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Description
"Jeez kid," an old man hollered at me as I ran past him, "Slow down!"

But I wouldn't slow down, I couldn't. Today was a special day. Today was the day before my sixteenth birthday. And that meant only one thing.

"MY PRESENT!" I yelled as I got to my front door. On it was a note in my mom's handwriting.

Richie,

Good luck. You'll never find it ; )

Mom

So she was challenging me now? Well I would find that present if it was the last thing I did on this earth. I threw the door open and ran inside, not bothering to close the door behind me. I flipped couches, trashed closets, moved the fridge, looked in the washing machine and dryer, and even checked through my mom's underwear drawer (something only to be done on this most important of days and never, ever, again). I looked in the medicine cabinets in both the bathrooms and checked the dishwasher and dish cabinets.

She was a sneaky woman all right. By the time she called the house I was out of breath and laying on the floor. Needless to say she knew what I'd been up to and decided to take the present with her when she had left earlier that day.

She chuckled as she saw heard my ragged breathing and tired tone, "You'll never learn will you?"

I groaned, hung up, then half crawled, half dragged myself to bed. Tomorrow was another day. The best day I've yet to live.

Tomorrow is going to be unforgettable, I thought to myself as I drifted lazily to sleep.

Little did I know how true that was.

---

"How are things looking?" a dark figure inquired to a young Politoad.

The Politoad shivered as he was addressed, "Things are looking quite promising sir," he said, trembling, "If all goes well, we will have the Atlantean base within the year."

"Good," the figure said, content. "Go now. And don't return unless something interrupts my plans with the Atlantean base."

"Of course sir," the Politoad bowed, shivering, and left the small dark room of his master.

The figure waited until the door that the Politoad exited through closed completely, then he pressed a button on the armrest of the chair he was sitting on. A small screen appeared in front of him and lit up with the image of a small plateau near an ocean.

"Soon very soon, my old friends," he chuckled, "You will feel my wrath."

---

I woke with a start, searing pain coursing through my veins. It was if my blood was on fire and my nerve endings were set to blow. I didn't know where it was coming from and I didn't know why it started, I just wanted it to end.

I tried to scream but found I couldn't. Or maybe I was but I just didn't register the sound. I thrashed around in my bed, my sheets falling to the floor revealing my half naked body. I looked down and saw a patch of sea blue fur start to grow from my belly up. It didn't look like it should hurt, but gods, it did! And it was spreading all around my chest and to my back. When the fur reached my back, the pain stopped, and I lay in my bed, exhausted and scared.

I felt my bare chest, the strange fur poking my fingertips but the sensation wasn't an uncomfortable one. I checked under my pajama pants and saw that the fur stopped at my waistline. I felt around my back and noticed that the fur didn't wrap around me entirely. There was a good four or five inches of skin, my skin, that stretched from my neck to my waist.

I jumped out of bed and ran to my bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. What I saw surprised me.

My upper body was covered with sea blue fur that stopped at my neck and shoulders. I twisted around to look at my back and saw the gap of skin between all the fur. I was too shocked to speak or move. I didn't know what to do. My body was doing something I knew wasn't part of puberty. So what was it?

I walked back to my room and threw myself on my bed, wondering what to do. My parents were away for the weekend, so I couldn't tell them. Not that I wanted to. The conversation would go from them not believing me, and then taking me to some hardcore research facility after I showed them to find out what was wrong with me.

I couldn't call the cops. I mean what was I going to say? I called because I have blue fur growing all over my body and it hurt? The same thing would happen as if I'd told my parents.

No, the only thing to do would be to wait and hope it went away. Otherwise… well I didn't really want to think about it.

---

The next morning I checked myself to see if the fur had gone. It hadn't. And what was worse, I had an extreme headache. Well, at least no new fur had appeared. I went to the kitchen to make myself some cereal when I heard a knock on the door.

Still conscious of my new, hairy problem, I threw on a shirt and walked to the door.

I was no more than five feet away when it burst open, splintered wood littering the floor.

"Hey!" I yelled, jumping back with a snarl on my face.

A man, about 5'10", maybe a hundred seventy pounds, broad-shouldered and dressed for a funeral, sniffed the air as if he were a dog. He looked directly at me and smiled.

"Why hello there young Pokéuman," he laughed evilly.

"Poke-whaaa?" I queried, confused.

Unfortunately for me, the man took advantage of my confusion and leapt at me, his arm outstretched, with what looked to be a perfume bottle in hand. I did the only thing I thought I could do. I balled my right hand to a fist and swung.

My fist connected with his face just before his finger pushed down on the nozzle of the bottle and I stepped to the side. The man fell to the ground and I just missed getting sprayed in the face by whatever it was he tried to get me with. I sniffed tentatively at the area that the mist settled into and immediately felt dizzy and tired.

I swung my head back before I fell to the ground. Whatever it was, it was strong. I looked to the man on the floor and wondered where he had come from and what he wanted. He shifted on the ground and I froze, unsure if whether I should run or call the cops. He shifted again and I realized I probably didn't have time to choose, so I grabbed the cordless house phone, slipped my shoes on, and ran outside dialing 9-1-1.

I barely hit the pavement outside before another man, almost identical to the one who had just attacked me, grabbed me in a bear hug. I opened my mouth to scream but the man slipped a damp cloth over my face and I blacked out.

---

Flashes of light and sound woke me from time to time.

Rumbling and bumping in a big metal box that reminded me of the inside of an armored truck. My arms and legs in chains and a muzzle over my mouth.

Big hands with an iron grip dragging me out into the night towards a huge building.

Bright lights and cold tables as a man in a white coat hovered over me muttering things like "Pokéuman" and "Atlantean base".

Feeling despair in a dark cell, wondering how long I had been there and why I was there.

Pain woke me from time to time.

At first, it was more fur growing on my body. Then I noticed I was shrinking and my head became a large oval. My wavy brown hair disappeared to be replaced with a blue spike of hair and more fur and my ears migrated from the sides of my head to the top. I felt whiskers growing on my cheeks, and my legs thickened and shortened. Below my waist the fur grew longer and darker, more like a navy blue skirt instead of the sea blue on the rest of my body. My hands shrunk and black fur grew over my fingers after both my ring and middle fingers merged on each hand. My toes fused together and became flatter while my feet sprouted more black fur around the ankles.

And if that weren't disturbing enough, two shells appeared above my knees, one on each leg. I don't know how they grew there, but when I touched one it felt like a fingernail, only a little harder and less flexible. What really creeped me out was when I found I could take them off and hold them and put them back as easily as I took them off. I found that the outer edges were razor sharp but the bottom of the shell was smooth and almost like a mold for my new hand.

That gave me an idea.

On the day that the shells grew (or maybe it was night), a scientist came to visit me in my cell. He seemed giddy and wore a broad grin on his face, as if I were his greatest achievement.

"The transformation is complete," he gushed, "Soon you will be ready to perform tests on."

That creeped me out big time. And I needed to get out of there. But I wasn't close to enough.

I edged closer to the scientist while he rambled on about some great discovery and the noble cause of some Mr. X. The door was slightly ajar, so the guards outside could rush in quickly if they had to. But if my plan worked, they wouldn't make it inside the room alive.

Desperation has driven me to extreme measures. I had to leave and find out what the hell was wrong with me. I stepped closer to the scientist. He turned to me.

"Hey-" he started, but he never got a chance to finish.

I pounced, grabbing a shell from my leg and slashing it towards his face. The scientist jumped a little and I ended up slicing his throat, which was just as well from my viewpoint. He screamed and gurgled and fell to the ground, but I was already at the door, slicing at the guards armed with Tasers.

They quickly fell to my razor sharp shells and I bolted down the hall, shells in hand. I ran blindly, searching for an exit. Any exit. I turned down hallways and around corners only to find more doors and halls. I went through the first few halls without a problem, but then I ran into some more guards. These guards were armed with…Super Soakers?

Okay weird, but, weird or not, they had to go. I flung myself towards them, shells cutting wildly through the air. It wasn't long before the guards fell in a bloody mess. I turned to run down another hall when I heard something. Faint, but it was close. I stopped and strained my new ears. It sounded like a desperate plea for help. It was coming from the door that the guards were standing by.

I had to make a decision fast. Leave and maybe find a way out? Or waste my time rescuing someone and running the risk of them slowing me down, or worse, getting me caught again.

Before I could change my mind, I threw myself at the door and slashed at the lock. It broke off easily and the door creaked open.

I put my shells away and heaved the door open.

"Hello?" I called, scanning the room for signs of a trap.

What I saw was unbelievable. A small, orange, lizard-like animal was cowering in the corner. It's face visible only by the small flame on its tail. I was staring at a Charmander.

I blinked. Then I blinked again. I rubbed my eyes for good measure. A Charmander? Here? They didn't even exist! The Charmander, if that's really what it was, looked at me and gasped.

"Another one?" it said, "Here? How many Pokéumans do they have?"

There was that word again. I still didn't know what it meant, but I didn't have time to ask.

"If you want to get out of here, come with me," I commanded, "I'm leaving right now."

I bolted without waiting for an answer but the footsteps and hard breathing behind me told me that I wasn't going through here alone anymore. I'd find out soon if I'd made the right decision in letting the Charmander come along.

We ran through the halls, still searching for a way out, taking random and wild turns. We came across more guards and I found that the kid wasn't bad in a fight. It wasn't the most resourceful fighter, but it got the job done.

After one particularly nasty fight with two huge guards I learned the Charmander's name. Jake, obviously a guy, said he was nine years old. He didn't know any more than I did about what happened to us or why we were here, but he seemed to recognize me. He called me a 'Dewott'. Whatever that was.

After a minute or two of catching our breath we ran off again. Over time, the hallways stopped splitting and became short straightaways, doors at each end. I could smell the air getting fresher each time we passed through a door. That was good, because the adrenaline rush was wearing off. My legs felt like they weighed a ton and my chest burned as if it was on fire. I counted the doors to take my mind off the pain and fatigue.

One…two…three…four…

The air smelled of trees and rain.

Five…six…seven…

I started seeing windows that showed the full night sky. There was a crescent moon.

Eight…Nine…Ten…

We burst through the door and stumbled onto wet grass. It was raining. Hard. I looked back at the door we ran through. It was metal, gray and on the side of a huge building. It seemed to be in the middle of a deep forest because there was nothing but trees around us. The building itself was unimpressive. A large rectangular steel building. But knowing what went on inside that building and only being able to guess at what else happened there made me happy I was leaving.

"Argh!" Jake yelled, cradling his tail flame close to his chest, "We have to get out of the rain!"

Charmander's are Fire-types. That much I knew. I also knew that fire doesn't like water. Which meant that the sooner we got out of the rain the better it would be for him. There were trees all around but no real road to follow. I didn't even know where we were. So I turned away from the building and ran directly opposite from it. Jake followed me and soon we were zigzagging from tree to tree trying to stay out of the rain. It wouldn't be long until some alarm sounded and, now that I thought about it, I was surprised one hadn't been raised already.

We ran in a straight line until we came across a river. The current was strong, that much I could see, but with my feet turned into flippers, I didn't think I'd have much trouble crossing it. I hesitated because I knew Jake wouldn't be able to make it across. The rain was bothering him enough without him having to try to swim across a raging river. This made things difficult. But I didn't have time for difficult.

I grabbed my shells and walked over to the nearest tree.

"What are you doing?" Jake called.

I didn't answer. I looked up to the top of the tree then back at the river. I made a quick calculation in my head. Then I slashed the trunk of the tree. Over and over I sliced and cut away at the bark as fast as I could, hoping that the shells wouldn't get dull after this.

After several minutes, there was a loud CRACK and the tree fell down, creating a bridge over the river. Jake looked surprised and glanced uncertainly at me. I didn't have time for him to be scared.

"Go now or I'm leaving you behind," I said.

Jake looked shocked and hurt, but we didn't have time to waste. Maybe there was something in my eyes or a hint of desperation in my voice that made him scramble across the tree. Either way, I got him across, and we began to run again.

After a while, we stopped running and walked through the forest, convinced that if they hadn't found us by now, we were momentarily safe. The walk was quiet. Not a word was spoken between Jake and I, which was just as well. The less noise we made, the better our chances of not getting caught.

We walked in silence for a while, the only noise around us being the rain and crunch of leaves and occasional snap of a twig. Then I heard voices. I froze and Jake did the same. The voices were coming from straight in front of us. I tried to listen what they were saying.

"…going to be a quick go-get-'em mission. I don't want you messing this up."

"Bro, this is serious. We're not doing this to get brownie points with Zephyr okay? We're doing this to prove we can hang with the best of them at the Pokeuman Rescue Troop."

Rescue? Pokeuman? If that's what I was then these guys sounded like friends to me.

"Hey!" I called out, "Hey! Can you hear me?! Over here!"

Jake shot a surprised look at me but I urged him on and he called out with me. Pretty soon we were both yelling for help, but help didn't take long to arrive.

Of course, as if my life wasn't weird enough at this point, we were greeted by a Gengar and a Mienshao. Pokemon existing? I guess it was time to start believing what I was seeing. The Gengar and Mienshao looked as shocked as I felt.

"Where did you two come from?" the Gengar asked.

I laid out the entire story, from the fur growing on my chest to the escape from those…evil people. They stood and listened to every word I said, Jake remaining quiet throughout the whole story, and after I was done they nodded.

The Mienshao looked to the Gengar and they seemed to have a silent conversation between themselves. Whatever they communicated, they seemed to agree at the end. The Mienshao turned to me and spoke.

"We will take you somewhere safe," the Mienshao said gently, "Come with us."

And with that, they turned and led us forward. Jake and I quickly exchanged looks and followed, unsure of what to expect. They led us to a medium-sized van, big enough to hold about seven people. The Gengar hopped in the backseat, his body nearly taking up the whole doorway, and the Mienshao took the driver's seat. Jake ran to the passenger seat while I studied my features in the side view mirror.

Boy, was I surprised. My body had taken to the form of a Dewott. A Pokemon that I didn't think really existed because, well, it was a Pokemon. Pokemon aren't real, but there was a van occupied by two Generation One Pokemon and a Generation Five Pokemon. And for some reason I had transformed from a normal, sixteen year old boy, to a Dewott. This is what Jake was talking about earlier but I must have been too zoned out to put it together at the time. That would also explain the shells. Or scalchops I should say. Man, if this was a dream…

"Hey," the Mienshao said to me, "If you're done admiring yourself, now might be a good time to leave."

I sighed and jumped in the van, closing the door behind me. The Mienshao began driving through the forest, hopefully farther away from those people.

"I'm Stella by the way," the Mienshao said, "And that's Clay."

The Gengar gave a nod. He seemed creepy, but maybe that was more because of his Ghost-typing. Either way, he helped save me and Jake, so he was okay in my book.

Stella continued, "We're members of the-"

"Pokeuman Rescue Troop?" I finished, "I heard you guys talking in the forest."

She looked at me with an impressed look. "You must have pretty good hearing. We barely heard you shouting for us, we definitely wouldn't have been able to hear you at a normal tone."

I blushed (or at least I think I did), "Well we weren't saying anything to each other, we were just trying to find a way out."

Stella smiled. "Well, you're lucky we found you when we did then, huh?"

"Yeah," Clay chimed in, "'Cause we weren't going to head in that direction."

Stella rolled her eyes and continued to drive. I had a million questions but I figured I'd save my energy. In case this was a trap. A guy couldn't be too careful.

We got to the highway and I relaxed. Stella must have noticed because she smiled and said, "Don't worry buddy, we aren't going to hurt you."

There was something in her voice that made me want to believe her. But things didn't add up just yet, so I wasn't going to just blindly trust someone I had just met who says she was there to rescue me. The only person besides myself in that van that I felt I could trust was Jake, because he was in that place with me too.

"Where are you taking us?" Jake asked Stella.

"We're taking you to our home, the Atlantean Pokeuman Base."

"What's that?"

"It's where people like you and me live."

"People that can turn into Pokemon?"

"Not exactly. You see, people don't turn into Pokemon. They become Pokemon. There's no turning back."

I could tell she wasn't being entirely truthful with that last statement to Jake, but I didn't press the issue. I didn't trust her yet, why should I expect her to trust us?

She turned into a beach parking lot and drove on.

"Where are we?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

Stella smiled. "We're in California."

Cali? How the hell did I end up here?

"But I live in Maine," I protested, "How did I end up here? They had me in a truck for, what, a few hours at the most?"

"Psychic-types," Stella said, "Very useful." Then she pulled onto the sand and drove straight for the beach.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled.

"Relax little buddy," Clay said putting his hand on my arm to calm me, "We're just taking you to the Base."

And before I could protest any further, the van hit the waves and before long we were completely submerged. It was strange because the car should have shut off, but it kept driving on the seafloor. Jake was visibly nervous, for obvious reasons. Me, I was ready for almost anything. Almost anything. I say that because I was not prepared for what happened next.

There was a small cave on the bottom of the ocean floor, about ten miles out (this van could move pretty damn fast underwater). Just a small hump of land with an opening two vans tall and three wide. Stella drove in and a bright pink flash blinded me. Seconds later, we were parked in front of a magnificent building.

It looked like something out of a movie. Large dome building with two visible solid gold pillars (I assumed there were two more behind it) each holding up one corner of the roof. A long flight of stairs led to a large wooden set of double doors. Everything about that building was shiny and glowed with magnificence.

We all got out of the dripping car and marveled at the sight, walking a few feet in front of the van. We were all silent until Clay decided to speak. He stepped in front of me and Jake and spread out his arms.

"Welcome," he said, his voice full of pride, "To your new home."

"I give you…the Atlantean Base."

Description
"Jeez kid," an old man hollered at me as I ran past him, "Slow down!"

But I wouldn't slow down, I couldn't. Today was a special day. Today was the day before my sixteenth birthday. And that meant only one thing.

"MY PRESENT!" I yelled as I got to my front door. On it was a note in my mom's handwriting.

Richie,

Good luck. You'll never find it ; )

Mom

So she was challenging me now? Well I would find that present if it was the last thing I did on this earth. I threw the door open and ran inside, not bothering to close the door behind me. I flipped couches, trashed closets, moved the fridge, looked in the washing machine and dryer, and even checked through my mom's underwear drawer (something only to be done on this most important of days and never, ever, again). I looked in the medicine cabinets in both the bathrooms and checked the dishwasher and dish cabinets.

She was a sneaky woman all right. By the time she called the house I was out of breath and laying on the floor. Needless to say she knew what I'd been up to and decided to take the present with her when she had left earlier that day.

She chuckled as she saw heard my ragged breathing and tired tone, "You'll never learn will you?"

I groaned, hung up, then half crawled, half dragged myself to bed. Tomorrow was another day. The best day I've yet to live.

Tomorrow is going to be unforgettable, I thought to myself as I drifted lazily to sleep.

Little did I know how true that was.

---

"How are things looking?" a dark figure inquired to a young Politoad.

The Politoad shivered as he was addressed, "Things are looking quite promising sir," he said, trembling, "If all goes well, we will have the Atlantean base within the year."

"Good," the figure said, content. "Go now. And don't return unless something interrupts my plans with the Atlantean base."

"Of course sir," the Politoad bowed, shivering, and left the small dark room of his master.

The figure waited until the door that the Politoad exited through closed completely, then he pressed a button on the armrest of the chair he was sitting on. A small screen appeared in front of him and lit up with the image of a small plateau near an ocean.

"Soon very soon, my old friends," he chuckled, "You will feel my wrath."

---

I woke with a start, searing pain coursing through my veins. It was if my blood was on fire and my nerve endings were set to blow. I didn't know where it was coming from and I didn't know why it started, I just wanted it to end.

I tried to scream but found I couldn't. Or maybe I was but I just didn't register the sound. I thrashed around in my bed, my sheets falling to the floor revealing my half naked body. I looked down and saw a patch of sea blue fur start to grow from my belly up. It didn't look like it should hurt, but gods, it did! And it was spreading all around my chest and to my back. When the fur reached my back, the pain stopped, and I lay in my bed, exhausted and scared.

I felt my bare chest, the strange fur poking my fingertips but the sensation wasn't an uncomfortable one. I checked under my pajama pants and saw that the fur stopped at my waistline. I felt around my back and noticed that the fur didn't wrap around me entirely. There was a good four or five inches of skin, my skin, that stretched from my neck to my waist.

I jumped out of bed and ran to my bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. What I saw surprised me.

My upper body was covered with sea blue fur that stopped at my neck and shoulders. I twisted around to look at my back and saw the gap of skin between all the fur. I was too shocked to speak or move. I didn't know what to do. My body was doing something I knew wasn't part of puberty. So what was it?

I walked back to my room and threw myself on my bed, wondering what to do. My parents were away for the weekend, so I couldn't tell them. Not that I wanted to. The conversation would go from them not believing me, and then taking me to some hardcore research facility after I showed them to find out what was wrong with me.

I couldn't call the cops. I mean what was I going to say? I called because I have blue fur growing all over my body and it hurt? The same thing would happen as if I'd told my parents.

No, the only thing to do would be to wait and hope it went away. Otherwise… well I didn't really want to think about it.

---

The next morning I checked myself to see if the fur had gone. It hadn't. And what was worse, I had an extreme headache. Well, at least no new fur had appeared. I went to the kitchen to make myself some cereal when I heard a knock on the door.

Still conscious of my new, hairy problem, I threw on a shirt and walked to the door.

I was no more than five feet away when it burst open, splintered wood littering the floor.

"Hey!" I yelled, jumping back with a snarl on my face.

A man, about 5'10", maybe a hundred seventy pounds, broad-shouldered and dressed for a funeral, sniffed the air as if he were a dog. He looked directly at me and smiled.

"Why hello there young Pokéuman," he laughed evilly.

"Poke-whaaa?" I queried, confused.

Unfortunately for me, the man took advantage of my confusion and leapt at me, his arm outstretched, with what looked to be a perfume bottle in hand. I did the only thing I thought I could do. I balled my right hand to a fist and swung.

My fist connected with his face just before his finger pushed down on the nozzle of the bottle and I stepped to the side. The man fell to the ground and I just missed getting sprayed in the face by whatever it was he tried to get me with. I sniffed tentatively at the area that the mist settled into and immediately felt dizzy and tired.

I swung my head back before I fell to the ground. Whatever it was, it was strong. I looked to the man on the floor and wondered where he had come from and what he wanted. He shifted on the ground and I froze, unsure if whether I should run or call the cops. He shifted again and I realized I probably didn't have time to choose, so I grabbed the cordless house phone, slipped my shoes on, and ran outside dialing 9-1-1.

I barely hit the pavement outside before another man, almost identical to the one who had just attacked me, grabbed me in a bear hug. I opened my mouth to scream but the man slipped a damp cloth over my face and I blacked out.

---

Flashes of light and sound woke me from time to time.

Rumbling and bumping in a big metal box that reminded me of the inside of an armored truck. My arms and legs in chains and a muzzle over my mouth.

Big hands with an iron grip dragging me out into the night towards a huge building.

Bright lights and cold tables as a man in a white coat hovered over me muttering things like "Pokéuman" and "Atlantean base".

Feeling despair in a dark cell, wondering how long I had been there and why I was there.

Pain woke me from time to time.

At first, it was more fur growing on my body. Then I noticed I was shrinking and my head became a large oval. My wavy brown hair disappeared to be replaced with a blue spike of hair and more fur and my ears migrated from the sides of my head to the top. I felt whiskers growing on my cheeks, and my legs thickened and shortened. Below my waist the fur grew longer and darker, more like a navy blue skirt instead of the sea blue on the rest of my body. My hands shrunk and black fur grew over my fingers after both my ring and middle fingers merged on each hand. My toes fused together and became flatter while my feet sprouted more black fur around the ankles.

And if that weren't disturbing enough, two shells appeared above my knees, one on each leg. I don't know how they grew there, but when I touched one it felt like a fingernail, only a little harder and less flexible. What really creeped me out was when I found I could take them off and hold them and put them back as easily as I took them off. I found that the outer edges were razor sharp but the bottom of the shell was smooth and almost like a mold for my new hand.

That gave me an idea.

On the day that the shells grew (or maybe it was night), a scientist came to visit me in my cell. He seemed giddy and wore a broad grin on his face, as if I were his greatest achievement.

"The transformation is complete," he gushed, "Soon you will be ready to perform tests on."

That creeped me out big time. And I needed to get out of there. But I wasn't close to enough.

I edged closer to the scientist while he rambled on about some great discovery and the noble cause of some Mr. X. The door was slightly ajar, so the guards outside could rush in quickly if they had to. But if my plan worked, they wouldn't make it inside the room alive.

Desperation has driven me to extreme measures. I had to leave and find out what the hell was wrong with me. I stepped closer to the scientist. He turned to me.

"Hey-" he started, but he never got a chance to finish.

I pounced, grabbing a shell from my leg and slashing it towards his face. The scientist jumped a little and I ended up slicing his throat, which was just as well from my viewpoint. He screamed and gurgled and fell to the ground, but I was already at the door, slicing at the guards armed with Tasers.

They quickly fell to my razor sharp shells and I bolted down the hall, shells in hand. I ran blindly, searching for an exit. Any exit. I turned down hallways and around corners only to find more doors and halls. I went through the first few halls without a problem, but then I ran into some more guards. These guards were armed with…Super Soakers?

Okay weird, but, weird or not, they had to go. I flung myself towards them, shells cutting wildly through the air. It wasn't long before the guards fell in a bloody mess. I turned to run down another hall when I heard something. Faint, but it was close. I stopped and strained my new ears. It sounded like a desperate plea for help. It was coming from the door that the guards were standing by.

I had to make a decision fast. Leave and maybe find a way out? Or waste my time rescuing someone and running the risk of them slowing me down, or worse, getting me caught again.

Before I could change my mind, I threw myself at the door and slashed at the lock. It broke off easily and the door creaked open.

I put my shells away and heaved the door open.

"Hello?" I called, scanning the room for signs of a trap.

What I saw was unbelievable. A small, orange, lizard-like animal was cowering in the corner. It's face visible only by the small flame on its tail. I was staring at a Charmander.

I blinked. Then I blinked again. I rubbed my eyes for good measure. A Charmander? Here? They didn't even exist! The Charmander, if that's really what it was, looked at me and gasped.

"Another one?" it said, "Here? How many Pokéumans do they have?"

There was that word again. I still didn't know what it meant, but I didn't have time to ask.

"If you want to get out of here, come with me," I commanded, "I'm leaving right now."

I bolted without waiting for an answer but the footsteps and hard breathing behind me told me that I wasn't going through here alone anymore. I'd find out soon if I'd made the right decision in letting the Charmander come along.

We ran through the halls, still searching for a way out, taking random and wild turns. We came across more guards and I found that the kid wasn't bad in a fight. It wasn't the most resourceful fighter, but it got the job done.

After one particularly nasty fight with two huge guards I learned the Charmander's name. Jake, obviously a guy, said he was nine years old. He didn't know any more than I did about what happened to us or why we were here, but he seemed to recognize me. He called me a 'Dewott'. Whatever that was.

After a minute or two of catching our breath we ran off again. Over time, the hallways stopped splitting and became short straightaways, doors at each end. I could smell the air getting fresher each time we passed through a door. That was good, because the adrenaline rush was wearing off. My legs felt like they weighed a ton and my chest burned as if it was on fire. I counted the doors to take my mind off the pain and fatigue.

One…two…three…four…

The air smelled of trees and rain.

Five…six…seven…

I started seeing windows that showed the full night sky. There was a crescent moon.

Eight…Nine…Ten…

We burst through the door and stumbled onto wet grass. It was raining. Hard. I looked back at the door we ran through. It was metal, gray and on the side of a huge building. It seemed to be in the middle of a deep forest because there was nothing but trees around us. The building itself was unimpressive. A large rectangular steel building. But knowing what went on inside that building and only being able to guess at what else happened there made me happy I was leaving.

"Argh!" Jake yelled, cradling his tail flame close to his chest, "We have to get out of the rain!"

Charmander's are Fire-types. That much I knew. I also knew that fire doesn't like water. Which meant that the sooner we got out of the rain the better it would be for him. There were trees all around but no real road to follow. I didn't even know where we were. So I turned away from the building and ran directly opposite from it. Jake followed me and soon we were zigzagging from tree to tree trying to stay out of the rain. It wouldn't be long until some alarm sounded and, now that I thought about it, I was surprised one hadn't been raised already.

We ran in a straight line until we came across a river. The current was strong, that much I could see, but with my feet turned into flippers, I didn't think I'd have much trouble crossing it. I hesitated because I knew Jake wouldn't be able to make it across. The rain was bothering him enough without him having to try to swim across a raging river. This made things difficult. But I didn't have time for difficult.

I grabbed my shells and walked over to the nearest tree.

"What are you doing?" Jake called.

I didn't answer. I looked up to the top of the tree then back at the river. I made a quick calculation in my head. Then I slashed the trunk of the tree. Over and over I sliced and cut away at the bark as fast as I could, hoping that the shells wouldn't get dull after this.

After several minutes, there was a loud CRACK and the tree fell down, creating a bridge over the river. Jake looked surprised and glanced uncertainly at me. I didn't have time for him to be scared.

"Go now or I'm leaving you behind," I said.

Jake looked shocked and hurt, but we didn't have time to waste. Maybe there was something in my eyes or a hint of desperation in my voice that made him scramble across the tree. Either way, I got him across, and we began to run again.

After a while, we stopped running and walked through the forest, convinced that if they hadn't found us by now, we were momentarily safe. The walk was quiet. Not a word was spoken between Jake and I, which was just as well. The less noise we made, the better our chances of not getting caught.

We walked in silence for a while, the only noise around us being the rain and crunch of leaves and occasional snap of a twig. Then I heard voices. I froze and Jake did the same. The voices were coming from straight in front of us. I tried to listen what they were saying.

"…going to be a quick go-get-'em mission. I don't want you messing this up."

"Bro, this is serious. We're not doing this to get brownie points with Zephyr okay? We're doing this to prove we can hang with the best of them at the Pokeuman Rescue Troop."

Rescue? Pokeuman? If that's what I was then these guys sounded like friends to me.

"Hey!" I called out, "Hey! Can you hear me?! Over here!"

Jake shot a surprised look at me but I urged him on and he called out with me. Pretty soon we were both yelling for help, but help didn't take long to arrive.

Of course, as if my life wasn't weird enough at this point, we were greeted by a Gengar and a Mienshao. Pokemon existing? I guess it was time to start believing what I was seeing. The Gengar and Mienshao looked as shocked as I felt.

"Where did you two come from?" the Gengar asked.

I laid out the entire story, from the fur growing on my chest to the escape from those…evil people. They stood and listened to every word I said, Jake remaining quiet throughout the whole story, and after I was done they nodded.

The Mienshao looked to the Gengar and they seemed to have a silent conversation between themselves. Whatever they communicated, they seemed to agree at the end. The Mienshao turned to me and spoke.

"We will take you somewhere safe," the Mienshao said gently, "Come with us."

And with that, they turned and led us forward. Jake and I quickly exchanged looks and followed, unsure of what to expect. They led us to a medium-sized van, big enough to hold about seven people. The Gengar hopped in the backseat, his body nearly taking up the whole doorway, and the Mienshao took the driver's seat. Jake ran to the passenger seat while I studied my features in the side view mirror.

Boy, was I surprised. My body had taken to the form of a Dewott. A Pokemon that I didn't think really existed because, well, it was a Pokemon. Pokemon aren't real, but there was a van occupied by two Generation One Pokemon and a Generation Five Pokemon. And for some reason I had transformed from a normal, sixteen year old boy, to a Dewott. This is what Jake was talking about earlier but I must have been too zoned out to put it together at the time. That would also explain the shells. Or scalchops I should say. Man, if this was a dream…

"Hey," the Mienshao said to me, "If you're done admiring yourself, now might be a good time to leave."

I sighed and jumped in the van, closing the door behind me. The Mienshao began driving through the forest, hopefully farther away from those people.

"I'm Stella by the way," the Mienshao said, "And that's Clay."

The Gengar gave a nod. He seemed creepy, but maybe that was more because of his Ghost-typing. Either way, he helped save me and Jake, so he was okay in my book.

Stella continued, "We're members of the-"

"Pokeuman Rescue Troop?" I finished, "I heard you guys talking in the forest."

She looked at me with an impressed look. "You must have pretty good hearing. We barely heard you shouting for us, we definitely wouldn't have been able to hear you at a normal tone."

I blushed (or at least I think I did), "Well we weren't saying anything to each other, we were just trying to find a way out."

Stella smiled. "Well, you're lucky we found you when we did then, huh?"

"Yeah," Clay chimed in, "'Cause we weren't going to head in that direction."

Stella rolled her eyes and continued to drive. I had a million questions but I figured I'd save my energy. In case this was a trap. A guy couldn't be too careful.

We got to the highway and I relaxed. Stella must have noticed because she smiled and said, "Don't worry buddy, we aren't going to hurt you."

There was something in her voice that made me want to believe her. But things didn't add up just yet, so I wasn't going to just blindly trust someone I had just met who says she was there to rescue me. The only person besides myself in that van that I felt I could trust was Jake, because he was in that place with me too.

"Where are you taking us?" Jake asked Stella.

"We're taking you to our home, the Atlantean Pokeuman Base."

"What's that?"

"It's where people like you and me live."

"People that can turn into Pokemon?"

"Not exactly. You see, people don't turn into Pokemon. They become Pokemon. There's no turning back."

I could tell she wasn't being entirely truthful with that last statement to Jake, but I didn't press the issue. I didn't trust her yet, why should I expect her to trust us?

She turned into a beach parking lot and drove on.

"Where are we?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

Stella smiled. "We're in California."

Cali? How the hell did I end up here?

"But I live in Maine," I protested, "How did I end up here? They had me in a truck for, what, a few hours at the most?"

"Psychic-types," Stella said, "Very useful." Then she pulled onto the sand and drove straight for the beach.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled.

"Relax little buddy," Clay said putting his hand on my arm to calm me, "We're just taking you to the Base."

And before I could protest any further, the van hit the waves and before long we were completely submerged. It was strange because the car should have shut off, but it kept driving on the seafloor. Jake was visibly nervous, for obvious reasons. Me, I was ready for almost anything. Almost anything. I say that because I was not prepared for what happened next.

There was a small cave on the bottom of the ocean floor, about ten miles out (this van could move pretty damn fast underwater). Just a small hump of land with an opening two vans tall and three wide. Stella drove in and a bright pink flash blinded me. Seconds later, we were parked in front of a magnificent building.

It looked like something out of a movie. Large dome building with two visible solid gold pillars (I assumed there were two more behind it) each holding up one corner of the roof. A long flight of stairs led to a large wooden set of double doors. Everything about that building was shiny and glowed with magnificence.

We all got out of the dripping car and marveled at the sight, walking a few feet in front of the van. We were all silent until Clay decided to speak. He stepped in front of me and Jake and spread out his arms.

"Welcome," he said, his voice full of pride, "To your new home."

"I give you…the Atlantean Base."