Somewhere

  'Kid'

  A distant rumble echoes through the world of darkness, breaking into the murky haze.

  'Kid, wake up'

  The trembling world continued to shake as the muffled voice got louder, dispersing some of the haze.

  "C'mon kiddo, don't fall asleep in a place like this..."

  This time I heard it properly. A voice is talking to me, out of concern?

  "...there's wild pokemon all around these parts."

  Eh? Did I hear that right? Pokemon? Pulling my sluggish eyes open greeted me with a young man crouched on one knee in a park ranger uniform, or at least what appears to be one.

  "Finally awake aren't cha, pretty brave to sleep so soundly here."

  A quick absentminded glance around me shows the two of us are lying on the grass in some woodland with a wall behind me against my back. Wall? It feels too bumpy to be a building wall.

  "You mustn't be so reckless, little boy. Even if its a game of playing trainers, you shouldn't be so quick to go along with your friends. You'll make your parents worry."

  Little boy? Game? Trainers? What is he on about. I wanted to respond but my head still fuzzy from the sudden awakening so I stayed quiet. The lecturing young man continues on regardless.

  "It's a good thing that you're unhurt when I found you, otherwise who knows what those digletts can do. You should go home now, your folks must be worried sick. Seriously, to fall asleep right in front of Diglett's Cave with no pokemon is as reckless as you can get."

  The ranger man pulls my arms up and helps me to my feet, bringing my attention that my limbs are strangely skinny and short. Eh? This is my body? And the wall behind was the entrance to a cave? What's going on? Why am I not at work? Was I kidnapped? What happened to my body? There are so many questions I wanted answers to but the man carries on anyway.

  "You're from Pewter City right? Don't worry, I'll make we'll get out safe and sound. Just make sure you get mommy's or daddy's pokemon to follow the next time you feel adventurous little one."

  With the man navigating his way around the trees and bushes and my arm pulling forward the confused me, we eventually made it out of the wooded area and onto a path of dirt leading to a city visible in the horizon. Upon seeing the unfamiliar sky, landscape and horizon, an urgent question was promoted number priority in my mind.

  Where the hell am I?

  ---

  Pewter City

  Over the past week, I've been trying to accept my current reality. No matter how ridiculous it seems, I can no longer ignore the clues and signs littered all over the place. Lest I diagnose myself of insanity, I think choosing to acknowledge my observations will better for my mental health. And so I have to admit it, the two startling discoveries.

  First being I've become a pipsqueak. My height, weight and voice all had reverted back to my days as a brat. All my hair down there is gone, my desk job flab poofed into nothingness and my preteen hormones production is at an all-time high. Reliving life as a shorty around 8 years of age is something I'd never thought to go through but here I am.

  I even got mistaken as one of the city's kids the other day when I was scouting around my new environment. A local brat Ben asked me what types of shorts I like after bumping into each other for the first time, saying nonsense like I must be a fellow shorties buddy after noticing my kiddy shorts. The guy initially wanted to fight after his speech but after seeing I have nothing on me and the homeless shelter as my residence, he backed off. The thing is, I was pretty annoyed at the time so after he dangled the opportunity to brawl then just to pull it back, I pretty much suckered him square in the gut.

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  In hindsight, it was probably due to my stress levels rising of being stuck in an unfamiliar place and an unfamiliar body with hormones rushing through it, that I pulled the first punch but that little fucker didn't have to kick me in the balls for it so I slogged him another one in the jaw. He elbowed me in the stomach, I kicked his shin as hard as I could. He gave me a black eye and I gave him puffy cheeks and lips. We traded punch for punch, kicks for kicks and headbutts for headbutts. In the end, the fight degraded to a contest of who can pull the other's cheeks the hardest and who can spit the most. I won of course when Ben collapsed from exhaustion. In a dim alleyway of Pewter, illuminated by the setting sun the two of us were on our backs huffing for air. It was then after Ben caught his breath and spoke that I had my faced my second revelation.

  "Uu bruut! Hu wud evan hit de ahder pason in a pokiman hatul!? (You brute! Who would even hit the other person in a pokemon battle!?)" squeezed out Ben in between huffs and his swollen mouth.

  "O wha? (A what?)" I replied with similar huffs and a limp tongue tired from rapid-fire spitting.

  "Hokinon metul! Ae huul didwee uu tainas or ticori ava ze udda! (Pokemon battle! A duel between two trainers for victory over the other!)" Seeing how vigorously his spit was flying through his mouth as he spoke, Ben was probably agitated.

  "Den ee wun den! (Then I won then!)" I replied with my nose pointed towards the sky as high as it ever had.

  "WIDFF DER POCCEMUN! (WITH THEIR POKEMON!)" Came back a strong retort from the sore loser Ben.

  "Ah wun ish till a won, weit... Loocoman er ree? (A win is still a win, wait... Pokemon are real?)" Ben who laid nearby suddenly lifted his head off the ground to stare at me with wide eyes like I'm the world's most special retard.

  "... Av yuo bin levn unda a wock ure inda lyf? (... Have you been living under a rock your entire life?)" His gaze was saying that he found a special wonder of the world in front of him, a very special one.

  "Ell ie huthues nenores ov dis orld es ensyd e ave muth a fee mays ogo oh eyd aa ets moes (Well my furthest memories of this world was inside a cave mouth a few days ago so I'd say it's close enough)"

  With the reality I ran away from in the past few days smacked right onto my face, I couldn't be stuffed to retort to his gaze. Whenever I saw those creatures on the streets I always told myself it wasn't possible, that I was in a long coma dream or drugged up in a hallucination beyond saving, that I was in some futuristic VR machine or had unknowingly equipped some advanced AR with some bizarre body modifications. After that day's energetic venting session, letting out the anxiety, frustrations and doubts that had bottled up inside I decidedly to give in to resignation after hearing the words directly from the resident of the world itself. And thus came my second discovery.

  'Fuck it, I'm in the world of pokemon.'

  Whether it was some elaborate conspiracy or an accidental slip between worlds, I made up my mind to go with the flow. Thinking about it isn't something that can help me at this stage, in fact, what could I even do if I found out the purpose behind my arrival in this world. Rather than that...

  "eh heh heh heh... Hah ha ha ha... HAHAHAHA!" My abrupt laughter that broke the silence surprised the boy with the swollen face upright, wondering if I was hit in the head too many times but I didn't give a damn, because I can follow my delusional childhood dreams to the limit here. Since I am here I might as well explore the whole world I've been doing behind glass screens. Hell, I might get their autographs along the way, you know them. I sat up with the biggest smile on my panda face.

  "Haha, ho, ha. Sorry about that. And for suddenly punching you. Oh, my head feels so clear now. Ah, feels great! I'm Vincent." My tongue with replenished liquids and my hand out toward the boy next to me, he gazed my offer to shake hands apprehensively but eventually took it anyway.

  "Ben, Youngster Ben is my trainer name." A smile mirrored my own grew on him as we shook hands, he probably got as much fun out of the fight as I did. After we picked ourselves up, limped side by side with bruised arms around each other and headed towards the homeless shelter we got chewed out by the pink-haired nurse. With that my first week in the world of pokemon in hospitalisation.

  ---

  Route 4's Entrance of Mt Moon

  In the dark dreary cave, a small shadow can be seen shuffling between stalagmites, puddles and legs of the many creatures that inhabit the cavern. From time to time the shadow's silhouette changes to similar shapes of its surrounding terrain: spherical near boulders, conical near upwards stone spikes and even sometimes match the nearby fauna but never stopping in its journey onwards. As the shape-changing approaches towards the end of its goal, the light-filled exit of the tunnel, its body being gradually exposed to the visible out world. After jiggling its small gelatine body in celebration, it spots a sprawling collection of structures beyond the rocky terrain in the horizon and decides that's its next destination.