A/N: Sorry about the long wait. What was it? A day? Wow, is that long! (If you can't tell, I'm using my rarely seen but dreamed about sarcasm.) Anyway, here's the fourth chapter in Being Human, and I must say, this is one of my better chapters, possibly my favorite one out of them all. Chris- whom I mentioned before- called it "genius" but friends are obligated to say that. Nevertheless, I still like this chapter the best, so enjoy my terrible writing!

Disclaimer: Do you enjoy my suffering? Very well, if it'll make you happy. (and review) I don't own Pokemon!

CHAPTER FOUR

"Stop dragging me with you Alexis!" Jason cried exasperatedly as my grip tightened as we- or rather, I dragging him- ran toward the nearby town of Oldale. I released him at his cry, though it was partially because he was slowing me down. After all, Jason had been traveling by himself for over two years, and being reluctant, he posed as a problem when he didn't want to go anywhere. "Thank you!" he cried gratefully, dropping to his knees and creating a large show of praising Arceus (what ever that is) that I had let him go. I rolled my eyes; coordinators. What were you going to do?

"Thank you Arceus, for letting that crazy girl let me go! I'm sorry that I ate Jenna's cookie when I was five, and I'm sorry that I stole Maria's Potion, and-"

"Would you stop that?" I snapped as Jason went on and on the third time praising Arceus and Latios and Lugia for making me let him go. Annoyance clouded my senses and I couldn't feel the chill overcoming the open plain. "Must you make a huge show of everything? I thought that you would be better accustomed to such running, since you've been traveling for so long!"

Jason glared up at me- he was still bent on one knee- and replied tartly, "Well, if I had known you were going to run off, I would have ran with you! Then maybe we could have gotten in Oldale Town by now!"

My eyes were incredulous, as was my reply. "So this is my fault?!"

Jason paused to think, making a big show of touching his index finger to his chin. Then he turned, looked me square in the eye, and said, "Yeah. I think so."

I think my screech was heard from over a mile away. "What?!"

Jason's hand steadily dropped to his sides as my high pitched screech died away. He opened his mouth to speak, but I beat him to the punch. (For once)

"How is this my fault?!"

"How isn't it? First you run into me, make me bring you to Professor Birch's lab to get your first Pokemon, and then you drag me all the way here! I'd call that your blame!"

"My blame? If I recall correctly, you're the one who ran into me and you're the one who suggested I follow you to Professor Birch's lab! So how are those my fault?"

"Oh, so you admit the last one!"

"I never said that."

"But you implied it!"

I sighed wearily. This was going no where. "Forget it," I muttered beneath my breath and turned to gaze at the windswept fields that held Pokemon. A tingle of excitement chilled my spine. Closing me eyes, I imagined what it would be like if I made it to the Elite Four of the Hoenn Region.

"Ninetales, use Flamethrower!" I shouted confidently, throwing out my right hand. There was Vulpix, evolved into a beautiful Ninetales, darting this way and that to avoid the Skarmory's Fury Attacks. Finally able to get close enough, a brilliant beam of flames erupted from its mouth and scorched the Steel Pokemon. It let out a screech of pain before the flames stopped licking at its steel wings.

"Alexis?"

His voice jolted me out of my reverie, yet something was different. Instead of his annoying, arrogant, normal voice, it was high pitched with fear, and I whipped around, suddenly aware of the chills that the air currents pressed upon my face.

Jason was being held tightly by a masked man with the emblem 'I' with an odd green serpent/dragon snaked around it on his chest. One burly arm was clutching Jason to him, and he turned his head toward me. I must've squeaked, because the outline of his mouth on the mask turned slightly upward as he rasped, "So you're Alexis?" How did he know my name?

Every instinct in my body was screaming to run and save myself, and I was half-tempted to do it. But then, I realized that I would have a much better chance surviving in the Pokemon world with an experienced trainer, like Jason, so I firmly anchored my feet onto the ground, ignoring Jason's cries to "get out of here" and to "run and save yourself." Didn't he realize that if I had planned to do that, I'd already have done it?

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," I said valiantly, or what would have been valiantly if my voice hadn't broken in between "maybe". "Who- who wants to know?"

The masked man didn't reply, only took a large step toward me. I stepped back equally as far away. "You've been a very bad girl, Alexis, running away from your parents like that." His voice was smooth and syrupy, and my eyes began to droop. Jason was already asleep, giving a big snore here and again. "You should have stayed home." Instinct told me that some Pokemon was doing Hypnosis on me, but for once, I wanted to forget instinct and just wanted to fade away. The last thing I remember was a sneering face, and the distinct feeling of fear and an inexplicable feeling of familiarity. Then, my world blacked out.

- - -

"Wake up." I groaned and turned over, ignoring the syrupy voice, eager to get back to my dream of being the Pokemon master.

"Wake up." There it was again. I groaned louder, as if in attempt to ward him off. Latios, why can't he leave me alone? I thought irritably, as I flipped over once more.

"Wake up!" I jolted up quickly at the loud, annoyed voice that was so unlike the two preceding it, crashing my head against the cage's low ceiling. Yelling in pain and cradling my head, I glared heatedly at my captor. He was looking at me with glee in his brown eyes, as if I was a rare wild animal that he had finally captured. Needless to say, I was angry.

"Where am I?" I asked tensely, my heart beating relentlessly on my chest, despite my attempts to calm my fear. "Who are you?"

My captor waved off my questions with a small wave, turning away, as if I was some small pest that he didn't want to deal with anymore. "Those are of no concern to you. You have no idea what you are, so why should I waste such precious information on you?"

What I am? What does he mean? I asked myself quietly. The ceiling of my cage was too small for me to fully stand up, or even kneel, so I crawled toward the opening. It looked like I was in a dimly lit warehouse on the bay, seeing as there was a Wingull perched on the crate that my cage was held on. The white bird stared at me and squawked loudly, startling me and making my head burst open once more as I jumped.

Are you mocking me? I glared at its retreating form as I rubbed my aching head. Suddenly, my left hand, the one I had left on the cage floor, brushed against something- or someone- and I, for the third time in a row, leaped up in shock and hit my head once more on the cage ceiling. Tears watered in my eyes, and I roughly brushed them away. Taking a deep breath- I seemed to be doing that a lot lately- I called out, "Who's there?"

"What are you in for?" came the sullen reply. I shifted my position so I could stare comfortably at the other occupant of this cage. The person moved toward the light, crawling feebly, and I finally got a good look at her.

She had pretty blue eyes, but they were sunken in, as if she had lost the will to live a long time ago, and her elegant face was framed by long, dark hair. I was suddenly shy and self-conscious of my shoulder length brown hair, green eyes and rather childish features. If she hadn't been so short, she could have passed for a beautiful teenager, rather than an eleven year old girl. At first, I thought she actually was a teenager, for her blue eyes were far more mature and deeper than I would expect someone my age to be.

"I- I don't know," I stammered, suddenly feeling childish. "I was with my friend, Jason, when that thug got me." At the mention of Jason, I looked around wildly. What had the thug done with Jason?

"Your friend's in that other cell over there," she said, jerking her head to the left. I followed her jerk and saw the sleeping form that was Jason. Though our situation was dire, I couldn't help but utter a small laugh. He was sleeping and here I was worrying my head off about whether we would live or die. "He sleeps like a baby."

I grinned away from her, still looking at Jason, though it was probably hidden in the darkness. "Yeah, he does."

"Anyway," she began again, "I'm here because I'm a Pokemorph. That is, I can change into an Umbreon." I turned around so swiftly, my neck cracked. Holding my neck in my hand, and I scrambled away from her.

"You're- you're a…."

She glared at me with those piercing blue eyes, but her voice was expressionless. "Yes. I am a Pokemorph. You know me as a monster." I shifted uncomfortably; her suspicions came too close to the truth. "But," she continued, "I'm not the only one here that is one."

I cast a fearful look at Jason and whispered, "You mean, Jason-"

"No you idiot!" she hissed with sudden venom. "I mean you! You, Alexis, can change into an Espeon. That's why you were put into a cage with me. We're polar opposites, don't you realize?" Glancing at my horror-stricken face, she added, "No, I suppose not. You weren't told of your powers were you?" The word powers sent tremors through my body and I was suddenly brought back to the conversation the night I escaped. Whole new emotions flew through my mind, namely anger and confusion, but I pushed them away.

"I can't be a mon- I mean, Pokemorph!" I exclaimed. "Surely I would have gotten the... the powers by now, right?"

She casually dismissed my notion. I had the sudden feeling of being the stupid pupil while she was the impatient teacher. "No, not right. You have these powers, but they've been locked away from that ring that Steven gave you. They have a one day lasting effect after they are taken off the first time. I took mine off when I was seven. I've spent the most of four years learning how to control my powers. It's about time you learned yours."

"B-but," I stammered.

"B-but," she mocked me. "Make up your mind," she hissed. "Are you going to let me help you?"

I turned over the thought in my head. To learn, or not to learn… "Fine." I had nothing to lose. When she was wrong- not if, when- I wouldn't be any different.

She gave me a satisfied smirk, and closed her eyes while I watched fearfully. A sudden bright light overwhelmed me and I was temporarily blinded. While I was left rubbing my eyes to make the multi-colored spots popping in my eyes go away, a soft tail trailed up my arm. Opening up my eyes, I jumped back as I saw an Umbreon standing where that other girl stood before. It's true!

Another white light, and as I rubbed my eyes, there she was, brushing her unkempt black bangs out of her eyes. "Ready?" she asked calmly, as if she hadn't done anything but show me that two plus two equaled four.

What is she? "Um… sure."

She smiled swiftly and said, "Okay, close your eyes." I uncertainly closed them. "Now think of something that strikes deep emotion in you." I thought of the conversation, and the anger, guilt and regret I felt after leaving my family. The feelings melded into one and suddenly, a felt a rushing feeling in my limbs as they grew fur and shortened. My neck lengthened, and my ears suddenly became pointed, and huge tufts of fur grew from my cheeks. My spine shook suddenly and I felt my tail emerge and fork into two separate ones. What's happening to me? I thought desperately as I opened my eyes to see things in an entirely new way.

For one thing, the room seemed to be much darker than it had when I was human. I supposed that this was because I was a Sun Pokemon. My dark amethyst eyes were more used to blinding light than dark rooms. And I could see glowing red and orange shapes that were the shapes of Jason and the other Pokemorph. Great. I haven't gone through puberty and I've already gone through so many changes, I thought ruefully as I examined my paws, also a glowing red color. Just great.

'Don't worry so much about it,' the Umbreon beside me said matter-of-factly, sitting down on her haunches and giving her paw a lick before swiping it over her ear. 'You'll get used to it.'

'I can understand you?' I asked her, half-hoping I couldn't and this was all just a dream.

'You can understand any Pokemon, but only while you're in this form. When you're human, you'll be the same as those other dolts.'

'You're nice,' I remarked dryly, before turning my gaze onto the warm curled up ball that was Jason. 'What about the others? Will they understand me?'

The Umbreon rolled her eyes. 'What part of only Pokemon will understand you don't you understand? In this form, only Pokemon will be able to understand you!'

'Oh,' I replied sheepishly. If I could have blushed, I would have. 'I knew that.' My sheepish expression became serious. 'Is there anything else I should know?' If I was going to be in this form for my whole entire life, I may as well learn what I could do, even though I detested this form.

'Well,' she mumbled through the fur on her paw as she licked her paw once more, 'my name is Natalie. I thought you might need to know that.' Her voice dripped with sarcasm, and once again, I was wondering if I was like this to other people. 'For your powers, though, since we are polar opposites, I'm guessing your powers rise with the temperature, while mine rise with the drop of temperature.' Seeing my blank gaze, Natalie sighed. 'It means, idiot, that you're more powerful when it's warmer out, and I'm more powerful when it's colder.'

'Oh.'

'And another thing. The air currents. They help you.'

'Air currents?' I asked skeptically.

Natalie rolled her eyes. The motion was very infuriating, almost worthy of a Jason hair-flick. 'You know it as the instincts you have. Those are actually the air currents telling you what may happen next.'

My amethyst eyes widened. 'Really?'

'Yes, that's the only power you're allotted with that ring on your finger.'

Great. 'So how do I change back?' I was certainly eager to become my normal person.

'Close your eyes, think of happiness, or the sun, whatever makes you tingle inside, and you'll change.' I closed my eyes, and imagined myself taking on the Hoenn League Champion. A sudden bright light flashed before me and I was sudden crouching in the all too small cage in my human form. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank Latios.

Another bright light flashed, and Natalie appeared in her human form. Glancing at her, I opened my mouth to speak, but was rudely interrupted by Jason, who finally woke up.

"What- My Arceus! Where am I?!"

This time, Natalie and I both rolled our eyes at the same time, as if we were twins. At least Jason was still himself.

An ominous voice overcame the cheery atmosphere, though. "Enough small talk," it hissed in an all too unwelcome syrupy voice. "You two need to get to the Boss." The cage door opened and the voice shouted, "Get out now!" Natalie bristled angrily, and I saw the fire burning in her eyes.

"Ready to try out those powers of yours?" Natalie hissed between gritted teeth. I nodded fearfully, though I wasn't too sure that I could become my alternate form at will just yet. I closed my eyes tightly and thought about running away. A bright light flashed and just as I felt my neck lengthening, I heard a howl nearby. The loud noise startled me, and I opened my eyes. Almost immediately, the bright light went out.

The world was out of order now. I saw things in my normal vision, the dim light, yet at the same time, I saw the heat of Jason watching the battle between Natalie in her Umbreon form and the masked man. I knew that I was now a cross between human and Espeon. It frightened me, and I shrunk back to the shadows. Natalie cried, "Help me Alexis!" but shame kept me in the shadows.

Think of something happy, think of something happy, I thought desperately. The familiar feeling becoming a normal human overwhelmed me and when I opened my eyes once more, the world was as it was normally. I breathed a sigh of relief as I heard the door of the warehouse shut. Another bright light flashed in the warehouse, and I was suddenly thrown up against the wall. "Why didn't you help me when I needed it?" I heard Natalie growl.

"I- I couldn't get there," I stammered, green eyes frightened. "I'm sorry." Natalie's grip loosened and I slid down the wall, several tears staining my cheeks.

"You should be," was her cold reply as she walked out of the warehouse, leaving me behind. My only teacher, gone.

"Alexis?" Jason's voice seemed far away, distant, and I ignored him as I curled up into a ball on the ground, my outward shell shattering into a million pieces, and cried silently, oblivious to Jason calling my name. I suddenly wished that I had never left home, so I didn't have to deal with the shame of disappointing Natalie. My honor had been shattered into a million pieces, and I didn't think it was possible to put them back together.