Transformation Unbidden

"A few years ago, I would've called the cops if I saw a kid running down the street with bloodied fur and screaming his head off." The man in the suit put his briefcase down on the table.

"Right, of course." The boy's mother nodded. "You can understand why we're worried. I mean, my son's been acting so strange since he came home from your laboratory. He won't go to school, he won't eat... It's like he's gone into a trance or something." She rubbed her temples.

A low growl came from the corner of the room. The woman looked at the boy, who had been sitting there quietly the whole time.

"He won't even talk to me anymore. He just stays up all night and stares at the wall. I'm terrified that he might do something to himself."

The lawyer sighed and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Now, as I said on the phone, you're making this much harder than it needs to be. Your son is fine. You have my word that he's perfectly healthy."

The woman crossed her arms and looked at the lawyer with disgust. "Oh, yes. Of course. How could he be anything *but* healthy after what you did to him?"

The lawyer frowned and glanced at the boy, who was looking at the floor. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'll explain what happened from the beginning." The woman took a deep breath. "My husband and I were out grocery shopping one day when our son went missing. We looked for him for hours. Eventually, a police officer asked us if we'd ever heard of Professor Oak. We didn't know who he was so he said he'd take us to his laboratory. When we got there, we realized that it was *your* laboratory."

The lawyer raised an eyebrow. "Go on."

"When we got inside we were greeted by this guy named Ash Ketchum. He seemed to be in charge. He told us that Professor Oak had taken our son to help him with his research. So we had no choice but to wait." Her voice was trembling. "After what seemed like an eternity, we finally got to see our son again... except that he had changed. His hair was different, his eyes were different, he was covered in burns, and he wouldn't stop crying. He said that he wanted to go home."

The lawyer leaned back in his chair. "Well, that's understandable, isn't it?"

"No. It's not." The woman shook her head. "For one thing, the boy you have in front of you is *not* our son. He looks like him, I'll give you that, but he's not him. Our son's name is William. His hair is blonde, he likes to wear blue, and he likes to play with toy dinosaurs. He has *never* liked Pokemon. The boy standing in front of you is named Ash. He lives in Pallet Town with Professor Oak and Satoshi."

"What?" The lawyer jumped up.

"Our son's name is William. He likes to play video games, he hates tomatoes, and he *doesn't* have a Pikachu. He has a cat named Tardar Sauce."

The lawyer sat down. "How do you know this?"

"Because after we found out what had happened to William, we contacted Misty, who showed us this." She pointed to the television.

The lawyer turned around and saw the familiar face of Professor Oak on the screen. "Hello everyone. Today we're going to be talking about a young man by the name of Ash Ketchum. If you're wondering where he is, he's actually here with us today."

The camera zoomed out to show Ash sitting on the couch next to Professor Oak and Pikachu. He waved at the camera.

"So Ash, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?"

Ash thought for a moment. "Sure! My name's Ash and I have a Pikachu."

The lawyer picked up the remote and paused the video. "That's not our son. Where did you get this?"

"Misty gave it to us along with some newspaper articles and photos that she had on hand. We hired a private investigator to check up on you. Do you know how many children you've experimented on? Do you know that you've been doing illegal things in your lab?"

The lawyer sighed and stood up. He walked to the door and opened it. "Please leave. I can't help you."

"This is a felony. You need to fix this."

"I can't."

"You have to!"

"I can't."

The woman started crying. "Why? Why won't you help us?"

The lawyer sighed. "Because." He closed the door and went back to his desk.

"Professor Oak, we're almost ready to begin."

"Thank you, Dawn. I'll be right there."

The lawyer turned around and saw Professor Oak walk into the room. "Hello, my friend. How are you feeling today?"

"I'm fine." The lawyer stared at the door. "What was that all about?"

"Oh, just another example of the stupidity of humans." Professor Oak sat down. "They don't understand what we're trying to accomplish, after all. They're afraid of change. They're afraid of the unknown. They always have been, and they always will be. But without change, how would we learn from our mistakes? How would we grow? That's why I took the boy and made him into a Pikachu. I needed to know more about their physiology. I needed to know how they evolved. I needed to know how they procreated..."

The lawyer glared at the professor. "You're sick."

"It's the only way we learn. It's the only way we can move forward. Look at what we've accomplished. Just look at it. Can you imagine a world without Pokemon? Can you imagine a world where we never discovered what lies beyond the stars? Can you imagine a world where we didn't have the technology to have a Pikachu as a pet?"

"No. I can't." The lawyer rolled up the newspaper and hit Professor Oak on the head with it. "You're an evil genius, you know that? In fact, you're even worse than Dr. Frankenstein because at least Dr. Frankenstein didn't know he was evil. He was just a scientist trying to make the world better. You're a *monster*. You created monsters and let them loose on the world."

"Why can't they understand?" Professor Oak's voice broke. "Why can't they see the good in what we've done?"

The lawyer hit him again. "*I* can't understand. I can't see the good in what you've done. All I see is a man with a lab full of abducted children. In fact, I think I'm going to call the cops and have them arrest you for kidnapping."

Professor Oak closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine. Do what you want. I'm too old to care."

The lawyer smiled and hit him one last time. "I'll let you live if you agree to fix the boy's life. Can you do that?"

"Yes." Professor Oak nodded. "I'll make sure that his parents never have to worry about him again."