A/N: for some reason, when I uploaded this, it lost all of it's formatting, so there were no paragraphs, no line breaks, no italics no bold text, etc. This took forever to fix.

Chapter 1: Truth

He rolled over onto his back, the sun warmed his cold limbs.

"I never thought it'd get so cold so fast..." he whispered.

Turning his head, he looked at his partner Pokemon and smiled. "You're not so cold are you? My jacket takes care of that".

She didn't reply, her thoughts lay elsewhere... in a place even her beloved trainer could not reach.
He continued to gaze at her, thinking about the past few months and how she had suddenly started acting quite odd around him. The online Pokedex he had referred to claimed that at her age she had 'matured' and would seek out a mate. He hated how it was his fault she missed her first season, yet she never complained, never got angry and that was what made him slightly uneasy around her.

"Goonn..." she whispered suddenly, ending the silence. She looked at him, her eyes hardly visible in their protective, red visors. Rolling over to her side and keeping the jacket held close to her chest, she tried to forget about her strange feelings, they were after all, impossible to fulfill.

H-How I wish he could understand me... or I could speak the Human language.

The truth was that she hadn't shivered because of the cold, no, she had shivered because she had wanted him to hug her; she had wanted to feel his body up against hers. The plan had failed, and he'd only draped his small jacket around her shoulders in a futile attempt to keep her warm despite how cold it must've been for him.

Ever since she had fully awakened as an adolescent Flygon, she had strong feelings towards him. At first she thought it was the usual bond between trainer and pokemon that strengthens over time, but she soon learned that this was not so, it was something deeper, something that yearned for him to act differently, for him to croon over her beauty and how majestic she was.

For him to simply be more than a trainer.

She had been terribly confused and distracted, and he had of course thought it was because she'd missed the mating season of Flygons. But she had never cared for that, only for him.

A forbidden love.

She wished that he could understand her, that she could confess her love to him. She hoped that deep down, he felt the same about her.

Ever since she had been a Trapinch, she had felt a little differently towards Artemis than his other pokemon. She had always worried about him constantly and she hated not being able to be with him when she was in her Pokeball which was usually when she had fought or they needed to get past some difficult terrain.

She was now fully capable of doing the opposite and carrying him when the need arised. Though she only took the chance if he asked. She didn't want to spoil her chance at one day winning him over as a mate.

I love him, I need him... if he just once said 'I love you' I would be happy to die right then and there. He's so kind and caring yet he can be rather hotheaded and not always that good at mental challenges. But those flaws are meaningless to me!

She started mumbling without realizing it, "I just wish I could tell him... but no one cares... and I will not ever be able to tell him how I feel..."
And with that she resigned herself to dreaming about a life with her trainer, a life she knew she'd never have.

Artemis gazed at the back of Jula's head, the snow gently drifted to the ground outside their crude cover. He had been trying so hard to work out why Jula had been acting this way for so long, he was trying his hardest to make her happy and he'd gladly give his own life if it would fix everything for her, and he was surprised at how ready he would be if a time came when he would have to give his life for her, he felt strange; a weird bubbling feeling rose in his chest and his throat felt like someone was pressing on it gently.

Am I that devoted to her as her trainer? So devoted I'd even take the fatal blow?

Jula was his first pokemon and she held a very special place in his heart. She always seemed to be there for him when he needed to unload and she was by far the most strong willed pokemon on his rather small team.

He remembered the day he received word that his sick aunt had finally passed away while he had been out adventuring. Artemis had broken down and started to cry, his aunt had been the one who raised him until she fell too ill to even get out of bed.
It was Jula as a Vibrava that had comforted him, she stayed by his side as he cried and hated himself for not being there in his aunts final moments.

Artemis's thoughts drifted this way and that, he started reliving his journey in fast forward.
The highs and the lows, and even the rock bottoms. He even remembered the time he told Jula to rack off because she was too clingy. And he remembered the look on her insect face, the watery eyes behind the dome-like visors, her trembling lips. He hated himself for saying that to her, and would never forgive himself for it either.

Finally he felt his eyelids droop and decided he was too tired to be mentally beating himself up over something that was done and passed. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The two slept through the cold, eventually Artemis had gotten so cold that his cheeks had gone white and his teeth clattered. Jula rolled back over and pressed up against him in order to keep him warm with her body heat, and to allow herself to fantasize about a life with him as her mate.

It was early morning when Jula woke, she was confused because she usually slept like a rock, Artemis being the one to wake her every morning without fail. But something seemed to pull at her, urging her to move deeper into the woods. Before she followed the urge, she placed Artemis's jacket back onto him and dragged a log over to him, lighting it with a Dragon Breath attack that she willed to keep him warm and safe before turning and following the pull.

She trekked through the tree's being quite silent and willing as she was led by some unseen presence. The snowy landscape gave way to her, and she thanked the unseen presence for leading her on an easy path. Their journey ended at a ruined shrine of sorts, Human in design, yet it held a magical feel, something no Human structure she had ever seen or been in had given off.

This was here, yet, Artemis did not know? He would have jumped at the opportunity to explore an ancient ruin...

She cautiously stepped into the dark entrance, following that urge as it pulled her deeper into the ruins.
As she walked through the halls, she spotted various stone statues, many of which were Pokemon she had not seen or heard of, yet others she could tell almost instantly, there was an ornately carved Dragonite, a Human and it's Minun and Plusle, a very mysterious statue of a half human half Pokemon figure peering up at an Eon Pokemon and various others. One of them caught her interest so greatly she even managed to ignore the pull and stop to gaze at it.

The Human in this statue was kissing a Typhlosion, the two looked so madly in love that she greatly envied the originals they were based off.

She quickly moved on, and she realized that there must've been a great struggle here at one stage in history because walls and statues had been cracked and shattered and the further she moved in, the more ruin she encountered.

When she started wondering if this hall would ever end it suddenly came to an end in a huge chamber, the ceiling here at least reached several stories high and was as large as two of the Humans basketball courts. As Jula stepped into the center of the room, a flash of Pink shot past her and down the hall.

Barely able to keep track of the flash, she spun around and took to the air, her wings vibrating fast enough to keep her up and allowing her to move much faster. She chased after the Pink blur, she was sure it was a pokemon; and turned a hard left as the pokemon did too.

They shot down a new hall and into a darker room where Jula could barely see the pokemon ahead of her.

Why am I chasing it? It obviously wants to be left alone...

But it was too late to stop the chase, she had it cornered in a dark room. It halted just in front of the wall and trembled, it's long pink tail flicking back and forth as it slowly turned.
The pokemon was about half the size of a human, and had a pointy face with big eyes. It continued to tremble as Jula waited in the doorway.

"Don't hurt me!" it squealed.

Jula was stunned, it sounded rather like a child. "Please! I don't want to get hurt..." it whispered, tears forming in it's eyes.

Jula's heart seemed to break at this comment. "I won't hurt you... Why are you so scared?"

It sniffed, still floating in the air rather oddly. Jula knew it had some form of psychic power to do this.

"Scary humans are chasing me. I thought you were sent by them... are you?"

"No, I just felt like I needed to come here... so I did. Then you rushed past me and I wanted to know what you were and why you were running" Jula replied in a soothing tone, even if they were different species, her tone was still calming to the pokemon.

It sniffed again, the tears had dried and it looked at Jula rather curiously before it introduced itself, "I'm Mew,"

"My name is Jula, I'm a Flygon."

The two continued to look at each other for a few more moments before there was shouting down the hall and Jula turned to see what it was. At the entrance to the hall, two men were gazing down their choice of paths. Mew started to whimper, "Those are the humans that are after me!"

Jula lowered herself to the ground, whoever they were they had no right to harm or chase a child as sweet as this one. Her motherly side started to shine through for a moment. "Stay here" she hissed before stalking off towards the men.

She stopped a few meters away from them, still to far in the dark for them to see her clearly. She waited a moment before barking at them, "GO AWAY"

The men jumped, and fell onto their backsides from the bark. They scrambled back up and peered into the darkness. "D'ya think it's the Mew?" one asked.

"I dunno, but I'm not taking any chances with these ruins. Let's get outta here!" the other said before bolting from the hall. His accomplice quickly followed suit and Jula felt rather disappointed that she didn't get to fight them off.

She felt tiny paws on her shoulder and turned her head to see Mew sitting there.

"Thank you... you're so kind." Mew purred.

"If there's anything I can do, I will do my best" Jula's heart seemed to stop, Anything? She thought.

Mew seemed to notice Jula's reaction. "What is it? IS there something I can do?" Jula waited a moment before replying, "It's complicated... and I don't expect a child to understand it but... do you think you can help me by letting me talk to my trainer?"

Mew cocked it's head to the side, "Trainer? What's a trainer?"

Jula wanted to laugh. "A trainer is a human who looks after pokemon and treats them as their friends. My trainer is a very kind human and I want to tell him something... important."

Mew didn't like the sound of meeting another human, and it didn't like the fact this large scaley lived with one. "Can I do anything else?"

"No... that's the only thing I can ask of you... you don't have to do it if you're uncomfortable with it..." Jula answered, she felt rather let down.

Mew sensed Jula's disappointment and felt bad, "...I can't make you talk to him... but I can do something else. He needs to come here though. Where is he?"

"I left him back up on the trail, he's not too far away..."

"Good! You can stay and play with me then!" Mew said cheerfully and more like a demand than a request.

Artemis woke with a start. His body was quite warm despite the snow and below zero temperatures.

The first thing he really noticed was that Jula was nowhere to be seen, then he saw the log that was burning with a steady lime flame that had to be a Dragon Breath flame.

"Jula?" He called uncertainly.

He started to panic when no reply came, he had never been separated from her like this for weeks, she had been so clingy and he had gotten used to it... now he was panicking because she had disappeared.

"JULA?" A rising fear started to choke him as he scrambled to his feet, pulling his stiff jacket on and grabbing branch to use as a torch.

He left his bag behind and ran out into the snow, it was knee deep now, and he could just make out impressions where he was sure that Jula had stepped earlier that morning.

Following the tracks, he moved through the trees as fast as his legs could carry him, the snow obscured any sharp objects that lay on the ground and he felt warm blood stream down his socks as the flesh was torn on something.
But he ignored the pain and moved onward, his thoughts set on only being reunited with Jula.

As he moved he wondered, Why am I reacting like this? She's probably just gone for a drink, or an early morning flight... But then again... she's barely left me without letting me see her go.

More thoughts swirled in his head, and he got more and more worried.
Stories of trainers risking their lives and even losing them for their beloved starter partner Pokemon pushed inside in his head, sending more confusion around. He knew that if he ever did something so reckless that Jula would be devastated, and he also knew if she did the same for him he would feel as if the world had come to an end. He finally arrived at the ruins, the sun had rose, and it started to melt the snow slightly.

But Artemis didn't notice, he only cared about the Ruins ahead, because the tracks ended here and he felt the warm blood trickle down his leg and ankle.

You're joking right? How could this have been here and not shown on the map? Or spoken of by the nearby towns...

He stepped into the dark entrance, his human eyes nowhere near as good as Jula's. He had to make vague assumptions about the terrain.

Ignoring the dark shapes that were statues he moved deeper, his walk turned into a jog, which later turned into a run and finally a full blown sprint. His feet pounded the stone floor, the sound of the sneakers impacting echoed around the hall and all the way down to the chamber.

He skidded to a halt, the chamber was empty, void of life and held nothing for him. He let out a howl of frustration and anger.

I've wasted time! I have to make sure she's okay! If someone hurt her I'll make them pay and regret the day they were born!

Just then he heard noises down the hall. He turned and followed the very same one Jula had in her chase of Mew. The dark hallway seemed rather menacing and he could barely see. Just as he rounded a corner, two men ran into him and cried out in shock. They pulled themselves together and were about to say something before they noticed the league emblems attached to Artemis's jacket.

They pushed past him without a word and continued to run down the hall before Artemis could react.

What the heck is going on here?

He heard more noises, from further in the ruins and followed them. His curiosity was getting the better of him and he checked every room he passed as he moved deeper into the ruins. Flashes of his past tortured him as he ran down the hall. The day he learned that his parents were dead and he had to live with his sick aunt. The day his aunt had fallen so ill she was permanently bed ridden. And the fateful day that spelled out his aunt's lonely doom and his admission to a grand adventure with pokemon.

And then he froze, ahead of him was Jula, perfectly fine and healthy. But it was the pokemon she was with that captured his full attention. The small pink feline struck him as familiar and he was sure he knew what it was.

And then it mewed "Mew" And he instantly understood why it was so familiar. It was a legendary pokemon said to have become so rare that hardly anyone sees it, and others believed that they were extinct all together. Yet here one was, floating ten meters away and seemingly playing with his Flygon.

"Gon?" Jula asked.

The Mew giggled before it noticed Artemis and seemingly vanished. Artemis quickly looked around the room, wondering where the pokemon had vanished to before he rushed forward and hugged Jula.

"Don't ever walk off like that! I was scared half to death" he said as they separated. She nodded an apology, her head lowered in shame and her tail lying limp on the stone floor.

"But, god! That was a Mew! How come you became friends with a legendary pokemon? And where'd it go?" Jula stood up, she stepped back and watched as Artemis spun around, searching for Mew.

You won't see Mew until it's sure you won't hurt it...

She waited as he finally stopped spinning around. "Oh I wish I could see it again... up close. I just want to be able to say I've met a legendary, to be able to claim that and be telling the truth would be a dream come true"

Jula spoke aloud, knowing that Artemis would not understand, "Please Mew... help me like you said you'd try..."

The shy and scared pokemon re-emerged from it's hiding place and floated up next to Jula, it glanced at Artemis nervously before concentrating hard on the human so it could repay it's debt to the Flygon.

Looking back at Jula, Artemis spotted Mew and gasped in joy and surprise, his trainer side won over and he felt as if he had done the one thing that really meant anything to anyone... but he felt strange, the tips of his ears tingled and his feet felt heavy. Artemis took a step towards Jula and Mew but was brought down to his knees, he suddenly felt as if he weighed three times his original weight and couldn't move.

"Argh! What's happening?"

He watched as the skin on the back of his hands started to crawl, and small green scales formed all over his hand, the crawling feeling rushed up his arm and spread across the length of his body.

He felt an immense pain in his lower back as a thick and strong tail slid out, slightly pushing his pants down and tearing his shirt. With this, Jula rushed to his side despite Mew's protests, and she helped remove some of his clothing as wings burst from his back and spread out.

She ran a claw over his scaly cheek as he whimpered in pain and fear. And then she started to sing a Dragon song to him, he felt oddly calmed, his body still burned and screamed at him, but his mind felt quite calm.

Suddenly his eyesight warped horribly and he was left blind, and then it returned to him, everything was tinted a slight aqua before the red lenses slid over his eyes and returned the world to a normal color. All the while, Jula sang and stroked him as his body mutated before her, she couldn't help but feel guilty that he was suffering.

Artemis's body started to reshape itself, muscles bulged in his back and tail, his thighs and his upper arms as well as his neck. The new wings hardened and he felt them gently vibrate of their own accord, as his tail flicked.

Next came his face, his nose stretched out painfully and his lower and upper jaws rushed to keep up. His upper jaw melded with his nose to form a muzzle as his teeth sharpened to vicious fangs and his hair slid out as long horns slowly protruded from the back and top of his skull.

Jula stopped singing and gently rubbed her muzzle against his, sending shivers of excitement down both of their spines. Artemis rose from the stone floor, as the claws on his paws and feet slid out and completed his transformation.

He was stunned into silence, not knowing if he should grin or scream. Obviously he looked terribly confused and Jula took the opportunity to speak.

"Arty? Can you understand me?"

Artemis stared at her stupidly, his mouth hung open and his tail flicking back and forth. Finally he seemed to regather some sense and uttered, "My god! I-I... You... Jesus! I'm a freaking Pokemon!"

Jula didn't react, she knew he might act like this. Mew however couldn't help but giggle.

Artemis pointed at Jula accusingly, "Why? Why Jula!?"

She lowered her gaze as she answered, "I-I... I love you Arty..."

Artemis's insides seemed to erupt and he felt faint, She loves me? Something inside him howled in joy and something else recoiled in shock and disgust.

He didn't want to tell her something and then find out that it wasn't true. He hated the look in her eyes when she was disappointed.

"Arty? D-Do... Do you love me?" She asked, her voice quivered as she spoke.

Mew, feeling rather left out decided that it was not needed to join in the conversation, it left Jula with a warning.

"Remember that this only lasts a few days, and then he will be human again..."