Chapter 12

What did I just do? Lane bobbed up and down in the air, her limbs shaking with excitement. It had looked like her best friend might be about to beat her unconscious—or maybe catch her with a pokéball.

“I can?” she asked, cautious. “Can you understand me now?”

Elisa took one step closer, shaking her head. “No no, you can’t go back to that. Do what you did before when you said my name. I didn’t just imagine it.”

What did I do differently? Lane knew so little, what was she supposed to do? I could’ve asked Korina about this before. She might’ve been able to tell me how to do this. But she hadn’t, and now she probably wouldn’t get the chance for days. Assuming Elisa didn’t kidnap her, and make the mew think she was trying to escape after all.

“I’m trying!” she squeaked, flying right up to Elisa’s face, just in case being closer would make her easier to understand. It obviously wouldn’t, just as speaking slower when the other person didn’t know your language made no difference. “Get your pokedex to translate or something!”

“It doesn’t work like that!” Elisa called back, so loudly that Lane felt like she’d been thrown against the tent. Not just by the volume, though that was loud enough to make her ears press flat against her head. The focus of Elisa’s emotions on her made her seem even louder, somehow. “Those apps are mostly just gimmicks. You’re the legendary, you do it.”

She blinked, taking a step back from her. “Okay, maybe you are. That’s the first step. Now you can tell me where Lane is, before I have to get violent with you. I’d rather not hurt something so adorable, if we’re being honest. I thought legendaries were… bigger.”

Lane’s tail curled around her once, embarrassed. But it could only do so much to make her look bigger. “I don’t know what I’m doing to—” Then she realized. It had happened when she started screaming, in that brief surge of emotion.

It was a little like speaking, but without moving her lips. She could do it that way, or she could scream so loud she yelled in every way she knew how to talk at the same time, and just about blew her own eardrums out. That shrill mewling did nobody any favors.

“Telepathy,” she said, or almost said. “I don’t have to ask Korina how it works after all.” Something about having Elisa be so close felt like it was making the process easier. They’d been so intimate that she already knew everything about her. This glimpse into her mind was basically what she expected.

“I don’t know who that is.” Elisa took another step back, until they were at a comfortable distance. She folded both arms, face hardening again. “Now you’ve dropped the act, tell me where my friend is. Do that, and I don’t have to try to catch you. I just want to leave.”

“You found me,” Lane thought to her, settling down on his folding chair knocked sideways and looking up. At least that way she could talk while remaining in place, instead of slowly drifting through the room. “On my last night here, I was about ready to give up. I was going to go back to Cayari so I didn’t miss you guys. Mew found me, and she…” She spread her limbs again, pointing at herself. “You see what she did to me.”

“And when you say ‘me’…” Elisa didn’t move, looming over her.

“Lane,” she thought. “She changed me into a Pokémon, Elisa! Mew was not very happy about being disturbed, but there was some other stuff that happened too, and now…” She whimpered, ears pressing flat to her head in a fresh wave of embarrassment. Would Elisa even be able to tell that she was a girl through all the fur? It wasn’t like her real voice would make sense either way.

Elisa’s mouth hung open. She glanced to her Lopunny, gesturing at Lane.

“Did you hear that the way I did?”

“I heard her before you did,” Lopunny answered, though she was already relaxing. Lane couldn’t tell if she was hearing any of the messages she tried to send to Elisa, but it also didn’t matter. She had already done her part to prevent an attack.

“I don’t know why she did it,” Lane continued. Though she was starting to discover that answer as time went on. “She wouldn’t let me leave. She only left me alone a few hours ago…” Without saying a word about what she was doing. Probably to wait and observe this exact meeting. “You need to go, Elisa!

Right now!”

She took off into the air, all embarrassment and shyness forgotten. She pointed towards the tent door with one little paw. The tent seemed to feel

what she wanted, because it unzipped itself at her gesture, and the warm air blew back through. “If Korina gets back while you’re still here, she might kidnap you too! I saw Dominic’s stuff outside, is he around somewhere?”

“Yeah…” Elisa watched, though there was little comprehension on her face. She wobbled, then slumped onto the edge of Lane’s mattress. “My boyfriend is a Pokémon. The one we were looking for—it kidnapped him.” She flopped onto her back, making a sound that was almost laughter. “I always knew you were a pokémaniac, Lane. I didn’t think you were that into it.”

She wasn’t listening to her. Lane floated over until she was right beside Elisa’s face, glowering down at her. “Listen to me! I know this is confusing, but right now I’m trying to keep you safe! The safest place for you to be is far away from me. Grab your backpack and start walking into the jungle, right now!”

Elisa’s face did not share her urgency. Instead she giggled, reaching up with one hand and poking Lane’s furry side. “I’ve heard stories of ghost-types pranking people before,” she muttered, mostly to herself at this point. “I guess psychic-types can do it too.”

“You’re not listening to me!” This was probably the point where Korina would’ve done something powerful and terrifying to force Elisa to pay attention. But Lane didn’t have the same breadth of powers. Besides, Korina’s powers were exactly the problem here in the first place.

“This isn’t a prank, Elisa! Korina is old and powerful. What you did to me wouldn’t work!” She shoved against Elisa’s shoulder, trying to push her into a sitting position. “Help me, Lopunny! Do you want your master to look like me?”

The rabbit Pokémon did turn, looking thoughtful. For all Korina’s apparent disdain for Pokémon and their intelligence, Lopunny had understood everything she tried to say.

Maybe being around humans helped her think like a person, instead of a wild animal? “It would be nice for her to understand. Then she wouldn’t buy that dry pokéchow after I ask her nicely every time she brings it out.”

Okay, so maybe they’re not as smart as I thought. Apparently the only thing Lopunny had realized about all this was that Elisa would be able to understand her.

At least she was finally getting the message. Elisa stood, brushing Lane back from her shoulder effortlessly. “So when is it over? How long until your new friend gets tired of the joke and changes you back? Should I get some pictures before it wears off?”

“It’s not gonna wear off,” Lane snapped, sticking her tongue out. “I spent the first day begging for her to change me back, but Korina was insistent. She’s

not just playing a joke, she intends to keep me here. And if you don’t get out soon, probably you too.”

Finally there was some recognition. Before her expression changed, Lane tasted the difference in her emotions. The sugary sweetness of laughter changed to an overly salty expression of her suspicion, mixed with the heat of some anger returning. Not directed at Lane this time, which made it easier to feel.

“You’re actually kidnapped here?” Elisa asked, her tone flat. “The Pokémon isn’t just playing? They do that—more powerful ones especially. I think Pokémon get bored easily.”

“Positive,” she thought. “She can do more than just make people into Pokémon.

She can twist memories too—I don’t think she would’ve threated to erase all my human memories if this was just a joke.”

The suspicion all faded, replaced with a growing flame of anger. Lane could practically see the thoughts forming in her head, and she didn’t wait for her friend to react. “You can’t fight her! Nothing against you, or any of your Pokémon. But she’s too powerful. The only thing you can do is leave. Get out of here as fast as you can.”

Elisa drew something out of her pocket—her phone. Lane flew over her shoulder so she could see the screen. It was a message to Dominic. “Found him. Get back to the ruin right away,” it said.

Then she looked up. “We won’t abandon you here, Lane. Even if it is your own dumb fault for not going home when you had the chance.” She reached up, patting her gently on the back with one hand.

Lane retreated instinctively from the massive limb, which wrapped around almost her whole body for a second. Human skin was rougher than she remembered, and even doing her best to be gentle it still jarred her.

Elisa had the opposite reaction, and the swirling mixture of anger and indignance gained a few cottony swirls of delight. “You’re really soft, Lane, did you know that? Guess you… probably did. You’ve been a Pokémon now for a few days.”

She rummaged around the tent, but despite the chaos she knew exactly what she was looking for. She set Lane’s phone up on the seat where she had perched before, along with the portable solar bank. She selected a plastic bag, then wrapped them both up tight, holding them out. “Hide this somewhere. If you can fly, maybe… the hollow of some tree, where no Pokémon will get to it. When it’s safe, you can call.”

“I’ll have to text,” Lane thought wistfully. “You’ll just hear a Pokémon on the other end, remember? But it’s not all bad. Korina is harsh, but she is teaching me. She says one day I’ll learn to transform. Then I can be myself again, and walk right out.”

“But how long will that take?” Elisa pointed towards the opening, and Lopunny bounded out without the need for a command. Then she picked up something else—her prized stuffed Celebi. She took it under one arm, then hesitated in the doorway, and held it out towards Lane. “You’ll need the company while I’m gone. Looks like he’s a bit big for you, but… if you won’t let me help.”

Lane wasn’t sure how she did it—but she took the doll. It froze in the air beside her, bobbing up and down while she did. It’s how Korina flies around with me, dragging me everywhere.

She nodded weakly, unsure if the gesture was even big enough for a human to see. “Just find Dominic, and get as far away as possible. Oh, and Lopunny doesn’t want to eat dry food anymore.”

“Lopunny doesn’t—” Elisa’s eyes widened, and she wiped away at them with the back of one arm. “You sure you don’t want to come with, Lane?

There’s probably a professor somewhere who can help you. That’s how it always works.”

“She’ll get me first,” she thought back. “Please, Elisa! I couldn’t live with myself if you got trapped here too. One of us being a Pokémon is bad enough!”

“It could be a lot worse,” Elisa said, finally turning her back on her. “I might never see you again! What if she kills you, Lane? What if—”

Elisa wobbled on her feet, then fell backward, landing with an explosion of blankets and pillows. Her body had gone rigid, faintly buzzing with pink light around her limbs.

Korina appeared in the doorway, giggling. “It could be a lot worse, couldn’t it Lane? I think she was on to something.”