FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The S.S. Cactus had been left behind on a reef after it ran around and was abandoned. It had remained for years, becoming an attractive target for scavengers and divers alike. Although in the past few years, tourism to the abandoned ship slowly declined. Many of the items from the ship had been claimed by the salvagers and explorers, leaving virtually nothing of worth left in the present.

The main reason AJ was outside the S.S. Cactus now was to get pictures for his own Urban Exploring Blog on the internet. In fact, he even had plans to turn his photojournalism into a book about the sights of Hoenn. He had several good shots taken from the back of his Ludicolo, and had trained his Skarmory to hold a camera and take pictures.

AJ caled his Ludicolo back into the Pokéball as soon as he disembarked, climbing into the ship. There were likely no trainers within the ship now, and no wild Pokémon had taken residence inside. So there wasn't much reason to keep Pokémon outside of the Pokéballs, at least, in AJ's mind there wasn't.

AJ made sure to take a picture of the sign that had been put there, showing that it had been made public property by the Red Star Line and asking the visitors to be careful. AJ climbed on the deck of the ship and snapped several more pictures. He made sure to avoid the holes on the ground before entering the ship.

He walked through the small labyrinth that was the S.S. Cactus, taking pictures of the empty rooms and the hallways. He thankfully had mental images from a similar model that was owned by the Red Star Line. They seemed to slowly meld with the abandoned hallways in various states of decay, painting a picture on what this would have been like back when it was functional.

Unfortunately the ship's power generators were long since removed and turned off. They were among the first things to be taken by the trainers who came to salvage it. As a result, the ship relied purely on natural sunlight. It was also a little dangerous after dark. AJ did have a flashlight, but there could have been all sorts of things he wouldn't see until it was too late, such as a piece of debris that was worthless to scavengers.

AJ went to turn around, planning to come back the next day. He couldn't take any good pictures in the dark, and the flashlight would make it look a little cheap. Not suitable for a book of any kind, really. For a blog, passable.

However, he blinked when he spotted one of the lights turning on. Why had they not been removed by scavengers? They should have been among the first things to be taken, alongside the perishables like the food. The lights turned on more and more, as he heard a faint buzzing noise somewhere. Did somebody secretly move into the abandoned ship and start powering it somehow?

It couldn't have been Team Aqua or Team Magma. Nobody took them seriously after they nearly caused severe environmental damage years ago. AJ kept his hands on the nearest Pokéball just in case there was somebody in there. Thankfully for him he happened to have a Numel in the event somebody in here had an electric type of some kind. What else could be powering the ship, after all?

He walked deeper and deeper into the ship, instinctively walking towards the captain's office. There might have been somebody in there. The lights were on even more, and he could hear footsteps. AJ positioned himself outside the door, and called his Numel out of the Pokéball. Maybe if there was a battle, this could give the Numel the push it needed to become a Camerupt.

Eventually, he heard footsteps coming towards him. Before AJ could command his Numel to attack, the figure spotted him immediately. It was a person, someone who looked almost androgynous - but upon closer inspection, he immediately deduced the figure to be a male of some kind.

This intruder seemed to be some kind of scientist, wearing a white lab coat over his blue clothing. Most notably, the man seemed to have a rather strange lock of hair. Light blue, in contrast to his blonde hair, that seemed to almost circle around his head. Hair could naturally defy the laws of gravity, but even that was odd by the standards AJ was used to.

The blonde haired man pushed up his glasses, yellow eyes making contact with AJ's. AJ hesitated - he didn't want to send his Numel to attack a human, even if they might have been some kind of squatter. Maybe he was just another photographer like he was. Or maybe someone who had been conducting research in lighting the ship back up again - Scientists usually employed the use of Pokémon in the Magnemite family.

"Who are you?" AJ finally asked.

"Just refer to me as Colress." The man responded. "I'm a Pokémon researcher. It's about time I heard somebody come to this abandoned ship."

"Wuuuudge, seriously." AJ said. "So mister Colress, what exactly are you doing here?"

"Researching something. I used to perform my research in Unova with Team Plasma, but they no longer suited my purposes. I've come to find something a little more interesting. I don't suppose you can help me out with it, can you?"

"...I take it this is the start of some bad horror story in which I end up killed or mutated into some kind of cosmic abomination, right?" AJ pointed out. "I do happen to have my Pokémon with me you know. You will have to tell me about these experiments."

Colress pushed up his glasses again, and gestured into the Captain's office.

"It's actually a rather generic project. Allow me to explain. Also, I would advise against trying to use your Pokémon on me - I have rather strong Pokémon, so I have been told by a brown-headed trainer back home."

Colress walked back into the captain's room. Against all common sense, AJ walked in after him, gesturing his Numel to follow. He bet anything Colress mainly specialized in electric and steel type Pokémon. As strong as they were, a fire and ground type like Numel could easily decimate them.

Colress had spruced up the Captain's room of the S.S. Cactus quite a bit. Or maybe, somebody else had and he was merely one of the researchers centered here. AJ quietly snapped a few pictures, hoping the gentle hum of the machines inside the room drowned it out. Someone was even squatting in here - that wasn't legal. He had photographic evidence of the man who was doing it, and he had been stupid enough to let someone in with him.

Then again, he still was discreet about it. Strange, what were these machines? He couldn't identify one of the machines that seemed to have taken up most of the room. Suddenly, he noticed a rather unusual looking thing, something that looked a little more like a mushroom. But it was alive! A Pokémon!

"Beeheyem, hold." Colress commanded the strange alien looking Pokémon. "He's with me. What is your name, sir?"

"Anuj." AJ lied.

"Anuj, see, I am trying to run an experiment with Pokémon. In the past, I had invented a device that would bring out the hidden powers of Pokémon. After my time in Unova, I had traveled to Kanto. I had heard word that there was somebody else performing similar experiments with Pokémon. But when I got there, I was quite surprised. You know of Bill, right? The one who uses the storage capacity?"

"...Who?" AJ asked.

"Wait... this isn't Kanto? Oh!" Colress smacked his forehead with an open palm.

"Brilliant deduction, Detective Looker." AJ snarked at the man. Numel let out a few laughs at that.

"Anyways! Bill happened to have a device that, according to him, had turned him into a Pokémon after scrambling his DNA. However, it was undone by the future champion of Kanto. This is quite intriguing - did you know that there was a school of thought that humans and Pokémon were once one and the same?"

"This is the first I've heard of it." AJ said. Already, small cuckoo clocks were going off inside his head. This guy was off his rocker already. Even more crazy than that guy who was trying to make a device that would interpret the dreams of Pokémon.

"Well, I would like to test that hypothesis. I have found this ship when I came to the region. My Pokémon have helped me construct and build it. I would like to try something out - to bring out your own hidden powers. Like installing a technical machine on yourself."

"And I have seen too many horror movies to know where this is going - I'm probably going to turn into a rabid monster who will destroy everything in sight while you stand back going 'It's alive! ALIVE! ALIVE!!!'. We're out of here Numel."

For some reason, Numel actually didn't walk away. AJ looked at Numel, who stood in the doorway, blocking him from leaving. The Pokémon looked up at him and kept shaking its head.

"What the hell? Hey! Numel! Get back in your Pokéball then."

He tried to put the Numel back in its Pokéball, only for Ludicolo to suddenly pop out instead. What? That was the Numel Pokéball. He looked at it a little more closely and raised an eyebrow. Why did he grab that one? He had labeled all of his Pokballs so that he wouldn't send one out by mistake. This was the one he labeled for Ludicolo.

AJ took out another Pokéball and Skarmory appeared instead, looking just as confused as he did. He could have sworn that was Numel's Pokéball right there. For some odd reason, he turned his attention back to that mushroom looking Pokémon, the one Colress referred to as Beeheeyem. The strange figure was moving its fingers around. He turned his attention to his Pokémon, who suddenly nodded.

"What is that thing doing to my Pokémon?" AJ asked.

"Beeheeyem is actually communicating with them - Anuj was it?" Colress said. "He's the only Pokémon with a gender I really felt understood me. Oh what am I doing? That's not it. He was explaining the hypothesis. I would assume your Pokémon actually want you to help me after all."

"And how do you know he's not just mind-raping them?" AJ asked.

"How should I know? I don't speak Pokémon. Only some people such as telepaths have been able to do that. I've been wondering if maybe unleashing your own powers would bring forth that."

"If you'll let me go after words and reverse it if something does go wrong, what do I need to do?" AJ asked. He wished he brought a Mightyena with him. Something that was immune to any psychic effects that this Beeheyem creature had.

"Just step inside this little compartment here." Colress slid open a door on the machine. "You don't have any more Pokémon with you, do you?"

"No I only have three balls." AJ said. "And I'm sure Beeheeyem will signal if I'm lying anyways, right?"

The Beeheeyem surprisingly nodded, making a few more gestures with its fingers.

Colress gestured towards the compartment that AJ was to enter. Almost all of his red flags were raised. It was something large enough for most humans to stand accordingly. He stepped in, shooting a glare at Colress, who shut the door on him. Right now, he was trapped inside this small glass chamber. He figured it was going to be some kind of sepulcher made out of glass. The Beeheeyem still kept its eyes on him, as did all the other Pokémon. They had an odd look on their faces, a look of... anticipation?

"Alright I'm in your crucible, now what do you want me to do?"

The machine started to buzz to life all of a sudden. AJ suddenly felt something weird, like the air was being charged with ions of some kind. All of his hair stood on end. His skin was buzzed. The machine seemed to die, leaving AJ surrounded in some kind of strange aura. Wait, aura? Was he glowing, like one of those Lucario Pokémon he had seen on TV?

The door popped open all of a sudden, and AJ stumbled out onto the ground. He felt ungodly heavy all of a sudden. The room seemed to spin a little bit. AJ stumbled to his feet, wondering what the hell Colress had done to him. He looked down at his hands, seeing a strange white or grey looking glow again. The glow seemed to die down a little bit, as AJ felt heavier and heavier still.

"That's strange, I didn't think that would happen." Colress said.

"You... what the hell did you do?" AJ asked.

"You should have had your power awakened. There was supposed to be..."

Colress was interrupted by a very loud noise. AJ looked down at the source of this ripping noise - it was his clothes. His body was swelling unnaturally, especially around his abdomen and his legs. His stance seemed to widen a bit, feet somehow unable to hold traction. His feet exploded out of his shoes, literally rending them to bits with two loud pops. His feet widened more and more, toes going a little numb.

His socks were the next to vanish. AJ finally looked down, seeing his abdomen bulk out a bit somewhat round looking. AJ's thighs bulked up massively, destroying his pants and underwear. AJ's already brown looking skin looked an unnatural grey. All of a sudden, he heard a few clang noises around his thighs. AJ felt down there - large metal rings.

AJ poked his expanding stomach. He heard several clanging noises, as if he was made out of metal. But he could still move as if he was made out of flesh. Wait, what the hell? Plates? Dark Grey metal plates? He gulped. AJ was turning into an Aggron.

"Did I mess it up?!?" AJ asked.

"No, no, that's exactly how it should be." Colress said, as a thick tail smacked onto the ground with a loud "BANG". Pins and needles spread across this new appendage as muscle, bone, and nerves made themselves known. AJ could control it! He pulled it around his leg and surprisingly did not feel numb at all. The only parts that felt numb were the strange rings around his thighs.

AJ's shoulders suddenly protruded out of his shirt, while his chest bulked more and more, completely ruining his shirt entirely. He was covered in metal plates - and yet he didn't feel numb. There was a strange clink around his back and neck. He reached back, trying to feel. As he did so, AJ's fingers seemed to meld together, like liquid metal, before hardening into a metallic exoskeleton, tipped with claws.

Another strange feeling encased his arms, much like his thighs. The strange metallic cast also started to encase his head. As the steel covered his forehead, it jutted out into a large spike extending from the top of his face. Like some kind of deformed baseball hat from hell. AJ's ears melted into his head, covered up entirely by this cast. There were still two holes for his ears, much like a reptile. Two horns poked out of his head, made of the same metal as that steel cast that had encased his back and head.

Finally, AJ's face covered entirely in this steel cast. His eyes were screwed shut, before opening again with a blue sclera and solid black eyes. Just like a Pokémon. His nose was melded into his face, seeming to merge with this spike forming a brim. His teeth seemed to grow outwards, as they completely turned into metal. The cast didn't seem to be like something he was encased in, rather something that was a part of him. Strangely he didn't have a metallic taste in his mouth still.

As soon as his muzzle stopped, AJ was silent. He couldn't take all of this in quite yet. He tried experimentally to move a few times, found that while he was much slower, he could do it still. He didn't say anything - all he assumed he would say would be "Aggron". Colress stood in front of him, glancing up in a strange look of surprise and excitement.

"It worked!" Colress exclaimed. "It's true after all."

"You turned me into an agg-" AJ was interrupted with the fact that he could still speak. His voice must have sounded a lot deeper. He couldn't notice for some reason. Wait, why was he surprised? He was supposed to be like this. At least, something in his head was telling him that he was supposed to be like this. This unnerved him.

His Skarmory stepped in front of him. Somehow, he could tell the avian was smiling, even though it was quite hard to do so with a beak, especially a beak that's covered in steel.

"I always thought you to be a steel type."

Wait, did he just hear he Skarmory speak?

"Did you just speak?"

The Skarmory nodded. Of course, he was a Pokémon now - it'd only make sense that he could understand them. The Skarmory spread its wing, letting him get a look at himself in the reflection of the polished steel. Strange, he still seemed to have some human features too, such as a slightly more human looking body. But... he was a Pokémon? And yet he felt so normal, too. Even the extreme weight of his body felt oddly normal.

"Did Beeheeyem tell you this would happen?"

He didn't notice it at the time, but when he spoke to the Pokémon, he was only saying "Aggron". AJ turned his attention to the Beeheeyem, who seemed to be signing to him. Strange, he could still understand this sign language - and he had never learned human sign language at all.

"Humans and Pokémon were once and the same - now you stand before us as proof." The Beeheeyem signed to him.

AJ looked down at his aggron body. Thick steel claws, steel plating that should have been numb, but he could still feel. Apart from the steel helmet he seemed to wear, or the plating on his back and arms and legs. Yet this felt normal.

"You will have to explain how you feel - I must find others who can do this. Imagine what N would think when he discovered this. Please, stay for a little - I must know!" Colress said.

"Do it." he heard a small voice.

AJ turned to the small voice - it was his Numel. He knew this would happen?

"If this is right, we'll have a completely new age - N was wrong. Ghetsis was wrong. Everybody was wrong!" Colress seemed to almost jump up and down like he was a little child.