Communication (PG-13)

**Sike Saner** · 3rd January 2006, 6:28 PM

Saffire Persian:

Of course, what can Solonn do now? Yell at Jai'tal? XD...

XD Now there's an image...

and I'm so glad Morgan wasn't fake!

Hold it, now. Don't be so sure about that...

metal_chimaera:

Oh and BTW, I figured Human Solonn would have very pale blue ayes and grey-whit'ish hair, as you see so often in Mangas... Otherwise black hair fits nicely, but still with the plae blue eyes...

Well, that look certainly was an option. But I really only ever had the look that I went with in mind for his human form.

**Kthleen** · 4th January 2006, 2:44 AM

Originally Posted by Sike Saner

Spoiler:

*rolls eyes at herself*

Originally Posted by metal_chimaera

IMO, Spoiler:

That's kind of what I was thinking.

**Nicole May** · 4th January 2006, 10:59 AM

Hmm, seems pretty interesting... XD I like the way you describe every single thing that happens on a scene. Gives the other readers a clear view of what's going on. No problems with spelling and grammar... this part is only required for those people who are starting out their very first fan fiction. Overall, it's a pretty interesting Pokemon Fan Fic...

Solonn has somehow caught my interest... lol! XD

I only read the Prolouge and Chapter 1, since I'm kinda in a hurry... I'll read more of it when I get the time, K?

metal_chimaera · 4th January 2006, 1:48 PM

Hey again

I realised, a bit late maybe, that the way you describe a human body from an outsiders point of view is really... well, great

.

And coming to think of it, you always describe things that we already perfectly know (or not, as for the Kwazai) from another point of view... the horribly repulsive human body of Solonn's, pokemon that are entirely new for that person (or rather that pokemon) but that we already know. Like the Hoothoot-Noctowl case and Jal'Tai (both as a Swellow and as a Latios).
Don't know if that makes any sense but there ya go. That's something I would find hard to do.

**Dark Latios** · 4th January 2006, 2:17 PM

*sigh* I'm probably the last reviewer to review chap 8.. I hate my busy life.

Awesome chapter Sike! At first, I hated Jal'Tai, but now I hate him even more. (Is that at all possible?)

Poor Solonn.. Gone from Pokemon to human. How much scarier can his life get? Seriously! If I were him, I would have torn Jal's head off then and there, but since he's a legendary, it might not have been possible. ^^;;

So, the Morgan wasn't fake? Then Jal must have erased her memory I'm guessing..

Overall, most interesting chap yet! The description of Solonn's human body still scares me though.. *shudders*

**Sike Saner** · 5th January 2006, 2:00 AM

Kthleen:

Spoiler:

Nicole May: …IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN! *does new reviewer dance; Miror B. appears on the scene and joins in*

No rush whatsoever. ^^ Glad you like it so far!

metal_chimaera: It certainly is encouraging to see satisfaction in my description. ^^ Again, I myself may never be entirely satisfied with it, but meh. That’s just the way it goes, I suppose.

Dark Latios:

If I were him, I would have torn Jal's head off then and there, but since he's a legendary, it might not have been possible. ^^;;

XD Yeah, that’d be a good way to get your brain liquefied, I reckon. X3

So, the Morgan wasn't fake?

Again, I must say, don’t be too sure about that…

**Typhlogirl** · 7th January 2006, 5:55 AM

I must hug you now.

Sike, that was bloody amazing. Such a twist...my god, I loved it. The chapter actually kept me riveted the entire time. Proof?

Annoying little brother: Alicia the dogs dying!!!
Me: Quiet. Reading.

Heh XD. (No, my dog's not really dying, I'm a drama queen.)

Okay, after that waste of space I just typed, it's time to get into the review!

Like I mentioned above, this was fantastic. The way you set everything up in the previous chapter to just fit perfectly here...god, that just ROCKED. It's rare that a plot like this could be pulled off. Supreme Kudos!

I am in love with your description. So good. Not completely over the top, just perfect. Plus, Jal'tai's (that sneaky bastard) speech was very pretty, with all the...big words and stuff lol yay special. XDD Solonn's terror at this new revelation was well done, it captured his despair very well.

The beginning dream sequence was beautiful, especially how it's significance was revealed later in the chapter. God, awesome.

I honestly can not wait till you release the next chapter. That's pretty rare for me. Well done. I wish you happy writing! Oh, and forgive me for being so late, I'm a lazy cow. *truth*

-

Solonn was made to recognize that he was, at least, still male, and the way by which he’d determined this left him mortified both for his own sake and that of an entire species. Good gods, they keep that out?

PRICE...LESS. You're killing me, I swear. XDDDDD

**Sike Saner** · 8th January 2006, 10:12 PM

Typhlogirl:

Annoying little brother: Alicia the dogs dying!!!
Me: Quiet. Reading.

Heh XD. (No, my dog's not really dying, I'm a drama queen.)

XDDDD

The beginning dream sequence was beautiful, especially how it's significance was revealed later in the chapter. God, awesome.

Very glad you liked that part, since it wasn't in the original version.

Oh, and forgive me for being so late, I'm a lazy cow.

Bah, don't worry about it. *hugs*

Originally Posted by Typhlogirl

Originally Posted by Sike Saner

Solonn was made to recognize that he was, at least, still male, and the way by which he’d determined this left him mortified both for his own sake and that of an entire species. Good gods, they keep that out?

PRICE...LESS. You're killing me, I swear. XDDDDD

XD I was hoping someone would quote that.

**GoldenHouou** · 8th January 2006, 11:11 PM

Haha! I'm back! *Runs away from tomatoes thrown at her*

*Cough* Anyway, firstly, I want to say sorry for not reading this before. I had kinda of a reader's block... Is there a term like that? If not, there should be! I mean, readers can also lack the inspiration to read! I do! I often do! *Gets more tomatoes thrown at her.* Meanies :O! Anyway, I did read it now and that's what matters, right, right? Yup, that's right.

Gah, anyway, I had missed four chapters (5,6,7 and 8) and dute to the fact that I have to leave in... *checks clock* ten minutes, I have no time to review all of them too deeply, nor do I have time to pick up all the great Quotes. Few, however, I'm able to pick now.

And OH, Solonn evolved. I was thinking were you about to make him do that, but I was unsure. Still, I have to thank you again. First, you made me like Snorunt, and now I've grown liking to Glalie too :P

<– You didn’t mean to use it,> Sei finished. <The subconscious of a cryokinetic can sometimes manifest itself in a visible display, especially when his, her, or its abilities first awaken. And I did not mean to read your mind there,> Sei added.

"I did not mean to read your mind there" XD I don't know why, but I find it rather funny. Sei is one of my favorite characters so far :P And Raze my favorite name, of course. Simple but effective. Err, moving on...

The massive, Water-type blast came hurtling towards Solonn. Oh, pretty…he remarked silently and vacantly as it approached…

Heh, this one, I loved XD The whole Attract thing was funny, but the "oh, pretty" was the funniest. I can imagine him staying there, motionless, eyes half closed, having a dreamy look as he says that, ignoring the fact that he is soon going to get blasted XD

About the other chapters... XD That Sableye was hilarious! Too bad we aren't gonna see him anymore... or are we? Anyway, I'm glad that it wasn't really Morgan who knocked out that Sableye, because human just smashing a Pokémon with a randomly found hammer didn't sound that good. But Latios instead... now that sounds better.

Anyway, as Morgan first came to rescue Solonn, I thought there was something wrong with her. Might be just because the whole hammer thing that I thought she was a fake. We still haven't gotten answer to why there were two Morgans, though. Or have we? And I've just ignored it by accident? *Hits self* And what happened top Morgan's other Pokémon?

And the Swellow, err, I mean... dang, I'm no good at names... Well the Latios, as he first came, I thought he was with those who had captured Solonn, but upon showing the Pokémon City, I didn't suspect him anymore. Dang, I should've. Poor Solonn is a human now

Now he can't return home. But still, frankly, I have the feeling eh gets turned back in some point.

Agh, I have to go now, sorry for the sort and suckyish review, I will make betters in the future. Meh. And maybe I'll add more quotes later, or in my next review. Oh, now that I just noticed one, right in the above post. How could I forget?

Solonn was made to recognize that he was, at least, still male, and the way by which he’d determined this left him mortified both for his own sake and that of an entire species. Good gods, they keep that out?

XD I was wondering what would he say when he... happens to look down. Now I know, and I can't hold laughter.

Anyway, great chappies, and once I read the fifth, I just had to read the rest too. You helped me over my readers block (if there is such thing)

Oookey, see you after the next chapter.

**Sike Saner** · 10th January 2006, 12:56 AM

GoldenHouou:

Originally Posted by GoldenHouou

Originally Posted by Sike Saner

The massive, Water-type blast came hurtling towards Solonn. Oh, pretty…he remarked silently and vacantly as it approached…

Heh, this one, I loved XD The whole Attract thing was funny, but the "oh, pretty" was the funniest. I can imagine him staying there, motionless, eyes half closed, having a dreamy look as he says that, ignoring the fact that he is soon going to get blasted XD

XD That's exactly the image I had in mind when I wrote that. IMO, few things are as funny as a vacant stare and a flaky statment. I definitely enjoyed Solonn's brief stint as a total airhead there. X3

We still haven't gotten answer to why there were two Morgans, though. Or have we?

To that I say...

Spoiler:

Agh, I have to go now, sorry for the sort and suckyish review, I will make betters in the future.

Actually, I would say that your review was neither short nor sucky, especially given how little time you had to post it. I know I couldn't have put together a review like that with so little time.

And I'm glad you got a kick out of that last quote there, too. XD

**Brian Powell** · 18th January 2006, 10:36 AM

Well… gosh… I don’t think I mentioned this before but I had a strange feeling about Jal’tai because of the way he acted when he first met Solonn, you don’t normally act all cheerful when you meet a stranger. Now we all know why.

Also, the mystery’s been solved… and I thought a random ditto was helping Solonn out as well when he was put in a freak show. Now that I found the truth and then some more, I don’t know what to think of Jal’tai. Sure, he’s an okay guy with his reasons about having humans and pokemon being equal and acting all fatherly… but doing this against Solonn’s wishes and without his permission, isn’t that low?

That chapter was an eye opener, with the shocking moments when the beans have been spilled out and all. There were some spelling mistakes though but I won’t be a grammar nazi on this one… this other guy got me slightly (BEEP!) off.

Originally Posted by Pinecone Tortoise

“In time, I hope you will be able to see things more clearly. Until such time, I’m afraid you will have to remain in this suite. I will give you the code to exit the room using the transport tile when I feel you are ready to re-enter society as a Human, and I will gladly speak more with you in order to help you prepare for your future duties, but only once I can be sure that you have regained your composure enough to listen to me. For now, though, I think you could do with some quiet time alone to relax and contemplate your destiny.”

Translation: Go to your room and think about what you've done. And when you're ready to apologise, your mother and I will be waiting.

Response: Hey! You’re not my real daddy!

*Falls to the floor* LOL! Had to respond to that!

I wonder when DeLeo (Or Meowth, if you will) comes in.

Overall: 5/5

PS: You’re a girl… I won’t judge you on Solonn’s… new body.

**Sike Saner** · 18th January 2006, 9:56 PM

Brian Powell:

Now that I found the truth and then some more, I don’t know what to think of Jal’tai. Sure, he’s an okay guy with his reasons about having humans and pokemon being equal and acting all fatherly… but doing this against Solonn’s wishes and without his permission, isn’t that low?

Mmm-hmm. Absolutely. Again, it's just one of those instances of someone pursuing the right ends by the wrong means. The guy's just so set on reifying his ideas that he may not see anything as off-limits anymore, really, so long as it's in the name of his cause.

Response: Hey! You’re not my real daddy!

XD

I wonder when DeLeo (Or Meowth, if you will) comes in.

Spoiler:

PROGRESS: Roughly 50-55%. ^^ I finally got to start the final draft of Ch. 9 this week. This one was not so much revised as rewritten altogether. Literally written from scratch, with no elements of the abysmal old version retained. Best case scenario, we have a release date this weekend. At the very least, we'll certainly be seeing it next week at the latest. *goes back to work*

**PsiUmbreon** · 19th January 2006, 7:46 PM

At last, after a few hours of blocking out everything else and reading your fic (the fact that I read pretty fast helps) I finished what you have of your fic so far. I know you did warn me about the long chapters, but this did not faze me one bit, as I was too wrapped up in your story to notice.

This story has a nice White Fang/Call of the Wild-esque element to it, and, well, the human thing was totally unexpected. I have a theory that somehow Spoiler:

. Wild, I know. And I like how you worked in humor (Ursaring driving cars! Sableye being purposefully annoying! XDDDDD). I know that praise is often given out to fics, so it seems meaningless after a while, but... goddamn this is good.

I think I find myself in more sympathy with Solonn than anyone else, though. I'd be PO'd if I were transformed into something else, too.

One more thing. NADS.

**Sike Saner** · 19th January 2006, 8:20 PM

PsiUmbreon: FWEE! *does new reviewer dance, brukky-style*

I have a theory that somehow Spoiler:

Uh-oh... there goes another character off to the Darkened Corner of Mistrust! XP Spoiler:

One more thing. NADS.

o.o

DAMN YOU! XDDDD

PROGRESS: 60%--I AM MOVING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT! XP Nah, ye olde writer's block decided to pay a visit earlier today after I caught myself doing some frelling awkward phrasing, and for a while I didn't know quite what to write in the place of the mess I had made. I think I've managed to successfully iron that out, though. While I was trying to make sense of that, I looked over the schematic for the rest of this chapter, as well as that for part of the next, and caught a nasty logic error that could have really frelled up the course of this revision. That would have sucked, big time. So, I'm glad I caught that, and I've managed to iron out that little bugger, too.

Anyway, I'm going to go take a brief walk, see if I can't get my brain awake and running up to speed again (that does usually work), then it's into the flood again for me. See you when I get this ornery little bugger finished! ^^

**PDL** · 20th January 2006, 10:33 PM

This fic has inspired me to name the shadow Snorunt I caught on XD "Solonn"

and he may also be a member of my XD team...

**Sike Saner** · 28th January 2006, 6:09 AM

PDL: Really? Well, that’s neat. ^^

Fwee, here it is at last, the chapter that nearly destroyed my mind! =D

Just as in the original version of this fic, this proved to be one of the most difficult parts of the story to write, and just as then, I’m still not altogether sure of why it posed such an obstacle, but it did. But thankfully, this chapter managed to pull through its difficult construction, emerging thrice as long and hopefully way the frell more tolerable than the material that stood in its place in the old version.

WARNING! WARNING!

What follows is the longest chapter I have written to date. So if you want to go get a snack or a drink, or if you have to tinkle… yeah. You might want to take care of that now.

…Did you take care of that? Are you good to go? Okay, then. Enjoy!

_________________________

Chapter 9 – Anywhere but Here

Solonn lay listlessly on the bed, staring up at the ceiling fan above him as if mesmerized by the whirling of its blades. Through vision blurred by sheer exhaustion and an almost continuous stream of tears shed in silence, the sight before Solonn’s eyes was that of a shimmering vortex of light and motion, and part of him felt like it might just draw him right into it.

Hours had passed since the loss of his identity, his element, and his freedom, but he hadn’t regarded the time as it had crept by and didn’t mark the passing moments now. Physically, he was utterly drained, but his mind was host to too many troubles to allow him any rest. He still ached from the telekinetic punishment he had suffered at Jal’tai’s hands. His body complained of hunger, of lying in the same position for a considerable while, and of many other things. But lost as he was in barely-willing contemplation of his situation, Solonn somehow couldn’t really care about his physical discomfort or even truly notice it, for the troubles from within just seemed so petty in comparison to what—and who—now troubled him from the outside.

A voice from outside the suite broke the near-silence then, managing to cut through all of the other things that were attending Solonn’s mind. It was the familiar voice of Jal’tai. “Are you awake? I’d like to come in and have a moment with you if you don’t mind,” the latios called to Solonn from the hall outside.

Solonn didn’t respond, not even so much as to turn toward the voice that had just addressed him, but regarded what the latios had just said with a weak but nonetheless present derision. Since when do you care what I do or don’t mind?

“Prepare to receive a visitor,” announced the voice of the suite. Jal’tai was using the transport tile, Solonn realized. It seemed strange to him that Jal’tai would bother with such considering that the latios could simply teleport in whenever he pleased with no need to warn his prisoner before entering. Solonn didn’t cast even the slightest glance back toward the place in the adjacent den where his visitor would materialize, remaining motionless.

Once inside, Jal’tai drifted silently into the bedroom. He appeared at the edge of Solonn’s vision, and the form he presented was his true form; he no longer bothered with any disguises, any pretense. Solonn shut his eyes, curling up and turning away from the latios. A second later, Jal’tai set himself down on the bed beside him.

“Good morning, Solonn,” he said amiably. “How are you feeling today, my boy?”

Solonn gave no response.

The latios frowned; this was already not going well for him. “I wanted to have a few more words with you about what lies ahead for you,” he said, his tone considerably more reserved than it had been moments ago. He drew closer to Solonn, looming over him for a moment before craning his neck downward to look right into the human’s face.

“Listen,” Jal’tai said, something slightly authoritative in a paternal sort of way creeping into his voice. “I know this has been quite an overwhelming experience for you, but you are going to have to adjust to things as they now are, and preferably before terribly much longer. There is much that you will have to get used to, but I know you can do it.”

He lowered a talon and gently took hold of the human’s face, lifting and turning it toward his own. Solonn didn’t bother to resist the contact, his face expressionless as he finally looked at Jal’tai again through glazed eyes. Somewhere deep within him, a bitter, smoldering hatred was stoked at the sight of those red eyes, that kindly face, but Solonn didn’t dare to give audience to that feeling and allow it to take over despite being sure that it would be wonderfully cathartic to unleash his loathing upon the latios who, in his mind, thoroughly deserved it. He knew how dangerous Jal’tai’s displeasure could be and was very mindful of the fact that any voiced dissent on his part might once again invite that wrath and the mortal threat that had come with it.

“You know,” Jal’tai then said as he continued to hold his would-be replacement’s gaze in a very literal sense, “there are certain positive aspects of your current situation that I don’t think you’ve taken the time to consider. Perhaps they’ve simply failed to cross your mind in the midst of all the activity that must surely be buzzing about in there, or perhaps you didn’t even know such benefits existed.”

Jal’tai paused momentarily to allow Solonn to ask what he was referring to, but no such question came. Managing to at least appear unfazed by Solonn’s continuing silent treatment, he resumed. “I happen to know that you have a particular aversion to eating meat,” he said; this revelation of Jal’tai’s knowledge surprised the human slightly, but not even the shadow of that surprise showed through his expression. “I inadvertently learned this about you at the same time that I confirmed your possession of the Speech. Knowing this about you, I did lament then and do apologize now for having to make you partake of the Specialty of the House the night before last, but the fact was that you needed it in order to have the strength to endure your transformation.

“However, you need never consume meat again if you don’t want to. Humans are omnivores, Solonn. They don’t have to feed on the flesh of others; they can obtain their protein from other sources. Good news for you, wouldn’t you say?”

The notion of never having to eat meat again might have been quite appealing to Solonn under different circumstances, but he could not see such a luxury as being worth what his transfiguration had cost him. Through silence, he rejected Jal’tai’s appeal.

Jal’tai let go of the bright, hopeful look in his eyes at this point, his brow and mouth setting into hard lines. “Well, Solonn,” he began, his tone quite stern now, “if you can’t see the merit in this for yourself, I certainly hope you can at least be glad for what your cooperation will help to make possible for others. After all, when it all comes down to it, this isn’t about you, me, or this city, but rather the world, the future.”

Here he let go of Solonn’s face and rose from the bed, hovering in place above the human. Solonn immediately turned away once more, trying to ignore the shadow that hung over him.

“The fact of the matter is that whether or not you think you’re ready to begin your new life, you must begin it nonetheless,” Jal’tai told him firmly. “I told you that I must soon be replaced as the mayor of this city, and I wasn’t fooling around about that. You have a lot to learn, Solonn, and you must begin doing so as soon as possible.”

Jal’tai left the room then, leaving Solonn alone with the swarm of thoughts infesting his mind, including the newly raised questions he had regarding what else the latios might have absorbed from his mind—and the doubt that that absorption had really been accidental. He figured that Jal’tai had probably just gone ahead and opened his mind wide while he’d slept in that theater, leaving no corner of his brain unscathed by the touch of his psychic powers, taking advantage of the fact that his subject was completely powerless to stop him.

That was the way Jal’tai liked things to be, Solonn determined without a doubt: the latios liked to be in total control of any given situation, to have those with whom he dealt in no position to contest his will. That was certainly the real reason why he had turned Solonn into a creature devoid of elemental power, the human reckoned: so that he couldn’t really fight back.

It wasn’t long before Jal’tai returned. Solonn, determined once more not to look upon him if he could at all help it, didn’t know that Jal’tai was once more in the room with him until the latios spoke.

“It’s time you started growing accustomed to your humanity, Solonn, but for your sake we’ll begin with small steps. Here,” Jal’tai said gently, then lowered something in front of Solonn.

Only part of the item hung into Solonn’s field of vision since his face was half-buried in the comforter underneath him. All that he could see was a length of black, folded fabric; he couldn’t discern what the item actually was.

Jal’tai seemed to recognize that Solonn didn’t really have the best view of what he was trying to show him. He unfolded the item and laid it down directly in front of Solonn’s face. Solonn was now able to clearly see that he had just been given a pair of boxer shorts.

“You do know how these go on, do you not?” Jal’tai asked.

Solonn stared at the shorts. He did have a fair understanding of how they were supposed to be worn; the pants that Morgan had worn were fundamentally similar, after all, albeit longer. Solonn was almost too weary in both body and spirit to bother with the boxers… however, the events of the night before were still fresh in his mind, and the memories of the more painful of those events shone especially vibrantly even through the haze of everything else on his mind. He still feared that if he didn’t do as the latios expected of him, he would risk being subjected once more to that psychic punishment.

Besides which, the boxers did offer the restoration of a small aspect of his dignity, at least. Solonn tried with only scant success to focus on that point in an effort to convince himself that his next actions were motivated by more than just terror as, without a word, he stirred, shifted, and took hold of the shorts. Rather awkwardly, he sat halfway up, staring at them for a moment as he turned them over in his hands, trying to figure out which side was which. Once he was sure that he had it right, he put on the boxers, slipping them over both ankles at once and wriggling clumsily the rest of the way into them.

“Hmm… I’m afraid you’ve got those on backwards, my boy,” Jal’tai said, wearing an odd expression that only partially succeeded in concealing a hint of amusement.

With a faint sigh, Solonn removed the garment and put it back on, correctly this time.

“That’s more like it,” Jal’tai said with a smile and a nod. “Now, wearing clothing, even as little of it as you’re presently wearing, might seem strange at first, but I promise you’ll get used to it quickly enough.”

Solonn found that statement to be a little odd coming from someone who could just pretend his clothes onto himself. Besides which, the notion of covering one’s self was not one that Solonn found strange at all; as a glalie, he had kept most of his body covered in ice at nearly all times.

“All right, then,” Jal’tai said with a clap of his talons, his voice seeming to have regained its former brightness. “Why don’t we take a little tour of this lovely little place, hmm? You will be living in this suite until you are ready to take my office, and so you might as well start making yourself at home here. Also, you’ll need to get an idea of how everything works around here; this suite has everything you need in your day-to-day life, but that does you no good if you don’t know where and how to get what you need.

“Up you get, then,” the latios said. He didn’t bother waiting for Solonn to get up of his own volition, certain that the human had no intention of doing any such thing anyway. Once again, he employed his telekinesis to move Solonn, lifting him off of the bed and onto his feet. He then relaxed his psychic hold on Solonn considerably, keeping him standing upright but not prohibiting his independent movement otherwise.

“No need to worry, my boy; I’ll not let you fall,” Jal’tai assured him. “Now, I know that this method of movement is about as different as is possible from the levitation you’d used to get around prior to your transfiguration, but still, walking on two legs shouldn’t be entirely alien to you. After all, you were born as a biped, were you not?”

That much was true; in fact, it had been less than three months since Solonn had last possessed legs. He had gotten around by walking for nearly two decades prior to his evolution.

You’ve done it before, Solonn reminded himself in a continuous loop as he stood there, but that mantra fell just short of successfully building and maintaining his confidence in his newly gained human legs. They were, after all, quite different from those he had possessed as a snorunt, seeming almost ridiculously long and gangly in comparison, looking incapable of supporting or moving him. He was so mistrustful of them that were it not for Jal’tai’s telekinesis keeping him upright, his lack of faith in them would have certainly caused them to give right out from under him.

Again, though, Solonn was very mindful of the threat that lay at the end of Jal’tai’s patience. The latios expected him to stand, to walk, to follow wherever he was led, and Solonn reckoned that he had better comply if he valued his safety. Inhaling deeply, trying but not quite succeeding to avoid overanalyzing what he was doing, he took one short, unsteady step forward and then another. He stopped then, standing still as he finally remembered to exhale the breath he had taken, trying to will himself to at least appear to relax and seem sure even if he couldn’t actually do these things in earnest. With an effort, he lifted his gaze from the carpet to the latios hovering nearby in an attempt to signal that he was good to go.

Jal’tai seemed to accept this, nodding slightly with a small smile. “Good, good. Come, then, let me show you around…”

He turned to his left and drifted out of the bedroom, then cast a look over his shoulder and made a beckoning motion with a single talon. Unenthusiastically, but mindfully compliant all the same, Solonn followed. He tried to move a little quicker and surer than he had done in the first couple of steps that he had taken on human legs, but his faith in those limbs was still somewhat lacking, and it showed. Though he was successfully moving forward, keeping fairly close to Jal’tai (though the latios’s deliberately slow drift was mostly to credit for Solonn’s ability to keep up with him), his legs were doing nearly as much wobbling as walking. But Jal’tai kept him steady, sustaining his telekinetic hold on the human to support him through his every step, no matter how unstable those steps might be.

He was led by the latios into the den, where there were especially many of those draconic statues. Solonn quickly found himself rather disliking their blithe expressions, the way they smiled as if they approved of what had been done to him. He was shown over to the green armchair next to which he had awakened on his first morning as a human and had witnessed the revelation of Jal’tai’s true identity.

Smiling, Jal’tai motioned for the human to come and stand beside him, the latios gesturing with his other talon toward one arm of the chair as he did so. Apparently, this was something that Jal’tai regarded as noteworthy, though Solonn couldn’t fathom why. He came to stand at Jal’tai’s side, trying once he did so not to shift about too conspicuously despite his unease around the latios.

“Have a look at this,” Jal’tai said as he laid a talon upon the arm of the chair, its soft surface yielding slightly as he clutched it. He then pulled upward on it, doing so slowly to ensure that the human at his side could clearly see what he was doing. The arm of the chair opened on an unseen hinge, revealing a previously hidden compartment from which the latios pulled out a small, silver device.

“This is the remote control for your entertainment system,” Jal’tai told him. “In case you’ve not seen one of these in use, observe.” He drifted over to a large oak armoire against the wall and opened it, revealing a television, a DVD player, and a CD player surrounded by speakers. Jal’tai then returned to Solonn’s side and pointed the remote at the devices.

“Pay close attention, now,” Jal’tai instructed, and indicated first one of the remote’s buttons and then another. He repeated this action a couple of times, seeming intent on making sure that Solonn memorized the sequence, then pushed the two buttons in succession. The CD player came awake with golden LED numbers, and a split-second later, a light, jazzy tune began issuing from the speakers.

Jal’tai allowed the music to play for a few moments, seeming to enjoy it as he listened, smiling slightly, his eyes closed. He then shut the music off, making certain to let Solonn see how he did so.

“If you’re not in the mood for music, you could always enjoy what the television has to offer,” the latios said, then demonstrated how to turn the television on. The screen lit up with an image of a human in a brightly colored suit and tie who was standing in front of a brown car while shouting about being crazy and about offering the lowest prices in Hoenn.

“You’ve got three hundred and fifty-one channels to choose from. These arrows here—” He indicated two more of the remote’s buttons. “—will let you cycle up and down through them one at a time, or you can go straight to a channel by inputting its number with the numeral buttons. I’m sure you’ll memorize the numbers of the good ones quickly enough…” He cast a brief glance back at the television, where a different human was pictured offering the secret to shed excess weight around the hips, thighs, and buttocks; Jal’tai regarded the commercial with an odd look before turning back to Solonn.

“I’ll admit, most of those channels are pure rubbish around the clock,” he said almost apologetically, “but there are also a couple of real quality stations—they’re broadcast from right here in Convergence,” he informed Solonn, his tone colored with unmistakable pride on the last statement. He changed the channel again, and this time images of pokémon rather than humans appeared on the screen. A ledian was seated behind a desk. Beside him, a small image appeared of three smeargle being led out of a building by a medicham in a police uniform and two houndoom with badges affixed to collars around their necks.

“Police have finally apprehended the vandals responsible for defacing storefronts downtown on multiple occasions,” the ledian anchorman reported, while at the bottom of the screen, his words were displayed in unown-script subtitles for the benefit of human viewers. “Whether these individuals were actively trying to claim territory or were merely acting toward their own amusement remains unclear, but the CPD has issued a statement saying that whatever their motives might have—”

Jal’tai turned off the television, then replaced the remote control in its storage compartment within the arm of the chair. “There’s something else I have to show you with regards to the television, but let’s finish having our look around first, shall we?”

The latios departed the den, and Solonn shuffled out after him with a final glance back at the now dark and lifeless television screen. He wasn’t particularly impressed with it; he was already somewhat familiar with television, having watched it with Morgan a couple of times back when he was still small enough to be kept indoors. Even then, though the ability of that device to reproduce images and sounds even more faithfully than one’s own memory could do was certainly an incredible achievement in his eyes, what he’d seen of its programming had fallen short of appealing to his tastes. Under normal circumstances, the idea of the stations this city boasted, run by pokémon for pokémon, might have been fairly intriguing to him. But again, these were far from normal circumstances.

Solonn was guided next into a walk-in closet. It was fairly long and wide enough to admit Jal’tai’s generous, rigid wingspan, albeit only just.

“Now, it was never my intent to have you running around in your underwear all the time,” Jal’tai said, with yet another of his chuckles. “Here, I have provided you with an exquisite collection of some of the finest menswear money can buy. I’ve spared no expense for you, my boy—why, just look at this here.” He gestured to his right, where a navy blue jacket hung.

Much less interested in it than the latios seemed to be, “Hm,” Solonn said with the ghost of a nod, just for the sake of giving some response to appease Jal’tai. In truth, he found nothing at all remarkable about the garment. He was equally unmoved by the other articles of clothing that Jal’tai showed him from what was now his wardrobe, but he gave the latios, who was obviously quite proud of these purchases, an occasional, noncommittal noise or vague nod, feigning at least some interest in and attention to what was being presented to him. In spirit, however, he could not be farther from the closet and the expensive fashions therein, let alone any care for these things.

As there wasn’t room enough in the closet for Jal’tai to turn around, the dragon chose to teleport in order to make his exit. He then resumed his tour, ushering Solonn into a spacious bathroom, one that had been designed with multiple, varying species in mind. It contained sinks at three different heights and four different kinds of toilets. The shower was quite large, and it possessed multiple spigots of varying shapes and sizes; in addition to the standard one that dispensed water, the extra spigots offered bathing options such as “mud”, “sand”, and “acid”, according to a large, yellow label affixed just outside the shower compartment. There were labels of this sort next to each of the fixtures, bearing instructions for their use in human- and unown-script. Solonn noted that there were also small, white labels, apparently handwritten, that designated certain of the fixtures for human use.

There were also mirrors in this room: one over each sink and a tall one that stood alone against the opposite wall. It was in the latter mirror that Solonn saw his new, human face for the first time. The dark eyes that had become his own stared back at him from within the glass, bloodshot and glazed over with a listless despair. The expression on that face seemed to plead to be looked upon no more, as if considering itself a sight that could not be endured, and the man who beheld it could indeed not stand the sight. Their features seized by anguish, both his face and its mirror image turned harshly away from one another.

Solonn did not notice at first when Jal’tai spoke next, the dragon’s words reaching him with a delay through the fog enveloping his mind.

“This, Solonn, is where you’ll attend to your hygienic needs… among other needs,” the latios said. “Be sure to read those labels; they’ll show you exactly how to use these things, as well as which among them you should use and which you should not. Generally speaking, most of this equipment is for the purposes of cleaning and grooming yourself, whereas this—” Jal’tai craned his neck toward the toilets, pointing at the one that was labeled as suitable for use by humans. “—well, its purpose is…”

Short moments later, they both left the bathroom and the topic of its purposes. Jal’tai then brought Solonn to the other end of the suite, where the kitchen was located. The room itself was quite small, as were the appliances within it: the refrigerator, sink, counter, and electric range were much shorter than their counterparts in kitchens designed solely for human use (though the refrigerator was also rather wider than the typical human-style model, so as not to forsake any of its capacity). Cabinets, drawers, a toaster, a blender, and a microwave oven were also set up at heights that were convenient for smaller species. Yellow instruction labels like those found in the bathroom were present here, too, detailing the use of each of the appliances. There was also a modest dining area adjoined to the kitchen, containing a small, low table and a trio of cushioned, wooden stools.

“Here is where you can get yourself something to eat whenever the need or desire arises, as I would imagine it surely must have by now,” Jal’tai said. “You must be famished, hmm?”

Indeed Solonn was hungry, and considerably so; he had not eaten since the evening before last, after all. However, he had been so preoccupied through much of the time since that that sensation, as well as several other physical complaints, had gone very largely ignored. Still, for the dragon’s sake, “Hm,” he responded, yet another minimal noise, with yet another minimal nod as the sole factor indicating his reply as affirmative.

“Mmm-hmm, figured as much,” Jal’tai said with a warm smile (that the latios had just smiled at the confirmation of his hunger was not lost on Solonn, nor did it fail to bother him). He pulled first a bowl and then a box of frosted corn flakes from the cabinets, setting both items down on top of the kitchen counter. He then fetched a quart-sized carton of milk from the refrigerator and a nanab berry from a bowl of fruit that sat on the dining room table and set them down on the counter, as well. Faintly humming the jazzy tune from earlier, the dragon dispensed a small amount of cereal and milk into the bowl, then diced up the nanab with his claws and put the fruit into the bowl, too.

Jal’tai took a spoon out from the drawer and brought it along with the bowl of cereal to the table, then fixed a glass of milk, set it upon the table as well, and beckoned Solonn to come over. The human complied, stopping a couple of feet away from Jal’tai as the latios pulled out a chair for him, indicating with a talon that he expected Solonn to take his seat here.

Having seen Morgan sit down before, Solonn had a sense of how it was done in human-fashion—he knew what the action looked like, at least. At any rate, it was enough for him to just try it without much hesitation. He moved over to the chair, trying to allow his body to fold up and conform to it in a way that matched the image of a seated human in his memory. He did a fairly commendable job of it, too, although he did drop himself onto the stool a little too hard, resulting in a bit of an unpleasant shock to his tailbone despite the chair’s cushioning.

“I certainly hope you like this,” Jal’tai said pleasantly as he hovered beside Solonn. “It’s something for which I confess to have developed something of an addiction,” he said with a chuckle. “Plus, it’s something that’s very easy to whip up; I’m sure that you can do it yourself anytime now that you’ve seen me do it. Now, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this is the sort of thing you ought to be living on, but as far as more advanced meal preparation goes… well, no one becomes a master chef in a day, now do they?” He laughed again, then turned an expectant gaze straight into Solonn’s eyes. “Well, have at it, then!” he said cheerfully.

Solonn turned his gaze downward and merely stared into his cereal for a moment. He was not particularly moved to eat despite his body’s need for him to do so, but with the latios hanging around like a second shadow, he reckoned that he’d better just get it over and done. Almost robotically, he began to lower his hand toward the bowl—but it was caught short of descending into the cereal by the swift action of a blue, three-clawed talon.

“Whoops!” Jal’tai exclaimed, laughing. “I can’t believe I could be so forgetful… Here.” He lifted the spoon from where it sat beside the bowl. “Use this; it’s proper human etiquette, not to mention less messy. You just scoop it up like this,” he said, miming the action a couple of times in demonstration before handing the spoon to Solonn.

Solonn did well enough with the spoon; he only spilled a couple of spoonfuls. The sweet flavor of the cereal and berries was not unpleasant to him, but failed to pique his interest. His apathy toward eating made it somewhat difficult to finish his breakfast, but he managed to finish it nonetheless, earning a pleased smile from the draconic face that had been hovering beside him in order to ensure that the human accepted the food and drink that he had been given.

“There, now wasn’t that nice?” Jal’tai asked, earning himself another of the human’s vague responses. He took a small roll of paper towels from the cabinets, tearing one off to clean up the spilled cereal, then disposed of the used tissue and put the bowl, spoon, and glass into the sink. Once he was finished tidying up, he motioned for Solonn to rise and follow him once more, and the human did so without a word, allowing himself to be led back into the den.

Once there, Jal’tai immediately took the remote from its compartment in the arm of the green chair and turned on the television, bringing a rather tone-deaf, singing meowth to life on the screen. “You’ll recall that I mentioned having something else to show you over here, correct?” the latios said as he made his way over to the armoire, opening the cabinet under the television and producing a DVD jewel case from it. Solonn gave even less of a response than he had been giving, but Jal’tai didn’t seem to mind.

The dragon looked over his shoulder and saw Solonn just standing there beside the armchair. “Go ahead and have a seat in that chair,” he instructed the human while carefully prying the DVD out of its case with his claws. “Watch me carefully, now,” he said once he saw that Solonn had sat down where he was told to sit. He turned on the DVD player, inserted the disc into it, and then went over to hover right beside Solonn.

“This is just one of a series of videos I made specially for the benefit of my successor in the event that said successor would come to me in the form of a pokémon,” Jal’tai said as the video started, bringing up a simple menu in unown-script onto the screen. The menu bore only two options: “Setup” and “Play”. “Now, to begin the video, you simply press these.” He highlighted the “Play” option and pressed the “ENTER” button, making certain that his actions were performed in clear view of Solonn and not too quickly to be followed. “This will pause it if you need to take a break while viewing; this one will go back and replay certain parts if you feel you need to review them or if you miss something; and this one will stop it when you’ve finished watching it,” he explained, indicating others among the remote’s buttons. “Then just take the disc out and put it back where it belongs—the ‘OPEN’ button is right there on the device; you’ll also find ‘POWER’ buttons on all the devices there to turn them off when you’re done using them.”

Meanwhile, the video began to play. Rather loud, synthesizer-based music blared forth, and the title “Humanity and You” appeared on the screen in brightly colored letters.

Jal’tai grinned. “I think you’ll enjoy these, Solonn; they really turned out quite nicely, in my opinion. These videos will help you learn the basic habits and skills of living as a human. Once you’ve watched this volume, you can just pop in another one and watch that. Mind you, they are numbered, and you’d do well to watch them in numerical order—some of the later ones might be a bit confusing if you don’t,” he advised Solonn, chuckling yet again.

Jal’tai placed the remote in Solonn’s hand, then drifted over to the wall that separated the suite from the hall outside. “I’ll check in on you again sometime soon,” he said. “Oops… I fear you might have missed some of the beginning of that video due to my talking,” he added, sounding mildly embarrassed and apologetic. “You might want to back that up, then. Well, anyway, I’ll be seeing you!” With that, the dragon left the suite, once again foregoing the keypad and transport tile and teleporting out instead.

Solonn stared dully at the television screen, not really absorbing anything occurring there and not bothering to restart the video from the beginning as per Jal’tai’s advice, either. His mind was still on Jal’tai even though the latios had left. Solonn had stashed much of his loathing for Jal’tai deep within his mind while in his presence, silently detached from it through a sort of numb, temporary resignation born out of self-preservation. But now, with the latios no longer shadowing him, all of the offense, hatred, and bitter indignation that Jal’tai had inspired within him came to the forefront once again.

Solonn very briefly allowed his attention to light upon the video. Almost immediately, he shut the doors of his mind to it once more. He had quickly developed a rather strong dislike for the program, for it was, after all, the handiwork of that latios, just another element of his scheme. Solonn paid the video no further mind even as it concluded, returned to the menu screen, and began playing its loud theme music on a continuous loop.

* * *

(CONTINUED)

**Sike Saner** · 28th January 2006, 6:11 AM

Solonn continued to feign compliance during Jal’tai’s next visit two days later, looking at whatever he was shown, doing whatever he was told to do, and managing to show no outward sign of resentment or indignation. As soon as the dragon left, however, that veneer fell away, leaving behind a bitter, despondent man who, for the most part, just languished through the hours, lacking the spirit to look after himself beyond the bare minimum needed to keep himself alive. He barely slept, his mind too besieged by thoughts of what lay behind, what might lie in the future, and what could now never come to be to allow him any peace. He didn’t bathe or groom himself in any way, nor did he bother to further his assimilation into his forced humanity by watching any of the latios’s training videos. He ate only when Jal’tai was actually present to monitor him and make sure that he did.

The self-neglect was beginning to take its toll on Solonn—developments that did not go unnoticed by the latios, as Solonn learned the very next evening on Jal’tai’s third visit.

Jal’tai materialized in the room, and Solonn met his eye at once from where he sat in that green armchair. From the moment the dragon appeared, Solonn knew that this visit would not be like the others. The friendly, jovial countenance that the latios had worn during his previous visits was gone; his face was instead a hard-lined mask, the expression not quite readable, but Solonn was sure that it was not a sign of a pleased latios.

Lowering his head slightly and folding his arms in front of his chest, Jal’tai brought himself to hover right in front of Solonn. His feathered brows drew together as if he were wincing in pain, allowing some evidence of concern to show through his features. He held the human’s dark, flat stare for a long moment, then shook his head pityingly.

“Look at you…” the dragon said quietly. He moved even closer to Solonn, his gaze burning upon the former glalie’s unshaven face from only a few inches away now. “Solonn,” he said, his tone heavy, “I know that you’ve been neglecting yourself and your lessons. This won’t do, my boy. This won’t do at all.”

Though the human’s slackened, expressionless features showed no sign of it, a spark of fear awakened and began swiftly growing deep within Solonn, something not quite conscious, something primal. Jal’tai knew that he wasn’t getting what he wanted from his would-be successor, and Solonn strongly suspected that he was about to suffer for disappointing the latios—and perhaps this time Jal’tai would simply give up on ever getting what he wanted from Solonn and decide to cut his losses. In silent terror, Solonn awaited the fuchsia blaze in the dragon’s eyes and the agony that would follow… but no such things came.

“I told you emphatically that you must find it in yourself to make peace with this life,” Jal’tai said soberly, “for it is something you cannot change. I told you this for a very good reason, Solonn: you cannot live a life that you do not accept. If you keep on like this, you’ll waste away… I cannot allow that, Solonn. There is too much at stake. I will not see the future of my city, my mission, simply fade out like this.”

He ascended higher into the air, stopping just short of scraping the ceiling with his wingtips. From this height, his gaze bore down upon Solonn, its intensity further stoking the human’s certainty that he was about to meet a terrible demise. But still the latios made no move to harm him.

“For the sake of your destiny, as well as that of Convergence and the most noble cause for which it stands, serenity will be instilled in you,” he told Solonn firmly. “Fortunately, I have come across someone who should be of a tremendous benefit to that end. Her name is Neleng, and you will be having your first session with her tonight. She ought to be arriving in less than an hour.

“I dearly hope to see improvement in you, Solonn. There’s no need for you to make things harder for yourself than you already have.” With those words, Jal’tai made his exit in his usual fashion, vanishing in a burst of golden light.

Solonn’s eyes lingered for a while upon the empty space where Jal’tai had just been, resenting the latios’s ability to simply be gone from this place in a flash—he wished that he could do the same. The ease with which Jal’tai could come and go as he pleased only seemed to rub Solonn’s nose into the fact that he was stuck in the suite, unable to leave. Solonn wondered if perhaps that was part of the reason why Jal’tai always chose to teleport out.

As the minutes passed, Solonn merely sat there, doing nothing. He wasn’t really anticipating Neleng’s arrival; he had been too preoccupied with the notion that he was possibly going to be punished and maybe even killed to pay much attention to what Jal’tai had been saying during his visit. The matter of the impending arrival of another visitor had been pushed to the back of his mind.

At length, the computerized voice of the suite announced an incoming arrival; Solonn, expecting it to be Jal’tai again, was faintly surprised to find someone and something very different appearing within the suite: a chimecho. He was a bit confused by the newly arrived guest until the memory of Jal’tai’s mention of a visitor surfaced within his mind. It was someone with an “N”-name, as far as he recalled; he couldn’t remember the exact name.

The visitor made her way into the den at once, her tail trailing from beneath her as she drifted through the air. She stopped before Solonn and smiled.

“Good evening,” she greeted him in an airy voice. “My name is Neleng, and I’m here to help clear your mind. Are you ready to begin?”

Solonn didn’t respond, gazing upon the chimecho with uncertainty. He had no idea of what this creature was planning to do and therefore couldn’t really be ready for it in any way.

Neleng, however, seemed to have been prepared to proceed regardless of any answer or lack thereof that she might have received. She beamed at him as brightly as if he had just agreed with the utmost enthusiasm to whatever she was about to do. “Very well, then,” she said. She rose upward until the golden suction disc on the top of her head met the ceiling and took hold of it, clinging tightly yet effortlessly.

The chimecho gave a few gentle ripples of her tail as she hung there, smiling serenely down upon Solonn. “Just relax… Float away on a breeze of music…” she said. She began swaying there where she hung, very slowly, very gracefully, and then she began to sing.

She began with only a single voice, but it gradually unfolded into a chorus of many, one voice at a time. Harmonies and countermelodies gracefully intertwined, weaving in and out amongst one another, merging, diverging, and reuniting in cycles.

The music surrounded Solonn, absorbing his mind as it seemed to swirl around him. Under the song’s spell, everything else within the scope of his consciousness was washed away. Soon, the world around him was comprised solely of the swirling currents of melody. Nothing else existed. Nothing else mattered.

He didn’t notice at first when the song finally ended some twenty minutes later. Once he did, he began looking about somewhat dazedly for the source of the music, briefly unable to remember from whence it had come. Then the last of the psychic residue that the chimecho’s song had left within his mind cleared… and he realized slowly that as it had gone, the swarming miseries that had plagued his mind during these past few days had faded.

Not that he had been truly and entirely purged of them; undeniable anguish and bitterness remained within him and would continue to do so as long as did their source: the unwanted, elementless body and the suite that both imprisoned him. But by the preternatural qualities of Neleng’s song, all of those thoughts and feelings, though no more pleasant than they had previously been, were now tamed to a degree. They were now organized in a sense, not perfectly but well enough that they no longer smothered him with their weight. His spirit was freed to begin to rise up out of his fog of despondency, awakening as if from a long and muddling trance.

Solonn’s memory realigned with his awareness; he recalled the sequence of the most recent events as they had occurred. Jal’tai had shown up, saying that Solonn would have a visitor, then Neleng had arrived and had begun to sing. After that point, his memory was still very hazy; he couldn’t remember what had happened between the start of the chimecho’s song and its end, if indeed he had ever actually known what had happened at all.

He turned his sights up to where Neleng was still hanging and still swaying slightly. She appeared to be slowly emerging from a meditative state. She did something to me, Solonn strongly suspected, something psychic… Exactly what she had done, he couldn’t be sure. He hoped that it hadn’t been anything harmful, but he was inclined to have a dark feeling about it since she had, after all, been sent to him by Jal’tai.

The chimecho finally fell still, sighing softly as her eyes slowly opened. She detached herself from the ceiling, smiling gently as she descended once more.

“I will see you again tomorrow,” she said. “Drift free until then…”

Neleng floated away then, and Solonn’s gaze followed her as she made her way back to the wall between the suite and the hall outside. She stopped before the lens that was set into the wall and brought the end of her tail up to reach the keypad beside it, folding its prehensile tip and using it to input a sequence of eight numbers. The transport tile below her awakened with green light, and she lowered herself onto it with a quickness that she hadn’t exhibited before. The lens awakened and scanned her, and a second later, she was gone in a green flash.

Solonn’s eyes lingered for a long moment in that direction, looking upon the lens and keypad with a twinge of envy toward the chimecho who had just used them to leave the suite. He longed to do the same, but the system that had offered an open gateway to Neleng also created the barrier that held him there in that suite, for it would only admit those who possessed the codes to open the way in or out.

Jal’tai had shared the codes with Neleng. He had not shared them with Solonn, and he likely had no intention of doing so anytime soon or possibly ever, Solonn was sure. It seemed to him that Jal’tai was intent on keeping him trapped there, while the latios and those whom he employed to aid him could just come and go as they pleased with those codes. Furthermore, Jal’tai himself didn’t even need them; he had the option of teleporting, and he made use of it, too. In fact, he never even bothered with the keypad and tile to get out…

Something clicked into place in Solonn’s brain and clicked hard: Jal’tai never used the transport tile to get out, but he always used it to get in… but why? Solonn found himself locked into puzzling over the matter at once; this habit of Jal’tai’s was peculiar to him in a distinctly nagging way, one that clearly marked itself as significant. He at first chiefly wondered, as he had done on more than one occasion before, why the latios bothered with the tile at all; couldn’t he just instantly, conveniently enter in the same way as he exited? Why the dragon did not teleport into the suite was a matter that Solonn couldn’t seem to figure out… but when his mind inverted the question, wondering why Jal’tai did teleport to get out…

The first answer that came to Solonn’s mind at that question was that Jal’tai did it that way simply because he could. But another possible angle occurred to Solonn a beat later: perhaps Jal’tai avoided using the keypad code to leave the suite on the chance that the human might pick up the code from seeing him use it. To Solonn’s mind, it made sense; Jal’tai was just being cautious.

A second later, a powerful realization struck him as his mind was thrown back to what he had just witnessed mere minutes earlier: Jal’tai was being cautious, but Neleng was not…

There was a feeling like a sudden, sharp blow to his chest, seizing his heart in an almost painful thrill. Incredible though it seemed, after all of the work and planning that Jal’tai had clearly put into his endeavor to prepare his replacement, the latios had made a mistake in giving the codes to that chimecho, a mistake whose ramifications had the potential to severely undermine his plans.

All of a sudden, the way from here seemed almost ridiculously clear to Solonn. Neleng held the means for him to escape—he needed only to observe her closely on her departure from now on. He could possibly obtain the code that would allow him to leave the suite by watching her use it.

There remained, however, the matter of what he would do after he got out. No longer being the glalie that he once was and having no real way to prove that he ever was such, returning to Virc-Dho now no longer seemed like an option. The only other familiar place he had to go was Lilycove… and as he thought of that, it occurred to him that if Morgan had been successfully reunited with her other pokémon—or at least with one of the psychics among them—perhaps one of them could look into his mind and confirm to her that he was indeed what he would claim to be. If so, then he could at least have the option of making a new home among some of his friends even if he could never go back to his original home.

But then another thought occurred to him, one that sent a chill straight into his heart: after he made his escape, Jal’tai would be sure to try and find him—and since Solonn had specifically mentioned having fled from Lilycove, that was one of the places where Jal’tai was sure to look.

In his mind, the human saw Jal’tai in the Yorkes’ house with both Morgan and Eliza lying unconscious before him as he scoured their minds for information that might lead him to Solonn. The thought of them having their minds violated in such a manner disgusted Solonn, and the picture that came to him when he imagined what might happen if any of Morgan’s other pokémon were there to try and stop Jal’tai sickened him even further—he suspected that not even all of them combined would be able to take on the latios and that their resisting him could quite possibly cost them their lives.

He sighed heavily; it seemed that Lilycove was out of the question as well, leaving him to wonder just where he could go.

Anywhere but here will do, Solonn decided finally, resolutely, anywhere he isn’t. It seemed that Solonn could not reclaim the life he had once known, that he could no longer share it with the people whom he had known, but he could at least make his life his own again, taking it out of Jal’tai’s talons. He didn’t know what sort of future could possibly lie ahead of him now, but at least now there was a chance that it could be his future, his choice.

With a deep breath, Solonn rose from the chair, shakily but determinedly. He leveled a hard stare at that wall, that barrier separating him from the way to freedom. Soon, he told himself silently, he would surpass that barrier. Soon, he would take back his life.

* * *

From the moment that he’d discovered the way by which he would try to escape, Solonn carried on in a very different manner than he had done in the days prior. He knew and accepted now that he would have to prepare himself for the life that he would have to forge once he was free—a human life.

So it was that not long after Neleng had left him, he had sat down and watched one of Jal’tai’s training videos. Though not fond of the notion of partaking of something that Jal’tai had made, he’d determined that he would just have to bite back his resentment of the dragon in this matter. The videos were a source of valuable information and demonstration, offering knowledge that he would need in his new life, and so he had decided that he would watch as many of them as he could before the time came when he would finally succeed in obtaining the code that would get him out of the suite.

He had also regained the strength of spirit to really take care of himself again, fueled by the hope of impending freedom. He tried to get at least a couple of hours of sleep each night and bothered to feed himself whenever he hungered, for he knew that he would need his strength for his upcoming escape. From the videos, as well as from the next couple of visits by Jal’tai, he learned how to prepare a small variety of meals, but was still not quite courageous enough to try and make anything that required actual cooking, for it just seemed too easy to ruin such dishes—it wouldn’t do for him to burn more food than he ate, after all.

The videos also illustrated the importance of good hygiene and dressing well in human society, lessons which motivated Solonn to begin practicing human hygienic rituals. Though his first attempt at a bath resulted in minor scalding and his first attempt at shaving left his face bleeding in no fewer than six places, he generally did a fairly competent job in keeping himself tidy and assured himself that he would improve in these skills with time and practice. He also began fully dressing himself rather than just lounging about in his underwear, for he knew from both those videos and his time with the Yorkes that humans generally kept most of their bodies covered at all times.

During his visits over the course of these days, Jal’tai noticed the improvements in Solonn’s well-being, and as a result the latios’s demeanor around him was even more lively and jovial than ever and with no signs of stern displeasure—it seemed that his would-be successor was finally accepting and growing into the role that had been chosen for him.

Though Solonn’s temperament was definitely improving, Jal’tai still sent Neleng over each night to perform her mindsong therapy; Solonn reckoned that the latios had decided that those sessions might as well continue since they seemed to be doing the human some good. Indeed they were, but not just in the way that the latios had intended—Neleng’s sessions helped to keep Solonn’s mind clear, which in turn allowed him to stay focused and determined to achieve his goal of escape.

The chimecho was fulfilling her role in Solonn’s endeavor most obligingly; at the end of each of her visits, she let herself out by means of the transport tile. From that green armchair, he had watched her out of the corner of his eye on the evening of her second visit, trying not to be overtly conspicuous about it, but had found that this did not provide the best angle from which to get a good look at precisely what she was doing.

But shortly thereafter, he had thought to shift that chair just ever so slightly toward the wall that bore the lens and keypad, just enough to hopefully give him a somewhat better view of that area without it being too obvious that he had moved the chair. Sure enough, as he had learned the following evening when Neleng returned once more, this new angle did make it rather easier to see what she was doing. Thus, from that point forward, he had been able to watch Neleng without being too conspicuous about it, trying each time as he did so to discern and memorize the code that she used to exit the room.

It was following the eighth session with Neleng, eleven days after the morning when he had first awakened as a human, that Solonn was ready at last to make his move. After carefully watching the chimecho input that code on multiple occasions, he was now quite sure that he had successfully learned it.

Jal’tai had visited earlier that day, and Neleng had just left an hour or so ago, so Solonn wasn’t expecting either of them anywhere near the suite again anytime soon. If ever there was an optimal time to make a break for it, he reckoned that this was it.

He stood there before the keypad, his breathing shallow as his chest tightened with anxiety. He raised a trembling, sweating hand to the keys, and one by one, his shaking index finger found each of the code’s eight digits as his mind recalled them in sequence:

Seven… three… four… nine… zero… four… six… two…

The next second felt to Solonn like it would never end, a lingering moment of wondering if he had succeeded and fearing that he had not. Then that second passed, and to Solonn’s immeasurable relief, the tile below his feet took on that familiar, green glow and the lens before him scanned him.

The tile gave a bright flash. He felt the tingling sensation over the surface of his skin that he’d experienced the last time that he’d used the transport tile, vaguely noting that it seemed curiously stronger this time. Then he was rushed swiftly through a state of physical nonexistence, emerging from it to rematerialize on the other side of the wall.

His eyes met the scene of the corridor around him, and a giddy sort of disbelief spread through him. A beat later, he dared to believe what the sight surrounding him signified: he had done it. He was out and could now make his bid for freedom.

His mind reviewed the events that had taken place in that corridor the last time that he had been there, replaying them in reverse to recall how he had gotten from the part of the building where the exit lay to where he now stood. It was difficult to extract much detail from his memory regarding those events, for at the time when they had occurred, he had been under the influence of the drugs that Jal’tai had slipped into his food, which had hampered his perception to no small degree. He managed to remember the elevator, however, and seemed to recall that it was nearby. Sure enough, he soon spotted it.

The steel elevator doors before Solonn were shut tightly. There was a button beside the doors, set somewhat low in the wall; as Solonn’s eyes fell upon it, he remembered that Jal’tai had pushed a button to enter the elevator. He stooped down slightly and pushed the button, but for a few moments, nothing seemed to happen, giving Solonn another surge of fear that his escape would fail. But then the doors opened, and Solonn passed through them without a second’s hesitation.

Once he was inside, the doors closed. Solonn tried to ignore the rather bland music that was playing in the elevator as he waited for them to open again and release him into the lobby. Moments on end passed, but no such thing happened. Solonn was first confused by this, then worried—and then he noticed the line of buttons next to the doors, above which was a label reading “Please Select Your Desired Floor”. The elevator was not moving because he had not yet told it where he wanted it to go.

You idiot… he reprimanded himself silently as he looked over the buttons. They were numbered from one to seven; he reckoned that each one corresponded to a different level of the building and that the button marked “1”, bearing the lowermost number, represented the lowermost floor, where the doors that led out of the building were. That was the floor he wanted.

He pressed that button, and a breath later, a funny little plummeting sensation in his stomach signified the elevator’s descent. Soon after, the elevator came to a stop and its steel doors slid open, revealing a view of the spacious lobby—and the exit beyond.

The lobby was currently relatively quiet, with no one present except for the swampert receptionist and a solitary primeape off in the corner, the latter staring with a rather dull expression at a television on which a cartoon was playing. Solonn was very conscious of their presence and quite nervous around them, but knew that he should try to act nonchalant so as not to draw too much attention to himself. As far as those two needed to be concerned, he was just a human being like any other, no one particularly worthy of notice, with no reason why he should not be in that lobby or heading out those doors. He intended to leave them in that mindset.

Without a word, he crossed the room to the exit. Those last doors separating him from the way out of Convergence slid silently out of his way, and he stepped out into a starless, overcast night.

He cast one last look behind him at the towering structure of the Convergence Inn, the place where his identity and element had been lost, the place that had been his prison for nearly two weeks. He averted his gaze from it almost immediately and began moving away from it at a brisk pace with the desire to never have to behold that place again.

Solonn was forced to stop at the next corner, where cars sped up and down the street in his way. He shivered as he stood there; the silk shirt and simple slacks that he had chosen to wear that day offered little protection against the chilly, late-September wind that whipped at him. Not terribly far away, he just managed to identify the dark line of trees that represented the border between Convergence and its surrounding woods—that was his goal. The vehicles rushing by were currently barring his path… but seconds later, the flow of traffic in his way ceased. He took advantage of this at once, hurriedly crossing the street while the way was clear.

His eyes locked onto the boundary beyond which the world didn’t belong to Jal’tai—the sooner he reached it, the better, he knew. He wanted to make a dash for the trees, but having only recently become fully accustomed to walking on his new legs, he was somewhat wary of the notion of running.

He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of doubt. If you can walk, you can run, he told himself silently. Don’t think about it; just do it! Hesitating no longer, he broke into a run with a somewhat awkward start, stumbling over the first step and nearly overcorrecting afterward.

Once Solonn managed to stabilize himself, he silently told himself not to stop running, not until he reached that forest. However, he was unused to running for any great distance, and exhaustion came on quite swiftly. Nonetheless, he ignored his body’s demands for him to stop and take a rest, his sights and his determination fixed upon his goal. But he was forced to stop two blocks away from the Convergence Inn by another red light, another wave of rushing cars in his path.

Solonn gritted his teeth in pain as he waited anxiously for a break in the traffic, the cold, sharp wind tearing through his throat with each harsh, gasping breath that his lungs tore from the air in their need. The forest was now not much further before him than the Convergence Inn was behind him; the closer he got to his goal, the more impatient to reach it he became.

Finally, the path before him was clear and safe again. His body was quite averse to taking off and running again since he had not even caught his breath completely from the last dash, but with such a short way left to go before he could put this city and the latios to whom it belonged behind him for good, he just couldn’t wait to close that final distance.

Amber sparkles of light streaked past him: rays from the streetlights that were distorted by the tears that the stinging wind and everything else that he was presently suffering brought to his eyes as he ran. Shooting pains stabbed into his ribs, and there was a burning ache in his stomach and legs. Still, he kept running, desperate to escape Convergence no matter how it hurt. As far as he was concerned at this point, living free was worth any suffering.

Very nearly at the verge of collapsing, with his heart hammering so violently that it seemed ready to explode at any second, Solonn reached Convergence’s limit at last. He was seconds from crossing the boundary—

—And then blazing jets of fire shot forth from either side with a loud fwooossssh and surged up before him. With an almost voiceless cry of alarm and surprise, he backpedaled at once from the burning line of flames in his path, stumbling and falling backwards in the haste of his reaction. He tried to get back to his feet but failed. Realizing his legs’ unwillingness to support him again anytime soon after what he had just forced them to do, he instead started scrabbling backward to escape from the fire before him only to be stopped very soon after when he bumped into something.

Throwing a fearful glance over his shoulder, Solonn saw two houndoom, golden badges affixed to their collars glinting in the light from the flames. Their jaws dripped with glowing embers as they stared him down, and both of them growled ominously.

“Hold it right there,” one of them snarled menacingly. “You’re not going anywhere.”

As if to emphasize the point, the blazing line suddenly advanced at either side, forming a burning circle around Solonn and the two houndoom. The flames roared as they danced on all sides, but they did not touch him, as if something was holding them at bay.

That something—or someone, rather—seemed to just drop right out of the air in front of Solonn in the next moment, landing without a sound. A medicham in a police uniform now stood before him—Solonn had been so singularly focused on the path directly in front of him that he had failed to see her perched in the trees up ahead, awaiting him.

Her eyes held a fuchsia glow, a sign of the psychic powers that she was using to manipulate the two houndoom’s flames and keep them in check, but Solonn feared that it instead meant that she was about to subject him to the same kind of telekinetic punishment that Jal’tai had used on him. As it was, he found that he now couldn’t move at all, and he was sure that his exhaustion wasn’t solely to blame.

The circle of flames simply and abruptly vanished, and the medicham stepped forward. She took hold of Solonn’s arms, and using a combination of her telekinesis and her own physical strength, she brought him back to his feet. Solonn wanted to struggle but found, to no real surprise on his part, that he was still unable to move of his own accord.

The houndoom stepped aside as the medicham moved to stand behind Solonn. Once there, she took both of his wrists in her hands, gripping them tightly.“Start walking,” she commanded him, her voice soft but her tone unmistakably serious.

Tentatively, not quite daring to believe that the medicham could have loosened her psychic hold on him enough to let him move outside of her control, Solonn tried to take a step forward and succeeded. He then tried to pull himself out of the medicham’s grasp, but it was much too strong for him to break, especially given how very little strength his dash from the Convergence Inn had left him. Resigned to the fact that that there was nothing he could do to resist her, Solonn could not help but allow the medicham to drive him onward, dreading whatever lay at their destination as he walked.

The cops brought him back into town, the medicham telekinetically keeping her captive from collapsing, the houndoom directing nips at his feet whenever he faltered in his steps. At length, they arrived at a very tall, brick building downtown. A brass sign hung over its entrance, lit from below by bright lights and bearing the words “CONVERGENCE TOWER”.

The houndoom pushed the doors open, and the medicham shoved Solonn into the building, still holding on to him tightly. He was steered into an elevator, which made a long ascent before letting him and the cops out into a short hallway with massive, wooden doors at its end.

The doors filled Solonn’s vision as his captors came to a stop before them. A speaker mounted in the wall to his left awakened with a brief crackle of static, and then the last voice in the world that Solonn wanted to hear at that moment issued forth from it.

“Bring him in,” Jal’tai said through the speaker. The cops responded to the order at once. The two houndoom pushed their way through the doors and held them open as the medicham brought Solonn through them.

Solonn now stood in an enormous, richly furnished office. Seated before him at a very large and tidy desk, Jal’tai, in the guise of Rolf Whitley, leveled a stare at Solonn that was forbiddingly stern but held an unmistakable sadness at the same time.

“That’ll do, madam, gentlemen,” Jal’tai said without inflection to the medicham and houndoom, dismissing them. The three cops nodded in acknowledgment, and the medicham released both of her holds on Solonn before walking out of the office. The two houndoom followed her away, and the doors swung shut behind them.

Solonn, still drained of most of his strength and no longer supported physically or psychically by the medicham, had dropped to his hands and knees almost immediately after she had let go of him and had remained in that position since, his head hanging toward the hardwood floor. A winged shadow fell over him as soon as the cops were gone, and a second later, a talon descended upon his head, lifting his face up to look upon its owner.

No longer wearing his human mirage, Jal’tai stared right into Solonn’s eyes with a look of distinct sorrow. “I’m very disappointed in you, my boy,” he said gravely. “I told you not to make things harder for yourself than they had to be, but you just wouldn’t listen…”

The latios sighed heavily, and his eyes began shimmering with tears. “I never wanted it to come to this,” he said, his voice quavering as if threatening to break, “but you’ve left me no choice. I’m afraid that I am now forced to take drastic measures to ensure your cooperation and the preservation of this city’s noble mission…”

_________________________

Next time: Find out what Jal’tai means by “drastic measures”… See you then!

- Sike Saner

**Saffire Persian** · 28th January 2006, 6:33 AM

You had to be kidding when you told me you disliked this chapter, I liked it. Watching Solonn try to adapt as a human, and the way you explain the Pokémon's perception of the human world was as amusing as anything I've read from a Pokémon's perspective.

The videos also illustrated the importance of good hygiene and dressing well in Human society, lessons which motivated Solonn to begin practicing Human hygienic rituals.

XD.. Human hygienic rituals. I love that term now. XD... I'll be thinking of that everyday, now...

The Chimecho gave a few languid ripples of her tail as she hung there, smiling serenely down upon Solonn. “Just relax…Float away on a breeze of music…” she said dreamily. She began swaying there where she hung, very slowly, very gracefully. And then, she began to sing.

XD... the Pokémon meditation... but interesting way of introducing this character, though I was assuming she'd be more major than she was. 0_o.. Will we see more of her?

Jai'tal is as dislikable as ever, though if he wasn't so sinister I might acutally like him because of his 'outside' attitude. Still, he's a nasssty little dragon as far as I'm concerned, and he disturbs me in more ways than one. And whatever he's going to do now is something I'm not so keen of him preforming. Erasing his memories totally, maybe? Or mixing them up so he believes he's human? ...XD Some sort of mind control, definitely.

Though the question is, why does this Latios need a successor so bad? He seemed to be quite potent and healthy, no signs of aging or ailing, so I'm confused as to what the Latios needs Solonn for? Sure, maybe the 'human' form Jai'tal is taking is old, but he could always weave a new one o.o.. or something.

Ah - a few more highlights.

First, the acidic bathtub.

Second: Jai'tal's 'gift'.

Third: ... 351 channels? XDXDXDXD kudos for that significant number!

**xXSaberXx** · 28th January 2006, 8:11 AM

WOW.

I now know how foreigners feel. :P

Though, it's not as bad. They know how to use toilets at least. Poor Solonn. ;.;

*hugs*

Very descriptive chap, dear. SCARY COPS WTF WTF WTF.

I hate Jatial. Or...WUTEVAR. I hate him so much I can't even remember his NAME. YAY.

D: *points at sig*

:333333 I quoth thee.

*hugsssssssss*

I love Chimeco. She was so cool. I always use them, though, they are weak in terms of like....BODY. But they can sing. WE SHOULD MAKE A BAND.

AN EXPLOUD/CHIMECO/SNORLAX band. Speakers, Voice, and Drums. YAY. All we need is a guitar. :P

HUGS and LUFF. *hugs*

**PsiUmbreon** · 28th January 2006, 11:04 AM

Hmm... mostly a filler chapter for the real kewl stuff that's gonna happen later. I could see why it was hard to write it. But you did well.

I myself can't wait to see what those "drastic measures" are. Yeah, I figured he wouldn't make it anyways... I mean, c'mon, trying to escape from a PSYCHIC? yeah, right.

Oh, by the way, Spoiler:

Thread: Communication (PG-13)

Thread Tools

Display

You have a new fan in me.

Posting Permissions