Fortree
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The sound of his gasping only barely reached her mind and right now, and she didn't particularly care. She hated seeming pathetically weak, but what could she do when all the pain was inside her? She was curled into a small ball, the purple spreading over her skin and seemingly getting bigger so that all of her skin would be that shade, but it seemed to take forever. Small parts of her body began to fade, then reappear, disappear and reappear again as her mind tried to hold onto something, anything. Like the rock in front of her. She focused on that rock until the pain ebbed a little, then returned again as small claws started to grow to replace her fingernails and toe nails and her teeth became thinner and sharper.
He went to her side, looking at her carefully. She was unstable, he noticed, as some parts of her faded in and out. He would have reached out, but he stopped himself, knowing she might not want to interact at this stage. He sat in front of her, a look of worry on his now furry face as he watched her, letting her knew he was there for her.
She had her eyes closed but seemed to sense his presence, her shuddering calming a bit as the pain in her veins faded as her skin became completely purple. Her hair lengthened a little, going from her chestnut brown to a midnight black color. Suddenly she felt two new pains, one in her head and one in her legs. There was a slight ripping noise as the middle part of her jeans were ripped to reveal something similar to a skirt, but is seemed to be an actual part of her skin, like the way Shuppets just billow out. However, she still kept her feet. Then the pain in her head came from a sprouting horn just a few inches above her forehead.
He bit his lip a bit as the additions formed, knowing that it would be wrapping up soon. Her transformation wasn't as drastic, but she would take it hard. Now it was only a matter of time for her mind to adapt to the changes, he knew. There was just one last change. Around her eyes was darkened shadow, either because her eyes had moved deeper or simply they were the markings of a Shuppet. She finally opened her eyes to reveal that they had changed as well. A dark blue iris, but where the pupil would have been black for a normal human, her pupils were gold. She could just make out Mike's red eyes and white fur as she struggled to stay awake.
He grabbed her arm as she seemed to sway, recognizing the tired stage of the transformation, as she began to crash. "Kat?" he asked, wanting her to stay awake. She slowly blinked, trying to force herself to focus. "....Ow...." was all she managed to mutter in repose, trying to sit up, but found it difficult so she simply laid on the ground.
"Once we fix this virus, remind me to kill that Absol." She muttered.
He gave a nervous laugh, sighing slightly. "You should rest," he told her cautiously, more concerned for her than him. No argument there. "Thanks." She thanked him for letting her rest with a small smile before her eyes closed and she fell asleep and the small changes to her senses began to take place while she was out.
He sighed a little, looking down at her as she rested, before standing up to look at himself. He looked his hands over, and then ran them through his fur and over his tail as if seeing if they were real. He was a bit sensitive, but he would recover.
She shifted slightly in her sleep and mumbled something as she dreamt. Her dreams were nothing but blurred memories that seemed even more smudged over now, as if she was looking down at her past through a dirty window. But barely felt or recognized the last few changes that happened to her body. She seemed to almost shrink and become smaller, though not by too much, she had probably just lost 4 or 5 inches of her height. And when she woke, she would realize that her sense of smell was now lost and her breathing seemed much lighter. After all, ghosts have little need for lungs, but since she was still human, she had a smaller pair. Her organs seemed to shrink or grow, which ever was needed until they fit her new body perfectly.
He crossed his arms as he turned back to her, looking down as her body seemed to be shifting as her organs changed. It was a gruesome sight to see, almost like something from the alien movies. He figured it was for the best; her body would be hard to function without shifting some, he figured.
Now she lay completely still, now sleeping and the transformation complete. There was just the pitter-patter noise of the rain outside as she rested. Even with only a few moments of sleep, apparently that was all she needed to wake back up again. She shifted again and opened her eyes. Instantly she regretted the move, her vision having become ultra-sensitive to light while she had slept. "Arg...." She growled softly as she rubbed them, and slowly adjusted to the light of the cavern. She managed to open them all the way after a few moments and sat up. "Good morning..." She greeted.
"Afternoon, actually," he replied, standing in the cavern doorway. "i'm not entirely sure, but it's somewhere around two or three." he said as he looked up into the clouds as they continued to rain. "The changes lasted all night; it seemed... they take longer than it feels."
She got up and walked over to where he stood. Well, floated was more like the word as she hovered a few inches off the ground when she was standing. "It's really bright out, even in all this rain..." She said in slight surprise, looking at the rain. Judging from her vision, it seemed like they were in full sun right now. She supposed that's just how it worked, Shuppet vision. She sighed softly. This was going to take some getting used to. "Are we still heading to Mauville?" She questioned, glancing over to him. That had been the reason they had infected themselves, but she wondered exactly how noticable would they be in Fortree or Mauville.
"yeah." he nodded, crossing his arms. "We should be able to pass through fortree and then continue on to mauville without many pokemon attacks now." he nodded again, putting a finger to his lips as he thought.
"Right..." She said as she leaned against the wall. At least she didn't move through solid objects, else, this would be hard. "I wonder just how much attention we'll attract through Fortree." She voiced her thoughts with a small smirk. She could just imagine her friend's face. Well, at least now she didn't need to borrow his Duskull.
"Considering how much the virus has been affecting everyone lately, they will probably just see it as two more passing pokemorphs." he sighed a little. "That should be good for our timing, i suppose," he then considered, putting a hand on his chin, then shrugged. "Either way, we'll just stop by Fortree and move along. If nothing stops us."
She nodded and lowered her eyes, just thinking about things, before the most random thought ever popped up in her head. 'I'm going to have to wear skirts from now on.' She thought and shuddered in disgust. How she loathed skirts, but she had little choice, judging by her ripped jeans. But then she brought her mind back on more important matters, such as that if nothing stops us he added to the end of his sentence. "Now that the pokemon won't bother to attack, I can't imagine that anyone would want to stop people looking for a cure." She said with a shake of her head. No, most just wanted this to be over and done with.
"Unless they're interested in some prey..." he said grimly, pacing in front of the cave opening. "There are some humans who go as far as to capture pokemorphs. While I haven't seen many of these cases... it's a possibility. Luckily we'll be able to defend ourselves at this point, though." he nodded a little. "Frankly I'd be more worried about the pokemon attacks then trainers."
She winced at the thought of being caught like that. She was a trainer herself, but how do you look at a human-pokemon hybrid and think you can capture them? "It might be a bit difficult if they decided to attack us with pokemon..." She said. She wasn't eager to find out what a Charizard's flamethrower felt like, thank you very much. Still he had mentioned that they're rare, so they were pretty safe, she felt. "You think we have any attacks ourselves?" She asked him now curious.
"While you were asleep I tried to access some." he nodded a little. "For one, most of our basic attacks, like tackle and scratch, would come naturally. That probably goes without saying. But some moves..." he put out his hands and closed his eyes, and a shadow ball began to form, before it disappeared again. "... Require some effort."
"Awsome." She grinned, watching him create the shadow ball. "Maybe being a pokemorph isn't such a bad thing." She said, still smiling. Of course, it had been very painful, but now that the pain was out of the way, it seemed that the only downside was the fact that she was now purple skinned and had to wear skirts. And the trainers, something in her head nagged her about that one, but she simply swept it away. She wasn't sure about trying out her own powers right now, maybe a bit later.
He nodded a little. "I'm sure there must be some downsides, though. We just haven't seen them yet." he sighed, then looked out of the cave again. "Think this rain would let up?" he asked.
Well, downsides would come later, as they always did, but she would enjoy it as best as she could now. "I think Fortree's not all that far away, we could make a run for it. That is, if you want to." She suggested, starting to get tired of this rain. They could simply dash for Fortree and then get dry afterwards, wherever they ended up.
He considered, and then shook his head a little. "Absol's a dog type pokemon, after all, if I go out there I'd start smelling like a wet dog before too long." he laughed, smiling some as he put one foot out of the entrance. "But, I could try..." he got down on all fours, his back legs slightly shorter than before so he could run.
She laughed. "No trouble for me, I can't smell now." She grinned and then decided to go forward and she headed out of the safe cavern and into the cold rain. She felt it more then she had when she was completely human, but she decided to ignore the small chill it caused. "Come on, I'll race ya there." She challenged with a mischievous grin as she waited to see if he would join her in the rain or if she had gotten wet for nothing.
He laughed a little, bounding out after her and landing on all fours, his hands acting as paws now. "You're on, then. First one to Fortree?" he asked, smiling a little. His smile showed several small pointed teeth.
"First one to Fortree." She confirmed with a nod and a smile, happy he had decided to get his fur wet. "Readysteadygo!" She said quickly before taking off as she flew forwards towards the direction of Fortree, grinning playfully as she knew she had just given herself a head start. Now to see how fast his reaction time was.
he laughed a little as he took off running, his head down towards the ground and his horn back so it reduced wind resistance. As he hunched his shoulders a bit to keep up speed, he seemed to warp forward a bit. Ignoring the dark shift he had just caused, he continued to run like that, occasionally warping forward a few places to catch up to her.
"Aw, come on, that's cheating!" She said, though the smile said that she was just teasing. She stuck her tongue out at him impishly and tried to fly through the winds faster, moving if she felt any particularly strong air current so she could travel with the least resistance.
"You're the one who's floating," he called as he had to run into some tall grass, continuing on his route up in the direction of Fortree. His fur was matted and he was drenched, but he would shake it off later. As he ran, he remembered that he had left his pants back in the cave, which would probably make for an awkward moment when they got to town. He figured he would find something else to use as pants, and continued his route.
She looked down at him. "Well nya!" She retorted, whatever nya meant. Then she noticed that her jacket was no longer around his waist where she had put it while he was passed out. "He's going down." She said to herself. That had been her favorite jacket! She pushed herself to the limit, now moving faster against the wind and spotted Fortree up ahead, now wanting to beat him just for a little revenge for losing her jacket.
As he continued running, a Tropius suddenly stomped past him, directly in his path. he gave a small "gurk!" as he jumped, landing on all fours on the tropius' back for a split second, before he pushed off. In mid air he faded out, and then appeared some feet away as he broke into a run to the entrance to Fortree, skidding around the corner and dashing over the bridge. The gateway was just in sight...
Kat paused as she watched him jump. That was awesome, for lack of better words. She watched him run for a minute before shaking her head. Idiot, she was going to loose the race! She sped up again until she was floating just a few inches behind him. Almost there...
He came skidding around a second corner, and then all of a sudden he had crashed into... nothing. He blinked, looking around, then growled as a Kecleon appeared on the ground nearby, which he had apparently just rammed into. He jumped over the Kecleon in a hurry, dashing along faster than before to make up lost time.
She looked back and grinned, not believing her luck until she looked forward again. "Wagh!" She cried out before she ran smack into a tree and fell. Fortree, Fortree. Well, that had given him more then enough time to beat her. She got up and shook her head back and forth to clear the small pain that was running through it, not realizing in her panic she had turned invisible, so was now just a floating shirt and jeans. She walked up beside Mike and laughed. "Guess you win then." She admitted defeat.
He blinked as she floated next to him, but he hadn't stopped yet. He had built up a lot of speed, and as he tried to stop he slipped over himself and fell into the dir. he tried to get up, but his horn had gotten stuck in it. "Help me!" he blinked, trying to tug his head out.
She just smiled, even though she had just run into a tree earlier. "Hold on, I'll help." She said, subconsciously fading back into view as she walked over to him and leaned down. "Tell me if I'm hurting you alright?" She told him, not wishing to harm him, but not sure if the horn had nerves in it or not. She reached down and took hold of it before pulling as hard as she could to get his horn out of the ground.
He gave a small 'gurk', then the horn popped out of the dirt below. He rubbed it as if it was wounded, but it was fine. "Thanks for the help," he laughed a little.
She grinned. "No problem, though perhaps I shoulda left you since you won." She joked as she stuck out her tongue playfully before giving a small laugh as well. "Shall we head inside?" She asked, since it was still raining on them, though now it seemed a little lighter.
"Fair enough," he grumbled a little, getting on all fours again and walking into the town. Not many people were out because of the rain, and lots of puddles were forming around the area. The lights to the pokemon center were on, however, but nothing else seemed to be open.
The sound of his gasping only barely reached her mind and right now, and she didn't particularly care. She hated seeming pathetically weak, but what could she do when all the pain was inside her? She was curled into a small ball, the purple spreading over her skin and seemingly getting bigger so that all of her skin would be that shade, but it seemed to take forever. Small parts of her body began to fade, then reappear, disappear and reappear again as her mind tried to hold onto something, anything. Like the rock in front of her. She focused on that rock until the pain ebbed a little, then returned again as small claws started to grow to replace her fingernails and toe nails and her teeth became thinner and sharper.
He went to her side, looking at her carefully. She was unstable, he noticed, as some parts of her faded in and out. He would have reached out, but he stopped himself, knowing she might not want to interact at this stage. He sat in front of her, a look of worry on his now furry face as he watched her, letting her knew he was there for her.
She had her eyes closed but seemed to sense his presence, her shuddering calming a bit as the pain in her veins faded as her skin became completely purple. Her hair lengthened a little, going from her chestnut brown to a midnight black color. Suddenly she felt two new pains, one in her head and one in her legs. There was a slight ripping noise as the middle part of her jeans were ripped to reveal something similar to a skirt, but is seemed to be an actual part of her skin, like the way Shuppets just billow out. However, she still kept her feet. Then the pain in her head came from a sprouting horn just a few inches above her forehead.
He bit his lip a bit as the additions formed, knowing that it would be wrapping up soon. Her transformation wasn't as drastic, but she would take it hard. Now it was only a matter of time for her mind to adapt to the changes, he knew. There was just one last change. Around her eyes was darkened shadow, either because her eyes had moved deeper or simply they were the markings of a Shuppet. She finally opened her eyes to reveal that they had changed as well. A dark blue iris, but where the pupil would have been black for a normal human, her pupils were gold. She could just make out Mike's red eyes and white fur as she struggled to stay awake.
He grabbed her arm as she seemed to sway, recognizing the tired stage of the transformation, as she began to crash. "Kat?" he asked, wanting her to stay awake. She slowly blinked, trying to force herself to focus. "....Ow...." was all she managed to mutter in repose, trying to sit up, but found it difficult so she simply laid on the ground.
"Once we fix this virus, remind me to kill that Absol." She muttered.
He gave a nervous laugh, sighing slightly. "You should rest," he told her cautiously, more concerned for her than him. No argument there. "Thanks." She thanked him for letting her rest with a small smile before her eyes closed and she fell asleep and the small changes to her senses began to take place while she was out.
He sighed a little, looking down at her as she rested, before standing up to look at himself. He looked his hands over, and then ran them through his fur and over his tail as if seeing if they were real. He was a bit sensitive, but he would recover.
She shifted slightly in her sleep and mumbled something as she dreamt. Her dreams were nothing but blurred memories that seemed even more smudged over now, as if she was looking down at her past through a dirty window. But barely felt or recognized the last few changes that happened to her body. She seemed to almost shrink and become smaller, though not by too much, she had probably just lost 4 or 5 inches of her height. And when she woke, she would realize that her sense of smell was now lost and her breathing seemed much lighter. After all, ghosts have little need for lungs, but since she was still human, she had a smaller pair. Her organs seemed to shrink or grow, which ever was needed until they fit her new body perfectly.
He crossed his arms as he turned back to her, looking down as her body seemed to be shifting as her organs changed. It was a gruesome sight to see, almost like something from the alien movies. He figured it was for the best; her body would be hard to function without shifting some, he figured.
Now she lay completely still, now sleeping and the transformation complete. There was just the pitter-patter noise of the rain outside as she rested. Even with only a few moments of sleep, apparently that was all she needed to wake back up again. She shifted again and opened her eyes. Instantly she regretted the move, her vision having become ultra-sensitive to light while she had slept. "Arg...." She growled softly as she rubbed them, and slowly adjusted to the light of the cavern. She managed to open them all the way after a few moments and sat up. "Good morning..." She greeted.
"Afternoon, actually," he replied, standing in the cavern doorway. "i'm not entirely sure, but it's somewhere around two or three." he said as he looked up into the clouds as they continued to rain. "The changes lasted all night; it seemed... they take longer than it feels."
She got up and walked over to where he stood. Well, floated was more like the word as she hovered a few inches off the ground when she was standing. "It's really bright out, even in all this rain..." She said in slight surprise, looking at the rain. Judging from her vision, it seemed like they were in full sun right now. She supposed that's just how it worked, Shuppet vision. She sighed softly. This was going to take some getting used to. "Are we still heading to Mauville?" She questioned, glancing over to him. That had been the reason they had infected themselves, but she wondered exactly how noticable would they be in Fortree or Mauville.
"yeah." he nodded, crossing his arms. "We should be able to pass through fortree and then continue on to mauville without many pokemon attacks now." he nodded again, putting a finger to his lips as he thought.
"Right..." She said as she leaned against the wall. At least she didn't move through solid objects, else, this would be hard. "I wonder just how much attention we'll attract through Fortree." She voiced her thoughts with a small smirk. She could just imagine her friend's face. Well, at least now she didn't need to borrow his Duskull.
"Considering how much the virus has been affecting everyone lately, they will probably just see it as two more passing pokemorphs." he sighed a little. "That should be good for our timing, i suppose," he then considered, putting a hand on his chin, then shrugged. "Either way, we'll just stop by Fortree and move along. If nothing stops us."
She nodded and lowered her eyes, just thinking about things, before the most random thought ever popped up in her head. 'I'm going to have to wear skirts from now on.' She thought and shuddered in disgust. How she loathed skirts, but she had little choice, judging by her ripped jeans. But then she brought her mind back on more important matters, such as that if nothing stops us he added to the end of his sentence. "Now that the pokemon won't bother to attack, I can't imagine that anyone would want to stop people looking for a cure." She said with a shake of her head. No, most just wanted this to be over and done with.
"Unless they're interested in some prey..." he said grimly, pacing in front of the cave opening. "There are some humans who go as far as to capture pokemorphs. While I haven't seen many of these cases... it's a possibility. Luckily we'll be able to defend ourselves at this point, though." he nodded a little. "Frankly I'd be more worried about the pokemon attacks then trainers."
She winced at the thought of being caught like that. She was a trainer herself, but how do you look at a human-pokemon hybrid and think you can capture them? "It might be a bit difficult if they decided to attack us with pokemon..." She said. She wasn't eager to find out what a Charizard's flamethrower felt like, thank you very much. Still he had mentioned that they're rare, so they were pretty safe, she felt. "You think we have any attacks ourselves?" She asked him now curious.
"While you were asleep I tried to access some." he nodded a little. "For one, most of our basic attacks, like tackle and scratch, would come naturally. That probably goes without saying. But some moves..." he put out his hands and closed his eyes, and a shadow ball began to form, before it disappeared again. "... Require some effort."
"Awsome." She grinned, watching him create the shadow ball. "Maybe being a pokemorph isn't such a bad thing." She said, still smiling. Of course, it had been very painful, but now that the pain was out of the way, it seemed that the only downside was the fact that she was now purple skinned and had to wear skirts. And the trainers, something in her head nagged her about that one, but she simply swept it away. She wasn't sure about trying out her own powers right now, maybe a bit later.
He nodded a little. "I'm sure there must be some downsides, though. We just haven't seen them yet." he sighed, then looked out of the cave again. "Think this rain would let up?" he asked.
Well, downsides would come later, as they always did, but she would enjoy it as best as she could now. "I think Fortree's not all that far away, we could make a run for it. That is, if you want to." She suggested, starting to get tired of this rain. They could simply dash for Fortree and then get dry afterwards, wherever they ended up.
He considered, and then shook his head a little. "Absol's a dog type pokemon, after all, if I go out there I'd start smelling like a wet dog before too long." he laughed, smiling some as he put one foot out of the entrance. "But, I could try..." he got down on all fours, his back legs slightly shorter than before so he could run.
She laughed. "No trouble for me, I can't smell now." She grinned and then decided to go forward and she headed out of the safe cavern and into the cold rain. She felt it more then she had when she was completely human, but she decided to ignore the small chill it caused. "Come on, I'll race ya there." She challenged with a mischievous grin as she waited to see if he would join her in the rain or if she had gotten wet for nothing.
He laughed a little, bounding out after her and landing on all fours, his hands acting as paws now. "You're on, then. First one to Fortree?" he asked, smiling a little. His smile showed several small pointed teeth.
"First one to Fortree." She confirmed with a nod and a smile, happy he had decided to get his fur wet. "Readysteadygo!" She said quickly before taking off as she flew forwards towards the direction of Fortree, grinning playfully as she knew she had just given herself a head start. Now to see how fast his reaction time was.
he laughed a little as he took off running, his head down towards the ground and his horn back so it reduced wind resistance. As he hunched his shoulders a bit to keep up speed, he seemed to warp forward a bit. Ignoring the dark shift he had just caused, he continued to run like that, occasionally warping forward a few places to catch up to her.
"Aw, come on, that's cheating!" She said, though the smile said that she was just teasing. She stuck her tongue out at him impishly and tried to fly through the winds faster, moving if she felt any particularly strong air current so she could travel with the least resistance.
"You're the one who's floating," he called as he had to run into some tall grass, continuing on his route up in the direction of Fortree. His fur was matted and he was drenched, but he would shake it off later. As he ran, he remembered that he had left his pants back in the cave, which would probably make for an awkward moment when they got to town. He figured he would find something else to use as pants, and continued his route.
She looked down at him. "Well nya!" She retorted, whatever nya meant. Then she noticed that her jacket was no longer around his waist where she had put it while he was passed out. "He's going down." She said to herself. That had been her favorite jacket! She pushed herself to the limit, now moving faster against the wind and spotted Fortree up ahead, now wanting to beat him just for a little revenge for losing her jacket.
As he continued running, a Tropius suddenly stomped past him, directly in his path. he gave a small "gurk!" as he jumped, landing on all fours on the tropius' back for a split second, before he pushed off. In mid air he faded out, and then appeared some feet away as he broke into a run to the entrance to Fortree, skidding around the corner and dashing over the bridge. The gateway was just in sight...
Kat paused as she watched him jump. That was awesome, for lack of better words. She watched him run for a minute before shaking her head. Idiot, she was going to loose the race! She sped up again until she was floating just a few inches behind him. Almost there...
He came skidding around a second corner, and then all of a sudden he had crashed into... nothing. He blinked, looking around, then growled as a Kecleon appeared on the ground nearby, which he had apparently just rammed into. He jumped over the Kecleon in a hurry, dashing along faster than before to make up lost time.
She looked back and grinned, not believing her luck until she looked forward again. "Wagh!" She cried out before she ran smack into a tree and fell. Fortree, Fortree. Well, that had given him more then enough time to beat her. She got up and shook her head back and forth to clear the small pain that was running through it, not realizing in her panic she had turned invisible, so was now just a floating shirt and jeans. She walked up beside Mike and laughed. "Guess you win then." She admitted defeat.
He blinked as she floated next to him, but he hadn't stopped yet. He had built up a lot of speed, and as he tried to stop he slipped over himself and fell into the dir. he tried to get up, but his horn had gotten stuck in it. "Help me!" he blinked, trying to tug his head out.
She just smiled, even though she had just run into a tree earlier. "Hold on, I'll help." She said, subconsciously fading back into view as she walked over to him and leaned down. "Tell me if I'm hurting you alright?" She told him, not wishing to harm him, but not sure if the horn had nerves in it or not. She reached down and took hold of it before pulling as hard as she could to get his horn out of the ground.
He gave a small 'gurk', then the horn popped out of the dirt below. He rubbed it as if it was wounded, but it was fine. "Thanks for the help," he laughed a little.
She grinned. "No problem, though perhaps I shoulda left you since you won." She joked as she stuck out her tongue playfully before giving a small laugh as well. "Shall we head inside?" She asked, since it was still raining on them, though now it seemed a little lighter.
"Fair enough," he grumbled a little, getting on all fours again and walking into the town. Not many people were out because of the rain, and lots of puddles were forming around the area. The lights to the pokemon center were on, however, but nothing else seemed to be open.