It was weird.

Extremely weird.

The state he was in could only be described as weird.

He was submerged… in some type of fluid. He felt the wet feeling against his skin. It was warm… like a hot bath except the ‘water’ was thicker and denser like some type of goo.

He had tried moving his limbs to explore his surroundings, yet he could not even lift them.

He could not even feel them.

It was as if they were disconnected from his mind.

It was not just his limbs. All of his senses except for touch had disappeared…

It filled him with intense dread

‘Where the hell am I…? What is going to happen to me?’ he thought in a panic.

‘No… I have to stay calm.’

In this type of situation, panic would only cloud his senses. In order to truly understand his position he had to slowly and calmly think it through.

Possibilities began to run through his head.

‘Why am I here… could it be that I am in a coma?’ he considered seriously.  

‘No… if I was in a coma, I would not be conscious…’ He refuted himself.

His unclear state puzzled him to no end.

‘I am stuck…’ He logically arrived at a simple conclusion. He was in some strange coma like state while still conscious.

His thoughts slowly drifted to the cause of his predicament.

‘How did this happen? Was it some type of head injury? How did my family react to it… my family…?’

He slowly considered everything that led to his present condition.

‘No… it can’t be…’

He noticed a problem. He tried to remember his family, their names even their faces.                                                                                                   

He could not remember a thing.

It was not just his family.

‘My home… where was it again. What were my friend’s names? Think! Think! Think harder! I know I have friends… but… but who are they?’

He fell into a state of panic.

‘What the hell happened to me? I was… I was… Where was I? How did this happen.’

The reality of his situation truly began to kick in.

He was alone.

Truly alone.

‘Who am I?’

A single question filled his mind.

‘No… I cannot go on like this. Calm down… Calm down… think it through’.

Panicking would not do him any good. He had to carefully consider his situation

‘Ok… let me think it through… have I forgot everything... Ugh. I can’t remember. Try something simple. What is my name? I should know this…’

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He slowly fished around his memories.

He remembered bits of information… of another world. ‘Earth’. It was so familiar, yet distant at the same time. It was the place that he had supposedly lived all of his life. He could remember the skyscrapers that seemed to pierce the heavens and the brilliant technologies created by the human race.

Yet his memories of himself… of the people that he had interacted with… the places that he had gone…

They had all disappeared.

It was if the whiteboard that containing all of his memories had been wiped, while his basic knowledge had been retained.

Only a single piece of his memories remained.

‘Ren… that is my name.’

Relief rushed into his mind. The feeling of emptiness and loneliness seemed to have lost a little weight.

He was someone. He had an identity.

Before he could continue pondering his situation, a sudden wave of weariness hit him and he fell into a state of unconsciousness.

***

Ren woke up dazed.

‘How long was I out?’ he thought. ‘Probably a few hours.’ He concluded.

His strange state of weariness gave Ren more hope.

‘At least I am alive…’ Ren had considered the possibility that he was dead. His nap allowed him to dismiss that possibility.

Ren slowly turned his attention to his body state.

Ren sighed.

‘Still nothing…’

His senses remained non-functional. Was he going to remain in this unconscious state for days... weeks…maybe years…?

‘No… there is something…’ Ren noticed.

He was still unable to move, see and speak… but he could feel his body… breathing.

His lungs slowly rose and fell in a continuous pattern.

Ren slowly focused on his breathing.

Memories began to flash throughout his mind.

‘Meditation…’ Ren’s thoughts trailed.

His knowledge told him that meditation was something that people used to calm themselves down.

‘I guess I’ll try it.’ Ren decided. He was tense… extremely tense. He decided that in order to come up with the best course of action he needed a fresh mind.

He slowly scanned his memories, looking for more information

‘What’s this...?’ Ren’s thoughts trailed off.

In his mind, a strange meditation technique appeared. It was called ‘breathless breathing’.

‘What a strange name…’

It was a contradiction… something that did not make any logical sense.

It drew him in. Ren’s curiosity was sparked.

‘How does this work…’

Ren slowly read the description of the technique.

‘Ok first…breathe in once…’

Oxygen entered his lungs as his lungs expanded. He waited a few seconds.

‘Then… breathe in again’

Without breathing out, Ren breathed in again, further expanding his lungs.

‘And again…’

Ren once again breathed in. Oxygen was converted into Carbon Dioxide, yet was not exhaled. It remained in his system.

After repeated the process a 6 times and expanding his lungs to the absolute limit, Ren exhaled.

His mind instantly felt a bit clearer. He felt like the stress that he had built up had reduced by a bit.

Ren repeated the process a few more times. His mind became clearer and clearer as time went on.

[Detecting that host has gained additional stat point… Neural Interface activation stimulated…]

A monotone female voice appeared in his mind.

Ren was shocked. His memories showed him that this was not normal.

‘Voices in my head… am I going crazy…’ Ren slowly pondered.

[Would you like to activate the system?]

The voice once again appeared in his head.

Ren ruled out the possibility of him developing psychological issues. After all, the timing was off.

If he was going to hear voices in his head from psychological trauma, why did he hear it now, after he had calmed down a bit? Shouldn’t he have experienced it back when he began to panic? He had already accepted his situation.

It did not make sense.

‘Therefore these voices are real.’ Ren concluded.

Ren thought back to what the voice had said.

‘Neural Interface… so some machine in my brain?’

[Would you like to activate the system?]

The message interrupted Ren’s train of thought.

Ren decided to try to question this ‘interface’. He wanted more information.

‘Do you know what happened to me? Where am I? Did you do this to me?’

[…Processing… Data is not available…] The interface responded in the same monotone voice. [Would you like to activate the system?]

‘What will happen if I don’t accept? What does accepting mean?’ he thought.

 […Processing… Data is not available…]

His questions were ignored. Ren slowly considered his options. He could either accept and let this ‘system’ do something to his mind or not accept and face the consequences.

Ren ultimately decided to accept. He did not know where he was and who he was. This ‘system’ seemed to be his only way out… the only light in this infinite darkness.

 [Host has accepted… the system... System is activating]

Light appeared in front of his eyes.

Colors slowly manifested itself into a loading screen.

The loading bar slowly began to push forward and the percentage to the side increased with each passing second.

It reminded Ren of an old computer loading before turning on.

It further solidified the idea that he was not in a normal situation.

[System has activated]

[Ding. Host has gained .1 wisdom ! Host has unlocked the special parameter: ‘Wisdom’.  Would you like to view your status?]

‘A status check… Yes?’ Ren replied in his mind. He wanted to finally find out what had happened to him.

Status (World: Pokémon)

Host Name: Ren

Species: Ekans (Unborn)

Level: 0 [Limit: 5]

Bio-Energy: 0/10

Length: 4cm

Power: .2

Wisdom: .3

Agility: .1

Defense: .3

Skills: Breathless Breathing Technique [00.12%]

‘Wh-What is this…?’ Ren was shocked at the sight before him. It was not the status check that he had expected but a screen showing his current body’s capabilities.

The stats did not shock Ren. They did not mean much to him.

What shocked him was what was written next to the species tab.

‘Ekans... as in the Pokémon?’

It dawned on him.

His situation may not be as simple as he had previously thought.