Chapter 2

Markus POV

I had woken suddenly, thanks to the horrid dry taste in my mouth. Jolting up, I startled the poor Pachirisu that had been shoving a berry down my throat. I tried desperately to removed whatever was left, shuddering as more of the evil flavor found its way down my throat. After taking a minute to try and recover, I saw what the Pachirisu had been attempting to do.

“Were you feeding me a chesto berry?” I asked the electric squirrel, recovering slightly from the impromptu torture session.

They nodded. “Pachi *confirmation*! Pachi Risu *concern*?” they chittered back to me.

“Well thank you, little one, that was extremely kind of you. Also, there’s no need to be concerned, I’m just out of it at the moment,” I replied before realization dawned on me. Not only was I talking to a Pokémon, I had understood the context of what it was saying without needing to try and interpret them.

‘We don’t have time to unpack all of that right now’ I quipped to myself.

The Pachirisu seemed satisfied with my answer. They smiled and waved to me before returning to their game with the Lechonk.

I took a couple of moments to collect my bearings. I had jumped off a bridge and somehow landed in the world of Pokémon with nothing but the items in my pockets and the clothes on my back. Calling them clothes would be generous, however, as they were barely held together by hopes, dreams, and common decency. The long hours at the factory had not been kind to them.

I checked my pockets, grimacing as I did so. It turned out not everything had survived the fall quite as well as I had. I realized this as I pulled out multiple pieces of what was my phone. My wallet came out with it, though I wasn’t sure how useful an Illinois driver's license would be in this world, or if they accepted maxed out off-worlder credit cards. My earbuds appeared to be in working order, and my car key, while useless now, had also survived the trip down. The most surprising item, however, was my Switch. I thought it would have been completely beyond any kind of help, but when I pulled it out, it looked not only untouched, but upgraded.

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The old grey of the device was instead replaced with a white and gold color scheme, and the parts felt brand new. The screen itself had a sort of sheen to it that made it look like it could survive any form of damage.

Curious about the changes, I started up the Switch. It didn’t load up the usual start screen, instead immediately loading into my in-game boxes on Scarlet. Each box was filled with icons resembling each Pokemon I had meticulously trained. I brought the cursor over one of the icons, prompting a text box to appear. There was only one option I had available, and it was to withdraw the Pokemon. The strangest part was the lack of a “current party” section usually shown on the left.

‘Fuck it. Today has thrown me for such a loop, what’s one more surprise?’ I thought, clicking the withdraw button.

My investigation was cut short by the sounds of a violent scuffle and the zap of electricity. I quickly scoured the area to see that the two small Pokemon were desperately fighting for their lives against a very angry Zangoose, and were losing badly. The Lechonk rushed in with a tackle, only to receive a nasty swipe that knocked them away. The Pachirisu tried some kind of electric attack, but the Zangoose just shrugged it off, stalking towards their downed prey.

Without a second thought, I dropped everything and sprinted towards the commotion in an attempt to stop what was about to happen. I dove at the Zangoose, attempting to grapple them and draw their away attention from the small piglet. My attempts weren’t in vain, as the Zangoose was caught off guard, giving the Lechonk and Pachirisu enough time to scurry away. I had a brief moment to bask in my victory, only to be reminded of my folly.

I had interrupted a very angry Pokemon during their hunt, and I was still trying to grapple with the vastly superior creature. That same creature was looking at me like its next meal.

The Zangoose’s claws glowed white as they grabbed me, throwing me over their shoulder. The impact of my landing resonated with the horrid snapping of my arm, and my vision blurred. I struggled to rise as the angry mongoose vanished for a moment, only to reappear and pin me back down. Consciousness began escaping me once again as the Zangoose raised their claws for one final strike. Glancing behind my assailant, I smiled, seeing that the two Pokemon had escaped.

‘At least this time I won’t go out selfishly,’ I chuckled to myself. Closing my eyes, I accepted my fate.

The sounds of chimes flowed through the meadow.

“Withdrawal complete.”

POP

“ARAAAAAAAAAQ!”

*rage*

Thank you for reading!