Chpater 1.- Arriving at the Station

 Approaching station Tobalaba, combination terminal with…

Finally getting done for today, after a long day of running around in circles, I can now proceed to kick back and relax.

As much as I can in a food court.

And once I get to the food court.

It’s not much, but I’ve seen people do that. Just… Get to the shopping mall and…

Yeah.

Looking over to the side, a girl is texting someone something on her phone. To the other side, it’s the same but a dude. Glad to see I’m not the only one here. Should consider myself lucky, I don’t feel nearly as awkward now.

Yeah.

Yeah!

I sit back a tad more comfortably, legs slightly splayed and somewhat─ though not really─ open. The shaking of the train calming my nerves, I sigh as confidence fills my tiny heartYeah, I should consider myself—

Lights go out

The cabin shakes, goes dark

But as soon as it came,

The dark is gone

…?

Sure. Be that way I guess, train. What was I thinking?

Oh yeah! I raise a hand to my chin. I should consider myself lucky! I tap my chin, barely scratching my soft stubble

Soft

Soft?

“WAHG!”

The girl from my right yelps—

Uh

Scratch that, a freaking Blaziken yelps next to me, dropping their phone

She, I’m guessing they’re a she, struggles to crouch for a little bit, her very tight jeans impeding her movement, up until a loud RRRRIP echoes through the cabin, after which she completely crouches, looking all over her legs.

Bizarre.

I’m probably asleep and sleeping right now, then. Welp, capitalize, and befriend wild animal!

I stand up, moving closer to—

The ground clicks with my footsteps.

Did I.

Just lose.

My new shoes.

I look behind me, my brand new sneakers now in the ground. I look under me, now two black mildly adorable paws sticking out of my jeans.

UHM.

IS.

On the other side of the cabin, a serperior twists and turns, groaning, struggling to get themselves upright, flailing their tiny arms around.

The train stops—

“OW, what—”

—Sending me toppling right into the blaziken

Screeching to a halt, the train shakes and finally stops making noise.

The doors open,

Slowly.

No noise, no alarm.

No one to announce the opening and closing of doors.

They quietly stagger once they fully slide open.

“What the…” I’m suddenly reminded that I’m on top of someone.

I step out, letting her sit up next to me.

She looks at me on my eyes— nope, please no—

Oh, hey! Her phone! “Oh hey, your phone!”

I hand it to her, my brand new paws for hands oddly flexible.

She looks at it, “Thanks,” and as she slowly grabs it with her claws, she turns to look at the exit.

I join her, staring at the long hallways of shops, and…

“What now?” We both ask

“AAAAUGGH, WHAT THE HELL!?!?

With a THUD, our attention is pulled into the serperior next to the seats, still twisting itself, trying to grab the handrails with their tiny hands.

I stand up and move closer to the grass snake, pulling my pants a little bit—

WHAM.

Falling on my face for my efforts. I hear cringing from behind me.

Yeah, my new stretched face definitely hurts. My jaw feels like it has something welded in front of it. I stand up again, pulling myself from the pole next to the seats, “I’m fine, probably. Let me help you.”

“No, no! I’m fine, hold on.” The snake raises a leaf for a hand, for then to place it on the floor to try and push themselves up, raising their head off the ground a meter so.

“Hey, uh…” I’m not sure how snakes work, so I can’t really help here.

“Try to lift yourself up like doing sit ups, or something,” the blaziken, still sitting down, seems to get a brighter idea than me.

“With what torso!? I don’t even know where my stomach is!!”

Uh. “Your arms aren’t really helping there.” Huh, is that my voice?

“And,” she continues, “I’m pretty sure your muscles are strong enough to pull yourself on their own.”

He looks at us, and takes their arms off the ground, head remaining raised.

“Why don’t you try to pull your head back a little bit more?”

He stares at her for a second, but then closes his eyes, pulling his head back. Surprisingly, his body follows, slowly making a sideways arc, eventually leaving his head upside down.

His eyes bolt open, and look around. His mouth opens and closes, though is unable to find words. He pulls his head forwards, his back not letting him collapse on himself, and eventually, he assumes a stance more appropriate for a snake, somewhat. His head is still a bit too high, and ends up having very little tail on the floor, looking almost like he’s tip-toeing.

“Alright, that works”, I say, the sing-song tune of the sentence oddly complemented by my now higher-pitched and softer voice.

“Well, if that’s done, could you help me a little bit?”

I turn around, the blaziken crouching down, covering as much as she can of her legs, her jeans almost completely ripped on the seams.

Oh. I see.

“I’m not sure if there’s a good, uhm, solution here”, she looks around, looking for anything that could help on covering herself, “but, i’d really, really like it if i could… not, have to walk around half-naked?”

She’s not fully naked, thankfully. Her shirt, though now leaving a midriff, is mostly fine, if a little tight on the upper arms.

“Well, maybe we can—”

My pants fall a bit—

I grab them before they fall any further, loosely fitting above my thighs.

I nearly had my privates shown as well, though for a different reason. All the small gap above my pants can show is red… fluffy… fur, huh.

Hold on… “Ok, this is gonna sound weird, but… do you know what pokemon I got turned into?”

They both stare. The blaziken girl frowning ever so slightly, and the serperior guy tilting his head.

The dude is the first one to react, “We’re… Pokemon?”

This might take long, hm.

Whatever, if i get a glimpse of how my head looks, i can— two fluff-filled ears, yup, I’m a delphox. That means I can take my— Uh.

“I can… I could give you my pants, if you’d like, since—”

“I’m sorry, WHAT?” 

“—since I have a robe of fur, let me finish.” She didn’t like that, did she?

She looks at me like I just grew a second head. I raise my hands, asking for her to wait, and slowly, very slowly, I lower my pants, the fluff poofing as quickly as it could out of my pants. Eventually, the fur under the pants is completely revealed, a robe of red beginning from somewhere under my hoodie.

I step out of the crumpled cloth, my new… fur, showing in all its splendor.

Hm. Where’s my underwear…?

The robe reaches down to my feet, covering everything but my… but the tip of my new paws, black fur peeking under the red fur. My hands also have this black fur, and— now that I notice, yeah, I think there’s more fur trapped under the sleeves of my hoodie. I pat my legs under the robe, barely feeling anything in between, the pelt of fur on my legs feeling alien and a bit itchy.

“Well, I… I guess you don’t really need those pants.”

I crouch down, grab the pants, and hand them over to her, “Not that i could wear them, I’m like four or more sizes smaller now.”

She looks them over in her hands— er, claws, putting them over her waist, testing their size.

The serperior dude manages to move closer an inch or two, “Damn, I kinda wanted her not to use them.”

She stares back at him, dumbfounded.

I stare back at him, a single eyebrow raised. “You’re not much better, honestly.”

He tilts his head a bit, but then looks down.

He then proceeds to crumple down like a piece of cloth. “WHY AM I NAKED!?!?”, he twists and coils on himself as he groans, scales slithering on the smooth floor.

I hear laughing behind me, so I turn to see— oh, hey, she’s done!

“Well, serves you right for being a creep.” The jeans fit her snugly, if a bit tight, which is concerning because they were a bit on the loose side for me. Yellow fluff escaping on the bottom of the jeans, dark feet-like claws clicking on the floor as she tests out her new clothes. On her claws, ripped pants hang by their threads, much smaller compared to her figure. They definitely would not fit her now. She sighs, “I don’t mind having to trash them, but… I don’t understand why I have to look like…”

I scratch my thighs, the two coats of fur feeling unfamiliar on them, “Let’s not… worry much about… being turned into pokemon. We should worry more about being completely alone.”

“That actually is the lucky part, isn’t it?” The serperior dude pulls himself to an upright position, slow and shaking. “No one to hunt us monsters down.”

“We should get down”, the girl begins to move out of the cabin, small shaky steps getting her outside.

I also begin to walk, tottering as my brand new center of balance pulls and pushes me into an odd stance, conforming with arching my legs a little bit.

It’s weird, frankly. It’s not outright tippy-toeing, but also not fully taking a step either. But it’s definitely more comfortable. The robe of fur kinda messes with how I walk, though.

I hear slithering behind me, so I assume that the serperior dude is also moving out.

… “Hey, we never presented to each other, right?”

“Oh, right!” He exclaims, “I’m Lloyd.” That’s definitely foreign.

“I’m Marcile.” She follows up. That’s… not quite.

“I’m Tristan.” Not my actual name, but it will do.

Once we’re all out of the cabin, and way out of the yellow line on the border of the platform, we look around to check the station we’re on.

It’s… quiet.

For once, I kinda like subway stations.

The hallways that lead to the stairs are right in front of us, with lines in the walls heading in that direction, using arrows as pointers. But, the signs…

They’re gibberish. I feel like I should be able to read it, though…

“Does… can anyone read the signs?”

“Nu-uh,” Marcile shakes her head, “it feels like it should be english, but isn’t, or something”

Lloyd isn’t very helpful either, as he’s shaking his head, as if trying to shake something off.

“Well, no point on—”

SLAM.

“Ow” Damn skirt.

I get up, slowly.

“No point in delaying the inevitable.” I look back, the looks of pain in the other two’s faces disappearing.

Stepping up the stairs, I look back at the train. I… hope it doesn’t ride off without us.

Marcile looks behind her as well. After staring for a bit, she mutters, “Well, it better not move from that spot.”

“Uhm.”

We both look to our side. Lloyd’s long body idk in front of the stairs. “How do I do this?”

…Welp. “Not sure, bud.”

“Real helpful.”

“Well, I’m no snake expert.”

We all stared at the stairs. Marcile hums, “You look big enough that you can probably just… slide into the steps?”

I suppose this is the moment to shrug, but with basically non-existent arms, you don’t get shoulders to do so. As such, Lloyd doesn’t get to do much other than give a deadpan stare and a sigh. His body twisting behind him, he approaches the stairs, his front body… sliding on top. Once it’s on the step, the part near the tail twists and… squishes into an accordion-like shape, for then to stretch itself, giving Lloyd enough of a push to get on top of the next step.

It’s… weird to look at, and even weirder to think about…

“Hey, it’s not like I’m the only weird one! Look!” He shakes his leaves-for-arms, “Marcile is basically a walking chicken!”

“Well, at least I don’t have to eat like a dog…” She nods at me.

Oi, what— “Eyy, that’s low.”

She shrugs with a flair, raising her arms. I shake my head, taking a step up the—

Taking a step up the stairs, and I almost missed it.

“Careful, you might—”

Marcile slams her beak into the staircase, with a very painful WHACK. Oooooh. My face pulls back in a cringe. Nevertheless, I step forward and help her up. She smiles, and nods. I chuckle, “Do you want to finish that sentence?”

“Pshhh, jerk.”

“You had it coming.”

“Honestly, you two,” Lloyd slowly makes his way up the stairs, “it would’ve been nice if you two fell together. You look like real lovebirds.”

Ha-haw.

“Ha-haw.” Took the words out of my mind, Marce.

Marce. Mars, huh.

We reach the top of the stairs, one of her claws gripping my hand, the other on the handrail, and we reach the next floor, the stairs leading to the railway heading in the other direction. We, Marcile and I, look over the handrail, leaning into it as we wait for a train to suddenly appear.

Lloyd slithers behind us, “I don’t think we have to stay on lookout for the train, necessarily.”

The subway echoes, deafening silence growing as the sentence dissipates.

He sighs, looking around, “You don’t suppose there’s somewhere I can sit on?”

Marcile snorts, “With what legs?”

Lloyd looks beneath him, and she starts laughing, “Well, fair.”

She sighs as she stops laughing, “Yeah, maybe we should look for somewhere to sit down, I don’t want to sit on the cold floor.”

She says, as I sit down on the floor.

Fur skirt bunching up beneath me, the cold is minimal, compared to the wave of warmth emanating from the fluffy and cozy fur.

At first I sit cross-legged, but then I choose to lay one leg over the other, awfully aware of my current attire.

Or, lack thereof.

“Well, it’s not that bad.”

She gives me a frown, looking at the floor. Slowly, she crouches and eventually falls into a sitting position, one leg stretched and the other bent. She lays her back against the handrail, sighing. “Okay, yeah it’s not that cold.”

I sigh, looking to the ceiling.

Nothing left but to…

Well, wait.

I open my messenger bag, rummaging through its contents…

First, a sketchbook on the backmost side; with no place to put the sketchbook, it’s no use taking it out.

Not that I know if I can draw with these… paws?

There’s my phone… my shoes tucked in a side pocket… headphones, painted over with acrylic by yours truly… my trusty yo-yo, of which I know like, two tricks… My deck of Yugioh cards! Or, like, some common cards I use to shuffle─ Oh! My box with the prettier cards! I forgot I had it here… A half-full bottle of water, also doodled on the outside with acrylic… Some math notebooks, and the booklet─ Hhhhhhh─

I take out my phone, weird fingers making it a bit difficult.

“No signal.”

Figures…

I hear sighs ahead of me.

With some effort, I then unlock it—

Unlock it—

Unlock it—

The screen won’t respond to my touch.

Sigh, is it the paws? It’s probably the paws. Let’s see… I think I have a stylus… somewhere in my bag— aha! No signal means no internet, so no chatting, no videos, no music streaming, ughh.

Well, what’s there to do? I have a camera. Not right now. Music? Sure, but later, once I figure out how to get the headphones working. The games, or rather, game, seem unplayable right now. For obvious reasons. There’s reading, but most of the stuff I’ve downloaded is… not right now, i guess. Hmmmm, the other apps are internet-only…

I have a pokemon encyclopedia.

Why do I have a pokemon enciclop— 

I have a pokemon encyclopedia.

Open, search by gen, gen seven— six, gen six.

Delphox, delphox— here!

“Delphox, the fox pokemon. It gazes into the flame at the tip of its branch to achieve a focused state, which allows it to see into the future. Using psychic power, it generates a fiery vortex of 5,400 degree Fahrenheit, incinerating foes swept into this whirl of flame.”

Cool. Sounds like bs, but cool.

I look up, Marcile fiddling with her phone as well, and it seems she’s getting some level of success.

Lloyd is…

Lloyd has managed to coil himself into a bundle of snake, his head on top of his body, his phone on the ground, possibly thanks to Marcile, and is currently bopping the screen with his nose.

Hmm…

Blaziken, blaziken…

“Blaziken, the blaze pokemon,” no duh, “In battle, Blaziken blows out intense flames from its wrists and attacks foes courageously. The stronger the foe, the more intensely this Pokémon’s wrists burn. Blaziken has incredibly strong legs—it can easily clear a 30-story building in one leap. This Pokémon’s blazing punches leave its foes scorched and blackened. ” Sounds more reasonable. Not a whole lot more, though.

Serperior, serperior…

“Serperior, the regal pokemon. It only gives its all against strong opponents who are not fazed by the glare from Serperior’s noble eyes. It can stop its opponents’ movements with just a glare. It takes in solar energy and boosts it internally.”

Is that so?

I look over to Lloyd, his… less than regal gaze stuck on the screen of his phone. Eyes seemingly crossed, his now ruby-red eyes squint and widen at the screen, as he bops and… attempts to scroll through whatever he has on it.

Hm…

Let’s see, moves, moves— aha! Vine whip is the first move that serperior learns!

Once more, I look over to him.

As he booped the screen again, I consider— consider what? I can’t exactly tell him, right? How does a serperior use vine whip, anyways?

“Hm? Did you say Vine?” Marcile pipes up.

Wha— “…no?”

She sighs, muttering something about good old times.

Did she…? Hear my thoughts?

…

My screen changes under the taps of my stylus once more.

“Delphox, fire/psychic”

Ah.

Hm.

That’s distressing.

Y’know what? I’m gonna— I need to—

Y’know— Y’know what? Maybe— Yeah, maybe Ryan Renolds is hot— Wait, no, that’s not— nevermind, nevermind!

Marcile looks to the ceiling, seemingly pondering a random thought.

Lloyd frowns, squinting his eyes, then shakes his head violently.

Okay, don’t do the gay thoughts with a straight guy around.

Especially—

Ahem.

I take a breath.

ESPECIALLY WHEN MY THOUGHTS ARE BEING BROADCASTED!!!

“GAH!” They both jump in the air slightly, startled at the unhearable noise.

They turn around, looking for the source of the sound…?

What? Do they not realize—

Marcile begins, “Did you—” 

“Hear that? I did!”

Uh.

“Tristan, did you hear that?” She’s alarmed, alright.

“Well, uhm.”

How do I explain this?

“You see, I realized that Delphox is a psychic type pokemon, and…”

All she did was squint her eyes, lips— or, uh, beak moving as she whispers a response for only herself.

“I… realized that I may or may not be broadcasting my thoughts, so you two could sometimes hear them, maybe.”

The awkward silence reigned for a few seconds, Lloyd looking back and forth between us, hoping for an explanation.

“And— and I shouted in my head to see if you’d react to it.”

…

Now both of them are staring right at me.

… “Did you know that Serperior learns Vine Whip as their first move?”

“Tristan, what—”

“In fact, most pokemon use it as a limb when they don’t have any!”

“Tristan, will you explain─”

“What?” Lloyd cuts her off, “What do you mean— who are you talking about?”

“You,” I look at Lloyd, “can learn how to make vines extend from your body, and use them to grab stuff and move stuff around!”

“Hey, are we—”

“Wait, really? So, I don’t have to use my nose to tap my phone?”

I nod.

He gasps, delighted.

“Although, I’m not sure how it works, sadly.”

He drops his head on his body.

Sigh, “Have none of you watched the anime?”

Marcile answers, “We haven’t even played the new games─”

“Speak for yourself!” Lloyd speaks in muffled words.

“…I haven’t even played the new games, you haven’t played the old games Lloyd?”

“I’m not a furry.”

“Oy.”

“Oy.” I answer.

“It’s true though!” He raised his head, “Pokemon is basically furbait.”

“How do you know what furbait is?” Will he take bait?

“You’re furbait.” 

Understandable, have a nice day.

That gets Marcile laughing.

I sigh, “But seriously, though, the vines appear from your leaf thingies in your─ uh, where your neck would usually be.”

He looks as far down as he can, trying to spot them. When he finds them, he wiggles his head a little, trying to find them.

Marcile resumes the chat, “So, what can I do, then? Do I, like, peck animals to death?” She motions to her beak, “Scratch them, maybe?”

“You kick people into submission.”

“…really?”

“Yeah!” I put my bag to the side, phone on top of it, “You’ve got Blaze Kick, High-Jump Kick─ Basically a lot of kicks. Kicks for days.”

She raises one of her legs, inspecting her claws. She wiggles her talons, making a clicking noise when stepping down again. “Huh. Can you give me some guidance?”

This’ll be a fun way to burn time.