder "See you around cousin, and try to cheer up grumpy Luxray."
Once again Xavier let out a sigh, "Well there they go… We should probably head back too. We don't want to get stuck out here if the rain gets too heavy."
Hikari just nodded, stood up, and began quickly walking back the direction they came, with Sora and Xavier following closely behind.
"I wonder if Claire and Riku were able to find anything." Sora wondered aloud.
And that was chapter 8. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Let us know what you think, feedback is always helpful.
So what will happen next? Find out next time! :D