Pokemon: The Gathering 
Evolution Chaos 

A buzz of conversation filled the conference room on the top floor of the League tower that stood amongst the heavens above the Galar region. Various Gym leaders stood around a table murmuring about the plans of the Galar region, from constructing an Elite Four to having a rotating Gym circuit to stir things up each year.

The conversations died down as Leon entered the room, his cloak flowing behind him, sporting the various investors of the Pokemon League. Gladion trailed behind, choosing to keep his distance from the strange people. At any moment outside of this investigation, he would have been intrigued to face them in battle to judge their strength and bonds with their Pokemon. 
“Can I have your attention, please?” Leon called, stepping up to the table. We have a situation that needs dealing with. I’ve tried to keep this under wrap while leaving it to the police. However, this young man's arrival has brought to my attention that things are far worse than I first thought.”

“Are things that bad for an Elite Four? I told you before I should be at the head of it,” a boy with curly hair and a pink Fairy-type uniform.

“You wanna get your head out of your arse and stop thinking you are better than everyone else, Bede,” a tall, pale man scoffed, “You’re nothing compared to the experience round here. Now quit squawking and pay attention. You may learn something, kid!”

Nessa, a slither of beauty with slender legs and perfect dark skin, glanced towards Gladion as two of her peers muttered in agreement.

“Piers is right, Bede,” Leon stated. But this doesn’t concern the Elite Four. Unfortunately, those plans will be placed on hold. The situation is as follows: many Trainers and Pokemon have been disappearing across Galar from the Crown Tundra to the Isle of Armour. At first, the police looked into this, but Gladion has informed me that particular protocols are now online in response to the growing crisis. I’ll allow him to fill you in.”

Gladion scoffed; he had been hoping to avoid talking. “I’ll put it as simply as I can. These disappearances have been happening across the other regions, not just here in Galar. We have no leads on who is behind this, so I’m here to investigate and solve this.”

“Indeed, and I’m grateful for the help,” Leon agreed, noticing a look of fear crossing Piers' face.
Piers clenched fist. “What regions?”

“Unova, Kalos, Johto, Sinnoh and more recently Paldea.” Gladion paused, folding his arms. “Even other regions like Orre and Kanto have been experiencing disappearances. There’s been no trace of the missing people now trail, no evidence other than clothing found at the scene of their last position.”
“That might mean Marnie is in danger too,” Piers muttered, bolting for the door. “You’ll have to carry on without me; my sister needs me!”

“Good, now he’s gone,” Bede muttered, cocking his head to the sky.

“Now I’ve arranged with the police to send the reports to the Gyms as their leaders. You will be responsible for working with Gladion and investigating them. We must find out who's involved and stop it for the future and sake of Galar.” Leon rested his hands on his hips, eyeing the leaders closely. “However, you will not be permitted to work alone. Bede already has Opal backing him up. Sonia has offered assistance, and I’ll pair her with you, Milo. Gordie and Melony, despite your history, you need to work together.”

Nessa walked up to Gladion, zoning out Leon as he carried on. “Do we have any leads…anything at all?”

“There’s no pattern thus far. With the protocols activated, I have friends in Unova and Kalos also working on finding leads. Hopefully, they’ll come up with something.”

“I’ll do whatever I can to help, but we don’t have a villainous faction,” Nessa stated.

“What about that Team Yell?”

“Just a bunch of hooligans, not truly evil.” 

“Bea, you’ll be with Gladion. Stow-on-Side has had six disappearances in the last week. I trust you’ll do me and Galar proud with him,” Leon finished.

“Sure thing Leon, providing I can kick their butts when we find the culprits,” Bea stated with fiery enthusiasm. 
 
Nessa raised an eyebrow. “What about me? Who's my partner?”

“I had hoped to assign Piers with you, but since he’s gone, I’ll arrange an up-and-coming Trainer to meet you at your Gym. Her name is Peonia. She's the niece of Chairman Rose and has a lot of potential.”

“No worries, Champ. I’ll look after her.”

Raihan scoffed. “I’ll think you’ll remember I’m the Champion finally after all those years!”

“Let’s hope your luck doesn’t run out!” Bea called, walking up to Gladion. “Shall we get going?”
“Sure thing. If that is okay with your boss,” Gladion replied.

“You're clear, and Gladion doesn't take any risks. I’m always here to help out.” Leon nodded, watching the Gym Leaders exit the room, his face falling into one of curiosity. “I’ll have to find Gloria and Victor. We may need those Legendaries.”

Meanwhile, as the full moon rose high into the night sky, a young woman with wine-red hair strolled into the Glimwood Tangle, touching a group of nearby mushrooms to illuminate the nearby path.

“Now then, Rhianna. Where would you find those Pokemon that love to dance with you?” she muttered, glancing around. She shuffled further into the Tangle, trying to memorise the route she was taking just in case she became lost in the maze of paths within the Tangle; however, everything seemed to look the same, blending to confuse and disorient the mind.

She stopped dead in her tracks at the faint rustling coming from a nearby bush. Rhianna reached for her belt of Pokeballs, readying herself for what was readying to jump out of her hair. To her surprise, a beautiful yet battered Galarian Ponyta bolted from the bushes, fear in its eyes. Rhianna knelt, greeting the Pokemon with a comforting embrace as it let out sad whinnying.
“It’s okay. I got you. Let's take you to a Pokemon Centre,” Rhianna gently assured, petting the dirty mane of the Ponyta.

“That won’t be happening. That Ponyta is ours!” a female voice called.
Rhianna stood up as Ponyta hid behind her. Her green eyes narrowed at the sight of two females who, in Rhianna’s opinion, clearly needed new colours and a new, more up-to-date style, away from the orange miniskirts and blazers to the platform boots and large goggles shielding their eyes.

“Then where’s it’s Pokeball?” Rhianna demanded.

“Look here, Melanie, smartie!” one of the women commented.

“I know Militia. I think she’s too smart for her good,” Melanie replied. “All we need is the Ponyta. We can deal with her via other means.”

“I don’t know Melanie. Mable won’t approve of this.”

“Ah, she won’t know it’s our little secret, sis.”

The Ponyta winced, squeezing its eyes shut and letting out a pained whine as its body began to burn. Beads of sweat and glistening tears trickled down its face and snout. All the while, its body shuddered, though no one noticed this or paid any mind to the Pokemon, that was until the Ponyta let out a haunting neigh before stabbing its horn forward, piercing through Rhianna’s trousers and skin into the back of the Trainer’s lower left leg. Another neigh escaped its mouth as it bit into the wound before stumbling away from the Trainer.
Rhianna screamed in pain, jerking forward at the searing burn from the penetration, blood trickling down her leg, staining her trousers and socks. The burn grew, slithering up and down her legs, creating pins and needles across her foot. “What have you done?!” Rhianna exclaimed, dropping to the ground as the pain increased in her leg.

A bright glow enveloped the Ponyta. Shimmering blues and glistening whites erupted from the Pokemon as it began to change its body, evolving right before their eyes.

“So injecting Rapidash genetics into a Ponyta can cause an involuntary evolution. Mable will be pleased with this information,” Melanie pondered, a sly smirk crossing her face. 

Militia didn’t put in her two Pokecents as her focus shifted away from the Rapidash appearing behind Rhianna to the Trainer herself and her ears. It seemed that Rhianna’s ears were lengthening and widening, partially moving up her head as they continued to grow.

“I think we’ll have to make another report, sis,” Militia commented, gesturing towards Rhianna’s ears.

“Indeed,” Melanie purred, raising and lowering her eyebrows quickly. A look of intrigue crossed her face. “At least we won’t have to argue over who gets the Rapidash now.

“What do you mean?” Rhianna called, her confusion screaming like the pain in her leg.

“Spoilers!” the two girls responded with evil smirks.

Rhianna’s wine-red started to thicken, every strand growing longer, fusing as a distinctive purple that transitioned to a light blue spread over her hair, consuming its original colour. Two thick strands hung over the centre of her forehead as her thick, fluffy, cloud-like hair swept left, though Rhianna didn’t get a chance to pay attention to this as a throbbing, stabbing pain formed under her skin centring on her forehead.

A sharp scream filled the air as Rhianna clutched at her head; a faint wisp of wind flew past her as Melanie hurled an orange and black Pokeball at the Rapidash, sucking into the vast space within. Militia, on the other hand, felt her stomach knotting at the sight of a faint slither of blood trickling down Rhianna’s face as the dark purple tip of a horn broke through her skin.
“What have you done to me?!” Rhianna exclaimed, hovering her shaking hands over the lengthening horn.

A singular white band formed around the centre of the horn as it thickened, glistening a little from the wet blood clinging to it. Bones popped and cracked. Rhianna shrieked, tears leaking from her eyes as she drew her hands up in front of her eyes, feeling the pangs assailing them.
Her fingers seized as bones rose against the skin around her hand and middle fingers. The cracks and crunches grew louder as all her fingers except her middle ones receded into her hands, those bones melting into her expanding hand bones. Rhianna whimpered, watching as her phalange bones fused, the skin pulled tightly around them. All the while, the fingernail thickened, elongating in all directions, slithered out and over the nail beds, becoming rounder.
“H-Hooves?” Rhianna said, her voice trembling.

Melanie eyed the dark purple colouring spread across the hooves and the chalk-white hair starting to sprout from the dancer’s hands. “Yes indeed.”

Rhianna yelped, her arm muscles spasmed, making her involuntarily scream at the electrifying jolts of the muscles expanding. New horror swelled within her mind as she bore witness to her arms expanding with the ballooning muscles, all the while her arms shortened. Thin clumps of purple hair sprouted out of her wrists, the hair thickening and weaving together into fluffy fur around her, forming fetlocks.

“I thought Mable and Bryony were spewing Taurosshit with the whole DNA stuff,” Militia commented.

“They weren’t as you can see, and nothing is better than what Lysandre had planned.”
Rhianna leaned forward more, her spine popping under her skin as it pulled her hips and shoulders out of alignment, together expanding and growing broader, pushing the dancer’s slender frame outwards, tears forming in the waistband of her leggings and seams of her hoodie. Rhianna’s breathing became laboured, her organs bloating inside her chest, her ribs popped, thickening and widening, barreling her chest outwards, her clothes straining against the growth.

A nub of flesh and bone rose from her lower back amongst the sprouting white hairs. Rhianna squirmed, feeling the flesh and bone grow longer, snaking into her leggings. With every inch of growth, new nerves formed. 

“There’s her tail. I wonder how fluffy it will be?” Militia pondered.

“They’re turning me into a Pokemon freak!” Rhianna screamed in her head.

A sharper, more resounding scream exited her mouth, matching volume with the bone-chilling cracks of her spine, hips and shoulder snapping into alignment. Rhianna’s eyes widened as it dawned upon her that the knowledge of two-legged stances shifted to those of the four-legged variety. Thick clumps of purple hair with hints of light blue grew out of the top half of her tail, whilst light blue grew out of the remaining parts of the appendage. The hairs blossomed, twisting and thickening, the leggings bulging fabric protesting, staining against the cumbersome tail. With a series of loud rips, jagged tears formed across the rear of her legs as the tail twitched violently upwards, showering the ground with fabric.

Voices echoed across the forest, sending relief through Rhianna’s mind and panic through the villainous girls, but they had a plan. Militia pulled out an orange and white Pokeball as she stormed forward, throwing it towards the deformed Trainer. Her heart raced as the Pokeball rocked back and forth, eventually clicking with a bright flash.

“Grab it, and let's go. The Trainer will keep transforming in there!” Melanie stated, hastily gathering the dancer’s clothes. The two girls hurried away, fabric fragments fluttering to the ground as they disappeared into the shadows.

Stow-on-Side wasn’t the most glamorous or spacious town in Galar, though it was a gateway to the strange, alien-looking forest dubbed the Glimwood Tangle. Gladion, however, wasn’t concerned with the aesthetics of a town as he stared down at the file of papers, each containing a report on the disappearances, trying to piece together any connection between the Trainers.

“I hope you like tea,” Bea stated, entering the small chamber.

“I don’t mind. I’d rather work,” Gladion retorted.

“Night has fallen, and tea is good for the mind and body.” 

“Yeah. I’d rather interview anyone nearby to find a connection, anything that may help end this before it gets worse,” Gladion muttered, slumping into an armchair.

“From what you’ve said, we’re beyond worse.” Bea began, placing the tray onto a nearby table. “We can only hope to find the truth and stop this.”

“Sooner rather than later. If the lid isn’t kept on this, chaos will explode outwards, and then where would it be?” Gladion said, phrasing it as a rhetorical question. 

Bea began to pour the tea, pondering Gladion’s question when an out-of-breath female League staff member hurried into the room. 

“Bea, I'm sorry for the abrupt intrusion, but there’s a problem in Glimwood, and it fits the bill for the alert.”

Gladion nodded at Bea, and the two Trainers hurried out of the room. Onlookers watched, murmuring with concern as they watched the Gym Leader storm through the lobby, trying to keep pace with Gladion.

“Where does he get his stamina from?” Bea quizzed in her head.

After a short distance, Gladion and Bea reached the Glimwood Tangle. League staff moved around, aiding the local authorities with cordoning off the area and keeping the public back. Gladion kept his head down, stepping through the cordon whilst Bea spoke with the nearby officers. 
“It seems some Trainers were out on a late-night hunt for Pokemon when they came across these fragments. The small droplets of blood around the area raised their concerns.” Bea stepped up next to Gladion.

“Anything else?” Gladion said, eyeing the tattered fabrics closely. “Has anyone touched the fabric at all?” He raised his voice, looking around. “Anyone?!”

The officers and League Staff shook their heads, a couple having confused looks crossing their faces. Gladion sighed, throwing two of his Pokeballs into the air; a light flash emitted as an Umbreon and a Lycnaroc in their Midnight form appeared in front of him, greeting him warmly.
“I need you guys to help out. If a kidnapping has occurred, we must find the person. Can you guys use your keen-smelling senses to help track the person?”

Umbreon and Lycanroc cried out determinedly, focusing on the individual pieces of fabric and gathering and registering the scent. Bea watched a little curiously as the two Pokemon slowly moved around the surrounding area, sniffing at the ground, eventually converging together further up the path.

They called back to their Trainer in desperation, to which Gladion nodded in approval, hurrying after his partners. “Come on, Bea, let's hope we’re not too late!”

Bea followed closely behind, with three officers bringing up the rear as onlookers began to murmur in rumours and speculation. Still, one woman with intelligent attire and blonde hair narrowed her eyes whilst making a note. “Another one disappeared without a trace. League Staff members were right. The Gym Leaders are powerless and without a clue.”

“After Chairman Rose, the people of Galar won’t approve of the League’s inability in these matters,” she pondered as she walked away.

Elsewhere in Galar, Nessa stood outside the lighthouse, looking out to sea, trying to figure out a culprit behind the disappearances.

“Team Yell, as everyone had always said, we’re just a bunch of disruptive hooligans nothing like the Pokemon thieves known as Team Rocket in Kanto,” she muttered, “Can’t be Oleana; she’s serving the community as her punishment; and Chairman Rose is spending twenty years behind bars and last I checked he was still in solitary confinement for his safety.” A look of fear grew in her mind, reflecting in her eyes as only one conclusion became apparent the more she thought about it. “An unseen enemy insidious enough to blend into society and strike at the opportune moment.”

“Excuse me? Sorry to interrupt, but are you a Gym Leader?”

“I am, but there’s no Gym Challenge today,” Nessa began, turning to face the Trainer in an orange tracksuit. It starts next month if you want to sign up.”
“Oh no, I just wanted to find an authority figure as I fought this Trainer back on Route 5, but after he left, he dropped this stone, and I wanted to return it to them, but I can’t find them,” the Trainer explained, “Would you be able to hold on to it in case they come looking for it.”

“Why don’t you just use it? I would,” Nessa said, extending a hand towards the Trainer. “Sure thing.

The Trainer smiled, placing the Fire Stone in Nessa’s hand and watching the Gym Leader slip it into her pocket. “Thank you for looking after this. I wish you a good rest of your night.”
“Trainers just keep getting weirder,” Nessa muttered as she watched the Trainer jog gleefully away.

She made her way back to the quiet sanctuary of the Gym. A faint breeze swept across the pitch as she made her way across it and into the back area, giving a deep exhale whilst stepping into her chambers. Five water columns rose from a white stone fountain pooling into a Rainy Form Castform shaped pool surrounded by white silk curtains. Portraits of her various photoshoots and achievements hung on a curved wall that formed the alcove that housed her large circular bed where she sat down.

“I hope Marnie is alright. These disappearances are concerning, but I’m sure we can work through them together and resolve them,” she muttered. I’m thankful Leon assigned Bea to help Gladion. That boy gives me weird vibes.”

She sighed, throwing herself onto her back as she ran her hands over her face. She remembered the horrors unleashed on Galar during the Darkest Day at the hands of Chairman Rose and the Dynamax chaos of two weird guys with equally weird hairstyles and claims.
A strange heat began to radiate across her upper thigh, making her hiss in discomfort, bolting upright and diving her hands into her shorts to find the source. Her eyes boggled with bewilderment as she felt the heat trapped inside her shorts right-hand pocket.

“The Fire Stone?” she muttered, tucking her hand into the pocket and plucking out the stone.
A bright orange glow surrounded it as heat rippled out of it, burning at her palm. Nessa yelped, dropping the stone onto the ground, her eyes welling with tears of pain, staring at the thick burn mark jaggily set into the skin of her palm. A dull throbbing ache of cramps and heat spread up her fingers and hand, fear swelling in her eyes as bones cracked within her hand. Her thumb and little fingers receded into her hand, the skin melting into the skin of her hands. All the while, golden blonde hair started to grow out of the burn mark.

“What in the name of Galar is happening to my hand?” Nessa whimpered, her remaining three fingers compacting down skin and bone, merging to engorge her fingers into stubby, stiff digits. Her swollen fingers grew closer together as her hand swelled, and hair continued to grow out of the deformed hand, thickening into furry patches that consumed her skin. “T-This has to be a nightmare, right?” she exclaimed, hair slowly sprouting from her wrist and forearm.
A pang in her lower back and sharp spasms running up and down her spine confirmed the sickening reality that her body was indeed being assailed by unseen forces, twisting from her human comfort. She glanced over her shoulder, eyeing the series of nine bumps rising out of her lower back, lengthening in unison. The skin reddened as it pulled tightly around the new bones. Her focus remained on the growing appendages, ignoring her other hand steadily transforming into a perfect match to the right one.

Hair began to grow out of her arms and the nine appendages as she turned her attention to the tugging pains assailing her ears. The tips stretched into points, and the itch of hairs grew inside her ears. Instinctively, Nessa threw her hands towards her, extending her stubby digits, trying to feel her ears to figure out what was happening to them, to no effect.

“Why isn’t my other hand working?” Nessa muttered, bringing her hands up before her eyes. It’s gotten worse. I’ve got no hands!” Her eyes darted frantically around, feeling her ears widening. Their curved look gradually faded, twisting into more of a triangular shape as they slid closer to the top of her head.

She scrambled to the bathroom, a series of tugging sensations threatening to distract her from the task. Her heart raced as she reached the mirror, the horror unfolding in the reflection at the sight of her blackening nose. Her eyes glanced towards her ears, and the golden hair thickened into fur.

Nessa whimpered, watching her nose darken and twitch as it pinched, reshaping into a triangular shape before her fear-filled eyes. She turned, glancing back as the tugging sensation on her lower back grew in sharp jolts as the appendages grew longer, spasming on their own. Golden blonde hair rose from the beginning in fine patches, gradually thickening in unison with the elongation of the appendages.

“N-nine tails? I have nine tails,” she whimpered, “I can’t turn into a Ninetales?”

She glanced back towards the mirror, patches of golden hair sprouting from her cheeks. Her mind remembering Gladion’s words about no traces of the missing people, the reality setting in. “There were no traces of how there could be when the people we’re like transformed into Pokemon,” she muttered, staring at her paws.

Pain crept into her feet, the straps of her sandals tightened, straining against bones pressing into her skin. Loud, sickening crunches emitted from her big and middle toes, retracting into her stretching feet whilst the remaining toes swelled, their nails popping off and becoming replaced by new skin. Nessa yelped, drowning out the strapping of her sandals, her body involuntarily tilting forward as her heels rose into the air.

“The Fire Stone!” Nessa exclaimed, staring from her hind paws to her front paws. I have to warn others.”
Nessa frantically grabbed a nearby lipstick with her mouth, pressing her wrists against it to remove the top. She sighed, the lipstick clattering onto the counter. She ignored the hair sprouting out of the rest of her body, desperately focusing on getting the lipstick between her lips. Her tails twitched, a streak of orange fur appearing on their tips as they continued to blossom.

She mumbled to herself, drawing her words in red on the mirror. Bones snapped and cracked inside her body, fur thickening around her neck as her arms and legs shortened the sudden descendant, jerking her head downwards, leaving a skid mark of red lipstick from the word “fire”. The lipstick dropped from her mouth as she dropped to all fours, hips and shoulders cracking into a new quadrupled alignment with her spine. Nessa glanced up at her message reading, “Don’t touch Fire.” praying that someone would understand that as her hair receded into her head, leaving behind three thick clumps that lengthened, becoming dyed to golden blonde whilst every strand thickened into a fur crest.

Her cries became strained, garbled messes as her fur-clad face stretched, pushing her nose and mouth outwards, her popping into a vulpine shape. She stumbled, her clothes slipping from her body, the cracks of her shrinking bones becoming slower and fainter. 

“It’s over,” she thought, collapsing and opening her eyes.

The sclera disappeared as her irises bloomed, their soft oceanic blue twisting into a piercing burning red. Nessa glanced back at her words in the mirror, gazing down at her clothes. A state of patheticness washed over her as she realised the Fire Stone would have dissolved by now, unaware of the stone glowing brightly in the other room.

“All I can do is pray that someone finds a way to turn me back before I get captured,” she thought, closing her eyes. She kept her ears peeled for any sound coming towards her, trying to formulate a plan to alert anyone to her whereabouts within the Ninetales’ body.