Legend of Lucario - Chapter 4: At the Lab

“What’s happened to you?”

“We have no idea. That’s kind of why we came to you.” Ash said, staring Professor Oak in the face. It seemed that the Professor was having trouble getting over Ash’s muzzle, fur and fangs, which in retrospect, is probably to be expected.

“This isn’t happening, I’m just dreaming. I was knocked out by Tauros…”

“Wish I could agree with you Professor, but it’s real…”

“I… I-“

“Can we come in?” May cut in.

“O-Of course. How rude of me.” Oak stuttered, and let the group inside his lab, being careful to close the door behind them. “Okay,” he said, shaking his head, “how exactly did this start? Wait. Before you answer, let’s start some tests.” Oak plucked some of Ash’s hair.

“OW! Could you at least have warned me?” he yelled.

Oak chuckled and continued to pull out a piece of fur as well. He then placed them in a machine. “Ok, now start to explain please.”

“Well…” Ash started to tell his story, “it started when we found a Lucario. He came out of this staff thingy… It seemed to be working kind of like a pokéball. Well eventually we went to go see this Tree of Life, and it started getting, I guess you could say anyways, that it was sick. Lucario and I eventually healed it by giving up some of our Auras to heal Mew… and then Lucario… went to see his old trainer…” he finished up, with a nervous look on his face, and looking at Max.

“Ash, you can just say that he died…” Max said, resenting his treatment of being a little kid.

“Oh…” Oak said, “well, now that you mention it, you are looking kind of like a Lucario. But as to why, I haven’t the slightest idea.” A machine pinged somewhere in the lab and Professor Oak hurried over to the counter. “Hmm.. this is very strange…” he mumbled just loud enough for the others to hear.

“What is it Professor?” Ash asked.

“I’m not sure yet, but it’s definitely not normal.”

“Well what can you tell us?”

“Nothing really, I’ve never even heard of something like this before. I can’t even quite figure out what is going on here. I’ll just have to monitor the situation, and see what happens.”

“Great, now I’m a human science experiment.” Ash said rolling his eyes.

May started laughing. “I don’t know if we can say that you’re a HUMAN experiment anymore.”

“Hardy har har. Laugh it up why don’t you? You’re not the one mutating.”

As soon as he said this, Ash regretted his choice of words. He felt something at the base of his spine expanding… “Um, guys, I think it’s happening again…” The lump began to push against his pants, the pressure growing and growing until…

*RIIIIP!*

A tail pushed it’s way out of Ash’s pants, tearing a hole as it continued to grow.

“Let me guess.” Ash said, “I just grew a tail?” He began spinning around to try and see it, and in the process hit Max in the face.

“Ow! Hey, watch where you swing that! And yes it is a tail.” Max began to rub his nose.

“Sorry about that, Max…” Ash said.

“It’s ok, I just hope that this doesn’t become a regular occurrence.”

Ash’s tail began to droop a bit, much like a dog’s when it’s sad. Noticing this Ash said, “Hmm, I guess it will be awhile until I can control it consciously, huh?”

“Probably,” Brock said, “Considering the fact that you just grew a new body part, I wouldn’t expect you to have complete control of it for awhile…”

“This is amazing!” cried Professor Oak. “I can’t believe this is happening right before my eyes!”

“Speak for yourself Professor.” Ash said, “It’s not exactly a pleasant experience.”

“I’m sorry, Ash. But I don’t know what to say. It’s simply amazing, even though I have no idea what is happening.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious! I’m turning into a Lucario!”

“Um… well, yes but, the questions are how and why.”

“And that is exactly why we came to you.” Brock cut in, “We were hoping you could shed some light on this situation.”

“Well, I hate to disappoint you, but as of right now, I have no idea, but we can always run some more tests and see if we can’t figure it out. Ash, could you come over here please?” Oak said stepping over to large machine with a chamber big enough for a Snorelax to fit in.

“Ummm… you don’t want me to get inside that thing, do you?” Ash said as he came over.

“Actually, yes, I do.”

“Well, what is it exactly?”

“It’s a pokémon scanner. It can tell us all sorts of information that even a pokédex can’t. I figure, this will tell us for sure if you’re becoming a pokémon, and if so what species as well as other information.”

“Well, ok…” Ash said and hesitantly stepped inside the machine. “This won’t hurt, right?”

“It shouldn’t. I’ve never been able to talk to the pokémon inside though.”

“That makes me feel SOO much better. Let’s just get done with this.”

Professor Oak pushed a few buttons on the console and then took a step back. As he watched, a line of light passed back and forth over Ash’s body. But on the second pass of the light, Ash began to panic, reaching his hands up to his ears, with a confused look on his face. Oak noticed this and-

“Goodness, it seems as if his ears have simply disappeared from his head!” Oak observed. But just then Ash’s hat popped off of his head, revealing two triangular ears at the top of his head, just like Lucario’s.  “Remind me never to turn into a pokémon again. The whole growing new ears thing felt really weird.” Ash said, stepping out of the machine. “It was like, the whole world went perfectly silent, and then I could hear things better than before.”

“Pika pikachu.” Pikachu said, getting up from the bench and running over to check on Ash. “Pi-pika pik-ter hearing than you humans.”

Ash could do nothing but stand there in shock. “Say that again Pikachu…”

“Why would I? It’s not like you can understand me.”

“But I just did.” Ash said, still in a state of disbelief.

“Wait, you understand what Pikachu is saying?” Oak asked.

Ash simply nodded. “Word for word…”

“I think you’re lying!” Pikachu yelled.

“I AM NOT LYING!” Ash yelled back.

“Fine, cucumbers. What did I just say?”

“You said cucumbers, and asked me to repeat what you said.”

Pikachu nodded, a stunned look on his face.

“Cucumbers? Really?” Max asked.

“Yeah what was with that Pikachu?”

“I wanted to be something completely random so you wouldn’t be able to guess it!”

“That makes sense I guess.” Ash said.

“So, I guess you really are becoming a pokémon…” May said, “I hope that doesn’t mean you won’t b-”

“NO! DON’T SAY IT!” Ash suddenly yelled, “You’ll jinx me, then I won’t be able to talk anymore!”

“Fine.” May said rolling her eyes. ‘It’ll happen weather or not I say it…’

“I heard that…”

“What did he say?” Max asked.

“He said ‘I heard that.’ What did you hear, Pikachu?” Ash said.

“She said that she thinks you’ll lose people speech anyways…”

“That’s mean May!” Ash said, a hint of anger in his voice.

“Well, if you are turning into a pokémon, a Lucario more specifically, wouldn’t it follow to think that he won’t be able to talk at some point?”

“We don’t know that for sure yet May.” Oak cut in, “He may not turn fully into a pokémon.”

May rolled her eyes, “Well I’m sorry that I didn’t think of that, I’m not the know it all professor here.”

“May, no need to snap!” Brock chastised, “We’re all friends here and Oak is just trying to point out something you missed! He’s not trying to be rude you kn-”

“PROFESSOR!!!!!!” A voice came from upstairs.

“What?” Oak called back.

Tracy Sketchit came running down the stairs. “Professor! Someone stole the- Oh, hi guys! Where’s Ash and who’s that?” Tracy asked pointing at Ash. “Never mind, Professor, we have a problem, someone stole all the potions and about half of our supply of pokéfood!”

“Did you check the security cameras?”

“I was just headed to the security room to check them now, I thought I’d tell you first. I’ll go and check them, you should go start trying to find the robbers!”

‘It was probably the Rockets…’ Ash thought, as everyone ran over to the storage room.

“Well, what do we do now?” Max asked.

“Ugh, what’s that smell?!” Ash called, putting a hand to his muzzle.

“What smell?” asked Max a puzzled look on his face.

“You mean you can’t smell it?” Ash asked, Max just shook his head. “It smells like… like… Kind of like a whole lot of really cheap hairspray I guess.”

May and Max began to laugh at Ash.

“If you could figure that out, why’d you bother asking?” Max chuckled.

“I still think he’s lost it! I don’t smell a thing!” May said.

“I don’t know how you guys can stand it! I’m going to go help Tracy!” Ash said and stormed out of the room.

“Pika! Pi pikachu!” Pikachu yelled, and followed Ash.

“What’s their problem?” May asked.

Brock rolled his eyes, and the group began hunting for clues.

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

“Ugh I can’t believe they can’t smell it! I still can!” Ash shouted, a few moments after leaving.

Pikachu ran out of the room, “Wait up Ash!” he called and jumped up on Ash’s shoulder. “I don’t think you’re nuts, I can smell it too, but only a little bit.”

Ash stood straight up all of a sudden.

“Woah! Warn me before you do that will ya?”

“Yeah, sure but I think I just had an idea…”

“Why does that scare me?”

“Shut up and listen. Who do we know that uses too much hairspray?”

“Jessie?”

“Ding! Two points for you Pikachu. Maybe since I’m turning into a lucario, maybe I can scent them out or something… Lucario is a dog pokémon, and dogs have incredible senses of smell, right?”

“Ash, I think this is the first good idea you’ve had in a long time.”

“Wow. A pikachu that can use sarcasm. Things just keep getting better and better.” Ash rolled his eyes.

“What? It was a complement! Now, are we going to try this or not?”

“I’ve never done this before, so… Hmmm. I guess I just try to find where the smell is stronger…” Ash began sniffing the air and walking around. He closed his eyes and continued to walk, following the smell of hairspray. “This is a bit easier with my eyes closed…”

“Ash! Look ou-”

Ash had walked straight into a wall.

“Well, that hurt…” getting back up Ash had another idea. “Hey Pikachu?”

“What now?”

“Why are you so cranky all of a sudden?”

“You’d be cranky too if you were just thrown from a height more than 3 times your height!”

“Point taken, but do you think you could kind of be my eyes?”

“Huh?”

“Listen, just warn me if I’m walking straight into a wall. Warn me at like 5 feet from the wall, or whatever.”

“Umm, ok.”

---A few minutes later---

“Ash! Door!”

Ash opened his eyes and went outside. “Great!”

“What?”

“I can barely smell it anymore, must be because we’re outside…” Ash shrugged his shoulders.

“Or maybe it settled a bit?”

“No way, I’m not crouching to the ground like a dog.”

“Why not? You already look a lot like one.”

“Fine, if it helps catch Team Rocket…” ‘Goodbye dignity, we had a good run…’ Ash took Pikachu’s advice and bent over to the ground. And surprisingly enough, it worked. They traced the smell around the Professor’s wide open ‘yard’ where the Pokémon sent in by trainers are free to wander.

“I think they went this way.” Ash said, pointing at the forest nearby.

“That sounds like somewhere the Rockets would hide…” Pikachu said.

All of a sudden, Ash found himself on the ground.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ASH?” called a slightly high pitched voice. “AND DON’T LIE! I CAN SMELL HIM ON YOU!”

“I AM Ash!” Ash called back.

“LIAR!” said the voice. “If you WERE Ash, how can you understand me?!”

“Bayleef, please calm down.” Pikachu said.

‘Ah… it’s Bayleef. That explains a lot.’ Ash thought.

“And YOU!” Bayleef continued, “What did you let this weird thing do to Ash?!”

“BAYLEEF! IT IS ASH! I’ll explain later! We’re trying to find Team Rocket!”

“What’s Team Rocket doing here?”

“We’re not sure, but someone stole a lot of supplies from the storage room. Ash said he could smell Jessie’s hairspray, so we’re trying to follow the smell!”

“Hey! Forgetting something you two?” Ash called out.

“Um… sorry?” Bayleef said, getting off of Ash.

“Okay now… back to hunting down the Rockets…”

A while later the trio found themselves at what appeared to be a campsite.

“Um… no one’s here…” Ash said.

“Congratulations for stating the obvious. Do you want a cookie?” Pikachu said, rolling his eyes.

“Actually, yes.” Ash said. Pikachu sweat-dropped.

“Anyways, it looks like they left the supplies here…” Pikachu said, pointing at a large stack of crates. “I wonder why they aren’t here then…”

“Maybe it’s a trap! We should run!” Bayleef said and began pushing at Ash.

“No, Jessie and James aren’t smart enough for a trap like this. I think that they’re still up to no-good here at Oak’s ranch. But where coul-”

Suddenly a large crash was heard, along with the screams of many pokémon.

“What was that?!” Ash said.

“It came from the field near the house! Let’s go!”