A New Beginning ( Pokemon TF )

    Gregory Robinson awoke, as he did every morning, to the gentle nudging of his pikachu.

    "Alright, i'm up, i'm up," he groaned, exhausted and annoyed, "jeez, I don't know why i don't just have you sleep in the pokeball."

    Once he was out of bed and at least three fourths of the way to being fully awake, he made his way toward the bathroom, but not before stoping to take a quick look at his 8 gym badges, which were hanging right next to his newly earned high school diploma. Back when he was 10 years old, he was considered one of the most promising pokemon trainers in his class. He had defeated the eight gym leaders and was well on his way to victory with the elite four. However, because of financial problems being faced by his family, and early developmental issues with his newborn brother Freddy, he had to retire to support the family. Now it was 8 years later, his families financial troubles have long been forgotten and his now 8-year-old brother was in good health. At first he was certain that once he finished school, he would be able to continue his quest to become the greatest pokemon trainer in the world but now he wasn't sure what kind of a future laid ahead of him. The only pokemon from his heyday who he still kept with him was his pikachu.

    Once he was done in the bathroom, Gregory went downstairs, his pikachu closely following him (his pikachu followed him almost everywhere), to the kitchen. When he arrived at the fridge he saw a note from his mother with a list of groceries to get while she was gone. He then made himself some pancakes, sat down at the main table, and started eating. Aout halfway through his , Gregory's little brother Freddy came downstairs and sat at the other end of the table, looking tired and relatively downcast.

    "Good mornin', bro," Greg said, with some food still in his mouth."Well Pikachu," he said, "How long do you think until the missing posters start appearing?"

    Saying that gave Pikachu a look of anxiety on his face. In near-hopelessness, Greg lazily let his head turn to the right. Almost immediately something different caught his eye. With new-found curiosity, he and Pikachu got up and looked at what appeared to be a modest sized but ancient looking shrine. Greg was no archeologist, but he could guess by the deteriorating textures and the moss growing all over it that it was probably over 5 centuries old. After pondering what purpose a shrine such as this in the middle of such a foreboding forest could serve, eventually, he cautiously walked in small steps toward the structure. With his Pikachu clinging tightly to his shoulders, he slowly began to asscend the small set of stairs to the slightly elevated center surrounded by four stone pillars. Looking up, he saw on the ceiling that was being supported by the four pillars, ancient looking drawings of people and all the 150 pokemon native to his region, and even some he didn't recognize. Looking straight ahead of him, he saw a small cylindrical table, and resting upon that table, was a shining bright orange orb, giving off a shining light from within it's center at a slow but constant rate. He slowly uproached the orb with a look of curiosity and wonder in his eye. Not sure whether or not he should try picking it up or just leave it there, he carefully hovered his hands over the mysterious articact. Meanwhile, near the shrines entrance, the three pokemon that have been following him since he arrived in the forest stared at him from behind with a look of anticipation. Soon enough, Greg decided to try picking up the orb. Nervously, not knowing if removing the orb would set off some sort of booby trap, he placed his hands over the orb. Once he gathered enough courage, he lifted the orb 9which was alot lighter than he thought) from it's resting place. About 5 seconds later, an orange glow, similar to the color of the orb, surrounded his body. Upon seeing this, Greg simply stood there petrified with fear. About a minute later, he glow disapated, leaving Greg standing there confused and frightened. Just then he heard what sounded like a child's voice.

    "What happened?" he heard the voice say, "why didn't he change?"

    "How should i know?" said another voice.

    "Hello?" Greg called out to whatever direction setting the orb back down on the table., "Who's there?"

    "I think it came from that way Greg!" said another mysterious voice, this one sounding very close to him.

    "Who said that?" Greg said while looking around, confused, "Where are you!?!"

    "Can... Can you... Understand me?" the nearbly voice asked in a confused and astonished tone.

    "I... I think so," Greg tried saying to the mysterious voice, "Why can't i see you?"

    "I'm down here." stated the voice.

    Stopping in place, Greg slowly looked down, and saw his Pikachu staring back up at him.

    "Now don't freak out or anything," Pikachu said, in what Greg heard as pure english.

    "Pi-Pikachu???" Greg asked, freaked out of his mind. "Are you... Talking?"

    "I... I don't know" Pikachu said, "I'm just talking the way I've talked for years!"

    Just then, they heard a young female voice from the entrance to the shrine, saying, "The orb has given you the ability to understand pokemon language," to which Greg and Pikachu quickly turned toward the entrance to see the Kanto region's three most common starter pokemon.

    The female voice came from the squirtle. "But it also should have changed him into a pokemon"

    "Like it did to us," said a young male voice coming out of the bulbasaur.

    "Yeah," said a slightly older male voice from the charmander, "what gives."

    Confused, and desperatly wanting answers, Greg interrupted, "Hold on, time out!" to which all the pokemon fell silent, "what the hell is going on?"

    "What's happening," said a mysterious and mystic sounding voice from behind Greg and Pikachu, "Is that the chosen one has finally been found."

    Upon hearing that voice, Greg slowly turned around to the orb stand, to see a celestial and ghost-like figure of the legendary pokemon Mew floating just above the orb.

    "Are you-" Greg asked, astonished, "a mew!?!"

    "I am an echo," explained the apparition, "the remaining essence of that which once was."

    Greg simply stared at the mew before speaking up, "I don't follow."

    "I think it's a ghost," suggested Pikachu, making Greg seem like a complete idiot.

    "O-kay..." said Greg, "so, what is this place, and why am I suddenly able to understand pokemon?"

    "During my time in the mortal world," explained Mew, "I travelled the world and brought happiness to those who never before knew such feeling, by transcending the boundaries of form."

    Attempting to comprehend what Mew had said, Greg simply looked at Pikachu gave a confused shrug.

    "He turned miserable kids into Pokemon so that they could live a better life," stated Pikachu, annoyed at Greg's lack of understanding.

    "Yes," stated Mew, "But whether you live a hundred years, or a million, the end always comes too soon. So upon my twilight, I came here to my personal sanctuary, and transferred my powers of metamorphisis into the orb that lay before you. Now any human who touches it, shall be transmogrified into the pokemon that best fits there soul."

    "Wait," said Greg, pointing to the three pokemon standing at the entrance watching him, "so these pokemon, were once human?"

    "These children, have all spent their days of humanity either alone, or unloved," said Mew, "They each eventually wandered into this forest, only to discover this shrine, and be transformed by the orbs magic."

    "And the pidgey that flew in here?" asked Greg.

    "That was probably just a pidgey," explained the bulbasaur.

    "Wait," said Greg, "I touched it, and i'm still human, I think"

    "Yes, you are still Homo-sapien," Mew assured Greg, "you see, I put my unique magic into the orb, so that one day, a human would come along, whom the orb would deem worthy of continuing my legacy. Someone who would be able to take the orb from it's confines, and search for those who are in need of a true family."

    "So," Greg pondered, "Is that why i am able to understand Pokemon"

    "This ability will be essential," stated Mew, "If your are to communicate with the children you have changed."

    "Now, hold on," said Greg, ""I'm not sure if you have noticed, but I am not exactly 'Chosen One' material."

    "We all have parts of ourselves that we are yet to discover." stated Mew.

    "Look," Greg sighed, "I'd love to help you out, I really would, but I haven't travelled with pokemon in over 8 years, and I have way too much on my plate as it is. I can't do whatever it is you expect of me. If this 'Chosen One' does exist, he's certainly not me.

    "You may be hesitant now, Gregory Robinson," Mew assured, "but soon, you will come to embrace your destiny."

    "I'm sorry," Greg sincerly said, walking away with Pikachu already perched on his back, "but i don't believe in destiny. Not anymore."

    As he began his walk from the shrine toward what he hoped was the entrance to the forest, the charmander snook the orb into one of his lower vest pockets. The three pokemon/former humans watched Greg walk away, hopeful that he would change his mind.

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    It took almost an hour, but Greg and Pikachu finally made it out of the forest, and miraculously, right where they entered.

Greg simply stood there relieved, and muttered, "that was without a doubt the most bizzare 17 minutes of my life..."

As Greg began his walk back to Pallet town, he noticed Pikachu giving him a dirty look.

    "Now don't give me that, Pikachu," Greg said, "you know as well as anyone I'm the last person who would be cut out for a ridiculous task such as that."

    "This is coming from someone who was able to beat the Viridian Gym with just a rattata and a butterfree," Pikachu stated.

    "We were different people back then, times have changed." Grag admitted.

    "Greg," said Pikachu, "You might have been able to convince yourself that you're a different person now than you were then, but in all the years since you retired, I've known that the little boy who dreamt of traveling across the world, discovering and training new species of pokemon."

    Greg simply sighed and muttered to himself quietly, "I can't believe i'm arguing with a mouse..."

    "I heard that!" exclaimed pikachu.

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When Greg finally got home, he walked into the the kitchen, exhausted, and trying to think of what he would say to mom to explain why he had no groceries.. When Pikachu leapt off his shoulder and onto the ground, Greg removed his vest and hung it on the side of one of the chairs. When he sat down on the couch with a newspaper and a pen (Greg had been looking for a job since graduating High School),
Freddy walked into the room.

    "Where have you been all day?" Freddy asked, a bit frantically.

    "Just getting the groceries," Greg answered, deciding to keep the whole experience to himself for now.

    "You were gone for 4 hours! Freddy stated, "I was just about to call the cops."

    Upon hearing that, Greg slowly turned his head over to his brother, with a look of frustrated astonishment.

    "You should have called them after one hour!" exclaimed Greg.

    "I thought whatever you were doing was your buisiness," Freddy said defensively.

    "Well, believe me," said Greg, turning back to his paper, "there is some buisiness i could really do without."

    Annoyed with his older brother's response, he looked over to his discarded vest as an orange glow from one of the pockets caught his eye. Being as curious as he was, he reached his hand into the pocket and pulled out the orb.

    "What's this?" Freddy asked

    "What's what?" asked Greg, not looking away from his paper.

    "This round, glowing thing." Freddy answered, not noticing the orange glow beggining to take shape around him.

    "The what?" said Greg getting up and turning around thinking to himself that it couldn't possibly be the same orb.

    When Greg saw his brother with the orb, both glowing orange, it confirmed his suspicions.

    "Where did you get that...?" said a suprised Greg.

    "I found it in your vest." Freddy answered.

    As Greg came over and took the orb from him, Freddy finally noticed the glow surrounding him.

    "What's happening!?!" Freddy exclaimed, panicking.

    Soon, Freddy felt a strange itchy and tingling feeling spreading around his feet. He took off his shows and socks to see what looked like the begginings of brown fur growing over his feet. Horrified, Freddy, Greg, and Pikachu watched as brown fur continued to grow on both his feet, until not of speck of human skin was visible. As the fur started to continue up his legs, his feet began to reshape themselves, five toes turning into three, until they were canine like in appearance. The fur continues up into his shorts and up to his thighs. Freddy then felt a large discomforting feeling in his legs, as through his bones were shifting and changing. Soon he could no longer stand upright, and fell onto his upper arms. With his complete bottom half completely unrecognizable, his shorts and underwear fell to his feet, revealing the beginnings of a tail. His entire body then began to shrink, his shirt becomming more and more baggy on him. As the fur spread up his hips, making its way to his arms, his tail began to grow into a puffy, brown, fox-like tail, with a dab of lighter brown at the tip. the fur began to spread down his arms and all the way to his hands, which suffered the same fate as his feet. Still shrinking, his arms and legs shortened until they supported his body in a text-book quadruped position. The transformation then reached his neck, with a small blond mane covering it. Finally, the fur reached his head, completely covering it. As this was happening, Freddy, felt the most nauseated he ever felt in his life as his head shrank to accomidate it's new body, his back teeth reshaped into fangs, his nose turned small and black, and his ears moving to the top of it's head, both growing long and pointy. Then it was over.

    Greg and Pikachu just helplessly stood by and watched as this happened, and were soon standing in front of a pile of Freddy's former clothes, with a small mass moving within his shirt.

    Soon, the small mass was able to free itself from the oversized shirt, revealing a scared looking eevee, on the verge of tears.

    "What-" Greg heard Freddy's voice mumble from the eevee's mouth, "What happened to me!?!"

    "Now, don't freak out or anthing," assured Greg, kind of freaking out himself, "but I think you're an eevee now."

    "Well, I can see that!" Freddy snapped back, "but why!?!"

    "Now, Freddy," said Pikachu, Freddy now able to understand him not that he himself is a pokemon, "just calm down, and we will explain everything."

    Hearing his brother's pokemon speak english, along with his earlier transformation, made Freddy faint.

    "Well this is just great," exclaimed Greg sarcastically, "can this day get any worse, or awkward?"

    "Greg! Freddy! I'm home!" he heard his mother's voice say from the front door.

    "Oh, crap," muttered Greg worringly.

    When his mother came into the room, she saw her older son and his pikachu looking at her sweating, her younger sons clothes scattered over the floor, and an uncouncious eevee laying near them.

    "Gregory," she asked, "Where did you get that eevee, and whats your brother's clothes doing on the floor?"

    Gregory, not having had enough time to contemplate what to say, just smiled nervously and said, "okay, you're gonna think this is hilarious..."

    Greg then told his mother the entire truth. Let's just say she didn't think it was hilarious... at all.

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The shine was surprisingly a lot easier to find a second time. He and pikachu ran up the steps, to the empty table where they first found the orb. They both just stood there not knowing what to do next.

    "Hello?" Greg called out, "Mew, are you there."

    After a few seconds, nothing happened.

    Greg just looked over and down to Pikachu and said, "So what are we supposed to do, knock?"

    "Hello, Gregory," Greg heard the Mew say.

    He then looked toward the spot above the table to see the apparition from before, looking down at him.

    "Oh," Greg said, "hello... weird, ghost, mew..., thing. I have a problem"

    "Your little brother has been been changed by the powers of the orb?" said Mew,.

    "Well," Greg stammered, "yeah, and I need to know if there is a way to change him back."

    "The power to change man into pokemon and pokemon into man are both powers i have possesed," stated Mew, "but still two different things. Therefore, where one orb has the power to do the former, another has the power to do the latter."

    Greg just stared for awhile and said, "honestly, I can never understand half of what you're saying."

    "He's saying there's another orb that can change him back." Pikachu clarified.

    "Well thats great!" said Greg, "where is this other orb?"

    "Unknown." Mew stated.

    Greg just stood there with his mouth slightly open.

    "Seriously?!?" He sstammered, "How could you lose your own shape-changing orb, that sounds like a pretty hard thing to lose."

    "I can only see within the confines of the shrine, and of the second orb has constantly changed since the time of my passing."