Hello everyone! This is a new (old) story that I've been waiting for a while to post on here. But here it is!

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Not much to write here for a first chapter. Toodles!

Forced Kindness Arc 1: Sunny Days

Breaking Out (Broken In)

It was dark.

Very much dark.

He... he? Yes, he sounded very much right. He opened his eyes, and he still couldn't be quite sure if he'd actually opened them.

He couldn't feel anything, though there also wasn't the sort of numbness that came with the anesthesia he was familiar with.

And it was still dark.

So very dark.

And so, he floated in the darkness for an unknown amount of time.

It felt weird, to not feel, but it was also comforting. Like he was relieved of a burden he previously didn't know he had, and now all that was left was feeling the lack of feeling.

And then the nothing was replaced by something, and that something came with a vague sense of sensory overload.

Lights of all colors were shining around him, and they should have blinded him with how much he'd been in the darkness, but they didn't. Perhaps that was because he lacked eyes to be blinded in the first place.

"Welcome!" a voice trilled. It was jolly, light, musical. It also sounded vaguely familiar, but that might have just been his imagination.

"This is the portal that leads to the world inhabited only by Pokémon." Was that where he was? A portal? What were portals like, to begin with? And what were Pokémon?

"Beyond this gateway, many new adventures and fresh experiences await your arrival!" it continued, unaware or perhaps ignoring his inner questionings. He didn't have a mouth to protest anyways.

Someone was waiting for him? Who were they? Why were they waiting? This experience was already feeling too fresh for him.

"Before you depart for your adventure, you must answer some questions." The voice had already mentioned adventures twice already. What kind of adventure would it be?

"Be truthful when you answer them!" it whispered, in a semi-conspiratory tone. Lying hadn't been on his mind until the voice had mentioned it in the first place. Was he supposed to lie then? No, it wasn't sarcastic. Just a bit of teasing.

Probably.

Who was this person? Were they even a person at all, or just a disembodied voice? What constituted as a person?

"Now, are you ready?" he didn't feel ready. How could he answer questions when all he knew was the darkness that enveloped him earlier and the light that was around him now? "Then… let the questions begin!"

He wondered if he was even the one that the voice was speaking to. For all he knew, he was listening in to someone else's conversation. Maybe the voice was speaking on a phone. What was a phone again?

"Do you want to be taller someday?" The voice asked, turning questioning and oddly serious.

It wasn't the "you're screwed" or "I'm mad" kind of serious, but it suddenly sounded like he was a job interview. Which was the complete opposite of the nature of the question. It sounded silly, inconsequential and for a long second he didn't know how to respond to that, since he had no idea of what his height was. Or what a job was, for that matter.

But then information began flooding his mind. It was vague and blurry, but still information. Something that he'd been sorely missing. He'd never been a tall person. None in his family, though he couldn't remember who they were, had been tall people. It ran in their genes.

And there was some sort of… societal stigma against short people. Maybe. He might be making that up. But still, being taller could only be a good thing, he supposed, so- yeah.

The voice seemed satisfied with that answer, since it continued. "You discover a beat-up-looking treasure chest in some ruins. What do you do?"

His first instinct was to say that he would open it, but he paused. It was probably more complicated than that, wasn't it?

He tried to recall everything he could about such a situation, and was reminded of dice and character sheets for some sort of game.

Chests sometimes would just be creatures in disguise, right? Or they would be rigged to explode, or some other mean trick. But didn't that happen only in fiction? But then again… Pokémon… He didn't even know where his train of thought was going. It was better to go back to the question.

In the end… he'd probably prod it from far away to make sure that it's not some sort of trap. Maybe chuck something at it, for good measure.

"Do you think it's important to always aim to be the best?" The voice asked, again. Apparently he had answered the question correctly, or as correctly as he could anyways.

Answering this one was quicker than the others. I'm gonna be the very best, like no one ever was- but catchy rythyms aside, thinking about it logically, there was a very small chance of being the best at something. And even if one managed to achieve that, it would mean sacrificing everything else for the sake of it. So, it was a no.

"If you saw someone doing something bad, could you scold them?" was the next question the voice posed.

His father… no, was it his mother? Someone had always advised him to keep his head out of other people's businesses so that he wouldn't end up in trouble.

And yet, perhaps because of rebelliousness, he always tried to at least make people aware that what they were doing was bad. Never in a know-it-all or looking-for-trouble way, just calmly letting them know. People already knew that what they were doing was bad, a scolding was not the kind of thing they needed.

"Have you ever accidentally called a teacher "Mom" or "Dad"?" He felt embarrassment, though not accompanied by the usual heat that would rush to him at that. Though he wasn't sure he had a body to begin with.

He had. Multiple times. But he could lie a little, right?

No, he had not.

There was a small pause in which the voice didn't talk, and he (metaphorically) held his breath. Had he messed up?

"Good news and bad news… Which one do you want to hear first?" It said. The tone was even and the same as every other question, yet he couldn't help but feel terrified.

He'd messed up, he'd definitely messed up. He couldn't even remember who he was and he'd already done goofed. He'd been such an idiot, he-

He… wanted to hear the bad news first. Might as well get whatever it was out of the way. "There's someone behind you!" It announced.

He tried to turn and look, and he figured he did, because the colors shifted from a peaceful yellow to an angry red. Uh-oh-

"So… did you look just now?" It asked mischievously. …seriously? He couldn't help but feel annoyed at the fact that the voice had pranked him. It scared him for nothing!

"You're on a stroll when a TV crew pounces on you for an interview. What do you do?" The voice seemed to move on from it seemingly at random. Despite the annoyance, the confusion and everything, he found a little amusement bubbling up. A quick retort had come to mind. 'Like you've been doing just now?' He thought.

The voice didn't answer for a long second, before he heard the disembodied voice chuckling. There were words along with it, but they were too faint to make out, before it resumed speaking at an audible volume.

"One last question. Are you male or female?" it asked. He'd been thinking of himself as male until now, so… And as he thought about that, the colors went away once again, bleeding into darkness.

He could still feel the colors though, a sensation that he'd ignored up until this moment in favor of the visual feedback he'd been receiving.

"And now your aura will be analyzed." Aura? As in the mystic voodoo stuff? "Your aura is the energy that you radiate!" it answered. Oh. So, mystic voodoo stuff.

Colors came into view once more, though more subdued. He'd already missed them. With them, however, came into view an actual object.

A ribbon, sitting in front of him. Though, as everything in this place, the distance was relative. "Relax. Calm yourself… And now, press your fingertip on the bow."

It was easier said than done.

He basically had to will his finger into existence, making it be there by pure power of imagination. And when he did, a wave of something rippled through him and he lost concentration.

And the world fell into darkness once more. "Don't move your finger quite yet. The bow won't bite, I promise." The voice teased. Colors returned, and the bow reappeared. He hesitantly did the same thing again, trying not to lose concentration despite feeling something that was reaching into him.

"That's right… Stay perfectly still…" what was going on still unnerved him, but he found that he trusted the voice's judgment on this. "Take a deep breath… and now exhale…" eventually he managed to will himself into doing so, feeling a little more like a living creature. "Your aura is…"

The voice began to exclaim as the world shifted in color to match what it was saying. "A gentle mint green!" he felt at ease around the color, seeing it color the entire world into a sheen that was easier on the metaphorical eyes.

"Thank you for answering all those questions." It said, sounding like it meant it. "You seem to be… the sassy type!" Was that what this questionnaire was about? "Or at least somewhat sassy! You don't like taking orders. You're a little rebellious and like to disagree with others. But…"

"You are also quite the timid type." That sounded like a contradiction. "While when dealing with a situation you can be sassy to defend yourself, you're also very wary of getting into those situations in the first place.

"You're a little shy about getting in new challenges, wanting to know more about everything before making your judgement, without backing out though. Although, it's a good thing to have a level head, isn't it?" He was really missing the point here.

"So, someone who's timid but will show his fangs when pressured… " it announced, voice growing as if to say something grand. "Will be a Ralts!" What? He couldn't be a Ralts. What even was a Ralts in the first place? "Ok, that's it! You're all ready to go! You're off to the world of Pokémon!" This made no sense! He was a hu- "Stay safe out there! And be victorious!" The world faded to darkness once more.


A gasp tore itself out of my throat as I felt everything rush back to me. How my whole identity had been stripped from me in some sort of divine analysis of my soul, only to come back to me all at once. And everything had come back (or at least, I didn't feel any gaps in my memory. Would someone with partial amnesia even know they have amnesia?), minus how exactly I'd gotten here. One moment I was slipping away into unconsciousness while on the couch with my girlfriend, the next I was here.

'Where am I?'

It was kinda cold in there. And wet.

It felt claustrophobic.

I tried to feel my way around the place I was into, despite the lack of light, but it felt like the inside of a zorbing sphere- except the liquid was inside, not outside. I was rolling around.

I began struggling, taken by a primal fear of being enclosed and drowning. Kicking, beating and even smashing my head. Though the latter happened only once, since my forehead felt extremely sensitive for some reason. It was the equivalent sensation of a wedge driving its way into my skull. I didn't attempt that again.

That headbutt did manage to get me a small bit of light though, through a hole. I weakly reached out with my hands- I couldn't feel my fingers, but there was still enough prehensile strength for me to break whatever it was around me and push free.

I fell over with a gasp, pretty tired from the activity, and closed my eyes to shield myself from the piercing light.

For a few moments, I just lied there, trying to get my bearings straight- and the fluid out of my lungs. It was difficult, but I managed to slowly open my eyes, to find myself staring at... a familiar mint green. I realized only after a moment that it was covering my eyes.

I could see only in the very middle of my field of vision, though parting my... hair, I realized, revealed that I was in the middle of some sort of stone room. Blue-gray walls with a gray, gravelly floor that I was currently sitting on, and light coming from... no discernible source. It was just there, as though light didn't exist as an extant form of energy. Troubling.

I tried to stand up on weak arms and legs, and found myself unable to. As panic bubbled into me, I tried again, and this time, as I focused on the task, it came with ease, and I felt light as a feather.

I stared at my arms as I did so. They were pudgy things, with no proper hands though I could still flex the 3 "fingers", though I couldn't separate them from one another, and they were a stark white, covered in fur.

My legs, also stark white, were not visible beneath a... membrane...? I couldn't tell what it was that made a sort of "pants" around my legs, covering most of me. Though if it was skin, oh my god ew.

I… really was a Ralts...

And then I felt it.

This... anger. Primal, animalistic anger, and hunger, and fear. I could feel the emotions, but also... not? It was like these emotions were bubbling up into my head, but they weren't... mine. I had nothing to be angry about. Or rather- I had a lot, but I just didn't feel angry about that. This anger did not come from me.

And then I heard a sound. Turning around to face a corridor, I saw what was the source of the hangry feeling that I was… feeling, but not from me. It's weird.

There was some kind of big (or at least taller than I was), humanoid-ish reptile standing in front of me. It was blue, with a snout that made me think of a dinosaur, and a protusion on its head like a helmet. Fangs were sticking out of the corners of its mouth. And it was staring at me like I was prey.

Now- I'm not normally the type to get violent. Especially with wild animals, I'd much rather flee than fight. To my excuse- I was at least half as angry as he was, alright?

I picked up a chunk of the thing I broke out of, a piece of my eggshell, and I watched it charge towards me. As its head hit the eggshell, I was blown backwards and rolled across the ground, scraping myself up. Ow.

"You-asshole!" I coughed out a scream, hearing my own voice for the first time. It was frankly... squeaky, like a dog toy, and it was disconcerting to hear it coming out of my throat.

It was also laced with some sort of weird power, because I could see a shockwave part from in front of my mouth and slamming into the thing, who grabbed at its ears, but was still standing. As it was, it reared back- my eyes widened as I realized that the Bagon was about to hit me with a Dragon Rage.

I curled up from my place on the ground, unable to do anything to protect myself from it but wishing to be spared of the pain, and I watched as the dragon roared and let out blue mist from its mouth. It ate into the remains of my eggshell and slammed into me... or washed over me, as it was, since it did absolutely nothing.

Oh.

"DIE!" I shrieked, wanting to get back on the attack and trying to will power into my voice. Thankfully the Bagon followed my command and died.

...well, hopefully not. But it did keel over and fall to the ground, clutching its ears.

I tried to stand up, and again I had to pour my full concentration into the task at hand to do so. It appeared that this body just couldn't multitask, which made the fact that I had been forced to fight from a prone position on the ground all the more annoying. Slowly, I waddled over and tried to make sure that it was down for the count (it was), and sighed. I had no idea what was going on.

...what I did notice, however, was the minty green bow that was left next to the melted remains of my eggshell.

Mine.

I strode over and grabbed it, trying to think of a good location for it...

I could tighten it, but I had no idea how to unwrap it without fingers, something that annoyingly made it impossible to tie around my neck, though I was trying to loosen it up. But since that wasn't an option, I... oh.

The bow seemed to fit nicely around the weighty-feeler on my head, the extra-sensitive thing. And... it felt nice, there. I had no idea how silly I looked, but now the ribbon was on my horn.

...that still left the fact that I needed to get out of here, somehow. I think.

I began walking down the corridor the Bagon came from, armed with a piece of eggshell as my shield, and I began rubbing absently at my shoulder. I hadn't been hurt bad, not really, and the Bagon that attacked me was most likely a baby itself, given how easily it went down. but I wasn't raring for another fight.

"Potato, potato, potato-o-o- vegetables." I said to myself, both to test my vocal range and to fill the solitude. I didn't like my new voice; it was very shrill and baby-like. Though I guess some might even put off by it in combat. If it was to be my weapon, it sounding uncomfortable was good.

I guess you can call it a Disarming Voice.

Horrible puns aside, it seemed like the universe didn't appreciate me thinking that I didn't want to fight any more, because the feeling of Hangry that I now recognized coming from my horn and washing over into the rest of my body came back. Walking down the next corridor, nothing really seemed to change. Same blue-grey stone, and no change in the lighting. When I looked for my shadow, it seemed to be directly below me, though I couldn't see any light source above me unless the ceiling counted.

As I entered the next room, I found a pile of coins on the floor, that I wasn't sure what to do with, and a blue colored orange.

There was also another Bagon that was watching the berry. When we locked eyes, even though nothing was spoken, I could get the general gist of what he thought- It's on. It was fully into the idea of fighting for ownership of the berry.

Thankfully, however, I had more brains and type advantage, and it didn't seem to be able to think that well as it attacked me with Dragon Rages. Two Disarming Voices later, the Bagon was on the floor clutching its skull. Sorry not sorry.

I strode over and picked up the berry. It was a blue-colored berry, maybe as big as one of my fists. My eyes wandered between it and the coin, and ultimately decided that newborns didn't have much need for money.

However, as I was thinking what to do next, I saw rounding the corner another Bagon, who locked eyes with me and began roaring.

...was this how it was going to be? Was I born into a Bagon filled lair or something?

It was a Bagon filled lair, as it turned out.

And messing with Bagons, incidentally, stopped being fun 5 Bagons ago.

While this place thankfully kept my mind on survival and not on my condition, it was starting to grate on me.

I found some stairs descending further into the cave- and try as I might, I didn't manage to actually find some ascending stairs, removing the idea that I might find a way out of this cave by simply going up. The stairs were, oddly enough, built with a care and smoothness that didn't seem to be respected in the rest of the cave. It was weird and unusual.

When I got to the second floor it was more of the same thing. More Bagons, more rooms. But as I said, why specifically 5 more Bagons?

Because at the 8th of the shell-headed annoyances total, I was already starting to feel weak on my own. Couple that with the breath catching in my throat and the power running out as I'd managed to land only one Disarming Voice meant that I was struck in the face by an angry Bagon. And try as I might, even as it breathed a Dragon Rage in my face, I couldn't manage to shriek any more. Or rather, I could, it just lacked a certain dragonslaying quality.

…now that I think about it, major Skyrim vibes, killing dragons with just the sound of my voice.

I had to headbutt it in the face, which hurt me almost as much as it hurt him if I had to guess. I was almost blinded by the pain of slamming my hypersensitive horn into something.

And I did it, repeatedly, until it went KO. I did too, incidentally and woke up an indeterminate amount of time later, with the blue Pokémon still on me, but more messed up than I was and still out of it.

I weakly grasped at the berry that I'd kept in hand, and began biting at it. And then I began crying.

It was... you ever taste an orange? Well, imagine that, but also lemon, grape, pepper, walnut and a variety of other tastes. It was... amazing. I wouldn't say it was my favorite thing, but it was very good.

My fatigue seemed to vanish, and my stomach ached less than it did before. It wasn't hard to then wiggle my way from under the Bagon, but I was still out of Voice.

And then I felt more emotion coming from one of the hallways. But unlike the others, where it had been uncontrolled rage, this was... there were multiple things. Excitement, fear. A wish to prove oneself. And many more.

I couldn't focus on them for long, however, since another Pokemon rounded the corner. It was a... flower, kind of. It still held the vaguely humanoid shape, but it had a green body with stubby limbs and its head was a yellow flower, with the center separated into three parts and the center one housing a face.

Behind it were one or more Pokémon, but I couldn't really take note of them because she proceeded to shout a "Take this!". And after that, I was pelted by numerous seeds hitting me in various parts of the body.

I hissed in pain at the first that hit me on the hand. Another on my chest, making me stumble backwards. Two more on my face, hitting as hard as bullets.

I received what I would personally consider a critical hit and that put me out for the count when a fifth seed struck me straight in the horn. I was blind to the world with pain, but I thankfully passed out shortly after that.

My first encounter with another sentient Pokémon ended up in me getting demolished by a Sunflora's Bullet seed.

Joy.


Omake: In which the disembodied voice is just a little less patient with the MC's shenanigans.

Canon level: Delicious Tenpura (0/10)

"Have you ever accidentally called a teacher "Mom" or "Dad"?" He felt embarrassment, though not accompanied by the usual heat that would rush to him at that. Though he wasn't sure he had a body to begin with.

He had. Multiple times. But he could lie a little, right?

No, he had not.

There was a small pause in which the voice didn't talk, and he (metaphorically) held his breath. Had he messed up?

And then, came to his metaphorical ears the sound of a record scratch.

"What did you just say right now?" the voice asked.

"I-"

"What the fuck did you just say right now?" the voice asked, interrupting any attempt he may have had at replying. "Holy Arceus father of all Pokémon, really? The one thing that's asked of you in this fucking quiz is to not lie and what do you do? You lie. Good job dumbass."

"Well I didn't ask to take-"

"WeLl I dIdN't AsK tO tAkE shut the fuck up you whiny bitch. This is supposed to be a literal test of your soul, and what do you do? You lie. What does that say about you? That you're a piece of shit who can't even keep his answers straight? What if I'd actually recorded it like that, huh? Would you like to be reincarnated as a Magikarp in the middle of the fucking desert, waiting like the world's most delicious tempura to be cooked alive by the sun and eaten by a fucking Pupitar, huh?! DO YOU?!" It shouted.

"Meep. N-no…" I mumbled apologetically. The colors were now shifting from an angry red to a black.

"Of fucking course you don't, you dolt…" the voice sighed angrily. "...ugh, what a time to rhyme… shit, not again!" A few moments of awkward silence passed.

"Look. You know what? I don't have to deal with this. I very literally don't have to deal with this. Let's just- I'll roll everything back, and you'll forget that this happen, you'll lie again because that's the type of terrible person you are, and I'll pretend everything is fine and just jot down as though you'd answered honestly." The sensation of wind blowing on his face, bringing about confusion and forgetfulness came as the voice took a deep breath and exhaled. "I don't get paid enough for this."

"Wh-" he tried to mumble, but halfway through he forgot everything that happened in the last few seconds.

"Have you ever called a teacher Mom or Dad?" for a teeny, tiny moment, the voice hoped that a minimal part of the experience had clung to the would-be reincarnee, so that they may answer honestly.

"No, I have not." the dipshit replied.

The voice cut off the psychic connection for just a moment.

"THIS WORLD IS DOOMED!" it screamed into the void.