CHAPTER 3
˂They plan to start a war with humans. And they plan to win.˃
Those words hit us like a truck. For a full minute, no one spoke.
Then finally, Boris said, "Excuse me? A war?"
"What's a Weederpie?" I asked.
˂Weederpies are... they were created by an organization of humans,˃ Skipper said. ˂They called themselves 'Team Rocket'.˃
"Team Rocket?!" I cried. "I've heard of them. They think they're top Pokémon trainers. They use Pokémon for evil purposes. But... but no one's seen or heard from them in a long time."
˂Yes,˃ Skipper said. ˂They genetically fused a Weedle and a Caterpie, then changed the resulting creature's DNA structure a little, so they - aah!˃
˂Dad!˃ Bounce yelled. ˂Hold on, Dad. You're gonna be okay!˃
Skipper paused for a moment. He was hurt pretty bad.
˂The... the creature was altered so it was sentient,˃ Skipper continued. ˂And it was changed so it had the ability to... to crawl inside a Pokémon and control it. That way, they would be more efficient fighters.˃
I suddenly felt sleepy. I realized it was getting dark.
"Something went wrong, didn't it?" Lisa asked.
˂Yes,˃ Skipper said. ˂The... argh!˃
Skipper staggered like a drunk, and then fell over.
˂Daddy!˃ Blitz yelped. He started to help Skipper up.
˂No,˃ Skipper said. ˂Leave me. They will find me.˃
"What happened with the Weederpies?" Lisa asked.
˂They turned out to be evil. So evil, they hated any other sentient species,˃ Skipper said. ˂They tried infesting one human. It didn't work.˃
"So these Weederpies just crawl around, climbing in Pokémon's brains?" Michael asked.
Skipper shook his head. ˂It's a little bit more complicated. See, before a Pokémon can be infested, a special 'Drak' must be made. Draks are special genes which are injected into Pokémon. Without a Drak, a Pokémon cannot be infested. Rattatas, Spearows, Scythers, every species of Pokémon needs a different Drak. They take a long time to manufacture and design, though. The only Pokémon we know they have Draks for so far are Scythers, Pinsirs, and Mewtwo.˃
"What?!" I cried. "Mewtwo?! Mewtwo is under control of a Weederpie?!"
˂Yes,˃ Skipper said, nodding. ˂So far, the only creatures they cannot make Draks for is humans and Mews. They tried that, once. They discovered it was impossible. So they... they started hunting us. Killing us. We tried fighting them, but they are too strong. That is why Mews are so rare. We once had twenty-three colonies. Now, we have only four.˃
"Is there anything we can do to help?" I asked. I love helping people, for some reason.
Skipper stared straight at me, and I could see a flicker of hope in his eyes. ˂Yes, but you must all agree to use it wisely.˃
"Use what wisely?" Boris demanded.
˂It's a power. A very special power. You will be the first to have it.˃
˂Dad?! You're not talking about the Ditto Device, are you?˃ Bounce squeaked.
˂Yes,˃ Skipper said. ˂We Mews are not strong enough to fight the Weederpies on our own.˃
˂I'll go get the Ditto Device,˃ Bounce sighed.
He bounded back into the rock out-cropping. When he emerged, he was carrying a ball. It was about half the size of a basketball, and it was a clear pink color. I could see weird wires and stuff inside it, and, right in the center, was a Ditto.
Bounce gave the thing to Skipper, who held it up and stared at it.
˂I've worked on this for years,˃ Skipper said. ˂Mews aren't usually lovers of technology, but we have long admired the Dittos' ability to change into other creatures. So, I have created this machine which will allow anyone to change into any Pokémon they can touch.˃ He sighed. ˂It's not exactly like the Dittos' ability, as it is changed a little. And I have not been able to test it. But if it works, it will help you fight.˃
"Wait a minute, so you're gonna give us the power to morph?" Michael asked, sounding like he thought it was a joke. He started laughing.
˂Yes.˃
Michael stopped laughing.
Author's Annotation: I wasn't sure what Pokémon would be analogous to Animorphs' Yeerks, so I just decided to make one up out of the two most "slug-like" Pokémon at the time (remember, this was back when there were only 151 Pokémon).
The Draks were my version of the Kandrona Rays. I needed the Weederpies to have some kind of weakness, and I also used Draks to limit what hosts they could take so they could gain new hosts later in the series and grow in power.
