My head was pounding.

That was the only thing I could even begin to comprehend at the moment.

I tried my best to take in my surroundings, but it was to no avail. I thought I heard what sounded like waves, and the ground felt soft like sand. That would mean I was on a beach, which would be impossible. There were no beaches in the Midwest. I was drifting back off into sleep. Hopefully I didn't have a concussion, that probably wouldn't end well for me.

It was no use, I was getting lulled back to unconsciousness. I swore I saw a figure coming towards me. I prayed it wasn't some wild animal that would eat anything. Or some dangerous native Pokemon that could burn, shock, poison, or otherwise endanger me.

I was only asleep for maybe a minute before someone started shaking me. Now I was just getting cranky. I heard a muffled voice along with the violent shaking.

"Hey, get up…c'mon, please get up…" He sounded worried about me, but it wasn't a voice I recognized.

Eventually I did get up, and immediately felt very off.

First of all, there was nobody around who could talk, only a lone Bulbasaur stood in front of me. Speaking of that Bulbasaur, he was eye level to me despite me standing up tall. Something was very off here. Nothing could have prepared me for what would happen next.

"Thank goodness you're up! Are you okay?" The, and I kid you not, Bulbasaur said to me.

I looked at him in shock and awe. Pokemon talking!? That was only heard of in a few select ones, and even then it was incredibly rare! I had heard of some psychic types being able to communicate via telepathy, but a measly Bulbasaur? Unheard of! I cleared my incredibly dry throat before finally being able to speak.

"You…can talk? How can you talk!?" I said with a hint of curiosity, but mostly shock.

He looked very confused, judging by his head tilting slightly to the right.

"Um, what do you mean? Of course I can talk! Did you hit your head or something?"

He began walking around me to look for any injuries, at least that's what I think he was doing. This is when I noticed even more oddities in this situation. The fact we were still eye level confused me, but my whole body felt unnatural. I did not feel as if I was in my body. I must be dreaming, this whole experience felt surreal.

"Do you have a trainer? If so, where are they? I need to figure out where the hell I am." I asked with possibly too much aggression. I was again greeted with a confused look.

"Trainer? What's that?" He seemed to be looking deeper into my eyes with each confusing question, as if he was trying to figure me out.

"Y'know, like, your owner?" I tried to explain, albeit a little roughly. This seemed to lead the poor guy into more confusion. He even looked a bit offended.

"What!? Nobody owns me! You must have hit your head really hard to think of something like that." He went on, "Say, I haven't seen you around before. Are you from around here?"

I took a look around my surroundings. My previous thought was correct. I am indeed on a beach. This means I am definitely not at home. Beaches simply did not exist around my home. In fact, this beach seemed different from the ones I've been to. It felt more naturalistic, less tourism influence on the landscape. There were large cliffsides around us, and in the distance there was what seemed to be the king of them all. It looked suspiciously like a Sharpedo head was carved into the cliffside. I suppose that was the tourism influence here. No way was that natural.

The beach itself was rather pretty. I noticed some Krabby were blowing their bubbles all over the place. It made the ocean view rather beautiful. On one side of the beach, far away from us, there was what seemed to be a gravel-dirt path that disappeared into the trees. The exit closer to us seemed to be a cave structure. What the hell a cave was doing by a beach I had no idea. I had easily concluded I was not home.

This lead to more questions by me. I tried to remember the previous night, but I could not for the life of me. I tried to go further back, but I couldn't. This was just great, I seemed to have lost any memory of whatever happened to end me up here. In fact, I couldn't really remember much at all. I shook my head at the Bulbasaur, indicating I had no clue where I was.

"Hmm…I figured as much. I haven't seen any Shinx around here before. What brings you around here?"

Wait. What? When did a Shinx come into the equation?

"What are you talking about? I don't see any Shinx around here." I questioned.

He seemed a bit agitated with me at this point.

"Erm, have you looked at yourself?" He said with a bit of anger.

Something was very wrong. I turned to look down at the ocean water. I gazed intently to be able to see my reflection. If you thought the Bulbasaur talking was crazy, this part will make you want to lock me up.

I didn't see my face staring back. I saw a Shinx's face.

I screamed with pure horror, which seemed to scare the Bulbasaur more than anything. Panic took over as I stepped backwards, only to trip over what felt like a pair of legs. I tumbled backwards and faceplanted into the sand. The Bulbasaur went up to me and tried to help me up. I graciously accepted his help and tried to balance myself on four legs. This was not happening to me.

"You're…a little odd…" The Bulbasaur said.

"Y-You need to listen to me!" I turned to him, "I am not a Shinx! I'm a human! I must be dreaming, or hallucinating, or SOMETHING!"

The poor guy looked frantic.

"A what!? You're a human!? That's impossible! Humans only exist in fairy tales. Quit pulling my leg!"

Excuse me? Fairy tales!?

"I'm not pulling any damn legs here! I have no idea who I am or where I am! But I know I'm supposed to be a human!"

"You don't know who you are? Do you at least know your name?" He questioned.

I thought that over for a second. Yes, I think I did remember my name.

"…Maki. My name is Maki." I replied.

"Okay, your name is Maki. You're a human who has what seems to be amnesia, and you somehow got turned into a Shinx." He said pretty calmly for how fucked-up this situation was.

"Yes!"

I could tell he was definitely having a hard time believing this story, and I can't say I blame him. It did sound pretty outrageous. Despite that, this was a total stranger. What benefit would I have to lie to some random Pokemon?

"Well I've basically given you my damn memoir. What's your name at least?" I asked, at least trying to be social.

"Oh, my name's Spuds!" He said happily.

Spuds? Like, as in a potato? I would ask that but I'm afraid that may hurt his feelings. He's clearly trying to process all this right now and getting snippy with him probably wouldn't help.

It was at this time I noticed two more figures coming from the difference. They were both in the air, one flying and one hovering. They were coming in fast. And they didn't look to friendly. They looked like they were about to charge Spuds.

"Hey! Watch ou-AH!" He was thrown into me by the figure, who I deduced was a Koffing. I noticed Spuds had dropped a rock of some kind. He quickly got up and shook his head before turning around to face the assailants.

"What was that for!?"

"Whoa-ho-ho, look at the big mouth of the baby!" The Koffing said, in the smoker's voice I had figured he would have.

"We'd love to chat crybaby, but we have business to take care of." The Zubat screeched before grabbing the rock Spuds had dropped. Spuds had immediately looked shocked and sad. I really didn't have it in me to say much in this situation, I was too thrown off by everything. The Zubat and Koffing went into the cave near us, cackling the whole way without even as much as a grunt from Spuds. I finally managed to speak up after the whole ordeal was over.

"Um, aren't you gonna go after them or something?" I looked over to him when I heard him sniffle.

I couldn't believe my eyes. He was crying. Like, a lot. I was speechless. I simply stared at him with my mouth agape.

"That…was my precious…treasure…oh god they took it…they…"

In the span of six seconds, he went from crying his eyes out to a look of determination. What a bi-polar guy he was.

"No! There's no time to waste! We have to get it back!"

We? Well now that didn't sound right. Did he really expect me to help him out here? He confirmed my suspicions with his next words.

"Hurry Maki! We have to get a move on! We need to go after them!"

"We? Uh, dude I don't think that's happening. I have no clue where the hell I am or what the hell's going on. I need to figure some things out." I said with an uninterested look on my face.

"Please Maki! I need help here! I can't do this alone…" He said, pleading more.

"Look man, you seem like a nice guy really, but I can't!" I started to get frustrated.

He had a more desperate sad look on his face now. I could see tears welling up again. Oh brother.

"Please…" He blubbered.

"I would love to help but I'm a human in a Shinx's body! I need to figu-"

"AH! Human, Pokemon, ghost, whatever the hell you are I just need your help!" He yelled.

Jesus, how can he just switch emotions with the snap of a finger? Before I knew it I was being dragged by him towards the cave.

"Wha- HEY! What do you think your doing!? Let go of me!" I demanded.

"Just help me with this and I'll let you go!" He replied, but is was less of a request and more of a command. I could see there was no getting out of this by now. I had no choice but to help him. I showed him my approval with a loud groan.

He eventually stopped dragging me along when he realized I wouldn't fight this anymore. We were now walking beside each other, observing the cave structure. It was rather eloquent looking. The stalactites were dripping with water, which formed various puddles around us. The whole place had a very aquatic looking aura around it. I was still getting used to walking on four feet, so this whole excursion wasn't so pleasant as I make it sound. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to switch from bipedal to a quadruped. I could tell Spuds was in awe over the cave system. There was a large number of twists and corridors, which really made learning to walk even more difficult. We had continued on our merry way for quite some time until we encountered a couple of Shellos wandering about. Spuds immediately stood his ground. I looked at him with confusion.

"Uh, what's up?"

"Careful Maki! This could be trouble!" He said without taking his eyes off the pair of slugs.

"Oh don't be ridiculous. These things are just like us!" I said walking over to prove a point. I approached one of the Shellos and tried to greet it, but was instead blinded but a shot of mud it spewed out at me. I gagged and backpedaled as quick as I could.

"Never mind! Never mind! Kill it Spuds!" I ordered while trying to rub the mud off my eyes.

I couldn't see much due to the grime that was stuck to me, but I did hear some childish wails and smacks. When I finally got the stuff off, I could only see the after-effects of the battle. The two Shellos laid still on the ground while Spuds had two vines retract themselves into his bulb. I looked over to him.

"So…couldn't you have done that when those two took your rock?" I questioned, with probably a bit too much sass. He lowered his head in shame upon hearing my comment.

"Probably…I was just too scared to do it. Those Shellos were just savages, but the two who took my treasure were civilized…it's different!" Well there was one similarity our worlds had. It didn't really make sense to me though. Spuds said humans were a fairy tale, so how could Pokemon ever become civilized in the first place? Did they have cities? Towns? Have they discovered sciences and technology? My thought process was cut short as we reached an opening in the cave. The hall seemed to open up to a large room. It seemed pretty barren, thankfully no wild Pokemon around. There was however a seed on the ground. Well now that was odd. I picked it up and examined it. It had a red lining to it, but other than that it looked like just any old seed. I threw it up into the air and caught it again, just in general fucking around with it. Spuds noticed that and run over to steal it from me.

"Hey! I found that!" I complained.

"Watch what you're doing man! Sweet Arceus you could have blown yourself to bits!" He said as he put the seed gently down on the ground.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I said with a slightly rude tone.

"You really aren't from around here are you?" No of course not, "This is a Blast Seed! Any form of rough contact with it will make it explode! It can seriously injure any Pokemon it comes into contact with!" He said with the most concerned tone I've ever heard. If something like that exists so frequently, this place must be incredibly dangerous. How wonderful for me. Spuds looked satisfied with scolding me and picked up the Blast Seed and put it in this little knapsack he had with him. I only just noticed it around him. It kind of made him look like an explorer of some kind.

We continued our trek through the dungeon, thankfully not running into any more aggressive Pokemon on the way. We eventually found what seemed to be an exit out of the cave. Good lord this place was expansive. We exited into this little sand grove that seemed to be here for no reason other than being a dead end. Thankfully, Zubat and Koffing were here as well. Spuds looked angry, but he was shaking too. I could tell he was trying to get their attention by yelling at him, but it wasn't working out well. Looks like that was up to me.

"HEY ASSHOLES! TURN AROUND!" I yelled at them. They immediately turned around to see me and Spuds there. The Koffing grinned as he saw us.

"Whoa-ho-ho, well if it isn't the big crybaby! Surprised to see you actually come here!"

"Heh-heh-heh, but it looks like you needed to bring some random guy in to help you! How pathetic!" The Zubat screeched in his high-pitched voice. Spuds had visibly lowered himself upon hearing that, perhaps finally feeling some guilt for literally dragging me into this mess. Like so many times already, he perked up immediately. Now, there was anger on his face.

"Give…Give me back what you stole from me!" He commanded. This only seemed to make the two dicks grin more. I could already tell this wasn't going to be a peaceful transaction. Hopefully Spuds could handle these guys, as I had no idea how to fight. I figured since these guys were civilized, they would also be much more of a challenge.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Someone's getting cocky now!" The smoker said. "We overheard you talking about how precious this thing was…perhaps it would be a good selling piece?" The fact that he was constantly coughing while talking really made him seem less threatening.

"Y-You can't do that!" Spuds pleaded, but I doubt that would do much.

"Heh-heh-heh, well if you want it back so badly…" The Zubat said as the two of them looked ready for assault. "Then why don't you come get it!"

Yeah I had a feeling this would happen. Spuds immediately went head first into the Zubat, which seemed to injure the tiny bat pretty well. Zubat quickly retaliated by flying up to Spuds and sinking his teeth into his neck. Spuds let out a rather painful-sounding yelp when Zubat drew blood. This was not going to be pretty. Koffing decided to get started by blowing out a nauseous gas from his mouth that spread over the whole grove. Spuds, Zubat, and I all started hacking up a lung, but it seemed to affect me the most. Koffing used this to his advantage and rammed himself into Spuds. The poor guy went flying into a rock. This was not going well for him.

"Make…help…please…" He begged with a weak plea. I honestly had no clue what to do here. My time was running out however. Zubat turned to me and looked ready to strike. I really didn't want to get bitten by him. I frantically looked around when I noticed Spuds' knapsack laying on the ground. That's right! That explosive thing is in there! I rushed over to the bag and dug out the seed with the red lining. I readied my shot at Zubat, who was closing in fast. I chucked it with all my power and, surprisingly, got him right in the face. The moment the seed hit him, it glowed pure white before bursting into a nasty, fiery explosion. Zubat screeched loudly as he got blown far off into a distant rock. The resulting collision clearly knocked him out, or even possibly killed him. I chose to believe the former, as I really didn't want to be branded a killer.

The blast provided a good distraction for Spuds, who mustered up the energy to charge into Koffing, sending him my direction before collapsing again. I'm not sure what he was expecting from that. I once again had to think quickly as Koffing was flying towards me. I didn't have anything to explode him with. Wait. I was a Shinx! What kind of moves does Shinx have? I didn't really have to consider anything but a basic tackle attack. I readied myself as Koffing flew closer, and then rammed myself into with brute force. The resulting combo efficiently knocked Koffing out. I went over to Spuds to see if he was okay. He looked pretty beaten up, and I once again had no clue what to do. Spuds was clearly not in any condition to get up, but I had to figure something out. I think he noticed my cluelessness.

"M-Maki…in my bag, the Oran Berry…" Well at least I knew what that was. I waddled over to his bag and rummaged through to find the blue berry. I ran it over to him and helped him eat it. Within seconds, he was completely rejuvenated. That was pretty amazing. He got up and went over to Zubat and took the rock back. He turned to me afterwards.

"Let's get out of here Maki." I nodded in agreement. I was definitely done with whatever the hell happened here. We made our way back out to the beach. It was getting close to nightfall now. This didn't bode well for me. I had absolutely no idea where to go now. I would have to find a nearby town and see if there was some native version of a hotel or inn. Wait, that wouldn't work, I had no money. I would have to set up camp in a forest or something. No. I wouldn't rest until I got home. I did not want to be in this body any longer than I had to. I turned to Spuds to say my farewells.

"Well…I would say that was fun, but it was the furthest thing from fun. I best be going now." I said as I turned away from to start walking. He seemed to have other ideas however.

"Listen, Maki. What are you gonna do now? I mean…you're a human trapped inside a Shinx's body in a world you're completely unfamiliar with. Do you have any idea of what to do?" He questioned. Well, he got me there. I really did have no idea. "Well, I did have one idea for you." He continued.

I tilted my head at him, "Which is?" Something told me I would not like his suggestion.

"Well, you see, I had a really fun time working with you, and we made a pretty good team against Zubat and Koffing back there." Yeah, I really didn't like where he was going with this.

"And, I have been wanting to become an explorer. I was gonna train at a guild in the nearby town, but I was too scared to join. But, when I was with you Maki, I don't know. I felt a surge of confidence. With you I felt like I could do anything. Even solve the mystery around this." He said as he got that oh-so-important rock out again. At this point I was getting sick of seeing it. "I found this a while back, and well, take a look."

I did take a look, but I only glossed over it. Yeah there was some weird inscription on it, but if I was being honest, I couldn't bring myself to care at all about this. I mean, I clearly had some important shit to figure out. That thought didn't seem to cross his mind as he just kept going on and on about this.

"That weird inscription on there…there has to be a reason for it! So I decided from the day I got this I would become a first-class explorer! Hopefully through that, I can uncover the secrets that lie in my treasure. I call it my Relic Fragment." He had aspirations, and I admire him for that. However, I did not share these aspirations.

"So, back to my main point here…" He said as he put the Relic whatever back in his bag. "As I said before, I had gained a lot more confidence! Together, we could join the guild and become the greatest exploration team to ever exist! We'd be legends! So…what do you say? Maki, will you form an exploration team with me?"

Hell no.

Well, that's what I wanted to say, but given how emotionally unstable this guy seems, he would crumble to pieces if I declined. I had to mull this over to even consider the thought of this. The situation we were in was dangerous, and I assume it would only get worse. I also didn't plan on being here for very long, I really wanted to go home. I'm sure whatever friends and family I must have already, or would soon, notice my disappearance and panic would rise. I had to find a way out of this place fast. There was simply no way I could do it. I also really, really didn't want to.

"I can see you're thinking hard about this Maki. I know it's a big request, but think about this: Perhaps we could find out more about you? Who you are and how to get back to your home!"

God dammit, he had a good point there. I really didn't know who I was. All I knew was my name, the fact I was a human, and I wanted to go back home. If I ended up here, maybe there was something that could point me back home! I had no choice but to accept, despite the fact I was not really into this stuff at all.

"Alright Spuds, I'll form a team with you." I said reluctantly. His eyes immediately brightened and I swear I saw them sparkle.

"R-Really!? You will!? Oh thank you Maki! Thank you!" He said while half-hugging me, which I would have appreciated I warning for. "We have to go to the guild now!" What? It was almost night time.

"Do you think they'd still be open? It's pretty late it seems." I said, "Maybe we could just try tomorrow?"

"No way! We have to go look now!" Before I really had a chance to respond, I was being dragged off by him again.

Looks like this is my life for now, hopefully it won't last…