Disclaimer: I don't own the Pokemon games or shows. This story is based of Nintendo's Pokemon Red Rescue Team. All characters (not the Pokemon shapes and names) have been created by me.

Just a warning before you start. This story contains a lot of swearing, fighting, vulgar scenes, gore and even some drug references. Any offense taken to some of the jokes should be treated as just that; a joke. It also follows the plot of the game closely at the beginning before veering off into more original chapters later on.

Prologue

The future is always uncertain. One can never know all that is in store for them for the next day. When the first settlers made their home on a lush island, they never expected their humble town to grow into a thriving metropolis. After centuries of rapid growth, the city grew to cover the entire island. The only creatures that still lived there could be found in the city's parks or breeding areas that raised them for food.

In one of the large downtown cores, a young teenager and his friends were walking home. Like the first settlers, they had no idea what fate had in store for them.

The group of four unwisely decided to take a shortcut through a well known alley. Unfortunately for them, a gang had taken over that area and didn't take kindly to new comers.

The group of friends were suddenly surrounded by the gang. They tried to fight back, but were outnumbered. With a size disadvantage, the smallest of the group went down first. The biggest of the four boys put up a good fight and one of the gang members took out a knife.

While on the ground, the small boy saw his friend being advanced by the knife wielder. Knowing that his friend didn't see him, he got up and tackled his soon to be killer. The gang member responded by stabbing the small boy instead of his friend. The knife sank into the teen's chest, piercing his heart. The gang members, realizing what they had done, ran from scene.

The stabbed boy lay dying the ground, with his friends around him. They tried to make him believe that he would be alright, but he knew that he was going to die. Tears streamed from his eyes, knowing that he would never live to see his family or friends ever again.

His heart started to beat faster, like it was trying to fit a lifetime worth of beats into his final seconds. He took one last shuddering breath, and slipped away.

As the teen fell deeper and deeper into the dark abyss, he thought he could hear a distant voice calling out to him...

... your time has not yet come...

... this world still needs you...

... just in a different form...

Chapter 1: Awakening

The sun shone brightly over the peaceful forest. Birds were chirping from the trees and a sweet, but faint, scent filled the air. A soft wind rolled across the clearing, ruffling the still grass. Among the blades lay a small yellow mound, its furry chest slowly rising and falling.

It woke up suddenly, gasping for breath. The sunlight hurt its eyes. At first it was confused by its surroundings and couldn't remember who it was. That moment of amnesia only lasted for a second before a flood of memories came rushing back him. He started to frantically pat himself all over and finally rested his hand on his chest, expecting to find a hole. It wasn't a gash or blood that he felt through the fur, but rather the fast, yet steady, beating of his heart. He let out a nervous chuckle, his massive gasps of air slowing down.

'It was just a dream. You're still alive, you didn't die,' he thought to himself reassuringly while scratching the fur on his chest. Something was off though, 'Wait. I don't have fur on my chest...'

He looked down to his belly, hoping that his hands were lying to him. They were telling the truth and he saw that not only his chest, but his whole body, was coated in thick, yellow fur. He twisted his short neck to see if his back was the same. The sight nearly made him faint.

Other than having brown stripes across his back, he saw that he now had a brown and yellow tail. He moved tried to move it to see if it belonged to him. It flicked back and forth, the sensation feeling odd, but natural at the same time. What is going on? He thought. As if to answer his question, a friendly voice came from in front of him.

"It took you long enough to wake up," it said. He turned to it and jumped back, his heart speeding up again.

In front of him was a large, orange lizard. It stood on its two feet, a fact that really confused him. He looked at its tail which had a small flame on it. It took Joey a while to realize that the lizard was talking.

"What's your name?" it asked. He stared blankly at it. The lizard sighed and repeated the question.

"Uhhhh...Joey. My... my name's Joey," the yellow creature said. The lizard cocked its head slightly at the answer. Joey asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing... it's just... I've never heard of a Pokémon named Joey before," mumbled the lizard. Joey was taken aback, but it continued, "Anyways, my name is Smokey. I saw you passed out and came over to see if you nee-"

"Wait, what did you say we were?" said Joey, cutting Smokey off, "What's a Pokémon?"

"I am a Pokémon," Smokey stated, not really sure what he was asking, "You are also a Pokémon. Pokémon is a general term, there are many different kinds. I'm a Charmander and you're a Pikachu. Did you hit your head or something?"

The explanation didn't have the intended affect on Joey as Smokey thought it would. He thought it would make the confused Pokémon happy or relieved, but his reaction was the opposite. The Pikachu's face became even more confused, then angry.

"But that's impossible!" Joey exclaimed angrily, "I've never heard of a Pokémon, and now I've been changed into one? That doesn't make sense! I'm a human!"

At the last sentence, Smokey's tail flame flared up to half his size and smoke billowed from his nostrils. Joey knew he said something wrong.

"Don't say that," he said in a very serious tone, "humans are evil creatures. They are nothing like Pokémon. Trust me when I say that there is no way you are human."

Joey was about to argue back when something told him that would not be the wisest of plans. This thing hated humans and he had clearly been changed into one of Smokey's kind. He thought of a way to use this turn of events to his advantage and cracked into a wide grin.

"I got you good," he said, using a convincing laugh to help with the lie, "I was just messing with you. I do that a lot. I mean, how could I forget what I am?"

"Good, you had me worried there for a sec," sighed Smokey, "you have no idea how much I hate humans, especially trainers. They capture us and force us to fight for their amusement. If I saw one, I wouldn't hesitate to kill it."

Joey just stared wide-eyed at the larger Pokémon. His tail flame was almost as large as the Pikachu and dark smoke poured from his nostrils. He could not let him know his true identity. When Smokey calmed down, he turned back to Joey.

"So, where did you come from?" he asked Joey. Joey thought fast to come up with a lie.

"Oh...I...uh, escaped from my trainer," he said, "Yeah, I broke free and ran away. And before I left, I set all of his other Pokémon free too. "

"Wow... that's impressive," Smokey complimented, "apparently it's hard to escape Pokéballs, but you managed to free yourself and others too? I wish I could get that chance."

Thinking quickly, Joey thought of a way to remove any suspicion from him, "wait, but in order for you to escape a Pokéball, you have to be captured," said Joey, putting on a face of confusion, "I thought you hated trainers. Why would you ever want to be captured?"

"Wait, no I-I didn't mean, like, you know, I want to be captured. I'm just saying, if I was in that situation, not that I want to, I would want to do what you did."

Joey started to laugh at the Charmander's awkwardness. He put Smokey on the spot causing him to mess up his explanation. Smokey frowned when he realized that Joey was messing with him.

"Not cool," he told Joey. Joey stopped laughing, not wanting to upset Smokey, but a grin still remained on his face, "look, you seem like a cool guy, and you I'm guessing that you don't really know this place that well. Maybe I can show you around and help you get to know the island better?"

Joey was stunned by the offer momentarily. Gaining Smokey's trust seemed to be much easier than he anticipated. He got over the shock quickly and replaced the confused look with the old grin.

"Okay, I'm down," he said and gave Smokey a friendly jab in the ribs. Smokey grinned also and returned the jab. Who knows, maybe they could actually become friends, providing that Smokey never found out about his past.

There was something that could never leave Joey, no matter how good his friendship with Smokey got. He was human before. He remembered everything from his past life. And nothing could change the fact that when he was human, he had died. He had felt his heart stop beating.

The final seconds of his human life came back to him. A far off voice had said something that sent a shiver up his spine when he remembered.

He had been sent back to the land of the living for a reason. Now, in a world filled with creatures that were hostile to his kind, he would have to adapt quickly to survive. Luckily for him, his past life and quick thinking made it easy for him to adjust fast. Those might be the skills he needs if he wants to find out why he is back from the dead.