CHAPTER 7

I woke with a start.

Where was I?

I looked around. I was in my apartment!

See, everyone who went to Pokémon College had to stay in this big apartment building. It was even free! How's that for a discount?

But it was only free for people in Pokémon College.

It was pretty dark. Only a lamp was on.

"Rachel! You're awake!" It was Lisa. She had been sitting on the couch next to me.

Yes, I was on the couch. The TV was on.

I guess Lisa was trying to calm herself. But she looked pretty pale.

"Wha... what happened?" I tried to ask. But my throat was dry.

Lisa gave me some water. "You fainted. You know, after he... Well, after you fainted, we waited for them to leave. When they finally did, we carried you back here."

"What about the Mew, Skipper?" I asked.

Lisa looked sadly at me and shook her head.

I felt like I could faint again.

No, he hadn't made it.

He was dead.

"Boris and Michael are in their own rooms," Lisa said. "Boris fell asleep as soon as he entered his room. We had to carry him to bed. Michael, on the other hand, jumped onto his couch and cuddled up with a teddy bear. I decided to wait for you to wake up to see if you were okay."

"What happened to Bounce and Blitz?"

"I... I don't know. They ran off once the Weederpies had gone," Lisa said.

I got up, and straight away, I wanted to just collapse on the couch again.

I saw the clock. It was 2:37 am.

"That poor Mew," Lisa said. "That poor thing."

"You should go back to your apartment," I told her. "Get some sleep."

"Yeah," she agreed. "As funny as it seems, we've got college tomorrow. Well, today, actually. Good night."

She left and I went to bed.

But every time I closed my eyes... every time I tried to sleep... I would see Parasecter One's eyes glaring at me.

––––––––––

When my alarm went off, I slept right through it. When I finally woke up, college had already started.

Well, I guess I couldn't go to college today.

I showered and got dressed.

Then, I headed for the fields.

I don't know why. Maybe I was hoping to find Blitz and Bounce or maybe Skipper.

But no, nothing.

I stumbled along for a while, feeling like I could just die from fatigue and exhaustion.

Suddenly, I tripped on a rock. I fell over, but was just too tired to get up.

I had been lying there for a minute or two when it came.

It was orange, small, and cute. It was a Charmander.

It started sniffing me curiously.

Then, I remembered Skipper's words: ˂You must touch a Pokémon and focus on it. This will allow you to 'acquire' the Pokémon's DNA.˃

So, slowly, I reached out with one hand and touched the Charmander. I focused on it, and it became very still.

Then, after a few moments, it ran off.

I started focusing on it again, and to my utter horror, I started changing...

Author's Annotation: I'm not sure why Rachel reasoned that being late for college was the same as not going at all. But she did just see something traumatic.

I'm also aware how utterly convenient it was she found a wild Charmander. I tried to base as much as I could on the games, but always found it weird that Professor Oak seemed to have the only Charmander/Bulbasaur/Squirtle in the whole world. So I reasoned there must be wild ones out there, and the games just kept them from you to be mean.

Also I know it's weird Rachel has the same name as an Animorphs character. The reason why is extremely convoluted and too dumb to go into, but she's a pretty different person from the Animorphs Rachel.