ThatDunsparceFeeling
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Woah, I haven't been here for a while. It sure has changed. Anyone remember me? Probably not. Anyway, after writing an epic creepy pasta and being thrilled to find it on the front page of "fyeahpokemoncreepypasta.com", I decided to write something that was originally an idea for an RP. I was gonna submit it all at once, but I need encouragement from others to give me the motivation. Enjoy the first part of my far-from masterpiece!:yawn:
Tingly. That sort of described how it felt. But also kind of numb. Odd. Not an immediate sensation, just a background thing, like an itch that is real enough to be felt, but not scratched. Kyle didn’t really know what to make of it. He lay in his sleeping bag with his eyes closed, listening to the Pidgey cooing outside his tent. He had always been an early riser.
It was the second day of the Sentrets Summer Camp. The Sentrets was an international outdoor activity group. They would meet once a week on Friday and do fun outdoorsy stuff like campfire cooking and tying knots. It was for all ages, but was divided into Lil’ Sentrets, Sentrets and Furrets. Kyle was the oldest of the Viridian City troop, and he had already earned the Gold Furret badge, as well as countless other badges (Charmander’s Campfire Badge, Machop’s Fitness Badge, Goldeen’s Swimming Badge) and was a proud member. He could do any task put to him, and he had the badges to prove it. Despite all this, he was quite humble, and never talked about being able to do all this. He just did it when he needed to.
Man, he thought, what is that sensation?
He was on the summer camp in Viridian Forest, and last night had been the first of five nights. Last night, in Kyle’s opinion, had been a blast. Marshmallows around the fire and fun songs (“We are the Sentrets! The mighty mighty Sentrets!” and so on) from seven till half past ten. He had told a bedtime story to his little brother Isaac, a Lil’ Sentret, because he had had a nightmare. Kyle had made up a story on the spot about a Drowzy who came to good little kids and ate their nightmares, which had sent Isaac off to sleep within a good ten minutes.
The tingly feeling was still there. He started to open his eyes. He just saw a blurry yellow thing at first. His bag? No, that was blue. Well, maybe Isaac had left his Pikachu toy in Kyle’s tent. But as his eyes came into focus, he recognized it as a lightning bolt shape, attached to a long black rope. He stared for a few moments at the out of place object, then, after his tired mind had put the pieces together, it hit him like the lightning bolt he was looking at. This was the tail of a Raichu!
He yelled and jolted upwards, unzipping the tent door faster than you could say “unzipping the tent door”. He ran in his pyjamas across the grassy area they had made camp. It was late enough for sun to be shining through the trees, illuminating the beautiful, lively forest. The forest was filled with the cacophony of Pokemon’s crys. Kyle completely ignored this scene of utter beauty and fragility in his panic to get away from what was in his tent.
He collapsed to his knees. He had hardly woken up, and six in the morning was too early for an adrenaline rush. “It came for me, after all these years.” He muttered in amazement.
Kyle turned around, half expecting the static vermin to be chasing him. But even from where he was, he could see that there was nothing in the tent. Then, in the corner of his eye, he saw the jagged yellow shape again! He spun around, but it wasn’t there. He slowly turned his head to look behind him. His eyes widened in shock.
There, sticking out of the back of his trousers was the tail. Kyle just stood and stared for a long time, then quickly dropped his trousers and pants. He saw that the tail was sticking straight out of where his, well, tail-bone was. He did a double take. Then a triple take. Even after the dodeca take, the tail was still right there. He reached to touch it. He felt the touch of his fingers. He even found that he could move it side to side.
Yes, this most certainly was his tail.
With pale shaking hands, he pulled up his trousers and walked over to the nearest bush. He bent over and vomited. None of this was making any sense. His brain was overloaded. He couldn’t take all of this in. He stood there for ten minutes or so, processing the information.
Tail, he thought. I have.... a tail. Me. A tail. Did I have one yesterday? No. But now I have... a tail. Is it real? Yes, it seems so. So, I have randomly accumulated a tail overnight. He sat down hard on the grass and curled up into a little ball. He was scared and confused. People did not just wake up with tails. And of all the creatures to have tails from, it had to be a Raichu. I knew I shouldn’t have come back to Viridian Forest. I should have just stayed at home. Why did it even occur to me that coming back here was a good idea? And what will the others think? What if I have big rat ears too? He felt his head. Nope, thank Arceus. So at least it’s just the tail. But how? Why? Why me? He uncurled and pulled down his PJ bottoms to inspect the tail once more. It was exactly like the tail of a Raichu. That tingly feeling must have been from it growing. He had never grown new body parts before, so how would he know how it felt? He tried moving it around, tracing shapes in the air. He realized that though he had only just realized he had it, he was already quite dextrous with it. He was just beginning to enjoy having a tail until he remembered that everyone else would be horrified. What would Di think?
Di, by the way, was Kyle’s all time best mate. He had met him at Sentrets on the first day and they’d been inseparable ever since. Di was a year younger than Kyle, but they were still great friends. He was very clever, as his full name suggested. His full name was “Diomedes”, meaning “to think”. His parents had wanted to give him a very unique name, but he preffered just being called Di.
But Kyle knew that no matter how shocked or freaked out Di was, he would still be understanding. That’s how close they were. He wanted to talk to him about all this. When the world seemed to be going crazy, he needed someone to vent to.
He walked over to Di’s tent and tapped on the side. “Di? Are you there? Wake up.” No reply. “I have a... problem. I don’t understand what’s going on and I’m scared.” He heard whimpering noises from inside the tent. “Di, what is it? Do you have a tail too? Don’t worry, i just woke up with mine. We’ll figure out what’s going on, ok?”
“I don’t know about tails,” came Di’s sobbing voice, “but I have a problem too.”
“Have you got something from a Pokemon? I woke up with a Racihu’s tail.”
Kyle heard shuffling noises from inside the tent. The flap unzipped, and out poked Di’s head. But his face was different. Where his nose would have been, there was a short, wide trunk that hung over his mouth. His eyes were red from crying. “I look like a Drowzee.” He spotted Kyle’s long tail. Kyle could see the relief wash over him, the knowledge that he wasn’t the only one. “So it’s happened to you too.”
“Do you think we’re the only ones?” Kyle asked nervously.
“I doubt that. The chances of us two people being the only ones to go through this... ’process’ is highly unlikely.” He had recovered slightly from the depths of despair and coming back to his calculating, know-it-all self. “I think we should check on the others.”
“I want to check on Isaac first.” Kyle was fiercely protective of his little brother. He looked out for him like a dad since his real dad was useless.
“He’d make a pretty cute Pikachu, you gotta admit.” Di joked.
“I don’t admit.” Kyle added coldly.
However, once they had unzipped the tent, Di’s joke was proven to be correct. Kyle gasped when he saw his dear little brother with a pair of pointy, yellow, black tipped ears. “He has red electricity pouches on his cheeks, too.” Kyle noted.
“So do you.” Di replied.
“What? Really?”
“I’m guessing you didn’t bring a mirror.”
“Nope.”
“So, uh, I’ll stand outside while you wake him up and give him the briefing.”
“Huh?” Kyle said, confused, “Why d’you wanna stand outside?”
“Because I’d freak him out.” Di said, “You can hide your tail behind your back, but I can’t hide my trunk. Think of how he’d react!” Kyle didn’t think that this whole Drowzee business was helping Di’s self esteem much.
“Ok,” he agreed, “I’ll tell him.” With that, Di retreated from the tent opening and sat down on the grass, out of view. Kyle crawled further into the tent and sat down by the sleeping bag. Isaac was lying on his back, mouth wide open and eyes shut. He looked like an adorable, freaky, chimerical angel. Kyle hid his tail behind his back.
What am I going to say? How do you explain to a five-year-old kid that he is from this day forth part Pikachu? He spotted the top of a lightning bolt tail sticking out of the sleeping bag. Man, he’s transformed more than I have. Well, here goes nothing.
Kyle gently nudged his little brother. “Isaac. Isaac. You need to get up now.” Isaac took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
“Morning Kyle.” he said with a sleepy smile.
“Isaac, listen. Something weird happened when we were asleep. To all of us, we think.”
“What?” Isaac was more alert now, curious at what this new change might be.
“Well, I don’t really know. We sorta... turned into Pokemon, sorta.”
“Really?” His young eyes were wide with amazement. Isaac believed this because one, he was very young and the world seemed like a magical place, and two, he knew Kyle would never lie to him.
“Yeah. But only a bit. Like, parts of us. You notice how my cheeks are really red? What does that remind you of?”
“You’re embaressed?”
“No. They look kinda like a Pikachu’s cheeks, right?”
Isaac smiled a smile of excitement and wonder. “Are you a Pikachu?”
“Almost. I’m part Raichu now.” After a slight pause, he added, “You want to see my tail?”
“OK!” Isaac said enthusiastically.
Kyle slowly moved his tail from behind his back, careful not to scare his little brother. Isaac gasped when he saw the yellow bolt on top of the long, black string-like tail emerge from behind his brother.
“That’s so so so COOOL! Can I touch it? Please?”
Reluctantly, Kyle reached his tail over towards Isaac. Isaac was completely fascinated, stroking it and feeling it.
Well, Kyle thought, he seems to accept this pretty well. Maybe he won’t be so freaked out when he realizes he’s got ears sticking out the top off his head and a tail. Better break it to him now rather than later.
“Are other people Raichus too? Is Di a raichu?”
“Umm... no,” Kyle said, “We’re all different. Di’s a Drowzy, and you. You’re part Pikachu.
Isaac stared at Kyle, waiting for him to go “Gotcha! LOL.” Or “Jokes! August fools!” But he didn’t.
“R-really?” Isaac said shakily.
“Well, yeah, I... Di!” He called out the tent, “Get the mirror.”
A minute later, Di’s hands emerged from outside holding the mirror. Kyle held it facing away from Isaac, catching a quick glimpse of his bright red cheek pouches.
“Ok.” Kyle said, “Are you sure you’re ready?”
Isaac nodded his head violently. Ever so slowly, Kyle turned the mirror towards Isaac, who was now out of the sleeping bag and standing up. His jaw dropped as an equally surprised boy with Pikachu ears and a bolt tail stared back at him in the mirror. He seemed torn between panic and excitement, so he just cried.
“Hey, hey!” Kyle desperately tried to calm down his brother. “Shh. It’s gonna be alright, okay? Relax. I didn’t react like this when I discovered my tail, did I?” Well, he had in fact acted like that but he wasn’t going to admit this. “We’ll find a way to reverse this and change you back.”
Isaac sniffed and wiped away tears. “You promise?”
“I promise.”
A shrill scream pierced the air. Damnit. It’s happening to everyone.
“Isaac,” Kyle said calmly, “I need to go and help the others. Stay here, ok?
Kyle rushed outside, tripping over Isaac’s bag on the way out and landing flat on his face. When he looked up, he saw Victoria screaming and running around like a spooked Ponyta. I’d love to say that it turned out she was a spooked Ponyta, that she had woken up with a mane of fire, but she hadn’t. No, she had big velvety wings. She was screaming and screaming and running around, trying to escape from the wings, which she couldn’t of course. The poor girl was only 10, and she was in a complete panic.
“Help! Help! Gedditoffme gedditoffme! What’s happening?!?! HELP!”
Kyle jumped to his feet, then remembered his tail, tucked it behind him, and ran to help her.
“Hey, hey! Calm down, Victoria. Calm down. It’s ok!”
“It’s not ok! I... I... help! Get them off!”
“Victoria...”
“Help! Help!”
“VICTORIA!” Kyle yelled. Victoria was clearly startled by his cry, and stopped to look at him. Then she collapsed against him and hugged him tight.
“K-Kyle. What’s going on? Why do I... I don’t know what’s going on!” She sobbed.
“Listen, it’s...”
More screams from the other tents. Victoria had set off a chain reaction. Her scream had woken others, who were now probably discovering their transformations.
“Just sit here and calm down, relax. It’s all going to be ok.”
“You... you promise?”
“I promise.”
As he turned to go, Victoria noticed something sticking out of Kyle’s pyjama bottoms. “Kyle,” she said in awe and amazement, “you have a tail.”
“I know.” Kyle said without turning around. He called urgently to Di. “DI! Could you give Victoria the briefing while I help the others?”
“Can do!” came the reply.
Kyle really didn’t know where to start. Some kids were already out of their tents and panicking. Others could be heard from within their tents. One, whom Kyle knew as Jack, had torn through the tent in his frantic bid for escape. He seemed to have brown and white feathers on his arms, giving them the appearance of wings. The leaders had come out of their tents now, running in fear and shouting something about getting help. They didn’t have any mutations.
“Guys! Guys! Chill! Let’s just take a chill pill and think this through!”
This suggestion didn’t seem to help, but when they saw Kyle they ran to him. He was, of course, the oldest and wisest. This could be a curse at times. He was expected to do everything when the leaders weren’t around.
“Kyle! What’s going on?”
“What’s happening to me?”
“I want mummy! I want my mum!”
“It’s impossible!”
“You have a tail too! Do you know what’s happening?”
“I don’t know!” he shouted and stamped his foot on the ground. A loud crack of thunder echoed through the forest as he did so, sending Pidgey and Butterfree flying from their homes. It was a perfectly clear morning, so it wasn’t natural. Everyone stopped and looked at Kyle. He lifted his foot and found the grass burnt black. His cheeks were buzzing, another new sensation.
Well, at least that got their attention.
“Ok guys, listen up! I don’t know what’s happened, but I do know that we should stay calm and figure this out. Di says that it’s highly unlikely that we’re the only ones, right?”
“Right.” Di confirmed. He went back to comforting Victoria.
“Well then, we should turn on the Sentret leader’s radio and listen for reports, ok?”
There was an agreeing murmur from the crowd.
“Great. Can someone get the radio?”
“I’ll get it.” said someone from the crowd. It was Adrian.
Ah, good ol’ Adrian. Kyle thought, Always eager to help. A true Sentret. Where his brown hair usually was there were now 5 big green leaves sticking out vertically. His skin was tinted dark blue.
“Thanks, Adrian.” Kyle called to him, but he was already in the big tent. A few moments later, he emerged with a small radio. “Good job.” He walked over to Adrian and took the radio. He placed it on the floor and sat down, and everyone else followed. Once everyone was sitting down and listening, he switched it on and tuned it in.
“SSSHHCKKC- will be running for the hills! Give us what we want or we’ll turn this weapon on the whole world! This is a newsflash from Team Rocket. We have unleashed a new weapon on Viridian city and forest. We have sent a list of demands to those who have what we want. When you discover the weapon’s effect, most of you will be running for the hills! Give us what we want or we’ll...”
Kyle switched off the looping broadcast. Everyone was staring at the radio.
Di was the first to speak up. “So Team Rocket caused this. I knew they were bad, I knew they were geniuses, but I never expected them to go hardcore evil on children!” Di was currently using a knife to cut narrow holes in one of Victoria’s shirts so her large, featherless bug wings could stick out. Victoria started crying. The sudden outburst of sobbing surprised Di, causing him to cut himself with the knife.
“I just wanna go home!” she choked through her sobs, “I wish this hadn’t happened. Now I look like a gross Beedrill, or...”
“A Butterfree, actually.” Di said.
“What?” Victoria raised her head.
“Well, the wings are broad and furry. They aren’t divided into four and they aren’t transparent. See the markings? I’d say these are the wings of the puniceus volatilis decor variety. Quite a rare and beautiful specimen, I’ve only seen one.”
“Oh.“ she seemed to calm down a bit. It obviously hadn’t occurred to her that she may have acquired the wings of something that was considered rare and beautiful. “Can I fly?”
“Possibly, but those wings are made to support a much lighter body.”
“Oh, ok.” Though disappointed, she obviously now liked her wings more than she had thirty seconds ago. She put her wings together and, with great difficulty, put the shirt on. The wings fit perfectly through the holes.
Kyle hadn’t said a word throughout all of this. He was trying to formulate a plan. They needed a cure. He wasn’t going to be able to live his life looking like this. He was ashamed of it. A little kid, whom Kyle knew was called Tim, walked over to Kyle on all fours. He was only five, like Isaac, and his mutations were severe. He had a large green bulb on his back and his skin was light green with darker spots dotted around the place. “Is this gonna be forever?”
Kyle didn’t answer. Instead, he stood up and looked around at the crowd. “Listen, everyone. I have a plan.” He looked around at the crowd. About fifteen faces were looking at him, eargerly and impatiently waiting for him to continue. “If Team Rocket caused this, they must be able to cure it, right?”
This erected a murmur from the crowd, with calls of “Oh yeah!” and “Of course!” and “No sh*t, Sherlock” clearly heard.
“So,” he continued, “I say we grab our stuff and head for Team Rocket’s HQ! There, we can break in and demand they give us the cure!”
Cheering from the crowd, including a few eligible shouts.
“Yeah!”
“Let’s do it!”
“Let’s kick ‘em right in the Rocket!”
“Where’s their HQ?”
The latter caused the cheering to cease. Everyone looked around at each other, but no one seemed to know. But then two people stepped forwards. They walked in unison, both almost perfectly synchronised with one another. They had bushes of brown feathers on their bodies, but none on their arms. They were the Kaedama twins, Brady and Bradley. Brady Kaedama was eleven years old. He had spiky brown hair and green eyes. He liked playing on the Nintendo Wii, reading and watching sports on TV. Bradley Kaedama, on the other hand, was eleven years old. He had spiky brown hair and green eyes. He liked playing on the Nintendo Wii, reading and watching sports on TV. The twins were inseperable, doing everything together. They were so alike, it was impossible to tell the difference between them. Not only the physical appearance, but they shared an identical personality. It was like they were both clones of each other.
“Our older brother works for Team Rocket!” said Brady.
“He goes to Celadon city when he’s called in by them!” said Bradley.
“He says the Game Corner is their base of operations!”
“And where they keep all the stolen Pokemon!”
“And money!”
“And drugs!”
“And weapons!”
“And where they do all their research on new technology!”
Kyle didn’t know who was who anymore more. His eyes hurt from looking back and forth between them so much. “Um... great, thanks guys. So, to Celadon city it is!”
A small voice came from the crowd. “But aren’t Team Rocket dangerous?”
“Well, yeah, they’re gangsters. Criminals.”
Another voice came from the crowd. “I heard they keep those who try to stop them prisoner!”
“I...”
“And they carry whips.”
“Um...”
“And they have loads of poisonous and deadly Pokemon.”
“Okay, okay, I get it!” Kyle shouted. “Guys, I’m not pretending this isn’t dangerous, ok? Anyone who doesn’t want to come, sure, stay here. But I need help to find the cure. So, if you want to help, stay here. But if not, go home or whatever.”
Most people left. A couple walked towards the exit of the forest to Viridain city, but most of them went other ways, deeper into the forest. In groups, pairs, or alone. Kyle didn’t quite understand this, but he had other things to think about. The only people who stayed were Di, Adrian, Victoria, the Kaedama twins, an eight year old boy called Jim (who had red scales in some places, long thick catfish whiskers and a broad fish tail) and another eight year old, a girl called Katrina (there was a red light shining through her shirt flashing to the rhythm of a heartbeat and somewhat gold skin, but was otherwise normal). Isaac’s head emerged from the tent.
“Can I come out now?” Seeing the small group of people, he scurried towards them, and much to Kyle’s surprise and shock, on all fours.
“Isaac, don’t do that!” He said, somewhat disturbed by this frankly feral behaviour.
“Do what?” Isaac didn’t seem to have realized what he had just done, even though he was still sitting in a squatting position with his arms stretched down touching the floor beneath his feet.
“Run on your hands and feet like that, like a... a Pikachu. It’s creepy.”
He stood up, still looking somewhat confused, though he didn’t argue.
Once everyone had packed up their things, and Kyle had changed into his clothes and donned his red cap, the party set off, backpacks on their backs, although the Kaegama twins were each holding one handle of the same duffel bag. However, they had only walked a few feet when a thought struck Kyle.
“Wait! I need to get Ness!”
Ness was Kyle’s youngest brother. He was only two, and he couldn’t talk yet, but there was no way he was leaving him with that man at home; his dad.
“Who’s Ness?” Victoria asked.
“My brother back in Viridian city. I need to bring him.”
“Wait! What about....” But it was no use. Kyle was already making an electrically charged sprint for Viridian city.
Tingly. That sort of described how it felt. But also kind of numb. Odd. Not an immediate sensation, just a background thing, like an itch that is real enough to be felt, but not scratched. Kyle didn’t really know what to make of it. He lay in his sleeping bag with his eyes closed, listening to the Pidgey cooing outside his tent. He had always been an early riser.
It was the second day of the Sentrets Summer Camp. The Sentrets was an international outdoor activity group. They would meet once a week on Friday and do fun outdoorsy stuff like campfire cooking and tying knots. It was for all ages, but was divided into Lil’ Sentrets, Sentrets and Furrets. Kyle was the oldest of the Viridian City troop, and he had already earned the Gold Furret badge, as well as countless other badges (Charmander’s Campfire Badge, Machop’s Fitness Badge, Goldeen’s Swimming Badge) and was a proud member. He could do any task put to him, and he had the badges to prove it. Despite all this, he was quite humble, and never talked about being able to do all this. He just did it when he needed to.
Man, he thought, what is that sensation?
He was on the summer camp in Viridian Forest, and last night had been the first of five nights. Last night, in Kyle’s opinion, had been a blast. Marshmallows around the fire and fun songs (“We are the Sentrets! The mighty mighty Sentrets!” and so on) from seven till half past ten. He had told a bedtime story to his little brother Isaac, a Lil’ Sentret, because he had had a nightmare. Kyle had made up a story on the spot about a Drowzy who came to good little kids and ate their nightmares, which had sent Isaac off to sleep within a good ten minutes.
The tingly feeling was still there. He started to open his eyes. He just saw a blurry yellow thing at first. His bag? No, that was blue. Well, maybe Isaac had left his Pikachu toy in Kyle’s tent. But as his eyes came into focus, he recognized it as a lightning bolt shape, attached to a long black rope. He stared for a few moments at the out of place object, then, after his tired mind had put the pieces together, it hit him like the lightning bolt he was looking at. This was the tail of a Raichu!
He yelled and jolted upwards, unzipping the tent door faster than you could say “unzipping the tent door”. He ran in his pyjamas across the grassy area they had made camp. It was late enough for sun to be shining through the trees, illuminating the beautiful, lively forest. The forest was filled with the cacophony of Pokemon’s crys. Kyle completely ignored this scene of utter beauty and fragility in his panic to get away from what was in his tent.
He collapsed to his knees. He had hardly woken up, and six in the morning was too early for an adrenaline rush. “It came for me, after all these years.” He muttered in amazement.
Kyle turned around, half expecting the static vermin to be chasing him. But even from where he was, he could see that there was nothing in the tent. Then, in the corner of his eye, he saw the jagged yellow shape again! He spun around, but it wasn’t there. He slowly turned his head to look behind him. His eyes widened in shock.
There, sticking out of the back of his trousers was the tail. Kyle just stood and stared for a long time, then quickly dropped his trousers and pants. He saw that the tail was sticking straight out of where his, well, tail-bone was. He did a double take. Then a triple take. Even after the dodeca take, the tail was still right there. He reached to touch it. He felt the touch of his fingers. He even found that he could move it side to side.
Yes, this most certainly was his tail.
With pale shaking hands, he pulled up his trousers and walked over to the nearest bush. He bent over and vomited. None of this was making any sense. His brain was overloaded. He couldn’t take all of this in. He stood there for ten minutes or so, processing the information.
Tail, he thought. I have.... a tail. Me. A tail. Did I have one yesterday? No. But now I have... a tail. Is it real? Yes, it seems so. So, I have randomly accumulated a tail overnight. He sat down hard on the grass and curled up into a little ball. He was scared and confused. People did not just wake up with tails. And of all the creatures to have tails from, it had to be a Raichu. I knew I shouldn’t have come back to Viridian Forest. I should have just stayed at home. Why did it even occur to me that coming back here was a good idea? And what will the others think? What if I have big rat ears too? He felt his head. Nope, thank Arceus. So at least it’s just the tail. But how? Why? Why me? He uncurled and pulled down his PJ bottoms to inspect the tail once more. It was exactly like the tail of a Raichu. That tingly feeling must have been from it growing. He had never grown new body parts before, so how would he know how it felt? He tried moving it around, tracing shapes in the air. He realized that though he had only just realized he had it, he was already quite dextrous with it. He was just beginning to enjoy having a tail until he remembered that everyone else would be horrified. What would Di think?
Di, by the way, was Kyle’s all time best mate. He had met him at Sentrets on the first day and they’d been inseparable ever since. Di was a year younger than Kyle, but they were still great friends. He was very clever, as his full name suggested. His full name was “Diomedes”, meaning “to think”. His parents had wanted to give him a very unique name, but he preffered just being called Di.
But Kyle knew that no matter how shocked or freaked out Di was, he would still be understanding. That’s how close they were. He wanted to talk to him about all this. When the world seemed to be going crazy, he needed someone to vent to.
He walked over to Di’s tent and tapped on the side. “Di? Are you there? Wake up.” No reply. “I have a... problem. I don’t understand what’s going on and I’m scared.” He heard whimpering noises from inside the tent. “Di, what is it? Do you have a tail too? Don’t worry, i just woke up with mine. We’ll figure out what’s going on, ok?”
“I don’t know about tails,” came Di’s sobbing voice, “but I have a problem too.”
“Have you got something from a Pokemon? I woke up with a Racihu’s tail.”
Kyle heard shuffling noises from inside the tent. The flap unzipped, and out poked Di’s head. But his face was different. Where his nose would have been, there was a short, wide trunk that hung over his mouth. His eyes were red from crying. “I look like a Drowzee.” He spotted Kyle’s long tail. Kyle could see the relief wash over him, the knowledge that he wasn’t the only one. “So it’s happened to you too.”
“Do you think we’re the only ones?” Kyle asked nervously.
“I doubt that. The chances of us two people being the only ones to go through this... ’process’ is highly unlikely.” He had recovered slightly from the depths of despair and coming back to his calculating, know-it-all self. “I think we should check on the others.”
“I want to check on Isaac first.” Kyle was fiercely protective of his little brother. He looked out for him like a dad since his real dad was useless.
“He’d make a pretty cute Pikachu, you gotta admit.” Di joked.
“I don’t admit.” Kyle added coldly.
However, once they had unzipped the tent, Di’s joke was proven to be correct. Kyle gasped when he saw his dear little brother with a pair of pointy, yellow, black tipped ears. “He has red electricity pouches on his cheeks, too.” Kyle noted.
“So do you.” Di replied.
“What? Really?”
“I’m guessing you didn’t bring a mirror.”
“Nope.”
“So, uh, I’ll stand outside while you wake him up and give him the briefing.”
“Huh?” Kyle said, confused, “Why d’you wanna stand outside?”
“Because I’d freak him out.” Di said, “You can hide your tail behind your back, but I can’t hide my trunk. Think of how he’d react!” Kyle didn’t think that this whole Drowzee business was helping Di’s self esteem much.
“Ok,” he agreed, “I’ll tell him.” With that, Di retreated from the tent opening and sat down on the grass, out of view. Kyle crawled further into the tent and sat down by the sleeping bag. Isaac was lying on his back, mouth wide open and eyes shut. He looked like an adorable, freaky, chimerical angel. Kyle hid his tail behind his back.
What am I going to say? How do you explain to a five-year-old kid that he is from this day forth part Pikachu? He spotted the top of a lightning bolt tail sticking out of the sleeping bag. Man, he’s transformed more than I have. Well, here goes nothing.
Kyle gently nudged his little brother. “Isaac. Isaac. You need to get up now.” Isaac took a deep breath and opened his eyes.
“Morning Kyle.” he said with a sleepy smile.
“Isaac, listen. Something weird happened when we were asleep. To all of us, we think.”
“What?” Isaac was more alert now, curious at what this new change might be.
“Well, I don’t really know. We sorta... turned into Pokemon, sorta.”
“Really?” His young eyes were wide with amazement. Isaac believed this because one, he was very young and the world seemed like a magical place, and two, he knew Kyle would never lie to him.
“Yeah. But only a bit. Like, parts of us. You notice how my cheeks are really red? What does that remind you of?”
“You’re embaressed?”
“No. They look kinda like a Pikachu’s cheeks, right?”
Isaac smiled a smile of excitement and wonder. “Are you a Pikachu?”
“Almost. I’m part Raichu now.” After a slight pause, he added, “You want to see my tail?”
“OK!” Isaac said enthusiastically.
Kyle slowly moved his tail from behind his back, careful not to scare his little brother. Isaac gasped when he saw the yellow bolt on top of the long, black string-like tail emerge from behind his brother.
“That’s so so so COOOL! Can I touch it? Please?”
Reluctantly, Kyle reached his tail over towards Isaac. Isaac was completely fascinated, stroking it and feeling it.
Well, Kyle thought, he seems to accept this pretty well. Maybe he won’t be so freaked out when he realizes he’s got ears sticking out the top off his head and a tail. Better break it to him now rather than later.
“Are other people Raichus too? Is Di a raichu?”
“Umm... no,” Kyle said, “We’re all different. Di’s a Drowzy, and you. You’re part Pikachu.
Isaac stared at Kyle, waiting for him to go “Gotcha! LOL.” Or “Jokes! August fools!” But he didn’t.
“R-really?” Isaac said shakily.
“Well, yeah, I... Di!” He called out the tent, “Get the mirror.”
A minute later, Di’s hands emerged from outside holding the mirror. Kyle held it facing away from Isaac, catching a quick glimpse of his bright red cheek pouches.
“Ok.” Kyle said, “Are you sure you’re ready?”
Isaac nodded his head violently. Ever so slowly, Kyle turned the mirror towards Isaac, who was now out of the sleeping bag and standing up. His jaw dropped as an equally surprised boy with Pikachu ears and a bolt tail stared back at him in the mirror. He seemed torn between panic and excitement, so he just cried.
“Hey, hey!” Kyle desperately tried to calm down his brother. “Shh. It’s gonna be alright, okay? Relax. I didn’t react like this when I discovered my tail, did I?” Well, he had in fact acted like that but he wasn’t going to admit this. “We’ll find a way to reverse this and change you back.”
Isaac sniffed and wiped away tears. “You promise?”
“I promise.”
A shrill scream pierced the air. Damnit. It’s happening to everyone.
“Isaac,” Kyle said calmly, “I need to go and help the others. Stay here, ok?
Kyle rushed outside, tripping over Isaac’s bag on the way out and landing flat on his face. When he looked up, he saw Victoria screaming and running around like a spooked Ponyta. I’d love to say that it turned out she was a spooked Ponyta, that she had woken up with a mane of fire, but she hadn’t. No, she had big velvety wings. She was screaming and screaming and running around, trying to escape from the wings, which she couldn’t of course. The poor girl was only 10, and she was in a complete panic.
“Help! Help! Gedditoffme gedditoffme! What’s happening?!?! HELP!”
Kyle jumped to his feet, then remembered his tail, tucked it behind him, and ran to help her.
“Hey, hey! Calm down, Victoria. Calm down. It’s ok!”
“It’s not ok! I... I... help! Get them off!”
“Victoria...”
“Help! Help!”
“VICTORIA!” Kyle yelled. Victoria was clearly startled by his cry, and stopped to look at him. Then she collapsed against him and hugged him tight.
“K-Kyle. What’s going on? Why do I... I don’t know what’s going on!” She sobbed.
“Listen, it’s...”
More screams from the other tents. Victoria had set off a chain reaction. Her scream had woken others, who were now probably discovering their transformations.
“Just sit here and calm down, relax. It’s all going to be ok.”
“You... you promise?”
“I promise.”
As he turned to go, Victoria noticed something sticking out of Kyle’s pyjama bottoms. “Kyle,” she said in awe and amazement, “you have a tail.”
“I know.” Kyle said without turning around. He called urgently to Di. “DI! Could you give Victoria the briefing while I help the others?”
“Can do!” came the reply.
Kyle really didn’t know where to start. Some kids were already out of their tents and panicking. Others could be heard from within their tents. One, whom Kyle knew as Jack, had torn through the tent in his frantic bid for escape. He seemed to have brown and white feathers on his arms, giving them the appearance of wings. The leaders had come out of their tents now, running in fear and shouting something about getting help. They didn’t have any mutations.
“Guys! Guys! Chill! Let’s just take a chill pill and think this through!”
This suggestion didn’t seem to help, but when they saw Kyle they ran to him. He was, of course, the oldest and wisest. This could be a curse at times. He was expected to do everything when the leaders weren’t around.
“Kyle! What’s going on?”
“What’s happening to me?”
“I want mummy! I want my mum!”
“It’s impossible!”
“You have a tail too! Do you know what’s happening?”
“I don’t know!” he shouted and stamped his foot on the ground. A loud crack of thunder echoed through the forest as he did so, sending Pidgey and Butterfree flying from their homes. It was a perfectly clear morning, so it wasn’t natural. Everyone stopped and looked at Kyle. He lifted his foot and found the grass burnt black. His cheeks were buzzing, another new sensation.
Well, at least that got their attention.
“Ok guys, listen up! I don’t know what’s happened, but I do know that we should stay calm and figure this out. Di says that it’s highly unlikely that we’re the only ones, right?”
“Right.” Di confirmed. He went back to comforting Victoria.
“Well then, we should turn on the Sentret leader’s radio and listen for reports, ok?”
There was an agreeing murmur from the crowd.
“Great. Can someone get the radio?”
“I’ll get it.” said someone from the crowd. It was Adrian.
Ah, good ol’ Adrian. Kyle thought, Always eager to help. A true Sentret. Where his brown hair usually was there were now 5 big green leaves sticking out vertically. His skin was tinted dark blue.
“Thanks, Adrian.” Kyle called to him, but he was already in the big tent. A few moments later, he emerged with a small radio. “Good job.” He walked over to Adrian and took the radio. He placed it on the floor and sat down, and everyone else followed. Once everyone was sitting down and listening, he switched it on and tuned it in.
“SSSHHCKKC- will be running for the hills! Give us what we want or we’ll turn this weapon on the whole world! This is a newsflash from Team Rocket. We have unleashed a new weapon on Viridian city and forest. We have sent a list of demands to those who have what we want. When you discover the weapon’s effect, most of you will be running for the hills! Give us what we want or we’ll...”
Kyle switched off the looping broadcast. Everyone was staring at the radio.
Di was the first to speak up. “So Team Rocket caused this. I knew they were bad, I knew they were geniuses, but I never expected them to go hardcore evil on children!” Di was currently using a knife to cut narrow holes in one of Victoria’s shirts so her large, featherless bug wings could stick out. Victoria started crying. The sudden outburst of sobbing surprised Di, causing him to cut himself with the knife.
“I just wanna go home!” she choked through her sobs, “I wish this hadn’t happened. Now I look like a gross Beedrill, or...”
“A Butterfree, actually.” Di said.
“What?” Victoria raised her head.
“Well, the wings are broad and furry. They aren’t divided into four and they aren’t transparent. See the markings? I’d say these are the wings of the puniceus volatilis decor variety. Quite a rare and beautiful specimen, I’ve only seen one.”
“Oh.“ she seemed to calm down a bit. It obviously hadn’t occurred to her that she may have acquired the wings of something that was considered rare and beautiful. “Can I fly?”
“Possibly, but those wings are made to support a much lighter body.”
“Oh, ok.” Though disappointed, she obviously now liked her wings more than she had thirty seconds ago. She put her wings together and, with great difficulty, put the shirt on. The wings fit perfectly through the holes.
Kyle hadn’t said a word throughout all of this. He was trying to formulate a plan. They needed a cure. He wasn’t going to be able to live his life looking like this. He was ashamed of it. A little kid, whom Kyle knew was called Tim, walked over to Kyle on all fours. He was only five, like Isaac, and his mutations were severe. He had a large green bulb on his back and his skin was light green with darker spots dotted around the place. “Is this gonna be forever?”
Kyle didn’t answer. Instead, he stood up and looked around at the crowd. “Listen, everyone. I have a plan.” He looked around at the crowd. About fifteen faces were looking at him, eargerly and impatiently waiting for him to continue. “If Team Rocket caused this, they must be able to cure it, right?”
This erected a murmur from the crowd, with calls of “Oh yeah!” and “Of course!” and “No sh*t, Sherlock” clearly heard.
“So,” he continued, “I say we grab our stuff and head for Team Rocket’s HQ! There, we can break in and demand they give us the cure!”
Cheering from the crowd, including a few eligible shouts.
“Yeah!”
“Let’s do it!”
“Let’s kick ‘em right in the Rocket!”
“Where’s their HQ?”
The latter caused the cheering to cease. Everyone looked around at each other, but no one seemed to know. But then two people stepped forwards. They walked in unison, both almost perfectly synchronised with one another. They had bushes of brown feathers on their bodies, but none on their arms. They were the Kaedama twins, Brady and Bradley. Brady Kaedama was eleven years old. He had spiky brown hair and green eyes. He liked playing on the Nintendo Wii, reading and watching sports on TV. Bradley Kaedama, on the other hand, was eleven years old. He had spiky brown hair and green eyes. He liked playing on the Nintendo Wii, reading and watching sports on TV. The twins were inseperable, doing everything together. They were so alike, it was impossible to tell the difference between them. Not only the physical appearance, but they shared an identical personality. It was like they were both clones of each other.
“Our older brother works for Team Rocket!” said Brady.
“He goes to Celadon city when he’s called in by them!” said Bradley.
“He says the Game Corner is their base of operations!”
“And where they keep all the stolen Pokemon!”
“And money!”
“And drugs!”
“And weapons!”
“And where they do all their research on new technology!”
Kyle didn’t know who was who anymore more. His eyes hurt from looking back and forth between them so much. “Um... great, thanks guys. So, to Celadon city it is!”
A small voice came from the crowd. “But aren’t Team Rocket dangerous?”
“Well, yeah, they’re gangsters. Criminals.”
Another voice came from the crowd. “I heard they keep those who try to stop them prisoner!”
“I...”
“And they carry whips.”
“Um...”
“And they have loads of poisonous and deadly Pokemon.”
“Okay, okay, I get it!” Kyle shouted. “Guys, I’m not pretending this isn’t dangerous, ok? Anyone who doesn’t want to come, sure, stay here. But I need help to find the cure. So, if you want to help, stay here. But if not, go home or whatever.”
Most people left. A couple walked towards the exit of the forest to Viridain city, but most of them went other ways, deeper into the forest. In groups, pairs, or alone. Kyle didn’t quite understand this, but he had other things to think about. The only people who stayed were Di, Adrian, Victoria, the Kaedama twins, an eight year old boy called Jim (who had red scales in some places, long thick catfish whiskers and a broad fish tail) and another eight year old, a girl called Katrina (there was a red light shining through her shirt flashing to the rhythm of a heartbeat and somewhat gold skin, but was otherwise normal). Isaac’s head emerged from the tent.
“Can I come out now?” Seeing the small group of people, he scurried towards them, and much to Kyle’s surprise and shock, on all fours.
“Isaac, don’t do that!” He said, somewhat disturbed by this frankly feral behaviour.
“Do what?” Isaac didn’t seem to have realized what he had just done, even though he was still sitting in a squatting position with his arms stretched down touching the floor beneath his feet.
“Run on your hands and feet like that, like a... a Pikachu. It’s creepy.”
He stood up, still looking somewhat confused, though he didn’t argue.
Once everyone had packed up their things, and Kyle had changed into his clothes and donned his red cap, the party set off, backpacks on their backs, although the Kaegama twins were each holding one handle of the same duffel bag. However, they had only walked a few feet when a thought struck Kyle.
“Wait! I need to get Ness!”
Ness was Kyle’s youngest brother. He was only two, and he couldn’t talk yet, but there was no way he was leaving him with that man at home; his dad.
“Who’s Ness?” Victoria asked.
“My brother back in Viridian city. I need to bring him.”
“Wait! What about....” But it was no use. Kyle was already making an electrically charged sprint for Viridian city.
