Disclaimer: I do not claim in anyway to own any part of Pokémon in anyway whatsoever. This is a mere fan fic, and any use of the Pokémon label or any other copyrighted material is just for the story, not for profit. If you like the story, or even if you hate it, write me. Tell me what you honestly think can be fixed on, or what you like. Just don't be one of those people who have to point out every little grammar and/or spelling error. I personally can't stand people like that! Anyway, on with the story! Chp.1- And you thought you started off on the wrong foot... My name is Dan Gotem. I'm 13 years old, about five foot nine inches tall with a thin build. I have brown hair and blue eyes. Like most kids, I was amazed with Pokémon since I was a baby, and I always dreamed of being a trainer. Unfortunately, I got off to a late start. My parents were a little less supportive of my trying to be a trainer, and they wanted me to finish middle school before I started out on my journey. Naturally, I fought this to the bitter end, but since I needed them to sign off the papers that allowed me to get my trainer's license, there wasn't much I could do. After elementary school, I had to watch my friends leave Pallet and go off on their own, while I constantly had my parents watching over my back. Don't get me wrong, I think my parents are the best in the world, but they're a little over protective of me. Anyway, I stayed around and worked through middle school, getting all the grades I had to get, while studying anything that had to do with Pokémon in my free time. I remember graduation night like it was yesterday;after I got my certificate, I ran home, got my sleeping bag and a change of clothes, and parked myself in front of Prof. Oak's front door for the night. I awoke the next morning to the feeling of someone tripping over me and spilling hot coffee on my head, a yell, a thud and then some muffled swearing. After getting as much as the coffee out of my hair as I could and helping the Professor to his feet, he grabbed his paper and led me inside to his lab. "A little anxious, are we?" Oak asked after I changed clothes in his bathroom. "Sorry about that." I apologized. " It's just that I'm glad I can actually start doing what I've always wanted to do." "That's understandable." We came to a machine that held the Poké Balls for starting trainers. " I hope you had some time to think about which Pokémon you plan on starting with while you were camped outside my door." I nodded as the glass dome over the machine opened. "I've been thinking about that since I watched all my friends get their Pokémon years ago. After three years, I would think I've had enough time to think it over." Looking around the machine, I found the Poké Ball labeled "Bulbasaur" and grabbed it. "Bulbasaur! I choose you!" I threw out the Pokéball, and it opened upon contact with the floor. A jagged beam of light shot out of the opened ball and slowly materialized into a Pokémon. "Bulba!" my new Pokémon yelled when it was fully formed. "Professor, it looks great!" The bulb on it's back looked healthy, it wasn't out of control, and it seemed to take a liking toward me. Things would be great between us. After Prof. Oak had given me my Poké Balls and Pokédex, I went immediately home to pack. Bulbasaur was good the whole time, helping me find things as Mom rushed from room to room, making sure I wasn't forgetting anything important. By the time she was done, even the large hiking backpack barely held everything in. "O.K., let's see if I can get this thing on..." I lifted up the backpack as much as I could, but it was like lifting a 300-pound lead weight. "Unngghh...Bulbasaur, a little help!" "Bulba..." I lifted again and managed to get it partway off the couch. Bulbasaur got behind me and pushed up on the bottom of it with his head. Between the two of us, we managed to get it on my back, after about a two-minute struggle. The weight almost pulled me back down again, and it took every ounce of resistance I had to stay up. "Good grief! You sure everything is in here, Mom?" I groaned, trying to take a few steps without pitching forward onto my face or throwing my back totally out of alignment. "Wait! I think you forgot your..." she started to say. "I was kidding!" I said, cutting her off. I keep forgetting I can never use humor on her or any of my family, relatives included. Makes me wonder if I'm adopted sometimes. I said my good-byes to my parents and friends I'd made in middle school, then started off on the traditional route that leads to Viridian City. It was a long, slow trip, and by the time night came, I hadn't even seen a Pidgey. "Man, this isn't a good start..." I muttered. I was just thinking about setting up camp when something rustled in the bushes. Suddenly, whatever it was took off. "Hey, come back!" I dropped my pack and ran off after it, hoping it would be a Pokémon. At this rate, I would be happy to catch anything. I ran what seemed like forever, following the sound of crunching leaves and breaking sticks. Finally, just as I was about to collapse, I heard my target breathing heavily behind a bush, not moving. This was my chance. I opened Bulbasaur's Poké Ball, wanting to be ready for whatever was behind the bush. "Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur called out. "Shh!" I hushed, but whatever it was must have heard him. (I found out from Prof. Oak that it was a boy.) I got out my Pokédex, ready to get the information. A white puff of fur came out first, followed by a red and black stripped head. "Hmm... A Growlithe..." It had it's head down, so I couldn't see it's face. I knew I already had a type disadvantage, and I prayed it was at too low of a level to know any fire-type moves yet. I hit the scan button on Dexter, and waited for the feedback. "Growlithe, the puppy Pokémon." Dexter announced. "This Pokémon will defend its territory with a mix of barks and bites." "Bulba?" I looked up to see what was up. Bulbasaur was looking at the ground underneath Growlithe's face. There were wet marks on the ground, like it was crying. "Hey there..." I knelt down in front of the Growlithe, gingerly reaching toward it. "Are you..." Suddenly it's head snapped up, and before I could react... CHOMP! "OW!" It bit me! I scrambled back behind Bulbasaur and checked out the damage. The bite had broken the skin and it was bleeding pretty steadily. What worried me the most, though, was the odd foam that was now sinking beneath the cut and into my bloodstream. I've had my rabies vaccinations and all, but that was a while ago. "What was that for..oh my..." I looked up at the Growlithe, and instantly wished I hadn't followed it. The foam was now almost gushing out of its mouth, and was starting to get all over the place. What scared Bulbasaur and me the most, though, were its eyes. They were a glowing fire color, like a flame in a fireplace. This was definitely not normal! "Bulba, Bulbasaur saur..." Bulbasaur was about ready to bolt, not that I could disagree with it. "Alright Bulbasaur, on the count of three, we run, O.K?" "Bulba..." He nodded. "O.K.," I took a deep breath. I had to be ready for this. "1...2..." The Growlithe opened its mouth and sent a huge stream of fire at Bulbasaur and me. I avoided the worst of it, but I was forced to yank off my shirt when it caught fire. Bulbasaur, unfortunately, took it all at full blast. By the time the fire stopped, Bulbasaur was more like a brunt vegtabale than anything else. "NO!" I grabbed at Bulbasaur's Poké Ball and held it pointed at him. "Bulbasaur, return!" A red beam shot out of the ball, hit Bulbasaur, and pulled him in like a tractor beam. Now it was Growlithe and I alone. There was no way I could possible take this thing on, much less catch it. There was only one way I might get out of this alive. Putting back Bulbasaur's Poké Ball, I grabbed an empty one and enlarged it. "Alright, you..." I got to my feet, ball in my right hand. I'd been one of the best pitchers there was back in Little League baseball. I couldn't throw a ball faster than 35mph, but I still always got the save or win for the team. (People always said that kids swung just because they got bored waiting for the ball to cross the plate.) "Poké Ball, go!" I wound up and threw the ball with all the strength I could muster. The ball hit Growlithe and pulled it in. That's when I turned tail and ran, hoping I'd have enough time to escape before it got out. I'd taken about ten steps when I heard a small explosion. Looking back, I saw the Growlithe with my Poké Ball in pieces around it. "Crud!" I'd taken about two more steps when I felt incredibly light headed. My legs turned to jelly underneath me and the ground rushed up to smack me in the face. I passed out before I hit the dirt. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hours later... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Uggnnhh...my head..." I moaned and sat up, looking around. I was back where I'd dropped my pack. Somehow, I'd even gotten in my sleeping bag. I looked at my hand, but it looked as if nothing had ever happened to it. There wasn't even a scab or scar. "Was it a dream?" I said to no one in particular. No, that wasn't a dream. It felt way too real, and I was still shirtless. Then...how'd I get back here? "What the hell is this, the Twilight Zone?" I climbed out of and rolled up my sleeping bag. I was just strapping it to the frame when I remembered something. "Bulbasaur!" He was still hurt! I threw on a shirt, forced my pack on my back and ran at full speed toward Viridian City. Thankfully, it was only about twenty minutes from where I was. "Hey, you!" I'd run by a police outpost, but Officer Jenny stopped me before I could get by. I turned toward her, not wanting to be arrested for ignoring a police officers orders. "Yes, Officer?" I asked impatiently. "Excuse me young man, but we've been getting a lot of reports about odd people coming into town. Can I see some I.D.?" I handed her my Pokédex, knowing it had the I.D. function in it. While she checked everything out, I started to feel an odd pain right above my butt. It really started to hurt for a moment, but then there was a sound like something tearing, then the pain was gone. I ignored it, figuring it was just something to do with my impatience. "O.K, everything seems alright. Here you..." Jenny stopped and looked up oddly at me, her head moving from side to side. "Is everything O.K.?" I asked, wondering what had caught her attention. "Huh? Oh, yes, it's just...this sounds silly, but it looks like you have a tail..." "A tail?" Now I was the one giving her the odd look. "I think the real question is, are you O.K?" "I'm sorry," she apologized, " but this is hour 33 of a 48 hour shift. I must be seeing things from the lack of sleep." She handed me my Pokédex, and I slipped it back into my pocket. As I walked away, I heard her mutter, "I really got to switch to decaf..." I started running again, pausing only for a moment to look at a city map to find the Pokémon Center. While I looked at the map, I noticed a woman and her child staring at me. The woman had a look of pure terror on her face, but the little boy in her arms seemed confused, if anything. When I shifted toward them a little to look at a different part of the map, she grabbed the kid and clutched him to her, like she was protecting him from me. "Geez, I know I'm not the best looking guy in the world, but you don't have to insult me!" I said to the pair before turning and going in the other direction toward the Pokémon Center. Even as I ran to the Center, I noticed a large amount of people were staring at me as I passed by them, and it sounded like something was being dragged behind me. I was too worried about Bulbasaur, though, to really care about that. When the Center came into view, I ran as fast as my feet would carry me to it. The doors were locked, though. I beat on them with my fists, but no one came to them. "Come on!" I yelled. "It's an emergency!" When still no one came, I ran around the building and found an open window. It was low enough to the ground for me to climb through, so I did. I landed in the trainer bedroom, so I put my stuff down on a bed and went into the main area. "Nurse Joy? Nurse Joy!" I yelled. "Where are you?" "*yawn* Hello?" A half-asleep Nurse Joy stumbled out from a room in her nurse's dress. "Nurse Joy! What happened to you?" "Sorry, but I was taking care of a Paras. It hit me with some Sleep Powder. That's why I'm so tired." she explained, leaning against a door banister. "Oh...well, could you please take care of my Bulbasaur? It's got burned real bad a few hours ago. I think it might be serious!" "*yawn* Well, why didn't you bring..." she looked at me, and suddenly looked wide awake. She stared at me the same way the woman had earlier. "Um...Joy? You O.K.?" Good grief, what was up with everyone today? A Chansey wandered in from down the hall toward us. She hadn't seen me yet, but she seemed confused as to why Joy was standing motionless against the wall. "Chansey?" Chansey walked over to Joy and tugged on the edge of her dress. No reaction from Joy. "Chan?" "Chansey, is this normal for her?" I asked. "Chansey, Sey Ch..." Now she stopped to stare at me. I've had about enough of this! "What is with all the staring?!" I yelled. "This is getting really annoying!" "Sey...Chan...Sey...?" she said, shaking badly. "Like I have a clue what the Rai you just said!" What the Rai? That made no sense! "Chu the heck did Rai say that?" Ah! What's happening to me?! "Chansey..." Chansey ran over to the main desk and opened a drawer. Pulling out a hand mirror, she ran back and handed it to me. I looked at my reflection, thinking maybe I had dirt on my face from before. I couldn't have been more wrong. I stared at my reflection in the same shock I'd seen most people give me. It took some self-determination to rip myself away from my changed face. "Chansey..." I hoped I wasn't going insane, but there was no other logical explanation for this. "My nose...is Rai really...small, round... Chu...black?" "Chan, Sey Sey..." she said with a nod. "O.K., but is Chu a good thing, or a bad thing?" "Chan?" She shrugged. "Oh man, stay cool, stay cool..." I told myself over and over. The last thing I wanted to do was freak out, because I knew if I did, I'd never stop. "Chan...Sey, Chan Chansey, Sey?" "Huh?" Chansey walked around behind me. When she came back, she handed me an end piece of a Raichu's tail. It was bigger than a normal Raichu tail, though. "Where'd this Rai from?" "Chan Chansey." She made a pulling motion with her arms. Curious, I gave a little tug. Nothing happened. This time, I pulled as hard as I could. "OW!" A quick, sharp pain shot up my spine. When the pain subsided, I followed the tail from the tip downwards. It stopped right where my spine should end, right above my butt. "Oh man...Chansey, tell Raichu is some medical condition you Rai about?" I said, using every bit of self-control to not freak out. "Chan..." She shook her head. "Joy? Joy? Snap out of it!" I gave her a shake to snap her out of her daze. "You Chu help me!" "I...I...don't..." she stammered. "Bulbasaur!" Geez, I forgot about him! "Joy, Raichu take care of Chu Bulbasaur. Worry about Rai later!" I handed her the Poké Ball containing Bulbasaur. Joy looked at me for a few more seconds, but then rushed off down the hall. Chansey stayed with me. I went back into the trainer bedroom and laid out on one of the beds. Man, what is happening to me, I thought, feeling my now little nose. This was definitely not normal...but then what is it? Joy took her time taking care of Bulbasaur. It seemed like a half-hour passed when I started to feel a little warm. I ignored it at first, but then I started to get really hot, and sweat was starting to pour out of my skin by the gallon. I pulled off my shirt to keep it from getting soaked. The second I dropped it on the floor, my stomach started doing flips, and nausea was starting to set in. "Rai..." I moaned, rolling onto my side. I felt Chansey put a hand on my head, then almost instantly pulled it away, letting out a little yelp. "Chansey!" Chansey yelled. I heard Joy rush in soon after. "What is...oh my!" Now Joy placed a hand on my head. "You burning up!" "Thanks Rai that blinding flash Raichu obvious!" I moaned. "Isn't there anything Chu can do?" "I'm sorry, but this is no medical condition I've ever learned about..." Joy said, much to my dismay. Not seconds after she said that, my skin started to itch all over. I scratched at it repeatedly, but it only got worse. My feet were also starting to hurt, like my shoes were shrinking while I was still wearing them. I kicked them and my socks off, too. "Chansey!" "Oh my!" "Crud!" My feet had gone totally Raichu! They were much larger than a normal Raichu's foot, but other than that, it looked exactly the same. It even had thick fur covering all of it; dark tan down to the two large toes, where it was a light chocolate brown color. On top of that, they were growing! I remembered Mom's last words as I left home to start training. It went something like, "If anything ever happens to you, I'll never forgive myself!" Oh Mom, if you could see this, I thought. I could now feel small hairs springing up from out of my skin. Being a young adult, I known I'd grown some hair across my body, but this stuff was growing like weeds all over me, the hairs growing longer and thicker with each passing second. I don't know which was worse, the hair or the sound of my organs shifting and changing shape, which while, by some miracle, didn't hurt, didn't help my nausea either. "Chansey, Sey Sey, Ch..." The sound of Chansey's voice suddenly dissipated. Great, not only am I transforming into a Raichu, I'm going deaf, too! The only plus was I didn't have to hear the sound of things growing, moving and disappearing inside my body. That didn't last. "CHANSEY! SEY CHAN CHANSEY!" "Yeow! Geez, don't yell!" I cried out. "SHE'S NOT YELLING! IT'S YOUR EARS!" "You too!" I added. "That hurts!" "IT'S..." Joy stopped for a second, then continued in a lower voice. "Were not yelling. Your ears are huge!" "Wha?...Oh man..." I felt my ears, and instantly worried when I couldn't cover them with my hands. Moving up, I finally found the pointed tips...a good two inches above the top of my head! They weren't human, though. It took a few seconds, but I soon recognized the Raichu shaped ears for what they were. I stayed curled up for another minute or two, then suddenly started to feel better. I wasn't hot anymore, and the nausea was totally gone. I swung my legs and sat at the edge of the bed, looking at Joy and Chansey. "Is it...over?" Nurse Joy asked cautiously. "I...think so..." "Chansey!" Chansey went over to the bed where I tossed the mirror and retrieved it, handing it to me. I reached a human hand covered in neatly groomed dark brown fur out and took it, then looked myself over. The first thing that caught my attention was definitely the ears. They were huge, at least a good eight inches in length, and were totally indistinguishable from a Raichu's. I'd retained my human hair and hair color, but my eyes had changed color at some point during the change, going from blue to an amber color. I'd grown the same nicely groomed fur all over my body , and my face was no different. Although my face was still human in shape, the fur across my cheeks was bright yellow, and everywhere else was a dark tan. It was also dark tan around my neck, except for the part right underneath my chin, where it had grown white. I put down the mirror and looked at the rest of my body. My arms and legs were still human in shape, but covered in more of the dark tan fur. (I rolled up one of my pant legs a little to check it out there.) My chest and body had also retained shape, but they were covered in more white fur, like at the front of my neck. "Well, Raichu be worse." I admitted after a while. "I could've went half-Pikachu." I stood up and took a few cautious steps. Despite the fact my feet were about twice as big as before, and shaped like a Raichu's, I was surprisingly able to move easily, like I'd lived with these all my life. "Your lucky no one else stayed here last night." Joy pointed out. "If they'd seen you come in like this, you'd probably be in really trouble." "Yeah..." I wasn't paying much attention to her as I was all the other things I could hear. These ears can pick up the smallest sound hundreds of feet away as if it was right next to me. When you got ears this huge, though, that probably shouldn't come as a surprise. "Joy, try talking normally." I asked. "Raichu see if I can control the Chu of sound that reaches my ears so Raichu next to me and not Rai my eardrums explode." After a few minutes of practice, I managed to control my hearing to a point where people sounded louder than usual, but not nearly as bad as it was the first time. "You're adjusting to this rather quickly." Joy noted when I gotten a better grip on all of this. "Are you sure this has never happened to you before?" "Pretty sure...unless Chu blank out Rai Chu or something. I doubt that, though." I looked at my hands questionably. Have I done this before? This doesn't seem familiar... "I still have no clue where this came from, though." "Well, has anything out of the ordinary happened lately?" "Yeah, Rai bitten earlier..." "Maybe that's it!" "...by a Growlithe." I finished. "Oh...that sounds silly, anyway." "Maybe not...Chu no normal Growlithe. Its eyes Raichu glowing, and it was foaming Chu mouth. I assume Rai nothing you've ever heard Chu, either?" Joy shook her head. "Nope. Nothing I've ever heard of." "Chansey I've sey Chan either." Chansey added. "That's O.K. Chan...Chansey, did Chu Raichu English?" "Me? Chansey Chan English." she said, shaking her head. "She's talking normally...um...what did you say your name was?" Joy asked. "I didn't. My name's Dan, Raichu swear I heard Chansey Chu Rai English." "Look, Dan, Chansey is talking normally. You're not." "I Rai help it! It just happens!" "Maybe you should work on controlling that speech impediment and not on what you think Chansey is saying." "Rai, Rai..." I sighed and gave up. Joy has been more or less been able to piece together what I say, but it is kinda annoying to be talking like this. "Are you hungry?" Nurse Joy asked. "If you've been out for a while, you must be starving." Now that she mentioned it, I was really hungry. The change probably helped in that, but I was close to empty when I came into the city already. "A little." I said with a nod. Joy led me to the kitchen and told me I could have whatever I want, and that she'd check back on me as soon as she took care of some patients. As soon as she left, I tore open the refrigerator and quickly went to work. Twenty minutes later Joy came back in. "Dan, are you..." She stopped and stared wide eyed at the huge mess I made. Food wrappers were all over the place, bowls and pans licked clean, a totally empty refrigerator, all the cabinets robbed of their contents, and me, leaning back in a chair, chomping on some small brown pelts. It was hard to place a flavor to the taste, but I really didn't care. All I knew was I was still hungry. "That was a days worth of food for five trainers...and you went through it in twenty minutes..." she said, stunned. "Really?" I hadn't even really noticed. If it looked good, and wasn't moving, I'd probably eaten it. "Yes, really! And now you're eating Pokémon food!" She was right. It was Pokémon food, not that I cared either way. It tasted good, and that's all that concerned me. "Sorry..." I apologized, flicking a piece of rice out of my chest fur. "I'll clean Chu up." "Thank you..." She looked over the mess and sighed. "At least you didn't chew on any electrical wires..." "Um...heh-heh..." I gave the nearby coffee maker a little shove with my hand to cover up the broken wire. It was already hanging out of the socket when I'd found it, and it was kinda like chewing gum, just with a little electrical tingle instead of a mint or some other kind of flavor. "Are you sure this has never happened to you before?" Joy asked again. "Yeah, Raichu sure. Why do Chu ask?" "You seem too...well adjusted...for this to be a first time thing. I mean, if I were you, I'd be going crazy, thinking I was some kind of monster. You don't look even the least bit scared about everything." "I dunno." I said with a shrug. "I understand Raichu Chu saying, and yeah, I'm a little freaked Chu Rai, but...right now, Chu know this happened, and I'm going Rai have to deal with it. Besides, this is Raichu kind of cool, in a weird way." "How do you figure that?" "Rai...check out this tail." I held my tail gently, not wanting to hurt myself. " I can't control it well yet, but it's almost as long Chu I am tall, Raichu it's strong. If I can Chu to control it, imagine what Rai could do with it." "Aren't you worried someone will step on it and hurt you again?" "Trust me, I don't plan Rai out in public Chu this." I assured her. "And check Chu out!" I pointed out my index fingers a few inches from each other and concentrated. After a few seconds, a small bolt of electricity connected my fingers. All I felt was a tingle. "That's amazing!" Joy gasped. "And about all Rai can do." I said, cutting my concentration and causing the bolt to disappear. "I can't do anything beyond Chu yet." "Can you change back to human?" I shook my head. "Not as far Rai know. There's Raichu lot of Raichu possibility, though." "Attention residents of Viridian City!" "Yeow!" I covered my ears as best as possible to block out the loud noise of the loudspeakers posted throughout the city. "Please go nowhere near the Pokémon Center! We have reason to believe some...creature... has made his way into the Center and is holding hostages! As of now, we have sharpshooters with puddy guns and multiple rock and ground-type Pokémon surrounding the Center, as we believe this creature is a Raichu-human mix of some sort! We don't know what it is capable of, but we all remember the Pikachu incident a few months ago..." "Pikachu incident?" I asked, still trying to cover my ears. "It's a long story..." Joy said quickly. "the entire Center was almost turned into a blackened shell of a building." "...anyway, if the creature is listening, if you've hurt anyone in that Center, we will charge you with everything we can. Don't forget your attempted assault on that woman and her child before!" "Attempted assault?!" Joy gasped. "I took a step in Raichu direction when I was looking Chu city map. I didn't even know Rai changing when it happened!" "Dan Gotem, we will be coming for you in five minutes! Escape is pointless!" We sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, I got up and headed for the main doors. "What are you doing?" Joy asked, grabbing my arm to keep me from leaving. "Are you crazy?" "What choice do Rai have? Rai can't get out, I can't hide, Chu don't want you to get yourself in trouble for helping me. This Rai for the best!" "But...your Bulbasaur! Your family!" "I'll see my family again, and Rai the cops ask, I came Chu here with my pack, my Pokédex Raichu wild Bulbasaur I hurt myself. Give him Rai good trainer for me." I broke away from her and opened the doors. Thirteen various Pokémon and an infinite amount of police with various weapons focused their attention on me. "Freeze!" One of the cops yelled. I gently put my hands into the air. "It's O.K. I surrender."