"Friend or Foe?"
"Hello, hey wake up!" A voice called cutting into my sleep.
Reluctantly I opened my eyes and sat up and looked around. I saw at once that I was in a completely different world that was not my own and that by some weird course of nature that I had been turned in a Charmander of all things!
"Who? Where am I?" I asked coming to almost at once.
"I'm Clarissa," the Bulbasaur-like creature replied, "and this is the world that I and many others like me call home."
"But I'm not actually a pokemon! I'm a human!" I cried out, starting to get alarmed as each moment passed in this strange world.
"Huh? But you look like a Charmander in every way!" Clarissa replied looking puzzled.
"It is true…." I moaned looking horrified, "I have turned into a Charmander!"
"But you're a cute Charmander!" Clarissa supplied happily before she turned back to me and asked, "What is your name, what would you like me to call you by?"
"Karania would be most preferable." I replied still trying to figure out how in the blazes I got here and why I, a human, had been turned into a pokemon of all things, and a Charmander at that, which was almost beyond everything I'd ever known.
"Karania is your name?" Clarissa asked. I nodded. "That's a very interesting name! I like it!"
I smiled at Clarissa for a minute after realizing that if I was going to get to the bottom of my mysterious transformation that I was going to need some help to do so, and hopefully Clarissa would be up to the task. "So Clarissa," I began slowly, "Do you think you could help me find out why I was turned into a pokemon?"
"Of course!" Clarissa replied enthusiastically. "I'd be glad to if you'd also help me form a Rescue Team! Who knows maybe as a Rescue team we can uncover the answer to your mysterious transformation!"
I smiled, Clarissa was very enthusiastic and very happy for your average Bulbasaur. I knew at once that I had a friend that I could trust while I was in this world for some unknown reason. "Sure Clarissa, I'd be glad to form a Rescue Team with you!" I replied almost as enthusiastically, even though I still didn't understand why I was here or for what purpose I had become a Charmander.
"Great!" Clarissa exclaimed happily. It seemed that Clarissa was a friendly pokemon that got excited very easily.
"This will take some getting used to…." I thought to myself as soon as I heard Clarissa's answer.
"Though one thing…." Clarissa said.
"Oh, and what would that be?" I asked, a puzzled look on my face.
"I want you to be the leader of the Rescue Team!" Clarissa replied bouncing up and down in such a way that seemed to suggest that she'd had too much sugar recently.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa….!" I cried out in complete utter shock. "Me lead the team!? But it was YOUR idea to start the team!"
"Yeah, well, you see…." Clarissa began slowly, "I always wanted to be on a Rescue Team, but I didn't actually want to lead it myself…
I sighed, it appeared that I now had a job to do. I knew that if I said no that it would severely hurt Clarissa's feelings and that my chances of getting her to help me with my own situation would be about zero percent. I groaned for a moment before I tuned back to Clarissa and said, "Okay…. Alright, I'll do it even though I don't know the first thing about being a Rescue Team Leader…. But you will help me get to the bottom of my mystery, right?"
"Of course!" Clarissa replied. "That's what friends are for!"
"Wonderful." I replied before turning back to her and asking, "So how do we start this Rescue Team?"
"Well uh, first we need to establish our team base that will also serve as your home while you're here." Clarissa replied. I nodded so she went on, "Follow me, I'll take you to the base."
"Okay." I replied and made to follow Clarissa.
I followed Clarissa through the unfamiliar terrain to the location she had specified would be my home. When we came up the path and I saw it with its domed roof and the small torches that were planted around the yard, I had to smile. I mean, I was a human turned pokemon, but seeing this place made me so happy that I couldn't even begin to explain it.
"I really do like it, Clarissa." I replied, turning around to look at her.
Clarissa hopped up and down and became very happy as she said, "I knew you would! Why don't you go settle in and I'll see you again in the morning?"
"Sounds good to me." I replied. Enough had happened today already, and I didn't think I could handle one more surprise at this moment. Right now meeting Clarissa, the prospect of the Rescue Team we were going to form, and my new home was enough. What more could a Charmander want? I could only begin to wonder.
"I'll see you tomorrow then." Clarissa replied grinning widely at me. I nodded at her and she scampered off towards her home.
Now that Clarissa was gone, I went inside the lodging that was to serve as both my home and our team base. What our team name was going to be was still to be determined, and I had a feeling that Clarissa would want to know what our team name was going to be. I though for a minute, trying to come up with possibilities that Clarissa might like before I headed to my bed and fell asleep thinking I would decide later when I awoke as I was just too worn out to make any more decisions right now.
"Sleep, yes that's what I need…" I thought as I surrendered myself to the sweet waves of sleep that washed over me, and I knew no more for a time.