A gentle breeze was tickling him.

Something about the air was stuffy and hot, but it came as pleasant to him.

He could feel the sun's rays slowly baking him, the warmth making him drift off again...

"Hey. Wake up."

This was nice... he could get used to this... but just a slight discomfort... it was getting too hot...

"Are — are you dead...?"

Hot. Hotter. It was like being in a oven. And who was this voice, so intent on bothering him?

"Get... get... oh, Arceus... GET UP!"

"AAAGH!" Screaming, he instantly sat upright, nearly colliding with the voice.

He was sitting on the sand, in what seemed to be a forest with dried-up trees, and the blue sky was cloudless. He now realized how hot he was. He felt like he was melting, sweat and all.

Turning to take a look at his rude visitor, he saw a four-legged blue Pokémon blinking at him.

"You're awake!" it said.

Everything seemed to stop for a moment, and then —

"AAAAAGH!" he screamed for the second time. "You-you-?!"

"Are you okay? Dehydrated? Why were you lying there in the first place? No, stand still, I think you're..." the Pokémon, the talking one, turned and reached into its bag with its front paws. It soon produced a long and flat tab, and shoved it into his shouting mouth.
The tab soon made a beep noise, and the Pokémon pulled it out and peered at it.

His face fell.
"...We need to get you to a hospital. Now."

"How are you talking?!" he choked out, disregarding the Pokémon's urgent attitude. A sudden wave of sickness was starting to overcome him, but he had to know this.

"You're hallucinating, too!" it groaned, before taking him by the hand. His blue, stubby, three-fingered...

"AAAAAAH!" he shouted a third time, staring at the hand that certainly didn't belong to him.

"Get a hold of yourself!" it yelled desperately at him, dragging him somewhere. "I don't know why you were snoozing here, but you're dehydrated and close to having a heat stroke!"

Like heat strokes matter right now! he thought angrily. ...No, it mattered a little bit... he was feeling very queasy... and exhausted...

"Don't faint! Not now! We still have to walk..." A sudden bright idea seemed to illuminate the Pokémon's face.
It reached into its bag and pulled out something small that shined in the harsh sunlight. Holding the item tightly in one paw, it wrung its arm around his as though trying to strangle it. It then thrust the glittering item to the sky.

Instantly, a floating sensation spread through his body which was already overloaded with sickness. He soon realized that it wasn't a sensation at all. He was floating. Intense light was wrapping around him and the Pokémon...
And with a flash, and the unpleasant sinking feeling of being sucked into a toilet, the world around him all disappeared into a whirlwind of color, before it all became black.

"He'll be alright?"

"Yes, yes. And if I'm not mistaken, he should be coming to right about now..."

He opened his eyes. He was in a small cave room, illuminated by a candle on a table. He was lying in a comfy bed... and a Nidoqueen in a doctor's gown was staring at him.

"Hello." it said slowly. Was this Nidoqueen a doctor? Was that logical? "You were found by this Mudkip fellow over here. You were having a heat stroke." It was waving at him nervously behind the doctor. Yes, it was a Mudkip, he remembered its species. A talking one, though? "You are in the hospital of the Indigo settlement, and you will be restored to perfect health. You aren't recorded as a resident in our settlement, so you can tell us where you came from, and we can arrange for an escort. Do you... have a nickname?"

Not much of this made any sense to him, but he decided to answer.
"My name's..."

...

"...I don't know." Even he couldn't believe it as the words tumbled out of his mouth.

"You don't know, Squirtle?" the doctor repeated, looking horrified. He could hear a squeak from the spectating Mudkip.

"No, I have questions though!" he shouted, equally shocked. "Why are you talking?! Pokémon can't talk! And — and — ...did you just call me a Squirtle?"

"Well, yes, since that's your species." the Nidoqueen said with renewed slowness. She was treating him like he had cancer and had five days left to live. "If you're the type that's offended by being called like that, you could tell us your nickname, but since you have acquired amnesia..."

"I DO NOT HAVE AMNESIA!" He was getting very panicky. "AND I AM NOT A POKÉMON!"

"Then what do you think you are, young turtle?" the doctor asked, looking quite disturbed.

"I AM A HUMAN!"

Sudden silence. His words rang in the room.

"...But... Squirtle, humans are extinct. And humans couldn't turn into Pokémon even if they wanted. You can't be serious." the doctor pleaded, handing him a small mirror from her pocket. Scott took it, wondering why she even carried around one. Were humans turning into Pokémon a common incident here? Her tone suggested otherwise... "Maybe you should get some more rest, and then we'll see if a psychic can't do something for you..."

The supposedly-extinct, self-proclaimed human slumped back into his bed. But not in defeat. Oh no. He knew that he was a human. It was a fact.

But how to prove it? He couldn't even remember his name... and now he was a little water-turtle Pokémon, about to be sent to Pokémon asylum.
He peered into his reflection in the mirror. A Squirtle stared back, looking scared. He soon got conscious about his shell crushing his tail, and he had to shift a little. Both were very foreign features to his body. He tried moving his tail, and it waved around like a fifth limb, responding to his will perfectly. It was the strangest feeling, having such a thing stuck to him.

The doctor lingered for another moment before exiting the room, quietly closing the wooden door on them.
Them. The Mudkip didn't leave.
"Gee, good thing I brought the badge..." it mumbled, more to itself than anyone else.

Thinking for a moment, the former human decided that small talk would be nice for gathering information about this bizarre world.
"Badge? That... glittery thing?"

"Yeah, that!" he(its voice suggested it was a he) shuffled closer. The Mudkip showed him what the thing actually was: A small, blue teardrop-shaped badge with white wings. "This is a Flame Fighter badge. It can teleport people to a nearby Fighter base. My brother's! He's off-duty today, so... so... oh no... he's going to be so mad at me... I kinda took this without telling him..."

"Flame Fighter?" Scott repeated blankly.

"Yeah!" the Mudkip said, his eyes seeming to glitter like the badge. "Since fire-Pokémon cause so much trouble, there are specialized teams of Flame Fighters that defend the citizens!" no, his eyes were literally glowing. "And they explore mystery dungeons, they get supplies from them, rescue poor people that passed out from the heat... ...Hey! I guess I did that today. I'm just like my brother! This is amazing!"

He wasn't sure what was talking about exactly, and a headache was coming on...
"So... don't you have to return the badge?"

"Right! I have to go now! Just... stay here, okay? Don't come out until somebody lets you. You might get lost, this place is really big..."

"Wait!" he said suddenly. Was it the prospect of being left alone that compelled him to do so? "What's your... name...?"

"My nickname? Mathias. And my brothers' is Marcel, if you were curious. And your nickname... oh... you don't know. But I don't want to call you by your species, Marcel said it was rude."

The human briefly mused to himself how rude it would sound if everybody called each other 'human' back at home.

"Umm... can I call you Scott? Is that okay?" Mathias suggested after a moment of thinking.

Scott. It was... vaguely familiar, although he was sure it wasn't his actual name. Just one that he might have heard before. But it wasn't a bad one. He nodded to show his consent.

"Great! 'Kay Scott, I'll leave my bag here, you can look through it if you're ever bored. I'll be back soon, promise!" clutching the badge in one paw, he bounded off on three feet, barging through the door. It bounced back and shut itself, leaving Scott in perfect, lonely silence.

Scott picked up the mirror again, and looked at the turtle inside. Staring back at him.
With a sigh, he put it down and slid into his sheets. In any case, this wasn't too bad. Maybe he would wake up to see that this was all just a stupid dream. If not, Mathias was entertaining enough to stop him from getting too depressed.

The human-turned-Squirtle turned over and closed his eyes, thinking...