“You owe me a battle, ninetales morph!” said the machoke.

“Why would I do that?” asked Kelly.

“Because, for the past few days, I’ve been following you and your Master,” explained the machoke.  “I’ve been training really hard, making myself stronger.  I’ve been squeezing rocks, trying to walk on water, and climbing with rocks on my back!”

“I can’t battle on my own, it’s up to my Master,” said Kelly.

The machoke stood there, standing ready.  While Mike thought of it, and thought.  Perhaps there was a better way.  “Five days of training isn’t enough to beat Kelly,” said Mike.  “Come back to us in a month if you can train hard.”

The machoke looked dumbfounded.  He wanted to battle Kelly so he could show Mike how strong he’s gotten, and Mike thought he was too weak still.   Although angry, the machoke’s face turned to one of determination.  “Okay, I’ll train for a month,” said the machoke.  “You be better ready, Kelly!” 

With that, the machoke jumped into the brush.  “What a weird guy, Master,” said Kelly.

Mike said, “Well, I say you have a rival.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think he’s jealous either of me training you, or you having a trainer.”

Kelly said, “I’ve never thought of it that way.  Cool!”

“See, aren’t you happy I don’t spank you?” said Mike.

“Hey!” said Kelly.

Mike then said, “If you wanted a trainer who would pamper you, dress you up or dress you down, and slap your bottom you wouldn’t have come to me.  You wanted a trainer who will help you rescue your parents.”

“I’ve, I’ve never thought of it that way.”

Mike said, “Again with the catch phrases?  Shouldn’t you make that your trademark?”  That left Kelly thinking as they passed into Pewter City -- the city of the rock pokemon.  Although most of downtown was built of concrete, the pair stayed mostly in the suburbs.  Pewter city, it is rumored, has a sizeable pokemorph population.  Pokemorphs of all kinds traveled the streets mixing with humans.  Most of them are free, without any trainers.  Mike would have scanned them with his pokédex, but he only scanned a few.  The scanned entries included: Totodile, charizard, treecko, eevee, and houndour.

“Hey, Master,” said Kelly.  “Could it be possible to stop by my ‘cousin’s’ place?  It’s been a while since I’ve seen her.  I want to drop by and say hello.”

Mike answered, “Okay, we can visit your cousin’s place.”

Kelly hugged Mike and said.  “Thank you, Master!  You’re the best!”

Walking to the neighborhood where Kelly’s good cousin lived was not a long way.   She lived on Gypsum street, house number 2477.   The house was a tan house that was built using vinyl siding.  It was a two story rambler that didn’t look much.  The lawn was nice and cut, and the driveway was like other driveways.  The only difference from other houses was that the house was white colored and the landscaping of the front yard.  Which included two flowering plum trees.

Kelly deferred to Mike, his Master, to go up and ring the door bell.  Mike did, he rang the door bell and there was a ding dong.  The cherry stained door with a nice window setting at the top opened and out came a ninetales. 

“Yes, can I help you?” she asked.

Mike responded, “Excuse me, does Kelly’s cousin live here?”

“I know a Kelly,” said the ninetales.  She looked to see a smiling Kelly waving.  “Kelly?  You evolved?  Come in.”

They both entered the house, with Kelly smiling.  The ninetales spread some towels on the couches and they both sat down, especially Kelly, on the towels.  The living room was spacious, to say the least.  The walls were painted white and the carpet was blue.  She had a modern sofa, a love seat, and a plasma T.V.  One wall was covered in wood siding, and that wall supported a nice fireplace that was stone masoned in.  She then looked at Kelly, and was teary eyed, and suddenly hugged him.  “Oh, Kelly, I’m happy you are still free!”

“What do you mean?” asked Kelly.

“When your family was taken, I thought they took you too,” she said.  “What happened?”

Mike took a look at a brochure about the Indigo Pokémon League while Mike explained.  “Well, it’s simple, I hid under the bed while they came and took my mom and dad,” said Kelly.

“How cowardly,” said his cousin.  “Why didn’t you do anything to fight?”

“I’m sorry, I just hid under my bed,” said Kelly.  “They came so fast that I hid, and they took my parents, but they weren’t looking for me.   I wanted to take care of the people who took my parents.  And through that realization, I evolved into this.  So, I wanted to take out the people who took my parents and I found Mike who had come home for High School.  I talked him into becoming my trainer and Master.”

“Oh, that’s quite unusual, Kelly,” said the ninetales.  “So, you are owned now?”

“Yes, Nancy, I am owned,” Kelly grinned at that.  “I sold everything I had, my house, my parents’ car, and everything and gave myself to Mike over there.”

Nancy turned around and said, “Thank you, for taking care of my cousin.” 

“Hmm?  Oh, no problem!” laughed Mike with a hand on the back of his head.  “Say, what is this brochure of the Indigo League?”

“Oh, they are advertising for trainers to compete in the Indigo Leagues.  In order to compete, though, you need at least eight badges from different gym trainers.”

“Sounds like something fun to work for, right Kelly?”

Nancy then said, “Although there is a problem.”

“I knew there hand to be a catch,” said Kelly.

“Kelly can’t compete until he wears a collar.”

“A collar?” said Mike.  “I didn’t know this.” 

“Yes, Kelly is a pokémorph, it’s gym rules that a pokémorph needs a collar in order to compete. I’m sorry, Kelly, I don’t make the rules -- but they exist to make sure to tell the difference between an owned pokémorph and a free pokémorph.” 

“A collar, hmm,” said Mike.

Kelly said, “I’ll wear one, Master.”

Pewter City’s Pokemart was a huge shopping mart.  There were many people and pokemorphs all buying things.  It was about the size of a Wallmart, and it had many different departments.  There were places where one could buy technical and hidden machines (which were injectibles), Pokémon berries, and many other trinkets that would help a Pokemon.  Besides those, there were items that helped dress up pokémon.  And there were a whole food market that was just for pokémorphs.  “This is great!” said Kelly.

“Hold on there!” said a voice.  Both Mike and Kelly turned around to see a Totodile morph in an employee outfit.  “You can’t buy anything until you are clothed.”

“What?” said Kelly.  “Don’t you know I’m owned?”

“I don’t care if you are the King of Siam,” said the totodile morph.  “You can’t buy anything unless you are properly dressed.”

Mike held up the friend ball.  “Kelly, return,” he said.  Kelly was promptly returned to the Friend ball.  “Excuse me, sir, Kelly is a bit temperamental about wearing clothes.  He doesn’t wear any.”

“Don’t you clothe your pokemorphs?” said the totodile employee.

Mike said, “Well, uh .. . you see . . . “

“Sorry, those are the rules, young man,” said the employee.

“Well, I’m Mike from Viridian City,” said Mike.  “I’m dressed, I’m not immodest or anything, may I purchase a collar for my friend Kelly who is in the friend ball?”

“Of course you can,” said the totodile employee.  “Just don’t let him out naked again. He could frighten our more sensitive customers.”

“Right,” said Mike, giving a coy smile.

Later, he was checking the collar section.  There were so many collars, he didn’t know what pick.  Soon, a salesman came to the counter.  “Well, what are you looking for young man?” he salesman said.

Mike said, “I’m looking for a collar for a male ninetales pokémorph so he can compete in gym matches.”

“You own a ninetales pokemorph?” asked the salesman.

“Well, yes,” said Mike.

“THAT’S WONDERFUL!” said the salesman.  “And male too!  Oh boy, such as wonderful thing!  I’ve got the perfect collar for your vulpine nine tailed kitsune!”  The salesman held out a collar made from the leather of a cow.  From it’s front hanged the symbol of a flame.  “This is a perfect little number, perfect for your ninetales pokémorph!  At just a steal at . . .”

“1,500 pokédollars,” said Mike. 

“What?”

“Yeah, 1,500 pokedollars,” said Mike, pointing to the price tag of the collar.  “Pretty expensive if you are trying to sell me it at a lower price.” 

“Yes, well, um,” said the salesman.  “I’ve been trying to unload that particular collar for a while now.  I was going to give it to you at half off.  It’s real cow leather.”

“And the sign?” asked Mike. 

“Stained glass, actually,” he said.  “Give it a feel.”

Mike examined the collar to make sure that it was as he said it was.  Preserved cow leather.  “Is it tanned with urine or with brains?”

“I don’t know.” 

“Hmm, I guess I’ll risk it,” he said giving the salesman a check card.  The salesman scanned the amount and Mike wrote his signature.  He was given the pokémorph collar.  “Alright!” he said.  He picked up the Friend ball and said, “Kelly, I got you a collar.”

He took his card back and the receipt when he started towards the Pokemon Connoisseur shop to have Felix and Ace checked out on him.  However, in that moment, a part of the roof caved in and several members of Team Xaos came down.

“A word to all pokémorphs!” said one of the grunts of Team Xaos.  “You were created to serve humans as slaves!  So, we are here to capture you!”

Several of the grunts released their pokemon: houndour, rhyhorn, shuckle, glaceon, growlith, and pansear.  Many of the pokemorphs panicked and started running.  The smoke and dust from the section of the roof caving in was disorienting and confusing to most.  The pokemon that were released attacked the pokemorphs.  A lucario morph was attacked and hit with one of Team Xaos’ balls.  The ball opened and asborbed the morph, leaving behind it’s clothes.  A female charizard housewife was attacked by a growlith who released a gout of fire to keep the frightened housewife corralled when another of of Team Xaos’ balls hit her, and asborbed her into itself leaving being behind her clothes.

Enraged by the attacks by Team Xaos, Mike jumped into the fray.  “I would suggest you stop!”  he said. 

Two of the grunts laughed.  “And what if we don’t, are you going to stop us, little man?” asked one of them, the same woman he met before in Viridian City.

“The Pokemorphs have sentience, free will and the Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, its not your place to forcefully enslave them,” said Mike.  “Ace, Felix, Kelly, go!”

He released three pokeballs -- the spearow, Ace; the totodile, Felix; and the ninetales morph, Kelly; were released from their balls.  “Kelly, use all your forces!  This is war!  Felix, water gun, now!  Ace, use Aerial Ace!”
Felix danced around and released a gout of water in a water blast.  The blast hit the woman, and forced her against the wall.  Ace screamed “SPEARRRROW!”  The spearow dived at the growlith who was was trying to corral a female totodile.  Kelly lept at the male Team Xaos grunt, giving him a nasty bite on the shoulder.  The totodile employee that Kelly and Mike met before yelled, “Misako!”

“Gorojiro!” said the totodile female.  “Help me please! ahhh!”

“SPEEEEAAARRROW!” Ace hit the growlith with his aerial ace, forcing the growlith to the ground.  Felix fired a water gun, putting out the flames of the fiery corral.   The growlith was about to fire another flamethrower when Felix released yet another water gun.  The hydrostatic pressure and the shock of the cold had caused the growlith to lose consciousness as water steamed from it’s body.

“Ace, use Aerial Ace!” but it was too late, Team Xaos captured a male Arcanine morph.  The Xaos ball absorbed just him, not his clothes.   Ace had to recover.  “Ace, use gust!”

“SPEEAAARROW!” Ace cawed as it flapped it’s wings quickly like a humming bird.  This caused as great wind, blowing most of the dust away.  A machoke bodybuilder was next, in cased in a frozen cage caused by glaceon.  He was asborbed by the Xaos ball, leaving behind his clothes.

Kelly was in a martial arts match.  He was soundly up against five Xaos grunts.  His eyes blazed with the heat of battle.  His eyes glowed as he forced one grunt against the wall with his latent psychic ability.  And then he formed a Tai Chi ball of fire, which formed a weak flame thrower that caught one of the grunts on fire.  He screamed, and then glaceon covered him with snow.

Kelly formed another Tai Chi ball and fired embers at the group.  However, After capturing seven pokémorphs, they retrieved their pokémon and got aboard their ship and it lifted them away, heading to another part of Kanto.   Ace landed on Mike’s left shoulder, Totodile stood at his right.  Kelly was behind him.  Mike formed a resolve against Team Xaos for denying seven pokémorphs their rights.

Everyone in the pokémart, however, cheered the group.  “That was great!” said a boy.  “I bet you are as good as Ash!”

Ash again, but Mike just smiled and laughed, “I’ve still got a ways to go before I’m up to par with Ash Ketchum.”

The employee and his girlfriend approached the group.  “Thank you for saving Misako’s life,” said the employee, Gorojiro to Mike and then he turned to Kelly.  “I’m sorry for being so solemn about the rules here.  But those were the rules.”

“Oh, think nothing of it,” Kelly said. 

“You, young man, the management wants to you to have this,” said Gorojiro.  “Our way of saying thanks, it’s on the house.”  Gorojiro gave Mike a syringe containing a technical machine.  Labeled on the TM was hidden power.

“Team Xaos is out to capture all pokémorphs and enslave them,” said Kelly.

Mike said, “You’re my pet, but you chose that of your own free will.  I bet it’s Team Xaos that has your parents, Kelly.”

“You should be a pokémorph trainer,” said Misako to Mike.

“What?” asked Mike.

Gorojiro said, “Yes, you totally rock with the ninetales morph.  After what you did today, I bet there will be more than a few pokémorphs who would want to be attached to you.” 

Mike said, “Well, a pokémorph being trained by a human is partly marriage partly slavery.  I don’t know if there are a lot of pokémorphs who would be willing to give up their freedom like that.”

“You’d be surprised,” said Misako.

“Well, yes, if you say so,” said Mike, laughing.