Pokémon: A New Evolution (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5: You Teach Me

Blaze sat on the outside ring of the arena, putting her claws behind her head as she watched Sparks start to lecture Aaron. She sighed in exasperation.

“Her moves suck compared to mine. He doesn't know what he’s missing,” she pouted.

“He has to start somewhere.” Blaze jumped at the unexpected voice, looking around to see Zoey walking towards her. Blaze shook her head, smirking.

“I still have no idea how you sneak up on me like that. You don't even make a sound!” Zoey giggled a little as she sat down next to her.

“A true master of darkness is only seen when they want to be seen,” she said matter-of-factly. Blaze jabbed her shoulder playfully, and then pointed to the two yellow beings in the arena’s center.

“Look at them out there. I swear Sparks has been waiting for this moment her whole life.”

“She'll be a good teacher,” Zoey responded. “You got anything planned for your training?” Blaze looked at her with a faux-deadpan look.

“Well, duh.” Zoey laughed at her silly expression, with Blaze herself joining in. “Me and Aaron spared all the time when he was human. He’s a natural! But he could never beat me of course.” She punched forward into the air twice. “But with my abilities at his disposal, he could be an actual threat.” Zoey nodded, looking back to Aaron and Sparks. They sat silent for a while, spectating Spark’s lecture.

“Do you think he’s OK?” Zoey suddenly asked. Blaze looked at her oddly.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“He’s taking this whole thing way too well. A stone with an unknown power steals his body and identity and then he just gets up the next morning like it’s no big deal. I get a feeling he is hiding some negative feelings from us.” Blaze closed her eyes and nodded in understanding, remembering Aaron’s partial breakdown from the night before.

“I see what you are saying. We need to be there if he starts to freak out again. Should we tell the other girls about this?” Blaze asked, making Zoey shake her head.

“Not right now. After all, he has some training to do.” Blaze grinned at that.

“And we have a lot of teaching to do!”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“OK, first lesson! Moves!” Sparks yelled as she struck another fabulous pose. “You are familiar with moves, correct?” Aaron was amused.

“Of course. I kind of command you do them a lot.” Sparks laughed like a cartoon supervillain, as she pointed at Aaron.

“Indeed! But now the roles will be reversed! I get to be your trainer today!”

“As will everyone else,” Aaron muttered under his breath. Sparks continued, not even hearing Aaron’s comment.

“First, the bread and butter of the Ampharos skillset: Thunder!” Aaron heard the name of the move and was suddenly filled with excitement. He knew the move well. It pumped him up just thinking that he had the power to do that.

“Oh, oh, oh! How do I do it, how do I do it?” Aaron started bouncing up and down with uncontrollable glee, his breasts bouncing along with him. Sparks regarded him oddly before going forth with the explanation.

“Listen up, because this is important. Moves all work on the same basic concept. Focus on the move you want to use… and release.” Sparks looked up to the sky and focused her power. Little arcs of lightning shot across her body as she lifted her hands to the sky. “THUNDER!” Aaron whirled around and watched as a black cloud appeared and launched a wicked thunderbolt straight into the ground nearby. The resulting thunderclap was huge, making Aaron cover his ears. When he looked up, he saw the blackened spot on the ground, causing him to leap into the air and cheer.

“Wow! I can’t believe I’ll be able to do that!” Sparks laughed at Aaron’s behavior. He was acting particularly excitable for some reason, but Sparks found it very amusing.

“That’s right! Now get over here and try it out.” Smash nodded, rushing over to stand next to Sparks. He closed his eyes, reaching deep inside himself for the power to use the move. Finally he opened his eyes and, copying Sparks, lifted his hands to the sky and shouted loudly.

“THUNDER!” He grinned widely, hoping to hear a thunderous boom.

But it failed.

“Eh?” Aaron questioned as he continued to awkwardly hold his hands in the air. “THUNDER!” No effect, once again. He turned over to look at Sparks only to find her laying on the ground and laughing. “Hey!”

“Ha ha ha ha… oh!” She hopped back onto her feet and immediately switched back into her teacher mode. “You definitely have the focus. And absolutely fabulous technique. I’m just not sure what you are missing...” Aaron sighed at his Pokémon’s antics, looking downcast.

“Sparks, I don’t get it. I know what the move looks like. I’ve seen it a million times. I just don’t know what to look for inside. It doesn’t make any sense.” Sparks smiled sweetly, touching her transformed trainer’s shoulder.

“I know it’s kinda hard to grasp, but you can’t just look for it. You have to feel the power that’s inside.” Aaron took in this new information and looked Sparks in the eye. He smiled back, putting his arm around her in a side hug. Sparks followed suit, wrapping her arm around him too. She allowed literal sparks to fly between them, little bolts of lightning arcing from her to him and back to her. Aaron felt like he understood.

“Thanks, Sparks,” he said as he broke the embrace. He took a few steps forward and closes his eye again. But this time he let his instincts take the reigns. He remembered the feeling of being shocked violently by Sparks’ lightning in the past. He remembered all of the great hugs they shared together. He remembered the moment they just had, allowing her lightning to spread across his body. He was ready.

He opened his eyes, truly seeing the world in a new way. He had found the spark inside of him. Sparks gasped as she saw the Keystone on the back on Aaron’s tail start to glow. Arcs of lightning launched across his body as Aaron raised his hands in the air, looking to the sky.

“Thunder.” He said it quietly, but the effect was immediate. A black cloud manifested over the black spot on the ground and released a blindingly colorful bolt of lightning that Sparks swore was colored like the rainbow. The thunderclap was heard from miles around the camp and across the mountain.

Sparks hooted and hollered as she jumped over to Aaron, grinning so widely you could swear her smile came off of her face.

“Oh my gosh, Aaron, that was so awesome! I can’t even believe how good that was? Are you sure this is your first time being a Pokémon, but that was so wonderfully done! How did you do that rainbow thingy? I can’t do that, how you get to… huh?” Aaron didn’t respond to any of the praise. In fact, he looked incredibly exhausted.

“My favorite color is seven,” he mumbled as he fell straight forwards, landing flat on his face. Sparks looked down at him and giggled.

“Oh, Aaron,” she said, shaking her head. “I remember the first time I cast Thunder.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Thunder!” Aaron shouted as he was suddenly brought back to reality by a cool splash of water. He rolled onto his back and lifted himself up off the ground, shivering. “Ah, that’s freakin’ freezing! Why’d you do that?” He yelped in realization as he saw Sparks standing in front of him. “Oh no, did I knock myself out?”

Sparks, who was holding a now empty bucket, nodded. “Yup! You exerted yourself too hard and passed out. It’s been about five minutes.” Sparks decide to not let on the fact that he had mumbled some stuff while he was dazed on the ground. Something about kitsunes and ponies.

“Geez,” Aaron said, sighing. “Did I do it though?”

“What does it look like?” Sparks pointed to the spot on the ground where her thunderbolt had hit and… When Aaron saw what Sparks was actually pointing at, he gasped. The blackened spot had another spot next to it. It was brilliant spectrum of color, from red all the way to purple. A very familiar symbol was emblazoned in the center.

“The Keystone…” Aaron said, as he examined the burn mark in the ground.

“It must have given you the power to use Thunder. It started glowing when you focused really hard.” Aaron tilted his head.

“Really? Well, we need to make sure that it wasn’t a fluke.” Sparks shook her head and waved her arms.

“Wait, don’t do Thunder again! It obviously took too much out of you. Let’s start with some easier stuff.” Aaron decided that was fine. He really didn’t want to pass out again.

“Right. Hey, I know another move you can do. Don’t tell me, just let me try it.” Aaron focused thinking of the move. His Keystone lit up again as he focused. He jumped in the air with surprising height and shouted. “Iron Tail!” His tail was suddenly coated in a shiny metal as it plummeted back to the ground. He went into a forward roll, smashing his tail into the ground.

“Woohoo! That was pretty good!” Aaron hopped to his feet and gave a little bow to the applauding Ampharos.

“I think I’m getting the hang of this.” The power was flowing through him like a river, filling him with extraordinary excitement. “Hey, Sparks. I think I’m ready for the next level of our training.” Sparks clapped her hands together.

“Alright, then! The next part of the training is… the mock battle!” she cheered, making Aaron even more excited. “Oh, how exciting! I haven’t had a proper battle in forever. What kind of match should we do?”

“Hm… We don’t really need to be hurting each other so bad. How about a tap battle?” Sparks nodded with gusto.

“Ah! There’s an idea. Alright then,” she said as she pointing her hand to the sky, posing. “Whoever can tap their opponent three times wins. Moves can be used, but nothing that will hurt!”

“Good. Let’s get started.” Aaron walked to the edge of the arena, with Sparks walking to the opposite side. Blaze, who was sitting on the sidelines with Zoey, took the opportunity to call out the start.

“Alright, you two dopes. The battle begins in three!” Aaron entered a combat stance, a serious look on his face.

“Two!” Sparks stood at the ready, swaying back and forth in an unheard rhythm.

“One!” Zoey watched both of the battlers attentively. It was going to be interesting to see Aaron battle as a Pokémon for the first time.

“Go!” Blaze yelled, shooting a fireball into the air to signal the start. The two yellow Pokémon sprang into action, charging straight for each other. Aaron was setting up for a quick and low swipe, but Sparks had a plan. Suddenly she stopped did a familiar gesture.

“Thunder!”

“Gah!” A lightning bolt dropped right in front of Aaron, with him managing to stop before getting zapped. But the distraction had worked. Aaron felt a little tap on his shoulder as he was recovering from the blast. “Oh! What the…”

“Gotcha!” Sparks craned her neck around and waved her hand at Aaron. “That’s one for me.” Aaron shook his head, smirking.

“Aw, I made that too easy for you. I won’t let that happen this time.” Sparks beckoned him toward her.

“Enough talk,” Sparks shot back, posing like a kung-fu fighter. Aaron crouched down low, glaring. He suddenly jumped in the air, his tail turning to solid metal.

“Iron Tail!” Aaron launched downward, aiming directly at Sparks. Sparks watched attentively before quickly dodging backwards. Aaron's tail impacted the ground hard, making Sparks laugh in victory.

“You missed!” Or so she thought. Aaron, in a daring move, launched himself off the ground with the force of his tail. He did a forward flip in the air and reached an arm out, tapping the laughing Ampharos on the nose before rolling onto the ground. Sparks, shocked, looked behind her to see the hybrid standing up.

“Oops. Looks like that one went over your head.” Sparks growled.

“Oh, it’s on!”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Aw, dude! He just did the Iron Leapfrog! Never would have never expected that this would be an actual fight,” Blaze said, hunch in forward and pumping her fists with excitement.

“Aaron has battled alongside us for a long time. He was bound to remember some of the stuff we could do,” Zoey replied. Blaze pointed at Aaron, who looked to be charging another electric attack.

“But look at him! He's never been able to do stuff like this before. That Keystone really must be something else.” Zoey scratched her chin.

“It really is incredible, but it brings up so many questions. We need to find someone who can help us get to the bottom of this,” Zoey said as she watched watched Sparks tag Aaron once again. Blaze giggled as she heard him shout a curse.

“Yeah. Since we are in Sinnoh right now, maybe we should go to Rowan.”

“Not a bad idea,” Zoey replied. “Even if he can’t help directly, he could get us in contact with someone who can.”

“Another big adventure?” Blaze smirked, looking at Zoey and laughing. “I personally can’t wait! And hey, we might get to do some more battling. For real this time!” Zoey gave her a little half-smile as she turned her focus back to the battle. She saw Aaron use Thunder Wave, freezing Sparks in place as he booped her on the nose once again.

“HEY!” Sparks screamed, making Zoey and Blaze laugh.

“Imagine the look on another trainer’s face when they see a Pokémon commanding other Pokémon.”

“Please tell me we’ll be able to figure that out. It would be hilarious,” Blaze said, cracking up at the image in her head. “It’s two against two out there. I think it’s about to get really good.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“This is hardly fair. I can’t move!” Sparks said as she struggled against the electric energy covering her body. Aaron shook his head.

“No. You said we could use moves as long as they don’t hurt,” he said smugly. “Thunder Wave doesn’t hurt anyone in the slightest! You know that more than anyone.” Sparks tensed. She knew that she was done for if she didn’t do something. She closed her eyes, wracking her brain to think of a plan. And suddenly, it came.

“OK, OK, Aaron,” she said sadly. When she opened her eyes, she attempted her most adorable sad puppy look. Aaron tilted his head in confusion as little tears formed in her eyes. “I surrender. Just let me out of this trap and I’ll let you win, alright?” Aaron, even in the midst of battle and on the cusp of victory, couldn’t help but fall for Sparks’ cuteness.

“You know what? Sure. Here,” Aaron said as he ran to the treeline and snagged a Cheri berry from a bush. He came back and offered it to her. She took it and nibbled into it, the electric trapping her disappearing instantly.

“Thanks, Aaron,” she said quietly, wiping the tears from her eyes. Aaron gave her a patient smile.

“No problem.” Aaron lingered on her for a while before turning tail and starting to walk away. An evil flash appeared in Sparks’ eye as she suddenly charged at Aaron’s back.

“Psych!” she yelled as she aimed for turned back. Aaron, expecting this, did a half turn and swung his arm out.

Both strikes collided, but one struck an entirely different mark. Aaron’s hand had hit the intended mark on Sparks’ side, but Sparks had accidentally struck the very end of Aaron’s tail. The Keystone.

“Gah!” Aaron screamed as the Keystone flashed suddenly. He collapsed to the ground, gripping his head and convulsing with pain as his body writhed.

“AARON!” Sparks cried out, waving her arms and looking to Blaze and Zoey. “Girls, get over here! I don't know what did but…” She looked down at her pained trainer. She had real tears in her eyes now. “But it's really bad!”

Aaron couldn’t even scream anymore as his entire body started shrinking, his long tail being absorbed back into his spine. His skin felt like it was burning as black and grey fur starting retaking its place.

“Sparks, what happened?” Zoey said as she slid to a stop in front of the reverting hybrid. She paled at his screams. “Oh, Arceus…” Blaze pointed at the Keystone which was back in its place in Aaron’s rapidly appearing blood-red mane.

“It’s not glowing like it normally does!” Blaze knelt down and looked on in horror. “Hang in there, dude!” Sparks wasn’t looking at him. She was facing away from the transformation and balling her eyes out.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” she repeated as she covered her ears, trying to block out the cries of agony. “I didn’t mean for this to happen!”

As Aaron’s flipper-like hands morphed back into claws, he stopped moving and sat completely still. He opened his eyes and shivered violently

“I’m OK! It hurts, but, oh geez,” he said, deciding just to relax to look himself over. He was surprised to see his Zoroark hybrid body had returned.

“Aaron, thank goodness you’re alright.” Zoey reached her paw out, Aaron taking it and slowly getting to his feet. He stumbled when she let go of his hand, but he managed to get his bearings.

“What in the hell just happened? You were nowhere near Zoey and you turned back into a Zoroark,” Blaze said, perturbed. Aaron gripped his head, which still was aching.

“I think I know what happened. But that's not important to me right now.” He limped over to the crying Ampharos and put his claw hand on her shoulder.

“Go away from me!” Aaron recoiled at her outburst. Sparks was catatonic, covering her eyes and crying rivers into her fur. “You got hurt because of me! It was all my fault!”

“No! Sparks, I’m OK!” Aaron walked around in front of her and got on his knees. “Look at me, Sparks!” Sparks managed to looked up to see her trainer who was completely unscathed. “See? I’m fine. You didn’t know that was gonna happen.” He looked directly in her eyes, moving closer to her face. “This was not your fault, you hear me?” Sparks let more tears well up in her eyes as she saw the sincerity in his eyes. That was all she needed to see.

Sparks pushed herself up off of the ground and embraced Aaron tightly. Aaron wrapped his arms around her too, allowing her to cry into his shoulder. She sniffled, talking quietly into Aaron’s ear.

“This wouldn’t have happened if I wouldn’t have pulled that dirty trick.” Aaron squeezed her tightly.

“Forget about that now. That’s all over and done with.” Blaze and Zoey came over to join them, crouching low and embracing Sparks too.

“Sparks, there is no need to be upset. Aaron isn’t hurting anymore. Everything's fine now,” Zoey said calmly.

“Yeah. You couldn’t have known what was gonna happen.” Sparks smiled at the words of her friends.

“Thank you,” she said as the Pokémon separated. She stood up, glancing up at the morning sun. “You know what would make me feel a little bit better?”

“What’s that?” Aaron asked. As if answering his question, both Aaron and Sparks’ stomachs growled. Sparks blushed.

“Maybe some breakfast?”

“Sure. That sounds great,” Aaron said, gesturing back to the tents. “I think we might have some leftovers from last night.” Zoey and Blaze nodded in agreement and started back to the camp. Sparks hung behind, waiting for Aaron.

“Aaron, thanks so much for helping me feel better.” Aaron nodded happily.

“It’s no problem, Sparks. That’s what friends do!” He started to walk toward the camp. “Come on now. Let’s get us some breakfast.”

“OK!” Sparks trotted along after him with a little spring in her step. He’s not mad at me. I can’t believe it, she thought. I’m convinced now. I have the greatest trainer in the whole wide world! But as she caught up to the Zoroark hybrid, she noticed something. “Darn it.”

“What is it?” Aaron asked. Sparks frowned, looking Aaron over.

“Your boobs aren’t as big anymore.” Aaron stopped, eyes widening as his face turned completely red. Sparks burst into laughter. “Ha ha ha! You were way cuter when you looked like me!” Aaron stared down at his pair and sighed.

She’s actually right about the boobs, he thought. But he let a little wry smile to cross his lips. What do you know? That’s actually a relief in this situation.