Prince Remus's Story

The former Prince, Remus' thoughts hadn't changed since he left the New Moon Forest. He felt that being king was too big of a task for his liking. He felt that adventuring was his style.

He wandered around town square, wandering what to do. He remembered reading about Rescue Team sign-ups being open. He desperately wanted to join a team, but he was struggling on what team to sign up for!

What am I going to do? Remus' thought to himself.

Remus' found a comfortable spot on the sidewalk to lie down on. He needed to think.

Suddenly, Remus' heard something. It sounded like talking.

Remus' followed the voices. As he turned a corner into the marketplace he saw a Growlithe, a Cyndaquil, and....a very unusual Chimchar.

Who is that Chimchar? Remus' thought to himself.

The Growlithe cocked it's head and said "What are you?" to the very unusual Chimchar.

Crimson saw that Noko would most likely accept his apology and believe him. But he could see that little strain of doubt in the back of the cyndaquill's mind.

"I, er, really appreciate how you tried to teach me, but I think that we should stop. It's too dangerous for me to be near you, you see...but maybe I could find you somewhere to stay, if you don't have anywhere else. You need to be careful who sees you like this." Noko had offered, keeping his gaze off of him, showing true modesty in his tone.

Crimson was about to answer when two more pokemon entered his vision. Afraid they were hostile, he got into a ready stance, even though he had no idea what kind of attacks he'd have now that he was a water Pokemon. The growlithe was the first to arrive, cocking his head and asking, "What are you?" The other had just arrived.

"Umm..." Crimson was unsure of how to respond to the two. Noko actually saw what had happened, but trying to explain it sounded certifiably insane. Besides, he didn't know what was going to happen to him, so it was better not to reveal anything. Unfortunately, his new form revealed a lot more than he wanted to.

"I-I don't really know what just happened. One minute, I was fire, the next, water. I have no idea how it happened." he told the growlithe. There. Truth. Crimson turned to Noko, giving the cyndaquill his best help face while they weren't looking. He needed him to jump in on this, in case they were thinking of taking him away somewhere. Meanwhile, he was also trying to find a way to possibly undo what had already been done.

Noko saw the look on Crimson's face and wanted more than ever to run away. The Growlithe had been told the truth, but how could he believe such a vague explanation? And what did he want, anyway? The Zorua was just as much of a mystery. They might want to take Crimson away, or just get rid of him. Noko mouthed a silent prayer, and stepped forward.

"Oh, it's nothing special, guys. It's just, er, a kind of illness that's been spreading around lately. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it. D-don't worry, it's not contagious!" He laughed nervously, trying not to show his panic. He had always been a bad liar, and now was no exception: his stammer had returned, he couldn't make eye contact and he'd started to blush. It was about time that they were leaving. Noko braced himself and took Crimson's arm. Fortunately, it didn't hurt his hand - the skin felt cold and moist, but not painful like the water attack had been. He started to back away, tugging Crimson along with him.

"He should be fine in a couple of hours' time. Right now he just needs to get some rest." Noko hoped that he hadn't made the situation worse by lying. He tried to get away before either of the onlookers had a chance to respond.

Crimson watched with part amusement, part of him sayng "Oh no," as Noko stuttered out an excuse.

"Oh, it's nothing special, guys. It's just, er, a kind of illness that's been spreading around lately. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it. D-don't worry, it's not contagious!" Noko said, laughing, grabbing his hand and beginning to back up. The hand was warm and the back of his mind festered upon it. He backed up with Noko.

"He should be fine in a couple of hours' time. Right now, he just needs to get some rest." Noko said and together they began to let the forest swallow them up. Crimson was going along with it, even though it was a terrible lie.

And then it happened again. Only this time, it was kind of the opposite. Suddenly, he felt hot and dizzy. His vision began to spin and he could barely take a step behind him. He covered his face with his hand, trying to get the feeling to pass.

ANd it did. The feeling was gone. His hands left different. A surge of hope coursed through him as he opened his eyes and looked down. He was back to normal! He could hug himself at this moment, but he'd realized a second later that he'd done so in the sight of the Growlithe and the Zoura...

Growls looked on at the changing chimchar in amazement. It had changed back to a normal chimchar in just moments, but also gave Growls some level of incite. Growls had heard of something like this, type instability. A rare defect that some pokemon would have, which was characterized by an occasional, unintentional type change. Growls could only think about his response moments before saying it.

"First, don't lie to me. It was bluntly obvious. And second, I have heard of something similar to this. It's called type instability. A rare defect in pokemon that is characterized by uncontrolled type changes." spouted Growls in a cheerful voice.

"First, don't lie to me. It was bluntly obvious. And second, I have heard of something similar to this. It's called type instability. A rare defect in pokemon that is characterized by uncontrolled type changes."

Crimson was utterly amazed by not only the fact that the Growlithe knew that but the fact that he said it so nonchalantly, so...cheerful.

Type instability was one of the most mysterious defects ever, for the conditions may vary. He'd never heard of a case where you completely changed your form. Most were, in a broad, general term, a pokemon with access to two conflicting elements. There were a few cases where the pokemon could control more elements. How many could he control?

Most born with the defect usually didn't live long. And the lucky few who did were caught by experimenters.

Crimson took a cautious step forward, his guard on high alert in case this was a trap, even though he was sure it wasn't. You could never be too careful...

"Yeah, maybe..." he sighed, still trying to comprehend the facts running through his head. "Either way, I'm a huge prize for some lucky trainer until I can control it, so I should find some sort of hideout until I can hide it effectively."

Noko hung his head as the Growlithe saw through his lie. I tried... but really, what did Crimson expect? The Growlithe's explanation caught his interest, but didn't know if it was just a lie to try and catch them in a trap. In the end, fear outweighed curiosity and he didn't say a word. What concerned him, however, was Crimson's apparent acceptance of the newcomer; he had stepped forward and begun to talk back. Noko still didn't trust it or the strange Zorua.

He turned around, afraid that any more Pokemon would stumble upon them. "Crimson, let's just go," he murmured, squeezing his arm urgently.

"Well, you will never be able to control the defect until you know its triggers. But, as you age, you might find that the triggers may change. The best advice that I can give you is either hide for the rest of your life, or find a way to become a big enough influence in the way of good that no one would want to take you away from your duties. Of course, you could always just become so strong that you can kill with a single move." spoke Growls, again with the cheerful tone. Back when he was human, which as far as he could tell was in a different dimension, he had studied the defect. From what he knew, the difference wasn't that pokemon were smarter here, but that there was no humans.

Growls then thought that it might be that he has yet to introduce himself that caused the others to fear him. "By the way, my name is Growls, the growlithe." he said in a formal tone.

"Well, you will never be able to control the defect until you know its triggers. But, as you age, you might find that the triggers may change. The best advice that I can give you is either hide for the rest of your life or find a way to become big enough influence in the way of good that no one would want to take you away from your duties. Of course, you could always just become so strong that you can kill with a single move," the growlithe had said. Those were true posibilities, Crimson thought. The most simple was to become so strong that he could kill anything that moved to attack him, but it was also probably the hardest. Hiding was definately the laziest, but also the most uneventful and you would eventually be found. The whole good position thing was tricky and required luck and a bit of popularity...popularity he really didn't have just yet. Crimson rubbed his furry chin, reflecting his options.

"Crimson, let's just go," Noko said. He probably didn't trust the two and just wanted to avoid any conflict. The Zoura hadn't said anything yet.

"By the way, my name is Growls the Growlithe," Growls added, formally.

He turned to Noko and Growls, wondering who to follow in this. Finally making a decision, he turned to Noko. "It's fine. He really isn't here to hurt. From the looks of him, he needsan ally after converting from human to Pokemon."

He turned to Growls. "That's quite a catchy name you have there. I'm Crimson, although that wasn't my color a few moments ago. I think I'd luckily already discovered the triggers, or at least some way to activate it. We'll just see where the wind takes the flame and go from there. You're welcome to come with us if you want." He started to go into the forest, then turned back. "And don't worry about your human secret. I was human once as well. And Noko's behavior tells me that he was probably human once as well. We won't tell anyone. It's a technical thing with me. You might not understand." He grabbed Noko's hand and led him out of the clearing right as the sun went down. "We need to get some rest and train the both of us. Don't get mad when I say this, but we might be going into another dungeon."