A New World Chapter 2

A New World
By
WYLD STALLYNZ


"Hey! Whatcha do that for?!" Dice asked, eyeing the Umbreon warily. "Look what you did to my Moony! He'll never be the same! I bet he's defective now! This is coming out of your paycheck!" Dice's eyes narrowed. "If this is how it's going to be, then you will have to fight!" She pushed the Cyndaquil forth. "You have to fight my Cyndy!"

Blade's eyebrow twitched. "Cindy!?"

"Isn't that your name?" Dice blinked.

"No! My name is Blade! I'm a fighter!"

Dice smiled. "Great!" she looked at the Umbreon. "You have to fight my Blade now! Prepare for battle!"

Excited about the prospect, Blade turned around and growled at the Umbreon.

"Then prepare to die," the Umbreon replied coldly. "No one breaks into my master's house and gets away with it!"

"We're friends with Moonstone! And to prove it, Blade will kick your ass! Blade! Go!"

"Raaargh!" Blade roared as he jumped pulling his fist back, ready to down the offending Umbreon.

The last thing he saw before sailing past Dice was the Umbreon rolling her eyes.

Dice looked at the unconscious Cyndaquill and turned to glare at the Umbreon, who said smugly, "Well, now that we have established where we stand, why don't you-"

"Moonstone said we could stay here, okay? Would you just wait a sec so we can talk?" Moonstone groaned, starting to get to his paws shakily.

"I doubt that he would do that," countered the female, keeping an eye on her downed opponent. "Because he's obsessive compulsive about cleanliness, and you're all filthy!"

"Pardon me? Filthy? I'll have you know Legendary Pokemon are never filthy! It's just you."

"Escuse me?! I'll have you know she gets brushed at least three times a day!" Moonstone snapped, glaring at Dice. "And he wouldn't do what now? Wouldn't let filthy Pokemon into his house? Last time I checked, he sure didn't seem to care how filthy you and your brother Solaire were when he took you home and nursed you back to health with Tear's help."

"Dude, you're coming out as a stalker..." Dice muttered.

The Umbreon blinked, backing up ever so slightly as she narrowed her eyes. "H-how did you know about that? Wait a second... You're the ones behind his disappearance, aren't you?!"

"Oh, no, nononono... you got it all wrong!" Dice protested, making soothing motions with her claws. "I have nothing to do with Moonstone other than scratching his ears and making him purr. I swear on Lugia's feather!"

"You hurt Moonstone?!" the Umbreon screeched, her eyes going wide before starting to growl, preparing a much stronger attack.

Dice rolled her eyes. "Not 'Scratch' the attack you fire-cracker! Scratch as in, you know..." she scratched her arm like she would scratch a pet's ears. Seeing that the Umbreon was serious, Dice carefully placed the Ponyta in the line of fire.

"W-wait! What are you doing?" the Ponyta asked.

"Dice, do yourself a favor and shut the hell up, okay?" Moonstone grunted, swaying slightly as he stopped leaning against the wall.

"But... but she's soooo cute, Moon! I can't help but tease her!"

"Oh yes you will!" Moonstone snapped, shooting daggers at the Latias. "I will not stand by while you mock my Moonsong!"

While the Umbreon gaped at the pair, Dice sighed, "I'm, not laughing at her! I'm laughing with her!" Dice grinned. "Besides, you know I don't mock Pokemon, Moony!" her smile faded at the Espeon's angry look. "Fine, fine, be protective." Shaking her head, Dice floated over to poke at Blade with a stick. "Hey, are you alive?"

The Umbreon's eyes re-narrowed slightly, focusing her attention on Moonstone. "How did you know that name? Moonstone only ever called me that in private..."

Moonstone opened his mouth, then hesitated. "W-well... This uh... Is going to sound pretty crazy, but uh... Funny thing happened to me on the way home from the bar?" he finished, chuckling nervously.

"Look, either give me straight answers, or I'm going to kick your ass out of here!" she retorted, clearly not amused.

"Fine! Just give me a chance to explain afterwards then! I... I am Moonstone. I was on the way home from the bar, some planes released this gas that made us pass out, and when I woke up, I was like this."

"What?! That's crazy! You're lying!" she exclaimed, getting ready to fight again. "It's impossible for a human to turn into a Pokemon!"

Dice was about to say something but the Cyndaquil's groan distracted her. "Damn it, you had to wake up right when I could have caused the most damage..." she sighed.

Moonstone gaped at Moonsong, his voice unbelieving. "I don't know if you seriously don't remember, or if you're flat out lying. I know you know that's not true. Remember Bill's famous accident? He turned into a Pokemon. Look, you want me to prove I'm Moonstone? Ask me something that only I would know!"

"Fine! What is the one thing I treasure above all other things?"

"Oh! I know that! I know that!" Dice said animatedly from behind the Umbreon. "Your litter box! It has to be!"

The Umbreon jumped in surprise, before spinning around and firing a Dark Pulse right in Dice's face before backing off, ready for further battle. Moonstone, being pushed past his limit, yelled, "Dice, I swear to Arceus, if you say one more damn word, I will freaking give Luna permission to slaughter your sorry ass for trespassing! You're here as a guest, so start acting like it, dammit!"

Dice groaned and shook her head, then lowered it, looking dejectedly at Moonstone. "Sorry, Moon... you know I'm just getting used to this stuff... and... I don't really mean anything by it..."

Moonstone felt bad, but knew he shouldn't break, so he decided to reply stiffly, "I know, but there's a time and place for it, and you need to learn when and where that is! I'm already freaking out, and I don't need to freak out Luna more than I already am!" Turning back to the Umbreon, he finished with, "Look, I could tell you that your middle name is Astoria. I could tell you that my password for all of my equipment is Xellius. I could even tell you that you're the one who took the blame for the broken antique when I was younger. There's nothing more I can say to convince you I'm telling the truth. Either you trust me, or I'm screwed. I still don't know how I'm going to explain this to mom and dad, and, seeing as I can understand you, I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that I don't even speak English anymore! Now please, for the love of Arceus, just let me in the door!"

The Umbreon was silent for a moment, thinking deeply, before she stepped aside, saying quietly, "Fine, go right ahead. If you can open that door on your first try, I'll believe you. Do you still have your key on you, or do you need the spare under the mat?"

"We don't need keys," Dice said. "I could always blast it! I discovered how to throw an attack earlier today!" Then she sighed, "But... as a guest I shouldn't do that... go ahead..."

Moonstone, who had been grinning when Dice started to talk, tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice as he inquired, "Are you sure? I mean, you're not saying you have trouble opening doors, do you? The key is under the mat, after all..."

Dice nodded. "Yes... but, if I blasted your door I would be acting very much like... fine. Okay, where's that key? I'll bite..." she hovered over to the door mat and lifted it, quickly spotting the key. "Okay, since I do have fingers... of sorts... this shouldn't be a problem." Slowly she inserted the key in the keyhole, then turned it until it clicked. Dice then started to gather energy in her mouth.

Moonstone gaped for a moment, before faceplanting into the ground, muttering, "Give me a break... I asked her to open the door so I could finally get a laugh!" Raising his head, he continued, "If you break that door, so help me I will make you not only pay for a new one, but also make you prepare breakfast!"

The threat was so completely and utterly illogical and lame that Dice, confused, closed her mouth and looked at Moonstone with wide eyes. That's when her attack exploded in her mouth. Trails of misty smoke puffed out of her nose as she collapsed forward.

Moonstone snorted, then fell to the ground, laughing hysterically. "That was priceless! I mean, I was expecting you to fail to open the door, but to have your own attack blow up on you?" He continued to laugh for a moment, before wheezing, "It opens from the bottom, okay? You use the key as leverage to make the crack wide enough at the bottom to get a good hold, and you just lift it straight up! Pretty cool trick, right?"

Dice remained quiet, face down on the floor. Wave abandoned her hiding place behind a rock and slowly approached her, poking her on the side. "Is she dead?"

Moonstone crept forward a few steps, then sighed, "Nah, she's not dead. With how my day has gone, I couldn't be that lucky..."

Moonstone then looked down to find Dice's teary eyes looking up at him.

Moonstone flinched slightly, not sure if he could look away. 'Dammit! I can't win! Either she's actually hurt, or she's trolling me...'

"Moon..." Dice said, watery eyes shimmering in the light. "Mah tongeh huthz!"

Moonstone blinked, then started to giggle. "Oh? Hugh don thay? Ah'm thow thorry!"

Dice blinked, then started giggling too. "Thou thound thilly! Ah donth thounth like that!"

"Of course you don't," Moonstone replied patronizingly, patting her on the head. "You sound perfectly normal, and not like a baby at all. It's okay, you can stay laying here, outside in the snow. I guess I'll just have to go inside all by myself, and make a nice, hot meal just for me, take a hot shower to get rid of all this muck, fall asleep in my nice, large, memory foam bed," he finished slowly, having dragged out the list to taunt the injured Latias on the ground.

Dice chuckled. "Thou maght wanna make some foth the otheths... I'll sthay hethe foth a bit..." she said, looking away and at the sky.

Moonstone blinked, then asked, "Wait, are you serious? I was just pulling your leg, you know... Besides, I still have tests to run to figure out what the hell happened to us! If you get sick, that might screw up the tests."

The Umbreon stood to the side, her mind racing as she tried to piece things together, not willing to truly comprehend that her master had been turned into a Pokemon. "W-wait a sec... A-all of you claim to be humans who were turned into a Pokemon? What are your names, then?"

"I'm Dice, and I haven't claimed anything," Dice said, having recovered feelings in her tongue. "The Whimsy is Wave, the Cyndaquil you knocked out is Blade, the Ponyta over there behind the rock is our resident Ponyta, the Axew is Dude... I think... aand... that's about it, I think." After the quick introduction, which prompted the others to slowly approach, Dice looked back to Moonstone. "Yeah, I'm serious... I just need some time... I think the blast finally calmed me down a bit."

"Okay, if you're sure... You know how to open the door now, so I guess we'll see ya when you come in. Luckily, I've only been gone all night, so if we're lucky, mom and dad won't have really noticed. I tend to keep to myself, so we might get away with a day or two alone to figure this out, but we'll have to be-"

"You've been gone for over a day, Moon," Luna interrupted. "I... if that's really you, the last we heard you were going to the bar to meet with an old friend. That was a couple nights ago... I... We thought you were gone... We were starting to wonder what had happened to you," she finished, her voice quiet.

Moonstone processed the information, but wasn't sure what to do or say about it. "Oh. Well... Umm, let's be fast, then! Everyone inside!"

Dice watched as the group shuffled into the house until she was left all alone in the now-quiet night. She sighed and looked around lazily, her tongue still stinging from the explosion. The cold air felt good against the down on her feathers and served to clear her mind. "What am I going to do with myself?" she asked the night.

She remained silent for a bit longer before a soft smile crept into her face. Slowly, she started floating. It was as if the hold of the world was completely gone, and now that she was alone she could fully experience it... it was a delicious feeling, something like the very begining of a shudder but remaining at the base of her neck where it actually felt good somehow... she was free of the ground, of ties and old dreams. She chuckled as she slowly spiraled up higher and higher into the air.

Walking inside the large building, Moonstone turned and kicked the wall, lights flashing into existence. "Well, it's not much, but it's a nice little place I like to call home," Moonstone said modestly, taking a look around.

"Feel free to help yourselves to some food, though in our current forms, I doubt we can cook much. I'm heading downstairs to the lab if you need me. I need to run some DNA tests immediately! Luna, would you mind helping them find what they need? If I use the Yumi, I should be able to handle things on my own, for awhile at least."

"Duuuude, I totally feel like a Pokemon now... whooooaaaa..." Sage said as he sat down, wonder in his eyes. "This is aaaweeesooome..."

"I... guess, but I'll be right down," Luna answered hesitantly, watching the blue Espeon walk around the corner and down the stairs. Swallowing, she turned back to face the Pokemon who claimed to have been humans. "So uh... What do you guys need?"

Cassie shrugged. "I'd like to know why I'm a Pokemon now... but... is it okay for all of us to find out and leave Dice behind?"

Blade snorted. "Didn't you hear her? She wanted to be alone for a while. Besides, if she cared she'd be in here with all of us. I say we just find a way to change back and be done with it."

"Yeah, I... I want to know what happened too!" Luna exclaimed, standing straighter. "This just doesn't make any sense! Humans don't just turn into Pokemon! I... How can Moonstone turn into a Pokemon and be so calm about it?!

"I bet it's Dice's fault," the Ponyta said, looking around the house curiously. "She's also been transformed, but she seems to be so comfortable as a Pokemon... I can't stop trying to stretch my fingers!"

Luna looked over her shoulder, making a quick decision. "Alright, I want you all to listen, and to listen carefully, because I won't repeat myself. I'm stepping outside, and if I find even one thing out of place, one mess to clean up, Arceus help me, I'll kick your butts so hard the thought of sitting down will make you pass out. Capiche?"

Sufficiently satisfied that they weren't going to go anywhere, she padded downstairs on silent paws. 'I... I can't tell if he's really Moonstone or not... I mean, he's an Espeon, so he could have just read Moon's mind... So I need to observe him when he thinks he's alone to see if he acts odd!'

Satisfied that she had a plan, she waited in the shadows, staring at the blue Espeon as he typed out some commands on a holographic screen, a larger screen in front of him filled with information. ~Welcome back, Master Xell. Keeping busy are you?~

"No time for pleasantries, Luran," Moonstone said sharply, his paws flickering over the glass keyboard. "I've got some DNA tests to run as soon as possible. Activate the standard testing sequen-"

"I'm sorry, sir, but there seems to be something wrong with my voice command receptor. It sounds like you're talking like an Espeon, sir," the computer interrupted, his cultured synthetic voice calm. "Perhaps my-"

Moonstone disabled the computer's voice, not in the mood to deal with it at the moment. Sighing in defeat, he muttered to himself, "Well, at least that confirms that I'm not talking English anymore, but let's see what the DNA test can tell me. Is it still the same? Was it changed? Did they somehow take my memories and put them into a Pokemon's?"

Luna watched as he leaned over, trying to pluck a hair from his body, but his teeth were no longer the right type to be able to pluck a hair with his teeth. "Crap... I can't get a blood sample without hands, and I can't get a hair, so what else could... Duh!"

Sighing from his own stupidity, he carefully bit a Petri dish, carrying it back to the computer. He set it down, then gathered as much saliva as possible as he spat into the dish. After gazing at it, he decided that it was enough for the computer to properly analyze. "Knowing my luck, though," he muttered, shaking his head. "She won't accept it. Stupid finicky computer."

He then grabbed the dish in his mouth once more, jumping up on top of the display. As he landed, however, he slipped, sliding on the glass surface before planting his face in the larger glass surface, creating a small crack running up the side. "Dammit!" he exploded, his face turning purple in rage. "Give me a break! As if Yumi didn't give me enough problems, now she's got a crack in the monitor?! For the love of-"

He was cut off as he heard someone laughing at him. His right eye twitching in irritation, he spun around to see who was making fun of him, only to see Luna giggling, her paw to her muzzle. "Sorry, but you... A-anyway, let's see what the DNA test says, hmm?"

Moonstone watched in surprise as she jumped up next to him, before sitting down, waiting calmly beside him. "... Okay, what's wrong with you?" Moonstone asked bluntly.

"What do you mean?" Luna replied, her tail slowly swishing behind her back and forth, only moving her head to look at him. "I'm just waiting patiently fo-"

"Tauros-shit!" Moonstone replied, his eyes narrowing. "You've NEVER been calm in all the years I've known you when it comes to science! What is wrong with you? Where's your collar?!"

Luna ignored him, as the computer beneath them gave a bright *Ding*, signalling that the data was ready for analysis. As the information began streaming on the screen in front of them, the two eeveelutions paid it close attention. As Moonstone's eyes narrowed in thought, Luna's jaw dropped in surprise.

"I'm not entirely sure what to make of this," Moonstone muttered, a paw raising to rub at his chin. "My DNA is still intact, but it still merged with Pokemon DNA on the outside of the helix? But... How does... That flies in the face of everything we know about DNA! There's no way this is what it's supposed to look like, b-"

He was cut short as Luna caught him in a tight hug, burying her head in his neck as she started talking quickly, her voice muffled by his fur. "I can't believe it's you! What happened?! We've been worried sick! How are you a Pokemon? Why are you blue?"

Moonstone blinked, wondering why she was acting so differently all of a sudden, but tried to calm her down so that he could start to figure out how to answer her questions.

.o.O.o.

"Duuuude... check it out!" Axew whispered in awe, showing what he had found to the Ponyta.

Cassie blinked. "That's a spoon."

"Yeeaah..." Sage took a deep, raspy breath and whispered in a husky voice, "There is a spoon!"

Blade rummaged through the fridge. "Does this guy have any beer in his fridge? I can only find yogurt..."

"Um..." Wave hovered around the group, looking uncertain. "Guys, didn't the Umbreon said she would kill us if we-"

Blade tossed out an old bottle of something, which clattered on the floor, but did not break. "She got lucky last time; if she attacks me again I'll teach her a thing or two..."

"I hear you, Bro..." Sage nodded as he watched the bottle roll around the floor. "Luck is an art..."

Blade frowned, and turned to look at the Axew. "That's not what I-"

"Yeeeah, like, you know... cupcakes..."

"Cupcakes?" Ponyta blinked. "What?"

"... dude, you eat them... and they're gone, right?" Axew elaborated. "But... they really aren't... it's like, you don't see them, but they are a part of you already..."

"Because you ate them?" Wave asked doubtfully.

"They become you, dudette... the cupcake is you, when you eat it..."

"So... when you eat a cupcake... you're eating yourself." Cassie deadpanned.

"That's it, purple talking flaming ponyta! You got it!" Sage cheered. "You can feeeeel it all the time, right? Just like air and skin..."

Blade shook his head. "You can't feel your skin all the time!"

"You do, dude... you do... but you think you don't..." Sage sighed. "You have to think outside the box my friend, outside... the box... otherwise..." his eyes dulled for a moment and he stared straight ahead.

"Otherwise?" Wave asked meekly, eyes wide.

Sage shook his head. "Otherwise you're part of the system-"

"Oi! I thought I said not to touch anything up there, you filthy twerps!" Luna's voice echoed into the room from the basement. "Get your asses down here right this second! We've got questions to ask, data to collect, and problems to solve! For science!"

"Duude... I hear voices..." Axew said in awe.

"I bet you do," Blade said, pushing the Axew forth. "Come on, might as well find out how we all ended up like this."

The group went down the stairs and found Moon and Luna standing in front of a monitor.

"Well?" Blade asked, glancing at the pair. "What's the deal?"

"Take a look at the monitor here," Moonstone instructed, pacing down the glass keyboard. "All the way on the left is what normal Human DNA looks like, okay? You, me, the naked guy across the street, whoever. A simply double-helix containing thousands upon millions of combinations. Next to it, in the middle, is what a normal Pokemon's DNA looks like. To be more specific, it's Luna's, since I already have her info in the computer. Notice how there's a triple helix, similar to our own, but the connections appear to be different, not evenly spaced like ours. All the way over here on the right is what mine looks like right at the moment. Looks normal at a glance, but if you look carefully, you can see segments of a third helix around one of my two original strands. Whatever happened to change us must have affected our DNA directly, or else it wouldn't have fused as easily as it has. This still leaves many questions to ask and answer, of course, but, personally, I at least feel a little better knowing that my DNA is still mine, and that there's just some extra now. All we have to do is figure out how to remove the Pokemon aspects of it, and we should be able to return to normal. Now, where does that leave us? Well I'm glad you asked! You see-"

Blade stared as Moonstone explained what had happened to them. He stared and listened to the voice droning on and on and on with little details and big words like 'DNA' which he was supposed to understand. But he didn't. It was too much... slowly his eyelids lowered. And he collapsed, completely unconscious.

"No..." Wave said weakly, valiantly struggling to stay awake. "Don't give in..."

Sage for his part was nodding as everything made sense to him, while Cassie listened attentively, trying to figure out what she didn't understand with the overall things she did.

"... Therefore, one of the first things we should try to steal when we go back to the facilities that we escaped from is some of the gas they used to knock us out. Was that gas alone what caused us to change? Was it merely a catalyst?"

Wave collapsed on top of Blade.

"Was it only a knock-out gas, and had nothing to do with the transformation process to begin with? We need that gas to really be able to start investigating how this happened. Then we can figure out where to go from there. We also need to figure out how to rescue the others they took, because I'd bet a good chunk of my fortune that we weren't the only ones this happened to. We have to find out who else was involved, why they were picked, and... Wait, that brings up another question! Were we picked? Were we chosen at random? Were we in the wrong place at the wrong time? Were-"

Moonstone was interrupted by Dice bursting into the room. Her eyes were red and her breathing fast, but slowly, as she looked at him, Luna and the others, it slowed down. "Uh... hi..."

.o.O.o.

Dice floated as the morning sun slowly started peeking through the clouds. It was, in a word, beautiful. She could still see the deep purple of the night time, and at the same time the rosy fingers of dawn slowly creeping over her.

She felt like she was suspended there, in one moment where the world had completely stopped and there was absolutely nothing else other than her and the world. She wasn't even thinking, her thoughts taken away by the air, the freedom of flying and the world opening up in front of her.

She felt a chill run down her spine as she took a deep breath. The last few hours came into sharp focus and she turned violently in the air, closing her eyes tightly and hugging her body. Her breath quickened as she trembled helplessly. Gritting her teeth she groaned and took a deep dive, heading straight for Moonstone's home.

Little did she know that her dive had caught the attention of someone.

It was an age-old morning ritual for Mr. Scifo to take an early morning jog to help keep his body and mind sharp for the rest of the day. After all, science waits for no one, and inspiration can come from anywhere! He was jogging home, trying to figure out why he had hit a dead-end with his latest invention, when he saw a white and purplish streak heading straight for his house. Worried, he picked up his pace, rounding the corner just in time to see what appeared to be a purple Latias looking curiously at the back door, before opening it and floating inside.

Mr. Scifo almost couldn't believe it. A legendary Pokemon was visiting his house out of idle curiosity? This was the chance of a life-time! He carefully unzipped his left pants pocket, pulling out a single, purple Pokeball. 'Alright, let's go catch a legendary Pokemon! If it can't help me with my research, then nothing can!'

Following at a distance, Mr. Scifo slipped inside the house, watching as the Latias looked around the room, causing him to duck swiftly as she turned to look in his direction. After a moment, he peeked over the top of his cover, barely catching her heading down the stairs to his son's laboratory in the basement. Knowing that she'd have no way of escaping past him, he rushed forward, trying to keep his footsteps on the stairs as light as possible to prevent her from hearing him. As he reached the bottom, he saw her floating ahead, her back towards him. Seizing the initiative, he threw the Master Ball as hard as he could, hitting her square in the back of the head. "YES! Take that!" he exclaimed in jubilation, waiting for the ball to open and capture the Latias.

.o.O.o.

Dice locked eyes with Moonstone. "Uh... hi. I'm... sorry I just barged in -" she stopped when something smacked her in the back of the head. "Ouch! What the hell?!"

She turned around angrily, energy gathering in her maw as a man in a jogging suit stared dumbfounded at a Pokeball that clattered on the floor uselessly. "Were you trying to kill me?! Or... no... you tried to capture me!?" she growled, readying her attack. "Prepare to meet your maker, human!"

"Dad?!" Moonstone exclaimed, freezing in place, his eyes going wide. "Ohhh shit..."

Dice's eyes went wide as she clamped her mouth shot and closed her eyes.

Mr. Scifo watched in surprise as a burst of smoke came out of the Latias' mouth as something exploded inside it.

"Peh..." Dice moaned opening her mouth and letting the smoke fade unencumbered. She glared at Moonstone. "Thou hafth to tell meh thethe thingths eathlieath!"

"How the hell was I supposed to know my dad was coming?! Crap, what do we do?! He's not going to understand us because we're talking like Pokemon now! Luna, what do we do?!"

Mr. Scifo gaped at the scene before him, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "Wha? A... Blue Espeon? A purple Ponyta? How..." Noticing the display was activated, he turned to look at it for only a second before exclaiming, "What are you doing with my son's equipment?! Luna, why did you let them in? Why are you letting them mess with his stuff?!"

Luna glanced to the still frozen Moonstone before whipping around, typing as fast as her small paws would allow her. The only thought running through Moonstone's mind was, ~My dad is going to kill me... He's going to throw me out, and then he's going to kill me. He's going to beat me up, then throw me out, and then kill me in the place that he's thrown me!~

"Moonstone?! Where are you?! Luna, if that's a voice recording, it's not funny!" Mr. Scifo snapped at the Umbreon,

"Moon! You have to calm your dad, dude!" Dice snapped. "Come on!"

"Calm him down?! How the hell did he hear me?! I didn't say that out loud! Besides, it's not like he can understand what I'm saying!" Trying to calm himself down and become rational, he started chanting to himself, 'Think of a plan, think of a plan, think of a plan!'

"If that plan doesn't involve getting your sorry butt out here, Xell, so help me, your ass is going to be grounded for eternity!" Mr. Scifo roared, stomping his foot to emphasize his point.

Dice floated in front of Mr. Scifo and raised a hand in salutation. Then, she grabbed Moonstone pointed at him, then towards Mr. Scifo, then back at Moonstone. As he watched, wondering what the Legendary Pokemon was trying to say, Mr. Scifo slowly grew annoyed as the next hand movement went to point Dice's finger at her own head, rotating in tight little circles. "You're both crazy!" she explained.

"Put me down, Dice!" Moonstone protested, being forced to face his father. "This isn't how to tell him what happened to me!"

As Mr. Scifo stared at the two strangely colored Pokemon in front of him, he noticed something on the Espeon's head that he did not care much to see. "What are you doing with my son's goggles?! Those things cost a fortune! Where is he?! How did you steal them?!"

Dice shook the Espeon in front of Mr. Scifo. "Moon's dad! This is Moon! Look at his vacant expression! The slightly twisted smile! The twitching ears! The whiskers!"

As Mr. Scifo kept staring at the Espeon, he noticed that it wouldn't look him in the eye, as it kept twisting its head away from him. He glanced back to the display screen, noticing the left part of the screen had DNA information covering it. He took a step closer, looking at the other two sections, his eyes starting to widen. Moonstone, desperate, yelled, "Luna! Shut it down! My dad will freak if he finds out like this! He'll think that I did it to myself, and then he'll kill me! Shut it down!"

"No, Luna! He has to know!" Dice shouted. "He can help Moon become a human again! Think about it!"

"Not like this!" he retorted, writhing violently in Dice's grasp, struggling to get free. "There's a time and place, but there's also the how! This isn't the right way! Shut it down, Luna! My dad will th-"

"MOONSTONE XELLIUS SCIFO, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO YOURSELF?!"

Moonstone slid down to land unceremoniously on the floor as Dice simply let go. "Wow... he catches on quick... I thought Luna would turn it off for sure before he got there!"

"Moon!" Luna cried out, rushing from her place on the computer to help him stand again. "What did you drop him like that?! "

"I... sorry Moon..."  Dice looked dazedly at the DNA chain. "How the hell is that possible? I thought you couldn't add an extra helix to a stable DNA without messing everything up..." she groaned. "I swear this is giving me a headache..."

"Luna, I'm fine," Moonstone groaned, setting back to his paws shakily, leaning on Luna heavily. "It was an accident. Dice might be a bit of a bitch, but she wouldn't hurt me on purpose! Dad, on the other hand, err, paw, is-"

His dad, however, had recovered from his stunned stupor. Walking up behind Moonstone stealthily, he lunged, snagging Moonstone from the floor. Spinning around to dump him onto the computer's glass interface, he asked heatedly, "What the hell happened?! How could you be so reckless as to try a stupid ass experiment without telling us?! And where have you been hiding? You made your mother sick with worry! Luna was flipping out, an-"

Dice, having heard enough, floated up to Mr. Scifo and bopped him relatively gently on the head as she pulled Moonstone away from him. "Hey! Leave my Moony alone! I need him to figure out how to turn everyone else back into humans!"

"Everyone else?!" Moonstone exclaimed, shocked.

Dice just looked at him with a blank expression, before turning back to look at Mr. Scifo, narrowing her eyes protectively.

"Wait a second... MY Moony?! Hey, get your claws off my human, bitch! He's mine! Go find your own!" Luna growled.

Moonstone blinked, his mind struggling to keep up with the arguing females. 'Wait a second, what... Are they... Arguing over me?'

Mr. Scifo put his hand to his head, his eyes clouding in thought for a moment, before turning around and started running upstairs, shouting excitedly, "I'll be right back! It's time to start testing the prototype!"

Dice smiled at Luna and then started scratching Moon behind the ears. "Buh- but he's my itsy-scratchy cuddly, purring little moony!" she laughed as Moonstone slowly melted into a purring mass of Pokemon and at the indignant look in Luna's face.

"H-hey, stop that!" Moonstone weakly protested, struggling to keep his head clear as she scratched him.

Before Moonstone was finished with his request, Luna was already executing a Quick Attack at the Latias, exclaiming as she did so, "I said leave my master alone!" She followed it up with a weak Swift attack, not wanting to damage more equipment in the lab than needed.

Dice meeped the moment she saw the attack coming and pulled up Moonstone in front of her, hiding her face behind the Espeon. "Moony! Protect me!" only to blink when Moonstone slid down, wiggling away as she was distracted. "Uh-oh..."

"Should we be worried?" Cassie asked as Dice smashed against the wall and then was blasted by the follow-up attack.

Dice coughed as she shook her head. "Ugh..." she glared at Luna. "You hit like a girl!" she coughed again. "Fine, fine, peace... Luna..."

Blade blinked, remembering how easily Luna had handled him, even if he wouldn't admit it aloud. "These people are cuh-razey!"

Axew was still staring at the DNA chain. "oooooh.... colors..."

Dice, for her part, slowly drifted up to Luna and put Moonstone back on the floor, still chuckling but trying not to provoke the more experienced Pokemon into an actual fight. "Well, I hope your dad doesn't kill you... but I also hope his new invention is not going to trap me in a Pokeball!"

Moonstone, still trying to recover from what just happened, said distractedly, "I... Uh... I honestly have no idea what it is he's heading to go get... Don't worry, if he does catch you, I'll make sure that he feeds you only the best there is, okay? We treat our Pokemon like family, right Luna?" he teased, grinning evilly at the Latias.

"Oh yeah, definitely," she agreed, nodding sagely, eager to take another dig at the Pokemon who dared to abuse her master in any way. "I get my own metal cage and everything! I even get to have bread and water twice a day!"

Dice chuckled. "It does sound like the ultimate in Pokemon home experience, but I'll pass... if anything, I'd like to be a Wild Pokemon for a while, you know?"

"Why would you want to be a wild Pokemon?" Moonstone asked. "I mean, what about all of the technology? Wouldn't you miss civilization?"

Dice's smile looked a bit strained at the question. "Y-yeah, I guess..." she looked at the others, then back at Moonstone, then at Luna. "Yeah... who would want to be something they're not, right?" she chuckled. "Here Luna, watch over Moon so he doesn't get into trouble, ok? I'll look at the display in the meantime..."

"I don't take orders from you," Luna replied stiffly, her back stiff. "The only person I listen to is Moonstone, not a... Latias like you!"

Dice smiled, "Whatever helps you sleep, dear..."

Dice floated up to the computer. It was far more advanced that the ones in the labs where she had work before as an intern, doing sketches for text books, research notes and such. She decided not to touch it... even if it would probably get a funny reaction out of Moonstone. Dice was content to simply look at the data available. She didn't get everything but... it gave her an idea of what had happened, even if vague and no info on how.

Luna was standing protectively next to Moonstone, eyeing the Latias warily, when Mr. Scifo burst back into the room, a large, dome-like contraption on his head. Right behind him, being half-dragged along was a middle-aged woman with a floury apron, her sandy-blonde hair a mess as she protested, "Just what is so important that you had to drag me here, Deran! The Banana Bread is going... to... burn," she finished softly, her face becoming blank as she saw half a dozen strangely colored Pokemon scattered around the room. "Daren... Why are there a bunch of wild Pokemon in my son's lab?" she asked quietly, her eyes flickering back and forth among the strangers.

"Moonstone turned himself into a Pokemon and didn't tell us is what I can figure," he answered quickly, rushing straight for the console.

"What?! No I did not!" Moonstone protested quickly, straightening in indignation, forgetting that his parents couldn't understand him.

Dice looked at Moonstone's parents then sighed. "How are we going to tell them the truth? Can't you type it or something, Moon?"

Moonstone blinked, his jaw dropping. "How the hell did I not think of that?! It's so obvious!"

Rushing to the console, he ignored his father's protests as he rushed to open a word processing program, before typing as rapidly as his small paws would allow, "I did not turn myself into a Pokemon! Someone else knocked me out on the way home, and when I woke up a couple hours ago, I looked like this! We w-"

He was suddenly picked up from the console and into his mother's arms, who was holding him as tightly as she could, removing the goggles from the top of his head as she buried her face in his coat, murmuring quickly, "Oh my poor Xell! That's terrible! We've been worried sick when you didn't come home, and we didn't know what happened to you, and we-"

Dice softly pulled on Mrs. Scifo's arm. "Uh, ma'am? You're choking the pussy."

Moonstone jerked his head up in relief, gasping for air, his eyes wide from the adrenaline rush. "Thank you, Dice," he gasped, his chest heaving as he regained respiratory functions.

Mrs. Scifo looked in surprise at the purple Latias, before turning to look at her son once again, who was still breathing a little heavily, but was recovering. "I-I'm so sorry, honey! Are you alright?!"

Giving a small smile, Moonstone nodded, sighing as he settled back down, knowing that his mother, being the touchy-feely mother that she was, wouldn't put him down until she absolutely had to. He quickly repressed a memory from his early childhood, where he had been stuck with her for several days when he was sick. He appreciated that she was a very caring, loving mother, but sometimes she just didn't know when others needed space. If she would ju-

His thoughts were wiped clean form his mind as she started to stroke his back, gently pulling his tail from where it was dangling over her arm, placing it next to his body as she continued to pet him. His father opened and closed his mouth a few times before asking, "Umm, darling? We aren't going to find out what happened if don't let him down to type out the answers..."

"Let Dice do it," Moonstone muttered blissfully, twisting his head to better receive the attention. "I'm tired. Before we got back home, We had to run for a couple hours, and then Luna hit me before we could explain anything. I don't have the energy fo-Yeah! Right there! Ooohhhhh..." he murmured, melting into a pool of purring fur as his mother started rubbing the base of his ears.

Dice sighed and rolled her eyes, then turned to the keyboard and typed. "Greetings, Pokemon Slavers! I mean, humans. How can we answer your questions?"

"Well, how about explaining who you ll are, what happened to you, and how you got here? Leave nothing out," Mr. Scifo requested, sitting down in a large, comfy computer chair.

"Sure thing, human! Let's start at the beginning, when I woke up with Moon..." Dice typed. "He woke me up when he was complaining about being furry..."

.o.O.o. End Chapter 2 .o.O.o.