Chapter 4:
Ashley?  No, I’m Jenny

    On his way to the lab the next day, Ash remembered what it was that concerned him so much the afternoon before.  Resigning himself to whatever would happen today, he opened the lab door and proceeded to the room that he customarily met the Professor to get his assignments.  As always, Oak was already there, although today he seemed to have a rather uneasy look, contrasting the anticipation evident in Duplica.  The Professor looked even worse when he noticed Ash, but managed to speak normally anyway, “Hi, Ash.  What I want you to do now is something you must feel perfectly free to decline.”  Duplica deflated slightly, and Oak continued, “it’s an even more delicate topic than before, you see—“
“You want me to do with Gary what I’ve been doing with the pokemon?”  Ash interrupted.
“Yes, actually.”
“May I ask why me?  There must be plenty of actual girls I’m sure would be willing to do this for money.”
“Yes, it’s true.  The thing is that you two have known each other a long time, and though neither will admit it, you’re each other’s best friend.  I need someone who knows Gary that well.”
“Why does this matter?  Gary seems fine to me, he just needs some time.”
“Time that may soon run out, at least for me.  I’m an old man, preserved like this for eternity.  Gary has gotten stuck as a boy, possibly for a very long time.  I don’t know how this will affect him in the long run, but I do know that he is really seventeen; he should be at least getting into the dating scene a little.  He had more lust when he was actually ten than he has now, and I know that if someone were to show him how he can feel in his limited time as a teenager, he’ll understand why he should at least try before it’s too late.”
Ash was confused, but rallied “I’ll do it, but only on the condition that this is kept secret, a bonus of an extra thousand credits and access to anything I need to do this.”
“Agreed.  Duplica will do what is necessary.”  He turned to her and said, “Contrary to popular opinion, Gary actually isn’t interested in overly attractive bimbos, so please try to do something a little more sensible.”
Duplica was grinning so widely that Ash wondered if her eyes would soon roll out.  “I do not have the necessary facilities here, but the airship is now directly above us.”  She pulled out a remote control and keyed in a combination, triggering a teleporter that brought all three into one of her own workrooms.  “Take off all your clothes.”  She commanded.
    Ash made as if to protest and then decided it wasn’t worth it, so he concentrated on getting his clothes off, and not on the array of unfamiliar objects that were scattered about the room.  Duplica was moving around, talking to herself and pulling various objects and pieces of clothing off their racks and hangers.  Ash, meanwhile was trying to save his modesty by standing behind a screen and talking past it to the Professor about the newest pokedex entries.  Duplica finished her rounds and walked up behind Ash.  “Arms up.”  She said, and when he complied she pulled a red corset down onto Ash’s middle and then said, “When I give the word, try to hold in your gut.”   She gave the word several times, each time pulling the strings of the corset as far as possible.  The first time, Ash found he could hardly breathe, but Duplica showed him how to take slow deep breathes so that he could stay conscious, and by the third and fourth pulls, he began to get used to it.  Duplica told him to hold his arms up again and she stretched on a sports bra and shoved a pair of silicon sacs inside.  She gave the getup so far an appraising look and said, “Jump up and down a little.”  When he complied, she nodded at the apparent success of her work on his breasts and continued.  She stretched a couple of shoulder-length gloves onto him, making his arms slightly slimmer and he found slight extensions at the ends to make his fingers longer, and did the same with his legs.  Finally, she pulled a pair of tight rubber shorts onto him, allowing him to move his privates between his legs himself to preserve what was left of his dignity.  She slipped another pair of silicon sacs into the back of the shorts and then examined him.  She took a picture of his face, and then compared the color to several folded objects on shelves behind her until she found one close to his.  She unfolded it to reveal a lycra kigurumi bodysuit, which she gave to Ash, telling him to be careful not to let it rip or wrinkle.  He sat down to pull the legs on, and then stood up, stretching it so it was tight, and then put his arms in the proper holes, stretching those to their limits and then pulling the zipper up.  Before he could pull on the hood, Duplica intervened and pushed it inside itself, saying, “not today.”  Before going off to find something else.  She returned with a purple outfit and some black pieces of hair, which she clipped into Ash’s, brushing it out so the extensions mixed in with his real hair.  Ash was really wishing for a mirror, but the room seemed devoid.  Duplica had done this so that Ash wouldn’t see himself halfway through; she wanted it to be a surprise.  She finally added some makeup to Ash’s face and let him put on the purple silk bellbottoms and midriff.  With all this done, she finally manipulated a strip on the wall, which spun around, a mirror attached to the other side.  What he saw in it left him speechless.  Ash Ketchum of Pallette was gone, replaced by a young woman with long black hair and a cute figure.  Not sexy in the drooling boy sense, but petite and attractive in a more comfortable way.  It wasn’t for another few seconds that Ash finally realized why this girl also seemed familiar.  She was exactly how Misty described him when he’d overshot his age.  Turning to Duplica, he said, “Gary was in the room too when I became this, won’t he know?”
Duplica replied, “Yeah, truthfully, I only did this because I’d been informed that time paradoxes were a bad idea, so I dolled you up like this to stop it.  I wouldn’t expect you to be able to handle a fractal version change very well, although you’re welcome to keep the clothes.”  She looked him over “I do good work, though, don’t I Ashy-boy?”
“So all this was just to get me to look like this?”
“No, you still have to seduce Gary, but I’m giving you something more helpful than that.  Get it all off and meet me in the synthesizer room, turn left and it’s seven doors down.”  She and Oak walked out, leaving Ash and his cute reflection to change back.  Ash tried out some poses and walking, examining how graceful Duplica had managed to make him, and then carefully detached everything she’d put onto him and put his usual clothes back on.
    In the other room, Oak drummed his fingers on his chin and said, “He told you to do this, didn’t He?”
“He said I was the only person likely to have tried such a thing.”
“Certainly Ash wouldn’t have been able to do it himself.”
“I would have done it anyway, I couldn’t have resisted trying that on him.”
“He wears it well, but remember to be careful, you’ve already corrupted one, we don’t need Ash getting dressed up and disappearing.”
“I know where Brock is.”
“Perhaps the only one who does.”
“Not so, there are at least four people on this planet other than me and him that know.”
“Let me guess, Him and the Sensationals?”
“Of course.”
“And neither are talking.”
“Would you expect them to?”
“I suspect I know now where he’s gone.”
“Well, don’t go blabbing, it’s bad for their business.”
“Lucky Cheng’s over in Celadon would disagree.”
“Who do you think gave them the idea?  No, it’s not the same.  Not that he doesn’t drop so many hints that if Misty were looking—“
“Here comes Ash.”
    Ash had managed to get most of the effects of Duplica’s work off of him, although his midsections were still compacted slightly inward.  He looked around, noting that this room was very different, much more technological.  There was only one thing other than the people inside, a machine with a pad on the floor and another directly above it on the ceiling.  Wires and piping led into it, and there was a large control bank about five feet away.  Duplica looked Ash over again and said, “It would have been easier if you’d left your clothes off, but we can compensate.  She led him onto the pad and manipulated the controls.  The first thing was that the pads it up and a ring detached from both and moved up and down, meeting in the middle and going back several times.  Ash felt a strange prickling like being static charged before the rings slowed and stopped back inside the pads.  Ash watched as a full size hologram of his naked body appeared beside the console.  Duplica and Oak went into a conference, pressing buttons to change various parts of the hologram’s appearance.  They had it walk and move around and changed a few minor details.  Ash saw that his body had been transformed into that of a teenage girl of approximately sixteen with long brown hair and wide chocolate eyes.  Like the previous attempt, this girl was cute but not overly sexy, with small to medium breasts and a body that hinted at curves without going too far.  Duplica waved to get Ash’s attention and said, “say ‘Ah’”  Ash opened his mouth and as soon as his voice began coming out, Duplica turned a knob which changed it into more and more feminine tones until Oak gave the OK signal and she let go.  Duplica asked Oak a question and he nodded, producing a smile on Duplica as she hit a few more buttons and then slammed a large red one with the end of her fist.  There was an error message and she slapped her forehead “silly me.  Ash, you can get off now.”  He stepped off the platform and she hit the button again, producing a much brighter light to come from the platforms, and the rings to float up and interlock, spinning around one another.  First, a hanger materialized inside the sphere they were tracing, and a skin colored substance began spinning itself out from that point, covering the hanger.  Hair grew out of a portion that had folded over on the front, and other human features became apparent as the process became finer, even putting a couple of small freckles in various locations.  The rings slowed and once again retreated into the platforms, as Duplica walked out and grabbed the top of the hanger before it could fall.  “Viola!”  She exclaimed “one multicommand telepathic biomechanical turbocharged skinsuit.  You’re a very lucky kid, Ashy-Boy, I charge a fortune for these.  They’re my top-of-the-line option, all charged to Pallette pokelabs, of course.”
Ash took the hanger and it’s cargo from her, examining it and saying, “telepathic?”
“That’s right, this thing will take your commands and change itself while you wear it, or off.  To a point, of course, albeit a very far point, it will change its own appearance; place the zipper anywhere you like, make the zipper disappear totally.  It can remember several settings, with this one as the default, the default can’t be changed, just in case you slip up, and it can even mirror the appearance of the user, so it can be worn without detection and reactivated as another person’s in seconds.  It can’t make you much shorter, or give you powers, since this model was not imbued with magic.  A precaution in case Gary gets paranoid.  There are other options, which can be accessed by asking the suit to display its help screen, but I’ll leave you to find those on your own.  The wardrobe room is right across the hall, go in there and try on the suit, pick out an outfit you think will work and come back here to show us.”
    Ash was wondering by now whether or not this was a good idea, things were starting to get strange again, as it always did when he took too much help from Duplica.  One consolation, though, it wasn’t getting eldritch like when He started to poke his nose into things.  The wardrobe room was more impressive now than it was when he first met Duplica, seeming to stretch on forever into the horizon.  Clothes of all types were arranged by various features along shelves, hangers, racks and even a few stasis pods, which Ash decided weren’t worth risking.  This time, there was a mirror on hand right on the door as he closed it, so that he wouldn’t have to hunt around for an activator strip.  He pulled the skinsuit off its hanger and examined it as well as he could, skipping over parts that embarrassed him to take a close look at.  What he did see, and feel, was as perfectly replicant of a human body as he’d ever seen.  He decided that the back opening that it already had was good enough to use for now, although he might try experimenting with other places later.  The inside was, as always, a slippery, soft, warm fabric that he couldn’t place.  He found a chair nearby, and set to pulling his right leg and then his left into the appropriate holes, having major problems with the ankles, but finally standing and pulling it up taut like he’d done on the others.  The place for his private parts seemed a lot more elaborate this time, and he decided to make sure he asked the suit what that was all for later.  He had some trouble getting his arms in, when the wrist of the suit didn’t expand at first to accommodate his own, but eventually configured his fingers into a shape that slipped through.  Once again he was surprised by an extra feature, a couple of holes to put his nipples in.  With all that in, he reached behind and pulled the zipper up to his neck, and grabbed the edges of the mask hanging on his chest.  In as quick a motion as he could make it, Ash swept the mask onto his head, and got all the holes into the right places.  He ran his hand under the mask’s hair to make sure none had gotten into the seam, and locked the zipper into the mask.  He instructed it to come online, and told it to disguise the zipper and begin body changes.   The pains began on his feet, like with the ninetails costume, and worked their way up, causing very large amounts in his ankles, waist, wrists and neck.  He felt the tingling as key systems plugged in via the skin, to fully integrate and offer total control over the suit.  He had to close his eyes to endure all the changes he was feeling, and so observed himself in the mirror totally changed when he managed to recover.  The image was exactly that of the girl in the hologram, and at first he could barely believe it.  He shook his head, and saw the girl do so as well, both seeing and feeling the hair move with it.  He opened his mouth, saw the girl in the mirror do so as well, and said, “Wow.” closing his mouth quickly as the voice Duplica had played in the other room came out.  He took an even closer look and noted that the suit was already lightly made up.  He tore his eyes away from the mirror and went to find some clothes to wear that would go with this new body.  After some confusion with underwear, during which the suit showed him a help file explaining some of the conventions of its use, and some less than aesthetically pleasing attempts at an ensemble, Ash settled on a red and white pleated miniskirt, black midriff with a picture of a flame on it and high heeled sandals, which took him a moment to get used to walking in.  Noticing in the mirror how it made him look, Ash figured that he’d be lucky if Gary stayed a gentleman for eight solid seconds.  Oh well, that was part of the arrangement, after all, and no matter what doubts he got now, it was too late to back out.  He was also very aware at how much his breasts bounced like this, and hoped that no one, especially Misty, would ever find out he was doing this, not that he was libel to be suspect looking like he was now.  Just before he left, the girl in the mirror turned and blew him a kiss for luck.  When he walked across the hall and Duplica saw him, she wolf whistled and told him to spin around, so she could get a good look.  Satisfied with that part, she engaged him in conversation and nodded at his perfect tones.  “I think I’ve done good work.  Professor?”
“This will be satisfactory.”
Ash remembered what he was going to ask the suit, but foolishly decided that Duplica could answer quicker.  “Why all the extra stuff inside?”  He asked, still trying to get used to his new voice.
“Like the nipple sockets?”
“Among other things.”
Duplica walked up to Ash and pinched him where the suit’s nipples were, producing a gasp as Ash felt the effects.  “Do you want me to show you what the other ones do?”  She asked coyly.
Taking a steadying breath, Ash said, “I don’t think I’ll need that, thank you.”
Duplica pulled a face “I never get any fun.”  In a more serious tone she said, “I’ll set up your closet so that it can produce female clothing, I can’t have you wandering in here at all times.”
Ash fixed her with as hard a look as the suit could allow and said, “Set up so that only my mental command can make it do so.”
“So that it will only work while you’re in the suit, was what I was and still am going to do.”
“Fine.”
“What are we going to call you, though?”
“I thought I was Ashley.”
Oak rolled his eyes and Duplica snorted “Ashley?  That malicious moniker, that abominable acronym, oh no.  That name has brought ill luck to all your ventures as a female in a variety of dimensions, He told me that while He was making sure I fixed the paradox.”
“What then?”
“Sarah?”
“No.”
“Daphne?”
“Eu.”
“Delila?”
“Ack! No.”
“Jenny?”
“Hmm” Ash looked at the girl in the reflection and saw a subtle nod “OK, Jenny then.”
    Duplica pulled out her remote and teleported them all back to the lab.  Oak told Ash that the first date with Gary would be morning two days from then and Ash got out of the suit, sneaking home past his mom so that she wouldn’t try to examine his cargo today, and finding his closet already fitted with a secret panel that slid away to show a place to store the suit and a clothes replicator.  He found the ninetails costume replaced in his closet, and had a thought, which he immediately cast aside.  Duplica would have loved it if he’d tried sleeping in both the girl suit and the ninetails costume, but that was too much like Brock right before he disappeared.  Sure, he knew where Brock was, it was obvious once he’d gone to visit Misty’s sisters, and found the other fourth of four.  At least Brock was causing a sensation among the male crowd, now.
    When Ash had left the lab, Oak fixed Duplica with a stern look, “what was all that with the extra features?”
Duplica tried to look innocent “what do you mean?”
“Don’t play puppies with an old dog, you put in a shapechanger circuit, and an erogenous sensitivity system.  Why go to all that trouble over a simple mission like this?”
Duplica was grinning maniacally “let’s just say, I’m not so sure he’ll be so keen to get out of this by the end as he is now.”