Chapter 2:
Ready for Anything

    Ash had decided after Oak left to go visit his mom and on the way, he’d been informed that his work would begin the next day.  This was good, since he hadn’t had a chance in awhile to visit, and he thought that it was about time he stayed awhile to catch up.  Mimey greeted him cheerfully as he walked up the path, reminding him of a less enjoyable time as a pokemon.  Well, he was sure that wouldn’t be the case this time.  Oak had obviously informed Delila that Ash was coming, since she had already set and extra place at the table for him.
    Over dinner, Delila quizzed Ash about the status of his studies and his gym, and Ash learned what was happening in Pallette of late.  Eventually, the topic moved to pokelabs business, and why Ash had been called back to his home town.
“So now you work for yet another pokemon agency.”
“Well, Oak had a point.  Things have been slow at the League of late, and I’m paid on commission.”
“Now, Ash.  All you had to do was ask me, I’d be perfectly willing to help you out.”
“Aw mom, I’m out in the world now, I can’t be mooching off you all the time.  I’m supposed to be an example.”
“You’re still a kid.”
“I’m a master of the League.”
“You’re still my son.”  As the conversation wandered off, Ash thought about his upcoming job. His ruminating continued right up to the point where he fell asleep, where he dreamed he was being chased by a love-crazed Brock pokemorph.
    The next day, Ash went to the lab in high spirits, even with all the feelings that this was going to go bad.  The professor would never let something like that happen to him, would he?  Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Ash went around back to the pokemon enclosures, where the Professor said he would be waiting.  Oak motioned Ash to come with him inside to one of the lab rooms, where Duplica was waiting with a look of barely contained mirth on her face, not a good sign.  Oak turned and said, “OK, Ash, we’re going to start with something easy to get you used to this method.  We’ve got a male ninetails who’s been down for a while now.”
Duplica stepped forward with a white bundle in her hands.  “This is where it gets interesting.”
Ash took it and looked over at the professor “I’m not sure how this is supposed to work.”
Duplica answered first “my work in this case is to be used by anyone, including you.  Well, especially you.  I’ve made it as easy as possible, just take off your clothes and put it on.”
Oak cleared his throat, “if you would like us to leave the room until you’re ready...”
“I think that would be nice.”
Duplica followed as Oak left the room.  “Do you think he’ll go through with this?”
“It’s a challenge, and Ash is a sucker for challenges.  And by the way, try to look a little more solemn, he’s having a lot of trouble with this as is.”
“Aye, sir.  One thing, can we watch?”
Oak let himself half smile “if it would make you happy, I’m sure I can get a remote link to the surveillance cameras on the monitor.”
“Oh, goody.”
    Meanwhile, Ash had taken hold of one end, and let the costume fall to the floor until it was totally extended, bending over for a moment as he found it heavier than expected.  He had to hand it to Duplica again, the House of Imite always did good work.  From the expressive eyes, to the slight creaming at the tailtips, this was a perfect replica of a ninetails, and it would only get better when worn, he could tell.  What he was having trouble with, was an opening.  How did they expect him to get it on, if the zipper was so well hidden he couldn’t even find it?  Wait, what had Duplica said?  Especially him?  On a hunch, he engaged his psychic amplifier and gave the command for a zipper to appear in the back, and he was only half surprised to find that one had.  Well, he wasn’t sure how he liked to put these things on, so he’d try a rear opening this time, and maybe test somewhere else later.  It opened with nary a whisper, revealing an interior that was warm slippery and soft to the touch.  Like he’d thought before, the house of Imite always did good work.  He found a chair, and sat down, with the costume open in front of him.  Trying not to feel weird doing it, he put one foot into the corresponding leg, which expanded as he slipped it in, following with the second.  He stood up to continue, almost losing his balance on the different foot structure of the pokemon.  Bending down to pick up the top half, Ash pulled the legs so there were no wrinkles, and continued.  There was a special slip between the legs so his genitals would not show on the outside, which confused him at first, and then made his face redden a little as he realized what that part was for.  He put one arm into the appropriate hole, and used the other to pull it as best he could into the glove that ended a few inches short of the paw, giving him control of the claws and pads with a few hand twitches.  The other arm proved to be even more difficult, since the paw his hand was in was not nearly as dextrous as opposable thumbs, and so he settled for getting it on as far as he could, and then flexing his shoulders to tighten the chest.  This left the mask hanging down, and the zipper open, which he realized he couldn’t possibly manipulate with no hands.  So he shifted the mass of tails behind him and sat down on the chair, to wait for the others to come back in, figuring they’d come when they thought he’d had enough time.
    Duplica and the professor, during that time, had been watching, though it would be more accurate to say Duplica was watching, while Oak was fiddling with one of his pokeball upgrades.  Her muffled giggling was starting to get a little out of hand when she stood up and bent over his shoulder.
”Yes?”
“He’s about as finished as he can be, I think we’d better go in now and help him finish up.  By the way, I owe you a dollar.”
“He got both arms in?”
“Indeed he did.”
“Splendid, I told you he never passed up a challenge.”  They took their time walking over, since Oak didn’t want it known Duplica had been observing him, even though she protested that he’d willingly let her see it before.  On arriving, they found that Ash had managed to manipulate the remote well enough to find something on TV he’d like to watch (and passing another dollar from Duplica to Oak), and he stood up, saying “finally, it was getting a little difficult sitting like this.”
Duplica walked up behind him and pulled the zipper to his neck, saying “you should have called.”
“I wasn’t sure how, and something is bothering me.  How am I supposed to pass for a ninetails when my human proportions are sticking out, my arms and legs are way to thick.”
“Your perspicacity is well received, but unnecessary.  Although I may be lithe enough to slip into one of these at its proper size, I do not expect you to be capable of such a thing.  It will adjust automatically once the system is activated, do not worry.”
“Another thing, how functional is this costume?”
Duplica blinked, as if surprised “fully functional” then she lowered her voice an octave, in a mock whisper, winking “and anatomically correct.  Oh, and the mask will have to be adjusted by you, so that all the openings go in the right places.”
    Ash grabbed the bottom edge as best he could and pulled it up over his head, pulling and fiddling until the eye, nose, mouth and ear holes were all positioned in front of the corresponding features on his face.  Duplica grabbed the zipper, hesitated and said, “if we weren’t here to help you, how would you have pulled the zipper up?”
“I don’t know.”  Ash replied, severely muffled inside.  A dollar disappeared from Oak’s pocket.
“For further reference, you leave one arm out, reach back and pull it closed from the inside.”
“Right.”  Duplica twisted the zipper, locking the mask to the back of the costume.  Ash took a moment to let his mind wander to how it felt inside the fursuit, and found that it was very cozy inside.  He stifled the urge to hug himself with great difficulty.
“Do you want the change to be slow, or quick?”
“Quick today.”
“Then mentally instruct it to activate.”
    Ash did so, and a tingling sensation began to build up in his feet, which ached as the back paws of the costume became the size of that of an actual ninetails.  It went up his legs, which became slimmer with a lot less pain, and then to his hips, which changed shape almost totally, forcing him to fall on all fours, and he also felt a weird sort of weight behind him, and was conscious of the tails.  He gave them an experimental wave, and was delighted to see and feel them obey his command.  By then, the change had reached his wrists and shoulders, causing slightly more pain as they were compacted.  His head was like the tails, as he was connected to the ears and muzzle.  He tried to say how amazing all this was, but all that came out was a string of pokemon language.
Duplica allowed herself a half smile “like I said, fully functional.  You now speak and understand pokemon, among other changes.  Observe.”  She pulled a brush out of her pocket and ran it along Ash’s back, which he arched instinctively.  With a great effort, he managed to stop that from happening on the second run, causing yet another dollar to go from Duplica to Oak.  “You have many of the reflexes of the pokemon, although since you are still a human in a very good fursuit, you can block them when you need to.”
Oak walked over “now I think it’s time, Ash, for you to earn your pay.”  He opened the door to the outer enclosures, and walked out, Duplica and Ash following to a cage containing a male ninetails.  Ash found that he could tell just by being near him and the smell.  Oak turned around “one thing before you go in.  Male ninetails are rare, which is why this is important, and for good reason.  They are incredibly foul-mouthed creatures, and have a tendency to cause other pokemon to either stay away or obliterate them on sight.  We were lucky to have rescued this one, he’d said something very insulting to that large mutant tentecruel that lives under the floating resort ruins.  You may want to block out what he says to you, since although most are smart enough to keep their traps shut during mating season, this one has proven himself to be very stupid.”  Even past the mask of the costume, Oak could tell there was a look of trepidation on Ash’s face “don’t worry, you’ll do fine.  Like I said, this is an easy one.  The other ninetails won’t go near him as long as he’s talking, and that’s depressed him, but once he’s been reminded what he must do and when it is, I’m sure things will go well.”  Pressing a button on the outside of the cage, the door opened, and Oak shooed Ash inside.  He and Duplica hurried over to the nearest monitoring station to keep an eye on things.  Duplica leaned over “remember, up to two minutes, it’s your win, up to six, it’s mine, and past that all bets are off.
    Inside the cage, Ash was starting to feel very vulnerable as the other pokemon opened one eye and examined him.  It closed the eye and quietly said “******* off, *****” Ash decided to give the thing the best squint he could muster, and was almost as surprised as the male that he had accidentally accessed his malevolent look attack, and the male had been temporarily frozen.  Ash wondered how female ninetails usually go about getting mates interested, and remembered a nature show on pokemon mating he remembered.  Okay, all mammal pokemon were proud of their tails, especially the ones that had good reason, there was the scene that he changed the channel because it was about to get yucky, lets hope that doesn’t happen to me, contact is usually a sign of arousal.  Ash did his best to look aroused by waving his tails and wiggling his rear as he walked over to the male, and noticed that the other pokemon was starting to noticeably breathe.  He brushed his side and a couple tails on the other ninetails as he walked by, and the male stood up, and silently followed.  OK, mission accomplished, now where was Oak?
    In the monitor room, Oak took another dollar from Duplica, who had begun to grumble that Ash was going to bankrupt her by the end of this, and started out the door.  Duplica gave him a petulant look “aw, can’t we wait another thirty seconds, I want to see how Ash deals with being mounted.”
“I’ll allow nothing of the kind, and I’m amazed to think that you would either.”
“Now, now, there only needs to be one responsible one here, if I were to be alone in this, I’d probably get him out now too.”  She hit the release button on the door, let Ash agility out, and shut the door again.  She gave Oak a quarter.  “We didn’t have a bet on that one, but I think you deserve it for the faith you have in his ability.”  By the time they reached Ash, he was in the other room, had deactivated the resizing systems, and had even gotten the zipper unlocked.  Pulling the mask down off his head, he shook it and grinned.  “Well, I think that went very well.”
“I think it did, especially considering this was your first shot.”  Oak replied as Ash reversed the process Duplica had told him about, and getting the zipper down.  “I think that we’ll knock off for the day.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, we’ll start doing more than one daily when you’ve gotten a little more used to it.”
“Right, then.  I’ll be off.”  Picking up the merchandise part of his payment, Ash took his leave.
Right before he did, however, Duplica took her parting shot “I’d like us to try the vulpix tomorrow.”
Oak leaned over to her and quietly said “you really needed to give him something to think about?”
“Can’t let him get complacent just because he got lucky.  I mean really, did you expect him to figure out that he had to get tough with the male first, before he gave it the sexy sexy so fast?”
“Not that quick, I admit, although remember that you had to have all the costumes specially spelled so that the others wouldn’t detect his Chosen One power emanations, although I suspect that you, not realizing that it would give Ash an advantage, left it so that he could still broadcast on that level.  His bond with all pokemon gave him the intuitive accident that he’s so well known for in the battling arena.”
    Ash decided halfway back to his mom’s house not to worry about what was in store for him the next day.  Instead, he worried about something more important, what was for dinner.  Somehow, this escapade had lasted out past lunch and it was closing on the dinner hour.  Ash hoped that his mom had come through and cooked her usual fare of more than necessary of everything.  She was the only person he knew who could never be caught cooking with leftovers, but logically had to.  Dinner was as great as he had hoped and expected, and his mom tempered her questions about his day with discretion, knowing Duplica’s reputation.  Ash was very tired by the time he got to bed, but a slightly wicked thought had crept into his mind, and it couldn’t be made to leave.  He still couldn’t identify the material inside the costume, but he did know that it was very warm and comfortable.  Instead of his pajamas that night, Ash tried sleeping in the costume, and found it to be an excellent alternate.  In her bed that night, Duplica slept all the better for knowing that Oak owed her a dollar the next day.  She was actually surprised she’d won that one, Ash had much better taste than she’d pegged him for.