Lying on my back with my fuzzy yellow body spread full eagle, I hoped to make this quick. My cute face scrunched into a warped ball as I gritted and braced for impending death. There was no way I could escape, let alone defeat Suicune. It was the end.

However, the pain I waited for oddly never came.

Maybe the Legendary Pokemon granted me mercy and used a one-hit kill, like Sheer Cold or something? Maybe I already drifted off to Pokemon Heaven? Or maybe I’ll die and become a Ghastly? That’s how ghost Pokemon are born, right? I could deal with being a ghost Pokemon, phasing through walls, and peeping- With eyes closed, of course!

Suicune voiced something, but I didn’t understand. I opened my eyes but then yanked them wide open with extreme alarm. Suicune towered majestically right over me, glancing down with his noble self while blocking out the sun. I worried, but since I didn’t die yet, maybe I could live? I could only ask.

Oh! Right! The skill! “Pika? Pika?” I said gulpingly, but also respectfully asking the Legendary Pokemon to repeat itself.

Suicune snorted and replied in his deep voice, “I said, stop your foolery. I do not eat Pokemon, foreign one.”

“Oh, thank god!” I breathed out a deep sigh of relief.

“However, that does not mean I will not kill you.” The Legendary Pokemon said, his voice lowering a chilling octave.

I jerked up in disbelief before my body went stiff and froze. However, I needed to save myself. “But I helped you, Suicune! I’m not a bad person! I even hurt my foot to knock away that attack from Magnezone remember?! So you owe me! Please don’t kill me!”

Suicune frowned, recalling my helpful attack. “Hmmm… that you did. Yet, something is amiss about you. Nature is a mess from your existence.”

“Everything looks fine to me…” I doubtingly said while looking around, but I flinched at a sharp glare from Suicune. “But it wasn’t my fault! I didn’t cause it! I’m an innocent party that somehow got pulled into the mix! I don’t know what happened. I just woke up here!” I shouted, flailing my arms wildly to deflect the accusation.

“Then who or what did?” Suicune asked, narrowing his eyes in search of an answer.

I trembled but shrugged and shook my head, whispering in a meek voice, “I want to know too.”

Suicune paused to ponder silently while looking up into the sky.

I anxiously waited for his judgment on my fate. He glanced back down at me, and I flinched with much worry.

“It is true. You did help me. I do not sense you to be a threat. However, you bring something with you that is not part of this universe. It feels dangerous. Swear to me if you want to live. Swear upon Arceus’s name that you will not harm this world. If you cannot, then I will kill you right here and now.”

No hesitation.

“I swear! I swear upon Arceus that I will not destroy the world.”

“…” Suicune looked at me like I was a weirdo. “I suppose that works as well. Should you lie, I will hunt you down to the ends of the earth. None escape the wrath of the Northern Winds. Heed my words.”

I bobbed my yellow fuzzy head like a yanking Pikachu fishing lure that caught a bite in the water. Suicune let out a small chuckle, and I knew I just barely dodged Death.

The Legendary Pokemon tilted his head and curiously asked, “So what are your next plans? What will you do now?”

I smelled a trick question. It was another test! But I answered honestly. “I want to find Arceus. I want to go back to being human. Maybe I can become a Pokémon trainer? Maybe even a master! Hehehe!”

Suicune smirked. “Then we shall meet again when you do. Your quest will not be easy, strange one. Perhaps impossible.”

I pouted and slapped my chest. “Sax! My name is Sax! Remember it, Suicune! I’ll catch you when I turn back into a human!”

Suicune laughed and responded, “Till then, Sax. If you ever do, that is.”

“Hey! Don’t say that! Oh, wait!” A sudden thought jerked into my mind. “You should know! Where can I find Arceus?”

Suicune scoffed, “How can a mere being like me know the whereabouts of God? I have no answer to your question.”

My shoulders drooped down. Yet, again, my goal escaped further beyond my reach. But Suicune’s next words gave me some light in the darkness to guide my path.

“Since you helped me, I will bestow you some grace.”

“Suicune!” I cried out and looked up with watering grateful eyes. I knew you were a good guy! One of the charitable saviors of the Pokemon world!

“Listen well. He who dwells in the most high is everywhere, yet not. Only a rare few of his closest creations interact with His Greatness. Search for my creator, Ho-oh, the Rainbow Pokemon for what you seek. She can better guide you on your quest. However, finding the rainbow feather that shows my master’s location is not easy. She usually chooses a worthy human and not a Pokemon. You are no exception.”

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My excited eyes faded into a complicated frown.

“Doesn’t that mean I cannot find Ho-oh without the help of a real human, Suicune? Isn’t that a little biased?”

“Take it as you will,” Suicune said before kicking off the ground and leaving a powerful gale in his trail.

“Hey! Suicune! Hey! I’m not done yet! How can you leave me hanging like this?!” I shouted, waving my arms at Suicune, who leaped up and over the tall giant trees and vanished into the forest.

“Great?” I huffed. “What now? A human? That won’t capture me? Is that even possible? The two humans I met both tried to catch me! Ugh.”

Suddenly, the flapping of wings of scared-off Pokemon flying away from Suicune’s disturbance reminded me of a certain someone I promised to help.

“Pidgeotto! Oh, no! Hold on, buddy! I’ll save you! Starting after I cut some vines, that is. Vines… Damn it! I should have also had Suicune help me with that!”

I rushed over the thawing spring to the vines where the cool trainer hid before jumping out and ordering attacks on Suicune. The vines were the circumference of my arm. Cutting them would not be an easy task without tools. None, of which I had.

Hurrying over, I grabbed one vine and lifted it over my shoulder. I sprinted forward, hoping it would snap off a piece. It was good that the vine was sturdy, but it was too sturdy. The vine I tried to snap off by running off with it instead snapped back at me from recoil, and I jerked away before swinging like a pendulum.

I tried many things.

My small yellow arms tugged and pulled on the vines.

“Piiiiii! I grunted, using the weight of my body to try and take one down.

No effect.

Scratching it with my claws.

No effect.

Angered, I climbed up the vine and began chewing on the upper portion.

Super effective!

The vine jerked as I bit halfway through and spat it out. I lunged my arm over and clung onto another strand before biting through the chewed hole in the vine completely. It dropped down into a messy pile, and I chewed off another just in case.

My next target was the thick heart-shaped elephant leaves growing in front of the base of the trees. But first, I coiled the vines into a loop and tossed them over my neck. I wasn’t expecting it, but the vines pressed down, weighing more than I expected on my body. But it was still bearable, and I rushed to snap off four or five leaves. However, these dang plants were too resilient! My poor teeth took another chewing as I bit off the fibrous stems and hauled everything back to Pidgeotto.

See, Suicune! I was a good Pikachu!

The dash back slowed as the leaves sometimes slipped from the grasp of my small hands. I sighed many times, needing to backtrack and grab the leaves that loosened and slipped away. I wouldn’t be able to catch Pokémon in the future when Arceus grants my wish if I couldn’t even catch and hold onto some leaves.

Dashing past my old footprints, I swerved in and out around the trees until I came upon a familiar bush.

“Pidgeotto! You there?!”

No response, but I saw the lifeless tail feathers sticking out from the bush.

Chills crawled up my spine as an anxious worry flooded out from my gut. Something was wrong with Pidgeotto! I rushed over with the large wide leaves and rolled-up vines in tow.

Something was wrong.

Pidgeotto was there, panting and breathing erratically and no longer conscious. Hurrying over, I placed my paw on the bird Pokémon’s head, and my eyes widened with alarm.

He’s burning up! Must be a fever from the injury. I don’t know the extent of the damage! I want to go to the Pokémon Center, but it would be bad if I went by myself. What should I do?!

Panic overtook me, but I did not have any good solutions that didn’t have some sort of consequence. The sun was already starting to tilt in the sky, and I did not have much time left to decide. Gritting my teeth, I made a huge leap of faith and put my trust in the Oran Berries.

I grabbed the large elephant leaves and bit holes along the sides. I then weaved the vines in and out of the punctures, crisscrossing and pulling the leaves to form a cradle-like sleigh.

“Sorry, Pidgeotto. Hold on for me, okay?” I told the unconscious bird Pokémon as I went to grab his wing.

He unconsciously moaned in pain, but lucky he did not feel everything in his unawakened state. I dragged and pulled Pidgeotto’s body, straining my arms and grunting from the heavy bird as I brought him over and onto the makeshift sleigh.

“Hold on tight!” I reactively shouted and gripped an extension of the vine that I arranged like reins of the sleigh, I dashed off, pulling the leafy carriage with Pidgeotto on top of it.

Of course, the knocked-out bird Pokémon did not hear me, but he certainly felt the bumps and crevices on the ground because he groaned in pain all the way to the tree where I first awoke in this world. It might have been fine to just help Pidgeotto haul himself over earlier, but alas, what is done is done.

However, now comes the hard part.

I took a deep breath as I looked up from the base of the tree trunk all the way up to the high branch above where my home resided. I slapped my plushy cheeks, and the sting gave me motivation.

“You got this, Sax!” I shouted in an attempt to pump me up.

It was actually a good thing I cut another strand of vine because as I climbed up the tree trunk to the second branch above my home, the extra vine was barely enough to loop over the branch and fall to the lower branch where my home was located.

I quickly climbed down to the branch where my home was at and tied a loose knot to keep the vine from slipping away. The sky turned shades of pink and orange as the sun began to set. I needed to hurry as the howls of awakening predators echoed in the surroundings. I didn’t want to find out if they were friendly.

I rushed back down and tied the extra vine onto the makeshift leaf carriage. Tying multiple knots for added security, I double-checked the holes around the leaves I punctured earlier. In a sense, I was glad that the elephant leaves and vines were rather strong and resilient. They held firmly in place even from all that dragging.

My ears suddenly shot up, hearing a faint rushing of footsteps racing towards our direction. It was now a race for time. I leaped and quickly clawed up the tree trunk, desperately climbing to the branch where I loosely tied the knot on the vine.

I was almost there! My plan almost worked. Hurriedly untying the knot, I began to pull down the vine that became a pulley that would bring up Pidgeotto to my home.

However, I miscalculated an important detail. I was not strong enough to pull up Pidgeotto! Crap!

“Houuuunnddooooooourr!”

A group of Houndour excitedly howled from the distance as they spotted Pidgeotto wrapped up in a meal waiting for them.

“Think Sax, think!”

And a lightbulb came on in my head.

“Damn it. Do I really have to do this?” I slapped my cheeks! “Damn it, Sax! Of course, you do! I promised to save Pidgeotto and save, I will do!”

The mix of dark and fire-type Pokémon slobbered as they ran over. I doubt they were just going to give us happy cheerful doggy licks. I looked at their sharp fangs that I could even see gleaming from the tree branch. Definitely would not be fun to be mauled by those guys.

Taking a deep breath, I wrapped the vine a few times around my arm before shouting out like Tarzan. I leaped high into the air with my arms wide open like an Olympic diver. The vine actually slipped back and pooled more by Pidgeotto as I jumped pretty high at first. However, that didn’t last long as I shot out and started to fall into a sharp dive. The vine rubbed against the second branch as it was straightened and tensed as I fell.

Suddenly I felt a snag as Pidgeotto was yanked up. However, now the group of Houndour was upon us. I moved just barely in time as one of the Houdour jumped and nearly took a bite out of the unconscious bird that quickly brushed past death as the leaf carriage raised it up along the tree.

But now I was in for trouble as I swung like a pendulum right at the open jaws of the Houndours.

“Ah hell nah! I worked too hard for this! Quick Attack!” I shouted, moving faster than the snapping jaws of the leaping Houndour, who tried to use Bite. Stepping on their heads as footholds, I stomped their mouths shut as I ran away. Using the added momentum, I swished back up and looped around right back onto the other side of the branch near my home.

The rush of adrenaline still coursed and pumped through me as I gave a victory pose!

“MMF! Heck yea! Woo-hoo! Haha! I just won, you doggies! Yeah!”

They barked, “You scaredy-Meowth! Get down here and try that again then!”

I laughed and pulled on my face, making funny faces at the losers.

Their faces scrunched with anger from my taunts. Suddenly, I froze, dropping my victory pose.

“I’m sorry!” I shouted in alarm at the sparks of fire brewing in their mouths.