It took a while before Felix calmed down enough to think again. In his previous life the pokemon franchise had been one of the few high points. He wasn’t some kind of expert on the critters, but he knew quite a bit about them still. Because of this he knew at least basic information about his favourite evolution line.

A few more screams for confirmation and he became sure that his hypothesis was at least partially correct. Luckily he noticed another thing that would later become vital for his survival.

‘Echolocation! No wonder! Deino are blind, so there would have to be some way to take note of their surroundings! Short term goal: master echolocation!’

So Felix said and so Felix did. A few hours later he somewhat understood how it worked. Luckily his little sibling remained unconscious throughout his practice. For the first time he realised where he was.

‘I’m in a cave. There is small pool of water next to our nest, and five more eggs remain unmoving. My sibling must have finished his eggshell like me, because I can’t pick it up with my sensors. Also, isn’t this little guy growing way too quickly?’

In the time it had taken Felix to practice his echolocation, his little brother had, just like him, grown in size to about 0.8 meters tall and then stopped.

‘That’s the normal height for a deino I believe. Unless my size comparison is completely off I should be quite a bit bigger than my sibling. Maybe I have good IV’s? Thank god for that! I deserve at least some advantage in comparison to my other siblings. This is supposed to be a reincarnation after all.’

After taking stock of his surroundings Felix scampered off into the cave leaving his potential siblings behind. This wasn’t done without reason. The deino line of evolution is known for being almost excessively destructive and combative. The deino themselves were blind and started attacking everything that moved. They bump into walls because of their lack of sight. Their evolution zwealous would grow another head and fight amongst themselves, and the final evolution hydreigon was known to not be blind, but still attack everything in sight. Not a happy family, all in all.

‘If I stay here my siblings will continue to attack me, and if god forbid one of my parents returns to the nest I can kiss this new life goodbye! I need to run, and fast!’

And so Felix ran for the hills, figuratively speaking. The cave had winding tunnels and small openings through which he crawled. Eventually he felt the heat of what seemed to be the sun on his skin. Using his echolocation he figured out that he had reached the exit. Much of the surroundings seemed blurry because he hadn’t mastered the art of echolocation yet. After getting used to this form of ‘seeing’ however, Felix began to refer to his echolocation as such. The echolocation that deino could use seemed much more sophisticated than that of bats, allowing for near sight. Felic felt that if deino weren’t so aggressive and simple minded, that they wouldn’t bump into the wall so often.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

‘I can see some trees in the distance! Judging from their shape and size, they seem like ordinary oak and birch trees. It seems the time for adventure has come! Should I find a trainer to catch me? No. I want to have control over my own life and decisions. If that means no comfortable life, then so be it.’

Like this, with a confident gait in his step, the little green deino walked into the forest, unaware of the ambush ahead, where a great predator lew in wait…

Out of the trees a caterpie jumped, ambushing Felix with deadly intent! A white glamour surrounded his head and slammed down on top of Felix. He did not take the threat seriously, caterpie being one of the weakest pokemon in existence. And yet, reinforced by this white light, caterpie came in and hit Felix like a truck, sending him flying a few meters away.

‘SON OF A BITCH THAT HURT! Was that caterpie using tackle? I underestimated the importance of attacking moves! But how do I use such an attack? What moves do I even know?’

The caterpie took advantage of Felix’ indecision to prepare another tackle. Although panicked Felix was still used to fighting. He knew that when in doubt, rely on instinct. In his mind he roared the first thing that came up.

‘HEAD SMASH!’

Felix reared back, and then charged at the caterpie, who attacked in the same way. The two attacks collided, but Felix’ attack was clearly superior. The tackle fizzled out and the green mean headbutting machine slammed caterpie first against, and then through a thick oak tree. This seemed to end the battle for good, because the next thing he saw, or more accurately, heard was something Felix had missed the last time.

Congratulations! Felix grew to level 5! (+3)

HP

21 (+7)

Atk

13 (+5)

Def

11 (+4)

Spec Atk

12 (+5)

Spec Def

9 (+3)

Spd

10 (+3)

For the first time since his reincarnation, Felix saw hope. He now realised where his future laid, and how he would grow. With the level ups his muscles felt like they were hardening, his skin tightening and his ‘sight’ sharpening. His sense of smell became clearer and he felt lighter on his feet.

‘What a rush, is this how levelling up always feels? This doesn’t make much sense though. How could I level up a whole bunch from one caterpie? Or was I already level 4 last time? No, that doesn’t make sense. Maybe I level up, not when I kill things, but when I learn something new and actually gain ‘experience’? At least now I know how to attack. Just say it in my mine and it will happen. This will take quite a bit of practice though.’

Contemplating on the future, Felix continued his journey through the forest. A little battered, but not yet down for the count, he had high hopes for this second chance.