This story took too long to make and post. I'm so sorry, Midday-Mew.
To explain, we planned out an art-trade so many years ago. It all began in (check Notes) October 29th, 2011-
Damn.
Um, to be fair (to both Midday and myself), the original plan for both of our art-trades is far too ambitious for us to achieve. What he wished for me to write is TFing ten people into Pokémon by Midday's powers (the first choices being Umbreon, Glaceon, Vaporeon, Pikachu, Machamp, Lucario, Lopunny, Gallade, Gardevoir, and Misdreavus, all of them are anthro). While I initially wish for sprite animation and a sprite page, he asked for a story idea instead since he felt that he was too new at sprite animation at the time. I gave a couple of ideas (one of them explaining Ash's hybrid as a drackal since it was in part genetics) before we settled on a Mario to dragon TF, something that Midday felt needed to be a multichapter story.
This is where the fun began.
I admit that during that time, I was addictive to being a part of a site Crimsom Flag created by Virmir. Specifically, the chat, where I was there for nearly every day since 2012. That, combined with using a laptop as my computer, thus taking the CF conversation with me everywhere (even in college), I forgot to write it, preferring to chat. It doesn't help that I have some other stories I wished to write, and other people wanted me to write (like Jackal TF). And because it was initially a Halloween piece, I lost track of time until it got past Halloween 2012.
We had another chat (Midday has just posted the prologue to the Mario story), and we decided that he should have the Mario cast be TF victims. Except here's the other problem, this time on Midday's end. I can handle writing long stories that last several chapters, but he can't. Because of that, he gave up on it not too long afterward (though I still feel bad about not making much progress on my part)
As such, we agreed to downgrade it to me writing a Mewtaur and TwoMewtwo short story and him writing a Mario and Luigi fusing into a two-headed, four-armed dragon. So, you might be asking, why has it taken so long for me to write it?
We agreed on the downgrade in February 2014. If you recall on my two journals, I was working at Amazon at the time for night-shift, and it was a lousy writing place and a more miserable motivation place. To be fair to myself, I did wrote it (on a tablet at the time), but I didn't like how it was looking. As such, I planned to rewrite it, but I put it on the shelf for years, and we both kind of forgot about it. I said kind of since, a couple of years back, I did bring up the topic of said art-trade in a journal, where we afterward agreed to have him write a Fennekin TF poem while I complete the Mewtaur and TwoMewtwo story.
I was unsure since I was just hired by Safeway not too long afterward, but soon it proved to be a far superior writing spot, with me writing The Pokémon Prometheus story as a welcome back to myself. I then, using the text already written from the tablet and already ported onto my Dropbox, I wrote down a revision of the story. And it took several years, my old laptop dying from abuse, a new desktop computer, and a backup laptop dedicated to writing. And it was completed by Christmas time, 2018.
But wait, you may say. If it was completed back late into December last year, why are you just posting it this year when it's nearly Halloween?
Because I suck at grammar, which Midday, who is a dedicated editor, reminded me. If I knew I was going to be a writer back in middle and high school, I would pay more attention to English class.
He was kind enough to edit it for me, but it took a bunch of emotion pressure on him, which he only admitted to me back a few days ago. I felt terrible about it, especially since I wished to bring up the art-trade editing a while ago, but couldn't work up the courage to do so (though he doubted that he would've reacted that well if I did bring it up, which hasn't lessened how bad I felt). As a result, here is the story.
Jeez, this took longer to write than I thought.
In any case, enjoy it!
P.S.
Here is the poem Midday wrote for me.
https://www.furaffinity.net/view/29441667/------
Jacob opened his mouth in utter shock at the glowing screen in front of him and his friend sitting next to him. His purple eyes stared at the motion images displayed on the TV, showcasing a vague-looking alien creature being blasted off a giant platform by a red-haired warrior. His hands gripped the black Nintendo Switch Pro Controller so tight that veins formed from under the skin as his teeth gritted, the red-haired warrior taunting as an explosion appeared from where the alien creature went and the green GAME flashed in the screen.
“Daniel!” Jacob said as he turned to his friend in an exaggerated yell. “That was a cheap move you pulled!”
“How was that cheap? You
ran into Roy's charged attack!” Daniel replied in a playful tone as he relaxed back on the brown couch. “Not to mention that Mewtwo sucks.”
“Hey!” Jacob said, doing his best to keep it in a defiant voice yet he couldn't help but grin. “Mewtwo is the greatest of all Pokémon!”
“Last I heard,” Daniel said with a mischievous light in his pinkish eyes, “Rayquaza is. Or rather, Mega Rayquaza is.”
“Just because Mega Rayquaza can Mega Evolve without a Mega Stone doesn't make Mewtwo any less awesome,” Jacob said as he rolled his eyes. “Either way, shall we have another match?”
“Can't. Ran out of time,” Daniel said as he got up from the couch with his nimble fingers pressing on the home button on his Nintendo Switch controller. “I need to complete my calculus homework for tomorrow. You know how complex they are, even with a calculator.”
“Oh. Right,” Jacob said as his mind reflected on the college calculus course and how it took him all night with half a dozen of sodas to complete the assignments. If it wasn't for the fact that he needed to take it to progress with computer programming, he would've refunded it within the first week. “I guess this is goodbye for now.”
Daniel nodded as he pressed the power button on the Nintendo Switch, with it turning off and the TV screen glowed black. He then picked up a remote control and, with a press of a button, the TV turned off as well. While that was happening, Jacob had turned on the lights above them, illuminating them in a white light that showcased the green carpet below them and the blue walls to their sides. He then stuffed his controller to a close by blue-and-black backpack before zipping it up and slinging it on his back.
“See you tomorrow at college then,” Jacob said as he opened up the front door to Daniel's apartment.
“See you tomorrow as well,” Daniel said back before the door closed behind his friend.
Daniel sighed as he pulled out a mini-table from beside the couch and unfolded it, setting it in front of the couch. He then reached down into his own backpack, red and gray, and pulled out a two-inch thick book. He placed it on the mini-table with a slight thud and opened it up, with each page showing numbers that don't make sense even when put together as far as his mind can tell.
He examined each calculus problem, doing his best to see if he could, in time, figure out what they mean. But then he shook his head, feeling like his head was going to explode from pure numbers running through his head. Wouldn't it be great if there was an easy way to store such knowledge that could allow him to pull it out whenever he needed it and without forgetting it? Couldn't there be a way to collect such cognition without his brain frying itself? His head drooped as he pulled out his notebook and calculator from his backpack.
-----
Jacob walked down the cracked sidewalk, his worn down white shoes kicking away the small rocks off the ground. His shirt, black aside from the Mewtwo on it, glowed in the night from the outlines. His blue shorts jangled with several coins in his right pocket as his purple eyes looked around at the surroundings.
It was a desolate place that was once a shopping market. Once there were thriving stores willing to sell out several items from groceries to video games, but now not a store was open. Even the two fast food restaurants were no longer running there. Jacob recalled the area with an almost magical aura in his memories, even though it was a mundane place until the stores began to close.
As he walked some more, he looked around and, seeing no one, decided to talk to himself to let out some steam.
“Yeesh, you've gotten worse in that game.”
“It's not my fault that the game just came out and I haven't practiced the last Super Smash Bros game.”
“Deny all you want. You still kept the Wii U and you still haven't touched it to prepare for those battles.”
“Because I had to do some homework, you idiot.”
“Which you always do at the last minute, like what you're doing now.”
“It's hard to decide when I want to do two different things at once.”
“Yeah. It's not like you can split yourself into two, so be more decisive!”
There would have been a response if Jacob had not heard a sound coming from a nearby alley between the empty stores and houses. He walked back and saw a figure there, hiding in the shadows, in their hand a black bag. Behind the figure was a locked huge trash bin, gathering dust from disuse, with a hand near the lock, holding what looked like some kind of rod. Despite his decent night sight, Jacob couldn't discern what the figure looked like because they were wearing what looked like a cloak over the head and back.
“Sir?” Jacob asked and the figure looked back. “Is there anything wrong? What's with the cloak?”
The figure pocketed the rod, and with surprising speed, sprinted down the alleyway.
“What?” Jacob said before he felt his legs running after the figure. “What's wrong? There's no need to run.”
Jacob wasn't sure if the figure heard him or not. All the figure seemed to care was that they'd been seen.
The figure tripped on a large rock, with them doing their best to suppress a yelp, Jacob noticed. They dropped the bag and half-ran/half-limped out of sight, but not before they dropped the cloak they were wearing. He got to the cloak and bag, with him wondering what the heck was going on. After all, it wasn't every day that someone did something secretive in this city, so secretive that they didn't want to be seen.
His hand brushed against the cloak and felt something ticklish from them. Jacob tilted his head to the side as he pulled out a smartphone and shone light over the cloak. He blinked, realizing that what was all over the cloak was some sort of fur.
“That's interesting,” Jacob remarked as his hand pressed against the bag and felt something soft from inside. He looked at the bag just as confused, and with a steady hand, opened it and aimed the phone's light inside of it. Inside was what looked like Pokémon plushies, but all of them were misshapen, like a Blaziken with four arms and a Garchomp with three tails and Salamence wings on its back. “Who would make these things?”
“Why not ask Daniel? I'm sure he'll be amused by all of these plush toys.”
“Good idea.” Jacob took a snapshot and texted it to Daniel. He also included a message that said: “Found this while walking home. Want 2 examine what more Frankenstein-like creations are in this bag?”
“I was joking, you idiot. You know that he wouldn't just skip out of homework just for a bunch of toys.”
“You may never be sure.” The phone beeped with a message from Daniel. “And he seems to be cool with it as well.”
“What?” The other side of Jacob paused. “Okay, if he's cool with it.”
“Okay,” Jacob said in a declaration-like voice, and picking up both cloak and bag, he walked out of the alleyway.
-----
Not too long after Jacob left the alleyway, the figure stepped out of his hiding place within the shadows. It's amazing, he felt, on how being an apprentice to an amazing and unique store had taught him on hiding so he doesn't startle people.
But now, he realized, he had made a massive screw-up. Those Pokémon plushies weren't meant to be in anyone's hands, which was why this place was chosen: a rundown store center's trash bin where not even the people taking away the trash could get their hands on them.
“Crap.”
-----
Daniel leaned back, his arms crossed on his green Xenoblade shirt as his blue shoes tapped against the carpet. He had managed to complete a couple of tough calculus problems when he got a text from Jacob, showing him a bag filled with misshapen stuffed toys. It was a silly thing, he knew, to stop working on his homework when there was so much to do. He just had a soft spot for Pokémon toys, and a part of him loved to see them, even if they were a deformed mess.
The door reverberated a knocking noise in a pattern that Daniel knew was from Jacob. He smiled as he got up, uncrossed his arms, and went to the door. He reached down to the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door, with Jacob standing there at the other side.
“You just had to find a bag someone tried to throw out, didn't you?” Daniel asked as he let Jacob in.
“Sorry,” Jacob responded as he placed the bag in the middle of the room and the cloak on a couch. “Just that I had to see what was the big issue in trying to throw this away.”
Daniel took a quick look over the cloak. “Man, someone has a pet that sheds a lot.”
“I know,” Jacob said as he emptied the bag's contents. “Must've been from someone's pet cat or several of them. I only wish whoever it was stayed instead of being so secretive.”
Daniel grinned as he looked over the stuffed Pokémon toys below them, each one having parts grafted from another Pokémon or had an extra part from the same one, like a Raichu with five tails and a Buizel with three pairs of wings from a Swellow. It was amazing to see what insane creations someone with too much time on their hands created. Though some are of a more sadder sight.
“From the looks of it, someone tried to take apart a Pokémon so they could edit it, but gave up midway, leaving it a shredded mess,” Daniel said as he looked over a ripped apart Chimchar. “Who would do such a thing?”
“I have no idea,” Jacob answered as he looked over a torn Zorua, with stuffings falling out from it. His eyes then shined when he noticed a Mewtwo within the pile of Frankenstein's creations of Pokémon mismatches. He'd just stifled a chuckle when he saw that, from the waist up, the Mewtwo was split into two Mewtwo, like an attempt of it cloning itself from top to bottom and it gave up half of the way. He reached down and picked it up. “Haha. This is hilarious and adorable, isn't it?”
“Not really. More like it's just hilarious,” Daniel said with a slight shake of his head. Jacob gave an exaggerated glare at his friend as Daniel picked up another plush. “Now this is just adorable.”
Jacob looked at the plush Daniel was holding and smiled. It was a Mew, but it had an extra torso and pair of legs so that it looked like a centaur. A Mew taur, as it were. “That is ador-”
A shock coursed through Jacob's body, like a massive punch to the gut as he bent forward and clutched his stomach. He felt a burning sensation under his skin as if he was on fire as he fell down with a thud, dropping the plush.
Daniel looked at his friend while it happened, too shocked to even react. He dropped the plush and bent down to try to help Jacob, only to feel a shock himself throughout all of his nerves. He fell down not too far from Jacob, as he felt his chest involuntarily tighten, his breathing coarse.
As Jacob looked over his hands, his eyes widened in surprise, seeing four of his fingers on each hand fusing into two, with the tips on each along with the tips of his thumbs becoming larger than the rest. In fact, Jacob noted through the pain, they looked kinda ball-like now. He gritted his teeth as his feet felt tight, before they ripped apart the shoes they were trapped in. Like with his hands, his four smaller toes on each foot fused into two and, much like a cat's foot, his big toe moved upward on his feet until it was at the back end, by his inner ankle bone.
Daniel wiggled on the floor near the changing Jacob as he felt the clothes he was wearing become looser. He looked over himself with a quick eye and was shocked that he was shrinking in size. His feet slid off of his now too-small shoes as he flailed his arms, with them shortening in length at every point, in particular with his fingers which became nothing more than stubs, the pinkies and thumbs shrinking away. If that wasn't bizarre enough for him, his feet grew longer as four toes on each foot merged into two, leaving him with three identically-sized toes on each foot, pushing off the clinging socks from them, as his legs contracted in length to the point that his feet were longer and larger than what remained of his legs. Additionally, his “finger” and “toes” had lost their nails, which had melted away into skin.
Jacob gritted his teeth as he felt his skin change to purple, with his arms, head, chest, back, and legs growing a thin layer of light, almost-white lavender fuzz, while his belly and rear became a deeper purple but furless. He heard a rip from behind and blushed as he felt a massive, fleshy, furless purple tail grow out from his pants. He clung onto what remained of his shorts as some sort of tube grew out from between his shoulder blades, ripping through his shirt. It lengthened and curved into the back of his head, fusing with it, as his face lengthened into a muzzle. Yet worst of all was his hair falling out of his head—leaving just the light lavender fuzz behind—while his ears moved to the top of his head and extended upwards, reshaping themselves to resemble (without actually being) a pair of horns.
Daniel shrunk down more, with his room becoming more massive from his point of view, as he felt a tail growing. It grew long and thin, poking out of his clothes, as it thickened at the tip of it, as his skin grew a light-pink fine fuzz. He wiggled his arms to his face as his handpaws felt his face morph into a muzzle, much cuter than Jacob's fierce muzzle. His ears then moved up the sides of his head as they became more triangular, like a cat's ears. What's not like a cat's though, he felt, was 'shedding' all of his hair on his head until there was none. At least a cat kept most of their fur when they shedded.
Jacob looked over to his friend and saw him covered in very loose clothes when his bones cracked on his back. He gritted his teeth as his arms spread out, feeling like two trucks on both of his sides were pulling on his arms until he split into two. He then blinked as his vision changed with an unusual depth like he has three eyes instead of two. Then his head morphed and separated until he had two heads instead of one, with them tearing apart from each other from the neck.
The neck soon divided itself into two necks for each of their heads, with both heads looking at each other in shock. The changes continued with their torso splitting apart, each new torso sprouting a new arm on the inside, for a total of four arms, tearing up the shirt he was wearing to tatters, like they were becoming two Mewtwo instead of one. However, the change seemed to have given up when it got to their hips, with them now looking like the misshapen Mewtwo plush they were holding earlier.
Daniel pulled off the clothes he was wearing and looked at his weird-looking friend when his back popped as well. He looked down and saw that his torso was growing longer. He rubbed the lengthening torso with his little arms when he saw a pair of bulges forming at the middle of the torso. They grew longer and reformed themselves into an extra pair of hind legs as his back curved upwards so that he would stand upright on four legs instead of like a bug with six limbs. He looked over himself, his eyes as wide as dinner plates as he reached down to his new pair of legs and squeezed them with his handpaws, feeling the pressure he was applying. His torso and arms then grew slightly longer and larger, becoming anthro in proportion, but still small compared to that of a human, as his handpaws grew back the lost thumbs, but the digits remaining stubby and still without nails.
The pain they were having faded as they all sighed and stood up. Or rather, Jacob stood up since Daniel was squirming on the ground trying to stand up on all four. At least he was small rather than big or else, with all that wiggling and such, he could destroy the room they were in.
“Woah,” one of Jacob's heads, the right one, said. “This is amazing.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” the other head said to the first. “This is horrible.”
JacobOne glared at JacobTwo. “What are you talking about?”
“Look at us!” JacobTwo said, yelling at JacobOne as Daniel below them tried to cover his ears. “We're freaks! We look like Siamese twins!”
“So? We're still Mewtwo,” JacobOne pointed out.
Daniel gritted his teeth as he felt his head swelling with thoughts from the surrounding area. How could the others ignore it?
“That doesn't make it better! That just makes it worse!”
The now JacobOne and JacobTwo screaming at each other doesn't make it any better.
“Maybe if you stop freaking out, you can see the benefit of being like this!”
The room shook with the TV vibrating and the couch giving out a low hop off of the ground. This is too much. Daniel felt himself slipping. If only they would shut up.
“You freaking idiot! What good is it to look like a failed attempt of another cloning of Mewtwo?!”
Screw it.
“Will you two just shut up already?!!” Daniel shouted with a psychic force that blasted the Two-Mewtwo off of their feet and into the wall. The Mew taur slammed his handpaws together as JacobOne's head slammed against JacobTwo's. He then gave out a sigh as the Two-Mewtwo fell onto the floor, both of them dazed. “Huff. Seriously, it's like dealing with a pair of children while dealing with a massive headache and-” he paused as he blinked. “Huh. The voices are gone now.”
“What voices?” JacobTwo asked, looking up.
“You didn't hear them with your telepathy?” Daniel asked in turn. “After all, we're both Psychic-types now.”
Both heads of Jacob were silent. Then JacobOne answered, “No, I didn't hear any voices.”
“We were too busy arguing,” JacobTwo added.
Daniel closed his eyes and focused his mind. He imagined a wall being built in front of him, brick by brick, until it was around him. The voices, he realized, could be filtered and blocked out with this method. And there was something more. “Yes, yes. Now I see.”
“See what?” both Jacobs asked.
“Answers to calculus questions,” David answered in an excited tone as his eyes shot open wide. “I can now see how they work with my mind.”
“You can?”
“But that's impossible.”
“You need something like a computer to figure them out or an excellent brain.”
“Yes. Which we,” JacobTwo stopped as his eyes widened. “Which we all now have.”
The Jacobs spread their four arms out as they floated up to the air while being covered in a blue psychic energy. Daniel smiled as he also spread his arms out and the Mew taur, engulfed in a pink light, also drifted in the air.
“Say, this is pretty awesome,” JacobTwo said with a grin.
“Told ya,” JacobOne said.
“Now that we're Pokémon, some of the most powerful ones around, what shall we do now?” Daniel asked both Jacobs. “I mean, it's not like we can go to our family like this.”
“That is a fair point,” JacobOne said as he rubbed his chin. He thought for a few seconds. “I suggest that we go out and travel the world.”
“I can't think of a better idea,” JacobTwo said with a shrug. “But where shall we go, though?”
“I always wanted to go to Japan,” Daniel said as he waved his tiny arms at the door and it swung itself open.
“Yes, that sounds cool.”
“Let's go then.”
The group flew out the door and into the night sky, with the stars shining down to the earth along with the full moon. The Jacobs spun around in the air as they flew higher, despite one of their heads looking green. They looked out to the west and floated to that direction with Daniel's long and thin tail wagging behind him. Whatever happens, they would be able to deal with it.
-----
Back on the ground, a lone figure remained as he looked at the sky, observing Jacobs' and Daniel's shadows in the sky. He was close to the house they were in, so close that he wondered if they would've realized that he was there. But they hadn't noticed despite their psychic powers.
He took a step inside of the house, his pawsteps making padding sounds and his claws making clicking noises against the floor, as his long tail swept across behind him. His green eyes skimmed over the floor and saw what remained of the plushies. Then, putting on thick rubber gloves, he stuffed them all in the bag until every bit and piece of them, no matter how small, were contained. His tail then picked up the cloak and, putting it back on, the jackal ran out the door.
This wouldn't have happened, Luke thought, if he was able to stop them from getting the stuffed toys.
-----One Hour Ago-----
Luke sat back on a wooden chair as his eyes skimmed through the table screen. His handpaw swiped across the screen once in a while between writing down numbers, as his footpaw tapped against the floor. Reading through and adding together sales figures was boring, but he must start somewhere. Especially since he was the assistant of Mr. Undecim Medicus and his wonderful, technomagical shop.
Four weeks it had been since he'd been picked up by Mr. Medicus. Four weeks since he was transformed into an anthropomorphic jackal, having to relearn basic stuff like washing himself, since it was difficult to shampoo himself on every part of his body. Four weeks since he entered a new world he had never known before. A world filled with magic and technology fused together in harmony.
“This place was created by the Athru of long ago,” Mr. Medicus said to Luke during his tour of the shop, a shop that could go from one place to the next in an instant as long as there was an empty room that was larger on the inside. “At the core of this place is the power source that granted all of its ability, with its most impressive ability being traveling through time.”
“It can travel through time?” Luke asked in an incredulous voice.
“Yes, but only within a five-year period,” Mr. Medicus answered as he rubbed his hand against his black hair. “The power source, while hailed as unlimited because it's some sort of emulator for another, greater power, isn't powerful enough to grant full ability to travel through every point in time.”
“And you just happened to find this place?” Luke asked as he raised an eyebrow.
“More like it found me. You see, I'm not the first Mr. Medicus. In fact, the Mr. Medicus I was apprenticed to wasn't the first either. It was just a cool name we all upheld in order to protect this place from those who'll misuse its power,” Mr. Medicus explained as he showed Luke a rack filled with dragon rings of various types. “Not just because it has something akin to unlimited power, but because of its transformation capabilities. It's amazing how having an army of dragons will turn the tide of war.”
“And you wish that I'll be a ‘Mr. Medicus’ as well.”
“Sorta. But you don't have to be a Mr. Medicus if you don't want to.” Mr. Medicus gave a cheeky grin when he saw Luke's ears twitched as Luke tilted his head to the side. “It was also upheld until the time when we could find the proper owners of this shop, the Athru, and I met them. They allow me to still run the place since they don't have any need for anything here outside of what Alex, their technological genius, researches here from time to time. As a result, the promise was fulfilled and anyone afterwards could retain their own names.”Luke stretched his back as his long tail swung behind him, brushing against the floor. His back popped as he shrugged his shoulders. He felt stiff, like he was a statue that just came to life and felt resistance in his joints when he tried to move. For something that only sold a few toys and rings each day, there was a surprising amount of sales figures to add together. Of course, it was because the figures had been neglected for a long time and he was given the job to play catch up.
He gritted his teeth as his claws clicked against the floor, doing his best to suppress a yawn. Maybe he could finish writing down the numbers tomorrow morning. But that would mean that he would push tonight's work to tomorrow's work and it does add up if he pushed tomorrow's work to the following day's work. No, it was better to just push forward and finish it up.
Still, if his body being stubborn about moving wasn't a big enough sign, nothing was. Maybe a ten minute break away from the work by walking would help him recover in body and mind, he hoped. He pushed his chair back in a quick motion with his tail and stood up on his digitigrade paws and walked out of the room.
He walked down the hallway, his resistance to the yawn receding as he opened up his canine jaw wide and yawned. Despite the fact that all he did was write numbers for several hours, he felt like he ran a hundred miles during that time. Still, it wasn't a boring job, since there's always a new transformation happening each day due to some random customer coming in for a product, as this place had every kind of ring and plushie imaginable.
And yet, he noted as his mind flashed back to yesterday, not all seemed to be sold.
“Sir?” Luke asked Mr. Medicus in a sheepish tone as the man in front of him turned around. “I looked at the sales figure and I noticed that, for the last few years, you haven't sold anything related to Pokémon with the exception of that custom one. Even then, that one was changed so heavily that you couldn't call it a Pokémon anymore.”
“I'm afraid that I do not know what you're talking about,” Mr. Medicus answered as he waved his hand to no one. “I've sold plenty of Pokémon since I've inherited this shop.”
“Not according to the books you gave me,” Luke said as he pointed at the stacks of books on a desk, high enough for all seven Harry Potter books. “I've skimmed through all the sales and they don't say anything about a Pokémon ring or plush being sold.”
“You see, that's the thing about skimming through a work,” Mr. Medicus said as he clasped a hand on the anthro jackal's shoulder. “You'll often miss something important, especially the first time around. I mean, how many people read through a mystery novel or a series of novels like Harry Potter, and miss a clue that they only realized was a clue when they read it again?”
“Sir, Harry Potter is a fantasy novel series,” Luke said as his ears flattened to the sides. “Not a mystery novel series.”
“Oi! It's a fantasy series and a mystery series,” Mr. Medicus said in a declaration-like voice as he pointed at Luke's black nose with his other hand. His hand then let go of Luke's shoulders as he walked away with a skip. “If more people see it like that, then maybe they could've seen the clues better.”
Luke blinked as he stood there, wondering if he should follow and argue more regarding the Harry Potter genre it was in. He turned around and walked away, before his head snapped up, his ears shooting up in realization. That tricky man, he brought it up so he could steer it away from the lack of Pokémon sales numbers. He looked back, wondering if he should then bring it back to Pokémon before shrugging. There's always another time.
Though, it was unusual that Mr. Medicus would be so reluctant to talk about Pokémon.Luke then returned to the time that was now and that was walking through shelves of plush toys of various animals. His green eyes looked at them over as he gave out a grin, showing off fangs that could pierce wood if he bit hard. Regardless of Mr. Medicus's reasons on why he doesn't sell any Pokémon stuff and why he doesn't want to talk about it, there was no doubt that this shop has plenty of wonder in store. His ears flickered as he wondered if anyone had tried to put on two separate rings or hug two different plushies, and if so, what happened. Did they become a fusion or did one cancel out the other? Was the fusion uniform or was it just a random mishmash? So many possibilities, so many-
His ears flickered as he heard a sound. It wasn't a clanging, a punching, or even a knocking sound. It was a ripping sound, like someone was slicing through a shirt with a knife or a sword. He felt a shiver that traveled up his spine as he stopped walking. Then, with his toes curled upwards so the claws weren't touching the ground, he silently padded to the source of the sound.
After a minute of walking, he looked behind one of the many shelves of the store and saw a pile of torn up plushies, all sliced up so their stuffing was pouring out. Luke blinked as he examined them all closer as it dawned on him that all of the destroyed toys had one thing in common.
All of them were Pokémon.
Luke held his breath as he looked at them in horror, the sense of horror only magnifying as an idea formed in his mind on who destroyed them all, since he was the only other person in the shop. Still holding his breath, he turned to walk away, when his eye caught one Pokémon plushie that wasn't touched by the carnage. He turned back and then got a closer look at it, the silvery winged Pokémon sitting at the center of the ruined toys, as his heart beat faster.
It was a Lugia plush.
Luke turned back around and walked away, like a guy retreating from a car crash pileup they’d instigated by tossing a rock at a car. He only stopped to catch his breath, to try calming himself, when he was in the room with the books filled with sale numbers, sitting down at the desk. His eyes were closed as he felt his heartbeat slow down.
“Hello Luke. I have a favor to ask of you.”
Luke gave out a yelp and stood up, picking up a pencil like it was a knife to defend himself with.
“Are you alright, Luke?”
He blinked when he was that it was Mr. Medicus. “Yes. I'm just tired from all of this work.”
Luke placed the pencil down with his ears flattened to the sides as Mr. Medicus said, “Sorry about that. Anyways, I have a favor to ask of you as I was trying to tell you.”
The anthro Jackal looked up. “Sure. Go ahead and tell.”
“To explain, I found some products that I would like you to dispose of.” It was then when Luke realized that Mr. Medicus was holding onto a plastic bag. The black haired man opened it up and showed the contents to him. Luke turned green for about half of a second when he saw that it was the ruined Pokémon toys from before. “As you can see, these plushies are ruined to the point that there's no way to repair them without some sort of magic and, well, it's too late for that.”
“Sir? What do you mean by that?”
“Look closer.”
The jackal looked into the contents again and his eyes widened. “Why, some of them are fused together now.”
“Exactly,” Mr. Medicus said as he closed the bag up. “The magic in the store that affected all the products also help prevent disrepair from befalling them. Even ripping them in half would eventually heal them if the pieces are near. But it doesn't always know what product goes with what or when to stop if there's an excess of materials to repair with, causing such misshapen toys.”
“Wha-what caused them to get damaged so badly?” Luke asked as he looked back up at the man.
“I don't know. Might be some vandals that came in and decided to destroy stuff as a prank,” Mr. Medicus answered.
Luke guessed that he wasn't being honest, but there didn't seem to be a point in debating it. “So, I should just throw it away?”
“Not only that, but set them on fire.”
“
What?”
“Oh, don't you see?” Mr. Medicus said in an impatient tone. “They still are affected by the magic in the place. If someone got to them, they'll be transformed into such creatures. I mean, who'll want to be a Buizel with three pairs of wings?”
“Oh. Um, OK.”
“Good,” Mr. Medicus said as he handed the bag to Luke. “Be sure to wear rubber or plastic so you won't transform again.”
-----Present Time-----
Luke stood in front of the dumpster with a fire lit inside of it. All of the Frankenstein-like toys were now on fire, with a glow emitting from the bottom on it. The anthro Jackal looked on with sadness in his face. Even though it would've been for the best if no one managed to get to them, it was still a sad sight for a fan like Luke to witness them get destroyed.
Yet, as Luke thought to himself as he walked away, there was one plush that was missing from the bag. One plush that was spared again. Why was the Lugia plush spared?
Luke shrugged as his tail brushed against the ground under the cloak he wore. Whatever was the answer, he was sure it would pop up in time as long as he worked with the man he's sure who had slashed them in the first place, along with the answers to all of the other questions.
-----Three Months Later-----
There was a saying that New York is the city that never sleeps. Yet, Daniel thought as he floated over Tokyo with a camera on hand, that also applied to every major city with millions of people. The lights of the city shone high up to the sky to the point that it was nothing less of a miracle to see a single star in the sky that wasn't the sun.
Daniel floated in the air for a few minutes, looking over the amazing lightshow that was Tokyo while snapping a few pictures, before he phased out of the night sky. He had little doubt that he would be spotted in the sky, but there's only so much a psychic projection could do to make himself 'invisible' to the citizens there. Mythical Psychic-type Pokémon or not, it was a strain to his mind to project to tens of thousands of people an image of a bird flying in the sky.
He just as fast phased back into existence inside of an apartment in the city. It was a small apartment, even for one that was supposed to have two to three people living in it, with only two small bedrooms and a kitchen connected to a living room. Of course, Daniel doesn't mind, since he was small even as a Mewtaur; after all, his bed is gigantic in comparison. Jacob and Coby, on the other hand-
“Stop smacking me with Fox's tail,” Jacob said to Coby (that was who they decided to call the left side of the Two-Mewtwo), his voice raised high as he struggled to keep his headset on. “It's ridiculous that he can hit twice by attacking upwards while jumping.”
“Then stop trying to get hit by that attack by falling towards me,” Coby replied back, his voice just as high. “Jeez, you act so entitled for a fair game.”
“Settle down you two,” Daniel said as he pressed his little arms against both of their heads. “It's surprising that I'm the younger one and yet I have to act as the parent to you two.”
“Dude, we're streaming,” Jacob said, pointing at the computer set up that's connected to the TV. The monitor was also displaying the game as it was being streamed on Twitch. “The fans love it when we bicker.”
“Doesn't make it any less annoying,” Daniel replied as he floated around Jacob and Coby. “I was hoping to use the computer to upload some photos of Tokyo and some other places. Mind it I use it?”
“After the next game,” Coby said, his hands hovering around the levitating Joy-Cons. “We still need to settle our tie. Why don't you-”
A knock echoed through the room. The three looked up and their eyes stared at the door. Daniel, the closest to the door, floated to it and, with his psychic projection ready, opened the door. '
Hello.'
There was no one there.
Daniel blinked as he looked down the hallway at both sides. Despite being quick to open the door, with only a couple of seconds passing since the knock and the door opening, the hall appeared to be empty. Not even a quick psychic scan showed anyone near and running. His eyes then looked down and saw a package below. It soon gave out a pinkish glow and floated in the air as Daniel pointed at it and 'pulled' it inside. Then, with a few mental tugs, it unwrapped and opened up.
Inside was an envelope, white and unwritten on the surface. Right next to it was a couple of blue gems, each tied up in a string so that it worked as a necklace. He hovered his hands over the gems, and while they don't look wrong, they do have a sort of aura emitting from them. Perhaps it was because he was a Mewtaur that he could sense something like that.
He then lifted the envelope up with his mind and opened that one up as well. He unfolded the letter that had been contained within, and to his surprise, it was written in English. While being a Psychic-type, a powerful one like Mew and Mewtwo, allowed them to scan into others’ minds and read what they were saying without understanding the language they spoke, it was a different matter with the written part of that language. It was impossible for Daniel, Jacob, and Coby to translate it with their psychic powers since there was no mind to read; as long as anyone who understood the language wasn’t reading the same words.
Written in the letter was the following:
Dear sirs who took the plushies months ago,
I do apologize that it took so long to track you down. It seemed that the former owner of the shop, when he asked me to dispose of the stuffed Pokémon toys a couple of years ago (my time), he also removed the means to track who was transformed by them on the toys themselves. Such a shame, though it would have avoided some trouble on my end.
As you certainly know, those toys weren't normal toys. They came from a magical shop where I work, with magic from the Hope Emulator seeping onto them, and because the creators of it were the kind that love transformation, they trigger changes from contact with them. I admit that I don't fully understand why they love such a thing, but I don't mind that much. After all, I'm a 'victim' of such a change myself and I love what it did to me.
I know it's too late, but I would like to say that I'm sorry for what happened. The former owner had uncomfortable memories regarding Pokémon because he lost someone he loved. From what I could tell, she was turned into a Lugia and, while she doesn't mind, he did and it gnawed on him for years. He used to just keep it on the back of his mind by only keeping the Pokémon products on the back of the store, but when I brought up the lack of Pokémon sales, it caused him to go on a rampage on the stuffed Pokémon toys.
They weren't meant to be sold when they fixed themselves wrong after he ended his rampage, but one of you two spotted me and took the toys that I was going to destroy for good. By the time I found where you two were, you were already changed and left.
Inside are the two necklaces that, as long as you're wearing them, will restore you to your normal human selves. I'm not sure if you two will use them, but here they are just in case.
I hope you'll forgive me.
From,
LukeDaniel looked over it twice as Coby asked, “What's wrong?”
“Nothing's wrong,” Daniel replied as he tossed the necklaces and letter in the trash. “Just a prank.”
