Chp.2- Hard Time ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was hoping with my peaceful surrender, I'd be treated like I was semi-human, which I am. No such luck, as the rubber-coated handcuffs pinched at my fur and I was shoved into the back of a transport that looked like it was from the mental hospital. I was immeadtitly hauled to the police station, where I was tossed into a cell that hadn't been cleaned in at least a week. I sat on the flat board that passed as a bed for most of the time. At one point, I was told by an officer that my bail was set at $25,000, even though I hadn't set one furry foot in anything that looked like a courthouse. "Don't Rai have to go to Chu court to have bail set?" I asked. He snorted and walked away. None of the officers spoke to me, other than to yell at me to stop pacing in the cell. I was just pondering if I had a chance at racial discrimination and police burtality suits(also considering I found a lawyer who'd actually represent me.) when the cell was opened. "Make your phone call." the officer ordered. He wore rubber gloves as he led me to the phone. "Rai couldn't even get Chu VidPhone?" I got an angry glare, so I quickly turned my attention to the black rotoray phone. I started to spin the dial for my parents number when a thought occured to me. They would be crushed if they saw me in jail looking like this. I couldn't do that to them. After a moment, I spun the dial for the only other person I could trust. BRING!! BRING!! "Hello, Professer Oak's Lab." "Hello, Professer. It's Dan." "Oh, Dan, hello! How are you doing?" "Not well. Listen, could Chu do me a huge favor and come Rai to the Viridian City P.D.?" "Are you O.K.?" he asked, sounding confused. "I almost swear I heard talking a little like a Raichu, and I can't get a video link..." "This isn't Rai VidPhone." I informed him. "Look, just come to Chu Viridian police station and Raichu 25 grand for bail, please?" "Bail? You're in jail?!" "Yes, but it's not Rai you think! Just don't tell my folks, O.K?" "I don't kn..." BZZZZZZZZZ... "Hey, Chu cut me off!" The officer took the reciever from my hand and put it back on the rack, then led me back to my cell. He slammed the door so fast he caught the tip of my tail in the door. That hurts! I yanked it out and rubbed the sore spot, really not happy with local law enforcement at the moment. Don't ask me how, but I dozed off on the board for a little while after that, and awoke to the feeling of being poked in the side with a broom handle. Prof.Oak was at the cell door, looking rather calm. "Professer..." I asked as the officer who was poking me left. "How long have Chu been here?" "About half an hour." That explained why he looked so calm, he at least had some time to adjust to this. "They questioned me very fiercely about you and what I knew. When I saw you like that, I didn't know what to say!" "Don't worry." I assured him. "Did you bring my bail?" "No..." When he saw the look I gave him, he quickly explained. "I thought I could just explain to them they were mistaken. Unfortunetly, they seem intent on keeping you here." "Great..." "Don't worry. I'm going to run to the bank and get the money. This could be the discovery of a lifetime!...and I concerned about your health too, of course..." "Of course." I was a little hurt, but I could understand his position, being a scientist and all. "Come on, get going before my DNA gets unstable!" "What? Ah, clever..." Hey, someone who actually gets jokes the first time around, even if it takes a moment. A rarier find than myself! Prof.Oak quickly left. I sighed and waited for him to come back. Not two minutes later, I heard some odd noises coming from one of the vents. I cranked up my hearing a little bit to hear what it was. Sounded like something was moving through the vents, something metal. "Hey, there's something..." I never got a chance to finish as a blue gas started to pour out of the vent and all over the station. Any experienced trainer could tell with one look that it was Sleep Powder. It only took me a whiff of the stuff before I was in dreamland. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I moaned in response. I wanted to sleep... A voice in my head. It was meaningless. There was a moment's pause, then something large but soft whacked me in the face. "Hey!" Now I was fully awake. Something was stuck in the fur of my face, and I tried to to brush it off wih my hands, but found I couldn't. My hands were bound at the wrists to a wall with leather straps, as were my ankles. "Oh Chu..." Waking up in strange places was starting to become a bad haibit. It was so dark, I couldn't see a thing. I could, however, hear breathing besides my own. Someone...or something...was in here with me. Whatever was in here was speaking, but not with a voice, or at least not a spoken voice. It was more it was speaking directly to my brain...telepathy? Man, this thing needs some help with being friendly, I thought. What?! How'd it know what I thought? I didn't have much time to ponder this, as I became surrounded by a blue glow. At first, there was nothing. Then... "AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" I was racked with huge amounts of pain, pain I'd never experienced before. Air was forced out of my lungs, and I swear I felt my heart stop. It was like I was being torn in half! "O.K.! Rai sorry!" I pleaded. "Please, stop!" The glow slowly faded away, the pain going with it. "Thanks..." I gasped, still recovering from the burtal assualt. "Is it safe Chu say that you're psychic?" "Now, now, you two should learn to get along. You're going to be here a while." I still couldn't see anyone, but I heard an electrical cackle, like from an old intercom. This new voice was coming from it. "Who are Chu?" I yelled. "What do Chu want from me?" "Now, now, don't you remember me? I was the one who made you what you are." "What?" What was he talking about? I certainly didn't recongize his voice from anywhere. "Why did Chu bring me here?" "My poor Hybrid, don't you remember your Master? Your home?" "Master? Home? I'm Rai human!" "Have you looked at yourself lately? You are and always were my Hybrid, just like your little friend who escaped yesterday. I'm sure you've run into him..." This guy was nuts! My first order of buisness was getting away from here as soon as possible, where ever, "here", was. All I had to do was unstrap my hands and feet...oh...there's a problem... "Hey, I'm..." I quickly recalled what happened the last time I said something wrong to this thing, and smartly decided to keep my mouth shut. "There is still much time left, Mewtwo. You must be patient..." "You want to know your true purpose?!" the intercom voice yelled. "Your purpose is to serve me, like the purpose of all Poke'mon and Hybrids!" "Serve you?!" I yelled. "If you think I'm lifting one Raichu finger to help you, you really Chu nuts!" "Quiet, the both of you! You kind were all created to serve me, whether you like that or not! Now remain silent until I call for you again!" With that, there was a click, then a kind of stunned silence. it sounded depressed. "Man, who Rai that guy?" "You say Chu were created, not born?" It remained silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Fine with me, but how? I'm stuck Raichu wall, and...I don't know about Chu, but I assume you're restrained Rai some way..." "Thanks...Rai think." "Wait! Maybe you can..." I blinked, then I was floating off the ground above a street. I quickly was dropped onto the pavement, so hard it hurt my feet. "That wasn't fun..." I moaned and rubbed my feet. I looked around for landmarks. I'd been teleported right to the middle of Viridian City. There was a store, a couple of houses, the police station, a fire hou...police station? "There he is! Get him!" "Rai!" I bolted on all fours as...All fours? I'd already went about a hundred feet before it even occured to me I was using my hands as much as my feet to run. "O.K., this Chu getting really weird!" It just felt so natural, I didn't even realize I was doing it. My instincts just took over when I wasn't even thinking about it. Now that I realized what I was doing, I couldn't do it anymore. I scrambled to my feet and ran like I normally would. The police weren't as fast as I was on foot, (a plus for being half-Raichu) but then they started to get out the cars and motorcycles. There was no way to lose those! Hoping for the best, I dodged into an alley...a dead end alley. "Crud!" I spun back around to see the cars bearing down on me. In panic, I ran into the alley, diving into a trash bin for cover. Maybe they wouldn't find me, or so I hoped. The cops quickly stormed the alley looking for me. It was unavoidable, though. They'd have to look everywhere, and they'd look in the trash. My stomach started doing flips at the thought of what jail would be like for me, and the dark, stuffy trash bin enviorment didn't help either. It made me feel really small...hey, when did my clothes get so big? The lid on the bin was tossed open. I curled up into a ball, hoping by some miracle I'd be overlooked. There was a moment's pause, then... "Hey, there's nothing to be afraid of..." I felt soft gloves pick me up, my clothes falling away as I was. "Raichu, Rai Rai!" I yelled. I was pulled out without clothes, but nothing out of the ordinary could be seen. At least, nothing out of the ordinary for a Raichu. It took me a minute, but then I realized what happened. "Rai! Chu Raichu Raichu!" *Ah! I've gone totally Raichu now!* I uncurled and looked myself over. I was now a full-fledged Raichu, not one bit of humanity remaining, physically. I could still think like a human. "Sorry I scared you..." Officer Jenny set me on the ground, and I slowly walked away on all fours, still stunned at what had just happened. I walked out of the alley and searched around again. Man, the world looks so much different when your small! I couldn't even see over the top of a fire hydrant anymore. Still walking slowly, I walked around the now empty city, my escape probably having scared everyone to stay at home. "Raichu, Chu Rai..." *Man, even the park is empty...* The park...seeing all those trees, it made wish I was back in the woods. I could set up a nice little place by a stream to live, where I could get water and all the fruit I wanted. I'd be the toughest Poke'mon there, so I'd never be bothered, except for maybe the occasional trainer, but most of them wouldn't have a chance at catching me... Whoa! I gave myself a quick mental slap to snap out of my fantasy. I'd started thinking like a Raichu again without even realizing it. I needed to figure out how to get human again before I decided to find a mate or something! I took a seat and thought over my options. I could live out the rest of my life as a Raichu, but that wasn't high on my list. I could maybe go to Prof. Oak's...but that'd take too much time. In the end, I decided to head back to the Poke'mon Center. Maybe Joy figured out something to help, and I could get back to Bulbasaur. Taking a deep breath, I sighed and started walking again. This was going to take a while, especially since I had no clue where I was, and everything was so much bigger, it was hard to get my bearings. Luckily, there were few people out to bother me, and the few that were thought I was a trained Poke'mon out for a little stroll, so they left me alone. After about an hour, the Center was in sight. I started off toward it when.. "Hey, A Raichu!" A little kid, probably about eight, ran over to me. I tried to run, but he threw out a Poke Ball right in front of me. "Sandslash!" "Rai!" My first instincts were to fight, except I had the type disadvantage again, and I couldn't shock it. Forget the fact I'd never actually battled before in my life, ( I got into a fight in third grade, but that doesn't count.) and that I'd never even been in a Poke'mon fight before. I ran as fast as my hands and feet would carry me, but Sandslash was right behind me. Twice it almost slashed my tail in two! "Raichu, Rai Rai Raichu Chu!" *How am I supposed to fight this thing!* "Sandslash, Posion Sting!" "Sand!" *O.K.!* I was in too much of a panic to think about it at the time, but I could actually understand what it was saying. I heard it say, "Sand!", but in my head, I heard it say *O.K.!*. Weird, really. I dove behind a trash can as the posionious needles came hurtling toward me. When they failed to penetrate the metal, Sandslash started to charge again, but I was ready. Just as it was about to slice through the metal, I pushed on the can with every ounce of strength my little body could muster. It tipped over and trapped Sandslash underneath it. While the boy pulled the can off his Poke'mon, I ran into another alley...another dead end alley. "Chu, Rai Raichu Raichu! *Come on, be good to me again, trash bin!* I leapt and caught the edge, manging to scramble in. "Chu..." *Whew...* At least everything was in bags. I buried myself between the bags, trying to hide even more. Even with my small body, it was a tight squeeze to stay between two of them, and something was jabbing my back. Fustrated, I turned around to move it, only to find a Poke Ball. It looked perfectly fine, and it wasn't broken. Made me wonder why someone threw it in here in the first place. After about five minutes of waiting, no one came. Thinking it was safe, I tossed out the Poke Ball and climbed out myself. Unintentionally, the Poke Ball enlarged itself, and, much to my surprise, it opened, and a Poke'mon came out of it. "Nidoran!" A male Nidoran, to be exact. It looked around, obviously confused. "Chu, Raichu?" I asked. *Hey, you O.K.?* "Nidoran...Nido Nido Ran?" *I'm fine...but where is my trainer?* "Rai? Raichu, Chu Rai Rai, Chu." *Trainer? I found your ball in there.* I pointed to the trash bin. "Nido...Nidoran Ran..." *No...I'd never thought he meant it...* "Rai, Raichu? Raichu?" *He who? Meant what?* "Nidoran. Nido Nido Ran Nidoran. Ran Ran Nido." he explained *My trainer. I'm new at battling. He said he get rid of me if I didn't do better.* "Rai..." *Oh...* That was harsh. Getting rid of a Poke'mon just because it wasn't a naturally born fighter? And throwing it in the trash? The SRAP would have been all over this guy! (For those who don't know, SRAP is short for the Society for the Rights of All Poke'mon.) "Raichu, Chu Raichu?" *Hey, why don't you come with me?* "Nidoran? Nido Nidoran Nido, Ran." *Go with you? You're a Poke'mon like me.* "Raichu, Rai Raichu Rai Chu Raichu!" Seeing the look I was getting, I sighed and shook my head. "Rai, Raichu Chu..." *No, I'm really a human who turned into a Raichu!* *It's a long story...* "Nidoran, Ran Nidoran Ran Nido. Nidoran Ran, Nido." *You're a little odd, but I guess I owe you that much. You got me out of that ball.* We started walking back in the direction of the Center. I explained to Nidoran exactly what had happened since I left home. He didn't seem to believe me, but he did say it would make a great story, despite a major plot gap. "Raichu Chu?" *What plot gap?* "Nidoran Nido Nido, Nido?" *You said that you were bitten by a Growlithe, right?* "Rai, Chu?" *Yeah, so?* "Ran, Nidoran Ran Nido Nidoran?" *Then why didn't you turn into a Growlithe?* "Raichu..." *Because...* I stopped and thought that over. He made a good point. If it was the Growlithe that bit me, why did I turn into a Raichu? It wasn't like a plot hole, but more like a mystery that would attract people to come back and learn what's really going on.(O.K., I gave that part away...) "Raichu." *Good point.* The Poke'mon Center came into sight, and I ran toward it, giving Nidoran a hard time keeping up with me. Somebody left the main doors open, which saved us the time of finding a way in. No one was in the main lobby again. Passing the kitchen, I saw it'd been cleaned up from my mess. Looking in the trainer room, I saw Chansey at work making the beds. Seeing us, she turned in our direction. "Chansey Chan, Chansey?" *Can I help you two?* "Nido, Nidoran." *I'm with him.* "Raichu, Chu Rai, Rai! Raichu, Raichu Chu? Raichu!" *Chansey, it's me, Dan! Remember the Raichu-boy? That was me!* "Chan! Chansey Sey?" *Dan! What happened to you?* "Raichu, Chu Rai Rai, Raichu!" *I turned into a Raichu, what does it look like!* "Chan, Chansey." *I see that.* "Nido...Nidoran, Nido Ran Ran?" *Wait...you mean he really is a human?* "Raichu!" *Told you!* "Chansey, Chan Chan." *Wait, let me get Joy.* Chansey went out into the hall and called for Joy. She came a few seconds later. "What is it...oh!" She knelt down to look at us all. "I see we have some new patients." "Chansey, Chan Sey! Sey Chan!" *Joy, it's Dan! He's back!* "Don't worry Chansey. I'll take care of them." Joy gently grabbed me and started to walk off with me. "Raichu!" *I'm not sick!* I squirmed out of her grip and ran over to my stuff. For some reason, the cops never took it, as it was still sitting on the bed where I left it. "Raichu, Rai Raichu Chu?!" *Geez, what's with everyone and trying to pick me up?!* "Come on, Raichu." Joy pleaded. "I've had a very rough day..." "Chu! Raichu Rai? Rai...Raichu Chu!" *You! What about me? Sigh...this is hard without speaking English!* "Chansey. Sey Chan Chan, Sey Chan!" *You're telling me. Twenty years, and she still doesn't understand a word I say!* I started pulling random things out of my pack, hoping to find something that I could use to show Joy who I was. Unfortunetly, my Poke'dex was still back at the police station. "Raichu, come here!" Joy lunged at me, forcing me to jump down from the bed and run out of the room, seeking refuge elsewhere. Chansey ran after me, as did Nidoran. "Chan, Chansey! Sey Sey Chan Chansey!" *Dan, your Bulbasaur! He should be able to help!* "Rai!" *Right!* I made a sharp left into the Poke Ball storage room, almost crashing into the wall in the process. Chansey pointed out Bulbasaur's ball, on too high of a shelf for any one of us to reach. "Now what are you doing?" Joy came in, heading immeaditly for me. Chansey moved herself between Joy and myself. "Chansey! Chan Chansey Chan Sey! Sey Chan Chan!" *Listen! This is Dan, not just a Raichu! You need to understand that!* "Chansey! Now what are you doing?" "CHANSEY!" *AGGGHHHH!* "Raichu Rai." *Let me try.* I stepped back to the rack of Poke Balls, pointing towards Bulbasaur's. Then I pointed at myself. I repeated this a few times, hoping she'd get there was a relation between us. I gotta say, Joy is terrible at understanding gestures. Guesses inculded: You're lost, you want to go in a ball, you're friends with a Bulbasaur, and you don't like balls. Finally, she gave up. Annoyed, I ran over to the computer, which had some kind of word processing program up. I jumped up on a chair, then to the desk and punched the delete button on the keyboard. "My work!" Joy cried. I ignored her and punched a few letters on the keyboard. IT'S ME, DAN! "Wha?..." THE RAICHU-HUMAN BOY FROM BEFORE! "Dan? That's you?" I nodded. She looked to be in shock. "But...how did this..." I shrugged as best as a Raichu can. I was about to type some more when I suddenly felt really weak. I jumped down from the desk, stumbled to the bedroom, and had Joy lift me up onto the bed. Crawling under the covers, I dozed off almost instantly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Dan? Dan, wake up!" "Five Rai minutes..." I mumbled. I could feel someone gently rubbing my shoulder...wait, Raichu's don't have shoulders... "Dan, you're human again!...sort of..." I sat up and looked myself over. I was sort of happy to see I went back to my hybrid form, though I wanted to be human again. "How did...hey!" I realized a slight problem. The covers went about halfway down my stomach to my feet, with nothing else even close to clothing on me. "Can Rai get a little privacy here?" "Oh, sorry!" She blushed pink a little and left, closing the door behind her. I put on a pair of jeans and a shirt from my pack, though there was a small struggle getting my huge feet through the pants. In the end, I had to tear the bottom of my jeans so I could get them on. When I was clothed again, I went outside and found Joy waiting in the kitchen. "What a trip..." I muttered, sitting at the table with her. There were all sorts of snack foods set out on the table in front of me. "I'll bet...I figured you could use a little snack while you tell me what happened." "Thanks." I went over to where the loose wires were before and ripped one out of the wall. I explained what happened since my arrest, occasionally stopping to gnaw on the bare wire. It tasted good, but Joy gave me an odd look when I chewed on it. She's just jealous... "This just gets weirder Chu weirder..." I muttered when I finished telling my story. Joy nodded. "I sure don't understand it all." She paused for a moment, then asked, "What are you going to do?" "What else? Go around Rai continue training." "But your condition...don't you want to get help? "Of course, Rai think about it. If I stay, the cops Chu come after me again, and they probably sent police Chu Prof. Oak's as well, so Rai can't go there. Might as well keep moving." "O.K....but how do you plan on getting out of here? The police are all over town looking for you." "That, Rai don't know." I sighed. We sat in silence for a few minutes, excluding the sounds of my chewing on the wire. Really, it tastes great! Why doesn't anyone believe me? "I know!" Joy exclaimed so loudly I clutched at my ears again. "There's a man coming to drop off the latest supply of Poke'mon food. You could hide in the truck and get out when it makes a stop in the next town." "Sure...but won't he notice me?" "Probably not. No offense to the man, but he's as blind as a Zubat, and he refuses to wear his glasses. I doubt there will be much of a problem." After a few more gnaws, I started packing again, taking Bulbasaur and Nidoran with me. They were definitly confused by my condition, but they still respected me, and saw no real reason not to go with me. A few hours later, the truck pulled up to the Center. While Joy distracted him, I snuck into the truck and curled up behind stacks of food. A few minutes later, the back door slammed shut, and the truck started rolling. I sat back and thought about what had happened. With everything that had been happening, I didn't know what to expect next . At that moment, though, I just prayed the next stop wouldn't be my last...