A/N: Hi, guys! I actually had wanted to write this out for a while. Basically, I rewrote the beginning part of PSMD, but with more details, to make it seem more realistic. Personally, I felt that the beginning was a bit rushed when it came to the player suddenly realizing that they're a Pokemon. I know that there was a lot of stuff that was happening in a rather fast pace in the game and the player didn't really had time to question themselves more (and also, the game's fiction), but I also felt that it should've been more of a realistic approach. Especially if you wake up as a Pokemon with four legs though! I actually wondered if they would've struggled a lot when they try walking with four legs.
With that being said, I hope you enjoy this! c:
"Urgh..." a girl groaned as she clenched her eyes shut from a massive headache. The sounds of water running, winds blowing, and leaves swaying filled her ears as she laid down on her sides. She felt strands of grass beneath her sides as she curled up on top of it. Surprisingly, the grass under her felt… Soft, and warm. Perhaps even cozy. It felt as if she was laying on some sort of blanket. In fact, she had felt pretty warm herself, even though she wasn't covered in anything. She quickly assumed it was the clothes she was wearing that made her feel so warm.
Feeling the headache fading away, she swiftly opened her eyes, curious to see what happened. The first thing she saw was a ray of flaxen-colored sunlight. It was pretty dull, yet the light was somehow sheer enough to made her close her eyes shut again.
Wait a second… the girl thought to herself groggily, realizing that she just woke up outside. I don't remember sleeping outside on the grass, ever. Why am I out here?
She closed her eyes, which allowed her to loosen up a bit. Her chest felt somewhat heavy, as if she was sick. Breathing, however, wasn't really much of a problem for her. The headache that she had woken up with was dying out, but was still noticeable there. All in all, she felt like she should be home under some blankets instead of being outside, whatever she was doing. However, she felt warm and cozy enough. Perhaps it was the weather that was making her feel comfortable, instead of what she was wearing.
Maybe I should try opening my eyes slower… She thought with a sigh. She felt slightly weak due to her headache. Why do I feel ill all of a sudden?
After waiting a couple seconds for her eyes to feel a bit better, she opened them slowly.
Aside from the sunlight that greeted her, she saw grass. Lots of them. The grass was green, yes, but it was an oddly vibrant kind of green. The grass was all around her, spreading out far away. The sunlight that reflected on various parts made the grass even more bright. There weren't any kinds of flowers or rocks to compliment the grass in any way. It was just grass that covered the ground.
So many green… I'm surprised that I'm not dizzy for all of this green, the girl thought.
The girl looked skyward. A branch full of leaves hung some yards above her head, blocking the sight of the sky. The leaves shared nearly the identical color of green as the grass did, the only difference was that the leaves were just a shade or two darker. Sunlight leaked through some of the leaves, causing a sort of pattern between the shades and sunlight on the ground. Even though it was something simple and taken grant for, the shade with the occasional sunlight created quite a pretty pattern.
She then looked ahead. She gasped loudly at the sight. In front of her, she saw more trees. Bunches of them. Dozens of them spreaded across the land. Some were clustered up together, while others stood there alone. Some of the trees had some white flowers accompanying the green leaves, while others had just the leaves hanging on the branches, The girl didn't even had to ask herself where she was. The more she looked around, the more her face had changed from a glance of curiosity to a expression of dread. A chill ran down her spine as it had dawned on her on where she was:
She was in a forest.
Upon realizing her sudden destination, she bolted up. She turned her head in various directions to look around, hoping that she did not wake up outside in a forest at all. Panicked welled up in her as she was proved wrong; More trees filled her views. Lots of small trees, with some huge trees, practically surrounded her. The leaves were swaying from the gentle wind in a rhythmic pattern. All she saw were trees and grass, with some occasional white flowers. No one was around in this place, as she heard no voices nor see them. She was all alone in this forest.
Everything was calm around her, but the girl felt the opposite of calm in the inside. She was frightened by the fact that she woke up in basically the middle of nowhere. Everything was warm and pleasant around her, but the girl felt the opposite of warm and pleasant in the inside. She felt chills forming inside of her, making her shiver from confusion. Everything was alright around her, but she felt the opposite of alright. She felt out of place in the unknown forest she suddenly found herself in.
All alone.
"But… But what am I doing here?" she asked herself, her voice hardly reaching the volume of a whisper. "Why am I here?"
The girl tried thinking back to anything that happened before she woke up in this mysterious forest. Strangely, she wasn't gaining any sort of answer. The deeper she tried to think, the more the recurring headache came back. Her mind was absolutely blank, as if none of this had ever happened to her in her life. She couldn't remember.
What's going on!? The girl thought, her head sweating from anxiety and apprehension. I can't remember a thing! This can't be happening to me! It's just a nightmare I'm having or something!
Her heart started to beat at a rapid rate, and her body trembled like the hanging leaves on a branch. Despite her body trembling, she suddenly felt extremely hot, as if the sun suddenly shifted meters closer to the planet. The fact that she didn't remember anything that happened to her at all made her feel various forms of terror.
Then, she had an idea.
Alright. I'll ask myself a few questions about my past. Maybe that could help. She took in some deep breaths, allowing her palpitations to slow down and her body to stop trembling.
This is probably just a dream! She thought to herself with a scoff and a smirk. I honestly just didn't loose all of my memories! I'm probably just freaking out right now.
In a minute, she was calm, her heart beated at a normal rate. She didn't feel as hot as she did a minute ago; the weather to her was again pleasant. She still had that headache, but it was slowly fading away once again.
Here it goes… I hope I'm right… she thought, inhaling in deeply through her nose. She picked up the scents of the grass while doing that, which she thought was odd.
Was I actually able to smell something from that far? she thought to herself, wrinkling her nose while gazing down at the patches of grass. That's pretty cool, but weird at the same time. She shook it off. Anyways! Here it goes!
"What happened yesterday?" Her mind was blank on that. She couldn't remember anything about yesterday.
"What country are you in?" She couldn't even remember the town she resided in. Nor did she know if she was in the same place she lived in, or some other place.
"How many siblings do you have?" No answer had popped up for that. She did not even have memories of her family. All she saw were black, blurred faces.
"Do you have any pets?" She couldn't recall ever having any kind of Pokemon, or if she even encountered any in her life.
"Where are you from?" Well, she didn't even know where she is right now. How could she remember where she was from?
She then tried asking more and more questions about herself, trying to delve in deeper and deeper.
Each question she had asked herself, she felt the dread inside of her expand more and more.
She wasn't getting anything exceptional out of the questions. The closest kinds of memory she got were all black blurs and hazy visions. Even if it was something, it still didn't provide much aid to her. The stress that she tried to kick out inside of her slowly sank back in. Her body violently trembled again as she felt completely lost.
Wh-What am I supposed to do now!? she frantically thought, her eyes stinging from the tears that threatened to pour down. I'm stranded in some random place with no memory whatsoever!
Suddenly, she thought up of another question.
"Do I know my name, at least?" she whispered to herself rather slowly, hoping that she would at least have some form of her own identity. She swore that she would straight out start to bawl if she didn't even remember her own name, her own denomination, her own title. She begged herself internally to remember her own name. She didn't want to know what would happen if she didn't even remember her own name.
She was rewarded with a huge wave of relief, as a name echoed inside of her.
Meifen…
Hearing her own name gave her a sense of familiarity. It was the only thing that she felt familiar and close to. For that, she was content of knowing at least her own name, rather than being someone nameless without a memory. Scratch that, she was more than content; she was delightful. In fact, her eyes were stinging a bit from tears of joy. She couldn't imagine how things would end up if she didn't even remember her name. Oh, how scary would that been. As if not knowing anything about her past at all was scary enough.
Her happiness had quickly dissolved in confusion once again as a question popped up in her head: What now?
Even though she knows her name, she still knows nothing else about herself. Not to mention, she was stranded in some forest all by herself. Unless she was lucky and actually finds someone trustworthy in the area, the chance of finding someone wandering around in the woods were pretty low. Perhaps she could try to find her way out of the forest. But what worried her was bumping into wild Pokemon, especially since she had nothing to fend them off. She was not only alone, but defenseless; Meifen was at a giant disadvantage.
Meifen's throat unexpectedly felt as dry as a desert.
I'm parched… she thought with a small frown. I need some water to chug down.
Luckily, there was a stream of water right behind her. A huge waterfall, a couple feet away from her, was pouring out streams of water, adding on to the flowing cerulean stream. The stream was flowing to the left, heading deep into the mysterious forest.
Meifen turned around and trudged to the stream. She had then realized that she was crawling on all four, instead of walking on her two legs. Assuming that her headache, still pounding inside her head with a feeble but tedious pain, was weakening her, she didn't care at that point. She was suddenly craving for some water to gulp down, which would satisfy her dehydrated throat. Giving herself one last strong push, she quickly crawled her way to the lake.
As soon as she was near the lake, she dipped her head towards the stream and chugged down huge mouthfuls of water. The water felt cool and incredibly refreshing. It was so refreshing to the point where Meifen had to be careful to not dump her whole head while drinking the water. Each gulp of water had woken her up little by little. Her throat felt a lot less dry, and her headache completely died out from drinking the water. She felt much less weak than she was when she had woken up minutes ago.
After one last draught of water, she found herself panting, as if she nearly drowned in the lake. But she still felt great after all of that water; It made her feel strong, and ready to face the dangers.
"I-I feel alive…" she declared to herself in between pants, a sly grin making its way across her face. "That was incredibly delicious! Does water always taste this good? Oh, how great would that be!"
Meifen lightly licked her lips, drying up any dripping water that was left back. She then took in a deep breath.
"My headache went away…" she noted, her head feeling much more clear now. "I guess I really did need some water."
While relaxing a bit, something intriguing had caught her eye: A reflection on the lake.
Meifen scrutinized at the reflection. Looking closely at it, she noticed something very yellow.
Is it the sun? She thought. She glanced up at the sunlight, and then back at the reflection. The sunlight was its usual striking bright color, shining through leaves and kissing the grounds with its light. The reflection, on the other hand, was also unmistakably bright, but it was a duller shade of yellow, compared to the sunlight. If anything, it was more like a blond-yellow.
Blond… Meifen mused. She closed her eyes for a bit, envisioning blonde locks of hair. Like blond-colored hair… Oh!
Her eyes widened a bit, as she realized something.
I wonder how I actually look like! She thought with a gasp. How did that, of all things, not come to my mind earlier? I guess I was so caught up on other parts of my memory to the point where my looks didn't even matter.
She casted one last glance at the reflection and thought, That must be my hair then!
She leaned towards the reflection on the lake, eyes gleaming with mad curiosity and lips twisted in a small grin. She was suddenly anxious in seeing her looks; What color her eyes are, and how big or small they are, the texture of her hair, the color of her face, everything about her looks.
Instead of seeing a human face with blonde hair staring back at her, however, she saw something quite unexpected. Something she least expected it to be, out of all things.
The reflection on the lake didn't show a human. It wasn't even that close to being a human. Instead, it showed a animal that resembled a tiny fox of some sorts. Its whole body, save for the second half of its face, was covered with the same dullish yellow color Meifen had seen on the reflection. The second half of the face was covered in white fur, which extended out a bit as two smoothened spikes on its cheeks. Two of its ears were located high on its head, sticking upwards. Large tufts of dark orange fur had covered the insides of the ears, which made the fur visible. The fox-like animal also had a small, chunky tail that was dark orange at the tip, and a pointed black nose. Dark orange eyes, a color that could be mistaken for ruby-red eyes, stared up at Meifen.
It's a Fennekin.
What…? Meifen thought, obviously confused at what she was seeing. Why am I looking at a reflection of a Fennekin?
Her mouth slowly opened, hanging in confusion.
Oddly enough, the fennekin's mouth also opened, revealing two short, pointy teeth.
Seeing the reflection mimic her action was just enough to scare Meifen. She yelped and stumbled a couple steps back from the stream.
Wait a second… she thought. She had realized how she stumbled backwards.
She looked down to see her hands and feet, hoping that wasn't going insane.
Instead of seeing a pair of feet and another pair of hands, she saw four small, furry yellow paws.
No… she thought to herself, her face dissolving into a look of fear once again. She lifted one of her paws up to inspect it. Feeling her body shift in return, she dreadfully concluded that this is far from being a dream.
How… she continued thinking as she watched her elevated paw with nothing but utter shock and turmoil. She then stared back at the reflection - her reflection - of the lake. Those dark orange eyes stared back at her once again, sharing the same frightened expression. She couldn't believe it, but sadly, it was actually reality.
Is it even possible… she thought. Have I really become a Pokemon?!
She gave her own reflection a mixed look of confusion and desperation. A weak smile stretched across her face, but her wistful eyes betrayed it. She thought to herself, But why? Why am I a Pokemon? I definitely remember being a human. What's going on!?
She swore, if she was a Pokemon with hands rather than being four-legged, she would be clawing at the scalp of her head. She also swore that she was really supposed to be a human, and not a Pokemon. She was horrified right now. After actually thinking a bit optimistic, she was thrown back into something else that she would never expect. Now, she's a Pokemon with amnesia in the middle of the weird forest! It felt like all of this was a nightmare, but it really wasn't. All of that makes it hard to even believe that this was all true.
Well… No wonder I feel quite warm… Meifen thought. My whole body is covered in fur.
She looked down at her puny yellow paws once again, wondering if she could even walk properly with four feet. It felt odd enough standing on all four. She then lifted her head up.
Lemme try walking towards that tree there. She thought, her eyes scanning a huge tree.
Meifen slowly tried to walk towards a huge tree, which was a foot away. Walking with her four paws felt really… Peculiar. For starters, it felt like her two front paws did most of the work when it came to walking. When she used her right front paw to walk forward, her back right leg would automatically stretch to the back, while her front left paw stretched a bit to the back and her left leg did the opposite. When she used her left paw to go forward after her right, everything else was vice-versa. She kept on stumbling, of course, as the concept was quite odd.
Oh, gosh… she puffed as she made it to the tree. Do I have to start practicing on how to walk, now?
When she was making one last step with her left paw, she ended up lurching head-first towards the tree. Her forehead was smashed against it, while her whole body was laying down rather awkwardly. Her legs were spewed to the right.
She slowly got up on her legs some seconds later. Her forehead felt somewhat sore.
I guess my headache came back… she thought with a dark chuckle.
All of a sudden, she heard a robotic-like voice behind her call out, "Beheem!"
Meifen twisted herself around, flustered by the fact that someone - or rather, some Pokemon - had seen her huge failure of walking like a newborn. She saw three Pokemon floating towards her, their short feet hovering inches above the ground. They looked outlandish and extraterrestrial. Their heads, wider than their narrow bodies, had an odd black pattern of lines. Each one of them stared at Meifen with their green eyes.
They are… Pokemon, right? She thought to herself, cocking her head to the side as she examined them. They came out of nowhere and all… She looked at them wearily.
It then dawned on her that she wasn't the only Pokemon in this forest. She could ask them for help! There was hope in getting out of this forest! Maybe she could get much more than just escaping the forest. Maybe she could get more information. But… On what?
She was about to call out those Pokemon for help, but she stopped herself as soon as she saw what those three Pokemon were doing. The three of them were huddling together in one group. While facing each other, they each held up their arms in the center. Their fingers flashed in three colors; red, green, and yellow.
Meifen suddenly felt even more weary.
Is that… My instincts telling me something? She thought. She took one tiny step backward, tensing herself up. Whatever it is, it's practically screaming at me that something's up with them. Something not good, either. But wh-
One of the suspicious pokemon suddenly hovered towards her. With their flickering fingers, they struck at her. Meifen felt a zapping sensation of pain as she staggered back with a pained grunt.
"W-Whoa! Wh-What in the-" she stuttered. She couldn't finish her statement because another one of those Pokemon had attacked her next. Luckily, she dodged it, but just barely. One of the Pokemon's finger bristled her tail, giving it a little jolt. It was still enough for Meifen to consider herself lucky.
She took a step backward. The three Pokemon had then surrounded her in front, hovering closer to her inch by inch like a predator stalking its poor prey. It was absolutely menacing. Even though there was nothing behind Meifen, she felt as if she really was backed against a corner of something.
What should I do? Meifen asked herself. She felt beads of sweat gathering around in the furs of her forehead. Can't I use any moves? What moves does a Fennekin like me even knows?
The Pokemon were getting even more closer to her with their flashing fingers. There was three of them, while there was only one of Meifen.
I'm severely outnumbered here… Meifen thought to herself as she eyed the three Pokemon who were now practically surrounding her. She felt their menacing auras more clearly than ever, making it obvious that she should definitely be more than an arm's length away from all of them.
She turned around and started to dash away from them. She didn't even had to turn around to know that those Pokemon were chasing after her.
Running with four legs was such an experience. A strange one, definitely. Meifen had to take tiny leap forwards, like little jumps. She had to use the two legs in the back as a boost for her to go forward. Her two front legs sprang forward. It felt natural, yet at the same time didn't.
She heard the robotic-like buzzing sounds from the Beheeyem as she continued to dash away from them. She wondered what in the world were they gonna do to her, but at the same time, didn't want to know at all.
All of a sudden, she felt herself slide as one of her feet tripped on a thick tree branch.
No! Meifen loudly gasped as her footing had become all jumbled up. She stumbled with a bit of pain, but she didn't stop moving forward.
She was no longer running in the proper way. She kept on stumbling from one foot to the other, practically tripping over and over. How she managed to keep going forward was beyond her.
Then, Meifen saw a figure a few steps away from her.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! She thought. She stumbled even more as she tried to stop at a halt.
After a bunch of legs tangling, she managed to stop herself from the frenzy of a "run." She was taking in deep breaths, bowing her head down as she did so. She felt the presence of someone else in front of her. But unlike the Beheeyem, the figure's presence didn't had any sort of wrongness to them.
As Meifen took in deep breaths with her fox-like head bowed down, she heard a voice ask, "Huh? What's wrong?"
Meifen froze.
Wait… Who was that? She thought. She glanced up at the Pokemon that was standing in front of her. The Pokemon had a floppy green leaf growing out of its head. It (He? She?) had a body that was all brown, save for a beige mask pattern on its face and bulky thighs. A long, thin nose stuck out from its face. It was peering down at Meifen with dark eyes.
It couldn't have been the Pokemon I'm right next to… Right? No way! Pokemon don't talk-
As if on cue, she heard the masculine voice again, but this time, it was in sync with the Pokemon's lips moving, "What are you in a fuss for?"
Meifen's jaw hung down so low, she could've sworn that it could reach the ground if she even tried. Her now dark orange eyes widened as she stared at the Pokemon. Her body tensed up.
D-d-d-did a Pokemon just talk to me!? She thought in disbelief.
Upon seeing her surprised expression, the Pokemon gave her a shocked expression in return. Suddenly nervous, but confused, of what he did, the Pokemon continued, "Whoa! What did I do to you?! Ow, sorry!"
Placing a hand to his chest, the Pokemon hurriedly introduced himself, "I'm Nuzleaf! It's alright now, so just calm down."
Meifen still stared up at him with the same baffled expression. She didn't know what to say.
Ok… she thought slowly in an attempt to calm herself. I'm a Fennekin now, so I guess I can understand Pokemon! Why didn't I thought of that in the first place? She mentally scolded herself.
Suddenly, she felt a wave of dread swelling up inside of her gut, along with a chill running down her spine. It felt like her instincts were yelling at her again, that something dangerous was near her. Just like when-
"Huh?" Meifen heard the Pokemon - now claimed as Nuzleaf - gasp. Looking up at him, she saw him staring straight ahead of her. He looked even more confused than ever.
She turned around, all the fear she had a couple seconds ago returning back to her. The three Beheeyem that followed her were now surrounding the duo. Meifen took a couple steps back as she tensed herself up in some battle stance.
She watched apprehensively as the Beheeyem exchanged that same gesture of flashing their fingers in different colors together.
Suddenly, the Beheeyem to Meifen's left charged towards the duo. But instead of aiming at either Pokemon, they aimed right at the center, as if it was threatening them. Meifen and Nuzleaf both felt the impact of the attack. Meifen got lightly blown away near a tree, while Nuzleaf just got blown away a couple inches.
"Woah! What in the world!?" the bipedal Pokemon exclaimed, not expecting an attack like that. Meifen had then noticed his accent leaking in.
Meifen just watched in utter fright. Her jaw was hanging down yet again.
The Beheeyem in the middle was the second to attack. This time, they aimed directly at Nuzleaf.
Nuzleaf managed to dodge it, but just barely. He backed away from them. Meifen felt the impact once again as she was pushed away a bit, suddenly behind Nuzleaf
"I'm scared!" Nuzleaf blurted out. Behind him, Meifen gave him an exasperated stare.
Nuzleaf then turned around and darted away. Meifen followed him, but just barely. Her legs still felt weird after stumbling from leg to leg.
Nuzleaf was a good couple paces ahead of her. It looked as if he somewhat knew where he was going. Meifen had wanted to call out for him to wait, but at the same time, didn't want to slow him down and eventually get both of them in trouble. Heck, Meifen didn't even know if she should be trusting him! But her instincts inside wasn't panicking when she was near him. In fact, she felt safe around him. At least when she behind him, she did.
Nuzleaf came to an abrupt halt, to Meifen's surprise. Meifen had tried to stop, but ended up skidding instead. She bumped into Nuzleaf's back.
"Gah!" Nuzleaf gasped at the impact, kneeling down.
"Ack I'm so sorry!" Meifen exclaimed, standing up near his left side. She flushed in embarrassment as she asked, "Are you alright?"
Nuzleaf stood up with a grunt. "Yeah I'm fine."
He then looked at the opening that was a couple feet away from him. The opening was wide and spacious. A bunch of brushes, grass and trees were at the sides of the opening.
Meifen was observing the opening as Nuzleaf spoke, "Oh no… Ain't that one of them mystery dungeons up ahead?"
Meifen glanced at him curiously.
Mystery dungeons? She asked herself.
She was about to ask the Pokemon what exactly these "mystery dungeons" were until she heard her predators.
"Beheem… Beheem…"
Nuzleaf, who had turned back upon hearing their voices, turned towards Meifen. In a panicked voice, he told her, "There ain't no other way to go!"
The bipedal Pokemon suddenly dashed off into the opening of the "mystery dungeon" without turning back,
Meifen gulped as she attempted to catch up behind Nuzleaf. So much was already going on, ever since she woke up as a Fennekin. Supposedly, all of this wasn't even a dream; she was actually a Pokemon, who was able to interact with other Pokemon just like humans interacting with each other. She wasn't just in the body of a tiny Fennekin; she is the Fennekin. Somehow, she has gotten in some sort of trouble with the Beheeyem. What she has done to trouble them, she has no idea. What's gonna happen to her next, she has not even an idea of, But pondering about it now was definitely not a good idea, especially since she's still struggling on running with her four legs.
A/N: I actually had fun writing this! c: I want to do a second chapter (either Meifen meeting her partner, or her with Nuzleaf in Lush Forest). But sadly, school is about to start for me. Plus, my motivation for writing things are quite shaky and uncontrollable.
I also want to write a fanfic of one of my favorite characters in the game: Espurr!
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this fanfic! How was the pace of it? I actually thought this was a bit too slow but idk. What do you think?
Have a good day/afternoon/night!