Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Transmutation (Complete)

Pikamaster

Active Member
OK, so this is something that I decided to write a week ago. So I took some Sinnoh myths and created back-story to them, also writing the mandatory PokeMorph story that most every Pokemon FF writer puts out at some point. So Read and Review please, and enjoy.

EDIT. Yes, the chapters are rather short, but this was only supposed to be a two-shot at first.

Chapter One: Transmutation
“Rattata!”

The shrill cry of the small, purple rat filled the forest. The sun barely penetrated the thick canopy, giving the advantage of poor lighting and the chilly air to it. His opponent, a young human of about forty seasons, fit and armed, wearing nothing but a loincloth, could barely see his prey to throw the sharp stone dagger he held at the Pokémon, and the cold making breath come in short, ragged gasps. Normally the Rattata would’ve given himself to the human without a fight; it would die almost painlessly and its body would be used for food, clothing and other necessities, but this time the hunt was different. This human wasn’t hunting for food, he was hunting for revenge.

It had started with a group of Hoothoot helping part of a human tribe through a pass known for its unstable ground during the night of a new-moon. The Hoothoot would warn the humans where not to step, and in return would get protection from the carnivorous Pokémon that hunted during the day for a moon. This was something that happened frequently and it had never failed either party, but that night it did. One of the humans was not warned, and he fell into a seemingly bottomless pit, shrieking and wailing until he was heard no more. But his cries were not alone, for he had grabbed his guide to die with him. Chaos ensued momentarily, but both sides agreed to a temporary truce once their fighting brought many deaths on both sides. The remaining humans returned to their camp while the Hoothoots did the same. Quick skirmishes soon broke out in forests and plains, and all out war quickly followed. Two seasons of bloodbath resulted in the near extinction of several less-populous Pokémon species, and entire tribes of humans were wiped out.

The Rattata was losing strength quickly as its blood poured from multiple wounds. The human had near twice as many cuts and scrapes, but his larger size had proven to be an advantage as he could fend off attacks much easier than the tiny rat could. The Rattata had two choices: run away and let the human scum continue its miserable existence, or try to kill it and go down in a blaze of glory, becoming a martyr among his species. The second choice was obviously more appealing.

Slipping behind a moss-blanketed tree, the Rattata watched in amusement as the human growled in frustration, searching for his prey with dulled senses. The Rattata waited for the perfect moment, when the human turned his back, and then he jumped out with a battle cry, knowing that he would probably die along with the human as it quickly turned and brandished the dagger. But neither creature came into contact with the other as a flash of blinding green light filled the clearing, along with a harsh wind that pushed both the human and the Pokémon away from each other.

“And what do you think you’re doing? Hunting for revenge? Killing on both sides and wasting the bodies? This is NOT how humans and Pokémon are supposed to interact.”

The voice that spoke was ancient and wise, yet energetic and bursting with youth. There was also a soothing quality to it that made pain disappear, and plants seemed to quiver with excitement. As the light faded, the speaker was revealed to be a small, green fairy-like Pokémon with two antennae that were tipped in blue, large oval eyes that contained crystal-blue irises; they were rimmed in a thick black oval.

The two who had been fighting both looked defiantly at the Pokémon, but neither moved. As the fairy Pokémon hovered towards them, not even using the tiny, transparent wings on its back, it spoke again.

“Pokémon and Humans will never quite trust each other now, and Pokémon will no longer give themselves willingly. The bond can be re-forged, stronger than before in some cases, weaker in others. However, the secret to creating this bond will only be given to one human family who has had no part in these battles; they will spread the secret as they see fit. However, before this happens, your species must learn how to get along again.”

Both creatures flinched as the green Pokémon quickly flew up to them in turn and lightly tapped them on the forehead, and then quickly retreated to the spot where it had appeared. The effect was instantaneous.

Both the human and the Pokémon vanished, and in their place was a new creature. It had the features of a Rattata, but it was changed so that the main shape of the body was human. The feet, claws and face were that of a Rattata, and a long purple tail protruded from the back of the creature, but the size and shape of it was an exact copy of the human who had just vanished. Its form changed again, becoming a Rattata, and then the human. Back and forth it went, constantly changing until it finally settled on the form that it first appeared in. It let out a low pitched squeak of anger, and then looked around in confusion. Its gaze settled on the fairy as she let out a giggle.

“I have made you into one being, and you will live the rest of your life like that. You are not the only one who will be like this, for many other humans and Pokémon are being merged together as I speak. To live, you will have to learn to share one body, taking turns as the dominating conscious, or the struggle to assert yourself as the dominant one will kill you. Any wounds, hunger, fatigue, thirst; they will be shared between your bodies, and once I leave, the bodies you have will be either pure Pokémon or pure human, this mix between species will no longer exist. Just remember, filling the stomach of a Rattata won’t necessarily be enough food for a human. I’ll leave you to decide what you should do; you already know what I want. When the entire human and Pokémon race achieves this, I shall return. Until then.”

With a final flash of light, the Pokémon vanished, leaving the confused Pokémorph to begin cycling bodies again. It did not settle for hours, and when it did, the creature did not know where to go. Letting out one last cry of anguish, it sat and it wept.



Chapter Two: Expiration​


Half a season passed, and the fused creature slowly learned to compromise with each other, but they still thought of themselves as separate beings and didn’t trust the other. Because of this, their movement was slow and erratic. However, in spite of this mistrust, the human, guilt gnawing on him like his Rattata side would gnaw on wood, convinced the Rattata to go back to his tribe. There had been no search parties looking for him, and he had expected none. With a war going on, no group could spare warriors to search for one who had most likely fallen; any human family who lost someone like this would be forced to grieve without the body. And that’s what drove the creature back to his tribe; the thought of his mother being forced to bear the pain of his death when he was not dead. He may be part Pokémon now, but surely his mother’s love could see past that.

So now he lurked under the bushes on the far side of the stream where his people had moved their camp, the Rattata being the dominate consciousness for the moment. Dusk was throwing long shadows into the camp as the humans did their end-of-the-day tasks. Warriors sat around the campfire in grim silence, just waiting to take their turn on sentry duty, while the women washed the dinner pots in the stream, just a little way down form where the morph was hiding. The children were nowhere to be seen, but they were probably in a tent with several men watching over them.

Taking a mental breath, the human availed the Rattata to let him become the form and controller of their shared body, promising to relinquish it if fleeing was necessary. After a moment’s hesitation, the Rattata agreed, and their body smoothly changed into that of the young human’s. The boy walked downstream to a fallen tree that he had seen, or the Rattata had seen, on the way up river. He would use that as a bridge and cross over, and then came the challenge of talking to his tribe.

The tree was a small one, barely big enough to safely cross without slipping into the treacherous current below, and it wasn’t helped by the bark having been stripped off by the constant torrent of water splashing against it, but it was better than nothing, although only slightly. Once, the nervous human nearly slipped and fell, but he managed to jump the last few feet and roll onto the safety of dry land. His meager swimming skills wouldn’t help him in the slightest in that current. After taking a moment to catch his breath, the two-who-had-become-one got to his feet and walked towards the camp. It wasn’t long before cries arose from the tribe; shouts and surprise and joy. A slender figure with flowing black hair sprinted forward and pulled the boy into a tight embrace.

“I thought that you had been lost to those evil creatures, but now you have returned unharmed. I…”

The boy stood there, embracing his mother, letting her love wash away all his doubts about his situation. She would stand by him, no matter what. Breaking away from his mother, the nervous human saw that his entire tribe had circled him and were staring at him, wariness was alight in their eyes as the tribe’s leader stepped forward to speak.

“You are different.” he said. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. At this, the boy gulped, and then spoke.

“It is true, leader. I am different. I was hunting a Monster out in the forest, and I was about to kill it when a bright light shone from a place that was almost right next to me, bringing with it a wind that stopped my from achieving my goal. Another Monster appeared and spoke to me.”

At this, there were gasps. The belief that Pokémon were truly sentient had died along with the friendship between them. The tribe’s leader held his hand up for silence, and then gestured for the storyteller to continue. After a grateful nod and another deep breath to soothe his frayed nerves, the Pokémorph continued with his tale.

“Yes, it spoke to me. It told me that humans and Monsters, although it didn’t call them Monsters, it called them ‘Pokémon’, should not be fighting. It said that there must be peace between us once more. It also promised a new bond between our species when we achieve peace, although only one family would get to know this secret.”

There was silence for a moment, and then the leader spoke again, although this time there was fire in his eyes and anger in his voice.

“And even if we did believe you, and I speak for all of us when I say that we don’t, how would this explain the change in you. No, something else happened and you are just trying to cover it up. Tell me, what really happened? And if you lie this time, you will be banished.”

The tribe’s warriors gripped their spears and lowered them until they were ready for stabbing the boy. The human in question, close to tears, looked at his mother, but she was staring at him in disgust. He opened his mouth to explain, but his Rattata side took advantage of his confusion to take control of their body, changing it to its own shape. It must have been planning this all along! The human thought. It wants us both to die!

There was a stunned silence, and then the boy’s mother screamed.

“Kill it! Kill it! The Monsters have found how to look like us and how to speak like us! Nobody is safe! Kill it!”

The Rattata presented itself to the spears that were quickly coming to dispatch it, but then its basic nature overrode the desire to kill itself and the human that was part of it and it fled, dodging spears and rocks as it headed back towards the forest. Fear lent it speed and it soon lost the party of warriors who were chasing it far behind. It only stopped running when it was deep in the forest, surrounded by ancient trees and bushes, completely hidden from view. As it collapsed, the human took over their body again. When he was able to rise again, he got to his feet and stared into the forest in the direction of the tribe’s campsite. He could never go back. He would never live among humans again.



Chapter Three: Desperation


The creature reached full maturity after another twenty seasons; the human in it became a man, and the Rattata half evolved into a Raticate. But even adulthood could not bring the two to compromise any more than they had to for survival. They had successfully hidden from the parties of humans and the parties of Pokémon that searched for them and other fusions of Pokémon and human. Guilty relief always engulfed the creature when groups of searching Pokémon encountered groups of humans that were doing the same, for they always stopped looking for it and fought each other, often to the death. Even though the war had died down a little, battles and skirmishes still cost many lives every season.

With no company other than the nemesis that shared its body, both creatures had slowly gone insane, even forgetting their own names, for why would you need to address someone who received your thoughts if you wished to communicate? So slowly, ever so slowly, the spark of intelligence that it still clung to began to fade. And it would have died altogether, had she not shown up.

It was an unusually cool summer evening, and the morph, in human form at the moment, was sitting at the edge of the lake that fed the stream that he had often played in before he had changed. The sun was setting as a brilliant ball of orange and red flames, tinting the clouds and the lake a beautiful red-orange. Even the young man could appreciate how gorgeous and serene the scene was. Something this pretty should not be ruined by petty battles, but if the war wasn’t stopped, it soon would be.

Just as this thought was registering in the distorted creature's brain, a crash came from a short distance behind him. A few seconds later, a Pikachu jumped out of the bushes, closely followed by a couple Gloom that were obviously chasing the Pikachu. The Pikachu was injured, but there were only a few cuts and scrapes. A small “V” indentation in its tail marked her as a female. Her eyes widened as she saw what appeared to be a human blocking her only escape, and she quickly darted off to one side, heading upriver. The sight of Pokémon chasing Pokémon could only mean one thing, and it occurred to the human as one of the Gloom broke of pursuit of the Pikachu and headed towards him; the Pikachu was cursed like him, half human and half Pokémon.

Instinctively, the human allowed his Raticate side to take control, change their form, and quickly snap the Gloom in half, and then it raced towards the other one. Maybe if it saved the Pikachu, it wouldn’t be alone anymore. It could finally have someone to talk to, to share all of its confusion with, but only if she was saved, and to do that, he would have to catch her. Catching and dispatching the Gloom was easy enough, but that took time, no matter how small of an amount. As fast as it was, the Pikachu was just as fast, and its only hope was that the Pikachu was already tired from running.

But she wasn’t tired, and the Raticate soon fell behind, used to hiding rather than running. Attempts at communication were useless, and the saddened creature knew this. It had lost words a long time ago, and they could not be brought back quickly, it would take practice, and that took time that it didn’t have. In one last, desperate attempt, the Raticate let the human take over, and when it could gather enough breath between gasps, it let out a shout. The Pikachu looked over her shoulder, her mouth was foam-flecked and her deep-brown eyes were wide. For a moment, she kept running, only seeing the human and not the lack of the Raticate or its body, and then realization hit her like a Snorlax’s Tackle. Cautiously, she came to a halt and changed into the form of a girl of about fifty seasons with long, brown hair and wide, sky-blue eyes on a face that was slightly less slender than her body. She quickly changed back to Pikachu form, ready to run, but when the boy changed back into a Raticate her tension eased.

And so, for the first time in many seasons, the fused creature smiled. He was still smiling when he fell over as the effects of the Glooms’ Poison Powder took effect, and the smile remained as the Pikachu ran over to him, changing into the human girl as she reached him, and then his eyes closed.
 
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This was inspired by one of the books from Canalave Library, no?

I'll be interested to see how you write this. It seems reasonably original for yet another morph fic.
 
This was inspired by one of the books from Canalave Library, no?

I'll be interested to see how you write this. It seems reasonably original for yet another morph fic.

Yeah, it was. Yellowfire and I were going to do an entire series that was going to explain every myth/legend/un-explained thing in Pokemon, but school got in the way and we abandoned it kinda. This actually ties in with three of the books from the Library, although two of them were unintentional.

Code:
" Long ago, when Sinnoh had just been 
    made, Pokémon and humans led 
    separate lives. 
    That is not to say they did not help 
    each other. No, indeed they did. 
    They supplied each other with goods, 
    and supported each other. 
    A Pokémon proposed to the others 
    to always be ready to help humans. 
    It asked that Pokémon be ready to 
    appear before humans always. 
    Thus, to this day, Pokémon appear 
    to us if we venture into tall grass. "

   " Pick clean the bones of Pokémon 
    caught in the sea or stream. 
    Thank them for the meals they 
    provide, and pick their bones clean. 
    When the bones are as clean as can 
    be, set them free in the water from 
    which they came. 
    The Pokémon will return, fully 
    fleshed, and it begins anew. "

  "  A young man, callow and foolish in 
    innocence, came to own a sword. 
    With it, he smote Pokémon, which gave 
    sustenance, with carefree abandon. 
    Those not taken as food, he 
    discarded, with no afterthought. 
    The following year, no Pokémon 
    appeared. Larders grew bare. 
    The young man, seeking the missing 
    Pokémon, journeyed afar. 
    Long did he search. And far and wide, 
    too, until one he did find. 
    Asked he, "Why do you hide?" 
    To which the Pokémon replied... 
    "If you bear your sword to bring 
    harm upon us, with claws and 
    fangs, we will exact a toll. 
    "From your kind we will take our 
    toll, for it must be done. 
    "Done it must be to guard ourselves 
    and for it, I apologize." 
    To the skies, the young man shouted 
    his dismay. 
    "In having found the sword, I have 
    lost so much. 
    "Gorged with power, I grew blind 
    to Pokémon being alive. 
    "I will never fall savage again. 
    This sword I denounce and forsake. 
    "I plead for forgiveness, 
    for I was but a fool." 
    So saying, the young man hurled the 
    sword to the ground, snapping it. 
    Seeing this, the Pokémon disappeared 
    to a place beyond seeing... "

  "  There lived a Pokémon in a forest. 
    In the forest, the Pokémon shed its 
    hide to sleep as a human. 
    Awakened, the human dons the 
    Pokémon hide to roam villages. "

  "  There once were Pokémon that 
    became very close to humans. 
    There once were humans and Pokémon 
    that ate together at the same table. 
    It was a time when there existed no 
    differences to distinguish the two. "

Those are all of the ones that I seem to reference in some way, if only partly. Now I only intend on doing one more chapter and an Epilogue, but intentions aren't always what will happen...
 
Lovin the great idea and story Pikamaster!:biggrin:

Thanks. I'm hoping to get the last part(s) up soonish, but I have to finish my contest entry (make sure to go and vote!) and I have another essay starting this monday, so all writing projects that aren't what I said I have to do are postponed until I get the school work done.
 
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