Changing the Game Summary – After the cursed adventure as a 12 year old, Miguel has avoided any possible chance of supernatural shenanigans for 9 years. So when his sister scores the latest pokémon game for the winter holidays and wishes pokémon were real, he immediately wishes she hadn't. Dragged into a parallel universe, so different from his own world, Miguel must find his sister, dodge a legendary pokemon's pursuit, and find their way home before Team Paz kills them both.
Notes: This was inspired by the crossover idea from the Coco/Pokémon fic Brave Corazón by Mahkachan on AO3, and changed with my own twist.
Ch. 1 – Wishful Thinking
Miguel flopped against the back of the couch to lean over his sister's shoulder and watch her play the latest video game. On the screen of the worn device, her avatar sprinted through tall grass until light flashed and a creature appeared, waiting to fight.
"What pokémon is that?"
"Mine or the wild one?" His sister shifted the hem of her dress and clicked a few buttons and the owl-like being in front of her avatar launched an attack.
"Both."
She pointed at the owl. "That's Sofía, my rowlet."
He squinted at a blue icon beside the name of the critter and subconsciously pulled at the hem of his t-shirt. "But it's a boy."
"So?" She scoffed and pointed at the opposing pokémon. "That's rockruff."
"It's pretty cute. You gonna catch it?"
"I already have one." The rockruff fainted after another hit from the rowlet.
The game returned her avatar to the grassy area and he wandered out of the living room. Wandering out of the building and across the open patio of his family's home, Miguel made his way to the ofrenda room. Abuelita stood before the table, dusting the frames and replacing melted candles. None of the candles were lit yet, but would be once she finished cleaning the room.
"Hola, abuelita." He grasped the broom leaning against the corner and began to sweep. "Did you enjoy Navidad?"
Wrinkles creased along squinted eyes as a smile lit her face. "Sí mijo, I loved your song."
He laughed. "Qué bueno, I wrote it the day before, you know."
To think, nine years ago music was considered worse than a crime. Now, his family embraced the beauty that music could bring to their lives. He gathered the dust and dirt into a pile.
"¿Qué verdad? It was muy bueno."
"Graciás." He gently nudged her shoulder and she side-stepped and lifted the tablecloth so he could sweep beneath the ofrenda.
"Isn't there a competition in Ciudad de México this weekend?" His grandmother mused, soft and slow. "Perhaps…"
"Abuelita?" He prompted, eyes blowing wide. His grandmother, the one who was once the firmest on the music ban, couldn't possibly be suggesting that he go?
"Ay, it's a two hour driver, isn't it? Perhaps you could share that song of yours with more than just su familia."
He grinned, bright and blinding as he gathered her into a hug. "Oh, that would be increíble!"
"But!" She pulled away with a finger raised and mimicry of a stern expression. "You must take plenty of photos with that phone of yours! And su papá will need the car back before Monday so no holgazanearás!"
Miguel laughed. "Of course, abuelita! I'll be back before the sun sets on Sunday!"
She gathered him into one more hug before swiping the broom and shooing him out of the room with the instructions to tell the rest of the family. He danced between rooms, letting each member know he'd be gone for a few days, and soon returned to the living room to inform his sister.
"Oye, Socorro!" He chirped and bounced to the couch. "I'm going to Mexico City this weekend to…Socorro?"
She stared at her game with an odd expression. He curved around the furniture and sat beside her with a friendly push but she didn't budge. He frowned and snapped fingers in front of her face but her gaze remained fixed to the game in her hands.
He followed her sight to see the screen a massive gray and purple pokémon with golden rings and detached arms spoke with a speech bubble in front of it. A small icon blinked in the bottom right corner and he took the time to read the words on the screen.
"Hoopa Unbound?" The name above the bubble read. "You're a lucky winner, Socorro. Come join me in this world, become a pokémon trainer…but you must make a wish."
Miguel frowned. "I don't remember any of my games starting like this." A glance at Socorro's face showed she hadn't moved…but the speech bubble had.
"Wish we are real, and I will make it real, Socorro. I'll even let you bring your brother, but you must do something for me in return."
"I thought this was a kids game, not something creepy." Miguel reached to close the device but the bubble changed and the pokémon's eyes glowed red.
"Make the wish, Socorro."
Miguel rolled his eyes. "That's enough gaming for one day."
He grabbed the lid of the game system but his sister jerked away, gaze fixed and reflecting the eerie red of the pokémon's eyes. Miguel, unsettled but certain that a game couldn't be cursed, reached for the game again.
"I wish…" Socorro began. "I wish pokémon were real."
He sighed, relief washing over him despite how robotic his sister spoke. "Socorro, it's just–"
The speech bubble on the screen flashed. "Excellent."
Light erupted from the device, too much to be physically possible. Miguel reared away and a force, it felt like a clawed hand, grabbed his ankle and dragged him off the couch. A hand flailed for his sister and a small palm grasped his own before ripping away with a scream. He yelped as the blinding light spread around him and the floor fell away, leaving him falling and thrashing and screaming for his baby sister.
Colors swirled around him as he tumbled through the air. Disorienting lights flashed and seemed to stretch and squish like transparent clay and he withheld the urge to upchuck his lunch.
Blue rippled below him (or was it above him? He couldn't tell) and swarmed around him. White bubbled into sight and spiraled into fluffy shapes. Green shapes sharpened into focus and he screamed when he realized he was free-falling from the sky…and about to crash-land into a bunch of tall trees.
His stomach slammed against the topmost branch, winding him, and he barreled down the long leaves in an out of control roll. A large bird's nest softened the speed but he squished a few of the startled black bird residents on his way off the branch and down onto the nearby tree's leaves.
A bird squawked above him, distinctly angry, but he continued on in a zig zag and horribly tummy-upsetting inducing roll. Spiderwebs clung to him, birds dodged him, and he smacked against grass (scaring off a bunny or two) and whined. Bruised, bloodied, and struggling for air, he laid there.
Until a toucan zoomed from the sky and pecked his back with vengeance. He yelped and rolled away from the onslaught. Black and white feathers flared and it almost seemed as if the beak was growing hotter when he finally got a good look at the creature.
Promptly, he screamed.
The toucan (except it wasn't a toucan because toucans did not look like that and their beaks did not smoke so then what in the world was it?) flew off, successfully startled. He scrambled backwards until he hit a trunk and swiveled his gaze around him, sucking in air but still winded and near hyperventilating.
Where was he? How did he get here?
"¡Dios mío!" He clutched his chest. Was this another curse? "Am I in the Land of the Dead? Was that an alebrije?"
A bunny peered around nearby roots and he recoiled, spluttering. "That's not a–that's a–"
The creature (buneary, his mind supplied from when he played the pokémon games long ago)
The brown bunny with tan fluffed ears squeaked and hid. Twigs crunched as it bounded away. The urge to faint was nearly overwhelming because oh no he had to be cursed again. He wasn't in his home and he wasn't in Santa Cecilia and he wasn't–
"Socorro!" He jolted forwards. Where was his sister? "Oh dios mío, dios mío."
Miguel repeated the frantic chant as he forced himself to his feet and stumbled among the root filled forest. Wandering around proved to get him either attacked by angry caterpie or clawed by irritated black rattata. (Were they always that color? He coulda sworn they were purple before)
Several dodges around pokémon, trips, falls, and grumbled whines later, the trees thinned to reveal the outskirts of a town. He brightened and limped to the nearest building with a red roof and a pokéball symbol. A pokémon center? Would they only help pokémon? Did they even help humans? Did they have hospitals in the pokémon world? Dios mío, he really was in the pokémon world, wasn't he?
Still, wouldn't hurt to check. If anything, he'd at least get to talk to another human being. Hopefully.
The doors slid open to reveal an vacant lobby. His scuffed shoes tapped against the tiles and he dragged himself to the front counter. "¿Hola?"
Soft clicks echoed and a pink creature somewhat taller than three feet appeared from the doorway behind the counter. He blinked. What kinda pokémon was that? If he had Socorro here, she'd be able to act as his humanoid pokédex, ha. He sobered. How was she anyway? Was she in the same world he was?
The animal chirped a greeting and he smiled, a touch hesitant. "Uh…"
He stopped. What could he say? Somehow saying he wasn't from their world didn't sound like a good idea.
"I'm uh, lost." He opted for instead. "Is there–"
The pink creature squeaked in alarm, blue eyes scanning his torso and head, and curved around the counter. He limped back with wide eyes as the flopping pink ears with beige fluffy antennas raised towards him.
"Uh-hey, hey, uh, uno momento." He retreated until the back of his knees hit a rounded surface and he dropped onto the bench. "What're you–"
The curled portion of the antenna unfurled and touched the left side of his chest, and his heart hammered as the creature glowed for a beat before pulling away with a worried frown.
The pink being strode back to the doorway, the white round tail flicking behind it. Soon afterwards, footsteps approached.
"Audino?" A middle-aged woman wearing an pink blouse with a white apron and white hat appeared in the doorway. She noticed him and hurried over. "Oh, young man, let me look at you."
"Uh." He blinked as she curved around the counter and grasped his arm, gently guiding him through a different door beside the counter and into a different room. One that looked vaguely like a hospital room but with more color. Beds with decorated covers stood beside nightstands with vases of vibrant flowers. Across from the bed was a long cabinet with medicinal tools atop the clean surface.
The lady sat him down on a bed and hurried to the cabinet and pulled out gauze, disinfectant sprays, and disinfectant wipes. She returned to him and set to wiping the visible wounds on his face and bare arms. The pink creature from before stood beside her, chirping now and again and pointing at his head, stomach, and knee occasionally.
She nodded once or twice before she finally addressed him. "My name is Nurse Joy. How did you get so…?"
Miguel glanced down at himself. His t-shirt was torn in several places, his jeans ripped, arms bruised and scratched and he couldn't imagine how banged up his face must've looked to the poor lady.
"Uh, I, uh…fell down a tree in the forest?"
That was partially true. More like a white lie, so he didn't have to feel too bad lie to the person treating him, he supposed.
She tsked and shook her head. "You trainers are always so reckless! Wild pokémon will always be there to catch, but you shouldn't hurt yourself in the process!"
He winced as she sprayed the disinfect on an open wound and white bubbles fizzed. "I, um, don't have any pokémon."
A beat passed. She stared at him. He avoided her gaze.
She sighed. "Then what were you thinking climbing trees?"
He lifted a finger and tried for a charming smile but it only came out as a guilty grimace. "Um…"
"How old are you?" She scolded further. "Eighteen, maybe? Surely you should know better."
"Twenty-one." He grumbled, digging his hole deeper.
She clicked her tongue and added another, albeit unnecessary, spray to a different wound. "Audino says you've got more under all those shredded clothes. I might have spare clothes in the back you can borrow."
He protested. "You don't need to–"
She cocked a brow. "This is my job, Mister."
"But how can I repay you?"
Nurse Joy looked at him, jaw slack and he realized he must've said the wrong thing because why was she staring at him like that?
"Kid…" she trailed. "Where are you from?"
"Santa Cecilia?"
She frowned. "I've never heard of it… Surely you have pokémon centers there, don't you? Everyone knows pokémon centers offer health care for free. It's paid for in your taxes, after all."
"Ohhhh yeah." He agreed, lying through his teeth. "I'm new here."
"I can see that. Now, I need you to…"
She helped clean the rest of the wounds under his shirt and pants (thankfully she let him keep his underwear on) and offered a change of clothes that was too big. When he took the chance to ask for the nearest inn, she looked at him oddly once again before saying that trainers stay on the floor above the lobby in pokémon centers before continuing on their way. But he wasn't a trainer, so could he still stay?
She shrugged. "Yes, there's plenty of space." But he should think about getting pokéballs and catching his first pokémon, if anything for protection while traveling. The forest he had been in was full of plenty lower-leveled creatures that wouldn't need to be weakened to catch.
"Better a companion, than no companion at all so long as you care for them." Nurse Joy had said and given him a handful of red and white pokéballs.
After he insisted on repaying her, she let him extend his stay while he oriented himself on where he was and where to go next. Looked like he'd have to be constantly on the move to find his sister. Better than sitting still, he guessed.
The next time he wandered into the forest with pokéballs and a map in his pockets, twigs snapped and grass squelched nearby. Somewhat heavy footfalls thudded through the undergrowth and out from a bush leaped a creature.
Miguel yelped and toppled to the ground. A rough texture slobbered against his cheek, licking fast and he shoved to have enough room to sit upright. The nearly four foot tall being fell back onto its haunches and he blinked.
"A smeargle?" He tilted his head as the creature used its hind leg to scratch behind a beige ear. "Don't they usually stand on their hind legs…?"
The beagle-like creature barked and wagged its tail, sending the green paint oozing from the tip splattering across the grass. And onto his face. In hopes of wiping it, he rubbed the back of his hand across his cheek only to succeed in smearing the paint.
"Oh, excelente." He grumbled with no real bite to the words and stood
The smeargle in front of him barked once more and its tongue lolled out of a wide mouth, making the already dopey looking creature even more dopey looking. Actually, the creature kinda reminded him of…
"Dante." He sighed. His spirit guide would be pretty handy in this situation
The smreagle perked, launching itself onto his chest and sending him back to the ground. He laughed as the dog licked his face and pawed at his chest. A hind paw slipped into his new jacket pocket and knocked out a pokéball.
"¡Oye!" He scolded as the smeargle stuck its nose at the device and sniffed. "That's mi–"
Red light flared from the device as the sphere opened and sucked the creature inside. He stared. The ball rocked once. Twice. Three times…
…and clicked on the fourth. He reached for the ball.
Promptly, it burst open.
Smeargle slobbered his face before it grabbed the ball with its mouth and dumped it onto his lap. Then it grabbed his shoe, ripped it off his foot and raced away.
"¡Oye!" He hopped to feet with the ball in hand and pursued the rascal into the forest. "Give that back!"
Mud soaked through the bare sock and he grimaced as it stained the fabric as well. Hopefully Nurse Joy wouldn't pull his ear for that. He tripped over bushes and almost thought he lost the naughty creature several times but the smeargle would return, shoe on one side of its mouth and tongue hanging out the other side, then run away again.
He continued the pursuit until he found the smeargle, and the shoe, in a clearing. In the center of the grassy patch among the trees stood a ornate wooden shrine with closed doors.
Miguel stuffed the ball into his pocket and wagged his finger at the smeargle, ready to scold the dog until the shrine rattled. He whipped his gaze onto the wooden doors, wary. Most likely a pokémon had hidden in there. Hopefully not a mother with babies. He'd learned from that the toucan from before (or rather a toucannon, Nurse Joy had corrected) was a mother and only attacked him to defend her hatchlings.
The smeargle bounded to his side and let the shoe slid off its tongue and sat with a dopey smile. Reluctantly, he put on the soaked shoe, grimacing as this foot squished against the soaked inside.
He glanced at the shrine. Really not keen on being cursed again for messing with what looked to be either a small person's resting place or a pokémon's current home, he creeped away. One foot was quiet but the other made loud and wet smacking noises. He grimaced. Gross. The smeargle trotted to the shrine and pawed the doors.
They burst open.
Out flew a pokémon straight from the stars. It glimmered with blue hued arms and a purple to pink head or body or whatever. It had a black face. A gold ellipse ran from the top of its head to the bottom. Bright yellow eyes narrowed when they saw him and he realized it had blue spots for cheeks.
He tried for a smile only to grimace when his shoe squelched. The smeargle woofed a greeting to the floating creature and it brightened, choosing to fly over to him with a high pitched noise from its smiling mouth.
Fainting was really hard not to do right then.
The creature circled him before hovering in front. He shifted. "Oh…kay," he retreated a step. "I'll just be…going then. Chao."
The gaseous critter blocked his way and the smeargle trotted to his side. The creature chirped and glowed before the three of them vanished from the clearing.
~oOo~
"¡Oh Dios mío!" His stomach churned as he flopped face-first to tiled floors. "Urghhh…"
A feminine gasp prompted him to crane his neck up and stare. "Uh…hola Nurse Joy?"
"Miguel, what in the–" She helped him up and reared back. "Miguel, is that a cosmog with you?"
"A what now?" He pivoted and groaned as the world spun too fast.
"Sit, sit," she guided him to the bench in the lobby and murmured. "I thought it was just a legend…"
Claws tapped after them and her brows shot to her hairline. "What's a smeargle doing so far away from a city?"
Miguel shrugged. "Found him in the forest. Oh!" He pulled out the pokéball that the creature had nosed. "He might've accidentally caught himself."
Nurse Joy eyed him for a beat.
"What?"
"You really aren't from around here, are you?" She shook her head. "Cosmog suddenly seen by human eyes? Smeargle in a forest? Pokémon catching themselves? Nothing strange happened until you came along."
He smiled sheepishly. "I get that a lot."
And it was true. He was the first living person in the Land of the Dead, after all. (Or at least, he thought he was) And now he was the first (or rather one of the first if his sister was in this world too) to fall into the pokémon world. Speaking of the world, he really outta read that map of his…
She tugged fingers through her pink pigtails. "Strange or not, you're filthy! Let's take a look at those scratches of yours and I'll heal any scratches on your pokémon."
"¿Qué?" She headed for the door beside the counter. "But they're not mine!"
She returned with disinfectant spray. "The smeargle is already familiar with you, and the cosmog looks happy to be with you. You don't have to be a trainer if you have pokémon, but it looks like they would like to be on your team."
Miguel glanced at the smeargle and then the cosmog as she cleaned open cuts from his several falls through the forest. "Well? Wanna join my, uh, team?"
The critters smiled at him and he pulled out the pokéballs. One was coated in dry slobber, so he pushed the button to see if he really had caught the smeargle. Red light flashed and surrounded the creature with a glow before the pokémon disappeared and the ball closed.
Moments passed. The ball didn't move. Huh. So the smeargle really had caught himself. What kinda pokémon did that anyway? Well, if Dante were a pokémon, then he definitely would. And wasn't smeargle sort of like a beagle? Maybe…
A push of the button and the smeargle reappeared with a lopsided grin. "You remind me of my dog at home. How's the name 'Dante,' work for you?"
The smeargle wagged its tail and paint splattered across the lobby.
"Dante!" He scolded and Nurse Joy chuckled.
She pulled away from him to put away the supplies and he turned to the other pokémon. "So, cosmog, wanna join my team?"
He held out a pokéball and the creature hesitated.
"If you change your mind," he offered, "I can always let you go." He paused. "Wait, I can do that right? Release pokémon?"
Nurse Joy reappeared with a fresh towel and another pair of too-big clothes. He really needed to venture into town and go shopping soon.
"Yes," she agreed. "Don't make it a habit." A glance at the legendary floating ball of gas prompted her to add. "But, special circumstances do exist."
He refocused on the hesitant cosmog. "You don't have to, cosmog. Just thought I should offer…as thanks for teleporting me back here, I guess."
Seemingly coming to a conclusion, cosomg bobbed in the air and flew close. Nure Joy watched from the sidelines. It pressed the button with a blue arm and was consumed by red light. The ball rocked three times and clicked on the fourth and he brightened as he pushed the button to release cosmog.
"So…how's the name Celeste? You look like you come from the night sky, so…" The cosmog nuzzled his cheek and he shivered as cold gas brushed against his skin. "Celeste it is!"
The smeargle jumped onto his chest and wagged its tail, getting paint onto the towel and his fresh pair of clothes.
"Dante!"
~oOo~
Notes: I have a vague idea where this is going, but nothing concrete. Mostly had a spark of inspiration so I ran with it. No clue how far I'll get with this story before I run outta steam, but we'll see. Team Paz (Team Peace) is a enemy team I made up long ago for a Gravity Falls fic that I never wrote.
Also, Should this fic go under the crossover section?
Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a review!