(From the writings of Professor Richard Gregg, a leading expert in the field of Pokemon genetics)

Date: August 30 2059

And, if we could produce a viable being from such research, would it also be possible to go one step further and splice the DNA from two separate species? Or, in other words, could we create a being that was physically human but carried Pokemon DNA? That is what we aimed to find out in the research project codenamed Chimera.

Getting funds to carry out such potentially controversial work has proved far from easy, mainly because of the blanket ban on creating any new forms of Pokemon or Pokemon-like beings that was imposed nearly 60 years ago in the wake of the Mewtwo fiasco. Since this incident, which saw an entire laboratory destroyed by an enhanced version of the Legendary Mew, many have been mistrustful of all human-created Pokemon. They argue that no-one has the right to fiddle with what nature created and that any being created in this way is an abomination that has no right to be alive.

But the members of this group are not of that persuasion so I was able to persuade them to donate their genetic material which was then spliced with DNA obtained from Pokemon of various species. Any embryos which resulted were then transplanted into their genetic mothers (human or Pokemon) and observed to see how they developed.

The Pokemon used and the results obtained were as follows:

1, Pidgeotto - All stillborn at full term with a 100% birth defect rate, the most common problem being the presence of feathers on an otherwise humanoid body.

2, Vulpix - None of the embryos survived beyond the first trimester and it was clear from the ones that didn't abort until late on that they would have had more in common with their Vulpix parents.

3, Meganium - All survived to term but proved to look exactly like ordinary Chikorita and will have to be kept in the laboratory until we know how their human DNA has affected them; it is too early yet to say if or when they will evolve.

4, Scyther - All were born alive but died within weeks - they looked more-or-less human but retained the distinctive Scyther sword-arms. Their was also an unusually high percentage of Siamese twins among this group.

5, Ursaring - Here, only two (a male and a female) survived beyond the second trimester, but both could pass as humans, the only sign of their Pokemon ancestry being the crescent-shaped birthmarks (echoing the markings of a Teddiursa) on their foreheads.

Since only two of the Ursaring Chimeras have achieved the results we hoped for, a viable being that looks human but has some Pokemon characteristics, we will endeavour to protect them at all costs. They have already been codenamed Bjorn and Ursula and will be put up for adoption as soon as they pass all their health checks. Owing to the sensitive nature of our research, we will have to ask that any potential adopters be prepared not to reveal to these children their true origins.

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Professor Richard Gregg sighed, turned off his computer and went over to the Nursery Observation Room. Through a one-way window (he could see into the Nursery, but no-one inside could see him) he observed the results of his work. Two small babies, a boy and a girl, lay sleeping in a single cot and, with the Pichu mobile hanging over the children's heads, the Mareep wallpaper and the sounds of a lullaby wafting out of the room, it might have been a scene in someone's home. But it wasn't - Professor Gregg already knew that, however innocent Bjorn and Ursula looked now, they were something more than human.

What did fate have in store for these little miracles? Would they be accepted by society - especially if, as Professor Gregg feared, the truth about what they were somehow got out? And would they themselves develop normally according to human definitions of the term or would their Ursaring DNA make its presence known?

By the faint glow of a nightlight, Gregg could see Ursula wriggle in her sleep and turn her head towards the window so that the crescent birth-mark on her head was clearly visable.

"Bjorn and Ursula," the Professor murmured with a faint trace of paternal pride in his voice.