An Empath's Pokémon Journey… Chapter 1,

Not in Kansas Anymore…

I awoke with a splitting headache, heavy disorientation, and a scenic view of a crudely excavated rock wall. I could barely breathe without pain, so standing up was not an option. I gently eased myself into a sitting position, moaning in pain all the while. I put a hand to my head, and I felt a gigantic lump on my forehead. It was quite tender to the touch, so I removed my hand quickly.

(Okay, where the heck am I, and how did I get here?)

I wondered, looking around a bit. I saw nothing but ebony hued walls around me, a small hole in the dirt ceiling, which led me to believe that I had fallen into a large cavern, and several unlit torches along the walls, which wasn't much help. I glanced to the floor, where I discovered a leather satchel, worn with years of use. Since I saw no-one else here, I assumed that it was mine, even though I was sure I had never seen it before. This room appeared to look like a storage cellar out of the medieval ages. I felt my legs to make sure that they were intact, and then attempted to stand up. It hurt like hell, but my legs still worked. I walked over to the satchel and slung it over my shoulder, and began to wonder how I could leave this room. It was fairly obvious that I needed to climb out, but as to how I could, I had no clue. I looked around to find some way to jerry-rig a ladder out of what was at hand, but I saw nothing around me, only a smooth rock floor, covered with arcane symbols...

That actually seemed to glow in the shadows… spooky.

I decided to look in the satchel, and I was surprised to see nothing but a book inside it. Normally one would expect to see food in travelers' satchels, medical supplies, and explorer gear, but I only saw this simple book, one that was written in a very odd language. As I looked at the arcane script, the text began to glow in a greenish light. The text pulsed, glowed, and shook, the book actually vibrating in my hands. I was overcome with agony as my ears, lips, and my skull all throbbed, causing much suffering for me. As my pain threshold was almost breached, it suddenly stopped increasing, and began to slowly fade away, leaving me almost whimpering on the floor. I touched my lips, and they felt icy, cold, and numb. I then reached the tips of my ears and quickly jerked my hand back, as my ears were very much tender, and they felt almost burning hot. I then felt the top of my head, and quickly discovered that I had grown a lot of hair. I am talking almost shoulder length, but that was it, until my hands and legs began to ache badly, almost as if I had growing pains, but not quite. I looked at my hands in shock, as they began to glow bright white, and my arms became covered in arcane script, which I remembered seeing in the book, but when I looked for the book, it was gone. My arms slowly stopped glowing, but the arcane script remained, written in my flesh as though it were a tattoo, suddenly the glowing symbols moved onto the wall in front of me, and began to reform into words I could understand, though I could not read it. It was almost as if they were projecting the meaning into my very mind. It read:

'Those who seek Power seldom find it, yet those who do not desire it, will oft find it thrust upon them. You who desire peace, receive our blessing...'

As I finished reading that last sentence, a greenish glow surrounded me, actually lifting me up off the ground and out of the hole. As I left the hole, it seemed to close up beneath me, leaving nothing but a small patch of white and yellow flowers. As I wondered the possible meanings of what those symbols meant, I heard a young, male-sounding voice behind me gasp, [D-did you j-just fly?]

I slowly turned around and gasped at what I saw. He appeared to be a black and blue colored, two foot tall, bipedal dog, with two blue ears, and two hanging black ears. I was shocked, but probably not as shocked as that guy was. This guy looked as if it had seen a ghost, as his muzzle was hanging wide open, and as I watched, a dark grey glow surrounded him. I could tell he was in a state of shock, but I couldn't blame him. I attempted to calm him down, saying,

"You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

The creature just backed up against a tree, one that seemed familiar, but couldn't quite place the name of, and continued to stare at me in shock. This saddened me, as animals usually liked my company. As I delved deeper into sadness, it began to rain… but only over my head. This seemed to startle to young creature, who apparently had never seen such a visible state of sadness. He slowly walked over, and tugged on my pant leg. As I saw his face, the small storm above my head began to clear up a little bit. I sat down, so that we could be face-to-face, and began to talk.

"You know, I can honestly say this is the first time I have ever seen one of you, yet I seem to understand you on a basic level. I really feel like you will listen to me, and actually care about what I have to say."

I hugged the little fellow, who hugged me back. We both stayed in each others arms for almost three minutes, and then he let me go.

[I can feel the same way about you, friend. I can tell you are kind, compassionate, and can understand Pokémon on a basic level. You don't see us as tools, or pets. You see us as equals, and for that, I thank you.] If I hadn't been looking at his face, I wouldn't have thought he was the one speaking.

"Do you speak English?" I asked him.

[No, sorry. Very few Pokémon can actually speak the human language, but all Pokémon can understand it. Also, almost humans cannot hear us speak, so they consider us to be mindless.]

"Ugh... that seems awful." I groaned, while the creature nodded.

[Most humans believe us to be nothing more than tools for… Wait, WHAT? You can understand me?] He began to yelp.

"Yes, yes I can. Isn't that odd? I always treated animals with care and respect. I guess this is my reward!" I began to smile, and the tiny raincloud over my head evaporated completely, and my clothes began to dry almost instantaneously. The young creature laughed with me, and I had a starting realization.

"Oh crud, I haven't even introduced myself yet! My name is Alan Johns'son. What is yours?" I asked, with as much social grace as I could muster, without dipping into dramatics.

He thought for a moment.

[Humans don't usually ask for our names, they just try to catch us. They would call me 'Riolu', but actually, my name is Rayzr.]

"Thanks, Razyr. Do you happen to know where we are?" I asked.

[Umm… Pallet Town is about a half hour walk that way,] He said, pointing behind me. [But I can't go near Human towns, they would really like to catch me, as my kind don't normally show themselves to Humans.] He added with a little chuckle.

"Well, since I need supplies and food, how about I protect you? If you walk right next to me, I'm sure that we can get there without being bothered." I decided.

Rayzr grinned at the suggestion of a human protecting him, and nodded heartily.

We both began to travel together to Pallet Town.

Had I known then what I know now, a LOT of trouble could have been avoided.

This is my story.

I... am Alan Johns'son.

_END OF CHAPTER_