Trainerball
A young man with a short dark ponytail burst through the doors of the Viridian city pokemon center, holding a pokeball in both hands.
"Where- where's the doctor?!" he demanded, looking around wildly.
"If you're pokemon was healthy enough to go into it's pokeball, it'll probably be okay." A pink-haired nurse reassured him, pressing the page button for a doctor.
"You don't understand!" the young man shook his head, pointing to the pokeball urgently, "He's been in there for hours, you've got to get him to come out!"
'Amateur,' thought the nurse. 'Still, he does look genuinely worried about his pokemon, so he's probably a nice kid.' Aloud she said,
"What kind of pokemon is he?"
"He's not- -that's just it, he's not a pokemon! We were fighting, and I was trying to recall my squirtle, and I missed, and now he-!"
The nurse's eyes widened in shock.
"Did you hit another trainer with a pokeball?"
"YES! I didn't mean to! Please tell me he's gonna be okay!" The young man pleaded. He was starting to cry, and the look on the nurse's face wasn't helping.
"Oh, dear..." the nurse pressed the intercom button on the wall, and said, "We have a trainerball, repeat, we have a trainerball. Dr. Webster, come quick!"
Within seconds, the reception area was mobbed by what looked like half the staff in the pokecenter. Someone took the pokeball. When the dust settled, the young man was left with the pink-haired nurse and several security guards. He sank into a chair in the reception area, and buried his face in his hands.
Sometime later, a tall man with a gray-streaked beard came up and put a hand on his shoulder. The young man looked up.
"What's your name, son?"
"Tyler..."
"I'm Dr.Webster. The other trainer-"
"Did you get him out of the pokeball?" demanded Tyler, "Is he okay?"
"Yes, we got him out of the pokeball, and he's stable."
"Thank god," sighed Tyler.
"Tyler, I need to know how long he was stuck in that pokeball. When did this happen?"
"I- -It was two days ago. I ran into Ben on the forest road last week, and we decided to travel the rest of the way to Viridian city- -here- -together. He was a nice guy, but he was really arrogant, and two days ago we got into an argument over whose pokemon could beat whose.
He- I... I didn't mean to hit him, but- After he went into the pokeball, all I could think of was to bring it here as soon as possible."
"You did the right thing. But, ahh... Nobody has ever been trapped inside a pokeball for that long before." Dr.Webster frowned, "I'm not going to lie to you, Tyler. Ben may not be the same when he wakes up."
"Wha-What do you mean?"
"He may be out of danger physically, but pokeballs are designed to make wild pokemon tame enough for a trainer to use. He may wake up and be fine, or he may be very, very confused."
"Aww, man! I just MET him... Why did I have to-"
"Tyler, you didn't mean to hit him. Don't beat yourself up over this. Besides," Dr. Webster smiled, "he may just wake up and want a re-match."
A week later, the other trainer still hadn't woken up. Tyler was sitting next to his unconscious opponent's bed, feet propped up on the nightstand, scanning though his pokedex. He hadn't been able to find a listing for 'trainerball', but he'd gotten some information out of the hospital computers about it. There were only four recorded cases of people getting pulled into pokeballs, and while most of them were okay afterwards, only one of them had elected to remain a pokemon trainer after the accident. Interesting.
"Hey Ben, listen to this: if you feed a caterpie a lot of strawberry soda, it'll have a red cocoon when it turns into a metapod." Tyler received no response other than his companion's quiet, steady breathing. "Man, I wish you'd say something. You seemed really cool, but I hardly even met you, and now I don't know if you'll ever speak to me- -or to anyone- -again. Hello, goodbye, it's just not fair of you to do that." Tyler felt guilty, and added, "Of course, it wasn't fair of me to catch you in a pokeball either..."
Beneath closed lids, Ben's eyes moved, but he didn't wake up. Tyler paused, noting the movement, then sighed disappointedly when nothing else happened.
He studied Ben's face. Ben's skin was a few shades darker than his, and he had messy red hair that stuck out at odd angles. He didn't really look like himself now, though. Every time Tyler had seen Ben awake, there had been some expression, some movement, a mocking tone or an animation about him. Ben was... or had been... very intelligent.
Now? That remained to be seen.
Tyler leaned forward in his chair, and folded his arms on the edge of Ben's bed. He lay his head on top of them, and went to sleep.
Tyler woke to the sensation of a breath of warm air on his ear. Something was sniffing him. He jumped to his feet, and stopped short when he realized that Ben was now awake, sitting up, and looking at him with a puzzled expression on his face. Those confused brown eyes were way too innocent, and Tyler realized with a sickening wrench that this was not the Ben he knew.
"Ben?" he called, softly.
Ben blinked at him.
"Oh, crap." Tyler mumbled.
"Nghmmma? Hmm-hm?" Ben queried.
"Uh, can you still talk in human speech?" asked Tyler.
"Hmm?" Ben looked confused. "Hinhamma juuumae?"
"Do you understand what I'm saying to you?" Tyler asked, pointing to his mouth as he did so.
Ben thought a moment, then nodded, hesitantly.
"Great! So do you remember what happened?"
Ben cocked his head at Tyler, not understanding the question.
"Okayyy... maybe this'll jog your memory." Tyler pulled out an empty pokeball, and showed it to him.
Ben's eyes showed instant comprehension, and his face lit up. He nodded, and disappeared into the pokeball in a swirl of light.
"NOOOOooooo! No, no, no! Get out of there, please?" Tyler threw down the pokeball like it burned him, and Ben reappeared, standing next to it. Ben looked from Tyler, to the pokeball, and back to Tyler, then shrugged, folding his arms over his bare chest.
Not accustomed to providing clothes for humans, the hospital staff had given Ben a pair of loose white sweat pants, and Tyler noted with relief that they hadn't been lost during the pokeball interlude.
Tyler walked over to Ben and picked up the pokeball on the ground between them, clipping it back onto his belt. Ben watched him, but still said nothing.
Tyler looked at Ben thoughtfully.
"So, you think you're a pokemon now or something?"
Ben nodded.
"Pokemon."
"Ah! are you remembering how to talk?"
"Huh?" Ben hadn't gotten that last bit.
"Pokemon-?" prompted Tyler.
"Pokemon." agreed Ben, pleased with himself.
"That's not what I meant. You-" Tyler tapped Ben on the nose, "-are supposed to be a human, not just a pokemon."
"Pokemon?" asked Ben, getting confused again.
"No, human."
Ben smiled. There was something about the smile, though, that bothered the hell out of Tyler. Ben was smiling because he... thought it was a joke? -Something like that.
It wasn't a human smile, but it was a happy one.
Tyler started crying again.
Ben nuzzled Tyler's shoulder sympathetically.
"Don't be nice to me, I'm the one who MADE you like this..." sobbed Tyler.
Ben hugged Tyler, and let him cry himself out.
"As far as I can tell, you've got yourself a new pokemon. There's no change in his EKG from the way he was when we first took him out of the pokeball to now, and he's been in twice. Chances are it's not doing any more harm to him, but I can't seen any way to reverse what happened to him in there the first time." Dr.Webster explained.
"But... What do I do with him?" asked Tyler.
"Tyler, you're a pokemon trainer. Regardless of who or what-" Dr.Webster looked at Tyler for a moment, then continued, "-Ben used to be, he now firmly believes himself to be a pokemon, specifically YOUR pokemon. For now, you just take good care of him. I'm giving you both a referral to see Dr.Oak. If he can't sort Ben out, you and Ben's family will have some complicated decisions to make."
"Ben..."
"I know it's a shock, but I think this will turn out all right."
"This is why." Tyler snapped his fingers.
"Eh?"
"This is why only one of the people who got hit with pokeballs wanted to be a trainer afterwards. They thought they were pokemon."
"No. Well, I don't know for sure. The longest anyone's ever been inside a pokeball before was seventeen hours. Ben was in for closer to fifty. He may come out of this yet, but it's going to take time."
"Or he may never come out of it at all." pointed out Tyler. "Ben might go on thinking he's a pokemon forever."
"In that case, you can either give him to doctor oak or another pokemon scientist-"
"NO!"
"-Or you can keep him, and take responsibility for him yourself." Dr. Webster finished.
Ben, who had been listening to the exchange, went up to Tyler and put his chin on Tyler's shoulder, watching Dr.Webster from his imaginary hiding place.
"-Though that may get you a lot of odd looks. Is he always this... affectionate?"
"So far." Tyler blushed, angrily.
"What about before he was captured?"
"Eugh... no. I don't think he even touched me once."
"Hmm..." Dr.Webster eyed Ben critically.
"Hmmm..." echoed Ben, amused.
-end-
A/N: Always meant to finish this one, but this is as far as I got. Suffice it to say that Ben does eventually get better, but he retains the ability to speak and understand Pokemon speech.