Chapter Two - A Change For The Better
#2 of Part One - Life Through The Eyes Of A Former Human
I opened my eyes. It was dark out. A cool breeze blew past me, and I shivered, sitting up. I noticed that something was holding my legs down, and I gazed down at what appeared to be a tree root, deliberately dug up by something, and wrapped around my legs, keeping me from escaping. Sighing to myself, I bent the roots in the opposite direction, pulling my legs free. The roots were spiny, and it hurt to remove them, but I got them off. Standing up, I brushed dirt and leaves from my clothes. For some reason my back was soaking wet, and awkwardly warm, as if I'd been pissed on.
Reaching into my left front pocket, I pulled out my phone and looked at the screen. 8:04pm.
"Crap, I have to get home. Ben's probably freaking out!" I said to myself, frowning as I remembered something. My phone was dead, so how did I just... The electric attack maybe?
Shaking my head, I cleared my thoughts as I continued walking. It was quiet, except for the occasional breeze, and the sound of sticks and leaves crunching underneath my feet as I walked. Out of nowhere, I felt a sharp pain in my right side. I just simply placed my hand over it and continued walking, ignoring it for the most part. Slowly, as the pain increased, I found myself gripping it tighter and tighter, fighting to ignore it, until it became too much to handle, and I cried out, standing there hunched over, leaning to the side as it continued to increase. Soon enough, it began spreading to the rest of my body, starting in the center of my belly and moving outwards in all directions. I closed my eyes tight as I began to sweat, the pain becoming simply agonizing.
I HAVE to get home... I'm going to pass out here if I don't do something...
Grinding my teeth, I tried my best to ignore it. I began shuffling my feet forward, inch by inch, taking tiny baby steps. Hey, at least I'm getting SOMEWHERE, right?
Then, all of a sudden, it all stopped.
Standing straight up, I cleared my throat.
"A-hem... What the fuck..." I mumbled as I began walking again, scratching my right arm. "That was... Ugh..." I mumbled as I took off into a run, eager to get back home just in case another random pain spurt were to take over again. Gripping my notes tightly in my right hand, I ran faster and faster, until I came to a bush.
The same bush from before, where I'd met the Pikachu and his girlfriend...
"What the hell, how far was I dragged!?" I said as I stopped running, looking around the bush. "Ugh... No matter, I've got to get back..." I sighed as I continued walking. But of course, curiosity got the best of me, and I just HAD to see what was behind the bush. Taking a step closer, I noticed that the bush was really thick, and "Behind" it appeared to be a couple feet away... There's no way this bush could be a couple feet thick... Maybe the Pikachu slept inside it? And came out when they heard something?
Sighing, I walked alongside the bush, stopping when I thought I saw something inside. Squinting in the dim light, I saw another Pikachu. No, not another... The same one from before...
"Hey you, what the hell?" I said as I placed my clipboard down in the dirt and got down on my hands and knees, crawling into the empty space in the bush. The Pikachu just stared at me, not even moving as I came closer and closer to him.
"Why'd you shock me like that?" I asked as I reached out towards him, only to receive a bite on my hand as I attempted to grab him.
"OW!" I yelled as I jerked my hand back. "What the hell has gotten into you? We're friends, remember?" I said as I held out my now bleeding hand, knowing there was nothing I could do about the blood or the wound at the moment, since I was in the woods without a first-aid kit or anything of the sort. Slowly, I reached forward again, attempting to stroke his head. He just backed away further into the bush, a few sparks flying from his cheeks as he struck me with a bolt of electricity. I would've cried out, or at least closed my eyes, except I didn't feel the bolt hit me... I mean, I know it'd hit me, but I couldn't feel it...
Staring at him, I blinked, pulling my hand back. "Okaaaay..." I said as I began crawling forward, toward the Pikachu. I sighed as he turned and ran, then disappeared into a hole in the ground.
"What the...?" I said as I pulled myself forward. There was a clearing in the center of the bush, and in the center of the clearing was a hole...
Maybe he's afraid, can't see me right or something. He's probably hiding in the hole. I should leave him be... I thought to myself as I crawled backwards out of the bush, standing up after grabbing my notes.
"Ugh..." I said as I shook blood off of my right hand. I sighed as I continued my walk, stopping once more as I felt the same pain I'd felt earlier. Except this time, it was worse. Much worse. It was so bad that I'd collapsed in the leaves and dirt, lying on the ground, gripping my throbbing side with both hands. It felt like someone stabbed me in the side and was continuously twisting the knife, laughing at me as they banged the knife deeper and deeper with a hammer...
Suddenly, the pain shot through the rest of my body, and I shut my eyes tightly, tears flowing from them like a river and running down my cheeks. Grunting, I rolled onto my right side and yelled. It hurt so bad, I didn't know what to do. Curling into a ball, I hugged my knees. It felt like someone was running me over with a truck, while tearing every hair out of my body with a lint magnet. I wanted to just die so badly, to just give up and stop all of the pain. To scream to the world how much pain I was in. But I didn't, for more than one reason. One, I didn't want to draw attention, two, I was in way too much pain to move, and three, I couldn't move my mouth for some reason. Well the first one isn't completely true, because I DID want to draw attention, but not the wrong kind, such as a wild Pokemon who'd think a defenseless human would be a good evening snack.
Using every bit of strength in my body, I opened my eyes halfway, only to close them immediately after, horrified with what I saw. I appeared... Smaller than I used to be... It wasn't really horrifying, more confusing than anything else, but also weird. The stabbing pain had stopped, but I still felt the pressure pain, like someone was steamrolling me, compacting me into something smaller than I truly was. I had regained most of my strength, and lifted my arm, taking note of the pale color my skin looked, not to mention the tiny strands of yellow fur that were sprouting from it. Reaching up, I grabbed at my hair, only to have it fall out in my hand. Panicking, I grabbed another handful, only to have that come out like it wasn't even attached to my head anymore. Not wanting to go bald, I stopped, just laying there as I endured the pain. It wasn't really pain anymore, it was rather more annoying than it hurt. I gasped as I brought the chunk of hair to my face. Not because I was holding a chunk of my own hair, but because of my hand... My fingers had shrunken. They were now tiny compared to my hand, and little claws were growing on the ends.
Suddenly, I felt hot all over. Intense waves of heat throughout the inside of my whole body. It felt like I was being microwaved, cooked from the inside out. It didn't take long before the heat became so intense, I passed out.
Quickly, I sat up. Feeling a wave of nervousness flow over me as I remembered the previous night. The pain, the agony, the confusion. I shuddered as I shook my body, trying to shake off the feelings. But something wasn't right... Either I was smaller, or everything grew, a LOT. Holding out my hand, I gazed upon what appeared to be a smaller paw, covered in yellow fur. I noticed I still had my fingers and my thumb, and I happily wiggled them about. Turning my paw around, I gazed at my palm. It also had fur on it, but the fur was MUCH smaller than the fur on the back of my paw. It was almost like having tiny yellow hairs, although I knew it was fur, because fur grows much denser than hair. The shirt underneath me caught my gaze, and I looked down at it.
"My... Shirt?" I said to myself as I stood up and looked myself over. "I'm naked..." I mumbled, placing both of my paws between my legs to cover myself up. "No... I have fur now... And fur is like a shirt and pants right?" I asked myself, clueless. "I don't want to deal with this crap right now!" I said to myself as I shook my body once more, clearing my mind again. Reaching up, I ran my paw along the top of my head. Smooth fur greeted the palm of my paw, and I smiled at its smoothness. I touched my right ear, and I instinctively moved it. Well it was more like a wiggle, but it still moved.
"What the hell...?" I said, sighing as I lowered my paw.
Clearing my thoughts, I focused on getting back to the.... The...
What was it called again...? The place where humans lived... Had I forgotten what a house was? After five minutes of pacing around my clothes and thinking hard, I stopped.
"Aha! I have to get back to my nest!" I blurted out.
Indeed I had forgotten the human word for a house, but this was only the beginning...
Sighing, I began walking in the direction of the house. After walking for about five minutes, I dropped down onto all fours and broke off into a run. I noticed my body was much more flexible, and I was able to run a lot faster than I used to be able to in my former human body, and it felt great! The wind flowing past my ears, through my fur... Now that I thought about it, having fur wasn't all that bad... It made me feel... Soft... And cuddly...
Shaking my head, I skidded to a stop. "Did I just describe myself as being... CUDDLY?" I exclaimed out loud. A random thought crossed my mind, and I stood up, gazing down at my forepaws.
"These... Are hands... But they're also feet... COOL!" I said out loud, excited that I could use them to run so well, while at the same time be able to pick things up and such. "No doubt I'm a Pikachu... I have to be..." I said to myself, grinning. "This is so... Cool...ish..."
Dropping back down onto all fours, I began to run in the direction of the house again. Eventually, I ran through the last bit of trees before I came to the clearing that was the end of the woods. All I had to do now was cross over the lawn and go in the back door. And I wasted no time doing so. A wave of excitement passed over me as I saw the house, and I bolted off towards it, nothing but a yellow blur darting across and up the hill of the backyard. Halting to a stop as I got to the back porch, I ran all the way over to the right side and darted up the stairs. Scrambling up the first two stairs, I nearly tripped and fell down.
Okay, so I have to do this slowly for now.
Standing up on two feet, I placed my forepaws on the second step, and my feet on the first. As I pulled myself up, I just shifted my feet and paws onto the next step, and kept it up until I reached the top, which was the second floor of the house. Wasting no time, I darted across the porch until I was halfway across the length of the house, where one of the three doors stood. Looking up at it, I realized two problems I was faced with.
How would I get inside, and what would Ben do when he saw me?
END chapter two