“It’s not possible. Why are we even considering this?” Adam said, stalking back and forth while Wes stood awkwardly in the center of the room.
Anna hesitated, glancing between Wes and his brother. “Let’s look at this logically.” She said.
“How is there any logic here?” Adam yelled.
“We know without a doubt from our tests that this is Rastigan.”
“Yes. Rastigan.” Adam stressed the name.
“Does Rastigan know how to read and write?” Anna asked, her voice calm.
“Not that I remember. Unless Wes taught him.”
“If Wes did, would Ras play this sort of prank on you?”
“I don’t know! I didn’t think so.”
Anna crossed her arms. “You found him cold and injured on the shore next to a Maetherics research vessel.”
“Anna! Why are you so quick to believe this? It’s not possible! The only pokemon we know able to transform are mew and ditto, and even the mythical pokemon can’t fool a DNA test! It has never been documented as possible in humans.”
“Sol!”
“It might be possible.” Anna whispered into the silence that followed Wes’s outburst. “Twenty years ago a paper written by a certain well known researcher was taken down and censored by the League before it was ever published. I’m sure you’ve heard of Bill.”
“The Bill? The pioneer of the Pokemon Transfer System?” Adam crossed his arms. “If this paper of his was never published, how do you know about it?”
“Because twenty years ago I went to his keynote lecture at Pinab University while I was a student there.” She paused and gave Adam a hard look. “That was the day before he disappeared.”
An idea popped into Wes’s mind. “Sol!” He said to grab their attention, and began etching another word into the floor.
PSYCHIC
“A trusted psychic type would be able to see the truth.” Anna agreed, and Adam nodded. “I can call a favor of a friend. I would be hesitant to trust the League if they have a hand in this.”
Both Adam and Wes stared at Anna. One did not casually act against the interests of the league. Why was she so quick to say that?
At that moment, Wes spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to the window overlooking the roiling waters of the bay and the sheets of rain still pounding down on Denville. The flat, wing-like shape of a large mantine skipped over the top of the waves. A rider dressed in goggles and a back wetsuit knelt on its back, a bright headlamp strapped to his forehead. The rider scanned the dark waters and the shore, their eyes slipping past the observatory.
Wes tensed and took a nervous step out of sight of the window.
“That’s odd.” Adam murmured, glancing out the window at the rider.
The bell rang out from the front of the observatory as someone entered the lobby. Anna, Wes, and Adam shared a look.
Someone knocked on the locked door leading to the research labs. Adam frowned and hurried out of the lab.
In a flash of realization and building panic, Wes’s eyes scanned the laboratory for a place to hide. There was nothing large enough to conceal a fully grown absol.
“We would like to know if you’ve seen your brother’s absol around today.” A gruff-sounding man’s voice filtered in from down the hall.
“Rastigan? I never reported him missing.” Adam answered.
“The absol may be connected with your brother’s case. Have you seen him today?”
A long pause followed the question. Too long.
“I haven’t seen him.” Adam said.
Footsteps drew nearer.
Wes’s eyes settled upon Rastigan’s pokeball where it sat on the counter beside the basin. He darted over, grabbing the object in his teeth before setting it on the floor beside Anna and pressing the button with his nose. Light flashed and his worldly senses faded into the strange drifting suspension of the pokeball.
“What are you-” Adam began only for the gruff voice to cut him off.
“I am examining these facilities on behalf of the investigation.”
Anna’s foot shifted sideways, kicking Wes’s pokeball beneath the nearby counter where it rolled to a stop out of sight against the wall. Moments later the footsteps entered the lab. They stopped near the center of the room.
“Officer Perry.” Anna said. “What brings you here?”
“Looking for an absol.” The officer grunted. “Part of the Weston case. Have you seen one?”
“Not since Rastigan came by a couple days ago.” Anna lied in a smooth voice.
“Mind if I take a look around?”
“By all means.”
“Hmph.” The officer grunted again without moving. “You’re aware of the repercussions of interfering with an investigation.”
“Have I done so?” She asked. “There’s nothing we wouldn’t do to help find Wes.”
“Fine. Let me know if you find anything.”
Footsteps stormed out of the room and back down the hall. A distant door slammed shut. Bells could be heard from the front of the observatory. Wes heard Adam sit down hard on a nearby chair.
“Shit.” He murmured.
“Adam.” Anna began in a soothing tone. “The officer and others will likely be back. Why don’t you bring Ras, or Wes, home and get some rest? I’ll try to scrub the data I updated in Ras’s profile and then give my friends a call to get this figured out.”
“And if Perry comes looking at my house?” Adam asked
“They won’t be able to break in without an official warrant. Keep Ras’s pokeball close by. You’ll be fine.”
“Alright.” Adam said.
##########
Adam leaned into the storm as the winds pushed him up the gentle hill to their home on the Western edge of Denville. The shops and warehouses near the ocean gave way to a small community that speckled the hillside. Wes’s brother continued along a side street and turned down the driveway to a single story home set back against the forest.
The front door slammed shut behind Adam who breathed a sigh of relief. He removed his jacket, pulling Wes’s ball out of the pocket to set it down on the welcome mat.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Wes pushed against his prison. In a flash of light he found himself standing upon the tile floor, gazing across the house from a very different perspective. The house felt different now that he saw it from all fours - as if he didn’t belong here. Everything in here was designed for creatures not like himself.
Wes heard a muffled thump on the wood floor, and looked over to see a blue small blue froakie hop into view, a healthy collar of white bubbles about its neck.
“Hi Ben.” Adam waved at the froakie. “I should have brought you with me this morning, it’s been a day.”
“Roak. Froak.”
“Sol.” Wes began to say only to blink in realization that he somehow understood the froakie’s ‘words’. The small blue pokemon tilted its head at him.
Ben said before turning around and hopping away into the kitchen.
Shadow? Wes blinked in confusion at the froakie.
“Sheesh, only 4:30.” Adam grumbled behind him. He stepped around Wes and into the kitchen. “Wes, Ras, whoever you are. I’m just going to give you some of Ras’s normal food. Anna said you should eat and you may as well take care of yourself until we figure this out.”
Wes eyed the bag of dried kibble Adam pulled out from under the sink with no small amount of trepidation.
##########
Ten minutes later a very full absol stumbled out of the kitchen and into the living room where Adam sat on the couch with a bowl of instant noodles beside him. Wes contemplated curling up on the floor where Rastigan once did, but decided against it. He wasn’t a pet. He walked over and hopped onto the couch beside Adam.
“Hey! Watch that thing.” Adam protested, pushing Wes’s sharp tail away from his side. “You’re not supposed to be on the couch!”
Wes growled in response, wiggling sideways so the horn-free side of his head rested on the padded armrest. Adam sighed, his fingers idly scratching the fur around Wes’s rump. He stopped suddenly, seeming to realize what he was doing.
“I think I might be going insane.” Adam groaned. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this. I’m just glad you are alive Ras… Wes. I- This isn’t what I wanted.”
You and me both. Wes thought. Reality hadn’t quite seemed to hit him yet, or maybe he was just too tired to care.
With a sigh, Adam grabbed the TV remote and the television flickered into life, landing the League news channel.
“Elite four and council member Erica Tidefall officially announced the opening date for the new IRI battle arena and research institute today in Renster city.” A reporter in a suit droned on from behind a desk, an image of a large domed structure on the greenscreen behind him. “The state of the art facility is opening after five years of construction and experts say it may just be the crowning achievement of the Innovative Research Initiative. An inaugural league tournament is slated to take place for the White, Green, and Blue trainer divisions this September, October, and November.”
The image changed to footage of a middle-age woman wearing a black one-piece swimsuit while an intimidating-looking marshtomp stood beside her. She was speaking to a crowd of hundreds, if not thousands of people pressed up against the stage like some sort of rock concert.
“These funding initiatives only support sexy research.” Adam grumbled. “Ana and I never saw a penny of it. How is taxonomy not relevant? Everyone defaults to egg groups or typing, but regional variants show that we need a much more rigorous system for biological classification.”
Adam pressed the remote again and the screen flickered to the League Battle Network where three commentators sat behind a horseshoe-shaped desk discussing the day’s highlights.
“Our first contender in the Junior League Challenge, John Ritzo, reached the elite four today.” one of the men was saying. “We’ll be following up with him and the rest of this year’s contestants on the J-League block throughout the rest of the week, so be sure to tune in.” Wes’s eyelids drooped. His own dream Junior League ended before it began, but was nearly seven years ago. It didn’t hurt so much anymore.
“Moving on to our main feature, the top 8 contestants of the Blue Ascension tournament, sponsored by New Age Technologies, are getting ready to walk out onto the battlefield! Which of these trainers will be granted the honor and prestige of the purple ribbon? Let’s take a look at the action-packed bracket! John and Lynne, take it away!”
The camera panned to a massive stadium that seated nearly 80,000 people. Two trainers dressed in colorful battle uniforms shook hands in the center of a dirt pitch before taking the long walk back to their sides of the field.
“Thank you Evan!” A female voice said. “Our contestants are Avery Frankson and Corren Larr, two rising stars who reached the top 8 in their first professional season. This is going to be a blazing matchup!”
“Right you are, Lynn. This battle will blaze in more ways than one! Avery here is known for her incredible Arcanine who is said to give even water types a run for their money. Let’s see what our contestants bring to the battle in the blind pick!”
Corren threw a ball and a Gengar appeared on his side of the field, while a butterfree fluttered on the side of Avery. The picture narrowed and an overlay of the pokemon’s tournament battle statistics appeared under a picture of each pokemon on the edges of the screens.
“Well John, a butterfree from Avery is certainly unexpected! While butterfree are heavy hitters in the White and Green brackets, they have a history of strugging on the professional stage!”
“...It’s an interesting blind pick nonetheless and Avery certainly hasn’t skimped on the training. Does she have a plan? Let’s find ooooouuuuut!”
Wes’s eyes slid shut and he drifted into the bliss of sleep.
##########
Wes awoke to the soft caress of morning sunlight drifting in through the window. He opened his eyes to find himself still lying draped across the sofa. The TV was off and Adam bustled around in the kitchen nearby. The world looked different, sharper almost, than it had the day before.The smell of frying eggs wafted in from the kitchen and a thousand other strange scents met his nose. The events of the day before swam about his mind like a far-away dream.
Something resembling a purr rumbled in Wes’s throat as he slid off the couch and stretched with a toothy yawn. He froze at the strange movement, twisting his head to glance back at his white-furred hide..
Not a dream.
For some reason his body felt less foriegn than the day before. His senses were crisp, his once-exhausted limbs full of power, and every appendage appeared where his brain expected it to be. Were it not for his memories and the deep-seated knowledge that he was supposed to be human, he might have thought nothing was wrong.
“Morning!” Adam said with forced enthusiasm as Wes trotted into the kitchen. Adam stood beside the front door where he laced up still-damp running shoes. Dark bags hung beneath his eyes. “Your breakfast is in its usual spot, though I have to head into the lab. I’m going to talk with Anna a bit more about plans for the future and what to do about... You know...” He waved his hand in Wes’s general direction. “what to do about this.”
“You should probably stay here. I doubt the league will force their way into the house.” Adam continued.
“No you can’t come with me.” He guessed. “Someone will probably come by the lab today and you shouldn’t be seen. Just keep the blinds shut.”
Adam turned and slipped out the door, shutting it behind him. He looked eager to leave. Nervous almost.
He doesn’t believe me. A small voice spoke in the back of his mind. Yet logic told him that couldn’t be it. Adam wouldn’t have lied to an officer if that was the case. Or maybe that in itself was the problem.
Wes turned back into the kitchen where Ben munched on his breakfast from a small bowl on the floor. Beside it was Rastigan’s metal bowl filled with dried kibble. Luke-warm water had been poured over top of it, softening the pellets and forming a sort of gravy that smelled strongly of artificial smoke and meat flavoring.
I’m sorry for making you eat this Ras.
Wes shook his head at the sight and turned away, trotting out of the kitchen and down the short hall towards his old bedroom. He paused at a standing mirror leaning against the corner of the wall.
It was his mother’s mirror once. Built of polished wood and angled to catch the full reflection of a human standing before it, the object was one of the few pieces Adam opted to keep throughout the years. Yet it was not the mirror itself that drew Wes’s attention, but the absol reflected within.
The absol’s was thinner than Wes remembered. A muzzle of shorter dark fur was framed by long white. A sickle-like horn curved up from the right side of its head while two red eyes gazed into Wes’s own. Wes recognized the absol that stared back at him without a glimmer of a doubt. He’d seen it countless times before worn by his friend and partner. But now…
This is me.
This reflection… The red eyes, the soft white fur, the horn, the claws, all of it was once owned by Rastigan. No longer.
Wes turned away from the mirror and nudged open the door to his room. Inside, an immaculately made twin bed sat against the far corner of a small room beneath a window covered by drawn blinds. A cheap laptop lay closed atop a simple wooden desk pushed against the wall opposite the bed. The rest of the surface was claimed by a scattering of half-finished school work and a few small picture frames of Wes’s mother and father.
Beside the desk, dozens of books on pokemon, training, and battling filled the shelves of a short bookcase. Many dated back to the years leading up to his receiving Rastigan from his parents, while a few more he’d purchased from what money he managed to scrounge together from schoolyard battles. Over the past seven years Wes read and reread those books, memorizing nearly every move known to humans and the abilities, strengths, and weaknesses of nearly every pokemon used in competition. One might have called Wes obsessed, but he was determined to take every advantage he could before graduating high school. What he lacked in experience from missing the Junior Leagues, he would make up in knowledge alone.
Ever since Adam landed the observatory job and managed to scrounge up enough money for Wes’s computer, he spent many long hours pouring over battle strategies and tournament clips of fights he had authorization to access online. Seven years of setbacks following the death of his parents only fanned the flames of his ambition. He would stand atop the world with Rastigan at his side. There were no ‘ifs’ or ‘maybes’ or dreams. There was simply the resolution that he and Rastigan would make it there.
Together.
Posters of Wes’s ‘dream’ team covered the walls of the room, each depicting tried and true pokemon from the League champions and the teams of other legendary figures. There was a tall silver-haired man in a sharp suit posed next to a monstrous salamence beneath the caption ‘Daniel Storm, Protector of Kasper’. Another showed an Alakazam alone on a pink background, the ace of the third elite four member Mariah Khen. Beside that was a toxapex, and others, each chosen to flesh out a team capable of challenging the very best.
Rastigan had stood alone as a pokemon considered too weak for the truely competitive scene, but Wes hadn’t cared. Not all common wisdom was grounded in truth, and Wes had a plan to show the world the true potential of absol.
A plan that no longer mattered.
Between the desk and the bed lay Rastigan’s pillow. Dark blue and woven of durable cloth, stray white hairs covered its surface. Ras’s scent lingered over everything, and mingled with that of a human boy.
Wes walked over to Ras’s bed and slumped down. He breathed in Rastigan’s deep, comforting scent and closed his eyes.
A distant bell rang out . The first bell of classes, Wes realized. Spring finals would be upon the students soon. Wes’s few friends would be standing beside the lockers in the hall, split between stressing and gossiping over the most recent tournament. Perhaps they would be wondering if Wes would ever be found. Perhaps they had already begun to mourn. Either way life moved on.
And he was stuck waiting.
And waiting.
Waiting for Adam and Anna to solve his problems.
He was just a kid trapped in the body of a pokemon. What could he hope to accomplish that Adam and Anna couldn’t? They were the smartest people he knew. What else was there to do but wait?
And if Adam decides he doesn’t believe you? The errant thought brushed against Wes’s mind. His mind lingered on his encounter with Adam just before his brother left. Doubt wormed its way into his thoughts
Adam and Anna were smart, yes, brilliant even, but what could they do? Any action taken to remedy the situation would have to be done under the vigilant eyes of the league. Should they find a psychic type with telepathy and confirm Wes’s identity, they would still need to find redacted research notes, get their hands on teleportation equipment that wasn’t supposed to exist, and possibly even find a researcher who’d been missing for nearly twenty years. They would then need to reproduce an experiment that lay outside their field of study entirely. A single slip up through this entire process would cost Anna and Adam more than just their jobs.
The League held no mercy for those who broke the rules. He couldn’t rely on his brother to risk his life and his future. Wes could only rely on himself.
Wes stood and began to pace the bedroom, the fuzziness pervading his thoughts clicking into place with sudden clarity. He held one singular goal in his mind:
Regain his humanity.
To accomplish this goal he needed to find the missing researcher, should he still live, and then convince him to recreate the twenty-year-old experiment.
First, however, Wes needed to come to grips with the fact that he was a pokemon, and that he would likely be stuck this way for a long while. Not only that, he needed to remember that he was a pokemon in a human’s world: A creature without rights; a creature with limited means of communication; a creature who needed to rely on his own self, his own unique strengths, and his own ingenuity to survive. That journey started right here, right now.
Wes turned to face his room’s open door and marched through it with new determination.
He wouldn’t leave Denville yet. If he was going to figure this out through his own strength, there was something he needed to do first.
If he was to live as a pokemon, he needed to learn to fight like one.