FSE

Furry search engine

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My head was searing, but the rest of my body felt.. no.. no, that was just it, I didn't feel a thing besides the throbbing of my skull. Not only that, but I couldn't see anything, either. Just light. I could hear, though. I heard Lapin yell my name. It sounded more like she was screaming more out of shock than fright or worry, and this comforted me a little.

I knew what was going on. I was evolving. Through Celeste, Lapin had once told me what it felt like, for your whole body to change before everyone's eyes like that. She never mentioned a headache, so I assumed that was just something that came with whatever I was. The pain is a surefire indicator that I've copied someone's DNA, but it had never hurt this badly.. Apparently my body had bitten off much more than it usually had the will to chew.

I found it kind of funny; I evolved the moment that I'd found out Lapin truly didn't care whether my body changed or not. I suppose that it was because the knowledge that I had her love no matter what I looked like had put me completely at ease. I was so happy.. And that's what it takes to evolve into a Lopunny, to be as happy and carefree as you possibly can.

But then came the unexpected.. The light was beginning to dissipate, and the tent overhead came into my view. I looked over my new form. I was now covered in fur, in shades of brown and cream. Two long ears drooped down beside me, and with a thought, I called up the knowledge of how to move them about, as if I'd known my entire life. There was one problem, however; I was only a foot tall..

I had not evolved into a Lopunny. I was a Buneary!

"Chris.. is.. is that really you?" I was dumbstruck. I heard Lapin speak to me, but I couldn't call up the words to respond. All I could do was stand there amidst my giant clothes beside her and stare at my tiny paws, which weren't even fully posable, as they would have been on a Lopunny. This had definitely not been what I'd wanted. "Are you alright, Chris?"

Then it hit me; I was better than alright! I was a pokemon! Sure, I wasn't a Lopunny just yet, but now I was absolutely sure that I would be eventually. After all, it's much more likely that a Buneary will become a Lopunny than a human would. So I started smiling. Lapin instantly became relieved, a smile creeping across her face as well. "So I guess you're fine, then?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Lapin. It just.. wasn't what I had hoped for exactly." My first words spoken in my new form were of a much higher pitch than I had expected them to be. I'm sure they fit how I looked, but Lapin couldn't help but giggle a bit. Feigning indignation, I spoke to her again. "Do you find something funny?" After a few more snickers, she grabbed me and pulled me to her.

"You!", she yelled aloud, hugging me with arms and ears. Up against her, I came to appreciate just how good our fur made me feel. I was almost completely encompassed in a warmth that invoked many emotions, not the least of which being love. Love of living, love of love, and love of Lapin. Purring came unheeded and unhindered from me, and Lapin definitely took notice. "Aww..", she said, rubbing me, "You look so adorable right now, Chris.."

As luck would have it, though, thoughts started flowing into my brain. I would have liked to enjoy that warmth a while longer, but I had to figure things out. What was the exact reason that I evolved? How was it even possible? These questions were best answered by my father, I knew. How much of a pokemon was I now? That riddle could be solved a bit more readily.

Reluctantly, I got off of Lapin, who was confused by my actions until I walked over to my bag and removed the DNA tester that Dr. Laurel had given me. I pressed the disk's button, and took the awaited sting from the needle. The screen displayed the percentages of DNA within my body; 'Absol 3.44%', 'Human 18.68%', 'Lopunny 67.61%', 'Luxray 3.45%', and 'Lucario 6.82%'.

For the second time in ten minutes I found it hard to do anything with my mouth but leave it open, jaw hanging idly in the air. However, this time I was able to gather myself without Lapin's help. "Lapin, I've only got about 18% human left in me.. What the hell!? It's like my mother's DNA got replaced just now, instead of what was left of my father's.. That's not supposed to happen.. Is it?"

"Well, when you talked to your dad it sounded like he was keeping some things from you. You'll have to ask him when we get to Fortree." That was my best bet, yes, but I was getting ahead of myself. For now, I had to reintroduce myself to everyone..

"Lapin, how about we go and say hello to everybody?" She nodded, and started out into the open. As she opened the cloth flap that served as the tent's entryway, she turned to me. She had crawled but five feet from where she had been sleeping. In that time, I had walked about one foot.. Seeming to both sigh and giggle at the same time, Lapin picked me up before exiting the tent.

Celeste was first to get the surprise. We walked into her tent, and Lapin set me down once again by Celeste's head, which I nudged a few times. Celeste woke slowly and disapprovingly, but when she saw me and Lapin, she had quite a few questions.

"A Buneary?.. In Hoenn? Lapin, did you tell Chris about hi--" Then she caught the scent on the air. She sniffed a few times, before staring at me, confused. With one smile from me, total realization dawned upon her. Ecstatic, she hopped out of her sleeping bag and bent down a few inches to embrace me. "Chris!", she yelled, "What happened to you?"

After she calmed down a bit I explained as best I could, which, of course, isn't saying much. "Well, my dad told me this would happen if I wanted it badly enough, and you can bet I wanted it badly.. I suppose that until we get to Fortree so that I can talk to him, we won't know any more." Just then, Anne and Copse rushed into the tent.

"I heard Celeste yelling! What's wrong?" She stared at us for a few moments before anyone adding "And why is there a Buneary here?"

_ _ _ _ _

Needless to say, Anne and her pokemon were shocked by the change. However, my own pokemon, it seemed, had expected something like this to happen sooner or later. All except for Omen. She was probably the most surprised of us all.. Though each affected differently, all of us wanted to find out how my transformation was possible. We packed up our things and began our trek for the day, myself and my bag riding Lapin's shoulders.

Along the Route we passed the Weather Institute; a large research facility that studies and records weather around the world. That place always interested me. Apparently the scientists there were the first to locate Kyogre and Groudon nearly a decade ago, even they they didn't know it at the time. It is also said that they created a pokemon that could control the weather.. Sadly, it would have to wait until another time.

From there, it wasn't long until we reached Fortree. After just a bridge, a few more flights of steps, and a bit of a walk, we were approaching the "Treetop City". Upon entering, all of us were dazzled by the town which had chosen to live with nature. Surrounded by greenery, all that made up the village were wooden treehouses with canopy roofs, and the suspended plank bridges that linked them all. The red-topped Pokemon Center and blue-topped Pokemart stuck out like sore thumbs, but I suppose they are necessities for every town, no matter the location.

But as I looked at the door-less huts-on-high, besides being fascinated with the lifestyle the townspeople must lead, the only other thought going through my head was 'They must have one serious bug problem..' Anne was quick to leave our group in order to accomplish her original goal; visiting her sickly grandmother. We headed towards the Pokemon Center, still admiring the rustic beauty of the town. Lapin seemed most affected by it.

"It's just like that Absol who came to our forest said it was..", she said, staring about wide-eyed and open-mouthed, "I'm sure everybody back home would've loved it here." Indeed, the area did seem a bit like paradise, from the overpowering scent of pine and oak trees, to the not-so-distant chirping of various insects and bug-type pokemon.

Nevertheless, we continued until we entered the tile-floored, dry-walled Center. After seeing what was outside, it seemed almost cold and sad in the building.. We made our way over to the booth containing the videophone and Lapin, my own hands being too stubby and immovable, dialed the number for my home. After a few shorts moments of ringing, I thanked whatever gods there were that it was my father, not my mother, who picked up.

After staring at me for a little while, my father was the first to speak. "Happy?", he said, simply.

I stared back myself briefly. "Not without answers, no." After my father adopted a smile that seemed to say 'of course', I continued. "I have barely any human left, dad. I don't know what happened, but that little bit of human is from you. Did mom's DNA actually get overwritten?"

"Well, of course! Didn't they teach you in school? A pokemon child will always be the species of the mother. It would only follow that if you changed into a different pokemon, your mother's DNA, which is always the base DNA of your species, would change as well, right?" I was confused already. Never a good sign..

"What do you mean changed into a different pokemon? I was never a pokemon to begin with! I was born human and whatever you are."

"Wrong. You're all pokemon. You've always been all pokemon, just like me and your mother. Even though she doesn't know it, she's the same as us." Now I was starting to suspect that he was lying to me..

"What? The last time we spoke you told me that you and I are the only ones on the planet with our ability to copy others.. And your a pokemon?"

"No, no. I said that me and you are the only guys with that power. She's not technically a guy..", he said, looking smug as could be. "And yes, the three of us have always been pokemon. It's which pokemon that's the key, Chris. Seeing as how you've swapped bodies already, I suppose it's time that I told you everything.. I suggest you pull up a chair; this may take a while."

_ _ _ _ _

"A Tauros, eh?", I asked, confirming the last thing my father had told me.

"Yep, that's what did it. The damn thing gave her a concussion when it rammed into her. She wasn't able to remember anything from her life before that day. Sadly, it was well beyond my power to bring her memories back, seeing as how she's an even stronger a pokemon than I. Mentally, anyway. It was all I could do to slip a few fake memories of being human into her head. After that I fell into a coma for a few days.. The last false memory that I had given her made her think that the Tauros had attacked me, so I had an excuse for being out of commission."

"So she really isn't human? The doctors in Mauville thought that her DNA was, though.. How is that possible, when they were able to tell yours apart from a regular human's?"

"Like I said, she was better than me. In fact, I think your mother might actually be the oldest of our kind still left alive. And believe me, son: the closer to our originals you are, the more believable everything you do is." Once again, he was hinting at something.. I had a pretty good idea of what it was.

"Dad, you still haven't told me what we are. Everything you've said doesn't sound like any pokemon I know of." Apparently he had been doing it again; waiting until I asked the question before he would give me the answer.

"Chris, allow me to show you." Suddenly, bright light filled the screen, and just as quickly, the room back home returned. But there stood before me not a man, but a pokemon. And not just any pokemon..

'Mew..', I mouthed, too stunned to say anything aloud. Too stunned to look over at my pokemon to see if they were having the same reaction. Too stunned to notice, no longer supported by an ample waistline, my father's pants falling rapidly down his person.

"Oops!", he exclaimed, grabbing them and yanking them up. There he was, a floating, pink, cat-like pokemon in a shirt as big as his body and uncooperative pants. It was downright comical, but none of us were laughing. Then came the bright light again. I was still so shell-shocked that I almost forgot to shield my eyes. The next instant, my father, looking human as ever, was back, adjusting his clothes. "Tell me son, how much do you know about Mew?"

"..Wh-... Huh? Oh.. Mew? I thought.. I thought that they were just.. a legend...", I said, trying to gather my thoughts. It wasn't an easy task at the time. "I've heard that almost nobody has ever seen one.."

"Yes, and now you know why. We are commonly called the mirage pokemon. I think we were named that simply because so few people had seen our true forms, and even fewer believed the people who had. But the ironic thing is that we are about as close to mirages and illusions as you can get. We assume the shape of whatever we please, and even look to ourselves like something other than Mew.

"And Chris", he continued, "The only reason you were in human form was because both your mother and I were in human form at the time. It was only a few weeks after your birth that she was attacked by the Tauros, so I was left with the choice of when to tell you about your lineage.. And I chose never to do so. I thought that with your mother the way she is it might have been best to try and stay human.

"But then you copied a few abilities from your Riolu a year ago. It wasn't much, but I'm sure that you were starting to wonder why it had happened. I was able to keep my secret for a while, until just the other day when you called me from Mauville.. You had copied more from your pokemon, and you had questions. It seems that you're much more receptive a Mew than I. You must have gotten that from your mother.."

I heard heard him, but for it to be true, there were still a couple of facts I couldn't quite get my head around. "I'm a Mew?" He nodded. "You're a Mew?" He nodded again. "Mom.. is a Mew?" Once more, he nodded. "....And I'm a Mew!?"

"Son, is it really that hard to believe? Look what's happening to you! If there's any easy to swallow explanation, I'd love to hear it." He was right. Such odd events had to have an odd cause. I was starting to accept what I was, but I still needed a bit more information.

"Dad, if what you say is true, and I can choose a form, then why did I turn into a Buneary? I wanted to be a Lopunny.." My father sighed.

"Sorry son, but it doesn't quite work like that. You have to live as a Lopunny, and living as a Lopunny includes living as a Buneary. And about choosing a new form, you can't do that until your comfortable with your current one. That means you'll have to be a Buneary or Lopunny for a few years before you can change into something else, if you even want to.

"Oh, and if we can stop talking about you for a moment.. I told your mother about your relationship with Lapin.. and about her pregnancy. She wasn't happy. I'll spare you her exact words, but believe me, your mom didn't like the news one bit. Sorry, Chris.. I have an idea, though", he said, before sighing. "I'm going to try and explain to her about us. The sooner, the better, too; I don't want her to see you before she knows."

"Yeah, that would be best. Thanks for answering my questions, Dad.." Feeling a bit awkward, and a bit unsure of what to say next, I added "Guess I'll talk to you later." He waved goodbye before I ended the call.

_ _ _ _ _

"A Mew? That's amazing..", said Anne, after I'd finished. I was thankful that speech was one of the parts of my human side that I'd kept. That made my life as a pokemon, and as a trainer, much easier. But back to Anne; we'd met up with her as we had left the Pokemon Center. She had finished visiting with her Grandmother, and the news wasn't great. Apparently her health was getting worse and worse, which was the reason for Anne's less than enthusiastic response to my own news.

"You know", Lapin stated, still holding me, "There are pokemon, and even a few people, that revere Mew as gods, Chris." I had heard of people like that. They thought that all living things aside from plants had descended from Mew. I never believed in it. But then again, I never believed in Mew in the first place.. "It's sort of hard for me to grasp that I'm in love with one. And our children will be half Mew.."

"It's a weird feeling, yeah." It was Nexus who spoke now. "Almost all the time I've been with him I thought Chris was just you average human, if not a bit kinder. Nevermind that he's a Mew; it's the fact that he's a pokemon at all that intrigues me. I wish I'd known earlie--"

"Wow! That's a lot of pokemon, Anne! Are they all yours?" A brown-haired girl in shorts and a T-shirt came running up towards us, ponytail bobbing behind her.

"Oh, hey Jenna! Long time no see! Nah, only the Shuppet, Leafeon, and the two Ralts are mine. The other four belong to a friend of mine." Anne was smiling broadly, obviously having just met up with an old friend.

"Four? You mean five?", Jenna said, motioning towards myself and my pokemon's general direction.

"What? There's only four pokemon besides mine.." She turned and counted us up. Staring at me for a moment, she turned back. "Oh yeah.. Jen, this'll sound weird, but the Buneary is that friend I mentioned. The rest belong to him.." Jenna looked at Anne as though she'd gone half-insane. I decided to put the matter to rest. Jumping down from Lapin's arms, I walked over to her and extended an ear.

"I'm Christopher Stidolph. Pleased to meet you, Jenna." She looked at me for a moment before slowly grasping my ear and shaking it like she would a hand. But she didn't quite remember to stop.

"H.. T-tal.. talks?.." That was all she could muster. I removed myself from her grip, and waited for her to recover. It didn't take too long. "Um.. Jenna Alder.. You're a talking Buneary?.. Wait, you're a pokemon trainer?.. You're a talking Buneary!?"

"Let's just say that I'm part human. And yeah, I'm a trainer.. Try not to think about it too hard, okay?" She nodded.

"So.. Well it's seems a bit odd to ask this, and a bit sudden, but would you battle with me? I'm also a trainer, and I'm a firm believer that the best way to get to know someone is to fight them." She wanted to fight? I would normally have been against it, but I could tell that this Jenna wasn't a bad person. She reminded me of Anne a lot. I decided to take up her challenge, but I had an idea.

"Alright", I said. My pokemon looked at me oddly. At least three of them knew that I never accepted a battle unless someone was forcing me. "But I'd like to be the one to fight your pokemon. Do you mind?"

"..A fighting trainer who happens to be a talking pokemon? You've got to be the weirdest guy I've ever met. I guess it's fine, though. Over there sound good?" She pointed to a spot nearby which had a few less trees dotting it. I nodded my agreement. On the way over, my pokemon spoke with me.

"Chris, are you sure about this? You hate fighting, but you yourself are going to take part in it?" The one speaking was Celeste.

"Yep. I'd really like to try out my new self.. Speaking of which, how do I know what moves I can use?" Suddenly, I knew. Like with the knowledge of how to maneuver my ears, it came to me when I needed it. "Oop, spoke too soon. Nevermind." The list of moves I knew included the basics; Pound, Foresight, and Defense Curl. But apparently I also knew Charm, Bite, and Dizzy Punch, which were all moves that my pokemon had used on me back when we trained together.

"Chris, it could be dangerous! You don't have to do this; just use one of us." Lapin this time. I was glad that she cared so much, but I was sure things would be fine.

"Don't worry, Lapin. I can tell that Jenna wouldn't hurt me badly. Especially since I can talk." When you think about it, it's a shame that a person can hold back violence simply because you speak their language. That's just the way things are, I suppose. "Everything will be fine. I promise. I'm sure some of our strategies will come in handy."

We reached the clearing that was to be our battlefield. I stepped forward, and Jenna threw out a pokeball. "Go get him, Bessy." Out from the ball's light shot a Miltank, chubby as ever. 'A cow named Bessy. How original..'

"D'aww.. cute.." I couldn't help but say it. Bessy was plump in a cuddly kind of way.. Though pointing out her adorability only seemed to tick her off. She furrowed her 'brow' in frustration.

"You'll pay for that one, kid!", Bessy yelled. Seeing her pokemon riled up, Jenna thought it best to begin.

"Bessy, use Rollout!" Bessy complied, and before I knew it, hundreds of pounds of cow were hurtling at me. It felt odd not having to tell my pokemon to use a move or a strategy, but I didn't have long to reflect on the matter. As quickly as I could, I wrapped my ears around myself in a Defense Curl. Bessy hit me head on, and I felt myself bounce back a few feet. It hadn't hurt as much as I'd expected, however.

I quickly got back up, and, deciding to go for it, used Charm. I didn't feel any change in myself, but I noticed a change in Bessy. She stopped moving, and her face was one of conflicted emotions. I ran at her and used Dizzy Punch, aiming straight at her face with my ears. Before I could reach, however, she grabbed me by the ear and raised me above her head. "Never get someone angry before you use Charm, kid."

"Good work, Bessy! Now, Zen Headbutt!" I quickly went over what moves I could use to get out of the situation. Defense Curl would be useless at this range, but something odd happened. I found myself rolling up into a ball again, my ear coming free of Bessy's grip, but then I flew straight at her head, being careful to avoid her horns. I was using Rollout! She headbutted me at the same time.

The speed of our attacks coming together was like Bessy smacking headfirst into a brick wall. I, however, bounced away again, not without damage, but coming out of it much better off than Bessy. I got up once more to see her with one hoof rubbing her forehead, and a dazed expression on her face. That didn't stop Jenna from issuing another order, however.

"Bessy, use Rollout again!" Try her best to comply, Bessy got into a ball and began to roll forwards, but quickly slowed to a halt and lay on her back on the grass. Jenna sighed. "Guess it's over, then." She called Bessy back to her ball. "Chris, how did you use Rollout? You're a Buneary. They don't learn that move, I don't think.."

"I'll explain later. For now we should get back to the Center." We all walked back, with my pokemon congratulating me on my first victory. We were just walking through the sliding glass door when someone spoke.

"Huh. Look there; a Lopunny, a Riolu, and a Luxio." The voice came from someone outside of our group. We looked around, and I saw, standing behind us, two faces I hadn't seen for a good year. "Someone has the same tastes as our old friend, eh, Kyle?"

_ _ _ _ _

To be continued.

_ _ _ _ _

Huh. I got it done before summer was over. I must have a bit more time on my hands than I thought.