“Where am I?
Am I dreaming this?
I feel a pleasant breeze.
…I hear a voice from somewhere…
I wonder who it is?”
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Poke.
Poke. Poke.
Poke. Poke. Poke.
“E…Excuse me. Please, wake up.”
She rolled over.
“Come on, wake up!”
Shizuka opened her eyes, stood up and stretched, the forest surrounding her a welcome sight.
Until she realised she wasn’t supposed to be here…
“You’re finally awake! Great!” The Mudkip in front of her was grinning.
“Wh…where is this?” She looked around trying to see if she recognised the area.
“You were passed out here. I’m glad to see you’re awake!” The Mudkip said, watching her and wondering what she was doing. “I’m Jet. Glad to meet you. And you are? I’ve never seen you around before.”
“How am I even understanding you?” Shizuka asked, “I’m human.”
“Huh?” Jet looked incredibly confused, “You’re a human? But you look like a normal Charmander in every way.”
“What?” Shizuka held up her paws… paws? She turned around, trying to get a good look at herself. Catching a glimpse of something behind her she tried to see what it was by turning around, but the thing followed her… she stopped and looked over her shoulder. It was an orange tail with a flame at the end… her tail…
“It…It’s true! I’ve turned into a Charmander!”Shizuka yelped in her mind, completely confused, “But why? I don’t remember anything… I have to be dreaming…”
“Um…” The Mudkip, Jet, was talking again, “You’re kind of weird. Your name? What’s your name?”
“My name?” Shizuka thought, “I remember that at least. My name is…” “Shizuka, my name’s Shizuka.”
“Oh…” The Mudkip pondered this, “Shizuka huh? Well… It’s a funny name.” Jet giggled, causing Shizuka to wonder if there was someone else who could help her.
Before she could ask, however, a scared lady’s voice called, “Somebody! Please! Help me!”
“Huh? I hear shouts from over there!” Jet stated.
“I’ve befriended Mr State-the-obvious then.” Shizuka thought with a small smile as a Butterfree flew over.
“What’s wrong?” Jet asked the Butterfree.
“It’s horrible!” Butterfree replied, panicking, “My Caterpie fell into a cavern! My poor baby!”
“What?” Jet yelped as Shizuka frowned.
“A huge fissure opened in the ground, and my Caterpie fell in!” The mother continued, “He’s too young to crawl out by himself! When I went to get my baby, Pokemon suddenly attacked me!”
“Huh, you were attacked?” Jet asked, confused, “By other Pokemon?”
“Is it that strange around here?” The Charmander wondered as Butterfree continued.
“They must be enraged by the fissure and out of control… at least… that’s what I think.” Butterfree gazed at the ground, “I’m not strong enough to fend off those wild Pokemon. What will become of my baby?” It sounded like Butterfree was going to start crying… if Butterfrees could, “Oh! What am I to do?! Oh dear, oh dear!”
Jet turned to Shizuka, who already had an idea what he was going to ask, “This sounds bad, we have to go help!”
Shizuka nodded and they raced to the fissure, climbing down safely and reaching the bottom.
“What do we do?” Shizuka asked Jet as they looked around, “Caterpie isn’t here any more.”
“We’ll have to go deeper into the caves and try to find him,” Jet said, giving her an appraising glance, “What level are you?”
“Uhhh. I don’t know.”
“Well you’re quite small, so maybe you’re a low level like me.” Jet said, looking her over again, “What do you know?”
“Uhhhh.” Shizuka yelped and lashed out at a Wurmple that tried to attack her, her claws racking it, causing it to faint.
“Scratch, obviously.” Jet grinned, “So you must know Growl too.”
“Can we just go?” The Charmander asked irritably, “The sooner we find Caterpie, the sooner I can wake up from this dream.”
“Dream?” Jet asked, but Shizuka was already racing down a corridor, “Shizuka! Wait up!”
She kept on running, following the passageway around until she found a cross road, “Hey Jet, left or right?”
“Uh, right?” Jet hazarded, not knowing what the strange Charmander girl was up to. She dove down the right passage way, keeping an eye out for Caterpie, only to find herself in the first room they’d come to.
“Jet?” She asked as she noticed something gold and shiney, picking it up awkwardly with her paws, “What’s this?”
“Cool, you found some Poke!” Jet grinned, “It’s money, you can use it in the shops in town!”
Shizuka grinned and passed it to the Mudkip who had a bag of some kind, before passing Jet and heading back towards the passageway.
From no where, a Sunkern burst out of hiding and attempted to attack.
This time Shizuka was ready, using Scratch and knocking out the rampaging Pokemon. “I feel kind of guilty, knocking them out like this.” She said, looking over her shoulder before continuing, narrowly avoiding an attacking Pidgey, who Jet used Growl on before Shizuka used Scratch to defeat, “Why would they suddenly attack other Pokemon?”
“I think it might be…” Jet paused to Growl at another Pidgey, “The Earthquakes and things recently that’s disturbing the Pokemon and causing trouble.”
“What Earthquakes?” Shizuka asked as she took the other path.
“How could you have missed them?” Jet looked outraged as Shizuka took point and led them down the stairs, which, considering they were natural, were remarkably well made, “They’ve been shaking the island for days.”
“I’m not a Pokemon, remember?” Shizuka asked as she emerged from the stairs only to be assaulted by another Sunkern, which she Scratched and grinned, this felt natural, like she’d always known how to do this. Most of the rooms on this floor were empty, with no sign of Caterpie, other then some Poke and some Pidgeys that attacked without warning.
Finding the stairs to the next floor in the last place they looked, Jet took point this time, only to be assaulted by a Pidgey and a Wurmple, who the duo knocked out easily.
“What’s this?” Shizuka asked as she nearly stepped on a berry of some kind.
“It’s an Oran Berry
“Cool.” Shizuka held onto it, “So what about these Natural Disasters? What’s causing them?”
“No one knows. The island was pretty quiet until about a week ago and then…” Jet shrugged, “Shizuka watch…”
A Pidgey used Tackle on her from behind, knocking her over. She Growled as she got up and counter attacked with Scratch, that had hurt… dreams didn’t hurt… “I’m not dreaming, am I?” She asked herself as she headed downstairs again.
“Where is this?” She asked Jet.
“You really don’t remember anything do you?” Jet laughed, “This is Tiny Woods, where a lot of low level Pokemon hang out.”
Shizuka let the words sink in as she heard someone crying, “Come on Jet, I think I hear someone.”
Jet’s fins were shaking. “I think it’s Caterpie.” He laughed, racing a head of her as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
She didn’t understand why it was so light when they kept going downwards until they reached the lowest floor, the trees that made up the walls of ‘Tiny Woods’ were too densely packed to let Pokemon in or out, but their leaves let light in.
They followed the sound of the crying to a Caterpie who was crying, looking for his Mother.
“We came to rescue you.” Jet said, not even waiting for Caterpie to turn around.
“Huh?” It asked, turning around. The Caterpie was tiny, it couldn’t be long out of the egg.
“Your Mum’s waiting,” Jet continued, “Let’s get you out.”
“O…ok.” Caterpie followed them, avoiding Shizuka nervously, avoiding the flame on the end of her tail.
Safely getting back up the floors and carrying Caterpie up the climb they got back to Butterfree without many words shared, even though Shizuka had millions of questions.
“My baby’s safe,” Butterfree smiled at them, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how I could ever thank you properly.”
“Oh, that’s OK!” Jet grinned at her, “It’s been dangerous lately with sudden quakes and fissures like that one. It was great to find your little boy unharmed.”
“Please, may I have your names at least?” She asked.
“I’m Jet.” The Mudkip nodded, “And this is Shizuka.” The Charmander nodded also.
“Cool.” Caterpie looked starry eyed.
“He’s, uh… staring at me adoringly…those sparkly eyes…It’s a little embarrassing… but this doesn’t feel bad either, it’s like I’m a hero. Helping Pokemon in trouble might be a good experience.” Shizuka thought, “Or at least until I find a way to turn myself human again.” She amended hastily.
“Thank you! Jet and Shizuka!” Caterpie said, loudly enough for the whole of Tiny Woods to hear.
“I know it isn’t really enough,” Butterfree said, giving her son a look to quiet him down, “But this is a token of our thanks. Please, accept it.” Butterfree gave Jet an Oran Berry , another blue one that wasn’t quite the same as an Oran
“Thanks for helping.” Jet said, turning to the Charmander once again, “You’re very tough, I was sure impressed.” Then he looked quizzical, “So, what are you going to do? Do you have any plans?”
“I suppose I should find out why I’ve been turned into a Pokemon, but I don’t know where to start or have anywhere to stay while I’m finding that out…”
“Listen Shizuka,” Jet continued as if she hadn’t paused, “If you don’t have a place to stay, you should come stay with me.” Shizuka thought for a moment, then nodded and followed Jet back to town, where he stopped outside a large house with flames in torches surrounding it. “Well,” Jet turned to her, smiling, “This is the place.”
Shizuka looked at it properly, it was orange and beige brick and kind of reminded her of a furnace. “Wow.” She grinned, “I can’t explain, but I’m happy! I’m a human being, but I like this place. I’m weirdly happy… perhaps it’s an instinct thing for a Pokemon… maybe this is what it feels like to want to wag your tail… It doesn’t matter! I’m happy!” She grinned, “maybe I feel that way because I’m a Charmander.”
“You’re impressed, aren’t you Shizuka?” Jet asked with a hopeful look on his face. She nodded in reply, “I thought so. I thought this would be a good place for you to live, Shizuka. I was sure you’d like it.”
“I have my own mailbox and everything?” Shizuka asked.
“Yeap, they deliver mail from Pokemon straight to your mailbox.” Jet’s face turned serious, “You know, like the fissure Caterpie fell into, there have been many natural disasters recently, because of those disasters, many Pokemon are suffering. I want to help Pokemon in these tough times. I want to help change things so Pokemon can live in peace.” He got all nervous and kicked his back feet, “So, uh… Well… I liked how you handled yourself when we rescued Caterpie. Would you like to join me on a Rescue Team?”
“What’s a Rescue Team?”
“You don’t… Sorry, I forgot, not a Pokemon from this island. A Rescue Team does the sort of thing we did today day in and day out, saves Pokemon who are trapped in Caves or places like Tiny Woods, escorts weaker Pokemon to their friends in dangerous places and generally are charged with helping maintain the peace.”
“So they’re kind of like the Police?”
“The who?”
Shizuka frowned, the memory there but just beyond reach, “I’m not sure.”
Jet laughed, grinning at his new friend and shaking his head, “You are defiantly weird, but I like you.” Then his eyes widened, “Our Team name! We don’t have one yet!”
“Isn’t it your team?”
“We’re the first two members…” Jet sounded embarrassed, “So Shizuka, what do you think would be a good name for us?”
“Uhhh.” “What do you call a Rescue Team?” “Tasukete?”
“What does that mean?” Jet asked, looking at her askance.
Shizuka thought for a moment and then grinned, “It’s a call for help.” She said proudly, having remembered.
Jet thought hard, “A Rescue Team who’s name is a call for help…”
“Nevermind, I can think of something else…”
“No, I like it.” Jet said hastily, “It’s a good name! In fact it’s perfect.” Jet took on a stance that Shizuka could only assume was a proud one, “Rescue Team Tasukete!” Jet grinned, “Let’s do good, starting tomorrow.” He headed off somewhere.
“Wait, Jet!” Shizuka called, “Where’re you going?”
“Home, to sleep.” The Mudkip yawned at her.
“But I thought you lived here?”
Jet laughed, “Sometimes, but since you’ll be living here now, I thought I’d go visit my old home.”
“I don’t want to kick you out of your house…”
“It’s fine, honest, I have plenty of places to go. Besides that house is very much for Fire Types like yourself, it’s too warm for me.”
“Then why did you buy it?” Shizuka asked, head tilted as she pondered.
“It’s big enough for a Rescue Team base and…” He stopped at Shizuka’s grin, she understood. “Anyway, I’m tired and I bet you are too…”
“Can you tell me more about what’s going on tomorrow?” She paused, “Please?”
“Sure.” Jet nodded, “Night Shizuka.”
“G’night Jet.” “Hopefully in the morning I’ll wake up from this crazy dream.”
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