-With the changes complete and new allies by their sides, Firestorm and Nightslice must now begin their own journeys ... for better or worse. Eighteenth in a series.

 

Pokemon and all related trademarks belong to Nintendo. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

 

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Switching Roles

By Gregory Stephen nightdragon0@hotmail.com

 

 

Dracia

  I really thought Jade was done for. And judging from the way everyone was screaming, they thought so too. Heck, I was screaming at the top of my lungs as well.

  But then I saw the lava stir. A new shape burst out from beneath the surface and flew back up.

  Jade, now fully Charizard, landed on a stone pillar and wiped off the ash-like remains of his clothes off his body. He stretched his wings, bared his fangs and stared straight at Alugard.    

  [All right pal, time for a rematch!] He roared, jabbing a claw in the old warrior's direction. [And I'll show you what I do to people who try to kill me.]

  "Impossible ... " Alugard muttered from his position on the other ledge. "It was ... really true?!" 

  "Believe it all right." Firestorm grinned from is aerial position. "Nice to have you back Jade. For a second there, we all thought you were a goner."

  [For a second, so did I.] Jade gave a thumbs-up.

  "Excuse me, but don't celebrate till we've taken out the trash." I said, flying up beside Storm.

  Mirage leapt across the pillars like stepping stones and stood beside Jade.

  "Uh-oh!" Alugard realized he was facing four foes that knew fire elemental attacks. Not very good considering he was a Scizor.  

  [Get him!] Jade yelled.

  Four Flamethrowers were launched at Alugard from slightly different angles. Although he managed to dodge two, Alugard was grazed by the third and took a direct hit from the fourth. Screaming in pain, he managed to land on a pillar and dropped to his knees. Growling, he activated his Gattling gun.

  "Scatter!" Firestorm ordered.

  Our three flyers spread out in the air while Mirage leapt away, jumping from pillar to pillar.

  There was a barely audible electronic beep and Alugard tapped the side of his helmet with his free left pincer, while still firing at us.

  "What?" He asked, obviously speaking into a com-link. "No, you idiot! Scantrix told you to search Seafoam Islands! Dammit, can't I trust you to do anything right?! Get there ASAP and I'll be over later!"

  Alugard yelled the last part so loudly that all of us stopped our attacks and stared.

  "Gagh! Damned F***ed up night I'm having!" He swore furiously, realizing that he'd just spilled his plans to us. "I don't have time to deal with your bunch now. Feel fear!"

  He raised his hands and made a peculiar motion with them. I briefly saw a purplish glow around him before darkness engulfed me.

  Darkness. Pitch black, like I was alone with nothing but a swirling black color around me.

  "Storm? Guys? Help!" I screamed, panicked.

  The darkness must have been affecting the others as well, for I heard their confused voices screaming for help as well. There was a sudden roar of jets and a bright streak of light shot across the darkness.

  And just as suddenly, the darkness was gone. 

  I got up to find Firestorm offering a claw in aid, Jade shaking his head and Mirage leaning unsteadily against the wall.   

  "What the hell was that?" I asked.

  [Something Alugard did, definitely.] Mirage said.

  "It's most likely one of the Forbidden Skills." Firestorm explained. "I felt its power and it would make sense that he's able to utilize them too. However, we should be concentrating on the more immediate problem here." 

  He pointed over to Jade, who was now looking his new Charizard body over.  

  [Yeah, how am I going to explain this to my uncle?] He sighed.   

 

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Nightslice

  "Yorukiru-san!"

  "Oh no, why is she still here?" I cringed.

  It was 6:30 AM and just before the train station's ticket office was scheduled to open. I'd left Sunny Town's Pokemon center early in the morning to get ahead of the crowd and get my ticket without having to queue for too long. I had hoped to lose Hazuki amongst the early morning crowd of people traveling to work. 

  Unfortunately, I'd also forgotten that it was a Sunday, meaning that the crowd wouldn't be very big. And that was why she'd easily found me and took a spot right behind me.

  "You won't lose me that easily, Yorukiru-san." She giggled.

  "I thought you didn't have any money." I said.

  "I didn't, but Joy from the Pokemon Center offered me some in return for fixing up the equipment last night." Hazuki winked.

  "Oh, lucky you." I groaned sarcastically.

  Nevermind, I thought, She may know I'm going to Johto, but not which part of it. 

  When it was my turn, I deliberately leaned as close as I possibly could to the glass window and slid the faxed copy of Koga's receipt to the attendant.

  "I have a reservation under Fuchsia Gym Leader Koga." I said.

  "Oh, you're another of his students who's setting out, aren't you." The attendant smiled. She was a gray-haired old lady.  

  "Yes, I am." That was what Koga had told me to say.

  "In my years, I've seen many others like you leaving from this station. Both from him and his father." The old lady told me as she processed my ticket. "Good luck and have a safe journey."

  "Thank you." Grinning inwardly, I walked to the exit, which lead directly to the train platform, hiding the 'To Cherrygrove City' lettering on my ticket.

  Finally, she won't be able to follow me!

  "Excuse me," I heard the teen talking to the ticketing attendant. "I'd like to purchase a ticket to wherever the guy over there was going. In the same cabin and a seat next to or near him as well."

  "Let's see. You're in lucky today young lady." The attendant said, pushing several buttons on her keyboard. "It's a two-person cabin with the other seat still available. There you go! Have a nice day!"

  It took a lot of self-control to prevent myself from fainting on the spot.

  I have to spend HOW MANY HOURS with Hazuki in the train cabin?!

  "Yorukiru-san!" Hazuki waved her ticket at me and smiled. "Isn't it great?"    

  I covered my ears, looked upwards and screamed out loud.

  "FUKANOO!"

  (Meaning 'impossible' in Japanese.)

  Everyone in the station stared at me. At a time like this, I really couldn't have cared less.     

 

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Jade

  The night hadn't gone well for us. Aigul and the others were all right as Stormwind and Firefly had retreated together with their leader.

  They weren't really that surprised, either that or they didn't show it as Firestorm and Dracia pointed to me and did their best explaining what had happened.

  Everyone to far too tense after the night's battle to sleep for more than a few hours.

  Wartortle and Ehrgeiz had sustained injures from the shrapnel on right foot and right shoulder respectively. Serac and Magmar had some light bruises and cuts, but were otherwise all right. The two female Pokemon had gotten out unhurt. Aigul spent his time patching them up.  

  I spent most of the night allowing my uncle examine me new Charizard body. It's really not a bad feeling, being able to breathe fire, fly and being stronger than years in the gym (the human gym, that is) could make me normally.  

  There was a large exchange of story details in the morning, mostly for Blaine's benefit. Ironically, I needed Firestorm and Dracia to act as translators because I could only speak in Pokemon tongue.

  "And then, I saw the explosion and flew down there." Firestorm concluded. He'd been telling us about his dream sequence.

  "Hmmm ... fascinating." Aigul commented.

  "But the thing I don't understand is, why did I appear as a human in the dream?" Firestorm muttered.

  "I'm not an expert on the supernatural," Aigul answered. "but I believe you were thinking so much about turning into one that it affected your subconscious mind."

  "And Zian, with his psychic powers, simply entered my dream." Firestorm nodded. "That makes sense."

  "At least he put you in a position to prevent Alugard from causing too much damage." Dracia noted. 

  "I don't think we've had an attack like this since the bombing of that facility." Blaine commented.

  "What facility?" Dracia asked. 

  Blaine sat down at his computer and activated a search program to look through his files.

  "Ah, here it is." Blaine showed all of us a newspaper article from several months back.

  I scanned through it briefly. It was mainly about a Pokemon research facility that had been blown up by terrorists, according to the article.

  "Doesn't seem to concern us very much." Dracia said.  

  "Maybe so," Blaine nodded without looking up. "but there were rumors that it was actually a military base as well, and that was carrying out secret genetic experiments."

  Aigul whistled.

  "Genetic experiments? Any relation to the lab Nightslice and I were in then? Or Kris?" Firestorm asked.

  "I'm afraid these are just rumors, so I can't confirm anything." Blaine replied. "Even if it were, it would be impossible to find out for sure. Whatever higher ups these facilities are under would definitely do anything in their power to cover it up." 

  Quite true. I said silently.

  "That research facility was owned by Sliph Company. By the way, I suppose you haven't heard that the president of Sliph Company was recently killed in a hit-and-run car accident?"

  "That old man we rescued?" Dracia looked up with interest.

  "There's more." Blaine continued. "They found an entire network of transactions going on behind his back. Someone was embezzling money from the company and making it look like it was for research expenses."

  [The president wasn't the one in power.] I realized. [Someone else was running the show instead. Someone very high up.]

  Firestorm interpreted for me.

  "It's a possibility." Blaine nodded. "The former vice-president, forgot what his name was, took over and conducted his own investigations. He apparently discovered the mole was the president's own son, but the man shot himself as he was captured. They say he was a Team Rocket spy, but there was no proof and no further links. So, the company had to eats their losses and work with it. This is all according to the papers of course."

  "I'm not expert at these human things," Dracia commented. "but something seriously stinks with that."

  "Often, the public is only allowed to believe what those in power want them to believe." Aigul said. "As a saying goes, a rumor is really a jumbled, distorted version of the truth."

  "Bah, we should've gotten Kris and Nightslice to hack into Sliph's private files while we were there." Firestorm muttered.        

  Kris and Nightslice. I thought. We were supposed to be looking for them in the first place ... of course!

  [Alugard!] I snapped. [He said he was going to Seafoam Islands, right?]    

  "Yeah, he did." Firestorm nodded.

  [He was searching for Nightslice too, so if we follow him, then there might be a chance he'd lead us to Nightslice.]

  "Sounds like it's the only lead we've got." Dracia agreed.

  "Come again?" Blaine asked, not being too Pokemon tongue literate.

  "Jade just suggested that we pursue Alugard to Seafoam Islands, if he's still there." Firestorm told him. "And I feel that it'll have be our next course of action."

  "We'll come along." Aigul nodded, speaking for Serac and himself.

  "Yeah, we definitely need you, since you're now the only human among the group." Dracia nodded.  

  "I'll come ... " Blaine stood up.

  I cut him off by pushing my uncle back down into his chair and firmly shaking my head.

  "I think it's universally understood that he doesn't want you to get involved in this." Aigul spoke.    

  [Besides, Wartortle and Ehrgeiz are injured and we need you to take care of them.] I insisted. 

  Blaine agreed after Firestorm related my message to him. It didn't take long for us to get our supplies together, with Aigul carrying the backpack, and we were soon standing at the doorway. 

  [Be careful out there Jade.] Ehrgeiz shook my hand with his uninjured side. [And don't do too many stupid things.]

  [I know you'll find Kris and the rest.] Wartortle waved. [Just remember that I'll be here.]

  [I'll be fine.] I laughed, still finding odd that I was actually able to hold a conversation with the Pokemon. [Just don't give my uncle additional stress. He's bald enough already!]

  [I'll make sure of it.] Magmar nodded, giving me a high-five. The fire Pokemon was staying behind as well. 

  "Watch yourself Jade." Blaine put a hand on my shoulder. "Good luck. And Firestorm?"

  "Yes?" The Charizard answered.

  "Look after my nephew for me. I just know he's going to get into trouble."

  "You have my word on that." He nodded, saluting.

  [I'll see you around, Ehrgeiz.] Mirage walked up to the Electabuzz. [You know I'd stay if I could, but they need all the help they can get.]

  [I know. Just let me give you this.] He kissed the Ponyta on the side of her face. [A little memento until you get back.]       

  "Jeez, all the sloppiness." Dracia muttered.

  Everybody gave her nasty stares.

  "Hey?! What?! Can't you all take a joke?"

  "Jade, what have you done to her?" Blaine asked. 

  [It's not my fault!] I protested.

  That got everyone laughing. As it would later turn out, that would be our last one for a while.

 

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Nightslice

  The train ride really wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. This train was an older steam powered engine, as opposed to the new magnetic ones being developed. The trip was scheduled to take slightly less than 2 days.

  The cabin turned out to be like an individual 'room', with a door and two long seats on either side. There was more enough space for both of us, both our backpacks and for me to let the Pokemon out.

  Although I was trying to avoid it, Hazuki managed to stir up a conversation, mostly about our backgrounds.

  She very painfully told me the story of how she was a 'rich' girl living in a mansion and getting through life just perfectly. Her parents worked as mechanical engineers, which was where she'd picked up her skills from. Then one day, he parents came running back and told her she had to leave.

  They'd looked frightened, and had given her their farewells before sending her through a secret fire escape tunnel that led outside. She'd watched in horror as Team Rocket agents stormed the house and fired their guns. Hazuki had been alone since then, wandering around.  

  That's just another life Team Rocket had ruined. I thought grimly.

  It made me feel even worse about lying to her about my history, but I couldn't afford to get her involved in my affairs. 

  A few hours into the ride, Hazuki had fallen asleep with Ahsura curled up on her lap. The Ivysaur seemed to be enjoying it more than her. Likewise, Riptide and Luminair curled up on opposite sides; probably cause lightning and water don't mix.   

  And that left me, staring out the window, watching the scenery rapidly passing by.

 

 

Asu e mukau kisha wa togireta reeru de [The train that leads to tomorrow is on an uncompleted rail]      

Mou furikaeru bakari tomadou watashi  [Every time I turn around, I hesitate]

Te to te tsunagiawase issho ni hashiru to                [Running hand in hand together]

Sou ookina chikara ga daseru no wa naze?     [How can that create a big power?]

 

Itsumo itsumo itsu demo                                               [Always, always, whenever]

Tsuujiatteru kara                                                                [We're connected.]         

Itsumo itsumo doko demo                                            [Always, always, wherever]

Tonde ikeru wa                                                    [I can fly there.]

Itsumo itsumo itsu demo                                               [Always, always, whenever]

Minna ga soba ni iru                                           [Everyone is close.]

Kitto kitto dare demo                                      [Maybe, maybe, anyone]

Hitori ja nai wa                                                   [Is not alone.]

 

 

                --- Itsumo Itsudemo, Digimon Adventure 02. [With translations in brackets.] 

 

 

  The sudden jerking motion jarred me awake.

  "What was that!?" I gasped.

  "I think the train's stopped." Hazuki said, also having been awakened.

  Riptide and Luminair moaned, having been thrown into a tangle of limbs.

  Hazuki opened our cabin door and waved to a train conductor who was passing by.

  "Excuse me, but what happened here? Why'd the train stop?"

  "It seems that the railway track ahead of us is damaged." The conductor replied. "It's very strange because all reports said that it was clear. Please remain here and we'll give you further information once we're done investigating."

  Even before the man had finished speaking, I was already grabbing my backpack.

  "Where are you off to in a hurry?" Hazuki asked, closing the door.

  "To check it out." I said, pulling open the window.

  I tossed the pack out and jumped down to the ground after it. The Pokemon followed my lead. I ended up facing a forested area. On the other side of the train was an open grassland that stretched on for miles. 

  "Geez, don't you ever use the door?" Hazuki asked, pulling herself out the window with much difficulty.

  She slipped and I instinctively caught her in my arms as she fell.

  "Wow, thanks!" She gasped. 

  "Don't mention it." I muttered. And promptly dropped her.

  "OW! You big meanine! What was that for?!" She yelled, rubbing her sore behind.

  I was already jogging towards the front of the train. By the time I got there, a group of staff and passengers had gathered around the area. I pushed my way through the crowd and gasped.

  The railway ahead was damaged all right. However, it looked as if someone had literally ripped it out of the ground and twisted it into a useless tangled of metal and wood.

  Or something. I reminded myself.      

  "Seems rather suspicious." Hazuki commented, stepping up beside me. "What sort of Pokemon from around here could do that? There aren't any really strong and nasty ones here." 

  As I turned towards the woods, I caught a flicker of movement. Whether it was human or not, I couldn't tell.

  I shoved my way through the ever-growing crowd and took off after the figure. The crowd was too distracted gawking at the damaged rail to notice me.     

  "Hey wait up!" Hazuki called. She was running after me, together with the Pokemon.

  Even not knowing really where I was going, I kept on running. Eventually, I ran out of stamina and stopped, bending over and panting. As Hazuki and the others caught up, I shook my head sadly.

  Perhaps I had been chasing shadows all along?

  That was when Hazuki screamed, pointing behind me. I had no time to react before I was grabbed from behind.

  "Ggggaarrggmmm!"

  Both arms were locked in a vice-like grip around my chest, pinning my hands down as well. I knew I was still stronger than a normal human, but as much as I struggled, I was unable to break free.

  The assailant tightened his grip around my chest, making it even harder to breathe.

  That was when I noticed his hands. No, actually, they were claws. And his arms were muscular, like the guys in the body building competitions, except they were covered by grayish-brown scales. The arms ended in clawed, five-fingered hands. I even felt his muscular chest rising and falling in accordance with his breathing.

  "So, you're just a human now." The attacker spoke in a hissing voice. "Pity too, I was expecting more competition."       

  I twisted my neck to look up and gasped. The figure I was staring in the eye was humanoid in appearance, but that was where they similarities ended. The best description my mind could come up with was a gray and brown Gargoyle with a dragon-like face and long wings stretching from his back. On his forehead was a rather large and long horn.

  He was very tall too; I was barely up to the middle of his chest and that was because he was holding me on tiptoe. 

  "Who are you?!" I demanded.

  "I am Kioi, Legendary Fighting Dragon. And I'm here to challenge you to battle, Nightslice, descendant of Kaiser!" 

 

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Firestorm

  I groaned, feeling the waves wash over me.

  [Storm, are you all right?] A female voice asked. [Please answer!]

  "Mirage, help me move him." Said another female. 

  Someone was licking my face. I felt myself being dragged over the sand. 

  "Ugh ... " I moaned. "Dracia? Mirage? What happened?" 

  [Don't you remember?] Mirage asked. [You were shot down!]

  "We were worried about you!" Dracia said.

  I was staring up into their faces, trying to remember.

  "Yes ... " I said, closing me eyes. 

  We'd flown to Seaform Islands, Dracia, Jade with Mirage in a Pokeball and myself, carrying Aigul and Serac. The Seaform Islands were a mass islands with inter-linked caverns and underwater tunnels. Our group had spent many hours searching and produced no results.

  Then, a huge thunderstorm had brewed up. Everyone was scrambling to take shelter when a lightning bolt nearly struck us. It had shot past us and hit the side of a mountain.

  However, instead of blowing a hole in the rock, it had gone right through and disappeared. Jade suddenly snapped to the conclusion that the wall was a hologram and we'd begun attacking it. 

  Sure enough, Alugard revealed himself and begun firing, together with an Ampharos who was apparently absorbing the electrical energy of the lightning. A battle began, but in the rain and strong winds, my maneuverability was seriously hampered.

  I had taken a direct Thunder attack and went plummeting to into the sea, together with Aigul and Serac. 

  "Jade! Aigul! Where are they?!" I asked, sitting up.

  Then, I saw what I didn't want to see.

  That I was human.

 "AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed until Dracia whacked me on the head.

  "Not now you bloody idiot!" She yelled. "The others are in trouble right now. So here," She tossed me the backpack. "there are some extra clothes in there. You should put them on before I have to stare at you in the nude any longer."

  "Huh? Hey!" I grabbed the backpack and turned away from her, fumbling for the clothes.

  "Relax, not like I haven't seen Jade. I've been with him since he was a child, remember?"

  It was still raining and the clothes were all drenched, but it was better than nothing. I took a good look over myself once I was done.

  The same white T-shirt, blue jeans and sports shoes from my dream. I reached into the backpack and pulled out the black jacket and the fingerless gloves. I pulled my shoulder length hair forward, noting that it was orange with red streaks. The metal mask that I wore on my Charizard face was gone, however. 

  Everything's the same, just like in my dream!

  "Where are Jade and Aigul?" I asked again.

  "Aigul and Serac went into the water with you." Dracia explained.

  [Then when Jade saw it, he released me and sent Dracia with me while he went to distract Alugard.] Mirage continued.

  "I was about to go in after you when this huge white Pokemon suddenly popped out of the water with you, as a human, on his back." Dracia was speaking in a very excited voice. "He was like, I dunno, some kind of an aquatic bird with some blue ridges lining his back and something like a blue mask over his eyes."    

  [I'm sure it was the Water's Guardian, Lugia!] Mirage cut in, eager to tell that part. [We were sort of scared, but he let Dracia pull you to shore and disappeared without a word.]

  "And Aigul?" I questioned.

  "We ... don't know." Dracia muttered, eyeing the floor. "I went beneath the water to search, but I couldn't find him anywhere. And Serac too."

  "Aigul ... " I said softly.

  "Hey guys!"

  I jumped at the sound of Aigul's voice. We turned to see the drenched young man clinging into his Vaporeon, both swimming to shore.

  "Aigul!" I cried happily, helping him back to dry land.

  He looked exhausted and soaked, but alive. Serac collapsed on the beach, badly tired out.

  "Aigul, when I couldn't find you, I ... " Dracia staggered, her sniffing cutting off her sentence.

  "Don't worry Dracia. I thought I was done for too, but Serac pulled me to the surface and kept me up there till I regained consciousness. Then, we swam back together. It was no easy task, mind you."

  [Aigul, did you see him?] Mirage asked excitedly.

  "See whom?" Aigul asked.

  [Lugia! That legendary Pokemon! He was here just now! And he saved Storm's life!] The Ponyta neighed.  

  "Isn't Lugia just a story?" The silver-haired man replied. "Even if he was here, then I'm afraid I must've missed him. But where's Jade? Is he all right?"

  "Jade!" I realized. "Dracia, you know where he went?"

  "Up there." The Dragonair pointed with her nose. "I'll take you, but I can only carry one passenger."

  "Go on." Aigul nodded. "I need to catch my breath for a while."

  [Good luck.] Mirage whispered.     

  Without hesitating, I hopped on, clinging on tightly to her head as she flew. Soon, we reached the battlefield.

  Alugard and the Ampharos were still up at the cave, exchanging shots with Jade, who had taken cover behind a bunch of rocks near the bottom of the small mountain.

  Dracia launched a Dragon Rage at our distracted opponents. Alugard jumped away and moved further into the cavern. However, the Ampharos slipped and rolled down the mountain, landing on the opposite side from where Jade was.

  "I'll take care of him." Dracia said, dropping me beside Jade. "You two better go after Alugard!"

  "Be careful." I nodded as she flew off.

  [Storm?] Jade stared. [Is that really you?]

  "Shut up Jade. Let's take care of Alugard and we can discuss our racial differences later."

  [Yep, it's really you.] He grinned, allowing me to climb onto his back. [Feels different when it's the other way round, doesn't it?]       

  Feeling the winds, for one thing, was sure different now that I was a human.

  Jade barged into the cave and charged at Alugard. I jumped off his back and rolled behind the cover of some rocks. The human-turned Charizard took Alugard before he could fire, engaging in a fierce wrestling match. 

  Dammit! I feel so useless! I cursed.

  That was when I remembered something I'd seen Jade doing during his transformation. But would it work the other way round?

  "Come on, fire please don't leave me." I begged, clenching my fist. As if in response, my hand glowed and burst into flames.

  The fire wasn't hurting me of course, but it did feel a lot warmer than my normal one. Still, I was a Charizard when I'd felt that.

  "Hiyah!" I yelled, firing off the burst of flame.

  Alugard heard me even with his back turned and jumped away. The fire attack hit Jade instead and knocked him into the wall.

  [Ow! I'm OK, don't worry.] He assured.

  However, that force of the motion had jarred several overhanging stalactites loose. One of which hit Jade directly on the head.

  [Maybe not...] Jade moaned before he hit the floor, unconscious.

  "F***!" I swore.

  "It's happened to you too, I see." Alugard laughed. "I'd recognize you in any form, Firestorm. Pity you're a human now, otherwise I'd expect some competition."

  "Maybe so. But..." I charged and drove a right hook into his stomach area, followed by a spin kick to the side of his head, knocking him over. "I'm a Charizard at heart! And I fight like one!"

  I cracked my knuckles, giving him a fiery stare. I was still stronger than a normal human and I could utilize at least some of my normal abilities.

  "We'll see about that." Alugard snarled, getting up.

  It was then that a thunderous roar interrupted us. I turned to see Jade back on his feet, snarling at me.

  "Jade? You all right?" I asked.

  Jade growled out several words indecipherable to even me. But I made out the words 'intruder' and 'territory'.

  "This is not time to fool around Jade. Alugard's ... " I turned only to see Alugard disappearing through the cave entrance.

  Suddenly, Jade rammed me with his head, throwing me over. I landed on my back and was immediately stopped to the ground by my friend.

  "Jade?" I gasped.

  However, what I saw in his eyes was not the look of my one time human companion. It was instead the snarl of a wild, untamed beast.

  "Jade! Aaarggh!"

  Jade held my arms down with the toes of his hind legs and used his tail to prevent me from getting up.

  "What are you doing?! Jade!"

  [Intruder ... my territory...] He snarled again.  

  It was then that I realized the knock on his head must've affected his memory somehow. He thought he was a wild Charizard, defending his designated territory from an intruder.

  That intruder was me. And another thing I knew was that wild Charizard are carnivorous.

  Desperately, I struggled to no avail. He'd pinned me down in a position where he had too great an advantage. 

  "Jade! It's me, Storm! I'm your friend! Try to remember!"

  I doubt he even heard me. All he saw was his struggling prey. My heart was pounding so fast and yet, I could hardly breathe.

  I felt his hot breath against my neck. His warm saliva dripped down in large drops over my face. The jaws opened, revealing the deadly white fangs.

  He was poised to strike.

  "NO!" I screamed. "NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

 

 

 

  I was staring up into the face of death. It was my own, so familiar form ... Myself. And to think I was the one who constantly told Jade that I was gonna eat him some day.

  I suppose this is what they call irony...