A Dream or a Nightmare? : Part 2

“Okay.” I told the electric mouse, deciding to focus on the problem at hand and become a gibbering wreck somewhere where I wouldn’t be seen by anyone who knew Ash, “I don’t know you and you’ve already decided that you don’t like me.” Pikachu tilted his head curiously, “But we’re stuck with each other now.” Pikachu just sat down and started pretending to ignore me, “I know you’re listening. You don’t like pokéballs, do you?”

Pikachu’s ears twitched and I could see I had his attention.

“I’ll do you a deal.” I offered. “You don’t shock me and follow on your own, and I won’t put you back in your ball or come up with some ridiculous way of making you follow. I’m sure I have some washing line in my bag somewhere. De...Mum seemed to pack everything in there, including the kitchen sink.”

Pikachu scratched behind his ear, considered her for a moment and then let off another jolt of Thundershock.

Again, for the record, ow.

“Okay, I take that as a no.” I sighed, pulling stuff out of what appeared to be a tardis bag considering everything Delia had stuffed into it. “Let’s see, ah ha! Rubber washing up gloves for me and washing line for you.” Pikachu looked irritated as I held up the rope. “Last chance. Either way you’re coming with me. Now would you prefer to meet the crowd with dignity or being dragged behind me? Because quite frankly I don’t care what people think about me, but I’m sure your pride wouldn’t recover...”

Pikachu looked from me, to the rope, back to me, realised I was serious and jumped up onto my shoulder.

“See?” I asked it, smiling slightly as I put the stuff back in the bag of holding, “Not so hard was it?”

Pikachu’s response was to let off a small jolt of electricity. Not enough to count as an attack, but enough to let me know he wasn’t happy. To be honest, at that point I was passed caring. All I wanted to do was find a quiet, out of the way place and scream and cuss every God in existence before crying for a while and I couldn’t do that while Pikachu was being a stubborn git.

Clipping the pokéball onto my belt provided a ‘leash’ of kinds. I knew from the show that captured Pokémon couldn’t go too far from their pokéball. It had been proven that even a nine hundred year old Ninetales had not been able to resist the ‘invisible wall’ it provided past a certain point.  It felt a little mean, but I was in a fine mood by that point and seeing the severely depleted crowds outside only soured my temper further.

Delia cooed over Pikachu, earning me another Thundershock and I heard someone complaining that the Ketchum boy didn’t even know how to use a pokéball properly. I think I amused Pikachu when I made a rude gesture at the speaker when Delia wasn’t looking and before they could respond with more than a “Why I oughta...” I decided now was a good time to skip town and left.

We got as far as the nearest wide open, completely empty field before I found a tree, let Pikachu down so he could wander around as he liked, dropped my backpack and then finally allowed myself to let loose.

Pikachu jumped a mile at the wail that escaped me as what was going on really hit me.

It wasn’t fair! It was insane! It was IMPOSSIBLE!

There was no way this was real and yet it was impossible to deny it. You couldn’t get hurt in dreams and Pikachu had hurt me, so I wasn’t dreaming.

I’d been other people before but that was different! That was an act! A costume donned and a persona applied for the duration of a day or a weekend in order to play games and have fun! This, this was a full gender swap, a dimensional transition and the loss of fifteen years.

Oh god puberty. I was going to have to go through puberty again! It sucked enough the first time, as a girl, how the hell was I going to cope as a guy?

I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be at home, preparing for the convention that by now would have started. I didn’t want to be in another dimension away from everyone I cared about, no matter how cool having real Pokémon was.

I slumped down against the tree, which Pikachu had climbed when I’d startled him, and burst into tears as something else hit me.

I’d never see my family again. Never ever ever. I wanted them so bad it tore at my heart as I realised I’d never go running with dad, or shopping with mum, or discuss video games until obscene times of the morning with my brother again. They weren’t here. They couldn’t get here.

And my friends. They were all at the convention. I had been looking forward to meeting up with everyone and enjoying a weekend of sheer insanity. Now that would never happen. I could never meet up with everyone, I couldn’t call them over skype, I didn’t even have my phone as that was with my cosplay and god only knew what had happened to that.

I was alone. All alone. I’ve never been good at being alone. I’ve always been social. I’ve always needed others around, be them friends, family or colleagues.

But if I tried to talk to anyone properly here, if I tried to tell them anything, they’d think I was mad. That I’d snapped. I’d be locked away. At least with the journey ahead of me I had freedom. Even if it could never be the freedom I wanted because the people I’d want to share it with could never be there alongside me.

“Pikapi?”

Pikachu had climbed down when I’d been sobbing and now was watching me like he kind of understood what I was going through. I knew Pokémon were sentient, I’d seen enough evidence in the show to support that. But how could he know? How could he understand...had I been talking out loud?

Of course he’d understand. He wasn’t like the three normal starters, who had been raised from an egg to belong to new Trainers. He had been captured from the wild. Torn away from his family and friends and now forced into a life not of his choosing...

Without thinking I scooped him up and hugged him tightly, tears falling into soft yellow and brown fur. I felt him stiffen up and subconsciously braced for the jolt I knew was coming, only for him to relax and attempt to return the hug.

I don’t know how long we were like that, the pair of us grieving over our losses, but when I let go and he settled on my shoulder and nuzzled me, I knew that somehow, in some way, we’d bonded. Not in the way I’d expected, by getting in over our heads and somehow escaping like in the show, but through the shared pain of losing our old lives and having to start anew.

A wild Rattatta attempting to get into my pack finally broke the peace and quiet that had settled between us. Pikachu didn’t like that very much, pulling the other mouse Pokémon away from the bag and threatening it with a spark of electricity.

The Rattatta snapped at Pikachu, attempting to take a bite out of his tail and before I was even thinking properly, “Thundershock!” escaped my mouth as I grabbed for an empty pokéball that I somehow knew was on my belt. I had no intention of actually training the damn thing long term, but I wanted to...

The train of thought trailed off as I realised that I was contemplating doing to the Rattatta exactly what had been done to Pikachu and I. I dropped the pokéball as Pikachu’s attack struck the purple critter and it let out a horrible sound before escaping swiftly back into the long grass.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t just catch any old wild Pokémon and drag them away from their homes and friends.

“Pikapi?” Pikachu asked, concerned as he turned to face me.

“I’m okay.” I reassured my only friend in this world, picking up the empty ball. It was going to take some work, but somehow I was going to have to build a team without stealing any Pokémon away who didn’t want to come.

Suddenly I understood why Ash had such a small supply of Pokémon to his name.

This was not going to be easy.

A Dream or A Nightmare? : Part 1

I have been many things over the years, a Summoner, a Keyblader, I’ve even been the reincarnation of a five thousand year old Pharaoh.

This however, this was a new experience.

Going to sleep as a girl in cosplay and waking up in a very male body to an obnoxiously loud alarm clock was not the most ideal way to see the dawn.

Now normally I’d hit the off switch, roll over, go back to sleep and get woken up by my furry snooze button. After all my cat has learned that when my alarm clock goes off, I get up and she gets fed. So she head butts me until I emerge from my covers.

Today however my alarm clock wasn’t in reach. In fact nothing belonging to me was. It took me a moment to register the fact, as me and mornings normally go about as well as cats and water. Sitting up provided enough information to make me decide that this was all a dream and very shortly I would wake up again. This time on my very comfortable sofa.

The room itself was plastered in posters about the ‘Pokémon League,’ the alarm clock, which was still merrily buzzing away on the bedside table looked like a pokéball, there were very familiar clothes laid out for the room’s owner and on the end of the bed was a certain unmistakable red and white hat with a green ‘L’ on it.

It wasn’t until I managed to work out how to shut up the beepy thing that I took a proper look at myself.

Then, embarrassingly, I screamed.

On the one hand I at least sounded like a girl, even if the body I was in was male. On the other it brought someone running. They burst through the door, panic on their fact, only for the sight of them to cause me to flee under the blanket.

Delia Ketchum. The woman who had entered the room was Delia Ketchum.

So did that make me Ash?

Oh god I hoped not.

It was a fool’s hope as Delia settled on the bed and pulled the blanket shielding me away, watching me with a concern that should have been aimed at her son, not some imposter.

“Ash?” She asked, worry obvious, “Are you alright?”

“Yes, no, yes...” I didn’t know. If I was actually dreaming this was no big deal. I’d wake up soon and probably forget all about this. “I’m okay.” I finally sighed, knowing where I was supposed to be going and what I was supposed to be getting today if the plot continued its proper course, “I just realised I’m running late.”

It was a little white lie but it did the job. Delia took one look at the clock and yelped, shooting to her feet. “Right, right!” She shot over to the pile of clothes and shook them out, then grinned at me, “You don’t want to be last to choose.”

“Charmander all the way.” I grinned, though it was half-hearted. Charmander was my favourite Kanto starter, it always had been. I just remembered what Ash’s Charmeleon and Charizard had been like. I had theories about why they’d been like that, but still, getting chargrilled regularly enough that I should have first degree burns was something I could not bring up the energy to be enthusiastic about.

That and ever since watching the Celebi movie, I was convinced that no matter how early I got to the lab, Pikachu would be the only choice available. Professor Oak would want to preserve the timeline after all.

Delia seemed pleased by response though, obviously up until this point Charmander had been a favourite of Ash’s too. She shot out the door in order to let me get ready.

Getting dressed was not a fun affair. While I knew the outfit like the back of my hand, it had been the cosplay I had been going to wear after all, it took me a while to get over the blush I gained when changing underwear. This wasn’t fair. If I had to dream about the start of the Pokémon Anime, why couldn’t I have at least been a girl?

And worse I was ten. Ten! I hadn’t been ten in about fifteen years. I didn’t remember how to be ten.

Still I was up, washed, changed and ready to be out the door in about forty minutes. I had taken less before when getting ready for work when I was running late. However it’s a lot more difficult to be fast when you don’t know the layout of the house. Delia had ‘my’ backpack waiting for me as I rushed down the stairs, pulling my cap on and having to resist the urge to pull a ponytail I no longer hand through the hole at the back.

I admit I kind of zoned out on the whole, ‘I’m your mother and I love you, but it’s time for you to see the world’ speech she gave. She wasn’t my mum. My mum didn’t live in the Pokémon World. She lived in my world, the REAL world. Admittedly she’d probably give a similar speech and then burst into tears when she knew I wasn’t looking. I remembered being told about how emotional she had gotten when she had left me halfway across the country for university after all and I had been eighteen then.

I tuned back in to Radio Delia just in time for her to point out a brand new set of running shoes and wish me luck, before retreating into the kitchen.

It shouldn’t have taken me long to pull on my trainers, get out the door, get to the lab and pick up my starter Pokémon. It really shouldn’t. Except for one minor detail.

The Pallet Town in the games involves a grand total of four or five houses, the Pallet Town in the dream was much larger and I successfully managed to get lost.

In the end I arrived at the lab just in time to catch Gary’s gloating and him zooming away in a convertible. That he was driving. That still made no sense to me. The boy is ten. How does he have a driver’s licence? It hadn’t made any sense in the anime and it made no sense here.

Being late meant no Charmander, I didn’t even bother trying the pokéballs for Squirtle and Bulbasaur. There was no point. I was obviously going to get Pikachu. I didn’t mind, having Pikachu was kind of like having a ‘win button’ unless the plot demanded otherwise.

Sending the critter out was a delight. Ever since playing the games and watching the show I had dreamed of having real Pokémon and this was as close as I was ever going to get. Warily, remembering Pikachu’s first reaction to Ash, I reached out to touch the electric mouse.

And got my first taste of Thundershock for my troubles.

It took me a minute or two after the electricity died down for me to pull myself together. Ash made it look so easy on TV. That had hurt.

Wait. That had hurt...

Oh shit, this wasn’t dream. I was trapped in the Pokémon Anime.