A/N: I feel that I need to elaborate on Finn's general obsessions and compulsions a bit more so it isn't just a phobia.
I think I realized I was afraid of Pokémon when I met one in person, but I've always been messed up. I think I was…what was it, eight? Nine? Well, one day, as I went home from school, I wondered if my mom would be there when I got home. She was always home when I came home, right? What if she wasn't there? What if she was gone forever? What if she was run over and I saw her corpse in front of the house? What if she killed herself for some reason and I would come home to an empty house, calling out for her, and eventually come across her body in the bathtub? It was really scary. Mom was always there, right?
Well, as I was walking home, I kept thinking. She was home that day. I didn't tell her about it, but I felt very relieved. But the next day, it happened again. What if she was gone? It happened again and again, and I started getting scared to walk home. I could not stop thinking about it. What if she was gone? During one of these walks, I stared at my left foot as I walked, and it was sort of comforting. But as I looked it, I suddenly started feeling like I was doing it wrong. I stood still for a second, and moved my right foot so I could decide how to put my left foot down correctly. And when I reached home, I realized that I had totally stopped thinking about my mother. So the next day, I kept focusing on my left foot, but it got harder and harder to do it right, because if I did it wrong, then I would get distracted and start thinking about my mom again.
My brain trained me to put my left foot down "right," (no pun intended) but the thoughts and fears kept coming. It got harder and harder to put my foot down correctly. So this went on for a few months, and then I couldn't walk home anymore for a while because I got sick. It was a just a flu. Not a big deal. I wasn't too bothered at the time. But after I got better, I watched another boy (I don't even remember his name-I think he's a trainer now) fall sick. He coughed and heaved violently, and vomited a little. He cried about how much his head hurt and how his body hurt. I was terrified. I hadn't felt too bad, but this boy was in hell. I ran to the corner of the room and started whimpering. The teachers were trying to call his parents and get him home and there was chaos all around. Eventually the day ended, and I went home. I couldn't even think about my mother because I was thinking about that scene, and if the boy was OK, and all that. I didn't know what to think, but I was up all night with that image rattling in my head. I was told later that he had the flu. I immediately knew that I gave him the flu, and he might die because he was so sick. He got better a week later, but that didn't change my mind. So I started bathing more. And showering. And if anyone I knew got sick, then I would clean myself even more.
So how did I become afraid of Pokémon? I'm not totally sure myself. I went to Goldenrod City with my parents and ran away from a Teddiursa, I remember, but I think that was later. I think it was when my parents' friends' son visited home after some kind of Pokémon competition. He showed me every one he had captured and raised. He liked Grass types. He had a Vileplume that he was really proud of. He had raised it from an Oddish and everything, and he bragged about how strong it was and how many battles it won. I was about to pet it, when his mom warned me that it was poisonous, and it could release clouds of toxic pollen. That was definitely scary: what if I spread the stuff and got people sick? What if people died?
It's all sort of muddled, but my fear of Pokémon grew and grew, and even though I still had compulsions about other stuff, this sat directly in my mind. It got worse as I grew older, because then I started being expected to become a trainer. People were disappointed, and so I stopped hoping that I would be able to master my fears. Everything got worse. I got depressed and started feeling empty all the time, and even guiltier than when the boy got sick. I degenerated, becoming thin and insomniac and paranoid. My fears have gotten worse and my brain gets harder and harder to satisfy. What am I going to do?