Ch. 1 A New Reality

I woke with a jolt as I felt myself momentarily weightless before —.

*THUMP*

"Oof, that hurt."

— dropping on the dirt floor.

Wait, dirt floor? 

I stood up in confusion. I was just at home. I was reading and fell asleep on the couch, definitely at home. Except, this definitely wasn't my living room, if the lush green trees, the damp ground, and the weird animals were anything to go by. 

What's going on?

A tiny gray bird with a red head zipped by right next to my head, giving me the scare of my life. I fell on my butt, my mind racing. I had definitely seen that animal somewhere, but I couldn't remember where. Come to think of it, I couldn't remember much of anything. I looked all around, the green, fresh area only making things worse. I could feel my heart start racing and soon found myself having trouble breathing.

Focus. Breathe, 2, 3, 4, release, 2, 3, 4

Breathe, 2, 3, 4, release, 2, 3, 4

Breathe, 2, 3, 4, HOLD, 2, 3, 4, relax.

As I steadied my breath, I opened my eyes again. I couldn't remember where home was, but that wasn't important right now. What mattered was I wasn't home. I was out in a forest somewhere with no idea how I got here.I felt a prickling sensation at the base of my neck and all over my head, but I couldn't figure out what was causing it. Other than the strange bird, I was alone here. I saw a large log a couple of meters away so I walked over and sat down.

Think! Where is home? Where is my family?

…

Who is my family? Who am I?

The realization that I couldn't remember who I was sent me into another fit of hyperventilation. As I once again focused on my breathing, I once again felt the prickling sensation all over my head. I sat behind the log, hoping it was large enough to cover me in case something launched out. The sensation only got stronger and I soon heard some rustling. 

Soon enough, I could hear a pair of voices talking, though not clearly enough to make out any words. I stood up, hoping they would be able to help me. Pretty soon, I could see two individuals in red suits, bright red hair, and bright red glasses. Their outfits seemed oddly familiar, but I instinctively knew I had never seen anything quite like that.

"Damn, I can't believe that Ranger didn't have anything on him. I was hoping for at least a potion. Deserved to die if he wasn't prepared," I heard one of them say. My hope quickly died out upon hearing their conversation.

"Don't worry about it, I was able to go through his things and grab some stuff. I got a few eggs and the injured Pokémon, but-."

"Hold up, someone's there!" the first interrupted the other, pointing towards me. Both men grinned widely as their hands moved towards their belts. Both had two red and white balls clipped to the belt, ready to be used.

"Hey," the younger one called out. " If you give us everything you've got, we'll leave you alone. But make it quick, we don't have much time."

I was still stuck on what they had mentioned. Pokémon. Like a dam that broke, information began to flood my brain about the games I had grown up with. With it came the hazy memory of a world separate from this one. This was a world that should not exist given the reason Pokémon were familiar. As I grunted in pain, a few lion cubs entered the little clearing we were in. No, not lion cubs. With dark brown fur covering most of its body, beige fur for its face and extremities, and a tuft of red fur on its forehead, they could only be Litleo.

"Damn, he lured us in!" the older Team Flare grunt yelled out as he released the Pokémon waiting inside the Pokéballs. A Magmar and Golbat came out, both being much scarier than the games could ever portray them as. Magmar's flames immediately caused the area to swell in an oppressive heat, daring anyone to get closer. Golbat, at just over 5 feet, was ready for blood as he flapped his wings, floating menacingly.

The other tried to release his own partner, but a Litleo managed to toast the flying Pokéballs with a Flamethrower before the Pokémon could be released. "Damn, it roasted Scrafty's and Mightyena's Pokéballs!" the grunt cried out. The other had to protect the two from the six Litleo that surrounded them. Two more ran up to join the rest as the battle ensued. 

Magmar made use of several chopping movements, each one glowing with a rusty brown energy, to leave some of the cubs with major injuries. The Golbat kept weaving through the Litleos' attacks as it sent slashes of compressed air towards them. Before either could finish the wild Pokémon off, a deep roar reverberated through the area, sending chills down my spine. As I turned around, the prickling sensation grew to uncomfortable levels as two larger lions, Pyroars, jumped out of the trees and protected their cubs.

The resulting battle was even more intense. Forgetting the fact that I was whisked away from my home, I watched in mesmerization as the Team Flare grunts battled against the pack's parents. Claws, teeth, wings, everything at the disposal of each Pokémon was used. After several minutes, the two Pyroar began to slow down. The grunt tried to take advantage of this by having Golbat attack the two so they would be separated from the cubs.

The Golbat, having successfully gotten in between, grabbed one of the cubs. It dodged the attacks from the Pyroar with a long red and yellow mane, the female, as it began to suck the Litleo's blood out. I watched as it visibly healed some of its wounds. Before it could go for another one, I threw a stick at it, completely forgetting that I as a person would stand no chance against such creatures. However, it was enough for the Golbat to look at me for a second. A second which the Pyroar used to send a blast of fire and burn one of its wings. 

With a shriek, the Golbat crashed into the floor. The grunt shouted out something but was drowned out by a massive torrent of flames that burned the Golbat to a crisp. The Magmar, who was busy fighting the other Pyroar, growled in fury before releasing a flurry of punches and kicks. The Pyroar was beginning to be overwhelmed but was saved by its mate, who rushed in and slammed into Magmar. It was finally defeated with both Pyroar stomping on the ground and sending a wave of dark brown energy through the ground and into Magmar. 

Without mercy, the Pyroar tore apart the two Team Flare grunts. After making sure all of the threats were taken care of, the male Pyroar, the one with a mane that resembled a shield, walked towards me. I could feel the pressure building as it got closer, almost making it impossible to look at it or breathe. Before it could do anything, the Litleo that was about to be Golbat's snack came between us and began to say its name. What felt like an eternity passed before the Pyroar huffed and the pressure I felt dropped in an instant. Pyroar glanced at me, though it looked more like it was looking past me. It then turned around and began to leave with its pack. The Litleo I saved gave me a quick lick on the back of my hand before running to catch up with its family.

 I dropped to my knees, everything becoming too much as I now realized how close to death I was throughout the whole ordeal. Taking deep breaths, I forced myself to think back on what I knew for certain.

Pokémon. Those were real, breathing, living Pokémon. And they just killed two people easily

One look at the bodies had me grimacing and holding back some vomit. The Litleo could have easily killed me, let alone the Pyroar that was staring me down. Once the smell of blood hit me, I couldn't hold it any longer and emptied whatever was in my stomach. I had to sit for a while and let myself relax. Seeing two deaths, four including the Pokémon, and still trying to come to terms with being whisked away to another world was just… Too much. 

What the hell am I supposed to do? I have family, but I can't remember anything about them. I can't remember myself. The only thing I do know is Pokémon, but none of that will help me if I just die here in the forest. 

I gotta get out.

With that thought, my mind got to work. I couldn't do anything else if I was dead. It didn't matter if I was taken from my home for a specific reason, nor would it matter if there was a chance that I could remember anything about myself. After all, the dead can't be bothered to care about anything.

The two grunts were obviously natives of this world. They had Pokémon and still ended up dying, even if I did play a small role in that. I needed to get out of the forest. I needed to find the nearest route and follow it to the next town. I needed things to help me get there. I looked over to the mangled bodies, the sight making me queasy once again. I swallowed the saliva that was gathering in my mouth and walked over to see what I could find.

All I had on me were my clothes, nothing else to my name. Walking to the grunt who was able to release his Pokémon, I noticed his tattered clothes allowed me to quickly glance at everything he could have been hiding. The only thing he had was a smartphone, something I was able to immediately remember having at one point. I pressed and held buttons until a loading screen came on, telling me it was starting to turn on. 

I walked over to the other grunt, the one who had a hip bag. His pockets held a key ring with three keys, a key card, a Team Flare ID card, and some shades. I had to clean the blood off the glasses before putting them on, but I could make do with them. The bag held a small fanny pack, 1100 PokéDollars (1100$), a flip phone, several fruit looking things, a Potion, five Pokéballs, an ID card, and an egg. I stared at the egg for about a minute. 

The egg was a deep metallic silver, practically gleaming in the soft lighting of the forest. Clustered specks of green seemed to shift as I moved the egg around, using two hands to properly cradle the admittedly heavy armored fetus. The egg itself made defiling the bodies worth it. 

An actual Pokémon egg. Right in my hands.

The shell was very thick and warm, pulsing with an energy that I could feel wafting into the air. The longer I held it, the more energy that it pulsed with. I decided to put it in the fanny pack and take it for myself. I also pocketed the money, berries, and Pokéballs. Before I got moving, I remembered one crucial detail: Officer Jenny. Though they were never big in the games, I had no way of knowing whether this world followed the anime, the games, the manga, or some mix of the three. It wouldn't really matter since I honestly had no clue about the anime or manga but it was still better to not take everything valuable. I didn't need an officer getting suspicious that the criminals had absolutely nothing on them.

I put 200$ back into the hip bag, as well as two of the Pokéballs, the key card, IDs, flip phone, and key ring. This would be what I gave any authority or law enforcement officials I came across. The rest… Hopefully I could get away with the rest. Thankfully, the fanny pack was hidden by my rather oversized flannel jacket.

After thanking the two dead criminals for helping me with resources, I looked around to decide which direction I should walk in and saw some dimly flashing lights. Well, I thought I did, because they disappeared immediately. I began to walk away, hoping that I was just seeing things. I could feel an odd pressure around my head, but there was nothing around. I then realized that I had absolutely no idea where I was going. Taking the smartphone out, I found that there was no password. I quickly went through the phone and found what looked like a map icon. Clicking on it and zooming out once the map loaded, I found out I was in Santalune Forest. I was in Kalos, which should've been a no-brainer. The idea was still difficult to wrap my head around, but I focused on the task at hand.

Looking at the map, I could see I was close to Route 22, which wasn't too far from Santalune City. From what I could see, I was about a 40 minute walk from the Route and about a 2 hour walk to the city. The phone showed it was currently 11:54. I guess I still had some time.

I began my walk towards Route 22. On the way there, I once again felt an odd pressure, almost like something was trying to enwrap me. I began to pay attention to my surroundings. I looked around at the trees, feeling a cool breeze pass through. It felt so surreal. My guard was up, but walking through a now peaceful forest eventually brought it down again. A green caterpillar was walking a few meters away, crawling up a tree until it found a branch with a few oranges and began to nibble through it. Wait, oranges weren't supposed to be blue. It looked exactly like an orange, but blue. Is that-.

An oran berry!

Oh, damn. Whatever small wishes I had that this was just the craziest dream I've ever had were swept away with that scene. I could definitely smell the berry from here and the Caterpie eating it looked disgustingly real. I never thought they would be so fuzzy, not to mention the thin trail of slime left behind as it crawled forward. 

The pressure started again, this time feeling like I was going to start nodding off. I shook my head to try and clear it, deciding it was better to keep moving. Soon enough, the forest gave way to a rather large dirt path that stretched and curved down both ends. Now that I was out of the forest, I thought it more important to get myself situated with the smartphone.

The phone had several apps that I had no idea how to use. I decided the best thing I could do was reset the phone since that would allow me to explore everything at my own pace. After taking a few minutes to do so, the phone rebooted itself to its factory settings. The fact that everything was going smoothly was a damn godsend.

Now that it was reset, I saw the phone only had four apps: the Maps, Team, Scan, and PokéDex apps. I clicked on the Team app but quickly found out I needed some sort of League account in order to use it. The same was true of the PokéDex app. The Scan app opened just fine, but there was nothing for me to scan. With those figured out, sort of, I continued to make my way towards Santalune City with the help of Maps.

As I walked, I kept trying to think of things I could say to help my case. I mean, I couldn't just say I was stranded in some strange universe that used to be just a piece of fiction and entertainment to me just yesterday. Not to mention any suspicion from telling others that Team Flare grunts attacked me and died because of some Pokémon that happened to be around. Would it be believable that the wild Pyroar attacked them and not me? I had no clue, no information whatsoever about the world I found myself in.

I needed to change that. The phone didn't seem to have an Internet option, so I couldn't look up stuff myself. I guess the next best thing would be to go to a Nurse Joy. Hopefully they're as kind and caring here as they're portrayed in the games. I guess I'd find out once I got to Santalune.