The feeling of inevitable death was creeping upon me.

My name is Akia. I was fourteen at the time this all happened, and I was a pretty strong girl from District 10. I had shaggy, long brown hair; a set of sky blue eyes, and a golden yellow flower pin in my hair. I was sitting on edge of my living room couch with my family, watching our television intensely. But that wasn't because I was watching a suspenseful show, where the heroic protagonist was facing the evil antagonist. Instead, I was watching a live broadcast made by the Capitol, where the tributes were chosen for The Pokémon Games. "The Pokémon Games" is an event where 32 individuals, ages thirteen through seventeen, are transformed into Pokémon before fighting to the death in an Arena. The last remaining tribute wins.

Except... I was going to be in that years' games, the 99th Pokémon Games, unless a miracle happened. I had volunteered for the games after the death of my boyfriend in the games. You couldn't recall your request, so I was committed to the games unless someone else had volunteered.

I looked over to my right, and found my little sister, Soeta. I despised her. She was a selfish, spoiled, rascal of a sibling with absolutely no love for anyone. All she cared about was getting her way, no matter the lengths or means. Not that my mother was much better. She wasn't selfish, but she absolutely hated me. She did nothing when my boyfriend died in the games, and even laughed at me about it. According to her, I was the one responsible for my father's death. It wasn't my fault, and I hated that she accused me of that because I loved my dad more than anyone. He was bright, cheerful, and always ready to put someone in a good mood. He died when a tree fell the wrong way, and I just so happened to be there when it happened.

Music started coming from the TV, and it displayed the stage of the Capitol, the place used for interviews with the tributes, plays, band performances, and the raffle. The man on stage was the president, but he didn't look like one. The previous president, President Giovanni, was nearly 120 years old when he finally passed away two only years before. The new president, President Viscoshi, who was wearing a golden crown and a stylized green cloak, looked like he was twenty... And, strangely, a little like a Pokémon. He had a slightly stretched-out face, a stubby black nose, and lime colored eyes. Strangely, though, between the 98th and 99th Pokémon Games, he'd dyed his hair from a light brown to a dark green.

The president started to talk while drawing names from different jars. Every one of the jars contained slips with the names of every single teenage boy or girl in the districts on them, with each jar representing a different district. Districts 1-9 meant nothing to me, as I knew a grand total of zero of their tributes. Twenty minutes passed before he got to the tenth district, and drew a slip from the jar.

"Kyle... Acosha."

I nearly had a heart attack. Kyle was in The Pokémon Games. Kyle was from my school, and was two grades ahead of me. He was a dumb brute, completely selfish, and could easily, EASILY win a fight. That's when I knew I had no chance in the games. All I could do was hope that someone else had volunteered.

Then, the president put his hand through the gap of his cloak, took it out holding a tiny envelope, and held it high.

"For the girl of District 10, there were a couple of volunteers. We have randomly picked the tribute from the two. That tribute is..."

As he opened the letter, I was biting my nails in fright. There was another volunteer from my district. That meant that there was a chance I could be saved from the games, but...

"Akia... Shotonaki."

For a few moments, nothing seemed to move. Everything was silent until I stood up and looked at my mother. She was the one who got me into this. She gave me the volunteer sheet. And yet, there was no sadness on her face. Why should there have been? She hated me, and I knew that. She thought I'd killed her husband, even though I proved to her I never did. In response, she essentially gave me a death sentence.

I walked slowly out of the room, and found everything around me to be blurry. I stormed through the hallway, my emotions boiling with hatred, anger, and sadness. I closed the door behind me, and stayed there for a minute, trying to calm myself down. When I slowly turned around, two policemen stood in front of me, with the rightmost one holding handcuffs by its chain. A few moments passed before I looked him in the eye, then sighed.

"Alright,"—I snapped my hands behind my back—"let's go."

I kept my eye on the leftmost man as the other walked behind me. I felt the piece of cold metal lock around my wrists; there was no possibility of escape now. The policeman pushed me forward, and we started walking.

During the walk, I looked up to see the neighborhood for the last time. What I used to think was disgusting quickly became very appealing compared to death. I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, my grandmother, sitting in her wheelchair next to her pet Poochyena. She watched me with sad eyes before returning into her house with her pet to comply by law; no one could leave their house during the raffle except for the chosen tributes until instructed to.

The walk to the town center took about ten minutes, and when we arrived, I looked at the machine that had ruined the lives of many. The transformation machine literally stood in the center of the district, reminding its people of their weakness compared to the government. Too many people went into the machines and never came out the same. We walked up the stairs to the machine, and I got my first look of it up close. It was largely white with light blue stripes, and it had two glass entrances, one for the boy, Kyle, and one for the girl, me. I watched as one of the police officers stripped me down to my undergarments before being taken into the chamber. One of the policemen took out a pistol and aimed it at me while the other walked behind me and removed my cuffs. This was smart, since they didn't want anyone to run once their cuffs were taken off. And I came very close to trying.

Internally, I was flipping out. My thoughts were going insane out of fear and restlessness. I was incredibly scared of my likely fate: Death as a weak and stupid Pokémon. Part of me wanted to run just so I could end my life early and not have to go through everything they had in plans for me. I didn't think it could get much worse.

Once the policemen had finished their work, I was left inside the capsule. I watched as the glass doors slid shut, locking me inside. I watched restlessly as they punched something into their control panel. I watched in surprise as a thin, metallic arm came down from the ceiling with a syringe in its claws. Through an index finger to the mouth, the policeman successfully told me to be quiet. My body tensed up, and as the syringe pierced my skin, I kept my mouth shut in an effort not to scream. The syringe sent a shockwave of pain throughout my entire body. I looked up at the top of the capsule and let out the loudest scream I could.

Or, at least, I tried to.

The syringe had cut my voice. I slid down the door and onto the floor, sobbing all the way. The game had complete control of me. There was no escape. I was going to die. To kill. All because of the game. I hated all of it.

I had to wait an excruciating while before I heard the horn blare, signaling the time to watch the transformation in the district center. I saw a few families leave their homes before more people started filing in. It was disorienting to see all the citizens gather around me; usually I would be one of them, but not anymore. Minutes felt like days watching as all the people came in, all to get a glimpse of my transformation. To watch me writhe in pain, scream in agony, have my life be ruined, right in front of them.

Except, I remembered... I wasn't alone. I couldn't see him, but I was next to Kyle Acosha, the biggest bully at my school. He was two years older than I was, and everyone at my school feared him. He had a massive chance of winning, as his physical strength was something to marvel at. Of course, he was going to be changing into a Pokémon, possibly leaving most of his strength behind, but he knew what he was doing.

Soon, the whole center was packed full of people. I hated attention, and this was taking that fear to another level. I just stood there, waiting, doing nothing in hopes of not embarrassing myself. It took ten more minutes for the opening speech to start.

"Hello everyone!" A young man said with lots of enthusiasm, "I'd like to introduce you to the tributes from District Ten! On my left, I have Akia Shotonaki, a volunteer! Akia is fourteen, and lest I forget, she was the girlfriend of one of last years' tributes. The boy, I should hope!"

Dead silence. Nobody laughed at any jokes made at the transformations. It was stupid to even try to make a joke out of an essentially murdered person. My cheeks went beet red out of humiliation and anger.

"Now, on my right, I introduce you to Kyle Acosha, one of the best lumbermen in the district! While he can certainly put up a fight, he's also a great thinker! He's seventeen, and I should guess that he's got a great chance of winning this year, what do you guys think?"

Surprisingly, there was quite a bit of applause. I did agree with him, but I hated the way he clearly had a bias toward Kyle. Not like I could yell at him about it, though.

"Alright, enough of my talking! We need to get this show on the road!"

I shot a glance at the speaker when I realized what he meant. My transformation would be starting within the next minute. The speaker never started that quickly! I started trembling out of complete fear. The speaker turned around.

"Alright, you two, arms up!"

Absolutely terrified, with my arms shaking uncontrollably, I raised my hands above my head. This was it. I had no clue what Pokémon I was going to become, but I was about to find out.

"All systems ready?"—A pause—"Okay! Activating in three..."

I opened my mouth and almost screamed before remembering I didn't even have that privilege.

"...two..."

A small arm, like the one before, came down from the ceiling. This time, the arm had a tiny vial in its claws. The vial contained what would transform me into a Pokémon.

"...one..."

I closed my eyes, and started trying to think of happy things. I thought about how happy I was without my mother, but that was the extent of what I was happy about. I feared what was about to happen. Then, it finally happened.

"...Activate!"

The single droplet inside the vial splashed onto my back. A shock wave of pain immediately racked my whole body, starting from the single droplet. My back felt like it was on fire, toppling me down to my hands and knees. I started to freak out. I was becoming either a four-legged Pokémon, or a snake. Both of which had extreme disadvantages against two-legged Pokémon. I hoped to Arceus that this was just me falling off balance, but my hopes went unanswered.

Suddenly, I heard a loud rip from behind me. My undergarments fell to the ground, torn to shreds. Looking behind me, I saw the formation of a tail. Before I could watch it change in hopes of finding out what I was becoming, my neck started aching like crazy, pulling my head back to the front. I heard multiple bones crackle in my neck, and I was forced to look upwards to accommodate for my reconfigured spine. Then, my eyes slammed shut without my consent, leaving me to wonder what was going to happen. My head started morphing and readjusting, with aching pains channeling to my head. I was incredibly worried that the transformation of my head would cause problems with my memory or intelligence, but that did not happen. My nose felt like it had been broken, before being busted into my face.

Even my eyes weren't safe, not even under my eyelids. I felt them stretching, morphing, and generally collapsing in on themselves. I felt my teeth become pointed, with my mouth feeling like it could move across my face. Then, everything went silent. I didn't know what was happening until my ears started moving, letting me know they were changing. I felt them move to the top of my head and morph into some big, strange shape. I felt a strange weight on my forehead, as if something had grown there...

My ears shot straight up with a whoosh, letting me know my hearing was back. I knew exactly what I was becoming in the back of my mind, but I didn't want to say it to myself in hopes of it happening... But then I felt something soft touch my arms. When I tried moving my head around, they moved along with it, making a sharp ruffling noise. I nearly screamed.

I was becoming a Glaceon.

I remembered back to second grade, when a boy my age caught me drawing a Glaceon in class. One that happened to be killed in the 98th Pokémon Games. He was a boy named Sein, and we became boyfriend and girlfriend the following year. When he was chosen for The Pokémon Games, I came very close to volunteering before being shut up by my mom. He became a Trubbish, and was killed by the Gamemaker with a garbage incinerator as a joke. Needless to say, we ended up having to buy a new TV after I completely destroyed it, and I had to go to the hospital for the injuries I got from the multiple shards of glass in my knuckles. I loved Sein more than anyone or anything else, and when he was taken away from me, I volunteered for the next year immediately without thinking. I wanted to win the stupid game simply because I wanted vengeance. Pure, utter vengeance against the people who started that stupid game.

The pain from my arms snapped me back into reality, and I realized I could open my eyes. My arms were becoming white right in front of me, with my hands becoming a dark blue. My fingers exploded in pain, collapsing right in front of me and morphing together to form paws. With this, I started to cry. I got one of my favorite Pokémon, which made me incredibly happy, but there would definitely be major consequences for being a Glaceon. One of them was the lack of opposable thumbs. Sure, most Pokémon didn't have them, but that's when I realized I'd taken them for granted.

I was ripped from my thoughts when my shoulders started to ache, and my arms were pushed underneath my chest. That was how I would be able to walk with my front "legs". I felt my hind legs start to shift, and my feet instinctively went on the tops of their toes. My heels stretched away from my toes, and the heel of my foot broke down completely, as well as the foot in general. My upper legs readjusted their position, and my pelvis felt completely alien. My toes melted together before separating into three stubby digits, finishing my set of four paws. Then, the body pain started to settle down, giving way to numbness. I took a huge gulp of air and sighed heavily. In my head, I was seriously wondering why they didn't give me anything to numb the pain during the transformation, but at that point it didn't matter anymore. It was over. It was finally over.

A mirror slid down in front of me, and I was absolutely baffled, shocked, and reeled from what I saw. A pure, shiny Glaceon, with no scratches, or any blood... Nothing that would make me look even remotely human. I was one hundred percent Glaceon, and zero percent human... Except for my mind, which still felt like my old one. But I was shiny, and no Pokémon in The Pokémon Games had ever been shiny. For once in my life, I felt... special. I smiled for a few moments before remembering... I was going to remain a shiny Glaceon. Research had been done to find a way to restore the winning tribute's body... but nothing had been found yet. I fully believed they weren't going to find one, or even try to. Why would they have? Nothing was wrong with the way they were doing it, right?!

I attempted to stand up to look at my new Glaceon body from all angles. I struggled, confused on how to move properly, and stumbled around like a maniac. It was an unbelievable experience looking at myself in a mirror and seeing a Glaceon... Watching me moving my tail around like an extra arm, walking around on four legs with growing ease when it was strange as a human, swinging my head back and forth to watch my bangs swish around... I didn't think I could ever get used to it. I didn't know whether I liked it or not, it was just... unbelievable. Up to that point, I'd lived my entire life as a human... But I knew that I would forever be, irreversibly, a Pokémon.

I suddenly felt extremely drowsy. I could hear a hissing sound, my vision fogged up as if it were obscured from smoke... and within moments, I was asleep.

Author's Notes: Thank you for reading this entire chapter! Don't worry, the actual Pokémon Games will be starting soon, I just thought a Prologue was needed. I need to give massive amounts of thanks to theleftywriter, he was insanely helpful with helping this story become something truly special. I can't recommend reading his stories enough; they are just as good, if not way better than mine! If you want to become involved with this story, why not favorite or follow this story, and a review would be fantastic! I also have an OC sheet on my profile for this story, in case anyone wants to submit one! Though, The 99th Pokémon Games will be starting soon, so send them in soon! Thank you for reading this, and have a great day!