Samuel Townsend

I found myself sitting at the window of the living room, staring out at the collapsing city. I couldn't shake the thoughts about what undeniably horrible things my dad was likely going through. After all, those rebels that had caught him did not seem friendly…not to mention how terrifyingly organized they already were. I couldn't help but wonder if something deeper had been going on before this.

Oh well. Too late to wonder about that now. I just had to hold out hope that since they captured him, they weren't going to kill him. Which meant we'd be able to rescue him.

But most of us were still adapting to these bodies. We didn't know how to fight. Half of us could barely even walk. And our opponents, while newly transformed, didn't seem to have nearly as much trouble.

Then again, the guys I saw on TV were bipedal and still roughly human size. So they were probably having an easier time adapting than I was. Meanwhile I was a very large housecat with psychic powers.

Wait.

Psychic powers.

I had POWERS.

Why hadn't I thought about using them until now? Psychic abilities were always strong and broken. I could teleport. Read minds. Lift things with my mind. I could create shields! If I could master these, why, we'd be able to win for sure!

I looked away from the window and towards the living room, which was currently being rearranged to make room for Molly and Zinnia to sleep. Amanda had claimed the guest room for me and her, so everyone else was making do in other places. Jackson had headed back upstairs but refused to sleep in the tub, so Ryan was setting up a place for him to sleep in his room.

I noticed the table had been pushed to the side of the room, and leaped down from the windowsill onto it. I was surprised at how far and gracefully I had jumped. It seemed I really was a cat now.

I noticed one of Ethan's toy trucks on the floor nearby. Seemed like an easy enough thing to practice on.

I started focusing on the car, meticulously noting all of its details. I willed it to move, to obey my command. Drive across the floor, I told it. Do a little flip. Anything.

It did not even wobble.

Hmm, I wondered. Was I doing something wrong? It was impossible to know how exactly Pokemon used their moves in the games, I supposed. It would take some trial and error to get this right.

I decided to try meditating next. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind, slowing my breathing. But the images from earlier kept haunting my thoughts. The battling, the fires, the wounded. Not to mention an odd memory of what looked like Jackson falling out of a window…but that hadn't happened. What was with that?

But finally I managed to shove those back and focus. I could almost feel a tingling in my skull when…

"Hey, Sammy, are you okay?"

I yelped and leaped straight into the air, my meditation shattered. I whirled around, feeling my fur puff up, to see a startled-looking Amanda.

"Oh no, did I scare you?", she asked fearfully.

"No no, you're fine.", I answered quickly, "Just got a little startled is all. Your movement is completely silent now. Guess that comes with being a Ghost-type."

"Yeah.", she replied sadly, "I really don't like thinking about it."

She looked around. "Trying to clear your mind from all that's going on?", she asked, changing the subject.

"Kinda, yeah.", I replied, "I was mainly trying to see if I could unlock my psychic powers by moving that toy car. But that didn't seem to work all that well."

"Toy car?" Amanda looked around. "I don't see it."

"Wh- HUH!?", I exclaimed, realizing the car had vanished from its location. I looked around alarmed, and then spotted it.

On the opposite side of the room.

"H-how did that happen?", I stammered, alarmed. "It was literally right over here just a second ago. Right before you…"

"Maybe you threw it when you got spooked?", Amanda asked, "With those psychic powers or whatever."

I smiled slightly. "Maybe I did…dunno if I can replicate it though. But at least now I know it's possible."

Amanda smiled back. "It's a good start at least. I bet you'll be throwing that around in no time."

"That would be the hope.", I replied.

We sat together for a moment, watching as the others continued working. I could smell stew cooking in the kitchen, and realized how hungry I felt. I wasn't sure what exactly we could eat in these new bodies, but I sure hoped we could eat that.

I doubted there was anything in soup that would hurt the majority of us, though. Unfortunately Molly might not be able to eat the meat, and I had literally no idea what Rosa was supposed to eat. I doubted it was gonna be dirt though. Or if she'd dare let us test that.

Eh, we were gonna find out one way or another.

"Maybe we should go get the room set up.", Amanda suggested after a moment, "I know it'll be tricky for you to help now, but I think it would be a good way to relieve some stress and stop thinking about everything. Don't you think?"

I nodded. "Yeah, sure. Sounds like a plan."

I leaped off the couch and followed her to the room, hopefully escaping the dark thoughts lurking at the edge of my vision. (-o-)

Ryan Newman

Man, it looks like everyone's just been writing diary entries of all the small slice of life pie moments or whatever. I don't even know how they remembered those.

Oh well. Let me tell you something with a bit more action and excitement.

As everyone settled down and went to sleep, I stayed wide awake. I couldn't accept waiting a second more to save Sammy's dad. Who knew what could be happening to him at this very moment!? I knew I had to take action, somehow.

As I lay in bed, listening to Jackson's soft rumbly snores (it appeared even turning into a seal hadn't changed how loud he was when asleep), I took a glance over at my selection of ninja equipment. I had a camo vest, camo boots, a ski mask, a paintball gun with ammunition, a bag full of snacks and miscellaneous survival tools, and a baseball bat in case my gun ran out of ammo or was lost. And if the bat was lost…well, there was a knife among the survival tools, but I'd rather not use that unless it was a last resort. Plus I had no idea if you even could stab a Pokemon with one of those and succeed.

Although I supposed with Zinnia's condition earlier, they could be severely wounded and bleed out. Still, I really really hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Silently I gathered my things and snuck out of the room, casting a soothing smile towards Jackson. I couldn't wait to see their reactions in the morning when I came back with Mr. Townsend alive and well. They'd be so happy and thrilled!

Plus, I could make myself feel better about being the only one not transformed. Being able to prove I could actually do something in this situation.

I simply had to try.

Carefully I snuck down the stairs, avoiding the creaky steps like I used to do when I was a kid trying to sneak cookies from the kitchen. At the bottom of the steps though, I realized I had a bit of a problem.

Zinnia and Molly were sleeping in the living room. And I definitely did not want to wake either of them up.

It became an obstacle course to cross the room, weaving around the coils of Zinnia and trying not to step on Molly's pastel hair. There were a few close calls, especially when I walked past their snoozing faces, but I managed to successfully cross the room. I quietly grabbed my raincoat off its hook by the door, and slipped out into the pouring rain.

I found my bike safely tucked away by the garage, which I felt very grateful for since I imagined there were plenty of thieves on the loose right now. I climbed onto it and rode downtown, heading for where the rebels had established their base.

The city was quieter now, probably because the initial chaos was over and people were trying to figure out their next move. Emergency services were still all over the place though, and there was still fighting in the streets. It wasn't anywhere near the literal battles from earlier, however.

I did my best to stay out of their way, and while I got a few odd looks no one tried to mess with me. Soon enough I approached the site of the base.

It looked like a warzone over here. Cars were smashed or full of holes, and there was hardly a window on any of the buildings that hadn't been shattered. Fires still burned left and right, and I could see puddles and trails of blood left and right. Thankfully, though, it seemed most of the bodies had been disposed of. I really did not want to have to see that sort of thing.

I hid my bike in one of the ruined, emptied-out shops, since it stood to reason no one was likely to go back through it again. Then I slipped on my protective gear and my paintball gun and set off towards the district.

As I crept along, I couldn't help but marvel at how apocalyptic this all looked. Hadn't even been 24 hours yet and already things had gone to hell. I feared what would happen in the upcoming days, and knew that I was definitely gonna have to help everybody the best I could. They were gonna need me now more than ever.

That thought made me question sneaking off alone like this. But I quickly shook it out of my head. Could not enter a warzone like this with doubt in the brain.

I tried to remember all the tricks I knew in the first person shooters I had played. Stay under cover, try to flank around people, don't get hit. Super easy.

Treat this like a video game where you aren't allowed to get hit once. Die in the game, die in real life. Matrix type stuff.

I think it helped calm my nerves a little bit. Only a little though.

I snuck to the edge of the encampment, where I noticed a bunch of cars, chunks of wall, and other miscellaneous large bulky junk had been pulled up into a wall. There didn't seem to be anyone patrolling it, but I didn't want to take my chances. I slipped into the shadow of a building and watched to see if anyone would show up.

But there was nothing here but me and the pouring rain.

After waiting a good ten minutes (which felt like an hour from the suspense and admittedly boredom), I snuck up to the barrier and warily scaled it. No one showed up though, and then I was inside the wall.

The camp appeared to have been quite hastily built. Large stretches of canvas had been stretched between rooftops, and underneath were miscellaneous supplies that had yet to be sorted. Heaps of rubble had been pushed into ramshackle piles across the square, and there was junk lying everywhere. There were no Pokemon anywhere in sight.

I didn't like the looks of that. I quietly snuck along, constantly looking in every direction and holding my weapon close. It seemed very odd that such a dangerous group of rebels would not have a guard on duty, unless they were hiding somewhere very well. And with what some of these creatures seemed capable of, I really really did not like that.

I looked around at the buildings around me, and realized that many were filled with snoozing Pokemon. So this was where they all were. I ducked below view from the windows, so no half-awake Pokemon spotted me. I hoped my camo would prove useful as well.

But there was no sign of Mr. Townsend anywhere over here. So I decided to sneak deeper in.

The suspense could kill a man. Every moment there wasn't an awake Pokemon spotted on duty, every moment nothing happened, my anxiety only grew higher. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as I awaited the inevitable jumpscare, and every second that passed without one just made it worse and worse. I wondered if it really was possible to die of fear. With how I was feeling, that felt more and more likely.

As I snuck down the streets, though, I finally spotted something. One of the buildings was boarded up, and there was a big purple snake sitting outside it, staring resignatedly at the building across from it. My suspense, however, only lessened a bit. It seemed way too odd for there to be only one guard at one building.

It was a good enough candidate as any for a temporary holding cell, but it seemed far too easy. Something was up and I didn't like it.

But I had no other choice. I started sneaking to the back alley of the building, making sure not to attract the snake's attention. He seemed rather bored and depressed though - not very focused on his job. Which made things easier.

As I snuck across the street, he shifted, his forked tongue licking the air. He seemed puzzled, but then shook his head and sank back into his depressed coils.

Right. They could smell me. Pokemon must have much higher senses than humans. Thankfully, though, the rain seemed to dampen it enough that the snake assumed he was imagining things.

I managed to make it across without further incident and made my way to the back door. There were some ransacked trash cans all over the ground and a smashed fence, but was otherwise empty. There weren't any rats or cats scurrying around either. I guessed either the rain or sudden transformation had scared them off.

After looking around to make sure nobody was around, I tested the door handle. Locked, of course. I looked around for windows. All of them were boarded shut.

Dammit. Really should've gotten a crowbar or learned lockpicking.

Oh well. Time for plan B.

I walked up to the door and started kicking at it, trying to not be too loud. The rain and thunder helped conceal the noise, but with how quiet the rest of the area was I refused to take my chances. It took a bit of time, but finally the door cracked, and I managed to break down a section large enough for me to squeeze through.

Inside the building was dark and quiet. It appeared to have been a shop of some sort - ransacked boxes and miscellaneous items were strewn across the floor, as well as pricing stickers and broken storage units. It was honestly quite creepy, and I didn't like how dark and quiet it was.

"Mr. Townsend, are you there?", I called. No one answered.

I creeped through the ransacked storage area, jumping at any little noise. I was beginning to worry that I might have found the wrong house. But if it was…why had it been so heavily boarded up with a guard in front of it?

I walked into the storefront area, which was as messy as the storage area. This seemed to have been a general store, and items laid scattered from their shelves. All the food was gone, which I supposed was obviously going to happen. But there was no sign of Mr. Townsend…or any other prisoners for that matter.

"Hello?", I called nervously, my hair standing on end. Something felt very very wrong.

There was a soft twang, and then something thin and sharp nailed me in the butt.

"Yaaargh!", I screamed, whirling around. There was a large leaf-covered owl sitting on one of the shelves, pulling back an orange feather with a vine sticking from its wings. A Pokemon with a natural bow? That was definitely bad.

But there was a reason bows were no longer used.

I opened fire with my paintball gun, splattering the owl multiple shades of blue and yellow. It screeched and staggered, toppling the shelf. Which gave me time to bolt, running out the back door as fast as I could.

But it appeared the noise had alerted Mr. Depressed Snake, and now he was slithering towards me angrily, fangs bared. "Arbok! Ar arbok!", it bellowed, lunging for me.

But it was clumsy and I managed to dodge, leading to him slamming into the wall. Haha, it appeared these guys were just as clumsy as my friends in these new bodies. I did not want to take my chances with a bipedal one, though, and I ran towards my exit as fast as I could.

Around me the district was waking up, the sleeping Pokemon stirring and shouting at each other. I nearly slipped on a puddle but managed to catch myself, trying to run the best I could.

Suddenly barreling towards me from the right was a massive gray four-armed man, trying to grab me. I yelped and dodged to the side, but as I did so he slapped my gun out of my hand, knocking it into another puddle.

My wrist ached from that slap. He hadn't even touched it! He was clearly very strong, and I did not want him grabbing me. I grabbed my baseball bat and kept running, managing to start scaling the fortifications.

Just then there was a fierce howl, and a white wolf thing with a blade on the side of its face lunged out of nowhere, slicing it deep along the back of my leg. I yelled in pain and fell off the wall, rolling down the side and nearly flying into one of the crashed cars. I staggered to my feet, the cut burning deep and making it difficult to stand.

The wolf came flying at me again, and I smacked it back. It snarled, eyes glowing red, and I knew I had to run. This may be a transformed person but they were DEFINITELY out to murder me.

I immediately took off, shivering as it felt my blood leaking down my leg. It was agony to run but I knew there was no choice if I wanted to live. The dog lunged towards me again, but I managed to dodge this time. I raced for the shop where I had my bike and grabbed it, my heart racing.

I leaped onto my bike as the wolf came leaping through the window, claws outstretched. I nailed a kick with my good leg, though, knocking it into a shelf. I then started pedaling as fast as I could, smashing through the door and racing down the street as far away as I could.

After a couple blocks I had to slow down, my legs burning as I panted for breath. There were no signs of any of the Pokemon chasing me.

I carefully got off my bike, nearly losing my balance. I slipped a bandage out of my ninja bag (which was thankfully dry, that expensive waterproof bag purchase had been worth it) and wrapped it around the deep cut, pulling it tight. It could have been much worse, I knew. But it seemed today I had been lucky.

However, I had not found or saved Mr. Townsend. And I refused to go back home empty handed after this.

It was time to make a new plan.

I sat down under the cover of a nearby umbrella table, and began to plot my next move…(-o-)