Deceitful

Chapter 1: The News Report
I yawned, stretched, and smiled as I saw all six of my Pokémon still sleeping in their separate beds.
Blaziken, Floatzel, Weavile, Ampharos, Staraptor, and my new Treecko, were all sleeping peacefully.
I tiptoed out of my room quietly and went for the dining room table.
A plate with dark toast, fried eggs, bacon, and a cup of orange juice was waiting for me patiently on the table.
Under the plate was a sheet of lined paper.
I moved the paper from under the plate and read the written content.
Damian, I'm out shopping with your dad and sister. Try to get up earlier if you want to go out with us!
Love, Mom.
"It's shopping, not the arcade," I joked aloud to myself.
I piled the two fried eggs onto the toast along with the bacon to make the ultimate breakfast sandwich.
I took my first bite and struggled to chew the different textures together.
I heard my bedroom door creak open.
I smiled as I looked in the direction.
"You better not try to scare me guys!" I laughed.
None of my Pokémon came out of my room.
My room was in a hallway that leads to the dining room table and straight ahead after that is the living room with our 60' inch LED/LCD television.
Yeah, that's the second smallest tv in the house.
I took another bite of my sandwich, keeping my gaze on the hallway.
"I'm serious!" I said with a grin.
"Vile!"
"Oh my God!" I gasped.
I turned around to see Weavile smiling at me sheepishly.
"Nice one," I chuckled.
"Weavile!" he replied.
Now in the room were the rest of my Pokémon.
"Good morning everyone!" I exclaimed.
They all replied by saying their name.
I took the last bite of my sandwich, then looked in the cupboard for Pokémon food.
There were three huge bags of different labeled Pokémon food.
"Let's see... One at a time, tell what you guys want."
I heaved at the first bag to remove it from the cupboard, but failed.
"Ken. Blaziken."
Blaziken lightly shoved me aside and removed all three bags with ease.
"Yeah I get it. You're stronger than me," I joked, "now, we got spicy, sweet, and uhh... Holy crap! Are these all... They are! Oh my Arceus, Razz berries! These aren't just Pokémon food! I might grab a bowl of these! Anyway, who wants what? Staraptor?"
She pointed a wing at the sweet food.
Weavile chose spicy, Blaziken chose spicy, Floatzel chose sweet, Treecko wanted both, Ampharos picked sweet.
I poured the food into separate bowls, getting some by Blaziken.
I poured a few Razz berries into the bowls afterward, then tasted one myself.
I spit it out in the trash can and made a disdainful face.
My Pokémon all laughed at my reaction.
"Haha. Very funny. Yuk, these don't even taste like razz berries."
It tasted like a Gushers candy filled with salt water.
I stuck my tongue out in disgust.
"Oh man, that tasted awful!" I whined.
I went to my room grabbed a long sleeved, grey, button up collared shirt.
Then a pair of dark blue jeans with color fading at the thighs.
And other clothes.
I took a quick shower and felt clean as a whistle.
I put on my clothes, fastened every button on my shirt except the top two, rolled up my sleeves to my elbows, and fixed my collar.
I put spiking glue in my hair and lifted my front bangs.
I went to my room, put black socks on and finished my getting dressed routine with my brown, leather shoes.
I skipped brushing my teeth and instead mouthwashed, then reentered the dining room to be greeted again by my team of six Pokémon.
I took a seat on the leather couch and turned on the television set.
The news immediately came on screen.
"-me. My Flareon. I just... I don't know anyone could do such a thing," a heavy set woman said to Kirsten Trish, the reporter.
The screen switched to Kevin 'Lucky Seven' Willard, my favorite person on the planet.
He had a straight face, which was surprising, considering he's the happiest guy I've ever known.
"Thank you Kirsten. In related news, Team Plasma has also been reported to be kidnapping children. Here is footage that young Stephanie Gale filmed with her phone."
"Team Plasma? Again?"
A poor quality video, possibly from a flip phone, showed a forest, a Pawniard, and a young girl narrating.
"Ain't this beautiful Sharpie?"
The video got a slight look at the girl.
She had black hair, brown eyes, and wore square frame glasses.
Then, something caught my eye.
The movie ended with the girl screaming and the phone dropping.
I paused the show, rewinded, and paused the video as the girl put the camera to her face.
The video was poor quality, but I could at least make out one thing behind her.
My gut was hoping it wasn't what I thought it was.
I took a picture of the screen with my smartphone, turned up the sharpness of the image and both swore and gasped simultaneously.
"Lewis?" the name made my lips burn.
"Oh my Arceus..."
The image I took had his shiny Gliscor, but not Lewis himself.
"Tor? Star?"
"Floatzel?"
One of my Pokémon nudged my shoulder with a claw and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
"Guys... Lewis... He's with... He's with Team Plasma," I croaked.
The setting in the video was actually familiar.
I just couldn't recall it.
My Pokémon seemed as shocked as I was.
Lewis is... WAS my best friend. Sometimes, I swear we could've been brothers at one point.
We liked the same everything.
Music, movies, food, genres, video games, everything.
There was only one person I know with a shiny Gliscor, and that was Lewis.
"Maybe they just... Took his Gliscor?"
'That's impossible! I just saw him and all his Pokémon yesterday!'
I could see my family pulling into the driveway.
I flustered to remove the paused news session from the screen and switched to Comedy Television Network.
Mom, dad, and Angel all came into the house holding shopping bags. Angel had the lightest of the groceries and a cardboard cupholder with ice cream sundaes.
"Damian, make you and your Pokémon useful and get the rest."
I didn't reply, just continued to stare at my phone.
"Damian! I said put the stupid phone down and help!" mom ordered.
"Yes ma'am," I groaned.
"What's that?" Angel asked, sneaking behind me.
"Just," I sighed, "you know Lewis right?"
"Know him? He's our illegitimate child! Yeah we know him! What about him?" dad replied.
I took a moment to process my thoughts, then turned off my phone.
"Lewis... He's... He wants to know if we can hang out today."
I thought it would be best to just not tell anyone yet, I mean, there's not a hundred percent its him.
But the accusation still had me questioning if it really was him.
"Sure. But first you gotta get the groceries," mom said.
I forced a fake smile.
I stood up and was tempted to take my phone out and call Lewis.
I had my Pokémon bring the remaining groceries inside with me, then I rushed to my room.
"Whatcha doin'?" dad asked.
"Calling Lewis," I yelled as I rushed to my room.
I shut the door behind me, not even letting my Pokémon in.
I dialed Lewis' phone number frantically.
(347) 507-6614
I tapped my foot as I listened to annoying dial tone.
"Yo bro!" Lewis greeted.
"Hey Lewis... Umm... You wanna hang out today?"
"Sure dude! I'll come over right now!"
"Actually, can I come to your place? My mom said... My room's pretty bad and she said she wants no one inside it."
"Okay, get your butt over here then!"
"Oh... Okay," I mumbled.
"Dude, you okay? You sound sick."
"Yeah... I'm just a little tired."
"How long were you up last night."
"Late. Anyway, I'm coming over."
"Aight bro. Get here soon before I change my mind," he joked.
"Yeah I will."
I was ready to hang up, but then put the phone back to my ear quickly.
"Hey!"
"What up?" he replied.
"How's... Gliscor?" I asked.
"Shiny as ever. Why?"
"Oh... No reason. I just... Thought I could beat you with Staraptor, that's all."
"Yeah right! I'll beat you down then dance circles around you and Staraptor!"
"Okay... See ya," I concluded.
"Later."
I hung up the phone and sighed.
I exited my house and got on my bike.
"Damian! What about your Pokémon!?" mom asked from the front door.
I thought of another lie for the day.
"His Pokémon are injured! I can't talk! Gotta go now!"
"Love you sweetheart!"
"Love you too," I replied.
I pedaled my bike to my 'friends' house.












CHAPTER 2: Plasma Burns More than Acid
I knocked on Lewis' front door.
His father opened the door and greeted me.
"Damian! My other son! How are you?" he asked.
I forced a smile.
"Great. Where's Lewis?"
"Not sure. Hang on a sec... Lewis! Damian's here!"
There was no sound after that.
"Boo!" I nearly jumped out of my skin. Lewis was behind me, laughing.
When he ended his laughing fit, he asked, "Hey, where's your Pokémon?"
"Umm... Mom needed some help from them around the house."
"Hmm... Okay, none of my business. So you don't have a Pokémon... Then you'll have to use one of mine then."
He released all six of his Pokémon at once.
Mightyena, Empoleon, Swellow, Heracross, Raichu, and... Gliscor.
My heart stopped.
My gaze couldn't leave Gliscor.
"I take it you wanna use Gliscor?"
My mind was blank.
"Umm... Yeah. I do," I muttered.
"Alright then. Dad, we're gonna do some battling!"
"I'll leave you kids alone then."
He went back inside.
"Gliscor, Raichu, Heracross; go to Damian!"
The three Pokémon responded by coming to my side.
"Empoleon, you're up first!" Lewis declared.
His Empoleon stepped in front of him.
"Uhh... Gliscor. Go first"
"Gliscor? Why not Raichu?"
"I mean Raichu!" I corrected.
Raichu stepped in front of me.
"Ready?"
"Yeah," I sighed.
"Empoleon! Use ice beam!"
"Raichu, dodge it and use bolt tackle!" I countered.
Empoleon fired a cool blast of energy, forming ice into the pavement.
Raichu did a great job dodging and got really close to getting a bolt tackle.
"Use Metal Claw!" Raichu was smacked to the ground by the attack.
Our battle ended quickly.
He won with only Mightyena remaining.
"Hey! Lemme see your phone real quick!" he said.
"Why?"
"I gotta show you a video I saw online. Its hilarious!"
"Umm... Sure."
I handed him my smartphone.
He hid the screen from me, smiling as he did so.
But as he pressed the screen a couple of times, he frowned.
I went to look at the screen, but he stopped me.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing... The video isn't loading. Wait a sec."
He began toying with my phone, swiping and tapping my screen.
He then pulled up a video on YouTube and showed the screen to me. The title read: How Not To Win Battles
It was just a stupid video of some guy fighting high evolutions with starter evolutions.
It was kind of funny though.
"Hey... Why'd you wanna know about Gliscor again?"
"Uhh..."
'Damn it! He's onto me!'
"Because... I saw someone with a shiny the other day."
"Really? Who was it? What Pokémon did the person have?"
"I don't know the guy. He was probly a tourist. He had a... A... Umm... A Lucario?"
"Oh... A Lucario hunh? That's pretty interesting. That had to be something to see. But umm... What was that picture on your phone?"
I nearly swallow my Adams apple down my throat.
"Picture? W-what... Picture?"
He got in my face, but I backed away.
"Oh... You know what picture you little crap."
My instant reaction was to run away.
"Gliscor!" Lewis yelled.
My getaway failed miserably.
His Gliscor tackled me to the ground and put its clamps to my throat.
"Damn it Damian... I can't believe... Of all people... My best friend. Man, this sucks. Well, I have my orders," he rambled.
"HEEEEEEEELP!" I screamed.
"Shut him up Heracross."
His Heracross covered my mouth to muffle my screams of terror.
"Damian... I'm sorry it had to be like this. But this is your fault. You should've minded your own business. Kept your nose out of things. But no. You had to get to the bottom of Team Plasma yourself."
My eyes widened.
'I knew it! He does work for Team Plasma!'
"And now... Sadly. I have to contact the boss. I'll try to convince him to not harm you. Just keep you prisoner. After all, you are still my friend Damian. God! I just hate this!"
I tried talking to him.
Lewis moved Heracross' hand from my mouth.
"Please! Lewis! I won't tell anyone! Just c'mon man! Let me go! Please! Please. Please..."
I began to sob.
He removed an ink pen from his pocket and pressed down on the top.
"Plasma 3309 Shiny Gliscor," Lewis said into the pen.
There was another voice replying from the pen.
"Shiny Gliscor, this is home command. What's your status, over?"
"Home command. I got a code red 6 here at my home. I need some backup to pick him up."
"Code red 6 is the wrong code Shiny Gliscor. The correct code is red 8."
"Oh... Well... Someone knows about us. Can you get some people over to my address?"
"Yes I can Shiny Gliscor."
"Thank you home command."
He placed the pen back into his pocket and kneeled down.
I continued my pointless crying.
"Hey... Don't worry. They won't hurt you. I promise."
I got my mouth free.
"I hate you! You evil sonofabitch! There's a special place in hell f-"
Heracross covered my mouth again.
"I'm sorry friend. You did this to yourself," Lewis said softly.
"Heracross, use sleep powder."
The green dust blew into my face.
My eyes began to slowly close.
My vision fading.
Darkness.
...
"He's waking up," a surly man's voice said.
"This won't hurt him?" Lewis' voice said.
"No. It will not. I assure you."
I opened my eyes to find myself in a glass tube.
The room I was in looked like some kind of experimentation room with people in lab coats, and all kinds of gadgets.
My tube was hooked up to a large machine with many switches and knobs.
And in another tube to my right was a Riolu.
I stood up and pounded on the glass with the bottom of my fist.
The glass was strong and sounded like Plexiglas as I punched it.
Lewis approached the tube with a tear dropping from his eye.
"I'm sorry Damian. It'll all be over soon. We're still best friends right?"
'BEST FRIENDS!? Don't even say my name you little-'
I just gave him a good middle finger.
He smiled.
"See yah bro," he said.
There was a mysterious whirring sound from the top of my tube, followed by a bright light.
I panicked and began kicking with all of my power at the glass.
It was no use though.
I felt a heavy surge of electricity go through my entire body.
I screamed in pain as the shock became stronger and stronger.
"You said it wouldn't hurt him!" Lewis whined.
"I didn't promise you. I said it shouldn't hurt him."
"I'm turning it off!"
"No! It will kill him!"
Lewis stopped himself.
I lost consciousness once again.











CHAPTER 3: After burn
I grabbed my head in pain with my hands.
I moaned from all of the pain I was going through.
I barely managed to open my eyes.
I was in a cage.
A very small cage.
I panicked however as I saw my reflection in a mirror placed at the door of the cage.
I couldn't believe my reflection.
I feebly crawled to get closer, then felt a grief take over.
I was... A Riolu.
A Pokémon.
I didn't need to hit myself.
I was in enough pain as it was to realize this wasn't a dream.
"Lu! Riolu!"
I was shocked to not hear my own voice anymore.
"Well hello Damian. How are you today?" a woman's voice asked.
The cage door opened and a pair of thin, pale arms entered the cage.
I was pulled out of the cage and was being carried by a brunette haired woman wearing safety goggles and a lab coat.
"Okay. I'm just gonna do some tests here."
I was placed on an operating table, surrounded by other people in lab coats.
"Is it him though?" Lewis asked.
"Only one way to find out. Damian, I am Doctor Gregory. Can you spell my name into the table? Here. Use this paint."
I put my paw into the black bowl of paint.
"Just write Greg if you want," the man added.
"RI... Riolu!" I replied.
I looked at my paw, then came up with an idea.
I simply smeared the paint all over the table instead of rather writing his name.
One woman wrote on a clipboard.
"He may be suffering a bit of memory loss. His intelligence may have decreased."
Lewis stepped to the table to confront me.
I looked into his eyes with a hard stare.
"No... He's faking. Its definitely Damian. Do something else," Lewis retorted.
"Hmm..."
Doctor Greg pushed one of those shape cubes that babies use, along with five different shape blocks.
I tried to pick up the cylinder, but remembered I no longer had opposable thumbs.
I picked it up and looked at the baby toy.
My gaze locked onto the only steel door in the room.
No one was leaving or entering the door.
"Please don't run. We'll use force. Just cooperate," one of the scientists said.
I had half a mind to use my new Pokémon strength to pound Lewis' face in.
I growled as I purposefully put the cylinder into the square hole.
"Yes. I do see your point Lewis."
"Exactly. Any Pokémon would know how to do that!"
'Damn.'
"Let's try one more thing so I can prove it."
Lewis removed my phone from his pocket and twiddled with it.
He turned the screen to me.
My mom, dad, sister, and me holding Torchic were on the park bench.
Just the thought my family was gone.
Out of my grasp.
I began to cry softly.
I buried my face into my furry arm.
Doctor Greg stroked the ears on top of my head.
I pushed his hand away and continued crying.
"Can I take him with me now?" Lewis asked.
"Not yet. We still have more tests to perform. Take him to the holding cells for now. Amber, bring in the next subject."
The brunette left the room, and one of the male doctors placed me back into the cage.
I could feel the cage being lifted.
As I was being moved, I curled into a ball and began to sob.
Saying my Pokémon name as I cried.
I had so much to cry about.
No longer being a human.
Knowing I'm probably going to be a lab rat for the rest of my life.
My family never even knowing what really happened to me.
But of all of it...
The betrayal of Lewis Frederick, was by far the worst.
98 percent of my anger and sorrow was from his betrayal to his best friend.
His best friend all through high school.
We were the dynamic duo.
We did everything together.
He would take a bullet for me.
Or so I thought.
That conniving bastard screwed me over.
Turned me into... This.
I'll get him back though, I will.
But I'll let him know, that regardless of all of this... He is still my best friend, and I will never forget him.
His betrayal was wrong, but he is still my friend.
Still my friend.
My friend.
I began to have different memories of what we did throughout the years.
Thinking of the good times just forced me to sob louder.
The cage thumped hard, most likely from being dropped onto the ground.
The cage opened, revealing light.
"Okay, come on out."
I wiped my face and left the cage into an empty, white room with other Pokémon inside.
The scientist put some kind of device around my ankle and pressed a button.
A shock went to my leg and I flinched.
"Behave," he muttered.
The man left the room with my cage, the reinforced steel door closing behind him.
I turned to face the others in the room.
There were 14 Pokémon.
A Munchlax, a Kirlia, Bagon, Machop, Pichu, Pidgey, Zorua, Dusklops, Meditite, Pawniard, Poochyena, Gible, Piplup, and a Cyndaquil.
"Hey..." one of them said.
I was a bit shocked to hear a Pokémon talk, but at this point, I didn't care.
"You new?" the Zorua asked.
"Y...yeah," I replied.
"Don't be surprised. We were humans too. Apparently when they transform you, you get the ability to speak Pokémon," he added.
The Zorua offered a paw outward.
"I'm Josh. Well... I was Josh. Now I'm subject 221. Call me Zorua since all of our names are gonna be hard to remember. What's your human name?" he asked.
"Damian... I used to be Damian."
My eyes began to well with tears again.
"Hey hey hey, dude. Its fine. Hope is not lost. We can still escape!"
"No Josh! I'm sick of your stupid little escape plans! We all are! I can't take another beating!" protested the female Kirlia.
"We just gotta get our strategy right! We got another player for the team. Who knows, he could be a great asset!" Josh retorted.
"I agree with Kate man. I'm sick of getting beat to a bloody pulp. Just give it up... We're stuck here," added the Meditite.
I tried to clear my head of everything to focus on my own escape plan.
"What have you done so far to try to escape?" I asked Josh.
They all seemed surprised at my question.
"We've tried... A lot..."
"What haven't you tried?"
"Well... I've been trying to learn Pokémon attacks. But I have no clue how to do anything."
"Hmm... I have a plan. There's a small chance it'll work."
Everyone groaned.
"Great! Another Josh! Why!?" the Piplup complained.
"Now now guys. Lets hear em out. What'd ya have in mind?" Josh asked.
I sighed.
I explained my entire story about Lewis being my best friend and betraying me. About the news report, about everything.
They all had sympathy in their eyes.
"But the thing is, now call me crazy... I still think of him as my best friend. If I do get outta here, I'm gonna confront him myself. I'm going to look him in the eyes and tell him how his betrayal harmed me. But I will thank him. Thank him for being the best best friend ever."
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Dude... That's deep," Meditite croaked.
No more tears came to eyes.
"Jeez man... I'm so sorry. I think you got it worst than all of us," muttered Zorua.
"I just can't believe his best friend would do that. If it were me, I would've pounded his face in," Duskull added.
I stared blankly at the white ground.
"Anyways... I heard him say something to the doctor. He asked if he could take me home yet. The doctor said he had some more tests to run."
"You mean he's gonna keep you as his own Pokémon!?" Josh asked.
"As far as I'm concerned, yes," I replied.
"Now for my plan. I don't even want to go with that evil bastard, so I need to think of how he plans on keeping me. If I can get to my house, I can try to get my mom and she can help fix this."
"Good luck with that. Humans can't understand us. Only..."
"Pokémon," I interrupted Pidgey.
"Pokémon. Only Pokémon understand us!"
"So?" Piplup scoffed.
"So... I can get my team to help me out!"
"Yeah, but how're they gonna know its even you? And for all we know, he might hold you in some of unbreakable cage so you can't escape. Put one of these babies around your ankle."
"Hmm... Good point..." I replied.
The room was silent again.
"Wait! They'll be looking for me at Lewis' house. My mom, dad, even my team should be there."
"They might've already done that," Cyndaquil said.
I thought hard.
"What if you-"
"Hush! I'm trying to think!" I snapped at Zorua.
My mind was focused on finding anything to get myself out of this situation.
An idea sprung into my mind, giving me a smile.
"I got it! My Staraptor takes a fly every morning. If I can get her attention-"
"Do you even know where she flies to?" Pawniard asked.
"Yeah. She actually flew me with her on her route. Every time she takes me, she passes Lewis' house! All I gotta do is get her! It's foolproof!" I said confidently.
"Listen Damian... I'm sorry... But... Your plans... You're thinking on the bright side. You're so confident you can escape, but its not gonna work. I understand you're excited that you're leaving, but what're the odds of you even being outside? He'll have a shock collar on you so you can't leave the house! Team Plasma is smart! They will always be twenty steps ahead of you!" protested Bagon.
He was right.
I'm thinking of the inevitable.
I'm hoping.
After all, that's all I had left to rely on.
Hope.
But even hope seemed to be failing for me.
"I'll get out... Believe me. I will escape from him. I will get my team to help me. I'll come back for all of you. I'll save all of us."
"Man... Y'know what? I appreciate the offer but... We'll stick to my escape plans," Josh joked.
I laughed, as did the others.
"We'll be dead before you get back if we keep following Josh' plans!"
A scientist came into the room.
"Damn. Who's up this time?" Bagon swore.
The scientist lifted Kate and placed her into a cage.
I started to panic.
"What're they doing!" I yelled as left the room.
"Wish me luck guys!" said Kate.
Zorua sighed.
"They're gonna do some more tests on her."
I rushed after them, as I almost made it out of the door, electricity pulsed throughout my entire body.
I screamed in pain as it shocked me.
The door shut behind me.
"Don't worry. They're just doing vaccinations."
When I regained my strength to stand, I asked, " V-vaccinations? For what?"
"It's a medicine that keeps us from getting any sicknesses," replied Pichu.
"Say, how old are you? Just curious." Poochyena asked.
"Am I that handsome of a Riolu?" I joked.
"Save it for the day care center dude," Pichu laughed.
Everyone became grossed out by his comment.
"I'm 17, gonna be 18 in April."
"Oh, well happy birthday then," Meditite said with a smile.
"Hey! Its March right now!" I blurted.
The lights in the room turned off, leaving us in pitch black.
I started to panic again.
"Hey, relax. Its just bedtime, that's all. Arceus, you are so jumpy."
He hit the nail on the head on that one.
I closed my eyes and gasped.
"Woah... Cool," I muttered.
"What?" Pichu asked from nearby.
"I can... I can see you guys. I have like... Night vision or something."
"That's the aura vision thing. That's a Riolu's ability," added Poochyena.
I looked around and could see different color blobs of light surrounding everyone in the room.
It was like standing inside of a lava lamp.
I looked at the wall and could see a dim red blob of light that resembled a human.
"Hey! I... I can see someone! There's someone in a room next to us!" I exclaimed.
"Probly the surveillance guy. Watching to make sure we don't escape."
"Just go to sleep bro," said Josh.
"Okay."
I dropped to the ground and lied on my back.
"Damian?" asked Pichu.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Good luck out there. If you do escape, we won't forget you. Even though we've only known you a little bit."
"Don't save us if you think you can't," Meditite added.
"I'll come back guys... Don't worry. I'll take out every Team Plasma member one by one if I have to."
"Good night guys," Bagon said.
We all replied with a good night.
I closed my eyes, my vision still being the colorful vision, but I managed to fall asleep in a flash.