The Friendly Battle & Other Pokemon One-Shots

You

You wake up in a room.

You're not sure if "wake up" is the right phase for it, as you're not in bed. You're standing in the middle of a room. You're staring at a wall. The floor appears wooden. You front of you is a purplish box. Looking closer, you see it says "Gamecube" on it. You don't remember if you were playing it before. You don't remember if you've ever seen this room before. You don't remember if this is something that should worry you.

There is a computer in the left hand corner of the room. It's on a small table and there is a chair in front of it.

You step to the right experimentally. Your legs move automatically beneath you, as if you've done it a million times before, and you stop somewhat jerkily at the thought. You walk several steps, amused by the novelty and unnerved by the sense it should not be novel. You turn, and find that, too, is easy, so you turn back and forth as you walk, going across the wooden floor in a tight, jerky circle.

You stop, satisfied that you've familiarized (refamiliarized?) yourself with walking. You see stairs in the righthand corner of the room, leading down. More confidently, you walk to them and start down.

There is a woman sitting at a table. A TV is on to some program. You don't recognize either. You walk over to talk to her.

When you speak to her, she calls you by a name. She seems to know you, and sees nothing odd about you being in the house. She's your mother, you realize. The room you came from must be your room.

You could say this to her, but you don't remember if it's important. She tells you someone is looking for you. She calls them Professor Oak and doesn't say more, so you think he or she is someone you know. Knew. Know?

Your mother tells you to go see him. You nod agreeably, not knowing what else to do. You should probably leave now, you think. You look around and for a moment or three are not sure how you leave, exactly, and for a second you almost panic, but then your eyes find the door. You walk toward it, stepping over the mat and through.

Outside you discover you are in a small town. Flowers bob in the wind. There are some other people walking about.

You walk up to the nearest one, a fat man years older than you, probably in his mid-twenties, and say hello. He might be Professor Oak, or know who he is, but you aren't sure how to ask.

He greets you with a broad smile, and you wonder if he knows you. You ask why he is so happy instead. "It just struck me how amazing technology is. You probably don't even remember life before item storage. It's changed life so much."

You don't. "Item storage?" you ask.

For a second, he gives you an odd look, but it disappears as he says, "You know, the way we digitize items these days, so they can be moved through computers."

You don't know this either, but can guess you should know it, so you don't ask anything else. You wonder if the computer you saw in the room can do this, and if there is anything inside it now. He doesn't say anything about wanting to see you, so you think he is not Professor Oak. You walk to the next person.

You aren't sure if you can go into the other houses. You were in one, but that was your home, you think, and you don't know if that would still be true if you enter other houses.

You realize, looking about, that you have another option besides the houses. There's a large building a little ways off, one that dwarfs the houses and carries a sense of importance somehow to your eyes.

You're not sure what the building is (should you be?)

But, you think, perhaps that's where the Professor Oak you're supposed to find is. More purposefully, you stride over, feeling pleased with your smooth, mastered walking ability. You reach the door without problem and enter.