"Ahoy there mateys! And welcome back to another exciting episode of May's expeditions!" Declared a cute girl with mousy brown hair, styled into side tails at the front. Her gray-blue eyes shined with excitement as she stood at the bow of a ship, dressed in a white captains uniform, complete with a hat, a pencil skirt that went down to her knees, and a pair of matching boots.
Hovering around her was a drone that had both a camera and a face, which was broadcasting her live on Pokevision as she made her journey across the ocean. And beside her was the newest addition to her team of pokemon, a small Squirtle that had a flower on her head.
"Today we can finally see land belonging to the next region that I plan to explore on my quest to see the world and bring all of it's wonders right to your home!" She declared excitedly, prompting a series of comments to appear on screen as her viewers tuned in. Most of which were speculating which region she was visiting.
"Now I know that I've been mysterious with what region I'm going to, only giving you all the hint that my daddy and I are going to visit a friend of his. But now that we can see it on the horizon, its time to tell you all that we are going to see professor Oak of the Kanto region!"
The reaction was immediate as comments started flooding in from May's viewers, most of which were disappointed and sad that she wasn't going to their own regions, while several were pleased she was visiting Kanto, and hoped they would get the chance to meet her.
"I can't wait to get there! There are so many interesting places to see in Kanto, like the Viridian Forest, Mt. Moon, Grampa Canyon. The place I have to be looking forward to the most though is Cerulean Cape! I hear that it is a very romantic~! Maybe I'll manage to find myself a boyfriend to take me there~!"
The chat exploded with comments of guys offering to take her there, and others begging her to never start dating so they could still have a chance.
May was about to respond when something neither she nor anyone else on board the ship expected happened.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" One of the crew shouted suddenly, pointing upwards into the sky.
"Huh?" May uttered as she looked up towards the sky, her drone doing the same as it broadcasted the phenomenon yo her viewers all over the world.
There, in the otherwise picturesque blue morning sky, was a growing web of cracks.
May, her father, her mother, the captain of the ship, and the entire crew all watched with varying amounts of horror and fascination as the cracks spread in the sky, before shattering like glass as a gaping hole opened up above them.
"What is happening?!" May's mother demanded as she clung to her husband.
"I don't know..." Professor Birch uttered as he watched with eyes full of awe, even as he analyzed every single detail of the hole that had opened up. The jagged edges, the swirling cosmic energies within that seemed to be spreading out, and the solitary figure plummeting down from within it.
"!!!"
"MAY! Someone is falling from inside!" Birch yelled to his daughter, who watched as the figure her father pointed out fell into the ocean.
May didn't hesitate, tearing off her constrictive pencil skirt and kicking off her boots before diving off the side of the ship alongside her Squirtle.
"TURN ABOUT!" The captain ordered, and ship began to turn as it changed course to follow May and her Squirtle as the latter pulled her through the water towards the figure that fell.
"Squirtle Squirt!" The tiny turtle cried when they reached the area where the figure hit the water, seeing no sign of them.
"Dive Squirtle!" May ordered, and Squirtle immediately dove down while May kept a firm hold on her shell.
For a moment neither saw anything, but as they dove further down May spotted something in the darkness.
"Squirtle!" The little turtle cried as she too noticed it, and sped through the water until they reached the figure, a man.
May let go of Squirtle's shell with one of her hands while reaching over with the other to grab the hand of the guy sinking into the ocean, before her pokemon dutifully pulled them both back up towards the surface. Even though it must have been a struggle for her to pull both of them.
"HAAAA!"
May sucked in a mouthful of air as soon as he head broke the surface, just in time for the ship to pull up to where they were as a rope was thrown overboard.
"Grab hold!" One of the crew members yelled, and May did just that as they pulled her and the mystery man up onto the deck.
"May!" Her mother cried worriedly as she immediately wrapped her in a blanket, as she was still bottomless after removing her skirt earlier, but May was focused on the man she had pulled out of the water.
"He isn't breathing!" She declared as he was laid on his back, even as someone else put a blanket over him since he was completely bare.
"Out of my way!" The captain yelled as he knelt beside the man, and placed his hands against his chest. "When I give the word, give him two breaths!" He ordered, before he began chest compressions.
"Now!" He ordered after counting fifteen compressions, and May readily planted her lips against his and breathed into him twice.
"Again!" The captain ordered after fifteen more compressions, and May did so again.
"Again!" He ordered, and May gave two more breaths to the man before he suddenly began to sputter and cough.
"He is back with us!" The captain declared proudly as the man opened his bright green eyes, looked at them all for a second, and then passed out.
"Is he alright?!" May asked worriedly, while her father checked him over.
"Fine, just unconscious. But if we want to know for sure, then we need to get him to professor Oak." The professor said seriously.
"Very well. Helmsman, return course for Pallet town!" The captain ordered, and the ship began to slowly turn once more.
And while everyone else began fussing over the newest passenger, professor Birch glanced up towards the sky at the hole he had appeared from, only to find it rapidly closing. Soon, it was as if the hole never existed.
"Who are you?" The professor muttered as he looked back down at him.
***
"..."
"What?"
"..."
"I can't hear you!"
"..."
"I don't understand what is you're trying to say!"
"..."
...
"!!!"
I woke with a start from the strange dream I had been having, in which I was SURE that someone, or something, had been trying to speak to me. But I had no idea who, or what, or what they had been trying to say.
"!!!"
I looked up at the door as it opened, admitting someone on the cusp of being elderly, yet seemed somewhat familiar for some reason.
"So you're awake." The older man said as he stopped beside my bed, before grabbing a nearby chair and planting himself in it.
"Where am I?" I immediately asked him.
"You are in Pallet town, specifically my research lab." The old man answered.
"Lab?!" I asked, suddenly worried.
"Yes, my research lab. Professor Birch and his family brought you here after they pulled you out of the ocean." He told me, alleviating a little bit of my concerns. But there was something that caught my attention.
"Professor Birch?" I asked quietly, more to myself than the old man since that too seemed familiar. But I had no idea why.
"That's right. You might have heard of his daughter, May. She looks about the same age as you, and does live videos on Pokevision called May's Expeditions. They're pretty popular from what I've heard." The old man continued.
"Sorry, I haven't heard of her." I told him, though the name Mwy did ring a bell. Just hot in the way he described her.
"Really? How interesting..." The old man said as he looked at me like a particularly interesting test subject, once again worrying me.
"So can you tell your name?" He asked eventually, though I hadn't heard his yet either.
"I'm-" I began, before trailing off slightly as I drew a blank. "I don't know..."
"Really?" He asked with interest, but I couldn't care less as I tried to recall something. ANYTHING.
But all I drew was a blank for anything regarding my background. Anything about who I was before I woke up a few moments ago.
"I don't know who I am..." I uttered with realization, staring blankly at the bed I was on.
"You don't remember anything?" The old man asked.
"No... I don't..." I told him, gripping the blankets on the bed tightly as frustration welled up within me.
"Interesting..." He muttered, before standing while moving back towards the door. "There's a bathroom through that door with a shower, and a change of clothes. We had to guess your size. When you're ready, we'll be right outside."
The old man closed the door behind him, leaving me alone as I continued trying to remember something about myself. But everything was blank, no matter how much I tried.
I don't know how long I sat there, trying to figure something out about myself, but when I went to get up I was struck by a sense of incongruity just from the movement of my limbs. It was bad enough that I was even disoriented just from standing up, and the few steps I took to the bathroom. Then I turned on the light and looked into the mirror.
"Who is that...?" I muttered while looking at my reflection, getting what could only be considered uncanny valley feelings from doing so.
The person looking back at me in the mirror was taller than I felt I was supposed to be, and had fairer skin. But not unhealthily so, while I also saw a smattering of freckles across my nose and cheeks. The body that the person had was lean and fit, but not obnoxiously so, while a mop of curly dark red hair sat atop their head. The part that stuck out the most to me though was emerald-green eyes that peered back at me, following my every movement.
I stood there for several minutes, trying to figure out what was happening to me.
Where had I come from?
Why didn't I remember anything?
Who was this looking back at me in the mirror?
And WHY did I constatly feel like I should know some of the people around me?
These questions and more swam through my head as I climbed into the shower, letting the hot water run over my body therapeutically.
Eventually I had to get out though, and when I did I pulled on the clothes that were left out for me. Unfortunately, they were all more than a little tight on my body. Specifically my upper body.
After dressing I left the bedroom they had put me in and made my way into what appeared to be a sitting room, quite unlike the laboratory I thought I was in. There, I found a group of people sitting around talking to one another, and I was once again struck by a sense of familiarity. Especially the girl with brown hair.
"Are you ok?" She asked the second she saw me, rising to her feet as she did so.
"I guess?" I answered, not expecting her sudden attention.
"Are you answering or asking?" She replied with a smirk as she approached me.
"I guess answering?" I answered, and she smiled again.
"Leave the boy alone May. He's confused enough as it is." One of the other people in the room stated, a man with brown hair similar to the girl, May, looking as if he were in his thirties or so.
"Professor Birch." He said while offering a hand. "And that is my daughter, May."
"Nice to meet you." I answered while accepting his hand, not sure how I was supposed to introduce myself.
"You can also call me professor Oak." The old man from before suddenly spoke up, and my mental facilities seemed to halt.
"Professor Oak?" I asked quietly, and the old man nodded.
That was important...
WHY was that important?
"Have you heard of me?" The professor suddenly asked as he perked up.
"Yes... No? I don't know..." I answered, not sure why such a thing was so important.
"Well the professor is known all over the world for his work, as well as his poetry." May told me, apparently trying to jog my memory.
"His work... What does he work on again?" I asked her, trying really hard to figure out where I knew professor Oak from.
Then, before anyone could answer, there was a commotion from the other room.
"Char char, CHAR!"
I looked up just in time to see a small figure, not even two feet tall, run into the room. And all of my mental facilities stopped.
The figure stood on two feet, and was covered in orange scales with a patch of yellow on it's belly. Bright blue eyes looked up at me, which contrasted the flame burning on the tip of it's tail.
"Sorry professor! I was feeding them, and this little one got away from me!" Said the man who came into the room after the creature.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard the professor answer him, but I didn't register what he said. My attention was completely focused on the creature before me.
"That's a pokemon..." I uttered.
"Hm? Yeah it is! A Charmander!" May spoke up, but I just ignore her as I approached the pokemon.
"But that's impossible... Pokemon aren't real."
"""???"""
I slowly got down onto my knees in front of the pokemon, staring at it intently even as the little Charmander took one of my fingers in it's claws.
"Char char?" It cooed curiously.
"This can't be happening." I muttered, slowly reaching my other hand towards it's head.
"Char..." Charmander trilled as it leaned into my touch, allowing me to feel the warm scales covering it's head.
"Charmander can't be real..." I choked while feeling tears form in my eyes, brought forth by feelings and memories that I could not recall.
"Char char, Charmander!" It cried, suddenly leaping into my arms so that I was holding it. And at that moment clarity hit me.
"A-are you ok?" May hesitantly asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"I remembered something..." I told her, even as tears ran down my face.
"You did?!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah. Only one thing though." I said while turning to look at her, still holding Charmander in my arms.
"I'm going to catch one of every single pokemon in the world." I told her seriously.
"Really?!"
"Yes. Every. Single. One. I will catch them all."