First Life
He was pretty sure he died. The pain was enough to kill him inside out.
But here he was, lying in a heap of garbage. The sky was grey, dreary, a single streetlight above him, few crows perching on top of the metal bar.
He blinked, finding himself strangely free of pain, and free of weight. He was light, exceedingly so.
Struggling to pick himself up, he spotted his hand.
No, a paw.
He yelped, but the sound came out like a weak kitty cry. He yelped again, as he scrambled around, and then he slide downwards, down the garbage heap. He landed right into a puddle, splashing grimy water all over himself. Shocked beyond words, he frantically gazed at the muddy reflection of himself.
A cat.
Black like the night. With a pair of red eyes staring back at him.
He backed away, leaning against the black mess of rubbish. He panted, before he went back to stare at his reflection.
He was a cat. Sleek, muscular, and dirty. A long tail attached to his behind. He waved it, so naturally that it frightened him.
This wasn't right. This must be a lie. He thought to himself.
He should have died.
He stared at his reflection again.
He was a plain cat. He was not a Meowth, not a Skitty, not a Purrloin.
He looked up at the crows perching on the streetlight. They too, were ordinary birds. Not Murkrows, Pidgeys, or anything.
He dashed out of the alley, away from the garbage heap. The crows, startled by the sudden movement of the cat, reacted immediately by flying away.
The road was deserted, no other living beings in sight.
A chill ran up his spine, and in a frantic fervor, he dashed off, not caring where he is going. Then he saw dogs, but not Zigzagoons, Poochyenas, Lillipups or anything. It just occurred to him, that they were just dogs. Then there were bugs, but not huge Pincers, Scythers or anything, they were just bugs, tiny and insignificant.
There was no mistake. His current reality, was a reality where Pokemon don't exist.
And he, once a thirty-four year old man, became a cat.
A black cat with red eyes.
After a week of barely scraping by, Red had a rough idea where he was. Somehow, he was still equipped with human intelligence, and was able to read the words of this reality. He read dates torn out from calendars, he read road signs, he read all kinds of things.
First, he was sure that in this world, Pokemon never existed.
Second, creatures like himself were called animals. Insects. Fish. Plants. And plants never moved. And that was weird. Dragons don't exist. Fairies don't either. They were just myths or mere imagination.
Third, humans were the same, almost a perfect copy of humans from the world he was once from. The only difference, was that most don't train animals, insects, fishes, or plants. They either keep them locked up in places called pet shops, and the animals themselves are only able to get out of that place once a human buys them, or they keep them in zoos, where humans goggle at these animals all day.
He himself was perceived to be like a monster. Apparently black cats were a sign of bad luck. And with red eyes, humans often scream "devil!" and try to fend him off. Not like he wanted to have anything to do with them.
Even when he was once human, he was never really welcomed by people. His red eyes scared them.
All except for one person.
But even she disappeared.
God must have wanted to curse him with these pair of red eyes. Red like the devil. A color that kept others away from him. The color that kept him alone.
Red is the color of fate.
"Oh, shut up." He said to no one in particular. Not like anyone or anything could understand him, since his words came out all "meow, meow meow".
Plus, nothing from the past mattered to him now. He always wanted to throw it away, and now he could. And he will.
Lost in thought, he accidentally bumped into something. He groaned, before he realized a human-shaped shadow looming over him.
"I like it."
He stopped short.
He knew this voice.
His neck stiffened, and he slowly looked up, red eyes widening in bewilderment.
"You have beautiful eyes, Mr. Cat."
It can't be.
Long, golden locks flowing all the way to her waist, her petite face looking at him with a sort of curiosity. She wore a school uniform, blue skirt, white blouse. The blue fitted her perfectly, like it always did. And as always, he found himself drowning in her marine blue eyes.
He ran. Not caring where he was going.
"Wait, Mr. Cat! Wait!"
Her voice faded away, and for a moment there, Red thought about going back.
But he knew it was a lie.
Even that girl there, was a lie.
Like it has always been.
He couldn't help it.
He just couldn't.
His love for her, even after being reincarnated into a black cat, stayed.
Even though somewhere in his mind, he told himself that she was a lie, another part was trying to convince him that she was real. That she was miraculously in the same reality as he was, waiting for him to love her. Or maybe it was him, who was waiting for her to love him.
But he was a cat.
He knew that, but he did not care.
He loves her.
He returned to the spot where he first saw her, hoping that one day she would come again.
And she did.
But he knew she did not specially walked past that particular alley just to see him. She just happened to pass by that alley whenever she walked to and back from her school.
Sometimes he would follow her, without her noticing, to her school, to the gate, ensuring she was safe. And on her way home, he would stay close, just enough for her to not take notice of his presence, and follow her all the way back to her house. She lived in a middle-class family, with loving parents, and at school, she had trustworthy friends.
The more he stayed by her unnoticed, the more he realized one thing.
She did not need him.
Not anymore.
Then he remembered.
The past was the past.
She wouldn't remember him. Not ever.
He was just a puppet without strings.
As the thought struck him, he gazed upwards, towards her bedroom window.
He felt his heart getting torn out of his chest. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. Probably because he experienced a pain worse than this before.
A flash of memory went through his mind. He winced, shook his head and hurriedly walked off on all fours.
Her bloody body lying before him was something he never wanted to see ever again.
Red was numbed to everything. Kids threw rocks at him, but he nimbly dodged them, and walked off as if nothing happened. Other cats spat at him and tried to attack him, but he threw them a hateful glare, and all of them slunk away, too scared to try. Most adults avoided him, while some simply ignored him. The angry ones would take a stick or anything they have their hands on and try to shoo him away.
Most days, he scavenged for food in the heaps of rubbish in the alleyways, often finding scraps within the mess.
Other days, he would then walk to the park when he felt like it, stay under the bridge the whole day, watching the fish swim, and occasionally, if he felt hungry, he used his paws to catch the slimy things. They weren't exactly tasty, but he couldn't complain. He was a cat, after all.
Months passed, and he was soon used to this lifestyle.
And before long, he heard stories about himself from the humans. The Grim Reaper's messenger. The Devil's pet. There was even this tale that if he were to stay near a human's house for more than thirteen minutes, that particular house would be cursed.
Lies.
He couldn't care less anymore. He couldn't quite trust anything anymore.
In most places, he could be seen roaming around. But there was just one stretch of road he would never go near to.
The route she always took when she went to and back from school.
You have beautiful eyes, Mr. Cat.
Her earnest eyes stared at him, blue like the vast ocean. He would gladly drown in them.
Until, all of a sudden, those eyes turned red, blood red. Like the red of his own pupils.
Help, Red.
The girl before him started disintegrating, like ice breaking into bits.
"Mr. Cat! So this is where you've been!"
He woke up with a start, cold sweat running down his neck, the nightmare ending abruptly. But before him, stood the love of his life, and for a moment there, he couldn't quite grasped which one was the real nightmare.
He froze. Warm, gentle hands wrapped around his abdomen, and soon he was lifted up, effortlessly, by the girl. Before he knew what was going one, Red found himself carried by the girl, within her bosom, like a baby. For a moment, he relished in her warmth, the warmth he had long forgotten. The sound of her heartbeat was like a lullaby that made him forgot about everything.
But not for long.
He struggled, and tore himself away from her.
"Mr. Cat!"
How did she find him? How? Why?
Such thoughts ran through his mind as he ran away.
Red is the color of fate.
"No." He hissed.
The awful memory came by: her body, trapped beneath the truck, crushed. Her long golden locks stained by blood.
Red is the color of death.
He finally stopped running. Panting, he scanned his surroundings. Right now, he was next to the main road. Some humans stared at him with disgust, but he ignored them. He had to make sure he had shake her off.
"Wait!"
He turned over, just to see her running towards him.
And in return, he jumped over the short fence, onto the road. Amidst the numerous cars, he felt lost, and realized that it was a bad move for him to land right in the middle of the grey concrete stretch.
And once again, he realized he was small. Tiny. All the cars were huge. Superior. And here he was. A tiny black cat so insignificant that it did not matter to them.
Then there came a truck.
The black cat stood still. He knew he could move. He could easily run away and dodge the truck.
But he knew what he wanted.
It was time to end this lie once again.
"No!"
She threw her body over him, covering him.
His eyes widened.
The truck was coming, and as it approached with certainty, the same painful memory came over him.
Her body, crushed underneath the truck, golden locks stained with blood.
No! Please! Don't leave me here! Please!
He couldn't protect her.
My dear, sweet Yellow.
It all happened in a blur.
His vision turned blood-red. Like the day he fell off the roof.
The girl found herself being pushed away, and she landed on the pavement with a thud. Wincing, she looked up.
And then she saw him.
A raven-black haired male, wearing a red vest and ripped jeans. A warm fuzzy feeling hugged her tight, as she found herself seeing those warm, red eyes.
Yet, the moment she blinked, he disappeared.
The truck on the road suddenly skidded to a stop, while a few cars behind braked violently. Soon, a train of cars banged into each other. The drivers all came out out of the damaged vehicles in a rage, some suffering from light bruises and scratches, but none in mortal danger. They collectively screamed at the truck driver, who came down from his vehicle with a dazed look.
"I-I was about to hit this boy! B-B-But he disappeared!"
"You must be hallucinating! You only killed a black cat!"
"Who cares! Pay the damages to my car!"
As the arguing ensued, the whole road was in an instant, congested, with multiple honks and shouting ringing throughout the whole stretch. No one paid any notice to the girl who ran towards the dead cat. She gently picked it up, carrying it lovingly as tears streamed down her cheeks. The blood stained her hands, her golden locks.
She didn't know why her heart hurt so much. It was as if the organ was torn out of her chest violently, agonizingly.
Who was that boy?