Inconvenient Reincarnation

The warm sunshine heated the back of Simon as he slept. The sound of Pokémon rustling and living their lives was comforting. He could distinctly hear the grumbling of a Bewear along with shaking of a nearby tree, the collective chirping of a few Bidoof, and the flapping of wings from above. Wings caused the sun on his face to flicker, causing the boy to stir, hesitant to open his eyes. The gentle breeze on his fur was enough to make him want to sleep, and sleep more, then nap soon after waking up- the comfort was indescribable.

His eyes hastily opened, despite the wonderful feeling.

Uh. Fur?

The boy stood up. Then fell. His legs couldn’t properly raise, and his balance was off. His neck ached, but that wasn’t the issue here. Simon looked down. A pair of black and blue paws peeked back at him.  Oh. Oh Arceus. It was a dream, of course, but it was frightening nonetheless. An attempt of a calming breath only caused a flicker of nervous static to flicker close to his neck, having the exact opposite effect on him- the Shinx tumbled over in horror at the electricity way too close for comfort, making a sound that could only be described as confusion.

A group of Sealeo carefully attempted to approach but were called back by a Walrein looking rather concerned about getting too close. Simon couldn’t blame them. He was just as confused as they were. What an odd dream. He swallowed a lump forming in his throat to make it go away, but it only became more prominent. Okay. It was a dream. Cool. Yeah. He looked down at the paws that replaced his hands. He lifted one up, a little disturbed by how the joints bent in ways his arms wouldn’t, and bit onto the skin carefully as a make-do pinch in the arm. Oh. Oh he felt that. 

As if the panic he felt wasn’t enough already, his entire body began shaking, eyes widening as he stared at the grass in front of him. This wasn’t a dream. He was, no joke, no meme, truly a Pokémon. The hammering in his chest just got a lot more real, heart pumping faster and harder, pushing its way up to his throat. Oh no. 

Where the fuck was he? Why in Arceus’ name did he have paws? How was he a Pokémon? The questions buzzing in his head made him want to vomit, no answers in sight. Finally, a waddling sound snapped him out of his panicked stare, still breathing quickly, but managing to look elsewhere. A small Bounsweet pittered and pattered towards him, looking exhausted and done with him already. Tears began flowing the second she stopped to look at him, and Simon managed to utter a shaky “What am I?” before breaking into violent sobs. 

The Bounsweet rolled her eyes, exhaling hard before slowly walking the last bit to him, and sitting down next to him- though keeping a bit of distance. Maybe that was a good idea, considering the stray sparks that kept flickering around him during the cries. In an exhausted oh-for-Arceus’-sake-can-you-please-stop-crying tone, she asked him “You’re a human, right?”, to which he could only nod in response. A Bounsweet was talking to him, and he could understand it. A fucking oran-berry looking circle was speaking. That’s not concerning at all. Either way, he was too freaked out about himself to care much about that whole thing. Another sharp sigh caught his attention again, sniffling and wiping away some of his tears. She looked at the pathetic mess he was, then looked back towards the horizon. 

“Welcome to Coldour, buddy. This region is gonna eat you alive.”