A young man slumped against a counter with his gaze aimed firmly downward, tapping away at the phone held in his hands. He tapped away at the buttons, immersed in his game. Back to the classics, playing a remake of the original red version of the Pokémon series. The signature trilling introduction of a battle starting reverberating off the sterile tile and solid walls of a small pet store, quickly punctuated by an irritating 'dee-ding, dee-ding' that repeated endlessly, a sign the game was going poorly.
With a frown forming over the man's features, he flicked the phone aside across the countertop in frustration, watching it skid and tumble until it came to a stop against the cash register with an unpleasant crunching sound. The noises of the game came to a jarring halt, then it repeated the last few seconds of music and beeping, halted, and got itself stuck in a loop. "Oh, I hope I didn't just break that..." the man groaned to himself, frustrated with himself for losing his temper.
Despite his passion for the Pokémon games, he hadn't ever been very good at them. He always wanted to pick his favorites and shoehorn them into staying in his team for the entire game. He would never put his starter away, even if it was going into a type disadvantage, and often kept 'weak' individuals such as Venomoth or Onix on his team. Despite getting mad and knowing there were ways he could improve, it wasn't something that really appealed, and he continued to just blunder about casually for the sake of killing time.
The young man reached for his phone, turning it around to reveal a large crack fracturing across the screen, which had impacted cleanly into the corner of the register. "Good job, idiot, now you're going to have to pay for a new one. It hasn't been that long since you broke the last one..." He muttered under his breath, rubbing his free hand over his face as he caressed the crack in the phone with his thumb, trying to see how bad it was. It scraped his finger just sharply enough to draw a thin line and release a trickle of blood that smeared onto the fracture. With a hiss, he jerked his hand and nearly dropped the phone again, just barely managing to tighten his grip to keep it from slipping free.
It was at this moment that a figure burst through the front door with much more haste than you would expect from entering a pet store, particularly when it was so early in the morning. The store had barely been open five minutes, which is why the cashier had figured he had some time to kill on his phone. Shockingly, the figure wore a balaclava that concealed their entire face, a dark-colored shirt and jeans, and was holding an exposed pocketknife.
They locked eyes with the cashier with a wild stare, brandishing the knife in his direction. "Open the register! Give me the money right now!" A screaming voice made the assorted animals in their secured areas begin to raise a racket, while the cashier merely stood there in disbelief. This guy was robbing... a pet store? First thing in the morning no less? This is absurd, how much did this guy think a pet store made?
His shock made him just stand there for a few seconds, before jerking his hand holding his phone up. "You better leave right now, or I'll... call the..." He trailed off, as both he and the robber pointedly looked at the very broken phone with its skipping audio and smear of blood across the fractured screen. "Right, take the money and go! I make minimum wage, I'm not getting stabbed for it!" Discretion is the better part of valor, or something like that, right? He tapped a few quick strokes on the register and it popped open and he backed away toward the corner with both hands up, leaving the guy free to take the few bills that were in the till at this hour for opening.
The robber cautiously stared at the cashier, urging him back even further, and the young man complied with a sigh. The robber darted forward to snatch up the cash and turned toward the doors. "You didn't see anything!" he called out in a tone that was meant to be threatening, but almost sounded scared, as he bolted back out the front door. After waiting a few seconds to be sure that they were really gone, the figure hurriedly struggled with his phone's cracked screen, managing to shove the Pokémon game into a side tab when he went for the keypad to dial 9-1-1.
A calm, clinical voice spoke to him, though it was distorted and twisted, the speaker's volume rising and falling erratically. "Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?" Taking a deep breath, the cashier began, "There's been a robbery! A man just came in flailing a knife around at-" As he was speaking, he heard a strange hissing sound, and thought he could smell something burning. There was even a moment where the phone seemed to switch from the calling screen and jumped back to Pokémon, a mocking mixture of looping battle music and low-health warning bleeping resounding directly into his ear. In the next moment, the damaged phone's battery exploded, and the rest of the call and the aftermath of the robbery was no longer the cashier's problem.
----------------------------------------
Blackness and a sensation of floating came next, like the start of a drop at the pinnacle of a roller coaster's height, just sustained forever. It wasn't the adrenaline-jolting sensation of a falling, but the stomach-churning weightlessness just before it. "Where am I...?" The voice was dazed and quiet, as well as strangely lacking in inflection or emphasis. It was the sort of bland, toneless neutrality that didn't seem to come from a man or a woman that you might expect from a machine speaking, but with just enough softness on the edges to sound like genuine speech.
Slowly, a light formed in the blackness, a fracture shattering through the pure dark. That fracture widened, spreading into an inverted teardrop shape. Blinding light emanated from the tear, hiding any sight of what lie on the other side and making it difficult to determine what was emerging from it. Something definitely was emerging, though. A glint of gold was the first sight able to be recognized, tapered to a point at the ends of long, pale-white legs. One, then another. And another... and another? A quadrupedal figure stepped out of the rip, straightening out into an upright posture after ducking down to fit through the gap which closed behind it.
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
It looked vaguely like a white horse, with a black underbelly. At least until you began to look higher than the legs. The upper body was a long neck with pointed protrusions on either side, and the face held vibrantly glowing red eyes ringed with green. A long, tapered 'mane' rose from the back of the creature's head, and it seemed to be... trapped, somehow, in a circular cross of golden crossbeams and green inlaid gemstones that encircled its midriff. As he assessed the figure, it seemed to assess him in return, its gaze from high above aimed downward. There was nothing in the background to compare it to, for size, but it seemed absolutely huge. "You're kidding me. I'm going crazy. That's... Arceus?"
An ethereal voice echoed in the void around the pair as Arceus inclined its head ever-so-slightly in acknowledgement. "That is the name that humans call me, yes. You may use it for this conversation." A silence began to linger between the two, one patient, the other absolutely baffled and unable to process what was going on.
"Uh. Well, nice to meet you, uh. God?" A weak chuckle followed the attempt at a joke, hiding disbelief and amazement behind humor. "I'm-... uh. I'm... I mean, my name... is..." If they were perturbed by the awkward start, Arceus made no move to show it. In fact, they didn't seem to be moving at all, and if it weren't for the intelligence in the eyes staring downward, they could be mistaken for a statue. "I can't seem to recall. Sorry."
"There is no need for apologies. You have perished, and yet remain so vibrant. I find this intriguing. It would appear that you have met with an unjust end. I can see within you that you hold much care for other creatures, and your heart is just. If you feel as if you have left unsatisfied with your end, I am willing to present you with another chance." The voice that reverberated through the darkness was calm, almost soothing.
"Who would have thought that taking good care of pets would really earn me good karma in the end." The smaller voice seemed to have given in to the absurdity, following along without asking questions such as how this could be happening. "I'd love to have a second chance, who wouldn't? I won't try and ask for anything special, since there's no way I could ask for something like being able to have an Arceus along for the trip..." He trailed off hopefully, as if waiting to be interrupted and told he was wrong, but no such interruption occurred. "...So all I ask is that I be given a proper chance to really live this second life to the fullest. I just want to be able to do everything freely and not be held down by anything, become whatever seems to suit me best, and live my new life to the fullest."
Arceus tipped their head aside in a slight motion, as if considering the request. "I find this request to be acceptable. You shall have your guarantee of freedom, of choice, to have your journey as you see fit and become what you find most suitable for you upon your journey." The Pokémon God closed its eyes slightly, and seemed to be intending to bring the conversation to a close as it began to turn away, the tear in reality starting to form again as Arceus prepared to leave.
"Wait, shoot, can I ask to have my own Pokédex too? Those are supposed to be restricted to very specific trainers or something, but it just wouldn't be a true Pokémon journey without a Pokédex!"
It was unusual, to hear the mental representation of an amused snort, but that was the impression the noise that reverberated through the void carried. There was no response beyond that, however, as Arceus ducked its head down into the forming tear in reality, the blinding light returning once more as they exited, and then the crack sealed up completely after they had left, returning the surroundings to emptiness and darkness. "Is that a 'no' on the Pokédex, then?"
----------------------------------------
Time didn't have much of a meaning in the darkness. Had it been minutes, or months? All sensation was gone, so what did time have to measure itself against? And yet, time continued to pass. Eventually, cracks began to form in the comfortable walls of blackness. Instead of a single tear, it was long fractures that ran along the outer edges in all directions, revealing the boundaries of the space were actually quite close. Close enough to reach out and touch, even. Upon doing so, a cold, smooth texture ran along an equally smooth... hand? Well, it was a tapered, purple appendage that seemed to press outward from the rest of the body.
The thought brushed aside, as the 'hand' pushed against the blackness at the boundaries of light that peeked in through the cracks, and the shell of darkness that had been absolute for so long yielded with surprising ease. A simple crack, and the effort tipped the egg onto its side, a mess of purple slime leaking from the opened surface. Rolling out into the sunlight, the purple blob lay there and wriggled in delight at the sensation of warmth. "This is nice..." Or, rather, that's what the voice intended to say. Even though it felt like the meaning was still there, somehow, what was heard was a high-pitched 'Dit-Ditto!'
Suddenly jolting upward, the mass of purple substance lifted itself from the ground in a more upright orientation, 'standing' in shock and turning its miniscule, dot-like eyes down to gaze across its arms and body. Even calling them arms were generous, as the tapered appendages were like a child under a sheet had stuck their arms out to poke at things, only vaguely defined limbs without any grabbing appendages. Staring downward in shock, completely immobilized, a wide, goofy 'o' forming on the purple blob's face that was almost comedically expressive.
Taking a moment to remember the words of Arceus, the phrasing all but jumped out at him. They had said he would be able to 'become what he found to be most suitable for him upon his journey'. After all, Ditto's one specialty was the ability to transform into other Pokémon, so in a way, hadn't he gotten exactly that freedom and flexibility he had said he wanted? "That's not what I meaaaaant!" The high-pitched complaining of a newly-hatched Ditto called out futilely to the skies above.