I wiped the sleep from my eyes only to attempt and fail to get up the first try. "Ugh," I was rather aware of the slight chill that filled the air as I sat up slowly and sluggishly looked around to take in my surroundings, I'm in a tent. It's cheap. I used to be a morning guy but a lot has changed recently and I haven't been getting the best sleep.

I reached for my coiled up belt with four of my poké balls attached and my bag to pull out the badge case — err, It's a pencil tin with a cheap foam insert to keep them from rattling around. I pop it open and gaze upon six of the shiniest badges I ever did see. Every time I wake up from one of those dreams, I feel the need to make it worse by trying and failing to prove that they never actually happened.

Our hard earned badges right here in my hands, evidence of our greatness.

I closed the tin and decided it was about time to start packing up camp. I put on my poké belt — which had an emergency release cord just in case I need to release all my pokémon at once.

I had cut the cord off long ago.

I suck at assembling and disassembling the tent, after I got ready I spent more time than I'd like messing with it. If the more expensive ones are easier to implement I think I might fork over the cash just for that alone. I have plenty of money now from gym battles — though because I also did a spot of err, medical freelancing, I have always had a lot in reserve. I'll get one later, this is stupid.

After thirty whole minutes of fumbling around with that water resistant cloth machination, I crammed the few supplies I had left into my bag — no food since I ran out a month ago, with my tent tied to the bottom in a lazy bundle and took off.

Due to my current circumstances, It's oddly safer for me to travel at the crack of dusk — which defies standard convention, but I'm in the middle of Route 30 and I have to get moving to Cherrygrove if I want to be safe. It — whatever it is, likes to haunt me at night since its power is many times greater in the darkness. I recently discovered that this thing has been feeding me vivid dreams simply to induce nightmares and then snack away on them while I helplessly struggled in my sleeping bag.

I found out because I woke up one time for a brief moment on Route 37 and saw a pair of slitted, lilac colored eyes and a zipper-like mouth. The mouth was unzipped and was open and absorbing a dark violet and black miasma from my body and into itself.

From that day on I slept during the day and traveled during the night. I only get the dreams now and for the most part, they seem to be normal, albeit somewhat depressing.

The sun had set as I walked along the path and oddly there wasn't a single pokémon out, not even dark or nocturnal pokémon. It's been like this for the two weeks that I've been traveling. I did have a few comedic encounters with pokémon during the morning where I'd attempt to catch one by lobbing a poké ball at it — and subsequently pissed them off. Other than that it's been real peachy outside of the whole stalking business.

My reverie was interrupted by a soft, feminine, and smug chuckling, which was a new experience for me to be honest. It felt like I was sitting in front of a pair of studio monitors and if they were perfectly balanced the sound seemed to originate at the center of my skull — I liked audio before I became a trainer.

I decided to pick up my pace as I was beginning to feel sufficiently creeped out by the voice in my head.

[What do you think you're doing?] She sounded chillingly calm yet genuinely curious. [You have much further to go before you reach the town of fragrant flowers. You'll grow weary if you try and run such a large distance now,] there was an obvious snarky inflection at the end of her phrase.

She was not wrong, in fact, it made so much sense that I booked it in spite of her advice. Whatever this thing is, its crazy — it's been following me for far too long. Leaves and twigs cracked under my feet as I ran through the brush and jumped over ridges. My lungs burned as I huffed and drew in more air, pretty soon it would go away though, I hadn't warmed up so I was kind of out of it. I was feeling pretty confident as I made my way to town — that was until I started feeling stupid for running from a voice in my head, I don't even know where the thing I'm running from is.

[Now you're thinking young one. You might want to be careful when you jump this next ridge though,] she said uncaringly.

Surely enough there was a ridge and I jumped down and heard a screeching canine yelp. Oh, there goes a pokémon — a really pissed off mightyena. "Oh Sh-," I yelped as I continued on my way. Aren't they native to somewhere else? I keep forgetting historical pokémon migration patterns. Then again everything has been a little mixed up for a couple years now, explaining why I have trouble recalling.

[Oh, you've done it now. Don't let it catch you,] she said, her warning was forced and phlegmatic.

"You did this!" I yelled to nowhere in particular as I vaulted over and under greenery. I could see the city lights in the distance, there was no way I was going to make it. I could hear the beast behind me panting every couple footfalls, they were heavy footfalls too. I looked around for anything that I could use to get me out of this situation, I hadn't encountered a pokémon willing to battle for a long time.

For a moment I thought about the emergency chord that I cut from my poké belt. That thought was very quickly interrupted as I felt the sharp pain of multiple fangs sinking into my hip followed by a heavy weight tripping me up and violently dragging me down to the ground tumbling. I called out for help — in vain of course, just like last time. The creature was pretty large for its species too, its maw was able to easily able to hold me solidly in its grip as it lifted me off the ground and slammed me back down. At that moment I saw an ultra ball hanging from its neck, so I punched the dog in the snout causing it to yelp and release me. It lunged at me again so I propped it up by planting my feet on the chest of the beast, fighting my hardest to keep it balanced and far enough away from me to do my work. I then grabbed the ball from its neck — nearly had my hand snapped off, and returned the creature in a brilliant flash of white light. My legs upon being relieved of the large weight flopped to the ground with a thud, the adrenaline began to wear off and as I tried to lift my left leg again I found that I couldn't muster the strength to do so.

[You're quite observant when you need to be, I'll give you that,] the voice mused.

I quickly grabbed my side to check my wound — yes it was there, and it hurt. If it wasn't for the stinging pain upon contact, I would have mistaken my hip for a mound of useless burger meat. Not wanting to waste any more time I then took off my bag to fetch a potion, they're a new formula and work very well on everything organic. I sprayed my profusely bleeding wound after dumping a bottle of water on it to make sure nothing would get caught inside that I'd have to take out later. It didn't sting but it totally sounds like boiling soup which, to be honest, is freaking gross. I laid back down on the ground panting and looked up at the star-filled night sky, the only thing ruining the ambiance was the slowly fading pain.

[Tired?]

I set myself up on a nearby rock and looked around. "Yeah… what do you want!" I yelled, my raising my voice left me more tired than I'd like.

[Good.]

A dark splotch appeared on the ground and the source of the voice revealed itself to me as a strange dark purple doll-like creature with a zipper for a mouth. It had three short spikes on its head the same color as its body — one in the center and one to each side, and a gnarled looking zigzagging pinnacle like cloth streaming from the back of her head. She also had a small yellow tail that resembled the frayed end of a brush. All of this standing on two stubby legs with a sack like body. "A banette, huh? Wha-"

[What am I doing here? You wouldn't want me to bore you with stories at camp now do you? Not that your camp is set up, like it should be at night of course,] the corners of her zipper pulled into a grin as she sauntered over and paced around me with an uncaring gaze.

I looked around for that ultra ball that I found on the mightyena. I scooped it up but then I relented, the thing just tried to kill me a few seconds ago.

[Oh? That's an interesting idea, it does have a natural advantage over me you know,] she said all while being completely unfazed, and correct again. I could sick this creature on her using the confusion it will encounter while being released.

…Bad plan…

She then began walking towards me in a slow and steady pace. It's just so odd finally coming face to face with something that's been stalking me for so long. I'm probably going to end up wishing I'd die here now before I could get my last two badges… or at least figure out how to get my last two badges.

With reckless abandon, I decided to lob the ultra ball between us and hoped for the best. Before the ball hit the ground it fell into a dark pit similar to the one that banette had climbed from. My breath hitched, she foiled my plan!

Err — the plan that she gave me!

[That would have resulted in a much earlier death, I assure you,] she said as she looked at me with a very stolid glare and proceeded to walk on my legs and then climbed onto my stomach. I tried to push her off but my hands just passed through her body, it felt like I reached into a fridge. I pulled my hands back quickly as she unzipped her mouth. "What are you doing?" I said, yelling at her.

She placed her teeth on my neck and bit down with considerable force, eliciting a yelp from me that was quickly choked away. It vaguely reminded me of that time I had gotten myself caught in a zipper — it hurt a lot, I always wore underwear from then on.

She drew her head back leaning on her knees and that same miasma from before erupted from a newly bleeding wound on my neck to be drawn into her maw. I honestly couldn't feel more helpless and bitter, that is until I couldn't feel anything anymore — Like my emotions were gone, all that was left was calm.

[Feel better? Because I'm full now,] she grabbed the collar of my jacket and wiped the blood from her mouth and zipped her face back up.

"Really? Now you're concerned about manners?" I scoffed feeling strange in my artificial calm. She sat back and smiled before she got up and walked on my chest. I coughed, a little surprised by her weight. "You're a lot heavier than you look too," I added with minimal labor.

Her lilac eyes turned icy as her smirk vanished and she reached for my forehead. [You've let the leash on your tongue grow lax young one. You should work on that nature of yours before it becomes an issue further down the line… if you make it that far,] she was unflustered as she urged me to shut up. Her nearly flat palm landed on my head and it was cool to the touch like unused bedsheets — that was until her hand pushed past my skull, then it felt like someone had dumped ice water on my face. She reached deeper and deeper until our foreheads connected and then my vision washed out in shades of purple light.

From there I passed out.

I woke up confused and disorientated inside my tent, and so the first thing I did was a familiar routine.

Belt, Four spherical checks.

Badges, Shiny check.

Emergency rip chord, ripped.

[You're highly resilient, you've made it through the night,] a familiar condescendingly hopeful tone cut through the silence, I had forgotten about what happened last night.

I shot up and out of the tent — now that I think more about it, I'm pretty sure I didn't set up last night because I got mauled twice. Once I was outside, I saw it was morning and Cherrygrove wasn't too far away, maybe another two hours walk. The campsite was laid out the same as usual, the fire had also been put out.

[Just the way you prefer to have your sleeping arrangements made yes?]

"W-where? Where are you?" I said not liking where this is going.

[Here.]

I hadn't been paying attention to my ambient body temperature, but as soon as I felt it shift unnaturally I locked up in fear. From my mouth and I felt the cold build up and sure enough, that banette's arm emerged slowly. I immediately tried to grab it and tear it out but my hands failed to make contact. It's not exactly choking me but I can feel the warmth leaving my face as if I had dipped it in cool water. The hand retreats back to its lair — that is my mouth, and I begin to full on have a panic attack. As my heart rate spiked, very quickly it all subsided and I feel lethargy.

[All calm now? If I could gain weight on your emotions and life energy, I would,] her voice was forever uncaring as she said that, I just don't know what to make of this creature. Oh, yes, a scandalous body snatching wench.

I heard her chuckle in my head as I thought that.

I slumped down in front of my tent to catch my breath and then the chilling feeling faded away. I've been possessed by a ghost pokémon, and I have no idea what to do…

[Just do as I say, or I will keep you dreaming until I've had enough and leave you for dead,] She urged. [We are effectively one while I'm in here, you belong to me.]

"No… no no no… NO! I'm supposed to capture you! Not the other way around!" I screamed — albeit at my own mouth.

She chuckled once again.

[It'll be fine, you humans do this kind of thing to pokémon on a regular basis, and it's created enough of a mess as it is,] she said.

"W-what?"

[Just get up, we have a visitor and they look like they want to battle."]

Sure enough, I could see who she was talking about. He looked like a beginning trainer which would make sense due to my proximity to the professor's lab. Soon after, his brown eyes lit up as he adjusted his cap and his face adorned a determined look. He waved and soon after he was within distance for us to chat, he stopped.

"Lets Battle!" he had a familiar fire in his eyes that had long gone out from mine. He threw out his first pokémon… a cyndaquil. I had to hold back my own tears for a moment before I could respond to his request.

"I, uh, I've gotta decline kid. I'm sorry," I said as my hand grazed over one of my four poké balls.

The kid looked at me incredulously, "You can't decline a trainer battle," he pointed at me, "you know how this goes." he said with a snicker in his voice.

"They're all dead."

The kid paused and withdrew his hand quickly. "I-I'm sorry to hear that."

This was actually the first time in the month since the incident that I had acknowledged this fact.

"I've got six badges, and no pokémon to get the remaining two," I began to walk away from the kid, I hate watching people struggle under the weight of my personal revelations.

"I'm a bad trainer, kid… don't end up like me," I said listlessly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to my camp and pack up," the demon in my head was quiet and the kid was definitely wondering if he chose the right pastime as he continued on his journey.

Yes, I carried four empty poké balls on me — all with their names engraved on the surface, I read them every time I woke to make sure I wouldn't forget their names and all the joy they each brought to my life. I know that the banette was torturing me with the dreams but they feel so vivid that I could really see myself getting addicted to sleeping.

[No, I never gave you the dreams, and besides, I have other uses for you now. Just listen to me and you'll no doubt live through this ordeal,] she had gotten very comfortable with our new arrangements, reading my thoughts without my permission is pretty rude.

"How could I forget," I scoffed as I broke down camp and struggled with the tent.

[I bet you miss your girafarig right about now. She really enjoyed puzzles like this.] she was reading through my memories.

"Shut up, don't pretend to know me!" I hissed.

[Pretend? I am you, I could live your life young one and you or anyone you know wouldn't be the wiser,] she said with a chuckle.

I sighed. "So I really am trapped?" she could basically get anything she wanted from me with no effort.

[Oh, do not worry, it doesn't have to be a bad experience. I assure you that if we learn to work together, you'll find that there is much to learn about yourself,] she meant to sound excited and encouraging but she failed.

I finished packing up and just stood there for a moment, looking at Cherrygrove in the distant morning sun. My pokémon were dead because I was careless, and now basically I've even lost the rights to my own body.

"S-so… what now?" I hesitantly asked. I need to find a way out of this.

[Well, I want to learn more about my new body to be completely honest,] she began while she used my head to look around. [I have an advantage in today's current events and I aim to make full use of it,] she said as she soon found an ariados and walked me over to it. It felt so weird being actively awake while being manipulated. It felt like tight puppet strings were attached to every limb, there was no give and my resistance didn't seem to make much difference.

[You mind is weak so you can't resist me at the moment, you'll get better eventually. It is an important skill that you need to learn,] she said as we sat down in front of the tree. The nearly four-foot-tall spider lowered itself to the ground to rest a short distance away from me. It had a red body with black stripes and markings on is rear that forms a face. In the center of its head is a small, white horn. It also has these menacing small purple eyes framed below by a pair of white mandibles. The four long yellow legs had purple stripes on them, there was a pair on the top of its body as well but they didn't seem to be functional legs.

My heart was racing because I had no idea what she was doing, I didn't make it a habit to accost wild pokémon so I felt sufficiently freaked out as the giant bug scuttled up to us — er, me.

Poké speech came from my mouth, it felt very strange as my voice rasped out each syllable. The giant bug had a confused look on its face and then replied with additional unintelligible language, This went on for a good five minutes. I tried to speak but it was quickly overridden by poke speech. So all I could do was sit back for the show until we… or they stopped talking?

"What was that about?" I finally got to ask, my throat was a little raspy and dry.

[A little experiment, a benchmark if I may. I'm sorry, but I made a trade. Food for knowledge,] she said, untroubled and cryptic.

"I don't have any food though and we're a few hours away from Cherrygrove."

I was still being held in place by the banette as the ariados approached me, it then stabbed me in the stomach and drove its mandibles in and I fell on my back. I still couldn't move, I screamed as loudly as I could hoping that at least someone was nearby — I've never been that lucky before.

[This is more pain than I expected, I'll let you have your body back soon!] for the first time her tone was hurried and frantic.

My arms were limp and I screamed and yelled as the spider mauled me from above injecting its venom in copious amounts. The spider eventually stopped and released me and then quickly left. Soon I was able to move as my tormentor gave me back control of my body. She stepped out of me as I gripped my core which was beginning to burn quite a lot.

[I guess he felt too guilty to finish the job, understandable I guess,] she looked fatigued as she paced around me to see my reactions to the violent poisoning. [Though your body isn't normal, I wasn't going to last another minute in there with you I'm afraid,] near the end of her sentence I was screaming too loud to really be able to keep my head clear and hear her.

Foam came out of my mouth and my gut sounded like a hot pot, it was boiling violently — I assume this molten flesh slurry was the food that was to be traded. I was becoming dehydrated and weary from all of the pain, soon I began to slip in and out of consciousness. I seized on the ground for a few moments and then everything stopped, before I blacked out I saw the banette sitting on the ground next to me with a worried or horrified expression on her face.

Well, this is my first attempt at writing (Actually publishing a thing), and coming from learning to build games the best thing I could do was just to start. If I get reviews I'll do what I can given my schedule to fix things in the released chapter and then carry those fixes and considerations into the others. I'm definitely going to be looking for a beta reader as well.

Though I have planned out rough details, a lot of the filling is decided by chance. What I'm saying is that I'm actually playing this fic as a game and writing the outcome for you to read. If things get gory it really just means that the game did not play well in my favor.

Being in complete control and lacking the experience that I do, left me wanting everything to work out in my favor the first time I wrote this. So I stepped back and wrote a computer program that takes what I would want to happen and instead opposes me, it often results in bad stuff happening in the plot.

Is this a good idea? I have no idea, the only thing I can do is build it and see if it explodes.

I hope you feel the need to critique as I would love to have it. If it feels cliché or you don't like it? That's fine, let me know, I'm trying to get better at building narratives for games in the future.