Reflection

Jason took a step back as he tried to comprehend what he was looking at right in front of him. He was barely coping with the reality of being a child, let alone the idea that Pokemon exist. The posters on the wall of trainers that he'd never seen from the show or game now made some sense to him. The kid he took over wasn't just some huge pokemon fan. He was essentially like those guys who had football memorabilia littered all over their rooms.

"L-lop?" The creature in front of him muttered in a worried tone, its head tilting slightly as it looked at him

But that creature wasn't something he'd never seen before, it was a Lopunny. Jason realized his sudden shout had now worried this Lopunny, who clearly was confused by why this child was suddenly scared by it. But Jason couldn't help it, the ridiculousness of his situation was a breaking point, no it had exceeded it.

"T-timeout. Just give me like 5 more minutes, yeah?" Jason said as he struggled out a smile before slamming the door back shut.

"Lop?!" The Lopunny beyond the door yelped

"Ok...OK... you're in a child's body, check. There is a Lopunny outside your door, check. Oh god, dad was right I'm delusional." Jason muttered pacing back and forth in the room "Wait no keep yourself together, Jason. It's totally normal to wake up in a world with pokemon, right? Yeah, I bet it happens to everyone. Yeah, I'm just another bastard that ended up here like everyone else..."

Jason stopped his pacing and turned to the window of the room. It had been covered with a semi-translucent curtain that allowed sunlight in but was hard to see through. He walked towards it and pushed the curtain apart to see what was outside.

What greeted him was a beautiful town with patches of snow littered around and a beach off in the distance. In the sky, he could see a flock of Starly flying past, with a few Staravias in the mix. Down below he could see people going about their daily lives. Most looked normal to Jason, but those who stood out had their pokemon out. Bidoof, Kriketune, Budew, Psyduck, all these names kept popping up in his head as he spotted each one.

I want to have a Hippopotas for Chrismas~

Or a big Hipowdown will do~

I don't want a Ralts, or a really small budew~

I want a big Hipowdown to play with and enjoy~

And the Christmas music that had been playing the whole time. There was something off about it before but now he was sure. Jason sat on the bed and let out a high sigh, his hands covering his face.

"I'm a kid in a world with pokemon. Yeah totally normal." Jason muttered as he glanced at the door "I just got to accept it, right? No use trying to make sense out of nonsense..."

"Mark?! Are you alright?" The woman's voice came back again, but this time it was right outside the door.

"Lop, Lop!" The Lopunny said as a few knocks came after it.

Jason got up and walked over to the door. He had to accept his situation, there wasn't a way out of this. And he didn't think he was brave enough to go through the window anyways. Jason opened the door and saw this child's mother who looked extremely worried.

The woman in front of him was much taller than him and sported short blue hair, with her bangs held up with a hairband. She wore a white shirt with pink sweat pants and an apron filled with images of Eevee and its evolutions which honestly looked adorable.

"Mark are you OK? I heard a scream from downstairs." Mark's mother said worryingly. "Did something happen?"

"Y-yeah I'm fine..." Jason said but his eyes widened slightly as he continued."I was just a bit scared.. that's all."

"You were scared of Lopunny?" His mother said as she chuckled "Oh dear, you can't be frightened by every little thing anymore. If you want to be a trainer then you need to build up that courage."

"Lopunny!" The Lopunny shouted with its arms raised

Jason paused as he thought about what he had just said. It didn't feel right, just like before, this response wasn't something that he thought of. Instead, his response came out naturally as though someone else was speaking for him.

"Mark?"

"Oh umm yeah, I was just thinking about something..." Jason quickly replied. "Errr, so about those pancakes?"

"You know you can always tell me whatever is on your mind. I'm always there for you." She said with a smile, "and with that get out of those pajamas, if you take too long Raichu will end up taking up your share"

As Mark's mother and Lopunny went back downstairs, Jason could finally let out a sigh of relief. He felt that if he hadn't spoken up quickly enough, that natural response would have taken over. A part of him started worrying, that maybe he wasn't entirely in control of this body.

After closing the door he went to the dresser that he saw before. It was best to hurry up and get downstairs before Mark's mother starts worrying again. Upon opening the dresser, there weren't many clothes in there, but the ones Jason found had pokemon such as Buneary, Combee, and Azurill printed on them.

"Jeez kid, what's with your taste in fashion. Not even a rock band T-shirt?" Jason sighed as he went through the clothes he could find. Not caring about the mess he was making. "Come on at least give me something to work with..."

Finally, Jason ended up picking a shirt that was plain in the middle but had an image of 2 Bunearies hugging. He covered that up with a down jacket and wore the only jeans that he could find in the drawer. Mark seemed to have a liking for short pants, given that an entire section of the drawer was dedicated to them.

Jason looked to the mirror to give himself one final look. There was one thing that confused him about the body that he has taken over. Mark's mother's hair color was light blue, yet his hair was as black as it can be, though it's possible that he inherited it from his father.

"This will do, for now, thankfully it's chilly outside so it'd make some sense..." Jason muttered as he turned his body to see if everything looked right."

"H-hey...." A small nervous voice said.

Jason turned his head around towards the window, thinking the voice came from there.

"C-could you give me back my body? Mister?"

Again the voice sounded like it came from behind his head like someone was whispering right behind him. And the voice, that voice sounded a lot like how he sounds now.

"G-give me back my body... I-I don't want to be like this anymore... It's cold..."

Jason turned again to look at the mirror, but this time, his reflection wasn't moving exactly as he did. Instead, he saw the same body, his arms wrapped around his body like he was trying to warm himself up. And his reflection was looking directly at him.

"I-I... I take it back, I don't want this anymore mister. I just want to be me again. Please, I'll do anything I'm sorry I shouldn't have made a wish..."

The reflection was speaking to him. Its mouth moving like it was an actual person. The voice not coming from the reflection, but whispering behind his head.

"You... you're Mark aren't you? Jason asked as he moved closer to the mirror and touched it. "What's going on here Mark."

"I... made a wish, like I do every night... But this time I'd thought maybe I'll be able to become strong and brave." The reflection said as it hugged itself tighter. "I just didn't want to be another kid from Sandgem Town. I wanted to be like my dad... S-so I made a wish... to become someone else, to become someone that could be like dad..."

"And then this happened..." Jason said, and the reflection nodded. "Alright, so how did you make that wish? Maybe if we can do that wish again it might reverse whatever this is!"

"W-what?" The reflection replied in confusion.

"Look if pokemon exist here then maybe magic does too. There has got to be something you did to trigger whatever crazy magic brought me to take over your body. Anything like a ritual, spell, artifact, or whatever you could have used when making that wish?"

"Dad... had given me a present... He said that whenever I wished for something I should hold on to it." The reflection said as it pointed towards the bed.

Jason's brow furrowed as he looked at the bed, before crouching down to see what was under it. There he found a small wooden box that had a small latch keeping it shut. Upon opening it he found a small rectangular piece of teal-colored paper.

"So you used this when you did your wish?" Jason asked as he raised the paper.

"I've been using it every time I made a wish but nothing like this ever happened before!" the reflection exclaimed "I've wished for a big Dragonite, dad to come home soon, pancakes for every meal, I've wished for a ton of things but nothing ever happened!"

"Alright, so let's use this magic paper again. OK, so I wish that I can go back to my own body to live out the rest of my life!" Jason shouted as he held on to the piece of paper.

...

...

...

"Anyday now... come on make daddy's wish come though let's go bring me home!"

...

...

...

"Err... mister?"

"No come on we just aren't wishing hard enough, again! I wish to get the hell out of this child's body and back to my own! 3, 2, 1, go!"

...

...

...

"Mister, I don't think it's working"

"Yeah, no shit sherlock I can see that!"Jason replied in frustration. "Fuck ok Jason think, pokemon are real, what pokemon can learn the move wish... Xatu, Togepi, err that one Legen-..."

Jason paused as he looked down at the piece of paper he was holding. His heart started pounding as he looked back at the mirror.

"You said Sandhem Town, that's in Sinnoh... Did your dad ever go to Hoean by any chance?"

"Erm, yeah he completed his Gym Circuit in Hoenn. It was where he's from..."

"Fucking Jirachi... The bastard gave something from a legendary pokemon to a kid..." He muttered in disbelief "Is this something normal here, like are Legendary somehow easy to find in this world?"

"L-legendary pokemon? No, we were taught that they were myths, stories that we tell to teach people about how the world works..."

"And where is your father now, do you know?"

"N-no... He hasn't visited us since my 6th birthday..."

"And your now what, 9?"

"10, I had my birthday in August. He gave that as a present before he left..."

"So you've been wishing on this thing for like what 4 years straight, and out of all those wishes this was the only one that actually worked?"

The reflection flinched and nodded.

"It's like the world is out to get me or something..." Jason muttered and took a deep breath before sighing. He stuffed the paper into his jacket pocket and opened the door. "Your mom's probably worried about why it's taking so long to come down. We can discuss this later if you are still there."

"Eh? Wait no don't go-"

Jason ignores the reflection and goes down the stairs. His brain working overtime as he tried to remember anything to do with Jirachi but all he remembered was that it had something to do with a comet. And it was never in the games apart from special events.

As Jason reached the bottom floor he looked to his left and saw the dining room with Lopunny eating at the table. And next to it was a floating Raichu, the Alolan variant to be specific, chowing down on a plate of pancakes.

"What took you so long? Raichu ended up eating your share, just wait at the table I'll get you another batch." Mark's mother said from the kitchen.

Jason sighed as he sat at the table, gazing at the fat yellow rat gobbling those pancakes like they were the most delicious thing in the world.