Victini came to, hoping to see the tiny room it was confined to for an indeterminate length of time. Instead, it saw the bowls, filled with fresh water and food. Oh. So that was not a dream then.
It ate as it had done so before. Luckily, it didn't see the need to relieve itself.
At midday an odd-looking and unrecognizable human gave it new food and water. That was mostly it. The people here helped clean up after it each time it went to relieve itself on the back lawn under close supervision. Were they afraid of its escape? Clearly they thought it was important in some way.
It reached out to touch one of the men's foreheads gently, trying to see what he was thinking. It was strange,. His experiences were significantly different than anyone it had known.
Flashes of unrecognizable places. Thoughts; fear, uncertainty, excitement. The man backed away carefully and slowly, taking several deep breaths.
Todd's mind reeled with strange ideas and creatures. The creature's paw had touched his forehead - and well, all hell had broken loose. Flashes of no known existing landmark. He felt emotions that were clearly not his own; uncertainty, excitement, fear.
And above all, a voice.
"Who are you? Why am I here?"
His mind was a constant jumble and gibberish as he tried to respond. The voice didn't even sound human, like a child's fast babbling.
"You're that human who shot me. Why?" There was the voice again, accusing.
"I was following my orders."
The creature frowned. "Who gave you these orders? Are you - are you some criminal gang who steals Pokemon?"
"No!" That was alarming. "I am an animal control officer. Our orders were - and still are - to bring in dangerous creatures to stop them causing harm to humans." A thought struck him. "Where did-"
"I came from a place named Unova."
"Unova? There is no country or region with that name here."
"Then where am I?"
"You're on Earth. Specifically, the city of Las Vegas, one of the many cities in the state of Nevada," Todd said.
"You are Michelle. Is that correct?"
Michelle started. "Who the fuck are you?" She glanced around for Todd, but he was currently playing receptionist.
"Do you always greet strangers like this?"
"No! How did you even know my name?"
"Went through your head. It's quite easy to do, for someone as proficient at telepathy as me."
Her mind turned into a confused swirl. This sort of phenomena didn't exist. It definitely didn't. Maybe it was the stress of the job. "Just what are you?"
"I'm a Pokemon. You may call me Victini."
She paused, eyes widening. No. That... that was only a franchise. It definitely wasn't real.
"Just GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" She screwed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth, partly in shock and the pounding headache that followed.
The silence that followed seemed to last her whole lifetime. Todd peeked into the break room, concern al over his face.
"You were shouting. Everything OK?"
"That was fucking weird, man," she said at last. "I don't really know what's going on anymore."
"What do you mean?"
Michelle rubbed her eyes. "I'm hearing voices."
"Maybe you should go see a doctor. You work the night shift like me. Speaking of which, have you seen what we brought in?"
"Sure. Maybe that will take my mind off things..."
Michelle entered the small back room with Todd, empty save for the pen now containing a rather energetic Victini.
"Look at me, Michelle."
She obeyed, head swiveling, still only half-believing what she saw.
"What-" she began.
"This is the only way we can understand each other. Get used to this; we'll be speaking to each other with this method from now on."
"I - yes." Her eyes flicked around for a moment. "Holy hell, this is insane..."
"What was that?"
"Nothing derogatory."
"Play it straight with me next time; else I'll have to probe your mind."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"I'm going to lie down take a few deep breaths, and pretend this whole ordeal never happened," she said to Victini. Through the window, she could see Todd sitting at the receptionist desk, nose in a magazine. Neither of the humans registered the click of a lock.
"Hey! I'm not finished! Come back!"
"Fuck you!" She attempted to open the door. It held fast. That was not the case when she and Todd came in - and her colleague had absolutely not engaged its lock when he left. She hammered on it with her fists. Agony exploded in her head like a drill boring into her skull, until all she could do was lie on the floor, clutching her head.
"Come back. This is your last warning."
Michelle moved back, hands trembling and reaching for her pistol.
"Keep your hands off that thing."
Despite her terrified state, Jenkins managed to do what he was told.
"This will be the only way for all of you to communicate with me. Do not make this harder for yourself, Michelle."
The voice seemed a little... softer? That was a relief for him. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was an angry telepathic creature.
Something clicked behind her, and she dared a glance behind her. The heavy door was surrounded by a cyan glow, swinging open of its own accord. Telekinesis? That was one more thing she had thought as being relegated to fiction.
What felt like hours to Michelle was in reality only twenty minutes as she glanced at her watch. Her head spun far more than ever before, which was not helping matters. Todd had come around to check on her, finding the poor woman gasping and sweating.
A glass of cold water helped calm her down a little, before Todd finally spoke.
"How was your conversation?"
"Fine," she replied.
"Just - tell me what happened. You were pounding on the door."
"Nothing! Just, nothing. Please, leave me alone. I got something to do." She groaned. "Go play receptionist. I'm not interested in what's happening out front unless it's another damn call-out."
"OK." The lack of conviction in Todd's face and tone was naked. It was the sort of thing that said, "I know something is wrong, but I won't press you further."
With that, she was left alone in the break room.
Michelle reached for the break-room TV's remote. Flipping to a news channel, her jaw dropped at what she saw.
The anchorwoman spoke of the odd green flash appearing in the sky. She looked out the break-room's window to see more and more of them. Memories of sci-fi and apocalypse movies came back to her, from watching them in college dorms at late-night parties.
As she grabbed a frozen TV dinner from the break-room fridge and placed it in a nearby microwave, there was nothing to do but wait for "further instructions" from the local authorities. "Further instructions, my ass," she muttered, wondering what exactly the military would do against unexplained phenomena like this. Maybe eggheads would study it, at best, hoping to make a big breakthrough on whatever this was.
There would likely be conspiracy theorists too, screaming about the "end of days" and such, she thought as she ate.
Another news channel. This one was significantly different: the ticker at the bottom reported 'Continuous reports of strange creatures-" before she flipped to another news station.
"Nintendo currently under investigation-"
"Pokemon, real or fake?-"
The microwave dinner was forgotten as she turned off the TV, frozen in shock.
This is the remastered second chapter, with Victini being introduced as a proper character and a fleshed-out conversation. More to come.