“Thank god, my shift is finally over!” I cried out to nobody in particular while exiting the convenience store I had been working at ever since my parents had passed away a few years back.
The walk back to my apartment was nothing special, slightly below freezing temperatures, but that was normal for Durango this time of year, being in Southern Colorado we had plenty of snow around new years every year.
If I had to say anything was weird about my walk back was the growing dizziness I had been feeling in the middle of my walk, by the time I had arrived at my single bedroom apartment I felt like instead of working I had just spent most of the afternoon drinking vodka mixed with pure moonshine.
Barely making it back to my room, the last thing I remembered was crashing into my bed and blacking out while dreaming of doing anything but going to work the next day.
Groaning, I rolled over onto my side, I distinctly felt the feeling of grass on my skin and realized I was definitely no longer in my bed. Sitting up I took a look around me and ‘Yup definitely not my room’ I thought. I was in a forest, reminding me of the few times I had explored the East coast. ‘New York state or possibly Canada?’ I thought to myself after getting a better look at the trees and area around me.
Standing up, I decided to do a quick body check. Looking at my hands, I noticed a severe lack of the callouses I had gained occasionally helping at my friend's farm or even the scar from the time I had burnt my hand on the grill at work. Further inspection showed me I was definitely shorter too, probably on the shorter side of five foot rather than the five ten I had been before falling asleep. “What the hell…” I whispered to myself, noticing my voice didn’t sound quite as deep as before either.
Checking my pockets and surroundings, My pockets were empty but right next to me where I had been laying on the ground was my small black backpack I used to carry things to work, It was slightly crumpled on the floor probably from me rolling around on it while passed out.
Quickly searching the bag, I was disappointed but flabbergasted at the same time. My bag lacked all the essentials I kept in it at all times, but a few items I definitely never carried around. What looked like five real pokeballs stared back at me, alongside what was possibly an Xtransceiver from the gen five Pokémon games. Picking up the watch like device, I tapped the screen, turning it on showing what looked like a pretty basic screen with apps and different functions listed on it even coming with a second screen below the first which was usable after sliding the top screen over to the right.
The apps included everything from my apparent trainer ID stating I was in Unova to a Pokédex and even the Pokénet alongside a bank account loaded with approximately Three-thousand Pokédollars. My ID showed my name -Chloe Grey 5’2 16-year-old Female with black eyes and brown hair. Ignoring the fact that apparently I was nearly a foot shorter and nine years younger, I continued my exploration of the xtransceiver showing a call function and even what looked like a pokémon themed internet browser.
Suddenly hearing the nearby bushes rustling behind me, I turned and saw a small creature that looked exactly like a Petilil from Pokémon. Instead of being cautious of the first Pokémon I had ever seen, I instead noticed that the Petilil was barely even conscious, with scratches and parts of its leaves torn off and barely hanging on.
Noticing me, the Petilil let out a soft exhalation of its name and collapsed almost immediately afterward. Cautiously, I walked up to the wounded Pokémon and examined her, remembering petilil being exclusively female, and then I realized, 'I was looking at a real life Pokémon'. I just stared at it for a bit until I noticed how shallow its breathing was. Without even thinking, I reached into my bag, grabbing one of the five Pokéballs and gently tapping it against the petilils small head. The petilil quickly turned into red motes of lights and disappearing.
Stolen novel; please report.
I hoped that the pokéball would keep the small pokémon healthy enough for me to find a town and since this was apparently Unova in the world of pokémon a pokecenter. Seeing as I had no idea where I was, and the sun was around halfway across the sky, I started walking east.
I walked for what felt like an entire day, but looking at my new Xtransceiver only around five hours had passed since my arrival and subsequent catching of the petilil. I saw a few pokemon like patrat and lillipup, but with the noise I was making they mostly avoided me and stayed out of sight. Remembering the Pokédex on my watch and was surprised to see a new page showing my pokemon with the petilil listed. She was a female Petilil with three moves Absorb, Growth, and the egg move Encore and surprisingly no ability yet, but it also noted she was close to developing Chlorophyll and was heavily injured and should be looked at by a Nurse as soon as possible. Reading this made me redouble my pace and start jogging through the forest.
Two hours later, the sun had already set and that's when I finally saw it. Around a mile in front of me was a small town, thankfully with what was easily recognizable as a pokecenter even from my distance. Another half an hour of my legs screaming at me to just lay down and rest, I arrived outside the pokecenter. With my last burst of energy, I quickly walked inside.
The interior was the basic layout of the pokecenter in black and white 2 with the desk at the back center with the pokemart near the door on the right but being closer to the size of a mansion with stairs leading up to what I assumed were rooms a lobby and even a small diner to the left. I ran straight to the desk where a pink haired nurse sat, glancing up at my arrival she saw the panic and exhaustion on my face and immediately bolted up. “I have an injured petilil please help her!” I gasped out between breaths while gently placing petilils pokeball down on the desk in front of the nurse.
Quickly grabbing the ball and calling a chansey over, the nurse disappeared into the backroom and left me there to recover from the grueling day that was my first day in the pokemon world. I found a set of chairs where I could sit down while I waited to hear back from Nurse Joy, and gladly took a break after the day I had endured.
Deciding to take the time to explore myself a little more, I figured out a few things. I was definitely in Unova seeing two trainers, a boy and girl around sixteen with a Snivy and Tepig respectively heading upstairs towards the upper floors with what I assumed were rooms for pokemon trainers on their journeys. A television in the lobby I was sitting in let me know I was around the black and white 2 timeline due to Iris being featured as the champion of the Unova region looking slightly older but definitely still young, maybe barely eighteen.
Finally coming down off of the adrenaline from my little adventure in this new world, I fell asleep curled up in the lobby chair. Feeling a few gentle nudges of my shoulder, I opened my eyes to a Chansey gesturing for me to follow them.
Standing up, I followed the chansey back to the main desk and found Nurse Joy with a pokeball on the counter in front of her. Nurse Joy taking the initiative spoke first, “Petilil is fine albeit will need to rest the night and be checked up on in the morning, otherwise she’s perfectly healthy albeit tired”.
I sighed in relief, even though I had just met the petilil for less than a couple of minutes, I still felt a bit worried about the first pokemon I had ever seen.
“Although Petilil is fine, I’ve got to ask what were you thinking young lady!” Nurse Joy managed to say in a stern tone. “I checked your profile, and you don't have any other registered pokemon other than Petilil, so obviously you didn't have a pokemon with you what would you of done if you or your friends were hurt?” She said this part with more worry in her voice.
“I’m sorry, Nurse Joy. I was on my way to the city with some friends when I got separated in the forest and stumbled upon petilil wounded while trying to find my way here,” I lied while blushing at the light scolding I had been given.
“Well, make sure it doesn’t happen again,” She sternly says before dropping back into a more casual stance and saying, “Well, since you went ahead and caught a wild pokemon," she paused then continued by asking me "Would you like me to sign you up for the Unova league?"
"I'm assuming that's what you and your friends were traveling here for, right?" She added, I mutely nodded, that would fit with the story I had already given her.
I blankly stared at Nurse Joy for entirely too long, causing her to continue on “Since you are a registered trainer for the league now, I got you a room upstairs, you look like you’re about to pass out any moment. Go get some rest, and we’ll let you know when to come down for your pokemon in the morning”.
Handing me a key with the number 103 on it, I was directed up the stairs and to the room with the matching number. Before entering the room, I managed to tiredly say “Thank you for your help Nurse Joy.” she just smiled and disappeared back down the stairs.
I spent all of five seconds looking at the room after entering it before collapsing on the queen-sized bed and falling asleep, wondering if I would wake up somewhere else again that night or if it had all been a crazy dream.