Bound Together Ch 1

Ragged panting filled the normal quiet forest air, the loud crunching of leaves and twigs being crushed underfoot thundering in the stillness. The sun was barely raised over the horizon, dew glistening on the foliage that the sun beamed on through the tree canopy. A brunette cursed as she ran through the branches, her arms clutched protectively around her floatzel as she kept bursting through shrubbery. “Don’t worry Muir! I won’t let them take you!”

The girl panted as she looked around, ears hearing the shouts of her pursuers not far behind. Her name was Andrea Neda; she was a plain looking girl, short brown hair with blue eyes, a few freckles on her cheeks, but otherwise just another face in the crowd to most. And another face in the crowd is what she wished she was right now…and not the target of a band of pokemon thieves intent on stealing her companion. The sounds of pursuit began to grew, forcing even more dread and fret into her heart as she willed her legs to move faster.

Suddenly the forest vanished as she broke through another set of shrubbery, Andrea skidding to a halt with a cry before going over the cliff edge. She barely had time to recollect her bearings before she quickly turned and ran along the edge, but exhaustion was taking its toll as she struggled to keep running straight. “Floa!” Muir cried, worried about his trainer as she huffed and gasped for breath. Not stopping or slowing her pace she tried to smile reassuringly at him, “Don’t…worry…we’ll be just fine…I promise!”

Only a moment after speaking though her ragged and unsteady running had brought her foot down to close to the edge. The ground cracked and fell out, her weight compelling her foot than leg to follow, and with Muir in her arms she couldn’t grab the ledge as her body went tumbling down the edge of the cliff. The trainer and pokemon both screamed as their forms smashed against the rocks as they fell down to the bottom, eventually crashing through the brush and hitting dirt with a dull thud. Their pursuers arrived at the cliff in time to see them tumbling, one shaking his head, “Well...so much for that floatzel…”

Oblivious to all that had just transpired a ninetales was quietly strolling through the woods leisurely, headed for a particular berry bush she favored. The fox was a shiny version of her species, with a spring in her step as she strolled through the trees. Her name was Ena, and she had just turned 500 a couple of weeks ago. As her paw pads gently touched down on soft earth she was gently humming a tune to herself she had heard a long time ago, head bopping left and right before she came to a sudden stop, seeing two battered and broken bodies just to the side, followed by sliding rocks from the nearby cliff. Ena had little difficulty in piecing together what had just transpired as she slowly moved in to inspect the two creatures before her.

Ena shook her head, seeing it was a human and floatzel, and both were horribly injured from their fall. Blood flowed freely from the two, and neither of them seemed to be conscious, their eyes both vacant and dull. The human had a leg twisted in a horrible fashion, bending in so many different angles it made the vixen shudder just to look at it. The floatzel wasn’t much better; a bone was sticking straight out of his arm, again forcing a shudder of revolt through Ena. Both were so horribly injured there wasn’t anything normal that Ena or anything else short of Arceus could do to help the pair.

Of course that was just in normal terms, Ena however had something…very abnormal that she could attempt to save both of their lives. The fox took a deep breath, focusing upon the two as both began to glow, little orbs popping off them both and leaping to the other. The light intensified as the orbs moved faster rapidly thinning in number until they were gone and a bright flash signaled the end of Ena’s magic. As the light faded before her was neither a human nor a floatzel…but rather twin combinations of the two. From the female one a light groan escaped her throat as she held her head, shaking it as she slowly got on her knees, “Ow…my head…”

She blinked as she stared at her legs, “Wha…AHHHHHH!” she jumped back, looking over all her body, seeing orange fur all over it with splashes of tan. Her eyes grew bigger as she suddenly caught sight of twin tails sprouting from her backside, “Ah…ahhhh…AHHHHHHH! What happened to me!?” she looked around frantically, eyes resting upon the body of Muir, who looked far more human than he had a few moments ago, “M…Muir? Is…that you?”

The floatzel-morphed male groaned, shaking his head before rising, quickly leaping back once he saw his paws were now hands. After a quick inspection of the rest of his body he looked around and saw Andrea, or rather a similar looking floatzel with Andrea’s clothes, “A…A…An…dre…a?” He blinked, clutching his throat, surprised that English had come out of it and not poke speak.

Ena cleared her throat, “If you two are done screaming…I can tell you why you’re both the way you are.” Both immediately turned to the ninetales, staring at her in shock as she continued to speak telepathically, “I found you both on the ground…you were…not in good shape.” She sighed, looking away, “I didn’t really have anything else to do…so I used some of my power to heal you the only way I could…but merging the aspects of your two bodies together.” She looked back to them, “If I hadn’t you both would have died…I figured this would be a better alternative.”

“Merged us….you turned me into a floatzel!?” Andrea exclaimed.

“Not exactly…you’re still partly human…you’re more a floatzel morph than anything else, your friend…Muir I think you called him…is the same. You have physical characteristics of both your species…as I said…it was the only way to mend you both. I’m sorry if this is a bit inconvenient…but I couldn’t just leave you two to bleed out.”

Andrea could only stare in shock, her brain going numb as she tried to digest what had just happened. She started today on the way home…only to be chased by a bunch of pokemon thieves, fall of a cliff and now…now she was a freak. Andrea brought her knees to her head, and began to cry heavily, body shuddering violently as gasps and sobs rang out. The girl felt arms wrap around her, a body press against her, her eyes looking to see Muir hugging her gently in an effort to comfort her just like he always did when she was sad before.

It took her a few minutes before she had calmed down enough to speak, still sniffling and gasping for breath. She noticed that the fox was gone, “Muir…wh…what do we do now?”

The floatzel turned human…pseudo human, shook his head, “D…don’t kn…know…” he was still having trouble speaking normally. He understood human language sure, but it’s a big leap from hearing it to actually speaking it with vocal cords you never had before. “…h…home?”

Andrea sniffled, wiping her eyes as she gave a nod, “Y…yeah…home. Mom and dad…they…they’ll help us for sure…” She shakily stood up, Muir helping her and in the process giving her a view of something that would definitely be a problem. “M…Muir…you…one sec.” she fished around in her backpack, torn and ravaged as it now was after their fall and pulled out a pair of shorts. “H…here…put these on.”

The floatzel blinked, “W…w…wh…why?”

“Just…please…”

Muir blinked, shook his head but he obeyed his trainer, doing as he had seen humans do, putting a foot in each hole and pulling them up. He had a little difficulty as his body was slightly bigger but after some struggling he did manage to fix the clothing into place. He grumbled and groaned lightly in irritation, he didn’t like anything about these clothes, but his trainer seemed dead set on him wearing them at least for the time being. “G…go now?”

Andrea nodded, looking toward where her hometown was, “Yeah…we…shouldn’t go on the streets though…you remember the fence we used to jump over when we were still little?” he nodded his head, “Let’s get in that way…co…come on.” Slowly, and on unsteady feet the two of them began to make their way for home, Andrea trying to hold back anymore tears from escaping.

The going wasn’t fast, Muir having to deal with elongated legs and the whole wearing pants thing at the same time. Terrified of who people would react, Andrea slowed the process herself by keeping out of sight and stopping dead whenever someone was too near. Despite all the things keeping their progress delayed though they did manage to eventually work their way to Andrea’s old backyard, hopping the fence and running up to the back door, slipping in after finding it was mercifully unlocked. “Mom…dad?”

“Andrea? Oh honey there you are, we were getting worried. You’re pretty late getting home, did you meet a poke….AHHHHH!” Andrea’s mother entered the kitchen where the backdoor opened into, and saw something that was definitely NOT her daughter. “HAROLD! HELP!”

“Mom wait, it’s me! Please, I need help!”

“What the…get back!” Andrea’s father ran into the kitchen carrying a wooden bat, swinging it at the creature. “Samantha call the police!” He swung again.

“Daddy!”

“You ain’t fooling me! You aint my Andrea…some sort of pokemon! Get out of my house!” he moved in and swung hard, Andrea barely ducking under the swing as the strike shattered a bunch of dishes drying on the counter. As Harold attempted to make another strike Muir quickly grabbed Andrea and yanked her back out the door, “Need…to…l…leave!”

With her mother already talking to police, the former trainer knew her former pokemon was correct, turning and bursting into a sprint, leaping over the fence again and making a break for the forest. The two continued their run for what felt like an eternity before Andrea finally buckled under all the stress of the day, legs giving out and tumbling along the ground limply before skidding to a stop. Muir slide to a stop, turning and rushing over to Andrea’s side, “Keep mo…mo…don’t st-stop!” He tried to pull her up, but the former human was simply dead weight now, her crying having resumed heavier. “Please…move…Andrea…please!”

“GO WHERE!?” she screamed, slamming her hand into the dirt, “I don’t have a home anymore...where the hell are we supposed to go Muir!?” she balled even heavier, body shaking and shudder from the force of her sobs. The girl felt as if the next breath would finally make her bones snap and crack, a pressure making itself felt over all her body, her throat dry and feeling scarred. “Why did this happen Muir!?”

The floatzel, former floatzel, sighed, shaking his head before looking around, noticing something a little ways off behind the trees. “Come on…not far….safe place for tonight…deci…deci…think later.” Yanking on her he began to drag her inch by heavy inch toward the destination, Andrea eventually getting up and stumbling forward after 5 minutes of being roughly yanked across the ground. In doing so she managed to spot what Muir had seen, and while it was something it was nothing helpful to her mood or feelings.

Slowly, unsteadily, and with Andrea’s heart almost in the soles of her feet, the two stumbled their way towards and old, long abandoned fishing cabin set close to the river. A relic from when the town had still been small and quiet, it was now a refuge for the pair of physically shifted individuals. Muir yanked the door open, peering inside to make sure no one was inside before forcing Andrea to join him inside the structure, slamming the door shut once they were inside. Muir made a quick inspection of the cabin, finding that its abandoned state had been just that until their arrival. There wasn’t anything of any real value throughout the entire place…the only thing that either of them saw as valuable was the bed…which Andrea was currently curled up on, dry heaving and chocking on her own breath.

She tried to digest everything that had just transpired in her life, and the thing that by far that tore away at her very core is how very fast it had been. The day was just past halfway over, and her entire life had been utterly and irreversibly destroyed in that small span of time. It felt like a blur to her, and now here she was…curled up in a dark dank cabin, her own family chasing her out o her home…utterly alone and…

Suddenly she felt arms around her again, Muir’s body pressing to hers, “I’m here Andrea…I won’t le-leave you…pro…prom…promise.” It was as if he could read her mind…just like always he seemed to know what was bugging her…and like always he was there for her. “Find some…thing out…together.” He felt her heaving cease, which made him smile, “Muir good pokemon…look out for trainer.”

Andrea sniffled, wiping her eyes, “Th…thank you…Muir…” She didn’t leave her balled up position, but her crying was done for now. Taking a deep breath she set her mind to focus on something else…like how they were going to survive now that they couldn’t buy supplies from the cities and towns anymore. “Muir…could you get my bag please…I need to see what’s still usable inside it.” The floatzel morph nodded his head; retrieving the torn and battered sack and helping his trainer investigate what they could use to survive their new life.


Characters  drakasshadow
written by  Mecha-Mightyanador