'OW, OW, HOLY SH- OW, OOOOAAAH… WHAT THE…'

Pain, that's all I could feel in those scant few moments of confused delirium. My entire being wracked with the indescribable sensation of utterly mind breaking agony. It felt like I was being ripped apart in 5 different directions, as someone pumped boiling lead through my veins whilst what could only be described as my flesh melting, ripping as if I was being sucked backwards through a vacuum the size of pea-

"...f-fuc...k?"

Until it cut out as abruptly as it had begun. I immediately ceased all movement, everything was very numb, my senses snapping back into focus as a curious wet, hacking sound met my still ringing ears. Foreign sounding, as I began to panic a wave of mind fog washed over me in the middle of trying to process the sound that had coughed out the word instinctively. The tentative thoughts slipping from my grip. I relaxed unnaturally, a wave of calm brushing past me before it too shattered In my attempt to move caused everything to come up sore. As if I had been running for miles, battered all over my body with a giant baseball bat before being swept up in a raging torrent before being deposited on a slab of stone.

High off the damage, it took me a few moments to realise that, that analogy seemingly wasn't too far off the mark. I was soaked, wherever I was and whatever I was doing was swept aside as another bout of panic bubbled up, inadvertently causing me to grab more of those thoughts through the haze. I didn't know why, but I felt incredibly off-kilter, despite the state of my body I ignored it all as a raw-mind numbing terror rose within me, grasping, and pulling at the unnatural mental state I idly noted that I was surprisingly more lucid than I probably should be.

It was only then, building off that observation, that I became acutely aware of what exactly my position was, memories mixed and matched in my head as the same fog billowed into my thinking. I mentally reached at any point of connection, looking desperately for a reason as to why. Beaten, bruised and possibly bloody as I was- by all rights I should've fallen back into unconsciousness at this point. Laid out in the dark, unknowing of my circumstances or location, dying alone. Had this been a normal injury, even one to a far less degree of seriousness, I would've been far more fatigued. I should've noticed then, that this wasn't quite as skin deep as I was fearing.

I didn't. On both accounts.

It wasn't out of some hidden well of determination, or even a simple will not to die I had within me. My mind was an addled mess, I knew, roughly that something very, very wrong had happened. The mental blockage in the form of that obstructing vapour kept the specifics from me even as instinct began to take over. Instincts I never knew I had, alongside those I knew I never had. There was something different. Other.

That was the real reason I pushed forward so intently in that slowly numbing, groggy and half-awake fractile of a moment, something was awfully misaligned, memories were pushing up against one another, slipping, grasping and consuming thinking space before briefly aligning as I was overcome with a dreadful realisation. One that propelled me those final few steps back into the realm of living, ripping me from Morpheus' deadly embrace, the fog blew back, feeling returned to my flesh. Gasping, I expelled a large gout of phlegmy liquid prompting a truly grand coughing spree. Single Minded determination riddled with pure mortal terror pushed me into action, manipulating the massive bruise I had been straddled with as a body into a better position, I vomited. Adrenaline pumping, to a degree of effectiveness I had literally never felt before as the curtains were torn back allowing me to finally mentally connect the last few dots constituting this displaced dilemma.

Only for all my collected mindfulness to quake, as I really, really wished I hadn't…

Fully awake now, whatever was keeping me together was reinforced as I was almost forced to take stock of my situation. A few things instantly stuck out as incredibly important to me. First things first, this wasn't my body. My body, the one thing that was me, the grown organism that made up he who is I. Me, moi, mich, I…

I blue-screened.

No, literally, my hair was suddenly blue. A pale cyan mop of drenched hairs that looked particularly colourless to me before my- this new body filled in the gaps. That was natural. It was pretty adamant on the colouring. Which led me onto my second observation as I paused to gather my thoughts quickly, the memories lashing out at my sense of self briefly as I felt another pit form in my stomach. I- I… who am I inside? Wait, is that… NO! Brain go ba-

Somewhat, at any rate, the two sets of memories were still foggy and unclear and for some reason one was all in third person... It was strange, feeling echo-like and impersonal to my now attentive mind, despite being memories, in my head… As I scanned them both I quickly came to realise one was clearly the more affirmed individual or at least I hoped that was accurate otherwise this was going to get confusing quickly. That's when I took notice of what was going on in them, slightly content that I seemingly wasn't about to be killed I forced myself to lie still. My head was ringing and everything was sore as I forced myself to focus inwards.

I had never really meditated before, according to the first person memories at least, having always been relatively cognizant of my wants and needs, I personally believed so anyway. Now, though, this summoned chill stripped away any remaining bias. I rapidly entered a meditative trance, something vast pulling my mind together calmly presenting me with my life up until this moment. It was then that I realised that I wasn't dreaming, this was real, something had plucked me from… wherever I was before waking up, and not only had the gall to transport me elsewhere but then decided that wasn't enough of a psyche-shattering revelation so it saddled me with a reverse body snatching scheme where I ended up in someone else's body with their memories buzzing around in my head. I didn't know why, but I just couldn't bring myself to think of it any other way. I was the intruder here, whoever these other memories belonged to, they weren't mine. The unworldly, chilling focus that enveloped me was making that abundantly clear.

'Oh, was someone else in here with me? That would be… far, far worse. I mean, this body is basically dead, I'm honestly shocked it's in anything resembling a single piece with the amount of pain I'm apparently being shielded from…'

I paused in my complementation as the feeling of creeping dread fluttered through me, had I bodysnatched someone? Were they still in here, just unconscious from the pain? This isn't making much sense. Hold up! No, no don't gloss ove-... The zen state I'd attained was slowly being coloured by a red hot frustration, it was as if I was forgetting or overlooking something crucial… It was at the tip of my tongue- I knew something about this but I just couldn't remember!

My frustration built more, and more as the answers were denied to me. Was I not good enough?! I was Clair of Bla- The pulse of anger that shredded the deceptive peace, froze in place. The almost draconic pride at the thought of something I claimed as my right to own being kept from me paled, halted- forced into submission as an unbelievably worse chill- no, a gale, torrent… a blizzard of numbness shot through my system. Memories tattered and lifeless, echoes of a life lived, stoked by the vestiges of fire and spirit that life carried so brightly clashed against the unfeeling cold that enveloped, cocooned me. And for a moment I saw it all. The union of Fire and Ice thawing into one another, Powers vast and unimaginable working in their heedless patterns.

Then it all stopped, the fire retracted, tamed as the coldness moved backwards of its own accord- a flow, no an avalanche of echos, a psyche and life snuffed out now condensed into another. For one heartstopping minute I understood- I was not the merger, but the leftovers, then it all went black.

"aaaAAACCHOOO- *hack* Ow, ow, ow!"

Spittle and phlegm erupted out of me as I awoke crouched upright breathing heavy and deep breaths- an exertion the likes of which I'd never experienced before. A bone deep fatigue that promised nothing but pain should I disrespect its severity, however not the unimaginable agony from before- the experience of such torture already fading from my addled mind as I remembered it all. Only all of what remained, wasn't everything. My mind quickly sorted itself out, rapidly scanning through the new information merger as my eyes darted open, scanning the cavern-

Ibuki Cavern, in the Dragon's Den. My mind supplied, still groggy from the harsh awakening, It took me a few moments to clear through the discomfort. Clair. That was my name, and not just any old Clair. Somehow, against all that was logical and scientific, in the moments between falling asleep the prior night and waking up in a cave as a giant, genderbent bruise. I had either gone utterly senile at the ripe ol' age of 19… Or… Inexplicably been turned into the 2nd Pokemon Generation Dragon Gym Leader - Clair of Blackthorn City. The cyan haired latex fetish-gear touting woman-child of a Pokemon Trainer who is so unused to losing she throws a tantrum, demanding you complete a set of inane trials before forking over her badge.

Annoying twerp...

Only I wasn't, no, no, see that'd be too easy! This rabbit- or should I say Bunnelby? -hole went far, far deeper than that. Born on an unusually warm and rainy winter's end, the 3rd Month of Ice 881pr to Kobe and Piper Blackthorn, which then revealed the bizarre language disparity between not only my own memories but also the world around me. They didn't speak Japanese, like I might've expected, nor English. It was frankly just a bizarre set of words, meanings and phrases that I understood perfectly… yet had a hard time figuring out why. There was just too much to unpack, I felt fresh, sore and sapped all at once. I was also in a considerable amount of discomfort if not outright pain, which was entirely understandable giving my current condition...

This all culminated in a single aborted movement as I forgot myself and pulled another muscle dragging myself away from the torrent of water that was still raging to my left. I'd isolated the sound of it almost entirely, but was mindful enough not to fall back in. The issue was that while nothing was broken, miraculously, I was in no condition to go stomping off into the cave.

Only the new anecdotal, if vague, scenarios suddenly filling my brain stayed my hand from doing anything drastic.

I was in the- no, a Pokemon world, as Gym Leader Clair, before she made a name for herself as a trainer. This thought and others like it were what kept me focused, the numb, apathetic and impersonal rationality I had been riding on was slowly waning, and my body was screaming at me for an out. Or a distraction. So, I theorised, focused deeply inwards and meditated, starting to piece together the scattered feelings and thoughts, headingley and steadily ignoring their origin as the sacrificed life of a dead child, of a set of lives I'd lived, arranging them for my benefit and sanity.

If I get out of this in one piece, I think I'll need therapy.